2021 Outing Reports

January 9, 2021 - Lake Michigan

Ten members and two guests fished a Lake Michigan harbor targeting big northern pike. The weather was pleasant but the ice was crowded. We dropped in our tip-ups and settled in for a long wait. After about three hours we iced our first fish—Al Silcroft caught a fat 31.5” northern. A short while later he had another flag go up and he allowed Isaac Biggerstaff to land the fish—a 34” northern!

January 23, 2021 - Nielsen’s Channels

Seven club members and one guest fished in the cold conditions (0° at 7 am!). The bite was slow, possibly because we were there so late in the winter. It is a well-known first-ice location and has been getting fished hard for weeks. Although we eventually caught bluegills and crappies, most were small—only 7 were big enough to score club points (>7” for bluegill and >9” for crappie). Gregg Stockey won the big fish contest with a 9.5” crappie.

February 6, 2021 - Wooster Lake

Canceled due to the weather

February 27, 2021 - Fox Chain

Eight club members fished our final ice outing of this winter on Saturday the 27th. Many hours were spent pre-fishing the chain to locate walleye, but we were unsuccessful. So, for the outing we targeted panfish. We marked plenty on our flashers and saw them on underwater cameras, but it was a very slow bite. Only five fish (three crappies and two bluegill) were caught that scored points, with about the same amount of shorter fish caught.

March 26 or 27, 2021 - Fox River (DePere, WI)

Six club members and two guests fished the outing chasing walleyes. The weather was windy and cold but dry.

Pre-fishing on Wednesday and Thursday was much more productive size-wise, with 5 walleye in the 22-23" range caught. During the outing the members caught 17 walleye in the 15-17" range, while guest and former member Joe Baron got a 25-incher to take the big fish prize. Mike Hall put on a walleye fishing clinic with his blade bait, catching about 20 walleyes during the outing hours.

April 10, 2021 - Fox River (Wilmot, WI)

Six members and one guest fished the Fox River near Wilmot, WI. You never know how river conditions will be at this time of year. Usually the Fox is in flood stage, but this year it was very low. As a result, the migration of spawning walleyes from the Chain was not there. Weather conditions were cool and calm early. A light rain developed later in the morning.

Dave Busscher missed a huge white bass, then landed an 11-incher. Gregg Stockey caught an 11" smallmouth. Jeff Haug, who opted out of the big fish contest, would have won with a 16" walleye. Al Silcroft wrapped up scoring with a 13" white bass.

April 24, 2021 - Fox Chain

Eight guys fished on a beautiful day with mixed results. We scored 85 points on 1 smallmouth, 12 walleyes (including Dave Busscher’s 24-incher which took the big fish prize), 1 northern pike (Mike Hall's 33-incher) and 1 channel catfish. Several large drum were also caught. Although they fight hard, they don’t count for points.

One of the boats found fish early in 2-3 fow and caught a lot of fish in the first two hours of the outing. The other boats didn't do very well fishing other spots on the Chain. Mike Hall was pre-fishing with his tournament partner and the next day they scored 3rd out of 40 boats. Congratulations Mike!

May 8, 2021 - Lake Michigan

Thirteen club members and one guest fished Lake Michigan this past Saturday. 100 points were scored on 18 coho and 1 brown trout. Most were in the 19-21” range, but Jason Cashmore won the big fish prize with a 27” coho. Two guys had chinooks on but lost them. Most fish were caught trolling in 30-35 feet of water. Both crankbaits and dodger/fly combos produced fish. The brown trout were all caught by one boat casting in front of the stacks. Ward Aldritch suggested that technique to his partners and it paid off.

May 22-23, 2021 - Green Lake, Jay Hall Memorial Outing

Twelve club members and three guests fished the outing with poor results. Historically, we have gone on this trip the weekend after Memorial Day and have done very well. This year, due to a change in our usual accommodations, we went the weekend before Memorial Day. We scored 130 points on 1 largemouth, 14 smallmouth, 2 northerns, 1 bluegill, and 40 rock bass. Dave Busscher and Gregg Stockey tied for big fish with a pair of 16" smallmouth.

June 5, 2021 - Round Lake

Eight club members fished the Round Lake outing. It was hot and sunny and the fishing was tough. We caught some, but it was a slow grind all morning. As usual for our club, most fish came on plastics—nail worms and wacky-rigged senkos. Nineteen largemouth bass, one northern pike, and one channel catfish were caught that counted for club points. That comes out to 3.0 points per person per hour. The channel catfish was a 10-point 27-incher caught by Jeff Haug on a swimbait. Two of the bass were also 10-pointers: an 18.5” largemouth caught by Jason Cashmore and a 20-incher that won Ken Haney the big fish contest.

June 19, 2021 - Private Bass Lake

The Libertyville Fishing Club fished our private bass lake on Saturday, June 19. Thirteen club members fished the outing on a perfect day. The bass were very active and we caught 40 largemouth for points, topped by Al Silcroft's 18-incher which won the big fish contest. Many bass just under the 13" scorable length were also caught. In addition to bass, we caught 8 bluegills and 1 perch that scored points. For this outing 3.1 points were scored per person per hour, which is the best so far this year.

July 10, 2021 - Brown’s Lake

Eight club members fished the outing. The weather was pleasant; it was unseasonably cool, but there wasn’t much wind to deal with. Fifteen largemouth bass were caught that scored club points. Jeff Haug had an excellent morning catching four largemouth for points including an 18-incher that won big fish. Al Silcroft caught a 15” smallmouth bass proving the rumors they are in the lake true. Two 9” crappie were also caught that scored points. In addition, many small bass and northern pike were caught. Most fish were caught on plastics.

July 24, 2021 - Lake Delavan

Eleven club members fished on a day with perfect weather but a very tough bite. We managed to catch 13 largemouth bass for points, topped by Ward Aldrich's 18-incher which won the big fish contest. In fact, Ward caught five of the 11 bass that scored points, so great job Ward! We also caught 4 bluegills and 3 perch which were scoreable, for a total of 77 points on this outing. That calculates to just 1.27 points per person per hour.

August 7, 2021 - Silver Lake

Nine club members fished Silver Lake last Saturday with mixed results. Four members scored over 25 points on a variety of largemouth bass, northern pike, and panfish, while three members scored zero. In total, 22 largemouth bass, 2 northern pike, 7 warmouth, 3 rockbass, and 2 sunfish were caught that scored points. The outing produced 2.52 points per person per hour, the third highest so far this year. Several bass around 17” were caught and Gregg Stockey won the big fish contest with a 17.5-incher.

August 21, 2021 - Powers Lake

Eight club members fished Powers Lake last Saturday in pleasant weather, catching 24 largemouth bass, 1 lonely walleye, 3 rock bass, and 2 warmouth for a total of 130 points. That calculates to 2.98 points per person per hour, our third best outing of the year so far. The big fish contest was won by Jeff Haug with a 15-1/4” largemouth bass. We caught many short fish, but the big ones were not interested. Various plastics fished around the mid-lake humps were effective.

September 11, 2021 - Private Walleye Lake

Fourteen club members fished the private walleye lake outing in beautiful weather. We caught 12 walleyes, 4 largemouth bass, 1 channel catfish, 28 bluegills, 3 crappie, and 38 yellow bass. A total of 167 points were scored, making this our 2nd highest scoring outing this year after the 222 points we scored at our private bass lake. However, it ranked 5th in points per person per hour at 2.39.

Live bait, both minnows and nightcrawlers, worked best. Rigging the bait on jigs, under bobbers, and drop shot all produced fish. Jason Cashmore and Dave Busscher both caught 21” walleye, but Jason won the big fish contest with a 21.25-incher. Jason and Gregg Stockey caught some big crappie. Jason caught a 14-incher but Gregg caught a 13.5” and an absolute monster 14.5-incher! Gregg also caught a 25.5” channel catfish that put up a heck of a fight.

October 16, 2021 - Lake Geneva

Canceled

November 6-7, 2021 - Lake Wisconsin

Canceled

December 4, 2021 - Lake Michigan

Seven club members and one guest fished our last outing of the year. While many northern pike were caught the previous week by several members pre-fishing the outing, they were less active on the day of the outing. Dave Busscher caught a fat 28.5” northern pike and several smaller pike.