American Fisheries Society 131 



nearly 100,000 fingerlings were deposited, or an average of 

 over 600,000 per year. During the present year our total 

 output will approximate two million fry and a quarter of a 

 million fingerlings. From present indications our output of 

 1910 will total between three and four million. Thus it 

 will be seen that the Board of Fish Commissioners of Michi- 

 gan believe that the planting of rainbows is a valuable contri- 

 bution to the fishery resources of the State. 



Since the planting of these fish in Michigan was taken up 

 by our State Board, distributions to some of the same waters 

 have also been made by the United States Fish Commission 

 and Bureau of Fisheries, but in much smaller numbers. It 

 if safe to say that less than 10,000,000 rainbow trout all 

 told have been distributed throughout Michigan during the 

 thirty years in which the work has been carried on, or an 

 average of less than 350,000 per year. Nearly ten times as 

 many brook trout have been planted in Michigan during the 

 same period by the State Board alone, yet in proportion to 

 the number distributed the production of adult rainbows is 

 much greater than of brook trout. Indeed the planting of 

 rainbows in this State has been attended with more generous 

 results and perhaps has proved more successful in every way 

 than any fish cultural work attempted by our Board. Rain- 

 bows weighing five pounds and upwards now inhabit many 

 of our streams by the hundreds. In the St. Mary's, Pere 

 Marquette, Pentwater, Boardman, Pine, Muskegon, and 

 other rivers, 8, 10 and 12 pounders are not uncommon and 

 specimens ranging from 14 to 16 pounds have been taken. 

 Twenty pounders have also been reported as having been 

 caught with nets, but it is difiicult to verify these reports 

 because net fishing for rainbows is illegal. There is, how- 

 ever, scarcely a doubt that rainbows of that size now inhabit 

 some of the above waters. The Ausable River, which with 

 its numerous spring-fed tributaries constitutes one of the 

 greatest brook trout systems in this country, if not in the 

 world, is also one of the best rainbow trout streams in 

 Michigan in the middle and lower reaches of the main river. 



