Michigan held second place in Lake 

 Michigan chub production in 23 years but yielded 

 that position to Illinois in 1932, 1933, 1940, 1941, 

 and 1943 . The percentage for Michigan ranged 

 from 7.8 in 1933 to 35.4 in 1926. In this state, 

 contrary to the situation in Wisconsin, the per- 

 centages averaged lower in the earlier years 

 (average of 20.7 for 1926-1939) than in the later 

 years (average, 25 . 0) . 



The variation of the percentage contribu- 

 tion of Illinois to the Lake Michigan catch of 

 chubs was extremely wide- -from 3.7 in 1927 to 

 33.7 in 1940. The 28-year average was 14.0 

 percent. As was true in Michigan, the average 

 percentage in Illinois was lower in 1926-1939 

 (10.0 percent) than in 1940-1953 (18.0 percent). 



The percentage distribution of chub pro- 

 duction as computed from average catches over 

 various periods of years (table 4) show the same 

 general situation as was described from means 

 of percentages of individual years (table 3) . 



Production of chubs in statistical districts, 

 1929-1953 



Because of the limited area of Lake 

 Michigan waters within the boundaries of Illinois 

 and Indiana, statistical districts have not been 

 established in either state. Michigan waters, 

 however, have been divided into 8 districts and 

 Wisconsin waters into 6 (fig. 2). (The indicated 

 boundary between M-2 and M-3, used for all 

 other species does not hold for chubs; all catches 

 of chubs west of the Beaver and Fox Islands have 

 been assigned to M-2 in order to separate the 

 fishery of the northern end of the open lake from 

 that conducted between the islands and the east- 

 ern shore.) Records of annual production are 

 on hand for Michigan districts starting with 1929 . 

 In Wisconsin, where detailed analyses are just 

 beginning, these records are available for 1953 

 only. (Statistical reports submitted by Wiscon- 

 sin fishermen, starting in 1936, will make 

 possible the backward extension of detailed 

 statistical analyses through that year.) 



State of Michigan, 1929 -1953 . --All State 

 of Michigan districts, except the shallow -water 

 Green Bay district, M-l, have at times produced 

 sizable catches of chubs (table 5, figs. 3-9). Be~ 

 cause of its insignificant contribution, M-l is 

 ignored in most later discussions. 12 



Despite some exceptions to trend and 

 differences in the timing and extent of fluctua- 

 tions, the variations in the annual catch of chubs 

 in the several districts exhibited many similar- 

 ities. In the first year of record, 1929, the take 

 of chubs was near (M-3) or above the 1929-1943 

 average (these years are employed as a base, 

 or period of reference, in treatments of State 

 of Michigan statistics) in every district but M-6 

 and M-8 and the combined catch of 853, 000 

 pounds was 9 percent above the 15-year mean of 

 780, 000 pounds (fig. 10). A general downward 

 trend (decreases in 5 of the 7 districts) carried 

 the total catch to slightly below average in 1930 

 and a sharp drop of production occurred in 1931 

 (decreases in all districts but M-6 which had 

 extremely small catches in both 1930 and 1931). 

 The year 1931 was the first of a 3 -year period 

 of extremely low yield . Only in the relatively 

 small district M-4 did the catch reach or exceed 

 average, and for the combined districts the take 

 amounted to 41 percent (1933) to 56 percent 

 (1931) of average. 



The catch of chubs rose sharply in 1934, 

 the first in a 6-year period of generally high 

 production. The take was well above average in 

 all 7 districts in both 1935 and 1936, and in the 

 remaining four years exceeded the mean in 6 

 districts in 1934, 5 in 1938 and 1939, and 4 in 

 1937. Highest levels attained were more than 3 

 times the 1929-1943 average in M-2 (1936) and 

 M-5 (1935) and exceeded twice that average in 

 all remaining districts but M-7. The high yields 

 in M-3 in 1938, and in M-4 and M-5 in 1935 have 

 not been equalled in subsequent years. For the 

 combined districts the catch ranged from 121 

 percent of average in 1934 to 231 percent in 1935. 



The sharp drop from 972, 000 pounds in 

 1939 to 237, 000 pounds (the lowest figure of 

 modern record) in 1940 introduced a 5-year in- 

 terval of below average production . The decline 

 was general; with the exception of M-8 in 1942 

 and 1943 the catch was below average (usually 

 by a wide margin) in every district in every year 

 of the period . The total rose gradually during 

 the 5 years from 30 percent of the 1929-1943 

 mean in 1940 to 61 percent in 1944. 



The rise in the production of the com- 

 bined districts that started in 1941 continued with 



