Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1898-09-21

TROUT SPAWN soon.
Making Ready at the Madison
Hatchery for the Event.
LIVER VS.. ANGLE-WORMS FOR FOOD
Does the Latter Make Better Eating p.
The Three Hatcheries on Which the
State spends $4,000 Year-Exhibits
Bass from the Sloughs of the Mississip-
pi and White Bass from Wolf River.
Madison, Sept. l3.-There is an idea
that trout fed on anything but angle
worms and grubs which they pick up
in running water are not good eating
II is said taat trout artificiany raised
in preserves and fed on meat etc.. lack
the ''gamey" flavor. Such are often
served in city hotels. and the wise ones
turn up their noses AID tell stories OF
fish they caught on the Brule."
But l suspect this is a delusion. AT
the state hatchery at Madison there
are trout Of all sizes by the tens of
thousands and they are guarded as
| jealousy as If they were worth 30 cents
pound. / have been the CUES of the
| authorities on a number of occasions
| and treated with gratifying considera-
| ton. But on coming away no one ever
wrapped fiye-pound trout up in a
| brown paper parcel and told me to take
| 1t home to the wife and babies. Civil
| service rules.
Superintendent Nevin has been there
| for many years. He came from Canada
| and learned how to breed fish in the
government hatcheries of that country
| which lead the world. So, too with Val
entine Mogg, the foreman, who has
| che rye of the squeezing of fish to get
| the spawn-delicate skilled work-and
who rears the pheasants. He has had
| ten years experience, And Arthur
| Sykes, the office man--ali of them de-
vote their lives to the fish business.
| The three hatcheries of the state are
| under board of seven commissioners
| They receive no salaries, though they
/, may travel over the state free. But
| some of them, as General E. E. Bryant
| (dean of the law SCHOOL,, chairman of
| the board. turn in no bills for expenses
| They work for love, and efficiency is
marked in this branch of the state serv-
| ice.
No Free Distribution Of Fish.
One of the employees told me that in
| six years service he had eaten two of
| the states trout. One of them he
| found droWned-fish drown, like peop-
| pie. The fish caught its nose in a
| grating. The other was a brown
| trout Curiosity got the better of the
| official and he did want to see how "a
| brown trout tasted. 1t was not as
good as the speckled brook trout, to
which the Madison hatchery is mainly
devoted, and which is the finest psCa-
| toral eating in the wide. wide world.
| But both of them. he said, tasted as
| good as any fish he ever caught in a
| brook Some 200 pounds of fresh beef
| liver are thrown into the ponds and
runs four times a week. Why shouldn't
| they taste as good as if fed on worms
| and lily-podS? The liver is ground IN
| a machine and when thrown to the
! fish i was rare spectacle. They dash
for ii and lash the water into foam, and
jump up lntL the air.
Fish eat each other. For that reason
| 1t is necessary to classify them accord
| ing to size every six months or SO. The
big ones eat the little ones, and of those
| Matched out in the same month some
| take on size much sooner than others.
They are victims of bad habits, like
hoy ha hah bf inu
other gets prevalent they refuse nice
| beef liver. Fish resemble tramps, too,
| in that unwise charity makes them lazy.
saw one pond in which We're 1900
| trout. 1t was we'll lined with weeds and
| plant growths- delic Gus food matter for
a sensible trout. But it is necessary
| to cut these weeds, whereas il the fish
| did their duty they would keep down
| the growth. But they are used TO liver
| thrown to them in a lad!e and decline
weeds.
j saw in this pond big fsh-a ten
FOUNDER.
why doesn't he eat the little ones ?"
He can't"
why not?'
His mouth won't allow him to do so.
| He belongs to the sucker order-hes
| a sturgeon"
This is a loggy. lazy fish. moves round
| slowly at the bottom like an excursion
| boat. He has been at the hatchery for
| ten years and is but little larger than
| when placed there. The sturgeon does
grow, however, to weigh $50 pounds
sometimes
Wisconsin fish made a sensation at
| the worlds fair. Ten glass aquariums
are now at the Chippewa Falls fair
| They made beautiful sight.
| Matched Fish for Twenty-Five Years.
Wisconsin began the industry in 1874
| The annual expenditure is now about
| $4,000 per year. There are three hate h
| cries, the others at Bayfield, and osh-
| kosh The output of brook trout at
| Madison is said to be the largest OF
any hatchery in the world.
"Of what benefit IL it all?"
| The eggs, fry, young and full grown
| fish planted every year in streams
| and lakes have made Wisconsin ia
| nous as fishing territory. Middle coun-
| ties that once had no fish now abound
; 1t attracts thousands of tourists who
| spend their money among us. 1t pro-
| yides trout as an article Of diet for the
| settlers in the northern counties. and
| the fish as food taken from Winnebago
| Green Bay ard Lakes Superior and
Michigan art cheap eating for the poor.
| Some 1850 people get their living in
| the industry on these big axes and
property to the value of oyer $1,000 600
| is thus employed.
The latest woI k OF tn ! fish officials has
been the planting of little black bass
l@5 ,00C of them These We're not Matched
out, but captured alive along the banks
| Of the Mississippi When the river is
| high il forms and leaves ponds and
| sloughs. The present fish escape when
| the river recedes but the eggs and
| young fish al left. These water patches
are sometime $ a mile long. and as small
| as ten feet across The little fish would
| die if left there through the hot sum-
| ,,ler But The hatchery employees gath
err them up IN senes. throw away the
| "croppies," etc, and carry the little
| bass to the river in boxes, two by four
| feet, and from these plant them in the
| lakes If the state.
White bass are gathered from the
| Wolf river at Winneconne-full-siz sized
| fish. caught in pound" or hoop nets.
| The state allows this to be done for
propagation purposes" Twenty-four
| thousand were thus gathered last
| spring The fish are taken in the spring
| when spawning and loaded in cans
Il