The answer might be surprising!
Nerd post alert. While this mildly entertaining blog might be enough to get you a point in an outdoor themed trivia contest, none of this stuff is truly important. In fact, if you brought any of this stuff while sitting in the garage drinking a few cold ones with the boys, you’re gonna get side-eyed and probably not invited back. You’ve been warned…
The salmon family is the only target of charter fishermen from the port of Sheboygan. While there are many places to target species in other taxonomic families such as the perch family (walleye and yellow perch) or the pike family (northern pike or muskellunge), Sheboygan does not have the shallow, warm, structure-rich environment those families thrive in. Surely, you may hear a story or two of an odd walleye or musky caught near Sheboygan, but they were not the target species of charter guests.
Wait a minute, don’t all my promotional materials say I target salmon and trout? Right! But all species of salmon and trout belong to the family salmonidae.
Salmonidae consists of all salmon, trout, char, and freshwater whitefish. There are a few other genuses not found in Lake Michigan as well, including graylings (found closer to the arctic in North America, Europe, and Asia), lenoks (Europe and Asia), and taimens (Asia).
All salmonids have rays on their lower fins, dorsal, and tail, and also possess a fatty fin on their back called an adipose fin. All salmonids spawn in fresh water, but most of them in natural habitats swim into salt water to live the majority of their lives. Landlocked salmon such as the ones found in the Great Lakes don’t have that option, so they spend their lives in the lakes.
Lake Whitefish are aptly named and native whitefish and have been a target of the Lake Michigan commercial fishery for over a century. Parts of Lake Michigan offer great ice fishing opportunities for this less popular salmonid and are a great way to beat cabin fever. They also serve as the most important ingredient for the famous Door County fish boils.
Lake trout, however, is a bit of a misnomer. Although given the name lake trout, it is not actually a trout at all, but rather a member of the char genus. Chars can be differentiated from trout because of their body colors and markings. While char have a dark body with light spots, a trout has a light colored body with darker spots. Besides whitefish, lake trout are the only other native salmonid in Lake Michigan. Other chars that are stocked into the great lakes include brook trout and splake, a sterile hybrid attained by crossing a lake trout with a brook trout.
The two main species of trout that have been stocked into Lake Michigan are the rainbow trout, which some people call steelhead, and the brown trout.
Two varieties of Pacific salmon, the chinook (king) and the coho (silver) salmon have been planted in the lake as well. A third Pacific species, the pink salmon, got into Lake Michigan somewhat by accident due to a single unplanned stocking event in Lake Superior in 1956. Before 2016, pink salmon were an extremely rare catch for anglers out of Sheboygan, but due to their ability to reproduce naturally, pink salmon are fairly common today.
There is only one species of salmon found in the Atlantic, and is appropriately named the Atlantic salmon. Although these salmon are not stocked into Lake Michigan, occasionally Atlantics stocked into Lake Huron will make their way into Lake Michigan. It is very very rare to catch Atlantic salmon in Sheboygan, although it has been done from time to time. In over two thousand fishing trips on Lake Michigan, I have personally seen my guests catch a total of three Atlantics.
I know this one was a short read, but I’m still surprised you made it here! You’re a true fan of the blog! Feel free to drop me a message on Facebook to hear what topics you’d like to see discussed!