The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1901-01-24
The Protection of Fish.
To the Editor of the Acantha:


asking for suggestions from all parties
inter ested as to the best means of pro-
tecting fish and game. had intended
to offer my views on the subject before
this late day, but my business interests
have thoroughly occupied my time.
There are peculiar conditions existing in
this section of Montana, the famous st.
Mary's lakes and their vicinity. to which
/ desire to call attention. The mount
ain country drained by ST. Mary;s and
Belly rivers with their numerous tribu-
taries covers about 600 square miles and
all the streams are headed with lakes,
and all swarm with fish.
Verify this is the sportsman's para
disc; dark, pine covered hills slope gent
ly to the waters edge, while higher up
the grand precipices rise majestically to
the height of thousands OF feet and pre-
sent an appearance of total inaccessibil-
ity, although the field glass will disclose
sheep and goats browsing on the almost
perpendicular walls.
This Switzerland of America, teeming
with fish, furnishes mountain trout only
in the small streams which, on account
of the roughness of the country, are al
most inaccessible to man. The reason
for its absence from the lakes is that
they are swarming with q fish locally
known as "bull trout" which lives on
smaller FISH. These bnll trout are very
large; have seen specimens weighing
25 to % pounds and am credibly in
formed that fish of this species have been
caught weighing as high as 40pounds.
Trout can be sometimes caught near
the months of the small streams but
seldom venture out into the lakes, the
domain of their enemy. 1t will thus be
seen that the mountain trout exists un-
der difficulties In this section and the
bull trout is protected by the law al
lowing fish to be taken only with hook
and line.
Another fish which abounds here is
the white fish, identical with that OF
Lake Superior, which if caught at all
must be caught by other means than the
hook and line. I will venture to say
that the ordinary demands of the whole
state could be supplied from these
lakes.
If our law makers would allow the
taking of fish by the use of nets with g
two inch mesh at certain seasons of the
year for white fish, and the taking at al
seasons and by any means of the bull
trout, the interests of this section woulC
be benefited to the extent that more
room would be made in the lakes for the
trout by the removal OF the maturec
white fish and their safety would be as
sured by the destruction Of the cannni
bal bull trout.
| am informed that fishing with ne
with two inch mesh is allowed in Can
aoa in these streams and within 25 miles
of their head waters. Fishing with a
seine in these lakes is an impossibility
on account of the enormous boulders il
the bottom, and the gill nets that coulc
be used would only catch the maturet
fish. | have been informed that whel
this strip" was part of the Blaczfea
reservation the residents used to tisr
with nets and during the month O
January in one winter party of thre'
men with one team and two gill net
shipped ton of white fish per week.
one of these men informed me tha
during that time they only caugh
nine speckled trout, the smallest weis h
ing four pounds and the largest abou
five and one-half pounds, so it will b.
seen that fishing here with nets does II,
injury to the preservation of trout.
The question as applicable to thi
section is this: Shall the use ot nets
continue to be prohibited, thus fosterin.
the natural enemy of speckled trout, ant
allowing the lakes to team with whit
fish, which cannot be taken by hook anc
line, and which under the present Law
round out their existence, yielding nj
benefit to man except occasionally to ou
Canadian cousins across the information
al boundary? If it is desired to protec
trout do not put "bul trout" under thu
same sheltering provision of the law
and if it is desired to promote tn
pleasures of sport do not place th
white fish beyond the reach of those VIII
would find pleasure aud profit in catch
ing it, and thus leave more room for ths