Journal of the Southeastern Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies

The evolution and success of a State waterfowl management program on federally purchased perimeter lands on the Old Hickory and Cheatham Lock and Dam Projects in Middle Tennessee are described. Basic development upon operations' initiatkm (Old Hickory 1957 and Cheatham 1959) and early project years consisted of provision of quantities of suitable agricultural foods on upland areas adjacent to the reservoirs. Beginning in 1959 on Old Hickory and 1960 on Cheatham, the program was materially altered from that above to one centered upon the construction and operation of twenty-four small seasonal subimpoundments. These varying in size from six to 200 surface acres are annually drained, cultivated for food production and subsequently reflooded prior to the beginning of the fall migration period.

Although flathead catfish were very popular fish with the anglers of Texas, very little effort was made in the hatchery system to propagate these fish until about ten years ago. First, flatheads taken from lakes and rivers were used for brood fish. Repeated failures to get these fish to spawn, however, prompted hatchery personnel to rear offspring from some of the few spawns obtained from the feral fish so that hatcheryreared flatheads could be used for brood fish. This proved to be successful since eight pairs of hatchery-reared brood fish produced seven spawns the first year they were used and 11 spawns out of 12 pairs of these fish were obtained the next year. Hormone injections were not required to obtain these spawns. The hatchery-reared brood fish couldn't be sexed successfully until the fourth year, and no spawns were obtained until the fourth year, indicating this might be the time that sexual maturity is reached.