We lost Pete Harsh, As seen at Lindner Media, Muskie fishing is torture

By (mostly Brett)

Posted on October 13, 2021

Pete’s list of accomplishments is absolutely incredible – ~~Cliffs~~ArtieArndt’sNotes version here. If you want to get to know Pete on a little more personal level, check out this WalleyeFIRST write-up from spring 2019 interviewing the legend himself. Love this opening paragraph:

> “Harsh is a matter-of-fact Minnesotan with a savvy and nuanced ability to maneuver through both the political business side of the sport fishing and boating industry, and to be able to function as one of the most skilled anglers that pro walleye fishing has produced.”

No doubt!

The first time I met Pete was back in ’07. I was just a little teenage punk back then working at Christopherson’s Bait in Alexandria, MN. Pete (Sauk Centre native) was passing thru the area, swung in and cleared the pegs of a certain model of slip-bobber. I was more of a bass-head at that time, and thought he was just loading up with panfish stuff for the grandkids….

Got to talking with him and found out he had been crushing Devils Lake walleyes throwing slip-bobbers in flooded trees. I didn’t even know that was a thing 🤯 and ended up chatting with him for probably 45 minutes. Then, he started asking me questions, and we got to talking how I was planning to head to UND to pursue my marketing degree with hopes of breaking into the fishing industry one day. I’m sure he had things to do and places to be…but instead it’s almost like he turned into a blunt, fishing biz motivational speaker and started dropping advice that helped light a fire under me.

He didn’t say so at the time, but I found out later thx to the Google machinez that he had just won the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tour on Devils Lake and took home an $85K payday. Hilarious because when we were chatting, he made it sound like he was just getting back from a fun little fishing trip where he caught a bunch of walleyes lol.

Save a few walleyes for us on that big pond up in the sky, Mr. Tiller! 🙏✝️ RIP fishing brother and prayers to the family.

You might not know this, but I actually have an office space at Lindner Media. Been quite a while now but I still catch myself snooping around here – like it’s my first time – every single time I step foot in the door.

For sure a bunch of cool projects always going on, people I’ve looked up to my whole life constantly walking the halls, and some memorabilia you won’t see anywhere else….

Exhibit A: This signed letter from George W. Bush after he fell in love with Al and Ron’s book called First Light on the Water:

I haven’t found the courage to go digging thru them yet. Maybe one day, but not yet.

Ron literally told me to “dive in” multiple times. Not asked…told. If you knew Ron you know what I mean lol. He’d say that there’s lots of things there that newer generations had maybe never seen or heard of before…stuff that I “should pull from” to share with Target Walleye readers ‘cuz they’d “get a kick out of it.” So I guess maybe this is me saying I’ll finally start doing that. For you and for Ron. Stay tuned….

It’s easy to tell when you’ve got a big walleye on since they usually rip the planer board back, but a ‘tattle flag‘ helps you know when you’ve got a small fish on so you don’t accidentally drag the little bugger around.

Lot of times you’ll be trolling slower in the fall (0.7-1.5 mph) than you might in warm-water months (2.0+ mph). The slower you go, the easier it can be for those pesky, smaller fish to nip at your bait.

There’s also usually way more floating debris that can be snagged on the bait or line this time of year, and needs to be tattled on….

Fishing 411 TV’s Jake Romanack says he also uses tattle flags to tell him if a fish takes a nip at his bait but doesn’t get hooked – the flag pops right back up. Allows him to coax those fish into biting ‘cuz a lot of times they’ll continue following the bait.

Better look at the tattle flag system from Jake in this Fishing 411 TV video:

Okay, that might be a little aggressive! I’m not the only one who got a kick outta that pic – check out some of these hilarious comments under the original post:

> Hope there’s room for the copilot.
> Going to need a booster seat.
> Can duck behind those babes and keep bugs outta your eyes.
> May the force be with you, Obi-Wan.
> Only thing left to do is get clearance from the control tower….
> Just the right amount of overkill….
> Y’all acting like you wouldn’t do the same after hitting the Powerball.

Hahaha!

Here’s another one that’s been circulating around the web. Can’t find the original post, but it’s definitely “the world’s most expensive crappie” lol:

The LIVE action picks back up tomorrow morning. If you’re having issues watching it on Facebook (been randomly taking down their LIVE stream due to false copyright claims) H2H has also been streaming live – and uninterrupted – on their website and YouTube all week. Good luck to all that moved on in the bracket!

2. PA: Woodcock Creek Lake getting reloaded.

With muskie and walleye fingerlings + golden shiners and fatheads.

This is the system where water levels dropped 21.5 ft [!] earlier this spring when…

> The dam’s floodgates remained open when automated equipment used to monitor the level of the lake’s surface froze. Ice also prevented water from receding within the control tower well used as a manual backup, resulting in the same faulty reading.

3. WI: Warming climate makes walleye harder to find?

4. Power-Pole trolling motor spotted?

By TikTok user Chandler drake:

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