Fishing year in review...

The biggest fish I caught this year. 12.4 lbs Channel Catfish. 

It's been a slow news weekend and I haven't been able to think of anything else to post about so I thought I would do a little review of how I did fishing this year. As you may know, though I have been fishing my entire life, this year I went more than I have ever gone before. I've been exploring the fishing spots up here in Northeast Wisconsin and I have caught a ton of fish. 

Indeed, I have caught quite a few new species, including smallmouth bass, white perch, white bass, white crappie and round gobies (ugh). I have also broken my personal best for several species, including channel catfish (twice, first a six pounder and then the above pictured 12.4 pounder), sheepshead (freshwater drum, 6 pounds) and possibly green sunfish. Some other notable catches include a 5 pound sheepshead, and quite a few eater size catfish. 

But it hasn't been all good. I was trying to catch walleyes or sauger all year and I never caught one once. I also missed out on northern pike and muskie even though I had a pike on the line and at least saw a couple of muskies. I have caught pike before but I have never caught a muskie, so it was a bit disappointing. I also lost a ton of lures and lost a couple of decent fish. I had a couple of times where I was either skunked or only caught round gobies (which are extremely common in Lake Michigan and its tributaries). 

I also had a few species that I kind of wanted to cross of the list but didn't. There is the aforementioned muskies but I also wanted to catch lake whitefish as well. I saw a bunch of them caught (or more accurately snagged) but I didn't get one myself. I also wanted to cross off black crappie from my list but the only ones I caught were white crappies. 

I guess I am done fishing for 2021. I know the fish are still out there but my chances to do so are basically done since daylight savings time. I rarely have free time in the early afternoon or morning so it's either trying night fishing or staying at home and I'm not set up well for night fishing. 

I do have goals for 2022 for fishing. I might try ice fishing again, which I haven't done since I was a kid. And I might try fishing specifically for lake whitefish, though I have heard they are somewhat difficult to catch. And next year I might get a trout stamp and try to get brownies or salmon during their spawning run. 

The one thing I didn't do is try and cook anything I caught. Part of that is due to the water I fish tends to be pretty polluted. As much as I like catfish, I sure wouldn't want to eat them out of the rivers I catch them out of. I had considered keeping some of the perch I caught but I never caught enough to make it worthwhile. I think I want to try and catch, clean and eat fish next year. I'm not very good at cleaning fish but I don't think I would have any problem cooking them. 

Another thing I am considering is buying a boat or fishing kayak. The problem with both is storage and transportation but I am hoping I figure out a way to get past it. Doing one or the other would probably greatly increase my chances of catching big fish. To be honest though I had a lot of luck with shore fishing this year, so it really isn't necessary.