October 2018
4608 Tower St.
Edina, MN 55424
(612)440-7171
Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited Monthly Newsletter
President's Letter:

IT IS OCTOBER IN MINNESOTA!

OK I’m waiting for a great Minnesota autumn season…what the heck?? I have lived in the state for 26 years and I must say, it is always something new.

I admit that my boat is out of the water now. I really want to be out there, but I am looking forward to the pheasant season and don’t want to shovel snow off the boat next weekend. I will be waiting for the hard water season to get started, and the way it looks now makes me wonder if ice season is closer than we think.

I want to send a big Thank You again to Steve Pennaz for speaking at our October meeting. It was a pleasure to meet such an enthusiastic angler and person. His message was well received by the club, and we all have some great take away information to put in our collective tool boxes.

I have been going over the information that that we have been presented the last few meetings and I think we can gain some excellent knowledge of how to attack old marble eyes in new and different ways. The multi-species anglers have added some interesting angles and techniques that catch walleyes.

As I think about the information given to us by Corey Heiser and Steve Pennaz this year, I see that walleyes can be caught in many ways that are “out of the box” for most of us. I talk to bass anglers that catch a lot of walleyes in the weeds and on the rocks. I am really excited to go out next open water season without live bait. It takes a lot of effort to get in that mindset, but we can all learn new tricks… I think??

I want to also send a hearty thank you to Brett McComas at Target Walleye. He put TCWU and the speaker lineup in the email issue that came out just prior to the October meeting. If you haven’t heard of Target Walleye you can search it and subscribe for free. It is a weekly email that has a fun format with lots of pictures, videos, and tip/tricks of the walleye trade. I look forward to each issue and think you will too. Check it out!!

I look forward to seeing all of my TCWU friends at the November 1 meeting welcoming Mr. Mark Courts. I imagine that he will give us some new tools for our “tool box”!!

See you all in November……
 
Jim Wood
President of Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited 
Next Meeting:
Thursday, Nov 1st

Mark Courts
Check out Target Walleye and sign up to receive weekly emails loaded with Fishing Tips, The Latest News and Cool Pics with an added touch of Fun.
Click on their logo below or go to targetwalleye.com to check out their website and see what its all about .
Special Thanks TROPHY Level Sponsors
Performance Fishing Gear for Anglers
Fall/Winter Trailer Maintenence 
As the days grow shorter and winter's chill begins to take hold, the sad task of preparing the boat for its yearly hibernation is approaching. Winterizing your boat is a necessary step to protect your investment while in deep freeze; but don’t forget to take care of your boat trailer as well.

A simple first step would be to thoroughly wash and detail your trailer. Remove those last bits of dirt and grime before storage. Also, make sure the trailer is completely dry prior to storage to prevent mold.

Check all lights for water, drying them out completely. Pull the bulbs and give the sockets a small spray of a moisture repellent. Check the condition of the seals and replace light covers.

Inspect the wiring harness, trailer bunks and winch. Put a dollop of petroleum jelly on the connectors and cap them for the winter.
Jack up each wheel and give the tires a spin. If any sort of grating noise is heard, or if the tire is not running freely, chances are you have a bearing problem. This will need to be looked at more closely. If things seem good, pull the wheel assembly and clean and re-pack with fresh grease. Once the wheels have been put back on, top off the grease through the bearing protectors.

Check the trailer tires for wear and proper inflation.

If your boat and trailer are stored outside, it is best to remove the wheels and store the tires inside, as this will protect them from the elements, as well as the "flat spots" that can occur when a trailer sits over time. Make sure you block the trailer first before beginning this step.

If storing your boat and trailer inside with the tires on, stabilize the trailer on blocks and reduce the air to the recommended cold weather PSI.

Doing these simple steps now can help you be ready for spring and getting your boat back in the water!

Dale Meinders
Board Member of Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited 
Thank You LUNKER Sponsors!
Guest Speaker Re-cap Steve Pennaz
When Steve was in his sophomore year of college he gained an internship at North American Hunter Magazine. He turned this opportunity into a full time role and soon thereafter was tasked to head up, their new Fishing Magazine. This opportunity turned into an amazing career in the outdoors/fishing industry. Since then he launched Fishing shows on ESPN, Sportsman's channel and the Outdoor channel. Steve was elected to the Fresh Water Hall of Fame in 2017.

Below find a re-cap of the insights, tips and tricks he shared with us.

Pressure Fishing

Classic Walleye spots are easy to find due to awesome lake mapping, GPS, killer electronics, and fishermen improving their own education through a variety of social media/events. These hot spots are getting hammered! So, what do we do when they don't produce? Steve provided a few key strategies to try, that are easy to apply and may make all the difference to catching fish under these high pressure situations.

So where do the fish go or how do they react when they are experiencing high pressure from fishermen?

Typically they don't bite or move completely out of the area.

What should we do as anglers?
  • Key to success is to do the things other anglers aren’t.
  • Find similar spots in other parts of the lake. Secondary spots are not over fished!
  • Try new lures or old lures could be considered new as today's fish probably haven't seen them.
  • Walleyes want to hang in the traditional spots, so try an unconventional location near by. Pressure will typically move them off the structure.
  • Try bigger lures, faster speeds, different line.        

Lake fertility and the impact on fishing
Weeds are one of those spots that we need to learn how to fish more than ever due to more lake fertility. Learning how to work the weeds will help you boat more fish in this lake changing environment.
  • Try 7 inch plastic worms, they don’t come off your hook, Sunnies can't steal your bait, and they allows you to fish more aggressively.
  • Walleyes love cabbage and will be found in and around it, but they will only work the edges of milfoil.
  • Work Inside and outside edges of the weed beds, inside edges are often un-fished.
  • Try shallow cranks, Berkley War Pigs run shallower and are perfect for cranking over grass and through thinner weeds.
  • Try a multitude of colors.
  • Different sizes and length options.
  • Artificial baits have an advantage last longer, which results in more and longer casts vs live bait.
  • Artificial baits allow for a more aggressive presentation, action and faster retrieves.

Overall Tips/Tricks
  • Don’t think like a walleye fisherman, pattern by what you see on the water.
  • Try flossing your sucker minnows keeps them livelier.
  • Tweak presentations: If two in the boat are fishing the same bait, try different weight, and different line (Braid floats - fluorocarbon sinks).
  • Use different reels with different speeds Retrieve ratios impact.
  • Bust up the mud with drop shots and heavy sinkers
  • Try Berkley X-5 line. Its new and awesome.  X-5 line casts better, and has better accuracy.
  • Use Braid for cranks and in weeds.
  • Use the Bob Foran knot to tie braid to mono.
  • Strengthen your knots by running your line through the hook eye twice increases strength 10%.
  • Use lighter pound test fluorocarbon, much easier to fish.

Electronics

Steve was really hot for the new Garmin Panoptix sonar with LiveScope. If you are in the market for new sonar, defiantly check this out. The graphing and images are amazing, with up to 200 feet of reach. The ice fishing cone angle is so huge you can see every line under the ice.  Garmin live scope can actual show you what kind of fish it is from the image. It won best new technology. Insane Technology and detail!


Lake Commandos
Steve's latest project is the Lake Commando's Man vs Lake vs Man. The show focuses on fishing new lakes they have never seen before and applying certain strategies to quickly determine fish locations and best fishing techniques to use. A few of there strategies are:
  • Don’t talk about the lake name but study the characteristics of the lake.
  • Water clarity – determines weed lines and lake fertility.
  • Weed lines - determine fish locations.
  • Fish locations - determine lure choices.

We were very lucky to have Steve join us at our October meeting. You can follow Steve on Facebook and Twitter @ Lake Commandos. Definitely check out his website www.LakeCommandos.com for information on his show, insights on the latest technologies, fishing tips, and tricks. Past episodes are also available.
Click on the Lake Commandos Logo to link directly to his web page.
Russell Nelson
Board Member of Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited 
Newsletters now available on the TCWU Website
Hey great news members,

We have made a few changes to the www.tcwalleyes.com website, which include PDF's of our past newsletters posted to the News and Newsletters tab. If you are looking for those missing Guest speaker fishing tips, well now you got them any time you need. Click on the link below to check it out.
Chef Ben's Wildlife Kitchen
Welcome to Chef Ben's wildlife kitchen. This month we are serving up Pheasant Casserole for all you pheasant hunters. This one also happens to be President Jim Woods personal favorite. He does all the work and I just have cook it up and I get to enjoy without all the travel.

Bon Appétit!

Chef Ben

Pheasant Casserole

Ingredients:

  • Breasts of 2 pheasants, cubed
  • 1 box Uncle Ben’s wild rice
  • 1 Lb. spicy pork sausage
  • 1 Lb. crimini mushrooms, sliced
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 - 8 oz. cans sliced water chestnuts
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • 1 package of slivered almonds
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup chicken broth
  •  ½ stick butter, sliced thinly
  • ½ cup flour
  • Salt and pepper

Step 1: Cook the wild rice according to directions
Step 2: Brown the sausage and set aside
Step 3: In same pan, sauté mushrooms and onions until soft, seasoning with salt and pepper
Step 4: Add water chestnuts to mushroom/onion mix, season with salt and pepper and cook until well combined
Step 5: Add lemon juice to mushroom/onion mixture, stir and remove from heat
Step 6: While mushroom/onion mix is cooking, combine milk, chicken broth and flour, whisk until flour is absorbed
Step 7: Add sliced butter to liquid, and season with salt and pepper
Step 8: Add wild rice, cubed pheasant, sausage and mushroom/onion mixture into a 9 x 13 baking pan and mix until well combined
Step 9: Pour liquid evenly over top, sliced butter should be well spaced on top of casserole
Step 10: Put casserole into a pre-heated 350 degree oven and bake for 45 minutes
Step 11: Sprinkle slivered almonds evenly onto casserole and cook for an additional 15 minutes or until golden brown throughout.

Ben Roach
Board Member of Twin Cities Walleyes Unlimited 
Thank You KEEPER Sponsors!
Conservation Corner
Without a doubt Walleyes are the most highly prized fish in the state, not only do they put up a great fight but taste great too. However, in the pursuit of this fish we sometimes get a bit carried away when it comes to bagging a limit or taking a picture. Every once in while you see someone keep a young fish on the bottom end of the slot size or when they reel in a large fish they keep it out of the water for 10 minutes to take pictures. When keeping fish it is important to consider the size of the fish being kept, the smaller the fish the younger the fish and by keeping them it takes away future fingerlings they might produce. It is similar with the taking of the 20+ inch fish, if we want to have more big fish to catch then we need to better handle the ones we reel in. Fish that are hooked in the mouth almost always survive once released so it is important to set the hook quickly to avoid hooking them to deeply, also have your net, pliers and camera ready to go if you want to take pictures, the less time the fish is out of the water the better. It is also important to remember that you do not always have to catch a limit, the fish have to win every once in a while.

Will Roach
Board Member of TCWU 
Thank you VALUED Club Donors
TC Walleyes Unlimited, Inc.
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