September 2012 — John Gillespie's Waters & Woods

September 2012

Episode 35
Cats n’ Crappies
Show Date: September 1st & 2nd, 2012
Part 1:
Location: Fox River (Between Appleton & Green Bay, Wisconsin)
Guide: Jason Garukee [920-851-6655 | http://ariverguide.com ]
Part 2:
Location: St. Germain - Vilas County, Wisconsin
Guide: Pro Guide Rob Manthei [715-477-2042 | robmanthei.com]

This weeks show is an exciting trip to two locations! Day one, or night one we should say, is a after-hours catfishing trip with Jason Gaurkee. Jason has been guiding the rivers for quite a while, and his passion is the fall catfish bite. We arrive eager and early to fish, so Jason puts us along the shorelines to cast for smallmouth bass while we wait for the sun to set. It’s a bonus part of the trip that makes us even more eager to set up for the cats after dark. About an hour before sunset, we anchor and put out our lines. Jason puts out dead-bait for the channel catfish, and live bait for the flathead catfish. He is using circle-hooks for both. This type of fishing can be a very relaxing, that is until the line starts spooling off the reel!
The second half of our show is also a wonderful way to spend a day. We are in Vilas County, near St. Germain Wisconsin to fish crappies. Rob Manthei is our northern Wisconsin guru, and always has a spot for the species we’re looking for. He has the crappie fishing down to a science, and it doesn’t include any live bait, we use all plastics. In addition to the plastics we use the 1” Gulp Minnows as well.

Episode 36
Fishin’ Contest
Show Date: September 8th & 9th, 2012
Location: St. Germain - Vilas County, Wisconsin
Guide: Pro Guide Rob Manthei [715-477-2042 | robmanthei.com]

Thanks to TravelWisconsin.com, the St. Germain Chamber of Commerce, and Rob Manthei, we have the winners of this summers TravelWisconsin.com contest. The contest was posted to Facebook and our website, and offered one lucky viewer and a guest a 2 day guided trip to Vilas County! Our winner is Joe Beulen, and he brought his daughter Heidi along to experience some of the finest northwoods fishing Wisconsin has to offer.

We’re after walleyes, which are fun to catch, and delicious table-fair - especially from the pristine lakes that we’re fishing. We are using the basic jig and a minnow (or crawler) technique. These fish are mostly cruising through the weeds and not feeding much, so when we feel a bite, we need give these fish upwards of 15 seconds before we set the hook. Once we do, its a blast, and we get to experience the thrill fish after fish (after fish...) Joe says he doesn’t get out to fish as much as he’d like, so was very happy to join us, and even happier that Heidi caught so many fish.

Episode 37
Longlegged Lake Vacation
September 15th & 16th, 2012
Location: Long Legged Lake, Ontario, Canada [longleggedlakeresorts.com]

The Maina’s have invited us to join us on their vacation, and we’re in for a treat! We are fishing Longlegged Lake in western Ontario, Canada. It’s a long drive, the last 50 miles is on an old gravel logging road, but its certainly worth it. We think of it as an untouched Canadian Fly-In lake that you can drive to. Pete Maina is our guide, Tex catches all the fish (as always), and John loses his voice when a certain species of fish is on the end of the line. Our hosts for the week are the folks at North Longlegged Lake Lodge, it’s the only lodge on the North lake, so it’s pretty secluded. Along with the seclusion, we pretty much get the pick of spots on the lake, and there are a lot of them!

There are three species that we target on Longlegged, Walleye, Lake Trout, and Muskie. We start out in deep water for trout, but much to our delight we find walleye swimming right along with the lakers. Casting out live bait and vertical jigging the Sebile Vibrato are the two methods that land us many, many fish. For a break, we slow-troll bottom bouncers. Then it’s onto muskie, where the figure-8 is the true key to landing the massive fish in these clear canadian waters.

Episode 38
Longlegged II
Air Date: September 22nd & 23rd, 2012
Location: Long Legged Lake, Ontario, Canada [longleggedlakeresorts.com]

This week we continue our awesome fishing experience with Pete and Tex Maina on North Longlegged Lake in Ontario Canada...

The Maina’s have invited us to join us on their vacation, and we’re in for a treat! We are fishing Longlegged Lake in western Ontario, Canada. It’s a long drive, the last 50 miles is on an old gravel logging road, but its certainly worth it. We think of it as an untouched Canadian Fly-In lake that you can drive to. Pete Maina is our guide, Tex catches all the fish (as always), and John loses his voice when a certain species of fish is on the end of the line. Our hosts for the week are the folks at North Longlegged Lake Lodge, it’s the only lodge on the North lake, so it’s pretty secluded. Along with the seclusion, we pretty much get the pick of spots on the lake, and there are a lot of them!

There are three species that we target on Longlegged, Walleye, Lake Trout, and Muskie. We start out in deep water for trout, but much to our delight we find walleye swimming right along with the lakers. Casting out live bait and vertical jigging the Sebile Vibrato are the two methods that land us many, many fish. For a break, we slow-troll bottom bouncers. Then it’s onto muskie, where the figure-8 is the true key to landing the massive fish in these clear canadian waters.

Episode 39
Lake Erie Perch
Air Date: September 29th & 30th, 2012
Location: Lake Erie, Port Clinton, Ohio
Guide: Captain Paul Pacholski [1-800-798-1218 | eriehopper.com]

It’s fall on Lake Erie, and we couldn’t be more excited to be heading out this great lake to fish for some perch. As always, we’re out with trusted charter captain and friend, Captain Paul Pacholski. Captain Kim Salinas, Paul’s first mate, also joins us - she’s the one that throws the anchor, we need her!

Since Paul has a big Lake Erie sized boat, we figured we’d bring along some guests in the form of Bill Morgan, Tom Schneider, and Todd Pogorzelski of Johnsonville Sausage. The whole gang is excited, as they should be, to target perch and walleyes. Both of which are well known Erie staples, and tasty table fair.

We start out for perch using a crappie style rig with a sinker, to keep our minnows right on the bottom, where all the fish are schooling. These fish bite very light, so using a super-line like Fireline or Nanofil are crucial to boat these fish. We do a little searching, but once the first fish comes into the boat, we’re on the school, and many many more follow.

Once we limit out on perch, we get our shot at walleyes. Lake Erie gives our angles a chance at a 12 pound walleye, which is why it’s exciting to spend the second half of the day targeting them. The weapon of choice is a spinner with half a nightcrawler on a single hook. Depending on the depth we’re fishing will depend on how long ‘the count’ is before we start reeling in the bait. Timing is very crucial, and as we always learn, it’s best to listen to the captain.