Michigan Brown Trout Festival

Michigan Brown Trout Festival

Third through fourth weekend in July

You don't have to be a professional charter captain or even a local fisherman to participate in the Michigan Brown Trout Festival, which has been held in Alpena on the shores of Lake Huron since 1975. The main event is the two-day Super Tournament, which pits boat against boat. Cash prizes are awarded to those who catch the largest fish (by weight) in each of five divisions—brown trout, salmon, lake trout, steelhead, and walleye—each day and over the course of the week-long festival.
Tens of thousands of people come to Alpena to enjoy not only the fishing competitions but the sailboat races, entertainment, and other festival events. The lucky person who catches Big Brownie, a specially tagged brown trout, during the festival wins a $50,000 savings bond. But the luck that is familiar to fishermen everywhere has plagued those attending the festival as well: no one has ever collected.
Michigan is also home to the National Trout Festival, which dates back to 1933. About 40,000 fishermen and visitors come to the small town of Kalkaska, which has 275 miles of trout streams and 85 lakes stocked with brown, brook, rainbow, and lake trout. This festival is timed to coincide with the opening of trout season, which is the last Saturday in April throughout Michigan.

CONTACTS:
Michigan Brown Trout Festival
c/o Community Development Bldg.
235 W. Chisholm St.
Alpena, MI 49707
989-255-5397
www.alpenami-browntrout.com
Kalkaska Area Chamber of Commerce
353 S. Cedar
P.O. Box 291
Kalkaska, MI 49646
231-258-9103; fax: 231-258-6155
www.kalkaskami.com
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