First lady walleye champ, Near death by bottom-bouncer, WTHeck are willow cats

Thx SO much for all the birthday messages! So blessed to have such amazing friends and family, including my parents who obviously made me a Target Walleye cake! 😂🔥😍🙏

Heads up: We’ll be at ICAST (fishing tackle trade show) all next week in Orlando, FL. Not sure whether we’ll get a Target Walleye email out, but check our Instagram and FB pages for updates of new stuff coming your way from the show floor!

At Head2Head Fishing’s Pro Walleye Series on Pool 2 of the Mississippi River. I believe this is the first MAJOR tourney win by a woman angler in the walleye world! 🙌 Absolutely amazing:

More info to come – the derby just wrapped up – but wanted to give massive props to Marianne on taking home the 🏆 in an absolute grind-fest!

Kids – don’t try this at home….

1) This @knoteyetattoo piece looks real enough to automatically put Kev over his limit on Mille Lacs Lake, without even wetting a line….

2) What do you get when you cross a fishing enthusiast and a tattoo artist? You get Joseph Andrews knockin’ this one out…of the park:

3) Check what @mizzkittylightning said about the permanent Father’s Day gift she gave her old man:> My dad has always been an avid fisherman, so we gave him his favorite Rapala lure [a “firetiger” color #11 Jointed Rapala] with the “day he got snagged” AKA my folk’s anniversary date!

Now he’ll never lose his favorite bait, and has zero excuses ’bout forgetting such an important date (lol). Bonus points for the loop knot:

4) Never underestimate the power of a curly-tail grub. From @theonetrickpony:

5) Now James Reamer has two StrikeMaster Lazer Mags – that’s dedication dude!!

“Willow cats” (AKA madtoms, willocats, whatever you wanna call ’em) are little bullhead lookin’ buggers that walleyes love to hate, in a reeeeally hungry way. Here’s what they look like thx to a WalleyeFIRST shot I found floatin’ around the interwebz:

Would say “willow cats” are probably most commonly used in stretches of the Mississippi River (check yer local regs!) and fished around wingdams. They can be nearly impossible to get thx to trapping restrictions/bans.

Came across a company called Liquid Willowcat – they make liquid scent “from wild-harvested, fresh-ground preserved willowcats” and plastics to mimic the real thing. How cool is that?

Lot more interesting info on how/why the company got started in this write-up. Dude said that the biggest drawback so far is how well the stuff works…’cuz people wanna keep it a secret lol.

Now back to the real-life critters…

Guide Ted Peck is one of those river rats who’s ballsy enough to use the toxic little buggers (more on that below). Full Ted Peck write-up here, few fishy excerpts below:

> Ted: “Wingdams [man-made] are placed perpendicular to the current to funnel water, helping the Corps of Engineers fulfill their Congress-mandated mission (1878) of maintaining a channel for navigation. …initially built from willow mats and ‘one man rocks’. They’re typically placed in runs of 3, 5 or 7.

> “…fishing USUALLY picks up first on the wingdam furthest downstream. …not all wingdams are created equal…[some have] a significant low spot or a [larger] pile of rocks….

> “With a typical wingdam bite, holding your boat at the 8′ contour upstream from the rocks will put your bait in front of fish and generally keep you safe. Time on the water is the best way to read a wingdam’s fish potential on any given day.

> “If flow has it looking ‘fishy’ I usually confirm this with a quick trolling pass above the wingdam with a search bait like the Bill Lewis MR-6, then Spot-Lock and cast above the sweet spot….”

> “When river levels first start dropping to the point where they attract active fish, probe the water just downstream from the rocks. The structure breaks current flow, attracts bait and fish when it just takes too much effort to stage upstream.

> “By far the best way to catch ’em is fishing a little bullhead critter called the willocat on a modified Lindy Rig – with an egg sinker and long-shank #4 Aberdeen hook 18″ below a barrel swivel.

> “Walleyes HATE willocats! The relationship is like a crow/owl thing. Walleyes will flat-out attack ’em even if they aren’t hungry. Willocats are also very durable bait…can usually catch at least 2 eyes per bait (thanks to the Aberdeen hook).

> “The downside is willocats are expensive – about $24/dozen. Most guides can’t afford to furnish this bait…. Willocats are also incredibly toxic. Get horned and the pain is excruciating and will last for hours.

> “Most folks use leather gloves when hooking willocats through the lips to fish. Captain Hook’s Bait in Genoa, WI is the only place on the river which sells a plastic scoop called the “minnow cinch.” The willocat slides down the scoop and gets held in place long enough to hook it up.

> “Why would any walleye chaser use $2-per-minnow bait which is profoundly toxic? Because it works! We would use baby rattlesnakes which had to be hooked near the tail and baited up in total darkness if they worked.”

Caught by Stephen Roller near Bemidji, MN. Might wanna get that checked out!

Interesting no doubt, but I was more caught off guard by the fact that Stephen caught a small fish. Dude usually only catches giants – no matter what the species:

Exhibit 1A:

From H2H Fishing PWS angler JR Carter at the Pool 2 Mississippi River event:

Exhibit 1B:Love the black blotches on this one @esox_angler caught soaking a pickerel rig in SK:

1. Dude nearly died when his bottom-bouncer…

…penetrated his chest. 🤯 Rocketed back at him after a big pike broke off at the net. They had to keep the bottom-bouncer in him until he was able to get to the operating room.

The surgeon said there was no reason he should’ve still been alive. And that “if anything had gone any different from the second it happened until he was on the OR table he would not have been able to save him.”

So scary, and sooooo glad dude is able to fish another day.

2. ND: Largest 5-fish tourney bag ever recorded on Devils Lake…

…just happened…and it happened for a couple of youngsters [!!!] fishing the Angler Young Angler (AYA) derby. 14-yr-old Adi Houkom and 10-yr-old Ryder Houko were fishing it with 🔨 Spencer Deutz and brought in 5 for 38.69 lbs = 7.74-lb average!

Spencer said they caught ’em using slip-bobbers and leeches over a 20-25′ rockpile.

> “It was out of control…the bobbers kept going down and the fish kept getting bigger and bigger. It was crazy.”

LOVE it – 🔥 congrats!

3. CAN could re-open its border to vaccinated US tourists…

…as soon as August.

4. MN’s Paul Thorne is a Hall of Famer!

Paul has been inducted into the 2021 Minnesota Fishing Hall of Fame, and not just because he can catch ’em:

👀 But also because:

> A few years after graduating from Bemidji State University, Paul and his brother Gregg opened Thorne Bros. Custom Rod & Tackle, a prominent Twin Cities shop, designing and building thousands of fishing rods. The brothers are recognized for introducing some of the very first graphite ice rods into the market. Ever an entrepreneur and forward thinker, Paul went on to co-found MarCum Technologies, a leading brand of fishing electronics.

 

> In 2018 the brothers regrouped, creating Two Brothers Innovations and were back to designing innovative high-performance fishing rods under the brands Elliott Rods and 2B FISHING.

Well-deserved, man! 👊

5. ND: Gov’s Walleye Cup is on Lake Sakakawea this weekend.

260 two-person teams are signed up for the 46th annual derby.

6. MN: Mille Lacs is back open for walleye fishing.

Catch and release only now thru Sept 15. No fishing for walleyes from 10PM to 6AM.

Then Sept 16 – Nov 30 folks can keep 1 walleye between 21-23″, or 1 fish > 28″. All other walleye must be immediately released. During this timeframe the night closure doesn’t start until midnight…so get a couple extra hours of trolling after dark.

Full Mille Lacs regs here. And probably the only place you should be checking in case there’s any changes to the regs or a sudden closure…which does sometimes happen.

Soooo what could cause the walleye season to be closed early? Here’s a little info from Erik Jacobson in the Mille Lacs Messenger:

> Nowhere else in the state does the DNR keep track of post mortality walleyes (the fish that die after release). On all the other lakes a dead walleye is simply bird food. But on Mille Lacs, that fish counts towards the angler portion of the allocation for the year whether it actually existed or not. The post mortality pounds are the biggest reason the season has been shut down every year now since the first time in the history of Mille Lacs in Aug of 2015. And there is no solid proof the numbers are even remotely accurate.

> The allocation is a finite number. Once it is supposedly reached, the lake is shut down. But here’s the kicker: the post mortality number is a calculated guess. An interpolation of the number of walleyes the DNR thinks that anglers have caught and released according to the creel data taken at the accesses. It is then put into a formula that determines how many fish they think died after anglers released them.

7. FishUSA has Acme V-Rods buy 2 get 1 free.

Comes in 2 sizes (1/4- and 3/8-oz) and 12 colors. Clockwise from the top left = dead meat, maverick, big muddy and party boy:

> The V-Rod features an all steel frame with lead injection molding body to create the ultimate baitfish presentation. Finished off with ABS plastic covering for the ultimate durability + hyper realistic + sharp paint finishes. Cast it, retrieve it, vertical jig it, you name it. The V-Rod will catch you fish, period.

8. Suzuki outboards has 2 new sales dudes.

Rocky Youngwirth (KY, TN, MS, AL) and Dean Corbisier (CA, OR, AZ, NV, UT).

9. Yamaha has a new app.

> MyYamahaOutboards reports owners’ outboard history information and maintenance requirements, reminding owners of recommended outboard service intervals. The system records each interval completed by participating Authorized Yamaha Outboard dealers, and for owners who prefer a DIY approach, MyYamahaOutboards offers handy maintenance charts.

> The app and portal notify outboard owners when service appointments are due through push notifications and messages within the app itself. Over time a complete history of the maintenance performed on the Yamaha outboard has the potential to enhance the resale value when it comes time to sell.

10. SD says you can take fish with blowguns?

11. OH: Now a giant goldfish was caught outta Erie:

How Ross Robertson chooses what size weight…

…to run when pulling spinners. Of course there’s lots of variables (speed, depth, water temperature, etc) but here’s a quick rundown on how he starts:

– That’s Dylan Nussbaum putting his go-to confidence bait – a Rapala Flat Jig – to work on Huron, OH gravel lizards. You think this one wanted it? 🎯

That #6 Flat Jig weighs 1 3/16 oz [!] – runs 80% heavier than similar-length Jigging Raps – making it THE option for heavy current or ultra-deep water…. So why is it the first bait Dylan grabs in shallow (<10′) water, too?

He said running big, heavy baits up shallow is something they do a ton back home in PA.

Gives fish a little different look in shallow water too ‘cuz it’s way less “darty” than the original Jigging Rap…can get it to glide 4-8′ out to the sides [!] with a slightly harder rip and longer pause. Obviously works well for D-Bomb! Here’s another top-down look from him matchin’ the perch profile:

This walleye looks genuinely happy to have been caught by @aidanc_fishing in QC:

💯 Great shot, and dude posts a bunch of ’em on his Insta!

Gotta send it off with a little #FishFlopFriday action from Josh McFaddin. Tight lines (and grips 😂) this weekend if you’re getting out!

National Professional Anglers Assoc. 

MN-FISH