The sketch shows five fishermen, one of them, an older man, walking away to the left with raised arms. A man on the right has folded his arms behind his back. The man standing at the centre of the composition is carrying a large fish. Two men on either side of him are seated on upturned baskets, the one on the right resembling the figure in PAE5199. This indicates that both unsigned drawings were made by the same artist, who has been tentatively identified as Willem van de Velde, the Elder.

The drawing has been dated to 1655, when the artist was particularly busy with grisailles, in which he introduced groups of people in the foreground.