182 THE SALMON AND ITS MIGRATIONS 



be the cause there are some years when smolts 

 can be seen by thousands in the estuaries, 

 and other years when there seem to be hardly 

 any. I remember two years of excessive abun- 

 dance 1872 and 1873. Boys fishing for trout in 

 the estuary of the Godbout were killing so 

 many, sometimes four or five dozen each, in 

 one tide, that I had to put a stop to their fishing. 

 A question often raised is, where do the smolts go 

 to after leaving a river? Probably during the 

 winter months they follow the example of their 

 elders and move out into the deep waters of the 

 river and gulf of St. Lawrence, to return the 

 following year as grilse. During the summer and 

 fall months they do not wander very far from 

 shore and to some extent seem to follow and mix 

 up with the herring. This is a very unfortunate 

 relation, because hundreds, and some years thou- 

 sands are gilled in the herring nets. Fishermen 

 along this coast call them Winnoniche. They are 

 mostly used up in the fresh state, either for food 

 or bait, but sometimes are salted. I once saw 

 three barrels of them exposed for sale on the Que- 

 bec market under the name of Winnonish. I told 

 Mr. Grenier, who was then fish inspector, what 

 they really were, and advised him to warn those 

 who bought them that they were liable to be fined 

 Many herring fishermen of the present day know 

 that they are smolts, but they cannot avoid their 

 capture, as their nets have to be set. In October 



