Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1895-05-31
MONT PHGNIX BRAdTLEBORO, FRIDAY, MAY 81, 1895.
Hudson Bay Salmon,
And How They Are Trapped 10000 al
Haul.

Haul.
"If to see how the magnificent salmon
of the Pacific coast are caught almost
takes the heart out of man who loves
to cast the fly for these lordly fish, he
would lose it entirely if he ventured to
Ungavy bay, in Upper Canada, and saw
how they captured salmon there"
The speaker was Findlay G.. Raynor,
who for many years was an agent of the
Hudson Bay company, and is now presi-
dent of the new Raynor Oil company.
at was only few years ago that the
possibilities of the south coast of Ungavy
bay and Hudson straits in the way of
salmon and lake trout fishing were dis
covered, and to say that they are now be-
ing worked for all they are worth is put
ting it mildly. The salmon of that high
latitude are undoubtedly the finest in the
world. They are further north than any
other salmon taken on this continent, and
the lower the temperature of the water
the better salmon are. The RestigOuche
or any of the salmon of the st. Lawrence
basin are far superior to the Oregon sal
mon, and the Hudson straits salmon are
just as much superior to the Restigouche
fish. Besides the salmon the waters of the
Hudson strait coast TEEN with deep sea
trout which has not its like on the face of
the globe.
"But the method adequate for catching
these fish is just as peculiar as the fish
themselves are, and it is doubtful if sal
mon or trout fishing is done in the same
way elsewhere. The coast of Hudson
straits is identified by thousands of small
bays and estuaries, and many rivers
| traverse it to the bay. At low tide there
is little water in any of these inlets, but
at high tide the water rushes up into them
| for long distances. The tides rise % and
even so feet. At high tide, in the salmon
and trout running seasons, these fish fol-
low with the water into the bays and
rivers as far as the tide goes, and swarm
back with it when it GIBBS. | have seen
the smaller rivers, streams, or rather
stream beds, 100 feet wide, actually
choked from shore to shore with the big
gest salmon a man ever saw struggling up
ward with the tide.
at is not more than eight or nine years
ago that the first attempt was made to es-
tablish fisheries there on a large scale.
Drawing seines was impossible, and the
fish wheels of Oregon were impracticable.
So simple but exceedingly effective trap
was introduced. 1t was not original with
the salmon fishermen, the idea being Dor
Towed from the porpose fishermen of Hud-
son bay. Immense nets are made from the
largest and strongest Irvine, and of length
and depth to suit the inlet to be tished. At
low tide the nets are set at the mouths
of the bays or inlets, and the top of the
net is hauled to the bottom so as to offer
no obstruction to the water or fish as they
pass upward with the rising tide. just
| hot ho 40 al ha : N
floater side of the net to the anchored side
is drawn out. The buoys instantly rise to
the surface and the trap is set. When the
tide comes back men are stationed above
the nets some distance, and with poles and
brush beat the water and make noises of
various kinds. This is to keep the great
body of fish from pressing upon the net at
once, and as the fish are exceedingly timd
they rush back up the stream by the thou
sand, and will actually be left on the dry
land by the receding tide, so panic stricken
do they become at the noises made by the
men. When the tide has gone out, the dry
beds of the inlets will be piled with tons
upon tons of salmon or trout. Not salmon
and trout, for both kinds are never found
in the same inlet. In one the trap may
secure 80 or 100 tons of salmon at run,
while in the next estuary below the catch
will be trout. | have seen 10, 900 salmon
taken at one haul.
81 have seen the marvellous salmon runs
of the Oregon rivers, but they are no com
parison to the tremendous rushes of those
Hudson straits fish. 1t may be that if the
latter had big fresh water rivers to explore
they would not be massed so thickly along
the coast, but the channels they seek are
not sufficient to let them all in. If the
salmon supply of the world elsewhere
should ever become exhausted, it can be
replaced easily by the fish of those great
northern waters. A thousand big vessels
could take on cargoes of salmon and trout
there every season without visibly lessen
ing the supply.-From the Nec York Sun.