1909 GAME AND FISHERIES. 35 



July you will find some of them full of spawn. The ducks were very plentiful 

 last spring and there was very little shooting. There are more ducks in the St. 

 Lawrence Eiver this fall than there have been for years and the sportsmen are 

 getting good shooting and if the put puts don't close them out we will have good 

 shooting all fall. He has found no illegal fishing. 



Overseer William S pence, of Athens, reports that there is an increase in all 

 fish over previous years. Salmon are more plentiful and black bass are still better 

 and larger. Fishing laws have been well observed, just two cases of illegal fishing 

 with nets. He got seven gill nets this season. The laws in regard to game were 

 well observed. Partridge are more plentiful and there are a great many more 

 ducks than other years. There were few tourists this summer, therefore there were 

 not as many permits sold as in previous years. About three years ago fish were 

 very scarce and he thinks that is one reason for their not coming to the Lake thi& 

 year, as they don't know they are so plentiful. 



Overseer Fred Stanzel, of Carleton Place, reports that he has taken every pre- 

 caution in regard to the game and fishery laws and has found no person violating^ 

 therefore has collected no fines. He cannot say whether there has been an in- 

 crease or decrease in the different kinds of fish during the past year, as this is 

 his first year. Black bass were scarce in the fore part of the season, but abundantly 

 good during August and September. 



Ducks are plentiful in his district this year, and partridge are increasing in 

 number. 



Overseer B. B. Storey, of Escott, reports that the fishery laws in his division 

 to date have been well observed as the only fish are suckers, bull-pouts and pickerel, 

 and these are only taken by residents for their own private use. He thinks it 

 would be a very good thing to have a close season, in his division, for frogs, as they 

 are a very good price at the Eiver St. Lawrence, which is only three miles away, and 

 therefore they are becoming quite scarce. The game laws have been well observed ; 

 he approves of the extended close season for partridge, as he believes that they are 

 quite scarce throughout the province. 



He thinks that it would be a very good thing to have a shorter season for musk- 

 rats in his division, say, 15th April to Ist May, owing to the scarcity. 



He believes the mere existence of a Fish and Game Overseer in a division is a 

 great protection. 



Overseer J. W. Taudvin, of Kingston, reports that he finds that the angling 

 in the St. Lawrence Eiver during the fore part of the season was not very good 

 and during the latter part much better than usual, bass and maskinonge being 

 far more plentiful. In the lower portion of Lake Ontario the bass fishing as a 

 whole was not so good. The season for spawning was very late and very few bass 

 had spawned before the fifteenth of July. 



There was a lot of windy weather, which interfered with the anglers and had 

 a lot to do with a smaller catch. All kinds of fish this year were very fat and 

 would not bite as well as usual, showing that they were getting an abundance of 

 food. Bass were very plentiful and never in the history of angling in these waters 

 were there so many small bass seen and caught as there were this year. There is 

 no doubt but the bass are increasing rapidly here. 



