The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1894-09-22
MAY SEINE FROST FISH.
Good Cheer for Guides a-d Farmers In the
Adirondack Region.

| The coming winter will be happier one than
has been seen for many year at the f1resdes Of
| guides in the Adirondack and Of thousands Of
farmers living along the Fulton chain Of lakes
and Saranac and other lakes. 1t will not bs
necessary to fill up the old pork barrel or hang
| the smokehouse full Of hams for the family
| table in the long northern winter.
| For 1t will be permitted to any one for the hrst
time to drag seines In these lakes for frost fish
and the waters are fairly boiling with them,
paradoxical as this may seem. They will give
variety to the backwoods menu not heretofore
permitted by law. Furthermore, they may be
sold, and this will be a bonanza In these hard
times among the pines and hemlocks.
The frost fish is q species of whitehsh, similar
to but smaller than the whitefsh for which
Lake Ontario has been noted for many years.
When mature it weighs from half a pound to .
pound, and 1t makes every whit as delciouss
pan fish as its Lake Ontario cousin.
To the people within ten or a dozen miles d
nearly all the Adirondack lakes the frost fish
will fill want, supplied in other parts OF the
State by the Hudson River herring or ciscoeA
They can be either sailed or picked and laid
down In barrels for future use. Fish sharps say
they are finer in flavor than ciscoes or herring
The history of the domesticated frost fish In
the Adirondack lakes is curious one. The
New York State Fish Commission and the State
protect the lake trout from seiners, who would
soon have extermi mated them by their pot hunt
ing: Anglers only, they said, should Kin the
makers that they not only passed laws prohib-
iting SEEMING, but decided to encourage the trout
Wherefore between 5.oA1. 900 and 5000 900
frost fish fry were care .ully propagated every
irundied to the lakes in big cans. like milk cans.
and dumped into the free water. 1t was all at
considerable expense. but the authorities, per-
haps, builded wiser than they Eaew. They were
unwittingly planning to feed men rather than
The result OF the experiment has surprised
the fish sharps., Perhaps 1t was because the
lake trout aud refused to enter the iatters
midst; perhaps It was because 50 the lake trout
Se dd nd ey
perhaps they concluded to lie down together
outside OF each Other Certain II is that there
saucy. and they, stick their heads out q the
water and wag their fins and dare the fisher
men to take them with rod and line,
Just here lies the tantalizing point Frost
wicked mans lures. Even with tho net i ih no
easy lob 70 get a mess Of them; In fact. It's
ten months Of the year in the deepest water r in
the lakes A fisherman IN summer floating on
never catches sight OF frost fish They are all
the openness Of the winter, the frost Ash APP
proach the shallow water around the wooded
their approach can often be detected by a ripple
over acres OF water inshore. as though stiff
breeze were ruffiing up the surface You may
know when you see this ripple while there Is no
breeze that there are millions OF frost fish going
into the shadows to spawn.
It's like breaking a fish sharps heart TO per
init any one To catch fish while they are spawn
ing. But an exception has been made In tho
case OF the frost fish, His fecundity is to be his
defamation.
The state Fish Commissioners recently issued
an order permitting any one. on making applica-
ton TO them TO cast seines to use dip nets for
frost fish only, from Nov, TO Dec. Is. The
senes or nets must be OF the legal mesh. Those
who nets seines without obtaining a
written formal permission, the Commissioners
say, will be arrested by the inspectors and fined
or sent TO Jail
Many permits have already been issued, but
II Is expected, President Huntington of the
State Board says, that in October Secretary
Doyle will have an extra clerk replying to APP