174 KEPOKT OF ONTAEIO GAME Xo. 52 



aware of the most likely spots on his beat and thus be likely to secure 

 quite a number of fiish during the course of the season. Further, it 

 could hardlj^ be but galling to the visitor, under license and other expen- 

 ditures, to find the rangers fishing the same waters as himself and if not 

 actually securing the greater share of the sport, at least by their opera- 

 tions tending to les-sen his chances of success. Indeed, more than one 

 complaint on this score was to be heard during the past season. It 

 would seem, however, that care will be taken in the future to keep the 

 rangers fairly busily employed so that their leisure hours for angling 

 will in any case be materially diminiKhed and there will be, in conse- 

 quence, considerably less likelihood of their interfering with the sport 

 of visiting anglers, but there appears none the less to be little, if any, 

 reason for exempting the rangers from the normal fee should they desire 

 to angle, other than that they may be able to secure freBh fish for their 

 consumption. There are practically throughout the length of the river 

 localities where the coarser fish, such as the pike, abound, and it is to be 

 noted that in these cold waters the flesh of the pike is firm, flaky and not 

 at all unpleasant to the taste. In such localities, also, the pickerel is 

 often to be found, and is, of course, a splendid table fish. Eight or more 

 rangers removing speckled trout from the river almost every day for five 

 months would obviously be a considerable drain on the resources of the 

 river, and scb one of the principal objects of this reserve is to secure the 

 perpetuation of the River Nipigon's magnificent speckled trout fisheries 

 to the public, it would seem that if the rangers require fish for food, 

 they might reasonably be required to angle for and take only the coarser 

 varieties, and that in the event of their being desirous of angling for 

 speckled trout they should be treated in the same manner as the general 

 public and compelled to take out the ordinary license. 



Although no small portion of the duties of the rangers on the River 

 Nipigon must plainly occur in the vicinity of the river itself, it should 

 also be made clear to them that the forests of the reserve on either side 

 of the river are under their charge and some system should be devised 

 whereby these tracts may be frequently patrolled. At the present time 

 a light railway is in operation a short distance to the west of the river 

 from Camp Alexander to South Bay, and already the apparently inevi- 

 table results of a steam engine are in evidence on both sides of portions 

 of its right of way in the gruesome spectacle of burnt and ruined timber. 

 Apparently but little attention has in the past been devoted either to this 

 railway or to the forests on either side of the river in general in the mat- 

 ter of fire ranging, and it would seem most expedient that greater eiforts 

 should be made in this direction in the future. 



The extent of the reserve is very great and the superintendence of 

 its rangers is complicated by the necessity of supervising the tourist 

 traffic and the collection of the license fees from anglers on the river 

 itself and by the construction of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. 

 Lake Nipigon, moreover, is a body of water easily disturbed by wind 



