May-08 — John Gillespie's Waters & Woods

May 2008

Episode 18
Lake Erie Two-Day Adventure
Show Date: May 3rd & 4th, 2008
Location: Lake Erie, Toledo, OH
Guide: Captain Paul Pacholski [1-800-798-1218 | deacsretreat.com]

It’s our annual spring Lake Erie trip – and that means walleyes. This year we are sill talking about the ‘famous’ 2003 hatch, these fish are getting huge. Our average weight of these walleyes is 3 pounds, and all male. As usual, Captain Paul does not troll, so we get to feel the clunk of all these giant fish.

We are joined by our Yamaha buddys, Kevin, Jim, and Matt, and also our Bass Pro buddy, Tisma. Just thowing a jig and drifting brings in a lot of fish. John stays true to the ZIP, and lands a lot of these walleyes as well.

Episode 19
Northern Wisconsin in the Spring
Show Date: May 10th & 11th, 2008
Location: Vilas County, Wisconsin
Guide: Pro Guide Rob Manthei [715-477-2042 | robmanthei.com]

It’s our annual spring journey up to Vilas County to fish with our friend, Pro Guide Rob Manthei. One this show we are targeting walleyes, with all sorts of methods, and at all different times of the day.

Since our winter was so severe Rob tells us that some of the lakes in the area had just lost their ice the day before we filmed this show, so depending on which lake you go to these fish could be in any part of there spawn. Since this was the case we were only able to catch the male fish, but we did catch our fair share of nice fish.

Looking for the warmest water you can find this time of year is generally where you will find the most active fish. We worked the shorelines, where it was shallow and where there was a rocky bottom. The different methods we used were, a jig and minnow, a jig and Berkley Gulp, and a crank bait when it started to get dark out.

Episode 20
Big Dave’s Spring Crappie Bite
Show Date: May 17th & 18th, 2008
Location: Lake Wisconsin, Lodi, WI
Guide: Pro Guide Dave Ehardt [414-803-7160]

Every spring we love to join pro guide Big Dave Ehardt for his spring crappie bite. Dave says that the crappies are just starting there spawn on Lake Wisconsin, so we are drifting the shorelines to try to find where they are schooling. We are all using a drop-shot style set-up, and are bouncing along the bottom through our drift. We catch crappies all day, and at different depths.

For the last hour Dave takes us to catch some small mouth bass, to mix up the day a bit. The smallies seem to be pretty aggressive, Dave catches one on his first cast. If the small mouth are biting, it’s a sure sign of spring, so where is the warm weather?

Episode 21
Monster Bass in Door County
Show Date: May 24th & 25th, 2008
Location: Sturgeon Bay, Door County, WI
Guide: Charter Captain Dale Stroschein [920-743-5731 | wackywalleye.com]

We look forward to this show every year, monster pre-spawn small mouth bass with Dale Stroschein. We are after the huge pre-spawn female fish that are abundant along the shorelines. We drift the rocky shorelines and fan-cast jerk-baits and tub jigs, looking for transitions on the bottom. Dale says that the fish relate to the transitions so that is where you are going to want to direct your casts. This day ends up being all about presentation; we saw a few follows but no bites. So we slowed up our presentation and the fish start to hit.

Episode 22
Jeff Winters’ Spring Catch
Show Date May 31st, 2008
Location: The Willow Flowage, Oneida Co., Wisconsin
Guide: Pro Guide Jeff Winters [715-385-9313 | jeffsguideservice.com]

Pro Guide Jeff Winters takes us on a journey through the wilds of the Willow Flowage in northern Oneida County. Jeff takes us here because of the enormous amount of water there is to cover on this stretch of water. We are after walleyes on this trip, they are on a feeding frenzy because the spawn just ended not too long ago.

We are drifting the shorelines looking for weeds and shoreline grass, and when we do we use a simple weed-less jig and a minnow. We are looking for water that is six feet or less to pull these walleyes out of. These fish are hitting very light today because we are on the water just after a cold front, so we need to give them a long time to take the bait before we set the hook. It was a good trip, especially when we really get into them.