State record perch in 2026?

Howie’s Tackle in Sturgeon Bay weighed a 3.01-pound yellow perch last week, a quarter-pound shy of a state record that has stood for more than 70 years. That same business weighed a 2.97-pounder earlier this winter.

Wisconsin’s record perch was caught in 1954 in Lake Winnebago. Many believe Green Bay, with its abundant round gobies and other forage, has the best shot at producing a new record.

Andrew Berken of Pulaski was fishing with his dad, Kevin, and 2-1/2-year-old daughter, Finnley, off southern Door County when the 17-inch three-pounder hit his jig last Wednesday.

Great Lakes fish

The Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers has announced that the region has effectively ended the practice of landfilling what was previously known as fish waste — heads, guts, skin, and scales — generated by the commercial fish industry.

Forty-four businesses, including six in Door and Kewaunee counties along the Lake Michigan and Green Bay shorelines, have signed the Governors’ and Premiers’ 100% Great Lakes Fish Pledge which commits them to productively using all parts of the fish they handle. Together, these companies account for over 30 million pounds of fish annually, which is about 90 percent of the Great Lakes commercial catch by volume.

The Dramm Corporation of Manitowoc (with its fish processing plant near Algoma) is among the businesses signed on. Others include the Baileys Harbor Fish Corporation; Dan’s Fish, Inc., of Sturgeon Bay; Henriksen Fisheries of Ellison Bay; J&M Fisheries of Ellison Bay; and Lindal Fisheries of Sturgeon Bay.

A short video overview of the initiative is available at https://vimeo.com/1147810184.

PFAS levels drop

Kelly House of Bridge Michigan recently reported that a study published last month in the Journal of Great Lakes Research found that PFAS levels in Great Lakes fish have declined significantly.

The study was conducted by researchers in the former US Environmental Protection Agency Office of Research and Development. They used archived trout and walleye samples from 1975 to 2020 that were originally collected to track mercury and PCBs.

The team tested for 45 compounds and found that average contamination levels by 2020 had reached their lowest since the 1980s. In Lake Michigan, PFAS levels in freeze-dried tissue samples dropped nearly 50 percent from 2010 to 2020.

Gary Ankley, a former EPA research toxicologist and coauthor on the study, said the declining PFAS levels are encouraging.

Salmon tales Feb. 26

Retired DNR Director of the Bureau of Fisheries Management, Lee Kernen, will present the third Fish Tales Lecture Series Feb. 26 at Crossroads at Big Creek Learning Center.

Kernen was on hand when the first salmon were stocked in Wisconsin, cohos in a small pond on a feeder creek adjacent to the Ahnapee River in Algoma in 1968, as well as when the first Chinooks were stocked at Sturgeon Bay’s Strawberry Creek a year later. His program will detail how Pacific salmon found their way to Door County.

Early results solid

Two days into the 29th annual Great Backyard Bird Count, participants from about 200 countries had identified more than 7,500 of the world’s bird species.

Last year, birders from 217 countries or eBird subregions collectively reported 8,207 of the world’s known species. That included more than 165,000 checklists identifying 674 species in the United States.

We’ll take a closer look at the preliminary numbers from this year’s event, including Wisconsin totals, in an upcoming column.

Lakes convention

This year’s Wisconsin Lakes and Rivers Convention will be held April 15-17 in Stevens Point. The Wisconsin Lakes and Rivers Partnership sponsors the annual event. Learn more about the convention at https://wisconsinwaterweek.org/home/lakes-and-rivers-convention/, and about the group behind it at https://www3.uwsp.edu/cnr-ap/UWEXLakes/Pages/partnership.aspx.

Native plant sales

It’s never too early to start planning your spring plantings. A number of native plant sales are already being promoted, with more to come. Take a look at the list of latest at https://www.sossaveoursongbirds.org/bird-news/2026-native-plant-sale-fundraisers. You can also check out a list of native plant nurseries at https://widnr.widen.net/s/rfsbfc22w6/nh0698.

Winter webinars

Voyageurs Wolf Project’s second winter webinar, “Will killing wolves save Bambi?,” is set for 6:30-8:30 p.m. Feb. 18. Find out how to sign up by clicking on the wolf project’s Winter Webinar Series at https://www.tickets.umn.edu/umte/Online/default.asp.