Report of Board of Illinois State Fish Commissioners, to the Governor of Illinois

Excerpt from Report of Board of Illinois State Fish Commissioners, to the Governor of Illinois: Oct. 1, 1892, to Sept. 30, 1894
As a rule, the fishermen who Operate the nets and seines are but employes of firms and companies who own the outfits, and are either paid by the day as laborers or have a percentage of the fish caught, giving their labor as an offset to the use of the seines and nets used in the business. The appliances most commonly used are the wing net, hoop net (with bait), hoop net set, with wings and leads; pound net, basket, seine and trammel net, and in order to give a fair idea of the nature and extent of their use, we will give a brief statement as to how and where each is used.
The wing net is commonly used in winging off, or shutting off a slough to prevent fish from coming out of the lakes and sloughs into the river. The wing usually has an opening at or near its center, which leads into a large hoop net, arranged with a funnel shaped contrivance so that all fish passing into it are secured.
The net is raised at stated intervals during the day, the fish taken out and the net dropped back to continue its work. The net shutting off the slough is usually an old seine, held in place by stakes driven into the muddy bottom, and forms a fence, as it were, across the mouth of the slough. These sloughs are usually the outlet to a lake, and frequently to a chain of lakes, into which the fish run when the river is rising and during high water, and as the water declines they run back into the river again. It can be readily seen that it is simply an impossibility for a single fish to re-enter the river while such obstructions are in place. Where more than one outlet exists, each is shut off in the same manner. Of all the devices used this is the most pernicious, and against it we have used every means in our power, removing such obstruo tions wherever found, and where owners could be found they were' duly warned against replacing them. If. After such warning, they were again found in the waters, they were taken up by our wardens, and where ownership could be proven we followed by prosecution.
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