Catfish, especially channel catfish, appear a desirable addition 

 xmder some conditions and were reported in 200 of the ponds surveyed. 



Wild fish were reported from about 30 percent of the sample. More 

 information on the species and numbers present would be necessary for 

 proper evaluation of the importance of wild fish in the ponds surveyed. 

 In 55 of the lU2 ponds reporting poor fishing, wild fish were also 

 reported present. 



(9) Assistance in pond construction 



A total of 715 out of 1,000 pond owners received some financial 

 assistance from the U. S. Department of Agriculture in building their 

 ponds. The nature of this assistance and the agency from which it was 

 received were not adeqiiately described for purposes of analysis. Tech- 

 nical assistance had been received by 85 percent of the sample, with the 

 Soil Conservation Service providing this in Bk percent of the instances. 



REGIONAL HIGHLIGHTS 



Since the size of each regional sample was proportional to the 

 number of ponds stocked with bass in that region in 1957^ some com- 

 parisons of findings can be made among regions. 



Altho\igh fishing rated high as a purpose for building ponds in the 

 Southwest, that region reported only about half the number of man- days 

 of fishing per acre that the other regions reported. This is probably 

 related to differences in population density and accessibility of the 

 ponds . 



The percentage of women anglers was lowest in the Northeast and high- 

 est in the Southeast. On the other hand, children made up U7 percent of 

 pond anglers in the Northeast, as against 22 percent in the Southeast. 



The catch of bass was considerably higher in the southern than in 

 the northern regions. Region ^4- led in the catch per acre for both bass 

 and sunfish. The quality of fishing, which was rated satisfactory or 

 better, varied by region, as follows: Region 2, 89 percent; Region 3^ 

 72 percent; Region k, 79 percent; Region 5? 77 percent. 



Holloway (l95l)^ after examining records on 6l2 ponds in the 

 Southeast, concluded that one pond out of three had a successful 

 balance of bass-bluegills. However, many of the ponds not in 

 "balance" were providing some fishing, which was not reported, so 

 the conclusions of the two studies are not comparable. 



Only 51 percent of the pond owners sampled in the Northeast 

 accepted financial support from the Federal Government in building 

 the ponds, as compared with 72 percent in the entire sample. Since 

 the Northeast had the smallest sample, this and other differences 

 from other regions may be more apparent than real. 



10 



