[ThreeDogsDown]

There is no schedule of upcoming stockings (confirmed on last weeks “Conversations and coffee”).

“Decisions” is a heavy word. I have think it is more like a “damn these fish are getting pretty big and they stink up the tank, where can we dump them?”

This is the second stocking of Browns in Frankfort this year.

Hopefully they run the gauntlet of lake trout out there and get over to Wisconsin where they don’t get hammered by the deliberately stocked millions after millions of lakers year after year.


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[John Hine]

This is great news that brown trout are being stocked in Frankfort. When was the decision announced? I don't recall seeing any discussion on this site about brown stocking in Frankfort. This could be fun in a couple of years.

These are the brown trout that used to be planted in the grand traverse bays. The poor decision was made to pull the plants from the bays & move them to frankfort some years ago. A poor decision that results with even less gamefish in the bays but more brown trout for Wisconsin. Burns my fanny!!

 

[UBDSLO1]

Wonder who the "Grand Traverse Bay Area Sport Fisherman" were that said move the brown plants...
If the brown stockings have been going on for a few years at Frankfort, where are the fish going? (probably to where the food is) If the browns are nomadic, then why do lake trout seem to stay place? One would think they would move to where the food is too. there just seems to be a lot of things that don't add up. I'm now just starting to look at other states and how they manage their fisheries.

 

[John Hine]

I have nothing nice to say about the “Grand Traverse Area Sport Fishing Association” so I won’t say anything at all.

 

[Slimits]

I have nothing nice to say about the “Grand Traverse Area Sport Fishing Association” so I won’t say anything at all.

Are they the same folks who thought lowering the lake trout limit would be a good idea? Lol what a joke

 

[mincmi]

Here is some data on the Brown Trout stocking at the Frankfort Coast Guard station:

They have planted over a million browns there since 1981, including a quarter million there in just the last 5 years, not including this year.

The last year seaforellen were planted was 2001. The 246K browns planted from 2016-2020 were Wild Rose strain.

Pure speculation based upon the empirical evidence the number of browns harvested in the Frankfort waters in the last 5 years: less than 500.

You can keep doing the same thing and keep getting the same return (next to 0) or you need to make a change.

Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	5/18/1981	5,000	5.16
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	6/3/1981	3,400	4.76
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	9/19/1982	20,000	3.27
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/18/1983	10,000	5.04
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	10/12/1983	20,000	2.95
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/30/1984	15,000	7.8
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	9/10/1984	17,000	4.92
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	5/1/1985	11,300	7.6
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	9/24/1985	20,000	5.51
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	3/26/1986	15,000	6.89
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	9/23/1986	20,000	5.12
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/9/1987	14,900	5.04
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	10/7/1987	11,500	3.03
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	3/30/1988	15,000	5.28
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/26/1989	15,000	6.22
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	9/20/1989	28,500	3.78
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	9/20/1989	28,500	3.43
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/5/1990	14,998	4.96
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/29/1991	15,738	6.1
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/20/1992	14,700	6.42
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	5/18/1993	14,900	7.05
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	5/11/1994	15,000	6.81
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	5/16/1995	7,450	7.01
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	5/19/1995	7,450	6.54
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	6/5/1996	13,500	6.93
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	6/5/1997	7,170	8.19
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	6/6/1997	7,000	7.99
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/30/1998	14,500	6.38
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/23/1999	15,000	5.87
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	5/9/2000	20,000	6.65
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/25/2001	15,800	6.42
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	5/29/2002	15,800	7.36
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/10/2003	15,500	7.09
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	3/16/2004	15,100	6.46
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/29/2005	16,000	6.78
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	3/30/2006	3,420	6.57
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	3/30/2006	13,680	6.57
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/2/2007	6,900	6.73
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/2/2007	6,900	6.73
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/7/2008	16,000	6.3
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/1/2009	20,000	4.59
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/29/2010	15,500	4.62
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/29/2010	11,000	6.78
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/29/2010	4,500	6.78
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/7/2011	15,500	4.64
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/7/2011	15,500	6.18
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	3/29/2012	15,550	4.04
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	3/29/2012	15,550	6.35
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/2/2013	15,550	6.67
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/3/2013	15,550	4.61
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	5/7/2014	18,000	5
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	5/29/2014	14,000	4.96
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/9/2015	37,510	4.45
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/13/2016	11,071	7.17
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/13/2016	11,071	7.17
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/13/2016	2,768	7.17
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/28/2016	23,000	5.08
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/5/2017	8,000	7.28
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/5/2017	8,000	7.44
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/5/2017	8,000	7.44
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/28/2017	24,000	5.15
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/10/2018	6,324	6.85
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/10/2018	10,540	6.89
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/10/2018	8,434	6.93
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	5/2/2018	25,300	5.03
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/10/2019	10,588	7.44
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/10/2019	10,588	7.4
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/10/2019	10,588	7.44
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/15/2019	10,397	7.36
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/15/2019	2,599	7.36
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/24/2019	7,000	4.72
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	3/24/2020	11,900	6.77
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/6/2020	11,900	7.13
Benzie	Betsie River COAST GUARD STATION	Brown trout	4/27/2020	24,177	6.28
			TOTAL	246,245​	2016-2020
			TOTAL	1,022,561​	1981-2020

 

[nighttime]

Put the fish where people can use them. Bay probably has heck of a lot more structure than Frankfort, or even better move those fish back south where more people live. The destination fisheries and there huge stocking efforts they put in them are not well thought over. Dnr’s lower Huron brown program was a joke the last 10 years, 60k browns in the black river in port Huron, mostly private warm river. Basically open trash can and dump fish, it badly failed and last stocking was I think 2018 or 2019.
Honestly it was the first fishery’s management meeting I attended and glad I did. Something more people should look into especially if it’s a zoom again, great places for your concerns. Not saying it’s going to get everything done you want but good place to start voicing.

 

[Fishndude]

Nah, the numbers are fine. When the DNR planted Seeforellen strain of Brown Trout, we had much better numbers, and world-record size fish (2 World record Browns were caught in MI). The plant numbers didn't change much, but the strain did. Since starting the Wild Rose strain for plants, the numbers have plummeted, and the size is much smaller. Not sure why the DNR hasn't figured that out, yet, because it has been long enough.

 

[Gander Club]

Nah, the numbers are fine. When the DNR planted Seeforellen strain of Brown Trout, we had much better numbers, and world-record size fish (2 World record Browns were caught in MI). The plant numbers didn't change much, but the strain did. Since starting the Wild Rose strain for plants, the numbers have plummeted, and the size is much smaller. Not sure why the DNR hasn't figured that out, yet, because it has been long enough.

I don't know anything about raising brown trout but, I would guess one strain is easier to raise than the other. Results don't matter, just the one that takes less work.

 

[Manolin]

There’s no food for Browns in Frankfort anymore. They are food now. Gulls, lakers, walleye, and northern pike are awaiting the plants; and thank you for tiding them over until late May, when the ales show up.

 

[mincmi]

I don't know anything about raising brown trout but, I would guess one strain is easier to raise than the other. Results don't matter, just the one that takes less work.

Why would you spend the money to raise and plant fish if the results are so poor? Unless their mission is to supply a food source for some other specie, they are getting nearly zero return on the investment.

 

[mincmi]

There’s no food for Browns in Frankfort anymore. They are food now. Gulls, lakers, walleye, and northern pike are awaiting the plants; and thank you for tiding them over until late May, when the ales show up.

To me there is more to the puzzle. If it was just a lack of food for predators, how come there is such a strong brown trout fishery on the west side of the lake. Just as many predators on that side if not more.

 

[Manolin]

To me there is more to the puzzle. If it was just a lack of food for predators, how come there is such a strong brown trout fishery on the west side of the lake. Just as many predators on that side if not more.

The mystery to me has been why there’s so much more bait on the West side of the lake.
I’ve always suspected (but not enough to research it); that the federal laker plants have been in our water, thus the bigger bait schools to hold ales, less pressured by those stockings (but that too might be oversimplified).

For those that used to get spring browns in Frankfort, fish were well fed by April, and it wasn’t unusual at all to see some dying fluttering ales even this early in the year in the harbor. Now it would be worthy of a press release.

 

[syonker]

To me there is more to the puzzle. If it was just a lack of food for predators, how come there is such a strong brown trout fishery on the west side of the lake. Just as many predators on that side if not more.

Wisconsin has better structure resulting in more bait & more browns.

 

[Far Beyond Driven]

Glad you get all those fish up there since no one south of Pentwater used to fish for them. Not like we went 11/11 on 4/16/15 or 13/15 on 5/14/15...

Last year one brown in nine hours of beach patrol.

 

[Slimits]

Seaforrelan or bust.

 

[kroppe]

Wow thanks for the history on brown trout and Frankfort. First I have known of it.

I have been fishing Frankfort since 2014, and have not caught one brown trout, nor have I seen one at the cleaning station, nor heard anyone on the radio or at the boat launch that has caught one. I'm not saying no one is catching them, it just hasn't come across my radar in 7 seasons of fishing.

 

[Manolin]

Wow thanks for the history on brown trout and Frankfort. First I have known of it.

I have been fishing Frankfort since 2014, and have not caught one brown trout, nor have I seen one at the cleaning station, nor heard anyone on the radio or at the boat launch that has caught one. I'm not saying no one is catching them, it just hasn't come across my radar in 7 seasons of fishing.

That’s just plain sad.

 

[John Hine]

I bet they’re out there somewhere, i intend to do some investigating of my own once the weather turns.

 

[Manolin]

My general impression is that Jim Drexler and his inside team, would prefer the lakes to go native; so Lakers, walleye, and they tolerate steelhead if they are self-sustaining. I’ve attended a number of Natural Resource Commission meetings to form my opinion. I won’t be easily persuaded otherwise. In his defense; it’s what the bait situation supports. If it was your job, what could be easier than self-sustaining?