Aug. 24, 1912 
FOREST AND STREAM 
239 
Pond Culture of Small-Mouth Bass. 
From a pamphlet issued by the Marion County (la.) 
Fish and Game Protective Association. 
The hatching and rearing of small-mouth 
black bass by the method known as pond cul¬ 
ture, which is in use at the Riverside station, 
Marion County Fish and Game Protective Asso¬ 
ciation, is the only successful method ever dis¬ 
covered in the propagation of this fish, and was 
originated by Dwight Lydell, of the Michigan 
fish commission. By this method the hatching 
is done by the adult fish in ponds constructed 
for that purpose and under conditions made as 
nearly natural as possible. The hatching ponds 
are built with a gradually sloping bottom made 
of clay, and are made to drain toward a deep 
pool or kettle at the outlet, so that the water 
can be slowly drawn off and all of the fish gath¬ 
ered in a small space at such times when they 
are to be removed from the pond. 
Broodery ponds for rearing the young fish 
are constructed on the same plan except that 
they are not made so deep as the hatching ponds, 
since there are no adult fish in them, the fry 
being transferred from the hatching ponds. 
The ponds at Riverside Park consist of a 
wintering pond, hatching pond and brooding 
pond. The wintering pond is the smallest and 
deepest of the three. It is triangular in shape, 
each side being about sixty feet long. Its 
greatest depth is about five and a half feet, and 
is lined throughout with cement. It is used for 
keeping the parent fish over the winter and at 
all other times except during the hatching season. 
The hatching pond is about 175 feet in 
length and 105 feet wide. Its greatest depth is 
about four and a half feet at the outlet, but 
for the larger part will vary from eighteen 
inches to three feet in depth. The hatching is 
done in this pond, and it is also used as a 
broodery for the fry after the nests are hatched 
off. The broodery pond was built last fall (1911) 
and will be put in operation for the first time 
this season. It is about 250 feet long and 112 
feet wide, and is three feet deep at the outlet. 
It will be used for rearing the fry to the finger- 
ling stage. 
The water supplying these ponds is derived 
from springs in the hillside back of the ponds. It 
is conducted to the wintering pond through a 
tile drain and flows at the rate of thirty-four 
gallons per minute. 
From this pond it flows into the hatching 
pond and then into the brooding pond. The 
waste water drains into Crooked Creek. 
METHOD OF OPERATION. 
The hatching pond is cleaned in the spring 
after having been left dry during the winter 
months and nest frames consisting of one-inch 
boards built in a box shape thirty inches square 
without top or bottom, two adjoining sides being 
four inches high, and the other two sixteen 
inches high are placed in position around the 
edge of the pond with the highest sides toward 
the bank, and so they will be in water about two 
feet to thirty inches deep when the pond is 
full. They are then filled with coarse gravel 
and sand to the height of the four-inch sides. 
The nests are weighted down with a heavy stone 
placed on top to keep them in position. Then 
the pond is filled. Water lilies set in flower pots 
so as to be easily moved are placed near the 
nests to help screen them, and also at other 
points in the pond. Chara and elodia moss is 
planted around the edge of the pond for a hid¬ 
ing and feeding place for the insects on which 
the young bass feed. 
When the water in the hatching pond 
reaches the temperature of 70 degrees—generally 
in the early part of May—the water in the win¬ 
tering pond is lowered and the breeders seined 
out and put in the hatching pond. This tem¬ 
perature being right for spawning, the male bass 
selects his nest at once and cleans it by fanning 
it with his fins and tail. He then goes out and 
gets a female that is ready to spawn and drives 
her on the nest. After working some time— 
possibly an hour or so—to bring the female into 
that state of excitement in which she will drop 
her eggs, by circling around her and biting her 
on the head and sides, spawning takes place. 
The fish turn partly on their sides a few inches 
above the nest with the vents together and stay 
in that position for a few seconds at a time, at 
intervals of two or three minutes, during which 
time the circling movements are resumed for 
about a half hour, during which time the eggs 
and milt are deposited on the nest. The male 
then drives the female away and tends the nest 
alone, fanning it to keep sediment from collect¬ 
ing on the eggs, and which might smother them, 
and drives away any other fish that comes near 
the nest. During the spawning period both fish 
turn very light in color, as they sometimes do 
just after being caught, making the black spots 
on the head and sides appear very prominent. 
The eggs hatch in six to eight days and the 
fry swarm to the top in ten to fifteen days after 
the eggs are laid. The fry which are to be left 
in the hatching pond are allowed to scatter over 
the pond; and the balance which are to be re¬ 
moved either for planting or removal to the 
brooding pond, are confined in guards placed 
around the nests at the time the fry are rising 
to the top. These guards consist of a wooden 
frame three feet wide and four feet long, covered 
with cheese cloth. They are made in several 
heights, and when set around the nest extend 
several inches above the top of the water. The 
fry are seined out of these guards with a cheese 
cloth net as wanted, but are not confined in 
them for more than two or three days. The 
young fish do not start feeding until the yolk 
sac is absorbed; this lasts them for about two 
days after they have come to the top. 
The food of the young fish consists of a 
number of insects that live in the water. These 
insects are gathered from stagnant pools where 
they live on decaying vegetable matter. They 
are seined out with a cheese cloth seine and are 
planted in the ponds inside a screen wire in¬ 
closure. This is done to keep the larger and 
injurious insects from getting into the pond. 
The smaller food insects can easily pass through 
the meshes of the screen and scatter all over 
the pond. They find plenty of food in the dead 
mosses and other vegetation that grows in the 
pond and multiply very rapidly. The food in¬ 
sects consist mainly of cypris, cyclops, daphnia, 
gammarus, blood worms, round worms, the 
larvie of the May fly and mosquito. Some of 
the more common of the injurious insects that 
prey upon the fry are the boatman, whirlagig 
beetle, the larvae of the dragon fly and the water 
beetle. The fry which are black until they reach 
the length of about three-fourths of an inch are 
guarded by the male fish. Every evening during 
this period the fry will circle the shore of the 
pond and ball up at some point, generally around 
a lily or nest frame. They then gradually take 
on the color of the old fish and do not ball up 
any more at night, and the old fish do not pay 
any attention to them. 
The fry are constantly feeding and reach 
the fingerling stage (one inch) in about twenty 
days. They are then thinned out from day to 
day and planted. Planting continues until the 
latter part of August, at which time they are 
from two to three inches in length. 
1'he fingerlings are seined out of the pond 
with a fine mesh seine and are transferred to 
the place of planting in ten-gallon milk cans. 
The water in the cans is aerated by means of 
a perforated dipper which is plunged into the 
can and carries the air down with it. When the 
air is exhausted and the dipper is filled with 
water, it is lifted out and the water left to fall 
back into the can. By this means the fish can 
be held in the can all day long if necessary. 
Some of the fry grow more rapidly than others, 
especially those which have a tendency to feed 
on the weaker ones. Some ,of these will attain 
a length of four or five inches by the last of 
August. The proportion of these, however, is 
very small. 
The cans are loaded in the wagon and wet 
canvas is wrapped around them. This is done 
to keep the water in the cans cool by the evapor¬ 
ation of the water on the canvas. 
On arriving at the place at which they are 
to be planted, most of the water in the cans is 
emptied and all of the fish put into one or two 
cans. These cans are then sunk in the stream 
in comparatively shallow water, near some grass 
patch—which is the natural feeding grounds— 
and the fish allowed to swim out of the cans, 
which they will do when the water in the cans 
is tempered to the same degree as that in the 
stream. They will scatter over a large area in 
a short time. Should there be any pin minnows 
about, the young bass will start chasing and feed¬ 
ing on them as soon as they come out of the can. 
The breeders are allowed to stay in the 
hatching pond with the young fish and are fed 
on minnows every day. The minnows are killed 
before being fed to the bass, so they will not 
escape in the pond and feed on the insects and 
young fish. 
When the hatching pond is emptied, the 
breeders are put back into the wintering pond 
and the pond stocked with live minnows. The 
bass feed upon these until freezing weather sets 
in, and then do not feed any more until spring. 
The Anglers’ Club of New York. 
The club tournament of the Anglers’ Club 
of New York will be held as follows: 
Saturday, Sept. 7.—2 p. m., dry-fly accuracy; 
4 p. M., distance salmon fly handicap. 
Saturday, Sept. 14. —2 p. m., distance bait 
handicap; 4 p. m., distance fly handicap. 
Rules of spring tournament to apply unless 
otherwise specified. Lure in bait event furnished 
by the committee. Weight of rod in distance fly 
event limited to six ounces with no allowances. 
Silver medal for first, bronze medal for second 
in each event. The contestant making best aver¬ 
age score in the four events to receive a gold 
medal. Walter McGuckin, 
Chairman Tournament Committee. 
