SORRY, BUT MY COMPUTER WON'T LET ME PUT THE IMAGES ONTO MY WEBSITE!! Report dated May 8, 2001 Greetings form Waterloo, IA I arrived home last night (Monday May 7) after a fun filled “long” weekend in Chetek. This year’s opener was a disappointment compared to last years, however. Fishing was very tough. The weather was anything but cooperative. We woke Saturday morning to conditions with temperatures in low 50’s with 15 - 25 mph hour winds, mixed with misty scattered rains. The wind blew all day and remained strong all night. We experience a steady rain Saturday around 6:30 PM that lasted about an hour. Sunday was basically the same same except no rain. Water temperatures both days started in the low 50’s eventually warming to the 57 - 58 degree temperatures by late afternoon. Air temperatures reached the mid 60’s inspite of the conditions. Obviously weather was the dominating factor in the disappointing start to the fishing season. The number of boats on the lake was down considerably, also. Many locations people wanted to fish were white capping and next to impossible to hold a boat on. I saw no one trying to fly fish, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday. The weather was just not conducive to “good” fishing! I guess that’s the bad news....the good news is next weekend, if the weather forecast is correct, the fishing should be GREAT! A few days of the predicted weather in the 70’s should push the water temperatures into the mid 60’s and start the spawning. Winds will lay down and the “good” locations will again be accessible. Too bad I’ll be in Nebraska for my son’s wedding. Enough complaining about the weather and weddings! It was still great to be on the water! The midnight walleye fishermen in certain locations had a blast catching bass on live bait with a few walleyes mixed in. One fisherman told me in the area he fished it seemed someone had a “fish on” starting at midnight until 2:00 AM. Fish were being taken on live bait rigs such as lindy rigs or jig and minnow combinations. The same location during the day produced a few small male bass on plastic worms. Live bait presented slowly seemed to be the “winning ticket” for the weekend. A few northern were being taken but of no size. An eight pounder was taken below the dam by Paul Wehrmeister and Brian Szalajka of Chetek, WI using a minnow. My son-in-law John and son Eric had a great time Sunday evening for an hour when the fish turned on and they boated 9 northern with the largest in the 3 pound range. They were casting Daredevils and spinnerbaits. Christopher Bergerson of Chippewa Falls weighed in two northern in our “Mud Lake” tournament weighing 4 pounds 6 ounces and 3 pounds 13 ounces. Walleyes were being caught sporadically. “Yogi” Yogurst of Bloomer, WI caught a 3 pound 13 ounce fish Saturday, the same weight as the walleye caught by Keith Modl of Eau Claire, WI. Keith caught his walleye on live bait while Yogi caught his while casting shorelines with a Rapala. The image below shows some of the walleyes taken by a group of “local” WI fishermen. They are left to right, “Yogi, Keith, Mark Modl, kneeling Ben Modl and Lance Modl. Kirk Gutsch of Eau Claire, WI weighed in the largest walleye I heard of for the weekend at the Rod and Gun Sportshop. The fish weighed in at 6 pounds 2 ounces and measured 27 inches. Bluegill fishing was very slow. I talked to no one who was catching fish. Crappie fishing picked up as the water temperature climbed during the day. My fishing group consisting of 2 boats. (Keith Smith from Waterloo, IA , his father Dan Smith from Hauntown, IA and Dennis Ortschied from Woodbury , MN. Fishing out of my boat were myself, my son Eric and my son-in-law John Dunakey all from Waterloo, IA) Together we caught about 45 nice crappies Sunday afternoon from 2 PM to 4 PM. The wind really limited where we could fish but a few of the old standby locations produced. We caught most fish in brush by deep water. The fish were extremely “spooky”. You could catch a few but then the “catching” would be over for a while. You could return later and the same scenario would be played out. Here is a picture of the fish we caught. Most were in the 9 - 10 inch length range, a nice eating size, with the largest being about 3/4 a pound. Kent Fletcher of Champaign, IL weighed in a 1 pound 8 ounce crappie at the Rod and Gun Sportshop. That’s a great crappie for the Chetek Chain. Chetek has lots of good fish but not many survive the fishing pressure to grow that large. Bass fishing on artificials was tough. With the wind eliminating certain water, the water temperatures low and the fish prespawn, conditions were tough . We manage to boat a few fish but mostly small males. We did catch a couple of female bass in the 2 3/4 pound range. My son Eric and his fishing partner Travis Nabor of Davenport, Iowa caught some nice bass on spinner baits and plastic worms. The largest being a 3 pound 2 ouncer. We saw several bass caught by fishermen using live bait. I weighed a bass for Lance Modl of Chippewa Falls that tipped the scales at 3 pound 6 ounces His cousin, Ben Modl is shown below with a nice 2 pound 13 ounce smallmouth he caught while fishing with live bait. Once again weather was the determining factor for this year’s opener. But as the old saying goes, “The best time to go fishing is when you can!” FISH-O-RAMA UPDATE: As for the Fish-O-Rama, when I left for Iowa on Monday at 11:00, 4 - $ 25 fish had been turned in. That means there are still 489 fish swimming in the Chetek Lakes waiting to be caught by YOU or ME. Forty five of these fish have a tag worth $ 500. Make sure you purchase your Fish-O-Rama button, before you wet a line. NEW FISHING CONTEST STARTED: I was sad to find out the “Lucky 13 Fishing Contest” has been canceled. I had watched this show to “see” the fish caught in Northern Wisconsin. I felt the TV show and contest promoted fishing well, but in the last few years had weakened in viewer interest due to some of the “topics” they chose to cover. I was glad to be informed yesterday that the owners of the Rod and Gun Sportshop in Chetek are exclusively sponsoring a weekly fishing contest. The weekly contest started on May 5 and will continue until August 31. Each week’s contest will consist of a $ 10 prize in each of 5 categories. These categories are northern pike, walleye, crappie, bluegill and bass (largemouth and smallmouth combined). The largest entered fish by noon each Friday wins the $ 10. At the end of all the weekly contests, the largest fish weighed in each category will win the grand prize of $ 50. This is a neat contest that will promote fishing. I personally thank Glen and Jeannie for their efforts! As before, (I will post this one more time........) Wave if you see me on the lake. If you have a nice catch and would like your picture on this report, flag me down. I usually have my digital camera with me and would like to share with readers the kind of fishery the Chetek Chain is! I am always anxious to hear how your fishing has been and any comments about the fishing report. If you have a nice picture of a fish caught on the Chetek Chain and can email it in JPEG including the information when the fish was caught, who caught the fish, the weight and length of the fish, what bait or lure the fish was caught on, the location or on which lake the fish was caught and any details you care to include, I may include it in my report. I am partial to “smiling” fisherman and kids! In case you have seen me on the water or don’t know what I look like in “Outtasight” here is what to look for. My next report should be posted approximately May 21. See ya on the water, Steve W. **I would appreciate anyone willing to take the time to email me to make comments “good” or “bad”, or make suggestions as to what information people would like to know about the fishing on the Chetek Chain. Also let me know on what site you located this report. Please tell me where you live. I also appreciate anyone fishing the Chetek Lakes to let me know how you did. I can use this information as I write my reports. To those who take the time.....Thanks, I appreciated your efforts. Report dated May 21, 2001 Greetings form Waterloo, IA I was able to travel north from Iowa to Chetek this past weekend. I was accompanied by my wife of 32 years, Carolyn. Saturday morning I had many chores to do before I was able to go fishing. These chores included mowing, filling the gas tanks in town, and taking the wife to breakfast. It was 11:30 AM when I hit the water and was greeted by yet another “bass tournament”. Seems like every weekend we have a bass tournament on our lakes. If you have read my reports in the past, you are aware I believe these early season tournaments will eventually hurt the bass fishing on our lakes. I believe taking spawning females off their beds will affect the quality of the bass fishing. Also taking the males who protected the nest can be detrimental. Once the fry have hatched, bass tournaments should not hurt the bass population. Also I want to remind boaters to be alert during the tournaments, both entrants and others on the lakes. With many “high power” boats running around and fishermen everywhere, BE CAREFUL! I saw a boat this weekend with a 300 HP engine. Maybe bass tournaments should reconsider horsepower standards and go back to the 150 HP maximums they used to have! Back to fishing! I fished for about two hours and boated 8 bass. There were three other tournament boats fishing the same area as I wanted to. I was fishing plastic worms. Junebug, black and tequila sunrise worms all produced. Four of the eight bass measured 14” or better but none of the fish pushed 3 pounds. Most were males. The water temperature was 68 degrees when I started. The last I looked it had climbed to 73 degrees. Later in the afternoon I decided to check out the crappie bite and had a blast with my ultralight. It was fish after fish after fish. My wife alternated between reading her book and taking cat naps in the sun. How she can read when the fish are biting is beyond my understanding. Many of the fish were in the 10 - 10 1/2” length which are great for eating. The weather was sunny in the AM and then increased in cloudiness as they day proceed until it began to rain lightly about 5:30 and was scattered the remainder of the evening. Temperatures must have been in the high 70’s or lower 80’s. Sunday’s weather started cloudy and “rainy looking.” I decided to “mess” with the crappies and try to catch a tagged fish and not even lower the bass boat. About 9:15 a steady light rain started that lasted for an hour. The rain was heavy enough to wet down those who did not remember to take their rain suit. After I was wet, I headed back home. The rain stopped and at noon it hadn’t started again. **(I talked to Jerry of the Rod and Gun Sportshop this AM (Monday May 21) and he told me it had rained most of the night and this morning.) The crappies bite was slower. The crappies had moved to deeper water, but I was still able to catch many, but no tags! The weather predictions call for cooler temperatures with lows in the high 30’s and low 40’s this coming week. This will slow the fishing down, but I hope it warms up in time for the Memorial Day weekend. I wish to thank the employees of the Rod and Gun Sportshop for sharing the information gleaned from customers so I am able to share it with my readers. It tough to write accurate detailed reports while not being on the lake alot. This weekend I talked to Jeremiah, Pat, and Jerry. Current fishing Report: Northern fishing was slow. I saw only two boats who were fishing specifically for the toothy critters and they weren’t experiencing much action. Best bet was small sucker minnows. Bill Breed of a Chetek did manage to catch this 8 pounder 1 ounce northern last week on Prairie Lake. Walleye fishing has been slow. Fish being caught are mostly small males. Live bait, crawlers or leeches have been the most productive. Sylvan Bleskacek of Bloomer, WI managed to catch this beautiful 9 pound walleye on a cane pole while bluegill fishing. (Sylvan you ought to be smiling!!! I know I would be! Nice fish!) As my wife and I were leaving Chetek Sunday about 11:30, we stopped into the Rod and Gun to check on the progress of their new fishing contest and the Fish-O-Rama totals. As we were about to leave, John Wald of Eau Claire, WI brought in this 26 1/2 inch specimen. The walleye tipped the scale at 5 pound 14 ounces. John caught this beauty in Pokegama Lake on a leech in about 3 feet of water. Bluegill fishing was good. I saw several boats fishing for panfish and doing well. Size was rather small but numbers were good. The fish are on their spawning beds. Fly fisherman were having the same success. Quinn McFaul of Chetek caught this nice 9 1/2 ounce 9 inch bluegill from Ten Mile Lake. Nice fish, Quinn! The bluegill fishing should be great as soon as the predicted cold front passes and the weather gets warmer again. Crappie fishing as I previous stated was good. The crappies are of nice size and put up a great fight on ultralights. Fishermen were catching fish on small jigs, tube jigs and of course live bait especially small minnows. Below are two examples of what the Chetek Lakes have to offer. Kyle Davis is shown holding a 1 pound 4 ounce he caught from Ten Mile Lake. In the second image Don Marbrand from Belmont, WI is displaying the 1 pound 7 ounce crappie he caught. This crappie measured 14 and 1/4 inches. Nice crappies, guys! I FISH-O-RAMA UPDATE: As for the Fish-O-Rama, when I left for Iowa on Sunday, 27 - $ 25 fish and 1 - $ 50 fish had been turned in. That means there are still over 450 fish swimming in the Chetek Lakes waiting to be caught by YOU or ME. Forty five of these fish have a tag worth $ 500. Make sure you purchase your Fish-O-Rama button, before you wet a line. NEW FISHING CONTEST STARTED: Make sure you enter your “big” fish in the Rod and Gun Sportshop Fishing Contest in Chetek. Click on the fishing contest link below to see the contest rules and information. Each week’s contest will consist of a $ 10 prize in each of 5 categories. These categories are northern pike, walleye, crappie, bluegill and bass (largemouth and smallmouth combined). The largest entered fish by noon each Friday wins the $ 10. At the end of all the weekly contests, the largest fish weighed in each category will win the grand prize of $ 50. FISHING CONTEST This is a neat contest that will promote fishing. I personally thank Glen and Jeannie for their efforts! This is the last time I will post this...... Wave if you see me on the lake. If you have a nice catch and would like your picture on this report, flag me down. I usually have my digital camera with me and would like to share with readers the kind of fishery the Chetek Chain is! I am always anxious to hear how your fishing has been and any comments about the fishing report. If you have a nice picture of a fish caught on the Chetek Chain and can email it in JPEG including the information when the fish was caught, who caught the fish, the weight and length of the fish, what bait or lure the fish was caught on, the location or on which lake the fish was caught and any details you care to include, I may include it in my report. I am partial to “smiling” fisherman and kids! In case you haven’t seen me on the water or don’t know what I look like in “Outtasight” here is what to look for. My next report should be posted approximately May 31. See ya on the water, Steve W. Report dated May 29, 2001 Greetings from Waterloo, IA The fishing reports I write are as accurate and truthful as possible. Good or bad. I share this information as the report I am writing wasn’t much fun to write. I arrived in Chetek late Friday night May 25, greeted by rain showers. Saturday morning, as we hit the water, it wasn’t much different. We had off/on rain and sprinkles the whole day. Sunday was cool with no rain and Monday was sunny but cool and windy. The whole preceding week had been the rainy and cold. The water temperature as I left on Sunday May 20 was 70 degrees. The water temperature Saturday morning as we started fishing was a cold 52 degrees. The water temperature was at 59 degrees when I quit fishing on Monday. It will take several concurrent warm days to get fishing back to normal. Needless to say fishing was poor at best. We fished bass hard Saturday and managed to boat 21 fish. Most were small males. The largest was 15 1/2 inches. Sunday we boated 13 more of the same and on Monday, one pass through some “good” water produced only two small fish. All the fishermen I talked to on the lake reported fishing was poor. I saw areas that would have 8 - 10 boats panfishing and then 1/2 hour later they all had moved on searching for fish. The crappies seemed to disappear. The bluegills being caught were small. I boated two northern while bass fishing with the largest being 28 inches. I only heard of one small walleye being caught. The fishing over Memorial Day weekend was just simply BAD! It’s hard to believe the weather would affect all species so negatively. Usually on the Chetek Chain if one species is affected by the weather, you can always find another species willing to provide some action. Not this weekend! I talked to Jeannie of the Rod and Gun Sportshop on Monday and she reported what I had experienced. Fishing was pretty slow for the week. However, as in all fishing someone will catch a nice fish! Below are the examples from last week. Mike Buric of Chetek brought in a 10 pound 9 ounce walleye measuring 31 inches. Mike is from Chetek and caught this fish below the dam on a leech. His picture was unavailable when I was at the Sportshop but will be found at chetek.com site. David Sweet of Glassford, IL caught this 4 pound 1 ounce 23 1/2 inch walleye below the dam on May 25. Kevin Kurzweil of Midlothian, IL is shown holding a 9 1/4 ounce bluegill. The bluegill measured 9 inches and had a $ 25 tag. Gloria Lagrew of Chetek caught this 14 inch, 1 pound 2 ounce crappie while fishing in the rain on Pokegama Lake. I received this image of 15 month old Daniel Modl admiring his first ever crappie. It’s a nice fish to boot. Daniel is the son of Danny and Tammy Modl of Chetek. Nice catch, Daniel! FISH-O-RAMA UPDATE: As for the Fish-O-Rama, when I left for Iowa on Monday, 40 - $ 25 fish, 1 - $ 50 fish and 1 - $500 fish had been turned in. That means there are still over 425 fish swimming in the Chetek Lakes waiting to be caught by YOU or ME. Forty four of these fish have a tag worth $ 500. Make sure you purchase your Fish-O-Rama button, before you wet a line. NEW FISHING CONTEST STARTED: Make sure you enter your “big” fish in the Rod and Gun Sportshop Fishing Contest in Chetek. Click on the fishing contest link below to see the contest rules and information. Each week’s contest will consist of a $ 10 prize in each of 5 categories. These categories are northern pike, walleye, crappie, bluegill and bass (largemouth and smallmouth combined). The largest entered fish by noon each Friday wins the $ 10. At the end of all the weekly contests, the largest fish weighed in each category will win the grand prize of $ 50. FISHING CONTEST This is a neat contest that will promote fishing. I personally thank Glen and Jeannie for their efforts! I will arrive in Chetek for the summer on the evening of June 7. My next report should be posted approximately June 12. See ya on the water, Steve W. Report dated June 13, 2001 Greetings form Chetek...... I arrived in Chetek last Thursday (June 7) PM. I was greeted by rain showers which seemed to be the norm for the last week. Rain and cool weather seemed to greet the residents and visitors to Chetek daily. I stopped on the way to my cabin and visited with my longtime friends from Iowa, retired school teachers, Don & Mary Ubben who also have a summer residence on the Chain. They told me how cold and nasty the weather had been lately. I remember saying jokingly “I had been in such a hurry to get to Chetek, I probably pulled some different weather along”. Boy did I!!!!!!!! Friday was sunny and warm. So was Saturday and Sunday. Monday started out gorgeous but later turned cloudy and the threat of a severe storms was predicted. Many of us have become conditioned to “ignore” storm warnings, but at about 6:05 PM the northern part of the Chetek Chain was assaulted by Mother Nature. We experienced straight line winds of 85 - 90 miles per hour. It wasn’t a gust of wind! The wind blew hard for 15 minutes! I stood by my front door and watched two trees in the my front yard come crashing down. Later I found I had lost many more trees. I had a top of a large pine tree just barely miss the back of my cabin. I have a group of maples trees that once stood by the cabin which are now across the roof. All this and I consider my self lucky. Damage to trees and property affected everyone on Mud Lake (Ojaski). Summer Haven and Whispering Pines resorts were hit extremely hard. Trees are down all over with much property damage. Along the west shoreline, trees are down in yards and in the lake. I always enjoy finding a “new piece of structure” to fish but this kind of damage isn’t what anyone would want. I am including a few images of the damage. The whole northern part of the lakes area received considerable damage. I am sure if you are interested in more of the storm’s details, the Chetek Alert website will have coverage! I have include a few images of the damages. Front view of my place. I also lost many trees in the back yard. This Ford Explore couldn’t carry the weight of the large pine tree. Something had to give. At the south end of Mud Lake boats were sunk. Some lifts with boats on them were flipped over. We are currently without electrical power and “word” has it it will not be restored until Friday, June 15th; Thursday afternoon at the best! It’s 5:00 AM Wednesday, June the 13th as I write and we are having rain and thundershowers. I am able to write this report due to the generosity of my Chetek neighbor, Pete Modl who lives in Chippewa Falls. Pete let me borrow his generator. Pete owns One Stop Auto Body in Chippewa. If you have a chance stop in and tell him thanks. Without his assistance all my frozen venison would have been lost. Thanks Pete!!!!! Now to the fishing report!!!!!! With the weather warming into the high 70’ and low 80’s, water temperatures rose to the upper 60’s and by Monday noon reached 73 degrees. This warming of the water has affected the fish bite very positively. The great fishing on The Chetek Chain of Lakes is back. WALLEYES are still being caught sporadically. However the fish being caught seem to be good ones as the images below attest. Mike Buric of Chetek was using a leech fishing the Chetek River on May 23, when he caught this beautiful 10 pound 9 ounce walleye. The fish measured 31 inches. (I bet this one goes on the wall!) Congratulations Mike! Tom Shawnik caught this 6 pound walleye from Prairie Lake using a minnow. David Art caught this 25 inch, 5 pound 7 ounce walleye. David is from Chillicothe, IL. Clarke Green of Rockford, IL while fishing Chetek Lake on June 11 boated this beautiful 8 pound 5 ounce 29 1/2 inch walleye. Nice Fish, Clarke! (Care to show me where you caught him?) Best bet for the walleyes is live bait. Use minnows, leeches, or crawlers. Most the fish are being caught in 6 to 8 feet of water along weed beds. The BLUEGILLS have returned to feeding and are being caught by fly fisherman and fishermen using red worms. Fish are being taken close to shore or in weedy areas of the lake in about 3 - 4 feet of water. Bill Pike of Chetek is shown holding a 13 3/4 ounce bluegill he caught while fly fishing in Ten Mile Lake. Logan and Aaron Schlosser from Durand, WI are shown holding two of the many nice “gills” they caught while fishing with their parents. They were fishing with 100 yards from their dock on their pontoon due to the approaching storm “threat”. As I fished by, they were having a lot of fun fishing as a family. Their parents have a summer home on Pokegama Lake. The CRAPPIES have also been fantastic. I found fish on several locations since last Friday that produced crappies on almost every cast. Two patterns produced well for me. Close to shore, relating to downed wood(these fish were spawning) and water 8 - 9 feet deep once again relating to brush or wood. The majority of the fish were in the 9 1/2 to 10 inch size range. Brothers Dave and Ron Janssen along with their wives, Cindy and JoAnn are shown holding their morning catch of approximately 80 crappies. They were fishing isolated wood in about 8 feet of water. Dave is from Anamosa, IA and Ron is from Marion, IA. The NORTHERN PIKE fishing has been slow. Small fish are being caught by casting spinner baits in weedy flats and by using crankbaits along the shorelines. The BASS fishing has been good. Lots of small males are being caught with a few larger fish. Two small tournaments were held last weekend. I heard the bass cooperated and the teams did well. I had a young reader (Nick Havlik) write me and asked what it was like to fish in a tournament. “Nick, lately, on Saturdays if you fish bass, you are in a tournament.” I wish somehow we could eliminate some of the bass tournament pressure of the lakes. It seems every weekend there is a small club or a large tournament. With my finger on the pulse of the local fisherman, I believe they are tiring quickly of this “every weekend” pressure. Personally I did well when I fished bass. I caught many fish, mostly small males using plastic worms and I did real well on a salt and pepper colored “chompers” plastic bait, pitching to shorelines. I was talking with Gary Frederickson, a good bass fisherman and owner of Outers Resort and we agreed the larger bass have spawned for the most part and are now recuperating in deeper water and hopefully will begin to feed heavily in a week or so. FISH-O-RAMA REPORT: A big congratulations to Jerry Knudtson of Strum, WI. Jerry was fishing Upper Prairie Lake on June 10 when he caught a 10 1/2 inch crappie with a tag. This tagged was sponsored by the Chetek Chamber of Commerce and was worth $ 500.00. I congratulate Jerry as this was Jerry’s 3rd $ 500 fish since the FISH-O-RAMA started. (Jerry, care to show my where your fishing?) As of Tuesday June 13 at 7:00 PM the following tagged fish had been turned in: 4 - $ 500 fish 0 - $ 100 fish 3 - $ 50 fish 66 - $ 25 fish Make sure you check out the weekly and yearly results of the Rod and Gun Sport Shop’s Fishing Contest at this site: fishing contest Sorry about the long report, but there was a lot to report on. As you can see the Chetek Chain has bounced back from Memorial Day Weekend from the images and has produced many nice fish. If you haven’t vacationed in the Chetek area, plan to. Chetek has something for everyone, especially those who like to FISH! MISCELLANEOUS NOTES: The DNR did a “shock” survey of the fish populations in the Chain and from what I have heard even they were impressed with the size of some of the northern and other species. The lakes are in great shape. I will try to write another report around June 24 - 25. I thank those persons who have emailed me and appreciate their comments. I also have talked to a few individuals in person on the lake already. I also thank them for their comments and willingness to share information. See ya on the water! Steve W.
