Today’s Top 5

Jason Przekurat was crowned walleye king at the NWT Championship on Lake Oahe, SD — the biggest event in professional walleye fishing. Aside from having the ultimate bragging rights, Jason also nabbed an $88.5k payday:

Jason was pulling cranks through trees in as deep as 105’…would you ever think to try and target those fish?! You know his co-anglers were all thinking the same thing:

> “Trolling over a mix of old cottonwood and willow trees. The fish would hover on top of the willows and bury under the cottonwoods.

> “I was targeting the outside river bend turns that came up on the flat. The flat then intercepts the shoreline break. It’s a strong summertime pattern, it was just a matter of getting the baits to them.

J’s a top-notch pro, much deserved man!

Columbia River Basin guide Kimo Gabriel led Tim to this monster WA water dragon that was dang near as long as a yardstick:

> “Caught while flatline trolling a #11 Berkley Flicker Minnow upstream at 1 mph in 15-18′. The lures must be ‘super tuned’ in order to run straight because of the heavy current.”

They boated (and released) 60+ walleyes that weekend between 20-34.5″. Guess you could say Kimo’s dialed in! Here’s the video of the 34.5″ waving goodbye:

Stout.

Some walleye-fishing factoids we put together with Ron “seen it all” Lindner. For sure worth a read if a guy who’s been in the industry as long as Ron thinks they’re fascinating (click the pic to make it bigger):

Leave a comment here on our website if you want to see more “walleye by the numbers” going forward.

Waterfowl call maker Bill Saunders has got a soft spot for catching big glass eyes. Guess what’ll be on his mind while sitting in the blind this fall:

You better slap a pair of treble hooks on that bad boy, Bill! Can’t tell us you’d rather be flinging BB at sky carp when there’s 15-lb chub chasers like this to be had:

Lol keep doing your thing, Bill!

Sheepshead, barn door, manhole cover — whatever you wanna call ’em, freshwater drum will have you thinking you’ve hooked into a record-sized walleye…before shattering your heart (and gear). Big fish junkie Spenser Samplawski somehow wrangled up this lip-wielding blimp while fishing WI’s Green Bay:

Careful man — they’re big, but sensitive creatures:

Ted Takasaki: Four-wheel drive trolling.

The full Jim Edlund write-up (with diagrams) is on

TargetWalleye.com, but here’s a few excerpts:

> “Too many anglers connect their kicker to the big engine and steer with the wheel. What ends up happening is anglers aren’t able to stay on their trolling paths over fish-holding contours or structure, areas which are sometimes quite narrow.

> “This would be the equivalent of driving a rear-wheel drive vehicle in the snow, where the car wants to slide when trying to turn. A boat does the same thing on the water when only propelled from the rear. As a result, anglers have a tough time keeping their baits in the strike zone.

> “A better way is to allow the bow-mount trolling motor to “pull” the boat simultaneous with “push” from the big engine or kicker in the rear.

> “When trolling, I’m using the Minn Kota Terrova or Ulterra in conjunction with the gas kicker. It’s a push/pull technique that’s similar to driving your vehicle in four-wheel drive. The boat is always more responsive when it’s controlled by the front, while being pushed from behind.”
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