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Great post on how to find spring walleye locations with your electronics. |
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This Humminbird blog post and video is jammed full of great info on how to use your Side Imaging and mapping to find quality walleye spots! Breaks down bottom transitions: |
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How to fine-tune the spot-on-the-spots: |
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And he dives into different techniques to target (and catch!) these spring walleyes, plus WAY more. Too much quality info to fit in this email...so you're gonna have to hit up the blog post below. And don't forget to watch the full video, too.
Pay attention, read carefully, and take some notes! 🙋♂️ I did:
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Oh, and clearly Doug has been putting those techniques to good use this spring already.... He just posted another snap of a huge 11.26-lb (28'' long x 19" girth) egg wagon:
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This walleye has a dunlap! 👀 |
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Sprengel "tunes" his soft-plastics. |
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Gotta bring this quick tip back because it's 🎯.
We've all heard of tuning crankbaits, but have you ever seen anyone "tune" their soft-plastic swimbaits? Fishin' jedi Korey Sprengel does because why wouldn't he: |
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Korey was nice enough to let folks in on the little secret at a Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited (MN) meeting. Says he can change the action of his Berkley Ripple Shads by stretching and massaging 'em to break up the salts and minerals in the bait = loosens up the plastic to make it a little more limp:
> A stiffer swimbait is going to have a tighter action...lot of times good for cleaner water 'cuz it's more natural.
> Dirtier situations...a wider [action] is going to move more water and make the bait roll more.
Also says he likes that loose-ified bait in cooler water 'cuz he can work the bait slower yet still get the right amount of action out of its paddletail:
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Awesome stuff per usual. Thx much for sharing, dude! |
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Where the heck do all the walleyes go?! |
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Shared a link to this quick 30-second video before but have had a lot of requests to bring it back. It's an acoustic-telemetry study from 2016/2017 on Lake Erie that tracked walleye movements for an entire year. It's always been a dream of mine to tag-and-release a bunch of fish to see where they disappear to throughout the season...so I always find this stuff fascinating:
[Heads-up there's a little bar along the bottom with dates]
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Wish there was one of these for every lake! 😩 |
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Big hair is back! Business in the front, party in the back: |
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Okay that type of hair was more popular in the late '80s to early '90s – though some country saangers and young bucks are bringing it back....
I'm talkin' the type of walleye fishin' "hair" that got popular in the late '60s to early '70s = bucktail jigs. Yup, they still catch fish – really they always have – but people seemed to forget about 'em with the rise of soft plastics. Now diehards are digging 'em back out and learning new ways to fish 'em.
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The video below talks how/when/where/why I throw each of them:
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His 5 fish went 18.85 lbs thx to a massive 31" kicker! 😮
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...on Clear and Katherine lakes in Oneida County and Anvil and Laura lakes in Vilas County.
> As part of a comprehensive rehabilitation plan, the new regulation for all four lakes is an 18" minimum length for walleye, and fish from 22-28" may not be kept. The daily bag limit is 1 walleye.
> These new regulations aim to help walleye rebound while continuing to provide harvest opportunities
Last year's walleye hatch was the 5th largest recorded over the past 35 yrs, and they think this year's might even top it.
...in more than a decade.
> Walleyes were caught at East Okoboji, Spirit, Storm, Clear and Rathbun lakes from Apr 5-14. Netting crews collected enough walleyes to produce 796 qts of eggs at the Spirit Lake Fish Hatchery and 900 qts at the Rathbun Fish Hatchery. Crews at Storm Lake spawned enough females to produce 205 qts of walleye eggs while efforts at Clear Lake produced 292 qts of eggs.
> More than 1.2 mil 2" walleyes are expected to be stocked into lakes, rivers, and streams across the state this summer. The DNR plans to grow more than 311K walleyes to 6-9" fingerlings that will be stocked in lakes later this fall.
> IA is one of the top producers of walleye fry in the U.S. second only to MN.
> Walleye were collected during the 2022 spring walleye run and tagged with plastic "T-bar" Floy tags that include an individual tag number and DWR mailing address. Anglers that catch a tagged fish should remove the tag by cutting the filament whether they plan to harvest or release the fish. The tag can be returned for a $20 reward....
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Marine revenue was 21% above Q1 2021 and it says gross and operating margins are 51% and 23%.
> ...will oversee all Yamaha US dealer outboard sales initiatives and programs. He succeeds long-time Yamaha team member John Rigsby who retired in March....
...is the Storm Largo Shad. It's a soft swimbait that's super durable 👀 which sorta sounds like an oxymoron.... Means you can catch a pile of fish on one swimbait but it's soft enough to have tons of action: shimmy, roll and thump. Even has a "tail tendon" you can snip for a wider action.
Comes in some super realistic "live" patterns too, but here she is in "electric chicken" aka a dynamite walleye color when looking for reaction bites:
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I can talk about a bait's action all day, but it almost means nothing until you can actually see it underwater. So props to the Wired2Fish crew for going above below and beyond, and getting you a fish-eye view look at it rigged on a VMC Hybrid Swimbait Jig Head: |
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Side note: I used those VMC Hybrid Swimbait Jig Heads a bunch last season – love 'em! They have a stout, wider gap, 1X strong hook that won't bend-out on the hookset no matter how hard you lean into 'em. And that awesome spring keeper that takes a little-extra time to rig up, but keeps the plastic locked in place: |
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Few TargetWalleye.com Highlights
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What's 🔥 on Target Walleye's YouTube 🎥
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Great write-up from Gary Howey talking about a finesse-y presentation that was being used far before the word "finesse" was even applied to fishing techniques = the splitshot rig. His full write-up here, but a few excerpts below:
> Early-spring fishing can be tough. With the cool weather we have been facing this year and heavy winds pounding the water, it seems to guarantee a lack of success.
> In a normal spring, we usually look for warming water brought about by higher temps.... Find the warmest water in the lake and you will find walleye.... Now water temps are in the low 50s. If we can just get a week of normal, warming weather...fish activity will heat up.
> I have a suggestion that has worked well for me over the years under the toughest of conditions. ...it only works when fish are in shallow water, say 10′ or less. It's the simplest of presentations. It's been my go-to set up since the 1970s...so it's nothing new, but I'm afraid most anglers have simply forgotten about it.
> ...a simple hook on the end of your line. About 15" above the hook is a split-shot about the size of a pea. For walleyes, attach a medium-sized minnow....
> Years ago, we simply used an Aberdeen-style gold hook, either a Mustad or Eagle Claw, in #4. That will still work just fine, but another hook option is the short-shanked, up-eye hook used most often for walleyes. I like a #4 for smaller minnows.
> There's a couple different kinds of splitshots. Some come with short "ears" that can open the splitshot after it's attached to the line...but those little ears tend to hang up [in] rock-rubble areas [and] the little pulses they send up the line as they tap the rocks is irritating. I prefer to use the simple, round splitshots...tend to move across the bottom much better and will not pick up any weeds or other debris.
> Certainly don't use [line] above 6-lb test and 4 is even better. There's not much weight to get you down on the bottom so smaller diameter line is best. ...I prefer fluorocarbon...it's nearly invisible to the fish [and] it sinks. Mono floats...really little detail, but successful fishing is often brought about by little details.
> ...most walleyes will have already spawned. But you should still seek out spawning areas because not all walleyes spawn at the same time, and the smaller males will stay on the spawning grounds for at least a couple of weeks.
> In natural lakes...look for rock-rubble areas associated with the shoreline. Fish water from about 4′ to 10′. Slow is important this time of year, and one advantage of the splitshot rig is it will force you to fish slowly. You want to be on the bottom so stop-and-go trolling techniques are the best. Don't work in a straight line...walleyes will spook out from under a boat in shallow water. If you troll in a zig-zag fashion, you will be pulling your rig over water you haven't covered with your boat.
> I prefer long, light rods for splitshot rig fishing. A 6' 6" or 7′ ML spinning rod is perfect. The longer rod will allow you to hook fish better because a lot of slack can develop in this rig. The extra length can mean the difference between hooking up to a light-biting walleye or missing the fish.
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"Instead of a bass I caught an unrecognizable fish that had a mouth full of teeth. Not wanting to fiddle with a fish full of fangs, I cut the line and let it go."
– That's Oklahoman Ed Godfrey talking about catching a walleye outta Lake Eufaula back in the day. 😂 I always love hearing southerners talk about walleyes. Don't worry, he knows better now:
> "These days...any fat walleye I catch now is a keeper for the skillet because the finely flaked filets of walleye are delicious."
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If you're wondering why most of the "firetiger" color Berkley Hit Sticks went missing from this box.... |
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It's because Bill Shimota stole 'em all after this happened, again and again: |
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Dangit I can NOT wait to get out and chase some waldos but we still have 2 weeks to go before the season opens here in MN. If your season is already open or opening, catch a few for me! 😏 Pics or it didn't happen.... |
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Friends of Target Walleye |
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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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P.O. BOX 2782
Baxter, MN 56425
(218) 824 5026
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