Freak 5-lb sunfish, Level your SI ducer, Fishing opener shenanigans

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Wisconsinite Zac Mickle road-tripped to AZ’s Lake Havasu and caught one of the most ridiculous “sunfish” I’ve seen – ever. Fish weighed 5.07 lbs [!!!] and went 16.25″ long. 🤯

Zac posted a few bonus snaps for the naysayers:

For reference, Thomas Farchione caught the new world-record redear sunfish outta Havasu last spring – dropshotting a nightcrawler. Weighed 6.3 lbs and went 17″ long with a ridiculous 20″ girth. WOW!

We’ve shared Zac Mickle’s pics in the Target Walleye email before – guy is a panfish junkie and seems to catch some absolute giants no matter where he’s at. Do you remember this 11.5″ [!!!] WI hubcap he caught a few years back?

> Zac: “I’ve spent many years looking for a ‘gill of this caliber. Words can’t describe how I felt at that moment…trembling hands and tears of joy in my eyes…knew I finally caught the WI giant I’ve been looking for!”

Know you’re on a truly special caliber of fish when the thing starts lookin’ like Sloth from The Goonies. #HeyYouGuys

Too bad Havasu never freezes over so we could chase those monsters northern-style lol. Wonder how big of an auger you’d need to get that freak thru?! 🕳

Hope you had the chance to sneak out over the weekend! It was “fishing opener” here in MN = when our gamefish season (walleye, bass, pike) opens back up so we can finally start chasing fish that pull some drag again hahaha.

You don’t always need a boat to catch walleyes – especially this time of year, when current, bridges, neckdowns, etc can all help bring the bait AND fish to you. There’s just something special about getting it done from the bank that makes me feel like a little kid again.

That’s exactly what Troy Lindner, Nick Lindner, and myself I were doing at 12:01am for MN’s “fishing opener” last weekend – we left the boat at home and snuck in a few hooksets pitching swimbaits from the bank. Troy cracked the first fish at 12:12am and I followed that up at about 12:26am slow-rolling a 3″ Storm Largo Shad (“live threadfin shad” color) on a 3/16-oz VMC Hybrid Swimbait Jig Head in about 18 INCHES of water:

We ended up hitting 6 or 7 different spots from midnight until sunrise, but definitely should have just stayed at our starting spot. Always fun to explore new waters tho! I think it might have to become an annual tradition for us.

That next evening I dropped the boat into Gull Lake just north of Brainerd, MN around 9pm, and just 30-ish minutes into a nighttime stroll with a #7 Rapala Shallow Shad Rap (“purpledescent” color) it was game on!

Surface temps were about 49 degrees. Best speed ended up being 1.8 mph and we were running in 6-8′ on the edge of a big sand flat:

The water needs to warm up a bit before shiners make their big push up shallow – so far these walleye have been feeding on perch. Had a few fish in the livewell that spit up 3 or 4 chewed-up perch, and even snagged some on our cranks. So my buddy Christian Hoffman switched-up to a “yellow perch” color #11 Rapala Original Floater and proceeded to go 4 fish up on me right quick:

You might notice a couple different things going on in that last photo….

1. We only caught 2 or 3 male walleyes that night and they were all “milking.” All of our other fish were big females over 23″ – good problem to have!

2. Added a VMC Bladed Hybrid Treble to the middle of that Original Floater and the thing cleaned-up! Believe it was from its reflection in the moonlight. All I know is it caught about 5:1 compared to the Original Floater without it. Crazy cool little tweak!

After my old trolling motor batteries died (time for new ones, swear I can never get more than 1.5 seasons out of a cheap set…need to just spring on some good ones that’ll last longer) we Talon’d down on the tip of a little gravel point and started chucking #6 Rapala Rippin’ Raps in just 5-7′. “Moldy fruit” was by far the hottest color. We added 7 more fish to our tally that were all 23-25″ pitching around in the middle of the night:

Hear about folks on the Great Lakes catching ’em on Rippin’ Raps all the time, but it’s definitely something that can catch fish on “normal” lakes too. The key for us was doing slow rips. Not the big hook-set looking ones you’d do with a Jigging Rap, but instead slower 2′ to 3′ pulls, letting it hit bottom before slowly sweeping again.

Remember last month when I was talking about (Top Item #1) folks throwing ChatterBaits for walleyes on purpose? More specifically Z-Man Eye Strike ChatterBaits and ChatterBait WillowVibes. I had also said that:

> “Seems like every time I throw a ChatterBait for bass, I pick up a walleye or 3…even on lakes that just don’t have many in ’em. Have also noticed that they’re usually better fish when you do catch one on it – either fat 19″ unders or else bigger 23-27” fish. 👀 Time to start playing around with ’em more….

Last Sunday afternoon, my buddy Christian Hoffman and I decided to switch things up from walleyes and go whack a pile of fat, pre-spawn largemouth on a local lake…and whack we did with multiple doubles and our best 5 going 22.59 lbs on the scale. #proveit

Also, I swear pike know when you’re throwing an expensive bait ‘cuz I had only ever caught a handful on this lake in 10 years of fishing it, and we ended up sticking at least a half dozen in this quick 3-hour afternoon session of chucking those $15.99 🤑 Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammers. Spendy for sure, but man they can be THE deal for largies:

But the highlight of the day was when Christian leaned into a MONSTER walleye slow-rolling a 1/2-oz Z-Man ChatterBait JackHammer in just 4-6′. She had a crazy frame and huge head – measured 29″ on the dot and still weighed 8 lbs despite the shrunken post-spawn belly. Imagine what she’d look like in the fall, or if she was caught a couple weeks prior. 😳

Giant is all relative to where you’re fishing. This wasn’t Canada. This wasn’t some big walleye factory or a Great Lake. This fish was a straight-up 🦄 out of a small, 300-ish acre lake in central MN.

I’ll never forget seeing her come up thrashing on the surface that first time! After several hours of boat-flipping a pile of big largemouth, I don’t think I’ve ever moved so fast for the net in my life LOL.

Of course the fish was released to get even more bigger-er. 👊

– That’s fish-head Andy Walls talking about (somehow) wrangling in an incidental 50″ muskie while chasing crappies with 6-lb test. You just never know, man!

Selfie level: Expert.

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good…but Andy is both, which is scary lol.

When they choose a crankbait, Gary Parsons and Keith Kavajecz say: “Action is always the 1st question, depth is the 2nd and color is last….”

So where does crank SIZE fit into the equation? Some super-interesting info in their full Midwest Outdoors write-up here, but here’s a few excerpts:

> …shiners and shad spawn in May to July depending on latitude. Shad are generally 5cm long in early fall, 7cm long by late fall, and much larger (an almost inedible 6-9″) by the next spring.

> Shiners grow slower than shad, with 1-yr-olds often 4-5cm and 2-yr-olds 6-7cm long.

> Perch spawn earlier in the year (late spring) and are generally 7cm after 1 year.

> …look to the first few bites to start the pattern and use the next 5-10 bites to help dial in size and color preferences. Sometimes these bites will take hours, and other times it will take a few days of fishing….

> Take a simple trolling situation, with 6 lines spread out on a shallow flat using side planers. Starting with action details, the lines might have 2 Flicker Shads, 2 Flicker Minnows, and 2 Berkley Diggers running near the bottom. Sizes for these lures can be based on the biology discussed earlier or simply a guess based on previous experience. The first few bites generate an action-triggered trend suggesting a path forward for the rest of the day.

> At this point, 4 or more of the lines will be changed to similar, but not the same lure as the first pattern details. One size up and one size down are an easy plan, with small color adjustments okay at this point.

> As fish bite larger or smaller sizes, keep adding the next size to the spread and subtracting the ignored offering. Always reserve a line or 2 in order to try something totally different.

Keep reading here.

1. “Walleye guys” take 3rd in Sturgeon Bay bass derby.

Those 🔨s were Korey Sprengel and Chase Parsons who had a 2-day bag (10 fish) of 51-15. Way to go, fellas!

And no, I’m not surprised one bit:

Still love this throwback quote from Gary Parsons:

> “You put a green largemouth in front of us, we all get scared…but smallies are almost walleyes.”

Lol!

2. Apparently someone recently caught a 14-lb walleye in OK?

No pics in the write-up, but sounds like it was caught below the Broken Bow Lake dam in the Lower Mountain Fork River. Also read that Broken Bow Lake has “a massive walleye population that seems to be completely misunderstood by most of the local anglers” Sounds like an excuse for a road-trip lol!

3. NE: Cool vid showing a behind-the-scenes look…

…at how NE Game and Parks collects and raises millions of walleye each year to stock in the state’s waters:

4. NY: Some Lake Erie angler survey updates.

5. Is the threat of a polygraph better than a polygraph?

Talkin’ tourney fishing. Interesting read in bassin’master Bernie Schultz’s recent post.

6. “Wear Your Life Jacket to Work Day” is a real thing.

It’s Fri, May 20 this year. Hope you own a comfy one lol:

7. MN: Zeebz confirmed in Lake Pulaski.

Wright County.

8. OH woman being tried for selling crayfish across state lines.

Info from here.

> An OH woman who sold hundreds of marbled crayfish online has pleaded guilty to offenses under the Lacey Act, a US law preventing the transport of certain wildlife across state lines, after raising the crayfish in a huge tank in her home and selling them to people across 36 different states.

> …[allegedly] used eBay and Craigslist to sell various species of guppies and crayfish bred in her aquarium…and faces a maximum penalty of a year in prison and up to $100,000 in fines, although a federal judge is set to consider a lesser penalty under a plea deal.

9. ON: Just came across this slick dealio.

Saw that Ballard’s Resort is running a 2-for1 special for their Canadian camp cross the border (Ballard’s Black Island) on the Ontario side of Lake of the Woods. Last I checked they said they had a few spots remaining:

Torches and birchbark canoe guide Ojibwe man as he revives ancient tribal spearfishing tradition in northern WI.

Very interesting read on how Wayne Valliere, whose Ojibwe name is Mino-Giizhig, is trying to revive traditional spearfishing ways before they are lost forever. A torch-laden birchbark canoe (made the way it was 500 yrs ago – everything was put together using natural materials) equipped with a handmade spear:

Some great side imaging snippets from Jason Mitchell.

First thing that immediately stuck-out to me in the vid, was when J-Mitch was talking about making sure your SI transducer is level…NOT level based on how your boat sits on the trailer, but level based on how it sits in the water. It’s amazing how a little tweak like that can take your SI images from fuzzy to sharp.

Imo the best way to do it is to take one for the team – hop in the water and eye that baby up face-to-face. Seems to be the only real way to know your ‘ducer is 100% level based on how the boat floats. #ButWorthIt

Lot more SI tips in Jason’s full 7:58 video below:

Anyone else excited to finally see some dang grass again?! Heck, I might not even cut it for the next month-ish of the walleye season…. 🤣 #priorities

Does this look like a good spot or what?! Berkley bait-developer Dan Spengler Money Badger’d himself another one! Love that Gary Parsons isn’t letting it mess up his focus haha. Posted by @thenextbitetv on Insta:

Rumor has it that NWT pro John Hoyer just ordered this many of ’em:

National Professional Anglers Assoc. 

MN-FISH