November, 1954 
BENNETT: LARGEMOUTH Bass IN RipGE LAKE 
237 
Table 3.—Largemouth bass, bluegills, and other fish that were permanently removed 
from Ridge Lake by angling and in draining operations during the 1941-1951 study period. 
Not included in figures for the draining censuses were fish, less than a year old, so small 
that accurate counts were not possible. 
PERMANENTLY REMOVED BY ANGLING PERMANENTLY REmoveD IN Dratninc CENSUSES 
2 eas BLUEGILLS eae - Dice te BLUEGILLS ee 
YEAR) 
hopta ae 3 pee 3 2S o se o ones) a} wn 
fe) me |e |e |e) me |e (mel gE me | 2 | ‘ae 
cou. y we |e ela} (8 | Se 5 Ne 2 ies 
eee | ee a ee | Z Sa, Zi | se Pa 
1941. 51 8.23) — = |) = = — —~ — — — 
1942.) 485) 271.67) — = — | — = — — — — 
1943. 2g sho — 2,783 |482.60) — = 36 9.10 
1944.| 466} 270.46) — — 32) 37.03) — — — — — — 
1945.| 409) 356.87 2 22) Ti Se 15) 69947 197-01) 10,0002 100.007} 762) 463.21 
1946.| 362) 263.35/1,686) 228.03) 284) 45.97| — — — _ — _ 
1947.| 181) 195.80) 644) 111.61) 38) 5.65/2,117 | 79.62) 64,868 | 3,194.97 | 663) 566.22 
1948.| 648) 460.03)5,831) 826.03) 241/103.95) — = — — — — 
1949.| 594) 540.51 15 292) OV ceo2 OUR O29 LO 714s) i 564.31 KO} Seat! 
1950.| 515) 330.28) 895) 120.31) 276] 85.38) — — — — — -- 
UE | = = = =| = 707 {136.34} 51,307 | 1,761.90 |1,079| 154.12 
Total*\3,743\2,715 .02|9 ,073\1,290.12| 884,285 .95|7,613 |\998.54|145,889 | 6,621.18 |2,650\1 244.76 
1 Figure includes an estimated 500 very small fish. 
2 Figure estimated. 
% This report does not include the angling season of 1951. 
4 Total largemouth bass, 11,356 weighing 3,713.56 pounds; total bluegills, 154,962 weighing 7,911.30 pounds; total 
other fish, 3,534 weighing 1,530.71 pounds; grand total of fish, 169,852 weighing 13,155.57 pounds. 
lation when introduced into water in- 
habited by a dominant bass population 
and a reduced population of bluegills. 
The warmouths varied in length between 
3 and 9 inches and were fin-clipped for 
later identification. 
Neither largemouth bass, bluegills, nor 
warmouths are indigenous to Dry Run 
Creek. An application of fish poison to 
the part of the creek within the lake 
basin, prior to the impoundment of the 
water, resulted in a kill of the following 
species :* stoneroller, Campostoma anom- 
alum (Rafinesque) ; creek chub, Semotilus 
atromaculatus (Mitchill); creek chub- 
sucker, Erimyzon oblongus (Mitchill) ; 
silverjaw minnow, Ericymba buccata Cope; 
green sunfish, Lepomis cyanellus Rafi- 
nesque; longear sunfish, Lepomis mega- 
lotis (Rafinesque); bluntnose minnow, 
Hyborhynchus  notatus  (Rafinesque) ; 
white sucker, Catostomus commersonnii 
(Lacépéde) ; yellow bullhead, 4 meiurus 
natalis (Le Sueur); and black bullhead, 
Ameiurus melas (Rafinesque). 
* Names from American Fisheries Society (1948), except 
the scientific name for the black buffalo and the common 
and scientific names for the silverjaw minnow, al! of which 
are from Hubbs & Lagler (1947). 
None of these appeared in the lake in 
numbers during the 1941-1951 study 
period except the green sunfish, the black 
bullhead, and the yellow bullhead. Carp, 
Cyprinus carpio Linnaeus, and one black 
buffalo, Ictiobus niger (Rafinesque), ap- 
peared in the 1947 draining census. A few 
carp appeared in the 1951 census. These 
fish are believed to have moved up Dry 
Run Creek from the Embarrass River 
and to have entered the lake by swim- 
ming up over the surface spillway during 
periods of high water. 
Each time the lake was drained, fish of 
the species indigenous to Dry Run Creek 
(largely green sunfish and black bull- 
heads) were removed, but within the 
next 2 years following each draining a 
few more of these species had worked 
down into the lake from the stream above 
and had produced small numbers of young. 
Although green sunfish never became a 
substantial part of the population, usually 
some were present. Black bullheads were 
particularly numerous during the 1943- 
1946 period and many taken by fishermen 
were more than a pound in weight. 
The numbers and weights of fishes per- 
