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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 (00:02.242)
Hey folks, welcome to this episode of real talk fishing where there's no limits, man. And that means anything and everything goes. So, uh, we're going to get right into this one. I am here with the man that you all know as Tom with the win, right? That's, that's what he does. He's a 2021, uh, and WT got second place in that championship, uh, an aim, uh, championship win underneath his belt. I believe.
Tom (00:19.204)
Thank you.
Tom (00:26.605)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (00:31.554)
aim team of the year, several firsts and just a lot of top 10 finishes in the aim trail out in Minnesota. So folks for the do here is Mr. Tom Wynn himself. How you doing buddy? I am good. It is cold and we're getting more snow today over here. Are you getting it over there in Minnesota?
Tom (00:52.644)
I mean it's missed. We're getting it around, but I mean we we've missed a lot of the snow. It's cold though, but
Brian Bashore (00:58.806)
It is cold. It is freezing cold. I have a, I was going to go ice fishing this week. No thanks, man. I'm just not, I don't have a, a snow bear. So not, not that interesting. I didn't know we were going to get more snow today, but I just came back from the gym and I bet Adam had another inch or two out there, real light fluffy, you know, maybe hit the, uh, the snowboard and later at night or something like that. But it is cold. It's been a frigid cold and you're over in Minnesota, right? Tom, like East Fargo or something area.
Tom (01:06.34)
Thank you.
Tom (01:14.922)
Yeah.
Tom (01:20.76)
Yes.
Tom (01:25.817)
Yeah, yeah, just a little bit outside Fargo and spent a lot of time between there and up by my aim team partner Nate's place, you know, but up and he lives up by Walker. But yeah, but we're I mean, this cold is good for the for the hardcore ice guys. That's for sure. No, I haven't.
Brian Bashore (01:41.01)
Okay.
Brian Bashore (01:47.638)
You don't ice fish, do you? No.
Tom (01:52.6)
I'll probably go. I got some of the Northland guys have been giving me a hard time. We all like a Rose doll on them trying to get me out there. And I told them when it hits 60, 70 degrees, holler at me. I'll go ice fishing with them.
Brian Bashore (02:00.662)
Yup.
Brian Bashore (02:05.898)
Right on I like the way it was like eight plus inches of ice all those guys are so eager to get out there It's two to three inches and they're running out there And I mean we've heard of all the you know the tragic stories already this year and the Red River Having all those incidents up there around Red Lake. Excuse me. It's just no thanks, but I think we got good ice now I prefer to go on the river some of that down in Lake Yankton and lose Clark should be good to go by next week So we're gonna get out and give it a little shot. You're obviously in just a phenomenal place for
Tom (02:10.216)
I know.
Brian Bashore (02:34.806)
You know, Devil's Lake in North Cotter isn't too far away. You got all the Minnesota lakes. Cause I mean, you are in ice fishing haven. So it might be something you want to dig into a little bit. Uh, you know, not like you need it, but it's a great place to practice that live scoping. Right. You know, it's.
Tom (02:41.222)
Yep.
Bye.
Tom (02:49.508)
Mm-hmm. It is. And every lake is different. So that's the best part. You know, when I first started dialing in LifeScope back in 2020, I was under the false impression that, oh, I can take this anywhere and do the same exact thing. That's wrong. It's completely wrong. And like I thought, oh, I can go to Lake Erie and do this. Not even close. Like every single lake.
Brian Bashore (03:08.566)
Yes, it is.
Tom (03:17.644)
is different and I'm learning that and I'm learning I'm starting to piece together why and then so when I go to these different systems I know exactly what I'm looking at but you're right you so you in Minnesota there's so many lakes that you can hit and you're learning something different on each individual one so
Brian Bashore (03:36.522)
Yeah, that life scope stuff is something else. We're going to definitely dig into that because you are a life scope guru. You've made some appearances on the next bike showing us all how, how Tom gets it done and we want to definitely get to that, but I know you from the trail and having some talks with you, we don't obviously get to sit down and chit chat and have dinner and have, you know, a lot of the stuff, you know, chats we'd like to have unless, you know, that's what our travel partners are for. It's a, it's a, you know, it's a grind. It's, you know, our heads are down. Our noses are down. We're, we're working day and night. We don't have a lot of time for.
Tom (03:54.76)
Yeah.
Tom (04:03.372)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (04:06.546)
Outside it's, it's work. So if you didn't, people don't realize that it is work and it's, it's sun up to sundown. I see you out there. I'm no different. We'll lay down. We take a nap in the mid day sometimes. You know, we take a break just to have a little bite to refocus sometimes, but, uh, you know, I'll see Tom out there in a water pre-fishing and you want to talk about being locked into that screen. Um, yeah, I don't really see the first time I saw he was out in Chamberlain and I'm like, who is that guy fishing over here who hasn't lifted his head up in days?
Tom (04:36.045)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (04:36.93)
And he's, and you're fishing the, uh, Crow Creek flat area. And I obviously have a lot of experience there. And I was like, man, if that guy had any idea how many fish he's going by, because he's chasing one, he's chasing one, just drop that lure down. But obviously you're, you're catching fish and it's a target rich environment. So it made it fun, but I was like, what is he doing? Then, you know, he comes in that year and kind of cleans up on a lot of us. I'm like, I better get my face done on my screen. I better get with the program. So.
Tom (04:40.676)
Mm-hmm.
Tom (04:49.047)
Yeah. Yep. Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (05:06.742)
So we know that we're going to get into some of that, but what's Tom, you know, what, who is Tom, what, what makes Tom click? Where does he come from? What's your background? Let our listeners kind of know, uh, you know, what, how did you dive into this walleye world used to bass fish a lot, as I understand it. Right.
Tom (05:20.568)
Yeah, I mean, I've asked fished, starting fishing. I've fished on, as a lot of you know, on the Arkansas pond banks. That's where I grew up. My grandpa had a small 100 acre cattle farm and he had some ponds built out there and just a bluegill catfish, large mouth. And, you know, they wouldn't get giant just because the pond restricted their growth, but that's what I did. And back in the hills there, we didn't get...
very many channels and the channels we got were local news affiliates and stuff, but in the mornings they'd have fishing on TV, you know, bass fishing of course. And it was something I always wanted to do, you know, but obviously once I realized how expensive it was, I was like, maybe not.
You know, it's always professional sport where you actually don't get paid. So, um, uh, you know, and, and not ever having any, you know, like my dad, um, immigrant from Vietnam, um, came over here and worked his butt off so we could do what we're doing now. My mom, you know, uh, born and raised in Arkansas, she's still down there, but didn't come from money by any means. And, uh, we didn't have a.
Brian Bashore (06:20.263)
Yeah, yeah.
Tom (06:46.16)
There was no boat, little boat or anything on the ponds. I didn't get my first boat until I was, it was probably like eight years ago probably. I was 30 some years old and I decided to jump in. You know, I had my businesses. I moved up here for college to Minnesota from Arkansas and was in college and I stumbled into the.
fingernail industry of all things. And I started, I, um, did it originally, you know, to help this family out. Uh, that helped me a lot. I, they were needing help and stuff and I agreed to do it. I was like, I'm not telling my friends in Arkansas what I'm doing. I mean, you know, but it ended up being like a really, um, that was just me being narrow-minded back then and like the coming from small town and all that. But now it's like.
Uh, it, it only took like six months of doing it to be like, I don't care who knows what. I love my job. Um, there's money to be made in the industry. And so after working like 15 years in that industry, I was like, you know what? I don't, I, I've been saving my money. I'm going to buy a boat. So I bought a, uh, nitro 17 foot aluminum boat, brand new one. Um,
Not that long ago and I'd never been in a boat before that. And I took it to the nearest lake out by Detroit lakes and put it in and put the drain plug in the wrong hole. Right away, go out there for a little bit of water, starts coming up the little vent thing on the floor. I'm like, why is that doing that? I put it in and then just start panicking. I got it out of the water and everything. So everything, I contribute a lot of what I'm doing.
Brian Bashore (08:33.044)
Oh yeah.
Tom (08:44.348)
to just jumping in, like just literally. I worked for it, I used my own money, my own time. Nobody taught me anything. And I'm jumping into it head first and learning on the fly. And that goes from getting the first boat to jumping in a tournament. I didn't fish any localized bass tournaments or anything like that. I actually tried, there's some bass tours around.
the Fargo area, the local ones, that I tried to reach out to the tournament directors for them. They never responded to me ever. So I was like, all right, why not jump into the Bassmaster Opens? Yeah, so I did that for a few years. And, you know, I, you know, I try to try to say this a lot, I try to make a point to let people know too that
Brian Bashore (09:27.95)
Alright, let's just go all in man. Let's go for the big ones.
Tom (09:43.712)
It's never, it's never too late to pursue this dream. If it's something you wanted to do. Um, and if you've got the means to do it, do it. It doesn't mean you have to keep doing it. Give it a year, give it a tournament and, um, and just see where things fall. And some people aren't cut out for it. You know, some people aren't cut out for making those decisions, being the boater, being the pro in the boat. Um, there's a lot more that people don't realize stress wise and mental mentally that.
Brian Bashore (10:02.367)
Oh yeah.
Tom (10:13.784)
they're not prepared for. Um, but, uh, that's going, so just diving straight in, whether it's. You know, me getting that first boat and putting it on the lake for the first time or. Well, even when you, when you go into live scope, same thing. Like I, I bought it, but I was, I didn't want, I didn't really want to my, one of my buddies was like telling me, get it, get it, get it, and this is for bass, you know, and.
I bought it and when I did, I told myself, look, I'm not gonna take my eyes off this till I figured out I spent this much money on it. You know, I'm gonna be fingernailing out what that is. That's a lot. So I did that and fortunately and unfortunately COVID comes and we are, my nail salons had to be shut down for a certain amount of weeks. And during that time...
Brian Bashore (10:51.47)
Right.
Tom (11:09.288)
I was nervous. I'm like, where am I going to pay rent? Where it's going to happen? You know, like, holy crap, you know? And so, but that time where I was able to go relieve stress was on the water. I just bought LiveScope. So I literally spent that time dialing it in, like just constantly dialing it in, like you said, head down, like looking at everything, casting and everything and doing that. And then just fell into that first aim tournament where
I mean, here's, it's just crazy how things work out. Like, you know, I was struggling, the slums were struggling paying rent at the time because of COVID. And I went and entered this tournament. The Leech Lake AIM tournament is always full. Always. It fills up all the time. And I heard there was a professional tournament. I thought it was, I was getting the impression it was a bass tournament.
coming to Leech, but I knew better because I followed the bass circuit.
Brian Bashore (12:15.31)
You're gonna tell me you jumped in a walleye tournament thinking you were going bass fishing?
Tom (12:18.752)
Well, I thought it was about the tournament first, but when I did the research and googled 2020 fishing tournament Leech Lake, it came up as AIM Walleye Series tournament.
Brian Bashore (12:33.27)
There you go, folks. Is it all a complete accident that Tom's over here in the wall and we're gonna clean it out.
Tom (12:36.736)
It was Yeah, it really was and that's how crazy things work. And so I went and First I was like I can enter that you know, and then I just met my I just met Nate Wolski And him and I hit it off real quick and I we were sitting by a campfire and I said Nate You know jump in this tournament with me. He was what tournament? I said there's a walleye tournament coming to Leech Lake next week or whenever it was and
He's like, why? Just for fun. Let's see what we can do. Yeah. And I'm on my basketball at the time and we did it. We won that tournament. It was a $7,000 prize. Plus I had the nitro contingency, which, you know, at the time. So it was crazy how things work because, you know, we, we won that. I was able to offset some costs at home with, you know, the salons. And with that, it helped.
Brian Bashore (13:09.734)
Why not?
Brian Bashore (13:20.993)
I hope.
Tom (13:35.96)
And so then literally it was by chance. It was by, you know, things just leading me, pointing me in the right direction there. And there happened to be literally one opening left in that tournament. And I got it and it's history. Then after that, I entered the second aim that same year. I couldn't qualify for anything because I didn't get to fish all of them. They were already passed. Got a fourth place in that. And then.
Brian Bashore (14:01.134)
That's right.
Tom (14:06.06)
That was it for aim. And then Nate calls me one night and says, Hey, Tom, there's a. Big bigger tournament coming to cast Lake in September. I said next year, he goes, no, here in a couple of weeks, it's the master's wildlife circuit. Um, they're coming to. Cass and they go up there every year apparently. And so, yeah, we jumped, we jumped in that and, um, basically I told Nate I said, he has a thousand dollar entry fee. It's kind of steep, but let's.
Brian Bashore (14:24.767)
I fished that once.
Tom (14:34.732)
Let's try it because we have to see if we're actually onto something here. We weren't even convinced that we were really. On to.
Brian Bashore (14:40.662)
So you got him with all the contingencies side pots, big fish. Yep. Just what the MWC is 650 a team, I believe then 250 for sides and big fish. And I mean, thousand bucks. All right.
Tom (14:43.509)
Yeah. Yep.
Tom (14:49.068)
Yeah, so it's like a thousand or a few. It's a thousand even now to yeah. So then we got in there, we won that tournament and set the lake record at the time, but, and that was it. Then 2021 just went all in.
Brian Bashore (15:06.378)
You know, there's always some luck involved in fishing with Tom, but from your story, it's not by chance you worked your butt off and you got, you know, you earned it, um, you know, and everybody from the outside looking in is thinking, oh, these guys are lucky. They stumbled on the stuff, but I've heard that story of getting into the tournament, sorry, goodbye. So many, I think Max Wilson won his first tournament. He ever had the same deal. Let me just go out and jump into Jimmy Bell did the same thing.
Tom (15:14.872)
No. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (15:32.174)
You know, his story, let me take some of my savings. I can do this, but if I ever have to touch any other funds, I'm done goes in. Bam. Wins his first tournament. I don't have that story. I did not win my first tournament. Um, hardly ever won any, uh, you know, but we definitely have some checks, but that, but that's a great way. And obviously that's, you know, so what above saying, you know, this guy's meant to be here, let's, let's get him set on the right path. Um,
Tom (15:37.281)
Mm-hmm.
Tom (15:55.092)
Yeah, I appreciate that. And it's hard time for me to like, it's been a little bit hard for me to accept that or like understand like just that I'm where I'm at in the fishing industry right now. It's like, I have to stop and remember, you know, like it was just a few short years ago that it was like a dream, you know, and now that it's happening, it's like, I don't want to take anything for granted. So I need any of these companies who trust me to make.
to help design things, whether it's rods, baits, anything like that. I'm gonna give them 150% because again, I'm not one of the young kids getting into this. And you know, even on the National Alley Tour, now we're seeing a lot of younger guys and ladies getting into this. You're on the bass side, you're seeing a lot of young guys. And that's where a lot of marketing is happening right now with young people and their social medias and stuff.
to be able to try to compete with that as I'm a little older. You know, it, yeah. But it's a challenge and it's just a challenge that I've accepted. And I'm just trying to keep that ball rolling and try to also, you know, give back where we can, like teaching people how we're, what we're looking at on these electronics. What, you know, what we're doing out there, what we're thinking. So.
Brian Bashore (16:58.254)
Tell me about it.
Tom (17:22.976)
Yeah, it's been an awesome ride and you know, it's never too late for. For anybody who wants to try to do it, but it's a lot of work.
Brian Bashore (17:30.998)
Yeah, yeah, it is. It is a lot of work, a lot more than most people think. And like you said, not everybody's cut out for it, but I mean, our tournament trail, the international walleye tours, you know, got a great format with the co-anglers. So that gives you, I mean, an opportunity to get in and just learn. Been in my boat, getting Tom's boat, getting Springles boat, Hoyers, chases. You're going to get in these pros boats have been doing this stuff for a long time. I mean, I want to be the flight of all. I, I never did the co-angler thing. I had a good buddy who fished trail, Brent Henderson, who came to a seminar and I reached out to him and said, Hey man, I want to.
Tom (17:41.358)
Mm-hmm.
Tom (17:44.798)
Yep.
Tom (17:55.894)
I mean.
Brian Bashore (18:00.81)
I want to do the coangler. We used to be able to pick a co and they would travel with you. And he came and I didn't, you know, he sat in the crowd, didn't know it. It came up to me at break. He said, Hey, I'm Brent. You're not fishing as a co. I'm like, what, who are you to tell me? I'm not a fish coangler. He's like, uh, you're going all in on pro. Um, it's a great guy. Super humble. He's a surgeon. You know, we'll figure it out. You know, I'm like, I get afforded to do this. This is not cheap. And I think our entry fees are 1500 back then. And, uh, it's like, just, we'll figure it out.
You know, so it was Britton, I and Ted Takasaki and Randy Hummel. I'm like, wow, what a, what a great opportunity to get official. These guys have been doing this forever on the, on the pro side. I did horrible on my first year. I'd like, I didn't get second to championship. I think I averaged 120th the whole season, you know, never go into these bodies of waters, but man, talk about just absorbing it. Um, a year as a co-engager would have probably been super beneficial, uh, but come the next year, they could finish 24th or something in AOI race at the end of the year. So, I mean, it's just that.
Tom (18:42.74)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (18:59.542)
That fast, right? And you can learn so much. And it's just from being around, you know, the guys on the, on the trail, they're all great people talking to them during term, after a minute, watching the back on the videos, watching them on the water. It'll be an observant to what's happening. You just, you know, feet first, you kind of went head first from the bath world, you grew up, you know, about the same time I did, it sounds like watching TNN on Saturday morning instead of cartoons, cause you want to watch Parker and bill dance, right? And all those guys were, where are you at in Arkansas?
Tom (19:02.6)
Yeah.
Tom (19:26.863)
Peace.
Brian Bashore (19:29.45)
I didn't have no idea you were from down south there.
Tom (19:31.269)
Two hours north of Little Rock, so like almost like the foothills of the Ozarks, right where the Ozarks start. Batesville, Arkansas. The White River runs right through Batesville, yeah.
Brian Bashore (19:37.079)
Yeah, White River.
Brian Bashore (19:41.158)
Okay. Yep. I got a friend down in Table Rock. I spent a little bit of time down there and beautiful place. My wife actually took a mobile or some type of tourism project she did down there camping. And she's the same thing. She was like, wow, man, Arkansas is kind of, kind of neat. I think she was outside of Fayetteville, but you know.
Tom (19:46.442)
It is.
Tom (19:57.404)
Yeah. Bentonville area. So my, a lot of my family, all my family still live down there. So, yeah. You put me down there for about 10 minutes. You'll have to put subtitles at the bottom.
Brian Bashore (20:03.67)
You're a southerner. You got no accent.
Brian Bashore (20:10.454)
It comes right back
Brian Bashore (20:15.099)
Right. We haven't been up North long enough because they ain't got one of those neither. So.
Tom (20:18.04)
Yeah. But no, you're right. You got those coanglers. If anybody's thinking, and you're not sure the pro thing's right for you, jumping as coangler. And I've met a lot of good coanglers and, you know, um, you know, like with, uh, my first year meeting Sean Grahams and he was coangler and then went to the pro side, Josh Jones, some of those guys I think of that are making that, you know, it's good to like mentor some of these guys. It is. It's fun. And.
to while they make that leap into the pro side. And then you've got your co anglers that have been being a co angler side for many years. And then you're like, it's cool when they get in your boat. You know, you're like, oh, they know what they're doing. You know, so.
Brian Bashore (21:02.43)
Yeah, the, the expectations are set, right? They, they kind of know this guy's that way. And then sometimes, I mean, I've had the same coangular two or three times. Um, I mean, we all have our opinion on the coangular thing and it's never nothing against the coangulars themselves. It's just the whole system, right? And how this thing works. Um, so on that note, how, how was your year? How did you think 2023 on the trail went? And then we're looking forward to 24 schedule.
Tom (21:05.568)
Yep. Awesome.
Tom (21:11.384)
Okay, yeah.
Tom (21:31.092)
Yeah, so 23, I didn't have any wins on aim or NWT, but I had a lot of second places this year. I had two second places, a third place, and a fourth place on aim. And...
Brian Bashore (21:49.758)
We can see the hardware behind you. I think, you know, some of those guys at AIM are like, it's okay, Tom. It's okay. If you step aside a little bit, let us have a little piece of this pie. But he clearly brought home plenty of it.
Tom (21:59.914)
Oh, this is...
Tom (22:06.224)
This is 2024 as I haven't hung up yet. 23. But no, I just, with no ends and on NWT, I had two top 10s, had second place in their Winnebago, which that was a tournament that I was probably dreading the most this year, but then just head down and-
Brian Bashore (22:08.554)
You're running out of room, huh?
Brian Bashore (22:33.556)
Ah.
Tom (22:35.68)
like literally again, just put that together. But 2023 was my best season, even though I didn't have a win that I've had because I was more consistent. Since I started, I haven't fished on a team with anybody. So whenever I go, you just have to break this down by myself. But then again, that's making me learn, I think on an exponential level. I just go out there first thing in the morning, I stay out all day long.
And I'm just dissecting anything that I think looks good. I take the section of the lake or river and knowing there has to be fish there, figure out how to find them and how to catch them. And every place is different. So, 2023, I finished fourth. Me and Dylan, Nussbaum, finished tied for team or angler of the year point this year. So I think I got fourth.
on that and which I'm not complaining about. It's awesome. And.
Brian Bashore (23:41.29)
That's great. I mean, it's unfortunate that if you're not first, you literally are last and angler of the year because it all pays the same, but that is no small feat by all means, you know.
Tom (23:47.133)
Yeah. Yep.
you know, just trying to stay, just trying to stay up there. And that's, that's my goal. One of these days to crack that top spot there. But, and so again, it comes to going into next year. It's a lot of water that I have not been on or not done well on like Erie, for example. I've been there. There's very few places I've been. I've been there in 2021. Nate and I were like, let's go to this wildlife factory they speak of over there.
We go over there and I try to use, I try using light scope the way I've used it. I'm like, is it going to be like, we just, we just talked about, oh, it's going to be, no. Um, it was slow. It's the weirdest thing. I'm hoping that between 2021 and next year, I've learned enough that I'm able to go figure something out there. Um, but no, it's just the oddest thing. You see fish like crazy, but.
Brian Bashore (24:28.014)
All right.
Brian Bashore (24:31.85)
It worked that way.
Tom (24:50.164)
You have to, they're constantly moving because Lake Erie has so many different currents going through it from so many different directions that by the time you cast a bait to a fish, that bait's going this way, the fish is going that way or back and forth. So it, it just, it was a big learning curve and um, Sakakawea we have next year, I've never been there. I just hear that there's. Is it?
Brian Bashore (25:14.626)
Yeah. Oh, you're going to love it. My favorite lake. My favorite lake. Oh yeah.
Tom (25:21.356)
Why is that?
Brian Bashore (25:23.03)
I fished, I think six tournaments there now and I've cashed checks in five. Um, it is target rich environment. It is a river, which I know how much you love rivers. All right. I do on the other.
Tom (25:26.912)
Nice, okay. Well, that would be okay.
Tom (25:36.095)
Yeah, it's more like, it's more like Chamberlain stuff, right? As far as the water flow, like the reservoir type system.
Brian Bashore (25:47.682)
Yeah, more, yeah, a little bit more like a wahay. Have you, have you fished on a wahay yet? Okay. Yeah. So it's a lot bigger. So not Mississippi or anything like that where the current's ripping through. Um, yeah, it's a little slower and a little more obviously lake like, but those fish are still, they're still moving. They're not just sitting by that rock all day. It's not, it's not an inland water, um, by all means, but there's a, there's big fish, there's a lot of fish and you can catch them any way you want, wherever you want.
Tom (25:52.501)
Yeah.
Tom (25:57.834)
Okay.
Tom (26:04.17)
Mm-hmm.
Tom (26:07.66)
Yeah.
Tom (26:14.336)
Okay. And then we got Green Bay, which I'm happy with going there again. I didn't do so well the first time we went. I didn't zero. I caught one fish that kept me in the running in 2021. But we all struggled there because of that weather.
Brian Bashore (26:29.87)
That's all you need sometimes.
Was that the blow days? The one day tournament? Yeah, that was fun.
Tom (26:40.649)
Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Yep.
Brian Bashore (26:42.398)
I know I was a last boat out. I was first boat in though, but I caught five fish. So, but I went right across the lake to the river. My trolling motor broke on the way. So once I got there, I went to drop, drop it down in it, shatter into pieces, but I was able to put a couple of pins in, hold on spotlight, spotlight. We jigged up a six wall eyes, nothing, you know, like eight pounds and turned around them, went right back in cause I couldn't do nothing without trolling motor.
Tom (26:48.033)
Well, there you go.
Tom (27:04.436)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (27:08.914)
And that's the whole point was not to zero is to get a fish and get points. Who's going to go there, catch one and then go pull some spinners on weeds. But it just wasn't working, but it was the right choice. Cause it made the championship to get to Ottertel because of it.
Tom (27:19.564)
Yeah, that's exactly it. Yep, and I got that tournament, I found one spot. Oh gosh, that place, you look at it on a map and you're like, oh yeah, I'm gonna hit here, hit here, hit here, you get there and you're like, ah, it's so huge.
Brian Bashore (27:29.73)
Oh yeah.
Brian Bashore (27:35.262)
Yeah. He's like, that's a half a day there. I got to put the boat on the trailer drive 20, 30 miles, put it in down here or other side. Yeah. It's a.
Tom (27:42.068)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I found a spot there and I could, I thought I could catch over 40 pounds a day. And, um, I go there the first day of tournament and the water temp had cooled by a drastic amount. I still caught one and it was, you know, it was a 10 pounder. Thank goodness. But, um, that, that was it. But we went there again. Was it 2022? I think. 2022. And, uh.
I made a top 10. So different situation, different area of the lake, but started to piece things together. So I'm looking forward to going back to just expand on what I found there last time. So.
Brian Bashore (28:23.826)
It is a, it's a good fishery. Those fish up North, like, you know, you're talking about are, they're big. They're fun. Um, I have a serious love hate relationship with that place. I've never done good. Um, never have even had, I've had some decent pre fishes there and I've caught some of those fish up North, but it's, it's such a drive to get there. Uh, that last 2021 was, I think everybody's going to go there and go for those. And I don't think there's enough to go around. Which is why I decided to go ahead and get one in the river and then try to, you know, I thought we had.
Tom (28:29.276)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (28:52.918)
felt pretty confident in like a 25 pound bag, pulling spinners and weeds, but I couldn't do that without my trolling motor and the four or five foot waves that I was in, uh, but it, uh, yeah. You know, there's a lot of talk going around the guys about going there in June with the L wife, you know, or, or dying off or spawning, whatever it is at that time, everybody thinks that's just a real bad time to go to green Bay.
Tom (28:59.774)
It's true.
Tom (29:12.952)
Yeah. Well, that's this year. Or 20. But that was what was happening when we were there last time. 2020 is due. The L-Wife deal.
Brian Bashore (29:17.482)
Yeah, yeah. Yep.
Brian Bashore (29:22.005)
Right, and...
Brian Bashore (29:26.17)
And that's, you know, a tough bite to tough bite for everybody. So I personally don't, it can, it takes some of the fun out of the practice. Cause you're, you're just struggling and you're in your head, right? Am I the only guy that just sucks right now or is everybody sucking, right? And you hope everybody's sucking, but then when you get on something, you're like, Hey, you know, that's got how I felt at spring valley last year. And I'm sure everybody was like, man, cause the weather was all over the place. It was miserable, right? Practice. I'll be there. I have my boat slid off the damn trailer in a parking lot.
Tom (29:29.748)
Yeah.
Tom (29:40.436)
with me. Yeah.
Tom (29:48.346)
Yeah.
Tom (29:55.044)
Yeah. Did it? Thanks.
Brian Bashore (29:55.582)
on the ice and you're just like, oh yeah, yeah. We got lucky in the, in the skag got hit the bump, uh, the curb. And so it kept it about two inches from coming all the way off the trailer or hitting the pavement. And four guys just threw it back on while I winched it quick. Um, and then the next day I smoked a log at 55 mile an hour down river. Didn't hurt it though. Put the, yeah, the lower unit, the nose of the cone, you know, it's like this. It was not, it was inverted.
Tom (30:02.841)
Oh, thank God. Yeah.
Tom (30:14.04)
Wow, Jesus. Oh yeah?
Tom (30:20.373)
Huh?
Oh, yeah. Good run. Okay. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (30:24.494)
Still ran perfectly fine. Yeah. Still ran perfectly fine. So, yeah, sometimes you're like, I don't know, is this good or it's just such a head game. I mean, I think you can attest that this tournament fishing is more, you know, mental and like you said, we got a lot of young guys coming up. Um, it used to just be trolling. It was sitting down trolling, you know, auto and there's still plenty of us older guys, I'm probably categorizing that older guy now in the mid forties and, and I can.
control, you know, with them and when I need to, but I want to rod and hand too. You know, I don't want to stare at my screen so much. I want to look up and enjoy what I, everything around me, but it sure is fun watching them fish swim around down there. All right.
Tom (31:05.376)
Yeah, I know it is. And what else do we have? Mississippi River.
Brian Bashore (31:11.234)
We got the Mississippi is a first stop. Second stop. Yeah. Erie in April, a red wing in May, Green Bay in June, Scott Cooey in August, very first, end of July, first week, August.
Tom (31:14.284)
Yeah, mate. No second. Yep. Yeah.
Tom (31:22.924)
Yep. And then go on to Huron, right?
Brian Bashore (31:28.93)
Here on championship, yep, up out Alpina area. So that'll be interesting. Many either. No, that's a, yeah, no idea. It's going to be some big fish living there. Of course. And I think they tried to mix the schedule up this year to have a little bit of those, you know, trolling type tournaments mixed in last year, really laid out well for, for you and Eric and the guys that, I mean, it, it just showed here's our top 10 live scoping guys on the circuit. Hands down.
Tom (31:32.932)
Yeah, I have no idea again, sad and healthy about that.
Brian Bashore (31:57.886)
Okay. These guys, you and John and Dewey and Eric and, uh, you know, Max and I, at least you guys got it dialed in. You got it down. You're all using the rances and garments, I believe. And, uh, and it showed them and you guys were up there and we had really good weather, we had pretty calm conditions for the most part in every tournament was, which made up for the previous two years, cause it's horrible. We, um, I think I did the math once and 30% of all of our tournaments had a blow day until last year, we just, everything fell.
Tom (32:25.587)
That feels good.
Brian Bashore (32:27.118)
We had good fisheries, good bites. Hopefully we get that again. Cause last thing we need on eerie and stuff is a, is a lot of wind.
Tom (32:33.22)
Yeah, and I'm ready. For Eerie, I just bought my first trolling rods and reels from Daiwa. I just ordered them. So I'm ready just in case I can't come up with something. And I think it's a, like I said, I think we're like a lot of life scopers are going to be in for a surprise when they go there. And it's not going to be what they actually think. That's my opinion. I'm hoping to find something.
Brian Bashore (33:01.035)
Right.
Tom (33:03.14)
It's a whole different beast that time of year over there on that side.
Brian Bashore (33:06.25)
It is, but I mean, I talked to some other guys about this too, and we all came to the conclusion that you guys will figure it out and you live scopers will, you'll figure it out. The difference is trolling the crank baits obviously it works well over there. And we could, I'm going to have, you know, not necessarily me, I'm going to try to live scope as much as possible as well. I mean, I love to have the rod in my hand, but can your co-engler do it? You know, and, and are they seeing what you're seeing and are you just kind of hurting yourself by just having one active rod and then a kind of a guy just blind cast it out there versus putting.
Tom (33:13.431)
I hope so.
Tom (33:17.784)
Mm.
Brian Bashore (33:35.606)
Four rods out and covering water that and it works because it's eerie. You can all four of those painter boards, right? We're going to run some offshore boards and they all get buried and boom, there's 35 pounds, you know, or not.
Tom (33:36.836)
Mm-hmm.
Tom (33:46.094)
Yep. Yeah. And there I pulled boards a couple of times out there when we did go and it's fun. I will admit like just sitting there and all of a sudden one just gets sunk. And I'm like, oh yeah, that's a big drum.
Brian Bashore (33:58.446)
It's a big boy bobber, right? Yeah. It definitely has some sheep head and everything else out there, some big catfish. So it'll be fun. It'll be good to get back to Erie. It's definitely a big fish fishery, but Sakakawea is going to be awesome. You've never been there. You'll love it. It's a beautiful place. Moose. Every time I've been up there, I've seen a moose. Yep. If you've never seen one, they're absolutely massive. The biggest wild animal in my life. They look like.
Tom (34:05.325)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (34:27.934)
Just they're bigger than horses are huge. Um, Redwing, I don't live far from there and near you, but I haven't been there. Um, it's a river looking forward to it. I did hear some news last night, uh, from another Angler who had talked to Jeff Kelm, our tournament director yesterday, and it's sounding like. There's, uh, we'll, maybe we'll get Jeff on here to clear this stuff up. And I haven't seen the fact sheets come out yet on the, uh, page for tournaments, but sounding like Redwing.
is going to be, so we're doing is kind of like South Dakota and that pool three through eight is one over 20 inches while I or Sager and a limit of four. Um, but you can party fish and you can call and you can use two rods on the river. They're not one like most of Minnesota. So it's pretty much just like fish in South Dakota. However, all of Wisconsin waters will be off limits. So if you look at the map, that's a good half, if not more of that system, because Wisconsin, you can't party fish.
Tom (35:07.309)
Okay.
Tom (35:12.99)
Mm-hmm.
Tom (35:19.341)
Okay.
Brian Bashore (35:27.318)
We'd basically be in a situation like we had a bagel, right? Wisconsin's a three fish per person. You can't party fish. So there's no handing the rod off. Sounded like Jeff couldn't get that in writing from the DNR over there. And so, which to his credit is exactly what all the pros asked. If you got to make things more strict on us to eliminate the gray area, do it. And it sounds like that's what they're going to do is just say, forget it. You're not going to go to, you know, you're not going to go to Wisconsin, Lake Erie, Canada, off limits.
Tom (35:48.172)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (35:56.918)
can almost assure you that Canada will be off limits forever here on out. Cause it's, we just don't need, it's not the international walleye tour, so it's fine. It's okay. And then, uh, and then going to green Bay could very well just be a three fish tournament.
Tom (36:04.842)
Yeah. Sure. Yeah.
Tom (36:12.9)
Hmm, yeah.
Brian Bashore (36:14.762)
No party fishing, three fish limit, too much of a gray area. You know, did the guy catch it or you're handing off blah, blah type stuff. Uh, theoretically, I mean, I know I did it at devils at our championship. I caught my, what is five there, right?
Tom (36:31.14)
Bye, guys.
Brian Bashore (36:32.138)
Yeah. Five fish each. Yeah. Five fish limit each bringing in eight or seven. I can't remember. I think we brought in seven, but it's five man limit. Whatever case was I caught my four or five and at maybe it was noon. And I was like, I'm done. I was like, go up to where I'm at on the boat and do this. And my co popped one and that was a decent one. I said, we still got like three and a half hours through it back. Five minutes later, he got like a 24, 25 inch. I'm like, looks good. Let's go.
Tom (36:49.401)
Mm-hmm.
Tom (36:54.573)
Yeah.
Tom (36:59.771)
That's good, that's good.
Brian Bashore (37:00.222)
I think that was about, actually you came over and you weren't too far from me about, about that time. I think I was sitting down, um, when you came over and fished those shallow weed bite there. So, uh, looking forward to, it's going to be a good season. 2023 was a good, was a good year. Awesome job. You had a great year. Uh, for anybody even doubts it, just look behind Tom Ted, his wall shows it. This it's, this isn't luck. This is coming out of skill and learning it, you know, and, and doing it the hard way, no one's showing you, you know, you're not.
Tom (37:05.621)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Tom (37:19.54)
I'm sorry.
Brian Bashore (37:29.186)
growing up in a fishing family necessarily and taking you out. And I kind of went to the same road and I got my first boat at like 30. I was borrowing a buddy's boat. Um, you know, that just pulled it out of his barn and cleaned it up and fix it up and to the point where he's like, Hey, my boat's pretty nice now, you know, and the East are using it and now he has bought himself a nice new line and loves it. Um, so, you know, you touched on, you know, your businesses, you went to college up in Minnesota.
Tom (37:45.693)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (37:57.006)
polished nail spa is that we're talking about is that Tom's companies how many of these you got I want to know about doing nails
Tom (38:01.697)
It is.
Yeah, I've got two of them. And so, yeah, we got, let's see, 24, 24 Neltex now, and just trying to keep everybody busy. These winter months are a little bit slow, just like always, but then once April, May rolls around, it gets pretty crazy for the rest, through the summer and fall. But yeah, it's like something that, if you had asked me when I was a kid,
Brian Bashore (38:17.741)
Peace.
Tom (38:34.06)
you know, or in college even just with fingernails, I thought you're crazy. But yeah, here I am. And literally like, that's another thing too. I tell people it's like, you know, you don't, don't ever like put anything down until you try it. Like honestly, because I literally, I tried it and I'm like, you know what? I like it. It's super detailed, number one. And that also translates to fishing a little bit. And the detail, the...
Brian Bashore (38:50.252)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (38:57.239)
Neil?
Yup.
Tom (39:03.216)
Um, just the satisfaction of when it's done, when we see like your finished work is, it's good and you can compare it to your competitors and it's better. And, you know, that part is, uh, is always good. And, you know, just one thing last winter, um, I got three messages on social media, uh, private messages from a lot of you, a lot of my, uh, co, you know, uh,
competitors out there on the NWT and AIM sent me three of them sent me pictures one was of their son probably four or five years old on an iPad or some pad of some sort and they had there's like a manicure app and they Another one was one of the competitors polishing his daughter's nails and One was his son Polishing his mom's nails little boy
And so just at first I was like, oh, that's cool. But then I started thinking about it. I'm like, this is really cool because just literally, man, like a couple of years ago, none of those guys would have shared that with anybody. You know what I mean? No. And then now it's like, oh, well, Tom does it. Maybe we can let him do that. So who knows?
Brian Bashore (40:11.63)
That is.
Brian Bashore (40:19.175)
Oh no, not at all.
Tom (40:33.524)
Yeah, but it was, yeah, it was being in a pedicure. I've had quite, I've had a handful of you now come in, actually to the salons here in Fargo, and get pedicures for the first time, whether it's by themselves or with their wives or girlfriends, and now they're regulars. Like they're like, you know, getting their feet done and stuff. And they're like, it's like, it's becoming like a thing.
Brian Bashore (40:34.269)
Hey, hey,
Brian Bashore (40:58.446)
Hey, you know, somebody's fishermen got some pretty gnarly feet and we spent a lot of time wearing flip-flops So, you know, I would highly recommend looking up some polished nails Paul and your local area and taking care of them Take care of them toes guys cuz uh They're good
Tom (41:03.944)
Yeah.
Tom (41:14.174)
Yeah, we have some really good now artists do they can do fire tiger print they can do you know any whatever you know your favorite bait color is you know they can probably match it on your toes.
Brian Bashore (41:25.002)
Yeah. And why not get some purple dessing on the fingernails, right? I mean, this is, you're onto something, man. It's, you know, do you paint lures too? Cause all this is detail. And I've been obviously with the nails that's patience. That's meticulous patient work.
Tom (41:36.64)
Yeah, so before I started in with like Northland and stuff, I would like literally, there's, there's things that I can do with our gel polishes and our chrome pigments on baits that can't be replicated in the fishing industry. And it's some of the things that I've used and that we are implement implementing. Soon we're going to start looking at implementing some of that with Northland.
to have it act, to have something like stay on these bass. So it's a different product. So no product to that is different product. So if we can combine the two and figure out how to get these looks, like it's gonna be something special. We just have to get it nailed. You know, like nailed, yeah. But we have to get it ironed out.
Brian Bashore (42:30.718)
Pun intended. Got to get that nailed down. So there's Tom's big secret folks. It's using nail polish, but he's got access to the highest NASA created nail polish that nobody else does. And he's painting his bait. So, I mean, I keep, I have a little, whatever, a little plantle box in my boat and it's full of nail polish. Oranges and reds and greens. If I got to put that orange belly stuff works, it doesn't stay on very long. I'm not.
Tom (42:33.709)
Yeah.
Tom (42:39.899)
I hope this is helpful.
Tom (42:48.42)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Brian Bashore (42:54.146)
coating it, I'm just slapping that thing on there real quick. It is not pretty. I'm not winning any awards and nobody wants to go around showing it off. Probably I've had coinlers go kind of look at debate. Like I'm like, yeah, I made that last night. It, it'll, it'll be fine. Trust me. You know.
Tom (43:00.652)
Yeah, well, I think that's-
Tom (43:06.052)
Yeah, yeah. And the polish that I'm using too is, you know, there's no scent, there's no fumes, there's nothing. So it's like just a neutral, there's no potential deterrent for like if a fish, you know, gets a hint of that or something and it's scared, spooks, and who knows. But yeah, so it's pretty cool. Just trying to translate that into the fishing world and it could be something special. So we'll see.
Brian Bashore (43:13.706)
Alright.
Brian Bashore (43:31.938)
That is super cool. What, no kids, you Tom single out there. What's up? Tom's got these nail salons, successful angler ladies. I mean, I'm thinking lifetime supply of manicures. What's going on? Hit them up, get a slide into this dude's DMs ladies. Get Tom, get familiar.
Tom (43:38.214)
just yes.
No.
Tom (43:47.198)
No.
Tom (43:51.48)
No, no, no. I got myself a lady. I just, I'm not, but no kids. I'm not looking for any other ladies. That's, you know, one's enough. But yeah, no kids. So that's also a reason I'm able to do this fishing thing the way I am and put the time into it. And also just, you know,
with the businesses. So doing both. And I do have to say at the nail salons, I do have like the best management there is. I mean, some of these nail techs have been with me for over 12 years. Some of them 12 to 16 years now. And so that's rare these days. And so I'm very fortunate with that.
Brian Bashore (44:41.214)
That says a lot of, a lot about you and you're in a team, whether you travel the team, but most importantly is your, is your, is your team back home, whether it's, you know, whether you're married or not, I got kids, if it's your friends or even your folks or in your case, employees and having those key employee that can just take care of stuff so you can focus on fishing and your phone's not going off. You're not getting text messages every 10 minutes about problems and assist handling, you don't have to worry about it. That's huge. That takes, I mean, because you practice is practice and you really got to.
Tom (44:49.176)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (45:10.538)
focus on a lot of us that have businesses and companies and kids and things. It's inevitable. Soon as you leave, something's got to happen at home and something mower breaks down, whatever it is. And my wife has overcome all those hurdles and, and has it figured out and is, and is awesome about taking care of those things. But I know for guys that are just getting into it, it takes a while for, you know, your spouse, whoever to kind of figure that out. Um, you know, when, you know, someone's not responding to me to spend 10 minutes. Yeah. Not looking.
I love tournament days because I turn my phone off and throw it in a glove box. That's it. I turn it on when I'm done. We don't need to have phones out and they shouldn't be used unless you're in case of emergency. So I'm like, I just, I can't wait. Before that national anthem goes off, I'll throw a video up, power down, throw it in a glove box. Unless we're trolling, I need my precision trolling data app or something like that out. It's quiet and it's great. But that says a lot about you, Tom, as the boss, the owner of these stores. You've got employees that have stuck around that long.
Tom (45:41.016)
Yeah.
Tom (45:48.216)
Yep. Yes.
Brian Bashore (46:08.214)
It's tough to find good help nowadays. And to keep them there, you're doing something right.
Tom (46:11.136)
Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. I appreciate that and I appreciate them. It lets us do what we do. And like you said, tournament days, I can just let them know when I'm on the water and they don't, nobody bugs me. So.
Brian Bashore (46:31.274)
No, and you know, whatever the problem is, it's, it's not the end of the world. It can wait. I will get to it this evening. When I get off it, this is, this is my time.
Tom (46:38.039)
Yep. And I've never had an issue where they couldn't get together and work it out.
Brian Bashore (46:44.638)
Right. And that's, that is good because it forces them to figure things out and forces some of those people to step up. Um, that's as, that's as good business. So forward facing sonar, obviously you're the man you've made several appearances on the next bite showing chase how to run that thing, right. And how it's done. I think he just did one with him and Kinger.
Tom (46:47.496)
Yep.
Tom (47:02.935)
Mm-hmm. Well, I don't think anybody can teach him anything, though. So... Yeah.
Brian Bashore (47:05.838)
Oh, he's sharp. He knows his stuff. You're on the Garbin side, I think. Chase is running the Lorant stuff. What? You see much difference in the three? I'm a hummingbird guy.
Tom (47:11.686)
Okay, yep.
Tom (47:17.248)
I've had, I've been fortunate enough to be in the boat with all three. And yes, there is a difference. I have all, I've run Garmin since the beginning with LiveScope and I did have an opportunity to go to another company to have, and have everything, you know, just
here's all your stuff for the year type thing. I had that opportunity and I turned it down and just still elected to pay for my Garmin stuff. A lot of people have assumed I've been like a partner with Garmin since the beginning. I just had a conversation, my first conversation with them was this year. So it was like, I have always paid for my electronics and stuff like that, but Garmin right now.
still does have a leg up on four-facing sonar. And just the way I can now, like on the Winnebago system, for example, this year I really dialed in the species. So like on the Winnebago system, I would see...
500 to a thousand fish before I cast it at a walleye. Like, because I go through there, drum, white bass, white bass, and oh well, just a bunch of trash fish, right? So I'm going through, panning around looking, and just like waiting to see that mark, that one mark. And people think walleyes are schooling fish all the time.
Brian Bashore (48:45.422)
a lot of drum.
Tom (49:04.416)
There like I never saw them schooled out there. It was just one fish, one while I was sitting there and it was such shallow water where, you know, we were told before you can't live scope in that shallow water, but I figured out my settings. I just did some stuff and then just going around and like casting it, everything, seeing what each mark looked like. And I finally narrowed it, got it down. And NWT has a video of...
They had a camera boat in there and like literally, I was able to call it. Like I would be going around scanning and I'd be like, there's one, bang, and I'd catch it. And I caught just enough fish each day in Winnebago. Like I didn't, I wasn't throwing back fish at all. Like I caught, you know, just enough to go in and weigh in. And, but with that lot, with...
I can see what species they are, how each fish act when they're sitting stationary, how they act when they're swimming, and I can dictate size better with the Garmin, and it is next to instantaneous processing. Whereas
I've seen some delay in the others, which I think has been fixed a little bit in both the other brands, but I still like for a while was going to use the best that I could for facing sonar and Garmin was it. Now Lorant has, you know, really, you know, they still have their, you know, if you're in Lake Erie doing the high speed scanning, they're too deep. You're humming.
Brian Bashore (50:52.906)
Yep. They're 2D. This is good. The hummingbird side image is phenomenal.
Tom (50:59.245)
So everybody has their strengths and my preference for facing right now is Garmin for just the fact that you pull it out of the box, you set it up and just with the factory settings you're really close to where you need to be already.
Brian Bashore (51:15.33)
Yeah, I've seen them as well, all of them. And I run the birds, but I remember, you know, I talked to you and, and order both up at doubles Lake and you guys are casting weeds and I'm like, yeah, I'm catching weeds and I'm caught. You know, I think my biggest Sunday one was a 25 incher out of there, but I can't see them. I don't, I just, I just know there's fish there. I'm looking at my side image more than I am my, you know, my, uh, mega live in that case. And you guys are like, oh no, we see them. I know how big they are. I know what they are. I'm like, I don't.
Tom (51:30.668)
Mm-hmm.
Tom (51:36.205)
life.
Tom (51:39.511)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (51:41.706)
I just know there's weeds over there, man. That's it. And I'm, and I'm just working it and just keep moving and just working it like you used to when you didn't know, you know, and it, and it worked. I got, I mean, I caught fish, but not very, um, the bird doesn't get out too far. I put it like 50 to 70 somewhere in there. I can't see my jig very far out at all, but it's really just a confidence thing. First of all, I mean, it'd be awesome to be able to see the jig and the fish, but if I could see one, I'd prefer to, all right, there's a fish I throw. And then I'm.
Tom (51:43.136)
Yeah.
Tom (51:49.888)
Yeah, how far do you have your distance at?
Yeah.
Tom (51:59.57)
Yeah.
Tom (52:04.356)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (52:10.602)
scanning, looking for my next cast while I'm working that back. Okay. I don't, I don't need to watch it eat it. Um, and now if I'm working a little deeper vertical, you can work it and see how that fish is reacting and acting. And maybe you need to switch up, but when you know they're active, you just need to find the fish, get your cast and then start looking.
Tom (52:16.026)
Yeah.
Tom (52:26.86)
Yeah, and that's the biggest thing too. We can see, obviously with order facing sonar, we can see all these things, but it doesn't mean number one, it's a walleye, number two, it doesn't mean that walleye's gonna bite. And it's just learning behavior. So if I casted a fish, if it swims away, whether it's from being spooked or whatever,
to be able to know the way it swam away, what kind of fish it is, that's like what I'm talking about with like getting detailed with, you know, Garmin like, okay, I'm not gonna chase that fish because it's not a walleye. Or it looked big, but when it turned, it's not big enough, I'm not gonna go after it. So that's where the advantages in tournament fishing anyway can come in. And when you're fishing for...
In tournaments, I'm not looking for the schools. If I see a school, I leave. And I'm looking for a singular fish or sometimes pears. It was like a big bug.
Brian Bashore (53:38.686)
Yep. Typically those bigger fish are in a big pot of fish. When you got 15, 20 of them, you're going to have a lot of those, those little smaller walleyes and you know, unless it's a school of white bass where they can all be huge, but that doesn't do us a lot of good. Now, the devil's lake, I was searching for a white bass. I think maybe you were too, because if you know much about white bass, walleye are there as well. Uh, it's pretty, pretty good identifier of where they're at, because those things will tell you where all the bait is real quick. So.
Tom (53:42.994)
Yep.
Tom (53:49.721)
Yeah.
Tom (53:55.3)
Thank you.
Yep. Mm-hmm.
Tom (54:05.148)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (54:05.318)
It is, he would just come a long ways, but you're fishing clean. You're fishing, efficient. You're not wasting cast. I mean, you're moving more. It's just, it's just changed the game period. So like I said, tournament fishing is more mental, even, you know, physical one aspect nowadays, you don't see a lot of, you know, bigger, heavy set bass guys, because you're standing all day. So whether, you know, you have back problems or other cases, you're burning a lot of calories. It's a lot of stress, you know, I mean, I stretch in the mornings for tournament. Not enough, but you really got to have a little bit.
Tom (54:13.998)
Yeah. Good.
Tom (54:19.353)
Thank you.
Tom (54:23.588)
I'll do.
Tom (54:31.372)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (54:35.314)
You know, gotta be a little limber. You gotta be able to, you know, withstand some of this, not just the boat ride, but you know, we're all going to have hunchbacks and neck problems, right? With this forward facing sonar. But what do you think the future of this is going? Um, Bassworld's got tons of talk about it. They want to ban it. Some do, some don't. Uh, not so much discussion in a while. That world's not even, everybody's on board with it yet. Um, I imagine you'll see a lot more of more and more of that this year. It's completely evolving.
Tom (54:43.488)
Yeah, basically. Yep.
Tom (54:59.886)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (55:04.734)
It works. Last year was a huge Testament to how well it works. What are your thoughts?
Tom (55:04.888)
Yeah.
Tom (55:08.948)
Yeah. It just comes down to responsibility is what it is. So like a lot of it is, you know, number one, people are, there's, there's a lot of people who are concerned with the fisheries because of ford basin tonar and the limits and stuff like that. But.
Um, you know, every, all of the facts and all the studies, they start down south typically because of bass and stuff like that and the longer seasons that these game and fishes can study them. So there was actually a study coming out of actually my home state, one of the first studies that came out on a ford facing sonar.
my home state of Arkansas just came out with some statistics on the bass fishery, because it's very pressured for bass down there in Forge Facing Sonar, but there's been no change like in the use of Forge Facing Sonar, the bass population or the quality of bass that the Arkansas Game and Fish are seeing. That was one of the first studies to just have come out this last fall.
to and I think more is gonna follow. And it just, and as far as like banning the new technology, I remember hearing stories of, you know, people calling for the banning of side scan and down scan technology and stuff like that. Oh, it shouldn't be able to be used in tournaments, but I don't know. Like I think if...
I was able to take one of these people who are totally against it out, teach them how to use it, show them what it is. I don't. And it's also the ones that are calling it boring. Like oh, I don't want to sit and watch somebody fish on Lyscope while they... I don't see how they think it's boring. Like I really don't. I don't.
Brian Bashore (57:06.55)
Well, I mean, I get their perspective there, you know, that's live covered. Your face is down and you're making, like you said, 500 to a thousand fish for your made a cast. So there's nothing for them to see, but they're, if they could see what you were seeing, wouldn't be so boring. Right.
Tom (57:13.452)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Tom (57:19.456)
Yeah. That's what I mean. That's what I mean. And so, and a lot of it is people, you know, a lot of, a lot of anglers are, uh, when I say older, I'm talking about like, they're, they're over technology already, you know, like, people my age really, they're like, I don't want anything new anymore. I don't, I'm not going to learn it. So I think it's my, this is my opinion. I believe that.
If they were able to learn it, put in the time to learn it, and understand it, use it responsibly, it would change some people's minds. And who knows? Let's just say that it does, like tournaments start to ban it. Then what in another tournament series just pop up that is all live scope, you know what I mean? So I don't think there's any side that's gonna.
Brian Bashore (58:07.309)
Doesn't.
Tom (58:14.46)
I think things are just going to progress the way they are and yeah, you can't just keep banning new technologies, but you just have to keep people responsible.
Brian Bashore (58:25.77)
Yeah, I think responsibility is, is the key. Obviously a bass is more of a catch and release type fish. So you're not going to affect the numbers. You're going to get a lot, you know, a lot of people are obviously keeping a walleye, tastes great. Ice fishing is where it's really, you know, whooping and a lot of that Minnesota stuff, wiping out some populations of crappie and what have you. But trust your DNR, trust these scientists, numbers don't lie. These guys are out there doing the research, doing the, you know, the net surveys, obviously when they see numbers drop, you know, then they'll, they'll make the, you know,
Tom (58:34.956)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Tom (58:50.584)
Yep. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (58:54.378)
the changes and requirements until then it, it is whether you want to get on board with it or don't get on board with it, it's completely your option until you're told otherwise.
Tom (59:00.544)
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So when they say, you know, we just have to, we just have to trust them. Like you said, and if they ever say like this, like you can't use it, or if the statewide, you can't use it, that it is what it is, but then tournaments are totally a separate entity at that point. You know, it were, you know, like, uh, why couldn't you still use it in tournaments, you know, I mean, it's just, we're catching him, we're releasing them. Um, well.
There's a lot that goes in and out of that. And I, I don't know if like, I try to see both sides, but I just, I've seen so many people who are frustrated. I get messages all the time. I get messages every day. Like they're frustrated with it. They can't see this. They can't see that. Then I point them in the right direction, show them. And they're like, oh, okay. Okay. Or if I had co-anglers get into the boat, they're like, like I bought this live scope and I, I took it off and threw it in my garage. And I'm like, well, here, just so.
Brian Bashore (59:40.682)
Oh yeah.
Brian Bashore (59:51.127)
Yeah.
Tom (59:59.628)
That it's a big learning curve for the call anglers and they, I mirror, they can stand by me or they, I can mirror my live scope screen at my dash and they, they watch it and they're like, yeah, and I, I'm fine with them watching that and asking questions.
Brian Bashore (01:00:10.114)
Oh, they can see.
Tom (01:00:16.044)
Then after that, they're like, oh, okay, okay. You know, they, so what I think a lot of it is people get these electronics, no matter what brand, they get them, they want to clear, so I think a lot of the haters for LifeScope or for facing Sonar, I think a lot of the haters have it. I think they own, own.
Brian Bashore (01:00:37.121)
Yep.
Tom (01:00:42.032)
it they just don't use it because they can't learn it and I think a lot of it is people get it out of the package they put it on put it on their screen and they try so hard to clear up that screen to make it look like movie quality black background they want to see an actual fish swimming around and so they're and with
Brian Bashore (01:00:55.674)
Yep.
Tom (01:01:03.524)
using all of the built-in functions on these screens, you're overworking the processor in the unit. And when you're doing that, you're getting a big lag, you're getting a big delay, you're missing fish as you're sleeping across, you might sleep across, and there's a fish already you passed, but you're not gonna see it. So you're like, okay, where did that go? So...
There's a lot of YouTube videos out there showing how to clean your screen up and all that. And they get so many millions of thousands of views and it's like, I just, no, it's wrong. It's all, it's like, you can clean it up, but you're not gonna see anything. And so that I think where people get frustrated because.
They're just not letting the electronics work for them the way they're supposed to work. They want to see what they want to see and envision before they see it. So.
Brian Bashore (01:01:52.083)
and it
Brian Bashore (01:01:58.794)
Nope. And you still got to get, you still got to catch them. You still got to give them the bite. Just cause you can see them. I look at it as a huge confidence thing. I can see fish. That's not a fish. It's a rock or that rock just moved. It is a fish. All right. Okay. I'm going to work this little area. I always set it a hundred times. You can mash your electronics. You'll be a master angler. It's that simple. People out of the box, put them in their boat, turn on. Well, this isn't what it looked like in my buddy's boat or this isn't what the YouTube video, you know, they have no idea about all the settings. And it's
Tom (01:02:02.208)
Yeah. Yep.
Tom (01:02:10.589)
Yep.
Tom (01:02:16.609)
Mm-hmm.
Tom (01:02:24.845)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (01:02:27.914)
And they're so advanced and there's new ones coming out each year. It's such a revolving. It takes a lot of time. And you've just said it, you spent a ton of time and I was, you know, my goals last year, I went to lakes where I'm guiding or I had a day off. And I was like, I'm just, this is it. Throwing a rod, draw the boat. I'm going to go. I know where a couple of rock piles are and that's it. I'm just going to play with the forward facing sonar with different jigs, different lures, different presentations and, and mess with the comb, moving with different angles, trying to see where that is best. And then, you know, and.
Tom (01:02:34.259)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (01:02:57.486)
He's like anything you got better. Now, Devils Lake last year, it was a very target rich environment. I went in with complete goal of, I want to compete with these guys. I better stick my head to my screen. Did it. And it, and it worked. And I started, I'm like, oh, you know, I text whoever I got one. It worked. I called it. I saw it. Bam. 25 incher, you know, no, in a turbo time, I didn't depend on it quite as much, but I, it was still there. I mean, I was on it and I'm like, oh yeah, look at, there's, there's a lot of fish there and they were nice fish. So.
Tom (01:03:07.904)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (01:03:27.21)
It is awesome. It's an awesome tool. Um, I don't, I don't think it's going anywhere in our world anytime soon. Anyway.
Tom (01:03:33.676)
No, and one more thing I'm looking for, face-to-face, I know we're getting to our time here, but so me being relatively new, I've gotten a lot of perspective from the angler, like hardcore weekend fishermen, or you know, like where Nate and I had a camper on leech. So there's a lot of fishermen up there and they would always be like, oh, leech lake is dying. You know, they're.
Everybody be like, there's no walleyes left. They're gone. There's just nothing left here and stuff like that. And as I'm learning LifeScope, I'm like, I'm seeing thousands every single day. And, um, and I'd be, there's a couple of kids over there that I took fishing and, um, their family had fish fries. So I let them keep their limits and would come in and all these, all these.
you know, guys who've been fishing leech for years, who are saying that, you know, side scan and all that has killed the lake, because they're like, what is going on? You know, like they couldn't believe it. So it's not that again, it's not going to be life scope that kills a lake. It's going to be us. It's going to be people. You know what I mean? So like if you're using it irresponsibly, then, you know, shame on you. I mean, but like.
Brian Bashore (01:04:48.246)
right?
Tom (01:04:58.54)
keep what you're gonna use and keep what you're gonna eat. And just, that's it. I mean, there's no reason to overflow your freezers and stuff like that. Just use it responsibly.
Brian Bashore (01:05:12.106)
Yep. Basically principles of conservation. It's pretty simple. If you're not going to eat it, don't take it. So, I mean, there's plenty of meat fishermen out there that just catch and kill everything and I'm guaranteeing a lot of that just goes to waste. It goes to the freezer, it's freezer burnt. And I go, Oh man, I got this stuff two years later and it gets tossed out. So, you know, if you're going to eat it, I don't even keep any unless I might eat it, you know, fairly soon, if you know, within a couple of days now, because I, as a, as a guy to get plenty of, uh, guys that just don't want to keep them or something, I'm like, I don't, I don't want them.
Tom (01:05:14.626)
Yep.
Tom (01:05:17.9)
Yep.
Tom (01:05:29.739)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Well, yep.
Brian Bashore (01:05:42.05)
Cause you know, unless I catch them or I know, and I really will probably keep some ice fishing cause they just taste really good coming out of that super cold water.
Tom (01:05:48.652)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Brian Bashore (01:05:51.49)
All right. Well, we're getting close to wrapping up here. We got a couple more things for you, Tom. I could talk all day. You just triggered so many, so many thoughts, you know, and, uh, which is good. Cause you know, we'll have you on again and we'll keep this conversation going. But let's just talk about how, how's Tom, how have you evolved as a professional angler?
Tom (01:05:58.021)
Yeah, that was awesome. I could hear his brain.
Tom (01:06:11.648)
Well, it's been a short three years, but yeah, so it's been very fast. And like I said, I have to stop sometimes and just remember that and appreciate every single step. But from the beginning of walleye angling, just, you know, being literally those first few tournaments, I was the only one standing on the bow of the boat. Like I was it. And then to now seeing.
Brian Bashore (01:06:13.957)
It's you've come up very fast. I mean.
Tom (01:06:40.86)
80, 90% of us standing up. That part's pretty cool to see. But as far as, you know, I fell into the trap of thinking that I'm 40 some years old. There's no way I'm gonna get a sponsor, so I'm just gonna do this on my own. And just, you know, things just started happening, you know? And more people notice than...
what you think. So like my social media for, yeah. So my social media was small and, you know, I'm thinking there's no, I don't even know how to grow it. That's what I tell myself. I don't know how to grow it. So people, you know, so I'm like, at least nobody's going to sponsor me because it's, I have a small following compared to, you know, I'd look up a lot of the guys and like thousands of tens of thousands of followers and like, yeah, I'm too far behind. But with
Brian Bashore (01:07:12.558)
always watching.
Tom (01:07:39.872)
You know, just realizing now that more people are watching it, whether it's sponsors, whether it's kids, you know, or people that are, that look to up to us that could be older than us that are wanting to do this. But the tackle companies like, like Northland, when they, I kept talking about some of my videos about, you know, this little jig and it was like a, still to this day, nobody knows what jig I was using before Northland came along.
But I found a jig online that, you know, it was hard to find. Only one place I could order it. And, um, people saw it on the championship in Audertale. I held it up to the camera and I said, people want to know what's Tom's favorite color and I held it up and I said, lead. And so, um, yeah. So with Northland, just paying attention to they actually, we made a jig.
Brian Bashore (01:08:29.114)
I agree.
Tom (01:08:38.804)
which was at the short shank, wider gap, and tungsten instead of lead. And you don't think, I never thought there's so much behind a jig, but my goodness, is there? It is the perfect jig from the gap of the hook to how it falls with that tungsten. Everything about it when we first put it to use was like, I wasn't getting skin hooks anymore.
Brian Bashore (01:08:43.725)
Tungsten. Love it.
Tom (01:09:08.16)
Like it was like buried in the bone and with those mustad hooks in there too, they're solid. I mean, they're, they're not bending on those hooks yet. So just being able now to throw my two cents in, whether it's Northland or Diowa now, I mean, that was the whole dial opportunity was due to, was it last winter? No. Last winter.
Brian Bashore (01:09:18.592)
Nope.
Tom (01:09:37.124)
Two winters ago, two winters ago, I did a video of me rigging up for the year before the NWT. I did just a short little clip of me winding some line. And in the background, I had like 10 Shields exclusive Daiwa reels. So I'm not sponsored by Shields, but Daiwa makes a real specific.
four shields, a $90 reel, and I'd used it that season before. I used one. I really liked it, so I bought 10 and had boxes of them back there. And then I wasn't even highlighting that at all, and I started getting messages from followers like, oh, you like those DIY reels? I'm like, yeah, they're 90 bucks at Shields. Before I knew it, a couple of weeks later, I started getting messages still, and they're like, oh, Shields are sold out. I'm like, really? And they go online. No, they're sold out online.
Brian Bashore (01:10:35.76)
They're all gone, man.
Tom (01:10:36.176)
Oh, and then so that is where like, I, I think got maybe the attention of the local Diowa reps in the Midwest. And then I was, you know, given the opportunity to run the reels and equipment last year, and then now to be able to give them my input on how I want.
the rods and line and everything like that, especially target, you know, specifically for fishing with Ford Facing Sonar. It is, it's awesome to be able to have a company that will listen and do that. And you know, what I learned about Daiwa just recently is that they are the biggest company that has...
They're actually actual own rod factory. So like a lot of the bigger companies have really good rods. There's so many good rods out there right now, but Daiwa actually builds their own from scratch. They have everything from start to finish is a Daiwa rod. And so these new, they're called TDI Team Daiwa.
I rods that will be released this week, no wait, in two weeks at the Chicago Land Show and then I'm going to go do an unveiling at the Wisconsin Fishing Expo in Madison, I think like the third week of February and do a couple of seminars out there for Daiwa. So I'm excited for them. The price point.
You know, you think, Dio, a lot of people think, oh, I'm not gonna be able to afford that. 129 bucks, we kept the price where it's very affordable for us tournament anglers and for the weekend anglers and to be able to have that quality at that price is kind of rare these days. So, no, I'm glad I'm able to be a part of that. So as far as my evolution as a tournament angler, just, it's been quick.
Brian Bashore (01:12:50.96)
Yeah, nothing's cheap anymore.
Tom (01:13:00.78)
but I don't take any of it for granted. I remember, always got to remember where we came from. And, you know, my dad risk a lot trying when he came to this country and to be able to, for him to see me like fishing professionally and successfully is like something I guarantee he never even would have dreamt of, you know, like.
somebody's able to do this and make a living doing this. This is insane.
Brian Bashore (01:13:36.846)
American dream. I can't even imagine meeting your dad's position nowadays with society. The world we're in, I mean, is ballsy. That takes a lot. He put a lot of it on the line and that's super cool. That's awesome. You got to help with the development of these new rods. I just read it and the fish more the other day, those are coming out. We got forward facing. I mean, look at this. You're designing a rod to help specifically for targeting fish, individual fish.
Tom (01:13:38.145)
Yep, 100%.
Tom (01:13:42.796)
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Brian Bashore (01:14:04.726)
Ford face sonar. We have Berkeley just released the finisher, the crutch and the, and the power switch come out, these baits are designed for Ford facing sonar, right? You're talking about that tungsten jig. Tungsten shows up so much better on Ford facing sonar than lead. So if you didn't know that folks. Yeah, tungsten ain't cheap, but you can see it a heck of a lot better a little bit further out. And that is a hell of a jig. I love that jig is I'm pretty sure it tied up to several rods in my garage right now. You know, if there's one bait I could ever use and I'm purier to the same boat, it's a jig. Period.
Tom (01:14:11.517)
It's not a good idea.
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Tom (01:14:28.)
Yeah.
Tom (01:14:34.442)
Yep, yep.
Brian Bashore (01:14:35.67)
So because I can catch anything, whether it's a plastic or a crawler or a minnow on it, you can put it wherever you can fish it deep, shallow, fast, slow. It don't matter. It's really, you know, ultimately all you need. So we wrap this up. Tom, what is one thing you can leave with our listeners? A tidbit, a nugget to help them on their angling journey. Putting you on the spot.
Tom (01:14:43.72)
Mm-hmm. That's right.
Tom (01:14:56.452)
Um, just put the time in, uh, on the water. Um, if you, and one thing is to like, don't be afraid to reach out to us as. You know, tournament professionals don't, don't be afraid, especially me. I can say it like if you, if somebody has a question or anything like that, I'm available, I.
answer my any questions, any requests anybody has of me like that. But just, you know, if you're looking into fishing tournaments, my advice is try it. Try.
the coangling side, do that. Don't put it off. If you have the means to do it, do it. If you're looking to catch more fish, just as a everyday angler, put those electronics to use. Everything we learned and read about in magazines on traditional walleye fishing, those are places to start, but you soon learn that walleyes are much different than what you thought they were
with that. Yeah, you're right.
Brian Bashore (01:16:04.346)
Always tell people I've never seen a wall. I read the wall. I insider magazine So even though he's supposed to be there doing this doesn't mean he is but like you said It's a great place to start and get involved your local clubs You only have to fish the NWT as a coangler to fish any tournament I mean a tournament makes you a better angler outside of tournaments period because you're gonna learn you're gonna learn from failures gonna learn by seeing What other people may be were fishing 10 feet away from me the entire day and one and you brought in one fish But afterwards you're gonna be like
Tom (01:16:11.897)
Thank you.
Tom (01:16:18.625)
Yep.
Tom (01:16:22.933)
It does. It does.
Brian Bashore (01:16:33.462)
This is, they were doing this or that or super slow or super fast, super aggressive, or I was just off the mark because I was on top of the ledge. He was on the ledge, whatever the case may be, you know, the lessons learned by losing in a sense are priceless as well. And I've, we all know we've all got plenty of those and they always sit in the back of our head and they come forward, you know, many times. So awesome, awesome stuff. Thanks, Tom. Appreciate your time. Thank you all for listening in. It was a
Tom (01:16:46.4)
Yep.
Tom (01:16:53.854)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (01:17:02.294)
Tom's got a great story, great advice. We're going to, this forward faces, so in our topics going to go on forever. We're always going to talk about it. We're going to ask everybody's opinions about it, but keep following along to hear more and subscribe down below or some more real talk fishing with no limits. As Tom put it out there, there is, there is the only limit is the one you're going to eat, so if it's past that don't take it home. So thanks for listening and tuning in folks until next time. We'll see you on the water.
Tom (01:17:23.273)
Thank you.