THE OREGON SPORTSMAN 277 
SALMON IN LAKE MICHIGAN 
By HERMAN HAUPT, JR. 
1893, the United States government planted in Lake Michigan 
spawn of the steelhead salmon (Salmo gairdneri) and the Chinook, 
or King salmon (Ancarkynchus tschawytscha) or qninnat. Then they 
were forgotten. 
Some eight years ago Charles Leapp, while seining for herring off 
the lighthouse at Evanston, Ill., saw a fish jump out of the water. He 
saw that it was not a whitefish, nor a lake trout, and he felt sure it 
was a salmon but was not absolutely certain, so he related the occurrence 
to a friend who had fished on the Columbia River, who told him he had 
seen salmon in the lake. Later fishermen off the shore caught salmon 
in their gill nets (set for herring, perch and whitefish). Today it has . 
become quite an industry with Mr. Leapp and others. 
The salmon is a great fighter, and plays havoe with nets set for 
other fish, so that heavier twine must be used in those designed to hold 
him. They begin to run in the spring as soon as the ice breaks up and 
continue for about six weeks, or until the water gets warm, when they 
disappear entirely until the next spring. It seems that while the south- 
west wind blows there is good fishing, as the water keeps cold. When 
running, they swim near the surface and are always caught in the 
upper meshes of the net. 
On the east shore of the lake, in the cold waters that empty into it, 
they are said to crowd so densely that farmers spear them with pitch- 
forks. And the ‘‘Pentwater’’ is especially plentiful with them, They 
are becoming each year more abundant, and are now caught weighing 
from one and a half to ten and a half pounds. The steelheads are the 
most common off Evanston; the Chinook salmon is quite rare, and only 
a few are caught during the season. 
It is held that these species of salmon must get to the ocean, but 
it is a problem to know how they can do so from Lake Michigan, and 
it is possible that in their life history the lake may serve them instead 
cf the ocean, cold water streams furnishing the spawning grounds— 
for it is observed they are not found in the warm streams, 
The meat of these fish is pink, while in the Pacific waters it is 
red, at this season of the year (spring). Later in the year it changes 
to pink and white and sometimes the flesh of a given fish will be red, 
pink and white. The Lake Michigan salmon are of a beautiful steel gray 
color, and much resemble the gamey bluefish of the Atlantic. 
It is too early in the record of the salmon fishing in Lake Michigan 
to know much about this fish, but it will before long attract the serious 
attention of ichiologists. There is no record as yet of a fish having 
been caught with hook and line, but there is no reason why they should 
not in time be added to the list of game fish of the Great Lakes. 
D 3. the year of the World Columbian Exposition in Chicago, in 
SAVING THE FISHES 
‘‘What our country has needed so long, and now needs more than 
ever, is a Ministry of Fisheries on the lines of the United States Fish 
Commission—a strong, independent State department, well equipped with 
funds and staffed by experts. The Americans have saved millions of 
pounds of fish annually. Its fish commission protects and develops the 
salt-water and fresh-water fisheries.’’—English Fishing Gazette. 
