300 
BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
knowledge that smaller mesh sizes were used in 1928 than in 1930 and the early part 
of 1931. 
The relationship of net size to fish size (new nets, 1931) in the Trout Lake cisco 
is shown in figure 1 1 . 
MUSKELLUNGE LAKE 
The old gear was used in the collection of ciscoes from Muskellunge Lake in 
1928, 1930, and 1931. In the last 2 years all the fish were taken in the 1 %-incli mesh 
net. In 1928 the gear used included the following sizes of mesh: 1%-, 1 %-, 1%-, and 
2-inch. The 2-inch mesh was probably not effective. Data on the average lengths 
of the various age groups in these years’ collections will be found in table 4. In 1932 
350 
300 
100 
50 
0 
SIZE OF MESH 
Figure ll.— Relationship between size of mesh of gill nets (stretched measure, in inches) and the average standard length in 
millimeters of the ciscoes taken. Trout Lake, ; Muskellunge Lake, — . — ; Silver Lake, — . . . — ; Clear Lake, . 
all the specimens were taken in three (1%-, 1 ) 2 -, and 1%-inch) of the seven sizes of 
mesh used in the new gear. 
The 1932 material provides the only data for the study of the effect of mesh 
size on the average size of fish taken and for the comparison of the average lengths 
of the various age groups as based on samples from nets of different sizes of mesh. 
Scale examinations were made for 201 specimens of the 1932 collection, but ages 
could be estimated for only 189 of this number. The results of these determinations 
appear in table 72. 37 The table shows considerable differences between the nets of 
27 These data represent all the fish taken in the 1%-inch mesh net in 1932 and lifts of the 1)4- and lH-inch mesh nets on July 28, 
29, and 30, and Aug. 3, 1932. The numerical representations of the IK- and lK-inch mesh nets are comparable, while that for the 
lK-inch net is by comparison too high. This high representation of the lK-inch net samples has probably caused the grand aver- 
age length for the IV group to be too high, but it had little effect on the grand average length for the III group. 
