356 American Fisheries Society 



general public. I will say nothing about the policy of per- 

 mitting such natural bodies of water to become individual 

 property, but merely state that with two exceptions we did not 

 include them in our investigations. 



The natural lakes of Ohio are all small, rarely being over a 

 couple of miles in the largest dimension. They are all glacial 

 in origin, being usually rather deep for their area and varying 

 from gravelly to muddy and weed-grown shores. Many of 

 them are spring fed almost entirely, except for surface waters 

 in rainy seasons. 



The reservoirs, many of them now known as lakes, were 

 mostly constructed in the old canal-building days of the first 

 half of the past century, though some are of recent construc- 

 tion for water power. Buckeye, Indian, Loramie, and St. 

 Mary's Lakes are all old reservoirs of this type and have long 

 ago settled down into permanent conditions. Buckeye Lake 

 especially, presents this appearance, as the water level has been 

 interfered with but little. In the other reservoirs, including 

 East, West and New reservoirs, near Akron, recent fluctua- 

 tions in the water level give them more or less, according to 

 conditions, a newer appearance about the shores. St. Mary's 

 Lake, formerly known as the Grand Reservoir, has an area of 

 17,600 acres and is the largest body of water entirely within 

 the state. 



All of these bodies of water, natural and artificial, are well 

 stocked with the various game fish native to Ohio, and have 

 been for many years. They are ideal for large-mouth bass, 

 perch, crappie and bluegills and other sunfish. Our survey 

 shows considerable variation in the number of different game 

 fishes, however, with the exception of the large-mouth bass 

 which is plentiful in all suitable waters of the state. It is 

 probable that fluctuation of the water level interferes less with 

 the large-mouth than with other game fish, on account of its 

 great activity, its rapid growth, and its ability to take many 

 kinds of food because of the large size of the mouth. More- 



