TOPIC:

Great Lakes Salmon Initiative

This year is starting to look like an extremely exciting year. The Coho Classic out of Michigan City looks like it should be renamed the King Classic, at least for 2018. Weights are nearly a 20lb ave for Mature fish. A 24.5lb King was caught out of Ludington on Saturday. The lake is starting to warm up and if we can get some consistent SW winds Lake Michigan waters should set-up in the classic pattern with thermals, scum lines and hopefully consistent pattern able fishing.

Lake Huron is also on fire out of southern ports with Coho and Kings being caught. The big question is where are these fish coming from? Are they natal production? Coming over from Lake Michigan? Speaking with the MDNR the opinion is it is natural reproduction---there is enough data to make a solid assumption on salmon migrations from studies since 1999 to make a solid judgement on this issue. The positive side of the subject is silver fish are proving that they are doing well feeding on smelt and shiners, especially coho!! As reported in earlier posts the GLSI is working with the MDNR on providing a lake wide accessible silver fishery----a more balanced fishery, not just a Lake Trout fishery. This silver fishery in Huron is exciting and the Basin Coordinator Randy Claramunt is excited about this as an indicator as solutions to provide a fishery for anglers.

With all the good news going on we can't lose sight with reality. What's reality? Maintaining a balanced fishery to sustain bait fish populations to support a sport angling fishable resource. Northern ports of Lake Michigan and Huron don't have the reliable early spring salmon fishery, never has and never will. Northern ports rely on Browns and Lake Trout until salmon migrate north and in from the central basin of the lake where they winter. Fishing out of Ludington this weekend, fishing was phenomenal---lakers, some kings, some browns, some coho, and some steelhead were caught. But the reality is the Lake Trout fishing was off the charts---an experienced crew of 4 anglers in 6hrs could easily catch 80-100 trout. Now we ask you is this a balance, is this reminiscent of the imbalance of the salmon populations of 2005 to 2012? Does this represent what anglers want to target and catch? What is the MDNR going to do about this? Jay Wesley has moved all Lake Trout north of Little Point, he has tried to reduce lake trout plants and the tribes have refused. What is a sustainable balanced population, this native only agenda has to stop----these are not native only lakes---these are invasive ecosystems! We need to keep the pressure ON!!