168 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
(Later observations, in August, indicated that the disappearance was only 
temporary.) 
So far as is now known, the herring is to be found at Keokuk only from April to 
September. In 1915 they were captured principally between June 13 and July 11, 
a condition quite different from that of 1914. 
As to conditions above the dam, seining was inaugurated at Montrose, Iowa, 
midway of the lake, in 1916, and herring were reported to be taken frequently. Two 
examples were examined by Stringham on July 14. The fishermen, who were visited 
from time to time, reported the more or less regular capture of herring in small quan- 
tities during August and up to September 15. 
In Lake Pepin in 1913 the catches of herring by the bureau’s seining crew were 
made from July 29 to the end of operation on the lake — September 11. In 1914 a 
single specimen was caught on May 12 and a few about the middle of June, after which 
they were taken more plentifully, particularly in the middle and latter part of July. 
(For dates, see Coker, 1914, p. 27.) The fish taken in Lake Pepin were noticeably 
smaller than those taken at Keokuk, suggesting that they were not escapements 
through the lock. Subsequently it was found that fish 4 to 6 inches in length could be 
taken in Lake Pepin, thus leading to the conclusion that breeding occurs in the upper 
river. 
Kirsch (1892) collected six small examples of Clupea chrysochloris, Rafinesque, 
in the Wolf River near the mouth of Willis Creek, Clinton County, Ky. Garman 
(1890, p. 142) records the capture of small herring 2.62 inches in length in the vicinity 
of Quincy, 30 miles below the dam; but there is the possibility that these were young 
Ohio shad, for he so called them, although applying the scientific name of the river 
herring. Such records suggest that breeding occurs in regions south of Keokuk. 
The river herring belongs to a group of fishes of very anadromous habit (including 
shad and alewives) , and we were therefore uncertain as to whether or not extensive 
migrations were necessary for its propagation and distribution. Did it spawn in the 
upper waters and migrate southward? Could the stock of river herring be maintained 
in both the upper and the lower sections of the river while there was an effective 
barrier midway of the stream? The question of the maintenance of the fish in the 
portions of the river above and below the dam, respectively, ought, it seemed in 1926, 
13 years after construction of the dam, to be answerable by further observations in 
Lake Pepin and at Keokuk and below. 
There is no question that during the three years immediately following the con- 
struction of the dam there was a decided decline in numbers of fish appearing at 
Keokuk and in the numbers taken in Lake Pepin. The records of collections in Lake 
Pepin by our seining crew for the years 1914, 1915, and 1916 were as follows: 4,189 in 
1914, 2,288 in 1915, and 42 in 1916. These observations led us to suppose that these 
fish were rapidly decreasing in numbers in the upper part of the river. 
In August, 1926, the author witnessed several seine hauls in Lake Pepin, in each 
of which one or two river herring were taken. They were evidently not rare, relative 
to other fish, for, exclusive of gars and pickerel, not a tubful of fish was taken in any 
haul. Furthermore, it was the testimony of several commercial fishermen that 
“the herring were coming back,” although all say that present abundance can not 
compare with that of a dozen or more years ago. It is an undoubted fact that in for- 
mer times herring were often a nuisance to anglers fishing for pike in swift waters 
at the ends of wing dams, whereas in recent years a herring rarely takes the hook. 
