Online input will also be accepted

IRON MOUNTAIN — Fish and Wildlife Spring hearings will be held at 6 p.m. Monday across Wisconsin.

Department of Natural Resources staff and Wisconsin Conservation Congress delegates will be on hand to discuss local issues of importance, answer questions from the public and open a dialogue between the public, the DNR and the WCC about areas of interest and concern.

The Florence County site is the large conference room of the Florence Natural Resource Center, 5628 Forestry Drive, Florence.

In Marinette County, use the Door 6 entrance to the auditorium at Wausaukee High School, N11941 U.S. 141, Wausaukee.

Additionally, an online opportunity for public input will be available from noon Wednesday through noon Saturday, April 13.

The WCC will also hold its delegates’ elections at each meeting. Two of the five WCC seats will be up for election in each county.

The public is invited to provide feedback on a variety of fish, wildlife and other natural resources-related topics as part of the spring hearing process. For those participating in person, a number of paper ballots will be available at each meeting. The input gathered at the in-person meetings will be combined with the online input when results are presented, so both options will be weighed equally, the DNR said.

A questionnaire is available at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/about/wcc/springhearing.

Anglers are reminded a new license season began Monday in both Michigan and Wisconsin. The 2024 fishing licenses are valid through March 31, 2025.

Michigan’s statewide trout opener is Saturday, April 27, while the walleye and northern pike seasons open Monday, May 15. The possession season for bass starts Saturday, May 25.

Wisconsin’s general inland trout opener is Saturday, May 4, which is also when the general inland fishing season starts. In the northern zone, largemouth bass can be harvested beginning May 4 while the smallmouth harvest opener is June 15.

As for hunting, the spring turkey season in the U.P. begins Saturday, April 20, and runs through Friday, May 31. The first of Wisconsin’s six, one-week spring turkey hunting periods will start Wednesday, April 17.

Wisconsin will have a youth turkey hunt next weekend, April 13-14. Hunters under 16 must have a spring turkey license, wild turkey stamp and valid harvest authorization. Regulations can be found at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/turkey.

Near Lake Michigan, walleye have moved into the lower Menominee, Peshtigo and Oconto rivers, the Wisconsin DNR said.

Clown-colored rapalas were working best at Marinette, along with vertical jigging in deeper areas. The best fishing at Oconto occurred in the early morning or right before dark.

April, the Michigan DNR says, is the perfect time to fish for steelhead. Some better-known rivers in the U.P. are the Huron and Two Hearted rivers in the Lake Superior watershed. A variety of techniques can be used, including live bait, artificial lures and flies.

The Michigan DNR reported this activity in the U.P.

Little Bay de Noc: Most of the public access docks are in, although angler pressure was low. Cold water temperatures slowed down activity for perch anglers.

Marquette: Due to poor weather conditions, recent fishing for coho salmon on the break wall seemed to slow. There were also very few boats that attempted to go out this week. Those who were able to make it out ended up with few fish. Anglers who floated down the Chocolay River did well when fishing for steelhead and brown trout. The Carp River slowed down a little but was still producing some steelhead. Spawn and wax worms on jigs worked well for steelhead in both the Carp and Chocolay rivers, along with orange beads. Trolling blue and silver spoons, as well as tiger-stripe-patterned Rapalas, seemed to be popular for catching coho salmon in the lower harbor.

Au Train: Those that made it out prior to the poor weather reported catching steelhead and brown trout. Blue and silver spoons did well for coho.

Keweenaw Bay: Those who were able to fish found some rainbow trout around river mouths when casting from shore, and splake all along the shoreline of Keweenaw Bay.