Table 9. — Monthly average catch per hour (c/h) of fishes by interviewed anglers on fixed platforms in St. Andrew Bay system, Fla., 1973. (No 

 anglers were observed on fixed platforms in January or on Hathaway Bridge in February.) 





Deer Point Da 



m 





Bailey Bridge 





Hi 



ithaway Bridge 





West Jetty 







No. of 



Hours 



Average 



No. of 



Hours 



Average 



No. of 



Hours 



Average 



No. of 



Hours 



Average 



Month 



anglers 



fishes 



c/h 



anglers 



fished 



eft 



anglers 



fished 



c/h 



anglers 



fished 



c/h 



Feb. 



10 



13.25 



0.08 



7 



8.50 



0.71 









24 



48.50 



0.16 



Mar. 



15 



27.25 



0.26 



11 



15.25 



0.33 



15 



22.00 



1.73 



22 



28.75 



0.56 



Apr. 



28 



57.75 



1.12 



4 



15.50 



0.32 



30 



26.75 



0.67 



44 



83.50 



1.29 



Mav 



13 



16.50 



1.64 



2 



4.50 



1.11 



36 



73.75 



1.21 



25 



45.00 



2.36 



June 



32 



58.50 



1.04 



8 



12.25 



1.39 



29 



48.00 



0.88 



36 



65.25 



1.18 



July 



28 



50.75 



1.10 



14 



14.25 



0.14 



115 



133.00 



0.58 



53 



74.75 



1.78 



Aug. 



21 



44.00 



0.70 



14 



21.75 



1.89 



85 



203.00 



0.73 



44 



79.75 



0.93 



Sept. 



13 



12.75 



0.71 



5 



7.25 



0.69 



37 



71.00 



0.38 



29 



21.75 



1.29 



Oct. 



20 



34.50 



1.71 



6 



10.50 



2.19 



53 



112.25 



1.22 



85 



181.25 



1.28 



Nov. 



28 



46.50 



1.12 



19 



20.50 



1.71 



34 



64.50 



1.80 



44 



84.25 



1.93 



Dec. 



28 



39.25 



1.30 



9 



17.25 



1.80 



2 



1.75 



1.71 



13 



35.25 



1.22 



Total 



236 



401.00 





99 



147.50 





436 



756.00 





419 



748.00 





Average 







1.04 







1.19 







0.92 







1.32 



minimized. Such data may or may not provide an ac- 

 curate measure of the availability of fishes, however. 

 Several factors affect angling success. Among those are 

 the species that are sought, fishing location, bait 

 (method), and angling effort. 



In 2,053.5 h of angling from fixed platforms in the St. 

 Andrew Bay system, at least 55 species of fishes were 

 caught by the interviewed anglers. Other food or game 

 fish known to occur in the system were not caught. The 

 tarpon (Megalops atlantica), red snapper (Lutjanus 

 campechanus) , and snook (Centropomus sp.) are ex- 

 amples. Those fishes are not believed to be abundant, 

 but an occasional catch would be expected. Perhaps, 

 more importantly, none of the interviewed anglers were 

 aware of their presence or directed their efforts specifical- 

 ly for them. 



The caught fishes were not distributed equally 

 throughout the study area, judging from the percentage 

 composition and number of species landed from each 

 platform. The spotted seatrout appeared to be available 

 in greater number at Deer Point Dam than at the other 

 locations. The percentage of the total catch was 21.0% at 

 Deer Point Dam, 0.2% at West Jetty, and 0.0% in coastal 

 waters. In contrast, the crevalle jack comprised 0.3% of 

 the catch in coastal waters, 13.1% at West Jetty, and 

 1.6% at Deer Point Dam. All dolphin, amberjack, great 

 barracuda, wahoo, and Atlantic cutlassfish were caught 

 in coastal waters, and all tomtate and gray and ver- 

 milion snappers were caught at the West Jetty. 



The catch rates also differed by bait type. The highest 

 average catch rate achieved by all anglers on fixed plat- 

 forms for all months was with dead squid (1.4 fish/h), 

 closely followed by live bait fish (1.2 fish/h), live shrimp 

 (1.1 fish/h), and dead shrimp (1.1 fish/h). The average 

 catch rate with cut fish and fiddler crabs was 51% and 

 39 r ;, respectively, of that achieved with dead squid. 



According to the data on bait preference, significantly 

 higher catch rates could have been obtained by using the 

 bait preferred by available fishes. The highest average 

 catch rate for spotted seatrout, for example, was 0.7 



fish/h with live shrimp. That rate was 3.6 times greater 

 than with lures and 17.8 times greater than with dead 

 shrimp. The highest average catch rate for crevalle jacks 

 was with lures. That rate, 0.4 fish/h, was 10.2 times 

 greater than with squid, the next most effective bait. 



It seems apparent that the catch and catch rates ob- 

 tained by this creel census are of limited value for in- 

 dexing the availability of fishes to anglers on fixed plat- 

 forms. The data do provide a general measure of species 

 availability and angling success by a diverse group of 

 anglers that probably constitute the majority of all 

 anglers. The catch rates of Spanish and king mackerels 

 by charter boat anglers, however, are viewed as reliable 

 measures of their availability and relative abundance. 

 The reliability resulted from the selection of a sample of 

 anglers having considerable experience angling for those 

 fishes. The captains and mates on those boats are, of 

 course, professional anglers; their fishing methods are 

 similar and their effort competitive. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



I thank F. A. Kalber, G. R. Huntsman, and J. B. Hig- 



man for reviewing this manuscript. 



LITERATURE CITED 



CAILLOUET, C. E., JR.. and J. B. HIGMAN. 



1973. Accuracy of sampling procedures and catch rates in sport 

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 DEUEL, D. G. 



1973. 1970 salt-water angling survey. U.S. Dep. Commer., NOAA, 

 Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., Curr. Fish. Stat. 6200, 54 p. 



IRBY, E. W. 



1974. A fishing survey of Choctawha tehee Bay and adjacent Gulf of 

 Mexico waters. Fla. Dep. Nat. Resour., Mar. Res. Lab., No. 2, 26 p. 



RICHER, W. E. 



1958. Handbook of computations for biological statistics of fish 

 populations. Fish. Res. Board Can., Bull. 119, 300 p. 

 U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE. 



1976. Fisheries of the United States, 1975. U.S. Dep. Commer., 

 NOAA, Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., Curr. Fish. Stat. 6900, 100 p. 



