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Dan Keating
June 23, 2016 ·
PLEASE TAKE TIME TO READ THIS IMPORTANT POST--I know it's LONG--but it is an URGENT MATTER.
I have not said much in regard to the current state of the Lake Michigan fishery, and the DNR's management strategies but feel compelled to speak. These two kings (healthy?) from yesterday represent the fish that attract tens of millions of dollars to local economies in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana. Over the past few years, alewife populations have been down (result of 2 severe cold winters/predation by salmonids/ebb and flow of cycles?). The DNR has responded with a series of Chinook stocking cuts over the past 5 years. And based on what anglers around the Lake are witnessing, and normal winter weather patterns, seems Mr. Alewife is doing better than anyone expected! Also seems the salmon & trout are healthy, not what you would expect if fish were starving and couldn't find anything to eat. Yet, in the height of our fishing season, the four DNR's surrounding the lake announce another significant Chinook stocking reduction for 2017. It is time for sportsman to start asking our elected political officials "does the DNR (Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana) really have the Lakes (nature) and Humans (economy) best interest in mind? Are more Chinook stocking cuts needed? Or is this being driven by ideological agenda's, or money-grabbing politics? Those who have fished this lake for over 40 years, like myself, know that nature and ecosystems eb and flow. The DNR has told us that the Chinooks are the ones eating the alewives into oblivion (they forget to mention how 2 severe cold winters did a lot of damage, also). Now, based on sound science and new predator-prey models, we know that Lake Trout consume a huge amount of alewives, as well. In fact, Lake Trout and Steelhead combined consume more alewives than Kings. Yet, with over 5 years of Chinook stocking reductions in play, our State DNR's and the Federal Govt. continue to stuff the Lake with Lake Trout. There have been no stocking reductions of Lake Trout during this period. Now, surveys show that Lakers are starting to reproduce at fairly significant levels. Lake trout are great fish, but anglers from across North America visit Lake Michigan to catch salmon. Lake trout, which live a long time, are not safe to eat, based on contaminants in their bodies, but the salmon are "cleaner" than ever. Why does our government continue to spend large amounts of $ on a fish that has little economic impact, and presents a health hazard if consumed? Why are the States proposing more stocking reductions when the fishery appears to have turned a corner? It is time for men and women to take this matter to their state and federal representatives before we let the DNR destroy a world class fishery. At what point will our state DNR's (remember, they work for us!) do what is best for the people who love and use this great resource? Illinois anglers, you have a meeting tonight June 23 at 7:00 p.m. location 9511 W. Harrison St. Des Plaines, IL. Please come out and respectfully ask good questions. We need a balanced multi-species fishery, that includes Chinooks as well as Lake Trout. If reductions are needed, let's consider options other than Chinooks.
Copied from Dan Keating FaceBook Page

I agree, not only is data solid but new news about Asian carp being caught by commercial fisherman credible and and on the news. Not sure what action is next

Interesting to see Dan putting that out there about Lake trout, knowing that fish plays a major role sometimes in his charter catches for clients. But, I'm glad to see him publicly saying that about lakers. He's right, the fish are very healthy this year, and even the steelhead we caught last week look so much more healthier than a few years ago when a lot of them looked anorexic and had disproportionate bodies to their head sizes. Personally, I'm all for a complete shut down of lake trout stockings altogether, because at this point - what would it hurt? Do we need more of them if the bait situation is truly gloom and doom? Obviously, many of us have seen otherwise out there this year with lots of bait so far, and also strong small classes of perch as well being noted by anglers. Are lakers truly being targeted and harvested enough by anglers to even put a dent in the current population to begin with? Why not halt ALL laker stocking on both a state and federal level, and just see what happens? What do we have to lose? I'm sorry, but if it comes down to me having to chase grease instead of silver fish, I'm selling my gear and that's that. Call me a salmon/silver snob and that's fine, but I have no interest in laker harvest or consumption for that matter. I respect all charter captains and those that depend on lakers to make a living and make clients happy, but again there has to be another option other than cutting Chinooks all the time. If balance in the predator/prey ratio is truly the objective here, anyone that doesn't think lakers consume alewife has been living under a rock somewhere. And I'm not trying to beat a dead horse on that topic, as I know it's been discussed time and time again...

I've probably missed it but is there a strategic plan for the Great Lakes fisheries or specifically Lake Michigan? It seems like there has been plenty of feedback from anglers that spend millions about the desire to have salmon and the lack of interest in stocking more Lake Trout but it seems the response is always "I hear your concerns and we are going to completely ignore you". I've heard everything from get rid all of salmon because they are non-native to a year-over-year knee jerk reaction to the data from the previous year in an attempt to manage the salmon fishery. My limited understand of the Lake Trout issue is that there is a treaty with Native Americans regarding Lake Trout stocking which is the main driver for continued stocking that a very small percentage of people that fish Lake Michigan catch on purpose if they had the choice? Are Native Americans really commercially harvesting, or even for personal consumption, given the DNR recommendations for consumption? Is that even ethical? Should there be a "Surgeon General" label attached to each baby Lake Trout that gets released into the lake? I get in this day an age its impossible to get two people to agree, or God forbid compromise, on anything (except that he Bears still suck and I'm a Bear fan!) but is it that impossible to get a multi-state strategic plan in place? MC Angler save us!

Based on what I have read, it's the MDNR that's pushing the LT plants. I believe that Their claim is that they need to keep planting under the Tribal Consent Decree until it can be renegotiated. On the other hand, many people say that they have more leverage to stop planting but the Chief of Fisheries, Jim Dexter, wants to plant more in order to fully restore a native species. The MDNR really pushes the fact that kings eat a lot of alewives vs other species but they appear to have backed off some on that and acknowledged that other species ,such as steelhead, eat more alewives than thought. In the end, MDNR is going to do what they want based on the results of their studies and their apparent belief that the kings can be heavily supported by natural reproduction. In the meantime, i am going to keep on fishing...

I'm with you Regulator and frustrated that it took me until June 16th to start fishing. However, is it just me or is the Coho fishing something like the best its been in recent years? Why? Or more concerning given that the main catch seems to be Coho what if they were not here or like most years? What would be fishing for? My guess is Lake Trout since the reports on every other species, thus far, has been relatively thin. Last year we caught more Steelies than anything by this time of year fishing in similar waters but what happens when the Coho move up the WIsconsin and Michigan coasts again? I understand that there are a lot of dynamics at work every year but I'm not seeing a lot of reports starting off with "Mixed Bag".

I fish in South Haven MI now and the only silver catch here too has been coho over deep water for the last month and a half. A few nice kings were caught in may but scarce since then. Interestingly a good amount of big kings were caught in northern waters by manistee in the spring - its like those fish never migrated down the lake this year due to the mild winter. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy catching fish as much as anyone but making a 15 mile round trip to catch 3-5 pound coho gets a little old. All of the fish I have caught this year except a couple have had alewives in them- sometimes two or three. I can't help but wish that those were getting consumed by kings instead. I would rather catch 3 mid teen kings everyday and nothing else rather than than a mix of coho and lakers but at least we are catching silverfish so I'm not going to complain too much. Sounds like maybe some east winds this weekend so that should bring some steel in front of St Joe-hopefully.