Invasion of sea lamprey in the mid 1900’s, along with over-harvest, led to near extirpation of lake trout from Lake Huron.  Since the early 1970s the Service has invested a tremendous amount of time and money in lake trout restoration and sea lamprey control. In some regions of Lake Huron where stocking has occurred there have been encouraging signs of recovery.

Since 1993, Alpena NFWCO has attempted to conduct annual fall spawning surveys at two historically important offshore spawning reefs in Lake Huron: Six Fathom Bank and Yankee Reef.  Both of these reefs are located in the central portion of Lake Huron and possess honey-comb limestone rock which provides excellent habitat for spawning lake trout. 

The new stocking and research vessel, M/V Spencer F. Baird, left its home port of Cheboygan, MI, and traveled to Alpena on October 18 to prepare for the 2007 lake trout spawning survey.  This marks the second season that the M/V Baird has been available to conduct this work.  Prior to the commissioning of the M/V Baird, the fall spawning surveys at Yankee Reef and Six Fathom Bank were conducted on the M/V Togue which has now been retired from service.

Staff from the Alpena NFWCO participating in the survey consisted of fish biologists Scott Koproski, Adam Kowalski, and Aaron Woldt.  Additionally, the crew of the M/V Baird: Captain Mike Perry, Marine Engineer Robert Bergstrum, and Deck Hand David Bohn along with Mark Werda from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources participated on this survey.

Great Lakes weather is always problematic in the fall with the crew trying to complete the assessments while avoiding gale force winds and large seas that are characteristic of this time of year.  After nearly two weeks of waiting for a suitable weather window the M/V Baird finally departed the Federal dock in Alpena on November 3^rd in route to Six Fathom Bank. 

Nets were deployed and the crew anticipated anchoring up adjacent to the reef for the night.  However, due to building seas it was decided that anchoring up was not possible and the crew returned to Alpena.  The following day the M/V Baird departed the Federal dock once again and traveled to Six Fathom Bank to retrieve gear.  The crew was not able to assess Yankee Reef this season due to the weather.

Three 400 ft. gangs of gill nets were deployed at Six Fathom Bank.  Each gang consisted of one 100 ft. panel of 4.5”, 5.0”, 5.5”, and 6.0” stretch mesh net.  This effort has been standardize since 1993.  In total 163 lake trout were captured between all three sites which is the second highest catch ever recorded. 

Of those 163 lake trout, just over 27% were wild fish (45 wild fish).  This is the largest catch of wild fish that Alpena NFWCO has ever experienced at Six Fathom Bank.  Over the past few years, there has been an increasing trend of wild caught lake trout but nothing of this magnitude.  This increase in wild fish has excited staff and further justifies the Services efforts to rehabilitate and restore lake trout in Lake Huron.