TCWU are excited to host Nick Lindner at our club meeting on Thursday March 6th 

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Nick continues the Lindner fishing legacy as a third generation angling educator and media professional. His influence from James, Ron, and Al Lindner developed a love for multi-species angling throughout his childhood. He enjoys fishing all year long, but ice fishing holds a special place in his heart. After earning an Economics degree at the University of North Dakota, Nick joined the Lindner Media Productions crew for five years, where he developed a passion for entertaining and educating anglers. Now, he’s on his own, stretching lines and creating video content, both on the ice and in open water.

We hope you can join us at our March club meeting to learn from Nick, who brings 3 generations of fishing knowledge to share with the club.

To learn more about Nick Lindner Fishing check out his Social Media

Nick Lindner Facebook

Nick Lindner YouTube

Nick Lindner Instagram

Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited are excited to host our Fishing Sonar Workshop at Scheels Eden Prairie on Saturday April 5, 2025

This is a great opportunity to receive expert training, ask questions and connect with other anglers to share best practices.

Email Kail Lavigne for information, registration and questions - Kaillav@q.com

• Let us know what session(s) you plan on attending
• Please do not bring your personal electronics
• Please do not contact Scheels for Workshop information

No fees to attend - this is a Free Workshop!

Check out the Minnesota DNR Fishing Home Page

The Fishing Home Page on the Minnesota DNR website is loaded with all the latest updates, tools such as Lake finder, regulations, helpful tips and more all on one easy to navigate page. Take a look If you haven't had the chance to check it out. We recommend bookmarking this to your web favorites. It is a one stop shop for all MN fishing information.

Click on the link below to learn more.

MNDNR Fishing Home Page

Public input requested on fisheries management plans for 151 Minnesota lakes

The DNR encourages people with thoughts on the future management of a lake scheduled for a 2025 plan update to call or email the area fisheries office listed for that lake before March 31.

Click on the link below to learn if the lake you fish is on the list.

Provide your input- advocate for your lake

TCWU February guest speaker Jarrad Fluekiger of Rutting Ridge Outfitters shares this “Pro Tip of the Month“ with Club President Dale Meinders on tuning up your crankbaits.

Thanks for the great meeting Jeremy!

Click on the photo below to hear what was shared!

TCWU welcomed Jarrad Fluekiger from Rutting Ridge Outfitters to our February club meeting. He is a legendary 3rd generation guide who grew up fishing the Mississippi River and Lake Pepin. He also fished on several professional walleye tournaments including H2H (HEAD2HEAD), FLW, Masters Walleye Circuit, and AIM. 

We were very excited to have Captain's Jarrad share his multi-generation and professional angling experience with the club. For those who missed the meeting enjoy a re-cap of Jarrad's presentation below!

To learn more about Jarrad and Rutting Ridge Outfitters, check out his Social Media Pages

Website: Fluekiger Rutting Ridge Outfitters

Facebook: Rutting Ridge Outfitters

Wing Dams – What are they?

They are manmade structures that direct the flow of water out to the center of the channel. Every wing dam creates current and also an eddy on the backside. The current created will sweep bait around the structure and into the eddy where walleye are waiting.

Some wing dams hold fish and some don’t, its really based on current.

Wing dam features and key characteristics

• Wing dams are marked with Buoys
• Each wing dam slows the current down for another, find a series of wing dams and target fish on the upside of the second or third in the series
• Also target low spots, or blow outs in the middle of the wing dam
• 95% of the time the bite will be on the front side, except in low water. On other times the back side and then along the current seams
• During high flow water fish the backside of wing dams or inside flats
• Wing dam rig – Use light enough tackle to carry across the top of the wing dam, use 1/32 and 1/16 ounce jigs.
• Its common to experience breakoffs if you hook up with a fish on the backside when casting from the frontside. That is why you should target the frontside
• Back water cuts can be good, target the first dam coming out of the backwater
• Live bait - mainly Crawlers. Willow cats work great but are expensive.

Scout and study wing dams in the winter. The water is crystal clear and will help you identify key structures or any changes to them. Often times the wing dams fill-in or wash clean. Learning these changes will help you target the key spots to fish

• A good resource to learn more about wing dam locations is The Upper Mississippi river navigation chart book, which charts every single wing dam on the river.

How to Identify them

• Buoys mark them on the river
• Current seams and water flow changes
• Jarrad wrote an excellent article article "Up at the Crack of Dawn" that we recommend that you review. Click on this link for an in-depth article on river fishing. https://h2hfishing.com/working-wingdams-with-jarrad-fluekiger/

Suspended River Walleyes

Jarrad shared that there is an amazing, suspended walleye bite is going on right now (January – March). The water is clear and the walleyes are active and suspended in the river channels. He mentioned a few contributing factors

• There is a massive shad die off when the water reaches 40 degrees. The shad slowly sink to the bottom of the river in mass and their decay creates a gas that depletes the oxygen on the bottom.
• A contributing factor to the oxygen depletion is the limited flow in the river during this time period
• Many of the dying shad are twitching and float up towards the top of the water column where the walleyes suspend and pick them off

How to catch them

• Most anglers are fishing too deep and are jigging underneath the walleyes
• Doesn’t matter how deep the water is, these walleyes will suspend at the same level
• Use 1/32 – 1/8 oz jig tipped with a plastic Ringworm or Keitech Paddle
• Cast it out as far as you can and that’s it. That’s how much line you should let out. Just let your jig drift behind you in the top third of the water column
• Hook your plastics with the twister tail down, which is key to create the least amount of work as you drift or troll
• Drift or troll downstream just fast enough to turn the twister tail .7 mph
• Slow your speed to .4 mph when trolling upstream to compensate for the current
• Once the water starts getting dirty, you need to change techniques

May – Summer/Fall Lake Pepin

• Maiden Rock to Long Point is loaded with bait fish and there is too much competition to consistently catch walleye
• Run planner boards and troll river flow seams
• When you troll the river flow seams, you will realize that the river current may be stronger on one side of your boat. There are two currents to be aware of: Strong current and slack water current
• The current side of the boat creates a stronger pull on your boards, which is where you want to measure your boat speed
• The slack water side results in your boards dragging back further due to slack water current. The fishing tip is to set these back a little further to gain a little more pull
• Jarrad runs his boards at a trolling speed of 3.5 mph

How to consistently catching walleyes on lake Pepin

• Calibrate the line on your lures to ensure they are running at their expected depth. Your lure will drastically change if your line if it is not calibrated
• Use the precision trolling app to target the depth walleyes are at
• Two lines are used to create the precision trolling app data.
• Trilene XT 10lb Mono .035 diameter
• Trilene 10/4 Fireline
• Your lure depth will not meet expectations if you are using different diameter/test line

 Calibrate your reels – make sure the line counters are accurate

• Calibrate your line to 100 feet and re-calibrate after fishing if you lose line to a break off
• Add a swivel with 2 feet of line to prevent line twisting and if you have a break off at the swivel it won’t impact your calibration

Three way rig

• Use an 8oz weight on a three-way rig with a floating stick bait
• Jarrad uses a longer leader 4 to 6 feet and has better success when he trolls his lures higher in the water column
• Tie 6 to 8 inches of line from the swivel to the drop weight
• Use your LiveScope off the back of the boat to understand how deep your lure is traveling on this rig and adjust your weight drop line length to achieve your desired lure depth
• Jarrad likes to run the weight just off the bottom and or intermittently contacting the bottom

Questions and Answers

• Do you pull spinners? Never but they do work
• Do you use live bait? - Yes, I like to pull Leeches or Crawlers on a floating rig. Fishing tip - Stop your boat when you come across a school of walleyes. When you stop, your floating rig will rise and often times triggers the walleyes to bite
• Willow Cat Rig – 14 pound braid egg sinker, bead, barrel swivel and a 1 to 2 aught hook and a 10lb mono leader
• High water is the best fishing, you will find them schooled up on wing dams and back waters. Just read the current and the seams. Will find fish in 2 feet of water

Walleyes will suspend, trust your graphs.

• Loves the wing dams in pool 2 – the train bridge, and 494.
• Fish the river channels in low current. Walleye will be suspended in 2 – 3 feet of water
• Walleyes are suspended in Lake Pepin all over the lake and in 2 – 3 feet of water.

Where Walleyes Spawn - Everywhere

• Below the Redwing dam, Hastings, Robinson Lake, Lake Pepin, Mud lake, Pigs Eye, Beef Slough.
• Target the first cut coming out of these spawning areas and the first few wing dams down and upstream of the first cut. The walleyes will be staging in these areas
• Target the ones that have a lot of flow
• Some walleyes will stay in the backwaters and you can catch them in the grass until June or until water temps reach 70 degrees

Special thanks to Jarrad for joining our club to talk fishing. We had an amazing meeting and appreciate all the walleye fishing tips along with the different techniques and presentations you shared.

Jarrad is an amazing guide and educator. He is is active on social media, which provides a great source of information, on the latest techniques and fishing tips.

There are a lot of amazing fishing o learn more about Jarrad and Rutting Ridge Outfitters check out their Social Media pages below

Website: Fluekiger Rutting Ridge Outfitters

Facebook: Rutting Ridge Outfitters