18 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



productive was the first (16.5 percent). The per- 

 centages for both the summer (23.3) and autumn 

 (25.6) quarters were near the 25-percent level. 



Yellow perch : The three most productive months 

 (October, 22.1 percent; November, 20.1 percent; 

 December, 14.7 percent) fell in the autumn. Pro- 

 duction was good in September also (11.1 per- 

 cent) , but in the remaining months the percentage 

 did not exceed 6.8 (the figure for January) and 

 was as low as 2.3 (May). More than half (56.9 

 percent) of the average annual total was produced 

 in the fourth quarter and more than three-fourths 

 (76.7 percent) in the second half of the year. The 

 winter (14.9 percent) and spring (8.4 percent) 

 quarters together accounted for less than a fourth 

 (23.3 percent) of the annual take. 



White and redhorse suckers: With the excep- 

 tion of November which contributed only 3.2 per- 

 cent of the average annual total, the percentages 

 for the individual months did not fall below 5.0 

 (the figure for October) or exceed 11.9 (the 

 value for January and May). Most productive 

 quarters were the second (33.5 percent) and first 

 (29.9 percent), but contributions of the summer 

 and autumn quarters (19.5 and 17.1 percent, re- 

 spectively) were nevertheless substantial. 



Smelt: The major production of smelt comes 

 from the winter ice fishing. March alone ac- 

 counted for 46.8 percent of the 1929-49 commer- 

 cial take, and February for almost a third (33.2 

 percent) . The combined percentage for the three 

 winter months was 91.4. The percentage was 6.7 

 for April but in none of the remaining 8 months 

 did the value exceed 0.4 (the figure for June) . 



Actually, large catches of smelt dipped from 

 tributary streams during the spawning period 

 (mostly in April) and not recorded in fishing re- 

 ports find their way into commercial channels. 

 No exact measure of the quantities of smelt taken 

 during the spawning run is available but a good 

 idea of the magnitude of the catch is provided by 

 the estimate of the Michigan Department of Con- 

 servation that dippers took more than 5^ million 

 pounds from State of Michigan waters in 1942 

 ( Van Oosten 1947) . A large portion of this catch 

 was taken in the Green Bay area, which is the cen- 

 ter of greatest abundance of smelt. By no means 

 all of the smelt captured by dippers are sold. 

 Much of the catch is consumed by the dippers, their 

 families, and friends and a certain amount is 



wasted, but enough is sold to bring about a com- 

 plete collapse of the market in years of high 

 abundance. 



GEAR COMPOSITION OF THE CATCH 



The data of table 9 on the composition of the 

 catch of the important species according to gear 

 bring out two major points: All species were pro- 

 duced in quantity by more than one kind of gear, 

 and most of the principal gears produced signifi- 

 cant amounts of more than one species of fish. 



For the different species the most important 

 gears and the percentage contribution of each to 

 the average annual total for the species were as 

 follows (no percentages less than 5.0 listed) : 



Lake trout : Large-mesh " gill nets, 82.9 ; set hooks, 

 0.1 ; pound nets, 5.6. 



Whiteflsh : Large-mesh gill nets, 61.5 ; pound nets, 

 34.3. 



Lake herring : Small-mesh gill nets, 48.2 ; pound nets, 

 49.9. 



Walleye : " Shallow trap nets, 36.9 ; large-mesh giU 

 nets, 24.6 ; pound nets, 19.0 ; fyke and hoop nets, 18.0. 



Yellow perch : Small-mesh gill nets, 61.5 ; shallow 

 trap nets, 21.7 ; fyke and hoop nets, 13.3. 



White and redhorse suckers : Shallow trap nets, 56.4 ; 

 large-mesh gill nets, 21.7 ; fyke and hoop nets, 11.6 ; 

 pound nets, 9.2. 



Smelt : Pound nets, 80.7 ; bait nets, 10 16.1. 



Average annual production of important species 

 in thousands of pounds by the principal gears was 

 as follows (except for fyke nets and set hooks no 

 catches less than 25.0 listed) : 



Bait nets : Smelt, 100.6. 



Small-mesh gill nets : Lake herring, 516.3 ; yellow 

 perch, 92.1. 



Large-mesh gill nets : Whiteflsh, 438.7 ; suckers, 151.9 ; 

 lake trout, 104.4 ; walleye, 32.7. 



Pound nets : Lake herring, 534.1 ; smelt, 503.1 ; white- 

 fish, 245.1 ; suckers, 64.1 ; walleye, 25.3. 



Shallow trap nets : Suckers, 394.0 ; walleye, 49.1 ; yel- 

 low perch, 32.5. 



Fyke and hoop nets : Suckers, 80.8 ; walleye, 23.9 ; yel- 

 low perch, 20.0. 



Set hooks: Lake trout, 11.5. 



* See footnote 1 to table 9 tor statement of mesh sizes for the 

 different types of gill nets. 



'The sudden rise in production of walleyes to unpreeedentedly 

 high levels in recent years was accompanied by a pronounced 

 shift in gear composition of the catch as the following per- 

 centages for the 1929-43 base period prove: Fyke and hoop nets, 

 50.2 ; pound nets, 24.9 ; shallow trap nets, 20.2 ; large-mesh gill 

 nets, 3.6. 



M The term "bait net" derives from the traditional use of the 

 gear for the capture of small chubs and lake herring as bait for set 

 hooks fished for lake trout. 



