It's our time on 'Tonka!

[badluck]

I will be on the putting in Grays Bay launch at 7:00 tonite. White Lund W/125 Merc. I did very well on Sunday trolling around cranks in 10 fow or less after 8:00 PM. As earlier stated perch color is the ticket. Was using the electric trolling motor & letting out 75 ft of line on a floating Rap. Live bait is just not working right now for me, maybe in a week or 2.

[schr0563]

Tonight's Report: Arrived at fishing hole - 5:30 pm. Gave jigs and fatheads a half hour effort with only a rock bass to show for it. (At this point I was concerned that the fish weren't going to show up.) Then I switched to cranks. Again, my trusty silver and black Wally Diver was the ticket. I am convinced this lure works so well because of the depth that it runs at, not necessarily the color. My first fish was a 28 incher. Two fish later I boated a 29. I also managed 4 more between 18 and 20 inches. This must have been one of my best personal nights of fishing. Not only did I get "my limit" but I had never before caught two big girls on the same evening (all fish were released). Since we left the lake by 7:30, I was equally impressed with the amount of action we ended up seeing in our 1 1/2 hours of trolling.

Interestingly, my buddy who I was fishing with only managed one 18 incher all night long. Only difference in approach was his smaller shad rap and braided line. Somehow I am thinking that this setup wasn't running at the same depth as mine and therefore he didn't find as many fish. It's too bad he wouldn't accept my offer to exchange lures.

[badluck]

Got to the water at 7:30 PM I put the boat in at Grays & never even made it a 1/2 mile past the Grays Bay channel. Trolling perch colored cranks 10 fow or less turned out to be the best outing I have ever had on "Tonka". 7 Eyes biggest was 29 inches & the smallest was 23 inches all in 2 hours.

[Tonka Boy]

Nice fish guys! Mark and I had a slow outing last night. Only a 22" eye to show for. We also each lost a few lures to muskies, but all in all it was a nice night. Can't slam the big mamas every outing...

[Giant_Jackpot]

Badluck,

I am assuming you are using a floating lure? I guess what I am asking is that in 10 feet you must be over weeds and a deeper diving lure would be useless.

[markkstanley]

If you have weeds use floaters but I bet Badluck might still have had a clear channel to troll so then husky jerks are the way to go. You just need to get as close to the cover as you can, whether it's weed tops, edges or the bottom, when you are fishing shallow. Badluck you're going to need to change that handle! What speed were you trolling?? I'm glad to see this pattern is working elsewhere on Tonka. Since I've been at it for just a couple of years I'm still putting pieces together but it looks to me like Tonka can match Mille Lacs when it comes to catching numbers of big walleyes. Keep the info flowing guys

[markkstanley]

Has anyone noticed no one has got a walleye over 30"?? Tonka Boy and I probably have eight 29" between us this fall but haven't broke 30". Maybe we ought to put up a little contest for biggest eye over 30" like the smallie guys do for the biggest Mississippi smallie over 21". Let's just get one and post that photo!! I'm out of town for the rest of the week so you guys have a 4 days to get one.

[schr0563]

With respect to Mark's last comment - I am sure we all have wondered if that fish that pulled off half way to the boat was that elusive 30 incher. After all, it did seem to fight just a little bit harder than the last one... I think the challenge of catching a 30" fish this weekend is a good one. Let's just hope that we're not seeing a 29" pattern that is limited by the gene pool of Tonka walleyes.

[Ice9]

I for one will not be looking a gift horse in the teeth. 29" is bonza. This morning they were cracking jigs and minnows, no tail-grabbing here; a buddy and I caught four nice fish from 16" to 25" in an hour or so and as far as I know he's still out there! Jackpot: I'm looking at Friday, if I can get a hall pass...weather might be too hateful for the little tin boat so I may be looking for a better ride. LEt me know if Friday's good, and I'll work on getting free.

Ice

[Trailblazin]

Plan on heading out tomorrow @ noon. Nasty cold front coming thru. Will aim for walleye and Muskie. Any recommendations on depth for both? Any key areas. Bring my mgr - would like to nail some. Cranks, bucktails???

[badluck]

Yes that is correct I was using perch colored floating Raps (6-8 inch)over the top of the weeds. The only problem doing this is you have to get them to the surface fast otherwise they will bury themselves into the weeds. I'm sure having the wind blowing like it was last nite helped.

[Tonka Boy]

For walleyes - jigs/minnows on a steep break.

For muskies - troll big cranks on the outside weed edge.

Once it gets dark (if you're still out), move into the 3-10' depths with minnow type cranks. The channel mouths are still holding muskies right now, but it's a night time bite.

[Trailblazin]

So the Muskies are still holding relatively shallow? The weed edges I hit are 6-12 feet deep. Am I in the right zone?

[Tonka Boy]

I think you are right on track. Can't say what this cold front is going to do with them though. Good luck!

[CALVINIST]

You guys are killing me with all these reports of good walleye fishing on Tonka , as I have been laid up sick for a week now .

[Giant_Jackpot]

Badluck, thanks for the reply. Looks like I just need to make a little adjustment and I might get into some.

Ice, Friday should work for me and we can use my boat. Shoot me an e-mail at [email protected].

For the 30” discussion, I too can say that I have never seen one over 29”. In past years, when we have gotten into them real good, we would go right up to 29” but never over. I know 2 guys that claim they have gotten 30” fish, but their measuring techniques are questionable at best.

This thread unbelievable in the info folks are willing to share. Many thanks to all the guys who put their boats away in September!!!!

[markkstanley]

My son caught a 31" walleye on Tonka 3 years ago and I saw a couple of 33"s two falls ago - guy who caught them didn't have a camera with and brought them in his livewell to a marina to have photos taken. That got me thinking walleyes were worth chasing on Tonka. The really big one's are there. It's just weird to get so many 29" fish and not have one at 30". Alternatively it's pretty weird that I haven't caught more 26 to 27" fish this fall given the number of 29s. Must have an absolutely great year class working it's way up - next two years should be awesome! As for muskies just troll any expensive minnow bait on 10lb braid - you'll get hit.

[Tonka Boy]

Quote:

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As for muskies just troll any expensive minnow bait on 10lb braid - you'll get hit.

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So very true Mark, so very true!!!

[Ice-9]

I'll bet 29" represents the normal max for fish in that lake. I fished the susquehanna in pa for years for smallmouth and in the springtime I've caught fish in highly reliable cohorts--17's but no 18's, 19's but no 20's, and rare 21's but none bigger, that kind of thing. The biologists said that was a clear year-class breakdown, and the system just didn't support fish older than the age it took to get to 21 inches, I think it was 9 years there. The forage was excellent and reliable, the winters rough, the floods big, so the fish were highly uniform in size. I know that the smallies on the Miss and St. Croix are much less uniform because growing seasons are erratic but intense. I wonder if the same factors influence walleye size on Tonka. I know that many, maybe most of the larger fish are being released now. The guy at Wayzata Bait weighed a 12 plus pounder a couple of weeks ago...that fish was certainly over 30 inches, though I don't know how long.

ice

[WalleyeSnob]

You guys were driving me crazy with these reports. So crazy that I had to make an executive decision to skip my classes for the next two days. I just got home from a 3 hour drive and can't sleep because of the excitement to get on the water. Hopefully this cold front doesn't shut everything down. Putting in at Grays Bay tomorrow at 3pm.

lets go get that 30 incher!

[schr0563]

I was on the lake tonight with my dad and a friend of ours. I thought fishing was slow at best, as I only managed a small northern over 3.5 hours of fishing. The other two guys with me salvaged the outing with four fish between 15 and 19 inches and one big one that went 30.25 inches. I hope to get out again tomorrow. I think the weather should be favorable, and this is good because this may be my last time out on open water this year.

[Trailblazin]

Thanks for the advice. Nailed a 48" muskie Thursday in 4 feet of water. Headed out in a few hrs to get it on again!

[schr0563]

Went out again on Sunday evening. Again it seemed slow. We got one small northern and one small walleye on jigs. After trolling cranks for an hour and a half all we could show for it was a 28" walleye and about a 15 pound muskie that came off at the boat side. If it stays warm this week I may make it out for one last try, but I also may start pulling my ice gear together.

[Ice9]

My experience with trolling has also been slow, after one night of good success. Friday Giant Jackpot took me around and we boated one at about 26" for four hours of good trying. Marked good numbers of fish, just couldn't get them to commit. I wonder if they aren't up on the weeds...may try again this week with shallower-running gear.

ice

[MJR]

Got 9 on sat all about 17" with slip bobers & minnows in about 3hrs. I did not think that was possible on Tonka, glad it was.

[badluck]

Made it out on Saturday at 3:00PM & stayed till 10:30 PM. I was surprized to see 8 boats out there still unwilling to let the open water season go. I pulled cranks in 10 fow over the top of the weeds using the electric trolling motor. Only 1 "eye" 28" It was kinda slow considiring the moon was in its new phase & the wind was blowing a little bit. I will be on the lake 3 nites this week to see if I can break that elusive 30 inch barrier that seems to have a grip on "Tonka". I will post results each morning for those diehards like myself that need to know.

[Tonka Boy]

Please do badluck. I'll try to get a few reports up this week as well. That 30" eye is near!!!

[jigeye]

Two of us fished from 2:00pm till 8:30pm Saturday. We tried trolling for about two hours than gave up and jigged. We got a nice 22 incher and lost couple of nice ones. Went back to trolling after dark but no fish.

[Tonka Boy]

I fished for a couple hours after dark last night. Only 1 24.5" eye was brave enough to hit my lure (5 FOW). Other than that it was pretty quiet.

Seems the forage base is starting to move out of the shallows now. Over the next few days I plan on moving out to the first break from the spots I have been fishing. With any luck, the bigger schools will be lingering in these areas.

Keep those reports coming!!

[MJR]

7 last night 14-20" slip bobbers 17ft. Going to try again tonight.