The lack of large alewives is really beginning to take its toll. "Catch rates were very good, but the fish were small. "A 20-pound king was a major fish in Lake Huron during 2003," said Johnson. Lake Huron anglers had no problem catching chinook salmon in 2003, but big fish were scarce. It's hard to grow big salmon without big alewives." "The combination of lots of predators and the hard winter was bad for alewives. Johnson said the super-cold winter of 2002-2003 hurt alewife numbers.
"Alewife numbers in Lake Huron are declining sharply and we are finding that there are a lot of chinooks being reproduced naturally," declared Johnson.
Chinook salmon present a new set of variables for fisheries biologists.
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