Erie Ins

Lake Erie is a lake unique in that its waters contain a wide variety of fish, some here by accident, but most naturally here. The walleye is native to the lake. It is the yellow perch.

But there is a species that has taken my curiosity. It whitefish. I've never seen a dead or alive, and I've never caught one. Yet they are a mainstay of the commercial fishing industry around the Great Lakes. And, yes, they are native to Lake Erie.

Whitefish is a Member of the trout / salmon family Salmonidae. And they tell me they are great eating fish. Yet I never see them in supermarkets. If the ads are caught, Who's Buying? I sit down to dinner some time whitefish.

In addition, I would like to sport

capture some of these fish. But according to the Michigan DNR is more than a little tricky. Until recently, few anglers have even tried to catch the whitefish, although DNR said that the situation is changing, and fishermen are trying to refine a method of catching them.

Michigan DNR says whitefish recluse prefers to swim in the company of a school of whitefish colleagues at depths up to 200 feet and over in the middle

summer. Of course, this is the main reason they are difficult to catch. Lake Erie has an area that is about 200 feet deep, but it's up near Buffalo.

However, the whitefish spawn in early winter in the rock or sand-bottomed, shallow waters of the lake less than 25 feet deep. These waters are Erie Western Basin and shallower areas of the central basin. The Detroit River is one of spawning whitefish, too.

The young hatch the following spring, and grow large enough to allow the bottoms to protect deeper waters by early summer. Whitefish generally grow faster, but it varies by region and food supply.

whitefish can reach a height of over 20 books and an age over 25 years, although this was more common 50 years ago. While the depletion of fish stocks by over-white

fishing and environmental degradation has reduced commercial yields, environmental cleaning and careful management of fisheries in the late 1960s have largely remedied this.

In recent years, commercial fishermen have won Ohio by about 1.4 million pounds of white fish.

Unlike its major

trout mouth and cousins of salmon, whitefish has a very delicate little mouth (another challenge for fishers) and is therefore limited to eating insects, freshwater shrimps, small fish and fish eggs , and bottom organisms.

Most feeding takes place on or near the lake

Netherlands. whitefish eggs are consumed by yellow perch, whitefish, burbot, whitefish and even more. Young whitefish fall a prey to lake trout, pike, burbot, walleye, and possibly other predators feed on fish. Whitefish adults are drawn mainly by man.

Although sport fishing for whitefish is around zero so far, some fishermen on Lake Erie would try to tiny flies

as decoys to catch these elusive fish. I have not seen any reports yet on their success. When I do, I'll let everyone in on the secret.

But the prospect of adding to the list of whitefish fisherman guards is fascinating. These fish were in the lake for thousands of years and fishermen are now just discovering the potential. My