COARSE FISH

Compared to what is known about the early part of the life history of the Salmonidae, our knowledge of coarse fish is small. Fortunately, however, such lengthy and complicated proceedings as are necessary to obtain a good stock of trout are not necessary to obtain a good stock of coarse fish. If even a few rudd, perch, dace, pike, or carp are put into water where they have a good supply of food to begin with, and which is suitable otherwise for their well-being, the amateur’s chief trouble after a few years, if the water is not heavily fished, will be to keep down the stock of coarse fish in proportion to the supply of food.

I have seen many cases where rudd, perch, dace and carp have increased to an enormous extent from a few fish introduced into the water. Some four years ago we put a few small rudd into a mill-pond at home, thinking that the fry they produced would serve admirably as food to the trout which also inhabited the pond. In about twenty months the pond was full of small rudd, and last year we netted out many hundred, as the water was terribly over-stocked with them. The same thing has happened in almost every case which has come to my knowledge; that is, of course, where the waters have been stocked with food, and suitable to the fish introduced.

The way in which dace will increase when put into a suitable water is, if possible, even more remarkable than what happens in the case of the rudd. I will quote one instance, which proves this very conclusively. A few years ago there were no dace in the Sussex Ouse. Pike fishermen, however, used to bring live dace to use as baits. Some of these escaped, or were set free by the fishermen at the end of their day’s fishing, and now the Sussex Ouse contains more dace for its size than any other river I have ever seen.

While rudd thrive best in a pond or lake into which a stream flows, dace require a river or stream to do well. They will, however, thrive and increase rapidly in a river where trout are not a success. A muddy bottom with occasional quickly running shallows, seem to constitute the best kind of water for dace. The largest, and by far the best conditioned dace I have seen, have come from the tidal parts of rivers, where the water is brackish at high water. Dace from such a water have also the advantage of being very good eating, as they have, as a rule, not got the unpleasant muddy taste usual in this fish.

Perch and pike will thrive both in rivers and in ponds or lakes which have a supply of water from a stream or from springs. They both increase in numbers very rapidly, and when protected, are more likely to require thinning down every few years, than artificial assistance from the amateur.

The king-carp is the best fish for the amateur who wishes to obtain good bottom fishing from an absolutely stagnant pond. This fish is much bolder and a more free feeder than the common carp. It increases so rapidly in numbers, and is a hard fighting and lively fish.

Most of the coarse fish deposit a much larger number of eggs than do any of the Salmonidae that is to say, in proportion to their size. In stocking a water which contains no fish, the amateur may wish to hurry on the process of nature in the case of coarse fish; and, fortunately, this is fairly easily managed. In the case of perch, rudd, pike, and carp, but little change of water is required to hatch out the eggs. The eggs of these fish take but a short time to hatch; and if they are protected, and this protection is also given to the little fish for a few weeks, it will generally be found that an amply sufficient result is obtained. The eggs should be spread out carefully on wicker-work or the lids of baskets and kept in the light. A trickle of water which is sufficient to change the body of water in the pond in which the ova are put will, as a rule, be enough. The amateur must be careful that the pond in which he hatches the eggs does not contain any of the many enemies I have described in former chapters. If it is at all possible to protect the eggs and the little fish, it is best to hatch out the eggs in the pond which it is intended to stock, for it is exceedingly difficult to keep the newly-hatched fish in a rearing-pond on account of their very small size. It will be necessary to use muslin or flannel screens instead of perforated zinc. Care must be taken that there is not too great a flow of water, as this will cause the little fish to be drowned at the outlet screen.