Reflections: Thank You, Dick!

How Dr. Richard O. Anderson's vision shaped modern recreational fisheries—and one student's lifelong gratitude.

September 11, 2025 By Don Gabelhouse Jr.

An article in the October 2023 issue of Fisheries magazine moved me. It was written by Cecil Jennings, the President of the American Fisheries Society at the time, and was entitled, “Have You Thanked Your Mentor(s) Lately . . . Ever?"

While I’ve thanked my mentor multiple times, I felt a need to do more. My mentor was all about managing fish to benefit anglers, especially their satisfaction, pleasure, and memories. At the end of a 1978 symposium paper entitled “New Approaches to Recreational Fisheries Management” he wrote, “Accordingly, I tender the following prayer:

“We offer these data with the best of wishes

We hope they will benefit the quality of fishes

We don’t know yet the time or place

But we pray it’s good for the human race.”

What better way to thank my mentor than to explain what he did for me and the fisheries profession to avid anglers who read In-Fisherman magazine?

In the early 1970s, Dr. Richard O. Anderson championed the need to restrict angler harvest of largemouth bass with length limits. In the mid-1900s, very low length limits had been used by many states to ensure that fish could reproduce at least once before being harvested by anglers. Such limits were eventually determined to have no impact and were subsequently abandoned.

Dr. Anderson thought that higher length limits could improve the quality of bass populations and fishery professionals listened. He was also the first to evaluate a protected length range or “slot” length limit on largemouth bass, allowing the harvest of smaller fish while protecting medium-size fish in hopes of seeing more fish survive to larger sizes. This approach led to more imaginative ways to manipulate fish populations with harvest restrictions, including the concept of “Selective Harvest,” coined by In-Fisherman.

Many of Dr. Anderson’s contributions had their roots in research conducted on ponds and small private lakes containing largemouth bass and bluegills. These systems provided ideal opportunities to evaluate predator-prey interactions in their simplest form. Results were eventually applied to other species in other types of waters, including large reservoirs, natural lakes, rivers, and streams.

Fishery management has three components: the fish, their habitat, and the people who use them. Some agencies have employees who do nothing but work to improve aquatic habitats, improving living conditions for fish. Considerable efforts are also spent on documenting the activities of anglers (how many, what species and sizes of fish they catch and harvest) and their demographics and opinions. However, most state inland fishery management biologists spend the lion’s share of their time sampling fish populations.

A variety of gears, including nets, traps, seines, and electrofishing are used to capture fish to evaluate their status. The old saying, “form reflects function” describes the core of inland fishery management, figuring out what’s going on unseen under the water with fish reproduction, growth, and mortality.

He wasn’t the first to develop structural indices to evaluate fish populations and communities. In the 1950s, Homer Swingle, working at Auburn University, developed “Swingle’s Ratios” to evaluate largemouth bass-bluegill communities in ponds. To determine whether or not fish were in “balance,” all of the fish in the pond had to be removed, weighed, and measured. The structural indices Dr. Anderson developed required only a sample of fish to be weighed and measured before being released.

A largemouth bass held in the water by an arm over the gunwale of a boat. — Anderson suggested that a 12-inch bass was the smallest size that anglers enjoyed catching.

Fishery biologists had been weighing and measuring fish for decades, but what they did with all the data they collected varied widely across the profession. The formulas used to calculate fish plumpness or well-being had all kinds of problems that made them difficult to understand and use. Utilizing length-weight information compiled in books authored by Dr. Ken Carlander of Iowa State University, Dr. Anderson developed “Standard Weights” or what fish of any length ought to weigh for multiple species. His “Relative Weight” index is used nationwide and around the world to evaluate the body condition of fish.

Dr. Anderson also made fish length measurements more useful. He started by proposing an index that calculated the portion of a largemouth bass population sample that was “Quality” size or 12 inches and longer. Anderson suggested that a 12-inch bass was the smallest size that anglers enjoyed catching. He went on to develop an index that calculated the percent of the population that was 15 inches and longer. Eventually, a 15-inch largemouth bass was defined as “Preferred.” Ultimately, “Memorable” and “Trophy” lengths of 20 and 25 inches were defined for largemouth bass as well. Minimum lengths for size categories were eventually developed for many fish species by calculating standard percentages of the International Game Fish Association’s all-tackle world-record length for each species. These indices are used world-wide and allow fishery biologists to easily calculate, assess, and even verbalize numbers that are easily understood and reflect the interactions of fish reproduction, growth, and mortality.

Dr. Richard O. Anderson was my advisor and teacher in graduate school at the University of Missouri, but Dick Anderson became my mentor and friend. He continued to work with me, advise me, and help me throughout my career. They say the best form of learning is to be involved in creating or developing something. When I would ask Dick for his opinion, he would usually respond with a long list of questions. By the time I answered his questions, I pretty well understood what I needed to do, most often to improve the quality of fishing.

Don Gabelhouse Jr., Lincoln, Nebraska, is former chief of fisheries for Nebraska Game and Parks and longtime contributor to the Reflections column.

[Editor’s note: While this article was awaiting publication, Dr. Anderson passed away at the age of 95. We are grateful to him for his lifelong contributions to fishery management, with a focus on and committment to quality fishing for all of us to enjoy.]