Whiskey n' Walleye Radio Episode #4 with Marcus Quam

Episode #4 is here…and this one is loaded with local knowledge.

We’re bringing on Marcus Quam - one of the most dialed-in anglers in Northeast South Dakota and owner of Reel Therapy Guide Service.

If you’ve ever fished the glacial lakes around Webster, you know how tough they can be… and Marcus is one of the guys who consistently figures them out.

- Full-time guide putting clients on fish day in and day out

- A true “wealth of information” on the glacial lakes

- Tournament angler who knows how to break down water and adapt fast

He will join our host Dave Chapman to dive into:

 • How to approach South Dakota glacial lakes

 • Finding fish when conditions change

 • What actually works vs. what people think works

If you fish this region, or plan to sometime, this is one you don’t miss.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Our guest tonight is the owner of Real Therapy Guide Service out of Webster, South Dakota. He's also one heck of a tournament fisherman and a good dude. Let's bring on Marcus Quam so we can get into it. Hey, how's it going? What's up, man? Good. How are you? Good, man. Geez, you got enough rods in the garage tonight?

SPEAKER_00 0:45

Yeah. Need to get the boat here so we can get them in. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 0:50

How many of you carry in the boat?

SPEAKER_00 0:53

It just depends. I'd say anywhere between 20 and 40. I can't leave anything at home. Yeah, right on.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Right on. Cool. Let's get into it. Um, you know, we're just gonna talk a little bit about your growing up, where you grew up, um, what got you into fishing, stuff like that. So uh let's let's do it. Where'd you grow up, man?

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Uh I grew up in Sioux Falls here in South Dakota. Uh graduated from Dell Rapids. So I've been a South Dakota resident my whole life, and now I live in uh Webster, South Dakota.

unknown 1:24

Sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:25

How long ago did you move up to Webster?

SPEAKER_00 1:27

Uh I think it was uh 2016, 2015, right in there. Kind of made the jump. I was kind of working back and forth while I was working on getting the guide service started. So um kind of bouncing back and forth between Sioux Falls and Dollar or Sioux Falls and Webster there for a while.

SPEAKER_01 1:44

Yeah, it's a couple hours, couple hour drive.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Yep, a lot of uh lot of miles put on there for the first few years or a couple of years of trying to move up here.

SPEAKER_01 1:53

Yeah, absolutely. So what got you into fishing? I mean, what was that like? Was it your dad or what really how'd you grow up doing that?

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Yeah, it was a family uh family affair for us. We that's we didn't really take vacations when I was a kid, we'd take fishing trips. You know, we'd uh dad live fit love fishing the Missouri River, so we'd go fish Francis K, Sharp, Awahi, um, that kind of stuff. So I never really traveled around and got to do that kind of stuff, but we got to go, we got to go fishing quite a bit when I was a kid. So that's where kind of everything sparked for me is yeah, we'd load up and go to the river any chance my dad could get, or the mom, you know, we'd go as a family all the time mostly, and more of the fall trips were with my mom's uncle and my dad. So they are they're the ones who got me got me into fishing.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

I don't think anyone watching the show would complain about going on fishing trips rather than vacations to Disneyland.

SPEAKER_00 2:46

I never did. I uh I ever since I was a little kid, that's all I ever wanted to do was fish. I mean, uh, I think mom and dad had pictures of of me of uh holding my first walleye out of Lake Thompson and probably uh 1989 or 1990, you know, uh back when the lake was kind of just getting going and everything. And you know, I was a little tiny kid with a little red hat and a little orange life jacket on and my dad's 16-foot boat.

SPEAKER_01 3:12

So yeah, pretty cool stuff. Was that your first fishing memories or at Thompson, or were they at the river or somewhere else?

SPEAKER_00 3:19

Uh probably more of the lakes. Um, that didn't take me to the river till I got a little bit older, and by a little bit older, I'm still thinking five or six, but I can remember, you know, uh spending a lot of time on the lakes around Sioux Falls or Brookings, that area. And then uh I do have some faint memories of going to the river with my my dad and my mom's uncle when I was a kid.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

Sure. Absolutely. So was it like right after high school? What did you do after high school? Did you get right into guiding, or what was that transition like for you?

SPEAKER_00 3:51

No, right after high school, I kind of uh kind of screwed around. I tried going to college for a couple of years. Um, I worked for my dad. Uh I did a ton of fishing. I mean, I was I no matter what, I was always fishing. I had a boat. Uh when I was 16, dad helped me get a little 16-foot one with a 25-horse Johnson. So I had that. Um, the college wasn't for me. So I worked for him full time and just kind of bounced around and fished. Um, ended up beating some other guys and fishing with them. So it was for me, it was just fishing all the time. When I was worked, you know, right after high school, and I started working full time. I worked overnight, so I worked Sunday night through uh Thursday night. So I had Friday, Saturday, and Sunday off. So as soon as I'd get done working uh you know late Thursday night or early Friday morning, I wouldn't even go to sleep. We'd just hook up to the boat and go fishing.

SPEAKER_01 4:44

Heck yeah. That's awesome, man. That's awesome. So worked for dad and then gotten so you how how old are you? Um 38. 38. So right after a couple years of college, a little bit of work, then you decide to take your take it to the next level and do some guiding. And where did that start out for you?

SPEAKER_00 5:03

Well, I mean, when I was working for him, I had, you know, kind of an extra day or whatever for the weekend there. And uh honestly, like I said, uh every just about every Friday I'd get done working and go to sleep. I'd drive up to Webster and I'd start fishing right away. Well, it kind of got to the point where a lot of my buddies were working on Friday, so I was fishing by myself, and then it felt like I was just kind of almost a guide for them by the time they got done working, and they'd show up and want to go fishing Saturday and Sunday, and I'd kind of had everything figured out and felt like I was spending all the time and money to do it myself. And I was like, Well, I might as well just take pay strangers to get paid for this, you know. So that's kind of how the guiding started for me, really, is I just almost felt like I was guiding at that point. So I thought, well, I've always wanted to do something in the uh fishing industry as a living. And at that time for me, uh doing tournaments wasn't an option, you know. I mean, I'd bounce around and do some of the local stuff and little stuff, but uh I was mostly uh mostly just trying to get by at that point in my life. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

Yeah, and you were were you just like doing some under-the-table guiding, or did you did you hook up with an outfitter or a guide that had a program?

SPEAKER_00 6:16

Yeah, yeah. I guided for somebody else there for a little while and then started getting a few questions and different things from other people on my own. So then kind of started doing it on my own there a little bit.

SPEAKER_01 6:27

Yeah. Yeah, because you've you've had real therapy for how long now?

SPEAKER_00 6:30

Uh started in 2016, and I've been guiding for this was 10 winters with my own business, so about 13 years now.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Yeah, what's that like running your own business, guy? I mean, what I see is a lot of guys that guide don't want to fish as much when they have free time. Yeah. That's not you. I mean, you're you're what you get.

SPEAKER_00 6:54

Uh I'm a fish head, man. I just that's all I want to do is fish, even if I'm working or not working. Um, you know, owning your own business can be a little tough, a little demanding. Uh, just you know, you got to keep everything straight, you got to be motivated, you got to keep, you know, if you get a call to go to work and you kind of were planning on fishing with your buddies, you kind of got to turn that stuff down and just focus on, well, we actually got to make a living doing this too. Um, but that's never been an issue for me. I've I've always felt like I've always wanted to work and take people fishing. I enjoy taking people fishing, you know, new experiences, you know. What I think's an okay day can be a great day for them. So, I mean, that keeps me motivated to keep working and doing it. And I'm kind of fortunate now where I've got to the point where I kind of have a schedule set or regular customers, so I kind of know when I can take my times off and kind of do my thing on my own, you know.

SPEAKER_01 7:50

Yeah, we were talking, it was a few weeks back where you it was like 80 to 90 percent of your your clientele is repeat customers.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Yep, yep, a huge, huge repeat list right now. Um, our ice fishing's a big deal up here. Um, that one keeps me going nonstop. I mean, that's a time of the season where I know I can't take any days off just because there's so much demand, and uh which is fine. I mean, you gotta work when you can. So um, you know, the ice fishing's all work in the summertime. We get to play a little bit more.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

Yeah, absolutely. The boat guiding is, I mean, that's not open water is not as much of a staple for you. I mean, what would you say? So, ice fishing. I mean, we again we talked and it was like, how many days straight did you guide this winter? Or a normal winter, how many days straight? Conditions good, you know.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

You know, I think I think I ended up having like 60 days out of 64 days that I were or uh yeah, four days off out of you know, 64 days of work in there. So uh the last couple winters have been a little bit warmer. Uh they haven't lasted as long into March. So I I don't know what a normal year is anymore. I mean, three years ago I got 38 days in, that was it. Um, last year was 50 something. This year was I think 60, 61 days or something like that. So yeah, I mean, yeah, we try to get in as much as possible just you know, that three winters ago when we only had 38 days. That was that was a tough winter. Uh guy wasn't expecting that, you know what I mean? You're kind of used to yeah, going that 60, 65 days pretty easy and having a few days off or whatever. And that one kind of Mother Nature. She uh she has the card and she's the she's the one that deals you everything, so you yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

Yeah, you're at the mercy of that. I mean, this you know, what we've seen, obviously I live just 40, 45 minutes south of you, but I've seen like a lot more guide pressure, a lot more competition. Um it seems like you'd know better than me, but it seems like there's a lot of guides popping up. Um how's that been for you? Does it really affect you at all? I mean, is there any way that that affects you, or is it just kind of you're just doing your thing, trudging along, and it is what it is?

SPEAKER_00 10:06

I mean, yeah, there's certain aspects that it affects me. I mean, I feel like we've spent a lot of time out on this water figuring out different areas and different spots, trying to get away from other people. I can remember when there was just a couple guide services up here uh guiding in the winter, and we pretty much avoided each other. Like if they were on this lake, we weren't gonna fish that lake, we were gonna go to another one. And there's there's definitely guides and things that don't follow that same rule, and even on a spot or whatever. I mean, nobody owns the lake, but um it just it it gets tough. There, there can be a lot of a lot of noise, a lot of stuff going on in one area, and yeah. It it's not it's not like it was back in the day. I mean, when guys are out here in Vexelars and hardshacks and different things, there's it seemed like there was more space on the water than with everybody having a snow bear now. Um I don't think we really lost any business of that. I was one of the first guides up here with the snow bear, so kind of started that, and that I think that accelerated my business. I mean, the fishing out of the snow bear is a whole different experience than getting set up in a hub or a flip over and using a Vexlar. We got you know our forward-facing sonars in there hooked up to TVs, and it's climate controlled, it's comfortable. I mean, the coldest you are is getting out of the truck to get in the snow bear, getting back out of the snow bear to get in the truck throughout the day. So that's definitely made it nice.

SPEAKER_01 11:38

Yeah, I see the appeal, you know. Over the years, I've never had one. I've fished out of them a few times. I mean, we fished out of one uh this year, but I see the appeal and how that could make the guiding business more appealing to other people because I mean if it's windy and it's colder in hell, nobody wants to be dragging a you know a pop-up or a flip over out of the back of the truck, and then well, the fish aren't here, so let's move on, you know. Because there's a lot of sitting and waiting, you know. Whereas it's just way more proactive in a snow bear. You're hunting the fish with the fish, you know, board fishing sonar and stuff. So I can see how that could bring more people in because it's a lot funner.

SPEAKER_00 12:13

I mean, it just it app it absolutely is. Yeah, it's like a boat on ice. I mean, it's you know, fishing the old way with a shack or whatever to me is kind of like shore fishing. You got to grab this, you gotta grab that. You go to your spot, you set up, oh, you want to move, you gotta pick this back up and go there. Well, with the snow bear, it's like in a boat, and it's like, oh, reel them up, put the lid on, and let's drive. Just like in a boat, reel them up, throw them on the floor, and let's go again.

SPEAKER_01 12:39

Yeah, absolutely. I heard an analogy. I mean, it's years ago where if you were in a boat and you weren't fishing, cat weren't catching fish in a spot, you wouldn't just sit there and wait for them. So when you're ice fishing at a in a shack or you're fishing out of your truck, a lot of people get stuck in. Well, this is the spot I'm just gonna sit here and wait. You know, and you can be more mobile. So that totally makes sense. Um, so you started real therapy 10 years ago, it's been really good for you. Business side of things is good. Um, let's transition more to tournaments now. So you're also a really good tournament fishing, right? Like you said, that's where you get to have fun, is in the summertime, the boat fishing. Um, last year was a really good year for you. You guys, you know, obviously, team of the year, the casino cup. What tournament stuck out, or was there like a uh a day or a fish, or was it the whole season for you guys?

SPEAKER_00 13:31

Uh the last couple of years have been really good. I mean, um one that sticks out in my head right now is uh fishing the Lake Area walleye club on Bitter. Um been fortunate enough to get first the last four years in that, which I you know I can't explain. Obviously, I fish the lake a lot and know a lot, but yeah, putting everything together to win is is uh it's really tough. It's not anything that I take lately, even in that, you know, there's what 60 plus competitive boats in that. Um, but the last fish we caught was the one we needed to win. I think we had a couple 26 or 26, 27 in the box, and then we went and got our unders, and we were down to the last, I don't know, four, five, six minutes of the tournament, and we saw one and Ryan cast it over and caught it, and it was it was like deja vu because honestly the same thing happened the year before, except there was like seven minutes left on the clock, and uh to have that happen two years in a row like that is just you know it's crazy. I it doesn't make sense, but it was in about the same spot at the same time of night, and we're lucky enough to stick like another 29, you know. So that sticks out to me a lot. Um, I love fishing Devil's Lake because it's really similar to our area. So I love going up there and fishing the casino cups. Um, the thing I like about Devils is it's a big body of water, but when you break it down to like a bunch of lakes around here, but it's it's fun to bounce between the lakes, you know, between Main Bay and East Bay and East Devils and Black Tiger, there's just a lot of different nooks and crannies that are fun to fish, and and that lake seems like it's just full of like three to four pounders right now. Like even if you're not finding the fish you want for the tournament, you're still finding plenty of like three-pound walleyes to catch. So that's a fun place to go.

SPEAKER_01 15:24

Devil's Lake. And you you fish Oahee a lot too, right? Don't you?

SPEAKER_00 15:27

I do, I do. I really enjoy Oahee. I mean, everybody does that's been out there in the last few years. Uh, Oahi's something special, you know. Those fish are gigantic, and there's a chance every time you go out to catch one in the teens or you know, mid-teens or whatever. There's there's big fish. And um, yeah, even on a bad day on Oahe, you come in with a couple 28s and you're unders and you get beat, it still doesn't feel as bad when you're catching some big fish like that, you know.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

Yeah, they at least made a run in. So you I mean you've done this a long time. So comparatively speaking, fishing tournaments, how did you break down water pre you know forward-facing sonar? Um, how did you break it down and you know find success doing that opposed to now? Because I mean, obviously, if you're gonna be successful now, everybody's got the same equipment, but everybody had the same equipment six years ago, too. You know, so what was your mindset going into tournaments or even guiding in those situations where you didn't have this tool that allowed you to scan around?

SPEAKER_00 16:25

Well, I use side imaging, and uh I think that's one thing that doesn't get talked about as much, but side imaging is still a really deadly weapon. I mean, you can just sit in your boat, drop into the spot without even putting a trolling motor down and see what's on each side of you anywhere between 60 and 120 feet, depending on your depth. So we break a lot of our water down by just using side imaging. Um, a couple of the best spots I found is just seeing a few marks there on the side imaging and pulling over and then looking it over with the live scope or whatever, but uh all that stuff still plays for me. I mean, I don't feel like we're just catching fish because of forward-facing sonar. I think guys that have had success before it are still having a bunch of success with still putting all the tools together. I mean, I remember jig wrapping, and uh I've always had a little boat here in the last how many ever years, and I can remember just going out and fishing for fun, and I had a 17-foot tiller with a vantage on it, and I just love fishing out of that boat back then because I could just drop that vantage and I could idle with my big motor and I could sharpshoot walleyes off the 2D with jigging wraps. And I mean, all those things still come in play. 2D side imaging, down imaging a little bit, not as much for me. I mean, I watch my 2D and my SI more than anything. Um breaking down water is just about being efficient, um, using all the tools you have, knowing every piece, you know, from your 2D and your SI and your forward-facing sonar, and just being able to be efficient. I mean uh it's it's all about like time management, really. Um you find a pot of fish. If you can't get the pot of fish to bite, don't beat your head over it, just go find another one that's biting, really. It's kind of you know what I think all the time. I mean, at some point in the tournament, you're gonna figure out even though you think it's tough, somebody's figuring out, and somebody found a pot of fish that's gonna bite. So why waste your time on this pod when you know the next spot or next point or whatever you move to might have the biting pot of fish? And then that's how you start putting the pieces of puzzle together. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

So when you when you go from like somewhere like Bitter that's got 30, well, what's the deepest spot in Bitter? Deep deepest consistent spot, 33? 33, 34 foot maybe. Yeah, and then you go out to a Wahee or up to Devil's Lake. I mean, let's say you've never fished it before. What would you say for for the people watching is the best way to you know kind of break down that piece of water is use those tools, look for fish, and then start from there. Are you going are you going to structure first? Are you you know our our lakes up here, there's not a ton of structure, comparatively speaking, right? Like glacial lakes that are dug out that are just pretty much for for lack of a better term, just big bulls, right?

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Yeah, I mean, I would tell anybody to fish your strength, right? Because if you're trying to do something that you heard about or read about that you don't have any confidence with, you gotta pick your poison and fishing your strength is your best thing. Whether that's uh pulling you know bottom bouncers or if that's casting or pulling cranks. I mean, uh I start by breaking down a water body of water by fishing it with my strength. I mean, I'm looking on my graph and looking for fish and trying that, but if I'm going to a new body of water and I don't know anything about it, I'm gonna try to find some fish. And I don't know where it's gonna be because that just depends on the time of year. But after that, I'm gonna start fishing on my strength. Because if I know how to catch them this way, that's how I feel confident and trying to figure out how they're how I'm gonna get these fish to turn, you know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

Yeah, I was watching a podcast, I think it was with Chad Schilling recently, and he said that you know, something about confidence goes a long way, so it is.

SPEAKER_00 20:20

I mean, I mean, there's a lot of tackle in this garage that nobody probably cares about. But to me that's that's the best bait I've ever had. You know what I mean? Like, and it might be something that didn't sell very good and nobody heard about or cared about, but to me I have confidence in that bait, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Yeah, gear heads like tackle heads just have to have a a ton of everything that might be what absolutely works, you know.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:50

I mean that's go with the tackle, Marcus. Let's see.

SPEAKER_00 20:53

Yeah, I like the tackle. I mean I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 21:03

There's no tools there, it's just all tackle.

SPEAKER_00 21:06

Yeah, what's a garage for? Two not tools tackle. No, I I don't know. I yeah, I try a little bit everything, but I'm lucky that I get to go on the water a lot. Um I mean when you don't have that time, it's it makes it difficult. So yeah. Anymore we're seeing that uh a jig and a worm catches fish all year round everywhere, right? Yeah, exactly. Get confidence in something and just stick with it.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

It's crazy you watch these guys that are like on the NWT or watch tour level gold, and it just shows you some guys, you know, you can tell they they're really good at hiding what they're using, you know. That's one thing. But some people are very, very transparent about it, and they just I'm throwing a jig and a worm, or you know, and you can see them just by the way that they're the the action they're using with their rod, or some guys are fit fishing ripping wraps or jigging wraps. Just because you know that's the cadence that that is, right? Um they're all using different stuff, right? Like different stuff and finding success.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

Well, I I remember a couple times, you know, throughout the years where everybody's like, you know, what's this guy using? He's been winning all the tournaments. I mean, Josh Olson went on a huge run on a Wahee there for a while, and everybody's like, What's he using? What I he was using whatever he had confidence in. He was just really good at getting on the fish and finding them. And uh, you know, Tom Wynn, when he started out, I mean, I can remember guys chattering and wondering what he was doing and what he's got going on. And he's been an open book with everybody. I mean, it's it's a jig and a piece of meat. Yeah. So it's just, you know, it's just about finding the right fish and you know, having confidence and fishing them.

SPEAKER_01 22:51

Yeah, and that's you know, you bring up Tom, and one thing is a lot of us, myself included, is like you have you think you have to hover in front of the fish, right? Like tease that fish right in front of its face. And you know, he just drags his jig on the bottom. Like that's all he's doing is and I believe him because he's a very transparent, trustworthy guy. You know, a lot of people are like, oh no, that's not working. But he he just he basically just twitches that sucker along the bottom, kick kicks up some silt and lets it sit, and then you know, twitches it along, and obviously it works for him. Where that just goes to show you, like, oh, he's doing something completely different and and having success, you know, that none of us really think of. Some people do, but you know.

SPEAKER_00 23:32

No, it's it's uh if you think you figured everything about out about fishing, you might as well quit, you know what I mean? Like it's uh always, you know, there's something going on, and there's always something to learn and pick off from everybody else, and and it is fun to watch, like yeah, Tom Wynn drops a jig pass the fish and it's on the bottom, you know, and like you said, everybody thinks you gotta hover it. No, I mean, there's more than one ways that more than one way to skin a cat, and yeah, it's just trying those different things and figuring it out and getting confidence. And obviously, Tom has a ton of confidence and it's proven, you know.

SPEAKER_01 24:12

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. It's cool that he's sharing it with people. You know, that's that's what's really cool, is a lot of people don't do that, and he's just like, Here, like you said, he's an open book, and I'm gonna teach you how to do that because he just cares, he just cares about the sport, it seems, and wants to advance it. So it's cool. Yep. So what's your plans for 26? I mean, we're we're ice has cleared off a lot of bodies. There's some ice still. I I drove by bitter the other day and it was still a sheet, right? Like that's not opened up, but for you, you've been getting out a little bit. But what what are your plans for the for the season this year?

SPEAKER_00 24:47

You know, uh it's guide as much as possible, and I'm hoping to fish. I am gonna fish the casino cup. Um, hoping to do a couple other tournaments. I don't know exactly which ones yet here. I kind of got to figure that out, but casino cup will do that again. Um, but I don't really have anything else planned. I mean, I'm gonna make a few trips for fun. Uh, we're talking about Rainy River here pretty quick, and then obviously when I get a break, I'm gonna go out to Oahi and try that. Yeah. Um, you know, NWT on Oahe is kind of really high on my list. I'm hoping to fish that one. Yeah. Uh I got a young family right now trying to find the balance and figure everything out is is new to me. Yeah. So um, yeah, I gotta work through that, but that's one I'm hoping to. But if not, there's hopefully something else down the road or something different eventually, but that will get scratchy itch a little bit. But yeah, other than that, it's just fish as much as possible in as many places as possible.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

Yeah. That NWT tournament is is interesting, it's shaping up to be interesting. I mean, with these, I'm watching this Erie event, and you know, they can't fill the co's, right? So at least I heard they're like 20 short or something, you know, and it it just makes you think, well, forcing the qualification for 2027 forced a lot more pros to sign up. I think. Well, if you didn't have the coes from the years past, then you know you're gonna end up with a shortage of coes. So I I mean that's one thing that I look at at Moabridge and think, well, is that same thing gonna happen out there? Uh sure could, but I don't know. It seems like we're a lot of fishermen here.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Yeah, might we'll see. I know I'm talking about changing the rules and doing that stuff in 2027s. To me, it's kind of limiting limiting the sport a little bit. And I know a few guys that fish it, and honestly, they don't care if guys try to jump in and cherry pick one here or there. I mean, it's more money in the pot. Um odds are those people are donating, right? Yeah, to me, like no matter what, you're still gotta beat like 60 guys, so now why not try to be 80, you know? Hey, what's the difference or whatever? But um, yeah, we'll we'll see. That's kind of an interesting topic and something that I don't know. We'll see what happens. I'm kind of interested to see like how they're gonna keep the payouts the same, if they're gonna, you know, limit the number of people in the field and that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_01 27:26

Yeah, they were talking about just getting people to volunteer as co's. That's I saw something about that. If you're here and you want to jump in a boat, you know, so those people you go, well, there's some of the prize money, right? What is that the end of the world? Not really, you know, it's it's still a lot of money to be had. And the percentage-wise, if you got 20 people that jump in for free, at you know, it's 13 grand less in the prize pool, but I don't know. At least the pros get to fish, right?

SPEAKER_00 27:51

Yeah, yeah. I uh I can see where you know having the pro co thing could change here in the future, and maybe especially with the forward-facing sonars, just having a pro in the boat, kind of like the Bassmaster, and uh not even having a co in the boat. You know, I don't know. It's just you're seeing so much of it where it's uh less of a trolling game in these tournaments and more of a you know rod in hand game. But in order to do that, I think there could possibly be some uh changes with live baits and artificial only or something too. I I don't know. Maybe that'd be one way to get more sponsors to put more money in it and is not having any live bait and you maybe have some more of the tackle companies throwing some more money in if they're using all artificials.

SPEAKER_01 28:40

Yeah, sure. Yeah, it's something I've never even thought about. Yeah. So there's a lot of guys that are running, I think, you know, artificials, but that percentage that aren't, you know, keeps them out of there. You look at like the Bassmaster, and they've been around. I mean, actually, I can't even say they've been around longer because they're it's not that much longer, right? NWT in some form has been around for what, like 50 years plus or something. It's been a long time.

SPEAKER_00 29:05

Yeah, the bass tournaments have been around longer though. Yeah, um, and it's it's just a more I don't know, it's it they got more coverage, more this than that. So you you you know it I think that's how they draw some more sponsors, too, is maybe better coverage of the anglers and the day of fishing, and it's more of a bigger event than a tournament, I'd say, too. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:30

You look at the production they put on for like the classic, which I mean, that's obviously the biggest of all of them, but it was insane. I mean, that I watched it, I was like, this is a full-on production. You know, yeah, it's cool, it's cool to watch. Yeah, it is it's really fun. 300 grand. That'd be all right, huh? Yeah, it would be. Wasn't that like 22 years old or something? Yep, I think he was 22 years old. What's crazy is his brother won the college classic that same weekend, didn't he?

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Yeah, yeah, he did. And uh, I think Dave Mercer had them both on and in a podcast a while ago before the classic, and he asked both of them or you know, how Dylan was gonna do in the tournament, and both of them said he was gonna win it pretty nonchalantly, but it was kind of funny, it was cool. And then here we come full circle, and he did.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

Yeah, no, it's really cool to see a kid that young just absolutely annihilating everybody else with confidence. There it is, there's the confidence, right? Yep, yep, for sure. So, you got any uh words of wisdom uh for anyone watching as far as fishing words of wisdom or anything like that.

SPEAKER_00 30:40

Yeah, I I don't know. I I I kind of pinch myself for where I'm at, right? Like I feel lucky that I'm getting to kind of live my dream, and I guess the only thing I can say about something like that is if you want it bad enough, you just gotta work for it. I mean, it comes in stages, right? You don't end up in a you know big fancy new boat within a couple of years of doing this. You gotta you know almost earn your stripes. I came from nothing, you know. I had I had uh you know, small boats, old trucks, whatever, and you know, it it's just like any other job. You just you just put your time and heart and energy into it, and you know, you do a good job and uh things will work out for you.

SPEAKER_01 31:27

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. There's a lot of people that obviously don't, you know, maybe there's some that want to chase like uh the dream of being a full-time guide. Um, you know, some of us have careers, some other people don't. So you just got to make, like you said, you got to make the most of the free time you got and just be thankful to get for the folks that live around us. Like, I'm very thankful that I can be on so many bodies of water in 30 minutes. It's to the point where you know, I joke about this where someone asks me, Well, where are you going fishing tomorrow? I have no idea. Like, I I really have no idea because it'll change while I'm in bed, you know, getting ready for bed. Oh, I should go here the next morning, you know, meet up with the buddies and well, let's go here. And then there's a conversation about it, and then you go to the gas station. Uh, let's actually go because we have so many options. It's just it's really cool. It's it'd almost be better if we had less options, you know, because there'd be less decision making.

SPEAKER_00 32:19

Yeah, no, I mean it it's it's fun though. Like, not every lake's going at the same time. You can go down the road, you know, five, ten miles, and the lake you were just on was horrible. Something's going on, fish weren't eating, you go to the next one, and you you know, you won't have a better day. They're snapping like crazy. So that is one of the alluring good things about living here, is we have so many different options, and we have little lakes and we have big lakes, and we are close to the reservoir systems. Um, we live in a great area. I don't I don't know if there's a better area to live for just catching fish. Um, there's places with bigger fish, but we still have a lot of nice fish here for the size of lakes that we have and the pressure we receive, you know what I mean? The state has done a very good job of stocking walleyes, in my opinion. And uh you know, I don't I don't see it being bad here at all. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:22

I talked to like five, maybe five different people or six different people yesterday that all found found some fish and they were all on different lakes. Yeah, all and every one of them was within like 25-30 minutes of Watertown. And I was like, really? Jeez, that's cool. You know, so it's it is you're right. We're very spoiled. Um, very spoiled to live up here. It's good that you made it up here and you know, moved your family. So it's you and Justin, and you got two young kids, right? Yep, yeah. I got a four-year-old and a 10-month-old right now. Yeah, it's a lot to juggle with guiding, fishing full-time.

SPEAKER_00 33:57

Yeah, I mean, I'm not the best or most organized at everything. So throwing a couple kids in the mix has definitely changed things because I was used to just working and fishing. So I'm having to find a balance and bend a little bit more, which is completely fine. But um, yeah, it's still a new thing. I mean, there's no book on how to be a fishing guide and a parent at the same time or want to go fish tournaments, right? You gotta figure it out. And uh it's good though. I I am lucky, I still get to go a lot. I mean, people probably see me and he's like, Oh, he didn't slow down at all. He has two kids, but you know, I mean, I'm the kind of guy that once I have some, I want some more, you know. So yeah, but it'll it'll get there again. I mean, I've I've been lucky. I I fished a lot, even you know, before we had kids, and you know, when I was just guiding, I remember getting done ice fishing and spending like 16 days on Winnipeg and then heading to Lake of the Woods and fishing the whitefish chain and leaving from there and going to Erie and going from Erie to Green Bay. Like, I I've had a lot of fun, got to be in a lot of different places, so yeah. So and then I get to come home and go fishing again.

SPEAKER_01 35:13

Yeah, because you live in Webster. Yep. Uh that's cool, man. Well, cool. Let's uh we'll wrap it up. Uh it's good stuff, man. I mean, it's good to hear about the business side of things a little bit. Um, learn more about you know, kind of how you approach different bodies of water. I will have to do it again. Hopefully, this year is good for you in the casino cup, and hopefully it's a good year on the water guiding. Um, yeah, appreciate it, man. No, thank you very much. All right, we'll talk to you soon, man. Thanks. Later.