1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 125 



small fish as he was unfortunate enough to injure, but the majority of 

 such cases would occur when trolling with a spoon and gang of hooks, 

 and, if it were ruled legal to " fish for " more than the legal number 

 provided the uninjured fish were returned to the water, plainly it would 

 be within the discretion of the angler to change his bait to a single hook 

 and thus greatly minimize the chances of having his sport brought to a 

 premature conclusion owing to the capture and injury of small fishes. 

 In this regard, also, it may be noted that there is on the market to-day 

 a barbless hook which, while possibly not quite so effective as the 

 barbed variety, is none the less highly efficacious. Most of the in- 

 juries that fish receive can be directly attributed to the agency of the 

 barb, so that the possession of a few barbless hooks should still further 

 tend to prolong the period of sport open to the angler whose catch is 

 nearing its legal limit. 



In regard to brook trout, the restrictions imposed vary from those 

 affecting the black bass in that a weight of fish that may be caught, 

 namely, 10 lbs., is mentioned, while the number of fish thiat may be 

 killed is placed at thirty and the legal limit of size at six inches, the 

 double restriction as to weight and size having been devised to meet 

 the great difference in dimensions at which the trout will mature under 

 varying conditions. With these exceptions the wording of the regula- 

 tion is in general precisely similar, and much of what has been written 

 in regard to the black bass applies equally in this case. 



The trout can be caught on the fly by trolling with a spoon or other 

 artificial bait, or with the angle-worm or live minnow, and it is plain 

 that some fish will be injured and some uninjured when landed. More- 

 over, there is the same question as to the interpretation of the law in 

 regard to what number of fish may be fished for and whether it is within 

 the spirit of the law to return uninjured fish to the water and to con- 

 tinue angling, although the actual weight or number of fish landed may 

 be in excess of that allowed by law. 



The brook trout, however, is in the majority of cases less rugged a 

 fish than the black bass and, in consequence, is more likely to be in- 

 jured in the process of handling, even though the hand be carefully 

 wetted and every precaution taken. It is not intended in the least to 

 imply that the fish cannot be returned to the waters to live and thrive, 

 for undoubtedly many instances could be adduced to the contrary, but 

 the comparative delicacy of the fish would at all events appear to be an 

 argument in favor of restricting the number of trout which may be 

 "' fished for " to the number which may be caught. Another point, also, 

 to be noted in this regard is that in the more populated and accessible 

 portions of the Province where the brook trout does occur, it doe?! not, 

 as a rule, run to a very great size, so that neither from the point of view 

 of the weight or of the numbers which he might legally catch could the 

 angler claim that any undue hardship was being inflicted on him. In 

 fact, only in one section of the Province, the region to the north of I^ke 



