North Fork Sun River fisheryo Again, the relatively small amount of fishing 

 probahly can be largely attributed to poor access. None of the waters in 

 the associated fisheries were adjacent to a good roado The much lower aver- 

 age rate of catch for the associated fisheries (Ooll fish per hour and 0«16 

 poimd per hour) as compared with that on the North Fork Sim E-iver (0»48 fish 

 per hour and Oo20 pound per hour) undoubtedly contributed to the fact that 

 there was less fishing on the former 'areass The fact that Pislikun Reser- 

 voir was not open to fishing until July 15 also nay have been a contribut- 

 ing factor* 



Slightly more than half of the fishing of the associated fisheries 

 was on Pishkun Reservoir, but only about a third of the yield in numbers 

 and pounds of fish came from this reservoiro Although access to the asso- 

 ciated fisheries was not particularly good in general, Pishkun Reservoir 

 T/as accessible to people of Choteau and tox"nis to the north and east over a 

 fair road direct from Choteau o The reservoir had the reputation of produc- 

 ing an occasional 4- or 5~pound rainbow trout. Since more than 72 percent 

 of the parties fishing in Pishkun came from Choteau and other tovms north 

 and east of there, access again seems to be a major factor contributing to 

 the amount of fishing. 



As in the North Fork Sun River, essentially all the fish taken in the 

 associated fisheries were game fish. Trout (rainbow, brown, cutthr-oat, 

 and brook) and grayling constituted 77 percent of the catch, while pike, 

 yellow perch, and largemouth black bass constituted 17 percent of the 

 catcho About 6 percent of the catch was suckers. Pike and bass were taken 

 from Split Rock Lakes only. Perch were taken from both Pishkvin Reservoir 

 and Split Rock Lakes. Details of the composition of the catch are shown 

 in table So 



The average rate of catch on all units of the associated fishery, 

 except that of Pishkun Canal, was considerably smaller than that on the 

 North Fork Sun River (table 2), although the average weight of most species 

 of fish taken was greater (table 4). The average rate of catch of 0o56 

 fish per hour (0.19 pound per hour) determined for Pishkun Canal is quite 

 comparable to that of the North Pork Sun River j, probably because most of 

 the recorded fishing in the canal was near the intake at Diversion 

 Reservoir. 



Split Rock Lakes, which were essentially pike waters, were compara- 

 tively productive in terms of pounds of fish per hour (0.23), but in 

 terms of fish per hour they had the lowest rate of catch of any of the 

 T/aters in the study area (0»06)o The average weight of pike, which con- 

 stituted S6 percent of the catch, was 3.77 pounds. These lakes were 

 especially attractive to those individuals who like to fish leisurely 

 with live minnows. 



20 



