Jan. 2024

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has announced the totals from its 2023 fall fish stocking efforts. The DNR stocked six different species – totaling 1,076,204 fish that weighed 14.5 tons – at 103 locations throughout the state.

“It was another outstanding fall fish stocking season that will provide enhanced fishing opportunities throughout Michigan,” said Ed Eisch, assistant chief of the DNR Fisheries Division. “When added to our successful spring and summer stocking efforts, that brings the total for 2023 to more than 10.4 million fish stocked in Michigan’s waters.”

The number and type of fish stocked vary by hatchery, as each facility’s ability to rear fish differs because of water supplies and temperature. In Michigan, there are six state and three cooperative hatcheries that work together to produce the species, strain and size of fish needed by fisheries managers. These fish must then be delivered at specific times and locations for stocking to ensure their success. Most fish in Michigan are stocked in the spring.

To find out if any fish were stocked in your favorite fishing spot, or to discover a new one, visit the DNR’s fish stocking database at michigandnr.com/fishstock/.

Fall 2023 fish stocking consisted of six species: brook trout, coho salmon, lake trout, steelhead strain rainbow trout, walleye and muskellunge. Read more

Anthony Burke of Cedar Lake was fishing for perch in Lake Michigan on Jan. 6 when he landed a burbot that was 37.25 inches long and weighed 14 pounds, 3.6 ounces. Burke’s catch bested the previous record held by Phillip Duracz by nearly three pounds.

Burbot are native to Lake Michigan. They typically spend most of their time offshore in deep, cold water in Illinois or Michigan’s jurisdictional waters. During late fall and winter, burbot move into shallower Indiana waters to feed and spawn.

“Unseasonably warm weather and light winds on Lake Michigan the last several winters have provided boaters with a longer open-water fishing season and more opportunities to catch fish that are usually not in our waters, like burbot,” said DNR Lake Michigan fisheries research biologist Ben Dickinson.

Burbot are good to eat. They are in the cod family and have firm, white flesh. Find more information about Lake Michigan fishing at on.IN.gov/lake-michigan-fishing and learn more about purchasing a fishing license at on.IN.gov/huntfishlicenseretailers. Read more

The 2024 lake sturgeon fishing season on Black Lake in Cheboygan County, Michigan, will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 3. All anglers must register online to participate in the fishing season, and those age 17 or older must have a valid Michigan fishing license.

The harvest limit for the 2024 season on Black Lake is six lake sturgeon. Officials will close the season when one of two scenarios occurs:

• The sixth fish is harvested.
• Five fish have been harvested at the end of any fishing day.

Fishing hours are 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day of the season. The season will end either at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 7, or when one of the above scenarios is met, at which point anglers will be notified via text message and on the ice by DNR personnel that they must immediately stop fishing for lake sturgeon.

Anyone who wants to participate this year must register online by Feb. 2. Get more registration and season information at Michigan.gov/Sturgeon. Read more

The Michigan Natural Resources Commission recently adopted regulation changes to establish a daily possession limit of one (1) rainbow trout 20 inches or greater year-round on select rivers, effective April 1, 2024. The amendment will be a new component of the current daily possession limit regulation covering Type 3 and Type 4 waters where five (5) fish, but no more than three (3) trout 15 inches or greater with only one (1) rainbow trout 20 inches or greater are allowed.

The selected rivers are listed below Read more

The Return ‘Em Right Best Release Practices Manual, developed in collaboration with private anglers, captains, scientists and fisheries managers, will help anglers improve the survival of reef fish that are caught and released.

Each year, millions of reef fish are caught and released, and many die from the impacts of barotrauma. Barotrauma is a pressure-related injury fish experience when reeled up from depth. These dead discards negatively impact the health of the fisheries. Anglers have the ability to reduce mortality of released fish by learning and using best practices to support the fishery, the objective of the Return ‘Em Right program.

“Research shows using best release practices can dramatically increase the survival of reef fish. This manual is yet another tool anglers can add to their tacklebox,” said Dr. Marcus Drymon, Marine Fisheries Specialist, Mississippi State University, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant.

In December of 2021, key experts from the recreational fishing community identified the best strategies to reduce mortality of released reef fish at a two-day workshop. The manual, a product of this workshop, guides recreational anglers through choices they make during a fishing trip to maximize the chances of fish surviving release. Read more

In early November, three Michigan lakes were stocked with Arctic grayling.

These fish are surplus from the establishment of a grayling brood stock as part of the Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative. The initiative has been underway since Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources began a partnership aimed at reintroducing this iconic species to Michigan waters in 2015.

The full partnership now includes nearly 50 stakeholder and partner groups, along with the general and angling public.

Four hundred grayling were stocked at Alger County’s West Johns Lake, 300 at Penegor Lake in Houghton County and nearly 1,300 in Manistee County’s Pine Lake.

The fish were taken from the Marquette State Fish Hatchery in Marquette and represented year classes from 2019 and 2021. Read more

GW: The best trout fishing anywhere in the world can be found in Utah.

The Utah Cutthroat Slam saw a record number of completions in 2023 and is releasing the newest medallion for anglers who complete the fishing challenge.

The Utah Division of Wildlife Resources and Utah Trout Unlimited launched the slam in 2016 as a challenge for anglers to catch the four subspecies of cutthroat trout that are native to Utah in their native ranges, as well as a way to raise funds for cutthroat trout conservation. The original medallion was awarded to the first 1,000 anglers to complete the slam, a milestone that was reached in September 2022. Last year, the partners of the slam announced a new series of four medallions — one for each of the cutthroat trout subspecies — that anglers could earn when completing the slam. Read more