This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Dylan Engels, Great Lakes Echo
A new fishing season started this month, and that means Michigan’s Department of Natural Resources has plans for stocking sport fish in the state’s waters.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/04/what-to-expect-with-the-start-of-2025s-fishing-season/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/12/michigan-tribes-state-reach-tentative-deal-great-lakes-fishing-access/
The largest known muskie is 67 pounds 8 ounces. Or it’s 69 pounds 11 ounces. Or it’s 70 pounds 10 ounces. Depending on the type of record, whom you ask or what organization you trust, it could be any of those answers.
After Great Lakes Now published a column on muskies that referenced record sizes, it kicked off a dispute among readers on what record was the most accurate, so Great Lakes Now decided to do a deeper dive.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/who-caught-worlds-largest-muskie/
By Zahra Ahmad, Bridge Michigan
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2022/03/dnr-fishing-regulations-michigans-2022-season/
Scott Stecher would like it if all baits, or lures, were Reefrunners. He’s been manufacturing and selling his series of Ripshads, Rippers, Cicadas and Wiglsticks baits for decades, and they hold sway in the walleye community.
Stecher, who lives in Marblehead, Ohio, said his lures have landed walleye (and other fish) in places like South America, Europe and Asia.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/11/walleye-windfall-lake-erie-bait-and-tackle-is-big-small-business/
Gary and Roseann Sauvey have been operating Kaspar’s Lake Breeze Cottages in one capacity or another for 65 years.
The Sauveys’ waterfront home sits on a couple acres, sporting a side yard with five 20×20 cottages that haven’t changed much over the decades. From beautiful, quaint wood interiors to a small fishing pier and breathtaking sunrises, it’s a site stuck in time.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/11/walleye-lake-erie-population-ohio-economy/
By Laura Gersony, Circle of Blue
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/11/climate-change-trout-streams-nation-anglers/
Lake Erie, so far as modern fisheries biologists are concerned, has never been so flush with walleye.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources estimates there are currently about 95 million walleye in the lake two years old or older – that translates into fish about 15 inches or longer, the minimum size for keeping and eating.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/10/walleye-windfall-2021-hatch-fish-lake-erie/
Twenty bicycles, miles of fishing line, antique cans, knives and sparkplugs – these are just some of the many things that Detroit magnet fisher Jason Vanderwal and his family have fished out of the waters.
“We have found all sorts of things in the Detroit River, 14 guns, all sorts of cutlery, horseshoes and even three large ngangas,” Vanderwal said.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/09/magnet-fishing-attracting-junk-cleaning-up-local-waterways/
Tens of millions of fish from the Great Lakes are caught and kept every year by recreational anglers, and it’s common knowledge the vast majority of them meet the same culinary fate: filets coated in some type of breading or dipped in batter, and then fried in oil.
Walleye and yellow perch are the two species who suffer this fate the most.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/09/regionwide-local-fish-game-recipes/
The Great Lakes are great for many reasons – their economic power, the lifestyle they provide millions of residents, as a getaway for tens of millions visitors and the livelihood it offers hundreds of thousands in lakes-related industries.
And then there’s the water. Summer sees the lakes filled with people soaking, swimming, skiing – and boating.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/boating-budget-great-lakes-recreation/
On first attempt to reach Michigan Department of Natural Resources Fisheries Research Biologist David Fielder, he wasn’t monitoring fish populations or water quality. He was busy with a perch basket lunch.
The yellow perch is a staple of Great Lakes commercial and recreational fishing, and Friday fish fries.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/yellow-perch-low-populations-wisconsin-michigan-fishing/
For the second year in a row, scientists predict the annual Lake Erie cyanobacteria bloom will be smaller than it has been in the past decade.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s forecast, assembled with the help of multiple partners, indicates an expected bloom severity index of 3 on a scale of 10.5.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/07/2021-harmful-algal-blooms-toxic-algae/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Brandon Chew, Great Lakes Echo
More fishing trips could cause more damage to native fish populations in the Canadian portion of the Great Lakes than aquatic invasive species, according to a recent study.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/06/new-anglers-great-lakes-fish-populations-invasive-species/
The brief Black Lake sturgeon season which garners so much attention each year is over, but not for everyone.
The public face of the season usually begins and ends on a bitter-cold Saturday morning after six anglers spear their fish. After that, it’s over for citizens of Michigan and other states who travel for the opportunity to catch a big, long, tasty prehistoric fish.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/black-lake-sturgeon-fishing-indigenous-culture-conservation/
Great Lakes Moment is a monthly column written by Great Lakes Now Contributor John Hartig. Publishing the author’s views and assertions does not represent endorsement by Great Lakes Now or Detroit Public Television.
As daylight lengthens and water temperatures slowly begin to warm, walleye overwintering in Lake Erie take their cue that it is time to spawn.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/05/walleye-frenzy-detroit-river/
The rules that govern fishing in the Great Lakes – commercially and for sport – are about to change, perhaps dramatically. That’s because Great Lakes fish are a shared resource, and because of profound changes in fish populations, there is less to share.
It’s difficult to know exactly what will change.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/native-rights-where-great-lakes-tribes-fish-how-much/
By Ben Goldfarb, Hakai Magazine
This story originally appeared in Hakai Magazine and is republished here as part of Covering Climate Now, a global journalism collaboration strengthening coverage of the climate story.
In the world of competitive sportfishing, the name Arostegui is royalty.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/microfishing-angling-recreational-fishing/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network.
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/04/michigan-fishing-rules-dnr-great-lakes/
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — The number of lake trout that are reproducing in Lake Champlain is up, meaning there is less of a need to stock the fish this year, biologists say.
A stocking program begun in the 1950s by Vermont, New York, and the federal government through the Lake Champlain Fish and Wildlife Management Cooperative has in recent years been stocking 82,000 yearling trout in the lake annually.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/ap-biologists-lake-trout-champlain/
When Chris Wilson speared a 63-inch, 61-pound sturgeon, it was only moments after he lugged the fish out of his shanty before a small crowd appeared. Some trotted over from nearby shanties and one man rode up on an ATV – he wasn’t fishing but simply spending the morning checking out the season.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/03/sturgeon-spearing-conservation-efforts-fish/
Warming waters are hard on some fish, such as walleye, and more favorable to others, such as smallmouth bass. With so many environmental stresses, it’s difficult to gauge the future of individual lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/michigan-inland-lakes-ice-fishing-fish-less-ice/
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — Twenty-six people fishing on Lake Superior were rescued when an ice floe broke away from the Minnesota shoreline, stranding them in frigid weather.
The Duluth Fire Department got a call Tuesday morning from a resident who saw ice shanties floating away. Crews brought the anglers to shore a few at a time by boat.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/ap-26-rescued-ice-floe-lake-superior-minnesota/
By Kelly House, Bridge Michigan, through the Institute for Nonprofit News network
The Great Lakes News Collaborative includes Bridge Michigan; Circle of Blue; Great Lakes Now at Detroit Public Television; and Michigan Radio, Michigan’s NPR News Leader; who work together to bring audiences news and information about the impact of climate change, pollution, and aging infrastructure on the Great Lakes and drinking water.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2021/02/michigan-thin-ice-climate-experts/
This is part of a series in which the Great Lakes Now staff looks back on 2020.
A frequent theme of my GLN articles – and others’ – this year was the Crazy-19 virus. For me, its appearance in print ranged from news about charter captains not fishing and non-resident fishing and hunting license sales suspended to parks, monuments, Lake Erie businesses shut down and events cancelled, including The Biggest Week in American Birding.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/2020-really-sucked-next-i-dont-know/
In Lake Erie, the northern pike occupies, on the grand fish scale of things, a not-so-special place.
The elongated, fast, toothy eating machine is in general neither widely loved nor widely hated. In fact, as far as a sportfish goes, which it most definitely is, it is rather neglected.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/12/pike-huron-michigan-ontario-superior-erie-seiche/
Anglers as a group are generally nice people – polite, kind, generous and peaceful. But throw out a couple high-end, super-sweet fishing machines and stacks of cash, and they’ll brawl hard. For six weeks.
The 10th Annual B’Laster Fall Brawl began at 12:01 a.m Oct. 16 and runs through 8:00 a.m.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/10/fall-brawl-sheffield-lake-fishing-derby/
This article was republished here with permission from Great Lakes Echo.
By Carin Tunney, Great Lakes Now
A million-dollar grant to study aquaculture aims to boost the number of fish farms in the Great Lakes region.
Aquaculture refers to raising fish both to eat and to stock streams and lakes.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/07/grant-great-lakes-aquaculture/
In March, COVID-19 brought the Great Lakes economy and society in general to a grinding halt.
Three months later, it’s not yet business as usual and challenges remain.
That’s the consensus of a group of Great Lakes industries and scientific researchers Great Lakes Now first spoke with in April.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/06/covid-19-great-lakes-shipping-charter-boats-research/
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Minnesotans should fish close to home to help curb the coronavirus pandemic when the walleye season opens this weekend, avoiding overnight stays and driving no further than they can go on one tank of gas, Department of Natural Resources officials said Wednesday.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/05/ap-minnesota-fish-business-covid-19-coronavirus/
Lake Erie fishing charters reel from stay at home orders, and lake freighters idle due to industry shutdowns.
Great Lakes Now
https://www.greatlakesnow.org/2020/04/covid-19-coronavirus-fishing-freighters-great-lakes-industries/
