320 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



^vitll absolute certainty iu wliich places the fish may be found at differ- 

 ent seasons of tbe year. 



A farmer or mecbanic wbo only occasionally engages in fisbing, tbere- 

 fore, runs tbe same risk as a bird wbicb, born in a cage, suddenly gains 

 its liberty. It starves to death on account of its lack of the faculty of 

 observing and its ignorance of those places where food may be found. 

 To this must be added the circumstance that a good farmer, accustomed 

 to handle the plow and spade, does but rarely possess the necessary skill 

 in using lines and hooks or nets, and will, consequently, not be a very 

 successful fisherman. Fishing should, therefore, only be carried on by 

 persons who have been able to gain some practice in it, and who can de- 

 vote their whole attention to it; and those who have such small fishing- 

 waters that it would not pay to keep a special person to take care of them 

 would, therefore, do best to club together with some of their neighbors 

 and let out their fishing-waters to skilled fishermen. 



After having thus given the most imj)ortant rules which should be ob- 

 served with regard to the mode of life of fish, and after having likewise 

 j)ointed out the way in which our fisheries could best be furthered and 

 protected, we will briefly mention the way in which a fisherman should 

 go to work, the methods of fishing, and the fishing-implements which can 

 and should be used at different seasons of the year. 



Various ways in loh'wh the fislieries may he improved. — Earely, or per- 

 haps never, do we find a sheet of water wdiich is so favorable to the 

 IDropagation of the different kinds of fish living in it that its condition 

 could not in any way be improved, that is, made more convenient and 

 suitable for the spawning of the fish. Just as the farmer must be very 

 careful to water, to plow, dig, and fertilize "ins ground, because, being 

 left to itself, it will be overrun with weeds and will not yield the produce 

 which, with some care, might be expected from it, thus the proprietor of 

 fishing-waters must take care of these waters and aid nature by artificial 

 propagation, and make the water a suitable dwelling-place for the young- 

 fish, and protect these as much as possible against their enemies. The 

 propagation of fish fortunately goes on under such conditions as to en- 

 able man to extend considerable aid to nature; and to give this aid 

 should be the first duty of every proprietor of fishing- waters who has his 

 true interest at heart. 



Of our common fish, the perch, the pike, bream, roach, and other carp-like 

 fish spawn iu spring or early summer, whilst the salmon, gwiniad, char, 

 and burbot spawn in autumn and winter. Most of the fish which spawn 

 in spring lay their roe on i^ieces of wood, aquatic plants, alg\T, grass, 

 reeds, &c., to which the roe remains sticking until the young have 

 slipped out. This is the case with the iierch, for example, which lays its 

 eggs in bag-like heaps on pieces of wood or on reeds, as also with the roach, 

 whose roe is in separate grains, fastened to pieces of wood, stones, or 

 aquatic plants found near the vshores of lakes. The pike, the bream, and 

 the tench and other carp-like fish lay theu" eggs on grassy* bottoms or 



