Wichita eagle., 1889-05-12

great rapidity. It is a well-known TACT
that If hole is cut in the ice, fishes viii
come to the surface, and if it should thunder
and lightning, viii jump out on the ice.
This phenomenon has been witnessed on the
st. Lawrence river so often as to become an
established fact in science. The fishermen
of the upper lakes and the straits take ad-
vantage of this trait of the fish to spear
them all winter as they come up to the sur
face where holes have been cut through the
ice. The moral is obvious. There can be no
doubt that fine sport might be enjoyed
along the piers here in winter wherever the
water happens to be free.
The flesh of the perch here is hard and
well-favored. In the rivers and still lakes
at this time of year it usually contains
grubs and parasites. Our perch is a bony
fellow and that spoils any great demand
for him. He has only one use, and that is
for frying.
Some chefs know how to extract the skel-
eton and make a very edible dish of him.
The finest perch known is found in Lake
st. Clair. The variety found there is much
thicker than is found elsewhere, more ro.
tund and the bands of yellow are of
stronger color. But, strangely enough, the
st. Clair perch has only backbone, or
WofJGD~G, ike Inc DUIl-HEaU. w u0u LuGSS
fellows are fried the epicurean draws out
the vertebre and eats the delicious flesh
wAthont fear of swallowing bone. How
do you account for it2 Why the st. Clair
perch climbed the Niagara Falls from the
lower lakes, possibly, and lost those small
boues which make his fellows in other re-
gioms a semi-nuisance. The Lake Michigan
per ch had another origin. He entered this
Ill, ~, sou
time s, when the waters of Michigan swept
out through South Chicago. He never ex-
erted himself enough to lose any bones.
I The United States Fish Commission has
CONN lifted an error which, wers it not for
the high standing of that body, would be
suppo sed to have emanated from the mad
house. Some years ago it placed 100000
young cells in this lake, and perhaps mill
ions more. The eel is an enemy of the perch,
whitetish and other edible fishes, and are
now vigorously engaged in their eXtermi-
nation. This same Fish Commission is an
enemy of the eel weir and eel fishermen,
and have destroyed by law the eel indus
tries of TIT East. Why did it put the eels
in this lake? They are now being drawn
up in the nets of fishermen on the pier in
the little nets lowered for minnows. What
business have the eels in those little nets
with the minnoWss Why. the rascals have
been feeding Oh the young fry. The Fish
Commission obstinately maintains that the
eels go to sea to spawn, then die, leaving
their young to go up the rivers alone, to
grow up, go down to spawn and die. Why
did the Com missioners make this doctrine
ridiculous by placing the eels in lakes
where they can not get to the sea to breed,
where they must stay and eat up the other
iishes9 The eel S voracious and ravenous
r catches the female perch, whitefsh
and other innocent species, runs his sharp
snout through their sides and sucks out the
thousands of little eggs within, leaving the
victim dead and useless. These young eels
of several years ago are now two and three
feet long. They have spread all over the
lake and carried devastation and death with