Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited - Monthly Newsletter |
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Spring is on its way
Greetings Club friends! The calendar tells us it is spring, the days are getting longer and the snow is slowly melting away, it all points to warmer days ahead. I’m looking forward to getting my boat ready and being back on open water. Speaking of open water, mark your calendars for May 20th for our Club fishing outing on Mille Lacs. More to come on the starting time and where we will be launching out of.
Our March meeting marked the beginning of our 8th year as a club. What a great turn out we had for our guest speaker Tommy Kemos. Tommy gave an outstanding presentation with tips on how he uses his electronics to find fish and techniques to catch more fish. Make sure to check out the speaker notes below. Also, check out our website for the Pro-Tip he gave us about jig fishing.
I’m looking forward to our April Club meeting with guest speakers Sara and Tyler Trampe. They are the host of Sportsman’s Journal TV series and I can’t wait to hear what they have to share with the club.
I look forward to seeing you all at the April meeting and don’t forget to bring a friend!
Dale Meinders
President - Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited
Connect | Educate | Give
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Membership has it's advantages
Join TCWU or renew today by registering on-line at:
You can find out more information about Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited and our Events by going to our website and on Facebook
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Sara and Tyler Trampe join TCWU
Guest Speaker on Thursday April 6th
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TCWU welcomes you to talk fishing with Sara and Tyler Trampe!
We are excited to host Sara and Tyler Trampe at our club meeting on April 6th. The couple hosts and produces the very popular television fishing series Sportsman’s Journal (SJTV). SJTV showcases fishing tactics for a variety of species that allow anglers to catch more fish. They focus on differing locations, while considering the impact of the changing seasons and conditions that are present in the upper Midwest and Canada.
Sportsman's Journal, currently airs on Bally Sports North, Wisconsin, and Midwest as well as the Pursuit Channel, Waypoint TV and KOTV on Roku. You can also view every episode on the Sportsman’s Journal TV YouTube channel.
SJTV features unique adventures that engage and educate both hardcore and casual anglers, which help all get the most out of our time on the water. They believe that outdoor experiences are important for all and passionately advocate by supporting women anglers and family adventures.
To learn more about the Sportsman's Journal Team check out their Social Media:
Instagram - @sportsmansjournaltv
Tik Tok - @sportsmansjournaltv
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TCWU Guest Speaker line up 2023-24 |
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Sponsor Spotlight
Agency Bay Lodge
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Welcome to one of our fine club sponsors Agency Bay Lodge! They are a family-owned resort located on beautiful Leach Lake in Walker Minnesota. The lodge is nestled in, on weather protected Agency Bay, which features wicked awesome fishing structure, a short cut to the main lake and a quick two mile run to Stoney Point. The city of Walker is a short boat ride from the lodge, which adds a fun boating and day trip experience!
Amenities at Agency Bay Lodge:
- Bait and Gift Shop
- Boat docks with Electric Boat Lifts
- Cabins and lake homes on the water and 1200 feet of lakeshore.
- Additional 800 feet of private lakeshore and sandy beach (only accessible by boat)
- Air Conditioning in Cabins, fire pits on the Lakeshore, Kayaks, Canoes, and Pedal Boats
- Night life fun close by at Northern Lights Casino
We highly recommend you check out our club friends and sponsors Bob and Jen Weeks at Agency Bay Lodge. They know fishing, run a fantastic resort and are amazing hosts. You'll find their contact information below highlighted in summer sky blue. Click on that image and you will link to their webpage.
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Special Thanks to all our Sponsors |
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Walleye Workshop on Lake Vermillion |
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Check out this amazing opportunity to fish Lake Vermillion and learn from experienced anglers, who include TCWU Member Kay Hawley. Kay and Brad Juaire have a lot of experience on Vermillion and this is the perfect opportunity for those who haven't fished this exceptional fishery. Recent TCWU speaker DNR fisheries biologist Scott Mackenthun commented on the fantastic walleye numbers at Vermillion at our November club meeting, which makes this trip a Winner!
Feel free to reach out to Kay or Brad if you have questions
Kay Hawley
Email: KayHawley@mac.com
Phone:612-310-4442
Brad Juaire
Email: Brad@openwatertrolling.com
Phone: 612-850-7596
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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.
News release: DNR certifies state record tie for northern pike
An angler caught and released a 46 1/4 inch northern pike on Mille Lacs Lake that the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources certified as a tie with the current catch-and-release state record. Click on the link below to learn more.
Walleye fishing scheduled to be open all summer on Mille Lacs Lake
State-licensed anglers will have the opportunity to harvest a walleye 21-23 inches in length or greater than 28 inches throughout the 2023 open water season on Mille Lacs Lake. Click on the link below to learn more.
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TCWU Pro-tip of the Month |
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Tommy Kemos shares this “Pro Tip of the Month“ with Club President Dale Meinders. Tommy shares an overlooked jig fishing concept to try, that will help you trigger more strikes and catch more fish.
Thanks for the great meeting Tommy!
Click on the photo below to hear what was shared!
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Guest Speaker re-cap
Featuring Tommy Kemos
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TCWU welcomed Tournament angler and The Next Bite media host Tommy Kemos as our special guest speaker at our March club meeting. Tommy has been passionate about fishing since he could hold a fishing pole and that passion lead him into a career as a competitive Tournament Angler and fishing educator
For those who missed the meeting you will find a recap of Tommy's presentation that featured two interesting concepts to practice, that will help catch more fish
- Using sonar to locate fish quickly so you can spend more time fishing than searching
- New presentation techniques to consider that apply both to Glide baits and Jig fishing
Tommy's tips are sure to broaden your fishing knowledge, enjoy!
Key to success - Be more efficient on the water!
"By utilizing the new advances in Sonar technology and tuning them in for optimum performance we can spend more time fishing and less time searching."
Sonar - locating fish quickly by using 2-D sonar to cover area at high speeds
- Walleyes on pressured or clear bodies of water are adjusting to boat traffic and will scatter before your sonar cone can capture them. There is a solution that you can learn with practice. Try high speed 2D graphing by increasing your boat speed up to 18 - 24 mph
- At this speed you won't see a big fish arch, just a blip on the screen. The blip will have the same thickness of of a normal mark, just not the length. Make the time to practice this technique. Lake Mille Lacs is a perfect lake to practice on with its hard and clean bottom structures
- Transducer set up will be key to get quality sonar results. Make sure to tune in your transducer for the best possible image
- Aluminum Boats are a little trickier to tune. The mounting location of your transducer can be impacted by the rivets, running straights and turbulence generated on the Aluminum stern. They can impact the image and range to view effectively at high speeds
- Manage your color palates, so they work best for your vision Tommy uses the blue 2D Sonar palette when trolling or searching and will change to yellow at slower speeds or weather conditions
"You may only have one or two days a week to go fishing and if you can learn this technique it will help you get onto the fish quicker"
Down imaging
- Works well in brush or vegetation - Down view has a narrower cone, which gives you the improved detail and separation
- Try the Emerald palette for Down imaging
Side imaging
- Tommy always has it turned on one of his units. The reason is that you will be surprised at what you will find by keeping an eye on the side imaging unit. Unmapped structures, docks, boats and etc... will unexpectedly appear and will all hold fish
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Pro-tip: Side Imaging works at night. Your time is valuable, make the most of your limited fishing opportunities by using side scan to search the lake bottom structure at night. This tip will free up your entire day to focus on catching fish
- Try the Amber color palette
Live Imaging
- Down view is nice if you are stationary spot, rarely use in open water
- Forward view has completely changed the way we fish, by helping us quickly finding fish
- We learn about what fish are doing in the water and can experience the predator prey relationship
- Learned that fish will spook and scatter when using an ice auger
- Panfish are constantly herded and pushed by predators, which keeps them on the move. You may have to move frequently as well or hole hop
- You usually get 3 - 5 casts before you spook small schools of fish off the structure or they just begin to refuse to bite
- It lets you know what depth the fish are at so you can work your lures above the fish, which will improve catching success
- Gives you the ability to find the pockets in the weed beds and surgically place your casts. Also allows you try other baits that are not as weed less in these weedy areas
Glide Bait fishing technique and presentation
- The most important technique is to snap the glide bait up off the bottom, let it pause and roll at the peak of the snap and let it free fall down to allow the lure to glide away from the fish, which triggers the strike
- The snap off the bottom gets the fishes attention
- The lure comes to a pause and then rolls over mimicking an easy target dying minnow, which gets the walleyes to move up on the bait
- Then its the glide that triggers the walleyes to strike. The glide makes them mad as the fish moves in the bait picks up speed and glides away from them, which triggers them to strike
- Tommy likes the Shiver Minnow, it is the easiest to cast and has the best death roll
- Favorite size is a #3 one ounce shiver minnow
- Quick hook sets are important and Tommy recommends using a medium extra fast rod, which will allow you to get into the back bone of the rod faster than any other action
- Presentation
- The most effective is what Tommy calls a snap swim, which works great on weedy or snaggy lake bottoms. Your goal is to snap it up and back it off while keeping the lure off the bottom. You need to develop your cadence depending on the lake and conditions to work it all the way back to the boat in the strike zone. You should let the lure drop to the bottom occasionally to ensure your bait is in the strike zone and adjust your cadence as needed
- Use the stroking technique on clean or hard bottom areas. Cast it out and let fall to the bottom. Then give it a snap, point the rod tip back at the line and ideally you want to be caught up with the line slack as the lure hits the bottom, and repeat again. Be prepared for a fish to be on unexpectedly as you perform every snap!
- Don't be afraid to rest the bait. Often times walleyes will follow the bait and when you stop the retrieve they will stop as well to assess it as a dead minnow. Soon as you snap it back in action it will trigger them to strike.
- When you have a fish on you need to firmly reel them up and not play them like jig fishing. These are heavy lures and you can't afford to allow slack in the line.
- Water temps should be in the 60's or above for best fishing
- Use 6 to 10 pound High-Vis Fire Line with a 6 foot 15 lb test fluorocarbon leader. Tie the leader directly to the line. The stiffness of the 15 pound line helps hold the bait up a little bit on the death roll. It also holds up better due to its abrasion resistance from zebra muscles, rocks, etc...
- When the fish are finicky you will catch more fish on reaction baits such as these
Jig and Plastics
- When using plastics we need to figure out the speed of the lure drop that will trigger the fish to bite.
- Tommy loves the Jig and Ringworm combo. It works all year, match the color to the body of water
- Fish sheepshead color plastics on the rivers on slack water areas. Its almost a drag and hold presentation to mimic the the actual baby sheepshead minnow in the wild
- Keep an open mind on to the forage in the lake and match your lures to them
- Try using bigger plastic baits fish will take them
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Special thanks to Tommy for joining our club to talk fishing. We had an amazing meeting and appreciate all the walleye fishing tips along with the different casting techniques and presentations you can use to successfully catch walleye on artificial baits. Below find his Social Media contact information. Check out the links below to learn and view more of Tommy's fishing tips, videos and more!
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TC Walleyes Unlimited, Inc. |
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