Common Atlantic Salmon 



weirs it is the habit of most fishes either to disgorge the food 

 from fright or, if not immediately removed, to digest it. Most 

 fishes, and salmon ought not to be an exception, take the hook 

 presumably because they are hungry, and except in the case of 

 some gluttonous species, not when gorged with food. It seems 

 more reasonable to believe, and all the evidence is in support of 

 it, that the fish do feed in the early runs, and that they enter 

 the rivers for that purpose. It is hardly credible that salmon 

 would leave regions of abundant food, at a time when there 

 are no other physiological demands, fast for at least 6 months, 

 reproduce, survive and return to another period of feasting. It 

 is also hard to conceive that the fish takes the lure to gratify the 

 angler or just for the fun of the thing. 



The belief has become almost proverbial, and is perpetuated 

 in fish literature, that the early summer salmon after entering the 

 rivers remain there until the spawning function is performed. It 

 is well known that in some of the smaller streams there are 2 

 distinct runs, spring and fall; the first, for some unrecognized 

 purpose, the other for reproduction. In Denny's River, Maine, 

 for example, according to a reliable observer of long residence in 

 the region, the early migrations extend from May 15 to July 30 

 or thereabouts, and the other from October 1 until November. 

 The first run does not remain in the river. What obtains in 

 small streams ought to hold good in large ones. 



The closely related landlocked salmon in Sebago Lake pur- 

 sues the smelts up the tributary streams as they are on their way 

 to the spawning grounds in the spring, and descends with the 

 return of the smelts to the lake. The fish then bite the hook. 

 In the fall there is another ascent of the streams for spawning 

 purposes, and the fish will very seldom if ever take the hook 

 at that time. The first run is evidently for the purpose of 

 feeding upon the smelts, and, as the early spring run of Atlantic 

 salmon is known to accompany the run of smelts and other 

 species, it would seem to be for the same purpose. We believe 

 the spring run of the Atlantic salmon is a quest for food, and 

 that the fish return to salt water to again ascend the streams 

 late in the fall for spawning purposes. 



Though salmon enter the rivers in the spring when the 

 temperature of the water is rising, their spawning takes place 

 on a falling temperature, and usually not until the water has 



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