106 Fish and Game Warden. [Bull. No. 1. 



by any ordinary wind. The bass had their beds in water that 

 was from ten to sixteen inches in depth. Many other fish 

 seemed anxious to come up from the river into this little neck 

 of water. The nests of these three bass were not a great dis- 

 tance apart. Two of them, numbered 1 and 2, were within four 

 or five feet of each other, and the other, number 3, was about 

 seven feet up stream from number 2. Each fish attended 

 strictly to its own business, guarding its own nest. The fish 

 would stand over the nests constantly unless disturbed by in- 

 truders. They fanned their nests almost continuously with 

 their fins, creating a current of water over the beds. The 

 pectoral or chest fins were especially active. The fish would 

 move around over the nests like the hands of a watch; how- 

 ever, in no particular direction. The head of the fish might be 

 pointed to the south, and in the course of time it might move 

 around so that it would be west or east, and it would not be a 

 great while until the head might be pointed to the north ; how- 

 ever, this position was rather rare, because when the head was 

 pointed to the north it was directed toward the bank of the 

 sand bar, and intruders coming up the little neck of water 

 could not be observed so well. 



The nests, as indicated above, were on the north shore of 

 this little body of water and on the south shore of the sand bar, 

 so that when the fish faced south the body of water and the 

 opening inlet, which was to the east, could be easily watched. 

 The mouth of the inlet was from fifteen to twenty feet below 

 the nearest nest. Occasionally a school of minnows would 

 make their way upstream and enter the mouth of the inlet. 

 Before they had proceeded very far one of the old bass would 

 make a dart at them, and almost instantly they would get out 

 of sight in the grass, weeds and rushes, or return quickly to the 

 deeper water. 



Carp Visit Bass Nests. 



It was not until the third morning that we saw what we had 

 been hoping that we might see, and that was a bunch of three 

 German carp coming up the Ninnescah and nearing the mouth 

 of the inlet. They came slowly and apparently cautiously to 

 this neck of water. There were five of them altogether, but 

 two were lagging several feet behind. The bass guarding these 

 nests were rather small and would weigh somewhere in the 

 neighborhood of from one and a half to two pounds each. The 

 carp would weigh from two to four pounds each. When the 

 carp got within ten to fifteen feet of the nests the bass became 

 very nervous and began swimming with rapid motion back 

 and forth in short circles around and over their nests. Finally 

 one of them made a dart at the carp that was in the lead, and 

 before the carp could turn around or get its bearings the bass 

 seemed to have passed under it or over it, and there was such 

 a commotion in the water that further accurate observations 



