at other small lakes where opening-day fishing has been heavy. Apparently, bass that sur- 

 vive the first few hours of fishing become wary after exposure to even moderate fish- 

 ing pressure. 



At the end of the 1949 fishing season (September 1) the total catch at Ridge Lalce 

 was 594 bass weighing 540.5 pounds (49.1 pounds per acre). Fishermen had spent 3,949 

 hours in catching these bass, at an average rate of 0.15 fish per man-hour (one per 6.7 

 hours) or of 0.14 pound per man-hour (1 pound per 7.1 hours). The authors believe that 

 these rates of catch may be better than those prevailing on many lakes because (1) the pop- 

 ulation of bass, in number of catchable fish per acre, was larger than is present in most 

 lakes and (2) the natural supply of food for these fish had been greatly reduced at the time 

 of lake draining. 



FISHING COSTS QUESTIONNAIRE 



A questionnaire was prepared and sent to 344 fishermen who had made reserva- 

 tions for boats at Ridge Lake in 1949. The questionnaire provided spaces to be filled in on 

 number and cost of rods, reels, lines, baits, tackle boxes, leaders and hooks, boots, special 

 fishing clothes, boats, motors, miscellaneous gear used in fishing, and annual replacement of 

 lost baits and other equipment. It also provided spaces for stating the nximber and average 

 distance of short, local fishing trips taken per year, and the number and average distance of 

 long trips (300 miles or more round-trip) taken per year; average number of persons going 

 with driver on short and long trips; length of time spent on long trips, average costs of food 

 and lodging on long trips, kinds and poundages of fish caught, and extra costs such as guide 

 service and boat rentals. 



Of approxin^ately 165 replies to the questionnaire, 126 were complete and contained 

 the desired fishing costs information. 



VALIDITY OF THE SAMPLE 



A tabulation of the catch data on the creel cards of the 126 fishermen Avho completed 

 the questionnaire shows that these fishermen caught 34.5 per cent (by weight) of the 1949 bass 

 catch at Ridge Lake in 34.6 per cent of the total man-hours of fishing. Man-hours, numbers 

 and weights of bass caught, and numbers and pounds of bass per man-hour for all fishermen 



8 



