140 Fortieth Annual Meeting 



long. The pond bottom was found literally covered with snail shells. 

 I suppose you could pick up 100 bushels of the shells, but the bass 

 had eaten all the snails. The fish were very fat, though we had not 

 fed anything to fry or fish during the whole summer. These fish have 

 been shipped out during the last couple of weeks. There is a sample 

 in this bottle for those that want to see them. 



Mr. Carter : I would like to ask about the depth of the ponds that 

 Mr. Lydell and Mr. Clark have constructed. 



Mr. Lydell : Between five and six feet in the deepest part. 



Mr. Carter : We have not had success in carrying bass through the 

 winter in ponds of that depth. 



President: How deep are your winter ponds? 



Mr. Carter : The pond we now have is about lO^^ feet, greatest 

 depth. Heretofore we have lost nearly all our bass during winter, but 

 last year we put 103 adults in the deeper pond and took out 99 this 

 spring, and I think it must be due to the fact that we have had a 

 deeper pond. Our ponds freeze probably to a greater extent than they 

 do in Michigan or some of the other states. 



Mr. Clark : The pond that we use, which is known as a fish pond 

 with us — where we hold our fish — is eight feet in the kettle, and, of 

 course, slopes gradually up. We do not lose our fish during the winter. 

 I do not think we lose 5 per cent — I do not think we lose, in fact, 3 per 

 cent. They all come out m the spring nice and fat, but we put in quan- 

 tities of minnows in that pond in the fall. I think the chancer are if you 

 did not have good results it is due to the food question. 



Mr. Carter : Every spring we come out with 50 to 65 per cent of 

 our bass dead. 



Mr. Clark : There is something wrong then. 



Mr. Carter : And we put in lots of minnows in the fall. We have 

 ice from 24 to 30 inches thick. 



Mr. L. L. Dyche, Lawrence, Kans. : Have you any indications as 

 to what killed the bass? 



Mr. Carter : No ; we find them around the edge of the pond. 



Mr. Dyche : Was there fungus on them ? 



Mr. Carter: Sometimes, and sometimes not. 



President : The inflow in his pond may be different ; or the character 

 of the water may be different ; you are in a somewhat different latitude. 



Mr. Lydell: Our nesting ponds are 6 feet deep and our winter 

 ponds 75 by 100 feet. Water is introduced by a pipe running below the 

 surface of the water probably ten inches. This makes a good cir- 

 culation and keeps the pond open four or five feet from the pipe the 

 entire winter. I think that is one reason why we never lose any bass 

 during the winter. Our fish are put in there in the latter part of 

 September, or anywhere from then until it freezes up. There is a 

 great quantity of minnows for them to feed on. This method aerates 

 the water nicely and keeps the pond open. 



I would like to make a remark about the transfer of bass. The 

 last two seasons we have transferred bass from warm waters, but we 

 always wait till just a few days before the spawning season. Our bass 



