resident Indians who also dry them in the sun or 

 smoke them over campfires and store quantities 

 of the dried or smoked product for winter con- 

 sumption . They appeared separately in the 

 statistics of the Red LaKes fisheries of 1917- 

 1918, but thereafter until 1927, they were grouped 

 with miscellaneous fishes. Over the period 

 1927-1938, an average of 18,592 pounds per 

 year was caught. In 1930-1938, the only years 

 for which catch statistics were separated by 

 fishing seasons, 95 percent of the total catch of 

 freshwater drum was made during the summer 

 and 5 percent during the fall. Statistical records 

 provide no estimate of the quantity caught for 

 local consumption, but contain only a tabulation 

 of the quantity marketed by the Red Laxe Fish- 

 eries Association. The species is of little 

 importance on the fresh -fish markets because of 

 the rather coarse, dry quality of its flesh, and 

 consequently it brings low wholesale and retail 

 prices. Indians and others report the species 

 is not as abundant as formerly, which is sub- 

 stantiated by the large catch (69, 119 pounds) re- 

 corded for the years 1917-1918. 



NOTES ON THE WHITE FISH 



The whitefish, Goregonus clupeaformis 

 (Mitchill), is the third most abundant species 

 produced commercially in the Red Lakes; the 

 average annual catch for 1927-1938 was 78,977 

 pounds. Catches from 1935 to 1938 were dis- 

 tinctly below normal, averaging only 31,912 

 pounds per year. Adverse weather conditions, 

 low water levels, and frozen spawning grounds 

 as well as a decrease in abundance may have 

 been responsible. The majority of the whitefish 

 catch comes from Lower Red Lake where in 

 1920-1928, 77 percent of the total catch of both 

 lakes was obtained. In two of those years, how- 

 ever, (1920 and 1922) more whitefish were 

 caught in the upper than in the lower lake . 

 Whitefish are caught principally during the fall 

 season; during 1930-1938, 82 percent of the 

 total Red Lakes catch was obtained during the 

 fall. During some years, however, high per- 

 centages of the total catch wem made during the 

 summer season, as in 1933, 1935, and 1936 

 when 50, 45, and 54 percent, respectively, of 

 the annual yields were obtained by summer fish- 

 ing. 



NOTES ON THE NORTHERN 

 PIKE 



The northern piice, Esox lucius Linnaeus, 

 ranked fifth in total production in the Red Lakes 

 commercial fisheries up to the time of the sur- 

 vey. From 1927 to 1938 the annual catch 

 averaged 24,714 pounds. The catches each 

 year after 1932 were below average except in 

 1934. In 1923, 1924, and 1926-1928, 86 per- 

 cent of the total yield of northern piKe came 

 from Lower Red Lake. In 1930-1938, 49 per- 

 cent of the total production of northern pitce 

 was caught during the summer fishing season 

 and 51 percent during the fall. Both large-mesh 

 and small -mesh nets were fished in the fall, 

 but their relative importance for production of 

 northern pike is not known. 



NOTES ON THE SUCKERS 



The catches of white sucker, Catostomus 

 commersonni (Lacdpfede), were not always re- 

 corded separately in statistics of the Red Lakes 

 fisheries, but during some years were included 

 with other species under the generalized head- 

 ing of rough fish. All suckers were grouped 

 together in the catch records for 1917-1918, 

 1927-1931, and 1933-1936. Besides die white 

 sucker, the northern redhorse, Moxostoma 

 aureolum was also included, although the form- 

 er species probably comprised the bulk of the 

 catch. EXiring 1927-1938, the annual catch of 

 suckers in the Red Lakes averaged 5,348 

 pounds . 



THE ROCK BASS 



The rock bass, Ambloplltes rupestris 

 (Rafinesque), is of minor importance in the 

 Red Lakes and usually occurs only incidental- 

 ly in the commercial gill -net catches. It is a 

 game fish in Minnesota and, under the terms 

 of state regulations, may be neither bought 

 nor sold. 



ARTIFICL\L PROPAGATION 



Artificial propagation of Red Lakes 

 fishes began in 1918 when an employee of the 

 Minnesota Department of Conservation was 



50 



