Today’s Top 5
Paunchy rock melons of the week!
Steve Rusteberg cracked this 31.5″ Green Bay night hawg on a custom-painted firetiger Smithwick Perfect 10 Rogue:
Jesse Quale landed this Wisconsin cheese puff from the bank while pitching a BFishN Tackle Ringworm:
Spenser Samplawski stuffed this shore giant using a Rapala Husky Jerk + Off Shore Tackle Planer Board from a public fishing pier. Yup, you read that right. Sounds like there’s a vid to come. #VeryExcite
Jason Mitchell got into a pile o’ Rainy River piggies by slow-dragging 4″ Kalin’s Sizmic Shads upstream at 0.3-0.5 mph in 9-12′:
Zac Bernier popped this Rainy River, MN slob on sturgeon gear: a heavy rod, 50-lb line, 5-oz weight, and a large hook packed with nightcrawlers. Probably a good thing you had that beefy set-up fishin’ in the current lol:
Defibaugh’s NWT winning deets.
Mike Defibaugh won the Lake Erie NWT event with a 2-day bag (10 fish) of 64.65 lbs to take home the $61K purse! Sort of…. He’s donating his cash winnings to the local Make-A-Wish chapter:
Mike started the day jigging, but realized his fish had moved shallower and the spawn was about to happen, so he moved to fish a flat adjacent to spawning areas:
> “Where I was, the water clarity was more consistent and the fish were further behind [with the spawn]. This area generally doesn’t turn on for another couple weeks. The jigging fish got more active for a reason. So I decided to try the females off the spawning grounds and it worked.
> “I was getting them 18-20′ down over 30-32′. [Trolling] 88-101′ [back] took all five of our big fish.”
He used Bandit Deep Divers (chartreuse head, purple sides, pink belly) with Off Shore Tackle planer boards, adding Pro-Cure gel scent on the top of each crankbait:
> “I think the scent was key to locating the crankbaits. They were hitting it hard — the boards would just rocket back. There was no mistaking there was a fish on.”
Guess so!
Way to get it done!
2nd- and 3rd-place Erie lures and techniques.
Ryan Buddie landed 2nd (#bridesmaid) with 62.61 for 8 fish, and caught half of ’em on “Dotty,” a Warrior Lures custom-painted Bandit Deep Diver. Congrats on a heck of a tourney! Look at the size of this walligator #HideYoKids
Korey Sprengel had a 37.35-lb bag on day 2 that shoved him up into 3rd place. He caught his fish running deep-diving crankbaits with Off Shore Tackle planer boards at 1.2-1.4 mph, using 2-oz Guppy Weights to get his baits to reach 25-30′ with less than 100′ of line out.
Be weird NOT to see Korey holding two giants at a weigh-in so here he is:
Didja notice the top three guys were all running Off Shore Tackle Planer Boards?
Gitcha some already!
Berkley now making mouse traps?
Forget the mothballs…Houston’s Guide Service has a better way of keeping pests in check — Berkley Flicker Shads:
Don’t worry guys, haters gonna hate:
How to lip a walleye??
Seen a few brave souls lip a walleye, but this is a new one from TW fan Brody Vance:
Got an unusually-awesome walleye hold? Or maybe things didn’t work out as planned during the photo op? If so, drop us a message/pic here — it might make a list we’re working on….
News
1. SD: Help needed at Lake Mitchell…
…to install two large artificial fish habitats. Worth it just to nab those waypoints on the drop!
2. MN: Governor’s fishing opener in St. Cloud.
Feeshin’ some overlooked stretches of the Mississippi River.
Gov. Dayton is also hitting Mille Lacs with Seth Feider for the bass opener. #bronzebacks
That’s the name of this color — that flat out catches ’em — Crystal Minnow Walleye Deep Diver from Yo-Zuri:
And here we thought Wonder Bread was only good for carp….
4. Road salt contaminating our lakes?
At this rate we will all be fishing saltwater.
5. Distributor Maurice gets funding.
If you’re in the fishin’ gear biz, this is news…probably good news.
Off Shore Tackle Giveaway!
Have a shot at winning this awesome Off Shore Tackle prize pack — including two OR12 Side Planer Boards — then gitcha troll on! Same thing: enter your email addy, then share the link you get for more chances to win. Good luck!
Tip of the Day
Some great pre-spawn tips from Jason Feldner. Talking about Devils Lake just because it’s one of the few places the walleye season is open during pre-spawn and spawn. Excerpts below, full tip here:
> Male walleyes are the first to show up shallow when the water begins to climb into the low- to mid-40s. In the early morning and late afternoon twilight periods you’ll catch fat females too.
> Water temp is the big thing. Unlike post-spawn fish, the wind doesn’t factor in as much during pre-spawn. A lot of times I’ll find the fish out of the wind if the water temp is 2-3 degrees higher than the rest of the lake.
> Another thing I’m always looking for is south-facing structure along northern shorelines as it warms the quickest. Shallow points, roadbeds and other rocky areas in depths ranging from 1-8′ are usually best.
> I cast out, and as soon as the bait hits the water I close my bail, keeping my rod tip at 75 degrees. The line will be tight, but as soon as the bait hits bottom it goes slack.
> Reel down to tighten the slack, lift the rod to 75 degrees again and hold it right there. When you bring rod tip back to that spot, the jig sails back to the bottom. Most times they smoke it right before the bait hits bottom.
Quote of the Day
I was an idiot on day 1. I caught 3 fish in my primary area by 11:00. For some reason, I decided to leave and look for the motherlode.
– That’s Korey Sprengel kickin’ himself after only weighin 3 fish that day — expressing the woulda, coulda, shouldas we all go through on the water, especially when money/time is on the line.
Today’s ‘Eye Candy
Caught by David Shmyr Jr. while slow-trolling a Bagley Rumble B with — you guessed it — planer boards in 25′ to 35′. Looks brisk:
