PHOTO GALLERY-FISHERMEN LIE, PICTURES DON'T A Few Highlights of 2003 5/22/03-Fence Lk. Walleyes 6/8/03-Syd Mauritz of Chicago caught and released this muskie 6/20/03-A nice eater walleye from a "secret" lake 6/15/03-Alex & John Giovanni with a chunky largemouth bass 7/4/03-39" pike from Lac du Flambeau chain 7/4/03-Randy Munson with a 24" walleye from the Lac du Flambeau chain 7/8/03-Glen Adams of Kentucky with one of about 100 smallies caught over a 3 day period 7/10/03-Glen, Gary, Ken, & Toby Adams with some walleyes and smallmouth bass 7/11/03-Andrew Elam of Kentucky caught his first 3 muskies a week before starting army basic training 7/11/03 7/12/03-Alex Lavin of Highland Park, Ill with his first muskie 7/20/03-Brittney Curtis of Chicago with a scrappy smallmouth 7/28/03 Brother-in-law, Jim Jankowski, with his first muskie of 41-inches (released) 7/19/03-Fish"N'Bum bait shop owner, Mark Pakkala, enjoys a rare day off with me and releases this 35" muskie 7/23/03- largemouth bass-released 7/22/03 Gary Reed released his first muskie, a 34.5-incher 7/23/03-37" muskie-released with Kent Magnuson- David Sharer missed and lost several muskies before boating this undersized fish 7/30/03-Mike Fillipo with his first muskie, a 34.5 incher he released 7/22/03 8/7/03-John Deinard released this 35" muskie 8/7/03 Dave Deinard released this 33" muskie 8/10/03-24" walleye from Minocqua chain. 15 year old Peter Van Velden lost a bigger 'eye at the boat. 8/18/03-John Kilday with a undersized muskie 8/30 & 9/1/03 High school buddies Roger Picard and Kevin Timm caught several nice stringer of walleye, perch, crappie, and 'gills from the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage 9/1/03 9/1/03 9/5/03-Mike Skokowski released this 37.5" muskie 9/9/03-A mixed bag of walleye and nice panfish from the T.F. Flowage 9/10/03 Wally Skic celebrated his B-Day with girlfriend Brenda Lange and boated and released 3 muskies and a pike 9/10/03-Wally's biggest fish a the day, a 44-incher with and odd hump on its back. Brenda had a much bigger fish follow to the boat.  9/10/03 9/10/03 7/23/03-37" muskie-released 9/13/03-Camela Bourdages with her first muskie. Her mother, Donna, also released a 38" tiger that day 8/10/03-A chunky smallmouth released back into the Minocqua chain 10/6/03-A 27" walleye from the Minocqua chain.  10/11/03- A nice pike for a 6 year old boy. 10/28/03-Jason Sosebee with one of three muskies he released this morning 10/28/03 10/28/03-Jason's biggest fish, a fat 45-incher 10/28/03-Jason's partner, Don Kopsell, released this muskie 11/10/03-A 9-point buck (and more time for trophy fall muskie fishing) 12/19/03-23" walleye     Some Highlights of 2004 4/2/04-27" Fox River walleye-released 4/2/04-28.5" Fox River walleye-released 4/13/04-One of several stringers of eater-sized walleyes from the Wolf River this week. 4/14/04 My Dad with a 18 pound jake.   4/16/04-18" Lake Poygan smallie 4/17/04- Friends Pete & Jim with some Wolf R. eyes   4/17/04-17" Lake Poygan largemouth.  5/1/04-Pete Stilp released this chunky smallie 5/1/04-Another chunky smallmouth we released along with numerous smaller walleyes 5/8/03-A  decent smallie released back to the Willow Flowage 5/8/03-Mike Fillipo released this nice smallie 5/21/04-Matt, Mark, and Zach Heffner with some walleyes and perch from the Minocqua chain. Lots of undersized walleye this day 5/26/04-Pete Stilp released several largemouths caught on spinnerbaits, plastic worms, and jig and pigs.  5/26/04/04 5/26/04/04 5/27/04-Pete with a 20.5" walleye from the Manitowish chain 5/27/04-Pete with a stringer of walleyes and a nice pike which we later released 5/28/04-Willow Flowage smallmouth-released 5-29-04-Randy Munson with one of several largemouth and smallmouths caught and released 6/3/04-smallmouth released to go back to its spawning bed 6/4/04-another of many nice smallmouth released back to a Vilas County lake 6/5/04-Chris York with a couple of the several smallmouths we caught and released 6/5/04 6/5/04-Don York with one of several nice largmouths released 6/5/04-Don York released this 13 3/4" crappie-one of about a dozen slabs we released back to their spawning beds. This one hit a 7-inch Power Worm while fishing for largemouths 6/9/04-Gary Fischer and I released these crappies, as well as a few largemouths despite a nasty cold front 6/14/04- Rainbow over Kawaguesaga Lake 6-16-04-Flambeau chain smallmouth on a Storm Hot'n Tot 6/19/04 Randy Anderson and sons Brett and Eric with a few of the nice smallies ( along with a couple of walleyes) released back to Lake Tomahawk 6/19/04 6/19/04 6/20/04-TJ with ABC Supply party with the a largemouth and the first fish of the day 6/20/04-Curtis with ABC Supply party with the a largemouth  6/23/04-19" largemouth 6/23/04-George with ABC supply with one of several smallmouth we released 6/23/04 6/23/04 7/1/04-18" walleye, one of several nice fish caught on one of the first decent weather days in almost 2 weeks 7/2/04-Another nice day and a chunky largemouth 7/3/04-Mike Fillipo with a nice smallmouth and back to jacket weather for several days. 7/5/04-Tom Reiter with a couple smallmouths 7/5/04 7/7/04-A couple of legal, "eater" walleyes from Lake Tomahawk 7/7/04-Brother-in-law, Jim Jankowski with a nice Lake Tomawk 'eye 7/14/04-Greg Felsheim with a chunky Flambeau chain largemouth he released 7/14/04-Ethan with his first walleye 7/15/04-Turtle-Flambeau Flowage smallmouth 7/16/04-Bob Noremberg & Karen with a couple legal "eater" walleyes from Lk. Tomahawk 7/16/04-Bob & Karen's walleyes a mess of bluegills  7/17/04-Bob and Karen with 3 of several smallmouth they caught this morning 7/17/04-A mixed bag for Bob & Karen's frying pan 7-22-04 Paul Engelhard with one of several walleyes we caught 7-22-04 Linden and Brody Engelhard released these pike and largemouth bass 7-22-04Linden released this nice-sized pike 7-22-04 Brody with a chunky smallmouth 7-22-04 Linden with his first walleye 7-24-04-Ashley from Janesville with her first walleye 7-24-04-Mike Housholder from Janesville proves jigging can catch you anything. Even a bullhead from the Lac du Flambeau chain?! 7-25-04-Dave Dessen from Winnipeg Canada with a 30 1/2" pike he released 7-26-04-Largemouth bass releases to fight again that already had another hook and broken line hanging from his mouth 7-26-04-Louie, Louis II, and Ryan Minneghan filled the live well with bluegills and perch destined for the frying pan 7-26-04-The Minneghan men during a beautiful summer day pan fish outing 7-28-04-Ryan with his first walleye 7-28-04-Louis II with a nice walleye 7-28-04-Ryan with a chunky smallmouth 7-28-04-Louie with a nice largemouth 7-28-04-Louie squared with a pair of walleyes 7-30-04 A 33" muskie caught on a jerkbait  7/31-04-JimWeinmann with one of several  big Willow Flowage bluegills. We also caught a mixed bag of sunfish, crappie, perch, bullhead, walleye, and pike 7-31-04-Jim with two legal, "eater" walleyes from the Willow 8-3-04 Jim Hadraba with a nice smallmouth 8-4-04 Karen Cooper from Flower Mound, Texas with her first walleye 8-4-04-Vince and Karen Cooper caught this mixed bag of walleye, pike, and big bluegill and perch 8-5-04-Karen Cooper caught and released her first muskie (caught on a Tallywacker topwater lure) 8-5-04 Small muskie caught on a Jerko 8-6-04 John Deinard of Gulf Port, Mississippi with his first walleye in many years 8-6-04 Jigging in the Willow Flowage has sometimes surprised us recently when we've caught 10 different species of fish including this big sucker 8-6-04 Dave and John Deinard with a future meal of slab crappies, bluegill, sunfish, and perch 8/7/04-Dave & Kristen with some walleyes, pike & perch from the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage. 8/7/04 8-8-04 This dogfish did a good big walleye imitation for awhile on the Willow Flowage 8-8-04 High school buddy Roger Picard cleans a mixed bag of fish while Danielle looks on and Lauren posed with a pike and Roger Jr. with a 12" slab crappie 8-9-04 Fellow guide John (a.k.a. Mango) Osterling joined me for his first Willow Flowage trip in 10 yrs and we teamed up to catch these crappies up to 12-inches and bluegill up to 9-inches. Unfortunately, every walleye we caught was just under legal size. 8/14/04-Scott Berry with his second muskie ever. Scott caught this fish on Bootail and released it 8/15/04-Eric Bauer with the biggest bluegill of the day at a little over 9-inches 8/15/04- Eric and Scott with a legal walleye and a few nice bluegill and sunfish 8/16/04-Paula Brottman with one of her first walleyes 8-18-04- Matt Steffani with a jumbo perch along with many bluegills he and his brothers landed this day. 8-19-04- John Osterling with another bluegill pushing 10-inches from the Willow Flowage. 8-29-04-Jim Jankowski with a nice "eater" walleye from the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage. 8-30-04-Ray Weisenberger with a nice walleye. 9-2-04-This 20-inch smallmouth slammed a muskie lure on Big Crawling Stone Lake. 9-4-04-Kevin Timm and Denise Reppin with a mixed bag of walleye, perch, bluegill, and sunfish from the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage. 9-5-04-This muskie was caught and released in the first few minutes of fishing. 9-7-04-Todd Murphy from Mackinaw, IL with his first walleye. 9-7-04-Glen with one of 22 walleyes we caught and released. 9-17-04-John Osterling and I with a stringer of pike up to 31", walleyes up to 18", and some nice perch from the Minocqua chain. We also released lots of smaller walleyes, bass, and panfish this afternoon. 9-21-04- Art Portz with a nice 19" Willow Flowage walleye. 9-21-04-One of several Willow Flowage bluegills pushing the 10" mark. 9-21-04-Art with a nearly 10" bluegill. 9-21-04-Art with 3 nice "eater" walleyes and some big bluegills. We also released several undersized walleyes and smaller bluegills and sunfish.  9-23-04-Another nice Willow Flowage crappie. 9-24-04-A flock of 11 loons on Big Crawling Stone Lake. 9-25-04-I took a break from fishing to shoot a couple of ducks on opening day. 9-28-04-John Osterling with another nice Willow Flowage perch to add to a bunch of nice bluegills. 9-29-04-Gary Wurzer with a nice 20" walleye along with some a smaller walleye and some perch. 9-30-04-Gary with one of the many small walleyes we caught this afternoon. 10-2-04-Greg Lifke and friend, John with a few northern pike. 10-5-04-Alicia Scheiffer from Nebraska with a smallmouth bass that put up a better fight than the walleyes we caught. 10-6-04-Doak McDaniel with a 34" muskie he released. 10-11-04-John "Mango" Osterling released this 40" muskie.   Late October produced a few bass and pike from the Minocqua chain 12-5-04-Mark Pakkala and I with 3 first ice "eater" walleyes from Lake Minocqua 12-8-04-A nice walleye from the Willow Flowage 12-9-04-A pair of walleyes from a backwoods lake in the Northern Highland State Forest 12-18-04- This frozen object I'm holding is actually a 21-inch walleye caught from a small lake on a 0 degree night with blustery winds and swirling lake effect snow.  12-31-04- Brother-in-law, Jim Jankowski ended the year by catching 3 nice walleyes, some nice perch, along with some pike and lots of smaller panfish.                   THE BEST (AND WORST) OF 2005! 1-4-05-Peter Stilp joined me on the ice and we caught these two pike along with a bunch of nice pan fish and a few small walleyes. 1-4-05 1-12-05-Mark Pakkala caught this slab crappie while jigging near my shack. 1-12-05- A nice mess of perch, bluegill and crappie to go along with a few small walleyes caught this outing.  1-21-05: Bitter cold, snow, and wind kept us off the ice for awhile. But, these two walleyes, as well as the perch and bluegills, were still hitting when we returned to my shack.  1-23-05: A nice pike caught and released back to Lake Minocqua. 1-26-05:A beautiful 23" walleye at sunset on an undeveloped Vilas County lake.  1-28-05: 8 yr. old Emily and 6 yr. Anna Bay joined me with their parents and grandparents to catch this pile of bluegills. 1-28-05: Anna holds up a pike she caught on a tip-up 1-28-05: Anna and Emily pose with a pike. 1-28-05: Anna and Emily sacrificed a couple of bluegills to this eagle who soared in to feed on them from a nearby tree. 1-31-05: Mark Pakkala and I caught this limit of brown trout from a Vilas County lake and then a couple of walleyes later on from a nearby lake. 2-1-05: Mark with a silvery brown trout caught jigging in 45 feet from an ultra-clear watered lake. 2-1-05: Mark with a mess of brown trout destined for the grill. 2-3-05: "Mango" with a pair of legal 'eyes from Lake Tomahawk. 2-4-05: This 18" walleye was one of 5 caught in a 20-minute span at Sunset on the Willow Flowage. 2-11-05: Mark Pakkala & I went out for a couple hours on Lk. Minocqua and caught this 21" walleye and a couple of pike we released, including a fat 10 pounder. 2-12-05: Twilight on the Willow Flowage produced a few walleyes for Tom Reiter and I including this nice 22-inch fish. 2-14-05: "Mango" monopolized all the action on Lake Minocqua this afternoon by catching this fat pike and several walleyes. 3/3/05: Here are a few highlights of a trip to Devil's Lake North Dakota including this 32-inch pike, the biggest of the trip.  3/3/05: Sunset over Devil's Lake. 3/4/05: Kevin Timm (aka Mevin) with a nice 18" walleye. 3/5/05: One of only 3 jumbo perch we caught the whole trip. 3/5/05: Bruce (Boot) Timm and Mevin with a few of the walleyes that were part of a 4 man limit. These 2 guys were kind enough to let Roger Picard and I catch a couple too every now and then. 3-25-05: Pete Stilp, his brother-in-law, John, and I caught and released about 30 walleyes at the Fox River in DePere. 3-25-05: Pete with another walleye. 3-25-05: John with one of the first few walleyes he has ever caught. 4-5-05: John Osterling with a mess of last ice bluegill, perch, and crappie. As John would say, "They aren't the biggest frogs in the pond". But, they'll taste good! 4-6-05: Pat Desmond, son Patrick, and friend, Brandon, from the San Diego area joined me for some first open-water fishing on the Wisconsin River near Tomahawk and caught several male walleyes, a few jumbo perch and a couple pike. The ice just melted and we were a little early for the bigger 'eyes. 4-6-05: Patrick with a walleye. 4-6-05: Brandon with a couple walleyes. 4-6-05: Pat with one of two pike he boated. 4-9-05: I released this 27" spawned out female walleye on the Wolf River. 4-8-05: a 19 1/2" spawned out female walleye from the Wolf River 4-11-05: High school friends Paul and Roger Picard helped med catch these 9 male "eater" walleyes from the Wolf River. 4-17-05: My dad and I with a few of the 10 largemouths we caught and released in a few hours in channels connected to Lake Poygan. Unfortunately, the weather didn't cooperate to go after the bigger fish the next 2 weekends. 4-17-05 4-17-05 5-7-05: M.J. Johnson started out opening day with a bang with the 25" walleye in the first few minutes. 5-7-05: Bob Hering with a very hefty smallmouth he released. 5-7-05: Another nice walleye in the first half hour of opening morning. 5-7-05: M.J. with the smallest walleye of the day which was still an impressive 21" 5-7-05: And another nice walleye! 5-7-05: Bob with another impressive smallie he released.  5-7-05: M.J., Bob, me, and Mark Wiebe with 6 beautiful walleyes. Normally, we'd release these bigger fish, but they were spawned out and are about the average-sized fish in this lake.  5-7-05: M.J. with his limit of opening day 'eyes. 5-16-05: 4 yr old Joe and 7 yr old brother Joe would tell you even small crappie are fun, although some warmer weather would be nice. 5-17-05: 2 eater 'eyes mixed in with lots of "short" fish on the Willow Flowage.  5-23-05: Tom Fochs and Ashley with one of several undersized walleyes (along with big bullheads) from the Rainbow Flowage. 5-24-05: A fat sunfish to go along with several crappie and largemouth from a pothole lake 5-26-05: A nice largemouth on a cold blustery day in the Boulder Junction area. 5-27-05: A fat walleye on yet another cold, blustery day. This time on Big St. Germain Lake. 5-28-05: A 20" smallie released back to a Lac du Flambeau lake along with lots of smaller bass. 5-28-05: Spending lots of time outdoors is full of surprises. You'll have to ask me about this one. 5-30-05: A little time off to pre-fish before 7 days in a row guiding yielded this 20" 'eye on the Willow Flowage and lots of undersized fish in a couple of hours. 5-31-05: John Woodbury- squared with 4 legal walleyes up to 20", a pike and a 12" crappie from the Willow Flowage with not another boat in site. Lots of undersized walleyes again this day.  6-1-05: Recent high school graduate, the younger John Woodbury poses with on of many smallmouths caught and released.  6-1-05: John with one of a few largemouths (a muskie apparently took a chunk out of this one). 6-1-05: The elder John with a nice smallie. 6-1-05 6-1-05   6-1-05 6-1-05   6-1-05 6-2-05: Long time client Chris York's crew spent 3 days splitting time with me and fellow guides John Osterling and Bernie Thompson. We experienced smallmouth bass catch and release action that was nothing short of phenomenal. I can't even guess at the number of fish caught over 16" with many fish from 18 to 21". Here P.J.. has the first smallie of the day. At one point, we had several big smallies and a muskie chasing up a hooked smallie with numerous other big smallies cruising within site! 6-2-05: Sal with his first smallie 6-2-05 6-2-05 6-2-05 6-2-05   6-2-05 6-2-05   6-2-05 6-3-05: Brenden (with a nice smallie), Chris York, and I decided to try another Vilas County lake for a change of pace. The bass action was just as good hear, but the average size of the fish was smaller.   6-3-05: Chris York released this 19" smallie. 6-3-05" Chris with one of a few chunky largemouths 6-4-05: Chris York's crew and I returned to the red hot Vilas County lake and had a repeat performance. However, catching nice smallies had become so routine, we were disappointed when we didn't boat any over 19". Here Tom poses with a nice fish. 6-4-05 6-4-05: Joe with a "chunk" smallie 6-4-05 6-4-05   6-4-05 6-4-05: Doubles were common as were 2 fish in one net. 6-5-05: A return to walleye fishing produced this 20" Manitowish chain walleye on the first cast with a jig and leech with fellow, former or current Neenah residents Dave, Jeff, and Jason Bruenning. Unfortunately, things got tougher for the rest of the day before a severe storm chased us off the water. Although we did manage to boat a couple more small walleyes,  smallmouth, pike, and rock bass. 6-5-05: Dave with one of a few Manitowish chain smallies.  6-5-05: Jason with a nice smallie. 6-7-05: Chris Nelson released this very impressive 21-inch largemouth. 6-7-05: Chris also released this beautiful tiger muskie. 6-7-05: Kurt Nelson released this hefty smallie. 6-8-05: A 36-inch muskie on a top-water lure. About an hour before, I lost a much bigger fish on the same lure (a Bucher Top Dancer). 6-12-05: a 35-inch muskie on a Rizzo Whiz. 6-14-05: Bob Bramlett and friend Justin of Dodgeville caught and released several nice smallmouths from the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage( including this double), along with about a dozen walleyes, 6 of which were destined for the frying pan.  6-14-05: Bob with a nice smallie. 6-14-05: Justin with a chunky smallie. 6-20-05: Gary Weiten of Waunakee with one of several Lac du Flambeau chain walleyes. 6-21-05: A couple legal walleyes with not another boat in sight on the Willow Flowage. 6-22-05: Despite the biggest mayfly hatch I have ever seen, it didn't take Jeff Bischoff too long to catch the first fish for a shore lunch.  6-22-05: Jeff enjoying shore lunch on an island on the Willow Flowage. 6-27-05: I took a couple of day break to do some Lake Michigan trout and salmon fishing with friend Jim Weinmann. Here Brandon holds the first fish of the morning, a nice rainbow trout. 6-27-05: Brandon with a chinook (king) salmon. 6-27-05: Jim Weinmann, me, Dan Sturm, and Brandon with our morning's catch. 6-28-05: A 36", 15 lb. chinook. 6-28-05: Nate with a chinook. 6-30-05: Mike from Stevens Point released this 38" muskie. 7-1-05: Lots of active largemouth bass action has been the norm lately.  7-1-05: Pike have been scarcer, but a few have posed for a picture before being released. 7-2-05: One of many largemouth bass lately. The smaller ones seem to hit everything.  7-3-05: Daryl Shure with a nice (and legal-sized) Flambeau chain walleye.  7-6-05: Kirstie Whitman with a nice smallie. 7-6-05: Kirstie Whitman with her first pike.  7-8-05: Mike and Patrick Desmond with the 2 biggest walleyes of the evening. Lately, the walleyes have been in a non-feeding mode and dusk gives you a small window to catch them.  7-10-05: This is what fishing is all about! Here, my brother-in-law, Jim, and nephew, Hunter, pose with one of many bluegill and sunfish. 7-11-05: A nice walleye at twilight. 7-13-05: After a tough previous day in sweltering heat and flat calm conditions (even by Texas standards), Vince and Karen Cooper  from Flower Mound TX were rewarded with a little less heat, a little more wind, and slightly more active fish.  7-13-05: The second lake of the morning added these two eater walleyes for Vince and Karen. If you know these two nice folks, ask Karen to list Vince's top ten character flaws.  7-15-05: These dumb pike keep hitting our muskie lures! That's okay. The muskie keep hitting at and missing them.  7-16-05: Mike Bandow and his buddy Sean with a few nice walleye and pan fish to show for our mornings effort. 7-16-05: Chris Nelson with an aggressive muskie right off the bat.  7-17-05: Chris with another pike that can't recognize a "muskie" lure. 7-17-05:  A 36" muskie on a Top Dancer. Not a big fish, but a lot of fun on a top water bait. 7-19-05: The first walleye of the morning, a nice 19-incher. 7-19-05: Bill and Judy Wiley from Indiana with some walleyes and a sun fish destined for shore lunch.  7-19-05: A shore lunch requires a lot of work, including cleaning fish. But, it's worth it. 7-21-05: Jeremy Clark from Theresa, WI loves to fish nice bluegills. And, we caught a bunch of nice ones from the Willow Flowage along with a mixed bag of walleye, sun fish, pike, perch, rock bass, and bull head. 7-22-05: Joe Schmidlin, now living in Newport Beach, CA with a nice largemouth. 7-22-05: Brian Schmidlin from the Milwaukee area with a nice largemouth.  7-22-05: Joe with another nice largemouth. 7-22-05: Patrick from France with the biggest largemouth of the day. 7-22-05: Brian, Joe, and Patrick caught and released a lot of bass this morning, including this "triple". We nearly had a "quadruple", but I just had released another fish. 7-22-05: Patrick with the biggest smallie of the day. 7/25/05: Pete Stilp with a largemouth from the Willow Flowage, a fairly rare catch there. 7/25/05: A nice eater walleye and some big 'gills form the Willow Flowage. 7/27/05: A 25" walleye released back to the Willow Flowage. 7/29/05: Chris (horseshoe posterior) Nelson always seems to boat and release a muskie.  7-30-05: A rare overcast day lately helps the mid-day walleye bite. 8-2-05: Flowages are some of the places in the area for bigger than average pan fish. 8/6/05: Long-time client John Schmecko with a healthy 20" walleye from a remote Vilas County lake. 8/6/05: John's buddy and long-time client, Randy Munson, with an 18" walleye. 8/6/05: Do to yet another camera problem preventing on-the -water photos, here is John and Randy's mixed bag catch almost ready for the frying pan. 8/8/05: Karen, the recent bride of long-time client, Mike Filippo, with a nice walleye. 8/8/05: A a pair of eater walleyes measuring 18 and 20". 8/9/05:  A muskie caught and released on a lure made by client an friend, Gary Fischer. I haven't thrown his prototype much yet, but we both knew it was a winner. 8/10/05: Pete Stilp with one of several chunky Lake Tomahawk smallies. 8/10/05: A Lake Tom largemouth. 8/10/05: another Lake Tom smallie. 8/10/05: The original Jim Cheshire with a Lake Tom largemouth. The bass were pretty aggressive this morning.  8/11/05: I can't take any credit for this one, except for taking the photo. Left is Mark Pakkala with a 50 1/2", 34 lb. tiger muskie and Greg Biggs with a 52 1/2", 43 lb. true muskie  caught simultaneously while row-trolling crank baits on the Flambeau chain. I doubt there was ever two bigger muskie caught at the same time in history!  8/12/05: A nice 17" walleye (or bait for muskie like the ones Mark and Greg caught).  8/12/05: Jerry Benson from Georgia, an accomplished salt water fisherman, with his first Wisconsin catch-and-release with this nice largemouth. 8/12/05: A nice summer day and a nice smallie. 8/12/05: A nice walleye and a fat pike form a remote Vilas County Lake.  8/12/05: This nice smallie gave Mike Filippo a good  fight . 8/12/05: Mike's wife Karen with a slab crappie. 8/14/05: Matt with a nice chinook salmon aboard the Miss Shiocton captained by friend, Jim Weinmann.  8/14/05: Brother-in-law, Jim Jankowski with a nice Lake Michigan rainbow trout.  8/14/05: Another Lake Michigan chinook. 8/15/05: Back to the northwoods and another nice 19 1/2" walleye right off the bat. 8/15/05: Eric Margheim with a slab crappie. 8/15/05: Eric and Art Margheim kept a few of the fish we caught for the frying pan. 8/20/05: Scott Berry with a pike and a nice crappie. 8/22/05: Todd Murphy's father in law, Glen, with a nice smallmouth he released after a good fight.  8/25/05: A rare walleye that is willing to bite lately. Still seeing lots of them on a 14 foot weed edge with the underwater camera. But, crawlers, leeches, minnows, and crank baits are seldom able to tempt them the last week.  8/25/05: Hal Smith's friend Dee from Fort Worth, TX with a largemouth.  8/25/05: Dee with the biggest smallie of the morning 8/27/05: Chris Nelson with a 21" walleye caught on a Shallow Invader while muskie fishing. This fish was tagged by the GLIFWC. 9/3/05: A decent walleye. They've been tough to catch lately. 9/15/05: Scott Cruse, Mark Cruse, and I enjoyed some decent action on bass and pike. 9/15/05 9/15/05 9/21/05: Fred Brodsky with a nice eating-sized walleye 10/7/05: Wade Christoffel caught and released a nice muskie and a few pike. Unfortunately, we lost a few other muskies. 10/14/05: Scott Berry and I shot these 3 buffleheads on an Oneida County lake 11-8-05: Jason Sosebee  and I boated and released 6 muskie form 34 to 43 inches and lost 2 others. Surprisingly, only 2 hit suckers and the rest Jason caught on a jerk bait. Unfortunately, the camera malfunctioned. But, I think I got photos of Jason's 2 biggest fish of the day. 11-8-05 11-8-05 12-2-05: There's finally enough ice to fish on small lakes (barely). So far it's been slow (and cold) fishing for first ice, but I did manage a 15 and 17-inch walleye for the frying pan. 12-23-05: Mark Pakkala, with a nice pike. 12-29-05: The boys with a couple legal walleyes including Chris with a healthy 22-incher. 12-30-05: A nice winter day and a nice eater walleye 12-31-05: Brooke and Miranda Reiter had a ball catching this mixed bag of pan fish. HIGHLIGHTS OF 2006! 1-1-06: A couple of New Years Day eater walleyes. 1-3-06: "Mango" with a legal walleye from the Willow Flowage. 1-8-06: Kurt and Chris Nelson with some nice brown trout. 1-14-06: Another nice walleye although they're getting harder to catch as winter progresses. 1-15-06: Some hard-earned brown trout caught jigging in 40 feet of water. 1-20-06: Mango caught this fat 23" walleye right off the bat. 1-20-06: I added another nice fish before they shut down.  1-21-06: This is the 3rd year I judged the Chill Out ice fishing tournament on Big Arbor Vitae Lake. And, this year the kids caught the biggest fish! Here's 13 yr. old Kelly Strasser with a 13" crappie and a nice bass.  1-21-06: 8 year old Tyler Gilles caught the biggest walleye of the tournament, this chunky 17-incher! 2-12-06: Mark Pakkala with a nice brown trout. 2-26-06: Chris and Nick Nelson, the other Nick, Josh, and I had a fun catching about 20 small pike, 3 small walleyes, a few bluegills and perch, and 15 big smallmouth. You seldom see smallies come through the ice! But, here is one of a dozen Nick alone caught and released. 2-26-06: The other Nick with a big, 19" smallie. 2-26-06: Nick with a tank, 20" smallie. 2-26-06: Chris with a bruiser smallie. 4-1-06: A fat 20" walleye from the Wolf River. 4-1-06: Jim W. and "Jano" with some Wolf River walleyes. 4-2-06: Jason Welsch with a nice Wolf River walleye.  4-11-06: Adam Fischer of Edge Consulting found this road kill buck while we were working at my "real job" near Rhinelander. 4-15-06: My nephew Hunter helped me catch and release this farm pond bass while fishing with his Dad and I. 4-17-06: Every year the channels connected to Lake Poygan provide some good catch and release lm bass action with a few smallies mixed in. 4-19-06: My Dad with a jake turkey.  4-19-06: Another Poygan channel largemouth. 4-22-06: a few more largemouth caught on crankbaits and plastic worms.  5/6/06: Opening day walleyes  up to 22 1/2" for the Alcan group on a cold, blustery morning. 5/6/06: And a few more walleyes in the afternoon for the Alcan crew to add to the shore lunch. 5/7/06: A chunky smallmouth (released). 5/7/06: One of 3 muskie boated (with another lost) this morning. David Mussoni of Apple Valley, Minnesota with the Alcan crew caught and released this 33 1/2" fish. 5/7/06: a nice 19" walleye. 5/14/06: "Mango" and I teamed up for a limit of eater walleyes, a crappie, and a pike while releasing several other walleyes and pike. 5/24/06: Stu Kotovic, crew, and I caught a few walleye and pike on the tail end of a nasty cold front. 5/25/06: One of a bunch of nice bluegills I caught and released off the dock at my home.  5/26/06: Catching and releasing smallies on the beds is one of my favorite times of the year. 5-26-06 5-26-06 5-26-06 5-27-06: Chris Nelson and I with a few of about 30 bruiser smallies (and 1 monster laregemouth) caught and released. 5-28-06: John Carpenter (at left), Scott Berry and I had a blast catching and releasing about 30 beautiful smallmouth bass this morning. 5-28-06: Stewart Berry caught and released this beautiful smallmouth. He's got fishing in his blood! 5-28-06: Stewart and Nolan Berry with a "double".  5-29-06: A smallie released back to the Willow Flowage. 5-29-06: A couple of eater walleyes. Lots of "short" walleyes and small pike on crank baits this sweltering afternoon. 6-2-06 6-3-06: Long-time clients John Schmecko (left), Randy Munson, and I enjoyed some hot catch and release smallie action. 6-4-06: Karen Fillipo with one of a couple nice mid-day walleyes on a gin clear lake. Karen, you proved me wrong! 6-4-06: Mike Fillipo released this tank of a smallmouth. 6-7-06: A legal, and nice eating sized walleye was released.  6-8-06: Chris York (left) and P. J. with some nice smallies, caught and released.  6-9-06: Sal had the hot hand today releasing several nice smallmouths. 6-15-06: I guess you have to kiss a few frogs once in awhile. This 14" mud puppy (4 legs, tail, external gills, and all) was hanging out on a rock bar with some nice walleyes. 6-17-06: A couple of eater walleyes.  6-17-06: Chris Nelson and buddy Matt released these pike and muskie. 6-18-06: Bill Jarchow out-fished me and caught this nice 21" walleye.  6-18-06: Bill with dinner on display.  6-23-06: The two youngest fisherman I know who are well-schooled in the  "three P's",  Jared (left) and Jason Welsch, with a couple of nice crappies. Ask their father, Jesse, to explain the "three P" concept. Come to think of it, please someone explain it to Jesse. 6-25-06: "Jano", my brother-in-law, with a couple of nice 'eyes.  6-25-06: Jano, and my soon to be 3 yr. old nephew, Hunter, with one of many bluegills. 6-26-06: Dad, Jano with one of many bass. 6-26-06: Hunter with his first bass. You'll never know how hard it is to get both the fish and a excited, squirmy kid in the same shot (this is about Take 10). 6-29-06: The original Jim Cheshire with a beautiful, golden-brown, 22-inch walleye. 6-30-06: Dad and I rose early to catch and release about a dozen walleyes. 7-1-06: "Flip" with a very healthy walleye and a fat largemouth he released. 7-2-06: Nick Fillipo with his first walleye. 7-2-06: Karen Fillipo has "the touch" and caught and released this finicky-biting walleye. 7-4-06: For some reason, fishing the morning of the 4th has been kind to me. At least for fewer, but bigger fish. After I caught this average 16-incher, I caught a 23" 'eye and Tom (Redbone) Reiter released this 24-incher. 7-8-06: The game fish weren't very cooperative, but the pan fish sure were. Here Don Destry holds a 12 1/2" perch.  7-8-06: Danny Destry with a pike and bass. 7-8-06: The Destry pile-o-fish destined for chow time,  7-9-06: Kevin Nodolf (right), Rob, Mary, and I could find, but not catch, walleyes. However, a nice perch, and the 21 good-sized crappies pictured (plus at least as many nice bluegills not shown), should be a great meal. The 'eye fishing has tanked. But, it can't last for long.  7-13-06: I still can't catch any walleyes despite being able to see lots on a underwater camera. Fortunately, despite sweltering heat, a few smallies and a small, dumb muskie gave me a little hope. 7-15-06: What is this thing? I haven't seen one of these in awhile.  7-16-06: I was pleased to catch this 18-incher.  7-16-06: Whomever says walleyes don't fight well may have been surprised. This 29" fish bulldogged in 30 plus feet of water and it took a long time before we even got a glimpse of it.  7-22-06: Kurt and Chris Nelson and I gave up on uncooperative muskies and had a good afternoon with a mixed bag, including some slab crappie. 7-22-06: Chris and I with a "double" on smallmouth.  7-26-06: My Dad, the original Jim Cheshire, and I enjoyed one of those rare afternoon where the weather was great and the fishing was incredibly easy. This was our last of countless fishing trips together as Dad passed away on August 12th. Dad, thanks for all you taught me, including how to fish. We all love you and miss you greatly! 7-26-06 7-29-06: Gary Beyer and sons Andy (19) and Kevin (13) enjoyed some good catch and release game fish action while keeping a mess of bluegills and crappie to eat. 7-31-06: Tom "Cookie" Jankowski and Brother-in-law Tom aka "Toby" enjoyed a great morning of mixed bag game and pan fish action on the Flambeau chain until oppressive afternoon heat shut things down. 8-9-06: Good friend Jim Laurion and sons Peter and Andrew joined me for a little fishing while back visiting Wisconsin from their home in Iowa. These boys are fine young men and great fishermen. Here's Andrew with his first walleye (above) and smallmouth (right). 8-9-06:Peter released this nice largemouth bass. 8-9-06: Peter added this pike to a live well full of crappie and bluegill destined for the frying pan. 8-19-06: Jim Weinmann treated Pete Stilp and I to a trip on the big pond where we boated 5 Chinooks plus one "shaker".  8-24-06: Jesse Welsch and I battled big waves on Lake Winnebago but managed a few walleyes, including this 19-incher. 8-24-06: Despite the final score (me-4 walleyes, Jesse-1 walleye), I let Jesse pose for a photo of our hard-earned days catch. 8-24-06: Tom, Lisa, Miranda, and Brooke Reiter joined me back in the northwoods for some fun pan fish action. Here are Miranda (left) and Brooke with some nice bluegills and crappie they caught while releasing many more. 8-27-06: My 17-month old niece Alyssa is not afraid of a bass (or anything else for that matter). 8-29-06: Big Don Kopsell with a small muskie. 9-4-06: My nephew, Hunter, with a slab, northwoods crappie. 9-17-06: Mango teamed with me on the Willow Flowage to catch these walleyes and jumbo perch. 9-20-06" Jason Sosebee caught and released this nice muskie on a jig and pig while pre-fishing for a bass tournament.  9-23-06: Chris Nelson, Nick Nelson, Hunter the lab and I with a mixed bag of ducks on opening weekend in northern Wisconsin. 9-24-06 9-26-06: At least Don can catch the smaller muskies. I haven't even been getting little ones lately! 9-28-06: a chunky largemouth and an eater walleye on a beautiful fall day on the Willow Flowage. 10-3-06: I finally caught and released a muskie. For some reason this summer and early fall have been slow for muskie.  10-6-06: A fat largemouth releaseed back to the Minocqua cha