New bait alert: Berkley Doom Stroller šØ
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First off: āStrollingā is a finesse fishing technique where you cast a minnow-style soft plastic bait, let it sink to a suspended fish, and slowly reel while shaking your rod tip to create a side-to-side body roll.
The folks over at Berkley just announced a new hard bait alternative to that ^ jighead and minnow technique thatās called the Doom Stroller.
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> Evolve your minnow game with the Berkley Doom Stroller ā a hard stroll bait built for anglers who demand precision and performance. Designed for use in conjunction with forward-facing sonar, the Doom Stroller perfectly imitates an isolated baitfish to trigger reaction strikes from roaming fish. Its precision weighting delivers consistent rolling action at any speed, plus improved casting control and hookup ratios.
Quick look at its flash and roll in this YT video:
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Berkley bait designer Dan Spengler is a certified fish-head who spends a ton of time on the water ā hereās a few nuggets from his recent FB post talking how he likes to work this new bait:
> Excited to finally talk about this one! The Berkley Doom Stroller is a new rolling-style hard bait, featuring a unique elongated shad/herring body form. This bait has put some amazing fish in the boat ā letās talk about it!
> First and foremost, the Doom Stroller is a strolling bait. Think jig head minnow meets hard bait. To generate rolling action and flash, simply work the bait [I prefer rod tip down] and continuously reel while imparting twitches as you retrieve.
> On the fall, the Doom Stroller has a natural built-in rolling swim action. Even on the drop the bait swims away like itās fleeing predation.
> If you cast to a target [fish], let the bait drop and pendulum swing over the target. Consistently twitch your rod (donāt reel...just twitch your rod as it sinks down), this allows the bait to flash and roll as it descends over the target. A lot of times the fish shoot up and eat it or start chasing it. Once the fish engages, begin strolling.
> When I target walleyes with this bait, once they engage, I pick up speed and work the bait faster and faster to elicit a strike response. Oftentimes, the finishing move is a transition from a rod tip down stroll to an upward [rapid] rod tip up cadence.
> In addition to strolling, the Doom Stroller can be swept upward and dropped like a lipless bait. The bait will rise up the column then swim on the drop with true bait fish action, triggering strikes.
> They eat it.
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Hereās him talking about the unique placement of the tail hook:
> "...it acts as drag, so it catches water like a parachute...allowing the bait to pivot or roll more freely when the bait is worked.
> ...it also hooks up extremely well, and allows more free motion of the feathered treble when the bait is swimming...."
Theyāre coming in 15 colors and 3 sizes (70 = 2.75", 2/5 oz...90 = 3.5", 3/4 oz...and 110 = 4.3", 1 oz).
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Decorated walleye tourney pro Scott Rohloff was able to get his hands on āem early, and said this B-E-A-Utiful specimen took down a size-90 Doom Stroller in the āperchā color:
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Can't wait to take one out for a stroll!
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TJ Erickson's Sept walleye tips (transition month) š
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September can be one of the best months for walleye fishing, BUT itās also a transitional month = changing weather, fluctuating water temps, and scattered fish can make things tricky.
Tj Ericksonās newest YT video breaks down his go-to Sept walleye fishing tips to help you find and catch more walleyes as summer patterns shift and fall patterns begin.
Few quick-hitters:
Stay Versatile: Fish move between shallow and deep areas. While you may find them on mid-lake structures or weedlines early in the month, pay attention to shifts toward deeper flats (25-30 ft) or steep breaks as the month progresses.
Find the Transitions: Locate areas where the bottom composition changes, such as hard-to-soft transitions (rock to mud). Use Side Imaging to identify these, then target them with your forward-facing sonar.
Fish the Wind: Wind is crucial in September as it pushes baitfish and debris into specific areas. Do not just focus on shallow rocky points; consider how wind affects deeper mid-lake structure and weededges as well.
Look for Sneaky Spots: Keep an eye out for minor, unassuming features on your map ā small circles or secondary humps off main structures ā that other anglers might overlook.
Hereās the full vid:
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They removed 285K fish from a WI lake to help walleyes...hereās what happened š¤Æ
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Researchers spent 4 years removing 285,100 fish from McDermott Lake in northern Wisconsin to see if reducing warm-water species could help bring back natural walleye recruitment.
> The experiment focused on the idea that growing numbers of warm-water fish [such as bluegills and bass] could be affecting walleye. Centrarchid numbers had increased in some areas at the same time that walleye populations have declined. Researchers suggested that these fish could compete with or prey on walleye, particularly during their early life stages.
> To remove the centrarchid, researchers used fyke nets, mini-fyke nets, cloverleaf traps and boat electrofishing. The effort was extensive. Across the four years, the team used 107 hours of electrofishing, 717 fyke-net nights, 908 mini-fyke-net nights and 6,942 cloverleaf-trap nights.
> Overall, the relative abundance of most centrarchid species fell by about 74% during the study.
The haul included:
- 197,152 bluegills
- 35,168 largemouth bass
- Plus black crappies, rock bass, pumpkinseeds, green sunfish and smallmouth bass.
So...did the walleyes come roaring back?
Nope. š³
Researchers didnāt capture a SINGLE naturally-produced age-0 walleye during the study.
Then who thrived?
Yellow perch abundance exploded by 788%! š¤Æ
> Catch rates jumped from about 8.9 perch/net to 79.1, while their average length increased 18%, from about 6.1ā to 7.2ā.
And youād think a nearly 8X increase in yellow perch ā one of walleyesā favorite groceries ā might have been exactly what the doctor ordered.
But still no baby walleyes:
> Adult walleye numbers in McDermott Lake did show a temporary increase. After two years of fish removal, the estimated adult population reached about 120 in 2020.
> That increase did not continue. By 2021, the estimated adult walleye population had fallen to about 30-40, returning to levels seen before the removal program.
> The researchers said the 2020 increase could not be linked to natural recruitment and stocked walleye from earlier years may have contributed to the temporary rise.
> Both lakes received extended-growth walleye fingerlings in 2017, 2019 and 2021. McDermott Lake received about 840 fish during each stocking, while Sandy Beach Lake received about 1,110. But no age-0 walleye were found during the study's recruitment surveys, because these surveys were conducted before the annual stocking, any age-0 walleye found would have been naturally produced.
So now we know that removing huuuuge numbers of bass and panfish isnāt enough by itself to restart natural walleye recruitment lol. Guess it makes you wonder what piece of the puzzle is still missing.... š¤
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Wild stature on this one! š³
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Thing is built like Jimothy, the ultra-famous Seattle raccoon lol.
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1. MT: FWP wants folks to keep more small walleye...
...on Canyon Ferry Reservoir, where...
> ...anglers are allowed to catch 10 fish daily, with one fish over 15 inches. The possession limit is doubled the daily limit.
> āBy focusing harvest on more abundant, smaller fish, biologists hope to increase the number of large walleye in Canyon Ferry....ā
> Larger fish are expected to have more opportunity to grow with less competition for food with few smaller fish in the reservoir.
2. MN: Champions Tour walleye event coming to Gull Lake, MN!
The Classic Bass Champions Tour will be running a catch-weigh-release format WALLEYE tournament on Gull Lake (in the Brainerd Lakes Area) on Tues, Sept 22.
This tournament is a catch-weigh-release format where every fish over 2 lbs counts towards the total weight, and all fish are recorded by a boat marshal via their Reel LiveWell App. The top-finishing individual will take home $15K!
The field will be capped at 50 boats. Registration is open right here, and you can snoop thru the walleye rules towards the bottom of this page.
It was super fun following along on their live leaderboard during their first test-run event on Mille Lacs, and gotta say the Classic Bass crew did a killer job of kicking out photos and videos on their FB page throughout the day. Have even seen them run live cameras in proās boats....
Such a cool format. REALLY hope to see them host many more walleye derbies in the future š¤ which is exactly why I'm all about supporting this next one any way that I can...including signing up to fish it lol. Can't wait!
3. 2027 MWC schedule is out
With 6 qualifying events leading up to the World Walleye Championship:
- Mar 19-20: Illinois River ā Spring Valley, IL
- April 16-17: Lake Erie ā Sandusky, OH
- May 21-22: Big Stone Lake ā Ortonville, MN
- June 18-19: Bay de Noc ā Escanaba, MI
- August 5-6: Lake Oahe ā Mobridge, SD
- Sept 17-18: Cass Lake ā Cass Lake, MN
- Oct 14-16: The 44th World Walleye Championship, Lake Winnebago ā Oshkosh, WI
4. Vexilar's new Vision X10 live sonar is here
Bunch more info at that ^ link but looks like youāre gonna be able to get a complete ice-ready bundle for $1,999.99.
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Hereās an on-ice overview of this new ice unit:
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Love this pic of Jeremy and Crosby Smith getting some father/son time in on the water AND doubled-up on Rapala Floater Elites. š Glorious.
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Back 'atcha in a couple! āļø
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Sign up another fish-head!
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FRIENDS OF TARGET WALLEYE
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Target Walleye ā walleye during open water and all species during hardwater ā 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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