February 2016 — John Gillespie's Waters & Woods

February 2016

Episode 7
Big Muskego & The Wisconsin Northwoods
Show Date: February 13th & 14th, 2016
Location: Big Muskego Lake, Muskego, WI & The Pike Round Chain, Iron River, WI

We get to visit two different lakes in one show for this weeks episode.

We start out on Big Muskego Lake in Muskego Wisconsin, setting a huge span of Beaver Dam’s hunting for trophy pike. We catch a bunch of fish, including a few trophy large mouth bass. We are joined by a great group of people, and a very excited group of kids. We also get a custom brat break from our friends from Johnsonville.

We find ourselves in a blizzard for the second half of the show, where we’re jigging for crappies with guide Josh Teigen. Catching anything on a day that’s as inhospitable as the one we found ourselves in would be a victory, but we caught some nice slab crappies.

Episode 8
Cracking Ice for Brown Trout
Show Date: February 20th & 21st, 2016
Location: Lake Michigan, Milwaukee, WI
Guide: Charter Captain Brian Settele [414-559-9238 | fishchaserguideservice.com]

This week we thought that we would mix it up, and get away from the ice for a week. While we did fish from a boat, it wasn’t always “open water.” We head out to the Milwaukee harbor with Charter Captain Brian Settele, hunting for the big brown trout that swim inside of and around the break walls that surround the harbor.

We are very excited to get our brand new LUND on the water, the 2175 Pro-V. This big boat is a full foot longer than the boat we ran last year, but it’s just as stable. With all the space, there is plenty of room for all of the anglers we’ve brought along. Jordan & Shawn join us from MW Marine to fill us in on everything the beautiful new boat.

We are mostly vertical jigging using blade baits like the Sebile Vibrato and Strike King Blaster, as well as plastics like the Kalin’s Jerk Jr - a 4” version of the super effective 5” Jerk-O. There are a few other lures mixed in there, as we caught a big bunch of big fish.

Episode 9
Exploring Iowa Farm Ponds
Show Date: February 27th & 28th, 2016
Location: Waterloo, Iowa

We’re venturing into new territory on this weeks show, both figuratively and literally.

This week we’ve taking to checking out “borrow pits” because we’ve heard they can have huge fish, especially considering how small they are. We are out with Ryan Harms, who manages the land where the pond is located. Ryan explains that the pit was dug out in 1999, and filled in with water the next 2 years. This small (~5 acres) pond reaches depths of 60 feet, but we are concentrating on the edges. Many of these pits are privately owned, and many land owners stress careful catch and release, which is why we can catch such jumbo bluegills. Just as you may ask a farmer permission to hunt their land, you can ask permission to fish their farm ponds.