Arizona republican., 1895-03-20
SALMON SLAUGHTERED.
Enormous Catches Made in the
! Hudson Straits.
Where Some of the Finest Fish in the
World Are Taken by the Thou
sands Peculiar Method
Employed.

on of the Pacific coast are caught
almost takes the heart out of the man
who loves to cast the fly for these
lordly fish, he would lose it entirely
if he venture to Ungava bay, in Upper
Canada. and see how they capture
salmon there" said former agent of
the Hudson Bay company to New
York Sun man.
SIT 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
of that high latitude are undoubtedly
the finest in the world. They are fur-
Their north than any other salmon
taken on this continent, and the lower
the tempe nature of the water the bet
ter salmon are. The Restigouche, 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 TEEN
with deep-sea trout which has not its
like on the face Of the globe.
'.S;ut the method adequate for catch
ing these fish is just as peculiar as the
fish themselves are, and it is doubtful
if salmon or troat fishing is done in the
same way elsewhere. The coast of
Hudson straits is indsuted by thou
sands of small bays and ei9tuarles, and
many rivers traverse it to the bay At
low tide there is little water in aS2y OF
these inlets, but at high tide the watI>rr
rushes 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 Gibbs. l
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.
1T is not more than eight or nine
years ago that the first attempt was
made to esta blish fisheries there on a
large scale. Drawing seines was i'm
possible, and the fish wheels of Oregon
were impracticable. So simple but
exceedingly effective trap was intro
duced. 1t 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 strongeJt
Irvine, and of length and depth to suit
the inlet to be fshed. 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
before the tide turns the line holding
the hoater 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 ex-
ceedingly 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 90 they
become at the noise 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 fifty.or one hun
bred tons of salmon at run, while the
next estuary below the catch will be
trout. | have seen ten thousand salm-
or taken at one haul.