justnorth posted on August 22, 2007 17:17 :: 1535 Views
As the last days of summer draw near and the changing colors of leaves signal the approach of autumn, chinook salmon fishing on Lake Michigan continues to provide a great angling experience for both boaters and shore anglers.
“It’s been a phenomenal season so far for catching chinook,” says Brad Eggold, Department of Natural Resources fisheries supervisor for southern Lake Michigan. “We don’t have the final data yet, but judging from what we’re seeing and hearing, anglers are leaving the waters happy and the chinook continue to keep biting.”
Fish biologists are hopeful that this year follows in the footsteps of 2006, which was extremely successful, bringing in not only larger fish, but the second highest number of fish in 40 years.
Recent fishing tournaments in Sheboygan and Milwaukee brought in 2,900 chinook, which according to Eggold, is a tremendous amount of fish and an encouraging sign that it has been a solid year so far with high numbers of healthy fish being caught, most of which seem relatively healthy.
Over the past few years, chinook have been caught in record numbers, but the smaller size of a lot of those fish was a concern for fish biologists. It appeared that there were possibly too many chinook in Lake Michigan for the forage base to support. In a collaborative effort between Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois, chinook stocking was decreased lake-wide by 25 percent in 2006 in an attempt to make sure the amount of forage was more evenly balanced per the number of fish.
“It’s interesting, every time we reduce stocking, the fishing actually gets better,” says Eggold. “Past reductions have meant better fishing in Lake Michigan because we were creating a better balance between the available forage and their predators. We hope that the reduction in 2006 will help assure a great sport fishery by maintaining this delicate balance between prey and predator.”
For anglers venturing out this time of year, heading out to deeper depths might prove to be more rewarding, according to Paul Peeters, a DNR fisheries supervisor in Sturgeon Bay.
“If you’re looking to catch chinook this time of the year, you often have to be fishing 50 to 60 feet down in more than 100 feet of water,” says Peeters. “Salmon prefer water in the mid 50s, so now that Lake Michigan’s waters have warmed up, you have to fish a little deeper. Find the cold water and you find the fish.”
Many charter boats run through Labor Day and beyond and do quite well, according to Eggold, but when September rolls in, he recommends trolling near the harbor or the river mouth. That’s where the mature, larger chinook start to school before heading up the river to their home grounds to spawn. Conversely, Peeters reminds anglers, there will still be two year classes of chinook that are not maturing, which will remain out in the lake and available for sport trollers offshore.
As autumn rains begin to fall in late September and river and stream waters start to rise, the maturing year class of anxious chinook leave the lake and begin the trip upstream to their spawning grounds, giving shore and stream anglers a great opportunity to reel in their share.
“Although you can always continue to fish out on the lake, the chinook spawning runs provide a unique opportunity for anglers who don’t have a boat, to go out and catch the fish from shore,” says Peeters. “It’s part of their life cycle to go back upstream to spawn, so the fish are basically coming to you.
“Anglers are continuing to catch their bag limits of chinook,” says Eggold. “There’s plenty of time left to have a great year if you haven’t already and possibly catch the “big one” that avid anglers are always hoping for.”
Visit the Lake Michigan fisheries page or the Lake Michigan Chinook Salmon (pdf) for more information on one of Wisconsin’s popular game fish.
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Brad Eggold - (414) 382-7921 or Paul Peeters - (920) 746-2865
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