FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885. 119 



value of about $5. This is used for the capture of herring and perch. 

 The other kind, intended for whitefish, is 50 fathoms long and 1G meshes 

 deep, with a 4£-inch mesh. Both kinds are ordinarily rigged with the 

 old fashioned float and stone. 



The season usually begins about the first of January and lasts from 

 forty to seventy days. The herring gill netters of Little Suamico begin 

 earlier and get most of their fish between December 1 and January 

 15. The usual outfit of a crew of ice fishermen is from twenty to sixty 

 nets; a shanty costing $25; two chisels, a scoop-shovel, and two axes, 

 with a value of $G; a hand-sled, $2; a horse, $150; a "skeeter," $7; 

 a reel with 300 feet of rope, $12; and a long pole, hereafter to be de- 

 scribed, $5. The shanty is 14 feet long and 7 feet wide, with unshod 

 wooden runners. It contains a stove, and is covered with a duck roof, 

 which projects on each side to form an 18 -inch gable. 



The method of fishing is somewhat peculiar. Four holes are cut in 

 the ice 100 feet apart, at a place where the water is from 50 to GO feet 

 deep. The first one is in the shape of an elongated rectangle, the two 

 middle ones are round and about 1 foot in diameter, while the last is 

 2£ feet square. A strip of boards 100 feet long and 4 to G inches 

 wide is used in settiug the nets. It has a 3-foot tail-line, and a long 

 line which runs along its entire length, with considerable slack. The 

 pole is pushed into the rectangular hole, which is made longer or shorter 

 according to the thickness of the ice. The net is paid into the long hole 

 by one of the men, and is reeled back by the other. The reel, which is 

 moved about on a hand- sled, has a knee-board 1 iuch thick, 6 inches 

 wide, and 1 foot long, and a net-board about 4 feet long by 2£ wide. 

 Several nets are set in a string, and the end of each net is attached by 

 a bridle-line to the stone-line. One stone-line is fastened to each end 

 of the string and one at each point where two nets come together. The 

 stone-line is attached near the surface to the longer arm of a hook of 

 wood, naturally or, in some cases, artificially bent, the crotch of which 

 is supported by a cross-stick 3 to 4 feet long and 2 inches thick, which 

 lies upon the ice across the hole through which the former protrudes. 

 The stone anchor at the other end of the line is about twenty pounds 

 in weight. 



When there are three men, one chops holes and reels the nets while 

 the other two pay out, lift the nets and dress the fish. All work is 

 done in the shanty, and, while lifting, the horse and skeeter are left in 

 the lee of the shanty. The latter is moved from hole to hole as needed, 

 and is left at the close of the day's work beside the hole where the 

 lifting is to begin in the morning. 



The catch is about 75 per cent, whitefish, which sell at 8 cents per 

 pound, 4 per cent, each of trout and dories, and 17 per cent, suckers. 



Hand-line ice fishing. — There is still considerable hand line fishing or 

 "bobbing" through the ice, although the business has very much de- 

 creased. In former years it was almost universally practiced and very 



