In the Big Blue River 47.7 per cent of all fishermen were successful in Area I in 1957, while only 13.1 per cent were successful in the same area in 1958 (Table 5). In the Republican River, 24 per cent of the fishing parties were successful (1.64 persons per party) (U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, _loc. cit._). The average distance that each fisherman had traveled to fish in the Big Blue River was 15.7 miles. Seventy-nine per cent of the persons contacted lived within 25 miles of the spots where they fished. In the study on the Republican River, 77 per cent of the parties interviewed came less than 25 miles to fish. 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 | 1958 | 1958 | 1958 | 1958 | Area | Area | Area | Area | All | I | I | II | III | areas ----------------------------+-------+-------+-------+-------+------ Per cent of | 47.1 | 13.1 | 18.5 | 19.5 | 15.8 fishermen successful | | | | | | | | | | Distances traveled to fish | 0-121 | 1-197 | 0-124 | 0-60 | 0-197 (averages in parentheses) |(15.6) |(20.5) |(13.5) |(7.4) |(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.