CATCH BASIN PONDS 



By W. 0. Buck, 

 U. S. Bureau of Fisheries, Neosho, Mo. 



The Neosho, Mo., station of the Bureau of Fisheries 

 was planned to provide a water surface of about five 

 acres supplied from a spring yielding about 350 gallons 

 per minute and with a temperature of 57° F. at all sea- 

 sons. The water was brought to a distributing tank on 

 the highest part of the station grounds and thence to 

 the hatchery and in four other directions to supply sev- 

 eral series of ponds and pools and with provision for 

 overflow of surplus to another series of ponds. As this 

 surplus, though varying in amount, is likely to be small, 

 it is supplemented by overflow from four small pools sup- 

 plied direct from the tank. Overflow from the hatchery 

 furnishes the supply for still another series of ponds and 

 four of these series finally empty into a large pond at the 

 lowest point of the original grounds. All the ponds and 

 pools are arranged so that the overflow is of surface 

 water, the result being that in summer the temperature 

 rises from pond to pond while in winter the reverse is 

 true. Ice seldom forms in the upper ponds and is not 

 often more than three inches thick in the lowest and only 

 for a short time, while in summer an extreme water tem- 

 perature of 92 has been noted. 



Omitting now the questions of evaporation and seep- 

 age, although both are important factors of the problem 

 here, it remains to consider the results of the arrange- 

 ment and to determine the proper use to be made of the 

 different ponds. The sorts of fish to be handled number 

 a dozen or more, the principal ones being rainbow trout, 

 large-mouth and small-mouth black bass, rock bass, 

 crappie and bream. 



Rainbow trout spawn here from the latter part of No- 

 vember to early April, bass mostly in May and rock bass 

 and sunfish from April till September, so that the work 

 naturally divides itself into two periods, in winter with 



