MWC winning deets, Muskie vs walleye debate, Boat van hybrid

Steve Skupien and Wally Neuman won the Lake Erie MWC event last Saturday with a 1-day total of 32 lbs 4 ozs. They also took 1st place in the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament “that was held alongside the MWC event in Lorain,” so they were able to fish (and win) both events at the same time and bring home roughly $41K in cash + prizes.

> Steve Skupien: “We decided to run to the Canadian waters to the east of Pelee Island [LEWT says structure off the Hen and Chick Islands]. After getting up there [nearly 30-mile boat ride] we noticed there was a big bug hatch happening and the Lowrance units showed the walleyes were high in the water column.

 

> “We were in 26-32’ and ran our nightcrawler harnesses 12-15’ down [for the suspended fish]. We used a mix of nightcrawlers and Berkley artificial crawlers, which caught our bigger fish.

> “With a good limit by 9am we caught another 50+ walleyes in order to add a couple kickers needed to boost our weight.”

Amazing job, fellas! 🙌

There’s a ton of different variations of Berkley Gulp! Nightcrawlers…if i had to guess, I’d assume it was the new Gulp! SR Crawler that was specifically designed to be pulled on spinners 👀 but you know what they say about someone who assumes LOL.

Btw I sent a message to Steve and it sounds like he’ll be sending me over more details on their specific rig soon – I’ll keep you posted.

Some folks still think muskies will ruin a walleye fishery by “eating all the good fish….” But have you ever noticed that many of the best walleye lakes around have muskies in ’em? Where I’m at in MN some of those would include Lake of the Woods, Mille Lacs, Leech, Winnie, Vermilion, Rainy, Miltona, Bemidji, Cass, the list goes on….

This webinar called “Muskie diet secrets revealed!” is 59:15 long, but there’s a ton of interesting info and stats in there from a multiple year diet-sample study done by the MN DNR on many different lakes across the state.

Like I said there’s a TON of info in the full webinar, but a couple of quick screenshots to help get my point across…. Funny enough, walleye are eating as many walleye as muskies are:

> “Overall northern pike consumed the most walleye at 17, followed by walleye who consumed 7, muskies ate 3 walleye…and overall that was less than 1% of the total prey…. So that tells us walleye are probably not an important food source for other fish in the lakes we studied.”

> “The number worked out to about 1 walleye per 109 muskies that we sampled…1 walleye per 125 walleye sampled…and 1 walleye per 44 northern pike.”

And since there’s way more walleyes in the lakes (thousands) than there are muskies (hundreds) then walleye are actually eating more if that makes sense.

Hmmm…. 🤔 So if muskies aren’t eating walleyes, what are they eating?

Well, A little bit of everything. Muskie diets were very broad…they consumed prey from 26 different prey groups in this study. These are just a handful of the most important prey groups they found (perch were #1 across the board).

So long story short: Research continues to prove that walleyes are not an important food source for muskies. It’s not zero, but it’s close to that. Muskies are literally just as likely to eat a bird or muskrat. 😳

A 34-incher 🤯 that Garry caught and released out of the Missouri River, SD with Paul Jankord of Allen’s Guide Service:

Bunch of interesting and negative comments under the original post about how he should have kept it because “all that one does is eat smaller walleye,” and how it’s “probably blowing blanks,” etc. I mean to each their own…and you know there’d be just as many negative comments if he did keep the fish for a mount. You can’t win on social media lol.

IMO it’s pretty dang cool he put that fish back in the drink to give some other person the opportunity at catching the fish (and memories) of a lifetime! The only thing I can guarantee is that fish would have never grown to 34” long if it was killed at 33” 🤷‍♂️ and now maaaaybe she will get to 35”…?

Congrats Garry!

Apparently this dealio posted by Alberta Boys Custom on FB is called a Delta Van Cruiser, and it even has a dang fireplace!

And she was actually in production. 😮

You know Matt Foley would rock one:

I’ve been running a Lund 2025 Impact XS with a 200-HP Mercury Pro XS the last 3 years now and absolutely love it. She’s no Delta Van Cruiser 😅…but the Impact’s layout fishes hard yet is family friendly.

I finally did an in-depth walkthrough video. It’s a long one at 35:54 but it’s impossible to cover it all! I’ll do my best to keep an eye on the comments and answer specific questions directly if you have any. Here she be:

Btw the next YouTube video will have a lot of walleyes coming topside….

1. SD: Day 2 of the Lake Francis Case NWT is wrapping up.

That link ^ is a recap of day 1. When looking at the weights, keep in mind there’s a 5 fish limit with a 15” minimum and only 2 can be over 20″.

The top 3 going out this morning went:

1. Duane Hjelm: 15.08 lbs
2. Eric McQuoid and Ryan Thompson are tied: 14.12 lbs
3. Dylan Nussbaum: 13.08 lbs

The live-stream weigh-in started at 3pm CST but they’re still pushing teams thru and saving the top-3 from day 1 for last. Or you can quickly check the live leaderboard here that automatically refreshes.

2. WI: Some dirtbag(s) broke into the St. Croix Falls fish hatchery. 😡

> “The suspect(s) damaged property causing injury/death to several fish designated for breeding and stocking of lakes/waterways. Also taken was a rare blue colored brown trout that has resided at the hatchery for 6 years.”

Hopefully they are dumb enough to to bring this rarity into a taxidermist or post a pic claiming to have caught it – should be easy to peg:

If you have any information about this crime, pls contact the St. Croix Falls Police Department – you can remain anonymous.

3. MT: Kids help restock Lake Frances with 50K walleye fingerlings.

> Katie Vivian, a fishery biologist with FWP: “We stock a lot of reservoirs along the Front, so they will be stocking walleye from Fort Peck into Lake Francis. This year we decided to make it a kids event and invite kids from the local communities to come out and help us, and every kid has an opportunity to put a couple of buckets of fish in the lake. And we’re going to talk about walleye and the fisheries within Frances and why we do what we do.”

4. OH: New fish cleaning stations open on Lake Erie.

In Marblehead, Huron and Avon Lake…and so is one in Cleveland Harbor.

> “All 3 of the new fish cleaning stations are open, and each has 2 of the state of the art Barracuda grinders that process the fish entrails, heads, bones and skin….”

> They are expensive…. Each new fish cleaning station cost about $500K, paid for by the agency’s share of the boating and fishing share of OH’s fuel tax.

5. Raffle winner gives Scheels shopping spree…

…to Lake Park Audubon high-school fishing team:

> [Paul Hogenson] won the $5,000 shopping spree at the Heart O’ Lakes Fishing League banquet. He could’ve spent that money to buy his own new fishing rod or fancy fish finder. Instead, he gave it to the kids of the Lake Park Audubon fishing team.

🙌

6. MN: The GRAHA Walleye Shootout is TOMORROW.

On Lake Pokegama. I absolutely love the GRAHA’s high-energy weigh-in…they actually pull the boats through the stage like it’s the Bassmaster Classic. 🔥

Last year it was Randy Topper and Brock Anderson who took home the ‘dubyah’ with 5 for 47.98 lbs = $18K payday and the second time (also won it in 2018) they’ve gotten to kiss the cup:

They were understandably a little vague on how they caught ’em – most walleye folks are. Said anywhere from 12-25’…and that they had “a couple reactionary things going…and bobbers going.” That’s all you get lol.

Took some wild weights to make the top-10 last year! Saw that John Hoyer and John Bradley (2nd) were nipping at their heels with 46.59 lbs. There’s absolute giants in Pokegama, it’s just a matter of getting 5 bites. Cool to see it line up for some teams, and can’t wait to see how it goes down tomorrow.

7. ND: Dakota Walleye Classic is happening July 28-29.

There’s just a few spots left to fish the 28th-annual derby on Lake Sakakawea – believe they are capping it at 190 teams.

8. First look at what Fenwick has coming…. 🤫

Sneaky preview 🤫 of the new Fenwick rod launch coming at ICAST. A complete refresh from the inside out of their entire lineup. More details coming, but wanted to get you a first look:

There’s a bunch more REALLY great info and background on this launch here TackleTour’s site. Make sure to click “next” on the bottom because there’s 3 pages and they each dive in deeper.

9. MN: Historic boom in Lake Superior’s herring population.

Aka cisco. They say it could be the best in 40 yrs.

> The stunning boom, not seen since at least 1984, will help sustain both the ecosystem and MN’s commercial fishing industry in one of the world’s greatest lakes for years to come. “This is what we’ve been waiting for…. It’s something we’ve never seen before in our careers and may not see again.”

> They are key prey of lake trout, walleye and other popular game and predator fish. Healthy herring populations can lead to fatter, healthier trout and walleye, Goldsworthy said.

10. MB: St Georges Voyageurs Walleye Classic, Oct 7-8.

Registration is now open. Saw they’re doing a cool hybrid approach this year of an in-person weigh-in with fish under 55 cm (about 21.65″), and catch-photo-release format for one bigger “over” size fish allowed per day. Great idea!

11. MN: Water Gremlin pollution violations addressed.

Alleged in that post ^.

12. Vista Outdoor Foundation names Diane Bristol as Board President.

13. DC: USFWS follows through with lead tackle/ammo ban.

New US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed rule covering 8 National Wildlife Refuges. The American Sportfishing Association (ASA) doesn’t like it – here’s what they had to say.

My #1 crankbait tweak for walleyes.

This simple tweak WILL get you more bites. Sometimes it’s 2:1…sometimes it’s 7:1 😳…and so far worst-case scenario it’s been 1:1. I’m sold and have been adding the VMC Bladed Hybrid Treble to nearly all of my hardbaits:

Oh, and we’ve got some underwater footage in this vid so you can 👀 for yourself:

The #6 size VMC Bladed Hybrid Treble is the one I use probably 90%+ of the time. It’s perfect for #11 Original Floaters, #7 Shallow Shad Raps, #12 Husky Jerks, #9 Jigging Raps, and #6 Rippin’ Raps.

Most sites will list the stock hook size that comes on their cranks – go by that and it’s a direct swap. Typically they’re gonna be #6, but some larger cranks will be a #5, #4 or #3.

“Signed up for a Thursday-nighter bass tourney and cracked a stud marble-eye on a weighted wacky in 7’ of water 🥴 can’t get away from them.”

– That’s Logan DeCent talking about this BIG toothy critter he caught while bass fishing in the Brainerd Lakes Area (MN):

I love “bass fishing for walleyes,” but a wacky-rigged stick is even too out there for me to try. 😅 But a wacky-rigged leech or crawler? Now you’re talking HA!

Saying sayonara to an IL river unicorn! Mike Hofmann shot:

Thanks so much for reading and hope you have a great weekend! 👊

National Professional Anglers Assoc. 

MN-FISH