250 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



[April SO, 1888. 



cording to old fishermen, wore against me, and had good 

 Hark. Ftsharo*s hungry one day ;ik another, and allybu 

 have ::oi to do is to present somethiugaeoeptable to themaud 



alley arc .,.,,,- 1 1 • i r ; It, j accidents. " Of course it is nice to 



go when ii is fine weather, but any one Eond of fishingdoes 

 not wait for a day with everything just as he would like to 

 ...ii ' Fuck Flick. 



SPIRIT LAKE, IOWA. 



THERE area chain of three lakes, vis., QbobOjf, Easl 

 Okohnji and Spirit Lake, lying id the midst Of an 

 ■ ii ;i i while the altitude WE the region is 

 the highest, between the Alleghenies and the Rocky Moun- 



i < ikobojies are pure and limpid. 



wiili a "raveled bottorfi, and abound with fish, though the 



greater quant ities a re pickerel, with fair hlffCk and roek 



baaa fishing at the Upper cud of Spirit Lake. The lakes are 



i'liriv equipped with a flotilla of row, gacil and -team pleas- 



whioh, by the way, can be hired without causing 



on,, to think ho has nought 'the boal and then has to return 



it, Tin- i.iwn of Bpiril Lake isgttitc a little village, situated 



Bpoii the west side of Fa-i Okohoji and upon a high bluff 



md Bpiril Lake. Thereisone hotel ffi the 



town. A new hotel, just built, will he opened I hit summer 



-I. miles from thfl town. 



The surrounding country is as fine chicken country as 



ii 'ii lii irt of sportsmaa could Wish, i hough in justice to 



'da- brother spoilsmen We are. cOlUpeUcd to state thai last 



season Hieve was u scarcity of chickens: in fact to such an 



i was almost willing to confess it mow work 

 than sport to hunt Ihc pinnated boaulf.es with anything like 



■ fait prospect of a bag WV arc lold, however, that the 

 prospocl ii : i shooting this season is better than for 



- 



A in hours' ride over the solidly-constructed railroad 

 id by the 1'.., ('., It. & N. Company connects the 

 locality with Davenport and the East via Burlington. 



L . T. DotisicY. 



THE SECRETS OF SALMON GROWTH. 



fCONI LtJDISD.] 



TIIK Tweed has an evil odor in another direction; it has 

 the had reputation of being the "most poached" salmon 

 river in Scotland, borne of those who dwell oil toe hanks 



Of Tweed and on its contributory streams have long been 



pie-eminent IIS poachers. Asa. deceased nobleman used to 



hi.l all the king's horses and all the king's men" could 



keep tin Tweed' free from poachers, who infest both sides 

 of tin- river and who, not contented with taking an occa- 

 sional cleab fish, mOkc their greatest efforts when the salmon 

 ina beds and in a condition the least stlil- 



■ |e 1 \o person has been able to guess the number 



Offlstl whirl, fall a prey to the Tweed poachers. Over 300 

 1 .r -us sre mnuallv Convicted of poacbingor other offenses 



■ _ .i-i-i the Tweed' Act-, and probably more than double 



in i h punishment by their, superior dexterft] 



in (tarrying on their ignoble traffic, It would probably 

 prove a low estimate to say there ate 600 poachers on Tweed 

 and tributaries, and that each of them on the average will 

 bag ten salmon per annum, or 6,000 fish in the course of the 

 year. which is. perhaps, about t) fifth of the entire market- 

 ilrnon Of tiie river. The salmon killed by 

 poaclltTS arc. of course, all or nearly all prematurely 

 killed. Tt may be assumed, without any stretch of 

 the imagination, that every one of the poached 

 tish would, under Hut natural conditions of their lives, have 

 survived, on -in avi rage, two years longer, and they would 

 in loiibtcdlv have increased in'money value as they increased 

 in weight, ' In the face of the mortality from disease and the 

 depre ■.l.ilion-. of the poachers, it is very questionable if even 

 ! percent, of the salmon hatched in the Tweed and its 

 tviiiiitarv streams ever attain to a fair degree of longevity, or 

 are permitted, as they ought to be, to multiply their kind for 

 a -i icon or two. ft 'is needless to say that a salmon is never 

 more valuable at any period of its life than when it is_ en- 



,i,., I in repeating' "the story of its birth," and to kill « 

 i.| fisfl When tit work cm the spawning beds is a deed 

 thai is abhorrent to all sportsmen. Poaching, even In the 

 mOBl rural districts of Scotland, is no longer a "pastime" 

 that gentlemen dare wink at, hUt has become H trade of the 

 most '"mercenary kind— a trade which must he put down 

 with the high hand. An oft-repealed "excuse" of the 

 poacher is. that birds and hensts belong to nobody— that 

 they are here to-day and away to-morrow, but it surely 



I mi i - 'ii-'ni thai, if a part ridge or hare is not the property 



of the person who gives it room to feed and breed, no possi- 

 ble exercise Of Hie powers of logic can make it out to be the 

 pro] rtyof the poacher. 



Returning, however, to the main question— the growth of 

 the salmon in all its varied stages— we come now to the hah 

 when it is known as a grilse. The principle which regulates 

 the growth of the parr, and admits of one-half of ahatching 

 becoming smolts a year sooner than the other half, has, as 

 we have indicated, ic-vi r been discovered. Of the rapid 

 growth 0E the smolts in the salt, water, we have already 

 offered what may be termed "staggering evidence"— evi- 

 dence from which it is difficult to escape, and which, What 

 ever we may think of it, has, at a later stage of salmon 

 growth, been pretty well corroborated by persons whose ex- 

 periments were conducted with very great care. As we 

 tune hinted, it has been asserted that a moiety of the smolts 

 which reach the salt water do not return to the river till the 

 following year, when they are known as spring salmon, and 

 have assumed considerable dimen ions, ranging in weight 

 from 6 lbs. to 10 lbs. ; indeed some naturalists have gone the 

 h 1 1 !_! i ii of saying thai imne of the smolts. return from the sea 



in tin i od us they go there, but that all of them 



pass a winter in the salt water. From Mr. Young, of in- 

 version we obtain, in an incidental manner, the information 



i ' i IbS. weight are able to -pawn. 



The knowledge obtained by Mr. Young in the way of as- 



■ tabling the chief facts of salmon life has in part been 

 already detailed; he experimented on the growth of the parr, 

 and proved conclusively that parrs become smolts; hut Vis 

 chief honor, in connection with the setting up of the natural 

 history of the salmon, lies in his having contributed a con- 



ill a -I i ■ 1 1 ■ , i ■ . ■ information us to the ratio of 



ii . e ■ , : ■ i : n~ii . Mr. Young, who had at one time 



ii.:- of the .salmon fisheries of his Grace the Duke of 

 Sutherland, selected for the purposes of hi- experiments 

 spawned grilse, operating always upon fish 01 -I lbs. weight, 

 , en the chances of any blunder being committed. 

 Salmon — a grilse, it is said, becomes a salmon after ii has 

 s jawned— Cl that weight wore always plentiful, and coulcl.be 

 easily enough found on the redds after they had fulfilled the 

 great function of their lives; before it bad spaw r ned, the se- 



lected fish would probably have Weighed 5 lbs. A 

 no hah above, or below 4 lbs. weight were ,. ■ 

 Young to the operation of being martu-.i n 



of the tish was provided f.<r"'iv, means of tin i tloi 



of-ringa, formed of 'copper wire, into certain parts of their 

 tins, which was 'tone in such a manner as not to hurt c- in- 

 commode the salmon in any way whatever. 



The experiments of Mr. Young were continued for several 

 years, and always with tji'e ame result. n f „ ?r eat addition 

 to the we%lA of animals marked. The grilse were. Of course. 

 operated upon in the fresh water: they were caught, in fact, 

 while rest ing after the operation of spawning. On returning 

 from the sea, all those which were captured exhibited a fine 

 healthy appearance, and had acquired a large increment of 

 llesh— the ineiease in their weight ranging from 5 lbs. to 

 10 lbs. There need be no hesitation In accepting Mr. Young's 

 facts and figures (he was an exceedingly careful man) "as 

 proofs Of 'he rapid growth of the adult fish; and if cOrr-born 

 tioii of the accuracy of Mr. Young's cvpetMrhehAs were neces- 

 sary, it is to he found In the history of the marked fish, man- 

 ipulated by bis Gra6e the late Puke of Athole, who took 

 much interest In Ihc rate of growth of the saim&ni personally 



marking some of the, fish, and recording the results of some 

 remarkable instances of jno-ea-y of weight. One of the most 

 noteworthy or the Puke's experiments may be here recalled 

 to recollection, A fish, marked by his Grace, was caught at 

 a place forty miles distant from tiie sea: it traveled to the 

 salt water, fed, and relumed in the space of thirty-seven 

 days. The following is the Duke's entry regarding this 

 particular tish- "Oh referring to my jouihal, I find that, 1 

 caught thix fish as a kelt (spawned salmon) this year, on the 

 31st of March, with the rod, about two miles above Dankeld 

 bridge, at which time it weighed exaollv 10 lbs.: so that, in 

 the short space of five weeks and two days, It had gained 

 111 His" The Duke's plan of marking W4S by means of tick- 

 ets attached to the fish, made for the purpose, and numbered 

 for identification, the dale of each marking anil capture 

 being carefully registered for I'ulutv. tefeV'ence. 



With regard to the mode of marking voting salmon, there 

 has, from lime to HlVie, been much controversy. Harking 

 back for ti moment in the markings made at Stormontfield, 

 it may Iw mentioned 'that on one occasion as many as 1,250 

 -molts were marked by cutting oil the second dorsal fin; and 

 of these marked fish, twenty-two are said to have been cap- 

 lured the same sea.-on as grilse (weight not. slated), which is 

 not, be it observed, two per cent, of the number cut. In the 

 following year, 1,135 were marked by means of a. cut on the 

 tail, and "a few" of these were caught as grilse; at the same 

 time as these smolts were cut in the tail, 300 Were marked 

 by means of silver rings inserted In the tins; but not one of 

 these was ever seen again. It is well said by one who knew 

 a great dcail more of the salmon than most other mell — reus- 

 set. of the Scotsman-^ that no firm faith BUM be placed in the 

 system of marking by cuts! "Anyone that, by examing the 

 heaps of fish as they are tumbled from the nets, or by any 

 other means, has had an opportunity of observing the great 

 number and infinite variety of marks and mannings,' pro- 

 duced for the most part, it would appear, from encounters 

 with marine enemies, will have a .strong distrust of any such 

 tests*" All thy marks which have been tried have each in 

 I urn been decried; and in the case of this fish— the salmon, 

 to wit — men have been over and over again invited to doubt 

 the evidence of their senses. They have been asked to be- 

 lieve that a grilse never becomes a salmon, but remains for 

 all time a grilse, and nothing but a grilse. This phase of 

 the salmon question need not, however, be discussed here at 

 present, as Kussel said, in reviewing the grilse, 'controversy, 

 "There are men in existence who would deny their fathers." 

 It is passing strange to note that this theory of the non- 

 growth of grilse iuto salmon, which has been disproved a 

 hundred times, i.s still occasionally cited in the hot. argu- 

 ments which sometimes occur when discussing Ihc. natural 

 history of the salmon. 



It is Only right, however, to admit that many of the persons 

 who maintain that the grilse is a distinct' member of the 

 salmon family are quite able to advance excellent reasons 

 for their opinions, both in the external markings of the fish 

 — as, for instance, in the diamond -shaped scales of the one 

 and the oval-shaped scales of the other — as well as in the 

 more forked cut of the tail, and differences in the number 

 of the fin-rays, as also in its habits and the less pronounced 

 flavor of its flesh. A fish-merchant of rare intelligence, 

 and who is an occasional contributor to the newspapers on 

 phases of the natural history of the salmon, says he has 

 never had a doubt on the subject, and that a real grilse 

 never becomes what we call a salmon, but remains all its 

 life a distinct, and well marked member of the family; "that," 

 he BayS, "is my deliberately formed opinion, after an experi- 

 ence of the fish extending over 40 years, during which time 

 I have passed many thousands of them through my hinds." 



Although in the opinion of the present writer, "there is a 

 vast preponderance of evidence in favor of the grilse 

 becoming a salmon, he never objects to bear an expression 

 of opinion or fact from others; and, it is a fact that, on 

 one occasion, as many as 11,000 eggs of a female salmon 

 were fertilized by milt from a grilse— no difference Of any 

 kind being observed in the fish so long as they were under 

 Observation. This experiment was very successful; only 

 thirty of the total number of eggs were addled. The proper 

 understanding of the natural history of the salmon is still 

 much impeded by unsolved problems; it is a peculiar fish, 

 able to live either in fresh or salt water. Xor do the fish 

 of one stream ever, except by mistake, enter another; nor 

 are the breeders of one tributary water ever found, except 

 from misadventure, in any other affluent. Salmon, it may 

 perbapS be set down, exist in distinct races; a Tay salmon 

 can be easily enough distinguished from one which has been 

 bred in Tweed. 



Let us now ask, as we near the completion of our labors, 

 how many of our salmon are spared to die a natural death: 

 or, rather, at wdiat period of their lives they would die of 

 old age, if they could escape from the toils of their most 

 intelligent enemy — man? In considering this phase of salmon 

 river economy, we shall exclude deaths from the mysterious 

 epidemic which has fora season or two been depopulating our 

 rivers of some of their finest fish — Saprokffnia fiiv.v. It has 

 already, we will assume, been made sufficiently clear that 

 the greatest mortality among our salmon occurs at a stage 

 when they are least able to fight their battle of life— that is 

 a time when they fall victims to their enemies in countless 

 thousands. As those which live grow older, they become 

 more able to seek their food and to contend with their 

 enemies. Of a hundred fish under 1 lb. in weight, it is cer- 

 tain that about a ball' will be killed or die of starvation; but 

 of a. similar number who have obtained a weight of 6 lbs., 

 two-thirds probably will live and thrive for a given period; 

 and so, as the fish grow older and escape the perils of their 



youth, their chances of life increase. The average weight 

 pj il,ii - l,h,.,, now being purvev. d Eqt-tSble use runs from 

 17 lbs. to 184 lbs. The "130 fish captured >v u -r j In fcbcH 

 Tav in the beginning of. I lie pre-eiu x-asnii (t,S82) avcraSbtj 

 lftflb*.; last ,-M and tiie ,ear before that the weight. *S 

 siill higher, the average being 21J- lbs. The heaviest salinOfi 

 captured in Loch Tay this season was 3o lbs 



Big salmon are happily nowadays. not a matter of great 

 rarity. Every season two or three of these minor monsters 

 of >i'- i i ;■ hi' captured, and this year has not proved ex- 

 ceptional—indeed some very fine specimens have been se- 

 cured. The writer personally examined, within a week 

 after the opening of the river Tay, a dozen fish, each nf 

 which Weighed more than BO lbs.; and his opportunities of 

 observation were confined only to One source of supply [roth 

 that riven- Season -!. ■■■ v , ..-, i! ■ a- ■■!_ '•■ . Igl.i d sic 

 mon HaR Increased, and is still increasing, although about 

 sixteen years ago Ihc weight of salmon commenced to tie - 

 crease in a fray that gave rise to some alafim alirl clearly 



ir, Ii ■; ii.n. ii.. r ;ir >fia] sicrkbi fislihadbeen MSSken tipoii. 



■i i i "in e '.ndkalcd all salmon were, so to saw being pre; 

 maturely killed, the average weight, having fallen to a little 

 over 15 lbs.— so that, as a rule, Ihe life of it 8,idploh r wafe at 

 that, date not a prolonged one'; tliiHy and roily pounders 

 had become exceedingly rare, and in those days there were 

 no giants to delight "the ichthyologists; but now, as has 

 already been shown, salmon which weigh from SO lbs. to 40 

 lbs., and even heavier fish, are captured every day during 

 the season. And we know from indications equally UUinlS 

 takable that the capital slock of fish in our rivers l« undouht- 

 edlv Increasing— hence the number W large saltbOll which 

 .re recorded tt* being occasionally captured. It Is quite. 

 true, however, that both during this season and the two 

 which preceded it, the take of salmon was uohn tile whole 

 not, uj) to the mark, Ihit thai Jrflbab '.-njled ^ronijea'lsy" 

 olhei- than the "scarcity of. fish: i. poii a late occasion we 

 personally saw; in the course of about twenty hours, some 

 tine fish ascending to the upper waters of Tay, not one of 

 which would la- less than 20 lbs. in weight. That, was after 

 the nels had been taken off the river; and an old fisherman 

 with wliom we ,-miversed assured us that there was always 

 a line run of fish ax soon as the close time Began, "just for 

 all the world ns it tie- salmon had Waited fill the way was 

 cleared for them," • 



No official statistics of the number Hi salmon which are 

 annually caught In rivets of the t'nin d Kingdom are lakcm 

 bul frOiu tile number of boxes of these fish which in the. 

 season are. sent from Scotland to Billingsgate, a |n tl 

 guess can be made of the total sahnHii prndlieliiJtl ol'llit 

 land of "the mobhiaili aiid the flood." Thlis. in 1881, ln= 

 chiding fish from the Tweed, there reached the great piscaC, 

 lorial bourse of London 85.724 boxes of salmon, each box of 

 which weighed lfj01bs.t andaj IftB IPi Wholesale' average 

 of one si, ibis,. ,- . . , ,' .,. eigtn, the sum of money paid by 

 ^on.'e.n -si Scotland in 1HS1 for its venison of the waters 

 would amount to i'19-. 030; and taking it. for granted I hat 

 our home consumption of salmon would be equal to a limit 

 8,000 boxes, a sum of £00,0011 would thefe'ty be iiUilcd; 

 making a total of co,,v.«:tn H- llle HunUal value of ctir 

 Scottish salmon fis'hel'it-s. lrom which, however, there falls 

 to be suhlVaeted the wages, wear and tear of fishiug-gear, nnd 

 profits to lessees of fishing slalious. before the net teiital ea^ 

 be struck. The pric, .:, -.c 11-.- i ■■■<■ doll I d 55 eight, which We 

 havequi ed is] >' ■•'■■' • .a- at certain seasons of the 



Veat '.r; in Lorn Ion brings from half a-crown to sever) 



.shillings, a pound weight. The salmon rental of Scotland, 

 while it is undoubtedly more than double that of England; 

 i.s certainly not half that of Ireland, as the, Irish fishery in- 

 spectors tell us iu their reports that, tile value of the salmon 

 exported every year from Ireland is over half a million of 

 pounds sterling, From llese figures it will be obvious that, 

 if by some means we could add a few pounds to the 

 average weight of our fish, it would tend to largely increase 

 the money value of our salmon supply. Assuming it to be 

 possible that four pounds could be added all round to the 

 marketable fish, that would, at the wholesale calculation of 

 a shdling per pound, add four shillings to the price of each 

 salmon, or at a rough guess, Increase the value of our Scot- 

 land salmon supply' 'more than U'300.000 per annum. 



And uow to conclude. If the writer w-ere to be asked to 

 say, "on soul and conscience," how old the 50-lh. fish was 

 which was captured Ibis season in the river Tity, he would 

 be loath to commit himself to an opinion, even after thirty 

 years' experience of the fish of the salmon kind both on Tay 

 and Tweed. It is one of the misfortuues which attend on 

 salmon biography, that there exists a plentiful supply of 

 figures With which to prove anything about that fish that 

 wants proof! We have already given figures to show that 

 salmon grow at the rate of at least five pounds a season, 

 and thai is a rate of growth which We have always found 

 practical fishermen ready to admit. There comes, however, 

 a period in its life, we believe, at which growth either alto- 

 gether ceases, or becomes greatly slower than the ratio of in- 

 crease which is incidental' to the early years of its life. Will 

 I here be any salmon over twelve years of age? We once 

 handled an 80-lb. fish, but it bore upon it no mark by which 

 wecould find out its age ; it might, for all that we could see by 

 a careful examination, be twenty years old, or it might 

 only be ten. It wUl be not a little curious if the problem of 

 salmon growth should ultimately be settled at the antipodes. 

 The salmon has been acclimatized in our Australian colo- 

 nics. The date of its introduction by means of fertilized 

 eggs is well known, so that when a large fish shall be 

 caught, there will be almost no dubiety as to its age. The 

 salmon, we are told by some experts in fishery economy, 

 never adds lo its growth while it inhabits the fresh water- 

 it i.s in the sea it finds ils productive feeding-grounds; it is 

 in the great deep it, puts on its annual increments of flesh — 

 "deeds its banes," as .lames Hogg used to say— and from 

 which it returns to its native water largely increased iu 

 size and greatly enhanced iu value. Upon one occasion, 

 sin n m bandied a 83-lb Tay salmon that had just been 

 netted, we put the question to its captor, an old fisherman, 

 "What, do yon think its age will be?" and he replied with- 

 out anv hesitation, "I would say, sir, that she's a six-year- 

 old, if "she's u day." There i.s every probability that his 

 estimate was a correct one, and having given his reply, we 

 shall, for the present, take iettvc of the salmon as an object 

 of natural history 



boseen castei I 



:;|l,.,: lai! Una 



lbs, '"This fish » 

 chant of that c 







