Lake Winnipeg is on fire, Swimbait walleye breakdown, Lake Erie spinners

I’ve seen numerous posts recently about Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba showing out 💯 including this one from Kris Gaune who said they’ve been having 150-200 fish 🤯 days out of the Hecla area lately. And it’s not just a quantity thing…they had 7 Master Angler walleyes (>28”) in a single day!

I live in the wrong place LOL.

Some days walleyes want nothing to do with swimbaits…other days swimbaits are THE DEAL and there’s no better way to cover water and catch a bunch of fish. So it doesn’t matter what lake I’m headed to, I will always have one rigged-up in my bait rotation when figuring out what the walleyes want that day…because when it’s on, it’s on!

There’s a ton of different variations and tweaks you can make to your setups whether the fish are shallow vs deeper…on sand vs weeds vs rocks…or if the fish’s moods are funky vs hot-to-trot.

In this video I breakdown my complete swimbait setups for catching post-spawn walleyes now thru their early-summer transition. Hope you can pick up a few tricks to put to use on your home water. 👊

Btw all the gear I used is linked in the video’s description over on YouTube. Thx so much for watching!!!

– That’s bass-head Theo Edeburn finding out the hard fun way that walleyes will crush a Megabass Vision 110 in skinny water, too. Sounds like a pretty good problem to have!

Btw I got to snooping thru Theo’s Instagram page, and he posts a bunch of awesome shots of bassin’ with BIG baits (swimbaits, glide baits, etc):

Now I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on it in case I see any incidental walleye catches while he’s slinging around a massive 8-inch, 3-oz bait for bass…. 👀

I thought this pic was some kind of burn wound at first! 🔥🥴 But apparently it’s the ultra-clear waters of Flathead Lake, MT in this Science and Nature FB post:

Sheesh! And I thought we had clear water around the Brainerd Lakes Area….

…cooked up by WI-based Hefty Fish Customs. A few sizzlin’ slabs of gold washed down with a “Bloody Mary” color #5 Berkley Flicker Shad. 🤤 #Dibs

Seeing this also made me realize I need to start playing around with more reds when open-water walleye fishing. I mean they kill it thru the ice…. 🤷‍♂️

1. MN: Tyler Wolden and Nate Leininger win Leech Lake AIM.

2. MO: 2023 IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame Ceremony, Sept 9.

At the Johnny Morris’ Wonders of Wildlife National Aquarium & Museum in Springfield.

3. Daiwa launches pro tournament walleye team.

Kicked it off with hammers Tom Huynh and Duane “Dewey” Hjelm. 🤝

> “At DAIWA we’re all about embracing forward-thinking anglers who are pushing the envelope of their respective sports, whether it’s bass fishing, inshore/offshore saltwater; or, in this case, walleye angling….

> “We’ve been watching Tom Huynh and Duane Hjelm compete and they’re doing great things. They’ve won a lot of events and have made a name for themselves. We also see walleye fishing changing with advances in techniques and technologies and Tom and Duane are right at the forefront of that revolution. It’s with great honor that we welcome Tom and Duane as DAIWA’s first walleye tournament pro team members….”

Congrats all!

Btw it looks like Tom is going to need a bigger man cave for his trophies lol.

4. MI: $1.5M grant will help remove ‘high-hazard’ dam from downtown Flint.

> Genesee County Parks and Recreation soon will begin removing the last crumbling remnants of the concrete dam and restoring the river channel with 5 natural rock riffles so fish can pass through unimpeded. Kayakers, too.

> “This grant will make a substantial impact by restoring the natural flow of the Flint River, improving fish habitat, and creating new recreational opportunities for the residents of Flint and surrounding communities. The project will reconnect Lake Huron to the Flint River above Hamilton Dam for the first time in 100 yrs and support spawning runs of lake sturgeon and walleye, as well as allowing recreational navigation of the river.”

5. 3 pros show how to get the most out of…

…Humminbird’s HELIX Series. One of the videos has Jon Thelen talking why he prefers using Down Imaging for finding fish, and how he uses it with his traditional 2D sonar to interpret what’s going on below:

6. SD: Brookings Wildlife Federation’s June “infolunch”…

…will host SDSU grad student Logan Cutler, who will talk about the importance of wetlands for walleye in Lake Kampeska.

> “My research looks at walleye diets and fish movement in Lake Kampeska and connected wetlands. The goal was to evaluate wetlands as feeding areas for walleye and other fish.”

7. Lake Erie: VHS blamed for large fish kill.

Thousands of dead sheepshead (freshwater drum) were washing up on the west side of Lake Erie in recent weeks.

8. ID: Inventive-Group seeks marketing director.

9. Gamakatsu teams up with Mr. Crappie…

…aka crappie legend Wally Marshall to design a new line of hooks.

10. NY: Muskie season opener coming.

> Begins Jun 1 on inland waters…and Jun 15 in Great Lakes waters (Lake Erie, Upper Niagara River, Lower Niagara River, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence River).

> Muskies can be found in 13 lakes and 19 rivers in NY….

11. MI beach under contamination advisory for high bacteria levels.

Ross Robertson’s pulling spinners for Lake Erie walleye now.

Something that’s more popular later in the summer, but he jumps on it as soon as he sees cleaner + warmer water:

I’ve seen a whole bunch of THIS going on lately!

And YUP, I’m guilty too…. 😅

Leave it to Jeremy Smith to catch a 15.5” crappie (in central MN) on a #4 Rapala X-Rap – yup, on purpose!

National Professional Anglers Assoc. 

MN-FISH