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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!
Brian Bashore (00:01)
Hey folks, thanks for tuning into another episode of Real Talk Fishing with No Limits brought to by Segar High Performance Braids and 7reels spelled S-E-V-I-I-N reels.com. Check them out. Today we are staying right here in South Dakota talking to a couple of hammers, a couple of great fishermen and good friends of mine, the Skipper Brothers, Justin and Lorne. We're to talk tournament fishing, MWC, NWT, some local tournaments that we've got coming up. These guys have done.
done them all. They've been around for quite a while. I've done really well. NTC, MWCs and NWTs. And we're to talk just in general about a lot of tournament fishing, a little bit of upcoming Lake Sharp tournament that's coming up here in April. Cedar shores tournament coming up here next week. these guys know what they're doing. There are a couple of great fishermen and just a flat out couple of good dudes. And Hey, with the last name like Skipper, what else could you expect? Except being a hell of a fisherman. So stay tuned and we're going to hear from Skipper brothers right after this.
Brief message from 7reels.
Brian Bashore (00:00)
Hey folks, thanks for tuning in to another episode of Real Talk Fishing with No Limits. Today we're talking to a couple of the hottest South Dakota sticks, the jigging guys, the Skipper Brothers are coming into us from Peer. Where are at, Lauren? You guys both in Peer? Platte. All right, you're over in Platte now and you're in Peer, right, Jesson? Oh, Huron. Why the hell do keep thinking Peer? We spent so much time, you were in Peer, right, in between. We're just river rats, right? That's where we're all from.
Brian Bashore (00:28)
What's up?
What's going on with you guys? How's it going on this beautiful Sunday? And I don't know if you got to watch the Bassmaster Classic or not today.
Justin Skipper (00:37)
No, I didn't get time to watch that just kind of family day got some chores done stuff like that good day to get out of the wind I guess so I Get caught up so when the wind doesn't blow we can get out there on the water
Lorin Skipper (00:37)
Go and get-
Brian Bashore (00:52)
Yeah, it's been a windy week.
Justin Skipper (00:56)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (00:57)
Typical South Dakota right Lauren? That's just how it is.
Lorin Skipper (01:00)
Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I'm kind of doing the same thing, just hanging out with family today, went to church and now I'm kind of doing some final touches on fishing stuff and getting ready to pack the boat up for, you know, start pre-fish for Cedar Shore and the NWT and I got to get all my jigs ready and...
Brian Bashore (01:18)
That's right. Got to get them jigs ready. I actually spent the morning in the garage pouring last night and this morning, pouring jigs and making more jigs and they're just getting so expensive. I have a few guiding purposes. like, I'm just going to start pouring more of my live bait jigs anyway. And, uh, yeah, I probably did a hundred of those in the last, this morning and yesterday. And I just put the, the classic on TV and it was a good way to pass time while it's blowing 30, 40 mile an hour outside again. So it, uh,
Lorin Skipper (01:45)
Yeah, no
need to be on the water today. I love pouring jigs. used to do it. It's really rewarding catching fish on your own jigs, that's for sure.
Brian Bashore (01:53)
Yeah,
it is kind of like saying in your own bait and stuff. And you know, when you catch them on your lures, make in the bay, you catch, are exactly right. That is a, it is pretty rewarding. And if you're a little artsy or even if you're not painting jigs is, know, just like a lot of guys paint crank basis. Cause they just enjoy doing it.
Lorin Skipper (01:56)
Yep.
Justin Skipper (02:12)
Yeah, I've been known to get a little over creative with some of that.
Brian Bashore (02:18)
Well, if you're watching a classic or not, Lee Lively was doing the old bubble gum color that was working pretty darn good for him. So everybody's like, hey, he's bringing it back, you know, and I used to bass fish a lot and that was one of my favorite colors, but don't use it as much in a walleye fishing.
Justin Skipper (02:29)
Yeah.
What are the standings looking like?
Brian Bashore (02:34)
Uh, looks like Evan or Ethan, uh, fuck, damn it. can't remember his name right now. Uh, father Gill or something like that. It's from the Minnesota kid. A rookie is, uh, going to win pretty sure he's going to win. And then Trey McKinney is sitting right behind him. But at the last about a half hour, Ethan caught a eight pounder, which boop. he'll set a new basketball, uh, basketball classic record on a three day bag of.
That 74 pounds or something probably. then Trey right behind him. So for his first classic. yeah, rookie of the year last year, another young gun this year, just like Hammer was, think he was a, Hammer has been on a couple of years, but he had a big bag day too. But yeah, the two guys scoping. They got it done.
Justin Skipper (03:26)
Yeah.
Lorin Skipper (03:26)
Well,
that's cool.
Brian Bashore (03:28)
But yeah, the two youngest, I think the two youngest guys there too, are going to be first and second. So second to fiftieth, you know, is whatever, right? It's the classic you want to win. Um, it's like a $300,000 payout to first place. So pretty big deal in the bass world. We don't have that in the walleye world. You guys are pretty familiar with the walleye tournaments, been fishing MWTs, uh, MWCs, the local tournament circuit for a long time. Um, you know, I called you the, the jigging guys. Cause when I first started MWCs, that's what that, everybody you gotta watch out for them skipper boys.
Skipper brothers, man, they're jiggers. They jig, jig, jig, and they can catch them. And this is truth. We're speaking truth.
Lorin Skipper (04:05)
Yeah, we've always liked jigging. It's probably one of the, you know, first techniques we learned for walleye fishing. And it's pretty hard to beat the feel of that bite and actually getting to fight the fish on a little bit lighter tackle. You know, back in 2009, when we started tournament fishing, our very first tournament was on Ormondaim out in Belfouche. And it was a very small tournament, you know, but we went out.
We jig fished in the morning and you know, we like jig fishing so much at that time. I was pulling crank baits with my jigging rods. I'd put a little slip weight on there and it out and, and, it'd be like, you know, three pumps and that's how far out you had it go to catch walleye. So we were the only people trolling out there and definitely the only ones trolling with spinning rods. So, but boy, did we ever hammer them. It was fun. I think we ended up in second place.
Brian Bashore (04:42)
Yeah.
Yep.
Justin Skipper (05:00)
I'm the only one in the middle of the lake.
Brian Bashore (05:02)
All right.
Yeah. That's not a very big little rabbit out there. There are actually some decent fish out there and I got, you know, they do a few tournaments a year and I think it's getting a little bigger. Pretty much got there in Angus store, I think, right? Are the two reservoirs out there? Yeah. Belfu... Belfu is bigger than I thought it was. We went there and wiped it some photo stuff. I'm like, oh, this is pretty big, but buddy Kelly Major lives out there and he cracks them. It gets them pretty good. lot of, not a lot of big ones, you know, he majorly sometimes get that mid 20, but a lot of that 16 to 18 inches.
Lorin Skipper (05:13)
Yep, yep. Two wall ad reservoirs.
Justin Skipper (05:14)
Yeah.
Lorin Skipper (05:32)
Yeah, yeah, there's always been a good class, you know, even 18 to 20 inches out there. It's a lot of fun. They've, you know, protected that class with the slot limit pretty much forever. And even this year they dropped down to two fish limit. Now you can have, I believe two between 18 and 20 and maybe one of them can be over 20, but yeah, they've always, you know, protected that class of fish and, and uh,
They've always been plentiful out there. Even, you know, the mid-range walleyes, the 23 to 26 inches, you can get into them pretty good out there sometimes.
Brian Bashore (06:09)
Yeah, well, that's nothing says there's not a lot of fishing pressure like when you can catch 25, 26 inches a lot. Unless you're like the woods where there just is a lot of them, but because you can't keep them.
Lorin Skipper (06:18)
Right. Yeah.
So a little interesting fact about Ormond Dam. One of my buddies out there, he kind of taught me a lot I know about jig fishing and his grandpa Jack Dick was his name and his dad was Mike Dick. Well, one of the very first tournaments they had out on Ormond Dam, they ended up winning it and they had over a 10 pound average. They had over 50 pounds for five fish. And they said when
Brian Bashore (06:43)
Yes
Lorin Skipper (06:47)
you first could start putting boats on there, you know, because just not a lot of people fished it. It was just full of monster fish. so it's definitely it's had some pretty cool days back in the day. But now it's pretty hard to get a 10 pounder.
Brian Bashore (06:52)
Alright.
I suppose I,
yeah, I suppose I stocked it for a years and it wasn't, nobody knew about it it wasn't opened up yet. And when they finally opened it, Hey, look at this. There's a massive class of eight, 10 pound fish. Yeah. We anything like that nowadays isn't going to last long. So unless it's obviously the size of Erie or Fort, know, a large, you know, massive reservoir like Lake Wahey where that is where you got a good abundant of those. know you spent some time out there in the spring, Justin, you've been ripping in some pretty big walleyes.
Justin Skipper (07:03)
you
Lorin Skipper (07:11)
Yeah
No.
Right. Lake Oahe.
Brian Bashore (07:30)
seen in the fall. Like why.
Justin Skipper (07:33)
Yeah, yeah, why he's been amazing here, you know, for a while now, a lot of big fish. It's just one of them bucket list destinations. I went from after 2011 to barely could catch fish that you wanted to keep. now the problem is, is how many how many trophies can you get in a day? But yeah, it's a really amazing fishery. That's one of my favorite ones.
Brian Bashore (07:49)
Right.
Yeah.
I, can't wait to get back. I got busy this fall. Couldn't get up there. I went up there last fall. I missed the big fish bite. Cause I didn't get there till late morning and I only had the afternoon, the day to fish it. was the same time. Kemos was up there shooting that next bite show. Um, caught fish, you know, nice, just didn't get into those big ones. And I talked to Gabe and you ever in the morning or when I got there, like 10 something on the water, ran into him he's like, kind of nine and 11 this morning. He's like big fish bites over because now we're just catching and I'm like, yeah, I'm just catching 18 inches too, but yeah.
trolling, you know, pulling the lead core or the jig and wrap bite. was, they were both kind of going, that was a lead core day for sure. But like why people, if you haven't been there or state record was broke a couple of years ago, basically within what a week or two weeks apart from each other, I think it's 17 and 0.8 pounds or something now. Um, and you're catching like nine to, I mean, up to 13, 14 pounders, like every day, at least.
Lorin Skipper (08:43)
Yeah.
Yes.
Brian Bashore (08:55)
Like you said, how many trophies can you catch? Right? One, two, or three. Some guys are getting a few in a day. Some are, some are getting none, but, I mean, the probability is, is, is pretty good. No, it's yeah.
Justin Skipper (09:06)
Really.
Lorin Skipper (09:07)
Yeah, it's
an incredible fishery. It's just insane the amount of eight plus pound fish you can catch out there. know, me and Justin have been fishing out there in the fall for probably almost 20 years. We've been, you know, religiously going out there and, you know, 10, 15 years ago, there wasn't very many boats that would be out there. But now with the technology we have and, and able to target these big fish, it's, you know, more people are getting out there, but it's...
It's really incredible, you know, just where fishing is common and how much, how much easier it is to target these big fish. You know, I think last year I had the best day of my life. caught the four biggest walleyes I've ever caught in my life all in one day. So pretty hard to beat that.
Brian Bashore (09:53)
Yeah, that's remarkable.
Are you seeing more guys scoping them out there or still lot of pulling lead or trolling?
Lorin Skipper (10:01)
both.
I'd say a majority of people like to pull lead out there, but there's definitely guys, you know, scoping maybe about half, half and half. So
Brian Bashore (10:12)
The ones that are looking truly just for those big, big trophies probably.
Lorin Skipper (10:17)
Yeah.
Justin Skipper (10:18)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (10:19)
Till the wind picks up, then they're dropping the lead core and going with the wind.
Lorin Skipper (10:23)
Yeah, it does seem like the trollers are the ones getting them big, big ones, though, but it won't be long and a scopers going to get, you know, a super monster. So.
Brian Bashore (10:28)
Alright.
Yeah, I got to get out there this fall. Maybe we'll all jump in and shoot a video or something. You guys got a lot more experience on that body of water than I do. It's, I don't know. didn't, it's not, doesn't seem like it's super difficult in the fall to find them. It could be because there's so many boats out there. but I mean, they're just, you kind of know where they are and that certain stretch of the river. mean, they're all, I mean, it's a pretty long stretch, I guess, but like you said, you know, Lauren with the technology on your side image, your 2D, your live scope, you can't hide.
Justin Skipper (10:42)
Yeah, definitely.
Brian Bashore (11:05)
So You can't hide you've been doing these tournaments That's what you said nine is when you guys started kind of jumping into some tournaments you guys you fish the MWC together for a long time, right? I mean quite a few years and had some really good luck. You did the NTC Let's go back your MWC days. What can you what was your first one you got into?
Lorin Skipper (11:05)
No, not anymore they can't.
Justin Skipper (11:14)
Yeah.
really remember the first event we got into. know the big first finish we had was we won in Lake Sharp. Oh, that was 2014. That was a real good season for us. I know we had some other top 10 finishes and in that timeframe, we fished.
Brian Bashore (11:41)
I remember though.
It was 14
when it, that sharp tournament when it snowed at practice and okay. Yeah. Yep. I fished that. Yeah. You guys had a 30 incher on day one.
Justin Skipper (11:55)
Yeah, yup.
Lorin Skipper (12:01)
Yeah, 2014 that was. That was actually our first MWC tournament we ever finished. Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (12:07)
No, it wasn't. And you want it. Yeah. Yeah.
didn't, we fished, we had a 30 inch air practice, not during the tournament, of course, but there was, I had talked to somebody, I think on one of the other podcasts talking about sharp that you guys got, there was like two or three 30 inches caught, think in that tournament, wasn't there? Three.
Justin Skipper (12:22)
Three. Yep,
Lorin Skipper (12:23)
Yeah,
Justin Skipper (12:24)
three.
Lorin Skipper (12:24)
yeah, there, there was ours was 30 inches, 11 pounds, 12 ounces. Mike Doris had a 30 incher that was right at 10 pounds. And then Al Frydick and Clinton Devere had a 29 and a quarter that was 11 pounds even. And that was all in the same day. That was all the first day of the event. So definitely it was, you know, lot of luck involved. But, but yeah, when I seen that fish, I was just like, no way.
Brian Bashore (12:43)
day.
Lorin Skipper (12:53)
It's not real.
Brian Bashore (12:53)
Well, we only
get two overs here in South Dakota over 20 inches. mean, there's no question that thing's going in your box, but I mean, it's better to have that, you know, than a 21 incher where you're like, know, and I'm, even a five pounder typically around these and these tournaments, you're going to box less you're at Lake Hawaii. And then it's like, no, I pretty much need that eight plus pounder because I can win the tournament on two of these or being, you know, I can get 20 pounds on two fish almost.
Lorin Skipper (13:06)
Yeah.
Yeah, that's right. Yep.
Justin Skipper (13:22)
Yeah, and it was
amazing in that NTC, you know, some of them guys were throwing back eight pounders, looking for 10 plus pounders, you know, this was the quality of the fish in that.
Brian Bashore (13:30)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, that's a little risky.
Yeah, that's huge. that's it, Davey. See that's back in 14. I mean, you've been all over the places there with the doubles. You ever do the Spring Valley one? I know they just fished that here just yesterday, I think wrapped up. You're not missing out unless you really like to fish in crappy conditions.
Justin Skipper (13:46)
Nope. Nope.
Lorin Skipper (13:52)
Seems like it's usually pretty rough weather down there most of the time.
Justin Skipper (13:52)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (13:57)
Most time, but it sounds like they're getting more walleye versus Sauger still Sauger Fest, but it's a, it's a river bite. cold, dirty, so a little slow, not so much. think you, yeah, there's you get up near the dam. can pitch some jigs and do some good up there, but we got, so we're talking Lake Sharp. just, this is where we dove into it. All right. We'll just kind of covered. Are you jumping in the NWT at Lake Sharp? Both of you.
Justin Skipper (14:21)
Yeah.
Lorin Skipper (14:23)
Yep.
Justin Skipper (14:23)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (14:24)
You're all in and just, you're, you're, coming off your, your hot end, WT finish up at, you know, like Sakaka we, you got second, third. who the hell? right. Do we moved up to first you and then, yep. You and. Springle or Nussbaum Nussbaum got second. Okay. I thought he got third and you got second for some reason. Fourth got it.
Justin Skipper (14:33)
Third. Yup, third.
Yup. This one. Yup. Yup. Sprangle was fourth.
Lorin Skipper (14:45)
NISPAM
Justin Skipper (14:51)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (14:52)
good event, awesome lake, awesome fishery, different, you know, people want to compare it to Wahee, but I think it's, fish is a lot different than a Wahee personally, but you spend more time on there.
Justin Skipper (15:03)
Yeah, I did too. You that was my first time ever up on Lakes of Kakauia. So I was really just learning it while I was out there. And for me, the last history seems like the better I do in a lot of these tournaments. So I played right into.
Brian Bashore (15:18)
No,
same for me on skakui. First time I was there, I got fourth by one one hundredth of a pound. So yeah, same deal.
Justin Skipper (15:24)
Yeah,
yeah, so it played right in well to me just going out and being able to fish and stuff. So that was that was real good.
Brian Bashore (15:36)
So sharps coming up, you're both in it and we won't dive olds too much and won't give all these guys that are coming from other States any, any pointers of it, but it, it's sharp. It's spring. It's going to be good fishing. You're going to catch fish. Uh, you know, and obviously the key to these is, is the two overs. And if you could get a real big over what you did, you know, and it was proven in that MWC grant that was 10, 11 years ago. There are some big fish that live there. I've fished it maybe twice since that tournament and just for.
Justin Skipper (16:00)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (16:04)
a couple hours at a time because I was in town for something and brought the boat, but still caught them. Not 30 inches, however. Is it still fishing like that or are we still, it, I'm reading some of the GFP reports, like, mean, they're always kind of scattered all over the place. But I think the probability of a few big fish being caught is certainly there. That place has some big fish.
Lorin Skipper (16:33)
Yeah, I'd agree. the last few years, know, there's definitely guys pulling out them big fish still. There's not many though. That's the thing. It's, it's, it's definitely going to take some luck to get that big kicker like that. I think a guy, you know, could consistently maybe get an over maybe two a day down there, but it's going to be tough. you know, I think it's going to play out a lot like that Chamberlain event a few years back where if you can find some pre-spawn
Brian Bashore (16:59)
Yeah.
Lorin Skipper (17:03)
fish or just you know something like that some heavier fish I think that'll go a long ways you know and you know just hope and pray you can nail a kicker big one so
Justin Skipper (17:14)
you
Brian Bashore (17:15)
Yeah, we're late April. I think the spawn's going to be over. There'll still be some stragglers. It's tough to say. I mean, that's usually kind of right when it's maybe in the peak of it or just coming off the peak a little bit. I'm already seeing quite a few of them milking and stuff out of Chamberlain and we're not even into April yet. So, but there's also lot of factors that go into that stuff and it's still going to happen kind of when it happens.
12 to 14 pounds a day. If you can get some pre-spotters and that's where the minimal over, think you're, you're going to probably be, be in it kind of like Chamberlain Cedar shores tournament.
Lorin Skipper (17:51)
I agree.
Justin Skipper (17:53)
Yeah, I would have to agree with that. It's definitely going to be, feel like a really tight weight. So, you know, a ounces is going to separate you from a lot of places. One thing I like about it is I feel like you can really jump back in one day and invent like this. You could throw a big bag up, follow it up with a mediocre bag and do real well. It's not one of them events where if you get behind the curve, the first day you're out of it. It's a...
Lorin Skipper (17:54)
Yeah.
I say get 20.
Brian Bashore (18:00)
yeah.
Justin Skipper (18:23)
Definitely a little bit different strategy. feel you can go into tournaments like that. You know, the second day you still have a chance.
Brian Bashore (18:33)
Especially if pick up those 10 pounders. mean, you can have a crappy eight pound first day and just bring in your five 17 and 19 inch fish males and be like, it's just what I got, you know, and I would expect. Catch plenty of them as as the weather's good. But then the next day, bam, you've seen 20 pound bags come out of Cedar shores tournament at Chamberlain. And it's all sudden it's like, where'd this guy come from? You know, now when you get down on the first day, I'm always like, I'm not worried about it. Cause he won't do it again tomorrow. And quite often that's what happens to that guy.
Justin Skipper (18:43)
Yeah.
Exactly.
Brian Bashore (19:02)
drops, you know, that team drops a lot. Uh, but once in a while it does and they get another eight foundry like, all right, two shake. If you do that, you do deserve to win. So hats off to you. So, but they just dropped that bridge the other day. Do you see that? Did they, I'm assuming they took that out. They had some cranes out there or we just got a whole bunch of new shit obstacles to dodge.
Justin Skipper (19:10)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Lorin Skipper (19:17)
Ready yet?
Yeah,
no, they left it. Yeah, new fish structure. We're actually just out there fishing yesterday and everything is still laying in the water. There's bridge parts sticking out and so guys are going to really have to be careful and it's not, you know, Yeah, no, it's not deep at all and in areas and yeah, it's not marked very well. There's like a slow buoy, you know, so.
Justin Skipper (19:26)
Yeah, we got some new obstacles.
Brian Bashore (19:41)
Not that deep right there!
Justin Skipper (19:43)
No.
Brian Bashore (19:51)
Alright.
Lorin Skipper (19:52)
But guys will figure it out quick, think, you know, there's...
Brian Bashore (19:56)
Well last time I fished there and by that bridge it was like 15 to 17 foot deep. Maybe deeper but I could see 15 feet deep. I mean I could see the wall around the bridge columns.
Lorin Skipper (20:01)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, that's one unique thing about that reservoir. It's pretty cool. I've seen walleye down in 19 feet, know, swaying on the jig there and it's kind of an experience you don't get very often.
Brian Bashore (20:20)
Yeah. I mean, obviously you get a little further down river or past the bad river area. The water is going to dirty up quite a bit, that first, I don't know. What is that? Three miles maybe or four from the dam.
Lorin Skipper (20:30)
just
a bad river. Yeah, five maybe.
Brian Bashore (20:34)
Five. mean, it's
some pretty clean water, but Chamberlain, same way you get up there near the dam where you got that power plant kicking all that stuff out. That water's cold and clean, but it tends to hold a lot of fish early in the year. So yeah, that's where a lot, I'm pretty sure all those 30 inches probably came from at that tournament. So that'll be a fun one. I'm looking forward. I'm just biting at the bit to go fish a tournament right now. Cause.
Lorin Skipper (20:47)
Yeah, that's where my confidence is.
Justin Skipper (20:48)
Again, again.
Brian Bashore (21:02)
This last week suck, but I've been on the water. This could start later tomorrow. And most of the whole next week I'll be out almost every day. and guiding or what have you. So pretty pumped up and you're really getting tired of watching all these bass tournaments on TV and ready to go. You know, I'm sure you guys like said, get the boat ready. You've been out, you know, Lauren, you you been out yet, Justin. yeah.
Justin Skipper (21:22)
Yeah, yeah, I got
a new boat this year. most of my trips been just trying to get them hours on the motor, but we got 20 hours on yesterday. So mission complete. It's ready to get into fish mode now.
Brian Bashore (21:35)
Yeah, it's go time and Cedar Shores Tournament is coming up for the, you know, the both of us here. I think they're three weeks away or something like that for that. So, and maybe we'll get some good weather this year. Doubt it, but.
Justin Skipper (21:50)
That would be nice. Get the wind to stop blowing too. don't
know if that ever really truly happens in this state, but least keep it under 30.
Brian Bashore (21:56)
Yeah. No for
right for us, you know, guys, you and myself that love the jig. We would really like to not have these 30 mile an hour winds or, having to go just anchor down in a spot all day and, and work it. But fishing there has been really good this spring. I've been a lot of females, been a good year class again. The last couple of years, I thought it was kind of down a little bit. It wasn't great. Granted we had a lot of crappy weather, but this year shaping up to be pretty good again. So.
Lorin Skipper (22:24)
Yeah, yeah, I watched the game fishing parks report about it and a lot of last year was just Chocked up as overabundance of bait, you know why the yield yield rate
Brian Bashore (22:34)
I would agree. We didn't have any ice. You know,
we had very little ice and that a lot of them shat didn't die.
Lorin Skipper (22:40)
Yeah, yeah, so I'm hoping to see more fish this this year. You know, it was tough. There was days out there that were tough finding fish and getting them to bite. And so I was a little worried the reservoir was going downhill, but it's not according to the studies. So that's good.
Brian Bashore (22:56)
Yeah. You know, us tournament guys were getting a lot of flack from all the, lot of the locals out there and around it. There's so many tournaments on that body of water. It's killing it. I kept saying that there is, and unfortunately there are kill tournaments in South Dakota after 1st of June, but I'm shaking my head too, Jesse. No, that place is a, it's a pretty damn healthy fishery and there's a lot of fish and it's big. So there's a lot of places they can hide.
Justin Skipper (23:16)
Yeah,
it's a walleye factory. always has been, and in my opinion, it's always going.
Brian Bashore (23:23)
And if you look at that GFP report, the catch rate, I mean, a lot of people quit fishing last year on the lower end because they weren't catching any, but the amount of fish that was taken out, how were they? It was like tens of thousands was it. And I'm like, sit. I mean, there's millions. There's not hundreds of millions like here, but there are tens of millions of fish that are, know, walleye. And you're talking about tens of, you know, literally like 10 to 20. It wasn't a very big number. like, that's all. You think that was caught? You know, I'm like, that's not.
Justin Skipper (23:38)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (23:53)
I could be now I'm guide service is going to take a couple of thousand of them out just in, you know, this first month out of just the Chamberlain area. Right. I mean, and that's good on them. They're out there fishing. got a dozen guide boats out and they're catching fish. So that does, that's just the testament of year after year, this place putting them out. Like you said, it's a wildlife factory. So I know I haven't, I've got, I've been out three or four times, few guide trips, limits every time. And I haven't caught one under 15 inches yet.
Lorin Skipper (23:57)
you
Justin Skipper (23:58)
you
Lorin Skipper (24:00)
They are, yeah.
Justin Skipper (24:24)
awesome.
Lorin Skipper (24:24)
Very good.
They're looking healthy too, aren't they this year?
Brian Bashore (24:25)
So, which typical.
Yeah. Had some 18s that I thought were probably females. Cleaned them and they were just, that was this fat. Just males with fat. So yeah, a lot of guys are catching some 20 to 22s. You had your classes, those 19 and those perfect slots. You know, those 19 three quarter inch females seems to be a lot of those and some really healthy 18s. So.
Lorin Skipper (24:37)
Very good.
Brian Bashore (24:49)
But like you said earlier, Justin, just like the Sharp Tournament, these Missouri River Tournaments where we get these one over 20 or two, if you're in a team situation, it's ounces. A half a pound can drop you 10 spots almost. mean, it's, it sucks, but it's, it's tournament fishing. got me, sucks, but it's good. It's every ounce counts. So finding those fatter fish, or in this case, the pre-spawners can make a world of difference.
Justin Skipper (25:15)
Yeah, you it's tough. You're messing with a couple ounces and no calling and spots and please, after a lot of come here and do some great, work. And that's how we do it. Eat some skulls.
Brian Bashore (25:32)
Yeah, it, don't know. I weigh them all. got the above scale. Um, you're to need a bounce beam. If you're coming out here, typically we'll keep seven or eight in the box. You're going to weigh in your five. So theoretically you're going to catch five unders and then leave those two other spots for your two overs. So if you don't catch them, at least you got your limit of, you know, what have yous and eights, eights even better. That's more to play with. And the good thing is we're early in the season on both these tournaments to where we get to release these fish. Cause you know, there's probably going to be some pre-sponters.
You know, left when we get them back out there to, to lay those eggs. So, so you fished them both now, Jess, you did an NWT too, right Lauren on the Chamberlain one, right? We went out of there.
Justin Skipper (26:04)
Yeah.
Lorin Skipper (26:15)
Yeah, I think it was 2021, I believe. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (26:17)
Yeah.
Justin Skipper (26:18)
Yeah, 2021.
Brian Bashore (26:20)
So you both have experience in both of them. What's kind of give and takes good on one, bad on one. Which one do you prefer and why?
Justin Skipper (26:29)
I guess for me, you know, it's hard to get away from liking the fish, the team events, you know, especially with my brother. So, you know, a lot of fun, a little less work because you got somebody there to help you the entire time. And then you're sharing the experience with somebody else as well. From a career standpoint, you know, if you want to move up in the industry and take it to the next step, it's through the MWT, you you got to make that leap. And that's kind of what...
me with it. know, I've always had that dream of, you know, if the opportunity was there, becoming a full-time fisherman. So that's where I kind of started dabbling with the NWT. And it's a different format. Definitely takes a little more getting used to. You've got to prepare different. A lot of it's just on your shoulders. you know, sometimes I like that aspect of it. Decision making is a little bit different.
and team fishing. But then also at the same time, comes back the other direction when you ran throughout your scenarios and you're looking for a new scenario and you don't have that, your team partner there to help you make that next decision. So, you know, I like both formats of team fishing and pro-co setup.
Brian Bashore (27:55)
Lauren, what about you?
Lorin Skipper (27:57)
Yeah, I'm having a little bit of a hard time hearing Justin kind of going in and out. Are you having any issues with that?
Brian Bashore (28:02)
Yeah,
just got to stay a little closer every time you lean back when you talk it you can very bad. Then he goes from like hearing your crystal clear to nothing almost. I can fix some of it, but.
Justin Skipper (28:07)
Okay.
Lorin Skipper (28:14)
yeah, you know, I couldn't agree more with Justin. I definitely liked the team event that side of it. Cause it is really, it's fun. It's, not as much work. And, well, I mean, it is a lot of work, but you know, when you're out there by yourself, it's, it's different. so it's nice having another guy that, you know, knows a lot about fishing and bouncing ideas off each other, you know, versus being the NWT.
You can't really bounce your ideas off your show because they might be a deer hunter, you know, or, something else. So, you know, I, I definitely like the MWC. It's, know, for me, it's hard to get the time to, really do a lot of these events to be able to fish full time. I'd love to, know, but, so I got to kind of pick and choose and, and usually I, I like to pick events that are kind of close and,
And I'd like to do more NWT events. I had a really good time at the one I did fish. You know, I definitely underestimated the competition. I knew it was going to be tough, but you know, had four small overs in two days. I thought I was going to be pretty good, but it wasn't good, not even close. You know, so, you know, it's like I've kind of been preparing myself for
Brian Bashore (29:34)
Nope.
Lorin Skipper (29:41)
you know going back into it and and you know just being able to shoot for the stars a little bit more and and Not having to release, you know fish that you wish you could have kept and So Yeah with you know with not much experience in the NWT so far my Opinion on it is I really like you know I like it. I wish I could do more of them And hopefully someday I'll be able to so
Brian Bashore (30:10)
Well, it doesn't get any cheaper. it's, know, and it's a lot of time, you know, commitment off work away from home and family. And I mean, you guys know it and you, have a unique, I mean, there's, there's a handful of, you know, father, sons or brother teams out there, but the team circuit, the most, biggest hurdle is the team. Right. It's who's in charge, who's boat who's, but you guys been fishing together for years. So it's just another day of fishing. I'm sure you still.
Lorin Skipper (30:13)
No.
Justin Skipper (30:13)
No.
Lorin Skipper (30:32)
Mm.
Brian Bashore (30:39)
bitch and bear crap at each other and knock each other upside the head once in while. Cause your brothers, it might be a little, right. Right. But that, but it's kind of like, I'm sure you're probably actually communicating less because you know what the other one is thinking or doing or wants to do. you, I mean, you got it dialed in versus guys are rotating, finding new partners every year, trying to get that thing to work. And it's just, it's kind of a, you know, a give and take and a tug where one guy wants to do one thing. One of the guy wants to do the other.
Justin Skipper (30:40)
We've gotten better as we've gotten older.
Lorin Skipper (30:46)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (31:08)
And, know, it's just finding that, that chemistry to work is really tricky with the, with the team circuit. So you, you know, you guys have that and it's probably what credits to lot of your success in MWC, you know, going forward with it. Like you said, Lauren, NWT you're on your own. So you've got to figure it out. Now you can work together out, you know, at the practice and what have you, but come tournament day, you're still on your own. And if, when, when things change, cause they will, right? You have a plan. Just it's.
Lorin Skipper (31:26)
See
Brian Bashore (31:37)
Like if we all had a plan written down in a piece of paper, we'd be smart just to crumble it up before takeoff and drop it in the lake and take off. Right. Cause it just, it's not going to work. You know, sometimes it does. And those were those epic days when you roll in and it's like, bam. Okay. They're the right, right. left them and they're still biting, but more often than not, it's like, where'd it go? Right. Right. Or you roll in there you're like, Oh, there's 15 other boats here. had the same idea, you know, and it's like that.
Lorin Skipper (31:43)
You
Justin Skipper (31:45)
Yeah.
Lorin Skipper (31:47)
No.
Yeah, especially on these rivers.
Justin Skipper (31:58)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (32:07)
It's not going to work for any of us now. that, you know, that sucks. NTC, I think you guys both got in, you guys fishing together. All right. That was, we got everybody in. we're all signed up, registered and coming off last year with how Lake Francis Caves was fishing. It was looking like this is going to be a horrible NTC coming up for this year. Like you're talking 250 boats, probably. When there was tournaments last summer where there were like two or three fish being caught.
Lorin Skipper (32:16)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (32:37)
You know, and like you said, there was the massive amount of bait that they fed all, you know, early spring and they just, this didn't need to buy what we were selling.
Lorin Skipper (32:47)
Yeah, I was kind of thinking there wouldn't be no fish left after this upcoming NTC, you know, by the looks of it last year with the, you know, the amount of fish that you could find was not the same as the years before. You know, you've seen a lot more fish the years before, but there's definitely some changes going on with the reservoir and fish are happening, you know, they're inhabiting different areas now and stuff. it's, it's not.
Brian Bashore (33:00)
No.
Lorin Skipper (33:12)
Not everything's the same as it used to be. And it could be totally different this year, you know, like, you know, with these reservoirs, it's, it's never the same, you know, one year they might like one color, you know, or, or whatever, but, yeah, I think, I feel like this year it's going to be, you know, it's going to be a good turnout. I think there's going to be a lot of fish caught and, yeah, I think a lot of people, you know, are going to figure out the bite and be able to at least catch fish and stuff.
And some people might struggle that aren't familiar with our you know our reservoirs and stuff, but All in all I'm really excited to get out there and fish it because it's pretty much my backyard now, so
Brian Bashore (33:49)
when you
Yeah. You and you guys have both guided on that reservoir for a long time. Kind of know it like the back of your hand, but that could be a problem too. And just kind of like you alluded to, right? Yes. I've like going to Coquit. I've never been there. I just got to go fish. So there's a little, and I kind of feel the same way. I like going somewhere new because then you got to go back old school and do what you know. Right. And pattern and, and versus this like, and I think that's why a lot of guys struggled last year because they just went and they pulled trees and they went, they're, they're not biting.
Lorin Skipper (34:02)
Yeah.
Justin Skipper (34:02)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (34:23)
Or they're not here. They're, guess they're all gone. And they packed up and went home where it's like, and you alluded to it, Lord, the systems are changing due to flows and zebra mussels and vegetation and clarity and all, all that. So it can be an advantage to some people that have never been here because they can stumble into something. You know, I think it'll be one at a complete doing something different that
Lorin Skipper (34:42)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (34:51)
pretty much in a place that nobody else really is.
Lorin Skipper (34:55)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Justin Skipper (34:56)
Definitely gonna have to think outside the box.
Brian Bashore (35:00)
water's pretty clean and you're gonna deal with a lot of boats, a lot of pressure. Which that place is used to, but this is a little extreme when you're talking 250 some boats in a day and for a week basically right? You know?
Lorin Skipper (35:04)
Yep.
Justin Skipper (35:14)
Yeah.
Lorin Skipper (35:15)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (35:16)
And there's not, there are some pretty good bays and coves there, but you're not, you're not hiding from anybody.
Lorin Skipper (35:24)
No, there's not a lot of big creeks to go back into where people won't see you and stuff like that, you know, so you're going to be visible, you know, and so the best way, you know, to hide yourself, I guess, is just don't throw your net in there. Probably.
Brian Bashore (35:40)
I don't
Justin Skipper (35:41)
you
Brian Bashore (35:42)
the way of the big pink or green flags around so You know, it will be fun. I'm looking forward to that one. I think it I would expect 250 I think 300 is a cap on it You know, they I think Jeff said I had him on here that they get when they do hit 300 like Erie last year I think they ended up at 280 because just within that last week or two things happen and teams drop out or fall out and at that point you're not backfill them so
Justin Skipper (35:44)
Yeah
Lorin Skipper (35:45)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (36:08)
I would, I don't expect it to be 280. I'm guessing around 250, but, that's fine. That's plenty. I think the payout pot stays the same with it. So you guys have fished into NTC before done well, if I recall, was that Milford Lake?
Lorin Skipper (36:25)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (36:25)
tell us about
Justin Skipper (36:26)
Yep,
Milford Lake, Kansas.
Brian Bashore (36:26)
that one. Yep, I love that place actually. A lot of people that listen have probably never been there, but it's a phenomenal fishery.
Justin Skipper (36:33)
Yeah, it was a blast pre-fishing there. You know, that's been one of my favorite tournaments I've ever fished. It was just very unique. All the people up there were, you know, great hospitality and it's just something different to all the flooded structure. There's, think, one or two small towns that got flooded out. you're fishing these old roads, foundations.
Brian Bashore (36:54)
Yeah, that's a lot of it. Yup.
Wakefield and Milford. Yep.
Justin Skipper (37:01)
It was, yeah, it was really neat, you know, and we went over with just an open mind and we found, you know, where the winning fish were. Yeah. We were just one, one, two bites short. It was a really cool experience to our boat. We blow a lower unit on day three. So we ended up getting almost a four hour late start. had to kick her motor back in, switch boats, go back out.
Brian Bashore (37:29)
Mmm.
Justin Skipper (37:30)
It was a struggle to keep our minds in it, but we did in what, last hour or so. I think we ended up pulling all of our fish that we weighed for the third day, which was just amazing. So it's definitely an experience of a lifetime and something I'll never forget.
Brian Bashore (37:52)
Did you get into the wipers down there?
Lorin Skipper (37:55)
Yeah, yeah.
Justin Skipper (37:56)
None of the
big big ones, but.
Lorin Skipper (37:58)
Yeah, no big ones, but man, they're the meanest fish I have ever handled in my life. would, I, and they fight. Yeah, they fight. I was like, Oh man, I got like a five pound walleye on here and get it up to the boat. And it was like a 14 inch wiper. And then I go to take it off and it's just eyeballing me. Every time I try to get my hand over my head and stab me with its fin and stab me again. Finally, I just had to stomp on the damn thing and pull the lure out. Cause they're, man, they're aggressive. They're mean, but.
Justin Skipper (38:03)
Yeah
Brian Bashore (38:05)
level.
Lorin Skipper (38:28)
Yeah, I couldn't imagine catching like a 14 pounder or something, you know.
Brian Bashore (38:31)
14 10s the biggest one I ever caught on top water and it I Ever caught very few less than five pounds But and I and that leg is full of them and a guides chase them there and they're an absolute blast If you don't know the wiper is folks It's a stripe a hybrid of a striper and a white bass and it's like a white bass on steroids more or less That's what they look a little bit more like but they get a lot bigger. I mean they get up to 20 pounds They don't reproduce these are stocked, but they're just super aggressive super schooling fish. It's like a white bass
Lorin Skipper (38:35)
geez, yeah.
Brian Bashore (39:00)
So when you find them, can just get them and you know, if you got to, if you can net some live shad and throw those out there on a jig, you're going to have a hay day, throw a plastic. It usually doesn't even matter if you find that schooling pile of them, or if they're even chased, you know, follow the birds, whatever you throw out there, they hammer it and hang on. I've seen them pull a guy off the boat into the lake, seeing the same boat break his rod because he was keeping it and it got straight underneath the boat. It was a bass rod and it went under and it snapped his rod.
Lorin Skipper (39:20)
You
Brian Bashore (39:30)
It was 10 minutes later and I think I got pulled in because he wasn't letting go this time and he slipped and he fell right in. Uh, it was, there was a guide boat and another boat tied up and I was on this point. This is Milford Lake and the guy's big dude, big dude. Like didn't ever got out of his chair at a center console, but he had, he, they must've went out and thrown a cast net, caught some shad and he had a big ditnet and he just kept dipping it and handing it to the guys. And they had a bass boat tied up to his boat, the guide boat. So he had like eight guys.
So that boat's full and his boat's full and he's just handing them bait and they're just throwing it and they're all just ripping in five, you know, five to eight pound wipers. I sat back and watched it for a while until he left. Then I went over and got a few and then that school was gone. That was it. It was over, but they did that for a good half hour. And it was, it was hilarious. But yeah, a lot of those Kansas and Nebraska reservoirs are loaded with those wipers and some of them they're kind of taken over, but super aggressive fish and super fun. And yeah, they.
you're going to catch them with your walleye fishing and sucks in a walleye tournament. But you can usually tell pretty quick because they're going to peel a line and they're out of there.
Justin Skipper (40:38)
Yeah, when you see your lead core going the same direction your troll and you know you got one of them on.
Brian Bashore (40:45)
Yeah. Yeah.
Swim towards you fast. doesn't, it wouldn't ride. If you're trolling, your rods bounce in a ton. That's what I was like, that's a white bath. And how do know? I'm like, cause the walleye goes like this, right? It doesn't want to come in a white bath, whiper hits it. And then it starts swimming and darting and your rods bouncing like crazy. like things, things you just learn over time. Cause we're all old medunas forever. And we got a pretty good clue of what's happened on the other end of the line. Oh.
Justin Skipper (40:59)
Yeah.
Okay.
Brian Bashore (41:11)
Well, good. had another NTC coming up obviously here in June. You got the NWT and end April. got Cedar Shores the 1st of April. it's just, man, we're all ready to go. You got, you got a new Ranger. Is that what you got, Justin?
Justin Skipper (41:26)
Yup, 621 Pro with the Mercury V10 on there. super, super, yeah, 400. Yep. Super excited about it. It's the first 621 I've owned. So liking it. Went with the bubble windshields this time. So I was a little nervous at first, but it only took about one trip. And I was like, man, why have I been fishing a windshield for so many years?
Brian Bashore (41:33)
400.
I've drove the bubbles and it was cold and I'm like, never. No, I'm not doing it. But as a guide, I want my people, you know, where I spend most of my time, I want them a little more comfortable, but I totally get it. I just do the Jess fish tournaments, I'd have a bubble. Totally. You know, one less thing to deal with is those windshields, but I got my ZV-21 should be here. Sounds like any day. it's waiting on it's V10 right now, I think is what they're, they're waiting on. So.
Uh, hopefully have that here by probably not Cedar shores, but for sure, uh, the Lake Sharp tournament, hopefully. So what, uh, what, uh, where are you guys, you guys have done all these different tournaments, all this stuff, a lot of experience. Where do you see our tournament circuits moving or what do you think we can do to make them better? Or do you, is the tournament circuit world great? I mean, there's a, it seems to be a hell of a lot of them out there. Not top tier ones, but just a lot of tournaments in general.
Justin Skipper (42:43)
Yeah.
Lorin Skipper (42:48)
Yeah, or go ahead Justin if you want to start.
Justin Skipper (42:52)
Yeah, I mean, as few tournaments as I fish a year, it's really hard to have that strong of an opinion. know, one that I would have is I wouldn't mind seeing some of these bigger tournaments kind of restrict some of the pre-fishing, even the playing field out a little bit. Just, I feel like you could get more average guys to want to show up and maybe grow some of the fields if they knew that, I can
Brian Bashore (43:17)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Skipper (43:21)
I can take the week off and be competitive versus, I mean, some of these, got to end 12 days with travel time and just to keep up with the rest of the crowd. That's a lot of commitment when you got a family and jobs and all of that. And I think it would go a long ways too, even competition wise. You see a lot of the way the bass circuits are ran and stuff like that. I feel like...
we could bring a little bit more of that into some of our bigger circuits.
Brian Bashore (43:54)
like to get
four, four and half days. Saturday to Wednesday.
Justin Skipper (43:59)
Yeah, you know,
put some sort of restriction on some of that stuff. You know, I understand with all the guiding and stuff like that, I don't know if I necessarily agree with you can't fish for so many days prior, but there, there has to be some sort of a way to level it out a little bit, you know, give, give your average angle. Sent it to want to jump in more of these events. And I mean, cause for me, that's one of the biggest reasons why, uh,
it's time, you know, and if, if I knew that I could show up and everybody only had three days to pre-fish and then our two day tournament, that would make it a lot more appealing to me versus the other scenario is I, I mean, four or five days, you're, you're kind of on the lower end of what most of the guys are pre-fishing. mean, lot of these guys are, they're getting there the Wednesday, you know, before sometimes the Tuesday before.
Brian Bashore (44:41)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Skipper (44:58)
They can sit a blow day out where when you get up there and you're short handed on the days you can fish, you have to fish them days.
Brian Bashore (45:07)
and you're self-employed
like me so you're not getting paid vacation.
Justin Skipper (45:10)
Yeah, exactly.
But at the same time, you know, I understand it is, it's a preferred, you know, while the NWT, it's a professional trail. And there is a handful of guys that, you know, that's what they do full time, do it for living. And it's, I respect, you know, it's their circuit. So I, you know, I'm not going to have a strong opinion on it either way, but I do feel that that would be one thing if I could.
Brian Bashore (45:35)
Well I can.
Justin Skipper (45:40)
change anything or do anything different. I put a few more restrictions out there just to kind of level the playing field for a lot of different groups of people, just like what bass fishing does, you know.
Brian Bashore (45:55)
No.
Well, can, it can, you're not alone from the pros in a meeting we did have with, with 40 or 38 that showed up. I think it was a hundred percent of us agreed with what you just said. Let's shrink this down to Saturday to Wednesday at noon or even less. Whatever four day, four and half days. That's it. And if it's got to be two weeks off limits prior, that's fine. The way around that for the guides is if you put boundaries on a system.
Justin Skipper (46:17)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (46:24)
Instead of 107 miles of a reservoir or area or whatever, if 30 miles this way, that way, you know, that's a big area still. And most of these places are allowing someone to take off the Oconto and go to, you know, little Bay to knock or something, you know, put these little restrictions in it. Those guides can just guide outside of those areas if need be. But the reality is there's not.
Justin Skipper (46:33)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (46:47)
ton of guides that are getting into the tournaments probably so much anymore. And I get it as a guide because I got guaranteed money here or, or, you know, a gamble plus taking all these. You know, five, six, seven, eight days off to practice. So, I think that that's a, that's a good point. I would say at least 90 % of the other pros that fish, all of them are have been doing it, you know, in and out and would like to do more of them would probably, I think that's exactly right. You would get more locals to jump in. You'd get other guys to jump in and.
But until we're at that level to where, okay, here's, we're limited to a hundred anglers and that's that. And it's these hundred anglers because they qualified or they rolled over or whatever it is. I don't, I don't, I just don't foresee them putting a whole lot of restrictions on there, but I think that's one that would actually help increase the number of participants. Cause you're going to get more locals jumping in and the more people in it, higher the payouts. So, I mean, to me it's, it's whatever it's a hundred boats or 300 boats.
Justin Skipper (47:36)
I do too. Yeah, I really do too.
Exactly.
Brian Bashore (47:46)
I don't care. mean, the problem with a large amount of boats is fishing pressure and just, takes four hours to weigh in and four hours to launch. that kind of stuff sucks. But to me it's, it's mono, it's you versus the fish. don't care how many other people are, you know, you're going against. So, and like I said, boundaries is kind of a good way to get around it. These are things we've all discussed in our meetings with, with NWT before. And so they know the opinions and have it, but they're juggling so many other things trying to make the, you know,
Justin Skipper (48:01)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (48:15)
What is the right decision or how do we, how do we see it? And I think each year they learn something new. And if numbers are maybe dropping, that's, then they got to look at that and be like, all right, what do we, how do we get this back up? And I think you hit it on the, the nail on the head right there, because that's what you do, right? So it's hit those nails and that's it limit those days. That's, that's one of the many kinds of things I think that you can adjust that doesn't hinder anybody. Maybe the community a little bit, cause people aren't spending as much time and money in that.
community, but if you get more numbers, then that's going to kind of wash that out.
Justin Skipper (48:52)
Yeah, I would agree.
Brian Bashore (48:54)
Your thoughts, Lauren?
Lorin Skipper (48:58)
Oh, no, that all makes sense. I, you know, I haven't really thought too much about it. I, I do like, you know, like on Sakaka Ria, how they allowed the fish to be released and stuff. And, um, you know, I, I, I definitely wouldn't complain if South Dakota would allow more of these fish to be released, you know, uh, not that it's super detrimental to our systems, these tournaments and stuff, but I think it would allow.
for more of them to happen with less effect on the reservoirs. Outside of that, the bass world, they kind of got all the things going on. I don't know if we have enough anglers to do stuff like that, to maybe break it into divisions or something. Because you see when these tournaments are all out east, all them guys out east, they all show up to those ones. But only
the guys that are fishing the circuit full time come out to these tournaments out west. But a lot of times we get a pretty good turnout with our local anglers that are close enough to fish it. So I don't know what to really think if it would ever go that route, whether there'd be two divisions and then they work to a championship or how that would work.
You know, something to get all of the anglers involved and right now with gas and travel, you know, things, costs a lot of money, know, you know, everybody's got to make a living and, and, and if you're not doing it full time on the NWT, then it's, it's becomes a little bit more of a headache to make these, these tournaments happen to fish the full circuit, you know.
Brian Bashore (50:46)
So we had some discussion on the divisional thing and I liked that concept too. It's just like you said, do we have enough anglers? And then it becomes the directors, tournament, the people that got to put on the tournaments. they, mean, they already don't have enough manpower because they're doing bass and the wallet federation is running all these things in TC. So they're traveling all over. So to add more to it, just, it wouldn't work unless there was a different, a different management system or something. But I think that's a, that's a good way to help.
Kind of like Bass has opens and then they worked their way up to elites type deal. Or if you had, know, it's kind of, don't have a qualifying system basically to get you to the top tier, which we like to call the NWT, but they're really all professional level circus. There's professional, I mean, MWC is professional. NTC stuff is made for grassroots, but you're seeing more guys like that are NT, NWT guys getting into it because the payouts are worth, you know, worth, they're, they're better. And you gotta like me, I don't, look at them, they gotta be 10,000 or above.
Cause if you're to pay a couple of days off work, it's gotta make sense. And now you're doing the team circuit. So now you're splitting that. Right. So, you know, versus NWT where you got two different payouts for the pro and the co. yeah, all good ideas and a lot of it always comes down to money. Cause what it's, you know, it's all about. Right. And, that's, if we get more anglers involved, payouts go up, you know, there's more social viewership going on because more people are doing things, more opportunities.
Justin Skipper (51:44)
Yeah.
Yeah
Brian Bashore (52:12)
You get more eyes on the tournament circuit as a whole, then the revenue sharing can come for the, the, ownership or the management company has something to sell, you know, to, non endemic or endemic sponsors. Cause chasing dollars in the fishing industry is a, a head scratcher in a constant never ending game pretty much. So you guys have some sponsors, you know how it is. So you've been, know, with a few of them for a long time and hang on to them, hang on to them dearly.
Justin Skipper (52:39)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (52:41)
They
play a pretty important part. what you gonna get out? So like I said, we got about three weeks till Cedar Shores tournament. Oh, you said something Lauren. I was gonna touch on it. I should have wrote it down. Divisional. I can't remember. It was good. I forgot it. Damn it. So anyway, gotta, yep, yep. You gotta be able to get out a few more times before the first tournament.
Justin Skipper (53:01)
you
Lorin Skipper (53:02)
I did
too.
Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna try to get on sharp a few more times. And, you know, I probably won't do much pre fishing for Cedar shore until just before the event. I the nice thing with being teamed up there, Justin and I can split up, you know, I can fish my boat down here and and he can fish his boat up by the dam or vice versa. Cover a little more water that way. So yeah, I just kind of I love sharp, man. It's it's probably my favorite stretch of
of the river, you know, outside of catching big fish on Oahu. But there's just something about sharp. Fish is different than Chamberlain, but man, it's just it's it's fun. It's you know, the it's a little smaller, a little more, you know, spot on spot stuff. And and so, yeah, I just want to get out there, man. I'm excited. I'm ready to get started.
Brian Bashore (54:00)
Yeah, that one, that
one is funny and you're right. It does fish a little different and it's, you know, in, 2014, when we were there, fished real small. Just half of it was still frozen. Right. If I recall, you weren't going more than 25 miles, maybe. I don't, don't think I went past like far my line area, I mean, 90 % of us were fishing in the upper portion of it. So.
Lorin Skipper (54:11)
Yeah
Justin Skipper (54:11)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Nature put its own boundaries on that one.
Brian Bashore (54:23)
Yeah, which
was perfectly fine with me, but that's not the case because I'm sure it's open and it's docks. Everything are in a plat. They're catching fish. think Francis case is 90 % open, maybe a hundred percent open by now with the wind this week.
Lorin Skipper (54:36)
Yeah.
Yeah. Down here, they're all opened up now that well, I guess I don't know as far down as North Shore, but as far as last week, they're putting West Shore boat ramp in Snake Creek, Plat Creek. Yeah, I'm sure Peace Creek's going in soon. So there's already guys out here catching limits of fish on, you know, the lower end of the lake. So I'd like to get out here, too, you know, but.
Justin Skipper (54:37)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (55:04)
Yeah, it just sucks for cheater shores and they don't have fuel on the water no more. If you're running down there, I guess you can fill up there. Of course, you have the new boat and the new ZV-21 has got 80 gallon fuel tanks. So not a problem. The one advantage of having that besides the price tag at the pump when you have to fill it up. But it's one of those boats you put half a tank in all year long until you need it, until tournament days, if even, you know, because you obviously don't want to haul 80 gallons around, you know, and that's a lot of weight to slow you down unless you need it.
Lorin Skipper (55:09)
Mm-hmm.
Justin Skipper (55:31)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (55:34)
So, I mean, that's the cool thing is, I need it for this long run. got it. You know, I think people, a lot of us feel like we just have to fill them up. But I already told Scott, my other guy, I'm like, you don't need to keep that thing topped off because you're just, you're to get worse gas mileage. You're to go slower. You know, just kind of put in, you know, 20, 30 gallons and, and don't forget how much you put in and keep it cool. But we all know those big fish live down south and that, just.
Justin Skipper (55:35)
Mm-hmm.
Lorin Skipper (55:54)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (55:59)
That's why you hope for good weather at Chamberlain, right? Cedar source tournament. So you can not have to beat the hell out of yourself, but then again, not a big fisherman caught within, I don't know, a quarter mile of the boat, boat lock. So.
Lorin Skipper (56:12)
That's right, yeah. Yeah, they're a little more spread out on that system on Francis Case, you know. Good local population down south and up north hours it gets pretty hot, you know.
Brian Bashore (56:22)
You
know, and there's, yeah, I mean, there's obviously some big fish right there in town always. mean, there's been, I don't know how many times, you know, between the river in town was 10 pounders caught. And you're like, damn it, you know, you went 44 miles south and got two 22 inches, you know, which can go a long ways in these tournaments. So don't pass them up, but don't overlook it. But yeah, that would, like to stay close if possible, but yeah, this year's, gotta be one of those, kind of have to.
Lorin Skipper (56:37)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (56:49)
spend some time with you on the south side of it down there, I think, and do a little exploring. So, you know, get away from the crowds, of course, too. So, yeah, yeah, yeah. It out, it gets a little less crowded in the spring when you go south, but still, know, Chamberlain has been a hot spot.
Lorin Skipper (56:52)
Yeah, come up. Yeah, come up anytime.
I don't know where you do that up here, but...
Yeah, yeah, this
this time here, it's pretty quiet down there. come, you know, into May through June. It's yeah, yeah.
Brian Bashore (57:15)
yeah. Then it's the hotspot.
Yeah. And rightfully so the place is phenomenal, but I'm going to hit loose and Clark tomorrow and try to find some of these pre-spotters. We don't even fish it till May because we saw all those fish go up river. You know, heading up towards Fort Randall and Sanity area and are spawning. But like for its case, the reservoir has changed a ton in the last few years because of zebra mussels. And I'm pretty confident there's a large spawning population that's staying in the lake because it's clean. Cause I caught them the first of May last year.
And these are post spawn, a lot of 20 plus inches and they were all post spawn and already very healthy. So I'm like, there's no way these fish went 40 miles, you know, and spawned and already came back and are this big. And you can tell usually the color of those fish, whether they went up river or not, they changed pretty quick, but they lightened up a lot when they go up and let's tell they get way up past Nile Brair where the water gets cleaned and they kind of green up. But if they're in that San T to west side of Lewis and Clark, they're going to be pretty.
Lorin Skipper (58:03)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (58:12)
dirty water water colored, know, they get kind of palish, kind of soft white. And then as they get east, that water's cleaner and they get nice, you know, they get the good color back. so just, you know, things you notice from spending probably way too much time on the water, I guess, but I don't, I don't know there is such thing. So, all right. We've been, yeah, it, uh, we've been chit chatting for about an hour. Let you guys get back to it. Um, we will see you on the water here soon.
Lorin Skipper (58:16)
Yep.
you
Justin Skipper (58:28)
Now...
Lorin Skipper (58:30)
Yeah, no, probably not.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (58:41)
What you guys got any little nuggets to leave for these listeners to help them on their let's say to help them on their spring walleye bite.
Justin Skipper (58:50)
Well, I guess one thing I always keep in my mind is from a Johnny Candles seminar I went to a long time ago was take the words always and never out of your vocabulary. To this day, that's something that's always stuck with me. I like it.
Brian Bashore (59:13)
good. You couldn't be... the only time you want to use them right now in these river tournaments is that you're always in it and you're never out of it. Otherwise, don't use them, right?
Justin Skipper (59:19)
Yeah.
Lorin Skipper (59:24)
Yeah. Yeah, I guess I didn't come up with much of a nugget, I guess. But you know, maybe for some new anglers kind of just getting started maybe or something, you know, you know, just work your use a minnow and work it slow, you know, be patient. And, and, yeah, and try to try to get the fish to bite.
Brian Bashore (59:50)
That is a jig fisherman's tip right there is using minnow slow, key word slow for this early spring fishing body. I see so many guys out there now whipping it and already like doing this stuff. I'm like, what the hell are you doing?
Lorin Skipper (59:58)
Yeah.
Justin Skipper (1:00:04)
Yeah.
He brings a whole new definition to the word slow. I'll put that out there too.
Lorin Skipper (1:00:07)
You
Thank
Brian Bashore (1:00:12)
Yeah, oh yeah,
I'm pretty methodical with it and it's like it's I'm like it's just this, know, and I almost every cast sometimes I'm like, oh, I missed one or I got one or like the hell I'm like, I'm not even it's it's like this.
Lorin Skipper (1:00:12)
you.
You
Brian Bashore (1:00:27)
You know, it'll pop, mix it up once in a while, you know, or especially if you got one that's kind of, but you could, it's this, I've put out a ton of videos lately of saying it's so methodical. These fishes waters 40 degrees and you need that medium light rod so you can let them load it. Cause you'll feel it and you're not, and you're just kind of maybe pulling it away or, or giving it and you just kind of let it have it, have it, have it. Now the plastics, can obviously get a little more aggressive with and if, know, if they're going and they'll hit that a lot harder, but you start doing this with your minnows, you're just ripping them off.
Justin Skipper (1:00:30)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (1:00:57)
Cause they're, they're hitting them. They're just short striking them, but you got to let them, you know, get it and feed it. And that can change from the morning to the afternoon. As you know, when that water warms up to on how aggressive they get, but I agree a hundred percent early spring is a, you can't go too slow. So period. mean, I mean, how many times do you just let it sit there? And then when you're about to dig, you're like, there's one on it, you know? And so not moving it is pretty slow. No.
Lorin Skipper (1:01:08)
Absolutely.
No.
Justin Skipper (1:01:13)
Yeah.
Lorin Skipper (1:01:26)
Yeah.
Justin Skipper (1:01:26)
Yeah,
sometimes the laziest person in the spring turns out to be the best fisherman.
Brian Bashore (1:01:31)
Yep. This is true. You put the hungover guy in the back and say, there's a rod holder. Just put your rod in there sometimes. And you're like, man, he's catching the hell out of me. I've said it a hundred times and I've learned that from a Johnny Candle. So what I years ago is pay attention to what's going on in your boat. You know, and you guys guide, you know how it is when you got the kid, it's over here cracking them or mom's catching them because she keeps sitting her rod down to grab a soda. And every time she sits it down, they bite.
Lorin Skipper (1:01:32)
You
I'm
Justin Skipper (1:01:41)
You
Yeah.
Lorin Skipper (1:01:58)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (1:01:58)
know, a
Justin Skipper (1:01:58)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (1:01:58)
dad's
over here doing this and not getting touched. And you're like, what are we doing with your cottage? Like, I wasn't doing nothing, man. I was grabbing a drink. So doing nothing was what the fish wanted. So slow it down or vice versa. The kids, you know, all over hell and going fast as crap, but they're catching them. All right. Well, I guess we need to speed up. So pay attention, pay attention to what's going on. So. Yep. All right, guys, we will see you soon. Thanks for joining us today. Good stuff. We've got a couple.
Lorin Skipper (1:02:00)
You
Yeah.
Justin Skipper (1:02:21)
Definitely.
Brian Bashore (1:02:28)
Couple big three, we're going to be, we'll be in three tournaments together this year for sure. So Cedar shores, sharp and NTC. So I will see you at all three of those look forward to it. Always enjoy chatting with you guys. Folks either a couple of the South Dakota's hottest sticks when it comes to fishing these walleyes in these rivers and check them out. Skipper brothers. What you guys are guiding out there.
Lorin Skipper (1:02:51)
Yeah, skipper, skipper bros guiding.com or skipper bros guiding on Facebook. You can check us out and or even our personal Facebook pages as well.
Brian Bashore (1:03:02)
with them. I'm sure they'd be happy to take you up to Lake Hawaii in the fall. If it can work out right? You get a couple three days booked on a weekend. Yeah let's go. So yeah I think I would sign myself up for one of those. So all right thank you guys for joining us and thank all you for tuning in to another episode of Real Talk Fishing with No Limits. Stay safe and we'll see you on the water.
Lorin Skipper (1:03:07)
Yeah.
Justin Skipper (1:03:09)
If there's
time.
Lorin Skipper (1:03:12)
Yep.