FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885. 45 



have three, and others will occasionally employ an extra man during 

 the height of the fishing season. 



Some fishermen have nets of fine twine, with a 4J- to 5-inch mesh, 

 for spring fishing, when the whitefish are most abundant, and others of 

 5J to 5-J, or even 6 inches, of heavier twine, for fall fishing, when the 

 trout predominate j but a majority have medium-weight nets of 5- to 

 5^ -inch mesh, which they use throughout the entire year. The nets are 

 about 250 fathoms or 1,500 feet long, and from fifteen to seventeen 

 meshes deep, costing when new about $30 each. They are set in 

 gangs of five to eight nets each, each boat being provided with about 

 four gangs, three of which are kept in the water and one on the shore 

 to dry. One gang is hauled and set daily when the weather will per- 

 mit, and in cases where fish are very abundant two gangs are occasion- 

 ally hauled. 



The catch, according to Mr. George X. La Vaque, who has furnished 

 much information for this report, varies from 10,000 to 40,000 pounds 

 of fish per boat, averaging in 1884 about 30,000 pounds. Of these 

 about 10 per cent, are whitefish, and 5 per cent, wall eyed pike, the 

 remaining 85 per cent, beinglake trout and siscowet,in the proportion of 

 about 9 pounds of the former to 5 of the latter. The whitefish weigh, 

 according to the same authority, from 2£ to 5 pounds each, round, the 

 trout from 5 to G pounds, and the siscowet from 4.J to 5 pounds. Of the 

 entire gill-net catch from sail-boats, about one-half of the whitefish and 

 one-third of the trout and siscowet are salted, the remainder, together 

 with nearly all of the pike, being sold fresh. Up to 1883 gill-net fish- 

 ing was wholly with sail-boats. At that time a small fishing-steamer 

 was employed, and two years later there were three fishing steamers, the 

 Amethyst, the J. W. Eviston, and the Henry F. Brower, carrying five 

 men each, and using an average of fifty to seventy nets to the boat. The 

 average catch of two of the steamers in 1884 amounted to 120,000 

 pounds, the other steamer, which is employed a greater part of the 

 year in marketing the catch of the pound-nets, taking only about 

 20,000 pounds. None of these fish, according to Capt. E. S. Smith, 

 are salted, the steamers usually running their catch direct to market. 



Gill-net fishing through the ice has not yet become extensive in the 

 vicinity of Duluth. The first to engage in this kind of fishing was Cap- 

 tain Smith, who began in February, 1884, and was soon joined by two 

 other crews. The next year there were five crews fishing ten or twelve 

 nets each. The fishing begins shortly after the 1st of January and 

 continues till the ice softens and is considered unsafe for the men to 

 venture upon it. The catch, which is made up largely of trout, varies 

 considerably, averaging perhaps 20,000 to 25,000 pounds of fish for each 

 crew. 



Pound-net fishery. — No definite record can be obtained of the begin- 

 ning of pound-net fishing about Duluth ; but, about 1873, pounds were 

 fished along the north shore of the lake, near the boundary between 



