FYKE NETS AND FYKE-NET FISHERIES. 
323 
NEW JERSEY. 
This State holds the third place in this region as regards the extent of its fyke-net 
fishery. It has a large variety of localities adapted to the use of this apparatus; 
two important rivers, the Hudson and Delaware, as well as many smaller streams, 
afford an abundance of anadromous and fresh water fish, and the numerous large and 
small bays on the coast yield salt-water and also anadromous species in great quanti- 
ties. In few other States is a greater variety of fyke nets found nor are more expen- 
sive forms in use. The most elaborate style that has been met with, shown in plate 
lxxviii, is here employed. 
The largest numbers of nets are used in the Delaware Eiver, but the most expen- 
sive and efficient forms are fished in that part of the State within Sandy Hook; only 
a few nets are operated on the outer shore, although some of these are of large size 
and catch considerable quantities of fish. 
In Hudson County and some other parts of northern Hew Jersey, the principal 
fish taken in fyke nets is the shad, in the capture of which special types of nets are 
employed known as shad fykes; these have already been described and are figured in 
plates lxxx, fig. 1, lxxxii, and lxxxiii. The shad fykes are set doubly or singly, 
according to the locality, conditions of the shore and bottom, and the whim of the fish 
ermen. When set singly, shad fykes in Hudson County are always so placed that the 
mouth of the net faces the outgoing tide ; a net so set is called a u flood fyke.” When 
placed double, one net faces the incoming tide and is termed an u ebb fyke.” The fishing 
season is usually from April 1 to May 20, during which time small quantities of white 
perch, alewives, and eels, in addition to shad, are caught. In late years, a few 
salmon ( Salmo salar) have also been taken. The nets are tended in sail and row boats, 
and about ten nets are set by each man. These fykes, complete with leaders, cost $1 5 
to $20 each. 
The shad fykes in that part of Hudson County between Jersey City and Bergen 
Point took the following quantities of shad in each of the years named : 
Years. 
Pounds. 
Value. 
1889 
184, 000 
166, 000 
124, 000 
130, 000 
$5, 520 
6, 225 
4,960 
5, 850 
1890 
1891 
1892 
Evolution of the fylce net in Monmouth County . — Prior to the spring of 1870 all of 
the fyke nets employed in the vicinity of Port Monmouth were similar in construction 
to the style indicated in plate lxxv, fig. 2, that is, they were provided with a leader and 
two wings. In the year mentioned improvements were inaugurated by two parties of 
fishermen. One company advocated and adopted a form of double fyke net (plate lxxx, 
fig. 1), with a common leader, a wing to each net, and a back piece of netting extend- 
ing between the first hoops, and was opposed to the more elaborate type (plate lxxviii), 
introduced and operated by Mr. Martin C. Lohsen, consisting of a leader, wings, and 
two hearts, like a modern pound net. A fair trial showed that the latter form was so 
much more successful that it gradually displaced the others and is now the only kind 
used at Port Monmouth. While the simpler fyke nets took only or principally floun- 
