Kenneth K. Cunningham

Current standardized sampling procedures in Oklahoma call for the use of gill nets to collect relative abundance and size structure data on channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus). While gill nets are effective at catching channel catfish, their usefulness as a sampling tool is limited because of the variability of the resulting data. Furthermore, gill nets represent a lethal means of sampling channel catfish which can adversely affect channel catfish populations. Hoop nets have been found to be an effective alternative method for catching channel catfish, but little is known concerning...

Electrofishing was conducted twice monthly from June to October 1995 on Lake Ponca Reservoir and May to October 1996 on Fort Gibson Reservoir to evaluate how temporal and environmental factors such as time of sampling, water temperature, water depth, and differing habitat types affect sampling efficiency for flathead catfish (Pylodictis olivaris). Relationships among catch data and concurrent temporal and environmental data were determined by multiple regression analysis. For each reservoir, models were generated for O/f (numbers of individuals netted/3 minutes of electrofishing), C/f (...