Mushrooms, turkeys, panfish and maybe even a salmon or two.

While Leelanau County may swell with outdoors people over Memorial Day weekend, it also offers plenty to keep them busy.

Bluegills and bass had not moved to their spawning beds earlier this week, but might be in the mood by the weekend, according to Dan Plamondon of Cherry Bend Grocery in Elmwood Township.

Plamondon, who sells bait and tackle that often eventually ends up in Cedar Lake, expected that more summer-like weather may be needed to move bass and panfish into the shallows.

“We’ve been 30 degrees or darn close now for several straight nights,” said Plamondon. He added that a resurging northern population has kept bluegill numbers down on Cedar Lake — leaving remaining youngsters plenty of protein to grow old and fat.

It’s a busy time for folks who enjoy getting outdoors, as Plamondon said Memorial weekend is traditionally a good time to fill remaining turkey permits. Most hens have been bred and are nesting, leaving fewer girlfriends for gobblers still on the prowl. While long beards will still respond to calls, expect them to be wary.

“It’s always better now if you can find birds who haven’t been shot at or called or spooked. All the dumb ones have been shot,” said Plamondon.

He took a nice tom with an 8-inch beard, but not before striking out a few times. Seems the flock of gobblers he was after was trying to keep the attention of hens. But on a day Plamondon found seven gobblers without mates, they rushed in trying to impress.

“They came in gobbling and clucking like crazy,” he said. “I just picked out one nice one.”

If you’re just trying to fill a tag, plenty of jakes remain, he added. Plamondon passed up several before aiming at a long beard.

Elsewhere, Plamondon reported that Lake Leelanau has been yielding nice catches of walleyes in the evening or after dark.

Big Glen Lake is the hot sport for good-sized perch, according to a report from the Sportsmen’s Shop in Glen Arbor.

And word is spreading quickly that salmon have been showing up in Sleeping Bear Bay, meaning that their annual migration northward has hit Leelanau County. A charter out of Glen Arbor reported boating several brown trout and salmon over the weekend.

That’s welcome news for Jim Munoz, the most veteran of charter captains operating in Leelanau County. On a trip Friday to the First Bank out of Leland, lake trout were easy to find and easier to catch.

Munoz has noticed that the average lake trout caught is growing larger — which is good and bad.

In past years, most lakers failed to make the 22-inch minimum size limit, and had to be released. But the state creel limit changed last year to allow anglers to keep lakers between 10 and 23 inches in length. One “trophy” lake trout over 34 inches could be included in the mix.

Munoz said it’s been decades since he’s caught a laker that big. And clients will be forced to release more and more lake trout while trying to fill a limit as the average size increases closer to 23 inches.

“They (the state Department of Natural Resources) complicate things so much more than they should be,” he said.

Salmon started showing up in catches about the third week in May last season — and appear to be only a little later this season. Munoz recalls boating 10 salmon about May 20, 2006.

“From then on we caught salmon, lots of salmon. It was a great year. And it should be a great year in 2007,” he said.

Water temperatures have only risen to about 42 degrees in the big lake, which helps explain why salmon are just now showing up.

Among outdoors lovers, only mushroom hunters may be lamenting this weekend. Reports from pickers have indicated spotty success, and Plamondon said black mushrooms have given way to late-season whites.

At Buntings Market in Cedar, mushrooms have been hard to keep on the shelf, according to a shore clerk who reported a shortage in supply. A dry spring has been blamed by some pickers.