September-08 — John Gillespie's Waters & Woods

September 2008

Episode 36
Fall Winnebago Walleyes
Show Date: September 6th & 7th, 2008
Location: Lake Winnebago; Oshkosh, WI
Guide: Pro Ice Guide Larry Smith [920-361-4996 | walleyeguide.com]

We head out to do some walleye fishing on a calm sunny day in late August. We are out once again with Larry Smith and the man who taught him how to fish, his Dad Bob. We head out to Lake Winnebago in eastern Wisconsin, which is the largest inland lake in the state.

We park on rock flats and throw slip bobbers with a jig and half a crawler, we hover our baits about a foot above the bar. It is a flat calm day, which ordinarily wouldn’t be conducive of slip bobber fishing, but since the lake is experiencing a large algae bloom. With this stained water the fish are coming right onto the flats because the water is so dark.

Episode 37
Eagle Lake Muskies
Show Date: September 13th & 14th, 2008
Location: Eagle Lake, Ontario, Canada
Guides: Danny Herbek [1-807-227-2610 | andymyerslodge.com] Rob Manthei, [715-477-2042 | robmanthei.com] Pete Maina [PeteMaina.com | thenextbite.com]

We travel once again to the massive expanse of water that is Eagle Lake. We are staying at the famous Andy Myers Lodge (andymyerslodge.com) a fishing camp owned by our friend Steve Herbeck. Steve is a well known guide, and he knows this lake inside and out. We have a full crew along with us this time, our two guides Rob and Pete, and also the owner of Johnsonville Sausage – Ralph Stayer. This is always a fun trip and we always find ourselves on big fish, and many of them show up right next to the boat. This makes for a great trip for any muskie nut.

Episode 38
Menominee River Sturgeon
Show Date: September 20th & 21st, 2008
Location: Menominee River
Guide: Brett Alexander [920-851-4214 | alexandersportfishing.com]

This week we get to do a trip that we haven’t been able to do in a while, Sturgeon fishing. We are anchored on the Menominee River near Marinette Wisconsin. This trip is truly a unique experience, getting a chance at a really big fish and that fish could be upwards of 70 years old. We are guide by Brett Alexander, who guides the area on a regular basis.
We anchor in a deep hole and put a huge glob of night crawlers on a hook, cast out and wait. These fish bite very light and you have to be paying attention, because they will pull your rod right out of the boat – it happened to us! Once you get one on it is the fight of a lifetime. They will pull you around for a good while; a few times we had to pull up the anchor. We land a good trophy that took two of us to hold up. We cap our great day on the water with a few walleyes. This is really a fun trip, give Brett a call.

Episode 39
Beautiful Wisconsin - Giant Fish
Show Date: September 27th & 28th, 2008
Location: Lake Michigan; Milwaukee, WI
Guide: Charter Captain Eric Haataja [414-546-4627 | wibigfish.com]

This show takes us to multiple locations across the state of Wisconsin. First we head up to Pembine to fish the beautiful Menominee River, with our friend from Pure Fishing, Nathan Hanson. On the second day we head to Washington Island off of the tip of Door County, we catch a few nice fish, unfortunately we are blown off by some very severe winds. The third day in a nice calm harbor in downtown Milwaukee is where the magic happens. We hook up with Eric Haataja to hook up with some very nice Chinook salmon. Trying all sorts of methods we find out that jerk-baits and scain sacks are the best choice to land some monsters. We cruse around the harbor, and literally follow these salmon to boat them.