258 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



ther on, though it comes only incidentally within the range of a review 

 of the commercial fisheries. 



The peninsula. — The peninsula is thickly settled with fruit-growers 

 and fishermen. There is a hamlet, called Ottawa City, with about 150 

 people, on the east shore of Catawba Island, and on the north shore of 

 the other arm of the peninsula are the settlements of Lakeside and 

 Marblehead. According to Mr. B. Clemons, an old fisherman of Mar- 

 blehead, the first pound-net used in this region was brought from 

 Connecticut in 1850 and set near Lakeside. Mr. J. H. Klippart states 

 that in October, 1851, a small pound-net was set at the mouth of East 

 Harbor ; its stakes were driven with a hand maul in 16 feet of water. 

 Notwithstanding the smallness of the net it caught immense quantities 

 of whitefish. These experiments do not seem to have produced any 

 important results, for in 1853 the fisheries were carried on exclusively 

 with seines, and it was not until 1855 that a pound-net was again fished 

 there. The seine fishing along the outer shore has now almost ceased, 

 while the pound-net fishing between Port Clinton and the entrance to 

 Sandusky Bay has become very extensive, the number of nets between 

 Port Clinton and the entrance to Sandusky Bay amounting, in 1885, to 

 over one hundred and thirty. The headquarters for most of the pound- 

 net fishing is at Moore's dock on the west side of the island. 



The sauger gill-net fishing, which was begun at Port Clinton and on 

 Catawba Island in the spring of 1884, proved so profitable that a much 

 larger number of men took part in it in 1885, and the catch was so 

 large as to overstock the market, causing a great depression in price. 



On the northern part of the peninsula, in the crotch between its two 

 arms, are three marshy inlets with a total area of several thousand acres, 

 which for about fifteen years have supported fyke-net fisheries of some 

 importance. At present one hundred and seven nets are fished here, 

 by eight fishermen, from the beginning of September to the 1st of May. 

 The catch consists principally of bull-heads and sunfish in fall, of bass 

 in winter, and of grass-pike in spring, with a large mixture of perch at 

 all seasons. In summer over fifty men fish here with set-lines for cat- 

 fish, usually earning about $100 each during the season, though in 1885 

 they made only about half as much. A steam-boat touches daily at two 

 points on the island, and during the season of navigation takes all the 

 fish in a fresh state to Sandusky. The products of the small fisheries 

 with spears and lines in winter and with seines in the harbors at other 

 seasons are sent principally to Port Clinton. 



The Bass Islands. — This group consists of three main islands of irreg- 

 ular shape lying due north of Catawba Island. Middle Bass Island is 

 1£ miles south of North Bass Island, and is separated from Put-in-Bay 

 or South Bass Island, the southernmost of the group, by a channel only 

 one mile in width. 



On the northern side of Putin-Bay Island is a roomy harbor, which is 

 deep enough to admit the largest lake craft and which, having Middle 



