October-2012 — John Gillespie's Waters & Woods

October 2012

Episode 40
October Muskies
Air Date: October 6th & 7th, 2012
Location: Hayward, Wisconsin

It’s fall, and that means muskies! This week we’re stirring up some old memories by fishing a small lake in the Hayward area with our good buddy Pete Maina. Way back when Pete was a guide, he brought us here on one of the first shows we every filmed with him; that was 21 years ago! We’re back, and we brought a guest. Jeremy Meyer of Amsoil joins us, and the last time he was out with Pete he boated six esox. So he’s the one we’ll be looking at to set the hook.

The best thing about fall muskie angling is that your get two chances to boat a fish. There is the usual, casting a variety of baits; also we put out suckers with quick-strike rigs. The suckers will either attract fish to hit our baits, or bring in the fish that are a bit lethargic that our baits didn’t move. Quick-strike rigs are the best way to boat a fish without harming it in the process.

The trip goes very well, and as expected Jeremy is our champion. He’s fished two days total with Pete, and ends up with quite a haul. It leaves him wondering what this whole “fish of 10,000 casts” business is all about.

Episode 41
Out on the Bay
Air Date: October 13th & 14th, 2012
Location: Sand Bay Beach Resort - Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Guide: Pro Guide Dale Stroschein [ 920-743-5731 | wackywalleye.com]

October is one of the best times of the year to fish Door County, and Dale Stroscheine is the best guide in Door County. So we’ve got a great combination for a fishing trip on tap for this weeks show. October can be great for Walleye, Pike, Bass, or Perch, especially large versions of these fish.

We start off looking for big fish using our favorite walleye technique: jigging Gulp. We’re specifically ‘snap-jigging,’ where we tap the bottom with the jig, and quickly snap it back. This gives our bait an action that the walleyes can’t ignore. We have two guests with us this week, Mike Pekrul of M-W Marine, and Dale’s buddy Jeff. Jeff, or Oko as he’s known, has the hot stick - catching a bunch of trophies.

Episode 42
We’ve Got Some Weather...
Air Date: October 20th & 21st, 2012
Location: Sand Bay Beach Resort - Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin
Guide: Pro Guide Dale Stroschein [ 920-743-5731 | wackywalleye.com]

It’s been a wacky-weather fall in Wisconsin, as it typicality is, which presents a unique challenge for our scheduled visit to Door County. We have a group along with us that made a donation to the Vince Lombardi Cancer Foundation to fish with us. Big thanks to Tom, ‘Carp’, Dave, Teddy, Steve, & ‘Woody’ for their contribution to the Foundation, also a big thanks to Dale Stroschein, for getting this event organized; and his co-guides that donated their time and boats to get all of us on the water.

With the wind ripping through the county during our visit, we needed a place to fish, so we ended up in the shipping channel in Sturgeon Bay. There can be really good fishing here, and it offered a bit of a reprieve from 45mph wind gusts. We vertical jig for salmon, using Vibrato’s and jigs with gulp. Keeping vertical is paramount, so our Minn-Kota is very valuable with the crushing wind coming down the channel.

We end up being rained out with our crew, so we’ll need to reschedule them once the ice comes in.

To finish our show, we return to door county for another two days, and the wind is still ripping the first day. Day two is still windy, but out of a direction that allows us

Episode 43
Hayward Muskies
Air Date: October 27th & 28th, 2012
Location: Hayward, Wisconsin

Fishing muskie in Northern Wisconsin is the quintessential fall fishing trip. Which is why we asked our new friends at the Wisconsin DNR to join us. Cathy Stepp and her husband Paul join us for their first ever muskie trip. Cathy loves to hunt, so it’s up to us to make this trip a memorable one. That heavy burden we pass onto our resident muskie guru Pete Maina, who agrees that fall is a great time to be hunting the esox. It’s a great time because we get to run sucker lines along with casting lures, which essentially means that we have twice the chance to boat a fish.

Unfortunately Cathy and Paul could only fish for one day, so day two we had and empty boat, until we arrived at the landing. We found an angler by the name of Jesse launching his boat all by his lonesome, so we asked if he’d like to join us. Jesse lives in Texas, and was on vacation to enjoy the beautiful Wisconsin northwoods; little did he know he’d end up in the boat with us! Day two the sucker bite was on fire, and “The Mad Texan” set the hook quite a few times.