68 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



graphs* (fig. 3). The hghter materials, such as 

 mud, were deposited in the coves adjacent to 

 Peach Orchard Point. 



Evidently other deltas in this lake have similar 

 deposits, since lake trout are captured in large 

 numbers during the spawning season near the 

 tips of the points. 



The writer has found no evidence that lake 

 trout select a lake bottom supplied with spring 

 water for the deposition of their eggs. The 

 spawning area in Otsego Lake was on a fill about 

 100 feet out from the original shoreline which was 

 bedrock and showed no evidence of any spring 

 seepage. Comparison of numerous water tem- 

 peratures taken on the spawning area and in the 

 nearby lake at all seasons of the year showed no 

 difference in temperature. Additional evidence 

 was the presence of as thick an ice cover over the 



' Ewing. Vine, and Worzel (1946) describe submarine photographic equip- 

 ment and techniques in detail. 



spawning area on March 31 as on other parts of 

 the lake, just before the spring breakup, when any 

 springs should have caused some erosion of the 

 ice. No mention of spring water on lake-trout 

 spawning areas has been found in the literature 

 I have reviewed. It is concluded that for lake 

 trout, unlike some other species of trout, spring 

 water is a negligible factor in selection of a 

 spawning area. 



SPAWNING ACT 



All my observations on the spawning act of 

 lake trout reported here were made at a spawn- 

 ing area on Otsego Lake, N. Y. Otsego Lake is 

 about 8 miles long and averages three-fourths of 

 a mile in width. Its maximum depth is 168 feet, 

 and about 90 percent of the lake is more than 60 

 feet deep (Odell and Sennmg 1936). Chemical 

 conditions are ideal for lake trout, and the lake 

 has produced fairly good lake-trout fishing for 



Figure 4.— The courtship act. The male at the left is nudging the female in the side. 



