344 Third Annual Report of the 



success is obtained by sinking through a hole in the ice, at the 

 end of a line a cusk thoroughly gashed with a knife (cusk is a 

 fish of the cod family). This remains there one day and tolls a 

 great many whitefish around. They are then taken by smallest 

 baits on small hooks. 



Fish Commissioner H. 0. Stanley, of Maine, published the 

 following notes on this whitefish : " Some 20 years ago the U. S. 

 Fish Commission sent me some whitefish eggs, I think from one 

 of the lakes in Michigan. I hatched them at Rangely and planted 

 them in the upper Rangeley lakes. This winter they 'have been 

 caught with hook and line in considerable numbers in Umbagog 

 Lake, which is the fourth lake below. These whitefish were caught 

 with a small live minnow by fishing through the ice." 



The so-called Otsego bass of Otsego Lake is a small race of this 

 Labrador whitefish according to the latest information. It is 

 well known to expert anglers on the lake at Cooperstown that the 

 fish can be taken in large numbers by hook and line. The ap- 

 paratus for this kind of fishing is a line with a sinker at the bot- 

 tom and with a piece of spring wire attached horizontally about 

 4 inches above the sinker. At each end of this wire is fastened, 

 at a slight angle, a No. 16 Sproat hook, and this is fastened to 

 the line by an ordinary gut snell. Protector Miles Hazelton 

 mentions a variation in the rig consisting of a rubber band con- 

 necting the two parts of the line about 2 feet above the hooks; 

 this keeps the hooks in motion without the necessity of jigging 

 which was necessary in the original form of whitefish rig. Each 

 hook is baited with a minnow an inch long or with a small piece 

 of fish. 



Concerning the Rocky Mountain whitefish, Jordan and Ever- 

 mann state that during the spring and early summer it takes the fly 

 freely as well as the baited hook. The smallness of the mouth 

 requires the use of very small hooks. When bait is used, very 

 small grasshoppers, salmon eggs and small bits of fresh meat of 

 almost any kind have proved effective. Good fishing localities 

 are the headwaters of Salmon River and Big Payette Lake, in 

 Idaho, streams near Dillon, Montana, Lakes Pend d'Oreille and 

 Coeur d'Alene and Provost River, Utah. As a pan fish it holds 

 verv hiffh rank. 



