a half to five
They soon reached the nets , which stretched across the river through narrow longitudinal cuts so as to be at right angles to each tide , with which the fish usually swim . These nets are such in shape as were formerly suspended between the old-fashioned shad-poles , and are sunk perpendicularly in the water by weights at each end , so that the meshes are expanded nearly to their full extent . The fish swim into these precisely as do the shad , and in their attempts to back out their gills catch , and there they hang . The nests are about twelve feet square , and the meshes of different nets are from to and a half to five and a quarter inches in size . A bass of nine pounds ' weight can be `` gilled '' in the ordinary manner ; but in one instance a fish weighing one hundred and two pounds was caught , and during the present season they were informed that a lucky fisherman at Marlborough had secured `` a 52-pounder . '' These heavy fellows , it was explained , `` would go through a net like a cannon-ball '' if they came `` head on , '' and with ordinary speed ; but if they are playing around gently , the swift tide carries them sidewise into the `` slack of the net , '' from which they seem unable to escape . There are usually about forty-five feet between the surface of the water and the top of the nets , therefore the fish are caught at an average depth of fifty feet .