Summer 2009 Fishing Grades

Well now that fall is here, how does everyone rate this past summers fishing success, here in the Tomahawk region?

Try to compare it to last summer 2008, (if you can remember that far back.) Not everyone fishes for the same species, or on the same body of water. So let's mention the fish we are talking about and also where we did most of our fishing.

I fished almost exclusively on Lake Mohawksin and I targeted mostly walleyes and crappies, but also spent a fair amount of time chasing musky and smallmouths.

Here is my comparison to last summer, and my grades for each of those fish -

Walleyes. Down compared to last summer in both the size of the fish and the number of fish caught. Still had pretty good success though. Grade..... C plus.

Crappies. Noticeable drop off from last summer in number of fish caught. Size seemed to be the same. Grade.....D plus.

Musky. I probably had about the same amount of success as in the summer of 2008. Overall, I'd say that I had very good action. Saw a lot of fish and boated quite a few legals with my biggest being a 46 incher caught in June. Grade.....A

Smallmouth Bass. Better than 2008 in both size and numbers. Might have been the best sallmouth summer that I've ever had! Grade.....A plus


I don't always drink beer,
But when I do........
I prefer Red White and Blue!

Stay thirsty my friends.
;) Blind Robin

I was only able to get to Tomahawk for one week this summer. Before that, the last time I had fished there was back in 2006. So I can't compare my experience with last summer. But I'll give it a grade anyway.

I also only fished on Lake Mohawksin, and I only fished for one kind of fish ---- Bowfins. My experience was down right fantastic! In my opinion, Lake Mohawksin should be classified as a class A bowfin lake. There are large numbers of fish to be had and the average size of the fish are much bigger then I had ever seen on any other lake before! Lake Mohawksin is a bowfin fisherman's paradise!

Grade AAA

In general I thought all species where down in number and size no matter where I went, especially disapointed with the drop in water in the reservoirs. Last year B- this year C-.

Hope we get more rain and snow this coming year.

Fished lake alice in may and also end of august. May was by far way better fishing than august. Caught a lot of walleye and smallies in may not so much in august. The walleye were a lot smaller than last year also. Wont be going back till probably next spring so hopefully it will be alot better then.

Sorry about the lack of post lately but I've been so tied up with that four letter word(work) that Ive not been able to get up much. I can't speak for the last 2 WEEKS but would say Mohawksin was a solid B this year.

Muskies, C plus at best. Size above avg. then years past but about the same amount of action as last couple of years. 47" in early June was the biggest.

Walleye, Very solid C. Numbers but not size. About 1 out of 10 a keeper. Most of my keepers of good size came in the spring and most of those on the Somo river. Largest only 25"

Smallmouth, B.. Some good action and Size. Don't target that much but when I did was able to get good action. Also got some nice Largemouth by accident. Hard lor me to grade because I don't target them.

Bowfin, no question an A. Would be a A-plus If I was able to get the record ( still have a couple of trips yet left to get it). Targeted more then ever due to the great action and size. Numerous 5 plus fish days.

Panfish would grade out a B. Bluegills always able to find (but still lacking size). Crappies about the same, always do very good in early October for them so this could change. Perch a upgrade from years past. I had a couple of days with great numbers and size. Both times were when I was using shrimp for bowfin and started nailing shrimp. Also plenty of rock bass.

Bullheads, no grade but need to get out of my walleye spots. To many and to small.

Well, I hope to get up very soon and have a chance to upgrade this year to a B-plus. I hope everyone on this forum gets a chance to get up and catch some before it's to late. Good luck and tight lines. Don't forget to stop, slowdown and enjoy a cold one (Blatz).

Lucas Lake

Lucas, thanks for reminding me about the bullheads. What a pain in rear they were this year! And yeah, if you were a bullhead fisherman on Lake Mohawksin this summer, you probably had the time of your life! (With AA Dave being the exception of course) So whatever grade is above an A plus, that's what I give to the 2009 bullhead fishing on the Mohawksin.

Jimr had also reported unusually high populations of bullheads on the lakes that he fishes. (Sorry, I couldn't remember which lakes they were)

Supra8795, I agree that fishing in general was much better in May, then August. And that's probably true almost every year. However, I still thought that the Smallmouth fishing was better then last summer and in my memory it might have been the best smallie summer ever, at least on the Mohawksin it was.


I don't always drink beer,
But when I do........
I prefer Red White and Blue!

Stay thirsty my friends.
;) Blind Robin

I say it was off again this year to this point. That said, the season is just getting started if you consider the cold water period the best time to hunt for big fish. I do.

Best year for my son who caught his PB on Lake Mohawksin last month. 45.5" muskie on a spinnerbait. Followed that up with a 38"er on Onida casting a Buchertail. For a 10 year old that's not too shabby. Hell for anyone thats a great day. I could only must up a 26"er out of Lil Arbor Vide that day, I think we hit 5 lakes that day & burned up a full tank of gas.

Largest SM is 21" so far, our goal is 23".
Largest Pike is 39" so far, our goal is 45"
Largest Muskie is 45.5" so far, our goal is 50"
Walleye were hot in the spring & just shut off, but we stopped targeting them for the most part. Released everything & went to Bootleggers for a Walleye dinner. Proud of that!
Did get into a bunch of Perch & had a fish fry this spring, released everything else. Bullheads galore & fun for the smaller kids.

Like I said, it's just getting started for me. Here is a pic of Joey's muskie.

Congratulations to your son, Mike! Wow Joey, that's a really big musky! Good luck to both you guys this fall. I'll be out there in two weeks and I'm hoping for the best. BTW, where is "Bootleggers"? I've never heard of that restaurant. A delicious walleye dinner sounds great!

Bootleggers is off of Route L just past the Junction diner heading North. There are signs all over. It's on lake Nokomis.