Alewife are the major food source for Lake Michigan's thriving salmon and trout fishery.
Summer trawling for smelt in Lake Michigan would have resulted in a high incidental catch of large quantities of unmarketable chub and alewife. The Governor let stand a provision expanding day light smelt trawling in Green Bay by allowing an additional four hours of trawl as proposed by the legislature. Under current rules , daily trawling hours in Green Bay during June 15 to Sept. 30 season end one hour before sunrise. The National Biological Service will start their Fall acoustical biomass assessment on smelt and alewife, Wisconsin anglers will be looking at those numbers carefully. LOC T wo trout conservation groups have demanded the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources establish new regulations to protect trophy brown trout in southeastern Minnesota.