December 2016 — John Gillespie's Waters & Woods

December 2016

Episode 49
Late November Bass
Show Date: December 3rd & 4th, 2016
Location: Iron River, Wisconsin
Guide: Josh Teigen [715-813-0575 | joshteigen.com ]

We’re back up with Josh Teigen, but this time he’s showing us around some inland lakes near where he grew up in Iron River Wisconsin. We’re targeting large mouth bass, as well as pike on this rainy day in late November. Mr. Largemouth himself, Matt Bichanich joins us as well to show us a new lure we’re excited to use on the ice this year. We catch a bunch a beautiful fish, but the most fun is getting to use a varitey of lures. We use Strike King spinner baits & Red Eye Shad, the Acme Hyper-Glide, Kalin’s Jerk Minnow as well as crank baits too. We had an absolute blast, and thank Josh for having us up to experience it.

Episode 50
Cold Weather Trout
Location: Lake Michigan, Oak Creek, Wisconsin
Guide: Captain Caleb Zorn [Wacky Walleye Guide Service - 920-743-5731 | wackywalleye.com]

The cold weather is finally here, and ice fishing is just around the corner. For the time being, we know that huge brown trout can be caught in open water on Lake Michigan. Captain Caleb Zorn says that as the weather gets colder, the fishing actually gets better. Fish will congregate near warm water discharges, because thats where the baitfish are. There are a lot of different places to search out fish. Launching our boat in Oak Creek is a central location, giving us access to many different locations & depths. We use cranks and plastics, which both are fun to throw. No matter what you catch these fish on, they put up one heck of a fight.

Episode 51
Walleye (and Pike) Night Bite
Show Date: December 17th & 18th, 2016
Location: Fox River, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Guide: Charter Captain Brett Jolly [715-581-5678 | captainjollycharters.com]

Last year we had to fish over night for walleye in the Fox River after an unsuccessful day of muskie fishing out on the bay of Green Bay. We had so much fun catching walleyes, we decided to do it again this year. Our guide Brett Jolly and his buddy Adam, who is a guide in Mosinee, take us down the river for some last-minute open water fishing.

We don't start fishing until 2:30, and since it’s not quite dark out yet, we decide to take a trip up to the dam to cast crank baits. It proves to be a great start to our evening, as we boat several fish before we need to head back down river. The reason the big walleyes are here are because of the shad that are gathering near warm water outtakes along the river, there are plenty of them, and the walleyes should be biting.

We have lots of action, landing some beautiful walleyes, which we were expecting. What we weren't expecting was the many pike that we caught - a first for both of our guides.

Episode 52
Extreme Cold In Ely
Show Date: December 24th & 25th, 2016
Location: Ely, Minnesota
Guide: Matt Bichanich; Accommodations “A Stay Inn Ely” [http://www.jaspercompany.com/locations/jasper-inn]

We’re back on the ice! Unfortunately we ended up smack dab in the middle of a nasty cold-front. We’re in Ely Minnesota with some great friends, many of whom went to college here, and fished in their off-time. We’re following them through the woods to some of their favorite lakes, which is a great part of visiting this area, the beautiful scenery. Traveling the trails on our Yamaha’s is a fun way to get to our fishing spot. Once we get to the spot, we’ve got to set our CLAM shacks right away due to the blowing wind, and temperatures only hitting -11°F for a high.

Once we finally get set up and start fishing, we find a good spot for bluegill, with Beaver Dams set up nearby for pike. It’s a brutal trip outside for any activity, so we were glad to be catching a good mess a fish in this weather.