Effectiveness of a Drop Net, a Pop Net, and an Electrofishing Frame for Collecting Quantitative Samples of Juvenile Fishes in Vegetation

Abstract

I compared quantitative samples collected by a drop net, a pop net and an electrofishing frame from vegetated habitats of a backwater lake in the upper Mississippi River. All gears sampled an area of 5.6 m². Catches with all three gears were dominated by juvenile centrarchids, mainly bluegills Lepomis macrochirus. In vegetated, turbid water, catches were significantly less with the electrofishing frame than with the two nets because observing and netting stunned fish was difficult. Capture efficiencies with the electrofishing frame were much higher in nonvegetated, relatively clear water (mean efficiency, 80%) than in vegetated, turbid water (mean efficiency, 5%). Catches with the drop net and pop net were similar in both number and species composition. Both the pop net and drop net were well suited for collecting quantitative samples of small fish from vegetation.