February 2012 — John Gillespie's Waters & Woods

February 2012

Episode 5
Winnebago Ice
Show Date: February 4th & 5th, 2012
Location: Lake Winnebago; Pipe, Wisconsin
Guide: Pro Ice Guide Larry Smith [920-361-4996 | walleyeguide.com]

The ice is finally starting to make its way to the southern part of Wisconsin, and Larry Smith has been eagerly anticipating getting out onto Lake Winnebago. Lake Winnebago is one of the largest inland freshwater lake is the United States, at 10 by 30 miles, there is plenty of water to hold all different species of fish. We join Larry on a guide trip

We don’t really target any specific species of fish, but this wonderful lake is well known for walleye, white bass, and perch. Our bite is all jigging, we’re using a a jigging rap most of the time. There is a specific jigging technique that Larry shows us to lure in these sometimes finicky fish, and a locator is most certainly needed. He is keeping his lure around 5 feet off of the bottom, and jigging very fast in short strokes. Why he is doing is luring the fish from the bottom, if you see the fish approach your lure, raise it just a bit more - thats when the strike is most likely to happen. If he isn’t marking anything for a few minutes, he’ll pound the bottom to get their attention. Another thing we found on our day on the ice is that we needed to move around a lot to keep on the fish. We’d find a school, and enjoy the bite for a while, then it’d cool down. A quick move a few hundred yards, and we were back on them.

Episode 6
Beautiful Day on the River
February 11th & 12th, 2012
Location: Wisconsin River, Wisconsin Dells
Guide: Pro Guide Big Dave Ehardt [414-803-7160] Rivers Edge Resort [608-254-6494]

We’re taking the week off from ice fishing and hanging out with a special guest - Big Dave! Dave is still on the road to recovery after back surgery, but he toughed it out for us and snuck in a day and a half of fishing. He says that he misses the days when he guided, and can’t wait to get back to it.

There are a lot of fish swimming in the waters of the Wisconsin River, namely Walleye and Sauger Especially on the stretch that Big Dave has been fishing all his life, which is strange because he’s been fishing this river for nearly his entire life. Dave has always been able to catch fish, usually in big numbers. He says this is a great spot to bring kids, because they’ll usually have steady action all day.

We are using a very simple technique, a 3-way rig with a gold hook and tail-hooked minnow. The warmer weather brings up the current because of the melting snow, so we ended up using a heavier split shot or slip-sinker. This time of year is the time for the smaller eater size fish, mostly males. As spring approaches, the bigger females will migrate from Lake Wisconsin, making it an ideal trophy-catch situation.

Episode 7
Keep it Local
Show Date: February 18th & 19th, 2012
Location: Big Muskego Lake
Guide: Pro Bass Angler Matt Bichanich

Traveling far and wide to go fishing isn’t always necessary, and to prove it, we’re staying close to to our hometown of Milwaukee. Southeastern Wisconsin has a multitude of different lakes that are good for all different kinds of species, from bluegill to walleye to bass to muskie, all within a relatively close distance to each other. Today we’re headed out onto the ice to one of our local favorites.

Matt Bichanich, our resident bass guru, takes us out to Big Muskego Lake to tip-up fish for pike. Matt is always a professional, so when we arrived to the lake at 8am, he already had all of his tip-ups in place, we just needed to add ours to the mix. We are set up in a variety of depths, as shallow as 2 feet, we’re using golden shiners with a treble-hook.

We are set up in weeds, most of which are green because of the mild winter we have had. We want to catch pike, but all that bites are large mouth bass, and we get a frenzy for about 3 hours straight! Our Yamaha’s get a workout today as we race from hole-to-hole to land some of the nicest bass we’ve seen.