DNR employee manning fish stocking truck as it unloads cargoThe Michigan Department of Natural Resources today announced it is in the middle of its new fish stocking season. This spring you’ll find DNR fish stocking trucks releasing their prized recreational cargo at hundreds of lakes and streams throughout the state.Fish stocking is a valuable tool used by fisheries managers to restore, enhance and create new fishing opportunities in Michigan’s inland lakes and streams and the Great Lakes. The DNR’s Fisheries Division accomplishes this task by rearing fish at its six fish production facilities located throughout the state, cooperatively managing up to 46 rearing ponds and eight Great Lakes imprinting net pen locations, and maintaining a fleet of 18 specialized fish stocking vehicles.
Over the course of a typical year the DNR will stock roughly 26 million fish weighing nearly 350 tons, including eight species of trout and salmon and three coolwater strains of walleye and muskellunge. Beginning in mid-March and ending in early June, the DNR fish stocking trucks will travel well over 100,000 miles to stock between 700 and 1,100 locations.
Michigan anglers have access to four Great Lakes, 3,000 miles of Great Lakes shoreline, more than 11,000 inland lakes and tens of thousands of miles of rivers and streams. That puts residents and visitors no more than 10 minutes away from quality angling opportunities and world-class fisheries.
