370 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



movement of considerable quantities of apparatus from tlie American 

 to the Canadian side of the lake, and the establishment of imiiortant 

 fisheries at a number of i)laces on the Canadian shore. In certain sec- 

 tions having imi^ortant lisheries in 1885, tlie diversion of apparatus to 

 the other side of the lake has resulted in a practical obliteration of 

 once extensive interests. The most conspicuous instance of this kind 

 was in the vicinity of Duluth. 



Notes on the principal fishes. — The movements of fish in this lake 

 appear to be less definite and less understood tlian in any of the other 

 Great Lakes. An enormous run of tisli and apparently favorable pros- 

 pects will often be changed to an entire absence of lisli for weeks, and, 

 on the contrary, dull ])eriods will sometimes be terminated by the 

 advent oi' huge bodies of fish without any api>arent cause and inde- 

 pendently of the migrations for si)awning inirposes Avhich here, as in 

 other lakes, are observed. During the spring fishing season of 1801 

 the lish came on to the shores in great abundance, and the prospects 

 of a large catch a])pearcd unusually good. Suddenly, however, the 

 iisli disappeared, and for weeks the catch was very light, and in many 

 places scarcely any iish were taken. The fishermen became discouraged 

 and moved their nets from point to point. Mr. A. Booth, of Chicago, the 

 well-known fish-dealer, remarked on this i)oint, "No one can say what 

 the year's business will be until it is over. The best prospects come 

 far short, and the i>oorest opening may turn out remarkably well." 



The fishermen and dealers attribute to the weather a very marked 

 infiuence on the abundance and catch of fish, which seems to be borne 

 out by the results. The cold north wind which prevails in this lake 

 during a large part of the year keeps the fish out in the lake in the 

 deeper and warmer water. In 1890 and 1891, in the vicinity of Bayfield 

 ;yid the Apostle Islands, a very cold wind from the north continued 

 during the greater part of the fishing season, a light catch being 

 the result. Within twenty-four hours after a change from a northerly 

 to a southerly Avind there are usually a large run of fish and a good 

 catch. In the vicinity of Lighthouse Point, Ashland County. Wis., 

 35 pound nets were put down in 1891, which, up to July 22, had 

 not taken as many fish as were caught by 8 nets in the same region 

 in the previous year, owing, as the fishermen believe, to the prevalence 

 of northerly winds and the consequent cold water. 



Foremost among the fishes of Lake Superior is the whitefish. This 

 species represents more than half the quantity and value of the catch, 

 and in nearly every fishing center is more important than all other fish 

 combined. In the vessel gill-net fishery, however, it is less valuable 

 than the lake trout. About two-thirds of the catch is taken in Michi- 

 gan, and practically all the remainder in Wisconsin, this fish now being 

 an insignificant element in the fisheries of Minnesota. In Michigan 

 the largest (piautities of whitefish are taken in Chippewa County, situ- 

 ated at the extreme eastei'u end of the lake and including, as its most 

 important fishing-ground, Whitefish Bay. The fish is also prominent 

 in the fisheries of Marquette, Uoughton, and Alger counties. Ash- 



