FOOD OF BULLHEADS 



29 



has been second only to the number of pounds of buffalo fish, and 

 since 1918 it has been more than three times as great as the sum 

 total of all other fish taken. Data obtained from these annual 

 reports regarding the number of pounds of these fish seined and sold 

 on the market are shown in the succeeding table. 



Table 1 



' "Exact figures have not been compiled, but the number of pounds taken probably compares favorably 

 with those of previous years." Statement made by O. H. Johnson, director of the State department of 

 game and fish, in a letter to the writer. 



The relative importance of the bullhead and buffalo, South Dakota's 

 two leading commercial fish, is brought out clearly in Figure 1. 



Year 1916 1917 1918 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 



Fig. 1 



O. H. Johnson, director of the State department of game and fish, 

 says: 



The bullhead ranks first in South Dakota among all fish taken by hook and line 

 for food purposes. More people in South Dakota fish for the bullhead than any- 

 other single variety of fish, and it is safe to assume that more bullheads, taken 

 by hook and line, are consumed within our State than are taken by seine and 

 placed on the eastern markets. This last statement, however, we are unable to 

 substantiate by figures available. The statement is based entirely on observation. 



If Red Lake, in Brule County, may be taken as an example of the 

 lakes of eastern South Dakota, where conditions were similar to those 

 elsewhere during the period from 1917 (the year it was stocked with 

 bullheads and several other species of fish) until it became dry in 1925, 

 we may feel certain that Mr. Johnson's statements are correct. The 

 writer often has seen hundreds of fishermen at this lake, some of 



