1998 – A Record Musky Season on the Chip by John Dettloff
Record Musky Season by John Dettloff - IndianTrailResort.com
Record Musky Season: The Chippewa Flowage enjoyed its greatest trophy musky year ever on record in 1998, with nine verified 50-inch plus muskies caught! And what’s more: most of these fish were released so maybe youÉ will catch one of them this coming season. Of further note, dozens of muskies over 25 pounds were caught and 20-pounders were commonplace on the Chip in ’98. And you should have seen the bigger ones that got away. Fish in the 40- and 50-pound class were said to have terrorized a number of fishermen on the flowage last season!
Actually, this explosion of trophy musky catches is nothing out of the ordinary for the flowage. During the early ’90’s, the flowage’s big fish production had already reached near comparable levels. Now while it’s true there was an ease-up in the action during the mid ’90’s, it should be understood this was merely brought on by unfavorable weather conditions’ conditions less conducive for angler success. This statement is easy to back up of course. Just look at what was caught last season on the flowage and you’ll know just what has always been lurking in the waters of the Chip’ Big Muskies!
So why was 1998 such a banner big musky year? Simply a combination of more conducive weather conditions, less fishing pressure possibly making these leery brutes a bit less skiddish, one of the best “day bites” in years, and the positive effects of 20 years of catch and release making catchable muskies on the flowage three times more numerous and twice as large as they used to be.
During the mid ’90’s, we came into a pattern of unusually cold springs, rapidly warming early Junes, and exceptionally hot conditions holding during most of the remainder of the summers. Throw in a lack of storm fronts and barometric movements and you have the makings for a tougher musky year on the flowage.
But in 1998 the mold was broken. We started with a consistent warm, sunny spring and this spurred on some much better weed growth. Then, just when water temps were beginning to get too warm, we had a very cold early June which brought water temps back down to the low 60’s. Moderate temps through June didn’t allow the water to get too warm, though, and a perfect combination of June storm fronts and overcast days to balance out the nice weather set the stage for one of the finest June’s and early July’s we’ve ever had.
The mid-summer gave us practically no rain and many warm, gorgeous days’ but it never did get too hot. The warm surface water didn’t penetrate as deep as it had during the previous few seasons and the abundant weed cover provided more than ample shelter and oxygen to draw in the muskies. This made for a consistent shallow water day bite throughout the summer and enabled everyone to “get in on the act” and catch fish!
It also has been a benefit to those who remain pounding the waters of the flowage for muskies, that there is now less “intelligent” fishing pressure on the flowage than there’s been in more than 40 years. More resorts are now target marketing to families, rather than fishermen, and the multitudes of muskie men who were all drawn to these waters during the 1950’s have mostly all hung up their rods. But for those anglers who remain and possess that same commitment these “old salts” once had’ they indeed scored big on the muskies.
And thanks to the catch and release ethic which began in earnest nearly 20 years ago, the average size of muskies on the flowage has actually doubled from where it once was!! Years ago, a musky on the flowage averaged 34 inches (around 9 pounds), but today averages near 40 inches (around 17 or 18 pounds). Also, during the so-called “good old days” on the Chip, an expert angler would be hard pressed to boat 15 or 20 muskies over 30 inches in one year. Now, with the same effort, a fisherman can easily boat triple that number of fish – catching 50 or more that size and over. Are today’s fishermen maybe better than their counterparts were from the days of old? Certainly not! There are simply more and bigger musky than ever before on the Chippewa Flowage.
