110 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



For some years the fishing between Cedar River and Menominee has 

 yielded unusually small results, and to this cause must be attributed 

 the serious falling off in the extent of the fishing during 1885. 



The value of the products of the pound-net fishery in 1884 was 

 $29,930, and in 1885, $15,201. The catch was divided as shown in the 

 following table : 



Species. 



Whitefish 



Trout 



Dories 



Sturgeon 



Herring 



Perch and suckers 



Total 



1884. 



Fresh. 



Pounds. 

 30, 000 

 10, 000 

 10, 000 



8,000 

 50, 000 



3,000 



111, 000 



Salt. 



Pounds. 

 140, 000 

 45, 000 

 34, 500 



1,070,000 

 5,100 



1, 294, 600 



Total. 



Pounds. 



170, 000 



55, 000 



44, 500 



8,000 



1, 120, 000 



8,100 



1,405,600 



1885. 



Fresh. 



Pounds. 



20, 000 

 7,000 

 5,200 

 7,209 



21, 900 

 2,000 



63, 309 



Salt. 



Pounds. 

 64, 800 

 23, 700 

 8,000 



780, 600 

 3,400 



880, 500 



Total. 



Pounds. 



84, 800 



30, 700 



13,200 



7,209 



802, 500 



5,400 



943, 809 



The 648 packages of whitefish put up in 1885 were divided as follows 

 among the different grades : 120 packages No. 1, 85 packages No. 2, 

 120 packages No. 3, and 323 packages No. 4. 



Gill-net fishery.— 4>ill-nets were formerly used very extensively in 

 the fisheries between Cedar River and Menominee, and for a long time 

 most of the fishermen divided their time between the gill-net and pound- 

 net fisheries. In 1875 there were twenty crews, with two men each, 

 fishing for whitefish in this way, and they did well, their profits aver- 

 aging $250 to $400 a season to each man. The water remained open in 

 the winters of 1878, 1879, and 1880, and the gill-net fishery rapidly fell 

 off until now there are but four crews, who fish rather irregularly, with 

 165 nets, during the season of the pound-net fishing, to which they give 

 their principal attention. The nets are 16 fathoms long and 40 meshes 

 deep, with a mesh of 2J to 2£ inches. Their catch in 1884 amounted to 2 

 tons of whitefish and trout, and as many as 10 tons of herring. 



Ice fishing. — The gill-net fishing through the ice has dwindled down 

 to one crew of two men, who fish about fifty nets of 50 fathoms each, 

 with a 4J- and 5 inch mesh. Their catch in 1884 consisted of 1,500 

 pounds of whitefish. 



There was formerly an extensive fishery with hand lines. In 1880 

 there were twenty men engaged in bobbing through the ice. They 

 received 7 cents a pound for their fish and earned on an average about 

 $50 apiece every month. In the winter of J884-'5 only two or three 

 men occupied themselves in this way. 



Other fisheries. — Twenty years ago a few seines were fished in the re. 

 gion, but this fishery has become entirely extinct. No fyke-nets or set- 

 lines are used. 



