Then in
the mid 1960’s in a effort to reduce the excess amount
of alewifes (an ocean forage fish that had no major predictors)
were getting so bad they were washing up on the Lake Michigan
shore lines every year. The fish entered through the Saint Lawrance
seaway through the locks as the ships past into and entered
the Great lakes.
This open a new great lakes fishery
. The Michigan DNR with guidance from the fisheries division
planted Silver Salmon (Coho) from the west coast in some of
the Northern Lake Michigan Rivers and streams including Ruby
Creek a main tributary of the Big South branch of the Pere Marquette
River. the study worked as they didn't know if a fish that lived
its life in salt water and spawned in fresh water would make
it in a total fresh water environment. |
|
| The Pere Marquette River flows about 139
miles to the town of Ludington Michigan where it flows into
Lake Michigan although there is a lamprey barrier in the town
of Custer it is primarily free of blockage. The Pere Marquette
River supports a multitude of insects that hatch and feed the
young fry and smolts and the Brown and Rainbow Trout, there
are Stone flys, Caddis, Midge, and Mayflys... The Largest being
the Hexagenia limbata this is Michigan's largest mayfly. All
these insects make for an excellent fishery plenty of forage
for the Trout and Salmon Steelhead smolts to grow to massive
size some of the biggest Browns in the State, even some of the
Steelhead remember there journey out and come back to feed on
the giant mayflys in late June along with Grass hoppers and
Mice that make there way across the stream only to have there
swim cut short bye a 20+ size Brown Trout who enjoys a nice
meat and potato meal. |
|
Unfortunately
between the loss of so much spawning area from the logging
industry, no regulations on catching them, and the old
time way of thinking that there is so many fish you could
never catch them all, they were wiped out. The US fish
commission tried to reintroduce them after the loggers
were gone and the rivers started to clean themselves out
in the late 1800’s but failed in there attempts.
the
only free flowing un dammed cold water rivers in lower Michigan, and
has the best Salmon and Steelhead runs of the free flowing Rivers
in the state. Michigan designated the Pere Marquette River a Michigan
Natural river in 1970 and the U S Government gave it a scenic river
designation in 1977.
