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Dan Keating
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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 Dans facebook page

Thanks Split! Dan makes some great points.

Man this is really great what Dan put together here in his post.

I wonder...did anybody hear anything from the IL meeting, and how that all went down? Maybe somebody can chime in here if they heard anything or attended? I sure hope people voiced their opinions on no more lake trout. Most everybody on this site I believe would agree they are seeing more baitfish out there this year than ever before. And again I understand that the size/year classes of Alewife might not be what the DNR wants and what we need for sustainability, but I have to believe cutting back 1 huge predator like the lake trout has to be helpful to the overall food chain?

The amount of kings being caught right now up in WI waters off Sturgeon bay is amazing: some 20-25 fish weekends for the weekend warriors with charters doing even better according to the lake reports I was seeing.

Steelhead and Lakers eat more ales than the kings do in the lake right now is a big point that was made there according to some friends of mine. Also Coho only consume 5% of the ale population they stated so they are fine. Yes reducing kings is needed and will help but also need to reduce lakers down to 1 million instead of 3 million ASAP as they will decimate the remaining ales quicker than some would like to believe.

MDNR already said they will fight the trides agreement to reduce Fed Lakers this fall/winter.

Lets see what happens, but marking a lot of bait too and I seen the first 30lb king was caught last week in Sheboygan. They just need to send some fish to the other side of lake because they are piled up on the WIS side right now. Make sure to run some heavier line this summer / fall

I have actually asked my State Rep about this matter at a political fundraiser last fall. He told me that nothing to do with the DNR goes through the chambers. The DNR answers only to the Governor.

Does anyone have a close friendship with any congressional people. The reason I ask is for the first time in Indianas history the DNR was bypassed by a bill introduced thru Indiana congressional people. It was signed by the Govenor but my point is the DNR was bypassed. It could happen again.

Hey FowlHook,

I'm glad you mentioned that about the DNR and the Governor. We went through the same ordeal with the DNR waterfowl biologist as well a few years back and the duck seasons. We had a bunch of guys organized through 3 different southern IN DU chapters that were trying to have open discussions with the biologist about duck season dates and the later seasons guys wanted, considering there is absolutely no public forum anymore for people to voice their opinions. We learned later that this would do us no good, as the biologist makes the seasons to his liking with little to no public input, only to get rubber stamped by the Governor. There is no accountability whatsoever. The only reason I bring that up is, I just wish there was more public dialogue on a state-wide level of what folks really want to see in the lake and how that can be relayed through the surrounding states as well, so that everyone is on the same page and a case can be made to the Feds to stop stocking lakers. There's no doubt people want silver fish over grease, no matter what silver fish those could potentially be.

When the cuts were being talked about most of the fishermen understood and agreed as hard as it was to swallow that a cut would help. What we as fishermen were not told is that millions of laketrout that eat alewife would be stocked, as the cuts to kings occured. You don't have to have a degree, or work for the DNR, to understand what is taking place. Ever find a laker inside a king? I have found many salmon over the years in lake trout, along with perch, and believe it or not I have found a laker inside another laker. My point I think is pretty clear. Lakers are like pigs, they will eat anything and everything. But they love eating alewife. Yet all the blame goes on the kings is just not fair no matter how you square it. Everything that is a predator fish is eating alewife. The cuts this time should hit the laketrout and leave the rest alone this time around.

Great dialog and the same things are being said in WI, MI and of course, IL as a result of Keating's essay.

The sad thing is the feds are in control of the lake trout rehab in Lake Michigan. As such going to our legislature or even getting Governor Pence involved isn't going to have much of an affect.

I saw a report recently that showed the percentage of "wild" spawned lakers in Lake Michigan is growing by leaps and bounds. In Illinois, it said, 70% of the laker catch is now naturally spawned fish. If those figures are true, it could be the horse has left the corral. One lake trout spawning reef can produce more baby lakers than all the federal hatcheries. The feds can stop stocking and the laker population will continue to increase.

I don't doubt the IL figures since historically, the Indiana Shoals (which starts in IN but extends on out into IL waters) was the greatest lake trout spawning reef in the entire lake.

If the biologists are correct and the alewife population is in collapse, there's little anyone can do to keep LTs from becoming dominant. If the biologists are wrong and the apparent impending crash in alewives doesn't occur, the increased predation by lakers on the alewives should cause the natural reproduction uptick to reverse itself.

Just to echo what Mike said, going to your state house reps over a federal matter would be mostly a waste of time. The state agencies (Lake Michigan committee) have already started the ball rolling on talking to the feds about reducing lake trout. I think you're going to see a lot more pressure on the feds by the states to cut lake trout now that chinooks have been cut to the bone. Talking to federal representatives would probably be a better use of your time should you be interested in talking to politicians about lake trout

Some lake trout numbers on natural reproduction - what I'll call "the south end" combining the statistical districts of Indiana, Illinois, and MM8 (New Buffalo up to Holland), has been 19% wild lake trout for angler-caught fish over the past 3 years. The 50 to 70% wild number comes from targeted fall gill net surveys on spawning reefs in Illinois, and that number has bounced around year to year. FWIW, fall spawning assessments in Michigan City and the Port show very few wild fish.