asserted by the creel survey. This does not appear to be a realistic angler capability. For further perspective, consider that in 1990 the registered aggregate resort catch for the Chippewa Flowage was 1192 legal Muskie, that would equate to 7.2 muskellunge being caught each day of the 165 day season, meaning that 144.8 fishermen were unable to catch a muskellunge each day of the 165 day season even though they fished non-stop for 10 hours (assuming that each of the 7.2 daily Muskie catches was by a different Muskie angler). This would mean that every day of the season 1,448 hours were logged fishing for muskellunge that were non-productive for a season total of 238,920 non-productive muskellunge angler hours. The 250,000 muskellunge angler hours equates to 1 muskellunge being caught every 210 hours, meaning that a muskellunge angler fished for 21 season days before he caught a muskellunge. For most of you who fish the Chippewa Flowage, your success rate is likely much better than 1 Muskie every 21 days. You can begin to see that assessing fishing pressure and angler success on the water is by no means an exact science as conducted by the Wisconsin DNR using creel surveys. To be frank, it is not science at all. It is a matter of anecdotal information being used to establish a statistical baseline; a practice that leads to reckless assumptions about fish populations, pressure and regulation.
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