A Biological Investigation of the Fishes of Lake Chautauqua, Illinois

Abstract

A biological investigation was conducted on the fishes of this lake over a 10-year period, 1950-1959. The present paper is concerned principally with the various fishes and their relative abundance in Lake Chautauqua, their biology, the dynamics of their populations, and the eflFects of commercial fishing on them.  Sedimentation, turbidity, chemical, and bottom fauna studies were made in conjunction with the fishery investigation. Field data were obtained on the fishery by creel censusing, commercial wing-net fishing, commercial seining, test-net fishing ( 1-inch-square-mesh wing nets), minnow seining, use of rotenone, and electrofishing. During the investigation, 52,214 fish were weighed and measured. In addition, 12,814 small fish were measured; 23,812 fish were aged. Sixty-four species of fish were collected from the lake. At least 30 of these species were either rare or rare-occasional, 21 species ranged from occasional to common, and only  13 species occurred abundantly. The abundant species were bigmouth buffalo, gizzard shad, carp, freshwater drum, bluegill, white crappie, black crappie, yellow bass, channel catfish, shortnose gar, emerald shiner, spottail shiner, and brook silverside.  The growth rates of 14 species of fish at Lake Chautauqua were determined.  Growth rates of most of the species studied compared favorably with growth rates of these species in other waters. A few species had excellent growth rates. Lack of stunted fish indicated that the fish populations in the lake were not overcrowded. In some species, the population was dominated for several years by one or two year-classes.