DNR says trout strain could be big news for anglers

By Andy McGlashen • December 5, 2011

A fish-stocking experiment by the Department of Natural Resources appears to have happy results for Michigan’s brown trout anglers.

State biologists last year began stocking rivers and lakes with a new genetic strain of brown trout–offspring of wild fish from the northern Lower Peninsula’s Sturgeon River–in response to flagging survival rates for hatchery fish, according to an article on the DNR website. They continued stocking the hatchery strain, outfitting the fish with clips to identify their origin.

In electrofishing surveys on the Au Sable and Manistee Rivers, the Sturgeon River fish far outnumbered the hatchery strain. The technique uses mild electric shocks to temporarily stun fish so they can be netted for data collection.

Indeed, on the Manistee below the Hodenpyl Dam, every single fish identified was from the new strain. Below the Mio Dam on the Au Sable, Sturgeon River fish outnumbered their hatchery cousins five-to-one. The surveys also turned up unusually large fish, the DNR article says.

“I’m looking for the fishery below Mio to not only keep going, but get better,” fisheries biologist Steve Sendek says in the article. “With year-round fishing now and new regulations, this could be a win-win situation. This fishery is very special. And we can’t count on natural reproduction to sustain that fishery because of the influences of the dam. Stocking is going to be an important part of maintaining that fishery.”

It’s unclear how the Sturgeon River fish will fare in Lake Michigan and the inland lakes where they were stocked, but for river anglers–at least in tailwater fisheries like the areas studied–the new strain could be the beginning of a bright fishing future, biologists say.

“I’m very optimistic about the future with the early results,” Sendek says. “I’m hoping this will revitalize all of our brown trout fisheries, we just have to learn how to utilize this new tool.”