TOPIC:

I don’t know how much influence the Director of the Indiana Division of Fish and Wildlife, Mark Reiter, had on the decision to dump Indiana stocked chinook salmon in favor of Skamania Steelhead. If it was a lot, I’ll take the blame.

Back in the day, I took Reiter and his father on a Skamania fishing trip on my boat out of Portage and we absolutely killed them. I don’t remember the exact number of Skamanias we boated that day but I do remember the first rod I set was a flat line with an orange Fat Rap on it and that rod bent double before I could get the next line set.

I had a “kill” board for the Brother Nature at that time and we choked the fish hooks on the board and it took 3 of us to hold up the kill stick. All the Skammies were 10 pounds plus. We lost as many fish as we caught but who cared? There was a half-ton of dead steelhead in the cooler so everyone had plenty-O-fish filets to take home at the end of the day.

That was back in the day. I don’t know if Mark Reiter has been out on Lake Michigan since. No doubt he has fond memories of that day on the Bro with his dad. I do!

But that was then and this is now. The Skamanias stocked these days are far different than the ones stocked back when my hair was more brown than gray. A part of the difference is on purpose, a part of the difference is accidental. Long and short, then ain’t like now....

We don’t get the “runs” like we did back in the late 1980s and early 1990s when you could count on non-stop, nearshore action any day between June 20 and July 10. Now, occasionally, the stars align, the water temperature sets up and we get a day or two of nearshore “slap-bang” action. That happens every three or four years and for three or four days at a time if we are lucky.

So why, when Indiana decides to free hatchery space by suspending chinook stockings is the default “go to” replacement Skamania steelhead? Perhaps it’s because the boss remembers that great day on the Brother Nature back in 1985 or ‘86?

Good golly! One would think if a dependable fish should be stocked, it would be the coho. All the cohos in Lake Michigan are in Indiana from March through early May. Ours and theirs. I don’t care who stocked them, my customers just care they can catch limits of them.

From May through July, offshore, the bulk of “most” angler’s catch of “silver” fish is coho salmon. Indiana fish? Illinois fish? Michigan fish? I don’t know where they come from. Again, I don’t care.

I do know that other than a few tournament fishermen who leave from Michigan City and motor 20 or 30 miles offshore during the “Coho Classic,” few come back to shore with catches predomenantly steelhead.

Sure I like to hook with a steelhead or two each day. Sure I wish we had the nearshore Skamania fishing we had decades ago. But relegating hatchery space to steelhead instead of cohos isn’t doing the “rank and file” Indiana based recreational fisherman any good.

I remember those days mike j13 and big red spoons from rainmaker those were good days front of the ditch would look like rush hour in downtown Chicago

Well said Mike, try targeting steelhead some day they roam far and fast good luck. A trout is a trout and they just don't make good table fair in my opinion.

Orange and black spot Tadpolly and Orange J13's on flat lines is all you needed in those days.

It was simple and no one used planer boards.

My point is it was possible to limit out, or nearly so for three or four weeks each summer. When's the last time you caught even a one person limit of steelhead?

When's the last time you caught a limit of cohos? Still happens regularly from March right on into July.

Coho can't be all that more expensive than steelhead to rear in the hatchery. "hos basically take up hatchery space for a year. Steel stay in the hatchery for roughly 9 months to 15 months.

And the DNR shouldn't be playing the $$$ card.... Duck hunters, Pheasant Hunters, Turkey Hunters, Trout Fishermen, Muskie Hunters have all proven to be willing to come up with the bucks needed to fund, nearly bankrupt DNR projects. Remember a few years ago when the Michigan DNR "held up" the other Lake Michigan states when they said their choice was to get some free money or they'd flush millions of coho down the toilet. They got their money.

Long live the coho! Poor choice of words - they only live three years. Long live the coho programs for Lake Michigan!

Great comments Captain Mike: thanks for taking the time to explain all that. I too remember the good ole days of steelie fishing, and just like everything these days, things just never seem to be the way they used to be.

Here's a question I've been wondering lately when it comes to our trout/salmon stamp: does anybody know how much money is generated yearly from that? And if so, how is it allocated into the stocking programs, and divided amongst what species? Do we have any say-so with those funds as to what programs the revenue goes towards?

I'm sure those figures are available. There's probably a procedure for getting them but even then, you'd likely need an accountant to figure out the figures. It's not like the spread sheet is going to say: Mixsawba, X dollars, Bodine: Y dollars.

Of course there are trout stamp dollars spent at hatcheries and at the Michigan City office, but there are dollars spent at each place from fish and wildlife general funds as well as Dingell-Johnson funds (Federal Aid) and other accounts.

Now factor in, some trout stamps are purchased by stream trout anglers and some trout stamp dollars are spent on producing trout to stock at Pigeon River and other places.

Us guys with comprehensive lifetime licenses as well as geezers with senior licenses don't need trout stamps, my customers who purchase daily licenses don't need trout stamps but the trout/salmon "stamp fund" is supposed to get a portion of each of these sources. So it's not like there are 10K of these sold each year at $11.75 each = $117,500 to the DNR.

In short, it's complicated.

Probably an individual's best recourse is to write individual letters to the Director of the DNR, Cameron Clark, 402 West Washington St. Indy, 46204, or even the Governor. (Cam is probably good enough.) Neither Davis - maybe a little - or the governor really knows or cares much about Trout Salmon stamps. They do care about "real letters" from citizens. So say the gov gets a letter about the salmon stamp money. He'll send it to Clark at the DNR, Clark will buck it over to Mark Reiter, director of Fish and Wildlife. Reiter won't have the figures right off the top of his head so he'll buck it down to the chief of Fisheries, who may or may not handle it - but eventually, someone will get the responsibility for answering your letter.

Then it goes back up the chain of command until it gets back to the governor's office and you get an answer on a letter signed by a machine, but looking like it came from the governor who is on top of this along with running for Vice President and all his other duties.

Good Luck!

I opened this thread expecting to read some positivity. All I can say is any day I catch a steelhead, it's a good day. They aren't always around in big numbers, but I know I've caught them every month of the year from shore. They fight like maniacs and are every bit as good eating as coho. If Indiana were only going to stock one species of fish, I'd vote for steelhead everyday of the week and twice on Sunday's.

Interesting point taken from the angle of "If Indiana were only going to stock one fish and it can't be Chinook". I think I would have to agree that I would rather catch a Steelhead than a Coho. The fishing I do is more for the fishing and less for the table. My family and I enjoy eating the fish we catch but I find that we release fish up to 5-8lbs depending on the health of the fish and the amount of fish in the freezer. We've released fish without ever bringing them in the boat. So our goal is not how many fish we put in the box but how many big fish we can catch. I have 23lb Steelie from 1989 that I got on Trail Creek on the wall and it was the "Indiana Fish of the Year" that year. It was a 7 year old male and it got that big by living that long whereas Coho will next to never get that big in our lake given a 3 year life span and current conditions. Steelies might not either any more but with their lifespan they have a chance. Brown trout get as big as Kings and fight like them too (at least closer to Kings than Lakers) so over time and the right conditions that is something I would consider as well

I know everybody has a favorite species of fish to catch . lake Michigan is a put and take fishery for the most part. Fish caught on trolling gear definitely do not release well and have a high survival rate unless it is very early in the year and the water temp is cold as ice. Many of the steelhead that I have boated in 30 plus years of fishing the lake which is a lot when processed , the meat is white like chicken and releases a clear liquid. Just not my choice for eating. Not to knock how others feel just my opinion.