Category: Fishing

California: DFW Wants Dog Owners “Be Mindful of Salmon Poisoning Disease

Dog owners in northern California are reminded to take precautions to protect their pets from Salmon Poisoning Disease. Salmon Poisoning Disease is a potentially fatal condition seen only in dogs after they eat certain types of raw or cold smoked fish like trout and salmon that are infected with a bacteria-like organism, Neorickettsia helminthoeca, which is transmitted by the parasitic flatworm (or “fluke”) Nanophyetes salmincola. Read more

Fishing

Michigan: Boardman Weir in Operation to Support Fisheries Study

Staff from the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, in collaboration with Michigan Department of Natural Resources and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, are conducting a trapping study to determine the run size of white suckers and longnose suckers in the Boardman River. In order to complete the study, the Boardman River Weir, in Grand Traverse County, will be in operation from approximately April 11 to May 30.

Anglers are reminded that while the Boardman weir is in operation, fishing is closed from 300 feet upstream of the weir to 300 downstream of the weir, as indicated on page 54 of the 2022 Michigan Fishing Guide.

Traps will be installed both upstream and downstream of the weir to capture migrating suckers in the river. After capture, the suckers will be measured, marked with a combination of fin clips, external tags and internal tags, and released on the opposite side of the weir from which they were caught. All fish species, including steelhead, captured in the traps will be released on the opposing side of the weir (e.g., fish moving upstream will be permitted to continue up toward the Union Street Dam). Read more

Fishing

MAPLand Act Passes Senate, Heads to President’s Desk

MAPLand Act would fund land management agencies to standardize, compile, release digital map records to public

WASHINGTON – The Modernizing Access to Our Public Land Act, or MAPLand Act, which would modernize and digitize map records for the benefit of public lands hunters, advanced through the U.S. Senate late Wednesday under a procedural vote that allowed the unanimously supported bipartisan bill to move without objection.

Led by Sens. Jim Risch (R-ID) and Angus King (I-ME), the Senate vote follows the MAPLand Act’s near unanimous passage through the House of Representatives in March. Strong support by sportsmen’s and women’s groups, including Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, helped propel the bill to the president’s desk to be signed into law.

“Inadequate or faulty data can spell disaster for the public land hunter,” said BHA President and CEO Land Tawney, “and the importance of reliable, comprehensive information on access opportunities on our public lands cannot be overstated. Backcountry Hunters & Anglers thanks our Senate and House leaders who championed this foresighted, commonsense effort to address the problem of limited public access.”

The MAPLand Act would fund public land management agencies, including the Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, National Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation and Army Corps of Engineers, to standardize, compile and release digital map records to the public. The publicly available information would include the open or closed status of roads and trails on public lands, vehicle-use regulations and boundary details. Read more

Fishing, General, Hunting

The Profound Effects of Anti-Gun Rhetoric

By Glen Wunderlich

Charter Member Professional Outdoor Media Association (POMA)

Through the tough times of the pandemic, Americans have begun to reacquaint themselves with a sense of self-reliance some may never have known heretofore.  We’ve seen firsthand the empty store shelves and how common necessities have been hoarded without a clue as to their return to the marketplace.  We are learning to grow our own food, catch our own fish, and to hunt for meat.

This wave of self-sufficiency extends to home protection and self-defense, as well.  One only needs to look to the demonization of law enforcement and the resulting chaos inflicted upon law-abiding citizens, as we watched nightly scenes of our cities burning to understand the rationale for alternatives to self-preservation.  Plus, the anti-gun sentiment and the continuous desire to restrict Second Amendment rights by officials, who’ve sworn to protect those rights is more than hypocritical; they’re threats to freedom and Americans have taken notice.

Since year 2008, the firearms industry has been booming and continues to be a bright spot in our otherwise struggling economy, as evidenced by 5.4 million new gun owners in the country this past year!  Again, that’s new gun owners.  Regardless of economic conditions across the country, the industry has grown and created over 375,000 new, well-paying jobs since the middle of the Great Recession in 2008.   These are good jobs paying an average of $56,900 in wages and benefits.

In the United States, the industry and its employees pay over $7.86 billion in taxes including property, income, and sales-based levies.  A report by the National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) also notes the significant impact the firearm and ammunition industry has on wildlife conservation funding in America through its growing Pittman-Robertson excise tax contributions to the Wildlife Restoration Trust Fund which exceeded $1.1 billion in 2021.  Along with hunting and fishing license sales, it is these funds that support sound wildlife management.

Particular to Michigan’s economic contribution of arms and ammunition for the year 2021 are the following examples.  Direct jobs:  5155; Resulting Wages:  $210,684,600; Direct Output:  $643,807,600.  Although Michigan is not one of the top 10 states in these figures, it rates as the 10th leading state in related growth and economic development and for related jobs it is 9th in the country.

According to the NSSF, not only does the manufacture and sale of firearms and hunting supplies create good jobs in the United States, but the industry also contributes to the economy as a whole. In fact, in 2021 the firearm and ammunition industry was responsible for as much as $70.52 billion in total economic activity in the country.

The broader economic impact flows throughout the economy, generating business for firms seemingly unrelated to firearms.  Americans working in industries as varied as banking, retail, accounting, metal working, and even printing, all depend on the firearm and ammunition industry for their livelihood.

Our freedom, self-reliance and enjoyment of the outdoors all benefit from the industry that our misguided leaders love to hate.

Ammunition, Archery, Firearms, Fishing, Gun Control, Hunting, Self Defense, Wildlife

New Zealand mud snails discovered at FWP hatchery

HELENA – New Zealand mud snails were discovered earlier this month at Montana Fish, Wildlife & Park’s Bluewater State Fish Hatchery south of Laurel. To eliminate the threat of further spread, nearly all of the rainbow trout and largemouth bass at the facility will be destroyed.

New Zealand mud snails are an aquatic invasive species found in a variety of waterbodies across Montana. The snails have the ability to expand in population size and in distribution very rapidly, potentially changing the ecology of waterbodies where they are located. Once established in waterbodies, they are hard, if not impossible to eradicate.

Mud snails were discovered at FWP’s Bluewater Hatchery in 2020. The hatchery was quarantined then and decontaminated. The source of the new infestation is unknown, though FWP staff believe cracks in older concrete tanks might have allowed mud snails from the previous infestation to survive decontamination.

“We are conducting a full decontamination and our oldest concrete settling basins, where this infestation was discovered, will no longer be used,” said Eileen Ryce, FWP fisheries division administrator.

The largemouth bass that will be destroyed are brood stock and large enough to eat. FWP staff will hand out the dead bass to youth under 12 or anyone with a fishing license on Friday, April 2, from 9:30 a.m. to noon, and Saturday, 9 a.m. to noon. There is a limit of 5 bass per individual. That hatchery is located at 700 Bluewater Creek Road, Bridger, MT. People who pick up fish need to make sure to dispose of the entrails and carcasses in the household garbage, not in a waterway or down the drain into a wastewater system. Read more

Fishing

Michigan DNR asks anglers to report tagged walleye

Starting Wednesday, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources will jaw tag 3,000 walleye across multiple Saginaw Bay tributary rivers. As the DNR adds more tagged walleye to Michigan waters, anglers are asked to report tagged fish to assist data collection efforts.

Anyone catching a tagged fish is asked to report the following information using the tag return form at Michigan.gov/EyesInTheField:

  • Species.
  • Length.
  • Weight (if known).
  • Tag location (where tag was attached).
  • Identification number (the larger of the two sets of numbers).
  • Tag return address (for example MICH DNR MM-1).
  • Capture date and location. Read more
Fishing

Go slow, look out below; Manatees need your help

As water temperatures warm, manatees naturally disperse from their winter habitats, traveling to other areas of the state and beyond. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is asking Florida residents and visitors to help keep manatees safe, especially while out on the water.

Manatees are leaving their winter refuges and are more likely to be in rivers, canals and nearshore waters. Florida boaters are also enjoying the season, so it is crucial to stay alert and avoid manatees while traveling through Florida’s waterways.

From April 1 through Nov. 15, seasonal manatee zones require boaters to slow down in certain areas to prevent manatees from being injured or killed by motorboats or personal watercrafts. Boat strikes are a major threat to Florida manatees. FWC law enforcement officers are on patrol in state waters to remind boaters of the seasonal manatee speed zones and take enforcement actions. Read more

Fishing

Maryland: Washington County Angler Catches Record Muskellunge

Photo courtesy Kyle Mullenix, submitted to Maryland DNR

At 33 Pounds, Muskie Beats 2017 Record

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) confirmed a Washington County man has set a new nontidal state record for muskellunge. Kyle Mullenix of Hagerstown caught the 33-pound, 49-inch long record muskie on March 2 along the banks of the upper Potomac River.

Regarded as the “fish of ten thousand casts,” muskies are the largest freshwater fish in Maryland and among the most difficult to catch.

Mullenix is credited with the first Maryland state fishing record of 2022. The 32-year-old lifelong angler said he has spent decades trying to catch a muskie. Using a 7-foot spinning rod and live bait, his luck finally changed.

“He put up a good fight, but we didn’t think it was that big until it was on the bank,” Mullenix said. “Things don’t always go as planned, but now life has gotten a lot better.” Read more

Fishing

Kill Some Bass, Improve Your Fishing

— Frank Sargeant

While the headline of this story is likely to raise bass angler hackles pretty much everywhere, biologists across the southeast are finally starting to suggest that the idea is not as nuts as it sounds.

While anglers have had it drummed into them for the past 50 years that catch-and-release fishing makes for great fish populations, it’s becoming pretty clear that many waters, particularly in the fast-growth South, are overpopulated with small largemouth and spotted bass, and that some harvest might result in more large fish.

Jason Olive, Assistant Chief of Fisheries for the Arkansas DNR, is one of the more outspoken advocates of tossing a bunch of two pounders into hot grease instead of back over the side.

“A lake has a certain carrying capacity in pounds per acre, and that means you can have a whole lot of little fish or a few big ones, or a mix. Right now, a lot of Arkansas lakes have a whole lot of little ones and not as many big ones as anglers would like to see,” says Olive. “One way to change that is for anglers to take home bass under two pounds for the table.”

Olive’s theory, in agreement with the majority of fish managers today, is that many lakes are much like a limited acreage of forest, where researchers long ago established the fact that a certain amount of habitat can support only a limited number of whitetail deer, among other species. Too many deer eat themselves out of groceries pretty quickly and body condition, reproduction and antler growth suffer. Read more

Fishing

Michigan DNR says fish kills may be common during spring thaw

After ice and snow cover melt on Michigan lakes early this spring, it may be more likely for people to discover dead fish or other aquatic animals. While such sights can be startling, the Department of Natural Resources reminds everyone that this is normal, since winter conditions can cause fish and other creatures such as turtles, frogs, toads and crayfish to die.

“Winterkill is the most common type of fish kill,” said Gary Whelan, DNR Fisheries Division Research manager. “As the season changes, it can be particularly common in shallow lakes, ponds, streams and canals. These kills are localized and typically do not affect the overall health of the fish populations or fishing quality.” Read more

Fishing
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