Members and Others,

 I received a note (see below) from Patrick Hanchin that indicated except for Burt Lake the return of walleye stomach samples has been very low and there is not enough data to determine the diet of the walleyes in the Waterway.  This is the first study of the Waterway that included all the connected lakes at one time and this is an extraordinary opportunity to learn much about the behavior of walleyes as they move through the entire system.  A comprehensive study at this level may never occur again and it is very important that anglers assist by providing as many walleye stomach samples as possible.  I know that some anglers prefer to frequently release legal fish they catch but for the study to be valid many more samples are needed.  For the sake of improving the walleye fishery, please participate in the study!

Patrick and Seth have provided several good suggestions below.  I also recommend that diet study labels be cut from the attached sheet and that they be provided, along with some freezer bags, to individuals that you know who fish occasionally and with a little encouragement might remove and freeze the stomachs from the walleyes they keep.  This method has worked very well for the ongoing predator diet study in Lake Huron.  The returns from Mullett, Crooked and Pickerel Lakes have been very poor and surprisingly only one sample has been obtained from Pickerel Lake. 

If you have other ideas on improving the stomach sample returns and you would like to share them with the Committee, please contact me and I would be happy to send the information to the entire group.

If you have questions, comments or suggestions you may contact me or Tim Cwalinski

Frank Krist Email krists@speednetllc.com Phone 989 734-3100 or 989 351-2053

Tim Cwalinski Email cwalinskit@michigan.gov Phone 989 732- 3541 ext 5072

Frank,

After talking with Seth, we are not doing so well on collecting walleye stomachs from the inland waterway thus far. We have a decent number from Burt Lake, but few from other lakes (only 1 from Pickerel!) and not really enough from any lake to consider it an adequate sample size. This is the kind of task that members of the NILCFAC can likely do more efficiently and effectively than the DNR. We have already missed the boat somewhat on the productive months of May and June, but fishing will persist throughout the summer and will pick up in the fall. We need samples from all lakes throughout the year to characterize the fishery.

Some ideas to improve collection:

• Ask bait shops to serve as collection points with information posted about the project?
• Have one angler serve as a collection point and organizer for several of his/her fishing buddies?
• Get a hold of resorts that may have cleaning stations where carcasses could be frozen daily for us to pick up?

Can you please pass this note on to the committee? Hopefully we can jumpstart some folks into collecting this important information.

Patrick Hanchin

Charlevoix Fisheries Station

Michigan Department of Natural Resources