Iron River National Fish Hatchery Crew finclipping production lake trout. - USFWS photo by Steve Redman

The numbers are finally in! 

About 1.2 million yearling lake trout were effortlessly marked using a year specific fin clip for 2006. Approximately 86,000 fish, destined for Lake Superior, had a right pectoral fin removed.  The remaining fish had a left pectoral fin removed and are destined for Lakes Michigan and Huron.  From mid December through February, fin clipping was performed by a crew of seven dedicated employees who individually handled all fish to be stocked.  The clipping season lasted 50 days with about 25,000 trout clipped /day.   

Iron River National Fish Hatchery, in collaboration with other fish hatcheries, annually stock 3.9 million yearling lake trout into the upper Great Lakes.  This stocking will begin in early April and will hopefully finish by the 4^th of July. This clipping process allows biologist and anglers to correctly differentiate between hatchery fish and their wild counterparts in the Great Lakes.