With the cold weather in the forecast for next week, I do believe my 2016 open water season is now a wrap.
I had 2 goals for the year: catch some Macatawa fish, and catch a 50". I had my chances at both, but could not seal the deal on the 50"… there is always next year (been saying that for 12 years now).
2016 was one of the more enjoyable seasons for me in recent memory. The number of days on the water was about average for me since I had kids, but the number of quality days on the water was tremendous. The days weren't necessarily great fishing, but very enjoyable with good friends and family.
2016 Highlights were: getting my dad out for muskies for the first time in 10 years, and trolling up a 46" headlock fish. This was a great moment to be able to share my passion for muskies with the man who started my passion for fishing so long ago.
Other highlights include some good late season sucker fishing action: one day with numerous big fish takes in a very small window (one was a good buddies new PB, I got my first muskie on a lake on the Antrim chain that I have worked a few years to catch, caught my best Thorn fish, had a blast on a river pike excursion with a couple MMA buddies, and learned a new northern MI water that has some big spotties that were able to be patterned.
I have only one goal for 2017: catch a 50"+ fish during my week long trip to the French River, and enjoy the trip as much as possible with some good friends [smilie=cheers2.gif]
Good luck to all in 2017! Have a safe winter. [smilie=cold.gif]
Now that it's a wrap, I'll just say it was a weird year. Lots of firsts this year, some good and some bad, after more than 30 years I wouldn't think I would get to say "that's the first time I've ever had that happen" or "that's the first time I've ever seen that" but it seemed to happen a lot in 2016. Quite honestly I'm happy that this season has come to a close and am looking forward to some reflection and what the future holds. I had an average number of fish in the boat and an average number of big fish. Didn't catch a 60"/60# and missed a couple other goals that I wanted to get done in 2016 so we'll be back after those in 2017. Had a great time with family, friends and clients on the water and look forward to fewer excuses getting in the way of that in 2017.
I had a lot less hours on the water than 2015 but it still held plenty of highlights. We had 55 muskies over 30" in the net for the season, with a lot of dinks as well. Highlights included catching some fish on 5 new waters which is always a goal of mine. Several nice fish in the 46-51" range hit the net and several more were lost! [smilie=brickwall.gif] We had a 12 fish casting day on LSC, which was followed 2 days later with a 9 fish day. My wife caught 3 muskies casting, it was great to see her finally connect after a few years of nothing, hopefully she will get one over 40" in 2017. There was fishing the Eagle River PMTT event with Nick Day and catching 2 fish in the tournament, achieving the goal of beating all the other Michigan based teams in attendance. 😈 Best highlight for me was a 48.5" ancient looking fish that I caught with my wife on an obscure lake in the Western UP. We ended the season with a late fall day to remember where I caught 4 fish totaling 182". Next year I hope to continue to explore new waters and it would be nice to connect on a truly big fish as well. Maybe win the PMTT, or just catch something in the Bruce for a change!…. And of course continue to work with MMA to make muskie fishing better for the future!
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