Michigan DNR & South Shore Fishing Association partner for major projects on Lake Superior & Teal Lake

MARQUETTE COUNTY, Mich. (WLUC) - The Michigan DNR has been growing its relationship with the South Shore Fishing Association in recent years. One project from their partnership will be adding an influx of walleye to Teal Lake in Negaunee and Ishpeming. The restocking will start this year and continue every other year for the next 10 years. The end goal is to add one million walleye.

“They’re great with us supporting what we do in our event,” SSFA Vice President & Co-Tournament Chair Jesse Bianchi said. “We’re a fishing association. We’d like to put fish back in lakes.”

Walleye are popular for anglers at Teal Lake.

“In the state of Michigan, we’re pretty blessed to have so many great opportunities for many tasty fish,” DNR Lake Superior Unit Manager Cory Kovacs said. “But walleye is on that variety.”

Kovacs says the walleye will be stocked in the fry stage. He says the fry are about 5-10 millimeters in length. This will allow the DNR to add more fry to Teal Lake every other year. According to FishOnTips.com, the fry stage occurs right before the adult stage. Walleye become adults at 2-4 years of age.

Kovacs says the DNR will monitor the amount of walleye in Teal Lake with annual fall recruitment surveys in September or October.

“You might see a boat out with some lights on,” Kovacs said. “We do sample at nighttime. We do sample age zero walleye. That will give us a better idea for how much success we had from that stocking year class but also what contribution we had from natural reproduction as well.”

Kovacs likens this 10-year deal to a prescription your doctor would give you for medicine.

“We have that prescription in place for Teal Lake to say, ‘Hey, look, this is what the recipe is to make a fishery for walleye opportunity there, but then, we’re gonna monitor it,’” Kovacs said. “Just like when you do your regular checkup.”

Along with the walleye restocking project, the DNR and SSFA are also partnering on a brown trout genetic study in Lake Superior.

“I’d say there’s either three to four different types that we’re looking at,” Bianchi said. “Now, we don’t know if it’s just because of water clarity, what they’re eating, but to find the species that is here is crucial.”

Bianchi says a grant from the DNR has helped push these projects forward.

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