29 



channel of the main stream, not seeking the brooklets and 

 shoals, as the tront usually do. Still there are grayling 

 yet to be had, and most delightful sport it is to capture 

 them with delicate tackle. 



Nothing has been done by the State for preserving the 

 grayling beyond experiments to determine to what extent 

 the grayling can l^e bVed in captivity like the brook-trout. 

 The experiments have not been successful. Grayling kept 

 in stock-ponds have gone for several seasons without show- 

 ing any signs of spawning. The experiment is now being 

 prosecuted in a large wild-pond — that is, a portion of a 

 natural grayling stream screened off, where the fish re- 

 main in entirely natural conditions of bottom and shade 

 without any molestation. Unless the approaching spawn- 

 ing season turns out better than 1888 and 1889, I think the 

 State Fishery Commission will conclude that the only 

 feasible way to increase the grayling will be to establish 

 one or more camps on the Manistee, or other stream where 

 spawners can be secured, and handle the fish there, taking 

 the eggs from llsli caught in sjDawning season, as is done 

 with white-lish and shad, and hatching in shad-boxes or 

 some similar appliance, in the river, turning loose the fry 

 intended for the stream where operations are conducted 

 and transporting to other localities in carrying-cans. 



There is no doubt that if nothing is done to save them 

 they will become practically extinct in the next five or 

 ten years. 



There are some inaccessible places where they will un- 

 doubtedly linger many years ; but they are or will become 

 practically extinct when they are so few and so scattered 

 that their pursuit no longer furnishes reasonable sport to 

 a reasonable and modest angler. 



The grayling waters of Michigan are cold, clear, rapid 

 streams, flowing through bottom-lands and sand regions, 

 and in no case, to my knowledge, over rock formations, 

 an alternation of the most beautiful ripples and jdooIs. 



