57] STUDY OF SOUTHERN WISCONSIN FISHES— CAHN 57 



inhabit the deep water off the sand bars where they can be caught on 

 small shore minnows by deep trolling. However, on quiet hot days in 

 July and August the great schools often come to the surface, frittering 

 along half out of water as they travel rapidly in a zig-zag course. At such 

 times they offer great sport to the dry fly fishermen, as the fish often strike 

 furiously and follow it up with a very game fight in the deep water. They 

 attain a size of over three pounds, with 2 pounds as a good average. 

 Spawning occurs about the middle or end of May, and the fish ascend the 

 rivers if possible, to lay their eggs among the rocks and under the falls 

 or amid the riffles. The ascent of the rivers is usually at night and the 

 spawning occurs at night, as I have often witnessed in the Oconomowoc 

 river below the falls marking the outlet of Fowler lake into Lac La Belle. 

 Here the water is literally alive with white bass for three or four days 

 and nights. As soon as the eggs are laid the fish return to the deep water 

 of the lake. The young remain in the shallows along the banks of the river 

 or return to the lake and follow the shallows of the shoreline where they 

 are taken in association with Notropis blennius and young-of-year of 

 Ambloplites rupestris and Lepomis pallidus. The food is almost entirely 

 small minnows, with occasional insect larvae or nymphs. This food is 

 taken while the fish are in deep water, as stomachs of fish caught frittering 

 along the surface are invariably empty. An excellent game and food fish, 

 the continued planting of which is earnestly urged. 



Family sciaenidae 



89. Aplodinotiis grunniens (Raf). Sheepshead; Drum. 



This species is included in the list solely upon the authority of Dr. I. A. 

 Lapham, who lists it as an inhabitant oi Oconomowoc lake in the only 

 published list of fishes of the region (1882). The sheepshead is no longer a 

 native fish in the county, though occasionally young individuals are 

 planted along with shipments of bass, whitebass, perch and catfish from 

 the Mississippi river overflows. Several fingerlings went into Oconomowoc 

 lake in August, 1925. The prevalent idea of the undesirability of the 

 sheepshead as a food fish is not concurred in by the writer, who considers 

 it equal to the white bass and the croppies, and better than the sunfish, 

 pickerel and buffalo. 



Family cottidae 



90. Cottus bairdii bairdii (Girard). Sculpin; Miller's thumb. 



This peculiar looking fish is a common inhabitant of rapid water regions 

 of the Oconomowoc, Little Oconomowoc, Bark and Fox rivers. It lives 

 only in regions of the greatest current, frequenting the rocks below falls 

 and the riffles of the many small rapids. Here the sculpin is associated with 

 Noturus flavus and Schilbeodes sps. The great pectoral fins are used in 

 darter fashion to support the body against the current, head upstream. 



