Charles E. Coomer, Jr.

The largemouth bass(Micropterus salmoides) fishery in the Ocmulgee River, Georgia was studied to address concerns about overexploitation. A significant decline occurred over time in overall success, fished-for success, and average weight of largemouth bass in the creel. The annual exploitation rate was calculated to be 0.11 and was estimated in the year of low bass harvest. The annual survival rate was calculated to be 0.47. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov two sample test showed a significant decrease in the percent frequency of larger bass in electrofishing samples from fall 1976 to fall 1978. The...

The diets of r,edbreast sunfish (Lepomis auritus) and spotted sucker (Minytrema melanops) in the Satilla River, Georgia, were shown to be quantitatively different using Spearman rank correlation coefficients. The index of overlap of Pianka by number and weight showed considerable overlap in the diet during the fall. Chironomids were the main food component contributing to this overlap. The index of electivity of Ivlev indicated moderate to high selectivity by both species for chironomids in the winter, spring, and summer and some selectivity in the fall. The diet overlap between the 2...