November, 1954 
Although, in 1948 and 1950, conditions 
were relatively good for censusing, no 
schools of bass fry were observed in either 
year. In 1948, a careful search was made 
for fry and fingerlings at approximately 
2-day intervals trom May 28 to June 20. 
The search included the area along the 
shore shelf late in this period, when 
schools, if they existed, should have 
broken up. “Yearling” bluegills and blue- 
gill fry were abundant in all parts of the 
lake. On July 7, six hauls with a quar- 
ter-inch-mesh minnow seine in six loca- 
tions in the upper end of the lake brought 
up hundreds of “yearling” bluegills and 
bluegill fry but not a single fingerling 
bass. 
In 1950, the search for bass fry and 
fingerlings extended over approximately 
the same period as in 1948 (May 29 to 
June 12), with results approximating 
those of 1948. One bass fingerling was 
taken in one of five minnow-seine hauls 
made in the upper part of the lake on 
June 25, indicating that a few young bass 
of the current spawn were present in the 
lake. Small bluegills were numerous in 
these seine hauls, in spite of the fact that 
an attempt had been made to eradicate 
the bluegill population from the lake at 
the time of the 1949 census. 
In 1951, bass fry first were observed 
on May 25, when six schools that were 
located contained an estimated 16,000 
fish. The maximum count was made on 
May 29: 12 schools containing an esti- 
mated 32,000 fry. On this date, the larg- 
est school of bass fry ever observed at 
Ridge Lake was found over deep water 
(14 to 20 feet) around the concrete spill- 
way tower near the dam. This school 
extended completely around three sides 
of the tower, a linear distance of about 
30 feet, and was approximately 8 feet 
broad throughout its extent. It was esti- 
mated to have contained 10,000 bass, and 
it remained close to the tower until it 
began to break up on June 2. Only a 
remnant of this school could be found 
around the tower on June 6. 
Spawning Success and Population 
Density 
Few persons will question the assump- 
tion that variations in the physical and 
BENNETT: LarRGEMOUTH Bass In Ripce LAKE 
247 
chemical characteristics of an aquatic en- 
vironment during the time that fish are 
spawning may influence the success of 
spawning. Sudden fluctuations in water 
levels, in turbidity and rate of silting, 
in dissolved salts, and in temperature have 
singly, or in combination, been held re- 
sponsible for good or poor production of 
young. 
Little has been published, however, on 
the relationship between the composition 
and density of a fish population and the 
success of the spawning attempts of one 
or several species comprising that popu- 
lation. In my opinion, information on 
this relationship is of great importance 
in the management of lakes for angling, 
because of the probability that the dis- 
appearance of a species considered of high 
value for angling may be associated with 
the inability of that species to produce a 
successful spawn under certain types and 
degrees of competition. 
At Ridge Lake, fairly reliable population 
estimates of fish larger than 3 inches long 
could be made at any given bass spawning 
period. Estimates of population could 
then be compared with inventories of 
schooling bass fry. 
Population estimates of fish, not includ- 
ing those fish of less than | year of age, 
were made as follows: For any given year 
of the series of years beginning with 1941, 
when the lake was stocked, and continu- 
ing in 1943, 1945, 1947, 1949, and 1951, 
when it was restocked following draining 
in March, the population estimate in- 
cluded only the fish actually placed or re- 
placed in the lake in that year (except 
for 1943 when an estimate of the num- 
ber of unmarked bass was added, table 5, 
note 1). For any given year of the series of 
years 1942, 1944, 1946, 1948, and 1950, 
the population estimate included all fish, 
except those spawned in the given year, 
that were recovered in the draining census 
of the following spring; to these were 
added the fish recorded as being caught 
by fishermen during the summer of the 
given year, which were obviously in the 
lake at spawning time of that year. These 
estimates do not include fish lost from the 
population through natural mortality and 
from such causes as death resulting from 
undetected injury during the previous 
censusing operation, escape over the spill- 
