July, 1955 
wing nets, hoop nets, trap nets, and trot 
lines. 
3. Twenty-five seine hauls were made 
by the survey crew with 1-inch-mesh 
seines of 100-, 150-, and 200-yard lengths. 
Carp, buffalofishes, channel catfish, pad- 
dlefish, carpsuckers, and freshwater drum 
were the principal commercial species 
taken with seines. Shortnose gar was the 
principal predatory fish, gizzard shad the 
principal forage fish, and white crappie 
the principal sport fish. Sport fishes 
amounted to 11.7 per cent by number and 
3.3 per cent by weight of the total catch 
with seines. Crappies comprised 82.1 per 
cent of the number of sport fishes taken 
with seines. 
4. Of the fish taken in the survey with 
basket traps, 80.8 per cent were catfishes, 
15.1 per cent were shortnose gars. No 
sport fish was taken in the basket traps. 
5. One-inch-mesh wing nets with leads 
were found to be more efficient in taking 
crappies, bluegills, and buffalofishes than 
were nets of the same mesh fished without 
leads. 
6. The number of commercial-sized 
channel catfish caught per net-day was 
larger in the 1-inch-mesh wing nets than 
in wing nets of larger mesh sizes. 
7. The number of commercial-sized 
carp and buffalofishes caught per net-day 
was larger in the nets of large mesh sizes 
than in the nets of l-inch mesh. 
8. The efficiency of wing nets in tak- 
ing sport fishes decreased as mesh size in- 
creased. 
9. Wing nets took more sport fishes 
per net-day than did hoop nets. 
10. The catch of freshwater drums of 
commercial sizes was larger per net-day 
STarrEeTrT & BARNICKOL: COMMERCIAL FISHING DEVICES 
365 
in the 2!%-inch-mesh hoop nets than in 
the 214-inch-mesh wing nets. The catch 
of buffalofishes of commercial sizes was 
slightly larger in the 214-inch-mesh wing 
nets than in the 214-inch-mesh hoop nets. 
The 214-inch-mesh hoop nets were the 
most effective entrapment devices used for 
flathead catfish of commercial sizes. 
11. Three trammel net sets were made 
on a selective basis for carp and buffalo- 
fishes. Trammel nets having an inner net 
of 114-inch mesh took a larger number 
of sport fishes than did trammel nets hav- 
ing inner nets with mesh sizes of 2 or 3 
inches. 
12. Trammel net float fishing was 
found to be selective for shovelnose stur- 
geons and freshwater drums. Only five 
sport fishes were taken by this method of 
trammel netting. 
13. In 27 experimental trammel net 
sets at Grafton, 15.2 per cent of the fish 
taken in the section with an inner net of 
114-inch mesh were gilled; 19.7 per cent 
taken in the section with an inner net of 
2-inch mesh, and 9.1 per cent taken in the 
section with an inner net of 3-inch mesh 
were gilled. No white crappie was gilled. 
In the section with the 114-inch-mesh in- 
ner net, 15.1 per cent of the black crap- 
pies were gilled; in the section with the 
2-inch-mesh net, 30.8 per cent of the black 
crappies were gilled. Of commercial spe- 
cies taken, buffalofishes had the greatest 
tendency to become gilled. 
14. In 33 experimental trammel net 
floats made at Quincy, 4.2 per cent of the 
fish taken in the section of the net with 
a 114-inch-mesh inner net were gilled; 
5.6 per cent in the section with a 2-inch- 
mesh inner net were gilled. 
LT ERAT U RE-CAT ED 
American Fisheries Society 
1948. 
A list of common and scientific names of the better known fishes of the United States 
and Canada. Am. Fish. Soc. Spec. Pub. 1. 45 pp. 
Bailey, Reeve M. 
1952. 
11953. 
Barnickol, Paul G., and William C. Starrett 
1951. 
[Report of] Committee on Names of Fishes. Am. Fish. Soc. Trans. 81(1951) :324—-6. 
[Report of] Committee on Names of Fishes. Am. Fish. Soc. Trans. 82(1952) :326-8. 
Commercial and sport fishes of the Mississippi River between Caruthersville, Missouri, 
and Dubuque, Iowa. III. Nat. Hist. Surv. Bul. 25(5) :267—350. 
