420 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
The special shad gill nets are 60 to 70 fathoms in length and 2 to 3 fathoms deep. 
They have a mesh of 5£ to 6 inches. During 1893 1,500 pounds of shad netting were 
received from eastern manufacturers by the San Francisco Bay fishermen. About 225 
pounds consisted of cotton twine worth 75 cents a pound, and the remainder linen 
twine worth $1.30 a pound. The nets are hung by the fishermen. The average value 
of the cotton nets is $25 or $30; that of the linen nets $35 to $40. 
Mr. Alexander’s account of the method of setting gill and trammel nets for shad 
is as follows : 
Several nets are generally set together. Each boat carries 3 shad nets and 4 to 6 trammel nets. 
The boat is made fast to one end of the string and together they drift with the current, care being 
taken to evade all places where snags are known to he. Two men go in a boat ; in setting the string, 
one man throws the nets out and the other keeps the boat iu position with the oars. The nets are 
generally set across the stream or tide, but in a short time they will swing around in the direction 
of the current. After drifting a certain time, or when it is known that fish are in the nets, they are 
hauled. In most cases one man does the hauling. As the nets come in the fish are picked out, the 
nets being so stowed that they may he thrown out again without additional handling. As soon as a 
day’s fishing is over or a good catch secured, sail is made and the fish are taken to the nearest 
railroad or steamboat landing and prepared for shipment to San Francisco. 
While a great many shad are in the aggregate secured in salmon nets, their 
number is small compared with those obtained with shad and trammel nets. The size 
of the mesh of the salmon gill net (7 inches) ordinarily permits all but very large shad 
to pass through. Fish of small and medium size, however, are frequently caught, 
especially when the nets become tangled or doubled. Formerly a large part of the 
shad supply was obtained in this way, but the low prices now received lead fisherman 
in search of salmon to often throw away the shad that may be caught. 
The boats used in the shad fishery are the felucca and the ordinary salmon skiff. 
The former is employed in San Francisco, Suisun, and San Pablo bays, the latter in the 
two last-named bays and in the rivers. At times in 1893 there were over 100 boats 
employed in taking shad in San Francisco Bay and tributaries, principally in 
apparatus set for other fish. The boats from which nets were set for the purpose of 
catching shad numbered about 40. 
According to Mr. Alexander, more shad are caught in muddy water than in clear 
water. In parts of San Francisco Bay, where the water is comparatively clear, a net 
will take but few shad in a day, even when the fish are plentiful; in such places most 
of the catch is made at night, but in the rivers and in bays near the mouths of streams, 
where the water is thick, fishing maybe done at anytime. The best time for shad 
fishing is at the u slack tide.” The fishermen endeavor to have their nets down then. 
The last of the ebb tide and the first of the flood tide are also considered good periods 
in the San Francisco Bay region. 
Prices of shad . — The fish all leave the hands of the fishermen in a round condi- 
tion. The price received varies much with the season, the day of the week, and the 
quantity of other fish m the market. At times each year shad will yield the fisher- 
men 6 to 8 cents a pound, but this price seldom lasts more than a few days. The 
average in 1893 and 1894 was about 2 cents a pound; often, however, the fishermen 
could get only 5 cents for a full-grown shad, and it was not rare for a box of shad 
holding SO pounds to bring only $1. 
The average price of shad in recent years has steadily declined; it was about 5 
cents a pound in 1889, 4 cents in 1890 and 1891, 2| cents in 1892, while in 1893 and 
1894 it reached a figure below which it will probably not fall, as many fishermen will 
