SALMON INVESTIGATIONS IN COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN IN 1896. 
51 
surface. If the net extends from bank to bank the current raises the lead line 
between anchor rocks and drags down the cork line to the extent of destroying a 
good share of the fishing capacity of the net. It is quite evident that nets set in the 
Siuslaw Eiver fish very little except during slack water. 
During the new and full moon tides the current in the river is so swift that the 
outer ends of the nets, which reach only a part way across the river, are drifted toward 
the shore, and they frequently become so much snagged in drifting one way that it 
is impossible to pick them up until the return tide. The fishermen drifting always 
take advantage of slack water, in order to fish their nets a longer time without taking 
them up. In the latter part of the fishing season many nets used in drifting are 
cut into shorter lengths and set farther up the river. It seems to be a fact recognized 
by the fishermen that in any one portion of the river a net will fish much better at 
one bank than at the other, so it is much more advantageous to have two nets, each 
reaching halfway across the river, than one single net reaching entirely across. Three 
nets each reaching one-third distance across the river are often preferable to a single net 
reaching the entire distance. Nets are seldom set in the river in the daytime. 
Gill nets are also used in surf fishing late in the fishing season, when comparatively 
few salmon are entering the river. The usual depth of the net used in surf fishing is 
about half that used in drifting. At either end of the nets, which are about 150 
fathoms long, long ropes are attached. The net is stretched along the shore and 
allowed to be caught by the surf, which carries it some distance to sea; it is then 
slowly drawn to shore after the manner of a seine. This method of fishing is so diffi- 
cult and the results so small that it is not much followed. 
A short distance above Acme is an excellent seining-ground, but the use of a 
seine has usually been opposed by fishermen using gill nets farther up the river. The 
seine was used this season from September 10 to November 1 by those who most 
strongly opposed it last year, but was less profitable than was expected. The majority 
of the fishermen would favor a law restricting the fishing to the use of gill nets. The 
seine was but little disturbed this year. One night a boat filled with rocks was sunk 
on the ground, but this the seine brought ashore at its first haul next morning. At 
another time a peculiar framework was anchored in the river, which was so constructed 
as to raise the lead line when the seine was about half hauled in. This contrivance 
was also brought ashore. The fact that the seine did not meet with the success 
expected lessened the opposition to its use. Chinooks were caught by it for the 
hatchery, and this was no doubt a factor in its favor. 
Chinooks and the silver salmon are often caught by trolling in the Siuslaw Eiver, 
and they occasionally take hooks baited with salmon eggs or other bait. On October 
10 Mr. L. E. Bean caught 3 Chinooks and 6 silver salmon trolling for about an hour 
near the mouth of Martin Creek. The following day 8 silver salmon were caught by 
trolling from Mapleton to Point Terrace, a distance of about 6 miles. Some of the 
Chinooks and silver salmon caught in this way were red in color and the jaws distorted. 
Considerable trolling is done during October between Mapleton and Point Terrace, 
not only for sport, but for market as well. The amount of fishing done on the Siuslaw 
Eiver is rated by boats, each boat having ordinarily 2 men and about 100 fathoms of 
net. This past year there were from 75 to 80 boats engaged in fishing on both the 
Siuslaw Eiver and North Fork, using a total of about 10,000 fathoms of net. The 
seine was operated by 6 men and 1 horse, and was equivalent to 3 or 4 boats. 
