The Brandon news. (Brandon, Miss.) 1892-1961, 1910-03-31
LAKE ERIE HERRING
More Than 1000 Tons Of Little
Fish Taken In One Day.
Supply of Whitefish. Choicest Eeni-
zen OF Great Lakes. Has Fallen
Far Short of Demand-Ct-r-
geon Also Scarce.

Sandusky. On one days fishing
last fall in Lake Erie waters, fire.
Quented by the fishermen who make
this place their marketing center"
said an upstate man familiar with
the many phases of the lake fisheries,
''it is reported that more than 1000
tons Of herring alone were, taken.
That is by far the largest catch in the
history of fishing on Lake Erie, and
big catches have been the rule so far
this season in that part of the lake.
On the other hand, scarcely any her
ring are being caught in the lake
further east
THE eastern water fishermen don't
worry. They know Lake Erie herring.
and while they were hauling them in
by the thousands of tons during April
and May and getting a good many all
through the summer months, their
brethren up Sandusky way were not
getting enough herring to make it
worth while putting in their nets.
When fall comes, though, the fisher
men of Erie and Buffalo know enough
to take their nets out, and then the
Sandusky fishermen begin to put
theirs in.
THE reason for this is that in the
fall the herring move away from the
eastern waters for the spawning
grounds around Bass island and fur
Their west
THE herring of Lake Erie, by the
way, is the standard of quality for
all the other lakes It is finer and
better than any of the others, being
the only one that has anything like
the whitefsh flavor, lake herring be.
ing supposed to be lesser whitef1sh.
1.-THE lake herring is wonderful
variety of the piscatorial family. In
spite Of the thousands and thousands
OF, tons of them that are netted III
Lake Erie every year they seem to
be as numerous as ever This is un-
doubtedly due to the persistent eff
forts of the fish commissioners
through their hatcheries on the lake
to supplement the natural herring
propagation.
"a situation similar to the behring's
change Of habit prevails with white
fish in Lake Erie. The most profitable
months for whitefsh netting in the
deep waters of the eastern part Of the
lake are July and August, and the
fishermen in the shallower western
waters don't have chance at them
until the late fall The whiteish is
the choice denizen of the lakes.
'As in the case of the herring. Lake
Erie whitefish sets the standard OF
quality in its kind elsewhere There
are many kinds of whitefish, and while
the choicest one is the cleaning silver
sided one Of Lake Erie, the main
source of supply is now from the in
terror lakes of the Canadian north
west, the Lake Erie supply having
long ago fallen short of even the local
demand.
IF a whitefish from the lake and
one from the Lake Of the Woods were
placed side by size the ordinary OBJ
server would scarcely believe they
We're OF the same family The white
fish of the Canadian water is almost
black in comparison with the Lake
Erie fish. A whitefsh from Lake Win
nipeg is almost red.
In none of the great lakes do the
conditions for the fish seem to be SO
favorable as they are in Lake Erie.
This is due in great measure, so fish
culturists think, to the variations in
depth which are peculiar in that lake.
The western end is shallow. and thus
provides vast and favorable areas for
spawning grounds. The deep water
of the eastern end is an almost bound
less retreat for the half-grown young.
And yet there are no lake trout in
Lake Erie, at least none worth men
tioning. Once in awhile a small catch
Of these fine fish will be made in the
deep waters in the vicinity of Erie.
but none is ever taken west of that
place. Neither are the lake trout in
the Canadian lakes. The market sup
ply of lake trout comes from Lake
Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron
and Georgian bay.
THE blue pike is a fish of much
commercial Importance to Lake Erie,
and it is found in no other waters
except Lake Ontario. These fish
seek the Canadian shore in the early
summer months and do not return to
their old haunts in American water un-
til the fierce November gales lash the
lakes. The sturgeon, once dwelling
in myriads in the shallow waters par
ticularly those tributary to Sandusky,
likewise seek the Canadian shore in
summer after depositing their spawn
and return to their old feeding
grounds soon after the first sou'wester.
There are not many of them left now
to either go or return. Only few
years ago they were regarded as a
good sale at % cents apiece. Then
the caviare seekers opened the eyes
of the Sandusky fishermen and it was
not long before they were selling more
than 100000 pounds of sturgeon dur
ing season, and tons and tons of
roe were exported from Sandusky
alone. Instead of sturgeon going beg
ging at Is cents hundredweight they
were in demand at ten cents a pound