REPORT OF STATE BOARD OP FISH COMMISSIONERS. 29 



appointed, the fry have been consigned to them, and they have given 

 them a wider distribution than otherwise would have been possible; 

 and for this reason those counties have been favored with larger con- 

 signments than counties where there is no Game Warden. 



With the exception of the landlocked salmon and Mackinaw 



FRY and Loch Leven trout, all the fish distributed from eggs 



PLANTING, hatched at our stations have been feeding fry. We are 



alive to the advantages of planting yearlings, and aware of 

 the position taken by the National and State Commissions upon this 

 question, but the conditions in our waters are much different than in 

 the Eastern streams. Our mountain streams are in the main free from 

 darters and other predaceous fishes, except trout. Our laws do not permit 

 the closing of the portion of streams stocked, nor do they regulate the size 

 of trout to be taken. The unqualified success of the planting of trout fry 

 in this State, and the greatly added expense of rearing any considerable 

 number of yearlings under our present limited appropriations, make it 

 inadvisable and impracticable. The fact that hand-fed fish also lose 

 the instinct of self-preservation to a great degree, must be taken into 

 consideration. The success of planting salmon fry, as soon as possible 

 after the sac is absorbed, in the headwaters of the Sacramento River, 

 cannot be questioned. A close inspection of these small streams during 

 the last few winters has shown them to be swarming with young salmon 

 that immediately seek shelter upon the approach of the observer. 



The U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries brought out 



LAKE and planted in the waters of the Feather River, near Grid- 



CUYAMACA. ley, and in Lake Cuyamaca, San Diego County, in 1891, 



500 catfish {Ictalarus punctatus), 6,980 yellow perch {Perca 

 flavescens), 2,610 large-mouth black bass {Micropterus salmoides), 285 

 crappie {Pomoxis annularis and P. sparoldes), 500 rockbass {Amhlo- 

 plites rupestris), 500 pickerel {Lucius vermicuJatus), and a number of 

 green sunfish {Lepomis cyanellus) and golden shiners (Notemigonus crys- 

 oleucas). It is reported that these fish have done well in the Feather 

 River; just how well it is, of course, impossible to tell. In order that 

 the National Commission might know the results attained in Lake 

 Cuyamaca, we sent a representative there in January, 1896, who reported 

 that large numbers of all of the above varieties were found except the 

 crappie and rockbass. Upon application, permission was granted by 

 Mr. L. F. Doolittle, Secretary of the San Diego Flume Company, to take 

 fish from the lake for distribution. As early as the weather would per- 

 mit, we sent two of our men to Lake Cuyamaca, who secured sufficient 

 fish to make a total distribution of 541 large-mouth black bass, 27 

 pickerel, 454 yellow perch, 116 sunfish, and 253 shiners (fish food). 

 These fish were nearly all full grown, varying in size from one half to 

 five pounds, and most of them with ripe spawn, so that good results. 



