Weight Conventions (Round or Dressed) by Jurisdiction and Lake

 The production records up through 1977 as listed here and in Technical Report 3 are not all in round weights. This discrepancy is a problem especially for chubs, whitefish, and lake trout. Other species can be treated as having round weights throughout the database, although this convention should be recognized as an approximation. We suggest treating all chub weights before 1978 as being dressed (x 1.20 for conversion to round weight). Whitefish catches are a mixture of round and dressed weights before 1978. There is no simple way to correct the discrepancy. Whitefish caught in impoundment gear were generally sold in the round and gill-netted fish were sold dressed. The user needs to know how the fishery was conducted in each lake and jurisdiction to make corrections (x 1.17), if desired. Gill nets were the dominant gear for taking lake trout and the bulk of the catch through 1977 was dressed (x 1.25).

After 1977 all Canadian catches were corrected to round weights. Differences among states in reporting round/dressed weights after 1977 are as follows: Chubs—dressed in all states except round in Minnesota and round in Michigan beginning in 1989; whitefish—round in all states except dressed in Wisconsin, a mixture in Michigan through 1981, round in Michigan’s waters of Lakes Superior and Michigan starting in 1982, and a mixture in Michigan’s waters of Lake Huron after 1981; and lake trout—dressed everywhere except round in Michigan beginning in 1982. The post-1977 conventions for states are based on a survey conducted in 1994 by the Great Lakes Science Center. These conventions too should be viewed as approximations.

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