Full audio file. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 1 - Introduction: Tape 1, Side 1, Part 2 - "Go-Devil." Used to set gill nets, keeps running pole from straying under the ice. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 3 - Ice hook. Used for removal of ice from hole. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 4 - Gaff hook. Used for removal of ice from hole. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 5 - All fish except lawyers bought by fish markets. Fed them to chickens. Found mainly in pound nets. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 6 - Mr. Jeanquart born in 1924./ Fished since he was "a kid"/ Mr. Jeanquart born in 1924. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 7 - Incident with blizzard when lost shanty. Method for anchoring shanty. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 8 - Ice tongs. Used to pull ice into ice sheds. Packed with sawdust, used in ice boxes for refrigeration. Made ice during "slack periods." Tongs made by local blacksmith (Monfils of Brussels) and belonged to his father-in-law.. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 9 - Pick. Used to push running pole under the ice before the "Go-Devil" was used. Cedar handle, old manure fork made into the prongs. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 10 - Most fishermen had the above tools. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 11 - Making tools. Done by blacksmiths in area of the fishermen themselves. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 12 - Ice saw. Belonged to father-in-law, Arthur Marchant. He fished with the Jeanquarts after his daughter married into the family. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 13 - His wife's role. Dad and brother too far away to help. Her jobs included dragging ice away, chopping holes, and cleaning slush from the holes. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 14 - Drop net. "Miniature." Used for "live bag"--defines this term. Put suckers in them so didn't have to haul to Green Bay every day. Could leave up to 2 weeks. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 15 - Hauling fish. Variations in catch. More fish in spring. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 16 - Ice chisel. Easy to lose through the ice. Brother made magnet to recover them. String over handle used for the children; learning to fish as a child. Preferred factory-made chisels. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 17 - Ice pick. (not shown in photographs). Same length as ice chisel. Used to chop ice and straighten up hole already made. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 18 - Scoop nets. Used to scoop fish from pound nets (see Jeanquarts' group fishing photo in collection). Also removed slush in channel of pound nets. Homemade on right, in photograph; outer ring so ice wouldn't hurt net. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 19 - Pike pole. Cedar. Used to push cakes of ice out of their way under the hole. Sometimes used instead of "Go-Devil" (which was scarcely used; depending on amount of slush). Tape 1, Side 1, Part 20 - Age of tools. Most owned in 1944, except for live bag and chisel, from the early 1950s. Tape 1, Side 1, Part 21 - Pound nets burned in brother's barn fire. Stored there after stopped fishing. Gill nets left are unusable (brother's still good, stored in house). Tape 1, Side 1, Part 22 - Feels perch may be coming back. Colder at shipyards in winter than fishing. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 1 - Feelings about "working out" (cont.) as opposed to fishing and farming. Earlier fishing paid extra money for taxes, etc. on the farm which now are earned by another job. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 2 - Pollution. Bugs in water; "Green Bay flies." Fish that turned yellow were indicator that bugs were there. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 3 - Fish reports. Much book work involved in fishing. Feelings about role of the state. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 4 - Selling locally. Father smoked herring 300 lbs. at a time. Customers came from as far as Milwaukee. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 5 - Farm census. Feels are useless; inaccurate statistics. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 6 - No fishing organizations. Assemblyman Lawrence Johnson unhelpful in fighting pollution. Fishermen's leader was Godfrey LaViolette. Changes in water quality discussed. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 7 - Feelings on overfishing. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 8 - Each (father, brother, and himself) had own set of tools. "Saw-rig" held in common; invented by his brother. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 9 - Pound nets. They fished more of them than most fishermen; continued with father's business. Customers came for fresh fish. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 10 - Shipping fish. Perch lifted two times a week. His grandfather never fished. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 11 - Summertime fishing jobs. Mend, tar, boil and dye nets. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 12 - Father biggest pound net fisherman at Shoemaker's Point. Worked with Chaudoirs building gill nets; helped them mark the nets. Sewed upstairs when it was too cold to go out fishing. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 13 - Smelt fishing. Wife's role--she did chores, he slept in truck. (Smelt were fished at night, then Mr. Jeanquart drove to Green Bay.) Competition at fish houses (smelt-fishing, cont. )--first ones there had their fish purchased. Once spread unpurchased load as fertilizer. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 14 - Sons not fishing today--would've if fish were there. Do smelt fishing only. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 15 - Smelt. Sold to mink ranches ca. 1956. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 16 - Never fished alewives. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 17 - Attitudes toward planting of fish by DNR. Doesn't view as problem. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 18 - Can't enjoy sports fishing after having done commercial fishing. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 19 - Income by fishing. First few years brought in half of income; later, fewer fish and prices down. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 20 - Depression. Too young to remember but fishing helped his father out (prices were high at that time). Hauled hay across Bay. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 21 - His father's income also came from selling goods in Brussels area, bought wholesale in Green Bay. Helped support his wife and 13 children. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 22 - Family's involvement in fishing; brothers Harry, Harold and 3 brothers-in-law, Ray Farin, Louis Cornet, and George Dufek also fished. His own enjoyment of fishing and why. Tape 1, Side 2, Part 23 - Compares farming to fishing (workload). Tarred nets in slack period between haying and combining. Note: Footages in red apply to the reel-to-reel recorder; black to the cassette. Background noise is due to the fact that the recording was done out-of-doors and in the midst of many of Mr. Jeanquarts' children and grandchildren.
Material owned by University of Wisconsin - Green Bay. No reproduction without permission from the Special Collections Department Cofrin Library, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 2420 Nicolet Drive, Green Bay WI 54311