Fishing for Sale 259 



"piled up" above the carrying capacity of these ponds. Parasites brought 

 in on new fish often have an easy time infesting fish already in the pond, 

 and diseases mav be transmitted directly and quickly. 



Diseases and heavy infestations of parasites may kill the fish outright 

 or cause them to become so emaciated that they either will not bite or 

 else will provide an unacceptable catch. Once the fish in a catch-out pond 

 become sick or heavily parasitized, one would be foolish to introduce 

 additional stock. The best procedure is to kill the fish (and take the loss), 

 sterilize the pond, and then restock with "healthy" fish. 



In view of these biological problems associated with the mechanics of 

 operating catch-out ponds, it is reasonable to drain the ponds in the fall 

 after the fishing season and dispense with the remaining fish. Ponds should 

 be allowed to remain dry during winter and the pond bottom should be 

 treated with quick lime. 



Ponds that cannot be drained should be seined at the end of the season 

 and the fish sold, either alive or dressed. If there is no evidence of disease 

 or parasites, the fish that escape the seining operation may be left in the 

 pond over winter. If fish are diseased or heavily parasitized, the pond 

 should be treated to eliminate all remaining fish and then sterilized. 



Ponds in Which Fish Are Artificially Fed 



Several attempts have been made to improve fishing through artificial 

 feeding which increases the poundage of fish a body of water may sup- 

 port. Fish may be fed live food if such food is available, or prepared food 

 if the species of fish receiving support can be trained to eat it. 



For a number of years the chain of fishing lakes ( 15.9 acres ) on the 

 Fin 'n Feather Club near Dundee, Illinois, containing largemouth bass, 

 smallmouth bass, bluegills, and some green sunfish were fed emerald 

 shiners seined from Lake Michigan and released alive in the lakes at the 

 rate of about 1000 pounds per acre. These shiners were released in 

 February and March and some of these minnows were still present in 

 July and August, although, at that time, they appeared to be badly 

 emaciated. 



No draining census was made of the fishes in these lakes, but records 

 of the catch for 1956 and 1957 were analyzed by Dr. D. Homer Buck 

 (unpublished). In these years, the catch was almost entirely of large- 

 mouths. In 1956, 46 man-hours of fishing per acre produced a yield of 

 45.6 pounds of largemouths per acre at the rate of 0.99 pound per hour. 

 In 1957, 34.8 man-hours of fishing per acre produced a yield of 60.6 

 pounds of bass per acre at the rate of 1.74 pounds per hour. These 

 statistics indicate that the bass fishing in the lakes was very exceptional; 

 it would be wholly unsafe to estimate the standing crop of bass in the 

 lakes during these years, except to guess that it may have been between 



