Fishing
Above: Shooting Fish with Bow and Arrow. Painting by Seth Eastman in Mary H. Eastman, The American Aboriginal Portfolio (Newberry Library, Ayer 250.45 .E2 1853). View catalog record
Native people of the Midwest fished the lakes and rivers at least as long ago as 3,000 B. C., using a hook and line, spears, and traps. With time, the technology advanced. For example, harpoons allowed for greater efficiency. Another major technological development about A.D. 1,000 was the gill net, which allowed men to deep-lake fish. All these methods continue today.
In the Great Lakes region, men fished year-round taking advantage of their knowledge of local species and waters. They brought the fish back to camp, where the catch was dried, smoked, or frozen by their families. In the spring and fall, fish approached the shallow waters near shores to spawn. In the spring when sturgeon and pike congregated for spawning, fishermen speared or harpooned them. At night they fished for walleye pike with pitch torches, and later with modern lights. Today, at Lac du Flambeau, for example, men use gas engine aluminum boats and wear construction helmets on which they have duct-taped automobile headlights attached to six-volt car batteries. Walleye pike have large eyes that reflect light so they are easily seen from the boats. Halogen lamps also are used in night fishing. As in the past, religious ceremonies take place at the spring fishing sites to petition and thank the spirit beings that allowed fishermen to take fish.
In the fall, men caught huge numbers of whitefish and trout. At St. Marys River rapids, fishermen took whitefish standing in a canoe, thrusting a spear with a net pocket on the end—difficult and dangerous work. Whitefish also were taken in the deeper waters of Lake Superior with the gill net. Nets were spread in the lake with cedar buoys attached and stones fastened at the bottom to hold them in place. Women made the fiber for the nets, and men made the nets themselves. Today nets are made of synthetic fiber and have plastic floats and lead sinkers.
Men fished through the ice in the winter, using nets, spears, and hook and line. Today fishing supplements wage work for many families in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
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Spearing Fish
The boy in the birchbark canoe is paddling while the man in the bow spears. Painting by Seth Eastman in Mary H. Eastman, The American Aboriginal Portfolio (Newberry Library, Ayer 250.45 .E2 1853).
Shooting Fish with Bow and Arrow
Eastman witnessed Ojibwa and Dakota fishing in the 1840s when he lived in Minnesota. Painting by Seth Eastman in Mary H. Eastman, The American Aboriginal Portfolio (Newberry Library, Ayer 250.45 .E2 1853).
Spearing by Torch Light, 1858
Kane witnessed Menominee on Fox River spearing "salmon." As one boy or man paddled, a spearer looked for fish. The fish were attracted by light made from blazing pine knots and roots in an iron frame at the bow of the canoe. Painting by Paul Kane in Paul Kane, Wanderings of an Artist Among the Indians of North America, (Newberry Library, Ayer 250.2 .K2 1859)
Spearing by Torch Light, 2009
Tristan Oustinoff, from St. Croix Reservation, harvests walleye from Shell Lake in northeast Wisconsin. Photo courtesy of Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC).
Fishing on Lake Superior with Gill Nets, 2009
Both commercial and subsistence fishing take place in the lake. Photo courtesy of Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC).
Winter Ice Fishing, 2009
During winter months, the sheltered bays ice over and fishermen use snowmobiles to reach the stakes that mark the nets. The catch is pulled through holes chopped in the ice. Photo courtesy of Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC).
Freshwater Mussels, Ohio River
Native American women gathered many species of freshwater mussels from the Ohio River system at least from about 8,000 B. C. until the tribes were relocated. Native people used these mussels for food, probably to supplement other food sources. They also used the shells for tools: knives, tweezers, hoes, scrapers, and bowls. Shells also were charred and crushed, then added to clay to make pottery more durable. They used shells to make discs and beads for ornamental and ceremonial purposes, and pearls found inside the shells were prized as offerings in ceremonial mounds as well as for ornamentation. The settlers who displaced the Indians made only limited use of mussels. Photo by Craig Stihler, courtesy of United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
Channel Catfish, Ohio River
These fish were native to and abundant in the Ohio River system in rivers, streams, and lakes. Native people took them by hook and line and by spearing. On average Channel Catfish ranged from 15-25 inches in length and weighed from 2 to 10 pounds. Because of their high caloric value, these catfish were a very important food source. Indian fishermen also took perch and other fish from the Ohio River system. Illustration by Duane Rivers, courtesy of United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
The Walleye Pike
The walleye is 13-25 inches and usually weighs from 1-5 pounds, although it can weigh as much as 25. Much sought after by sports fishermen, it gets its name from its large eye with light-reflecting retina. Originally it lived in the large lakes and waterways, but, as a result of extensive stocking, now is found in the smaller lakes and rivers. These fish are tolerant of a great range of environmental situations, but appear to reach greatest abundance in large, shallow, turbid lakes. Large streams or rivers, provided they are deep or turbid enough to provide shelter in daylight, also are preferred habitat of the walleye. They use sunken trees, boulder shoals, weed beds, or thicker layers of ice and snow as a shield from the sun. In clear lakes the walleye often lie in contact with the bottom, seemingly resting. Adult fish are easiest to spear when congregated in shallow water. Also known as the pickerel, the walleye spawns in the spring or early summer, depending on latitude and water temperature. Spawning begins shortly after ice breaks up in a lake. Courtship may commence much earlier when water temperature is at 1 degree C. The males move to the spawning grounds first. These are usually rocky areas in flowing water below impassible falls and dams in rivers and streams, coarse-gravel shoals, or along rubble shores of lakes at depths of less than 2 m. The maximum number of eggs released by one female has been estimated at 612,000. These fish have a life span of about 7 years. Photo by Eric Engbretson, courtesy of United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS).
The Sturgeon
The sturgeon is found in all the Great Lakes. It is 3-5 feet long and usually weighs from 10-80 pounds, although some have reached 9 feet and almost 200 pounds. These “living fossils” of fish evolution once ranged widely throughout the Mississippi River, the Great Lakes, and the Hudson River. Occasionally, the lake sturgeon’s dark form can be discerned in reedy shallows or near river mouths. This large, bony-plated animal with its sharklike tail, browsing along the bottom, was exceptionally vulnerable to overfishing, largely because of its slow reproductive cycle. The female requires more than 20 years to mature, and then it spawns only every 4 to 6 years in the spring during its 50-year lifespan. When spawning, the female swims with the male in shallow waters, at which time large numbers can be caught. Hydraulic dams act as barriers to spawning grounds. Drawing courtesy of United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The Whitefish
The Whitefish. Also known as the round whitefish, it is 12-19 inches long and weighs 2-3 pounds. These fish inhabit all the Great Lakes but Lake Erie. Those in shallow waters near the islands and shores of northern Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are known locally as “menominees.” They feed at or near the bottom, mainly on small aquatic organisms. Because they travel in schools, they are easily caught with a gang of gill nets. Few individuals today approach the 4- to 6-pound weight of the whitefish caught in the 1800s, when Indian fishermen in Whitefish Bay and St. Marys River rapids could get 5,000 pounds of fish in a half a day, using a scoop net on a pole. Its population levels, it is believed, also have declined because of overfishing by settlers and pollution from sawmills. Today whitefish are the mainstay of the fishing industry in the Great Lakes. Whitefish spawn in the fall along shorelines and reefs. The fish jump to the surface when courting, and the eggs sink to the bottom until they hatch in the spring. As the water warms, the whitefish migrate to deeper waters. Drawing courtesy of United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
