LAKE MICHIGAN SALMONID STOCKING
Chinook salmon, coho salmon, brown trout and two strains of rainbow
trout are raised at the Department’s Jake Wolf Fish Hatchery.
Chinook salmon eggs are collected from mature fish in the Little
Manistee River (Michigan) by Illinois and Michigan Departments of
Natural Resources personnel; coho salmon eggs are collected from
mature fish in the Platte River (Michigan).
Eyed eggs (developed to the point that eyes can be distinguished inside egg) of brown
trout and Arlee-strain rainbow trout are received from US Fish &
Wildlife Federal hatcheries, and fertilized Skamania-strain rainbow
trout eggs are received from an Indiana Department of Natural Resources
hatchery. These fish are grown at the hatchery and stocked by the
hatchery staff in early or late summer, depending on the species.
Lake trout stocked in our waters are hatched and raised at one of
the US Fish & Wildlife Federal hatcheries; these fish are then
stocked offshore using the Service’s vessel Togue.
There have been several studies over the years that have required us to be able to identify the age, strain, or stocking location of salmonids stocked in our waters. A highly visible and relatively inexpensive method of marking fish is to clip off one or a combination of fins. One ongoing project involve clipping fins on Chinook salmon stocked in Waukegan Harbor to assess fall (spawning) returns to that stocking site and to estimate mortality rates. We also began clipping fins on both strains of rainbow trout in 1996 in response to Michigan’s request that all stocked rainbow trout be marked to distinguish them from naturally produced rainbow trout.
