662 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
extensively. Fyke nets are more numerous and valuable than any 
other apparatus, the number used being 35,036, valued at $180,514. 
They were employed extensively in nearly all the States, but those 
in which the largest numbers occurred were [linois, 13,614, valued 
at $65,164; Iowa, 4,056, valued at $16,647; Missouri, 4,027, valued at 
$16,850; Arkansas, 2,576, valued at $13,813; Kentucky, 2,462, valued 
at $14,334; Tennessee, 2,336, valued at $18,955, and Mississippi, 2,065, 
valued at $11,715. More fyke nets are employed in this region than 
in all other sections of the country combined. 
Lines were also important as a means of capture. The number of 
set lines used was 13,642, valued at $13,666, and of hand and other 
lines 4,045, valued at $2,014. The set lines are similar in construction 
to the trawl lines in the fisheries of the New England States, but are 
much less expensive. They are employed in the fisheries of all the 
States in this region. Next in importance in the capture of fish proper 
were trammel nets, the number fished being 567, with a length of 
51,155 yards anda value of $13,079. While these nets are found in » 
all the States except Alabama, Indiana, Ohio, and West Virginia, 
they are more numerous in Arkansas, Illinois, lowa, and Missouri. 
Pound nets and gill nets are used to a limited extent, but apparently 
are not well adapted to river fisheries. 
Of various other forms of apparatus the crowfoot lines, or dredges, 
and rakes used in the mussel fishery are the most valuable and pro- 
ductive. The ‘‘crowfoot” dredge, so called probably on account of 
the shape of the hooks used, generally consists of a round iron bar or a 
hollow iron pipe one-half to three-fourths of an inch in diameter and 
varying in length from 6 to 12 or 15 feet, with lines attached to it at 
intervals of about 6 inches, each of which contains from 4 to 6 four- 
pronged hooks. The hooks, which are about 4 inches long, are made 
of two pieces of wire so fastened together that the prongs are at right 
angles to each other. The method of arranging the hooks is to place 
them at even distances apart from within a few inches of the bar to 
the end of the line. At or near each end of the bar is attached a rope, 
the two parts of which come together, forming a bridle. To this is 
fastened another rope, by which the apparatus is drawn along the 
bottom of the river in a manner similar to that of operating an ordi- 
nary oyster dredge. The number of hooks to each bar depends upon 
the length of the bar, the number of lines, and the number of hooks 
on each ‘line. This device, which first came into use in 1897, has in 
recent years become the principal apparatus employed in the capture 
of mussels. Its effectiveness depends on the fact that the position of 
the mussel when feeding is with its shell opened against the current. 
As the boat operating crowfoot lines drifts downstream the prongs of 
the hooks enter the open shell of the mussels. The valves then close 
and the mussels remain on the hooks until they are detached. after the 
