Check out a video from February of an ice angler fighting a tiger musky in Chautauqua County, N.Y.:

Presque Isle Bay was busy with ice anglers Saturday, not so busy Sunday, and now seems certain to get less busy with every day.

Temperatures are expected to climb daily this week to a high of 58 degrees by Friday. That’s likely to put the kibosh on bay ice fishing for the season, at least at the western end.

Open water at the channel already is licking the ice thin in the eastern end, though that didn’t stop anglers aplenty from setting up shop east of Dobbins Landing on Sunday, some within a few dozen yards of moving water.

The warm-up is a mixed blessing; with it comes at least the beginning of the end of the ice fishing season, but also the promise of spring and a bonanza for birders.

Growing numbers of ducks have found the channel’s open waters the past few weeks. As open water overtakes more and more ice, more and more ducks are pouring in. Red-breasted mergansers, redheads, canvasbacks, buffleheads, common goldeneyes, scaups and mallards were there this weekend, and birders continue to flock to see a single harlequin duck that’s taken up temporary residence. Hooded mergansers also were reported there in the past week.

Watch Presque Isle’s interior for at least one colony of great blue herons. They’re sometimes evident on Big Pond across the road from Misery Bay.

More sightings from Frank and Cheryl Zalik at Wild Birds Unlimited:

Presque Isle Audubon also noted four sandhill cranes at Presque Isle State Park on Sunday. Canada geese and gulls galore are perching on ice sheets throughout the bay and park.

Erie Times-News outdoors writer Mike Bleech’s seminar series hits Week 2 on Sunday, March 7, when he tackles crappie fishing.

Mike’s free seminars take place at the lodge at Gander Mountain, 2088 Interchange Road. Be aware: seminars have been moved to 2 p.m.

The upcoming schedule:

March 7: Crappie Fishing
March 14: The Fishing Rod
March 21: Game Fish in Moving Water
March 28: Hunting Black Bears
April 4: Trout Fishing

The 8.8-magnituded earthquake that wreaked havoc in Chile this past week had a less horrific but nonetheless real effect on an angler from Erie.

Rob Kinkoph and a fishing buddy are stuck in Chile until they can arrange for transportation home.

Lake Erie Ultimate Angler owner Steve Brugger and Erie’s Matt Gutierrez also were on the trip to Patagonia but returned Feb. 22, days before the earthquake occurred offshore.

This week’s fishing report from Randy Leighton, deputy waterways conservation officer for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission:

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Bust out your best call for the Lake Erie Waterfowl Classic Open Duck and Goose Calling Contest March 7 at the Erie Bayfront Convention Center during the Erie Sport & Travel Expo.

Trophies and cash to top callers. Check the rules.

Union City bass fishing pro Dave Lefebre rolled out word on his new sponsor, Chevy.

The National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action is calling for backers to attend today’s Albion Borough Council meeting to offer comments on gun rights on borough-owned property.

According to the NRA, “This ill-conceived ban, which includes Right-to-Carry permit holders, creates victim zones by disarming potential crime victims. Moreover, this policy is a clear violation of Pennsylvania’s preemption statutes which dictate that only the State Legislature can enact laws pertaining to firearms.”

The hub-bub stems from an incident in 2009 that led to a borough employee’s suspension.

The 41-pound 7-ounce brown trout that Tom Healy of Rockford, Mich., caught in September 2009 recently was certified by the International Game Fish Association as an all-tackle world record.

Healy’s catch from the Manistee River topped the 40-pound 4-ounce brown pulled from the Little Red River in Arkansas in May 1992 by Howard Collins.

How the IGFA describes the day of the catch:

“On that September morning last summer, Healy was fishing with friend Bob Woodhouse of Grand Rapids, Mich., and guide Tim Roller of Ultimate Outfitters. For well over 20 years Healy, a retired construction manager, traveled the two hours to fish for chinook salmon and steelhead on the Manistee.

“The three men were targeting salmon by drifting the river and casting Rapala crank-baits (plugs). Healy was using a #8 silver Shad Rap with a 9-foot Cabela’s XML rod and a Cabela’s Prodigy reel filled with 30-pound Power-Pro. They had already hooked two salmon, when about 8 o’clock Healy had a strike he immediately recognized as a sizable fish. Healy said it made a violent first run up river where it came to the surface and tried to jump but couldn’t because of its immense size.

“Only when the fish came to the net 15 minutes later did they simultaneously realize two things: first, the fish was a whole lot bigger than they had originally thought, and second, it was not a salmon at all, but a brown trout.”