The Saint Paul globe., 1899-04-20

SlOughs Along the River After
the Water Falls - An Immense
Amount of Stocking Planned.
Executive Agent Beutner Supt Nor
gan. of the fish hatchery. and a corp Of
assistants will leave tomorrow for Yer
million lake, where they will make the
annual harvest Of pike spawn. The state
cure In the neighborhood of 100. .000, 900
spawn Of the pike variety from Pike
river. The females are stripped of their
eggs. and it frequently happens that a
female weighing ten or twelve pounds
Will contain several quarts of eggs. The
males are also stripped into the buckets
where the eggs are placed, and they i'm
mediately become pregnent. The eggs
are shipped to the Willow brook hatch
cry with as little delay as possible, and
Matched by an approved artificial pro-
cess.
Mr.. Beutner said yesterday that 95
per cent Of the eggs secured were hatch
ed, and that so per cent actually found
their way into the rivers and lakes of
the state. In the natural state with this
variety Of fish Mr.. Beutner says the fig
ures are just reversed. and that scarcely
8 per cent of the eggs are Matched when
not artificially treated.
The state commission as soon an it has
completed it's labors on Vermillion lake
will transfer the scene of its operations
to the sloughs along the Mississippi river.
Here 1t is that millions Of black bass are
Matched, and captured by the commits
sion's men in the sloughs after the waters
receed in the spring. The young bass
run, during the spring. freshets into the
sloughs, and when the water falls they
are locked In these little pockets all along
the river. and the state game and fish
commission does the rest. No way has
yet been discovered In which to strip
the black bass variety of their spawn.
The females care for their young just the
same as an old hen.. They biuld nests In
the secluded parts of the stream and
guard zealously their young until they
have been nurtured sufficiently for them
to venture out unprotected, by parental
care. Last year the commission placed
the greater number Of It's black bass in
White Bear and Minnetonka. This veal
there will be general distribution all
over the state, as these lakes have been
pretty well stocked. About a year and. a
half or two years from the time the
black bass are Matched they commence
to breed, and multiply with great
rapidity. ue.
commission is obliged to breed. Nearly
5000 breeders. are kept at the hatchery
all the time, and these supply the trout
fry that are distributed through the state
At present the commission has on hand
| about 100000 young brook trout. The
commission has tried a great many ex-
periments with trout, and has come te
the conclusion that a cross between the
native brook trout and the Scotch is the
gamiest and hardest Of the speckle6
species. The principal troust streams
where the bulk of the trout are dis.
tributed are Winona, Houston, Fillmore
and st. Louis counties. In these counties
are located hundreds of small spring
water streams that are especially adapted
for the trout variety.
Besides trout. bass and pike the COM
mission puts out every year large mum
Der of the commoner varieties, such as
catfish and carp that are captured along
with the bass in the Mississippi river
every spring.
It is estimated that the game and fish
commission will put out 125,O00,000 young
fish during the season.