PROPAGATION OF BLACK BASS IN PONDS. 233 



the middle and was shaking him as a terrier does a rat. Observe and record, as near 

 as may be, the date each lot of eggs is laid, and so know the better when to expect 

 the young to hatch. 



The nets. — Before the fry leave the eggs be prepared with a net of cheese cloth 

 to use in collecting them for transferring to the nursery pond. Two nets will be 

 found serviceable for this purpose. The main net should be about 30 inches square, 

 supported by ribs from above. To the center of the ribs arrangement should be 

 made for attaching a handle when the net is to be used 5 or 6 feet from the shore. 

 The net should sag to an open pocket in the center, which can be closed and tied with 

 a draw string. Messrs. A. B. Shipley & Son, of 503 Commerce street, Philadelphia, 

 Pa., advertise a folding minnow net which answers admirably, except that the mesh 

 they furnish is too coarse and needs to be replaced with a yard of closely-woven 

 cheese cloth. The secondary net is easily made from an ordinary landing net by 

 replacing the netting with cheese cloth. This will be found of service in finishing 

 up the remnants of schools which escape the larger net. 



When to net. — After the hatching is completed and the young, under the guid- 

 ance of the parent fish, are schooling, commence to net them out into tubs filled with 

 water from the pond. Do not make the mistake of filling the tubs with any other 

 water than that from the spawning pond — not because this water has any virtue in 

 itself, but because by using it you avoid the risk of change of temperature. I have 

 yet to handle an embryo fish more sensitive to change of temperature than the bass. 



How to net. — The process of netting, to be thorough, requires patience and that 

 degree of skill which comes only with practice. When possible stand on the bank, 

 introduce the net with a gentle, scarcely perceptible side movement under the school 

 of bass, and cautiously lift it out. As soon as the net has cleared the water, with a 

 quick turn bring it over the tub so that that part of the net holding water and fish 

 comes into the water in the tub. An assistant standing near the tub, by catching 

 the sides of the net, helps in the accuracy of the latter part of this operation. The 

 operator continues to hold the rod to which the frame of the net is attached; the 

 assistant slips his hands into the tub and unties the draw string of the net pocket. 

 The net is then gently lifted out of the tub. Alongside of the tub should be a pail of 

 pond water and a dipper. As the operator lifts out the net the assistant should wash 

 off such fish as may stick to the cheese cloth with water from the pail. For this pur- 

 pose never use anything but water. By no means resort to a feather or the equally 

 bad practice of shaking the net. There is but one portion of the operation of collect- 

 ing the young bass which requires celerity. It is the time when the net is being 

 moved from the pond to the tub. All the remainder requires the utmost degree of 

 painstaking care and time. 



Transferring and planting.— The fish being in the tub, it remains to transfer them 

 without loss of time to the nursery pond. It is, of course, a simple matter to take up 

 the tub and walk the few steps intervening between the ponds, but the proper intro- 

 duction of the young bass into the nursery pond is an operation requiring some degree 

 of care, patience, and skill. In the first place the water supplying the two ponds 

 should be from the same source, in which case it will be found that there is but slight 

 difference in the temperature of the shallowest part of the nursery pond and the 

 surface water of the spawning pond. However it may be, the water in the tub should 

 slowly be brought to the temperature of that of the shallowest part of the nursery 



