TWENTY-EIGHTH BIENNIAL REPORT. 43 



abundauce of food in the waters of Bear Lake — probably greater than 

 in any other lake of equal area in the state — consisting of all native 

 aquatic insects, as well as gainmarus and minnows. There is an abun- 

 dance of food to last for several years to come and the l)ass will not 

 prey on the trout to any great extent until this supply of food is 

 greatly reduced by the increasing numbers of bass. T5y holding our 

 trout fry until late in the fall when the bass have left tlie shallows 

 to return to deep water and become torpid, the trout fry can be 

 released and will have a fair chance of maintaining themselves in goodly 

 numbers' for a great many years, or until such time as the bass have 

 destroyed the abundant supply of insects and minnoAvs and begin to 

 devour their own young, as well as the trout. But until such time as 

 this condition prevails, we shall continue the operation of Bear Lake 

 Hatchery, as the trout fishing during the spring of 1924 was exceed- 

 ingly good and promised to hold out during the entire season. As the 

 period of the year during which bass will bite is very short, and as they 

 do not furnish as good a game fish for the anglers as do the trout, and 

 as there are so many lakes and streams in lower altitudes where the 

 water is too warm and full of organic matter for trout to thrive, it is 

 to be deplored that bass were ever introduced into this lake by thought- 

 less persons for reasons best known to themselves. 



NORTH CREEK EGG-COLLECTING STATION. 

 This station is located on the shores of Bear Lake. During the last 

 two years the bulk of the eggs furnished the Bear Lake Hatchery were 

 collected at this station. The total number of eggs collected was 

 3,611,000. Of this number 1,150,000 were hatched and distributed 

 from the troughs where they were hatched after the other eggs were 

 eyed and shipped to the main hatchery at Green Spot Springs. Tem- 

 porary repairs to the traps and tanks were made at this station in the 

 spring of 1922, as they w^ere damaged in the winter by the flood waters 

 that came down North Creek. The repairs necessary to l)e made at this 

 station to maintain it for several years longer are to re])air the roof by 

 replacing it with an iron roof; the general overhauling of the hatchery 

 troughs; and improvements to the trap and tank system. This work 

 should be done during this coming fall. 



GROUT CREEK TRAP. 



Grout Creek station was damaged in the spring of li)21, in fact, it 

 was entirely washed out and carried down the stream. There has been 

 no water in this creek since that time to justify the exi)eiulituro of 

 any considerable sum of money to install a permanent trap; but, if 

 there should be a heav}^ snowfall in the watershed of this creek, it may, 

 in all probability, be well to install a permanent trap to catch the trout 

 that ascend the stream during the spawning ])eriod. The stream rapidly 

 subsides after the snow is through melting, and if the fish are not 

 caught and the eggs collected, a great many of Ihcm, in fact, the 



largest percentage of them, perish on the sniid flats at Ihc i ih nf 



this creek or are canglit in tlie pools above the sand Hals near tlie 

 shores of the lake when the water recedes; tiierefore, i1 would jiistify 

 the expense of installing a fairly good trap to catch these lish and 

 collect their eggs and to prevent the loss of the I)1-iti|ci-s lli;it ai-i' 

 stranded when the water dries up in the stream. 



