HARVESTING FISH 



FioTTBE 13. — A bobbinet seine is used to catch the fry in a small production pond. 

 Good seining methods help to prevent fungused flsh. (Photograph courtesy of the 

 Minnesota Department of Conservation.) 



Glass traps usually are round and 

 have only one funnel entrance. 



Glass traps are used mainly in 

 streams. This type of collecting 

 gear has proved highly efficient ; not 

 only can a large number of minnows 

 be taken in a relatively short time, 

 but the fish can be collected with 

 little or no injury. Operation of a 

 glass trap is simple. The first step 

 is to follow along the banks of a 

 stream until a school of minnows is 

 located. The next step is to seek 

 an area upstream from the school 

 of minnows where the current is 

 weak and the water depth does not 

 exceed 1 foot. (These locations 



are usually found near the banks of 

 the stream.) At this point a small 

 depression about the size of the glass 

 trap is gouged out of the bottom, 

 and the trap, baited with finely- 

 ground cracker crumbs, is placed in 

 the depression with the funnel open- 

 ing facing downstream. Within a 

 few minutes, by current action, 

 some of the food particles originally 

 within the trap will be drifting 

 downstream, attracting the fish be- 

 low. Immediately, the minnows 

 will move upstream toward the 

 source of the food supply ; within a 

 half hour, the food supply in the 

 trap will be exhausted and a num- 



31 



