Target Walleye/Ice email

Whiz-trained boat dog, Hook removal vid, Color doesn’t matter

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Today’s Top 5

Wall-dawgs of the week!

Fishin’ guide Matt Cornell snuck a few casts in while his clients were grubbin’ and landed this post-spawn Lake Winnipeg greenback…chuckin’ Rapala Rippin’ Raps in skinny water:

My man Tanner Cherney thwacked his new PB mud lizard pitchin’ cattails in 3-4′ [!] on Devils Lake, ND. Said he was using a 1/4-oz Kalin’s Jig (chart/orange) and Walleye Assassin paddle tail (white). Congrats dude!

Matty Haarsma crushed ’em on Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba dragging “Ukrainian drop shots” (aka pickerel rigs lol) he modded with small Lindy blades:

David Grosulak livin’ the Lund #tillerlife while slinging 1/4-oz jigs and Impulse Paddle Minnows on a MN lake that rhymes with “chillax:”

Ashley Thomas spent Memorial Day weekend testing out a handful of new Do-It Mold baits being released at ICAST this summer. Looks like they worked!

Caught the 28-incher on a jig she poured out of a Do-It Mold paired up with a custom-poured “spottail shiner” 3.5″ Ripper. #SneakPeak

Whiz-trained boat dog = fisherman’s best friend.

If you didn’t know…dogs can be trained to do their business off the back of the boat…or at least Brian Bashore’s can. Good boy…very good boy:

Unlike my dog, as you can see! I have to rent a carpet cleaner for my Lund at the end of each season:

Lure color doesn’t matter…

…as much as other things. Bet that first line had a few of you worked up quick lol. But really, how often are you asked: “What color are you getting ’em on?” Johnnie Candle summed it up well in this Joel Nelson write-up:

> Johnnie: “First and foremost you need to have your baits in front of fish — color can’t overcome fishing where fish just aren’t.

> “After you’ve found fish, gotten a few to eat…and then fine-tune your retrieve, speed, action and other offerings…then maybe you can start to crack the code of which colors work better.”

Spot on! There’s for sure times when lure color makes all the difference IF you’re on ’em, but you have to be on ’em. And certain colors always seem to work better on some bodies of water, like Joel Nelson’s rusty crayfish pattern:

> “Orange, and I mean the brightest, gaudiest, blaze orange you can find…. I attribute it to the rise in invasive rusty crayfish in many of the larger waters I fish.

> “I’ve seen orange-craw patterns dominate in many conditions as fish in the livewell regurgitate orange carcasses. Lake of the Woods, Leech Lake…smaller waters [too]…crankbaits and plastics that imitate a scurrying crayfish have been winners no matter the time of year.

> “Rapala has several retreating craw color patterns that have worked on numerous occasions, no matter where I’m fishing.”

Joel and Johnnie go into more detail on when color does and doesn’t matter here.

Love me some Rapala billboards!!

Seems like the BIG fish are always biting on “Area Lake” (a central MN term meaning “lake name omitted”) and we finally found it! Just take the first left after this sign:

Lol! Any lake could turn into “Area Lake” when you’re throwing Rapala Original Floaters….

This next one hits me right in the feels:

Few other classics:

Rapala’s droppin’ a quick giveaway around their newest billboard #wassupdock

> All you have to do is post a pic of any dock-related fishing experience: Fishing from a dock, skipping docks, catching a fish from under a dock, anything involving a dock.

> Post that pic with the hashtag #wassupdock for a chance to win one of our new Rapala hats! We’ll randomly select 5 winners…Mon 6/4 at 10am central.

DIY hook removal.

‘Cuz sooner or later it’s gonna happen:
> To remove a hook that’s penetrated the skin beyond the barb, loop a piece of cord or heavy line around the bend…press down firmly on the shank of the hook…pressure opens up the wound channel vertically, clearing the barb.

> While maintaining steady pressure, take a firm grip on the loop of cord and snatch the hook out in one quick motion.

Here’s the Fish Addictions crew putting it to good use on Mike Olson’s phalanges:

News

1. Did you see the (maybe) new world record crappie?

Caught outta a TN pond by Lionel “Jam”Ferguson and weighed 5 lbs 7.68 oz:

The current TN state record is 4-05 and the world record is an even 5 lbs. Just waiting on DNA testing to confirm it’s not a hybrid between a black and white crappie.

2. MI: Record # of walleyes taken from Saginaw Bay…

…this winter thanks to an increased daily possession limit, a strong population and good ice-fishing conditions:

> “Anglers took in nearly 123,793 walleye, the most ever measured since creel surveys began on Saginaw Bay in 1983.”

They said it’s good news ‘cuz they’re trying to “reach a better balance between walleye and yellow perch populations in the bay.”

3. MN: KC Walleye Classic happenin’ Jun 9.

On Lake Bemidji. Will be raising funds for 10 non-profits. #stout

4. MN: Lake of the Woods bite still rockin’.

Full fishing report here. Maybe get one like THIS:

Post says it went a few inches past their 28″ ruler. Good grief.

5. Some AIM Pro Walleye Series results.

Devils Lake, ND.

Ottertail, MN.

The Warrior Boats National Championship Shootout is happening right now on WI’s Chippewa Flowage — live updates here.

6. WI: More peeps gettin’ paid to fish on Sturgeon Bay…

…by catching walleyes with $100 reward tags on ’em.

7. OH: Lake Erie bite > rivers.

Another spring run has come and gone — the Lake Erie bite just keeps getting better and better with those river fish pushing into the main lake.

8. You seen the Lunkerhunt Leech yet?

They’ve got a neutral buoyancy that’s tough to describe in words, but this short vid lets you see for yourself. #Tasty

9. MI: Gotta report all muskie and sturgeon catches.

Still not sure if it’s spelled muskie, musky, muskee, musquie, etc. #NoOneReallyKnows

10. Installing a Smooth Moves Ultra seat.

Keith Worrall of OutdoorsFIRST tricked out his Lund 1750 Rebel XS with a pair of Smooth Moves Ultra suspension seat bases. How they go in start to finish:

Still surprised that local chiropractors aren’t pooling together to buy out the company…. #BackSaver

11. Polaris buys pontoon boat company.

First move into the boat market and it’s a biggun:

> …an all-cash transaction valued at a net present value of approximately $805 million.

Water Puppet Giveaway!

Have a shot at winning this $250 mountain of Water Puppets from Someday Isle Tackle! Baits have a KILLER action that’ll dart off horizontally or swim in a figure-8 motion!!Same as before: Click here to enter. Share the link you get for more chances to win. Good luck!!!

Tip of the Day

> Summer can be hard to pin down on a calendar…as far as fishing is concerned, it’s the part of the year when surface-water temps are > 70 degrees (in the AM before the sun hits the water).

> Many anglers consider bottom-bouncers with spinners the go-to presentation. It’s important to find the combination of bead patterns that gets the most bites or catches the biggest fish.

> Match [your bead pattern and blades of your spinner rigs] to the lake’s natural forage. The main forage species for walleyes in Leech Lake are perch, shiners, suckers and crayfish.

> Perch: green, yellow, orange and white. Shiners: silver and black, or gold and black with tints of red, pink, blue and emerald green. Suckers: gold, copper, white and red. Crayfish: brown, gold, copper and orange with tints of red and green.

> I like 1- to 2-oz Northland Rock Runner Bottom-Bouncers and Rock Runner Slip Bouncers, combined with Baitfish Image Blades and Crawler Hauler Hooks. The sinker color can sometimes make a huge difference, so I keep all three handy: plain lead, sunrise or parakeet.

> Two of the most common mistakes anglers make when fishing bottom-bouncers is setting the hook at every bump and letting out too much line, so the whole rig is dragging limp on the bottom.

> I’ll let out line at trolling speed and stop when I feel the sinker hit bottom, then take back 5-10′ of line, making sure the whole rig isn’t dragging on bottom.

Keep reading the full write-up here.

Quote of the Day

I’ll get half of it in the net.

– What Troy Lindner said while stuffing Al’s massive walter in the net during a filming sesh for The Ontario Experience TV outta Hawk Lake Lodge. And this ain’t no butterfly net:

That’s the before, here’s the after…can’t fake a smile like this:

Never been there, but got to chatting with Al about it and could tell he was excited. Place is an Orvis-endorsed 5-star fishing resort in NW ON. Most known for having a pile of smallies (100-fish days) but also has some of the biggest walleyes he’s ever seen.

Said the place is for serious, diehard walleye anglers — guys/gals willing to fish their tails off for maybe just 4-6 bites per day. But the ones you catch might be the biggest of your life. For sure my favorite types of lakes. #GoBigOrGoHome #I’mNotGoingHome

Today’s ‘Eye Candy

Killer markings on this one from Pierson St Pierre. Caught jigging a 3/8-oz Northland Tackle jig (pink) and 3″ Berkley Gulp! Minnow (smelt) in 23′:

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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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