Do we fish baitball baits enough? 🤔
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Saw that pic from Swimbait Culture on IG and had 2 thoughts:
1. Why don't we fish with these kind of glidebaits more for big ol' walters?
I mean there are times when folks absolutely swear by and demand the biggest redtails or creekchubs they can find.
Or throwing stickbaits or even plastics that are 6”+.
And we see walleyes with half-digested tullibees, bluegill, perch, etc hanging outta their mouth that are often just as big.
But of course the whole point of that bait is to look like a bunch of tiny ones, which walleye always seem to be coughing up at the side of the boat or in the livewell this time of year.
2. Why did we STOP throwing baitball baits like this? Seeing that glidebait reminded me of this pic from a post by Dr. Jason Halfen aka The Technological Angler:
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Looks like a LIVETARGET Yearling Baitball Jerkbait hanging out of that fish's mouth – unfortunately been discontinued.
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You can find some of those Baitball baits on eBay, but if you want the presentation and don't want to go the hardbait route, guess you can always go the umbrella rig route!
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So if ya can't find a baitball lure or don't want to spend $50 on eBay, why not have some fun and lay around with a YUMbrella Flash Mob Jr to put that bait-school look back in the rotation. 😅
Or maybe it’s time to step things up a notch....
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Speaking of BIG-bait walleyes.... 👀
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Came across a pic on Stefan Samuel’s Insta that I assumed was an incidental catch while chucking around big swimbaits for largemouth:
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But went over to check out the rest of his IG and it was no fluke, dude is straight-up dialed!
Sounds like he’s a couple hours north of Toronto. And he said that big swimbaits often outproduce snap-jigging and trolling for him early in the season – sure as heck looks like it!
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How insanely cool is that?!
Also saw this post from Blake Tollefson with a greedy WI waldo:
> Blake “Don’t underestimate what a walleye will eat. This walleye had no problem eating a 4″+ jerkbait and then proceeded to puke up a 10″+ walleye in the net.”
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All this seriously makes me want to completely switch-up the way I target walleye lol. And funny enough, there’s science that says I should probably take this more seriously....
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“Your walleye lures are way too small – and this simple scientific data explains why.” 👨🔬
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That’s the headline from this throwback Gord Pyzer write-up on Outdoor Canada talking why you should go big (baits for walleye) or go home.
> Liam and I were out fishing for big northern pike and we couldn’t escape from the blasted walleye. We were casting 5″ Rapala Super Shad Raps for the big toothy critters, but the walleye were beating them to our baits and hammering. And I mean absolutely slamming them. ...it was also not the least bit surprising.
> Many years ago, when I worked with the ON MNR, my office was close to that of Dr. Peter Colby, one the brightest minds in the walleye world. I’d often head up to his office…and drive him crazy with questions. And that is when I first learned that walleye will go out of their way to target specific-size prey items, like yellow perch, suckers and ciscoes, based on their own body size.
> Understand what I’m saying? All else being equal, big walleye prefer big food items, and bigger than most walleye anglers can imagine.
> ...I remember telling Peter that I had caught a particularly large walleye while I was casting big baits for northern pike and muskies. I thought it was a total fluke that a fish most anglers target with small jigs and lures would attack such a massive bait. But he told me it was the rule – not the exception. Then he gave me a copy of his synopsis, that I treasure to this day, and flipped to the diagram below that he had produced showing the sizes of forage fish eaten by walleyes of different lengths.
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> ...by the time a walleye reaches a modest 17″ in length and couple of lbs in weight, it is already eating 5-6″ baitfish. But the real eye opener is when we extrapolate the trend lines out for 30″+ trophy-size walleye. They’re devouring 7″, 8″, even 9″ perch, suckers, ciscoes and whitefish.
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> It’s something to consider this weekend, when you tip your little 1/4-oz walleye jig with a finger-length shiner, chub or dace minnow.
Okay, okay...it's time to cook something big up!
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The line you use can change the action of your baits?
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Here's a little line tip from a recent Lindner's Angling Edge vid where they were swimming VMC Snitch Jigs over rocks, and were getting more bites using a fluorocarbon coated copolymer – just one of those details that time on the water teaches you.
> "We're fishing with 8-lb co-polymer [Sufix] Defcon. You can get that just a little bit different fall with the bait...different angle than you would with braid....”
That Sufix Defcon is a budget-friendly line that is supposed to be the best of both worlds since it combines a flexible monofilament core with a tough fluorocarbon coating.
> "When you’re trying to work a crawler over the top of those shallow rocks, the angle isn’t like braid where it’s just a straight connection. It’s got more of that [arch] curve to it – you’re able to float that jig over a little easier.
> "A lot of the walleye guys we deal with at work and in the industry are big fans of using a mono versus a braid for this. They swear by the mono and that the little bit of stretch it gives you allows the fish to hold on to the baits longer and lets them hook more fish with it.”
There are times when that more subtle action of the bait (versus quicker, sharp movements) can be the deal, especially early on in the season.
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Check out the shoulders on this walleye!
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Sounds like his 1-2 🥊 included slinging a 3/4-oz tungsten paired with a Z-Man Scented Jerk ShadZ and pulling Bombers on leadcore.
We’ll follow up next week with the ‘Full Scoop’ on how the top-3 pros caught ‘em better than the rest. 🤫 Little details and specifics you won’t find anywhere else....
2. MT: McFadden/Phipps pull off the 3-peat
Won the Crooked Creek Classic on Fort Peck for the third time in a row. They had a 2-day total (10 fish) for 102.04 lbs. 👀 That’s calculated using a length-to-weight conversion...BUT they had nearly a 30" average on 10 fish. 🤯
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How does a guy go about getting a rod-in-hand tour of Fort Peck in that Vexus DVX22? 😅 Asking for a friend lol.
3. MN: Allan Nistler wins Mille Lacs ‘Champions Tour’ derby
Catch-weigh-release format with every fish over 2 lbs counting towards the total weight. He had 70 lbs 9 oz during an extremely stingy bite in heavy winds = took home the $10K payday. Huge congrats man!
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> Built around the core features of the proven Original Floating, the Floater Elite consists of premium balsa wood, a natural baitfish profile and the classic Rapala wounded-minnow action. Its increased weight generates longer, more accurate casts; while the forged, flattened, one-piece through wire construction maximizes durability. High-definition patterns with metallic gilded faces bring these finishes to a new level. Whether cast or trolled, the Elite performs at ultra-slow retrieves to super-fast without fail.
9. IL awards $670K for 4 boat access projects
10. Yamaha Marine sales up but profits down
> The marine segment posted revenue of $937 mil, a 6% increase year-over-year. Despite the top-line gains, marine operating profit fell 19.2% to $101 mil. Yamaha said the decrease was due to the impact of US tariffs....
11. Guess this is what AI 3D nav can look like
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12. MN: DNR stocking larger muskie on bigger lakes
> The Minnesota DNR heard from anglers that they wanted more improvement in the current muskie fisheries rather than expand the program, so that will mean more focus on lakes like Mille Lacs, Vermillion, and Minnetonka. The goal is more consistent trophy fishing and less pressure on smaller lakes.
Sounds like they’ll be stocking larger yearlings rather than fingerlings.
Can read the full long-range (thru 2040) muskie plan here in a 58-pg pdf.
13. WV had 3 records broken this spring
Blue catfish (71 lbs, 50.23”), redhorse sucker (6.46 lbs, 25.43”) and tiger trout (13.32 lbs, 29.80”).
14. Props to ‘ZEBCO School of Fish!’
Recognized by many as the leader in kids fishing education, and they’re off to an impressive start in 2026:
> “This past week, the program presented its 16th event of the season and went over the 400 mark in kids attending. Plus, nearly 300 parents have attended ZEBCO School of Fish classes so far this year. The program still has 17 more 2026 events scheduled.”
> Started in 2012 in Alexandria, MN, the ZEBCO School of Fish is now in its 14th year and has presented 325 schools, graduating over 7,000 water-ready kids, with around 3,500 adults having attended too.
15. June = 'National Take A Friend Fishing Month'
A whole month! In case you need another excuse to frequently hit the water with the homies! 😅
16. DC: Anti-Asian carp bill intro'd in House
Also other aquatic nuisance species.
17. BC: Volunteers are talking to boaters about mussels
Some dedicated folks if that’s how they wanna spend their free time lol.
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Big flats = more walleye? 🤔
Not all spring flats are created equal...especially after a cold front makes walleye act like they suddenly have standards. 😂
Dug up this older-ish Target Walleye vid from last spring that gets into finding the best feeding flats first, then fishing 'em with a VMC Bucktail Jig after a front rolls through. Here's a bit of juice on finding those high % areas when that happens:
> "We're fishing a big, shallow spawning flat that has a little bit of everything on it – rock, weeds and sand.
> "When you can find all 3 of those pieces mixed together, especially the spot on the spot where they all meet, a lot of times fish will be loaded there.
> "The biggest feeding flats on the lake usually hold the most fish, so that's your best bet. You can pull up to a smaller flat and catch fish, but a 1/4-1/2-mile-long flat is usually going to hold more walleyes, more bait and more opportunities for bites."
Can check that full Target Walleye YT vid here if you need to freshen up.
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Been on both sides of this one!
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The 3″ Berkley Ripple Shad does it again...and again and again! 💯 Ryan Harrenstein said that Bob crushed his PB walleye 3x in just 24 hours on Little Bay De Noc. With the biggest being this 29.5” bruiser:
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He caught it on the “Uncle Rico” color, which basically throws itself. #Could’veGonePro
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Check out this MEGA Down Imaging screenshot of the “Christ of the Abyss” statue off of the coast of Italy! Incredible. Couple quick screen grabs from this cool reel on Humminbird’s Instagram:
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Thanks SO much for reading! 👊 Back atcha next week....
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FRIENDS OF TARGET WALLEYE
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Target Walleye – walleye during open water and all species during hardwater – is brought to you by Al Lindner, Jay Kumar, Chris Philen, Brett McComas and other diehard fish-heads like you!
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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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