Fishing for Sale 263 



seats around the open rectangle in the center, as they fish over the guard 

 raihng. 



Fish are attracted to these floating barges by brush piles of evergreens 

 suspended below them. Some are baited through the use of cottonseed 

 cake and other types of bait. Dock operators usually sell live bait, fishing 

 tackle, and snacks. 



Charges of about $1.00 per day are customary, and these fishing docks 

 are very popular with people who would hesitate to go out in small 

 boats, and who would probably not fish at all in winter. 



"An estimated 60,000 fisherman-days were recorded in fishing docks 

 on 19,000-acre Fort Gibson Reservoir, Oklahoma, in the period January 

 through March, 1956." ^ This was probably as much as 90 per cent of 

 all of the winter fishing on the lake. The catch was mostly of crappies 

 and continued year-round, representing 37 per cent of the fishing on 

 Fort Gibson. 



The effectiveness of these fishing docks is related to their location on 

 a reservoir over natural concentrations of fishes. 



Fish for Sale 



Private hatcheries selling warm-water fishes are in many states. They 

 operate under state fish breeders licenses and sell their products to 

 private lake and pond owners for release in their waters. 



In some states these hatchery-reared fish are not subject to state 

 regulations: Fishermen using private lakes stocked with commercially- 

 raised fish do not need to have a state fishing license. In other states a 

 license is necessary, even if the fish caught were purchased from a fish 

 breeder. However, these fish may not be subject to the same restrictions 

 (length limits, closed seasons, and creel limits) enforced for "wild" fish 

 of the same species in that state. 



Most warm-water fishes are raised in ponds. Adults of bass and other 

 centrarchids are allowed to nest in ponds; afterward young may be re- 

 moved to growing ponds, or the adult spawners seined from the spawning 

 ponds. Fishes from which eggs can be removed by stripping may be 

 hatched in jars inside the hatchery building and counted numbers stocked 

 in growing ponds. Most of the hatchery techniques for raising fish are 

 standard, although each operator makes modifications for his specific 

 situation. 



Hatcheries seUing game fish for stocking may arrange to ship them by 

 air in sealed plastic bags or transport them by truck, since many lake 

 owners have no tank-truck equipment. Tlie fish sold are rarely heavier 

 than large fingerlings, and are, of course, not big enough to catch. These 

 hatcheries are not patronized by catch-out pond owners because the fish 

 are small and too expensive. Fishes sold are large- and smallmouth bass. 



