252 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



their produce for fish, and such portion of the catch as could not be 

 disposed of in this way was salted and sold to dealers at Cleveland and 

 Buffalo. At present the fish caught are put up in barrels and carried 

 to the dealers in wagons, except where the landing is on an island, when 

 a boat is used instead. Most of the catch is sold to the Toledo dealers, 

 but about 40 tons are handled at Perrysburgh, from whence they are 

 shipped fresh to retailers in central Ohio. The seine fishermen obtained 

 much better prices for fish than those using other apparatus. 



At a meeting held in Toledo in the winter of 1884- 7 85 to oppose the 

 prohibition of seining in the river it was claimed that about a thousand 

 persons were dependent upon this branch of the fisheries, but Mr. Bower 

 observes that this figure is probably somewhat exaggerated. The sta- 

 tistics collected show about two hundred and thirty seine fishermen 

 with at least six hundred people dependent upon them for support. 

 The catch in 1885, which was an unfavorable year on account of the 

 ice remaining much later than usual, consisted of 250,000 pounds of 

 saugers, considerably over 300,000 pounds of walleyed pike, including 

 a few bass, and 170,000 pounds of other fish, mainly suckers, mullet, 

 redhorse, and perch ; for the whole of which the fishermen obtained 

 nearly $20,000. 



Fyke-net fishery. — The fyke-nets of Maumee Bay are much larger and 

 better than those about Monroe. They are somewhat similar to the 

 small pound-nets and are quite as effective. Instead of wings they 

 have a leader and set of hearts. The leader is 30 to 70 fathoms long, 

 the hearts 8 to 14 fathoms long, and the bowl or pocket 12 to 14 feet 

 long. The mesh is 4 to 5 inches in the leader, 3 inches in the hearts, 

 and 2 J inches in the bowl. Their value ranges from $25 to $50 each. 

 The total number in Maumee Bay was thirty-nine, worth $1,710. There 

 are none in the river or along this part of the coast. They are fished 

 in the spring and fall, and occasionally in winter. 



Set-line fishery. — There are about one hundred and fifty men who 

 fish for catfish between Bay Point and Locust Point from April 15 to 

 the middle of August. Over half of these own small farms along the 

 shore, to which they give almost their entire attention, and fish only 

 occasionally and to a small extent. The others make a business of it, 

 but nearly all of these likewise live on or near the coast, so that but a 

 few find it necessary to have fishing shanties. Each man has a set-line 

 with from 500 to 2,000 hooks, a row-boat, a dip-net, a cleaning-knife, 

 and a pair of pincers. The value of this outfit averages $25. The 

 fish are dressed on the grounds by those who catch them, losing one- 

 half of their weight in this process, and are mostly sold to the dealers 

 at Toledo at 4£ cents a pound. A single firm handles over 50,000 

 pounds of dressed catfish yearly from this source. The total catch of 

 these fishermen in 1885 brought them about $6,000. 



