Great Lakes Fish and Fishing

The Great Lakes are home to many of North America's most popular fish species including native lake fish as well as introduced species. Top fish include members of the pike family including pike, pickerel and musky. Other favorites are walleye, sauger, white bass, yellow perch, bluegill, rock bass, smallmouth bass.

Trout and salmon are well represented in the Great Lakes. A few species from this group are native to the waterway such as lake trout and brook trout.

"Coasters" are a form of brook trout once common in parts of Lake Superior and its tributaries. Over-fishing, habitat loss, competition from non-native trout and salmon, and other factors eliminated coasters from more than 95 percent of their historic range. The 14.5 pound world-record brook trout, caught in 1915, was a coaster.

Atlantic salmon were once common although they are now considered to be extinct locally. Restoration efforts are underway to re-establish Atlantic salmon in the system.

Several non-native trout and salmon have been introduced in the last 2 centuries and now thrive in the region, including brown trout, rainbow trout, steelhead, and Pacific salmon.

Chinook, the first species of Pacific salmon stocked in the Great Lakes, were introduced in 1873. Chinook and coho were reintroduced in Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin waters in the 1960's. Millions of Chinook and Coho are now stocked throughout lower Great Lakes.

Steelhead are a large, ocean-going form of rainbow trout. Originally native to the Pacific Coast, steelhead have been successfully introduced in the Great Lakes.

Great Lakes whitefish are members of the trout-salmon family (Salmonidae). Round whitefish inhabit all the Great Lakes but Lake Erie. Those in shallow waters near the islands and shores of northern Lake Michigan and Lake Huron are known locally as "menominees."

Lake whitefish are identified by their two dorsal fins (including one adipose fin), blunt nose, clear fins, greenish brown back, silver sides. The species has historically been an important commercial catch in the Great Lakes because of its exceptional flavor and market size.

Gizzard shad are native to the Great Lakes except for Lake Superior. The Great Lakes region is the northern range of gizzard shad, a species that cannot tolerate extremely cold water temperatures.

Gizzard shad are an important forage fish for predator species such as walleye, muskellunge, smallmouth bass and northern pike. Annual abundance of gizzard shad in the Great Lakes region often varies drastically between years.

The alewife is bright silver in color, with a dark back, and black spot directly behind the gill opening. Introduced by the construction of shipping canals, non-native alewives established breeding populations, eventually becoming abundant throughout much of the Great Lakes and their tributaries.

There are several types of fisheries on the Great Lakes:

Aboriginal Fishing -Aboriginal communities harvest fish from the Great Lakes.

Commercial Fisheries - Commercial fishing is part of Ontario's Great Lakes heritage and culture, and commercial fisheries for several species still thrive in communities along the Great Lakes.

Recreational Fisheries - The Great Lakes rank among the best areas in the world for freshwater fishing. Recreational anglers fish from the shore, on private boats, with fishing guides and on fishing charter boats.

Aquaculture - A variety of aquaculture (fish-farming) operations exist on Ontario's Great Lakes.

About 35 million fish are stocked in the Great Lakes each year by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, tribal fisheries departments, state wildlife agencies, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources.

Lake Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes. The lake is roughly 193 miles long x 53 miles wide, with an average depth of 283 feet.

Lake Ontario and its tributaries support an astounding array of fish, including several species of trout and salmon, bass, walleye, yellow perch and panfish. The waterway is popular among anglers from New York, Ontario Canada and other areas.

Lake Erie walleye and yellow perch creel limits are based on annual quotas established each spring by the Lake Erie Committee. The Committee consists of fisheries managers from Pa., Ohio, N.Y., Michigan and Ontario, Canada.

Each year the committee establishes a total allowable catch (TAC) for walleye and yellow perch. Each TAC is an estimate of the number or weight of fish that can be caught by sport and commercial fishers without putting the stocks at risk.

Live Asian carp have been caught in the Chicago Area Waterway System. "The Great Lakes are on the brink of a great ecological and economic disaster that states in the region may never overcome," Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio wrote in a letter to President Obama on the issue. "We need immediate, decisive action."

In his letter, Governor Strickland called for the immediate construction of a permanent physical barrier on the Calumet River, where the live carp specimen was found, and Lake Michigan. "We must create an alternate mode (or modes) of moving people, cargo and storm water without allowing any aquatic species to move between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River basins." he wrote.

source: Fishlink Sublegals