In the area between Kings Ferry and 

 Guyton there are 11 sport-fishing camps which 

 rent boats. There is also a State park in this 

 area where no boats are rented but from which 

 private boats may be launched. At the request 

 of Fish and Wildlife Service biologists the 11 

 camp operators in the Kings Ferry - Guyton 

 area kept daily records of the number of shad 

 fishermen and their catches . The camps are 

 listed progressively upstream by numbers 1 to 

 1 1 in table 3 . 



The number of boats fishing for shad and 

 the catches per boat were checked at the State 

 park for a total of 19 days during the season. 

 Each day of the week was represented in the 

 sample. An estimate of the total season's 

 catch was obtained by finding the average week - 

 day, Saturday, and Sunday catch per boat m the 

 sample and multiplying these averages by the 

 respective number of weekday, Saturday, and 

 Sunday boat -days which occurred in the season. 

 An estimate of the total catch for this area is 

 given in table 4 . 



Above Guyton there are no fishing camps, 

 but between Brooklet and Midville there are 

 four well -used landings which were spot 

 checked on 21 days during the season. A 

 biologist was stationed at one of the landings 

 for the entire day to record shad as they were 

 brought in. Each landing was visited for one 

 weekday and for at least one weekend day each 

 week throughout the season. An estimate of 

 the catch in this area was derived in the same 

 manner as that for the State park (table 4) . 



Based on the two estimates and the known 

 catches recorded by the fishing-camp operators, 

 the sport catch on the river totaled 3,405 shad 

 or 14.5 percent of the total shad catch. Of the 

 sport catch, 74 percent (2,528 shad) was made 

 in the area from the State park at Kings Ferry 

 to Guyton, and 26 percent (877) shad was made 

 between Brooklet and Midville, the upper ex- 

 tremity of sport fishing. The sport fishery is 

 an important part of the total shad fishery and 

 should be regarded as such in any management 

 plan for the river . 



An estimate of the escapement from the 

 commercial fishery was given previously. To 

 obtain an estimate of the spawning escapement 



it was necessary to subtract the sport catch 

 (3,405 shad) from the previously determined 

 commercial -fishery escapement (15,412 shad). 

 Thus our estimate of spawning escapement is 

 12,007 shad or 34 percent of the original popu- 

 lation, and the overall fishing rate is then 66 

 percent . 



Spawning area 



To determine the limits of shad spawning 

 in the Ogeechee River, egg -collecting nets 

 were set at selected stations from 3 miles be- 

 low the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad bridge to 

 Louisville. The nets, made of nylon marquis- 

 ette, were 3 meters long and had a hoop 

 diameter of 1 meter . They were secured in 

 the current on the river bottom by anchors . 

 Nets were set four times throughout the season 

 at each of 19 stations, for a period of one -half 

 hour per set. 



Sampling began on March 16 and continued 

 through April 27 . Eggs were obtained in the 

 area from Kings Ferry to Midville (table 5) . 

 They were taken throughout the survey although 

 with less frequency during the early and latter 

 portions than during the midperiod. Two sta- 

 tions were sampled in the Canoochee River, 

 bat no shad eggs were taken. The results of 

 this survey indicate that the shad- spawning 

 area in the Ogeechee River is between Kings 

 Ferry and Midville. 



Age determination from scale reading 



Throughout the season, 529 scale samples 

 were taken from tagged shad and from samples 

 of the commercial catch. The scales were 

 read by the method of Gating (1 ')33) . The read- 

 ings revealed that the run was made up of 1 .3 

 percent 3-year-old fish, 41.4 percent 4-year- 

 old fish, 48 .0 percent 5-year-old fish, and 

 9.3 percent 6 -year -old fish. There were no 

 repeaters (fish which have spawned previously) 

 in the run. This was also found to be true of 

 shad from St. Johns River in Florida (SyKes, 

 Fredin, and Walburg, ms.). 



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