Still going thru all the content from the back-to-back media trips over the last week-ish.... Will have that all coming your way next week. But in the meantime we’ve got plenty of goods in today’s TW – here we go!
|
|
Spend a night in the boat with Nick Lindner and I...
|
|
...during our local walleye league in the Brainerd Lakes Area, MN. 
They randomly draw the lake the night before (so no pre-fishing) and then we have just 3 hours to put together the pieces to a walleye puzzle against a bunch of local hammers. Always my favorite night of the week. It's a chaotic-messy-stress-filled scramble but such a riot. And someone always catches ‘em:
|
|
Looking forward to the next one brotha!
|
|
You know it’s time to get off the water when...
|
|
...mother nature tries to turn your rod (or you) into a sparkler. 
|
|
Posted by @boise_bassin on Instagram, who said:
> “This has got to be the craziest thing to ever happen to me while fishing! Only lasted about 10 minutes but the fish were biting the whole time so we had to stay.”
Ummmm....
|
|
But in all seriousness I’m glad those guys are okay ‘cuz it could have ended very badly. If you ever see that happening (or your rod tip buzzing, line floating, etc) pls get the heck off the water!
|
|
Tom Boley is chasing GIANTS!
|
|
You already know that fishing YouTuber Tom Boley regularly kicks out a ton of great walleye content but his newest video – as different as it is – might just be my favorite so far. It’s a longer 50-ish min video where he hit up Lake Oahe, SD in search of “the one” and man was it a wild ride.
Here’s a screenshot from the vid that'll give you a little taste of the lake herring his trip, but for sure recommend diving into his full video if you’ve got the time, which you can watch here or by clicking the picture below:
|
|
Keep doing your thing, Tom! 
|
|
It’s Friday the 13th today....
|
|
Which reminded me: Did you know there’s a “Jason Voorhees” statue chained to the bottom of Crosby, MN mine pit?!
Info from this throwback KARE11 story:
> “A man-made lake in Crosby, formerly a mine pit, has been home to a slasher villain for a decade. Jason Voorhees, popularized by the ‘Friday the 13th’ film franchise, was placed 112 ft below the surface at Louise Mine Lake in 2013. Today you can still find him, creepy as ever.”
|
|
> “[12] yrs ago, Doug Klein, a big fan of the movies, decided to create ‘Jason’ out of scraps he got from construction sites while working his day job as an electrician. Klein, who also scuba dives, borrowed a fake head from his diving buddy, Curtis Lahr and spent around $30 on some thrift store clothes.
> “...Jason’s depth of 112′ means only an advanced open-water diver would be able to access him, and if you’re down that low already, you’re sure to see plenty of other amusing objects placed down there: flamingos, pirates, and a mermaid.”
|
|
Which is all fun to look at, but I’m honestly a little confused on how it could be legal in MN? I mean I’d LOVE to be able to place a bunch of random things *cough* *cough* in about 14-18′ on the weededge right in that cabbage/coontail mix:
|
|
Would probably win every local derby no matter the species lol. Well, until other folks found it with their Side Imaging.... 
|
|
“Youch!” of the week 
|
|
Someone tell John Garrett’s grandpa that those are supposed to be used for piercing lips, not ears lol. No doubt “The mall would have charged $45 for that.”
|
|
2. Some Lindner rigs are up for sale
Including: 1) Al Lindner's Lund 2075 Impact, 2) Jeremy Smith's Lund 1875 Pro Guide, and 3) Jeff Simpson's Lund 1875 Pro V. All of which are fully decked-out, of course:
|
|
They have a full breakdown of all the add-ons” here on their site. Or you can contact Lindner Media (admin@lindnermedia.com) for more info.
3. MI: Lake Huron NWT coming up July 10-11
Out of Alpena.
4. WI: Summer 'Battle on Bago is this weekend
$135K in cash + prizes! 
5. MN: Bass fishing will be open year round starting ‘26
Can’t find any specific “news” link talking about it yet, but word is the bill finally passed that will allow folks to target bass year round in MN. It was looped into a large $1.19 bil environmental and natural resources bill.
There will be a rule package coming up shortly to define when the catch and release portions are.
6. Mecca seeks marker to recognize Erie Dearie fishing lure
> Township trustees want a historical marker placed in the township to recognize the Erie Dearie fishing lure, which was invented and manufactured by the local Galbincea family.
7. WI: BRP is cutting workers at Sturtevant
Former Evinrude facility.
Couple reminders:
> In April, BRP agreed to sell its Alumacraft brand to Bryton Marine Group, a family-owned company operating in Washington State, US, and British Columbia, Canada. The day prior, BRP also sold its aluminium boat brand Telwater to Yamaha Motor Australia, a subsidiary of Yamaha Motor.
> These transactions came on the heels of BRP’s decision to sell its marine businesses and to double down on its powersports activities, in a bid to boost near-term profitability.
8. John Taranto new editorial director of Game & Fish
9. MN: United Way Kids Fishing Tournament, June 22
10. MN: Lund Mania, Ottertail Lake, July 11
11. MN: There’s a petition to stop chemical veggie treatments...
...on Lake Minnetonka. They’re spraying to remove curlyleaf pondweed and Eurasian watermilfoil. But folks are concerned that these chemical treatments (which were originally only applied to problem areas, but may now be applied across entire bays) may also destroy native species and cause oxygen depletion leading to fish stress and invertebrate loss, etc. Lot more info at the link/petition above, but remember to always educate yourself on both sides of the story.
|
|
The best shallow walleye spots right now...
...have a mixture of weeds + rock + sand. Here’s what Korey Sprengel is specifically looking for while scanning around:
> A lot of times this time of year, early summer getting into June, weed growth is coming up and has now been up and established long enough to have bait and fish.
> I will scan and look for 1-3’ tall new weed growth. It has to be there long enough for something to congregate there.
> If the weed growth is only 6-10” tall there might be some fish there, but it hasn’t been established enough to keep them there. Needs to be tall enough for the baitfish to hide, or to create a canopy for the walleyes to relax in.
|
|
> A lot of people don’t realize there are soooo many bugs on weeds. Pull in a weed stock and there’s snails, bugs, all sorts of life crawling on there. That’s another reason the baitfish, bluegill, perch are hanging there...for food.
> I’m looking for new weed growth as deep as I can find it. The depth varies…might be 5-6’ while other lakes it might be 10-12’. The term shallow varies depending on the lake…it all comes down to water clarity for what shallow is. Clear lakes shallow might mean 7-8’. Dirty lakes with 1’ visibility shallow might mean 3-4’.
> The best spots have a mixture of weeds, rock and sand.... Anytime you can put multiple things together....
> Clean sand pockets in between the weed and rock are more important than the rock a lot of times...those clean spots are often right on little breaks...sand depressions can form over time with the current wearing ‘em down. The clean bottom allows those fish to rest and lay down right on bottom where they’re going to feed.
|
|
Did anyone else get bit...by a hook? 
|
|
Love the colors that are popping in this pic of @wesleyjohnson.wj with a northern-MN walleye:
|
|
This would have been the best picture ever had I not been fixated on the plate of pizza, dangit! 
|
|
Sorta reminds me of FFS...don’t get too fixated on one thing and forget to be present in the moment and aware of your surroundings lol. Have a great/safe Father's Day weekend, Target Walleye fam! 
|
|
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.)
|
|
|
FRIENDS OF TARGET WALLEYE
|
|
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!
|
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
|