By Mike Frisch
In my last blog, I wrote about bass fishing plans for 2026. Here, my topic will be walleye fishing plans for 2026. Before I go into detail, I need to say that part of the agenda for the coming season as it relates to walleye fishing is to continue to develop skill using forward facing sonar (FFS) technology. The last two seasons I have spent considerable time using FFS, my skills have gotten better, but hope to improve more during the coming year. To do that, plans include going to destinations noted for having good bites where I can utilize FFS.
Big Stone Lake on the Minnesota/South Dakota has long been a favorite of the Fishing the Midwest TV crew. The lake is full of fish of various species and the late spring, early summer bite can be great for big panfish, largemouth bass, and walleyes. Former Big Stone Lake guide Tanner Arndt is a good friend and angler who has had outstanding success recently using FFS while targeting mid-depth rocks and weeds to locate and catch big walleyes. Tanner pitches jigs and plastics, but also reported lots of big walleyes coming on suspending jerkbaits last year. Big Stone is just over an hour from my home, so I plan to spend several early season days targeting the good population of big walleyes. Plus, it appears good numbers of eater ‘eyes roam Big Stone now too. To learn more about the Big Stone area visit https://bigstonelakechamber.com.
Big Stone Lake has no closed fishing season so it’s a favorite before the mid-May Minnesota fishing opener. Once the Minnesota opener hits, however, I will be staying closer to home and targeting several of the very good walleye lakes in the Alexandria, MN region. We’ve made lots of good fishing television shows near Alex over the years. In 2025, in fact, we did a spring crappie segment featuring big slabs in 13-14 inch size range, had an episode with lots of 3- to 5-pound bass, and trolled up a bunch of eater walleyes during mid-summer trolling Salmo Hornets. Top multi-species action using just about any preferred fishing method is a hallmark of the Alexandria area.
For 2026, I plan to spend late May into June targeting various Alex lakes armed with FFS, searching for walleyes that roam the 12- 25-foot depths. Armed with a jig tipped with a Z-Too soft plastic and another rod rigged with a slip-bobber/nightcrawler should be all I need. This region is known for producing numbers of eating sized walleyes, but bigger “overs” – those fish over 20 inches – are present in good numbers too. More information regarding the Alexandria area can be had at: https://explorealex.com.
The last of my 2026 walleye plans revealed here is a return trip to the Northeast corner of South Dakota. This region is another loaded with lots of lakes and lots of fish. And, as a top area walleye guide told me last summer, “our fish are usually pretty bity.” We made several trips last summer, headquartering out of Pickerel Lake Lodge and fishing several lakes chasing walleyes with various techniques.
Our best day was a trip we made in early October. Fishing with guide Marcus Quam we hit a couple different lakes, pitching jigs tipped with Z-Too plastics to shallow rocks and weeds. The first lake yielded a bunch of walleyes in the 14-17-inch size range. In the afternoon we switched to another water and caught about a dozen bigger fish, from 18- to about 23-inches. Marcus proved to be a whiz using FFS to find and then cast to the walleyes. I can’t wait to get back on that bite in 2025! Anglers interested in a trip to the area can visit https://www.pickerellakelodgesd.com to learn more.
Mike Frisch co-hosts the popular Fishing the Midwest TV series. Visit https://fishingthemidwest.com or follow Fishing the Midwest on Facebook for more “fishy” stuff.
PHOTO – Mike Frisch with a big walleye caught in 2025. He hopes for more good walleye catches in 2026.
