136 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



are rigged with cork and lead. Both north and south of that place, 

 however, there are still many who prefer the float and stone. 



Several kinds of boats are used, ranging from skiffs worth $15 or $20 

 each to the mackinaw with a value of several hundred dollars. At 

 Fish Creek there are square-sterncd and sharp-sterned sail-boats, aver- 

 aging in value over $150. At the other fishing stations the quality is 

 much inferior; in fact almost all are flat-bottomed craft. In October, 

 1881, a small steamer, named the Jessie Blackford, was introduced into 

 the fisheries of this region. 



The fishing season for gill- nets varies considerably. Four crews at Fish 

 Creek, oneatEgg Harbor, and three at Thayerport and Little Harbor fish 

 exclusively in the winter. Besides these, there are three crews at Little 

 Harbor and two in the vicinity of Fish Creek who fish in winter and also for 

 a month or two in spring after the ice has cleared away. There are six 

 crews, scattered along at different places, who fish only in the fall, usu- 

 ally beginning about the middle of October. The remaining eleven 

 crews continue their operations throughout a greater part of the season 

 of open water. 



The total number of professional fishermen in 1885 was 54, of whom 

 25 were employed in the summer gill-net fishing exclusively, 8 in the 

 winter gill-net fishing exclusively, 5 in both the wiuter and spring gill- 

 net fishing, and 9 in both the gill-net and pound-net fisheries ; while 2 

 used both gill-nets and fyke-nets during the open season, and five oper- 

 ated pound-nets in summer and fall and gill-nets in winter and spring. 

 Those who engaged also in the pound-net or fyke-net fisheries are in- 

 cluded in the statistics of those fisheries, as they give to them their 

 principal attention. There were in addition 21 farmers who fished oc- 

 casionally on a very small scale. 



The total number of nets used was 1,253 ; worth $8,037 ; boats 31, 

 valued at $3,295 ; besides these there were 3 others worth $85, which 

 were also used in the pound-net aud fyke-net fisheries, and are included 

 in those statistics. The total value of the horses, sleds, and shanties 

 employed in the ice fishing was $860, and the value of shore-houses used 

 exclusively in the gill-net fisheries was $1,000, besides $350 invested in 

 property owned by persons operating both pound-nets and gill-nets. 

 The value of minor accessories was $130. The products of the fishery 

 were 98,275 pounds of whitefish and 17,340 pounds of trout, valued at 

 $4,626, sold fresh ; 65,515 pounds of whitefish and 11,565 pounds of 

 trout, worth $3,854, salted. The total yield of the fishery was 192,695 

 pounds, valued at $8,480. 



Fylce-net fishery.— There were only ten fyke-nets owned between 

 Death's Door and Sturgeon Bay in 1885, six of which were at Ephraim 

 and four near Egg Harbor. The frame- work of these nets is composed 

 of two or three iron hoops and a rectangular iron frame called the door. 

 This is covered with netting which is extended to form two long wings 

 or leaders, one on each side, and there is a tunnel inside the door through 

 which the fish are conducted into the interior. In a specimen from 



