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HUNTING AND FISHING IN MONTANA 



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Summer Home on Deep Creek 

 Broadwater County 



reported by Mr. Eli Melton, the Superintendent of the State Hatchery 

 at Somers, that in October, 1919, large numbers came to the shores of 

 one bay, evidently for spawning purposes, for at that time of year no 

 stream empties into the lake of sufficient size for spawning purposes. 



No accurate account has been kept of the number of fry planted 

 or caught in this lake, but from the summer of 1917 the fish have been 

 caught both on the fly and on a spoon hook in large numbers, afford- 

 ing good sport from May until October, and many thousands have been 

 taken through the ice by Indians. 



The next planting of Chinook fry was made April 4, 1919. The 

 exact number planted at this time is not given, but the number caught 

 as well as the size of the fish so caught, is exceptional. At the present 

 time (October, 1920), the fish average about three pounds in weight. 

 Some are caught weighing four pounds, and perhaps a trifle more. 

 They take a spoon, a tango minnow and occasionally a fly, but are 

 rather erratic about biting, sometimes taking one thing and then an- 

 other. The male fish is distinguished from the female by darker mark- 

 ings along the back and the female by its bright silvery color. Speci- 

 mens which we examined September 4th. last, showed well developed 

 milt in the males and embryonic eggs in the females so there may be 

 a hope of reproduction without a return to salt water. This question 

 should be settled this fall from the first planting made should the fish 

 find a suitable spawning place, in any event by catching and examin- 

 ing the fish which frequent shallow water in the bays evidently for 

 spawning purposes. The lake in which the fry were planted is of 

 varying depth but with much deep water which is clear and cold. 

 There are two small streams flowing into the lake, one of which goes 

 dry in a dry season. On both of these streams egg-taking stations 

 have been estal)lished l)y the state for tho i)urpose of taking the eggs 

 of both the cutthroat and eastern brook trout, the latt(>r variety having 

 been planted some years since. The food conditions in the lake are 

 excellent, many varieties being found, and especially a small white 

 fish resembling the smelt. The salmon arc prevented from leaving 

 the lake by a screen across the outlet which is small, and there is no 

 record of any having escaped. In all the lakes having an outlet to the 

 ocean via tributaries of the Columbia where the Chinook have been 

 planted, no results have been obtained; in all landlocked lakes they 

 have thrived except when frozen out by a long, hard winter. 



