2026 National Walleye Tour Champion | Isaac Lakich

In this episode of the Reel Talk Fishing Podcast, we sit down with 2026 National Walleye Tour Champion Isaac Lakich to break down his championship victory and journey through competitive walleye fishing. Isaac shares the tournament strategies, fishing techniques, presentations, and critical decisions that helped him capture the NWT Championship title. We discuss finding tournament-quality walleye, adapting to changing conditions, preparation, and the mindset required to compete against the best professional walleye anglers in the country. If you love walleye fishing, tournament fishing, and learning from champions, this episode is packed with valuable insight.

What is Reel Talk Fishing | With No Limits?

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 (00:01.398)
Hey folks, welcome back to another episode of Real Talk Fission with No Limits. Today we are joined by the champ, the people's champion, the NWT champion, the 2026 champ, Isaac Lokich. Isaac, congratulations on your big win. Long time coming for sure. How's it feel? I can only imagine.

Isaac Lakich (00:22.187)
Just yeah, just crazy, man. Just it's been a crazy week, week and a half, the last week and a half. I mean, now's the aftermath of a good win. So, you know, it's handling all the social stuff, trying to keep up with everything on that end of it. And yeah, it's just been yeah, dream come true. But you know, been working for that one for a while. So yeah, f it's feeling good right now. We're we're we're taking a little break here, but I I leave

To hit the road and go to the next one here pretty shortly, so

Brian Bashore (00:53.022)
As we were just talking offline here, it it doesn't end, right? Now you're on the media tour, it all keeps going. You you've been down this road, you you had a win last year in Alpina. You you know now we've taken the next step and won the championship, and I can only imagine twenty twenty seven, we're really chasing that AOI. Like I mean, not like you haven't been chasing it every year anyway, but you fell you're so close this year you tasted.

Isaac Lakich (01:15.752)
No, there's some little k some little youngster named Bo Shillin didn't show up this year, I would have had it. But hey, that's part of the game and yeah, you had a hell heck of a season here this year and I ha I had a great season too. I'm not gonna complain about my season in any way, shape or form. And then to cap it off of the championship is just, you know, the icing on the top of a great year. So yeah, we're you know

Brian Bashore (01:19.006)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (01:22.338)
Yep.

Isaac Lakich (01:38.554)
We're already looking forward to twenty seven, but you know, I I still got two more events this season yet that I'm that I'm fishing. So, you know, eyes forward to those at the moment. I mean, you know, we're at home right now, just getting a little R and R in, try to get some stuff fixed that we broke over the last couple of weeks being on the road and yeah, back to it in a couple of days and yeah, but for the moment just kind of soaking up the the limelight and doing a bunch of podcasts and

Trying to keep the socials going and manages the the chaos that is social media of nowadays.

Brian Bashore (02:12.162)
Yeah, yeah, it is. It it it's all part of the it's part of the job, right? You you're guiding when you're not tournament fishing, or you're getting ready to go to the next tournament. I don't are you gonna do the hunting guide thing again this fall? Okay.

Isaac Lakich (02:24.449)
not. I I really wanted to, but like so realistically speaking, I'd already be on my way out to Montana right now to to work on that. But I I picked up a tournament up in Sis I'm actually heading to Saskatchewan next week for a tournament up there. so we're gonna go fish up there next week and that'll cut that kind of threw a damper into the beginning of our tree season and then I qualified for the Master Wally Circuit championship last year.

for this season. So we're gonna be there in Devil's Lake at the beginning of October. So it kinda balled up like basically all September and October for me in terms of trying to actually like get out there and guide. And then honestly I was just like, Man, another winter in Montana We'll take one off. We'll take one off. I'll be back for sure. I mean I you ain't gonna keep me out of the mountains for very long. I love that stuff just as much as I love this. So

Brian Bashore (03:10.667)
Right.

Yeah.

Brian Bashore (03:20.514)
Yeah, you know, and it little hitting a little reset button once in a while doesn't hurt. So it it takes a toll on you, it takes a toll on the family being away. I know you got a couple of little girls. It's it's tough, you know, with the guide life. And like I was telling you, I haven't been home much and you haven't been home much, and it's summertime. I mean I my wife loves the winter 'cause I'm home or she knows that when football season's on that she can find me Sunday sitting on the couch pretty much all day not moving.

Isaac Lakich (03:25.949)
Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Isaac Lakich (03:44.096)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (03:50.381)
I've like, that that that's coming, come come November, but I definitely plan on getting a lot of a lot more deer hunting in this year, which I didn't do any last year. But I mean, you're you're doing the same thing. It's it's run, it's gun, it's it's go, go, go. So many people don't get to see behind the scenes. And I think you talked about some of that and you show a little bit about that in your and their Hunter Miles video that just came out the other day. Touch on that a little bit with what

Isaac Lakich (04:11.089)
Yep. Yep. Yeah, yeah. I mean like the behind the scenes work is what no one sees, right? Like no one sees the long days on the water leading up to the tournament. No one sees the you know, twenty, thirty, forty day stretches where you're out there every single day from sun up to sundown. They don't see the all night drives turning and burning to get from one event back the guide or from guide trip to an event, like

I mean I this last one at Sakakawea, I slept in my truck for three nights before I even like before our Airbnb started because I just happened to get there a little earlier than I kind of expected. I had a kind of a window of opportunity open up where it's like, Well, you can go if you want and it's like, All right, well, yeah, I'm gonna go, but I'm trying not to burn more expenses than I have to. So, you know, you're sleeping in the truck and yeah, plugging into it's what I don't even remember where I plugged in the one night. It was like a like I

Jury rigged into an ice banding machine or something like that to give power to the boat and stuff. It just Yeah, you know, it the behind the scenes work is what really, you know, c you see the cultivation and accumulation of that in tournament wins and stuff like that. And a lot of people they just they don't see that work that goes in you know, day in and day out every single day. I mean, I do I do something fishing oriented pretty much three hundred and sixty five days a year. There's something going on with it in some way, shape or form. So

Brian Bashore (05:34.593)
And it's how you master your craft. And it's how you came up with whatever it was to get those fish to bite that I imagine a lot of people probably found pre-fishing but couldn't get them to go. Or as you heard, Scockwheel, it's just a tough bite. It's great fishery. There's a lot of fish, a lot of bait. Kind of that way everywhere right now. We got a lot of bait in the system, but and you and you see some of those fish, but it's like, I can't I can't get them to go. But by doing that extra time, Isaac figured out what it was to get him to bite because you you made it look easy and you won by a

Isaac Lakich (05:44.953)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (06:04.142)
Pretty astounding bag. So

Isaac Lakich (06:05.867)
Yeah. Pretty wild, pretty wild. I I I can be the first to tell you that like I I did not expect to have those bags, like in any way, shape or form. I mean y and you know how it goes a little bit. You've done enough of the tournament stuff. Like you try not to lean on your primary area. So like I found those fish and I got a good one out of it, like the first time I went in there.

And I snuck back in there real late one day, you know, like seven o'clock at night. I was like, all right, no one else is out on the water. Let's go sneak in there real quick and take another peek. And I got another good one. So like I knew there was big ones in there, but like every day of practice, like you're fishing all day. And I mean, getting more than a bite an hour was tough. I mean, I was catching ten fish a day in practice, but I mean it was taking me twelve hours to do that. So it was like

my goodness, like are we even gonna be able to get five to go in tournament hours? Like are they gonna be the right ones? Are you gonna have to make decisions? Like I I had no idea what to expect. So day one rolling through there and how fast it happened, like it was crazy. Like I mean, like I started working through the area and all of a sudden I was like, I got two two over five pounds in my level. Like what is going on right now? And then the next one Yeah, yeah, like you're like, Okay, cool, like we got all day to put together, you know, a couple

Brian Bashore (07:13.496)
Feeling good.

Isaac Lakich (07:19.739)
you know, four pounders to go with those two fives, like you're gonna be feeling really good. Well the next one's four and you're like, all right. Well the next one's six and you're like, holy crap. And the next one's like almost an eight pounder and it's like, my goodness, what the heck just happened and you're done. And it's just like, Holy cow. Like my mind was like blown. I remember like I was putting the last one in the live well and I hear a boat pulling up and I look and it's Cardenas coming up the camera guy and he's just like, that one up, hold that one you know, he's yelling at me and I like pull it up and

I saw I'm like, I'm done. He's What do you mean? He's like I was like, I'm done, dude. I got like I'm I got my five. Like, I don't even know what just happened. Like, I'm still trying to wrap my head around it. Like it it was crazy. Like I I couldn't believe it. Like, you know, be at the dock at eleven o'clock on the dock pretty much on the first day of the event, and you know, put up the big bag, and I was like, Well, you know, in my head, I'm like, Well, Jay, you know, Jaden's here, Bo's here, Max is out there fishing, I'm watching Max go.

Brian Bashore (07:52.674)
No

Isaac Lakich (08:16.962)
drive up to the launch as I'm there and I'm like, God, he's got a big bag. You know, he has never yeah, him and I are the like the last two guys that are ever in early. Like we ne it's usually like I'm

Isaac Lakich (08:36.387)
Did it go off again?

Brian Bashore (08:38.134)
yeah, just there you are. Some somebody calling ya.

Isaac Lakich (08:41.011)
Alright. Yeah, dude, my phone has just been a nightmare today. So anyhow, we're back again anyways. Yeah, so you know, I I got done early and then I but then you know I started watching all these other guys that I knew were good, you know, great fishermen coming in early and and when you're in early with a big bag and other guys are coming in, you're like, boy, here come some more big bags. So

Brian Bashore (08:48.152)
Hope you're back.

Isaac Lakich (09:08.02)
To kind of be sitting after that first day with what we had, I was blown away. I I couldn't believe it. I didn't even think it was replicable. I was like, Well, that was a fluke. Like I I ain't gonna do that again. And then we went back in there two more times and it was just as good in the morning. Like I couldn't I don't know, man. Like it just it held tight and that's pretty rare, it seems like talking to everyone on the reservoirs, like the fact that I could go to one spot for three days and get is pretty wild. Like that just doesn't happen. So

Brian Bashore (09:37.441)
Nope, nope, not there. It's I mean you had a small boundary which kind of made things easier in a sense, but then again, obviously it sounded like the good bite was outside the boundary, but is you I mean, you didn't have a ton of water to break down, but then you got to share water. So then getting a a simple spot like that or a spot, not a simple spot. To replicate for three days at a row and reload is yeah, you're pretty fortunate there.

Isaac Lakich (09:37.449)
Well we'll take it. Okay.

Isaac Lakich (09:51.903)
Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (10:00.88)
Yeah, yeah. I wa I wasn't expecting that. I mean, like my tentative game plan going into the event was like, okay, if I can go in on that area and pick off like two, like that was my goal. Like if I could go in there for like three hours, get two nice ones, and then leave and go fill out my bag in some of the bays or some of the backwater areas that like just had a better bite going. Like the bay bite was more consistent. Like you can go up into the bays and catch fish pretty easy compared to what the main lake was doing. But

I just never saw in practice like the upper echelon of what like that main like just the whole main arm had. Like the bays there was a ton of three and a half to four pounders in it, but you just didn't see that many fives and sixes rolling around. Like there was a few in there, but not that many.

So yeah, my game plan was like, all right, let's just go try to get two kickers in the morning and then spend the rest of the day in the backs of the bays and fill out with three to four pounders and may and and maybe that puts you at that twenty one to twenty three pound mark. And and that's what I thought it was gonna take to win. I definitely didn't think it was gonna be twenty five a day, and I sure as hell didn't think I was gonna be the guy doing it if it did. Like 'cause it was so tough in practice. I mean, it just was. Like it's just but

Brian Bashore (11:09.592)
Right.

Isaac Lakich (11:14.766)
Those grinder events, like I I find that like I do very well at 'cause I just I I just don't get spun out I think as easily as a lot of people. I I just kinda keep my head in it and try to just th think about it as okay, it's only five bites, like I just gotta get five. Like and that's what it was. So

Brian Bashore (11:33.346)
And when they come kind of in the right order for a tournament like that, that makes things considerably easier.

Isaac Lakich (11:38.593)
Yes, it does. I will take that. Any any no call for the rest of forever that goes the way that that one just went, I'm a hundred and ten percent fine with. Like that I'll live with that any day of the week. Like

Brian Bashore (11:48.387)
Yeah. That was tricky and for those that don't know, it's a Kakuya. North Dakota isn't super friendly to big tournaments. They basically tried to prevent big tournaments from coming there a few years ago, so we took some legislative action through the MPA and Congressional Sportsness Foundation and what they w to sum it up, what they were trying to do is just like every state, you gotta get a permit fish tournament, which the Federation or whoever would would do that through the game and fish or the DNRs.

but they changed the fee structure. So it was gonna be a percentage of the winnings basically was gonna cost NWT like thirty to fifty grand to get a tournament permit, which means sorry, we're not gonna go there. because that's the little that's obscene. These communities like Susie at Devil's Lake was big on this, you know, and obviously tourism kind of pushback like and these communities kind of I think they enjoy these big tournaments coming there. They need these big tournaments coming there because it's a huge

Isaac Lakich (12:29.748)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (12:46.336)
infusion into funding. I mean, hell, you showed up three days early, right? You didn't have hotel expenses, but you bought, you know, I have that boat. It's got a it takes a lot of fuel. I have now I have the boat you want. And that takes a lot more fuel. So that's it's a lot of money getting getting spent in those communities. and and obviously those small businesses love it and need it. fast forward. Yeah, let's just fast forward legislative got they they've some push back and they got that permit.

Isaac Lakich (12:57.873)
Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (13:05.297)
Yeah, I think it brings a lot of Yep, you and

Brian Bashore (13:13.474)
Which used to be pretty high anyway, it was the highest one in the whole upper Midwest, it was around five grand. Now it's it's like two hundred and fifty bucks. But as in any state, the DNR GFP still is gonna dictate those rules for that tournament. So Scott Queer or North Dakota base said, okay, you can your tournament's coming, here's your permit, but you only get five fish. Your limit's five fish per angle or ten fish, you would think, right? Between you and Nico. And we've had those a lot of tournaments are like, all right, you can keep seven.

Isaac Lakich (13:32.742)
Yep, yep.

Brian Bashore (13:41.997)
You know, and you're gonna weigh your best five. They just said it's five, you get five fish, period. So there's no I got one to play with, there's no coaling, which there hasn't been. North Dakota's not a co party fishing state neither. So they're not doing you don't have to hand the rod off type any of that kind of business. You know, it was you get five, which makes things way more stressful.

Isaac Lakich (14:00.9)
Yeah, yeah. It's definitely it makes it more interesting to for us as the pros. it it definitely puts the pressure on you to perform. You know, you gotta show up, you gotta get your five, you don't have choices on you know, decisions and stuff like that. And i it j it just makes it interesting. I I mean the way that we're all fishing for the most part, you know, forward facing sonar off the front of the boats primarily,

You know, it it definitely changes the game a little bit. It it makes it a little bit more interesting in terms of like you just kind of don't have the wild card of your co-angler sticking a random big one as much as often. I mean, you know, looking back at the situation, a lot of people were questioning kind of why I didn't have Kristen, especially the second two days with the live image with the live camera, why she wasn't fishing, and that well, why don't you have her dropping a chub over the side or blah, blah, blah? Well, the biggest problem with the

fishing minnows in that deep water. I mean, I was fishing thirty-five to sixty feet of water, and the surface water is seventy degrees, but about fifteen feet down, it was only about fifty-two degrees. Well, what what I found in practice was is when I would send a chub down to bottom and it would kind of get acclimated to that bottom temperature, and then I would goose the troll motor and bring that chub all the way up to the top, I was just killing the chub like nonstop. So it was like

Yeah, I could have her do it, but I'm literally gonna burn through four dollar chubs and they're literally four dollars a piece out there. Like I'm gonna go through like a hundred of a day. Like and it was just like and and in practice Yeah, and in practice, like we I drew a good chub around for four days in practice and never touched the fish. Like the those fish were so finicky. Like the presentation that we were doing was s had to be so perfect, so precise. I've

Brian Bashore (15:26.562)
Right. Yep.

Brian Bashore (15:34.126)
For maybe one fish. Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (15:49.693)
I mean, I'm a finesse fisherman to the T. Like that's what I prefer to do, honestly, when it comes to walleye fishing. I I like power fishing, don't get me wrong, when I say jig wrap bite or, you know, snap jigna plastic or rip and wraps or blade baits or whatever it is, jerk baits, any of the, you know, fast moving reaction bites are fun. I love doing them. but finessing is what I've gotten really good at and and done well on over the last, you know, five, six years here.

That was the most finesse I've ever had to go to get fish to bite. And it was so finesse to the point where I don't even really think that those fish were biting in terms of like trying to eat stuff. I think they literally were just nipping to see what it was. It was so light. Like I never actually felt a bite through the whole duration of practice or the tournament. I think I felt one fish like actually like hit it.

Every single other one, it would just be I was reeling that jig super slow and just trying to not raise it or lower it at all. I was just trying to keep it pretty horizontal in the water column. And all of a sudden I'd just be reeling and it would just get ever so slightly heavier. I mean, just the lightest little bit of pressure and it was like set the hook, like like holy crap, like they got it. I mean they were literally just it must have been following right behind it and just literally just like just barely grabbed it. It was

Brian Bashore (17:10.38)
Yep.

Isaac Lakich (17:12.268)
Unreal how finicky those fish were. It was just like just different. Like just something we've never experienced before. But you I mean, even normally when we're fishing nightcrawlers and stuff like that, I mean usually your feeling will bite it. Like in that one was yeah, they you they would barely nip it. It was crazy.

Brian Bashore (17:29.63)
Well, it's yeah, it's like, all right, I gotta lay it on the bottom and you lose the fish a lot of times, right? But you'll feel it or you're kinda like, It's been there for I mean, sometimes it's ten to thirty seconds, right? You open that bell and you're just letting it sit and you're like, I'm gonna check it, maybe. You kinda like your lady, right? You kinda reel down a little bit, like is there and then there's a little bit of weight and you're like, Okay, do I give it a little bit more time? He's does he have it in his mouth, then you're just like, I'm gonna go. Going, going for it. Yeah, 'cause you just

Isaac Lakich (17:36.749)
Yeah, yeah.

Isaac Lakich (17:41.571)
Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (17:45.482)
Right, right.

Isaac Lakich (17:56.362)
Yeah. Yeah, very similar. Very similar. Like I I probably like set the hook and just whiffed like with nothing there like at least forty times through the event where it's just like I think he's got it and it set the hook and there's just nothing. Then you're like, no, that was just you know, a wave moved a little bit and I felt it on my rod and it's just Yeah, it was crazy. It was just different. I mean but cool. Like I mean I I I mean

Brian Bashore (18:12.131)
Yep.

Brian Bashore (18:18.156)
Right.

Isaac Lakich (18:25.279)
I think that's why I like fishing so much is it just seems like every single year, every year we go further forward, like whether it's with forward facement or other tactics and everything, like you're just always learning something new. There's always that next step, that next thing. You know, you don't have it totally figured out every day of the week. Like, you know, it just you know, it's just always different. And that I love that. I love that trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together.

I Sakakuya for me was that's the first time I've ever been to that that part of Missouri. And yeah, it was it was cool. It was I mean, super gorgeous scenery, a cool town. Garrison was awesome. and to do it, you know, right at the dam was was kinda cool too. I mean, it's you know, just a little different, a little more man made structure fishing than what I kinda expected going out there. So

Brian Bashore (19:14.39)
Yeah, not a not a part of the lake that a lot of people probably spend a lot of time on, but you were forced to in a sense. And I imagine the Gav Cup's kinda like that. So there'll definitely be more people fishing it now.

Isaac Lakich (19:26.095)
yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I think I might have burned that spot a little bit with the live camera there for two days, but I don't know. They might not find it, Ryan. I I don't know. There's not really anything super obvious there.

Brian Bashore (19:29.526)
Or may have. Yep. Yep. May have. But it it Yeah, it

Right, yeah. It was I caught the last bit of live on the air. You basically you were like, set the hook and I'm like, game over and you were like, Game over. I'm like, Yep, that's it. That's that's it for him. I'm like, that looks like a good one. Wonder where he is. So that but that y you're always learning, like you said, and and that's when you're not learning, game over, really. And it it that is it. And when you do have it figured out, you don't because it's gonna change the next day. Sometimes.

Isaac Lakich (19:48.55)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, exactly.

Isaac Lakich (19:58.052)
Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (20:04.368)
Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Bashore (20:05.452)
That bite worked for ya. I would say bay to knock didn't change a whole lot. sometimes we were there and sounded like the green bay bite was off the wall. Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (20:14.094)
Real. I mean, I guide that full time. I haven't seen a year like this. I don't know if it was just the way we had the little bit colder, longer spring or what what what went down, but yeah, Green Bay never shut off. Like even that, like you know, you've been to Green Bay in June on the lower bay where it's tough. It that never happened. That never happened this year. Like it was Green Bay was like full bore. It's still going full bore. Like I'm

Brian Bashore (20:28.526)
Yeah. Yep.

Good.

Isaac Lakich (20:38.807)
I'm kind of upset that I gotta go someplace else 'cause otherwise I'd be heading up there right now 'cause that bite's on fire still. So

Brian Bashore (20:41.484)
Right.

Brian Bashore (20:45.27)
Yeah, that's that's fun when that place is going. I I didn't go to that Green Bay tour, but 'cause I never do go to Green Bay, but I'm like, well that sucks. You know, I'm sure I probably would have sucked 'cause I would have been content with thirty five pounds thinking that was a good bag and then been like, then to find out that's good enough for nineth, you know, but I'm like, Would've been fun

Isaac Lakich (21:01.552)
Yeah. Yeah. Which is crazy 'cause I won my f one of my first live way in Green Bay events, I won with like thirty four and thirty seven a day. Like like we won with what was a not even a top twenty bag for this last

Brian Bashore (21:20.238)
No, I literally I think guys that had thirty some pounds were in somewhere between seventieth and eightieth place. But there were so many of you know, but that is com completely insane.

Isaac Lakich (21:25.471)
Yeah, that's tight. That's insane. Yeah, it was tight. I re it was tight. I know that. I mean it was like forty forty forty forty forty for twenty something spots, which is crazy.

Brian Bashore (21:35.341)
Yeah, you hit those mid thirties and it was everybody, you know, and then obviously there's a a few that didn't get it or didn't get, you know, or just didn't keep the right ones. And that's what a lot of people don't see, even the Scott Kwea tournament. You see some guys that brought in three or four fish. It doesn't mean they didn't catch fish. They they may have caught ten fish that day. They just didn't keep and then the bite shut off and it's the championship. So everybody's kind of swinging, right? You're y they probably had to I need a four pounder. I need, you know, four pound plus fish.

Isaac Lakich (21:43.659)
Yeah, when

Isaac Lakich (21:58.515)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (22:02.754)
Now that changes, right? After noon or after one, after two o'clock, two thirty you're like, I just need a fish, you know. Yeah. Anything.

Isaac Lakich (22:06.191)
Yeah. Anything. Anything? That's what I was thinking on day two. I threw that three three and a half pounder back at noon and I like, I got plenty of time to get a better one and then I never caught well, I shouldn't say that I caught a twelve incher, but that doesn't like it would it didn't count. Like yeah, I wasn't gonna throw I I don't even think that was legal. I think we had to have fifteen, so like Yeah, so I like whatever. But yeah, I mean I tried for the last two hours of that day to

Brian Bashore (22:22.242)
Not gonna cut it. Right.

Brian Bashore (22:27.64)
Yeah, they're fifteen there, yep.

Isaac Lakich (22:35.121)
get anything they bite and I couldn't I couldn't trick I don't know. This just part of it

Brian Bashore (22:39.264)
It it it's that time of year when there there is all that much bait in the system that bite windows a it's a s it's a thing. It's a serious thing.

Isaac Lakich (22:45.977)
Are you seeing the same thing bait wise by you? 'Cause you're on Chamberlain, correct?

Brian Bashore (22:49.516)
Yeah. Lewis and Clark's the next reservoir down. I'm in Chamberlain till first of May, but then I'm on Lewis and Clark. But it's the same that part of the Missouri River is the last dam on the system and it doesn't fish or even look like any of the rest of it. It's a lot shallower and different, but yes, it is absolutely loaded with bait. We still have some Mayflies. They kind of go from late June to September on this body of water because it's it's shallower, more of a delta type thing. But absolutely loads and loads of

Isaac Lakich (22:52.75)
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

Isaac Lakich (23:08.16)
Thank you.

Brian Bashore (23:18.316)
baby drum, gizzard shad, don't have smelt, don't have herring. but when you the problem we have so many drum and catfish and just fish, paddle fish, carp all over. It's like Mississippi River, you put your scope down, you're like, wow my God, look at all those fish. But you're like, which where's can I can I get to a walleye? And if you find one, can I get the bait to it? But in here, if you can, they don't suspend a whole lot. But if you can find a suspended one, you will catch it. If you can get your bait in front of it, there is no

Isaac Lakich (23:36.238)
Right, right.

Brian Bashore (23:47.811)
I have to let it fall. You just the bait just has to go by its face and it'll go wham. It says gone. If you can get that. Yeah, that's great. Now, if you get around a bunch or a little pod, they're gonna be smaller, and those you might you get to play with and do some stuff and you can jing around. But if you find a suspended one, it's it it's it's game over. You see, you're like, yeah, there it is. And if you can hit it and not get attacked by a drum or catfish on on its way to the walleye, you got it. You'll get it. But it's

Isaac Lakich (23:51.489)
they just eat it. Yeah. I like places like that. Yeah, those are fun those are fun places. I mean

Isaac Lakich (24:03.241)
Yeah, yeah. Game on. Yeah. Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (24:14.141)
Right. Yeah.

Brian Bashore (24:16.46)
You're you're lucky if you see, you know, six to ten of those a day. So

Isaac Lakich (24:20.203)
Sure, sure. Yeah. It's it it's funny how it's different, like everywhere we go. I mean, people that haven't traveled don't get a ton of that experience, but like just the attitudes and behaviors and like just how you can some places in the summertime it's crazy aggressive tactics. You're ripping size number nine or bigger jig wraps and then other places you go, you know, like this last week it's you know, three, four inch piece of nightcrawler, like and that's it. Like it it's

It's kinda cool. I I th again, like that's what makes I think that's why I like the travel and tournament stuff as much as I do, is cause it's just it's always a different puzzle. It's always different. you know, the way the structure is and how it sets up and like the way that a reservoir is versus the Great Lakes versus a northern Minnesota Lake. Like it's all just so vastly different and changing and it and it's fun to play with those puzzles and try to figure it out.

Yeah, I haven't been on your part of the Missouri yet, but I'm sure at some point we'll be down there. So that'll

Brian Bashore (25:17.42)
No, I don't know. There's been a few guys like, we gotta go there, but I'm like, it's not yeah. Bass was here back in ninety one or something like that. And we have one small local tournament on it a year where you got sixty miles of fishable water, but you got about fifteen miles of lake. And so the rest of it is sh is Delta River. It makes closest thing to it is like Venice, Louisiana.

Isaac Lakich (25:26.854)
Okay.

Isaac Lakich (25:35.416)
Okay. And the rest is river.

Isaac Lakich (25:42.948)
okay. Okay. A little bit different.

Brian Bashore (25:44.792)
So it's not just sandbars like Bismarck, it's sandbars and twenty foot tall phragmites where you can't see around the corner and there may only be room for one boat to go.

Isaac Lakich (25:53.7)
so it's a little sketchy.

Brian Bashore (25:55.907)
Yeah, you gotta and you once you know where you're going, you gotta go fast 'cause you're flying through some one and a half foot water to get to the four foot water where the fish are.

Isaac Lakich (26:03.11)
It sounds sounds like right up my alley for some sketchy stuff. I like it.

Brian Bashore (26:07.49)
Yeah, yeah. It's yeah. I mean it's a it's duck hunting paradise. It's it's a it's cool place. But we just had a tournament there and this guy who's never been there found a pot on the lake and absolutely annihilated everybody, found those suspended fish. And they were all four plus pounders. I'm like, yeah, every year. If you can find the lake fish versus the river fish, they're big. If you can find he's I didn't see many, but I'm like, but he's like, every I I threw at ten, nine of them I caught. I'm like, exactly. That's

Isaac Lakich (26:11.962)
Yeah. So

Isaac Lakich (26:21.008)
Sir. Yeah, yeah.

Isaac Lakich (26:29.357)
Yeah, yeah.

Isaac Lakich (26:35.629)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (26:36.418)
That's how they work. I went there after tournament and went, there's one. Bam. Caught it. Next I went there. There's one. Caught it. Yeah, that's it. I caught one because I only saw one. So I'm like, that's that's kind of how that works. I'll go back to your chubb thing with the Koengler. You know, we'll talk about his Koingler stuff a little bit because the young gal's getting beat up online over it and it's a little little bit ridiculous. When you so why not have that Koengler have a line out as you know, is kind of the question. You're fishing 30, 40 feet deep. That's a lot of line out.

Isaac Lakich (26:44.003)
Right, right.

Again.

Isaac Lakich (26:57.677)
Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (27:06.721)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (27:07.648)
And you're gonna get that coengler isn't paying attention or locked on or whatever. It doesn't even matter. When you're chasing, you're hunting, you're on the scope, like you said, and you're on ten, you're whipping that boat left, right on a dime, and now you got you got a bottom bouncer, you got a rig wrapped up in the motor back there. It's kind of a shit show.

Isaac Lakich (27:18.625)
Yeah. Yep.

Isaac Lakich (27:27.093)
Yeah, it can be. I mean it it definitely like we started the first day, or the first day together, so day two of the tournament. I I had her with a jig wrap in her hand, kinda waiting on I had her drop it on a few fish and kind of mess with it, but that like they just weren't doing it and these fishers like they were so particular about how you had to work it and a lot of it just becomes a timing thing, right? Like

If I'm working this one fish here and I'm trying to focus on it, I don't run two scopes in my boat because I think that the second transducer is spooking fish. And I can't risk spooking the fish that I'm fishing to give the co angler a shot. it it looks funky w doing it the way that we were doing it and and I guess in a way, like as a pro, like I

Try I try to make up for the fact that I'm not having the coast fish as much by I had her right next to me and I'm I was talking her through like every fish. I was like, You see that one there? And and trying to give her the best experience she could have to learn from what I was doing, knowing that like I was literally hunting for five bites. Like this wasn't a game of like go through numbers of fish. This isn't a vertical jig bite on the river where yeah, her sitting in the back with two rods fishing is gonna benefit you.

over the l duration of a day like because you're just gonna go through Morphus. Like this is I know that I have to get to five bites and to try to have a shot at my tournament. And and that's part of this too is you know you get this attitude the online and it's kind of funky too like from what my perspective like the people complaining aren't even the ones that are co-angling which is wild. Just wild. Right. Like these codes that

Brian Bashore (29:07.854)
Exactly. Why do you care? The people that signed up know what they signed up for. They they're not complaining. Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (29:15.639)
And they have a blast. Like Kristen and I had a blast. We're still texting, like, we're talking. W I got like we we had so much fun, her and I together. Like we were just having fun in the front of the boat, like trying to work together. She was awesome at you know, I hate it when people are handing me nightcrawlers. Usually I end up just grabbing them myself because I don't like like just that feel is weird to me. Like I don't like making someone be a bait caddy, like or

Brian Bashore (29:39.554)
No.

Yep, yep. Yep.

Isaac Lakich (29:43.272)
I don't need a golf caddy in this. Like, that's not what I'm looking for. It it's just part of it too is this, right? Like, so tournament fishing is a stats game at the whore like like at the core of it. Like so, if I look at a fish with live scope, right, and that fish that I pitch at, let's just say I have a five percent chance of catching it, right? Well, it's low. The percentage chances of you catching a fish scoping or not scoping are not.

Good, even when you get your bait there. Like, it's pretty low. So if I got 5% chance and I've been dialed on the presentation all week, if I let someone who isn't dialed in and they only have a 1% chance of catching it, the one thing we have learned about LiveScope is once you've presented a fish with a bait, that fish is done. Like they you hear about this all the time where guys are like, well, yeah, we just sit there and we cast that fish 30, 40 times. Well, if you watch my live stream, I take one fifth.

cast at a fish. I don't ever the only time I'll follow up a pit a cast on a fish is if I get that fish worked up. So to circle back to what I was saying is if I'm only gonna get one opportunity at this fish and the chances of me catching are five percent versus the co catching it's one percent, I'm gonna take the five percent. Like I just have to like in terms of giving myself the best odds of trying to win. Cause at the at the end of the day, like the co anglers are great people

But they're in my boat and this is my tournament. This is my tournament to win or lose. It's not theirs. They are guests in my boat. Just like if I invite one of my good buddies out fishing on a Saturday to go fishing for fun, he's probably not the one dictating where we're going or what we're doing or how we're fishing or any of it. Like it's this is my you're stepping into my world. Now again, like I do my best as a pro to

Brian Bashore (31:25.41)
Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (31:33.828)
give my co's the best learning experience I possibly can. I I explain everything I'm doing to them. I try to get them involved as much as I possibly can. And again, this event just looks funky because it was such a tough bite. Like on a good bite on a place where like if she could have been throwing that jig wrap into those pods of fish and having a shot at catching them, I would have had her throwing into them all day long. But like when she would throw the jig wrap into the fish and 20 fish go and scatter, like

He I just screwed up those fish, like and I don't have enough of to go through to do that. So

Brian Bashore (32:01.677)
No.

Brian Bashore (32:06.966)
Well you hit the the nail on the head. As you said, I give my coinger the best opportunity to learn. And you do it as a guide. You have scoping days where you teach people to scope. And so that's what a lot of people, the keyboard wizards, the guys online, like you said, they're not the ones fishing it. Some have, and most of those chime in as like, yep, it was great. Some maybe didn't have great experiences. It has evolved over the years, just like the fishing has, right? And and it's a it's a different this is it. We this is live scope.

Isaac Lakich (32:13.743)
Mm-hmm.

Brian Bashore (32:34.882)
That's the world we live in. This is how it's done. If you're not doing it, you're not competing. Period. That's just that's the game now. And the game for the co-anglers is you're not there to fish. You're there to learn. I don't I have my own opinions about the co-anglers. Nothing against the co-anglers. Great people. The organization needs them that helps fund the championship. I was told for Bass Pro years ago, you'll always have them. It's a safety thing. I don't buy into that because I think you put two people at risk versus one at this point.

Isaac Lakich (32:41.912)
Again.

Brian Bashore (33:03.95)
Because of the big waters we fish. but it's an accountability piece now that you have the affidative and all that kind of stuff, where it's okay, you're a you're a marshal first and foremost, which they've done a better job of articulating that and making sure they know the rules. that's really the the accountability piece that they bring to the table. They just occasionally get the opportunity to fish as well. They occasionally get the opportunity to fish, but they always have the opportunity to learn.

Isaac Lakich (33:05.848)
Right.

Isaac Lakich (33:32.989)
If if I'm in a position where I can put my co angler in a position to fish and give me an advantage, I'm gonna do it every single day of the week, a hundred and ten percent of the time. There's no questions asked in any way, shape, or form. Like if I could have had her doing something where she could have b potentially benefited me in the long run, she would have been doing it. But the style of fishing, the depth that I was fishing, all those parameters just didn't lead to making that being an effective tactic. Like it just it just didn't.

If I would been fishing in seven feet of water, she would have been throwing something all day long, every single day. Just like what you saw with some of the other pros. The other pros had their goes fishing because they're fishing in water that you can fish in when you're blind fishing. Like go up Yeah, yeah, go just fish. So just b hit the shoreline, work it like a clock, you know, make your you know, cast that cast the one, two, three, and then repeat. One, two, three, like whatever. Like, you know, like

Brian Bashore (34:16.704)
Yeah, shadow, just start just get it out there.

Brian Bashore (34:23.894)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (34:27.619)
Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (34:30.085)
When when you're in positions where that's still an effective tactic, it works. But when we're fishing sixty feet of water and there's one fish every four hundred yards, like you're just not it's just not that effective. It just isn't the game that we're playing. Like

Brian Bashore (34:41.101)
No.

Brian Bashore (34:44.672)
And the and the shuttle in the back, I mean half time you're like, I know they're not gonna catch nothing because I'm going three miles an hour, you know, and they know it and it's

Isaac Lakich (34:51.366)
Yeah.

Yeah. And this looks like an eye slow down and there's only one fish there to fish anyways. Like it

Brian Bashore (34:58.348)
Right. Yep. I mean the shuttles a sense I tell I'm like, Well look, look out to the sides, you know, but like you said, I had what to remember I kept seeing so much static on my front transducer and I was like, Hey, you don't need to look in the front of the boat with that thing. You're fishing out get that get I got it covered. You don't need to look where I'm like, watch over here. If you see something, holler, 'cause you can easily, you know, miss a fish, right? And that's so that's another, you know, job form of like, Hey, there's a few over there. 'Cause

Isaac Lakich (35:12.816)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (35:28.066)
You're hauling, you're moving with that Kraken or Minkota to where you may miss it, but they can't cast to it 'cause I always tell them if you're on something or if you got one following ya, holler, I'll s I'll stop. You know, I mean I want you to catch it if it's if it's worth a damn, but if if if you're not, just you're not. But it's just not at effective out the back.

Isaac Lakich (35:39.93)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Isaac Lakich (35:46.262)
Yeah. I've had I've had guys sticking them out of the back. I mean and it too it like it like we're talking about, like it depends on the situation. Like Lake Erie's a place where a guy in the back on a shuttle is effective because it's such a target rich environment. Like you can't get to all of and they're gonna catch some fish. Like that's that that's a great place to have guy running a shuttle is on Lake Erie, but on Lake Sakakuya where I'm I was only targeting probably

And ten percent of the fish that I was seeing were fish that I actually wanted. You know what I mean? Like you if not less than that, probably five percent of fish we were actually seeing were, you know, quality tournament fish that you'd be fishing. so there's just a lot of dead water in between fish and it's just part of the game and

Brian Bashore (36:28.566)
Right. And it it's just a huge opportunity for them to get up and look over your shoulder and see why Isaac is Isaac and what makes Isaac Isaac, right?

Isaac Lakich (36:33.809)
she picked she picked up on it so fast. Like, I mean, she was picking out the right one. She's like, you see that one at sixty? I'm like, heck yeah, like I do. Like, let's get that one. And then, you know, she's like talking to the fish, I'm talking to the fish. Like, we're both having this little, you know, three way conversation with my graph on trying to talk one into eating. And yeah, she she was an awesome coach. She had so much fun. She asked the right questions in the morning, like

Even before we went out, she was asking the right questions and and I told her like what we were doing and I was like, you know what like I know it's not exactly what you maybe wanna do. She's like, No, this is exactly what I wanna do. Like I wanna see how you do it, how you set everything up, how you run the boat. Like she's like, honestly, like I wish I was fishing and helping, but like I'm honestly just as happy to be doing this because I'm learning from you and you very clearly know what you're doing right now. Like

Brian Bashore (37:10.317)
Right.

Brian Bashore (37:30.786)
Yeah, I mean and the gals coming off a win with Ray Topper at the previous tournament where kind of the same thing went, except I imagine he obviously had to hand her the rod a few times, or maybe she caught a few there, I don't know. But it's so these sh she is and many other codes have getting beat up because of the live stream, which is what we've all asked for, but now they get to see it more, which is probably why things feel weird and people are like, Well, that's just being the bait bitch or whatever, you know, it may be. And yeah, I I got my own up.

Isaac Lakich (37:34.02)
Yeah. Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (37:39.514)
Sure. Yeah, yeah.

Brian Bashore (38:00.335)
Opinion on that, I think as a professional, you could should probably be able to bait your own hook and stuff, but I also understand it to the to her maxim you you everybody gets this person and you can use them however you want to use them. But that person's a grown ass adult and can also say, Go pound sand, bait your own damn hook. You know? They can

Isaac Lakich (38:17.976)
Right, right. And they that's the thing is they don't. Like they like it's crazy. Like she she I was like, you know you don't have to hand me crawlers and she's like, No, I'm saving you ten seconds of pop. Like she's like, I know that like I can get you this and you're being more effective and you're making us as a team she's making me more deadly by having me not have to do stuff. Even it was like I was like at one part I was like, Hey, like, do you know how to call clip?

fish, like have you ever done it? And she's like, No, I was Well come back here real quick. I showed her how I was like call clipping them. She's like, all right, perfect. Like I'll keep an eye on it. So then, you know, every now and then through the day she'd go back and check the fish and make sure the fin clips are still on to try to keep them upright because we weren't allowed to fizz them. And and and just those types of things. Like so that's an an asset now towards her career going down the road where, you know, she knows how to do that stuff. And that just makes her more valuable in the boat for anyone, whether it's

her as a co angler or her as herself as a pro, like I hope I my goal every single I I got one goal in fishing when it comes to having people that I don't necessarily know or have every day in the boat. And it's I want to send every person that comes through my boat down the road as a better angler. And I also want to learn stuff from them. Right. Like I I want to be a a a good transactional transactional partnership, right? Like where

Alright, maybe I pick up a thing or two from you. Just little stuff. I mean it doesn't matter what it is, but just some little Exactly. Like Exactly, yeah. But if I can pick up something from you and I can send you down the road with something that makes you better, like that's the way this is I think that's the way this industry is supposed to work. Like I think I think our industry is turned into this game of like just tearing people down and tearing at each other's throats and stuff like that. And I I I don't think it's got any place in it for

Brian Bashore (39:46.03)
Doesn't he have to be fishing related, right? It could she could have told you Lord knows what. So

Brian Bashore (40:00.281)
You are right.

Isaac Lakich (40:10.876)
Personally. Like I I'm the last person that'll ever rip on someone else for how they fish. Like I I think th there there's fun ways to do it. The only person that I'll rip on in the fishing industry is someone ripping on someone else. And then I'll just say, Yeah, you don't have no place here. So

Brian Bashore (40:28.696)
No, and and that's the misconception, as you just said, that the co anglers, maybe they're baiting a hook, maybe they're babysitting a fish or whatever it is, but it's they want to. Like I said, they can just say no and sit there and do nothing. And or they can just grab a rod because they can bring one and they can sit out the back of the boat and they can just fish. But what people out on these keyboard wizard people online don't realize is that they are voluntarily doing this. I don't think any pros saying, I need you you're this is what you're gonna do all day.

Isaac Lakich (40:45.127)
Mm-hmm.

Brian Bashore (40:55.756)
You're gonna bait my hook. You're gonna do this. You know, they're like

Isaac Lakich (40:55.982)
Right. I asked her, I was like, Hey, do you want to pull a Lindy rig today? And she's like, Well, do you think I'm gonna catch a fish? And I was kinda like, and she's like, I think I'm more effective just helping you. And I was like, Yeah, you're probably right. Like I was like

Brian Bashore (41:05.518)
Probably not.

Brian Bashore (41:10.73)
It's it's individual sport, but yet you have another person in your boat. So we kinda always say we always say we, we, we did this, we did this, 'cause you are kind of a team that day, whether you you you know, like it or not in a sense. I mean, I love the fish alone and I wish we didn't have the coinglers in the boat so we don't even have these discussions. But it's they signed up for this. They know what they're getting into. I think everybody at this point understands what they signed up for. They all are doing what they want to do in the boat. There are opportunities at eerie places or

Isaac Lakich (41:19.087)
Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (41:22.919)
Right.

Isaac Lakich (41:29.058)
Sure.

Brian Bashore (41:40.023)
Moe bridge where you you may land in a guy who's pulling some cranks all day and you get to reeling some fish and and learn something. not that they're not learning in every aspect, but they're getting more hands on on the reel, but every fishery's different, right? You get sometimes it's like, yeah, you can drop a bottom bouncer out that back corner and and man it, 'cause you're probably gonna catch some fish or we need under slot fish or something, right?

Isaac Lakich (41:58.592)
Yeah. yeah, there's there's definitely places where we go where it's like that's mandatory. Like you ain't gonna be fishing without that extra bonus rod or two. Like you have to. Like but then there's other places where it's just that just doesn't play. Like that's just that's just fishing. That's I mean it's no different than like like on Green Bay. I can't catch a fish on a bottom bouncer on Green Bay anymore. Like I I just it just doesn't happen. Like we d used to drag behind the boat all the time, but

Brian Bashore (42:05.803)
Right.

Isaac Lakich (42:28.492)
you don't we see it being effective. But then like I went where were we earlier this year? There's someplace else that was. I don't even remember. Some place where I had a a bottom bouncer out the back and we stuck one of our slot fish on it. And it was like, perfect. Like that's that's what you put that down for is that bonus fish. Like So yeah, it it's it's different everywhere we go.

Brian Bashore (42:36.056)
Bait and knock probably.

Brian Bashore (42:47.704)
Yep. And then yeah, I mean, even if, you know, they're just handing you a nightcrawl or whatever the case is, but just like she said, so these are all shout outs to you, Chris, because you did a great job. You may get a hundred more cast in that day. And may and it's that one of those casts is an eight pounder that went from third to first, you know, or whatever the case may be, you know, ten thousand to a hundred thousand. That's the kind of difference that big time.

Isaac Lakich (42:59.915)
Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (43:12.753)
Seconds count seconds count. Seconds count. Like, I mean, I put I put it simply forever. I've used this analogy now for a long time. I talked to all my high I do a bunch of high school seminars through the wintertime for all the high school fishing teams around Wisconsin. And I talk about one of the things I talk about a lot is time management, right? That's a huge deal in the tournament world. Like how you're managing your time through the day. And I put it pretty simply for the kids. I'm like, if you angler A that can fish for five hours and angler B can fish for six, who are you putting your money on?

Angler B every single day of the week. If you don't know anything else and you just know one guy gets five hours of fish and the other guy gets six, like that's a huge difference. An hour of fishing time. Now obviously there's more that goes into it, right? Like how many big ones are you around and all that kind of stuff. But if that's the only thing I knew, you told me I had to bet on A or B and one guy gets more time, one guy gets less time. I'm taking the guy with more time every single every single day. Like that again, that's comes back to the stats side of what we do here is you know, trying to make

Brian Bashore (43:54.23)
Right, right.

Isaac Lakich (44:10.778)
Be as efficient as you possibly can.

Brian Bashore (44:12.77)
Yep. And and I've seen you fish. We've been in probably the same areas a few times and and I and as a guide, you may find yourself I I would imagine you f do the same thing that I do, is that our clients kind of just step back sometimes, like, this dude's moving fast. And it's like, yeah, I gotta get I want to hurry up and get your line back in the water as fast as possible to increase the odds of you catching more fish. Whereas sometimes it's the point where it's like, I got it. You know, and it's not

Isaac Lakich (44:28.397)
yeah.

Isaac Lakich (44:39.46)
Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Bashore (44:41.034)
It's not because they don't want to l it's they fish one day a year, right? They're not really trying to learn. They're just kinda there hanging out, just wanna reel some fish in. I'm like, you can reel more fish in if I help you a little bit more today. So watch out.

Isaac Lakich (44:44.442)
Mm. Right.

Isaac Lakich (44:52.762)
Right, right. And it might and and it might mean that I get a bigger tip at the end of the day.

Brian Bashore (44:56.95)
Right. You know, but I could tell that okay, and then you get the ones that kind of know what they're they're doing. They fish a lot, they're good sticks, they're just in the area and they want to come out and go fishing and they don't really need your help, but they still will watch and and I'll move sometimes and I'll see them just kind of like they partner like, damn that guy he ain't messing around. I'm like, Well we got shit to do. We I mean, let's go, let's go. You know, the faster you get that bait back down there, the the more fish you're gonna catch. I mean, and as a guy, we want do what we need to catch a lot. Right.

Isaac Lakich (45:16.287)
Right, right. Chop, top, boys. Yeah. I know it's not I know it's not a competition it's not a competition day, but it is a competition day. Like Yeah. It's the first participant.

Brian Bashore (45:27.348)
But it's a competition day between you and the fish and I don't want your limits for and maybe you don't even want a limit, but or you see one, you know, and you're like, g hurry up, bait, get back out there. You know, that that's a good fish. That's a good fish. So yeah, it it's I'm and I'm sure a lot of tournament guys are like that as you know, if they guide two or their client turns like, Jesus, these guys are intense, you know. And and I hear stories about other guys like that too. I'm like, Yeah, I said I'm I'm that guy and I'm I'm I know I'm too much sometimes. So just tell me to be like, It's okay, man. We're we're cool with it, you know.

Isaac Lakich (45:37.363)
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.

Isaac Lakich (45:46.265)
yeah.

Isaac Lakich (45:56.467)
I've I've definitely had clients just be like, Do you ever stop moving? Nope. Like I do not. Like no, no. Very rarely that I'm just like sitting around. I I gotta be doing something like I it's I don't know. I I I think a lot of us that are tournament anglers, guides, like we got we got a little touch of the ADHD going on. We're all a little bit, you know, we'll we'll move some movement in your life.

Brian Bashore (46:01.507)
Nope. Yeah, I don't sit. No. I don't

Brian Bashore (46:17.92)
we got a lot of touch of it. Yeah, I get the

They feel like they're constantly in the way. I'm like, No, you're not in the way. I'm like, I just I'm gonna be moving everywhere the whole time. Because you're thinking three steps ahead. Maybe you're doing something, guy, and it's kinda not working very good. So you're thinking, What where am I going next? And and it's a whole new different presentation. So you're digging out a rod or re rigging or retying, or you're putting certain things away, you're kind of getting ready to move or go in, and you're just you're you're you're two or three steps ahead, all because it's time saving so that

Isaac Lakich (46:28.787)
Yeah. Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (46:39.619)
Yeah, yeah.

Brian Bashore (46:50.188)
They can keep fishing and when you do move, when you show up, you're like, Here you go, we're ready, drop in. Instead of go there, time out for ten minutes. Let me dig everything out. Let me get the trolling stuff out.

Isaac Lakich (46:54.926)
Yeah. Yep, let's go.

Isaac Lakich (46:59.854)
I hate that's like my biggest pet peeve in the boat is like if I don't have anglers actively doing stuff during my guide day, like if they're not doing something, like I feel like I'm cutting into their time and I hate that. Like that's my least favorite thing. It's like, no, like I want them to be fishing ideally I want them to be fishing from the split second their foot h comes off the dock and hits my boat until the time it hits it. But obviously it doesn't happen, but yeah, it's i you know, yeah. It it's just different.

Brian Bashore (47:21.026)
Right. Right.

Brian Bashore (47:28.098)
Yeah. It is we

Isaac Lakich (47:28.748)
I I think we take a little different mentality on it, that's for sure.

Brian Bashore (47:31.96)
yeah, we're we're a little too intense where they I mean I get where they're like bringing in a big cooler of beer or something naked, and I'm like, Yeah, you can you can drink, you just can't drive the boat and I got that covered, so you're fine. But I'm like or they'll bring a big cooler of stuff. I'm like, You're not gonna touch ninety percent of that. What do you mean? I'm like, you're gonna be so busy and if you're not that I'm not doing my job, I'm like and and ninety percent of the time they don't touch ninety percent of what's in that cooler. 'Cause they're you know. Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (47:42.307)
Right.

Isaac Lakich (47:46.722)
Right.

Isaac Lakich (47:54.58)
yeah. Yeah. Very rare. Very rarely. I try to keep my guys busy, that's for sure.

Brian Bashore (47:59.299)
Yeah, I'm just like they're they're they're on fish, they're catching fish. It's constantly, all right, I showed you how to do this, how to deploy it, whether we're pulling boards or po cranking pulling lead or a bouncer or dragging, pitch, and jig. It's okay, now you know how to do it. Do it. Go, you know, and then they're just or I'm like, you missed one, or you gotta rebate, or throw that or reel it in and throw it over there again. And they're like, Jesus, all right. I'm like, Yeah, you don't there's no naps. It's you wanna catch them fish, so

Isaac Lakich (48:13.294)
Go.

Isaac Lakich (48:21.791)
Right, right. No. No, that's why it's like everyone I do I remember back in the day when I would be working full time, I was doing concrete work and I come home into work on Monday and I was just exhausted and people were like, what? Like you had a rough weekend of fishing. It's like, Yeah, I didn't sit down or slow down for twelve hours a day, two days in a row. Like I w I fished harder than I worked this week. Like I don't know what you're talking about. Like yeah, fishing if you're fishing hard, it's it's hard. It ain't

Brian Bashore (48:39.019)
Right.

Brian Bashore (48:45.688)
Yeah.

It it's a job.

Isaac Lakich (48:51.598)
This thing a cakewalk. I mean, anyone that thinks that fishing's just that go out and relax on the pontoon with a bobber out, yeah, that's awesome. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love a good summer day with my kids bluegill fishing and hanging out and stuff like that, but the way that we fish, that's just not the case. That's not how it's done.

Brian Bashore (49:06.69)
not it it is a job and you have to treat it like a job if you want to be successful at it. And it doesn't and when you're at this level, it doesn't stop when you're off the water. It really just begins starts over. It's a whole it's another thing. As we said earlier, there's the business side of it, you know, that it's yeah, it's it it's not an eight hour you don't get to just clock in, clock out and go home and forget about it. It's second shift. It's okay. You know, this is I as yep.

Isaac Lakich (49:09.928)
Yep. Absolutely.

Isaac Lakich (49:16.112)
No. Nope.

Isaac Lakich (49:23.208)
The cycle. Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (49:30.29)
No. Yep. You're self employed. You gotta handle the paperwork. You gotta do the online maintenance for all your socials. You gotta handle your website, your booking stuff, you're you know, you're dealing with broken stuff in the boat that you was unforeseen, like stuff that you don't have control over that happens at the most inopportune moments that you could possibly imagine. Like

Brian Bashore (49:46.594)
Right.

Brian Bashore (49:51.007)
Of course.

Isaac Lakich (49:53.463)
I mean it's it you never it's pretty rare you break something when you got three days off the water. You usually break it on the front end of ten days on the water and then you're spending so

Brian Bashore (49:59.041)
Right.

Yep. Yep. When you fish every every day there's never a good day for it to break down. I used to try to build in like every two weeks, like a maintenance day, you know, or at least one of the other guides, you know, or I'm like, all right, we're good, you know, you can whatever, go get your stuff fixed, or you just need to take a day off sometimes to recharge and get the little kind of the the I wan like about two days. If I'm off two days and I've been off two days now and I'm I'm I'm ready to go fishing again. 'Cause after about a

Isaac Lakich (50:06.817)
Yeah. Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (50:12.239)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (50:30.754)
Ten to fourteen days time, you'd be like, Man, I I need a little bit of a break, or at least a change of scenery, go to a different body of water.

Isaac Lakich (50:35.31)
Right, right. Go do something a little different.

Brian Bashore (50:39.052)
Yeah, it can get to you. Twenty six season wrapped up, twenty twenty seven, whole bunch of unknowns. We don't really have no idea. Right.

Isaac Lakich (50:41.261)
Yes, sir.

Isaac Lakich (50:47.567)
I got nothing. Nothing, dude. I know we got a big I mean there's you know management change coming through the NWT. you know, new tournament director that's gonna be there for next year, new MC for next year. we're gonna have a new rule set. I don't even know what that is gonna look like in any way, shape, or form, but there's gonna be some changes to the rules, A in terms of how you can get into the NWT.

And then B, I think there's also gonna be some format changes and stuff that they're gonna be looking into just based on you know different things and stuff like that. yeah, it's gonna be interesting. I mean, I'm excited for it. I always look forward to the next year. hopefully they get us some schedules out here soon so that we get a little taste of at least where we're gonna be so that we can get some Airbnbs and that kind of stuff lined up and all that kind of thing. But yeah, it'll be interesting to see what what 2027 brings. I mean, there's some rumors of some other circuits that are coming back.

Brian Bashore (51:35.118)
Right.

Isaac Lakich (51:43.772)
possibly some other stuff that's you know, some new stuff that's kind of coming out or slowly growing. I I mean I yeah, I got no idea what's going ahead for me. For for for me for twenty twenty seven, I got no idea what's about to happen.

Brian Bashore (51:57.929)
Nope, it's it's and I think a lot of it is unknown and it's gonna be unknown for a while yet. so for those that don't know or haven't followed along, maybe. So the Walleye Federation owns the the Masters Walleye Circuit. They own the the national team company N T C. They have been hired from Bassboro for the last four years, five years, four to manage okay, right, to manage the National Walleye Tour, which is Jeff Kelm is the MC and tournament director. Robert Carlge is the owner of that organization. Jeff works for Jeff did

Isaac Lakich (52:15.24)
Four pick four. Twenty three was the first season.

Brian Bashore (52:28.13)
Best d Jeff did a great job. Jeff did a good job. Bass Pro owns the circuit. The National Wallet Tour Bass Bass Pro Cabell's Johnny Morse owns it. They have said, okay, thank you for your four years of service. Go do whatever the other things are you do. We're gonna reconfigure or get new management or hire internal. We nobody really knows. Internally. Right. Which is then so coming into the season was all right, the whole shakeup, which

Isaac Lakich (52:49.372)
They're running it internally is basically the way that being applicable.

Brian Bashore (52:57.526)
had some new tournaments were launching and then they kinda had to pull back because all the anglers flocked to the NWT because it was either now or never. You had to be in the top sixty to start the season to f qualify for the twenty twenty seven season, which means you had to fish all four events, finish in a top sixty. After a Wahee or right before a Wahi I think it was after a Wahee. They said, All right, we're gonna right after we're gonna bump this to a hundred anglers instead of the sixty or it was like fi it was a weird number, like sixty three or whatever. Now it's a hundred.

Isaac Lakich (53:17.01)
Thing is right after.

Isaac Lakich (53:24.066)
Whatever the number. Yeah.

Brian Bashore (53:26.914)
So it's going to be the top 80, 10 through the MWC or five through the top five MWC, five co's that want to move up to pros, the top five co's get the opportunity. We're going to have a hundred anglers, which made a little more sense as far as you when you start thinking about how are they going to change it, how are payouts going to be where they are with such a lower number of people. All right. That makes a little more sense. That opened it up, all right, so a lot more pros are like, okay, but so many guys, because 2025 season had the record low number of people signing up.

Isaac Lakich (53:44.876)
Yep. Yep.

Brian Bashore (53:56.779)
I mean, average like 80 something, you couldn't get enough codes. Now you're getting 160 at Awahi, 130. I mean, we're getting big numbers, which is great, which better payouts. And so they made that change. And then honestly, going in 27, I think there are going to be another change that we just don't know about, right? Because but we just don't know. So that at this point it's kind of hearsay rumors, we're make-believe land. So I don't want to say too much because

Isaac Lakich (54:04.552)
You know.

Isaac Lakich (54:13.206)
Likely. Yeah. That's like that.

Isaac Lakich (54:21.698)
We're not gonna spread any rumors here, but the way that I always put it is is I don't I don't believe nothing until I see it and there's no money on the table until the checks are cut. So like I I have no idea what's going on. All I know is I'm gonna I'm gonna be fishing someplace next year. I'll be on the water. I'll be fishing whatever circuit allows me to fish. I mean that's just the way that I'm I mean I'm gonna go and fish whatever I can, fish, whatever gives me the best opportunities.

Brian Bashore (54:24.5)
Right.

Brian Bashore (54:29.816)
Right.

Yep.

Exactly. So it'll

Brian Bashore (54:49.912)
So it does if they do keep it limited to pros, which there's huge advantages to that, they'll still be co anglers, I'm pretty sure. But like I said, there could be some format changes or will be. The only thing we do know is that new management, internal, whatever, that part is moving forward. Don't have a schedule. I've rumors I'm hearing sounds like a pretty good one, but like we say, we have no idea. That schedule doesn't have to be based around the D B C and stuff no more, which is a good good thing.

Isaac Lakich (55:02.321)
Yep. Yep.

Brian Bashore (55:18.434)
So there's there just there's a lot of good to it. Jeff did a great job. They really recovered over some of the management issues we had in the previous years. This last year was pretty good. Media coverage was great. You guys the live stream was real successful. Sounds like it was real very successful. And the circuits make money. So that's another great thing. That's what that's what'll keep it around. and it's giving, you know, anglers like yourself a lot more opportunities. We'd all like to see bigger payouts, more money, but that usually requires more interest, you know, bigger entry fees 'cause

Isaac Lakich (55:47.632)
Yeah, keep keep at yeah, we gotta just keep keep the interest going. Keep the live streams rolling, get that working for us in our favor and yeah, whatever we can do to try to make hopefully I mean the ideal situation from my perspective is is everyone ends up making more money. That's that's the best part of like if we can figure out a way to do that where all of us are making more money, that's even better.

Brian Bashore (55:53.131)
Right.

Brian Bashore (56:05.068)
Right.

Brian Bashore (56:09.952)
Right. The reality is we just we don't know the behind the scenes of their business and w and what it is. And I imagine they're at a point where like if everything is working really good, kind of a don't it ain't broke, don't fix it type thing going on, where all of us sitting back and go, Well, I know you could do this, this, and this and make it better. But I've I've preached for years now is you can do all those things, but those things cost a lot of money. So the guys that did some live streams themselves this year and added some things, people don't realize that they invested a lot of money and got very

Isaac Lakich (56:38.2)
yeah.

Brian Bashore (56:39.116)
Very, very little in return from it, if any.

Isaac Lakich (56:42.164)
Yeah, yeah. We I mean we had a camera guy show up and do just some like standalone media stuff for us and I mean it's not cheap. Anyone that's paying I mean, look at what a wedding photographer costs to show up for a day or day and a half. I mean it it ain't far off to have someone show up to professional fishing tournament and do the same same sample work.

Brian Bashore (56:49.496)
No.

Brian Bashore (56:57.74)
No. No, my my my wife's phot photographer and teacher and marketer and I own a small digital media thing. And yeah, that yeah, we ain't doing this stuff for free, man. This stuff isn't cheap. And when you get a quality videographer, just the equipment, just everything in general costs more nowadays, so that's would be where it'd be nice to have a little bigger payouts on things just because the cost of fishing tournaments is so expensive. Most of that isn't the tournament organization's fault, that's just this the world we live in right now.

Isaac Lakich (57:25.93)
Life. Yeah, that's life.

Brian Bashore (57:28.27)
So that's just kind of the way that is. But I go off on a tangent on that stuff forever. But 2027 season could open up a lot of opportunities for anglers like myself who didn't fish all four, who kind of bailed out of that and said, Hey, we'll we'll try some of these other avenues. Or who knows, there's imitations only and they may make some more modifications and changes. And until then we'll just hurry up and we'll wait and see. And when that news breaks I'll

Isaac Lakich (57:32.79)
Mm-hmm.

Brian Bashore (57:51.619)
I'll let everybody know on you know on it. So I know there's some people involved with it on that side, helping them make some of those decisions and hopefully they continue to lean on some of the anglers to get some of the insight and they help them set it up because we're always trying to we're always giving them advice, whether it's good or bad. We're more than welcome, right? To yeah, whether you guys want to hear this or not, here's how you should do things. as long as they're listening, that that's usually good. I know that.

Isaac Lakich (57:53.404)
Exactly.

Isaac Lakich (58:10.438)
Whether they want it or not.

Isaac Lakich (58:16.01)
Right.

Brian Bashore (58:19.906)
You know, I know Chase has obviously got their ear with the, you know, b next bike guys and and Bass Pro and and they're not gonna get everything they're telling you is from a professional anglers perspective and it's it's good. It should benefit everybody, but like I said, we don't know the back end of the business side of stuff. So we will speculate like we do really well and leave it leave it at that. So nonetheless, Isaac's gonna be roaming around twenty twenty seven.

Isaac Lakich (58:39.683)
Exactly.

Brian Bashore (58:48.876)
kick it ass taking names, jumping into whatever tournaments he could get into. You didn't get a fish to warrior tournament this year 'cause you're in one of these kick ass nitro boats now. so you know that's a bummer getting to go to Lake of Woods, of course, for that. However, you got a new boat. Are you gonna s I forget you'd keep the twenty one, but you're gonna sell the twenty one and you're gonna keep the twenty or you're what what's your plans?

Isaac Lakich (59:09.207)
Right now I got three boats for sale. I got the I Tristan and I won a Warrior V one ninety eight for the AIM National Championship earlier this season. That's still up for sale. Yep. That one well, that one's probably going down the road here within the next like five, seven days. Just been trying to work out logistics with a guy. That's been a nightmare, but I'm actually I'm gonna sell both the nitros. I'm selling the one that I'm running right now and I'm selling that Z V twenty one that I just won.

Brian Bashore (59:16.969)
yeah. He's still got that one for sale.

Brian Bashore (59:26.584)
Yep. Yep.

Isaac Lakich (59:37.264)
It might be gone by the time this even airs potentially for the new one. the one yeah. Yeah, fingers crossed. and then next year I I really don't have a boat plan at the current moment. That's on my list of to do things over the next like thirty days or so is get that get a boat deal hammered out and figure out exactly what I'm what I'm gonna be in for next year. There's a couple of options on the table. I'm not gonna drop any hints on what they may or may not be.

Brian Bashore (59:41.335)
You can only hope.

Isaac Lakich (01:00:05.245)
But yeah, we'll see. I I mean it you know, I've had a lot of fun this year fishing out of the nitro. It's it fishes really well, it's a good boat. I had a lot of fun fishing out of my twenty ninety when I ran that one and we'll see if there's a new chapter going down the road and we'll we'll we'll have to we'll

Brian Bashore (01:00:20.15)
Well Warriors built you that new scoping boat platform and obviously I'm sure you went, Man, this steering wheel on this nitrile's kinda nice after a dealer for so many years.

Isaac Lakich (01:00:28.241)
I'm not gonna lie, the the windshield is very nice in the months of April and May, that's for sure. When it is cold in the north here it is nice to have a windshield 'cause that tiller does get pretty chilly, so but

Brian Bashore (01:00:33.666)
Yep. Yep.

Brian Bashore (01:00:39.35)
Yeah, yeah, I don't think I could ever do the tiller thing. I I get it. There's a ton of room in those things and they can handle well, but as a guide, I'm like, I'm I'm not gonna put people through that and I'm not gonna get put through that. So

Isaac Lakich (01:00:48.297)
and it was Yeah, I definitely I put some people through some stuff over the years. Been on some rides, that's for sure. So no, yeah. It it'll be interesting. It'll it'll be fun. I mean I mean I'm always looking forward to the future. I I I will just love the unknowns of kind of some of this stuff a little bit. I mean it it'll be interesting to see kind of how

Brian Bashore (01:00:54.484)
Yep. Yep. I mean it is it is what it is, so

Yeah, but those are

Isaac Lakich (01:01:16.435)
twenty twenty seven shapes up for A the Wally World and then me as well.

Brian Bashore (01:01:20.98)
And the good thing with the boat nowadays is is there there just isn't a bad one out there. B whatever direction you go, is there just you're getting a good boat, period. As long as you put a mercury on it, you're good.

Isaac Lakich (01:01:26.695)
No. No, there's really.

Yeah. Yeah. I mean it's a Yeah. Yeah. Fit your as long as you're fit, you know it as long as it fits your style of fishing and how you like to fish, there's really no bad options out there. I mean there's different you know, I can I will say there's some, you know, quality differences and some, you know, fit and finishes that are, you know, better or worse than others and and some customer service stuff that makes a big difference if you're abusive on your equipment. But, you know, for the most part they're all

Brian Bashore (01:01:49.686)
yeah.

Isaac Lakich (01:01:58.669)
pretty on par with each other. Once you break that eighty thousand dollar threshold, they probably should be pretty close to each other, like

Brian Bashore (01:02:04.236)
Yeah, I mean some of that's in the is the desperate the despair is in the price with fit and finish on some and some of the customer service stuff, a lot that is a at your boat dealership level right there, which is probably what I'll say it and maybe you'll agree with me. That's probably the most important thing, not just the boat of w it is where you who you get the boat from.

Isaac Lakich (01:02:12.725)
Mm-hmm.

Isaac Lakich (01:02:16.097)
Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (01:02:25.581)
Yeah, good. Yeah, absolutely. Getting in with a good dealership. And there's a bunch of them for all the different brands. I mean, there's tons of tons of great dealers out there that do amazing work, stand by the anglers, stand by guys that exp especially the tournament world. Like I I will say the one thing I I really have appreciated over the years from all the dealerships that I've been to.

Brian Bashore (01:02:31.565)
No ja.

Isaac Lakich (01:02:47.805)
is the willingness to help us tournament anglers. They know we're on tight time schedule and time frames and stuff like that. And they get us in and out when we need to be get got in and out. And that that's very important for for me. And I I can't say enough about, you know, there's a handful of them, several, you know, Erie Marine Sales over in Ohio, you know, helped me out last year with some boat issue stuff. Sportimotive up in Appleton has done some great things for me. I've had all marine Cedar Lake sales, like there's 20 of them spellman's

Power Pack. I mean there's twenty guys across the state of Wisconsin that have helped me out over the years. I mean, that that's the biggest thing is just finding a nice, you know, quality quality group of people to help you out.

Brian Bashore (01:03:29.528)
Yeah, that's huge. And and Mercury, which I found out this year, which I've always have had great, I've always had Mercury's, love my Mercury's. Is that when you talk about tournament fishmen or guides, whatever, there's Mercury as a hotline. So your dealer calls for the tournament and guides for those ones that need it now. And they ex you get stuff to deliver. I did a lower unit on a boat, which I didn't even know. They were just checking it because it was sold.

Isaac Lakich (01:03:49.596)
Okay.

Brian Bashore (01:03:58.487)
And they were like, dude, this thing is full of water. I'm like, really? It runs great. Hell, it's running better than it ever has. You know? They're like, Yeah, I'm like, it's running. I literally just finished the Cedar Storage tournament. And I'm like, He's like, we got to get you a new one. I'm like, well, I got another NWT was coming to Chamberlain. I think. I'm like, I got I I can't. Boom. Mercury, bam, in a matter of a couple days. New lower unit delivered, ship. I'm like, I'll go get it. I'll drive to wherever and pick it up. He's You don't want to do that. These come on a semi.

Isaac Lakich (01:04:05.681)
Really moved up.

Brian Bashore (01:04:27.458)
Blah blah blah. They don't come from Appleton. They come from Atlanta. Blah, blah, blah. A couple days later, he's eight two sports calls. Hey, it's done. Dundal Motors where I get my nitro at nowadays. They had a little trim wire type thing. They call them, they're like, troubleshoot all these things first. You know, and then it's like if that don't work, call me back on this runner kind of a runaround hotline. And then bam, that thing was overnight there next day, couple hours, fixed dun deal. And he was like, Yeah, there's a special number.

for you know, your tournament guide guides where they can expedite things if they have it, you know. And if they don't have it, sometimes they'll find it or they'll they'll go in the back and take it off something that's about to go out the door. Right. And which is good. So I'm like, all right, I'll I've always I've always noticed I've got my things turned around quick. Now I know now I know why. You g you're in that special category. So that'll that'll keep me with those, but I'm I'm sure Yamhaw and other ones all have the the same features and and stuff. The Yamahaw guys will just say my boat never breaks, so I don't have to worry about it but

Isaac Lakich (01:05:02.215)
Yeah, yeah.

Isaac Lakich (01:05:08.054)
Right. yeah. And that happened at time to

Isaac Lakich (01:05:16.202)
Right. Yeah, yeah.

Isaac Lakich (01:05:26.698)
Yeah, right. I don't believe it.

Brian Bashore (01:05:30.018)
No, they all do, but those Yamaha's are are good motors as well. Yeah, I'll find a way, right? There's a few guys on tour I know that you want to find out if it'll break or not, let them drive your boat for a little bit. So Yep. If Jake James Hardesty's listening, he's one of them and Isaac may be the other one, so yeah.

Isaac Lakich (01:05:32.404)
it put it in my hands. I'll break it for ya. Yeah. Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (01:05:41.994)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Isaac Lakich (01:05:47.39)
Yeah. Yeah, I'm a great product tester. I I test the products thoroughly.

Brian Bashore (01:05:53.302)
And this and this was a good year to test for sure, starting out at Erie, no doubt. It was

Isaac Lakich (01:05:56.427)
yeah. yeah. Big big water season for sure.

Brian Bashore (01:06:00.875)
Yep. If it wasn't broke when you started, it was broke when you got done, most likely. So we we put the boats through the ringer for sure. So all right, we've been taking up some of your precious times. I know you're a busy man. Isaac, leave everybody. You got a tip pointer, a nugget to leave these listeners with to make them become future champions.

Isaac Lakich (01:06:04.104)
Yes, we do, yes we do.

Isaac Lakich (01:06:12.342)
I don't know you're getting.

Isaac Lakich (01:06:22.582)
that's a good one. Yeah. Don't ever think that you can't do it. Just don't ever give up. Just keep working. I mean Michael Jordan failed and didn't make his freshman year basketball team and he became one of the greatest of all time. So just the key to success is just don't give up.

Brian Bashore (01:06:44.494)
True, true. I think Iconelli after a long career just hung it up and retired, and that was always his saying is just never you've never give up, holding up those rods and doing whatever, never give up, never give up, you know, in a 30, 40 year career. And it the funniest thing, 'cause I just watched some stuff. I'm a huge Broncos football fan. It's it's fifty three man roster day, Sunday. We're making cuts, people are going home, guys that were drafted and now they're not on a team, they're on the waiver wire. And and McCaffrey, who is a former

Bronco receiver, ring of fame guy, Rod Smith be a Hall of Famer. Both these guys are on a practice squad. Both have Super Bowl rings and on Ring of Fame and will be in the Hall of Fame. And it said he's telling these rookies that you're getting cut. He just said, never give up. It ain't it ain't over. Just because you didn't make the team now doesn't mean you're on the practice squad. Doesn't mean another team isn't going to pick you up. Okay, you got drafted for a reason, you know. But it's you look at Trey McKinney and the Bass World, young gun, 19, just won AOI, just had the biggest smallmouth bag ever.

Isaac Lakich (01:07:22.406)
Yep.

Isaac Lakich (01:07:35.024)
Right.

Brian Bashore (01:07:45.674)
Never gave up, no matter what people said. You know. You've gone

Isaac Lakich (01:07:48.657)
Just keep pushing forward, just don't ever stop. Don't stop. Keep fishing. Just just like Dory just like Yeah, just like Dory would say, just keep swimming.

Brian Bashore (01:07:52.396)
Yep. And it doesn't people think it's a rich man's sport.

Brian Bashore (01:08:00.085)
Just keep swimming. It's it's it's a rich man's sport. Everybody's getting priced out. There are big boats. There are all these things you can have, but you don't need You're running one live scope on your front. You got one motor in the back. I don't think you

Isaac Lakich (01:08:01.637)
Yeah, each time.

Isaac Lakich (01:08:08.485)
Nope. Yep. I got the smallest I got probably one of the smallest rigs in the whole entire field. I I know

Brian Bashore (01:08:16.022)
Right. It's still a Z B twenty with a two fifty on it, I think that's what that one came with or two twenty five.

Isaac Lakich (01:08:18.987)
Two twenty five. Yep. D V twenty with a two twenty five with two grafts on it and one trolling motor. Three batteries. I'm I'm running it as bare bones as I possibly can get. Like I mean, yes, it is a bigger glass boat, but like it's if you told me I no none of that. Like if you told me that I had to go and fish have an eighteen foot crestliner again, which I have sitting my garage, I'd go do it. I wouldn't even think twice. It's not the boat, it's the fisherman.

Brian Bashore (01:08:34.114)
You don't have brakes, power poles, foulles. Nope.

Brian Bashore (01:08:46.316)
Yep. Yep. A hundred percent. Hundred percent. So there you go, kids. It's not the boat, it's the fishermen. So get them kayaks and rafts out there and get to learning. Time on the water. That's the that's the ticket. You'll you can be Isaac too someday. Just spend a hell of a lot of time on the water.

Isaac Lakich (01:08:53.482)
Absolutely.

Isaac Lakich (01:09:01.544)
Yep. There's a plenty there's plenty of them coming. I know that already. I ain't gonna be this this throne is it's hot right now and I'm gonna feeling like I ain't gonna be sitting in it for very long, so

Brian Bashore (01:09:06.177)
There is.

Brian Bashore (01:09:14.41)
You got this a rookie class this year that Bowie, Jade Wendell, John Wessel. There's a bunch of other ones I'm missing probably too, or I mean, not necessarily even does those are some of the younger guys in the teens and twenties, but then there's some older guys that just got in, you know, and and I say older, I'm talking like upper twenty, mid thirties. So not like my age and not that Jason Securick been doing it for thirty, forty years.

Isaac Lakich (01:09:17.822)
Mm-hmm.

Isaac Lakich (01:09:34.654)
Yeah, there's there's a there's a lot of good talent in this industry right now. It's I mean we are gonna be it's you're gonna see some pretty fun competition for the next ten, fifteen years. It's gonna be wild. There's gonna be some good good shootouts, hopefully some more blowouts and it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be a good time.

Brian Bashore (01:09:47.0)
Yep. Yep, it is, it is.

Brian Bashore (01:09:53.954)
Yep, we'll we'll get those blowouts, but I like to see these AOI races get real close to where it comes down to that last fish, kinda like the Bassmasters just had with with the Johnson and Trey McKinney to where it's it's within a few minutes who gets that la last fish and which one does it weigh more than that, guys. And that bumped you up those, you know, that spot to get those points. So we don't get a whole lot of that our AOI with only four tournaments. Usually somebody kind of breaks away and Bo had a pretty good little cushion going into this one and and you you made him

Isaac Lakich (01:09:58.282)
Night. Yep.

Isaac Lakich (01:10:13.934)
Yes.

Brian Bashore (01:10:22.966)
A little nervous after your first day when but I'm like, That's updated in real time. I'm like, Bo hasn't done worse than fifth all year. Now he needs to get thirtieth. So I'm like, I think he's pretty safe, but it's fishing.

Isaac Lakich (01:10:25.688)
Try to Yeah. Yeah.

Isaac Lakich (01:10:33.814)
Yeah, I know. I don't that's part of it. So cool, man. Well thanks Brian for having me on. I appreciate it. Thanks to all my sponsors. Appreciate all you guys and yeah, we'll have to do this again.

Brian Bashore (01:10:36.962)
Yeah, it is. All right.

Brian Bashore (01:10:44.95)
All right, awesome. Thank you, Isaac. Congratulations, folks. Your twenty twenty six National Wildlife Tour champion, Mr. Isaac Lokich. Thank all you for tuning in. Stay safe. Keep those lines tight. We'll see you on the water.