this lies a good part of its popular appeal as 

 fishing water, the supposition of the fisherman 

 being that if one kind of fish isn't biting he can 

 fish for something else. Especially is this true 

 of the spring and summer fishing; the fall fishing 

 and the ice fishing are limited to fewer varieties. 

 In tlie total catch m the summer of 1945, some 

 19 kinds of fish (counting the 2 species of crappie 

 as 1 kind) were recorded. Of these the following 

 12 kinds were commonly entered on the records: 

 Bluegill ( Lepomis macrochirus . An occasional 

 pumpkinseed, Lepomis gibbosus, or green sun- 

 fish, Lepomis cyanellus, was caught; and these 

 were entered with the bluegills as "sunfish"), 

 crappie (Pomoxis annularis and Pomoxis nigro- 

 maculatus), walleye (Stizostedion vitreum) , 

 sauger ( Stizostedion canadense), channel catfish 

 (Ictaluris punctata s ), flathead catfish (Pilodictus 

 olivaris), bullhead (most commonly Ameiurus 

 nebulosus, but Ameiurus na talis and Ameiurus 

 melas represented), black bass (largemouth bass, 

 Micropterus salmoides , being much more common 

 than smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieu) , 

 white bass ( Morone chrysops) , drum ( Aplodinotus 

 grunniens), carp ( Cyprinus carpio) , and yellow 

 perch (Perca flavescens ) . These are listed 

 roughly in the order of their abundance in the 

 catch. About half of the total catch is made up 

 of bluegill and crappie. 



In the fall fishing the emphasis shifts to 

 walleyes and saugers, although bluegills and 

 crappies still bulk large in the catch . Winter 

 fishing is more specialized than summer fishing 

 and involves fewer kinds of fish. In many of the 

 areas, particularly those in pools 6 to 11, most 

 of the winter catch consists almost entirely of 

 bluegills and crappies. In Lake Pepin and the 

 parts of the river adjacent to it, the principal 

 winter fishing is for walleyes and saugers. 



Quantitative aspects . The sport fishery on the 

 Mississippi River between Red Wing and Dubuque 

 is one of considerable magnitude and importance 

 even when viewed in comparison with the tre- 

 mendous amount of fishing on the lakes and 

 streams of Minnesota and Wisconsin. The resi- 

 dent population of the cities and towns along the 

 river is conscious of the recreational opportun- 

 ities afforded by the Mississippi River and takes 

 advantage thereof. ITiere are many ardent fish- 

 ermen who use almost every opportunity afforded 



them to go fishing, and who may be seen out on 

 the water weekend after weekend throughout the 

 entire season. Another class goes fishing on 

 special occasions such as holidays and vacations . 

 Also, the fishing draws heavily upon the sports- 

 men resident in the counties adjacent to the 

 Mississippi River, even in competition with the 

 fairly good trout fishing which some of these 

 counties afford. 



The exact estimation of the total fishing 

 effort and fish harvest is exceedingly difficult. 

 Two (juantities are involved: the numbers of 

 fishermen and the average individual catch. As 

 already mentioned, both of these vary from sea- 

 son to season and both can be determined only by 

 costly and tedious procedures, even for a single 

 season. The creel census under present discus- 

 sion furnishes only a starting point for making 

 estimates. 



Some rough estimates of the total fish 

 harvest, for the period 1945-1949, are presented 

 here in order to give an indication of the relative 

 magnitude of the fishery. In this 225 -mile stretch 

 of the Mississippi River, the 5 years, 1945 to 

 1949 had an average of about 150,000 fishermen 

 during the summer season and about 25,000 dur- 

 ing each winter season. The summer figures 

 probably rose from about 60,000 in 1945 to about 

 250,000 per summer in 1948 and 1949. The win- 

 ter figures held fairly steady, with perhaps some 

 increase in the winters of 1948 and 1949. 



EXiring this 5 -year period, the total catch 

 for the summer season ran possibly as loAv as 

 120,000 fish (in 1945) and possibly as high as r; 

 1,000,000 (in 1948 and in 1949) . The total winter 

 catch was perhaps 40,000 fish per season from 

 1945 to 1948, increasing considerably in 1949. 



The total water area (at normal water 

 stage) for this stretch of the river is approximate- 

 ly 170,000 acres. A catch of one million fish in 

 a year therefore would mean the removal of about 

 6 fish per acre. However, the actual fishing is 

 confined to a small proportion of the total water 

 acreage . 



Trends . There apparently is a trend toward more 

 and more fishing on the Upper Mississippi River. 

 There are two main factors involved. The first 



