September 2011 — John Gillespie's Waters & Woods

September 2011

Episode 36
Fall on Lake Erie
Show Date: September 3rd & 4th, 2011
Location: Lake Erie, Marblehead, Ohio
Guide: Captain Paul Pacholski [1-800-798-1218 | eriehopper.com]

Lake Erie is a wonderful fishery, just about any time of the year. Fall is particularly fun because we can target both perch and walleye. The weather is still extremely nice, and not fall-like at all, and the first day actually has us asking for a bit more wind. This week we are headed out with a bevy of Lake Erie experts. Headed by Captain Paul Pacholski; we are also joined by Paul’s first-mate Kim Salinas, and our ice guide Captain Mike Patterson. We are also joined by some special guests from Yamaha Motor Corporation; Kevin, Jim, and Gary who should almost be experts by now; given how many times they've been out with us on the fourth largest great lake.

We are fishing out of Marblehead Ohio, a few miles from shore. For the perch, we are using a standard crappie rig, with a sinker and three hooks with minnows. All we do is drop this rig to the bottom and the perch do the rest, we catch between 1 and 3 perch on each cast, depending on how log our rigs can last on the bottom.

After we catch our limit of perch, we head to the walleye spot. We are fishing a rock bar using a 1-hook rig with a spinner blade, sinker, and piece of nightcrawler. Using this system, all we need to do is cast out and slowly retrieve back, hopefully with a giant walleye hanging on. Of corse you could just use a jig and Gulp, and bounce the bottom like we’ve done on the bay of Green Bay.

Episode 37
Get the Frabill!
Show Date: September 10th & 11th, 2011
Location: Hayward, Wisconsin
Guide: Pete Maina [thenextbite.com | petemaina.com]

We’re back in Hayward Wisconsin for a few exciting muskie days with Pete Maina. We are also joined by Jeff Marble of Frabill Manufacturing. Jeff is the third in our crew for the late summer/fall muskie bite, and also learns what the phrase “fish of 10,000 casts” really means. The more anglers the better - when you’re patterning fall fish, it’s good to have three different baits in the water. We are casting everything from tubes, to surface baits, to spinner baits. We are fishing mainly shorelines, casting into weeds.

Episode 38
Eagle Lake Walleyes
Show Date: September 17th & 18th, 2011
Location: Eagle Lake, Ontario, Canada - Near Vermilion Bay, Ontario
Guide: Danny Herbeck [1-888-727-5865 | andymyerslodge.com]

When people talk about a Canadian fishing adventure, they can easily mean fishing beautiful Eagle Lake in southwestern Ontario, near Vermilion Bay. This massive 88 mile long lake (70,000 acres) is home to gigantic versions of all the fun species to catch; from Walleye to Lake Trout, and Pike to Muskie; there is something here for any angler - any time of year. During our stay, we’re looking for Walleye and Pike.

We are shacked up at Andy Myers Lodge, one of only a handful of resorts that dot this otherwise untouched wilderness landscape. Steve Herbek and his son Danny are our hosts and guides, giving us a great place to stay, and putting us on the fish. If you’re ever headed to a lake you don’t know, especially on the scale of Eagle Lake, hire a guide. There is nothing worse than traveling a long distance for your fishing vacation, and not being able to land the quality of fish that you will be expecting.

Our expert guides experience excellent fishing nearly all year long, and know which spots will be producing, so Danny has us on the move a lot on the hunt for the beautifully colored fishing that inhabit these waters. In fall Danny has us using all live bait on a slip-sinker set up. All we have to do is drop our bait down on the sport where they take us, a perfect blend of a perfect relaxing/exciting Canadian fishing vacation.

Episode 39
Winnebago
Show Date: September 24th & 25th, 2011
Location: Lake Winnebago; Oshkosh, WI
Guide: Pro Ice Guide Larry Smith [920-361-4996 | walleyeguide.com]

If you’ve ever fished Lake Winnebago, you know that the walleye fishing can be tremendous. If you haven't, you’ll know by the end of this weeks episode. Larry Smith and John have been fishing this body of water together for 20 years, and love to target the tasty and aggressive walleye. Larry’s son Jacob joins the party on one of the fastest bites that our show has ever seen.
As the water cools, Larry looks to stay shallow, either on rocks or weeds. Staying shallow means staying where the warm water is, which is where the walleye are. With strong winds the afternoon we head out, we are doing drifts over humps using bottom bouncers with a spinner harness and night crawler. Using this technique, the walleye practically catch themselves, and deliver us our limits in a very fast and furious afternoon of fishing.