734 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [2] 



where we can locate all the inclosures needed for the management of a 

 far greater supply of salmon than* we have ever had. By stopping 

 their descent at this point we shut them out from all spawning ground 

 except a few square rods immediately above the nets. This insures us 

 hereafter (accidents aside) practically the entire stock of breeding 

 salmon belonging to this stream. An unpretentious shed was erected 

 to shelter working parties, and the inclosures arranged about it with 

 reference to convenient access. 



2. — Fishing and spawning. 



The season was ushered in by a heavy rainfall, August 17 and 18, 

 which raised all the lakes and streams in this region. Grand Lake 

 stood, August 20, at 3 feet 3 inches on our gauge, being 15 or 18 inches 

 above its ordinary level at that season. It was doubtless in conse- 

 quence of the increased volume of water that the unusual phenome- 

 non of an August run of salmon down the stream occurred, and this 

 run, or the presence of considerable numbers of salmon in the stream, 

 continued until the spawning season. September 14, the last day of the 

 open season, one man, fishing with a single baited hook, took 17 fish, 

 and found them biting as freely as any day in June. The water after- 

 wards fell to 2 feet 3 inches, at which point it held until the close of the 

 spawning season. 



Our first nets were put into the water three or four days prior to 

 September 15, putting a stop to the descent of fish either in the canal 

 or main stream. The canal net had to be lowered often for the passage 

 of boats, and on these occasions a few salmon stole into the canal, but 

 with these exceptions no fish are believed to have passed us after Sep- 

 tember 12. They were often to be seen leaping from the water above 

 the barriers, and it was the opinion of some of the old residents that 

 an unusually large run of fish was impending. 



Nothing noteworthy occurred until the last of October, the time being 

 occupied by the force at work in laying the aqueducts and building the 

 new house. October 30 the inclosures at the spawning place were put 

 in order for the capture of fish, which had been purposely avoided up 

 to this date to save the injury from chafing, to which they are always 

 more or less liable when in confinement. But the salmon having com- 

 menced the work of nest-digging in some spots on the 27th of October, 

 it was deemed that the time had now come for their capture. 



The early runs of fish were very satisfactory, 153 coming in the first 

 night, 104 the second, and 119 the third. There was then a falling off 

 until the night of November 5 and 0, when but 00 fish came in. All 

 this time the males greatly exceeded the females, not only in the totals, 

 but each night by itself. It was not until November 7-8 that the fe- 

 males presented themselves in equal numbers with tbe males. That 

 night there were 41 of each sex taken, and the total up to that date was 

 503 males, 322 females. For the rest of the season the catch of females 



