We don’t get many “nice” December days on the water on the #GreatLakes. No complaints from me today. Last of our #telemetry receivers have been deployed. @jmhessenauer.bsky.social

Found a swan in distress today while working a fish survey. Discovered it was hopelessly tangled in fishing line. 😔 After cutting it free it was exhausted so it rode around with us for awhile. Decided it was time to release it when it bit my boot. 😉 #GreatLakes #birds @jmhessenauer.bsky.social

Biggggg Largemouth Bass were the highlight of this morning’s electrofishing survey on Lake St Clair!
@jmhessenauer.bsky.social
#GreatLakes
#fish

Bluesky now has over 10 million users, and I was #1,252,080!

This acoustic receiver mooring was in #LakeStClair for one year. Unbelievable Zebra and Quagga mussel growth has covered nearly every square inch of the float and receiver.

#GreatLakes #GLATOS

Close call for this steelhead! 😬 It appears they had a run in with a Muskie and lived to tell about it. #fishsky 🐠 🐟 🎣 @jmhessenauer.bsky.social

Couple highlights from today’s electrofishing efforts on Lake St. Clair. A big Yellow Perch and an extra bright Punpkinseed. 🐟🐠 #fishsky

A cooperative pair…. Tubenose Goby (top) and a Round Goby (bottom) sit patiently to be measured and released. I thought this pic really showed off how different their head and snouts are. #fishsky

‪Survey is wrapped up. Overall walleye catch was down from recent years and water temps were way higher (⬆️12F). Very few adult gizzard shad in nets or juveniles in walleye diets. Best guess is the shad and walleye are still occupying cooler waters east of us. ‬

Heading out for day one of our annual fall walleye gill net survey on Lake Erie.

Hello. Glad to see some familiar faces over here! I work with the MI DNR on Great Lakes Fisheries. Our current work focuses on acoustic telemetry, long term assessments, scuba diving, and cool fish like lake sturgeon, mooneye & northern madtoms. Glad to be here!