THE GREAT LAKES FISHERIES IN 1899. 587 
30 to 35 fathoms. In August, which is considered the best month for 
catching this species, it is usually found in depths varying from 65 
to 70 fathoms. 
Steelhead and rainbow trout.—The steelhead trout (Salmo gairdner?) 
and the rainbow trout (Salmo irideus), two species from the Pacific 
coast, which were planted in streams entering Lake Superior, have 
begun to make their appearance in the open waters of the lake and 
are taken in the nets of the fishermen. They were formerly confined 
to the streams where the original plants of fry were made. Regard- 
ing the capture of steelhead trout, the report of this Commission for 
the year 1899 contains the following statement: 
Particularly gratifying reports have been received from Minnesota with reference 
to the introduction of steelhead trout in Lake Superior. Mr. L. E. Baldridge, fore- 
man of Duluth station, Minnesota, reports, under date of March 13, 1899, that large 
numbers of steelhead trout, varying in length from 7 to 28 inches, were caught during 
the summer and fall of 1898 along the north shore of Lake Superior, between Duluth, 
Minn., and Rossport, Ontario. Mr. D. J. Greensword, treasurer of the Duluth 
Fly-Casting Club, informed him that a number of members of his club took over 400 
steelhead trout from Sucker River in two days’ fishing with hook and line, and that 
he had captured 85 in a single day. He further states that not less than 2,200 steel- 
heads were taken in the same manner from the French and Sucker rivers, and that 
they take the fly as readily as do the brook trout. The fishermen operating gill 
nets along the north shore for lake trout have also captured a number, varying 
from 14 to 18 inches in length. It appears that the steelheads caught in nets had 
slipped through the nets until the twine was just forward of the dorsal fin, which 
would indicate that they were too small to be taken in very large numbers in the 
large-mesh nets used for the capture of lake trout. The steelheads are probably as 
plentiful in other rivers along the north shore, which are not visited on account of 
their remoteness from Duluth. 
The fish above alluded to, it will be noticed, were all taken in locali- 
ties at the western end of the lake, but during a statistical investiga- 
tion of the fisheries of Lake Superior in 1900 it was learned that the 
fishermen at the eastern end of the lake had secured a number of fish 
which they reported as rainbow trout. In the summer of 1899 three 
of these fish were caught. at Whitefish Point. It was also reported at 
Marquette that specimens had been taken off Grand Island and in 
Huron Bay. On July 9, 1900, a fine specimen, weighing 7 pounds 
and measuring 27 inches in length, was caught in a net at Whitefish 
Point by the A. Booth Company. On July 10 of the same year 
another one, weighing 64 pounds and measuring 23 inches in length, 
was caught in an inshore pound net off Lizard Island, Canada, in about 
40 feet of water. In the same month two other specimens, weighing 
about 4 pounds each, were taken in nets at Indian Harbor, Canada. 
Apparatus and methods.—Gill nets are used in every county on the 
lake, and pound nets in all of the counties except Gogebic and Mar- 
quette counties in Michigan, Iron County in Wisconsin, and Lake and 
St. Louis counties in Minnesota. As compared with the statistics for 
1893 there has been a decrease of 1,670 gill nets and 151 pound nets, 
