Some outdoors enthusiasts begin each New Year with resolutions.

Outdoors recreationalists generally call these tasks preparations, scouts, or plans for upcoming seasons, vacations, gathering edibles and general walks in the woods.

Wisconsin’s early catch and release trout season opened Saturday, Jan. 4, and matures into a catch and keep season the first Saturday in May.

With some, this first season is primarily a tradition, but for others it’s the beginning of a nearly weekly trek, which continues with the prospect of netting and releasing fish.

December’s weather, for the most part, would have been an excellent opening of an early season. Many times, however, air temperatures at 5 a.m., or whenever an angler put a boot in the water, hover either side of zero degrees. Still, many are outdoors. Tradition?

Bret Schultz, of Black Earth, commented that fly fishers out simply to observe on Christmas Day during these unseasonably warm temperatures, reported trout surface feeding.  “That’s pretty unusual for this time of the year,” he said.

Schultz noted that locally, Black Earth Creek is still above historical flows for this date. “That’s been a new normal now for more than a year.”

Based on my past October, the fish population is way down in lower BEC, while the population in the upper portions of the stream looks good, he noted.

A DNR guess, based on considering all factors, is possibly stream temperatures and climate change.

In other words, BEC water may be getting a little too warm.

Stocking is out of the question for this stream at this point because the stream is now noted a Class 1 trout stream and those streams cannot be stocked without losing that top status.

Other area trout streams, within 75 minutes of Black Earth are generally great, Schultz said. “In August, fishing grasshoppers, it would be normal for me to hook 100 fish in an afternoon.”

Still, on Jan. 4, Schultz is likely to hit some of the spots in the lower end of BEC that did hold some fish last year. This would be, in part, a test.

While above normal highs may favor early season trout angling with artificial lures, it does not generally encourage deer to come to bait for the DNR crews drop-netting adult deer.  Colder weather and some snow, would (will?) both be welcome to deer biologists in Dane, Grant and Iowa counties where the study is being conducted.

Some of the bucks that are coming to bait strategically positioned under the nets have already dropped one or both antlers.

Early drops may, in some instances, be a sign of disease in bucks.

Bird feeders continue to coax friends to filled feeders, too, but that is also likely to improve as January turns to more normal temperatures.

If planning or resolving are germane, here are some thoughts for 2020. Plan an earlier gun deer season by purchasing a crossbow and hitting the rut. Have a backup plan for winter fishing when ice is a scarce commodity. Note “morel;” trees for late April and gather diversely from Wisconsin with an eye for mixed bags  Wisconsin isn’t and shouldn’t be a garden or a barrel of fish to take from, where everything is stocked or planted. When in the wild, note other plants, animals, fungi and their importance in the ecosystem.

If a spring turkey hunt turns silent, keep eyes and ears clear for morels, bird migrations, shed antlers and wild asparagus growing beside your parked truck or bike. One of those Wisconsin traditions is likely to satisfy.

Regardless of the weather, watercress is a sure find in January, and beyond.

— Jerry Davis is an Argyle native and a freelance writer who lives in Barneveld. He can be reached at sivadjam@mhtc.net or at 608-924-1112.