The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-03-01
RARI9Au CANAL FISH
Interesting Hauls Made by
State Wardens With Com
mission Selnes.

In capture or fish In the Delaware ana
Raritan canal for the State Fish and Game
Commission this winter was rather interest
ing as we'll as extremely successful, says the
Sunday Call" The work was done by
three or four game wardens using seines be-
longing to the Commission. The water was
partly drawnf from the canal before the work
was begun. The bottom Of the big ditch is by
no means level, and the depth of water re-
naming varies from one to six or eight
feet, the latter being in exceptionally deep
holes. The nets would draw quite success
fully, but in such cases the fishing was reN-
dered a little more difficult, as boats were
not employed, and the lines had to be thrown
from bank to bank in the beginning and
closing of the haul. In places. of moderate
depth two of the wardens wore rubber
wading trousers and crossed and recrossed
the ditch with the seine. 1t was cold work,
but they seemed to enjoy the excitement.
The fish which could not Immediately be
transported to their destination were placed
in a shallow pond near the canal and taken
out as required. Warden Riley, of Newark,
attended to most of the transportation, and
Wardens Tooker and Brown did the fishing.
The fishing was done with the permission
of the canal company, and was enviously
watched by the neighbors, who wanted some
of the big bass which were taken. Black
bass were the chief aim of the wardens, and
they caught over d thousand of both kinds,
running down from five pounds weight to
yearling fish two or three inches in length.
The mature fish are regarded as a thousand
fold better for stocking purposes than the
little fellows because the big ones will start
nesting this Spring, and every female will
deposit from 10000 to 10000 g Conse-
quently it is better to stock a pond with half
a dozen mature fish than a Thousand small
fry. A singular thing about the canal was
that fish of uniform size were generally
found huddled together. This was particu-
larly the case with the yellow perch, and is
believed to be so with this fish everywhere.
One haul in the canal would bring to light
hundreds of yellow perch, all of one size,
and nothing but perch, while another haul
would encompass another lot OF perch, all
of another size. A few white perch were
taken, too. and were highly priced, as it is
the intention of the commission to try land
locking these fish in a number of lakes and
ponds. They thrive when removed from
access to salt water in Long Island and
Massachusetts, and there is no reason why
they should not succeed here. Comparative.
ly few piekerel were caught i'll the canal
this season, and only three or four catfish
were caught, although the canal is a great
place for ~'tcattle' i'll the Summer. One of
those which were taken in the net weighed
over six pounds. Many roach, dace, min
nows and other bait fish were taken and
transferred to ponds supposed to be in need
of food for the larger fish.
Among the strangers taken were two cal
leo bass, a beautiful western fish which has
not been formally introduced to New Jersey
waters yet. How the pair got into the canal
at Kingston is a matter of conjecture, mas
much as this species does not exist IN the
Raritan canal, and is not known to be pres
ent in the Delaware, although both the
Schuykill and Susquehanna rivers have been
stocked with them for six years, and they
are quite abundant in the upper waters of
both rivers. 1t is doubted, however. that
that this DEMONSTRATING fish would ven
ture into the lower reaches of the Schuykill
for any purpose. Another stranger found
in the canal was a pike perch a foot or more
in length. There is no doubt that he came
in from the Delaware, and it is probable that
he got into the canal through the feeder at
Bulls Ferry.
Pike perch were first placed in the river in
1892 at Hancock and L~ackawaxen. and
AZ. .,.AoJ1,,o-+, loro e;paa haa, r,,t II,
at various places lower down. The fish
have been caught as far down as Trenton.
and are becoming more abundant and more
popular every year. This stray specimen
was kept in the little pond at Kingston for
some time and then taken to join his kind in
Greenwood Lake. where he will be pent up
until caught by an angler and will have no
more chance for extended explorations.
That is what he gets for shopping around in
a muddy old canal in midwinter. At the
1 same time he was taken up to the lake a few
DAYS ago, a fine lot of bass was transported
there by Warden Riley. The is, are car
ried about the country in galvanized can
eighteen inches in diameter, and of the shape
of ordinary ash cans, except that they have
a conical inside cover to hold ice in hot
weather.
On long trips it is necessary to frequently
aerate the water, and this is done with an
air pump, or by letting the water fall back
into the can from a perforated dipper. One
of the secrets of successfully carrying fish is
to keep the water in the can as nearly as posi-
the same temperature as the water from which
the fish were taken. The temperature may
be reduced, but it canno be raised without
risk. The same rule applies to the water in
which the fish are finally to be placed. If a
lot of fish are taken from a cold pond and
placed in one in which the water is of a
higher temperature, a large percentage of
them will probably die unless they are coarse
fish. Trout are particularly susceptible to