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decreased since 1979 (Table 26), but only slightly. There is no hard evidence to show the quantity or quality of the lake trout fishery has deteriorated. Most likely, the fishery and harvest is stabilizing. However, due to the vulnerability of the lake trout, the fishery should be closely monitored to pre- vent overharvest and reduced quality. Smallmouth bass harvests are still relatively low, but have increased over the years to a high of 1,780 fish in 1982 (Table 20). Smallmouth bass can be found from the lower Open Hills (Pipeline) south to the dam. Average lengths and weights from harvested smallmouth bass have remained about the same throughout the project period (Table 26). In 1982, smallmouth bass averaged 9.4 inches in length and 0.5 pounds in weight. Bass fishing can be very good during the pre-spawn and spawning periods of late May and June, but few anglers appear interested in the fishery. Some interest has been generated by bass clubs from Salt Lake City, Utah which have held bass tournaments yearly since 1979. The potential for an increased bass fishery exists. Creel surveys have been an integral part of the fishery management work done on Flaming Gorge since 1963. Creel survey techniques have changed through the years, yielding better estimates of pressure, harvest, catch rates, species com- position of the harvest and other biological data. The need to follow fish populations, such as the lake trout, kokanee, brown trout and different strains of rainbow trout requires that accurate trend data be collected yearly which can be compared to data from previous years. Full intensity creel surveys (aerial and angler interviews) need to be done at 5 year intervals. Shifts in fishing pressure from one area of the reservoir to the next can give estimates which are wrong and misleading. A good example of this was the shift in fishing pressure, especially for lake trout, from the Canyon to the Open Hills Area in 1981. During the intervening years, only angler interview surveys will be needed. The intensity of these intervening years surveys needs some discussion. Based on the 1982 full intensity survey, it was established that the 6 month survey (April-September), was not identifying enough of the harvest to make good estimates. The following will demonstrate this point: Percent of Each Species Harvested Duration of Survey RBT BT KOK LT SMB April - September* 89% 54% 96% 61% 100% May - September 85% 42% % 90% 90% 57% 63% 100% 100% May - October 88% 93% 46 57% 96% 68% 100% April - October 96% 81% 100% 78% 100% April - November 92% 69% 94% 74% 100% May - November *Months surveyed between intensive survey years (1979-1981). These data show that the current angler surveys, run in years when there is not a full intensity creel census, may not collect enough data to analyze the brown and lake trout harvests. Since 23 percent of the total harvest of brown trout occurs in November, the survey should cover that month if good brown trout -51-