Fishery bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service - NOAA

300 FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND ^VILDLIFE SERVICE
waters of Lake Superior, operations with the gear in Lakes Huron and Superior were
limited to Michigan waters. Deep trap nets were fished in Lake Superior as far west
as Ontonagon but were most abundant in Whitefish Bay at the eastern end of the lake.
The use of deep trap nets became illegal in the Michigan waters of Lake Superior, July
1, 1936. The most extensive deep-trap-net fisheries of Lake Michigan were developed
in the State of Michigan waters of Green Bay and of the northeastern section of the
lake. Relatively limited operations were carried on also in Michigan waters off Grand
Haven (chiefly in 1934), in the Wisconsin waters off Door County (1931-1935), and
in Indiana (June 1935-July 1, 1936). The use of deep trap nets became illegal in the
Michigan and Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan after the 1935 season and in Indiana,
effective July 1, 1936. This type of gear was never used in Illinois. The deep trap net
may now be legally operated in the Great Lakes only in Lake Huron (Michigan waters)
and Lake Ontario (New York waters).
FIOCRE 1.—The deep trap net.
The deep trap net (fig. 1) consists of the leader, hearts, hood or breast, tunnel, and
lifting pot or crib.
The lifting pot or crib of the deep trap net is covered with webbing, whereas that
of the pound net is open at the top. Deep trap nets are held in position by means of
anchors and buoys while pound nets are generally held in position by stakes driven in
the lake bottom. Aside from these two differences, deep trap nets and pound nets are
of similar construction. In fact, during the earlier years of the deep-trap-net fishery
the gear frequently was termed a "submarine pound net."
In the nets observed, 3 the anchors were 2-point hook anchors weighing about 35
pounds each except the "king" anchor which weighed about 60 pounds. The smaller
anchors (usually numbering 12 to 16) were attached to lines that varied from 400 to 600
feet in length; the "king" line attached to the back of the crib was about 1,800 feet long.
The leader was from 40 to 80 rods long, from 20 to 47 1 /£ feet deep, and had meshes of
7 to 9 inches. (All mesh sizes in this description are extension measure as manufactured.)
The hearts had the same depth as the leader. The size of mesh in the hearts was
reported to have ranged from 5 to 7 inches. The hearts were about 45 feet long with a
spread of approximately 100 feet between the tips. In some nets the outside walls of
the hearts were extended forward about 24 feet as single thicknesses of netting known
as wings. The hood or breast, which connects the hearts and the tunnel, varied from
24 to 27 feet in length.
The tunnel, the length of which varied from about 45 to 75 feet, tapered from a depth
equal to that of the hearts to form a 3-foot square opening inside the pot. Meshes in the
part of the tunnel outside the pot varied from 5 to 7 inches, but meshes as small as
2 inches were reported for the tunnel inside the pot. Variations reported in the length
> The dimensions given in this description were obtained from the fishermen and based on those nets observed in the field and possibly may not
cover the full range of variation in the site of deep trap nets. It was, for example, reported to us that one fisherman operated a net that var 75
feet deep.