Chicagon Lake spawning structures

Duke · Post by **Duke** » Wed Feb 19, 2014 1:48 pm

The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is seeking volunteers to assist in placing wood habitat structures in Chicagon Lake (Iron County) on Sunday, March 2, to provide additional spawning habitat for muskellunge.

Click here for more information, hope you can make it!

Esoxonthefly · Post by **Esoxonthefly** » Thu Feb 20, 2014 11:03 pm

Too bad they're not doing this in June because I would definitely be there. It's about time they added some sort of structure to that lake.

tundrawalker00 · Post by **tundrawalker00** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 2:44 pm

Never would have thought much of crib fishing for muskies, but I have been shown the error of my ways in recent years.

Post by **Will Schultz** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 4:01 pm

I need to know more about this project, I sure hope it isn't just fish cribs.

I've always wanted to haul hundreds of yards of wood chips to shoreline habitat and sink it...

tundrawalker00 · Post by **tundrawalker00** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 6:38 pm

Will, Mark Mylchreest, the fish technician in charge of this, is a die-hard muskie angler. I've fished with him and he has only the best interests of the fishery and the anglers at heart. He's a great guy.

Post by **Will Schultz** » Tue Mar 04, 2014 9:29 pm

Yes, I know Mark and didn't mean for that comment to sound like this wasn't a good idea. It would be safe to assume that it's not just fish cribs since I believe most in the DNR think fish cribs aren't a good idea.

tundrawalker00 · Post by **tundrawalker00** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 8:59 am

From Mark:

The structures we are talking about are located in five to ten feet of water and are for spawning. They are eighteen inches tall and will provide some attractiveness to fish but are not the normal fish crib.

They are at the north end of the lake and on the north most shoreline toward the creek so they are very easy to find.

Duke · Post by **Duke** » Wed Mar 05, 2014 6:26 pm

The report from the Chicagon habitat project was it was a good success!

About 20 volunteers showed up in -25 F to start off. They made and placed 23 "tic tac toe" shaped structures measuring 24' x 24' which are weighed down with small rocks and cobble which fill the squares and are held in welded wire mesh, which is in turn fastened to the 4"-6" maple timbers.

I think I got all that right, I will have to post pictures if I can get some. I was unable to make the road trip, but one dedicated MMA member from Grand Rapids did! Big thanks to Larry and all the other local volunteers, sounds like a pretty cool project

vano397 · Post by **vano397** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 12:14 pm

Duke wrote:The report from the Chicagon habitat project was it was a good success!

About 20 volunteers showed up in -25 F to start off. They made and placed 23 "tic tac toe" shaped structures measuring 24' x 24' which are weighed down with small rocks and cobble which fill the squares and are held in welded wire mesh, which is in turn fastened to the 4"-6" maple timbers.

I think I got all that right, I will have to post pictures if I can get some. I was unable to make the road trip, but one dedicated MMA member from Grand Rapids did! Big thanks to Larry and all the other local volunteers, sounds like a pretty cool project

Nice work Larry! impressive trip. I would have loved to go. Also look forward to seeing pics of this if anyone has them, and also follow up on the effectiveness of the project

Steve S · Post by **Steve S** » Thu Mar 06, 2014 6:48 pm

I would like to see pictures of these to. They use those cibs on the Chippewa Flowage. They use to make them out of cedar, now they make them out of plastic so they'll last forever.

Duke · Post by **Duke** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 8:13 pm

Here is a cluster of the spawning wood placed on Chicagon. Similar to structures Wisconsin has had success with

Post by **Will Schultz** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 9:00 pm

Cool deal, thanks for tracking down photos.

Looks like they're prepping for Burning Man... LOL

Esoxonthefly · Post by **Esoxonthefly** » Wed Mar 12, 2014 11:19 pm

I've actually never been that far north in Chicagon so I may have to check those out in June.

vano397 · Post by **vano397** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 11:27 am

I like it, cool pics, and interesting structures. I hope there is a good method in place to track the effectiveness in this, as I think it is something that could be used/needed in a lot of other water around the state given the right circumstances...

MattG_braith · Post by **MattG_braith** » Thu Mar 13, 2014 1:20 pm

Just curious. Is there a difference in preferred spawning habitat between the GLS fish and the northern UP/Wisconsin strain fish? I have heard that the fish in those western UP lakes have shown some natural reproduction with the northern strain fish previously stocked in there. Now that GLS fish are being stocked in Chicagon, is that going to make a difference in where/how these fish try to spawn?

Michigan Muskie Alliance

Chicagon Lake spawning structures

Chicagon Lake spawning structures

Cribs

Cribs

cribs