Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
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Dr. Jason Halfen, Traditions Media
Trophy Walleye Time Has Arrived
You must have noticed it.
Summer's familiar clear blue skies have turned turn angry and gray. Gentle southern winds have evolved into frigid northerly gales. Bright leaves of crimson and gold now hang perilously from branches, and yes, ice scrapers and snow brushes have become must-have equipment to support the morning commute. With all of its bawdiness and urgency, it's obvious autumn has arrived.
Within rapidly cooling waters, primal forces drive walleyes into a fall feeding rampage. Bundled against the elements, anglers cast, jig, troll and drift with live baits and artificial lures, ready to do battle with biggest, baddest, and smartest fish of the season.
Go big or go home. A classic fall technique for oversized daytime walleyes is to fish oversized live baits along deep structure. This is a tried-and-true midday method on classic walleye waters and frequently works best after the fall turnover has occurred. Look for sharp breaklines leading into deep water, deep saddles between points, or offshore humps that top out at 20-30 feet deep.
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Provided by Rapala
Lindner Shares Tips for Tough Summertime Walleye Bite
Walleyes in the wrong place and not biting what they should be this summer?
You’re not alone! But fear not, Al Linder is here to share three can’t-miss tactics to put ‘eyes into your boat – and without live bait.
“Talking to the guides and a lot of the people we know all over the Midwest, everybody has said this has been the strangest year any of us have ever seen for catching walleyes,” acknowledges Lindner, legendary co-founder of In-Fisherman and host of the influential Angling Edge and Fishing Edge TV shows. “On average, it’s been a tough bite, but we still have lots of fish to catch.”
The following three bites, Linder says, are on now pretty reliably in Minnesota’s famed Walleye factories like Otter Tail, Leech, Mille Lacs, Red, Cass and Vermilion, as well as in lakes like them throughout the Upper Midwest: Weed bite, Structure Bite and Suspended Bite.
“Those three things are all happening at the same time,” Linder says. “Not every walleye in the lake is always doing the same thing at the same depth. There’s a lot of fish that do a lot of different things. And that holds true all the time.”
Weed Bite
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By Chip Leer
Five Steps To More Summer Walleyes
Early summer walleye fishing is a time of change, adjustment and opportunity. As water temperatures rise into the 60s and 70s, many walleyes in northern natural lakes and reservoirs abandon shallow shoreline areas in favor of offshore structure.
No longer content to congregate in small areas, the fish scatter and roam. Instead of finding the mother lode of ’eyes ganged in a single sweet spot, you often end up tracking down individual fish spread out over sprawling structure.
On the positive side, the fish are aggressive and hungry. Walleyes are far more apt to chase and hit faster-moving presentations now than they were earlier in the season, so you can cover water quickly in search of the next strike.
To find and catch summer walleyes fast, I follow a simple five-step strategy.
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By Chip Leer
Walleye Jigs For The Job
Jigs catch walleyes. But not all jigs are the same, which means choosing the right jig for the job can mean the difference between loading the livewell and getting skunked.
Dividing leadhead designs into the following three categories can help you get it right every time.
Jigs For Plastics - typically feature a line-tie placement on the top of the head, a stout hook, and a wire keeper to prevent plastics from sliding down the hook shank. Examples include Northland Fishing Tackle’s Slurp! Jig Head and Current Cutter Jig, which work with shad, curl-tail and minnow-style plastics, as well as live bait.