Whiskey n' Walleye Radio
Whiskey n' Walleye Radio is a laid-back fishing podcast where we talk walleye tactics, stories, and lessons from top tournament pros and legends across the country - usually with a glass of whiskey nearby. If you love chasing walleye and hearing real conversations from the people who live it, you're in the right place.
Whiskey n' Walleye Radio
Episode #7 - How Being A Good Dude and Making Friends Can Jumpstart Your Walleye Career
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We're excited to welcome Cody Pixley to Whiskey n' Walleye Radio! 🎙️🐟
Cody has been competing in walleye tournaments for nearly a decade and has established himself as one of the top anglers in the country. Last season, he qualified for the National Walleye Tour Championship, putting him among the Top 40 walleye anglers in the nation.
🏆 NWT Championship Qualifier
🏆 14th in NWT Angler of the Year standings in 2023
🏆 Cashed a check on Lake Erie this season
🏆 Nearly 10 years of tournament experience
He joins Dave Chapman to talk about his tournament journey, lessons learned over the years, how being a good dude can benefit your walleye tournament career, and how he's approaching the rest of the 2026 season.
If you love tournament walleye fishing, this is one you won't want to miss.
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Welcome to the show. Tonight we got Cody Pixley on. I had the pleasure of meeting Cody a couple weeks ago at uh NWT Mowbridge. Just a really easy guy to talk to. So I'm looking forward to this one. He's going to tell us about his uh upbringing, his obviously his tournament career, and uh what he's got moving forward. Cody, how's it going, man?
SPEAKER_00Not too bad, man. How are you?
SPEAKER_02Good, dude. Yeah, real good. We had some we had some storms rolled through last night, and my fiancee and I slept right through them. I mean, it's just tornadoes like 10 miles from town, and wake up in the morning, it's like tornado warnings all over. And so, yeah, we're alive, and so the house is in one piece. So good day.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you know, I may have to drive 20 hours to a lot of these at WT tournaments, but I don't ever have to worry about a tornado. So I have I have that going for me, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, it's crazy. Pros and cons. Yeah, I mean, the I would take the 20-hour drive over that. Luckily, knock on wood. You know, we haven't had any really cause too much big damage around us, but man, it was like probably a 10 or 12 year stretch where you didn't hear of any within 30 miles of us, but uh it seems like the last few years they've just been popping up. So that's weird, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, you just get some crazy storms out there in the Midwest and in that area. It's nuts. I know Wisconsin, I was talking to Max earlier, and they were getting hit with a pretty good one. And talked to JJ earlier, he was driving through one going home, and yeah, they get some early storms out there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, Western South Dakota, which obviously is borders Montana, eastern Montana, but they had like 100 mile an hour straight line winds. This storm when it went through there was like I mean, that's just crazy. Collapsing rain bins.
SPEAKER_00It was like it like we were at Rock Creek on Sunday, and it was supposed to hit like at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. kind of right when we were leaving there, and it like skirted us, like it was just to the west of where we were in eastern Montana. And they said that you know, like Sydney, Montana, and some of those towns, and even like yeah, obviously, Western North Dakota got got hammered pretty hard by that thing, and then now it's now it's down by you guys.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, yeah, it buzzed through here. It's a humid day, it was super humid today, but it cooled us off a little bit, and you know, we needed that, and we needed some moisture, but we've been getting it a lot, so yeah, it's good. It's good. Springfords don't have to run. Cool means let's rewind a little bit, let's talk about where you live, where you grew up.
SPEAKER_00Yep. So I guess I don't know. A lot of people probably don't know. I was actually born in Minnesota, Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, which is like Ottertail County, kind of by you know, Fargo, Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls. I lived there until I was like five. I want to say five or six when we moved out of here. Yeah. So that's probably where the walleye fishing background kind of comes from, right? Like, you know, my dad, my grandpa, you know, my brother-in-law, every you know, everybody back home, obviously, they all walleye fish, and that's obviously where it all probably started and came from was my dad and my grandpa. But we moved out here when I was like, yeah, five or six, and yeah, over the course of that, we I started fishing, and then family all started to trickle back to Minnesota, and I just stayed, so fell in love with Montana and don't don't see a reason to move back to Minnesota anytime soon.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, I think yeah, for sure. It's funny you bring up Pelican Rapids because we uh my fiance's folks have a cabin on Otter Tale. And so, you know, it's right in that same deck of the woods. In fact, one of our one of our very fur first dates was you know, we went hiking in like Glendalo or one of those places out there, and then we went to Pelican Rapids for lunch. And it's it's a small town, but it's super clean town, good eateries, and you know, it's like like everything's like on a hill there, and I mean it's just it sticks out for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, cool little town. So yeah, I still have a ton of family back there. My mom, my dad live back there, my sister. Yeah, pretty much everybody, grandparents, they all live back there. So I go back quite a bit in the summer, you know. It's I don't know. I I travel back there a lot, once, twice, three times, four times a year. So yeah, the 10, 11 hour drive from here to there is nothing to me anymore. I've done it so many times that it's it's a cakewalk.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, yeah, it's a cool area. I mean, there's a ton of lakes right there, and you you think of like Minnesota and the land of 10,000 lakes. Well, they count like basically they're not really sloughs, like we call just puddles sloughs, but they're small, you know.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's some there's some sloughs that are definitely called lakes in that state, but yeah, uh yeah, I mean there's water everywhere, it's insane. I I that is the one thing I get jealous of like the summers in Minnesota on the lakes, and like just so many lakes to go to, and even the winter's like all the ice fishing opportunity, you know. Yeah, you could probably have 10 10 lakes within five miles of your house, whereas like out here in Montana, everything's so remote. I mean, the my closest body of water. I know Gage talked about it, Canyon Ferry, which is like quote unquote, our local lake. Like walleye fishing lake is I mean, it's take me 45 minutes to an hour to get there from around that. And I'm just a little bit west of Gage, so I'm a little bit closer than he is, but yeah. Yeah, so I mean, it's just it's just big, right? You gotta travel a lot a long ways, but it's worth it for all the other perks of Montana.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, Montana's like one of those states. I think about the states I'd live in and South Dakota, obviously, that's why I'm here. But you know, North Dakota, maybe Montana definitely, Wyoming, Idaho, you know, those places, like that strip of states right up in the upper Midwest that are just awesome.
SPEAKER_00I lived in North Dakota for a while, kind of out of high school. I went up there and worked for I don't know, three, four years off and on, kind of doing the oil field thing. And I was, yeah, I lived just in a town, Stanley, North Dakota, just north of Sakakua, like I don't know, 30 minutes. Yeah. And yeah, I lived there and it wasn't bad. The winters are just brutal up there, you know, and it's it's like you get extremes. It's super hot in the summer and it's super cold in the winter. It's like there's never a nice perfect temperature season, it seems like. Or if there is very short.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's really short. You know, here even eastern South Dakota. Well, most of South Dakota, except the Black Hills, it's it's like cardboard with wind, you know, and and the that wind in the wintertime just absolutely sucks when it's yeah, 1520 below and blowing 20, 30 miles an hour, or whatever it is. And then, like you said, like right now, I mean, it's the other day we had a heat heat index of like 105, you know, yeah, something or 90, something stupid, you know.
SPEAKER_00You just go you probably get the humidity too where you're at in in South Dakota, too.
SPEAKER_02We do, yeah. At times it gets real humid where like even yesterday was really humid. Obviously, these storms brewing around or whatever leads to that. But all in all, I would like you said, there's trade-offs for being in Montana, it's the same thing here. I just yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, South Data is definitely one of those states I could I could live in besides Montana for sure. Like, if you gave me a choice between living in Minnesota and South Dakota, I'd probably find myself a spot just over the border in South Dakota as opposed to Minnesota. Like yeah, I'd rather be a resident of South Dakota.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, this is like we're like 20, I want to say around 20 miles from the Minnesota state line here in Watertown, and it's about as far east as you can get where there's civilization. There's some smaller towns, but Watertown's one of those towns is pretty big for the state. And okay, I love it, man. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So we got a chance to sit down a little bit at Mulbridge. I mean, we're just we're both sitting at Sportsman's, just struck up a conversation. I'm like, Yeah, this dude's cool, man.
SPEAKER_00So it was beat everybody back to the house, and I was like, it was a rough day and it was windy, and I was like, I'm gonna go get a beer and a burger, and just happen to pop a squat next to you uh there at the bar.
SPEAKER_02So that's crazy how that stuff happens.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_02Sportsman's there's something about the beers at Sportsman's that are just a little bit better.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that is such a cool place. I've never been to Acasca. I've been to Awahi when I was younger with my grandpa and stuff, but like it's been so long I didn't even remember it. And yeah, it was the first time kind of being down there, you know, nowadays or as an adult. And yeah, that little town of Akasca is pretty cool, you know. Everything's walking distance to the one bar where you can get food and something to drink, and you know, the lake's seven miles down the road, and yeah, you can launch right there and catch big fish, as you know. So it was it was definitely a cool little town, a cool little place.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's one of those places that I hadn't spent much time in until well here and there over the last few years, but really last year, and I've just learned to love it. You know, it's it's just like you said. I mean, you can rent a place there or whatever and be a block away from a good place to eat, and you know, there's not a lot of people, so yeah, and everybody that's there is there for really one thing, and it's walleyck, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's fascinating.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. So, yeah, so let's talk a little bit about like we talked a little bit about your childhood, but what was it like? What was it like transitioning to Montana? Do you have like your first memories of fishing in Montana or walleye fishing in general?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so kind of, I guess. I don't know. Growing up, I found a friend when we moved here who happened to be, he's from here, but his dad is from Wisconsin. And so he walleye fished and his dad walleye fished, and his dad had a nice walleye fishing boat. And between my dad and the boats he had over the years and my buddy Chris and his dad, I mean, we spent a lot of time, and he he actually has a cabin that they live at permanently now, but that up on that Canyon Ferry Reservoir. So when we were kids, you know, we'd dink around all week and go to school, whatever, this, that, and on the weekends, we'd shoot up to the lake and go hang out at the lake up there. And his dad take us out fishing on the weekends, whatever. Like I said, and when I wasn't doing that, my dad was taking us out camping, fishing here, there, Fort Peck, you know, wherever. But yeah, it was like it was up there at Canyon Four where we started to get more and more adventurous on our own, I would say. You know, we weren't very old when it was like somehow convinced his dad that, hey, can you dump us in and let us just we'll just use a trolling motor? We're only gonna go out, you know, here and Canyon Ferry is a pretty good sized lake, you know, it can get pretty, pretty nasty out there. And it you know, it started from that, and then the next you know, few years later, we're taking the boat to Fort Peck by ourselves as 17-year-olds, 16-year-olds, you know, and so it just kind of evolved. And eventually, before you knew it, we were yeah, out and out on our own and running around. And but yeah, no, I mean, we just we just fished for fun and never never even knew what a walleye fishing tournament was, to be quite honest. I mean, I was in my early 20s before I even you know cared to know about walleye fishing tournaments. I really had no clue. The only thing I knew about it was that every year they had a walleye fishing tournament on Canyon Ferry, and it got super busy and there was people everywhere, and fishing was a pain in the butt. That's about all I knew about walleye fishing tournaments when I was, you know, even in my teens, really, you know.
SPEAKER_02So older you know? 35. 35, yeah. So that's been you got a few years under your belt.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how old we were. It was, you know, Chris and I actually, who we fished our first walleye tournament together. I want to say it was probably on Canyon Ferry, but I don't remember how old we were. Like man, I I'd say we were probably 22, 23, somewhere in there, I would say. I kind of I kind of moved back from North Dakota when I was like 21, right? And then we kind of started doing them, I think, is somewhere in there. So we were very early into our 20s when we started kind of dabbling and then you know, kept doing Montana circuit ones and always dreamed about going to do big ones, you know, never really thought it was realistic, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, when did you when did you start like when was your first NWT tournament?
SPEAKER_00Would have been what is it, 2026. So it would have been like 2022, 2022 or 2023. I mean, this is this is only my third full year of doing them. I had to cut it short. Was it last year? No, the year before that. So the first year I did it, I made the championship. That was only had the championship on Devil's Lake. That was the first year I did. I want to say it was 22 or 23. The next season, I only got to do two of them. We were kind of in the midst of building the house and needed to focus more on that, apparently. So I was told and then last year fished a full season. This year, hopefully fishing a full season too.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, absolutely. No, that's cool. It's you know, in in talking to Gage and stuff, I shared a little bit of this, but I'll share it again. Is it it was a cool experience for me. Just I get the appeal. Um obviously, anyone who's fishing that, I feel anyone who's fishing that has a competitive edge or like a competitive thirst, let's say, yeah, just want to be because there's a lot invested in, not just monetarily, but uh time, right? And yeah, so I I could see how fishing a whole like the whole circuit would just be freaking awesome.
SPEAKER_00It is, it's it's pretty cool. Yeah, I I didn't I I co-angled one event with Gage and Wayne in South Dakota. And where was that? Chamberlain, or not yeah, yeah. And I pretty much did it once, and I was like, Yeah, I can do that, or like I, you know, I want to take it in my boat next time. So the next spring is the first one I went to, and I asked those guys if I could tag along. They said that was fine. And I I just had planned doing the one, you know. I was busy, I just started my own business and it was in Illinois on the Illinois River, and I told my wife, I was like, I'm not gonna do, you know, and then the the closer it got, the more excited I got, and like looking at the schedule, and I was like, How about this? I said, if I take like top 15, I get to do the second one, right? And I went there and I think I tied for 11th. And so I was like, Well, now I'm gonna do the next one. And then I went to the next one and I did terrible. It was on Winnebago, bomb that, because that's a shallow, finicky son of a gun. And then so I then my excuse was, well, I did really bad at that one, so I gotta try again, you know. And then went to South Dakota. And then I went to South Dakota, Francis Case cashed a check, and I was like, okay, I'm back, you know. And it I had a pretty good first year. It was okay. I cashed a few checks. So yeah. And then yeah, once it's like, I don't know. It seems like every year I have to like convince my wife and like, you know, myself sometimes too. It's like, all right, I'm gonna do them. And then it's like, man, it's such a it's a burden. It's takes a lot of time, takes a lot more money, it takes a lot of everything to do it, especially being from all the way out here where you got to drive to everything. You know, it's just like, holy cow. People tell me all the time, they're like, I I don't think I'd do it. I don't think I could do it. And I'm like, yeah, well, when you're competing for a hundred thousand dollars, it that makes that makes the drive there not that bad. And dependent on how that tournament goes, that determines how the drive home goes. You know what I mean? Like, yeah, there's been some drives, there's been some drives home from Erie, from you know, that Green Bay, that Michigan area that have been a 24-hour trip, but it feels like 48 hours because you're like drive with driving without the radio, contemplating what you're doing with your life, going, why am I doing this? Is so dumb. I'm not good enough to do this. I suck. I'm the worst person. You can go to the next one and and you can do well, and it's like, I don't know, you know. So it's definitely plays games with you a little bit. But overall, like you said, it's about the competing. Like I grew up playing sports, every sport there was, right? And like super competitive. And once you get out of high school, right? I played hockey for another year or two after that, but like once I realized the dreams were over, right? I was never making it to do anything in sports. I was like, what you kind of run out of things to compete at, you know what I mean? Like this just happened to be I love fishing and I love to compete. So like it's just an actual game, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, you talk about like the expense that goes into it and uh the entry fees, because so you go, you know, it's two grand to get in this year. Uh everybody's kind of not everybody, but people are kind of anticipating that's gonna go up next year. Uh that's like I don't want to say that's the smallest expense, but that's not even you know, that's a smaller, that's not even half of the expense when you figure in fuel, fuel in the boat. Like, even I mean, I was talking to one of my best friends last night, and I was like, he's like, How many gallons of fuel did you go? We're talking about so he just got a boat, and he's like, What are you getting for fuel economy in that 400? And I was like, dude, it's not good, right? Like it just it absolutely drinks. So we figured it out what it was for the basically four and a half days of pre-fishing and then the tournament, and it was like, I don't want to know. No, just kidding. Dude, it was it was more than what it cost to get into the tournament.
SPEAKER_00I believe it, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and I was like, I didn't even I didn't even think about it though, you know.
SPEAKER_00And I mean that's the one expense I try not to even I try not to pay attention to that one. I don't I don't pay attention to the fuel that goes in my truck and the fuel that goes into my boat. To me, it's like pay the entry fee, pay for the lodging, you know, your license, bait if you need it, whatever. The fuel one is just like I just close my eyes, slide the carbon and go, I don't even want to know. Like, yeah, because I and I and I start thinking about it here and there, like how much, how many times did I fill up? You know, this and I'm like, I it's just better if I don't know. It's better if I don't even calculate it. But I know how much each one costs me, you know, roughly. And it varies a little bit, but for the most part, it's you know, I don't care. It's it's it costs anywhere from four to five grand, you know, depending, you know, and that's entry fee and then fuel and lodging. And we get lucky, we usually split a house amongst a handful of us, so like the lodging is fairly cheap, but yeah, still adds to it, you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, it does, it's all an expense, but it's with like you said, I mean, I was the same way. I played well, I played baseball growing up, and and then when that ran out, I was like, it was like this just emptiness, you know. And I'm not feeling that with tournament fishing, you know, that's it's not my thing. I'm gonna fish a couple tournaments a year just because yeah, I love it, but uh just fishing in general is like that. It's it's almost like an internal competition, and everybody I think approaches it the same way. What's the next biggest fish I can catch? You know, it's not about quantity, it's quality for me.
SPEAKER_00So yeah, and figuring stuff out too. Like it's a challenge, right? People think fishing, the old, you know, the thought of fishing for years was such a it was, you know, it's this relaxing sit on the shore and toss a bobber in the water and sit there, right? And it's just like it's so far from that. It can be that, don't get me wrong, it can be that, but it's so far from that nowadays that it's you know, it's it's it's difficult, it's it's a challenge, it's hard, it takes I I seen something the other day. It was like fishing is the most frustrating, relaxing thing there is in the world, and there's that that couldn't have summed it up any better. Because like when it's fun and when you're going, it's the best. And when it's not, it is you can pull your hair out, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, and it has changed a lot, you know. Everything, you know, I've got obviously friends and family members who their level of of fishing is different than than mine, you know, or or ours, or some of our friend group, but you know, it's what you want out of it, right? That's what you put into it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if you want to be the guy that's throws a bobber from the shore and drinks a beer, and you can do that. You can absolutely enjoy yourself doing that. Or if you want to be the guy with the $150,000 boat and $20,000 in electronics, you can do that too. You know, it's kind of you take out of it whatever you want, you know. At the end of the day, you're catching a fish or attempting to catch a fish.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, yeah, it's really cool. And you get the all different levels can find success, even when you talk about just like the size of the fish. I know that our state record, and and I'm I believe this is correct, but our state record was broke like three two times in three weeks, three years ago. And right in between that, there was like some lady fishing off a dock that caught like like a 17 or 16 pound walleye, you know, just like throw like drowning a worm. You know what I mean? It's just awesome.
SPEAKER_00Our our state record for the longest time, it's held by a guy named now one of my buddies. He's a guide out of Helena, which is just a little the next reservoir, a couple reservoirs down from Canning Ferry, but Trevor Johnson. But he the guy boat that held it before that, I think it was 17 something pounds, and he caught it from shore up at this little reservoir in in north kind of north central Montana. Caught it offshore 17 something pound wall. And then it held the record for just kind of guessing off the top of my head. I mean, it was 10 years, eight years, I bet. And then Trevor broke it with like I think 1802, I think is what it is right now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there's one up in there's one up in North Dakota that it's not for some reason there's some drama around it. We'll go figure. But this dude caught it like fishing some river, you know, like some some small muddy river, and it was like some I don't even remember the weight, but it was like the pending state record, and then people said that he snagged it, and then you know, North Dakota game fishing parks, whatever they call it up there, DNR, like sided with I don't know, it's messed up, but this thing is just yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, I I remember seeing it, and I think, yeah, I think they determined eventually in the end that it was snagged, yeah. But it wasn't caught in the mouth or caught legally, you know. Which can you imagine that? That'd be that'd be quite the story. Like, yeah, I got the state record while I, but it doesn't count. Yeah, that would suck. I don't know. Montana's a cool state. Montana's a cool state like that, too, because like Minnesota, right? It's super hard to catch the state record. Well, I don't even know what it is in Minnesota. I think it's Been held since like is like the early 1900s, is when the Minnesota State Record was posted, and it hasn't changed since. But they also have seasons, right? Like you can't walleye fish until three weeks ago. And out here, like I had the boat in the water. The only month I didn't have the boat in the water this year was January. And it wasn't because I couldn't have had it in the water, it's just because I was doing other stuff and hunting. I was probably bird hunting more than anything, but I could have had the boat in the water an hour from my house all 12 months this year.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00So, you know, like South Dakota, North North Dakota's the same way. I mean, well, North Dakota, everything freezes in North Dakota, but they get on that river pretty early in the spring, you know. Yep. Yep.
SPEAKER_02Down south they do here. Uh yeah. Below the dam. And I I mean, I haven't gone out that early. We've had the boat in the water. I fished a Wahi in December last year. That's the latest. I've been out there, and it was still, I mean, it stayed open pretty much most of the year. I think it only locked up for like two months.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, which is a super mild winter here, too. Same thing.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. So, what do you do for a living?
SPEAKER_00I am a crane operator. I own and operate a small crane business, taxi crane business. So I just have a couple boom trucks and roll around the state. Keep it fairly close to home usually. My dailies kind of just are Bozeman here, Big Sky. But yeah, I crane operators, I set a lot of trusses and HVAC units and units.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Okay, cool.
SPEAKER_00Stuff I was doing true removal this morning, and tomorrow I gotta go set steel up in Big Sky. So it's like yeah, just construction industry stuff. But so I own and operate that and been on my own for this is my fifth year, I think, which it's allowed me to go fishing more. Is that a good thing? I don't know. Probably not. It's kind of one of those I get to go fishing more, even though I shouldn't probably fish as much as I do, type of thing. It's like give me an inch, I take a mile, and when it comes to that, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00It allows it allows me to go do some of those tournaments, so which is cool.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that flexibility is important. I think a lot of guys that are that are on the tour that are fishing all four have to have that flexibility because it I don't know, maybe there is an anomaly, but I'm guessing there's nobody that's showing up, you know, to the rules meeting and fishing two days and going home. You know, it's if there is not all four, maybe there's some local that is, and I'm just gonna try this for the the hell of it, but it takes a lot of time. I mean, there's a lot of time that goes into it. I got you mentioned the oil field. So I got a buddy who's actually he grew up in Rappel Jay, and I think he lives in Butte now, but he ran a frack, he had his own like semi-business, you know, hauling business up there. Oh, yeah, and and he did that for like man 10 or 12 years up in North Dakota, just hauling frack sand. And he just he made hay, you know. It was it was really good up there for a lot of years, but you know, I I guess the uh the living conditions up there aren't really the best.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I don't know. I I lived in man camps when I was first job I ever took there. I think I was I'd have been 18. And I showed up in Williston at like 9 p.m. to a man camp that I'd never been to, didn't know anybody. Got a room to some random dude from Air's New Mexico, I think. Probably didn't sleep that night, just like laid there because like we shared there was two beds in a in a room, so like you had a roommate, and if you didn't come with somebody or like predetermined who you're standing with, yeah, they just stuck you in a random room. So yeah, I got stuck with some random super nice guy. I ended up becoming kind of friends, and sorry, my dog's just hanging out. Oh good. Um, but yeah, no, I mean it was nice because it was brand new, but yeah, like I mean it wasn't. I looked around, it didn't take me very long. I looked around at some of the guys I was working with, and no offense to them, but like it was you knew very early. I knew very early on, I'm like, I'm not that I'm not doing this my whole life. Like, you know, I'm like, this is a rough life. Like, you know, these guys have kids and wives in other states, you know, across the country, and like they don't get to see them because they'll go to this job for they'll be here for six months and then they'll pack their stuff and they'll go down to Colorado for six months or California, and it's just like yeah, this ain't for me, man. I'm like, I'm here because they told me I was gonna make X amount an hour, and I was 18 and my eyes lit up, and I'm like, sure, okay, I could do that. And honestly, like it worked out. I made a career out of what I went there. I didn't have a trade when I went there, they didn't even know what to do with me. I just was a laborer for a while. I was on the job with 300 some employees, and there was these giant cranes. And one one day I ran out of work, kind of I was just picking up trash and just doing whatever. I'm like, what do you want me to do now? You know, and they're like, go hang out with that guy in that crane. I'm like, okay. So I went and hung out with this guy in this crane. Happened to be from Montana, and I don't know, a couple years later, a few years later, I moved home, said, I'm enough with this, and got a job with a local crane company here in Bozeman and worked there for 10 years, and then went out on my own, bought my own, and yeah, just evolution. But it worked out like I said, I went there as a kid with just looking for some money and ended up with a career out of it, kind of stumbled into it, you know what I mean? Like wasn't on wasn't on purpose, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02So, yeah, absolutely. So let's talk about this year so far. So, pretty good showing on Erie, huh?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I had a decent tournament on Erie. I wish I had day one back a little bit, but it was brutal. They probably shouldn't have sent us, but I'm trying to think somebody I just listened into maybe it was the last tour level gold. I was watching the last tour level gold, and I see myself in there every once in a while. I'm like, oh, that's me. Um but I was told, I was watching it, and Dusty was saying, he's like, those guys didn't think they were going. Like John, Dewey, they didn't think they were going. And Max told us, he's like, We're going 100,000. He goes, That wind's blowing out of the south uh southwest. He's like, at takeoff, it's gonna be nothing. They're gonna send us 100, they're 100% sending us. And so we I I woke up, like, I knew I was going fishing, I knew it was gonna be not good, but I knew we were going fishing. Yeah, and I think I forget how far of a run it is from there to from Monroe to the islands, I want to say it's like 32 miles, I want to say. I mean, there's a point where you can't really see land, yeah. And it was brutal. Like, and I had this gal with me, Sarah. She was fairly local, and I, you know, I kind of just told her, I'm like, if it gets to be too much, just let me know, like, say something. And she was awesome. She's a champ, she's just like, do not worry about me. I live here, I do this, I do this for fun. I'm like, okay. And we went and she we'd hit a big wave, and I'd probably drop an F bomb here and there, and she'd just kind of laugh. And I'm like, this is so dumb. Why are we doing this? But we finally made it all the way out there, and it took way longer. It took, I think it took 45 minutes longer than I even had anticipated. And I knew it was gonna take the same, if not more, on the way back, and so we lost, I lost a couple hours of fishing easily on day one, like extra hours of fishing that I had not even prepared for. So I got out there and I'm like, oh man, we have like three hours to catch these fish. And it was hard because the wind was blown, so like it made it extremely difficult. And then day two, we got a little bit of a break. It still wasn't great, but it was better, and I was just able to turn on more fish and and find bigger fish, and yeah, it worked out. I didn't quite think I had 40, I think I weighed like 40, 41 something. I thought I was gonna be like right at 40, you know. I and it's wavy out there, you're trying to weigh fish, and I'm like, I don't know, it's big enough, put it in the box, like it's 10-ish, 12-ish, you know, whatever they are. And yeah, uh, yeah, I was kind of pleasantly surprised when I came in and it was 41 something, and I knew I I knew I jumped up a lot right there. So that was kind of the goal, right? I mean, you have a not great day one, and all you can do is go swing for it on day two and and hope you hope you can have a bigger bag. And I mean, I I definitely left some weight out there. There was some marks that I chased for a while because they weren't like they were pretty aggressive and like they'd eat most things, but like some of them wouldn't. And I chased a couple of giant fish out there. And if I would have got even one more of those to go, I mean I would have had 43, 44 pounds probably, and I would have probably been top 10. So but it was a good it was a good day overall.
SPEAKER_02So you you wound up in 14th there? Fifteenth, I think. I can remember it's 14th or 15th.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's solid, man. I mean that's and I mean that was a big field. That's a hundred and I think it was 143 boats or something like that. And there's a lot of local sticks that get in those Erie tournaments, and they know what they're doing out there, so yeah.
SPEAKER_02Had you been to Erie before that?
SPEAKER_00Twice. So the first time I went was in 2024, first tournament of the year. That was the one Hoyer won kind of forward-facing the first like breakthrough. Holy cow, you can win a tournament on Erie forward-facing tonar, right? Yeah, and I that was I was still pretty green to it, right? The forward-facing thing, and I just I didn't even think that it was possible, I guess, or like even try. I mean, I did, I guess, try a little bit, but like not enough. Yeah. And so I was pulling bait or pulling spinners, I think. That was I think that might have been the worst finish I've ever had in an NWT tournament. And I told Will Pat and Foos after the tournament because we were working together, staying together. I told them, like, if there's ever a live scope like bite like that again, and you see me with long rods in my boat, I'm like, I want you to slap the crap out of me. Because I can do that. So that was a big eye-opener, though. That was kind of the turning point for me where it's like it's it's forward facing or bust. I don't care where we're at, I don't care what we're doing, like, I don't care how windy it is, it doesn't matter. Like anymore, it's like there's Max Wilson always says if he sees you doing anything but live scoping, he always says it's not that bad. It's never bad enough to not live scope. And I usually kind of laugh at him, and but he's kind of right. Like, it's never bad enough to where you can get him live scoping somehow, somehow. Is it easier to do other things sometimes? Absolutely, but you can always get them for a face somehow, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you look at like a Wahi, and you know, there were a lot of guys that were cranking, but you know, stall one at live scoping. Yeah, there were some guys that in the top ten for sure that cranked, and I mean that's the other thing, it goes back to what we were talking about. It's like however you focus is like the guy that's on the shore throwing the bobber, right?
SPEAKER_00Well, right, that and like whatever whatever you're the most efficient at. Like if it's so bad that you can't live scope and you think you're more efficient doing the other things, are you gonna win? I mean, like Oahe proved that yeah, you probably could have. It's still it's still relevant, right? It's not gone out the wayside, like you can still win tournaments cranking. Yeah, um it's just if the weather's nice and there's guys that can live scope, you're probably gonna get beaten. If the if you have the weather on your side, you can still win tournaments pulling bait and and doing it that way, or unless you're on like a river or something, you know, that's a different story too. But like big body of water, I'd say if the weather is favorable, it's probably being one live scoping.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. The selectiveness. I mean, that's that's what it is. You can choose what you try to catch.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_01Like yeah.
SPEAKER_00So but Erie 2024 was the first time I'd ever been there. And then we went back last year, fourth stop before the championship, and I kind of needed to kind of needed to solidify my spot in the championship. Like, I basically just couldn't bomb it, right? Like I think I needed to take 60th or better, 65th or better, or something like that. And I don't know how many boats there were in that one, maybe a hundred. Yeah. Um, but I went out day one and and had a pretty good day. I was sitting third after day one. And then day two fell off a little bit. Ended up cashing a check for like 18th, I think.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00So I solidified my spot in the championship, and then you know, cashed a check as well. You can't beat that. So I I got what I needed to out of that one. But in that on that one, like I didn't even bring I did not bring my cranking rods.
SPEAKER_01You left them at home.
SPEAKER_00I left them at the house, didn't even bring them. And I was like, I'm not doing it. If I'm going to Erie again, I'm I know now, like what I know now is I'm going there live scope, and we did. Yeah, it was it was a blast. It's it was we were in the kind of the middle base. Well, no, we would have been like in the eastern basin, and it was the craziest. If you wanted to, individually, you could have caught a hundred fish a day, and they were all two to three pounds. Like you were looking for fives and sixes and sevens, but you could have legitimately caught a hundred a day by yourself. It was insane how many fish are out there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And they were chewing, they were they were going, you know. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I haven't been to Erie. I I don't know for whatever reason it doesn't spark any interest. Yeah. I shouldn't say any, but not a lot.
SPEAKER_00You should go just to see just to see how many fish there are, because it's pretty mind-blowing stuff. Like just that experience alone is putting that live scope in and going, well, these can't all be walleyes, and then finding out these are all walleyes. It's pretty crazy. Really? It's it's pretty mind-blowing stuff. Yeah. It's and it's fun. And it makes you, and honestly, it's good practice. Like, you know, it's not going to help you finesse-wise just because they're pretty suicidal. Like, they'll eat anything, like, you know, but it's it's there's so many of them, and you can kind of start to pick sizes out, and like, oh, that's a smaller one, that's a bigger one. Those are three bigger ones, or you're like, you know, you can watch your bait on them just because like if you mess up once, you know, like on certain lakes or certain body's water, if you mess up once, it might be 30 minutes before you get another crack at another one. Out there, it's by the time you reel in and go left or right, there's another one you could try again. So, like, it is really good for practicing and like kind of dialing in the live scoping thing. You're gonna leave there thinking you're a hero on the live scope, you know.
SPEAKER_02It's uh it's pretty so I mean it it can be good too, you know. Yeah, for sure. No, I get that. I didn't thought about it like that. So let's so you're like your tournament routine. This is not the same thing I asked Gage, but I think it'd be a good one to see if there's a different perspective. Maybe there isn't, but you guys, when did you get there? On on let's let's talk about Oahui. So what day did you get there?
SPEAKER_00That tournament was Wednesday, Thursday, right? That correct yeah, I want to say I got there. Man, I don't remember, but I wanna say I could look through my phone, but I want to say probably like the Friday before. Okay, I want to say so. I basically got to fish what Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, five days, four and a half days basically, because they cut you short a little bit the day before the tournament, but not really. I think you get to fish till four or whatever it is, or three. So I mean, you get a full day out of it, basically. You just get on the water a little bit earlier that day, and yeah. Um, I know I'm sure there's some guys who only fish a little while on that last day and kind of check their stuff to make sure it's still there. I I never seem to find myself in that situation. I'm usually still scratching my head and trying to last second figure something out, but that's just that's me. So but yeah, like five days basically pre-fish.
SPEAKER_02So when you got to Hawaii, you hadn't fished it much. How did you get it?
SPEAKER_00I mean, I was I would say basically not at all.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So so especially that stretch. So travel team aside, like what was your what was your approach going into pre-fishing? And what do you you're just looking for fish and just that's pretty much it?
SPEAKER_00We're like we're always talking, right? And like that's the beauty of the team. And you couldn't do should I say you can't do it. There's guys that try, and there's guys that are somewhat successful, I guess. It's so hard to do it at any of these on your own. These bodies of water are so massive. And like me, like never being to Awahi, if I didn't have the guys with me who have been there and like have some experience on it, and this and that, and like we all talk, right? Like chit chat this, hey, you're gonna need these baits. Hey, the trees, you gotta know the trees, and all this, you know. So it's like that stuff's all worth a million dollars. Like, it's it's just you can't put a price on all that information, and even though it's a lot different when you get there and put the trolling motor in, it's it's a start, right? Like, um, but my whole thing going into it was you know, I knew the trees, but the the bigger trees are further south, kind of, and it was the biggest question getting there was where are these fish? Are they in North Dakota still? Are they coming back from Bismarck or are they in the lake? And that was something that nobody was gonna know until we got there. And it took us a few days, and I think we kind of came to the general consensus that they're on their way back down right now. Like the water temps are a little colder than they should be, uh, you know, even up in North Dakota. And so I think everything felt like it was just a little bit late, right? Like had they had that tournament two weeks later, you know, you were there, would have been silly, right? Would have been crazy weights. But it didn't take very long of us being there for a couple of days to realize, hey, this is gonna be tough. Like this, this isn't gonna be monster bags that win this thing, like we were all kind of anticipating. Like it's gonna be a little bit of a grind. And it was, I mean, pre-fishing, pre-fishing the first few days. I mean, I want to say I caught one fish the first day, I want to say I caught two fish the second day, I think I caught one fish again the third day, and it's just like, oh my gosh, like I don't think I'm gonna catch five fish in this tournament, you know. Like you said the same thing. Yeah, it wasn't just you. I think I told you that that night at the bar. I'm like, look, man, I there there's a legitimate chance like I go out there and swing and miss and zero, like any of us can. It's it's tough right now, you know. And the weather that we kind of got didn't help. The first day we were there, it was 80 degrees. The next day it was 80 degrees, and then after that, it pretty much just went downhill. And any kind of momentum we had been building with those fish coming down and kind of firing up, we lost like overnight, you know. A couple storms rolled in, and it was like, yep, they're you know, optimistic that hey, it's gonna really fire by tournament day. Like, uh no, that ain't gonna happen. That's gonna be tough the whole time.
SPEAKER_02So well, the thing that sucked is like Wednesday, so a week before the tournament, I'm looking at the forecast, and it's like 74. So Wednesday and Thursday was like 74 and like five to ten mile an hour winds for both the days, and I'm like, those are like dream days on Oahu because you just don't really see sub 10 mile an hour winds very often, you know. Yeah, and then of course, you know, the weatherman's wrong and always, yeah.
SPEAKER_00No, I packed a lot of shorts to that tournament that I did not wear, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02It was like two extra layers on. Oh, yeah, oh yeah, yeah. No, that's cool. I think that's what it was. That was the first night where I was like, all right, I'm not alone. You know, that we're just sitting there at the bar, and you're like, dude, you're not alone. I mean, this is I after you know finding out who you were and stuff, and you're like, I feel I feel the same way, man. I'm like, yeah, this dude's full of crap to make you know, is he making me feel better?
SPEAKER_00Because he's like, Oh you're probably like this guy's this man, these tournaments are really this competitive. Like, this guy's not even he's gonna lie to me straight to straight to my face and tell me it's tough out here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I know exactly. I'm like, this dude's trying to sandbag. I would get it if you were, you know.
SPEAKER_00I I I'm you we talked about this with the bartoon. It's like I'm yeah, sure, I'm an NWT pro, but like I that's not how I look at myself. Like, I go there and I look at all these other names, and I still look at those names and be like, man, I can't compete with these guys. Like, I have a hard time convincing myself a lot of times, you know. It's probably a downfall in some regards to how I place and this and that, but like it's been that's just that's just fishing in general, it's confidence, right? Like, you can be the best fisherman in the world if you have confidence, and it's it's a fickle thing, though. Like, I lose it very easily, but the older you get, the more level-headed you can stay. And I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you've been there, you've experienced it before, and you know that like that's one thing I I learned. I mean, I I've been out fishing and had crappy days, and then all of a sudden you catch a big fish at the end of the day, or you know, or whatever it is, you know, a couple hours in. But that was how it was for me on day one, where I was like, man, I mean, I could not, I lost a I lost a good fish right away, like 30 had a game plan. Finally, the day before the tournament, had a game plan, right? I'm like, all right, so go to the same spot, 20, 30 minutes in, hook into a big one, and lose it. And I'm like, dang. And I didn't catch an over the rest of the tournament, just so you know. But anyway, you know, I lose this one right away, and then it's like four or five hours before I catch a walleye. But that that one fish, you know, that I caught after losing that one was like, oh, everything's changed now. There's something in the box, you know. That's yeah, yeah, that was all it's about. But what's crazy too is so that was Wednesday, Thursday. I was there the next Monday, it which was three days later, and it had fired, like it was starting to fire big time. I mean, it was just yeah, it's bad timing.
SPEAKER_00We were talking about Dewey, and he said the same thing. He's like six days, seven days, he's like, it's gonna go, and it did. Like, yeah, from whatever from what I heard and what I saw, like it definitely fired. We all knew it was coming. It was just the weather we got that week, like delayed it for just another week, you know. And what do you do? I mean, you can't control the weather, you can't control anything, honestly. And I yeah, it was a grind. I it was one of the tougher, definitely one of the tougher NWT tournaments that I've gone to. And but now, but now, you know, I've been there now. I've been there, I know what to look for, I know what it's like, I know that's such a huge part of these big tournaments. And like, and it's getting to the point now. I'm in year, well, I don't even know. This is like my third full season, right? I've been to almost every one of these places now. Granted, I didn't oh he was a new one, right? And so, but like been to Green Bay, been to Erie, been to Sakakwia, like, and it's and that's part of it, man. Like, I go into it, these bodies of water where I've never been, and I have all the help in the world, right? Like, I have Max and all these guys like engage and like engage is kind of in the same boat too. He hasn't been to all these, but You know, it's like they can help you out all you want. It's still tricky when you put the trolling motor in and go. Like it's hard, right? Like it's still it's daunting. It can be very, very overwhelming. Yeah. When you go to a place you've been, like Erie, this is my third time at Erie. And it only took the first time of me getting my butt kicked to like figure out, okay, now I know. And now that I've always just kind of been that way. I've always kind of been a learner. Like I go once, and if all like show me how to do it, or like show me what not to do, or show myself what not to do, and I'll know what to do the next time. And that's just like, you know, eerie, for instance. Like, I I wasn't good. The next time I went back, had a good tournament. Third time I went back, had a good tournament. And it's just like I know before I even put my truck in my trailer on the road out of my driveway, I know where I'm going and I know what I'm doing. Before I even some of these other tournaments where I've never been to, it's like it's almost an overload of information. You know, there's so many different podcasts you listen to, videos you watch on YouTube. It's just like you try to take in as much as you can. Honestly, like I don't know that it helps. Like you, you know, I mean it does to an extent, but it's yeah, you won't make it until you get there.
SPEAKER_02You paint yourself in the corner. I mean, that's the thing too, is you know, you gotta with fishing in general, but it's let's talk just awahi in general. I've been so focused on trees for the last well, she's called a year, right? Yeah, that like fishing the brakes or the old river channel breaks, it wasn't even a thought to me. But I'd hear like my buddies, oh, we caught them on the brakes, and I'm like, Yeah, whatever, I'm on the trees. There's some maybe it's because that's how I started fishing it out there was was like live scoping the trees.
SPEAKER_00It's you have confidence in it.
SPEAKER_02Exactly. Yep. But then this this, you know, two weeks ago when I went out there, I was like, I checked the trees, there wasn't much going on, caught like one under off of it, and then I'm gonna go check this break thing, like this inside turn break thing, you know, and sure as shit, there that's how it was. So, but that's one of those things that like like you're saying, you learn and you go, Okay, there's more, yeah, there's more to check out, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And going to those NWT tournaments, like it'll teach you because everyone there is so good. It's they're so good. Like maybe you didn't think about the breaks. Well, there was 40 other guys that knew about it and the trees, and then there was another 40 guys that knew about the river channel, something up north, you know, or like it's but you go and you learn, like even if you lose, you learn, right? Like, how'd they win it? And and it's all you know, you hear stories, this, that. Oh, he won it up here, he was doing this, and then it kind of starts to click in your head, okay, okay. Now, and then the next time you go, you get to go check that, right? You get to go check that out and maybe practice it a little bit, and then just add that to your bag. And I mean, that's how this NWT thing is such a process, it's such a long game, you know. It's not a there's very, very, very few people that hop in it and just go and are very good, right? And then those people are definitely out there, but like there's also a lot of value in the guys that have been doing it for a long time and been on these bodies of water and have experience with all these different places and you know, different bikes and different baits and techniques and everything. So, like, it's definitely a definitely a long game kind of thing.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, what's crazy is some of the spots I checked water temp on were just going back to how much it changed in just a few days. They were sitting at like 5152 further south, like by Walt Bay and New Everett's that area. Yeah, 5152. And then when I went back there like five days later, it was like 59 to 60. So that water temperature came up like let's just say on the low side, seven to eight degrees in just a matter of four or five days. I mean, it was don't take long.
SPEAKER_00No, yeah, it can all change very fast, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, absolutely. So you're fishing the whole thing this year. Your plan is to continue fishing the whole thing every year until you know, maybe it doesn't make sense until I win one.
SPEAKER_00Now, yeah, I mean that's a plan, right? I don't know. It's it's hard. Like, like I said, it's hard. And I talked to my buddies about this too. Unless you can come in and win tournaments right off the bat, like these big tournaments, like it's expensive, right? And so, like, how do you get sponsors? Well, you have to do them and you have to keep doing them, and you have to get better, and you have to place well, and you have to like, you know, like it's like I said, it's such a long game of getting the sponsors, getting the people to help you pay for certain stuff, feel whatever. You don't get to just hop right in and get all those things. It takes building relationships with companies and and and you know, teammates, and this and that. And so it's kind of like, yeah, man, it's like I'm starting, I feel like I'm starting to get there, and like it'd be a shame to just call it quits now, right? Like, yeah, I'm building towards something, right? And that's kind of the goal is just to keep building until you get to a point where you know it's a little bit easier to pay for everything, or you've bent all these bodies of water multiple times now, and you have ideas going into the tournaments, it's gonna put you at an advantage, right? Like, yeah, like if you were to go to Erie tomorrow and I was gonna go to Erie, like I already know you know, a hundred spots to go to, you don't. So, like obviously that's an advantage, and like I wouldn't know that unless I would have done it the last few years. So it's like, yeah, the plan is to continue on. We'll uh we'll see. You know, I don't know. I don't know how long I'll do it. I I do it now. Should I? Probably not as much as I do. Like, it's not ideal, right? Like, I don't do it because I have all this free time and all this extra money, and I'm like, eh, maybe I'll go blow it on an NDB. No, it's like I do it because I love to do it, and I feel like I have an opportunity to do it at the time. Like, do it now, right? Like we have another kid or something in the future here, or you know, God knows what happens, but it's just like it probably gets a little bit harder to pull off, right? Yeah. So it's just like I feel like I can do them right now. I'm gonna do them until I like you said, until it doesn't make sense anymore, you know. So maybe that's the end of this year, maybe that's six years down the road. I I don't know. I'm just signing up for one at a time as we go and just kind of riding it out, seeing how we can do.
SPEAKER_02When are you leaving for the next one?
SPEAKER_00Probably Friday, I would say. So a couple days, a few days, Friday after work, I would say. Heck yeah. You pumped for that? Yeah, yeah. I don't know how it'll be. I have never been to Big Bay, but I've fished Green Bay. Similar, similar, obviously. It's just like North Green Bay, kind of. No, I don't know. The L wives thing, uh, you just hear horror stories, so who knows? I you know, they say they're not as bad up there, but it's still not gonna be easy. I mean, looking at the schedule this year, I kind of assumed that I assumed this next tournament was gonna be most difficult. I hope it's not more difficult for me than Awahi. I know some guys did find on a Wahi. I did not, I struggled, so hopefully it's yeah. I don't know. I think it'll be a little tricky for sure though. It's not gonna be not gonna make cakewalk by any means. Did Gate sign up? I know the answer to that. I'm not going to say anything about it.
SPEAKER_02I need to ask him.
SPEAKER_00You should ask him. You should ask him. Uh yeah, no, I don't know. I mean, yeah, it should be fun. I'm hoping, well, yeah, I haven't even gotten in yet. They're they're kind of short, some co-anglers from what I've heard. Yeah, yeah. So hopefully we get some more co-anglers and get in. Yeah. And it should be fun.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, heck yeah. So then after there, what's the last one?
SPEAKER_00Uh Ocanto. Oh yeah. Green Bay. That'll be fun. That'll be a fun one. I went to Oconto. Well, I went to Green Bay for the first time last year for the championship, and that was one tournament where I went there the first time and like did okay, did pretty good. I think I took 18th or whatever. That was the whole one-day shootout championship situation that they had. But yeah, but yeah, I same thing though. Like, I struggled all pre-fishing. It was brutal. I everyone, everyone would agree with me. It was brutal. It sucked. One fish, three fish, two fish, you know. Like, I'm just like, well, I might zero. Same thing. Going to the tournament. I'm like, I might zero. And I went out and I figured it out. It's just more just put your nose down and grind them, right? Like, and if you grind them hard enough and you you know what you're doing and you know where you're at, like have the confidence you'll get them, you'll get them. So, but uh yeah, I'm looking forward to going back to that one. That'll be a fun one again. Like now that I especially now that I know a few places and and I know where guys were that did really well, and like you just you just learn the stuff, right? You just get more knowledge about each place, which helps you.
SPEAKER_02So, yeah, no, for sure. So, one of the things we like to ask is like what tips do you have? I mean, there's been a ton of tips throughout this, obviously, but are there any direct or you know, yeah, tips that you would give people that not necessarily tournament, it doesn't have to be about tournament fishing, it just be about fishing in general, or heck, anything you want it to be about crane operation, but you know, something that you could tell people that are just kind of tips moving forward with their fishing careers.
SPEAKER_00Um I knew you were gonna ask me this to some regards, and I and I honestly didn't even think about it. Now I wish I would have. I would say I would say when it comes to tournament fishing, I know Gage kind of said, you know, the forward-facing thing, and he wasn't wrong, but I will say I don't know, I will say that in the tournament fishing world, you're far better off making friends and you know, being an all-around good person, meeting as many people as you can, getting as much information as you can. You know what I mean? Like nobody wants to talk to the guy who thinks he's better than everybody and and kind of holds his head up. And you know, like you get more information, you get further along, you meet the right people. It's not about what you know, it's about who you know, type of thing. And in this industry, just like it is with a lot of other industries, right? Like be a stand-up person that companies are gonna want to represent because at the end of the day, they have thousands and thousands of people that reach out to them asking for free stuff and asking for this, but like they gotta get something back, right? So, like you want to be you want to be somebody that they want to have represent their company, and I think that goes a long way, and that helps you in your fishing career, right? Like your competitive fishing career, like the sponsors, everybody wants the big wrapped boat with the stickers and the jerseys and the this and that. And it's like it doesn't come very easy. So, like, you know, do the right things, never be afraid to meet people, talk to people. Like I talked to you, just some guy sitting at the bar, said hi, how's it going? And you know, I've met a new person who has a podcast, and we get to chit-chat about walleye fishing, like it's great, you know. But yeah, like don't don't be nervous to kind of go out of your comfort zone and meet people and explore new things and and and you know, different companies and different fishing stuff and and all that stuff. So I mean it's there's a million different options when it comes to that stuff, and you know, you know, use the the products that you do use too, you know. You want to be confident in the fact that they're good, you know. Don't just use stuff to use stuff that they give you for free and don't, you know, don't pipe stuff that's because they give it to you for free. Like yeah, I'm a big believer in like using the stuff that you actually believe helps you do well, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that goes, you know, that goes uh a long way with those companies too, you know. If you go into it already using the stuff, if those are the companies someone approaches and goes, hey, I've been using 13 rods, or I've been using Shimano Reels or for my whole life or whatever it is, and I really believe in these things, those companies are more, I think, more apt to like start a relationship with people that aren't going, hey uh I want to represent you. Well, how many other rods do you have? None. Well, see you later.
SPEAKER_00And a lot of it too is like people just want stuff for free, like people want stuff overnight, right? Like you that's just not how it works. Like, you you have to build relationships with these people. I've been working with this company kind of out of Montana here, this local company, Swaite Rod, Suite Fishing. Yep. Um, I mean, I used their stuff for years and then kind of got to know them a little bit, and that was a couple years of getting to know each other, and hey, give me a rod here and there, and like, and now we're now we're friends, and like, and I I like supporting them, and I I hope they like supporting me. Like, I hope I'm doing them doing them justice, and for sure. But you know what I mean? Like, it took it took a few years of like being in a relationship, like you know, getting to know each other, and like, hey, I can help you out if you can help me out, and like it's just it's that's how it is with all these things. It's not just that fly by night, hey, can you send me this? Can you send me that for free? And like these companies hear that day in and day out from everybody, and it's like that's not the way to approach it, I guess, is is what I'm getting at.
SPEAKER_02Like, yeah, that uh your boat wrap looks sick, by the way. I know you said it was the first year you wrapped your boat, but I it it does look sweet with their logo just like taking up half of that land, and you know, what's is it like is it like what's the camel pattern that you have on there? Mossy oak bottom land. That's what I thought it was. Yeah, I didn't want to guess, but yeah, it's a sweet thing.
SPEAKER_00Mossy oak fishing. So I I reached out and asked them, and they were like, Yeah, absolutely. Like, yeah, wrap it away with Mossyoak stuff. They hooked me up with that, and yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they uh you said it you said something that like really kind of I don't want to say hit home, but resonates a lot. And that's for me that that experience was cool because of the fishing side of it, the competition, like seeing it all, like just the whole process of launching and the weigh in and the rules meeting and all that was really cool. But like far more to that, what I took out of it was meeting people like you. I mean, it was like I can just say, like, I got to meet some really freaking cool people, and so what you're saying definitely is not something you're saying that's BS. You believe it and you live by it, and so I appreciate that that you brought you brought that up. Just be a real person, be a good person, and yeah, that was my experience with you for sure.
SPEAKER_00It doesn't take much, like you know what I mean. Like it doesn't take much, and it can help you out along the way for sure.
SPEAKER_02So, yeah, absolutely. Cool, man. We'll let you get back to it. Let's keep in touch here. You know, good luck, man.
SPEAKER_00I'm sure you're for sure. Awesome, appreciate it, and yeah, definitely keep in touch, and I'll let you know the next time I come down to South Dakota.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, we'll connect for sure. I was I was talking to Gage, and I I'd like to make it out there at some point. Just I've never fished pack, so we'll see. Yeah, it's terrible. Yeah, that's what I heard. I'll stay away. Yeah, I'll bring my I'll bring my cranken rods.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there you go. No, it's yeah, you die. If you've never been, man, you should, it's definitely worth the trip. It's a cool place. So and it's definitely like it's similar to Wahee, but it's not similar at all. It's completely different, even in its own regards. Like it's it's the same, but it's not the same, you know. Missouri River Reservoir, you know, but it's definitely a lot different. So it's cool, it's unique.
SPEAKER_02We'll have to do one in the future where I this is just kind of an idea, but we could talk about different bodies of water and maybe get a couple guys on that know a Wahi on one show, and then a couple guys on that know Peck, you know, you engage knowing, and yeah, we'll see. See what happens.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, cool, man, for sure. Sounds good. Cool. Have a good night.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Thanks, Dave.
SPEAKER_02Later,