Avery. — State Fishing in Minnesota 59 



PRODUCTION, BY SPECIES. 



Of the total production of the state fisheries for ten months 

 ending August 31, amounting to 1,059,628 pounds, nearly one- 

 third, or 302,333 pounds, were pike-perch or wall-eyed pike. 

 The greater portion of these have come from Red Lake, which is 

 heavily stocked with this species. 



Next in volume came mullets or suckers, most of which were 

 taken in April and for which there was a good demand at a low 

 price at the beginning of the run, but which soon fell off, leaving 

 us with a surplus difficult to dispose of. 



The pike, or the variety that we call pickerel and known to the 

 trade in our country as jacks was third in volume, most of them 

 having been taken by Indians with spears in winter through the 

 ice. Peculiarly, Red Lake has produced very few pickerel. If 

 they exist there they must be small and find their way through 

 the pound net leads, as we do not get them. 



One of our staple varieties and fourth in volume, is bullheads, 

 for which we find a lively demand the year round. We have 

 caught these in a limited region around Lake Winnibigoshish with 

 small hoopnets and they are marketed skinned and dressed. 



What we call a "sheepshead" — known farther south as the 

 white perch — has never been regarded as a food fish to any extent 

 in Minnesota, but we have induced our people to eat 58,000 

 pounds of them; they are now regularly displayed in the best 

 markets in the Twin Cities at 7 cents a pound. 



The white fish we have caught — some 58,000 pounds — have 

 been taken incidentally in our pound nets or by Indians with 

 gill nets. We have not encouraged taking them. Our Red Lake 

 white fish are light colored, range from three to five pounds in 

 weight and are of very fine quality. 



We find in Red Lake great quantities of a species known 

 locally as "goldeyes" and which is probably one of the mooneyes. 

 These have been used as food but little in our locality until we 

 began to urge their use on the ground of economy. We sell them 

 at the same price as sheepshead, lake carp and mullets, and have 

 disposed of 51,000 pounds of them. 



