# Steelhead Anglers- Help us Biologists!



## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

Hello everyone,
I wanted to remind all of you steelhead anglers that you can help us Biologists out for the next couple of years. You may recall that for the last few years we have been clipping adipose fins on all stocked steelhead in Lake Michigan (the other states are doing it as well). Now we are seeing those clipped fish return, so we're trying to get anglers to report their steelhead catches and inspect the fish for fin clips. All we need is the waterbody, length of the fish, and whether or not the fish was clipped or not. You can also indicate gender, whether you released the fish or not, etc. if you want to. It is easy to do. You can do it on your phone with an app, or you can do it on your computer. Here's the website:https://www.michiganseagrant.org/to...ler-citizen-science/great-lakes-angler-diary/
The short tutorial on there is very helpful if you get confused.

This is a great opportunity for us to get a good picture of the wild (unclipped) vs. stocked (clipped) ratio for our streams. But it will only work if enough anglers are willing to participate in the program. So please help out by catching steelhead, measuring them, checking them for clips, and then entering the data. Thanks!


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## riverman (Jan 9, 2002)

Mark, your take on the steelhead in the post below we caught Friday??? He had all his fins. I have heard stories about salmon and steelhead cross breeding and being genetically identified, but never put much thought in it


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## eggfly (Jan 8, 2006)

M. Tonello said:


> Hello everyone,
> I wanted to remind all of you steelhead anglers that you can help us Biologists out for the next couple of years. You may recall that for the last few years we have been clipping adipose fins on all stocked steelhead in Lake Michigan (the other states are doing it as well). Now we are seeing those clipped fish return, so we're trying to get anglers to report their steelhead catches and inspect the fish for fin clips. All we need is the waterbody, length of the fish, and whether or not the fish was clipped or not. You can also indicate gender, whether you released the fish or not, etc. if you want to. It is easy to do. You can do it on your phone with an app, or you can do it on your computer. Here's the website:https://www.michiganseagrant.org/to...ler-citizen-science/great-lakes-angler-diary/
> The short tutorial on there is very helpful if you get confused.
> 
> This is a great opportunity for us to get a good picture of the wild (unclipped) vs. stocked (clipped) ratio for our streams. But it will only work if enough anglers are willing to participate in the program. So please help out by catching steelhead, measuring them, checking them for clips, and then entering the data. Thanks!


Hi Mark. 
I downloaded the app and started the registration process. When I submit it I get a message of no internet connection. That’s odd as I’m connected listening to Pandora and replying here. Any help would be appreciated. 
Thank you.


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## nighttime (Nov 25, 2007)

eggfly said:


> Hi Mark.
> I downloaded the app and started the registration process. When I submit it I get a message of no internet connection. That’s odd as I’m connected listening to Pandora and replying here. Any help would be appreciated.
> Thank you.


I remember having a problem and re registered online and deleted app and re downloaded app.


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

riverman said:


> Mark, your take on the steelhead in the post below we caught Friday??? He had all his fins. I have heard stories about salmon and steelhead cross breeding and being genetically identified, but never put much thought in it


Definitely a weird looking fish, but that's all steelhead. I don't see any Chinook characteristics in him. He should be entered in the Angler Diary!


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

eggfly said:


> Hi Mark.
> I downloaded the app and started the registration process. When I submit it I get a message of no internet connection. That’s odd as I’m connected listening to Pandora and replying here. Any help would be appreciated.
> Thank you.


Try Nighttime's suggestion. If that doesn't work, let me know. I'm not using the app, I'm just doing it online, so if that doesn't work I'll get with Dan from Sea Grant for a solution.


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

M. Tonello said:


> Hello everyone,
> I wanted to remind all of you steelhead anglers that you can help us Biologists out for the next couple of years. You may recall that for the last few years we have been clipping adipose fins on all stocked steelhead in Lake Michigan (the other states are doing it as well). Now we are seeing those clipped fish return, so we're trying to get anglers to report their steelhead catches and inspect the fish for fin clips. All we need is the waterbody, length of the fish, and whether or not the fish was clipped or not. You can also indicate gender, whether you released the fish or not, etc. if you want to. It is easy to do. You can do it on your phone with an app, or you can do it on your computer. Here's the website:https://www.michiganseagrant.org/to...ler-citizen-science/great-lakes-angler-diary/
> The short tutorial on there is very helpful if you get confused.
> 
> This is a great opportunity for us to get a good picture of the wild (unclipped) vs. stocked (clipped) ratio for our streams. But it will only work if enough anglers are willing to participate in the program. So please help out by catching steelhead, measuring them, checking them for clips, and then entering the data. Thanks!


Mark, is this just for steelhead then? I entered some trips, but only the ones I hooked steelhead. I did enter all species caught for the day, but didn’t enter trips where no steelhead were caught.


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

No you can enter other species as well. I know for the rivers I manage, I'll be interested in seeing that data as well. Probably the east side Biologists will want to see other species as well, for example Atlantic salmon. At the moment, the steelhead clip data is particularly important to get because the feds worked so hard for the past few years to clip all the steelhead. So we need to get that data while those clipped fish are returning.


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## nighttime (Nov 25, 2007)

Every trip should be entered, fish or no fish.


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

nighttime said:


> Every trip should be entered, fish or no fish.


Excellent point, Nighttime!


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## Spoonbill (Jan 28, 2009)

Great to see so much interest in the project!

You can email [email protected] if you run into problems with registration or electronic reporting. Sometimes the registration and data entry provide error messages even though they are working correctly.

As mentioned above, it is important to record all trips that targeted steelhead - even if no steelhead were landed. We are also asking for fin clip, length, and kept/released data on every fish but we realize that it can be tough to get an accurate length if you are wading and fishing alone. 

For details and answers to some FAQs see the following article:

https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/new-p...tocked-fish-in-michigan-rivers-msg20-okeefe20 

_"If you cannot get any measurement on a fish, or if you forget to measure a fish or two over the course of the season, there is another option. When you enter length data you will see a scrolling menu of potential lengths for all types of fish including musky and sturgeon. If you scroll all the way past 80 inches you will see additional categories for <20, 20-28, and >28 inches. You can use these categories to estimate the size of the fish or enter NA if the length was not assessed."_


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## tgafish (Jan 19, 2001)

Remember if you turn in your clipped Steelhead heads you are entered into a drawing for a chance to win one of 33 $100 GC For Moonshine lures and Captain Chucks in Ludington. A program created and funded by the Great Lakes Salmon Initiative


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## slightofhand (Jul 21, 2010)

Data is great, and interesting to know, however....when was the last time that sportsmen provided data and received an INCREASE in fish stocking? If someone knows if that has ever happened that would be great to know.

It certainly seems that surveys of any kind....baitfish, chinook, etc are done....that is simply a precursor to REDUCED stocking of a species.

Exactly what are we going to do here if we find that lets say 50% of steelhead are wild? I bet a million dollars we receive a huge reduction in steelhead stocking as a result moving forward. Is this what sportsmen want?

I am not going to participate in this...just one guy, but I think steelhead are fine, maybe some more would be nice....certainly not less...and I think this study is leading us down the path of less steelhead being stocked if even we find a small percentage of steelhead are wild. MDNR would save ALOT of money whacking a good portion of the steelhead stocking program out of their budget. 

I would like the MDNR to publish the budget savings this year from not having to pay egg take personnel this spring, and costs associated with maintaining all those raceways and holding ponds for 18 months by not having to rear a year class of steelhead...food, electricity, salaries, etc.


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## TroutFishingBear (Aug 31, 2007)

Don't worry about less stocking if I can report guys, as far as my reports go the rivers are totally devoid of chrome. I've been skunked in 4 steelie trips over ~28 hrs of fishing in the last couple weeks, no bites except for 1 small 11" brown...I Haven't fished NW streams, but SE and SW so far, and I know they have surveys as well at least in SE.

I'm still going again this weekend, twice probably in SW fisheries. Plan to fish a SE fishery on Tues morning before work. Guaranteed skunks (at least for steel).

Can I report my notable lack of success on this topic? LOL.


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## bjm (Nov 25, 2003)

slightofhand said:


> Data is great, and interesting to know, however....when was the last time that sportsmen provided data and received an INCREASE in fish stocking? If someone knows if that has ever happened that would be great to know.
> 
> It certainly seems that surveys of any kind....baitfish, chinook, etc are done....that is simply a precursor to REDUCED stocking of a species.
> 
> ...


I tend to follow a “truth will set you free” philosophy. We should know the data and then advocate for greater availability of steelhead to more anglers. Versus salmon they are more adaptable to changing food sources, as I understand it, and they are certainly more accessible for greater parts of the year to the typical angler. Certainly more sporting as a river fish as we all know. Really like the browns ideas and conversations as well. Would love to see more of them. 

the more people that have a chance to catch a a steelhead in MI, the more push id expect for support of what is arguably the best sport fish that we have in the Great Lakes.


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## nighttime (Nov 25, 2007)

Actually few years back mdnr increased steelhead plants. Mostly north big name rivers. I’d like to see those plants closer to home where more people would have better success in their backyard. Especially with the COVID thing, big increases of local guys targeting the resource by me last few years. No ice lots of steelhead fisherman. Research program is an evaluation of what we have and what we shall do moving forward.


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## Spoonbill (Jan 28, 2009)

slightofhand said:


> Data is great, and interesting to know, however....when was the last time that sportsmen provided data and received an INCREASE in fish stocking? If someone knows if that has ever happened that would be great to know.
> 
> It certainly seems that surveys of any kind....baitfish, chinook, etc are done....that is simply a precursor to REDUCED stocking of a species.
> 
> ...


This project is being led by Michigan Sea Grant and Michigan State University Extension, with additional funding from Detroit Area Steelheaders. Our goal is simply to take advantage of a great opportunity provided by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service's Great Lakes Mass Marking Program. For the first time ever, virtually all stocked steelhead have an easily-identifiable fin clip. This project is just a way for us to help biologists with Michigan DNR and other agencies get more data from anglers on the status of fisheries - and river fisheries in particular.

With steelhead, USFWS is leading efforts to determine lakewide % Wild. Any determination of lakewide stocking rates will depend on models that use natural reproduction rates based on USFWS estimates. This is true for all trout and salmon species, but now that we have mass marking the estimates are getting better - which means better decision-making.

The volunteer project is helping to fill in the gaps by providing a comparison among major river fisheries. We don't know how it will turn out, but we might find that some rivers are more dependent on stocking than we previously thought. Without data collection, we just won't know. Should we assume all rivers are the same? Should we guess where the natural fish are coming from?

It is not just about natural reproduction, either. We can probably all think of rivers that get a decent summer run despite not being stocked with Skamania. We may learn more about straying of summer-runs, and also straying of stocked winter-runs into largely unstocked rivers like the Pere Marquette.

At the end of the day, this is a project run for and by people who love steelhead fishing and want to contribute to a bright future.


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## riverman (Jan 9, 2002)

Not a fin clip yet on the pm


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## AdamBradley (Mar 13, 2008)

riverman said:


> Not a fin clip yet on the pm


interesting! We saw many last year - forget the exact ratio, but it was very noticeable!


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## Kisutch (May 26, 2011)

Spoonbill your second paragraph sets a very ominous tone in the aspect of future plants. Please reread what you stated. As written you are saying the feds will eventually control our steelhead plants. I for one have had enough interference from people in far away places calling the shots. 40 plus million Lake Trout the past 20 years is a good place to look in what "THEY" want for "OUR" fishery. 

Kisutch 

God Bless Dr Howard Tanner 

Former Lake Michigan Stakeholder 

Lake Michigan Lake Trout Gillnetters Association Join now 

Alewife what?


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## BMARKS (Nov 6, 2017)

riverman said:


> Not a fin clip yet on the pm


Same. i have laid eyes on 6 this year so far.


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## bborow2501 (Nov 12, 2007)

I love the idea of this app, and have plenty I could report, but the website only works half the time I try to add an entry, and the app is only for apple products. I would love to see an app rolled out to android users. Surely we don't want to introduce a bias in the data that could come from excluding those who don't use apple products... 

Sent from my LG-G710 using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


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## riverman (Jan 9, 2002)

Perhaps we could just report our findings here under a separate heading?


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## nighttime (Nov 25, 2007)

Only so much funds were directed for start up and apple was easiest for them to start with. Look for android app come next fall most likely.


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## streamerheaver (Dec 9, 2016)

Hi Mark, I recently signed on to the GL Angler's Diary SH program and would like to know, how obvious is a ventral fin clip on a SH? I recently measured a SH landed on the upper Manistee with a clipped adipose fin, and was also missing approximately 2/3rds of it’s first (leading edge) spine on it’s right ventral fin, but the fin was otherwise intact. Was this a hatchery clip or something else, such as an injury? Thanks


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

streamerheaver said:


> Hi Mark, I recently signed on to the GL Angler's Diary SH program and would like to know, how obvious is a ventral fin clip on a SH? I recently measured a SH landed on the upper Manistee with a clipped adipose fin, and was also missing approximately 2/3rds of it’s first (leading edge) spine on it’s right ventral fin, but the fin was otherwise intact. Was this a hatchery clip or something else, such as an injury? Thanks


Streamerheaver- I would definitely count that as a clip. For one thing, we clip the Manistee River Skamania strain steelhead plant with a right ventral clip (in addition to the adipose clip that all the steelhead are getting). No doubt that's what you caught. Ventral fins tend to regenerate a little easier than other fins, which is probably why you're seeing what doesn't look like a complete clip. But when you're dealing with three other states, it can be hard to find a fin that isn't being clipped by someone else for some other study. So a few years back we settled on the right ventral for those Manistee River skamania steelhead because it was all that was available. Hope that helps. Congrats on catching one of the Manistee River Skams!


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

bborow2501 said:


> I love the idea of this app, and have plenty I could report, but the website only works half the time I try to add an entry, and the app is only for apple products. I would love to see an app rolled out to android users. Surely we don't want to introduce a bias in the data that could come from excluding those who don't use apple products...
> 
> Sent from my LG-G710 using Michigan Sportsman mobile app


bborrow- I've been entering my catches online and haven't had any trouble with the website working. That said, I haven't had as many catches as I'd like so maybe I'm not on there as much as you!


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## tgafish (Jan 19, 2001)

M. Tonello said:


> bborrow- I've been entering my catches online and haven't had any trouble with the website working. That said, I haven't had as many catches as I'd like so maybe I'm not on there as much as you!


I've entered 3 on the website between 11-20 and yesterday. I've also had zero issue Mark


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## tgafish (Jan 19, 2001)

Kisutch said:


> Spoonbill your second paragraph sets a very ominous tone in the aspect of future plants. Please reread what you stated. As written you are saying the feds will eventually control our steelhead plants. I for one have had enough interference from people in far away places calling the shots. 40 plus million Lake Trout the past 20 years is a good place to look in what "THEY" want for "OUR" fish


Seems like you're finding your own bias in the paragraph. Federal govt has been providing data to Great Lakes managers for decades and has never played a part in Steelhead stocking decisions. Mass marking studies, prey fish assessments, lamprey control, etc all provided by federal agencies. I agree they have pushed the "native" agenda to the detriment of sport fisherman but other than that they are a huge help. I haven't caught a single wild spawned steelhead in my preferred river yet this year. Hopefully that equates to continued stocking levels or even increases in the future


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## Spoonbill (Jan 28, 2009)

AdamBradley said:


> interesting! We saw many last year - forget the exact ratio, but it was very noticeable!


Although the main branch of the PM is not typically stocked, the Big South Branch does receive roughly 11,000 stocked steelhead each year. In 2018, 2019, and 2020 those stocked steelhead would have been adipose clipped and tagged with CWTs. Most likely, the clipped fish that you were catching in the PM would have been from stocking in the Big South Branch (although strays from other river system are also possible). 

For data entry in Great Lakes Angler Diary, we separate the PM into the upper and lower river (above or below Indian Bridge) and include the Big South Branch. I would expect that more stocked fish are caught in the Lower PM and Big South Branch, with fewer stocked fish showing up in the Upper PM catches - but it will be interesting to see.


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## streamerheaver (Dec 9, 2016)

Hi Mark, I have another question for you regarding the GL Anglers SH program. I am essentially a catch-and-release angler but often times the buddies I fish with like to keep a fish or two for the table. Our practice has been to harvest only male SH, regardless of whether they are wild or hatchery fish. My question to you is, should we continue this practice or perhaps we should harvest only hatchery fish, regardless of sex, and return all wild SH. What to you recommend?


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

Streamerheaver- I leave that decision up to the angler. I don't like to be critical of anyone's harvest decisions, as long as they are legal. Obviously from a legal standpoint, there's no problem with harvesting wild females. From a biological standpoint, our rivers continue to produce lots of smolts, so we don't believe that number of females dropping eggs in the spring is the limiting factor. We believe the reason for the smaller steelhead runs in the past few years lies more with issues in the big lake than in the rivers themselves. For me personally, if given the choice when harvesting a steelhead for the table (and I do occasionally) I would prefer a hatchery male. But that wouldn't preclude me from keeping a hen if no males were biting that day. Also, I am a spawn fisherman, so I'll keep an occasional hen and even an occasional wild hen if I need bait. It also might depend on the river. Certain rivers are not stocked so I might be less apt to take a wild hen from those rivers.


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## streamerheaver (Dec 9, 2016)

Mark, thanks for the insight.


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## GRUNDY (Jun 18, 2005)

Is it possible the fish are not surviving out in the lake? I’d be curious to hear your educated opinion on the smaller runs. I have not been real sure what to attribute it to. All I know is I catch a lot less fish now. I used to rarely go 3 trips to surf or pier with no fish. Now I often will go up to 6 trips with no fish. As in no bites, no nothing... But when I do get fish it’s been a good mix bigger ones with a fair amount of skippers/young stockers. And it’s multiple fish. Up to 5 fish per half day during the good trips And they seem well fed as far as I can discern.

Please feel free to PM me if you prefer.

Thanks!


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## danthebuilder (Nov 22, 2011)

slightofhand said:


> Data is great, and interesting to know, however....when was the last time that sportsmen provided data and received an INCREASE in fish stocking?


My port gets more kings overall. We went from 15k fish every year to 75k every other year.


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

GRUNDY said:


> Is it possible the fish are not surviving out in the lake? I’d be curious to hear your educated opinion on the smaller runs. I have not been real sure what to attribute it to. All I know is I catch a lot less fish now. I used to rarely go 3 trips to surf or pier with no fish. Now I often will go up to 6 trips with no fish. As in no bites, no nothing... But when I do get fish it’s been a good mix bigger ones with a fair amount of skippers/young stockers. And it’s multiple fish. Up to 5 fish per half day during the good trips And they seem well fed as far as I can discern.
> 
> Please feel free to PM me if you prefer.
> 
> Thanks!


Grundy- your thought is spot on. We believe that the problem lies in Lake Michigan (or the drowned rivermouth lakes) rather than in the rivers. Stocking levels haven't changed, and electrofishing surveys show our wild streams producing as many smolts as ever. I think the smolts are getting hammered as they try to get to the big lake. In the past you would have had large schools of alewives providing "predator cover". Any predator would easily choose a slow, weak alewife over a quick, smart smolt any day. But without big alewife schools to provide cover, the predators are forced to target the smolts. By predators I'm talking about walleye, smallies, and northerns in the drowned rivermouth lakes and pierhead areas, and then lake trout and cormorants just outside the pierheads. Lack of cormorant control in recent years probably hasn't helped either.


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## MT2MI (Jun 4, 2016)

Thanks for the info Mark. I'm curious if you have identified any potential solutions to the factors you mentioned? Perhaps related to "predator" stocking rates, bag limits, etc.?


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## GRUNDY (Jun 18, 2005)

Thanks for the response!

Makes sense. I had not really given thought to that scenario. Kind of embarrassing. Given all the time I've been able to sit and think... LOL

I've caught a fair number of 14-16" stockers the past 3 years. (Southern basin) But those are stocked and not naturally reproduced. I imagine those have a bit of an advantage over the natural smolts.


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## MickL (Dec 16, 2003)

GRUNDY said:


> I had not really given thought to that scenario. Kind of embarrassing. Given all the time I've been able to sit and think... LOL


 I know just how you feel! Been there done that many times.


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

MT2MI said:


> Thanks for the info Mark. I'm curious if you have identified any potential solutions to the factors you mentioned? Perhaps related to "predator" stocking rates, bag limits, etc.?


Nothing that's simple and easy. Obviously cormorant control, including lethal control where necessary would be helpful. Lake trout numbers are another thought, but that's a complicated issue well beyond my pay grade. Walleye populations are perhaps another issue, but again, there's no easy answers since walleye are pretty popular with anglers too. We already don't stock places like PM Lake and Manistee Lake with walleye, so there's not much else we could do there. We do stock Muskegon and White Lakes with walleye, but ceasing those plants would be very controversial to say the least.

The best solution would be to see a resurgence in alewives, but that hasn't happened to any great degree yet. Luckily they're holding their own and still have a viable population, but not in the numbers we would have seen in the past.


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## rippin lip (Nov 29, 2010)

Received this in the mail today. Chrome bullet when I caught him last dec.







weird looking specimen too!


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## TroutFishingBear (Aug 31, 2007)

Fattie at 6lbs 20in


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## GRUNDY (Jun 18, 2005)

I turned in about a half dozen steelhead heads that my boys caught November 2019. I was hyping it up for them how cool it is to get the paper.

Still no papers... Maybe there were no coded wire tags?


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

GRUNDY said:


> I turned in about a half dozen steelhead heads that my boys caught November 2019. I was hyping it up for them how cool it is to get the paper.
> 
> Still no papers... Maybe there were no coded wire tags?


I turned in 2 last spring. Have received no info. I’m sure Covid is part of it. I’m
Sure it’s delayed processing the heads because everyone was made to work from home. 


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

If they got turned in, you should get a response eventually, whether there was a tag or not.


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## ausable_steelhead (Sep 30, 2002)

I turned in 5 Atlantic’s and 2 lakers in late November. Got the info back today.

Four of the Atlantic’s had tags, one didn’t. The biggest was a 4yo planted in 2017. The other three were all 2yo’s from the same year class planted in 2019.

The lake trout were 5 and 9 years old. The older laker was planted off Alpena in 2012. The other was off Au Sable point in 2016.

All fish were caught in the Au Sable river this past fall.


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

M. Tonello said:


> If they got turned in, you should get a response eventually, whether there was a tag or not.


I must have turned in 3 lol. Got my letter yesterday 


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## SJC (Sep 3, 2002)

The majority of the steelhead I turned in had no tag. The ones that did either said "Northern Lake Michigan Rivers", or "SSM Alpena Carp Oscoda Harrvle various MI". What's the point of tagging these fish if you can't ID where they are planted? 
I did not get info back on all the heads I turned in. It looks like they have most of my steelhead, all but a couple were turned in directly to the biologist, though. I am for sure missing some of kings and at least two atlantics. Maybe covid had something to do with it? I am pretty sure the no shows were all dropped at the same location. Also, all fish were caught in Huron, but several were planted in Lake Michigan.


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

SJC- good question. That has to do with hatchery logistics. Most of our raceways fit 50k yearling steelhead, and our hatcheries are maxed out. So when you have a river that only gets stocked with 10k or 20k steelhead, we don't have the ability to tag and then hold those fish separately from the rest of the 50k in that raceway. So we had to group some streams together with tag lots. Not ideal for sure, but no other way to deal with the issue. At least it gives us some idea of where they came from and where they're moving to.


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## GRUNDY (Jun 18, 2005)

I recieved letters on Friday for the 10 heads I had turned in. I think things are getting caught up. Kinda wish I hadn't stopped turning them in for a while...

I was surprised in the letter it stated there was only something like 600 steelhead turned in?

Kinda funny, I run into so many people that dont even notice they have a clipped fish. I always make sure to help inform them about why it's missing the adipose


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## SJC (Sep 3, 2002)

GRUNDY said:


> I recieved letters on Friday for the 10 heads I had turned in. I think things are getting caught up. Kinda wish I hadn't stopped turning them in for a while...
> 
> I was surprised in the letter it stated there was only something like 600 steelhead turned in?
> 
> Kinda funny, I run into so many people that dont even notice they have a clipped fish. I always make sure to help inform them about why it's missing the adipose


Remember, a lot of steelhead get released. I know I released way more clipped steelhead than I kept. Lots of people don't notice clips and many don't care. I see so many clipped heads go down the grinder every year. I even know some people that refuse to turn them in.


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## GRUNDY (Jun 18, 2005)

Its funny to think about how many clipped are caught and bonked, but never turned in. The percentage has got to be terrible. LOL


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## TroutFishingBear (Aug 31, 2007)

Im usually c&r, keep the odd walleye...Since I've personally been skunked for steel since fall 2019, despite a ton of time on the waters, first one I get this spring I planned on biting its head off, fyi...so if you see bite marks on a steelhead head in April, its mine...


Hey, I'm the TroutFishingBear for a reason.


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## tgafish (Jan 19, 2001)

Trying to bring this to the top again as more people will be hitting the rivers for the spring run. Turning in heads and joining the angler diary program gives fisheries managers up to date information on the steelhead fisheries. Most of the creel information they have to work off of is more than 5 years old. This is the way to truly have your voice heard vs complaining to your buddies or on social media


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## adam bomb (Feb 27, 2006)

SJC said:


> Remember, a lot of steelhead get released. I know I released way more clipped steelhead than I kept. Lots of people don't notice clips and many don't care. I see so many clipped heads go down the grinder every year. I even know some people that refuse to turn them in.


I caught one last weekend. Released the fish, never paid any attention until looking through pics later that day 


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman


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## toto (Feb 16, 2000)

I release pretty much all of my fish, and even though I've kept a couple I have to admit, I didn't think about checking for clips, will now though. One thing I have learned, if you cut their head off to send em, there probably isn't much sense in releasing them, right? 🤡

On a serious note though, Mark do you have any idea of the return on the Platte? I'm dying to have that fishery come back to it's hey days. I could tell ya some stories I'll tell ya that.


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## M. Tonello (Sep 20, 2002)

Toto- That's Heather's turf. You'll have to get with her on the Platte.


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