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tribute the falling off to the setting of pound nets in the lower 
Choptank and to fishing after the ripe shad begin to spawn. 
7. I catch mostly shad. Perch and cat-fish are also caught. 
8. Have kept no account of number and kinds caught. 
Used to keep an account of what each boat caught five years 
ago. They averaged then 2,000 to a boat. Last season 
the average was not above 500 each. Last season shad were 
twenty-five cents a piece, three years ago they were ten cents. 
9. Have never caught a ripe female rock and have had no 
opportunity of observing the habits of rock-fish. 
10. Have had no experience with ripe rock, male or female. 
11. Sixty pounds. I know nothing of their growth. 
12. The female is short and thick, the male is long and 
slender, but fully as large as the female. 
13. I do not consider the rock a very destructive fish. It 
is one of the most profitable fish in our waters, as it can be 
caught in all seasons. It would be well to have our waters 
filled with them. 
Andrew Towers. 
1. Ten years. 
2. Choptank Liver. 
3. Yes. 
4. From 1st to 10th of May. 
5. Sixteen hundred shad in thirty days; winds box the 
compass. 
6. A decrease. Cause — lake fishing in time of spawning. 
7. Shad. 
8. Shad average 15 cents, herring average 75 cents, rock, 
5 cents per pound. 
9. Yes. 
10. The male predominates 
11. Seventy pounds. 
12. Yes. 
13. Ho. 
