Reservoir Management 9 



spread interest in ponds that many states developed programs of pond 

 researeh on their own. However, it soon beeame evident that the same 

 kinds of fishes that produeed satisfactory hook-and-hne yields in Alabama 

 ponds, when stocked in the "correct" numbers in ponds in other parts 

 of the country, behaved in an entirely difiFerent manner. This was not only 

 because die habitats and fish food complexes were different, but also 

 because the behavior and physiology of the fishes varied within the limits 

 of their natural range. Thus, the program of stocking fingerling bass and 

 bluegills in a ratio of 1 to 10 or 15, and fertilizing the ponds with inorganic 

 fertilizer— a program w^hich produced a harvestable fish crop in the 

 southeast— created overpopulation problems in the central states and was 

 still less useful in more distant parts of the United States. 



Fisherv biologists began to study life histories of many common warm- 

 water fishes and to test combinations other than that composed of large- 

 mouth bass and bluegills, with the objective of finding new combinations 

 that would work as well or better than the bass-bluegill combination. 

 Soon nearly every state developed its own stocking recommendations for 

 largemouth bass and bluegills, and many states recommended the stock- 

 ing of bass or some other piscivorous species with one or several other 

 omnivorous species, often not including the bluegill at all."^- ^^ 



At the present time, there is still considerable variation in recommenda- 

 tions for many aspects of pond management throughout the United 

 States. Most biologists believe that no combination of fishes is entirely 

 satisfactory for producing sport fishing in a selected impoundment, yet 

 any of several combinations may be reasonably useful for this purpose. 



RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT 



Early Investigations 



The progress of fish management in large reservoirs has been detailed 

 by Jenkins.-^ In the early 1920's, many large ones for flood control and 

 hydro-electric power were constructed, and among the first studied was 

 Lake Keokuk— a low-dam impoundment on the Mississippi River near 

 Keokuk, lowa.^^' -^ 



As reservoir construction gained momentum in the 1930's, studies of 

 these new reservoirs consisted primarily of inventories of plankton, bot- 

 tom fauna, and fish,'^-^' ^' but provided, in addition to these inventories, 

 opinions on how to improve the fish-producing capacities of the reser- 

 voirs.^^ 



How^ever, during the latter part of the 1930's, a number of reservoirs, 

 previously superb for fishing, became poor. Consequently, some biologists 

 concluded of these large reservoirs that, after an initial high productivity 

 brought about by the decay and utilization of the organic matter present 

 at impoundment,^!' ^^ we could expect them to become aquatic deserts. 



