IRON MOUNTAIN — Michigan’s archery deer season opens Saturday, Oct. 1, with the state’s new online reporting requirement up in the air.

Under a mandate announced in August, successful harvests are to be reported through the Michigan.gov website or an app available in Apple or Google Play stores on mobile devices. However, state lawmakers are moving to strike the requirement, with a House-approve bill now before the Senate.

Regardless of the legislation, deer tags are still required as hunters must attach a Department of Natural Resources-issued kill tag to a harvested deer.

More information is available at https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/things-to-do/hunting/deer/deer-harvest-reporting-faqs.

Wisconsin’s archery deer season opened Sept. 17 but most hunters are waiting for cooler weather to take hold.

Fishing pressure, meanwhile, has been light. Anglers have had luck landing smaller walleyes on crawlers, said Fay Whisler at Whisler Outdoors in Florence, Wis.

“Northern pike have been hitting on the Menominee River with sucker minnows the best bait,” Whisler added. The bluegill bite has been fair on area lakes, she said.

Anglers on the lower Peshtigo River in Marinette County were having luck catching yellow perch, the Wisconsin DNR stated. Lots of small perch were reported caught with about one out of every 10 being a keeper. Pink salmon were also being caught in the Peshtigo River.

The Michigan DNR reported this Upper Peninsula activity:

Little Bay de Noc: Anglers targeting walleye were focusing on areas close to the first reef, out in front of Kipling, near Gladstone, and between the Ford River and No See-um Creek. Perch anglers were fishing along weed edges out of Kipling and near the Days River.

Manistique: Anglers reported a fair amount of pink and Chinook salmon in the river. Typical float fishing methods and casting crankbaits both proved successful for anglers. Some walleye were also caught.

Marquette: Fishing activity was slightly up this past week in Marquette. There was not a major change in anglers reporting lake trout catches. Best locations for catching lake trout were near White Rocks (70-plus feet of water), and near Granite Island (100-plus feet of water). Some Chinook and coho salmon were reported near the Chocolay River. Anglers reported catching Chinook and coho salmon in 60 to 80 feet of water while trolling spoons near the mouth of the Chocolay River. A couple salmon were reported coming from in the river itself.

Munising Bay: A few more shore anglers were out with very few fish caught. A few undersize splake and one coho were caught. Water temperatures were still in upper 60s, and water levels were low at the Anna River. Anglers were casting spoons, or fishing with spawn. A few boat anglers were out with no action. Anglers tried trolling within the bay all the way into Trout Bay with no action.

Grand Marais: A few pier anglers were fishing for whitefish with no success. The Sucker River water levels were low.

Keweenaw Bay/ Huron Bay: Anglers were getting anxious with the anticipation of salmon moving into the bays with a few reports of coho and Chinook salmon found near river mouths. Most anglers out in the bays were having success. Lake trout were biting on spoons and flies in medium depth waters. Most successful anglers were trolling. The time of day varied greatly.

Big Traverse Bay/ South Portage Entry: Anglers found luck while trolling for lake trout in waters from 50 to 130 feet deep. Fish were caught in the water column in those depths. Most fish were caught while trolling with silver spoons. Anglers have yet to begin reporting salmon in their catch. Some anglers had luck with pike and bass in near shore waters and from docks.

Au Train: The best opportunities for catching lake trout were while trolling or jigging around Au Train Island in about 150-plus feet of water.

Les Cheneaux/Detour: Anglers in Detour were catching a good amount of lake trout in the flats in 90 feet of water while trolling spoons near bottom. They were also picking up a few pink salmon and Chinook in the area as well. In the Hessel area, anglers were starting to pick up splake at the marina using spawn. There were a few perch caught around the Island 8 bridge.

Lake George: The fishing in Lake George was productive with catches of pike, smallmouth bass and perch. On occasion there were a few walleye caught as well, which was a distinct increase since earlier this month. Methods used were trolling and jigging, but it varied from day to day with what the fish were interested in.

Lake Nicolet: Fishing in Lake Nicolet improved as the month progressed. Mostly due to the fact of weather and temperatures. The methods remained consistent for the species in question (trolling for walleye, casting for pike and bass, jigging for perch, and casting, drifting, jigging, and trolling for the various salmon), and a few of the surveyed anglers were putting in the hours to track down fish. There were salmon caught, with a couple walleye, pike and perch caught on occasion through the lake as well. More types of salmon were in the river, but surveyed numbers were still on the lower side of things at the present time, but those numbers will start to increase as the season continues as they make a run for spawning habitat this fall. Numbers for pink salmon were on the lower side, but that is partly due to weather influencing the migration, as the run continues, it should increase in both success and numbers.

Upper St. Marys: Anglers had some success catching rainbow trout, yellow perch, pike, and some walleye near the Soo Locks. Water temperatures were cooling down and some weather in the area increased of fish activity. Anglers were primarily using live bait while sitting near the bottom of the river or trolling with crankbaits.

Whitefish Bay: There was low fishing pressure due to windy conditions. Some lucky anglers caught good sized coho trolling with spoons in 80 to 100 feet of water.