Should Lake Michigan Brown Trout Anglers Practice Catch & Release? 

First, I want to state clearly that any angler who legally catches a brown trout has every right to harvest that fish, adhering to the relevant size and bag restrictions.  Whether anglers choose to keep or release a fish is up to them and others should not pass judgment.  It’s none of their business. My purpose here is not necessarily to encourage people to release browns during the tournament, although I think it will become clear that I personally feel there are situations when releasing legal fish is in the best interests of us all. No matter what your feelings on this, I ask that you hear me out. 

I love catching fish. I particularly love catching brown trout. They are challenging to hook, worthy adversaries at the end of the line and are beautiful animals. If you manage to get a hefty brown into the net, you can be justifiably proud of your efforts.  

There are several very good reasons for harvesting a legally caught brown trout. First, you earned it. The DNR creel census data estimates that anglers spend an average of 23 hours per brown trout caught.  Even for the more experienced and dogged anglers, it still ranges from 4 to 7 hours per fish.  If you have braved the bone chilling conditions typical on the water in March and April, then damnit, you deserve to keep the fish. Secondly, brown trout are great table fare. Grilled or broiled trout are delicious, particularly the nice “eater” fish in the 3-5 pound range. Larger fish smoke up really well. I was reluctant to smoke browns, but last season I did so with a few fish and the results were excellent. The recent information about PFAS found in Lake Michigan fish may cause us to limit our fish consumption, but the occasional meal still seems to be comparatively risk free. Of course, relative to the BH Brown Tournament, the biggest reason to keep a fish is that you need to register the fish at one of the authorized registration locations (E.g., In BH, Baileys 57). Current tournament rules require that the fish be weighed on a certified scale to enter the fish and be eligible for prizes.  In previous years, I have witnessed several anglers keep their fish in an aerated live-well as the drive to the weigh station, have them registered, and then attempt to release them. I don’t know if these attempts were ultimately successful, but I applauded their effort.

The reasons for releasing fish are well known to all avid anglers. Returning a fish back into the waters allows that fish to grow larger and perhaps continue to spawn and produce more fish for the future. To me, it just feels right.  Enticing a wily brown trout to strike my lure and then successfully releasing my worthy adversary to swim away and fight another day is very satisfying.  However, one must ask, does releasing one brown trout REALLY have any significant impact on current or future brown trout populations? A lot of the evidence argues that it does not.

According to the DNR fisheries biologists, there is limited natural spawning of brown trout in Lake Michigan. Essentially, the fishable population is maintained by annual stocking. It is a “put and take” fishery. Historically (late 70’s to mid 2000s), anywhere from 1 to 1.8 million brown trout were stocked into Lake Michigan each year. That dropped to about a million to 750,000 from 2007 to 2016. Since 2017, approximately 350,000 to 400,000 browns are planted annually.  Now, I don’t want to get into the discussion about stocking strategies and numbers at this time. That can wait for a future post. The point is, that we know how many fish are put into the lake each year. We also have estimates of how many browns are caught by anglers. Creel census data indicates that between 2004 and 2021, anglers harvested an average of about 18,000 brown trout annually from the waters of Lake Michigan including Green Bay. This varied quite a bit from a low of about 3,300 in 2020 to a peak of 38,000 in 2007.  A “back of the envelope calculation” shows that anglers only harvest about 5% of the total fish planted. Of course, all fish initially planted are not all available for anglers. A significant number of fish are lost during the stocking process. Young brown trout are preyed upon by birds and other fish. Browns die of natural causes and disease.  Brown trout mature in 3-4 years, and live at least 5 years, some as long as 20 years, so there is a wide range of year classes in the lake available to be caught. The point is, no matter how you look at it, anglers catch a very small proportion of the brown trout in the lake. Even if all the fish caught are harvested, the impact on the population would be trivial.

So, there does not seem to be a good biological argument for releasing a brown trout in Lake Michigan. On the other hand, every fish released is one more fish out there and growing that can be caught by another angler, perhaps a young first timer. Statistically, that may not be significant, but it could turn out to be the fish of a lifetime. 

As it often does, such decisions come down to the fishing ethic of each individual angler. If you wish to keep the fish, great. If you would prefer to release your catch, fine. I guess what I would like to say is that we all should not take this fishery for granted. We should not waste the resource. If you harvest a fish, be sure it is consumed, ether by yourself or a grateful neighbor. If you wish to release a fish, be sure to practice proper techniques, keeping the fish out of the water for as short of time as practicable. I typically have my live well filled with water. If I get a fish I wish to release, but I want to take a picture, I will often put the fish in the live well to recover. I get my camera ready, quickly lift the fish out, take the pic and release it. In the cold spring-time water, survival rates for properly released fish are pretty good. 

Whatever each of you decide, enjoy the process. Catching a beautiful brown trout out of the crystal waters of Lake Michigan is a thrill precious few anglers get to experience. We are fortunate indeed. 

Tight Lines, The Harbor Angler (aka Bruce Smith)