THE GREAT LAKES FISHERIES IN 1899. 589 
enables the crews to handle a larger number of nets than could be 
operated by hand. Nets are lifted with this device by being carried 
over a drum or cylinder worked by steam. While the nets are being 
lifted a careful watch is kept for the fish, and when they are seen to 
approach within 2 or 3 feet of the surface of the water the larger ones 
are helped over the side of the vessel with a gaff hook, otherwise the 
fish might be lost or the nets damaged by their weight. The gaff hook 
used has a handle about 7 feet in length. 
Preservation of gill nets.—The fishermen of Lake Superior, in order 
to preserve their gill nets, tan them with hemlock bark or the extract 
of hemlock, generally the latter. A pint of extract is sufficient for 
tanning 25 nets, and 5 gallons will last an entire season for a rig of 350 
nets, 1 pint of extract being used to 50 gallons of water. The mixture 
is boiled in a large kettle, after which the nets are placed in it and 
allowed to remain an hour. The nets require this treatment about 
once in every two months, and in warm weather it is necessary to tan 
them more frequently. 
Introduction of naphtha engines. —An innovation in shore fisheries 
is the introduction of naphtha engines as an auxiliary means of propel- 
ling sailboats. They are said to have been introduced by Messrs. 
Peter Anderson & Sons, a fishing firm at Marquette, who fitted a sail- 
boat in this manner in 1899. The engine used was of 12 horsepower, 
and the boat has a speed of 7} miles an hour. This boat can make 
much longer fishing trips than when it was propelled exclusively by 
. sails, and the number of nets fished has been more than doubled. It 
is probable that the use of naphtha engines will in a few years become 
quite general in these fisheries. A number of boats were equipped 
with them in 1900. . 
Fishing season.—The gill-net fishing begins as soon as the ice 
breaks up in the spring, which is generally sometime in April. The 
nets are then fished in 20 to 40 fathoms of water, and the catch con- 
sists chiefly of trout. The white-fish run comes later in the season, 
the greater part of the catch being taken in July and August. This 
is also the time of year in which the bluefin white-fish are taken in 
greatest abundance. The fishing for trout continues all through the 
summer and fall. In midsummer the nets are fished in 70 to 100 
fathoms of water, but in the fall they are again set in shallow water. 
About September 1 the large trout come into shallow water to spawn 
and are caught there in considerable quantities during the months of 
September and October. Pound nets are set as soon as practicable 
after the ice breaks up in the spring and are fished until about the 
first of November. 
