July 2013 — John Gillespie's Waters & Woods

July 2013

Episode 27
Larry’s Winnebago Guide Trip
Show Date: July 6th & 7th, 2013
Location: Lake Winnebago System; Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Guide: Pro Guide Larry Smith [920-361-4996 | walleyeguide.com]

It’s a good ‘ol fashioned guide trip to the Winnebago system this week as we load up the Lund with some great customers of Larry’s for a great day on the water. This show is a great example of how diverse Lake Winnebago and it’s rivers are for just about every angler.

We get to try a few techniques, in a few different areas; vertical jigging, casting, and dragging bottom bouncers. All techniques lured in fish, and offered a great variety of different species as well. The day start out with almost no wind, transitions to perfect wind for the reefs, and ends in a nor-east’er that pushes us off early, and get us soaked in the process.

Episode 28
Crappie Fishin’ with Big Dave
Show Date: July 13th & 14th, 2013
Location: Lake Wisconsin, Lodi, WI
Guide: Pro Guide Dave Ehardt [414-803-7160]

Dave Ehardt, a long time friend of the show and guide, still loves to see the bobber go under when he’s crappie fishing. Which leads us to Lake Wisconsin, with Dave and his nephew Curt, to park on a few hotspots and cast bobbers for crappies. Dave says that he’ll see the bobber go down in his dreams after a good day of crappie fishing.

After getting a mess of “eater-sized” crappie, we head out to a few different humps to look for evening walleye, which caps a perfect Wisconsin fishing outing.

Episode 29
Operation Muskie VI
Show Date: July 20th and 21st, 2013
Location: Lake of the Woods, Oak Island, MN; Walsh’s Bay Store Camp [1-800-214-2533 | baystorecamp.com]

We are pleased and honored to once again be invited to Operation Muskie on Lake of the Woods. Operation Muskie is an annual event that is now in it's sixth year, which hosts 20 war veterans that have recently been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan. At the end of this years event, Operation Muskie will have welcomed 120 vets to Bay Store Camp for a week of fishing. Ten great Muskie guides donated their time this to take these guys out for a week of fishing. One of those guides is Pete Maina, who we tag along with to capture this great event. Each guide takes two different vets out each day, so each can learn the most from this trip.

Lake of the woods is a massive 1,000,000+ acre body of water occupying parts of two Canadian provinces and the state of Minnesota. Contained within are over 4,552 islands and 65,000 miles of shoreline. With all of that shoreline, this is an esox anglers dream.

Bay Store Camp is our home base, and the launch pad for our hunt for the fish of 10,000 casts. Frank & Laura Walsh are our hosts, and have been since the very first Operation Muskie event. In our boat we try a variety of baits to work over the massive amount of shoreline that we fish, where everywhere looks like a “juicy” spot.

In addition to the fishing, the weeks schedule allows for the group to get together and discuss the days events. Operation Muskie is about the camaraderie among the group as much as it is about the fishing.

Thank You to all the Men and Women of our armed forces.

For more information on Operation Muskie visit: www.OperationMuskie.com
For more information on Walsh’s Bay Store Camp visit: www.baystorecamp.com

Operation Muskie could not happen without the generous support of individual donations, industry gifts-in-kind, and corporate sponsorship. A special thanks to Mills Fleet Farm, Amsoil, and Walsh's Bay Store Camp.

Episode 30
Fun Fishing
Show Date: July 27th & 28th, 2013
Location: Part 1: Otter Tail Lake, New York Mills, MN; Part 2 Pine Lake, Oneida County Wisconsin

It’s a fun 2-location shoot this week as we get to pre-fish walleye before the LUND Mania 2013 tournament, and fish closer to home on Pine Lake for bass.

The annual Lund Mania was held again this year near New York Mills Minnesota on Otter Tail Lake. A total of 50 boat participated, and is an “owners tournament,” which means to compete each team is fishing out of their LUND. This event is as much about the fishing, as it is about getting a community together to celebrate and have a good time. For us, we’re heading out with Bret Setterholm to pre-fish. Bret is a local guide in the area, and is also fishing the tournament, so he’ll be opening up his best spots to us so we can see what this beautiful lake has to offer.

The second part of our show takes us to Pine Lake in Oneida County Wisconsin, where John is treating Ryan the photographer to a day of fishing so he can participate, instead of just watching. This lake is well known for walleye and bass, and it’s the bass that we’re concentrating on today. Fishing the shallow bays with the ever-popular ‘wacky’ worm proves to be the best way to lure these pigs out of hiding.