2G2 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



mesh of 4J to 4f inches, and are 14 meshes deep. Gill-nets for blue 

 pike, herring, and pickerel have a 3J-inch mesh and are from 18 to 24 

 meshes deep. The nets are not barked, tarred, or in any other manner 

 treated with preservatives. The webbing is always purchased from the 

 factories and the nets are hung by the fishermen themselves. 



The gill -net fishing is carried on both from steamers and sail boats. 

 Each steamer carries thirty to fifty nets, which are always set at right 

 angles to the shore and often in several strings or gangs. The nets 

 which are to be set are stowed in unpainted pine boxes holding five or 

 six nets each. These boxes have flaring sides and ends and in each end 

 a hand-hole is cut to facilitate the manipulation of the boxes when they 

 are packed full of " twine." Their average dimensions are as follows : 

 Length on top, 3 feet 3 inches ; length on bottom, 2 feet 3 inches ; width 

 on top, 2 feet 10 inches ; width on bottom, 1 foot 10 inches ; width of 

 boards forming sides and ends, 10-J inches. 



The sail-boats or skiffs used in gill-net fishing are with few exceptions 

 very much smaller than the pound-net boats. Nearly all of them are 

 flat-bottomed and have one or two masts. There are no mackinaw boats 

 around the islands. 



Catch of pound-nets. — The spring catch in the pound-nets is chiefty 

 pickerel, herring, saugers, black bass, perch, rock bass, sturgeon, and 

 catfish ; the fall catch consists principally of herring and whitefish, with 

 small quantities of the other species. There is also a considerable per- 

 centage of sheepshead (Aplodinotus grunniens), but these are usually 

 unmarketable, and are consequently thrown away, though for the past 

 few years there has been an occasional demand for them at a low price 

 from the mining regions of Ohio and Pennsylvania. 



The pound-net catch of herring in the fall of 1885 was the largest ever 

 known, so that most of the fishermen could not, with their ordinary 

 force of men, empty their nets as fast as they were filled, and the deal- 

 ers in Sandusky were not able to handle all the fish. Therefore, as most 

 of the fishermen were not prepared to salt them, large quantities were 

 thrown away or allowed to escape. During the heaviest run, which 

 occurred between the 12th and 22d of November, a number of the nets 

 were not lifted for several days. One firm at Put-in Bay took out 11 

 tons of herring from their seven nets on the 1 6th of November and left 

 several tons in them. The next day the nets were full again, but the 

 dealers at Sandusky sent word that they would only take a limited 

 quantity each day. This firm estimate their loss from lack of a market 

 for all their catch at $1,000. Five tons per day was not an uncom- 

 mon catch, and Mr. Bower says that some claimed to have taken 10 tons 

 from one net in a single day's fishing. At Kelley's Island alone between 

 25 and 30 tons of herring were dumped overboard or allowed to escape 

 for lack of a market. One firm made hasty arrangements for salting 

 and took care of most of their surplus in this way. These were the 

 first fish that had been salted here for a number of years. 



