81G REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AXD FISHERIES. 



flavor and iirmuess of meat much impaired. Treat the Maine salmon in 

 tfee same way and its best qualities would be gone. 



Our salmon do take bait readily in the salt water at the mouths of rivers 

 and creeks, and in the bays along the coast. At such places fly-fishing 

 is generally not successful. 



I have had several conversations with Mr. Eedding about his obser- 

 vations of the San Joaquin salmon and of your desire to procure a 

 species of salmon that can be successfully introduced into the waters of 

 the States south of the Potomac. It seems to me that the San Joaquin 

 salmon will not be as good for such purpose as the salmon which fre- 

 quent the rivers which empty direct into the Pacific along the California 

 coast from Monterey north. This last variety makes its appearance at 

 the mouths of the coast streams from the middle of October to Novem- 

 ber, awaiting the annual winter rains to swell the streams, up which 

 they go to their spawning-beds. The spawning takes place in December 

 and January, the spent fish returning to the ocean in February and 

 March. These fish, in good condition, have been caught weighing 25 

 pounds. As salmon spawn at set times, regardless of change of loca- 

 tion, the coast species would arrive in the rivers of the Southern States 

 when the streams would be swollen with winter rains, the water of a 

 low temperature, and such enemies as blue-fish, Spanish mackerel, &c., 

 withdrawn to warmer waters near the Florida coast. The rivers, also, 

 being higher than in summer, would, with the colder weather, insure 

 the salmon a better chance for successful spawning than would be the 

 case with the San Joaquin salmon, which would be iu the rivers in Au- 

 gust and September, and easily caught, which is not desired until the 

 rivers become fully stocked. 



I would also call your attention to a fish commonly called salmon- 

 trout, which visits our coast rivers about the same time the salmon do, 

 probably two weeks later. This fish is trout-shaped, being longer and 

 rounder than the salmon, and of proportionately less weight. This fish 

 spawns as late as February, and possibly early iu March, after which 

 they return to the mouths of the streams and to the ocean in the early 

 part of April. They have been caught weighing 20 i^ounds, from 8 to 

 10 pounds being a common weight. I think this variety would do well 

 if introduced into Virginia and the two Carolinas. They are a very 

 game fish, flesh before spawning a faint cream-color, changing to white 

 when returning to sea. A 7-pound fish in good condition measured 31^ 

 inches long, while the largest run to about 40 inches. This variety of 

 fish stock the coast streams, where the mountain trout have been com- 

 pletely fished out. They are, however, fast disappearing under the 

 effects of netting, giant-powder, and spearing, and promise to become 

 extinct within the next ten years unless i)rotected by law from such 

 dangers. 



Apologizing for so long and disjointed a letter, I remain your obedient 

 servant, 



HORACE D. DUNN. 



