104 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



quarters at Escanaba, but carry on their fishing from Peninsula Point 

 and Bark Eiver. 



The catch is largest in the spring and fall. The fishing begins as soon 

 as the ice is out. At first the nets are fished iu the bay, but, as the sum- 

 mer comes on and the whitefish go into the deeper water, the fishermen 

 follow them, and fish in the lake from July till October or November, 

 when the open water becomes too rough, and then return to the bay 

 fishing. In August they usually lay up, and most of them do so in July 

 as well, as the catch is always small in those months. Several of the 

 crews conclude their season's work some time in October. It occa- 

 sionally happens that nets are left on the fishing-grounds all winter, 

 but this reprehensible practice calls forth strong protestations from 

 the pound-net and other fishermen, as it results in the useless destruc- 

 tion of many fish which become caught in the meshes of the unvisited 

 nets and pollute the water by their decay. 



During the months of May, June, and July, 1884, the steamer Halm 

 fished with gill-nets for the Escanaba market, having a total catch of 

 6,841 pounds of whitefish, and 24,309 pounds of trout. There was no 

 steamer fishing in 1885. 



The gill-nets used were about 45 fathoms long with a mesh of from 

 4J to 4f inches. In 1882 a 3f-inch mesh was used. About half of the 

 nets are rigged with cork and lead, and the rest still retain the float and 

 stone. They are lifted three or four times a week. The boats are mack- 

 iuaws with fixed bowsprits and are worth from $175 to $320, averaging 

 $250. A typical specimen of these, the Jennie Gilbert, of Escanaba, is 

 described on page 22 of this report. 



The catch in 1884 would average about 200 pounds to each lift. 

 Nearly one-half of the entire quantity was salted, and the remainder 

 sold mostly to Booth in the fall, though in the spring that firm does not 

 get over a quarter of the fresh fish. 



Pound-net fishery. — The fishing with pound-nets is well distributed in 

 the Little Bay de Noquet and along the neighboring shores of Delta 

 County below Escanaba, but the two most important groups of nets are 

 found near Peninsula Point, directly opposite to the city, and south- 

 ward in the vicinity of Iudiantown and Bark River. 



The nets vary from 14 to 47 feet in depth, averaging about 30 feet. 

 Parties on St. Martin's Island once tried the experiment of setting a 

 pound-net 100 feet deep, but it has not been fished for several years. In 

 1883 a net 65 feet deep was tried, but it did not prove a success, and 

 was cut up into shallower nets. On the broad shoals below Escanaba 

 and around the mouth of Cedar River fishermen are in the habit of set- 

 ting nets of only 14 or 16 feet, which, although sometimes fished for 

 other species, are usually designated in the vicinity as sturgeon nets. 



Pound-nets are occasionally fished continuously from spring until late 

 fall, as long as the water is open. The most sagacious men, however, 

 pull them up for six weeks, from the first of August to the middle of 



