Fish And Game Commission 



IS YET TO BE LANDED. 



By Hon. M. D. Baldwin, Member of Commission. 



The grandsire sat in his easy chair, 



And his laugh tvas a gurgling croak. 



While the grandson told of a monstrous trout 



He had hooked on a line — which broke 



Then the old man gravely smiled and said, 



My dear hoy, it was large I know. 



For I hooked that same old fish myself 



Some fifty odd years ago. 



OR A NUMBER of years we have experimented in 

 the matter of transplanting fish in Montana waters 

 with generally quite satisfactory results. The East- 

 ern brook trout was one of the first fish to be so 

 brought into our waters, and we have had for 

 nearly twenty years an opportunity to observe this 

 fish; and it is very gratifying to know that it has 

 readily adapted itself to our Montana streams and 

 lakes, increases rapidly and matures early. Many of our streams here- 

 tofore containing the native black-spotted or cut-throat trout, also contain 

 the Eastern brook trout. Inasmuch as the native trout, the cut-throat, 

 spawns in the spring and early summer, while the brook trout has its 

 spawning period in the fall, gives our fish hatcheries ample time to 

 take care of the spawn from both species. 



The Rainbow trout is a native of the Pacific coast streams, it was 

 first brought into Northern Montana about sixteen years ago; this is a 

 black-spotted trout and its spawning season corresponds to that of the 

 cut-throat trout. This trout has succeeded in thoroughly establishing 

 itself in our waters. It grows rapidly and has attained weights of over 

 twenty pounds, fish of from six to twelve pounds weight are quite 

 plentiful; this trout will live and thrive in warmer water than any 

 other of the trout family, and the temperature of the water has much 

 to do with the size of the fish, the colder the water, the smaller the 

 trout. The Rainbow trout is less cannibalistic than our other trout, it 

 feeds chiefly on insects, insect larvae, mollusks and Crustacea, and does 

 not take so readily to minnows for food. The Rainbow is also a splen- 

 did game fish, and when hooked makes a game fight for his life. 



The common whitefish is a native fish in the waters of St. Mary's 

 and Swift Current Lakes in the northwestern part of Teton County; 

 these lakes have as their outlet, the St. Mary's River, which is a trib- 

 utary of the South Saskatchewan River, whose waters ultimately reach 

 Hudson's Bay. This fish in Lake Superior has attained a weight of over 



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