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If you’re getting Target Walleye for the first time, a friend probably signed you up!
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I got surrounded by a wolf pack!
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And unfortunately they did NOT bite me…. 👀🤔 This has to be the closest you can come to catching a double without actually getting bit:
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Man, Garmin Panoptix LiveScope is absolutely wild [!] but ohhhh soooo frustrating when you can see how many fish are down there that won’t bite.
I didn’t have any minners with on this trip, but did get a few “overs” to bite a #5 Rapala Rippin’ Rap (custom-painted by DH Custom Baits) before the sun completely set and they turned into sniffers:
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Definitely need to do a better job of the whole “practice what you preach” thing…some of that preaching in the next Top Item…
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My go-to “set line” for fussy walleyes.
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We’re obviously not to the “dog days” of winter yet, but have noticed the set-line bite (rattle reels, tip-ups, deadsticks, etc) has been accounting for more and more fish. Wanted to get this info out there so you had what you needed in time for those next trips out.
Do you use your split-shot as a pivot point to adjust how far the minnow is able to swim away from center? Or how about adjusting how/where you hook a minnow to change how much “action” it’s giving off??
Here’s a few tricks I use to get those fussy buggers to bite when they won’t commit to the jigging stick. I’m specifically talking rattle reels in the vid, but the same tricks work for any set-lines:
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Patrick Walters runs 5 units on 1 battery?!
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Talking about open-water…but with all the lithium battery talk in the fishin’ world, I found it too interesting not to share right now.
This info was from Top Item #2 in Jay Kumar’s last BassBlaster email.
Jay was chatting with bassin’ pro Patrick Walters after his Lake Fork win, and Patrick mentioned he had this setup where he could run everything except his trolling motor off 1 BATTERY. And it never ran down. If you don’t think that’s impressive, bear in mind we’re talkin’ a pro angler with 5 [!] 12″ screens on all day, plus livewells, Talons, radio, lights, cranking over the outboard, etc. So Jay ran that whole deal down:
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> Patrick: “I’m running Relion batteries — 3 RB100s in series…for my trolling motor [Minn Kota Ultrex], and a single RB100HP…off that I’m running the outboard motor, Talons [he’s going back to Power-Poles], 5 graphs, livewells, radio, deck lights [etc] — off 1 battery.”
He says the Relions are stellar — “I’d been running Relion batteries for 5 years and was absolutely floored with them” — but it’s not all the batteries:
> “A college buddy of mine Trip Palmer, started running Sonar Pros….
> “At the end of the [fishing] day I’d get low voltage [warnings] on graphs or whatever, and I never paid attention to it because it was normal. Voltage was being restricted through the factory setups sometimes…gauge wire [used in boats] was not built for these [graph setups]…weren’t planning on people running 4 12″ screens…factory harnesses were not designed to handle that.
> “[His bud Trip] was telling me about [what Sonar Pros’ harnesses can do] and I was like, ‘Man I just don’t know.’ One thing about bass fishermen — we don’t like change. We’re stubborn. [But Patrick finally said], ‘You know what, I’ll try it.’
> “Once he rigged it…blew me away what that wire harness can actually do. You can fish all day long and not run into that [low voltage] issue. I’ve run [Sonar Pros harnesses] in my last 3 boats, and I’ve actually got it in my jonboat. My new boat is at Sonar Pros in Atlanta getting wired as we speak.
> “Each graph gets its own power source…. When I say power source, each graph gets its own designated power harness — its own cable directly to the battery. It’s not one to the bow, then to the circuit board, then spliced off 3 different times….”
Seems like the Sonar Pros deal involves thicker-gauge wire that eliminates voltage drop to each unit. So I think it’s like this: no voltage drop = crispy-sharp sonar + longer run time = all day sonar with max capability + improved battery life:
> “The clarity is much better. I wouldn’t have thought that would’ve made a difference, having true 100% power, the max it can get. I didn’t think it was possible. It’s the clearest image the graph is capable of.
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> “We usually just plug and play all these graphs, but we’re not maximizing the potential of these units. I can side scan 100′ at 5 mph and can still identify everything — it used to be at 60′ it was starting to black out a bit.
> “You’re also truly utilizing 100% of that battery — it’s not draining [as fast]. …on the water your lifeline is 1 battery so getting the most out of it is the biggest thing. It’s just a no-brainer.”
Note: His rig ain’t cheap at $900+ per battery and $100+ per harness if you wanna install it yourself. Though like Jay said, “I do believe that for us to get the most outta all this stuff, having experienced pro folks do it will make a difference now and maybe forever. Just too technical for most of us to get it right on our own.”
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When you don’t even need hooks to catch ’em….
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This snot rocket smacked that “firetiger glow” color PK Flutterfish so hard the bait was stuck in its mouth — reeled it in with no hooks engaged. #Pinned
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Speaking of PK Lures, I came across this Instagram story from Tracy Krona ( @fishnkween) and was wondering when PK started making earrings outta their 3/8-oz PK Rattle Spoons with the holographic backs? 😂
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Off Shores can take a freakin’ beating! 💪
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Was sent this from TW fan Paul Quiter:
> “On recent trip to Lake Erie my friend lost control of his boat, ran over his lines and one caught the kicker motor. It pulled the Off Shore Tackle Planer Board in and stalled the kicker! But true to Off Shore products it’s still fine!
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In this AnglingBuzz vid, Joel Nelson talks about how he picks out a spot to set up shop in the mud…he first looks for small irregularities on the contour map, and then drops an underwater camera to see what’s actually going on — lot of times there’s more “uniqueness” down there on those contour blips than you might think:
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Quote and Meme of the Day
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“Be safe on the road everyone, I just slid into the tackle shop again….”
– That quote from Ray Welle on Instagram gave me a chuckle. #Relatable
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Love this shot of ol’ big head T-boning John Hoyer’s Berkley Hit Stick, a bait he says might be “the most-lethal shallow crankbait of all time!”
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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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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
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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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