NORTHERN REGION
Superior DNR Service Center area
Brule River State Forest - The flow of the Bois Brule River is steadily going back down since the 9 inches of rain last week. The flow went up over 740 cubic feet per second (CFS). The river as of Oct. 12 was at 248 CFS. The 60 year average is 163. This three day rainfall well exceeded the average precipitation for October. The average precipitation at the Brule Weather Station since 1928 is 2.52 inches. The extra water is good for some people and bad for others. Some canoeists are enjoying fall paddling in the higher waters with fewer rocks to maneuver around. Anglers on the other hand were finding the high cloudy water difficult to fish. The water is getting less cloudy now that the flow is slowing down. The fall colors are past peak but there are still some nice colors to see. The multi-colored Asian lady beetles are starting to make their appearance again in and around homes. On warm days they will congregate on the sides of buildings and try to find a suitable place to stay over winter. (Residential homes seem to be a preference for them!) The best way to keep them out is to seal the areas of the house that they are getting in, or call an exterminator.
Ashland DNR Service Center area
Fishing has slowed down in the Lake Superior Basin. The heavy rains and clay sediment has made fishing in the Bay difficult. There has been some fishing success in areas of Sand Cut and Oak Point off the Kakagon Sloughs. Waterfowl success is also limited. The warm weather has not brought in any northern ducks and all the locals shy off after the first few shots in the morning. A few geese are still in the area and will be until colder weather pushes them out. Viewing the fall colors is in full swing in the region. Areas close to Lake Superior are still fairly green but a short distance from the lake one will find some beautiful viewing. Weather this week calls for cloudy skies and the lack of sun shine will dull the view. ATV operators were out in full force this past weekend in Iron County for the Third annual Pumpkin Fest and poker run. Most weekends in the Lake Superior Basin see a large amount of ATV activity. Main complaints from the public focus on loud machines and trespass. Operators are reminded to have a muffler on the ATV that the factory installed. Many operators are putting on after market exhaust systems that may be manufactured by an ATV company but are not stock systems. These are OK for sanctioned races, but if they are too loud they are not legal for general operation. Operators who keep exhaust system as they came from the factory will not have a problem. Bow hunters are having a good fall. Many are waiting for less leaf cover and the start of the fall rut. Deer are moving and feeding getting ready for the winter season. This past weekend saw some snow in the Iron County so winter is not far off. Grouse hunters are finding a few birds but again leaf cover makes seeing the birds difficult. Road hunting for grouse is a popular pastime in the Northern Region. Road hunting consists of a hunter driving along the gravel back country roads looking for grouse. When a bird is spotted the hunter exits the vehicle, uncases and loads his shotgun, and hopes to get a shot off before the bird spooks. The few birds that are seen along the roads this year and the price of gas make this and expensive past time. Take a walk in the woods to find the birds. It is more fun, less expensive and you get to enjoy the outdoor experience.
Hayward DNR Service Center area
Sawyer County - Water levels are back to normal due to the 8 inches of rain received on Oct. 2 and 3. However, that same rain took down many of the colorful leaves. In the northwestern part of the county where there are more oaks colors will soon be reaching peak. Grouse hunters are finding more woodcock than grouse, but after much effort are finding a few widely scattered grouse broods. Smaller lakes have turned over, but some of the bigger ones are still in the process. The waterfowl opener was bright and summer-like, so plenty of local ducks and geese still frequenting water areas, however, with the recent soaker, many more wetlands have open water. The elk rut is pretty much over, very little bugling being heard, though mid September saw record activity.
Park Falls DNR Service Center area
Warm temperatures are forecast for the week with rain moving in toward the end of the week in the Park Falls area. Area rivers are flowing above normal but are slowly receding after the heavy rains a week ago. Leaves are quickly falling and the trees are bare in some areas. Deer are active around field edges and oak trees as they find less browse due to the declining vegetation. Geese have been using the favorable north wind for migration travel. Songbirds are very active around bird feeders as fall progresses and its relaxing to watch their activity. Grouse hunters are reporting fair success with many reporting at least flushing some birds. Anglers have taken advantage of the nice weather to be on the water and reports have been fair to good. Sturgeon season closes Oct. 15 on inland waters. Bear season closes on Oct. 11. . Deer shining is prohibited between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. from Sept. 15 through Dec. 31. Local laws may be more restrictive so anyone intending to shine deer should check local ordinances also. Please respect private lands and agricultural animals when shining.
Woodruff DNR Service Center area
Area Conservation Wardens and guides report that lakes are continuing to quickly cool due to cold nights. Lake turnover is occurring across the area. Walleye anglers need to fish for this species in deeper waters. The walleye tend to stay at the bottom in anywhere from 15 to 40 feet of water. Once the lake has turned over, the walleye will move back into the shallower waters along the weed edges, rock bars and submerged wood. Musky action is reported to have picked up due to the cold weather. Suckers are now the bait of choice for the muskies. Smallmouth bass were being caught in the deep wood. Fall colors are ranging from peak to past peak with some leaf drop occurring. Most local waterfowl have dispersed and moved southward. Approaching cold weather should bring some migrants into the larger bodies of water. Recent heavy rains have helped raise local lake and flowage levels which could end up producing some good waterfowl hunts yet this fall. Grouse hunters are reporting some encouraging news with coveys still grouped together. This is a great time of year to go out for a walk and to take a camera along so that you can capture the vibrant colors in our area.
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NORTHEAST REGION
Peshtigo DNR Service Center area
Recent rains to the north of the area have increased the water flows in the Menominee and Peshtigo rivers and with the increased water fish activity has also picked up. Sturgeon and salmon fishing has picked up in the Menominee and limited success has been reported on the Peshtigo. There was not enough rain in the Marinette local area to pick up the flow in the Little River and the salmon fishing there has been spotty. Deer are moving to their fall patterns, be cautious on the roads with the increased deer activity. Fall colors peaked this past weekend and trees are quickly shedding their leaves.
Green Bay DNR Service Center area
Brown County - The walleye are beginning their fall run up the Fox. Boats are starting to hook into some small males trolling in the channel and casting cranks in the shallows up near the dam. The action isn't too terribly fast, but at least something is finally going on. Anglers have also reported catching a bass or two up near the dam, including some larger fish. Many anglers have started the search for musky; however, there has not been much luck as of yet. Anglers reported a few incidental catches while going for walleye, but not much else. Some channel cats continued to be caught at Voyager Park. The Suamico River hasn't changed much in the last few weeks. The perch have finally been biting at the boat launch, but they were still pretty small, most not even keeper size. The perch action has held together the west shore of the bay. Some larger ones are being found in 20-25 feet around the lighthouse. Duck Creek has still been quite slow, without the fall perch action seen in the past. Bay Shore Park has been just a little spotty this last week. The action can be zero one day, then the very next day anglers could reach a limit in a few hours, but that should change once the water temps stabilize. The gobies seemed to have calmed down quite a bit, but there is still some caught, especially out on the reefs. Most of the action has moved a little shallower to 20-25 feet, but that is not a definite every day. The walleye action has been so-so along the east shore south of Bayshore; sometimes anglers finding them, sometimes not.
Manitowoc County - Chinook salmon were being caught this past week in the lower Manitowoc River and in the harbor with very few fish making it upstream of I-43. No indication that fish have made it to the Branch River. Some spawning chinook salmon were being caught on the East Twin River in Mishicot and at road crossings downstream of the dam. Action was heating up on the West Twin River at Shoto dam, as the run seems to be near peak. Anglers were having luck using marshmallows for bait. There was no action off the Manitowoc piers this past week. In Two Rivers, a few anglers were fishing the harbor and from the north pier with good results. Fishing activity has on slowed a bit in Two Rivers harbor, but some anglers were catching a few nice smallmouth bass on night crawlers and some Chinook salmon. Little action was reported from the Manitowoc and Two Rivers ramps this past week.
Sturgeon Bay DNR Service Center area
Door County - The first half of the week reminded most people of summer but fall came back with a vengeance by the weekend, with cool blustery days and downright cold nights. The fall foliage is becoming more and more colorful, and the cold nights should encourage the trees to change clothes even faster. More and more salmon, along with some nice size northern pike, were being caught by anglers trolling in the Sturgeon Bay ship canal. Stick baits seem to be doing the trick in the canal. There were still some nice fish being taken from the piers at the Coast Guard Station and the banks of the canal. Spoons in green, blue and silver, stick baits and spawn sacks were best baits. Perch action continued to be good with large catches of fish being taken by anglers fishing from Sturgeon Bay south along the shores of Green Bay along deep reefs and weed beds in 10 to 30 feet of water, and from 25 to 40 feet over mud flats. The area around Snake Island continued to be good for anglers using minnows, worms, crabs and jigs, in 5 to 15 feet of water. Up north the harbors at Egg Harbor, Fish Creek and Sister Bay were all producing some perch. Northern pike action was reported to be good to very good in Sturgeon Bay, Little Sturgeon Bay, and the area around Henderson Point, Egg Harbor, and the Sturgeon Bay ship canal. Smallmouth bass action continued to slow down; however a few bigger fish were starting to show up near shore. The best action for bigger bass was still on the deeper off shore reefs. Gulp's watermelon, spinner baits and tube jigs continued to produce fish, along with night crawlers. The walleye action continued to pick up all along the Green Bay shore and in Sturgeon Bay. Chaudoirs Dock has been doing slightly better for perch action during the last week, but still not as well as Bayshore. The white perch are back. Anglers were catching three to four times as many of them here than at Bay Shore but the average size of the perch is a little bigger, so many have been trying anyway. Little Sturgeon Bay has died down a bit, as the bass season is nearing its end. Bait such as leeches and minnows have still been working sometimes along the rock bars at 6-8 feet on the east shore where most of the bass action has always been. Also, some bigger ones have been showing up, as we have seen some at 20-plus inches. There has still been relatively no perch action in Little Sturgeon itself. Sawyer Harbor has been seeing a little tougher action for bass this last week. Besides the fewer boats out there, bass have been tough to find. Anglers were looking for perch east of the islands right in the harbor. Unfortunately the gobies were also there. Both crawlers and leeches are working for perch, but most have been on the small size. Some big northern were caught last week, right along the shore of Pott Park.
Strawberry Creek Egg Collection Facility Approximately 1,300 chinook salmon were harvested at Strawberry Creek on Monday, Oct. 10, which completed egg collection for the Bayfield hatchery. Crews also harvested some eggs for the Wild Rose Hatchery and a DNR fish health specialist completed the annual chinook health monitoring. The next harvest day at Strawberry Creek will be Thursday, Oct. 13. Crews tentatively also plan to harvest salmon at Strawberry Creek on Monday, Oct. 17.
Peninsula State Park - All hiking and biking trails are dry and in excellent condition. Fall foliage is at approximately 50 percent in the Park. Expect peak colors after October 15. All campsites are open until Oct. 16. Tennison Bay campground will remain open year-round, though flush toilets and showers are closed Oct. 30-April 30. Peninsula State Park golf course is open until the end of October. Eagle Bluff Lighthouse is still open and providing guided tours seven days per week between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., until Oct. 17.
Kewaunee County - In Kewaunee and Algoma shore anglers have been catching mainly chinook salmon; however, rainbow trout, brown trout, and a few coho have been taken as well. Earlier this week, fishing off of the harbors and piers has been rather spotty. Successful anglers did net a few while fishing with various spoons, marshmallows and spawn. Most of the action this week has been out of the Kewaunee and Ahnapee River. Spawning chinook salmon have been hitting on everything from flies to marshmallows. Some of the chinooks caught in the river still have a little silver in them yet, while others caught have been in rough shape. Brown trout and coho salmon have also been caught, but the majority of fish taken have been chinooks. The pheasant hunting opener is Oct. 15 at noon.
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SOUTHEAST REGION
Milwaukee DNR Service Center
Beautiful, crisp weather has brought out a lot of people to see fall colors, which were about 10 percent in the area this week. Field crews report seeing the first scrapes made by white-tailed bucks. No rubs seen yet though. Deer action is picking up resulting in increased road kills. Bow hunters are also seeing more deer on the move. Fall turkey hunters have been doing well; especially if they can locate a brood from this past spring. Sighting turkey broods remains a fairly common experience, indicating there was good reproduction last spring. Goose hunters report lots of birds around but difficulty in decoying them as more and more corn fields are harvested and available to the birds. Surprisingly, the best luck decoying geese has been from picked corn fields that seem bare except for the cut-off corn stocks. Conversely, corn fields harvested using newer technology, which leaves a carpet of chopped-up stalks and cobs, evidently does not provide enough waste grain to attract geese. Or, the geese may just be very wary this late in the season. Saturday is opening day of pheasant hunting! After weathering lower pheasant stocking the last two years; pheasant hunters on stocked public hunting grounds should have excellent hunting as numbers of birds released will be on par with a normal year. Some hunting grounds will be stocked twice per week. And, stocking will continue longer into the season. Fish managers conducting lake population assessments report seeing game fish scattered all over the place. For example, at mid-day, single walleyes can be found in heavy vegetation and 3 feet of water. However, near-shore structure that usually holds several smallmouth may now hold only one or two. Lake surface water temperatures were in the mid 70s late last week. Normal surface water temperature at this time of year is about 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
Water levels are quite low once again on all Southeast Wisconsin tributaries. Some scattered rain is in the forecast for later this week, but significant precipitation is needed to make a difference in the rivers.
Sheboygan County - In Sheboygan shore fishing has been slow off the piers. Anglers on the Sheboygan River have been taking only a few chinooks on either dark colored flies or spawn. Trollers off Sheboygan have been catching chinooks outside the harbor to 80 feet of water. Spoons in blue, green, and glow-in-the-dark have produced the most.
Ozaukee County - In Port Washington shore anglers fishing the harbor have been catching a few chinooks and rainbows on spawn sacs or spoons in green & silver and blue & silver. Shore anglers using spawn near the power plant have been taking a mixed bag of chinooks, coho, and browns.
Milwaukee County - In Milwaukee anglers fishing off McKinley ramp, near the Sailing Center in Veteran's Park, and off the ramps at Bender Park have been catching chinooks on spawn under a bobber. Trout and salmon are moving into the Menomonee and Milwaukee rivers and providing action. Anglers on the Milwaukee River have been taking a few chinooks at Estabrook Park. The gates on the Estabrook Park dam are tentatively scheduled for opening on Oct. 17. Despite low water levels, good numbers of chinooks are holding in the Menomonee River at Miller Park. Flows are also low on Oak Creek, but anglers working near the dam have been catching a few chinooks on spawn. Smallmouth bass remain active throughout the Milwaukee River. Anglers were coming up with an occasional walleye. Anglers considering these fish for food are advised to check with the state's Fish Consumption Advisory.Osprey have been observed along the Milwaukee River in Ozaukee and northern Milwaukee County.
Racine County - In Racine fish were processed at the Root River Steelhead Facility on Monday, Oct. 10. So far this season 1,431 chinooks, 123 coho, 7 steelhead, 118 browns, and 1 pink salmon have passed upstream. And additional 91 skamania strain steelhead and 49 coho have been taken to the hatchery for later spawning. The next processing day is tentatively scheduled for Thursday. Water levels on the Root are quite low again, and anglers have been taking most chinooks on flies and spawn in the Washington Park golf course. Fishing has been difficult from Lincoln Park all the way upstream to the Horlick dam.
Kenosha County - In Kenosha Pike River anglers have been taking a few chinooks on spawn near the mouth, as well as on flies near the access at Highway A.
Walworth and inland Racine and Kenosha counties - Cool weather has dropped water temperatures into the mid to low 60s. Northern pike, walleye, and bass are active in 15 to 20 feet of water, and shallower at night. Crappies and bluegills were biting on minnows and night crawler pieces.
Washington, eastern Fond du Lac, and inland Sheboygan counties Walleye action has picked up on Pike Lake. Despite warm water, walleye seem to be spending a fair amount of time on mud flats in the northern third of the lake in 5-6 feet of water.
Kohler-Andrae State Park - Many hawks and other birds are migrating through the area. A bald eagle was spotted near the nature center area. A large flock of turkeys has been moving about the park. A young buck has been visiting the park entrance area. The raccoons are still visiting the campground area in search of unsecured coolers and picnic baskets. All hiking and nature trails are open. The trailer dump station, showers, and flush toilet facilities are scheduled to close for the season on Oct. 17. Cold weather may require closing earlier. Halloween in the Park will be held Oct. 15 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. and will include: a guided candlelight hike, Creatures of the Forest tours leaving every 7 minutes; Pumpkin carving will be judged at 8:15 p.m.; childrens crafts; Plymouth Star Gazers volunteers will have telescopes set-up; story telling and singing around the campfire; light refreshments will be available; sorry no pets allowed.
Washington County - The water level on Theresa Marsh Wildlife Area in Washington and Dodge County is still a few inches below seasonal normal, but access to the marsh for canoes and duck boats is relatively good. Motorboats are prohibited on the marsh during the waterfowl season. Duck numbers on Theresa Marsh have been low, but goose hunters have been having good success. The number of road-killed deer reported in Washington County is beginning to pick up. Mourning Dove hunters have been having some success in weedy soybean fields, fence lines and other areas.
Kettle Moraine State Park - Pike Lake Unit - The forest is very near peak color now. These conditions should hold through the coming weekend. Be sure to check out the view of the forest from atop the observation tower on Powder Hill. All trails are open for hiking. The cool crisp air of the fall season is a great time to view the explosion of fall colors while walking the forest trails.
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SOUTH CENTRAL REGION
Dodgeville DNR Service Center area
Grant County - Cooler temperatures were much more conducive to waterfowl hunters over the 80 degree days of opening weekend. Hunting pressure was light for the last weekend of the first period. Few waterfowl were in the area. Wood ducks and teal remained the popular birds, although hunters also bagged ring neck, pintail, gadwall and widgeon as well. There are hundreds of white pelicans staging in several areas of middle pool #11 from McCartney Lake to Rosebrook Island. Several flocks of Canadian geese also remain in the middle pool area, although most flights have been high and away from hunters. Anglers report slow fishing with several smallmouth and largemouth bass caught and released. Fall colors are scattered with some color enthusiast reporting about mid peak color.
Iowa County - As fall temperatures have finally hit the area, Canada goose activity is picking up. Geese can be spotted along the Wisconsin River and in the rivers sloughs. As goose activity is picking up, duck numbers appear to be down. Also as a result of cooler temperatures, deer are starting to move. Bucks are starting to make territorial scrapes and mating activity should be picking up. The water level is low on the Wisconsin River and fishing is slow. Fishing activity should pick up on area lakes with cooler temperatures, making it ideal for fall fishing. First frost is right around the corner, which should speed up color changes in the areas vegetation.
Horicon DNR Service Center area
Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area - October is a time of great changes in bird populations at Horicon Marsh. The current Canada goose count at Horicon Marsh is more than 150,000. The recent cold fronts have brought many ducks and geese into the area, but also have taken most of the white pelicans, great egrets and other summer birds with them. Hawks and raptors have been passing through the area in good numbers with red-tails, harriers, bald eagles and peregrine falcon among recent common sightings. In spite of the low water levels in Horicon Marsh, waterfowl are present in great abundance. However, ducks and geese are concentrated on areas with remaining water and hunters are experiencing some difficulty in accessing backwaters and shallow water areas in the marsh. The botulism outbreak experienced earlier this fall at the marsh did result in the loss of some waterfowl, but the cool weather appears to have ended this cycle. Botulism is always a concern during years of low water levels, high temperatures and decaying organic matter. The drought of this summer provided just such conditions and biologists have been out on the marsh monitoring this disease. Botulism is a naturally occurring disease in many wetlands and there is nothing managers can do to avoid or end such a condition, except to collect dead waterfowl, which may further spread the disease and keep birds off of "hot spots" where this is known to occur. Cooler water temperatures usually lead to an end of a botulism disease outbreak.
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WEST CENTRAL REGION
Baldwin DNR Service Center area
St. Croix County
Willow River State Park - A big wind and rain blew down a lot of the fall colors. There is still more to come. Water is shut off and flush toilet buildings are closed for the season. Pit toilets are open near the beach playground, at the boat launch, and in the campground near site # 63. Campers may load water tanks at the service building just down the hill from the office. Tanks may be unloaded but not rinse at the dump station on the campground entrance road. Heavy traffic continues on County Hwy. A. The traffic situation will exist into the end of October with the Stillwater, Minn., bridge closed. Anglers are reminded that all fishing is closed in the pool below the Little Falls dam since it is classified as trout water. Some of the best hiking conditions of the year are coming. Peak color will be followed by leaves off, and much more will be visible. Plan to visit all the overlooks above Willow Falls during the coming weeks.
La Crosse DNR Service Center area
Bluegills have moved into traditional wintering areas on the Mississippi River and despite higher water levels people fishing these back waters are doing very well. Trees are beginning to turn color and to lose some leaves, really starting improve visibility in the woods. Hunters should keep in mind, however, improved visibility works both ways. Hunters have an easier time seeing game, but game animals have an easier time spotting hunters. Proper camouflage techniques, patience, and stillness can help hunters to remain unseen by their quarry. Many different species of song birds are feeding in old fields and CRP fields. These fields provide numerous different types of seeds. One thing to keep in mind is the more diverse the plant species in the field should produce more diversity of bird species. Red-breasted nuthatches, bluebirds, golden-crowned kinglets, song sparrows, white-throated sparrows, and fox sparrows are some of the migratory songbirds currently passing through the local area. Double crested cormorants and white pelicans are present in sizable numbers along the Mississippi River. Few shorebirds remain except for snipe and a few sandpipers. A significant woodcock migration has not been noticed yet. Mississippi River Pool 8 water levels are up from the duck opener. Many water fowlers will return for the second opener on Oct. 15 to find the spots they hunted early season under water. Keep this in mind before you go out early Saturday morning and when boating in the La Crosse area. Waterfowl hunters on Mississippi river pool 8 near La Crosse have been pleased that they have been seeing more ducks than they have during the early season in a few years. Hunters have been reporting good numbers of teal, mallards and wood ducks with some widgeon, pintail and shovelers mixed in. Vegetation on pool 8 also looks good this year and small amounts of scattered wild rice has established itself in pool 8. It will be interesting to see if the wild rice expands on pool 8 as it has so prolifically on pool 7. Waterfowl hunters need to remember to check that their boat lights continue to operate in good working order as boat lights are required between sunset and sunrise. Now that August type of heat seems to have left the Coulee Region Archers will feel like bow hunting. There are good number of mature bucks in the La Crosse area this year, some surely due to last years earn a buck season but many property owners are now also practicing some type of quality deer management. This situation has many archers hopeful of an encounter and opportunity at their dream buck near La Crosse this year. Archers considering using bait are urged to carefully read the baiting regulations. La Crosse area archers need to note that the free antlerless tag they received with their license is only valid in Zone T and CWD units. This free antlerless tag is not valid in unit 59D. Archers hunting in unit 59D may wish to purchase an antlerless tag for unit 59D. Woodchucks are true hibernators and have started to hibernate and will not come out until spring sometime in March or April.
Crawford County - The water level on the Mississippi rose to 9.2 by the end of the week. Both the Wisconsin and Kickapoo rivers saw a rise early this week but they stabilized by mid-week. Recreational boating traffic has slowed quite a bit. Weekends however will still be busy but most boats are fishing or waterfowl hunting. There is still a lot of wild celery floating down stream, continuing to make fishing difficult in most areas. Walleye and sauger action was spotty this week. Anglers using live bait have been switching over to minnows. There has been some sauger action on Rotten Slough just off the main channel. The Roseau Slough, the Black Slough, wing dams around the Prairie du Chien and Lynxville/Ferryville have produced walleye at times. The islands along the main channel outside Lynxville, north and south of Cold Spring, and all the way up to Lansing have been producing some nice walleye and sauger, but not every day. Walleye and sauger action at the Lynxville dam has been spotty. Earlier in the week there was some fair action, however as the water started to rise the action slowed. Bluegill action started to pick up this week. Gremore Lake had some pretty good action this week. The water is starting to rise so the upper and lower portions of the Ambro Slough have slowed. Garnet Lake, Horseshoe Lake, and many of the sloughs action has been very spotty. Even in the Main Channel along rocky shorelines and in lower flow areas bluegill fishing has been slow mostly because of swift current and floating weeds. Cold Springs was very spotty again this week. Some days anglers caught a few bluegills or crappie. Perch action has been spotty. Crappie action has been very spotty with some reports of good catches, using minnows, in the snags in many of the backwater sloughs. Striper (white bass) action was pretty slow this week. Some white bass were being taken up near the Lynxville dam and in the Prairie du Chien area. Both Channel and Flathead Catfish continue to bite fairly well. Catfish were being caught in Pool 9 outside of Ferryville. Most catfish are being taken on cut bait, stink bait or night crawlers. Sheepshead are still very active and are biting on night crawlers. Bass anglers found action to be similar to walleye fishing. Some good days followed by some slow days. Most anglers report catching many under sized bass. The Spring Lake area, Garnet Lake, the main channel and most sloughs have produced bass. Some largemouth bass have been taken along woody shorelines and weeds in the back sloughs. Most bass anglers were using plastics, jig and pig, top water spoons, or spinner baits. Bass anglers fishing on Pool 9 have found bass along the weed edges along the small channels. Smallmouth bass have been active along the Main Channels especially along rocky shorelines and wing dams. Northern pike action was spotty this week. White pelicans can still been seen on Pool 9 in the area between Lynxville and Ferryville. Most of the whitetail bucks have rubbed off their velvet and are now starting rutting behavior. Red winged blackbirds are starting to flock up in large numbers. There have been very few mourning dove hunters out. As more corn and soybean fields are picked the mourning dove hunting should improve. Successful dove hunters are finding the birds using picked grain fields, freshly cut alfalpha or corn fields. Duck hunters saw a large population of wood ducks during the opening weekend but then the weather turned hot. The last part of the first duck season was very spotty. The backwaters of the Mississippi River around the Prairie du Chien area were not as good as the Wisconsin River bottoms. The duck season is now closed but will re-open on Oct. 15. Archery deer hunters are finding more scrapes along the field edges and in the woods. Most are becoming more active. Deer numbers look very good and reports of archery hunters filling bonus tags on does. The beginning of corn and soybean harvest and leaves falling should make deer hunting even better. Most of Crawford County lies in Deer Management Unit 74B. All deer hunters are reminded that 74B in NOT a T-Zone this year, therefore the free T-Zone tags that come with both gun and archery deer licenses CAN NOT be used in 74B. Early last week the weather was very warm. Ticks, mosquitoes, hornets, and house flies came out in force. Poison ivy and stinging nettle is still out. By the end of the week the weather turned cold with some morning frost. This should slow down the insects and start to kill off the nettle. In the river bottoms the Cardinal Flower is in full bloom. Many fall prairie flowers are blooming. Black Walnut, Elm, and Sumac are starting to loose their leaves. Some maple trees are starting to turn color. Oak trees are still green.
Black River Falls DNR Service Center area
Monroe County - Waters levels in local cranberry ponds are fluctuating due to fall harvest but fish are still biting in them. The warm weather and mild evenings have helped keep the bite on. Duck and goose hunters are seeing success on the Monroe County Flowage and other marsh areas. Colder days should push waterfowl south into the area. Much corn is still standing. Trees haven't reached their peak colors yet and it seems that only about 30 percent have turned. Area cranberry growers are just beginning harvest and many flooded beds along roadways can be seen full of berries.
Wisconsin Rapids DNR Service Center area
Buckhorn State Park - The park and wildlife areas A and B are open for the early season of bow hunting (54A). This area is not a T-zone. Only regular bow tags or bonus permits for 54A are allowed. Three deer were registered at the park office over the weekend. Small game, trapping and waterfowl are allowed in Wildlife areas A and B only. Fall turkey is allowed in wildlife Area B only (15). Pick up hunting maps with rules at the park office. The park office will register deer during open office hours. Some campsites are closed for the season. Check with the park office for availability. The fishing and boat boarding piers will be taken out Oct. 18-19. The 2006 photo contest started on Oct. 1. The trees are just starting to change colors in the Necedah/Mauston area.
Roche-A-Cri State Park - Fall colors have come to the area! Trails are in good hiking condition. Campsites 1 25 will be open through Oct. 16.
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