# Steelhead Egg Take, Little Manistee River



## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

Hello everyone,
Just wanted to give a quick update. The weir grates went in today in preparation for the upcoming steelhead egg take. No pumps are on at this point, and we likely won't turn them on for several more weeks. So no fish are in the facility right now. While egg take is always weather dependent, it usually takes place during mid- April. Although we have finished in March and also gone into May to finish up in the past! 

Similar to last fall, the public will not be allowed in the facility during egg take operations, unfortunately. I will try to keep this board updated, but we'll also try to keep the hotline updated. The number is (231) 775-9727 ext. 6072.

Lastly, this is a reminder that the entire Little Manistee River remains closed to fishing until April 1, as it has for many years.


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

Great news! 


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## Bob Hunter (Jan 19, 2016)

M. Tonello said:


> Hello everyone,
> Just wanted to give a quick update. The weir grates went in today in preparation for the upcoming steelhead egg take. No pumps are on at this point, and we likely won't turn them on for several more weeks. So no fish are in the facility right now. While egg take is always weather dependent, it usually takes place during mid- April. Although we have finished in March and also gone into May to finish up in the past!
> 
> Similar to last fall, the public will not be allowed in the facility during egg take operations, unfortunately. I will try to keep this board updated, but we'll also try to keep the hotline updated. The number is (231) 775-9727 ext. 6072.
> ...


A friend of mine who lives on 9 Mile Bridge Rd. has to CONSTANTLY kick guys off the river during the closed season on the Little Manistee. Is there anything that can be done with signage, or sometimes else at the access points to keep these people off the river?


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## Quig7557 (Dec 31, 2008)

Tickets, tickets work well.
A easier to understand rule book would be handy too


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## Martin Looker (Jul 16, 2015)

The RAP line is the best way to keep them off. After a few tickets are issued the word will spread fast.


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## Bob Hunter (Jan 19, 2016)

Quig7557 said:


> Tickets, tickets work well.
> A easier to understand rule book would be handy too


It’s only been closed since the end of the year, and opens on April first since forever.


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## fishdip (Dec 29, 2010)

Thanks Mark,thats great news.


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## Quig7557 (Dec 31, 2008)

Bob Hunter said:


> It’s only been closed since the end of the year, and opens on April first since forever.


While I know that, and you too, new guys might not. And that applies to all the streams and rules.


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## Fishndude (Feb 22, 2003)

Bob Hunter said:


> A friend of mine who lives on 9 Mile Bridge Rd. has to CONSTANTLY kick guys off the river during the closed season on the Little Manistee. Is there anything that can be done with signage, or sometimes else at the access points to keep these people off the river?


If they won't call the RAP line, then they shouldn't complain. 800 292 7800 If they call every time someone is violating, and it happens a LOT, the COs will be very interested. But they can't be everywhere all the time - hence the RAP (Report All Poaching) line - which has existed for decades.


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## Bpilarski (Dec 28, 2017)

Quig7557 said:


> While I know that, and you too, new guys might not. And that applies to all the streams and rules.


...I actually was going to PM about a some rules....


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## drallam (Dec 31, 2019)

The rules for the Little Manistee are so darn confusing, why not make them simple.


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## TroutFishingBear (Aug 31, 2007)

drallam said:


> The rules for the Little Manistee are so darn confusing, why not make them simple.


Cuz people will overfish it and whack em and stack em, and hurt the egg take as a result.


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## toto (Feb 16, 2000)

Bob Hunter said:


> A friend of mine who lives on 9 Mile Bridge Rd. has to CONSTANTLY kick guys off the river during the closed season on the Little Manistee. Is there anything that can be done with signage, or sometimes else at the access points to keep these people off the river?


It's been discussed, lets move back to the OP's post. By discussed I'm talking about within Cold Water Resources Steering Committee but it isn't as easy as you think.


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## wdf73 (Sep 14, 2009)

TroutFishingBear said:


> Cuz people will overfish it and whack em and stack em, and hurt the egg take as a result.


I could be wrong, but I'm guessing that simplified rules might actually help the scenario you give rather than hurt it. One of the first steps for following the laws is to be able to understand what they are


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## riverman (Jan 9, 2002)

How are the pens looking or below the weir if you are not filling them yet?


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

The pumps are not on yet, so the pens are still empty.


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## riverman (Jan 9, 2002)

Guess I will have to take a look to see what is holding below the weir


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## salmon_slayer06 (Mar 19, 2006)

please let the fish pass.


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## GuppyII (Sep 14, 2008)

salmon_slayer06 said:


> please let the fish pass.


So, you are saying you don't want any Steelhead stocking in the state?


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## Quig7557 (Dec 31, 2008)

Question for Mark, do you have information regarding the size of return on this river over the last twenty or thirty years? Has the egg take increased over that time and buy how much?

Thank you.


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## Goinpostal83 (Nov 12, 2020)

Whitetail_hunter said:


> Seems like nobody is taking into account the bait situation in the great lakes.


You mean the biggest steelhead we have maybe ever seen? Do to plenty of food? Or the fact that they could survive without any ales unlike other species.


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## Manolin (Feb 20, 2021)

The comments about guides, and to be more specific about boats working the rivers are true, the thought that there are more anglers is false. The MDNR license sales are public information, if you attend the natural resource commission meetings you can learn more about their specific agendas.

There’s no shortage of complaints, realistically the complaint of the guys in the cold water forums should have is that the fisheries director and his inner circle are all focused on native species with a hope of using hatchery funds eventually for other purposes (as their funds from hunting licenses are drying up).


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## Manolin (Feb 20, 2021)

I’m sure this post will be unpopular, and god knows I spend more time chasing summer run steelhead than any other part of the fishery,.

I believe that the summer run fishery, through cross breeding, has impacted some of the run timing of the fall and spring run fish. I’m not sure there’s anything anyone can do about it (we can’t unring the bell); but the fall run in St Joe would hardly qualify as even a shadow of what it once was. Plus the number of fish at six street in September is simply unnatural compared to past years.


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## Northriver Rabbit (Jun 20, 2016)

Couldn’t agree more with fishing pressure. 20 years ago winter fishing in the Muskegon there would be 1-2 boats a day on a nice winter day. Last 5 years you go on a marginal day and there’s 10-15. The grand is even worse. Yes I bought a jet boat and became part of it 15 years ago but can’t stand it anymore when everyone is out there. Not saying all are keeping fish but fish to angler numbers especially in winter is not what it used to be and the fish that are there have seen every presentation 3 different ways.
It is what it is. Still have good days and a decent fishery just have to share it with more people and pick your days.


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## Goinpostal83 (Nov 12, 2020)

Manolin said:


> I’m sure this post will be unpopular, and god knows I spend more time chasing summer run steelhead than any other part of the fishery,.
> 
> I believe that the summer run fishery, through cross breeding, has impacted some of the run timing of the fall and spring run fish. I’m not sure there’s anything anyone can do about it (we can’t unring the bell); but the fall run in St Joe would hardly qualify as even a shadow of what it once was. Plus the number of fish at six street in September is simply unnatural compared to past years.


Our summer runs have diminished mostly do to Indiana moving there plants farther south and lowering them on the joe. Leaving less strays for the zoo and grand. We have never had much of a michigan stocked summer run unfortunately.


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## Northriver Rabbit (Jun 20, 2016)

Now to get back on topic. 
Mark thanks for all you do and the updates really appreciate it both steelhead and salmon info. We have a cabin east of m-37 on the little man and it’s not uncommon to see salmon up there in early July. I’m sure there are steelhead that head up all winter as well. The weir numbers are a small sample in my mind not sure anyone knows just how many fish come up in a year.


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## Brien maeder (Mar 12, 2013)

Northriver Rabbit said:


> Couldn’t agree more with fishing pressure. 20 years ago winter fishing in the Muskegon there would be 1-2 boats a day on a nice winter day. Last 5 years you go on a marginal day and there’s 10-15. The grand is even worse. Yes I bought a jet boat and became part of it 15 years ago but can’t stand it anymore when everyone is out there. Not saying all are keeping fish but fish to angler numbers especially in winter is not what it used to be and the fish that are there have seen every presentation 3 different ways.
> It is what it is. Still have good days and a decent fishery just have to share it with more people and pick your days.


Make our fishery like some west coast rivers no kill on wild steel


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## Goinpostal83 (Nov 12, 2020)

Brien maeder said:


> Make our fishery like some west coast rivers no kill on wild steel


Would do almost nothing as we have few stretches of great reproduction and next to none in the southern portion. Then they still have to make it past the musky amd lake trout feeding as the make there way to the lake.


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## skipper34 (Oct 13, 2005)

Goinpostal83 said:


> Would do almost nothing as we have few stretches of great reproduction and next to none in the southern portion. Then they still have to make it past the musky amd lake trout feeding as the make there way to the lake.


The Little Manistee is 100% natural reproduction. It has never been planted with steelhead.


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## MT2MI (Jun 4, 2016)

I imagine there are many opinions on whether an individual steelhead can be caught multiple times during it's time in the river on a given run. But, there is zero argument that a kept fish will never be caught again....


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## Goinpostal83 (Nov 12, 2020)

skipper34 said:


> The Little Manistee is 100% natural reproduction. It has never been planted with steelhead.


Are all northern and southern river'*S*


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## JungleGeorge (Apr 18, 2013)

Whitetail_hunter said:


> Seems like nobody is taking into account the bait situation in the great lakes.


We’re not talking about salmon .....


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## JungleGeorge (Apr 18, 2013)

From my experience of doing a small amount of guiding , and spending a decent amount of time on rivers from the grand to the betsie, the majority of steelhead fisherman are not keeping fish . Now more people guiding more people recreational will still make more people keeping fish simply because there are 3-4 x the amount of people fishing for steelhead . Whoever disagrees with that is not out much , or they’re not on the west side of the state fishing . The rivers need more fish , and the ones that don’t rely on stocking are getting beat to hell because they haven’t been affected yet .....


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## the rapids (Nov 17, 2005)

Goinpostal83 said:


> Plenty for sturgeon though


Sturgeon at least can eat zebra mussels and round gobies, and are perhaps better adapted for the new food web.


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## the rapids (Nov 17, 2005)

Whitetail_hunter said:


> Seems like nobody is taking into account the bait situation in the great lakes.


Yep. And also the idea that we need to raise and stock more steelhead is ridiculous if you consider the number of connectivity and restoration projects that have occured on rivers accesssible to steelhead in even just the past 10 years. We dont need the extra hatchery steelhead when our streams are continually improving in carrying capacity and connectivity.


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## riverbob (Jan 11, 2011)

the rapids said:


> Sturgeon at least can eat zebra mussels and round gobies, and are perhaps better adapted for the new food web.


 cool fish. the first ones i saw were in grand rapids, standing on bridge st., bridge, with my grandpa, i said LOOK GRANDPA, those big fish r fighting, he said," no bobby those r sturgeon n their making babies",,,,,,,,,,,sorry my bad, back to the topic


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## BMARKS (Nov 6, 2017)

Brien maeder said:


> Make our fishery like some west coast rivers no kill on wild steel


I think this would be a good step. if it has an adipose fin, release immediately. no adipose, bash it if thats what makes you happy.


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## BMARKS (Nov 6, 2017)

i think that would also have a big impact on the "problem locations". you wanna cut down on the snagging, and trash, and fighting, at places like homestead? make it a no kill, all fish must be released.


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## Manolin (Feb 20, 2021)

Lemme ‘splaine it to you Lucy. 
kings are managed for the open water fishery, steelhead are managed for the river fishery.

The department will tell you the rivers largely produce all the steelhead smolts they can carry now. The fact that they get eaten up by walleye on their way out to the lake, will not put the department in the business of producing expensive walleye feed. When I mentioned that the department has a bias towards native fisheries; this is what I meant.

Anything changing that has a long row to hoe with the NRC. For all the opinions that get thrown out here, there’s precious little attendance at NRC meetings....which are public


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## Shoeman (Aug 26, 2000)

Alright you clowns, Mr Tonello comes on here to keep us informed about biological aspects of the DNR.

Now you use his thread to air your viewpoints about different fishing styles and start bickering

STOP IT!


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