1912 AND FISHERIES COMMISSION. 129 



A feature peculiar to the pickerel flslieries is that the pickerel is 

 the only fish in the Province, recognized alike as a commercial and 

 sporting variety, on which a limitation of catch is imposed in regard to 

 anglers. It is evident that in those localities where commercial netting 

 and angling are carried on side by side, the angler has just cause to com- 

 plain of an^' restriction being imposed on his catch when no such re- 

 striction affects the commercial net fisherman, whose operations are, as 

 a rule, by far the most deadly. As pointed out previously, however, the 

 pickerel has only of recent years come to be recognized as a sporting 

 fish of high class in this Province, and doubtless the limitation of catch 

 imposed bj' law was introduced to meet the needs of certain restricted 

 waters where the pickerel was the leading sporting fish, and where, as 

 a rule, no commercial netting was being conducted. In such cases it 

 is plainly necessary to limit the number of fish which may daily be 

 removed by anj^ one angler. The pickerel is, of course, a fish of the high- 

 est commercial value, and in view of this fact, as also that it is largely 

 a deep water fish, it would evidently be inexpedient generally to bar its 

 commercial exploitation in the waters of the great lakes, but having 

 regard to the rapid advance in popularity of the fish amongst citizen 

 anglers and the indisputable attraction it possesses for American 

 visitors, it would seem that, as pointed out in a previous section, the 

 time has perhaps arrived when commercial netting for it should not be 

 permitted outside of the waters of the great lakes, or at least in those 

 localities where it affords sport to a large number of either citizens or 

 visitors. 



Minnow Seines. I 



One of the best baits for small or large mouthed black bass, pickerel 

 and speckled trout is the minnow, which is one of the natural foods of 

 the fishes. There is, in consequence, a great demand for minnows in 

 most parts of the Province in which anglers from within and without 

 congregate during the summer months. At the present time the law 

 forbids the seining of minnows other than under license, and the 

 angler who desires to make use of the little fishes as bait must either 

 secure them from some person who possesses a seining license, or else 

 capture them himself by some other means, such as a small dip net. 

 The minnow seine license costs |5.00, entitling the licensee to 30 feet 

 of seine net and, as for bait purposes the live minnow is greatly superior 

 to the dead, it is usual for those holding these licenses to possess some 

 form of minnow pail in which they store tlie minnows pending a demand 

 for them, eventually retailing them to the angler at prices varying 

 from one to three cents per fish. 



There are in this Province a great variety of small fishes which 

 never attain a length of more than two or three inches and which are 

 commonly styled minnows, but, broadly speaking, it may be said that 

 the minnow when free in the water is lively, active and wary, only 



