Come Out To The Shows For Our Presentation

By Steve Welch

Last year I made a big jump into this century and started doing my seminars with a power point presentation on a huge screen. Wow this is much easier. I don’t have to haul around twenty rods and all the baits and everything else I talk about.

Everyone has loved them and I get to show off my Lowrance HDS setup I have on my Ranger boat. With these systems you can take snapshots of down trees with your side imaging and shots of vertical trees with your down scan. Plus we have shots of sunken boats, old tires, roads, and whatever I see during the course of the year. This year with all the hot weather we had a very strong thermo cline set up on Shelbyville and I have some cool shots of that. Of course we have tons of pictures of fish on both the down scan and side imaging allowing anglers to see just how far the electronics have come in the last few years. Then we put them on the big screen for all to see.

I make my living as a full time fishing guide and do an average of 225 guide trips a year. In Illinois that is busy since we only have about ten months or less to get them in. I guide for crappie, walleye, and white bass. This allows me to go after a species that are really biting during that particular time of the year. For instance I can catch crappie just about every month but post spawn can be slower so I just switch over to walleye and white bass. My best months for walleye are mid May to early July then they just slip out into deep water and become hard to locate. No problem, white bass and crappie are easy to find all summer. Finally we just set the boat up in the late fall to crappie fish. I found out a long time ago to survive in the guide business first of all you can’t be a bass guide or a muskie guide on Shelbyville. Anglers want action and meat to take home. You also can’t survive as a full time guide if you don’t know how to stay on deep fish in the summer. These are my family trips, Dad, Mom and a couple of kids. I love these trips and especially the kids.

In my presentation I walk you through each month on Shelbyville and throw in a little Kentucky Lake ( my winter home ). I show you patterns that will help you in locating fish and tricks of the trade to catch these fish.

I also have a booth at these shows so I can further explain how to catch fish and help you with your electronics. We also have products that we use for sale in the booth and we are taking reservations for trips in 2013.

Here is a list of shows I will be in attendance.

Let’s Go Fishing Show, Collinsville, IL. January 4-6. I speak on January 5th and both noon and five fifteen

Illinois Fish & Feather Expo, Bloomington, IL. January 25-27 1-309-452-9646

Tinley Park Fishing & Outdoor Show, Tinley Park, IL. February 9-10 1-708-444-0921

Central Illinois Outdoor Expo, Arthur, IL. February 22-23 1-217-543-2766

Elmwood All Outdoors Show, Elmwood IL. March 2-3 1-309-231-6040

I speak at all the shows you will just have to call ahead to find out times.

Please try and attend !!!!

My 2012 season was one filled with very strange weather patterns and little rain. I saw spawning crappie in March. That has never happened in all my years of fishing. I saw water temps go up to 96 in July after our I don’t know how many days in a row of 90-100 plus heat. I still managed to catch fish though but every guide will tell you no rain can make it tough. The water just clears up so much and the oxygen gets depleted. Lucky for me we have enough boating activity that the water stays stirred up somewhat. Although they can be annoying I know it is helpful.

Actually I am blessed to guide on Lake Shelbyville. It is just about the only lake in the summer the fish remain very active partly do to its very deep water and it is wide open enough to catch a breeze most every day. This along with boat traffic keep the bait pushed up on the deep channel breaks and not just roaming around everywhere. I count on wind every day in the summer and routinely see my best bites at mid day and later.

My 2013 season will mark my 19th season of being a fishing guide and my 4th as a full time guide. Very soon this will pass up my other profession as the job I have had the longest. I worked 25 years at a factory just to watch it relocate to Mexico. Then 10 years as a plumbing and HVAC service man only to see that shop go bankrupt. I plan on remaining a full time fishing guide until I can no longer work. Hopefully many more years as I turn 56 in January. I know pretty old but at least I get to wear flip-flops to work most of the time that is.