Steelhead Bag Limit Reduced in Some Lake Michigan Tributaries

by Jim Schmiedeskamp

Michigan’s Natural Resource Commission (NRC) reduced the 2022 steelhead daily bag limit from three to one during the spring spawning season in selected Lake Michigan tributaries based on perceived decreasing fish populations. On December 10, 2021, the Commission unanimously approved NRC Commissioner David Nyberg’s amendment to a fishery order on bag limits in order to be proactive in addressing both documented and anecdotally reported declining steelhead populations in the Manistee River, Bear Creek (a Manistee tributary), Pere Marquette River, Muskegon River, and the Upper Peninsula’s Manistique River and Carp River. The new bag limit for the prized game fish, which applies between March 15 and May 15, went into effect on January 9, 2022.

The NRC is a seven-member public body appointed by the governor and oversees the Michigan DNR, including its Fisheries Division. The Commission has exclusive authority to regulate the taking of game and sportfish through the issuance of orders.

NRC Responds to Anglers and Guides

According to Nyberg, growing concerns among anglers and guides regarding declining steelhead returns to Lake Michigan rivers and streams were a major factor in the decision. However, he cited as a frustration the lack of available DNR data to validate consensus observations on these trends, except for the department’s year-overyear decreasing numbers of spring steelhead collected at the Little Manistee Weir during egg harvesting.

“Data from the 2021 Inland Guide Survey shows that a mere seven percent of guides indicated that steelhead fishing was ‘good’ relative to last year, while a staggering 84 percent agreed that a harvest limit reduction would help to ensure the long-term viability of steelhead populations in Michigan,” said Nyberg. “Similarly, 84 percent of guides agreed that a regulatory change to reduce the daily possession limit would benefit their ‘home water,’ resulting in the conclusion that increased fishing pressure and increased harvest of steelhead were perceived as the greatest threats among inland guides.” Nyberg confirmed that one idea discussed by the Commission was the potential merit of a no-kill regulation for wild versus stocked hatchery steelhead (identified by a clipped adipose fin) to promote the natural recruitment of wild fish. Recruitment is the number of fish born within a given period that survive to the juvenile stage. However, this proposal for taking only stocked hatchery steelhead was defeated in a 3-3 vote among NRC commissioners, although both Fisheries Division staff and non-department biologists found merit in tailoring the regulation to wild/naturalized fish.

Michigan TU Says It’s Both a Fish and a Fishing Issue

“Steelhead are seeing increasing stress and declines in much of their native range, and now that concerning trend has become more apparent here in Michigan as well,” says Dr. Bryan Burroughs, executive director of Michigan TU. “Though times have been good for steelhead in our state in the past, it is clear that we are now in a different and more tenuous condition with them that warrants more attention and resources allocated toward their management.” “While DNR Fisheries Division staff have asserted to the NRC that the new regulation is unnecessary because it may not increase the number of fish, we find that to be a secondary consideration also worthy of future discussion and research,” said Burroughs. “The key here is that if we are indeed stuck with fewer fish, how do we balance between anglers who are currently dissatisfied with their ability to catch steelhead--for example, the number caught per unit of fishing effort--and anglers who would be dissatisfied with reduced opportunity to harvest multiple steelhead per day.” “We have a fish problem, and we need honest investment to understand and address this issue,” explained Burroughs. “As a result of this fish problem, we have a fishing problem that must be dealt with under the proposed new bag limit. While this proposal may or may not help with the fish problem, it certainly will not harm the fish, giving us time to learn and assess whether it helps. The fishing problem is one of, perhaps temporarily, making do with less, to invest in our future.”

Fisheries Division Agrees to Seek More Data

According to Jim Dexter, Michigan DNR Fisheries Division Chief, “the Fisheries Division questioned the inclusion of some of the river systems in this regulation packet and was hoping for continued discussion to air these concerns and more broadly gauge angler attitudes towards the regulation. In general, the Fisheries Division would support bag limit changes for steelhead if there was justification and alignment with public concerns. It is our professional opinion that reductions in the harvest of adult steelhead will not alleviate recent declines in fish returning to rivers. Conditions in Lake Michigan have changed significantly since 2003, creating survival issues for stocked and wild steelhead smolts. When smolts leave the river and enter the lake, they are subjected to increased predation pressure and competition for resources.”

“On our more northern rivers, the number of age-1 steelhead captured in electrofishing surveys on the Pere Marquette River, Little Manistee River, and Bear Creek fluctuate from year-to-year but have not consistently trended downward, indicating no obvious changes in long-term habitat conditions or adult spawning success,” said Dexter. “Our modeling of lake-wide population estimates show steelhead numbers slightly below the long-term average in recent years.”

A statistical catch-at-age model was recently developed by Fisheries Division staff; the model allows for a lake-wide prediction of the steelhead population in Lake Michigan. The lake-wide statistical catch-at-age model integrates comprehensive data collected in all states throughout the Lake Michigan watershed, not just an individual river system. The magnitude of steelhead population fluctuations in the 1980s far surpassed the implied recent declines, with the lowest population estimates occurring in 1988 at 2.4 million and the highest estimate in 1984 at over five million fish. “While there has not been a consistent decline or trend in

population estimates, it is fair to say that recent estimates are slightly below the long-term average over the recent four years,” said Dexter. “By comparison, population estimates for chinook salmon do show a precipitous decline in recent years that is largely reflective of stocking reductions.”

The Fishery Division estimates 1.3 million chinook in 2010, declining to 0.5 million fish in 2019 with the highest estimates around 17 million fish in 1984. Graphs exemplify the point.

Steelhead and Chinook Salmon Catch-at-Age Model Estimates (1967-2019)

Source: Jory Jonas, Michigan DNR Fisheries Division “We will continue to monitor steelhead on Lake Michigan annually, as we have for decades,” said Dexter. “We will also be reaching out to our angling community to better understand their experiences and thoughts on the issue. Our current plan is to conduct creel surveys on the Manistee and Muskegon rivers in 2023 – possibly starting in October of 2022. This will allow time for funding to be put in place and to give the mass marking study another year to add clipped and tagged steelhead to these systems to maximize our data returns.”

The marking study began in 2018 for Lake Michigan stocked steelhead and salmon. Great Lakes states and tribes, along with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, annually stock millions of salmon and trout to restore native fish populations, diversify sport fisheries, and control invasive forage fishes. However, little is known about how well these fish survive, contribute to the fisheries, and reproduce in the wild. The USFWS coordinates with state, tribal, and federal hatcheries to insert a coded wire tag (CWT) and clip the adipose fin for all salmon and trout stocked in the Great Lakes to meet this information need. This “mass marking” of all fish stocked is the only technique that allows managers to learn the effectiveness of their stocking efforts, determine how much wild fish contribute to the fish community and fisheries, and balance the predator abundance to the prey fish available.

“In addition, the Fisheries Division supports the passage of Michigan House Bill 5359, which would require inland fishing guide businesses to report their catch and supply vital information that will inform management discussions and recommendations,” said Dexter. “We also continue to encourage anglers to turn in heads from tagged fish that are harvested to increase our tag return sample size while all steelhead are marked in both Lake Michigan and Huron. Our researchers are also currently seeking additional funding to better understand survival bottlenecks for out-migrating steelhead in rivers.”

The DNR currently stocks steelhead yearlings in the affected Michigan rivers as follows: Carp River—13,100; Manistee River—34,000 Skamania strain and 51,000 Michigan strain; Manistique River— 8,250; Muskegon River—59,900. Bear Creek, a tributary to the Manistee, and the Pere Marquette River, do not receive any steelhead stockings. However, the South Branch of the Pere Marquette does get 10,900 yearlings per year.

Guides Agree on Need for Lower Bag Limit

Feedback from guides with over 20 years of fishing the affected rivers was consistent on the need for reduced bag limits with recommendations that ranged from no wild steelhead kept yearround to a one-fish bag limit for any fish (wild or stocked) caught year-round.

Manistee River and Bear Creek: Ray Schmidt is a semi-retired guide who has fished the Big Manistee River and Bear Creek tributary for 45 years. Schmidt advocated a more aggressive reduced steelhead limit of one fish per day year-round. Schmidt helped lead a group of guides in educating angler clients regarding their perspective on declining steelhead numbers through meetings, mailings, and social media efforts.

Muskegon River: Jay Allen has been a guide for 25 years and lives on the river. “I’ve seen six times the number of boats on the Muskegon River over the last five years,” said Allen. “The Muskegon is not a natural steelhead fishery and needs to be managed differently from other rivers, which have more natural reproduction. I believe part of the survival issue with smolts has to do with thermal issues related to climate change.” Allen feels that the declining steelhead fishing opportunities will negatively impact the guide business and area lodging and dining businesses. As the owner of the recently opened Muskegon River Inn in Newaygo, Allen has an additional sensitivity regarding the future of the local steelhead fishery and its economic impact on local businesses. Pere Marquette River: Walt Grau has been a Pere Marquette guide for 40 years and notes a lower steelhead catch rate during the past ten years while fishing pressure has increased over his four decades on the river. Walt advocates for a limit of one steelhead per day all year, not just the March 15 to May 15 season, as the actual spawning period for steelhead is longer and varies by river. Jeff Hubbard has guided the PM for 25 years and says the river is a wild steelhead fishery and never understood why wild fish were allowed to be killed. Jeff supports a year-round limit of one steelhead per day outside any specific no-kill areas like the Pere Marquette River’s seven-mile “flies-only” section, which features prime spawning gravel.

Upper Peninsula Carp and Manistique Rivers: Brad Petzke has been guiding steelhead trips in the Upper Peninsula for 20 years, including the Carp and Manistique Rivers. He advocates for a reduced year-round bag limit of one steelhead and a more proactive commitment by the DNR to collect data, including creel surveys, which he feels would be easy on the 22-mile-long Carp River.

Petzke’s experience is that 98 percent of steelhead caught in the Carp River are wild fish and feels stocked muskies and walleye create additional predation pressure for smolts making their way to Lake Michigan.