Osburn. — Conditions Detrimental to Bass. 37 



in the carrying into the streams a larger amount of silt and 

 the muddying of the waters to a greater extent than obtains 

 in nature and this is harmful to the food supply as well as to 

 spawning beds. The seining of minnows and other small 

 fish for live bait is a menace to bass production since it de- 

 prives them at once of a large amount of natural food. In 

 many smaller streams and on the shores of lakes this has 

 gone to the extent that anglers are complaining that they can 

 no longer get live bait. It is well known that large numbers 

 of the small fish taken for live bait die before they are used 

 and are thrown awa3\ Time is about ripe for a cam- 

 paign against this useless waste of good bass food, for when 

 anglers are unable to obtain minnows for bait with a seine 

 the question arises; what are the bass finding for food to re- 

 place them? I am of the opinion that it would be well to 

 restrict the seining of small fish for live bait. 



Reforestation will aid in reestablishing the water level 

 of streams and education will have some effect in preventing 

 over-cleanliness such as the removal of vegetation from 

 shallow water, etc., and in preventing the lowering of the 

 water level in lakes at seasons when fish and their food are 

 most susceptible to the change. It is even possible to fer- 

 tilize a body of water to make it more productive of lower 

 organisms, to plant with aquatic vegetation suitable for 

 cover and to introduce smaller fishes which will serve asfood 

 for the basses. 



5. Over-fishing can be controlled by limiting still far- 

 ther the size of the fish legally taken and by preventing 

 spring fishing before the adults have had an opportunity to 

 breed at least once. Restocking from hatcheries is a satis- 

 factory method, as far as it goes, and my observations indi- 

 cate that often the fry may be taken from lakes and streams 

 without injury to the fishing in those waters, when the natu- 

 ral hatch is excessive. I feel sure that millions of young 

 small mouthed bass might have been removed from Lake 

 Erie about the Bass Islands the past season without doing 

 any injury to the future fishing prospects and the same has 

 been true of the large mouthed bass in many of our smaller 

 lakes season after season as I have observed them, for not 

 one out of a hundred young could possibly come to maturity 

 and find food and range. Over-fishing is probably the 

 least important of the checks to production except in re- 

 stricted localities. 



6. As to pollution, I look forward to the time when the 

 American people will no more tolerate this than they do cer- 

 tain other public nuisances. Then the bass may be restored 

 to their original haunts and the area of bass production in- 



