FISHING BRIDGE 



Fishing Bridge presented a problem unlike that of any other unit of 

 the Yellowstone Lake fishery. At times there are from 80 to 100 anglers 

 fishing from the Bridge, The continual movement of these anglers to and 

 from the bridge made it possible to contact only a liirited number of 

 fishermen. It was found that the most reliable census could be made by 

 having the observer place himself in a position from which he could ob- 

 serve all fish being caught by bridge anglers. The current of the river 

 concentrates the fishing activities on the downstream side of the bridge. 

 A vantage point such as Fishing Bridge dock allowed the observer to see 

 all anglers on the downstream side of the bridge. The count of the num- 

 ber of fish landed on the bridge was made by the hour, while on the half- 

 hour, a count of the number of rods actually engaged in fishing was made. 

 Assuming the count of rods approximated the niimber of fishing hours, this 

 number, along with the catch, was used in calculating the catch-per-unit- 

 effort. This method of census does not allow for a measure of the number 

 of parties or persons, but neither are essential in calculating the 

 catch-per-unit-effort, the measure of the relative condition of the 

 fishery. 



Using the nethod described above, the 19^0 and 1951 estimates are 

 believed to be as accurate as any method which would be feasible. An 

 observer was on duty at Fishing Bridge from 5^00 a.m. until legal fish- 

 ing ceased at 9^00 p.m.j thus, few if any fish taken on a census day were 

 not accounted for. 



For each 2-week period. Fishing Bridge was censused four times, and 

 estimates for each period were calciilated. The results of the two years 

 of census of Fishing Bridge are shown in table 11, Hate of catch-per- 

 unit-effort for each year are the mean rates for all 2-week periods in 

 the census. 



Table 11 

 Creel census results. Fishing Bridge, 1950-19^1 



Census 



Estimate 



Year 

 1950 

 1951 



Rod Hours 

 3,li08 

 10,395 



Catch 

 556 

 1,6U7 



Catch-per- 

 man-hour 



0.16 



0,18 



Total Rod 

 Hours 



39,371.6 

 Itl, 613.0 



Total Catch 

 8,976 

 8,938 



The results of the estimates are surprisingly close. As has been 

 shown previously, the results of other aspects of the Yellowstone Lake 

 fishery have also been very close, and statistical tests have shown them 

 not to be significantly different. There is again no indication of any 

 change in the condition of the fishery as might be demonstrated by the 

 activities of the Fishing Bridge angler success. 



18 



