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FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



waters of Lake Superior, operations with the gear in Lakes Huron and Superior were 

 limited to Michigan waters. Deep trap nets were fished in Lake Superior as far west 

 as Ontonagon but were most abundant in Whitefish Bay at the eastern end of the lake. 

 The use of deep trap nets became illegal in the Michigan waters of Lake Superior, July 

 1, 1936. The most extensive deep-trap-net fisheries of Lake Michigan were developed 

 in the State of Michigan waters of Green Bay and of the northeastern section of the 

 lake. Relatively limited operations were carried on also in Michigan waters off Grand 

 Haven (chiefly in 1934), in the Wisconsin waters off Door County (1931-1935), and 

 in Indiana (June 1935-July 1, 1936). The use of deep trap nets became illegal in the 

 Michigan and Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan after the 1935 season and in Indiana, 

 effective July 1, 1936. This type of gear was never ysed in Illinois. The deep trap net 

 may now be legally operated in the Great Lakes only in Lake Huron (Michigan waters) 

 and Lake Ontario (New York waters). 



Figure 1. — The deep trap net. 



The deep trap net (fig. 1) consists of the leader, hearts, hood or breast, tunnel, and 

 lifting pot or crib. 



The lifting pot or crib of the deep trap net is covered with webbing, whereas that 

 of the pound net is open at the top. Deep trap nets are held in position by means of 

 anchors and buoys while pound nets are generally held in position by stakes driven in 

 the lake bottom. Aside from these two differences, deep trap nets and pound nets are 

 of similar construction. In fact, during the earlier years of the deep-trap-net fishery 

 the gear frequently was termed a "submarine pound net." 



In the nets observed, 3 the anchors were 2-point hook anchors weighing about 35 

 pounds each except the "king" anchor which weighed about 60 pounds. The smaller 

 anchors (usually numbering 12 to 16) were attached to lines that varied from 400 to 600 

 feet in length; the "king" line attached to the back of the crib was about 1,800 feet long. 

 The leader was from 40 to 80 rods long, from 20 to 47 1 /2 feet deep, and had meshes of 

 7 to 9 inches. (All mesh sizes in this description are extension measure as manufac- 

 tured.) 



The hearts had the same depth as the leader. The size of mesh in the hearts was 

 reported to have ranged from 5 to 7 inches. The hearts were about 45 feet long with a 

 spread of approximately 100 feet between the tips. In some nets the outside walls of 

 the hearts were extended forward about 24 feet as single thicknesses of netting known 

 as wings. The hood or breast, which connects the hearts and the tunnel, varied from 

 24 to 27 feet in length. 



The tunnel, the length of which varied from about 45 to 75 feet, tapered from a depth 

 equal to that of the hearts to form a 3-foot square opening inside the pot. Meshes in the 

 part of the tunnel outside the pot varied from 5 to 7 inches, but meshes as small as 

 2 inches were reported for the tunnel inside the pot. Variations reported in the length 



1 The dimensions given in this description were obtained from the fishermen and based on those nets observed in the field and possibly may not 

 cover the full range of variation in the size of deep trap nets. It was, for example, reported to us that one fisherman operated a net that was 75 

 feet deep. 



