40 FISHES AND FISHING IN SUNAPEE LAKE. 



A correspondent of a sportsman's paper in that year stated that 

 fully 1,000 pounds of landlocked salmon, from 5 to 14f pounds, were 

 caught in Sunapee Lake that season. The 14f -pound fish was the 

 largest then on record. 



The report for 1891 states that owing to the unusually low water 

 no salmon could find their way into the brook, and not as many 

 females could be secured as were taken the year previous. 



The report for 1892 shows that there was a large increase of salmon 

 over the previous year, and that for 1893 says more of all kinds of 

 parent fish were taken that year than in any previous year, including 

 landlocked salmon. The report of 1894 says: 



What disciple of Izaak Walton while fishing in Sunapee Lake, previous to the 

 organization of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Commission, ever felt the thrill 

 that can only be imparted to the good right arm of the fisherman by striking the 

 royal landlocked salmon, weighing from 10 to 15 pounds? Now that regal fish abounds 

 in those waters to such an extent that hundreds are taken in a single season. 



In another place the same report mentions that in 1893, 110,000, 

 and in 1894, 140,000, landlocked salmon eggs were taken, and says: 



Owing to the extreme low water both at Sunapee and Pleasant Pond, our product 

 of landlocked-salmon and brook-trout eggs is not more than one-half what it would 

 have been under favorable conditions. 



These are the last references to the abundance of salmon, but for 

 some years longer nearly all of the fish planted were the products of 

 eggs taken at Sunapee Lake, and the number of fish planted will 

 indicate to some extent whether the salmon are holding their own, 

 increasing, or decreasing in numbers. 



The report for 1893, however, does not show that any salmon 

 were planted that year. The report for 1894 makes no definite 

 mention of salmon planted in Sunapee Lake, but states that 2,000 

 were sent to Sutton (probably for Pleasant Pond) and 105,000 

 to New London (probably for Pike Brook). Unless 5,000 fry 

 allotted to Sutton in 1895 were placed in the headwaters of Pike 

 Brook, no plants were made this year in Sunapee Lake waters. 

 The records begin again in 1896, with 30,000 fry. There seems to 

 have been no plant in 1897, but in 1898 50,000 are recorded for 

 Sunapee Lake. None is mentioned for 1899, although the salmon 

 planted in other lakes may have been from eggs taken at Sunapee. 

 The report for 1900 shows 35,000; those for 1901 to date give no 

 plants for Sunapee Lake, except that 1904 gives 23,000, but it is not 

 certam that these eggs were taken there. All subsequent plants 

 were made by the United States Bureau of Fisheries, perhaps some 

 from eggs taken elsewhere. 



In 1904 the Nashua fisheries station party took 36 salmon, 27 of 

 which were males and 9 females, yielding 25,000 eggs; in 1905, 22 

 salmon were caught, 19 males and 3 females, yielding 1,000 eggs; 

 in 1906, 10 salmon, 8 males and 2 females, yieldmg 6,000 eggs; in 



