Ask me to tell you who is going to win the World Series in 2009. Now that's a tough request. Ask me to predict if the Indianapolis Colts are going to head for the Super Bowl. That's another tough request. How 'bout what the stock market will do? As you can see, these are all nearly impossible questions to answer.

So, what happens when the editor of Indiana Game and Fish contacts me to write up a prediction of how the fishing on Indiana's end of Lake Michigan is going to be in 2009? I tell him, sure thing!

Why is that? The first factor, though not always the most important detail, is examining stocking levels. After all, largely, Lake Michigan is a put-grow-take fishery. Ninety-nine percent of the trout and salmon in Lake Michigan are products of fish hatcheries. Each of the states (Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan and Illinois) has one or more hatcheries dedicated to growing fingerling salmon and trout to plant into Lake Michigan or its tributary streams. The federal government has hatcheries growing fingerling lake trout to stock into the Great Lakes.

King salmon are the lone exception because, due to their life cycle, a good deal of natural reproduction does occur. Taken as a whole, perhaps half the kings (chinooks) in the lake are from hatcheries, while the other half are products of Lake Michigan tributary streams.

Since each of the five species of salmon and trout have different life spans, it's not so much flipping back the calendar a year to see how many fish were introduced. One has to go back two, three or more years and check the stocking records to see what fish will be available in 2009.

Mixsawbah, one of Indiana's two Lake Michigan hatcheries, was virtually rebuilt a few years ago. During the retrofit, no fish were produced. Did that have an effect on the subsequent years' success out on the lake? Of course it did! But that's history. The Mixsawbah rehabilitation is complete and 2009 will feature anglers tangling with fish produced in the new and improved facility.

Hoosier anglers don't just catch Hoosier fish. These fish don't respect the lines drawn on the map of Lake Michigan to delineate state boundaries. Our fish go to Wisconsin, Michigan fish migrate to Indiana, and Illinois fish . . . well, you get the picture. So one must not only look at the production from Indiana's Mixsawbah and Bodine hatcheries, but also look at the production from all the other states' facilities as well.

So, I've done that for you. If stocking numbers were the sole predictor of success or failure for any one fishing season, then 2009 will be a terrific year. Illinois met its quota for brown trout, cohos and kings during the production seasons most important for this year's class of fish. Wisconsin and Michigan had no problems, either.

Put-grow-take is a simple concept. The fish are put in the lake, swim around in it for two or more years, while growing to trophy sizes. So, based on previous stocking records, anglers are in for a great time this year.