The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1915-04-14
CHINOOK" IN MASSACHUSETTS
Pacific Salmon Thrive in Bay State
Lakes

Lakes
Massachusetts fishermen need not
go to distant waters for the sake of
salmon fishing, for. thanks to the
work of the state fish and game com
mission, Pacific salmon, or Chinook
may be caught within the borders of
our own state and as the work OF
transplanting and culture goes on the
opportunities are becoming greater.
Already salmon fishing is to be found
in Lake Quinsigamond at Worcester,
where the Chinook were first plant
ed by the commission. and fine sue
cess is reported from the anglers
who have tried this form OF sport.
The success of this experiment has
led the commission to stock FIVE 9TH
err ponds of which there are three in
this end of the state, and they have
100000 eggs Matching now TO be
planted during the present year. The
lakes which were stocked last year
are Onota lake in Pittsfeld. the
Stockbridge bowl, Big Alum pond at
Fiskdale, lake in Brewster and an
other in Wellfeet, and these will be
ready for fishing next year.
he HOTh Oh lH6 COHlIilSSlOll Ill
this transplanting and its successful
results are interestingly described
by Commissioner George II. Graham
of this city in an article for Forest
and Stream in which he tells of the
decision to plant the lordly Chinook
in Lake Quinsigamond following the
splendid record of the experiment at
Lake Sunapee, n II. The commits
soners found in Quins,gamond
what they considered an ideal lake;
it has a large area of deep water
and is very cold in places, and 1t has
large amount of food for salmon to
feed upon in the shape Of landlocked
smelts which seemed to be increas-
ing at an enormous rate. The lake
was screened at the outlet to prevent
the young fish from going down
stream and when they were planted
they were from four to six inches
long. In 1912 about 10000 of these
fish were planted and during July,
1914, about 90 months after they
were Matched, over 600 salmon were
caught ranging from | IL to
pounds each These were caught
both by trolling and still fishing with
live bait, and as there has been no
limit on salmon in Massachusetts,
one man caught over 20 fish in one
day.
The eggs were furnished by the
United States bureau of fisheries
and were secured from the Columbia
river in Oregon. They are larger
than the eastern salmon eggs. being
about the size and color OF our half
ripe currants The eggs are careful
ly spread out on a tray that is cover
ed with cotton cloth and then cover
ed over with thick wet moss and the
trays are packed in ice which is
changed at certain stations on the
way to keep the eggs at fixed tenn
perature until they reach their des-
tination. The fish were from four to
six inches long when they were
planted and were well able to care
for themselves. Quinsigamond, like
so many other lakes in New England
was well stocked with pickerel and
perch and there We're so many of
these that doubt was expressed that
the salmon would all be eaten before
they had a chance to grow, but such
was not the case as results have
shown.
The acme of all fishing is salmon
fishing. and it is a sport that has
been enjoyed by only very few peo
pie during the past so years. In re
cent years, in order to secure any
sport of this kind, one had to have a
fat pocketbook and plenty OF leisure
time. In the early history of New
England most of the large rivers
salmon assembled the rivers every
year to lay their spawn in fresh
water but since the rivers have been
damned the fish have been unable
to ascend and it was only few
years after the dams were built
when our salmon were all gone.
Since the salmon stopped running
up the rivers very few people have
had a chance to get them. SO scarce
have these fish become that many
men spend large sums OF money
each year to go to the lakes in
Maine, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia
and Newfoundland.
Since 1873 the government has
been experimenting with salmon.
but not until they were introduced
into Lake Sunapee was the work
successful. 1t is possible that the
many years of failure by the govern
ment were due principally to two
causes First, the fish were planted
/ in lakes and ponds that were not
properly screened, and second most
| of these were planted when small. 1t
! is the plan of the Massachusetts com
T, mission to study these salmon as
much a possible and try to learn
more of their habits when they ar,
confined to fresh water. 1t is beliey
ed by many fish culturists that these
fish will reproduce under certain
conditions in fresh water, and by
| careful observation it may be pos
sible to determine this question arr