Chinook Salmon in Michigan

Field marks: “Chinook salmon can be hard to identify.”

How anglers fish it: “Present in all the Great Lakes, the best fishing is in Lake Michigan and significant stream fishing occurs all along the Lake Michigan coast with some of the better inland stream fishing in the Manistee, Pere Marquette and St. Joseph Rivers. Preferring somewhat cooler water temperatures than coho, they are usually caught in deeper water in the Great Lakes. Somewhat photo-sensitive, Chinooks can be caught near the surface in low-light conditions but are often targeted in deeper water once the sun has climbed into the sky, by anglers using downriggers and lead-core or copper line to get spoons, dodgers and flies or cut bait rigs down to the strike zone. It isn't unusual to catch Chinooks 100 o”

“Primary food source is alewives, but other prey species such as rainbow smelt and bloaters are also common.”

“Chinook salmon are often called "kings," and not without reason, they're strong, hard-running fish that will spool a reel without adequate line. Chinook, the largest of the Pacific salmon, have been stocked in the Great Lakes since the 1870s, but it wasn't until Michigan planted them in 1967 that they became established. With a large alewife population in the Great Lakes, conditions were right for Chinooks to prosper. They have become the dominant species in the Great Lakes salmon fishery. Since”

“Although significant reproduction has been documented — and in some places produces the bulk of the fishery — the DNR maintains a large Chinook stocking program, though numbers have been cut in recent years because of concerns about alewife populations. The state record Chinook salmon weighed more than 46 pounds, but in excess of 20 pounds are considered to be fairly large specimens these days.”