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!
Brian Bashore (00:01.27)
Hey folks, thanks for tuning into another episode of Real Talk, Fishing with No Limits. I'm your host, Brian Bashore, and today we're going back east to talk to the recent Lake Erie Wallach Trail team member championship, Ryan Buddy. Back to back team of the year. Ryan and his partner have just been cleaning house over there, just won the championship, just got back to back team of the year.
And Lake Erie is a busy place this time here with the fall brawl and I think the fall slam or something is another new one they got going on. I'm gonna touch base on that a little bit, tell us how it works. Just some insight. Ryan also just got home from the US Predator Fishing Competition. Him and a few guys have been doing for three years and I think they came back with a fifth place finish on this one. So they've been moving up and that's very impressive when you kind of hear the intricates and ins and outs of how this tournament works. I think they were in Europe.
Somewhere so we'll let ryan tell us the the story on that and how that all goes So pretty interesting stuff. You're gonna want to listen in so stay tuned for ryan buddy on real talk fishing
Brian Bashore (00:00)
Hey folks, thanks for tuning in for another episode of Real Talk Fishy with No Limits. have joined today from way out east with our special guest Ryan Buddy. Ryan's coming off a back-to-back team of the year championships at Lake Erie Walleye Trail. Just won the championship as well. Ryan is a, you know, I'm not gonna tell you about Ryan. I'll let Ryan tell you about Ryan, but this guy is...
fishes the world as he travels the world, being a pilot and also Ryan, welcome. Thanks for jumping on. What's happening over there in the East side? Is it as warm as it is over here in the Dakotas?
Ryan Buddie (00:41)
Yeah, yeah, thanks for having me on, Brian. Yeah, it's like about 70 degrees here today. I actually have some hunting buddies from Wisconsin. Actually, you guys know Nick Schurz. He's on his way in right now to come fishing pretty much because you're warm to hunt. yeah, yeah. yeah, fishing's good. There's always opportunities, especially here. So yeah, and I'm not much of a hunter, but fall brawl just started and...
Brian Bashore (00:57)
Because he can.
Ryan Buddie (01:09)
Getting into that, I mean I like to go out and get harvest a deer two for the freezer every year but I'm no trophy hunter. I only got so much time and fishing is priority for sure.
Brian Bashore (01:19)
Yeah, fall brawl that's going on like you said and you know, harvest the deer too for the freezer is good because deer sticks, deer sticks, those all are great in a boat jerky. mean, it's literally why I go deer hunting every year. So I have boat snacks. Tom, those guys always, what's your boat snacks? I'm like, it's deer sticks and deer jerky things I can throw in that like your Ranger. both got coolers built in. I can throw it in there and leave it. You know, it doesn't really go bad so much. You can stay in there for quite a while.
Ryan Buddie (01:30)
yeah.
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Brian Bashore (01:50)
Good bro team. what tell everybody that you know if they don't know Ryan then they don't know Lake Erie stuff they've been living underneath the rock because the guys on stage every weekend they got a tournament over there hosting up a trophy or a check by all means. Been doing the NWT for years but for those that don't know Ryan just give them little background what's Ryan do outside of the fishing world.
Ryan Buddie (02:10)
Yeah, sure, thanks. So I grew up in Northeast Ohio here, right on shores of Lake Erie. I had a rocky river going through my backyard, so I grew up river fishing. I could just run down the hill and smallmouth and steelhead and did that kind of thing. My grandpa and dad were always into fishing, so they kind of got me out there as well. And then my big breakthrough into the real industry was in college. was just...
I was sick of working construction and got a job. Kind of started expanding, you know, my vision and heard of a friend of a friend working up in Alaska and took a job guiding in Alaska for the summers. It my summer job in college. So that kind of plugged me into the industry. Got me my first pro staff deal, which, you know, was, you know, it's going back. was actually SIMS.
Brian Bashore (03:01)
Yeah.
Ryan Buddie (03:07)
they, you know, had a guide program. And back then it was just like, yeah, yeah. And it was just waiters basically then. And it was pretty amazing to see what they've grown to. But did that and so that really expanded my, you know, my fishing knowledge and diversity, which, you know, I think is super important in this industry. And I can't even begin to say how instrumental that job was in my
Brian Bashore (03:11)
Still do.
Mm-hmm.
Ryan Buddie (03:36)
not just my career, but life in general. mean, I was a 20 year old kid and sent up to Alaska and, you know, handed this big responsibility of taking people out and not only just teaching them to fish and putting them on fishing, you know, handling that you're responsible. You're out in the wilderness. yeah. And a lot of these clientele are, know, high, it wasn't a cheap place to go. So these are very successful, you know, high profile people from all over the world.
Brian Bashore (03:55)
Dangerous place.
Ryan Buddie (04:06)
So even just learning from them and you go out in the boat and you're with them for 10 hours, just like any guide, which is I think is a really, guiding is a really valuable life lesson, especially in today's day and age with the electronics and phones. And of course we didn't have that then, but still, mean, you're forced to, hey, you got these people in your boat and you're 10 hours and you have to have an eye to eye.
conversation with them, look them in the eye, shake their hand, things that a lot of our world doesn't do anymore. That was just a very valuable life lesson for me. Learned lot about fishing and everything, doing that. So continuing on, I moved back home after college and then I would work part-time.
Brian Bashore (04:36)
Yeah.
Ryan Buddie (05:01)
As a fishing guide on Lake Erie, had my license from Lake, from Alaska, my OUPV license. So was like, well, might as well, might as well do that here in my, my, that's part-time because my full-time job, was an airline pilot. So I worked for ExpressJet Airlines, which I honestly, you know, people always ask me, keep going on and on here, but people ask me about.
why did you become a pilot? Did you like to fly airplanes or, you you always thought that and was really, I was more attracted to the lifestyle. When I was in high school looking for jobs, it was like, hey, you can have a full-time job, you make a good living and also afford, you know, 16, 17, 18 days off a month and then be able to travel the world. And I was like, sign me up because I loved, I loved outdoors. love fishing.
Brian Bashore (05:50)
Yeah, hard to beat.
Ryan Buddie (05:53)
I loved skiing. There's a conservative part about me that just wanted the stability of a job. And then I was like, hey, like a full-time job. But then I was also like, hey, know what? Flying airplane sounds kind of cool too. So that's how I got into, into flying. And it was really a perfect match for my fishing career to take off doing that. So I started fishing tournaments back. think my first tournament I fished was like 2007. And then in 2010,
kind of jumped head first in and fished the Lake Erie Walleye Trail and the MWC. And that first year I won that with my teammates. I won team of the year in both of those, the MWC and the Lake Erie Walleye Trail. And then from there, it was just like, you know, it was just, it was just like, well, you're in it now. started develop, developing, you know, contacts in the industry. And then you start doing seminars and just, you know,
Meet relationships with boat dealers and things like that and and then yeah So it's been kind of full-fledged tournament fishing since then I Got married in 2012 and I got three three beautiful girls little girls well Nora Stella and Lucy, let's see 11 8 and 5 and Yeah, so
Still doing the airline pilot thing. Now I fly for Delta Airlines. fly Airbus 350 all over the world, mostly international stuff. And then travel with the girls and fish in tournaments. And still up here in Northeast Ohio.
Brian Bashore (07:31)
You got to let me get three girls. That's a busy house. And you got one about turn 12 and from experience, can tell you 12 is the absolute worst year for girls. Five 13th grade 12. I don't know what it was about my stepdaughter, but 12, but anyway, buddy, same thing. It's like, wow, I I think it's the horrible things started going off, you know, caddy waffles at 12. So good luck with that one.
Ryan Buddie (07:41)
Well, I
I haven't seen that yet. I mean, she's wonderful now. I think I got to give props to my wife. She's an amazing mom and I feel like we're doing a good job of raising her and them. I just actually just before this year is kind of an interesting year. My wife's it's always been her dream to homeschool the girls and travel the world. And that's what we're doing this year. We're homeschooling them and then we're using my airline pilot.
Brian Bashore (08:21)
awesome.
Ryan Buddie (08:26)
privileges travel benefits to travel the world. So we actually just got back from a month in Europe and then we're homeschooling them while we're there and then then then here at home and well and I just got done teaching science to her we're talking about seasons and access of the earth and you know why it's days are longer in the summer and shorter in the winter and all that and you know, it's fun I'm really glad we're doing it and I think it's a good experience for them. But I know those teenage years are coming
Brian Bashore (08:53)
Those are, yeah, well those experiences traveling are, mean, you can't learn that. It's so much more the homeschooling way is such a good way to do things nowadays, especially just the world we live in and have a little bit of better control. But the education of your daughters getting traveling is just, there's nothing comparable to that. And then just the culture that they're getting intake. mean, you're you're raising three, gonna be very, they already are, but extremely intelligent young ladies, I'm sure just that experience alone. My wife.
did time in London and studied abroad and things and it's just you can usually tell people that we're that way. Just well rounded. I see that in the Midwest we tend to travel outside and the East and West Coast tend to travel way outside and they don't come into the middle as much. don't know, the Midwesterns to me seem like we travel more all over the place and the East and West Coast go...
Ryan Buddie (09:33)
Yeah. Hope so.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (09:52)
East or West from the coast and not into the center and don't get to see the the nice Midwest People like us, but I don't I see a lot more well-traveled well verse people come out of the Midwest So that's good good on you raising them those future young ladies entrepreneurs anglers I see those social media with them in the boat. They are you know, they know what they're doing out there. They're being being taught well
Ryan Buddie (09:53)
Yeah.
Yeah, try and try and we'll see. I don't know that they got the bug totally like I did, but they like to go and I'll take that for now. But it's funny because sometimes you'll see a kid and you think at five years old they're just going to become a fishing maniac and then all of sudden they're eight, nine and they're kind of not into it. And then you see that vice versa and that kind of goes with anything. So, yeah.
Brian Bashore (10:23)
Yep.
Yep, life company, you know, they get into sports and school and other things come up. But if you at least get them going and introduced to it in increments, folks, if you got kids, don't burn them out and take them out there for a 10 hour day because that's what you want to do. It's great. A lot of snacks, which we all if you haven't known that take a ton of snacks, but like two hours first, even when the fish is great. Sometimes they're more interested in something else. But, you know, in moderation.
Ryan Buddie (11:02)
Yeah, no doubt. I'm, I'll be the first to admit, I struggle with that too. Like I get out there, like I had Nora out there yesterday and we were perch fishing and that's what she wanted to do. But I had, I had my active target down and I kept seeing these walleyes, you know, swimming across. Like I couldn't help myself and I'm like, you know, casting at them and like, you know, taking away from her, just trying to catch these perch, you know, is what she wanted to do and play with minnows. And I'm like, you know what?
Brian Bashore (11:19)
Right.
See ya.
Ryan Buddie (11:32)
this all the time and need to stop you know and it's hard so but yeah
Brian Bashore (11:35)
It is hard.
Playing with minnows, my daughter, same thing. She would name them, but it was alright. I'd be like, hey, me Freddy. You know, he's got on the hook and she's like, yeah, Freddy's gonna get a big one, you know, I drop him down and...
Ryan Buddie (11:41)
Yeah.
Nor is giving each one a kiss before she puts it out there.
Brian Bashore (11:50)
Lucky minnows at least they're willing to part with them. So that's the good thing Yeah, little kids love minnows. So that's good because that's that's cheap entertainment. So Hey, that's what it takes, you know, moderation for them kids But I occasionally get one in the boat as a guide that's a kid that I can't get out into the day You know, I'm like, hey, you know, maybe you guys just went to a half day You're bringing two little kids and they're like, no, you know, and then I'm like, yep That kid's good to go. He can you know, we're done and he doesn't want to go You know, I'm like I was that way
Ryan Buddie (11:54)
Yeah.
Mode out.
Brian Bashore (12:20)
But I didn't get the opportunity to be in a boat very often. So when you were, you're like, I'm good. could sleep in here, just drop that anchor and we're good. But to each is their own and they're all different, but that's, that's good. Getting them out young and like I said, a of them will move away from it, maybe through high school and they get into sport or just other things. Life throws all sorts of other interests at them. But I guarantee you when they have children or they get out of college or whatever, they'll come back or they come back home. It's, Hey, I want to go do that again, or at least they know how to do it. So when they have children, some, don't like, yeah.
My dad taught me this, grandpa taught me all this, let's go. then, you know, it doesn't take much to, to reignite that bug. may never be at the level that you or I are at, but that's okay. We don't, we don't need a world full of Ryan and Brian's. We just need the world full of people that want to fish a little bit here and there.
Ryan Buddie (13:06)
Yeah, just be out the worst, you
Brian Bashore (13:09)
You help turn off those devices, turn off the screens, right? Get outside and see what the good Lord has left us out there and created and then just enjoy it. And you're fortunate to be around one of the best walleye fishery in the entire country. So that certainly helps with the success rate when you get kids out there.
Ryan Buddie (13:28)
yeah, no doubt. Yeah, sure.
Brian Bashore (13:31)
What's happening on Lake Erie right now? Fall brawl, so those of you don't know about it, you're probably well versed in that. Maybe give a quick little synopsis of what that is. I believe there's two of them now. But just what's going on on Lake Erie? How's the bite? What's happening?
Ryan Buddie (13:46)
Yeah, so the Fall Brawl is, it just started actually yesterday or the day before, but it goes through, I think December 8th this year. And then they have the Walleye Slam, which is basically the same thing. The dates are a little bit different, but it's just sign up, fish as much as you want, biggest fish wins. And there's 12, 13,000 people in them. So the prizes are massive. Two Ranger boats are first and second place in the Fall Brawl and the Walleye Slam.
I believe it's a warrior boat. it's pretty intense, pretty cool. It brings a ton of people to the area to fish for. it's just kind of a fun thing, but that's going on. So it's kind of exciting.
Brian Bashore (14:29)
So it's like 30 bucks to enter or something, right? So if you're buying an official license, you buy an entry into one of those, a slam of the brawl. And then if you think you got a tank of a wall like every other day, you take it to one of the local bait shops and it gets weighed and registered.
Ryan Buddie (14:32)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. And there's like weekly prizes as well. One thing people kind of know, the veterans of the fall brawl and it's pretty common knowledge is that those fish are almost always caught in the last week or two of the brawl. So those fish, we're going into fall patterns, water's cooling off as that water cools off, the fish really put on the feed bag. A fish that is...
11 pounds right now would probably be 12 and a half a month, you know, a month and a half from now. Yeah. yeah. And also they become, the bigger ones become easier target as well as, you know, you get into the later fall and early winter. So with that being said, people aren't that seriously fishing it right now.
Brian Bashore (15:14)
yeah, eggs are developing. They're feeding like crazy.
Ryan Buddie (15:30)
But the cool thing that they've done is there's weekly prizes. So you could, you could go out and you know, you're in contention for a weekly prize every, every week. And it's not no chump change either. And you know, it's several thousand dollars for a weekly prize, but not, not the big one. So anyways, yeah, that's going on as for the fishing. You know, we just had this championship last week and I, like I said, I was over in Europe for a month. So I hadn't fished on Lake Erie since late August. And I came back and.
you know, first thing I noticed in practice was I was like, damn, the water is still 68 degrees out in the lake. So, which is pretty warm. So those fish, you know, and I use a fish hawk religiously out there and I was out in the middle of the lake out in the sandbar and I dropped that thing from the surface all way to the bottom in like 58 feet or 50 some feet of water. And I remember was 64.2 at the surface and it was.
I'm sorry, 68.2 at the surface and 68.4 at the bottom. So the temperature difference from top to bottom in the lake was 0.2 degrees, which I don't know if I've ever seen it that uniformly mixed. Well, I mean, you had the fall turnover and I mean, the lake mixes when you get big winds, but usually there's always some kind of layering or something, but it was...
Brian Bashore (16:38)
Yeah, you would expect it to be 50 degrees down there or considerably cooler.
Ryan Buddie (16:54)
you know, completely mixed. So what that does is that scatters the fish in the water column too. You know, and they could be five feet or two feet under the surface or all the way on the bottom and mixed all around. And they weren't really congregated anywhere. I think that, you the other thing is, once that water starts cooling, really will, it triggers them to put the feed bag on. So they hadn't really done that yet. So the fishing wasn't that good really.
you know, a week or so ago out in the lake and it's getting better though now, like even since then we've had stable weather, cool 40 degree, you know, nights. I haven't been out in the last couple of days, but you know, I'm sure it's cooling off and, and the bite will concentrate and, and, and they'll also start moving to shore. That's the thing too is, you know, in that late, like that late summer, early fall, a of those fish are out, you know, they're on the thermal client out in that deep water.
Now that thermokine is blowing up, they don't really have anywhere to be, but they're just starting to figure it out and they'll migrate towards the shoreline and follow that shoreline from east to west as the season goes into the winter and really put that feedback on coming up. It should be awesome fishing.
Brian Bashore (18:08)
So everybody thinks trolling, trolling, trolling, pulling the offshore boards. Love it. That is a great place to do it. It'll never stop because that's hell of a great way to cover water and catch a lot of fish and dairy. things are changing. You fish in WT this year. You got third, I think, in that one, right? I think you were trolling. I wasn't fishing out east by you. I hardly fished at all second day because of the way and where I was at. It can still be done. It is not a thing of the past. What are you doing? Like, are you walleye trail? How?
Ryan Buddie (18:22)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (18:38)
Is everybody kind of migrating to the scope thing? Are we still throwing the light crazy or is it a pretty mixed bag of things?
Ryan Buddie (18:45)
Well, that's an interesting question. Lake Erie is kind of a cool place to be a tournament angler right now because it's not like a lot of these other fisheries where basically you got to be using forward-facing sonar. mean, you saw that a lot in the NWT this year. mean, that's 100 % what it needed to win and what you had to do. Lake Erie is still a mix. Now, what I think it's kind of
Brian Bashore (19:01)
Alright.
Ryan Buddie (19:14)
basically come down to is when the fish are shallower, so you're talking less than 35 feet from the surface, I think that the forward-facing sonar, the casting, is going to be the way to go. can efficiently, it's easier to pick out the bigger fish. can get your bait on them fairly quick, dropping it to them and stuff. So your spring through
spring through early summer tournaments and then your fall tournaments are I think tend to be our year casting tournaments. Now so Lake Erie Wally Trail this year let's see there was seven events and two of the seven were one cast and the other five are one trolling.
Brian Bashore (20:03)
Now they have like jigging only events too, correct? Okay.
Ryan Buddie (20:06)
Well, yeah, that's that. Yeah, there was there's one gig in a winning event. And of course, that was that was one casting. But there was seven like all anything's and it goes events and two of the seven were one casting next year. I would expect that number to go up a little bit. I was really impressed. You know that that NWT this year, you know, this is going off a little bit. But when those guys like, know, player and Hunter Nittany, they beat me.
Brian Bashore (20:10)
one, okay.
Ryan Buddie (20:37)
Casting and I was trolling. think I was the top. Yeah. No, I was the top trolling boat, but I was impressed that they did that in the rough water that we had on day two. I didn't think that they would be able to do that. And then it was, you know, I was, I was actually inspired by it. So, you know, the rest of that spring I went out and I actually figured out how to do it in that, in that really rough stuff. And it wasn't as hard as I...
Brian Bashore (20:48)
Yeah, tell me about it.
Ryan Buddie (21:05)
I mean I think the key is and what made it doable for them in that one is you they're fishing 25 feet of water or less. Well it's not you know you're not you're not casting you know if you're out in that rough stuff and you're cat you know you got a target 45 feet down and you got a cast and drop a bait to them you know an individual fish. I don't know good luck I mean yeah you better have a heavy bait but sometimes they don't want to bite that heavy a fast and they're great so.
Brian Bashore (21:28)
You better have a heavy bait.
Yep. Yeah, pretty tough.
Ryan Buddie (21:35)
I don't know that that still needs to be It'll be interesting I think like they got the Dunkirk event next year the MWT Yeah, yeah, I mean now one thing the MWT has which I'd like to see them change is they have this four rod Limit so I mean that's one advantage the trollers have in the Lake Erie walleye trail is it's state state
Brian Bashore (21:45)
Which is typically deep, right? Very deep.
Ryan Buddie (22:01)
regulation so if you're in Ohio you can fish six rods. So six rod trollers, that helps the trollers out, kind of evens the playing field a little bit.
Brian Bashore (22:10)
It's funny you say that because Kavias mentioned the same thing. would like, the MWC does that, believe, they go with whatever the state regs are up. Minnesota's one rod, blah, blah. Wisconsin, Ohio, that's three rods, which I get it for trolling. We actually had this discussion and anglers voted on it at the Devils Lake Championship. We had an anglers meeting and so 40 pros basically, I think 30 something, eight showed up, couple of them just got the times mixed up. All but one voted to do that or not to do that.
Ryan Buddie (22:16)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
to not have the state regulation. Yeah, really. Wow.
Brian Bashore (22:45)
Yep, keeping it 2 because hardly anybody fishes with 2 anymore, right? Except when we're on Dunkirk or Huron or something like that that's coming up on schedule. Yeah, it's funny that you say that and Kavya said it and literally the room everybody said, don't believe it at 2. One individual wanted to go to 3 or to go to whatever the state regs were.
Ryan Buddie (22:48)
yeah.
Yeah, now
Yeah, I you know, I think it'd be good for everyone because I mean, reality is that you're gonna there are a lot of guys in the NWT that are trollers, you know, and you're gonna wash those guys out real quick with how dominant the forward facing sonar is, at least I think you get and you need.
Brian Bashore (23:20)
Yep. There was some pretty good arguments made why to keep it at that court set some good ones. but I, I think the way that the co a lot of it was because of coangler, right. And experience levels and this and that, but kind of the demand for that, lot of that has kind of shifted a little bit. think we're getting a lot more. Used to get a lot of guys that, know, maybe their wife signed them up as a birthday gift and they're 85 years old or something like that. Right. And then the, the ability to take 90 mile boat rides and stuff isn't.
Isn't great and sometimes their experience levels aren't there but now I think you have a lot more competition even on the coangler side Right, we're different kind of a new wave new generation coming in and signing up for all four because they have to to get in So these guys a little more committed a little bit more interested and maybe not even jumping up to the pro side But learning a lot more to take it back for their local tournaments or mwc or amy vince type stuff So I think your skill level on the co side I think has been elevated a little bit over the last couple years. So the
Ryan Buddie (24:02)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (24:19)
A lot of concern was having that code that just doesn't have a skill set that it's going to be a kind of a mess if I'm trying to run six rods, you know, basically by yourself almost, right?
Ryan Buddie (24:25)
Yeah.
Well, I don't know. mean, I guess I kind of would disagree on that because I mean, as a pro, think, you know, one of your jobs is to oversee, teach and mentor, you know, and like, I think that that's doable and it's also, it's your decision as a pro. don't have, you know, you're not, you're not. Yeah, you're not tied to it. I mean, I think that in that NWT, you know, if I could have run six rods, I would have had no problem doing it. I,
Brian Bashore (24:45)
Yep, you don't have to run 6.
Ryan Buddie (24:57)
I might've been able to give those guys a run for the money. Now, I will say, I think that the reason I say that is because I was in a better spot than they were. I was on bigger fish than they were. Now, if I knew what I knew now and grew through a casting program at the fish that I was on in that tournament, I definitely think I could've given them a run for their money. But hey, it's a learning experience. And I learned from that one too. And it still walked away with third place, we'll take it.
Brian Bashore (25:06)
Yeah, you definitely were.
Ryan Buddie (25:28)
You know, I mean, as for, you know, back to the cast and verse trolling thing, you know, I was curious to see coming into later summer on Erie, how relevant casting would be as we got out into that Eastern basin and those fish were, you know, 55, 60, 65 feet down. And, you know, I mean, it came.
Basically what I found out is trolling is definitely still relevant. We did a lot of casting. There was a lot of guys in the tournaments that did casting on those fish and it just getting a bait, pinpointing. One thing I've learned about those fish with active target and watching it is they are not stationary. I used to think that while I just kind of hover down there and just kind of sit there and wait for an opportunity to come up. No, they are moving.
Brian Bashore (26:19)
Yeah, not so much.
Ryan Buddie (26:24)
You you cast a bait out, you know, 20, you know, 30, 40 feet, and then it's got to sink 60 feet, and you're casting that to a moving target. Like, the efficiency is just not exactly there, you know, whereas I can go out and, I mean, I know how to put, you know, six lines at, if the fish are at 58 feet of water or 63 feet of water, you know, or whatever, 50 feet of water, I know how to put six lines there.
Exactly there and I control at two two and a half mile an hour. The efficiency is just I mean, it's it's really good You know, especially if you got two guys that you know know what they're doing and the fish come in the boat real fast like that So, you know as for casting in that situation Now where are those guys? You know in that Eastern Basin? It's not not like not all the fish are necessarily out there in that 55, you know, 66 feet down
You know, obviously like when Hoyer won that one out of Dunkirk that championship, he was fishing weeds on the Northern shoreline, know, in shallow water. Well, yeah, sure. That's, that's going to be a casting, casting bite, but that, you know, that whole, that's out of range for a lot of, you know, what we've been doing on the Lake Erie walleye trail getting up there. And, you know, so yeah, we can fish Canadian waters, but you know, did that, that North shoreline in the central basin isn't quite like that Eastern basin that's got.
Brian Bashore (27:43)
Can you guys fish Canadian waters?
Ryan Buddie (27:53)
you know, those points and protected areas, you know, there can be weed beds and it's a whole different ecosystem up there that we don't really have now. There's always places to explore that people haven't done yet and places that wildlife are that people don't know about yet. And, you know, that's going to be the key to, you know, what if those later summer tournaments, you know, for casting to be significant or, or develop new tactics. And I'm sure that
There will be that, but back to the Lake Erie Walleye Trail again this year, that's what I think is really cool and special about it is that it takes a lot of different skill sets to do, to have a complete season and win team of the year like we did. We did a lot of different tactics and did well in them all. And that's what's cool about it. And it really makes it a great trail too. there is, it takes a...
you know, a diverse anger to be able to do the whole thing and do it successfully.
Brian Bashore (28:55)
It's a big trail. mean, it obviously made national news last year, which everybody's seen, and we ain't going to go down that rabbit hole because the fish and waste thing has gotten pretty old. I'm sure you hear it every day still from people. what is that limited to 100 teams or there is there more than that? Or I mean, it's there's a lot of good sticks in there.
Ryan Buddie (29:15)
No, yeah, it's not limited at all. And it's really pretty remarkable what's happened with it in the last few years. I always to go to the highest level I possibly could with fishing. And that was go to the National Wildlife Tour. First it was the MWC and then it was the National Wildlife Tour. And I never really envisioned myself so-called taking a step back.
to something like the Lake Erie Walleye show, but that's really not what it is anymore because Jason Fisher took it over a few years ago and his goal was just make it huge and blow it up and big and no limits on boats. So we have events that are well over a hundred boats and the payouts have gotten really good, especially on the top. You know, it's the Ranger Cup events. So, you know, I mean, I've won, I think three Ranger Cup or actually five Ranger Cup.
In the last two years just doing that so that you know that that adds a lot to the pot You know I look at like I mean I guess I'll just go out and say this is not no limits broadcast But I look at right I look at the MWC payouts, and I'm just like my gosh that is embarrassing compared to what it used to be And then you look at the Lake Erie walleye trail, and it's like it's you know it's really really good and and you know let me
Brian Bashore (30:26)
All right.
Yeah.
Ryan Buddie (30:43)
Let me just say this too, if you fish anything for payouts, then you're missing a point. mean, in any kind of, you know, wildlife fishing, you're fishing for titles and trophies and, you know, the competition and that's how you're going to maintain doing this year after year after year, you know, because if you try to think logically about, you know, what it costs to do all this and that, it starts the...
Brian Bashore (30:49)
Totally.
Ryan Buddie (31:09)
You know, you're going to second guess what you do, but if you do it for the love of the game and competition and that. But at the same time, yeah, it's kind of like.
Brian Bashore (31:15)
But it's gotta make sense. It's gotta make a little bit of sense to give yourself the opportunity to at least break even or if you look like you said to MWC, I'm gonna put it all on a spreadsheet before I fished NWT anyway. This makes zero sense if guys like me who don't have guys or whatever who don't get paid vacation. This is the aspect a lot of people forget about is if you're a guide or you're a whatever, you take that week off or MWC maybe a couple days.
Ryan Buddie (31:22)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (31:44)
You're not there's no revenue coming in because you're not taking clients out now I get other guides and what have you you know, so now if you got paid vacation that's different But then again, you're limited and like you said can I do these five events now versus this fish my home ones because obviously you got a home life and a job and you know, There's still family vacation your kids are at that age where you guys been you know, they got a lot going on So you do you want to be gone all the time? But it's got to make a little sense to see if you're not in first or second Even with baby vacation you and now it's a team event. So you're splitting the pot, right?
You're splitting expenses as well. Yeah, you didn't make any money. You're lucky to have broke even at that point. And WT obviously the palettes are higher, but like you said, like your wallet, it's not a step back. That's a big circuit and payouts are good. And in your case, there's very limited travel for everybody fishing there. I'm sure there's some guys that probably travel a fair amount of distance to actually go there as well. You know, they got a little more cost on the line, but when you can stay close to home, like casino cups or North Dakota's got a lot of tournaments, these things.
Ryan Buddie (32:15)
And the travel, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Brian Bashore (32:43)
There's a lot more people I think getting into those and if there isn't there should be especially with the cost of fuel and just the economy the way it's been I'm thinking to see a lot of that next year we were kind of talking about earlier a lot of guys are gonna focus on those tournaments as governor's cups because these payouts are significant and The competition and like your watch role is not one to shit not chicken. mean, it's good Now some of these other local ones gum comes to maybe you're only competing against, you know, 50 % of the field other ones are just it's their annual thing
Ryan Buddie (33:11)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (33:11)
They're just doing it to do it because they love to do it. It's their weekly summer fishing trip. Actually, though, know, everybody stumbles into one here and there sometimes.
Ryan Buddie (33:20)
Yeah, and it's good. yeah, that's good. I mean, it's for me, like I was excited to see like, hey, the Lake Erie Walleye Trail grew a lot, you your hunter boat fields, a lot of them. It gets really good frost, good notoriety, good competition. It's everything you want as a tournament angler. I mean, the travel, you know, most of the nights I sleep at home, can practice, you know.
couple days and feel pretty comfortable going out and competitive and doing that. I I do miss, I will say this, I mean, I do miss the travel and the different fisheries and all that. mean, as great as Lake Erie is, it is fun to go to some of these different fisheries, but the nice thing that's kind of been refreshing about Lake Erie is with all the forward-facing sonar stuff is now where I used to think that there was only one tactic to do on Lake Erie, no, there's...
there is a lot of, and that's what I did like about traveling to these other places is there, you you do, you would do different, different kinds of tactics and whatnot, but hey, we're learning that we can do those right here on Lake Erie. mean, I was, I was slip-rober and fishing in the NTC this year, you know, and, I never imagined that. but, so that, I mean, it's for me right now, it's, it's, it's a great, you know, great thing. And, you know, it's, it's going well. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (34:45)
You got there's a lot more. I used to see a San David T early on and even otherwise used to have the East guys and the West basically is called Wisconsin, Minnesota, Dakotans who seem to be a little bit more diverse because we have all sorts of different types of fisheries, rivers and reservoirs. We're trolling. We're pulling lead. We're jigging, slip bobbering, what have you. They need to get guys from here or wherever it was East that would come West to River Turm. And it's like, I don't have to worry about those guys because some of them have never held a spinning rod. They don't know how to.
Ryan Buddie (34:58)
yeah, I was gonna say...
Brian Bashore (35:14)
Lindy rig or whatever it be or a jig. And they flat out have said that. And I've had Coes be like, yeah, the guy did literally grab the spinner rod, head on upside down. He's like, I've never done this. And I've had Coes in my boats from like New York and they're like, what are we doing? Like we're jigging. And he's like, okay, cool. I've never done that. You know, I only know how to troll because that's all they've ever done. But thankfully this technology is coming out and those guys are becoming, like you said, a lot more diverse. And now your fisheries, it's a whole new place for you. It's opening up all new areas, new patterns and it's fun again, right?
Ryan Buddie (35:40)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (35:43)
Not that it wasn't fun before, but learning is fun.
Ryan Buddie (35:47)
Yeah, and I mean, think that you know, that non diverse angler thing is, you know, that's a choice amongst anglers. you can be, you know, like there's, there's those types of people from anywhere. And, know, one thing I've learned about fishing too is, know, some people just have, they have the it factor when it comes to fishing and it doesn't matter if they haven't ever done a technique. If you, you know,
Brian Bashore (35:54)
Right, totally.
Ryan Buddie (36:12)
you know, send them to a place and give them the technique, tell them like, hey, this is what you need to do, and you do your homework, learn that technique, and you can develop it very, very, very, very quickly. You know, and that goes, that's not just for walleye fishing. I mean, that can go for, you know, I've seen it, you know, I do a lot of saltwater fishing and, you know, overseas fishing, and you can see, you can see it, and I think that those...
Undiverse anglers a lot of that is it's their own problem and not not not as much where they're from with that being said I was always I was always jealous of the guys from like, you know, the Green Bay Winnebago area You know that really have all these different options just like right there, you know
Brian Bashore (36:44)
It's the choice of the anger, yeah.
But then we also have a boat full of entirely too much stuff, you know, and it's just, you you eliminate choices. I love going to area and it was like, this is it. When it was, we were trolling, it was clean at the end of the day, your boat's clean. You're not up all night re-rigging and tying a whole bunch of stuff. It's just like, you pulled in, park it, plug it in. You're like, we're good to go. You know, good to go. I'm just going to swap out some crankbaits in the morning and check my line. That's it. You know, it's simple. It's clean.
Ryan Buddie (37:03)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah. no doubt. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (37:27)
being a diverse angler, you're probably one of the most diverse anglers out there. You just got back from the world predator, whatever it's called, tournament type thing. You guys been doing that for a few years. Did real well, I believe, this year, right?
Ryan Buddie (37:40)
Yeah, we did all right. We did the best we've done for sure. Not quite, you know, in one of these, not quite reached our goal yet, but yeah, it's the, it's the artificial boat angling world carnivorous fish boat eating world championship. Basically you're fishing from a boat in pairs. It's artificial lures only, and you fish for a top predator species on host countries given body of water. So, you know, and our team USA consists of a
Myself, Nick Schurich, John Hoyer, Max Wilson, and Jeremy Dengsten came this year as an alternate and extra support. And yeah, we were over in Ireland and there's a lot we've learned with this over the years. A lot of like with the format and certain challenges with traveling overseas and fishing like this and stuff. And we definitely made some steps this year. We ended up finishing fifth.
overall as a country out of 15 countries and most of those other actually all this year all the other countries were European countries so I and this I think the biggest thing was this year we actually got some practice in beyond the official so the way it works is either there's two official practice days seven hour or eight hour days so 16 hours to try to figure out
big body of water and new species that you never fish. And that's what we've had the last two years. That's all we've had. Then there's a close period and you can go before this close period. So Max and myself, we went before the close period. Nick got a little bit of time in like almost a month ahead of advance time. so it definitely helped and made a difference.
The rental boat situation, that's how it works. Like most of those countries over there, they tow their own boats in. We obviously have to do rental boats. And that's a big challenge as well. Fishing out of a boat, like we would show up in the morning and you wouldn't get to see your boat till a half hour before takeoff. then we're sitting there rigging, live throwing our on it at 15 minutes before takeoff.
trying to adjust the new trolling motors and stuff. regardless, we had a respectable fifth place. We actually had the big fish each of the three days. First day, John and Max had it. And then Nick and I trumped them the second day and upped it a little big. And then the last day, John caught a massive one. So that one big fish for the whole event. So we least got to bring home some hardware across the pond. So that was cool.
So, yeah.
Brian Bashore (40:31)
That's a, you Nick gave us, I him on here, he gave us pretty in depth on that world of ice fishing stuff. And any of that is, mean, they're lucky to have you on there to help them with their travel arrangements and understanding of all these other countries and the passports. mean, there's a lot to that and not going to Ireland every year. mean, people are in for it, right? Like your outlet converters and just certain things that aren't on probably a lot of people's mind that they're pretty fortunate.
Ryan Buddie (40:58)
Yeah, I mean, when they put the team together, I think they were just kind of looking for different diversities, know, or different backgrounds in fishing and different skill sets. And, you know, I mean, I guess, I guess one of mine was that like, Hey, I'm a world traveler, pet trade. So, you know, accustomed to doing that. And, and, and definitely like I fish a lot of times on my overnights in Amsterdam. So I'm fishing Xander over there and, and stuff. So.
learning those species and then just being accustomed to world travel and jet lag and currencies. I'm comfortable in that situation. I'd like to say maybe that was part of why they recruited me. yeah, it's interesting. It's a tremendous challenge in tournament fishing and it's something that...
It's a pretty big honor to be representing the United States of America in fishing and I don't take one bit of that for granted. So as long as they keep asking me back to do it, I'll keep showing up and yeah, trying to get that gold medal. It's kind of cool too. It's it's highly competitive fishing and you're not fishing for money at all. It's just non-silver gold for your country and that's really what it's all about.
Brian Bashore (41:59)
No, that is super cool and congratulations guys, it's a finish. Yep, keep going back.
Olympics.
Yep, that is pretty cool stuff. I mean, we'll get that stuff in the Olympics here hopefully someday. I kind of, know the bass USA team kind of had, did the same thing. And then there's the world. I mean, it's, it's no small feat. What are the, how did the other countries look at fish? And I know way different here than it is over there.
Ryan Buddie (42:39)
yeah, I mean they have different tactics and it's, it's, it's kind of like eye-opening, you know, the way like learning how they fish over there and they're, really good at it. And they, this is their, I mean, not that this isn't a huge deal for us. It is a huge deal for me. If I could win one tournament of the year, it'd be this one and stuff. I'd rather win this than a hundred thousand dollar national wildlife tour. But like these guys, I mean, they take like three, four weeks off their countries, you know, they're
they're funded by their, you know, government funded. yeah, we're putting most of our own bill over there. We're trying to get some sponsors for the team. If anyone's listening that wants to help support US Nango and the US Predator team, we'll definitely be willing to talk and we can actually get some really good publicity about it. We're working on that, but we're definitely up against
Brian Bashore (43:12)
You guys are scraping every penny you can for people to help.
for sure.
Ryan Buddie (43:36)
you know, a tremendous challenge with these guys, not only the funding that they have, also, you know, they have, they have the experience, all these have so far been here. Yeah, yeah, they have, they have that. And like this year, you know, it was kind of interesting, you know, I guess I'll go into the tactics a little bit, but we thought that we would have a big advantage this year because
Brian Bashore (43:45)
Local knowledge, got yeah.
Ryan Buddie (43:58)
In previous years, we've seen them go around and they just, they tend to just spot lock and then they have their live scope holes and scan them around and fish. And that's kind of the style we've seen them fish in previous years. And so we thought, well, you know, more of our style is the forward facing sonar on the bow mount, aggressively moving around, finding targets and casting at them. And especially this year, it was going to be a pike heavy tournament. So we were going to be targeting pike. So we thought we would be able to do that.
put the forward-facing sonar on the bow, move around aggressively, find these fish, cast to them, and cover and hit a lot of targets. And to a certain extent that did work well. Now, the Lithuanian team this year just basically, they caught, they blew the, they completely dominated the competition. They caught probably double the fish that even second place did. And what they were doing was way more efficient than using
the bow mount, they were using their outboard with a pole mount, you know, shooting out to the side and they were using their outboard to move around fast, you know, four or five, six knots scanning for these suspended pike, which were easy to, easy to spot. And then they throw the boat in neutral or reverse position the boat to where they can make the, you know, the right cast, make the cast, fish didn't bite, they'd move on. they, they, that, their efficiency was.
Brian Bashore (45:11)
Alright.
Ryan Buddie (45:24)
just incredible and that's how they beat us. And some of the other countries were doing the same thing, I just don't think they were as good at it as the Lithuanian team was.
Brian Bashore (45:31)
Well, advantage of not having a rental boat when you can have it rigged up, right?
Ryan Buddie (45:36)
Well, yeah, you can have a wake up and then also like you can't drive the rental, but we have to have a driver licensing thing over there. that, you know.
Brian Bashore (45:42)
geez.
They don't give you like a 20 pound handicap there or something, because that's pretty much what it sounds like, would be fair.
Ryan Buddie (45:50)
No, no. And I'm not going to complain about the rules. mean, we have, you know, we're learning and we'll get our chance and stuff. I mean, and it's not like even if we could have done that, we would have just instantly snapped into being able to do it like perfectly and stuff. mean, there's definitely a learning curve in the skill set to doing what they were doing. Like other countries were doing it and weren't as good. I mean, then you got to know the exact bait and how to present it and trigger. And we were figuring that out.
but just obviously not as good as them. And one of the reasons why it worked is that we learned just even about the fish is, you know, it's not like those pike aren't exactly like our walleye in that they're not spooked by the boat and the outboard. Like they don't care if you get there with an outboard rumbling at them at 30, you 40 feet. Like, you know, I feel like our walleye would be a little bit more boat shy and leery about that.
And then also they just kind of hover. don't like, I was talking about our walleye and like Yuri that are just constantly on the move. Like they're, they're just going, they just kind of, those pike just kind of sit there and hover. So you can find that target and position that boat just about exactly where you want. And then when you know exactly, you know, you can even figure out which way that pike is facing. then really, once you're really dialed, you know, exactly the cast to make and how to present it and all that. And it's just kind of.
a little different than the way we're fishing and it's like, man, there's a fish, like fire the cast, like instantly get it on him if it doesn't work, it in and cast again. And that's more of our forward-facing sonar walleye experience. Whereas this was more, mean, any muskie anglers that are listening are probably like, man, yeah, that's exactly how we would do it. Like the Lithuanian team would be doing it. But again, yeah, it's a learning experience.
Brian Bashore (47:22)
Right.
Ryan Buddie (47:43)
I'm sure next year we probably won't even be fishing pike. We'll probably be fishing Xander or perch or something like that too. It'll be more learning, but tremendous challenge. Absolutely.
Brian Bashore (47:48)
Right, yeah, but like every tournament you learn something new and you take it on to the next one.
I know Xander are huge and those birch over there I saw were pretty big.
Ryan Buddie (48:02)
yeah, and they definitely like, you you think that they're a predator fish, top predator, and you think that they would be, you know, it's a Xander, it looks like a walleye, you know, it's similar size, eats similar bait, that it would be similar, and they're really not at all. Like Xander and walleye, what sugars them to bite isn't even close to the same, and that's something we learned as well. And even their pike are seen, you know, I haven't fished whole lot of pike, like specifically target them in North America, but.
To me, seems like what triggers them is quite a bit different than our North American pike. They're definitely more lethargic and more wanting. It's basically just like presenting a bait at the right distance and viewing point to that fish, but just a very slow, just kind of creep along and they come up and snap it. Like anything erratic or aggressive style fishing, those European fish, it doesn't seem to trigger them.
quite like our fish.
Brian Bashore (49:02)
getting. Are those fisheries smaller? Is there more pressure? Is the water cleaner?
Ryan Buddie (49:08)
you know, one thing like I was, there's, they're definitely smaller. mean, like we were going over there and they're like talking about how huge this body of water is. I'm like, I'll show you a huge body of water. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, with that being said, there was, there was a lot of space, but it was definitely a smaller fishery. Now the Irish, it seemed like this was the best fish and we've, we've been here. We were in,
Brian Bashore (49:20)
Her eyes, like, this a puddle, man.
Ryan Buddie (49:36)
Czech Republic and then we were in Latvia and the Irish are very good, it seems like, about conservation. Basically nobody keeps pike over there. I didn't even see people keeping perch. It's a lot of catch and release and it showed. It was a fantastic fishery with a lot of them in there. Now, when we were in Latvia, it didn't seem like that. Like the fish were a lot smaller, it seemed pressured. There just wasn't, there wasn't that trophy fishery. And then you go to the...
I mean, I remember going to the market and in Latvia and there's a whole bunch of Xander sitting on ice in the market, you know, that looked very fresh. And it's like, well, that's why we weren't catching trophies and yeah, now Czech Republic, thought was that was a smaller body of water, but I think they were pretty good about their conservation as well. A lot of catching release and that was, that was pretty good fishing as well. So.
Brian Bashore (50:17)
That's his payday
Cool, I ask that because Seaguar released one of their JDM lines which is their line from Japan this year, PEX-8, and it is literally designed after the high fishing pressure that they have over there. Because there's such small body waters that are so many anglers, it's a mage tram braided with super, super thin diameter.
Ryan Buddie (50:39)
Thanks.
Brian Bashore (50:55)
That's what makes all the difference for these guys is having a super thin diameter line, super thin, you know, fluorocarbon leaders, all the stuff that just any little thing is going to help you. Obviously, when you're dealing with a high pressure, you know, fishery finesse or whatever, you know, is or in your case is like here. Sometimes when you got super clean water, I mean, that we all know the fish in there is about the water clarity. The location is lot. Sometimes it's too clean, too dirty, what have you. Right. You're kind of looking for that that perfect mixture of two. But
Yeah, the PEX8 Braid was that it? That was it. They brought it over here and I've been using it and it's more in like all my finesse type stuff. Yeah, it definitely helps. that's what it was, you know, spun off. was high pressure fishing.
Ryan Buddie (51:36)
Yeah. And I mean, you know, that's just, mean, yeah, that will help. That'll help in non-pressured stuff. I mean, anytime you can get more stealth and thinner diameter and more sensitivity and stuff, you know, sure. Yeah. I mean, it's just another, it's another cool development. That's a part of, you know, this growing, you know, this constantly developing industry. And I mean, it's cool to be a part of and, and yeah.
Brian Bashore (51:42)
Correct.
I'm
I'm surprised those those pike weren't so spooked. That's what I'm like really not that pressurized or but like I said, they're like nobody if they're not keeping them I mean, maybe I'm sure they're fishing them, but they're not keeping them. But you know, maybe who knows? But yeah, you're definitely right. You get 30 feet from a walleye around here in mid season and it's it's out of there. Once that bait hits the water that boat cruises by or what have you. There's it's different everywhere. You said something earlier.
And you, and this is kind of, it's funny how things are so different from East, Midwest, whatever the case may be, but shallower and you referred to 35 feet. I think shallow. I'm talking like, when I say shallow, I'm in 10 foot or less of water. You're talking shallow cause you got 60, 80 feet of water, but you fish a lot all summer out there of 35 feet. So, and you use the fishhawk a lot. I touch, touch on that. I've never used one. I've seen it. I've read all your stuff about it. Obviously if I'm living out that really anywhere, that thing is a tool that probably we should all have and use, but.
Ryan Buddie (52:41)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (52:58)
kind of explain how it is and how it works. think it's pretty fascinating.
Ryan Buddie (53:02)
Yeah, so there's a portable unit. It's the X2, which is nice. It just runs on two AA batteries. And then it has a probe that now it's lithium powered probe. So you just put it on like a little pad charger, just like your cell phone, and charge it up. But essentially, it's a way to check the speed and the water speed, the down water speed and temperature. So out there, I'm trolling.
I mean, I religiously just drop it down. have it on a little short. I probably actually have it sitting over right over there. I could show if there's viewers that want to see it, or you could just look it up. But anyways, I'm using this. All right, here.
Brian Bashore (53:46)
Go grab it. We got time. Just go grab it quick. We'll show them. We'll save them with the... But it's yeah, definitely go check it out. Fish-hawk. Could use like a little shorty rod or whatever with some braid I imagine to drop it down on them.
Ryan Buddie (54:00)
Yeah, exactly. So here we go. So this is the module right here. So this just slides in. There's all kinds of different mounts, but this just slides in your track there. And you can turn it on. And then it's connected to, this is called the slip deucer here, which is...
It's just a transducer that slides on your line and then here's the probe and then you just weight it with, I think this is a two pound ball and then they make this, yeah, just like a mini downrider ball and then they make it on, they make this little shorty rod. You could just use a saltwater, actually I think they might have discontinued this rod but you could just use a saltwater fishing kite rod and then just put like 50 pound braid.
and I just drop this thing right off the side of the boat pretty much any time I'm trolling. And I'll use it to check, like I mentioned earlier in this that I used it to check the water temperature. But honestly, I'm using it and that can be important for checking thermoclines and stuff, but a lot of times you don't even need it to check the thermocline because you could see where, you could see the fish layered on your 2D seminar.
Brian Bashore (55:04)
Waterton.
Ryan Buddie (55:22)
when there's a thermocline. And it really doesn't matter where the water temperature is, it's where the fish are. So you can use it for that, but more often than not, I'm using it to check my speed through the water. Exactly, yes. Your speed over ground and your lure speed are definitely not the same thing. the thing that I've learned about using that, and this was really instrumental in this.
Brian Bashore (55:33)
Because bow speed and lure speed are not the same thing.
Ryan Buddie (55:49)
I won't say I used this in this last tournament, but just this principle is really instrumental and important on Lake Erie. That current is not uniform like east to west or west to east all day. What happens on the lake is what they call Lake Siege, and that's where especially when Lake Erie runs southwest to northeast. So if you get a big southwest wind, that water will blow over to the eastern basin towards Buffalo.
the water level of the lake will rise over there and then that wind dies and it'll all that water will come back and then it sloshes like back and forth so that current you know you can be out in the middle of the lake and it's going one way and then two hours later it's going the other way so it changes a lot and that can be really important for how and where fish will set up on structure and that's basically how we won this tournament this lake this championship
last week on the Lake Erie Walleye Trail is we were just finding, like I said earlier, said, you know, the water was 68 degrees out in the main lake and they were, fish were not happy. When I say the main lake, just the basin water fish, which there's a lot of basin water on Lake Erie, which is just big open bowls of featureless, you know, sand, mud bottom. you know, it might change a depth, you know, a foot or two of depth over a mile.
That's what I'm talking about. Those fish, and that's a very common area to fish and can be very good. Those fish were just not in the mood. But in the Western basin, you can get around a lot of like points and break walls and humps and bumps and islands. And when that wind is shifting back and forth, it creates current seams and eddies and it's almost like a river. And those are ambush points. And that's where we were fishing and that's where we found these fish.
that led to this championship win. But yeah, like I will religiously use this, not only, you know, the fishhawk, not only just to figure out the down speed and the currents, but a lot of our trolling devices are, they're speed dependent. So like, know, dipsey divers or lead core line or, you know, offshore tackle tadpoles or inlet snap weights. So the faster you're going through the water,
Brian Bashore (58:07)
Yeah.
Ryan Buddie (58:13)
The higher they come up in the water column, slower, the deeper they're going. don't think that, you know, I don't think that the walleye cares if that lure is traveling 1.8 mile per hour through the water or 2.1 mile per hour. If it goes by that fish, he's going to eat it. If it's 0.3 difference isn't going to make a whole lot of difference, but the depth, the place in the water column is going to make a lot of difference. And if you're a weighted device,
Blown up, you know 10 feet because that you're going into a strong current or vice versa and then you're missing the fish Where's like hey yesterday my my speed over ground on my GPS is 2 mile an hour and I had this dip see diver out a hundred feet and the fish are the same spot in the In the you know that I'm marking them. Why am I not catching them today? And I was yesterday well the currents different and that current had blown your dip see diver up eight feet or down or vice versa so that's where
Brian Bashore (59:10)
Meal.
Ryan Buddie (59:13)
the fishhawk really shines and that's how I use it.
Brian Bashore (59:16)
think a lot of people overlook the current in the Great Lakes. It's a deal. mean, they think rivers and obviously there's current rivers, but there's really current in most all fisheries, whether it's wind driven or your case. mean, it's a big bathtub and it's sloshing back and forth, but anywhere you got islands and reefs, those are current. Funnels and seams.
Ryan Buddie (59:30)
Yeah. Yeah. And that lake siege that I was talking about that's wind driven, mean, that'll happen on any elongated, especially elongated body of water. I mean, I remember, this is one of my, you know, back to tournament fishing, this is one of my more proud tournaments was coming out to you, by you, I fished out on Francis Case in the NWT and I got a fifth place in that one and that was...
You know, that's one that I like, it certainly wasn't my best finish in a tournament, but it's one of the ones that I'm more proud of because, you know, it was fishing eight feet of water and pitching a jig in, you know, in that kind of water. And, know, nothing irks me more than when people call me troll or guy, you know, and that one, you know, Hey, I took a top five in a body of water. I'd never been in pitching a jig and eight to nine feet of water. And I remember, you know,
Brian Bashore (1:00:20)
All
Ryan Buddie (1:00:30)
that current was a big deal because that river naturally flows north to south or whatever that is, guess, on Francis Case. And we had that wind backing that up and that made that current backing it up and that made a big difference in how we presented and how we were jigging. actually, I remember what I was doing is when the current was coming down strong, I basically just put the boat
Brian Bashore (1:00:47)
Yep, it does.
Ryan Buddie (1:00:59)
cross current and I was pitching a jig and a plastic out at a 45 and kind of letting it swing behind the boat as I'm drifting down downstream and and that worked really good with the jig and the plastic but we also figured out another way to catch fish was hey we're moving downstream pretty good what if we just put out a jig and a jig in a minnow and almost just
Brian Bashore (1:01:23)
Drag that baby down.
Ryan Buddie (1:01:25)
just kind of let those drift downstream. the key was, is not putting it in a rod holder, know, just letting it, holding it on a gun oil, the boat at like 45 degree angle. And then when those things, you know, went over, you could just kind of, you could grab the rod, give it to a boy and then lift up. And, know, if it was in a rod holder, wouldn't have worked, but you know, we needed that current to do that. And that was, you know, the lake siege was a big deal with that.
Brian Bashore (1:01:55)
Yeah, you'll never see me up there without the rod dragging that middle while I'm pitching because it catches a hell of lot of fish. Sometimes it's too many because you're too busy. You're like, one of these has to go. I can't pitch and then constantly keep catching them on this one.
Ryan Buddie (1:02:02)
And yeah.
Yeah, anyway you can be, I mean, that's so important in tournament fishing is, you know, just finding ways to do, you know, do the math and how you can be more efficient and catch, how can I catch more fish or, you know, faster than the other guy or quicker than the other guy. And, you know, if you can figure those kinds of things out and be more efficient, you're going to see a lot better results.
Brian Bashore (1:02:31)
Sometimes that's name of the game, it's a numbers game and it's better to just catch a whole bunch to get the ones I want versus I'm only going out for five big ones, which we all are, but sometimes it's a numbers game and you gotta catch a lot to get the right, like Lake Erie in a sense. It's a target rich environment and whether it's big ones and medium sized ones, but I'm just gonna have to catch a lot of fish.
Ryan Buddie (1:02:42)
Well, yeah.
Yeah, but I mean the efficiency comes in to not only when you're trying to catch a lot even the big ones and just having your bait in the prime target of the of where those big ones are when you're fishing for only five fish and giving yourself more opportunities to catch those even though it's not necessarily a lot. So yeah, I mean it's just super super critical in any kind of tournament fishing.
Brian Bashore (1:02:59)
Right. Yep.
We talk about efficiency and fishing clean is what that's a lot of people referring to is I don't have a mess of stuff and I'm not missing fish. I'm not, you know, I'm holding it versus rattle or instead of missing that bite every time I'm not missing them. Every bite I get I got, you know, more or less.
Ryan Buddie (1:03:27)
Yeah, we were having that, some people were asking me after this tournament about, we're talking about like importance of different things. And I said, two most underrated things in tournament fishing is one is not enough emphasis on getting your fish to the boat. So make fishing clean, meaning when you get a bite capitalize on it. that could be,
It's amazing how many times you hear of guys that are like, know, they got third place. I had a loss an eight pounder at the net or right off the back of the boat or, you know, and nothing I could have done about it or well, really, is there nothing you could have done about that? Like, you know, where your hooks, where your hooks tip top shape where, know, was your, was your net in the right position in the boat so that, you know,
Brian Bashore (1:04:10)
There's something you could have done.
Ryan Buddie (1:04:18)
How is your boat control while you're fighting that fish? What kind of hook set did you do on that fish? Have you studied different hook sets versus different presentations and things like that? So if you can add a whole bunch of those little things together to capitalize on the bites that you're getting, you're going to see a lot better results. then, so that's one thing. And then the other thing that I think is maybe missed probably the most amongst tournament anglers. And I see this.
Brian Bashore (1:04:19)
the June.
Yeah.
Ryan Buddie (1:04:48)
all the time is sleep. I just see guys like all the time that you know go in and and they they fish these you know crazy hours till dark and then they're out partying or whatever and you know get four or five hours of sleep and I can get up and go I can go I can go fish on no sleep like I don't care. I'm like no yeah I mean fishing is a lot it's a huge mental game it's a lot of information processing and and attention to detail and
Brian Bashore (1:05:01)
Yeah.
But Dewey, you're not sharp.
Ryan Buddie (1:05:17)
All that adds up and no matter how much you think you can be on your game, you're not. I I learned that a lot from my flying career that I transfer over and I got to thank the airlines have worked for for doing that is they make us study in our yearly training we're doing all the time.
Brian Bashore (1:05:37)
And we're all glad for it that Ryan Sharp, when he's flying our plane, he gets a good night rest.
Ryan Buddie (1:05:43)
Yeah, it's important that you study circadian rhythms and all that kind of stuff and how to tip top mental performance and sleep matters. So you have to work hard, obviously in practice and fishing and stuff. when it comes to that tournament, I always try to prioritize giving myself seven or eight hours of sleep in those, at least those last two or three days leading up to the tournament. think it makes a big difference.
Brian Bashore (1:06:11)
He just mentioned the hook set that that's I'm dealing with that right now. It's a very soft bite and we're drifting and dragging because pitching to them just isn't working and it's kind of as a guide it's different best left in the rod whore because the way it's the drift is is your rods constantly doing this it's shallow two four foot of water you're just banging off the bottom that's just ripping current and so you're holding it you're like everything's a fish everything's a fish and it's like no no you just got to let it load and go
Ryan Buddie (1:06:31)
Yeah.
You lose a lot.
Brian Bashore (1:06:40)
But a client wants to grab it and then they're ripping it and I can just go lost it. It's let it load, take it out slow or hold it. It's fine if you hold it as long as you understand what you're letting, but it's feeding it and it's just a sweep. Sometimes you're just reeling down even like bottom bounders if you grab it and rip it, you're just pulling it right out. They're letting go of it and we're dealing with it right now. The hook set is just a gentle sweep and then keeping the tension and the clients, once they get it, they considerably catch more fish, but we're missing that.
You know, first two or three hours, 50 % of the bites are not caught. You know, and the minnow comes in and the back's ripped off. I'm like, you gotta, just, gotta be ginger. Or real down even.
Ryan Buddie (1:07:12)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, like, you know, the thing too about that is it's like, it's like super loaded question and topic to think about because every presentation is completely different. you know, a jig and a minnow versus like, you know, a jig and wrap or a big swim bait or, or even trolling, know, trolling a crank bait versus a, you know, trolling a spinner rig with a live crawler is completely different as well. You know, in the
Brian Bashore (1:07:32)
Yep.
Right.
Ryan Buddie (1:07:46)
and the speed that you're trolling at too makes a difference. like all of that stuff is the mentality that you have to have and you have to process that and then come up with, you know, do the experience. And then a lot of times it just comes down to, you know, fishing, especially, you know, this goes back to our conversation about fishing, you know, diversity in fishing and, and, you know, different species and body of water and freshwater and saltwater in Europe and North America. And a lot of it, you know, I've found
you know, over my life and career is it just comes down to logic. You know, if you just think what makes sense, you know, not necessarily like what you saw on YouTube or what, you know, so-and-so said on stage or whatever, you know, or what you read in this magazine. But, you know, if you can just say, hey, okay, what am I doing? What is this fish doing? Why is this fish here? And what makes sense for how to present to it? And then how to...
fight and battle this fish and land this fish too. Usually if you just think about the whole logic thing, most of the time that'll get you close to or in the right direction. And then after that, after the logic thing, then just do a little bit of experimenting and that'll put you on what you need to do for success.
Brian Bashore (1:09:02)
pretty good over complicating the simple things. It's really not that hard. We make it hard sometimes, but it's by choice again, right? The angler's choice. but that's how we learn. So this is good stuff, right? And there you have it folks. That's tension to details is why you get back to back team of the year. Why you win the Lake Erie World Light Trail Championship. The fishhawk, the things that Ryan's doing that I've said it a hundred times. You've heard it from a lot of people out there.
Ryan Buddie (1:09:04)
Yeah. yeah.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (1:09:30)
It's the very little things that can make a huge difference from a good day to a great day or from a fifth place to a first place. Or even a first to a 180th place. You can be right next to the guy that wins it and he's doing one subtle thing different and you may be in last and they're in first.
Ryan Buddie (1:09:38)
yeah, yeah.
Yeah, just, you know, it's fine. Find a hundred little things that you can think make a difference. you know, maybe, you know, try, you know, doing all those little things and really reality is maybe only three of those things make a difference. But, you know, the margins for victory or success are always, you know, they're very small, you know. So, so if you can just add up a bunch of those little things, you know, like, Hey, even
Brian Bashore (1:10:10)
Very, very small.
Ryan Buddie (1:10:16)
Even as simple like as I said, just getting another hour of sleep or you know, what kind of snap you're using for your crankbait or the size leader material or how you rig your offshore tackle boards or yeah, like do they all matter? No, absolutely not. But if you put a bunch of them together and some of them do, then you know, you'll start seeing results and I attribute a lot of, you know, my success to that for sure, no doubt.
Brian Bashore (1:10:43)
Well, you kind of gave a nugget, but I was just about to ask you and you could have another one if you as we wrap this thing up leave our listeners and viewers with a little Ryan buddy nugget to
Fun fishing, tournament fishing, or looking to fish the next level. What do you suggest to them?
Ryan Buddie (1:11:08)
Wow. I mean, I guess just kind of like going, you know, along those lines, attention to detail and then yeah, basically going to logic, you know, what makes sense, how to, how, what is that? I guess, you know, Corey Springle taught me something a long time ago that I think really helped is, you know, I forget if he even told me this or I read it or heard it on a podcast or something, but he was saying that.
You know, every fish you catch, you try to think, okay, this, it's not, hey, I caught this fish on, you know, 20 foot back on a Flickr minnow and in 18 feet of water. Okay, that's what I need to do. No, instead of that, it's like, okay, why did I catch that fish there? You know, is that fish feeding, you know, on a minnow, you know, other minnows up in that depth in the water column? And is he there because of the structure or the water temperature or the current or the water color or, know, like you.
thinking of the why, okay? So every fish you catch, you're not gonna always know why, but if you try to at least have that mentality of thinking why and thinking of what the fish is doing, I think that whether you're a weekend warrior or once a year fisherman or highly competitive tournament fishing, if you think you adopt that mentality, it'll make you a tremendously better fisherman and it'll help start making that logic that I was talking about sense and...
put more fish in the boat for sure.
Brian Bashore (1:12:39)
couldn't agree more and Springles well known to drop some good advice out there from here and there once in a while.
Ryan Buddie (1:12:44)
Yeah, well, that's the other thing is, you know, listening to stuff like this and take as much advice. I probably need to do that more. don't get into a whole lot of the like the YouTube and the media and there's so many good resources that I'm sure I could learn so much out there from. you know, it's...
Brian Bashore (1:12:49)
Yup.
you're on the water and nothing beats time on the water. That's hands down the best way to go.
Ryan Buddie (1:13:08)
No, yeah, that's true. Yep, but I can't be on the water all the time and everywhere.
Brian Bashore (1:13:15)
No. No, well don't. While you're flying, focus on that and not YouTube or whatever. I I imagine there's an awful lot of autopilot settings where you can kick back.
Ryan Buddie (1:13:24)
Well, yeah, not while I'm flying, but I mean, guess one of the things that I have too that I like about my career is, is, you know, I have flying, like we go to these places overseas and you have a layover there. can't always push on the layover. So you get to the layover. Yeah, we have to sleep and stuff. But like, I mean, I have 24 to, you know, 36, 38 hour layovers overseas all the time. So yeah, you sleep and stuff and, know, a lot of times I like to, you know, get some
Brian Bashore (1:13:36)
Yeah, you got a lot of downtime.
Ryan Buddie (1:13:53)
good food and some of these places and exercise, but there is a lot of downtime. And there's so much work that I can do fishing related that you could do with your computer in a hotel room or, you know, I've taken, I've taken, you know, spinner rigs and tied spinner rigs in hotel rooms in Paris, France, you know, like I remember doing that and you can do, there's a lot of, especially when you get into this industry at this level and you know, you have sponsors that.
you know, you have to work with and do an activity reports and all kinds of things like that. There's always stuff to do that. And I can do that when I'm overseas, you know, on layovers and I'm not taken away from my family time when I'm at home. So it works for me. It's a good balance and you know, having a good, you know, that goes back to, you know, your question on advice and stuff.
Brian Bashore (1:14:36)
Yep.
Ryan Buddie (1:14:47)
you know, finding time is one of the most valuable things we have, you know, in life and finding ways to make time to do, you know, what we do with also balancing, you know, work and family life is super critical. And I feel like, you know, that's a huge part of my success is I've found ways to successfully do that. You know, still spend a ton of time with the girls and that and.
have a career that makes us a comfortable living and then still being able to spend time on the water. But I'll tell you one thing that I don't do is I don't have a whole lot of other hobbies. don't, you know, I've always said golf is a waste of fishing time. you you'll never find me on a golf course. don't hunt a whole lot because, you know, I know it would take away from this craft. I've intentionally never gone waterfowl hunting.
Brian Bashore (1:15:21)
Right. I'll have a lot too much time.
Yep, I agree.
Ryan Buddie (1:15:39)
in my life because I know I probably love it. I've been ready to do it a bunch, it's like it's not, I don't need to be adding to these things. kind of prioritizing and, you know, making efficiency and finding time to, you know, make it all, make all the important.
Brian Bashore (1:15:41)
Yeah, it'd be hooked.
You can explore that 15 years from now when the kids are out of the house and what have you, but your plate's full for sure. There you have it, the why. I've always said that in business. says generally I say three times. Why did that flicker minnow catch that fish? Why? There's minnows up there. Why are there minnows up there? Water temperature, possibly. Why is the water temperature what it is up there? Position of the sun.
Ryan Buddie (1:15:58)
Yeah, maybe we'll see. Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (1:16:21)
If you keep asking the why, usually three times over, you're going to get to the, hopefully, the answer of it.
Ryan Buddie (1:16:25)
Yeah, and a lot of times you're gonna ask why and have I have no clue but I mean sometimes you will you know so you know
Brian Bashore (1:16:29)
Right. And sometimes there's a rogue fish that's just rogue. Like, he doesn't know why the hell he was there. But he was and he got caught. Now you're confused as heck for the rest of the day.
Ryan Buddie (1:16:35)
Yeah.
Well, and I feel like that's the beauty of what, you know, what the advantage we have. talked about advantages of different places that you're from and, know, different bodies of what, you know, where you're at. But one of the, you know, huge advantages is when fishing is good, you can really learn a lot. because it's like, Hey, you know, know, Lake Erie, have phenomenal fishing basically always, you know, there's fish there and you know, they're biting on something. So you could really, you know, if you take the initiative, you can really test out a lot of stuff and learn a lot of stuff that, you know,
when it is good like that. So that's when it's the best time to experiment is when fishing is good, not as much when fishing is tough. And, you know, if you have that opportunity, take advantage of it.
Brian Bashore (1:17:20)
Yep, for sure. Good stuff, Ryan. Thank you. We appreciate your time. Congrats on your championship. You're back to back. Congrats on the fifth place in the Predator, the World USA team. Awesome. Way to go. You guys are, you're getting better. You're climbing up it. You got all the kind of the world's against you in a sense in that, that, so coming in fifth is pretty darn good. And I'm sure that gold medal is going to be coming home with you guys soon. You've been crushing it and really, you know, honing that in last.
several four five six seven years you've been doing it so Appreciate your time on here and people check them out Ryan buddy comm head over to social pages follow along He's always giving out some some good info kind of wrapping up his tournaments What was done if you haven't checked in or jumped into Lake Erie while I trail right and be happy to take your money So, you know head over there and sign up It's good circuit. It's not a step down from nothing. It's a step up and Josh or Jason, I think runs that right Jason
Ryan Buddie (1:18:11)
Yeah.
Yeah, taste some fresh air, yeah.
Brian Bashore (1:18:19)
Yeah, runs a everybody's kind of seen a little bit of Jason out there, but he does does a hell of a job. And and that is what we appreciate when tournament director is holds everybody accountable like that and just gets it done and gets taken care of. Just just a good clean circuit. There's a lot of those out there. So thanks for tuning in, folks. Thank you once again, Ryan and are you following, listening and viewing? Stay safe and we'll see you on the water.