Heads up: This Target Walleye is gonna be a little quicker than 'the yoozh' because we’re gearing up for the largest charitable ice-fishing contest on earth that’s happening TOMORROW on Gull Lake just north of Brainerd, MN!

Of course I’m talking about the 36th-annual Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza, which draws 10,000+ anglers each year 🤯 while also raising money for a pile of local charities.

Hope to see you there! I’ll be frequenting the cheese curd stand LOL.

Here’s a quick video with a little more info about tomorrow’s happenings:

Alright, now we’ve got a few solid ice-fishing tips headed your way to hold you off until next week. 👊 Here we go!

Fishermen/women sure can come up with all sorts of excuses for why the fish aren’t biting.... 😂🙋‍♂️

Cold fronts...barometric pressure...noise...light...rattles...jigging cadence...no bait...lure too big...lure too small...YOU NAME IT!

But one of the little details you might not be paying attention to is how line twist can cause your bait to do the “spin of death” 👀 which looks unnatural and can stop fish right in their tracks, sending ’em in the opposite direction.

Exhibit 1A: This vid posted by Unscripted Fishing, who shares a TON of great underwater fish + bait interaction footage. Check it:

Doh! 😩

So where do we go wrong? Well, line twist is sorta hard to combat, but here’s a few things that can definitely help:

• Don’t reel against the drag. If a fish is taking line, let ‘em take line. Nothing creates more line twist than continuing to reel when no line is coming in.

• Using a small barrel swivel is one of the easiest ways to help reduce line twist. I typically run a #12 or #10 VMC Rolling Swivel about 12-18” above my bait, and connected with a fluorocarbon leader. Any longer than that and you’ll be reeling the swivel up into your rod tip or eyelets which is no bueno.

• Respool your ice reels with fresh line – often! – it helps big time.

• On your first drop of the day: Instead of opening the bail to let the lure free fall to the bottom...use the drag to pull the line out by hand until the bait gets to the target depth. This can essentially help “stretch the memory out of the line.” I’m not exactly sure how much it helps with the whole line twist debacle, but it 110% makes the line more manageable, with less coiling, and almoooost makes it feel like you just put a fresh spool on.

• Pounding the jig keeps it from spinning. Try it in the top of your ice hole so you can see for yourself. A small rocking motion, basically just rolling that rod tip, to make the bait slightly bounce or rock in place will keep it facing in the same direction. Too aggressive of hops and it will make the bait swim in a circle...let it sit still and it will start spinning, too...but pounding the bait in place can keep it situated just right.

These are just a few simple things that can help. But when you combine ‘em all together, they can drastically reduce your chances of the the jig doing the “spin of death” 🌪️ so you’ll turn more lookers into biters!

Have you ever seen this before? It’s been pretty hush-hush over the years...but a few bassin’ pros have finally started speaking about it some:

That’s a screenshot from this video of Ott DeFoe talking about how and why he replaces the stock split-rings with ones he makes out of 30-lb braided fishing line.

> Ott: It helps keep the fish from having leverage and throwing the bait. ...allows your hook to swing more freely.

A normal split-ring is only going to let your hook turn so far...and when it stops rotating, fish can get leverage and come off. But Ott shows in the video how he can twist that braided line split-ring around more than 3x before it stops spinning.

That’s not his only reason for using ‘em:

> It also makes the bait more silent. This can be a huge plus in tough fishing conditions.

> ...just how pressured our fisheries are anymore...a crankbait with split rings makes a lot of noise. This is a way to take a bait without any built-in rattles and make it just that much more quiet.

Ott does a great job of showing how he ties ‘em up in this YT video:

I had never thought about the whole silent part until he started shaking the bait just 1 second into the video.

Could definitely see some crossover of this into the walleye world – shoot they’re typically 10x fussier than bass HA!

Another bassin’ pro that ties braid "split rings" is Drew Gill, who recently put out a video talkin’ the benefits:

1. Hooks can rotate more = less leverage for the fish

2. No split ring jangling noise = baits sound different

3. Reduces bait weight a bit

He makes it look so dang easy 😮‍💨 so I guess no degree in crocheting needed?

Wait a minute...

Hey ice-heads!

This also reminds me of how a lot of folks will add a second split-ring to their ice-fishing jigging spoons so the treble hook can get a little more twist before seizing up. But man, I could see the braided line “split ring” being THE DEAL for keeping those thrashing fish pinned. 🤔 Oh, and it would help add some freedom to let the business end of the bait swing.

I haven’t tried it yet, but I for sure will be. Always tinkering! But hey, that’s half the fun of fishing. And at least 87% of the fun of ice fishing lol. 👊

Ain't that the question when I comes to all the tech now?! 😅 There’s a lot of different language and technical stuff around lithium battery capabilities whether it’s for your ice shuttle or your boat.

So, which lithium battery is best for YOUR specific ice-fishing electronics?

Here’s a GREAT chart from Amped Outdoors giving you the expected hours of runtime based on which setup you have – super helpful!

Their best-selling lithium battery for FFS shuttles is the 32AH (14.8V NMC) Lithium Battery, which can run those super-popular 9" Garmin LiveScope ice bundles for roughly 16 hours on a single charge. No dimming your screen, shutting the unit off in between spots, or packing up early...just FISH!

What about powering the graphs in your boat?

Amped Outdoors actually made a Battery Capacity Selection Tool that tells you exactly how long the graphs can run in your boat on a certain battery. Can plug and play multiple units and transducers into the "calculator" and it’ll spit out the estimated runtime based on the options.

For example, if you’re running a Garmin ECHOMAP UHD2 93sv + LVS34 transducer (which is $800 off as a bundle at Scheels right now) AND a 10" Humminbird XPLORE unit on your boat...then on a full charge the Amped 12.8V 60Ah battery would give you 10.5 hours of runtime, the 80Ah = 14 hours, and the 100Ah = 17.5 hours, and so on....

Couple of pretty sick little dealios that are easy to use if you’re looking to upgrade or looking for a new battery! Also, Scheels has an awesome selection of Amped Outdoors batteries when you find the ones you need! Check ‘em out here.

Back with the regular ‘News’ section next week!

But in the meantime, we’ve got something special for you ice-heads...

Have a shot at winning a $4,000+ spread of ice-fishing goodness that’s chock full of some of our absolute favorite ice gear!!! 💯

Yup, this is real life. Our biggest and baddest giveaway to date!

Takes just 10 seconds to enter and can share the link you get for bonus entries. 👊 Good luck!

Thank YOU so much for reading. Hope you have a great + safe weekend, Target Walleye fam! Back atcha next week. 👊

National Professional Anglers Assoc.

MN-FISH

Target Walleye LLC

422 Laurel Street

P.O. BOX 541

Brainerd, MN 56401

 (218) 824 5026