“Wisconsin Fishing for Muskies, Smallmouths, Trout and Crappie with Ed Spoerl”

Part 4: Bet on Mepps for Trout

Editor’s Note: Ed Spoerl from Stevens Point, Wisconsin, fishes three tournaments a year, including the Wisconsin Muskie Tour and a tour hosted by a local muskie bait shop in Manitowoc, Wis. Although he’s a tournament muskie fisherman, he’s not one dimensional. He fishes for walleyes, smallmouths, panfish and trout. Though Spoerl doesn’t work as a guide, he enjoys guiding his friends and often donates guided trips for worthwhile causes.

Question: Ed, tell me about your trout fishing.

Spoerl: We have quite a few trout streams in our section of the country. I use the small Aglia, the Comet Mino and the Black Fury from Mepps when I’m trout fishing. I like the dressed Mepps’ lures when I go trout fishing. I prefer the Aglia in the chartreuse color with a squirrel-tail dressed treble hook. I also like the black blade with yellow dots on the Black Fury with dressed treble hooks.

Question: What kind of trout are you catching?

Spoerl: I primarily catch brook trout and brown trout.

Question: What rivers do you fish?

Spoerl: I fish the Waupaca River.

Question: How big are the trout that you’re catching?

Spoerl: The average brook trout will be about 8-inches long, and the brown trout will run in the 8- to-12-inch range. But, we can catch 18-inch browns on this river. Most of the sections of the river that I’m fishing are only 10- to 20-yards wide, and some of the places I fish are very narrow. I fish under a lot of under-hanging limbs and log snags, and I normally like to fish deep runs that cut under banks where the current has washed-out a hole. I also like to fish deep holes with rubble bottoms, where I usually locate the trout on the tail-out of those deep holes.

Question: What pound test line are you fishing?

Spoerl: Typically, I fish 4-pound test for trout and a 6-foot rod with an Abu Garcia Cardinal spinning reel. You can really have a lot of fun in these rivers with Mepps spinners catching these trout. Although I use a lot of Mepps spinners for my fishing, I probably use these little spinners less than I do anything else. However, when you’re in small trout streams, trying to get the attention of the trout and get them to come out from under a bank, or make the lure as it fights the current to come up the holes, those Mepps spinners are hard to beat. The small Mepps spinners have always been known as excellent trout lures all over the country.

To fish with Ed Spoerl, email fightingbsox@yahoo.com, or call at 715-340-9101.