Hello anglers, this is the annual newsle�er covering major field

ac�vi�es of the Lake Erie Management Unit (LEMU) in 2017. This

unit covers all of the waters that lie within watersheds draining into

the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, and Lake Erie. LEMU

staff work out of the Waterford Fish Sta�on located at 7806 Gale

Road, Waterford, Michigan 48327, which is in the Pon�ac Lake Rec-

rea�on Area. LEMU has a YouTube page, check us out at h�ps://

www.youtube.com/channel/UCVonQPuLohN2-CLeKDELs5Q and be

sure to subscribe.

Southeast Michigan DNR Fisheries Newsletter

F I S H E R I E S D I V I S I O NF I S H E R I E S D I V I S I O NF I S H E R I E S D I V I S I O NF I S H E R I E S D I V I S I O N

M I C H I G A N D E P A R T M E N T M I C H I G A N D E P A R T M E N T M I C H I G A N D E P A R T M E N T M I C H I G A N D E P A R T M E N T O F O F O F O F

N A T U R A L R E S O U R C E SN A T U R A L R E S O U R C E SN A T U R A L R E S O U R C E SN A T U R A L R E S O U R C E S

Lake Erie

Management Unit 2 0 1 8

Staff:

Basin Coordinator

Jim Francis

Unit Manager

Sara Thomas

Senior Biologist

Jeff Braunscheidel

Biologist

Cleyo Harris

Technician Supervisor

Todd Somers

Technicians

Dennis Tar

Eric Plant

Fish Assistants

Gina Gittings

Dave Lombardi

Alexa Curtis

Hillary Dean

Rebecca Rogers

Kaitlen Lang

Student Intern

Hadley Reed

P A G E 2

Allen’s Lake is in the Irish Hills area with a public boat launch on the south side of

US-12. We used status and trends protocol to survey this lake. We set multiple

gear types to capture all species and sizes of fish. Redear sunfish

were the most abundant species captured and 91% were 6 inches

or greater. Bluegills were second in abundance and of good size,

with almost half of them being 6 inches or longer. Brown bull-

head, averaging 9 inches, was the next most abundant species. A

good number of yellow perch, which averaged 8 inches in length

and two legal size largemouth bass were caught. Rainbow trout

are stocked annually in this lake and we captured one 8 inch indi-

vidual.

Allen’s Lake, Lenawee County

Hiland Lake, Livingston County Hiland Lake is located 2 miles southwest of Pinckney in Hell, Michigan and is con-

nected to Halfmoon Lake by a shallow channel. It has two basins with the south-

ern basin being very shallow and heavily vegetated, while the northern basin has

a large area in the 8-10 foot depth range. There is a small, gravel public boat

launch on the southern basin in the Pinckney Recrea-

�on Area. Status and trends protocol was used, which

includes a variety of gear types targe�ng all species of

fish. Bluegills dominated the catch although only a

very small number reached the desirable size of 6 inch-

es or larger. Brown bullheads were very abundant and

of good size, averaging 10 inches in length. All bull-

head species can be tasty table fare. Pumpkinseeds

were next most abundant with a decent average size

of 6 inches in length. Large gamefish caught included

48 largemouth bass (4 over the legal size limit), and 4

northern pike (1 over the legal size limit).

Lake Surveys

P A G E 3

Kent Lake, Oakland County Kent Lake is en�rely within the Kensington Metropark. There

is a boat launch on the west end and another on the south

side approximately in the middle of the shoreline. Status and

trends protocols were used to survey this lake. Mul�ple gear

types are used to capture the greatest variety and numbers of

fish. The most abundant species by far was the bluegill with

over 4,000 captured. Numbers and size of the bluegill, with

just under half 6 inches or greater, were higher than previous

surveys. Pumpkinseeds were the next most abundant species

and these too appear to be on the increase; 70% of these fish

were 6 inches or longer. Longnose gar were third in abun-

dance and averaged 30 inches in length. For large gamefish

species, we caught 71 largemouth bass (17 legal size limit). Nine walleye over the legal size limit

of 15 inches, and 38 northern pike up to 32 inches were captured.

Lake Surveys Continued

Flat Rock Impoundment, Wayne County

The upstream end of Flat Rock impoundment is located in

Oakwoods Metropark. Public access here is limited to car-

ry in only. This is a small, very shallow impoundment of

the Huron River with depths of 4 feet or less. We used sta-

tus and trends protocol to survey this lake, seHng many

different gear types to capture as many different sizes and

species of fish as possible. Bluegills dominated the catch

with the majority of them 6 inches or longer. Black crap-

pies were next and averaged 7.6 inches. Pumpkinseed

were also common with half of the fish captured being 6

inches or longer. Five legal largemouth bass were collect-

ed, but the most impressive fish were the northern pike.

Eighteen pike with an average length of 31 inches were collected; 15 were over the minimum size

limit of 24 inches. Other species of note included channel caIish, spo�ed suckers, white bass, white

perch, a goldfish and several gizzard shad. These species are common in the Great Lakes and likely

made it above the dam through the fish passageway, which allows fish to move up river.

In 2017 four creel clerks worked with LEMU. One was on the Lake Erie ports, two on Lake St. Clair,

and one inland on Sand and Wamplers lakes. These employees gather effort, catch and harvest

data on the sport fishery, along with biological informa�on from the fish inspected. As an example

of some of the informa�on the clerks collect, the data from Sand and Wamplers lakes showed

some interes�ng results. Wamplers Lake is almost twice the size of Sand Lake and, as expected,

had roughly twice the angling effort (20,000 angler hours compared to 11,600 on Sand). Despite

the larger amount of angling effort on Wamplers, similar numbers of bluegill were caught on each

lake (23-24,000) and almost twice as many were harvested on Sand Lake (12,000 vs. 5,700 on

Wamplers Lake). In addi�on, catch rates of largemouth bass were higher on Sand Lake, although a

wider variety of fish were caught on Wamplers.

For several years now, Fisheries Division and LEMU has been building the Great Lakes muskel-

lunge (muskie) stocking program. We collect wild Great Lakes strain muskies in the Detroit River

and Lake St Clair and hatchery personnel fer�lize, hatch and rear the young muskies for the stock-

ing program. Fisheries Division iden�fied Lake Hudson in Lenawee County as a new broodstock

lake for GL muskies. It was previously managed as a northern muskie broodstock lake, and thus

stocked at higher densi�es. To increase chance of survival for

the incoming Great Lakes muskies, the decision was made to

trap up to 125 northern muskies and stock them into another

water body. This was intended to be a one-�me event, and Or-

chard Lake, which has no direct connec�ons to the Great Lakes

and a large common carp popula�on, was chosen as the recipi-

ent lake. In early April, we set 8 trap nets in Lake Hudson. The

very cool temps for that �me of year contributed to a low

catch rate. We captured 30 adult muskies and successfully

transferred all of them to Orchard Lake. This provided an in-

stant, albeit small, muskie fishery in Oakland County, where

there was not one prior, and should help reduce common carp

numbers.

P A G E 4

Angler Creel Survey

Muskie Transfer

A Musky gets new home

P A G E 5

Stream Surveys

The headwaters of the North Branch Clinton River were surveyed to determine if wild brook

trout were s�ll present. Using electrofishing, 37 brook trout (1-10 inches in length) were caught.

This catch was encouraging as it represented three year classes, indica�ng natural reproduc�on.

North Branch Clinton River, Macomb County

Kidder Creek, Macomb County

Kidder Creek is a small tributary to the North Branch Clinton River in Macomb County. Simi-

lar to the North Branch Clinton River survey, biologists were inves�ga�ng the remnant pop-

ula�on of brook trout. Habitat in this stretch was not of high quality and we captured only

a single 9.5 inch fish. Brook trout do s�ll use this stream, perhaps for thermal relief.

Two healthy Brook Trout

LEMU staff surveyed Trout Creek in Oakland County to get a baseline look at the fish

community prior to the removal of a small dam upstream of Lower Trout Lake. We shocked

four sites, two above and two below the dam. Creek chubs and black nosed dace were the

most abundant species on both sides of the dam along with common white suckers and

central mudminnows.

Trout Creek, Oakland County

Paint Creek is managed as a trout stream and is stocked on a regular basis with brown

trout to supplement natural reproduc�on. To evaluate our management efforts a brown

trout popula�on survey was conducted at four sites, Clarkston/Kern Road, Gunn Road, Sil-

ver Bell Road, and Teinken Road. These sites were also sampled in the past, so compari-

sons can be made to previous years. The field crew electrofished about 1,200 feet at each

site and captured a total of 351 brown trout (2-19 inches) and 210 rainbow trout (2-14

inches) and one impressive 27 inch rainbow.

Paint Creek, Oakland County

P A G E 6

Stream Surveys Continued

A nice Paint Creek Brown Trout

P A G E 7

The LEMU crew returned to our Huron River, Hudson Mills Metropark site for our

third cycle of status and trends fixed site survey. This survey monitors the fishery in

cycles of three years on, three years off over �me. This was the first year of the new

cycle and we targeted only smallmouth bass throughout the site. We electrofished

1,000 feet of the river and captured 16 smallmouth ranging in size from 2-13 inches,

which was a much lower catch than in the past. Along with the fish sampling, the

stream habitat was surveyed in detail.

Huron River, Hudson Mills

River Raisin, Austin Road

We also started another cycle of status and trends fixed site surveys on the River Raisin at

Aus�n Road in Manchester. This was the first year of the three year cycle and we collected

only smallmouth bass. In electrofishing 1000 feet of river, 42 smallmouth bass ranging from

2-16 inches in length were captured. This site is also home to an endangered species of

fish, the silver shiner. Five of these unique fish were collected, which was very encouraging

that they are s�ll present in these waters. Along with the fish survey, the stream habitat

was surveyed as well.

A beau�ful river smallmouth bass

P A G E 8

More streams Upper Rouge River, Wayne County

Two sites on the Upper Rouge River were electrofished to evaluate the fish community prior

to a fish passage installa�on at the Ford Estate dam. One site off of 5 Mile in Wayne County

was very sandy with sparse habitat and 44 fish were collected. Fathead minnows and johnny

darters were the most abundant. At this site in 1995, only 1 fish was caught, so this is a large

improvement. A second site at Shiawassee Park in Oakland County had 630 fish collected with

13 species present. Mo�led sculpin, black nosed dace, creek chub and northern hog sucker

were the most abundant species. This site had good stream habitat with plenty of gravel and

brush for cover.

Belle River, St. Clair County

We shocked 1,500 feet of the Belle River as part of the status and tends random site

program. This was a fish community survey accompanied by a habitat evalua�on.

We captured 260 fish comprised of 22 species with green sunfish, johnny darters,

and common white suckers being the most abundant species. Two legal sized

northern pike were also captured.

Mo�led Sculpin Common White Sucker

Aqua�c Invasive Species

Our efforts to gain addi�onal insight surround-

ing grass carp in Lake Erie and direct removal

ac�vi�es of grass carp con�nued in 2017. With

funds secured from the Great Lakes Restora-

�on Ini�a�ve, we were able to hire two fisher-

ies assistants to aid in our efforts to look for

grass carp spawning in Michigan waters and

further assis�ng Michigan State University with

an acous�c telemetry study.

Using the most up-to-date informa�on, we

conducted direct removal efforts to capture

adult grass carp. These efforts were achieved in Michigan and Ohio waters with a variety of

partners including state and federal agencies and commercial fishing opera�ons. In total, 24

adult grass carp were removed from Lake Erie and processed to gain addi�onal biological infor-

ma�on about this species. A crew from LEMU traveled to Ohio with an electrofishing boat to

par�cipate in a mul�-state, mul�-agency grass carp exercise on the Sandusky river to hone their

skills and refine their equipment and techniques used to capture these fish in an�cipa�on of a

large effort on the west end of Lake Erie in the summer of 2018.

Wader Wash Sta�ons

In our efforts to educate the public and protect our water re-

sources from aqua�c invasive species (AIS), we partnered with

local municipali�es and user groups to build and place 7 wader

wash sta�ons on the Huron and Clinton rivers. These sta�ons

have a brush, tub and a boot cleaner so anglers and other users

can wash off poten�al AIS from their waders and boots to reduce

the chance of spreading these organisms to other waterbodies.

Grass Carp

Red Swamp Crayfish

Our unit was busy all summer dealing with Michigan’s newest

aqua�c invasive species, the red swamp crayfish (RSC). We re-

ceived the first report in mid-July and spent 2 -3 days a week

through September trapping the invasive crayfish at their ini�al

repor�ng site in Novi and following up on other public reports. A

crew from Michigan State began the majority of trapping and mon-

itoring du�es in October. Our combined efforts have so far detect-

ed RSC in 16 small reten�on ponds in the Novi and Farmington Hills

areas. There is also a confirmed infesta�on in Sunset Lake

(Kalamazoo County). Red swamp crayfish are na�ve to the Gulf Re-

gion in the United States and are known for crayfish boils. Unfortu-

nately they are also one of the most invasive crayfish species in the world.

They can cause ecological harm by outcompe�ng smaller na�ve crayfish

for food and space. They dig extensive mul�-chambered burrows, which

can lead to structural and erosion issues and property damage. Red

swamp crayfish have been prohibited in Michigan since 2015. This means

it is illegal to possess, introduce, or sell live red swamp. At this �me, the

source of the crayfish in Southeast Michigan is unknown. During 2018

DNR and MSU will con�nue to monitor local waterbodies for the presence of RSC. We are also col-

labora�ng with USGS to develop control measures to help slow or stop their spread. Public reports

have been very valuable, with many of the confirmed sigh�ngs from RSC crawling in people’s grass

or driveways. When small, red swamp can look very similar to na�ves. When over 2 inches or so,

they are very bright red in color, with large

raised red bumps on their claws. If you see

what you suspect is a red swamp crayfish, please

try to get a picture and send the informa�on to

Seth Herbst at herbsts1@michigan.gov

P A G E 1 1

To obtain information on lake or stream surveys from this year or years prior

or to ask any questions, please feel free to contact us. Use the map below to

select the most appropriate biologist to contact.

Jeff Braunscheidel

(248) 666-7445

Braunscheidelj@michigan.gov

Cleyo Harris

(248) 666-7444 Harrisc9@michigan.gov

2017 LEMU Stocking Species Water County Number Avg. Size (inch)

Walleye Belleville Lake Wayne 81,196 1.3

Cass Lake Oakland 131,013 1.5

Island Lake Oakland 10,948 1.7

Kent Lake Oakland 27,969 1.3

Lake Diane Hillsdale 21,348 1.7

Lake Orion Oakland 52,516 1.7

Long Lake Oakland 6,647 1.7

Portage Lake Washtenaw 80,516 1.7

Strawberry Lake Livingston 26,666 1.7

Union Lake Oakland 73,258 1.5

Whitmore Lake Livingston 58,180 1.7

Lakeville Lake Macomb 3,989 4

Pon�ac Lake Oakland 3,178 4

Woodland Lake Livingston 5,540 6.8

Steelhead Belle River St. Clair 12,100 7.3

Clinton River Macomb 27,801 6.9

Huron River Wayne 60,706 7

Mill Creek St. Clair 15,222 7.3

Rainbow Trout Allen's Lake Lenawee 3,851 6.8

Appleton Lake Livingston 2,802 6.6

Bear Lake Hillsdale 8,783 6.6

Bird Lake Hillsdale 8,520 6.8

Deep Lake Lenawee 2,754 6.6

Huron River Oakland 1,650 18

Maceday Lake Oakland 12,003 6.6

Spring Mill Pond Livingston 572 18

Brown Trout Black River St. Clair 52,160 4.8

Huron River Oakland 850 16.7

Paint Creek Oakland 6,550 4.9

Spring Mill Pond Livingston 200 16.7

St. Joe of the Maumee Hillsdale 2,720 6.9

Clinton River Oakland 4,800 4.9

St. Clair River St. Clair 52,160 4.9

Mill Creek Washtenaw 2,350 4.9

Channel CaIish Lake Muskoday Wayne 350 6.5

Splake Maceday lake Oakland 10,000 7.1

Lake Trout Maceday Lake Oakland 10,110 4

Lake Trout Maceday Lake Oakland 572 25.5