Michigan Department of Natural Resources
Fisheries Research Report No.1850, 1977
History of the Walleye Fisheries of Saginaw Bay, Lake Huron
James C. Schneider
Abstract.-The walleye population in Saginaw Bay once supported four commercial fisheries: a seine fishery in or near certain rivers, a fyke net fishery in rivers, an angling fishery through the ice on the inner part of the Bay, and a fishery using mostly trap nets and pound nets offshore. All had collapsed by the late 1940's. The final decline was traced to a series of year class failures beginning in 1944. Modest-sized year classes in the 1950's were not adequate to arrest the downward trend in the stock. The Bay and its tributaries have had a long history of water quality problems. Circumstantial evidence is presented that poor recruitment was primarily related to increased turbidity which presumably smothered eggs on the inner-bay spawning reefs. Commercial fishing, while not the primary factor initiating the decline, became relatively more intense as walleye abundance fell. Sea lamprey, rainbow smelt, and alewife probably were not primarily responsible for the decline in walleyes but smelt and alewife may suppress recovery.