Huntsville gazette., 1884-01-05
Eishing in the Lakes.

The fishermen in the Great Lakes fol-
low perilous calling, and the annual
loss of life ensuing from the pursuit of
their business is greater than is gener-
aHy known. Especially does Lake Su-
perior threaten the lives and property
of fishermen, because that body of water
is not only as liable to the sudden and
violent storms that characterize all the
other lakes in the chain, but because
from the superior quality of the fish it
yields, it bears upon its waters larger
numbers of the craft engaged in the
fisheries. The demand for lake fish has
inc eased greatly within the last five
years, and the supplying trade can no
longer depend on the winter-catch to
meet the demand of the Eastern mar
kets. The bulk of the lake fish shipped
East during the winter is caught in the
previous fall months. The lakes are
now swarming with the boats of fisher
men, and they have been great sufferers
during the recent storms. The fishes
caught between this and the beginning
of freezing weather are frozen and stored
until called for.
Buffalo is one of the largest of the
lake-iish distributing markets on the
whole chain of great lakes, yet the
quantity of fish sent East from here that
is taken in local or nearby waters is
small. These fishes are whitefsh, lake
trout, yellow pike, and several varieties
of bass. They are caught in Lakes Su-
perior, Michigan and Huron. Until the
introduction of refrigeratorcars it was
necessary for fishermen to pack their
catches in salt for shipment to the Buf-
falo distributing markets, but now they
are transported in those cars and are
received in better condition generally,
and with the tiavors of the different va
rieties' preserved. Whitefsh, which are
the prince of all lake fish, want deep,
spring-like water, and Lake Superior
best fultills the conditions they require.
These fishes are taken at a depth of
from $50 to 500 feet. Lake Superior
fish command better prices than those
from any of the other lakes. The fishes
are taken chiefly in gill nets. Lake Su-
perior whiteish command from $12O to
S125 ton.
Lakes Ontario and Huron furnish the
best quality of yellow pike and bass,
except black bass, for which Lake. Erie
is given the preference. This lake is
also the favorite for blue pike, for the
good reason that this fish is not found
in any other lake, except. in rare in
stances, in Ontario,s which lake also
yields the best quality of bullhead.
Lake Ontario now swarms with millions
of the progeny of shad which Seth
Green introduced some years ago; but
these fish manifest their disapprobation
of being denied the right to follow their
own process of generation in their
natural waters by refusing to grow to a
greater length than seven inches. They
are not fit for food, but they furnish
abundant and excellent feeding for the
other fish in the lake. Hook-and-line
fishermen declare that sport is not
nearly as good in Ontario as it was be
fore the shad experiment was tried with
such singular results. Lake Erie was
once one of the best of whitetish waters,
as regards the size of the catches, but
illegal fishing with pound nets, by
which the young fish were caught by
the million, has placed the lake behind
Others in yielding this fish. The young
whtetish were formerly sold in the New
York markets as ciscoes or Lake Erie
herring.
I he Indians on the Sault Ste. Marie
have a peculiar method of capturing
whtefish which abound in the rapids
Two Indians enter the rapids in a canoe
one occupying the bow and the other
the stern, the boats head being kept up
stream by a paddle in the hands of the
latter. The Indian in the bow stands
upright and by the use of long pole
keeps the canoe steady. A dip-net,
our or five feet in diameter and at
tached to pole fifteen feet long, is in
the boat, lying where it can be quickly
and easily reached by the Indian in the
bow. The boat is kept at the foot of
the rapids by wonderful display of
skill on the part of the Indian with the
paddle, now holding it in one spot, now
forcing it a little further up the stream,
and now letting it float sidewise, all at
the signaling OF the Indian in the bow.
who keeps a steady watch on the water.
1t is rarely less than ten feet deep where
they fish, and the Indian fishermen pos
sess the power of seeing the fish as they
appear at that depth in the rushing
water As soon as the Indian sees a
fish he seizes the net by the handle and
thrusts it savagely into the water gives
1t peculiar twist, and jerks it to the
surface, and never without some of the
finest specimens of whitefsh, frequently
as many as six. Two Indians in a boat
of this kind will often take as many as
1,2O0 pounds of fish in day.-Butalo
Cor. NJ Z. Tribune.
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