The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is thrilled to announce and celebrate the inclusion of three remarkable Florida waterbodies in Bassmaster’s prestigious “Top 10 Best Bass Lakes of 2023.” Fellsmere Reservoir/Stick Marsh, Orange Lake and Lake Okeechobee have captured the attention of anglers and fishing enthusiasts across the nation, solidifying Florida’s reputation as a premier bass fishing destination. Additionally, Florida lakes made a good showing in the Best Bass Lakes 2023: Southeastern as Fellsmere Reservoir, Orange Lake, Lake Okeechobee, Lake Toho, Lake Seminole (Jackson/Gadsden counties), Lake Placid, Lake Panasoffkee, Lake Istokpoga and Lake Rousseau are all featured on the list.
Bassmaster’s annual rankings are highly regarded within the angling community and serve as a testament to the incredible fishing opportunities available in the Sunshine State. Read more
By JOHN PEPIN
Deputy public information officer
Michigan Department of Natural Resources
In the western part of Wayne County, about 30 minutes west of Detroit, sits beautiful Belleville Lake – a popular, 1,250-acre playground for boaters, panfish and muskie anglers and in early July, fireworks watchers.
Judy Brothers has worked there as a summer ranger for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for the past three seasons.
A former General Motors worker who retired after more than 30 years on the job, Brothers took a part-time job a week after her GM “retirement” at Target where she stayed for nine years before leaving to work three more years as an assistant manager at Dollar Tree.
She said she loves her seasonal work at the DNR, her coworkers and the friends she’s made from people of different walks of life she’s met while working.
“I really, really enjoy my job,” she said. And she doesn’t want another one like it anytime soon.
A shimmering waterfront setting
Belleville Lake, the largest inland lake in southeast Michigan, was created in the 1920s when the Eastern Michigan Edison Co. being developed dammed the Huron River.
The DNR maintains two boating access sites there – east and west – that together attracted more than 95,000 visitors last year.
The east site is the busier of the two, with two docks – one for loading boats and other watercraft onto vehicles, and the other for launching.
This is where Brothers works weekends from mid-April to mid-October.
She said morning is usually a quieter time when she has an opportunity to clean up and perform other maintenance duties, like trimming trees and cutting weeds.
Afternoons get very busy when boaters start coming in.
Brothers has a booth at the entrance to the site, where she directs traffic and checks vehicles for Recreation Passports, required for entry.
She said began like most of her shifts except that with gray, cloudy skies threatening rain, there were fewer visitors than usual.
If the rain would only hold off, the Belleville Yacht Club next door would be holding its massive Fourth of July fireworks show after sundown that night, with a colorful, patriotic display for boaters and other revelers positioned around the rim of the lake.
Trouble on the water
Shortly after noon, Brothers checked in a boating party of five people – a family group of four men and one woman out for a day on the lake. Four were Michiganders and one was a visitor from Colorado.
The group put their 21-foot Marada boat in the water. “They got it started and they got it untied from the dock and they stalled,” Brothers said.
The boaters tried to restart the boat using a portable charger.
NORSK Lithium Reveals 50AH 12V LiFePO4 Deep Cycle Battery with Thermal Core Heating Technology – a powerful problem-solver for today’s kayak angler
New Hope, MN (July 6, 2023) – Interest in kayak fishing has grown significantly over the past half-dozen years or so, with hordes of anglers taking to the water in small, personal watercraft. Some ‘yaks are very basic sit-inside models with entry-level fish-finders—while other sit-on-top models are being rigged with the same forward-facing sonar, iPilot and Spot-Lock-enabled trolling motors you’d find on full-size bass boats. Electronic anchors have been downsized, too, providing even better boat control to kayak anglers.
Not to mention that many kayak anglers are filming their fishing forays for posting to social media, so there’s a power need for GoPro and other POV cameras, cell phone charging—as well as lighting, navigational and otherwise. Ultimately, what all levels of fishing kayaks have in common is the need for reliable power.
Enter NORSK Lithium.
With a full reveal scheduled for the morning of Tuesday, July 11th, at ICAST Booth #833 in Orlando, Florida, NORSK Lithium couldn’t be more excited to introduce the sportfishing industry to a brand-new design in lithium kayak batteries. Read more
SALT LAKE CITY — While there are a lot of great reservoirs and ponds where you can fish in Utah, the Beehive State also offers some excellent stream and river fishing. If you are planning any stream or river fishing this summer, here are a few things to know.
Where to go
When it comes to fishing opportunities, Utah offers everything from really small streams to larger rivers, and the experience will vary based on the size of the water. If you are interested in fishing smaller streams, a few notable options include:
Currant Creek (Juab and Utah counties)
The Right and Left Forks of Huntington Creek (Emery County)
HELENA – Working with the 68th Legislature, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks (FWP) and the Montana Department of Natural Resources and Conservation (DNRC) simplified licensing requirements on state lands as part of Governor Gianforte’s Red Tape Relief Task Force.
The two agencies consolidated the conservation license and state lands recreational use license into one annual conservation license, supporting the maintenance of places like fishing access sites (FAS), wildlife management areas (WMA). On Montana school trust lands, conservation license sales will help fund Montana schools and other state institutions.
Effective July 1, Montanans who access state lands will be required to have a conservation license. Hunters, trappers, and anglers in Montana who have purchased licenses and tags this year already possess this license. Read more
NEWINGTON, N.H. – SIG SAUER, Inc. is pleased to partner with Skeleton Crew Adventures, a charitable organization providing veterans and first responders living with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) the opportunity to heal and learn to live with their trauma through sailing experiences. Since the organization’s founding in 2016, Skeleton Crew has led sailing missions across the globe for veterans and is now set to represent the United States in The Ocean Globe Race 2023 to raise awareness for veteran mental health and suicide awareness with the official U.S. cast-off to take place July 12, 2023 from Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
“SIG SAUER is honored to support the mission of Skeleton Crew Adventures, and invites the New Hampshire community to join us for a historic cast-off event as they officially begin their journey from Portsmouth to the September starting point of the race across the Atlantic Ocean in England,” began Tom Taylor, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President, Commercial Sales, SIG SAUER, Inc. “The Skeleton Crew boat is crewed by U.S. military veterans who are all dealing with mental and/or physical disabilities and have found healing through sailing. The crew is participating in the race for the sole purpose of raising awareness for their mission and bringing attention to veteran mental health issues.” Read more
If you’re boating on Black Lake next month, you may notice some survey equipment in the water. Please take care to avoid any nets or buoys you see. The Michigan Department of Natural Resources, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, and Michigan State University will survey the juvenile lake sturgeon population of Black Lake in July. This is the first survey to track juvenile lake sturgeon in Black Lake since 2013.
From July 10 to July 27, gill nets made specifically for capturing sturgeon will be set and marked with buoys Monday through Thursday of each week. Staff will check the nets every 1-2 hours during the day. Nets will be set each day and marked with staff buoys. Nets will be removed at the end of the day and will not be left in the lake overnight. Once captured, lake sturgeon will be measured and tagged with a Passive Integrated Transponder tag if they are not already tagged. The PIT tag allows staff to uniquely identify individual fish when they are recaptured and provides data needed to calculate a population estimate. Some lake sturgeon under 40” will have a small portion of a fin removed so the age of the fish can be determined. This will allow staff to evaluate growth of both stocked and naturally produced lake sturgeon in Black Lake.
The DNR asks the public to be on the lookout for these buoys and avoid them while boating on Black Lake during this survey. Read more
CHEYENNE — You never know what you may be reeling in sometimes, and that was the case for angler Owen Schaad when he caught his first glimpse of the new state record tiger trout. The Cheyenne resident was spending the day visiting family and fishing on Viva Naughton Reservoir near Kemmerer as he normally does every summer. They fish there often and don’t usually catch much, so he was surprised when he caught more than 20 fish, including a few tiger trout. Then, he landed the big one.
RACINE, Wis. – Since 1934 Minn Kota has been known for developing real, fishable features that help anglers explore new water, go further, and put more fish in the boat. The best trolling motors available just got even better with a complete restage of Minn Kota’s bow-mount motor lineup and the introduction of QUEST technology. New and upgraded Ultrex™, Ulterra®, Instinct, Terrova®, Riptide Terrova®, PowerDrive™, and Riptide PowerDrive™ bow mount trolling motors are being reintroduced with a brand new look and updated technology suite full of angler-friendly enhancements.
In addition to all the GPS navigational features anglers have come to expect from Minn Kota like Spot-Lock and Follow-the-Contour, all of these new additions to the motor lineup will feature enhanced boat control tools for anglers – no matter their preferred species. Whether fresh or saltwater and regardless of skill level or pursuit, Minn Kota’s redesigned line of trolling motors has an option for any angler looking for bulletproof reliability and unmatched performance on the water.
New Features for All Bow-Mount Models:
NEW Enhanced GPS Suite Including Drift Mode to allow anglers to spend more time fishing and less time on boat control Read more
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Lakes, launch ramps and harbors will again be crowded on the boating season’s traditional peak holiday period surrounding the July Fourth holiday. As the number of boats, personal watercraft and paddlecraft goes up, boaters should no look further than recently released annual U.S. Coast Guard statistics for some lessons on how to keep everyone aboard safe during this busy time of the year, especially for on-water fireworks shows.
According to data from the recently released 2022 Recreational Boating Statistics, the top five primary contributing factors in boating accidents last year were operator inattention, operator inexperience, improper lookout, excessive speed and machinery failure.
“Nearly all of these factors will come into play on the water around Independence Day, and especially on the evenings with fireworks shows when boaters congregate to view them,” said Chris Edmonston, BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water president.
“After the show ends, as boating spectators pull anchor and head for home en masse, is really when a boat operator will experience the significant difference from operating during the daytime.” Edmonston explains that it is much more difficult to distinguish boat speed, direction or angle, and distance to other moving vessels at night. “Double check to ensure your navigation lights are working properly to ensure others see you,” he said.
Compounding the problem is the race to get home. “Many simply travel too fast for the conditions,” he said. “Everyone is leaving at the same time, and you’ll will really need to focus on safety. Use others on your boat as extra lookouts, and keep your eyes focused ahead while scanning around you.”
Additionally, a long day on the water means stressors such sun, wind and wave action degrade a boat operator’s ability, and adding alcohol to the mix only makes the situation worse. It’s much better to celebrate America’s birthday and imbibe when you are at the dock or safely ashore.
Because everyone wants to see the show, overloading is also a real issue this time of year. Small vessels are prone to swamping in the wake action that follows the close of a show. Weight and balance should be top of mind for small boat operators.
Paddlecraft will also add to the on-water congestion this time of year. Paddlers may not have the full set of safety skills and may not be easy to see, or they might be paddling on highly trafficked waters, so keep an eye out for them.
Finally, before you head out at night, know how to dim the brightness on your chartplotter or GPS, check your running lights, and ensure your visual distress signals are available if you find yourself in need of assistance.
