Biological Survey — Oswego Watershed 25 



and the streams were graded as to food richness, Grade I indicating 

 the highest value.* 



Pool Conditions: A good fish pool is generally deeper and wider 

 than the average for the stream, the current is appreciably slower 

 and hiding places for fish are frequently more extensive. Pools 

 may constitute a more favorable environment for trout by reason 

 of the following: 



1. Shelter from light and such enemies as kingfishers, herons 



and man. 



2. Greater forage possibilities, 



a. Larger surface area for the reception of terrestrial food 



organisms. 



b. More ready detection of food animals falling in or float- 



ing on the surface. 



c. Collecting place for food carried down by the current. 



d. Collecting place for detritus which may support a rich 



fauna. 



e. Exposed pools containing watercress, mosses and other 



plants in great luxuriance, which may supply the com- 

 bination of shelter and a dense population of food ani- 

 mals. 



f. Pools margined by willows and certain other trees and 



shrubs receiving a larger contribution of food by rea- 

 son of the special attraction of these plants for insects. 



Not all pools, however, are equally attractive to fish. A type 

 frequently occurring in deep, narrow gorges is scoured out during 

 heavy rains and has little if any food left. A shallow exposed 

 pool without shelter or food is a detriment to any trout stream. 



There is not much information to guide one in evaluating pools, 

 but in the present survey we have tried to study them with refer- 

 ence to size, type and frequency, and have finally put streams into 

 three classes : A, showing what seemed to represent the best pool 

 conditions, B, average and C, poorest. 



Effects of Angling: With the exception of those in Lewis 

 county, all streams in the area covered are fished too heavily in 

 comparison with size and productiveness. This is most noticeable 

 in the trout streams located near the cities of Syracuse, Auburn, 

 Geneva and Canandaigua. The few that are suitable for trout are 

 generally small, and many of them might easily be relieved of 

 their quotas of legal sized trout early in the season, thereafter 

 yielding a preponderance of undersized fish. It is not possible for 

 such streams to produce fish flesh rapidly enough to meet the 

 requirements of the ever increasing numbers of fishermen, and here 

 the only hope lies in the planting of larger sizes of trout than has 

 been the practice heretofore. 



In that part of Fish creek and tributaries located in upper 

 Oneida and in Lewis counties, the case is much different. Here 



* See paper: A quantitative study of fish food supply in selected areas, by 

 P. R. Needham, page 191. 



