#walleyefirst

[keithworrall]

Ice fishing is finally here and OutdoorsFIRST is proud to announce our partnership with RAZR Ice Augers. The reviews on these have blown away the competition. Check em out at RAZRPOWR.com. #electriciceauger #icefishing #crappiefirst #crappiefishing #bluegills #walleye #walleyefirst #walleyefishing #ofmontheice (at Rhinelander, Wisconsin)

[walleyefirst]

Wisconsin walleye pro utilizes Humminbird® and Minn Kota® technologies to take top finish on South Dakota's Lake Oahe

Anglers pre-fishing for the 2016 Cabela's National Walleye Tour (NWT) Championship in Mobridge, South Dakota, struggled with strong winds. Even hail.

Yet, despite the challenges-difficult, post-frontal walleyes and limited practice-Humminbird®/Minn Kota® pro Jason Przekurat put on a stellar performance for his first NWT Championship win on South Dakota's Lake Oahe.

"Winning a major pro-am championship has been a personal goal since I started my professional career. Now that I've accomplished it, it's like a dream come true-an important step as I continue down the pro fishing path," says Przekurat.

This NWT Championship win adds an exclamation point to Przekurat's walleye fishing resume, which includes a 2000 MWC team win, a 2007 FLW win, and two FLW Angler of the Year (AOY) titles (2003 & 2007).

The key to his most recent success? "Time management," says Przekurat.

[walleyefirst]

Wisconsin walleye pro utilizes Humminbird® and Minn Kota® technologies to take top finish on South Dakota’s Lake Oahe.

Anglers pre-fishing for the 2016 Cabela’s National Walleye Tour (NWT) Championship in Mobridge, South Dakota, struggled with strong winds. Even hail.

Yet, despite the challenges—difficult, post-frontal walleyes and limited practice—Humminbird®/Minn Kota® pro Jason Przekurat put on a stellar performance for his first NWT Championship win on South Dakota’s Lake Oahe.

“Winning a major pro-am championship has been a personal goal since I started my professional career. Now that I’ve accomplished it, it’s like a dream come true—an important step as I continue down the pro fishing path,” says Przekurat.

This NWT Championship win adds an exclamation point to Przekurat’s walleye fishing résumé, which includes a 2000 MWC team win, a 2007 FLW win, and two FLW Angler of the Year (AOY) titles (2003 & 2007).

The key to his most recent success? “Time management,” says Przekurat.

[walleyefirst]

Strong bite continues both bait fishing and trolling crankbaits. Resorts jig fishing, drifting spinners and downrigging with crankbaits. Schools of fish in the basin in 28-32 feet giving up good numbers of 16-18 inch walleyes. Garden Island and 9-12 miles off of Pine Island are holding fish. Some big headed eyes mixed in as well. Gold, silver and white have been strong. Water temp is 77 degrees.

On the Rainy River, walleyes are being caught jigging and pulling crankbaits.  Trolling this time of year is a great way to locate fish and catch multi-species.  Nice pods of river walleyes available.  Water clarity has improved.  Sturgeon "keep" season is now open through Sep. 30 and sturgeon have been active. Up at the NW Angle, Deep water mud is the way to go using spinners and bottom bouncers with crawlers, or trolling crankbaits.  The areas around Four Blocks and around Little Oak have held good fish. Gold, pink and orange are top colors.  On the Ontario walleyes relating to off shore structure and deep mud. Spinners have been the most productive. The water temp is 74 degrees. Many nice sized fish have been boated and everyone has been going home with their limits! The Muskie action was mixed this past week.  Good reports burning bucktails over cabbage and rocks. Resorts, guides, directions and local events at www.LakeoftheWoodsMN.com.

[walleyefirst]

The biggest event in professional walleye fishing, the Cabela's National Walleye Tour Championship, is set for Aug. 3-5 on Lake Oahe, the sprawling impoundment of the Missouri River. Oahe is revered as an exceptional place to catch numbers of fish and larger walleyes are becoming increasingly common. However, August can offer a challenge as the summer heat pushes walleyes deeper, where anglers must compete with an abundance of baitfish. In short, Oahe is the perfect place to test the best walleye fishermen in the world.

Mercury pro Chad Schilling guides on Oahe over 200 days per year. He believes that thus far, 2016 has been his best year ever for numbers.  "Oahe is a neat place to fish," said Schilling, who owns and operates Oahe Wings & Walleyes. "There will be a ton of walleyes caught. Compared to the last time the NWT visited (2014), there will be a lot more overs too. It's going to be exciting."

[walleyefirst]

Guides and anglers are on good fish. Lake of the Woods is known for excellent July and August fishing, and so far fish are cooperating nicely.

Many resorts are downrigging as pulling crankbaits is on fire right now. Jig fishing and drifting spinners are also both producing lots of fish. Schools of fish in the middle of the lake in 28-32 feet being targeted by jiggers and crankbaiters. Gold and silver have been strong. White baits seem to be hot right now because walleyes are targeting schools of tulibees. A strong bite near pine island has also been reported.

On the Rainy River, few walleyes are being caught near the mouth of the river and into four mile bay. Water clarity has been an issue with all the rain we are getting this year. Jig and minnow remains best option for catching walleyes with some anglers using a bottom bouncer paired with a stick bait. Most anglers fishing the lake.  Great smallmouth bass bite up and down the river.  Sturgeon "keep" season is now open through Sep. 30th.  

Up at the NW Angle, the bug hatch is over and water temp is around 70 degrees.  Little Traverse and adjacent rock piles are hot.  Resorts and guides are finding walleyes jigging and pulling harnesses with gold, pink and orange jigs and blades in 24 to 30 feet of water.  Garden Island also heating up.  Pulling crankbaits also working well. On the Canadian side, besides hot walleye action, musky action remains hot for these toothy monsters.   Shallow rocks seems best with bucktails and topwater baits.  Smallie and pike action strong.  Resorts, guides, and local events at www.LakeoftheWoodsMN.com.

[walleyefirst]

The Canyon Ferry Walleye Festival tournament was held the last weekend of June. Every year writer, Mark Ward is curious on how much weight it will take to win the annual tournament and its $10,000 first place cash prize.

Adam Strainer the FWP fishing technician for Canyon Ferry was on the Montana Outdoor Radio Show live broadcast the first morning of the tournament and he predicted that the team that caught 32 pounds would win it. Mark thought that number was a little high based on my experience of fishing that week with my son, William. We fished that Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning on the south end of the lake and we caught 20 walleyes and not one of the fish would of qualified to be tournament fish which takes a minimum length of 14 ¼ inches.

Strainer’s knowledge of Canyon Ferry is based on spending 50 plus days a year working the lake. He is an avid angler, too. As it turned out, there were at least five teams that would reach 30 pounds with the winning team catching 46.14 pounds.

Now, keep in mind that there were 144 teams competing in the two-day tournament and quite a few of those teams didn’t catch a weighable fish. So what that tells Mark is that if you know how to fish for walleye, you will catch larger fish.

Most of the bigger walleyes were caught on the mid-lake and north end of the reservoir. Mark also understand the top anglers were also jigging as opposed to pulling bottom-bouncers with a crawler or leech harness.

[walleyefirst]

Thousands of walleye fingerlings have been released into a bay in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to improve the numbers of the fish in the area.

The Daily Press of Escanaba reports (http://bit.ly/29txkLk) Monday that 160,000 fingerlings were placed last week in Little Bay de Noc as part of a joint restocking effort between the state Department of Natural Resources and the Bay de Noc Sports Fishermen club.

The fingerlings were raised at a DNR fish hatchery and released at a boat access site in Rapid River, northeast of Escanaba. It could take the fingerlings about three years to grow to 15 inches in length.

Last year, state and tribal agencies planted nearly 4.7 million young walleyes in more than 110 Michigan water bodies.