March 18, 2002 News Release - Wisconsin Northwoods Fishing

Wisconsin Northwoods Fishing - News Release

For Immediate Release

March 18, 2002

For more information contact Jim Elliott, Kinzie & Green 715-845-4251;

HAVE FISH; WILL YOU TRAVEL?

There are more hungry fish in northern Wisconsin these days than anglers, and the Lac du Flambeau Governor's Area Promotion Committee would like to change that! The nonprofit group represents a cooperative effort between the state of Wisconsin, the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe Indians and several chambers of commerce from Oneida, Price and Vilas counties. The group recently received a Joint Effort Marketing grant from the Wisconsin Department of Tourism to help them attract more fishing enthusiasts to the area's 2,900 lakes. (That's nearly 20% of Wisconsin's 15,000 lakes!) The grant will help provide information about Wisconsin Northwoods Fishing to the news media and general public in six Midwestern states this spring.

"We have the lakes. We have the fish. We just need more people fishing up here, " said Jeff Long, co-chair of the committee.

Successful fish planting and management programs developed and implemented by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Lac du Flambeau Tribal Natural Resource Department have produced thriving fish populations of muskellunge, northern pike, walleye and bass. Since 1960, the Lac du Flambeau Natural Resource Department has raised and stocked 508 million walleye fry and fingerlings and nearly 2 million muskies in the Reservation' s 260 lakes. Last year, alone, The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources stocked 70 million fish in its lakes and rivers throughout the state including 47 million walleye, two million muskies and 12 million northern pike. "Abundance of muskellunge in northern Wisconsin is probably at an all-time high," reports Steve AveLallemant, the DNR's northern region fisheries expert in the 2002 Wisconsin Fishing Report. "A number of these populations are supported entirely by natural reproduction," he writes, " while some are supported entirely by stocking."

To help celebrate the opening of musky season on May 25, the Lac du Flambeau Governor's Area Promotion Committee is organizing the first Wisconsin Northwoods Musky Opener in Eagle River, WI. With a thriving musky population, the event is expected to draw thousands of anglers from throughout the Midwest. Opening Day for other fish species in Wisconsin waters is May 4, 2002. Smallmouth and largemouth bass must be caught and released until June 15; then legal size bass may be kept.

In addition to the Musky Opener, 48 other fishing events for both experienced and first-time anglers will also be held throughout the spring and summer in Wisconsin's Northwoods. To learn more about these events, fishing tips, guides, bait shop locations, boat rentals and accommodations, visit the new Wisconsin Northwoods Fishing Web site at northwoodsfishing.com