We’ve got more weights in fish.... 🗣️
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How cool is that?! He said:
> “If you were wondering what you should be using right now for bait on the Wisconsin River, maybe this is something to get you started! This one walleye had 19 baby bluegills and one baby crappie in its stomach!”
I’d probably either be tying on a Rapala Rippin’ Rap or some sort of blade bait like the Berkley ThinFisher!
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Do we need to hit up Kentucky ‘til opener?
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Check out this nearly 12-lb beast that was shocked-up during KY DFWR’s walleye broodstock collection (Feb 26) on the Upper Cumberland River. 😳 Sheesh!
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Here's a bit from that KY DFWR post:
> This walleye measured 30.8” and weighed 11.76 lbs.
> Just like the others, this fish will be spawned at the hatchery to help produce future stockings.
> These broodstock efforts play a critical role in ensuring strong walleye populations in Kentucky’s rivers and lakes for years to come.
And that’s not the only grown one they’ve nabbed the last few days. 👀 Here’s a 29-incher (left) and an 8.6-lber (right) they also recently posted:
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Dang man! Sounds like KY (and surrounding states, TN even??? 👀) might be a fun place to sneak off to and chase some giants while much of the Midwest is in limbo between seasons....
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This 14-yr-old caught a record 23.04-lb burbot on Lake Nipigon, ON! 🐉
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Few details from this Wired2Fish write-up:
> Caught working a heavy 1-oz blue-glow tube jig...on a reef in 40’.
> Mason’s fish weighed 23.04 lbs, with a 40” length and a 23.5” girth. This tops the previous Ontario record burbot of 17.95 lbs caught in 2017 from Lake Simcoe by angler Sebastien Roy.
> Mason’s burbot has been approved by Ontario as a new record for the species. His fish also was just shy of the International Game Fish Association’s world record burbot caught in Saskatchewan in 2010 that weighed 25 lbs 2 oz by angler Sean Konrad.
Wowza! Big congrats, Mason!
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My ice shuttle rundown 🕹️
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Had a day out on the water chasing some crappies for a recent Target Walleye YouTube video and gave a rundown of my ice shuttle setup and figured I'd drop it here for you to check out! I'm running the Summit Heavy Duty Shuttle with the Summit Shuttle Bag (XL) which has been soooo efficient to run and gun. Here's the deets from the vid:
My ice shuttle starts with Garmin GPSMAP 8610, overkill for sure, but I needed the HDMI port so I could record and show you the interaction of the fish (both on my boat and on ice). It's the GPSMAPs units that allow you to do that.
I've got a little video-game recorder Velcro'd onto my shuttle so it doesn't move. I have a short 1' HDMI cable that goes from the unit into the recorder, which needs power. Luckily, my shuttle's got a little 3Ah USB power outlet.
I have my LVS34 transducer on a Summit FFS Carbon Fiber Transducer Pole. Doesn't matter if you've got 4" of ice or 4' of ice, you don't need to add any extensions.
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run times (chart)The pole is a compact little unit – can fit in a box on a snowmobile or ATV. It's got that quick pin so you can just detach the transducer – lots of times where that comes into play.
You can stuff your transducer right into the Summit Shuttle Bag and not have to worry about it on the pole...because the pole can be separate.
I love having the bag on the Summit Shuttle, especially because I do a lot of filming. It's just nice to be able to zip it all up in one thing and just help protect it from spot to spot.
For filming, I have an Insta360 Ace Pro and a 9.8" SmallRig articulating arm that holds it on my shuttle – they're like $20 but they lock down, they're metal, they don't move. I'm running power straight for the shuttle to the camera so I can film all day.
What you can't see back behind that Summit logo is the biggest shuttle battery that fits in any brand of shuttle, an Amped Outdoors 52Ah Lithium Battery – unbelievable run times (chart). This is a big screen, I'm running cameras off of it and I can get 20-ish hours without having to worry about dimming my lights on my graphs.
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I can go on a weekend trip for 2 days and not lug this up to the hotel to charge every night. It's the biggest, baddest battery that I can fit in there. For what I do for filming, it's absolutely perfect.
But, I know, their most popular battery is the Amped Outdoors 32Ah Lithium – that higher voltage battery [14.8V NMC]. You're gonna get super clear images, it's gonna weigh a couple pounds less than this one. Whether you go with the biggest one or not. It will fit in here and in any other shuttle.
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Check out these color + profile matches! 🎯
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If that ain't matching the hatch, I don't know what is!
That's a regurgitated smelt in the middle sandwhiched between a "white shiner" color Berkley Drip Minnow (top) and a "blue smelt" color Berkley Finisher (bottom).
But dang man, that solid white belly and the silver flake in that Drip Minnow gives it that dying smelt/shad look like the scales are falling off!
Btw, the Drip Minnow comes in some colors I thought were pretty neat that you can go check out on Scheels. Here they are (with a bonus Finisher color that looks cool) from top-to-bottom: Blue liner, HD purple shiner, mutilator minnow, and black silver:
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Open water is just around the corner – toss that thing on jighead and get to work, man!
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2. MN: DNR keeps 3-walleye limit on Mille Lacs...
...for the 2026 open-water season.
> Harvested walleyes must be 17” or greater, with only 1 over 20”.
3. NWT pros Beau and Chad Schilling 🤝 Gamakatsu
> Gamakatsu Sales Manager Ted Thibault: “Continuing to build a well-rounded team across multiple competitive circuits is very important to Gamakatsu. Adding proven National Walleye Tour pros like Beau and Chad Schilling alongside anglers on the Bassmaster Elite Series strengthens our presence at the highest levels of competitive fishing. We’re proud to have them representing Gamakatsu and look forward to supporting their success on the water for years to come.”
4. WI: Walleye run underway near Green Bay
5. ND: Fishermen will now be able to use suckers as live bait...
...starting April 1 – on some bigger waters. I didn’t realize they couldn’t. Post says the waters include:
- Devils Lake
- Lake Sakakawea
- Lake Oahe
- Lake Audubon
- Stump Lake
- Missouri River
> Suckers are already legal on the Red River system in ND. Why the change? Mainly to give walleye anglers another option to catch BIG fish. Currently, another big minnow bait, creek chubs, are legal to use across the state, but are hard to come by and expensive. This will give you another option.
6. MN: Reminder LOTW has extended fishing seasons
Slick graphic here to see ‘em at a glance:
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9. ND: Red River Valley Sportsmen’s Show...
...is happening right now at the FargoDome.
Btw my buddy Nick Lindner is doing seminars each day and will be hanging out at the J & K Marine booth in-between. 👀
10. MN: Northwest Sportshow happenin’ right now...
...at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
11. MB: Behind the scenes with Lake Winnipeg walleye guides 🎥
Nice new YouTube video called “Taming Big Windy” that was just kicked out by the fine folks at STOCK Fishing Gear:
> Ever wondered what it takes to track down world-famous trophy greenback walleye? In this episode, we’re hitting the ice with two of the best young sticks on Lake Winnipeg [Manitoba]: Tanner Devion from Gaune Fishin’ and Cayden Parisian from Kingsland Outfitting.
https://huntfishmanitoba.ca/
> This isn't just a highlight reel of big fish – it’s an inside look at the grit, strategy, and hustle required to run a successful guiding operation on "Big Windy." Whether you're an aspiring guide looking to break into the industry or an angler wanting to decode Lake Winnipeg's unique patterns, this video is for you.
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Yup, this is real life.... 🤯 We've teamed-up with Garmin to giveaway their Panoptix PS22-IF Ice Fishing Bundle! A compact, ultra-portable, touchscreen live sonar unit for hole-hopping.
Takes 10 seconds to enter below and can share the link you get for bonus entries. 👊 Good luck!
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“Five miles from the truck, after dark, with a limit of walleyes – and a treble hook I didn’t plan on bringing home.”
- That’s Joe Shead talking in this SI write-up about losing a fight with a tip-up 😖 WOOF!
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> Just before I motored away, I saw my tip-up flag glowing in the headlight. I’d nearly forgotten it! Despite the hot jigging action, I hadn’t gotten a flag all day. I picked up the tip-up, then decided to sneak it into the sled without lifting the cover.
> I pried up a corner of canvas and gave the tip-up a shove. It fell into the sled...but unfortunately, the little treble hook stayed behind, embedded in my thumb!
> As an accident-prone human who has fished for 35 years, it is almost unbelievable that I have never been hooked before. The tip-up was inside the sled and my hand was outside. The first thing I needed to do was disconnect myself.
Can keep reading the story here. But spoiler alert: There’s a happy ending seeing as he went home with his limit of tasties hahaha:
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Is this Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba walleye green enough for ya?! Caught by ice guide Cayden Parisian during a solo scouting mission. Amazing:
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Here's northern-MN guide Matt Breuer proving that not all sunset fishing pics have to be cliche (when ya don't catch 'em lol).... Sometimes they include a Vexilar and cheers-ing a slimy burbot to the weekend! 🙌
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Thank YOU for reading! 👊 Have a great weekend, Target Walleye fam!
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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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Target Walleye – walleye during open water and all species during hardwater – is brought to you by Al Lindner, Jay Kumar, Chris Philen, 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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