Part III.] Pond Fish Culture. 179 



The Fish and Game Committee of the legislature found it a 

 difficult task when it undertook to make a law that would 

 allow hook-and-line fishermen to use a number of hooks on a 

 line and at the same time prevent an. arrangement that might 

 be used to snag and grab fish. The committee had an abun- 

 dance of evidence that a number of hooks could be arranged 

 in a bunch or so strung on a line that fish could easily be 

 snagged or grabbed, especially in the winter time when the 

 water is cold and when fish naturally congregate in schools in 

 certain places in the streams and ponds. 



It is possible, with a bunch of hooks properly arranged as a 

 grab, or properly strung on a line, to snag or grab a great 

 number of fish. Some good fishermen reported to the com- 

 mittee that catching fish by this method was a common prac- 

 tice. They further reported that this method of fishing caused 

 more or less fish to be injured to such an extent that they 

 would probably die. So the idea of using one hook on a line 

 was not intended so much to prevent three or four hooks being 

 used legitimately on a line as to prevent bunches of hooks from 

 being used to snag fish where they congregate below dams and 

 in certain favored localities, such as their protected bedding 

 grounds, during the winter season. The law does not prevent 

 the hook-and-line fisherman from using several lines with a 

 single hook on each. This method of fishing is, in our judg- 

 ment, much more satisfactory, and also more humane. A trot- 

 line can be used with twenty-five hooks. The Department 

 recommended that fifty hooks be allowed on a trotline, but the 

 Fish and Game Committee thought twenty-five was enough, 

 under the present condition of the streams, for one fisherman, 

 in connection with the single lines that he might use. 



It is our purpose to stock all Kansas waters with good fish, 

 with the idea of making fishing better and fish more plentiful. 

 With the help of the law-abiding citizens who are interested 

 in fish, either for sport or food, we believe that a good supply 

 of fish can be produced in all the streams and ponds in Kansas 

 where fish can live. If you will do your part toward enforcing 

 the laws and creating a sentiment favoring the protection and 

 propagation of fish in your locality, the Department will do 

 everything in its power to assist and encourage you in your 

 work, and will visit your locality as often as possible, and 

 supply you with fish from time to time, for stock purposes, 

 giving you as many as the state can afl'ord and at the same 

 time be fair to other people in other localities. 



We would ask you to bear in mind that there are a great 

 many streams and ponds in Kansas, and consequently a very 

 great many localities where the people want fish. However, 

 with the new fish Hatchery which has been completed and is 

 now in operation, we think it will be possible to keep the 

 streams and ponds of the state well stocked with a supply of 



