American Fisheries Society. 61 
localities in the river and in Malletts bay until the 26th, during 
which time four males and two females were secured. ‘These 
were held in crates until the 29th, upon which day the entire lot 
was liberated, the females showing no nearer approach to spawn- 
ing than when captured. <A heavy rainfall on May 24th caused a 
rapid rise in the river, and on the following day the nets were 
parted in midstream by the force of the current. It was thought 
that this high water would bring a run of fish into the river, 
and, as it was impossible to intercept them by means of the nets, 
work was discontinued at this point and the necessary equip- 
ment, etc., was transferred four miles up the river to what is 
known as “Sturgeon Hole,” at West Milton, where Mr. Stone 
had taken these fish in large quantities three years before. Here 
a man experienced in the “hooking up” method of capturing 
sturgeon was employed. Sturgeon Hole is a natural channel, or 
break, in the rocks forming the bed of the river just at the foot 
of the falls, above the village of West Milton. The spawning 
fish he in this hole, which is forty feet deep, and it is impossi- 
ble to take them by any other method than this “hooking up,” 
as it is locally termed. The equipment used consists of a heavy 
hand line, a two-pound sinker, six or eight extra large fish hooks, 
and a strong pole eight feet long and about two and a half inches 
in diameter at the butt. The hooks are fastened together back to 
back, anchor-shape, and then attached to the line at distances 
of eight inches, the lowest pair being about this same distance 
from the sinker. 
The boat in which the fisherman stands having been anchored 
to the rocks at a suitable point, the weighted hne is cast into the 
swift water at the upper end of the hole, and as soon as it touches 
the bottom the hooking-up is begun. This is nothing more than 
a succession of yanks, continued while the sinker is being carried 
by the current along the length of the channel some seventy-five 
feet, with the object of forcing one of the hooks into a sturgeon’s 
body. This method sounds extremely barbarous, and it was 
anticipated that the fish would be badly torn. As a matter of 
fact, however, of the fifteen sturgeon so taken, thirteen were 
hooked in the under side of the caudal peduncle, and the others 
in the thick portion of some one of the fins. Owing to the great 
toughness of the sturgeon’s skin, the wounds inflicted seemed of 
