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Category: Fishing and Hunting

  • DNR’s Salmon Dance Coming to Green Bay Meeting Sept. 3

    “Can you please stock more salmon?” That simple, private message to the Kewaunee/Door Salmon Tournament page after the 2019 contest ended in late July really hit home. One, as if we, as a tournament committee, had the power. And two, if only it were that easy.  But maybe it really is.  Let me backtrack a […]

  • Black-Bear Hunt Largely an ‘Up North’ Experience

    Black bears have greatly expanded their range in Wisconsin, but they are still far and away most common in the vast forests of northern Wisconsin. Rarely, though, bears or bear tracks are spotted in Door and Kewaunee counties. Don’t believe it? Several bears were killed by hunters or vehicles in Door County decades ago. Interest […]

  • First Fall Hunting Permits Go on Sale This Weekend

    If you’re looking for a bonus wild turkey tag or an antlerless deer permit for your up-north getaway, don’t press the snooze button during the coming days. Only 2,000 bonus turkey permits are available for Zone 2, which includes Door and Kewaunee counties. They’ll go on sale at 10 am on Saturday, Aug. 17, for […]

  • Welch’s Return to Fishing One for the Record Books

    Anglers caught the heaviest chinooks since the 1990s in this year’s Kewaunee/Door County Salmon Tournament. There were 13 heavier than 30 pounds that were officially in the money, plus a half-dozen others taken to official scales with no tournament ticket.  A trio of Door County graduates topped the list of winners in a contest that […]

  • Green Bay Offers Anglers a Smorgasbord of Species

    Green Bay anglers are finding a smorgasbord of fish species willing to take the bait. Yellow perch action is heating up right along with the weather this month, and there’s been a wide variety of sizes available. Many anglers are keeping fish seven to 11 inches, with an occasional jumbo that’s a foot long or […]

  • Salmon Fever Strikes as Tournament Nears

    Gorgeous colors fill the eastern skies at 5 am on Lake Michigan, and you’re sipping a cup of steaming-hot coffee to wash down a freshly baked doughnut. Or maybe the sun has just dipped below the western horizon on a sultry summer night, and you’re gripping an ice-cold can of soda. The lake is calm […]

  • Unprecedented High Water Closes Kewaunee Boat Ramps

    Lake Michigan’s record-high water levels are eroding shorelines, causing problems with docks and leading to flooding in some river systems every time there’s a significant rain event. But last week’s announcement that the public boat-launching ramps in Kewaunee would be closed beginning July 1 was a shock to hundreds of anglers and the dozens of […]

  • Hook, Line and Sinker: Fishing Success Requires Nothing Fancy

    Growing up with a fishing pole in one hand and a net in the other, I didn’t need the latest study to tell me that relaxing outdoors and being close to nature were the primary reasons why many people fished, or that folks who participate in outdoor recreation are often more satisfied with life. For […]

  • Outdoor Must-Haves, K/D Salmon Tournament, ICAST

    Summer is finally here, but “cooler by the lake” – and bay – may still bein our vocabulary for another week or two. The extended forecast showshighs only in the mid-60s to low 70s and overnight lows in the 50s, withour wet spring continuing into early summer. Although there’s no heat wave on the horizon, […]

  • Get Back in the Game with Bargain-Priced Fishing Licenses

    Fog rose like wisps of smoke off the flat-calm water, and songbirds greeted the new day with some of nature’s finest music. The old rowboat creaked and groaned with each calculated stroke of the oars, and I hand-scooped warm lake water and dripped it onto the oar sleeve in an effort to quiet the approach […]

  • Lake Michigan Water Levels Highest Many Have Seen

    If you’re age 33 or younger, you’ve never seen Green Bay and Lake Michigan water levels higher than they were last weekend. And – depending on what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finds this week – there’s a chance that we could be looking at an all-time record as we head into June. Frequent […]

  • Memorial Day Weekend: Busy on the Water

    Spring is here and summer is near, but it’s still winter in the water. That’s one of the safety-related messages that the Wisconsin DNR and U.S. Coast Guard has for boaters and other recreationists as we head into a busy holiday weekend. Water has gradually been warming into the 50s in some shallow bays and […]

  • Amazing 6.5-Pound Average Biggest Ever in Bass Tourney

    A record-setting weight of 32.76 pounds for five fish on the first day of the Sturgeon Bay Bass Tournament propelled a pair of guides to the winner’s circle. Door County guide Bret Alexander of Green Bay and southern Wisconsin guide Eric Haataja of West Allis averaged more than 6.55 pounds per bass, which is thought […]

  • Colorful Migrants Finally Wing Their Way to Peninsula

    Some of the most beautiful birds in North America are winging their way to and through the Kewaunee/Door County peninsula this week. The first-of-year Baltimore orioles, rose-breasted grosbeaks and ruby-throated hummingbirds are here, and a lucky few bird watchers have seen (or may soon see) orchard orioles, indigo buntings, eastern towhees and scarlet tanagers. If […]

  • Algoma’s National Treasure: Bearcat’s Fish House

    Algoma, a lakeside city roughly 20 miles south of Sturgeon Bay, is where the Ahnapee River runs into Lake Michigan. The area serves as an access point for plenty of avid anglers, and the port is known as one of the greatest on the Great Lakes for sport fishing. In fact, Algoma is home to […]

  • Kewaunee/Door Peninsula Again Top in Chinook Harvest

    Year in and year out, there’s no place like home when it comes to catching chinook salmon. The annual charter report and creel estimate released by the DNR show that anglers fishing the Kewaunee/Door County peninsula cranked in nearly half of the state’s entire chinook harvest in 2018. The catch of more than 84,000 was […]

  • Kewaunee/Door Top in Chinook Harvest

    Year in and year out, there’s no place like home when it comes to catching chinook salmon. The annual charter report and creel estimate released by the DNR show that anglers fishing the Kewaunee/Door County peninsula cranked in nearly half of the state’s entire chinook harvest in 2018. The catch of more than 84,000 was […]

  • 2019 Smelt Run Brings Back Memories of ‘Good Old Days’

    One of the best rainbow-smelt runs in years had seasoned smelters scrambling last week to find drop nets, dip nets and seines stored in barns, basements, garages and sheds. As the word spread by phone, sport-shop talk and social media posts, Kewaunee and Door County piers, creek mouths and bays attracted men, women and children […]

  • Full Moon Friday Is a Good Time to Reflect on Life’s Blessings

    Easter weekend is a great time to reflect on the blessings in life, a sweet-treat reminder of the power of faith, family and – dare I say it – fishing. I’ve grown up around the water, and for a few hours every Good Friday, one of my annual traditions is some one-on-one time with the […]

  • Annual Baileys Harbor Brown Trout Tournament

    The annual Baileys Harbor Brown Trout Tournament will be held April 25-28, with more than $8,000 in cash and prizes to be won. The first-place winner will take home a $1,500 prize package ($1,000 cash and a Door County vacation package). Participants may fish in Door and Kewaunee county waters, on the bay and lake […]