FISHES AND FISHING IN SUNAPEE LAKE, 31 



The preceding table records 46 chinooks taken during the season 

 of 1010, averaging about 6.5 pounds weight. "While this number of 

 fish by no means represents the number caught, it very approxi- 

 mately shows the probable average weight. 



In 1911, on July 18, a 12-pound chinook, on the 24th a 15-pound 

 one, on the 28th another of 14 pounds, and on the 30th a 14f-pound 

 fish were caught at Split Rock. The latter measured 31V inches in 

 length, a female with eggs about the size of BB shot. 



On August 3, one of 13 yg pounds was taken at The Hedgehog 

 grounds. 



On October 18 the Nashua fisheries station party took in a gill 

 net set in about 3 feet of water a chinook which weighed 7 pounds 

 when weighed two or three weeks after it was caught. It was found 

 dead in ths net. It was an immature female that would probably 

 have spawned in 1912. The scales indicate about 3 years of age. 



On the 19th one was taken in the same place, the length of which 

 was 33 inches, depth 8^ inches, girth immediately in front of the 

 dorsal 20 inches. It weighed 16 pounds after about one month in 

 retaining car, and had probably weighed 2 or 3 pounds more when 

 caught. It was a male with well-advanced but still firm spermaries, 

 which would have ripened that fall, but which were perhaps retarded 

 by confinement in the fish car. The scales indicated about 4 years 

 of age. 



On October 31 the same party took a small immature male, 14^ 

 inches long, off Hays Pomt, on "The Reef." On November 11 a 

 small one 15 1 inches long was caught in the nets set for white trout 

 on "The Reef," apparently an immature female. 



The results of the introduction of chinooks into Sunapee Lake 

 show that the conditions are to some degree favorable to their exist- 

 ence. It may be said, however, that the fact that a few hundred 

 have been caught in the last three years, and some of them of fairly 

 large size, does not prove that the stocking of the lake with this fish 

 has been a complete success. In such an application of the term, 

 "complete success" should signify that the lake has been permanently 

 stocked ; in other words, that it has become self-sustaining. 



For the stock to be self-sustaining the conditions for growth and 

 reproduction must be favorable. The results thus far indicate only 

 that the conditions of growth from fry or fingerlings to well-condi- 

 tioned adult fish are very favorable, and one of these conditions is 

 the abundance of suitable food. But, to know that other conditions 

 are favorable it must be shown that the fish can mature and breed 

 here. In other words, having reached maturity, the stock must 

 have favorable natural conditions for spawning, or else it must be 

 possible to take sufficient numbers in breeding condition to produce 

 an annual supply of young to replace the fish that have succumbed 

 to thie mortal breeding function. 



