Post by ridge on Mar 5, 2015 16:55:35 GMT -5
1)
Spring turkey application results now available
Leftover licenses go on sale March 16
Video thumbnail, click to playTurkey hunting season will soon be underway and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reminds hunters to check their spring turkey drawing results and leftover licenses, available online now at www.michigan.gov/huntdrawings.
Leftover spring turkey licenses go on sale to unsuccessful license applicants at 10 a.m. Monday, March 9. Licenses go on sale to all other hunters, including those who did not participate in the application process, at 10 a.m. Monday, March 16. Leftover licenses will be sold until quotas are met.
"Hunters looking for the greatest flexibility may wish to purchase a Hunt 234 license, which will be available March 16 at 10 a.m.," said DNR upland game bird specialist Al Stewart. "The Hunt 234 license is valid from May 4-31 and includes all open areas of the state except the public lands of southern Michigan. New this year, hunters may purchase Hunt 234 through May 31."
Hunting licenses can be purchased online at www.mdnr-elicense.com. Hunters may purchase only one spring turkey license in a season.
Information about spring turkey hunting can be found on the DNR website at www.michigan.gov/turkey, as well as in this informative video explaining some of the regulations pertaining to the 2015 spring turkey season.
2)
March 2015
Michigan DNR Social Media
Lantern-lit winter trail
In this issue:
Camping reservations now open for many Fall Harvest Festivals
Show your support for Michigan state parks in online voting contests
Look who's new on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook
Get your fill of Parks and Recreation...at Michigan State Parks!
Camping reservations now open for many Fall Harvest Festivals
Fall decorations at Yankee Springs Recreation Area
We're a long way from fall, but now is the time to make plans to attend state park harvest festivals! Many of these seasonal celebrations require camping reservations, and it's the perfect way to end the summer and get up-close and personal with Michigan's spectacular fall colors. Click here to view the calendar of state park harvest festivals. Please note that new events are being continually added to this calendar. Check back often for updates.
Check camping availability and make a reservation at www.midnrreservations.com or by calling 1-800-44-PARKS (1-800-447-2757).
Show your support for Michigan state parks in online voting contests
USA Today 10Best Readers' Choice graphic: Best State Park
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park was nominated as one of the best state parks in USA Today's 10Best Readers' Choice Awards, and we need your help! Vote daily at www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-state-park/porcupine-mountains-wilderness-state-park-mich/.
The voting fun doesn't stop there. Travel blog 'Lost in Michigan' is hosting a "Michigan State Park March Madness" poll for readers to vote on their favorite state park. Head on over to lostinmichigan.net/2015-state-park-march-madness/ to cast your vote and help your favorite park advance to the finals!
Look who's new on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook
Smartphone displaying Michigan DNR Instagram profile
Connect with the DNR and your favorite parks in a new way with these new social media accounts:
Michigan DNR
www.instagram.com/michigandnr/
www.pinterest.com/MichiganDNR/
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park
www.facebook.com/porcupinemountains
See a full list of Michigan DNR social media accounts at www.michigan.gov/dnrsocial.
Get your fill of Parks and Recreation...at Michigan State Parks!
Cross-country skiing through the woods
Last week the popular TV series 'Parks and Recreation' ended after seven seasons on NBC, but plenty of real-life parks and recreation awaits at Michigan State Parks! Check out the calendar of events at www.michigan.gov/gogetoutdoors.
3)
Tip-ups offer anglers more options on the ice
Tom Goniea credits tip-ups with converting him into an ice fisherman.
A Michigan Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist, Goniea said he’d never been ice fishing when a buddy invited him to set tip-ups. He took an immediate liking to it.
“I felt like an 8-year-old on the ice,” Goniea said. “I was happy to just get flags and I was perfectly content to catch undersized pike. Tip-ups are relatively easy to set up, relatively easy to use, and pike are relatively easy to catch.
“But I went on to research where there were lakes with populations that had larger pike in them and started chasing them.”
Goniea eventually became a full-fledged ice fisherman – walleyes, pan fish, even smelt – but says it was his early success with tip-ups that opened his eyes to the joy of ice fishing.
Man and child setting up a tip-up while ice fishingTip-ups are devices designed to fish set lines through the ice. Tip-ups are equipped with spring-loaded flags that “tip up” when the bait is taken by a fish.
Traditionally, tip-ups were constructed of wood with three basic components – a pair of cross-members, which forms an X – and a third piece attached perpendicular to the cross-members. The cross-members straddle the hole in the ice, keeping the tip-up from falling into the water.
A simple spool is attached to the vertical member that is submerged (which keeps it from freezing) and a spring-loaded flag is attached to the portion of the vertical member above the ice. When a fish takes the bait and swims off, the revolving spool triggers the flag to release, alerting the angler to the strike. The angler checks the line, sets the hook, and hauls the line in by hand until he pulls the fish through the hole.
Once primarily the output of home workshops, tip-ups are now made by dozens of manufacturers from a variety of materials – wood, plastic or metal – and the basic design has changed, too. Tip-ups now range from a single base member that straddles the hole to round models that cover the hole and are designed to help slow ice formation. Tip-ups range in price from just a few dollars to many, many times that. One high-tech model even boasts a feature that’ll signal your cell phone when the spool starts spinning.
Traditionally, tip-ups were spooled with Dacron line, though the newer braided lines are becoming more popular. The thicker, heavier Dacron or braid is more visible and easier to handle than monofilament or fluorocarbon line. Anglers typically attach a length of less-visible mono or fluorocarbon to the main line, generally with a swivel, to serve as a leader. The hook is tied to the leader.
"I generally use a couple of feet of leader, though with pike I’m not sure that’s necessary,” Goniea said. “I’m more likely to use a wire leader.”
Tip-ups are more closely associated with pike fishing than any other species here in Michigan, but they can be used to pursue most any species. In recent years, more walleye fishermen have been experimenting with tip-ups, especially since the regulations change that allows anglers to use three lines (previously it was two). While some walleye anglers continue to prefer to jig with two rods, they can now do so but still set out a tip-up.
Man holding a fish“If you want to jig two rods, that’s fine, but you can’t jig three rods,” said Michigan walleye pro Mark Martin. “So you might as well have a tip-up out there.”
Martin said he’s sold on using tip-ups for walleye fishing.
“I love them,” he said. “Sometimes tip-ups out-produce jigging rods. I think it’s because it’s basically a subtler or more consistent motion of the minnow, because it’s sitting still and the fish maybe are queued into a bait that’s just barely moving.
“It’s really the same as dead rod – it’s just another dead rod set at a specific depth.”
Tip-ups are often used by trout fishermen – for lake trout and rainbows -- and sometimes by perch or crappie anglers.
Tip-ups are designed to hold the bait at a predetermined depth; anglers use just enough weight (usually spilt shot) to keep the bait down. Generally, pike anglers dangle their bait just above the tops of weed beds. Perch anglers will fish just off bottom, as walleye anglers have always done, though fishing higher in the water column is growing in popularity. Lake trout anglers usually fish near bottom, though rainbow trout anglers often fish high in the water column – sometimes just below the ice. Same goes for crappie fishermen.
Fishermen may use up to three tip-ups at one time. The devices must be marked with the name and address of the owner and must be under the immediate control of the angler; you can’t set them, leave, and come back to check them later.
If you did, you’d be missing most of the fun, Goniea says.
“The biggest thrill of tip-up fishing is when you get a flag, you never know what’s on the end of your line,” he said. “You don’t know if it’s going to be 10 inches or 40 inches. If you pick your lakes strategically – choose lakes that are known to have populations of large fish – you never know what you’re going to get.”
Learn more about fishing tips, opportunities and resources on the DNR website www.michigan.gov/fishing.
# # #
/Note to editors: Photos to accompany this story are available for download at www.michigandnr.com/ftp/outreach in the folder marked “Tip up Fishing.” (Michigan DNR photos)
Captions:
DSK 215 05 – Traditionally, tip-ups were home-made devices.
DSK 215 43 – The spool that holds the line on a tip-up is submerged below the ice to keep it from freezing.
DSK 423 018 – Anglers actively fishing from shanties often set additional tip-ups on the ice.
DSK 494 302 – Tip-ups have traditionally been associated with northern pike fishing.
Martin tipup – Professional angler Mark Martin recommends tip-ups for walleye fishermen./
Spring turkey application results now available
Leftover licenses go on sale March 16
Video thumbnail, click to playTurkey hunting season will soon be underway and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) reminds hunters to check their spring turkey drawing results and leftover licenses, available online now at www.michigan.gov/huntdrawings.
Leftover spring turkey licenses go on sale to unsuccessful license applicants at 10 a.m. Monday, March 9. Licenses go on sale to all other hunters, including those who did not participate in the application process, at 10 a.m. Monday, March 16. Leftover licenses will be sold until quotas are met.
"Hunters looking for the greatest flexibility may wish to purchase a Hunt 234 license, which will be available March 16 at 10 a.m.," said DNR upland game bird specialist Al Stewart. "The Hunt 234 license is valid from May 4-31 and includes all open areas of the state except the public lands of southern Michigan. New this year, hunters may purchase Hunt 234 through May 31."
Hunting licenses can be purchased online at www.mdnr-elicense.com. Hunters may purchase only one spring turkey license in a season.
Information about spring turkey hunting can be found on the DNR website at www.michigan.gov/turkey, as well as in this informative video explaining some of the regulations pertaining to the 2015 spring turkey season.
2)
March 2015
Michigan DNR Social Media
Lantern-lit winter trail
In this issue:
Camping reservations now open for many Fall Harvest Festivals
Show your support for Michigan state parks in online voting contests
Look who's new on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook
Get your fill of Parks and Recreation...at Michigan State Parks!
Camping reservations now open for many Fall Harvest Festivals
Fall decorations at Yankee Springs Recreation Area
We're a long way from fall, but now is the time to make plans to attend state park harvest festivals! Many of these seasonal celebrations require camping reservations, and it's the perfect way to end the summer and get up-close and personal with Michigan's spectacular fall colors. Click here to view the calendar of state park harvest festivals. Please note that new events are being continually added to this calendar. Check back often for updates.
Check camping availability and make a reservation at www.midnrreservations.com or by calling 1-800-44-PARKS (1-800-447-2757).
Show your support for Michigan state parks in online voting contests
USA Today 10Best Readers' Choice graphic: Best State Park
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park was nominated as one of the best state parks in USA Today's 10Best Readers' Choice Awards, and we need your help! Vote daily at www.10best.com/awards/travel/best-state-park/porcupine-mountains-wilderness-state-park-mich/.
The voting fun doesn't stop there. Travel blog 'Lost in Michigan' is hosting a "Michigan State Park March Madness" poll for readers to vote on their favorite state park. Head on over to lostinmichigan.net/2015-state-park-march-madness/ to cast your vote and help your favorite park advance to the finals!
Look who's new on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook
Smartphone displaying Michigan DNR Instagram profile
Connect with the DNR and your favorite parks in a new way with these new social media accounts:
Michigan DNR
www.instagram.com/michigandnr/
www.pinterest.com/MichiganDNR/
Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park
www.facebook.com/porcupinemountains
See a full list of Michigan DNR social media accounts at www.michigan.gov/dnrsocial.
Get your fill of Parks and Recreation...at Michigan State Parks!
Cross-country skiing through the woods
Last week the popular TV series 'Parks and Recreation' ended after seven seasons on NBC, but plenty of real-life parks and recreation awaits at Michigan State Parks! Check out the calendar of events at www.michigan.gov/gogetoutdoors.
3)
Tip-ups offer anglers more options on the ice
Tom Goniea credits tip-ups with converting him into an ice fisherman.
A Michigan Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist, Goniea said he’d never been ice fishing when a buddy invited him to set tip-ups. He took an immediate liking to it.
“I felt like an 8-year-old on the ice,” Goniea said. “I was happy to just get flags and I was perfectly content to catch undersized pike. Tip-ups are relatively easy to set up, relatively easy to use, and pike are relatively easy to catch.
“But I went on to research where there were lakes with populations that had larger pike in them and started chasing them.”
Goniea eventually became a full-fledged ice fisherman – walleyes, pan fish, even smelt – but says it was his early success with tip-ups that opened his eyes to the joy of ice fishing.
Man and child setting up a tip-up while ice fishingTip-ups are devices designed to fish set lines through the ice. Tip-ups are equipped with spring-loaded flags that “tip up” when the bait is taken by a fish.
Traditionally, tip-ups were constructed of wood with three basic components – a pair of cross-members, which forms an X – and a third piece attached perpendicular to the cross-members. The cross-members straddle the hole in the ice, keeping the tip-up from falling into the water.
A simple spool is attached to the vertical member that is submerged (which keeps it from freezing) and a spring-loaded flag is attached to the portion of the vertical member above the ice. When a fish takes the bait and swims off, the revolving spool triggers the flag to release, alerting the angler to the strike. The angler checks the line, sets the hook, and hauls the line in by hand until he pulls the fish through the hole.
Once primarily the output of home workshops, tip-ups are now made by dozens of manufacturers from a variety of materials – wood, plastic or metal – and the basic design has changed, too. Tip-ups now range from a single base member that straddles the hole to round models that cover the hole and are designed to help slow ice formation. Tip-ups range in price from just a few dollars to many, many times that. One high-tech model even boasts a feature that’ll signal your cell phone when the spool starts spinning.
Traditionally, tip-ups were spooled with Dacron line, though the newer braided lines are becoming more popular. The thicker, heavier Dacron or braid is more visible and easier to handle than monofilament or fluorocarbon line. Anglers typically attach a length of less-visible mono or fluorocarbon to the main line, generally with a swivel, to serve as a leader. The hook is tied to the leader.
"I generally use a couple of feet of leader, though with pike I’m not sure that’s necessary,” Goniea said. “I’m more likely to use a wire leader.”
Tip-ups are more closely associated with pike fishing than any other species here in Michigan, but they can be used to pursue most any species. In recent years, more walleye fishermen have been experimenting with tip-ups, especially since the regulations change that allows anglers to use three lines (previously it was two). While some walleye anglers continue to prefer to jig with two rods, they can now do so but still set out a tip-up.
Man holding a fish“If you want to jig two rods, that’s fine, but you can’t jig three rods,” said Michigan walleye pro Mark Martin. “So you might as well have a tip-up out there.”
Martin said he’s sold on using tip-ups for walleye fishing.
“I love them,” he said. “Sometimes tip-ups out-produce jigging rods. I think it’s because it’s basically a subtler or more consistent motion of the minnow, because it’s sitting still and the fish maybe are queued into a bait that’s just barely moving.
“It’s really the same as dead rod – it’s just another dead rod set at a specific depth.”
Tip-ups are often used by trout fishermen – for lake trout and rainbows -- and sometimes by perch or crappie anglers.
Tip-ups are designed to hold the bait at a predetermined depth; anglers use just enough weight (usually spilt shot) to keep the bait down. Generally, pike anglers dangle their bait just above the tops of weed beds. Perch anglers will fish just off bottom, as walleye anglers have always done, though fishing higher in the water column is growing in popularity. Lake trout anglers usually fish near bottom, though rainbow trout anglers often fish high in the water column – sometimes just below the ice. Same goes for crappie fishermen.
Fishermen may use up to three tip-ups at one time. The devices must be marked with the name and address of the owner and must be under the immediate control of the angler; you can’t set them, leave, and come back to check them later.
If you did, you’d be missing most of the fun, Goniea says.
“The biggest thrill of tip-up fishing is when you get a flag, you never know what’s on the end of your line,” he said. “You don’t know if it’s going to be 10 inches or 40 inches. If you pick your lakes strategically – choose lakes that are known to have populations of large fish – you never know what you’re going to get.”
Learn more about fishing tips, opportunities and resources on the DNR website www.michigan.gov/fishing.
# # #
/Note to editors: Photos to accompany this story are available for download at www.michigandnr.com/ftp/outreach in the folder marked “Tip up Fishing.” (Michigan DNR photos)
Captions:
DSK 215 05 – Traditionally, tip-ups were home-made devices.
DSK 215 43 – The spool that holds the line on a tip-up is submerged below the ice to keep it from freezing.
DSK 423 018 – Anglers actively fishing from shanties often set additional tip-ups on the ice.
DSK 494 302 – Tip-ups have traditionally been associated with northern pike fishing.
Martin tipup – Professional angler Mark Martin recommends tip-ups for walleye fishermen./