November-08 — John Gillespie's Waters & Woods

November 2008

Episode 44
Petenwell Flowage in the Fall
Show Date: November 1st & 2nd, 2008
Location: Petenwell Flowage; Adams County, Wisconsin
Guide: Pro Guide Larry Smith [920-361-4996 | walleyeguide.com]

The Petenwell is the second largest inland lake in Wisconsin, and there are lots of places to look for walleyes this time of year. This flowage was created in the ‘50’s over what used to be forest, and much of the timber was never cut down before it was flooded. We are looking for the walleyes in those areas, because they relate to the timber.

It’s a very cold day in October, but that doesn’t stop Larry smith from taking us on one of his favorite bodies of water. Larry has us pulling flies over this structure, and this method has been giving Larry and his clients 40 to 60 fish days. Today is no exception, a nice relaxing day on the water, and the rods are bent all day.

Episode 45
Big Dave’s Fall Grab Bag
Show Date: November 8th & 9th, 2008
Location: Wisconsin River, Portage, Wisconsin
Guide: Pro Guide Big Dave Ehardt [414-803-7160]

Big Dave is pretty knowledgeable when it comes to river fishing, and he is going to put us on the spot on the Wisconsin River near Portage, WI. We love the “grab bag” style of fishing the Dave is well known for, and we certainly love to see our rods bent over. We are on and exploration trip, since we haven’t been here before. We are fishing in the back-bays and small inlet-slews, looking for wood structure along the shorelines.

As we move throughout the day we see bass, crappies, & northern; which spurs a competition to see who can boat the most species. We are using a variety of Berkley GULP and POWERBAIT, and all the fish that we are catching seem to love it.

Episode 46
Mississippi Monster Saugers
Show Date: November 16th & 17th, 2008
Location: Mississippi River, Red Wing, Minnesota
Guide: Everet’s Resort [715-792-2333 | evertsfishingresort.com]

It’s been a few years since we have been on the Mississippi River, and we are very glad we’re back. We are fishing for saugers, monster saugers. We are fishing just below a dam where the seagulls are gathered eating the shad that is coming through. We are trying to stay vertical using ZIP’s and a jig with Berkley GULP Alive. We are looking for deeper holes, keeping our bait six inches from the bottom and not moving it at all. What is happening is the current is moving the bait, and we really don’t need to do anything.

The only thing we need to do is battle the sleet and rain that is falling on us all day. The weather is no problem when you are catching monster sauger after monster sauger. Our scout Brett King fills us in on the regulations for sauger and walleye fishing on the Mississippi River between Wisconsin and Minnesota: we can keep a combo of saugers and walleyes up to 6 fish for each angler. You can only keep walleyes over 15” and saugers of any size. Brett tells us about the unwritten rule about throwing the monsters back, which helps keep any fishery healthy. We have a great fishing day despite the weather, and since it is open water all year, we already want to go back.

Episode 47
A Chilly Day on the Wolf River
Show Date: November 22nd & 23rd, 2008
Location: Wolf River, Freemont, Wisconsin
Guide: Pro Guide Larry Smith [920-361-4996 | walleyeguide.com]

It’s a cold November day, and we’re up in Freemont, Wisconsin with Larry Smith. It’s around 18 degrees, and we are just starting to get acclimated for the ice fishing season. We are fishing the Wolf River targeting walleyes, but some of us are catching a multitude of interesting species.. We are dragging across the deep holes, with a very slow presentation. We are varying our baits between a ZIP, fathead minnow, and GULP Minnows. These fish are hitting pretty light, so we are letting them eat for a few seconds before we set the hook. After we have our presentation down we start to land some very nice walleyes. Larry tells us that the fishing on the Wolf is the best he has seen in years.

Episode 48
Newton Lake
Location: Newton Lake, Newton, IL
Show Date: November 29th & 30th, 2008
Guides: Matt Bichanich, Pro Bass Fisherman [Uncle Josh Pork Baits | unclejosh.com]
Tab Walker, Guide [618-752-5075 | outdoorsportsmanslodge.com]

We just couldn’t stay away from Newton Lake after we scored huge the last time we were here. We are back on a lake that is one of the most unique bass bites we have ever seen. We are using summer techniques in late November, and this time they are really after the swim baits. Since the water never freezes the only way these fish know its cold out is when we catch them. We are once again joined by our friend and pro bass angler, Matt Bichanich of Uncle Josh Pork Baits. We spend most of our stay targeting Large Mouth Bass, we also take some time to try out a phenomenal White Bass bite that has us catching them on command.

Newton Lake is about 4 hours south of Chicago, not a bad trip to take for a very unique fishing experience. Newton Lake is a 1,775 acre power plant lake, that uses the lakes water to cool down their generators. So in turn it keeps the lake from freezing all winter, the average water temps in this lake are between 50-70 degrees. So even though it is 30 degrees out, we can still enjoy this fishing just like it’s the middle of summer.