310 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
One of tlie most noteworthy of these double forms is shown in plate lxxix, fig. 2. 
It is used in Wicomico, Dorchester, Caroline, Talbot, and other counties in Maryland, and 
is designated a u set of fykes.” It is the prevalent form in Wicomico County. Striped 
bass, perch, alewives, catfish, eels, pike, terrapins, and snapping turtles are caught. 
The fykes proper, here called pockets, are from 12 to 18 feet long, with a 2|- or 3-inch 
mesh. The hoops number 5 or 6; the largest is 5£ or 6 feet wide, and each succeeding 
hoop drops about 3 inches. There are usually two funnels, which proceed from the 
first and third hoops. The leader, called the hedging, is from 50 to 75 yards long 
and has a 3£-incli mesh. The wings are of variable length, but are usually from 20 to 
50 feet; they are straight and form an angle of about 45 degrees with the leader. 
A double fyke, in which the pockets are placed obliquely with reference to the 
leader, is employed in Hudson County, N. J., and is chiefly fished for striped bass, in 
the capture of which it is quite efficient. In other respects the net presents no pecu- 
liar features. A typical example has pockets 20 feet long, 5 hoops, the largest 5 feet 
and the smallest 4 feet in diameter, short rectangular wings, the long side of which is 
10 feet long and the short side 3 feet, and a leader 75 feet in length. The average cost 
is $20. Plate lxxxi, fig. 1, is an illustration of this style of fyke. 
Each of the double nets figured in plate lxxx, figs. 1 and 2, plate lxxxi, fig. 1, 
and plate lxxxii, has its prototype in unilateral nets fished in the same place, two of 
which are shown in plate lxxxi, fig. 2, and plate lxxxiii. 
THE FYKE NET IN LAW. 
From a very early date the use of the fyke net in the United States has been sub- 
ject to legal restrictions. Its effectiveness was early recognized, and the possibility 
of much damage resulting from its unrestrained employment was appreciated in many 
of the coast States. Except in a few cases this net has not seemed to require special 
legislation — that is, it has not been liable to regulations that were not directed to other 
forms of apparatus, but has usually been included with seines, gill nets, pound nets, 
etc., in legislative enactments. 
Whatever injurious results may attend the employment of the net, it is evident that 
these will be more pronounced the more circumscribed the body of water in which the 
fishing is done. Hence fyke-net fishing on the coast and in large rivers has been less 
subject to legal regulation than similar fishing in lakes and smaller streams or in the 
upper courses of rivers. 
The restrictions that have been placed on the fyke have consisted for the most part 
of a limitation of the size of the mesh that may be used, the prohibition of its employ- 
ment at certain seasons, and the determination of the waters in which it may be set. 
The following enactment of the New Jersey legislature in 1870 (chapter 262), 
restricting the use of fykes (and weirs) on oyster beds, is perhaps the only case in which 
the existence of private oyster- grounds has been permitted to affect the capture of fish : 
It shall not he lawful for any person to erect stakes or any other artificial means for the purpose 
of using wares or fike nets (sic) for the taking of fish upon the bottom of North Shrewsbury River, 
where oysters are planted by any person or persons, without first obtaining permission in writing of 
the person or persons so occupying the same. 
