Creel Survey

Creel Survey for Lakes Mitchell and Cadillac

Angling Creel Survey for Lakes Cadillac & Mitchell
April-October 2006 and January –March 2007

This survey was funded by the Fisheries Division of the Michigan DNR. One clerk worked both weekend days and 3 randomly selected weekdays during the survey season. No holidays were sampled. Cadillac/Mitchell was divided into 2 sections. Each section was sampled per day. Counts of anglers were made once a day. The totals are estimated based on the daily sampling. 　

Lake Mitchell estimated harvest and fishing pressure April -October 2006.
HARVEST
	April-May		June	July	August	Sept.	October	Season
Walleye	9		48	0	0	0	0	58
Northern Pike	451		0	41	31	19	0	543
Largemouth Bass	43		0	0	94	0	0	136
Yellow Perch	0		30	67	0	0	0	97
Bluegill	126		1,968	3,015	245	882	0	6,235
Pumpkinseed	11		754	79	2,869	140	0	3,852
Rock Bass	0		0	0	0	0	0	0
Black Crappie	465		582	339	125	0	0	1,511
TOTAL HARVEST	1,105		3,382	3,474	3,429	1,041	0	12,431

RELEASED
Walleye		0	138	166	0	0	0	306
Northern Pike		1,353	297	253	387	329	29	2,649
Largemouth Bass		1,425	1,583	392	350	791	119	4,662
Smallmouth Bass		511	481	375	295	259	15	1,937
Yellow Perch		141	176	0	1,585	827	2	2,731
Bluegill		442	5,898	8,049	3,807	1,795	0	19,991
Pumpkinseed		99	163	926	3,320	112	0	4,620
Rock Bass		113	139	0	37	0	0	288
Black Crappie		737	2,551	950	0	0	0	4,238
TOTAL RELEASED		4,821	11,428	11,111	9,782	4,114	167	41,422
TOTALCATCH		5,926	14,810	14,585	13,211	5,155	167	53,854
ANGLER HOURS		8,167	7,241	6,582	6,558	3,590	490	32,627
ANGLER TRIPS		2,198	1,862	1,938	1,417	642	96	8,154

Lake Cadillac estimated harvest and fishing pressure April-October 2006
HARVEST
		April/May	June	July	August	Sept.	October	Season
Walleye		39	0	0	0	0	0	39
Northern Pike		161	21	82	50	21	0	336
Largemouth Bass		0	0	0	115	0	0	115
Yellow Perch		501	673	1,011	222	137	318	2,862
Bluegill		345	12,609	10,345	2,921	1,172	37	27,429
Pumpkinseed		12	644	927	1,463	173	0	3,219
Rock Bass		58	124	6	52	18	0	258
Black Crappie		3,640	14,500	2,876	5,816	2,277	246	29,365
TOTAL HARVEST		4,756	28,571	15,370	10, 639	3,799	601	63,737

RELEASED

Walleye		0	0	0	27	0	0	27
Northern Pike		479	589	144	128	264	50	1,655
Largemouth Bass		545	547	590	282	292	52	2,308
Smallmouth Bass		291	481	659	1,984	318	171	3,904
Yellow Perch		554	2,778	2,743	1,267	78	851	8,270
Bluegill		743	25,035	23,468	9,583	1,752	43	60,624
Pumpkinseed		202	649	1,880	2,009	206	0	4,946
Rock Bass		287	930	191	34	29	0	1,472
Black Crappie		1,928	24,132	788	6,724	3,826	0	37,399
TOTAL RELEASED		5,029	55,141	30,464	22,037	6,765	1,167	120,603
TOTAL CATCH		9,785	83,713	45,834	32,676	10,564	1,768	184,339
ANGLER HOURS		5,844	15,831	14,964	11,018	4,342	1,244	53,243
ANGLER TRIPS		1,707	6,521	6,283	3,946	1,904	467	20,827

Observations:

Comparing gamefish totals – Mitchell is far superior in numbers of pike (62%), walleye (85%), and largemouth bass (66%); however, Cadillac produces (69%) of the smallmouth taken.

The survey was concluded each day in the early evening, so later and night fishing totals were not part of the estimate. Since night is good time for walleye, that catch total may be underestimated.

Lake Cadillac accounts for vast majority of perch (80%), bluegill (77%) and rock bass (86%) taken. Mitchell produces slightly more pumpkinseed (51%).

Although both lakes are good for crappie, Cadillac(92%)has a big edge perhaps due to the easy shoreline access on the causeway.

Free public boat launches and large areas of public shoreline may account for the fact that 20,827 angler trips were made on Cadillac compared to 8,154 trips to Lake Mitchell.

June and July accounted for about 2/3 of the fishing trips. The total number of angler trips during the open water season was 28,981. These anglers fished an estimated 85,870 hours.

The estimated total of angler hours fishing indicates that 61% of the open water fishing pressure occurs on Lake Cadillac, whereas in the winter 52% of the ice fishing occurs on Lake Mitchell.

Totals for Lakes Mitchell and Cadillac Creel Census April-October 2006

HARVEST
	April/May	June	July	August	Sept.	Oct.	Season
Walleye	49	48	0	0	0	0	97
Northern Pike	612	21	124	81	40	0	879
Largemouth Bass	43	0	0	209	0	0	252
Yellow Perch	501	702	1,011	289	137	318	2,958
Bluegill	471	4,576	13,360	3,165	2,054	37	33,664
Pumpkinseed	23	3,398	1,006	4,332	313	0	7,072
Black Crappie	4,105	5,083	3,215	5,941	2,277	246	30,866
TOTAL HARVEST	5,862	31,953	18,844	14,069	4,839	601	76,168

RELEASED

Walleye	0	138	166	27	0	2	332
Northern Pike	1,832	886	398	515	593	79	4,304
Largemouth Bass	1,970	2,132	982	632	1,084	172	6,970
Smallmouth Bass	802	962	1,035	2,279	577	185	5,841
Yellow Perch	695	2,953	2,743	2,852	905	853	11,001
Bluegill	1,185	30,933	31,516	13,390	3,547	43	80,615
Pumpkinseed	301	813	2,806	5,329	318	0	9,566
Rock Bass	400	1,069	191	72	29	0	1,760
Black Crappie	2,665	26,682	1,739	6,724	3,826	0	41,637
TOTAL RELEASED	9,850	66,569	41,575	31,818	10,879	1,333	162,025
TOTAL CATCH	1,572	98,522	60,420	45,887	15,719	1,934	238,193
ANGLER HOURS	14,011	23,072	21,546	17,575	7,932	1,733	85,870
ANGLER TRIPS	3,904	8,383	8,221	5,363	2,546	583	28,981

Lake Mitchell creel survey Estimated harvest & fishing pressure winter 2007
HARVEST
	January/February	March	Season
Walleye	3	0	3
Northern Pike	241	47	288
Yellow Perch	845	322	1,167
Bluegill	338	739	1,077
Pumpkinseed	218	103	321
Black Crappie	1,861	2,281	4.142
TOTAL HARVEST	3,506	3,492	6,998

RELEASED
	January/February	March	Season
Walleye	0	0	0
Northern Pike	297	144	441
Largemouth Bass	0	0	0
Smallmouth Bass	0	0	0
Yellow Perch	5,673	1,776	7,449
Bluegill	1,656	1,131	2,787
Pumpkinseed	13	0	13
Black Crappie	1,783	2,326	4,109
TOTAL RELEASED	9,422	5,378	14,800
TOTAL CATCH	12,928	8,870	21,798
ANGLER HOURS	12,894	3,781	16,674
ANGLER TRIPS	3,793	1,081	4,874

Lake Cadillac creel survey Estimated harvest & fishing pressure winter 07
HARVEST
	January/February	March	Season
Walleye	0	0	0
Northern pike	93	34	126
Yellow Perch	2,439	2,521	4,960
Bluegill	185	615	800
Pumpkinseed	105	12	117
Rock Bass	12	13	25
Black Crappie	3,809	2,459	6, 268
TOTAL HARVEST	6,642	5,655	12,297

RELEASED
	January/February	March	Season
Northern Pike	64	35	98
Largemouth Bass	11	14	25
Smallmouth Bass	56	6	62
Yellow Perch	5,466	5,560	11,026
Bluegill	899	789	1,688
Pumpkinseed	39	0	39
Rock Bass	106	0	106
Black Crappie	1,502	483	1,985
TOTAL RELEASED	8.144	6,886	15,029
TOTAL CATCH	14,786	12,540	27,326
ANGLER HOURS	10,481	4,543	15,023
ANGLER TRIPS	2,895	790	3,685

Lake Mitchell and Lake Cadillac combined creel survey Estimated harvest & fishing pressure winter 2007
HARVEST
	January/February	March	Season
Walleye	3	3	3
Northern Pike	333	81	414
Yellow Perch	3,284	2,843	6,127
Bluegill	522	1,355	1,877
Pumpkinseed	323	115	438
Rock Bass	13	12	25
Black Crappie	5,670	4,740	10,410
TOTAL HARVEST	10,148	9,146	19,295

RELEASED
	January/February	March	Season
Northern Pike	360	179	539
Largemouth Bass	11	13	24
Smallmouth Bass	56	6	62
Yellow Perch	11,139	7,336	18,475
Bluegill	2,555	1,921	4,475
Pumpkinseed	52	0	52
Rock Bass	106	0	106
Black Crappie	3,286	2,809	6,095
TOTAL RELEASED	17,565	12,264	29,829
TOTAL CATCH	27,714	21,410	49,124
ANGLER HOURS	23,374	8,323	31,698
ANGLER TRIPS	6,687	1,872	8,559

Observations:

The 06-07 winter’s ice fishing season was about six weeks shorter than normal as good ice didn’t form until the third week of January.

Although ice anglers reported catching 14,903 perch, 11.139 (74.7%) were returned indicating a shortage of mature fish.

Mitchell rates as the better bluegill fishery producing 60% of that species.

Two thirds of all crappie caught were taken from Lake Mitchell.

The tabulation of anglers hours showed Mitchell (52%) received slightly more fishing pressure than Lake Cadillac.

The pike harvest was greater on Lake Mitchell (288) than on Cadillac (126) but 60% of the Mitchell fish (441) were released compared to only 98 (37%) returned in Lake Cadillac.