620 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 
river, and the shad must ascend above Augusta to deposit their eggs. Seven miles above Augusta 
is the water-works dam, which prevents any further ascent; and the spawning grounds of this 
river are therefore practically confined to the 7-mile stretch from Augusta to the dam. Cooped 
up, as it were, in this area, the shad are entirely at the mercy of the innumerable traps and cast- 
nets that abound there. 
In a word, the gill-nets permit but a small proportion of the shad which enter the river to 
reach their spawning grounds, and the appliances of capture in the vicinity of the dam take the 
rest. Instead of being surprised, therefore, that the shad fisheries have fallen off so greatly, we 
should rather wonder that the whole breed of fish has not been utterly extirpated. 
Many years ago the shad pushed their annual migrations as far up as the Falls of the Talulah, 
@ mountain tributary of the Savannah, where they were taken in some numbers. The height of 
the falls prevented further progress. Thence down to Augusta they were taken in very consid- 
erable quantities, and formed a very important food resource, being consumed fresh or salted 
away for winter use. The unrestrained and destructive modes of fishing pursued made their im- 
pression year by year upon the supply, which became greatly reduced, until the erection of the 
water-works dam, 7 miles above Augusta, cut off the run altogether. 
Under the law authorizing the erection of this dam, sluices for the passage of fish were 
required to be left and kept open during the running season of the fish. Some shad were taken in 
1879, 80 miles above. These necessarily passed throngh the openings in the dam. The calculated 
velocity of discharge through the sluices being upwards of 13 miles per hour, this fact farnishes 
a surprising exhibition of strength and boldness on the part of this fish. 
THE SHAD SEASON.—The shad season begins at Savannah in the first half of January and 
ends about the last of March. It begins at Augusta in the middle of February and ends about the 
10th of May, though shad are sometimes taken as late as July. This difference of more than a 
month between the season at Savannah and Augusta—180 miles above—shows an average rate of 
progress up the river of 6 miles a day. At this rate shad would reach Tallulah Falls about the 
1st of April, and the season there would extend into July. 
FISHING WITH TRAPS.—Between the water-works dam and Augusta, where the river descends 
by a series of falls or rapids a vertical distance of 45 or 50 feet, every favorable location is the site 
of a trap fishery—a mode of fishing which was formerly very productive, put is now considered no 
longer profitable. The traps are of three kinds: (1) the “‘fall” trap, or “slide,” such as is in use 
in all our streams; (2) the “hack” trap, and (3) the square trap. The last two are essentially 
the same in principle, the only difference in construction being that the “hack” trap, instead of 
being square, has a V-shaped frame with its apex pointing upstream. 
These traps are placed in strings or rows—from six to fifteen in a row—the intervals between 
them being occupied by a rough cribbing of logs filled in with stones. In 1879 there were about 
one hundred and ten of these traps between the dam and a point three miles below, and at several 
places they almost completely obstructed the channel of the river, so that it seemed impossible for 
a shad to run the gauntlet and reach the dam in safety. Fortunately, with a fall river, which 
is frequent in the shad season, the traps are submerged, and fish may pass over them without much 
risk of capture. 
FISHING WITH CAST-NETS.—Besides the traps in the rapids, a number of cast-nets are fished 
immediately under the dam. With clear water, so that the fish may be seen lying in the pools, 
this proves a very effective mode of fishing. I have seen six or eight shad taken at a single cast 
of the net. There was in 1880 an average of twelve cast-nets fished in the vicinity of the dam, 
