Comparison of the Performance in Recreational Fisheries of Brown Trout Stocked as Spring and Fall Yearlings, Lake Huron

摘要

We compared recreational harvest of put-grow-take brown trout stocked as yearlings during either late spring (June) or fall (October) at two sites, Thunder Bay and Tawas Bay, in Lake Huron, 2001-2003. An objective of the study was to determine whether performance was better for fish stocked at one time of year or the other, with the ultimate hope that this information could be used to reverse sharp declines documented for the Lake Huron brown trout fishery since 1996. In Thunder Bay, fall yearlings produced 2.3 times more observed returns to creel than spring yearlings, but returns there were nearly equal for the two stocking strategies when based upon unit of weight stocked. The pattern of returns in Tawas Bay was almost the reverse, with spring yearlings producing 3.9 times as many returns to creel as fall yearlings and 4.3 times the returns based on unit of weight stocked. There were no pronounced differences in growth between the spring and fall test groups. Brown trout had been stocked in June during 1991-2000 because the abundance of spawning alewives nearshore at that time of year was thought to provide a buffer from predators for the young brown trout.