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Stockinq the Farm Ponds 



Ponds were rotenoned in March and April, 1954, to remove existing 

 fish populations. The usual treatment was 1,5 ppm of Derris povkder(5% 

 rotenone), and later sampling indicated a high percentage of complete kills. 



Fish for stocking the ponds were obtained from the State Fish Hatchery 

 'kt Durant, Oklahoma . The Cleveland County ponds were stocked on May 12, 1954, 

 using 100 largemouth bass and 100 redear sunfish each, per surface acre. The 

 Payne County ponds were stocked on May 19 using the same ratio except that 

 some ponds received bluegills instead of redear. Bass and redear were all 

 one year old fish, the bluegills were slightly larger and contained both 

 one and two-year-old individuals. The average weights of fish stocked in 

 various ponds are shown in Table 4. 

 Sampling the Farm Pond Fish Populations . 



The first sampling of the fish populations was made between September 

 6 and October 16, 1954, The purpose was to determine rates of growth and 

 spawning success. This was accomplished chiefly by use of seines and 

 electro-fishing gear, but one pond was rotenoned when other methods proved 

 ineffective. Efforts were made to recover at least 10 per cent of the 

 original number stocked. Fish were held at pondside in tanks with portable 

 oxygen equipment until a sufficiently large sample was obtained, and the 

 fish were then immobilized with urethane so that they could be accurately 

 weighed and measured and returned to the water as rapidly as possible. The 

 procedure proved very satisfactory, and left the populations intact for 

 future study. 



The fish were again left undisturbed until the following fall. In this 

 final examination efforts were made to obtain complete population estimates 



