The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-11
THE FISHES OF LAKE ERIE.
PECULIAR DISTRIBUTTON IN THE Wa.
TER At HARTOUs SEASONS

-Muskn1lOnRe Decreasing Very Tar
idly-The Waste in Gill-Net Fishings
There is something singular In the distri-
button of.hshes in Lake Erie" said an old lake
fisherman OF Sandusky. THE lake trp-A -
or the most valuable OF lake fishes. IL rars ~
the best in Lake Erie, but It is never taken west
Of Erie. On the other hand. pike and mus.
kallonRe are taken only west Of Erie. n fish
erman Is after lake herring. he knows he will
be wasting his time II he sets his nets In the
eastern waters. He seeks this beautiful and
delicious fish ut or west OF Erie. The lake
herring is the lesser whiteflsh of Lake Erie.
Here is another queer thing; at least, II may
seem SO TO those who don't know the reason.
While Erie herring fishermen are hauling in
flsh by the ton In April and May. and getting q
good many all through the summer. the fish,
ermen further west know better than to wet
their nets during those months. for they
wouldn't get herring enough to make n smell
In n frying pan. When fall comes. though, the
Erie fishermen know enough to take out their
nets and keep them out, aud the Sandusky and
other Western fishermen put theirs in.
In the western:waters the champion month
for catching herring is November. The rea-
son for this is that In that month the fish are
moving In enormous schools on to the spawn
ing grounds around Bass island and grounds
further west. A similar situation exists In
the matter OF whitefsh. The most profitable
months for taking them from the Erie deep
water fisheries are July and August. and the
shallow-water fishermen to the westward
don't get a chance at them until November.
The sturgeon. the blue pike. and many other
species re yularly leave their spring and early
summer haunts toward the end Of July and
seek the Canadian shore OF the lake. and 10
will be useless to look for them in their old
haunts again until the coming of the fierce
November gales. Soon after the first hard
sou'wester the blue pike will appear on it's old
feeding grounds and the sturgeon be found
nosing around again in Sandusky Bay.
"0ne of the most lamentable facts about
the fish Of the lakes is that the muskallonge.
that king of game fishes. is decreasing in NUM-
bers every year. The home Of this great fish
is in the deep waters of the lakes. 1t is only
when 1t is on its annual spawning migration
to the streams and tributaries of the lakes
that the sportsman with rod and line comes
in contact with the muskallonge. 1t ascends
those streams to spawn. and when that duty
is performed the gigantic pike turns its head
homeward again and seeks once more the
depths of the lakes. 1t is not due to the fish
ing that the muskallonge is growing rarer
every year in the lakes. but to the denlement
of the spawning grounds by the sewage of
towns and the refuse OF manufacturing estab-
lishments.
There is something also, that is playing
Of these days. II the sturgeon fishermen don't
their lily but Valuable fish one Of The / has
bee I Sturgeon spawn In June along the
a6d leave rses deep 81 water aas fRe same en month q line T IReS
travel in schools, The ~favorite method the
fSsherTGen have OF taking them r by erap-
L oyerbboard and drags L along BY rowing:
grappler knows it at once by the strike the
iron makes On a fish: The line Is then
hook nxed itself firmly in the. sturgeon. The
fisherman will probably get his fish aboard;
hurt. Thousands of sturgeon are killed in
this way every year and BECOME a dead loss.
are handled at SandusFy every year. nearly
2%ne-third Of WHICH are taken near that place,
sturgeon are taken bv Buffalo fshermen:
IT. Tons ssn 81 stEIrG Snnul roe are n4d sP Pic and picked sis
q Glass ssn %ade from snng the air an bia5d as sre g that IA 'f fs6
is an important one. 4 surgeons roe will
Ts1Ee 1so of 't tSe ssn t 4 Siyfy ea pGInRdfi IS s rhEe 70
Germany, and is, exported from that country
t aaef llh se III Ens II IhafaE sir ga ehaese Is t msd fs% me f n
s Saif5asSuSS ask fSS s4e sga sSn' s to dHnEIan ssts and Is
quite i a : snug pile annually from It's n sale. AYE Yet L
was only a fey years ago that the sturge2n
smoked sturgeon is found not only In the mar
country stores also. while fresh sturgeon is one
of the highest priced Of fresh-water fishes.
fish, In. Spite Of Tie thousands upon thou
sands sand Of Of tons PMS Of (, them her = that have been taken
more. abundant than ever. and they are the
only lake fish OF which that can be said; Some
that the e market HGia viii Il be ksnocRed ea j
In none. of the other great lakes do the
f &c TaFe Fr1 for An fsis seem Is 9u to n be = SO s2e fSy %sassr a.
fish eultprists think. to the variations In the
depth which are peculiar to that lake. Th
water at the eastern end Is an almost boundless
drawn at Cleveland, for west Of that city the
E SelsE to aP9 ne East aEs q tiEa ff ilPe IKE Et,l Y RSEaa Rsq sss
rapidly deeper until 1t reaches q depth OF 10
l'' It Is, esf@pated that 5000 tons Of fish are
5000 tons are frozen and probably 1900. tom
are smoked. The amount, OF fish sold from
l bssf E tldsd pla %iii f Fsssh T 1855 + t 6Fi1' I assF =
These he figures represent the catch "a a.S Of d Lake Erie
the supply. While Lake Erie produces more
fish than any Of the other lakes. the whitedeh
i, d1ality"ass they do ali other whiRtefsh. The
lake trout Of Lake Superior are also the finest
second N to Lake Erie In WhitefsR: and e1csedS
all the other great lakes in amount OF lake
and gill nets. The gill net Is used almost ex-
c~lusiyely by the flshermen at Erie. and. In fact.
Half the whltefsh taken from Lake Erie are
caught In gill nets which Is to be regretted:
whiteflsh supply Of the lake, not Oh. account OF
the fish they catch. but Of the fish that are de-
Caught by getting fast In the meshes By their
Rills. hence the name Of the net. Tho hgh
thus caught soon die. Whiteish are so dell.
from the nets makes them worthless. Gill
net fishermen plan to lift their nets every
hours.
Lake Erie is subject to fierce storms that
frequently. continue, several days; during
which 1t Is impossible for nets to be lifted.
Thus hundreds Of tons of choice whitefsh, to
say nothing Of the other varieties. are held In
the nets until they are OF no use and have to
be thrown away. This feature Of gil-net fish:
ing has done more to lessen the number OF
Whitehsh, in the lakes than any other one