Associations between Watershed Characteristics and Angling Success for Sport Fishes in Mississippi Wadeable Streams

Abstract

AbstractWe developed and evaluated multiple linear regression models to describe the associations between watershed land use and geomorphology and angling success (catch per unit effort [CPUE; fish/h]) for sport fishes in wadeable streams in Mississippi. The mean angler CPUE for all species combined, sunfishes Lepomis spp., and black bass Micropterus spp. was strongly and positively associated with the percentage of forest cover, stream density, total road density, and primary highway density. The mean angler CPUE of largemouth bass M. salmoides and longear sunfish L. megalotis was negatively associated with the percentage of agricultural land but positively associated with rural road density. The mean CPUE of spotted bass M. punctulatus was negatively associated with elevation and the number of road crossings in the watershed but positively associated with rural road density. Model validation procedures revealed that the prediction errors were relatively large, so that the ability to predict mean angler CPUE from individual streams was low for all models. However, the species group models were precise, explaining 83, 71, and 80%, respectively, of the variation in the mean CPUE for all species, sunfishes, and black bass from an independent data set. In contrast, the species‐specific models were relatively imprecise, explaining less than 33% of the variation in the mean CPUE in the independent data. We advocate a landscape‐level management perspective—in concert with more traditional assessments of water quality and biological integrity—to address the connection between sport fishing and conservation in wadeable streams in Mississippi.