Madison, Wisconsin: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Summary
Complete angling records were obtained through a compulsory, registration-type creel census conducted on 180-acre Murphy Flowage from 1955 to 1970. On the average each year, anglers fished 73.6 hours per acre and harvested fish at the rate of 1.88 per hour. Annually the harvest of panfish averaged 21.7 lb/acre and of game fish, 8.8 lb/acre. Among panfish, bluegills dominated the harvest at all times. The number of game fish harvested were about equally divided between northern pike and largemouth bass, however, northern pike comprised about 70 percent of the pounds of game fish harvested. A remarkable feature of the yield has been the stability in the proportion of species harvested throughout the 15-year study period.