Thursday, September 22, 2011

Filming with Midwest Outdoors

Saturday and Sunday we filmed 6 fishing show segments with Midwest Outdoors. They have been filming weekly hunting and fishing shows for the last 25 years and can be seen on Fox Sports Midwest, the Sportsmens Channel and many local markets all across the nation.

The hosts of the shows we filmed were Larry Ladowski and Steve Ryan. Steve has been fishing with me several times with various film crews like InFisherman TV and to catch fish for promotional photos, etc. Larry I just met for the first time, nice guy! So anyhow while talking with the camera guy Dennis Saturday night I found out that they have never before filmed more than two complete segments in a days time of filming.

Well, they showed up at 11 am Saturday and by 7 pm they finished filming their 3rd complete show of the day on 3 different Herman Brothers managed lakes!!! First show was bluegill and redear sunfish fishing in an old jon boat on a 6 acre pond highlighting some new jigs by Custom Jigs and Spins while using Frabill gear, nets, etc.


Second show of the day we filmed with a clients' friends and family on a custom made fishing pontoon boat by AAD custom boats on a 40 acre Herman Brothers managed lake! This pontoon boat is perhaps the most thought out, innovative and comfortable large family fishing boat on the planet. (I can say that because I helped design it). It is a fish catching machine! Here is a pic of a nice bass from our maiden voyage:


The theme of this show was family fishing suspended crappies for a fish fry. Slip bobber techniques, crappie behavior, and family fun were the focal points. 2 hours and we had 40 crappies in the livewell!! The fish actually weren't biting great across the lake, but we did finally find one spot where they were stacked up off a main lake point. Here are some shots of the boat.




Third show of the day was topwater bass fishing at dusk on a 16 acre Herman Brothers managed lake! Didn't land any lunkers, but filmed a fun segment with lots of topwater action on buzzbaits and frogs. Then we feasted on burgers and fresh crappies!

These shows will air on Midwest Outdoors next spring and summer so make sure to tune in for them! But that wasnt it. We went back and stayed at my place for the night and got up early Sunday morning and headed out to one of my favorite fishing properties in Illinois- Otter Creek.

So we pull up to Otter Creek and are greeted not only by Ryan Pudik but by a stiff east wind and light rain. Perfect day for filming eh? So anyhow after waiting around for an hour the rain died down enough to get out in the boats and film a bass segment on the big 120 acre lake. Justin and I were in a seperate boat crappie fishing and we went through 6 dozen minnows in our 1.5 hrs on the water!!

Wrapped up that segment which was showcasing some soft plastics I think and headed to the 18 acre VIP lake. That segment should have only taken about 20 minutes to film in entirety because that lake is so good of bass fishing for 3-5 lb bass, but it actually was tough fishing. Took two hours to film that one, but they got some real big fish.

Then the Midwest Outdoors crew had about 1.5 hrs left before heading down towards Kinkaid Lake and eventually Kentucky Lake but we decided to put in at the Canadian Lake anyways to try for a multi-species segment. This lake is a very special 53 acre lake with obviously a Canadian/Boundary waters themed fishery. Let me just say the fish in this lake were on FIRE. 11 tiger muskies, 40 walleyes, and a handful of real chunky smallmouth bass later and they wrapped up their 6th complete segment in 2 days of fishing!!!

This was my only pic from Otter Creek fishing. It was raining most of the day and not convenient to take pics.



Was an extremely fun and informative weekend. Very encouraging to see that what we are doing with fish and lakes around here is cutting edge stuff that stacks up and ranks on the national radar! These guys fish around the world regularly and are excited about coming back to do some more fishing!

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