Mornin' to everyone gearing up for the Sports Show next weekend in Eau Claire. This is the Wiscampsin Weekly - the email that gets you in the know on the Wisconsin outdoors in 5 minutes or less. New reader? Subscribe here.

This week’s weekly:

• Walleye in trouble 🚨 

• Non-resident license fee hikes 📈 

• Migrating birds already coming home 🦢 

Wisconsin’s fast-changing winters spell trouble for walleye

Quick - what’s the first thing you think of when we say Fish Fry?

Walleye! (We also would have accepted potato pancakes.)

But unfortunately for us—and our freezers—Wisconsin’s prized fish is facing some hard times due to our finicky winters lately.

I-scream for Wall-eye

• Earlier ice-off trends is hurting walleye spawn

• This year was Lake Mendota’s 2nd shortest freeze-duration in 170 years

• Lakes are thawing 3x faster than walleye are able to adapt

Lake Mendota: “The World’s Most Studied Lake”

For 170+ years, ‘Scons have been studying Madison lakes’ annual freeze and thaw (and watching those gorgeous sunsets).

Lake Mendota has even earned itself the moniker of The World’s Most Studied Lake!

But wait - how the heck were they studying ice coverage without satellites back in 1855?

According to the State Climatology Office, it was as simple as this: Could you row a case of beer from Picnic Point to your friends at Maple Bluff? No joke.

Fast forward to 2024, and Lake Mendota just experienced its 2nd shortest freeze-over in 170 years, and it has conservationists concerned.

Why? Because although 11,000 years ago, Wisconsin was covered in a giant glacier, the changes are now happening over decades instead of millenia.

And our walleye just can’t adapt fast enough.

Short winters = poor spawn

A study published Monday in the journal Limnology and Oceanography Letters studied the changes in walleye spawning in 194 lakes in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

Here’s essentially what’s going on:

• Walleye fry (essentially, newborn walleye) feed on zooplankton

• Walleye will spawn when zooplankton are most plentiful

• Zooplankton feed on phytoplankton, which blooms every spring when waters warm

• So typically, the walleye spawn is aligned to lake ice thawing in the spring, when the zooplankton (and phytoplankton) is most plentiful

What’s the problem?

With ice-off changes happening 3x faster than walleye are able to adapt, they’re spawning after the zooplankton boom, meaning there is less food (and less chance of survival) for freshly hatched walleye.

Why should we care

Friday Fish Fry aside, a DNR poll from 2020 showed that walleye is the most preferred species to catch, with 63% of anglers ranking walleye in their top 3.

Roughly 14,000 jobs are created by Wisconsin fisheries, contributing $1.9 billion to the state’s economy, per the American Sportfishing Association.

So what can we do?

Zach Feiner, a research scientist with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, says we need to identify which lakes are doing well and protect them from overfishing, runoff, land use, and invasive species.

The DNR also stocks around 1 million walleye fingerlings and more than 10 million fry each year.

Now get out 'der!

Other great Wiscampsin reads…

The Fish of 10,000 Casts

Liquid Gold: Ranking Wisconsin's Lakes

Wisconsin Trout Fishing

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Nuts and Seeds 🌰 

📈 License fee hikes: …for non-resident archery and crossbow hunters, that is. Yup, if you see an out-of-stater, give ‘em a hug (or a beer), ‘cause their non-resident license fees just went up $35. Gov Evers signed Senate Bill 780 to bring the non-resident fee archery and crossbow hunting fee to $200. For first time non-residents, this fee increased $17, from $82.75 to $99.75.

🦢 Back already?: Wisconsin’s migrating birds like Canada geese, American robins, turkey vultures, mallard ducks, American woodcock and trumpeter swans are returning to Wisconsin earlier this year. The sandhill cranes were gone just a month, departing on Jan. 12th and returning Feb. 12th, the "shortest (in days) migration we've ever recorded," said Andy Radtke of the Aldo Leopold Foundation. The cause? An abnormally warm winter, paired with the longer implications of climate change.

🙏 Aldo Leopold’s last remaining child dies: At the ripe old age of 96, Estella Leopold, the last remaining child of famous conservationist and author Aldo Leopold, has passed away after several months on hospice. Estella, one of five children, followed in her father’s footsteps with her fierce passion for conservation. Her specialty was palynology (the study of pollen).

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Just kidding! Although there are probably some diehard ‘Scons out there that would dig that…

Looking for a totally cool and sustainable coffee mug and a way to support Wiscampsin? Check out our Recycled Coffee Bean Coffee Mugs!!

The Wiscampsin shop has some other goodies too, like our recycled license plate frames, our new shirts… Everything we make, we source as sustainably as possible to keep our green spaces all the greener.

*And as always, 1% of profits will go to the Friends of Wisconsin State Parks.

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