THE TARPON AND SHAD 
407 
est scales measured 3f x 4 inches. The tackle 
used in the capture of this fish consisted of a 
short-butt snakewood rod seven feet long, of 
which the tip weighed thirteen ounces, a vom 
Hofe Universal reel, 600 feet of No. 24 vom Hofe 
line, and a No. 1 Van Vleck hook. 
The Tarpon is not to be caught in deep water 
with hook and line. As a rule, the waters of the 
east coast of Florida are unsuitable for successful 
adventures with the Silver King; but at several 
points on the west coast, where the level beach 
of clear sand shelves far out into the Gulf before 
it drops into deep water, this grand fish loves to 
bask in the sunshine, and linger in the warm, 
placid waters along the shore. 
The Tarpon fisherman goes out early, and 
casts his bait — a small mullet — upon the shallow 
waters. For hours he floats upon a sea of molten 
silver, bathed in a flood of dazzling sunshine, and 
at times grilling in the heat which comes with it. 
The clean leap out of water of a big Tarpon 
firmly hooked is a sight that no sportsman ever 
can forget. 
In a few localities, Tarpon are really plentiful, 
and easily caught. Off Useppa Island, Florida, 
between March 5 and May 31, 1903, the total 
catch of Tarpon was 336. 
The Common Shad 1 is, to many persons, the 
most savory of all American fishes. It possesses 
the maximum number of bones to the cubic inch, 
but its flesh is fine-grained, juicy, and of exquisite 
flavor. The freshest Shad is “the finest Shad,” 
but when treated with even a show of culinary 
fairness, every fresh Shad is good. 
Like the salmon, the Shad spends half its life 
in the sea, and enters the rivers of its choice only 
to spawn. Owing to the practical impossibility 
of taking Shad in the ocean, the shad-fishing sea- 
son is limited to its spawning-season. This is 
one of the most prolific of our fishes, a single fish 
sometimes yielding 150,000 eggs. It is easily 
propagated by artificial means, and a decrease 
in the annual supply can in a measure be made 
good by the hatcheries of the United States 
Bureau of Fisheries. During the spring of 1900, 
the Agents of that Bureau planted 291,056,000 
young Shad and eggs in the rivers of the Atlantic 
coast that are accepted by the species as breed- 
ing-grounds. 
This fish is found all along our Atlantic coast 
1 Al-o'sa sap-i-dis'si-ma. 
from Florida to Newfoundland, but it is most 
abundant from the Hudson River to the Potomac. 
Of all our fishes, it stands third in commercial 
value, being surpassed only by the quinnat sal- 
mon and the cod. 
Including both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, 
the value of the Shad catch for 12 months ending 
in 1899 was 49,780,530 pounds, worth $1,519,946. 
Originally, the Shad was not a habitant of 
Pacific waters; but in 1871, Mr. Seth Green, of 
Rochester, made for the California State Fish 
Commission the initial experiment of transport- 
ing 10,000 young Shad across the continent, and 
planting thqm in the Sacramento River. From 
that year up to 1S80, about 60,000 more fry were 
deposited in that stream by the United States 
Bureau of Fisheries. In 1885 and 1886, 910,000 
Shad fry were planted in the Columbia and 
Willamette Rivers. 
To-day, on the Pacific coast the Shad ranges 
from southern California to southern Alaska, and 
is one of the most valuable food fishes of that 
region. In 1S99, the fish dealers of California 
alone handled 1,137,801 pounds, worth $14,303. 
The average length of the Shad is from 24 to 
30 inches, and its weight is from 3 to 4 pounds. 
The color of the fish is a soft, silvery white, all 
over, but the scales are easily detached, and an 
immaculate specimen is rarely seen in a fish 
market. 
To landlocked Americans of the upper Mis- 
sissippi valley and the shores of the Great Lakes, 
