Target Walleye/Ice email

Land more set line fish, Power drill tip-up hack, Bigguns of the week

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Today’s Top 5

Slabs of the week!

Paper-mouths? More like cardboard-mouths!

Will “walleye but sometimes crappie” Pappenfus iced this thick basin-dweller on a Northland Tungsten UV Fire-Ball Jig near Bemidji, MN. Yup, there’s a tasty panfish-version of the trusty ol’ Fire-Ball Jig:

Been sitting back watching the Bartz bros stick mega pans all season…it’s almost getting ridiculous lol. This one crushed a Rapala Ultra Light Rippin’ Rap — sometimes bigger baits do mean bigger fish:

Sunset snap of a slab-donkey Wyatt Williams fooled with a Northland Mud Bug:

Walters of the week!!

TW fan Kyle Gross sent in this snap of a mondo 30.5″ walter he iced around 8pm on Lake of the Woods. Don’t see a lot of fish caught after dark on LOTW, but they’re usually bigguns:

Devan Cox cracked this stout Manitoba greenback on a Moonshine Shiver Minnow, which aren’t just for open-water ‘eyes:

Nathan Claypool stuck this Mille Lacs mud melon in 35′ with a fathead-tipped #7 Rapala Jigging Rap:

Time to start hoarding VMC SureSet Trebles.

Heads up: VMC SureSet Treble hooks were discontinued. Stock up if you see ’em.

[Sad-crying emoji] Sounds like they were originally designed for bassin’ and those bass guys just weren’t into ’em. Unfortunate ‘cuz they were killer for set lines (deadsticks, tip-ups, rattle reels, etc).

Set lines account for a ton of bites, but can be tough to convert. Lot of those misses are caused by the hook points burying back into the minnow when walleyes have the bait in their mouth.

Didn’t have that problem with VMC SureSet Treble — their third treble had a much larger shank to keep the other hook points clear of the minnow.

Different-looking, but works. IDO’s James Holst says he gets much better hookups that are usually in the corner or roof of the mouth. Gotta watch the vid to see how he rigs ’em so those suckers sit straight and stay alive too:

Jame’s guidelines for hook sizes: Use a #8 or #6 for smaller shiners and suckers, a #4 for 5″ sucker minnows, and a #2 for sucker minnows that are 7″ or larger.

Target Walleye/Ice gear spotting!
Troy Simonides is rockin’ his digital-camo TWI hoodie while thwacking whities with JJ’s Guide Service on Green Bay:

Nicely done fellas! Said they’re fishing 89′ with a whitefish slider rig: a #6 VMC Octopus Hook tied 14″ above a 3/16-oz Rapala Jigging Rap.

Most fish are caught on the top slider hook while the Jigging Rap (or spoon) on the bottom calls ’em in. More from JJ on the “slider rig” here:

Are you actually killing the fish you release?

Don’t want to get all PETA on you, just with these negative-whatever temps be careful how long we keep fish outta the water if you plan on releasing ’em. If you’re outside the shack, their fins/eyes can freeze over in just a few seconds — may look like they swim away but the damage is already done so….

Some good fish-handling tips about it from Ice Team’s Matt Johnson in this vid:

Thanks for helping spread the message, Matt!

News

1. MI: 4 separate ice rescues this week…

…from western Lake Erie to Saginaw Bay. All had either become “disoriented [in the fog] or were caught on broken-off ice floes.” Sketchy stuff.

2. New crankbait tuner coming soon-ish.

Called the EZ Crankbait Tuner from Off Shore Tackle:

> “You’ll be able to adjust how much pressure you put on the eye of the bait to make precise adjustments. It’s plastic so you don’t have to worry about damaging the bait. We’ve been fine tuning it (no pun intended) the last couple years and it works great whether casting or trolling.”

Check it here:

3. Lund partners with Student Angler Organization.

They brought on NPAA prez Jimmy Bell (wow!) as the coordinator of their student angling program. No doubt the kids will benefit from that duo. Big congrats to both! More info on the Student Angler Organization here.

Also, Lund won the 2018 Innovation Award in the aluminum fishing boats category with their Impact XS. That 2025 has my name on it [heart-eyes emoji].

4. WI: Lawmakers restricting access to certain dam-made waters.

Or trying to at least. As of right now:

> “If a lake, stream or pond is usually deep enough to float a boat, it is considered public even if it is surrounded by privately owned land. People can’t legally cross private land to get to the water, but they are within their rights as long as they keep their feet wet or stay in a boat.”

But:

> “…Legislature want to change state law to ensure that a private landowner can keep the public out of a pond he created as a place for people with disabilities to fish in peace and quiet.”

Read more about Assembly Bill 599 here.

5. Gotta shout out the Okuma Ceymar.

Been using Okuma Ceymar C-10s the last two ice seasons and straight-up love ’em! Freakin’ awesome ice reel for the dough! Super-smooth drag, don’t seem to “gum up” when it’s super cold like some other reels do, are crazy lightweight and look sick:

Still surprised they’re only $44.99 when they feel/fish/look like they should be WAY more. On backorder at FishUSA right now, but sure you can find ’em floating around the web somewhere…or maybe at your local shop? #WorthIt

6. New 90-hp Yami V MAX.

4-stroke so it’s quiet, but has lots o’ torque and top speed.

7. Favorite Rigged Rods back in stock.

Super popular in the bassin’ world but heard that 7’3″ ML also makes a solid Lindy-rigging rod. For sure will know which one is yours:

8. Anyone mount rattle reels on the floor?

Always been a wall mount guy myself, but sounds like a floor mount like this may help keep the dog from getting tangled in the line or having false “dings” from that happy tail-wag:

Sure, blame it on the dog ‘cuz you don’t want to put anymore holes in the wall lol.

9. MN: Minneapolis Boat Show THIS weekend.

10. Distributor Maurice out of financial trouble?

Tip of the Day

Great trick for spooling up those Beaver Dam tip-ups. Joel Nelson didn’t invent it, but he did do a good job of showing how it’s done. Sure beats the old-school way that gives you carpal tunnel:

Meme of the Day

Hope you have the chance to get out fishin’ this weekend!

Today’s ‘Eye Candy

A nice chunk of SD ‘eye candy Cole Sellnow popped on a “glow green fire UV” VMC Rattle Spoon. #glossy

Sign up another ice-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

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