The Cairo bulletin., 1910-04-10
LAKE ERIE HERRING
More Than 1000 Tons Of Little
Fish Taken In One Day.
Supply Of Whitefish, Choicest DenI
zen of Great Lakes, Has Fallen
Far Short of Demand--Stur-
geon Also Scarce.

y
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
1T 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 1t
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 ard fur
| Their west.
"The herring of Lake Erie, by the
way, is the standard Of quality for
| all the other lakes. 1t is finer and
better than any of the others, beine
| the only one that has anything like
the whiteflsh flavor, lake herring be
ing supposed to be lesser whitefish
THE lake herring Is a wonderful
variety of the piscatorial family In
spite of the thousands and thousand
Of tons of them that are netted III
Lake Erie every year they seem tc
| be as numerous as ever. This is I'm
doubtedly due to the persistent e.
forts Of the fish commissioner
through their hatcheries on the lakt
to supplement the natural herrinf
propagation.
"A situation similar to the behring's
| change of habit prevails with white
| fish in Lake Erie The most proftab',
| months for whltefish netting in tn
deep waters of the eastern part of ths
| lake are July and August, and thu
| fishermen in the shallower western
waters don't have chance at them
until the late fall. The whitedsh is
| the choice denizeA Of the lakes.
LAS in the case of the herring, Lake
Erie whitefish sets the standard OF
quality in its kind elsewhere. There
are many kinds of whtefish, 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.
III whitefish from the lake and
one from the Lake of the Woods were
placed side by side the ordinary oh
server would scarcely believe they
were Of the same family. The white
| fish of the Canadian water is almost
black In comparison with the LAX,
| 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 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 1t 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
tlcularly those tributary to Sardusky
likewise seek the Canadian shore in
summer after depositing their spawn
and return to their old feeding
grounds soon after the first souwester
There are not many of them left now
10 either go or return. Only a few
years ago they were regarded as n
good sale at rs 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
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