Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
Friday, June 12, 2026
Friday, June 12, 2026
Thursday, June 11, 2026
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MDNR Report
Approximately 4,250 adult trout were stocked recently by the MDNR in the Huron River (Proud Lake Recreation Area, Oakland County) and Spring Mill Pond (Island Lake Recreation Area, Livingston County) in southeast Michigan. These fish are retired broodstock from Michigan’s state fish hatcheries.
- The Huron River, downstream of the Proud Lake Dam, was stocked with approximately 1,950 brown trout and 1,350 rainbow trout, all ranging in size from 13 inches to 19 inches.
- Spring Mill Pond was stocked with approximately 450 brown trout and 500 rainbow trout, also ranging from 13 inches to 19 inches.
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MDNR Report
Salmon Eggs
Every year, the Michigan DNR stocks fish in Michigan waters to provide fishing opportunities and maintain healthy ecosystems. Where do these stocked fish come from? It all starts with collecting fish eggs, and the DNR has been working hard this fall gathering the necessary eggs to produce fish for stocking. Fall egg collections have been completed for wild Chinook and coho salmon and for captive broodstocks of brown, brook and lake trout, and rainbow trout egg collection will soon begin.
Chinook salmon eggs were collected Oct. 1–16 at the Little Manistee River Weir. Eggs and milt (sperm) are gathered from fish during the annual salmon run. At the weir, salmon swim up a fish ladder and into holding ponds. From there, fish are brought into the facility, where eggs and milt are collected and the eggs are fertilized.
“We experienced a solid run of wild Chinook salmon this year,” said Aaron Switzer, Fish Production Program manager. “The run at the Little Manistee was healthy enough to provide all of Michigan’s egg needs. We were also able to provide eggs to Indiana and Illinois state-owned fish hatcheries. Once hatched, reared and stocked all of these Chinook salmon contribute to the Lake Michigan salmon fishery.”
Coho salmon eggs were collected at the Platte River State Fish Hatchery Weir from Oct. 15 to Nov. 1.
“We collected nearly 6.5 million coho salmon eggs at the Platte River weir by the time the egg collection wrapped up. This includes approximately 3 million for Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. All four states work together cooperatively each year to ensure Lake Michigan continues to receive Pacific salmon to supplement the fishery,” said Switzer.
Not all egg collections are of wild fish, however. Captive broodstocks, fish kept at a hatchery to produce eggs and milt, will provide many of the eggs that will later become stocked fish: 378,000 brook trout eggs, 448,000 lake trout eggs, 2.6 million brown trout eggs and 1.5 million rainbow trout eggs. An additional 422,000 splake eggs (brook trout and lake trout hybrid) will also be collected from captive broodstock to support Michigan’s fisheries management objectives.
At Oden State Fish Hatchery, egg collections for brown trout occurred through mid-October. Rainbow trout egg collections at Oden will begin in December and continue until mid-January. These captive egg collections will occur every one to two weeks over the season. Captive broodstock egg collections for brook and lake trout at Marquette State Fish Hatchery have already been completed.
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IDNR Report The Indiana Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will stock rainbow trout in Fort Wayne and Huntington Oct. 18–19. Shoaff Park and Spy Run Creek in Fort Wayne will each receive 200 fish, and Memorial Park in Huntington will receive 300 fish. The stocked fish will average 12 to 14 inches in length. Shoaff Park is on Fort Wayne’s northeast side at 6401 St. Joe Road. The pond is at the west end of the park, along the St. Joseph River. Spy Run Creek is in Franke Park, across the parking lot from the Fort Wayne Children’s Zoo at 3411 Sherman Boulevard. There will be no events associated with the Fort Wayne stockings, so fishing can begin after 3 p.m. on Oct. 18. Memorial Park features two ponds and is west of downtown Huntington at 1200 West Park Drive. Only the north pond will be stocked. The Memorial Park Pond stocking will include a family fishing event that begins at 7 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 19. No trout fishing will be allowed before the event starts. Participants are asked to bring their own equipment. All anglers age 18 and older must have a valid Indiana fishing license and trout stamp to fish. The catch limit per angler is five trout. To learn more about fish stockings, visit on.IN.gov/fish-stocking.
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MDNR Report There are many joys of fall fishing: the salmon run, cooler weather and gorgeous fall foliage. Another benefit is the opportunity to help with important fisheries research by telling the Michigan Department of Natural Resources about any tagged or marked fish you catch. “Marking and tagging fish helps DNR researchers understand fish survival, age, growth and movement, as well as the amount of natural reproduction of a species,” said Jay Wesley, the DNR’s Lake Michigan basin coordinator. Through mass marking assistance by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Great Lakes states mark popular gamefish like steelhead, Chinook salmon, Atlantic salmon, brown trout and lake trout. These marks include both clipped adipose fins and coded-wire tags. The DNR has used a coded-wire tag program to mass mark various fish species in Michigan since the 1980s. The program involves implanting a small, coded-wire tag, which is invisible to the naked eye, into the snout of a fish. The tag is small — like the tip of a lead pencil — so lab technicians are needed to remove it. Trout and salmon containing a coded-wire tag can be identified because their adipose fins (the small, fleshy fin between the dorsal and tail fins) have been removed. The DNR asks that anglers who catch a fish with a clipped adipose fin remove and freeze the head of the fish and turn it in at a local drop-off station in Michigan. Anglers may also come across other fish tags or markings including: Report marked fish through the DNR’s Eyes in the Field app to provide information such as species, tag details, photos, and date and location caught, or by contacting a local DNR fisheries office. Some tags can be reused, and some tags offer small monetary rewards for reporting them. Learn more about marked and tagged fish.
Fish Tagging
Jaw Tag
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IDNR Report
Salmon net pen project
The first year of a cooperative project between the Indiana DNR and the Lake County Fish and Game Protective Association (LCF&G) to improve Chinook salmon fishing in Lake Michigan successfully concluded earlier this month.
The project used a floating enclosure built by LCF&G to acclimate Chinook salmon stocked by the DNR at East Chicago Marina. The fish were stocked into the enclosure on April 22 and successfully released by LCF&G on May 4.