As the spring fishing season approaches, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources reminds anglers that fisheries staff will be interviewing them about their fishing trips on several inland lakes located throughout the state.
Locations include Mullett Lake (Cheboygan County), Cass and Union lakes (Oakland County), Big Manistee River including a component on Manistee Lake (Manistee County), Deer Lake Basin (Marquette County) and Lake Gogebic (Gogebic County). At each of these water bodies a DNR creel clerk will, through brief interviews, ask anglers how long they fished, what species they targeted, what they caught and where they live. In some instances, the clerks will ask to measure or weigh fish and take scale samples to gather key biological information on anglers’ catches.
These efforts are part of the DNR’s Statewide Angler Survey Program, a monitoring program designed to track recreational fisheries across Michigan waters of the Great Lakes and select inland waters. Fisheries managers use the data to determine future management actions that include developing appropriate regulations, addressing habitat improvements and identifying fish stocking needs.
Inland creel efforts will begin on various dates this spring and extend, in some cases, into 2017. Anglers are asked to cooperate with the DNR creel clerks during the study.
