SOME IMPORTANT BAIT FISHES 



ern natural ponds because the 

 pliosphorus tends to produce heavy 

 algal blooms that may result in 

 fish kills. In very fertile ponds, 

 the control of algae with copper 

 sulfate may be more important 

 than fertilization (see table, p. 

 47, for amount to use). 



Harvesting the fish 



Natural ponds can be harvested 

 most efficiently with a large seine 

 that is set out in a semicircle from 

 a boat and pulled in slowly to a 

 good landing beach. When the 

 net reaches the shore, it is bagged 

 and moved quickly to deeper water 

 so the minnows will not smother 

 or choke on silt. The minnows are 

 transferred to a floating live box 

 us soon as possible, and all turtles, 

 salamanders, and crayfish are 

 thrown out. If the minnows are 

 uniform in size and are large 

 enough for pike bait, they are 

 loaded into a tank of fresh water 

 and hauled to the bait shop. If 

 the haul produces large numbers 

 of undersized minnows, the fish 

 are put in a slat grader (fig. 23) 

 and the small ones returned to the 

 pond for further growth. The 

 pond is then reseined at periodic 

 intervals until further hauls are 

 not practical. The minnows that 

 have been missed can be trapped 

 under the ice during the early part 

 of the winter. 



The time of harvest for each pond 

 will depend on the seasonal market 

 and the size of the fish being raised. 

 In Minnesota, the sucker harvest 

 starts during the last week of July 



and continues until September. 

 The only ponds that have not been 

 harvested by that time are those 

 producing fish to be held over win- 

 ter. In areas where winter spear- 

 ing is allowed, the cash return from 

 a poor pond can be improved by 

 holding the fish until October or 

 November, when they can be sold as 

 decoys for spearing. Higher prices 

 can be obtained for them at that 

 time than if they were sold as pike- 

 bait-sized minnows in the summer. 



While the production of sucker 

 ponds varies with pond conditions 

 and pond-management methods, the 

 average production of sucker ponds 

 in Minnesota was 10,000 nsh per 

 acre for 26 pond-seasons, with a 

 high of 25,000 and a low of 1,500. 

 The average was 165 pounds to the 

 acre, with a high of 490 pounds and 

 a low of 6 pounds. These produc- 

 tion figures are far below the yield 

 goals set in some publications on 

 minnow propagation, but the ponds 

 still are considered very practical. 

 The cost of operation was low and 

 the margin of profit was high. 



In most sucker ponds, the pound- 

 age of fish produced can be greatly 

 increased by cropping and grading 

 the fish periodically. On the aver- 

 age, the production of Minnesota 

 sucker ponds was increased 75 per- 

 cent by cropping. When the ponds 

 were cropped twice in a season, the 

 poundage increase was only 5 or 6 

 percent, but when the ponds were 

 cropped 6 to 8 times, the poundage 

 increase was as high as 140 percent. 

 This means that if the dealer har- 



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