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Fishing winds down; DNR to work on bridge

Outdoors Report

IRON MOUNTAIN — ORV enthusiasts are reminded that an off-road vehicle bridge connecting Michigan and Wisconsin will be temporarily closed for construction work starting Monday.

The bridge over the Menominee River north of Iron Mountain is undergoing approach work in advance of deck and railing replacement scheduled for next year. It’s scheduled to reopen Nov. 8, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources said.

Fishing action has slowed, but musky anglers still are giving it a go, said Doug Whisler at Whisler Outdoors in Florence, Wis. Reports from archery deer hunters have been sparse, he said, while grouse hunters have enjoyed success “here and there.”

On Tuesday, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources will host a virtual meeting from 6 to 8 p.m. to hear from anyone interested in Lake Michigan whitefish. Members of the public can access the meeting beginning at 5:45 p.m. via Zoom or by calling 312-626-6799 and using the meeting ID: 967 7139 3836.

DNR fisheries managers will be developing new regulations for lake whitefish for the commercial industry and would like stakeholder participation from a wide variety of sources. This will be the third of several public meetings over the next year to get feedback on the Lake Michigan whitefish fishery.

The Michigan DNR reported this Upper Peninsula fishing activity:

Keweenaw Bay: Reports of slow fishing, with a few boats out trolling and a few catches of salmon and trout.

Marquette: Boat angling season is winding down, especially with windy weather limiting angler opportunities. A few boats have been out in the lower harbor and fishing the mouth of the Chocolay with some success catching rainbow trout, brown trout and coho salmon. Anglers are mainly trolling with spoons or casting lures and plugs. Pier anglers have been targeting lake trout, with decent reports of fish averaging 2 to 4 pounds. No limits have been reported, but fishing was good with those catching one or two fish. Anglers are primarily using spawn and crawlers.

Little Bay de Noc: High winds reduced angler participation this week. Walleye anglers mostly fished the reefs in the Kipling area. The best catches were reported in 14 to 25 feet using crawlers or stick baits. Several fair catches of perch were reported in the same area using crawlers in 10 to 20 feet. Some nice northern pike were reported by anglers trolling around ship docks in Escanaba fishing in 8 to 15 feet early in the morning.

Manistique River: Shore salmon anglers were reporting fair to good catches fishing the rapids by the “Bass Hole” and up to the dam. Many Chinook are dark-colored now, with an occasional pink salmon, coho salmon or steelhead being caught. The river is still full of walleye, with many having been caught by salmon anglers casting crank baits.

Munising: Boat angling season is winding down, with very few going out over the past week. Weather has been too windy. Shore anglers have reported slow catches, with a few catching one or two coho. Some anglers have reported catching small rainbow trout. Very few splake have been caught. Shore anglers are mainly using spoons or fishing with spawn.

Detour: Strong winds have kept anglers off the water. A few anglers reported catches of small Chinook salmon just upstream from the lighthouse at Fry Pan Island trolling yellow and orange spoons behind flashers set at 55 feet over 90 feet of water with a trolling speed of 3.5 miles per hour. Some nice walleye have been caught 2 miles upstream of Detour Village, at Swedes Point, trolling black and chrome crank baits.

Cedarville and Hessel: Anglers have reported good numbers of Chinook salmon and a few good catches at the Hessel Marina finger docks. Chinook are hitting on natural spawn and artificial spawn bags jigging in 4 to 8 feet. Anglers have caught some nice northern pike by trolling large crank baits at buoys 22 and 23 in Snows Channel, just west of Dollar Island.

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