justnorth posted on April 14, 2007 11:14 :: 1422 Views
Winter made an abrupt interruption to spring this week, with up to 8 inches of snow falling in portions of southern Wisconsin with much of the lower half of the state receiving between 3 to 7 inches. This storm missed northern Wisconsin, but a snowstorm last week dropped as much as 15 inches of snow in areas of the north. Snowmobilers are reminded that despite the recent snowfalls, county snowmobile trails are now closed, as the easements have ended for the season and that riding on closed trails can damage the soft ground and may jeopardize future trail easements with private property owners.
The recent cold temperatures and snow put a major damper on fishing this week. In the north, many of the lakes that had open water last week have formed ice once again. Lakes had opened as far north as Oneida County. Chequamegon Bay still has "thin" ice, but warmer temperatures and a good south wind will clear it out in no time. Lake Superior tributary fishing slowed with the snow and cold. Lake Superior is at near record lows as far as water depth. Large sand bars along the Lake Superior shore and back bays that are dried up are the norm. Smelt netters are getting ready and there may be some activity this weekend along the Ashland shoreline if the ice moves out.
Only the die-hard anglers were out battling the elements in the north. Walleye were being caught on the Menomonee, Peshtigo and Oconto rivers below dams. Suckers were also starting to move in as well making it tough fishing at times. The very cold and windy spring also made fishing difficult in the south, but nice catches of panfish were still being caught by anglers willing to brave the weather.
Anglers fishing for brown trout had a great week at the Manitowoc harbor and a fair week at Two Rivers and Sheboygan lakefronts. Boaters trolling out on Lake Michigan off the Oconto and Manitowoc had a good weekend for brown and lake trout. Steelhead anglers had success on the Branch, East Twin and Sheboygan rivers. Flows were still high on the Milwaukee River, but some steelhead were taken. On the Root River water temperatures dropped considerably and steelhead action slowed. The Root River Steelhead Facility has met egg taking goals, with approximately 660,000 eggs taken.
Water levels on the Rock and Crawfish Rivers are near or just above flood stage especially on the lower Rock River by Fort Atkinson. Jefferson County’s emergency slow-no-wake ordinance is still in effect on the rivers in the county due to high water levels. The walleye run on the Rock and Crawfish rivers has all but shut off due to falling water temperatures.
The Mississippi River dropped late last week but has started to come up and was at 13.8 feet on Monday. The forecast for the river is for a 2 foot drop in the next week. That will depend on precipitation in the upper reaches of the river basin. The high water was causing difficulties for fishing.
Good numbers of young hunters were reportedly out for last weekend’s first Wisconsin youth turkey hunt. The first of six periods for the regular spring turkey season opened this week. Turkey hunters will be out in the woods Wednesdays through Sundays through May 20.
The cold temperatures and snow have also thrown a wrench into the bird migrations. Robins, tree swallows, phoebes, yellow-rumped warblers, kinglets, meadowlarks and other birds are resorting to alternate foraging strategies as they deal with this temporary bought of winter. Large numbers of common loons, diving ducks and horned grebes are being seen on larger southern lakes as the migration has stalled out a Despite the snow and cold the first great-horned owl chicks are beginning to leave the nest and sandhill cranes are starting to build nests and sit on eggs.
Sharp-tailed grouse have begun congregating on their courtship sights called dancing grounds or leks in the north. Males do courtship displays by "dancing" in a small circle and vibrating their tail feathers to make a rattling sound.
Early spring woodland flowers are beginning to make their appearances. These early bloomers include hepatica, or liverleaf, bloodroot and Dutchman's breeches. Garlic mustard is really visible right now, making this a good time of year to fight this invasive species.
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