92 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
; r ([Feb. i, 1902. 
The Pike-Perch. 
Taper read by C. H. Wilson, Glens Falls, N. Y., before the North 
American Fish and Game Protective Association. 
The pike-perch is the largest of the perch family, and 
one of the most valuable of fresh-water fishes. Through- 
out its range it is taken nearly the year round, owing to 
its fine table qualities. Its flesh is firm and well flavored, 
even in warm weather. Few fish stand shipment, holding 
or freezing better than the pike-perch. Prof. Jordan, writ- 
ing of this fish, says : "This is one of our best food fishes, 
with firm, white flesh of good flavor, and in markets sup- 
plied from the Great Lakes it ranks below the whitefish 
and lake trout only." , . 
The 1898 report of the U. S. Commission says : I he 
pike-perch in Lake Erie are commercially the most valu- 
able fish." While this broad statement may not be made 
concerning its standing in New York State, Mr. B. S- 
Morrill, a fisherman and guide at Hotel Champlain, and 
a former fish and game protector, writes me as follows : 
"Wall-eyed pike are regarded as the most important food 
fish in Lake Champlain. Bass and pickerel abound, but 
pike are by far the most valuable." Another important 
consideration to the summer visitor, at least, is that 
while this fish is what is called a food fish, it will take 
readily a baited hook, spoon or artificial fly, and so is 
classed as a game fish. , . . 
Now, as to the matter of the reproduction of this .fish: 
The pike-perch does not make a nest like the bass, but 
throws its spawn in shoal waters and is followed by the 
male fish, which deposits its milt in proximity to the eggs, 
trusting to conditions over which it has no control to 
fertilize the same ; and it is already known that the natural 
increase, owing to the almost innumerable enemies of the 
egg and fry, is very small— indeed, barely enough to keep 
up the supply, when fish are taken in the legal and right- 
ful way alone. 
Now, as to the artificial propagation of this fish: Not- 
withstanding the large number of eggs supplied by each 
fish, the average for those taken in Missisquoi Bay being 
50,000 eggs per fish, there are three reasons, or diffi- 
culties, to be overcome, and which, as compared with eggs 
of other varieties, causes a large decrease in percentage 
of eggs hatched by artificial means. These difficulties are 
as follows: Penning fish or holding them for eggs to 
ripen. The delicate membrane of the eggs which rupture 
easily, and their great adhesiveness. 
The U. S. Commission in a recent report, speaking of 
difficulties attending the securing of pike-perch eggs, 
states, that after seventy-two hours of confinement in 
pens, no eggs can be taken from fish. The eggs will 
bunch in the fish, the tail will split and fungus, and fish 
will die. Any noise or jar or discharge of firearms or 
other disturbances will cause plugging of fish so no eggs 
can be taken. The inner membrane of the egg is so deli- 
cate that a large percentage is broken in process of 
stripping, and in undergoing the processes necessary to 
separate the' eggs which attach to each other in large 
masses, which unfits them for hatchery jars. A pike-perch 
egg is never safe until the inner membrane is cushioned 
by the water which passes into the outer shell — to illus- 
trate, of the 231 millions of pike-perch eggs taken one 
season in New York State, only about seventy-one mil- 
lions of fry were hatched and turned into the waters join- 
ing the territory of our friends of Vermont and Canada. 
In 1899, of 38,000.000 of eggs taken from Missisquoi 
Bay by Livingstone Stone, only 9,050,000 were hatched. 
James Nevin, of Wisconsin, for three years after taking 
150 to 200 millions per year, hatched only 5 per cent., the 
milt of male clotting and would not dissolve in pans. 
Notwithstanding these difficulties, the U. S. Commis- 
sion and New York successfully hatch these fish ; but the 
Dominion of Canada, speaking of fish and eggs possessing 
these characteristics, says, by its Commissioner. Prof. E. 
E. Prince, in his report of 1900 : 
"The eggs of these fishes, indeed, are less favorable for 
incubation and treatment by artificial methods than the 
salmonoid family, and the vast number of eggs produced 
by each spawner, the extremely delicate and fragile char- 
acter of the ova and the young fry. indeed, the futility of 
handling the fry, are the reasons which have deterred 
•operations in Canada in that direction." 
Le't me say here, that Prof. Prince may know for his 
encouragement, that it is undoubtedly a fact that the first 
pike-perch eggs hatched on this continent were hatched 
by Mr. James Nevin, now superintendent of the Wiscon- 
sin Fish Commission, at the Sandwich, Ontario, fish 
hatchery, during the spring of 1877. The first lot — seven 
boxes of eggs — all died, and of the second lot of ten mil- 
lions, only one million were hatched. Of the third lot of 
twenty millions, there were hatched 3,500,000 fry. In 
1878. of the fifty million eggs taken, six millions only were 
hatched and planted : later Mr. Nevin, who, by accident, 
discovered the use of muck to break up adhesion of eggs, 
was able to hatch 50 to 60 per cent, of eggs taken. 
The State of New York in its Department of Fish and 
Game, next to the United States, annually expends more 
money for fishculture than any other State, or the entire 
Dominion of Canada. In this matter it has in mind the 
reproduction of those species that are called food fishes, 
the work being done for so-called game fish being sec- 
ondary. And this is right, and if the Statcdid not do 
just this very thing, the people would abolish the Com- 
mission having these matters in charge, or tear down the 
hatcheries, or leave them to rot and fall of their own 
weight. The waters of the State of New York are well 
adapted to carry in large quantities and of fine quality a 
great variety of food fishes, as well as those varieties that 
furnish rare sport for the anglers, and our supply of 
these varieties must largely depend upon due regard for 
the reproductive age and season. In most cases the law 
of the State, with its close season, its restriction as to 
size, its method of capture, and limit as to catch, give 
ample protection to the fish that are in our waters. It may 
be said here that New York does not discriminate in these 
matters, but withholding no privilege we enjoy, we ex- 
tend a hearty invitation to all to come and with us enjoy 
our mountains and valleys, lakes and streams, usually 
well supplied with fish and game. 
It seems almost a misfortune that we do not control 
the fresh-water boundaries of our State, for if this were 
so, we should have no outside disturber of our peace and 
happiness in regard to the proper protection of these 
waters during the close season. 
The desirability of such a condition is made very promi- 
nent just now by the position and practice of our neigh- 
bors of Vermont and the Province of Quebec. Three 
neighbors— one, New York, affording ample protection 
to the pike-perch ; another, Vermont, using the money 
received for licenses to net pike-perch during the sea- 
son of reproduction, to operate a State hatchery to propa- 
gate species; the other, the Province of Quebec, using 
its license money, gained in the same manner, certainly 
not in restocking the waters it so ungraciously depletes. 
The State of New York possesses upward of 120 miles 
of shore line on Lake Champlain, while Vermont pos- 
sesses somewhat less, and the Province of Quebec about 
six miles, bordering upon the Missisquoi Bay, an arm 
of the lake. For some reason, best known to this variety 
of fish, the3 r congregate in this bay for spawning purposes, 
and there, from January to the last of April, Vermont 
and Quebec destroy in embryo what should go to keep 
up the regular supply for a very large portion of Lake 
Champlain. It is not enough to say that the pike-perch 
is a prolific fish, and that those that escape the net will 
fully maintain the needed supply for these common- 
wealths, for information is in my hands, from Rouse's 
Point to Westport, a distance of sixty-three miles, stating 
that the size and number of these fish have decreased, 
giving as the main reason for this conditions of affairs, 
netting in Missisquoi Bay. This position is strengthened 
by letters received from points south of Westport on the 
New York side (where pike-perch apparently go the other 
way to spawn, large numbers congregating in South Bay 
and along marshes), stating that it is believed they are 
holding their own here, where netting is not permitted. 
There might be some excuse for this business if Vermont 
and Quebec gave some equivalent in return in the way of 
stripping fish and fertilizing eggs, returning them to 
the water at the time of capture, or allowing commis- 
sioners to strip and remove eggs to hatches ; but this can- 
not be done, as is performed by netters of the shad, who, 
stripping the fish and fertilizing the eggs, go many miles 
to deliver to proper hatchery agents; or on the Great 
Lakes, having experienced spawn takers, who deliver eggs 
to hatchery representatives, or plant the eggs on natural 
spawning beds, for the reason that male fish- come earlier 
to the spawning grounds than the females, and great 
trouble is experienced in taking ripe fish of both sexes at 
the one time — besides the fact that the netting begins be- 
fore the fish are ripe, many thousand pounds being taken 
in January and February. 
I have in my hands the customs report of receipts of 
fish entered at St. Albans and East Alburg, coming from 
Missisquoi Bay for the following years, viz.: 1899, 139,190 
pounds; 1000, 153.913 pounds, and 1901, 94,698 pounds. 
From Vermont, the report for 1901, shows 597 barrels of 
fish, 217 being pike-perch alone, the rest mixed fish, and 
of these pike-perch, 25 per cent, are taken in January and 
February, unripe fish ; 75 per cent, the remainder, are 
taken in March and April — fish in a large measure ready 
to spawn. 
Whoever heard of such lavish improvidence? It is only 
permissible in matters of fish and game in any country, 
and then to its complete undoing and ruin. 
Furthermore, whoever heard of a friendly neighbor 
carrying on an unrestricted slaughter of that, which in 
part belongs to his friend, and which for two-thirds of its 
life has been the ward duly cared for and protected by 
that friend? 
To say that this is an unfriendly act is a fact; to say 
that it is a wrong is no injustice, and a very mild way of 
expressing it at that. 
Now, there are other reasons why this spring netting 
should- cease, and one may find them in the following 
figures : 
In 1899 the U. S. Commission, at a hatchery expendi- 
ture of $140,000, distributed of eggs, fry, fingerlings and 
adult fish, a total of 1,056371,898; of these, there was a 
total of lake trout, whitefish and pike-perch of 394,800,000, 
and of this number 341.788,000 went into waters con- 
tiguous to United States and Canada, with a report from 
the United States Commission for the last fiscal year of a 
planting in Missisquoi River of 160,000,000 eggs, In 1897 
and 1898 New York State, through its Commission, with a 
hatchery account of about $53,000 annual expenditures, 
distributed in fry, fingerlings and yearlings, 364,000,000, 
planting in contiguous waters 41,000,000 whitefish and 
pike-perch. 
In 1000 the entire Dominion of Canada, at an expense of 
$38,070 for hatcheries alone, distributed a total of 265,- 
941,000 fry of salmon species, lake trout, whitefish and 
lobster ; of this amount. 55,175,000 whitefish and lake 
trout went to the Great Lakes. 
Look at these figures : United States plant in joint 
waters, 341.788,000; one-half of two years' output of New 
York in joint waters. 20,500000; making a total of 362,- 
288,000, as against 55.175,000, with a total planting by 
U. S. Commission of pike-perch for 1900 and 1901 in 
contiguous waters of 67.737,300, as against a cold 0 for 
the Dominion ; and the 1901 report for New York State 
makes a still better showing of these two varieties, show- 
ing an increase of best year^of about 10,000,000 fry. 
One feels as though he had the voice of a child calling 
shrilly for help, when there is needed the loud and united 
voice of Quebec, Vermont and New York demanding a 
proper adjustment of this matter. Do not mistake the 
spirit with which I have tried to bring this matter before 
you. I love Vermont ; my boyhood days were spent under 
the shadows of its hills of green, and part of my early 
education was here acquired. I love 3-our people — sturdy, 
friendly and helpful they are. I know your depleted lakes 
and streams and your honest efforts to bring them back to 
their old-time condition, notwithstanding the difficulties 
that have stood in your way. I admire our neighbors 
of the great north, and count as some of my best friends 
you of Quebec, Ontario and New Brunswick; I have 
summered in your mountains and partaken of your gener- 
ous hospitality; I have taken of your best in fish from the 
gamy trout to the gamier salmon. I have read your an- 
nual report, which shows in 1900 a decrease in your 
fishery output of $1,181,812. I know something of the 
present supply of fish in your well-settled districts, and 
heard two years ago at Montreal the cry of your people 
for the opening up of club and preserve, that they again 
might have good fishing — the open waters having been 
depleted; and on one of Canada's best rivers last June 
for ten days on an average of seven hours a day, I cast my 
fly without a rise, and I say to you, her representatives!! 
here, as I say to Vermont, you are wrong in this matter, 
and as you now regret empty waters of your own, you will 
regret this spring netting in Lake Champlain. I beseech, 
you lay aside politics — lay aside present profit and leave 
to your successors and friends a fair proportion of fish 
life of Lake Champlain. 
Fish 'and Fishing. 
The Sea ofi Galilee. 
-1 
■ 1 
American anglers who may tour the Holy Land and 
who have an ambition to try their luck for the descendants 
of the sacred fish of olden times, in the same waters in 
which Peter and his fellow fishermen toiled all night and: 
caught nothing, should take warning by the experience of 
a correspondent of the London Field, and take their own 
tackle with them. Withiish rising all around him in the 
Sea of Galilee, this gentleman was taken by his lying 
dragoman and conductor on a fishing expedition without 
bait, and with tackle that was absolutely rotten and use- 
less, only to be subsequently told that their former stories 
of big catches in the lake were false, and that no gentle- 
man ever could or did or would catch a fish in the Sea 
of Galilee. Mr. Layard, the angler in question, has no 
doubt that the fish in this lake can be captured with proper 
tackle, and it will be remembered that Dr. Prime, the 
accomplished author of "I Go A-Fishing," relates the 
success of his friend, the Effendi, in taking some there. 
Dr. Prime had his own tackle with him, and tells of 
the unsuccessful efforts he made to take some of the 
famous fish from the pool in which rises the spring that 
feeds the waters of Merom. Mr. Layard corroborates Dr. 
Prime's report of the large quantities of fish in these 
waters, and, like him, believes that it is only necessary, 
to learn their habits in order to catch them. Many anglers 
would consider themselves highly privileged to take fish 
by modern angling methods out of waters that the sweet 
story of old has made so famous. More than forty differ- 
ent species of fish are known to exist in the Jordan and 
its tributaries, and Mr. Layard reports that a large silver' 
variety, resembling chub, probably one of the chromides, 
rush greedily for grasshoppers when these latter are 
thrown upon the water. There would seem, therefore, to 
be no doubt as to the angling possibilities of the Sea 
of Galilee. 
"Walton's Fishing House, 
It is a far cry from the Jordan to the Dove. From 
the one stream to the other, both of them "sacred to fish- 
ermen," we are carried by the announcement, in the Eng- 
lish newspapers, of the recent sale of the Beresford Hall 
estate, which includes the upper portion of Dovedale. 
The property is famous for its associations with Walton 
and Cotton, and for the fishing house on the bank of the 
Dove, erected by the last-mentioned in 1676, with the in- 
scription Piscatoribus Sacrum over the arched doorway 
on the outside, and on the keystone the cypher of Cotton 
and Walton, who spent such pleasant hours together there 
when the second Charles was King. It was described by 
several who visited it in the earlier part of the last cen- 
tury as being considerably dilapidated. About 1835, how 
ever, it was neatly repaired and placed, as nearly as pos- 
sible, in the condition in which it had been constructed, 
thanks to the good taste of the then owner of the estate, 
the Marquis of Beresford. The property subsequently 
passed into possession of Mr. Phillip Beresford Hope, 
from whom it has just been purchased by Sir Edward 
Green, of York. Disciples of the gentle Izaak, every- 
where, will delight to learn that the fishing house has 
been kept in excellent repair, and that the entire sur- 
roundings are to remain intact, and not to be exploited for 
building or other speculative purposes. 
Early Mention of Canadian Fish. 
The other day, while reading a journal of the occur- 
rences in the garrison of Quebec during the winter of 
1759-60, which was kept by Captain Knox, an officer in 
Wolfe's army, I came across an interesting account of thei 
fishes of the St. Lawrence, and found that during that 
rigorous season, when fresh provisions were so scarce that 
scurvy made great headway among the troops, both 
soldiers and French-Canadian natives had recourse to the 
trick learned from the Indians, of cutting holes in the ice! 
of the river and setting lines for fish. Quebecers of the 
present day enjoy the sport of fishing for tomcods through, 
the ice, but do it in quite a luxurious manner, erecting a 
hut or cabin over the holes in the ice and heating the in- 
terior with a stove, often placing rugs or robes of fur ' 
upon the icy flooring of the cabin. At the time of the 
conquest of Canada, the fishing was more for food than,! 
for sport, and Knox, from whom I will quote a few 
lines literally, says : "The inhabitants, and some of the 
troops who have acquired the method, take great quan- 
tities of fish on the river, through holes made in the ice as 
already described; they are of various kinds, particularly 1 
small codlings" (apparently tomcods), "roaches, plaice, 
smelts, and the poisson d'or, or gold fish, so universally 
admired in Europe, which is of different sizes, from a 
sprat upward, I am told, to the length of fifteen inches. 
A Frenchman who dined some days ago at the mess to 
which I belong, gave us a most elaborate dissertation upon 
the sundry kinds of fish abounding in the St. Lawrence, 
and the other 'rivers, bays and harbors throughout the 
colony. He said he never saw any in such plenty and 
perfection as in this country; particularly their salmon, 
and a species of trout peculiar to the lakes, which he' 
called truites saumonees, and are equally red and firm as 
salmon ; whether he exaggerated or not, when he declared 
he had seen some that measured five feet in length, and 
weighed upward of fifty pounds, I will not take upon me 
to determine, because it is possible; and, if I am not mis- 
taken, they have, in some of the lakes in Ireland, particu- 
larly in the county of Galway, trouts, of an uncommon 
length and thickness, with all the properties of salmon. 
This entertaining gentleman, at my request, favored me 
with the following list of the principal fish inhabiting | 
this excellent riyer. from its gulf up to the lakes: salmon,, 
