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I'm Brian Bashore, Professional walleye angler and owner of The Walleye Guys Guide service. I am here to reel you in with captivating stories, expert tips, and interviews with some of the biggest names in the fishing community. So, sit back, relax, and let the drag scream!
Hey folks, thanks for tuning in to another episode of Real Talk Fission with No Limits. We're joined today by the man the Kansas angling experience, Brian Andraka himself, guiding down there in Kansas. You're not too far out of like Topeka, Kansas City area, I think, right?
Brian Ondrejka (00:08.107)
Ha ha ha.
Brian Ondrejka (00:27.234)
No, about a half hour, half hour west where I'm at. half hour east. Half hour east, yep.
Brian Bashore (00:30.18)
That's a good market. You got a lot of people. Awesome, awesome. Big market. A lot of people. You're guiding a ton. You're on the water. 253. I mean, you can get a guide all year long down there. I mean, get a little bit of ice, I imagine, here or there, but it's a great market. Multi-species guys, we can see it on your wall behind you. You got it looks like pike and smollies, and then of course big trophy walleyes, because that's what we all like. What's
Tell everybody a little bit about yourself, how long you've been guiding, what's Brian doing when he's well, I know what you're doing when you're not guiding your fishing, 'cause that's what us fishing guides do, so
Brian Ondrejka (01:05.59)
Yeah, yeah. There's not much more than that, honestly. been guiding since twenty fifteen, full time since twenty nineteen. Never really had any intentions of going full time. I w you know, I was still working stiff. I worked in IT for a long time. before that, kinda was into videography and stuff. I was a big time skateboarder for a long time too, way back in the day. So obviously when fishing got
you know, popular in the video world, like with GoPros came out, then it was just kind of an easy transition for me. But yeah, no Wisconsin transplant. I'm originally from Milwaukee. so looking forward to the brewers tonight. Hopefully take the Padres, keep moving on. but yeah, no, I moved down here when I was twelve, I think, was starting middle school. my dad had gotten a new job, so that was a huge transition.
I still get up to Green Bay two, three, four times a year, fish prime times for ones like that. Obviously, that is not a Kansas walleye. But but no, I don't know. I just we once I started to get my own boat, started to get more dialed into these reservoirs down here, which obviously was a huge, like I said, transition from Wisconsin to I mean first couple lakes I saw.
muddy water standing timber and they tell me there's walleyes there. I'm like, come on. But now I guide full time for them, so it's weird. But no, it was it was really fun. I mean, back then 15 years ago and I started really fishing these lakes hard, right when I started to think about running a guide service when there wasn't really anybody around here. Obviously the fish were a lot more dumb, as we all know, with progression and just more people fishing and the
FFS and you know the the dreaded forward facing sonar fish are getting a lot smarter, so it's not like it was when I first started guiding. Cause I mean I was in like a sixteen foot tinny tiller nothing with a pull start Johnson trolling flicker shads and three feet of water, catching twenty five inch walls, and I felt like king shit. And I'm like, I can be a guide. And now it's like these fish like barely eat crankbaits hardly at all. But no, it's been a fun, it's been a fun run.
Brian Bashore (03:00.863)
Uh-huh.
Brian Bashore (03:20.293)
Yep.
Brian Ondrejka (03:24.088)
You know, it's like I was kinda looking over the talking points that you had sent over and stuff and just talking about stuff that we'll get into as far as the challenges that, you know, we as full time anglers deal with and just, you know, running a business and us, you know, just shooting the shit before we started recording and just the business side of it. doesn't necessarily take away from the fun of it, but you know, you do something long enough, you know, eventually it does become a job. But I really do still enjoy
being a fishing guide and getting to to make these memories and get people from all over Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, Oklahoma, you know, just from all over the place. So it's it is kind of be it weird being in a flyover state and having all of these angling opportunities that we have, you know, just like Nebraska, kind of the same thing. And then you talk about Big Mac and Ted C and you had Brad Hahn on, a buddy of mine that I talk to all the time, you know,
a at a place like Big Mac where you're talking thirteen, fourteen pound walleyes and giant wipers and stuff like that. But yeah, it's been a fun, it's been a fun ride. there's been a lot that's transpired over the years for sure. But obviously, like I said, I still make time for myself to remember what it's like to enjoy fishing. And the place that I do that the most is is on the Bay Green Bay. So I know you know all about it, probably being a traveling tournament angler and we could probably talk about that too. But
That's kind of my story. And here we are. I just turned thirty nine a couple of weeks ago and eleventh year guiding. Like you said, almost three hundred days a year, twelve months out of the year, all these different bites, and here we are. Cheers.
Brian Bashore (05:03.31)
It's yeah, it is it it is awesome. And it's it's it's a labor of love, as we said.
Brian Ondrejka (05:09.165)
Right.
Brian Bashore (05:10.542)
From the IT world to the Anglian world, that's a a big jump. The funny thing is I got ten years on you, but you may not know some of these, but Danny Mayer, Steve Caballero, yeah, so I was a thrasher too. So it's Brian's fishing guides that were thrashers at one time. Thrashers are skateboarders, folks, for you who don't know. So I was yeah, a big street street skater, not
Brian Ondrejka (05:21.096)
yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (05:24.579)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (05:30.242)
Not that's right. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (05:35.62)
Didn't have, you know, quarter pipes, not a lot of half, didn't get into a lot of that, but it was just street stuff and yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (05:42.062)
Yeah, I like to I always like to stay a little bit closer to the ground, you know what I mean?
Brian Bashore (05:45.454)
Yeah. Yeah, we didn't have a lot of that. There was a guy who was miles and miles away, but I was I was it was before I was even old enough to drive. But man, and I I skated the gravel roads to get to where it could go. And I I mean you did it too. You tore up a lot of curbs, a lot of people's steps, you know, fell over a lot of bike racks, hauling over and making some and not making some, but just wipeouts. I think that I attest skateboarding to making
Brian Ondrejka (06:07.298)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (06:12.88)
Twisted a lot of angle. I played sports as an athlete and twisted but never like hurt an ankle or nothing bad. I think skateboarding made those things and I could had a vertical jump and I could test all of that to skateboarding. I mean that is talk about some calf and ankle strength.
Brian Ondrejka (06:28.792)
Yeah, that and just resiliency in and of itself and being committed to something. just like fishing. it's just one of those things where you know, you put your mind to something and me, well, you can ask my wife, if I'm gonna do if I think I wanna do something or get somewhere, I'm gonna do it. There's no if, ands, or buts about it, like so it's one of those things. But nobody listens to this podcast talk about skateboarding, right? We always say that.
Brian Bashore (06:48.344)
It's gotta happen. We
Brian Bashore (06:56.16)
Nope, nope, nope we're peasing a pot here, right? But that it it's the it's the new trick, right? It's the flip kick, it's the whatever, the no comply type thing. All right, it's the new the new thing you want to learn and fishing's the same. There's a new the countdown or Berkeley just released a new crankbait there. There's it's constant innovation and like I said, what you do on your days off you're not guiding, you go fishing for once you you want to stay on the bite, or if it's dying, you gotta figure out you know where it went or what's the new thing, but you're probably out there
Brian Ondrejka (06:58.786)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (07:02.688)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Ondrejka (07:18.742)
Right. Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (07:24.568)
doing same thing I am and most guys were tinkering. Right. You're trying a new method, a new technique, or y I mean, you got several lakes that you gotta kinda gotta hop and and stay on top of, which makes it a little more challenging, but then it that's a benefit too, I suppose. What
Brian Ondrejka (07:35.32)
For sure. Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (07:39.907)
You bet. Yeah, it's just one of those things. I mean, it's like it's so like you were saying, I mean, obviously it's nothing like where I grew up in Wisconsin or anywhere in the North Country, you know, even South Dakota, North Dakota, you got all the pothole slough lakes, just you can jump from one to the other here. It's a little bit different. I mean, I can conservatively say in the state of Kansas, as far as Corps of Engineers reservoirs, we probably have between fifteen and twenty.
And that spread all throughout the state. And obviously I'm not going to waste my entire profit margin on gas, you know, driving here, there, and the other. But yeah, it's fun to bounce between these different lakes just based on number one time of year and number two, the bites. Cause that's my thing is like, yes, I'm a multi-species guide, but I'm gonna be the dictator of okay, so a guy calls me in August and wants to go fish crappies, I'm gonna send them to a guy that does that.
in August for crappies. Like my crappie season is wintertime. Same thing with the walleyes. Like my website very clearly outlines like these bites or these particular lakes. And just based on time of year, I'm going to tell you which one is where we're going to go. And I mean I feel like as fishing guides, that's obviously the the biggest thing is being transparent about that. But like for example right now we're in the fall to summer transition. I don't know we were talking before we started recording of just about temperatures and water temps.
We had one big cold spark last week with four or five inches of rain and I was all excited and got the bibs on, got the boots on, all my sim stuff. And then all of a sudden, in the last three days, it's eighty-five degrees at eleven o'clock in the morning. And now our water temps are hovering in that like sixty-nine seventy. And these fish are like, Okay, what are we doing? Like, yes, there was a good bite last week, you know, fresh post frontal now for the next at least seven to nine days, it is
Brian Bashore (09:15.864)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (09:36.259)
High bluebird skies, not a not a cloud in the sky, barometers through the roof, hardly any wind. It might as well be like July or August, minus the 85 degree water temps. But but right now, I mean, obviously, like I was saying, I really enjoy fishing smallmouth. And it's just like mid-September through mid to late October. That's like the plan B. If the wipers aren't there, that we can't find the white bass or whatever.
Which a lot of the white bass go shallow. If we're catching small eyes, we're catching white bass. It's just one of those things. So we've always got the options, but it's it you can't well, you can. You have to be a a fishing guide and a meteorologist at the same time.
Brian Bashore (10:16.112)
Pretty much. I think we may I mean we all qualify. The way I see it is there's it's either gonna rain or it's not. There's a fifty fifty chance every day. So when you tell me there's eighty percent chance, I'm like, probably gonna rain. When you say there's three percent chance, I'm like, we're going, 'cause it's probably not gonna rain. So it's it's it's fifty fifty. It either it is or it isn't. But yeah, you gotta you gotta play it. Our weather's been it's eighty seven degrees here today, water temp up to the upper sixties again. we've had some wind, not
Brian Ondrejka (10:31.128)
Yeah, but gotta make yep, gotta make the call.
Brian Bashore (10:44.078)
yesterday or today or tomorrow. You have some more coming. But it's the fall and it's the saw, I call it the summer to fall transition. And it is those crappy weather, windy, gloomy days this time of year when the fishing gets better. I hate it. But it's those are the days those are the good days.
Brian Ondrejka (10:51.17)
Yeah, yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (10:58.872)
Yep. And I'm I mean, I'm sure there's tons of guys, you know, that have been waiting for this. You know, you get out in the morning, it's nice and cool, whatever. But then, you know, by 11 o'clock noon, it's warm, warm, you know, 75, 80 degrees. It's better than what we were dealing with, especially down here in August. And I'm sure the fair weather fishermen love that. But they're like, Yeah, it was tough, tough day today. Yeah, I wonder why. It's like, okay.
Brian Bashore (11:24.912)
Yep.
Brian Ondrejka (11:27.246)
'Cause I won't see out there when it's blowing twenty from the northwest and it's forty degrees and we're railing, so
Brian Bashore (11:33.264)
Yeah, we had Monday. Monday was windy. We couldn't the wind was kind of making Aries unfishable. Lewis Clark's pretty shallow, so muddies it up real quick. but the fish are biting better. Tuesday and like it's gonna be beautiful out. We can get to where we need to go. Caught one more keeper walleye, but didn't have half as many bites, didn't catch nothing with bite all morning long. I'm like, it's just too nice out, pretty much, that I had to go put a
Brian Ondrejka (12:00.888)
Yep. Yep. There is such a thing as two nice.
Brian Bashore (12:03.556)
There is. I put a had to put a new live scope on 'cause my stabilization thing went out and mine. So I was just out a little bit ago and some people I saw you too, yeah, they were coming off the water and said, You get They're we got four. I'm like, Well, at least it's nice out. And they're Yeah, we're just, you know, enjoying it. But I'm already watching. October hit and everybody shows up here, I'm in Lucent Clark, like looking at the lake right now, I'm in a camper. Everybody's just boom piled in those late fall spots. There's not
Brian Ondrejka (12:09.154)
me too.
Brian Ondrejka (12:31.918)
They're it's not they're not there.
Brian Bashore (12:32.09)
Fish are I'm still in three to six foot of water. I'm fishing up up, you know, up in the river. There are some fish in the lake and I've caught they're starting to show up in these spots, but just like we're saying earlier these last couple of years, that bite doesn't go until Thanksgiving. I mean November. Maybe if it gets we got some cold weather coming later next week and things can start dropping, but like that water temp get below fifty and we're twenty twenty degrees away from that. So it's it's it's gonna be a while.
Brian Ondrejka (12:47.48)
Yep.
Brian Ondrejka (12:56.194)
Yep. Yeah, it's good to that's good to hear. It's good to hear that you would say that you I would echo the exact same thing two states away down here. It's always usually around Thanksgiving when it really pops off. And I've got people that book these trips, you know, a year in advance for those prime times. And I always tell people the same thing. It's up to Mother Nature, you know. They might be start starting to maybe think about getting there, but yeah, it's all
Brian Bashore (13:20.014)
Yep. Yep.
Brian Ondrejka (13:25.25)
We can control a lot of things on the on the boat, but that's not one of them.
Brian Bashore (13:25.284)
Yeah, I used
Brian Bashore (13:28.962)
That is definitely not what I'm always telling October used to be pretty pretty clockwork Octobers when it would kick off. We get we start getting less daylight and water, you know, it's gonna drop and they're already developing eggs and some of those walleyes. We've had, you know, cleaning. I've seen a little bit of eggs in I'm like, they're feeding, but the you know, the problem is the mass amount of bait in the system. And that shad doesn't die or start disappearing till it gets real cold. I'm like, so you got you got bite windows, so you can sit on that pot of fish all day long for that one or two hour.
little little by window or just wait for those white bass to float and go yeah and go and go chase them. I'm like I just keep saying it's the later in October the better. But you know, there's been some early October bites, but the last two or three years it hasn't. It's been late. It's been November. Maybe a skim coat of ice getting on the lake by Christmas or the river. It depends. The river's different obviously it's flowing water versus your reservoirs down there. But yeah, fall bite is fall fishing's some of my favorite turn on
Brian Ondrejka (14:00.248)
Yeah, at best. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (14:26.838)
football game on the radio and you know if it's cool out is you know I have to layer up fishing's can be good. It's obviously a great time to get some trophy sized fish. no matter what species you're going for. We've got some nice fourteen inch perch yesterday and a few smallmouth and we don't have a ton of smallmouth in in some part of the lake, but there is definitely upriver. We have a lot of nice smallmouth. I just I need someone to show me how to go
Brian Ondrejka (14:38.798)
You're bat.
Brian Bashore (14:53.796)
Catch them suckers, but they're all way up in the river, and that's a different different deal. I'm like, I'd love I don't know. I mean, I can catch I throw some cranks, some chatterbaits. Just don't get a lot of time. Everybody it's South Dakota. They here, they walleyes, they perch. They hate the white bass. I wish we had wipers. Absolutely. Love wiper fishing. being a Nebraska native. I've fished Glen Elder Wakanda, whatever you want to call it, Milford, Lovewell. I think those only three I've fished there.
Stockton and fish stocked.
Brian Ondrejka (15:25.294)
No, it's on the Missouri side.
Brian Bashore (15:27.748)
Yeah, that's right. I always noticed that they're like we're in Nebraska, we don't want a Kansas for them like 'cause these I think these fisheries in Kansas are better than Nebraska. Nebraska's pretty muddy, except McConaughey. Obviously. That's it, but yours, you seem to have more shell, a little harder.
Brian Ondrejka (15:39.385)
Right. Well, and yeah, well, and too, I mean, to your point, well, it's funny because all those lakes you mentioned are the ones that are littered with the most people that have a four two area code and their phone number. All the Nebraska people. Which is great for all my buddies out there. Well, I shouldn't say all my buddies, just a couple that got especially on Milford. but no, it's just it's I feel like a lot of it.
Brian Bashore (15:54.938)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (16:07.128)
comes down to just the Nebraska game and parks too and how the fisheries are managed up there. And I have a lot of clients from Lincoln, Omaha, Grand Island area that come down and that's why they come fish with me. Especially Lincoln and Omaha area. There's not a lot there. But yeah. Someday I'll get up to to Big Mac for sure. But being from the north country, it's hard to not just want to be on big water on Green Bay all the time. I mean
Again, knowing Brad Hahn and talking to him on a pretty regular basis and seeing how small that big of a lake fish is is pretty pretty crazy.
ll you're yeah, you edit these podcasts, you'll figure it out. But no, I was just talking about I was just talking about just the the contrast between like knowing knowing Brad Hahn with Big Mac spoiled guide service and how big of a lake that is for Nebraska, but seeing how small it fishes. And like for me, it's like someday, obviously, like I mentioned before, probably before I cut out yet.
Brian Ondrejka (17:57.389)
I'm sure at some point I'll get up there, but being from Wisconsin, it's hard to not just want to be on Green Bay and as well as I know it now and being able to go up there and fish a derby or two, especially in the in the August time frame. That's it's hard to beat.
Brian Bashore (18:11.133)
Yeah, that's a magical time. I didn't get to go there this August, wish I would have, after seeing how good it was. I know you went there I think right after N D B T was there and it was like 'cause I anybody kicks my ass. I but I haven't really got a scope it a whole lot. Last time I was there with scope was the year like hardly anybody really could catch three fish and that was a challenge within itself 'cause the L wife and talking to guys this year they're like it never really happened. They're like the L wife thing just didn't
Brian Ondrejka (18:18.978)
Yep.
Brian Ondrejka (18:33.922)
Right. Right.
Brian Bashore (18:37.129)
Like didn't go one. It's just massive. And it does the carryover from that bait and occur. I was being, you know, at the taxidermist right now too from Bay and Oc. And I'm like, and it and it just carried on right down into, you know, the Green Bay Bite. I'm like, damn, because those fish are I mean, they're beautiful. I think they're the hardest fighting walleye I've ever.
Brian Ondrejka (18:42.744)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Ondrejka (18:47.107)
Yep.
Brian Ondrejka (18:57.654)
It's true. Yeah. Sometimes they fight like northerns. I mean, the first couple of times that I went up there, especially in August, I mean, they make runs and you would a hundred percent think you had either just like a random king salmon or something that was all the way on the bay side, like on the north northeast side, or a big pike. But yeah, it's it's tough to beat. It's become a really special time and this year was the the first time that I was up there for
Brian Bashore (19:00.917)
Nice.
Brian Bashore (19:10.78)
Right.
Brian Ondrejka (19:25.452)
the longest, which almost 10 days, which thank thank God I have the best wife in the world for letting me be up there for that long. Cause I go up there in the spring too for the pre-spawn bite, but not quite for that long. But yeah, it's plus you always got to factor in a blow day or two. You know, you may not be able to get out there. I mean, I'm in a 21 foot lun pro V, which handles big water grape, but blow days for
Brian Bashore (19:33.013)
Right.
Brian Ondrejka (19:52.365)
Whether you're in a six twenty one or six twenty two or what I'm in, some days you just can't fish effectively. Yeah, it doesn't matter.
Brian Bashore (19:57.053)
It don't matter. Yeah. It Yeah. It doesn't take a lot to get the bay ripping there, especially out of the north or something. So it it's yeah. It can be ugly. But I mean I've had quite a few flat calm days on that body of water, so yeah. Yeah, you say fishing small is funny. You Red Hot over at McConhey. It's fishing real small right now, with about nineteen percent water capacity, I think, you know.
Brian Ondrejka (20:04.585)
yeah. Yep.
Brian Ondrejka (20:18.966)
I'm sure. Right. Yeah. Yeah. Putting boats in on a frickin' tractor.
Brian Bashore (20:25.651)
Yeah, it's it's fishing real spot. We're fortunate they're moving water. River's good here. I was at Sakakwea a week ago. It's down thirty feet. I think it was down thirty feet as there for the the Big Ten. It won't be full, or at least it won't be coming back up, they said, 'til twenty twenty eight, I was told. In Scocquoya. And that's because it's our it's low, so they're keeping it low. They're doing a bunch of work on the dam. So the water it can get a good snow melt and whatever, but it they're just gonna push it through the
you know, the gate or the power plant side. So while it's the slow, they're taking advantage of it and doing a bunch of work on the dam, which is good, which new reports from the core says Lake Kawaii needs to do some serious work on that dam too, because it it is an emergency status right now. So when you Yeah, it's not what does that mean? I don't know, but when your dam is an emergency status, that it's not good. So if one of these dams fails, we ha we're gonna have problems and you're gonna get a hell of lot more water down there.
Brian Ondrejka (20:56.301)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Ondrejka (21:09.773)
Wild.
Brian Ondrejka (21:18.157)
No.
Brian Bashore (21:23.305)
So whether you like it or not, I mean it's coming from Missouri and most of those I know Milford's Fed Republican River. Right? Yeah, yep. Yeah, so those get that's some Harlan County stuff moving down. But I love fishing down there. Those are those great, great fisheries. But like I said, those are only they're closer than going out than going to McConaughey for the Omaha and Lincoln folks. It's a couple hours, two or three hour shot straight down there. There's two or three hours straight shot up.
Brian Ondrejka (21:24.216)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (21:32.696)
Yeah. From the north. Yep. Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (21:51.877)
up up here and it's about three hours to you. Same deal. So as at most of I get a ton of Iowa and Omaha and Columbus, Norfolk, you know, that that type of stuff. So it location, location, location, I guess, right? So
Brian Ondrejka (22:04.973)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (22:08.45)
Yeah, yeah. No, it's great. And like I was saying, super fortunate to have, you know, the clientele that I do that takes these trips and to come to fish with me on a seven thousand acre, you know, freaking reservoir. Which to me, I mean it's like the lakes fish smaller and smaller every year. And it's just one of those things that everybody has live scope now. And but again, these fish are getting smarter.
So they're not as dumb as they used to be. They can feel the pressure. So I mean, presentation wise, I mean, we're literally ice fishing vertically now for the most part for these deep suspended fish. And that's the bite that I look forward to in the early spring and late season is when they get suspended and they're feeding. And again, on just like McConaughey, it's like some of these spots that get all these boats, which up there obviously they do a lot of lead core trolling and stuff. And it's just guys like
Doing circles around each other during the spawn when they're up on the dam and on McConaughey, you can literally only go one direction. Then you gotta pull lines and run all the way back up and do it again. yeah, it's just it's we're using three inch baits at best now. Jigging a plastic, literally just ice fishing those baits. Just, you know, ice fishing, obviously we're we're used to lifting fish up, but now it's like we're fishing them deep enough to we're just reeling.
Brian Bashore (23:07.436)
Yep. One direction, yep.
Brian Ondrejka (23:29.548)
These fish up and you see especially the walleyes just doing this, or they flip around the bait, they disappear out of the cone, but then they come back and then re-engage. And wipers usually just go straight up on it. But yeah, I'm I'm ready for that bite. We've had it a couple times so far in the last two weeks since the cold spark, but now obviously we're back in the Indian summer, as we're mostly used to here. So
Brian Bashore (23:52.979)
Yep. It it's coming. So like I said, I'm I'm probably not gonna get a lot of it in this year. I'm gonna I'm gonna deer hunt. Didn't do a lot of it last year. And yeah, getting getting worn out. You know how it is. You got you're on the water every day when you're not guiding, you're you're still fishing. It's all and then it's business. Right? You're on you you gotta fish all day. You get off the water, you go back to I'm at a camper. Hopefully you guard are close to home, but you got
Brian Ondrejka (24:13.549)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (24:20.756)
I am thankful, yeah. Very, very thankful to be close.
Brian Bashore (24:23.855)
But you got several reservoirs, so you windshield time and your drive time. I mean it I could imagine you got I mean, I don't I don't take the calls when I'm on the water during the day. Maybe I'll hit a text or two when I'm not answering the phone and clients in the boat. So it's you make all those phone calls and all those return emails every night because you can't pass up. You can't wait 'cause they're just gonna go down the list and try to find the next guide, which I always say the one answered to phone might not be the one you want to talk to.
Brian Ondrejka (24:27.79)
Right.
Brian Ondrejka (24:48.834)
Yep, that's that's that's very true. It's like we were talking about before and just like talking about talking points and stuff as far as like the challenges. I wouldn't say it's I'm just again very fortunate to be in the position that I'm at in the state that I'm in and when I started guiding here in twenty fifteen and just literally when I was like at my regular job, was just like, I'm just gonna start a Facebook page. Like, why why wouldn't I at least just like put it out there?
Like the worst that people can do is just scroll past it or not book trips. And obviously I was charging nothing back then because it was just a startup thing. But then with social media comes posting the pictures. And I've always been a big content guy. I've had my YouTube channel since two thousand s five or two thousand six, which is when I graduated high school. And I've been monetized since then because back then you didn't have to have all these prerequisites to be.
Brian Bashore (25:47.595)
Right. Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (25:48.321)
monetizing stuff. So that started with skateboarding videos and then again already had the channel monetized, then started the fishing stuff and just putting out videos. And I've always loved pictures, taking good pictures, posting good pictures, which obviously brings the, you know, armchair anglers of the hold it out farther or now the unfortunate state of fishing that we're in of that's AI or
blah blah blah and like which the challenges of the business that I'm in are dealing with people like that, which I think I I think it's funny and it's fun. Like I my wife thankfully in the last six years of us or eight years, nine years of being together married for the last four has calmed me down quite a bit. So I pick and choose my battles of, you know, chirpiness, but
Brian Bashore (26:45.963)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (26:46.464)
With the with the chirpiness and with just posting a video from my phone on a guide trip of just the the live scope screen, we don't have to be fishing. We can just see a giant school of wipers and white bass swimming around on the screen. All of a sudden the video goes viral and gets thrown into the most negative algorithm possible of that toxic anti-forward-facing sonar crowd that that's the part that sucks. So
All that was to say it's the blessing and the curse of like the the the page gets traffic, but sometimes not in the best, you know, format. But every day I just I like posting good pictures of like today, caught a nice smallmouth and I caught a big largemouth, which was not on my bingo card for what we normally do this time of year. And I don't have to post pictures of like other guides.
Brian Bashore (27:19.999)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (27:35.999)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Ondrejka (27:44.631)
Like out at Glen Elder, have to post 156 white bass on a picnic table that look like they've been dead for four hours in 75 degree water in a hot live well. I just it's yeah, it's just not, it's not my clientele, it's not my business model. I just I love what I do and I love sharing my just the experiences. and just, you know, we could have we could catch a hundred fish, but I post a picture of one.
And it's, you know, just kids, kids especially, kids smiling. My dad, when he was still around, he loved to see when I had little kids out. For us as guides, that's a lot of work. You know, it's like peop people ask for discounts on kids and we always joke, like, well, I should charge double because it's so much more work. But the writ that it's just so much more rewarding to have those, you know, it's like they could catch sheephead all day long, where I'm like, my God, this is awful.
If I didn't tell them that a sheep's head wasn't they don't care. Right. So but all that was to say.
Brian Bashore (28:43.628)
They don't care. They don't care. So Yep, that's that's what I love it when the white bass are going. I'm You got kids? All right, good. We got white bass. And you know, dad might be like, I'm like, just let the kid catch a couple, and trust me, you're gonna have a new opinion here because he's gonna just he don't he don't care. I have guys coming the next couple days that come every year to give certificate. Gentleman's mother buys his brings a couple of his buddies. UNL Bass Club guys.
Brian Ondrejka (28:54.188)
Exactly.
Brian Bashore (29:13.535)
That's why had to go put a new transducer on, because they ain't gonna do nothing but scope it. That is not a great scope and lake bite, but it's the point where I'm gonna go, here's a good spot, and I can sit down and he's gonna run the foot pedal and scope and there's you want plastic, you want a middle, here's your two best options, have at it. Then 'cause every year he's gotten a little bit better at it. But I'm like, I know you don't care. I don't think they care what they catch. They just wanna go scoping and catch fish.
Brian Ondrejka (29:26.2)
Plug and play. Let's go.
Brian Bashore (29:41.291)
'Cause every year last year we lived on walleye's but they came months this is the latest he's ever came, so the bite's probably not as good as it was in like August. You know, but the walleye bite is upriver and that's not a scoping thing. It's a jig, you jig, Lindy Rig dragging, you know, drift and drag type stuff in three, four foot of water. I'm like, there's fish. I went out and hit a few spots and I I caught a couple, so they're they're there. And but I if they never got on a white bass bite if those things start blowing up tomorrow, it's supposed to be sunny and calm. th those you know, they're in their twenties, but they
Brian Ondrejka (29:41.432)
Right. Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (30:11.199)
They'll eat that up big time, which means I'll just have to be netting and unhooking fish like crazy. And hopefully they don't want to keep 30 of them or whatever. But it but you're right. It's the smallmouth. We don't keep many of those. I should take more pictures of them. But the wipers, we don't have them, and I wish we did, but you can't keep those, I don't think, down there. But yeah, the white bass, usually guys just keep them. You know, if they're gonna keep them, they don't keep too many of them. how many we keep them? Like you don't it you don't want that, you don't need that many. You what are you gonna eat?
Brian Ondrejka (30:14.339)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (30:17.826)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (30:39.141)
sixty of these between the four of you or whatever. I'm like, come on. You know.
Brian Ondrejka (30:42.828)
Well, and that's that's just the thing too. And I mean down here it's like, yeah, there are limits on the wipers. The lakes that I got or the lake, the main lake with wipers that I got on, it's two at eighteen inches. Like at Milford, for example, it's five. And like my buddy that guides out there, he's a catch and kill guide. So every picture you see, it's all the wipers. But I just tell guys him like in Kansas there's no creole or size limit on white bass.
Brian Bashore (30:53.227)
again.
No, yeah, yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (31:12.332)
Just keep them. But I also, to your point, limit like, okay, just because you can catch a hundred and fifty between three guys doesn't mean you should. And also, you're gonna run to the liquor store and get me a twelve pack because you're gonna stand here and watch me clean those things for X amount of hours and which I don't wanna do. But at any rate, yeah, it's it's just I just tell guys, I'm like, just keep what you think you need. It's not you don't need to be that guy that
Brian Bashore (31:28.597)
For hours. Right. Yep. No.
Brian Ondrejka (31:42.125)
goes on a guide trip to bring all these fish home and then you're like, we have a lot we have a lot of fish. what are we gonna do with these? And then they just put them in a Ziploc bag and and then their freezer burn in six months and then they just get pitched. Cause that that does happen a lot.
Brian Bashore (31:50.133)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (31:56.363)
Yep. Yep. yeah. Like you're having a fish fry, you got enough for the neighborhood 'cause a lot of times you start bagging up and they you hand a couple ziplocks at the end of the day and they're like, That's a lot of fish. You know, even if it's just a liminal walleye's but kept maybe at some nineteen, twenty inches or something, twenty one. I'm like, Yeah, those are that's a big filet, man. It only takes a couple of those in the mill, you know. So
Brian Ondrejka (32:05.762)
That's what yeah. Right.
Brian Ondrejka (32:15.916)
Yeah. They cut up in chunks and then you're like, Wow, this is actually a lot of fish for two or three nineteen or twenty inch walleye, especially when they're nice and thick.
Brian Bashore (32:20.843)
Yeah. And yeah, fish is pretty filling. So so back on just the business side of it. It's a it's a grind. Having some IT and all that in your background, the photography stuff is that's huge because it's it's quality of imagery over quantity goes way farther. My wife does photography, which has helped me out a absolute ton. So you you know how well that is. You have the podcast, YouTube, you get it. You and I are all doing pretty much all a lot of the same type of stuff, which is probably why I
Certain guides are doing a couple hundred trips a year and some guys are doing a couple trips a year. But they don't all don't understand that it's it's tough to do I mean most people guides start out as kind of a part time, right? Or side side thing and and then it can escalate over. I know Takasaki everybody's he always would say, Don't don't make fish in your full time job till it one hundred percent replaces your other income. Which is kind of hard to do without taking that leap, but
Brian Ondrejka (33:19.98)
Right. Well, and that I mean that's true because it's like as a self employed person, everyone's like, run almost three hundred trips a year, like what a grind. But I'm like, Okay, well, my wife's a hairdresser, she's self-employed too. So we're both self-employed. And it's like, okay, well, if you're not working or if you're not running trips or working or whatever, you're also not making money. And could there be other sources of income from
business partners or sponsors or prost or whatever the terms brand invest or whatever terms people want to use for sure. Influence, it's just like it's gross. I don't even I don't really like that side of it. I do and I'm so thankful for the partners that I have to work with. But some of it just becomes like for me, okay, I run you know trips that are go between four and six hours or whatever.
Brian Bashore (33:55.965)
Influencer, sorry.
Brian Ondrejka (34:17.9)
And I've got a wife and three stepkids at home that are 12, 13, and 17 with plenty of activity. So if I'm also obligated to do stuff on the content side, which like my YouTube channel is just for fun. It's always just been for fun. If my channel was not monetized, I would still make videos because that keeps like everything centered up here. I l and that's why I started my podcast. It wasn't for
any extra income because to your point, like we were talking about, it's a labor of love. Like nobody's getting rich on a podcast unless you're doing four, five, six, you know, paid advertisements per episode. That's a pretty long episode. But all that, you know, all that was to say I love the partners that I work with, but sometimes the juice is just not worth the squeeze. You know what I mean? Obviously money is money, but
Brian Bashore (35:01.428)
Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (35:14.4)
It guiding is and always has been my number one always. And that's where I put 95% of my energy into. And then when I have the t the extra time or the energy, which now thankfully, like late fall, early spring, cooler temps, I'm not as burnt out as I am when I'm guiding when it's 115 degrees down here in Kansas. Then I can commit more to the content side. But I also have
800 plus people in my boat per year, if not more, that use the products that I promote. And I don't have to like post a bunch of stuff. I put the rods, I put Kate Outdoors rods in clients' hands or PC fun reels, or they see my beatdown mount in the front of the boat and they just got a boat and they want to rig live scope or they see my life my Tyson machine products pull. That's all I have to do.
Brian Bashore (35:51.465)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (36:10.826)
Is show them that and they're like, Wow, this is great. Wow, this rod's in my hand, it feels great. And then they go buy one. It's like the easiest the being a guide is the easiest sales job that any sales guy could ever have. Or they're in a lund boat and they're like, Wow, this boat is great. I'm gonna go to my nearest lund dealer and literally buy one or order one. So
Brian Bashore (36:16.287)
Yeah, it's there's no better
It is 'cause you know it's like Carswell, but is it just
Brian Bashore (36:28.895)
Yeah. That said it to all my sponsors and partners. I'm like, it's as nobody does this. The guys, I'm like, Termin Anglin's great. A lot of us do both and all that. I'm like, but in WT, I'm like, you're on T V for thirty seconds, sixty seconds. I'm like, it it's nothing. It's barely right. I'm like, that is it. I'm like Yep.
Brian Ondrejka (36:44.91)
Sure. Yep. But you've got everything right here, right? You got walleye's hold you're doing this with Jeff Kelm and you got everything right here and
Brian Bashore (36:55.818)
Yep. But it's it's so yeah, it's so fast and non principal. But when you're in a guide and you like I said, they they get to use the reel, the rod, the lures, the boat, they're like they see it, use it. You you get the same questions. I get to ask you all day, wow, what size motor is that? holy crap. You know, it's you know, what what is that? Or what's what do those costs? Okay, or it's the same, man. I really like this. What kind of line is this? I get that a lot. What what are we using for line? That must be like so and so I'm like, No, not at all. You know, it's it's that must be six pounds I'm like, no, it's
Brian Ondrejka (36:56.622)
There's your paycheck.
Brian Bashore (37:25.355)
It's ten pound cigar smackdown, smallest braid they got. That's all it that that's good. It's got a ten pound leader on it, maybe an eight. Usually it's fifteen cause zebra muscles. I'm like, nope. Like, it's so thin. It's I'm like, Yep, more can get them. I can get it anywhere. You have a website, you can go to the SHIELS, Kabilo's best. It doesn't matter. This stuff's everywhere. But yeah, it's just it's the easy sense.
Brian Ondrejka (37:44.761)
Well they don't they don't have to go they don't have to go down like a Google rabbit hole of like what is what is the best rod reel line setup for walleye fishing? It's like, okay, you pay this rate to be in a boat with a guide and you're catching them and you like it and you're like, Cool, I know everything right now. Plus I had a great time with this guy in the boat and I caught fish. Now I'm gonna go out and buy all that stuff and not have to be spiraling out of control, which I mean
I've been guilty of in my early years watching YouTube. Yeah, yeah, which I love that. I love when clients are like, Can I take a picture of this? Is that okay? I'm like, Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (38:12.709)
They I get a lot of people take pictures of what they're using. Yep.
Brian Bashore (38:21.311)
You know. Yeah. Yes, please do. And then email the the the company, let know, you know, that you use Brian's, whichever Brian's it is here, you know, Rod or Real Cowboy. We really liked it. You know, I'm like, that was that'd be we'd really appreciate
Brian Ondrejka (38:27.594)
Exactly, yeah. Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (38:34.391)
Yeah.
Right. Especially for the small guys too. Cause like I work with with bigger companies, but I also work with more local companies, whether it's here in Kansas or in Wisconsin, like Kate Outdoors. That's one guy who custom makes the rods in Wisconsin, USA made, USA sourced. He's just one guy. He doesn't offer a discount code like, you know, to track me or whatever. But I I love the rods and I like to support him and just
little stuff like that or like just the some of the crappie plastics that we use in January and February for crappies. Those are made locally here in Kansas and crappie fishing is extremely popular here in the mid south. And if I don't I don't need residual income or like, you know, a discount coder or whatever, but it's more of just the me feeling better about supporting the small guys. And it's nice to have the, you know, the larger partners too, but I'm not gonna
Brian Bashore (39:28.725)
Right, that's for him. He's important to me. It's that the relationships are priceless.
Brian Ondrejka (39:34.155)
Exactly. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (39:35.753)
Yep. Yep. Nope. I get And and and you get those repeaters, you I'm just playing for a guy, but they come back the next year and they're like, Yeah, I bought that rod and we've been doing this, that, and I freaking love it. You know, what what that new one came out. What you got one of those I can try? I'm like, Yep. Yep, here you go. You know, they'll play with the new Legend X two. And they're like, damn, you know, this one's better than that one. You know, I'm like, Well, it's the newest one, right? You know? All right, but I got there's the guide rods and then there's my rods and tournament rods and whatever else. I'm like, you want the
Brian Ondrejka (39:49.62)
Exactly. Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (39:56.078)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (40:05.643)
Two three hundred dollar version, you want the six, seven hundred dollar option. Here's here's the difference, you know. And I then they'll I mean I I'm using those. I don't let my clients touch them until they can learn not to re-real reel the jig heads through the rod tip. So you you get you get these rods for a reason, folks. So but as you move up, I'm like, hey, you can make a couple casts that try it out. I'm like, okay, but you watching it like a hawk. So most of them I just leave them in the rod locker. I'm not fishing, so.
Brian Ondrejka (40:18.836)
I heard that, yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (40:32.28)
Yeah, yep, I hear ya.
Brian Bashore (40:34.283)
yes, the the the grind, the the tricks of things. I started putting floats above the bottom bouncers. So they'll stop reeling the bottom bouncers into the rod tips. So that the the floats will stop from popping in there. It's
Brian Ondrejka (40:47.36)
I can I can hear it now. I can just the right into the ceramic guide or the ceramic insert.
Brian Bashore (40:51.124)
Yep. Yep. Yep. So I I switched to the Sankora Avis because they're all stainless steel, so there is no more ceramic inserts. So I'm like, as long as you have those rods, we're good. I'm like, but I still have some of the older ones and and whatever, and they're that's just on their jigging rods. So I've I got just about enough of those to to keep everybody with those. But I'm like, yeah, we're switching to those all completely. Otherwise it's a constant every year. I need ten more rod tips. The tips are easy, you heat up, slide off, put a new rod tip on. If you don't see that ceramic crap.
Brian Ondrejka (40:58.286)
True. That is true.
Brian Ondrejka (41:08.002)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Ondrejka (41:18.092)
Right. Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (41:21.077)
crack, cut your line. You know? So it's we gotta
Brian Ondrejka (41:22.318)
Right. And it's it's it's definitely it's not a testament to the rod construction or durability itself. That's like complete should not be happening. Like having a barrel swivel on a lead core rod or between La Flor Braid Leader, like that your lead's only this long for a reason. It's not coming through. It should not be coming through the guides. But on a lead core rod, obviously you have the probably the stainless steel.
Brian Bashore (41:39.083)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (41:45.8)
Uh-huh.
Brian Ondrejka (41:52.278)
guides that you don't have to worry about or zer Zirconite or whatever there.
Brian Bashore (41:53.535)
Yeah, I don't I tie all mine Albertos or unis. I don't run a swivel 'cause I don't like to hear that. Click click click click. Or it's hung up. The knots will hang up once in a while, but the Alberto's pretty pretty flat. But if you gotta tag in or something, you know, 'cause people were like, I can't I'm like, you gotta come on, you gotta you gotta give it a little bit of a snap, it'll fly right through there. It's not a not a big deal. I had a heavier leader 'cause zero muscles I know are gonna be snaggy, so that little itty bitty tag in will hang up once in a while, but I'm like but I catch it and just you know, boom.
Brian Ondrejka (42:14.998)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (42:23.603)
I mean I literally I'll cast I'll flip a bait and I'll just toss over my shoulder out and then I'll hand it to We're drifting, not even looking. And they're just like I'm like, I I get a lot of practice. I do this every day 'cause they're struggling. But I'll just bait it and just toss it quick and then reach back, hand it to them, like, here you go. And they stick it in the rod over, they're hanging on to it, and they're like, God damn, like you've been doing this for thirty years, you know, you get a lot of you get a lot of practice. Like, you'll you'll get there. Just you know, just watch, pay attention to learn, but
Brian Ondrejka (42:35.358)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (42:50.872)
Right.
Brian Bashore (42:51.264)
They're excited and they should be excited. So they're looking at the fish and and staring down or whatever the case is. And you know, I'm big on like it's just get the rod tip up. Don't it's not put it down in the water 'cause you're gonna reel the fish right to the rod tip. Let's let's keep it up out of the water. Little things that drive Yeah, they drive those guys nuts probably, but that's also part of the fun is teaching and and showing and yeah. Burn that sucker in. So I see I
Brian Ondrejka (43:07.424)
Easier said than done sometimes, especially with kids in the boat.
Brian Ondrejka (43:16.386)
Ha ha ha.
Brian Bashore (43:19.477)
I had a couple there today always tell them I said the women catch more fish than the men. The wives almost always outfish the men. I'm like I'm like, part of it is because they're paying attention. They're not we're walleye fish the majority of the time. They're not setting the hook like on a on a large mouth. I'm like, hey, you got fish on. We do a lot of dragging and drifting in this river system thing where it's shallow and it's kind of a tricky deal and you can't it's it's about you know you can pull bottom bounters, you you can't really crank it much this year because the weeds are floating on the surface too much. You just gotta drag jigs.
Brian Ondrejka (43:23.935)
I say it all the time. Yep.
They listen.
Brian Bashore (43:48.531)
And you kinda let it load up. So the gals are just kind of chilling and then the rod holder. I'm like, that's fish. I'm like, just reel. Just reel down and don't stop. Keep the drags pretty loose. Yeah, they just they keep tension on it where the husbands grab it and whew. I'm like, you just you ripped it right out of it. Yep. Pump.
Brian Ondrejka (43:56.533)
And they're like, okay.
Or they wanna they wanna do the tuna real and then or let all the slack and just
Brian Bashore (44:10.345)
Yep. And I'm like, nope. I don't have to do the reach over and I so they can't lower the rod. I stick it to my arm stops. I'm like, nope, just keep that up, keep reeling. Because everybody wants to drop the rod tip so quick. Gave it slack and it's amazing how fish can spit that out, but they learned.
Brian Ondrejka (44:16.28)
Yeah, just stop. Just stop, please.
Brian Ondrejka (44:25.996)
Well, it's harder with the s the s it's harder with the smallies too, this time of year too, 'cause when we're fishing shallow, anything with treble hooks, the smalley hits, they're up out of the water and the client's just like, Well, there's no way to keep tension on it and we see them baits come straight back at us a lot of times.
Brian Bashore (44:35.782)
Order.
Brian Bashore (44:39.827)
Yeah. Yeah, they have a horrible time being the opposite of get the rot tip down. Keep the radio up versus then five minutes later, get get it up. Yeah, I feel like I've I spent the first five minutes telling everybody what not to do. They're like, now we got that out of the You'll I'm like, you'll be experts by the end of the day. You'll you'll have it all dialed in, you'll be good. If it's a two or three day trip, even better yeah, 'cause every day just, you know, continues to get better by even usually through after a few hours or more, they're like, All right, I got it. We we've been the fish have been biting really light lately, so it's almost like
Brian Ondrejka (44:45.474)
Yeah, no, they're just like
It's fun though. It's fun, it's fun.
Brian Bashore (45:09.204)
rigging, kind of keeping it in your the bell open and the line on it. And it's as soon as they pick it up, just let it give it a second. Yep, let it go for you know, or if it's in a rod holder, I said, just knock it open so it's slack when you take it out, close it, still feel a little pressure. I'm like, just give it a little sweep and you're good. And that's definitely helped last couple of days. I'm like, I don't I don't know why. They're just probably because they've been fishing the same fish for six months and they're getting smarter. So that's just that's just the way it the way it is. But
Brian Ondrejka (45:14.158)
Let it go. Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (45:34.444)
Yeah, true. Yeah. That is true. God makes me makes me tired just thinking about it. Just like the guys in Minnesota, like the big Chubs. Like five, six inch chubs. And then you with mono and you just gotta let go for like three business days before you close it. Then you reel down. Finally reel down to
Brian Bashore (45:45.311)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (45:52.668)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (45:57.279)
We just if we just did that in in Scockoa, North Dakota, but fortunately those those chubs are like crack for those walleyes, and you don't have to give it too much time. Once it starts going, it's it's a 10 second, you know, it's it's not very long. You're like, yeah, he's got it. You can tell. Give it a little tension. It's like, yeah, he's he's running. It's either a pike or a walleye. I did a lot of pike last week, but there's whatever. That's just that's chub fishing. I like I kinda like doing it, but in a tournament, you just I don't know how many of them were like,
Brian Ondrejka (46:11.662)
Sure.
Brian Bashore (46:25.269)
Cut the line, throw it alive. Well, I'm like, we're not you ain't messing with that. They you give it a minute. Yeah, pretty much. I'm like, it's it's down there. Then somebody like, well, I gave it 30 seconds and it came in all skinned off. I'm like, I just didn't get it turned around, or you maybe it's because you had an eight-inch chub on there. You gotta give it a little more time. Small wall isolate those big chubs too, so.
Brian Ondrejka (46:29.89)
Why, 'cause they've already digested it. Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (46:40.024)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Ondrejka (46:46.488)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (46:47.465)
What do you think is w what's the future looking like? What do you think is going on in the fishing industry? You see the Minkoda just released some new stuff that came out today? Yesterday.
Brian Ondrejka (46:57.57)
Yeah. No, yeah, today or yesterday or something like that. I think it was today. Yesterday, it was yesterday.
Brian Bashore (46:59.658)
Yeah, yes yesterday. So Hummingbird is now Mincoda, which it always has been out Johnson outdoors, but basically have the Mincota graph with the Hummingbird imagery. You can update your current stuff. I mean I kinda like the whole you can just draw it on your screen and say drive that that pattern with your trolling motors pretty slick. So it'll be cool.
Brian Ondrejka (47:07.33)
Right.
Brian Ondrejka (47:21.026)
Yeah. It just I mean the unfort fortunately slash unfortunately the fishing industry, it's like for me it's always a 50 50 with technology because like from the forward facing sonar perspective, we have the old heads as we'll call them or OGs. I w normally I say old guys and then some people get offended.
by saying that. But cause it's like, where do you draw the line at old? and those are the same guys that just make especially the social media side of things incredibly toxic and disgusting. It's almost like political posts to where like they're making it personal and just like beating down on and punching down on other anglers like
Nowhere in my mind did I ever think that the fishing industry would have become so incredibly toxic. And all because of just the evolution of technology. Like, why wasn't anybody upset when our iPhone whatever's came out or when our pickup trucks had backup cameras? I mean, the parallels aren't quite the same, but
the sentiment remains the same of it shouldn't have to go that far. So to my point, 50-50, talking about kids and, you know, just the younger generation of anglers that are getting into fishing. Like we had COVID 2020, we saw a giant influx of license sales and people getting into fishing. And that was, you know, one year after LiveScope really got popular, two years after it essentially came out.
And then ever since then, it's been an influx of just the fishing industry going like this.
Brian Ondrejka (49:22.264)
People more people getting into fishing. That's the point. That's the whole thing. So, like, to your point with the new Humminbird technology, which like I've never run anything besides Garmin since I had my very first boat. I had a good buddy that was an engineer straight out of college for Garmin and was like, Hey, we just came out with these new marine units and I get fifty percent off. Do you want me to hook you up with one? So I've just ran with it since then. Yeah. and then partnered with them.
Brian Bashore (49:45.619)
Yes, please. All right. Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (49:51.553)
later down the line, especially after LiveScope and doing videos and stuff, but I just I feel like some of the technology is again just gonna go whew for a lot of those guys. Like, what do you mean? touch screen graph? I don't know what the hell is this? And so
Brian Bashore (50:06.027)
Yeah. Nope. I s I I had a min I got a old truck's always been a Minco troll motor guy and spare days, was that connected to blah blah blah and you can do all these. I'm like, Yes. I'm like, No, it's not connected because I never ever use any of any these features. I'm like, they're all great and handy, I said, but they don't work where I'm at. I'm like, You can follow a contour, so but it doesn't know that there's a boat parked on that contour ten feet in front of me, you know.
Brian Ondrejka (50:34.604)
A hundred percent.
Brian Bashore (50:35.563)
Yeah, I'm like, so it's and and every contour makes a full three sixty. I'm like, however, it's a hundred miles or two or three hundred. I'm like, it just it doesn't work. And I just I like to zigzag and and half control autopilot is is fabulous and stuff. I saw guys trolling there a day into the wind on the river, just battling it, you know, sitting there steering while the other guys kind of trying to run the cranking rods and we're trolling with the wind, with the trolling motor, you know, to kick or push it, and we're just like, Why are they working so freaking hard?
Brian Ondrejka (50:44.942)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (51:05.196)
Don't think just put that thing on autopilot. Let go it blowing big time. Like, go with go with the wind. You know, and we we were catching them just fine. Maybe well, maybe they did better now. So I don't know if the next day we see people doing it again. They didn't have kicker, they just had their big motor. I'm like, what y'all working way too hard. I mean, just put that trolling motor down if you're gonna pull cranks and let it let it do its thing. And the autopilot allows you to actually go reeling a fish and not have to worry about navigating the boat so much, but
All great technology, just like the phone, most time you're not using twenty percent of all of its capabilities.
Brian Ondrejka (51:43.427)
Right. But even still, the technology's there. I mean, I run all Garmin, but I run a Minkota trolling motor because just from a raw like bulletproof. I've never had issues with the Terova three years using the Terova quest. Never had an issue. Also, at the same time, it's a huge price thing, too. I mean, these new brushless motors. But yeah, it's
Brian Bashore (51:44.767)
With grants everything.
Brian Ondrejka (52:13.078)
I d I I just keep going back to and I'm I'm not saying I'm a saint in that I don't play into some of the negativity and chirp back at a lot of those guys because coming from a skateboarding background and just like non authoritarian type of person, just like I'm always gonna be more outspoken than probably a more than I should. But in this day and age, more people appreciate that part of it instead of being a cringy, you know.
Brian Bashore (52:35.517)
I hear you. Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (52:43.746)
Well, I keep wanting to go back to Scott Martin, just like, you know, just all the to like just like a personality type type of person. but yeah, it's just really disheartening to see a lot like so we're talking I saw you had like Bo on, Jaden, like these nineteen, twenty year old kids that sixty year old men are punching down so hard on when you know what I mean, it's just
Brian Bashore (53:09.398)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (53:12.332)
Like these kids are gonna be ab they're already staples in the industry. And even I mean, Isaac Lockich, like he's not much and Max Wilson, like they're not much younger than I am by a couple, four or five years. And just like that's the next generation of fishing. Like, sorry, everyone's gonna be aged out or phased out, and that's always been the natural progression of fishing. And with that comes the technology that's legal and available, and these younger kids.
Like Jaden and Bo and everybody else have adapted and learned because they're smart and they're cash in checks and they're making their way up the ranks. It's that's just how it is. So accept it or stop fishing. Or don't use the technology and just remove yourself from all of it and do your own thing. It's that easy. It's that simple.
Brian Bashore (53:52.501)
Yeah, there's
Brian Bashore (54:00.969)
Yeah. You could still pull bottom bouncers and spinners and still crank lead and do slip off it all still catches fish just fine. If that's what you want to do, then go do that. That is completely fine. I always say just understand if you're gonna jump in a major tournament and if you're not doing this, you're probably not competing. Period. This is the way it is. There's obviously times and places, situations where that where that's not necessarily the case, but those guys are good.
Brian Ondrejka (54:06.295)
A hundred percent.
Brian Ondrejka (54:19.224)
Right.
Brian Bashore (54:29.063)
And they're just gonna get better, and it's time for some people to step aside. And th a lot of these tournaments have made some adjustments with the traditional series or they'll call it categories, because people got allowed and then they had them this year. And I've seen a couple tournaments that did it, and like four guys signed up. I'm like there was fifty of them complaining, but when it came down to it, hardly anybody signed up for it because they're competing against such a small pool of money or whatever the case may be. And it's like we just gotta kinda accept it that.
Brian Ondrejka (54:53.965)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (54:58.506)
Maybe that's just not for you anymore. You know, or just you have to accept it like I love to go fish this governor's cup or whatever, this annual tournament with my kid, then just go fish that tournament with your kid. And just enjoy fishing the weekend with your kid and Yeah, maybe you look into the big one and b win a big fish pot. Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (55:09.026)
Yeah. And pull spinners and catch fish. And if if you weigh f thirteen pounds or whatever, that everyone's still at a great time. And that's what it's about. It's but
Brian Bashore (55:19.625)
Yeah, and then maybe you get lucky. There's dumb luck plays into them, right? Better to be lucky than good sometimes and you never know. You know, if it's a bad bite and you hook into that one tank that all of a sudden, hey, we did really good and we were just bobber fishing. Whatever it was. But you're right. The industry's growing, the numbers are not covet climbing, but they're they're increasing and that's that's the whole point. I don't I had some guys on here, we tried to break down it's
Brian Ondrejka (55:26.659)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (55:48.551)
Not a lot of people probably watched it, but they should go back and watch it. If we talk about the conservation aspect of it, Dingle Johnson funding, Pim and Robertson stuff, the the fuel tax, the marine all of that legislative policy type stuff that's super unsexy and boring and nobody knows a lot of. I nerded out and geeked out and had a couple buddies on here, Lou and then Chris Horton with Congressional Sportsman Foundation talking about it.
And as the sport grows, as we get these kids and other generations, the Bo and Jadens are bringing this whole new group of people in, the more people fish, the more license bot, the more gear, tackle, boat, boat fuel, whatever, it goes back into these fisheries.
It makes them better, makes them more sustainable, more research, more science, more big trophy fish are gonna be in those systems so they can have on their walls. And and people are hating on it, but they don't realize that no, this is this is making your fishing better by having all these people engaged and do these things. There's just there's no reason to be so negative and hate on it. It this is it's all positive, really, it is.
Brian Ondrejka (56:57.422)
Unfortunately, I would say 75% of those people are too closed-minded to see that. They are already, they've already made up their mind. It's just, and it it is what it is. But I would say to like put a bow on that whole topic, it's it's unfortunate that we are so fortunate to be involved and
be fishing for a living in an industry that has now become so toxic from the social media standpoint, which again, in our industry, we can't really get away from. We can't not be on the social media side of it. I mean, some guides I'm sure can. A lot of my buddies on Green Bait, especially Muskie Guides, like they post very seldom be you know, be obviously
They have their their sponsor obligations, but the muskie industry, that's like a whole nother thing for the most part. Like especially on the bay. But it's just like they post a lot of their giant muskie pictures in frickin' January during show season because they can. but for guys like me in the multi-species thing, I mean, if you want to stay relevant, you probably have to stay on social media unless you've been just like
Brian Bashore (57:58.321)
It is. Yeah, yeah, it is. Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (58:21.442)
king shit for the last forty years as a fishing guide. But it's again, the natural progression of just either get on the bus or get run over, I guess.
Brian Bashore (58:33.055)
You know, it's yeah. True. This is the world we live in. So
Brian Ondrejka (58:38.092)
Yeah. So I hate to like, you know, put the put a bow on it with a negative thing, but in the talking points, it's like what are the challenges of the industry that we're in? That's the biggest challenge. Like other than that, things are things are amazing. Like, why wouldn't we just love what we're what we're doing? Like, I'm so excited to go back out to the boat here with like, you know, last 25 minutes I have and just like go back through everything and make sure that there's no white bass diarrhea on the on the aqua traction that I have to wipe up or just like make sure
Brian Bashore (58:47.53)
Yeah.
They are they they are amazing.
Brian Bashore (59:04.09)
man, those things are blasting all over the place. Yep.
Brian Ondrejka (59:06.69)
There's no nicks on the frickin' leaders from today and retire or whatever. Go out into the shop and sit in the boat, turn the baseball game on, then come in, kiss my wife, and go to bed and get up at four.
Brian Bashore (59:20.427)
I did that I did all of that you're talking about while I was on the Garmin helpline waiting for my for twenty minutes to do the video to show them the transducer and so they can see me.
Brian Ondrejka (59:29.634)
Doesn't that suck that that happened though with the thirty-fourth that all of a sudden out of nowhere everything's fine and then it's like, it does this and
Brian Bashore (59:34.015)
Yep. Oop. Yep. Yep, I was like,
Brian Ondrejka (59:39.129)
So, but thankfully that's the other nice thing. I am twenty eight minutes from Garmin headquarters. So I can I just two weeks ago on a guide trip, first thing I've seen that happen and I'm like, nope, I already know what this is. There's no point in going through the troubleshooting. They send you that link, get on the video call. They're like, Okay, cool. We'll send you the link, put down the deposit, send me it now, here the next day, re ent rewire everything, and we're done.
Brian Bashore (59:45.332)
Right, yeah.
Brian Bashore (01:00:09.087)
Yeah, I had a my cord got pinched, but it it didn't cut it or nothing. I mean it's just pinched and and it still worked. And then like a couple days later it started acting up. I'm like, w wouldn't it did it right away? It just didn't it didn't cut the cord. The wires are fine. But it wouldn't even calibrate. I'm like, nah, that that's that ain't it. It's just quite a bit. Yeah, the guy was like, It's an in inside the transducer type thing.
Brian Ondrejka (01:00:16.771)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (01:00:29.398)
No, it's the deucer.
Brian Bashore (01:00:34.911)
whatever's inside it. He's like, just take it off. Here's the thing, send it. Well I'm like, I'm going on vacation next week. So I was like, you don't need to send me one. I have I have one. I just wanted to run it through. And then it's like I pulled the boat out, slammed the new one on, put it back out, ran around, went, All right, we're good. Fortunately you can do the stabilization off and get that to level out.
Brian Ondrejka (01:00:35.288)
Right.
Brian Ondrejka (01:00:54.828)
Yeah, but it's still it's it's just no.
Brian Bashore (01:00:56.061)
It's still not the same 'cause then when you get in the trolling motor it tilts and you know, and it's yeah. So it it is a thing.
Brian Ondrejka (01:01:00.194)
Yeah. But everybody don't worry, everybody on the internet says that Garmin does that. They put that out in their software updates because that's just them trying to get you to upgrade to the forty two or forty four. It's like, okay, sometimes things just age out and things just happen. That is possible. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (01:01:14.869)
Yeah.
Yep. That was in the still in the warranty process time. So I'm like, yeah, better call it. And it was a super easy process. Called, twenty minute wait, hit the call me back when you're done, sat the phone down, fished, boom, they called back in ten minutes.
Brian Ondrejka (01:01:30.274)
They have the Garmin has the best customer service. Like, not even a shameless plug. Like they have the best customer service.
Brian Bashore (01:01:33.503)
Yeah, it was it was it was pretty quick. That's twice. I've had another issue and it just it kinda went away. I think I just needed update something was probably it. but yeah, the guy said just do this. That was pretty much it. It was Yeah. Turn it off, turn on. Well that's it did this a couple days ago with the stable and I turned it off, turned it back on, and it was fine. And then yesterday.
Brian Ondrejka (01:01:45.006)
Yeah, you turn it off and turn it back on. That's my IT. That's my IT background.
Brian Bashore (01:01:59.751)
at the end of the day or I had it off all day 'cause I was up in the river where I can't scope, then we came down for like the last hour and tried to chase somebody's perch and stuff around and I turned on, I'm like, what? What the hell? Looked it up and went, All right, that's that's the issue again.
Brian Ondrejka (01:02:12.258)
You can only do it so you can only turn it off and turn it back on so many times, trust me. Ben there got that T shirt.
All right. Well, any last minute things, any nuggets? I think you dropped a hundred of already and we've got to discuss it. But if you have any pointers for those, for those listening out there or anything.
Brian Ondrejka (01:02:53.667)
Yeah, yeah.
For sure, yeah.
Brian Bashore (01:03:16.511)
Come fishing in Kansas, right?
Brian Ondrejka (01:03:18.678)
No, yeah, it's that's that's one thing. And I mean that's why I started a podcast of my own three years ago was I when we get to talking about something we're passionate about, I love to talk. So it always just comes back to to that. Sometimes a little bit too much, but just going back to the talking points, I just never wanna get through stuff like this and forget that I mentioned something important. So appreciate everybody sticking around, but
Brian Bashore (01:03:29.279)
Yep. Time flies.
Brian Ondrejka (01:03:46.861)
Nope. Like I said, like like you'd mentioned, I run Kansas Angling Experience Guide Service down here. we're thirty-five minutes west of the Kansas City Metro. So pretty good central locale. Fish about four or five different lakes here, all seasonal dependent. especially early spring and late fall, book out a year in advance. So like right now we're for the spring bite booking for mid May. So March, April and
First half of Mayor booked up. Still got winter January, February winter crappie trips, but you can go to the website Kansas Angling Experience dot com, outlines all that stuff, but got the YouTube channel, got the Instagram, got the Facebook, all branded the same. YouTube remains pretty dormant unless I'm up in Green Bay, posted six or seven videos from when I was up there in August. I don't really
do too much filming down here unless it's prime time. So I'm just getting ready for the the water to be cold and the fishing to get better down here. So if you guys just want to watch some fun, some fun fishing videos, especially with a lot of overlaid live scope footage. we all know that how popular that is, especially with the crappies and especially the walleyes. That's the place to be. But otherwise, appreciate you having me on. Been following you for a while yet. So when I got the message to to hop on here, I appreciate it.
Brian Bashore (01:05:04.713)
It's coming.
No, thanks. Appreciate you on here. The
That cool weather, that fall bite is it it's coming, folks. It'll be here. Just patience. It it'll be here. Then it'll be like it'll it'll come in like a lion or something, I assume. So nonetheless. So all right. Well, thank you, Brian. It was awesome. peas in a pod, man. Thrashers just just to guiding. I'm they might have to title it that. So skateboards to scales or something like that, you know. That might be what it is. So we gotta go way back into YouTube and watch some of the old skateboard stuff. So yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (01:05:17.6)
No yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (01:05:22.198)
Yeah.
Brian Ondrejka (01:05:31.704)
That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Love it.
Yeah, yeah. They're there.
Brian Bashore (01:05:41.333)
Thank God that wasn't around when that I'm ten year I'm forty nine, so we had a ten year gap there, but a lot of that that stuff wasn't available for me in my course I think I was done by once I was able to get a car, that I kinda skateboard went away. Started with with the BMX with the bicycle stuff, dirt bike or pedal dirt bike, not motocross, but then skateboard for quite a while. But that's a tough tough skill when you're in the country and you don't have a lot of a lot of pavement. So it was a big deal getting to go into Lincoln and and and skating the
Brian Ondrejka (01:05:55.31)
That's right.
Brian Ondrejka (01:06:08.238)
True, true.
Brian Bashore (01:06:11.859)
culverts and and the pools and stuff like that. So awesome, awesome. Good luck fishing this fall. Good to speak to you, all those. Check out on Facebook, Instagram, check up the YouTube. We'll put some links below on here. You can listen to watch this over on the Wall of Guy's YouTube page, Facebook page, or on Apple, Spotify, Google, all those podcast platforms are on a ton of log on, download it, listen to it on your drive to the lake when you're gonna go fishing with one of the Bryans. It's that simple. So
Stay safe, folks. Keep those lines tight. We'll see you on the water.
Brian Ondrejka (01:06:45.452)
You bet. See you, Brian.