Babe's the real deal when it comes to fishing information

More than a dozen years back, I attended a fishing seminar held in a huge auditorium in one of the deep south states.

An acquaintance gave me a ticket to the event and suggested I go because the professional angler giving the seminar was supposed to be very good.

It was an hour-long experience, and to make a long story short, I was only able to discern a half dozen words of what the guy was saying during his long audio-visual presentation.

Call me a snob if you want, but the presenter's slow, dragged out drawl put me to sleep. He kept hammering what he believed were the important factors in catching big bass, and for him that meant casting spinnerbaits to the shorelines of his favorite lakes.

In my humble opinion a fair number of seminar speakers have pledged themselves to become walking and talking billboards for the companies that sponsor them on the pro bass circuits.

That's not the case with the Lindner brothers, Spence Petros, and Babe Winkelman.

Like the others, Babe draws huge crowds when he brings his seminars to town. Having worked a bunch of years with Winkelman at various outdoor sport shows, I am always amazed at the amount of information he puts forth for public consumption.

Winkelman is originally from St. Cloud, Minn., and grew up working in the family construction business. Even at an early age he loved to fish, and that was a major factor in his move to Brainerd, Minn., where he joined forces with Ron and Al Lindner.

Not too very long after that Babe broke off on his own and started producing outdoor television. And then he rolled out his now-famous Good Fishing television show.

You've read here in the past that I spouted off about outdoor television shows in general. Over that last 10 years or so it has come to where just about anyone with a few thousand bucks, some camo clothing and a computer can glue together some video of hunting and fishing exploits. Most of the stuff is nothing more than some good old boys with three first names exclaiming "good feeush."

Winkelman learned long ago that viewers want to be educated while also being able to enjoy a good, professionally producted show. He's gone to the wall with what eventually winds up on the air. His production crew has been called the best in the business.

Many anglers just want to learn how to locate and catch fish. For some reason Chicagoans have a special penchant for catching and eating walleyes, claiming that species offers the best table fare. Who am I to argue that love affair, since my tastes run more to the pike and bluegill side of the menu? Winkelman takes his camera crew to lakes where anyone can access and proceeds to catch jumbo walleyes and many other species as well.

Anyway, Babe will be in town Friday to present the first of his three angling seminars at the new America's Outdoor Show at the Donald Stephens Convention Center.

When Babe steps on to the stage, the audience already knows he'll give them their money's worth. And when he's finished the minions flock to him in a mad rush to bask in his presence. It's almost as if he was giving away hundred dollar bills.

Winkelman knows his public. He spends an inordinate amount of time before and after his seminars meeting anglers and signing autographs.

Try not to miss his seminars Friday night and Saturday afternoon at the America's Outdoor Show on River Road in Rosemont.

Outdoor notes

There is safe ice on many of our area lakes and ponds.

Even though we had a major teasing of sorts with local weather conditions last weekend, the mercury's drop into oblivion again firmed up matters.

Here's the latest on the ice fishing front:

Fox Chain: Pistakee Lake has a hot bite for bluegill and white bass for the moment. A few walleyes have taken large minnows on Lake Marie in 8-foot depths. Bluff Lake crappies have been decent.

Lake Michigan (Ill.): Perch action at Montrose has started picking up again despite the loss of most of the ice. Belmont is good as well.

Lake Michigan (Wis.): There's decent steelhead and brown trout action at Kenosha and Racine Harbors.

Water safety: The Waukegan Coast Guard Auxiliary Flotilla 41-5 will be teaching classes on boating safety this winter and spring at their operations center (9 N. Harbor Place, Waukegan, IL.). For more information or to register, contact Curt Schumacher at (847) 392-2337.

On the fly: The Great Waters Fly Fishing Expo is going on now at Pheasant Run in St. Charles.

• Mike Jackson can be reached via e-mail at angler88@att.net, and you can catch his weekly outdoors radio program 6-7 a.m. Sundays on WSBC 1240-AM.