This here's a 6-figure walleye! 🤯
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At 11.59 lbs, this 29.5-incher caught by Jay Gullett was the single heaviest fish weighed in during the annual ‘Walleye Slam’ derby on Lake Erie = which earned him a Warrior Boat V238 package valued at roughly $175K! 🤑
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Crazy enough that fish might also win Jay the top honors in the ‘Fall Brawl’ tournament (pending the outcome of standard truth verification processes) which would mean he’d ALSO win a decked-out Ranger 622 FS Pro with a V10 Mercury, outfitted by AquaTraction, Lowrance, and Cisco Fishing Systems – valued at $155K.
So this catch is the biggest registered out of probably 10s of thousands of people, and potentially worth $330K, and yet there is not a single word anywhere on the internet talking how or what it was caught on? Welcome to the walleye world lol. I’ll see what I can do....
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Best presentations and cadence for fishing dirty water at early ice
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Some awesome, timely info in Jason Mitchell’s full Virtual Angling write-up and video here, few excerpts below:
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> When it comes to early ice fishing, anglers often face the challenge of intense winds before freeze up that stir up sediment and create turbid, muddy waters, especially in small, shallower bodies of water. In this video, Jason Mitchell discusses how to adapt your tactics for success in these conditions and make the most of the limited visibility, especially when it comes to walleye fishing.
> In regions like the Dakotas, you’ll run into a lot of those small, shallow dish bowl lakes, often less than 10’ deep, that freeze quickly after a 30-mph wind. That colder water can suspend particles for longer periods of time, causing the water to remain cloudy for weeks after freeze-up.
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> This dirty water can have a negative impact on fishing, even in significant bodies of water like Lake of the Woods and Upper Red Lake...along with backwater areas on Devil’s Lake and small dish-bowl sloughs. If you get really strong winds with lakes freezing over immediately afterward, you might find yourself facing several weeks of tough fishing.
> So, what can you do to improve your chances of catching walleye in these challenging conditions? One key strategy is to modify your jigging strokes and tactics. Keep in mind that in these murky waters, fish have limited visibility and can’t see their prey from a distance. To address this, you’ll want to make your presentation more enticing by using sound and vibrations.
> One effective technique is to focus on pounding your lure in place with a hard, but short, jig stroke or quiver. This hard and deliberate motion creates vibrations in the water that fish can detect even when they have limited visibility.
> Using spoons tipped with minnow heads can be especially productive in dirty water. Jointed spoons like the Clam Jointed Pinhead Pro can be really effective in these conditions by creating extra noise and vibrations to attract fish. ...focus on a hard cadence keeping the bait in one place so the fish can hone in on its location.
Gotta say those Jointed Pinhead Pro flat-out get bit. They have a bunch of cool new-ish colors that I haven’t had the chance to fish yet, but will. Scheel’s has some 3-pack color kits on sale right now that look mint:
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> Avoid high jigs strokes and baits that need to make larger runs like glide baits. Fish might have limited visual detection, but they can still hear and feel what’s happening in the water and keeping your bait in one place can help them navigate to it quickly.
Full scoop here:
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How John Hoyer fishes the Berkley Power Switch thru the ice 🥶🕳️
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We’ve talked about how Hoyer works the Berkley Power Switch for open-water walleyes on FFS, but it’s also become one of his go-to ice fishing baits. Catches eater-sized fish AND big bruisers like this 28-incher he iced with his bud Jay Siemens:
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He broke down some of those tricks below after a couple of days on the ice in SD when the fish’s moods changed...
He tied on a 2.5" size Berkley Power Switch in the "HD blue wizard" color and never had to take it off...
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...but he did have to switch up his cadence to seal the deal:
> Day 1 was all about slack-line pops to attract them and get their interest. As soon as they locked on, I made them chase it up quickly 2-3’ with a quick sharp cadence. They would absolutely choke it.
> Day 2 was different, I would use the same slack-line pops, making the bait dart around and call them in. As soon as the fish was directly under me and coming up for a look, I would sneak one more good pop in while they were 18” below the bait. The next step was easy, hold my rod dead still at the top of the stroke and let the bait search back to center. This was the ultimate move that day, and once I figured it out , they were choking it just as good or better than the day before.
Something to keep in mind the next time you hit the ice and get turned down by a finicky waldo.
👍 Hope it helps you turn a few into fish tacos!
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First-ice walleye fishing in a BLIZZARD! 🌨️
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We're finally back in the saddle. Snuck out for a quick, local mission yesterday afternoon as a blizzard was rolling thru the Brainerd, MN area. Felt good to knock the dust off the ice gear – really missed those frosty shenanigans lol.
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Just a quick, down-and-dirty video of that first hookset of the SZN. Way more to come...soon-ish.... 👊
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World's LARGEST tip-up! flag 🚩
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Seems like Jay Siemens is always up to some fun fishing shenanigans, and this one is no different. Enter the world's biggest tip-up 😮 and they do actually get their catch on! 👏👏👏
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There's 2 types of ice anglers out there: 1) The folks who have been playing, prepping and tinkering with their gear for weeks, and 2) the scramblers! 😅
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Sign up another fish-head!
If you're forwarding Target Walleye to a friend who loves to walleye fish or want your fishing buddies to get these emails, just send us their email addresses and we'll take care of it! (We won't sell the addresses, use them for spam, etc.)
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FRIENDS OF TARGET WALLEYE
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Target Walleye – walleye during open water and all species during hardwater – is brought to you by Al Lindner, Jay Kumar, Chris Philen, Brett McComas and other diehard fish-heads like you!
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Brett McComas is the main man for Target Walleye He was discovered in Brainerd, MN after years of wondering how in the heck people break into the fishing biz. He's in it now, but still can't answer that question.... Brett is one of those guys who majored in marketing, only because there was no such thing as a "fishing degree" at the time.... Get him at brett@targetwalleye.com
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