The Game Fish, of the Northern States and British Provinces / With an account of the salmon and sea-trout fishing of Canada and New Brunswick, together with simple directions for tying artificial flies, etc., etc.

by Robert Barnwell Roosevelt

The trout will not spawn in the ponds where the bottom consists of large stones or weeds; but if there is sand or gravel anywhere on the bottom of the ponds, they will spawn on it. Therefore be careful to have only the raceway, where the water enters, covered with gravel. In October this may be washed and cleaned from the weeds which will have grown in it during the year. As soon as the fish are ready to spawn, they will ascend from the ponds into the raceway, seeking a place to nest. Then they are ready to be taken out and the spawn expressed. At the entrance of the raceway, there should be grooves to receive a frame, on which is tacked a net of coarse bagging about eight or ten feet long. One corner of this bag should be narrowed, left unsewn, and tied with a string, like the mouth of a meal sack. The race should be covered over in spawning time, as the fish will come under the cover better and are not so likely to be frightened by any one passing. If there are fifteen hundred or two thousand fish in the pond, the net may be used every day in the height of the season, and when the fish become scarce, once in two or three days.

Indications of spawning having been observed, the covers are put on the races, and as soon as there are fish in the raceway, the net is gathered up in one hand and the frame held in the other, in such a position as to be put in the grooves as quickly as possible, so as to let none of the fish escape from the race. Go quietly to the spot, and do not walk down the raceway to get to it, but approach from one side and put the net in the grooves as quickly as you can. The water running down will swell the net out to its full length. The covers may be then removed, and with a stick you may frighten the fish down from the head of the raceway into the net. As soon as they are all in, the frame may be lifted out of the water, and the fish are then enclosed in the bag. A tub of water should be previously brought near the spot, and the end of the net can be lifted into the tub and untied, when the fish will all fall into the tub without trouble. Coarse cloth is better for the purpose than netting, as it can be more easily tacked to the frame, does not hurt the fish so much, and lasts longer; besides, the water swells it out and holds it open for the fish to run in better than it would a net, and the fish not seeing you through the cloth as they would through an open mesh, are not scared, and do not try to run back up the race.

The fish being now in the tub, must be taken to the hatching house without any delay. There are probably in the tub some fifteen or twenty fish, and all the operations must be conducted as quickly as possible, so that they will not die in the small quantity of water to which they are confined. So long as the fish lie quiet in the bottom of the tub, there is sufficient air in the water to sustain them, but as soon as they come to the surface and try to leap out, it is a sign that the air is nearly exhausted and the water should be renewed. They will also open their mouths wide, just as a person would when gasping for air. Trout will die in a tub out of which the oxygen has been exhausted by their breathing, more quickly than they would die in a cloudy day if out of the water entirely.

A fire may be made in the hatching-house to warm your fingers, which will probably get cool while engaged in this operation. A six-quart milk-pan is to be provided, if you have many fish, and also another tub of water, into which to put the fish after they are deprived of their spawn. Select a fish, and holding it over the milk-pan, which has been dipped in water to wet it, rub it gently with the fore-finger and thumb, from the pectoral fins to the vent. A little experience will show how this is to be done. If the fish is ripe, a few drops of pearly-colored milt, or orange-hued eggs, will be forcibly expressed in the pan. If the milt is not of this color, it shows that the milt is not good, and another male must be taken, and treated in a similar manner. The female must be pressed more slowly and oftener than the male. If the eggs are not ripe, by passing the hand lightly over the belly, you will feel them beneath, hard, like shot. In that case put the fish back into the pond, for the eggs to ripen. When the eggs are ripe, the belly will be soft and flabby, and the eggs beneath the skin feel loose and change their position at the touch. The operation must be continued until the fish are emptied of eggs and milt. The eggs in the pan may, at intervals, be gently stirred by moving the pan; this is to change the position of the eggs, so as to be sure that all come in contact with the milt, and when the operation is completed, a half-pint of water is poured on them and the pan set in one of the hatching troughs through which the water is running; this will keep the eggs up to the proper temperature, and prevent a sudden change when they are transferred to the trough. The eggs will now agglutinate or stick to the pan, and to each other, for a little while.

The fish must be grasped by the head, if you are right-handed, with the right hand, and by the tail, or rather the lower part of the body, with the other hand, and held over the pan with the belly near the bottom of the pan. As soon as the fish is quiet, the right hand may be gently slipped down from the head, and the fore-finger and thumb used to press the belly. The fish still being held by the tail, and lower part in the left hand, and partly supported, perhaps, by the sleeve of the coat, or by the bare arm, and the remaining fingers of the right hand. The pan should be elevated at one side, during the operation of taking the spawn, by standing it on a block half an inch thick, and enough water will drip from the fish so that by tilting and shaking it, the milt can be brought in contact with the eggs.

After stripping a female once she should be returned to the tub from which she was taken, and should be stripped again after a short time, during which other fish are being handled. This is to get the last egg from her, and if it is not done a few will remain and she will go on the spawning beds to deposit them as if she had a full supply. If she is cleaned entirely, she will not bother herself or her owner about the matter again that season. The California mountain trout retain their eggs and milt with more determination than our brook-trout, and must be humored like a cow that will not give down her milk to any one but the creature for which nature intended it. After the trout are handled they are returned to different tubs, according to their sizes, as this is the occasion to sort them.

Twenty to twenty-five minutes having now elapsed since the pan of eggs was set in the trough, gently tip up the pan. If the eggs are loose and roll separately as you move it, they are ready for subsequent operations; if not yet loose, let them remain a while longer. Pour off the dirty water until only sufficient is left to cover the eggs. If this is done very gently, the eggs, although very light, will remain at the bottom, as they are somewhat heavier than water; then sink the pan into the water, at the same time tipping it, and take it half full of water. The influx of water will wash the eggs around somewhat, and dilute the dirty water remaining in the pan. This is to be poured off, as before, and the operation repeated, until the water looks perfectly clear. There will be some dirt and droppings of the trout still left, which can be carefully picked out with the nippers. If an egg should happen to be broken, while being taken from the trout, every vestige of it should be carefully removed, as the slimy, sticky contents will get on the other eggs and kill them. The eggs are now ready to be placed in the trough, as soon as you shall have raised the water in the nest to which you wish to transfer them, by placing a strip across the trough. Then sink the pan gently to the edge in the water of the trough, at the same time tipping the pan, so that the water in the trough and in the pan shall come together with as little current as possible. Then the edge of the pan may be sunk into the water, and by tipping the pan a little more, the eggs will flow out without injury. By moving the pan while the eggs are running out, they may be spread uniformly over the bottom. If they fall in a heap, take the bearded end of a feather, and move the water with it in the direction you wish the eggs to go, and they will follow the current thus created. This may be done without touching the eggs with the feather. Distribute the eggs as evenly as possible over the surface of the nest. Where they are placed upon wire sieves, these may be moved and shaken under water, so as to distribute the eggs evenly.

The strip which was placed across the trough to raise the water, should then be removed. Care must be taken that it be not removed so suddenly as to cause a rush of water, which would carry most of the eggs away with it. Raise the strip a little way from the bottom, so as to let the water run out gradually, and when it is very nearly or altogether at the proper level, the strip may be removed entirely. Those who have a nursery attached to the troughs, place the earliest eggs in the lower end of the trough, and keep placing them toward the top, so that the fish which are first hatched can run first into the nursery without disturbing the others. About ten thousand may be placed in each nest eighteen inches by fifteen inches.

If the eggs have been received from a trout breeder, they should be left in the packages in which they have been sent until the troughs are ready for them. Persons will sometimes take the tin boxes containing the eggs out of the sawdust in which they were packed, and set them in the water of their troughs, with the idea perhaps of getting the eggs in the box to the same temperature as the water before unpacking them. This will surely kill the eggs in a few hours. Leave them in the original package until a few hours before you are ready to place them in the troughs. Then take out the tins and set them over or near the troughs, which will reduce or raise the temperature enough. Then empty the box into a tin pan full of water taken from the trough, pick out as much moss as you can readily with your fingers or nippers, and wash off the rest in the manner shown in directions for washing eggs hereafter.

The eggs are placed on trays made of wire cloth stretched on wooden frames. Each tray is twenty-seven inches long by fourteen inches wide, and will hold in a layer, one deep, six thousand two hundred and seventy-two salmon trout eggs. Instead of using only one layer of these trays, it has been the practice of late years to use four layers in the upper sections and five in the lower sections.