Omitia Lake Fishes 453 



Table No. 14. Showing the Xumuer of Pounds and the Value of the 

 Pike Perch from the Great Lakes Region in 1922. 



Lake Pounds \alue 



Ontario 153.850 $29,637 



i:rit' 22.357.996 1.285.399 



St. Clair 38.620 5.74' 



Michigan 132,948 21,185 



Superior 23.298 3.268 



Figures for Xcw York State alone are. according to Macdonald ('27. i)p. 

 92-93): 



Lake Pounds Value 



Ontario 27.499 $8,530 



Erie I70.9'5 y.685l?] 



The figures for I^ikc Krie and Lake ( )iuario given above are partly for the 

 Blue Pike (Sticosleilioii (jlaiicum). 



Not only has the Pike Perch high commercial value Imt it is a species much 

 sought by anglers in ])ortions of the ( ireat I-akes and in numerous inlaml lakes of 

 the Great l^tkes states and elsewhere. Su the si>ecies has a high recreational value. 

 Many anglers make \Vall-eye<l Pike their chief objective, but many are taken also 

 by Iwss fishermen, giving variety to the string of large fish brought in. 



Leach ('27, p. 4) says of the game qualities of Pike Perch: •'The Pike I'erch 

 .although cipricious. is re.adily caught with Itaited hook, artificial fly. simmmi. etc.. 

 and deserves high rank as a g.ame fish. .Mkuu 100 tons are taken ainiually with 

 hook and line through the ice alM)ut the Pass Islands, l^ake Krie: Large quantities 

 arc also thus caught near Puffalo. X. ^'., in Saginaw Hay, Michigan, and else- 

 where." 



The Pike Perch diK-s not appear to Ik- decreasing in numlH-rs so fast as many 

 of our other game fishes, ^f^. f. K. Hunter. Game Protector, of .Syr.icuse, X. Y., 

 who is very familiar with conditions in ( )neida I.ake. asserts that the species is 

 maintaining itself well there «lespite the extensive fishing, including much that is 

 illegal. During each of the ]>ast two years the hatchery crew at C'onstanlia have 

 taken enough Pike Perch on aU.nt a third of a mile of shoal to obt.iin around 

 1900 quarts of eggs, l-iirlhermore the nets prolwbly sc-cure only a small {Mirtion of 

 the fish from t!»e fishing area. These facts should give some idea of the vast nuni- 

 Ixirs of Pike Perch that very likely inhabit the several miles of shoals which arc 

 saiil to Ik- efpially as suitable for spawning fish as those of C'oustantia. In some i>f 

 the larger rivers of the (ireat Likes region and tmdoubie<lly elsewhere, the fish has 

 IxTii exterminated <ir greatly decreased in nuinlK-rs by contamination by sewage «>r 

 factory waste. Its habit of riun>ing up streams to s]vawn often ex|)oses it to poisons 

 from such sources. .\n imp<irtant reason why the fi.sh is holding its own .igainst 

 so many rxlds is that it is easily and extensively projiagateti and plante<l. The 

 fish are caught for the puri>ose at the breeding time with nets or weirs. Thev are 



