Part IL] Pond Fish. 83 



corn or wheat. The ones that were kept in small ponds and 

 tanks were fed on various animal substances such as insects 

 and chopped-up meats. They soon learned to eat cooked meat, 

 and in partial captivity they seem to like bread, usually pre- 

 ferring corn or graham. At the State Hatchery a bunch has 

 been fed this summer on corn chop, wheat and graham bread, 

 with an occasional carcass of a bird or animal hung on a wire 

 from the end of a pole for them to pick at. In the course 

 of a day or two the bones would be picked clean. Bullheads 

 also sometimes eat minnows and small fish, but seem very 

 much averse to devouring specimens of their own kind except 

 when driven to it from starvation. They feed morning and 

 evening and especially at night, no matter how dark the 

 night may be. Fishermen usually consider dark, rainy nights 

 the very best times to catch them with hook and line or 

 on "trot" lines. Bullheads are essentially bottom feeders, 

 though we have seen them come to the surface for insects. 

 At the Hatchery they frequently come to the surface, when 

 fed in the evening, to get bread and other food that is thrown 

 on the water. During the day they spend most of their time 

 in shady places about old logs, treetops and piles of drift- 

 wood that may be in the streams. In ponds, during the warm 

 and sunny part of the day they seek the deeper water and the 

 shady places afforded in such bodies of water by the growth 

 of various kinds of moss and weeds. 



Fishing for Bullheads. 



The bullhead is the one fish above all others that has glad- 

 dened the hearts of thousands of boys and amateur fishermen. 

 It does not take an elaborate outfit of artificial flies, spoons 

 and lures or fancy tackle and fixtures for an enthusiast who 

 desires to fish for bullpout. A fish pole of hickory, willow or 

 pawpaw will do if the cane pole is not at hand, and almost 

 any kind of line and hook will answer the purpose. There 

 is no better bait than old-fashioned angle or fish worms, though 

 the bullhead will take almost any kind of meat or scale fish 

 cut in pieces small enough for him to swallow. 



Though the bullhead is essentially a night feeder, yet even 

 during the bright, sunny day the well-informed bullhead fisher- 

 man can usually find the object of his quest by dropping a 

 well-baited hook by the side of some half-submerged brush- 

 wood, old treetops or driftwood that may be lodged on the 

 side of a stream or pond. The "catties," as the boys fre- 

 quently call them, are especially active during a cloudy or 

 rainy day and many are taken at such times. 



Uncle Jake's Philosophy. 



To Uncle Jake, a colored friend of mine who has spent a 

 lifetime fishing for catfish, we are indebted for the following 

 information. In a few characteristic phrases, which we are 

 unable to quote word for word. Uncle Jake has given ex- 



