Year End Totals on the Chip

[Ty Sennett]

Here are the totals for the year on the Chip

107 total fish

7-- less than 30 inches
17-- between 30 and 35 inches
25-- between 35 and 40 inches
35 --between 40 and 45 inches
20 --between 45 and 50 inches

3 --forgot to write down how big they were(must have been tired)

Lures:
Bulldawgs--21 fish
Clip and go rigs(suckers)--19 fish
Pacemakers--16 fish
Ghosttails--9 fish
Corey Meyer's "Flowage Boas"--7 fish
Cowgirls--7 fish
Stillwaters--5 fish

The rest was a hodge podge of baits.

Overall: For the weather we had this year I would say it was a good year for my guide trips. We had a really good average size although we didn't boat any fifty inch fish. We did have some chances at a coupe fifty inch fish but not many. The Bulldawg bite was strange but effective. The fall bite was nonexistant. I had great clients again and that made those hot calm days way more bearable. My goal is always 100 fish from the Chip and we got that but I also have a side goal of two fifty inchers a year off the Chip and didn't get that. Thanks again to all of you that made this year a success. See you again next season.

[esoxhtr]

Ty,
What were your most successful colors with the Bulldawgs? Clearer waters or stained?

[LarryO]

Ty

Did you keep track of how many days on the water you had? It would be interesting to know how many angler hours it takes per fish. My guess would be something like 107 fish in 107 days with an average of 3 anglers in the boat....or about 3 angler days (30 hours +/-) per fish.

I tallied up my weekend warrior results. I only made it out 20 days this year and I caught 13 fish which is actually probably better than normal for me. My Big Chip vacation killed my average though. I went 0 fish in 7 days. One of these days I'll figure out how to catch them up there.

Larry

[jkahler]

Nice average size Ty. Did you guys get the epic rain/flood in June that we got in Superior area? That ruined it for us this year, washed away all the weeds. The Africa heat after that didn't help either.

For the season I got 33 over 30", but only 6 were 40" or better. Only had caught 8 fish by October, that was brutal. Put in 377 hours total. Only 2 fish above 43" for me. A 47" in MN (my biggest on a figure 8), and a 47" in the river on a Suick. Had lots of action on Suicks fishing new places which was fun. I hope next year is closer to normal as far as weather.

[Ty Sennett]

Jkahler, we did get the rain but not like you guys did. We didn't have any seals swimming in downtown Hayward like you guys did with the floods.

Larry, I'm not sure the hour per fish thing. I'm sure my catch per hour is lower than a non-guide's catch per hour. It should be anyway. Most people I have out are learning so we miss a lot of fish. Pretty fun either way.

[scottwebster]

I noticed there is no fish caught on Suicks or Big Game baits. Thats not normal!

[Ty Sennett]

We did have two caught on Big Game baits but not the normal amount. We didn't catch any on Suicks which is not even close to normal. Kind of a weird year for bait choices.

[JohnMG]

We did have two caught on Big Game baits but not the normal amount. We didn't catch any on Suicks which is not even close to normal. Kind of a weird year for bait choices.

I am interested in the increase in Bull Dawg catches over the last few years coupled with the decrease in bucktail catches. What do you guys think? And do guys still prefer single blades over double blades after this season? Lastly, has anyone tried a "Slopmaster" type bait in heavy weeds on the Chip? That's a lot of questions but I killed a few birds with one stone here. Thanks and Happy Holidays to all the posters that keep me informed and thinking "muskies" throughout the year!

[Ty Sennett]

With the Bulldawg thing; I don't think we have the same strain of fish in the lake that we did ten to twenty plus years ago. Think about it. There have been a variety of different lake strains introduced through the years. We never caught fish in figure eights years ago. We never caught fish on Cowgirls for the first four years they were out and you better believe we tried. We definitely didn't catch many on Bulldawgs in the summer. You'd hear of one here and there but not the numbers that you get now.

I like both the single and double blades on the Chip. Both are equally productive.

We've been using spinnerbaits on the Chip for years. I actually still like the Northland spinnerbaits that I've been using for a long time but also use Ghosttail spinnerbaits and CJ spinnerbaits as well.