Contact: Neal Godby, 231-340-2621 or Tim Cwalinski, 231-340-0276

The 2025 lake sturgeon fishing season on Black Lake in Cheboygan County, Michigan, will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 1. All anglers must register online in advance to participate in the fishing season, and those age 17 or older must have a valid Michigan fishing license.

The harvest limit for the 2025 season on Black Lake is six lake sturgeon. Officials will close the season when one of two scenarios occurs:

The sixth fish is harvested.
Five fish have been harvested at the end of any fishing day.
Fishing hours are 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. each day of the season. The season will end either at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, or when one of the above scenarios is met, at which point anglers will be notified via text message and on the ice by DNR personnel that they must immediately stop fishing for lake sturgeon.

Anyone who wants to participate this year must register online by Jan. 31. Get more registration and season information at Michigan.gov/Sturgeon. Read more

Every year, the Department of Natural Resources stocks fish in Michigan waters to provide fishing opportunities and maintain healthy ecosystems. Where do these stocked fish come from? It all starts with collecting fish eggs, and the DNR has been working hard this fall gathering the necessary eggs to produce fish for stocking. Fall egg collections have been completed for wild Chinook and coho salmon and for captive broodstocks of brown, brook and lake trout, and rainbow trout egg collection will soon begin.

Chinook salmon eggs were collected Oct. 1–16 at the Little Manistee River Weir. Eggs and milt (sperm) are gathered from fish during the annual salmon run. At the weir, salmon swim up a fish ladder and into holding ponds. From there, fish are brought into the facility, where eggs and milt are collected and the eggs are fertilized.

“We experienced a solid run of wild Chinook salmon this year,” said Aaron Switzer, Fish Production Program manager. “The run at the Little Manistee was healthy enough to provide all of Michigan’s egg needs. We were also able to provide eggs to Indiana and Illinois state-owned fish hatcheries. Once hatched, reared and stocked all of these Chinook salmon contribute to the Lake Michigan salmon fishery.”

Coho salmon eggs were collected at the Platte River State Fish Hatchery Weir from Oct. 15 to Nov. 1.

“We collected nearly 6.5 million coho salmon eggs at the Platte River weir by the time the egg collection wrapped up. Read more

When the eggnog is finished and the last of the holiday feasts are over, many live Christmas trees are destined to sit next to the road until the sanitation department picks them up. Instead of tossing your festive fir to the curb on Dec. 26, donate it to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Habitat for the Holidays program.

AGFC biologists throughout the state have designated special Christmas tree donation locations where you can deliver your tree so it can be used as fish habitat in local lakes.

The drop-off locations act just like a “take-a-penny, leave-a-penny tray” at a cashier’s station, only it’s for fish. Anyone who wants to drop off their natural Christmas tree can take it to a location and leave it. Any angler who wants to take the trees and sink them can do so throughout January. After that, AGFC staff will take the remainder of the trees and freshen up some of the existing fishing hotspots found on the AGFC interactive map.

Anglers should bring their own rope and weights to sink the trees. Paracord works well to bind trees together and attach the weight (sandbags and cinder blocks are most commonly used).

Christmas trees are relatively short-term habitat because they don’t have much thick woody material, but they can be gathered in clusters easily and sunk in large groups. The main stems will last longer than the wispy branches and continue to draw fish throughout the year. Many anglers use these Christmas trees to freshen up productive attractor sites every year, with the main trunks offering long-lasting cover and the branches of the new brush.

While skiing and snowboarding are often what first comes to mind when people think of outdoor recreation during the winter, ice fishing is another great activity for the coldest months of the year. If you are planning to go ice fishing this winter, here are a few things you should know. Read more

Take advantage of the gap between fall and ice fishing season to stalk the biggest muskies of the year.

Muskie fishermen are at the very least super focused on their quest to hook and land a giant, and truth be known, most are obsessed with it. Why else would somebody dedicate nearly every angling second in pursuit of these Jurassic-sized freshwater fish?

Muskie fishing is hardly a high-volume ordeal, and the old saying – yes, the ten thousand cast one, well it often rings true. But these fish keep numbers of anglers coming back for more punishment season after season. You could even call muskie fishing a lifestyle for many anglers. Naturally, some are just better at it than others.

One such angler is Lee Tauchen of Madison, Wisconsin. He has spent countless hours hammering away for the next big tug at the end of the line.

Fall muskie fishing is a grand finale for those who revel in their annual quest for fishing glory. It’s the BIG BOOM. This is when massive ‘skis put on the feedbag and forage with a fair amount of consistency, which is a welcome departure from their incredibly reliable propensity to make even the most battle-worn anglers question whether these mythical beasts exist. Fall, and during warm years such as this, early winter as well, are periods that increase the odds of breaking personal bests and landing a true record class fish. Read more

“Everything about our portable battery line-up has been re-designed and improved,” says Norsk Lithium VP of Strategy & Development, James Holst. “And we’ve been able to make all of the improvements to the features, internal components, and overall safety of our products without having to raise our prices.”

Starting with the 14.8 volt line, over the past couple of years discerning anglers have gravitated to Norsk’s higher voltage “orange” batteries due to the increased efficiency and longer runtimes for running everything from 7-inch displays up to 15-inch screens with live imaging/FF sonar and MEGA 360.

The first feature the company has added is Bluetooth® technology, allowing users to connect to the battery via the Norsk Guardian® app, providing anglers the runtime calculation to determine how much longer they can keep their sonar units powered. Read more