Arizona republican., 1895-02-15
SALMON SLAUGHTERED.
Enormous Catches Made in the
 Hudson Straits.
Where Some of the Finest Fish in the World Are Taken by the Thod- sands Peculiar Method
 Employed.

s'If to see how the magnificent salm- on of the Pacific coast are caught almost takes the heart out of the man who loves to cast the fly for these lordIy fish, he would lose it entirely If he venture to Ungava bay, in Upper Canada and see how they capture salmon there," said a former agent of the Hudson Bay company to a New York Sun man.
 "It was only few years ago that the possibilities of the south coast of Ungava bay and Hudson straits in the way of salmon and lake trout fishing were discovered, and to say that they are now being worked for all they are worth is putting it mildly. The salmon the finest in the world. They are fur- ther north than any other salmon taken on this continent, and the lower the tempe rature of the water the bet ter salmon are. The Rest1gouche, or any of the salmon of the St. Lawrence basin, are far superior to the Oregon salmon, and the Hudson straits salmon are just as much superior to the Resti gouche fish. Besides the salmon the waters of the Hudson strait coast teem with a, a,deep-sea trout which has not it's like on the face of the globe.
 "But the method adequate for catch ing these fish is just as peculiar as the fish themselves are, and it is doubtful If salmon or trout fishing is done in the same way elsewhere. The coast of Hudson straits is indented by thou sands of small bays and estuaries, and many rivers traverse 1t to the bay. At low tide there is little water in any of these inlets, but at high tide the water rashes up into them for long distances. The tides rise twenty-five and even fifty feet. At high tide, in the salmon and trout running seasons, these fish follow with the water into the bays and rivers as fast as the tide goes, and swarm back with it when it ebbs have seen the smaller rivers, streams, or rather stream beds. one hundred feet wide, actually choked from shore to shore with the biggest salmon man ever saw struggling upward with the tide,
 f'It is not more than eight or nine years ago that the first attempt was made to establish fisheries there on a large scale. Drawing seines was inn possible, and the fish wheels of Oregon were impracticable. So simple but exceedingly effective trap was intro duced. It was not original with the salmon fishermen, the idea being Borrowed from the porpoise fishermen of Hudson bay. Immense nets were made from the largest and strongcjt twine, and of length and depth to suit the inlet to be fshed. At low tide sffe 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 eass upward with the rising tide. Just before the tide turns the line holding the fioater side of the net to the anchored side is drawn out. SThe buoys instantly rise to the surface and the trap is set. When the tide comes back men are stationed above the nets sorae 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 ex- eeedingly timid they rush back up stream by the thousand, and will actually be left on the dry land by the receding tide, so panic stricken ao they E,o f. 1fln Ivrt tl,o7 When the tide has gone out, the dry beds of the inlets will beNpiled with tons upon tons of salmon or trout. Not salmon and trout, for both kinds are Gever found in the same inlet. In one the trap may secure fifty CT one hun dred tons of salmon at a riln, while the next estuary below the catch will be trout. 1 have seen ten thousand salm- on taken at one haul.
 ''I have seen the marvellous salmon runs of the Oregon rivers, but they are no comparison to the tremendous rushes of those Hudson straits fish It may be that if the latter had big fresh water rivers to explore they would not be massed so thiclzly along the coast, but the channels they seek are not sufficient to let them all in. If the salmon supply of the world else where should ever become exhausted, it can be replaced easily by the fish of those great northern waters. A thou sand big vessels could take on cargoes of salmon and trout there every season
 without visibly lessening the supply"