FISH AND FISHING. 



133 



propagation seems to be New York. Mr. 

 Gould is doubtless familiar with what has 

 been done at Chautauqua lake. The United 

 States Fish Commission has never propa- 

 gated the muskalonge, nor has it made any 

 study of the feeding habits of the young. 

 The fact that the muskalonge is well- 

 known to be one of the most voracious and 

 rapacious of fishes offers a good suggestion 

 as to the proper kind of food. With all 

 other conditions favorable it would seem 

 that fry and young of other species of fish 

 in sufficient quantity would meet the case. 

 The smaller crustaceans, such as Daphnia, 

 Cyclops and Gammarus, would probably 

 prove suitable. They can be had in large 

 numbers. The principal difficulty will be 

 in getting all the other conditions favor- 

 able, such as sufficient depth and purity of 

 water, proper temperature, and absence of 

 enemies. — B. W. E. 



PULP MILLS VS. SPEARING. 



Wright, New York. 



Editor Recreation : — The pulp mills in 

 Ticonderoga are allowed to destroy one of 

 the best spawning grounds there is on Lake 

 Champlain. Millions of fish run up there 

 to spawn, and hundreds of them are killed 

 with the chemicals that are turned into 

 the creek from the pulp mills. Before the 

 mills began work there were black and 

 Oswego bass, pike and pickerel. Now it 

 is impossible to catch any of those fishes 

 up the creek. This creek is the outlet of 

 Lake George. I should like to see some- 

 thing done that would restore the fishing 

 on Lake Champlain ; seining has been 

 stopped. 



When the law allowed us to fish with 

 nets, to spear and to shoot fish, every far- 

 mer had 4 or 5 spears and a jack, and at 

 all leisure time in the spring they were 

 shooting and spearing. Four or 5 boats 

 could be seen out almost every night. I 

 never knew any of the farmers to spear fish 

 for market, or more than they needed for 

 their own use. Three men in a boat would 

 spear perhaps 5 or 6 bass, 2 or 3 pike and 

 pickerel. The others would be lings, gar- 

 fish, sheepshead or catfish. 



Now comes along an angler who knows 

 nothing about a fish, except to get him on 

 his hook, and land him in the boat if he 

 can. Such a man as this sees in a farmer's 

 boat such fish as I have mentioned and he 

 reports that the farmers are destroying all 

 the fish in the lake with spear and gun. 

 He doesn't report the sharks the man has 

 in his boat. He doesn't even look at them. 

 A set line may be used freely in Lake 

 Champlain, and would benefit the lake. I 

 have taken off from a set line of 200 hooks 

 25 to 30 eels, 4 or 5 catfish, 20 garfish, 

 measuring 1 to 4 feet each, 2 or 3 pickerel, 

 a pike or 2 and occasionally an Oswego 

 bass. Such fishing is in July, and billfish 



will take the hooks readily until the last 

 of September. Since this law was passed 

 there has been no spearing on the lake. 

 On a calm day the water seems alive with 

 billfish. Before the law passed the only 

 time many of them could be seen was when 

 they were spawning. I now kill all of them 

 that I can, which are more in a day than 

 I formerly could in a month; so you see 

 the lake has improved wonderfully in bill- 

 fish. 



I don't believe in spear or rifle, but in Lake 

 Champlain they were certainly beneficial. 

 Why can't the law allow us to fish with 

 pike nets and throw back such fish as the 

 law wants to protect, black and Oswego 

 bass, wall-eyed pike and pickerel? Lake 

 Champlain is full of garfish, or what some 

 call billfish; lings, known in Lake Erie as 

 dogfish, and sheepshead, Those are all 

 sharks. Out of one sheepshead weighing 

 9 pounds, I have taken all I could hold 

 in my 2 hands, of minnows and small fry. 

 The eel follows all fish that spawn, and 

 eats the spawn. Catfish live on minnows 

 and small fry. Why not allow us to catch 

 those fish, and bullheads, lake shad or what 

 I call white fish? Give each man who 

 wants to fish a permit to fish as many nets 

 as he wishes, keep track of the fish he 

 catches, the market he ships them to, and 

 have him swear to take no other kind of 

 fish. Watch all fishermen who have no 

 permit, complain of them and have them 

 convicted. In that way we would soon 

 have good black and Oswego bass fishing 

 in Lake Champlain. We would get rid of 

 the sharks, and would save much expense 

 to which the State is now being put. The 

 pulp mills are not only destroying the fish 

 but are making the ice unfit to use in drink- 

 ing water. The perch we caught last win- 

 ter, tasted of the soda ash. I did not taste 

 it in the pike or pickerel. I wish you would 

 have some good man come here to investi- 

 gate. Edward E. Tucker. 



MONTANA LAWS DEFECTIVE. 



Enclosed find clipping from the Ana- 

 conda Standard, which gives a fair idea of 

 the treatment the Montana trout are re- 

 ceiving at the present time. 



Harry Cannon, Anaconda Mont. 



Great Falls. — Parties who were out last Sun- 

 day on Deep Creek report good fishing at the 

 big dam on that stream. The large pool below 

 the dam is full of trout, grayling and white fish, 

 endeavoring to push their way up the stream 

 for spawning. The trout and grayling are biting 

 well and those who were fishing caught quite a 

 number. 



There is a law which says each dam of this 

 kind on the trout streams of Montana must have 

 a fish ladder to allow the fish a passage over the 

 dam, that they may go on to the heads of the 

 streams for breeding purposes. In each dam 

 there must be an inlet and an outlet over which 

 the fish can travel. The Deep Creek dam had a 

 ladderway at one time, but it does not seem to 

 fill the bill at the present time, for the fish can- 

 not go over it. The attention of the game warden 



