CHIP: AUGUST 12-20



Hmmmmm? I must be doing something wrong? But I digress.



Water temps actually went down quite a bit since the July Baker. Lowest morning temps hit the 73* range and peaked at 79* with temps swinging up at 2 day intervals but the cool nights keeping it in check.



Water levels are not bad after the much ballyhooed LOW water and it is now about a foot down from full pool. Saturday morning's storm dumped 2 inches at the house but the Chip had more wind than rain.



Water conditions have deteriorated as an algae bloom crept in all week with the 85* air temps and sunny skies cooking up a real batch of cloudy, green soup with a delicious side of giant, greenish, translucent globs. Fish didn't mind much however.



Only boated one out of four muskies in my domain this week. Pitiful I know. Biggest being upper 30 inch class natural and the one I C&R'd at 34"+ and fat too with a nice fight at that. Toss in a range of pike to 27-28 inches and ONE 14" largemouth and the action seemed to go like this:



Barometric changes were not working in that when the weather seemed right it turned on nothing and mid day had a better bite at times than prime time. The window was always small each day with Wednesday being my skunk day including incidentals.



That was ME of course. Other folks fared MUCH better with Ty Sennett putting some real dandies in his boat with the biggest a mid 30 POUNDER at week's end!



Here's a great story:



I fished with Gary Jasek on Thursday night in the dank and damp and blustery conditions. Perfect! Even better, as we fished various honeyholes on the Chip's West Side, we waited for a CELLPHONE call to tell us where we needed to be. Boy that goes so many ways doesn't it?? Think all wireless TV ads about dropped calls and no reception in a blowing mist. Of course, we're waiting for a call from Gary's Dad, Chip legend- Joe Jasek. After 36 years of guiding full time for musky, Joe not only KNOWS, he really knows.



Since this tip is not a spot on spot, super-secret honeyhole, I'll reveal that our destination caught me by surprise when after a zillion lost calls over 30 minutes of casting and looking for bars of sand AND signal, the big news turns out to be- Pete's Bar!?? What? The entire world fishes Pete's. No rare hump in 30 feet or main river channel bend to mine?


"Pete's... Creepers... Keep it there." Joe said after catching on that our phone reliability was hopeless.



And so, off we fly at 50 mph in Gary's Tracker Tundra from Horseshoe Island in the west to the East Side bars known as Pete and Little Pete.



As we bashed through the waves and turned Risberg's Point towards our spot, I looked over at a Tuffy Esox Mag and solo operator working the edges and notice he's leaping to his feet and grabbing his Big Kahuna. Keep it clean now. Oh yeah! Beautiful mid-40 inch class or better musky falls over the net while the boat is tossed in the waves and wind. Now I'm really stoked when it hits me-



we cruised 9 miles on a phone call to witness an actual fish in the net after I spent most of the week killing myself pounding for my shot!! 



If the call had been executed in 2 minutes instead of 30 would we have had a shot at her?? Arrrrrrrrrrgggggggggg! Can you hear me now?


Well to end this tale, we skunked. Nada.



Tossed around in Gary's deep V like a cork bobber, we fished until dark and blasted back to the southern end of Chief Lake. Creepers, Joe's Bucktail, Ghosttails and Globes all failed us. But knowing we had a shot and fished an area as it just lit up made us very pumped and so we pounded Pete's for a few hours. No fish in the boat but a very cool memory nonetheless.



And as for guides, what can I say about mine? Phone a friend hotline was Joe Jasek and the skipper was Sgt. Gary Jasek of the 724th Regiment. The boards are always loaded with comments about taking a soldier fishing when you can and here I am, guided by one of our finest examples of military on one of Wisconsin's premier musky impoundments. Not too shabby.



Special thanks to Gary & Sue for taking such good care of the Complex Fishing crew. Great cabin and great times.