review of the published literature on creel cen- 

 sus, particularly in regard to quantitative re- 

 sults, is not undertaken here. 



The Project. In the summer of 1944, creel 

 census operations on the Upper Mississippi 

 River were confined to the area adjacent to La 

 Crosse, Wisconsin. This included most of pool 

 8 and a good share of pool 7 (the navigation pools 

 on the Upper Mississippi River are described 

 below) . The project was carried out in part 

 with the voluntary cooperation of the Badger 

 State Sportsmen's Club of La Cross, and sever- 

 al sporting goods stores and boat liveries . 

 However, Ihe bulk of the data was actually ob- 

 tained by a creel census clerk working for the 

 Upper Mississippi River Conservation Commit- 

 tee . The field work extended from May 15 to 

 September 30, with some intermittent work in 

 the month of October . Almost the complete sum - 

 mer and fall fishing season was covered. 



The winter census of 1944-45 was much 

 more extensive. Five to 6 men were employed, 

 and the river between Bay City, Wisconsin and 

 Prairie du Chien was covered. The duration of 

 this census was from mid-December to the end 

 of February, which period included nearly all of 

 the winter fishing. 



The census of the summer 1945 was still 

 more extensive. Eight to 10 field men were em- 

 ployed, and the territory stretched from above 

 Red Wing, Minnesota to Dubuque, Iowa, a river 

 distance of some 225 miles. The period of op- 

 erations was from early May to the end of 

 October. 



Although these 3 successive operations 

 involved different total mileages of territory, 

 they were similar in the degree of coverage . 

 Each operator had a large territory assigned to 

 him, and could not reach each part of it or con- 

 tact each fisherman on any given day, particular- 

 ly since the bulk of the fishermen left the river 

 at about the same time toward the close of the 

 day . Therefore, a system of rotation was used 

 whereby the operator worked one fishing spot on 

 one day and another on the next . Although the 

 intent was to maintain this rotation on a random 

 basis, some of the men developed rather set 

 habits of visiting a certain place on a certain day 



of the week . This procedure likely had the 

 effect of reducing the randomness of the sample, 

 which effect will be discussed further in follow- 

 ing sections. 



According to the field men, coverage 

 ranged from 30 to 60 percent of the total fishing 

 effort; in general, this figure was confirmed by 

 the airplane fisherman counts. The data ob- 

 tained represented a good cross section of the 

 total fishing, and by their bulk, comprised a 

 sample from which reasonable accurate averages 

 can be derived. 



The census of the winter 1945-46 was re- 

 duced in scope to a spot-check procedure. Three 

 field men were employed, stationed at 3 key 

 spots. Lake Pepin, La Cross, and Prairie du 

 Chien . To a much greater degree than in the 

 summer, the winter fishing is concentrated in 

 particular small areas. Thus it was possible 

 for the creel census operation in the winter of 

 1945-46 to get good day-to-day coverage of any 

 given fishing spot, although the coverage of the 

 entire river was less complete. 



Acknowledgment . The help of a great many in- 

 dividuals and agencies is gratefully acknowledged. 



The Upper Mississippi River Conserva- 

 tion Committee, consisting of representatives of 

 the states of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois 

 and Missouri, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, sponsored the work and provided for its 

 being carried out. The Conservation Departments 

 of Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin provided the 

 necessary personnel and money. 



The Badger State Sportsmen's Club of La 

 Crosse formally participated in the summer 

 census in 1944. Many of the club's officers and 

 members, including particularly Alfred W . Rice 

 and Walter Weigent, assisted in collecting filled 

 field forms . Several boat liveries and resort 

 operators filled out and submitted field blanks. 

 Among these were the Copeland Park Boat Livery, 

 Henry Rybold, and Haderer's Landing, all of 

 La Crosse. Reports also were collected and 

 submitted by some of the sporting goods stores, 

 including especially Doerre's Hardware and the 

 S. & H. Sport Shop of La Crosse. Many individ- 

 ual fishermen filled out blanks voluntarily. 



