Year end muskie totals

[Ty Sennett]

Well the season is pretty much over for me. The fishing was great at times and tough other times. The clients were great all year. I'd say this year was the most enjoyable and I thank all of you for that.

Here are the totals for the year:

Total fish from the Chippewa Flowage: 133

fish under 30 inches: 4
fish 30 to 35 inches: 26
fish 35 to 40 inches: 43
fish 40 to 45 inches: 32
fish 45 to 50 inches: 27
fish 50 inches: 1

Lure totals:

Ghosttail: 23 fish
Pacemaker: 13 fish
Cowgirl: 13 fish
Bulldawg: 11 fish
Big Game: 6 fish
Musky Buster: 5 fish
Rough Runner: 4 fish
The rest were under 4 fish per bait

Looking back there were a few things that were odd about this year:

For one the Suick bite was really weird. I could get a lot of fish to follow them but only caught two on them.

The Creeper bite also was weird. We had a ton of action on creepers but only caught three on creepers. This may be because I don't fish late at night much.

The other thing that surprised me when tallying up the fish was that we only had six fish on Big Game baits. For most of June that's all we saw fish on.

And last but not least the main thing that surprised me was the Bulldawg bite. We caught more fish on Bulldawgs this year in the month of October than we have caught total in all the years I've fished out here. Normally we get one or none on Bulldawgs all fall. It's not because I don't throw them every year either. For the most part I would use them as a decoy because they only followed them.

Overall it's good to see the size range spread out so good on the Chip. There are a lot more big fish to go with the good fish coming up behind.

[Snizz]

Pretty interesting stuff right there!

Is 133 fish the most you have caught in a season?

are the 23 on ghosttails a combo of inline and scissor baits? also, what is the percentage break down on color...(~80% green, 20% other colors?)

not looking for colors...just want to know how many are caught on colors other than green...

[Ty Sennett]

That is not the most I've boated in one season. I think the best year was 187 fish. This year was the best for fish over forty inches though. I think most resorts can say this was the most big fish they have ever seen charted.

As for the spinnerbaits VS the inline Ghosttail, I didn't separate the two. I didn't catch many on Spinnerbaits this year though. I know Corey Meyer had a really good year and most of his were on spinnerbaits. I think from what I saw there were certain areas where spinnerbaits were working and certain areas where they were not. The weedy back bays were really dead this year. They are good about every ten years or so. We caught more on main lake bars and oddball shorelines. We had a few spots that we caught a bunch of fish on that I've never in my life even seen fish on. That's what makes people hate the Chip and why I love it. It's about the least predictable body of water I've ever seen.

[Ty Sennett]

I forgot, the blade color for bucktails I didn't keep track of. You know me though, I use about every color under the sun.

[jkahler]

Intersting. I couldn't buy a fish on a Suick this year, and not for lack of trying. My first of the year was on a creeptonite in the middle of the day (sunny) in June. Lost a giant on the opener on a topwater.

You say that you had action in areas where you haven't before, do you randomly fish these odd spots every year or in different weather conditions even though they don't usually produce?

14 was my total, total in my boat was 27 or 28 caught in 272 hours. Since I'm a selfish guy I boated the four biggest ones, 45, 45, 47, and 49. Since my friend is an a$$ he blurred the picture on one of the 45's. ha!

[buckbinladen]

Just think if Mrs. Sennett had been blessed with a good net man in the boat, there would have been one more!!!......))) Couldn't help myself! It was a fun year on the Chip, the Curse may have been lifted off of the White One, and even Little Len caught fish!!!

Do it again in 2010!

buckbinladen

[Ty Sennett]

Oh now that just hurts Buck! I'd say that net job is the one thing that I wish would have gone slightly different for the year. I think next year I'll bring a bigger net. Nice buck by the way Buck.

[pikldik]

And what a fish that 1 50 incher was. After not being able to fish for over 3 years to catch that fish on my 2nd or 3rd cast was incredible.
Thanks again Ty maybe see you at the shows this winter.

Dick

[Ty Sennett]

I guess that's your reward for fishing on one of the nastiest days of the year Dick. I'd say you deserve it after losing that big one the last time we were out.

[Yake Bait]

Ty,

Those are some great stats. Really appreciate the fact that you are willing to share this information. The size distribution of those fish holds a lot of promise for some real dandys in the years to come.

Keep up the good work.

Pete

[Ty Sennett]

One other thing I forgot was the month to month distribution of fish. We caught around 25 fish each month. August had a few more and June had a few less(one due to my bad net job) but for the most part each month was equal. And then there was September...............9 fish. September started out great and then totally crashed with the hot, calm weather. I think if I did some night fishing we could have caught some fish but most clients are on vacation with family so that's not an option.

Just thought I'd throw the monthly totals in. Rachel made up a spread sheet so that's why I seem so organized. Those that know me know I'm about as far from computer savvy as they come.

[muskymeyer]

Yea, September sure went in the tank. No fish in September or November, that has not happened since the late 80's. But July was the best month ever so I can't complain. I could have had one more fish, off Pete's, but some guy in a Ranger jacked it on me. Just kidding, I would rather see your client catch it than me anyways. Besides it makes for a good story!!


Corey Meyer

[Ty Sennett]

I guess next time you wont start on Little Pete's to fish Big Pete's. Actually if you remember right we didn't catch the one you were after, we just gave it a sore mouth. The one we caught was down the bar quite a bit. Either way it's payback for the 45 inch fish you and Cali poached on me!

[muskymeyer]

Man Ty you gotta drop the grudge on the Cali Cranberry fish!!! Atleast we caught that one, most of the time i just burn 'em and move on.

The first day of the off season and I hate it already.


Corey Meyer

[Cold Front]

Didn't get to fish much this season, managed to burn a number fish on the flowage and boated two both on Forest Lake in MN and both on suicks. It sure looks to me like continuing to increase the size limit is paying off. I know there's no way any increased limit can make a difference from one year to the next, but it sure looks like the cumulative effect of the escalating size limit is positive. I look forward to next year!

Cold Front

[Ty Sennett]

I'd hope the size limit is helping. At least there are some good sized fish being released that can spawn next year to help out. I'm sure some of those would have been kept had the size limit not changed.