344 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Products of the fyke-net fishery of Lake St. Clair. 
Species. 
Pounds. 1 Value. 
Black bass 
1,583 
8, 000 
263, 850 
50, 640 
200 
91,075 
$94 
229 
3, 245 
1,814 
20 
666 
Catfish 
Perch . 
Pik and pike perch 
Whitehall 
Other fish 
Total 
415,348 
6, 068 
LAKE ERIE. 
The general shoalness of this lake, especially in the western part, makes the water 
very well adapted to fyke net fishing, and is the cguse of the prominence which the 
fyke net has attained as a means of capture. The lake has also an abundance of 
bottom fishes, such as pike and bullheads, to the capture of which the fyke is well 
suited. At times the fishery has been prosecuted in all the States bordering on the 
lake, but at present it is confined to Michigan and Ohio. In 1885 a small fishery was 
reported in Pennsylvania, and at an earlier period fyke nets were used in New 
York, but their use has never been extensive in these States. Even in Michigan the 
fishery is comparatively unimportant, and it is only in Ohio that it is conspicuous 
among the other fisheries, and, as already stated, is more prominent than in any other 
lake State. 
The fyke-net fishery of this lake in 1890, specified by States and counties, is shown 
in detail in the following table: 
Fyke-net fishery of Lake Erie. 
States and counties. 
No. of 
fisher- 
men. 
Fyke nets. 
Boats. 
Products. 
No. 
Value. 
No. 
Value. 
Pounds. 
Value. 
Michigan : 
Monroe 
65 
10 
$225 
13, 570 
325 
87, 000 
$1, 520 
Ohio: 
Erie 
118 
915 
58, 850 
117 
2, 100, 150 
100, 500 
220, 000 
32, 948 
20 
50 
1, 800 
3, 000 
12 
1, 525 
Ottawa 
18 
145 
10 
150 
5, 900 
Total 
173 
1, 175 
64, 450 
149 
14, 270 
2,507, 650 
41, 893 
The most important fish taken in fyke nets in this lake is the pike or pickerel, 
locally called the grass pike. It finds congenial quarters in the shoal, grassy bays 
and shores in the western part of the lake and is there taken in larger quantities than 
in any other lake. The next valuable products in their order are catfish, saugers, 
black bass, and yellow perch. A large amount of cheap, miscellaneous fish, consisting 
of suckers, sheepshead, rock bass, etc., is secured, but need not be considered in this 
connection. Turtles are also taken in Erie County, Ohio. 
