1. MI: New fish passage between Boardman River and Lake Michigan.
At Grand Traverse Bay with construction starting in Oct:
> The goal of the new facility, the first of its kind, is to study the latest fish-sorting technologies and techniques to ultimately allow native species to move up and down the river and block invasive species, such as sea lamprey. Think of it as an E-ZPass for fish, the right kind of fish.
Crazy technology. Would love to see how that works in person…if it works….
2. MB: Can now buy fishing licenses online.
Finally! I always like to support stoppin’ in local businesses, but old-school handwritten paper licenses made it super tough for us out-of-towners coming through after business hours.
3. UT 30-day boat drying time required.
> Before the temporary boat ramp closure was implemented…nearly 1,000 boats launched at Lake Powell…. Because hot water decontaminations [if invasive mussels are found in boat inspections] were suspended for 5 days before the boat ramp closure, Lake Powell boaters who left the lake before the closure or who remove their boats after the closure are required to wait 30 days before they launch their watercraft at another UT waterbody.
4. NY/CT/NJ governors open up marinas and boatyards.
5. WY: Folks now have 12,400 more acres to fish/hunt.
Thx to a $4K donation from WY Sportsman’s Group to the Access Yes program.
> Access Yes is a program that facilitates the partnership between private landowners and the Wyoming Game and Fish Dept to provide hunters and anglers free public hunting and fishing access on private land and inaccessible public land.
> In 2019, donations provided more than 2.8 million acres of hunting access on otherwise inaccessible private, state and landlocked public lands and 4,007 lake acres and 89 stream miles were provided for fishing.
6. IN: $1.24 mil LARE grant will be used to improve H2O.
LARE = Lake and River Enhancement program:
> “DNR grants totaling $573,400 will be used in sediment or logjam removal projects…in 10 counties. The other $670,010 will be used to fight aquatic invasive plants…involving 53 lakes and 3 rivers in 14 counties.”
7. IA Great Lakes walleye season opens May 2.
Spirit Lake, East and West Okoboji lakes.
8. ICAST cancelled.
The fishing biz trade show in Orlando. Well, they cancelled their in-person show…but have something else in the works:
> “As the largest sportfishing industry trade show in the world, we look forward to producing ICAST 2020 Online, our version of a “virtual trade show,” that will provide a wide variety of tools and a wealth of information that you’ve come to expect from us. We will share more with you very soon!”
I still plan on putting together a “Special Issue” to shout-out new fishin’ schtuff coming down the pipe.
9. VT walleye season opens May 2.
10. Trokar is renaming/numbering its trebles.
> The TK300 will now be known as the TK934 and the TK310 as the TK949. The change is solely in the hook part numbers — anglers can expect the same elite grade performance they have come to expect out of both hooks….
> The change aligns product families within the larger Eagle Claw umbrella, bringing the Trokar treble hooks with identical features but a Trokar point, into an alpha numeric part number that ties the TK934 together with the Lazer Sharp L934 and the TK949 together with the L949.
11. Lamiglass has a new short stick.
In their new-for-2020 Assassin Walleye series rods:
> The 5′ 6″ model, dubbed “The Detroiter,” is the stiffest walleye jigging rod we make and is the perfect option for heavier jigs in depths of 50′ or more.
13. How to use the Troll Master app.
Phone app that uses a “physics-based calculation” to determine how deep cranks are running.
14. KY: Asian carp being exported to China…for food?
Company called Two Rivers Fisheries plans to process 4,000 tons of Asian carp out of the Mississippi River and the Ohio River in 2020.
