1912 GAME AND FISHERIES. 21 



was opened and one of the Dominion Fish Co. tugs fished tliere part of August and 

 part of September, and stated that they had good fishing; then it was opened dur- 

 ing the month of October for sail boat fishermen, with the result that one boat 

 eauglit 13 tons, another 11 tons, and another 7 tons. This was all done in two 

 weeks' fislii ng, and fishermen claim that they have not caught so many fish on the 

 cast end of the lake for several years, in fact they caught fish in such large quanti- 

 ties that they could hardly find a market for their catch, and he finds that the 

 fishing from Gargantua to Goulis Bay is exceedingly good. 



On his recent trip up to White Gravel River, when near the Pukoso River, 

 lie discovered two tugs lifting their nets. He went alongside of one of them and 

 went aboard, and found that they were two tugs from Rossport. He asked these 

 fishermen why they came so far down the lake to fish, and they informed him that 

 tlie fishing was no good between Otter Head and Rossport, in fact they had a man 

 al)oard from Port Arthur taking spawn for the fish hatchery at Port Arthur, as 

 they could not secure a supply at the upper end of the lake. 



While he was in Simmons Harbour he interviewed some fishermen there, and 

 they stated that the fishing was bad. He asked them if they could give any reason 

 wliy the fishing was so bad on the upper end of the lake, and they informed him 

 tliat the only reason that they knew of was that the tug fishermen for several years 

 past had been throwing the insides of the fish, when they cleaned them, into the 

 lake, and no doubt this has been very injurious to the fishing in the upper end of 

 the lake ; also over-fishing. 



He says that the fishermen in his division have obeyed the laws well this season. 



He also calls the attention of the Department to the sucker fish, which are 

 Coiind in large quantities in nearly every part of the lake, especially in Goulis Bay, 

 Batchawana Bay, Sandy Islands, and at the mouths of the rivers emptying into 

 the lake. The sucker fish is known to be very destructive on the spawn of the 

 trout and whitefish, but how are we going to get rid of this nuisance? There is 

 only the one way that he can see and that is to allow the use of pound nets, and 

 to limit them to six or eight between Gargantua and Goulis Bay, and only to be 

 fished from the 1st of May until the 31st of August, and to be compelled to take all 

 suckers caught in these nets ashore. 



And in view of the fact that the fishing in the waters on the east end of Lake 

 Superior is in such a flourishing condition, it is to be hoped that the Department 

 will take some steps in the near future to have the sucker exterminated in these 

 waters. 



He would like to call the attention of the Department to the evil habit of 

 setting nets in the month of December, by our local fishermen. Many of these 

 nets are frozen in, and often are never lifted, and he thinks there is a large quan- 

 tity of fish destroyed in this way. Fishermen should not be allowed to set any 

 nets until the ice is of a sufficient thickness to allow fishermen to work on it, or 

 otherwise stop all winter fishing, which no doubt would be a great hardship on 

 many fishermen, especially Indians, who depend on winter fishing for a living. 



Another habit which he does not consider fair to the local fisherman is the 

 practice of tug fishermen lowering yawl boats during the shoal fishing, during the 

 month of October, and setting a gang of nets in shoaT water; this means practi- 

 cally fishing two or three boats on the one license, and in his opinion should be put 

 a stop to. 



He also wishes to say that they have there in the Sault Ste. Marie River, the rain- 

 bow trout, which make the finest sport for anglers that can be imagined ; in the round 

 they weigh from six to twelve pounds. He says that these fish spawn in the first 



