When Ray Thompson mapped Braidwood Lake earlier than it opened to the general public, he caught one piece of unhealthy data in it. Sure sufficient, an unnamed publication ripped off his map with out credit score, together with the unhealthy information level.
Data means one thing to Thompson, who labored in structure and engineering earlier than retiring. Thompson, the chairman of the Illini Muskies Alliance, has stored an annual voluntary creel survey on anglers catching muskie in Illinois going for greater than three a long time. It is probably the most complete database of its sort.
It fascinates me, partly as a result of it is a crucial and totally precious supply of data and in addition an imperfect supply of information.
Ray Thompson (left) and his brother Warren on the Chicagoland Muskie Hunters 50th anniversary gathering final 12 months.
Dale Bowman/Sun-Times
In April 1987, a green-card muskie reporting system started, co-sponsored by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources (Department of Conservation) and the Illini Muskies Alliance (muskie golf equipment and teams in Illinois). If something in regards to the Type A personalities or rugged individualists in muskie fishing, that the IMA has hung collectively is a notable feat.
‘‘Some lakes, nobody turns them in; other lakes, there’s a lot of participation,’’ Thompson stated. ‘‘It can lead to faulty reporting.’’
For occasion, solely 11 muskie have been registered final 12 months at Shabbona Lake. There might need been that many caught in a single day there. Mill Creek has muskie, however mum is the phrase. Then there’s the Fox Chain O’Lakes, the place the numbers are skewed up as a result of it’s largely the house waters for 3 energetic Muskies Inc. chapters: Chicagoland Muskie Hunters, Fox River Valley and South of the Border.
The survey began with 27 lakes and is now round 70 waters, one other outstanding feat. The survey began solely with inexperienced playing cards however about 15 years in the past expanded to incorporate Muskies Inc. information from Illinois and now on-line entry.
The on-line and green-card reporting common 110 a 12 months and Muskies Inc. information averages 464 for a complete of 574 complete. That’s a fraction of the muskie caught yearly in Illinois, nevertheless it may give an image over time.
‘‘In 2010, there were 1,261; it was a real good year for fish,’’ Thompson stated. ‘‘People complained last year was a bad year, but it was an average year.’’
Thompson is aware of there are ‘‘fast-action lakes and trophy lakes — lakes where . . . if you catch one, it is a good one.’’
So I requested for his observations from over the a long time. Lake Shelbyville was the muskie lake in Illinois till a mysterious die-off struck and caught in recent times. Kinkaid Lake and the Chain are normally tops for numbers. The Chain and Shelbyville are the trophy lakes, with Lake McMaster (“not a lot of fish, but No. 3 on list all-time for 50-inch fish”) and Lake Storey (“consistent but small, produced seven of 50 inches”) within the combine and Evergreen Lake ‘‘coming on.’’
There are anomalies. Independence Grove has produced three muskie of 50 inches or longer, and Mallard, a lake within the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, has produced a 48-inch muskie.
If you wish to wade into information on muskie, go to the IMA’s website at illinimuskiesalliance.org.