SALMON INVESTIGATIONS IN IDAHO. 
279 
The sex, weight, and condition of each are given in the following table: 
Sex, weight, and condition of redfish caught in the inlet to Altnras Lake, Idaho , September II, 1894 . 
Sex. 
Weight. 
Condition. 
Male 
Lbs. 02 . 
9 
Scarcely ripe. 
Do 
7b 
Kipe. 
Female 
7 
Do. 
Male 
8 
Do. 
Female 
7 
Do 
Partly spent. 
Do 
54 
Do. 
Male 
Ripe. 
Do 
6b 
Do. 
Do 
Do. 
Do 
54 
Partly spent. 
Do 
64 
Ripe. 
Do 
G4 
Do. 
Do 
8 
Do. 
Female 
64 
Do. 
Do 
54 
Partly spent. 
Do 
44 
Spent. 
Male 
54 
Partly spent. 
Do 
8 
Ripe. 
Sex. 
Weight. 
Condition. 
Lbs. oz. 
Male 
7 
Ripe. 
Do 
G4 
Do. 
Do 
5 
Partly spent. 
Do 
6 
Do. 
Do 
5 
Spent. 
Do 
54 
Partly Spent. 
Do 
5 
Spent. 
Do 
54 
Do. 
Female 
7 
Ripe. 
Male 
Not 
weighed. 
Do. 
Male 
3 104 
Ripe. 
Do 
3 24 
Partly spent. 
Do 
3 54 
Do. 
Do. 
3 74 
Do. 
Female 
3 io£ 
Ripe. 
Do 
2 5 
Spent. 
Average weight of 28 small redfish, ounces. Average weight of 6 large redfish, 3 pounds 4£ ounces. 
Of the 29 small redfish, only 4 (2 males and 2 females) were without sores or muti- 
lations. The fraying out of the fins seems to begin first with the caudal, then on the 
front of the dorsal and anal, and later upon front of ventrals, and to some extent upon 
the front of pectorals. Besides the fraying out of fins, there are sores sometimes upon 
the body in different places. Whether these mutilations are due to the wear and tear 
incident to the long journey from the sea (if they really come up from the sea), to the 
wearing incident to spawning, to their fighting, or to general physiological collapse, is 
not certainly known. I am inclined to think it is chiefly due to the wear and tear of the 
journey up from the sea, but am not at all certain that this is the correct explanation. 
Besides the 128 redfish which we saw iu the stream, we counted 6 dead ones along 
the creek. We examined the inlet of Pettit Lake, also, but we saw no live fish; on 
the bank we found one large fish which had been partly devoured by some animal. 
And this suggests a reasonable explanation of the scarcity of dead fish. If all or 
nearly all the redfish die soon after spawning, as is generally believed, and as seems 
probable, more dead fish ought to be seen. But the dead fish are eaten by various 
animals, as we have observed, and many of them are no doubt eaten or carried away 
soon after dying. 
Headwaters of Payette River . — At the head of the North Fork of Payette River 
are the small lakes already described. In the inlet of Big Payette Lake, the principal 
one of the group, important spawning grounds have existed and the evidence given 
below shows that considerable numbers of redfish still come there. 
Concerning the fish of the Payette Lakes, Mr. W. 0. Jennings gives the following: 
Have lived near Payette Lakes 25 years. Heard of the redftsh in these lakes even before I came 
here. For many years I put up a good many for use. Two fisheries were run here for seven or eight 
years, between 1870 and 1880, by Hughes & Bodily and Louis Fouchet. They put up great quantities 
of redfish. Hughes &. Bodily put up about 75,000 fish one year. They quit fishing in 1876; no one 
fished in 1877, but in 1878 Fouchet came back and fished one or two years. Fish were not abundant 
enough to make it pay, so he quit, and there has been no commercial fishing here for over ten years. 
Formerly the redfish were very abundant; the water was literally full of them; there were 
millions of them. Very few during recent years. They appear about August 10th to 15th each year, 
and continue to be seen up to the last of October, or until snow conies ; have seen them in great numbers 
late in October. They appear a week or two before they are ready to spawn . They come from the lake 
