224 
BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
While other factors are concerned, temperature of the water appears to influence 
the local distribution and movements of the smelt to some extent, as well as do the 
tides and character of the shores. The exact extent of these influences is not known. 
It is known that certain localities are frequented by smelts throughout the year, 
while other localities are devoid of them at all times. These facts appear to be 
determined by natural conditions. 
In some localities the presence of smelt is a seasonal phenomenon — that is, 
adult smelts are apparently absent during the summer but appear in the fall and 
remain until spring. In this connection the following quotation from the Fishing 
Gazette for February 1, 1925 (p. 3) is of interest. 
The size of smelt that have been frequenting the waters of the Ipswich River for a number of 
days past has not only been unusally large, but the fish run quite uniform in size, and as is to be 
expected at this season of the year, many of the female species are filled with spawn. It is prob- 
ably in this latter phase of the situation that the answer may be found as to the reason why the fish 
are now in the river, and such being the case, when the fish disappear they may make their exit 
over night. Some of the experienced fishermen at the “shore” part of the town, hold to the theory 
that the recent dredging of the river has provided deeper water way for the fish to follow on a 
journey to the upper waters of the Ipswich River. 
SIZE 
The American smelt is known sometimes to attain a length of 13 or 14 inches, 
although such sizes are not common, and smelts from 10 to 12 inches long are 
regarded as exceptionally large fish. The average length of smelts selected for their 
large size probably would not exceed 9 or 10 inches. The general average of the 
most common smelt may be inferred from the following: Fish obtained in the Wash- 
ington market in December and said to have come from Portland, Me., averaged 
six to the pound, ranged from 7.5 to 8.75 inches in length, and averaged 8.1 inches. 
A lot from New Brunswick average eight to the pound and ranged in length from 6 
to 8 inches, averaging about 7.14 inches. 
Storer (1858) states that the largest individuals he had ever seen in Massachu- 
setts were taken in Milton River in the latter part of December, 1837. Four speci- 
mens taken without regard to size weighed 1 pounds. According to the Maine 
Sportsman for January, 1896 (p. 19), “Peaks Island fisherman caught a remarkably 
large smelt the other day in Casco Bay (Maine) . The average weight of these little 
fish is less than two ounces, and this one weighed but half an ounce less than half a 
pound.” 
According to Atkins’s notes (made in 1871), two spent smelts obtained at Verona 
Island, about 9 and 9.35 inches long, respectively, weighed 3.4 and 4.3 ounces. 
At Eastport, Me., 18 smelts seined on a sand beach on July 31, 1893, ranged in 
total length from 7 to 10.5 inches. On August 23, 1893, at Harbour de Lute, Cam- 
pobello Island, New Brunswick, 14 smelts seined on a gravel beach ranged from 7 to 
9 inches in total length. 
The following figures represent the sizes of smelts as obtained from commercial 
fishermen of Maine in various years. They are arranged in sequence of months, how- 
ever, rather than of years. Those from Casco Bay were obtained from weir fisher- 
men, probably after the larger or marketable sizes had been removed from the catch. 
