Dyche. — Possibilities of an Acre Pond 71 



this platform to the shore. On the platform there was a 

 chopping block and during the summer of 1911 and 1912 

 about five hundred pounds of liver and five or six hun- 

 dred pounds of fish, mostly German carp, were chopped 

 up and fed to the fishes. When the chopping began, the 

 fish would appear, the bass first and then the channel 

 catfish. The bass would take the first food that was 

 thrown on the water. It was necessary to satisfy them 

 before any of the other fish would have a chance to get 

 any food. The channel catfish would feed next. The 

 blue-gills and green sunfish would feed around the edge 

 of the general mass of fish, grabbing and darting away 

 with anything they could get. The bullheads would come 

 last and stay longest and would take food from the sur- 

 face of the water. No crappie were ever seen to come 

 near the feeding station. If they fed at all it was so 

 deep under the water they could not be seen. About 200 

 pounds of corn chop were thrown in on the feeding 

 grounds and perhaps as much as fifty pounds of kaffir 

 corn. The catfish, carp and goldfish took most of this. 

 However, the blue-gills and sunfish took some of it. When 

 bread was thrown in the goldfish, carp, bullheads and 

 blue-gills would take it. 



REMOVING THE FISH FROM THE POND. 



About the middle of April, 1913, we began lowering 

 the water in this pond. From April 25, to April 30, 

 the fish were removed and placed in other ponds. Most 

 of the fish were used to stock the ponds of the new hatch- 

 ery. After the water had been lowered the large fish 

 were rounded up by the use of seines with meshes an 

 inch square. Minnow seines were used to capture the 

 small fish. The fish were removed from the water to the 

 tubs and transfer tanks by the use of hand nets ranging 

 in size from eight to twenty inches in diameter. A 

 stream of fresh water was allowed to run through the 

 pond until all the fish were removed. This prevented the 

 water from getting so muddy that it would injure the 

 fish. 



