THE SMELTS 
351 
In Maine there are numerous instances of successful introduction, as in Moose- 
head, Rangeley Lakes, and the Eagle Lakes in northern Aroostook County. There 
appear to be no records of successful plantings of the fresh-water smelt in New York 
waters, but there are a few records of the transplanting of the salt-water smelt, some 
of which were unsuccessful and others at least temporarily successful. 
A correspondent of the American Angler on October 7, 1882 (p. 228), stated 
that some smelt furnished by a Mr. Blackford were put into Otsego Lake, which 
seemed one of the best to test them, but that circumstances not favorable to a suc- 
cessful plant may have prevented success in this case, as none of the product had 
been seen in the lake. He regarded the experiment as worth repeating. 
Early methods of transplanting consisted of transplanting eggs or adult spawning 
fish, as indicated by a correspondent of Forest and Stream on October 23, 1890 
(p. 271), who said that the smelt usually were transported as fish but that a Mr. Aiken 
had established them in Webster Lake, N. H., by the “novel method of taking the 
fertilized eggs after they had been glued to stones in the spawning brook. Stones 
with the eggs upon them were placed in a little tributary of Webster Lake, and now 
the waters are teeming with smelt.” 
Another method was mentioned by Cheney (1876), who wrote: 
Commissioner Stanley told me in New York recently that he could stock any lake with land- 
locked smelt for $25. So the question of food for salmon is not a difficult one. In some localities 
where the landlocked smelt abound there are no facilities for hatching the eggs artificially for the 
purpose of transplanting. Where such is the case and it is desired to transplant smelt, brush may 
be cut and thrown into a stream where the smelt run to spawn, and the eggs adhering to the twigs 
can be transplanted in cans of water to the stream or lake to be stocked. 
Commissioner Wentworth, of New Hampshire, told me that at Sunapee Lake, N. H., smelt 
were caught for salmon bait and put into an old half-sunken row boat near the shore. The smelts 
spawned in the boat and the fry hatched and literally swarmed in the boat after the parent fish 
had been used for bait. I have seen young smelts at the mouths of the streams in the same lake 
in myriads in spite of the number of fish ready to prey upon them. 
Another interesting but short-distance method is described in the report of the 
Massachusetts commissioners for 1918, page 145, as follows: 
Experiment in collecting and shipping Spawn on Burlap . — Last year the smelt spawn was col- 
lected by placing the burlaps on the bottom of the river and allowing the smelt to deposit the spawn 
thereon naturally, with the result that the eggs were laid unevenly and a large percentage infertile. 
Attempts were made this year to devise a more satisfactory method by stripping the fish, fertilizing 
the spawn and spreading it in the quantity desired. It was done in this way. The spawn immedi- 
ately on being taken from the fish is brought to the spreader, who is stationed before a tank of water 
8 inches deep, of just the size to hold horizontally the sheets of burlap. These are 16}^ by 20 
inches in size, with a strip of lath tacked at two opposite ends to facilitate handling. Quick action 
is required or the eggs, fresh from the strippers, will lump together and be spoiled. A small quan- 
tity of eggs is mixed in a bucket of water and poured into the tank. The eggs settle as sand would 
do, and adhere wherever they touch the burlap which lies at the bottom. The success of this work 
depends upon keeping the water moving so that the eggs will settle in a thin, even layer, and not 
on top of each other, or too many in one place. After allowing one minute for the spawn to settle, 
the burlap is turned over and an ounce of spawn placed on the other side. A second burlap is put 
in over it (the tank has a capacity of ten), and the process is repeated until the tank is full. One 
pan of spawn covers three burlaps. When the tank is full the aprons are transferred to a frame 
which holds them straight and smooth, and placed in the “Jumbo Hatcher” in which the harden- 
ing process is continued further. This piece of apparatus consists of a tank equipped with running 
water (piped in from the pond), so arranged that the water will run evenly on both sides of the ten 
