FISHERIES OF THE GREAT JL.AKES IN 1885. 51 



Boutin came to the region, there had been three or four crews of gill-net 

 fishermen, in addition to the Indians that fished for home supply. 

 From that time the gill-net fishery gradually increased until about 1883, 

 when it began to be superseded by the pound-nets. In 1885 there 

 were about fifteen crews that fished gill-nets exclusively, and twenty- 

 seven others that were interested in both gill-net and pound-net fisheries. 

 The season opens about the 1st of April and continues until the ice 

 forms and prevents the boats from getting out. In the early spring 

 they fish about the islands, and later along the shore between Bayfield 

 and Carp Biver, remaining till October, when they return to the is- 

 lands to fish till the close of the season, or, as is frequently the case, 

 proceed to Isle Royale and remain there until stormy winter weather 

 drives them home. As many as thirty boats, with a total of seventy- 

 five or eighty Bayfield fishermen, visited Isle Royale in the fall of 1883, 

 and twenty boats were there in 1884, but as they met with poor success 

 the latter year very few made the trip in 1885. 



Three men ordinarily constitute a crew for gill-net fishing, but at 

 least one third of the boats carry only two. They average from forty 

 to eighty nets to the boat. A few of the boats have nets made of fine 

 twine for spring fishing and coarser ones for the trout fishing in the 

 fall. This is especially true of those visiting Isle Royale, but most of 

 those fishing along the southern shore and among the islands have only 

 one set. The nets are 65 fathoms long, and vary from 4J to 5£ inches 

 in mesh. Some of them are rigged like the old-fashioned Lake Michi- 

 gan nets, with stones and floats, and the others in the more modern 

 style, with leads and corks. Fifteen or twenty nets constitute a gang, 

 each crew usually having four gangs, and keeping three in the water at 

 one time. The boats are mostly mackinaws, and smaller than those 

 about Duluth. They are worth about $100 each. In former years it is 

 estimated that, the average gill-net crew caught between 400 and 500 

 half-barrels for a year's fishing, but in 1884 the catch did not exceed 300 

 half-barrels to the boat. In 1885 it was much better, and is estimated 

 at 500 half-barrels. 



Gill-net fishing through the ice. — The ice-fishing with gill-nets varies 

 considerably from year to year. It ordinarily begins early in January 

 and lasts for six, eight, or even ten weeks. Two or three men constitute 

 a crew, running from forty to fifty nets. These are set in lines of four 

 nets each, at right angles to the shore ; the gangs are half a mile apart, 

 and are left in the water four or five days before hauling. Only fine 

 nets are used, as the sediment would collect too readily on coarse twine, 

 making the nets more noticeable and keeping the fish away. One crew 

 of men ordinarily secures an average of 300 pounds of fish daily, work- 

 ing about four days in a week. The marketable catch is about one- 

 half trout and one-half whitefish, in addition to quantities of suckers and 

 "lawyers," which are commonly thrown away. Some of the crews 

 have small canvas tents or huts mounted upon runners and provided 



