38 EEPOET OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The deep trough of Torch Lake is the eastern one of a series, with a 

 general north and south direction, easily traceable in the United States 

 Army engineers' chart of the north end of Lake Michigan, which forms 

 a' notable feature in the submarine topography of the lake. 



Two other lakes in Michigan, in which the white-fish are said to make 

 their home, are Crystal Lake, near Frankfort, and Higgins Lake, in 

 Eoscommou County. There are also a few small lakes into which they 

 have been introduced. 



L. J. Farwell, ex-governor of Wisconsin, introduced the white-fish 

 into the lakes at Madison, in the year 1850. 



20. — The salz^ign or mackinaw trout, 8almo namaymsh Penn. 



The trout of the great lakes is one of the three most numerous fishes, 

 and, except the sturgeon, attains the greatest weight of any of the lake- 

 fishes. It is captured almost exclusively by the gill-nets, the pound-nets 

 in some portions of the lakes taking them during the spawning-season. 

 In winter a great many are caught in the bays, through holes cut in the 

 ice. They are found in all of the great lakes and in a few inland lakes 

 in their vicinity. 



As compared with the white-fish, their merits as a fresh fisli are rela- 

 tive to taste, though the greater number would decide in favor of the 

 latter. Salted trout bring a lower price in the market than white-fish, 

 as they are inferior to them as a salt fish. 



Their migrations, as far as observations have been made, are confined 

 to the spawning-season. They do not ascend the rivers, and although 

 they are known to be in a few inland lakes connected to the main lake 

 by rapids, there seems to be no knowledge of their ever having been seen 

 or taken in the outlets. 



Their range of depths at other seasons than the spawning-period is 

 in deep water. A few stragglers occasionally approach the shore, and 

 are taken in the pound-nets, or with the hook, from the piers extending 

 into the lake. lu the northern portions of Lake Michigan they are taken 

 in depths of fifteen fathoms, in small numbers, by the gill-nets, and 

 more plentifully throflgh the ice in the winter time, though a depth of 

 os-er thirty fathoms is the most favorable ground for their capture. 



In the shallow waters of Lake Erie, in the western part of the lake, 

 they are scarcely found at all, though numerous in the deeper portion, 

 east of the city of Cleveland. 



The lake-trout is a ravenous feeder. The fishermen say of him that 

 " he always bites best when he is the fullest." 



In Lake Michigan, where the investigation of the character of their 

 food was carefully made, it was found to be principally the cisco, Argy- 

 rosomus lioyi Gill. Mss. The prevailing notion that tliey feed hirgely upon 

 the white-fish was not confirmed by these observations. Althougli it was 

 continually asserted by the fishermen that the stomachs of the trout 

 were found full of young white-fish, there was no instance under my 



