Table 2. --Species conjjoaltlon of 3^0 trawl catches by R/V Kaho In Lake Superior, 1963-65 



Species 



Total catch 



Occurrences in 

 total drags 



Catch rate 

 per 1/2-hr. 



effort ' 



Average catch 

 for effective 

 1/2 -hr. effort 



Pounds Percent^ Number Percent'' Pounds ^ 



Chubs ( Leucichthys spp. ) A1,53A. 



American smelt ( Osmerus mordax) 5,608 



Longnose sucker ( Catostomus catostomus ) 1,899 



Lake trout ( Salvelinus nanaycush ) 1,735 



White sucker ( Catostomus commersoni ) 1,676 



Common whitefish ( Coregonus elupeafomis ) 1,080 



Alewif e ( Alosa pseudoharengus ) 



Burbot ( Lota lota ) .- 



Lake herring ( Leucichthys artedi ) 



Sculpins ( Cottidae ) 



Ninespine stickleback ( Pungitius pungitius ) 



ktenomlnee whitefish ( Prosopium eylindraceum ) 



Trout-perch ( Percopsis omiscomaycus ) 



PignO' whitefish ( Prosopium coulteri ) 



Yellow perch ( Perca flavescens ) 



Spottail shiner ( Notropis hudsonius ) 



Rainbow trout ( Salmo gairdneri ) 



Yellow pike or Walleye ( Stizostedion vitreum vltreum ). ■ 



Lake sturgeon ( Aeipenser fulvescens ) 



Brown trout ( Salmo trutta ) 



Redhorse ( Moxostoma spp. ) 



736 



497 



446 



230 



149 



134 



92 



75 



23 



18 



13 



13 



7 



6 



6 



74.2 



10.0 



3.4 



3.1 



3.0 



1.9 



1.3 



.9 



.8 



.4 



.3 



.2 



.2 



.1 



T 



T 



T 



T 



T 



T 



T 



174 



189 



21 



200 



42 



41 



62 



70 



79 



47 



56 



34 



21 



36 



9 



7 



5 



2 



1 



2 



2 



51 



56 



6 



59 



12 



12 



18 



21 



23 



14 



16 



10 



6 



11 



3 



2 



1 



T 



T 



T 



T 



132.5 



17.9 



6.1 



5.5 



5.3 



3.4 



2.3 



1.6 



1.4 



.7 



.5 



.5 



.3 



.2 



.1 



.1 



T 



T 



T 



T 



T 



Pounds 



240 

 32 

 92 



9 

 40 

 28 

 12 

 8 

 6 

 5 

 3 

 5 

 5 

 2 

 3 

 3 

 3 

 7 

 7 

 3 

 3 



TOTAL 



55,977 99.8 



178.4 



'■ T = Trace, less than 0.5 or 0.05 



composition is summarized intable 2. The most 

 abundant fish taken were chubs, followed by 

 snnelt, suckers, lake trout, common whitefish, 

 alewife, burbot ( Lota lota ), and lake herring in 

 that order. Other species accounted for less 

 than one-half percent each. 



DISCUSSION BY DISTRICT 



The following discussion describes the bot- 

 tom trawling areas and fishing results in each 

 of the seven fishing statistical districts along 

 the south shore. Districts are discussed con- 

 secutively from east to west. 



District I - Michigan Waters from Sault 

 Ste. Marie to Crisp Point Light 



In general, much of the Whitefish Bay area 

 and the deeper waters north of Whitefish Point 

 are favorable for trawling. No major snags 

 were encountered or nets damaged during the 

 four cruises in the district. 



Fishing in shoal water was very poor during 

 each cruise--the catch rate was only 7 pounds 



of fish per one-half hour (24 1/2-hour periods) 

 for all drags at depths of 30 fathoms or less. 



In deeper water (35 to 50 fathonns), the catch 

 rate was 180 pounds per one-half hour of which 

 136 pounds were chubs. The only area con- 

 sistently good for chubs was the 35-fathonn 

 station, 6 nniles north of Whitefish Point. The 

 largest chub catches in District I were taken 

 from this station on every cruise on which the 

 station was sampled. The best catch was 770 

 pounds during cruise 23. 



Catches of other species were light in Dis- 

 trict I. Over half the drags had snnelt, but the 

 catch rate was only 10 pounds per drag. The 

 best smelt landing was 200 pounds taken during 

 cruise 23 at 40 fathoms in the southern portion 

 of Whitefish Bay. Over half of the total pound- 

 age of alewives landed by the Kaho was taken 

 in District I, although only 11 percent of the 

 total fishing effort was devoted to this district. 

 The largest catch (200 pounds) of alewives 

 landed in Lake Superior was taken early inthe 

 survey at 35 fathoms in the southern portion 

 of the bay during cruise 14. The percentage 

 of trout inthe trawl drags (2 percent of the total 



