Conservation Commission. 209 



The shores of the lake include few beaches, and the bottom is 

 hard and covered with pebbles and boulders of various sizes. 

 There are a few large glacial boulders in the lake and the head- 

 waters of Twitchell creek exhibit a great jumble of immense 

 boulders and rock ledges. 



In order to improve the fishing it would be best to increase 

 the stock in the lake itself and to plant rainbow trout in Oswego 

 ponds, Lilypad pond, Little Birch pond, all of which empty 

 into Twitchell lake, and in several small streams flowing into 

 the head of the lake. This restocking with brook trout and 

 rainbow trout will no doubt accomplish the object of the peti- 

 tioners better than the introduction of a screen. 



From July 29 to 31, 1911, Star lake in St. Lawrence county 

 was investigated under instructions from Commissioner Fleming. 



A tour of the lake was made July 30th in company with Messrs. 

 Sayles, York, Tears and other anglers. On the morning of July 

 31st, I went fishing with Mr. Zimmerman, an expert angler, and a 

 cottage owner on Star lake. We took a lake trout and a brook 

 trout. The brook trout is said to be uncommon in Star lake 

 at present while the lake trout, called salmon trout in that 

 region, is moderately abundant. 



Arrangements were made with some of the cottage owners to 

 set minnow traps in various places. From these were obtained 

 the large scaled sucker, corporal chub and black nosed dace. 

 The sucker is particularly abundant in Star lake; the minnows 

 are less common. These fish furnish excellent trout food and 

 they make it difficult to catch the trout by angling. 



Bullheads and crawfish are present in the water ; the latter 

 are especially abundant and furnish excellent food for the brown 

 trout, lake trout, and rainbow trout, all of which have been 

 introduced either by the State or by private enterprise. 



It is stated that the lake was originally without fish. Brook 

 trout are said to have been introduced from Little river about 

 sixty years ago by Mr. Youngs and again still later by Mr. Backus 

 and others. According to the testimony of Mr. Mil, suckers 

 were not found in the lake until a few years ago. Now they are 



