Patience at boat launches will be needed this weekend with hot weather and a mix of anglers and powerboat enthusiasts taking to the water to cool off.
Thousands of fishermen are still catching up on sleep after record ticket sales in the 43rd annual Kewaunee/Door County Salmon Tournament. A total of 3,967 men, women and youths entered, and more than 180 of them shared in early-bird, port and final payout cash and prizes.
Steve Ravet of Luxemburg won $15,000 in K/D cash, a silver salmon necklace for his wife from Wisconsin Charm artist Paul Spanbauer and bonus $400 cash from the Bradley Jordan Memorial Prize that annually goes to the biggest fish weighed on Washington Island.
Ravet’s 42-inch, 33.60-pounder led start to finish, and was more than six pounds larger than second place. Adrian Dykstra of Siren won $8,000 cash and a Howie’s Tackle shopping spree for his 39-inch, 27.51-pounder caught off the island while Jason Rolstad of Andover, Minnesota won $5,000 cash and a Yeti Cooler from Yacht Works Kewaunee for his third place catch, a 39-inch, 27.32-pounder off Kewaunee.
A year after 14 salmon larger than 30 pounds hit the scale, Ravet’s fish was the only one. There was also a big drop in 25-pound-plus trophies. In 2024, 164 25-plus-pounders were brought to tournament scales; this year, there were only 10.
The final leaderboard and prizes won can be seen at https://www.facebook.com/kdsalmon2025/.
Meanwhile, the multi-state and lakewide Salmon-A-Rama had 88 “kings” larger than 20 pounds, including a 29.58-pound winner. It was one of just three Chinooks larger than 25 pounds in that contest. The winning lake trout weighed 25.68 pounds; the top brown trout, 24.16; the heaviest rainbow trout, 16.36; and the biggest coho salmon, 14.08.
And the heaviest Chinook through nearly six weeks of the Ultimate Salmon Derby — a Lake Michigan and Lake Huron contest — was 25.44 pounds.
Next up, the 44th Marinette & Menominee Great Lakes Sport Fishermen Brown Trout Derby is set for this Saturday and Sunday.
Headquarters are at Menominee Memorial Marina. Proceeds are used to fund a wide variety of fishing-related projects and programs in the Marinette and Menominee areas. For more information, check out the group’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100064477998332.
If you fish the Lake Winnebago system, the Department of Natural Resources is asking you to be on the lookout for and report any round goby sightings.
An aggressive invader, the round goby reproduces quickly, leading to the displacement of native fish populations. They have been present in the Great Lakes since the early 1990s, including tributaries up to the first impassable dam or barrier.
A round goby was reported by an angler fishing in Oshkosh earlier this summer. Since then, the DNR has intensified monitoring efforts in the Winnebago system. No others were found.
Anglers that capture a suspected round goby in Winnebago System waters should keep the fish and freeze/put on ice in a plastic bag and report it to the DNR. The best way to report the goby is to use the DNR’s online goby reporting tool at https://wi-dnr.maps.arcgis.com/apps/GeoForm/index.html?appid=5cb997378cb447989b5fa86cfb5529ad.
Prevention remains the best way to help protect Wisconsin’s waters, as round gobies are nearly impossible to eradicate once they have been established. Anglers are reminded to never use round gobies as bait, release fish from one lake into another or throw unwanted bait into the water. A deceased goby can be legally transported to a DNR office for identification.
The Department of Natural Resources popular reforestation program will begin taking orders for spring delivery on Monday, Oct. 6.
The agency is giving landowners and property managers an early peek at the seedlings they anticipate having available. The list is preliminary, but it’s likely that the quantities of white oak will be very low due to poor acorn production last fall. In addition, a number of species — including nine bark, elderberry and nannyberry — may not be available due to a lack of tree seed, challenges during the growing season or seedings that didn’t meet the DNR’s stringent sales requirements.
Learn more about the program at https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/TreePlanting. For a list of private nurseries, visit https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/treeplanting/nurseries.
A Wisconsin man recently had his Alaskan grizzly bear skull measured at 27-9/16 inches, making it the largest hunter-killed grizzly in the Boone & Crockett records. It was estimated to be at least 20 years old. Two days later, the hunter connected with a bull moose with a 73-inch wide spread. See photos and read the story at https://www.boone-crockett.org/new-record-grizzly-confirmed.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here