62 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



with two mackiuaw boats and six nets, was 5 tons; in 1885, with an addi- 

 tional boat, two additional men, and four more nets, it was 10 tons. Mr. 

 Egerton says that the " herring v caught in June and July are really 

 young white fish. 



Seining. — Seines were formerly used a great deal in the vicinity, but 

 have now been abandoned. In 1884 one was hauled near the wharf 

 at L'Anse, and during the season 4 or 5 tons of fish were taken, almost 

 exclusively herring. The party who was fishing with it left the locality, 

 and the following year there was no seine fishing. 



Bobbing. — From January to April about forty Indians go bobbing, 

 that is, fishing with hook and line through the ice. Each fisherman uses 

 a single line, with a spoon hook, and has a small piece of herring or 

 sucker for bait. The apparatus, together with his spears for obtaining 

 fresh supplies of bait, and his tools for cutting the ice, he carries with 

 him in a little tent-covered sled. The outfit for one fisherman, includ- 

 ing the hook and line, is worth about $11, and the average catch for the 

 entire season is about 1,000 pounds to a man. This fishery has been 

 carried on in L'Anse Bay for at least fifteen or twenty years. 



Spearing. — About ten additional Chippewas, after having worked 

 during the summer at lumbering and loading vessels, make a practice 

 of spearing trout during the season when the ice is sufficiently strong 

 to bear them. The trout spearer, after having cut a hole in the ice, 

 throws a blanket over his head, so that he can see into the water, and 

 to attract the fish moves up and down below the surface a little decoy 

 herring. The spear used is made of iron, with three barbed prongs 

 and a wooden handle 20 feet long. The average catch per man is about 

 1,500 pounds. 



Other fisheries. — No trammel-nets have been set in the bay. In 1883 

 hoop- nets were tried for catching herring, but they did not succeed 

 and the fishery was soon abandoned. There are two white men who 

 fish with dip-nets at the mouth of the Fall Eiver, in L'Anse. The 

 fishing is carried on only in the spring, as suckers, which are the object 

 of pursuit, are not considered edible at other seasons of the year. The 

 nets have a three quarter-inch mesh and hang 4 feet below the pole, 

 which is 6 feet long. About 1,000 pounds in all are taken by the two 

 men. As far as can be learned, no set-line fishing was ever done. 



25. HURON BAY, HURON COUNTY, MICHIGAN. 



Nature and location of fisheries. — Huron Bay is a deep irregular 

 indentation in the lake shore, just eastward of the entrance to L'4nse 

 Bay. Two pound-nets are fished in it by a crew belonging at the ham- 

 let of Skanee, and there are two gill-net crews on the Huron Islands. 

 The fishing is carried on with both kinds of apparatus from May to 

 November. 



