Salmon fishery

“ It is the most valuable member of the salmon family, and is taken in very large quantities for canning, salting, and fresh consumption. Its flesh is very rich and of a deep-red color. It is caught in the rivers with gill nets, seines, pound nets, traps, weirs, wheels, and other appliances. In Monterey Bay, California, large numbers are taken with trolling hooks baited with small fish, and, although the fish abstains from food after entering the fresh waters, it may often be lured with artificial or other baits. ”

“ The local and individual variations in the form of the nets depend on the topography of the bottom and shore and the habits of the salmon, and are the result of long experience.
The fishing begins as soon as the ice moves out in spring and continues until some time in July. Fish are rarely taken before the last two weeks in April. May and June are the best months. In that part of the river adjacent to Bangor there is a small fishery prosecuted with set gill nets. The nets are from 100 to 200 feet long and have a 6-inch mesh. ”

“ In regard to the Saint Croix, would say, that it was once one of the most prolific salmon rivers in New Brunswick, but owing to the erection of impassable dams, fifteen or twenty years ago, this valuable fish had almost entirely disappeared. At about this time fishways were placed in all the dams, and gradually salmon began to increase, but the first great stimulus was given some ten years ago by the distribution of some hundreds of thousands of young salmon in the headwaters, by the fishery commissioners of Maine. ”

“ Extension of salmon-hatching operations on the Penobscot.
The establishment of branch hatcheries has been suggested in order to utilize the spawning salmon in the region which lies above commercial fishing, and thus increase by artificial means the production of young fish. It is well known that even under the best conditions now prevailing in our streams the eggs of anadromous fishes like the salmon and shad are liable to numerous destructive agencies ”

“ Below the dam at Bangor there is little poaching, but below the other dams--especially at Montague--comparatively large numbers of salmon are sacrificed by the illegal use of the spear and drift net. In 1896 all the salmon below Montague were at the mercy of poachers after July 15, when all wardens on the river were laid off. The supply of spawning fish was thus greatly reduced. The people above Bangor have no interest in preserving the salmon supply of the river, as they receive none of the benefits from fishing which are enjoyed by fishermen of the lower river. ”

“ Seals are known to kill a great many salmon in Penobscot Bay and the lower river. They enter and leave the weirs and traps without difficulty and cause great annoyance to the fishermen. When a seal enters a net, the fish are frightened and usually become meshed ”

“ He thinks there is no doubt whatever of the beneficial results of artificial propagation, as shown by the maintenance of the supply when obstructions to the passage of salmon to the upper waters must greatly curtail natural spawning.
Mr. Joseph Hurd, of Winterport, has two weirs at Oak Point, which is the upper limit of weir fishing for salmon on the west side of the river; the nets are about 12 miles below Bangor; 25 salmon were taken in 1895, and 60 in the following year. The catch was better in 1896 than in a number of years. ”

“ Probably 5 per cent would be much too large an estimate of the number of salmon eggs which in a state of nature produce fish that reach the ocean. Fish-culture, on the other hand, hatches 95 per cent of the eggs and raises 75 per cent of the fry to the age of yearlings. Of 206,350 Atlantic salmon eggs obtained in 1895 at the government station at Craig Brook, 206,109 were hatched and 151,761 yearling fish were liberated in the fall. ”

“ He thinks very few fish get to their spawning-grounds, owing to dams and other obstructions in the river above Bangor, and has no doubt the small fish which were so conspicuous in 1896 were from the Government hatchery.
Mr. William F. Abbott, of Verona, who has two weirs on Whitmore Island, caught 41 salmon in 1895, and 80 in 1896. He makes the following statement:
"In my opinion, there would not enough salmon come into the river to pay for building weirs if there had been no salmon artificially hatched ”

“ The line being held with the paddle, each stroke of the latter gives the bait a spasmodic and life-like movement, highly conducive to success. Many salmon (of inferior quality) are taken in the rivers by spearing; and though the river-banks are frequently offensive from the number of fish that have died from injuries received in ascending to and returning from the spawning-ground, hungry bears and sea-fowl innumerable perform the scavenger's cleanly offices.
The natives have a peculiar mode of catching a small fish which resembles a herring, but is inferior to it in size. ”

“ Thus the charm of salmon-fishing is in the raising and striking; and of all kinds of striking, the striking of the salmon is the most difficult: the fish being so large and silvery, the angler is certain to see him coming at the fly, and is very apt to strike too soon. But if it is borne in mind to strike after the broken water is visible, and not before it, this will soon be overcome. When you do strike, don't let it be a mere tightening of the line, as in trout-fishing, but a decided stroke. Some say that the salmon will hook himself by his own weight. ”

“ In fishing a cast, the angler casts diagonally across down stream, and draws the fly up stream towards him, softly raising and lowering the top of the rod so as to check and loosen the fly alternately, and to make all its fibres open and shut so as to counterfeit life. When a salmon rises to the fly he either makes a big bulge or boil in the water, or, if he is unusually eager, he throws his head and half his body above the surface, rolling over like a porpoise in his endeavour to seize the fly ”

“ I certainly never heard of any one falling in love with a salmon in such a way as to regard it as a fond companion. And this may be one reason why no sensible person who has tried fishing has ever been able to see any cruelty in it.
Suppose the fish is not caught by an angler, what is his alternative fate? He will either perish miserably in the struggles of the crowded net, or die of old age and starvation like the long, lean stragglers which are sometimes found in the shallow pools, or be devoured by a larger fish, or torn to pieces by a seal or an otter. ”

“ The Indians use small herring for bait, sinking it with a stone, and trolling, by paddling silently and occasionally jerking the line. Near the mouth of the Columbia they can be taken with the fly; but, as salmon do not feed, on their annual journey up the river to spawn, it is useless to offer them bait. They can only be caught at a distance from the ocean by nets and seines, or by spearing. The natives usually take them by using scoop-nets, which they dip into the water, at random, near the falls and rapids, where large numbers of salmon are collected to jump the falls. ”

“ In the lakes, and occasionally in pools of the Thompson, I have seen them roll over in the water, but never leap into the air. It seems not unreasonable to suppose that one reason for the leaping of the Atlantic salmon is because he is practising for the time when he will have to jump a difficult waterfall in the river he ascends. But in the inland lakes and rivers the Pacific salmon never leap, and, in fact, are seen but little on the surface. On the other hand the trout appear to leap quite as much as the European species. On Fish Lake the rainbows are leaping continually. ”

“ Though the inland waters swarm with Pacific salmon at certain seasons, the fish are useless for purposes of sport. They take no bait of any kind when they have once started to migrate up the rivers. In the salt water, however, and while waiting at the mouths of rivers, they take a spoon-bait freely, and the smaller kinds will in the same conditions often rise readily to the fly. But it may be stated, as a general rule, no salmon are ever taken on bait or fly as they travel, and when they reach the upper waters. ”

“ The rod, reel, and line are those appropriate to salmon fishing, although the line, if it is wet by salt-water, should be afterwards rinsed in fresh to prevent rotting. Some fishermen fasten a float above the fly, and paying out line let it run down stream into distant eddies; but this is not so orthodox a mode of proceeding, and does not require equal skill nor as delicate tackle.
After a fish is struck, the same care has to be exercised if he is heavy that is necessary with the salmon, and he will often compel the angler to follow him a long distance ere the gaff terminates the struggle. ”

“ Sometimes a large landing-net is used to land the fish, but though this prevents the spoiling of a portion of the fish by avoiding the need for making a hole with the gaff, it is less convenient and of more risk to the safety of the fish. The most favourite plan of fishing for salmon is with the fly, though in many places they will also take both worm and minnow freely, and are thus fished for. The salmon-fly is a most wonderful conglo meration of feathers, silks, and tinsels, and oftentimes is as brilliant as the most glittering humming-bird. ”

“ When they come from the deep to spawn in the streams, they invariably return to the same river in which they themselves have been spawned. Fish from, the same water average the same size. A river known for the lustiness of its salmon may rise from the same source as another stream in which only small fish are found. The salmon of the Atlantic coast, contrary to the habit of its Pacific cousin, takes the fly in fresh water. Why they rise to bait at all is an enigma since it has been proven that while in river pools for months at a time they maintain a rigid fast. ”

“ So serious is the destruction of the spawn and fry of salmon, both by sea and fresh-water trout, that the Duke of Sutherland's manager would willingly, were it possible, extirpate the entire breed of these fish. "They commence," he informs us, in a letter of 15th May 1843, "the moment the salmon begin to deposit their spawn, and in the course of the spawning season they devour an immense quantity of ova. Indeed, at all other times of the year, they feed on the fry of salmon, and continue their destruction till the day the smolts leave the rivers. ”

“ This fish is a voracious feeder, and an epicure in his tastes, for his food is composed principally of small and delicate fish, and the sea-sand eel; but it is a fact that the surest bait to capture him with is the common red worm.
The salmon is a shy fish, and as he invariably inhabits the clearest of water, it is always important that the angler’s movements should be particularly cautious; and in throwing the fly, he should throw it clear across the stream, if possible; and after letting it float down for a few yards he should gradually draw it back again, with an upward tendency. ”

“ They hold the small fish for some time and then plant them in the streams. In this way the young fish, called fingerlings, have more of a chance for their white alley.”
“How do they get the salmon to come to the hatcheries?” asked Bill.
“They don’t have to,” replied Earl. “Salmon have a peculiarity which makes it easy for the hatchery people. When spawning time comes, salmon always return to the place where they were born. The young ones gradually work their way down to the sea and go out into the ocean. ”

“ There is only one final conclusion to be drawn, that in the upper waters of the rivers and the inland lakes the salmon do not take the fly or any other bait, nor is there any case in which it has been even alleged that a salmon has ever been caught on the fly. Occasionally large silvery fish have been caught on spoon and minnow, but, in the absence of proof to the contrary, it is most probable that these fish are either large silver trout, rainbow, or steel-heads. ”

“ In the salt water, salmon never take the fly, and rarely bait of any kind, although they feed on sand eels and small fish in addition to shell-fish; but as they advance into brackish or fresh water, they either miss their natural food and become hungry, or get accustomed to feeding on grasshoppers and insects, and are deceived by the artificial fly, and will at times take the bait. ”

“ A helper stands behind the fisherman to assist in raising the haul,—to give the fish a tap on the nose, which kills him instantly,—and finally to carry him ashore to be split and dried, without any danger of his throwing himself back into the water from the hands of his captors, as might easily happen by omitting the coup-de-grace. Another method of catching salmon, much in vogue among the Sacramento and Pitt-River tribes, but apparently less employed by the Indians of the Columbia, is harpooning with a very clever instrument constructed after this wise. ”

“ Fly-fishing for salmon is also practised on some lakes, into which the fish run. On lakes the boat drifts slowly along a "beat," while the angler casts diagonally over the spots where salmon are wont to lie. Salmon may also be caught by "mid-water fishing," with a natural bait either spun or trolled and with artificial spinning-baits of different kinds, and by "bottom-fishing" with prawns, shrimps and worms. ”

“ To an outsider, it must often be a huge joke to see a party of salmon anglers mounted cap-à-pie with such a wealth of fishing paraphernalia—silver-mounted rods and reels, creels of vast dimensions, waterproof coats, wading boots and ‘breeks,’ luncheon-bags and landing-nets equally capacious, and great telescopic-mounted gaffs of glittering steel and brass, formidable-looking enough to grapple a seal—marching down the glen with their gillies in the morning ”

“ Although I cannot hold out much promise of similar good fortune in the present day, as salmon are now rarely taken, even in nets of equal size, it may be satisfactory to the aspirant to know, that the largest fish do not necessarily afford the best sport; they are apt to turn sulky and will lay doggedly at the bottom of a pool, endeavouring to cut the line, by grating it against a rock, or other hard substance with the nose; when this occurs, throw gravel or small stones over the spot, where the fish is thus engaged, and it will try some other expedient. ”