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THE GAME BREEDER 



THE GRAYLING. 



By Hon. M. D. Baldwin, 

 Game and Fish Commissioner of Montana. 



The game and fish commission having 

 recently planted in the_ waters of Flat- 

 head valley nearly a miflion grayling fry, 

 it may be of some interest to the public 

 to give a brief description of this beau- 

 tiful fish known for its active and gamy 

 qualities as well as for its delicious flavor. 

 There are three species of the gray- 

 ling found in American waters, the 

 Michigan Arctic or Alaska, and Monta- 

 na Grayling. The grayling agrees very 

 closely with the Salmono idea in external 

 character and habits, and they are re- 

 garded by some as intermediate between 

 the white fish and trout. Only the Mon- 

 tana grayling receives the attention of 

 fish culturists. Its technical name, "Thy- 

 mallus tricolor montanus," is said to be 

 due to the fact that it feeds on water- 

 thyme — which it smells very strongly of 

 when first taken out of the water. St. 

 Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, calls the 

 grayling "the flower of fishes," and the 

 French call the grayling "ununble che- 

 valier," and say he feeds on gold. 



There is no species of fish sought for 

 by anglers that surpasses the grayling in 

 beauty. They are more elegantly formed 

 and more graceful than the trout. The 

 caudal fin is strongly forked, its colora- 

 tion is gorgeous and their great pluce- 

 like dorsal fin is of remarkable beauty. 

 The color of the back is dark grey, with 

 purplish reflection ; the sides of the head 

 and body are lighter, with purplish irri- 

 discence; the belly is pure white, and 

 there are a few v-shaped black spots on 

 the anterior of the body; a dark heavy 

 line, most distinct in males, extends 

 along the upper border of the belly from 

 ventral to pectoral fin. Its crowning 

 glory, its immense plume-like dorsal fin, 

 is dotted with large brilliant bluish pur- 

 ple spots surrounded with splendid 

 emerald green, which fade after death. 



The Montana grayling is native only 

 in streams emptying into the Missouri 

 river above the Great Falls, principally 



in Smith or Deep river and its tributaries 

 in the Little Belt mountains, the Sun 

 river, Jefferson, Gallatin and Madison 

 rivers and their affluents. It prefers 

 streams of clear cold water. The spawn- 

 ing season of the Montana grayling is in 

 April and May, depending upon the tem- 

 perature of the water. In the North 

 Fork of the Madison river the water is 

 comparatively warm, and the grayling 

 spawns a month earlier than in other 

 waters of Montana. 



The artificial propagation of Montana 

 grayling was begun at the United States 

 Hatchery at Bozeman in 1898, and in 

 1899 upwards of four and one-half mil- 

 lion fry were distributed from this 

 hatchery. The number of eggs varies 

 from 2,000 to 4,000 to the fish. 



As to its game qualities, the Montana 

 grayling is regarded as fully the equal of 

 the brook trout and cut-throat trout. It 

 puts up a good fight, and often leaps 

 above the surface of the water when 

 hooked. It takes the artificial fly, grass- 

 hopper, angle worm and similar bait. 

 The best artificial flies to use are those 

 with bodies of peacock, or yellow-bodied 

 flies, as Professor, Queen of the Water, 

 brown and gray Hackle and the like. 

 Small flies should be used on hooks Nos. 

 10 and 12. Grayling may be taken from 

 May to November, the best time being in 

 the summer. The average size of this 

 fish is from ten to fourteen inches in 

 length, and from one-half to one pound 

 in weight, although many attain a length 

 of twenty inches and a weight of two 

 pounds or more. 



The grayling is not native to the 

 waters west of the Rocky mountains, but 

 several years ago fry from the Bozeman 

 hatchery were planted in Georgetown 

 Lake, an artificial body of water about 

 eighteen miles from Anaconda. This 

 lake is nearly ten miles in length and 

 about one mile in width, and the success 

 of the grayling in this lake has been re- 



