IRON MOUNTAIN — Persistent anglers riding the weather roller coaster were landing panfish ahead of a warm spell expected Sunday.

“They’re still getting a few perch at Lake Antoine,” said John Grier at Whispering Pines Outpost on M-95.

Grier is conducting a longest perch contest for March. A 21-inch walleye was good enough to win February’s competition.

A 32-inch northern pike was among the best catches this week, Grier noted.

Wisconsin anglers were catching a good number of crappies as well as some perch, said Fay Whisler at Whisler Outdoors in Florence, Wis.

“Mostly just waxworms and crappie minnows,” she said of bait choices. Crappies were biting in the morning and perch in the afternoon.

Only a few walleye catches were reported, Whisler added.

Temperatures are expected to climb well into the 40s on Sunday. Rain or drizzle and a high of 52 is predicted for Monday.

There is still close to a foot of ice on some northern lakes, but access is treacherous with open water reported along shorelines, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources said.

Wisconsin’s general inland game fish season closes Sunday.

The 2017 sturgeon spearing season on Wisconsin’s Winnebago System ended in a slow fashion with only 10 fish harvested over the last seven days. The season still closed with a total harvest of 847 fish, including nine fish that were 140 pounds or larger.

Maple sugarers have been collecting sap but due to a drop in temperature, the flow temporarily slowed, the DNR said.

The Michigan DNR reported the following fishing activity in the U.P.

Keweenaw Bay: The ice has been gone for a week now. The warmer weather had a few boats out trolling stick baits for coho or jigging for whitefish with Swedish pimples. The launch was open in Baraga however ice did once again stack up at the launch. Conditions here change daily. Shore casting was slow. The Falls River was still frozen.

Menominee River: Those fishing the Hattie Street Dam have caught trout, whitefish and walleye with small spoons and stick baits.

Little Bay De Noc: Very warm temperatures last week have made ice conditions very dangerous. Some anglers were still fishing but were walking out only. From Escanaba north to Kipling there are patches of open water mostly around the edges. Colder temperatures and heavy snow could mask bad ice conditions so please use caution when traveling the Bay. Angler participation was very low. Walleye anglers mostly fished around the Second Reef in 25 to 35 feet. They were marking fish but few catches were reported. Perch anglers fishing the First Reef had good catches of small fish using minnows or wigglers in 10 to 20 feet. Small fish were also caught around the Second Reef in 20 to 30 feet.

Munising: Warm temperatures in the mid 50’s deteriorated ice conditions and even though temperatures dropped back into the 20’s, most anglers feel the ice has not firmed back up. Anglers should avoid these areas: Bay Furnace area and the red can access off M-28 at Christmas, Powell Point, Grand Island Access, Brown public access and Sand Point where an angler actually fell through.

Snow and slush will create soft spots and mask areas that are not safe. Extreme caution needs to be used. The better access site was the Anna River city docks. Catch rates were low with only a couple nice splake taken by those jigging rapalas or Swedish pimples. Those using cut bait or minnows did better than those using eggs. A few anglers reported a couple schools of herring and smelt off the Anna River. For smelt, try a teardrop with wax worms or mousies. Some were jigging for coho off the Ann River but had no luck.

Grand Marais: Had no fishable ice in the harbor. Heavy ice cover on the pier prevented anglers from targeting whitefish. No anglers were at the Sucker River.

Cedarville and Hessel: Muskie Bay in Cedarville had anglers targeting perch and pike. Catch rates for perch increased with some getting 20 to 40 fish that were eight to 12 inches. Catch rates for pike were slow for those using tip-ups or spears.