ACCLIMATIZATION OF FISH IN THE PACIFIC STATES. 
429 
The reports of the California fish commission for tlie years following the first 
whitefish plants contained several references to the taking of large fish. The report 
for 1875-76 stated that several mature whitefish had been caught in Clear Lake in 
the winter of 1875, and in the report for 1876-77 the commissioners say of this fish: 
We believe they have lived in Clear Lake, also in Tulare. It is reported in a Lake County paper 
that a whitefish was taken in Clear Lake April 10, 1876, which measured a foot in length. We have 
no positive information that they have found a congenial home in Tulare Lake, hut have heard reports 
that a few have been seen. 
In the commissioners’ report for 1878-79 it is stated that the fish had thrived and 
that reports of the capture of a few mature fish in Tahoe, Tulare, aud Clear lakes had 
been received. The report for 1883-84, however, casts considerable doubt on the 
supposed taking of eastern whitefish in California waters. The commissioners say: 
The ’’esults accruing from the planting of this kind of fish in our waters are not fully known to 
the commissioners, and * * * we have no reliable data as to whether they are a success or not. 
There are native whitefish that are caught in lakes Bigler and Donner, which have been taken for those 
planted by the former commissioners. * * * There has been no showing of the eastern whitefish 
so far. * * * Up to August 30 (1884) not one has been taken, so far as the commissioners have any 
knowledge. 
In the report of the California fish commission for 1893-94, which contains a review 
of the outcome of the introduction of non indigenous fish, no results are said to have 
attended the planting of whitefish. The inquiries of the United States Fish Commis- 
sion have not disclosed the existence of any eastern whitefish in California waters. 
In a recent report* on the fishes of Clear Lake, no species of whitefish is reported. 
Mr. F. C. Reed, of Astoria, has often made inquiries about the whitefish planted 
in the lake in that vicinity, but has learned nothing. The fishermen have no means of 
catching them if the fish are really there, and would hardly know them if caught. 
In Washington and Idaho a number of reports of the taking of whitefish have 
been received, but the possibility of mistaking the native whitefish ( Coregonus william- 
soni ) for the introduced species is so great that it would require actual specimens in 
order to settle the question in a given locality. The fact that most if not all of the 
supposed eastern whitefish have been caught with a hook casts considerable doubt on 
the correctness of the identification. The native whitefish, which is widely distributed 
in the Pacific States, readily takes the hook, but the common eastern species very 
rarely bites at a baited hook. The average weight of the native whitefish is under 1 
pound and the maximum is about 4 pounds. The eastern whitefish sometimes attains 
a weight of over 20 pounds, and fish weighing 10 pounds are common, although the 
weight is usually only 3 to 5 pounds. 
Hon. George T. Myers, of Portland, has kindly interested himself and others in 
ascertaining the results of planting whitefish in Washington and has forwarded 
several communications on the subject. Mr. Myers mentions the reported capture in 
recent years of a number of whitefish with hook and line in lakes Washington, Sam- 
mish, and other waters where the eastern fish was planted, and states that a fisherman 
formerly living on lakes Michigan and Superior says that he has caught some of the 
fish which were identical with those he had previously taken in the Great Lakes. 
* List of Fishes inhabiting Clear Lake, California. By David S. Jordan and Charles H. Gilbert. 
Bull. U. S. Fish Coin. 1894, pp. 139-140. 
