162 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
salmon canneries, to which the fisheries are in large measure tributary. 
Considerable quantities of fish besides salmon are taken to supply the 
local trade along the rivers, including the places referred to, and to ship 
to San Francisco and the interior. 
Species, seasons , etc .— Salmon of large size and excellent quality are 
abundant in the Sacramento in their season. The period of greatest 
general abundance is from April to the last of August. A few are caught 
all through the other months, except September, which is the close sea- 
son. The largest catch is in April, May, and August. There is a dull 
season from the middle of June to the middle of July, during which 
time the canneries usually suspend operations. The catch during this 
period is sold fresh for immediate consumption. The quinnat or king 
salmon is the one chiefly taken; the dog salmon (0. Iceta) and the hump- 
back salmon (0. gorbusclia) occur in less numbers, while there is a fall 
run of silver salmon, according to Jordan. 
The weight of the salmon varies from 5 to more than 50 pounds, and 
the ordinary weight ranges from 14 to 18 pounds. The largest are gen- 
erally taken in August, but an occasional big salmon is caught in early 
spring. Formerly the largest fish were always found in the “ spring run.” 
During the last 10 days in August, 1888, the largest catch of the 
season was made; salmon were reported more abundant than they had 
been for many years. On some occasions during this period the can- 
neries at Ohipp’s Island and Black Diamond handled as many as 18,000 
salmon (more than 270,000 pounds) in a single day, and this notwith- 
standing they could not, on account of inadequate facilities for packing, 
receive many boatloads of fish that were offered. The spring catch of 
1889 showed an important improvement over the early fishing of 1888. 
The fish were larger than usual, being fully equal to the ordinary fall 
run of salmon, and were more numerous than for several previous years.* 
The shad has become one of the commercially important species of 
the Sacramento Biver, where, next to San Francisco Bay, the largest 
yield of this fish is obtained. It is most numerous in the lower river, 
but many shad are taken as high up as Sacramento. The average weight 
is 5 pounds. In 1889 the first shad taken in the upper river were caught 
near Sacramento on April 23 ; they weighed 4 pounds each. 
Trout of large size occur in the upper river. They were formerly 
very plentiful, but have materially decreased in recent years. This 
diminution is believed to be due chiefly to the large quantities of saw- 
dust in the river. A law has recently been enacted by the State mak- 
ing it illegal to throw sawdust into the river after September, 1889, 
and it is hoped that the effect will be beneficial. 
Catfish, carp, chub, hard-head, and split-tail are taken in greatest 
*It lias been noted by Mr. Wilcox that these seasons of abundance had a direct 
relation to the operations at the hatching station of the U. S. Fish Commission on the 
McCloud River. Large plants of salmon fry have generally, if not invariably, been 
followed (3 or 4 yea,rs later) by good catches of fish in the Lower Sacramento, 
