Target Walleye/Ice email

Behemoth 15 lb walleye, Shallow sand crankin tips, Ned rig slaunch

Today’s Top 5

Massive 15.55-lb walleye caught! 

Came across this mondo Missouri River, SD walleye posted on New Evarts Resort’s Facebook page and HAD to share with you fish-heads…’cuz it’s what fishin’ dreams are made of!

Their head guide and NWT pro Dan Stier put his client Jeff Day on the absolute fish of 100 lifetimes, measuring a RIDICULOUS 34.5″ and hit 15.55 lbs on an official GFP scale:

Know it’s a big fish when ya need an elbow brace! BIG congrats fellas!!

Jay Siemens has mad balancing skills.

One of the coolest dang walleye pics I’ve seen so far this season, and proof that Jay Siemens has the reflexes of a ninja, even when he’s not behind the camera:

 

Here’s what seems to happen every time I try to hold a waldo like that:

 

Guess there’s a few other talented folks out there that could probably pull off that 1-handed walleye hold:

Caught me a “Ned rig” slaunch!

Remember last week when I said that the Ned rig might be the best WALLEYE bait no one’s throwing? Had the chance to sneak over to Mille Lacs and put it to work on some skinny-water walleyes — including this 29.5″+ freakazoid!

 

Gotta give a shout-out to my buddy Christian Hoffman for hand landing that fish (no net in the boat) and snapping the pics.

Caught it (and a bunch of her friends!) throwing a 1/8-oz “green pumpkin” VMC Half Moon Jig with a “watermelon purple swirl” color Juice Baits 4″ Stick. Runnin’ 10-lb Sufix 832 braid with a 10-lb fluoro leader:

We were working the edge of an 8-10′ sand-to-rock transition…also found a pile of fish stacked in the 10-12′ depressions just off those transition edges. Water temps were around 50 degrees — loads of those 17-20″ fish were on the chew, with a few bigger ladies now showing up to the party.

You wanna talk about the highs and lows of fishing: My next time in the boat (after catching that giant) was last night on Gull Lake for our local walleye league, where I ended up weighing a goose egg. #HeroToZero lol

What keeps us going back out the next time! (Thanks to bass fishing TV host Mark Zona for that “slaunch” word!)

New bass species caught in the Midwest!

A smallmouth + rock bass hybrid that had me doing a double-take:

 

Okay kidding about the hybrid part…but that’s a legit pic of a unique smallie! Reached out to @issa_jukie who said he caught that little IL butterball throwing a swim-jig. Would love to see that fish when it’s 18-20″ long!

Would you tow your Lund like this?!

Looked like a wreck at first glance. Realized it’s actually someone with places to go and people to see a Lund to tow lol. #Aggressive

News

1. MI: Edenville dam failure forces 10,000 to evacuate.

Folks living along the Tittabawassee River and connected lakes in Midland County were ordered to leave home. The governor said downtown Midland could be under 9′ of water by later today. Prayers to all.

2. OH: 3 rescued from Lake Erie…

…when their 18′ boat capsized 7 miles out and sent ’em into the 47°F water. Scary story. Glad everyone was okay.

3. AR: Dude pulled off the Master Angler sweep.

Only one in the state to have knocked off all 8 categories in AR’s Master Angler program — this 9.2-lb Bull Shoals Lake walleye was the last notch in his Master Angler belt. Impressive man!

4. New CEO of Northland Tackle = Gregg Wollner.

> “Wollner has more than 25 years of fishing industry experience at Galyan’s Trading Company and Rapala. He has served as Chairman of the American Sportsfishing Association, board member of the National Boating and Fishing Foundation and Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame selection committee.”

Congrats to both!

5. WY: Folks now have 31K more acres to fish/hunt.

Thx to Williams Foundation’s $10K donation to the Access Yes program:

> Access Yes is a program that facilitates the partnership between private landowners and the Wyoming Game and Fish Dept to provide hunters and anglers free public hunting and fishing access on private land and inaccessible public land.

> Each dollar donated to Access Yes equates to approximately 3.1 acres of public access.

> In 2019, donations provided more than 2.8 million acres of hunting access on otherwise inaccessible private, state and landlocked public lands and 4,007 lake acres and 89 stream miles were provided for fishing.

Pretty cool.

6. FishUSA has some Rapala Rap-V Blades in stock!

Not all of the colors in stock, but some good ones:

Can’t wait to throw one.

7. Kerry Campbell new prez of TTI-Blakemore. She’s worked in the fishing industry and at TTI-Blakemore for over 42 years.

8. MT “bucket biologist” strikes again.

This time FWP found illegally-stocked northern pike in Placid Lake. Believe the reward is over $30K (!!) now if you give up the name of the person(s) transplanting fish across western MT.

9. The futuristic Sharrow prop is taking orders.

Remember this bad boy?

Dunno about you, but I would legit cry if I ever dinged up a $2K prop…let alone their $9K [!!] CNC-machined version lol. Few snippets from their website:

> Its design, enabled by modern computer modeling and additive manufacturing, has solved the most basic problem of rotary propulsion. Specifically, tip cavitation and vortices have been eliminated or significantly reduced….

> …the Sharrow Propeller is 9-15% more efficient than the industry standard…design. …also exhibits a wider peak efficiency curve for greater utility over a wide scope of operational ranges.

> Additionally…generates more thrust and uses less energy for a given RPM than a standard propeller design, which increases acceleration dramatically.

TargetWalleye.com Highlights

Tip of the Day

Flat-calm days + shallow sand flats = trolling crankbaits?? Sounds goofy, but it puts a ton of ‘eyes in Jason Mitchell’s boat each spring — especially on Devils Lake, ND. He uses Off Shore Tackle Planer Boards to get his cranks out away from the boat, to keep from spooking those shallow fish. More deets:

> It’s a great way to catch these fish during tougher bites when pitching jigs or slip-bobbers aren’t working, and you’ve gotta cover a little bit of water — when fish are scattered out but holding at specific depths.

> All about finding the warmer water temps. When the sun comes out and the water temperature spikes…that’s when the fish really pile up on these types of spots. Unstable weather or crashing water temps and you’ll struggle.

> Clearer the water, the farther you need to send the boards out — especially in spring. Later in the summer you can get away with a lot more as far as running the boat right over the top of the fish.

> We run deep-divers on a short amount of line — even in shallow water. The bigger profile runs nose down and tail up, and can catch a lot more fish than traditional shallow-running baits that run more horizontal.

Lots more info and fish catches in J-Mitch’s throwback video here.

Quote of the Day

“No matter how slowly you reel in fish from that depth, there’s still likely going to be some trauma.”

– That’s MN DNR’s Brandon Eder talking about how deep is too deep for catching and releasing walleyes. Some interesting info at the link on fizzing vs using re-compression devices. When in doubt, fish shallower than 30-ish feet….

Today’s ‘Eye Candy

Is it just me or is this zander smirking?

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Who is Target Walleye
Target Walleye — walleye during open water and all species during hardwater — is brought to you by Al and Ron Lindner, Jim Kalkofen, Brett McComas and other diehard fish-nuts like you! #fishheads
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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