Michigan’s lakes and rivers are now well stocked with fish for the next fishing season, thanks to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. DNR fish production program manager Ed Eisch tells us the fall fish stocking program placed more than 624,000 fish in waters across the state. The state has been stocking fish since the late 1800s, and Eisch says fishing opportunities would be quite different without the program.
“They’d be nothing like they are,” Eisch said. “They certainly would still exist as Michigan’s got a lot of quality water and there’s a lot of self-sustained fisheries, but species like steelheads and the salmon programs wouldn’t exist without fish stocking. So, much of the recreational fishing that happens in Michigan is a result of the fish stocking program.”
The state operates several fish hatcheries, including Wolf Lake Fish Hatchery in Mattawan. That hatchery stocked more than 150,000 fall fingerling steelhead in two locations in the fall. Eisch says the fish are usually hatched in the spring, and then released in the fall. They use specialized trucks to transport the fish to the waters where they’re released.
