As I have surely mentioned a few times before, I am a numbers guy.
Last year, I put together a recap of my outdoor adventures by highlighting a handful of numbers that stood out to me.
My reports continue to get more detailed, so I figured I would take a crack at another recap in 2021.
So here is a look back at my year in the outdoors, by the numbers:
150 – Outdoor trips
I spent over 330 hours hunting, fishing, and dip netting this year. Fishing accounted for 121 of my trips. It seems a bit crazy to say, but these numbers are actually slightly down from a year ago. I went on 19 hunting trips and 10 dip netting trips.
525 – Fish caught
I set a new personal best this year by landing a total of 525 fish with a hook and line. Overall, I caught 19 different species (two more than a year ago) and my first ever golden redhorse. Smallmouth bass were my most common species they accounted for over 46 percent of my total.
You can see a breakdown of my totals below.
| Species | Number Caught |
| Smallmouth Bass | 243 |
| Rock Bass | 92 |
| Bluegill | 63 |
| Largemouth Bass | 39 |
| Yellow Perch | 13 |
| Bullhead | 12 |
| Sunfish | 11 |
| King Salmon | 9 |
| Rainbow Trout | 8 |
| Crappie | 7 |
| Northern Pike | 6 |
| White Sucker | 6 |
| Mottled Sculpin | 4 |
| Creek Chub | 3 |
| Walleye | 2 |
| Whitefish | 2 |
| Carp | 2 |
| Brown Trout | 2 |
| Golden Redhorse | 1 |
96.9 – Percent of my fish that were released
Let’s be clear, there is nothing wrong with keeping some fish for the table. But I take pride in only taking what I am going to consume. This is the second consecutive year that over 96 percent of my fish were put back to swim another day.
55 – Suckers caught with the dip net
In 2021, I spent more time netting suckers than usual. I even kept a few for pickling after a particularly good night. (Hey, don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.)
70 – Percent of successful duck hunts
It was no secret that lack of duck production in the Prairie Pothole Region was going to make hunting a bit of a challenge in our flyway. However, thanks to some scouting and some dedicated friends, our group was able to harvest ducks on 70 percent of our trips this year.
53 – Bird species spotted
This year, I took entering data into eBird quite seriously. As I have learned, it is an important part of understanding the health of bird populations.
I submitted 511 checklists on the app in 2021. The 53 species of birds I logged was a new personal record.
21 – Bodies of water fished
I was lucky enough to fish a total of 21 bodies of water in seven different counties this year, including my first time fishing outside of Wisconsin.
80.25 – Combined length (in inches) of the five largest bass in my tournament bag
I only competed in one online bass tournament this year, but I recorded by best bag limit length to date. My five largest fish averaged out at a hair over 16 inches in length. I finished that tournament in fifth place in my region.
Nathan Woelfel Outdoors 