All trawling in this basin was conducted in waters 

 from 3 to 7 fathoms with 76.7% of all drags being 

 made at depths of 4 and 5 fathoms. Though the 

 Western Basin has a maximum depth of 8 fathoms, 

 it has a mean depth of about 4 fathoms. The many 

 islands in the eastern portion of the basin are sur- 

 rounded by shallow water. 



Cruise 2, April-May 1962. — Catches during 

 Cruise 2 were not large enough to be considered 

 commercially significant with the exception of three 

 good catches of yellow perch. The catch rate for all 

 fish caught during Cruise 2 was 96.3 pounds per 

 one-half hour of effort. The general lack offish con- 

 centrations throughout trawlable areas probably 

 can be accounted for by the normal seasonal in- 

 shore spawning run which was underway at the 

 time. 



On the basis of the standard '/2-hr drag, best 

 catches of yellow perch were as follows: 190 

 pounds at 3 fathoms, east of Stony Point, Mich.; 

 200 pounds at 5 fathoms, west of Pelee Island; and 

 240 pounds at 7 fathoms, north of Kelleys Island. 

 Nearly all perch caught were 7.5 to 8.5 inches; the 

 average length was 8.0 inches. 



Cruise 4, September-October 1962.— As a re- 

 sult of eight exploratory drags during Cruise 4, a 

 Vi-hr catch rate of 439.5 pounds was obtained with 

 total production reaching 3,516 pounds offish. 



Yellow perch made up 51.6% of the total catch, 

 of which 31.9% were 8 inches or more, 19.2% were 

 between 4 and 8 inches, and 0.5% were under 4 

 inches long. The remainder of the total catch, in 

 order of decreasing abundance, was carp, alewife, 

 freshwater drum, and gizzard shad. 



All drags were west of the tip of Catawba Island, 

 Ohio, and Cedar Beach, Ontario, at depths between 

 4 and 5 fathoms. Five of the eight drags were 

 in areas with mud bottoms and three drags were in 

 areas containing a mixture of mud and sand. Best 

 catches were southeast of the mouth of the River 

 Raisin, northeast of West Sister Island, southeast 

 of East Sister Island, and west of Rattlesnake Is- 

 land. One 200-pound catch of alewives was made 

 just west of Put-in-Bay, South Bass Island, in 5 

 fathoms. 



Cruise 11, May-June 1963.— During Cruise 11, 

 27 drags yielded a total production of 8.192 pounds 

 of fish at an average Vi-hr catch rate of 312.7 

 pounds. 



Trawl catches of yellow perch were equal to. or 

 better than, catches made by Bureau research ves- 

 sels since exploratory fishing was first started in 

 Lake Erie in 1958. Of the 2,795 pounds of yellow 

 perch taken during this cruise, 34.2% was taken at 

 depths ranging between 3 and 4 fathoms, and 65.8% 

 was taken between 4 and 7 fathoms; corresponding 

 Vi-hr catch rates were 115.1 pounds and 103.4 

 pounds, respectively. 



An exceptionally good catch of 950 pounds of 

 freshwater drum was taken west of Put-in-Bay in 5 

 fathoms. Another 30-min drag in 3 fathoms west of the 

 tip of Catawba Island produced 550 pounds of drum. 

 Smelt landings on this cruise accounted for 2% of all 

 fish taken in the Western Basin; the largest catch — 80 

 pounds — was taken in 5 fathoms directly south of 

 Middle Sister Island. 



Best individual catches of yellow perch were 320 

 pounds taken 1 mile west of South Bass Island in 4 

 fathoms and 500 pounds taken 3 miles southeast of 

 Middle Sister Island in 5 fathoms of water. 



Mud was the most common bottom type 

 throughout this cruise, although several stations di- 

 rectly south of the mouth of the Detroit River 

 showed a mixture of sand and mud. Trawling bot- 

 tom was good except for a location approximately 4 

 miles east of South Bass Island, which had a rough 

 bottom. 



Cruise 36, October 1966.— Of the 13 drags com- 

 pleted in the Western Basin during Cruise 36, 10 

 were made near South, Middle, and North Bass 

 Islands, in depths of 3 to 7 fathoms. The total of 

 4,131 pounds offish landed corresponded to an av- 

 erage '/2-hr catch rate of 317.8 pounds. 



During this cruise the 1,648 pounds of alewives 

 landed accounted for 39.9% of the total catch; 

 74.3% of these alewives, however, were from two 

 30-min drags. One catch of 475 pounds was taken at 

 5 fathoms southeast of Middle Sister Island, and the 

 largest catch of 750 pounds was made at 4 fathoms, 

 alongside the Toledo channel in the extreme west- 

 ern end of the lake. 



Previous cruises had produced few alewives; in- 

 stead, the dominant species had been yellow perch, 

 freshwater drum, and carp. Carp landings, this 

 cruise, totaled 569 pounds; the two best catches 

 were 150 and 170 pounds. Carp were taken from 12 

 of the 13 trawl stations in amounts ranging from 3 to 

 170 pounds per drag. 



A total of 426 pounds of gizzard shad was 

 taken — the largest catch (120 pounds) from 4 



