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Bushnell adds new Spotting Scope to Legend Series

Overland Park, KS. - Bushnell introduces the Legend^� Ultra HD 15-45x60 spotting scope.

This spotter fits easily into a backpack making it perfect for backcountry hunting trips, and is light enough to use on car window mounts. It has twin dual speed focus controls which provide both rapid focus for moving subjects or low power use, and the ability to slowly fine tune focus when viewing at higher power or closer distances.  The mid size spotter has a wide field of view, and a straight eyepiece with a zoom range from 15-45 power. 

The new Legend 60mm scope features the patented Bushnell RainGuard^�HD lens coating for better moisture dispersion and easier cleaning.  Extra-low Dispersion (ED) glass is employed on the Legend Ultra HD spotting scope to give the sharpest and clearest image available by ensuring that all colors in the light spectrum are focused to the same plane.  The 15-45x60mm Legend Ultra-HD spotting scope also features a retractable sun shade, twist-up eyecup, and rotating tripod mounting collar. A soft case and table-top tripod are included.

About $399.99

www.bushnell.com     800-423-3537 

Weekly Great Lakes Water Levels for July 16, 2010

Weather Conditions

After a week of temperatures in the 90's the Great Lakes basin saw a return to more seasonable temperatures this week. Many accounts of severe weather were reported Wednesday evening as portions of the western basin saw over 3 inches of rain. More severe weather and scattered showers are expected Thursday and into Friday as the system moves to the east. High pressure is expected for much of the weekend, but some locations in the Great Lakes basin may see a shower or thunderstorm late Saturday night. Near seasonal average temperatures can continue to be expected over the next few days.

Lake Level Conditions

All of the Great Lakes continue to be below their levels of a year ago. The lakes range from 5 to 7 inches below last year's levels. Over the next month, the water level of Lake Superior is expected to rise 2 inches, while Lake Michigan-Huron is forecasted to remain near the same level over the next 30 days. Lakes St. Clair, Erie, and Ontario are expected to decline 3, 4, and 2 inches, respectively, over the next month.

Forecasted July Outflows/Channel Conditions

The outflows from Lake Superior into the St. Mary's River, Lake Huron into the St. Clair River, and Lake St. Clair into the Detroit

River are forecasted to be below average during the month. Near average outflow is expected from Lake Erie into the Niagara River. The flow in the St. Lawrence River is forecasted to be below average throughout the month of July.

Alerts

Users of the Great Lakes, connecting channels and St. Lawrence River should keep informed of current conditions before undertaking any activities that could be affected by changing water levels. Mariners should utilize navigation charts and refer to current water level readings.

Lake Superior Forecast: Warm Water

DULUTH -- Researchers at the Large Lakes Observatory (LLO) of the University of Minnesota Duluth predict that the surface of the open waters of Lake Superior will be exceptionally warm this summer. They suspect that water temperatures may exceed the high recorded during the strong El Ni�o summer of 1998, 68 degrees Fahrenheit (20 degrees Celsius). The average water temperature of Lake Superior�s surface waters in August is about 59 degrees Fahrenheit (15 degrees Celsius). (It is already about 59 degrees at NOAA�s Western Lake Superior buoy.)

Jay Austin, associate professor of physics, and his collaborator Steve Colman, professor of geology, report that this past winter�s low ice coverage led to an early spring turnover and an early onset of summer stratification in the world�s largest freshwater lake by surface area.  Early stratification will allow the lake�s surface waters to warm for a longer time. This year, the lake began forming a warm surface layer in early- to mid-June rather than the normal mid-July. From now until autumn, the surface waters will continue to warm and blanket the colder waters. When Austin noticed that the lake was headed for early stratification, he said that this �typically means that it's going to be a very warm year in Lake Superior.�

Lake turnover happens as the winds �turn over� the lake, mixing the water column until the water reaches about 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius). At that temperature,

the water column begins to �stratify,� where warmer water forms a layer over the colder waters below.

Austin and Colman grabbed headlines in 2007 for showing that summer water temperatures were warming twice as fast as air temperatures over the last 30 years, based on data from NOAA buoys in Lake Superior. The reason for the warming was partly due to increasing air temperatures, but also strikingly related to winter ice cover. The less winter ice, the earlier the summer stratification begins, and the longer the summer heating season for the surface waters. Austin said, �After watching last winter�s ice cover, I suspected that Lake Superior was in for warm summer surface water temperatures as much as five months ago. The early stratification date this year adds weight to my suspicions.�

Lake Superior�s warming waters could alter the productivity of microbes and algae, affect commercial and sport fishing, and create a longer recreational summer season. Swimmers might rejoice but lake trout may have to move deeper or further offshore.

To learn more about how a changing climate is affecting Lake Superior, visit Minnesota Sea Grant�s climate portal at: www.seagrant.umn.edu/climate/. For access to the University of Minnesota Duluth�s meteorological buoy data, including real-time water column temperature, see: www.d.umn.edu/~jaustin/buoy_2010.

First sturgeon stocked from renovated Wild Rose Hatchery

Four waters stocked to open new era in restoration

WILD ROSE � Wisconsin�s efforts to restore lake sturgeon to inland waters took a leap forward last week as the renovated Wild Rose State Fish Hatchery sent its first sturgeon out the door to new homes in four Wisconsin waters.

On July 7, DNR fisheries crews stocked more than 6,100 tiny sturgeon in the Baraboo River in Baraboo, returning the prehistoric species to that water for the first time since the 1800s, when dams built on the river, along with overfishing and water pollution, helped doom their populations. An audio slide show recording this historic return is available on the Department of Natural Resources website.

On July 9, another 7,400 sturgeon, spawned from fish from the Yellow River in northwest Wisconsin and raised at Wild Rose, were returned to that river, to the Clam River Flowage in Burnett County, and to Minong Flowage in Douglas County.

�This is really good news,� says Ron Bruch, DNR senior sturgeon biologist and co-leader of the agency�s statewide sturgeon team. �We have the Wild Rose facility online and staff have shown they can produce the quality and quantity of lake sturgeon we need to really look well into the future for our population restoration needs.�

The second phase of renovating Wild Rose State Hatchery is about complete, giving anglers and the Wisconsin�s fisheries program state-of-the-art facilities for raising cool-water fish including lake sturgeon, northern pike, walleye and musky.

Now, the sturgeon can be raised entirely inside tanks in a climate controlled building where water temperatures, dissolved oxygen, food and others aspects are carefully monitored by staff and by computers.

�It�s like going from the stone age to the space age,� Bruch says. �Before, we had little tanks outside, and little ability to control water temperatures and other factors. It was terrible. Those guys did a really good job considering what they had to work with, but this renovated facility really is state of the art and we expect it will let us stock more waters with more fish.�

The renovated hatchery and the staff who run it are already having an impact. Sturgeon weren�t scheduled to be stocked out of the facility until this fall, but so many sturgeon hatched and survived that some needed to be removed from the tanks to allow the remaining fish more room to grow, says Steve Fajfer, hatchery supervisor.

�The staff  has done a fantastic job learning a whole new system and producing more fish, bigger fish and healthier fish,� Fajfer says. About 60,000 lake sturgeon remain at the hatchery and will be raised to the more normal sizes for 

stocking, about 6 to 9 inches for fingerlings, and 10 to 14 inches for yearlings. The fingerlings will be planted this fall, and the yearlings next spring, Fajfer says.

Waters planned for stocking from Wild Rose are the Menominee River in Marinette County, the Wisconsin River in Marathon County, the Wisconsin River flowage at Stevens Point in Portage County, Upper St. Croix Lake, Eau Claire River, and St. Croix Flowage, all in Douglas County, and the Namekagon River and Trego Lake, both in Washburn County.

Other waters being stocked with sturgeon in 2010-2011 include the Milwaukee and Kewaunee rivers, which will receive fish raised at streamside rearing facilities along those waters, and the Fox River in Marquette County from the UW-Milwaukee Water Institute, and the Manitowish River, which will receive fish from DNR�s Woodruff Hatchery.

Lake sturgeon are living fossils, relics from the Upper Cretaceous period of the Mesozoic era, and they rank as Wisconsin's largest and oldest fish, confirmed again this winter when an Appleton man speared a 212-pound, 3.2 ounce lake sturgeon that stretched 84.25 inches on opening day of the 2010 Lake Winnebago lake sturgeon spearing seasons.

Historically, lake sturgeon were found throughout the Great Lakes and Mississippi River basin. They flourished in Wisconsin's boundary waters including the Mississippi, Wisconsin and Menomonee rivers, Lake Superior, Lake Michigan and Green Bay. Dams, pollution, habitat degradation and overharvest dramatically reduced lake sturgeon populations in some Wisconsin waters over the past 100 years, and eliminated them entirely from other stretches of water. Because female fish don't reproduce until they are 20 to 25, and then spawn only once every three to five years, lake sturgeon populations are very vulnerable to overexploitation and slow to rebuild.

�Wisconsin�s Lake Sturgeon Management Plan� calls for restoring lake sturgeon to many waters in its historic range. DNR will be updating the plan this year and seeking input from people outside the agency interested in sturgeon management. Wild Rose Fish Hatchery will play a key role in that plan, along with protective regulations, research, dedicated funding for sturgeon restoration, and other factors, says Karl Scheidegger, a DNR rivers biologist and co-leader to the state sturgeon team.

�The new Wild Rose cool water propagation facility will give the fisheries program the ability to restore multiple sturgeon populations for many years to come,� Scheidegger says. �And that, we hope, means that down the road more people will be able to experience these remarkable fish.�

Local angler may have new world record Brown

RACINE--Roger Hellen entered a potential world-record brown trout July 16 in the Lake Michigan Salmon-A-Rama contest in Racine, Wis.

If the weight of that 41.8 lb brown trout holds up, it would be a new world mark. Hellen's trout was nearly 5 lbs heavier than the Wisconsin record and could nudge past the current world record brown of 41.7 lb), recognized by the International Game Fish Association. That one was caught by Tom Healy on Sept. 9, 2009, from the Manistee River in Michigan.

The lure was a blue-and-green spoon trolled about 10 feet below the surface, the fish was 40.6 inches long and had a 27-inch girth.

Hellen's brown was weighed on a certified scale at

Brossman's Meat Market while being witnessed by three butchers with at least 23 years of experience each, Hellen and a Salmon-A-Rama official.  ''They [first] went to a meat market down the road,'' butcher Jeff Luzich said. ''They didn't have a scale big enough.'' 

After a phone call, Hellen and the official ''came in with a big cooler,'' Luzich said. ''We asked, 'How big a fish do you got?' They said, 'Oh, about 41 pounds.' They pulled it out. It was beautiful.''  The scale's certification is up to date, and everything from that side seems OK.

''I've fished out on Lake Michigan and caught browns of 10-15 pounds, [but nothing like that],'' Luzich said. ''It was a beautiful fish.''  "This is great for the lake, great for the club, great for the fishery," said Tom Pietila, president of Salmon Unlimited of Wisconsin.

Roger Hellen holds up the 41.5 lb brown trout he caught

Friday, July 16 in the Salmon-A-Rama contest