Hoyer’s NWT champ, Top walleye spots now, Barotrauma in shallow fish

On Lake Erie out of Dunkirk, NY. Believe he had 102.33 lbs (15 fish) over the 3 days, and yup: Hoyer caught them casting NOT trolling.

Few screenshots I snagged off the livestream that literally just wrapped up minutes ago:

These Great Lakes tournaments typically are won trolling open water this time of year, so apparently Hoyer left his tote full of Berkley PowerBait The Champ Swimmers at home to save on weight….

He ended up finding a shallow bite casting at weed patches with boulders mixed in, and was catching giants! Numerous fish at and over 30″. Had to scramble to find more Champ Swimmers fast while he tried to make due with random ones he found laying around his boat in cupholders and whatnot. 🤣

Big, big, BIG congrats, John!!! 🙌

Heard he just walked in to the local sushi stop all like (lol):

Will hit ya with more details on his win next week.

Here’s 4 spots I’ve been finding walleyes on EVERY local lake I’ve been on recently. A cool thing about these late-summer walleye fishing locations is that fish will still be in them even as we transition into fall. Hope this helps you get out and catch a few more on your local lakes!

– Interesting info from Saskatchewan Sportfish Research Group talking barotrauma, which typically happens when fish are caught out of deep water (30-ish ft).

But:

> “Walleye may seek refuge in deep water and make short forays into shallower areas to feed. They essentially give themselves partial barotrauma when they do this. However, without going all the way to the surface, and without the stress and exhaustion of being caught, the fish can tolerate the temporary pressure change and safely return to deeper depths on their own.

> “So if you are fishing a major shelf or dropoff in the heat, you may see some fish with over-inflated swim bladders despite presenting your bait in shallow depths.

> “The diagram below illustrates the concept – excuse my poor computer art! The green fish are neutrally buoyant at 45’…in summer they may take refuge from the heat at this kind of depth. Periodically these deep fish will move up into shallower water to find prey. These fish, in yellow, will be positively buoyant, but can use swimming power to move around and stay submerged. However, if one of these fish is angled and brought to the surface (red), it may have barotrauma symptoms and be difficult to release.”

Something to keep in mind….

…arrrrrr, thar be pirates afoot…or something like that lol. Great shot posted by Rob Jones of One More Pass Sport Fishing:

The good news: It’s wind-powered, so the ship won’t cut the lines on those Off Shore Tackle Planer Boards if they get too close.

The bad news: They have plenty of other sharp objects and love them some gold:

Pretty funny story here from TW reader Ron Boggs on how it went down.

And owls aren’t the only thing he’s been catching on stickbaits….

Keep after those critters, Ron! 😅

1. Duane “Dewey” Hjelm got 2nd at the NWT Championship.

Winning ANOTHER new boat, and I believe that was enough to push him into the Angler of the Year title?! I’ll confirm deets next week. Way to go, Dewey! Amazing.

2. OH: Lake Erie Fall Brawl kicks off Oct 15.

Heads up: The Fall Brawl is under new ownership…which sounds like a positive thing.

Costs just $35 to register in the Brawl and fish any time (during Oct 15 – Nov 27) in the OH waters of Lake Erie – from the bank or in a boat – single biggest fish wins. There’s some insane prizes, like: A couple of fully-rigged Ranger boats ($125K and $110K value) going to 1st and 2nd, hundreds of thousands of dollars, even a chance to win a truck just by registering and not even catching a fish – wild.

They also have a new kayak division this year.

3. OH: National Fishing Expo’s ‘Walleye Slam’ also starts Oct 15.

They’re giving away a $175K Warrior Boat package to the heaviest walleye caught thru Nov 27. Sounds like the derby actually coincides with the Fall Brawl (mentioned above) so you could potentially win both at the same time (🤯2 boats!) if you register for both.

4. MN: “Chili Bowl” walleye derby happenin’ Oct 15.

12th annual tourney hosted by Border View Lodge on Lake of the Woods’ Rainy River.

Catch-measure-release format with 100% payouts and prizes, followed up with a chili dinner/celebration afterwards…and I haven’t met a bowl of chili I didn’t like hahaha! Especially after a day of fall fishin’, so I just signed up to fish it with my bud Nick Lindner.

Btw here’s the tourney boundaries:

> Tourney boundaries: “The North Concrete ramp of the public access at Wheelers Point there will be an imaginary line going straight across the river. Ending at Manitou Rapids there will be an imaginary line going north to the CAN border. All fishing must be done in MN waters between these two points.”

Bunch more info here.

5. MB: New Traverse Bay boat launch is ready to rip.

Believe it’s about 20-ish miles up from Pine Falls towards the main lake (Winnipeg), which gets rolling so any wind block seems clutch. Dock will be going in next year:

6. OneWater Marine bought another company.

OneWater is T-H Marine’s parent company. They just bought Taylor Marine Centers, sounds like boat dealerships out east.

7. Godfrey Pontoons’ new boat can be gas or electric.

The “Mighty G” is just a little bugger at 15′ 7″ so it would probably scoot with electric:

Tom Boley’s spinner rig program for late-summer walleyes.

Here’s Tom Boley breaking down his “Presentation of the Month” so you can catch more walleyes on your home waters. This time around he’s running spinner rigs on deep hard to soft bottom transitions. 🎯

Tom kicks out this kind of content NON-STOP on his new phone app called “Walleye Now” which you can find on the Apple App Store (Apple phones) or Google Play Store (Android phones). Dude has a cool thing going on.

“Did someone threaten you with a planer board one time?”

– The Bassmaster Elite Series is happening right now on the Mississippi River out of La Crosse, WI. That quote came while the camera was on the current Elite Series Rookie of the Year points leader Jay Przekurat – son of walleye pro Jason Przekurat.

It was hilarious listening to the dude’s chatting on Bass Live about multi-species shenanigans and of course us Midwesterners’ love for walleye. And they don’t really get it ‘cuz apparently it never looks like we’re having any fun HAHA!

Nolan Plew (@midcanadaoutdoors) spent the day targeting big marks on Lake of the Woods with a #7 Rapala Jigging Rap – covering lots of water and targeting mid-lake reefs that top out around 25-20′ and are near deep water. Said he was rewarded with “some big walleye and some really good slot-sized fish.” And no, he didn’t “Catch and Cook” this waldo…. 😜

Hope you get out fishing catching this wekend! 👊 Thx so much for reading!!

National Professional Anglers Assoc. 

MN-FISH