Korey “hot stick” Sprengel is gettin’ pretty good at hoisting up oversized checks! Guess it’s no surprise since he does it with oversized fish all the time…. His 2-day bag of 35.33 lbs at the NWT Lake Winnebago qualifier landed him an $82,635 [!!] payday:

He spent most of his time fishing up in Butte Des Morts ‘cuz the fish “were further along in their post-spawn migration” = few extra days of recovering, feeding and bulking up. Guy is incredibly fish-smart:

> “On Winnebago, you know real quick if it’s going to happen. I would spend 10 min on each spot and then move if they weren’t there. I threw back a lot of 18- and 19-inchers. I threw back skinny 20s just to get a fat 19-incher.”

That’s how you win these things folks! He ran 20 spots on day 1 and 15 spots on day 2…in the pouring rain, 20mph E winds and 39° temps. Best way to stay warm on days like that? Catching these:

BIG congrats dude!

Check out this new-to-me technique a lot of local pros were running. Russell Gahagan dialed it in for 32.36 lbs (2-day total), getting him an $18,506 lump ‘o dough:

This Walleye Central drawing should learn ya what the rig looks like:

Caught 8 of his 10 fish pulling flies in the Fox River, and 2 came trolling Salmo Hornets behind Off Shore Tackle Planer Boards in Butte Des Morts. Solid finish Mr. Salmon’er against some of the best walleye nuts in the world!

Pulling flies is a killer tactic on the Winnebago system — one that I [the dummy] have never seen back home. Hopped in the boat with local guide Troy Peterson and he gave me the rundown:

Brian Hartman caught himself a St. Lawrence River hawg-belly that tipped the scales at 18.2 lbs and measured 32″ x 21″ [mind-blown emoji]. Caught throwing an unnamed swimbait. #RecordBreaker

Believe it’s the new state record for “Noo Yawk.” Previous record was a 16-09 caught at Mystic Lake by Thomas Reed in Jan 2009.

Gotta be honest: Considered skipping our local walleye league on Gull Lake, MN last night since we didn’t have a chance to pre-fish — some seriously stiff competition in it! But then how would we ever learn anything? Took about 1.5 hours to figure out the pattern, but leaned into ’em once we did.

The post-spawners were riding high in the water column (5-10′ off bottom) and chasing big clouds of shiners/baitfish. My wife Amanda (23-weeks prego!) cracked this pair o’ 26-inchers snap-jigging a 1/4-oz VMC Neon Moon Eye Jig paired with a 4″ Impulse Smelt Minnow. #Money

We ended up throwing back 4 or 5 other “overs” and keeping 2 “unders” to land us in 2nd place with 15.99 lbs. Big congrats to Matt Magnan and Doug Erickson on grinding out a solid 6-fish bag for 18.6 lbs and taking 1st.

Now back to the bait: Have that combo tied on no matter what lake I’m heading to. Not sure the jig color makes a big difference since snap-jigging is mostly a reaction bite, but Amanda has been whoopin’ up on me with the “pink tiger UV” VMC Neon Moon Eye Jig:

I like to rig it with 10-lb Sufix 832 Advanced Superline and a 3-5′ leader of 10-lb Sufix Castable Invisiline 100% Fluorocarbon. Smooth + strong combo and can still feel ’em “donk” the bait on the drop.

Have a couple favorite setups for this depending how I’m working the bait:

Snap jigging: I like my 7′ ML Okuma Helios Spinning Rod with a size 30 Okuma Inspira reel. Has a ton of power and fast action — important for the ones that pick it up on the drop when you don’t have time to crank up on ’em before the hookset.

Dragging and slow-rolling: I use a 7′ M Favorite Jack Hammer with a moderate-fast action. Think it’s the only rod I own that’s not a fast or extra-fast action — usually use it for pulling light Lindy rigs.

Rod action vs power can be a little confusing…so here’s a cool graphic from a Mike Cork write-up for you visual learners: