118 FISniNG-GEOUXDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



In winter small quautitics of pike arc taken in different parts of Saint Louis Lay with Iiook 

 and line, and in tlie deei)er i)assages among the islands near Bayfield considerable numbers of 

 trout are caught. 



Isle Royale. — The fishing-grounds at Isle Eoyale are mostly off the south shore. The 

 bottom is rocky for more than a mile from the island, but becomes clayey beyond. The fishermen 

 set their gillnets on the inshore rocky reefs early in tlie fall, but later in the season follow the 

 fish into deeper water. They frequently set their nets in one hundred fathoms of water. The 

 catch consists principally of trout. The Isle Eoyale grounds arc frequented by the fishermen 

 of Bayfield and of other localities on the south shore of Lake Superior. 



Keweenaw Point to Grand Island. — Gill-net grounds extend along this entire stretch 

 of coast, except between Big Bay Point and Sauk's Head, a distance of about fifteen miles. The 

 land is high at many points, and the water deep at a short distance from shore. The iushore 

 bottom is rocky, but between Keweenaw Point and Big Bay Point it cLauges to clay and mud 

 farther out, while from Sauk's Head to Grand Island saud aud gravel largely predominate. The 

 outer limit of the grounds is uniformly about seven miles from shore, where the water is forty or 

 forty-five fathoms deep, except opposite Marquette and Train Bay, where the fishermen frequently 

 fish ten miles from shore, in water from fifty to seventy fathoms deep. ■ 



The fishermen of L'Anse and the neighboring villages commonly set gill-nets in the fall on the 

 west side of Keweenaw Point, opposite the entrance to the Portage Lake canal. In winter they 

 keep near shore, generally fishing in L'Anse Bay, but in warmer weather they venture into deeper 

 water, visiting various reefs and shoals, the position and extent of many of which is known only 

 to themselves. A large share of the fishing is also carried on in the vicinity of the stations where 

 pound- nets are set. 



All fishing prosecuted between Sauk's Head and Grand Island is carried on by fishermen 

 from Marquette. In the fall the grounds off Shot and Granite Points are visited, while in the 

 spring the larger proportion of the gill-netting is prosecuted off Big Presqu' Isle and in the 

 vicinity of Grand Island. 



The principal pound-net stations of this section of the shore are at Bete Grise Bay, Portage 

 Entry, Keweenaw and Huron Bays, the shallow bay east of Marquette, and the channel between 

 Grand Island and the mainland. Between Keweenaw Point and Sauk's Head the nets are set in 

 seventeen to forty-five feet of water, while further to the eastward the extremes are twenty and 

 twenty-eight feet. During the year 1879 the i)ouuds were distributed as follows : In Bete Grise 

 Bay, one ; at Portage Entry, two ; in Keweenaw and L'Anse Bays, seven ; in Huron Bay, two ; 

 between Granite Point and Presqu' Isle, one ; between Marquette aud Shot Point, three ; and in 

 the channel between Grand Island and the mainland, four. In 187S, and again in 1880, there 

 were two more pounds at Grand Island. Some of the more intelligent fishermen of Marquette 

 are now seeking some reef or shoal within convenient distance of that village, where they may 

 catch larger quantities of fish. All the shoals now known are so far distant that they are 

 unable, with their sail-boats, to reach them and return in one day. I\Iany of the best pound-net 

 grounds cannot be utilized on account of their exposed position. Even in tlie more sheltered 

 localities, in stormy seasons, serious losses of netting are frequently sustained. 



Small and unimportant seining-grounds exist at L'Anse and Portage Entry. Eastward the 

 seining is prosecuted entirely in and about Marquette Harbor, and even these grounds are 

 productive of very little except herring. 



Staunard's Rock, a dangerous reef lying about forty-five miles due north of Marquette, is 

 one of the most important trout-grounds of the Great Lakes. Marvelous stories arc told 



4 



