1. WI: Body pulled from Lake Waubesa after 45-yr-old ice fisherman…
…didn’t return home as expected. 😥 Ugh. Sounds like his ATV went thru. Prayers to the family.
2. MI: Sheriff uses hovercraft + drone to rescue stranded ice fisherman
> The man had snowmobiled out onto the ice but found it was too thin for the vehicle. He then walked farther out. The man was fishing when the wind caused the ice he was on to detach.
> …became stranded on an ice floe that was headed for shipping lanes in the St. Marys River was rescued by local authorities using a hovercraft and drone.
3. ME: Teen pulls 100-lb sled 30 miles to raise awareness for veterans.
> 16-yr-old Xavier Freebairn-Lopes pulled the sled of ice fishing gear as part of his Eagle Scout project called Operation Ice Eagle, which will see him and his father build a handicapped-accessible ice fishing shelter for disabled veterans.
> “These veterans have spent all their time to help this country and community out. And if I can put a little bit of pain on my body to help them out in some way, I would love to do that.”
4. WI: Upper Fox River study tracks walleye travel.
> “Will Lake Puckaway walleyes tagged this past fall be homebodies, sticking to the lake, or adventurers, exploring the Upper Fox River and spawning in habitat they haven’t been able to reach for more than a century?
> “A new DNR study…aims to answer those questions and document if walleyes have changed where they migrate and spawn since fishways were added to the Montello dam in 2014 and Princeton dam in 2020.
> …in Oct 2022…DNR biologists implanted sonic tags in 16 adult walleyes in Lake Puckaway, which straddles Green Lake and Marquette counties. They hope to implant sonic tags in more Lake Puckaway walleye in 2023 when the team begins a comprehensive fisheries survey there. They also hope to expand the study to walleyes on Buffalo Lake.
> “Sonic-tagged fish can be detected by a network of acoustic receivers attached to bridges along the Upper Fox River. When a fish swims within 1/4 mile of a receiver, it records the fish’s identification number and the date and time it swam by.”
5. MI: Tagged walleye caught on Houghton Lake.
For now he received a $50 gas card and was entered into the contest…but the tagged fish could be worth $100K and a new Lund boat from Spicer’s Boat City in Houghton Lake – the grand prize in Houghton Lake Area Tourism Bureau’s (HLATB) “Catch Us If You Can” year-round fishing contest.
6. IA: Statewide CPR walleye challenge, May 1 – Jun 30.
> The DNR is partnering for a second year with MyCatch by Angler’s Atlas to conduct a statewide [catch-photo-release] walleye fishing challenge May 1 through Jun 30. The IA Chapter of the American Fisheries Society has joined as a research partner for the 2023 challenge.
> Anglers will have the chance to win weekly prizes while also contributing to fisheries research, helping improve walleye fishing in the state.
> Participating anglers are encouraged to report all the walleye they catch in May and June through the MyCatch mobile app. The mobile app maintains anonymous location data, so angler’s secret sports stay secret. DNR fisheries biologists will use the generalized lake and river catch data entered to assess and manage walleye populations across IA.
There’s a $25 fee to enter the tournament – register here.
7. MI: New interactive map for master angler and state-record catches.