Not sure when you'll get the next Target Walleye but hopefully still Friday – will be at the St. Paul Ice Show, can't wait! Might be a day or 2 after Friday but either way it's coming!

I was missing open water – was – right up until that first hookset of the 21/22 hardwater season! 🥶 Made the trek up to Upper Red Lake in northern MN the other day. Was able to knock the dust off and lean into some shallow-water waldos.

I did shoot a Target Walleye YouTube video that's being edited right now, and will keep you posted when that drops. For now I'm gonna jump into a brief photographic tour of our quick 24-hour trip below, and a few "first dance" observations.

We didn't get to JR's Corner Access until about 3:30pm...and with sunset being around 4:30-ish, I knew we didn't have much time to get out and set up. So we opted to stay well inside of most other shacks (only went 0.3-0.4 miles out) and popped holes in 7.5'.

My first fish came on a "glow tiger" color 1/8-oz VMC Tumbler Spoon – absolutely smacked it about 2' off bottom – think I could've turned around and headed straight back home after that and been happy hahaha.

I really like starting with those VMC Tumbler Spoons when I'm not sure what kind of mood the fish are in. It's sort of a hybrid of a flutter spoon and rattling spoon...can be fished way slow and subtle, or pounded and the little clacker blade will dish out some flash + sound. Ended up catching a few more waldos on it during the "flash bite" from 4:40-5:10pm.

Also picked up a couple bonus fish on what I like to call the "lightsaber" aka JB Lures 10" Lighted Fire Float – soaking a rainbow chub 'bout a foot off bottom. There's something seriously special about watching this thing slowly sink down below the ice, and bonus points for being able to keep an eye on it even while hole-hopping around:

I had originally planned to just sleep in my truck that night – yup, I'm 100% not above it! – but thought for the heck of it I would reach out to Chaz Dobias of First City Guide Service to see if they happened to have any fish-house rentals (for sleeping on shore that night) available even tho it was super last minute. He did, and we ended up staying in the oldest house in their lineup. 🤯 Get this:

Ridiculous in a reeeeally good way! We were even able to get Monday Night Football in the "shack" so I could watch my fantasy football playoff hopes disappear first-hand. 🤣😭🤦‍♂️

Gotta say I was super impressed with Chaz at First City Guide Service. He was extremely responsive and helpful, and I was legit blown away by his rental options.

I've stayed at other operations up there numerous times, always pretty good experiences but most fish houses feel like you're sleeping in a garden shed. If you've ever been to URL you know what I mean. Of course there's absolutely nothing wrong with that! Like I said I had actually planned on sleeping in my truck that night so really anything on top of that feels world class when you're chasing the hot bite. I know Chaz books up FAST, but I 10/10 recommend reaching out to him if you're heading up that way.

From left to right:

1. I always forget how hard it is to pack light on the hardwater. Us ice-heads come with a lot of baggage! The StrikeMaster Lithium 24v for sure helps with that cause. And now after running one for an entire year, I can say it's absolutely the realest of deals.

2. Was surprised to see they already had up to 8" of ice most places we were fishing. We had to hoof it, but now as of today JR's Corner Access is letting wheelers and snowmobiles out of their place. Sounds like they have a road stakes going 2 miles west and another that zips about 1.5 miles straight out towards deeper water.

3. It always fascinates me how crazy the ice forms on big lakes thx to those stiff late-fall winds. Some areas were like walking on jumbo legos, others were glass smooth, all purtty and unique in their own way.

Okay, that's that for now. We had another half day to fish before having to head back home to "Target Walleye" in newsletter form lol. If you're heading up to URL, make sure you've got your setline (deadstick, tip-up, iFishPro, etc) arsenals ready to rip. They accounted for all but 2 of our bites the next day during the daylight shift. More on that when the YouTube video gets wrapped up here soon-ish. 👊

The rumors are true 👀 Nolan Sprengeler crushed the new state-record 'ski with a 57.75" long x 29" girth Mille Lacs freakazoid that weighed 55 lbs 14.8 oz on a certified scale:

Full scoop here in Nolan's Instagram post. Congrats man!!!

Btw the previous MN record of 54 lbs was set in 1957 on Lake Winnibigoshish.

Thanks to these fellas – Kris Bain and Danny Bacon – who went out and played Mythbusters on the whole "it's bad luck to have bananas on the boat" fishing superstition:

Really tho you don't need to blame a tough bite on bananas, everyone knows walleyes are ridiculously fussy 97.3% of the time anyway hahaha.

There's a new Tiger King Queen in town....

And I'm not talking about season 2 of that mess 🤣.

I'm talking about 🐅👸 Michele Balfour (@finsinfocus) smacking her new PB tiger trout out of MB's Twin Lakes:

Even cooler is she caught 'em on some hand-tied flies done-up by her friend Ryan Ginter.

Btw tiger trout = a brookie-brownie hybrid that's FREAKIN' gorgeous. Pics don't do 'em justice:

Plus a few more that Michele leaned into recently:

Awesome fish and pics, Michele! 👊 Keep after 'em.

Micro reels, and frozen fish, and moving too much, oh my! 👀🙅‍♂️🛑 How many of these ice-fishing mistakes are you making??

I know, I know...watch your own bobber! But this video is meant to help "learn ya" some things we've been doing wrong ourselves for years.

PLUS some bonus fish catches, and underwater footage from Nick Lindner's Aqua-Vu HD7i and my MarCum Pursuit HD while we try to stay on topic – hope you dig it!

Central MN guide Jeff Solum recently passed on and is no doubt smacking walleyes at will on "The Big Pond" up in the sky. We know he's now back in the boat with his late tourney partner, Dave Andersen, and those fish do NOT stand a chance!

Jeff's last wish this summer was "to make one last tournament," and that he did. He was a guide boat for Warriors & Walleyes Outdoors for the past 6 years and smiled everyday he was there. He loved spending time with Veterans, and was an Army Veteran himself.

Rest in peace, fishing brother. 🙏✝️ Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family. Jeff's name will live on and we know that his son, Shawn Solum, will be catching the snot out of fish in honor of it.

Tough to believe – man, time flies but he's forever in our thoughts.

The St. Paul Ice Show is happening this weekend Dec 3-5 at the St. Paul RiverCentre. I'll be there, running around with a camera and trying not to drool on all the new ice-fishing schtuff in the 190-ish booths.

Designed to run with brushless drills. Means the Scout is now available in 5 sizes from 4" to 8" models.

To IA Great Lakes, Storm Lake and Clear Lake.

Good news for protecting those big breeders.

Believe the acquisition of Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits was GSM Outdoors' first step into the fishing side of things – they're a powerhouse on the hunting/shooting side of the outdoor industry – but sounds like they're working on several additional fishing acquisitions.

VP of sales said:

Little something for everyone no matter if you're targeting walleyes, panfish, northern pike or perch. #BroKnows

- That's the late Jeff Solum talking after Brian Carlson had asked him for some advice earlier this summer. Amazing. And thx for leaving the comment, Brian!

This sick Joshua Schave snap of a "Minnesota Lambo" is giving me all sorts of ice-rig envy. #Dialed

Got a chuckle out of this Instagram story from the always-fishy Spenser Samplawski. Diehard doing diehard things:

National Professional Anglers Assoc.