210 



RECREATION. 



win and Capt. C. B. Hudson, who will 

 paint in life colors the more important 

 food fishes of the islands, and Mr. W. H. 

 Ashmead, of the U. S. National Museum, 

 who goes to study the insects -of the is- 

 lands. Capt. Hudson and Mr. Baldwin 

 are the artists who made the accurate and 

 beautiful colored drawings reproduced in 

 Dr. Evermann's recent book on the Fishes 

 and Fisheries of Porto Rico, of which 

 Congress ordered the printing of an extra 

 edition of 7,500 copies. It is expected that 

 the Hawaiian report will be even more 

 handsomely illustrated than is the report 

 on Porto Rican fishes. 



A BLACK BASS POND. 



Hickman, Ky. 

 Editor Recreation : 



I have recently constructed a fish pond 

 by building a dam near the head of a ra- 

 vine. The deepest water is 24 feet ; length 

 of pond, 430 feet; average width, 150 feet; 

 capacity, 4,000,000 gallons. The only 

 source of water supply at present is rain. 

 The pond has a watershed to feed it of 

 about 6 acres, all covered with bluegrass 

 sod. I am preparing to put in a deep well, 

 say 400 feet, from which I am sure of 

 pumping, say, 24,000 gallons of water a 

 day. If possible, will make it an artesian 

 well. In order to obtain breeding pools, I 

 dug out at the upper end a space 25 x 75 

 feet, where the water is only 2 feet deep. 

 I purpose to wall up the banks 5 to 8 feet 

 above water, with rock, and arrange for 

 the pwmped water to run in at upper end 

 over this rock wall. I am dividing this 

 upper pool into 2 equal parts by a stone 

 wall across midway. It will be arranged 

 so I can drive the fish from one pool to 

 the other, and from the pools into main 

 body of pond, or keep separate lots of fish 

 in each pool. I have put a lot of big mouth 

 black bass, croppies and goggle eyes into 

 the main pond. There are already a large 

 number of sun perch and minnows in the 

 pools. 



The pond has a clay bottom. Can I suc- 

 cessfully breed mountain and rainbow 

 trout in such a pond? It is well protected 

 from wash and is clear. I am near Reel- 

 foot lake which is a black bass resort. I 

 find in it a great deal of moss, which the 

 fish seem fond of. I have transferred some 

 of this moss to the main body of the pond. 

 I shall also plant a number of water lilies. 

 Should I plant any water lilies and moss 

 in the breeding pools? I also want to plant 

 in the upper pool a lot of nelumbiums, 

 American and Egyptian lotus. I have put 

 in a stone wall across the pool to keep these 

 latter from spreading beyond the limit of 

 that upper pool. I will be thankful for any 

 suggestions you may make, especially as to 

 any good varietv of game fish you might 

 advise for such a pond. The pond is 



wholly for the pleasure of myself and 

 friends ; not for profit. 



H. A. Tyler. 



ANSWER. 



It will be useless to attempt to raise any 

 species of trout in the waters of Western 

 Kentucky. The trout are all lovers of cold 

 water, and would not do well in any of the 

 streams of Kentucky, except possibly in 

 some of the small mountain streams in the 

 Eastern part of the State. It is not worth 

 while to put any trout in a stream or lake 

 whose maximum temperature exceeds 55 

 or 60 degrees. The water in your pond 

 will probably run up to 80 degrees, or more 

 in dogdays, and that would kill the tough- 

 est of trout. Moreover, you should not 

 put trout in the same stream or pond with 

 black bass, for the trout would not last 

 long. Your pond is best suited to large 

 mouth black bass, crappies and sun fishes, 

 and it will be best to give attention to those 

 species. You should not place many, if any, 

 plants in the breeding pools. Have the 

 pools 3 or 4 feet deep, with clean sand and 

 gravel bottom, and not too openly exposed 

 to the sun. — Editor. 



WHAT ARE GAME FISHES? 



In a case where parties were arrested for 

 violating the laws in regard to the taking 

 of game fishes under the old law which 

 prohibited the seizing of game fishes, and 

 presumably allowed others to be taken, 

 the defendants put up the defense that 

 channel catfish were not game fish, and 

 did not come under provisions of the law. 



Referring to me for a decision, I de- 

 clared that channel cat are among the 

 gamiest of our fishes, taking live bait and 

 putting up as good a fight as a bass or 

 any other game fish. The parties are now 

 asking for authorities, and if your attor- 

 ney can quote some State, supreme or 

 national court decisions in this matter, it 

 will help us win the case. 



A. J. Applegate, Wichita, Kan. 



Sec'y Kans. Div. L. A. S. 



I referred Mr. Applegate's letter to the 

 Hon. John S. Wise, who writes: 



I can find no rulings of State courts 

 defining what are game fishes,, and even 

 if I could find the rulings of one State on 

 what are game fishes in that State, they 

 would not be conclusive or even persua- 

 sive as to what are game fishes in another 

 State. It often happens that a fish which 

 is regarded as a game fish in one locality 

 is differently regarded in another. 



For example: The sea bass .here in 

 New York is a fine fish and doubtless re- 

 garded as a game fish. In the waters of 

 the Chesapeake it is the veriest trash and 

 is called a Black Will. Again, here in 

 New York the Lafayette is a trash fish. 

 It is only caught by little boys and is sel- 



