Michigan Muskie Alliance

Has anybody had any luck chasing any DNR tiger plants in SE Michigan lakes? Last year in Whitmore Lake I had a MOBY Tiger follow to the boat, that was 50 if it was an inch! A BEHEMOTH! Many lakes had sizable plants of Tigers in the 80's and 90's, and those that are left must state record class fish. This summer I'm going to chase'm down, and am looking for places to start. 1 follow in whitmore... nothing in Woodland Lake. Help would be appreciated.

I had heard that Belleville Lake had tigers but I have never seen one.

Stocked tigers generally don't live to be older than 10-12 years. Finding one, even from the last year they were stocked, would be like winning the lottery. The ones that live the longest seem to be the males which would mean that even if you could find one it would probably be very thin and barely over 40 inches. Personally, I haven't seen one in the last four years in roughly 1000 hours on the water.

Some lakes around SW MI got their last plant of tigers in Oct of 91 as the program was ended.I still hold hope for that rarest of rare beast to be found,but nothing so far.Im sure they are all dead by now.I heard Thornapple had a few thrown in from the hatchery show pond,but dont know if thats true or not.Tigers can happen naturally but the odds are about slim and none from what Ive read.
Good luck on your quest!! -kid

You may want to try a trip with Steve Kunnath on Lake St. Clair and check out this tiger.

http://lakestclairmusky.com/lake_st_cla ... musky.html

kid coulson wrote:I heard Thornapple had a few thrown in from the hatchery show pond,but dont know if thats true or not. -kid

That is true but most were removed if captured during spring netting.


elk_n_esox_baby - The best bet for a tiger is in the UP, N. Wisconsin and a few metro lakes in Minnesota.

Why would they remove them Will if they are sterile and can't reproduce?

I know there is a natural re-production on the Chip in WI. I'll size's from the low 30's to the high 40"s. They do not stock Tigers.

Steve

I agree that most are likely gone, but remember that tigers CAN live to near 30 years with some luck, and the proper conditions. Many thousands were planted. A couple years ago a diver who was looking for the body of a Jet Skier in Whitmore Lake, and said he was scared poopless by some of the fish he saw in the depths. Massive muskies, and in considerable numbers. Supposedly Tigers, like pike when they get old, seek cooler temperatures of the deep waters, and are rarely harrassed by fisherman down there (I don't think people even fish for muskies in those lakes anymore at all). I know I saw 1 for sure, and it was as big as any pike or muskie I have ever seen. Would a sonar with FISH ID be able to identify those fish as esox, if they're down there?

Scrappy wrote:Why would they remove them Will if they are sterile and can't reproduce?

Good question… They just didn’t want to confuse them with pure strain during the egg take. Sterile doesn’t mean they won’t produce eggs and sperm. The novelty sure was fun for a year. So was trying to figure out the mystery of tigers just appearing out of the blue.

elk_n_esox_baby wrote:I agree that most are likely gone, but remember that tigers CAN live to near 30 years with some luck, and the proper conditions.

Pure muskies can live to 30 years but I’m not so sure a tiger has ever been aged beyond the teens, anywhere. The conditions to grow big tigers just aren’t available in southern Michigan. The growing season is too long, which is great for growing a fishery quickly but it also burns out fast. The other problem is we’re talking stocked tigers, they have a much shorter lifespan than a natural fish. Tigers over 48" were rare during the heyday of that program here in Michigan. There were lots of 44-47" fish caught and reported but they seemed to be at the end of their life at that size.

One of our members lives on Whitmore and will probably chime in here, I know he and his crew spend some time out there chasing big esox.

elk_n_esox_baby wrote: Would a sonar with FISH ID be able to identify those fish as esox, if they're down there?

A camera could ID fish but not sonar. Fish ID on sonar does nothing more than tell you if the echo off the fish/object was strong or weak.

Good luck in your quest! That is truly a trophy hunt of long odds and a great degree of difficulty, but never say never or that something is impossible with nature. Just to give that Bigfoot-esque sliver of a possibility, even beyond the elderly planted fish, there is also a very small percentage of tigers that actually are fertile and can reproduce as well...

We would LOVE to see that tiger when you get her, they are just an awesome fish. You're right that they exhibit temperature preferences in between that of their parents, so a large fish would not be venturing near the warm surface very often in the summer. Other than that you really wouldn't need any specialized tactics beyond muskies or big pike, just the good fortune of getting a bait in front of it!

I used to fish Whitmore alot in the 70's. I actually rented a place on the lake for a few years and fished for both Musky and Pike. I know that there are some very big pike in there. I know of a guy that used to fish it almost every day for many years and caught a few tigers that were in the 50" class. I would think that the odds would be extremly low that there are still tigers in there but certainly possible. A few reproducing with Pike is also a possibility.

TimD wrote:I used to fish Whitmore alot in the 70's. I actually rented a place on the lake for a few years and fished for both Musky and Pike. I know that there are some very big pike in there. I know of a guy that used to fish it almost every day for many years and caught a few tigers that were in the 50" class. I would think that the odds would be extremly low that there are still tigers in there but certainly possible. A few reproducing with Pike is also a possibility.

I'm pretty sure hybrids reproducing with Northerns is not a possibility.

By the way...

elk_n_esox_baby - welcome to the MMA forum.

Glad to be here! I like big racks (both kinds), big trucks, and big toothy fish. This is my find of forum!