Lake Michigan is a world-class resource, including salmon and trout fisheries
Lake Michigan has a world-class salmon and trout fishery that was rebuilt after being devastated by invasive species in the 1950s and ’60s.
As the eyes of the nation and beyond turn to Milwaukee for the 2024 Republican National Convention, the media will also be covering the city’s character, amenities and challenges.
However, I am convinced that the lasting impression on those who experience Brew City in person has nothing to do with demographics or the man-made environment.
The host city is located on Lake Michigan.
Considering its vast freshwater reserves, its role in commercial shipping, and its appeal to tourists, boaters, and anglers, the lake many of us know as “Big Pond” is exceptional in every way.
I hope that everyone who comes together for the event has at least one opportunity to put their toes in the sand at Bradford Beach or walk the trail at Lakeshore State Park.
I bet they will be in awe as they look out over the Inland Sea along Wisconsin’s eastern coast.
Or better yet, wet a fishing line.
If I were king for a day, I would recommend a fishing trip on Lake Michigan to every newcomer to Milwaukee.
There is no better way to experience our Great Lake while appreciating its history and value.
Nowadays, even a short trolling trip usually results in a catch of salmon, trout or both. It is also not unusual to net a maximum of five fish per person.
For this reason, Lake Michigan is considered a world-class salmon and trout fishing area.
Although some of the figures are subjective, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has put a dollar amount on it: Lake Michigan is part of a Great Lakes fishery worth $7 billion annually.
However, visitors should know that this has not always been the case. Much of Lake Michigan’s history is one of change.
As John Gurda aptly describes in his book “Milwaukee, A City Built on Water,” the area’s first settlers depended on a lake that was full of herring, bass, lake trout and lake sturgeon.
But over the past 200 years, numerous factors, including the construction of river dams, pollution, overfishing and the influx of invasive aquatic species, have led to a decline in native fish populations.
In the 1950s, lake trout and burbot, the most important predatory fish in the lake’s food chain, were decimated primarily by the invasive sea lamprey. The population of another invader, the shad, then increased dramatically.
In the 1960s, Lake Michigan beaches were often covered with rows of dead, smelly shad.
However, the poor condition of the lake led to innovative fisheries management.
The idea: introducing non-native predatory fish, including steelhead (rainbow trout), brown trout, silver salmon and king salmon.
In addition to the use of native lake trout, it was hoped that the fish would reduce the excessive population of shad (also called allis shad) in the lake.
What began as an experiment turned out to be extremely successful. It not only brought the shad under control, but also created an excellent sport fishing area.
In 1963, it began stocking 9,000 steelhead trout in the waters of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin.
In 1965, the mix was expanded to include lake trout. In 1966, 1968 and 1969, brown trout, silver salmon and king salmon were added.
In 1970, stocking levels in Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan waters reached 1.7 million salmon and trout, according to data from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
Lee Kernen, DNR fisheries manager in Green Bay in the late 1960s and 1970s, said fisheries managers at the time “acted on instinct.”
“We had no idea where it was going,” said Kernen, who released the state’s first king and coho salmon in the late 1960s. “But when people started catching fish and the fish started getting bigger, it was clear something was working.”
Kernen recounted an experience in 1970 that convinced him that non-native fish raised in hatcheries had what it takes to survive in the lake.
He said a DNR fish hatchery truck had just dumped 4,000 yearling brook trout into the lake in his area. Within an hour, he observed the fish feeding on schools of small shad near shore.
“And boy, did these fish and all the other fish we introduced grow fast,” Kernen said. “We called the brown trout ‘footballs’ because of their shape.”
The new fish in the lake opened up new opportunities for anglers. And just like the fish, they responded.
A generation of anglers was presented with a fish population the likes of which had never been seen before in the lake’s history.
“We didn’t know what we were doing at first,” said Angelo Trentadue, 76, of Racine. “But all over the lake, we all learned.”
Trentadue said he grew up bass fishing off the piers of Racine, and after stocking salmon and trout began, he tried flat-line trolling off Racine in a 16-foot wooden boat.
Accompanied by his wife Barbara, he caught his first salmon, a silver salmon, with a spoon.
It would change his life. He became an electrician, bought a bigger boat, got a captain’s license for the Great Lakes and started a seasonal fishing charter business.
Clete Challe had a similar experience growing up in Algoma, northeastern Wisconsin.
As a child, Challe also fished for bass from the piers in the area.
“Of course we loved the bass, but we didn’t have much else,” said Challe, now 87 and a Kewaunee resident. “Things really changed when they started putting in trout and salmon.”
Challe first learned to catch lake trout in the late 1960s by using downriggers and fishing close to the bottom.
It was a new technique, but he and others learned it quickly, he said.
“We shared all the results of our experiments,” Challe said. “It really turned out to be a good thing.”
Anglers began traveling to Wisconsin to explore the salmon and trout fisheries in Lake Michigan.
Challe worked in construction, owned a motel, and like Trentadue, he also had a charter business in his life.
In 1983, a guest on Challe’s boat, Gary Jacobson of Edina, Minnesota, caught a 43-pound, 3-ounce king salmon while fishing off Algoma, setting a state record that stood for many years. A 44-pound, 15-ounce king salmon caught in Sturgeon Bay in 1994 now holds the record.
The stocked salmon have become favorites of anglers on Lake Michigan. The costs of raising and releasing the fish are covered by fishing licenses and stamp fees.
In the waters of Lake Michigan in Wisconsin, Chinook salmon are the most commonly stocked species. Annual Chinook salmon stockings peaked at 2.7 million in 1989 and have been at 1.5 million in 2004, 1.23 million in 2010, 823,222 in 2014 and 1.04 million in 2022, according to DNR records.
The introduction of non-native salmon and trout has brought another important result: the natural reproduction of the fish, predominantly in the tributaries of Lake Michigan.
The annual contribution of natural reproduction from Chinook salmon, Coho salmon and Steelhead trout is in the millions, according to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.
The number of predatory and prey fish in the lake is closely monitored by fisheries authorities. In Lake Huron, a decline in shad populations led to a collapse in the Chinook salmon population.
Fisheries managers are determined to prevent the same thing from happening in Lake Michigan.
It appears that the onslaught of invasive zebra and quagga mussels, which have caused significant plankton reductions in the lake, has harmed species such as bass but has not affected the shad population.
Right now, things are looking good for salmon and trout fishing off the east coast of Wisconsin.
In fact, Lake Michigan’s salmon and trout fishing is arguably the best in the world, with anglers regularly catching five fish per person on half-day trips.
Kernen, who fishes in waters around the globe in his retirement, said nothing compares to the salmon and trout fishing in Lake Michigan.
“We have better salmon fishing than the Pacific,” Kernen said. “In Juneau, Alaska, where I go every few years, Chinook salmon fishing is currently banned. And you can only troll with a line. It’s not nearly the experience you get on Lake Michigan.”
And it’s worked. Salmon-A-Rama, a Lake Michigan fishing tournament based in Racine and hosted by Salmon Unlimited, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month.
Other tournaments also being held this year include the Northeastern Wisconsin Great Lakes Sport Fishermen Salmon Derby in Manitowoc, the Two Rivers Kiwanis Fish Derby, the Kewaunee/Door County Salmon Tournament and the Marinette & Menominee (M&M) Great Lakes Sport Fishermen’s Brown Trout Derby. Each of these tournaments has been running for 40 to 49 years.
And aside from the tournaments, charter captains make hundreds of trips from Lake Michigan harbors each week from May through September, and thousands of sport anglers launch their boats in search of salmon and trout.
“We didn’t know how long it would take,” Kernen said. “I’m happy to say that fisheries managers now know a lot more about it and that it’s going well.”
Yes, fishing in the lake has changed significantly over the past 200 years. And yes, the lake’s ecosystem still faces major challenges and valuable native fish like bass and sturgeon still need help.
But we should not take the world-class quality of Lake Michigan’s salmon and trout fisheries for granted.
We hope that during the RNC, a light will be shed on Milwaukee, including highlighting the value of fishing and its historic comeback, and that more than a few visitors to our city will experience fishing firsthand so they too can tell true stories about our great lake.
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