Fingers Crossed for Herring.

[Walleye Express]

Been having some discussion on my Saginaw Bay fishing board about Lake herring. Their many scientific names, historic abundance and decline over the years in each lake, and their future as a forage and/or game fish, if any. Someone mentioned that they heard our DNR actually planted some this year in lake Huron. I ran with that ball and E-mailed my DNR biologist buddy. Heres his answer and a nice photo.

Some truth in those 2008 Herring plants Dan: 6,250 lake herring fingerlings (nice ones too, see attached photo) were planted in Thunder Bay here in Alpena. These fingerlings were the product of an experimental lake herring culture pilot project. For the last two years the DNR has been engaged in a pilot project to refine the culture and logistical details of lake herring rearing with the idea that we may someday (in the near future) embark on a larger scale lake herring stocking program.

The fingerlings that were stocked this year were the result of that pilot project effort. Understand that the goal this year was not to have a big plant, but to just learn better how to collect the eggs and do the rearing. Anything that got stocked was just frosting on the cake so to speak, for this year.

The pilot project is a success in that we are learning lots about how to go about this. Yes we had some poor egg fertilization rates, but that is how we learn to do this. We hope to have those bugs worked out this coming fall. Presently we plan another year of the pilot project (2008/09). The final decision to embark on a large scale reintroduction effort has not yet been made by the DNR. That will be taken up later depending on the results of the pilot project. Saginaw Bay is a candidate reintroduction location, partly because historically lake herring used the bay for spawning and nursery grounds. Remember that lake herring (also called cisco) are native to Lake Huron. There are still lake herring in Lake Huron today but very little in the Michigan waters of the lake south of the straits. The goal (if this ever happens) will be to reestablish a breeding population in these areas. This is not a put-grow-take concept, but rather a reintroduction idea. The hope is that lake herring would become abundant enough to serve as a viable forage fish for Lake Huron's (and Saginaw Bay's) predators. Lake herring too are a popular sport fish in their own right as well.

[Priority1]

Sounds like there may be good news on the horizon. This could be the start of something big. Thanks for the information.

[salmonquest]

I think that would be a tremondous boost to game fish as welling as providing a new sport fish.

[Walleye Express]

That they even planted any herring was a revelation to me. But I see their chances of taking hold as better then fair in the Saginaw Bay, since the alewives have left an open nitch in the food chain and forage base that they could fill in quit well. I've also seen a steady return of the mayfly on the inner Saginaw Bay since the zebras have cleaned up the water column. These little split tailed flies are a big part of the herrings diet and life cycle. I'd love to see them take hold again on the bay and maybe even create a new fishery. We used to take a week every summer to fish for them in Michigans U.P. They are delicious smoked or grilled.

The whole herring catching process became pretty refined for us towards the end of the times we went up to the U.P. for herring. By then we had 16 foot fiberglass telescoping crappie rods and used tear drops with live mayflies that we would pick off a white sheet we laid out over night on our tents. White and the retained heat from the tent over night seemd to attract them better. The mayflies would be thick on the sheet in the morning if they had a good hatch over night. We would then gentley (as not to scare the rest) pick them off the sheet by the wings and put then in a paper grocery bag. Then thread 1, 2 or 3 of them on the tear drop. Drop them down slowly the 16 feet to the rod tip and slowly lift it back towards the surface. You could get a hit going either way, but mostly lifting. As they were feeding on the emerging larvae as they floated towards the surface and became flies. You would then simply note at what depth you got your hit, as that was the depth they were feeding at at that point.

[salmonquest]

I've fished them a few times out of Detour. They are great to fish getting hit doesn't seem to be the problem but they put up a tremendous struggle for their size but their mouths are so paper thin that it seems to be an exercise in control and frustration to actually land them