Table 5. Per Cent of Total Fishermen Successful, and Distances Travelled to Fish, Big Blue River Basin, Kansas, 1957 and 1958. All Distances Were Measured in Airline Miles.
| 1957 Area I | 1958 Area I | 1958 Area II | 1958 Area III | 1958 All areas | |
| Per cent of fishermen successful | 47.1 | 13.1 | 18.5 | 19.5 | 15.8 |
| Distances traveled to fish (averages in parentheses) | 0-121 (15.6) | 1-197 (20.5) | 0-124 (13.5) | 0-60 (7.4) | 0-197 (15.7) |
RECOMMENDATIONS
My primary recommendation is for continued study of the Tuttle Creek Reservoir, and the Big Blue River above and below the reservoir, to trace changes in the fish population that result from impoundment.
Probably the fishes that inhabit the backwaters, creek-mouths, and borrow-pits in the Big Blue River Basin (gars, shad, carpsucker, buffalo, carp, sunfishes, and white bass) will increase in abundance as soon as Tuttle Creek Reservoir is formed. Also, as in eastern Oklahoma reservoirs (see Finnell, et al., 1956:61-73), populations of channel and flathead catfish should increase. Because of the presence of brood-stock of the major sport-fishes of Kansas (channel and flathead catfish, bullhead, bluegill, crappie, largemouth bass, and white bass), stocking of these species would be an economic waste: exception might be made for the white bass. It may be above Tuttle Creek Dam, but was not found there.
I do recommend immediate introduction of walleye, and possibly northern pike (Esox lucius Linnaeus), the latter species having been successfully stocked in Harlan County Reservoir, Nebraska, in recent years (Mr. Donald D. Poole, personal communication). These two species probably are native to Kansas, but may have been extirpated as agricultural development progressed. Reservoirs may again provide habitats suitable for these species in the State.
If Tuttle Creek Reservoir follows the pattern found in most Oklahoma reservoirs, large populations of "coarse fish"—fishes that are, however, commercially desirable—will develop (Finnell, et al., loc. cit.). To utilize this resource, and possibly to help control "coarse fish" populations for the betterment of sport-fishing, some provision for commercial harvest should be made in the reservoir.
SUMMARY
1. The Big Blue River Basin in northeastern Kansas was studied between March 30, 1957, and August 9, 1958. The objectives were to record the species of fish present and their relative abundance in the stream, and to obtain a measure of angling success prior to closure of Tuttle Creek Dam.
2. Fifty-nine stations were sampled one or more times, using seines, hoop and fyke nets, wire traps, experimental gill nets, rotenone, and an electric fish shocker.