162 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Statistics. — Thirty-six men, all of German descent, were engaged in 

 the fisheries in 1885. These employed 3 steamers and 3 small boats 

 valued at $9,142 ; 1,540 gill-nets, 3 seines, 6 fyke-nets, and 1 trammel- 

 net, valued at $8,710 ; 31,500 feet of set-lines, with 4,500 hooks, occa- 

 sionally used by the gill-net fishermen, valued at $70; and $6,000 in 

 wharves, buildings, accessories, and floating capital, the total invest- 

 ment being $23,922. 



The catch amounted to 226,700 pounds, valued at $10,728. Of the 

 total yield, 112,600 pounds were trout, 106,000 pounds were whitefish, 

 and the remainder mixed fish, including suckers, perch, and lawyers. 



Gill-net fishery. — Prior to 1875 gill-nets- were fished from sail-boats, 

 of which there were ten in the town. In that year a steamer was first 

 employed. This was the Fred. Engle, a vessel of 14.02 tons, net. Her 

 running expenses were heavy, but in the spring of 1876, the year after 

 being built, she stocked $6,000. In 1884 there were two fishing steam- 

 ers at Kenosha, and in 1885 another was added. These vessels had a 

 total value of $9,100 ; they carried in all twenty men, and used fifteen 

 hundred and forty gill nets. 



The crew of a steamer consists of a captain, an engineer who receives 

 $50 per month, and four to six fishermen who are hired at from $45 to 

 $50. 



Each steamer carries from four hundred to six hundred nets ; these 

 are 36 to 40 fathoms long, when hung, with a mesh varying from 4£ to 

 5 inches, and are worth when new from $7 to $8. A gang of nets 

 numbering fifty to seventy-five is set every day and left in the water 

 for about three days. Three or four hauls are made each week. 



Operations begin in February, March, or April, according to the 

 amount of ice in the lake, but sometimes fishing is carried on through- 

 out the year. Trout is the only species caught in winter. Whitefish 

 are found only in small numbers during any portion of the year and 

 after April are usually scarce. The nets are set in 38 or 40 fathoms of 

 water ; in spring, about 22 miles from shore ; in summer, 10 to 25 miles, 

 and in fall 25 miles. 



The largest catch in a single gang of nets in 1884 was 1,400 pounds 

 taken by the Fred. Engle. The average haul the same year was 500 or 

 600 pounds. Three-fourths of the catch of this vessel was taken in the 

 fall and she stocked $3,500 in the year, representing about 90,000 

 pounds of whitefish and trout. The steamer L. Q. Rawson (7.05 tons 

 net) fished only two and a half months in the spring, stocking $2,500. 

 The largest single capture of this steamer was 4,400 pounds. 



In 1885 the catch of the Fred. Engle amounted to 40,200 pounds, 

 worth $1,608, of which yield only 200 pounds were whitefish. The L. 

 Q. Rawson fished off Frankfort, Mich., during a portion of the year, tak- 

 ing 170,000 pounds in the season, valued at $8,500. The steamer Annie 

 L. Smith (20.15 tons net) engaged a short time in the fishery that year, 

 making but twenty-eight hauls and then discontinuing the business. 



