|
<br />
<br />832 BIOLOGICAL REPoRT 19
<br />
<br />Table 2. Sport fishing harvest of burbot and sauger from the Missouri River in the Gavins Point Dam
<br /> tailwater,1956-92.
<br /> Burbot Sauger
<br />Year All harvest Rate No. caught % No. caught %
<br />1956 10,000 1.6 510 6.1 2,700 27.0
<br />1958 239,000 1.6 4,780 2.0 71,700 30.0
<br />1961 539,000 1.4 0 0.0 264,110 49.0
<br />1962 710,000 1.4 0 0.0 284,156 40.0
<br />1972 18,441 0.4 0 0.0 830 4.6
<br />1978 29,294 0.1 0 0.0 3,808 13.0
<br />1984 45,101 0.6 0 0.0 4,143 9.0
<br />1992 51,523 0.5 0 0.0 106 0.2
<br />
<br />
<br />11 kg in 1975, and none through 1984 (unpublished
<br />report, North Dakota Game and Fish Department,
<br />Bismarck).
<br />Sport fishers in the area between the Gavins
<br />Point Dam tailwater and Rulo, Nebraska, were
<br />surveyed during 1972 (Groen 1973). Burbot were
<br />not harvested in the tailwater of Gavins Point Dam
<br />or from the unchannelized reach downstream.
<br />However, six burbot (1% by composition) were har-
<br />vested by sport fishers downstream from Omaha.
<br />User surveys conducted in 1978, 1984, and 1992 did
<br />not report any burbot as harvested or caught and
<br />released.
<br />Electrofishing in the channelized Missouri
<br />River in eastem Nebraska (1971-75) captured 13
<br />burbot among 29,493 large fish (0.04%; Hesse and
<br />Wallace 1976). Since 1983, we have electrofished
<br />2,019 large fish from these same locations and
<br />have not collected burbot. In addition, we have
<br />collected 7 ,024 large fish with electrofishing in the
<br />unchannelized sections in northeast Nebraska, in-
<br />cluding only 4 (O.O&Al) burbot.
<br />Burbot still reproduce in northeast Nebraska
<br />portions of the Missouri River. Two larval burbot
<br />were collected in 1984 in the tailwater of Gavins
<br />Point Dam, three in 1985 (two in the tailwater and
<br />one upstream at Niobrara), and one in 1986 (16 km
<br />downstream from Gavins Point Dam). These six
<br />larvae were very rare among more than 150,000
<br />fish larvae collected from nearly 400,000 m3 of
<br />water. We recommend that burbot be listed as
<br />endangered in Nebraska.
<br />
<br />Sauger
<br />
<br />Sauger (Stizostedion canadense) were common
<br />in Nebraska, occurring in the Platte River west to
<br />the Nebraska-Wyoming border (Meek 1894; Ever-
<br />man and Cox 1896; Wyoming Game and Fish
<br />
<br />Commission 1940). Jones (1963) cited an 1896
<br />Nebraska Fish Commission report that sauger
<br />were caught in large numbers from the Platte,
<br />Blue, Loup, Elkhorn, and Niobrara rivers; how-
<br />ever, they were most abundant in the Missouri
<br />River. Pflieger (1975) stated that sauger are often
<br />associated with strong current and high turbidity
<br />and are somewhat restricted to large, free-flowing
<br />rivers. Sauger were common in the Missouri River
<br />in Kansas and a seasonal resident of the Kansas
<br />River (Cross 1967). Sauger were common in the
<br />Missouri River in South Dakota and in the lower
<br />ends of some larger tributaries (Bailey and Allum
<br />1962).
<br />Large sport fisheries for sauger developed in the
<br />tailwaters of the large mainstem dams as they
<br />were constructed (Bailey and Allum 1962). Be-
<br />tween July 1959 and March 1960, 31,291 sauger
<br />were harvested from the tailwater of Oshe Dam
<br />(Bailey and Allum 1962). Gavins Point Dam was
<br />closed in July 1955; the sport harvest gradually
<br />increased to 239,976 fish (1.6/h) by 1958 in the
<br />tailwaters, and 30% (71,993) were sauger; Orr
<br />1962; Table 2). The sport harvest peaked in 1962
<br />at 710,389 fish (1.4/h), and sauger represented
<br />40% (284,156) of the catch (Orr 1962). By 1972,
<br />harvest in the tailwater decreased to 18,441 fish,
<br />and only 830 sauger were caught (Groen 1973). In
<br />1992, tailwater anglers harvested 51,523 fish, and
<br />only 106 sauger were caught (Hesse et al. 1992).
<br />Few records exist of sport fishing in the riverine
<br />reaches, but those that do paint a picture of extraor-
<br />dinary fishing opportunities. Robinson (1958b) sur-
<br />veyed ice fishers using the Decatur cut-off during
<br />the winter of 1958-59; 209 fishers averaged 1.7
<br />fish/h; 64.3% of their catch was sauger, 23.9% was
<br />crappie, and 11.7% was largemouth bass. Com-
<br />ments by fishers included the following: "ice fishing
<br />
|