Efficacy of a chase boat for electrolishing flathead catfish in three Oklahoma reservoirs

Electrofishing methods employed to sample flathead catfish Pylodictis olivaris in reservoirs can be labor-intensive when a chase boat is used to increase sampling efficiency. During summer 1997, 1 compared electrofishing results with and without a chase boat on three Oklahoma reservoirs. Capture efficiency, mean number of fish netted per 3-min sample, and length-frequency distribution were similar with and without a chase boat. I recommend discontinuing the use of a chase boat for sampling flathead catfish with electrofishing in reservoirs similar to those sampled in my study.