284 NINTH ANNUAL REPORT OF 



favors this opinion. But they are very abundant in parts of Lake 

 Superior where the quantity of white-fish and trout is not large, and in 

 various parts of Lakes Huron and JMichigan. Where white-fish and 

 trout are always found together, no siskowit are found ; which is hardly 

 consistent with the theory that they are produced by a crossing of the 

 two. Five minutes' intelligent observation at the spawning season 

 would dispel the doubt, but I can find no person who has made it. 



The siskowit is the fattest of all fish, and yet has no unpleasant or 

 oily odor. It is valued in market above all the fish of the lakes. But 

 there is a speciesofwhite-meated trout, of indifferent quality, so greatly 

 resembling siskowit that it is frequently sold under that name, by which 

 means the siskowit is undervalued, except where well known. 



Mackinac Trout {Salmo amethrjslus). — The trout of this region have 

 a world-wide fame, under the name of Mackinac trout. There is no good 

 reason for the use of this local name, as they are found from Dunkirk, 

 on Lake Erie, to Fond du Lac, on Lake Superior, and Milwaukee, on 

 Lake Michigan, and I presume through a much wider region. What 

 relation they bear to the trout of other regions I am unable to deter- 

 mine. 



The trout are great eaters, and subsist principally on other fish. 

 They are always pursuing white-fish and herring, and are not unfre- 

 quently caught in the nets while stealing white-fish from them. 



Lidians take them in the winter with spears, in the same manner as 

 the sturgeon ; also, in the same manner, with snatch-hooks instead of 

 spears, using an artificial deco}'^ fish, but no bait. 



Trout are taken for market by trolling, with snatch-hooks, set liooks, 

 gill-nets, and seines. 



The apparatus for snatching trout can hardly be described as " a 

 stick and a string, with a worm at one end and a fool at the other." 

 A trout hook is made of steel wire, from one fourth to three eighths of 

 an inch in diameter, is weighted with about two pounds of lead, in the 

 shape of two cones with the bases joined, through which the shank 

 passes lengthwise. The line is a cotton one of the strength of a bed 

 cord, usually from three to six hundred feet in length. In fishing 

 through the ice, the moment a bite is felt the fisherman throws the line 

 over his shoulder, and runs with all his might, in a direct line, till the 

 fish is on the ice. When in a boat, he allows the fish to run with the 

 hook, occasionally pulling lightly, till the captive's strength is exhausted, 

 and then pulls him in. As high as eighteen barrels have been snatched in 

 one week by two persons ; but lour barrels a week is vei}^ good 

 fishing. 



Of trolling and set-hooking I could add nothing to what is generally 

 known, except that the apparatus corresponds in strength with that 

 used in snatching. Seining and gill-netting will be described under the 

 head of whitefish. 



I think the average weight of trout caught in seines and gill-nets 

 (after dressing) is not above four pounds. Those caught with hooks 

 are a trifle heavier. But individuals weighing fifteen pounds are com- 

 mon, and the}^ have been taken of above fifty pounds weight. 



Their spawning season is in autumn, about the first of November; but 



