Anglers Dominate Walleye Shootout Using Lindy B-MAX Jigs

Learn about the approach that produced a record-breaking tournament walleye catch on Lake of the Woods.

Chris Messerschmidt and Heath Hagedorn filled a bunch of “bucket list” wishes on the way to winning the 9th Annual Warrior Boats David A Anderson Memorial Walleye Shootout on Lake of the Woods and breaking the weight record for one of Minnesota’s largest walleye tournaments.

In truth, just participating in this legendary event was a bucket list item, according to Messerschmidt. It was something he had been trying to make happen for the past few years.

“It’s a great tournament that’s a lot of fun, and everyone is like family at that event,” Messerschmidt said.

Both anglers certainly are happy they made it happen this year because they won the event in dominant fashion, far eclipsed the 50-pound mark for a five-fish tournament limit, and headed in early on a competition day because the job was done (all bucket list items). Messerschmidt also caught his two biggest walleyes ever as consecutive catches, with both fish eclipsing the 30-inch mark, and neither was even the team’s largest fish. Hagedorn caught a 31 3/4-inch walleye that won the “big fish” award for the entire tournament.

The Warrior Boats David A Anderson Walleye Shootout, which had a field of 155 boats this year, attracts many of the region’s best walleye anglers. It uses a “Catch, Record, Release” format, where fish are measured on standardized boards and photographed on the board and with one angler from each team, and weights are assigned by a conversion chart based on length, measured to quarter inch increments. Each team may submit up to five fish for their scorecard.

The winning weight of 55.76 pounds for Messerschmidt and Hagedorn topped the second-place team by more than 6 1/2 pounds and third place by more than 13 pounds!

Jigs on Lake of the Woods

Lake of the Woods is a legendary crankbait lake, and traditionally summer tournaments are won by trolling crankbaits. However, Messerschmidt and Hagedorn had heard about some anglers finding good recent success with live sonar strategies. They resolved that they would live or die by jigs and night crawlers and leeches under slip bobbers thrown to fish they found with their electronics. They didn’t even pack the crankbait gear.

Messerschmidt and Hagedorn did their jig fishing with Lindy B-MAX Lindy Jigs, which provided a distinct advantage by allowing both anglers to better see their jigs on live sonar and make precise presentations. B-MAX, introduced to the angling public last month at the ICAST show, is a bismuth-heavy blend that is the same size as lead, but substantially harder, which leads to better live sonar returns. Importantly for anglers, B-MAX is more cost effective than tungsten.

Messerschmidt, who is a long-time Lindy pro staffer, had early samples of B-Max Lindy Jigs, which they used all day. He saw a noteworthy difference, compared to lead jigs, and said they could track their jigs 80 feet away.

The enhanced visibility allowed for a high level of presentation accuracy. That was critical to an approach of casting to specific walleyes, allowing the jig to fall nearly to the fish, and then essentially playing keep-away to prompt the fish to attack.

The B-MAX Lindy Jig has a keeper for plastic trailers, which Messerschmidt said was helpful for keeping large nightcrawlers in position. He also touted the strong hook and said a lighter wire would not have been sufficient with the size of fish they were catching.

Quick Start

The big fish bite began early for Messerschmidt and Hagedorn. They landed the first fish they ended up submitting, a 27 1/4-incher, only about 20 minutes into fishing. That took an edge off, and immediately established the day as a good one.  They then caught a few smaller ones before the biggest fish bit. Very soon after, they saw another large mark, and that turned out to be the first of Messerschmidt’s back-to-back 30-inch-plus fish.

By 10:00, the team had caught, recorded and released four walleyes between 27 1/4 and 31 3/4 inches! They knew that with one more big fish they should be in very good shape. They caught more fish through late morning and early afternoon, including a few in the 25-inch range, so they had a very good limit. At 2:30 they cast a Lindy Jig to a fish that showed as a large mark, and that one ended up measuring 28 ¼ inches. Once that fish was properly recorded and released, they headed in for the day.

From 3:00 until about 7:00, when the final tournament meeting was held and weights were officially tallied and results announced, felt like forever for Messerschmidt and Hagedorn. While they knew their once-in-a-lifetime catch should be enough, they didn’t know what other teams had done, and they knew that some of the best anglers on Lake of the Woods had also been out there. Conversations with other anglers through the afternoon helped their confidence grow, but anticipation remained until results were finalized.

Lindy B-MAX Series Jigs 

The Lindy B-MAX Series includes improved versions of the Lindy Jig, Live Bait Jig and Little Nipper and a return of the iconic Lindy Max Gap Jig. The B-MAX Lindy Jig, which Messerschmidt and Hagedorn were using, comes in five sizes, ranging from 1/16 ounce to 1/2 ounce, and in 10 colors.

Look for Lindy B-MAX at fishing retailers beginning in February.