June-09 — John Gillespie's Waters & Woods

June 2009

Episode 23
Giant Spring Bass
Show Date: June 6th & 7th, 2009
Location: Sturgeon Bay; Door County, Wisconsin
Guide: Charter Captain Dale Stroschein [920-743-5731 | wackywalleye.com]

We are up in Door County again, and as usual Dale doesn’t disappoint. Charter Captain Dale Stroschein is always on the hunt for trophy fish, no matter what the species. We also have a special guest with us this week, Mike Pekrul of M-W Marine. M-W Marine is an original sponsor of Wisconsin’s Waters & Woods, since 1990! This week we are targeting huge small mouth bass, the same huge fish that have made Dale famous for his home water. We are just at the start of the season, and the smallies are going nuts!

We try a half-dozen different spots on an unusually cool June day until we find where these monsters are feeding. Once we find the pod of fish we were looking for, we move up and down the shoreline fan-casting for a bite. We are working just a small portion of the hundreds of miles of Door County shoreline that is available for angling. We are casting into flat rocky shoreline, trying a number of different of techniques. Our most successful lures are the wacky worm on a bass hook or a spinner bait.

Even though it is a very cool day for June, we have a great day on the bay pulling in these huge bass.

Episode 24
Bounty on Winnebago
Show Date: June 13th & 14th, 2009
Location: Lake Winnebago – Oshkosh, Wisconsin
Guide: Pro Guide Larry Smith [920-361-4996 | walleyeguide.com]

It’s finally a decent weather day this year, and we get to spend it with Larry Smith on beautiful Lake Winnebago. We join a few of Larry’s guide customers as we cast the reeds looking for walleyes. Lake Winnebago is a very vestal fishery, and has a bounty of fish that are all fun to catch. We experience that bounty on this trip, finding walleye, bass, and northern pike all congregated in the same areas that we are fishing.

We start out using a variety of live bait: minnows, night crawlers, and leeches. We find that today artificial baits are the way to go, casting Rattletraps and Cleo’s. We are ripping these baits through the weeds, and these fish are hitting hard. Once we find the hot baits, our rods are bent all day, which is great on a flat calm day. Larry usually fishes the reefs when there is more wind, but on a calm day working the shorelines is where you’ll find the fish.

Episode 25
Eagle Lake
Show Date: June 21st & 22nd, 2009
Location: Eagle Lake: Vermilion Bay, Ontario, Canada
Guide: Danny Herbeck [1-807-227-2610 | andymyerslodge.com]

We always love heading up to Andy Myers Lodge in Vermilion Bay, for some fantastic fishing. We are guided again by our friend and co-owner of Andy Myers, Danny Herbeck. To start out Danny has us on a great post-spawn walleye bite. Later in the show he shows us the little known bass bite that Eagle Lake has to offer.

Jig and a dead-hooked minnow are the ticket for these beautiful walleyes, dead hooking is a way to keep you minnow on your hook when you are taking lots of casts. Lots of casts bring lots of quality fish, especially for post-spawn. We are fishing anywhere from 18-32 feet of water, Danny has caught walleyes in up to 47 feet of water. There are lots of places to find fish on this 80-mile long lake, and by September these long fish will be heavy too from a summer of feeding.

When we decide to fish bass, we look for rocky shoreline, and on Eagle there is plenty of it. For the bass we are using a jig and a white GULP minnow. We are fan casting toward the shoreline, and the bass that we are catching are fat pre-spawn bass.

Episode 26
Canadian Fly-In Adventure
Show Date: June 27th & 28th, 2009
Location: Boot Lake, Ontario; Flying out of Andy Myers Lodge, Vermilion Bay, Ontario
Guide: Danny Herbeck [1-807-227-2610 | andymyerslodge.com]

Today we have a once-in-a-lifetime fly-in to a remote lake in northern Ontario. We are flying out of Andy Myers Lodge with Wilderness Air to a lake called Boot Lake in the wilderness of Ontario. Our pilot tells us that we are the first fishermen on the lake this year. Boot Lake, one of the 30 lakes that you can fly to, is a numbers-lake. We catch one after another, until our arms are tired.

We are targeting walleyes and perch, which are all grouped together on the weed flats. We can pretty cast any bait that we enjoy fishing with and catch fish. We try anything from GULP to the ZIP to crank baits. When we are casting crank baits, we hook up with a few pike too. It’s a great day on the water, and would be any anglers dream.