190 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



bouse on the jutting peninsula in the bay, Leland, and the shore north 

 of Gill's Pier. The total number of nets used from those places was 2,011, 

 with a total length of 542,900 feet. One hundred and forty-four men, 

 of whom 118 were professionals, were required to fish them ; of this 

 number 10 were also eugaged in pound-net or seine fishing. There 

 were 26 semi-professionals, who were farmers and Indians and used 

 from ten to forty nets each. 



The regular gill-net crews contain two men each, who have one boat 

 and from forty to sixty nets. The boats are mostly mackinaws worth 

 from $40 to $175, $80 being the average price. 



Fishing is carried on throughout the entire open season, but is gen- 

 erally discontinued after the formation of ice. Two crews, however, 

 fished nets under the ice in 1885, catching 3,000 pounds of whitefish 

 and trout valued at $120. Five crews at Sutton's Bay and Old Mission 

 operate their nets only in the fall, using only ninety-five nets altogether. 



The species caught are whitefish, blackfins, and trout, the yield of 

 the last named being about equal to that of the two others combined. 

 Each boat averaged $60 per month in 1885 from the sale of fish, the 

 average stock of two men for a season being $300. One-third of the 

 gill-net fish are salted, and the others are sold fresh to dealers at 4 

 cents a pound. 



The total capital invested in this fishery was $10,733, of which 

 $4,560 represented the value of 66 boats, $11,663 gill-nets, and $3,500 

 shore property and accessories. 



The products of the gill-net fishery were 797,900 pounds, valued at 

 $27,577. The salt fish amounted to $364,000 pounds and sold for 

 $14,560. Of the total catch 135,000 pounds were whitefish, 238,000 

 pounds were blackfins, and 344,900 pounds were trout. 



Pound-net fishery. — The first pound in the bay was set at Antrii 

 City in 1867. This was successfully fished, but no others were intrc 

 duced till 1869, when one was brought from Toledo. There were never 

 more nets set than in 18S5, when the number properly accredited to the 

 bay was further augmented at times by nets temporarily brought from 

 other places — Sleeping Bear Bay and the Fox Islands, for instance. 



The location of nets in Grand Traverse Bay was as follows ; 



One oft' the north end of Torch Lake; one off Elk Lake, below Elk 

 Rapids ; three in the southern part of the eastern arm of the bay ; one 

 on the peninsula opposite Elk Rapids ; three on Hog Island in Bower's 

 Harbor ; two below Sutton's Bay, and one at Northport. 



The season of the pound-net fishiug begins about the 1st of May and 

 continues until the 1st of July, when the nets are laid up until October 

 15, from which date the fishiug continues until the 1st of January. 

 Early in the season two men constitute a pound-net gang ; later, when 

 trout are caught in large quantities, an increased force is required. 

 When the nets are being put in, the crews lend mutual aid in driving 

 the poles. 



