GOLDEN SHINER 



quota of up to 25 pounds to an acre 

 of water can be supplied. In all 

 instances, regardless of the feeding, 

 the plankton turbidity of the water 

 should not be allowed to become 

 dense enough to obscure a white ob- 

 ject at a depth of less than 12 inches. 



Harvesting and storing the fish 



The harvesting of the golden 

 shiner in Missouri and surrounding 

 States is an exacting task, otherwise 

 severe injury will result in a high 

 mortality. When golden shiners 

 are to be seined from a pond during 

 warm weather, the seine should be 

 made of either a cotton netting or 

 bobbinet m a t e r i a 1. The fish 

 trapped in the seine should not be 

 rolled or crowded while bringing 

 them in near shore. When the 

 golden shiner is removed from the 

 seine by a hand net made of a soft 

 fabric, the fish should be trans- 

 ferred with a considerable amount 

 of water. 



When the entire population is to 

 be removed by draining the pond, it 

 is necessary to lower the tempera- 

 ture of the pond water to about 75° 

 F. before undertaking the task. If 

 the pond is such that the water can- 

 not be cooled to this degree, the op- 

 erator should wait until weather 

 conditions are favorable for the re- 

 moval. In the reservoir type of 

 culture, many operators have to 

 wait until fall. 



In Minnesota, natural shiner 

 ponds should be harvested in the 

 fall when the weather is cool. The 

 fish will .be of pike-bait size then 

 and hardy enough to stand han- 



dling. While it is possible to han- 

 dle golden shiners in summer with 

 special nets, the fish are too delicate 

 for the fisherman to carry in the 

 minnow pail. Most of the fish 

 seined in the fall will have to be 

 held in large tanks or holding 

 ponds supplied with running water 

 until they are needed for winter 

 fishing. 



Production in g o 1 d e n-shiner 

 ponds varies more than that in 

 sucker ponds because shiner pro- 

 duction not only is dependent on 

 the rate of stocking and the amount 

 of food available, but is primarily 

 determined by spawning conditions 

 and spawning success. A pond 

 with poor spawning conditions will 

 produce a small crop of fish, while 

 a pond with good spawning condi- 

 tions will produce a large crop. Of 

 course, the fish from the last two or 

 three spawnings will not grow 

 large enough to be used the first 

 year, but most of the others will be 

 suitable for winter fishing the first 

 winter. Optimum production in 

 natural ponds probably can be ob- 

 tained by removing the adults 

 from the pond after the fourth or 

 fifth spawning. The production of 

 eight Minnesota golden-shiner 

 ponds averaged 145 pomids an acre, 

 and the maximum was 390 pounds 

 an acre. AVhen the production was 

 over 300 pounds to the acre, about 

 5 percent of the fish were pike-bait 

 size minnows. When the produc- 

 tion was around 150 pounds, 70 per- 

 cent of the fish were pike-bait size. 



When golden shiners are re- 

 moved from the ponds to the stor- 



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