Target Walleye/Ice email

Grease-pig parade, Best ‘opener’ spots, Use bigger plastics

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Today’s Top 4

Welcome to the Wild West.

Can you imagine seeing a sign like THIS at your local ramp?

Q: What world is that from?
A: Planet Utah….

Was sent that craziness from TW’s Jim Kalkofen, who loves to Target Walleye Invasives lol. #WildWest

Grease pig parade!

What’s more difficult: Getting burbot to hang straight for a pic, or convincing a toddler to sit still during church? Lol!

Doug Wegner (@dougwegner_fishing) spent his last few days of hardwater chasin’ greasy big-heads:

Now Doug ^ is crackin’ BIG early-season river walleyes near Green Bay, WI. #Jelly

Okay, back to (eel)poutin’…

Multi-species nut Jace Loge (@jace.loge) got himself a northern MN teener [!] Clam’d up in 30′ with a 1/2-oz ReelBait Super Glow Flasher Jig:

Christopher Meitzner of Tight-Lines Guide Service has been walloping the Brainerd Lakes Area (MN) grease pigs with a Big-Nasty Tackle Trout-N-Pout Spoon. Love the markings on this one. #BlotchesO’Houlihan

Everything is bigger in TX Manitoba…burbs included. Check this high-30s ‘pout Matt Paul iced (and released) outta Wekusko Falls Lodge. #DoWant

Where to find post-spawn walleyes on “fishing opener.”

Although at this rate, some of you might still have ice on ‘opener’….

If you’re having a tough time finding ’em, you’re fishing too deep. One big key is knowing where they spawned, and where they’re headed next. A few excerpts below, but you’ll for sure want to read the full AnglingBuzz write-up here.

> “Walleyes typically spawn once water temps reach the mid-40s. The exact number will vary from lake-to-lake, but it’s generally somewhere between 44-48F.

> “Walleyes tend to go back to their old spawning grounds year after year, so once you figure out where they’re dumping their eggs, you’ll have some valuable info you can rely on for years to come.

> “Depending where you’re fishing, walleyes will either spawn on main-lake shorelines, or in feeder rivers and creeks. This tends to be on some form of shallow rock or gravel in 3-6′.

> “Look for shallow-water structure between those spawning grounds and some of your favorite main-lake summertime spots.”

They didn’t forget about you river rats either:

Keep reading here for more deets on baits and presentations.

Painting crankbaits from the inside out?

Sort of. If you haven’t heard of the Bagley Rumble B yet…where ya been?! Designed by Jarmo Rapala (grandson of Lauri “The Legend” Rapala) and has a concave lip that rolls the bait on the troll.

The inside of the bait is sprayed with a chrome paint — when they open it up to put the rattles in — which gives it a glow-like iridescence in the sunlight. Mmmm:

Lures aren’t the only thing better with a prize inside:

News

1. MN: WAM earns hall of fame induction.

WAM = Women Anglers of Minnesota earned a spot in the MN Fishing Hall of Fame after 42 years [!] of bringing women and children into the sport. Soooo well-deserved, ladies!

2. CO still trying to rid the world of walleyes (lol).

Trying to “provide more sport-fishing opportunities” and save the endangered razorback sucker and pike minnow…seriously:

> Aquatic biologists have developed a technique which renders walleye sterile and therefore unable to reproduce in the wild…would lessen the threat to native species.

So almost the exact opposite of what most other states are trying to do…

3. MN: Northwest Sportshow happenin’ this weekend…

…at the Minneapolis Convention Center. PLEASE try not to get any drool or fingerprints on my (I wish) blacked-out Lund 2025 Impact!

4. New “nite-glow” AuthentX plastics are here.

Peeps have been askin’ for this one, and BFishN Tackle delivered.

Can get the new “nite-glow” color in their AuthentX Moxis, Ringworms, Paddletails, 5″ K-Grubs, and one of my personal dirty-water favs…the 3.25″ Pulse-R:

5. MI: DNR walleye-egg collection starting soon

On the Muskegon River below the Croton Dam:

> …plan to collect about 30 mil walleye eggs…will result in more than 13 mil fry for transfer to rearing ponds and direct fry plants throughout the Lower Peninsula.

6. New Moonshine Shiver Minnow colors dropped.

Added 4 tasty glow colors and 2 holographics. Closer look here.

7. WV fish hatcheries back in biz.

Lots of repairs made, pond space added, and installed 20 more egg jars (cylinders that allow water to circulate through fertilized fish eggs while they incubate) = good news for walleye and sauger production.

8. MN: If you’re from the Brainerd Lakes Area…

…the local Walleye Wackers league is for sure worth checking out. Laid-back crew, but chock full o’ serious sticks.

I’ve been fishing in this league for 5-ish years now and always look forward to it. And after this winter, the season can’t come soon enough:

9. Warrior’s got a new rig coming.

Called the V198DC and is just “a rod tip shorter than” than their best-selling model (V208DC). Can run a 225-hp outboard and also added stern jump seats for the fam.

10. You seen Yo-Zuri’s Hybrid line yet?

Hybrid because it’s a co-polymer consisting of 50/50 flourocarbon and nylon. Has the abrasion resistance and sensitivity of flouro — flexibility and stretch of nylon. Haven’t personally tried it yet, but have heard good things from other fish-heads running it.

FishUSA has mega 600-yd spools of Yo-Zuri Hybrid in stock if you’re spoolin’ up for the season:

11. FishUSA has Berkley Snap Jigs on sale.

Have ’em buy 1 get 1 free right now. It’s a winged jighead — with a gliding/darting action — that lets you swap out the body with your favorite plastics to change up the color/action/profile:

Imo this thing would shine early in the season ‘cuz it does NOT have a treble hook, so can be fished super shallow and right up in the weeds. Couple of the pro’s favorite plastics for the back: 3″ Pro Twitchtail Minnow or 3″ Pro Jig Worm.

Mega Otter Giveaway!

Yup, this is real life! Have a shot at winning a $450-ish Otter Outdoors ice-fishing package in time for late-ice!!

Includes an Otter XTH Pro Lodge hub shack with 64 sqft of fishable area for 4-5 anglers! Thing is decked-out with overhead cargo nets, storage pockets, propane hose ports and even rod/tool holders = jackpot.Otter was also nice enough [thank you!] to throw in an Xtreme Duty LED Light Kit and Ice Anchor Tool Driver, so you can see what you’re doing (in 1200 lumens) and easily stay pinned down in gnarly conditions.

Takes 10 sec to enter — can share the link you get for bonus entries. Good luck!

Tip of the Day

The full tip was posted on TargetWalleye.com a few years back, but still some awesome (and super relevant!) info case you missed it. Few excerpts below on how guide Bret Alexander gets it done:

> Anywhere you have larger forage (from perch to ciscoes) big plastics will catch walleyes. Maybe not the numbers that you’ll catch dragging ‘crawlers on bottom-bouncers, but the fish you do catch will probably be bigger.

> Basically, what I’m doing is using bigger swimbaits like 4.5″ Berkley Rib Shads on heavy saltwater bullet-style jigheads. You let it hit bottom and some days it’s a faster hop — basically rip-jigging — and other days it’s a slow lift: 8-10″ and let the bait flutter down. Walleyes then pin the bait down and suck it in.

> You can actually see walleyes hit your baits! Last June I had days when 6, 8 or 10 walleyes were chasing the bait. I’ve never seen groups of walleyes competing for the same bait. I was catching 15-20 fish a day doing this, all big mommas.

> I work structure fast, casting the windward side first. Make a pass shallow, then deeper. Some days I’ll work the opposite side of the structure. Sometimes, if the wind is blowing really hard, it’ll blow the forage over the side. Especially if you get a dirty-water cloud that builds up on the back side, that’s where you’ll find the bait.

Tons more info in the full-write-up here.

Meme of the Day

Got any buddies that are always breaking off on the big ones?

The one that got away…again and again….

Today’s ‘Eye Candy

Outdoor writer + photographer Tim Allard (@timallardtips) nailed this shot of a jumbo that chowed a “glow” color #3 Rapala Ultra Light Rippin’ Rap. #Shoulders

Sign up another fish-head!

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Who is Target Walleye/Ice
Target Walleye/Ice — 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/Ice. 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

To send us walleye pics, ice shots or whatever, just respond to this email or click here to email us. Or post it on the Target Walleye Facebook page.

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