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We had Target Walleye friend Brett Carlson (thx man!) track down the ‘Full Scoop’ on how the top-finishing pros at the last National Walleye Tour event on Lake Sharpe (Pierre, SD) caught 'em better than the rest. Little details and specifics you won’t find anywhere else – here we go!

A Western river ace by trade, the Missouri River has always been special to Paterson, WA pro Robert Crow. Twenty years ago (July 2005) Crow notched his first tour-level win at the PWT Pro-Am in Mobridge, SD.

Note: That was a 3-day derby on Lake Oahe where Robert Crow he edged out Gary Roach (2nd), Keith Kavajecz (3rd) and David A Andersen (4th) to take home the win.

Tournament walleye fishing has undergone a dramatic transformation in two decades, but Crow’s river instincts and acumen proved reliable as ever at the 2025 NWT season opener. While this tournament was held 100 miles downstream in Pierre, Crow felt right at home casting in the current.

The 49-yr-old tournament veteran spent his off-season improving his forward-facing sonar skills, but the latest and greatest technology wasn’t necessary in shallow current.

> “I knew coming into this tournament I was going to pitch jigs or plastics...that’s what I was going to do,” said a steadfast Crow. “I wanted to stay in the current. I brought 28 rods with me and every single one of them was a spinning rod. 20 yrs ago when I won in Mobridge, I trolled for the win. This year I didn’t even bring a trolling rod with me. I didn’t really use forward-facing sonar much either...it was mainly a [Humminbird] 360 tournament.”

With the upper portion of Lake Sharpe acting like a river, Crow spent his 5 practice days near Pierre. While the majority of the field was making long runs south to more lake-like conditions, Crow’s Skeeter FXR21 never ventured further than 18 miles from the ramp.

> “I won the tournament 3 miles from the launch...basically dissected that little chunk of river the best I could. I decided this is where I’m going to do my damage. There was no reason to waste an hour of time running. I was fishing little current breaks. There was one sandy shore, in particular, that was holding the bigger fish. Those two giants were there to spawn. They were about to drop eggs any day.”

During the last day of practice, Crow caught a 19-incher and rolled another good fish. From there, he knew his starting spot. At 9 am, the first giant, a 7-lber, hit the deck. An hour later the tournament was essentially over when the 9-lber bit his swimbait.

> “Those were two Lake Sharpe diamonds. That was a day of days. Once I weighed in that 21-lb bag, I was just looking for a limit on day 2.”

Crow immediately observed that the Friday conditions were different.

> “On day 2, they opened up the dam and let cold water down. The current line moved to about 2’ of water, and it normally sits at 6’. I think most of the fish that were in there spawned overnight.”

Crow fished for two hours without a bite the final morning. At one point, he even panicked and trolled with borrowed rods. After 45 fruitless minutes, he ran back up and sampled a sandy channel.

> “The first day I really only fished 3 spots, and the two big fish bit just 20 yards apart. The second day, I probably hit 6 spots. On my best spot, I could see the current seam was messed up. It basically just had a straight flow. I caught my fourth and final fish at 3 pm, and I had to be in at 3:40.”

Crow’s 2-day cumulative weight was 9 walleyes weighing 26 lbs 13 ozs. Roughly 16 lbs and 60% of his total weight came from the two giants. With only two fish over 20” permitted each day, most pros speculated 24 lbs would be needed to win.

> “Everything I caught this week came on swimbaits. The two main swimbaits I used were the Yamamoto Shad Shape Swimmer and the Keitech Swing Impact. The Yamamoto has more of a tighter tail action. The Keitech has a wider, more action-based tail. I rigged them with the 1/4-oz Berkley Fusion19 Hybrid Jighead with the 4/0 hook.”

For swimbait colors, everything was pearl white. For swimbait sizes, everything was small - ranging from 3 to 4.5 inches. The Yamamoto Shad Shape Swimmer comes in 3.2, 3.7, and 4.2 inches, while the Keitech comes in 3-, 3.5-, and 4-inch models.

> “I was constantly changing rods, but I remember that the first big one, the 7-lber, came on the Yamamoto, but I can’t say for sure on the 9-lber. I honestly had about 20 different swimbaits with me, but those 2 were the best. The third best was probably the little 3.3" Scheels Pro Swimmer. I did throw some YUMs too. As the tournament wore on, the smaller sizes worked better.”

Crow’s swimbaits were tied to a 10-lb Seaguar InvizX leader. His main line was 15-lb Daiwa J-braid (dark green). His reels were Daiwa Fuego LT 2500s, and his rod of choice was the 7’ St. Croix Legend Tournament Walleye (light action).

The Columbia River guide would slowly creep his bass boat along at 0.1-0.2 mph.

> “I would face the boat upstream and cast towards the shore. You reel really slow. You don’t really want to feel the bottom. Imagine you’re a few inches off the bottom letting it swim.”

Crow went on to articulate the finer details of swimbaiting in current.

> “The swimbait, when it makes its final sweep, that final kick towards the back of the boat, the bait turns and runs parallel with the current. It sweeps and then it comes to a straight line to the back of the boat. That last kick before it straightens out was when most of my bites came.”

Crow’s bites were coming in just 3’ or 4’.

> “There was a slight ledge off the sandy shoreline that dropped from 2’ to 4’. Most bites came just off that ledge.”

The typically stoic Crow reflected on his second tour-level triumph.

> “Back in my day, I was a troller to the end, but nowadays I almost never put a crankbait in the water. It seems like if you choose trolling anymore, you’re doing mediocre at best. Winning this one was nice...it’s been a long time.”

Huuuuge congrats on grinding-out the win, man!

And also thank YOU for taking time for the youngsters after the tourney – love to see it

NWT newbie Nate Leininger had a more typical, but stellar Lake Sharpe tournament. The Alexandria, MN guide has numerous AIM wins (including both State and National Championships and Team of the Year) but this was only his second NWT event ever.

> “Practice started out pretty difficult...it’s basically 80 miles of river,” said the 45-yr-old. “Within our team, we broke it down into six sections - each getting 12 to 15 miles. I was pretty down in the dumps after a rough practice. On the last day, I found some flooded timber that looked good. It wasn’t like I caught a ton of overs there, just one 24-incher. It was more of a gut feeling. I felt there just had to be big fish.”

Leininger believed the thick trees were possibly oak, and they were positioned in 25-27’. After a 60-mile run south the first day, the flooded timber produced almost immediately.

> “My first fish was a big, fat 22- or 23-incher. I never weighed it, but I know it was over 4 lbs. I caught that fish on my second cast.”

With his nerves settled, Leininger started putting some ‘unders’ in the boat. His sixth fish was a near-perfect slot that measured 19.5” and weighed 2 lbs.

> “My next one was a 21-incher that was so full and fat. At that point, we decided to be done, and we came with seven.”

His best five on day 1 weighed 13 lbs 8 ozs. While the weather was better, the bite was much slower on day 2.

> “With only 3 fish in the box at noon, I was sort of starting to hit the panic button. With a long run back, I knew I had to be out of there by 2 pm.”

Leininger then boxed an 18.5” and a skinny 19”. Thinking he, at least, had a limit, Leininger set the hook one last time at 1:50 p.m.

> “It was a 20.5” or so that was just full of eggs. In a different scenario, that could have been the late-day winning fishing. It was just incredible.”

Leininger said the smaller slots would come up off the bottom, but the bigger females were more grounded and stubborn.

> “In practice, I caught some out of the trees in 43’ of water. During the tournament, it was all 25’ to 27’. The fish were crawling around on the bottom. It was difficult to get a jig to them. I would wait to see one come out on the LiveScope, then I’d pitch to it. Some of the smaller ones would come like 6’ to 8’ off the bottom like their hair was on fire. The bigger ones, they were tougher. The key was just keeping it right above their head, just like you’re ice fishing with a flasher.”

For tackle, the Miltona, MN pro used a 1/2-oz Northland Fire-Ball Jig (chartreuse or sunrise) with a fathead. The walleyes were constantly moving in and out of the trees, so the heavier jig allowed him to get the bait down to ‘em more quickly and right in front of their faces.

> “The key for me was being able to position on these fish correctly, read the LVS34, and execute.”

> “I would cast 30’ away. If I didn’t get a bite, I then had to get over top of my bait to reel vertical. If I just reeled it in normally, it would be in a branch every time. I wish I would've had an extra day to perfect the pattern.”

Leininger’s main line was 10-lb Sufix 832 Advanced Superline (ghost) with an 8-lb Seaguar InvizX leader. His rod of choice was a 7’ 6” JTX Mag Light. 

> “It’s got a soft tip where you can really load the rod, but a strong backbone to drive the hook.”

On day 2, Leininger managed 10-06, giving him a cumulative weight of 23 lbs 14 ozs.

> “I’m more than happy with 2nd. The guys we’re competing against are the best in the business. For an almost first-timer, I’m more than happy.”

> “I want to thank all my friends and family for the support throughout the week. Also my travel partners, we have had a lot of fun here this week in South Dakota.”

Grand Rapids, MN guide Randy Topper also focused on the lower section of Sharpe. The 44-yr-old ran a similar pattern to (his teammate) Nate Leininger, although each had their own water.

> “I started upriver the first day and a half of practice, but the West Bend area fished way more like a lake,” said the NWT rookie. “Once we knew there were good fish down there, it was more in our wheelhouse. We just couldn’t get anything going in the river.”

Topper noted that the soft-bottom bays on the north end of West Bend were warming faster and making the fish more active.

> “As a team, we had three different bays going. I was lucky to have one that nobody else was going to. Chuck (Hasse) caught a 1-12 there in practice, but that was basically it. That single bay is where I spent the two tournament days. The fish were more active there, but it was also harder to decipher size on the LiveScope.”

Topper had 1-2 punch of deeper trees and mid-depth trees. He thought the trees were likely cottonwoods as they had bigger crowns.

The deeper trees were located in 25’ to 30’. He targeted those fish with a 3/8-oz VMC Neon Moon Eye Jig (parrot, orange fire UV) and a fathead.

The mid-depth trees were located in 18-22’. For these, he downsized to 1/4-oz Northland Fire-Ball Jig (parrot) and fathead.

> “The unders were way more aggressive. They would follow you 10’ under the boat sometimes. The overs were much more finicky. Sometimes we would just let them suck it up out of the mud.

> "I was lucky that there was a big enough hole between the trees where you could drop a bait in there. When the wind picked up, it got tricky. It wasn’t just easy, mindless fishing. You had to get in your zone or you’d get snagged. Overall, I would describe it as a mixture of old-school fishing and new-school scoping.”

Topper said it was even split between his deep and mid-depth fish.

> “Three of my four overs came in 18-22’. My other over came in 27’. Both the shallower trees and deeper trees were right on the edge of a breakline. They were only 150 yards apart, so I never started my main motor once I got down there.”

In the deep trees, Topper ran 10-lb Sufix 832 Advanced Superline with an 8’, 8-lb Seaguar InvizX leader. For his jig stick, he used a 7’ 6” JTX Mag Light.

For the mid-depth trees, he ran straight 6-lb mono, opting for Sufix Elite (clear). With the lighter jig, he went with the 7’ 1” JTX Mag Medium-Light.

With a 2-day total of 23 lbs 12 ozs Topper took 3rd in his first NWT event.

> “I feel really good about Nate and I having two consistent days in a row. I’m super proud of what we accomplished. It’s so fun when our team is clicking.”

WOW! Way to crush it, all!

I just posted a new "Top 5" vid (episode 85) last night on our YouTube channel. Big thx to our friends at Sea Foam and Scheels for making this video series possible! We're having a ton of fun with 'em and hope you are too!! Here she be:

Swimbait tips for scattered walleyes

It doesn’t matter what lake I’m headed to or what time of year it is, I will always have a swimbait rigged-up in my bait rotation when figuring out what the walleyes want that day. There’s no better way to cover a bunch of water, and when the swimbait bite is on – it’s on!

There’s a ton of different variations and tweaks you can make to your setups whether the fish are shallow vs deeper...on sand vs weeds vs rocks...or if the fish’s moods are funky vs hot-to-trot.

There’s a pile of swimbait-y info in this Target Walleye YouTube video from last spring, and it was a pretty dang eventful day catching tagged walleye, big smallmouth, and a massive pike that tried his hardest to break my rod over the edge of the boat LOL.

All came throwing a 3" CrushCity The Mayor Swimbait on a 1/4-oz VMC Tungsten Moon Eye Jig.

Here's the vid – I hope you enjoy it and maybe learn something!

Get to keep a nickel for every $100 you throw – if you’re lucky.

Brady "The Beard" Snyder was throwing a 2" Bobby Garland Baby Shad up under some willow trees for crappie when this walleye crashed the party – how cool is that?! And (also) lucky for him photog-magician Joel VandeKrol was there to capture the moment.

Don't worry: Brady does Target Walleye on purpose too (when he's not chasing massive whitetail ) like this late-winter chunk he stuck while throwing a 3" Z-Man MinnowZ – paired up with jigs he hand pours himself – from the bank:

What a savage! Love it.

Back at ya in a couple....

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