November, 1954 
The highest average weekly rate of 
catch (by weight) for bass was recorded 
for the first week of the 1945 fishing 
season (0.37 pound per man-hour), table 
17. This catch rate was affected by muddy 
water during a part of the week, by a low 
total of fishing hours for the entire week, 
and by a phenomenal catch of bass made 
by two expert fishermen who had the lake 
to themselves during one fishing period. 
The average rate of catch for the second 
week of the 1945 season (0.33 pound per 
man-hour) was nearly as high as for the 
first; it was higher than the average for 
the first week of each of the other years 
in which all or nearly all fishing was for 
bass. Ricker (1942: 228) recorded the rate 
of catch of bass fishermen at Shoe Lake, 
Indiana, for the second half of June as 
being +.9 pounds per 10 pole-hours (0.49 
pound per man-hour); this period was 
followed by a number of 2-week periods 
when fishing was much poorer (0.10 to 
0.23 pound per man-hour). The average 
rate of catch for the entire summer period 
was 2.6 pounds per 10 pole-hours (0.26 
pound per man-hour), which is somewhat 
higher than the rate at Ridge Lake for any 
single year or for the grand average rate, 
table 17. 
At Ridge Lake, bluegills were more 
easily caught than were bass and were 
less seasonal in their biting. “Thus, in 
years when sizable populations of blue- 
gills as well as bass were available to 
fishermen, the average weekly catch rates 
(pounds per man-hour) were higher and 
less subject to severe fluctuations than in 
years when only bass were available. 
As described in the section on the creel 
census, fishing was done only from the 
seven boats owned by the Natural History 
Survey, and the public was not allowed to 
fish from the lake bank or piers. ‘The 
boats were assigned to fishermen making 
advance reservations; a fisherman could 
use a boat by himself or take one, two, or 
three other persons with him. Boats were 
not supplied with anchors, and if a fisher- 
man wished to use an anchor he was ex- 
pected to provide it. 
All occupants of boats were recorded 
as fishing all of the time they were on the 
lake. For example, if three men were 
using a boat, fig. 3, one man manipulating 
the oars and the other two actually fishing, 
BENNETT: LARGEMOUTH Bass IN RipGe LAKE 261 
they were recorded as though all three 
were fishing all of the time they were on 
the lake. Iwo men in a boat were re- 
corded as two fishermen, even though the 
two alternated between rowing and fish- 
ing; one man by himself in a boat was re- 
corded as one fisherman fishing the entire 
time he was on the water even though he 
spent about half of his actual time on the 
lake in keeping his boat in position for fly 
or bait casting. 
It has been estimated that the rates of 
catch in terms of pounds of fish per man- 
hour of actual fishing time might be 50 
to 100 per cent higher than the rates of 
catch given in tables 15, 16, and 17. 
Factors Affecting Yields of Bass 
In table 18, an attempt has been made 
to show the catch of bass in relation to 
number and weight of bass available, 
man-hours of fishing, and available forage 
in the form of small bass and bluegills. 
Methods of estimating numbers and 
weights of bass were the same as are 
described in the section “Spawning Suc- 
cess and Population Density.” The fish- 
ing pressures in man-hours per acre include 
fishing effort directed toward bluegills as 
well as bass, as the two cannot be sepa- 
rated. 
Bass yields varied from 10 to 54 fish 
per acre and from 10.9 to 49.2 pounds 
per acre (when the 1949 yield is figured 
on the basis of the 1949 lake area) and 
represented 9 to 64 per cent of the number 
available and 24 to 69 per cent of the 
weight available, table 18. The highest 
percentages of catch of available bass oc- 
curred in years following the March drain- 
ings (1945, 1947, and 1949), when, as a 
result of draining and culling operations, 
populations of small bluegills, crayfish, and 
other bass foods were much reduced. In 
1945 the population of small bass was 
high, in 1947 moderate, and in 1949 low, 
as a result of the success of the bass spawn 
in those years. The number of fish desig- 
nated as a high population for bass was 
much smaller than the number listed as a 
high for bluegills. While the yield of bass 
in numbers and pounds per acre was in 
some measure dependent on the man-hours 
of fishing and the available bass per acre, 
the factor that seemed to have the greatest 
