Wisconson - October 2010

Kevin

Senior Fisheman
Joined
Jan 10, 2009
Location
Craig, Colorado
Best Catch
12lbs
Boat
Charger
#1
The unseasonably warm and dry weather Wisconsin has experienced this October seem to have caused fall colors to peak sooner than usual. As of this week, fall colors are past peak in most of the state according to the Department of Tourism Fall Color Report (exit DNR). Colors are now at peak in just more than a dozen counties, mostly in the far southern part of the state, but also in some central areas. Leaf drop is progressing rapidly, with strong winds this week bringing down many leaves.
Fall musky fishing is really picking up, with reports of larger fish being taken on large suckers. Most avid musky anglers have now switched to live bait, though some are still reporting success on artificial bait. A rare 51-inch albino musky was caught and released on the Flambeau River in Rusk County. State fisheries managers report that musky populations are doing very in many locations.
Water temperatures have dropped to the low to mid 50-degree range on northern lakes, but walleye still haven't fully settled into a solid fall pattern yet and fishing continues to be erratic. Late October and early November should provide a little better walleye action as water temperatures continue to cool. Panfish action has been fair, with some decent crappie and perch being found along deep weed edges and near mid-depth cover. The recent drop in water temperatures has pretty much shut down most bass activity on inland lakes.
The Mississippi River continues to drop. Last week the river at Prairie du Chien was just under flood stage was at 15.7 feet. As of Monday, the river stage was 12.2 feet and falling. All boat landings are now open. The Prairie du Chien area’s emergency slow now wake ordinance has expired. Fishing has been very good on the river, with some spectacular largemouth bass action reported in the flooded areas, along weed edges, in the timber and back water sloughs, from Prairie du Chien up to Ferryville. Bluegill fishing has also been very good, as has walleye and sauger action along drop offs, in deep water slough and numerous locations along the main channel.
The Lake Michigan tributary fall salmon run appears to be on the downswing, with fewer anglers out and success dropping off considerably in the last week. Pier and shore anglers report some continued success for trout and salmon. Very few trollers are still venturing out on the big lake.
The second waterfowl opener in the southern zone was fairly successful. There was a decent numbers of hunters out that had some success shooting mixed bags of mallards, wood ducks, teal, gadwall and widgeon.
The four day early antlerless deer hunt in the chronic wasting disease management zone and herd control deer management units seemed to be fairly successful. Hunting pressure was a little light but the hunters that were out had some success, with some hunters earning buck stickers for the CWD zone. Bucks are moving into pre-rut conditions with scrapes and rubs showing up more frequently and some young bucks leaving bachelor groups and starting to chase does.
Many state parks are in the process of closing down modern shower and bathroom facilities for the season, with most park campgrounds still having water and primitive restrooms available for fall campers. A number of properties have fall or Halloween themed events this weekend, which coincides with the October Hunters full moon, including haunted hay rides at the MacKenzie Environmental Center near Poynette and Roche-a-Cri State Park near Friendship, Halloween candlelight hikes at Harrington Beach State Park near Belgium and Mirror Lake State Park near Baraboo, and an Eco-Halloween Hike at Richard Bong State Recreation Area near Kansasville. Check the Events at Wisconsin State Parks, Forests, and Trails page of the DNR website for details.


A three-minute audio version of this report can be heard by calling (608) 266 2277.
A new report is put on the line each week.











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NORTHERN REGION



Park Falls DNR Service Center area
Upper Chippewa Basin fisheries report (Price, Rusk, Sawyer Taylor and inland Ashland and Iron counties) - Musky continue to be the most sought after species at this time of year and action has been good. Many musky anglers have switched from artificial bait to live suckers, and this has been the most successful method. The smaller size suckers (10 to 14 inches) have provided the best action in the last week and good numbers of musky up to 40 inches have been landed. However, the nicest fish have been coming on large suckers -- with some 42-inch-plus musky being caught on 18-inch or better suckers. Look for this 'large-sucker' trend to continue as the fall season progresses, with the trophy potential getting better as the season winds down toward its closing on Nov. 30. Artificial baits have still been enticing a few musky but most of these have been mid-size fish in the 30 to 38-inch range. Walleye fishing has been especially erratic and it seems that the fish haven't fully settled into a solid fall pattern yet. Late October and early November should provide a little better walleye action as water temperatures continue to cool. For now, jig and minnow combinations and a minnow on a slip bobber have shown the best success, with cloudy days often producing some fair action during the daytime hours. Panfish action has been fair, with some decent crappie and perch being found along deep weed edges and near mid-depth cover. Water temperatures have dropped into the low to mid 50s and this has pretty much shut down most bass activity. A few die-hard bass anglers have still been trying their luck with the unseasonably warm fall weather and have had some success for largemouth bass in the afternoon hours on warm, sunny days. Soft plastics fished around woody cover in 4 to 6 feet of water have produced the largemouth that have been caught.



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NORTHEAST REGION



Green Bay DNR Service Center area
Brown County - Fox River anglers have been vertical jigging for walleye up by the dam with some good success. Most have been tipping jigs with a minnow or piece of night crawler. Shore anglers are also reporting catching perch, walleye, and catfish from Voyager Park to the river mouth. The musky action has been slow with the warm temperatures the last few weeks but should pick up as it gets colder. The big perch bite at Bayshore Park slowed over the last week. Most anglers must now spend time searching for scattered groups of perch in water depths ranging from 10-30 feet. Walleye fishing has gotten better in the last week with anglers trolling crank baits.

Manitowoc County - Water temperatures have dropped down to 52 degrees in the tributaries combined with water levels dropping another 2 to 3 inches. Water clarity remains very good with very little rain the last three weeks. Southerly winds early in the week turned to NW winds by the weekend at 10-15 mph. High temperatures remained steady in the low 60s, with the low reaching the low 40s. Anglers fishing the salmon run had mixed success this week, with the run appearing to be coming to an end. One more week of good fishing could be all that remains, with many salmon spawned out or dying. The Manitowoc marina continues to be the hot spot to catch some nice rainbows by floating chinook spawn or fishing bottom. A few chinook have also been caught by using spawn. Angler success has declined at the Shoto and Mishicot dams, with half going home empty handed and the other half keeping three to five chinook. Anglers should continue casting spawn for success at the dams. Anglers fishing the Little Manitowoc River continue to catch large numbers of coho salmon, rainbow, and brown trout jigging spawn near the bridge by the mouth of the river. Up the Manitowoc River has been relatively slow, with only an occasional salmon caught from Manitou Park up to Cato Falls and the Clarks Mills dam. At Manitou, anglers continue to use green/silver and gold champs and spoons.

Sturgeon Bay DNR Service Center area
Door County - The third week of October saw the beautiful Door County fall colors hit their peak and move on until next year. Steady winds out of the west were had over the weekend which made it difficult to fish on Green Bay; however, conditions in Sturgeon Bay were decent allowing anglers to hit the water. Very cool evenings and mornings were persistent throughout the week, but moved into comfortable conditions by the afternoons. Salmon have continued to be seen throughout the county in most of the marinas and bays. Most action hasn’t picked up until the evening hours especially in the Sturgeon Bay marinas and the Egg Harbor marina where a few fish have been taken. Action at Baileys Harbor and Rowleys Bay has been minimal to none with almost all reports of fish being caught coming from the Green Bay side of the county. Most fish being caught are very dark and well into their spawning phase, however throwing a variety of spoons for aggression bites have produced some fish. An occasional brown trout have been seen in Egg Harbor and Sister Bay but no reports have been had of any being caught. Fishing on the Sturgeon Bay piers and through the canal has been slow with minimal fishing pressure as well. Perch fishing in Sturgeon Bay and up the county out of Fish Creek has been consistent. Most anglers have been able to reach their limits working the usual spots between the bridges in Sturgeon Bay and even out onto the flats just west of Sturgeon Bay. Minnows have continued to be the selected bait, fished along the edge of the shipping channel in toward the moored sailboats. Good sized fish have been seen with regularity for some time now. Some northern pike fishing has picked up in Sturgeon Bay as a group of anglers was out targeting them this week. Good catches were reported jigging minnows along the short stretch of the channel between the old steel bridge and the new Oregon St bridge. Size has averaged in the mid 20 inch range but a few nice 36 plus inch fish were reported. Smallmouth bass fishing has been slow all over the county. Little Sturgeon Bay anglers have been fishing perch in 6 feet of water with moderate success. Most anglers however are having to sort through many small fish to find a keeper. Anglers are also picking up a few walleye out on Larson’s reef. Anglers targeting northern pike are finding it slow but some nice fish are being taken. Chaudoir’s Dock has been slow over the last few weeks, but now with some nice sunny days the fishing has improved a bit. Anglers are fishing in 20 feet of water for perch and catfish. Most have been using minnows for bait. Anglers out of Gills Rock, Ellison Bay, and Sister Bay reported a sharp decrease in the number of fish being caught over the last two weeks. Few anglers were seen targeting smallmouth out of Sturgeon Bay and action has been slow at the Old Stone Quarry too.

Strawberry Creek Egg Collection Facility – Crews harvested chinook salmon at Strawberry Creek Tuesday morning and processed 246 chinook and collected about 300,000 eggs. Total chinook processed this fall at Strawberry Creek is about 1,950 fish. The chinook are still trickling in and crews hope to do one more chinook harvest at Strawberry Creek on Monday, Oct, 25. The harvest on Monday will depend on whether chinook continue enter the pond at Strawberry Creek this week. Staff will continue to evaluate the number of fish entering Strawberry Creek throughout the week and try to make a go / no go decision on Friday.

Potawatomi State Park – Visitors enjoyed beautiful weather this October, with sunny days and mild temperatures. There are still some colorful leaves in the park as of mid-October. Anglers have had some luck catching perch recently in the waters near Potawatomi. It's a great time of the year to enjoy the park, whether by land or from the water. The 2010 camping season is winding down. Potawatomi is open for day visitors and camping year-round, but some facilities will be shut down for the season beginning this week. The accessible cabin, park store, shower building, sanitary dump station, fish cleaning station and most wells will close during the week. A winter well remains open at the campground shelter for campers to use throughout the year. Launching piers on Sawyer Harbor will be removed after Nov. 1. The South Loop of Daisy Field Campground is open year-round. The North Loop of the campground will be closed from Nov. 1 until May 1, 2011.

Kewaunee County - The beautiful weather from last week continued into this week but the wind did pick up speed a little bit. The majority of the days saw winds from the west at 10-15 mph. The lack of rain has lowered the water levels in the areas considerably and has cleared the water quite a bit. The pier fishing has been very slow this week at Kewaunee, with the majority of anglers trying their luck in the morning. The vast majority of anglers seem to have given up fishing for the year and have moved on to other activities. There have been a few reports of fish being caught in the footbridge area. Anglers are seeing lots of jumping fish but the vast majority of the fish are ignoring all the tactics being thrown at them. Behind Bruemmer Park seems to be the main area for action as anglers are consistently pulling at least one fish out of the river. The most successful anglers are using spawn sacs and spoons. There does not seem to be any pattern to the colors being used. Only a few boats launched this week to try their luck. The fishing was extremely slow but the anglers that seemed to do the best were using stick baits and spoons to hook into the brown trout roaming around the piers. The fishing pressure has dropped considerably at Algoma to just a few anglers a day trying their luck. Unfortunately, those anglers are not catching fish. There have been only a handful of fish caught then entire will from the piers. The fishing pressure at Blahnik Park continues to decrease as the reports of fish continue to drop. A few anglers are reporting that a few fish are surfacing in the area but will not take any bait. The only consistent areas near Algoma seem to be Forrestville and Silver Creek. Anglers are reporting about a one fish average right now but a few anglers have caught three or more fish. The vast majority of the fish are chinook salmon but a few rainbow trout have been caught in Silver Creek. After the excitement of last week, Stony Creek was rather slow. There was only one report of a successful trip the entire week at Stony Creek. There have not been many boats launching this week from the Algoma Ramp. The few boats that did launch did not have any success but reported seeing lots of fish on the depth finders about 100 yards off of the piers.



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SOUTHEAST REGION



Kettle Moraine State Park - Pike Lake Unit - Fall color is past peak. All trails are open. Fall is a great time to enjoy the hiking trails. The campground and all campground facilities are closed for the season. Swim area buoys have been removed for the season.

Lake Michigan fisheries team report

Sheboygan County - In Sheboygan shore fishing in the marina and off the piers has been slow. On the Sheboygan and Pigeon Rivers water temperatures are in the low 50s, and the rivers are fairly low. A few chinook have been caught on the Pigeon River upstream near Highway Y, and the Sheboygan has been producing some chinook near the Kohler Dam. Flies and small spinners have been productive.

Ozaukee County - In Port Washington, shore anglers have been catching chinook and browns on skein in the north slip. A mixed bag of chinook, coho, rainbows, and browns has been caught near the power plant, and both spawn sacs and skein have produced. Fishing in Sauk Creek remains relatively slow, although a few chinook and browns have been reported. Water levels in the creek are very low.

Milwaukee County - In Milwaukee shore fishing has been relatively slow along the lakefront. Chinook and brown trout can be seen surfacing in McKinley marina, but getting them to bite has been difficult. Salmon fishing on the Milwaukee River has been most productive on the south side of Estabrook Park and up to Kletzsch Park. Egg sucking leeches and yarn have been effective for fly anglers. The Menomonee River and Oak Creek remain very low, and fishing has been slow.

Racine County - On the Root River in Racine the water is low and fairly clear with temperatures hovering around 57 degrees. Anglers fishing below the weir in Lincoln Park have been catching chinook and some brown trout on wet flies and spawn sacs. At Island Park fishing has been hit or miss, and angler pressure has been concentrated on the eastern side of the park. Anglers fishing around Washington Park have had the most consistent success. Slightly higher water levels and deeper holes near the storm water discharge pipes have been holding chinook and a few brown trout and steelhead. Fish were processed at the Root River Steelhead Facility on Oct. 9 and 13. So far this season, a total of 254 chinook, 10 coho, seven brown, and five rainbow have been passed upstream. Due to the extremely low water in the river, the facility has been shut down for now, although the stop logs remain in place.

Kenosha County - Shore anglers in Kenosha continue to catch occasional chinook and brown trout in the harbor near the hotel, and fresh skein, white tube jigs, and silver crank baits have taken the most fish. The majority of fishing pressure in Kenosha has been concentrated around the hotel, but a few anglers have been fishing near the mouth of the Pike River also. Water levels on the Pike remain low, and fish have not been able to move very far upstream.



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SOUTH CENTRAL REGION



Dodgeville DNR Service Center area
Grant County - The Mississippi River remains high, as the waters continue to slowly recede. Many boat landings are now in usable condition, although most are without any associated docks. Waterfowl hunters are reporting spotty results with many wood ducks and teal harvested. There are many geese in the area throughout pool #11. Many islands remain flooded, with little land for hunting from shore. Most hunters have switched to hunting from boats until the water recedes. Schleichers Landing resort and Bagley Bottoms boat landing road remain under water. Late season bluegill anglers have reported few fish in the live wells. Most of the vegetation was eliminated during the high water flooding. Anglers are reporting catching many largemouth bass working the edges of flooded islands. Many fish were under the 14 inch minimum size limit, with a few keepers at 15-16 inches.

Fitchburg DNR Service Center area
Dane County - Game fishing is still picking up on lakes Monona and Mendota. Several nice catches of walleyes have been seen. Some large musky were being caught on Monona and some large northern pike were being caught on Mendota. Hunters are starting to see a few new ducks and geese showing up with the fall migration beginning. The second waterfowl opener in the southern zone was fairly successful. There was a decent amount of hunters out that had some success shooting mixed bags of mallards, wood ducks, teal, gadwall and widgeon. The four day early antlerless deer hunt seemed to be fairly successful. Hunting pressure seemed to be a little light but the hunters that were out seemed to have some success.

Rock County - Hunting pressure was low for the four day early antlerless season; with most hunters afield on public lands. Many hunters were only seeing bucks or no deer at all. However, some hunters had luck earning their buck tags despite the warmer than normal temperatures. Pheasant season opened over the weekend and many hunters had luck on public lands around Rock County. Rock County has an abundance of private lands leased for public hunting as well as state-owned lands that are stocked with pheasants one or two times per week throughout the pheasant season. The number of stocked birds will be slightly higher this year compared to last. Dry land raccoon trapping and raccoon hunting opened last Saturday and cool evenings are helping the hunters that use hounds to track and tree the raccoons. Water levels continue to be low around Rock County because of the lack of rain over the last month. Boaters need to be careful for rocks, stumps, and logs on the Rock River and Lake Koshkonong because of the low levels. Many local farmers have the bulk of their crops off the fields.


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WEST CENTRAL REGION



La Crosse DNR Service Center area
Whitetail bucks are showing some signs of rutting activity. Some young bucks have left their bachelor groups and started to chase does. Early scrapes are also being found in the area. The acorn crop appears to be well above average throughout most of the Coulee Country. Woodcock have been slowly but steadily filtering into the area. Bottomlands along the Kickapoo River are prime areas to hunt for these erratic-flying migratory birds. Woodcock may also be found in upland shrubby habitats with an herbaceous ground cover, especially where soil moisture is adequate to support earthworms, a woodcock's primary food source. Dark-eyed juncos arrived in the area this week. Noted Wisconsin ornithologist Sam Robbins stated in his book "Wisconsin Birdlife" that even though birds know nothing about political boundaries, the US - Canadian border approximates the summer and winter range of the dark-eyed junco. These birds generally summer north of the border and spend winters south of it. Sparrow-sized juncos are easily identified by their uniformly slate-gray head, back, and breast, along with white outer tail feathers. The bill and belly are whitish. Juncos readily patronize bird feeders, where they prefer to feed on the ground. They are fond of black oil sunflower, white proso millet, cracked corn, peanuts, and grain sorghum. Juncos often feed among tree sparrows, fox sparrows, white-throated sparrows, and white-crowned sparrows.

Perrot State Park - The leaves are past peak color but a few trees on Trempealeau Mountain have just begun to change. Water levels on the Trempealeau River and Trempealeau Bay are returning to normal Canoes and kayaks are available for rent. Shower buildings will be closed on October 20. The flush toilet building in the lower loop will remain open until October 27. Vault toilets in the campground will remain open and drinking water is available at the park shop.
Great River State Trail - Leaves are past peak color. Some waterfowl can still be seen in pools along the trail. Recent construction in the Trempealeau Wildlife Refuge is nearing completion.

Buffalo River State Trail - The trail is open and in good condition. Visitors may come across some rough areas due to heavy use of the trail. Fall colors are past peak.

Wildcat Mountain State Park - - All trails are in great condition. The shower building will be open through October 25.

Crawford County - Unseasonably warm day time temperatures and cool evenings were the main stay this week. Fall colors are probably past their prime right now. Many trees have dropped their leaves and only a handful of tree species are showing brilliant colors. Hickory, maple and sumac are the dominant colorful tree species right now. Flooding conditions along the Mississippi River are slowly getting better. All boat ramps are now open and the emergency slow no wake ordinance on the Mississippi River has expired. The Mississippi River continues to drop. After cresting at 19.43 about 17 days ago it has been dropping ever since. Last week the river was just under flood stage at 15.7 feet. As of Monday, the river stage was 12.2 feet and falling. All boat landings are now open. The Prairie du Chien area’s emergency slow now wake ordinance has expired. The Wisconsin River has been on a roller coaster ride this week. It goes up a foot or so then settles back down. As of Monday in Muscoda the river stage was at 2.19 feet. The Wisconsin River crested almost three weeks ago at about 9.5 feet. All the boat landings are open. The Kickapoo River fell ever so slowly this week. The Kickapoo has really cleared up. The current water levels in Gays Mills and Steuben are at 8.03 feet and 7.95 feet respectively. Fishing in the area has been very good. Bluegill fishing has been very good in the backwater areas. In the Prairie du Chien area nice sized gills are being caught on the Ambro Slough. Many other back water areas are producing very nice fish. Look for areas with little or no current and fish in the flooded areas. Most are using worms for bait. Some anglers are fishing from the shorelines in the newly flooded areas and finding some bluegills. Cold Spring was good on most days last week. Perch have really turned on recently. Look for perch in the flooded back water areas. Chunks of night crawlers and minnows have worked very well. Also start checking for perch at the dams. Crappies have been caught in flooded timber and weed edges on minnows. White bass action has been very spotty. Largemouth bass action has been spectacular. Bass seem to be all over in the flooded area, along weed edges, in the timber and back water sloughs. Many anglers report catching “piles” of bass. Bass are biting from Prairie du Chien up to Ferryville. Smallmouth action has been good too. Check closing dams and wing dams for smallies. Walleye and sauger action has been good. Anglers are using One Eyes and live bait. Walleyes are being taken along drop offs, in deep water slough and numerous locations along the main channel of the Mississippi River. Northern pike have been taken in the flooded areas normally incidentally to bass fishing. Some really nice fish have been caught in the weeds. Sheepshead action has improved with the lower water. Catfish have been feeding heavily on worms on the flooded islands. Squirrel hunters are reporting pretty good success. Some prime squirrel areas are still holding leaves which make it difficult to see them. However, with the great crop of acorns, walnuts and hickory nuts there seems to be a lot of squirrels searching the forest floor for food. Hunting conditions are improving as a lot of leaves are falling. Archery deer hunters are seeing improvements in hunting conditions. More leaves are falling, more corn is being harvested and more scrapes are showing up. Deer are starting to move a little more now that the pre-rut has started. Local hunters report a fair number of decent bucks roaming around and a pretty decent doe population. Waterfowl hunters entered the second season with improved water conditions. Duck hunters are finding a lot of wood ducks and some teal and mallards. Gadwalls have been common too. Hunting in the Prairie du Chien area has been pretty good. Up on Pool 9 hunters are finding mallards, widgeon, gadwalls, and wood ducks. Canada geese are still working the area. Hunters on the Wisconsin River are still finding a lot of wood ducks. For the most part the gnats are gone. Mosquitoes on the other hand are still around. October is normally the time when those pesky box-elder beetles and Asian lady bugs come out. Many have reported large numbers of both species entering dwellings.

Black River Falls DNR Service Center area
Black River State Forest - All ATV trails are closed for the season. ATV trails will open on Dec. 15 providing frozen ground conditions exist. This fall we will be continuing our upgrade work on the trails and readying them for the winter season. All campgrounds are currently on a first come first served basis. The group camp is reservable year-round. Pigeon Creek and the horse camp are not on the reservation system. East Fork will close for the season on December 1.

Eau Claire DNR Service Center area
Brunet Island State Park – Fall colors are past peak in our area. Most trees have shed their leaves. Species of birds seen or heard include: great blue herons, ravens, a variety of wrens, phoebes, turkey vultures, northern juncos, piliated woodpeckers, great horned and barred owls, osprey, bald eagles, and Canada geese. Campgrounds are open with electric sites, hand water pump, and a pit toilet. The shower facility and the picnic area flush toilet building are closed for the season. The camper dump station will remain open as weather permits.