Lake Maxinkuckee, Physical and Biological Survey 263 



as it does. The plantings made from time to time by the Bureau 

 of Fisheries doubtless contribute in great measure to the mainte- 

 nance of this satisfactory condition; nevertheless, the conditions 

 for natural reproduction must be exceptionally favorable. 



Of the 64 species of fishes inhabiting this lake, at least 29 are 

 used more or less for food and may therefore be properly regarded 

 as food-fishes. Named approximately in the order of their import- 

 ance as food, they are the following: Yellow perch, bluegill, rock 

 bass, straw bass, small-mouth black bass, walleyed pike, calico bass, 

 common sunfish, crappie, long-eared sunfish, warmouth, red-eared 

 sunfish, pickerel, pike, eel, white sucker, redhorse, black sucker, 

 chub sucker, carp, common bullhead, yellow bullhead, black bull- 

 head, dogfish, river chub, creek chub, silverside, buff"alo and spoon- 

 bill cat. 



Col. Daniel McDonald, in his interesting "History^ of Lake Max- 

 inkuckee," states that little or no attention was given to the fish of 

 the lake by the early settlers until about 1840. "There are yet 

 living in Marshall County a few of those who as boys fished with 

 their fathers in those early times, and the stories they tell of the 

 schools of fish to be seen and the quantities caught are enough to 

 make the modern fisherman green with envy. With fish poles cut 

 from the grubs, homemade linen lines, and hooks of antique make, 

 a couple of farmers would man a canoe, paddle to the first bar, and 

 with worms and grubs for bait, an evening's fishing would bring 

 in a bushel of as fine fish as ever swam in lake or river. It was not 

 many months before a longer, a trolling line, with bucktail bait, 

 was used, and a pull across the lake was all that was needed to fur- 

 nish a small neighborhood with a hearty fish meal." 



That this lake was early known to the Indians and resorted to 

 by them on account of the abundance of its fishes, is well known. 

 The Indian villages on its shores and in its vicinity were among the 

 most populous in northern Indiana, and they depended in large 

 measure on this and neighboring lakes for their supply of food. 



FISHING AND FISH PROTECTION 



In the early days the methods of fishing were primitive and 

 had as their sole object the taking of fish for food. The spirit 

 of the meek and honest Isaak Walton had not as yet penetrated 

 any of those sturdy pioneers ; they had other more important, 

 more serious things to do. They caught fish only when needed 

 as food. They caught them in their own way and in such 



* History of Lake Maxinkuckee, by Daniel McDonald Indianapolis, 1905. 



