o 



400 

 350 

 300 

 250 

 200 

 150 

 100 

 50 

 



■ 



^ 



<1 2to5 6tol0 11 to 15 16to20 20to25 26-30 



Years fishing on the Madison River 



>30 



>40 



Figure 7. Number of years that respondents had fished on the Madison River, Montana from the 1995 

 angler satisfaction survey. A total of 833 responses were tallied for this question. 



The type of gear used in all stretches of the river was predominately flies with lures coming in a 

 distant second. Again, there was a difference between the anglers of the upper versus the lower 

 river with upper river anglers choosing flies 90% of the time and lower river anglers choosing 

 flies only 60% of the time. Upper river anglers used lures (5.6%) and bait (1.9%) much less 

 frequently than lower river anglers did (15% lures and 14.79% bait). In both sections the 

 remaining percent was attributed to "any combination of gear". 



When asked what type offish was their "target" species, the vast majority of lower river anglers 

 were fishing for trout (93%), with the next most frequent response being "any fish" (3%). 

 Among upper river anglers, results were similar, but less specific, with trout receiving 71% of 

 responses and "any fish" getting 23% of responses. However, of those anglers wanting to catch a 

 specific type offish, upper and lower river anglers were looking for brown trout (4% and 2%, 

 respectively) more often than rainbows (<1% both regions ). Interestingly no anglers were 

 looking to catch the native cutthroat or grayling in either region of the river. 



Evaluation of 1995 and 1996 Creel Data and its Implications related to Whirling Disease 

 In the Madison River, Montana 



MonUna Fish, Wildlife and Paries 

 March 12, 2002 



18 



