Hope everyone had a great + safe 4th with family and friends. And if you were stuck working the whoooole time...you've definitely got a little extra fish karma coming your way!
I ended up hopping in a local 35-ish boat bass derby over the weekend and was lucky enough to get a few of the right bites on a big 3/4-oz Terminator Pro Series Jig (blue olive). Had one dinky 2-lber I couldn’t cull, but it worked out in the end with 5 for about 14 lbs. Must've been the lucky shirt. 😜🤓 |
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Then I snuck away for a few hours yesterday afternoon to Spot-Lock under some Gull Lake, MN fireworks with my favorite gals. #blessed!
It would have been the perfect weekend if I hadn't lost multiple times to my old man in cribbage. LOL kiddin' dad – I'll gladly take those Ls! But I do get a little too competitive in the moment.... 😅😮💨
Heads up: This might be the only Target Walleye this week. And next week's TW might be coming at you off-schedule too while we're down at ICAST. Will have some special new product issues coming your way after I get back from that.
In the meantime, thx so much for reading! Now here we go:
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Reminder: If your email program cuts off the bottom of this email, click "View this email in your browser" up top to see the whole thing. Sorry about that – email programs keep changing stuff. |
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“And this is how dreams and goals start....” |
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Will “The Soo” NWT be won trolling or casting? 🤔 |
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The next NWT event is happening July 27-28 at Sault (pron. “Soo”) Ste. Marie, MI on the St Marys River, connecting Lake Superior and Lake Huron. I believe the NWT has only been there 2 times before (2019, 2020) and both of those were mid-summer events at similar time-frames.
It’s a ton of water to cover, with some pros making 100+ mile runs one-way! During those first 2 NWT events, folks were catching fish using a pile of different techniques – let’s run thru some of the top finishers down below.
July 25-26, 2019
Found his big-fish spot approx 45 miles from takeoff...a rocky shoreline in the Drummond Island area....
> David: “I really think the big lake was too cold. ...productive reefs out on Huron, but the water temp was only 62 degrees. At Drummond, the water was 68-70 degrees and that made a big difference.”
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> David: “My speed was 1.5 mph, but I was going into the current. These fish were sitting in the rocks and waiting for the current to wash the bait by...gobies there and other clouds of baitfish too.
> “...big boulders, so I wanted the crankbaits just above the bottom. Today I ran 4 boards to one side [!!] because all my bites were coming on the inside. ...they were active in the afternoon...it was a later-in-the-day bite.”
He used Off Shore Tackle Magnum Planer Boards with short leads so the big ones wouldn’t bury the board (more likely to get off then). He only got 5 bites trolling on day 2, but obviously they were the right caliber of fish.
He was fishing the north side of St. Joseph’s Island. Had all of their fish by 8:30 am the last day. #dialed
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> “Would cast into the thickest cabbage, snap the bait hard as I could to clear the cabbage, and they’d bite it on the fall. Was letting the bait freefall as fast as it possibly could, and they’d absolutely inhale it.
> “Depending on the spot, it was between 8-16′. If it had rock + cabbage + current = it was an A+++ spot.
> “Had 3 hours [day before the tournament] to find every strand of cabbage possible in a 5-mile area [using his Lowrance SideScan]. Once I found an additional 20-some spots, I had the confidence to run through all of them almost blind come tourney time.”
> “We were making a 30-mile run to the St. Joseph’s channel. ...fishing a rock bar that sets up very similarly to a wing dam. We were pitching Northland Long Shank Fire-Ball Jigs tipped with a full nightcrawler...working the base of the rock bar in 13-15′.
Aug 13-14, 2020
He was making an 86-mile run [!] south of Sault Ste. Marie – actually had to stop for gas on the way back each day! His day-2 round trip totaled 4.5 hours of drive time...had to plow through 3- and 4-footers on his way back, so could “only” manage top speeds of 36-37 mph.
> “There was a lot of pressure up north by the islands, and there was no pressure around me. I figured the risk versus the reward was worth it....
> “Those walleyes are summering [down] there.... This time of year, that’s just where they’re living. They live in the cracks and crevices of big Volkswagen-sized boulders. My main spot down there was like 38-48′ deep.
> “I was trolling crankbaits [1-5′ off bottom at 1.7-2.0 mph] – mainly Bandits and Smithwick Top 20s with 2-oz snap weights. Chrome bases were key – purples and blues with orange bellies.”
I don’t know the exact color pattern he was throwing – assuming they were customs – but here’s a couple Bandits that look like they check those boxes:
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The wind picked up on day 2 and blew the bait – eventually pushing some walleyes – to his secondary area = an adjacent shoreline piece of structure in 17-24’.
> “On my way back, I stopped at a jigging spot within sight of the ramp. At 3:48, I popped a 5-lber on a jighead and pork-tail minnow [fluke-style plastic]. That fish gave me a 3-lb upgrade.”
Dude made a 110-mile run south [!] near Alpena. He described the journey as the second toughest of his long career – the other led to him missing his check-in time.
> “We would stop for fuel at Presque Isle on the way down. On the way back up, we would get gas at DeTour Pass.”
Making that long of a jaunt left him with just 2.5 to 3 hours to fish. Knowing that the wind was increasing on day 2, he gave himself 3 hours to return...checked in with 7 min to spare!
Caught his fish tourney day(s) pulling crankbaits with snap weights:
> “I was basically following the smelt migration. The walleyes move to follow the smelt. In my area, the water was crazy clear. What I found is that they wanted the more natural colors – blue or blue chrome, and silver with white and chartreuse bellies.”
Was fishing in 45-50′. Said the fish were positioned near the bottom, but in the crazy-clear water they’d come up 15′ to hit the crankbait:
> It’s weird. You actually want to make them work for it in the clear water. If it’s too close, they get too good of a look at it.”
Said his Garmin LiveScope was crucial for spotting fish…was actually able look out ahead of the boat in the clear water:
> “The fish were definitely spooking off the boat. ...would come across a small pod of 2, 3, or 4 fish. When I saw them, I would adjust my speed. If they were real low, I would slow down because I was using snap weights. But I would also get a lot of bites speeding up so the baits would rise. My normal speed was 2 mph, but if I was trying to crank them up I would go 2.2.”
> “We stayed right in the river system. Nobody was fishing close, so we made a pact to poke around and find fish close, and it worked.”
Would start his day 8 miles from the launch by trolling spinners over matted grass in 12-16’. Once the sun would come up, he would switch to jigging deeper water.
> “We jigged both the mouth of Lake George and the Garden River. I was using lead-head jigs, either a 1/2- or 3/8-oz tipped with half a crawler. This year, the fish were positioned right on the breaks where there was no current. If you get in the seam, you catch them.
> “As someone who fishes this system often, I’m surprised the long runs paid off [for 1st and 2nd place]. They got extremely lucky to make it 2 days in a row. It’s never that calm. I’ve made those runs when I was younger, and I know what it’s like. Those guys earned it.”
Casting vs trolling debate:
So both in 2019 and 2020 it was won by someone primarily trolling cranks, and maaaaybe picking up 1 or 2 of their 10 weigh fish over 2 days casting. But of course the hand-to-hand-combat crowd was nipping at their heels....
Garmin Panoptix LiveScope was released the summer of 2018 (👀 yup it's been out for over 5 years now) but of course not as many pros were running it that early on when the NWT first visited “The Soo.”
I’ve never personally fished there, but it sounds like the type of place where people can fish to their strengths – catch ‘em how they want to catch ‘em. I’ll be super curious to see how it goes down this year now that more folks are spending their time “sniping” fish with forward-facing sonar.... 🎯
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New NE state-record walleye caught...? |
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Got super excited when I was speed scrolling thru Facebook and skimmed over a post with the words “Nebraska” and “state record” under the same walleye picture....
Because the current NE record is 16 lb 2 oz (33" long x 20" girth) caught outta Lake McConaughy back on July 5, 1971 (exactly 52 yrs ago) on a Storm ThinFin. |
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Anywhoooo, where were we?
It sounds like NE has separate records for walleye that were taken by 1) rod and reel, 2) bow and arrow, and 3) underwater powered spearfishing.
And Brian Lee underwater spearfished the snot out of this Lake McConaughy giant. 😅
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Can you imagine?! 😳 Probably had to be shot in self defense with a fish of that size lol. |
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What’s the deal with Berkley MaxScent? 🧐 |
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If you follow the bass tourney scene at all, you know that Berkley PowerBait MaxScent baits have been absolutely killing it the last few seasons! To the point where even pros that aren’t sponsored by Berkley are publicly admitting to using the stuff on tourney day.
Funny enough, nearly every single time I throw a Ned rig or dropshot paired with a MaxScent bait – while specifically targeting bass – I catch an incidental walleye or 3. Rarely skin-hook ’em, they literally inhale the stuff:
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Yes, I know I’m holding that first walleye stupidly...but I ate it, so it doesn’t really matter lol.
Anywho....
Really got me thinking that I NEED to start throwing MaxScent schtuff for walleyes more on purpose, ‘cuz if any fish is gonna be picky about what they eat – or don’t eat – it’s them. And when legit science is mixed with fishing, the only one not winning is the fish lol:
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I was doing some digging and came across this interesting Q&A in a past BassBlaster email. Jay got Berkley scentmaster Mark Sexton on the ringer and picked his brain about what makes MaxScent work. Full write-up here, few excerpts from their exchange below:
Q: What exactly is MaxScent, and how is it different from regular PowerBait and Gulp?
> “PowerBait is PVC plastic [like I believe all soft-plastics]. We learned how to flavor PVC plastic in the ’80s and it turned out to be really good. Gulp is a water-based material...literally dissolves in the water. If you leave it in long enough...it’s gone.
> “MaxScent is a type of PVC very similar to PowerBait, but it can accept some liquid [scent] and doesn’t dry out like Gulp. ...[scent] put into MaxScent isn’t that different than PowerBait [but how MaxScent baits are made] puts it into the water so much faster...draws fish.
> “Remember those pieces of gum where you bite it and you get quick shot of liquid in your mouth? It’s like that...a way better tool.”
Q: Okay sounds like MaxScent is similar to PowerBait and similar to Gulp. So why is it so good – or better?
> “MaxScent allows attractants to come out of the bait way faster. We figured out a way to make the construction [of the MaxScent baits] different to make the flavorants come out of the bait faster.”
Q: What are the flavorants designed to do?
> “We’ve gone through 50,000 different chemicals and mixtures of all of them, and we’ve figured out what [fish are] actually attracted to.
> “Can they sense it – do they notice flavor in the water, if so do they find it positive, neutral, or negative. The first thing is smell. It has to attract them, and when they taste it that has to be positive. If it’s negative, you’re done – they spit it out and you don’t catch them.
> “Over the years we’ve plodded our way through...we’ve figured out what they like. It’s like grandma making the best cornbread on Earth – over the years she perfects it. That’s what we’ve done.”
Q: How does the scent disperse and what is the pattern?
> “It depends on water temperature, depth and salinity...how far the smell will go. If you have any current or moving water, that scent will travel a long way. ...fish can smell better than any bird dog: If 2 molecules hit their nose 100 yards away, they go seeking. All they do is swim and eat.
> “We study all 5 senses, and smell is the first thing they rely on. Bass chasing a school of shad...they can smell them before they can feel or see them.
> “...fish secrete all sorts of stuff. Bass get used to associating that [scent] with food. Smells get the bass close to the bait – then it uses other senses to finish the deal. And we understand all of that.”
Yup, I’m gonna have to play around with MaxScent a lot more for those stubborn ‘eyes!
My “bonus” catches while bassin’ have been on Ned rigs with MaxScent Lil Generals (left) and then numerous times while dropshotting a MaxScent Flat Worm (right)..but they also have a more walleye-esque profile called the Flatnose Minnow (bottom) that I feel stupid for not snap-jigging in the weeds or dancing on a dropshot yet: |
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The latest “Top 5” of the week! 🍿 |
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In case you missed it on YouTube, here’s episode 50. Hope you enjoy! |
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> Five defendants pleaded guilty and will pay nearly $37,000 in restitution for stealing fish meant for a Sandusky charity [Victory Soup Kitchen].
> In 2021, the OH DNR Division of Wildlife began investigating the business after receiving a report that fish meant for charity were stolen by the company and its employees, the agency said.
> Many Lake Erie walleye tournaments donate fish caught during the events to local charities.... The OH Division of Wildlife also donates walleye it catches in regular sampling surveys, and fish seized as evidence, to charities.
> A commercial fish processor is paid to clean donated fish and return the ready-to-cook fillets to the charities.
> The agency’s initial investigation into Lake Fish Co. revealed evidence of theft, the state natural resources department said. In Nov 2021, video surveillance, fish processing records, fish packages and carcasses were seized from the company.
> Proposed changes to fishing regulations including a statewide 3 walleye bag limit cleared the Natural Resources Board.
...were donated to the Wagner Fire Dept and the Boys and Girls Club of the Missouri River Area for a fish fry.
The 30th-annual Vanity Cup is set for Sep 1 - Oct 1. Troy Robinson and Terry Magel took home the $100K [!!!] 1st-place prize last year with (10 fish) 34.76 lbs:
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...in several lakes across the Turtle Mountain reservation.
...when a DNR officer deemed it under the 15" minimum.
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The walleye bite has been hot! 🥵 Literally.... Here’s your chance to scoop up some awesome new gear from our friends at Clam and Blackfish that’ll help you put fish in the boat and stay cool while doing it!
Takes just 10 sec to enter and can share the link you get for bonus entries. 👊 Good luck!
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What's 🔥 on Target Walleye's YouTube 🎥
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Couple of different ways he sets ‘em up for trolling walleye depending on what he’s doing and where. First I had seen the one style of rigging 'em:
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“I’ve been watching too many Final Destination movies ‘cuz that's all I can see in these pictures!”
- Same, Kristi.... 😳 Same. Relatable comment under this FB post of another wild towing setup spotted in Duluth, MN: |
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Apparently there's a lift inside the bed of the truck that's specifically made for this application. Would be pretty dang cool to see it in action! |
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Wild LiveScope find from Michael Riedl in MN. Lot of folks in the comments are guessing its a 50s Studebaker: |
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And that's with the "old" (LVS32) LiveScope transducer. 😳 |
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Who is Target Walleye
Target Walleye – walleye during open water and all species during hardwater – 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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