Get those nets ready: Michigan has restocked over 9 million fish this year

• The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has restocked more than 9.1 million fish this year 
• The fish were reared at seven hatcheries across the state 
• The types of fish include splake, rainbow trout and fingerling Chinook salmon among others

Michigan anglers will have millions more fish available to catch throughout the fall. 

The state Department of Natural Resources has restocked 9.1 million fish, weighing nearly 321 tons, so far this year. The state reported a similar number of fish restocked around this time last year. 

The reasons for loading more fish into Michigan’s waterways “can be as simple as restoring ecosystem balance,” Jeremiah Blaauw, Fisheries Division biologist for the DNR, said. “It’s also to create diversity for anglers across the state.”

Stocking can also help depressed fish populations or reintroduce populations that are in danger of becoming extinct, Blaauw added. 

Related:

• Over 31,000 salmon euthanized after disease detected at Michigan hatchery 
• Michigan updates fishing regulations for 2024 season. What you need to know

Ten different species of fish and one hybrid were stocked from seven hatcheries across the state. There are six state and two cooperative hatcheries that produce, strain and size the fish, according to the DNR. 

The hatcheries include:

• Marquette State Fish Hatchery: 323,710 yearling lake trout, brook trout and splake (a hybrid of lake trout and brook trout) at 90 inland and Great Lakes sites.
• Thompson State Fish Hatchery near Manistique: 1.17 million yearling steelhead and spring fingerling Chinook salmon at 64 sites.
• Oden State Fish Hatchery, about 8 miles north of Petoskey: 762,074 yearling brown trout and rainbow trout and 3,689 adult brown and rainbow trout in 159 inland and Great Lakes sites.
• Harrietta State Fish Hatchery: 684,487 yearling brown trout and rainbow trout across 200 inland rivers and lakes. 
• Platte River State Fish Hatchery: 2.27 million yearling Atlantic salmon, yearling coho salmon, spring fingerling Chinook salmon and 31,514 Skamania steelhead, which the hatchery obtained from the Indiana DNR. Platte River stocked fish in 23 sites, the majority of them on the Great Lakes sites. 
• Wolf Lake State Fish Hatchery, 11 miles outside of Kalamazoo: 1.5 million yearling steelhead, yearling muskellunge and spring fingerling Chinook salmon. The hatchery also obtained 22,067 channel catfish from the Ohio DNR. Wolf Lake stocked fish in 51 sites located on the Great Lakes. 
• A cooperative teaching hatchery at Lake Superior State University; 19,285 Atlantic salmon weighing into the St. Marys River.

Another 2.4 million walleye spring fingerlings that the DNR reared in ponds were stocked at 61 inland lakes and rivers and Lake Michigan.

The stocking began in the early spring and took 17 specialized trucks making 451 trips to 691 stocking sites to complete the task, according to the DNR. 

“We had another excellent spring and summer stocking season that will bring ecological benefits and fishing opportunities to Michigan anglers,” Aaron Switzer, fish production manager for the DNR said in a press statement. “The numbers produced and stocked met the targets for most areas.” 

Fish stocking generates roughly $4.2 billion into the state’s economy according to the DNR. 

Some hatcheries will provide more fish this fall including brook trout, Atlantic salmon, walleye, lake sturgeon and muskellunge. The cooperative hatchery in Tower,, operated with Michigan State University, will also supply lake sturgeon this fall.