2007 What an extraordinary year….

It was more extreme than ever in the wonderful days “when the fish all but jumped in the boat” and other long stretches of nothing. Splendid days began the year: while it was only three fishermen, they caught 11 fish by June 3, which is a little earlier than usual. But then only five fish for the rest of the month.

While the attached Musky List is actually shorter than usual, the average size is right up there with the last couple of years. While the resort had a better year than the last couple, apparently they just weren’t musky fishermen. We believe the list has more to do with the fishermen than the fish!

But outside musky: people were thrilled with the fishing! There were some extra ordinary moments, such as mid-august when people had been reporting wonderful crappie fishing, and it was proven on the day when the Burdick family, guided by Terry Peterson for just half a day, actually counted and boated just short of 100 crappie in a morning. And everyone kept expressing surprise that with the endless heat of summer, the fishing was not affected.

We also saw so much more variety of fishing: again and again people reported on the bass catching, and at the end of the season on closing weekend Jason Burley brought in a fine specimen of a different species each day! (but he didn’t get a musky – don’t know if he tried or not).

We also had lots of old names back on the board again: John Stevenson had a nice 41.5 incher but on the eve of the Muskies Inc. tournament, a day too soon to register it! We were delighted to see the Kimes family again after a few years (too much interference from ball games as the kids grew older) and they were on board again. The Mathy’s came with a hoard of little kids, but found time for some good fishing.

While the classic guides dominated the charts as usual, they are not always available when I am asked to book a guide with a last minute call. Some of the new names of younger guides did quite well: Chuck Roehl, Dan Siebert and Dave Brown all ended the season with requested dates on the books for next year from the same customers.    

QUIET LAKES VISIONING SESSION July 2006:

THE DNR REPORT of the July 2006  VISIONING SESSION for the Quiet lakes, Teal Lake and Lost land Lake, is now available. This session was held for all interested parties, “local stakeholders,” with fishing interests from property owners, businesses like ours,  fishing guides and any others giving input to the DNR on their hopes for the future of these lakes. 

2006 MUSKY LIST and FISHING REPORT

2006 turned out to be TERRIFIC year on the waters. As we closed last year, there was a small element of worry from those “old resorters” who have seen Teal and Lost Land Lakes through the years (Tim Ross, on Teal Lake and Dick Thearin, Northland Lodge on Lost land Lake, who grew up together on these lakes).   However, 2006 blew all worries away……

THE COUNT IS UP of musky 34” or larger, way up; the bass fishing was terrific; the walleye were even there for those who like to accommodate to the walleye’s new dinner hour (evenings!), the crappie reported for the Crappie-a-thon were up. And to make it better yet, we would normally have blamed the fishing on bad weather (too hot, mostly, and late turning in the fall!) – but nobody blamed anything on anybody because the fishing was super.

85 legal musky from these lakes were recorded in 2006 on our chart here on Teal Lake (a rise of 64% from last year). The results were  similar on Lost Land Lake.   The average size was up just a squeak, 38.0”, from 37.8” last year – can we dream of an average of 40” next year?

FALL FISHING was a delight with the old pattern returning of great Fall fishing.   September was grand, with 20 musky over 34” and 8 of those over 40”. The season ended with some splendid fish (and splendid fishing days) in late October and November, the last being 46” but he earned that last fish in the icy conditions!  

HOMETOWN is always an interesting question, but in getting our chart typed up, and on the web for you all to check, we were struck by the distribution  of the hometowns of our fishermen. (Yes, the fishermen, not the fish!). Even in 2006, the year of astronomically high gas prices to get to Teal Lake, 38% were still from Illinois. Last year 48%  were from Illinois, and both years had 9 states listed as hometown. We are delighted to know that Teal Lake is still worth traveling to, and is still giving such vacationing pleasure to people from so far.

The big DNR meeting in June for fishing input and future goals was a strange day: all interested in the Quiet Lakes were invited to participate, and they did get a good mix. However, the conclusion was also good: it was “Please don’t change a thing – we like our lake the way it is, and the population of our fish they way it is. A few more big walleye might be nice, but otherwise, please don’t diddle with it." 

Yes, 2001 was the best fishing year for quite a while! 
It seemed that Teal Lake was doing much better than other lakes. We happily keep track of any fish big enough so that you enjoyed catching it! 34" is the present "legal minimum" to keep but there was only one Musky kept all season.

We were quite excited, and especially happy watching the sizes.
Legal sized Musky in May averaged 35.8", June 35.25" and then July 37.25", and a super in August 38.6". September kept everyone celebrating  with an average size of 38.47". We were also thrilled to see July do so well - especially to see some "hot days" when the waters exploded!

This is all wonderful news. 
The lakes and the fishing are handling the 21st Century very nicely, thank you!