558 HISTORY AND METHODS UF THE FISHERIES. 
By the first of September these have entirely disappeared, and their places have been taken by 
the “fat mullet,” which are said to weigh about a pound and a half. These are very abundant for 
several weeks, the roe mullet arriving about the middle of October, before they have entirely dis- 
appeared. The last-named are by far the largest fish that visit the coast, many individuals, accord- 
ing to the statement of the fishermen, attaining a length of 28 to 30 inches, some of the largest 
weighing from 3 to 5 pounds. These schools are made up of mature fish of both sexes, with the 
roe-bags well advanced ; and it is reported that many are taken with eggs and milt running freely. 
“Frost” or “inch” mullet, as they are sometimes called, follow in large, compact schools, the last 
disappearing about the middle of December. Smaller fish, called ‘ winter mullet,” are abundant 
till spring, and are taken by means of seines and gill-nets in the inner sounds. 
At Charleston the run is somewhat similar to that at Wilmington, though, for various reasons, 
the fishermen engage exclusively in their capture for only a few weeks, beginning about the last 
of August; most of them stopping before the roe mullet put in an appearance. The Charleston 
seine-fishermen secure considerable quantities of small mullet while fishing for “trout” and other 
species in the tide-channels and creeks of the locality during the winter months. Fully one-third 
of the seine-catch between December and March is composed of this species. 
In Eastern Florida, especially in the Saint John’s River, fish of all sizes may be seen at any 
time. They ascend the Saint John’s to Lake Monroe, a distance of 240 miles from the sea, 
and small specimens are taken even beyond this point. At Lake Monroe the fishing interests are 
limited, as the resident population is small and the demand for fish is proportionately light. This 
demand is supplied during the winter months by three or four Northern fishermen, who haul a 
seine for shad at one end of the lake, selling their catch to the hotels that are for several months 
filled with Northern visitors. Two gill-nets are owned by residents of Melonville for the capture 
of mullet, the catch in these being sufficient to meet the demand. Lake George, situated 150 miles 
above the sea, is the prettiest and clearest expansion of the Saint John’s River. It is 12 miles 
wide by 16 to 20 long, and abounds in fish of various kinds, being seemingly the summer home of 
immense quantities of mullet. Several salt springs open into the lake, and the locat fishermen 
think that many of the mullet enter them to deposit their eggs instead of taking the long trip to 
the sea. It is known, however, that many of the fish make yearly trips to the ocean, thus affording 
excellent mullet fishing along the entire course of the stream. The first fish arrive at Jacksonville 
from the upper waters early in June, the number gradually increasing till the middle of August, 
when the fishing becomes extensive, continuing till December, the size of the individuals increasing 
until the close of the season. The fishermen of Mayport, at the mouth of the river, claim that the 
spawning fish pass out into the ocean and proceed southward along the shore to Matanzas and 
Indian rivers and Mosquito Lagoon (which are said to be the spawning grounds for these 
fish), and there deposit their eggs. The same theory is held by the fishermen of Saint Augustine, 
one of whom assigns as the cause of a supposed decrease in the catch at Saint Augustine the exten- 
sive gill-net fishing of the Saint John’s. 
In the Gulf of Mexico it is claimed that the mullet are even more abundant than along our 
Atlantic coast, though the statistics of the catch for North Carolina would indicate that they are 
nearly as plenty in that region. Mr. Stearns writes that these fish are more abundant in the sbore 
waters of West Florida, Alabama, and Mississippi than any other species, and that they are about 
the only fish taken by the fishermen during several months of the year. They are never entirely 
absent; though, as on the Atlantic coast, they are much more abundant in the fall than at any 
other season. In referring to the Pensacola region, Mr. Stearns mentions a run of mulletin the 
spring, saying, “There is a spring run of mullet composed of various sizes of young, which are, 
