When a dredge is dragged across an oyster bar by the towing vessel - this is called making a lick - the teeth of the dredge dig into the bar and force the oysters into the bag. When the bag is reasonably full, a donkey engine pulls it up on deck where it is dumped. A properly operated dredge will catch practically every oyster in its path. A vessel uses two dredges at a time. This skipjack is the Thomas Clyde.
The photograph appeared in My Maryland, by A. Aubrey Bodine, published by Bodine & Associations.
