CXXII REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The following interesting notes on the bluefin in this lake have been 

 couimnnicated by Mr. W. D. Tomliu, secretary of the Duluth Fisheries 

 Association : 



The coming of the hlnefin into Lake Superior waters oontignons to the port of 

 Duhith has been apparently recent. Twelve years ago (1885), when the lishermen here 

 first combined to protect themselves, the blnefin or blackhn was very little known. 

 The fishermen covered hundreds of miles with their fishing operations, leaving their 

 homes very early in tlie'8]iriug and staying until the ice formed on the nets. Miiny 

 of the present fishermen used to go out about 50 miles and get some fine catches of 

 whitefish in their nets; and as soon as the fall fishing had ended the lake herring — 

 alw.ays known as a prolific fish and easily found — was an object for consideration 

 for some weeks until the winter set in. Occasionally one or two bluefins would be 

 taken in a lift of nets. They had no sale, were not recognized as a herring, and 

 could not bo passed as a whitefish ; so the fishermen used to take them from the nets 

 and clean them at once and let the cook supply them as a pan fish. When thus 

 taken fresh from the icy water and cooked as described they were fine eating, but if 

 left over until the next day they were strong and insipid. When the whitefish 

 began to go farther out into the lake the fishermen followed them, and very few 

 bluefins were taken or even thought of. 



As recently as 1894 or 1895 some fishermen, who have homes about 20 miles out 

 from Duluth, on the Minnesota shore, began to set nets entirely for lake trout, 

 because it did not pay them to run 150 miles for whitefish. Then in the fishing 

 once in awhile the lai'ger bluefins would be caught in the trout nets, and since that 

 time the increase has been enormous, and during the past few years they have 

 attained remarkable abundance. During last summer they wei'e a positive drug on 

 the market, and it was almost impossible to sell them, except to those ignorant of the 

 true whitefish. As soon as the lake opens they can be canght by the ton. Booth & 

 Co. state they will not agree to take any of them from the fishci'men. They had 

 nearly 20 tons of them in the refrigerator during last summer and could not dispose 

 of them. 



At the first appearance of the bluefins they frequented the grounds on which 

 herring had always been caught, but later the schools have extended outward until 

 they are caught on grounds formerly the feeding-gronnds of the whitefish. The fish- 

 ermen are now liable to find them anj'where within 30 miles of Duluth, principally 

 along the Wisconsin shore. As a result of their migration from Lake Michigan they 

 seem to have increased in weight. Some will be found at the 2-pound mark; and, as 

 a result of the rich food siipplies that can be obtained at this end of Lake Superior, 

 it will be a matter of no surprise if these fish follow the course of the whitefish and 

 the lake trout and take on bulk and weight. It is stated that Wisconsin will not 

 place any restriction on the fishing for these fish, and Minnesota will possibly follow 

 the same course. 



It was at one time surmised that the bluofin or blackfin was a species of whitefish 

 that had been introduced with the multitude of fry that had been turned into the 

 lake by the Fish Commission. Considerable inquiry was made by the fishermen con- 

 cerning the coming of these fish, and the rumor gained currency that bluefin eggs 

 had been sent up with other eggs and had been hatched out and planted; but Mr. 

 F. N. Clark, superintendent of the Michigan stations of the U. S. Fish Commission, 

 assured me that no bluefins had been planted by the Commission in Lake Superior. 



Food of artificially hatched fish. — In order to determine the natnral 

 food resources for young black bass of tlie fish ponds on the river front 

 in Washington in which the propagation of bass has been carried on for 

 a number of years, microscopic examinations of the water and of the 

 stomach contents of recently hatched fry were made in May, 1897. The 

 water was found to be extremely rich in entomostraca, rotifers, and other 



