SOME IMPORTANT BAIT FISHES 



extending from the time the water 

 reaches 68° F. tlirough the rest of 

 tlie summer. The eggs, which are 

 adhesive and stick to plants, are 

 commonly scattered over filamen- 

 tous algae and less frequently over 

 rooted aquatic plants. 



Food. — The golden shiner is 

 omnivorous. The young feed on 

 algae and entomostracans. The 

 adults have been known to eat young 

 fishes, insects, plankton, crusta- 

 ceans, protozoans, algae, diatoms, 

 and mollusks. Some stomachs con- 

 tain nothing but insects; some, 

 nothing but plankton; others, 95 

 percent algae ; a few had more than 

 75 percent amphipods; and three 

 contained 5 percent arachnids. The 

 food percentages in golden-shiner 

 stomachs examined by a number of 

 workers are as follows : Insects, 35 ; 

 plankton, 28.5; algae, 13.8; plants, 

 5.3; amphipods, 0.4; mollusks, 1.9; 

 arachnids, 1.4; bryozoans, 1.4; 

 rotifers and protozoans, 0.2; and 

 crustaceans, 12. 



Importance. — In Minnesota, this 

 shiner reaches a size for pike bait 

 in the fall of its first year. In 

 Michigan and Iowa, it has been pro- 

 duced at a rate of more than 200,000 

 a water acre in fertilized ponds. 



The golden shiner is a popular 

 m i n n o w with fishermen every- 

 where. Tlie light color and general 

 activity make it a good minnow to 

 use for wa.lleyes. The greatest de- 

 mand for this minnow comes in the 

 winter time when the Avater is cold. 

 In warm weather, the golclen shiner 

 is very delicate and is hard to keep 

 alive in the bait ])ail so the fisher- 



man uses suckers for summer pike 

 fishing. 



PRODUCTION 



The propagation of the golden 

 shiner is conducted in extensive 

 and intensive artificial ponds and 

 extensive natural ponds. Intensive 

 ponds are operated on the principle 

 that greater production can be ob- 

 tained if the brood fish are main- 

 tained in a pond with ideal 

 spawning conditions and the fry 

 are transferred to growing ponds as 

 soon as they are free swimming. 

 In an extensive hatchery, the fry 

 remain in the same pond with the 

 brood fish until harvest time. 



An intensive golden-shiner hatch- 

 ery should be made up of units that 

 contain one large pond for spawn- 

 ing and three smaller growing 

 ponds. When the ponds are sup- 

 plied with spring water, the grow- 

 ing ponds do not have to be adjacent 

 to the brood pond. If the ponds 

 are maintained by surface runoff, 

 the growing ponds sliould be located 

 so the water from the brood pond 

 can be used in the growing ponds. 



The brood pond used in intensive 

 operations should be free of vege- 

 tation so that the fry can be re- 

 moved without difficulty. An ex- 

 tensive production })on(l should 

 contain enough vegetation to i)ro- 

 tect the fry from the cannibalistic 

 adults. 



In the Northern States where 

 pond construction is expensive, 

 golden shiners are raised in natural 

 l^onds (fig. 42). Usually they are 



96 



