It looks alike another phenomenal year for walleye fishing for anglers in Saginaw Bay, according to Lead Research Biologist, Jim Johnson of the Alpena D.N.R. Fish Station. He said last year for the first time, Saginaw Bay harvested more walleye than another other Michigan waters, including Lake Erie which has traditionally held that distinction. He said this year another bumper crop of two year old walleyes will be big enough to be taken. They may not be regulation size until the end of the summer, but they will add to the already abundant supply. While walleye are flourishing, they have taken a toll on Saginaw Bay's perch population. He said the walleye continue to eat a lot of young yellow perch, with an absence of other feeder fish, such as alewives. He felt perch fishing will be spotty in Saginaw Bay; there are some nice size fish out there, just not a lot of them. Johnson said for perch, people may want to try the other side of the Thumb. He told us locations like Lexington, Port Sanilac and up to Harbor Beach have lower walleye numbers, and the perch are surviving well. The past two years have produced good numbers of perch at those sites. He said not a lot of anglers are taking advantage of those locations, and can get good results with not a lot of pressure from other fishermen. Johnson said many fishermen from these ports are passing over good perch fishing, to get to the larger game fish, like lake trout.

Lake trout are expected to continue to do well again this year. Johnson said the fish are pretty good size, not huge but about 7 to 8 pounds. He said the southern part of Lake Huron the last two springs have seen some Cohos taken, and a few Chinook and steelheads mixed in. Salmon out in the main body of Lake Huron will remain very low, he said the fish that are out there have seen some improvement from a few years ago when they were really thin. He said this year he expects fishermen to take less than a 10th of the salmon they did, just a few years ago.

A bright spot in the lake ecosystem has been the virtual absence of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia or VHS. Two years ago it killed some fish in Thunder Bay near Alpena, but last year state fisheries officials could not attribute any fish kills to VHS mortality. Johnson said he wasn't sure if we dodged the bullet for one year, or if the fish are more resistant that they thought.

One fish that anglers may want to consider this year is small mouth bass. Johnson said they're a sport fish not to be overlooked. He said the current food web in the lake favors near shore fish. A few warmer than normal summers have helped to produce some big ones. Great bass fishing is expected in the area of Charity Island, Port Austin, Alabaster and Tawas. Good numbers of four to 6 pound bass are out there. Johnson felt this small mouth bass fishery will grow over the next few years.