212 First Annual Report of the 



were still spawning and would be spawning all summer quite 

 likely. We find this lake contains yellow pike and in large num- 

 ber we should judge, as we took about 1,200 pounds with three 

 small nets not suitable for pike fishing. Owing to my getting any 

 pike at this time with such nets I judge there is a large quantity 

 of pike there. These pike never taking the hook in this lake raises 

 the question as to whether they should be left in the lake where the 

 chief hook fishing is for these lake trout, and I have myself ad- 

 vanced the argument that sooner or later it will be either all trout 

 or all pike. It now appears these pike were put in about 17 years 

 ago. No doubt your advice will be asked in this matter, and 

 if I can be of any service to you I will be glad to assist. We 

 estimated one of these pike to weigh 15 pounds and a number 

 to go about 10 pounds, from that down to one about 6 inches, 

 showing they are still thriving, and with the many thousands 

 who fish in every way and not one pike being caught, it looks as if 

 they were overfed. 



" Yours truly, 



W. M. DICK." 



POLLUTION* 



It is not quite true that the shad and other choice fish have 

 too much sense to poke their noses into the Hudson, as expressed 

 by Dr. Wiley; but there is no doubt that the natural spawning 

 of the shad, striped bass, white perch and other valuable food 

 fishes is greatly curtailed by pollution of one kind or another, 

 and many spawning beds have been destroyed by cinders and 

 other waste from river steamers. Notwithstanding the deplor- 

 able condition of the river, shad have furnished us with 8,600,- 

 000 eggs this season. This reminds us of the old days of thirty 

 odd years ago when the Commission was able to collect 10,000,000 

 shad eggs in a season at Castleton and Catskill. The shad have 

 dropped a little farther down the river in that length of time; 

 but if the Commission continues to plant millions of fry and a 

 certain proportion of fingerlings annually, and the proper meas- 

 ures are taken to diminish the pollution of the stream, we may 

 expect to see the Hudson restored to its former glory as a shad 

 stream. 



