walleyemaxx
11-21-2012, 02:37 PM
Hi everyone,
As I'm waiting for ice, I look for all the info I can find about the Big Chip. Here's some interesting stats from the creel census the DNR conducted on the Chippewa Flowage last year(2011). If you answered questions from the census people, then you can give yourself a pat on the back. According to Max Wolter, fisheries manager for Sawyer County, With four creel clerks collecting data, the DNR learned-
Anglers put in an estimated 475,000 hours (31 hours per acre!) of fishing pressure on the Flowage.
About 49 percent of it for panfish. According to the creel survey, Flowage anglers catch a bluegill every 30 seconds on average. During the open water period, anglers caught more than 1 million bluegills and crappies, harvesting more than 350,000 of them.
Angler effort for walleye and musky was nearly equal at about 90,000 hours. Anglers caught more than 1,700 muskies, approximately 10 per day. Unfortunatly I didn't find a break down of size ranges.
They also found that Walleyes were caught at a rate of one for every 8 hours of fishing. According to my log book, I caught an average of 2-5 waleyes in 8 hours that year and this year was a very good year at an average rate of 5-7 walleyes per day. Sometimes the sizes were small but I and my clients also caught a lot of nicer walleyes over the 20" mark releasing most of those including my biggest of the year at 26 1/2" which was also released.
The best walleye fishing for my boat this year was in late June, all of July, and the first week in August. The fall period was the slowest. Interestingly was the fact that when the water went down, so did my catch rate. Hopefully we will have fishable ice before to long. I'll be making reports when wee do. Good luck fishing everyone.
Walleyemaxx
As I'm waiting for ice, I look for all the info I can find about the Big Chip. Here's some interesting stats from the creel census the DNR conducted on the Chippewa Flowage last year(2011). If you answered questions from the census people, then you can give yourself a pat on the back. According to Max Wolter, fisheries manager for Sawyer County, With four creel clerks collecting data, the DNR learned-
Anglers put in an estimated 475,000 hours (31 hours per acre!) of fishing pressure on the Flowage.
About 49 percent of it for panfish. According to the creel survey, Flowage anglers catch a bluegill every 30 seconds on average. During the open water period, anglers caught more than 1 million bluegills and crappies, harvesting more than 350,000 of them.
Angler effort for walleye and musky was nearly equal at about 90,000 hours. Anglers caught more than 1,700 muskies, approximately 10 per day. Unfortunatly I didn't find a break down of size ranges.
They also found that Walleyes were caught at a rate of one for every 8 hours of fishing. According to my log book, I caught an average of 2-5 waleyes in 8 hours that year and this year was a very good year at an average rate of 5-7 walleyes per day. Sometimes the sizes were small but I and my clients also caught a lot of nicer walleyes over the 20" mark releasing most of those including my biggest of the year at 26 1/2" which was also released.
The best walleye fishing for my boat this year was in late June, all of July, and the first week in August. The fall period was the slowest. Interestingly was the fact that when the water went down, so did my catch rate. Hopefully we will have fishable ice before to long. I'll be making reports when wee do. Good luck fishing everyone.
Walleyemaxx