The studies of fishermen in boats are arranged across the sheet. Below, a weyshuit is shown in starboard broadside view with a man leaning forward holding up ropes, another pulling and a third aft laying out a net. To the left is a scene of three men in a punt, one of them sitting aft and paddling. Above, five men are hauling a rope in over the stern and two others are working a windlass amidship. To the left are two more figures, possibly also working a windlass.

The unsigned drawing has been tentatively attributed to Willem van de Velde, the Elder and dated to 1655, when the artist was particularly busy with grisailles, in which he introduced groups of people in the foreground.