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Canadian border restrictions to be dropped. π¨π¦π€πΊπΈ |
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BIG news for lodges and any folks who want to catch a whole bunch of big fish:
> "Starting Oct 1, 2022, all COVID-19 border requirements, including vaccination, mandatory use of ArriveCAN, and any testing and quarantine/isolation requirements will end for all travelers entering Canada whether by land, air or sea."
That being said...
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THIS right here is why you hit up the fall river run! |
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On Manitoba's Red River. This first one is Rob Turner with a 10.64-lb (31.25") #greenback walleye he caught during the recent Red River Walleye Masters Cup on Sept 24-25: |
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Get this: That measly π€ͺ 31.5-incher wasn't even the biggest fish of the derby, there were several caught that were the next caliber up...and then somehow up again....
Big fish on day 2 was a 12.48-lber caught by Drew McCrae and Jeff Breakey:
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And a BEHEMOTH 13.72-lber [!!!!] was brought in on day 1 by Tony Shirley and Chris Wujec who would go on to win the 2-day derby: |
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Can't even imagine seeing a fish of that caliber, let alone holding or catching one.
I don't believe the Red River is necessarily known for extremely-high numbers of fish (of course you'll have those bust-out-the-fish-clicker type of days) but you have a legit shot at catching the biggest walleye of your life every time you hit the water. #RoadTrip
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Bro's split-shot trick for fishing rocks with creek chubs. π― |
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For those of you willing to bundle-up and get after the fall walleye bite, Brian "Bro" Brosdahl's got a whole pile of creek chub pulling tricks β you maybe haven't seen before β for fishing in the rocks. Very cool! Full write-up and video here, some juicy excerpts below:
> Post-turnover β when dissolved oxygen is more evenly dispersed throughout all depths β walleyes can be literally anywhere. A majority of anglers still target steep breaks, sunken islands, points, etc...but MN guide Brian "Bro" Brosdahl is fond of fishing shallower.
> Bro: "A majority of my fall walleye rigging is done in 10' and less. Especially around rock, from softball- to Volkswagen-sized boulders to jagged shield rock. On rivers, you're talking submerged rip rap, wingdams, and other soft-to-hard bottom transitions."
> The problem rigging around rock β or any kind of hard cover β is getting snagged. Conventional weights like egg sinkers and bottom-bouncers are easily wedged. ...ultimately, the system he arrived at shares some likeness to the multiple split-shot rigs used by steelhead anglers.
> ...run a 3-4' fluorocarbon snell (8-10 lb) with tiny split-shots placed about 8" apart all the way from a quality ball-bearing swivel down to a Gamakatsu Finesse Wide Gap hook. In areas with vegetation and rock, he uses the same hook with available weedguard.
> "One split-shot won't do it, but several will. What you're doing is turning your fluorocarbon leader into a chunk of leadcore...but a series of small split-shots doesn't spook walleyes in clear water. In fact, on some waters the sound of multiple split-shots tickling rocks can help attract fish."
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> "The nice thing about the system is even if one gets stuck it either pulls down the line or completely off. So, I always carry a bunch of split-shots, which are cheap. Most of the time you'll feel them tickling the rocks okay. When you're in round rocks you don't typically snag because there aren't many imperfections. Granite and shield rock are the tough ones...they have cracks that your line can thread or grab. Same around wood. But the split-shots typically work through all of it pretty well."
> ...perhaps the biggest mistake anglers make rigging live chubs or other big minnows is thinking you need to ride the bottom at all times. "Walleyes will move pretty far off bottom to grab a big minnow. If you're in 5', you only need your rig 3-4' feet down...if you're in 10', 5' down is usually plenty."
> ...depending on the wind and fish location...Bro will deploy the rig on a controlled drift, a slow troll, or Spot-Lock with his bow into the wind, pitching the rig downwind to pods of fish he locates on his electronics. In the case of pitching, he'll often go down to a shorter, 2β² snell.
Setting the hook
> ...use the first couple bites to determine the best hook-setting procedure. "If you get a bite and you pull on it and the fish is already hooked, you know they're eating it. Don't overfeed the fish. There's no reason to pull their butthole out the mouth. Most of the time. I'm feeding them line 5-10 seconds. The only exception is if I'm using giant chubs β then I'll give 'em a bit longer.
> "When I feel a hit I'll feed line, then I'll check before I set the hook, pulling the chub a little bit β maybe a couple short pulls so the walleye eats it a bit more. I call this the 'tease.' Teasing walleyes a little bit really gets them to commit. Big walleyes are like 'give me my steak back!' Even in tournament situations when I watch guys feed fish for minutes, all it takes is a little tease."
> The exception is rigging during extreme high-pressure situations when the tease can turn some walleyes off. "If they don't eat after the tease, they're typically small fish. But bug the big fish and they'll gobble almost every time, even during post-frontal conditions."
Bait choice and care
> "Fact is, chubs ain't cheap β and they can dirty water fast. Proper live bait care makes the most of the investment. I always keep my chubs in fresh water with a bubbler.
> "In tournament situations I'll also add some U2 G Juice, which prevents ammonia build up. It also contains electrolytes, which is like Gatorade for bait. When transporting back and forth with well water, I'll actually feed the chubs small hunks of 'crawlers to keep 'em full of fighting energy."
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Speaking of redtails being hard to find.... |
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Looks like tourney-nut Will Pappenfus figured out the ultimate hack (lol) and said he's selling them for just $20.99 per dozen. π€£π€£π€£ |
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In case you don't have redtails around you, or don't know much about them...that ^ is actually a sucker minnow that Will is pretending to mock-up. He might wanna add a little dash of red to its cheek too: |
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Folks legit go bonkers for redtails in the fall, and they can be insanely difficult to find. I've heard of people paying $100 for a dozen the night before a fishing tournament. Seriously.
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.
Sure 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) and a lot of times when you slow down, or try to hover over fish, sucker minnows will just collapse down to bottom. β οΈ
Obviously there's plenty of other ways to catch those fish too...but it's tough to compete with creek chubs and redtails when that bite is ON. Spendy critters, but there's a lot of folks who make a ton of dough in fall tourneys by getting their hands on chubs and babysitting them in make-shift tanks in their garage all fall. Seems like anytime I try to squat on good bait it ends up being a Jigging Rap bite on tourney day anyway π so I guess choose your battles. |
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"We're not gonna try to pound square pegs into round holes." |
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Despite what the calendar says, you've got to fish in the moment...let the fish tell you what they want and how they want it. Normally by now the creek chub bite would be all systems go. Fishing with leeches and 'crawlers in late-Sept or early-Oct π get real, right? Wrong.
But it's also really cool how much things can change in just a single day β especially right now during the fall transition.
They started out the day on an expansive, northern-MN sand flat and could only gt bit on leeches and 'crawlers β the fish wouldn't touch minnows. Then later in the day, fishing the same area, they started to see pods of bait (minnows) finally starting to show up. Like flipping a light switch, the walleyes they were on decided it was minnows or bust:
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Someone's taking home a massive $15K π€ 1st-place payday.
Catch-measure-release format with 100% payouts and prizes. Believe they cap it at 75 boats (2-person teams). AWESOME payouts considering it's just $250 per boat to enter. More info here.
I signed up to fish it with my buddy Nick Lindner and seriously cannot wait to get up there!
Opens Oct 1.
Closes at 7pm CST. Features ICAST 2022 "Best of Category" winning products β some not yet available to the general public. And all proceeds go to support Keep America Fishing β the voice of the American Angler.
Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited's next meeting is on Thurs, Oct 6. They're bringing in Larry Hanson = a full-time fishing guide and host of Real Talk Outdoors radio show on BOB FM.
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The American Southern rock/country group (I dig a bunch of their music) launched Toad Thumper Lures at this year's Bassmaster Classic. They have 2 baits right now β a walking frog and popping frog β but sounds like they put a lot of time into designing them based on all the "faults" they saw in other frogs on the market.
Funny enough the name "Toad Thumper" actually has nothing to do with making frogs...
> "It was Cody's idea to combine our terminology. He grew up calling the big ones 'thumpers.' In Arkansas we call them 'toads.' It basically just means 'big fish.'"
> β¦soliciting comments from the public as to their thoughts on the several plans to introduce measures within KY and TN waterways to deter invasive carp from traveling upstream. They are requesting all comments to be sent to corpslrnplanningpubliccom@usace.army.mil by no later than Oct 26.
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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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> "Al Lindner has witnessed all the fishing trends that have happened for over 50 years β size, shape, tactics, and color...you name it. Right now, color is again the latest hot topic. Some of today's hottest performing lure paint jobs are options that we would have never considered using years ago!"
But now they're catching the snot out of fish. The duo of Al Lindner + Jeremy Smith in the same boat is downright not fair for the fish LOL, and I'm here for it:
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One of the baits they were talking is the Big Bite Baits Suicide Shad, and man did they ever come out with some killer colors that were specifically desgined for walleyes. π |
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I would 10/10 take a Big Bite out of those. |
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"People talk about fall and it brings up iconic things like sweater weather, pumpkin lattes, cooler mornings...my brain says things like walleye weather, big minnows and fall feedbags...."
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Have a great + safe weekend! And thx SO much for reading!! π |
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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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422 Laurel Street
P.O. BOX 541
Brainerd, MN 56401
(218) 824 5026
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