34 . THE FISHEEIES OF ALASKA IN 1906. 



Indians of the village located here were fishing with a small gill net 

 and averaging about 20 to 30 red salmon each night. These fish were 

 remarkably clean looking, with no visible signs of disease or rough 

 usage. A family occupying the village near the head of the lake 

 were getting a few red salmon each day with spears. At several 

 places along the lake shore w-ere racks which had been used m pre- 

 vious seasons lor drying salmon, and at each of these spots close 

 observation was made for signs of salmon. Only about a dozen in all 

 were seen, however. It is possible, but hardly probable, that the 

 greater part of them were in the deep waters of the lake at this time. 

 During August and Septend:)er some of the Indians from the Nusha- 

 gak visit this lake an<l catch and dry spawning salmon and use them 

 as food for their dogs during the winter. Inquiry of the Indians in 

 the settlement at the foot of the lake developed the fact that the 

 greater part of the season's run had passed up between the 10th and 

 15th of July. As a whole, they considered the season a very meager 

 one, and were considerably exercised over the poor outlook for a win- 

 ter's supply of food. 



This river has heretofore been the favorite resort of the red salmon 

 of the Nushagak, but this season the run was exceedingly light, the 

 fishermen complaining that the fish went up the Nushagak River 

 instead. Seven traps were operated on the river, and many of the 

 fishermen ascribe the diminished run to this fact. Several of these 

 traps have large "corrals," or double hearts, in which the imprisoned 

 fish can be retained in times of abundance until they can be utilized 

 at the cannery, and thus the trap be operated continuously. The 

 traps are put in about Jime 20 and are removed the latter part of 

 July. The catch from them is relied upon by the canneries to supple- 

 ment the more important trap and gill-net fisheries of Nushagak Bay. 

 In consequence, when there is a large run in the bay, the canneries are 

 so pushed to handle the catch from their immediate vicinity that no 

 effort is made to utilize those in the river traps, and if the run in the 

 bay continues the fish in the river traps are released, except in the 

 case of the traps with the "corrals," in v»-hich they are retained for 

 some time on the possibility that the run on the bay may decrease 

 sufficiently to bring the river-caught fish into demand. In 1905 there 

 was a large run of red salmon in Nushagak Bay and Wood River, so 

 large in fact that the gill netters on the bay were limited as to the 

 mimber they could turn over to the canneries daily. Consequently 

 the Wood River fish, which were the ones caught farthest from the 

 canneries, and hence the most expensive to transport, were not utilized 

 until late in the season, when the main run had passed out of the bay. 

 Tn 1905 four traps operated on that river furnished over 800,000 red 

 salmon, but many thousand more were turned out of the nets when it 

 was seen that they could not be used. The present season these same 



