130 FISHING-GEOUNDS OP NOETH AMERICA. 



miles east of Huron there is a small wbiteflsli spawning-ground, but the bottom is very rocky and 

 only one net is located there. The pounds are set in from twenty-two to forty-two feet of water, 

 most of them being from seventy-five rods to three and one-half miles from shore. The " driving 

 bottom " in most portions of the Huron grounds is excellent, the outer portions being better in this 

 respect than the inside grounds. The clay bottom of the lake is covered by layers of sand forming 

 the best kind of, "holding ground." The catch at Huron consists chiefly of herring; in fact, these 

 grounds are considered the most favorable for herring fisheries of any on the lake. The general 

 fishery is also very profitable, there never having been a failure since it was begun. The 

 migratory varieties, such as whitefish, are taken only while passing, but herring and blue pike 

 are always present in abundance. Such fish as go towards the head of the lake to spawn 

 sometimes fail to reach that locality, and consequently there is liable to be a failure there, but 

 small quantities, at least, are always caught on the Huron grounds. Very extensive herring 

 spawning-grounds are situated here, and this fact possibly accounts for the extraordinary 

 numbers of this fish which are taken here in autumn. 



The Vermillion fishing-grounds occupy but a very small extent of shore, the nets being set at 

 but one station and close together about four miles west of the mouth of Vermillion Ejver. Nets 

 are set in from thirtj"^ to forty feet of water, and from two and one-half to three and one-half miles 

 from shore. The bottom is all clay, and very favorable both for driving the stakes and holding 

 them firmly. 



Vermillion to Conneatjt. — The most westerly pound-net grounds of this section of shore 

 extend from Vermillion to the mouth of Black Eiver, a distance of about eleven miles. The next 

 station to the eastward, known as the Dover Bay fishery, is about six miles east of Black Eiver. 

 Only twelve pounds are set here in water from twenty to forty feet deep, the inner poitnds being 

 about seventy rods from shore, the outer about one and one-fourth miles. The bottom is sandy 

 and the" "holding ground" very good. Passing easterly we find the next stations between 

 Chagrin Eiver, near Willoughby, and Grand Eiver, near Painesville. Thirteen nets were used here 

 in 1879. The only other station in this section is situated about three miles east of the mouth 

 of Grand Eiver, where there are four nets. The bottom, as at other points along this shore, 

 is sandy and gravelly. 



Between Ashtabula and Oonneaut we find important gill-net grounds extending twenty-five 

 miles from shore. In spring the fishermen do not go farther than twelve miles from shore, but in 

 summer they go to the outer limit of the ground, about twenty-five miles distant. Large quantities 

 of whitefish and blue pike are taken on these grounds. The fishermen are weU acquainted with 

 the migrations of the different species and follow them from shoal into deep water and vice versa. 



There are two seining reaches at the mouth. of Conneaut Harbor, which are visited for a short 

 time in the spring and in some years a few days in autumn. 



Conneaut to Buffalo. — The fishing-grounds of Erie extend from about eight miles west of 

 the "Head" to the western part of the peninsula encircling Erie Bay and pass in a northeasterly 

 direction, the distance from shore varying from four to fifteen miles according to the season. The 

 greater portion of the fishing is prosecuted in from twelve to eighteen fathoms of water. In the 

 spring the fish come from the westward and the grounds earliest visited are west of the " Head," but 

 the best fishing is always north-northeast of the mouth of the harbor and about ten miles out. 

 No considerable quantity of whitefish is taken within four miles of shore. The abundance of fish 

 on the Erie grounds is thought to be increasing. The largest quantities of whitefish are taken in 

 June and July and in the fall about the middle of October. Later than this, quantities of pike are 



