Best Fish of 2021
Continuing a tradition of the last couple years, here is a look back at some noteworthy fish we caught this year. Congrats on the nice catches, guys!
Largemouth Bass
We didn’t catch any noteworthy largemouth bass last year, but there were a few of them this year. Ken Haney, who usually fishes from his kayak, regularly catches hogs when the rest of us are playing with 15- and 16-inchers. This year Ken landed a 20” largemouth at one of our summer outings.
Smallmouth Bass
Usually I try to pick a single fish, but I couldn’t come up with a way to break this tie. Gregg Stockey and Dave Busscher each caught 16” smallmouth bass at our Green Lake outing. This is traditionally one of our best outings, but we went earlier than usual this year and the fishing was tough. Still, Gregg and Dave each caught smallmouth that tied for the biggest of the year.
Walleye
We usually fish several outings a year on Wisconsin waters known for big walleye. But the biggest walleye we caught this year came during our spring Fox Chain outing. Dave Busscher, fishing from a cushy pontoon boat, caught a beautiful 24-incher. You know it’s probably going to be a good fish when Dave gets picky about who is going to net for him!
Northern Pike
At our very first outing of the year, ice fishing a Lake Michigan harbor, Isaac Biggerstaff caught this 34” northern pike. And it held on to the top spot for the whole year to win Isaac the annual Big Fish award! Special mention to Al Silcroft because the fish was caught on his tip-up. When the flag went up Al let Isaac take it. None of us will make that mistake ever again!
Panfish
We occasionally target panfish, but this year we caught some slab crappies while walleye fishing. The biggest was a 14.5” fish caught by Gregg Stockey. Hopefully they are still around next year!