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-and-line fishing, grappling, 
fyke-net fishing, and dip-net or “scap”-net fishing. : 
SPEARING.—The principal locality at which spear-fishing is carried on is Saginaw Bay, where 
it is prosecuted by the ordinary fishermen. 
In Saginaw 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 placeto 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 furrished 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, Ohicago, Michigan City, 
Saugatuck, Toledo, Port Olinton, Toussaint, Sandusky, Vermillion, and a few smaller places. 
