Certain sportsmen's groups, such as the Foothill 

 Sportsmen's Club of Oakland and the Twin Cities 

 Rod and Gun Club of Yuba City have contributed 

 greatly by sponsoring prize drawings for anglers who 

 reported capture of tagged catfish. 



Channel Catfish 



A tagging study on channel catfish in the Colorado 

 River, which was begun in 1954, was completed dur- 

 ing the biennium. Results of the study indicated that 

 the fishery is being exploited at a safe level and no 

 drastic changes in regulations are necessary. 



Tagging studies at Clear Lake, in which 3,500 white 

 catfish and brown bullheads were tagged in 1952 and 

 1954, have demonstrated clearly that the fishery is 

 greatly underexploited. The annual harvest is only 

 about 2.5 percent of the catchable population. In other 

 words, most Clear Lake catfish simply die of old age. 

 An increased bag limit and liberalization of certain 

 gear restrictions have been recommended to encourage 

 better utilization of this resource. 



The important channel catfish fishery in the Lower 

 Sacramento River system and Sutter Bypass was the 

 subject of a tagging study during 1955 and 1956. Tag 

 returns after one year indicated that the annual rate 

 of harvest is approximately 20 percent of the catch- 

 able population. 



Sampling to determine abundance of young striped bass in the Sacra- 

 menio-San Joaquin delta area. 



(Fish and Game Photo) 



While fishing lor striped bass in the Sacramento River off Port Chicago, 

 Catalino Diangson of San Francisco hooked into this 277-pound sturgeon. 

 Victory over this 8-foof, 5-inch giant required 1 hour and 20 minutes. 



(San Francisco News Photo) 



Life History Studies 



Successful management of a fishery must be based 

 on a thorough understanding of the biology of the 

 species concerned. Consequently, a major portion of 

 the catfish study program was directed toward gain- 

 ing an understanding of catfish life histories. 



Emphasis was placed on study of the biology of 

 the white catfish in the Delta, since the Delta fishery 

 is the largest and most important in the State. By the 

 end of the biennium, data on age and growth, food 

 habits, size at maturity, reproductive characteristics 

 and diseases had been obtained. 



The age and growth and food habits of channel 

 catfish in the Colorado River was studied in order to 

 evaluate the efi^ects of the experimental introduction 

 of the threadfin shad into that important river. The 

 catfish project started this work and it is being con- 

 tinued under the warmwater research program. 



\'aluable facts about the food habits and age and 

 growth of catfish in Clear Lake have also been ob- 

 tained during the course of project activities. 



STRIPED BASS AND STURGEON 



The 1954-56 biennium coincides with the first two 

 years this federal aid project has been in operation. 

 The striped bass fishery is an extremely valuable one, 



