Interesting read, good job by our DNR-
New events happening within the Western Lake Superior Management Unit
Teal Lake muskellunge stocking (Negaunee):
The management of Teal Lake's fishery has traditionally focused on balancing the predator/prey ratio using tools such as sucker removals and walleye stockings. The lake, due to its vicinity to the population centers of Marquette/Negaunee/Ishpeming, receives heavy fishing pressure when the angling catch results are good. When fishing is good, anglers quickly crop down the walleye and perch populations, and white suckers then fill the vacant niche in the fishery. Once the suckers become numerous the sport fishery collapses, the DNR conducts another sucker removal project and the walleyes and perch once again become abundant. The boom and bust cycle is repetitive.
It is not sound management to net this lake over and over again to remove suckers, and this repetitive removal of tons of suckers may actually be reducing the overall productivity of the lake by removing the nutrients that drive the fishery. Teal Lake was stocked with 699 Great Lakes strain spotted muskies averaging 8.9 inches in length on October 13, 2014. Teal Lake is well suited for the establishment of a muskie population due to a stable abundant white sucker forage base. The muskellunge stocking is a management experiment and is an effort to more fully utilize the biomass of Teal Lake towards producing sport fish rather than having the lake’s productivity go towards developing more white suckers. With Teal Lake's 466 acre size, the 2014 muskellunge stocking of 699 fall fingerlings (1.5/acre) should not interfere with the existing walleye, perch, and smallmouth bass fishery.
Muskellunge and walleyes coexist in many western UP, northern Wisconsin, and Minnesota lakes. We are not implying that muskies do not eat walleyes, however they prefer soft rayed fish (such as suckers), and their diet preferences are diverse enough to allow them to be compatible in lake systems without eliminating the walleyes. There is a large public interest in seeing more muskellunge fisheries in Michigan, and with the limited opportunities in Marquette County this is worth exploring towards the development of a new fishery. The Teal Lake muskellunge management plan has been discussed with the public at numerous public meetings and has received support of many anglers. Michigan DNR Fisheries Division is planning to conduct a fisheries survey of Teal Lake during June 2015.
DNR fishery management, Teal Lake Marquette County
Moderator: Cyberlunge
I don't expect them to grow as fast as they would on some of the southern Michigan lakes so my guess on that particular lake is it will take 6-7 years for the fastest growing females of the group to hit 40". First year classes on new lakes are hard to predict though because they often grow much quicker than the following stockings (no competition).weatherby wrote: how old they will be when they hit 40"?