Al’s opener predictions, Father/daughter duo wins derby, Behemoth sturgeon caught

Tough bite for most on the Wolf River Chain of Lakes, but turned into a day to remember for Guy Engebretson and his 15-yr-old daughter Julia – they won the AIM ‘Berkley Open’ outta Winneconne with 15.43 lbs = taking home $8K + memories to last a lifetime:

In the morning, they used size 7 and 9 Berkley Hit Sticks (hot pink silver and firetiger) on 3-way rigs with a 1-oz dropper:

> We could have achieved our depth by just long-lining…however, we wanted to keep leads short to accurately navigate heavy boat traffic, current and tight corners…so we went with 3-ways.

> Boat traffic cleared a bit later in the day, the water warmed up and we went with more aggressive Berkley Diggers (firetiger) in hopes of triggering a big bite. The plan worked and landed us a 24″ and a 20.25″.

And looky who reeled in the bigguns – 👊 atta girl!!!

> Water temps were in the low 50s. We focused on rock in 6-12′ all day. I rely on the “feel” of the bait more than speed when fishing in current. Likely, going upstream, would say 1.0-1.2 mph and down stream 1.6-1.8 mph.

> Fishing has always been our ‘family time.’ Our vacations, and time away from work and school almost always include fishing. My son Cole has been my primary tournament partner…however, he is off to college in the fall and will miss the AIM WI Championship. I needed to get another partner engaged. My family has first dibs on an open seat in the boat. When Cole’s college obligations came into view, Julia quickly and ecstatically took the opportunity. Cole and I were fortunate to win an AIM event in 2017 and to do it again, this time with Julia, is unbelievable.”

No doubt, man!

Guy also landed himself a new profile pic that I just have to share. Because 1) it hit me right in the feels having a nearly-3-yr-old daughter myself and 2) it does a good job of summarizing what that moment had to have felt like. Goals:

Huge congrats you two!!!

Little side note: It was a good weekend for the entire Engebretson fam. Guy’s son Cole and his high school fishing club (which he founded) won big walleye, big pike and 2nd-biggest walleye bag in a high school tourney in Marinette, WI on Sat. How cool is that?

A lot of buzz going around how folks think walleye fishing might be different this “fishing opener” because of the early ice-out…. 👀 Here’s the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of All Time!) Al Lindner’s take on WHERE and HOW he plans to catch spring walleyes right out the gate:

Al never goes anywhere without those VMC Neon Moon Eye Jigs and VMC Moontail Jigs tied on, and now neither do I. 🎯

Btw Al is gonna be hopping on BOB Country’s Reel Talk Outdoors 7-8pm this Sunday night to chat with hosts Mark Fisher, Tom Neustrom and Larry Hanson. Great weekly radio show loaded with interviews, live call-ins and of course tons of fish stories. Listen live on 106.1 & 107.5 in the Twin Cities and 105.5 in central MN. Or they also post all shows here on their website if you miss it live or are out of the area.

– Quote is from this must-read article about keeping those big-fish genetics in the lake. Gord Pyzer and Jeff Matity (in charge of SK’s hatchery program) teamed up to tackle this always-controversial topic a couple years ago, but imo it’s too important to not bring it back to life…so dropping a few excerpts below:

> Protecting large, mature fish is now seen as so vital to maintaining healthy fish populations that fisheries scientists are referring to the concept as the big, old, fat, female fish – or BOFFF – hypothesis.

> Fish are cold-blooded animals that reproduce their entire lives…a 10-lb female walleye will typically produce eggs equivalent to 1/3 of her body weight. They get better and better as they age and never reach their peak.

> Last spring Matity recovered 5-lbs of roe – approximately 300K eggs – from one 11-lb walleye…practically all of those eggs would have been viable. With a 2- to 3-lb walleye only 20-30% of the eggs would hatch.

> Big fish have the biggest, juiciest eggs with the best yolk sacs, so each one is a bigger target for a sperm to find. Big spawners are the critical part of the reproductive pyramid.

> …big bass are critical in controlling the spread of invasive rusty crayfish, which predate heavily on walleye eggs. Who would’ve thought that big bass might hold the key to better walleye populations?

No doubt we’re learning more every day about things we can do to help protect the resource. And Gord just dropped another 💣 where he found a study that scientifically proved releasing big fish, and keeping only small ones, improves a fishery. Check this out:

> …subjected captive populations of Atlantic silversides to 3 different size-selective harvesting regimes…showed that within only 4 life spans of the largest fish being harvested, the remaining silversides were smaller, less fertile and converted food less efficiently than before. …they discovered the exact opposite results when the harvest was concentrated on the smallest members.

There ya have it. Obviously that study’s not specifically talking about walleyes, but interesting stuff nonetheless.

Check THIS out from Alpena Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office’s FB page:

> This real-life river monster was tipping the scales at 240 lbs, measuring 6′ 10″ long and a girth of nearly 4′. Caught in the Detroit River, this fish is one of the largest lake sturgeon ever recorded in the U.S. (she was quickly released back into the river…).

They believe the fish is over 100 yrs old! 🤯 Almost thought it was one of these type o’ pics while scrolling my newsfeed:

Wild contraption from a European company called Ghost Products:

Makes me wonder if you could slap a shiner on one of those Storm 360GT Swimmer Jig Heads…? 🤔 The 1/4-oz one below runs 6-9′ and has a hanger on the bottom for adding stinger hooks or blades:

Depth control with a jighead?! Let me know if you’ve played with one….

1. US: More folks fishing now than ever.

Get this: 55 mil Americans age 6+ went fishing in 2020 according to prelim data from the
Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation’s (RBFF) 2021 Special Report on Fishing.

Few pretty-incredible factoids from the report:

> Fishing participation rose to 18% of the U.S. population – highest in over a decade.
> Youth participation in 2020 grew 53% to 13.5 mil total participants.
> Hispanics participated at an all-time high with 4.8 mil participants, a 13% increase.
> 19.7 mil female participants represented a 36% of total participants, an all-time high.
> Nearly 1.8 mil more women went fishing than in the year prior, with a 10% increase.
> First-time participants climbed to 4.4 mil (up from 3.1 mil last year).
> Reactivated participants soared at 9.0 mil (compared to 6.8 mil last year).
> 88% of current fishing participants fished before the age of 12.

Was one bit of “troubling data” tho that’s been on a 3-yr trend now:

> In 2020, 8.8 mil anglers lapsed out of the sport. This group is primarily made up of Americans age 55+ who cite lack of time, preference for other outdoor activities, cost, loss of interest. and lack of access to waterways as the primary reasons….

2. SD: Lake Francis Case NWT is gonna be a tight one.

Here’s a look at the top 10 after day 1:

Pretty crazy that nearly every single team had a limit of 5 walleyes on day 1. This isn’t bass fishing (lol) so that’s actually quite uncommon in ANY walleye tourney series.

Will be super interesting to see how the top pros caught ’em after today ‘cuz it sounds like folks are doing a little bit of everything.

Ryan Rieger (1st) is running Rapala Shad Raps and Shad Dancers on leadcore. Tommy Kemos (2nd) is pitching to specific fish on his LiveScope with Strike King crater-head jigs with fatheads. And Mark Courts (3rd) is catching them trolling Berkley Flicker Minnows and also pitching Berkley Power Swimmers.

I’ll follow up with the winning pattern(s) in next week’s Target Walleye. In the meantime, National Walleye Tour will be live streaming today’s final weigh-in here on their FB page.

3. MN: 2021 charity Fishing Challenge is filling up fast.

Already 100+ teams signed up for the charity derby happenin’ Jun 5 on Gull Lake:

> Last year’s teams raised more than $350K [!] to support MN Adult & Teen Challenge’s drug and rehabilitation programs statewide. The cumulative amount generated via this family-friendly tournament since 2009 is more than $2.6 mil!

Amazing! And for every $500 your team raises you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a new Lund boat. More info here.

4. Love the fact that…

…Head2Head Fishing had (made? lol) PWS pros list their “Greatest Fishing Weakness” in each of their bios.

5. IA: Here’s the oldest known muskie in the entire state.

At 25-yrs-young (46″ long and 26.9 lbs) she’s part of the ’96 year class and calls Lake Okoboji home:

> “Since 2001, we’ve put out nets 1,996 times across the entire Okoboji Lake chain, and we did not recapture her until this year. This elusive fish was released back to the Okoboji lakes soon after netting this year.”

6. ID doesn’t only pick on walleyes….

> “Fish and Game has contracted with a company to net lake trout in Stanley Lake for 10 days in early May to reduce their population and reduce risk to endangered sockeye salmon populations. After the netting, sterile lake trout will be restocked in the summer and fall to continue to provide anglers a lake trout fishery at Stanley Lake. This is the second year of a 3-yr project and is the first netting event of 2021.”

7. MN: Troy Smutka’s speaking at the TCWU meeting May 6.

TCWU = Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited.

8. SIMMS has its own brewski.

> We are pleased to announce the launch of Reel Good, a clean, crisp, and balanced Kolsch style Summer Ale created in partnership with our good friends at @10barrelbrewing. A portion of all the proceeds from this limited release will benefit the Simms @troutunlimited Home Rivers Initiative focused on the Gallatin River.

9. A couple more Q1 updates. 🚀

Keep in mind that a lot of stuff was down Q1 last year:

Garmin:

> Total revenue of $1.07 bil, a 25% increase over the prior year quarter led by double-digit growth in the fitness, outdoor, marine and auto segments.

Brunswick (includes Merc, MotorGuide):

> …consolidated net sales of $1,433.2 mil, up from $965.5 mil in the 1st quarter of 2020.

Shimano:

> Sales from this segment increased 25.6% from the same period of the previous year…and operating income increased 102.7%….

10. National Safe Boating Week is May 22-28.

11. Diggin’ the “flash-foil finish” on these…

…Mission Tackle Walleye Slayer Jigs:

12. G. Loomis has a fresh new webby site.

13. Karl’s launches “Tackle Insurance” for its members.

They said “members can submit 4 tackle insurance claims per year” where they’ll literally replace baits that you lost to a snag 😂.

Please take just a couple minutes to fill out this Target Walleye survey and have a shot at winning a little pile o’ fishing lures! Click here to take the survey. Thanks for doing it and thank YOU for reading!

How to use muddy water to your advantage.

Interesting Ross Robertson + John Gillman write-up, few excerpts below:

> This is one time of year that driving around the lake at 30mph is very productive as we look for the mud transitions. Muddy water becomes like an invisible fence to help anglers eliminate water without ever wetting a line or even coming off plane. Make a big lake small, and a small lake even smaller.

> …this pattern applies to many inland lakes and nearly all of the Great Lakes, but doesn’t apply to…bodies of water that have year-round muddy water. Fish in those types environments seem to adapt and break typical walleye behavior.

> Fish too clean of water (real blue) and you are likely to not see, mark or catch much. Fish too dirty (cardboard color)…and all you do is make yourself sick with the number of seemingly uncatchable marks on the fish finder. It’s that inbetween color that’s the sweet spot. This water is generally a little green under ideal conditions, to a little chalky.

> …look at the big engine’s cavitation plate to determine clarity before setting up. For me it’s a control, the distance never changes and it serves as a way for other anglers to stay on the same page when discussing water clarity in different areas of the lake.

> One key item to be aware of that will drastically alter clarity is bottom composition. …rock reefs are the first to clean up. A loose mud silt bottom takes more time to clear when compared to a hard compacted mud bottom.

> While water clarity is likely the most important factor, temperature is a close second…has as much to do with bait as anything…. I believe that is the biggest reason walleyes are void in the super clean “blue” areas [often a few degrees colder]. No bait = no walleyes…it’s that simple.

> Gillman typically puts his baits in the top half of the water column, if not the top 10’…many of these fish in the spring time are just post spawn and “recovering” from the stresses it causes. The other factor is lack of productivity…water down there isn’t nearly as clean as layers closer to the surface.

Little different than how they play in the mud down south:

Been on both sides of this one! Spotted on Worldwide Marine’s Facebook page:

Love this shot from @cranberrycoyote – look how proud her pup-dawg “Berk” is!

National Professional Anglers Assoc. 

MN-FISH