FISHES OF THREE WISCONSIN LAKES 17 



blackfin and long jaw are rare ciscoes and the catch is not to be 

 taken as an accurate measure of relative abundance. For the 

 other fishes, however, the catch-per-hour may be looked upon 

 as giving data which shows the relative number of each species 

 present. In order of abundance the deep water fishes rank in 

 the following order: bloater (L. hoyi), lake trout, lawyer, long- 

 nosed sucker, chub (L. johannae), whitefish, cottid, longjaw 

 (L. prognathus), blackfin (L. nigripinnis} . 



In Sturgeon Bay and at Little Harbor a trot line was set on 

 seven nights. The catch figured as for a total of 648 2/0 Kirby 

 hooks set overnight was Ameiurus melas, 2; Ameiurus natalis y 

 1; Ameiurus nebulosus, 3; Perca flavescens, 18; Necturus macu- 

 losus, 1. Arranged in order of abundance as judged by total 

 catch on trot lines the order is as follows; the first figure indi- 

 cating the number of nights when a species was caught and the 

 second the total number caught: yellow perch, 5-18; speckled 

 bullhead, 2-3; black bullhead, 2-2; yellow bullhead, 1-1; mud 

 puppy, 1-1. 



With the seine three hauls were made for a total of about 711 

 meters. The species caught and the number of each was as 

 follows, the first figure indicating the number of times caught and 

 the second the total number: Pimephales notatus, 2-850; No- 

 tropis hudsonius, 3-175; Perca flavescens, 2-58; Micropterus do- 

 lomieu, 1-51; Etheostoma iowoe, 2-11; Notemigonus crysoleucas, 

 1-10; Micropterus salmoides, 1-10; Boleosoma nigrum, 2-6; Cat- 

 ostomus commersonii, 2-3; Ameiurus nebulosus, 1-2; Eupomotis 

 gibbosus, 1-1; Fundulus diaphanus menona, 1-1; Percina cap- 

 rodes, 1-1. 



All things considered the following statements in regard to 

 the fish fauna of Lake Michigan in the Sturgeon Bay region ap- 

 pear to be justified. In shallow water alongshore the yellow 

 perch is the characteristic and most abundant fish. The pick- 

 erel is next in abundance and the rock bass is quite common. 

 There are very few small fishes. In sheltered bays there are 

 Iowa and Johnny darters, black bass, a few shiners and blunt- 

 nosed minnows. On and near swampy shores there are bull- 

 heads, a few pumpkinseeds, and an occasional carp or dogfish. 

 The dominant fishes in the depths of the lake are ciscoes and 

 lake trout. The lawyer and cottid, and long-nosed sucker are 

 also fairly common. The whitefish is rather rare. 



