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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 the Mississippi River (out of La Crosse, WI) caught 'em better than the rest. Little details and specifics you won’t find anywhere else – here we go!

When J.J. Debernardi won the 2023 NWT season opener on the Illinois River, it looked like divine intervention as one unicorn 8-lber launched him to the winner’s circle. After winning the second NWT of the 2025 season – this time on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, WI – Debernardi simply looks like one of the sport’s best river sticks.

While Debernardi has limited experience on pools 7, 8, and 9, he sensed his strategy would be centered on off-the-beaten-path rocks.

> “I’m a structure guy, and I knew they were going to be feeding on rocky structure,” said the Wayne, IL native. “I didn’t want to be fishing the same wing dams as everybody else.”

Debernardi focused exclusively on Pool 8 where the tournament launched.

> “I didn’t feel like 7 was going to be any better than 8, and I didn’t want to deal with lockmasters. The lockmasters on the Mississippi are different than the Illinois...they don’t really care about the fishermen...they care about the commercial traffic. Plus, staying in 8 meant an extra 2 or 3 hours of fishing.

> “In practice, I started at the bottom of 8, and I worked my way up. I used sidescan, looking for secluded, overlooked rockpiles that are not on the maps. I went up and down Pool 8, but the best spot was on the upper end of 8, about a 1/4 mile from the dam.”

Debernardi described the area as a closure dam. 6th-place pro John Hoyer was on the dam itself, but closer to the main channel was a 40-yard-long rockpile. It was a thin strip of rock 6- to 10-ft wide.

> “It was an old man-made structure. Right in the middle of it, there was a 10-ft gap. I was sitting 10 to 15 yards upstream.”

Within casting distance, there were six other tournament boats and another six within earshot.

> “Those guys were fishing out of the back of the boat, pulling baits upstream. I was fishing horizontally. I would sweep my bait right through the gap. The fish were using that rockpile as a current block. I found the spot early in practice, and I just continued to visit, making quick checks throughout practice. I found them on sidescan, but I would fish them with LiveScope. I could see the fish in the gap on LiveScope. I didn’t know exactly what they were because there were crappies, sheepshead, bass and walleyes in there.”

With his bow facing upstream, Debernardi would cast out the side. The gap itself was 10’ of water, and Debernard’s boat was sitting in 16’.

> “I was sitting at a 45-degree angle. I just found the gap where I could swing my bait right between the rockpiles downstream. My spot was out in the main channel more than anyone else's. It just reloaded all day every day.”

Debernardi’s willow cat system was 20-lb Woodstock Wicked Slick (swamp green) braided line with a 1/2-oz egg sinker, red bead, swivel and an 18” leader of 16-lb Sunline FC Sniper. The willow cats were rigged with a #2 Gamakatsu Octopus Hook. Debernardi’s winning rods were St. Croix Eyecons, both the 7’ 1” medium power, fast action and the 6’ 8” medium power, fast action. His reels of choice were the 2500 Shimano Miravels.

> “I did weigh one each day on a crankbait. I threw a [Rapala] DT10 in red crawdad and a custom crankbait [Devil Eye Shad] from Team 23 Outdoors. For the crankbaits, I used the same main line, but went with the bigger 20-lb FC Sniper leader. I went heavy because I was fishing rocks.”

While he typically employed two dead rods and two casting rods, neary everything came from casting the gap.

> “On day 1, the fishing was unreal...it was every-other cast, so there was lots of handing off rods. I caught three overs right away...a 23.5”, a 22.5” and a 21.5”, and I threw them all back. I just knew there were bigger fish. I told myself both days I’m not keeping anything under 24” before noon.”

In this event, each angler could keep 4 walleyes with 1 being over 20”. Culling and party fishing were not allowed, but together a pro and co-angler would weigh their best 5 fish.

At 10:30, Debernardi boxed a 26-incher. Soon after, the sun popped out and the bite slowed. Debernardi, a former teammate to the late Mike Hanson, commented how he had never seen the Mississippi so clear, so the brightness significantly hampered the bite.

> “I was starting to kick myself for not keeping the 23.5-incher, but around noon, the clouds came back, and the fishing got good again. Around 1 pm, my co-angler had his line break on a second big fish. Around 1:45, he hooked up with a 19-7/8" that weighed almost 3 lbs. Just before 2, I watched John [Hoyer] catch his big fish on a crankbait right in front of me. A few minutes later, I hooked up on another big fish, so I handed my co-angler the rod. It’s a giant, and after we finally get it in, I see that it had my leader and my swivel still in his mouth. It was the same fish that broke my co-angler off. That same fish ate again about an hour later. That was a Mike Hanson miracle walleye just like down in Spring Valley.”

With 7 in the box, they decided to weigh in early, and their best 5 went 17 lbs 10 oz.

> “The only adjustment I made for day 2 was adding the red bead to my lines. I don’t know why I didn’t before, but they all had fray from the weight bouncing on top of the swivel.”

Debernardi was boat 15 on day 1. On day 2, with boat numbers flipped, he came out late. After arriving in the area, he found fellow tournament pro Mason Jackson sitting on his spot.

> “I pulled up behind him and watched him catch a couple perfect unders. But I knew he wasn’t hitting the sweet spot just the right way. We caught a couple unders ourselves, and at 9:30 or 10, Mason moved out to fish the current seam. We moved up, probably about 15 ft, and on my very first cast back in the sweet spot I caught a perfect under. It was probably 19-15/16”. It was my best under of the week.”

At 11:56, Debernardi landed a fat 22.5-incher, and debated long and hard about keeping it.

> “I promised myself I wasn’t keeping anything under 24 before noon, so I turned and dumped it right back in the water. I told myself I can’t keep a fish like that if I’m truly going for the win.”

The bite slowed again with bright skies, and Debernardi again started to regret his decision. He boxed a 17” and a 15” sauger just to make sure he had 5 fish.

> “Around 1:30, we stuck another healthy 22-incher. At that point, I finally succumbed as it kicked the 15” sauger out. That was my co-angler’s fourth fish, so he was done for the day.”

The bite window reopened just after 2 pm.

> “The fishing just went nuts again. It was every cast in the sweet spot for 30 minutes straight. I boxed another 19.5” that gave us 7 fish, but I still needed my over. I figured I was sitting at about 12 or 13 lbs.”

Debernardi then accidentally snagged a powerful rough fish, likely a carp. On his very next cast, he felt the thump right as his bait hit the sweet spot.

> “My heart started going through the roof. It was the longest battle of the day. The water had come up almost 2’ from the day before, which meant there was more current. This fish is pumping and the current is ripping. All I can think about is that tiny hook in the fish’s mouth. I gave her time to wear out, and it was a 26-incher. It was the fish I absolutely needed. John watched the whole thing go down.”

Debernardi’s day-2 weight was 16-14, giving him 34 lbs 8 oz.

> “The key to winning this one was finding this spot and then understanding how to position on it. Those fish were coming up out of the deep. The gap was the lowest point to enter that next level shelf. They didn’t have to swim over the rocks if that makes sense. And it was the perfect current block waiting for anything and everything to swing right into their face. It was just magic.”

Debernardi’s second NWT win awarded him a total prize package valued at just over $100K.

> “It feels really good personally to know that I can do this outside of the Illinois River. That was my goal starting last year, and it’s really satisfying to see it all go down.”

Huge congrats, man! Well-deserved.

Duane ‘Dewey’ Hjelm started the tournament uncertain with both his starting location and his chances for any real success. He drew boat 80, fourth from last, and assumed the spillway spot he hoped to start on in Pool 8 would be covered by another angler.

> “In these river events, you have a plan – spot 1, 2, 3, etc...” said the 2022 Angler of the Year. “It can be a boat race. As boat 80, I could see all the boats idling downstream to get to the main channel. I was fully prepared to lock up to 7 and fish my Shad Rap program, but only one boat went the opposite way, towards the dead end, and I knew where he was fishing.”

Shaking with excitement, Hjelm decisively worked his way to the Pool 8 spillway only to find a recreational fisherman on the spot.

> “The local then pulls forward, and I can slide over to where I wanted to be. We then proceeded to beat the ever living crap out of them. It was no brainer after no brainer going in the boat. We had 5 good fish by 8:40 am. I told the local I appreciate him so much. I ended up spot-locking there the entire tournament.”

Hjelm described the area as a shallow sand hump where the current gets deflected between the island and the spillway.

> “There was slack water on top of the sand in 6’ to 10’. It was full of clam beds, so it was super snaggy. There was 10’ to 12’ behind the sand hump, and there was a 15’ to 30’ hole nearby. We would cast up to the shallow sand flat. There were distinct bite windows. ...make that same cast over and over for two hours without a bite. But if you caught one, you caught 10. Each window would last 10 or 15 minutes. Normally I would never sit there on a spot like that. I literally felt like this was such a special spot that I needed to guard it.”

With boat numbers flipped for the second day, Hjelm was nearly certain he’d get the spot again Friday, and he was right. Almost immediately, his dead stick rod cranked back.

> “I grabbed it, set the hook on it, and it just started ripping drag. This is like 20 seconds into the morning. I could see it was an old, beat up, giant walleye, just thrashing on the surface 30 ft from the boat. She makes a run and gets off. That was 100% the bite I needed. I saw it, and I lost it.”

The action continued to be strong, but Hjelm couldn’t shake the feeling he’d let the win slip away. He boxed a pair of 2-lbers, and then put a 21.75-incher in the boat.

> “Two hours later, the dead rod goes off again. I let this fish eat for 20 or 30 seconds. I get it 6’ or 8’ from the boat, and I can tell that this is the fish we lost this morning. You could see the hook mark from where she bit this morning. That fish was 28” [!] so our overs were done.”

Hjelm’s next fish was a 2-lber, which gave him 5. They caught one that was right at 20”, but it was so close Hjelm decided to throw it back. One more 2.5-lber completed the day.

> “It was another complete fire drill, but they weren’t quite as big. We probably caught 50 or 60 fish, but we never got that giant slot we needed. On day 1, our slot fish were 3-lbers...that was the difference.”

Despite catching several fish on Rapala CrushCity Mooch Minnows and crankbaits in practice, everything Hjelm weighed during the tournament came on willow cats.

On his casting rods, he used 3/8-oz weights, 18” leaders with a bead between his sinker and his swivel, and a #2 VMC wide gap hook.

> “On the casting rods, I used 15-lb Sufix 832 in coastal camo. For my leader, I used 15-lb 832 low-vis green. I didn’t want to use fluoro because it doesn’t allow that willow cat to swim freely. My theory is if you use that stiff fluorocarbon leader it takes away the action of the cat.

> “On my dead sticks, I used the 6-lb Sufix Revolve (neon lime) finesse braid with a 15-lb 832 low-vis leader. We would drop it right beside the boat, straight up and down. I needed it straight up and down so I could monitor everything. The willow cat tries to bury itself in the clam beds.”

His willow cat rods were the 7’ 1” medium action 13 Fishing Muse Black and the 7’ 4” medium light 13 Fishing Myth.

> “You look back on the tournament, and think holy cow, this could have been very different. There were several people that went up to Pool 7 and got locked out....

> I was fully prepared to cast #7 Shad Rap RS and the Glass Shad Rap on wing dams...

> ...I didn’t think there was any way possible I was getting that spot. Sitting on one spot for an entire tournament, that’s not how I fish, but this was such a special spot. I don’t know if I will ever do that in a tournament again, but it really felt like the right decision.”

For a 2-day total of 33-13, Hjelm finished 2nd...just 11 oz behind Debernardi.

> “We just didn’t get that 1 or 2 extra slot bites we needed. Our slots the first day were a lot better than day 2. I’m thankful for 2nd, but there is a little part of me where 2nd place stings a little. It’s just so hard to get in position to win.”

Man, I am SO looking forward to the next Tour Level Gold episodes.

In 3rd place was Pennsylvania pro Dylan Nussbaum, who caught 16-01 and 15 even for a 2-day total of 31 lbs 1 oz.

> “I didn’t have a lot of experience here, but I was thinking it would be a main-channel bite. I was trying to find something different like a LiveScope bite, but it was nonexistent.”

What Nussbaum did find was traditional wing dams, rock walls, and channel buoys all held fish. He concentrated on the mid to lower end of Pool 8.

> “On day 1 I hit probably 10 different areas, and I trimmed that number in half on day 2. I was fishing for aggressive fish up top in the shallow rock. My mentality was to not get set on anything. The river changes so much, and I like to hit spots fast. I wanted to be aggressive and move on – rolling and adjusting throughout the tournament.”

On day 1, Nussbaum’s overs were 23.5” and 24”. Day 2 was slower, so at 8:30 he boxed a 21-incher. After catching a perfect slot, they tied into a 22-incher.

> “I sat there for several minutes pondering what to do. I just had a feeling that I couldn’t do much better, so I threw it in.”

Nussbaum himself was done fishing at 11 am, so he spent the rest of the day putting his co-angler in prime positions.

> “My co-angler’s last weigh fish was a 19-7/8" that weighed 2.95 lbs. I actually had two unders that weighed more than my overs on day 2.”

Nussbaum primarily threw a Rapala DT10. Bluegill and shad were his best colors. He tied his crankbaits to a 12-lb Sufix Advance Fluorocarbon leader. His main line was 15-lb Sufix 832 in ghost.

His baitcasting reels were KastKing Bassinator Elites with a 5:1 gear ratio. His crankbait rods were 7’ moderate action KastKing Speed Demon pros.

Nussbaum’s secondary pattern was casting #6 Rippin’ Raps in redfire crawdad and chrome moss back shiner. With this setup, he used an 8:1 Bassinator Elite with a 6’ 10” medium-fast action Speed Demon Pro Jerkbait rod.

> “I found that the channel buoys, which basically have a manmade rockpile underneath, were holding big fish. There weren’t many there, but it could be a giant.”

While it wasn’t his main pattern, Nussbaum did use the traditional willow cat rig with a 1/2-oz weight and 18” leader.

> “When I was crankbait fishing, I started at the tip of the wing dam from about 30 ft away. I would cast to the top and bring it to the face. There’s like a 1-ft dig out or scour hole. The whole goal is to drop the DT in there and draw them out of the scour hole. I used LiveScope just to find the scour holes in front of the dam.”

In one wing dam area, Nussbaum would cast the Rippin’ Rap up shallow while his co-angler cranked the DT10 to the deeper end.

> “The co-angler would pitch downstream and fish the bottom edge while winching upstream. I was fishing for the aggressive fish up top. There were numbers on the side, but most of the bigger fish were on top. It was anywhere from 2’ to 5’ on top, and then it bottoms out in 10’ to 12’. Most of the bites were coming on the face, but I would say 30% would chase and bite all the way back by the boat. That’s why it was critical to maintain contact the whole time.”

We’re hosting several virtual walleye derbies (catch-photo-release) thru the FishDonkey app this summer! The first month-long “Target Walleye Summer Shootout” will be kicking off June 1 (followed up by July and August tourneys).

There’s 5 different regions, including Canada, where folks can compete with monthly leaderboards for June, July, and Aug:

Prizes will be awarded each month for the largest walleye in each region, the biggest 3-fish stringer, and random prizes too in case you only catch small ones.

Entry is $20 per tournament. And there will be an optional $20 side pot for the biggest walleye caught using a Berkley bait.

I’ll hit you up on Friday with more details and info on all the prizes that will up for grabs each month!

I recently posted a new "Top 5" vid (episode 86) 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:

Friendly reminder as the temps start to rise....

Can almost taste that one too LOL.

My buddy Nick Lindner and I got lucky and sacked 'em up pretty dang good in our local walleye league last night! We had 6 fish for 16.20 lbs (only 2 of those can be over 20", rest gotta be under) which landed us in 2nd place. Also got 'Big Fish' with whichever one of these twin 26.5-inchers was slightly heavier at 5.73 lbs:

Best bag we've ever weighed on this particular lake, but still wasn't enough to beat out NWT pro Jake Caughey and Dan Steffen for the top spot those dudes are on a whole nother level. Props again fellas!

Thanks so much for taking time out of your day to read these Target Walleye emails!!! See you back in a couple....

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