Vulnerability of spotted bass to angling in Kansas streams

In 1996 and 1998, standardized angling was conducted on four streams to det ermine the vulnerability of stock-length (greater than or equal to 180 mm) spotted bass (Micropterus puntulatus).to angling. Block nets were used to p revent movement of fish into or out of the reach. Two anglers fished the en tire reach fi om the bank. After angling was completed, spotted bass were s ampled using pulsed-DC backpack electrofishing equipment. A three-pass depl etion method was used to estimate density. Population estimates varied from three to five stock-length spotted bass per 100 m of stream reach, and den sity varied from 21 to 63 spotted bass/ha. Mean angler catch per effort was 0.39 fish/h and potential harvest was 5.1 fish/ha. Percent of the spotted bass population that was captured by angling varied from 0% to 26%.