ACCLIMATIZATION OF FISH IN THE PACIFIC STATES. 
389 
FISHERMEN, APPARATUS, AND METHODS. 
Fyke nets and set lines or trot lines are tbe apparatus chiefly employed for 
taking catfish. Both these appliances are used in California; but in Oregon Mr. 
Alexander reports that only fyke nets are set. Considerable quantities are in some 
localities incidentally taken in drag seines. In the semiprofessioual fishing, hand 
lines and dip nets are also employed. The catfish fishery of California is carried on 
by a few persons who make a business of taking those fisli throughout the year. It 
may be followed with some regularity for a time, but is seldom allowed to interfere 
with the capture of salmon, striped bass, and other more valuable species. 
The number of persons who may be regarded as catfish fishermen in 1893 was 
about 100. These made their headquarters at Red Bluff, Fremont, Sacramento, 
Knight’s Landing, Isleton, Bouldin Island, Jersey Landing, and other points on the 
two rivers. More than half the regular fishermen were Chinese. 
The apparatus used in the catfish fishery of California in 1893, as determined by 
Mr. Alexander, consisted of 750 fyke nets, valued at $8,500; 100 trawl lines, valued 
at $150, and 15 drag seines, valued at $375. The number of boats used for lifting- 
nets and trawls was about 60, with a value of $900. It should not be understood 
that all of the apparatus shown is used at one time. A few nets or trawls may be 
set for a few days or weeks, taken up, and not employed again for several months or 
possibly not until the next year. 
The catfish fishery in Oregon is carried on by seven fishermen m the vicinity of 
Sauvies Island, situated in the Willamette River, a short distance below Portland. 
Mr. Alexander reports that a Mr. Mitchell is more extensively engaged in the business 
than anyone else, and that the Portland dealers look to him for their supply of 
catfish. He lives, with his family and hired men, in a small portable house on the 
bank of a slough where the fishing is done. The house is so constructed that it may 
easily be put on a float and moved from place to place, as occasion requires. Another 
structure, 15 by 30 feet, is built on a scow, in which the skinning, dressing, and boxing 
of the fish for market are done. The fish as caught are kept in three live-cars until 
needed for shipment. Four fyke nets are employed by this crew; they are set at the 
ends of two leaders and are valued at $160; small skiffs are used to tend the nets. 
The aggregate investment in the fishery at this place is $445. Six other persons were 
in 1892 more or less regularly engaged in taking catfish, but less extensively than Mr. 
Mitchell. They had 5 scows, 9 skiffs, 12 cars, and 8 nets, with leaders, which property 
was worth about $1,615, making $2,060 the total value of the apparatus, boats, etc., 
devoted to the fishery. 
The following account of the fyke-net fishery of California and Oregon has been 
furnished by Mr. Alexander: 
The fyke net has been found to be the most economical device yet employed for carrying on 
the catfish lishery. It has many advantages over the drag seine. The fyke net can be set and left 
remaining in the water for an indefinite length of time without the fish dying or making their escape. 
With the drag seine, the fish caught at each haul must be cared for immediately if they are to be kept 
alive, which involves considerable extra labor. 
The fyke nets employed on the Pacific Coast do not differ materially from those used on the Atlan- 
tic seaboard and on the Great Lakes. They are from 12 to 20 feet in length, the size largely depend- 
ing on the locality. In places where the current runs swiftly, smaller nets are used than in localities 
where there is little or no current. The usual type consists of a tapering bag distended by four hoops 
from 3 to 4 feet apart. The hoop at the mouth is about 3 f feet in diameter, the one at the end 12 to 16 
