# Rouge River



## Woolybugger (Feb 26, 2001)

I was wondering how people have done trout fishing on the Rouge River and tribs. 
I caught a small rainbow at 6 Mile in Johnson's Creek a couple of weeks back. Checked out Hatchery Park yesterday after all the rain. Didn't see any trout but the water level was much lower than Steve's picture from last year. 
There was a fishing derby for kids a week and a half ago in Northville in Hines Park. There was a stretch stocked with rainbows. Heavy fishing pressure after the derby. The rains knocked over the fences that prevented the fish from migrating so anything left could be anywhere on the river. This may be the source for the rainbow that I caught if they have been doing this derby for years. My fish was too small to have been stocked for a derby. Could rainbows be spawning in the drain?
The Rouge has been getting a lot of good press lately. I read that salmon have run up to Wayne Rd and a ladder is being considered for the dam at the Henry Ford estate. My friend saw a salmon jump that dam several years back. 1000 steelies were also found dead during the warm spell we had last month. The stretch of the Rouge that runs through Dearborn is completely concrete. Oxygen levels used to approach 0 in past years. Certain death for steelies. It hasn't come near 0 for the past year. They are also planning to create some ox bows out of the old canals to make them more fish friendly.


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## amon (May 8, 2002)

hey guy, I fish the rouge here and there and it has greatly improved over the years. I've never caught anything of impressive size personally, but some spots on the river are filled with smallmouth bass...so much so that every other cast you catch one!!! I've seen big pike, and I saw a dnr guy with a gigantic salmon in wayne ontime. The rouge still needs a lot of improvement. It's so prone to flooding and discharge that it's hard for spawn to survive. That channelization doesn't help matters at all, either. I see a great fishery in the future, but for now it's still in a work in progress.


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## DetroitIron (Dec 4, 2003)

I'd love to see this river make a comeback. Grew up playing around the river as a kid, riding BMX bikes around, making our own jumps in the wooods along the river. Myself and all my friends only WISHED we could bring our fishing rods down to the river and fish. We had heard stories from my buddies grandparents that they used to fish and swim in the river down by hines park and beech daly road.


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## amon (May 8, 2002)

I hate pollution, that's for sure. However, I think the biggest problem is the channelization, and steps are being made to remove parts of it. Then we could have anadromous fish runs where they actually survive.


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