50 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Ill the Detroit Kh er, where there were line opportunities for observ- 

 ing the lish at tliis period, owing to the advantages atlbrded by Mr. 

 George Clark, of Ecorse, w^e fonnd that the fish ascended the river 

 about the hist week of September, usually following the same course 

 among the islands year after year. Mr. Clark's observations on the 

 migration of the white-fishes had discovered that they ascended much 

 farther years ago than they do now. They are still taken as high up as 

 Cottrelville, twelve miles up the Saint Clair River. iSTone have been 

 caught above this point for many years. It is a singular fact that the 

 white-tish are not known to descend from Lake Huron into the Saint 

 Clair Kiver. This is established by .abundant evidence from continued 

 fishing at I^ort Gratiot, where Mr. Clark, between the years 1830 and 

 1842, took large quantities of the wall-eyed pike, Stifiiosfedion amerlcana, 

 taking frequently one thousand barrels in a year. The catch of white, 

 fish amounted to an occasional supply for his own table, except after 

 long-continued storms from the north ward, when the fish sometimes en- 

 tered the river in schools. Thry were never found in this portion of the 

 river in the spawning-season. 



The same fact is claimedby the Indians in theSault Saiute Marie Hi ver, 

 that the white-fishes of the lake above never descend the rapids, while 

 the white fishes of the river, it is also asserted, iiever ascend to Lake 

 Superior. There is not as good evidence for the truth in this locality 

 as at Fort Gratiot; still it may be the case. 



Examining the fish on the 30th of October, it was found that the spawn 

 of the white-fish was hard and firm, with rarely a fisli approaching 

 ripeness. 



On the 1st of November, in the picketed pond, where the fishes are 

 inclosed, numbers offish were seen jumping from the water, principallj' 

 the herring, who take delight in this exercise at different seasons of the 

 year. Occasionally a white-fish threw its bulkier form above the surface. 



On the 8th of the month Mr. Clark and I were out on the piling 

 surrounding the pond, and found the white-fish jumping in numbers, so 

 that there was a continual splashing of the water. They almost uni- 

 formly jumped in pairs, and we could see quantities of spawn in the water 

 immediately afterwards, which rapidly sank. 



Mr. Clark and I both succeeded in capturing a pair in the act of 

 leaving the water, and found male and fenuile with milt and spawn run- 

 iilng freely. Mr. Clark made use of a fine wire scoop as the pairs of fish 

 disappeared from the surface, and almost invariably took a quantity of 

 spawn from the water. 



The males were uniformly smaller than the females. I succeeded in 

 catching a pair in which the female weighed seven pounds, and the male, 

 who escaped before he was weighed, did not exceed one and a half 

 pounds. 



November 9. — I again saw the white-fish jumping from the water in 

 the evening, almost uniformly in pairs. Earely there were three leaped 



