The Outdoor Report is updated every Wednesday afternoon. Previous outdoor reports are also available on-line. Following a generally nice Labor Day weekend, campground use has dropped off noticeably in the Northern Highland- American Legion State Forest where ducks and can be seen making daily feeding flights and goldenrod and sumac are at peak color. Nighthawk migration is also beginning and blackbirds are flocking in grain fields in preparation for their migration.
Blackberries are ripe and still on the bushes in some areas.
Although crowds have diminished, the recent fall-like weather has anglers hunting trophy walleye and musky out in search of large fish. Lakes in the Tomahawk area and the Wisconsin River above Merrill are producing some nice catches of musky and panfish. Yellow perch were biting in Door County's Sawyer Harbor and smallmouth are biting from Sturgeon Bay to Sister Bay. Lake trout, steelhead and salmon activity has been excellent in the deeper waters out on Lake Michigan south of the pier in Sturgeon Bay, and walleye have been biting in the Sturgeon Bay canal under the Michigan Street Bridge. Anglers are finding salmon in 175 to 300 feet of water near Kewaunee and at Algoma, where shore anglers are catching salmon and brown trout at the mouth of the river.