Target Walleye/Ice email

Best sonar frequencies, DIY trailer fail, Prop wash walleye bite

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Today’s Top 5

Best Side Imaging frequencies.

No doubt modern electronics can be confusing, but I came across this Tactical Bassin’ video that does a good job of breaking down the differences between running 455 kHz, 800 kHz, and 1,200 kHZ (aka 1.2 MEGAhertz) on your Side Imaging unit.

Basically more power = more detail. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should always be running at the highest power — news to me. The farther you want to search from the boat, the lower the frequency you wanna use….

Here’s the the short version on how Tim Little from Tactical Bassin’ does it:

Uses 455 khz when in “search mode” — scanning a broader location, in deeper water. Not looking for fish…he’s looking for structure 190-250′ [!] out each side of the boat. At those ranges you’d see the higher-power frequencies sort of “fade off” into darkness.

Here’s a screenshot from his video showing how the 455 kHz (bottom) picks up a boulder transition 150′ to 190′ off to the right — switched over to 800 kHz (top) at the same spot and it couldn’t quite reach the goods:

When he graphs structure waaaay out to the side at 455 kHz that he wants a better look at, he swings over to it and switches to 800 khz to get a more-detailed picture and “dial it in.” Says you need to be closer to the schtuff you’re graphing — drops down his range to scan 100′ out to each side — but will get a clearer picture.

Now if you’ve got the 1,200-ish kHz MEGA Imaging, that’s gonna give the highest-rez/clearest picture of what’s going on — but has the shortest range. Running it 60-90′ out each side is typically gonna give you the sharpest image…talkin’ razor-sharp to actually see fish hidden in-and-around the structure you’re scanning.

More info on all the above in Tactical Bassin’s full video here:

These folks are too “hooked” on fishing!

WARNING: Don’t look if you struggle making it through getting a flu shot…

1)  Logan Lyon’s caption game is on point with this one:

> ” …says she wants a different form of expensive hardware on her finger next time….”

Hopefully that’s not the only thing they caught with that 4-carat Rapala Shad Dancer!

2)  Justin McGuire (@tight_lines_always) lost a big walleye at the back of the boat which sent a treble hook flying right at him, actually pinning his hat to his head! Said they kept on fishing but eventually had to go to the ER to get it out:

Btw – after Justin’s ER visit, he snuck right back out fishing catching with crawler harnesses off 2-oz snap weights — nice dude!
 

3) This is the only way we can get those Lake Erie guys to actually show us what the hot color Bandit is right now:

 

4)  Is your fishing buddy as nice as Brady Way?

> “I ripped it out of my teammates face after a little practice with poking a hook through a rubber band and trying to get it out without breaking the rubber band lol!”

Or would they’ve just ‘sent it’ lol:

Brady also had another good point:

> “Always wear your sunglasses…it could have been much worse.”

Speaking of rocking shades….

Careful…too much time on-the-water NOT wearing sunglasses, and you might wind up like this pike? Bryan Paulson posted it in the Fishing MN Facebook group:

Plus, it’s been scientifically proven that you’ll catch more and bigger walleyes when fishing glassy-eyed. Okay, not really…but this guy says it’s true:

Worked for these folks…

@bshinski busted out the stunnas and whacked himself a dirty-30! Said he was sharp shooting with a Rapala Jigging Rap — dropped down on a mark, 2 rips and BANG!

@pro_crush_angling stumbled across an open-water pig pen, cracking 5 fish over that magical 30″ mark [!!!] tossing small glide baits into shallow rocks — mimicking crawdad. He said “the day ended up getting fairly expensive with all the snag-ups…” but for sure worth it:

They can’t all be giants — those ‘eaters’ need lovin’ too! Bonus points for @tjmfishing’s two-toned YoLenz shades:

Ashley Thomas lit ’em up on Mille Lacs Lake, MN — pulling off a 3rd place out of 92 boats in Nitti’s Hunters Point Resort’s couple tournaments. Bag included a 29.75-incher — big congrats, Ashley!

Jacques Geyer (@j_j.fishing) is making ’em see red on Last Mountain Lake, SK. Said he was pulling leeches suuuuper sloooowlyyyyy for this bruiser:

“Swimbaits don’t work, ever. Better stick to the minnow tubs…scaly fingers make the best sandwiches anyway.”

– Love that caption and shot from Gibson Tilley getting it done with the “fake” stuff:

Those HD patterns in Berkley Powerbait The Champ Swimmers are straight-up [fire emoji] [fire emoji] [fire emoji]. And definitely gonna have to get my hands on some of those Berkley Fusion19 Swimbait Jigheads that John Hoyer’s always talking about:

Do NOT try this at home.

Posted by Kabetogama Outdoors who said:

> “These pictures were taken today. Going down the road AND headed towards the boat ramp. I don’t even know what to say?”

Yikes.

News

1. The never-ending “slot fish” debate.

Some folks say a “slot fish” is what you can keep, others say it’s what you can’t…here’s what fish biologists say from this Doug Leier write-up:

> What fisheries biologists more often refer to as a slot limit is a “protected slot,” in which anglers must release fish within the slot range, and harvest is limited to smaller and larger fish.

Now you/we know….

Sorta reminds me of another fishy debate:

2. WI: NWT’s coming to Oconto Jul 23-24.Green Bay. First tourney for the 2020 season!

3. New Vexilar FLX-30BB comin’ out.

> …new broadband technology…offers 7 sonar frequencies to optimize performance. From a powerful 150 kHz to a high-definition 300 kHz, the beam signal size variates from 20 degrees to 7 degrees…..

Also comes with a lightweight 9-amp-hour lithium ion battery. Lots more info in this FB post.

4. MN: Lake of the Woods is on FIRE.

Heard/seen similar reports from a bunch of people — but check out the day TJ Harig had by himself:

> “I had to share this story with you because I don’t think many people have experienced anything like it. I have always taken pride in my fishing abilities. It’s what I love to do. What I experienced in 2 days of fishing [on Lake of the Woods] may never happen again.

> “I boated at least 60 fish over 25″ — 12 of those were 28″ to 28.5″, and my 2 biggest were just over 29”.

> “At one point I landed 5 fish over 27” in about 20 minutes. I was all by myself, and I got to a point [where] I just quit measuring fish and stopped taking pictures so I could get a bait back in the water….

> “In 2 days, the longest stretch without catching a fish was probably 10 minutes, so it was nonstop action. One of those 29″ fish had a 14″ sauger in its mouth when I caught it!”

Yup, time for a road trip!

5. MI: Asian carp could easily happen in Saginaw Bay?

> “Researchers used computer models to simulate a one-time carp introduction. The models found under a high first-year survival scenario, it would only take about 10 carp to reproduce and eventually devastate perch populations by eating both fish and their food sources.”

6. OH: The “glory days” are right now on Erie.

The adult walleye population is estimated at wellover 100 mil fish…some locals say it’s even more better-er than it was in the late-80s.

Headline of the Day

Tip of the Day

Basically goes against everything you ever hear about walleyes lol…. But I can say that I’ve seen it work firsthand…and if a guy like Jason Mitchell is telling you about it = the truth. Make sure to hit the full Jason Mitchell write-up here, few experts below to get you and the fish pumped up!

> When surface temps climb into the low 80s, the heat often coincides with more algae in the water which often gives the water an additional stain.

> I personally believe a couple of things happen: the stain or color in the water lets you get away with more in regards to driving the boat over the top of fish, but also the heightened level of metabolism that coincides with hot water temps seem to put walleye over an edge where they become so aggressive that they almost seem fearless.

> Cast to these fish…nope. Slide by the fish with the electric trolling motor…not. You can literally pull your hair out trying to catch these fish. Run over the top of the fish however with a big motor rumbling while a 14″ stainless-steel prop turns literally 3′ over the top of the fish at a clip of 3 mph and BANG.

> Some of the most violent strikes you will ever see from a walleye. Why and how? I can only guess that there are times when the fish are so cranked up that a prop actually attracts the fish and the turbulence created by the big prop is a trigger.

> Have seen this shallow-water phenomena over and over. Putting a deep-diving crankbait on a short leash right behind the prop at a blazing speed in less than 8′ has produced a lot of big walleye for me over the years.

Keep reading here what/where/how Jason is targeting these prop-washers.

Meme of the Day

Hope your weekend included some non-cliche fishing pics. 😉

Today’s ‘Eye Candy

Love this @cranberrycoyote shot — look how proud her pup-dawg “Berk” is!

Sign up another fish-head!

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Friends of Target Walleye
Who is Target Walleye
Target Walleye — walleye during open water and all species during hardwater — is brought to you by Al and Ron Lindner, Jim Kalkofen, Brett McComas and other diehard fish-nuts like you! #fishheads
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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