May, 1945 



Bennett: Overfishing, Onized Lake 



397 



Table 24. — Average calculated total lengths in inches of 101 warmouth bass collected from 

 Onized Lake in the census of June 24-28, 194L 



Brood 



Number 



OF 



Fish 



Average Calculated Lengths bv 

 Years of Life 



1 



Average Total 



Length at Time 



of Capture 



1938 7 



1939 63 



[940 31 



Total 101 



Average 



2.13 

 1.19 



L77 



1.43 



4.35 

 3.91 



3.95 



6.12 



6.12 



6.61 

 4.87 

 2.88 



growth rate was slower than that in Reel- 

 foot during the first 3 years of life. Only 

 a few of the warmouth bass in Onized 

 Lake had survived to begin the fourth 

 summer. 



The warmouth bass may have some 

 potential value as a fish for managed 

 ponds, but it seems unable to produce 

 usable fish in combination with other spe- 

 cies in unmanaged small lakes. 



Green Sunfish 



Lepomis cyanellus Rafinesque 



Green sunfish were more important than 

 warmouth bass in the creel census from 

 Onized Lake, but they failed to make up 

 as much as 10 per cent by weight of the 



fishermen's catch, 1938-1941, table 5. In 

 the 1941 census, green sunfish were greatly 

 outnumbered by warmouth bass and blue- 

 gills, table 7. 



Table 25 gives the age-length frequen- 

 cies of green sunfish. With the exception 

 of one fish of the 1937 brood, the green 

 sunfish collected in the 1941 census be- 

 longed to the 1938, 1939 and 1940 broods. 

 The 1941 brood was lost in the process of 

 censusing. 



The age distribution pattern of green 

 sunfish was nearly identical with that of 

 the warmouth bass, tables 23 and 25. 

 Only 9 of the 245 green sunfish were 6 

 inches or more in length. The average 

 weight of this fish in the 1941 census was 

 0.026 pound, while that of the bluegill 



Table 25. — Age-length frequencies of the 245 green sunfish collected from Onized Lake in the 

 census of June 24-28, 194L The census was made about l'/2 months after the spawning season, 

 and the lengths shown for each age include the growth increment for the early part of the 1941 

 season. 



Length in Inches 



Age in Years 



2 . 

 1 



2 ■ 



3 . 

 1 



4'. 



i 

 2 • 



5 . 

 1 

 2 ■ 



