302 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



made a careful survey of the obstructions at Clark's Fork to which the 

 resolutions refer. A topographical map of the stream about these ob- 

 structions would enable us to advise how best the obstacles to the 

 ascent of fishes can be surmounted. A record of the temperatures 

 t hroughout the year of some of the principal lakes and rivers of the Ter- 

 ritory would be important information for enabling us to advise you as 

 to what varieties of useful food fishes these waters will best sustain. 

 Washington, D. C, March 2, 1883. 



50 OIVTHE IMPROPRIETY OF DEPOMTnT. WIIITFFISH [TIIN1VOWS 

 OFF Till': IIAKBOK OF (LKVELAM), OHIO -FISHING FOK 8AVGEB8. 



By Dr. E. STEKJLINC. 



[Letter to Prof. S. F. Baird.J 



There is not a place on all Lake Erie so illy adapted to the successful 

 planting of whitefish as off this harbor. To begin with, there were never 

 500 pounds of this fish taken by seine, gill-net. or in pound since my 

 remembrance, and I have known gill-nets to be set from 1 to 3 and 8 miles 

 out and pounds innumerable, by experienced fishermen, and the above is 

 near the result. A whitefish taken in this way is a rare occurrence. In 

 the second place, since the almost fishing out of the blue and wall-eyed 

 pike, the "sand pike," "sauger" {Ludoperea canadensis), have increased 

 in such numbers that scarcely any other fish can exist. To give you 

 au idea of their numbers, many fishermen make a business of furnishing 

 boats, bait, and tackle to the thousands of citizens that can only enjoy 

 fishing at liome. On any day in season, spring and fall, you will see 

 from fifty to one hundred small boats, carrying from three to thirty per- 

 sons, busily pulling in this little sauger. One Sunday last May I counted 

 oil' the river mouth, extending each way a mile or more, 125 small boats, 

 filled with men, women, and children, all fishing. At a low estimate 

 there were nearly 400 at this sport. A low average for each person would 

 be ten fish, making the catch for the crowd 4,000 saugers. This fish 

 can be taken almost as readily through the ice, but few undertake it, 

 owing to danger and exposure. '1 his fishing for saugers has been going 

 on for 15 years or more and still they do not diminish, in fact they are 

 on the increase as well as the black bass. After the crib and watei con- 

 struction, twenty-five years ago, the u sauger" was quite scarce here, as 

 it is at most points on the lake. Why it should have increased here in 

 su<;h numbers 1 am unable to explain. It cannot be the extirpation of 

 other carnivorous fish, for they have been cleaned out alike the hike over, 

 but in no place followed by an increase of the "sauger." 



* this article was called forth by the U". 8. Fish Commission making a deposit of a 

 million young whitefish oil' the harbor of Cleveland, Ohio. The selection of a place 

 was intrusted to Mr. P. N. Clark, who makes reply on page 349. — C. W, S. 



