FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885. 253 



88. LOCUST POINT TO PORT CLINTON, OTTAWA COUNTY, OHIO. 



Toussaint Greelc. — Immediately east of the promontory known as Lo- 

 cust Point, the limit of the fisheries tributary to Toledo, is Toussaint 

 Creek, a stream whose mouth affords a good harbor for small fishing 

 craft. The fisheries at this point are quite varied, most of the appara- 

 tus and methods of Lake Erie being represented. There are about 

 thirty fishermen here, using two steamers, twenty-two boats, one hun- 

 dred and thirty-five gill-nets, thirty-five pound-nets, thirty-three fykes, 

 and thirteen thousand set-line hooks. 



Portage River. — From Locust Point the trend of the lake shore is in 

 a southeasterly direction to the broad, shallow mouth of Portage Eiver, 

 beyond which it bends abruptly to the northward until near Moore's 

 Point, Catawba Island, it recurves a little towards the west before 

 again resuming its eastern and southern direction. At the mouth of 

 the Portage River, on its southeastern bank, is the town of Port Clin- 

 ton, the most important one between Toledo and Sandusky, one half of 

 whose population of 2,000 are directly or indirectly dependent on the 

 fisheries. The harbor is a good one for craft drawing 9 feet or less. 



General characteristics of the fisheries. — The fishermen of this region 

 are intelligent and industrious, and are mostly men of American ances- 

 try, living at Port Clinton and Locust Point. A firm at the former place 

 owns thirty pound-nets, which extend out 10 miles from the land and 

 form the longest string of pound-nets in the waters of the United States. 

 They purchase large quantities of fish from other fishermen in the vicin- 

 ity, including nearly all the products of the winter fisheries of Portage 

 River and the w;est end of Sandusky Bay. They make their own boxes, 

 barrels, and boats, and are also agents for the sale of netting. There 

 is a small number of pound-nets near Port Clinton in addition to the 

 great string just referred to, and in the neighborhood of Toussaint 

 Creek there are about three dozen more. A score of gill-net crews fish 

 from the two places, whose favorite fishing-ground is Niagara Reef, 

 about 7 miles northeast of Locust Point, 12 miles northwest of Port 

 Clinton. The seine fishery, though greatly diminished by the intro- 

 duction of pound-nets nearly thirty-five years ago, has survived to the 

 present time in Portage River and at the western end of Sandusky Bay. 

 Fyke-nets are fished both in Toussaint Creek and Portage River, each 

 place having several score ; and in summer nearly all of the fishermen 

 use set-lines, principally for catfish. There is also a number of persons 

 who make a living by catching frogs and mud turtles. 



Species. — In the early days of the fisheries, thirty or thirty-five years 

 ago, sturgeon, herring, and all kinds of " soft fish " were thrown away, 

 as there was no market for them, and whitefish were usually the only 

 kind saved. They were very abundant, and it is related that in 1851 

 as many as 2,500 fish of this species were caught near Port Clinton in 

 a single haul of the seine, Mr. Bell, one of the most experienced fish- 



