Family-Outdoors

Weekly Fishing Tip: Targeting walleye at the end of ice season Walleye are a popular target for many ice anglers, particularly as the season wears on. Pursuing these aggressive fish can be a great adventure, especially if you follow some of these tactics.  Focus on using jigs with spoons or minnows or tip-ups with live bait to see the most success. You might want to use a few tip-ups and then jig around that same area. Think about the depth of water as well as the time of day. Walleye fishing through the ice usually begins and ends in shallow water areas with deep water more productive during the heart of the winter. Learn more about walleye fishing during Michigan’s winter by visiting their page on our  Michigan Fish and How to Catch Them website .   Great Lakes Temperature Map Click on the links below to jump to the report section that interests you most: Southeast Lower Peninsula Southwest Lower Peninsula Northeast Lower Peninsula Northwest Lower Penin...

 (Photo credit: Wikipedia) CENTRAL Arcadia : March 12. Elevation normal, water 40. All fishing slow. Report submitted by Shelia Hutton. Draper : March 11. Elevation 1/2 ft. below normal, water 40 and clear. Crappie fair at 8-10 ft. around structure. All other fishing slow. Report submitted by Chad Strang, game warden stationed in Cleveland County. Hefner : March 11. Elevation dropping, water 40-44 and clear. Largemouth and smallmouth bass slow. White bass and striped bass hybrids fair on jigs and grubs at 15-20 ft. along the dam. Channel and blue catfish fair on cut bait at 30 ft. along the dam. Crappie fair on slip corks with minnows and jigs at 20-25 ft. along the dam. Walleye fair on jigs and grubs at 15-20 ft. along the dam. Report submitted by Lucky Lure Tackle. Overholser : March 11. Elevation below normal, water 49 and murky. Blue catfish fair on cut bait. White bass good on soft body jigs or feather tail jigs. Crappie slow. Report submitted by Jerrod Da...

Rabbits and other small creatures will have some new homes at Fulton State Game Area now that a handful of volunteers – working on a Michigan-On-the-Ground program – spent a Saturday building brush piles at the Kalamazoo County site. The program, a partnership between Michigan United Conservation Clubs and the Department of Natural Resources, recruits volunteers to help the DNR improve fish and wildlife habitat across the state. On-the-Ground has attracted the attention of sportsmen and others who want to help increase the productivity of state game areas, rivers and lakes. Last Saturday, volunteers felled pre-selected trees to build lattices, which could be piled high with brush to provide nesting and escape cover for small game – like rabbits – and other critters. By noon , the crew had built 10 brush piles along the edge of an agriculture field on the area. The brush piles are part of a 10-year plan, written by DNR wildlife biologist Mark Mills, to improve the habitat at the game ar...

Though the weather is decidedly wintry, spring is coming and with it the turkey hunting season. The Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reminds hunters to check their spring turkey drawing results and the availability of leftover licenses, now online  at  www.michigan.gov/huntdrawings . Leftover spring turkey licenses go on sale to unsuccessful license applicants at  10 a.m.  Monday, March 10. Licenses go on sale to all other hunters, including those who did not participate in the application process, at  10 a.m. Monday, March 17 . Leftover licenses will be sold until quotas are met. "Hunters looking for the greatest flexibility may wish to purchase a Hunt 234 license, which will be available  March 17 at 10 a.m. ," said DNR upland game bird specialist Al Stewart. "The Hunt 234 license is valid from  May 5-31  and includes all open areas of the state except the public lands of southern Michigan. New this year, hunters may purchase Hunt 234 th...

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources has partnered with the Marquette County YMCA and Northern Michigan University Intercollegiate Athletics and Recreational Sports to offer a series of adaptive kayaking lessons for veterans with disabilities. The sessions will be held on four consecutive Thursdays starting  March 13 , from  5:30-6:30 p.m.  at the Physical Education and Instruction Facility (PEIF) pool on the NMU campus in Marquette. "We are excited about this partnership, which will allow veterans with disabilities to try out adaptive paddling gear and techniques in a controlled, safe, learning environment regardless of experience or skill level," said Greg Andrews, DNR accessibility coordinator and special projects liaison. The kayaking lessons are offered free of charge but space is limited. Pre-registration is required by calling Matthew Williams, YMCA Director of Aquatics/Competitive Swimming, at  906-227-9622 . Participants may sign up f...

Calling all young artists! The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is now accepting entries for the 2014 Michigan Junior Duck Stamp Contest, administered by the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge in Saginaw. The contest is held to raise education and awareness of North America’s waterfowl and wetland resources. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has hosted a Junior Duck Stamp contest in Michigan since 1995. Hannah Hu from Ann Arbor won the Michigan contest in 2013 with a drawing of an American wigeon. Students may submit artwork featuring one of the following species: whistling ducks, swans, geese, brant, dabbling ducks, diving ducks, sea ducks, mergansers, stiff tails or Hawaiian ducks. A  full list of permitted species  is available online. Judging will be open to the general public at Green Point Environmental Learning Center in Saginaw in the spring. Artwork entries will be judged on the basis of original design, anatomical accuracy, artistic composition and suitability...

Michigan’s fishing licenses were restructured on March 1 – there are now five options to choose from when making your purchase. All fishing licenses are good for all species.  •    Resident Annual - $26 •    Non-Resident Annual - $76  •    Senior Annual (for residents age 65 or older) - $11  •    24-Hour (resident or non-resident) - $10 •    72-Hour (resident or non-resident) - $30 Residents and non-residents can also purchase the Hunt/Fish combo license for $76 and $266 respectively that consists of a base license, annual fishing license, and two deer tags.  Please note, a base license is not required when just purchasing a fishing license. Michigan’s new fishing licenses will bring additional revenue into the state that will be invested into the state’s fisheries; including providing greater access to world-class fishing opportunities, improving fisheries habitat in inland lakes and streams,...

by Doug Reeves, assistant chief, DNR Wildlife Division Do you want a good activity to get you thinking about spring? Then build a bluebird box or two and put it/them up in a good place. Do it now. It really is only a matter of weeks before bluebirds will be looking for nest sites again, and you want to be prepared. Early migrants may use the boxes as roost sites even before they are ready to nest. My son, Greg, just sent me a note from his Houston-area home. A pair of eastern bluebirds is making a nest in a box that we put up along his fence line last year. This will be the fourth nesting of bluebirds in that box since we put it up. Greg’s note reminds me that it is time to clean out my bluebird boxes, evict the mice, repair boxes that need repairs and build new ones to replace those that are beyond repair. It really is time to think spring, even though it is snowing and the temperature is in the single digits as I write this. I will likely be on snowshoes as I do some of the ...

(Photo credit: Wikipedia) Iowa has 50,000 acres available under a new Conservation Reserve Program called Iowa Pheasant Recovery SAFE.  This new CP38 practice requires top quality winter habitat and food for pheasants.  That top quality winter habitat and food is in demand after last Friday’s blizzard devastated pheasant habitat across central and north central Iowa.  About half of Iowa received 3 to 10 inches of wet heavy snow that collapsed most grassy cover. Falling temperatures then turned the wet snow into a white layer of ice.  The cover that did not collapse was drifted full of snow from the high winds.  “This was a bad storm for upland game birds,” said Todd Bogenschutz, state upland game biologist for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.  “It’s very likely we saw some bird mortality with this blizzard, birds likely trapped under the frozen wet snow.”  For much of northern Iowa most waste grains are now frozen below the snow a...