Kevin McQuoid leads day 1 the Green Bay NWT!
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> Many anglers were committed to making long runs to the ‘Big Bay’ and by doing so are limiting their overall fishing time but in pro level events that is often what it takes to win. Although Kevin had a very tough practice, he was able to find one little area that after scanning in practice with his Garmin LiveScope, he felt could give him the 3-fish limit needed during the tournament.
Kevin said was planning to run 70-90 miles north where they had found more active fish, but with the wind whipping up 2-3’ waves he decided not to beat up his body and instead stay closer at a spot they’ve fished for years.
This is a no-cull tournament with only a 3-fish limit each day. Means once a fish goes in the box – it has to stay there. Put that third fish in the livewell and you’ve gotta head back to the ramp. So some ultra tough decisions need to be made as to whether a fish gets kept or instantly thrown back looking for bigger.
Kevin said decisions were easy yesterday since the fish came in the right order...kicked the morning off with a 27", then followed that up with a 29" and 28" before heading in with his 26-lb 9-oz bag 🤯 which is an 8.854-lb average.
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Little more info from this NWT write-up. Keep in mind folks are obviously pretty tight-lipped after day 1 of a 2-day tournament when there's over $300K in cash + prizes up for grabs. I’ll have the “Full Scoop” coming for you next week.
> “I was able to network with my son [Eric] during practice and he really was the one that found the sweet spot we are sharing this week,” said the MN pro. When talking about his son also ending day-1 in the top-3 of the leaderboard, Kevin found himself a little emotional. “The NWT and this sport is all about family. For us to both have incredibly good days on the water just truly means a lot.”
> Kevin believes he is in the right area and believes day 2 could be just as successful as his day 1 was after weighing in 26-09 for his 3-fish catch.
> “If I can come in tomorrow with around the same bag, I think we can pull this off and take home the trophy.”
Daniel Woodke is nipping at his heels in 2nd.
Dude is no stranger to being at the top of the leaderboard here – Danny won in 2021 and 2016 when the NWT went out of Sturgeon Bay. He’s now less than a pound out of the lead after weighing in 3 for 25-14 yesterday (8.625-lb avg).
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> “The no-cull rule is tricky up here, but today couldn’t have worked out better catching the right fish I needed to weigh-in. I have a lot of history on this body of water, but fishing against this group of anglers changes a few things mentally.”
> The WI angler said that he also feels like he left biting fish and feels good about his chances tomorrow.
> “Tomorrow is all about having fun, because today I already feel like I accomplished a lot. But to be in contention to win truly means so much, and being an NWT champion is something anglers dream about.”
Eric McQuoid sittin' pretty in 3rd.
When the dust settled, the second half of the McQuoid father-and-son duo, Eric McQuoid finished day 1 at the Bay of Green Bay with a limit with a 3-fish limit of 23-14 (7.958-lb avg).
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> “Man today is something we have always talked about. I ran a few areas in practice and found a place where I knew I could catch quality fish, and we also are not bunched up on each other. I want to see my dad win one of these, but I also am extremely competitive by nature, so tomorrow is going to be very special for the both of us. I know mom will be nervous and excited either way.”
Just incredible. 🙌
Here’s how the top of the leaderboard shook out after day 1...such a wild weight gap for a 3-fish limit:
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No offense, Tom Huynh. Hahaha!
Yesterday – during day 1 of the Green Bay NWT – Tom stuck a 32” behemoth that weighed 11 lbs 12 oz. 🐷
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Here she is next to a 6-lber! 🤯 Outrageous:
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I would LOVE to see the Garmin LiveScope footage of that thing engaging and eating his bait.
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Best Side Imaging frequencies. 🧐
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No doubt modern electronics can be confusing, but this Tactical Bassin’ video does a good job of breaking down the differences between running 455 kHz, 800 kHz, and 1,200 kHZ (aka 1.2 MEGAhertz) on your Side Imaging unit – definitely an overlooked trick for finding fish + structure on the fly, and then really dialing in the image...
Basically more power = more detail. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should always be running at the highest power – news to me. The farther you want to search from the boat, the lower the frequency you wanna use....
Here’s the the short version on how Tim Little does it:
Uses 455 khz when in “search mode” – scanning a broader location, in deeper water. Not looking for fish...he’s looking for structure 190-250′ [!] out each side of the boat. At those ranges you’d see the higher-power frequencies sort of “fade off” into darkness.
Here’s a screenshot from his video showing how the 455 kHz (bottom) picks up a boulder transition 150′ to 190′ off to the right – switched over to 800 kHz (top) at the same spot and it couldn’t quite reach the goods:
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When he graphs structure waaaay out to the side at 455 kHz that he wants a better look at, he swings over to it and switches to 800 kHz to get a more-detailed picture and “dial it in.” Says you need to be closer to the schtuff you’re graphing – drops down his range to scan 100′ out to each side – but will get a clearer picture.
Now if you’ve got the 1,200-ish kHz MEGA Imaging, that’s gonna give the highest-rez/clearest picture of what’s going on – but has the shortest range. Running it 60-90′ out each side is typically gonna give you the sharpest image...talkin’ razor-sharp to actually see fish hidden in-and-around the structure you’re scanning.
More info on all the above in Tactical Bassin’s full video here:
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Thing looks super healthy despite needing to track down its meals with one eye closed....
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They released that fish to get even more bigger-er. ♻️ She’ll definitely be extremely recognizable, so snap a pic and hit Jason up if you end up catching her when she’s a dirty-30.
Reminds me of this throwback pic from Jason Makela of the one that almost got away. 😅 At least he didn’t lose his Rapala Jigging Rap:
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Imagine the stories those fish will tell their grandkids:
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The only fishing product meant to STOP you from catching fish?! 🛑
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Called the Toddy Stopper from Gambler and it’s a little plastic dealio specifically designed for folks that are pre-fishing for an upcoming derby...it covers the hook point so you can shake off bites and stop “winning practice” lol.
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Of course depending on what you’re throwing, you can just cut the hooks off your bait...but no one wants to do that with something like a Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer. 🤑
Definitely more of a fit in the bass tourney world, but just interesting how when you think you’ve seen it all – you haven’t.
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Please take just a couple minutes to fill out this Target Walleye survey and have a shot at winning a fishing lure/gear prize package! Click here to take the survey. Thanks for doing it and thank YOU for reading!
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How Korey Sprengel sets up his depthfinder.
Between Top Item #3 and this, I bet you’ll have heard the word “kilohertz” more today than the rest of your fishing years combined lol:
Sensitivity
> “If you’re in 20′ or less, you never need to add sensitivity, and in fact, you should reduce it some.... Dialing it back just helps clean the picture up, allowing you to interpret it better. I start to add sensitivity in that 50’+ range. Let’s say if I’m salmon fishing in 150-200′, that’s where it really helps me pick up more fish down in the depths. Without the additional sensitivity, it will mark them faintly.”
Frequency
> Another important sonar setting is frequency. Many sonar manufacturers use transducers capable of 83 and 200 kilohertz. Kilohertz is a measure of frequency equivalent to 1,000 cycles per second. Anglers can set their units to operate on either 83kHz or 200kHz. It’s also possible to run both 83kHz and 200kHz together, known as dual beam or dual frequency.
> Frequency is important because it reflects the number of sound pulses that leave the transducer during a time interval. Generally, the 200kHz setting is going to offer significantly better detail. However, there are situations where 83kHz will shine. On flat, featureless lakes where fish suspend, 83kHz will outperform since it emits a broader sonar signal, which spreads out in the shape of a cone and effectively covers more area. The 200kHz setting shines when marking fish close to the bottom, when target separation and detail are important. The 200kHz setting has a narrower sonar cone angle, which helps to refine the image.
> “If you’re fishing around structure and dragging things that are tight to the bottom, the higher frequency is the way to go.... You have better target separation and better bottom separation. With the low-frequency mode, you lose detail toward the bottom, but you have a broader range because of that wider cone angle. It offers way more coverage.”
Keep reading here on Merc’s Dockline Blog.
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Hope your weekend includes some non-cliche fishing pics. 😉
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If you’re a regular here, you probably noticed there was no ‘News’ section in this TW.... Sorry! I’ve been wasting waaaay too much time trying to recover corrupt/damaged GoPro files and lost footage from a filming trip yesterday. Of all the times for it to happen, it was during one of those special days that I’ll probably never be able to duplicate. 😩
I went on a big-fish mission to a local-ish lake where I’ve legit struck-out and skunked in the past...but if you do catch one, it’s likely going to be a giant. Things clicked and I was able to land multiple BIGS with fish up to 29-inches. Here’s a sneaky preview of that:
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I ended up losing the biggest walleye of my life at the side of the boat, which is absolutely brutal, but worse (in my profession) is having a bunch of the GoPro clips missing or corrupt. 🤦♂️
Will do my best to salvage the ones that are recoverable and get things pieced together for a new video on Target Walleye’s YouTube channel. I probably should have just raincheck’d today’s TW email and headed right back out there with a camera guy to try and make it happen again...but I’m sure I know how that would have gone lol.
Thanks SO much for reading! 👊 I’ll see you back next week.
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Target Walleye – walleye during open water and all species during hardwater – is brought to you by Al Lindner, Jay Kumar, Chris Philen, Brett McComas and other diehard fish-heads like you!
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