Smith: Root River Steelhead Facility and other Wisconsin egg-collection sites are fertile grounds for fish and fishers
RACINE - The spotlight on the Lake Michigan salmon and trout fishery most often shines on anglers holding hefty fish against a grand freshwater backdrop or a boat in a harbor displaying silvery limits.
Those are valuable, attention-grabbing snapshots of the world-class fishery.
Another part that gets less notice but is arguably even more important takes place in low buildings strategically placed on tributaries to the Big Pond.
These are the egg-taking facilities run by the state Department of Natural Resources in Racine, Kewaunee and Sturgeon Bay.
When it comes to modern fisheries science, there is no "what came first?" debate.
It's definitely the egg.
The DNR and partners held an open house Oct. 8 at the Root River Steelhead Facility in Racine to give guided tours and demonstrate the process of capturing adult fish and collecting eggs and milt.
Volunteers from Salmon Unlimited of Wisconsin, local Trout Unlimited chapters and the Kenosha Sport Fishing and Conservation Association were on hand to provide educational fishing stations where visitors could try casting techniques, receive knot-tying lessons and learn about fly tying.
There were also educational displays, including from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
And there was a banquet of delicious, free food.
The event hadn't been held since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
But on a sun-splashed October Saturday along the banks of the fish-filled Root, the world felt right again.
"It's great to see things happening again," said Craig Bender, former SU president who drove down from his new home in Rice Lake. "This fishery is such a great part of life in Wisconsin and everybody should know about it."
Several hundred people filtered through the site over seven hours.
Alewife and sea lamprey had devastating impact on Lake Michigan's native lake trout and burbot
The Lake Michigan salmon and trout fishery has its roots in a dark chapter in the ecological history of the Great Lakes.
After the non-native sea lamprey and alewife flooded into the lake, native lake trout and burbot were decimated.
Lake Michigan became overwhelmed with the small, silvery alewife. It was common in the 1960s and 70s for Wisconsin beaches to be coated several inches deep with dead alewives.
Forward-looking fisheries scientists decided to try stocking non-native salmon and trout in the lake to help reduce the over-abundant alewife population.
Combined with new and effective controls on lampreys, the stocking plan worked.
The lake is renowned for its angling for chinook salmon, coho salmon, steelhead (rainbow trout) and brown trout.
Native lake trout have recovered, too.
Three facilities collect eggs and milt from salmon and trout for Wisconsin's hatchery system
While some of the fish reproduce naturally — mostly lake trout on reefs and chinook, coho and steelhead in streams on the Michigan side of the lake — most still need to get their start in a hatchery.
The tributaries on the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan are generally too warm, too silty and too low in oxygen to allow successful reproduction of trout and salmon in the wild.
So the DNR collects eggs and milt from adult fish on their spawning migrations.
There's a well-known aphorism that says "don't put all your eggs in one basket" so the agency operates three facilities spanning from Racine to Sturgeon Bay.
The eggs are typically fertilized on-site and transported to state hatcheries. After months of growth and development, they become the next year's classes of salmon and trout stocked in Wisconsin waters.
The Wisconsin DNR has annual Lake Michigan stocking goals of 1.2 million chinook, 500,000 coho salmon, 460,000 steelhead, 450,000 brown trout, 50,000 brook trout and 45,000 lake trout.
Each of the egg collection facilities has its target species.
True to its name, the Root River Steelhead Facility is a primary collection site for steelhead but also coho. In addition, it serves as a backup for chinook.
The C.D. Besadny Anadromous Fish Facility on the Kewaunee River in Kewaunee is also a primary site for steelhead, brown trout and coho, and also is used as needed for chinook, spotted muskellunge and lake sturgeon
The Strawberry Creek Spawning Facility on Strawberry Creek near Sturgeon Bay has one job, and it's a big one: to serve as the state's primary chinook collection site.
Since the state stocks 1.2 million chinook a year in Lake Michigan, twice as many as any other species, the DNR typically collects more than 2 million chinook eggs to make sure it can hit its goal.
The value of having backup facilities was proven in 2019 when high water and low oxygen levels prohibited egg collection at Strawberry Creek.
So the plan kicked in and all chinook eggs that year were taken from the Kewaunee and Root river facilities.
Things are back to normal this year, said Cheryl Masterson, DNR fisheries supervisor.
The attendees at the Root River open house couldn't have been happier.
Austin Castillo, 11, of Elkhorn, smiled as he learned to throw loops of fly line through the air. Larry Wirth, a member of the Southeast Wisconsin chapter of Trout Unlimited, helped Austin learn a handful of fly rod techniques.
And Sis Brook of Racine, a Salmon Unlimited member since 1980, was back offering her tender, tasty fish boil.
The ingredients — potatoes, carrots, onions, salt water and salmon and trout chunks — seem obvious. The secret to success is the timing, Brook said.
The three facilities also help the DNR and USFWS study survival, return and growth rates of the various strains and species stocked in the lake.
Adult fish that enter the facilities can be easily checked for coded wire tags or other markings. And every fish that gets handled is weighed and recorded.
Several dozen chinook and coho were handled last Saturday. Since the eggs weren't needed, most were measured, weighed and returned to the river to provide opportunities for anglers.
"We're thinking about fishing now," said Joe Castillo, 40, Austin's father. "This has really helped us get excited about it."
Stocking meeting: The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will host a public meeting Oct. 24 in Cleveland to gather feedback on the future management of salmon and trout in Lake Michigan.
The meeting is the second this fall as part of a process to share information and collect public input, primarily related to stocking levels. The agency is establishing its salmon and trout stocking goals for 2023-25.
At the Oct. 24 meeting DNR staff will present management options and stakeholders will be able to share ideas and input on the proposals.
“We have been working very closely with partners over the last 10 years to respond to both the science and social preferences that drive this excellent fishery and that tradition continues with this meeting,” said Bradley Eggold, DNR Great Lakes District Fisheries supervisor.
The meeting will start at 6 p.m. Oct. 24 at Lakeshore Technical College, Centennial Hall West, 1290 North Ave., Cleveland, Wis. The public can also attend virtually via Zoom.
For more information, including handouts and presentations from the Aug. 30 meeting, visit dnr.wi.gov and search "Lake Michigan fisheries."
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Root River Steelhead Facility key for Lake Michigan stocking program
