Lake Herring 



the fisherman's way of distinguishing individual variations in colour, 

 sex, age or time of run. Usually the fishermen claim that the 

 graybacks run in the spring, and that the spring or early sum- 

 mer is their spawning time. The greenbacks and bluebacks run 

 in the late fall, and are regarded, very naturally, as a better fish 

 than the graybacks. In Lakes Erie, St. Clair, Huron and Superior, 

 as well as throughout Canada, this species is known as herring 

 or lake herring. In Lake Michigan the names Michigan blueback 

 and shore herring are sometimes heard. Unfortunately the name 

 herring is also applied sometimes to other species. 



The lake herring has the same general habits as the white- 

 fish, but seems to be more widely disseminated during most 

 parts of the year. During the summer and winter it is mainly 

 restricted in Lake Erie to the deeper waters in the middle of 

 the lake, in its eastern half, and along the northern shore east 

 of Rondeau. From the deep-water region there are two great 

 migrations into the shoaler and more changeable portions of 

 the lake. In the spring, when the shoal waters become warmer, 

 the fish emerge from their winter habitat and move shoreward 

 and upon the edge of the platform, evidently in search of food. 

 The volume of this migration is less than that of the fall run, 

 and is more fluctuating and irregular. Their presence is generally 

 first noticed in early April, and occasionally large lifts are made 

 in the latter part of that month, though the best fishery is in 

 May. Some are caught in June, but by the first of that month 

 the bulk has left the United States coast for deeper water, although 

 on the Canadian shore east of Pointe Pelee they remain through- 

 out the summer. During the summer months the gillnet tugs 

 from Cleveland and eastern ports find them in deep water well 

 out in the lake, the best season off Erie, the principal fishing 

 centre, being from July to September. The fall migration corres- 

 ponds in a general way with that of the spring, though the 

 incentive is different. Then large bodies of herring seek spawning 

 beds on the platform, over which they become widely distribu- 

 ted. The distribution of their spawning grounds on the platform 

 is less restricted than those of the whitefish, and the herring are 

 not confined to the reefs and rocky bottoms when discharging 

 their eggs. There are doubtless important spawning grounds east 

 of the platform, though their exact location has not been 

 determined. 



133 



