12 



As there i? no market for them, shipper and deah-r being alike 

 responsible, fishermen do not catch tlieni, or if they do, turn them 

 back into the water, and by this moans hundreds of thousands of 

 IDOunds of good food is saved to the people. 



A year's growth of the most of fishes in our waters is wonderful. 

 Black bass this season (181)8) spawned itf May, will average in No- 

 vember six inches long, while a great many were taken while we were 

 collecting for distribution that measured eight and one-half inches 

 in length and weighed one-half a pound each. The growth of the 

 coarser fish is much greater, and carp weighing one and one- half 

 pounds not unusual at same age. 



The low shallow lakes in the bottoms along the Illinois and Miss- 

 issippi rivers are great breeding places, and it is not unusual during 

 the hot months to find the temperature of the water ninety degrees, 

 which causes not only a rapid growth in the fishes, but produces with 

 equal rapidity the food necessary for their sustenance. These con- 

 ditions do not exist everywhere, and the growth of fish is very much 

 less rapid where the temperature of the water is lower. 



For instance. Governor John R. Tanner and Col. J. R. B. Van 

 Cleave, for a number of years have spent some of the summer months 

 at Lake Miltona. Minn., and they have had metal tags, numbered, 

 attached to small mouth black bass and other fish when caught, then 

 liberating the fish after a record was made as to date of capture, the 

 weight, etc. The following seasons a bounty or premium was paid 

 for each fish taken with a tag, so that the increase made could be de- 

 termined. Col. Van Cleave informs us that two or three ounces was 

 the extent of the increase in weight noted in a year, and after careful 

 investigation he found that a small mouth black bass called '* tiger 

 bass " and properly so, six inches in length would be four years of 

 age. While as before stated we have taken plenty of large mouth 

 bass weighing eight ounces and measuring eight and one-half inches 

 in length six months old from our Illinois river, lakes and sloughs. 

 So that there can be no doubt that if undersized fish were put back 

 in the water when taken, and given a year's growth, hundreds of 

 thousands of pounds of good food would be saved to the people, and 

 the opportunity of making more money would be given to the fisher- 

 men. 



Sec. 6 of our fish laws, published in appendix to this report, will 

 show size lawful to sell or offer for sale. The penalties for violation 

 of the fish laws have been increased and as a consequence, men who 

 could afford to run the risk of being caught in violation of the law 

 with a probable fine of $5 as a consequence, hesitate to do so when 

 the fine is $25. 



As a matter of fact, under the previous provision of our laws, it 

 was frequently the case that fishermen deliberately used seine or net 

 in violation of the law, and plead guilty, paying a nominal fine, and 

 then as they expressed it, ''made big money."" 



The law needs some further amendments, the principal one being 

 the need of the protection of fish that congregate near the dams, a 

 limit as to distance they should be permitted to be taken should be 



