There almost never seems to be any info out there talking specifically how the best walleye pros in the world get it done on game day.... 🤷‍♂️

Usually we’re lucky just to get one little line such as: So and so “won trolling crankbaits.” Or so and so “caught their fish on a jig.” Cool, thanks? I’ll have to try that 🥴 LOL.

So we decided to have Target Walleye friend Brett Carlson (thx man!) track down the ‘Full Scoop’ on how the top-3 pros at the Mississippi River NWT caught ’em better than the rest – here we go!

If the recent trends in professional walleye fishing are any indication, casting and utilizing forward-facing sonar are here to stay. But every once in a while, the tried-and-true techniques still shine. During the second National Walleye Tour event of the 2024 season, old school proved it isn’t obsolete as Mississippi River rat Mike Schommer Jr. bested a field of the top local sticks and touring pros on pools 3 and 4.

For the better part of three decades, the 50-yr-old Schommer has been fishing tournaments on the Big Muddy. He and his father have experienced considerable success, but the NWT, and its unique rules, brought additional pressure. In this event, anglers were permitted to keep only 4 walleyes each day, and only 1 of the 4 could be over 20″ long. Moreover, culling was not permitted, which meant decision making was nearly as important as actually catching fish.

> “I had the whole week prior to the tournament off from work,” said Schommer, an electrical lineman by trade. “Dad went down to Pool 4 on Sunday to check a few big-fish spots. We both went back Monday to our best spot and caught a 28- and a 29-incher. With this tournament’s weird setup, I knew I needed a big fish – a really big fish.”

While the plan was to head south each morning, the Prescott, Wis., native considers Pool 3 to be more of his home water. After coaxing a kicker, the strategy was to return to 3 and fish rock piles and wing dams for his unders.

> “The first day we got to the big-fish spot in Pool 4 right away after locking,” recalled Schommer. “This was a drop off in the Wisconsin Channel where it would go from 13’ or 14’ and drop into 17’. The fish would just come up right to the ledge where the current was picking up. They’d just lazily sit there waiting, and I would just barely reel the bait through the area.”

It wasn’t a smooth start as Schommer lost a big fish at 9 a.m. and another one at 9:30. At 10:15, his fortunes turned as a 29-incher bit his Dork Rigged-sucker minnow.

> “We fished two other spots in Pool 4 for unders. The first had a boat on it, and the second one produced nothing. We made one short trolling trolling pass and got an under. Then we locked up to 3 to get the other unders. It wasn’t easy though. With 10 minutes before check-in time, I was putting away rods, and I told my co-angler, William Bolden, to keep casting at the wing dam. Lo and behold, he caught our fourth and final fish, a 17-incher, with minutes left.”

On day 2, Schommer started with the same intentions. Knowing the lock schedule, he had time to fish a nearby rock pile. It was a productive decision, as Schommer coaxed a near-perfect under on a jig and plastic.

> “We went to our big-fish spot down on Pool 4 and there was already a boat on it,” he explained. “So then we went down towards the head of the lake. We sat down for an hour or so and hoped the boat would be gone. It was, but a second boat showed up. We stuck around for about an hour, but they never left. At 11 a.m., we decided to head back up with only one fish in the livewell.”

Back in the mid section of Pool 3, Schommer returned to the wing dams – mainly casting crankbaits.

> “My co-angler caught an 18.5”, and then I caught a 19.5”. We had our unders, but I wasn’t confident in getting my over. When I came back up to 3, I was thinking my best chance for an over was gone. I really didn’t have the confidence to get a big one in 3.”

Relying on big-fish history, Schommer set up on the inside of a new wing dam. He threw out the Dork Rig again, this time with a creek chub.

> “I don’t think the sinker hit bottom; it hit that hard. For a 27″ walleye, it was a cow. That was at 1:30 p.m., and there was some major high-fiving at that point. I wasn’t sure I had won, but I knew I’d be right there.”

For the Dork Rig, Schommer said he used 1.5-oz weights and 18” leaders. Most of the unders were tricked by casting crankbaits, either #7 Rapala RS Shad Raps (top) or DT10s and DT8s (bottom). Occasionally, he would mix in a jig with a BFishN Tackle AuthentX Moxi or a paddletail called the Pulse-R.

> “The best crankbait colors in the sun were either firetiger or white with a chartreuse stomach. When it was cloudy, the more natural colors were better. Shad colors and black and silvers were best the second day with the clouds.”

Of the 8 fish Schommer weighed, 1 came on a sucker, 1 came on a creek chub, 4 came on crankbaits and 2 came on jigs and plastics.

> “We were fishing the front of the wing dams in 12’ to 14’. The cranks would run about halfway down, and that’s when they would eat it. They were active – if you were going to get one, you were going to get it within the first 10 minutes. It’s a lot of running and gunning. We fished a half dozen wing dams in Pool 3.”

Schommer would run either 10- or 15-lb PowerPro braid on his spinning reels with a 10-lb Berkley Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon leader.

> “That big fish on the first day carried me. We knew that spot just spits out massive fish. They’re all big, and they’re all heavy.”

With the big kicker, Schommer’s day 1 weight was 14-3. On day 2, with better unders, he weighed 14-5, giving him a cumulative total of 28-8.

> “We’ve won a few MTTs (Minnesota Tournament Trail) over the years, but this one’s the biggest one that comes around. I feel proud, and I feel great. You’re fishing against the best anglers around – both the locals and the top tour guys. My dad told me beforehand that I might have the smallest motor in the tournament, and I might be the only guy without LiveScope.”

Allan Lydic and Corey Heiser finished the second NWT event of the season with the exact same total weight of 28 lbs 3 oz. Thanks to the heaviest single-day tiebreaker, Lydic officially finished 2nd and Heiser took 3rd.

Both anglers spent their entire tournament in Pool 3 of the Mississippi River, which is noteworthy considering a good portion of the field locked down to 4. At times, the two could see each other as they worked the middle portion of Pool 3.

For Lydic, this event was all about cats and cranks. The 37-year-old electrician, who calls pools 10 and 11 home, said willow cats and crankbaits produced about evenly.

> “Both of my big fish came on willow cats, but it was about 50-50 overall,” said Lydic. “I was fishing rock structure and wing dams. Pepin is totally different, but when I decided to stay in Pool 3, it felt like home. Plus, the unders were fatter in 3.”

Lydic described his presentations as “pretty basic.” He would start each morning searching for overs, which he secured within 45 minutes both days of competition.

> “I do not own a LiveScope. When you’re on the river, the water tells you the picture. For the willow cats, I was using live bait rigs, like a heavier Lindy Rig. Depending on the current, I would use a 1/2-oz up to a 1-oz weight. The heavier the current, the heavier the weight. My leaders would be 2 to 3 feet.”

Lydic would sit on each wing dam for approximately half an hour. He would throw upstream to the front. If the willow cat didn’t produce, he would throw Rapala DT10s and DT8s (hot mustard) across the top.

> “As the late Tommy Skarlis would say, the backside of the wing dam is the bedroom, but the top and the front is where they go to feed.”

On day 1, Lydic had his four keepers by 12:30 p.m. The second day he had 3 fish in the box by 11 a.m., but then the bite slowed.

> “I was catching them regularly, but I was trying to get something 18" or better, so I threw back some 17s. At 3 p.m., I was still sitting on 3 fish. We finally got a 16.5-incher to end the day.”

Lydic’s day-1 weight was 14-15. On day 2, he slipped slightly to 13-4.

“It is a little bittersweet, because you're so close to winning. I’m pleased with 2nd, but you never know when that opportunity to win is going to come back.”

With a strange 4-fish limit, no culling, and a strict slot limit, Corey Heiser knew he wanted to maximize fishing time and minimize distractions. This led him to an easy decision of sticking in Pool 3.

> “Knowing we could only have 4 fish, I wanted to handle as many as possible and not deal with other mental distractions of locking and who was going to be where,” said the West Fargo, North Dakota, pro. “That was a huge benefit.”

After a productive practice, Heiser started the tournament confident, especially with his unders.

> “My mentality was probably different from many others. I was catching giant unders. I mean giant, fat unders, and they were consistent too. I knew if I could get any decent overs I’d be in great shape.”

Heiser said he and Lydic were the furthest boats upstream in Pool 3. He spent most of his time fishing behind Prescott Island. To catch his fish, Heiser used three different approaches. His bread and butter was trolling #4 and #5 Berkley Money Badgers with three-way rigs.

> “I was trolling in super shallow water - like 2 to 6.5 feet,” Heiser explained. “I was moving at 1.4 mph against the current and 3.0-3.5 mph with the current.”

Heiser also casted shallow railroad riprap with the #5 Money Badger. He did weigh 1 fish the first day rigging a creek chub. For his crankbaits, Firetiger and Purple Glimmer were his best colors.

His casting/spinning rods were 7’ 1” medium Fenwick Elites. When casting the Money Badger, he used 15-lb Berkley Fireline in Flame Green.

As it often does, his pattern evolved as the tournament commenced. The overs were more willing than anticipated, and the unders, especially the second day, were stingier.

> “The first day I caught 3 big unders, and then I went and got a 26.5-incher with a chub on a wing dam. The second day was much tougher. I was able to get a 29-incher casting the #5 Money Badger, but it took all day to get my unders. With 20 minutes to go, I had to box a 16.5-incher to get my fourth fish. Hindsight is 20-20, but had I known what I know now, I would’ve gambled.”

With better unders, Heiser’s day-1 weight was 13-11. With the big kicker on day 2, he weighed 14-8. Of the 8 fish he weighed, 5 came trolling, 2 came from casting, and 1 came rigging the creek chub. Forward-facing sonar was used while casting to rocks.

> “This tournament played out so weirdly,” reflected Heiser. “I can’t believe I couldn’t put 3 big unders in the boat on day 2. The overs were a blessing though. In practice, my unders were so heavy I was thinking of keeping 23" overs. I’m happy with 3rd, but I’m also extremely disappointed not to come away with the win. I knew when I caught the 29-incher I had a legitimate shot to win. It’s disheartening to come so close, especially with the unders I was on. I feel like I let an opportunity to win one get away.”

Back with the regular “News” section next week.

Swimbait tips for scattered walleyes. 💥

It doesn’t matter what lake I’m headed to or what time of year it is, I will always have a swimbait rigged-up in my bait rotation when figuring out what the walleyes want that day. There’s no better way to cover a bunch of water, and when the swimbait bite is on – it’s on!

There’s a ton of different variations and tweaks you can make to your setups whether the fish are shallow vs deeper...on sand vs weeds vs rocks...or if the fish’s moods are funky vs hot-to-trot.

There’s a pile of swimbait-y info in this new Target Walleye YouTube video I just posted last night, and it was a pretty dang eventful day 😅catching tagged walleye, big smallmouth, and a massive pike that tried his hardest to break my rod over the edge of the boat LOL.

All came throwing a 3" CrushCity The Mayor Swimbait on a 1/4-oz VMC Tungsten Moon Eye Jig. 👀 Yup, you read that right...VMC just released a new tungsten version of one of the walleye-catchingest jigs ever.

Here's the vid – I hope you enjoy it and maybe learn something!

“I caught that one on my own!”

- I HAVE to share this short video of my 5-yr-old daughter, Maisie, reeling in a walleye last night – talk about a proud dad moment!

🥹 Where does time go?

My buddy Nick Lindner and I finally got it done on Gull Lake in our local Walleye Wackers derby! Such an insane level of competition for a weeknight dealio – those fellas can catch ‘em! And we were just lucky that it happened to be us this week lol. And yes, they were released:

Now I need to start mentally preparing for a 🦨 next Tuesday on whatever lake gets randomly drawn out of the hat hahah!

Thanks SO much for taking time out of your day to read these Target Walleye emails 🙌 none of this madness would be possible without YOU! Hope you have a great weekend!!

National Professional Anglers Assoc.

MN-FISH

Target Walleye LLC

422 Laurel Street

P.O. BOX 541

Brainerd, MN 56401

 (218) 824 5026