Wisconsin Fishing Reports & Outdoor Report for April 19, 2018

[Rick]

Old Man Winter is refusing to loosen his grip on Wisconsin, dropping from a few inches to more than 2 feet of snow in across the state in a series of snowstorms in the last week. Crews from Pattison State Park and the Brule River State Forest continued to groom ski trails and reported good to excellent conditions. Other properties have put away grooming equipment but skiing was still fair on ungroomed trails through central and even southern Wisconsin. After another 15 inches of snow this week, ski trails were groomed April 17 at Pattison State Park.Photo credit: Gervase Thompson, DNRThe weather kept many fishermen inside this week, but warm weather this week should bring out lots of anglers. Walleye fishing was picking up on the Oconto, Peshtigo, Menominee and Wolf rivers prior to the snow, but then water temperatures dropped dramatically. There have still been hundreds of shore anglers and boaters out on the Fox River to catch a trophy walleye. Sturgeon are in the Wolf River, but with cold water it will be at least a week or longer before spawning will occur. This satellite image taken by NOAA about noon April 19 shows snow cover across almost all of WisconsinPhoto credit: NOAAMost Door County ramps and access points are blocked with snow. Before the storm fishing was fairly productive. Boats launching at Sturgeon Bay were trolling for browns. Steelhead fishing was good before the storm with numbers of fish showing up in creeks.

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