Hope your 2017 is off to a great start! Make sure to set some fishing goals or they won’t happen — like losing adding a few inches onto your waist biggest walleye (lol). Thanks much for reading, and thanks to all the companies and people that make TWI possible.
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Today’s Top 5
Kelsy’s favorite Christmas present was a stout 32″ PB walleye from the Red River:
> “First day out and slayed this monster solo — 6 months pregnant to boot! My husband left to visit friends across the river and came back 10 mins later to find me crouched over the hole, holding this beast by the lips under water!”
One BIG reason why people make the trip to Lake of the Woods: The incredible gold-mining opportunities. This 30-incher fell for John Strong’s dead-stick rod — should always have one out:
Clayton Schick wasn’t on a smokin’ hot bite, but he did manage to stick a biggun’ for the camera:
Michael York’s Christmas ham had a rainbow sheen — usually not a great thing on hams but this is different:
Next one is technically NOT ice fishing, but sure feels like it…. Looks like there’s still some Great (Lakes) open-water fishing to be had — Off Shore Tackle Planer Boards with snap weights did the trick for the Legend Killer Charters crew:
How to find panfish on new lakes.
Here’s how the Lindner clan’s Jeremy Smith goes about searching basins vs weedlines on new-to-him lakes:
When Jeremy’s fishing the basin, he likes using baits like the Rapala Slab Rap (left) to help pick off the bigger fish in the school — it’s not a catch-and-release deal pullin’ ’em up from that deep, so that way he’s not killing dinks.
If the fish are fussy, he’ll downsize to a VMC Tungsten Chandelier Jig (right). It’s compact but lets you get down to 20-40′ super quick.
What’s Brad Hawthorne got against eelpout?
Probably just that they aren’t a walleye. Here’s what Brad Hawthorne said while hooked up with a Mille Lacs wally-saurus in episode 1 of Hooked on the Ice:
> Brad: “Oh, I hope this isn’t an eelpout [disgusted emoji] — look at that rod go….”
Spoiler alert: ‘Twas no burbot:
Cracked her on a VMC Tumbler Spoon (glow pink fire UV). Brad likes using gold (sometimes silver) Tumbler Spoons and Tingler Spoons during the day, and switches over to UV glow on the rocks at night.
Mother nature wasn’t playing nice in Minnesota.
MN got doused with a heavy rains the beginning of last week that quickly changed ice conditions. No one was hurt — aside from maybe an ego beating — but this Snobear was spotting making a den in central MN:
Made it pretty far on White Bear Lake considering there was only 5″ of ice at the time. Like Matt Milbrandt said: “I would’ve just used a camera to see under the ice.” Lol:
Houseboat spotting on South Lindstrom Lake:
Lake Wakonda decided to set up her own toll fees for crossing:
Funny looking parking spot on Big Pine Lake:
Hope everyone gets their stuff back okay. Good thing MN’s supposed to have negative temps the rest of this week — are ice-nuts the only ones in the world who get excited to see a sub-zero forecast?
It’s a fish-eat-fish world…especially in Wisconsin.
WI fishing guide Josh Teigen is a multi-species angler, but this for sure takes it to a new level…. Crappie eats Acme Rattlemaster — pike eats crappie:
News
1. Steve Pennaz going into FWF Hall of Fame.
Well-deserved, congrats man!
2. WI: Green Bay guides must report whitefish catches.
The population’s looking good — there’s spawning runs of whitefish in Green Bay tributaries for the first time in 100 years.
Also, ice-breaking to conclude by Jan 20.
3. MT: $10K payout for Hebgen NAIFC tourney.
That’s guaranteed — the prize pool could be as much as $21K with a full field. It’s good to see ice tourneys becoming bigger, but still a long way to go vs open water.
4. MI: Lake Sturgeon to open on Black Lake.
Only allowing seven ‘geon total to be harvested the entire “season.” Don’t blink lol.
5. OH: Wylie Walleye needs a makeover.
You knew Erie grew ’em big, but how about 20-ft and 600-lbs big?!
That fiberglass walleye is dropped from a crane every year in Port Clinton to welcome the new year. But at 20 years old, it may be time for Wylie to retire. They’re now taking quotes to build a new one, if you’re up for it.
6. ND: All public accesses open on Devils Lake.
Go get ’em!
7. MN: New ‘eye regs on Vermilion.
Creel surveys show the population is strong — new regs will allow anglers more opportunities to keep walleyes:
> “…A 4-fish bag limit and…must release all walleyes from 20″ to 26″…one allowed over 26.”
Diggin’ the profile of this sinking rattlebait called the Lunkerhunt Fillet:
9. Gussy’s go-to ice baits for big everything.
His all-time favorite baits for crappies, ‘eyes, whitefish, gators, perch, lakers:
Jeff’s favorite walleye bait is the Northland Buck-Shot Spoon. Says if he’s “looking for dinner,” he likes the 1/4-oz size, but up-sizes to 3/8-oz to make a little more noise when he wants a big’un.
10. Gary Parsons: Outsmarting crappies.
Crappies are suckers for the first drop — here’s how GP switches it up when things get stale down there:
Events
Great places to catch ’em
Tip of the Day
Are you letting your jigging spoon sit for too long?
> “One of the most common mistakes anglers make is letting the lure settle too much between strokes. Imagine a jig stroke and then the lure settles to the bottom of the stroke and hangs. The longer the lure hangs, the more the lure turns.
> “On the next stroke, the lure comes off a different direction and this direction is unpredic . One second the lure is 6” in front of the fish and then the lure shoots towards the fish disappearing…game over.
> “Remember that walleyes don’t back up that well and they need room to turn around, this is why staying in front of the fish is so crucial.
> “Don’t let the lure settle at the bottom of the jig stroke. Start your up stroke before the lure settles so that the lure dances and the cadence and direction of the dart or swing becomes locked into one direction and becomes predic . The target becomes much easier for fish to hit.
> “The moves that pull fish into the cone angle from 20′ away often have to change as a fish gets close. This understanding of how to use tempo and cadence to find fish while reading your electronics to trigger fish will help you catch a lot more walleyes this winter.”
Meme of the Day
May be an accident, but it’s been known to ruin friendships for the day:
Today’s ‘Eye Candy
Great shot of Tony Groskreutz’s 10-lb gravel lizard that apparently was caught on a Clam Leech Flutter Spoon. Looks pretty Lake of the Woods’ish:
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