This was the situation the various fishery mangers faced recently, and here are some of the factors they considered in making their recommendations. Not all the chinooks paddling around in Lake Michigan are the result of stocking programs. In fact, this year's plant of 4.6 million may be nearly doubled by the natural reproduction of wild fish in many of Michigan's streams and rivers. It is pretty safe to say there will be seven million new chinooks added to the big lake's fishery this spring.

And, here is a real shocker: The Lake Huron forage base has totally collapsed, and it is estimated as much as 30 percent of that resource's chinook plant is migrating into Lake Michigan in search of food. Yes, they're making the big swim around Michigan Lower Peninsula and into The Big Pond. The future of Lake Huron's troubled fishery is another story, but it sure doesn't look good, and if we aren't careful, it may be a picture of what Lake Michigan could face some day soon.

For now, the fishery managers have agreed on a lakewide cutback of 25 percent on chinook planting. It is hoped this will reduce the pressure on the forage base, while still providing a decent fishery, both for boat-anglers and fall shore-anglers. Additionally, if the big salmon can find their daily bread with less effort, they could grow larger than we have seen recently.

The reduction in the chinook plant will be scaled to match the percentage of fish each state now stocks. Michigan stocks the most chinooks and will reduce planting by 39 percent. Wisconsin will pull back 25 percent, Illinois 17 percent and Indiana 12 percent. While the total of these percentages do not amount to 100 percent, the total fish actually planted will be 25 percent lower than last year's stocking.

This reduction will not be immediately apparent to anglers, because the 2-, 3- and 4-year-old chinooks now in the lake represent years of normal stocking numbers. Together with the multitude of naturally reproduced salmon present, chinook fishing should be very good this season. Because of the shortfall in the forage base, the fish will be hungry, easy to catch, but not very big. Do your part to help the alewives: Get a lot of those chinooks out of the water.

An interesting sidelight to all this is that some day the naturally reproducing chinooks may make further hatchery stocking unnecessary. Now that would be big news, wouldn't it?

This may the last year in some time for big coho catches, so get out in spring and get your share of these delicious fish. As noted earlier in this article, don't get set on finding the cohos in their usual early-season haunts. They may be in 15 feet of water or 115 feet, and though I hate to even remember it, one spring they were in 215 feet!