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The Paddlefish Fishery of the Osage River and the Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri
Author(s) -
Purkett Charles A.
Publication year - 1963
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1963)92[239:tpfoto]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - fishery , fishing , fish <actinopterygii> , population , geography , biology , demography , sociology
In an unusually large fishery for paddlefish, Polyodon spathula (Walbaum), anglers took 8,210 to 4,920 paddlefish by snagging during the March 15‐May 15 seasons of 1958‐61 in the Osage River and Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri. Large fish caught averaged 33 pounds in 1958, and their average weight increased annually to 38 pounds in 1961. Most of those caught in 1959 were 11 to 21 years old, with some 27 to 30. Small fish began entering the harvest in 1959 and averaged 1.6 pounds that year, 3.5 pounds in 1960, and 4.3 pounds in 1961. These young fish were 2 to 4 years old in 1959. Total weight harvested varied from 70 to 107 tons annually. The population of large paddlefish declined during the study period. Catch rates for large fish declined at least 37 percent, there was a high rate of recapture of tagged fish by anglers, and fish were lost over the floodgates of the dam which impounds the Lake of the Ozarks. Since it is desirable to maintain a population of large fish sufficient to provide angling until the small fish attain desirable size, restrictive measures were considered necessary. The possession limit was reduced from four fish to two (the same as the daily limit), the fall snagging season was eliminated, and the spring season was shortened by 15 days.