Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1910-12-01
THE SEEMING OF FISH
UP AT WALL LAKE
The Editor OF The Denison Bulletin
Tells How The Carp And Buffalo
Are Seined From The Lake.

Are Seined From The Lake.
The editor of the Dennison Bulletin
was one of the many witnesses to the
big catch of fish at Lake View few
days ago. He tells of it as follows:
The big fish seiners are working at
Wall Lake They have been there for
the past three weeks and are just now
making their big hauls and finding
what is actually in that sluggish,
muddy old body of water.
1t was the good fortune of the writer
to arrive at Wall Lake last Friday
afternoon just as the seiners were draw
ing in their 2, 500fo net for the third
and biggest haul they have made and
we saw them land 30, 900 or more pounds
of fish-mostly buffalo and carp,
although hundred fine pickerel and
two hundred splendid catfish were cap
tured and thrown back into the lake.
The SEEMING is done under the super
vision of state deputy game warden,
Mr. Chas. Spencer of Lake View. The
state issues a permit for the seiners to
work in the lake under this supervision,
which is to prevent the seiners from
tlking any Of the game fish that are
protected by law Thus the pickerel
bass, catfish and other game fish are re
turned to the lake when happen to get
caught--at least, most of them are
The men doing the seining now are
from New Albany, Iowa, way up in the
northeastern part of the state. They
have heretofore seined only in the rivers,
but they have undoubtedly found Wall
Lake profitable and will continue in the
lakes. Their haul of Buffalo and carp
10 Eri1 81,
cash in New York, and they sold big
lot of their haul right there at the lake
for six cents a pound for the buffalo
fish The carp are wanted in New
York, where the Jews buy and use
them by wholesale and they must be
tipped to them just as they are taken
from the lake, without mutilation and
packed in ice. They bring seven cents
are saleable almost anywhere.
The reason for having the lake seined
to rid it of these fish is that buffalo and
carp do not bite at hooks and afford no
sport They are also scavengers and
cannibals and eat up the fish eggs of all
the other fish and thus injure chances
for game fish. They multiply so fast
that they soon populate lake to the
exclusion of other fish and it is the
hope of the state game authorities to
prevent this and get rid of them.
The operation of seining on such a
large scale is an interesting sight In
this case the big net at least $500 feet
long and perhaps twenty feet high, with
cork floats along thetop and lead sink
ers along the bottom rope, was made
fast TO a tree on point in the lake.
Then gasoline launch lowed the loose
end of the seine out into the lake the
full half mile of the net, sweeping the
end around toward the shore and finally
completing the oblong fence around all
the fish that it took in. With wind
lasses, then, the men on shore began
pulling the ends of the net, gradually
making the circle of the fish prison
smaller, until in a few hours there were
but IA hundred feet of net left in the
lake and the whole school of fish was
seen boiling and laundering and slash
ing around in the narrow pen.
At this stage of the proceedings
everybody was excited and anxious to
see the color and quantity of the fish i'll
the net, but darkness was upon the
waters and the seiners announced that
they would have to leave the fish as
they were till morning. Then they ran
another net around the outside of the
first one to catch any stragglers that
might possibly get through the net and
the crowd of hundreds of spectators
went away.
In the morning it was found that dur
ing the night the seiners had brought
huge live boxes and a barge to take care
of the fish and that most of the fish had
been taken from the nets and placed IN
the safe receptacles Later all were
dipped up from the big nets and dip
nets and landed in the live boxes and
were then towed to the town landing
by the steamer and from there were
shipped to New York. The fish caught
weighed from three to thirty pounds,
most of them five to eight pounds.
SEEMING on this large scale is new
industry and is being numerously fol-
lowed now. There have been three
seining gangs working on Spirit and
Okoboji lakes this fall others have
worked at Lost Island lake and at other
lakes and through their efforts Iowa is
producing crop that is worth consid-
cradle money. One thing is sure and
that is that while money can be made
from taking these fish out of the lakes
the industry will thrive and that finally
the game fish may have their old
chances, famed in song and story, of
life and the pursuit of the sportsman 5
hook.