388 



The America II Aiiiylcr. 



It is a matter of anglinir-record that 

 when dogfish, bUiefish or sharks frequent 

 weak fish waters or a porpoise is seen 

 rolling in the outer surf, it is time for 

 the angler to reel up his line and depart. 

 Another experience of anglers, both of 

 fresh and salt waters, would seem to be 

 applicable in this connection. Their old 

 and best fishing-grounds in some 3^ears 

 become suddenly barren of fish-swims 

 that had always yielded bounteously to 

 the rod, and the experienced angler at 

 once seeks for the reason therefor and 

 finds it in the evident exhaustion or dis- 

 appearance of the food, crustacean, or 

 otherwise, that attracted the larger fish. 

 When the natural exhaustion of the food- 

 supply is not apparent, the changed 

 conditions can be accounted for, mainly, 

 through storms that create great tidal 

 sweeps, piling sand-heaps in waters 

 where none existed, forming new sand- 

 bars, cutting deep channel-ways or 

 sweeping away the big growths of 

 water-grass that formerly sheltered the 

 shrimps and other food-animals of the 

 fish sought by the angler, who finds, 

 every year, analogous causes producing 

 similar though modified results along 

 his favorite trout-streams and in the 

 larger lacustrine waters, though less 

 strongly marked, where the pursuit of 

 the black bass, the pike and other game- 

 fish is followed. From my own some- 

 what extended experience as an angler 

 I could cite scores of instances where, 

 in both fresh and salt water, the sudden 

 appearance or disappearance of the so- 

 called game-fish and their apparently 

 erratic movements could be accounted 

 for with as little satisfaction as in the 

 case of the herrings in their broader 

 field of migrations. In the absence of 

 positive knowledge I have been content 

 in the belief that fish, like men, seek 

 conditions that will give them the great- 

 est amount of comfort in life — where 



the best supply of food, with the least 

 exertion, can be obtained ; where they 

 •will be most secure from danger or an- 

 noyance and where the best health-pro- 

 ducing elements exist. Therefore the 

 condition of the food-supply, the pres- 

 ence or absence of their enemies, the 

 demands of their spawning-instincts, 

 and the temperature of the water are 

 the impelling factors of what we call 

 instinct in fishes, which is only another 

 name for inherited reason, and to these 

 we can look confidently for explanations 

 of their actions. 



Much uncertainty prevails as to the 

 range of the herring. The theory ac- 

 cepted for inany years that they started 

 from their home in the polar seas, then 

 came southward like a great armada^ 

 separating into lesser bodies, each 

 trending shoreward for spawning pur- 

 poses, which, being accomplished, the 

 fish returned to their arctic habitat to 

 recuperate, is now exploded, it being" 

 irreconcilable, as Professor Huxley 

 aptly states, with the fact that herring 

 are found in the stomach of the codfish 

 all the year around. The imcertainty 

 which exists concerning the migration 

 of this fish will, probably, never be re- 

 moved, as it has not yet been definitely 

 ascertained whether the herring is a 

 surface or deep-water fish. They come 

 inshore to spawn in dense shoals and in 

 smaller ones to feed and then depart, 

 whence no man knows, although they 

 have been caught in Newfoundland 

 waters at a depth of one hundred 

 fathoms and probably descend to much 

 greater depths. In American waters 

 these fish range from Sandy Hook to 

 Northern Labrador. 



The herring spawns from March to 

 October, and their fry, when about six 

 months old, constitute . the genuine 

 " whitebait," although the young of 

 other species are frequentl)' and fraud- 



