HUNTING

Michigan Dnr

Rediscovering Lake Erie Whitefish

 Lake Erie is a unique lake in that it’s waters contain a wide variety of fishes, some here by accident, but most here naturally. The walleye is a lake native. So is the yellow perch.

But there’s one species that has captured my curiosity. It’s the lake whitefish. I’ve never seen one—dead or alive— and I’ve never caught one. Yet they are a mainstay of the commercial fishing industry around the Great Lakes. And, yes, they are native to Lake Erie.

The whitefish is a member of the trout/salmon family Salmonidae. And, I’m told, that they are a great eating fish. Yet, I never see them in the supermarkets. If the commercials are catching them, who’s buying? I’d love to sit down to a whitefish dinner some time.

Furthermore, I’d like to sport

 catch some of these fish. But according to Michigan DNR, that’s more than a little tricky. Until recently few sport anglers have even tried to catch lake whitefish, although DNR says that situation is changing, and anglers are attempting to refine a method of catching them.

Michigan DNR says the reclusive lake whitefish prefers to swim in the company of a school of fellow whitefish in depths of up to 200 feet and deeper during mid

 summer. Of course, this is the main reason why they are difficult to catch. Lake Erie has one spot that is about 200 feet deep but that’s up near Buffalo.

However, the whitefish spawns in early winter in shallow rock or sand bottomed lake waters less than 25 feet deep. These waters include Erie’s Western Basin and the shallower areas of the Central Basin. The Detroit River is one of the whitefish’s spawning areas, too.

The young hatch the following spring, and grow large enough to leave the protective shallows for deeper waters by early summer. Whitefish generally grow rapidly, but this varies by region and food supply.

Lake whitefish can reach a size of more than 20 pounds and an age of over 25 years, although this was more commonplace 50 years ago. While depletion of whitefish stocks by over-

fishing and environmental deterioration had drastically reduced commercial yields, environmental cleanup and careful fishery management of the late 1960s have largely remedied this.

In recent years, Ohio commercial fishermen have netted around 1.4 million pounds of whitefish.

Unlike its large

mouthed trout and salmon cousins, the lake whitefish has a small, exceedingly delicate mouth (another challenge for the angler) and it is therefore confined to dining on insects, freshwater shrimp, small fish and fish eggs, and bottom organisms.

Most feeding takes place on or near lake

-bottoms. Whitefish eggs are consumed by yellow perch, ciscoes, burbot, and even other whitefish. Young whitefish fall prey to lake trout, northern pike, burbot, walleye, and probably other fish-eating predators. Adult whitefish are taken primarily by man.

While sport fishing for whitefish is around zero so far, some Lake Erie anglers reportedly are trying out tiny fly-

like lures to catch these elusive fish. I haven’t seen any reports yet on their success. When I do, I will let everyone in on the secret.

But the prospect of adding whitefish to the angler’s list of keepers is fascinating. These fish have been in the lake thousands of years and anglers are now just discovering the potential. My

-o-my!

About the Author

Capt. Tony Denslow is a retired news journalist who now operates a sportfishing charter business on Lake Erie.

Did the DNR in Michigan change the law to hunt deer at 12 with a rifle?

Yes, they lowered the big game hunting age from 14 to 12.

frustrated with michigan dnr