MINOR FISHERIES OF GREAT LAKES. 767 



2. SPEARING AND HOOK-AND-LINE FISHING. 



Besides the three principal modes of fishing pound-netting, gill-netting, and seining which 

 have been treated of somewhat at length in the previous parts of this chapter, there are several 

 other methods, which, although not of great importance, are prosecuted to a considerable extent 

 in certain localities. Among them we may mention spearing, hook-aud-line fishing, grappling, 

 fyke-net fishing, and dip-net or "scap"-net fishing. 



SPEAKING. The principal locality at which spear- fishing is carried on is Saginaw Bay, where 

 it is prosecuted by the ordinary fishermen. 



In Sagiiiaw Bay spearing is carried on only in winter. The grounds vary in proportion with 

 the advance of the season and the thickness of the ice. Usually, however, few fishermen fish out- 

 side an imaginary line drawn from Shebewaing, on the east shore of the bay, to Point Aux Gres, on 

 the west shore. 



During a favorable winter a village of considerable size springs up on the ice, and all manner 

 of supplies are brought out to the fishermen by the traders from the neighboring shore. So many 

 fishermen congregate in the course of the season that it has been found profitable to carry out 

 billiard tables for their amusement during the long winter evenings. 



A writer in the Provincetown Advocate of February 28, 1877, gives the following account 

 of the appearance of this singular village at that date: 



"The fishermen on Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron, have erected a good sized town of shanties far 

 out on the ice. The dwellings are of thin wood, lined with thick building paper, and are placed 

 on runners so as to be moved from place to place. The slab city also boasts a hotel. The shanties 

 dot the surface of the bay in all directions. The number is now over 300 and about 30 are being 

 put up daily. The average number of occupants in each shanty is three men or boys, making not 

 less than 1,000 persons already living on the ice. There probably will be twice that number 

 during February, and they can remain there in safety until the middle of March." 



The number of men engaged during the season of 1879 was about 400, a much smaller number 

 than formerly. 



The apparatus employed, in addition to the shanties already described, which stand in the 

 same relation to the fisheries as the boats used in summer, consists of spears and lure-fishes. The 

 spears are of the ordinary pattern, size, and weight. The lure-fishes are small blocks of wood, 

 shaped like a fish, weighted on the under side by a small piece of metal, and furnished with metal 

 fins and eyes. A cord is fastened to them and they are let down into the water, but not to a great 

 depth, so that they may be watched readily by the fisherman. The fish mistake the decoy for 

 their natural prey and attempt to seize it, bringing themselves within range of the fatal spear of 

 the fisherman. The value of all the apparatus employed in 1879, including shanties, spears, lure- 

 fishes, &c., was estimated at $4,500. 



The daily catch of each fisherman is not less than 25 pounds. This amount, however, is 

 small, compared with the yield of other years. Instances were given by the fishermen of the cap- 

 ture of from 400 to 600 pounds of fish by one man in a day. The fishery has declined very much 

 within the last half-decade. 



HAND-LINE AND TRAWL FISHING. Angling for pleasure is carried on to a large extent with 

 hand-lines in all the lakes during summer, but as the supply of fish obtained in this way varies 

 extremely in amount and rarely enters into commerce, no account of it can be taken in the statis- 

 tical tables. The trawl, however, is employed in many localities as a means of capture, for purely 

 commercial ends. It is so employed to a greater or less extent at Racine, Chicago, Michigan City, 

 Sangatuck, Toledo, Port Clinton, Toussaint, Sandusky, Vermillion, and a few smaller places. 



