Hook-and-Line Vulnerability and Multiple Recapture of Largemouth Bass under a Minimum Total-Length Limit of 457 mm

Abstract

Data from a catch-and-release largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) fishery at Ridge Lake, Illinois, in which the minimum size limit was 457 mm total length, were used to test the null hypothesis that the recapture of largemouth bass is a normally distributed random event. Comparison of recapture data with a Poisson distribution for randomly selected fish from the 1976 year class demonstrated that recapture was not a random phenomenon and implied that individual fish varied in their vulnerabilities. Low and high vulnerabilities to capture existed among individuals in the largemouth bass population in Ridge Lake. Hook-and-line vulnerability of individuals varied among fishing seasons. Approximately 15% of the largemouth bass longer than 200 mm that were recovered when the lake was drained had never been caught during the four seasons of catch-and-release fishing. However, tagged largemouth bass were caught, on the average, approximately twice in any catch-and-release season.