Bigger Chinooks now. More Coho in the future.

[phishtix]

Saw this article at Mlive. Nice to hear some good news for a change.

http://www.mlive.com/outdoors/index.ssf/2010/01/fisheries_leaders_cheer_report.html

[Nailer]

Last years fish where defiantly bigger than in the resent past.

With any luck I'll get to the elusive 20 pound mark.

[DIRTY DOG]

Very good news , now as long as they can fill the shipping channel in in chicago we will be all set.

[joelsanders]

why dont they stock alewifes,to make pray more abundant for our beloved sport fish to get fat on?

[1mainiac]

why dont they stock alewifes,to make pray more abundant for our beloved sport fish to get fat on?

The Alewifes and Lamprey pretty much trashed a great fishery and stunk up our beachs. They wiped out our Lake trout and nearly our Perch fishing and gave a lot of other fish a tough road to survive. There are one of the reasons we have no natural lake trout as the Grease balls we catch now are imported. Salmon were brought in to combat the Alewife and the fishery we got as the result was a byproduct. Many who lived on the spawning rivers at the time hated the Salmon as the dead carcuses were floating down the rivers in mass. Which is why the DNR allowed snagging to come up with a way to get rid of the spwaning and dieing fish. Salmon were introduced in the late 1800's but did not survive but the Alewife gave it new life. Fast forward 40 years and we no longer allow snagging and have learned how to better control the fishery but now have new problems to deal with that are wrecking the food chain again. I can remember when 30lb plus fish out of Lake MI were not uncommon and no one even got excited till they approached 40lbs or more. The DNR master angler patch for Chinook is 27lbs and they used to send out hundreds each year now they send out a handfull and I don't think I have caught a fish that would qualify since the 80's.

[1mainiac]

just did a quick check in 2001 293 master angler patchs were given out in 2008 it was 5 in 2007 none are listed and 2009 data is not on the site yet. I was told only about 1 in 10 who catch the fish apply for the patch.

[Boltman]

When we were in Pentawater, we came across a small school of elwives, and even saw a salmon munching on them as fast as it could, but i wonder, are they Large schools of them out there in Lake Michigan??? I guess I'll fiind out with the New Fish Finder this spring and summer.. aye???????

[ALLEYES]

Boltman: That is one of the reasons the fish were bigger this year. There was a pretty good amount of young alewife out in the lake.

[Nailer]

When we were in Pentawater, we came across a small school of elwives, and even saw a salmon munching on them as fast as it could, but i wonder, are they Large schools of them out there in Lake Michigan??? I guess I'll fiind out with the New Fish Finder this spring and summer.. aye???????

What, a new toy? What did you get Robert?

[phishtix]

If they're going to plant a forage type fish I'd rather they planted smelt.

I was doing some investigating on the subject a few years ago and I found out they actually did release smelt at one time.

[Priority1]

The DNR have planted some herring in Lake Huron. The Herring are a more natural fit for the GLs. The alewives, supposedly, don't handle the Northern Great Lakes water temps that well. Smelt will do well, but they don't weigh up like alewives or herring. Herring are also native to the GLs. I sure hope these great fisheries are here for our grandchildren.