The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-04-18
SALMON AND THEIR WAYS.
Fish Which Lose Their Teeth in Fresh
Water.
Fronl the Nel0 York Times.

renee, says Alexander Dennistoun in the
Field, a discovery was made by me which
seems to be an important contribution to the
natural history Of salmon frequenting these
waters Notwithstanding my having made
some twenty fishing excursions to these
magnificent rivers, landing on an average
of not less than five clean fish for every
days fishing during these years, l only last
summer accidentally learned a very inter-
esting fact, which record for the informR-
ton of all who are interested in the sub
ject.
In the first week Of last July we left the
River Mingan, my fishing headquarters for
the season, to examine and explore a small
river named Tupitagan, and to test its fly
fishing capabilities. The Indians at the
Hudson Bay Company post Of Mingan had
informed me that this never was frequented
by salmon. On it were a number Of good
looking pools. From its small size and
rather out-of-the- way situation fly fishing
there had never been tried, though all the
larger aud better kno Hn rivers of the coast
had been successfully hshed for many sea-
sons. The weather during the previous
fortnight having been dry and hot, we
found the water low and warm. Under
these circumstances it was only tried for
one day without success.
| The government lessee of the net fishing
for salmon in the tidal waters near the
| mouth of the river was a very intelligent
| French Canadian named Girard, who came
| to my tent near his home to have the usual
chat about fishing matters. During our
| discussion as TO the fact whether salmon
| which had once entered the fresh water of
| the river often returned to the salt water
| again before making their final ascent to
| their spawning grounds. he asserted that
such was undoubtedly the case; that he had
completely proved the correctness of this
| statement, Judging not only by the color
nF he fgh
| but by a far more efficient test. He
stated that, as soon as they entered fresh
water they began to lose their teeth, and
| when they had heen some time in it, they
had lost all Of them. He said if he had
| fifty salmon handed to him in dark room,
some from the river and some from the sea,
| he could easily separate them into two lots
those without teeth from the river aud
those with teeth from the sea, and that the
| color and general look Of the fish, when OK
amined by daylight. would confirm his
| selection.
Having caught with the fly more than
1000 salmon on that coast; having pre-
| vicusly known or met most of the gentle-
| men who for the last twenty years have
| fished various rivers of that territory; hav-
| ing come in contact with many lessees for
| net fishing salmon, and read most of the
books on the natural history Of this fish,
without hearing or reading any statement
to this effect, thought the man was chaf~
| fling me, and probably intmated as much to
him. He then good naturally called one of
his children from the djacent house and told
| them to bring from his salmon storehouse the
| two fish they had that morning taken from
| his nets. This was done, and when exam
| ined, one, bright as silver, evidently from
the sea, had a formidable mouth full of
sharp teeth; the other. which HAD lost much
OF its brightness and had all the signs Of
| having bean in the rivar had eoarCa1u n
| tooth 10 its head-a few quito loose odd
| teeth being all that were visible
| Ny next question to him was, naturally,
How did you make this discovery2" His
answer was curious, showing in how simple
manner such problems are often found
| out. His statement was this:
Zone Saturday afternoon, some three
| years ago, went to tie up my nets for the
| weeks close time, and found in them two
salmon, just such as are lying there before
| us. gave one of them to my 10-year-old
girl, who had accompanied me, to carry to
the fish house. Presently she remarked,
Dad, this fish has no teethp This led me
to examine it carefully it was evidently
| by the color, fish that had been some time
in the river, and it was toothess. Since
that time have carefully examined all fish
| caught in my nets, and found the result
always the same"
| The following day we left that river for
the mouth OF the St John, and after delay
| or two days, assembled it in canoes some
twenty miles to its noted pools. We had at
this time twenty-four hours of welcome
| heavy rain. which raised the river two feet
| and brought down the temperature of the
water, giving us splendid chance for the
next ten days. during which my nephew and
self landed 100 fish and hooked and lost some
| forty to fifty additional ones All of these
were most carefully examined, with the
result that nearly all were quite toothless.
| A few Of them, evidently later from the sea,
| had some struggling loose teeth.
| These pools we fished were between
twenty-five and thirty miles from the sea,
and the salmon had begun to reach them
five or six weeks before the date of our
visit. Some of those we caught had, there
fore, been long time out of the sea- We
then returned to the Mingan river and
| caught some forty more fisa. A careful ex-
| animation of them gave the same result as
on the st. John. Before leaving Mingan
for the Tupitagan we had caught there
some fifty fish, in addition to some half
dozen kelts, but being then ignorant of the
| toothless problem, the mouths of none Of
| them were examined. and as we were at
| that latter season unable to obtain any
| kelts, could get no evidence as to the re-
growth of their teeth.
At the Mingan post of the Hudson Bay
Company there was an opportunity of
| q AuluD6T VI Inc hunters OF the
| Montagnois Indian tribe, who all confirmed
the statement that salmon lose their teeth
soon after entering fresh water. When
cross-questioned on the subject, they
answered: at is just the same as deer lose
their horns, bears. martens, aud other ami
mails their fur, and Holsters change their
shells every year" 1t seems almost in
credible that this fact, of which we obtained
such ample evidence, and which
slight amount of observation would
have easily detected, has been overlooked
by so many experienced professional and
amateur fishermen. l have conversed with
many Of both classes on the coast and since
my return, but none were aware of this
popularity. This, in the case Of fly fisher
men, may in some measure be accounted
for; when fish has been gated or landed
by a net they leave the detaching of the
hook to the gaffer, and, therefore, do not
see the mouth of the fish.
Ny visits to Labrador during the sum-
mers Of 1889 and 1890 proved that there is a
great diversity during whole season in the
freedom with which salmon will tske an
artificial fly. In both these years the sal
mon in all these rivers seemed to be equally
numerous, but the season of 1889 was proba-
bly, the worst on record, while 1890 was
one of the best. Take the three following
rivers as examples: The Godbout was fished
by the same three rods both seasons