Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited - Monthly Newsletter |
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Getting ready for opener
Gone Fishing
Greetings Club friends! I can’t believe it is already June, where does the time go? We had another great turn out for the end of our club meeting season with May guest speaker Brad Hawthorne. Make sure you check out the recap for some great tips to use the next time you are on the water.
What a fun time we had at our club outing on Mille Lacs! The wind was calm enough that we could get out on the lake and easily explore a few different spots. Brad’s presentation gave us a great jump-start on where we should concentrate our time. Congrats to Ross Freidenberg, his 24-inch walleye made him the champion of our TCWU Spring Outing. Check out all the pictures in the article below.
As we take a break from our club meetings, make sure you follow us on Facebook and don’t forget to sign up for our TCWU Summer Classic 2023 on FishDonkey!
I hope you all can enjoy some time on the water and I wish you all a safe and fun summer!
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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TCWU Guest Speaker line up 2023-24 |
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Join our Summer Classic Club Fun Fishing Tournament
on FishDonkey June 1st through September 4th 2023
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Hello fellow club members, mark your calendars! The TCWU Summer Classic 2023 FISHDONKEY Tournament begins on Thursday June 1st and continues through Monday September 4th. Last year's tournament was a battle between Denny Prescher and Tom Driscoll, with Denny holding on for the win with a 28.5 Beauty. Tom was a close second at 28. |
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Tournament Details
Time Period - June 1st 12:00 pm - September 4th 12:00 pm
Managed by - FISHDONKEY App - Search for TCWU Summer Classic 2023
Entry fee - $5.00 plus $3.00 admin fee
Location - All US Public Waters
Prizes - Largest Walleye + 5th, 10th and 20th Largest Walleyes
- Four random entry's will be chosen as Wild Card prize winners
How to Enter - Download the FISHDONKEY App search for TCWU Summer Classic 2023
- View the complete details on our FISHDONKEY Tournament page
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We had a awesome spring opener club outing at Lake Mille Lacs. Eight boats with 14 members joined in our friendly competition to kick off the soft water fishing season. The weather was almost too nice and we caught fish. This years club champion is Ross Fredenburg who measured in a 24.5 inch Beauty, congratulations Ross! Enjoy the pictures of the event below and let's look forward to unseating Ross in the TCWU FishDonkey Summer Classic! See the details below! |
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How to go Melissa LeBeau, Beautiful Walleye! |
Wow, nice fish Dale, loving the fork tail on that Gravel Lizard! |
Jon Anderson with one of many in the boat! |
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No one makes a 13 inch walleye look like a monster r than Kail Lavigne :) |
Way to go Patti, you rock! |
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Special Thanks to all our Sponsors |
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Sponsor Spotlight
Special Thanks to Kay Hawley,
Brad Juaire & Vermillion Dam Lodge!
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Welcome to our new Trio of club sponsors! We would like to acknowledge your club participation, commitment and amazing donation of your Walleye Workshop on Lake Vermillion. Brad Juaire of Open Water Trolling, Kay Hawley Woman Angler and Club Member and the pristine Vermillion Dam Lodge!
Thank you for giving back!
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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.
Upper Red Lake walleye regulations announced for open water season
Anglers fishing on Upper Red Lake in northern Minnesota during the 2023 open-water season that starts May 13 will have a five-walleye possession limit, with only one walleye longer than 17 inches allowed. 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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TCWU May guest speaker, Lake Mille Lacs Area Guide Brad Hawthorne his “Pro Tip of the Month“ with Club President Dale Meinders, that will help you catch more fish in early spring!
Thanks for the great meeting!
Click on the photo below to hear what was shared!
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Guest Speaker re-cap
Featuring Brad Hawthorne
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TCWU welcomed Brad Hawthorne at our club meeting on May 4th. Brad grew up on Lake Mille Lacs and became one of the best guides on and around the Mille Lacs area lakes.
With his years of experience on Lake Mille Lacs and the surrounding waterways, he has a wealth of knowledge to share with his clients. Brad's warm, courteous, friendly, and fun attitude make him the perfect guide for beginners and experienced anglers alike.
Brad was extremely excited to speak at our May club meeting. He sincerely singled our group as “one of the groups that hold the Walleye Community Together.” ”You Guys Matter” he said and your voice is a powerful connection to the DNR to communicate on issues, positive change and dissatisfaction’s. Brad referenced the minnow shortage and complimented us on our efforts to connect to MN-Fish and MN DNR feedback sessions.
For those who missed the meeting you will find a recap of Brad's presentation that featured insightful fishing tips to use on Lake Mille Lacs, Enjoy!
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Dissecting Lake Mille Lacs
Different lake bottoms create more energy than others. Understanding bottom types and the energy they provide will help you focus in on larger schools of fish.
- Sand warms the waters up quickly, which attracts fish in the spring
- Rocks and gravel are cold in spring and produce little to no energy
- The Mudflats create the most lake energy of all bottom types. All of the bugs, plankton, bloodworms are located in mud bottom areas, which attract fish. The Mud is alive!
- River inlets are not technically a bottom type but they provide good energy to the surrounding body of water
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North East Sand
- Has the heaviest concentrations (40%) of Mille Lacs walleyes stretching from Terry’s Marina to Agate Bay
- There are 17 inlets and one outlet on the lake and most of the inlets are on the North end
- Walleyes will spawn right on the sand and even under the ice
- Troll in 12 feet or less feet of water and look for fish shadows on your side imaging. When you find them stop lock and fish jigs
- Shiners move into the shallows soon after the walleye spawn
- The biggest school of shiner minnows Brad has seen, measured by time while trolling equaled 22 minutes and at a depth ranging between 3 feet and 6 inches of water. They blacked out his 2-D sonar. Trust your sonar if you are graphing mass it is going to be minnows with fish following the school
South End Gravel
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Schools of walleyes on the south end are formidable but are smaller than the NE end
- Rock is colder than sand, and these waters don’t warm is as quickly. South End fish may spawn a little latter
- Target Smaller rock sand transitions, and as shallow as 8 feet or less
- Don’t get locked into fishing deep. There are schools of Mille Lacs shallow water walleyes that stay shallow all year
North West Mud
You can catch Walleye on the Mud Flats all year long. There are large schools of resident fish on these flats, there is plenty of food and they even spawn on shallow mid lake reefs. The structures of the Mud Flats are all the same, which makes fish easy to pattern.
- Start on the north and south tips and then work the inside turns
- Fish the top and bottom edges first
- When you find fish follow them out away from the mud flat. The non-active fish are often times staged on the bottom edge of the flat and the active fish can be spread out 200 yards off the edge
- You should be able to side image them no problem and if you don’t see them, move. If you catch fish but don’t see them on your graph, check your settings and make necessary adjustments
Sonar
Dial into your electronics and make sure they are working well before you head out fishing.
Start by checking your power source:
- Make sure your wiring does not lay next to the main power cabling, which can cause interference
- Ferrite Beads are an inexpensive and yet effective way to reduce interference from your power wiring and provide clean power to your sonar. They easily snap on your power line in minutes and work when ice fishing as well by reducing interference from competing sonar units
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Attached the Ferrite Beads close to the connectors of you transducer and network cables. They suppress radio frequency interference (RFI) and electromagnetic interference (EMI) by absorbing the energy (noise) produced by these disturbances. |
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Installation tip, make a loop on your sonar wiring to keep the Ferrite Bead from sliding down the cord. Minn Kota provides this instruction on adding them to you trolling motor
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Side Imaging
Brad likes to search with Side Imaging and recommends the following settings
- Set Sensitivity at 15 – 20 depending on depth
- Set Contrast at 12 – 16
- Turn on Dynamic Contrast
- Use Color Pallet 2 or 4 on Side Imaging. It highlights the fish the best!
Forward Facing Sonar, has already become the next big tech and you should learn how to use it. Brad recommends starting out buy getting a used or later model unit
AutoChart Live
- Lake maps can be inaccurate, which makes AutoChart an awesome tool
- If you have a special fishing hole that always produces fish, you should map it to learn why it’s so good and then apply the pattern in other locations.
- By a simple push of a button, you can learn so much. Use the mapping technique below for best results
- Drive in circles when auto-charting, you will get a much cleaner and more accurate result.
- Start in the middle and corkscrew out or the opposite start on the outside and corkscrew in
- Set charting to bottom substrate and 1 foot contours
Jigs
- Learn how to cast and retrieve a jig before worrying about color. The proper technique is most important. Fish are utilizing their senses and lateral lines to locate bait fish, put less thought into color and more technique
- Invest in a new rod technology for improved sensitivity and better feel, which will create quicker hook set reaction time. The new guide technology allows you to cast with more precision and prevent your minnows from coming off.
- Use the most economical jigs with the best paint when fishing in rocks. You will bang them up and also lose plenty of them to the rocks
- Use size 1/8 to 1/4 ounce In Spring.
Tungsten
- The benefit to this expensive jig is feel, bite detection and when using forward facing sonar its easily detected
- Tungsten provides heightened sensitivity, which allows you feel fish sooner and make quicker hook sets. You will also feel rocks quicker and can avoid snags
- Use them on bobber rigs. Their heavier weight and less mass allow you to remove hardware (sinkers) from your line and improve you presentation. Less is more in this application
Trolling Cranks
- Trolling rods do not need be fancy or expensive, as long as they absorb strikes and head shakes you are good. Rods with large eyelets also benefit by allowing line to feed out quicker and also don’t freeze up in cold weather. Ugly Sticks are a great option, to consider and meet all of the above
- Trolling speed = 1.4 – 2.6 That is a rubber stamp lock it in. Use slower speeds in colder water
- Reaction strikes in cold water - Sometimes cranks work better in cold water, especially when the fish are lethargic. Change to cranks and catch more fish
- Neutral your boat up into turns, and straight a ways every 200 feet. If this technique works switch to jigging
Fishing Tips
- Use Polymer knots, the overlapping gives you two strands of line tied to the hook, which makes the knot twice as strong. Compared to a Trilene knot, which only has a single strand of line tied to the hook
- 3 or 4 days of Consistent weather makes for great fishing. Fish usually pattern in a 2 to 3 day cycle on Mille Lacs and won’t change unless a major weather event happens, wind changes rain, etc…
- Lightning and Thunder will disrupt fishing patterns and shut down fish for 2 - 3 days
- Use spinners and crawlers during a May Fly Hatch. They look like bugs fluttering. Try cranks as a second option
- Plastics will never replace minnows but Brad will use them in a reaction bite setting. The Black and White Fork Tail style is his first choice
- Fishing jigs in the rocks – Make bottom contact and find the cadence to stay on top of the rocks.
- There are times when anchoring your boat over fish and throwing a jig over the side will out produce rigging, drifting, trolling, sometimes patience is the key
- 2D Sonar tip - Slow your travel speed down to 25 – 30 MPH and learn how to graph fish at high speed
- Walleyes hate camera’s don’t use them ice fishing
- Slip Bobbers work all year - benefits are not pressuring the fish with sonar, trolling motors, and boat traffic
- Walleyes typically stay put on windy days, try anchoring, it can be a good option
- If fish schools are not moving around much and you are not catching fish they are probably on suckers or tullibee’s
Dirty Water
- Feeding fish are attracted to vibration, sound and smell. Use techniques/baits that have these characteristics. Be willing to adapt, the fish need to find you. Try a slower presentation to allow the fish more time to find your lure
- Brad’s finest quote of the night, “Fish don’t get scared, fish don’t get happy, they don’t have emotions, they eat and they go dormant. If there is no food around, they won’t be there.”
Special thanks to Brad 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 to successfully catch walleye on Lake Mille Lacs. We recommend that you check out Brad's social media link below to learn more about his guide service, fishing tips, how to videos and fishing reports.
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TC Walleyes Unlimited, Inc. |
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