246 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



fishermen. The total value of the four seiues was $900, and of the four 

 boats $100, and the products amounted to 88,000 pounds, worth 

 $2,800. 



Fyke-net fishery. — Between October 15 and April 15 a number of 

 fyke-nets are fished for the same species as are taken in the seines. 

 They are located as follows : Six in Huron River near its mouth, six- 

 teen within the mouth of Swan Creek, and fifteen in Plum Creek and 

 Pleasant Bay. Each fyke consists of two staked and anchored funnels 

 of netting, each 12 feet long, one opening into the other, and a 190-foot 

 leader. The first funnel has a mouth 4 feet in diameter and an opening 

 at the small end of a diameter of 1J feet. The second funnel has an 

 aperture of 3 feet at one end, and is closed at the other. Some of the 

 fykes have wings 12 feet long on each side of the mouth, extending at 

 an angle of 45 degrees. The size of mesh in the funnels is 1J inches, 

 and in the leader and wings 3 inches. The fish are removed by lifting 

 the small end of the second funnel, which is closed with a puckering 

 string, and taking them out with a dip-net. In the winter the nets are 

 set at some distance below the surface, in order that they may not be 

 frozen in. 



There are seven fyke-net fishermen, whose five boats are worth $50, 

 their forty-three fykes $382, and their minor apparatus and accessories 

 $30. The products amounted to about 85,000 pounds, worth $2,400. 



Set-line fishery. — A special class of the population, of Canadian- 

 French descent, commonly known in the locality as "muskrat French- 

 men," make their living partly by the cultivation of their little farms 

 along the shore and partly by fishing and muskrat catching. Their 

 fishing is limited to the setting of lines for catfish and mud-turtles be- 

 tween the 1st of June and the 1st of September. The apparatus used 

 consists of from 200 to 400 hooks attached by short lines to a main line 

 which is from 5 to 27 fathoms long, according to the place in which set, 

 and is held in place by poles or stakes pushed into the mud. The lines 

 are usually set in the lake, but occasionally short ones are fished in the 

 bayous and marshes. Catfish are taken with a bait of herring or grass- 

 hoppers, and are mostly used in the families of the fishermen and their 

 neighbors or sold to peddlers. When the catch is large the surplus fish 

 are dressed for market; their heads, skins, entrails, fins, and tails art 

 removed and they are then shipped fresh to Toledo. A few of the fish- 

 ermen keep them in live cars until there are enough for a shipment. 

 The size of the catfish ranges from 5 to 25 pounds, averaging 8 or 10 

 pounds. 



In fishing for mud-turtles, the lines are set 3 to 6 inches below the 

 surface of the water, and are baited with pieces of herring or frog. 

 The turtles weigh from 6 to 15 pounds each, and are usually shipped 

 alive in boxes to Toledo and occasionally to Detroit. 



There are from sixty-five to one hundred men engaged in this fishery, 

 using one hundred set-lines, worth $1,000. The catch in 1885 consisted 



