FYKE NETS AND FYKE-NET FISHERIES. 
335 
GEORGIA. 
Fyke nets are used in this State only in Chatham and Bryan counties, in the 
Savannah and Ogeechee rivers. Those in Chatham County are provided with leaders 
and wings, and have an average value of $34. In Bryan County the nets are smaller, 
with a value of only $5. The principal fish taken are alewives, catfish, and striped bass. 
The 8 nets used in Cha tham County in 1890 were valued at $270, were operated with 
4 boats, and were tended by 8 men; the catch was 16,000 pounds, which yielded the 
fishermen $743. In Bryan County the 3 nets were worth $5, and were fished in one 
boat by 2 men; 4,190 pounds of fish were taken, worth $155. The table shows the 
extent to which the several species and the two counties were represented in the 
catch. 
Fyke-net catch of Georgia in 1890. 
Species. 
Chatham. 
Bryan. 
Total. 
Pounds. 
Value. 
Pounds. 
Value. 
Pounds. 
Value. 
A ]ftwi Vflft 
8, 000 
5.000 
3.000 
$340 
163 
240 
8,000 
7, 515 
3, 000 
1,675 
$340 
251 
240 
67 
Catfish 
2,515 
$88 
Striped bass 
Other fish 
1,675 
67 
Total 
16, 000 
743 
4, 190 
155 
20, 190 
898 
THE PACIFIC STATES. 
Fyke nets are uncommon on the Pacific coast. They are not used in the fisheries 
of Washington and Oregon, and in California are restricted to two rivers emptying 
into San Francisco Bay. The scarcity of these nets in the Pacific States may be 
explained by the facts, (1) that they are less adapted to the capture of salmon, 
sturgeon, and other large fish, to the pursuit of which the energies of the fishermen 
have chiefly been directed, than are the wheels, seines, and gill nets; (2) that the 
general demand for small fish is as yet so limited that no special apparatus or atten- 
tion has been devoted to it. With the increase in population in the coastal regions 
of the Pacific States fyke nets are likely to come into extensive use. 
CALIFORNIA. 
Fyke nets have been in use in this State for a great many years. The history of 
their introduction is unknown to the writer, but it would seem that they must have 
been taken in very soon after, if not coincident with, the advent of the gold-seekers 
in 1849, for their use is recorded as early as 1852. Twenty years ago more nets were 
employed, but it is doubtful if the fishery has ever been more productive than at the 
present time. 
Fyke nets are fished only in the San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers; in the lat- 
ter stream their use dates at least as far back as 1852, as has been noted, but in the 
former river their advent has apparently been recent. All the nets are operated by 
fishermen who are engaged in taking fish by other means. The nets are described 
as having 4 hoops, being provided with wings, and resembling the kind figured in plate 
lxxiii, fig. 2; their value is about $20 each. Of the 49 used in 1892, 24 were fished in 
