250 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



There were 3 steamers employed in collecting fish, 42 seine-boats, and 

 237 other boats, including pound-net boats, scows, and small row-boats. 

 The value of the steamers was $16,300, and that of the other boats 

 was $10,095. The number of pound-nets was 242, of seines 44, and of 

 fykes 39. The total value of pound-nets, seines, fykes, and set-lines was 

 $47,890, and that of the wharves and buildings used in immediate con- 

 nection with the fisheries was $49,205; the value of accessories, includ- 

 ing fish-cars, was $8,192, and the cash capital was $10,500. The products 

 amounted to 3,400,350 pounds, having a value to the fisherman of about 

 $61,000, and divided as follows : 1,232,200 pounds of saugers, 641,000 

 pounds of herring, 635,300 pounds of wall-eyed pike, 274,450 pounds 

 of catfish and bull-heads, 79,000 pounds of whitefish, 70,000 pounds of 

 bass, 15,000 pounds of trout, and 463,400 pounds of other species. 



Pound-net fishery. — It is said that the first pound-net set in the west- 

 ern end of Lake Erie was put down in Maumee Bay about 1850. It is 

 certain, however, that these nets did not come into general use until 

 between 1860 and 1870 when they were introduced rapidly all along the 

 lake shore from Huron westward. 



In 1885 the fishery was very extensive and there were one hundred 

 and seven nets in the bay and the mouth of the river, and one hundred 

 and thirty-five on the lake shore between Cedar Point and Toussaint 

 Creek, including several set at West Sister Island. The lake nels are 

 set in water from 12 to 30 feet deep and are of the ordinary dimensions, 

 but the others though the same in form are much smaller. These bay 

 nets vary in size, those in the mouth of the river being the smallest. 

 They are set in water from 3 to 13 feet deep, and the ground is of such 

 a nature that the stakes can be easily driven, and a hand-maul is usu- 

 ally sufficient to fix them securely in place. In these nets the leader 

 is from 33 to 41 fathoms long, the hearts 8 to 14 fathoms long, the 

 tunnel 12 to 14 feet long, and the pot 12 feet square. The size of mesh 

 is usually about 3J inches in the leader, 3 inches in the hearts and fun- 

 nel, 2J inches in the pot. At first the pound- nets were set singly or in 

 strings of from two to four, and this is still the case in the bay, but on 

 the lake shore they have been pushed farther and farther out until now 

 between Cedar Point and Touissant Creek the nets are arranged in 

 nine strings of twelve, thirteen, sixteen, or seventeen nets each. The 

 fishing season is from the going out of the ice in the spring until May 

 15 or June 5, and in the fall from September 10 or 20 until the lake 

 freezes. Most of the nets are set both in the spring and fall, but 

 twenty-five which are set in the bay near the mouth of the river are 

 fished only in spring. Over fifty of the bay pound-nets are owned at 

 the town of North Toledo and about forty at Ironville. Nearly tbe 

 whole of the remainder, including all the lake nets, are owned by the 

 dealers and other firms at Toledo. 



Seine fishery. — According to Mr. John Wygant, an old resident and 

 fisherman of Toledo, seining was begun in a small way in Maumee Eiver 



