The State of Michigan operates six hatcheries and five permanent salmonid egg take stations (click here for map). Two hatcheries are in the Upper Peninsula (Marquette and Thompson State Fish Hatcheries). Four hatcheries are in the Lower Peninsula and all are located on the westside of the peninsula. All of these hatcheries were located in areas with the best water supplies, in particular groundwater supplies.

In order to operate a hatchery system, it is critical that you have reliable egg and sperm sources for species that you can not hold as captive broodstock. Fisheries Division operates six permanent salmonid egg take stations for chinook salmon, coho salmon and steelhead trout (a migratory form of rainbow trout). All are located in the Lower Peninsula with four on Lake Michigan tributary streams and one on a Lake Huron tributary stream. The Swan River (near Rogers City), Medusa Creek (near Charlevoix), Boardman River (Traverse City), and the Little Manistee Weirs are used in the fall for chinook salmon egg takes. The Platte River State Fish Hatchery Weir is used in the fall for coho salmon egg takes and infrequently for chinook salmon egg takes. The Little Manistee Weir is the only weir used for steelhead egg takes in the spring. Each of these sites that is a salmon egg take station receives large stockings from our hatcheries to ensure sufficient fish return for egg take purposes. We do not stock steelhead for our egg takes needs and strictly use the wild produced fish from the Little Manistee River.

In addition to the permanent egg take stations, we use natural spawning runs of walleye for egg sources from the Muskegon River near Newaygo, Tittabawassee River near Midland and Little Bay de Noc near Rapid River. Similarly, we use natural spawning runs of lake sturgeon for egg and fry sources from the Sturgeon River (Baraga County), Black River (Cheboygan County) and the Menominee River (Menominee County). We also maintain broodstocks of northern muskie in Thornapple Lake (Barry County) and Lake Hudson (Lenawee County). We use electrofishing boats and trap nets to collect fish from the wild spawning runs.