10 



BULLETIN OF THE BTJBEAU OE FISHEKIES 



Bean, with a small party, spent about four days at the lake — from August 17 

 to 21, 1889. A fairly good map of the lake was made and is published in the report, 

 which contains an interesting and accurate description of the lake and river and 

 of the fishery as then conducted at the mouth of the river. Regarding the spawning, 

 Bean says: 



Karluk Lake receives the waters of numerous small streams, in which salmon and trout are 

 found whenever they are not prevented from entering them by an abruptness of the ascent. Each 

 of the arms of Karluk Lake is connected by a short, rapid, and crooked river with smaller tributary 

 lakes. The lake tributary to the east arm is about four-fifths of a mile in length, and the one 

 connecting with the west arm is about miles long. In the small tributaries of Karluk Lake 

 the rivers connecting its arms with their principal lakes and at various places around the shores of 

 the principal lake — particularly at its southern end, between the mouths of rivers — we found nests 

 of the red salmon. * * * The small rivers connecting Karluk Lake with its tributary lakes 

 contain no obstructions to the passage of the salmon. These lakes freeze over in winter, and the 

 natives travel over them to attend to their traps. They claim that they can obtain salmon at 

 any time during the winter through the ice. 



On the basis of observation made by Cloudsley Rutter during the summer of 

 1903, Chamberlain gives only a meager description of the lake and its tributaries 

 and of the extent to which the various tributaries were used by the spawning fish. 

 The following quotations from his report contain most of his remarks on the spawning 

 of 1903 : 



There are numerous small streams entering the main lake, some of which, as the outlets of the 

 tributary lakes, are of considerable length and suitable for spawning ground, while others are swift 

 mountain torrents with rough beds, which offer but small areas for the fish. The shores of the 

 lakes also are utilized for spawning. 



The early arrivals of salmon spend some time in the region of the spawning beds before deposit- 

 ing any spawn. In the Naha the first sockeyes reach the lakes in June, but none spawn earlier 

 than about the middle of August — after a lake residence of about six weeks. In the Karluk, in 1903, 

 the first sockeyes entered the lake about the middle of June; they continued to arrive in numbers 

 until the latter part of July. They spawned during August. The first arrivals, as in the Naha, 

 thus spent about six weeks in the lake, and all remained at least four weeks before spawning. 

 In the Fraser basin, in 1905, the first fish reached Seton Lake the latter part of July, the run con- 

 tinuing until the latter part of September. The first eggs were spawned the first week of September, 

 and spawning continued until late in October. This was approximately the same length of resi- 

 dence before spawning as in the Naha and the Karluk. 



During the residence in the lakes it is improbable that the fish occupy the greater depths, since 

 it has been shown that these are not suitable for fish life. In the evenings salmon may often be 

 seen in numbers "finning" — i. e., swimming leisurely at the surface in such manner as to expose 

 the dorsal fin. The sockeye seldom jumps in lakes until about to approach the spawning bed, 

 when there may be a slight demonstration of that habit. Ordinarily a lake may be filled with 

 adult fish and no evidence of their presence noted by an observer. 



Karluk Lake has many tributary creeks that are used by spawning fish, but the total area 

 seems scarcely commensurate with the enormous productiveness. 



In 1903 a careful count was kept of the sockeyes spawning in one stream of Karluk Lake, the 

 second from the outlet on the right or east side. 5 This is a small creek, averaging some 10 feet in 

 width, about 1 mile of which is used for spawning beds. From August 5 to September 5 of that 

 year 21,756 spawned fish were examined in this creek, presumably the total number spawning 

 there in that time, and practically the total for the season. Of these, males were in excess by about 

 3 per cent, the number being 10,723 females and 11,033 males. But one unspawned female was 

 found dead. Dead unspawned males are more common. Of 636 females opened, about 80 per cent 



• This is, without much doubt, the creek to which we have given the name " Moraine Creek." 



