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BULLETIN OP THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
will more often happen if the fish is caught in deep water, say 35 to 60 ft. If the smelt is in a 
fair state of preservation, he makes a far more attractive lure than any live bait we are able to 
get. 
Again, I have seen in the gray of the morning and at twilight thousands of smelt jumping on 
the surface in much the same manner as yellow perch do. 
Mr. Harrington, a friend of mine here, caught last July three smelt in less than 20 ft. of water 
which appeared to be as firm and hard as any caught through the ice. 
These facts, I think, are sufficient to prove that smelt can be found in Lake Champlain twelve 
months in a year if one only knew where to look. 
Cheney (1900) called attention to an interesting point in relation to the restric- 
tion of the fishery to ice fishing. He said: 
A few weeks ago when I was in Port Henry, no smelts had been taken, as the ice had not 
formed on that portion of the lake where the smelts are generally caught, for they are caught only 
in certain localities. This week, on my way to New York, I met a gentleman from Port Henry, 
who told me that “ icefish ” had not yet been caught at that place, but as he had promised some 
to friends, he thought they could be caught from a boat as well as from a shanty on the ice, and 
he had sent two men to the smelt grounds to fish for them, and they had caught but one fish, 
about six inches long, and he could not explain why it was so, for he was sure that within twenty- 
four hours after the ice had formed at that place where the men fished from boats, the ice fisher- 
men would catch half a ton of “ice fish’’. This is very strange that on the same ground with 
same bait and same tackle and method of using it, the smelts will not bite just before the ice forms, 
and will bite directly after it does, and there is no reasonable explanation why it should be so that 
I can advance. 
Cowen (1900) wrote that he had caught smelts in summer, stating that his im- 
pression was that great numbers remain in the lake, but do not take bait on account 
of the abundance of other food. He said that he had observed that as soon as sur- 
face water runs into the lake in the spring smelts will not bite so readily. 
During the long discussion concerning the identity of the icefish, even ichthyol- 
ogists were divided in opinion concerning whether it ascended the St. Lawrence or 
not. That the smelt occurred in Lake Champlain over 80 years ago, and over 30 
years before Cheney announced that the icefish was a smelt, Zadock Thompson 
(1842) wrote: 
The smelt is one of those migratory species of fishes, which pass a part of the time in salt 
water and a part in fresh. Though not a constant visitant in our waters, he occasionally makes 
his appearance, and is sometimes taken in Lake Champlain in very considerable numbers. 
If the fact had been generally known that smelts equaling in size any Lake 
Champlain “icefish” had been caught in certain lakes of Maine, where they were per- 
manently resident, it would have suggested to some of those interested that a like 
situation existed in Lake Champlain. However, it is now positively settled that the 
fish is a so-called “landlocked” smelt. 
Nothing appears to be known concerning the breeding habits of the smelt of 
Lake Champlain, but as the smelts of New England lakes ascend streams to spawn 
it is quite possible, as predicted a number of years ago by the late A. N. Cheney 
(1895), whose writings have been quoted extensively in this paper, that if looked 
for at the proper time the Champlain smelt might be found breeding in some tribu- 
tary streams. It has been stated that it appears possible to catch smelts, or icefish, 
only at certain localities in Lake Champlain, and it has been a source of wonder why 
they could not be caught elsewhere. 
