(their third summer), but it has been reduced in numbers by natural losses 

 and captures by anglers during its first and second summers; it faces another 

 fishing season before its average members reach sexual maturity and spawn. 

 It is unlikely that the survivors will constitute an adequate parent stock. 



A comparison of the 1953 population figures with those listed by inves- 

 tigators on other trout waters implies that the densities in the Little 

 Pigeon watershed may be very low indeed. King and Currier (1950) made 

 estimates of the residual populations of rainbows in Little River watershed, 

 Great Smoky Mountains National Park, following the termination of their creel 

 census. Cresol was employed, and the numbers of trout of all sizes captured 

 indicated densities of 69O fish per mile in the most heavily fished portion 

 of the main stream, 1,056 per mile in Fish Camp Prong, and 2,106 per mile 

 in Three Forks Prong. The authors concluded that sufficient trout remained 

 in the streams to afford good-quality fishing in the following season. Rela- 

 tively good populations were found by us in Bradley Fork on November U,1953. 

 This stream is about the size of Porters Creek and is open to angling. In 

 an upstream section, which averaged 20 feet in width, there were an esti- 

 mated 70 legal and $10 sublegal rainbows and 18 fingerling brook trout per 

 mile. Another survey was made in the lower section where the stream averaged 

 25 feet in width and the estimate included lhO legal and l,2li0 sublegal rain- 

 bow trout per mile. The trout examined by us at these stations ranged from 

 2.8 to 17. U inches in length. 



In spite of the appreciable differences in the postseason trout popu- 

 lations in certain streams of the Park which were open to fishing, the few 

 ratios available on fingerling and legal-size trout seem to show a consis- 

 tency. In the open waters of the Little Pigeon area, 11.0 percent of the 

 estimated population of rainbow trout were 7 inches or more in length., In 

 Bradley Fork, a heavier concentration of this species was found, and again 

 11.0 percent were legal size. In an upper section of Little River 12.5 per- 

 cent of the rainbows collected with cresol in November 1953 were over 7 

 inches long. In contrast, 32.0 percent of the specimens samples in the 

 closed waters of the upper Little Pigeon River in the Wilderness Area were 

 of legal size. It appears from these few data on rainbow trout in the Great 

 Smoky Mountains National Parkthat angling may r educe the percentage of legal 

 fish in a population by nearly two -thirds, but as a certain ratio of sub- 

 legal to legal fish is approached the population as a whole declines and 

 the ratio remains fairly constant. 



Survey of Opinion Among Fishermen 



For at least 10 years before 19U8, certain regulations governing the 

 trout fishing in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park were in effect: 

 Fishing season, May 16 to August 31 inclusive; minimum size, ranging from 

 6 to 10 inches; possession limit, 10 trout per day; and lures, artificial^ 

 with one hook only. Angling pressure was heavy, but fish stocks were in 



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