140 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[July 28, 1906. 
Shad in the Hudson. 
After carefully reading your article of July 7 
on the “Failure of Our Shad Fisheries,” it seems 
to me that you can very properly supplement 
it by publishing that portion of the forthcoming 
report of the Forest, Fish and Game Commis¬ 
sion, which deals with the New York State end 
of the subject. Personally, I have watched the 
steady decline of the Hudson River fisheries 
for nearly twenty years, and have given con¬ 
siderable time to the study of the reasons there¬ 
for. It seems to me that the same evil of over¬ 
fishing that is fast depleting the Great Lakes 
is in the main to blame, but in the river we have 
also to deal with the evil of very great pollu¬ 
tion, which does not enter into the lake problem 
at all. The over-fishing stopped with the failure 
of the fish to run, but the pollution of the water 
increases steadily. Some day the people of our 
State may wake up and by law compel the sani¬ 
tary disposal of waste by cities and factories 
that now and for years have used the Hudson 
as a sewer. Then after slow years of waiting 
the water may regain sufficient purity, and the 
natural spawning beds become sufficiently 
cleansed to attract the fish as of old. And then 
finally one may again see shad, herring and 
sturgeon sold cheaply as a popular food in the 
streets of Albany and other cities along the 
river, as they once were. 
Under the caption “The Shad,” the Hon. J. 
D. Lawrence, Deputy Commissioner of Fish and 
Game, says in his report to Hon. James S. 
Whipple, Forest, Fish and Game Commission: 
“By far the most serious problem confront¬ 
ing the Commission is presented by the failure 
of the shad fisheries of the Hudson River. For 
years this body of water was one of the most 
important in the country on account of' its 
prolific run of shad and .herring. But within 
the past ten years at least neither of these 
species of fish have appeared in anywhere near 
the usual numbers. It would seem that year 
after year the run of fish was retarded by an 
invisible line which annually was stretched fur¬ 
ther and further down the river, and beyond 
which the fish would not pass. Formerly, shad 
were caught up to the Troy Dam. Then the 
fish were sold for a very small price in the 
streets of Troy and Albany. Later they be¬ 
came scarcer and scarcer, until at present the 
fish do not seem to run very much above Hud¬ 
son. There has been no lack of stocking this 
water both by the State Commission and by 
the U. S. Commission, but the results have 
failed to meet the anticipation of fishculturists. 
“It is a notable fact in this connection that 
during recent years the Hudson River has be¬ 
come little more than an open sewer, and each 
year finds the conditions in this respect worse 
than the year before. It is the judgment of 
those who have considered this matter seriously 
that the fish will not run up beyond a certain 
limit of contamination in the water. Several 
years ago the fishermen themselves figured out 
the situation and reported it to the Commis¬ 
sion. Very recently the author of a book de¬ 
voted entirely to the Hudson River says, with 
reference to this body of water, ‘There can be 
little doubt that fish are poisoned by the fouling 
of the elements in which they live.’ And an¬ 
other writer says, ‘Everywhere, the country over 
streams once yielding a bounteous supply of fish 
have long since been utterly and permanently 
ruined by having been converted into sewers 
for refuse which destroys all life.’ 
“I have given particular attention to this 
problem because of the importance of the shad 
as a food fish, and when my attention was di¬ 
rected to the reports of the Connecticut Com¬ 
mission by our Secretary, I instructed him to 
examine into the conditions prevailing in the 
Connecticut River, and the methods adopted 
by the Connecticut Commission to meet the 
situation. His report advises me that their shad 
fisheries gradually failed year after year, until, 
in 1892, they amounted practically to nothing. 
The outcry of the fishermen was such that the 
Commission of that State made a careful study 
of the situation and determined that the pollu¬ 
tion of the water was such that the eggs de- 
posied naturally were smothered and the fry 
which did hatch were unable to withstand the 
condition of the water. After considerable ex¬ 
periment, the Connecticut Commission decided 
to try to raise the fry to the fingerling stage in 
the hope that the larger and stronger fish would 
be able to withstand the condition of he water. 
In 1895 the Connecticut Commission secured an 
old water privilege on Ram’s Horn Creek, at 
Joshuatown, and spent $4,500 in building a dam 
and repairing two dams that already existed on 
the stream. Three ponds were thus created— 
the upper one containing seven acres, the middle 
one containing three acres and the lower one 
containing five acres. Each pond was cleaned 
out and the bottom sloped toward the creek, 
which naturally ran through them to the river, 
and at the outlet of the lower pond screens 
were put in so as to prevent the fish from pass¬ 
ing out until, in the judgment of the Commis¬ 
sion. it was best for them to do so. The outlet 
of the lower pond is but a few hundred feet 
from the river itself, and the ponds are located 
about ten miles from the mouth of the river. 
An average of 3,000,000 fry are annually placed 
in the three ponds, and are fed with crushed 
crackers. The fry are held until the latter part 
of October, when they would naturally run 
down the river to the sea, and the gates are then 
raised, and the contents of the three ponds are 
released. By this time the shad are from two 
and one-half to four inches long, and are strong 
and active fish. Good results were, obtained from 
this experiment within three years after the 
ponds were first drawn off, and in 1904 the 
fishermen caught 172.000 large shad as compared 
with a catch of but 18,000 a few years before. 
“In correspondence with our Secretary, Mr. 
E. Hart Geer, secretary of the Connecticut 
Commission, says, relative to this experiment: 
‘Prior to the establishment of the retaining 
ponds, the run of shad in the Connecticut River 
decreased each year, notwithstanding the mil¬ 
lions of fry planted at various points. We have 
found in our experience that the fry are very 
susceptible to the slightest contamination of the 
water, and that when they have to pass through 
the water filled with sewage on their way to the 
sea, the result is fatal to them. By raising the 
fry to fingerlings, which at six or eight months 
old have grown to be two and one-half to six 
inches long, we find that they are abundantly 
able to stand the pollution of the water and 
to take care of themselves against their com¬ 
mon enemies. We are confident that a supply 
of shad in the Connecticut River can be main¬ 
tained only by placing the fry in ponds where 
they can be held until they are - at least six 
months old. Every fisherman on our river rec¬ 
ognizes this fact and appreciates the benefits 
which have followed the adoption of the plan.’ 
“It is my judgment, in view of this letter and 
the report made to me by our secretary, that we 
ought to try the experiment of rearing shad 
to the fingerling stage, and I very sincerely hope 
that the next Legislature will appreciate the 
situation and aid us by an adequate appropria¬ 
tion. 
“Possibly in addition to the general con¬ 
tamination of the river, we will have to con¬ 
sider the inordinate use of nets at its mouth 
and the very great pollution which there exists. 
Nevertheless, if it is possible to overcome the 
factor of pollution, which in my judgment seems 
to be the most serious obstacle, we may be able 
by adopting the Connecticut method to restore 
to the Hudson River the valuable shad fisheries 
which of late years have entirely failed. Fol¬ 
lowing is a table showing how extensively the 
State Commission and the U. S. Commission 
have stocked the Hudson River with shad fry 
during the past ten years. 
Fry from Fry from 
State Hatchery. U.S. Commission. 
1896 . 4,095,000 4,595,000 
1897 . 3,018,000 7,125,000 
1898 . 6,579,400 5,500,000 
1899 . 2,113,800 11,470,000 
1900 . 2,870,200 10,280,000 
1901 . 4,806,600 13,156,000 
1902 . 3,911,150 2,123,000 
1903 . 3,119,900 . 
1904 . 1,518,500 3,000,000 
1905 . 2,361,900 . 
34,412,450 57,249,000 
“These figures show a total plant during the 
ten years of 91,661,450 fry in good cindition. 
The records for twenty years prior to 1896 show 
that both the State and the United States Com¬ 
mission have given the Hudson River continu¬ 
ous attention and have planted millions upon 
millions of shad fry in its waters. But in spite 
of all this stocking the fisheries have each year 
become less and less in value, until at present 
they are a failure and show no signs of re¬ 
covering.” 
This is a plain statement of facts, and the 
figures speak for themselves as to the constant 
attention which the Hudson River has had at 
the hands of the Commission. It remains to 
be said that the last Legislature did appro¬ 
priate $5,000 to provide for shad rearing ponds 
and that, acting under instructions from Com¬ 
missioner Whipple, an inspection of desirable 
sites was recently made by Deputy Commis¬ 
sioner Lawrence and Dr. Tarleton H. Bean, the 
State Fishculturist. A site has been selected 
and the work will be begun on the ponds very 
soon, if the property owners do not endeavor 
to get too high a price for the land that is 
needed, of which there is some danger. 
John D. Whish, Secretary. 
From the Beaverkill. 
Beaverkill, N. Y., July 21.—Fishing is hard 
work these hot summer days, and the reward 
of labor is not usually great. Probably the 
wisest course to pursue is not to start out until 
after tea; the air is cooler and the dew soon 
begins to fall. A feeding trout may be seen 
here and there, and if the fly is put to them 
just right, it will probably be accepted. The 
casting line does not show up like a cable, as 
it does earlier in the afternoon, and the arti¬ 
ficial fly is really like a natural insect on the 
surface of the stream. 
On Thursday afternoon I caught first a good 
ducking in a heavy shower, then seven good 
trout (besides two 7-inchers, returned), and two 
fallfish. This I consider very good for the 
season, time and place. 
Another thing, one’s trout are appreciated 
when caught. Many people are extremely fond 
of them when well cooked, and we feel that we 
have offered some one a real treat when we 
bring home good fish. How different it is in 
the wilds of Maine and Canada! In those 
regions the only thing to do is to return one’s 
trout to the water, except, perhaps, a few for 
camp use. When I arrived at Tim Pond, in 
Maine, red hot for a little fly-fishing, the camp 
keeper was disgusted with me for killing a 
dozen trout. He said, “Oh! why did you kill 
those fish? I had to bury seventy-five pounds 
this morning.” After that I dragged a wooden 
box behind my boat, and after catching thirty 
or forty trout, I looked at them and returned 
them to the lake. Things were rather better 
at Big Island Pond. There the trout were 
larger and not so numerous, and I devoted my 
attention to catching specimen fish. These were 
kept alive, and if any one going out of the 
woods wished to take good trout home with 
him, he was usually glad to accept a few from 
me. When I left the lake I carried a very 
few trout with me, iced in a small box. What 
a nuisance those fish were, until at last they 
were confided to the steward of the Fall River 
Line boat and safely stowed away in cold 
storage. 
A 2-pound trout here on the Beaverkill gives 
one more satisfaction, more real pleasure, than 
a 5-pounder would if taken in the Maine lakes. 
Surrounding conditions have much to do with 
one’s sport. A big fish in one section of the 
country is small in another. Personally, I much 
prefer a large stream, with its still pools and 
rough waters, to any lake fishing, no matter 
how large the fish may be in the latter. I 
imagine that there are few streams in America 
more beautiful than the Beaverkill and Never-’ 
sink. Both flow through fine valleys and afford 
the greatest variety of mountain scenery. The 
lover of small stream fishing can find his place 
on the upper waters, while lower they attain 
