Archived Chippewa Flowage Report

If one can not tell the difference between a Largemouth Bass and a Smallmouth bass one should stop fishing.

How sad to read that article and also very frustrating!!

blood-boiling, andracke

Do they have children making up these new restrictions or what ??? A minimum length of 18" ??? C'mon people, are you serious ??? A good example would be to take a look at Mille Lacs in Mn. They have it exactly opposite. You can keep fish up to 20" ( a little high to me) that keeps the spawners in the lake. That lake receives many times more anglers that target walleyes on a daily basis than the Chip does. So why wouldn't this system work here too ??? I would think it would work even better on the chip being there is no gill netting going on here in the spring. From what I have seen when fishing the Chip the last few years the lake has a very healthy population of walleyes. If they reach a certain length in the lake they should be free to swim and spawn for many years to come. This would make much more sense to me. How bout you ???? And also, I agree that trolling would have devastating effect on the walleye population and musky as well.

If u can't beat em, eat em. Time to exchange recipes. I started using this one for bass: Marinate fillets in teraki marinade, slap on grill (have to use veggie basket thing), drizzle a little lemon to keep moist while grilling. No fat or oil and tastes good. CG&E, catch grill and eat.

as we posted earlier,,,the hoki fish that is used in the mc donalds filet o fish ,,,seems to be over fished in the ocean and may become endangered,,,so lets commercially net largemouth on the flowage,,, and seel them to mcdonalds they would tatse great and solve our problem,,,,we can trasnsform a pontoon into a fishing trauler,,lar you can ''captain'' and we can be the deck hands,, we could be the next deadliest catch show on discovery,,,,,,,,,,,,BASS catch and eat!!!!!!

bass fillet o fish. mmm. or MUSKY fillet of fish...even better. :)

aaaarrrrgghhhh musWHAT?????people ask me if i eat muskies,,,i tell them that would be like a jockey eating his favorite horse!!!!!!!

I don't know how to be an activist, but I'm pretty good at research. It's time to really start pushing for a major drawdown on the flowage. I believe that a drawdown would help in several ways, it would thin out the LM bass, bluegills and other species that aren't traditional inhabitants of the flowage. The traditional inhabitants of the flowage walleye, muskie, crappies instinctively recede to the river channels with the falling water. The other thing that a draw down would do is slow down the spread of milfoil. Draw down would also greatly reduce the eroision that happens during the spring. Yes there would a large fish kill, yes it would be gross for a couple weeks in the spring and yes it would be alot worse on the west side than the east side. It would help eliminate the species that are out competing the walleyes. I have no idea how to talk people into doing it but I really believe the flowage would reap great benefit from a major drawdown. In it's heyday the flowage was routinely drawn down in the fall. Wildlife habitat degradation is a problem all over this country, in this instance there is a means to regenerate the body of water. It really seems like a no brainer to me.

I am sure the problem with too many bass, anywhere, is because only a handful of fishermen actually eat them. They are not the best fish in the world, but if properly prepared are great. Once, if ever, fishermen change the way they think about eating bass, the problem may resolve itself. Personally, I eat a lot of bass every year!

Hi JRN and Cold front. Personally I agree with what the both of you say. Unfortunatly, I don't thik there will be a draw down any time soon. If we can get the management of the Big Chip away from the politics in Madison and give it back to the fisheries manager for Sawyer County, we could see a vast improvement in the Walleye population. The fishery manager proposed a 1 over 14" rule for the Flowage, and eliminate the size limit for Lgm. Bass and open up the keep season for Bass with the general opener. It would take a few years to see the population expand significantly, but I really beleive we would notice an improvement yearly. I eat a lot of Bass and have always told every one they do taste very good. Just remember to cut out all the red meat and toss it. The red meat is the lateral line and has a very negative flavor. Unfortunatly, the weed problem will not be adressed. There is a lake over by Phillips WI. that they are experimenting by drwing it down to see if that will help in controlling the milfoil. The weeds have taken over the lake real bad. Cold front, we will have to keep wtching to see how it went over there. I'll post the results of that experiment when I see it. JRN, could you email me. Or Lar, if you have JRN's email adress, could you email it to me. Thanks

I wrote the above post. Sorry, I forgot to put in my name

Although not an official study, an excellent example of how two flowages next to each other that have a lot in common with one difference. The Rainbow flowage is drawn down big time and is used to keep the next one downstream (Rhinelander Flowage-Boom Lake system at a constant level. Having lived on the Rhinelander Flowage since 2006, I have not seen water levels change more than 6". The Rainbow swings big time up to 20'. I have only ice fished the Rainbow but methinks it is a more productive walleye fishery than its cousin downstream. Hard to argue against a drawdown. Looks like I need to generate more data and get out on the Rainbow more. My .02.

Hey, has anyone ever tried pickled bass?

Seems to me the increasing bass population corresponds to when they began starting the bass season later in mid-June. I think that later start to the bass season also keeps away people who like to fish bass.

Hey Maxx, I sent my email address to your facebook.