188 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Question 17. How do the runs difler from each other in number and 

 size ? 



Answer. The winter run is small, and consists of comparatively 

 small fish. The spring run is larger, and contains larger fish. The sum- 

 mer run is the largest of all, aud is composed of the largest fish. 



Question 18. Which sex comes in first ; and how far advanced is the 

 spawn in the lemale on first arriving"? 



Answer. It is not known which sex comes first. The spawn is ex- 

 ceedingly small when the first salmon come in from the ocean in I^JTovem- 

 ber. It is larger in the spring run, and still larger in the summer run. 



Question 19. Will either sex, or both, take the hook on first arriving; 

 and if so, is there any period of the stay of the fish when they refuse it? 



Answer. The salmon of both sexes take the hook in salt and brackish 

 water and at the fresh aud cold sources of the tributaries, but at no 

 intermediate place that is now known. 



Question 20. If they refuse the hook at first, how soon do they begin 

 to take it after arriving ? 



Answer. See 19. 



Question 21. Do the schools of fish swim high or low ; and is their 

 arrival known otherwise than by their capture ; that is, do they make a 

 ripple on the water: do they attract birds, &c. 1 



Answer. In winter the salmon swim low; in summer they are in all 

 depths of the water. The water is so muddy in the Sacramento that 

 they are only discovered by their capture. In the cold tributaries form- 

 ing their spawning-grounds they are seen by thousands in the water, 

 and jumping out of the water, and swimming with the dorsal fin cutting 

 the surface. 



Question 22. What is the relation of then- movements to the ebb aud 

 flow of the tide ? 



Answer. The salmon are generally moving against the tide. The 

 fishermen watch the tide, and fish ivlth it, so as to encounter the salmon 

 swimming toward the net.* 



Question 23. Does spawn ever run out of these fish taken with a 

 hook ? 



Answer. The spawn sometimes runs from the salmon taken with a 

 hook at the head- waters of the Little Sacramento. 



Question 21. Answer same question in regard to fish taken in nets or 

 pounds; is the spawn ever seen in any quantity floating about inside of 

 nets 1 



Answer. The spawn never flows from the salmon caught in nets, ex- 

 cept when they are taken on their spawning-beds. 



Question 25. Are these fish auadromous; that is, do they run up from 

 the sea into fresh water for any, and for what, purpose! 



*The water of tlie main Sacramento is so muddy that the fish cannot see the net till 

 close upon them ; consequently the fishing in this river can he done in the day-time, 

 while in all other clear rivers the nets must be dl•a^^■n at night. 



