A commercially available nylon mat material was tested as a spawning site for largemouth bass. Of 90 mats installed in fin ponds during a two-year period, spawns were observed on 68. In the 1965 experiment, 71 percent of the 80 spawns observed in three ponds were on the spawning mats. Three efforts to transfer mats bearing eggs to rearing ponds for incubation and growth were successful to some degree, although acceptable production was obtained in only one of the three trials. In this instance a per-acre production of 37,600 two-inch fingerlings weighing 54.3 pounds was measured. Two attempts at hatching the eggs under controlled conditions followed by transfer to a rearing pond were only partially successful as the fry failed to survive after being hatched successfully in a paddlewheel hatching trough and a Downing type hatching jar.
