124 FISHING-GEOUNDS OF KORTH AMEIUCA. 



is generally sandy and the maximum dei)tli of water not more than six or seven fatlioms. In 

 1879 thirty-three pounds were situated here. 



Another pound-net ground is located about thirteen miles north of Port Washington, opposite 

 the small village called Amsterdam. The ground extends about four miles north and south. 

 The bottom is everywhere sandy. The pounds are usually .set in from twenty-five to sixty feet 

 of water. Pound lishing was first introduced here iu 1SG2. 



At Oostburg there is a pound-net ground extending along six or seven miles of shore. The 

 outside nets are located about a mile ft-om shore. 



At Port Washington the nets are usually set in from thirty to fifty-five feet of water, the 

 majority being iu about forty-five feet. 



There are no shoals or reefs in the immediate vicinity of Jacksonport, but at a distauce of 

 tweuty-five miles there is an extensive shoal which was formerly a very famous trout ground. It 

 is now seldom visited. 



PoKT Washington to South Chicago.— The most important gill net grounds within these 

 limits are in the vicinity of Milwaukee. The fishermen set their nets in a southerly and 

 southeasterly direction from Milwaukee from ten to forty miles, northward to northeastward 

 forty to ninety miles, and eastward from fifteen to fifty miles. The 'principal outside ground is 

 the Big IJeef, which is situated directly opposite Milwaukee, at a distance of about forty miles, 

 but runs in a southeasterly and northwesterly direction, so that its most northerly limit is 

 only about fifteen miles off shore opposite Port Washington. Inside of this reef and only about 

 six miles from shore there is another productive ground. 



During summer the fishermen go to the outside reef, but in the fall, when the fish are 

 spawning, they visit the inner one. Mr. Schultz, of Milwaukee, states that there are apparently 

 less fish on the outer reef than there T/^ere twenty-five or twenty- six years ago, but that there has 

 been no perceptible diminution on the other portions of the grouuds. 



The gill-net grounds at Eacine extend from Wind Point, a short distance north of the city, to 

 about four miles .south of the city. The nets are usually set at distances of from three to twenty 

 miles from shore, the water varying iu dejjth from ten to seventy-five fathoms. The greater 

 portion of the fishing, however, is done in water about twenty fathoms deep and from six to ten 

 miles from shore. The catch consists principally of whitefish, trout, and lawyers, and rarely a 

 few other kinds of no commercial iinportauce. 



We find the next gill-net ground about three miles south of Kenosha. The southern portion 

 of this ground is about fifteen miles distant from shore. The boat fishermen fish from twelve to 

 sixteen miles from shore, but the tugs sometimes go as far as twenty miles. At the outer limit of 

 the ground the water is about seventy-five fathoms deep. 



In the vicinity of Milwaukee the only pound-net station is in Whitefish Uay, a short distance 

 north of the city. Only two nets were in use there in 1S79. 



In the vicinity of AVaukegan ])(Mnids are set along the sandy beach for a distance of about 

 twelve miles, the northern limit of the ground being about nine miles north of the city. The 

 bottom slopes gently from the shore, and the character of the ground is such that there is no 

 ditUculty in diiving the stakes firmly. The quantity of fish taken here is about one-fourth less 

 than it was twenty years ago. In 1879 twenty-nine nets were located on different parts of tliis 

 ground. 



At Chicago a few nets are set directly off the mouth of the river in comparatively shallow 

 water, and at South Chicago also the pounds are located very near shore. 



