132 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



there were four crews who fished under the ice from January 1 to 

 February 15, and three of them fished in open water during the month 

 of May, and from October 10 to December 15. They obtained their 

 best fishing in the month of November. On the canal there was one 

 crew which employed fifty nets from May 1 to November 20. There 

 was also a crew of pound-net fishermen who operated gill-nets during the 

 months of January, February, and March, after which they fished in 

 Green Bay usually 8 or 9 miles off the mouth of Sturgeon Bay. The 

 pound-net fishermen on the north side of Sturgeon Bay, west of the 

 town of that name, comprising four crews, likewise engaged in the 

 winter gill-net fishing. 



All the other winter gill-net fishermen making their headquarters on 

 these shores, with the exception of a couple of visiting crews of Chip- 

 pewa Point pound-net fishermen, were residents of the village of Stur- 

 geon Bay itself. The village had seven crews fishing with this appa- 

 ratus under the ice, and two firms extensively engaged in the open 

 water fisheries. One firm has owned for several years the steamer 

 Trescott, of 8.44 tons, and fished with her in 1884 from August 15 to 

 November 15. In 1885 she did not begin operations until October 20. 

 Another firm, which in 1884 fished from a mackinaw boat with remark- 

 able success, in 1885 employed the steam-tug A. 8. Piper, 11.80 tons, in 

 the same business. The fishing season was from April 15 to the freezing 

 up of the water in December. 



The nets used in this vicinity are from 40 to 50 fathoms long, and from 

 14 to 22 meshes deep, with a mesh of 4£ to 6 inches when stretched. 

 The average size is 45 fathoms by 16 meshes, with a 4J, 4f, or 5 

 inch mesh. They are hung in the modern style, with corks and leads. 

 The sail-boats used in the open-water fisheries are mostly square- 

 sterned craft, but the Mackinaw boat is also employed. 



Most of the winter fishermen have a horse and wagon with which to 

 go to and from their fishing grounds, but some have hand-sleds with sails 

 instead. Each crew has a shanty on the ice which is moved from one 

 hole to another as circumstances require. The winter crews have two 

 men each and an average of 35 nets. 



The catch is almost exclusively whitefish and trout, the proportion of 

 trout being largest with the steamers, one of which is said to have caught 

 only 15 per cent, of whitefish during the whole of 1884. The winter 

 fishermen get nearly all whitefish, while in the fall catch of the 

 Bay View sail-boats the two species were about equally divided. The 

 winter fishing was much more profitable in the beginning of 1885 than 

 it was the previous year. Four or five years ago it was far more so than 

 it has been since. 



The total number of gill-net fishermen in 1885 was fifty- one, fourteen 

 of whom were pound-net fishermen who are included in the statistics 

 of that fishery. The number of gill-nets was 1,227, worth $6,267, and 

 the value of the boats, including two tugs and seven sail-boats, was 



