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Reminder: If your email program cuts off the bottom of this email, click “View this email in your browser” up top to see the whole thing. Sorry about that – email programs keep changing stuff.
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Wow!!! 😳 MASSIVE Lake Huron walleye caught!
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The cold-water behemoth was 32″ long x 22″ girth and was estimated to be pushing 17 lbs!!! Well, before it coughed-up a giant cisco lol:
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So that’s the appetizer…now HERE is the main course. 🤯
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Know it’s an absolute slob when the belly fat rolls over your fingers!
Shaeffer Millett caught (and released) that Lake Huron freakazoid on an old-school jig and minnow combo 👊🎯 if it aint broke don’t fix it hahaha. Big congrats, man!
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How fast do fish actually grow? 🤔
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Came across this super interesting write-up from MN DNR fisheries specialist Steve Kubeny that I thought others might like to see, too. First a little background from Steve:
> Fish grow at different rates depending on which part of the country and what type of lake they’re living in. In general, fish in the southern parts of the country grow much faster than fish living in the northern part of the country. The growing season or the length of time that water temperatures are ideal for fish growth are longer the farther south a fish lives. There is even a difference in growth rates between southern and northern MN fish.
> In Otter Tail County [MN], fish typically only grow during 3 months of the year, Jun, July and Aug. Once water temps begin to decline in Sep, fish growth stops and excess calories are preserved as fat for the long winter ahead instead of continued growth. In the spring, energy is spent on spawning instead of growth. With such a short window of opportunity for fish to grow, many anglers are surprised to find out how long it takes to produce a “keeper” sized fish.
> The type of lake a fish lives in also determines how fast it may grow. Shallow, fertile bodies of water tend to warm quicker in the spring and have more productive food chains. Growth rates tend to be faster in these types of lakes. Deep, less fertile lakes take longer to warm in the spring and have less productive food chains, which leads to slower growth rates.
Now, here’s Steve outlining the average growth rates for the more-popular species in MN’s Otter Tail County. Keep in mind that most gamefish species sexually mature at about the same age as anglers consider them keepers:
> Walleye: Typically about 6″ in length after their first year of growth. On average, a 14-15″ walleye (1 lb) is 4-5 yrs of age. A 20″ walleye (3 lbs) is usually 7-8 yrs of age. Walleyes in excess of 20 yrs of age have been documented in Otter Tail County.
> Bluegills: In most lakes, bluegills don’t reach a “keeper” size of 7-8″ until they’re 6-8 yrs of age.
> Black crappies: Most anglers consider a 10″ crappie a “keeper” and on average, a fish that long would be 5-6 yrs of age.
> Bass: A 14-15″ bass (2 lbs) is on average 5-6 yrs of age. A 20″ bass (5 lbs) is approximately 10-12 yrs of age.
> Northern pike: Typically reach an average length of 25″ (4 lbs) at 4-5 yrs of age. A 34″ pike (10 lbs) is 8-10 yrs of age.
> Muskies: Can reach lengths of 50″ or more, which typically takes 15-20 yrs.
> Lake sturgeon: Don’t sexually mature until they’re 20-25 yrs of age, and will have attained a length of 50-60″ or greater at that point.
If this stuff interests you like it does me, here’s some more info on how DNR biologists age fish. Thanks Steve!
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Why longer ice rods are better.
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We’ve come a long way from those wooden jiggle sticks your grandpappy used to use in the darkhouse…hand-lining in panfish next to a wood-burning stove. Nothing wrong with that [!] unless you’re looking to up your game….
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There’s a time and place for everything, but IMO the longer the ice rod = the better.
First, here’s the 2 times I’d argue shorter sticks shine:
1. If you’re fishing inside a smaller portable shack where you physically can’t use longer rods because they’ll hit the roof on a hookset.
2. And when you’re “tightlining” finicky fish. A style of detecting bites by watching the coils in your line as you pound the jig – hunched over the hole as close as you can be, watching as far down the hole as you can see. When you think you have a bite, drop the tip of the rod to see if the line floats…if it does, you set the hook.
Okay, so why is longer more better?
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1. Longer rods flat-out give you better hooksets. You’re simply moving that much more line on your sweep. Ever been working/jigging a fish up on your flasher and run out of room to set the hook? If you’re not constantly choking up, you can get caught in a bad position to set the hook – sometimes up over your head – and then you’ve gotta crank like a crazy person to try and catch up to the fish. Longer rods can overall keep you in a better position to whack ’em.
2. Also have waaaay more control over that fish once it’s hooked. There’s a lot more rod to help absorb the fight of the fish (instead of tearing hooks out) and also keep your line tight when they thrash or make runs (instead of getting enough slack to throw the hook).
3. On windy days, it’s super important to keep your rod tip as close to the water line as possible. The farther the distance between your rod tip and the ice, the more the wind is going to take away your feel for what’s going on below. So unless you want to hunch over all day (your chiropractor might not mind lol) a longer ice rod is going to let you keep wind out of the equation while still letting you stretch out.
4. There’s times when I’m fishing shallow panfish – or say late-ice crappies riding right under the ice – where I literally don’t even touch my reel handle. With a longer rod, I can walk from hole to hole with the right amount of line out (sometimes that’s 4′, other times that may be 8′) and drop right down to the fish’s level…set the hook and swing ’em right in like I’m using a cane pole. Talk about efficient hole-hopping!
And it’s tough to explain, but once you fish with a longer rod (whether it’s open water or ice) it’s hard to go back to shorter sticks. It legit just feels better [!!!] aside from the benefits I chatted about above that can help you catch more fish.
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“Should have went fishing yesterday, might have got a deer. Or two.”
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2. What does the fox say? Not much….
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3. Anton and Alex Babich stumbled across this bass-eating pike in Indiana:
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4. Brent Meyers found this hardwater honker while ice fishing on Lake Diefenbaker, SK. Would have to say that throwing up the “goose egg” now sounds better than getting “skunked” on the ice:
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Also…there’s usually (at-best) just a couple weeks of the ice season where there’s zero snow on top and you can actually see what’s going on beneath your feet. Makes me wonder what type of goofy situations we walk right past/over without ever even knowing….
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Did you know that tullibees spawn in the fall?
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Believe the magic happens at about the 42°F mark, but by then tullibees will have already slid into the shallows “so they can eat minnows and ripen their eggs before spawning.” Just one more reason you get another movement of BIG walleyes pushing up shallow in the fall.
That’s just one of many nuggets in this Lindner’s Angling Edge video talking cold-water walleyes on artificials. Al Lindner and Ty Sjodin brave cold temps + high winds = for big walleyes.
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Must have been one heck of a fight. 😳
Just barely missed Dave Berg’s 2016 record that weighed 2.86 lbs.
2. SD: Dakota Angler Ice Institute is THIS WEEKEND.
> Swing out to the Sioux Falls Arena this Fri-Sun for the largest ice-fishing show in the Dakotas!! Ice Team Pros, industry reps, great deals, seminars, and more!!
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3. NY: Sept Lake Erie creel survey results.
> While angling effort was down from the 20-yr average, the survey showed that there were more than 13,000 hours of fishing effort over 2021. Nearly 60% of fishermen targeted walleye.
> The walleye fishing daytime effort in Sept was the fifth highest in the last 20 yrs with just under 22,000 angler hours. Cattaraugus Creek and Barcelona were the starting points for most of the Sept walleye fishing. Anglers averaged about 5 fish per boat trip with a catch rate of .52 fish per hour, the 4th highest rate in 2 decades. Only 2017, 2018 and 2019 were higher. Only 15% of anglers caught a 6-fish limit, and the average size was 20.6″.
4. MN: Mille Lacs walleye catch rate way down?
According to the most recent creel survey results from Aug 15 thru Sept 15.
> “The general consensus is it’s because of a booming perch hatch that is keeping the fish naturally fed.”
5. MN: World’s largest charitable ice-fishing contest happenin’ Jan 28.
Of course talkin’ the Brainerd Jaycees Ice Fishing Extravaganza – just up the road from us on Gull Lake’s Hole-in-the-Day Bay. About 10,000(ish) people come from all over to try and catch a fish and maybe win a new truck, or a bunch of other prizes. Something everyone’s gotta experience at least once or thrice.
6. Anglers raise $50k for Casting for Recovery in < 4 hours.
> Using the physical and social aspects of fishing, Casting for Recovery (CfR) has helped deliver healing to over 11,000 women battling breast cancer since the organization was founded some 26 yrs ago.
https://castingforrecovery.org/
> A not-for-profit 501 (c)(3) organization, CfR relies on donations from individuals, foundations, companies, and other organizations to provide therapeutic outdoor retreats at no cost to participants. The demand is high. “Unfortunately, we have many more applicants for each retreat than we can facilitate,” says CfR CEO, Faye Nelson. “So, we are constantly looking for ways to expand our reach to serve and help even more women.”
> Earlier this month, St. Croix Rod and the greater angling community stepped up to raise $50,000 for CfR. A special run of 500 Limited Edition Casting for Recovery St. Croix rods were put up for sale at 7:00 AM on Sat, Oct 1, and were sold out before noon.
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Or how about a SnoBear? And pls give an extra gold star to whoever added the fish-ruler:
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Wish I was tech-savvy enough to plop Jason Mitchell’s face on that GIF but you’ll just have to use your imagination. J-Mitch recently posted this write-up over on Virtual Angling talking making moves…or not…. 👀
> “Should I stay or should I go? That is the biggest question we probably ask ourselves each day on the water. Should I sit in a spot or should I keep moving, keep looking? There are plenty of adages like never leave fish to find fish. Over the past few decades, mobility has been a mantra preached in ice fishing. People brag about drilling a hundred holes per day. People talk about the importance of moving to find fish. If you’re not catching fish, it must be because you are not moving enough to find the active fish.
> “Here is what I can also tell you. The worst days I have ever had fishing were indeed days where I drilled well over a few hundred holes. The toughest days on the ice are often the days where all you do is drill holes and move. Some of the very best or most memorable days were days where I drilled a few holes and sat in those same holes all day catching fish.”
There’s a ton of arguments for laying low, including:
> “One of the most difficult situations for catching fish regardless of species is shallow clear water with thin, clear ice. Every time you move, every time you drill a hole, you just push these fish further away.”
And of course just as many for running and gunning:
> “What are factors when sitting doesn’t work so well? Realistically when you are not on fish. When the fish are not moving and if you have a lot of people around you.
> “…big moves find fish whereas small moves catch fish. Catching fish is often about sampling water…create bites by simply working hard and dropping a line down as many different holes as we can. Drill grids of holes and move until you contact fish.”
Of course there’s a ton of variables…and in typical Jason Mitchell fashion, he does a great job of breaking down his approach for different scenarios here.
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“I carefully eased the fish onto the ice and clipped off the lower end of the pectoral fin, and then slipped the fish back into the hole. After putting the clipped fin in my wallet, I carefully covered my activities with snow and chipped ice before leaving the lake.”
– That’s a line from this interesting Dave Zeug read on how he caught someone cheating in a walleye contest on WI’s Green Lake way back in 1976. No metal detectors needed:
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Sign up another fish-head!
If you’re forwarding Target Walleye 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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Friends of Target Walleye
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Who is Target Walleye
Target Walleye – walleye during open water and all species during hardwater – is brought to you by Al Lindner, Jim Kalkofen, Jay Kumar, 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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