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Fishing and boating on portions of the Au Sable River in Michigan, 1960–63
Author(s) -
Alexander Gaylord R.,
Shetter David S.
Publication year - 1967
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(1967)96[257:fabopo]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - fishing , fishery , recreational fishing , geography , mile , streams , catch and release , summer season , commercial fishing , recreation , environmental science , ecology , biology , meteorology , geodesy , computer network , computer science
Fishing and boating activity on 50.2 miles of the Au Sable River in Crawford and Otsego counties, Michigan, was measured by stratified random sampling during 1960–63. On the main stream and South Branch of the Au Sable, man‐hours of canoeing far exceeded fishing activity, whereas fishing constituted all but a minor fraction of the recreational activity on the North Branch. Observations during the daily period 8 AM‐11 PM between the last Saturday in April and the second Sunday in September (regular trout season) led to the following estimates of average total hours of recreation (canoeing plus fishing) per season: Main Au Sable River–11,325 hours per mile per season, South Branch–3,354 hours per mile per season, North Branch–1,729 hours per mile per season. On the Main Au Sable, 32% of the recreational use was angling; on the South Branch, 44%; on the North Branch, 99.7%. On all three streams, 25 to 40% of the seasonˈs fishing was done between Decoration Day and 4 July. On the Main Au Sable most boating was done during the third and fourth quarters of the trout season. The first quarter was preferred by the South Branch canoeists. Simultaneous use by anglers and canoeists on the Main Stream and South Branch is an important source of conflict. On the North Branch, where little boating is done, angler activity is fairly uniform during the day. On the Main Au Sable and South Branch, angler use increased sharply after 6 PM when boater use was light. Anglers and boaters from the metropolitan areas of southeastern Michigan constituted a significant fraction of the drainage users; 10% were from other states. Thirty‐nine per cent of the boaters were under age 17, but only three to seven per cent of the anglers were under 17. Angling results on the test waters were listed and were discussed briefly.