Target Walleye/Ice email

Winnipeg rumors, Roach ice trolls, Pro’s fav panfish baits

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Only one Target Walleye/Ice email this week. Hope you and yours had a blessed Christmas and keep it rockin’ into the new year! Thank YOU for reading!!

If you’re getting this Target Walleye/Ice email for the first time, a friend probably signed you up!

Today’s Top 5

Any big walleyes left in Lake Winnipeg?

Yup!

That paunchy Lake Winnipeg greenback came in and SMOKED a Livetarget Golden Shiner Rattlebait (glow/white) just 5′ under the ice last week. Only thing more fun than the catching, is watching ’em wave goodbye.

We ended up icing ’round 100 fish over the 2 days — still can’t get over how stinkin’ gorgeous those “greenbacks” are! Worth the drive up even just to see the little’uns in the sun, but spoiler alert: we had a handful of BIGS mixed in.

Check the full vid here [popcorn-eating emoji]:

Big shout-out to Matt Cornell for letting us tag along! No doubt we’ll be back.

Reef-roamers of the week!

Jay Kaltenberger got some green(back) slime on that Eskimo FatFish 949i using a “gold chrome” Rapala Slab Rap on Lake Winnipeg:

Forrest Leitch stuck this Mille Lacs reef-roamer working an 1/8-oz VMC Tumbler Spoon in 12-18′ around shoreline-connected structure. Forrest said hole hopping matched with a slowed down cadence was the deal:

Still a few gem lakes in MN that can kick out jumbos like this one Scott Summer caught on a water-activated LED jigging spoon called the Tundra Tackle Co. FireFly Spoon. Sounds like they’re back in stock now — you tried ’em yet?

Rapid fire: Pros’ favorite ice panfish baits and why.

We put a handful of the top ice-fishing pros on the spot, giving them each just 10 seconds to tell us about one hardwater panfish bait they ALWAYS have tied on and why. Got any of these in your tackle box?

Anyone else eat too much over the holidays?

This pike did:

Brian Dilbeck posted that pic in the Ice Fishing North Dakota Facebook group looking for answers. We checked the MN DNR’s fish diseases page, but looked more like a mixture of a couple. #gross

Start ’em young!

Anyone else have a little extra help(er) with their Christmas shopping? Had to buy 2 ‘cuz no one wants to share their Rapala X-Raps lol:

Tom Johnson had some stiff competition on Lake of the Woods. #priceless

Little dude ices a quality ‘eye — this is how life-long fisherpeople are made!

News

1. MN: Ice deaths at record high…

…and it’s only December. Not just a MN thing, have people/rigs going through all over the continent. PLEASE be safe out there and take your time getting out.

2. MN: Otter Tail County lake closed.

By a private citizen lol. You’ll want to read this article, but to summarize:

Rick Chodek built a fence across the gravel road that leads to the Jolly Ann Lake boat launch near Ashby. He claims the public-access road is on his land and that the legal clock has run out on the state’s right to fix the situation.

> Rick: It’s a complicated story. To tell you the whole thing, we’ll probably need a beer and a campfire.

Lol can’t make this stuff up. Be interestin’ to see how it shakes down. In the meantime, here ’tis:

3. MT: Ice fishing donations needed…

…for veterans dealing with PTSD. New or used equipment, anything to help get these guys/gals back out enjoying the great outdoors. More info here.

4. OH. Lake Erie might freeze in Dec…

…for the first time since 2000. Word is walleye numbers are way up. Hoping for safe ice this season to be able to get out and chase some of these oinkers that Ross Robertson gets on:

5. SD: New regs take place Jan 1.

> “…the changes primarily affect ice anglers who spend extended periods of time fishing or who want to clean or eat their catch while on the ice.”

6. MN: Some special regs changing Mar 1.

Few interesting changes. Check if any of your local lakes are on the list.

7. MN: “Daytona 500 of ice fishing.”

Happenin’ Jan 27 on Gull Lake (Nisswa). Can expect 10,000+ people to fish for a chance at the $150K in prizes. Heck of the time if you’re into this kind of thing:

 

Have a shot at winning a pile of the hard-to-find Tundra Tackle Co. FireFly Spoons and Vibe MinOs! They automatically light up BRIGHT when submerged underwater. Will be two winners – click here to enter. Goodluck!

Headline of the Day

Game warden’s plane breaks through ice after landing on lake.

Sheesh. Luckily he walked away injury free….

Tip of the Day

Instead of picking a single waypoint to drill out, Tony Roach will drive around with his handheld GPS — while on the wheeler — and outline the target depth he is looking for. Then he punches a row of holes down and back along his tracks.

AWESOME technique a few have been doing for years, but doesn’t get much press. No doubt Tony has dialed it in. That and way more in the last In-Depth Outdoors episode on Mille Lacs Lake:

In case you’re heading there this weekend, their hot baits o’ the day were: “green tiger UV” Rapala Jigging Raps, and VMC Rattle Spoons in “glow red shiner” and “glow green fire UV.”

Quote of the Day

We decided it must be [a walleye] because it was old…and we thought we had just won a new boat.

– James Beres talking about a massive walleye lake trout they caught while fishing a walleye tournament on Lake Erie. Thought the 26.63-lber was a massive, old walleye until he sent a pic to a buddy who broke the news to ’em.

The fish ended up being the new OH record lake trout [!] beating the old record (20.40) by over 6 lbs! Madness:

Today’s ‘Eye Candy

Marc Tremblay had himself a day pulling Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow Walleye Deep Divers over 80′ on a…centerpin reel? Awesome fish/shot, dude!
Case you didn’t know, Garmin Panoptix units can be rigged for the boat or ice.

Sign up another ice-head!

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Check this stuff out!

Who is Target Walleye/Ice?
Target Walleye/Ice — walleye during open water and all species during hardwater — is brought to you by Al and Ron Lindner, Jim Kalkofen, Brett McComas and other diehard fish-nuts like you! #fishheads
Brett McComas is the main man for Target Walleye/Ice. 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

To send us walleye pics, ice shots or whatever, just respond to this email or click here to email us. Or post it on the Target Walleye Facebook page.

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