justnorth posted on October 30, 2007 07:19 :: 1645 Views
A hard frost hit the Northwoods this week, which along with rainy and windy weather conditions statewide have brought down a lot of leaves across the state. Leaf drop is now near complete in the north, with leaves blanketing the forest floor. Although most leaves are off the trees, the tamarack tree is in its full golden glory. The tamarack is the only native conifer in Wisconsin that will turn color and shed its needles in the fall. The Wisconsin Department of Tourism Fall Color Report now has leaf color at peak or past peak in Central Wisconsin and near peak or at peak in the south.
Much needed rain over the last week has brought up the water levels on lakes and rivers. Water levels on some northern lakes is now a few inches above normal, after many lakes being down a foot or more last month. Water temperatures have dropped to low 50s and upper 40s.
Colder, rainy weather kept fishing pressure down in the last week, with just a few die-hard musky and walleye anglers out in the north, with action for both species picking up. Fish are moving into there fall patterns where they will feed heavily to put on weight. Musky fishing was also good in the south. Crappies have also been hitting pretty well on southern lakes.
Fishing on Green Bay this past week was fairly good. The rain and winds kept fishing pressure down during the week, but weather was great over the weekend. Limits of perch continued to be reported. Some nice northern continue to show up in or near Little Sturgeon Bay. Rough conditions kept most of the anglers off the piers on the Lake Michigan side and very few trollers were going out on the lake. The rain over the last week brought up the water levels on all tributaries. As such, more fish were heading up the rivers. Anglers were having more success catching chinook and coho salmon and brown trout have been reported as well, but the fall salmon runs will probably begin to wind down.
The Mississippi River is on the rise again. Last week the river dropped down to about 9.3 feet but by early this week it was back up to 10.1 feet. The river is expected to rise another foot this week cresting out around 11 feet. Fishing was good again this week with bluegill, crappie, smallmouth bass, walleye and sauger all being caught.
Camping is winding down at state parks and forests, and many properties have begun to close some of their campsite and shut down water facilities for the season. This includes recreational vehicle dump and fill stations, water taps, running water restrooms, and showers. Winterized water taps are usually available at designated locations and pit toilet buildings are open in most campgrounds. However, there will still be a lot of activity at parks this coming weekend with nearly a dozen parks scheduling Halloween activities including several candlelight and jack-o-lantern hikes.
Beaver are busy getting their winter cache built up before freeze up. They will pile up branches and logs near their lodge, which will keep them fed throughout the winter when the lakes and ponds are frozen over. Archery hunters are reporting increased pre-rut activity with bucks chasing does and numerous ground scrapes.
Woodcock have been slowly but steadily filtering into southern Wisconsin and are being seen in bottomlands along rivers and in upland shrubby habitats. The first tundra swans have arrived on the Mississippi. Large numbers likely will not be present until the first full week of November. Canada goose population are near peak at Horicon Marsh with at least 150,000 geese reported this week. The geese fly out of the marsh in the morning to feed among the uplands, so the best viewing is at the end of the day when they return to rest on the marsh for the evening. There were also more than 80,000 ducks on the marsh with all of the species of puddle ducks present and the first of the northern migrant diving ducks arriving.
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