News

WATERBURY, VT – A new fishing regulation designed to improve walleye fishing in Vermont will take effect in January of 2009.

The Vermont Fish and Wildlife Board passed the statewide regulation based on recommendations from the public and state fisheries biologists with the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. The new fishing rules will apply to all waters of Vermont except Lake Carmi and Chittenden Reservoir.

Walleye and sauger will have an 18” minimum length and a 3-fish creel limit. The open season will be from the first Saturday in May to March 15. The previous regulations for walleye on Lake Champlain included an 18” minimum length and a 5-fish creel limit, with an open season from the first Saturday in May to March 15. There was no minimum length or bag limit on Lake Champlain for sauger, the smaller and rarer cousin of the walleye. In most other waters of Vermont, the minimum length for walleye was 15” with a 5-fish creel limit and no closed season.

Fish & Wildlife Department biologists gathered input at public meetings and through discussions with members of the Lake Champlain Walleye Association before proposing the rule change. The Fish and Wildlife Board also held three public hearings during the rulemaking process. The biologists and most members of the public who spoke believe the new regulation will improve walleye angling in Vermont. Applying the same regulation statewide simplifies Vermont’s walleye fishing rules, helping anglers to understand and obey the law and helping wardens to enforce it. Applying the 18” minimum length limit statewide will increase the chances that female walleye will have at least one opportunity to spawn before being removed by anglers. The reduced creel limit may help spread harvest more evenly among anglers. The statewide closed season will help protect walleye during the spawning period. The new regulation also protects sauger, which seem to be increasingly rare in Lake Champlain.

Fishing rules on Lake Carmi and Chittenden Reservoir will not change in 2009. Lake Carmi’s special slot limit for walleye was implemented because of the uniquely high productivity and high rate of walleye harvest in this lake, but fisheries biologists say this slot limit is not appropriate for most of Vermont’s waters. Chittenden Reservoir has special walleye regulations in order to produce large walleye that can help control the over-abundant yellow perch population in that Reservoir and provide anglers with an opportunity to harvest a trophy walleye. New Hampshire is responsible for the walleye regulations on the Connecticut River.

MADISON – The month of June has been proclaimed “Great Outdoors Month” in Wisconsin by Gov. Jim Doyle to encourage families to get out and celebrate and experience the many outdoor activities the state has to offer both residents and visitors.

“Wisconsin’s vast natural and cultural resources provide citizens and visitors opportunities to hike, bike, fish, camp, swim, learn about nature and enjoy numerous other outdoor activities on public and private lands,” Doyle noted in the proclamation.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) announces that the Apalachicola Paddling Trail System, located in Franklin County in the Apalachicola River Wildlife and Environmental Area, is one of 24 trails designated by the Secretary of the Interior as a National Recreation Trail.

This network of paddling trails was developed by the FWC's Office of Recreation Services. It features approximately 100 miles of scenic waterways accessible to boaters, canoeists and kayakers with all levels of experience. The shortest trails are 2 miles long, while others are 4 to 16 miles and offer pleasant half- or full-day paddling trips. Paddlers, anglers and birders can explore the quiet, calm creeks meandering through cypress-tupelo swamps or enjoy vistas of the open bay and salt marsh.

The Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation (RBFF), in partnership with the National Recreation and Park Association, has announced that the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks’ Boating Education Program has been selected as a 2008/2009 National Recreation and Park Association Take Me Fishing™ Anchor Agency. As one of 30 Anchor Agencies selected, KDWP’s efforts will serve as the foundation for park and recreation agencies and youth serving organizations to take leadership roles and ensure that recreational boating and fishing are sustained across the state of Kansas.

KDWP’s Boating Education Program will receive a grant of $10,000 to enhance existing recreational boating and fishing programs available to the youth of Kansas. Projects will include giving away free life jackets, fishing clinics, community events and festivals, and classroom programs. Events will be listed on the KDWP website as they are scheduled and also on the RBFF website.

Rough weather and high water put a damper on fishing in a number of areas during the first week of June, but anglers are expected to be out in force once conditions improve.

For one thing, catch rates for hatchery-reared salmon and steelhead - not to mention sturgeon and shad - have been picking up in a number of areas around the state. For another, popular fisheries for crab in Puget Sound and summer chinook in the Columbia River are set to kick off this month.

"I think a lot of anglers are just waiting on the weather," said Joe Hymer, a fish biologist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) in Vancouver, Wash. "There are a lot of great fishing opportunities available here and throughout the state this June, and all signs indicate this is the time to go."

WATERBURY, VT – A Vermont fisherman has claimed a new state record for common carp, displacing the previous record that had held since 1981.

Tyler Evans, 27, of Dummerston caught the huge fish when he went bow and arrow fishing with his 12-year old brother, Jimmy Evans, on May 28, at Retreat Meadows on the Connecticut River in Brattleboro.

It was late in the evening when Tyler and his brother carefully approached the big fish in their boat. The fish swam just under the surface. Equipped with a compound bow and reel spooled with 35 yards of 135 lb test line, Tyler aimed and let his arrow fly.

JEFFERSON CITY-Monday sometimes gets a bad rap. Everyone has heard of blue Monday, the day you go back to work. But this year blue Monday has a green side. Monday, June 30 marks the opening of Missouri's frogging season.

Because midnight marks the start of a new day, froggers who begin a hunt at sunset with no frogs in possession (including at home in the freezer) can take one limit of frogs before midnight, then bag another after the witching hour. To do this legally, however, the first eight frogs must be kept separate from those taken after midnight.

OLYMPIA - With summer approaching, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) is reminding recreational boaters and paddlers that a new state law to protect orca whales goes into effect today (June 12).

The new law, approved during the last legislative session, establishes rules for boaters and paddlers, including a requirement that vessels stay at least 100 yards away from southern resident orca whales.

"Orca whales are vulnerable to human disturbances, including boat traffic," WDFW Deputy Enforcement Chief Mike Cenci said. "It's important that boaters and other vessel operators follow the rules and do what they can to avoid interfering with these animals."

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) unanimously passed a resolution Thursday, expressing support for proposed Constitutional Amendment 4.

The amendment, to appear on the general election ballot in November, would create incentives for landowners to set aside land for conservation easements or practice proactive conservation to benefit wildlife. If 60 percent of voters approve the amendment, it will become part of the Florida State Constitution.

The resolution notes that Florida's population may double to 36 million people within the next 50 years. It says development will claim millions of acres of wilderness and erode the state's rich legacy of outdoor recreation if officials fail to address growth projections with wise and creative solutions.

"...It is beyond the means of the government of the Great State of Florida to purchase all the natural lands that stand to be lost to development in the years to come," the resolution reads. "(Amendment 4)…would offer a meaningful solution to this issue."

DES MOINES — The Mississippi River has been closed to recreational boating from mile marker 169 to 482.9, an area from Rock Island, Ill., to St. Louis, by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Meanwhile, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is continuing to advise boaters, kayakers and canoeists to avoid boating on rivers and flood control reservoirs until water levels return to a more normal level.

ELKTON, MD - The operator of the 42- foot motor vessel involved in a boating accident that claimed the life of a Pennsylvania woman almost a year ago has been charged in connection with her death.

The victim, Kristy Lynn Szewczak, 21, of Philadelphia, Pa. was transported to Christiana Hospital where she was pronounced dead Saturday evening, July 21, 2007.

A Grand Jury convened by the Cecil County State's Attorney held a hearing on this investigation on Thursday, May 22, 2008 and indicted Mark D. Rosati, 51, of Mount Laurel, N.J. On Monday, June 9, the Cecil County Sheriff's Office served Rosati with the indictment. He was released on his own personal recognizance.

Recreational anglers and spearfishers would be required to be registered, starting next year, under a rule proposed Wednesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

NOAA's Fisheries Service said it wants to get more accurate data on recreational fish catches. Commercial fishers already need licenses or permits and thus would not have to register again, the agency said.

That's the day the Division of Wildlife Resources will hold its first ever California condor viewing event. Dubbed "The Day of the Condor," the free event runs from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Lava Point near Kolob Reservoir in southwestern Utah.

Biologists from the DWR, the National Park Service and the Peregrine Fund will be available to answer your questions, distribute information and help you find the condors.