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When ice fishing is more than just a hobby.
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Fish-nut Alex Shepard took a Sawzall, can of foam, and a Catch Cover to his car to make one heck of an ice-scouting rig:
Our favorite comment/reply under the Missin Fish Outdoors FB post:
Q: What’s the wife say about you cutting a hole in her vehicle?
A: Why tell her? That’s what floor mats are for….
Lol! Although there’s plenty of ladies out there that’d probably do this themselves.
Btw – if you’ve never heard of Catch Cover (where ya been?!) they make some must-have hardhouse goodies:
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Speaking of cool ice-fishing accessories….
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The Lithium Shuttle’s 12Ah lithium-ion battery makes it all possible: Can extend a unit’s run time by 40+ hours [!] and trim off about 3 lbs!
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How to tell if big walleyes are male or female.
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Whole convo came about after Jeff’s bro Jason Matity snatched this 29″ MALE walleye — he nicknamed Donkey Kong — outta SK’s Last Mountain Lake.
Spoiler alert: That’s not a frozen-over eyeball…it’s cataracts from old age:
> Jeff: “When compared with much younger female fish of comparable length, males…have heads that are disproportionately larger and longer. Their eyes are often clouded over with cataracts, their pigmentation changes from gold to grey, there’s a thickening or ‘stubbiness’ to their fins and roundness to the caudal fin (sloughing off most or all of the yearly growth of fin edges) and a leanness to their bodies.
> “…Males seem to nearly ‘stunt’ at a smaller age, while the females grow considerably larger. That’s because increased body size means increased egg mass and volume for increased reproduction.
> “Mother Nature does not urge males to grow as big, since sperm are infinitely tiny compared to eggs. As long as an individual male is healthy, he can produce fresh, viable sperm for the entire spawning season, unlike the one-shot quantity of ripe eggs from a female.”
Keep reading here to learn why Jason’s 29″ male walleye grew so big….
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How fluorocarbon fishes compared to mono and braid.
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First off: There’s no one specific line type that’s ideal for all situations.
That said…here’s why you should have a rod or two rigged up with fluorocarbon and how it stacks up against the other lines. Full write-up on TargetWalleye.com, few excerpts below:
How it compares to mono
> Fluoro is going to be more ‘invisible’ than mono, making it the ultimate line in ultra-clear water or on heavily-pressured fish in community holes. You’ll really notice the difference when sight-fishing for finicky panfish in shallow water. Fewer fish hesitate to bite — try it side by side with a buddy who’s not using fluoro.
> It also has less stretch than mono, which is going to make it much more sensitive and help to feel those light bites. Less stretch means more solid hooksets, to really drive those hooks home into the tough upper snout of a walleye.
How it compares to braid
> There’s no better option for outside hole-hopping than fluoro. Braided lines will hold moisture, which can freeze up in really cold temps — especially when fishing outside the shack. Won’t have that problem with fluoro.
> Fluoro does offer a little more stretch than braided line, but that will help keep fish pinned. That slight stretch acts as a shock absorber to the fish’s thrashing head. At the end of the day you’ll have less torn-out hooks and put more fish topside.
The downside
> Fluoro’s needs to be replaced more often than braid or mono. Braided line may last you an entire season or two, whereas fluoro is going to have more memory and will get ‘the coils’ quicker on the tiny spools of micro ice reels.
> Make it more affordable by filling the spool with cheap ‘backing’ or old line, then put on just enough fluoro (say 50′ or 60′) to be able to fish for the day. When the line begins to coil, pull it off and throw on fresh stuff. That way a small spool can last you up to a half dozen trips instead of just one.
Did you know Sufix InvisiLine Ice Fluorocarbon sinks 4x more quickly than mono?!
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Betcha Jason puts a dash of that on deep-fried burbot chunks…when he’s not too busy bathing in ’em that is:
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News
8. New Vexilar Glo-Ring……for lighting up those ice jigs. Plugs straight into the quick-connect charging cable and doubles as a rod holder.
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TargetWalleye.com Highlights
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Tip of the Day
Instead of picking a single waypoint to drill out, Brian “Bro” Brosdahl uses his Humminbird ICE HELIX w/ LakeMaster mapping to drive along the contour and outline structure, or a certain depth he’s looking for:
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Quote of the Day
We’re going to make this the most unproductive day of work anybody could ever have.
– That’s Joe Henry talking about the Devils Lake (ND) vs Lake of the Woods (MN) showdown happenin’ Jan 3.
Joe and Tannery Cherney will be going head-to-head on Facebook live — from 250 miles apart — to see who’s favorite lake can kick out the most/biggest fish thru the ice. #WalleyeWars
I’d expect a few twists, special guests and pleeeenty of trash talkin’ lol. Cool idea fellas! More info in this live video announcement.
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Sign up another fish-head!
If you’re forwarding Target Walleye/Ice to a friend who loves to walleye-fish or want your fishing buddies to get these emails, just send us their email addresses and we’ll take care of it! (We won’t sell the addresses, use them for spam, etc.)
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