Still waiting on things to open up here in the Brainerd, MN area.... So in the meantime, buddy Christian Hoffman and I hit the bank to chase some fish. Struck out on smallmouth, so we switched gears to carp and saved the day. 🌽 Made me feel like a little kid again – loved it!

Now back to your regularly-scheduled walleye programming.... 😎

If you're on the hunt for some river walleyes soon, Game & Fish put out this write-up with quite the panel of walleye hammers, Tom Boley, Brian "Bro" Brosdahl and Cory Schmidt, with some of their best spot intel for fishing in current.

Pretty sure that's a real pic of them fishing together while they made this article, still under investigation though! 😂 Anyways, here's some high % river areas for ya:

Tom Boley:

> "My two favorite pre-spawn spots are upriver current breaks and areas 1 or 2 miles below a dam or rapids that stop walleyes from going farther upriver. The bigger the current break, the better."

Brian Brosdahl:

> "Neck-down areas caused naturally or by roads and bridges hold fish just upstream where the current slows down before entering the neck down.

> "It’s a great place to throw a Northland Tackle Deep-Vee Spin Jig with their Eye-Candy Grub." 

> "Wing dams, points, slack water near tributaries, and steep cuts on the edges of sand bars are great locations.

> "I throw a Whistler Jig tipped with a minnow to the top of the sandbar, then pull it off and let it helicopter down. Walleyes crush it."

Cory Schmidt 

> ...looks for broken rock lines, shorelines, sandbars on inside bends, and fallen trees, but always starts near a tributary or the mouth of a backwater. 

> "If I can locate little rock points near these inlets, they’re almost always early-season goldmines. I love it when I find clearer inlet water meeting dirtier main-river water. Also, if you have hard bottom from the inlet up into the backwater area – gravel, sand, or rock – odds are great that you’ll find walleye. 

> "Water levels drive fish location, and my absolute favorite is fishing high water, which pushes fish into backwater areas and tributaries." 

And sneaky FFS tip from this deal:

> [Brian] and [Tom] both mention that live sonar has river utility when fishing sand, and [Tom] advises using landscape mode to help see fish tight to the bottom. 

Speaking of perspective mode, did you know that the stock mount on the Humminbird MEGA Live 2 actually flips up and down without tools so you can switch between modes easy? (I’ve heard 'Bird's Landscape Mode is REALLY good and plan to play with it a ton this season.) Keep that in mind if you're chasing them shallow fish and don't wanna have to have 2 'ducers and an extra mount! 😁

Well, maybe sneaky weed clumps would be a better name. Maybe this is that spot your friend is catching' all the walleye off of that you ain't finding! 🤔

Check out what these non-pressured "phantom grass lines" are in this The Structure Cafe post, which has some old-school wisdom from E. L. "Buck" Perry's book "Spoonplugging":

> Everybody sees and knows about weedlines. If you know the depth the weedline ends, you can even highlight that contour on your modern day mapping units for easier fishing. 

> Every so often you’ll find deeper growing clumps isolated from the main edge – a "deeper break". 

> These spots can be special – they don’t show on maps; they don’t appear on every lake; and may not even appear every year on the same lake or...location. Sometimes it’s a clump of the parent weed type. Other times, it may be a deeper growing weed type, like Chara or coontail. 

> As the [In-Fisherman] guys wrote, "Guys holding off points will cast to the weededge while they're over the best spot of all."

I was hesitant to talk about this (🤫 lol) 'cuz I catch a TON of my fish on these little gems off the edge of where everyone else is fishing....

But man, be on the lookout for those sneaky clumps! Be sure to scan out just a hair from where you're at to see if there's anything poking up! And if you see something spooky out there, just remember...

Much less, have you ever SEEN an oiled filled lipless???

Found this nugget on Jay Kumar's BassBlaster, but in honor of it being that time or year to break out the lipless on those sand flats, here’s a cool one for ya:

A while back, Jay called out a lipless bait color he'd had never seen before called a Copper Red Baits Snatchin' Shad. Company owner Jared Sullivan reached out and had a convo about a few of his baits. Some fascinatin' stuff, here's a little about that Snatchin' Shad.

2 versions of the bait, silent and rattling. The silent version has oil with glitter in it...

Here's why:

> ...the Sebile Flatt Shad – he put some oil in [it and] that was my favorite lipless crankbait. They discontinued it and it broke my heart.

> "I use some of the things he put in it because he's an incredible lure designer...we changed it up a little bit. I actually think we improved on that Flatt Shad, and that's saying something because that was a legit lipless.

> "The oil and glitter inside it [means] you can still really cast it but it doesn't affect the weight of it too much. You can bomb-cast it and it has a slower fall [than a traditionally-weighed lipless], and the bait is translucent so the fish can see the glitter.

> "...when you're fishing it in cold water, the viscosity gets more dense and the glitter will fall slowly through that oil. As it's sitting on the bottom, that glitter is settling and it looks like an injured baitfish.

> "We really focused on getting it perfectly balanced. It runs true, stands up on bottom like a shaky head...you can crawl it on the bottom, which is why the nose is rounded – so it doesn't hang up and [accumulate junk].

> "...thumps like a blade bait. Not quite as much but it thumps quite a bit. It's real slender with a rounded back, which helps it to run true the way it's weighted. When you pull it and stall it, it has a really nice shimmy and will fall as it should."

Couple deals:

- The rattling version doesn't have any oil in it.

- They recently sold out of several colors in the 1/2-oz size on their website. But Jared said the 3/4-oz is the exact same size, just heavier.

And if you want some serious 🧃 on how to target walleyes with a lipless right now, Tommy Kemos sure spilled some in a recent Target Walleye!

Real quick deal from that Tommy interview talking the Berkley Jack, but that could be dirtyyyy with these Copper Red lipless that sit tail-up, too:

> "One tip that I always do when I'm fishing [a lipless] is when I get it about halfway back to the boat, especially in cold water, I'll let it soak a little bit on the bottom, up to about a minute."

> "It's unbelievable how long they'll sit and stare at that bait. They'll swim around it and they'll finally just eat it because it's laying there."

Also gotta mention:

- Their jerkbait is called the Jonah 1:17 – love it! Which btw says, “Now the LORD provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.”

- Jared is some kinda genius, and I don't mean just with baits. He started the company by getting his wife to make baits, telling her it was "crafts." She got to name the company too – after her hair color. Dude! Amazing. Raise a glass to that man! 

Yeah, I mean, why wouldn't you!

In a recent-ish Target Walleye vid where I was breaking down and debunking some common burbot myths, I mentioned I’ve been running 'neon lime” color Sufix Advance Ice Mono for night fishing – stuff glows like crazy after dark under the right light.

Night fishing can get frustrating quick – you’re basically guessing when you can’t see your line. It's like the whole "if you're not Scoping you're hoping" deal except now I can't even Scope with my eyes! 😅

That’s why I started running that 'neon lime” line. I was using it for ice fishing, but was thinkin' – it could translate real well to open water too?

Here’s a little more on why it helps me:

> "I first started using it because I'm getting old, and it's easier to see on the ice where it is versus wrapped around the chunks of ice, around the hole.

> "After dark, if you have a UV light, it lights up. My Summit Shuttle has a little UV Light built in for glowing spoons, glowing jigs, and I just leave that thing on. And this line, this neon lime colored line, looks like a lightsaber.

> "When you're bopping that bait, popping that spoon, you can see what your line's doing, see if it's getting wrapped up. Definitely helps for landing fish too."

My 2c – from the night fishing I’ve done, the most frustrating part is just not being able to see where your bait’s going and what your line is doing (wrapped around the tip, a rod holder, you name it). So if you’re running UV baits paired with a hi-vis mono (and of course have a UV light to charge 'em or a headlamp that can do it), it just makes everything way more efficient – both on the ice and in open water?

...on the new Berkley GINCLEAR line in this Facebook vid! And no, that's not a walleye or a bass, that would be a 8-09 drum he caught...looks like fishing around some shallow cover. 😂

Btw, sounds like that new Berkley GINCLEAR is really good at keeping memory out of your line – big deal if you’re a straight fluoro guy. That smoother, more manageable feel should mean better casting distance in open water, and cleaner, more controlled drops when you’re ice fishing.

Comes in 4- up to 25-lb, so it covers just about everything. Check it out here at Scheels!

And remember:

1. MI: Austin Tomasek is leading the Lake Erie NWT

After day 1 with 5 for 44-10 👀 which is an 8.925-lb average!!!! 🤯

Jake Caughey (2nd) was nipping at his heels with 42-06:

And Isaac Lakich (3rd) is right in the mix with 42 lbs:

BUT it’s anybody’s game at Lake Erie with potential big swings! 🐷

Of course we’ll follow up next week with the ‘Full Scoop’ talking exactly how the top-3 pros caught ‘em better than the rest.

In the meantime, the livestream for the day 2 weigh-in starts here at 3:30p (believe that's EST time). Or you can hit the live leaderboard 'round that time to see who’s on top.

I also want to give the NWT props for livestreaming on the water with Duane ‘Dewey’ Hjelm for a couple of hours on Day 1, and then again with the leader, Austin Tomasek, today. 👊

2. SD: GF&P commissioners say no to lowering walleye limit

> The SD Game, Fish and Parks Department denied a petition from an Oacoma man who sought to cut the state’s walleye limit in half for the first 3 months of the year on a portion of the Missouri River.

> Amy Gebhard, a GF&P fisheries biologist out of Chamberlain, earlier in the meeting explained that Lake Francis Case’s walleye abundance is slightly above a 7-yr average, according to a survey conducted last fall.

> GF&P conducts an annual survey with 75 gill nets to gather data. Another survey conducted via electrofishing last year showed there are fewer young walleye in Lake Francis Case but reproduction is “still very present.” Gebhard said the population of sauger, a fish similar to a walleye and is constrained within the walleye limit, also has an upward trending population in Lake Francis Case.

3. SD: Study set on where walleyes travel in Lake Francis Case

​​4. ID pauses stocking in two reservoirs

In Oakley Reservoir and Salmon Falls Creek Reservoir due to an overabundance of medium-sized fish.

> The pause aims to allow the current population of medium-sized walleye to grow larger in the coming years.

> "What we found is an increase in larger walleye from the last FWIN in 2016, as well as we are seeing an overabundance of walleye in the system that is causing growth to be slow."

> In 2016, 90% of the walleye surveyed were between 8 and 13 inches. Recent results show only 68% fall into that same size range.

Btw:

> Outside of these three reservoirs, [ID] walleye are considered nonnative and invasive. The fish is a natural predator with razor-sharp teeth and the ability to grow to over 30 inches.

5. WI’s Lac du Flambeau tribe bans all walleye fishing...

...by non-tribal members on a number of lakes inside the reservation (located about 10 miles west of Woodruff).

> In that same action tribal council members also banned forward trolling for any species of fish on all LdF waters. This all comes about a month ahead of the Sat, May 2 WI fishing opener.

6. A day in the life of Al Lindner 🍿

At 80-years-young and still getting after it hard! 🙌

7. MN-FISH Angler’s Summit is happening Apr 17

At Arrowwood Resort in Alexandria:

> MN-FISH launched the Angler’s Summit to give state anglers a chance to have their voices heard...and to update them on some of the hottest topics affecting fishing in Minnesota.

> This free event is open to MN-FISH members and other state anglers, but you must reserve your spot now if you plan to attend. Space is limited! To register and see the full agenda go [here]. Doors open at 8am, the program starts promptly at 9:00.

> Our featured speaker is legendary angler Al Lindner. Several other top anglers will be participating, including Jason Mitchell. DNR fisheries managers will also present and available for questions.

8. MN: Rainy River now has 3 boat ramps open

This early walleye season runs thru Apr 14.

9. Zombie trout in Lake Superior?

> Over the past 10 years...an increasing number of mystifyingly thin individuals in one deepwater fish species.... These emaciated siscowet lake trout have been dubbed “zombie fish.”

> ...are the same age and length as healthy individuals but with significantly lower weight and fat levels....

Doesn't sound good and amazed they can survive that deep looking like that. Zombie deal looks like what's been going on in Hollywood lol.

10. VMC expands Redline series with the Swivel Fluke Hook

11. LA man arrested for fraud over a 12-lb bass replica

Allegedly caught in one lake, but then allegedly claimed it was from another to allegedly try and get a free replica thru the TBLA Lunker Bass Program.... Allegedly. 🙃

Why Lake Erie anglers are keeping their boats docked this week

Except for the National Walleye Tour guys who were going out in conditions bass tourneys never would – because they're nuts! 🥜

What I’m spooling up for spring....

Most of my setups will be spooled with 10-lb Sufix Revolve in the hi-vis “neon lime” color for my main line, but I will sprinkle in some “lo-vis green” too.

This is the main line on probably 90% of my spinning setups now. Braid is spendy but will last the entire season(s), and the no-stretch is incredible for feeling bites.

• Few things that really stood out to me after running this specific braid for a year:

• Casts soooo dang smooth – I could get an extra 30’+ casting distance or so when throwing 3/16-oz jigs.

• Very thin diameter: 10-lb Sufix Revolve has the same diameter as 6-lb Sufix 832.

• It’s a “greater bodied line to reduce annoying wind knots.” Used it all last summer – a TON of casts – and very, very rarely did I ever get a wind knot. And doesn’t jump off the spool like some others will occasionally.

• I also really like that they put a “midpoint marker” at 100 yards on the spool...a color-break indicator so you can equally spool 2 reels.

Then I add about 6-8’ fluorocarbon leader (attached with a double-uni knot) ran to my bait. This is just a super versatile setup that I can sort of tweak my leader length and weight for different techniques.

Typically I run an 8- or 10-lb fluorocarbon depending on what I’m doing. I will go down to 6-lb for some ultra-finessey stuff like dropshots or very light jigs...and bump the leader up to 12- or even 14-lb if I’m snapping big plastics in the cabbage.

The fluorocarbon leader is a shock absorber for helping to keep fish pinned, and then of course it’s virtually invisible so they can’t see the line near the bait.

The other 10% of setups are typically spooled with 8- or 10-lb Sufix Advance Mono. It’s cheap, smooth, supple, and works great for a lot of things. Of course it’s just not quite as sensitive as braid with the no-stretch...but sometimes that’s a big plus (open-water trolling crankbaits, ripping Jigging Raps and other similar baits) because you don’t tear out as many hooks and absolutely WILL land more of the fish that you hook-up with.

Mono is also more forgiving of what it does with a bait. The bait does not move as fast. When you move anything with braid, it moves, the bait reacts. There are days when the fish know the difference, and prefer the sort of dulled-down action of the baits. Which is why I always try to keep at least 1 or 2 mono setups in the boat to play with on a given day.

Of course I’ll always be playing around with some different lines on a couple of setups to see what’s out there and when/where it shines. And some technique-specific applications require a different setup for the conditions.

Just some quick snippets, but I hope this helps!

It's getting close to THAT time of year for some – woof!

Be safe both on AND off the water. 😬

Looks like Kansas Angling Experience's Brian Ondrejka slipped up to Lake Michigan and tangled with a soon-to-be momma! 😅 Call the doc, she's due any minute!

Thank you so much for reading! 👊 Have a great weekend, TW fam!

National Professional Anglers Assoc.

MN-FISH

Target Walleye LLC

422 Laurel Street

P.O. BOX 541

Brainerd, MN 56401

 (218) 824 5026