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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (March 19, 1953)
) Let’s Know About ... 0 Steps Toward Good Pond Fishing By SCS TECHNICIAN < Holt County Staff If you are interested in fishing, vou will be interested to know ° what the Holt Soil Conservation district supervisors and the Soil Conservation Service technicians are doing to provide better .-.pond fishing. Holt county has many loca tions where excellent stock wa ter ponds have been established oo There are still many places where newc ones can be built Generally, after the ponds are filled the jvate'r is stocked with ° fish from 'one source or another, o o Fishing ranges from poor to fairly good in such ponds. If proper planning had been done 1 before the ponds were construct ed ed,o fishing could have been im proved in nearly every instance, o This article is designed to point >out some steps necessary to make • the farm pond a good fish pond. It should be mentioned that man agement also plays an important role in the perpetuation of good fishing. A tour of fish ponds was held last year and at each pond recommendations for improve ments were made. It is planned to make such a tour an annual feature of the Soil Conservation District activ ities. Soil Conservation Service technicians are trained to an alyze the present situations and propose measures that will increase fish production. A pond of one-half acre will furnish the farm family with plenty of good fishing. For larg er ponds, plans should be made to cooperate with neighbors or . _.. y. oSoil Conservation 0 o o Experts Agree on °. °°„ ° ° THESE MO.DERN TOOLS: DIRT BUCKET for the , o New ls£A-m©EES Hydraulic Loader O O °Your dirt moving problems are reduced to a mechanical opera tion when you use a New Idea-Horn Hydraulic Loader and the dirt bucket attachment. Available in. 6 and 9Vi cubic foot capacity. Has reversible cutting edges—is easily installed. Why not drop in and let us show you this laborsaving tool. Loaders for Year-Round Usefulness! 10 LABOR-SAVING ATTACHMENTS! 0 NO 60 O* 80 SCOOP PITCH CONTROL DIRT BUCKET BUCK RAKE 42 Shown above are 5 of 10 time-and-labor-saving o °o attachments—easily installed on any New Idka-Horn Loader. 3 basic models of New Idea Horn Loaders fit over 100 tractors. Each is one man operated—outstanding for strength and easy handling of heaviest loading and lifting jobs. bulldozer blade C ° ^ . . o SOLVE YOUR PLOWING PROBLEMS WITH MM WHEATLAND DISC PLOWS o For plowing stubble or sod, MM Wheatland disc plows do a superior job and often cut plowing costs as much as 50%. They thoroughly mix trash with soil to increase moisture absorption and to prevent soil blowing. They do not leave air pockets. MM Wheatland disc plows have a wide range of adjustments of disjc angles from 40 to 60 degrees. Adaptable to any size farm . .. offered in 4, 6, 8, ° and 10-foot sizes. ° MM Wheatland disc plows can be set to plow at any o depth from 3 to°9 inches, and one of their big advantages is that they hold to their work at the depth for which they are set. Electrically heat-treated discs are 26 inches in di o ameter. MM larger-diameter discs turn 0 soil better. Disc bearings never tequire lubrication, and a special end-thrust bearing takes all end thrust of the entire _ gang assembly. See us for complete facts. ' \ l o ■ * ■ - * -i---, ,• n'i, ...1 WM. KROTTER CO. OF O’NEILL o o° ... PHONE 531 . . . * o o o >clubs, or some other arrange ments should be made so that fishing may be heavier but still be controlled. Financial help may often be obtained for establish ing and managing larger ponds where such arrangements are made. Following are some sugges tions on site selection and con struction: First consideration should be given to the drainage or water shed that supplies the water. It must have a complete conserva tion program applied before the pond is constructed, in order to insure silt-free water. Water con tinuously carrying a heavy °load of silt will not produce good fishing. The site should be free from excessive flooding. Water should be at least 10 feet deep over one-third of the pond. Plenty of free water below the ice is necessary to sustain fish life in cwinter. Other features that must be planned for at time of construe tion are: me snoreiine snouia have a three-to-one slope to pre vent weed growth; the planting of the shoreline to Reed’s canary grass or other vegetation that will prevent erosion by waves; the installation of a pipe and valve to drain the pond if the pond should become overstocked with stunted fish or if undesire able species such as carp should get into the pond; a spillway wid^, enough so that the over flow will be shallow to minimize the loss of fish; fencing the en tire pond and piping the water to a stock tank located nutside the fenced area. Fencing prevents trampling of the shoreline and shallow water areas which might muddy the water to the extent that fish pro duction becomes difficult. It also assures a relatively pure water supply fore livestock by elimi nating the pollution and contam ination that frequently results in the spread of disease when stock take water directly from the pond. Trees and fruit-producing shrubs may be planted to im prove the fenced area as a habi tat for wildlife and to produce jelly fruits. The planting should be far enough from the shore line as not to interfere with fish ing. With the fish pond properly designed, stocking it becames the important consideration. There are some trout waters in Holt county, and where they exist trout should be given first con sideration. ° You must be sure, if you want to stock a pond with trout that the water tempera ture does not stay above 70 degrees for long periods during the summer. Bass and bluegill are used ex tensively for stocking ponds not suited for trout because of their difference in food and spawning habits. The bass feed upon small fish but spawn once a year. Bluegill feed mostly upon plank ton and small animals, includ ing insects and their lravae, and spawn throughout the summer. Bass feeding upon small fish tend 201-cubic-inch, overhead valve engine delivers 33.00 tnaxium drawbar and 38.00 maximum belt horsepower . . . handles your heaviest 2-3 plow jobs easier, more efficiently. Pull the hand lever and you halt forward motion with out reducing P.T.O. speed. No jammed machines—no time-consuming stops. Roomy platform, anti-shock steering, Hydraulic tool control and Velvet-Ride seat add up to maximum operating comfort. Full-Pressure lubrication, wet sleeves, overhead valve design mean lower upkeep. Automatic, vari able speed governor as sures maximum fuel econ omy and maximum power at every speed. Ask for a demonstration—see the 33 perform on your own farm. Outlaw ImpL Co. West O’Neill O Stockwater pond formed by building an earthen dam across a natural drainage and providing an adequate spillway. Such a pond can furnish, in addition to water for livestock, a place for recreation if slocked with fish, and wildlife habitat if fenced.— Photo by Soil Conservation Service. to hold the bluegill in balance with their food supply, other wise we would end up with a pond full of stunted bluegill. Upon application to the Federal Fish and Wildlife Service (blanks are available at the local soil con servation district office) small fish may bee secured to stock small ponds at the recommended rate. These fish are available at no cost and the pond owner may still regulate fishing as he wishes. Many of the ponds that have been stocked do not produce good fishing. They should be studied thoroughly to find what is wrong before it is restocked or altered. Some of the reasons for poor fishing in old ponds are: 1. Too much silt in water— additional conservation practices may be needed in the drainage or contiguous pond area. 2. Infertile water—not enough food for fish to make any growth. The application of fertilizer should correct this situation. 3. Water too shallow — fish suffocate in shallow ponds that freeze over for any length of time. Winter losses can be espe cially heavy if the ice becomes covered with snow. 4. Too many fish—caused by failure to remove annual crop, resulting in large numbers of stunted fish. In other words, not enough fishing. S. Improper water tempera ture—too cold for bass and blue gill to reproduce or too warm for trout to live. Only a minnow seine and a thermometer are needed to in spect ponds. This is the type of equipment used last summer on the tour of fish ponds. The fol lowing places were visited: L. G. Genung of Atkinson, Atkinson Fish club; L. C. Richards of At kinson, Aaron Boshart of O’Neill and Guy L. Johnson of O’Neill. With a minnow seine, we checked for reproduction. When vve found both little bass and little bluebill and we knew there was food for the fish in the pond at that time for only well-fed fish reproduce. All that is left for us to do now is to fish the large ones out, leaving the food for the small ones to grow to edible size. Here are some situations that may exist in some of the ponds in Holt county, and what to do about them: 1. We might find too many bluegill in relation to the num ber of bass, or there may be too many bass and too few bluegill. The ratio should be 10 bluegill to one bass. These conditions can result from using the wrong pro portionate number of each spe cies of fish when stocking the pond. Or, a dense weed growth might protect the young bluegill from the bass. Corrective mea sures here may be quite compli cated. If weed growth or moss is protecting the young bluegill, the moss or weeds must be de stroyed. If the pond has been j constructed so thaft there is only j a small amount of shallow water ! around the edges and the shores I have been planted to Reed’s ca j nary grass or other desireable | vegetation, the weeds or moss ; can usually be eliminated by i proper fertilization. Then if the | pond is not overcrowded, addi | tion of the missing species will | improve the fishing. If the pond is overcrowded, however, these fish must be removed and the pond restocked at the proper rate in fertile waters. 2. If both bluegill and bass are found in sufficient numbers but are small, lack of fertility or an inadequate supply of food is the cause of poor fishing. The application of fertilizer should correct this situation. 3. If bluegill alone are found, the addition of adult bass and heavy fishing for bluegill will bring the fish population in bal ance. Since adult bass are diffi cult to obtain, the alternative is to clean out the bluegill and start over. 4. If most of the bluegill are large, it means that there are too many large bass which eat all the small bluegill. Fish for the large bass, and follow by fertil ization to provide more food for the bluegill. 5. Where any one species of game fish increases beyond the carrying capacity of the water, resulting in small stunted °fish, the pond is referred to as being out of balance. When ordinary management oractices fail to bring the pond back into bal ance, all fish should be removed and the water restocked with recommended numbers and de sired species. If carp or otherc undesireable species inhabit the water they must be remoyed be fore stocking with game fish. Frontier for printing! ..DANCE.. AT O’NEILL O o American Legion Auditorium G ! SATURDAY, MARCH 21st ACES OF RHYTHM . ORCHESTRA ; o Adm.: Adults $1, Students 50c O FOLDING BANQUET TABLES O’flEILL CHURCHES. SCHOOLS, CLUBS. LODGES. ^ INSTITUTIONS. ETC. Individual Donor Tlales on tables at no extra cost NEW MEMORIAL . . . 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