96 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Bay takes the lead with 1,560 nets. Four hundred of these were fished 

 in 1885 by the steamer Sarah A. Shipman, 8.84 tons, and the remainder 

 by eleven sail-boat crews. At Fairport there was one small tug, the 

 Daisy Moore, 5.70 tons, and four sail-boat crews, using altogether 975 

 nets. The steamer Maggie Lutz, 8.14 tons, of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, 

 fished with 300 gill-nets in the Bay de Noquet and the neighboring 

 waters of the lake. 



At Summer Island, just outside the limits of the Bay de Noquet, but 

 naturally included with the latter, only two men owned gill-net boats in 

 1885, and before the close of the year one of these removed to Sack Bay. 



The gill-nets in this region are from 35 to 40 fathoms in length, and 

 have a mesh of 4 to 4J inches. From a pound to 2J pounds of twine 

 are required to each net, according to the degree of coarseness, there 

 being considerable variation in this particular. Kigged with float and 

 stone, as they usually are, they cost from $4 to $4.50 apiece. It is 

 interesting to note that in Sack Bay the method of rigging with cork 

 and lead, after having been tried by the fishermen for several seasons, 

 has been entirely discarded in favor of the old method. Four-fifths of 

 the nets at that place in 1884, and all of them in 1885, had floats and 

 stones. In the spring and summer the nets are generally set in the lake 

 in 50 fathoms of water, but in the fall they are fished in the bay, some- 

 times in only 15 fathoms. The favorite fishing-ground in the open water 

 is about 7 miles out from Big Summer Island. 



The boats are usually built in the mackinaw style, and range in value 

 from $75 to $225, but average a little less than $150. Those at Sack 

 Bay are all mackinaws. They are about 26 feet long, with a 6^-foot 

 beam. Some are carvel-built and others are lap-streaked. Each of 

 them has two fixed masts, the foremast slightly the longer, a fixed 

 bowsprit and one jib. The mainsail has both gaff and boom, but the 

 foresail is loose-footed with a gaff. Both of the sails are bent to mast- 

 hoops. All the boats have center-boards, with a box 4£ to 5 feet ^ng. 

 The wash-board is 5 inches broad at the middle and 2 inches at the 

 stern, with a coaming throughout, and in some cases an additional 

 board 3J inches high outside the coaming, for 9 feet abaft the bow. 

 There are two thwarts, the forward thwart 7 or 8 feet abaft the bow, 

 and the after thwart about 11 feet forward of the stern. 



The gill-net season lasts from April to November. Those who en- 

 gage in this fishery devote to it their exclusive attention during the 

 season, and there is but one instance of a crew which fishes pound-nets 

 at the same time. Some of the men lay off for a while in summer ; for 

 example, the captain of the Daisy Moore uses her in fishing in spring 

 and fall and in towing logs in summer. Half of the crews at Sack Bay 

 stop during September and resume work in October. There are one or 

 two crews that fish only in the spring. Before the water is frozen over 

 all fishing has ceased. Occasionally a stray net is set under the ice 

 but only for home supply. 



