The fish of Alabama: 1Smallmouth bass. 2 White perch. 3 Blue- 

 gill. 4 Pickerel. 5 Crappie. 6 Largemouth bass. 7 Sturgeon. 

 8 Blue catfish. 9Shellcracker bream. 10 Tarpon. 11 White 

 lake bass. 12 Striped sea bass. 13 Grindle. 



Alabama Ponds 



by Franklin M. Reck . . . map by Claude Peacock 



QUITE a few states can lay claim to good fishing. Pit the Wis- 

 consin muskie fisherman against the Oregon steelhead fan 

 and you'd develop quite an argument. Add the Maine, Michi- 

 gan, and Western trout addicts and the atmosphere could easily 

 become tense. Toss in the deep-sea tars of the coastal states and 

 the debate would begin to curl at the edges. 



But in all this furore, Alabama might put in, "By the way, 

 you fellows have closed seasons, don't you?" 



This would give her an opportunity to point out that Alabama 

 doesn't believe in closed seasons. Why bother with bans when 

 you've got more fish than folks could take out if they worked 

 at it every day, all year? 



Alabama's fishing possibilities range from the tarpon and 

 striped bass of Mobile Bay to the smallmouths, crappies, and 

 white bass of the Tennessee Valley lakes, with largemouths, 

 bream, catfish, grindle, and shellcrackers in the rivers and lakes 

 between these northern and southern extremes. Yet it isn't the 

 variety that gives Alabama her distinction, because all states 

 have variety. 



What sets Alabama apart is that she has learned to raise fish 

 the way she raises corn and cotton. She prepares the land, plants 

 tiny fish, applies fertilizer, and keeps down the weeds. Under the 

 direction of fish culturists at the Alabama experiment station, 

 some 15,000 plots of land have been covered with water and 



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