442 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



little economic value, although less than ten years ago it was the 

 principal fish taken. The decrease in the catch in a single decade was 

 over 8(3 per cent, a change that is without precedent in any other 

 lake. The fish is now taken almost wholly in Jefferson County. The 

 grounds chiefly resorted to are Charity Shoal and the vicinity of the 

 Duck Islands. These islands are in Canada, and support the most 

 extensive whiteflsh fishery now carried on in the lake. The scarcity 

 of whitefish on the American side of the lake is not without precedent, 

 although the length of the period of scarcity is greater than ever 

 before recorded. The lake herring or cisco is abundant in this lake, 

 although it is much less plentiful than formerly. The largest quanti- 

 ties are now taken in Jefferson County in gill nets. In fall and winter 

 the fish resort to the shore for the purpose of spawning, and it is 

 then that the principal fishing is done. Sin<je the lonyjaw or bloater 

 whitefish became prominent in the fisheries of this lake, the cisco has 

 occupied a gradually diminishing importance, and in some places where 

 it was formerly the principal fish it is now taken in only one-tenth the 

 quantity that the longjaw is. The latter, knovv^n also by the names 

 bloater, ciscoette, silver whitefish, etc., is now the most abundant 

 whitefish inhabiting the lake. It frequents the deepest water and is 

 taken only in gill nets. 



The lake trout deserves mention not because of its present impor- 

 tance, but because of its former abundance and marked decrease. In 

 1880 it was, next to the whitefish, the most prominent fish of this 

 lake; now it has less value than any fish of sufficient inrportance to be 

 separately designated in the accompanying statistical tables. The 

 decrease since 1880 has been even more pronounced than in the case 

 of the whitefish, amounting to nearly 93 per cent. In many places in 

 which trout were formerly taken in large quantities they are now 

 rarely observed. The decline of the trout, coincident with that of the 

 whitefish, and the apparent supplanting of these fish by others respec- 

 tively similar in habits — the wall-eyed pike and the long-jaw whitefish — 

 constitute the most prominent features of this lake and demand careful 

 consideration. While some fishermen think the decrease in the abun- 

 dance of these fish has been only apparent, as shown by the large catches 

 made on the Canadian side of the lake, the most plausible explana- 

 tion seems to be that the fish have not had any protection immediately 

 prior to and during the spawning season, and that the fish-cultural 

 operations undertaken have not been sufficiently extensive to overcome 

 the destruction of eggs and breeding fish. 



Among other fishes of the lake of some commercial value, but not 

 worthy of separate discussion, are, in order of importance, catfish, eels, 

 pike, yellow perch, suckers, and black bass. 



Notes on apparatus and methods. — The fishing apparatus in this lake 

 which represents the largest investment is the trap net, which is prac- 

 tically restricted to Jefferson County at the eastern end of the lake. 

 The trap net here used is similar in construction to the one in common 



