This year DNR crews processed chinook on five days at Strawberry Creek and handled 630, 1,054, 678, 616 and 473 fish, respectively, for a total of 3,451. Several fish 35 pounds or heavier – including a 37-pounder caught off Milwaukee – were caught in Wisconsin waters and a Lake Michigan record 47.86-pounder was landed in Michigan.Ĭonditions the last two years along Wisconsin's Lake Michigan shore proved the value of having three sites as the Kewaunee and Racine facilities were able to fill the gap created when Strawberry Creek was shuttered. Last summer Lake Michigan anglers had some of the best fishing in decades for extremely large kings. Fish and Wildlife Service also stocks lake trout, a native top predator fish, into the lake. The Lake Michigan salmon and trout fishery is dominated by non-native species introduced in the 1960s to help reduce the number of alewife, a small invasive fish that died by the millions and fouled beaches.īut conditions in Wisconsin's Lake Michigan tributaries are poor for natural reproduction of the salmon and trout, so the fishery must be sustained through egg collection and stocking. The DNR's 2022 stocking quotas for the Wisconsin waters of Lake Michigan are 1.2 million chinook salmon, 500,000 coho salmon, 460,000 steelhead, 450,000 brown trout and 50,000 brook trout. "Buzz" Besadny Anadromous Fisheries Facility in Kewaunee and the Root River Steelhead Facility in Racine, are used by the DNR to collect eggs, milt and brood stock to sustain the Lake Michigan trout and salmon fishery.Įggs are collected, fertilized and taken to state fish hatcheries where they are raised to prescribed sizes and then stocked into Lake Michigan or its tributaries. The Strawberry Creek facility, along with the C.D. More: Smith: Safe deer handling in the CWD era differs from childhood hunting memories
More: Smith: A deerless start isn't the real measure of success at this family hunting camp in Montello But this year the DNR obtained 2.3 million chinook eggs at Strawberry Creek, enough to meet its annual need for "kings" for the state hatchery system.