Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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 (00:01.678)
Hey folks, thanks for tuning in to another episode of Real Talk Fishing with No Limits. Today we're going to go over north, west, east a little bit, I guess it would be, and talk to Hydra the Hammer, Corey. What's going on over there? How's it going? And you've been a busy man with boat shows.
Corey Heiser (00:17.868)
Yeah, they actually kicked off the boat show season last weekend here in Fargo and that's a pretty good time, pretty good turnout. I don't know if I feel like boat shows just in general are probably trending in the wrong direction. COVID changed the way people shop. But there are still quite a few people out there and some boat buyers and it's kind of fun for me. was the first boat show I had worked with Tracker Boating Center out of Fargo. They got the Ranger dealership.
It's kind of fun. I've worked or I've known those guys for a long time, good friends of mine, and now I'm helping to represent their business. So that's good.
Brian Bashore (00:55.438)
Yeah. Boat shows, uh, you're right. COVID kind of changed all that stuff. I just did a sports show myself in Lincoln, Nebraska, and it was actually good. A small, uh, dear game expo, but it was a busy, so I've ever seen it. Um, but a lot of these, not as many people, but it seems like maybe the ones that come out are more, are the right people, the buyers. Um, I don't know. I guess we'll, I've seen since the election, obviously there's been a little bit more optimism, I think, from some of those buyers and a little better.
Corey Heiser (01:13.898)
Yeah, definitely.
Brian Bashore (01:24.322)
change of attitude, but rates haven't changed a whole hell of a lot yet.
Corey Heiser (01:29.108)
Yeah, we haven't seen a big change with that at all, but I do agree with you. feel like just the overall sentiment of the economy is people are feeling better and I think we're heading in the right direction.
Brian Bashore (01:40.172)
I hope because this tournament fishing gig is not cheap.
Corey Heiser (01:44.148)
No, it's a lot of money.
Brian Bashore (01:46.226)
It is a lot. And I mean, a better, you the economy better for our industry is, you know, it's better for guys like you and I, and obviously our companies we work with and sponsors and stuff. Cause that's a, it's a household, it's a game and it's gotta make sense for everybody. we welcome the sport, you know, the boat shows. And if you're looking, get out there and look. And nonetheless, they're always fun. Right. I mean, talking fishing with people all day.
Corey Heiser (02:07.235)
Yeah. Well, and that's just it, especially where I live here in like West Fargo, North Dakota. It's always cold and kind of blustery. to get into a facility like the Fargo dome, see, see a bunch of guys, see a bunch of products that, uh, that you can experience in the, in the 70 degrees is a lot better. So that's it. And there was quite a few people that were doing that. They were out just visiting. It was kind of funny. There was a ton of NWT anglers at the event. It was,
carol king courts news from ben t's bryan bjorkman myself there was there's a lot of guys like at the show so a wealth of knowledge and lot of good guys to visit with representing a lot of different companies
Brian Bashore (02:50.84)
Yeah, that is a, a big show. saw that up there. You said you're working with the trackers. That mean you switched over? Nope.
Corey Heiser (02:56.214)
No, they just got the Ranger dealership last fall. that I think that was decided like in November. So they are now your Fargo Moorhead Ranger dealer. So they've got Ranger fiberglass aluminum pontoon along with their tracker and nitro sun tracker line up. So it's all housed at the one dealership on Main Avenue in Fargo.
Brian Bashore (03:00.886)
Okay.
Brian Bashore (03:19.576)
Makes sense. It's all white river Marine groups. I mean, whether you're buying a nitro or a Ranger and we got, we got them all right here. I actually just ordered my nitro and I said, no hurry. Cause haven't sold my old one. So I was like, don't make March or April or something like that for delivery. and then that hopefully the rates drop a little bit, you know, more by then and it'll be like, okay, that's a bite such a bullet because these things that they're not giving them away by all means.
Corey Heiser (03:22.209)
Yep.
Corey Heiser (03:30.017)
Yeah
Corey Heiser (03:37.645)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (03:44.516)
No, and it's always a tough balancing act. Do I order it early so I get it with plenty of time to rig it, but then you start paying the juice on it or whatever you got worked out and then, but if you get it too late, then all of a sudden you're up against the clock and you know, it's nice to have a mid April event this year instead of March, you know, that extra month with the timing of getting things rigged and stuff is always a better deal.
Brian Bashore (04:00.472)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (04:04.43)
Yeah, I remember Detroit river. think 20 or 25 % of the guys probably didn't even have their boats or had to borrow their old boat or.
Corey Heiser (04:11.683)
Well, and actually the spring Valley event was worse. That was even earlier yet. And, we had a brutal cold weather that year, if you remember. And, in fact, I actually kind of remember that event because I had to balance out. I left between two interstate closings. were interstates are closed. They were going to be open for a couple of days. We had another system coming through. So I jumped in the truck a few days earlier than I wanted to just to get out of Fargo before everything got shut back down. So.
Brian Bashore (04:14.081)
yeah, that was, yeah, that was worse.
Brian Bashore (04:20.238)
yeah.
Brian Bashore (04:41.388)
Yeah, the joys of living in North Dakota.
Corey Heiser (04:44.194)
Yeah, especially early spring can be kind of a tricky, tricky deal.
Brian Bashore (04:46.314)
Yep. Early spring or the extended winter for where you're at basically.
Corey Heiser (04:52.812)
Yeah, I guess I don't even know why sometimes I don't think we have a spring. So it usually goes from winter to summer.
Brian Bashore (04:56.426)
out. Yep, yeah you can start putting your ice fishing gear way up there in April, you know. But hey, it's great ice fishing so you get a chance to get out on the ice much or you're just too busy in the shows and...
Corey Heiser (05:09.549)
yeah, it was between shows and now, I travel a lot with my son. He's, the first cornhole pro in the state of North Dakota. So a lot of, nationwide travel with him. In fact, I leave for Albert Kierke. so yeah, a lot of travel between shows and playing beanbags, but it's, it's, fun. spend a lot of time in warm facilities again. So I I don't get much ice fishing.
Brian Bashore (05:35.246)
You're not missing out on a whole lot. So it's, it's all right. I want to cover back on the Cornell stuff. Cause it's very interesting. It's cool. But before we get too far, let's just, I want you to go ahead and just introduce yourself, a little background. and then we'll go into the Cornell stuff. Cause it people you got, you gotta hear it. You gotta hear what his son's been doing and what Corey's been doing. You guys do a little team. I'll shut up. We'll get to that. Go ahead.
Corey Heiser (05:37.111)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (05:48.27)
Gotcha.
Corey Heiser (05:57.926)
Um, yeah, I guess I'm not sure. Corey Heiser, a national walleye tour professional walleye angler out of West Fargo, North Dakota. Um, I don't know. I've been fishing competitively for, uh, think 25 or 26 seasons already. Um, I fished the Masters Walleye Circuit for a long time. Fished some PWTs that was in the mid 2000s. So kind of dating myself. Um, I always felt like I was one of the younger guys. Now it's like.
Brian Bashore (06:27.628)
anymore.
Corey Heiser (06:29.534)
I still don't feel super old except I have to wear glasses more often now and my body doesn't rebound from rough water like it used to. But I still don't feel super old. But it is interesting thinking about some of these younger guys. I spent the whole weekend with Nussbaum and he's obviously a super talented young angler. And he's been around a little while now but he's still in his mid-20s.
Brian Bashore (06:35.342)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (06:57.472)
And we were laughing. was talking to Jason Mitchell this weekend and Nussbaum was there and we were kind of dating ourselves because I think we were telling stories from before Nussbaum was born. So yeah, it was kind of fascinating. Me and Jason exchanging a few stories from the late nineties and we're looking at Nussbaum going, I don't even know if you were born yet. So yeah, it's pretty crazy.
Brian Bashore (07:08.18)
probably.
Brian Bashore (07:17.398)
No, not. just had his first born. So yeah, there's a lot of young guys.
Corey Heiser (07:22.298)
Yeah, New Year's Eve, baby, if I... Yeah, absolutely. they're just absolute beasts on the water. It's super cool to see that generation coming up and a lot of really talented anglers that are under the age of 30.
Brian Bashore (07:40.078)
They have a little different learning curve than some of us older guys now had. I mean, they get there so much faster.
Corey Heiser (07:48.049)
Yeah, you know, when I started, this is before we had detailed mapping. know, GPS was just basically starting for the recreational use. So mapping is a big deal. The electronics have come so far. then between just the internet, website, social media, being able to find a wealth of information very quickly. I think, you know, for a lot of the young anglers, it's
The learning curve is very quick, but I'm not going to diminish what a lot of these guys are doing. They're so talented and you know, they're definitely at the, that cream has definitely rose to the top and they're so good. So yeah, I mean the top guys are the top guys, but it is definitely different now than it was when I started.
Brian Bashore (08:39.478)
Yeah. So I mean, time will tell and we'll see with, I don't know. It's just a, a whole different world to get into. I mean, you see it on the bass side too, like high school college bass and it's big in Minnesota. And I don't know if North Dakota areas got any high school bass or not. Probably a couple of them.
Corey Heiser (08:53.264)
Yeah, well, we've got some high school fishing leagues. In fact, the Heart of Lakes fishing league and there's a couple other groups that I actually do seminars annually. I got some emails and messages. I try to help out some of these clubs and groups get in touch with some of the right industry people to help them get some discounts and help them get started. so anything I can do at this point in my career to help the younger generation I try to do.
feel like it's paying it forward. was a lot of guys that did that for me when I started. I've leaned on Parsons and Kavias for years and years. A lot of people don't know I've been good friends with Perry Good, Ted Dachazaki for years. And those guys helped mentor me. And I've always appreciated that knowledge that they shared with me. And so I always think of that when I get asked to do something for some of these kids now.
Brian Bashore (09:50.51)
Yeah. Old poker playing partners, right? Yeah. Yeah. Well that, know what I, and and thanks for doing that. And you're right. It's, but I, I think that for those young guys reaching out to the people like you and the Kavya's are more accessible, maybe just due to technology now than they were, you know, when we were in twenties trying to, trying to get ahold of Owlend or, you know, or Ted or something, it was, you had to like physically drive there and meet them or.
Corey Heiser (09:53.061)
Yeah, we used to play a lot of cards with a lot of those guys. Yep, that is absolutely true.
Corey Heiser (10:16.615)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (10:20.974)
If you could dig their number out of a yellow pages or something like that, you know, it go to sport shows or go to these places and, know, and try to connect that way where, know, you get these young guys to send you a DM and, and I'm sure you're like me, it is, you respond as, know, as fast as you can and pretty much answer most all the questions. And, you try to help them out because, and, that's, know, whether that's, that that's good, there's nothing bad about it, but yes, these guys become your competition down the road. And you're like, well, man, maybe I told them too much.
Corey Heiser (10:25.043)
Yep.
Corey Heiser (10:35.463)
Yep.
Yep. Yeah, absolutely.
Corey Heiser (10:50.025)
No, it's, I don't know. think it's great. I feel like obviously the tournament scene and the professional scene, it's constantly changing and there's a lot of dynamics. And if there's anything I can do to keep a young guy going or get him a start and, and see him flourish, that's always a cool thing. And, you know, you take a lot of pride in watching some of these kids come along that, you know, you've
maybe helped out a little bit and see them have success. That's a cool thing.
Brian Bashore (11:23.758)
It is on all these, these clubs and school stuff. got going. had a little kid in the ice fishing this weekend and he was like, he's a guy who wants to be on the, you know, the university of Nebraska basketball team. You know, he's like, what does he got to do? I'm like, they didn't have it when I was there started after I'm like, it's a club. I'm pretty sure he just joined it. And he's like, do I got to make a big donation? I'm like, probably won't hurt. You know, I said, they don't all make to be on the traveling ones. You know, you got to kind of go through the system that I said, but I think they can all be part of the club. So I got it a couple of kids last year that were in the club.
Corey Heiser (11:35.239)
Wow.
Corey Heiser (11:49.041)
Sure.
Brian Bashore (11:53.45)
as well, we were chasing walleye and stuff until I stuck them on the Ford facing sonar. And then I just showed him 10 minutes later, I'm like, go ahead, drive the boat. I have foot foot on the, you know, they were catching drum and catfish and walleye and wasn't obviously weren't a really big bass area, but it was it, it was locked in. like, you probably need to learn to use this, you know,
Corey Heiser (11:53.584)
Okay.
Corey Heiser (12:03.943)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (12:14.057)
Yeah, you're going to probably want to know how to use your electronics for all the sport fishing right now. It's a huge deal.
Brian Bashore (12:18.007)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (12:25.176)
yeah. This kid, I have some gifts or ticket gifts or ticket deals over the, over the holidays for, you know, great Christmas gifts, you know, get people, you know, an experience or something versus this thing. This is that same kid's mom bought him two days of fishing and said, the him and his buddy, she's like, they had so much fun. She's like, I'm getting him two more days. And she came with them last time she was, you know, they're like sophomore, juniors in college. they're, they're, they're good enough to go on their own, but mom was paying for it. So.
You know, you gotta bring mom along.
Corey Heiser (12:54.324)
Huh. Absolutely. That's awesome to hear about the support from the parents too. you know, that's a big thing is no matter if you're young enough to have that support from your parents or if you're getting old enough and you got the support from your spouse and other family members, it's obviously, it's a critical thing to be able to do what we do. Yep. Absolutely.
Brian Bashore (13:13.676)
It's extremely critical. That spousal support, the family support goes a long, long way. I don't, recently got married just a few years ago, right? He's a of years.
Corey Heiser (13:25.151)
What's that? Yeah, it'll be 10 years again already. I practiced once before and I got two beautiful children out of that one. And now as we got older, it's a little easier, but yeah, it's already been, it's gonna be 10 years of the summer that I'll be married again.
Brian Bashore (13:33.26)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (13:43.246)
Wow, 10, I was thinking years was just a few. Yeah, mine's 10 years too. And, uh, we're going to go, um, how did Johnny Morris's place in March, right before season kicks off to the big Cedar lodge, spend a little time down there. Really a fairly inexpensive getaway. If you're just driving, you know, and it's beautiful place and rooms and food and there's everything right there. like, we're going to go, I'm going to hire a guy and we're to go bass fishing on, you know, you know, we'll go to any coma and go fly fishing. I've been there a few times, but,
Corey Heiser (13:47.634)
Yep.
Corey Heiser (13:51.965)
Okay.
Corey Heiser (14:06.346)
Have fun.
Brian Bashore (14:12.846)
efficient and just to kind of in and out, but yeah, nice little getaway and it's a little warmer when you get down to Southern Missouri and March than it is in the Dakotas.
Corey Heiser (14:16.746)
That's cool.
Corey Heiser (14:21.304)
Absolutely, absolutely.
Brian Bashore (14:23.662)
Oh, talking about tournaments. We'll get to the Cornell stuff for a little bit. Kind of, kind of touched on it. got NWT schedules out, rules are out, registrations out. was waiting. I didn't think the rules were going to come out for a little bit because I was expecting some other changes. There really wasn't any changes. uh, new sponsorships. I'm a little curious of how some of that worked. I saw that walleye nation creations was a sponsor for the circuit. That came out late last fall, but it, but it didn't.
Corey Heiser (14:50.26)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (14:52.43)
I guess I don't really look at it as a sponsor, more of a partner for the walleye federation. Cause there's nothing coming back to the anglers from it. Um, which call it whatever you want to call it, guess. where to go with that? Uh, but it does look like we at least get the coangler gets to fish this year. It gets to bring in their limited fish or not limited to, you know, uh, the non-party fishing situation that we had to do with last year.
Corey Heiser (14:57.92)
Right. Correct.
Corey Heiser (15:04.297)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (15:17.13)
Yep. Yeah, I think more importantly, just relaxing those limits, both what we can have in our boat and some of that thing. It'll make it more enjoyable, I guess, as a pro. And the one thing about that is with having the one man limit like we fished with last year, I felt like it was tough to be a coangler because
Brian Bashore (15:42.754)
Mm-hmm.
Corey Heiser (15:43.08)
It took some of the pressure off of the pros to teaching their coanglers because you know, when you got to bring in say a five fish limit versus a three, you know, I've always been, the type where I try to get my coanglers and teach them and help them to catch fish because any, anything that they can provide in the boat for the day is just a bonus to, how my finish is going to end up. And I think last year with the reduced limits that we were fishing for, it made it less imperative to.
to rely on what the coangler caught. you know, I feel like this year we're going to be back to higher limits. So we got to make sure that we figure out a way to help our coanglers and to get them to help put some catches in the boat for us too.
Brian Bashore (16:29.708)
Yeah. I mean, you're bringing in, you know, four to five extra fish in these tournaments this year. that's, that's, all of that, they're getting, there's money to earth, right? Now they're going to get a fish all day, likely when they have some fish to play with and they can keep throwing them back and waiting for that, you know, that bigger over 20 or whatever the case may be. Instead of just, those are three decent fish. I'm into boxing them out of here. You know, and.
Corey Heiser (16:37.517)
Correct. Correct.
Corey Heiser (16:49.426)
Right. Yeah. Yeah. You're, you're, you're exactly right. And I think, that's one aspect, I think of tournament fishing, even at the national level that a lot of people that don't participate probably don't realize, but first and foremost, for most of us, it's a business, but there's an aspect of fun and fun is enjoyment. And if that aspect of the sport starts to dwindle, you will see a lot of guys step aside because,
Most guys aren't relying on their tournament winnings, obviously, to support their family. fun, first and foremost, is a big deal. And if we're not having fun, you'll see a lot of guys go away.
Brian Bashore (17:31.554)
Yeah. mean, coming in early means usually that you did good and doing good as fun, but there's still when you're on your record of you still were like, I don't, I don't want to go. don't want to stop. I want to stay out here early, you know, figure something out for tomorrow. You know, that kind of case being, but now it's like, I gotta go. I'm
Corey Heiser (17:40.896)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (17:45.089)
Yeah.
Right, exactly. Yeah, I don't know. just, just the, mean, we all want to catch them and stuff like that. And I mean, someone asked me this weekend, which event did I think was probably the most fun last year? said, it's a practice. But I said, as far as the tournament was concerned, it really wasn't that much fun because at the end of the day, we only had five, no calling. And so there was a lot of decisions to be made. you know, I came in one fish short each day and I don't regret it for a second.
the where, how the points were sitting and all that stuff. really had an opportunity to fish for a top place and threw a ton of nice fish back. And like you said, I don't regret it. And, but, but again, it was the most fun I had fishing all year, but then the tournament was probably the least, some of the least amount of fun I had, you know, just being forced to make all those decisions. Yeah. Yeah. You just adding stress and long runs and all of the things that, that, that,
Brian Bashore (18:35.746)
Well, that was an element of Right. Yeah.
Corey Heiser (18:45.261)
put stress on us just takes away some of the fun. I guess that's what we deal with.
Brian Bashore (18:47.948)
Yep. I mean, there's always got to be some stress that a little bit isn't bad, but yeah, when you start losing the fun factor of it, like fishing in six foot rollers or something on area, you're like, yeah, we can do it, but this definitely, there's not a lot of fun at all going on in this tournament.
Corey Heiser (19:03.471)
Yeah. Yeah. And that's funny that you bring that up. I'll never forget I had my co angler who's fished with me a few times. Great guy. And I have never really paid that much attention, but you know, we're fishing in the six footers on day two and I'm standing there in the back of the boat. I was trolling and I'm just fishing and he had a heck of a time trying to stand and he looks at me. He's like, I don't know how you're doing it. Just standing up in the boat. And I'm like, I guess I don't know either. I guess it's a lot of years of
Brian Bashore (19:31.724)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (19:33.12)
of having sea legs and it's I'm running stuff. guess I was like, okay, it's just really windy out here. And he literally like was on his knees and just trying to basically stay upright and be able to help. And he did a great job. I mean, it was, it was pretty brutal.
Brian Bashore (19:49.568)
It was, that was, I, I, yeah, I didn't get a fish much that second day of that tour. My co-worker was kind of in the same situation where it's like, just sit down and you look at them there. Why does it go? So they're telling you I've never been in stuff like, can just tell you like this, this, this isn't good for this. This isn't going to work out.
Corey Heiser (19:54.147)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (20:03.49)
Yeah, just not a good option,
Brian Bashore (20:07.982)
So sometimes you just gotta cut your losses and be like, whatever. Safety first. mean, these boats are beasts. These those 621 that you got and I got a CV 21 coming at a 20 and we're not worried about it. It's not fun. It's still stressful, but we know these things are built the handle of stuff. And as long as you know how to drive it right and hit the wave properly, we'll get through it. We're probably going to get a little wet. We're going to go a little slow. It's going to take a little time, you know, and you're to lose less fishing time, but we can manage.
Corey Heiser (20:12.193)
Yeah, yeah.
Corey Heiser (20:22.083)
Right.
Corey Heiser (20:29.132)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (20:33.09)
Right.
Brian Bashore (20:36.716)
A lot of times we get sent out and it's nice out and then it turns and you're like, everybody's kind of complaining, it's like, don't see that or you stay another day and then it's the weather. You really just don't know. They may call for something and it's not even close and you miss a beautiful day.
Corey Heiser (20:43.182)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (20:54.671)
Yeah, they always have some tough decisions to be made. mean, a lot of us will complain when we get out there and the conditions drastically change or feel like we're unsafe. it's like, I mean, a few years back, I decided to not base any of my trips on the forecasted weather because I went through a whole year where I'd cancel a trip because it was going to be crappy and it ended up being beautiful and vice versa. I'd end up going because it was supposed to be beautiful out and then it ended up being crap.
From that point on, like, don't even look at the weather till the night before. And even at that rate, there's a lot of times that the forecast isn't accurate one day in advance or 12 hours in advance. So that is the one thing I will give a lot of, I don't know, sympathy to the tournament directors. They're faced with non-winnable situations a lot of times with whether they let us go or they keep us on shore.
Brian Bashore (21:42.583)
totally.
Brian Bashore (21:46.158)
Yeah. I, yeah, I don't want to be in their shoes in that situation. And I pretty much whatever their call is, I'm like, whether it sucks or not. I'm like, all right, I get it. You know, there's liabilities and it's a, like you said, it's a business and it's business for all of us. And a lot of my issue is to go out. Some of those I'm like, I don't, I don't have an extra boat. I might have an extra boat here in a few months. I don't know, but typically don't have an extra boat. So I'm like, I had to get this back to work Saturday or Sunday or Monday.
Corey Heiser (21:49.87)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (21:55.663)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (22:09.985)
Right, right.
Brian Bashore (22:10.414)
You know, and I've seen a lot of kicker motors get ripped off. Troller motors get ripped off. Windshields broke. I'm like, I want to be dealing with that stuff. So we're just going to work crews or we'll hug a shoreline and we may not get to go where I want to go because. You know, the business side of it kind of trumps getting out there. uh, tournaments in general, we got, we've, it's, said, we got the rules are out. We're fishing. We got, so we, for sure this year, you started South Dakota and on Lake sharp at a pier and it were a.
Corey Heiser (22:13.699)
Yep.
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (22:24.313)
No.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (22:39.51)
A party fishing state. So not an issue. Catch a fish. Each guy gets one over each boat gets two over 20 basically, cause you can party fish. but then lacrosse. the only, and I'm sure you've noticed that there are seven, eight, nine. don't know we go out at eight. think lacrosse is eight, eight. So nine is a lot of guys would come up to nine out of parade de chain. And then seven is, I know a lot about seven, but, the regs change when you go to nine. So it's four fish, one over 20.
Corey Heiser (22:56.622)
Yep, correct, yep.
Corey Heiser (23:06.522)
Correct.
Brian Bashore (23:09.248)
I believe, but in pool nine is 20 to 27.
Corey Heiser (23:10.618)
No, correct. Sorry. Yes. Yes. Pool nine has got the really restrictive slot where you're only allowed one fish over 27 inches and none between 20 and 27.
Brian Bashore (23:22.094)
Right. So that's kind of be a little challenge for some people to determine. Obviously, pre-fish will tell you, if you're, you know, if you're a nine and you already got one, you're illegal. So you can't go there. So either you got to start there and hope you get one over 27 or I mean, in each place, you're going to want those under 20s regardless. Um, but you can't box a 24, 24. You might catch 26 and pull nine and be like,
Corey Heiser (23:32.699)
Correct.
Corey Heiser (23:42.854)
Correct.
Brian Bashore (23:45.068)
No matter you got throwback, but that sure would have been nice to catch him full later, you know, or seven or eight. So yeah, it'll be interesting to see how that, that one pans out and how many people, you know, catch that. I'm sure we'll catch that. Obviously I think it was written in the rules. but that, you know, that's our gamemanship that we have to play in the wall over the slots is, that this is the gamble and the risk and stuff you're taking and, and then lock, lock and up, lock it down, which is always fun.
Corey Heiser (23:48.357)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (24:07.696)
Yep.
And if you can believe this one, here's a little tidbit that I bet a lot of people would never guess. I have fished tournament trails for, like I said, 25, 26 years. I've literally never locked on a tournament day. All the events I fished in the Mississippi rivers, whether it's Prairie du Chien, Red Wing, all the events, I have literally never locked on tournament day.
Brian Bashore (24:23.98)
Really?
Brian Bashore (24:33.57)
I have never not locked on tournament day.
Corey Heiser (24:35.697)
Yeah, last year it was one of like 15, 20 guys that stayed in pool three. yeah, it's been, one year I had a high finish in the MWC championship and the plan was to lock above, but I was going to give it an hour in the bottom pool and pulled on a wing dam and just kept catching them. And I literally never locked through in three days of the championship. think I finished fifth, maybe.
But the plan was to go and lock above, and I never did, over the course of three days. So there's a little tidbit that could end up on a trivia someday, I guess.
Brian Bashore (25:13.216)
Right. That's great. mean, hassle and the having to come back early and sitting there for an hour or whatever it is, if you don't have to lock, then mean, God, you get two more hours of fishing at least.
Corey Heiser (25:26.16)
Yeah, it just kind of depends. Like last year when everybody was trying to lock down on day two and the barge got caught up and guys were scrambling for, I don't know, an hour and a half, two hours, whatever it was. was, the only thing I was worried about is guys were going to like creep in and start fishing by me. But fortunately I was further up river and actually didn't even, I don't even know, looking back, if I really paid much attention to what was going on with the lock situation. was, I traveled with Jacob L and I know he was trapped.
Brian Bashore (25:31.64)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (25:41.762)
Yep.
for learning.
Corey Heiser (25:55.058)
I think I knew about it, but it really just was like, good. Let's rob some of their time. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (25:57.454)
Yeah, there was a barge that hit it like right as we were going to hit it. And of course the barge goes, but then everybody just kind of fished right there. You know, whether they're on fish or not, it's like, well, I'm just going to hang out here. So as soon as it opens, you know, I'm in and guys that had good spots kind of went up to them, you know, cause an hour of fishing. mean, you could be done if your fish are going, but I stayed there and cranked and three-wayed and never even had a bite or barely saw any fish, but I didn't, my spots up weren't, I didn't have much faith in them. So I'm like, I'll just.
Corey Heiser (26:05.991)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (26:10.461)
Yep. Yep.
Corey Heiser (26:15.633)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely, absolutely.
Corey Heiser (26:26.717)
Right.
Brian Bashore (26:27.128)
Well, let's hang out here. I just got to hurry up and get down there. Unless you're like Chase and Kemos and those guys that went around the lock and some crazy crick that was totally in bounds. But, know, get on them. And that was a, that was a pretty ballsy move, but I didn't even, it didn't register cause Chase and Corey were fishing in the same area I was. And I get down there and in the lock with everybody else. And it wasn't really any too many boats in front of me, but these guys are set up and they're already working it.
Corey Heiser (26:35.713)
Yep.
Corey Heiser (26:41.659)
Yeah, huge.
Brian Bashore (26:54.894)
And every person like, well, how the hell did they get here? You know, I just dropped it and started going the opposite direction. Then later I'm like, okay. I get it. Yeah. You've been here for an hour already.
Corey Heiser (27:03.38)
It was funny because I knew about it as soon as I got in on day two because Shimoda who I travel with was up upriver and those guys went blasting by him in the morning and it registered to him because Billy's an old river rat. It registers to him like, wait a minute, those guys got a way to get up and around the lock because he didn't see him on day one. He's like, sure enough. I mean, he he basically threw the trees and cattails could.
see them getting stuck on the, one of them got stuck on a stump and the other one there revving motors and it was, yeah, so he had a little entertainment to start the event on day two, so.
Brian Bashore (27:40.984)
That was a Vermillion river, right? I think that's what they went up.
Corey Heiser (27:44.66)
Uh, yeah, I guess I can't even remember what it's called because I didn't even think it was an option. Yeah. Yeah. They went through some backwater and I don't have no idea. I could tell you how they did it on a map, but I don't know. My boat never tried that, that thing.
Brian Bashore (27:49.388)
It was a crick.
Brian Bashore (27:57.772)
Yeah.
Nope. And I don't chase it. Like I ain't never doing that again. I'm like, I'm never doing it to begin with. So, I mean, good on you getting the trail and going, but that's the river. could have changed on the overnight and dropped a foot or two or any would have been in world hurt. Yep.
Corey Heiser (28:12.574)
Well, you gotta give credit to Kemos because Kemos feels like if there's eight inches of water, he can figure out how to get his boat through it. So I think he kind of plowed the way for Chase and Tom and good on those guys. Yeah, I good.
Brian Bashore (28:21.612)
Yep. And that, that tritons. Yeah. Yeah, no doubt. mean, that tritons light and you get it up and the best thing to do is go fast. can.
Corey Heiser (28:29.564)
Yeah, yeah, pretty wild. They three different boats, but all three of them and good on them that they had a plan and they had it figured out. I you know, a lot of times pre-fishing for events is, I mean, there's a lot of other factors that can play into your practice, whether it's navigation, like they had to worry about if it's whatever, there's just a lot that goes into pre-fishing and they did their due diligence. So I give them a lot of credit.
Brian Bashore (28:54.466)
Yep. And takes time away from fishing. Somebody, I mean, came up, had to go spend half a day, probably navigating that at a pretty, you know, slow speed and not getting any fish in it, but just to make a trail, you know, it's fuel consumption and we well do it. And there's days that, you know, the last day of practice guy just might make his 90 mile run to see if he can go there and back and not have to fuel up, you know, or what speed it is. yeah, there's, there's like you said, there's a lot of that stuff that goes in it. That's not necessarily.
Corey Heiser (29:01.46)
Yep.
Corey Heiser (29:06.612)
Correct.
Corey Heiser (29:16.393)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (29:21.132)
went in a line that people don't realize that we do, or that goes into play. And, Skakowice is always a game of angles, cutting points and corners to go to the long distance and to maximize your fuel, you know, and, and to get there, especially the first time we went there years ago.
Corey Heiser (29:36.486)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (29:38.158)
You know, your, your tournament, which I thought was cool. I want to touch a little bit was the old artificial ideas when you and Troy were doing the MWC stuff. I would love to see us go artificial and you guys proved it and you did well and you won championships and team of the year for years. And it's like, we're not, there ain't no live bait in this boat boys. It's it's on.
Corey Heiser (29:47.327)
Yep.
Corey Heiser (30:01.463)
It's, still probably the most fun, um, segment of fishing I had, uh, in my career. Um, and really that was 2014 to 2019, uh, fishing with Troy. And the funniest part about that is the first, I'd say two, three years, very, very few guys had put a lot of time into artificial alimony, especially a lot of the places that we were going for the masters Wally circuit.
uh... were dominated by you know live bait at least historically and what's funny about this is so there's very few guys when we started but then by the time it got to like two thousand seventeen eighteen and especially like the last year nineteen we can go anywhere without guys that we would see with at least one of the guys if not both of them fishing without live bait now this is going to sound pretty wild but we felt like we had a big advantage because we're the only guys fishing without live bait
And then by the last year, was like, uh, none of these guys are fishing with artifice with live bait anymore. I'm like, okay. So they're pretty much in, as you know, we did a lot of videos and YouTube's and we did a great job. I feel like of showing everybody what we were doing. So the MWC at that time was going to a lot of the same bodies of water. So, I mean, we pretty much burnt out a lot of our stuff over the course of five or six years. And, um, it kind of played its course, but yeah.
Brian Bashore (31:05.975)
arrived late.
Corey Heiser (31:31.352)
I've said it for a long time. was actually believed in it before we started that, that tournaments need to go to artificial only and follow the past side of things. you know, there's just a lot of, can get pretty deep, but there's a lot of, financial impacts, positively for the, for the anglers and for the tournament trail. there's a lot of advantages as being a guy that didn't use live bait as far as.
You know, we weren't spending money. We weren't taking time on babysitting bait and all of that. And I can tell you, if you're one of the few guys using only artificial, you do have an advantage there, especially then. I mean, this is before the jig and wrap craze and all the, you know, vertical baits. And there was a lot of advantages. We could pick off a lot of, a lot of aggressive fish and we were catching big fish everywhere we went. fact,
remember having a conversation with Troy when we first started fishing. Like, we getting in the big fish pot or not? And we were like, yeah, we might as well. And I don't remember the statistics, but the amount of big fish pots that we won over the course of six years was like absolutely mind blowing. How many big fish we had caught on events from every state we went to. Yeah, we won a lot of big fish money, lot of big fish pots.
Brian Bashore (32:47.362)
I just, think artificials catch bigger fish period. mean, outside of crick chubs or willow cat type stuff, you know.
Corey Heiser (32:50.814)
Yeah, I don't disagree.
Yeah, I mean, specific baits like those are a little different. And I will tell you as someone that fished without live bait for six, seven years, the one bait that was always the toughest to compete with is a spot tail shiner. Western Minnesota has got them, especially in the spring of the year. And, you know, Berkeley came out with some baits to compete specifically with the spot tail shiner that came out with some colors in the four inch gulp. And now the drip minnow and the drip swimmer great.
great baits to compete. that was actually the one bait that we really were afraid of in fishing without any live bait was a spot tail shiner. And I guess that's kind of evened out now. But I feel like the trails they got, they should go to it. I've been with Berkeley for a long time and they've developed a ton of plastics and hard baits and everything else to compete. know, Northland obviously
180 Tom Winn have shown that the North Fund had produces a lot of stuff. Rapala with some of the baits they've come out with. you know, we are, how would I say it? Maybe just dwarfing the amount of progress that they can make in marketing these baits by not forcing all the tournament anglers to fish without live bait.
Brian Bashore (34:19.758)
Well, the MDFC even had some artificial tournament during those years, like one a year or whatever.
Corey Heiser (34:26.104)
Uh, yeah, I think there was one a year, two or three years, uh, Berkeley stepped up and, uh, did a big bonus and, uh, did extra money in the pots. Um, gave all the anglers a ton of baits actually at those events. Um, and I felt like there was maybe a little movement in traction. Um, and before everybody jumps on and starts saying that the hyzer hates live bait, let's, let's just, and the hate spade shops like that. It's never been the case.
Brian Bashore (34:52.142)
you
Corey Heiser (34:55.604)
all of my sponsors so i thought a product that the jobs and all of those big shots or doctor what stock a lot of artificial options and their margins are phenomenal with those not might be options or and i'm not talking about you know changing fishing to going all artificial army you got one weekend a month to fish go buy anything you want but
I always felt like Tournament Anglers should be, especially at the professional level, should be held to a different regard. And I think it's an awesome challenge to fish without live bait.
Brian Bashore (35:31.598)
Yeah, I'd love to see it. You know, we kind of got tagged last year as the, uh, jig worm jiggling circuit or whatever we want to call it, you know, from the scope. then, it works when you dangle a leech or a crawler and just let it float in front of that fish's face. But I had, I got fish on it, but I still had better luck on plastics. I'm a big Z man. Love my Z man jerk sheds, but Gulp, I, there's not going to be a time that I don't have some Gulp on her early spring.
Corey Heiser (35:41.633)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (35:59.511)
Yeah, just there's so many awesome artificial options. I feel like as anglers, we should be the first ones fighting for that because I feel like if we can get these big conglomerates that need to sell a lot of tackle, the best world has proved it. They can, they can charge a lot of money for some of these specific, handmade artificial baits that catch a lot of giant bass. And that's the thing that gets lost. I think a lot of times.
is tournament bass fishing has been artificial only for as long as I can remember. But let's not forget something that the recreational angler that fishes for bass, even in the South, uses a lot of live bait. So again, there's like, do they use, do recreational anglers use artificials in the South? Yeah, absolutely. They do to fish for bass, but they also use a lot of bait and it's the same thing. It's a great education piece. All of us that try to promote and do a lot of promotions.
like to talk about baits and different things that are successful for us and when we're forced to use that kind of stuff and compete at a different level I think it just helps everyone. It gives us a lot of opportunity that we're closing out on ourselves.
Brian Bashore (37:14.06)
Yeah, totally. And as a guy, I, I prefer it. It's cleaner. It's easier. I don't have to keep it alive and, know, and manage your bait and night crawlers are hard to beat all summer long. And we're going to use a hell of them in leeches. when I got, you know, for pitching, I'm always going to, I'll, if I'm fishing with my clients, I always have a plastic on. So, cause I'm busy helping them with bait and stuff. don't, don't need one more mineral or crawler, but if I'm just wrecking them.
It's going to be like, here, let's put this on or give them confidence by putting a middle on top of the plastic. And I'm like, said, the best thing is once you, if you miss it, leave it. You still have bait, you know, and then they get it on the second or third, you know, attempt. I'm like, you get that middle got bit off, you know, or even that little piece of crawler. I'm like, you caught that on the plastic and that gives them the confidence in it. And that's all it is. Most people just don't have the confidence in it. Cause they're like, this stuff doesn't really work, doesn't work. then, yeah, it does.
Corey Heiser (37:44.047)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (37:56.506)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (38:06.388)
It's fascinating when we were fishing without LiveBait for so many years and we tried to give, you know, other people the confidence that they didn't have to use it. It's crazy to me because if someone has, I don't care, leech, minnow, crawler, whatever it is, if they go all day and catch two fish, the fish just weren't biting, right? But if they are using artificials and they catch three fish, they're like, I don't know, I would have sure caught a lot more if I was using LiveBait. It's like, I don't like...
Brian Bashore (38:31.128)
Right.
Corey Heiser (38:34.843)
It's crazy because I don't know, it taught us to be a lot better fishermen too. Like, you know, we fish primarily the best places on, you know, the best pieces of structure and the biggest fish holding areas. And what's really fascinating about the run we were on, that was all before forward facing sonar. And I can't imagine even the success we would have pushed up. But yeah, we had a really great run. It was a lot of fun.
And I would be the first guy to stand in line to fish a trail that didn't allow live bait.
Brian Bashore (39:07.362)
Yeah, it's a, and who knows, maybe we'll, get there. It, there's days that artificial disoutfishes live bait. You can fish it so much more aggressively. You don't have worry about it ripping off, you know, and then as you have more buoyant baits that are going to fall slower. So, and you know, the cooler temps that there's just so many advantages to the different types and there's so much of it out.
Corey Heiser (39:26.235)
Well, the efficiency on the water and you know those things you've got multiple colors now you've got multiple sizes so it's like I remember you know a lot of times I'd have eight ten rods on my deck every day I was out fishing because you know I might I might have a favorite bait that we're using for the day but now I've got rigged up with three or four of the same base with different colors and maybe a different size and
You know, you just, you learn to fish like a bass angler and you realize there's a lot of big advantages and it was a lot of fun to do it that way, for sure.
Brian Bashore (40:00.75)
And you're on the Mississippi river. think I caught a lot on the bone fish, Berkeley's bone fish. Um, I was like, we need this water stain. was like, I live baits. Great. And crawler's working, but I these fish bigger and meet, give me that paddle tail. Give me something to put a little more vibration off the rib, you know, rib worm. And it caught, I got so many more fish. I'm like, this is so much more fun.
Corey Heiser (40:07.003)
Yep.
Corey Heiser (40:19.078)
Mm-hmm.
It's, you know, what's kind of funny about that Mississippi River event is my highest finish I had last year. And two things, I caught one fish on live bait in the event that I weighed. And the second thing was I never caught a fish using forward facing sonar in the tournament. And I tied for second. so you talk about kind of going back to your roots. It was kind of fun. Like I said, you caught one fish on a live bait and never caught a fish.
utilizing my forward facing sonar.
Brian Bashore (40:52.334)
It's kind of nice to lift your eyes up once in a while and just, just fish. And the rivers tend to always work out to be the places where that, comes into play.
Corey Heiser (40:58.32)
Yep. Yep.
Corey Heiser (41:04.27)
Absolutely.
Brian Bashore (41:06.13)
I see a lot in Chamberlain where guys are kind of living on it. And I'm just like, and I've told it several times. The stories I'm like, watch this, you know, with McEwing, I just throw right by that guy's boat and I catch one. Like if he would just drop his line in the water instead of chasing that one fish, it just went by hundreds, if not thousands of other fish and they're all the same size. You would've caught something. So I'm like, just sometimes you just got a fish, but speaking of the forward facing sonar, let's dig into that electronic stuff.
Corey Heiser (41:26.237)
Yeah.
100 % agree with you.
Brian Bashore (41:35.15)
Those that don't know, Corey's a Larrance guru out there at Chills teaching these guys, his boat, putting on classes. You can find them pretty much about any boat show, know, talking, Larrance or I know they just launched some new stuff, but what's, what's, what's new in the electronics world and, and how are you helping people with all these?
Corey Heiser (41:54.237)
Yeah. So it's kind of funny. I don't know. Back up a few years ago, I got a call from a good guide friend of mine, Cody Rosway from Valley city. And he has a regular client, uh, that Cody takes every year. And the guy had La Rance stuff. he, Cody called me and said, Hey, this guy needs some help with this La Rance stuff. Do you think you'd ever go out on the water and show them how to run his stuff and his boat? And I'm like, yeah, it's. Yeah. I'd absolutely love to do that. And I remember asking Cody, like, do you think a guy could stay busy with that? Like teaching people.
Brian Bashore (41:58.574)
Thank
Corey Heiser (42:24.199)
you know, about their electronics and their boats, setting them up. And he's like, I think you'd be as busy as you want to be. And fast forward, I don't know what it is, three, four years. And he's absolutely true. His words ring true to this day. I say very busy. And what I do is I do half day on the water classes in the client's boat and get all of their settings set up, customize their units.
to how they're going to use them and then make sure they understand what they're looking at, how to navigate those menus and how to help them catch fish. And that's one of the things I talk about with every one of those people is that as a fisherman, I have electronics for one reason, that's to catch fish. And I feel like a lot of times the manufacturers forget that focus. And we talk about some of the features and the functionality that they'll do.
And they forget how to relate it to somebody, why that's going to help you catch fish. And so I try to bring that back home. Like, okay, I'm going to show you how to do this. And the reason I want to show you how to do this is because in this situation, it's going to help you catch fish. And then the light bulb goes off and they're like, I got it. You know, and it's, if you're efficient with your electronics, you understand where the menus and the features and the functionality, all that works.
Your time on the water becomes more enjoyable. You gain confidence, which in turn you catch more fish. So that's what I do. Yeah. If you want to get a hold of me, you can go on Facebook, Corey Heiser Fishing or just Corey Heiser. And what I try to do is go somewhere that's easy for you to get to, whether it's your own home lake or your home area. And as soon as we get something kind of penciled in, I'll put it out on social media. And as long as I can get.
A few of them booked or reserved in that area and in a timeframe, I've come down or wherever and spent some time and show you a lot of tricks of the trade. And again, just get your stuff. Lorantz only though. That's a big deal. It's, I only handle Lorantz. I feel like, I'm an expert when it comes to Lorantz electronics. And yes, I can navigate through some of the other manufacturers. I've spent some time using them, but,
Corey Heiser (44:48.576)
To be honest, I'm not gonna charge you if I don't feel like I can teach you something. I don't know how many, I have no idea how many classes I've done, but I can assure you I will teach you something. In fact, I've had some of the competitors that we compete against hire me. And I think they were floored by some of the stuff that I showed them that their units will do. Some of the...
organizational things that I do with my graphs. Some of the waypoint management tricks that I've taken care of. It's pretty, I guess, I take a lot of it for granted. I'm fortunate to travel with Bill Shimoda and Jacob L who are very good with their electronics. And we've tossed a lot of things around between us and it's pretty amazing. Just the little things that you can do that really make your time on the water more effective.
Brian Bashore (45:44.898)
They're like these, most people use 20 % of its capability.
Corey Heiser (45:52.461)
you're way high. Exactly. Exactly.
Brian Bashore (45:54.126)
If even, right? There's so much more that's in these things. And if you're going to invest, you know, two to $10,000, if not more on your electronics, what's, you know, another $500 to $1,000 to learn how to use it.
Corey Heiser (46:11.306)
Yeah. And it's funny that we're talking about that because a lot of times I'll look at a guy and say, well, you wasted money. And he'll look at me kind of like, wow, that was, can't believe you just said that. like, well, I'm like, well, let me help you because you've spent a lot of money on your electronics. You know, one of the guys I took out actually explained this best. He's like, Corey, I spent $12,000 on my stuff. I can spend another 500 bucks. Have you show me how to use it for half a day? He's like, now it's worth.
Brian Bashore (46:20.75)
That was pretty blunt.
Corey Heiser (46:40.297)
the 12,000 I spent without your help, I might've, I might as well have spent three grand and, and been just fine because I am not, you know, he wasn't using hardly anything that, that, that, his, his units would do for him. So yeah, I mean, I always compare what I do like to guiding and you guys, I always respect the guide so much because let's face it, sometimes fish don't bite. Sometimes a lot of the weather.
Brian Bashore (47:08.174)
Yep.
Corey Heiser (47:10.113)
i have a much easier job because i can promise you i will teach you something in your electronics and i don't care who it is
Brian Bashore (47:19.566)
You can learn to sit at the ramp, you'll need it with the boat in the water.
Corey Heiser (47:22.721)
Well, and that's just it. can go anywhere on the body of water out of the wind. So I like, I mean, I'm like, can make it the easiest day possible. In fact, last year I was on Skakawea for, well, I had two stretches where I was out there for six, seven days. And one of the stretches we had two or three days where it was blowing 50 miles an hour. And I got these people calling me like, can we even go out? I'm like, well, yeah, we're going to go up to Newtown. The wind was blowing out of the Northwest. I said, we're going to put in and I don't even have to come.
Brian Bashore (47:47.896)
Yep. yeah.
Corey Heiser (47:51.811)
200 feet off the shore and they're like, really? I'm like, trust me. And sure enough, I mean, they all had phenomenal experiences. But yeah, don't have to chase the wind as far as, that's where the fish are gonna be biting easiest and stuff. Yeah, it works out really well. I have spent a lot of time traveling throughout the Tri-State area. And like I said, if you've got some interest, feel free to send a message or whatever.
Brian Bashore (47:53.262)
Alright.
Corey Heiser (48:20.726)
I basically kind of use a spreadsheet database. I try to pick out your availability, a location that works for you. And then I kind of do the back leg work as far as trying to piece that together with other people that are interested. And seems to work out.
Brian Bashore (48:38.446)
Is so if I can't, excuse me, find you on Facebook, Corey Iser, is it Corey Iser Fischer or is Corey Iser? Right.
Corey Heiser (48:44.0)
Yep, Corey Heiser Fishing or just Corey Heiser. mean, Corey Heiser is my personal page, which you can send me a message there. If you go to Corey Heiser Fishing on Facebook, you can find it on there as well. But yeah.
Brian Bashore (48:56.598)
It's, it's an investment folks. And it's smart. mean, you know, Tom wins launched his Tom when university, you know, basically just focus on the forward facing. in our, I've done a handful of these with hummingbird cause like I ain't touching nor I can't tell you nothing about it. says the power button, hold it down, turns on. We're good to go. But the birds, the same thing. When I show people switching from, you know, killer Hertz to mega Hertz, where to use why, you know, and then it's like, well, there's a ton of fish that I didn't see with this, you know, but
Most time it's, well, you don't, I can go through a menu and be like, well, you don't even have that transducer turned on. That's why you're not, you're not seeing any fish because you haven't connected to something to the wrong thing. And it's a couple of buttons and they just go, Oh wow. You know, and like some of that, you can just do it on the, on the shortage, just showing them some basic settings, but.
Corey Heiser (49:30.582)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (49:42.275)
Yeah, in fact, a couple of years ago, I was supposed to do some on Bismarck and we actually got a blizzard. And two of them I handled right in the garage and shop. I actually went and got all their transducers selected. We got all their pages all selected and set up and they were super, super happy. In fact, I've thought over the last couple of years of like maybe offering a little less time and just doing it.
on land or in the wintertime. A lot of what we do, it's a lot of settings and it's lot of setting up the different pages and stuff.
Brian Bashore (50:21.934)
You know, and then as it's such a big investment, these electronics, but a lot of it is a lot of people are just buying, maybe go out and pick up three of these units. you didn't, you didn't need those. You know, I mean, it probably be communicating. So what is it that I need? This is what I want to do. What's my setup? Cause a lot of times they're buying, then they got three transducers with, or three head units and three transducers. And like, didn't, you don't need all that, right? Control head units onlys and this and that, it could have saved you a bunch of money or you need this needs to go to that. And now there's all these ether nets and.
Corey Heiser (50:32.173)
Right.
Corey Heiser (50:44.119)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (50:51.788)
Then of course, the lithium battery aspect of it.
Corey Heiser (50:55.085)
Yeah, and actually that's a big portion of it too. And you know, I've been excited. I've ran Amps batteries, I don't know, for the last three or four years. And we finally have a formal agreement this year. But that's it. mean, having power for your electronics to get the most out of them and get a full day out of them is a big deal too. And you you're wiring, using the appropriate gauge wires to run to your electronics, shut off switches, I mean, stuff like that.
I mean, some guys that have seen my boat on the water, it's like a space shuttle. I always call it because there's so much on it and it's, it's complete overkill. I'm the first one to admit it, but I was telling someone this weekend, I bet I have 60 plus hours rigging my boat every year. Like it's, it is literally an entire week and a half of running wires, installing my own power distribution boxes. Um, there's, there's a lot to it. And, um,
So yeah, if you're even in the market where you're trying to pick out units like Brian said, and I mean, I might be able to save you some money because like you said, if you're not going to utilize a different transducer, there's no use to have it. If you're not going to utilize some of the features of say like the NEMA networking, save the money. If you want to, same thing with ethernet, like there's, you know, buying two different kinds of units sometimes won't network the best. So you're just going to buy stuff that you don't need and.
We could take that money and spend it elsewhere to help you out and get the most out of it.
Brian Bashore (52:26.956)
And to pay somebody to rig it or to put it in lithium batteries. Cause you're to need them. No.
Corey Heiser (52:30.724)
Yeah, you absolutely do these. You know, that's the one thing that people didn't realize with touch screens. You're powering that screen to every, you know, millimeter of the screen so that they have to run power to them. So touch screens in general just use a lot more power. And then everybody wants to go big. mean, we're talking 12 and 16 inch units now and it takes a lot of electricity to run them.
Brian Bashore (52:54.382)
I saw somebody released a 19 inch flex screen this morning. It's not the garment or answer bird. It's the aftermarket one thing is like Ray Marine products or whatever it was, but it mirrors the garment. So this was set up for a garment that mirrors the image, but it's a 19 inch flex cream. Like, good Lord, that's going to get ripped off the front of my boat. So it's no thanks.
Corey Heiser (52:58.735)
Wow, that's crazy.
Corey Heiser (53:04.492)
Right? Could be. Could be,
Corey Heiser (53:14.854)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (53:19.394)
Yeah, yeah, it's a wild thing going on right now. know, Ford Facing Sonar, yep, yeah, MBT has been mirroring Garmin units for a while and you you just get extra real estate to look at and you know, Ford Facing Sonar, the screen size does make a big difference, makes it easier to say for what you're looking at a little quicker and stuff. Not that you can't do with a smaller screen, you absolutely can, but.
Brian Bashore (53:24.938)
And BT, I think has some too, right?
Corey Heiser (53:48.89)
it does make it a little easier to see.
Brian Bashore (53:51.702)
Well, like you said earlier, our eyes aren't getting any better since we're the old guys now. And I had LASIK this year and it's still kind of iffy on some of that. can't, I can't see crap like this. Now I'm doing this whole thing with, you know, the wife will show me something and held her phone in my face. And I'm like, I can't put that thing away. I need the readers.
Corey Heiser (53:54.95)
You
Corey Heiser (54:10.574)
I'm gonna I'm gonna razz Carol a little bit. He was at the show this weekend. He was like, what are you wearing your glass? I'm like, Jim, I'm getting old and like, I literally get headaches. And he's like, you know, you can see he was kind of fighting them. I said, my my distance seeing is perfect still. So I said, well, these are progressive lenses, where if you look towards the bottom, they're more like readers. And he's like, what? Well, he puts them on. He's like, wait a minute, these things are amazing. I'm like, yeah, like, stop fighting it. You can wear a set of glasses that
Brian Bashore (54:17.462)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (54:34.807)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (54:38.498)
Yep.
Corey Heiser (54:38.82)
I can see 200 yards and see pheasant and see deer and see all the stuff I want to see and I just can't read anymore unless I have these glasses on.
Brian Bashore (54:47.902)
Yep. It's, I've said contacts and everything was fine, but they would, of course I never took them out for literally months on end. So my eyes would get dry and then that makes you tired. I'm like, all right, Lasix came a long ways. think I trust it is in and out there pretty quick. It wasn't super expensive. eyes are still dry, but it's only been eight, nine months. But he's like, well, you're going to need readers eventually. I didn't know I going need them in a few months, but now I'm like trying to tie something. I'm like, man, I can't.
Corey Heiser (55:08.23)
Okay.
Corey Heiser (55:13.763)
Brian Bashore (55:16.942)
I can't see crap. I can still tie, but I've been ice fishing a little bit and those itty bitty jigs and stuff. I'm like, I'm everything up at home in the garage with a lot of light, you know, or even at the during the summer, I took things back in the camper at night and actually had a guy left his pair of readers in my boat and I texted him and Hey, you left your, or they're like my trucks. Like he left her glasses. He's like, they're just cheap Walmart ones. You can have them. I kept them and threw them in the camper. And one day I went and put them on like, yeah, this, this works out pretty good. I can tie on all sorts of stuff.
Corey Heiser (55:23.558)
No.
you
Corey Heiser (55:43.943)
Yeah, I actually have a set of cheaters in my truck, one in my boat, one in my shop. So if I'm anywhere I need them. And then last year I broke down and ordered a set of prescription sunglasses from Relevance. So I have the same prescription of my sunglasses now as I wear, that I'm wearing now. So it makes it little easier.
Brian Bashore (56:01.534)
It makes a difference. We got to see. mean, we got to see. So, you know, it's just, we'll have my sunglasses on all the time, even in the dark, just a little bit. Cause I get headaches and super light sensitive stuff. And I mean, you got to protect your eyes. So they don't go bad, but you got to protect them. So we don't have a jig come hitting us in the face too. So for sure. Confidence is key. You touched on that a little bit with the electronics. I always told people if you master electronics, you'll become a master angler. Period. mean, it's it, they don't lie.
Corey Heiser (56:05.284)
DEAAA-
Corey Heiser (56:17.615)
No.
Exactly.
Brian Bashore (56:31.296)
If there's no fish on the screen for the most part, because there's no fish to be on the screen. So don't waste your time there.
Corey Heiser (56:31.804)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (56:37.148)
Well, and I still believe, you know, maybe we've changed how the adage works as far as 90 % of the fish being in 10 % of the water. I think we're experiencing that that's maybe not a hundred percent true, but it's, it's still, I mean, most of the fish are in small areas and if you don't know where they're at, I mean, your electronics are your eyes below the, below the water. And, whether it's the mapping, your 2d, your side imaging or now for face and so on, or it's just, it's a huge key and.
If you look through, especially in the walleye game, the top anglers right now are the guys that are the best with their electronics and not taking anything away from their fish instincts because that's a big part of it because they're looking in the right areas and they're talented with a rod and reel in their hand because they're extremely talented with that. But a lot of them are some of the best guys in the country at utilizing their electronics.
Absolutely.
Brian Bashore (57:37.804)
Yeah, I've told other people, I'm like, you're not in the top 10 unless you are dialed in on your forward face.
In all electronics in general, like you're saying, cause Mississippi river doesn't come into play, but you found the fish, you know, or you used it to find the fish or whatever it was. Maybe it was side image, but I'm like, you're just, don't think there was hardly any outside of Mississippi or any top tens that weren't on board facing. can still probably cash a check maybe and finish in there, you know, with the other aspects, but you may be in the 15 to 25.
Corey Heiser (57:45.872)
Yeah. Yep.
Corey Heiser (57:51.207)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (58:09.511)
Yeah, it's just the consistency right now is like, you've got to figure out what your electronics are telling you or it's going to be pretty tough to compete, especially with the places that we go, you know, and these giant bodies of water, we got to figure out how to break them down. And the fastest way to break them down is with your electronics.
Brian Bashore (58:29.07)
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. There's, I got, I don't like, I'm not a big through hole transducer guy. So I put a high speed on my back so I can graph those, you know, 20, 30 mile an hour. it's just like, slam, there they are. You know, it's like, can see them just, just fine. But it's goes back to having your settings and stuff set right as well. So you can do that, but two massive big bodies of water. And if you're not traveling with, you know, three, four or five guys, you better just, you got to get on that motor and start covering water to figure it out.
Corey Heiser (58:41.394)
Yep.
Corey Heiser (58:57.671)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (58:58.798)
No doubt about it. All right guys, you heard it there hit Corey up on his social pages. So get you hooked up, get you set up, get you dialed in electronics so you can come back and whoop on us in a tournament down the road. Once you get it all figured out. we're getting close wrapping us up. I want to circle back to the cornhole world. Tell everybody a little bit about this. If you don't know Corey will tell you about his kid and you guys have been doing some team stuff together as well too. Right.
Corey Heiser (59:21.909)
Yeah, so I'll give you the long version. So my son was a freshman in high school and goes to a big high school and basketball wasn't working out anymore. So as a parent, I was like, well, if you're not playing basketball, I don't know, I don't want you coming home and being a bum in the evenings and you got time. know, we've been playing bean bags at the backyard or down at the lake. And I was like, you know what? Fargo's got a little league that goes on on Tuesdays and he doesn't go to school till an hour late on Wednesdays.
Let's go there and play bags on Tuesday nights. And so we showed up and well, I'll be gone. We weren't too bad right away. And I took him to a giant tournament out in Bismarck and he came out of his shell. I was like, I don't even know who this kid is socially. Like what in the world? And we were on the way home and he said, dad, that's the most fun I've ever had. And I said, yeah, I can tell. And as someone that is,
Brian Bashore (01:00:09.165)
you
Brian Bashore (01:00:17.134)
I saw it.
Corey Heiser (01:00:20.852)
probably a little too obsessive compulsive and too competitive. thought, you know what, I'm going to pour everything I got into figuring the nuances of this game and the equipment. And I'm going to be a sponge and soak it all up. And he was going to do the same. Well, you fast forward three years and he's literally North Dakota's first American cornhole league pro. so the guys that you watch on ESPN,
on ESPN two or whatever. He's competing against those guys. In fact, in Myrtle beach, just a few weeks ago, he beat the number one player in the world, Trey Birchfield, who literally has won everything. He's got, I don't know, 20 some individual titles. My son beat him in Myrtle beach and we are two time defending state champions and doubles. Yeah, we have a lot of fun and it is a great off season.
thing for me. That season starts September, October 1st. So the timing of when that season starts with how our fishing season ends is just a great transition for me. I travel all winter long. Like I said, I'm going to Albuquerque. We've been to Myrtle Beach, Rock Hill, and Little Rock just this season already. And then starting April 1st, he'll be in six different
locations throughout the U.S. competing just as a pro. Met unbelievable people. In fact, it's kind of funny the transition between fishing and cornhole because I have people that follow me and that have on the fishing side of things that will approach me at cornhole and be like, I can't believe you're throwing bags because I've been watching you fish for years and years. And so it's kind of comical how I'll take pictures with guys at cornhole tournaments.
because they've followed me fishing and now I'm competing against them in the bag world and it's a pretty fascinating deal. There's a lot of similarities between the two, especially at the professional side of things with sponsorships and promotions and that kind of stuff. so it's been really fun helping Connor to get some sponsorships and to...
Corey Heiser (01:02:46.887)
enjoy the travel I guess and get the most out of it. So it's pretty wild.
Brian Bashore (01:02:50.766)
And it's pretty cool. think it's fascinating. I love seeing all these sports. So you mentioned ESPN too, my wife and I are watching something and they were not at that level, but they were doing the indoor basketball stuff, like the video thing. Right. And it was how fast could you, you know, you can, I'm like, have one of those right here on their side of this wall. And I'm like, I would totally whoop that person's butt, you know, but the qualified, I think was, it was kind of a comical thing. But then after that, it was a, a downhill race and it was on those one wheel.
Corey Heiser (01:03:02.987)
Yep. Yep.
Brian Bashore (01:03:20.216)
skateboard looking Dills.
Corey Heiser (01:03:20.477)
gotcha. Like a segue or whatever it is or something.
Brian Bashore (01:03:24.236)
Yeah, it's the one big wheel. But they were, and it was like a little dirt trail that maybe mountain bikes went down and had little jumps and whoop-de-do's. And then they got to the bottom and they, I you ran it and you made the finals and you ran it again. And then boom, there was a stage and they maybe they won like 10 grand. had like monster, right. Sponsor or some while he's extreme sport, right. Things, but it's awesome to see those making waves for not everybody's a professional or got to make the NFL, the NBA, or even on the high school teams, but archery, you know, in the fishing clubs.
Corey Heiser (01:03:29.943)
Gotcha.
Corey Heiser (01:03:42.175)
Yep.
Corey Heiser (01:03:48.802)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (01:03:53.966)
and all these other things. Like you said, get them out doing something.
Corey Heiser (01:03:54.402)
Yeah.
Yeah, exactly. And it's, been kind of fun because there's some other professional walleye fishermen that, uh, that have been following that stuff. And I always, I always, uh, actually appreciate Mark Quartz a lot because we've been at so many boat shows and my kid will be at a tournament somewhere and they have the live stream going. And so Mark and I, especially at the end of the boat show, when it's starting to quiet down, we'll sit in a pontoon and watch the live stream. um, you know, you can, uh, yeah, follow him a lot. And, um, yeah, I've been fortunate enough. mean, I.
Brian Bashore (01:04:18.638)
Yep.
Corey Heiser (01:04:27.215)
I'm a fairly decent player myself and yeah, it's a blast. get to compete with my kid who's now 18. So, you know, I said that from the start too, is like, I was never at my age going to be able to go and play basketball and hockey and football with the kid anymore. But now with some we're doing something where we can go out and compete and, you know, we've actually beat some of the top players in the entire country together. And it's a pretty cool feeling to.
Brian Bashore (01:04:54.872)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (01:04:55.864)
to have those experiences. And that thing is really a talent driven sport. there is a, know, fishing still has a lot of, I mean, I mean, there's a lot of good fortune that happens in banks too, but like fishing is still to win an event. You got to have some things bounce your way and stuff. And right now, like regionally or locally, that kid walks into an event and his talent shines through and he's winning most everything.
within the closest three or four states that we compete in. So it's pretty cool.
Brian Bashore (01:05:29.614)
That is awesome. Hope you guys do good at Albuquerque. Is that just him? Or are you doing team stuff there?
Corey Heiser (01:05:34.654)
no, yeah, we'll go there. so because he makes me too nervous as far as, as a parent, you never want to let your kid down. Right. So playing doubles at national events got to be too stressful for me. So I, he's playing with the other, pro from North Dakota, Paul Mago who's, who's become a good friend of mine as well. And he lives out in Bismarck, but those two.
play together and then I find random people in fact one of his biggest sponsors is Brotherhood Cornhole. They sell bags. I'm gonna play an Albert Krucke with the owner of Brotherhood. He's become a friend of mine and it's pretty cool like the family dynamics of helping him to negotiate a deal with Brotherhood and I'm friends with the owner now because of that and it's a lot of fun. So yeah, if you're interested in getting some professional cornhole bags, go to Brotherhood Cornhole and if you use Connor 10.
you'll save 10 % and it helps out the kids.
Brian Bashore (01:06:34.392)
Conor, C-O-N-N-O-R.
Corey Heiser (01:06:37.047)
You got it with a, just a one zero at the end of that. You can order yourself a professional set of professional cornhole bags, save yourself 10%. And he gets, he gets a little love from you guys doing that.
Brian Bashore (01:06:39.231)
One zero.
Brian Bashore (01:06:49.676)
And you hit it right on the nail on the head that we're getting older. can't, it's harder to play these physical sports with your kids. You know, we can go fishing with them and granted that's the challenge sometimes too, but Cornell family activity, family game. It's pretty low impact, extremely low impact unless you get hit by a beanbag or something. Right. So.
Corey Heiser (01:07:06.765)
Yep. Yep. Yeah. No, that's it. That's exactly right. And the sport of cornhole. Yeah, there's some definite things that separate the top guys from the average guys, but every one of these events, I don't care if it's even here in Albuquerque, you can be a complete backyard player and, and, and give it a shot. There's multiple divisions at every one of these events. And it's a great social activity, I guess I would say.
I've got, I've made some phenomenal friends all over the United States, playing, playing bags, playing cornhole. And, you know, it's been cool. Like Brad Anderson runs 701 cornhole company out in Bismarck. He makes boards. So there again, if you're looking for professional set of cornhole boards, you can put whatever logos you want on them, designs. Brad Anderson can take care of you, but he's become a good friend of mine. It's like, these guys are like, just awesome.
Like just an awesome community of people, just like the fishing community is, it's a whole nother community out there. And there's a lot of leagues locally for a lot of different people. So yeah. Yeah. I mean, most of the events that we play in or anywhere's from 60 to a hundred bucks. And, it's not just one event and done like, you know, we travel these tournaments. It's like, we fished this tournament. It's two days. You go home. It's one entry fee. It's either you do well or you suck. We're like, I go to a Cornell tournament.
Brian Bashore (01:08:10.072)
And it cost of entry is minimal.
Corey Heiser (01:08:31.876)
They'll have a blind draw where I get a random partner. They'll have doubles where I bring my partner and they don't have singles. And it's kind of fun. So I'm playing in three or four events while you're somewhere and your travel expenses are absorbed into that. So it's a good time.
Brian Bashore (01:08:45.826)
Small angler to cornhole pro. He heard it there from Mr. Hyzer the hammer himself. All right. Well, let's wrap this up. Corey, there's one little nugget to leave with these anglers that are listening or maybe we'll have a bunch of cornhole experts pros starting to follow along here too, trying to pick up some tips. what's little nugget or a tip to leave with these people to help them on their future angling journeys.
Corey Heiser (01:08:48.186)
Ha! Ha! Yeah. Yeah!
Corey Heiser (01:09:00.622)
Ha ha.
Corey Heiser (01:09:07.824)
You know, I think we kind of touched on it already, like confidence, would tell you this confidence is number one. Too many people are trying to mimic or do what somebody else is doing. I have learned this a long time ago. Be confident in what you're doing and understand your electronics. I do feel like that's a big thing because they will help you develop that confidence. But anybody that's ever fun fish with me knows I will never pick out your color.
because I want you to use what you want to use because you will catch more. When you're confident, you got a better attention to detail to what you're doing. You feel like every jigs stroke or every cast, you're probably going to catch one. So I guess that fish with confidence and trust your electronics would be the biggest tidbits I could give anybody out there. And you can catch plenty of fish by doing that.
Brian Bashore (01:10:04.782)
more you're 100 % I can't catch other people's fish so when they tell you they're doing this I'm like cool awesome
Corey Heiser (01:10:10.417)
So to back that up a little bit, what's funny, the worst finishes I've had in my career have been when I have gone to areas that I know it's going better for a majority of the guys and I can't do it. So I'm like still stubborn where I'm like, I'm good enough. I can figure this out and I can't make it happen on my own. I fall flat on my face and it's like last year alone.
Pool four was the better pool for fishing, right? I was down there like two or three days in practice and literally couldn't catch them. And I'm like, why do I suck so bad? And I'm like, but I could make things happen in pool three. I'm like, well, I'm just gonna stay in pool three and let it shake out. like, I could catch them better in three than I could in four, even though I knew it was better in four, but I couldn't make it happen. And it...
I had the best finish I had and that has happened to me so many times.
Brian Bashore (01:11:09.294)
And, and I had so little confidence in three, I barely gave it any time. Then when I did, I didn't catch hardly anything and it was a hundred percent. Cause I just didn't, I just didn't feel, didn't feel it mentally. And I'm just like, they're just not, not here. I meant.
Corey Heiser (01:11:15.897)
Right.
Corey Heiser (01:11:22.609)
Yep.
I've been me it bit me at the championship like Jacob was whacking him going north of the championship right and so I was fishing by him and I could grind out one or two and it was like But again my stubbornness you'd think after all these years I would learn better I was catching them better south on my own I go north in the tournament to start tournament I literally couldn't catch him and it's like you moron how many years in like like
How much does this have to get pounded into my head that no matter how much better it is, if I can't catch them, it doesn't matter. Whatever it is, it can't catch them. don't care if it's like everyone in the field will tell you, it's better there. Yeah, I know it is. I can't catch them. So I got to do something stupid and it ends up like, I don't know. All my worst finishes are that way.
Brian Bashore (01:12:00.386)
If I can't catch him, I can't catch him.
Brian Bashore (01:12:08.694)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (01:12:13.129)
I've you're not alone. I've seen it plenty of times that have been on that same end of it and realized it that I just got to move or if everybody's catching them around me and I can't, I can't take it. So I just leave, you know, and I watched the Husky do it at Chamberlain. He'll tell you he was, and he had hollered at me. He's like, what in the hell are you doing? And I'm like, I don't, there's, you're surrounded by fish, man. I don't know what, you know, for days, he's like, he just couldn't get them to divide them. He wasn't, didn't look like he was doing anything different or wrong, but it just didn't, wouldn't work.
Corey Heiser (01:12:24.72)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (01:12:41.117)
I top 10, Chamberlain two, same exact thing. Everybody was running like the lot of the community stuff just North, right? I couldn't catch those fish Brian in practice. And I go, so, so then I like make these hero runs down South and I thought, mean, everybody's like the fishing's better up North. I'm like, well, I'm not good enough apparently. So I go down South and whack them. And it's like, I look like a genius, but it's like, I remember telling Bill and Jake in that event. I'm like,
Brian Bashore (01:12:45.452)
North. Yep.
Brian Bashore (01:12:50.261)
That's the with Ed.
Corey Heiser (01:13:07.668)
I can't catch them. I don't know. cannot catch them where everyone else is catching them. So I'm like, I'm just, I gotta go find some stupid fish that will bite for me. Cause I, whatever. And then I have a great finish. So it's like every single time I just do my own thing. I'm good.
Brian Bashore (01:13:21.102)
Uh, yeah, once you recognize it and, you, can you, can you bail on it early enough? That's, that's the whole, you'll get, we get stuck. It's memories. mean, anglers in general, I think are just kind of notorious for that. So all good stuff, true stuff. All right. Well, thanks a ton, Corey. I know you're a busy man. got to get packed up for Albuquerque and hopefully your DMS will start blowing up for you soon here. So you guys need to get on the water, master those electronics, get dialed in with Corey Heiser, head over to his Facebook pages and send him some.
Corey Heiser (01:13:26.355)
Yeah.
Corey Heiser (01:13:32.731)
Absolutely.
Brian Bashore (01:13:50.83)
private messages and he'll get you scheduled on there and get you better. That's it. It's an investment. So invest into your electronics, invest into your knowledge with them. So thank you all.
Corey Heiser (01:13:59.708)
Yeah, thanks so much, Brian, for having me on and hope everyone makes some plans to get out and fish this year.
Brian Bashore (01:14:05.442)
You bet and follow along and watch him on the tour this year as well. And, to stay abreast. just follow Corey Heiser on his Facebook page and any other, social channels he's got, stay up to date what's happening and thank all you for tuning in for another episode of real talk fishing with no limits and stay safe and we'll see you on another month of hard water, probably before we get to the soft stuff.