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The 43rd-annual Iowa Great Lakes Walleye Weekend was May 3-4. The IA DNR released 10 tagged walleye into Big Spirit Lake, East Lake Okoboji and West Lake Okoboji, and this year’s grand prize was $43,000 for anyone who caught one (the money would be split equally if more than one of the specially-tagged fish were caught).

They actually hadn’t had one caught during the 2-day regular contest since 2017 – until now....

Dawn Ingvaldson was fishing with her boyfriend and local guide – Shawn Haley of Angling Adventures Guide Service – when she caught the tagged, money-winning fish just 2 hours into the contest. #ChaChing!

They were trolling with #5 Berkley Flicker Shads on long 12’ rods so they don’t have to mess with planer boards at night. Also allows them to boat flip most fish in because netting at night is chaos.

Said they had a massive cold front move thru so they slowed their (t)roll a bit down to 1.7-2.0 mph. Working in and out around 7-9’, getting right up in by the docks because: “If they’re catching fish off the docks at night, then why are we out deep...get in there. I like the shallow bite.”

Dawn chose her crank color, which was one of their go-to confidence baits: A "flashy ghost" color #5 Berkley Flicker Shad.

They started trolling at midnight on Big Spirit Lake and caught the fish around 2am.

> Saw something odd on it when it came out of the water...hoisted it in the boat and said ‘Honey, you’re not going to believe this.’

> Threw it in the livewell and kept trolling. Then after 15-20 minutes thought you know maybe we should get this checked.

Shawn’s been fishing this contest for 20-ish years, and guess they didn't get too worked up because it could have been an older tag from a previous year and not a winner – but luckily for them it was a fresh one, and true needle in a haystack.

> “We’re looking for a semi-local taxidermist to have it mounted, and bring it down to the bait shop for people to see.”

Btw Shawn also said:

> “I still haven’t gotten my tip out of the deal yet...still in negotiations [laughs].”

Lol. Big congrats you two!

AIM says it’s taking walleye tournaments to the “NXT” level with a new major series coming in 2026 – details from this press release:

> Hang onto your gunwales, walleye anglers across the Midwest, and all the thousands of loyal members of AIM Fan Nation. Because In 2026, the “NXT Tour” of walleye tournament fishing will arrive.

> From the AIM Weekend Walleye Series, The NXT Tour will launch a new era of big-time national fishing, and teams competing in the AIM Weekend Walleye Series in 2025 will get first crack at signing up.

> “Planning for the AIM NXT Tour series has been quietly coming together for 2 yrs now, and while we’re still putting the details in place, it’s time. We’re absolutely thrilled to finally break the news to everyone in Walleye World that AIM’s ‘NXT’ big thing is coming to the water,” announced Denny Fox, AIM national tournament director.

> “Our aim, pun intended, is to offer all walleye anglers a high-quality tournament tour experience, with AIM’s proven and now often copied Catch-Record-Release philosophy at the core. We know you’re going to be ready to jump on board when we roll this series out, guaranteed. We’re truly pumped to let you know what we’ve got in store, as we begin ramping this up to go next season,” Fox continued.

> AIM will be announcing much more information about the tour in the coming months, but here are the details so far:

> The NXT Tour will feature three 75-boat qualifier tournaments with a $1,400 per 2-person team entry fee, followed by a no-entry-fee championship. Qualifiers will take place on Thursdays and Fridays. All teams must enter all 3 qualifiers. There will be no single event entries. All events will feature AIM’s proven Catch-Record-Release format.

> Pre-fishing will start on the Saturday before each event. Each tournament site will be closed to all entry for seven days from the Saturday before the official start of pre-fishing.

> The no-entry-fee championship will be 3 days of competition, with the top-40 boats from the tour invited. The top-10 teams will make the final day cut.

How do you get in?

To enter, teams will receive an invitation using these criteria:

First Tier:

> The top 20% of teams in the 2025 AWWS Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Team of the Year standings in each of AIM’s four divisions (WI, MN, ND and Rivers) get the first-tier invitation.

> “We will allow teams to break apart and take two spots to enter,” Fox explained. “To illustrate, if my partner and I win Team of The Year, we can each pick another partner to enter. This stands for all tiers of qualification.”

Second Tier:

> The next eligibility will open to remaining teams in the AIM Team of The Year standings in each division who fished 3 events and their division championship.

Third Tier:

> Eligibility will then open to anyone who has fished at least one AIM event in the previous year.

Last Tier:

> Finally, eligibility will be extended to anglers who have fished an AIM tournament at any point in the past. This will begin with the tour’s second season.

> Because all teams must enter all 3 qualifiers, and there will be no single-event entries, is why it’s called a tour. At the tour season’s end of qualifiers, if you are in the top 50 in NXT Tour T.O.Y. points, team captains will automatically retain their spot in the NXT Tour for the following season if they choose. The remaining 25 spots for the next season will follow the tour’s qualification process outlined above.

> “Fan Nation and ALL walleye tournament competitors. Your NXT Tour is coming in 2026,” Fox said. “Join us as AIM goes all in on the future of walleye tournament angling.”

Keep you posted as I learn more.

High-speed graphing is a technique that’s been around some time on the Great Lakes, but just isn’t talked about a whole lot. Yup, there’s also times you can do this same thing on “normal” lakes as well....

Ross Robertson is one of those dudes who’s willing to tell you exactly how he does it = cruising around and dropping waypoints on fish and bait at up to 30 mph [!!!] before going back and connecting the dots. Now THAT is how you break down the BIG water in short order.

But there’s another high-speed graphing trick that Ross recently clued me in on, and it involves a simple adjustment he makes with his Humminbird XPLORE unit that allows him to see bottom transitions on 2D sonarwhile cruising at up to 30-40 mph!

- That's Dylan Nussbaum talking about the new Z-Man Graph ShadZ.

Dylan also said that “when the bite gets a little tougher, the Graph ShadZ is an awesome clean-up lure alongside the classic Jerk ShadZ” (1-2 punch). And that it has a killer slashing/shimmy action and you don’t have to rip it nearly as aggressively.

Can see a preview of that nasty slashing/shimmy action in this short underwater vid.

Few more details about the Graph ShadZ:

> A pre-rigged, line-through FFS bait that is designed to keep your bait constantly running true. The line-through design (eliminates the possibility of your knot becoming manipulated in a way that hinders the action of the bait)...perfect line angle for precise horizontal balance, pendulum swings, and depth control.

> ...balanced head design and naturally buoyant [Elaztech] material that provides the perfect horizontal posture.

> ...an air cavity in the body increases the strength of forward-facing sonar returns, as the molded scale pattern traps air and releases air bubbles for increased sonar visibility.

Same bait that Dylan used to catch this mondo 31.25-incher during the Lake Erie Fall Brawl. Said he spent 10 minutes straight trying to coax ‘er into biting when it finally engulfed his Z-Man Graph ShadZ. She had a MASSIVE frame but went “a disappointing 7.5 lbs for weight.”

So apparently it catches ‘em all year round, but summertime sniping – look out!

Called northern pikeminnow, and there’s a bounty program in WA meant to knock down the species to help juvenile salmon and steelhead in the Columbia and Snake Rivers:

> Anglers are paid for each qualifying northern pikeminnow they catch, with payouts increasing as they catch more fish. Anglers will earn $6 for the first 25 fish, $8 for fish 26 to 200, and $10 for every fish over 200. Anglers can also catch tagged northern pikeminnow worth up to $500 each.

Believe it or not, this cooler full was probably worth over $1,000.

> To qualify for a cash reward, northern pikeminnow must be at least 9” long, and caught within the program boundaries....

Might have the word “minnow” in their name, but they can grow surprisingly big. This one caught a couple years ago by @thefishingdoctorsadventures isn’t from within the boundaries (was a couple hundred miles north in British Columbia, CAN) but was absolutely massive so I had to share:

Some folks would probably drag that around on a Lindy Rig in Oct... HA!

But here’s where it gets really crazy:

> In 2024, anglers turned in 176,420 qualifying northern pikeminnow, with each angler averaging 14.5 fish per day. The top 20 anglers averaged 4,514 fish and $45,405 in cash rewards over the 5-month season [runs from May 1 to Sept 30].

> The program’s top angler [in 2024] earned $164,260 by catching 16,150 fish [in just 5 months] – a new program record, surpassing the previous highs of $119,341 and 14,109 fish set in 2016.

I want in on this lol.

1. MN/WI/MI: The onX Fish Midwest app is live

> Meet onX Fish Midwest, the most comprehensive fishing tool to help find new lakes, and give you the confidence to get there. onX Fish Midwest is currently available in three states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan – and we’ll be adding more states throughout the year. Easily identify and filter new lakes by species, size, and abundance. Then go fish like it’s your home waters. Don’t chase reports, find your own success with onX Fish.

If you’re a fish-head in MN, WI, or MI, you’re gonna want to add the onX Fish app (free trial) to your phone’s home screen and put that puppy on speed dial! It’s literally a cheat code for finding your new favorite honey hole and so much more.

I’ve been using the app since last summer and found multiple new lakes in my backyard holding walleyes – sometimes giants! – that I never knew existed. There’s so many things you can do with their different filtering and layer options...more on that later.

You can get 20% off when signing up with code: TW on their site.

2. WI: Walleye stock is up in the Winnebago system

> "Since 2016 the system's walleyes have consistently produced year classes ranging from slightly below average to near record highs. This has resulted in a robust population with a variety of year/size classes and overall excellent angling opportunities."

> The [annual trawling assessment] data show multiple strong walleye year classes in the population, including the 2022 year class, the third-largest on record since 1986. When assessed in that year's trawling study, the 2022 year class of walleyes was measured at 17.4 young-of-the-year per trawl [the long-term avg is 5].

> In addition to the young-of-the-year data, the 2024 trawl showed a catch of walleyes age "2-plus" (about 10-12” in length) that was in the top seven in 39 years.

3. WI: Governor’s Fishing Opener comes to Rice Lake

4. I mentioned before that I...

...wanted to give BIG props to Tom Huynh who hopped in the boat with Pierre, SD’s Volunteer Fire Department for their Rescue & Dive Squad Training. He spent several hours helping them understand “how to map water depth, currents, and underwater obstacles, detect movements, and identify submerged objects for reducing time spent during recovery efforts.”

They even placed mannequins in the water to simulate emergency situations in which they may be called on.

> “This new technology can not only help us locate a target in the water quickly but also assist us in getting a diver on that target to retrieve it without having to conduct search patterns. We greatly appreciate these gentlemen taking the time out of their day to give us some pointers!”

So dang cool. Thank you, Tom!

But can we also take a second to talk about how much dang room there is on the front deck of Tom’s Vexus DVX22?! No more awkwardly dancing with your co-angler?!?! LOL:

5. MN: Leech Lake Walleye Tournament, May 30-31

6. MN: 17th Minnesota Fishing Challenge is set for May 31

> The event has raised nearly $6 million [!!!] for Minnesota Adult & Teen Challenge campuses across the state. It is now the largest fundraising fishing tournament in North America, and it takes place on the Gull Lake chain of lakes each year.

> The event is made up of up to 150 two-person teams. Several divisions offer the anglers an opportunity to fish for what they like to catch, they can enter panfish, walleyes, bass, pike, even rock bass, into the competition.

> Anglers who enter the event raise funds among their family, friends and business associates. There are great prizes for fundraisers including a brand new Lund Boat loaded with Humminbird and Minn Kota electronics. In 2024, the event raised a record $620,000.

> “Drug and alcohol addiction has derailed so many lives. When an addict is ready for help, we at MNTC do not want to turn them away. This is what the tournament is all about, funding the recovery and saving lives by helping people break free from the chains of addiction.”

7. Seaguar seeks assistant sales manager

8. Never lose another factory graph cover again

Have seen folks with ‘em at the ramp, but could never pin down where to get one...until now. They’re called the BoatEFX Cover Trap – great idea

9. My favorite Ned Rig Jig got a tungsten version...

...with an even better hook?! Yes, please! Called the VMC Redline Series Tungsten Ned Head Jig and I’ve already got a couple of 3/16-oz’ers tied on for this weekend’s ‘Fishing Opener’ in MN:

Btw it’s not just for plastics, those conical bait keepers work incredible for throwing nightcrawlers too they stay pinned (don’t slide down) and are the right size for crawlers ‘cuz some of the other brands’ are too thick and tear the crawlers head when trying to slide ‘em on.

10. DC: Tackle industry assn asks for immediate tariff relief

11. New hydrogen outboard being developed

How Jason Mitchell is catching ‘em right now

> Hack for soft plastics you need to know for fishing Devils Lake [ND] right now. We have had some strong winds and heat in recent days and the water temps have climbed several degrees just this week.

> This is a prime time window we call combat fishing where you can catch crazy numbers of pike, walleye and white bass all shallow along wind blown shorelines. When the fishing gets really wild on Devils Lake, we like to use soft plastic paddletails on a long-shank hook just so we don’t have to handle so many fish each day (flopping around with treble hooks). Swim baits shine for our own safety.

> With all the pike however, here is a tip...use super glue to hold on a paddletail like the Eye Candy Paddle Shad to a long-shank jig with a wide gap. The Northland MVP Jig is perfect. Next, use a heavier 15- to 20-lb fluorocarbon leader just to make your set up more resilient to pike. You will have to wade through pike right now to catch walleye but the walleyes are really starting to turn on.

Never stood a chance.

Killer Kaden Hudak shot of Will Pappenfus double-fisting spinning rods at the Lake Sharpe NWT – that backdrop tho!

Good luck and be safe this weekend!

National Professional Anglers Assoc.

MN-FISH

Target Walleye LLC

422 Laurel Street

P.O. BOX 541

Brainerd, MN 56401

 (218) 824 5026