8-1 through 8-7-15-15

8-1 through 8-7-15-15 myself the majority of the time, and evenings with Andy

Chippewa Flowage, Hayward, WI

Caught: Couple of SMB, pike and LMB, no musky

It was our annual family vacation on the Chippewa Flowage. My main goal was to fish for and catch musky. Well, I fished for them but I did not catch any. I had one fish wake my prop bait and I also lost a mid thirty fish when I was out with guide John Detloff.
John is pretty much an old school musky fisherman. He doesn’t believe much in using a trolling motor while he is guiding. Nor does he believe in the more modern baits such as the Bulldawgs or Show and Cow Girls. John is very knowledgeable about musky fishing on the flowage and the history of the flowage. I would rate him as a very good guide and he seemed to be genuinely interested in getting me a musky. I also learned a lot from John as far as types of locations to try and baits to use.
The biggest fish I caught this trip was a thirty-six inch pike that just smashed my Lerue Creeper. In fact, I had to repair it that night. Most of the other guests were mainly fishing for crappies and they did well catching them. There is a huge population of crappies on the flowage. One thing I have noticed the last couple of years is the absence of the mill foil plant that was plaguing the lake. For the last couple of years the power company has been drawing down the lake in the wintertime to kill off the milfoil and it definitely has been successful.
The weather for the week had its ups and downs. I got caught out in a hail storm that produced golf ball sized hail. It is quite an experience to be in a hail storm with hail that size. When they hit the water it makes a pretty neat splash. I also fished most of the morning on Friday in a very hard rain. We had several other fronts come through with wind and cold on their heels.