Part III.] Pond Fish Culture. 93 



The Spawning Bed. 



The spawning bed or the nest that the Black bass prepares 

 here at the State Fish Hatchery is usually built on the north, 

 east or west shores of the ponds, where the sun naturally 

 warms the waters first in the early springtime. At this sea- 

 son of the year one does not have to walk far until more or less 

 bass are seen swimming near the shore. One or two bass may 

 be observed hovering over a certain spot. If it is a single fish 

 it is usually a male, and if one will take the trouble to sit or lie 

 down on the bank and keep perfectly still, in a not too promi- 

 nent place, in from fifteen to twenty minutes the bass will 

 usually become accustomed to the situation and will proceed 

 with the ordinary work of nest-building that was being carried 

 on, just the same as if there was no observer watching. 



We found that a few bushes stuck in the bank for sort of a 

 blind and left there, so that the fish would get used to them, 

 made the approach to the nest much easier for future visits. If 

 the bass should happen to be a male preparing a spawning bed 

 or nest, a number of things can be learned by watching con- 

 cerning the habits of the fish. The place selected for the nest 

 depends upon the nature of the shore of the pond. A good 

 many observations made by different persons have been re- 

 corded concerning the spawning habits of the Black bass. 

 In many cases the observers do not state whether the fish ob- 

 served were Large-mouthed or the Small-mouthed Black bass. 

 This may account for many discrepancies, as the two varieties 

 differ more or less in their habits. Many observers record the 

 fact that the nest is built in places where gravel and coarse 

 sand are present and that the eggs are placed on the gravel 

 beds. Some fish culturists prepare special gravel beds for 

 fish to spawn on. Sometimes the gravel is placed in shallow 

 boxes about two feet square, and sometimes the gravel and 

 coarse sand mixtures are embedded in cement-formed nests 

 and placed where the fish can find them. Such devices have 

 been reported more or less successful with the Small-mouthed 

 Black bass. 



Here at the Kansas State Fish Hatchery the Large-mouthed 

 Black bass do not seem to pay much, if any, attention to 

 gravel beds. The male fish usually starts the nest by selecting 

 a place where the water varies from ten inches to two feet in 

 depth. The places selected, so far as our observations have 

 gone, are usually spots where more or less vegetation in the 

 shape of small water plants may be found growing. The fish 

 usually removes most of this vegetable matter, and then fans 

 the spot with its fins and tail at intervals for a period of two, 

 three or more days. The excavation which forms the nest or 

 spawning bed varies from two to five or six inches in depth, 

 and is from twenty to thirty-six inches across, or about twice 

 the length of the fish. However, where the ground is hard the 



