84 FISHES AND FISHING IN SUNAPEE LAKE. 



The report of 1879 seems to indicate a revulsion of the former 

 enthusiasm over the black bass. It says: 



There is a very strong feeling in many parts of the State that oiu- labors had better 

 be confined to increasing our stock of native fish and restoring those once common 

 to our waters, rather than to introduce new varieties of scaly foreigners who may 

 do more harm than good. Black bass have only been partially a success, and from 

 their rapid spread in the Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers may prove to be very 

 detrimental to our efforts to restock those rivers with salmon and shad. 



The report for 1881 says: 



One of your commissioners, in going by Sunapee Lake last summer, on his way to 

 Clairmont, at 5 o'clock p. m. saw a string of 47 pounds' weight put on the train by two 

 gentlemen who had arrived there at 10 o'clock the same morning. 



In the report of 1888 the commissioner shows cause why the black 

 bass is a blessing to Sunapee Lake, in the following words: 



Here I wish to say a word in favor of the much-abused and misunderstood black 

 bass. Previous to the introduction of the black bass into Sunapee Lake it was not 

 known as a trout lake except to a few in its immediate vicinity, and the catch of 

 trout, with the exception of those netted and speared during the spawning season, 

 was very small. The lake at that time was infested with large numbers of small 

 yellow perch, which destroyed the young trout as soon as hatched. Especially is 

 this true of the Aureolus, they being lake spawners. The black bass have destroyed 

 the perch, and their place is now taken by hundreds of the finest trout in the world. 

 Here we have a lake noted for its excellent bass fishing, and at the same time one 

 of the finest trout and salmon lakes in New England, and no fisherman on the lake 

 has ever made complaint that the bass interfered with the trout in any way. 



But again, in the report for 1900 (1901), the commissioners (differ- 

 ent ones) say: 



The bass have become so numerous in Sunapee Lake as to satisfy us, if not all, 

 that protection should be taken from them for a time in those waters, and fishermen 

 should be allowed to take them at all times, and of any size, until their numbers are 

 so far reduced as to seciu-e the comparative safety of other fish from their ravages. 



A year ago last August, Commissioners Wentworth and Shurtlef spent two days at 

 Sunapee experimenting on bass, and during that time we caught in deep water 8 to 10 

 bass, from the stomachs of which we took Aureolus, or white trout, and brook trout, 

 which was to us an easy solution of the question which has been often asked, Why 

 are there no more small brook trout in Simapee? 



In the report for 1889 the statement is made that "black-bass 

 fishing was better in 1888 than it had been for a number of years." 



In the report for 1904, after stating that in Sunapee Lake more 

 large sahnon were taken the last year than in any one year for 20 

 years, they continue: 



In the last 12 years our commission has never planted black bass in waters that 

 contained salmon or trout. There is no doubt that in Sunapee Lake, where they are 

 very plenty, they have done much to retard the increase of both trout and salmon. 



Lately the conviction seems to prevail among black-bass anglers 

 that the fish is not only growing much scarcer, but that it seldom 

 attains the size that it fonnerly did. The season of 1910 was very 



