WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES...2012/05/05 · 1301 536 500 319 290 773 2704 2539 184 0...

WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES CREEL SURVEY REPORT

LONG LAKE CHIPPEWA COUNTY

2012-2013

Treaty Fisheries Publication

March, 2013

INTRODUCTION

The Wisconsin Department of Natural

Resources regularly conducts fishery surveys

of area lakes and reservoirs to gather

information on species composition,

population size, reproductive success,

size/age distribution, and growth rates. The

information from the netting and

electrofishing surveys helps the WDNR

determine the best management practices for

that body of water. Another important

aspect of a fishery is the amount of harvest

that is occurring on the lake. This

information is collected by creel census or

creel survey.

On lakes in the Ceded Territory of

Wisconsin, harvest of fish is divided

between sport anglers and the six Chippewa

tribal bands. The six Chippewa tribal bands

harvest fish under rights governed by federal

treaties of 1837 and 1842. Most tribal fish

harvest is done by spearing during a short

period of time in the spring. All speared fish

are individually counted by tribal creel

clerks, allowing for a complete “census” of

the tribal fish harvest in the spring.

Information is also collected on the effects

of sport angler harvest on fish populations.

Because it would be impractical and costly

to conduct a complete “census” of the fish

harvested by sport anglers on area lakes, a

creel survey is conducted to estimate the

amount of fish harvested by sports anglers.

A creel survey is a sampling tool used to

measure the fishing activities of the sport

anglers and to estimate the amount of fish

harvested on a body of water. Creel surveys

are designed to have a creel clerk on a lake,

work random shifts, and forty hours each

week throughout the fishing season. Each

month these shifts cover a sample of all the

daylight hours. Creel clerks travel their

lakes using a boat, snowmobile or vehicle to

count and to interview anglers.

The information collected from anglers

during the interview includes the species of

fish being targeted, catch and harvest,

lengths of harvested fish, and hours of

fishing effort. Typically only anglers that

have completed their fishing trip are

interviewed because it provides the most

accurate information and it avoids the need

to disturb anglers while they are fishing.

You may have encountered one of the DNR

creel clerks on a recent fishing trip. The

survey only takes a moment of your time and

we appreciate your cooperation during an

interview. The information collected gives

the DNR valuable knowledge required for

management of the fishery.

The data collected during the survey is

processed by a computer program and

summarized by month to calculate estimates

of the total fishing pressure, fishing effort

directed at each species, catch and harvest

rates, and the number of fish caught and

harvested.

This creel survey report will provide you

with four types of estimated information for

this body of water:

1. Overall fishing pressure

2. Fishing effort directed at each species

3. Catch and harvest rates

4. Numbers of fish caught and harvested.

Also included in this report are physical

information about the lake, discussion of

results of this survey and detailed summaries

by species.

GENERAL LAKE INFORMATION

Location Long Lake is located SE of Bloomer,

Wisconsin in the south central part of

Chippewa County.

Physical Characteristics Long Lake is a 1052 acre drainage lake. It

has a maximum depth of 101 feet. The

lake’s water clarity is moderate. There is a

county park with a public boat landing on

the west side of lake on Highway 40.

Seasons Surveyed An open water creel survey was conducted

from the opening day of gamefish season on

May 5, 2012 and ran through the end of

October. Winter creel was conducted from

December 1st through the close of the

gamefish season on March 3, 2013.

Harvest Regulations The following seasons, daily bag limits, and

length limits were in place on this lake in

2012-2013:

Walleye* 05/05-3/03 3 **

Largemouth Bass 05/05-03/03 1 18"

Smallmouth Bass 05/05-03/03 1 18"

Muskellunge 05/26-11/30 1 40"

Northern Pike 05/05-03/03 5 none

Panfish all year 10 none

*The walleye bag limit may have been reduced due to

tribal declarations.

**No minimum length limit, but from 14”-18” may not be

kept, and only one fish over 18” allowed.

SPECIES CATCH AND HARVEST INFORMATION

Angling information is summarized on a

single page for each species. If a page for a

particular species is not present in this

section it is because no one reported fishing

for that species and/or none were caught.

Each species page has up to five graphs

covering the following:

FIGURE 1 ESTIMATED FISHING EFFORT

Total calculated number of hours

during each month that anglers spent

fishing for this species.

FIGURE 2 ESTIMATED ANGLER CATCH

AND HARVEST RATES Calculated number of hours it takes

an angler to catch or harvest a fish of

this species. Only information from

anglers who were specifically

targeting this species is reported

here.

FIGURE 3 ESTIMATED ANGLER CATCH

AND HARVEST Calculated number of fish of this

species caught or harvested by all

anglers. This estimate also includes

incidental catch and harvest of fish

by anglers that were not specifically

targeting this species.

FIGURE 4 LENGTH DISTRIBUTION OF

HARVESTED FISH MEASURED BY CLERK

All fish of this species measured by

the clerk during the entire creel

survey season.

FIGURE 5 AVERAGE LENGTH AND

LARGEST FISH HARVESTED Average length and the largest fish of

this species harvested each month.

Only those fish measured by the

creel clerk are reported here.

Seasonal Angler Effort Summary

The table provides a summary by month of

the total angler hours and total angler hours

per acre. Also, the table compares county

average and statewide average to current

survey results.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This survey could not have been completed

if not for the efforts of the technical staff of

the Treaty Fisheries Unit, especially Andrew

Dumask (open water) and Jason Meacham

(winter) who collected the angler interviews.

Gene Hatzenbeler provided logistic support

for the survey. Todd Brecka delivered and

maintained all equipment. Jill Sunderland

assisted with training and the scheduling for

the creel clerks. Misty Rood and Mac

McInroy were responsible for data entry and

quality assurance. Jake Jacobson and Mac

McInroy filled in when clerks needed a day

off.

The Department would like to thank Jeannie

Forrester. She generously allowed the

department to keep a boat and snowmobile

at her property during this survey.

We would also like to thank all the anglers

who took the time to offer information about

their fishing trip to the survey clerk.

Without your cooperation this survey would

not have been possible.

Additional copies of this report and those

covering other local lakes can be obtained

from Treaty Fisheries Biologist in Spooner

WI or WDNR Webpage.

Question about the report can be directed to

Gene Hatzenbeler

WDNR Spooner Office

810 W. Maple Street

Spooner, WI 54801

Phone: (715)635-4164

Email: [email protected]

1.6

11.1 12.5

3.2

33.3

14.3

50.0 50.0 50.0

5.6 5.6

100.0

25.0

10.0

100.0

0.0

20.0

40.0

60.0

80.0

100.0

120.0

MAY JUN. JUL. AUG. SEP. OCT. DEC. JAN. FEB. MAR.

HO

UR

S P

ER

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST

FIGURE 2. ESTIMATED ANGLER CATCH AND HARVEST RATES

1416

104 123 183

10 21 14 59 45 33

406

11 58 52 13 25

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600


NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST

FIGURE 3. ESTIMATED ANGLER CATCH AND HARVEST

5

18 17

23

1 1

3

12

4

2 2 1

0

5

10

15

20

25

7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

INCHES

FIGURE 4. LENGTH DISTRIBUTION OF HARVESTED FISH MEASURED BY CLERK

13.8 12.7

13.8 14.0

19.9

13.8

19.1

20.5

22.3

13.3

21.6

18.1

21.0

18.5

20.5 20.5

7

9

11

13

15

17

19

21

23

25


INC

HE

S

MONTH

AVERAGE LARGEST

FIGURE 5. AVERAGE LENGTH AND LARGEST FISH HARVESTED

2244

1006

1301

536

319 290

773

2704 2539

184

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000


AN

GL

ING

HO

UR

S

MONTH

FIGURE 1. ESTIMATED FISHING EFFORT

WALLEYE

25.0

9.1 5.6

50.0

33.3

7.1

100.0

0

20

40

60

80

100

120


HO

UR

S P

ER

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


53

28 20

46

108

21

39

23

11

34

14

29

0

20

40

60

80

100

120


NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


1 1 1

4

1

2

3

2

3

1 1 1 1

0

1

2

3

4

5

18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38

NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

INCHES


26.8

24.1 23.3

27.6 28.0

24.6 26.5

27.8

24.5 26.0

28.1

36.0

29.8

26.5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40


INC

HE

S

MONTH

AVERAGE LARGEST


141 101

181

377

235

19 60

1182

495

216

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400


AN

GL

ING

HO

UR

S

MONTH


NORTHERN PIKE

16.7

33.3

14.3

25.0 25.0

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0

MAY JUN. JUL. AUG. SEP. OCT.

HO

UR

S P

ER

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


48

41

13

29

58

23

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70


NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


0

0.2

0.4

0.6

0.8

1

1.2

30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

INCHES


No muskellunge harvested

32

37

42

47

52

57

62

67


INC

HE

S

MONTH


AVERAGE LARGEST

No mukellunge harvested

353 397 402

249

694

456

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800


AN

GL

ING

HO

UR

S

MONTH


MUSKELLUNGE

1.3 6.7 3.0 1.8 1.4 1.1

100.0 100.0 100.0

0

20

40

60

80

100

120


HO

UR

S P

ER

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST

FIGURE 2. ESTIMATED ANGLERS CATCH AND HARVEST RATES

2354

362

574

1034

568

181 40 23 11 9 12 6

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500


NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


2

4 4

0

1

2

3

4

5

5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25

NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

INCHES


20.1

18.6 19.2

19.8 20.0 20.3

19.1 19.6 20.0 20.0

10

12

14

16

18

20

22


INC

HE

S

MONTH

AVERAGE LARGEST


2852

1786

1392

1705

756

194 38

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000


AN

GL

ING

HO

UR

S

MONTH


SMALLMOUTH BASS

3.7

1.3

4.2 4.5

1.5

0

1

2

3

4

5


HO

UR

S P

ER

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


315

270

192

230 209

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350


NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


0

1

2

3

4

5

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20

NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

INCHES

FIGURE 4. LENGTH DISTRIBUTION OF HARVESTED FISHED MEASURED BY CLERK

NO LARGEMOUTH BASS HARVESTED

10

12

14

16

18

20


INC

HE

S

MONTH

AVERAGE LARGEST

NO LARGEMOUTH BASS HARVESTED


754

269

186

819

260

23 38

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900


AN

GL

ING

HO

UR

S

MONTH


LARGEMOUTH BASS

0.5 0.4 0.8 0.7 0.9 0.5

5.6

1.2 1.9

5.3

3.0

8.3

16.7

02468

1012141618


HO

UR

S P

ER

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


1588

3460

1704 1411

570

6

559

75 9

649 802

212 274 35 25

0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

4000


NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


1

38

111

7

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

INCHES


7.4

7.0 7.1 7.1

8.5

7.7

8.2 7.9

5

6

7

8

9


INC

HE

S

MONTH

AVERAGE LENGTH AND LARGEST FISH HARVESTED

AVERAGE LARGEST

762

1155

715 818

273

20

282

412

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400


AN

GL

ING

HO

UR

S

MONTH


BLUEGILL

1.8

16.7

0.4

7.1

1.6 2.0 1.2

2.4

16.7

0.6

14.3

2.8 3.8

1.8

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18


HO

UR

S P

ER

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


148

17 4 7

151

14

837

527

130 101

11 4

121

7

489

265

87

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900


NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST

FIIGURE 3. ESTIMATED ANGLER CATCH AND HARVEST

1

3

7

11

7

1

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

INCHES


11.0

9.7

11.5 11.7 12.1

11.2 11.0

12.3

10.2

11.5

12.5 12.1 11.9

14.0

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15


INC

HE

S

MONTH

AVERAGE LARGEST


232 195

27 135

68 97

1357

1024

152

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600


AN

GL

ING

HO

UR

S

MONTH


BLACK CRAPPIE

11.1

16.7

12.5

0.5 0.3 0.8

12.5

0.2

11.1

33.3

0.0

5.0

10.0

15.0

20.0

25.0

30.0

35.0


HO

UR

S P

ER

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


158

227

42 73 58

39 70

232

42

543

46 6 6 9

0

100

200

300

400

500

600


NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


1 1

3

1

0

1

2

3

4

3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14

NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

INCHES


8.8

8.1

6.3

10.6

8.1

6.6

5

6

7

8

9

10

11


INC

HE

S

MONTH

AVERAGE LARGEST


250

63

138 135

13 7

59

293 290

109

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350


AN

GL

ING

HO

UR

S

MONTH


YELLOW PERCH

NO PICTURE AVAILABLE

2.3

0

1

2

3


HO

UR

S P

ER

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


153

127

22

85

14

28 41

66

17

34

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180


NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

MONTH

CATCH HARVEST


0

1

2

3

4

5

10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30

NU

MB

ER

OF

FIS

H

INCHES

FIGURE 4. LENGTH DISTRIBUTION OF HARVESTED FISH MEASURE BY CLERK

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20


INC

HE

S

MONTH

AVERAGE LARGEST


54

0

10

20

30

40

50

60


AN

GL

ING

HO

UR

S

MONTH


ROCK BASS

TOTAL ANNUAL ANGLER DIRECTED EFFORT BY SPECIES

This graph illustrates the percentage of time that anglers spent fishing for each species during the entire creel survey. The percentages are based on the species of

fish anglers told the clerk they were fishing for, not what they actually caught. If a particular species is not present in the graph it is because no one reported they

were fishing for that species.

Long Lake 2012-13

Walleye 31.6%

Northern Pike 8.0%

Muskellunge 6.8%

Smallmouth Bass 23.2%

Largemouth Bass 6.2%

Bluegill 11.8%

Black Crappie 8.7%

Yellow Perch 3.6%

Rock Bass 0.1%

SEASONAL ANGLER EFFORT SUMMARY

Estimated angler fishing effort on Long Lake for each month surveyed and by season.

Month

Number of

Angler Party

Interviews

Total Angler

Hours

Total Angler

Hours/Acre

Chippewa

County

Average

Hours/Acre

Statewide

Average

Hours/Acre

May 86 5821 5.5 3.5 5.8

June 82 3756 3.6 3.3 6.1

July 65 2990 2.8 2.9 6.4

August 68 2962 2.8 2.4 5.4

September 48 1967 1.9 2.0 3.8

October 34 944 0.9 0.8 1.6

December 17 946 0.9 0.6 1.7

January 40 3988 3.8 1.1 1.5

February 21 2726 2.6 1.0 1.3

March 4 408 0.4 **

*Summer Total 465 18440 17.5 14.8 29.1

*Winter Total 82 8068 7.7 2.7 4.5

Grand Total 547 26508 25.2 17.6 33.6

*"Summer" is May-October; "Winter" is December-March

**Too few lakes have been surveyed in March to give a meaningful statewide average.

2012-13

Statewide Average Hours/Acre is the average angler effort in hours per acre for inland lakes in the state surveyed

between 1990 and 1995. This value can be used to compare this lake to other lakes statewide.

Number of Angler Party Interviews is the number of groups of anglers interviewed by the creel clerk. A party is

considered the members of a group who fish together in the same boat, ice shanty, or from shore. The clerk fills

out one interview form for each group of anglers. The number of individual anglers actually contacted by the clerk

is usually much greater than the number of groups listed in this table since most groups consist of more than one

angler.

Total Angler Hours is the estimated total number of hours that anglers spent fishing on this lake during each

month surveyed.

Total Angler Hours/Acre is the total angler hours divided by the area of the lake in acres. This is useful if you

wish to compare effort on this lake to others.

County Average Hours/Acre is the average angler effort in hours per acre for county lakes that have been

surveyed since 1990. This value can be useful in comparisons as well.

CREEL SURVEY HISTORY/SYNOPSISLONG LAKE, CHIPPEWA COUNTY

CREEL YEAR: 2012-13

SPECIES

DIRECTED

EFFORT

(Hours)

PERCENT

OF TOTAL

TOTAL

CATCH

SPECIFIC

CATCH

RATE

(Hrs/Fish)

TOTAL

HARVEST

SPECIFIC

HARVEST

RATE

(Hrs/Fish)

MEAN

LENGTH OF

HARVESTED

FISH

Walleye 11896 31.6% 2008 6.3 565 20.0 14.1

Northern Pike 3007 8.0% 315 33.3 111 50.0 25.5

Muskellunge 2551 6.8% 212 20.0 0 0.0

Smallmouth Bass 8723 23.2% 5113 1.9 61 100.0 19.5

Largemouth Bass 2349 6.2% 1216 2.9 0 0.0

Bluegill 4437 11.8% 9382 0.6 1997 2.6 7.2

Black Crappie 3287 8.7% 1835 1.8 1085 3.0 11.2

Yellow Perch 1357 3.6% 1484 1.9 67 50.0 8.3

Rock Bass 54 0.1% 429 2.3 158 7.8

CREEL YEAR: 2000-01

SPECIES

DIRECTED

EFFORT

(Hours)

PERCENT

OF TOTAL

TOTAL

CATCH

SPECIFIC

CATCH

RATE

(Hrs/Fish)

TOTAL

HARVEST

SPECIFIC

HARVEST

RATE

(Hrs/Fish)

MEAN

LENGTH OF

HARVESTED

FISH

Walleye 15042 39.0% 6796 2.3 1323 11.5 13.3

Northern Pike 1430 3.7% 371 12.9 29 195.9 25.5

Muskellunge 3072 8.0% 71 72.6 4 737.7 0.0

Smallmouth Bass 12198 31.6% 5569 2.4 50 322.2 18.3

Largemouth Bass 1208 3.1% 97 18.2 4 290.0 18.0

Bluegill 2041 5.3% 2538 1.0 868 2.7 7.6

Pumpkinseed 87 0.2% 63 1.5 11 12.0 6.8

Black Crappie 2366 6.1% 1151 2.3 776 3.3 10.6

Yellow Perch 724 1.9% 426 6.7 488 7.7 9.9

Rock Bass 385 1.0% 1521 2.0 464 4.3 8.5

WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES...2012/05/05 · 1301 536 500 319 290 773 2704 2539 184 0...

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Transcript of WISCONSIN DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES...2012/05/05 · 1301 536 500 319 290 773 2704 2539 184 0...