Target Walleye/Ice email

Kavajecz speed searches, No live bait allowed, Freaks of the week

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Everyone give a warm fish-head welcome to Arrow Mapping! They brought LakeVu HD to paper maps — things look killer:

Today’s Top 4

No live bait allowed: How do you think it’ll be won?

There’s an artificial-only walleye tourney (no live bait!) happenin’ tomorrow on Mille Lacs. Will be a catch/weigh/release format where every walleye caught over 1 lb counts — biggest total poundage at the end of the day wins.

How do you think it’ll be won?

A) Trolling cranks (can only use 1 rod)
B) “Sharpshooting” with baits like Jigging Raps
C) Pulling spinners with plastics

D) Other (dropshots, pitchin’ plastics, yo-yoing Rat-L-Traps, etc)

Leave a comment here how you think it’ll go down.

Imo, feel like you’d waste too much time getting reset between fish if trolling with only 1 rod…unless they find a super-duper milk run loaded with fish….

My gameplan would involve a heavy dose of option B — can be so dang efficient staying on ’em. That shiny gold “perch” color Rapala Jigging Rap can be downright nasty on Mille Lacs when the sun is shining:

Hardest part for me would be staying relaxed and fishing the bait right. I have a tendency of getting worked up in tourneys/leagues (especially during MLF formats when you can see how others are doing) and start fishing the bait too fast:

Sounds like the Classic Bass crew is gonna be following boats around and posting live updates from the water = #Stout

Speaking of artificials only….

We ran a survey last year to find out your favorite ways to target walleyes. After creepin’ on the results, it’s easy to see walleye fishing has changed BIG TIME over the last few decades.

The most interesting thing is the amount of walleye fishing done with artificial lures: Nearly 75% of Target Walleye readers use lures for at least half of their walleye fishing. Only 3% only fish live bait!!

Q: In a given open-water season, how much of your walleye fishing is done with artificial vs live bait?

You folks also broke down their favorite techniques by how frequently they use ’em:

Then we asked some random guy named Al what he thought about the results:

> Al Lindner: “Anglers today are extremely versatile. Fishing walleyes with artificials has gained widespread acceptance, and I’m glad to see it because it’s very effective.

> “Thanks to Target Walleye, more and more fishermen are learning about the latest walleye-fishing tactics and are incorporating them with tried-and-true techniques like bottom bouncers.”

Al noted that the survey showed many anglers are jigging hard-bodied baits like Rapala Jigging Raps, an open-water craze he helped get the word out on 5-ish years ago. Jigs with soft-plastics also play a key role for most TW readers. #AlKnows

Full survey results were posted here on TargetWalleye.com.

Freak shows of the week!

@robby_thal had this 30″ Manitoba freak show T-bone a Berkley Flicker Shad:

If you haven’t heard, Berkley’s got Flicker Shad Jointeds on the way (being released Dec 17, 2018). The new firetail patterns look tasty — “hot perch” and “black cougar” for sure caught my eye:

Shannon Kelly hit this Bay of Quinte rock melon trolling “purpledescent” Rapala Deep Tail Dancers last weekend. Fish have the biggest eyeball ever or what?

Daniel Litwora is all about that Lund #TillerLife

Jeff Jenkins gettin’ his Lake Erie stroll on, Okuma Cold Water Line-Counter style:

Got a cool message from Trent Follmer on the Target Walleye Instagram page:

> Trent: “Hey Brett! Reading your emails has been helping me catch more fish — really enjoy your content. Here’s a donkey from today…safe to say #7 Rapala Jigging Raps catch big fish.” #ChokedIt

Awesome fish and shots — thx much for reading, man!

This the fastest kayak ever?

Straight-up cruisin’! Imagine the sneaky fishin’ spots @josephharrickfishing could take this MotorGuide Xi3 powered ‘yak:

Only way to get ’em faster is if they’re jet-powered or flying down a drainage ditch….

Wear a PFD!

News

1. Some fresh NWT stats from John Balla…

…coming off the Lake of the Woods championship. Always been a number-crunchin’ fact lover myself. If you are too, you’ll wanna check out these snippets from walleye nut John Balla. Click the pic to make it bigger:

2. Behind the scenes look at…

…life on the road for National Walleye Tour traveling pros. The Fish Addictions TV crew just dropped this goose-bumpy teaser packed full of #RawEmotion

Seriously can’t way to see the full episodes.

3. OH: 2nd largest walleye hatch ever on Lake Erie.

Survey found 4x as many walleyes per hectare (= 2.5 acres) as the 20-yr average. #Jackpot

4. ON: Man fined $4.8K for over limit.

Tsk-tsk. Article says they found the 24-too-many walleyes in his freezer while lookin’ for possibly-poached moose meat….

This guy also fined $1.2K for keeping too many ‘eyes.

5. IA: DNR closing Missouri R. monitoring station.

Some locals are salty. Regional Fisheries Supervisor Chris Larson said:

> “With no new habitat going on, it’s hard to justify monitoring habitat just to monitor…it’s just collecting data.”

6. Outdoor News partnered with Cabela’s…

…for a youth writing contest. More deets here for outdoors-obsessed youngters.

7. You seen the PK Lures Spin A Jig yet?

8. Last chance to get in on…

…the Motorguide Xi5 giveaway! Maybe win ya a 105-lb thrust (36v, 60″ shaft) walleye-chasin’ machine! Takes 10 seconds to enter — share the link you get for bonus entries. Good luck!!

Headline of the Day

Advisory issued for walleye fish from Lyman Lake [AZ].

Glad they clarified on the fish part…so no one confused it for a walleye mammal or walleye bird (lol).

Tip of the Day

A newish technique still catching on is high-speed graphing — get it dialed in and you can cover water 3-5X faster. Keith Kavajecz cruises around and drops waypoints on fish at 15-25 mph [!] before going back and connecting the dots with his MotorGuide Xi5:

Here’s an actual pic of Keith and Gary Parsons out scouting for walleyes (okay not really, but we’re all picturing it):

#SearchAndDestroy

Quote of the Day

…how the fishing has been since we got all that rain.

– Michael Forsythe’s caption under this shot describing the insane dead bite he’s been on:

Hang in there man — if it was easy they’d call it bass fishing. 😉

Today’s ‘Eye Candy

@holymolyoutdoors pouring up a tall one this Fri night, Do-It Molds style:

Sign up another fish-head!

If you’re forwarding Target Walleye/Ice 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.)

Check this stuff out!

Who is Target Walleye/Ice
Target Walleye/Ice — 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/Ice. 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

To send us walleye pics, ice shots or whatever, just respond to this email or click here to email us. Or post it on the Target Walleye Facebook page.

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