SURF-CASTING, TROLLING, STILL-FISHING, ETC. H9 



up, and the hook rebaited and set again. In this way one 

 man may tend quite a lot of these traps. 



Food fish are taken in nets and there are many kinds, 

 each used in a different way. These are for the use of the 

 commercial fisherman mostly, except that the gill net is 

 sometimes used by northern hunters and woodsmen to pro- 

 vide whitefish and other fish for their own use, and set-nets 

 or funnel nets are used in the East and South where it is 

 allowed by law, for the same purpose. Gill nets are made of 

 very fine linen twine, almost like thread, and are knit in a 

 mesh of a suitable size to take the average run of fish. A 



A Pickerel Trap, for Ice Fishing. 



net with IJ-inch square mesh is the most useful for the 

 general run of fresh water fish. The nets have floats at the 

 top edge and weights at the bottom, and the ends are fastened 

 with light rope or heavy cords to stakes. This keeps the 

 net stretched and the fish run their heads through but cannot 

 force their bodies through the mesh, and when they try to 

 back out they get fast by the gills. White suckers may be 

 taken this way when they go up stream in the spring to 

 spawn. The gill net is very hard to handle as it soon gets 

 badly tangled unless the fisherman is expert in its use, and 

 the fish are hard to remove. 



