Home Field "Home Run" - Feldner Pulls It Off

  Beating the home-field curse, Feldner pulls it off
(by Troy Jens)

Devils Lake, North Dakota – It is 145,000 acres of challenging walleye water, but Lindy Pro-staffer, Jason Feldner, of “Perch Eyes” guide service calls it his office. He is a veteran professional guide on the lake, with over 12 years of full time service.

The worst thing about being a guide is overcoming the mental hurdles when fishing a big tournament. If you fail on your home lake, it just does not look good. “If you look at all the people who have fished over the years, those with the home-field advantage typically don’t win”, says Feldner.

On the other hand, a win in a big tournament only adds to the credibility of a guide when clients are looking for someone to hire. When it comes to publicity, fishing a big tournament on your home lake is a gamble. But it can be a milestone of self-accomplishment as well. Feldner said, “After leading for two days, I really didn’t want to let myself down”. But the gamble paid off for Feldner. “This is the first FLW tournament I’ve ever fished”, explained the Lindy walleye pro - and $17,750.00 later, it was a gamble well worth taking.

Feldner had won another previous big tournament on Devils lake, and felt confident about this event. He had been having good results with the summer patterns while fishing with his clients prior to the FLW Walleye Tour.

How did he do it?
Introduced to the new Lindy Spinners that were released at the 2010 ICAST show in mid-July, Lindy Pro, Jason Feldner was impressed. “Get me some of those”!, he told Lindy’s Jon Thelen, who showed Feldner some of the samples. “I think I can do really well on them on my lakes”, he added. The spinners are brand new, and were still steaming from the press as the FLW tournament came to Devils Lake.

Feldner didn’t have to eat his words, because the walleye ate the spinners... and he proved that he really could do well using them. The key was making some adjustments in locations, and slow trolling the new Lindy Spinners using bottom bouncers in 9 to 11 feet of water.

From the front of the boat, Feldner used two rods rigged with 2-oz Lindy bottom bouncers and the new Lindy Spinners. “I worked the front spinners pretty much straight down from the bow”, said Feldner. From the back of the boat, he let them a little further out, using the new spinners on 1-oz Lindy bottom bouncers. Feldner said, “I trolled from 1 to 1.5 miles an hour”.

He employed another method a well that helped with the pay-off, and that was throwing a Lindy Shadling crankbait to the weed edges from the front of the boat while trolling the spinners. The perch color Shadling baits were his choice.

Getting back to his main producer, The Lindy Pro explained - “These spinners really look a lot more like the natural baitfish, the fathead minnow color worked best on sunny days, while the perch and bluegill colors worked better on the cloudy days”. When asked about color, the veteran walleye guide and pro said that color selection and combinations are absolutely critical in getting bit.

Location - In the weeds...
“Most of the fish were relating to weed edges, and transitions from weeds to gravel and mud”, explained Feldner. Feldner was impressed with the construction of the new Lindy Spinners. “The fluorocarbon line used to make the spinners is important”, he said. The Lindy pro explained that the main line on the Lindy Spinners held up to the brutal test of weeds, rocks and piping in the waters he fished. And as for the hooks – “I don’t know what kind of hooks are on these things, but even when I had a bunch of weeds around the fish… pulling them in, the hooks held in place and never bent out”, said Feldner.

He also explained that the leader length for the Lindy Spinners left room for some modifications when needed. “I shortened some of them up to around 32” to use in the heavy weeds”, he described.

According to Lindy Pro, Jason Feldner, the blade colors and bead combinations along with the overall construction of the new Lindy Spinners and live bait harnesses gave him the advantage to win, and as a guide, turning the local water curse into the home field advantage is a true accomplishment in tournament fishing.

Check out “Perch Eyes” guide service and Lindy Pro, Jason Feldner when planning a visit to Devils Lake. And put the “home field” advantage to work with the new Lindy Spinners on you own home waters.

Visit FLW Outdoors for information on the Nations leading walleye tour.

From the PRESS RELEASE

Since being introduced at ICAST last month, the new Lindy Spinners and Crawler Harnesses have proven to be a weapon that every walleye angler should have in his arsenal.

On Sunday, July 25th the Lindy Spinner made its tournament debut at the Minnesota Tournament Trail stop on Lake Winnibigoshish where Lindy Pro Staffers Mike Christensen and Eric Nesius posted a fourth place finish. "With blade and bead combinations that match both the primary and secondary color hues of most baitfish, these spinner rigs will catch walleyes anywhere they swim" said Christensen. A full time Fishing Guide, Christensen, with his wife Margie, owns Hunter Winfield's Resort.

on the south shore of Mille Lacs Lake. Less than a week later, on Saturday, July 30th, Jason Feldner added to the Lindy Spinners accolades with a victory at the FLW Walleye Tour stop on Devils Lake in north central North Dakota. Feldner, who owns Perch Eyes Guide Service and Lodging on the west shores of Devils Lake employed the new Lindy Crawler Harnesses in Fathead, Perch and Bluegill colors.

Alternating colors as cloud cover came and went overhead, he topped the field by slightly over two pounds. "The hooks and the line (14 lb. fluorocarbon) held up to not only the walleyes, but also the pike that you have to sort through on Devils lake. Their durability was key because I was not wasting time retying, it was as simple as unhook a fish and get back in the water" said Feldner after claiming his third major title on his home water.

The Lindy Spinners and Crawler Harnesses will be available at major retailers as well as local tackle shops in the coming months. For more information, visit Lindy Fishing Tackle - lindyfishingtackle.com