FIsh Hatchery Development  

FIsh Hatchery develops from an Idea From an Idea to a Successful Reality in One Year's TIme

Just a little more than a year ago several of the residents of the Lake Maxinkuckee community conceived the idea of establishing a fish hatchery, and the idea was taken up with the State Conservation Department, and the superintendent of the Fish and Game Division was sen to Culver to confer on the matter, and he brought two other state men to assist him.

The weather was very cold and the heaviest snow of the year had just fallen making it necessary for everyone to pull on boots and bundle up heavily for tramping over the various locations under consideration.

Dr. C. G. Mackey, Charles Cowen, George Stabenow, Oliver Schilling, "Leo" Wennerstom, Dave Braden and John Milner accompained the state men on this inspection tour, and upon the recommendation of the state men the area of low gorund between the old Lake View Hotel and Jungle Hotel was selected as the spot offering the most natural setting, with woil that would insure better food faclitites for the purpose

The location being on the property of Culver Military Academy, Mr. Braden was delegated to take the matter up with the Board of Trustees, and as usual the trustees entered into the spirit of anything progressive for the community and granted permission for the use of this ground until such time as it might be needed for further development of the Academy.

With this splendid and generous cooperation the project immediately appeared as a sure thin and a general meeting was called for every one interested in the best interest of Lake Maxkinkuckee Fish and Game Cub was formed,

Dr. Mackey being elected President;
Al Thessin as Vice President; and
George Stabenow as secretary and treasurer.

At this first meeting ehough labor, teams, scoops and trucks were donated so that work was started the next day.

With a membership of 357 for the first year, and donationd from firends of the lake, it was possible for this work to proceed at such a rate that by May 1 two ponds were completed and ready to receive the parent bass. The spirit with which this was acomlished was nothing short of marvelous.

Now the ponds were ready for the parent bass, but it was not possible at the time to get them by seining, so prizes were offered to those catching by rod and reel and donating the most bass to the hatchery.

It seems that everyone got busy in a hurry and soon had the quota of large and small moth bass in the ponds. The first prize went to J. M. Miller; second prize to George Stabenow; third prize to Carey Cummins and ther were several other prizes.

Then came the securing of proper vegetation to be planted in these ponds to provide the necessary food for fish, and the men who did this work certainly earned the thanks of the community for it was extermely difficult and hard work.

The parent bass had to be properly fed and different members of the club furnished. minnows which were killed for feeding purposes. Live minnows or other live bait should never be put in thses ponds due to the fact that they are destructinve to the spawn and fry. 500 pounds of diews and concentrated fish meal were also used in feeding the small fish.

All through the summer it was a fight to meet all of the obstacles that present themselves to the new project, byu George Stabennow and Charlie Cowen seemed to be equal to every emergency and with the help of other wothy workers the hatchery came through with flying colors.

Most of the difficulty was due to a group of youngsters who took delight in throwing just about everything inro the ponds, even to clogging up the drain pipes, causing an overflow of the ponds and washing away a portion of the banks.

Members coming in contact with any form of destruction or interference with he welfare of this project, should make it their business to get the names of anyone interfering with the welfare of the project and report the names to one of the deputies or game wardens.

After the spawning season it was interesting to watch the rapid development of the young bass, with the parent fish doing faithful guard duty. Week by week the young seemed to thrive and it appeared that the ponds were literally crowded, and most any day and any time during the day there seemed to be some interested visitors getting a education on fish llife.

It was considered advisable to keep the young bass in the ponds as long as possible, and the club was very fortunate to have such a good friend as "Pete" LAvery, who is in charge of the State Bass Hatchery at Bass Lake, and he came over often andorrered his expert advice.

The last of October as a representatice of the State FIsh and Game Division, Mr. Lavery brought one of his deputies with him and with the help of various members of the club, the ponds were slowly drained, the parent bass removed to another place which had neem prepared to hold them, and the work of taking out the young bass went forward.

As fast as they were seined, they were placed in a large tank and the counting was done by Mr. Lavery. After the count of the youngeters were turned into Lake Maxinkuckee and the size averaged nearly four inches.

The state department was so well pleased with the results of the first season, that the club received $500 from the state.

From all information received, the Maxinkuckee FIsh and Game club raised more bass than any other club in the state, and through its efforst a total of

32,000 small mouth;
28,500 larmouth bass;
1,200,000 wall eyed pike and
30,000 blue gills

were planted in the lake during the past summer, a grand total of 1,290,000.

Thrilled by the success of the first year, the club was anxiouc to build a third pond and improve the other two, so with the consent of the Academy trustees, work was started under the supervision of George Stabenow, and all through the winter this work has progressed until this week the job was completed.

Mr. Wennerstrom has supervised the planting or hundreds of native shrubs, many bishes of iris, and grass seed. The entire railroad bank has been hidden through the planting ot the shrubbery. His advice on other details was also of great help. It is assurd that the hatchery will be a reall beauty spot this summer.

The water for the ponds comes from five flowing wells and two small streams west ande ast of the railroad. The drainage ditch on the west side of the Jungle property has been tiled and covered up and planted in grass, thereby beautifing a formerly ragged looking spot.

The club held it annual meeting recently and Dr. Mackey was reelected president, Oliver Shilling as elected vice-president and George Stabenow was reelected sectretary-treasurer.

The nunber of memberships pledged at this meeting indicated that the membership of the past year will be exceeded. The membership fee is only twenty-five cents, and everybody except those who are known viloators of the fish and game laws of the state is eligible for membership. It is hoped that the membership will grow to over 500 this year.

Aside from the memberships, it is hoped that the residents and visitors to the lake will again show their appreciation of the project by making such donations as they can. With everybody behind this project Maxinkuckee should again be among the best fishing spots in the state.

Game Warden Stone attended the annual meeting and gave some very valuable suggestions, among which was his offer to assist in the state-wide attempt to kill off the crows, and Al Theesin was appointed to organize a "posse" for a big crow hunt. The club offerd five cents for every crow killed and the crow feet turned into Al Thession will be paid by the club.

Warden Stone also stated that if the club would carefully select twelve reliable men, he would be glad to recommend their appointment as deputy wardens. These will be men who are willing to perform their duty without fear or favor, which should materially aid in the reduction of fish and game violations on Lake Maxinkuckee. - Feb 7 1934