Kendall. — New England Chars 107 



Mr. Neal, of Maine: The fish in my State are a conundrum. We 

 have tried different methods and have made numerous mistakes. Per- 

 haps if we had had more assistance from the scientists we should have 

 had better success. It is still a question with us whether it is possible 

 for us to stock our lakes permanently with land-locked salmon and trout. 

 We have about 2,300 lakes and ponds in Maine, most of them adapted 

 to these fishes, and they have been stocked. We have eleven hatcheries 

 and hatch millions of trout and salmon, but in some localities we have 

 been stocking lakes with salmon and trout for twenty years, and there 

 has never been a trout caught there. George's lake, for example, has 

 been stocked extensively for the past fifteen years, but there has never 

 been a trout caught there, and only large salmon weighing over five 

 pounds. As soon as the ice goes out there is good fishing, but only the 

 salmon, and they run very large. At Swan lake, only fifteen miles from 

 there, stocked in a similar manner, there is excellent fishing of both 

 land-locked salmon and trout. Most of the salmon weigh from three 

 to five pounds and very rarely as much as ten, while the trout weigh 

 from a pound up and have been taken weighing eight pounds. We are 

 trying in every way to solve these problems, which puzzle us, and will 

 welcome any assistance the scientist can give us. 



Mr. Graham: The question of introducing fishes into different waters 

 is a very important one. As Dr. Kendall says, there is no doubt that 

 the introduction of the land-locked salmon into the Rangely lakes caused 

 the disappearance of the blue-backed trout. On the other hand the 

 land-locked salmon were introduced into Sunapee lake, and while they 

 thrived very well and were caught in large numbers as long as they 

 kept planting them year after year, the deep-water trout also kept 

 increasing, and I believe are increasing to-day. During the past four 

 or five years the Sunapee trout have been caught by the thousands. 

 But the smelts are very abundant in Sunapee lake, and apparently they 

 have kept the salmon from destroying the trout. It seems to me, then, 

 that any lake containing trout should be abundantly stocked with smelt 

 before the salmon are introduced. 



Along this line I wish to make a few remarks about the western 

 salmon introduced from Oregon. These have been successfully established 

 in Sunapee and New Found lakes in New Hampshire, by which I mean 

 that they have been caught in large numbers, ranging in weight from 

 a pound up to sixteen or seventeen pounds, but whether they will ever 

 reproduce there we do not know. The Massachusetts Commission has 

 had a little experience with these same salmon. Two years ago we 

 planted in Lake Quinsigamond, in the city of Worcester, Mass., 10,000 

 young salmon from four to five inches in length, and last year 20,000 

 more. The lake had been carefully screened before stocking, and it is 

 full of smelts. Here are some of the results: The fishermen caught 

 this year in July, right in the city of Worcester, between 500 and 1,000 

 salmon, weighing from two and a half to five and a half pounds. Now, 

 judging by these results, it seems to me good business to introduce 

 these fish whether they will reproduce or not. This lake in Worcester 

 abounds with pickerel, yellow and white perch, and other fish of that 

 nature, yet we have introduced the western salmon, and in two years' 

 time they have grown to as great a weight as five and three-quarter 

 pounds. 



Mr. Hayford, of New Jersey: Some of this discussion has had to 

 do with the Rangely lakes. I had charge of the station at that place 

 for five years and may be able to offer some suggestions concerning the 

 disappearance of the blue-back trout from my own experience. There 

 the brook trout spawn about the first of October and the blue-backs 

 I 



