FISHES AND FISHING IN SUNAPEE LAKE. 



79 



There was a good run on April 23. At 8 p. m. some up under the 

 overhanging bank on a steep shelving bottom were watched. Their 

 heads were upstream and they were swinging or waving from side 

 to side, their bodies occasionally, perhaps, brushing against a neigh- 

 bor, but no other contact was noticed and apparently no paii'ing or 

 any approach to it took place. 



The smelts constituting the run of the night of April 13 were said 

 to be "large " fish, but most of those of April 15, as shown by measure- 

 ment of over 100, ranged from 4i to 5 inches, and there was only 

 one of the latter length. Those taken on the night of April 17 

 ranged from 4 J to 8^, although the majority were from 4 J to 5 

 inclies in length. While the larger fish were always present, the 

 proportion was somewhat smaller toward the last of the season. 

 This, taken with the fact that in the first runs male fish predominate, 

 was thought to indicate that the male averages somewhat larger 

 than the female, although occasionally a female as long as 8^ inches 

 was observed. The following table shows that males continue to 

 predominate during their breeding season and that the smallest fish 

 caught was a male and the largest a female. 



Table Showing Proportion op Male and Female Smelts and Range in Size 



OF Each Sex. 



The smelt is very prolific, an individual 4f inches long carrying 

 5,893 eggs, as ascertained by actual count. Doubtless some eggs 

 escape fertilization, but the countless numbers of ''eyed eggs" ob- 

 served clinging to moss indicated that the yield of the spring of 1910 

 m Pike Brook alone would be a large one. The period of incubation 

 appears to be short, the eggs hatching in from 10 to 15 days, according 

 to the temperature of the water. The young are tender, threadlike 

 creatures, but grow rapidly and enter the lake at an early age. 



Enemies. — The smelt is not free from enemies even in the brook, 

 where large predaceous fishes can not enter, but there, aside from man, 

 by far the most destructive are minks, sheldrakes, kingfishers, trout, 

 and chubs, all of which were at times observed at Pike Brook in April, 

 1910. Tlie birds and minks take the adult smelt, as does the trout 

 to some extent, but the trout and chub feed mainly upon the eggs 

 and young, and, as has been shown, the smelt is not averse to its 

 own eggs. 



