32 REPORT OF STATE HOARD OF FISH COMMISSIONERS. 



1st, and substitute INIay 1st as the beginning of the open season. Only in 

 a few of the coast counties are the fish through spawning by April 1st. 

 In by far the greater part of our trout-bearing waters these fish have 

 not finished spawning until May 1st, and in the higher altitudes not 

 until June 1st. As the mountain resorts do not open before June 

 loth, and the campers do not make their appearance before the 1st of 

 June, those sections will take care of themselves. In Lake Independ- 

 ence, one of the finest trout lakes of our State, the trout are threat- 

 ened with extermination. Market fishermen reach there on snowshoes 

 and begin their operations on the 1st of April, fishing through holes 

 in the ice. As the fish have not yet begun to spawn, they take bait 

 readily, with the result that thousands of pounds of spawn fish are 

 shipped to market from Truckee every week, causing the loss of millions 

 of eggs, which if allowed to hatch would produce thousands of fish for 

 the angler and camper. 



We w^ould also recommend that the weight at which trout can l)e 

 legally sold be increased from half a pound to one pound. As com- 

 paratively few above a pound are taken, it would have the effect of check- 

 ing market fishing (excepting in some of the larger lakes), which would 

 result in a better distribution of the fish. In other words, it Avould 

 mean more fish to more people. Under present conditions the market 

 fishermen pull out tons of spawning fish and ship them to the markets 

 in the larger cities, where they command a price far beyond the average 

 person's means, retailing at from 50 to 75 cents per pound. More of 

 our people are going to the mountains every year; the number of anglers 

 is increasing, and the increase is not confined to the wealthier classes. 

 In many States of the Union the sale of trout is absolutely prohibited, 

 but in our opinion the time for such action on our part has not yet 

 arrived. We believe that sufficient protection and a more eciuitable dis- 

 tribution of the wealth of our streams will be attained by increasing 

 the weight limit of trout that can be sold, from half a pound to one 

 pound. 



We would also recommend that a size limit l)e jdaced on the posses- 

 sion of young trout, l)y making it an offense to have in possession 

 an}' trout less than five inches in length. In many of the coast 

 streams young steelhead and other trout are taken by hundreds, vary- 

 ing in size from three to four inches. In tlie steelhead it represents 

 the destruction of a fish that might reach a weight of twenty pounds. 

 The taking of one such specimen is worth, as food and in sport, a thou- 

 sand four- or five-inch fry. While such a law might not prevent the 

 loss of all small fish, a large percentage of those returned immediateh' 

 to the water will survive, and it would put a stop to the practice of 

 loading up creels and barrels with baby trout. 



