Arctic Grayling in a net. (Photo Courtesy Michigan Department of Natural Resources)

LANSING — The Michigan Department of Natural Resources made an announcement in the beginning of January sharing the amount of total fish stocked throughout the state. The DNR says 9.7 million fish were stocked in 2024 with 590,504 of them released last fall.

The fish comprising these autumn numbers included brook trout, rainbow trout, brown trout, lake trout, Atlantic salmon, walleye and muskies.

This spring, another species of fish will be released in the Lower Peninsula as part of a restoration project of a once lost native species. Local angers, however, will have the chance to try their hand at catching Arctic grayling right here it in Houghton County.

Efforts to restore the freshwater member of the salmon family have been in talks since 2015 with the first implementation beginning in 2019.

Arctic grayling eggs from Alaska were shipped to Michigan to begin the project of bringing back a fish that had not swum in Michigan waters since the 1930s.

The fish went extinct in Michigan due to over fishing, competition from non-native fish and logging.

The native range of the fish was mostly confined to the northern Lower Peninsula, although it had a presence in Copper Country in the Otter River.

It is unknown if the Arctic grayling in the Otter River were native or if they were transported.

They were once able to keep up a steady population in the late 1800s through the 1930s, though the Arctic Grayling in the Otter River eventually became extinct as well.

To restore the fish, the Marquette State Fish Hatchery oversaw the Alaskan fish eggs and raised them to the adult breeding stage. The eggs these fish lay will then be prepared for the eventual planting of hatchlings throughout the Lower Peninsula.

“An attempt to restore the fish was made in the 1980s but that did not work,” Lake Michigan Basin Coordinator Jay Wesley said. “Then new methods of restoration were started in Montana and were successful.”

Wesley said that Michigan stocked fish that did survive but didn’t reproduce. The restoration in Montana taught the Michigan DNR that Grayling flourish in their home waters very early in their life cycle. Montana put baskets with fertilized eggs into streams where they would hatch into their planned home waters where they will develop the instinct to return and spawn.

Some mature fish used in aquaculture for breeding, called broodstock, grew to sizes, 12 to 15 inches or more, that took up too much space in the hatchery.

In the fall of 2023, the DNR decided to introduce the fish to anglers and generate interest in the Arctic grayling restoration project.

The DNR also hoped to receive feedback on how the fish were reacting to select lakes in Michigan. These stocked Arctic grayling would not be expected to be rehabilitation nor restoration fish.

Three lakes were selected to house the excess broodstock with 400 being dumped into West Johns Lake in Alger County in the central U.P. and around 1,300 in Pine Lake in downstate Manistee County.

The third of these lakes was Houghton County’s Penegor Lake, selected due to its large depths but small size. Lake Perrault was also considered, though the stocking never occurred there.

Penegor Lake is deep enough to allow temperatures which the 300 stocked grayling need to survive.

Public access allows fishermen to try and catch the fish, and the lack of surrounding development allows them to remain otherwise undisturbed.

The DNR has been hoping to receive reports of anglers catching the Arctic Grayling, but none have been made to the DNR from the U.P. lakes.

“On Pine Lake a few days after we stocked, we did have some angler reports of some caught there, but not since,” Wesley said. “It’s kind of unfortunate. [Arctic grayling] are usually pretty easy to catch, and we thought anglers would catch quite a few. So either this means that they’re not easily caught like we thought, or they’re just not surviving. Or they’re moving out of those systems somehow but they’re relatively isolated systems, with not a lot of inlets or outlets. So it’s highly unlikely. Where did they go?”

Those fishermen interested in seeing if they can aid the DNR in reporting and try their luck at catching an Arctic grayling, will need to wait until the last Saturday in April when the fishing season opens on the three lakes. The season will end Oct. 31. In regards to fishing tactics, Wesley said that the methods to catch grayling are similar to trout and recommends using spoons or jigs.

While it is legal in Michigan to catch stocked Arctic grayling, it is illegal to possess them.

If an angler catches one, it is recommended to take a picture, release it and call a DNR station to report the catch.

It is recommended that any Arctic grayling caught in Lake Penegor be reported to the Baraga DNR office.

It is especially vital to report the catch if they are caught in waters where the fish was not stocked.

This spring, the official planting part of the project will commence, with eggs planted with the method observed in Montana, in the upper Manistee River, upper Boardman River and the upper Maple River in the Lower Peninsula.

If the stockings in the Lower Peninsula show positive results, efforts might be made to introduce fertilized eggs to U.P. locations including the Otter River. Wesley said if the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community shows an interest in the project that they are welcome to become involved.