124 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



others come in from the country during the fishing season. The nets are 

 usually set for herring outside of the sand spit known as the Little Tail, 

 but when herring are scarce they are fished inside of the Little Tail for 

 perch. A good many pickerel are also taken. The only*open water 

 fishing is with nets having a 3J-inch mesh for pickerel during three or 

 four weeks after the breaking up of the ice in spring. 



Each fisherman has three to five pickerel-nets, and eight to fifteen 

 herring-nets for ice fishing. Two men usually put their nets together 

 and fish in common. Many of the gill net men use a few f}^kes at the 

 same time. The value of their catch will average about $2 per day. 



Haul- seine fishery. — Seven seines, from GOO to 1,320 feet in length, aver- 

 aging 990 feet, are owned at Green Bay City and on the shore a few 

 miles to the east. The fishing begins when the ice goes out, from the 

 1st to the 25th of April, and terminates between the 10th and 30th of 

 June. It is resumed in the fall about September 1, or in some cases 

 not until October 15, and is not discontinued until the end of Novem- 

 ber. The hauling is generally done at night on the Fox River or the 

 beach at the head of the bay. Some of the crews consist of two men 

 with one horse to assist them in hauling; others have three or four men. 

 The average yield is $300 per annum to each seine, divided as follows: 

 30 per cent, pike, 20 per cent, pickerel, 25 per cent, catflsh, 15 per cent, 

 perch, and 10 per cent, bay-fish or suckers. 



Fyke-net fishery. — The fyke -net was first introduced into the fish- 

 eries of this region about twenty years ago, although prior to 1880 it 

 was a rare occurrence for any one to make a business of fishing with 

 such apparatus. Scores of them are now in use, belonging usually to 

 the gill-net or seine fishermen, though in some cases their owners are 

 persons who do no other fishing. Occasionally, single fykes are fished 

 for pleasure or home supply. 



Those now used are from 4 to 6 feet in diameter at the mouth, and 

 have two funnels. The hearts contain 24 to 30 feet of netting each, and 

 the leaders are 200 feet long, with a 4 inch mesh. Although the cost of 

 a new one is $30 or $35, the average value of those actually in use can 

 not be placed higher than $15 or $20. A small scow, 15 feet long, with 

 a 4 foot beam, is usually employed in setting and lifting the nets. It 

 is 3 feet wide at the bow and 2J feet at the stern. It has a center-board 

 with a box 3J feet long, nine knees, a bottom rounding up at stem and 

 stern, and a place to step mast forward. It is worth $12 or $15 when 

 new. In those cases in which fykes are owned by pound-net fishermen 

 they are fished from ordinary pound-boats. They are set particularly 

 in the mouth of Duck Creek, but also in the Fox River and the inter- 

 vening sloughs along the bay shore. Each man fishes his own nets, 

 without needing any one to assist him. If the weather is bad he tends 

 half his nets each day, but otherwise he lifts the whole number, usually 

 about ten. The season extends throughout the entire year, with the 

 exception of July and part of August. In winter the fykes are fished 



