(WI) Manitowoc Herald Times – According to the Department of Natural Resources, commercial fishermen were able to pull more than 650,000 pounds of smelt from Lake Michigan in 2006. By 2008, that number was cut in third to just more than 208,000 pounds. So far this year, the smelt harvest has been a paltry 19,000 pounds.
LeClair, who owns Susie Q Fish Market in Two Rivers, said he has a pretty good idea what has happened to the smelt in Lake Michigan.
“The DNR plants all kinds of predator fish like lake trout and Chinook salmon in Lake Michigan and they don’t allow any of the commercial fishermen to harvest them,” LeClair said. “Then the predator fish eat all of the smelt in Lake Michigan.” More