716 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
The set-line fishery begins usually about the first of June and con- 
tinues until the end of September; some of the fishermen, however, 
use this form of apparatus throughout the season of open water. The 
lines are generally baited late in the afternoon and are raised the next 
morning. The bait used consists of suckers, minnows, dog-fish, craw- 
fish, dough balls, cheese, mussels, etc. The fish used for bait are caught 
by means of seines made of mosquito netting. These seines are about 
5 yards long and cost about one dollar each. Dog-fish make the most 
desirable bait. These fish are obtained by seines from the shallow 
puddles during June and July, and are placed in live-cars, from which 
a supply is drawn as needed; they average about 2 ounces in weight, 
and each fisherman usually collects from 1,000 to 1,800 in number, 
which last from one to two months. 
The Mississippi River fisheries are most extensive in Allamakee, 
Muscatine, Louisa, Des Moines, and Lee counties, but are prosecuted 
to some extent all along the Iowa border of this stream. Allamakee 
County ranks first in the quantity and value of fish produced, the 
annual yield approximating 700,000 pounds. In Clayton County the 
fishing centers are North and South McGregor, Clayton, and Gutten- 
burg. Seines, fyke nets, and set lines are the forms of apparatus 
employed in these two counties, and the catch consists largely of fresh- 
water drum, cat-fish, buffalo-fish, carp, and suckers, which are marketed 
at Dubuque and other Iowa and Illinois points and even as far west as 
Omaha and Kansas City. Sometimes very large hauls of drum are 
made by the seines used in these counties. 
Dubuque and Specht Ferry are the most important fishing-points in 
Dubuque County, and at the former place a large quantity of fish 
obtained from Chicago and localities up the Mississippi River are 
marketed. Trap nets, known locally as ‘* pond nets,” were introduced 
here in 1892, the idea having been obtained from Wisconsin. 
Bellevue, Green Island, and Sabula are the fishing centers of Jackson 
County, the seine being the most important form of apparatus used. 
Two dealers at Bellevue handle about $10,000 worth of fish annually. 
Along the Mississippi between Sabula and Muscatine, in Clinton and 
Scott counties, the fisheries are of small extent, except at Clinton and 
Davenport; but at neither one of these places is the local product 
equal to the market demand. 
From Muscatine to the mouth of Skunk River the Mississippi is 
much wider, with numerous bayous, and the current much more slug- 
gish. Asa result the fisheries of this section, including the counties 
of Muscatine, Louisa, and Des Moines, are the most extensive in lowa, 
the combined annual product in the three counties approximating 
1,500,000 pounds. The fisheries are located at various points along 
the river, but the greater part of the catch is marketed at Muscatine 
and Burlington. More carp are obtained by the fishermen living in 
these three counties than in all the rest of the State. 
