The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1922-09-01
PROPAGATING
GAME FISH
Instructive Information by One Who
Knows Upon Very lntresting
Subject.

| Clay Fruit of Tonasket, chairman
OF tne Okanogan County Game Com
mission, addressed the Commercial
Club, or as many members Of the
Commercial Club who had the enter.
prise to turn out, last Thursday even
ing, on the subject of game fish, what
the commission had accomplished in
stocking the rivers and lakes Of the
county, and calling attention to the
fact that most Of the fish running In
hOkanogan river that had been trapped
speared and shot recently were silver
trout, the most delicate table fish that
is to be found in the waters Of the
Pacific coast Mr.. Fruit is keenly in
terested in the preservation and prop
agation of game fish and naturally is
an enthusiast upon the subject. He
has made studyspf game fish in par
ticular, and as ne is a fluent talker
his address was instructive as well as
entertaining.
He began by explaining how he hap
pened to discover that whites and In
dians were killing silver trout In large
quantities and the trouble that he got
into with the Indians upon making
his Investigations. He stated that the
fall salmon run generally takes place
in September and ais attention was
attracted to the taking of fish at Oro-
vile by an article in the Gazette. He
To 10 frtv
permission to spear salmon but he
was surprised to discover that while
few salmon had been taken the bulk
of the catch was silver trout. He found
that wire screen had been placed In
the river and also traps and that while
tne whites had taken many fish the
Indians had caught them by the tons.
He at once put stop to this whole
sale slaughter of game fish. The In
dians insisted that the fish were sal
mon, but Mr.. Fruit soon convinced
them of their error.
Mr.. Fruit explained that some four
years ago the commission planted a
large number of silver trout fry In
OsoyoOs lake and others have been
added every year since The trout
spawn at four years. They seek the
shallow rifles in streams running in
to the lake Of which they are a habi-
tant, dig hole, bury the eggs and in
the course of time the eggs mature
and the young ones wiggle to the sur
face, strike out into the wide, wide
world of waters into which they are
born and those who survive the fish
that prey upon the young, and they
will number millions, go to stock the
lake. Under decree of providence
which has never been explained tle
parent fish is presumed to die after
having performed the functions of re-
production. Now this alleged run of
salmon, so Mr.. Fruit claims, is nothing
more than the silver trout seeking the
rifles of the Okanogan for the pur-
pose of depositing eggs. He asked the
cooperation of all citizens in protecting
thes fish from destruction, pointing
out that in few years Osoyoos lake
would be alive with silver trout, which
he declares to be the very best fresh
water table fish in existence. He said
they were not gamey from the point of
view of fighting after striking the hook
but they were fish that women and
children could catch as we'll as men.
Mr.. Fruit went lengthily into the
history of the game commission and
explained what that body had done to
stock the waters Of this county, point
ing out that no county in tne state
has so many lakes and streams as
Okanogan county and that when once
these waters were completely stocked
this would be the anglers paradise.
When the commission was organized
Mr.. Fruit had the ambition to plant
million fry in this county and those
figures nave not only been reached but
doubled. He gave the number of the
different species of fish that have been
planted. There have been sol 900 east
ern brook trout; S07 700 silver trout;
100000 black speckled trout; 100000
steel heads making a total of 1895, 900
not counting the rainbows. OF that
number the following were planted
near Oroville 1917. 119 900 steel heads;
1919, 100000 steel heads; silver salmon
1919, 43,250 1920, 1890, 1921, rs 5000.
| III 1919 No"iVVV were plduleu dDOVe the
dam in the Similkameen In 1920 60 900
were planted in Vaseaux lake, British
Columbia. The silver trout is a fish
that will remain in the water in which
it is planted. The other species of
trout have the habit Of leaving the
lakes for the streams. running up as
far as possible seking for cooler wa
ter. That is the reason that the silver
trout are especially adapted for our
lakes.
The record made by the game COM
mission is most creditable one. There
|are few people who do not appreciate
lwnat the commission has accomplish
led and are prone to criticise, but when
they come to understand what has
been done in the way of increasing the
game birds and fish of the county and
protecting the same when once intro
duced there is no man who can con-
scientiously find fault Some of our
game birds like the prairie chicken.
once so plentiful, are becoming ex-
ltinct. 1t is necessary to throw protec-
tion around the game or the game hog
would soon exterminate everything
wearing scales or feathers.