Pork crawlers are a thing, Jigging Rap tip barrage, Chocolate tinfoil stickbaits

In case you didn’t know, Lauri “The Legend” Rapala was the Finnish guy with a carving knife who realized that big fish eat little fish…especially wounded ones.

Get this:

> Finally, with a shoemaker’s knife, a file and sandpaper, he shaped the first successful lure from cork in 1936. Tinfoil from the neighbor’s cheese packets and chocolates formed the surface of the lure. To create a protective coating, Lauri melted unwanted photographic negatives on the lure, since no lacquer was available.

Talk about using what’s available to you!

That little snippet is from this new-ish Rapala Blog post that’s packed with TONS of pretty fascinating information on how it all started. For sure worth a read:

Literally transformed the sportfishing world! And the Original Floater still catches the snot out of them to this day. Funny enough, it’s what caught my largest walleye of the season so far – so thank you, Lauri! 🙌

Imagine being able to go back in time to tell the dude using “tinfoil from the neighbor’s cheese packets and chocolates” that his baits would be such a big deal one day, that folks will literally use them in boutonnières on their wedding day. 🔥

News to me!

I didn’t know until I came across this YouTube video Tom Boley posted yesterday where he was whacking a bunch of Devils Lake, ND walleyes. Caught ’em trolling ACME Rattlin’ Walleye Spinner Rigs with a slow-death style hook, and added an Uncle Josh Pork Night Crawler that he cut in half…then thinned-out the tail for a more “wispy” action.

I dig it! Especially when you’ve dealing with zillions of tiny perch and bluegills.

Came across this great shot from outdoor influencer Ryan Pinkalla of what might be THE most dopey looking walleye possible lol. Thing actually looks happy to have been caught:

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

Couldn’t help myself and just had to “memify” it:

Or maybe:

Okay, okay…now where were we? Hahahaha

Typically when we’re talking about plucking summertime walleyes out of the weeds, it seems like cabbage and coontail are the go-tos – sometimes even milfoil or chara aka “sand grass.” But I haven’t heard much talk about “eelgrass” or wild celery (vallisneria americana) as the scientific-y folks call it? Stuff that looks like this:

I stumbled on this bite on accident…sort of…. Was up poking around for walleyes on a long, slow-tapering point – hitting that 10-14′ cabbage/coontail mix where the fish usually are on this central-MN lake – and striking out.

It was sunny and pushing 90 degrees, with water temps on the verge of bath water (81°F). I had seen several fish on my Humminbird MEGA Down Imaging hidden in the weeds, but just couldn’t get them to go. Figured the fish must’ve been straight-up buried down and the odds of ’em even seeing my bait was slim.

Was about to throw in the towel 🤦‍♂️ and figured for the heck of it I’d bomb a cast up on the tippy-top of this point = a 6-9′ flat with scattered eelgrass. Flipped the trolling motor to 10 and juuuust started to turn the boat to get to deeper water – so I could get the heck out of there – when I got “thunked.”

What do ya know, it was a chunky 15″ walleye that absolutely inhaled my 4″ Impulse Smelt Minnow on a 1/4-oz VMC Neon Moon Eye Jig. Have that combo tied on no matter what lake I’m heading to. Not sure the jig color makes a big difference since snap-jigging is mostly a reaction bite, but I was trying to mimic a tasty-little perch:

I like to rig it with 8- or 10-lb Sufix 832 Advanced Superline and at least a 5-6′ leader of 8- or 10-lb Sufix Advance Fluorocarbon. Smooth + strong combo and can still feel ’em “donk” the bait on the drop. Heavier leader when snapping out of thick weeds, and drop down to 8-lb for the sparser stuff.

I immediately hit Spot-Lock and fired another cast up top. Ended up catching 3 walleyes in 4 casts [!] snap-jigging my bait so hard that every stroke looked like a hookset…and sometimes was.

Noticed on the 3rd cast (the one where I didn’t catch a walleye) I had a piece of “eelgrass” hanging from my bait. The next few casts after that flurry of fish helped me put together the pieces of that puzzle. Ended up catching a couple of largemouth bass, brought in a little more eelgrass, and snagged 2 small-ish perch in the belly. So now I knew what they were feeding on and where.

That “eelgrass” typically grows in 10′ or less…sometimes out to 15′. Likes growing on a semi-hard bottom…like sand covered with a thin layer of muck. It can get thick, but these fish were relating to thinner patches of the stuff. Only thing I can think of is it was enough cover to hold bait (perch) but thin enough that those fish could easily feed in and around it. Especially since the cabbage/coontail mix I normally get ’em out of was soooo thick and overgrown = a nightmare to snap jig through.

The “X” marks the spot(s) where I found ’em relating to that shallow eelgrass, and I highlighted in yellow where I normally catch ’em midsummer on this point:

You’ve got your typical “flash bites” for walleye – about 45 minutes near sunrise and sunset – but there seems to be another bite window for these shallow weed fish: they LOVE to eat midday. Not sure what it is – maybe that’s when the forage is congregated around these areas?

Caught by Stephen Roller near Bemidji, MN. Might wanna get that checked out!

Interesting no doubt, but I was more caught off guard by the fact that Stephen caught a small fish. Dude usually only catches giants lol.

1. WI: Day 2 Green Bay NWT weigh-in happening right now.

Top 3 after day 1 went:

1. Duane Hjelm: 31.68 lbs
2. Korey Sprengel: 30.14 lbs
3. Max Wilson: 29.47 lbs

Can watch the live-stream weigh-in here (just started at 3pm CST) or smash refresh on the live leaderboard.

2. Berkley chemist 👨‍🔬 John Prochnow is headed for the HOF.

Legendary fish scientist John Prochnow inducted in the 2022 class of Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame.

> John Prochnow has used his knowledge to improve fishing for millions of anglers over the past 36 yrs through his work at Berkley. Serving as one of the world’s leading inventors, lure designers, and technical liaisons with the outdoor press and professionals in the fishing industry, Prochnow’s global impact on angling and anglers has led to products that have been used for decades worldwide in both freshwater and saltwater.

> Apart from being one of the original inventors of Berkley PowerBait, Berkley Gulp! and Berkley MaxScent, Prochnow holds multiple patents for fish attractant delivery systems for baits and lures.

Thank YOU, John! 👏👏👏

3. ND: Kyle Agre gets ND Fishing HOF induction.

> A 20-yr member of F-M Walleyes, Agre has served on the club’s board of directors for 13 yrs and was president for 4 yrs. …has been inducted into the North Dakota Fishing Hall of Fame for his contributions to the sport of fishing in ND. …a “fantastic ambassador for sport fishing” for his efforts to promote fishing opportunities and his efforts to educate young anglers about fishing and the outdoors.

Well-deserved!

4. MT: Husband/wife team wins Governor’s Walleye Cup.

On Fort Peck. You’ve seen their names in here before – the duo can catch ’em! Whit and Carly Rush won ‘er with a 2-day total of 79.56 lbs.

5. MN: Mille Lacs is back open for walleye fishing TOMORROW.

Catch and release only from July 16 thru Aug 31, but happy to be able to target them again. Reminder there’s no fishing for walleyes from 10PM to 6AM.

Then Sept 1 thru Nov 30 folks can keep 1 walleye between 21-23″, or 1 fish > 28″. All other walleye must be immediately released. During this timeframe the night closure doesn’t start until midnight…so get a couple extra hours of trolling after dark.

Full Mille Lacs regs here. And probably the only place you should be checking in case there’s any changes to the regs or a sudden closure…which does sometimes happen.

Soooo what could cause the walleye season to be closed early?

Little insight in Erik Jacobson’s Mille Lacs Messenger write-up from last summer:

> Nowhere else in the state does the DNR keep track of post mortality walleyes (the fish that die after release). On all the other lakes a dead walleye is simply bird food. But on Mille Lacs, that fish counts towards the angler portion of the allocation for the year whether it actually existed or not. The post mortality pounds are the biggest reason the season has been shut down every year now since the first time in the history of Mille Lacs in Aug of 2015. And there is no solid proof the numbers are even remotely accurate.

> The allocation is a finite number. Once it is supposedly reached, the lake is shut down. But here’s the kicker: the post mortality number is a calculated guess. An interpolation of the number of walleyes the DNR thinks that anglers have caught and released according to the creel data taken at the accesses. It is then put into a formula that determines how many fish they think died after anglers released them.

6. ON: Algonquin students raise + release walleye fry into Ramsey Lake.

Man, I wish I had the chance to be taught hands-on “about cell biology and the natural development of fish” back when I was in school!

Props to those involved in bringing a mini fish hatchery to Algonquin Road Public School!

7. ON: Lake Scugog Enhancement Project received nearly $700K…

…in early June from the federal government “for the development of a wetland that’s expected to aid walleye.”

> The wetland, which will be created in Port Perry bay, will help combat climate change and improve water quality through the wetland construction and installation of stormwater management infrastructure.

> The project will dredge the bay to a navigational depth of 1.8 meters [5.9′] and repurpose the dredged material to enhance fringe wetlands. Installed oil and grit separators will drastically improve storm water management and improve water quality.

> “Creating an engineered berm and wetland, as well as spawning shoal construction, will greatly enhance the future of Port Perry Bay and Lake Scugog.”

8. ND: Someone’s gonna win $15K this weekend.

At the 47th annual ND Governor’s Walleye Cup on Lake Sakakawea July 15-16.

Ken Schmidt and Mark Jones won it last year with a 2-day total (10 fish) for 40.44 lbs.

9. MI budgeted $30 mil for fish hatchery improvements.

10. WY says to avoid eating walleye > 12″ because of mercury levels.

I’ll take any of the 14- to 17-inchers they wanna get rid of….

11. Pradco appoints Brett Basik as director of mergers and acquisitions.

Hell be leading the charge on acquiring new brands and developing new partnerships.

> With over 10 yrs of experience, Basik brings a strong background in accounting, investment banking and entrepreneurship to the company and is currently working on multiple transactions in the company’s pipeline and seeking new opportunities from early-stage growth investments to bolt-on acquisitions to entirely new platforms.

12. Al Noraker promoted to prez of Eposeidon US.

Eposeidon = KastKing, Extremus, and MadBite.

13. MN: Thousands of common carp died from koi herpes virus.

On Fountain Lake.

> …KHV impacts common carp, and common carp only…KHV cannot harm humans or other fish species.

> “It’s carried by…common carp and also koi, which is kind of a domesticated version of a common carp….

14. UT wants to increase license costs.

DNR says because “inflation has begun to outpace our revenue growth,” but of course residents have the exact same thing going on. 📈

> …unveiled a plan to raise the cost of most of its resident fees by at least 10%, though the changes would not take effect until 2023. It would be the largest fee increase since 2014….

> Fishing and hunting licenses would increase from $34 to $40, almost an 18% hike.

50+ Jigging Rap tips you NEED to know!

The OG of hard-bodied jigging baits! Doesn’t matter if it’s the “dog days” of summer, sunny, or glass calm…Rapala Jigging Raps catch ’em all year round.

Whether you’re a beginner or pro, here’s 58 [!!!] tips and tricks to help step up your Jigging Rap game. Stuff I wish someone would have told me YEARS ago.

The whole video is 17:52 long, but it’s rapid fire and comes at you fast. 👊 Hope you dig/dug it:

This is either good or terrible news, depending just how crazy you are:

Doesn’t seem possible 😳 but it is! We’re just 132 days away from Thanksgiving….

From @panoramic_outdoors on Instagram:

Helps with the net ❌
Baits the hooks ❌
Brings calm to the boat ❌
Inspects each fish for lickability ✔

Who else has a 4-legged fishing buddy?

Gotta send it off with a little #FishFlopFriday action from Josh McFaddin, who’s been catching ’em from shore on Manitoba’s Lake Winnipeg:

Tight lines (and grips 🤣) this weekend if you’re getting out!

National Professional Anglers Assoc. 

MN-FISH