The performance of a small catch-and-release fishery stocked with rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri Richardson, and thoughts on stocking densities

Abstract

Abstract. An assessment of the angling performance of a small put‐and‐take/or release fishery slocked with rainbow trout, Salmo gairdneri Richardson, at a density in the range 345–565 fish/hectare (140–230/acre) showed that the correlations of mean daily and weekly catch per unit effort with population of fish were low and of uncertain significance at the 5% level. A pilot comparison with other fisheries indicates that the annual mean catch per full day and the annual mean population density may be related by the equation Catch/full day = 0·74 Fish/hectare0·33 The roles of catch per unit effort and frequency distributions in the estimation of fish abundance are discussed.