Giant frog-eaters caught!
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A couple weeks back I shared some info about frog fishing for fall walleyes (Top Item #1 in this Target Walleye). Since then I’ve received some cool emails from folks and their froggy adventures 🐸 and I was tagged in this IG post from Jadyn Thomas talking about a “full moon bender” he went on...sacrificing sleep in the name of big walleyes!
> Jadyn Thomas: ...my buddy Tony and I traveled into MN to fish some water that was new to us: the Minnesota River. No prior knowledge, no picture proof, no crazy reports, just a rumor of big fish is enough for us to try anything.
> ...we got to the access after dark, but stumbled into insane luck as the fall frog migration was in full swing. Thousands of frogs making their way into the river to hibernate for the winter, with hundreds of them littering the pavement of the river access. After 10 minutes of picking, and now a bait box full of walleye candy, we began down the moonlit river.
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> After some searching and graph time, we narrowed our search down to a few key shallow flats. Flats topping out at 2-3’ connecting the main shoreline to the 6’ river channel. Long hours with no action, maybe a catfish or snag on occasion, was the majority of our time. But we were rewarded for fishing hard while staying awake/focused early in the morning on the first night.
> Pitching an 1/8-oz jig with an oversized hook and a live frog, paired with a slowwwww drag sealed the deal. At 2am I got the first *THUNK* with heavy weight, followed by the 2nd *THUNK* that confirms she’s got it. A hard hook set, a quick shallow-water dog fight, resulted in an angry 28.25” 9.3-lb walleye covering the deck.
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> A river beast like that alone makes a night, but 2 fish proves a pattern. It was proven at 2:30am when I got another one of the “right” bites. Even though I knew right away after the hook set she was the right species, I was still shocked when she broke the muddy surface head first. We both absolutely lost it after she fully sprawled out in the net. A true river giant, and proof that monsters do indeed come out at night.
She went 29.75” long x 17” girth and weighed a stout 11.1 lbs!
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Love the grind! 💪 And I’m super pumped that you were rewarded for your efforts.
Oh, and...
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Jeff Hulke caught himself a new PB to the tune of 13 lbs (30.5”) while trolling a “watermelon” color Walleye Nation Creations Reaper on Lake Oahe. Beautiful specimen!
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Here’s a little closer look at that “watermelon” color Walleye Nation Creations Reaper...attached to a 28-incher’s face. 😎
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Late-fall walleyes stacked EVERYWHERE. 😳
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Still plenty of walleye to be caught if you’re willing to bundle up and sloooow down! No live bait needed....
On this day: Water temps were 40-42°F and we were targeting shallow sand + clumps of standing weeds in 9-12’.
Wish I had snagged a screenshot of my Humminbird Side Imaging or 360 when we were reeeeally in the thick of it...but here’s one little snap I took as we were sliding around the area. All of those little shadows are walleyes:
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We had some legit doubles and caught a pile of fish in just a short couple of hours. Didn’t include every single catch in here, but you’ll get the idea 😅 it was a WILD bite!!!
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Btw thanks SO much for watching and supporting the Target Walleye YouTube channel! 🙏 It means a lot!! And the more views, clicks, comments and subscribers it gets...the more content I’ll be able to kick out. 👊
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You know you've made it when...
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...kiddos are literally dressing up as YOU for Halloween! Some awesome, diehard Tour Level Gold fans up north of the border. 🇨🇦 Love it, fellas!
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Ice Castle fish house deer stand?!
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I’ve gotta bring this one back since firearm deer season is coming in hot, and a bunch of you have already had your arrows nock'd while also (im)patiently waiting on ice....
Was sent this from Cody Backstrand who said he put some bigger windows in his Ice Castle a few years ago so he could also use it for deer hunting...then took it one step further! 🆙
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It’s definitely a multi-species, multi-season use house now!
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If you’re the type of ice-head who will be pacing the shorelines in the coming weeks, you’ll wanna head to the Dakota Angler Ice Institute Nov 8-10 at the Sioux Falls Convention Center (SD) to get your ice-fishing fix!
3. Bassmaster goes to NO entry fees 👀
Elite Series pros will no longer need to pay to play. I believe Elite pros typically paid (combined total) about $4.1 mil in entry fees each season. This is something folks have been talking about for years because no other professional athletes need to pay to compete in their sport. Will be interesting to see the trickle-down effects of this tho, and how payouts, etc are tweaked....
4. Few folks honored w/ ASA awards
> At American Sportfishing Association’s 2024 Sportfishing Summit:
> Dan McDonald, president and CEO of Yakima Bait Co (Poe's, Hildebrandt and a bunch more brands), received the Outstanding Leadership Award.
> Pat Neu, executive director of the National Professional Anglers Association (NPAA), was recognized with the...Lifetime Achievement Award.
> Stephanie Vatalaro, senior vp of strategy & operations at the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF), was honored with the inaugural Inspire Award.
5. MN: Hey Twin Cities folks....
Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited is having Scott Seibert and Shelly Holland speak at their Thurs, Nov 7 meeting in Bloomington. Everyone is welcome – TCWU meetings are open to the public.
6. Mark Courts 🤝 Amped Outdoors
7. SD: State record brown trout arrowed 🏹
Ty Smith broke a record in the "bowfishing" category with this 6-lb 12-oz brown trout out of Lake Oahe.
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Looks like the type of fishing spot you could maybe poke a deer too lol.
8. Lowrance Elite FS now has 10” and 12” screens
> The Elite Fishing System (FS) gives you access to the full line-up of Lowrance fish-finding tools – including ActiveTarget 2 live sonar, Active Imaging and Active Imaging HD....
> The Elite FS 10" with ActiveImaging 3-in-1 is $1,799 and the 12" display with Active Imaging 3-in-1 is $2,299. The full Elite FS lineup now includes 7, 9, 10 and 12" displays.
9. IA: Invasive silver carp found in lower Black River
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Where/how Jason Przekurat targets late-fall walleye.
Nice little Q&A here from Jason Przekurat chatting with the Whitewater Fishing crew:
> Walleyes are still on the brain. Sure, the ponds and potholes are filling with ducks and bucks are getting frisky, but it’s tough mothballing the rods when the biggest walleyes of the year are on the move.
> With that in mind, to scratch that itch, we reached out to Whitewater Fishing pro staffer Jason Przekurat for some quick pointers on late fall walleyes. The 2x National Walleye Tour Champion and 2x FLW Walleye Tour Angler of the Year shared some time-honored intel on how to maximize your time on the water.
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Q: Given a wide range of water and cover types available, what do your ideal spots consist of for targeting big fall walleyes?
A: “Excluding the Great Lakes, the one thing I've learned over the years when looking for big walleyes in the fall is to focus on areas that have steeper breaklines adjacent to deep water access. This would include areas that have either weeds or rock, but if focusing on weeds, make sure they are still green. All of these areas must have one thing in common and that is bait. Without the food they will not come.”
Q: Lures and bait...what are your favorite lures for late fall walleyes and what are the best applications?
A: “Here are the two main presentations I focus on during the fall bite: First, for negative or finicky fish, I focus on live bait primarily some type of chub, be it a creek chub or redtail chub. If the water is too clear and the fish are boat shy, I will cast to them with a jig/minnow combo. If the fish don't mind the presence of your boat, it's time to go vertical use the old standby live bait rig and slowly pull it over them with your bow mount trolling motor. The second option for me is to get aggressive with any type of glide bait. Many times, I've seen fish ignore a big minnow but will react to the glide baits fishing them both vertically or by casting”
Q: What are the ideal conditions for fall walleyes in terms of water temp and any other climate conditions? What days jump out and you think, "I better go fishing!”
A: “I'm a big fan of waiting for your lake to "turnover" before heading out for the fall bite. In most places, turnover occurs with water temps in the upper 50's, so when the temps hit the mid to low 50s is when I consider the fall bite to begin, and that is all the way until ice up. Wind is definitely your friend this time of year, too, so don't head for the calm side. Put on your Whitewater Great Lakes Pro suit and head to the windy side, you won't be disappointed. And if it’s cold, the new Whitewater Great Lakes Pro Insulated suit has made fishing in the fall so much more enjoyable. It's super lightweight but keeps you toasty warm so you can stay out longer.”
Q: Walleyes are found with other species that are also in fall feeding mode. Do you ever fish for other species at the same time and if so, do you adjust your presentation and lures to take advantage of other species such as bass?
A: “I've found bass quite often on my walleye spots and fall is the best time to take advantage of the situation. Always carry a dropshot in the boat as smallmouth really group up this time of year. I've seen 50 fish schools of smallies and who wouldn't want to have some fun with those when looking for walleyes?”
Q: Boat handling...how you approach a given spot, and how do you prefer to target them with a boat?
A: “With the use of forward-facing sonar, we can now see how the fish are reacting to our presence. I'm a believer in getting as close as possible to the fish before casting or dropping a bait, but if the fish are spooky, boat control becomes crucial. Trying to point the bow into the wind helps with boat control, but it also makes a lot of "noise" from boat slap. If the fish are wary of your boat, always fish downwind to avoid that.”
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“Who’s says you can’t walleye and perch fish at the same time. Might need to upsize to some bigger Rapalas....”
- That’s Bigwater Fishing’s Ross Robertson talking about this Lake Erie walleye coughing up quite the hors d’oeuvre – wonder if he added it to the skillet?
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And if you’re wondering how Ross is able to find, catch, and stay on top of so many stinkin’ walleyes 👀 it helps that dude is so dialed he can graph fish at 27 mph!!!
> Ross: “This pic is from traveling at 27 mph. Remember at that speed you won’t see arches, but mini bbs for walleye....”
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Talk about covering some water!
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If fish ever figured out how to use Instagram, and could post a pic of their meal before they ate it, I think it’d look something like this Norfin shot with a plate full of Eurotackle treats:
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Will be a heavy dose of hardwater goodness coming your way soon....
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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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