SOME OF THE DIFFICULTIES ENCOUNTERED 

 IN COLLECTING PIKE-PERCH EGGS 



By S. W. Downing 



The conditions under which eggs of all species of fish 

 are collected for propagation purposes have been steadily 

 becoming more trying and difficult during the past ten or 

 fifteen years. Especially is this true of the pike-perch and 

 other fishes that deposit their eggs at the upper end of Lake 

 Erie in the spring of the year. 



For the better information of those not familiar with the 

 method of collecting eggs for the Put-in Bay station, and 

 in fact for nearly all the stations on the Great Lakes, it 

 will be necessary to say that at these stations no brood 

 fish are kept, neither does the Bureau do any fishing, but 

 the eggs are secured from fish caught by commercial fisher- 

 men for market. The spawners go out in the boats with 

 the fishermen when the latter go to lift their nets, or else 

 the Bureau arranges with the fishermen to take the eggs 

 themselves, paying a certain price per quart. In either case, 

 however, the eggs must be taken and cared for out in the 

 open lake. 



The increased difficulty in collecting good eggs has been 

 brought about chiefly by changes in the manner of captur- 

 ing the fish and by the increased demand for getting the fish 

 to market at the earliest possible moment after they are 

 taken from the water. Ten or fifteen years ago the greater 

 part of the fish caught at the head of Lake Erie were taken 

 in pound nets, and but few of them were expected to be 

 packed for shipping to the distant markets before the fol- 

 lowing day. There was consequently no such hurry and 

 rush as exists today to get the nets lifted and the fish to 

 the fish houses for packing. 



The pound net as used ten or fifteen years since consisted 



