398 'KEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Little attention is <^ivcu to fishing, not more than a suliicient supply 

 for local consumption being taken. Seines, cast nets, trot lines, and 

 hand lines are used to a limited extent. Fourteen men dejjend on the 

 fisheries for a living, and twenty others engage in them at times. The 

 catch of fish in 1890 amounted to 71,700 i)Ounds, for Avhich the fishermen 

 received $4,038. 



On Taylor Bayou and at Keath Lake Gully arc located two companies 

 of seine fishermen, each comi)any using one small sailboat of about 3 

 tons. During the winter the catch consists mostly of catfish, buffalo 

 or suckers, and fresh -water drum. In the summer, when the water in 

 the lake is not so fresh, the most abundant species taken are redfish, 

 trout, and sheepshead. The bay-seine fishermen are reported as taking 

 in their seines about 100 dozen terrapins annually. 



In the winter and during the si)riug freshets half a dozen men living 

 at the head of the lake fish for catfish with trot lines. From 150 to 

 500 hooks (about 4 feet apart) are attached to each line. The length of 

 the snoods is about 18 inches and the cost of such lines ranges from $3 

 to $10. About 12,000 pounds of fish are annually taken in this manner. 

 The average weight of the catfish is about 20 pounds, while some 

 attain a weight of 75 pounds. The number of trot lines in use at pres- 

 ent is not so great as it was seven or eight years ago, but there were 

 no seines used here at that time. 



A few cast nets and hand lines are at times used by men living on 

 the shores of Sabine Lake, the catch being only sufficient for home con- 

 sumption. The quantity taken annually by means of hand lines is about 

 10,000 pounds; the catch by cast nets is much less, amounting probably 

 to about 3,000 pounds. 



On account of the slight density of the water no oysters are found 

 here, except occasionally in the lower end of the lake. In 1887 some 

 were found which M-ere almost large enough for market, but they were 

 destroyed by the freshets in the spring of 1888. The reefs on which 

 these oysters appear are at the extreme southern end of the lake and 

 directly in the "pass." They cover an area of from 2 to 3 miles long 

 and about three-quarters of a mile wide, the length running north and 

 S(mth. 



GALVESTON BAY. 



Leaving Sabine Lake and going southwestwardly along the coast 

 there are no fishing localities until Galveston Bay is reached, a distance 

 of about r»0 miles, lictwi'cn Siibine Ivake ;ind, Galveston Bay the coast 

 is entirely without harbors, and is uninhabited except by ranchmen. 



Galveston Bay is the second largest in area and commercially the 

 mostimportantof thebayson the Texas coast. Itliesbetween the main- 

 land and (iiilveston Ishnul and Bolivar Peninsula. East Bay, Trinity 

 Buy, and West Bay are tributary to Galveston Bay. Much of the 

 waters of West Bay, however, find an outlet into- the Gulf of Mexico 



