Stocking and Sport Fishing at Lake Glendale (Illinois)

Abstract

The relative success of two stocking procedures used at Lake Glendale was measured in terms of the quality of hook-and-line fishing that followed the stockings. The initial stocking, in the spring of 1940, was done with adult fish at the rate of 0.9 largemouth bass and 2.6 bluegills per acre; the later stocking, in the fall of 1946, was done with a mixture of yearling and adult fish at the rate of 27.4 largemouth bass and 41.3 bluegills per acre. Warmouths and green sunfish contaminated the lake in both study periods, 1940- 1946 and 1946-1950, but the populations built up by these species were small. The standing crop value for Lake Glendale was similar to the standing crop values for two small ponds in the region but considerably below the values of 6 other ponds, including three 1-acre ponds within 2 miles of the lake. Lake Glendale contained fewer fish of harvestable sizes per acre than the three nearby ponds. Bass fishermen at Lake Glendale did not lose their interest in bass fishing when the population of legal-size bass stood at 5 fish per acre and the catch rate on plugs averaged only 0.06 bass per trip. No close correlation was found between fishing effort and fishing success.