catch for the 1953 season had been reported. Thereafter, for the remaining 

 11 weeks, fishing pressure and creel totals declined, but the average catch 

 per successful fisherman continued to be 5 trout. 



There are two reasons which explain the good angling reported in the 

 first half -month when 70 percent of the large number of fishermen caught 

 trout . Hatchery fish were common and easy to catch; wild trout were hungry 

 and relatively unwary. The planted fish were largely removed during this 

 period, as indicated by returns on the stocked brook trout. It was assumed, 

 after careful examination of each specimen, that very few of the brook trout 

 reported during the entire season were wild fish. An estimated 98 percent 

 of the 568 brook trout taillied were stocked in the stream before the open- 

 ing of the season. Of these, 535 specimens (96 percent) were creeled in the 

 first half-month. Investigators have reported that stocked rainbow trout 

 are less rapidly exploited than brook trout. However, observations on the 

 catches presented at the checking station indicate that most of the hatchery 

 rainbows were removed from the stream wihin the first full month of the open 

 season. 



The wild rainbow trout became increasingly wary and difficult to catch 



as the season progressed. After the first month the average creel of all 



fishermen declined from 3 or more fish to less than 3 per day, and slightly 

 less than half (1*5 percent of the anglers then achieved success. 



The quality of trout fishing in the Little Pigeon River watershed can 

 best be expressed for comparative purposes in terms of catch per fisherman 

 hour. The average catch per hour for the successful fisherman was l.U 

 trout. The mean catch per hour for all anglers on the Little Pigeon was 

 0.8 legal fish, a figure which compares favorably with the average of 0.78 

 fish caught per hour on the intensively managed and heavily stocked Pisgah 

 Preserve in North Carolina in 1952 (Ratledge 1952) . A fisherman day on t he 

 Little Pigeon averaged 3.6 hours in duration and earned 2,9 fish^ whereas 

 the average angler on the Pisgah Preserve spent 1*.6 hours and caught 3-6 

 fish in 1952. The mean catch of trout per hour on two managed trout streams 

 in Michigan in 1951 were Rifle River area 0.17; and on the Hunt Creek area 

 0.1*0 trout (Michigan Dept. of Conservation, Biennial Report, 1952). 



The size distribution of rainbow trout and brook trout over the mini- 

 mum 7-inch size whichwere caught in the Little Pigeon area is shown in 

 table 3. The largest single percentage (38. ii percent) of rainbow trout 

 fell in the 7-inch group, owing to the relatively small size of the wild 

 fish. The largest single percentage (1*9.6 percent) of brook trout was 

 in the 9-inch group. 



The average size of all rainbow trout was 8.3 inches; the average 

 size of wild specimens was about 8.0 inches. The mean length of brock 

 trout captured was 9-1 inches, owing to the predominance of stocked fish. 

 The mean weight of all trout caught was 3.6 ounces, and the total weight 

 of 5 fish creeled by the average successful angler was 18 ounces (table U) « 



