The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1906-09-25
Catch Fish by the Ton

A black wreath of smoke drifting
toward the light that was slowly
breaking along the horizon would
have discovered the course of the
Andy johnson to any sea-knowing eye.
The Andy, stout, broad gacked tug,
was staring on its days trail for fish.
a labor that usually starts at
O'Clock In the morning when Lake
Michigan's waters are more apt to lie
smooth and level than after the ris-
ing Of the sun.
Smoothness Of the waters is more
or less Of requisite for the kind of
fishing done by the Andy Johnson and
the other powerful tugs that work for
the great concerns that supply the
west with fish. They go at the work
with vengeance, In wholesale way
that precludes sportmanship ana
counts its victims by the indiscrimin-
ate thousands rather than by a choice
catch or two. Enormous nets, three
to six feet In width and from 200 to
400 feet In length, are, as one may
say, the hooks and lines that the Andy
and its fellow fishermen use for lures.
For two long hours the tug will pur-
sue it's marked-out course, spreading
Its nets as it steams and churns
along.
The net, to take glance at one of
them before 1t goes overheard, has a
long, heavy line running along it's bot
tom, to which are attached rows of
lead sinkers, while the top has a
line of floats, or bobbers, made of
wood and glass. This arrangement
holds the entire length of what Is
known as the gill net vertically in the
water. A buoy, from the top of which
flag waves triumphantly, is tied to
one end of the gill net and serves to
locate its position to the fishermen
amid the waste of water.
Woven entirely out of linen, cost
Ing from 81 to $3.50 a pound, the gill
nets represent in themselves quite
an investment. Like most expensive
articles, they receive the best of care.
In the winter time 1t is the fisher
mems duty to see that the old nets
are put in fine repair as we'll as to
weave new ones.
The term fisherman, however. NAV
seem more or less of a misnomer
when applied to men who ply their
trade in such a businesslike fashion.
Yet to make the Andy's daily catch,
which averages from 500 to 5000
pounds, greater knowledge of the fish
Its habits, its haunts and it's predilec-
tions is required than one might at
first suppose. The layman, not know
Ing where to set his nets, might
traverse the entire lake without pull
ing in fish.
Moreover, the fish inhabit different
parts of the lake at different seasons
of the year. In the spring they pre-
fer to stay near the shore; in warmer
weather they make for the deeper
waters. The bottom of the lake, being
elevated at some places and depressed
at others. offers inducements to the
fish to seek the shoals during the
cooler weather, the deep waters dur
Ing the heat, and the fisherman must
know the preference of his prey.
knowing these, as we shall see later
on, he will spread his nets accord
ingly.
Early in the afternoon the Andy
johnson, again to follow it's course,
will return to see what plumber its
nets may have found in the waters of
the lake. The meshes of the net, set
diagonally in diamond shape, are lad
en- with yellow pike, whitefish, lake
trout and perch. The unsuspecting
fish, swimming along through their
favorite haunts. stuck their heads into