If you're getting Target Walleye for the first time, a friend probably signed you up! |
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I will never get over the fact that to win most walleye tournaments, you need to catch the biggest small fish. π |
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No, I'm not throwing shade at any one specific tourney platform out there...just some random thoughts I had while on the water a few hours yesterday.
I understand that lakes and states could/should/do have slot limits, so in the olden days = that's just how tourneys worked...but now with the technology readily-available to measure and release those fish it just feels wrong to basically penalize teams for dialing-in the bigs.
Example: In MN walleye tournaments (that are NOT catch-measure-release format) you can only have 1 fish over 20" per person. So catching these things is typically more important than being on BIG fish during game day:
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Oh, and you might as well just cut your line if you catch one of these in MN lol: |
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Imagine catching a dozen+ walleyes that were 24-27" in a single day (during a tourney) and losing because you could only weigh 2 of those fish. And then some jabronies win with 5 or 6 fish in the 15-19" range hahaha!
That'd be like fishing in a bass tournament where you're only able to weigh 1 bass over 3 lbs...then the rest of your limit had to be just 12- to 14-inchers.... π₯΄
Okay, okay...I'm done venting now lol. Just had to spew some thoughts all over the keyboard. And remember:
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I know I said I was done venting, but I lied π€£. Apparently I'm feeling feisty this morning? Gotta get one more thing off my chest....
Here's another reason I'm such a big fan of using artificials for walleyes:
Every time I spend $40.83 to get 2 doz. redtails/creek chubs, I wind up with 4 or 5 usable minnows and 19 others that are a mixture of suckers, dace, extremely tiny chubs...you name it:
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Not saying those ^ don't catch fish β pitching that little junk up shallow on a 1/8- or 1/4-oz jig can be money, I even caught a few wallies yesterday doing that β but when you're spending $15-19 per doz for rigging big chubs, it's not what you expect to get in the bucket. I'd just grab some "light pike" aka little sucker minnows for about $3/doz if that was my game plan.
I absolutely LOVE supporting small-ish local bait shops, and continue to do so every chance I get no matter where I'm at in the walleye world. Some just seem to do a better job of making sure you're all set up and want you excited to come back thru their doors to swap fish stories. If you have that type of place near you = cherish it.
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Ever caught a banded walleye? |
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It's that awkward time of year when fishing and hunting seasons mix. Waterfowl hunters aren't the only ones who get to chase bling: |
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How cool is that?! TW fan Preston Ripplinger used a "chartreuse pearl" color #11 Berkley Flicker Minnow to drop that Lake Sakakawea ringer. Congrats!
Makes me wonder if anyone's got a Minn Kota remote lanyard that looks like this?
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Hopefully this won't become a side effect of "video game" fishing.... |
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I come across some weird stuff while scouring the interwebz for content. And it seems no matter what that "out there" thing is, my brain somehow finds a way to relate it to the fishing world. It's just how my oversized melon works LOL β I can't shut it off.
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Which obviously reminded me of folks (myself included) staying hunched over their electronics while fishin', something that was multiplied times a zillion the second I added LiveScope to my boat. So I guess here's your friendly reminder to occasionally stand up and stretch throughout the day? π€·ββοΈ
Speaking of LiveScope...
You've probably heard of "sharpshooting" walleyes...can we all just agree if you're using LiveScope it should be called "sniping" lol?! Coming to bow near you this weekend:
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Tan lines you gotta earn. |
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Safe to say Gunpowder's (new-school marketing company working with Humminbird, Minn Kota, Merc, GoPro and others) Bailey Eigbrett has logged a pile of hours on the water this season lol: |
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Now get back to work, dude! π |
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Back with the regular "News" section next week!
In the meantime, don't forget that today is the final day of the National Walleye Tour championship on Ottertail Lake, MN. Believe the weigh-in starts at 4pm CST and theyβre live streaming it on NWTβs Facebook page, or you can hit the live leaderboard here.
Eric McQuoid went out in 1st place today after throwing up a massive 23.72-lb bag. Remember in MN that weight only includes 2 fish > 20" for the 2-person team, so they basically had the absolute perfect bag = π€― seriously impressive!
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Few TargetWalleye.com Highlights
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What's π₯ on Target Walleye's YouTube π₯
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Gotta bring this OG TargetWalleye.com write-up back because we're finally getting into that time of year, and it's exactly how a bunch of fall derbies are going to be won from here on out. Full post here, few quickie excerpts below:
> You can catch fish all year doing this, but I really get excited for the big-minnow bite once the water has cooled down to 62 degrees...ideally 58-60. It stays good until temps hit 45 or so...after that the fish have already fed heavy for a couple of weeks and are now transitioning to winter patterns. You can still catch 'em, just not nearly as many.
> Many weeds start to die off when the water temps drop below 68 degrees. That's why you'll notice piles of weeds floating around out there. A lot of the baitfish have pulled out of those dying weeds and are now schooled up in open water. The wind positions the baitfish on structure and the fish follow.
> Pay attention to which direction the wind has been blowing from in the days leading up to your trip. Even fishing in deep water such as 35-50β² the fish will still typically be stacked on the windblown sides of underwater points, bars and breaks.
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> Walleye prefer a larger minnow in the fall when the water temps are on the drop. It's the 4-7β³ redtails and creek chubs that seem to work best most days, but sometimes even bigger.
> Why creek chubs and redtails? Because they're hardy minnows that will often swim right along with the boat. There's times you'll actually feel them 'getting excited' down there the moment before a walleye smacks them.
> You can catch the occasional fish on a sucker minnow, but they're usually too lethargic for this technique and will end up being drug behind the boat [versus lively darting from side to side.]
> I run a 1/2- to 1-oz egg sinker depending on minnow size, wind and depth. The 3/4-oz seems to be good all around, but I bump up to a 1-oz anytime I'm fishing 30' or deeper. The bigger sinker also helps to anchor that minnow and keep it in the strike zone.
> Egg sinkers because they're super dense for their size and work perfect for this application. I'm not dragging them on bottom, I'm trying to fish the sinker like a jig β keeping it 6-18" off bottom and as vertical as possible. Occasionally drop it down to tap bottom and raise it back up.
> Trolling between 0.3-0.8 mph covers most scenarios for pulling big minnows in the fall. When it's calmer I'll start off on the slow end of that to stay right over the tops of fish. If the wind is blowing there will be a current that seems to get everything moving down there [on the bottom] β that's when I'll pick up the speed.
There's a lot more to riggin' big minnows than we could possibly fit in this email...so we put together a complete guide on TargetWalleye.com loaded with everything you want to know about rigging BIG chubs for fall walleye: |
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If you ever see walleyes scattered all over out deep β with no structure to hold 'em in one spot β you want this dude fighting on your side: |
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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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Who is Target Walleye
Target Walleye β walleye during open water and all species during hardwater β is brought to you by Al Lindner, Jim Kalkofen, Jay Kumar, 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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P.O. BOX 2782
Baxter, MN 56425
(218) 824 5026
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