27/09/2026
🎣 AMERICA’S BROWN-TROUT STORY STARTED IN MICHIGAN!
Here’s something even many lifelong Michigan fishermen don’t know:
Brown trout are not native to Michigan—or anywhere else in America. They originally came from Europe!
In 1883, approximately 80,000 fertilized brown-trout eggs crossed the Atlantic from Germany aboard a steamship. The delicate eggs were stored inside the ship’s icehouse to keep them alive during the journey.
Some of those eggs were delivered to the federal fish hatchery in Northville, Michigan. On April 11, 1884, workers released 4,900 tiny brown-trout fry into the Baldwin River, a tributary of the Pere Marquette River.
It became the first recorded planting of brown trout into American waters!
That means before brown trout became famous in Montana, Colorado and streams across the country, they were swimming near Baldwin, Michigan.
The next time you’re fishing the Pere Marquette, remember that you’re standing near the birthplace of American brown-trout fishing history!
How many of you knew this? Have you ever caught a brown trout from the Pere Marquette River system?
Dakota Chinn
