IRON MOUNTAIN — Thursday is opening day for the Upper Peninsula inland walleye and northern pike seasons.

The new license season began April 1, so anglers should make sure they purchase a new fishing license for this season. The 2025 annual fishing licenses are valid through March 31, 2026.

The Michigan Department of Natural Resources is urging people to refrain from burning, as windy conditions are expected through weekend and the wildfire danger across the region is very high. There’s no mention of rain in the forecast until late next week.

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Upper Peninsula Recreational Off-Road ATV Riders, or UPROAR, will hold a spring ride at 9 a.m. Saturday, May 17, meeting at the Redline Sport and Marine storage property in Vulcan. For more, go to https://www.facebook.com/UPROAR906/.

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The Skoglund-Erickson Shooting Range in Marquette County is open for the season.

The public range is in Richmond Township, west of Marquette, 2.7 miles south of Marquette County Road 480, along the road to the Goose Lake Boating Access Site.

The all-accessible facility will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time (last shot at 4:45 p.m.) through early December. Admission and shooting are free of charge.

Funding for the range was provided through a federal grant administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and supplemented by the Michigan Natural Resources Trust Fund.

The range — built on 25 acres owned by the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Co. — is dedicated to Michigan Conservation Officer Emil Skoglund and Game Warden Arvid Erickson, who were shot and killed by an ex-convict not far from the shooting range location in September 1926.

For more information on the DNR’s public shooting ranges, go to https://www.michigan.gov/dnr/things-to-do/shooting.

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The DNR reported this fishing activity in the U.P.:

Grand Marais: The coho salmon fishing was great this past week, boating anglers had the best success when trolling east of the break wall for these fish, with a few steelhead and chinook salmon mixed in.

Munising: Boating anglers did very well catching coho salmon by trolling the bay in Munising. Anglers pursuing lake trout have found some jigging near Grand Island. There was some limited success off the fishing dock on the Anna River, with anglers reporting a few coho salmon and whitefish with the use of spawn bags. Shore anglers fishing Bay Furnace reported a few steelhead in the past week.

Ontonagon River: All three launch docks are now in the water at the Ontonagon Marina Boat Launch.

Black River Harbor: Over the past week the harbor experienced a good amount of angling efforts. Anglers fishing from the harbor break walls were successful in catching coho salmon in low numbers. Boats trolling shallow waters reported mixed catches consisting of coho salmon, Chinook salmon, lake trout, steelhead, and brown trout in fair to low numbers.

Little Bay de Noc: Smallmouth bass anglers reported good fishing in relatively shallow areas. Anglers used jerk baits and soft plastics, close to the bottom. Perch fishing was good using minnows in the upper portion of the bay.

Big Bay de Noc: Anglers fishing Garden Bay reported slow fishing for yellow perch. Anglers targeting bass did well, reporting good number of catches, as well as large fish.

Les Cheneaux Islands: Anglers in the Hessel area were fishing for splake and perch. There were a few splake caught at the marina fishing on bottom with dead smelt but people have been putting in long hours trying to get something to commit. The perch started to move in but were difficult to get to commit to anything, with anglers using minnows, worms, wigglers, and even shrimp. The boat anglers have been going out into the big waters coming in with some nice catches of lake trout.