A Survey of Sport Fishing in the Illinois Portion of Lake Michigan March Through September 2009

The purpose of this study was to provide estimates of the non-charter sport fishing effort, harvest and expenditures of anglers fishing the Illinois portion of Lake Michigan. The information provided from this study is important to the management of the sport fisheries in the Illinois waters of Lake Michigan. A contact creel survey was used to collect data concerning the daily effort, harvest and expenditures on randomly selected days over a six month period (4/1 - 9/30). The data were summarized and extrapolated over the six month period to achieve estimates for specific locations as well as for the Illinois waters of the lake. The creel period was stratified by time period (segment = three week blocks) and type of day (weekday vs. weekend/holiday). Also, a March survey was conducted at selected sites along the Lake Michigan shoreline. That survey was stratified in a similar fashion as the main survey except that the segment is one month long instead of three weeks. However, all the data is now being presented in a monthly format instead of by segment. Data from the previous nine years has also been converted to the monthly format. Launched boat and moored boat data are now combined as boats.