Norval F. Netsch

One by two-inch mesh wire fish traps were fished for 5,135 trap days in Old Hickory Reservoir between August 1, 1963 and June 30, 1964. Of the 2,661 fish caught, 83.2 percent were commercial fish, 16.2 percent were sport fish and 0.6 percent "other" species. Carp (Cyprinus carpio) constituted 61.6 percent of the catch. Crappie (Pomoxis sp.) made up 12.0 percent of the total catch. Deep baited sets had the highest catch rate (1.17 commercial fish per trap day) and also the highest percentage of commercial fish in the catch (98.7 percent). Unbaited traps had the lowest catch rate (0.06...

Food habits, feeding habits, and relative vulnerability of various prey species to predation by young longnose gar were studied as part of a general life history research project. Stomach analysis of yearling and older gar revealed a predominant fish diet with gizzard shad the most common species found. Seventy-six per cent of the stomachs of these gar were empty. Regurgitation is probably the major cause of the high percentage of empty stomachs of gar caught in gill nets. The stomachs of young-of-the-year longnose gar contained almost entirely fish, with various minnows the most common...