Febritary 5, 1880.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



The total number of salmon canned in {878 were about 

 320,000, value s?ij?,.-l37 ; in 1879,67,533, value $59,576. 

 In Oregon the salmon flsherie* employ 800 boats and 800 

 nets to 35 canneries, with a working force ot about 8,000 



men, of whom two-thirds ri.re Chinese, the total capital 

 invested i- ■■.">. In Oregon, British Columbia; 



and Alaska, the 4" canneries put up in 1878 a total of 

 804,570 cases, of which the value Was 88,864,578, and in 

 the year 1879 a total of 468,800 Oases, Valued at $2,018,690. 



The catch of the season of 1877-8, says the report, was 

 the largest of any since we commenced obtaining statis- 

 tics, aval is in fact the practical result of artificial hatch- 

 ing. Fish hatched in a given year do not begin to show 

 in the returns until three or four years after the young 

 fish are placed in the water. After nine years of study 

 and observation, combined with considerable practical ex- 

 perience, we are prepared to answer the question as to 

 the practicability of keeping up the supply of salmon in 

 the Sacramento.' notwithstanding tbe increase of popula- 

 tion, extended facilities fur transportation, and the mul- 

 tiplication of canning establishments, nets, and fisher- 

 men . 



Mrst— There must be an honest (dose season, faithfully 

 observed by the fishermen, to allow B portion of the ripe 

 fish to reach the spawning grounds. This would keep Up 

 a normal supply in the river, which normal supply would 

 depend upon the area of clean, gravel beds at I n 

 Of the. streams over which pure water was passing of a 

 proper temperature. It would also give a supply of fish 

 at the only places where their eggs could be taken for 

 artificial batching; 



Seeon&— The thousands of sea lions and seals at the 

 Golden Gate and in the bay — carefully protected by legis- 

 -' ie it — without doubt catch more fish annu- 

 ally than all tbe pets of the fishermen. These rapacious 

 animals observe neither close season nor Sunday, live 

 Wholly on fish, and are unceasing in their work of destruc- 

 tion. They should be reduced in numbers or driven to 

 j fflie other pa] t of the coast. 



Third — A portion of the fish being allowed to reach their 

 spawning grounds, and their destruction, by sea lions and 

 s.'als at the Golden Gate prevented, the number of salmon 

 in tins fiver woidd depend simply on the amount of 

 money which the Legislature should deem, proper to ap- 

 propriate for the purpose. 



After the female salmon escapes all her enemies in the 

 ocean, the sea lions at the Golden Gate, the seals in the 

 bay. and miles of nets in the river, and swims blindly 

 against a stream of more than one hundred miles of 

 muddy water thick with mining sediment, and at last 

 reaches the clean gravel beds of the ice-cold sources of 

 the river to perform the duties of maternity, she is still 

 beset by numerous enemies, fa the most 

 streams the areas are not large— having proper beds of 

 gravel, appropriate depth, and: perature Of 



water— on which the eggs pan be deposited. When the 

 eggs are deposited observation and experiment have 

 shown that only an average of eight per cent, of them 

 come in contact with the fertilizing sperm of the male — 

 ninety -two per cent., of course, die. This eight per 

 cent, "is liable to be destroyed by trout and other fish, or 

 to be smothered by a deposit of sediment caused by heavy 

 rains on the summit of the mountains. 



A mature female salmon of the Sacramento will yield 

 800 eggs to each pound in weight of the fish : thus, a fish 

 of 20 pounds willyiekl 16,000eggs. It hasheen 

 that, in a state Of nature, not more than two eggs in a 

 thousand ever become Ash. IluswouM give tbe product 

 of the 10,000 eggs, 32 rLh. By the discoveries m arti- 

 ficial hatch ■■■ ■■■■.'■'' "ggs can be made to produce 



15,000 fish. Ewr; .--^. .. I ctihaed and kept under 



control and inspection in the most favorable conditions as 

 to the current, purity, and temperature of the water, 

 shaded from the direct rayi sun. and closed 



securely against the almost innumerable tinned, winged 

 and furred enemies that are seeking to devour it. The 

 Bsh, when they come from the egg, can be kept 

 mil the most favorable period for placing them 

 therii ef, One million eggs can be taken, "fecundated, 

 Lmon, and turned into the river at 

 :d $l,g00, and larger numbers at 

 a less ratio. As they find in the ocean the food upon 

 li v grow and become fat, they exhaust nothing 

 fore, if some Bbu are allowed to 

 reach their spawning grounds, the number of salmoti in 

 the river Can be in proportion to the amount of money the 

 Legislature may see proper to appropriate for their arti- 

 ficial hatching. 



Among the other fishes to which attention has been 

 given, are the white fish (Ooregonus alba), of which Pro- 

 fessor Baird gave nearlj Dne million eggs from Lake 

 Michigan. A disco u importance in the care 



of the young of the white fish was made by Mr. J. G. 

 "Woodbury, in charge of the Slat- batching house. This 

 fish lives on the Crustacea found on the rocks at the bot- 

 tom of deep lakes, and as it was not know n pn what the 

 young Bsh could be fed, it has heretofore been necessary. 

 within a few days after the young fish have emerged 

 from the egg, to place them in the lakes to find their own 

 food. Mr.AVoohburv found that by pounding to a jelly 

 tbe flesh of tbe common salt-water crab, the young white 

 fish would eat and thrive upon it. He kept 50,000 on this 

 food for more than two months. This discovery is of 

 •test, as it enables the .young fish to be kept for 

 some time, and thus distributed to stock mountain Lakes 



,, a 'e inacci :.. '1 lui ..: lb ., inter mouths. 



115,000 young shad 



Erom Bl race. Man-la. < 'h -re placed in 



the Sacramento River at Tehama, where the previous 

 importations, ■iso.i.jtll) in all, had been placed. There can be 



bl they hud congenial homes in Pacific coast 



waters, and are thriving and producing their kind, Sev- 



:< .i an nsl ai B be a taken and sold in 



the San Prat ig the spring of 1879. A 



t during ; liosi every month in 



the year. After leaving the Sacramento River the great 



v, the roast south to the Bay of 



I ■ they must remain, finding an alirmil- 



areeeof i'oodj for a ew an ci ighl in the nets of the 



fishermen in this I i| lek throughout the 



year. 



The 74 Schuylkill catfish (Amhtnui albiJn.fi), imported 



e Raritan River in £874, and placed in lakes near 



Sacramento, hn.ro increased to millions, and now Lumisn 

 an immense supply of food, They appear to h nua 

 at home in the. rivers, lakes, brackish ■ 



lands, artificial reservoirs and mill-ponds. 



The value of all the tisb of this species, now caught an- 

 nually and consumed as food, would more than equal the 

 annual appropriation made by the State and placed at 

 the disposal of the Fish Co.ni.ii'ssionors. This variety of 

 catfish lias valuable characteristics, which admirably fit 

 it for wide distribution and for self-preservation in the 

 struggle for existence. The female makes a round nost 

 i the ttom of a pond in which she deposits usually 

 ; 'i 100 t i 5,000 eggs. These are fecundated by the 

 male, who! hen leaves them to the care of the female. 

 The mother remains over them fanning them with her 

 fins, probably to keep them oxyg'mated with fresh cur- 

 rents of witter, as well as to prevent them being smoth- 

 ered by sediment. She. remains in constant attendance, 

 driving away every fish that approaches her nest. In 

 from six to ten days the young make their appearance. 

 loes not cease with the birth, of the young fish. 

 She now swims about them in a circle, keeping them to- 

 gether until all are hatched. When all the youngfishare 

 fltted to swim she leads them off to find food, still keep- 

 ing them in a body by circling about them and driving 

 back wanderers, us a trained shepherd dog drives in a 

 wandering sheep ; she will at the same time fight any 

 other fish that comes near her charge. In another week 

 or ten day they are prepared to search for their own 

 food, when they gradually disperse. The popular demand 

 for these fish increase as the people learn its adaptability. 

 During the time covered by the report* some 30,000 of 

 them have been distributed to public waters. 



In .January. 187S, we received from the hatching-house, 

 Grand Lake "Stream, Maine, 50,000 eggs of the land-locked 

 salmon. As was stated in our last report, the California 

 salmon (r/uriina/jhas the same characteristics, and readily 

 adapts itself to a life i n fresh water. The reservoir of the 

 Spring Valley Water Company, supplying San Francisco 

 with wafer, and ktiown as San Andreas and Pilarcitos, 

 are well stocked with salmon, the product of those pre- 

 vented from returning to the ocean by the constructions 

 of the dams. Lake Chabot, the reservoir from which the 

 City of Oakland is supplied with water, is also well stocked 

 by the same means, and from young ualmon placed there- 

 in. In the winter of 1875-6 a largo number of young sal- 

 mon were placed in the Truckee River. This" river has 

 its rise in Lake Talioc and flows into Pyramid Lake in 

 Nevada, and has no outlet to the ocean. Some of these 

 salmon are reported to hane been taken with the hook in 

 the Truckee River tliis season, weighing from three and 

 a half to five pounds. The size to which the Sacramento 

 salmon will grow when confined to fresh water depends 

 upon the quantity of food to be found in the lake or 

 stream. A. few years after the dam was erected at the 

 San Andreas reservoir salmon were taken in it weighing 

 from six to twelve pounds. In ten years they have mul- 

 tiplied until hardly any other fish are taken, but now do 

 not average to exceed three-fourths of a pound. They 

 now mature their eggs and milt when less than a pound 

 in weight. The land-locked salmon of Maine do not aver- 

 age over six pounds in weight, but they are numerous in 

 the lakes, furnish a large amount of food and yield much 

 sport, bo the angler, as they readily take both lly and bait. 

 As they are natives of the cold lakes in Maine we have 

 thought the. most appropriate places for the distribution 

 of the voung fish would be in our mountain lakes ; but 

 for purposes of testing their fitness to thrive iu warmer 

 waters, a portion were also distributed to lakes in' the val- 

 ley and on the coast. 



The Eastern trout does not appear, to thrive in the 

 streams of the Coast Range of mountains. These moun- 

 tains are composed of sand stone, which is readily worn 

 by the winter rains, and at certain seasons all the 

 streams from them carry a large amount of sediment 

 and become more or less discolored. There is also a great 

 difference in the temperature of the water in winter and 

 summer. The native home of the Eastern trout, as its 

 name implies, is in the clear cold sources of mountain 

 streams. Wherever planted in the clear cold streams of 

 the Sierra Nevada, in water flowing over granite and 

 iiud congenial homes, and thrive and propa- 

 gate equally with the nativo trout. 



Probable there is no trout more valuable for wide dis- 

 tribution than the Pacific coast brook trout (Iridca). It 

 grows rapidly, occasionally weighing seven pounds when 

 it can feed in salt water at the mouths of coast streams, 

 and often weighing five pounds when confined entirely 

 to fresh water containing an abundance of food, as in 

 tbe McCloud River. Some specimens of McCloud trout, 

 kept in the hatching-trough in the fishery at San Lean- 

 dro, grew to average seven inches in length in one year 

 from the time the eggs were, placed in the hatching 

 trays. It does not seem to be injuriously affected by a 



■ i i g i i . i i ' ■•; in water containing a large atnouut 

 of muddy sediment, We are not aware of experiments 

 hi virjj been made to test, with exactness, the highest 

 temperature of waterin which it will exist and thrive, 

 but without doubt it will live in water so warm as to 

 be fatal to Eastern trout. We believe it could be suc- 

 cessfully introduced into streams on the Atlantic coast 

 where Eastern trout would not thrive. 



This ton- , .i, aoj.c of the report of Messrs. Red- 

 ding, Throckmorton and Farwell, the competent cour- 



■ " is. are sufficient to show that California is fully 

 alive to the importance of the preservation of the fish- 

 ery supply. The work is in capable hands, and is pro- 

 i isl satisfactory way. 



The Age to Llbehate Fez— Manchester, N. H,. Jan. 

 2U<7i.,— Our experience goes to show that the best time to 

 plant out bhi oiihl fry is as soon a.s possible after the 

 yolk-sac is fully absorbed. The young fish are then very 

 lively and are inoving about in all directions in search of 

 food, and have not got accustomed to being artificially- 

 provided for. The young California salmon put into the 

 Pemigawasset at that stage of their existence, in Decem- 

 , in water almost freezing, seemed to stand the 

 transplantation very well and were plenty and healthy 

 in, the river up Co August, 1879, since which time none 

 have been seen, which makes il prol.ja.ble that, they re- 

 turned to salt water the first year instead of remaining 

 BT two years, as is the case wh.h ihe Atlantic 

 .salmon. We have at different times taken some of the 

 young pari' and smelts of the Atlantic salmon which 

 have been artificially hatched and planted, and liud them 

 as game as the natives, and the same is true ot our 



reeding traul. which we have, u. OUt ponds at the hatch- 

 We have been very successful in our opera- 



tions this season, having taken over 100,00(1 salmon eggs 

 at Plymouth, from fish which were originally planted in 

 the Pemigawasset, and had returned to spawn, and have 

 also taken over 150,000 trout eggs, half of which are the 

 property of Massachusetts, and the other half will bo 

 distributed in various parts- of New Hampshire, where 

 the people will protect them till they have grown to a 

 reasonable size. We have also received from Maine 

 ■13,000 Penobscot salmon eggs and 50,000 land-locked 

 salmon eggs, with more of the latter to come. The 

 land-locked eggs will be distributed about the State, and 

 the salmon proper placed in the Pemigawasset. 



Samuel Webber. 

 As a difference of opinion obtains respecting the ago 

 at which to liberate fry, we ask our readers to supple- 

 ment the experience of the New Hampshire Commis- 

 sioner with their own. 



Jfua mid givet[ .gkhing, 



FISH IN SEASON IN FEBRUARY 



SOUTHEHN WATERS. 



Pompano, TraehmrituxcuriiUmw. I Grouper, Kpiiirphdpus rtigrttu*. 

 Drum (two species). Family I Trout . iblaek bass,\ Caitrurprit- 

 tUMrarius. 

 Striped Bass, or Koekfish, JIoc- 



Ktaffflsh, Mcntkirrut! ncJbUlasUft. 

 Sea Bass, Scicenops ocdlaiw. 

 Skecpshead, Archamrgws proba- 

 Uxephalm. 



sji-i 



atu- 



Red Snapper, Luljamis hlackfordii. 



GAME AND FISH DIRECTORY. 



In i 



lay deem <i 

 and other : 



nmodatii 



the Forest and Stream Directory of 

 cr correspondents are requested to give 

 with such other information as thej 

 Town, County ; means of access ; Hotel 

 is; Game and its Season ; Fish and it* 

 Season; Boats, Guides, etc.; Name of person to address; after the 

 following model :— 



iUms-Tim Pond, Ewstia, Franklin County.— Forty-eight miles 



ortli of Farming-ton. Maine Central Railroad to Furmington ; 

 stage to King-field and private conveyance twenty-six miles to 

 the farm-house of Kennedy Smith; or, better, private convey- 

 ance from Fannington to Smith's. At Tim Fond are four good 

 camps and five boats. Board and use of bout, $1 per day. Fiva 



dies to walk from farm to pond; team ready to haul baggage to 



imp at reasonable rates. Fis/i-Trout from May 1st to Oct. 1st. 



re very plenty. Same— Partridges Sept. 1st to Dec. 1st. Address 



onnedy Smith, Eustfs, Maine. 



Arkansas— JVcwprirt, Jackson County.— Station on St. L.„I. JI. 

 & S. Railway, and boat landing on White Elver, dome— Snipe, 

 plover, quail, ducks, goose, turkeys, swan, deer, bear; twenty-sis 

 miles to Swan take, mining— In river, lakes, and village creek ; 

 bass, pickerel, jack salmon, perch-all sorts-in fact all Southern 

 and Southwestern fresh-water fishes. Hotel— Railroad House, 

 P. Mortensen, proprietor. All facilities. Terms reasonable. Ad- 

 dress W. II. Bofart, as above. 



WHEN TO STRIKE IN FLY-FISHING. 



MUCH of the finesse, of sportsmanship cannot be 

 taught the novice by written instruction. There 

 are certain indispensable points iu the successful practice 

 of tho art of fly-fishing which must come to the expert 

 only after long experience and discipline. We may talk 

 of " the twist of the wrist," but to make that twist so 

 neatly and effectively that each repetition of it means 

 a Ssli hooked is something which must be learned quite in- 

 dependently of the books. There, for instance, ip the 

 subject of striking in fly-fishing for trout or grayling. 

 Veteran anglers who have fished in many of the best tsout 

 streams of the land and who have deftly struck the gray- 

 ling in Michigan and the salmon in the Canadian streams, 

 hold and maintain very different theories on this point! 

 One will tell you that he strikes as soon as he sees the 

 fish move and before he feels the touch. Another claims 

 that the only proper method is to wait until yon feel the 

 touch of the fish, and then, by a movement as quick as 

 lightning, fasten him. Our own practice is to strike at 

 sight ; we admit that thereby fish may be missed and 

 scared away, which perhaps would be captured if given a 

 little more time ; but the number so lost are, we be- 

 beve, less than the scores of misses made by the contrary 

 practice. As a rule, the fly-fisherman cannot strike too 

 quick. We should bo happy to have the experience of 

 some of our readers upon this topic. There will be 

 many weeks to intervene yet before wo may actually 

 put theory into practice ; and meanwhile it is fitting to 

 compare notes, and by discussion enlighten both our- 

 selves and the novices who are just learning the rudi- 

 mentary lessons in the school of angliug. 



4 * 



The .Salmon Sickness.— .Fort Omaha, Neb., Jan 1880 

 -Your OMgonnorrespondent writing on the above sub- 

 ject has lett in tie more to he. said. ( raj] eoue'i forilm 

 acenraey of his observations and add « shX incident 

 which came under my observation which would ! | 

 prove that man is also li;.],:.. ,;,, ,.■;,. k..,.,, r 1Vm t {. ™ 

 cause. tiiebame 



I was camping on the head of Bear River, Shoalwater 

 Bay Washington Tor with two companions n the 

 month ot November I had heard of the " salmon sick- 



« 'ftlta^SS '!", D ? fc PV a amj4 attention to 

 it, i in. stream was lull of hook-nosed or dog-salmon a» 

 inferior species wiiich is seldom eaten when fresh 'un- 

 less during the first run. After romnii'iie- iu the small 

 tide-water streams several months they Uecoe 

 and scarred in the battle of life ; and although I did not 

 then look at them closely, 1 have no doubt tunc a micro- 

 immation would have disclosed the fish ftrntrua 

 which nas been so lately discussed in the iiukestanij 

 Stream, ami which may prove to be the real cause of 



