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You can keep your pumpkin spice, ‘cuz this right here is the definition of fall....
Mike Frisch of Fishing the Midwest hit up the hawg trough 🐷 aka Lake Oahe (Missouri River) in SD and stuck himself a sow! She measured 31.75” long and weighed 14.02 lbs!
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Mike said they were fishing sharp channel drops in 30-40’, looking for areas with the most baitfish (herring or clouds of gizzard shad).
They were trolling deep-diving cranks with 4- and 6-oz snap weights. Snap weights ‘cuz it’s easier to control the baits along the sharp edges...could have just 50-60’ of line out instead of needing say 140’+ of leadcore out.
There wasn’t one specific stickbait that was the deal, but said it needed to be a brighter bait with some orange and/or chartreuse because of the dirty water. Apparently they had 40+ mph winds the couple days prior which really dirtied things up.
He also said that water temps were still 59-60 degrees and that the good bite hasn’t even kicked in yet. So you still have time to baja that way and potentially put the biggest walleye of your life in the boat – especially as water temps drop towards 50 degrees and the clarity clears back up.
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Hard proof muskies aren’t eating all the walleyes.... 🤷♂️
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Some folks still think muskies will ruin a walleye fishery by “eating all the good fish....”
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But have you ever noticed that many of the best walleye lakes around have muskies in ’em?
Where I’m at in MN some of those would include Lake of the Woods, Mille Lacs, Leech, Winnie, Vermilion, Rainy, Miltona, Bemidji, Cass, Gull, the list goes on and includes numerous smaller gems that shouldn’t be named....
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Exhibit 1A: This webinar called “Muskie diet secrets revealed!” is 59:15 long, but there’s a ton of interesting info and stats in there from a multiple year diet-sample study done by the MN DNR on many different lakes across the state.
Like I said there’s a TON of info in the full webinar, but a couple of quick screenshots to help get my point across.... Funny enough, walleye are eating as many walleye as muskies are:
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> “Overall northern pike consumed the most walleye at 17, followed by walleye who consumed 7, muskies ate 3 walleye...and overall that was less than 1% of the total prey.... So that tells us walleye are probably not an important food source for other fish in the lakes we studied.”
> “The number worked out to about 1 walleye per 109 muskies that we sampled...1 walleye per 125 walleye sampled...and 1 walleye per 44 northern pike.”
And since there’s way more walleyes in the lakes (thousands) than there are muskies (hundreds) then walleye are actually eating more if that makes sense.
Hmmm.... 🤔 So if muskies aren’t eating walleyes, what are they eating?
Well, A little bit of everything. Muskie diets were very broad...they consumed prey from 26 different prey groups in this study. These are just a handful of the most important prey groups they found (perch were #1 across the board).
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So long story short: Research continues to prove that walleyes are not an important food source for muskies. It’s not zero, but it’s close to that. Muskies are literally just as likely to eat a bird or muskrat. 😳 Pics from MN DNR Fisheries Specialist Kamden Glade:
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Well then what about the fish populations in lakes that maybe did NOT already have muskies in ‘em, but they were introduced thru stocking?
Exhibit 1B: This brand spankin' new write-up posted on In-Fisherman (by Dr. Rob Neumann, Steve Quinn, Dr. Hal Schramm and Ralph Manns) talks about some super interesting results in a study recently published by MN DNR fishery biologists. Few excerpts:
> To assess potential changes in fish communities, the researchers compared relative abundance (CPUE, catch-per-unit-effort in test nets) of seven fish species and mean weight of two species before and after muskie introductions in 36 lakes, which were paired with reference lakes with similar habitat and management of the stocked lakes. Muskie lakes had established muskie populations, with stocking occurring for 20 to 56 years, providing adequate time for muskies to develop several year-classes and grow to trophy size.
> The study found no significant decline in walleye CPUE or mean weight related to muskie stocking.... In fact, walleye catch rates were higher in all lake groupings after muskie stocking, although the difference wasn’t statistically significant.
> Pike CPUE in stocked lakes remained stable following the introduction of muskies, while CPUE of pike increased in reference lakes, suggesting muskies might help moderate the abundance of small pike. Yellow perch CPUE increased in lakes after muskie stocking compared to reference lakes. While white sucker CPUE has generally declined in both sets of lakes over the past 30 years, reduction in CPUE was greater in muskie stocking lakes....
> The researchers concluded that the introduction of muskies has not adversely affected gamefish populations in Minnesota lakes, supporting the findings of previous studies. They suggest that although muskies can attain large sizes, muskie density (number of muskies per unit of lake area) isn’t sufficient to “shape” fish communities through predation.
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A timely blast from the past!
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Not sure if I’ve mentioned it here before, but I came across an awesome FB page called The Structure Cafe which is “Recalling the greatest era in angling, the “Modern Angling Revolution,” centered here in the Midwest. That page is an absolute treat to scroll.
One of their first posts I came across was a picture of Roland Martin and Al Lindner together holding up a stringer of big bass walleye!
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The Structure Cafe brought back an Al Lindner Fishing Facts write-up from Nov 1976 called Now’s The Time To Catch Giant Walleyes - Here’s How. Few excerpts:
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> In the fall cold water period, as well as in the spring cold water period, the big walleyes will almost always prefer a minnow over nightcrawlers and leeches. It is possible the fish realize they obtain a lot more nutrition from a minnow than they get from the crawler or leech. Perhaps they instinctively know that they should be fattening up before their metabolism slows for the winter. Then, too, nightcrawlers and leeches are not as attractive at this time due to their lack of action in cold water. Whatever the reasons, minnows are just better for big walleyes during these cold water periods.
> The types of minnows we favor are the large retailed chubs 4” to 6” in length. It's good practice, however, to have some smaller minnows along just in case. If you continue to get strikes on the bigger minnows, but miss fish on the hookset, bringing up a raked bait, a change to a smaller size is indicated.
> Redtailed chubs work better than suckers or shiners. They are a very strong bait and remain active even in the colder water. Shiners also are excellent, but they are nowhere as hardy and don't have the swimming action that the chubs have.
> After the turnover, there is a lot of sediment and bottom debris suspended in the water. For this reason, we have been using a Mister Twister "floating rig." This rig can make a big difference in bait presentation by helping to keep it debris-free in addition to making it more visible and attractive. On rocky areas, it also keeps the minnow or salamander off the bottom, so it doesn't hang up in the rocks.
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> Both minnows and 'manders are quite effective on the floating rig. One disadvantage, however, is that your sense of feel is reduced in the deeper water. A top quality graphite rod, we found, can compensate for this loss of touch. But a full presence of mind and concentration is still the best way to retain feel.
> Walleyes in cold water hit live bait rather slowly (except sometimes in the case of salamanders). For the most part, the hits are very light and you must give the fish time before you set the hook. How long? That's a tough question. It is possible to give a walleye too much time. If you do, it will drop the bait. Then, too, there are times when lunker fish will hit a bait out of reflex, not from hunger. In such a case, if you wait too long the walleye will only mouth the bait and spit it out. Only experience can tell you how long to wait. One minute is average. Sometimes it is less: sometimes a lot more. Experiment to see what's best.
Can you believe this was published nearly 50 years ago?! Simply amazing.
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1. MN: “Break Your PB” St Jude fundraiser happenin’ Dec 6
The Crappie Chronicles crew is throwing a fish-head party to help raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. 🙌
> On Sat, Dec 6 after the St. Paul Ice Fishing & Winter Sports Show, we have Tom Reid's Hockey City Pub reserved for a big 'ol ice fishing bash. Come have a beer, chat with tons of the ice fishing industries top pros, and ultimately raise a bunch of money for St Jude.
> This will be a limited entry event, and tickets will go on sale on Mon, Nov 10 at noon.
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I’ll be there, and hope to see you there too!
Little heads up for those of you that can't make it in person:
They'll be auctioning off a bunch of guide trips on eBay (believe the bids are going to be open Dec 1-6) with all proceeds going to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. I donated an 8-hour open-water walleye trip for 2 in the Brainerd Lakes Area. I’ll keep you posted when those auctions are live. 👊
2. Duane Hjelm’s signed tourney jersey is up for auction
From Dewey’s 2025 NWT ‘Angler of the Year’ season, with the proceeds going to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. 🙌
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Each tag connects to your Garmin unit, sounding an alarm and dropping a waypoint if someone falls overboard – and automatically cutting the engine if it’s the captain.
You can pair up to 8 tags for family, pets or gear, all while moving freely around the boat. Let's see if this idea is adopted by other electronics companies!
4. This short vid = powerful stuff! 🥺
It’s from an old Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) campaign encouraging Dads and daughters to reconnect on the water.
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> “Research tells us women who fish have significantly greater grit, confidence and self-esteem than women who don’t. But it also shows girls stop fishing at an 11% higher rate than boys, and often feel excluded from fishing and boating trips. Second Catch encourages girls and women to get back on the water to continue building their confidence through adolescence and beyond!”
5. Seal Craft will be intro’d at the St Paul Ice Show
Sounds like it’s an “affordable, inflatable air boat for ice fishing” that Jason Mitchell has been sneakily working on:
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> “Perfect for early- and late-ice and often necessary for navigating treacherous ice. This machine will be great for places like Fort Peck, the Mississippi River, Green Bay, Superior and Erie.”
6. ND: Some changes to the '26 AIM schedule
7. Check out Rapala's smallest lure ever
The new Nano Rap, which is a 3/4" finesse bait built for panfish. It has a tungsten weight, rattles and has a rocking jigging action – sinks fast and dances on the fall. Available in 14 colors.
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Okay, this right here is hilarious. 😅 Posted by KTFishing on FB:
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My mouth is watering just looking at this pic posted by Ryan Pinkalla aka The Meat Season on Instagram. He said, "Fish is meat. Make it do meat things." And it has me realizing there’s more to eating fish than just the standard fish fry. 🔥
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Hope you get to eat up some fillets this weekend! Thx much for reading!
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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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