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(Provided by Michigan DNR)

The Michigan DNR and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) are collaborating to assess a recent positive environmental DNA (eDNA) result for silver carp - a species of Asian carp -- within the lower Kalamazoo River, Allegan County, Michigan.

Two hundred water samples were taken in July 2014 along the Kalamazoo, from below the Caulkins Dam in Allegan County to the mouth of the river. Laboratory results, which take several months to process, were reviewed by the DNR Oct. 2. One of the of 200 samples tested positive for silver carp eDNA. The positive sample was taken from just below the Caulkins Dam.


(Provided by Michigan DNR)

The Michigan Fisheries Division will be hard at work this fall and winter gathering the necessary eggs for the continued production of hatchery fish to support fisheries management objectives for Michigan's world-class fisheries. Fall egg takes will start†or already are under way for wild Chinook and coho salmon and for captive broodstocks of brown, rainbow, brook and lake trout.

Chinook salmon eggs are being collected at the Little Manistee River Weir through Oct. 9. Coho salmon eggs will be collected at the Platte River State Fish Hatchery Weir Oct. 15-21.


(Provided by Michigan DNR)

A Kent County man has pled guilty in a deer-poaching case that occurred in September in Montcalm County and is the first case of a violation meeting the new enhanced sentencing guidelines for poaching that became law in Michigan earlier this year.

On Sept. 21, Michigan DNR conservation officers responded to a complaint phoned in to the Report All Poaching (RAP) Line involving an adult suspect who allegedly killed two trophy white-tailed deer in Montcalm County during the 2014 Youth Hunt while acting as a mentor to an 8-year-old hunter. Jacob Powers, 25, of Lowell, Michigan, was arraigned Oct. 3 on the charge of taking two white-tailed deer during the closed season before a magistrate of the 64B District Court at Stanton in Montcalm County.


(Provided by Michigan DNR)

Skeet Reese with Escanaba BassSkeet Reese with Escanaba BassESCANABA, Mich. - Mention Lake Michigan's Bays de Noc to most anglers and they'll immediately start talking about fishing for walleye.

But in the wake of September's high-profile Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship - which brought 50 of America's top anglers to Escanaba to ply the waters of Big and Little Bays de Noc - what was once seemingly relegated to "also-ran" status is now national news: The Bays are loaded with trophy bass, too.

"The fishery has always been kind of walleye-centric," said DNR fisheries biologist Darren Kramer. "Bass is kind of an up-and-coming, emerging fishery. Every year we see more and more bass boats, and more out of state anglers, taking advantage of the fishery. There's a lot of traffic out on Big Bay de Noc after the bass opener. That fishery's really taken off in the last five or six years."


The public again this year is invited to purchase surplus salmon that has been harvested at Michigan DNR weirs around the state.

Seasonal salmon runs include large numbers of fish returning to their native streams to spawn and die. The DNR maintains multiple sites (weirs) where fisheries biologists and technicians collect eggs and milt (sperm) from Chinook and coho salmon for use in state fish hatcheries. Once egg-take needs are met, fish in prime physical condition are made available to the public by American-Canadian Fisheries, a private vendor that assists the DNR with the salmon harvest.