Oct. 18, 1888.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



247 



I found that in order to obtain any of the fish I should 

 be obliged to drive either to the Grand Discharge, thirty 

 miles, or to St. Felicienne, eighteen miles from Hotel 

 Eoberval — which, by the way, is one of the very best 

 hotels that Canada boasts. 



I decided to go to St. Felicienne for the reason that 

 winninish had been taken there at the falls only a few 

 days before, while it was not certain that any were at 

 the Grand Discharge at that time, although local fisher- 

 men thought the chances were as good at one place as at 

 the other. However, as the choice lay between a long 

 ride of thirty miles over an execrable road at an expense 

 of $16, and one of eighteen miles over the same kind of a 

 road at an expense of $3, with the chances even for fish, 

 I decided on the falls at St. Felicienne. 



This is a small village, the last northern settlement of 

 any size in that northern country. I found a little inn 

 kept by one Alphonse Dionne. He is a Quebec French- 

 man, but speaks English. He provides a fair table and 

 a clean bed, and is very anxious — too anxious — to please, 

 as you will no doubt find when you settle your bill, for 

 he charges a little something extra on account of his 

 anxiety to "help you out." If you have a distinct under- 

 standing with every one at the outset in your trans- 

 actions, you will have no after surprises. Dionne will 

 act as guide for you, and will procure teams if you wish. 



"When we arrived at the inn it was nearly dusk, and 

 too late, therefore, to try the winninish that night, but 

 after supper we prepared for an early start the next 

 morning. Dionne thought we would find "plenty win- 

 ninish at the falls, two American gentlemen had killed 

 seven a week ago." 



"Good!" I exclaimed to my son, who was busyunpack- 

 ing his flies and tackle, "We will astonish the fish to- 

 morrow." 



"I s'pose got plenty spoon," said Alphonse, looking 

 over our fly-books. 



"Spoon!" I exclaimed, "spoons! No, we catch our. 

 salmon with the fly." 



"Um," grunted Dionne, "American gentleman catch 

 with fly one, with spoon four, with bait two!" 



"Bait!" exclaimed my son; "for mercy's sake what 

 kind of bait?" 



"Worms," sententiously replied Alphonse. We in- 

 formed him that we were not worm fishermen, neither 

 did we revel with the spoon, and that we thought the fly 

 was about the proper tool for winninish, and that we 

 would take our chances with it anyway. 



We turned in early and slept the sleep of fishermen 

 until daybreak. Now right here let me say that the use 

 of the spoon and spinning minnow in taking not only the 

 landlocked salmon but the sea salmon also, is, while be- 

 ing of rather uncommon practice, still followed here and 

 there. You all remember Black's stirring descriptions of 

 trolling for salmon in his fascinating novel " White 

 Heather," and you will find frequent mention of such a 

 practice in the English fishing books. I accidentally took 

 several landlocked salmon at Grand Lake in Maine in 

 1865, with the spoon, and will read to you the account 

 that I wrote of it at the time: 



•'In a great part of its area Grand Lake is very deep, 

 sometimes 200t't. In the solitudes of these depths, behind 

 huge rocks iu bright sunshiny days, waiting for the 

 shadows of evening to tempt them from their retreats, 

 lay huge spotted lake trout, called by the Indians 'togue.' 

 They are often taken weighing 12 or 15lbs., and occasion- 

 ally run up to 20 or 251bs. At this season of the year 

 they will not take the fly, but will sometimes seize a 

 spoon or spinning bait such as our Massachusetts pickerel 

 fishermen use." — Remember, this was written in 1865 — 

 "When we had fairly got out into the lake, Leweys, my 

 guide, advised me to troll with a spoon. I took a strong 

 line from my fishing box, and making fast a spoon, let it 

 trail out 40yds. behind the canoe. I wanted to get a 

 togue, for I had heard much of their great size and 

 strength. Soon I felt a heavy tug, and hauling in the 

 line, hand over hand as we do in bluefishing off Nan- 

 tucket, I soon had my fish alongside the canoe. It was a 

 handsome landlocked! salmon, or white trout as we called 

 it in those days, not a togue, and the Indian expressed 

 his surprise at getting it with the spoon, this being the 

 first occurrence of the kind in his experience. Hauling 

 in the salmon I threw my line over again, and soon 

 hooked another and another, and as the lake seemed 

 alive with this fish and the trout would not bite, I gave 

 it up and hauled in my line." 



This old account is interesting to me, for it shows em- 

 phatically how abundant the landlocks were in the 

 Schoodic Lakes in those days, and it also indicates 

 that I had a fancied grievance in their abundance! and 

 readiness to seize the spoon before the "togue." 



Since that time trolling with a spoon for landlocked 

 salmon has become a not uncommon practice with a class 

 of sportsmen, and it causes the destruction of many fish. 

 Sea salmon have also been taken with the spoon. I have 

 in mind now an instance. A friend of mine a few years 

 ago, while fishing on the Margaree River (Cape Breton;, 

 saw a large number of salmon and sea trout lying in one 

 of the pools. He tried for two days to take them with a 

 fly, but although he is an old fisherman he failed to move 

 a single fish. Finelly he tried a spoon as an experiment, 

 and he said that the instant the lure passed through the 

 pool big fish and small rushed for it, and he never saw 

 such a fish hubbub in his life. The spoon w T as seized by 

 a large salmon, which after giving lively sport for half 

 an hour finally broke away, carrying the hook with him. 



Me. Brackett— I have heard of other instances of sea 

 salmon being killed with the spoon in this country. 



The President— I dare say, and doubtless more are 

 killed in that way than are recorded. But to resume my 

 story: Early on the following morning we started for the 

 falls, where we arrived soon after sunrise. We found, 

 really, one of the most promising salmon pools we had 

 ever seen. 



The river, which above the falls is an eighth of a mile 

 wide, contracts at the falls to about ten rods width and 

 the water roars and rushes down a ledge of about six or 

 eight feet pitch and makes a large deep eddie below the 

 falls two or three casts wide. It was an ideal salmon 

 pool and I promised myself some exciting sport. Climb- 

 ing out on a ledge that jutted out almost to the edge of 

 the fails, I took my stand and soon began casting the fly 

 for winninish. To my surprise, although I worked dili- 

 gently for two or three hours and tried almost every color 

 and combination I could think of, I failed to move a fish, 

 and I came to the conclusion that the pool had been 

 "worked," which conclusion seemed to me justifiable 



from the fact that in going down to the river from the 

 main road we noticed two long sweep nets hanging on a 

 fence to dry, and a canoe which showed very recent use. 

 I said to my boy who was busy casting, "It's the old, old 

 story, Charles." 



"Yes." he replied, "the natives have been netting." 



Finally I shifted my quarters to another ledge, below 

 which the river formed a smaller bend and eddy, and 

 casting out into the edge of the quick water, soon struck 

 a nice fish. 



It was a winninish, and as soon as it gave its first leap 

 I recognized, as I thought, my old friend of the Schoodic 

 Lakes, and when the fish was landed I felt positively cer- 

 tain that it was identically the same variety. 



A Member — Do you really believe the winninish and 

 the landlocked salmon are the same fish? 



Mr. Samuels — Yes, they are in my opinion the same 

 variety. Well, that was the only specimen I obtained, 

 although I made strenuous efforts all that day and most 

 of the next. I was joined on the rocks the second day 

 of my visit — Saturday — by some of the boys of the vil- 

 lage, who with spoons attached to lines and birch poles, 

 made things lively all over the pool. But if I did not 

 succeed in killing another salmon, they were not any 

 more fortunate; and the only other fish that was taken 

 was a mascalonge that my boy captured with a sunken 

 salmon fly down in the deep water of the pool. The 

 winninish had probably gone up stream, that is, those 

 which had not been netted; at any rate none were in the 

 pools. Now, I made several capital photographs here 

 tor your inspection. This is the winninish in the fall 

 livery, a female fish [showing a photograph and passing 

 it around], and here is another photograph of the winni- 

 nish in the spring livery. You will notice that the colora- 

 tions are quite different, the spring livery being silvery 

 white, while the autumn is very dark and the spots are 

 large and decided. I have here photographs of the land- 

 locked salmon of the Schoodic Lake, which I made last 

 November at the hatchery at Grand Lake Stream, and 

 you can compare the two. You will find that the shape, 

 size and markings of the fish correspond almost exactly, 

 and the photograph shows faithfully the great resemblance 

 I found to exist in the fish themselves. 



I have here also photographs of the sea salmon (S. salar) 

 that I made last November at the hatchery on the Mir- 

 amichi, and you will notice that the coloration, shape 

 and general appearance of the fish correspond with those 

 of the others. The three fish, the Schoodic salmon, the 

 winninish and the sea salmon, are idential in specific 

 resemblance, and their coloration in the spring and au- 

 tumn is exactly or almost exactly the same. 



Now coloration is, I admit, an unreliable means of 

 determining species, for all the Sal monidaj vary in differ- 

 ent seasons in their colors, and, in fact, they change with 

 the color and texture of the bottoms of the rivers and 

 lakes that they frequent. But that the three fish I have 

 described and figured should all change alike from silvery 

 white in the spring to a much darker color in the fall 

 and have the same spots and markings, shows that they 

 are very nearly allied, if not identically the same fish. 



Now a few words about this change of color. In the 

 spring and summer, when the salmon (8. salar) ascends 

 the fresh rivers from the sea, it is, as we know, a beauti- 

 ful silvery white. It grows darker and darker, the longer 

 it remains in the fresh water, until finally, late in the 

 autumn and winter, it is an ugly almost black fish; and 

 in the late winter and early spring, when it descends to 

 the sea, the "sHnks," as the spawned or spent salmon are 

 called, are about as repulsive as they are attractive when 

 fresh run from the sea. They recuperate in the salt 

 water for a year or more and regain their good condition 

 and color. 



Now, the winninish and the so-called landlocked sal- 

 mon recuperate and change exactly like the sea salmon; 

 but instead of doing it in the sea they probably recover 

 their condition and color in the great lakes, where they 

 reside. I say probably, because it is not yet absolutely 

 proved that they do not visit the salt water, although I 

 am of the firm belief that they do not, and this belief is 

 founded on the great amount of information that I have 

 been able to derive from various sources. Both the 

 winninish and the Schoodic salmon may visit the salt 

 water if they desire, and I am not all certain but that 

 individuals go up and down the Saguenay River. It is a 

 very important point yet to be solved. 



Mr. Brackett — They do, I have no doubt, go down the 

 Saguenay; every one who knows that region knows per- 

 fectly well that there is no obstruction between Lake St. 

 John and the ocean, and that the winnioish go down to 

 the ocean in the spring there can be no question in my 

 opinion. In fact, I have taken them at Tadousac, where 

 the Saguenay joins the St. Lawrence. 



Mr. Samuels — This is important, yet not conclusive. 

 We know that the winninish are taken about the shores 

 of Lake St. John in May, as soon as the ice melts, and 

 evidently must have remained in the lake all winter or 

 else run up from the sea at the earliest possible moment. 

 It is possible that they may have thus early ascended the 

 Saguenay, for there are many localities where the sea 

 salmon comes into the rivers even earlier than the time I 

 have named. 



They are taken in the Port Med way River, in Nova 

 Scotia, very much earlier than May, and I have for sev- 

 eral years had records of fresh run sea salmon being taken 

 in the Indian River (N, S.) early in February with the fly, 

 when the shores of the rives were piled high with ice! 



Therefore we do not know abolutely that the winninish 

 is not anadromous, for there is nothing to prevent its 

 passage to and from the sea. 



I have asked the habitans and fishermen if they ever 

 knew of the winninish being taken in the river in early 

 spring, and the reply invariably was no, and in fact I do 

 not find much in the various fishing books to show that 

 it is early found in the river. Hallock in "The Fishing 

 Tourist" says: "In the winter they are scattered through 

 the deep water of Lake St. John, and in June they des- 

 cend to the series of rapids below to spawn." Now, I 

 regard Hallock as one of the best writers we have on 

 fishing topics, and certainly one of our best observers, 

 and I am therefore greatly surprised that he mentions 

 June as the time of spawning of the winninish, for every 

 well-regulated salmon spawns in the autumn at the 

 approach of cold weather, and not at the beginning of 

 summer. 



A Member — How long ago was that written? 

 Mr. Samuels— In 1873. Doubtless he has corrected 

 his statement before this. Now, while it is possible that 



the winninish descends to the salt water to recuperate, 

 it is doubtful if it does so, according to the opinion of 

 those gentlemen with whom I have conversed on the 

 subject. If we knew as much of its history as we do of 

 the'history of the Schoodic salmon, we could form better 

 conjectures concerning the identity of the species. We 

 know that formerly, before the huge dams were erected 

 on the St. Croix at Calais and Milltown and elsewhere , 

 the Schoodic salmon were found everywhere on the 

 river. Mr. George A. Boardman of Calais, a gentleman 

 well known as a good observer, writes me: "I do not 

 regard the fish a landlocked salmon, as the water must 

 a lways have had an outlet to the sea, and the fish could 

 go if they chose; and in fact, when I was a boy, sixty 

 years ago, they were abundant in the river even to the 

 salt water." Now, this is a very important statement 

 indeed, for it shows pretty conclusively to me that at the 

 time Mr. Boardman mentions, the landlocked salmon of 

 the Schoodic Lakes was really the Salmo salar pure and 

 simple. 



But when I first became acquainted with the fish in 

 the "sixties" it did not go to the salt water; had aban- 

 doned the habit entirely. Why, because although it 

 could go down over the dam to the salt water it could 

 not by any possibility watever return up them; they 

 were, in the absence of lishways, absolutely impassable. 

 The query is: Did the fish instinctively know this, and 

 knowing it abandon the trip to the sea? It looks like it 

 to me. But the winninish never had such an excuse for 

 becoming non-anadromous, and if it is really so that 

 they have, why it is so is a very nice problem to solve. 



Now about the habits of the fish. Genio C. Scott, in 

 his book "Fishing in American Waters," says of the 

 winninish: "This fish belongs to the genus Salmo and 

 tenants the upper waters of the Saguenay, Tiear the out- 

 let of Lake St. John, in Canada. The fish runs from 3 to 

 91bs. in weight, and as no very young members of the 

 family nor the spawning beds have been seen by the 

 habitans and Indians of that region, it is reasonable to 

 infer that they breed further north. * * * The fins 

 of the winninish being; large in proportion to its size 

 render it very gamy. It sails near the surface with the 

 top of dorsal and caudal fins in view, and when it takes 

 the fly leaps, runs and plays more vigorously than a 

 grilse. * * * It takes either the minnow or the fly 

 generously." 



Hallock says of the winninish that it is "A fish very 

 nearly allied to the landlocked salmon, though I notice 

 Slight points of difference between the two. The dorsal 

 fin of the winninish is longer, and at those seasons of the 

 year when he visits the rapids, he carries it erect and 

 projecting above the surface like a shark's. The spots 

 on the winninish are irregular quadrilaterals, while those 

 of the landlocked salmon are rounder. * * * In gen- 

 eral color and appearance he more nearly resembles the 

 grilse. * * * The winninish seems more active than 

 either the landlocked salmon or grilse, often making 

 three successive leaps with great, rapidity and without 

 appearing to touch the water except with his tail. I 

 have never seen the grilse do this and their reputation 

 for activity is such that the Indians always speak of 

 them as 'jumpers'." 



Now you will notice that both Scott and Hallock refer 

 to the characteristic of the winninish of swimming with 

 its dorsal fin out of the water, and I noticed it myself on 

 one occasion, and remarked that it was the only point of 

 difference that I had detected between the winninish and 

 the Schoodic salmon, which latter fish I had never seen 

 swimming with its dorsal out of water. 



The occasion that I refer to was during a trip that I 

 took, while at Lake St, John, on the steamer up the lake 

 to the River Peribonca. We passed over a series of 

 shoals several miles in extent, and there we saw a num- 

 ber of fish at the surface swimming with their dorsals 

 out. I asked the captain of the steamer and one or two 

 of the gentlemen who were present, "What are those fish 

 swimming with their fins out of water like small sharks?" 

 They informed me that they were winninish. Now, if 

 those fish were really of that variety they differed in that 

 characteristic certainly from the Schoodic salmon. 



Mr. Roberts— I wish to state that the fish that were 

 seen swimming at the surface with their dorsal fin out 

 were not winninish but were undoubtedly whitefish. 



A Member— If that is the case the only point of differ- 

 ence that Mr. Samuels noticed between the two land- 

 locked salmon is removed. 



Mr. Samuels — They may have been whitefish, possibly, 

 I cannot say they were or were not. I was told they 

 were winninish. 



Now, I have not yet decided in my own mind whether 

 or not this fish is identical with the ' Schoodic salmon, or 

 is really another close variety of the Salmo salar. My 

 belief is that they are one and the same fish*. 



The specimen that I obtained at St. Felicienne was a 

 female, and nearly ready to spawn. In order that it 

 might be investigated scientifically and compared with 

 a large suite of other specimens, I made a strong effort 

 to have it reach the Museum of Comparative Zoology at 

 Cambridge with the least possible delay, and finally got 

 it through in good time and condition. Mr. Samuel Gar- 



*Mr. Samuels writes us: "Since the meeting of the Association 

 my attention has been called to the chapter on the habits of the 

 salmon (S. salar) in the Report of the IT. S. Commissioners, by 

 Prof. Goode, published in 1384, 1 regret very much that I had not 

 seen this at the time of the meeting, for it seems to, in so far as it 

 relates to the 'landLocked' habits of the salmon, coincide with 

 my theory." 



Prof. Goode says: "All of the family run into very shoal water, 

 and usually to the sources of streams, to deposit their eegs, and 

 all of them seek food and cool temperatures in the largest and 

 deepest bodies of water accessible. I am inclined to the view that 

 the natural habitat of the salmon is in the fresh waters, the more 

 so since there are so many instances— such as that of the Stort- 

 mnntfleld Ponds in England— where it has been confined for years 

 in lakes without apparent detriment. The "landlocked' or 'fresh 

 warm-water' salmon, known also in the Saguenay region as 'win- 

 ninish,' in the Shubenacadie and other rivers of western Nova 

 Scotia as the 'grayling,' and in different parts of Maine as 'Schoo- 

 dic trout,' 'Sebago trout' or 'dwarf salmon,' probably never visit 

 salt water, finding ample food and exercise in the lakes and large 

 rivers In some regions in Maine and New Brunswick their access 

 to salt water is cut, olf by dams, and some investigators have 

 claimed that landlocked salmon did not exist until these obstruc- 

 tions were built, some fifty years ago. This hypothesis, however, 

 is not necessary, for in the Saguenay the winninish nave easy, 

 unobstructed access to the sea. * * * The habits of successive 

 generations become hereditary trails, and the difference in their 

 life histories seem to justify the claim of the landlocked salmon 

 to be regarded as a variety of Salmo salar, though it is hardly to 

 be distinguished except by its lesser size and some slight peculi- 

 arities in coloration. It is to he designated at Salmo salar, vari.vr »,- 

 sctwffo. Although both originated in the same primitive stock, ft. 

 is not probable that one changes to the other except after many 

 generations, under the influence of forced changes in their envir- 

 onment." 



