FOREST AND STREAM 
209 
The Chinook vs. Other Salmonids as a Game Fish 
With Which to Stock Lakes 
I N this country fish culture developed in re¬ 
sponse to a need of restoring depleted ma¬ 
rine and river fisheries, but it soon em¬ 
braced inland waters—and at first the best known 
angling waters—whether they needed replenish¬ 
ment or not. In the commendable effort to im¬ 
prove the angling, in many cases, zeal and en¬ 
thusiasm seem to have outweighed judgment and 
forethought, resulting in the idea that the as¬ 
sembling in large numbers of every kind of 
gamefish available in a body of water was a 
most desired consummation, and in the almost 
complete neglect of estimable native forms. 
The effo'rts to this end were made without 
knowledge or consideration of the obtaining con¬ 
ditions or the possible effects of the introduc¬ 
tion. It seems to have been a prevalent impres¬ 
sion that the only requisite condition of a lake 
or pond was that the water should be wet. 
In this respect early fish cultural distribution 
was of the nature of a venture rather than a 
rational procedure or experiment. But this was 
an unavoidable concomitant of the distribution 
of non-indigenous forms, the nature and require¬ 
ments of which the fish culturists of those days 
were necessarily ignorant. The fault lay in not 
recognizing that new factors were likely to dis¬ 
turb normal conditions, and that the way to 
regulate conditions already disturbed was to re¬ 
store, or as nearly as possible, approximate those 
conditions. 
While later the. general fish cultural mind to 
some extent gradually awakened to the desira¬ 
bility of ascertaining the conditions obtaining in 
a body of water before introducing any new 
form, the ways and means of doing this were 
necessarily limited. Besides a habit had been 
formed that was difficult to break. Like a drug 
habit, in many instances, its continuance or ces¬ 
sation signified practically the same thing—the 
death of the victim. The only hope offered was 
in an effort directed toward the elimination of 
the drug from the system, and the restoration of 
its normal functions. Therefore the former prac¬ 
tice of wide and indiscriminate distribution has 
been to a great extent abandoned and an effort 
made to specialize. But owing to the fact that 
some forms were formerly disseminated without 
following up their introduction with further 
plants or efforts to ascertain if any survived, 
little knowledge has resulted regarding the possi¬ 
bilities of many of the introduced species. Ac¬ 
cordingly, to continue the medical analogy, while 
it may be said that the Central Dispensary still 
dispenses drugs and medicines, it aims to do so 
intelligently, but it cannot control independent 
dispensaries or individual practitioners except 
through advice and the regulation of its own dis¬ 
pensations in conformity to advances made in 
knowledge of materia medica and therapeutics. 
The demand for artificial distribution of game 
fishes originated with the angler, who, in gen¬ 
eral, wants good fishing for the best fish. There 
are anglers who have their favorite fish and who 
disapprove of any innovations. There is occa¬ 
sionally one who would prefer to force his per¬ 
spiring, and perchance profane, way along the 
alder and clematis entangled banks of his favor¬ 
ite brook for the sake of a few 9 or 10-inch 
trout rather than to sit comfortably in a boat 
and haul out 9 or io-pound salmon by the dozen. 
But the majority are not so constituted. They 
By W. C. Kendall, Assistant Bureau Fisheries 
are satisfied with one kind only until another 
of higher claim is brought glowingly to their 
attention. To repeat and amplify, they want 
good fishing for the best fish, which implies ex¬ 
cellence in game qualities, size and number. 
While it would be impossible to change the 
opinion of the angler who has his lifelong favor¬ 
ite, and there would be no advantage gained in 
doing so, it may be of some practical value to 
the general angler if some of the characteristics 
and other features and facts regarding certain 
salmonid fishes are pointed out, by this means, 
perhaps, removing some of his uncertainty and 
mistaken notions regarding some forms that have 
recently been brought prominently to public at¬ 
tention. Also it may be worth while to indicate 
A Good Catch of Just Plain Fish. 
some other forms more worthy of his attention 
because of their peculiar virtues. 
The salmonids, comprising salmon and trout 
only, that have in late years been distributed by 
the United States Bureau of Fisheries and State 
commissions are chiefly the following: 
Chinook salmon, silver salmon, steelhead trout, 
rainbow trout, landlocked salmon, Scotch sea 
trout, Loch Leven trout, golden trout, brown 
trout and brook trout. So far as known, there 
have been no returns from the silver salmon, 
Scotch sea trout or golden trout (“white trout” 
of Sunapee Lake), except perhaps of the latter 
in its native waters. As indicated by the title 
of this article, the chinook salmon is the form 
upon which the discussion impinges. 
In Forest and Stream, Vol. LXXVIII, No. 9, 
March 2, 1912, page 268, Dr. John D. Quackenbos 
has related the history of the “Pacific Salmon 
in Eastern Waters” with special reference to 
Sunapee Lake, where the most “successful” re¬ 
sults have followed the introduction of the Chi¬ 
nook salmon. To this article the reader inter¬ 
ested in the history of this fish in Sunapee Lake 
is referred, as it is mainly the purpose of the 
present discussion to indicate to anglers why 
the chinook is not only not the best, but possi¬ 
bly that it is the worst salmonid that could be 
introduced, everything being considered, and to 
suggest some superior species. 
The chinook salmon has been introduced by 
thousands in many Eastern waters, but in a few 
instances only has it ever been detected after¬ 
ward. The most signal success, as previously 
stated, has been in Sunapee Lake, N. H. Its 
acclimatization in this lake is a very interesting 
fact. The value to anglers and fish culture, how¬ 
ever, may be mainly in a lesson learned from 
sad experience. In the face of the glowing re¬ 
ports of chinook angling in that lake, this state¬ 
ment may seem like extreme pessimism, but all 
the known facts regarding the habits, characteris¬ 
tics and nature of this fish, to the writer’s mind 
at least, bode nothing less. 
Here is a fish whose natural abode is the 
Pacific Ocean, where by devouring large quanti¬ 
ties of food consisting of fishes and other ma¬ 
rine life, it sometimes attains an astonishing size 
in a comparatively short time. At the average 
age of 4 years, or thereabouts, for the purpos'e 
of breeding, it ascends certain rivers, in some 
instances a thousand or more miles, and where, 
like the other four species of Pacific salmon, it 
always dies, having reproduced once only in its 
life. This is an established fact, but it is not so 
marvelous as it seems at first thought. From 
a priori reasons, it is believed that at least one 
othefi fish thus perishes after breeding, and many 
lower animals exhibit the same phenomenon. 
It was first introduced into Sunapee Lake in 
1904 and many and larger lots have since been 
planted. The first chinook was caught and rec¬ 
ognized as such in 1908 and it has been taken 
in successively greater numbers each year since 
until last year (1913), when the estimated catch 
was 4,000 or 5,000 fish, averaging 3 pounds in 
weight each and aggregating at least six tons. 
Tn previous years larger fish, up to 20 pounds, 
have been noted, but this year none exceeded 
eight or nine pounds. This remarkable develop¬ 
ment in Sunapee Lake and meager results else¬ 
where indicate that but few bodies of water are 
in any way favorable to the fish. 
The favorable conditions at Sunapee Lake 
seem to be mainly those of sufficiently deep and 
cool water and abundance of food, to which the 
comparatively rapid growth may be ascribed. The 
chinook is known to be a voracious fish eater, 
which it must be to gain so rapidly in size. At 
one fish hatchery the writer was told by the 
superintendent that it took far more food to 
supply young chinooks than for any other sal¬ 
monid. 
The smelt, at present extremely abundant in 
Sunapee Lake, provides the principal sustenance 
of the salmonids there. Sunapee is, however, a 
comparatively small lake and necessarily is lim- 
