Relationship between Lake-Record Weights of Fishes and Reservoir Area and Growing Season

—We used information from an angler recognition program to assess the relationship between lake-record weights of freshwater fishes captured by Texas anglers and two predictors of fish production and growth: reservoir surface area and growing-season length. The lake-record weights of two species, largemouth bass Micropterus salmoides and flathead catfish Pylodictis olivaris, were directly related to the logarithm of surface area. The record weights of all species studied were unrelated to growing-season length. Regardless of the statistical significance of individual correlations, there was a significant excess of positive correlations across all species between lake-record weights of fish and log surface area. This indicates the presence of a general relationship between the record weights of fish and reservoir area. Our results suggest that record weights of fish may be constrained by reservoir surface area. The goal of fishery management is to provide opportunities for quality recreational fishing (Driver and Cooksey 1980). To achieve this goal, fisheries must be managed to produce a variety of experiences or ‘‘products’’ (Driver 1985) because anglers differ in their species preferences (Spencer 1993; Wilde and Ditton 2000), interest in harvesting or releasing captured fish (Fedler and Ditton 1986; Fisher 1997; Wilde et al. 1998), and preferences for the number and size of fish captured (Hudgins 1984; Petering et al. 1995). Catching trophy fish is not a primary motive for most anglers (Fedler and Ditton 1994; Wilde and Ditton 1994, 2000). Nevertheless, there is considerable angler interest in catching trophy-sized fish (e.g., Horton and Gilliland 1994; Hughes and Wood 1996), particularly among anglers who participate in tournaments (Falk et al. 1989; Wilde et al. 1998). To accommodate this interest, managers have attempted to increase the maximum size of fish through use of restrictive regulations, prey introductions, and genetic manipulation of fish populations (Gilliland and Whitaker 1990; Cofer 1994; Hughes and Wood 1996; Wilson and Dicenzo 2002). Although there is no consensus as to * Corresponding author: [email protected] Received May 20, 2003; accepted September 24, 2003 what constitutes a trophy-sized fish, one operational definition is that a fish large enough to be recorded as having a stateor water–body-record weight can be considered a trophy (but see Gabelhouse (1984) for an alternative definition). Many fishery management agencies have developed angler recognition programs that give ‘‘awards to anglers who submit official affidavits for the catch of large fish’’ (Quinn 1987). A primary purpose of angler recognition programs is to stimulate interest and participation in recreational angling, but information collected as part of these programs also has been used to document changes in the maximum size of angled fish and to monitor fishery quality (e.g., Forshage et al. 1990). Beyond such descriptive uses, however, this information has received relatively little attention. In particular, we are aware of no analyses other than those of Modde and Scalet (1985) that attempt to ascertain relationships between the presence and size of trophy fish and causal factors (as suggested by Quinn 1987) that might guide agency efforts to increase the number and size of trophy fish available to anglers. In this paper we present an analysis of the relationship between lake-record weights of fishes caught by anglers in reservoirs and two indices of fish production and growth to determine whether the maximum weight of fishes can be predicted from reservoir characteristics.