Now that 2013 is all "in the books", I've tallied up the numbers from my Fishing Log. I use this to compare one year to the next.
2013 open water season started rather late, in my estimation. The ice didn't start melting off the local waters until the last week of March! I went 52 consecutive days WITHOUT fishing...between February 3rd and March 27! It got cold early, and we actually had earlier fishable ice than in past years. Guys I know were ice-fishing in the first week of December! I didn't get out until the last week of December, so I went another 36 consecutive days without fishing between November 22 and December 28.
The Spring was a long and cool one. I didn't fish a 70-degree day until April 28. Early Summer was cool as well. The first week of June, the daytime high's stayed in the mid-60's. July also remained mild. Summer temps never really got into the 80's (for more than a week) until the beginning of August! It did get hot, and the Spring and Summer were both fairly dry. September temps had its ups and downs, and then it cooled down quickly at the beginning of October.
With the cooler temps in the Spring, spawns were later than usual, and longer lasting. Crappies were on nests in ponds even during and after the bluegill spawns!
Everyone noticed the Late Summer/Fall White Bass blitz on the local reservoir started a lot later than normal, and seemed to be shorter-lived.
Fishing (catching) overall seemed tougher this past year. Also, I didn't feel I fished as much as in past years, for whatever reason. I noticed I only fished 13 days each in June, July and August! That is compared to 22 and 21 days, respectively, in April and May.
So... these were the general conditions I dealt with.
I caught
2,489 fish this year. It was my 3rd best year since I started keeping track at the beginning of 2006.
Since I sometimes fish during lunch, and then again in the evening, or fish two distinctly separate bodies of water in the same day, I keep track of both fishing DAYS and fishing TRIPS. This past year, I fished
123 days, and made
145 fishing trips.
I fished a total of
325 hours, making the average fishing trip 2.2 hours long. That is the longest fishing trip average ever for me...in the past, trips averaged much shorter. That's probably because I made a lot fewer lunchtime fishing trips, and spent more time fishing on weekends/evenings.
I flyfished 120 trips (83% of the time, including ice-fishing trips), and caught 2,033 fish while flyfishing. While neither of those numbers were my best ever, I averaged
16.9 fish/trip while flyfishing and that WAS my best ever.
Also, I caught 25 species of fish overall,
24 species while flyfishing this year...and that also was my best.
New flyrod species for me this year were Pumpkinseed Sunfish, Bigmouth Buffalo, Gizzard Shad, Hardhead Catfish (saltwater), Redfish (saltwater), and Spotted Seatrout (saltwater). The only species of fish I caught this year that I didn't catch on flyfishing gear was a Quillback.
My best 3 months were April, May, and October, when I caught 554, 410, and 319 fish, respectively. It was my best April ever, but no other month set a new record for me this past year.
Fish breakdowns is as follows:
Bluegills - 969
Crappies - 498
Rainbow Trout - 237
White Bass - 180
Largemouth Bass - 173
Sunfish (Pumpkinseeds, Greens, & Hybrids) - 171
Walleye - 139
Wipers - 30
Northern Pike - 28
Smallmouth Bass - 16
Common Carp - 12
Yellow Perch - 12
...and 10 or less of everything else.
I caught my 2nd biggest Channel Catfish ever on a fly at 28.5" long...but only 5 catfish total for the year, which was the worst ever.
I also caught about 1/2 the number carp on flies compared to the previous year, but I enjoyed every one of them!
Speaking of carp...My "fish of the year" was the 30.5" Grass Carp I caught on a fly. I've caught them on flies before, but I'd been chasing them for a couple years unsuccessfully before finally catching another. I was SO excited, and it was a great 20+minute battle.
I was also excited to catch some Pumkinseed Sunfish this year. They are beautiful fish!
It was fun to finally have the opportunity to catch a Redfish on a fly rod.
I caught more Wipers this year than ever, and there were some real solid fish mixed in there. No big ones by any means, but some real solid 16"-20" range fish that were great fighters on flyfishing gear. And those are good fish for around here. I'm pretty sure I caught my biggest fly rod Wiper this year, but one day they were hitting so good, I didn't stop to measure them. They were AT LEAST 18" long.
At 9.5", I caught my biggest fly rod Green Sunfish this year, and I also caught my biggest fly rod Largemouth Bass, at 20.25".
I had a fair number of Shortnose Gar on the line this year, but never managed to land one. Every one of them jumped, shook its head, and threw the hook! I'll try to get after them again in 2014, and try out some newer fly designs on them to see if I can find something that will hook them without getting thrown so easily.
Overall, it was a tough year for fishing, but it was still good.
