Brook Trout

The creek at the Kalamazoo Nature Center is called Trout Run and I've enjoyed walking along it for years but I'd never seen trout in the stream before this Saturday.  I'm not sure if this was merely inattentiveness or perhaps not being there at the right time of the day or right time of year.  Or, perhaps the Nature Center's restoration efforts have attracted more trout.  In any case, yesterday a half dozen, or so, small trout were active near the footbridge over trout run.

The flutter of red fins really caught the eye as we crossed the bridge, otherwise their body patterns blended well with the sand and pebble creek bottom.  The red fins with white bands are an identifying feature for our native Brook Trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) which is Michigan's state fish.

We watched these fish dart about in the current and then hold still in one place for a minute before disappearing under the bridge.  It almost seemed like they were playing in the water.

The Nature Center isn't open for fishing.  Other tributaries of the Kalamazoo River have been recommended for angling.

Salmon's end

Each year, Michigan's Department of Natural Resources stocks millions of hatchery-raised young salmon in tributaries of the Great Lakes. As a result, Lake Michigan salmon fishing and fly-fishing for salmon have become popular local sports. Salmon spend four years in the Lake before returning to the rivers to breed and die. The DNR collects eggs from these returning fish to raise in its hatcheries.

Last weekend, we saw a big Chinook in the Pere Marquette river. The run was several weeks ago, so this one was in pretty bad shape. It was still an impressive fish.

The Great Lakes Fishery Commission has an extensive history and analysis of Lake Michigan's fish population (pdf)