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 SHOW #522 | 2010 MAY 29 |  | ►Rhinelander, Wisconsin is the Ice Fishing Capital of the World!
►Lake Delton Youth Fishing Jamboree June 5.
►Fishing action is hot on both Wisconsin Great Lakes. |  | ► Jeff shoots sporting clays at The Highlands Hunt Club and gets set for a family Hawaiian Luau
►Dan will help coordinate the Lake Delton Youth Fishing Jamboree | | RESULTS ► POLL s520
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has teamed up with the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) to produce a series of public service announcements to encourage people to leave baby birds and animals alone. Was this partnership a good idea?
YES 15% | NO 83% | MAYBE 0% | UNDECIDED 0% | OTHER 0%
IMPRESSIONS: 462 | RESPONSES: 6 | COMMENTS: 0
RESULTS ► POLL s521
Question 8 at the 2010 Spring Fish & Wildlife Rules Hearings asked if participants supported the use of telescopic sights during the muzzleloader-only deer season. Do you approve of this proposal?
YES 40% | NO 60% | MAYBE 0% | UNDECIDED 0% | OTHER 0%
IMPRESSIONS:320 | RESPONSES: 5 | COMMENTS: 0 | |  INSTANT SURVEY VOTE ON - POLL s522:
Do you think Wisconsin should extend the inland trout season from September 30 until October 31?
Background: At the Spring Fish & Game Rules Hearings, Wisconsin Conservation Congress advisory question No. 87 on whether the DNR should extend the inland trout season into October passed by a narrow margin, 1,757 for, 1,519 against. The inland trout season currently closes on September 30. Some trout anglers feel an extension of the season through the end of October would provide added fishing opportunity. Several other states have later closure dates or a year-round open season. It is anticipated that fikshing pressure would be light in October and pose no threat to the trout population in inland streams. Opponents believe that allowing fishing when brown and brook trout are spawning might hurt the population of these species. To Read more ... |  |  When you leave a COMMENT you are entered into the drawing for a ... ZipVac portable vacuum sealer starter kit, complete with a rechargeable pump, a hand-operated pump and reusable, resealable storage bags. . Follow ZipVac on Twitter and subscribe to the ZipVac blog.
| | |  | | Looking for Fishing Contests? Find them all online.
RUFFED GROUSE SOCIETY BANQUETS & EVENTS Online Info: May 31: Deadline for 3rd annual RGS Youth Poster & Essay Contest for young writers ages 12-18 and artists ages 5-11. Essay contest first prize: Tri-Star Youth Model Semi Auto 20 gauge, one-year Junior Membership to RGS, and RGS cap. Poster contest first prize: Pair of Steiner 8 X 22 Safari Series binoculars, one-year Junior Membership to RGS, and RGS cap.
June 5: Ann Arbor/Detroit, sporting clays shoot and banquet
June 13: Madison, Wis., grouse flurry
June 18: Gaylord, MI banquet
June 27: Traverse City, MI Youth Fun Shoot OTHER EVENTS Now through Labor Day: Town of Eagle in Waukesha County, WI - Eagle Springs Lake 2nd annual carp attack. $500 reward for catching or shooting one of 6 tagged carp. If you get one, Contact: Tom Day at 262-594-3231. Dispose of untagged carp in the dumpster at the public boat landing.
June 5: First Annual Lake Delton Kids Fishing Jamboree, 9 a.m.-1:00 p.m. Meet at Kaminsky Park on Lake Delton, fishing on Mirror Lake and Wisconsin River. Online Info: Contact: Ben Hobbins, 608-513-3535 June 9: Walleyes Unlimited USA will hold a meeting at the Root River Lanes on W. Rawson Ave. in Franklin. Matt Bichanich will speak on bass, walleye and crappie fishing tools. The meeting starts at 7 p.m. Cost to non-members is $5. Online Info:• June 12: First Shots introduction to shotgun shooting for women, sponsored by Girls with Guns, Stone Bank Sportsmen's Club, 9 a.m.-noon. Online Info: Contact: Kim Laughland 262-820-1827 June 19: Introduction to pistol shooting sports for women, Stone Bank Sportsmen's Club, 9 a.m.-noon. Online Info: Contact: Kim Laughland 262-820-1827 June 25-27: Deer Fest, Wisconsin's largest all-deer festival, Sunnyview Expo Center, Oshkosh. Meet Lee & Tiffany Lakosky, The Bone Collectors, the Buck & Duck Commanders, Pat Reeve & Nicole Jones. Seminars, exhibits, demos and more. Online Info: June 26: Introduction to shotgun shooting sports for women at Stone Bank Sportsmen's Club, 9 a.m.-noon. Online Info: Contact: Kim Laughland 262-820-1827
|  | | Efforts to control aquatic invasive species helping, but invaders continue to spread MADISON – Memorial Day weekend arrives with Wisconsin lakes and rivers better protected against aquatic invasive species because of state actions, state invasive species officials say. But the confirmation of zebra mussels and Eurasian water milfoil in new waters in 2009 underscores the need for boaters, anglers and others to continue taking steps to prevent the invaders from spreading. 
“New laws, more local partners, and good awareness of the prevention steps give us a stronger foundation to keep new invaders out and control the spread of the invaders that are already here,” says Jeff Bode, longtime leader of Department of Natural Resources lake protection and aquatic invasive species control programs.
“But the key is for boaters and anglers to be vigilant about taking the required prevention steps,” he says. “There are more waters with invasive species this year, and that means more opportunities for people to accidentally spread the invaders if they are not careful.”
Those steps generally require boaters and anglers to avoid moving water, plants, fish and other organisms from one lake or river to another. New law requires boats to be clean before they leave launch While boaters and anglers have long been advised to clean off their boats before leaving the landing, a new law prohibits boats from leaving the launch “dirty.”
It is illegal for people to drive away from a boat landing with aquatic plants or animals attached to their boat, trailer or vehicle. A first citation of this so-called “transporting” law carries a penalty ranging from $232 to $767.50 and a second offense within three years carries a penalty that ranges up to $2,657.
DNR conservation wardens and specialized deputy wardens known as “Water Guards” will be making traffic stops of vehicles travelling on public highways and observed to have aquatic plants or zebra mussels attached to the vehicle, boat, trailer or other equipment. They will be issuing warnings and educating people about the new law, says Water Guard Mac Hannon.
“We will be stressing education over enforcement,” Hannon says. “While citations may be issued in some cases, our goal is to get all boaters to voluntarily follow this law in order to protect Wisconsin lakes, rivers and fish.” Rapid response to new invaders working Wisconsin's new invasive species rule, which was effective Sept. 1, 2009 and classifies invasive plants and animals as “prohibited” or “restricted” and sets regulations for each category, has been working.
“The new rule has allowed us to respond quickly to contain early introductions of new invasive like the red swamp crayfish, yellow floating heart and Brazilian water weed,” Bode says. “We can get on it by engaging the local community and working quickly to try to eradicate it if possible.”
The rule allowed a response last fall when red swamp crayfish, a destructive, invasive crayfish found for the first time in Wisconsin in two Germantown ponds, and when the invasive plant yellow floating heart was found in two stormwater ponds near Lake Delavan in Walworth County. DNR staff were able to work with local officials to rapidly develop and carry out control plans.
Another new rule, effective February 2010, regulates the ballast water of large oceangoing ships; ballast water is the main source of new invaders to the Great Lakes. Local prevention and control efforts grow The number of local partners working on controlling aquatic invasive species continued to grow in 2009, bolstered by a second year of increased state prevention and control grant money available to communities. DNR expects to award nearly $4 million this year in grants in 2010, roughly the same amount provided last year to counties, tribes, universities, lake groups and other eligible recipients.
“We're excited about the growing awareness and active participation by local partners,” says Bob Wakeman, who coordinates aquatic invasive species control efforts for DNR. “Without these local partners and a dedicated corps of volunteers, aquatic invasive species would be even a greater struggle to contain.”
More than 30 county and regional partners now have staff coordinating their efforts to prevent and contain the spread of invasive species. In addition, the corps of dedicated volunteers who spend their weekends and holidays educating boaters or conducting plant surveys continued to hold steady and play a vital role in education, boat inspection, and monitoring waters for new invaders. Volunteers accounted for 70 percent of the hours spent on boat inspections statewide in 2009. Invaders continue to spread but good news as well Despite these efforts, the number of waters with invasive species continued to grow at a pace similar to recent years. Twenty-two new waters were found to have Eurasian water milfoil and 10 were confirmed as having zebra mussels. Spiny water fleas were found in the Madison chain of lakes, representing the third inland occurrence in Wisconsin.
The silver lining: quagga mussels, the more damaging cousin of zebra mussels, did not spread inland from Lake Michigan, nor did round gobies. Testing also did not find any inland sites where fish had viral hemorrhagic septicemia, although the virus that causes the disease was confirmed in fish from Lake Superior, where it had been suspected because it is connected to waters where VHS had already been found. Aquatic Invasive Species fast facts - Ninety-seven percent of Wisconsin's 15,081 lakes and 44,000 miles of streams are free of the most troublesome invaders, and 75 percent of lakes with public access are free of Eurasian water milfoil and zebra mussels.
- Eurasian water milfoil is now found in 536 lakes and river
- Zebra mussels are found in 130 lakes and rivers
- 52,777 boats were inspected by volunteers and paid inspectors
- $14 million in DNR grants provided to local governments
- 114,202 people were contacted about the clean boats, clean waters message
- 16 percent of all boats inspected had plants attached; of these, the majority of the boaters remove the plants as requested
- 25 percent of boats had been in another waterbody in the last five days.
- 31 counties actively partnering with DNR to prevent and control aquatic invasive species
- 68 citations issued for people violating invasive species and VHS laws and rules
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
- Jeff Bode (608) 266-0502 or
- Bob Wakeman (262) 574-2149
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