The Pere Marquette: where America's brown trout began

The Pere Marquette River, which runs right through Baldwin, is one of the great trout streams in the country, and it holds a special place in the history of American fishing. In 1884, the first brown trout ever planted in United States waters were released into a small tributary near Baldwin. The eggs had come all the way from Germany, which is why old-timers still call them German browns. From that single batch of a few thousand fish, brown trout spread to rivers across the whole country.

The river earned its fame honestly. The Pere Marquette runs free for its entire length, with not a single dam on its main stream — the longest undammed river in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. That clean, cold, free-flowing water makes it a blue-ribbon trout stream and a magnet for fly fishers, with a famous stretch near town set aside for catch-and-release fishing with flies only. In fall, salmon and steelhead run up from Lake Michigan by the thousands.

Baldwin has leaned into its claim to fame. The town throws a Troutarama festival every summer, and downtown you’ll find a 25-foot brown trout sculpture, said to be the largest in the world. For anyone who loves moving water and a good fishing story, this is hallowed ground.