Optimizing Sampling Protocol for Largemouth Bass and Bluegill in Small Impoundments
Fisheries managers need to minimize sampling effort required to provide statistically reliable data for cost effective monitoring and assessment. Shoreline electrofishing methods used to estimate abundance and size structure of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) and bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) may be affected by seasonal variability of littoral habitat use by these species. A fixed standard of 3 15-minute electrofishing samples did not provide CPUE estimates that we considered precise enough to consistently use for management decisions on 4 50- to 119-ha Kentucky impoundments. Due...
