Tom, that's how I started, fishing the spring inshore fishery each year in southeastern Lake Michigan and hitting the tributaries in the fall for the spawning run. I started as a wildlife major at MSU, with the intention of becoming a wetlands biologist, so I took a number of fisheries and limnology courses as well. I eventually determined that, if I stayed another two semesters I could end-up with a dual major in both. I took a position diving on fixed current meters in Lake Michigan set off a hydro-electric facility, servicing them and changing film packs, which eventually led to a post-graduate degree in fisheries and limnology from MSU. I had a chance to work on Lake Michigan during most of the hay day era of the Pacific salmon plants, but also see the fishery's demise via overexploitation of the alewife stocks through collective miss-management by the state fish and game agencies surrounding Lake Michigan, as well as the recovery.
It's a far different fishery now, courtesy of invasive dreisennid mussels proliferation and effects, but the miss-management component is still consistent...