The census day extended from the time in the morning before 

 the first anglers stopped fishing until the time in the evening 

 after which no Hngler^ started fishingo This period wa? determined 

 from continuous observations of the fishei-men's habits and was changed 

 each montho A census tour of one section was completed in half of this 

 period e Census tours were made in accordance with a prearranged time 

 schedule to provide uniform coverage of the fishing locations. The 

 last fishing location was reached at the end of the census day. The 

 creel census at that point continued until the last angler had stopped 

 fishing, in order to obtain information regarding complete fishing 

 efforts. 



The land bordering the Upper Sacramento River is sparsely settled 

 and access to the river is restricted to locations where roads either 

 cross or cane close. Consequently these locations are the major fishing 

 areas (see map) and are referred to in this report as census stations. 



A record was made of all fishermen at each station at the time . 

 of a visit. This constituted what is referred to in a latter section 

 as a sample. Information gathered from fishermen who could be contacted 

 included species sought, catch, time fished, method of fishing, origin of 

 travel, number of anglers in the part^r and whether or not they had com- 

 pleted their fishing effort. The teni "fishing effort," as used in this 

 report, refers to the time an angler spenHs in the actual act of fishing 

 during one legal fishing day (1 hour before sunrise until 1 hoior after 

 sunset).. This information was recorded on the creel census " -"n shown 

 in Table 2. The number of fishermen and fishing parties tha\, ;ould be 

 seen but not contacted was recorded under "^Indirect Census." In virtually 

 all cases it was possible to determine the species sought by these anglers 

 from their location and type of fishing gear used. 



Due to the size of the area and the presence of many inaccessible 

 fishing locations between census stations, it was not possible to make 

 a census of all fishermen by the above method. The number of fishermen 

 escaping census was determined by airplane surveys in which all fishermen 

 were counted and recorded as being either at or between census stations. 

 Airplane counts were made at least once a month if flying conditions 

 permitted. 



Seven fishermen's registers were established at commercial boat 

 rentals throughout the study area. The registers were placed in stands 

 provided with spring scales so the angler could weigh his catch. The 

 irregular use of registers made them a poor tool in determining the 

 catch at any location. The entries did, hov;ever, provide valuable 

 information about the weight of fish taken. It was possible to get 

 reliable weights of salmon only from these records. Smaller individuals 

 of species could not be weighed accurately on the scales pro\ided. 



