I’ve just gone through a brief period of nothingness comparable to going fishing and catching nothing. My computer reminded me of what it’s like to have fishless outings. I had signed on, signed off, rebooted, only to have been met by a less responsive computer each use.
I tried all kinds of techniques that should have brought success to my methods.
Nothing!
The Second Annual Wisconsin State High School Fishing Championship is coming up fast. WCSFO supports programs like this because we want to see the younger generation get involved in our Sport. They are our future. We need more programs like this.
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The purpose of the tournament is to support and promote students respectfully enjoying the outdoors.
Feb 25. Menomonie Park, Oshkosh, WI. This tournament is in conjunction with Battle on Bago.
1. High School students form teams of 5-10. $25/team. There is no limit to the number of teams per school.
2. Your team rosters, registration and $25/team must be received by Wednesday Feb 22. Email Greg Franzen at franzengreg@aasd.k12.wi.us to get the registration form. Fill it out, write checks to Oshkosh SW Rotory and send to:
3. All students must be from the same school.
4. Each team must have an Adult School Approved Chaperone/Coach that is present during the whole tournament and prize distribution. Teams must be predetermined and are allowed to fish together, but please keep their catches separate.
5. Students must catch and land all fish that are registered. Setting the hook, fighting and landing the fish must be done by students. Chaperones are not allowed to physically assist in anyway in the landing of a fish.
6. Chaperones are allowed to fish as long as they keep their fish separate at all times from the students’ catch.
7. Fishing for the HS tournament will be from 7:00am-1:30pm. You do not need to stop at the park before fishing.
8. Be in line to register fish by 2:00pm at the Tent at Menomonee Park in Oshkosh. You can weigh in 10 fish/team. Fish must be walleye, panfish(perch, bluegill or crappie), white bass or burbot.
9. The awards and prize drawings will begin at approximately 2:30pm.
10. The top three teams, based on weight, will receive a small trophy. The top 3 teams will get to pick a door prize in the order of finish. The remainder of teams’ names will be put into a drawing to pick a door prize. A list of door prizes will be sent out before Feb 25.
11. Teams are encouraged to sell raffle tickets for Battle on Bago. Schools will be reimbursed 60% of their raffle ticket sales. A check will be made out to the schools outdoor club fund and is meant to be used to promote students in the outdoors, especially fishing. The check will be sent out before the next school year. The tickets are to be sold for $5/each or 5 for $20. Make sure the stubs, extra tickets and money to Greg Franzen (see address above) by Wed Feb 22.
12. If for some reason, the HS portion of Battle on Bago gets cancelled, we will put all teams into a drawing at noon on Feb 25. We hope one advisor from each team can make it to Oshkosh to pick up the door prize.
13. Battle on Bago or its organizers can not ensure the safety of any participant. Going onto the ice can be dangerous and deadly. Safety is not the responsibility of Battle on Bago. Please exercise extreme caution on the lake. Lake Winnebago can be a very dangerous lake with unstable ice.
14. Ties will be decided by length of longest fish.
15. Teams are to take their fish with them and make every effort to clean and eat the fish.
16. Hotel information can be found at http://www.battleonbago.org/general-information/lodging.
-- REGISTRATION FORM – Click Here
and share what you see!MADISON -- Anglers' fish-eating habits -- and favorite recipes for their catch -- are the focus of new state efforts aimed at increasing awareness about the health benefits of eating fish while reducing exposure to environmental contaminants.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services is seeking male anglers 50 years and older to complete an online survey about their fish consumption (exit DNR). Previous surveys have shown that some older men eat more fish than younger men or women. And while those most vulnerable to the effects of environmental contaminants are pregnant women, their developing fetuses and young children -- older adults also can be affected, according to Pamela Imm, with the DHS Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health.
The online survey, found at study.uwsc.wisc.edu/anglers (exit DNR), seeks information on where this group fishes, how much and what type of fish they eat, and where they get information about consumption advice.
At the same time, the Department of Natural Resources is seeking favorite recipes for fish caught from Wisconsin waters. A selection of recipes from entrants will be included in an online cookbook, Healthy Dishes With Wisconsin's Fishes.
The survey and outreach are funded by federal dollars targeted at improving fish advisory programs throughout the Great Lakes, says Candy Schrank, a DNR toxicologist who coordinates the fish consumption advisory DNR jointly issues every year with the state health services department.
"Wisconsin and other Great Lakes states want to know more about people who eat fish and how to get information to them on the health benefits and risks of eating fish," she says.
The data that DNR collected over the past 40 years on mercury and PCBs in fish show contaminant levels at some locations have dropped, supporting assertions that fish respond to sediment cleanup and mercury emission reductions. However, mercury levels are still high enough that most waters carry a statewide consumption advisory with about 149 having more stringent advice due to higher levels of mercury, PCBs or other chemicals.
More information about Wisconsin’s fish consumption advice and contaminant levels in state residents who frequently eat fish, can be found in "Give in to Fish Fervor" in the December 2011 issue of Natural Resources Magazine or on the Fish Consumption Advisories page of the DNR website.
Entries sought for Healthy Dishes with Wisconsin Fishes cookbook
DNR is seeking recipes for an online cookbook, “Healthy Dishes with Wisconsin Fishes.” "We hope to collect healthy recipes for a wide variety of Wisconsin species," says Sonya Rowe, a DNR communications specialist for the fish contaminant program. "We want to draw more attention to the health benefits of safely eating Wisconsin fish."
Recipes must be the entrant's own, feature Wisconsin fish species and be cooked (not smoked or pickled). The contest is limited to one entry per household, and people can submit their entry using the form found on the Healthy Dishes with Wisconsin Fishes contest web page. The deadline is April 1, 2012.
Recipes will be judged on originality and creativity, healthiness, ease of preparation, species of fish and added details on the recipe's origin and how or where it was caught, Rowe says.
Dec. 12 - Jerry Opicka, panfishing expert, past WFC president, “Ice Fishing & Safety.” Learn ice fishing hot spots, equipment, baits that work, safety, techniques, how to read ice, 7 p.m. FREE! Big Dog Pub & Grill, formerly Yester Years Pub and Grill, 9427 W. Greenfield Ave., West Allis, 414-476-9055. Contact: Cliff Schulz, President, (414) 453-9913, LindaESchulz@WI.RR.com. Fishing reports, fishing equipment raffle, plus hot food is available. New members are always welcome.
Have a great holiday fishing season,
Larry Van Veghel
WFC, Media Director & Secretary and
WCSFO, Media Director & Secretary
The following information is the latest fishing
information for the Root River in Racine. We will post new information to this site every TUESDAY at 4:00 pm from September through December and from March through May. We will also update the number of fish processed at the Root River Steelhead Facility to give you the exact number of fish passed upstream. Depending on water conditions and number of fish in the weir, fish are usually processed on Mondays and Thursdays.
In addition, you can call our Lake Michigan Fishing Hotline at (414) 382-7920 highlighting to hear the latest fishing information for Lake Michigan and its tributaries or check out our Lake Michigan Outdoor Report
Lake Michigan trout and salmon don't successfully reproduce in Wisconsin streams, so DNR gives Mother Nature a hand. Watch fisheries crews collect eggs and milt from spawning fish to create the next generation of steelhead to challenge anglers on the big pond.
The river was high and fast over the weekend, but is currently dropping. The water temperature was 46 degrees.
For up to date river conditions, check out the USGS web site of stream flow conditions [exit DNR] in Wisconsin.
Upstream of the Weir
Fishing success was lower this weekend than it has been most of the fall, but that was likely due to the higher flows. Anglers caught coho, brown trout, and a couple of rainbow trout. Pink flies were most productive in the area from the Horlick dam downriver into Quarry Lake Park.
Downstream of the Weir
Fishing was slow below the weir, with only a few brown trout caught in Lincoln Park over the weekend.
UW Sea Grant outreach specialists will spend the fall helping Wisconsin's coastal communities ensure they're prepared for the potential impacts of climate change.
November 3, 2011
By Aaron R. Conklin
Are Wisconsin’s coastal communities prepared for the potential effects of climate change? Outreach specialists from the University of Wisconsin-Madison Sea Grant Institute plan to spend the next several months discovering the answer.
Through a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA ) administered through the federal Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, David Hart, UW Sea Grant’s geographic information systems outreach specialist and graduate student Evan Murdock, will meet with representatives from as many as 35 cities and villages in 11 different counties located on Wisconsin’s Lake Michigan coasts.
Just don’t refer to their efforts as a workshop. Other groups, including the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) system, have already laid that groundwork, providing local officials with information about the ways significant changes in precipitation and lake levels could affect their communities. Hart and Murdock’s efforts will be focused on something far more specific--implementation assistance.
“The thought was to take the body of work that’s been done on climate adaptation and put it into a community checklist, where we could go in for a few hours to most of a day and meet with local government officials, and walk through it,” said Hart. “The checklist condenses the issues down to the answer to a simple question: How does this relate to your community?”
The project is a collaborative effort with Minnesota Sea Grant. Jesse Schomberg, a coastal communities specialist with Minnesota Sea Grant and co-investigator on the project, will hold similar discussions with leaders in Lake Superior coastal communities. Key areas for discussion include several of the same ones raised in the recently published report Wisconsin’s Changing Climate: Impacts and Adaptation: ports, harbors, marinas and stormwater detention/retention and conveyance systems.
“Are those facilities in good shape for the kind of variability we might see in the lake levels?” asked Hart. “We want to discuss the possibility that more intense storms are changing the patterns of precipitation events (both in intensity and frequency) and how these communities might be ready for that.”
Some of the checklist discussions will likely center on each community’s comprehensive and hazard mitigation plans, and how much climate adaptation awareness those plans include. Hart realizes that for many Wisconsin coastal communities, climate change may not be resting on the front burner.
“Communities’ budgets are shrinking,” said Hart. “When you’re dealing with issues of maintaining basic community services such as police and fire protection, these types of climate-change issues fall to the background. They’re in the future and it’s hard to know what they are. “
Still, there’s no question that the issues are important—no local official wants to be stuck with a massive cleanup bill because an insufficient or undersized stormwater system allowed runoff to flood low-lying areas or pollute nearby streams, rivers and lakes. Hart said he’s hopeful the opportunity to provide communities with actual products and services to help manage climate change issues will help move the discussion forward into action.
For instance, UW Sea Grant Coastal Engineer Gene Clark and Minnesota Sea Grant Maritime Educator Dale Bergeron have created a port assets matrix and dredging cost estimation tool that assesses the potential infrastructure, dredging and economic risks harbors may face from changing water levels and/or increased storm wave action. In addition, Hart has worked to create visualization models that could help characterize how climate change could affect coastal topography.
“These are changes that are probably going to happen to communities over the next decade,” said Hart. “The longer you’re aware of them, the more likely you’re able to successfully address them. If you put this off for 10-20 years and all of a sudden we start seeing lake levels change even more, it becomes a harder and more expensive problem to solve. Talking about them now just gives us some more time to spread the cost of being able to address these issues, to where it becomes more manageable. “
In addition to the climate adaptation checklist, the project will also help extend climate-change curriculum and partnerships with tribal governments.
