Spring Hearing Vote

April 10-13

Citizens may submit resolutions through March 1

by KEVIN NAZE gofishwisconsin@gmail.com

Peninsula Pulse contributor

This year’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) spring fish and wildlife rules hearings and Conservation Congress meetings will feature a new twist.

Although it will be the fourth-straight year for online-only voting – a 72-hour window from noon April 10 to noon April 13 – new this year is that an election for Conservation Congress delegates and alternates will take place during open houses to be held April 3-6 around the state. Specific dates, times and locations are still being finalized.

The Wisconsin Conservation Congress is an independent organization of citizens that advises the state Natural Resources

Board and DNR on how to responsibly manage Wisconsin’s natural resources. Citizens may introduce resolutions of a statewide impact now through March 1. The concerns must be practical, achievable and reasonable, and within the mission and vision of the Conservation Congress. An individual may submit no more than two resolutions. Learn more at dnr.wisconsin.gov/ about/wcc/springhearing.

A Wild Winter Season

This year’s ice-fishing season was largely a bust, at least for the deeperwater action for whitefish. In fact, some guides never even put their shacks out. Others focused closer to shore in some of the bays and harbors. Most have now called it a season due to rapidly deteriorating ice. How wild was it this past week? Some anglers stuck near shore and set minnows through honeycombed ice. Others tried jigging the open water while standing on a sheet of ice. There were also some seen casting off piers and shorelines, or wading in open stretches of the Ahnapee River.

A few death-run salmon have even been seen alive below the dam at Forestville, nearly two months later than usual. And last week below the De Pere dam, I witnessed one angler wading, one in a kayak (with a pelican swimming nearby), a dozen fishermen casting from a fishing pier or the shoreline, and a half-dozen still taking a chance on the rotting ice. Talk about a surreal scene!

With another prolonged thaw in the immediate forecast, a couple of cold days late this week won’t be enough to