In order of importance, the census showed the greatest usage by fish- 

 ermen, boaters, and campers to be in Pools 12, 13, 14, 19, 25, and 26 

 (Dunham, 1970a: 4). Pool 26 received the heaviest use of all the pools 

 by pleasure craft, water skiiers, swimmers, and commercial barge 

 traffic. 



Between 1970-1974, the Illinois Department of Conservation conduc- 

 ted electrofishing surveys in the tailwater habitats below navigation 

 dams 12-26 on the Mississippi River. The results of these surveys 

 were reported by Dunham (1970b), Dunham (1971), Bertrand and Dunn (1973), 

 Bertrand and Lockart (1973), and Bertrand and Dunn (1974). Results 

 of the 1971 survey for Pools 24, 25, and 26 are shown in Table 35 and 

 a summary of the catch of game, commercial, and forage fish in these 

 pools is given in Table 36. The data show that game fish species 

 comprised a small percentage (range 7-11 percent) of the total catch in 

 all 3 pools. Commercial species constituted the largest percentage 

 (53 percent) of the catch in Pools 24 and 26. Forage species, primarily 

 gizzard shad, were most abundant in Pool 25, where they comprised 62 

 percent of the total collection. 



Lockmaster counts of fishermen, creel censuses, and aerial recre- 

 ation surveys all indicate that the upper Mississippi River navigation 

 pools receive a great amount of sport fishing pressure. Backwater areas, 

 bottomland lakes, and tailwater habitats below dam structures are all 

 actively used for sport fishing. Impoundment of the upper Mississippi 

 River tended to concentrate sport fishing activities in the upper 

 reaches of each pool. The upper pool areas have been least affected 

 by impoundment in that they exhibit essentially normal river conditions 

 with aquatic habitat types conducive to the production of sport fish species, 



108 



