This walleye might be over its daily limit on sunfish....
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"Alexa, add more small rattlebaits to cart.”
Btw it’s not a fake pic...the fish was cleaned with an electric fillet knife, cut open the stomach lining and bluegills fell out...he piled ‘em back into/onto the fish for a pic to show how many were in it.
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"Eat it and continue on with your day...really gonna blow DNR’s mind when the walleye is commuting on the interstate."
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- Hilarious comment under this post from Frank Immel who found a Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tag in the chest meat of a walleye he cleaned.
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Hard proof that ice heaves can change the lake’s contours
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A couple months ago, we shared a post from Angler's Edge Mapping talking about the “Scours of '23.”
> Lake Winnipeg [Manitoba] continues to surprise us. In summer 2023, we were out in the middle of the south basin, when we came across something VERY unexpected. In the vicinity of what we have referred to as "The Old Delta" since our 2019 south basin surveys revealed some off-shore structural complexity, we found deep gouges in an area that was formerly (as of 2019)...flat mud bottom.
> After many hours on the water gridding the area, it became clear that these are not small features – the gouges stretch over 1700 meters from northwest to southeast, and from their deepest point to the shallowest point the depth variation at the time of our survey exceeded 8-feet!
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> The most plausible explanation: huge piles of ice that accumulated during winter as a result of pronounced off-shore ridging (a standard occurrence on Lake Winnipeg) were pushed by strong/sustained northwest winds during spring breakup. The ice piles scoured the mud, pushing it like a bulldozer would. Pretty crazy to think that such severe ice scouring can occur in water that is ~18-feet deep when Lake Winnipeg's water level is normal (~712.3 feet above sea level)!
Fascinating stuff! But of course there were some skeptics...
> “There is absolutely no way that ice could scrape the bottom in the middle of a lake that is 15+ feet deep.”
> “Those features were formed by the glaciers.”
BUT check this out:
> AEM user Steve Kotz captured this image while using his Garmin Livescope....a 14’ vertical wall of ice that extends all the way to the lake bottom. Amazing to see!
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> *Note* This photo did not come from the ‘Scours of ‘23 area, but rather directly under the recently formed pressure ridge that runs from the Red River mouth to Balsam Bay.
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> It will be interesting to see if this ice wall gets pushed by the wind and additional scours are created when Lake Winnipeg breaks up in 2025!
> The most savvy anglers that fish Lake Winnipeg already know this but...ice and wind are incredibly powerful in combination. They continue to shape Lake Winnipeg, and influence fish movement patterns in the process!
No doubt! 🙌
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If you want open-water in your area sooner...
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...just pick yourself up one of these Amphibex icebreakers! 😅🤑
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As seen on Manitoba’s Red River! Here’s a nice little breakdown of what they are and why.
> Manitobans are about to see an annual indicator – more so than the groundhog – that spring is around the corner. The Amphibex icebreakers will head onto the Red River north of Winnipeg [Feb 18 to Mar 15 this year]...begin the work of preventing ice jams and related flooding during the spring thaw.
> Remote-controlled ice-cutting machines will first carve into the frozen river before three Amphibex icebreakers follow up, pounding and crushing the ice to allow the water to flow more freely toward Lake Winnipeg when the thaw comes.
> The 20,000-kilogram Amphibex machines – a cross between a barge and a backhoe – are used before and during the spring thaw. Unlike the ice cutters, they are amphibious, so there is no worry about them falling through the ice.
Great drone shot from @chris_kozyniak taken yesterday:
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> They were originally engineered for dredging waterways in the summer but were beefed up to withstand high-impact ice-breaking. The operator uses the excavator claw to raise the machine up then drop it back down on the ice surface.
> The ice-jam mitigation program works to open up a channel about 100 metres wide, stretching for 28 km from Selkirk to the Netley-Libau Marsh.
The trio has been busy...here’s another killer drone shot that @chris_kozyniak snagged yesterday north of Selkirk, MB:
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Also found out that the ice is broken up on Lake Pepin (MN/WI border) a little differently.... This MPR News write-up says:
> ...once the ice is about a foot thick. ...towboats and barges will be able to start breaking their way through the ice to begin the commercial navigation season to and from the Twin Cities.
Best pics I could find are from this DroneCity LLC post in Mar 2023:
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Open water is coming one way or another lol.
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Ice fishing or pre-spawn burbot (aka eelpout)
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It's burbot season here in MN! The fight is incredible, they’re so ugly they’re pretty (I can relate), and the bite will only get better this next week. It’s time to get out ice fishing for some burbot!
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Btw they’re biting during the daytime now, too.... 🤫
So many burbot, so little time:
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1. KY still has some GIANT walleyes 👀
Check out this massive 14.4-lb walleye that SE Fisheries Biologist Marcy Anderson and her crew found! Low-quality pic, but a high-quality specimen:
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> Amazingly, this fish is only 2/3 of the state record. A 21.5-lb walleye was recorded by Abe Black on Lake Cumberland in 1958, and is the 6th longest standing state record fish in KY. Only the Longnose Gar, Lake Sturgeon, White Bass, Flathead Catfish, and the World Record Smallmouth Bass have stood for a longer period of time.
2. WI: Possible reg change for Crescent Lake walleye
> The DNR proposes to change fishing regulations for walleye on Crescent Lake in Oneida County to match the standard Ceded Territory walleye regulation of a minimum length of 15 inches.
> Walleye from 20-24” could not be kept, with a daily bag limit of 3 fish with only 1 fish over 24”.
> This proposed reg change comes after the Crescent Lake rehabilitation partner group detected a strong year class of age-1 walleye in fall 2024.
> The change is meant to minimize the harvest of juvenile walleye while protecting the current spawning adult population.
> A meeting on the proposal will take place Mar 18 at 6:00pm at the DNR Service Center in Rhinelander and virtually via Teams.
3. Remember when spring bobbers sucked? 😅
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This 30" Panhandler from JT Outdoors finally converted me into a spring-bobber believer. Like I said in the vid, I don’t know the science-y, technical terms – I just know I’m in love with this rod – but here’s a little more insight from JT:
> Experience the difference in spring bobbers! Our proprietary nickel-titanium JT spring bobber features a bright neon orange indicator ball for enhanced long-range visibility. Built for extreme conditions, it remains reliable even in temperatures as low as -30°F.
4. MN: The 25/26 fishing regs are out now
Reminder you need(ed) a new MN fishing license as of Mar 1....
5. Ice Castle is having a design contest
Someone is going to design it, name it, and WIN it! More details here.
6. MN: Tony Roach hit up URL for crappies
Got into a pile of ‘em in the newest episode of Dialed in Angling, but they definitely earned it 💪 by running around with a 3-person team to stay on the fish. One person drilling, one person scanning with FFS, and one person doing the catching...taking turns of course. What a riot!
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16. St. Croix partners w/ H&H Outdoor Marketing
17. ND: 60th-annual Red River Valley Sportsmen’s Show...
...is happening NOW (March 6-9) at the FargoDome. Some killer seminars lined up (scroll to the bottom of that think ^ for the times) by Tom Huynh and Ted Takasaki.
18. WI: Milwaukee Sport Show is this weekend
Returning to State Fair Park for the 84th year.
19. MN: Northwest Sport Show, Minneapolis, Mar 13-16
Seminars on walleyes, muskies, ice fishing, plus a massive new RV and boat section.
20. SD: Sioux Empire Sportsman’s Show, Mar 13-16
Great for hunting & fishing deals, boat show pricing, and Midwest + Canadian lodges.
21. IA: Eastern Iowa Sport Show, Cedar Falls, Mar 14-16
Huge selection of boats, travel destinations, and hunting/fishing gear at pre-spring prices.
22. MN Muskie Expo, Mar 7-9
At the Minnesota State Fairgrounds.
23. Bass Fishing HOF to induct 3 in '25 class
> The Hall of Fame will welcome Randy Hopper, Craig Lamb and William Shakespeare Jr, who were selected from a diverse 20-person ballot by the Hall of Fame’s 30-member Selection Panel and living Hall of Fame inductees
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Jason Mithchell’s search strategies for late-ice jumbo perch
> What I find amazing about targeting perch through the ice is just how different ecosystems and forage bases can create extremely different patterns. Locations on Mille Lacs Lake will vary greatly from Lake Winnie. Saginaw Bay will be completely different from Devils Lake.
> Perch that are keying on shiners and crayfish act differently from fish that are using blood worms or freshwater shrimp as a primary forage. ...fish that are keying on minnows or crayfish are often more aggressive than fish living off invertebrates like scuds and bug larvae.
> Breaking down basins and large flats is often about making big moves until you find some signs of life and then making small moves to catch fish. This is a mistake that many anglers make, they get bogged down with drilling a lot of holes but drilling their holes too close together on foot.
> When you are on a large piece of structure, use your ATV, snowmobile, or vehicle to make those big moves. Don’t plop on a location, unload all your gear, and proceed to tear apart the lake within a hundred yards of you when in search mode unless you are extremely lucky.
> My best strategy for finding fish is making big moves, often traveling 200-300 yards between holes and spending more time in a hole, perhaps 10-15 minutes. By spreading your holes and settling into your holes longer, you also give fish a little bit of time to wander underneath you if you are in a productive area. This style allows you to break down bigger pieces of water and allows you to cover miles of water over the course of the day when you are starting from scratch.
> Once we zero in on a general area...drill a grid through an area where you can aggressively move from hole to hole and contact fish. This is where the small moves catch fish. Small moves or drilling out a small area is terrible for finding fish on a big lake but is the very best way to produce fish once you find them.
> On some fisheries, perch will school in a column where they stack up on top of each other and move very fast. These vertical schools are typically very aggressive fish and these fish will often climb much higher in the water column.
> There are also times where perch will seldom stack up vertically and instead school up where the fish swim side by side and you seldom have more than 3 fish on the Vexilar at one time. These horizontal schooling fish are often less aggressive and sprawl out over a larger area.
> Generally, if you can get fish to stack up on top of each other and get multiple fish below you...these fish are much easier to catch.
> If you are dealing with perch that are sprawled out over a general area, you can sit over one hole and just wait for these waves of fish to pass underneath. If you get a school of fish to pass by every 10 to 20 minutes, you can add them up to a great day.
> When fish are traveling fast in a column, you often need to be much more aggressive and land on them for short periods of time...windows are going to be intense. You might only keep these fish under you for 10 minutes at a time before you lose them but if you get 2 or 3 cracks at these fish in a day, you can tally several fish in a short amount of time.
Keep reading the full Virtual Angling write-up here.
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“That ain’t no crappie.”
- Huge congrats to 13-yr-old Kyler Leslie on icing a 7.71-lb (25”) largemouth bass that ties the Massachusetts state record in the catch-and-release division! Finesse-d ‘er in with 4-lb test and a “gold” Swedish Pimple. Amazing fish!
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Great story about Kyler and the catch in this Outdoor Life write-up.
> Kyler, along with his younger brother Ryker, fished around 300 days last year. The boys had learned about the state’s Angler of the Year Award while attending a Massachusetts Fish and Wildlife event with their dad, Mike, in March 2024. This sent them down a yearlong rabbit hole to catch as many eligible species as possible. With full support from their parents, the brothers achieved their goal and were both named Youth Angler of the Year.
Keep reading here.
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Stunning emerald colors on this Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba "greenback" walleye iced out of Lakeview Hecla Resort! And bonus point when they get all perky and finned-out for the camera. 🔥 #MarchMadness
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Hope you get some fish slime on your hands this weekend! Be safe out there. 👊
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Sign up another fish-head!
If you're forwarding Target Walleye to a friend who loves to walleye fish or want your fishing buddies to get these emails, just send us their email addresses and we'll take care of it! (We won't sell the addresses, use them for spam, etc.)
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FRIENDS OF TARGET WALLEYE
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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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Brett McComas is the main man for Target Walleye 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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