Daughter’s first walleye, Modified ice shack comp, Crank speed doesn’t matter

Soooo…this one is going to be tough to top! My 4-yr-old daughter, Maisie, just reeled in her first walleye ever over the weekend and it was a doozy!

To be fair, I set the hook with a #9 Rapala Jigging Rap and then handed-off the rod…but she reeled ‘er in the whole way, and man was it ever digging and making runs! ❤️ Definitely a moment I will never forget and fortunate to have a GoPro running:

…from The North Metro Ice Show’s portable ice fishing shack competition last year.

Stumbled across this video on Alex Timm’s YT channel (up to nearly 160K views!) doing a walkthrough of the top portables from the competition – thought you might get a kick out of some of these mods:

> Dave Coahran, fisheries supervisor with the DNR in Spicer, identified the fish as a hybrid sunfish, which is usually the offspring of a male bluegill and female green sunfish.

The guy who caught it, Aaron, is a big-bluegill junkie. He said he and his brothers have somewhere in the neighborhood of 20-30 different replicas of big bluegills they have caught through the years (mostly ice fishing). Last winter, he figures he fished 24 different lakes in pursuit of big sunfish.

BUT….

This one came when he wasn’t expecting it, and goes to show that you just never know:

> Aaron Ardoff caught the sunfish on Sept 18 when he was fishing with his brother and a friend. He was catching bass and pike with a black and orange spinnerbait when the sunfish bit his lure.

> It was a gorgeous Sunday afternoon when Ardoff, his brother and good friend decided to try a little fishing. “(We were) killing time…better than watching the Vikes that week, I think.”

> “As soon as I started reeling, I could tell this wasn’t fighting like a pike or bass. When the fish got closer, I could see that it was a sunfish and I started panicking! I kept telling myself to not go crazy and just get it in.”

Wonder i that thing would even fit thru a 6″ hole?! Big congrats on making the record books, man!!

Speaking of bluegills, and sunfish, and hybrids, oh my! 👀

There’s literally no easier time to catch crappies than right now, when water temps dip into the 40s and they pile into (and around the edges of) deep holes.

Hit ’em in the face with smaller #3 Rapala Jigging Raps…drop a waypoint…and don’t forget to come back once there’s 4″ of ice. 👊 It’s waaaay easier to find those first-ice spots now versus drilling 200 holes thru the hard stuff. 🥶🧊🕳

1. Metal detectors will now be standard in Lake Erie…

…walleye competitions this fall. Also will be a change to the lie detector process.

2. OH: Walleye fishermen plead not guilty in cheating scandal.

3. The latest “Top 5” of the week! 🍿

I always try to make it a little different than what you get in the email:

Big shout to Sea Foam for making this video series possible!

Winter is coming – which is both exciting AND miserable to think about lol. Make sure you give your rig a healthy dose of Sea Foam Marine Pro = cleans and lubricates your motor, helps prevent corrosion caused by ethanol and water, and stabilizes tank fuel up to 2 yrs!

If you can’t find Marine PRO near you, original Sea Foam still works great in ’em to dissolve fuel residues AND for fuel stabilization. May be the #1 automotive additive in the US, but it was originally invented for outboard motors.

4. MN: NAIFC national championship happening Dec 16-18.

Teams that qualified at a 2022 NAIFC event will be bringing in their biggest 8 bluegills and 8 crappies per day, fishing for a chunk of $22K+. The 2-day ‘ship is split between Big Elbow Lake and South Twin Lake. Good luck, all!

5. MN: URL walleye reg change this winter.

Starting Nov 1, Upper Red Lake will switch to a 3-walleye bag limit with only 1 walleye > 17″ inches allowed.

> The fall fisheries assessment…found the walleye population to be at a healthy, sustainable level with a wide range of sizes. This winter’s walleye regulation…is based on the abundance of mature female walleye, or spawning stock, in “optimal” condition. The fall numbers indicated that a regulation that allows a moderate amount of harvest is most appropriate to maintain spawning stock at a level that is both sustainable and promotes the consistent success of new year classes.

> Last winter, the bag limit was 4 fish in an effort to reduce “surplus” spawning stock to a level that is more likely to encourage success of young fish and relieve some pressure off the walleye population’s primary forage, yellow perch.

6. I look forward to 13 Fishing’s…

…FreeFall Trickshop Special Edition inline reel they drop each year – they always kill it with some kind of fish-sexiness. Limited-run…if you try to call them in Jan to ask if they have more – they don’t. 😂

This year’s model features a unique 2-piece special anodized spool design housed in our ultra-lightweight Carbon Chassis. Full specs here.

Multispecies derby (northern pike, walleye, sunfish, yellow perch, crappie and lake trout) that costs just $10 to enter and can be fished by any ice angler thru the FishDonkey app. Thousands of $$$ in Clam goodies up for grabs and a pile of different ways to win.

Some absolutely ridiculous fish were caught in this virtual derby last year, including a 29.5″ walleye, 15.5″ crappie, 10.75″ bluegill and a 43″ northern.

Gotta give huge props to Kris Gaune on having the largest stringer of 3 walleyes for 87.25″ which is over a 29″ average! Believe he had his Yetti Fish House plopped down on Manitoba’s Lake Winnipeg. Hope he’s able to work remotely, because it would be a very tough place to leave!

Btw the only thing that ever stops me from entering stuff like this is the thought that I have zero chance to compete with the caliber of fish that are entered, unless I’m willing to make a loooonnnngggg roadtrip…so super cool that Clam is also doing random prize drawings and whatnot for those of us who only catch little ones lol. 👊

9. Brunswick named “Most Innovative Marine Company” of the year.

For the 3rd time in 4 years, according to Soundings Trade Only.

10. Vista Outdoor searching for new CFO.

11. This thing 👀s like it could save your day.

I believe THE PROTECTOR Phone Tether 3.0 from Rogue Fishing was originally designed for in the kayak (?) but sure seems like it would come in handy while ice fishing.

12. First evidence of Lake Trout natural reproduction in Lake Erie.

13. NY: New ramp going in at Oneida.

On the Barge Canal at Cove Road in Verona.

14. MI has $1.6 mil in funding available…

…for “improving state fisheries and aquatic resources, including fish habitat conservation, dam removal and repair, resource assessment studies and access to recreation.”

15. Ever thought of adding an Ice Defense in your permie?

For that 1 pesky hole that likes to freeze-up overnight whether the thermostat is set at 65°F or 80°F hahaha:

Pretty slick that Cold Nation Outdoors now has 110V Power and 12V Socket Adapters for their Ice Defense Pro systems.

16. Garmin Navionics+ now preloaded into select GPSMAP units.

17. WI: Gotta purchase sturgeon spearing licenses by Oct 31

The 2023 Lake Winnebago sturgeon spearing season opens Feb 11.

Fall crankbait trolling isn’t about speed…?

People get so focused on what exact mph they should be trolling at (I’m raising my hand) but John Hoyer will actually pay more attention to the feel of his baits rather than the GPS speed. That plus a few more quick-hitters in this vid from The Next Bite:

Whoops – wrong pic lol.

That ^ is actually John Hoyer with a big ol’ wells catfish he recently caught while representing Team USA at the 13th Annual Carnivorous Artificial Bait Boat World Championship in Czech Republic.

Here’s the actual Hit Stick’in goodness:

> John: “The [Berkley Hit Stick] has a perfect roll and apparently a seductive rattle. The addicting part is how hard the fish bite these things, and the way they have it in their mouth when you land them…T-boned or completely choked is the standard look.”

🥩💣💥

“There’s a crazy concentration of fish…but along with that…comes an absolutely ridiculous concentration of boats.”

– That’s Tom Boley talking in his newest YT video on fall river walleyes. But Tom doesn’t like fishing in crowds (who does?!) so…

> “…we’re going to stay away from that. We’re going to run around downriver and pick up the scraps.”

And the scraps are a-plenty:

National Professional Anglers Assoc. 

MN-FISH