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IDNR Report
The Midwest Walleye Challenge is back! If you’re interested in a little friendly competition with other Midwest anglers; enjoy fishing for walleye, sauger and saugeye; and want to help DNR’s fisheries biologists; this tournament is for you.
The challenge runs from April 1 through June 29 and offers a great opportunity for anglers to win prizes in a variety of categories. These include Most Waterbodies Fished, Most Fish Caught, Longest Fish, and even a Tough Luck category for those who log a trip but get skunked.
There is a $25 entry fee to participate in the 2025 tournament. Once you’ve entered, use the free mobile app, MyCatch, to upload photos, fishing trips, and fish measurements. All data collected from participating anglers help DNR fish biologists better understand the walleye, sauger, and saugeye populations in Indiana’s waters, which leads to more informed management practices, which leads to better fisheries for Hoosier anglers statewide.
For more information, and to register for the contest, visit www.anglersatlas.com/event/840/2025-midwest-walleye-challenge-indiana.
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Whitewater Report
Among bucket-list spring walleye fishing destinations, the Detroit River is legendary. With both trophy potential and numbers, the river draws scores of anglers each year, many partaking in the run as an annual rite.
One of those anglers is Judson Rodriguez, who escorted Whitewater Fishing staff on the metro moving waters, all in search of big, photo-worthy fish. Below, Judson offers his advice for anglers thinking about fishing the Detroit—including the when, where, and how of it.
“In early April, the water temp was between 43.3- and 43.8 degrees. As we got into a little more stained water, the water temp came up a bit. We fished a lot of those water areas where clear water met dirty and found fish there, which is typical,” says Rodriguez.
“There was a good mix of spawning females with lots of smaller males in the mix. We started fishing at 6:30 a.m. each day so we could see what we were doing. The best bite is typically around daybreak, so we had about an hour to pluck big females. Then, the rest of the day, it’s sorting males until about 6 p.m., and then you’ve got a shot at another big one.”
Rodriguez says time of day and water clarity are consistently two big factors on the Detroit River and other major river systems—as well as water temperatures between 40 and 50 degrees. “For us, it was a mix of big fish still hanging around and others filtering back out.”
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MDNR Report
Fishing the Muskegon River this spring? Be on the lookout for Michigan DNR personnel collecting walleye eggs below Croton Dam. Egg collections with electrofishing boats will start as early as the week of March 24 and conclude by April 12.
Four days of egg collections are planned this spring. The date those collections will begin depends on water temperatures and the presence of ripe fish (fish that are ready to spawn), and the schedule may change based on conditions.
The egg-take zone runs from Croton Dam downstream to the Pine Street Access Site, so anglers who wish to avoid the walleye collection activities should fish downstream from the Pine Street Access Site. Anyone fishing near the egg-collection zone should use caution when fishing near the electrofishing boats. For safety, anyone wading will be asked to exit the water when electrofishing boats approach.
Electrofishing usually begins at Croton Dam each day at 8 a.m. and proceeds downstream to the Pine Street Access Site. If more eggs are needed, additional collections may occur downstream to the Thornapple Avenue (High Rollway) Access Site.
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By Louie Stout
Last fall’s Indiana DNR assessment of the Pine and Stone Lake walleyes turned up a healthy, yet not overly abundant, population.
Biologists go into the lake each fall to determine survival of young fish planted a year ago. Those numbers were disappointing but not surprising.
There was high mortality in a private stocking done on the lake and Indiana’s fall stocking was done in low numbers due to limited availability a year ago.
“Also,” adds District Biologist Courtney Weldon, “it was still pretty warm when we did our survey, but we didn’t have much choice.”
The good news is she expects to find plenty of the 2024 fish when she returns this the fall because stocked numbers were good and the fish were sizable.
The majority of adult walleyes captured were two year olds from the 2022 stocking that should be legal size this season. She knows there are still some bigger and older fish in the system.
“If we can continue an aggressive fall stocking with larger (young) fish it will only get better,” she says.
The DNR began stocking larger fall fish in 2021. It’s been proven that fewer numbers of larger fish stocked in the fall vs. larger numbers of smaller spring fingerlings produce better results.
Weldon noted that the survey turned up several large bluegills and sunfish in Stone Lake and “a lot of good size bass weighing at least 4 pounds within the system.”
She and her crew plan to do a total lake survey sometime this season.