Target Walleye/Ice email

Skarlis goes back-to-back, 15-lb walleye caught, Best Jigging Rap line

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Today’s Top 5

Back-to-back world walleye champs!

Tommy Skarlis and Jeff Lahr grinded out the ‘dubyah’ at the World Walleye Championship on Bays de Noc, MI. First time back-to-back wins has been pulled off in 25 years (walleye legends Gary Gray and Bill Klotzbuecher got it done in 1992-1993)!

Had a 3-day bag of 54-14 — anchored by their day-3 bag of 23-07 — that fattened up their wallets and earned ’em a lifetime of bragging rights:

Tommy credited the win to having 9+ Subway cookies per day (lol). Okay he actually said:

> “We wouldn’t have won these last two titles (or any of the others) without God!”

Respect, brother!

> Tommy: “Our best bag came from pitching Moonshine Shiver Minnows as far as we could throw them…mono mainline with a fluorocarbon leader. Most important factor was using 7′ medium, fast-action St. Croix Legend X and Legend Xtremes so we had enough sensitivity to feel the bite and backbone to set the hook.”

Also caught ’em vertical jigging Rapala Jigging Raps on a braided mainline and fluoro leader. Fished anywhere from 18-50′ but said most of the big fish came in 22′.

Guy’s gonna have to add a shelf in his trophy room. Well-deserved, congrats guys!

Btw lunch is on me next time:

Mega 15-lb walleye caught!!

TW fan Dale Kozak stuck a STOUT 15.37-lber [!] on day 1 of the Vanity Cup on Tobin Lake. Can’t tell from the pics, but the fish was safely released after being tagged by the SK Sportfish Research Group. Talk about some serious girth:

Can’t even imagine! Luckily for Dale this one made it to the net…must’ve had a heartbreaker earlier this summer, ‘cuz noticed this meme posted on his FB page:

Btw Curtis Fehr and Logan Bishop took top honors at the Vanity Cup, taking home a big-ol’ $100K check. Wow congrats!! More details on their win coming soon-ish.

Gull Lake derby winning deets.

The Fishing to End Hunger charity derby happened last Saturday on MN’s Gull Lake. Not a national tour, but still gonna break it down here for a couple important reasons:

1) It’s a heavily-pressured lake with ultra-clear, zeeb-infested water. Can’t just go anywhere or throw anything, and expect to catch a walleye…let alone the right bites to win a tourney.

2) The derby has some seriously-stiff competition: Full-time fishin’ guides, tourney pros, and local sticks that have been breaking down the water longer than you or I could shake a stick at. Wait, why is anyone ever repeatedly shaking a stick at anything? Anyways….

Young gunz Jake Caughey and Dan Steffen kept the traveling trophy (called the ‘waffalo’…see Top Item #4 in this previous TW email) close to home. They sacked up a 5-fish bag for 16.70 lbs — with a 7.18-lb kicker (only allowed 1 over 20″ in this tourney) — to take home the $15K bog-boy check:

Said the tough part was getting their ‘unders’ (less than 20″) since most of their fish were between 20.25″ and 23.5″ — good problem to have! Caught all of ’em — except for the big one — dragging redtails on live-bait rigs in 38-47′. More deets from Jake:

> Used 5.5′ to 6′ snells…any longer and they’d pick up moss junk on the bottom.

> Some fish would crush it and run…others would just sit with it. Had to wait 1 to 2.5 minutes [!] to set the hook…still none were gut hooked.

^^^ Crazy! Bet there’s a few of you reading that just realized why you missed so many fish on Saturday….

> Redtails were 4-6″ minimum…couldn’t get bites with any smaller. Sherri at S&W Bait gave us some beautiful minnows which I think was really key to our success.

> Moved slow at 0.0-0.3 mph…our spot was so small that we only worked a 20-30 yard area…knew the fish were hanging in the exact stretch.

> We were fishing a deep, almost-mud break in a not-very-popular spot on the lake. Actually thought of it as a big-fish spot…went there for that reason, but the first 2 fish were 17.5″ and 19.75″…so knew if we could get 4 of those we’d have a shot.

> Last fish came with 2 minutes to go…was an 18-incher that helped put us over the top. Had to fish the last 2 hours without graphs [!] because they shorted out when we started the motor and couldn’t figure out where the blown fuse was…so luck was definitely on our side.

I mentioned they caught all their fish — except for the big one — dragging redtails. The 27″ kicker T-boned a #9 Rapala Jigging Rap in 46′.

Thought for sure it’d be on some sort of perchy-lookin’ color in Gull Lake’s clear water, but was actually caught on a “pearl white” one. #CiscoEaters?

> Jake: I read [the Target Walleye emails] every week and honestly use a ton of content off it in my fishing. Congrats on the little one btw!

Hey thank YOU man and a big congrats on getting it done!

Full tourney results here. Will be bringing you the 2nd and 3rd place deets in Friday’s Target Walleye email.

How Manitobans spend Canadian Thanksgiving.

Photog-magician Jay Siemens skipped the turkey last weekend (Canadian Thanksgiving) to bond over greenbacks and sky carp. Welcome to the Manitoba “cast and blast”:

Stick a wall-hanger then out comes the “stuffing” lol?

You seen the Berkley Snap Jig yet?

Was released last fall but sold-out right quick. The Berkley Snap Jig is a winged jighead — with a gliding/darting action — that lets you swap out the body with your favorite plastics to change up the color/action/profile:

Does NOT have a treble hook, so can be fished super shallow and even right up in the weeds…where a lot of BIG walleyes will be hiding now until freeze up. Walleye pro Korey Sprengel likes matching it with a 3″ Pro Twitchtail Minnow (top) or 3″ Pro Jig Worm (bottom):

Diggin’ how it “walks the dog” in the underwater clip of this video. FishUSA has ’em in stock here…for now….

News

1. MB: Stier/Thomas win Voyageurs Walleye Classic…

…outta Pine Falls with a 2-day total of 39.05 lbs. #GreenbacksForGreenbacks

2. MB: First-ever Selkirk Walleye Championship…

… put on by the Kickerfish crew happenin’ Oct 20-21. Should be right in the thick of the fall greenback run. Thinking I might need to make a run up there before things freeze up….

3. ND: New Fargo ice show comin’.

‘Bout time! Happenin’ Dec 7-9 at Scheels Arena — that’s 45,000 SqFt of ice-fishing goodness. And let me just set the record straight before you start pokin’ fun at how us northerners talk:

4. MB: Winnipeg ice fishing show happenin’ Nov 17-18.

5. New night-bite magic?

Called the Lindy Glow Spoon and is made from the same type of ABS material used in crankbaits. Pop a glow stick inside the bait and the entire thing glows — not just the glow stick — since light radiates in the color of the lure.

Guess it has tungsten rattles to weigh ’em down and cause a ruckus. More deets on sizes and how it works in this video from Jon Thelen.

6. MN: Garmin re-mapping several lakes.

Including the one that sounds like “Chill-Lax.” Will better show small rock structures or bottom changes in somewhat flat areas. Comin’ next year.

7. Buy an Ice Armor suit and get free $180-ish boots.A pair o’ Clam Sub Zero X Boots rated to -40. More deets here.

8. MN: Zeebz found in Bde Maka Ska.

Pronounced beh-DAY mah-KAH skah — formerly known as Lake Calhoun.

9. New PK Panic lineup.

Got ’em anywhere from 1/8-oz up to big 1-oz sizes. Already feel bad for those Lake Winnipeg greenbacks:

10. Last day to get 20-40% off BaitCloud.

As always: Check your local regs to make sure it’s legal where you’re at.

11. How to quick-set rig muskie suckers (video).

‘Putting this here ‘cuz there’s no such thing as Target Muskie…yet….

12. I got caught snooping around Al Lindner’s office.

Was dropping off ’round $500-worth of the new Target Walleye/Ice gear to giveaway at the Fishing Careers Workshop, when someone came back early from lunch…. Caught me #RedHanded digging through boxes [facepalm emoji]:

Tip of the Day

Al’s Jigging Rap line-selection tip.

Should you be using mono, braid, fluoro, or a combo when fishing the Rapala Jigging Rap?? Here’s how Al Lindner does it, and it doesn’t need to be as difficult as you’d think:

> “One of the most important things about fishing the Rapala Jigging Rap is using a barrel swivel about 15-18″ above the bait — especially if you’re casting into the wind. The way the bait fishes will cause line twist and a barrel swivel simply eliminates that.

> “About 50% of the time I’m casting the Jigging Rap, 40% of the time I’m pulling it behind the boat and 10% is spent vertical jigging it.

> “My leader material is the same line that’s on my reel, 10-lb mono. I’ve said it before many times and I’ll say it again…you’re going to land WAY more fish with monofilament. Day in and day out I use 10-lb Sufix mono. It’s that simple, you don’t have to complicate it.”

Today’s ‘Eye Candy

‘Traps fer dayzzzz:

Yo-yoing is cool at any age….

Second Dose of ‘Eye Candy

Isaac Lakich (@that1fishkid) whacked this 30″ Green Bay humpback using a Rapala Rippin’ Rap in 30′ on his Okuma Helios Spinning Reel and 7′ prototype rod. #SecretSpot

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Who is Target Walleye/Ice
Target Walleye/Ice — 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
Brett McComas is the main man for Target Walleye/Ice. 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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