FISHERIES OF THE GREAT LAKES IN 1885. 315 



in the bay with sturgeon and trap nets daring a part of the year. In 

 the lake off the bay whitefish and sturgeon are taken in small quanti- 

 ties. There is a little fishiug in Blind Sod us Bay, west of Little Sodus 

 Bay, pike, bass, and bull-heads being the varieties caught. The fisher- 

 men sell most of their fish to peddlers, shipping only a few to Roches- 

 ter and Syracuse. No fish were salted in 1885. 



Statistical enumeration. — Eleven professional and 6 semi-professional 

 men were engaged in the fisheries at Little Sodus Bay in 1885. The 

 apparatus used consisted of 8 gill-net boats, 8 other boats, and 2 col- 

 lecting boats; 7 sturgeon gill nets, 3,960 feet in length; 48 whitefish 

 gill-nets, 15,080 feet long; 26 trap-nets; 5 seines, 1,815 feet long; 23 

 fykes; and wharves and other property. The capital invested in boats 

 was $1,430; in nets and seines, $539; in traps and fykes, $1,145; in 

 shore property, etc., $280 ; the total value of fishiug property being 

 $3,394. 



The amount of fish taken in 1885 was 34,000 pounds of bull -heads, 

 18,300 pounds of bass, 17,000 pounds of pike, 1,700 pounds of eels, 1,200 

 pounds of sturgeon, and 300 pounds of whitefish, the value of the entire 

 catch being $3,550. 



110. OSWEGO AND VICINITY, OSWEGO COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



Fishery interests of Oswego. — This city, the center of trade on Lake On- 

 tario, is at the mouth of the river of the same name. Its 24,000 inhabitants 

 are mostly engaged in mercantile pursuits. The fishery industry is com- 

 paratively insignificant, only about half a dozen men having such a 

 vocation, and these not fishing regularly. The people of Oswego are 

 not dependent on the fisheries of the vicinity for their supply of fish, 

 but get the latter from Erie, Buffalo, and Sackett's Harbor, through 

 dealers who buy Canadian products chiefly and hence it appears that 

 nearly all of the fish eaten in Oswego come from Canada. The great 

 antipathy felt by the inhabitants of Oswego toward the regular fisher- 

 men of the place has had the effect of iudirectly throwing the fish trade 

 of the place into Canadian hands. 



Fishing grounds. — The best grounds are 2 to 5 miles in the lake, north 

 aud east of Oswego ; there is also some fishing in the river. On the 

 shore near Southwest Oswego, a small village whose inhabitants are 

 principally farmers, there are good bass fishing grounds at Lewis' Bluffs. 

 About 1,500 pounds of bass were taken here in 1884, the fish averaging 

 1J pounds in weight. Three miles west of the Bluffs, at the mouth of 

 Eight-Mile Creek, there is a little fishing in the spring, and one of the 

 farmers in the neighborhood hauls a small seine in the creek. 



Angling. — Pleasure fishing at Oswego is participated in by a large num- 

 ber of people. The season begins about the first of June and continues 

 until September. Bass and pike are caught with hand lines off the 

 piers and from boats, minnows being used for bait. 



