19-26) reaches of the upper river. 



In the following data summary, discussion is restricted to species that each 

 separately accounted for over 10% of the total catch and to species that were of 

 special significance. A 95% list was produced for each reach, in which species were 

 ranked by relative abundance (pounds per hour) and added to the list until 95% of 

 the total catch rate for that reach was obtained. Overall, these data indicate that in 

 terms of weight the fish communities of the Illinois River continue to be dominated by 

 common carp, bigmouth buffalo, and channel catfish in the lower and middle river, 

 and common carp, smallmouth buffalo, gizzard shad, channel catfish, and 

 largemouth bass in the upper watenway. Common carp ranked first by relative 

 abundance in pounds offish collected per hour in Alton, La Grange, Marseilles, and 

 Dresden reaches in 1994; La Grange, Marseilles, and Dresden reaches in 1995; La 

 Grange, Peoria, Marseilles, and Dresden reaches in 1996; La Grange, Marseilles, 

 and Dresden reaches in 1997; and Alton, La Grange, Peoria, Marseilles, and 

 Dresden reaches in 1998 (Tables 17, 19, 21, 23, and 15). Bigmouth buffalo ranked 

 first by relative abundance in pounds offish collected per hour in Peoria Reach in 

 1994 and in Alton and Peoria reaches in 1995 and in 1997 (Tables 17, 19, and 23). 

 Channel catfish ranked first by relative abundance in pounds offish collected per 

 hour in Alton Reach in 1996 (Table 21). Smallmouth buffalo ranked first by relative 

 abundance in pounds offish collected per hour in Starved Rock Reach during all five 

 years of this project (1994-1998). 



43 



