Fishing with Doug Stange and Infisherman TV

Tuesday morning at 7 am I met up with Doug Stange at Otter Creek to film some fishing shows for Infisherman TV to air on the sportsmans channel!! The goal was to start with a couple bass segments, maybe squeeze in a walleye, crappie, muskie, or even hybrid bluegill segments... well well well, things didnt quite go anywhere close to what we hoped...we wasted the whole day chasing after bass that just didnt want to bite....This is what we were after for the show:


The crazy thing is 95 times out of 100 we could have filmed most all of those shows of different species on any given day....For whatever reason we could not get a decent tv show worthy fish to open their mouth on Tuesday... Finally at the very end of the day they were able to squeeze out a trick worm bass segment with 3 largemouth in the 3 lb range, a hybrid striped bass also in the 3 lb range and a 9 inch hybrid bluegill...

To say I was dissapointed is an understatement for sure...Here was my chance to showcase to the world some Central Illinois bass that I have spoiled with a life of luxury and they decide to close their mouths when I needed them the most...

So anyhow Wednesday morning we travelled across Fulton County closer to Canton to fish my next two secret bass lakes...the goal for an Infisherman Segment is to educate anglers by showcasing a particular lure presentation for a specific time of year and species of fish....Its nice to have some nice big fish to prove out the theory/presentation....

Well on Wednesday morning we had the same problem as all day Tuesday...the big females we were after were in lockdown mode...water temps in all 5 lakes we bass fished were all right near 65 degrees and big bass were nowhere to be found...

So by 10 am we decided bass just wasnt going to happen so we headed over to my lake to do a bluegill segment featuring some small crazy looking spoon tipped with 1" berkley gulp...The theme was to use this bait to find the biggest male bluegill acting aggressively during this time of year. Also the versatility of the bait is such that you have a great chance to catch other gamefish species while also bluegill fishing...

Well right off the bat the first fish for this show I caught an awesome 6 lb walleye...Seeing as the segment needs to start with a big male bluegill, we came up with a script while fighting this fish for it to be the third fish of the segment... You see the openings, closings, and middle portions are all pretty much filmed out of order... Here is the opening where Doug welcomes the viewers and sets the stage for this bluegill segment... (it actually was the last fish of the day)



So also since we didnt get a shot of the hookset for the walleye, we just filmed a couple hooksets on the next few fish so they could get something to match up and actually just be the hookset for the walleye....Believe it or not, it is super fun creating a fishing show!!! That segment didnt go perfect, but we wrapped it up in about 2.5 hrs with everything we needed and headed in for lunch.

 After lunch we set out to do a Hybrid Striped Bass segment featuring flukes for the presentation. Also since Hybrid Striped bass typically bite best during lowlight situations we used the flukes for the beginning and end of the segment, but switched to cut bait for the middle segments and even talked about how popular hsb were becoming for stocking into lakes and even ponds!!! That was just awesome getting to talk on National TV about cutting edge lake and pond management!!!

Here is the opening for the Hybrid Striped Bass segment. Its just Doug on the screen for the openings, and then for the rest of the show, I am standing on the front of his boat casting and catching and talking about these fish!! Yes I was nervous, but after awhile that kinda goes away...


Chef Todd came Wednesday night and cooked us a feast. This was fresh asparagus and morel mushrooms in some sort of eggs and cheese....



Chef has pretty much seen every show Doug has ever filmed over the last 30 years and spent quite a few hrs reminiscing about all the memorable ones....Chef also talked to Doug about local guys like Paul Clay who make quality lures that will now be featured in the coming pages of InFisherman Magazine!! If you are a local lure maker, you are a fool to not have Chef promoting your baits...


So the plan was for Todd to take Doug fishing Thursday to the Rock, but the rain kinda put a kabosh to that plan. We were able to film 3 complete segments in 2 full days of fishing which is very good for TV fishing show standards, but really disappointing for my standards. Oh well, we will get them next time! The company who owns InFisherman has moved their headquarters to Peoria, IL so their cameramen are stationed right here in our backyard!!

After we were done filming for the evening, Justin pulls up to the lake and heads out and catches this nice plump smallmouth bass just to prove there are some bass biting...


Also while we are out fishing, my buddy with a 15 acre intensively managed lake in Nebraska texts me this pic of a fish they just caught:


So anyhow, the rest of the week I spent running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to catch up and get everything done for everyone before Memorial Day... The next 30 days are by far the busiest time for us for the year...