For nearly a century, the Pigeon River in the northeast Lower Peninsula has been a beautiful, blue-ribbon trout stream scarred with a flaw sometimes fatal to fish – a dam situated about 15 miles downstream from the river’s source.

Now, after a collaborative effort and litigation involving the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the dam – located near Vanderbilt in Otsego County – has been removed from the landscape, an important accomplishment that has been a long time coming.

The river was first dammed in the late 1800s by a timber company to help transport logs downstream. Later, the earthen dam was rebuilt by a group of sportsmen known as “The Lansing Club,” with the waters behind the dam maintained as a fishing pond. Read more

Man holding a smallmouth bass

Michigan’s existing state record for smallmouth bass was broken Sunday by Robert Bruce Kraemer of Treasure Island, Florida.

A longtime angler with a cottage in Indian River, Cheboygan County, Kraemer said he’s been fishing Michigan waters since 1965, but this is his first state-record catch. Using night crawlers for bait, Kraemer landed a 9.98-pound, 23.10-inch smallmouth bass while out on the Indian River.

“I usually spend June through the end of September up here at the cottage,” Kraemer said. “I’ve got some great fish stories and some nice fish, but nothing like this.” Read more

Tiny pieces of harmful plastic, called microplastics, are prevalent in many rivers that flow into the Great Lakes, according to a study published today in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. Results are also illustrated on a new USGS microplastics website.Microplastics fall off decomposing bottles and bags, wear off of synthetic clothing and are manufactured into some toothpastes and lotions. Scientists with the U.S. Geological Survey and State University of New York at Fredonia studied 107 water samples collected from 29 Great Lakes tributaries in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and New York, and found microplastics in all samples. Together, these 29 tributaries account for approximately 22 percent of the total river water that flows into the Great Lakes. Read more

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources recently launched a new web-based mapping tool – the Inland Lake Habitat Viewer – to provide the public with information about the state’s inland lakes. The tool, available at michigan.gov/fishing, is ideal for those interested in learning more about habitat conditions in an individual lake or how habitat conditions vary among lakes in the state.Michigan’s 11,000 inland lakes are incredibly diverse and vary in depth, productivity, thermal stratification, oxygen, alkalinity, shoreline armoring, docks, woody habitat, housing density and other characteristics. The DNR routinely collects data on these characteristics, which are critical for sustaining populations of fish, frogs, turtles, birds and other wildlife. Read more

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources today announced that so far in 2016, no bighead and silver carp environmental DNA (eDNA) has been found in Michigan waters.Asian carp swimming underwaterThe eDNA surveillance program – a collaborative effort between the Great Lakes states and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) – samples high priority locations for the presence of bighead and silver carp genetic material. Read more

Michigan is nationally known as a trout fishing destination with nearly 20,000 miles of cold, quality trout streams and hundreds of trout lakes accessible to anglers. With all these sites to visit, how does an angler decide where to go?Check out Michigan’s Trout Trails which are biologist-verified great trout waters that are often lesser known. This website includes detailed descriptions and photos for each site, as well as information for area lodging, restaurants and guide services to assist with your trip planning needs. In addition, site-specific information such as the trout species available, regulations, stocked or natural reproduction and other noteworthy tidbits are all at your fingertips! Read more

The Department of Natural Resources yesterday announced the final totals from its spring and summer fish-stocking efforts. The DNR’s Fisheries Division stocked a total of 33,308,068 fish that weighed more than 343 tons and consisted of nine different species and one hybrid.To complete this task, it took more than 400 stocking trips to more than 750 stocking sites, with travel totaling more than 105,000 miles over the course of 2,624 hours using 17 specialized stocking trucks.

“We experienced outstanding spring and summer stocking seasons that will bring significant benefits and fishing opportunities to Michigan anglers,” said DNR Fish Production Manager Ed Eisch. “With the hard work and dedication of our staff, fish were reared and delivered to stocking sites in excellent condition. The numbers produced and stocked were right on target for almost all areas.” Read more

The Department of Natural Resources is preparing to conduct its annual hydro-acoustic (sonar) and mid-water trawl survey of alewives and other prey fishes in Lake Michigan this month to determine the status of these key components of the Lake Michigan ecosystem.

The survey is conducted on board the DNR’s Survey Vessel (S/V) Steelhead, based out of Charlevoix, in conjunction with the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Great Lakes Science Center’s R/V Arcticus. The survey is done at night starting in mid-August and usually takes about three weeks to complete.

Once completed, estimates of total prey fish abundance are used by fisheries managers in balancing predator-prey dynamics. Managers adjust fish-stocking rates to keep alewife abundance in balance with lake productivity levels.
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