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I'm Brian Bashore, Professional walleye angler and owner of The Walleye Guys Guide service. I am here to reel you in with captivating stories, expert tips, and interviews with some of the biggest names in the fishing community. So, sit back, relax, and let the drag scream!
Brian Bashore (00:02.22)
Hey everyone. Thanks for tuning into this episode of Real Talk Fishing with New Limits. Today we're going to talk to two-time NWT champ and he's got accolades going way back. He's been doing this pro angler fishing circuit for as long as anybody, one of the veterans on tour. he's going to provide us this, we're going to have a good chat. We're going to talk fishing, tournaments. maybe we'll dive into a little hunting. I know this gentleman and I like both like spend a little time in a tree this year and also.
touch on a little bit of a, on his boys journey over into the Baselete series where he has been just kicking some butt and having a great start to his young, young career. you know who I'm talking about the one and only Jason Sherquette or otherwise known as JP to many of us on tour. So stay tuned. It's going to be a good one and listen in as we talk to Jason Sherquette.
Brian Bashore (00:00)
voice from getting all jacked up. Yeah, exactly. All righty, we are recording. Hey folks, thanks for tuning into this episode of Real Talk Fishin' with No Limits. Today we're heading over to the beautiful Stevens Point, Wisconsin to talk to a two-time NWT champ, Jason Cherquette. What's going on over there, my friend?
Jason Przekurat (00:00)
Yeah, all right. Still got energy.
Well, it's season's over. know how it is now. I'm actually getting rid of this bolt right here behind me in about a few days and getting her all cleaned up and getting ready for deer season and start walking through the woods here a little bit.
Brian Bashore (00:37)
and maybe it'll cool down by then.
Jason Przekurat (00:39)
Yeah, it is kind of hot right now.
Brian Bashore (00:41)
It's very hot. I washed the boat, got to get the carpet cleaned out yesterday because it was nasty. Been a busy, busy month of guiding. I'm like, man, it's almost 80 degrees out in end of October. This is a...
Jason Przekurat (00:54)
It's I was golfing yesterday, it was so hot, it was kinda nice.
Brian Bashore (00:57)
Yeah, that's I mean those deer are gonna move and you and I are gonna find ourselves in a tree stand and I've had a couple bucks come out fighting on camera. I think my spot my buddy's getting the corn out this week but it's gonna be one of those deals where it's just gonna be like they're gonna move at night or the very last bit of daylight or I guess super early in the morning maybe but
Jason Przekurat (01:19)
Yeah, I've been watching cameras the last month or so and a little bit of daytime movement. I got a lease in Kansas, so I get to watch those deer from way up here. And my buddy's son shot one this week. It was 70 some degrees at night. He shot one, came right out on a food plot an hour before dark, which, you know, it's not supposed to happen, but it was a good four-year-old 10 pointer.
What do you guys call them? Five by fives, I think.
Brian Bashore (01:47)
Yep. Yep. 5 by 5. That's a good one. It's, you know, they're always say that the deer rut and the walleye spot, this shit's gonna happen regardless of what the weather is. It's just, you know, you could increase activity with a, you know, cold front or whatever the case is, but these things are happening no matter what. You know, moon phases and photosynthesis and kind like the fall bite getting turned on. You know, it's like it's so hot and like, huh, if you pay any attention to New Evertson Moe Bridge.
Jason Przekurat (01:58)
I know. Absolutely.
The dog in the oven.
Yes.
Brian Bashore (02:17)
Big fish are biting up on Lake Oahe. You know?
Jason Przekurat (02:18)
Exactly. It's that time of year, know, those fish know and regardless of the temperatures they're putting on the feed bag because they're building their egg sacs already for the spring and they got to nourish those new eggs so they're eating.
Brian Bashore (02:34)
Yep, there is a lot of bait in a lot of these systems and that's, you know, when it starts to die and this water gets cold in the Missouri River especially, then or it goes real deep, you know, they can really get going. But we're still in the 60 degrees upper 50s on water temp, so it may be a little...
Jason Przekurat (02:41)
Yeah.
Yeah, I filmed this week, next bite show and, we had 50 in the mornings and it got up to about 53. We had some cold nights last week, so it really triggered that bite. was pretty good, but, you know, as it got hotter, you thought it would have got better, you know, during the midday period. But I think it was so hot because the air temps are like 75 and, and, you know, I had a really
morning bite but afternoon bite was a little slower.
Brian Bashore (03:21)
Yeah, I've kind of been both around here morning or after late afternoon. But the river is it's flowing on Lewis Clark because they're bringing all the other reservoirs down like they do in the fall. So that means the last dam is Gavin's Point so Lewis Clark's ripping. So that water's not sitting still so it's staying warmer. When they slow it down and there's not any bays or anything but just outside the boat ramp. I mean that's low 50s. So then as soon as you pull out 200 feet and you hit the river channel, boom, it jumps way up.
Jason Przekurat (03:30)
What?
Right. Yeah.
Sure.
Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (03:50)
like man this isn't it's not getting colder but it's it's coming we're jumping all over here let's jump back you know introduce you to two-time nwt champ you got you've been doing this stuff a long time
Jason Przekurat (03:53)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (04:05)
You've got to be one of the most senior, not in age, just in experience and longevity, know, veterans on tour. Now, how long you been fishing?
Jason Przekurat (04:11)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm 54 right now. started the year I got married in 1994. I got into the MWC and I did that till 2000. Won the MWC championship in 2000 and then I jumped into the Pro-Ams that same year with the RCL and then rolled into the FLW and now the National Walleye Tour.
So it's been since 2000 Pro-Am tournaments. Never missed one. Fished every one every year.
Yeah, 2007 is when I quit my last job. I was working for Gander Mountain and decided to go all in and I guess I'm still, still kicking. So we're still doing it. It's been, it's been crazy fast. You know, it seems like, seems like I just started a few years ago and it's already been 25 years. It's crazy.
Brian Bashore (05:04)
Yeah.
You're one of the only few to do it and make it so many other guys have you know three or four other jobs It ain't easy. mean it
Jason Przekurat (05:16)
Yeah. No, no, that's the whole thing is, know, when I started doing the pro-ams, it was hard to get off of work and I was selling batteries up here in Wisconsin and eventually couldn't, couldn't make everything work like I wanted because of time off. And, and so that's why I joined Gander Mountain because Tom Keenan was my boss at the time and he did the same thing I did. So.
Brian Bashore (05:41)
Yep, he gets it.
Jason Przekurat (05:42)
He got it. So he got me the time off and then I had pretty good run there in the early 2000s and made enough money to say, yep, it's now or never. I'm going to quit this and just see how far I can take it. And that wasn't easy. It still isn't easy. It's a full-time job trying to keep everything going and keep contracts alive and, still cut some wallets to make some bonus money. You know, it's a challenge. It is.
Brian Bashore (06:07)
Yeah, it's a hustle, man. Day in and day out. People don't realize the off-the-water work that goes in. Maybe there's stuff that they don't see on social media that there's way more than what people see on there.
Jason Przekurat (06:13)
.
Now, let's...
There is, I mean, we do everything, you know how it is. It's, you know, we do, we're the sales rep, we're the agent, we're the truck drivers, we're the mechanics, we're the boat riggers, we're the fishermen, we're the spokesperson for all these companies. I mean, it's just a gamma of stuff that we have to do year round to keep, to keep everybody happy, you know, including the family and sponsors.
Brian Bashore (06:51)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (06:53)
Yeah, and then, you know, for me, catching fish during the tournaments, to me, that's my relaxing time. when I'm like, all right, this is what I know. This is what I love to do. You know, let's just go out and have fun fishing.
Brian Bashore (07:00)
Yep.
You're definitely one of the most calm and demeanor guys on the water. There's no doubt about it.
Jason Przekurat (07:13)
Yeah, it's over the years. mean, I've, you know, you do so many of these tournaments that they just kind of blend together. know, a championship's a little different to me, but at the same time, once you start fishing, you don't even think about championship. You're just thinking, all right, let's catch the five biggest. And yeah, you know, and you lose fish over the years and everybody does, you know, it's.
Brian Bashore (07:32)
Yeah, the next fish. One fish at a time.
Jason Przekurat (07:40)
Why get mad over a fish? Yeah, it might cost you a tournament, which it's cost me a couple of tournaments, but other guys have done the same thing. So just keep fishing and catch another one. know, it's, you know, why get crazy fired up about it? It's just the same for everybody. It is. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (07:56)
It's fishing, right? It's not catching, it's fishing.
Jason Przekurat (07:59)
I mean, you could do everything right in the book and hook that fish just the way you want it on the drop. Feel them crush it, set the hook, get them right to the boat and you lose them. Like, you know, what else would you do? You wouldn't do anything. So, yeah, just, I don't know. I've always been that way in my life as far as being pretty even keel playing sports growing up. And, you know, we've
Brian Bashore (08:11)
Right, hook brakes to manufacture malfunction, you know, or something and
Jason Przekurat (08:26)
We won state championships playing baseball and we were behind in the state title game by, think we were 6-2 at one point, but the whole team was like, we can still do this. We don't have an issue. We've averaged seven runs a year all year. And sure enough, we came back and won it. And, you know, it's like, it's just the way I've grew up and how I.
Brian Bashore (08:49)
It's a good attribute to have, especially in tournament fishing.
Jason Przekurat (08:52)
Yeah, it's different. I've seen guys lose it out there and I'm like, well, I mean, don't get me wrong. I'd said a few half-moms here and there, but it's, I get over it pretty quick.
Brian Bashore (08:57)
You do you, you know. yeah.
Yeah, you can get spun out pretty quick and you know, but it's really a mental game, you know, more than more than anything, just keep it in it. And you've heard that a lot over some of these other podcasts with Tom Wynn and stuff, or just like, it's only, I need one and a half fish per hour, you know, you know, when you break it down, it's like, well, that doesn't seem that difficult because you may crash, crush three on three cast, right? And in five minutes, and now your average, well, I need to catch two more in the next six hours type thing, you know, granted.
Jason Przekurat (09:06)
Yeah, it is.
Yeah.
Right.
All right.
People don't realize it either and they watch a weigh-in and a guy brings in a good bag and they don't know how his day went. They see the good result, but yeah, he might only caught five fish and they went three hours without a bite and people think, it must be easy out there. Yeah. I know.
Brian Bashore (09:38)
Yep.
Yup.
or vice versa where you threw them all back because you were going, you know, he only brought in three, he needed five, and you caught 30. You know, that happens.
Jason Przekurat (09:58)
Well, yeah, on your system I did that a couple times already. First fish of the day turns out to be the biggest one and I threw it back, you know, because it was early and I think I could do better and the next thing you know you come in with four fish. But what do you do?
Brian Bashore (10:01)
We all have to.
Yup.
Yep. Yeah, as walleye guys, we get stuck in that slot system a lot.
Jason Przekurat (10:20)
Yeah, that's a drastic thing in our world is dealing with slots and no calling. And it's stressful. It's a headache. It's no fun for anybody except for the guy that gets them in the right order. It's a lot of Right. There's a lot of luck involved and people don't realize that because of what we have to deal with.
Brian Bashore (10:25)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Right, which is usually like one person.
Jason Przekurat (10:47)
You know, I watch my son fish bass tournaments and they can call all day every day and there's no stress. You can just go out and rip fish.
Brian Bashore (10:56)
Yeah, when we hit those Illinois River, I think was a coal eerie here on, know, those Great Lakes usually are. It just takes immediately. It's like someone just took 10 pounds off your back. You're like, I just got to go fishing. A lot of times it can be kind of a numbers game for us. know, lot of them fish in the same areas and it's like, I'm going to catch a lot, but those eight pounders are in there with those fives. I just might have to go through 20 or 30 fish today. But we're on a non-coal system. You're like, I don't
Jason Przekurat (11:00)
Yeah.
Exactly.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (11:25)
Do I keep it? Do I not? Do I keep it? I, know, then you come in at noon and you're like, I don't know, I probably left a lot out there, but better safe than sorry.
Jason Przekurat (11:26)
yeah,
Nope. mean, that's all I won championship on Lake Erie out of here on was a numbers game. I'm like, okay, I got to go. I figured out how many fish I needed to catch to have five good ones during practice. And I did that on day one. I actually started the day with my first five fish in the live. Well, it was like nine pounds on Lake Erie. And I'm like, boy. But I knew.
Brian Bashore (11:55)
Welcome.
Jason Przekurat (11:56)
You know, if they keep firing through these fish, I'm going to start getting bigger ones. And by the end of the day, I had a good bag in day two and day three and ended up winning it. You know, it was just a matter of numbers and can't do that when you can't call. Well, I'm weighing in five and whatever, you know. Right? Right. So.
Brian Bashore (12:07)
But the good thing is you had five so you kind of went, okay, I can breathe. It's only nine pounds, this isn't any good, but I have my fish so I know it's nowhere but up from here. There's something about that even like when we used to able to keep six or seven is just getting that five in a box. You fish better after that. mean, it's another mentality thing, right? I can breathe, take the stress off.
Jason Przekurat (12:27)
Yeah, 100%.
Yeah, it's the world we live in with walleye fishing. It's a different game.
Brian Bashore (12:39)
So you've been doing this for a long time. What have you seen? Kind of the evolution of these walleye tournaments from Team Circus, mean, know, RCLs, PWTs, NWT, MWC. Good, bad, are we progressing? Are we digressing? We're pretty flat in a sense, I think, as well.
Jason Przekurat (12:59)
Yeah, I think the walleye industry has been pretty even for quite some time. if I look back, the glory days for me was early 2000s when I fished the RCL championship in 2000. That was their first tournament they ever ran. And I had qualified for it through the MWC championship. And there was 220 something, 30 something boats.
And actually, after two days, was leading that championship. And for me, I was running all the right equipment, and I had the $400,000 opportunity in front of me. And after two days, I was leading it, and I was fishing one little rock pile there.
coming up.
And they cut the field to the top 12 on day three. I, I'm like, all right, this is, I'm actually pretty nervous. I'm, you know, yeah. And I got 400,000 on the line. got a brand new son, Jay. He was a year old and just got married. And, the wind was blowing hard the day before. Now I don't even know how it got out.
Brian Bashore (14:00)
From 200 something to 12 and I'm in one, I'm good.
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (14:19)
Caught my fish, got in, was leading. Day three comes, 12 boats in the field. And they decided to keep us in the river, in the Fox River, because it was too rough. And I'm like, too rough? I mean, I literally saw eight and 10 footers yesterday coming back. And well, now they got all these cameras. ESPN was filming. They got helicopters flying along. Well, I know the river good enough. It was a big show. And I knew the river good enough. So I'm like, I'll just qualify in the river for the fourth day.
Brian Bashore (14:35)
Right.
when it was a big show.
Jason Przekurat (14:49)
And I did that, you know, I think I was in sixth after day three and then I'm like, just let me out in that lake. You know, all I need is three fish on the last day. As unlucky would have it, they kept us in the river on day four and I ended up sixth. just.
Brian Bashore (14:59)
Let me get my rock pile, baby. Let me get my rock pile.
Jason Przekurat (15:12)
Once again, we couldn't call, so I was throwing a few back. I was going for the win, obviously, but, you know, and then the RCL started their circuit. And back then there was, they averaged 220 boats at tournament. I looked back at all, I got all the sheets from, my mom prints all these sheets and pictures off after every tournament. all these guys fishing all these events and, and I won angler of year twice during that stint. And then that was when we were fishing for.
You know, three, 400,000 in the championship, 100,000 for the event, you know, straight cash, no boat. And that was a lot of guys and some good money and the sponsor deal started coming. You know, I ran the BP boat for four years and truck and then got on with Chevy for another two, three years. So it was.
Brian Bashore (15:58)
long time.
Jason Przekurat (16:06)
To me that was our heyday. Everything was strong. The PWT was strong.
Brian Bashore (16:14)
And now here we are getting some discounted lures as your chip or maybe an attack go allotment.
Jason Przekurat (16:19)
Yeah, mean, knock on wood, I've had a pretty good sponsored deals through the years, you know, just able to make a living doing it. I'm not going to be rich and nobody is when you do this, but make enough to have fun and pay some of the bills and, and just keep trucking along. And, you know, now I'm at the point in my career where, you know, what else am I going to do? I mean, it's, it is what it is.
You you do what you can to make a living and just have fun while you're still doing it.
Brian Bashore (16:53)
It's the whole sponsorship thing has definitely changed over the years. wasn't doing it back in the Haiti, but I hear those same stories from, you know, from traveling to Takasaki and his old Eminem jerseys and stuff like that. And it's like, what happened? Where did all these, where did this go? Why can't we, you know, I mean, I
Jason Przekurat (17:03)
Yeah.
Yep.
I know. The bottom line is I think it takes a lot of legwork and you have to have that person that does it. You know, and we had them guys back in the day that strictly went out and got these corporate sponsorships for the tour and for the anglers. You know, and now for one of us just to do it on our own is almost impossible because one person is not going to move the needle. You know, you need
Brian Bashore (17:37)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (17:37)
You need a group or a bunch of anglers out there repping that company. I've approached many big sponsors and most of them give me the same answer. Yeah, we like your proposal. We like what you do, but we're more into the corporate sponsorships, the team sponsorships, bigger stuff. Whatever it is, what it is, you just keep moving.
Brian Bashore (18:06)
Yep, or you we want you need to have a million viewers on your YouTube or 100,000 social media followers.
Jason Przekurat (18:11)
Yeah.
Well, yeah, that's the newest thing now is, you know, the sponsor gig used to be no social media because there was no social media. And now that it's all changed, you know, see the difference. And now that I watch Jay go through the Bass Masters, I get to see what his sponsors ask of him because that's a whole nother ball game up there. That's, you know, he blew by me in sponsorships in two years and I've been doing this for 20 some and.
And, but they ask a lot more of him too. So, you know, he has to invest in all his social media and spend a pile of money just to get that stuff. you know, I can't afford to do that. I can't go buy a guy to do all my work and get all my filming done.
Brian Bashore (19:02)
Right, a video photographer, know, a videographer, photographer, something to do your posting, your... I trust, I know, I do it all myself, it's a pain in the ass.
Jason Przekurat (19:07)
Yeah, know you do. You do it.
You do it all, I see your stuff and it's not easy. I tried it for two different stints for a couple years there. I even tried to, when I ran with Scotty Stile, he was the brainchild behind our live footage on the water. And this is way back before social media. And we would have our computer in the bow with all of our stuff and we had the cameras and we would broadcast it on the internet.
and had our own website and people could watch us fish and I remember catching a 10 pounder on Red Wing and I know there was like 1100 people watching me catch that fish because you could see the numbers on the screen and that was back before social media and you know I tried to go out and sell that to sponsors nobody would bite.
Brian Bashore (20:03)
ahead of its time.
Jason Przekurat (20:04)
It was too out of his thoughts, too much money, it's too this. I'm like, yeah, we're spending all of our own money to get this stuff running. It cost a lot just to get it on the internet, broadcast it, and then they would, you you'd lose signal and you have to fire it back up and do it all over during your day. While you're trying to fish and nobody bought into it, you know, and look now, you know, everybody's trying to that.
Brian Bashore (20:09)
Yeah.
Yeah, while you're trying to fish.
Yeah, that's all they want.
Jason Przekurat (20:32)
I think we were two ahead of our time thanks to Scottie Stile. was, he came up with all this stuff in the off season and it was awesome, but couldn't sell it.
Brian Bashore (20:35)
most.
It's a little, technology's come a long way, so it's a little easier to do now, but still, you're still gonna lose signal, you're still gonna drop, and it's still an investment. Especially if you want to get Starlink so you can not drop your signal. mean, that's a couple thousand dollar receiver right there alone. I've done it. I mean, really, the phone, I did it eerie for a little bit, but we can only do it on the last second day. And then it got gnarly and rough, and I'm like, we're out. It's not gonna work. Yeah, yeah.
Jason Przekurat (20:46)
It is. Yeah. 100%.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
That was rough.
Brian Bashore (21:14)
just doesn't work sometimes. think two tried it. Two or three other guys tried it too but the trick is don't start your camera when you take off. Don't start it till you get there because you're gonna lose signal on the route plus it's not like we got glass calm conditions all the time. It's gonna lose it in the drink right? It's gonna fall off the holder.
Jason Przekurat (21:24)
Get there, yeah.
Yeah. Well, I got a GoPro in Lake Erie. Trust me.
Brian Bashore (21:36)
Yep, yep, not use Yellowtech. That thing works good, but you see the difference on back to sponsor stuff like what our levels and then where Jay is, but he also has a platform, which is what our sponsors were looking at. That I mean, I'll say Bass is a huge platform, great media coverage, live coverage, all the articles, all the, mean just non-stop. have, we don't have that. No, we got Cardenas doing what he can do.
Jason Przekurat (21:41)
dear.
Yep. Yep.
Brian Bashore (22:06)
but it's also, you know, the production levels, you're talking a few thousand dollars versus a few millions of dollars.
Jason Przekurat (22:12)
Yeah. 100%. It takes money, takes manpower, it takes people that are committed to doing it. mean, Bass does it. It didn't happen overnight, obviously, but it's a millions of dollar investment for them to get all that Bass track and live footage in there on FS1. I see my kid more on TV than I see him person.
Brian Bashore (22:36)
probably do.
Jason Przekurat (22:37)
We don't live together anymore, so he's got his own place and he's always gone somewhere doing something. So yeah, it's pretty cool.
Brian Bashore (22:46)
It's busy while we're talking about him. Let's just dive into some Jay stuff. How is that being? Obviously he grew up with the tournament, know, dad making 11 fishing. So he's seen it. So he's kind of ahead of the curve in a sense. Like I get it. I understand the commitment, right? The not at home, the sacrifices, the missed birthdays and holidays, whatever it may be. I would imagine that's made him a little bit ahead of the game and better.
Jason Przekurat (23:14)
yeah, for sure. For sure. It's game ahead start on it. was, I don't know, you know how to talk about it because it was, well, for one, he's a bass fisherman because when I would come home from a tournament, he would want to go fishing. And of course I was sick of catching walleyes. So we'd go out on the river and catch bass because it was, let's just be blunt. It's easy.
Brian Bashore (23:15)
Mowin' his crap.
It's easy. Right? It's easier.
Jason Przekurat (23:40)
was a lot easier so we were setting the hook a lot and then he started fishing a tournament on the river with me when he was younger and then I caught a big largemouth at home here during the tournament and that fish hooked him for life on bass fishing tournaments and then you know at that point then it was you know he lives we live up in Wisconsin we don't have fishing in the winter
You know, and all these guys in Texas and down south, they're fishing year round, these young guys. And, you know, and I said to Jay, I, when he was probably 16, 15, I said, all right, what's going to make you better than that kid that's in Texas right now fishing in January? And we're stuck up here in the snow. I said, you can't fish, so you need to just do homework. You need to watch footage. You need to.
read whatever it takes to learn something while you're not fishing. And he's casting off the deck into the snowbank, trying to hit the targets. But he was committed. Once I told him that, because I said, some kid in Texas right now is going to whoop your ass, because he's fishing. And he's out there doing it. So I said, you need to do something to stay up with whoever that person is.
Brian Bashore (24:52)
Cause he's fishing.
Jason Przekurat (25:03)
And so he literally flipped the switch after that and was 24-7 fishing. Like no TVs, you know, he didn't play games. didn't, it was just fish, fish, fish, not doing it, but learning about it. And then once the ice goes away, you know, he picked blueberries all summer to save up enough money to go buy his crappy little bass boat so he could go out on his own.
Brian Bashore (25:13)
Yep.
Alright.
Jason Przekurat (25:31)
And then he would literally fish as much as he could. It didn't matter if it was raining cold, windy, hot. He was out there fishing and then I would just every day he'd come home. I'd say, what'd you learn? And that's it. What'd you learn today? Cause it's going to the same spot over and over. You're not learning anything. So go learn something. And I don't care if you don't catch a fish, you're still learning. And he took that to heart and
Brian Bashore (25:57)
Still learning.
Jason Przekurat (26:00)
You know, started fishing local tournaments and started doing really well. I said, well, local tournaments are fine, but you're never going to make a living doing it. So we need to get you to the next level, get in some bigger events Midwest, other States did that did good. And then we got them in as a coangler in the opens. And, he actually traveled with Pat and I son Adam and I.
and got lucky enough to win a few out of the back of the boat. Saved up some money from winning those two tournaments and bought a, actually bought the Sturgeon Bay Open prize boat from Corey Springle and Corey won it that year. So Jay bought that boat. We rigged it up a little better with some more stuff on it because it was just a Plain Jane Ranger 18 foot bath boat.
Brian Bashore (26:51)
it.
Jason Przekurat (26:53)
Took that into the opens and, and his first year qualified for the elites. And then it was whole shit where he are. We are in the opens. He's got an 18 foot boat. He's got 45,000 in entry fees due in less than a month. And he was only 21 and a half or so years old. He didn't have that money. And I don't fund them. Cause I told them right away.
Brian Bashore (27:01)
you
Yeah.
Chalk a change. Yeah.
You're like, I don't have 45 extra laying around for you, buddy.
Jason Przekurat (27:24)
Well, I said, you're going to do this. It's going to be on your dime because that's the only way you appreciate a dollar. And it makes you work harder because you know, it's your own money. And, it was stressful going into that first elite season because, well, number one, we had to get a bunch of sponsors because you got to have a boat wrap. You got to have, he had to have a bigger boat. 18 footers, not going to cut it.
Brian Bashore (27:47)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (27:49)
So we had to do all that dirty work, which that helped being that I knew a lot of people and had contacts. He could actually know who to call and who to talk to and how to talk to them and all that stuff. It's a process, but got all that done. He jumped into the elite series and had a fantastic rookie season, won the tournament on St. Lawrence. So he a hundred thousand on that one. And then that set him off for, for what he's done to this point, which
Brian Bashore (28:01)
It's a process.
Jason Przekurat (28:17)
You know, it's remarkable to see in short amount of time. I can't even put it in words, it's crazy.
Brian Bashore (28:27)
Yeah, it's certainly fun watching it when you, you know, I don't know Jay like you, but I know of him and talk to him plenty and it's like, hey, I know that guy when he was even a little bit, little, little, earlier, not a whole lot, but you know, it's cool and he's got all the walleye guys behind him.
Jason Przekurat (28:42)
Yeah. There's a lot of all I guys that follow Bassmaster now. It's crazy.
Brian Bashore (28:47)
yeah, there is, know, Wiesner fished a classic. Then you had, you know, Adam, out of Sturgeon Bay fishing it, you know, last year. mean, I was there, you know.
Jason Przekurat (28:50)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yep. What's funny is I've known Adam since he was about eight. And he grew up in Stevens Point right where we are. Adam worked with me at Gander Mountain when he was really young. then he took off into the fishing world. We were both guiding at the time and working. And then he moved to Sturgeon Bay to guide more for salmon and bass and all that.
And then to see him make it to the classic. So him and Jay were actually sharing information during the tournament and then both of them were in the top three. And that was a fun week because Adam's family was there. were there. We were all, well, you were there. Yeah. So we got to see a lot of people.
Brian Bashore (29:42)
Yep, yep.
Yep, and it's they're in Texas this March, right?
Jason Przekurat (29:49)
Texas next March, yes Lake Ray Roberts, yeah, we'll be flying down there We're not gonna drive. That's just too far. So got a pile of us flying down and gonna have a good time
Brian Bashore (29:52)
Yeah mate, Ray Roberts, that's right.
Yeah, that's a good little getaway while you're freezing your tails off up north. Hopefully we got ice out again by that time around here, but it's still a little early. You also only be about a month away from your first tournament for the year.
Jason Przekurat (30:10)
Yeah.
Yeah, I should have my boat and I'll be rigging it about that time.
Brian Bashore (30:21)
Alright, so you got that one sold, so good on you finding a buyer in this market right now, because...
Jason Przekurat (30:25)
Yeah, it's been a tough market. There's no doubt about it. I'm fortunate to have a few repeat buyers. So, you know, once the guys use them for three, four, five years, they sell them and then they buy them.
I got this one sold and then next year I actually do not have a buyer so if anybody's out there looking for a boat another year or so I've got one here that's going to be fully rigged and ready to go but 21s I run, yeah, 61s, 400 Verado V10, yep.
Brian Bashore (30:55)
622 or 21? 21...400?
Yeah, I'm trying. I haven't listed mine yet. I'm still waiting to get going trying to go to that new ZV-21. So working stuff there and I'm like, I don't know. I know. I got 700 hours. No, I mean, I brought it. got 700 hours on my boat and it's only three years old. So, you know, moving that which to me is that motor's run flawlessly.
Jason Przekurat (31:09)
Yep.
They're not cheap, they?
Yeah, motor issues aren't like they used to be. They're pretty durable nowadays. Hours, yeah, hours are not that big a deal anymore.
Brian Bashore (31:28)
got extended warranty on it and it the real no and most of the guys that are buying from us are weekend guys or what have you and they're gonna put 40 hours on it the next few years anyway so you're not gonna put 200 on it or plus a year like I do and I'm sure you're probably putting them up there too
Jason Przekurat (31:39)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, I think I'm at like 175 hours or something.
Brian Bashore (31:51)
Yeah, yup, it's I use it every day, almost. So it's when you're on the river, yeah, and you're on the river, you know, it's 20 miles this way, they did 20 miles back every morning, and it's like, man.
Jason Przekurat (31:55)
Yeah, you're out there more than me for sure.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, you don't just idle out and start fishing.
Brian Bashore (32:06)
No, no. In the fall here, we can start to put one more tank of gas in it for the year and that'll probably last, but otherwise it's not. It's 15, 20 gallons every day, but that's fishing. So I love a nice boat ride. So even like Skakowia, those 50, 60 mile trips with makeup and I watch you fly by me with your 400, but I'm like, this is cozy. know, it's kind of a nice way to start the morning. It's kind of like driving to work for an hour, right?
Jason Przekurat (32:29)
Yeah, I know. I do like those rides actually in the morning. They're kind of fun and get you fired up for the day.
Brian Bashore (32:35)
Well, you gotta, yeah, you get a little relaxed. Everything's going through your mind. You get to see other people kind of stop at other places you're thinking about. You're kind of like, all right, I know that spot sucks. So if he's there, he's not on something. Or vice versa. You come in, you're like, crap, that guy must have gone where I was gonna go, you know? But it's, yeah, when it's nice out, now when it's like you're on rough or something, you're like, man, or Green Bay, day one, where it was supposed to be nice. And you're like, well, this isn't what I was expecting.
Jason Przekurat (32:42)
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
I know I went all the way to Big Beta Nock not expecting to go there because I had a couple spots closer and those turned into salmon water, ice cold, glare. And I'm like, well, I got no choice now. Hang on. we sent it all the way up there and fished for an hour and 40 minutes maybe. Yeah, fish were gone. Didn't catch any.
Brian Bashore (33:18)
Yep.
At least you had the right boat for it. mean, when you get into the 21 footers, there's definitely a difference in the 20s when you start dealing with some bigger way. It's amazing what a foot in a boat length difference it makes. It blows my mind.
Jason Przekurat (33:30)
Yeah.
Yeah, that's why I switched. I always ran a 20 for years and years and years. And then I got passed and coming out of Detroit, going out in the Lake Erie by a 21 footer. And I got passed like, and he was just drinking coffee. I was bouncing around like a bull rider. And I'm like, all right, that's it. Next year, 21 footer. I've had one ever since.
Brian Bashore (33:53)
And he's just like...
Yeah. Yup.
Yeah, I'm surprised that my nitro head is really well in the rough and I pass a lot, but my boat's not fast. I'm 55, 56, gone 60, but I think it just trim taps. Boy, I should have got those a long time ago.
Jason Przekurat (34:15)
Trem tabs are nice. yeah, if nobody uses them and you ever want to think about using them, use them. Because it is a lifesaver. It's so much nicer to ride in waves when I got the zip wakes on this thing. you know, it's actually enjoyable to go through waves now instead of brutal. Yeah, well, no, you can get them out. But but yeah, you they're they're
Brian Bashore (34:35)
And those are just standard now, aren't they? On the newer Rangers.
Jason Przekurat (34:45)
They're made to be put in there, they're not cheap, but they're worth every penny.
Brian Bashore (34:49)
think mine was like a $1,500 upgrade for the Lencos a few years ago when I bought it and I'm like yeah let's try those out. I've seen it and I may could have been, I'm sure there are a lot more now, but whatever what the case, I'd rather get rid of a graph and not get rid of, I'll go with one less graph, give me the trim tabs. For sure, these are way, way nice.
Jason Przekurat (34:57)
Yep.
True story. True story. You know, because you don't know what you got for a person with you. It could be a little guy, a big guy, a camera guy. So three people. You need to be able to adjust that boat so it rides level and you're not beating yourself and your boat up. It's just, it's a lifesaver.
Brian Bashore (35:23)
And the things you can do with them, I remember Spring Valley, the wind was ripping against the current, so that was a mess. Kind like why they canceled our Detroit River that day one. But I put both trim tabs down, I think it was a practice day, but I put them both down and just floored it and went right into it and just kept that nose just boom.
Jason Przekurat (35:44)
You know, it stops you from doing this.
Brian Bashore (35:47)
The guy with me was like, I was like, watch this. And I just put them both down and sped up. And you know, I have them only going 50 now because I got all that drag, but he's like, hey, is all right. Yeah, definitely a very, very good investment. You said you touched on a show. What's coming up on NextBite stuff that you can share? You did some shows probably this summer. I know fall is always real busy for you guys. You've been shooting stuff all over.
Jason Przekurat (35:56)
nice.
Yeah.
Yep. Yep. Yeah, we shoot, you know, so people don't know about us. Part of the Next By TV, we've got myself, Chase Parsons, Gary Parsons, Corey Springel, and Tommy Kemos out there filming. And, you know, it's busy for us in the summer with all the tournaments and stuff going on. We get a few shows done during the summer, but like right now we do quite a few shows.
And I just, did one this summer. actually shot up in Northern Wisconsin with Nick shirts. I've never fished with Nick and I've known him forever. And we shared a boat together up there and we actually pounded the big ball eyes up there, which is pretty rare for Wisconsin. We don't have a lot of good lakes that we can just catch 25 to 27 inch wall eyes. And we hit the perfect day, the perfect everything. And
Brian Bashore (36:49)
Sharp guy.
Jason Przekurat (37:09)
And man, we caught the crap out of it. That's going to be a good show for us. And was flat calm, no sun right overhead, no boats. I mean, it was like a dream shoot. So we had a blast doing that. And then I just filmed one here a week ago, a few days ago. And I caught a pile of smallmouth. I'm a...
Brian Bashore (37:20)
Perfect filming conditions.
Jason Przekurat (37:33)
I mean, I don't fish a lot of walleyes other than tournaments, to be honest with you, because we've got so many great bass lakes and rivers nearby that, and of course, then I got my kid fishing bass. So I do a lot of bass fishing and found another good bite on some river smallies that was phenomenal. mean, they were, this time of year, they stack up. They start wintering and when you find them, they're loaded and there's...
Brian Bashore (37:55)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (38:00)
probably 50 fish in these schools on this river system. I know I caught like 12 casts, 12 fish and just ripped on them. So that's gonna be a good show. A lot of hooks, that's a lot of quality smallies. I'm done filming for the year now. I'm getting rid of everything and the bow is sitting right over here and I'm headed to Kansas here quick.
Brian Bashore (38:26)
Yeah, it is that time. It'll be I think right around Halloween or after I'm going to go and heading off to Colorado. catch you.
Jason Przekurat (38:34)
I'm going to Colorado too. actually Jay and I are going November 12th to Eastern Plains, Colorado, mule deer spot and stock archery. So we're looking forward to that. It's going to be, well, I've never done it before. He's never done it. So.
Brian Bashore (38:44)
Make us some good mealies. Fun.
some big meal. I'm going fly fishing into a Broncos game. So we go every, why would I go catch a Broncos game every year and stay a couple extra days, get a lot of hiking in and
Jason Przekurat (39:01)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (39:05)
day and then coming back through the hills. Then it's Bohun.
River, South Dakota mule deer, which is a
lands. That's just, she loves it, I love it. We go out there and you know, have South Dakota got a pretty long season. You got three weekends. Hopefully you get it done on the first, you don't have to make another four or five hour drive. But then again, it's like, I get to come back and spend another week, you know, crawling around the grasslands. It's not that heartbroken.
Jason Przekurat (39:26)
Sure.
Yeah.
Yep. Yeah, that's my plan is a Kansas November, hopefully shoot one before I head to Colorado. I'm going to leave right from Kansas to Colorado because it's close. But if I don't tag out in Kansas, I'll just come back after my mule deer hunt and continue whitetail hunting in Kansas until I tag one. And, know, I don't hunt much in Wisconsin anymore. I probably get five, six days in here, but you know.
Brian Bashore (39:49)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (40:05)
We deal with a lot of small parcels and it's hard hunting and we got good deer, but we all have Kansas deer.
Brian Bashore (40:08)
Yeah.
You a lot of You don't have Kansas or Iowa deer. Even Nebraska and Colorado Eastern Colorado muleys are, those are the Western Nebraska muleys and there's some big ones like in Western South Dakota muleys are, right up there. Not quite like Montana, but they're there. Yeah. And spotting stock with a bow is definitely a trip and you're going to hit it probably early or even mid rut.
Jason Przekurat (40:22)
Yeah.
Yep, yep. Looking forward to that, you know, something different.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's what they tell me. It should be right.
Brian Bashore (40:42)
And who knows, could be snowing, it could be 70 degrees. So one thing is it's dry. It is extremely dry. So we haven't had rain for almost two months.
Jason Przekurat (40:45)
Right.
Yeah, it's been dry here too, same thing.
Brian Bashore (40:57)
You you talk about all the bass fishing tonight. talked about this on another podcast. And Jay and kind of thinking like Jay and Adam, lot of, know, Gus, the other northern bass anglers are probably some of the more diverse anglers. Obviously we got more, you know, more smallies than large mouth type fishing. but it's, they don't get to fish all winter or all year. I mean, a lot of them, you know, or have moved to Texas or
They just got to become more diverse, which obviously makes them better. And then you fish in, you know, all the bass on your off time. So many of these bass techniques transfer over to walleye fishing, big time. I was, was whacking them on drop shots a couple of days ago.
Jason Przekurat (41:42)
Yeah. Yeah. People don't realize it, how much they correlate in not only techniques, but areas too. mean, yeah. I mean, day one of the championship this year when, when the walleyes kind of pulled out because the water cooled and got clean on my number one spot, the smallies moved in there and they were big. The first one I caught was five and three quarter during the championship. I'm like,
Brian Bashore (41:50)
Yeah, think if you've got small age around, you've wall age around.
Jason Przekurat (42:08)
This is not, I love these fish, but not right now. Yeah. And I talked to Kim Olson, he caught a pile of big smallies up where he was about a quarter mile away from me. And, yeah, it's a lot of that stuff works. You know, drop shot. It's been, it's always been tied on in my boat for the last probably six years. and it's. Rigg actually caught one, caught a walleye film and smallies two days ago on a.
Brian Bashore (42:11)
You're like, really kind of want to stay here for a while.
Ned rig doesn't come off over drops out of Ned rig always on.
Jason Przekurat (42:38)
On that rig they eat the crap out of that thing too.
Brian Bashore (42:41)
lot of walleyes on an edrig this summer.
Jason Przekurat (42:45)
Now, trying to get a chatterbait bite going for walleyes. I'm sure it's gonna work somewhere. I know I've caught a pile of them on a swim jig, is a notoriously abass smallie and largie bait, but I have caught quite a few.
Brian Bashore (43:00)
It works and I think you might get that opportunity at lacrosse this coming year.
Jason Przekurat (43:03)
Yeah, lacrosse would be a player. You know, my biggest walleye I've ever caught in my river, which is the Wisconsin River, not a big, big river, by no means a lot of shallow water. I've caught it on a white spinner bait fishing for bass. Go figure. So yeah, I mean, there's.
Brian Bashore (43:20)
Alright.
There's a lot of big wall I caught in the Mississippi River by the bass guys. Done.
Jason Przekurat (43:26)
a ton. A ton. Because they fish areas we don't. So they see water that we don't see and they're chucking around fast off and catching big walleyes. Bigger baits, Yep.
Brian Bashore (43:31)
Yep. Yep.
and typically big baits. mean just for how how a largemouth eats. Yeah that's I don't know I think you're seeing more of that kind of guys like yourself always having that drop shot tied on and and doing these things and I mean maybe we're drop shotting with a leech you know or a crawler you know you know
Jason Przekurat (43:57)
Sure. Yeah, you just change your date, you know, they're not gonna eat a plastic but that's another thing I want to talk about is his live bait in all my tournaments because I think it's a topic that needs to be talked about because our our circuits are Being dominated in the last two years by a jig and a nightcrawler No, but it's most no secret and that does nothing for our industry
Brian Bashore (44:11)
It's time to move on.
Yes, yes they are.
Jason Przekurat (44:27)
It doesn't help our sponsors. Nobody's buying a crankbait. Nobody's buying a planer board.
needs to change. And it would open up our world immensely if we went artificially only, for sure. We would show people new stuff and newer designers would be excited because we're coming up with new ideas. It's hard for them guys to come up with new baits every year. And we're just throwing a plain old jig and a night crawler around. It's not a good thing.
Brian Bashore (45:00)
making their job easier for them because they don't have to come up with new baits now. But they're not so elated. We need to make it more difficult for them. I mean they're coming up with the Tugstead or the forward-facing sonar design baits, right, so you get better returns. But I'm with you. Let's kick out the crawlers because it's as effective as it is and we can use those guiding or funfishing or whatever. But I just hate the mess of my boat, man, and the hassle of getting bait.
Jason Przekurat (45:03)
Yeah, but they're not selling anything because you're
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
It's a pan.
Brian Bashore (45:29)
buying bait, keeping it alive, quick chubs, know, whatever the case may be. Let's eliminate it and level that playing field forward. Especially when you're on fisheries where guys can't get certain baits or you have all the bait laws in Canada versus, I mean, we're not ever going Canada again. Probably someone has to worry about it. But what's a worm, an earthworm versus a nightcrawler, right? What the hell? Come on, man. We won't go there, but it's a willow cat or did you get it on this side of the river? I mean, it's just a hassle.
Jason Przekurat (45:32)
Yep.
Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Mwah.
It is plain old headache is all it is. And it's not cheap. How many times have you spent $300 on jobs and willow cats and it's awful. So yeah, let's just do away with it. I mean, if you're out there listening, I mean, I'm part of the AIM board and we're talking about it, you know, trying to get rid of it. It's, yeah, it needs to happen.
Brian Bashore (46:01)
You know.
Yeah.
You know, Hyzer and Morris did that years ago when they artificialized when they were in the NJC and they did well. Hell, they might have even won team of the year, right? So, don't tell me this stuff don't work. I mean, bring it back and maybe the aim is just going to need somebody to start with it. Maybe we start slow. One tournament this year. You know, and don't make it.
Jason Przekurat (46:30)
The main one team of the year. Yes. Yes. Well.
Yeah, yeah, let's do one.
Brian Bashore (46:48)
frickin' Dunkirk, New York, where 90 % of people are gonna be using artificial anyway. you know, Mississippi River, a little more of a challenge.
Jason Przekurat (46:54)
Yeah, it's just something that needs to happen. I don't know. I'm sure you agree with me because it's a hassle.
Brian Bashore (47:00)
Yeah, completely.
and it's you know fall we're into the fall by you just did some shows artificial some it's glide bait season you know people this these came out years ago as ice fishing and then i love it like i'm at devil's lake now that's that's all i'm using it's going to be tied on in certain places it's excels but i know that you work with samuel and you guys put out a new glide bait this year tell us a little bit about that
Jason Przekurat (47:29)
Yeah, I've been working with Salmo now. They're part of the Strike King and Lose family. We've got some cool baits that are now on the market. And this one here is actually the glide bait that we developed. This is the Salmo iGlide. I had a lot of information goes into this one from me about glide baits, because I've used them all. I'd buy them all just to see which one's better and which one's not.
What with this one what I wanted them to do was number one. I wanted to build a Number seven size so it's the smaller version of a jig wrap Number seven, but it's a size nine weight So it's a heavier bait, but it's smaller so when they grab this thing they got it. It's You know they've got it Right, you know and then what I
Brian Bashore (48:14)
Okay.
There's no sniff in a glide bait. It's all or none.
Jason Przekurat (48:26)
Wanted him to do was make a bait that we don't lose as many fish on because these are notorious for losing fish Well, what I did is I put a swivel on the top. So your line tie is a swivel So you get number one no line twist, which is bad for digging wraps And number two now we don't have to run a swivel up here on our leader
Brian Bashore (48:32)
Yep, I can see that bottom hook.
Jason Przekurat (48:50)
We can just tie direct to this thing or you can use a crankbait snap, whatever you want to use. And then I also put a swivel on the bottom so the hook down here swivels 360 degrees. So they can't get leverage on these heavy baits and throw it. then the hook on the back is a, I don't want to call it big, I don't want to call it small, I call it perfect size. Yeah, little round bend, wide gap.
Brian Bashore (49:01)
I can't throw it as easy.
A little wide gap basically.
Jason Przekurat (49:17)
And then the tail is integrated right into the body. It goes all the way up to here and then there's three areas where this bait goes through that tail. So it's actually part of the bait. And it's a little bit thicker tail design than most so it's not going to break when you get a fish in the net or somebody accidentally steps on it or whatever. Yeah, we hit a bridge, whatever.
Brian Bashore (49:39)
I already hit a bridge throwing against a bridge piling all day.
Jason Przekurat (49:44)
You know, that's the one. We've got a ton of colors in this thing. Probably 14 or 16 colors and some unique ones that you don't see, you know, that the other companies have. So I was able to use this quite a bit. this is the Salmo i-Glide.
Brian Bashore (49:57)
Salmo. What was the name of it again? The Easy Glide? I Glide.
Yes, no more replacing fins or just throwing away the nine dollar lure because the fins broke on it.
Jason Przekurat (50:13)
Yeah, exactly. Yep, I've thrown away more glide baits because they're broke and that's not fun. They're too expensive to just chuck away because the tails broke off or whatever.
Brian Bashore (50:27)
Yep. Yeah, I've looked all over like Amazon, eBay, trying to find packages of fins or putting fins on that aren't original but they worked and now every time I like buy a shiver metal I immediately just glue the fin on and just run Tupa Glue on the bottom of it.
Jason Przekurat (50:34)
Yeah.
How about the ones you change the treble hook on because it's not the right one and then you open up the eye and it breaks and then you throw that one away. This one comes with a it comes with the right treble hook on it and it has a little split ring on it so easy.
Brian Bashore (50:46)
Yep.
People would probably say they lose more fish on a jig and wrap than anything. I personally don't. I don't know why. Maybe I don't rip as hard or too hard or maybe I'm just not catching enough of them to lose enough of them. I don't know.
Jason Przekurat (51:08)
Yeah, well, my theory is, because I do catch a lot too. I don't lose as many, but I like to feel them bite it. And if you don't feel them bite it, the odds of you catching that fish are a lot less. So if you're just crashing it into the bottom slack line and you go to lift up and that fish had it pinned down, well, when he's got it pinned down, you don't know where he's got it.
Brian Bashore (51:33)
Yep.
Jason Przekurat (51:35)
So I like to rip them, but on the way down, I follow it down. So I give them time to find it and actually swallow it. And if you feel them bite it, you're not going to lose them. that's, just enough. Yep.
Brian Bashore (51:38)
follow.
Nope, that's exactly what I do. I follow it down. First couple times I'll count. It took two seconds to hit bottom. So I'm like, rip. One and a half, boom. Then rip and not completely slack. But yeah, once you feel it, if you can feel a tick on a jig and wrap, he's got it. He inhaled it and then instead of letting it lay, you're on it. When you're just letting it lay on complete slack, you're snagging some of those fish because they spit it back out.
Jason Przekurat (51:59)
Right,
yeah, yeah, and we don't need that in a tournament because you don't, you know, don't hook them outside the face, can't keep them. And what good is that? You know, catch a nine pounder and he's hooked up here somewhere and throw him back. That was fun.
Brian Bashore (52:27)
Yep.
Yeah, and those hooks are, there's a lot of hooks on those baits, so you're doing a little damage to that fish's face for sure. But it's a fun bite, fun, fun bite when it works and that fall, know, late summer to fall is a great time for it.
Jason Przekurat (52:35)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yep, we filmed last fall Drake Hurd and I filmed the show with glide baits. We were on a Minnesota lake, relatively small and we found the fish with live sonar and they were out. We were almost ready to give up on the lake because we just couldn't find them. And Drake said, I got one more area we want to look at. It was just a little hard bottom spot. Didn't come up at all. It was out in the basin.
had a couple rocks on it, mostly gravel, and it was like 18 to 20 feet of water, if I remember correct. And as we idled across it, we saw it on side imaging, and I said to Drake, those look like walleyes over there, kind of sitting on sand, you know, in between the rocks, and I'm like, let's just mark them, we'll keep driving, and then we'll turn around and we'll come back and look at them with forward.
And sure enough, we turned around, came back through and I saw them sitting there and I'm like, those are wise. And there was probably a dozen of them around us, you know, schools of four and three. And we actually started casting at them with normal stuff and they wouldn't react. They were like dormant. It was cold, you know, it was this time of year. And I finally threw a glide bait to them and the first one got fired up.
Brian Bashore (54:00)
though.
Jason Przekurat (54:08)
and chased it and I actually missed him because he was like crazy fired up. He came screaming up and missed it. And I'm like, and then I threw back in there and then it was the next six cast just boom, bang, boom. All big ones, 27, 28, 27, 28. And probably the funnest six cast I've ever had fishing. And but all of those, I could feel him bite it, you know.
Brian Bashore (54:12)
Whoa.
Jason Przekurat (54:33)
But we had to get them fired up first. They weren't swimming. They weren't moving.
Brian Bashore (54:37)
And that's the opposite of what a lot of people would probably do when they see those lackluster fish laying there. They're going to go live bait, throw it out there, slip bobber, let it sit. And I would do, let me throw something out there to get them. Cause you can get one fired up. That's sometimes all it takes. Kind of like a school of smallies.
Jason Przekurat (54:45)
All right. Slip lob, we're live, yeah.
Yep, it all takes. And I don't even think sometimes you don't even need to get them fired up by the bait. I think you could fire them up just by getting them to move. Like you spook them, get them to start swimming around, and then all of a sudden, okay, what's going on? These fish are disoriented, and now you throw back at them, and you throw this jig wrap or glide bait at them, and now they're curious.
Brian Bashore (55:02)
Yeah. Yeah.
I have that same theory or philosophy where I guide we fish very shallow, two to six, two to eight foot all summer, 100 degrees, doesn't matter. Little tiny shoots, West End of Lewis and Clark. And I didn't crank it much this year at all just because it was too many weeds and stuff floating down river. just couldn't crank so you get light bait. But you'll make a half mile drift, then you just fly back up and you drift so you're flying over them.
Jason Przekurat (55:41)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (55:49)
But when they are cranking it, it's, and I'm running lead. So James Leonard and I were at one and he's like, you're running lead? I'm like, yeah, I'm running like little four, four and a half rattling hornets, 25 to 40 feet of line, you know, three miles an hour. it's freaking phenomenal. And I go to the rattle just cause it's a little, you're lucky if you got a foot or so of water clarity. He's like, that shallow. I'm like, yeah, it's lead, but you're booking. I'm like, they're not, I swear to God, the kicker motor is kicking, it gets them up.
Jason Przekurat (56:01)
My favorite bait for trolling. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (56:16)
You're making a mess and disturbing everything in that system and they are like they got to move and then here's this I mean I've got It's funny caught one on a crank off the side rod or in 12s outside shorties out the back while I'm bringing it in He ate the other crank on the shorty rod Yeah, I came in with two samples in his mouth purple Vikings I'm like, gotta be kidding me. This are we that hungry? I was like, you got another one on bring it in and
Jason Przekurat (56:33)
No. Seriously.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (56:45)
Both baits. I have a picture of it, so both baits are that same. But it's not like it snagged him. He ate both baits. Two purple Vikings. Yeah, probably four foot of water in the lead core. That's it. Sometimes just, I mean, I even got into flats and seen them on sidescan and it wouldn't go and just went and drove. Just stirred it up. I'm like, what's worst case? not gonna, we're gonna continue to not catch them or they're gonna get up and start moving around and, you know, and let it calm down a little bit and then start throwing to them.
Jason Przekurat (56:55)
Yeah.
now.
Right, right.
I got that exact story. We fished an AIM artificial only tournament up in Brimley, Michigan, which is up by Lake Superior. And I found my fish close to take off in the weeds and four feet of water. And so I was just pitching a plastic and a jig, rip jigging it, and was doing really well the first two days, top five. And then day three came around and got in there, no bites. Water was clean.
cleaner, real clean. I could see bottom in some areas where you couldn't see two feet before. And same thing, nobody's, there's three, four boats in this whole area and nobody's catching anything. And I was already limited out the first two days by this time. And I said, I'm gonna do something pretty crazy here. When Michael Engler looked at me, he's like, what are you gonna do? I go, I'm gonna stir this place up.
Brian Bashore (57:42)
Dookling.
Yeah.
Yep.
Jason Przekurat (58:09)
And it's just a muddy, crappy, weedy, four foot bay. And I trimmed the motor up about halfway and I started it up and I put the throttle down so the bow was going like this and I just started doing figure eights. And Dan Plouts was fishing that area and I drove by him and I said, I hope I'm not pissing y'all. He goes, no, actually, he goes, actually I'm pretty excited because I was.
Brian Bashore (58:30)
I'm sorry but yeah, because I'm making a big wake.
Jason Przekurat (58:38)
stirring up the place and he was trolling and he literally trolled back right where I just went through my mud line and caught one. Nobody's even caught one in the last four hours. And so then I got done making my mud trail and I turned around, I grabbed my jigs and I started pitching and within 45 minutes had a limit. you know, just doing that. Stirring up the water because it was too clean, the fish were not biting.
Brian Bashore (59:04)
It's.
Jason Przekurat (59:09)
And bang, everybody caught him and it was...
Brian Bashore (59:13)
cats out of the bag. See now we've told everybody our little secrets to activate lethargic fish.
Jason Przekurat (59:16)
I mean exactly I've driven around rock piles where I know the fish are on Green Bay and you know if they're there and not biting just fire up the motor and drive over their head get them swimming
Brian Bashore (59:30)
It's like slip-bombing, right? A lot of guys will run the motor. My boat created a giant canopy and I don't need them fishing underneath them. I want them fishing out here. So it makes a noise and get them away. These are things you learn in years of experience in turban fishing when you got to get outside the box and try. It doesn't always work, but when you're in a situation where it's like, what does it... It can't get any worse than not catching any.
Jason Przekurat (59:38)
help.
Well.
Yeah. I do.
You're beating a dead horse. Why not change?
Brian Bashore (1:00:00)
Right, I got nothing to lose.
Yep. Yep. the things, the look on your co-engager's face, because I've said it before, is hang on. I'm gonna do something really crazy. And they're just like, what in the hell is he gonna do? You know, but that is light bulbs too. They're like, man, that makes sense. And then, you know, that's why they sign up.
Jason Przekurat (1:00:18)
now.
Yeah, exactly. I I forgot to even mention that too. I fished as a coangler my first year. I think it was 95, whatever it was, way back when. And I was only going to do one tournament on Mille Lacs as a coangler. This is back in the Nawa National.
circuit, but it was all the big names the PWT guys were fishing a lot too and and I went there just to learn on Mille Lacs and took second place in that tournament, but Wasn't gonna do any more while I turn and so I was gonna be my one and only I just wanted to go there learn
Brian Bashore (1:00:43)
You
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (1:01:02)
And I learned so much in three days with three different pros. was ridiculous. then bought a big boat from one of the pros that year. And then I jumped in the MWC the next year thinking, know everything. know, these guys showed me all the new stuff and it's going to be easy. And I didn't cash a check for three years because driving the boat and finding those fish is the hardest part. You know, the catching part is not that hard.
So it took me a while to figure it out on how to catch fish in the river and the lake and the reservoir and the Great Lake and eventually put the pieces together. But going back to being a coangler, yeah, that's something Jay did, that's something I did. All the guys that are doing it, you learn so much from guys like me and you and learning different bodies of water and presentations. it's, let me, I'll just face it, it's a...
Brian Bashore (1:01:59)
Yeah, yeah, and that's... Theoretically, I it's a hell of a deal. You know, for... Right. Yeah, and your... Guide says, we're done. We're... you...
Jason Przekurat (1:02:02)
Yeah, unless you go on Lake Erie and 40-millimeter winds, it's not so fun.
Michael Heimler, not picking on him, but he didn't like it. And he sat in a passenger seat for five and a half hours, just puking over the side and couldn't do anything. And I even asked him, are you get seasick? And he said, no. I fish big water. And yeah, well, that's different big water.
Brian Bashore (1:02:24)
yeah.
No, my-
I fished till 930 on day two of Elyria and Mike looked at my color was white as a ghost and soon as we got to spot a and it wasn't it was manageable caught a few fish, but he's like I've never been and stuff like that and then Going back and pretty much the worst place between the two islands where the Was ripping through which was wrong should have went the other way around Made it worse and try to hit a couple spots and it was I can't still get explained It was some overpowering thing was this like dude just
Jason Przekurat (1:02:53)
yeah.
Yep.
Yeah. I was there too. I think most of the guys were there like, God, you know, cause you know how big it got real fast and you know, breaking over the back and you're standing calf deep in water.
Brian Bashore (1:03:06)
You're out, you're done, just.
yeah.
Yeah, I'm like, if I get to that lighthouse area, I can at least troll over there all day. I'm not going to get, you know, at least get a limit and stay for points-wise in the top 40-50, not drop to a Hunter's because I brought in two fish and was halfway to Chicago by noon. So, you know, but yeah, but live to live to fish another day. And it's just, I know the Coast Guard had to go out and pull somebody in and somebody else, a couple of boats broke down and you rattle a lot of stuff loose, you know, and battery cables and
Jason Przekurat (1:03:35)
Yeah, that was bad. Yeah, sir. Yeah, sir.
Brian Bashore (1:03:49)
you're into that you're just kind of... then you're really so helpless you're like my kicker motor is not going to get me in.
Jason Przekurat (1:03:56)
It's nothing to play with people. I mean, when you get out in big water and then the storms roll in or the big gusts. It is not cool. I don't care what kind of boat you're in. You can be submerged in 10 minutes. One of my buddies, Pat Bile got submerged in FLW tournament out there. So I've seen the boat carnage. I've seen him white as a ghost. I've seen him quit fishing for two years because of trauma, know, PTSD, whatever you want to call it.
Brian Bashore (1:03:58)
No.
No.
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (1:04:27)
It's not something you play with.
Brian Bashore (1:04:30)
bilge pump isn't very big. It's pretty small pump and they do a great job keeping up but when you get that thing you got water reaching the top of the live well.
Jason Przekurat (1:04:40)
Yeah, you need to be a good boat handler. need to understand how to drive in that stuff. You need to know how to fish in that stuff. You can't just hope for the best. You can be swimming really fast.
Brian Bashore (1:04:43)
Yeah.
it goes south real fast. alright, guys, we'll wrap this up. got, I always ask everybody if they got a little tidbit nugget to leave with the listeners, help them on their angling journeys. Pros, co's, new, novice, beginners, first-timers, it don't matter. Any tips or advice for
Jason Przekurat (1:05:14)
You know, I see way too many people just fishing. I watched a guy on the river a few weeks ago. was near one of my favorite spots. And as I got up there, he was 70 yards off. So I eased my way in there and I fished my spot. And he had his back to me and I just started peeling on walleyes because the walleyes were on the specific junk, snaggy mess that I know about. And I knew he was on nothing.
It's all sand where he was. And I peeled about 10 walleyes out of there. I don't know if he saw me catch any of them. And then I idle buy them on my way out. And so I was able to see what he was fishing on my side imaging. And he was fishing nothing. And I think too many people do that. They don't understand what they're supposed to be fishing. They just kind of do whatever the boat takes them. And they just kind of roam around. see it all the time.
Get yourself on top of fish on top of something structure wise don't just hope you run across another fish Because that's not fishing. That's just sitting on the boat Find something understand your electronics and and You're gonna be way more successful. So don't just don't just fish aimlessly
Brian Bashore (1:06:23)
If you find structure, you're gonna find something.
The I see it so much as a guide every day with people that are just coming out on vacation, what have you. They go out and they're literally looking for the pot of boats. There's usually not a lot, but it's first guy out in this spot and he's fishing nothing because he was the first one out and he's from somewhere else. He's like, makes sense on a map or my graph or maybe I graphed couple. Maybe they're all catfish drum, who knows. Well that guy piles in. The next three or four boats come out and go.
Jason Przekurat (1:06:49)
yeah.
Brian Bashore (1:07:06)
That must be the spot. And now there's six, seven boats and I'm coming out going, man, there must be a different bike going on than I know of. But I idle by with side image and go, and there's nothing there guys. There's absolutely nothing. You know, it doesn't take long. And as a guide or some of the rap boat, you got the train falling behind you. But it's a, yeah, just trust your electronics, right? If you master your electronics, you'll be a master angler. So.
Jason Przekurat (1:07:15)
nothing.
Right, no go.
Yeah, and you don't need fancy stuff to do it nowadays. Everything else is pretty darn good, you know.
Brian Bashore (1:07:35)
Yeah, it's a Ford FACES Soda. Everybody thinks they gotta have it. It's awesome. It works, but side image still, you know, 2D, especially, yeah, I'll never not have side image, but as fall approaches, I mean, we're getting into these fish. A lot of these fish are moving deep. 2D is about all we used to use and it works pretty good. You can run that jig and wrap right, right off the back of the boat by your, or on front and your 2D on your trolling motor transducer.
Jason Przekurat (1:07:42)
Side image is super important.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, I always say I start using 2D in like 20 feet of water and deeper is where I really see it working. So this time of year for sure, most fish aren't going to spook from the boat in 20, 30 feet of water. So you can drive it over their head.
Brian Bashore (1:08:05)
Yup. Yup.
Nope. Nope, not at all. Not at all. All right, Jason, well thanks. Appreciate your time. A lot of good stuff there, folks, and tune in because Jason's dropping some bombs on some pretty stellar next-by shows coming up. And those are aired, I think, what, next, after the first quarter? January?
Jason Przekurat (1:08:30)
First quarter, we start the first week of January and we run 13 weeks with all our new episodes. But yeah, you can check them out on YouTube. We got all our old stuff. You can see that bite me and Drake were on throwing glide baits last fall. That's on the YouTube channels. Yeah, lot of good stuff.
Brian Bashore (1:08:46)
These, they all sound like good ones and we'll drop the Salmo iGlide bait link down here. You can go find those. I'm pretty sure they're out everywhere by now, aren't they?
Jason Przekurat (1:08:54)
Well, pretty close. You're going to see them this winter for sure on most retailers, but yeah.
Brian Bashore (1:08:58)
winter. So stock up, get those stocked up. Samo makes just damn good baits period. I mean that's the number one crank bait in the walleye world if you ask me. Shadows been around a long time but the Samo just works.
Jason Przekurat (1:09:05)
Yeah.
Yeah, they're durable. They're cloned right out of the box. You don't have to worry about not running good.
Brian Bashore (1:09:16)
People try to mimic it and make it, but you can put it on in the competition and it's three to one. This suckers just catch, they just catch fish. Hooks are good, they're tuned, and they don't really come out of tune very easy, don't feel either. And if they do, they're erratic as hell, so maybe you can't tell. I don't know. Yep, they're awesome.
Jason Przekurat (1:09:25)
Thank you.
Yeah, good base.
Brian Bashore (1:09:36)
Alright man, thanks a ton Jason and thank all you for tuning in. You can watch this over on the Walleye Guys YouTube page, Walleye Guys Facebook page or catch it on all the podcast channels, Spotify, Amazon, Apple. The list is long. And so stay tuned. We have some other good episodes coming up and stay safe and we'll see you on the water.