Icebreakers are wild, Fancy satellite images, Greenbacks built different

Heads up: This might be the only Target Walleye this week. I’m writing this one from the ice on Manitoba’s Lake Winnipeg. 👊 Little more on that down below…

We are out on Manitoba’s Lake Winnipeg right now chasing greenback walleyes. I’ve been to Lake Winnipeg a handful of times before, but this is the first time that I’ll be sleeping on the ice 💯 as we rented a 21′ Yetti Grand Escape thru Kris Gaune. Already been such an amazing experience!

Get this: We were barely 5 minutes into fishing when my buddy Nick Lindner landed his new PB walleye…. A thiiiick 30-incher that weighed 11.55 lbs and scarfed-up a rattlebait!

Simply unreal. Will have more info/pics/videos coming your way, but just a little (big) something to hold you off in the meantime. 👊

…just pick yourself up one of these Amphibex icebreakers! 😅🤑

As seen on Manitoba’s Red River! This CBC write-up posted on Feb 16 has a nice little breakdown of what they are and why.

> Manitobans are about to see an annual indicator – more so than the groundhog – that spring is around the corner. The Amphibex icebreakers will head onto the Red River north of Winnipeg next week to begin the work of preventing ice jams and related flooding during the spring thaw.

> Remote-controlled ice-cutting machines will first carve into the frozen river before three Amphibex icebreakers follow up, pounding and crushing the ice to allow the water to flow more freely toward Lake Winnipeg when the thaw comes.

> The 20,000-kilogram Amphibex machines – a cross between a barge and a backhoe – are used before and during the spring thaw. Unlike the ice cutters, they are amphibious, so there is no worry about them falling through the ice.

> They were originally engineered for dredging waterways in the summer but were beefed up to withstand high-impact ice-breaking. The operator uses the excavator claw to raise the machine up then drop it back down on the ice surface.

> The ice-jam mitigation program works to open up a channel about 100 metres wide, stretching for 28 kilometres from Selkirk to the Netley-Libau Marsh.

They’ve been busy – we snagged this quick snap while driving over the (world’s narrowest) bridge coming into Selkirk the other night:

Just found out that Lake Pepin (MN/WI border) has their own variation of “ice busters” too – awesome pics shared by DroneCity LLC on Mar 12:

You’ve never heard of one? It’s belly dun-laps over its belt lol. Caught with Lake Erie guide Ross Robertson:

Sheesh!

Have you ever been scrolling thru social media and seen where someone posted a recent satellite image of a lake or river? Usually when folks are checking ice-up or ice-out conditions. Sometimes looking for mud lines and/or where the cleanest water is on big water like Lake Erie:

Anytime I share one in Target Walleye, I get flooded with folks asking where and how:

Don’t worry – I’ve gotchu. 👊

There’s a handful of sites, but I prefer to use one called MODIS Today, which kicks out:

> “Near real-time and archived high resolution, true color MODIS images over the USA acquired from the NASA Terra and Aqua satellites.”

Basically once a day they upload satellite imagery from above. The tough part is if it was cloudy, you’re basically not going to see anything. But it can be reeeeally fun to snoop after a clear, sunshiny day.

As you can see, it looks like we’re still living on the moon where I’m at in central MN:

Episode 38 – big thx to our friends at Sea Foam for making this video series possible! 👊 Hope you dig it:

Back with the regular “News” section next week!

We’re giving away another Garmin LiveScope Plus! 💯 Yup, this is real life!!

This time we’re giving away a Garmin LiveScope Plus Ice Fishing Kit ($2,249.99), an ECHOMAP UHD 93sv ($999.99), and their GT54UHD-TM Ultra High-Definition Scanning Sonar All-in-one Transducer ($369.99) for the boat.

The term “game changer” gets thrown around a lot in the fishing industry, but LiveScope Plus is SERIOUSLY mind-blowing stuff!

Allows you to see fish swimming in real time 🔥 I have learned soooo much from watching the fish’s moods in how they’re reacting (or not reacting lol) to the presentation. Scan for fish/structure in ANY direction, see which way the fish are moving, and stay on ’em = 🎯 yes please!

Takes just 10 seconds to enter by clicking here or on the pic below, and can share the link you get for bonus entries. Good luck!

I love when Clam Pro Tackle Director John Crane talks ice baits. He’s a wizard when it comes to the specifics, and the “why” that makes them so important:

When you show up to weigh-in with a limit:

“If you go to a party, and you show up with some buffalo chicken walleye dip…they’re gonna be talking about you for a real long time.”

– That’s Chef Jow breaking down a tasty walleye appetizer recipe in this Bigwater Fishing YouTube video. Looks like an awesome way to switch it up from the usual fish fry:

Dylan D. caught this “Mississippi River queen” that looks like someone took an air compressor to it! Pre-spawn walleyes are wild! Pic posted by @northlandtackle on IG:

National Professional Anglers Assoc. 

MN-FISH