WISinfo.com

Posted Oct 29, 2009; 3:57 AM

Great outdoors almanac

GREAT LAKES: Rain spurs trout, salmon runs

All the rain in the past week has drawn some fresh runs of brown trout and coho salmon into Lake Michigan and Green Bay tributaries. The Menominee, Peshtigo, Oconto and Kewaunee rivers are luring the most anglers.

Few boaters are active, but those who are have some of the best big fish potential of the season to look forward to on Green Bay, especially muskies and walleyes. Where the trollers aren't working, some hunters are setting up in layout boats for diver ducks.

Five of six people who attended a public hearing in Sturgeon Bay Monday night on proposed increases to the total allowable annual commercial lake whitefish harvest were opposed to the proposal, but many written comments have also been received. Deadline to comment is Saturday. E-mail comments to William.Horns@Wisconsin.gov. For more on the proposal, visit dnr.wi.gov/org/legal/adminrules.html

INLAND WATERS: Anglers may find muskie success

Duck hunters outnumber fishermen on some lakes and rivers, but that doesn't mean there isn't anything to catch. Anglers dressing for the weather usually can find some action from bass, panfish, pike or muskies. Some of the heaviest muskies of the season will be caught in the coming weeks, many of them on foot-long-plus suckers.

Saturday is the deadline to purchase a Lake Winnebago sturgeon spearing license. Licenses are $20 for residents. The minimum age for spearing is 14. Upriver licenses, limited to 500 annually, have been awarded.

Last year, 10,239 people bought licenses for spearing during either the Lake Winnebago or upriver lakes season and harvested 1,512 fish. That includes 42 that weighed between 100 and 172 pounds, the highest percentage of trophies in the fishery's history.

FIELD GUIDE: Harris will speak at GBDHA meeting

Vicki Harris of UW Sea Grant will be talking about how environmental changes affect migratory waterfowl's use of Lower Green Bay at Monday's meeting of the Green Bay Duck Hunters Association at Barkhausen Waterfowl Preserve in Suamico. The presentation starts at 7:30 p.m., and the public is welcome. For more information, visit gbdha.com.

Lake trout season closes on Lake Michigan on Saturday, but all other trout and salmon seasons remain open year-round. Fox season opens in the southern zone Saturday, while Monday is the last day for woodcock hunting.

WILDLIFE: Badger runs away with contest

University of Wisconsin students used social media to lobby hard for their school mascot and swayed the results of an online survey of four potential designs for a new Wisconsin Endangered Resources license plate.

Of more than 23,000 votes cast, the badger received 68 percent — more than 16,000 votes. Designs depicting a great blue heron and eastern bluebird each received more than 2,800 votes, while one with a red-headed woodpecker brought in 1,905 votes.

HUNTING: Many opposed to 16-day season

Former DNR wildlife biologist Tom Bahti was the lone voice in favor of an early-opening, 16-day gun deer season at Monday's public hearing in Grand Chute. About 80 hunters spoke against the plan.

DNR Northeast Region biologist Jeff Pritzl said they were set up for about 200 people but close to 500 attended, spilling into the hallways. Most hunters, Pritzl said, believe the deer population is too low and needs to be rebuilt with regular season structures.

Big game specialist Keith Warnke said he's not sure what the state Natural Resources Board will recommend at its meeting in December. Warnke said the DNR has received more than 4,500 surveys online at dnr.wi.gov/org/land/wildlife/hunt/deer/index.htm. The deadline to comment on the earn-a-buck alternative is Tuesday.

— Kevin Naze, Press-Gazette correspondent