700 REPOET OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 



FISHERIES OF LAKE ST. CLAIR AND ST. CLAIR AND DETROIT 



RIVERS. 



The fisheries of Lake St. Clair and St. Clair and Detroit rivers in 

 1903 gave emplo3niient to 355 men, of whom 303 were engaged in the 

 shore fisheries and 52 on shore and in fish houses. The total amount 

 of capital invested was $239,885. The number of boa,ts in use was 150, 

 valued at $3,150. The apparatus of capture was valued at $1,851, the 

 greater part of v/hich represersted the value of seines, spears, and lines. 

 The shore and accessor}^ property was valued at $141,805, and the cash 

 capital employed amounted to $93,079. 



While the catch by seines was the greatest, lines w-ere used by the 

 largest number of men, and spears ranked next in that particular. 

 In the St. Clair River hand-line fishing was followed by 275 men, the 

 catch being mostly vv^all-eyed pike. The season usually extends from 

 May 1 to July 15, and occasional!}^ in August, after a hard blow, some 

 of the men fish for awhile. The methods of hand-line fishing consist 

 of "trolling" and "chugging." In trolling two men usually go in a 

 boat, one man rowing and the other handling the line. Occasionalh", 

 howcA^er, one man goes alone, in which case, while rowing the boat, 

 he holds the line in his mouth by means of a piece of leather. One 

 man alwa3's goes alone while chugging. The chugging line is used 

 by being continually jerked up and down to attract the attention of 

 the fish. A trolling line is from 75 to 100 feet long on an average, 

 and a chugging line about 20 feet. The trolling outfit costs from 75 

 cents to $2, while the chugging line costs only from 50 to 75 cents. 

 Besides wall-eyed pike, a few fresh-water drum and pike are taken 

 on lines. Quite an important set-line fishery for sturgeon used to be 

 conducted in the Detroit River south of Detroit during April and 

 Ma3^ Fifteen years ago from 20 to 25 men made a profitable busi- 

 ness of it, while in 1903 there were onl}^ -1 men, with the probability 

 of some of them dropping out the following year. 



An important seine fisher}^ is located at Roberts Landing, on the 

 St. Clair River, and another at Mount Clemens, on Lake St. Clair. 

 The catch of the former is principall}^ wall-eyed pike and suckers, 

 while the catch of the latter consists wholly of German carp. A law 

 was recently enacted by the Michigan legislature which allows in Lake 

 St. Clair the use of seines with a l-inch extension mesh, provided no 

 other fish than carp is taken. To safeguard the enforcement of this 

 law it is necessar}^ for every fisherman to give a bond to the board of 

 state fish commissioners before he is allowed to fish. As this act had 

 just been passed only one firm took advantage of it in 1903. The 

 most suitable time for this fishing is in the early spring. After being 

 caught the carp are put into a receiving or storage pond and kept until 

 prices advance. Two seine fisheries were conducted in the Detroit 



