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Posts: 999
| Steve, just curious as to why you think 2014 could be our best fall in a decade? |
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Posts: 32785
Location: Rhinelander, Wisconsin | The last time we had this weather pattern, I had an absolutely incredible September and October before I went into Whitetail mode. We had multiple evenings with two and three fish, and Keith smacked 'em around too. Water temps are at almost exactly what we had that year, algae is an issue on the same lakes, and the fish seem to be set up about the same. here's to hoping....I believe absolutely no one has all of this figured out, because the fish do what they do, sometimes with no rhyme or reason. |
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | I've spent most of my time on moving water, and the only consistent bite in my neck of the woods has been under the dams (big surprise).
High water is swell in the early season, late season high water sucks. |
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Posts: 141
Location: Minnetonka | It's definitely turning around in Northern MN. On Saturday, we boated three fish and the DNR officer at the launch said he had heard of two other boats that put 4 in the net and another with 3. All different times of the day...on all different kinds of structure. The cool down is just starting and I agree with Steve that this fall will be one for the books. |
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Posts: 999
| Great to hear!
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Posts: 216
| sure was, I was in a little mid summer rut but kicked off sept 1st with a big pig 54". Can't wait for what's to come in the next 3 months.ps that's without pinching tails and our ruler is a sticker on the middle seat of the aluminum boat, so when you bump em the point of the beak is actually past the beginning of the tape because the side of the boats not square so she was all of 54" and maybe then some.i know, I need a bump board, never really mattered before to me but now I feel kinda robbed. |
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Posts: 146
Location: Alsip, IL | My hours have been way down this year due to paramedic school but numbers haven't been bad. I've got 37 fish in the boat, and plenty of lost fish and follows. I only have 5 over 40 with my big fish coming a few days ago at 47 inches. I'm not complaining though. I'd say I have less than 80 hours on the water this year unfortunately. Bulk of my fishing is done in Illinois, Southwest Michigan, and the UP. |
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Posts: 300
Location: Minocqua, WI | jonnysled - 8/29/2014 9:48 AM
what is the highest water temp. folks have registered this year, also water levels?
i've been primarily smb and lmb fishing and it's a better year than normal and i'd attribute that to the stable and relatively lower water temps.. fish are using structure and it's a matter of which side and which depth they are so sometimes you have to search the presentation, but finding fish is almost a no-brainer vs. other years where they headed to deeper water and main lake humps.
could it be that bait migration "differences" if the theory is true has it more concentrated therefore easier to find for muskies?
I've been on the bass bite all year ^^ with this guy above and Jon knows what's up. This has been an incredible year for some fish species like bass and walleyes, and poor for others. I think it all has to do with the lakes and how fish aren't cooperating with the conditions we as anglers are being dealt with....... which could include high water, cooler water temps, strange forage movements and corresponding fish locations.
Haven't made any travels outside of WI this year for one reason or another, but in the 20 days or so I've spent casting throughout Vilas/Oneida/Iron/Price I've only caught 7 with none over 40", and the number of followers has been way down like most years. I keep to a rotation of 20 lakes and rivers that have treated me well over the years. Has my lake selection for specific days or conditions been bad? Can't argue for this year and how unproductive its been. On a typical day I'm trailering around, hitting anywhere from 1 to 4 lakes per day for up to 14hrs. Then afterwards I return to the house asking myself whether these are mythical creatures we keep chasing around. So at this year I'm at about 34hrs per fish thus far (20 days @ 12hrs/day at 7 boated) whereas last year I was at 15hrs per fish (40 days @ 12hrs/day at 32 boated).... painful. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | wow, you have 37 fish in the boat and only 80 hours on the water? you are doing better than pretty much anyone I've ever heard of .... good work!  |
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Posts: 1969
| 84 in my boat so far this year, 3.8275 hrs per fish  Looking over the past 10 year better than average numbers so far lots of 42-45" fish , 16 over 45" boated (and more than a few lost) ... been decent so far. |
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Location: MN | IAJustin - 9/4/2014 4:53 PM
84 in my boat so far this year, 3.8275 hrs per fish Looking over the past 10 year better than average numbers so far lots of 42-45" fish , 16 over 45" boated (and more than a few lost ) ... been decent so far.
If you take out LOTW and LSC (if you go there) what do your numbers look like? I'd be interested to know the same for BNelson. Not trying to prove anything, just trying to compare with my notes.
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Posts: 619
| I just think there is less available fish with more people fishing equals lower catch rates. I don't think it has anything to do with weather. Not quit sure how some of these Mn lakes will make it. Plus it seems like the few fish I'm getting are all gill hooked and real questionable if they live after release. |
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Posts: 1969
| Nershi - 9/4/2014 5:05 PM
IAJustin - 9/4/2014 4:53 PM
84 in my boat so far this year, 3.8275 hrs per fish Looking over the past 10 year better than average numbers so far lots of 42-45" fish , 16 over 45" boated (and more than a few lost ) ... been decent so far.
If you take out LOTW and LSC (if you go there ) what do your numbers look like? I'd be interested to know the same for BNelson. Not trying to prove anything, just trying to compare with my notes.
Take out LOTW (don't fish LSC) and I'm at 49 fish.. hrs per catch is almost same under 4 hrs per fish boated. Only one day in MN this year. one fish in 10 hrs. there pretty small sample size though Weird year for me number have been excellent ..less four footers + than usual....no time in MN - HA!
Edited by IAJustin 9/4/2014 5:23 PM
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Location: Contrarian Island | Lotw didn't do much to the hours per fish as if I take out that week the fish per hour stays about the same at 5.2 hours per fish...Madison lakes have been tough this year, one guy is out there pretty much every day and usually isn't lighting them up for the hours he has in... last year I believe he had 6 over 45 by now I believe casting this year zero....
what I have noticed in this thread is the varying degrees of what we think is a good or great trip or outing..... some think 2-3 fish per day or outing is great, to others that is avg or some even below avg.... lotw my partner and I flat out expect 4 fish per day .... it's all about expectations and what your "fish thermostat" is set at..most guys I know in MN are way behind for size and numbers..maybe it will change this fall.... ?!
Edited by BNelson 9/4/2014 5:39 PM
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Posts: 296
| BNelson - 8/29/2014 7:56 PM
Newbski, I have a fish personally every 10.5 hours, but that is a bit misleading as one 3 day weekend friends come down from MN and I fish in back so I'm 3rd bait thru, and we got a few fish on suckers and I let them have the hits, fishing in back a few other outings with friends when we caught fish ..had I been in front or taken some of the sucker hits my fish per hour would be better but I always look at it as a team, not just my hours, but boat hours.. 12 fish in a week on LOTW to me is slow, we got 18 in our week to 52 and I considered it slow... we expect 4 fish per day in the boat on lotw... we had the hits to do it but lost too many.. tough year overall for most imo... hour for hour not as many fish are being caught or for that matter even seen ... on most bodies of water it seems...
I know what your saying about slow fishing. I probably should have clarified what section of LOTW, but it's not Sabaskong, The Angle, or any of the Narrows. 12 is a large number of muskies in one boat for a week in the part of LOTW I fish. More trout water fishing than meso. My average would be closer to 7-8 most years. Fishing is rarely easy, but you can be rewarded and average length and girth is superior. Though it can be impossible at times! |
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| Madison lakes have been tough this year, one guy is out there pretty much every day and usually isn't lighting them up for the hours he has in... last year I believe he had 6 over 45 by now I believe casting this year zero....
It's funny how "feel" can be different than objective stats. The pace actually suggests that he will end up with more fish this year than last year. Less big fish than last year for sure, but I think that's because something unique happened last year and this one is more typical for big fish in Madison. |
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Location: Contrarian Island | Pace is one thing. Hard to know if its better or worse without knowing hours put in vs. last year... from what he has said to me and from my own observations on the water madison lakes have been sub par this year |
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| Pace is one thing. Hard to know if its better or worse without knowing hours put in vs. last year... from what he has said to me and from my own observations on the water madison lakes have been sub par this year
it may be true, maybe he's fishing way more than he did last year. so it's probably better to look at a larger sample size since averages across large groups are more consistent for amount of time fished.
From opening day - first Friday in September, year-on-year registrations in the Muskies Inc Lunge Log for Dane Co by CCMI members:
2011: 264 fish, 8 fish of 45" or larger, 3 fish of 48" or larger
2012: 316 fish, 21 fish of 45" or larger, 3 fish of 48" or larger
2013: 380 fish, 32 fish of 45" or larger, 7 fish of 48" or larger
2014: 531 fish, 30 fish of 45" or larger, 7 fish of 48" or larger
x-factor: no mid-summer heat issues this year.
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Location: Contrarian Island | yah no doubt, last few years we have missed months at a time, I think it was last summer or maybe 2012 that we had sustained 80 degree water for 2 months and most of us shelved our musky stuff...
interestingly ... the # of fish caught went up 71% from last year but the # over 45 and 48 stays the same? that is more about what this thread is about...not all the sub 40 fish...but the BIG fish... ie, the lack of big fish registered on here, and the overall lack of big fish being caught by most on the water... look at the hours some have in to not even have 1 over 45 casting? where are the big fish?
Also, muskies inc data doesn't tell the whole story, Cap City has a huge club, are more guys fishing this summer w the cooler water temps, are more guys registereing fish that maybe never use to, it also sheds no light on the # of hours to get those fish...if the angling hours went up 100% but catches only went up 71% then it is in fact a down year...
same story in MN from those I know over there... late spawn messed things up coupled w the crap weather?
Edited by BNelson 9/5/2014 9:12 AM
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Location: MN | I would also add that numbers and hours per fish vary greatly based on what type of lake you fish. I know a few guys who travel to action lakes to catch a lot of small fish. Most of these action lakes you have little chance at catching a big fish (45+). There is nothing wrong with that but catching a fish every 2-3 hours on those types of lakes is not hard. Personally I fish for muskies to catch big fish. I'd rather fish a whole weekend and only catch one big fish than fish an action lake and catch 20 fish under 40. Some guys like numbers some guys like size, nothing wrong with either. I'm not saying that is the case with you guys, just pointing out that hours per fish does not tell the whole story.
Back to the original topic, my hours per fish on big fish waters is definitely down. I don't keep track of time on the water but I know I have a lot more time in this year and my numbers and size are about the same as last year. |
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| Also, muskies inc data doesn't tell the whole story...if the angling hours went up 100% but catches only went up 71% then it is in fact a down year...
yep, data is just data. that said, we have a lot of data for Dane Co. and large groups of people behave in astoundingly predictable and consistent ways when studied over time. knowing that, it's likely that fishing hours per person in 2014 are comparable to those of the previous 10 years. inferred and likely, but not known.
our trend data for big fish (over 45" long) predicted about 6.5% this year. we'll see how the year ends up, but if it's 5.6% we'll be slightly down but not horribly so. 2013 was a strong year above the curve so be careful of the recency effect in looking at just last year as the comparison. of course, 2009 and 2010 were strong up years too, and 2011 was horribly down for big fish.
same story in MN from those I know over there... late spawn messed things up coupled w the crap weather?
everyone everywhere is complaining, so there's clearly something happening. my feel by looking at the numbers is that it's much more pronounced in northern MN than southern WI.
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Posts: 1405
Location: Detroit River | My season started out great. Boated 17 in June & then went o for 1 in July (lost a 50 on a prototype that I was field testing). I was feeling down after July but the first weekend in Aug I boated a nice one then didn't see a musky worth catching the rest of the month until the 31st where I boated 2 within 15 minutes of each other. Going to take a break for the next couple of weeks & target sturgeon. |
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Posts: 455
| Last year I boated a fish almost every trip and my boat only skunked one day. This year I have not landed a single fish and my boat has one 49" in it so far. I attribute it to Karma. Prolly ran my mouth too much last year. Anyway for me the weather does have an impact but so does statistical chance (luck) and plenty of other factors that can be local in nature. |
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Posts: 397
Location: Wisconsin | I have had a rough season as well, only a handful of musky in the boat in wisconsin. But, Steve Heiting just wrote an artical in wisconsin outdoors magizine... clearly laid out how to change up your game in and "odd weather" season like this. |
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Posts: 1828
| Last year I had 14 fish and about 1 fish per 10 hours. Those are just the ones I caught, not the data for my boat.
This year I'm at just 4 so far and only 1 fish per 22 hours.
Still better than one fish per ten thousand casts! |
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Posts: 127
| jaultman - 9/8/2014 8:00 AM
Still better than one fish per ten thousand casts!
I think that's about what I'm at this year...again. hah |
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| yah no doubt, last few years we have missed months at a time, I think it was last summer or maybe 2012 that we had sustained 80 degree water for 2 months and most of us shelved our musky stuff...
here's the same data for May 1st - July 15th the past few years for CCMI in Dane County. it doesn't speak to catch rate, but it's interesting to compare.
2009: 191 fish, 19 over 45" (9.9%)
2010: 219 fish, 23 over 45" (10.5%)
2011: 186 fish, 5 over 45" (2.6%)
2012: 237 fish, 19 over 45" (8.0%)
2013: 236 fish, 16 over 45" (6.8%)
2014: 311 fish, 12 over 45" (3.9%)
so even when you remove the time when most people weren't fishing mid-summer, this year's numbers are still significantly up in Madison/Dane County overall. however, big fish catches are down dramatically as a percentage of fish caught.
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Posts: 1245
Location: Madtown, WI | I would argue there are more big fish in madison this year than years previous, as you know Mike the HUGE stocking that took place (forget the year) those fish are now in the mid-to upper 40 inch range... definately more big fish then there was in 2009...
I have been on the sidelines a ton this year so can't use my info other than my Canada trip has echo'ed the "slow" factor.
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Posts: 62
Location: Minnetonka MN | mnmusky - 8/30/2014 6:12 PM
This has been the year of follows for me. Dozens and dozens but few takers. Never had so many in one season with so few bites. I'm guessing this to be a good month in sept. Into oct. In hopes they start eating and less looking.
Very similar story for my son and I. Lots of time on the water, primarily Tonka. Have had as many as 7-10 follows in a 6 hour period with zero strikes. Not a single strike in the figure 8. People have said we are doing something wrong, need to do more to trigger strikes away from the boat. Oh well  |
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Posts: 238
Location: Rhinelander | Shocked by the low % of fish over 45" and total amount caught.
I under stand the larger fish are a small percentage of fish in any given body of water but would assume more fisherman would be targeting them.
Between myself and consistent fishing partner we hover around the 22-25% mark of our northern WI fish over the 45" mark in a "normal year". As we all know this isn't a normal year for big fish. This year we are at about 14% of our muskie catch over 45 inches with still fishing big fish waters on big fish spots. We have moved around some searching for the larger fish on smaller fish spots but caught smaller fish. Go figure. This what has kept our overall numbers somewhat constant.
Our overall numbers of fish are slightly down but not by much. Weird why little fish are occupying big fish locations. Off year for catching the top fish in any given lake with any consistency. Have theories and guesses but can't say for sure why this year is a down year. |
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