Jimmy Milewski was one of Erie’s last fishermen. Milewski’s father had worked in the town’s steel mills and boiler shops; he also netted fish from the lake’s waters during the spring run. Jimmy, 55, learned to fish on his father’s boat as a kid. Later, he bought his own boat and, like his dad, both fished and worked for a wage.

Former Minnesota commercial fisherman and author of regional fishing history, “A Time to Fish and A Time to Dry Nets: Lake of the Woods

Jerry Mathers was one of eight remaining commercial fishermen working out of the port of Erie, Pennsylvania, when state legislators in 1994 outlawed the use of gill nets.

Billy Munch, 44, was a full-time fisherman, one of Erie’s highliners. In addition to fishing, he also ran Munch Fish Company, which his father had started more than half a century before the Pennsylvania Legislature brought it all to an end.  After the state took his gill nets, Munch, of course, wanted to remain on the water and in the fish business.