Grayling 



The Grayling is one of our best fish and should be widely dis- 

 tributed. Thus far we have had poor success in stocking streams, but 

 excellent results in stocking lakes. In the summer of July, 1912, Little 

 Bitter Root Lake, west of Kalispell, was stocked with about one hundred 

 thousand grayling fry and during the fall and winter of 1913-1914, 

 quite a number of nice fish were caught. In the spring of 1914 a good 

 many were caught ten to fourteen inches long. One sent me April 

 15th was eleven and one-half inches long and weighed ten ounces. This 

 is a splendid growth for less than two years. Seventy-five thousand 

 more fry were planted in this lake the present season and we hope to 

 be able to make it a spawning station for the grayling in the near 

 future. 



Georgetown Lake, near Anaconda, has been stocked each season 

 and large numbers of grayling are caught. In the spring of 1913 over 

 twenty thousand fish were trapped and quite a number of eggs were 

 taken, and something over two million of fry distributed, besides one 

 million eggs for Columbia Gardens. 



The spring of 1914 not so many fish were trapped and the eggs 

 secured were of poor quality, so but few fry -w^re distributed. Again 

 Columbia Gardens had one million eggs in return for a certain amount 

 contributed towards expenses. This amount was turned into the Fish 

 and Game Fund with the State Auditor. 



Efforts will be made to secure eggs of this desirable fish from 

 other waters in the state, as we have many applications for it, and 

 believe it to be a splendid fish for our waters. In 1913 one of the Two 

 Medicine Lakes in Glacier Park was stocked and also quite a number of 

 fry were placed in Flathead Lake. Lake Francis at Valier, was sup- 

 plied in 1914. 



The grayling were first hatched in Michigan. A few eggs having 

 been taken from wild fish about the year 1886, this being ten or twelve 

 years before any attempt was made to hatch them in Montana. How- 

 ever, even at that time the grayling in Michigan were nearly extinct 

 and so the experiment was regarded as something of a failure. 



Whitefish (Clupeiformis) 

 Efforts have been made from time to time to stock Flathead Lake 

 with the Great Lakes whitefish. At least as early as 1900 plants were 

 made by the Government Hatchery at Bozeman. So far it seems as if 

 the experiment has been an absolute failure, as no whitefish have ever 

 been caught, as far as known. The summer of 1914 an experienced 

 fisherman was employed, who spent a month in fishing all over the 

 lake, both with gill nets and otherwise, and he failed to find a single 

 whitefish. 



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