Take time to clean and inspect lifejackets ahead of boating season

Surprising as it may seem, March is not a busy boating month in Iowa. But it is a good time to clean and inspect important boating equipment – lifejackets – so you’re ready to go when the snow and ice finally disappear.

Susan Stocker, boating law administrator and education coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said it’s important to regularly examining lifejackets for wear and tear.

“Lifejackets get tossed around, spend time in the water and sun, and are stuffed under seats and in other available storage. They get dirty and beat up. This is a good time of year to get them out and give them a little TLC,” she said.

She recommended each lifejacket be visually inspected for any rips or tears and ensure all straps and buckles work properly and not frayed. Inflatable lifejackets should be free of any cracks or pin holes in the plastic bladder, the CO2 cartridge sealed and stored in temperatures above freezing. Read more

Stream Access Rule Overturned

By Etta Pettijohn

Confirming the public’s right to access streams that flow through private property, the New Mexico Supreme Court (NMSC) earlier this month determined a state wildlife agency rule allowing landowners to restrict such right of entry is unconstitutional.

Several western states are seeking courts’ opinions on the public’s right to float or wade through navigable streams that flow through private property. In New Mexico, the court has confirmed recreationists’ rights to use “non-navigational” streams, providing the user doesn’t trespass public land surrounding the body of water.

In 2015 legislators, by a one-vote margin, amended the New Mexico trespass law, barring the public from wading in streams running through private property without written permission from the landowner. Three months later the state Fish and Game Commission (NMFGC) established a rule allowing landowners to certify these streambeds as “non-navigable,” declare them as private property and fence the public out.

Three New Mexico Attorney Generals have over time concurred that a 1945 NMSC decision in “State Game Commission vs. Red River Cattle Co.” allows the public to utilize streams and streambeds where they run through private property, providing they don’t trespass onto adjoining private land. Read more

Michigan: Learn Steelhead Fishing Tips and Tricks From the Pros

Learn various strategies and techniques for chasing Michigan’s “chrome torpedoes” from the DNR Outdoor Skills Academy’s pro-staff with upcoming steelhead fishing clinics March 19-20 and April 2-3 at Mitchell State Park in Cadillac.

This two-day clinic will run 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to noon Sunday. The classroom portion will be at the park’s Carl T. Johnson Hunting and Fishing Center, and then Sunday morning the class will hit the water for instructors to show students how to fish and what to look for on the beautiful Manistee River.

Feel free to bring your own gear, if possible, or if you’re new to steelheading, some equipment is available on a first-come, first-served basis. The Tuesday prior to the class, we will have a Zoom meeting to go over gear and how to rig. Read more

To Celebrate 50th Anniversary, Bass Pro Shops Announces World’s Fishing Fair

To Celebrate Its 50th Anniversary Bass Pro Shops Announces the
WORLD’S FISHING FAIR: THE GREATEST FISHING SHOW & SALE ON EARTH!
Plan Now to Attend, March 30-April 3, 2022.

The Bass Pro Shops National Headquarters—the Grandaddy of all Outdoor Stores and Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium—to host one-of-a-kind celebration of fishing, conservation, the great outdoors and the company’s 50th anniversary.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (Feb. 21, 2022)—The World’s Fishing Fair, an exclusive presentation of Bass Pro Shops, is a one-of-a-kind showcase of fishing, boating, conservation, and the great outdoors. Live from the Bass Pro Shops National Headquarters in Springfield, Missouri—the fishing capital of the world and headwaters of the largest conservation movement that our country has seen in decades—the Fair is headlined by concerts from country music superstars including such greats as Hank Williams Jr., Luke Bryan, Dierks Bentley, Chris Janson and more to be announced— exhibitions, fishing personalities and unbeatable savings. At its most essential, the Fair is a five-day celebration of fishing—and all of the people, products, stories, places, traditions and experiences that make it so wonderful. Not only is the Fair the greatest fishing show and sale on Earth, but 50% of proceeds from all of the Fair’s event admissions will be donated to support conservation. Read more

Michigan: ice shanty removal dates begin this weekend for portions of Lower Peninsula

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources reminds anglers that ice shanty removal dates are quickly approaching – starting with Lake St. Clair this Sunday – and to always use extreme caution when on the ice.

Regardless of the set removal dates, changing ice conditions could require the removal of fishing shanties before those dates. This is a possibility every year, because all shanties must be removed once ice can no longer safely support them.

Shanty owners whose structures fall through the ice are subject to penalties of up to 30 days in jail, fines up to $500, or both. If a shanty is removed by a government agency, the court can require the owner to reimburse that agency for up to three times the cost of removal.

Lower Peninsula

Ice shanties on Lake St. Clair, located northeast of Detroit, must be removed before sunset Sunday, Feb. 20. Read more

Michigan 2022 fishing license season and new sportfishing regulations

As spring draws closer, Michigan anglers are encouraged to purchase a 2022 fishing license when they go on sale Tuesday, March 1. The new license season begins April 1, and the 2022 fishing licenses are valid through March 31, 2023. Licenses can be purchased at Michigan.gov/DNRLicenses. By purchasing a fishing license online, anglers will have the opportunity to sign up for auto-renewal through the DNR eLicense system. Read more

Michigan DNR advises the public, especially anglers, of unsafe ice conditions below Sanford Dam

Anglers are advised to not fish immediately below the Sanford Dam in Midland County due to construction work occurring on the dam, which has the potential to change water currents, destabilize the ice and alter water conditions.

The Sanford Dam is located on the Tittabawassee River approximately 11 miles upstream of Midland. Construction is being organized by the Four Lakes Task Force to stabilize the dam after the damage caused by the May 2020 flood and dam breach. The stabilized dam will be safer and send less sediment downstream. The stabilization project will continue through June 2022. When Sanford Dam is fully rebuilt, there will be another construction period during which anglers could be advised of dangerous conditions. Read more

South Florida Bonefish on Drugs

File this one under the more we know, the less we wish we knew.

A three-year study by Florida International University (FIU) and Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) has discovered pharmaceutical contaminants in the blood and other tissues of bonefish in Biscayne Bay and the Florida Keys.

Since the study began in 2018, FIU scientists and BTT research associates, in partnership with Sweden’s Umeå University and the University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), have sampled 93 fish in South Florida, finding an average of seven pharmaceuticals per bonefish.

One bonefish had an incredible 17 pharmaceuticals in its system! 

The list includes blood pressure medications, antidepressants, prostate treatment medications, antibiotics and pain relievers. Researchers also found pharmaceuticals in bonefish prey—crabs, shrimp and fish—suggesting that many of Florida’s valuable fisheries are exposed, not only the bonefish fishery.

While the amount of the drugs is minimal in most cases, and the level needed to cause harm to the fish is not known at this point, the fact that they are there, and widespread, and that multiple prescription drugs are involved indicates that southeast Florida and the Keys have sewage treatment and waste disposal issues.

According to the USGS, drugs get into U.S. sewage systems both because prescriptions consumed are not fully utilized in the human system and so go into the waste system, and also because most of us flush unused pills down the drain. While treatment gets rid of many of the harmful components of sewage, it evidently does not get rid of the remnant drugs. Read more

Michigan: 2022 Black Lake sturgeon season wraps within 36 minutes

2022 Black Lake sturgeon season wraps within 36 minutes; results announced

After only 36 minutes of fishing, this year’s sturgeon season on Black Lake (in Cheboygan and Presque Isle counties) ended at 8:36 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 5. The season, which included spearing and hook-and-line fishing, was scheduled to run Feb. 5-9, or until the harvest limit quota of six lake sturgeon had been reached.

Anglers initially were allocated a season quota of seven sturgeon, but the Michigan Department of Natural Resources set the harvest limit at six fish. This action helps accommodate the expected number of anglers and anticipate the possibility of near-simultaneous harvest of more than one fish.

There were 565 registered anglers, including a good number of supervised youth. According to the DNR, five sturgeon harvested were male and one was a female, ranging from 46 to 62 inches long and 23 to 67 pounds in weight.

      • The first fish was a 59.5-inch female that weighed 48 pounds.
      • Fish number two, the largest fish, was a 62-inch male that weighed 67 pounds.
      • Fish three was a 47-inch male that checked in at 25 pounds.
      • Fish four was a 57-inch male that weighed 45 pounds.
      • The fifth fish was a 46-inch male that weighed 23 pounds.
      • The sixth fish was a 56-inch male that weighed 35 pounds.

    Read more

Anglers and Divers: Discover More, Faster with Raymarine and CMOR

Learn how to get the most out of CMOR Mapping’s remarkable high-resolution seafloor maps with Raymarine technology

The best diving and bottom-fishing spots are the ones that don’t show up on paper or digital charts and aren’t marked on commercially available fishing maps. They’re the forgotten wrecks, the isolated reefs, the ledges hidden between the contour lines — the kinds of places that take hundreds of hours on the water and countless dollars in fuel to find.

CMOR Mapping’s chartplotter-compatible bathymetry clearly reveals those spots. With resolution as high as one meter (each pixel represents a single square meter of bottom) and coverage of the entire bottom, anglers, divers and other treasure seekers can see every bump in remarkable detail. And just as important, they’ll see the areas of featureless underwater desert – areas where they don’t need to spend time looking – just as clearly. Read more

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