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Hook & Hunting: New Changes to the Fishing Guide and Celebrating 150 Years of Fish Hatcheries

We’re talking about fish for this week’s Hook & Hunting.

First up is the changes to the fishing guide.

The first change is that possession season for the walleye will be open all year on Saginaw Bay and lower Saginaw County. The minimum size limit is 13-inches and you can only keep 8 walleye a day.

First, possession season for walleye will be open all year on Saginaw Bay and lower Saginaw County. The minimum size limit is 13-inches and you can only keep eight walleye a day.

The next change is that the artificial files definition has been updated, and among the changes is that you can no longer attach material above the eye of the hook, but you can now attach two single point hooks to your line.

Lastly, minimum lengths have been adjusted for several species.

Notably is that the flathead catfish must now be 35-inches to keep, as opposed to last year’s 29-inches.

The new license season started April 1.

But other than the new changes, Michigan is celebrating something different this year too.

2023 marks 150 years of fish hatcheries in Michigan.

Fish rearing began in the state of Michigan after the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway that created a connection between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. This move helped turn Michigan into an industrial powerhouse, but it also came with some drawbacks.

This included invasive sea lamprey beginning to arrive in the Great Lakes and wiping out native lake trout, and massive amounts of sand being washed into the Great Lakes due to deforestation.

By the 1870s, the fish populations in Michigan were in trouble which caused the Michigan Fish Commission to be established in 1873, along with the state’s first fish hatchery.