Tom J. Timmons

Diet and growth of the 1993 year-class of age-0 largemouth bass were determined in Ledbetter Embayment of Kentucky Lake. Diet was analyzed to determine the relationship between diet quality and the resulting size structure of the cohort. Length-weight and head capsule-weight regressions were used to estimate the dry weight of prey items in the diet. Largemouth bass were divided into 2 size classes (large and small) based on the mean length for each sampling date. Growth rates were calculated for both classes and compared with piecewise linear regression of total length on day of the year...

Population dynamics of yellow perch, Perca fiavescens Mitchill, were examined during the initial 7 years of impoundment of West Point Lake (1975-1981). Preimpoundment lengths of yellow perch at successive ages for the 1972 to 1974 year classes were greater than lengths at successive ages for the 1976 to 1981 year classes. The 1975 year class was intermediate to those before and after impoundment. Yellow perch reached maturity in 2 years, and the number of young-of-theyear (YOY) was highly correlated (r = 0.99; P < 0.05) to the number of YOY 2 years earlier. There was no correlation of...

Objectives of this study were to collect information on food, prey availability, and growth rates of black bass (Micropterus spp.) and to determine what type of restrictive harvest regulations would be best for their management in Kentucky Lake, Kentucky. The available fish prey/predator ratio (AP/P) in the Blood River embayment was near 1 : 1 until fish reached 300 mm length, and then available prey biomass increased rapidly. Fish prey were the major food item of all 3 species of bass > 150 mm (largemouth bass, M. salmoides, spotted bass, M. punctulatus, and smallmouth bass, M....

Yellow perch, Perca flavescens, and largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides, segregated both spatially and by food choice throughout most of their first year. During the summer, largemouth bass inhabitated mainly vegetated areas and soft silt and sandy areas, whereas yellow perch preferred soft silt, sand, and hard clay areas. Both species shared a common invertebrate diet until mid-summer. Largemouth bass consumed small fishes late in the growing season while yellow perch continued to consume only invertebrates. Largemouth bass were longer and weighed more than yellow perch at the end of...

Largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) are able to feed on relatively large prey. The relative size of prey, calculated as the ratio of prey length (or weight) to .predator length (or weight), changed only slightly witb increasing size of largemouth bass. Bluegills (Lepomis macrochirus), gizzard shad (Dorsoma cepedianum), and threadfin shad (D. petenense) were the most common fisbes consumed by largemouth bass in West Point Lake. Bluegills were more often eaten by small largemouth bass (3 to 15 cm TL), while shad were eaten by larger ones ( > 15 I'm TL). Regression equations for the...

A method of sampling fish populations in the littoral area of reservoirs was developed to estimate the number and standing stock of young-of-the-year (YOY) and adult fishes in West Point Reservoir, Alabama-Georgia. A surface area of 0.0 I ha was surrounded with a net (30.5 m x 2.7 m) and the fish were poisoned with rotenone. The sample sites were chosen randomly by using a grid system. The average monthly standing stock (kg/ hal from April to September 1977 ranged from 74.2 in September to 126.1 in June. The weekly samples yielded data that enabled us to estimate the reproductive success...

The species composition and relative abundance of fishes in West Point Reservoir, a main stem Chattahoochee River reservoir, changed after impoundment in 1975. Strong year classes of gizzard shad, threadfin shad, largemouth bass, black crappie, bluegill, brown bullhead, carp, bowfin, and many sunfishes were produced in 1975. Sixteen species disappeared from the present reservoir region; 11 were not collected after impoundment, and 5 others disappeared during the first year. Forty-three species were found in the reservoir 2 years after impoundment, of which 6 did not occur in preimpoundment...