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I'm Brian Bashore, Professional walleye angler and owner of The Walleye Guys Guide service. I am here to reel you in with captivating stories, expert tips, and interviews with some of the biggest names in the fishing community. So, sit back, relax, and let the drag scream!
Brian Bashore (00:01.486)
Hey folks, thanks for tuning into this episode of Reel Talk. Fishing with no limits brought to you by Seaguar, high performance braids and seven reels created by CinqueRods and the Clean Cut Cleaning Station brought to you by Rufflin Kennels. This thing is fabulous, very universal and something that we all need to be having with us, especially as we approach fall fishing and fall hunting seasons. So today we are talking to two time back.
back national all like two or champion Tom when Tom's going to join us here in a moment. We're to talk about how he did it, where he was at, what went into it, the mental game, all those things that he had going on to win these back to back championships. Tom was a great guy. Uh, know, giving us a few minutes, really just a couple of days after the tournament jump on. We're going to bring this one to you little out of schedule. Um, cause we want to get this info out there ASAP and I'm going to be out of pocket for a couple of weeks. So, uh, but.
Nonetheless, you want to hear about a little live scope and all that goes into a little bit of th university talk, talk a little bit on 2026 and do a T schedule and just fishing in general. Cause Tom is just a good dude and deserves this win. Um, man, let's just hear from the two time back to back national wallet to her champ himself. Mr. Tom Huynh.
Brian Bashore (00:01.398)
Hey folks, links are tuned into another episode of real talk fishing with no limits today. We are very fortunate and blessed to be joined by not once, but twice two time back to back national wildlife tour champion. Mr. Tom when congrats Tom big win. You just taking it in right now. I imagine.
Tom (00:22.2)
Yeah, it's crazy. mean, it was just a year ago to the date that had the other one, but it's like surreal. It doesn't matter. think a person could do this 10 times and still just be overcome with emotions and just from the, you know, like the, you know, the following family, friends, everything like that. It's just, and to just come out on top again and
with this kind of competition. It'll never get old. mean, when it does, I'll just be done, you know? But it won't be old.
Brian Bashore (00:58.85)
Yep.
Yeah, that, that, that fire has lit that passion good. And I think we all kind of feel like that when I, when I don't have that fire or that competitive edge, that's when it's time to, hang it up. But I think we're far from that in your world right now. Tens of tens of good goal, right? You maybe shoot for eight more of them.
Tom (01:10.69)
Yep. Yep.
Yeah, yeah, for sure. And well, every tournament I go, I want to try to win. But like I said, I don't ever go into a tournament thinking I'm going to win this thing like the after the tournament, you know, Chase and Kemos, Corey were there and they're like, so what are we doing after? I'm like, I'm hitting the road. They're like, what? I'm like, OK, what do you guys want to do? Because.
Like the Airbnb is gone. We checked out of that. You guys live over an hour away, whatever direction. And Chase was like, he's come back to my house. I'm like, dude, I'm not just partying with you. All right. So we'll do something at the beginning of next season.
Brian Bashore (01:42.882)
Right?
Brian Bashore (01:59.266)
Yeah. I mean, and then that you're obviously on green Bay, which if anybody has ever fished it, it's not fisheries. Awesome. Got a lot of big fish in it. Some of the best, the strongest, hardest fighting fish, most beautiful colored fish, but that place is a challenge.
Tom (02:13.919)
It is, it is. a, when people, you know, I get this question a lot at tournament meetings or just at the ramp from other anglers, like, are you, on them? Are you crushing them or, know, whatever? I had to think about that at Green Bay. Like I came into that tournament and I don't think I've ever caught a tournament limit at Green Bay since I started fishing this. And, I've caught big fish there, so I've had good results, but.
I have not caught a tournament limit. So that pre-tournament meeting, I would tell people that. And I'd also say if I catch a limit, it's going to be a good one. But there was only three days, I think three days in practice where I actually did catch over a limit. Otherwise I, couple of days I had one fish. So, but yeah, you're right. It's, it can be, it's a tough fishery. doesn't matter if it's in June when you got all those LY, you know, that we have to deal with or.
Brian Bashore (02:49.324)
No, tried.
Tom (03:08.199)
Any other time of year, I mean, you can't let your bait get too close to the bottom in most places. I mean, it's just full of gobies. Those walleyes are big for a reason because it's just full of forage.
Brian Bashore (03:19.084)
Yeah, it's such a diverse fishery really. mean, the north to the south, east side to west side, it's all, it's, mean, it's fishing several different fisheries in one system and it's big. So it's not like you can just run out there for four or five days and kind of figure it out. And you get a little wind and weather and that place can change drastically, which you found out, right?
Tom (03:26.315)
Yeah.
Tom (03:34.571)
No.
And it did. For sure.
Brian Bashore (03:43.63)
I knew going into it, obviously in the second day was a blow day, but you just mentioned it. got Chase Vars and Tommy Kemos and Corey Spring on it. They kind of working together as a team. I'm sitting back and I'm talking to, you know, my buddy, Randy Hummel. like, said, McQuade and Isaac, they know this place really good. They know what this thing's going to do to us. But Tom's got it. He got an A plus team that knows his body water. And I was like, I know they're sending him, you know, helping him out here every which way he can.
Tom (03:54.325)
Mm-hmm.
Tom (04:07.467)
Yep.
Tom (04:12.587)
Yeah, you know, a couple of the guys didn't make the championship this year. It's been, it's been a tough season for them though. They're going to come around though. They're going to come back strong next year. like the, my confidence there, Corey, he, he, he had a tough tournament there at the championship, but I give him the credit as far as our team goes for this one, because he kept me pretty level headed. Cause I was kind of just thinking I, need to run.
Brian Bashore (04:21.125)
yeah.
Tom (04:42.623)
You know, 30 miles here, I need to run 50 miles here. I need to go check the spots where I've caught big fish in the past. And he kind of just kind of, he didn't tell me ever not to. He just said, I just don't see the, with the conditions that are predicted, I don't see that water maintaining, itself. So I literally just focus around the whole entire islands area.
You know, so I'm talking maybe a 15 mile, north to west by what eight mile east to west or yeah, east to west, north to south range. they, for the whole practice and, I'm glad I did it because he was right. Like I heard from some other anglers, like, the rumor says Isaac ran way north, on day one.
And the water temps had changed so much he didn't have any fish. So he had to scramble. If I would have done that, my scrambling would have been bad news because I don't know it like Isaac does, you know. So I'm glad that I stayed in that area and dialed that area in where it stayed the most stable with that big blow.
Brian Bashore (06:02.379)
Yeah, that I mean, and nobody really knows that a lot better than sprinkle who has cut his teeth there and won a lot of money and especially that area you're talking about. He spends a lot of time there.
Tom (06:06.447)
No, And. Dude, it's unbelievable. I would send him a picture of a waypoint on my screen, right? Like, OK, I found a fish here or here's a couple of fish here in the weeds, but it's but they're not that big. So I was sending pictures of my actual graph. And. All he needed to do
was look at the literal contours. And he'd be like, that's here. And I'm like, what? Like, do you know? Like, it's unbelievable to me, like how he knows that place. But yeah, I owe a lot of thanks to him for keeping me. I am pretty calm when it comes to fishing, staying on the water, but
He helped me focus where I needed to focus.
Brian Bashore (07:09.038)
Cory's very calm and level-headed. It's, it's always good to have one of those guys when you got a Parsons and chemo. So I always say with Randy and I, it's, it's level-headed and calm and not so calm over here on this guy. So it's a good balance. So that is awesome. And yeah, I mean, as like Isaac had, you know, to say that when he was on stage that he knew when blue, I'm just going here, abandoned everything. I'm going, going over here and it worked out good, but just like you, I, call. said, I don't know.
Tom (07:10.92)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Tom (07:31.127)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (07:37.442)
You know, but he was with Isaac and Isaac said, just go here. And he was like, all right, I'll do it, man. And finish third. So there's, there's a lot to say about, you know, and probably I would imagine some of your columnists that I watched your video earlier. Is this isn't the first time you've been here. You've been here several times now. So obviously just the, less nerves and kind of the ease going into things you're like, I'm pretty familiar with this place. It's green Bay. I mean, I, I've learned and screwed it up last time I was there to never go to the same spot the second day.
Tom (07:38.054)
Yep.
Tom (07:42.106)
Yep, yep, exactly.
Tom (07:59.495)
Yep. Yep.
Tom (08:05.606)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (08:06.026)
It just never works. It may probably ask for somebody, but not this guy. And just got to remember not to do it because it changes so much, but you, knew, I mean, you still got to go look right. Almost even you got a 43 pound bad, but high winds and stuff. was straight crazy.
Tom (08:09.937)
Yeah. Yep.
Tom (08:15.685)
Yeah.
But the only. Yeah, the only the only the reason it changes the the water temps like that that wind being sustained for that long and that strong and that gale warning like it blew that warm water out in the warm or the cold water got flipped and came up. And so that's why they were gone. Like I'm confident that if those fish were if that water tap would have stayed in the mid 60s, those fish would have still been there on spot number one. But
spot number one and number two were completely gone. anybody watched my live feed, they saw me scan through one time and I didn't see any form of life whatsoever. And I made myself leave and I didn't have where I ended up fishing the tournament. It really wasn't anywhere I fish in practice. All I did was I just started going east. The direction the wind was blowing until that water temp rose like three or four degrees. And I went to that depth.
that I was fishing. The depth I think that I was fishing was key in keeping the gobies at bay. right. And so when I saw that water tamp rise, that's when I started fishing. so when it rose, it rose quick. Like all of a sudden it was like 58 degrees. And then within just no time at all as I was cruising, it was up to like 63, 64. And I'm like, wait a minute. So that's when I stopped. So.
That wall of cold water was kind of pushing and those fish were right ahead of it. Those fish were just right at the, so you know, that line there. that's where, so technically it was a form of structure. If you think about it, that line of cold water would have been a form of structure where those fish, it was holding those fish like a wall. So that's where I just was so fortunate to just say, put your trolling motor down here and look.
Tom (10:15.83)
I didn't pick it up until I went back to weigh-in, so.
Brian Bashore (10:19.892)
It is a hunt mode, no doubt. And that's really what a lot of the scoping is. And the advantage to it is you can pull up to air and make sure you can drive around through 2D and side image. But we know how many more fish you see once you drop that thing in the water that you don't see. And then sometimes it's like, or especially if there is trucks around, you can kind of pick them out of those weeds and rocks, but just putting it down until you find them. had kind of the same thing. I happened to me at the NTC where it blew and it blew the warm water out and then it dropped seven degrees on a hundred degree air temp.
Tom (10:32.728)
Yep. Yep.
Brian Bashore (10:49.484)
And it's, and you just, you slid out not near as far, but that's not odd at all for those fish to move five miles or more on green bait though. I mean, pretty quick. it, and I've said it to few people as we got to do more than just look at that screen and the little pretty pictures in the, in the jig. We got to look at the numbers and identify those water tips. think a lot of people get tunnel vision and don't look at this side of it or look up and look at the water clarity aspect of
Tom (10:56.119)
Yeah. Mm hmm. Yep.
Tom (11:08.194)
Yes. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Yeah, 100%. It's huge. No.
Brian Bashore (11:18.36)
Cause it was like, drugs don't lie, right? You looked at your screen and there's no fish. There's no fish. It's that you did a perfect. watched your live stream until it dropped for a little bit. And, I'm like, man, you don't, don't waste the cast. didn't, didn't waste the cast. didn't want to throw a crawler off. was there's no fish. Let's get out of here.
Tom (11:23.075)
Yeah, they're gone.
Tom (11:31.236)
Yeah. Yep. I had that same crawler on for about three hours.
Brian Bashore (11:38.958)
I mean, let me drop it over the side just to get a little wet here a little bit. You can see the co-ing
Tom (11:43.532)
Yeah.
Yep.
I'll tell you though, on day one though, the mackerel angler at the dash there was extremely key in having that 43 pounds because in an area like Green Bay is pretty unique because in certain areas, if you see a fish, it's a big fish. So you don't have to worry about size discrimination. So not all of Green Bay is like that, but in this area I was very thankful I found these little spots. Unbelievable really, but
Um, they, he was, I had him scanning out from the console, um, 130 feet. And I have my range set at 100 because at 100, I'm not getting any jumpiness on my live scope. that's, that's where, you know, the tip for anybody watching this, like I'm very comfortable at a hundred. The processing works perfectly well at a hundred. Um, my size, um, gauge.
You know, in my mind is better at 100 feet. But when I'm scanning forward panning at a pretty good swath, I'm hitting a pretty good area. But with him at 130 feet, just focus on one side of the boat. I told him, don't worry about scanning to the left side. Stay on your side, scan out. And he's scanning 130 feet. He could see fish way farther than I could. And I told him, if you see a fish, tell me, let me know. And every time.
Tom (13:17.389)
He'd be Tom, there's one out there at 90 feet. There's one out there at 80 feet, whatever. And I would turn and three of those fish were ones he found on his life scope, you know? And so that was very key in helping me or helping us get our weight.
Brian Bashore (13:37.582)
And what a and effective and efficient way to utilize that coangler. Not knowing the skill sets or whatever. mean, there's a lot of obviously chatter out there in the coanglers and the LiveScope. We're not getting to do anything. you're a guy playing a pretty crucial role.
Tom (13:41.643)
No, yeah, and he was.
Tom (13:51.775)
I find a role for him, you know, and when I first met him at the rules meeting, the first thing he said was, you know, I'm a student, you know, so I was like, that's just awesome. so, but for him to gauge the eyes and stuff, he's been learning that at the university and everything. So he's like learning those things, but for him to not be, you know, like, I have to, you know,
Brian Bashore (14:03.182)
Right on.
Tom (14:21.762)
catch this fish. He understood that there was a championship to win for both of us and his what he did was extremely valuable like we wouldn't have done that without him being able to help me from the back. It was awesome.
Brian Bashore (14:43.854)
Yeah, that's, I think it gets probably overlooked a lot. Everybody wants to cast and hook up to that fish and bring it in and be like, yeah, I brought in three of those five who weighed in or whatever the case is. But you also got to identify that it's a championship that we're both here to win. I, my best chance of winning this is to let that guy right there in front of the boat do his thing and, and soak it in and be, do whatever he needs me to do.
Tom (15:02.731)
Yeah. Yep.
Yep. And the main thing is with that too, like I'm fine with coangulars catching fish. I've been caught out caught by my coangulars we've talked about before, but, I'm super happy with that, but we've been on the water for up towards a week already. And it's not about seeing the fish. We've already learned the cadence and how these fish want the bait presented. So, that's where that plays in. And my coangulars name is Gary Slagle. So if he, he'll watch this and
Brian Bashore (15:11.963)
yeah.
Tom (15:36.053)
Such a good guy, great family. His dad came to congratulate us and drove out three hours. His son brought his dad out and so that was pretty cool.
Brian Bashore (15:48.13)
That is cool. I watched your video a little earlier. You got a little emotional. I don't think at a hundred percent get it. And it's awesome. We all have a story when there's a backstory, you know, from where you come from and, Tom, the, the, the nail salon guy and you know, all these things. And I love it. And seeing that, that vulnerability, it, it, it's perfectly cool. I think you said, I'm sorry to be a
Tom (15:55.7)
Yeah. Yeah.
Tom (16:04.724)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Brian Bashore (16:13.838)
crybaby or a sissy or I don't know what you called yourself something, but you're not, you're not at all. You're a human. And I would be the same. these, these aren't easy. These don't come easy. These are some of the best guys that do. He wins angler of the year again. I mean, these guys are fricking good and you've been up there with them, you know, back to back championships and, just winning any tournament in general. I mean, hell, top 10, I think we all leave pretty happy, you know, so it.
Tom (16:14.867)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
No.
Tom (16:37.255)
Yeah. huh. For sure. Yeah, no, I get it. I actually, I actually re did that video. So I made that video as a recap. And then toward the end, I, got emotional and then I redid it because I was like, I'm not, I'm not putting that in there. Then I posted the wrong one. I posted the original one and I'm like, all right, that's fine. I'm leaving it, but it's all right.
Brian Bashore (16:42.985)
Good on you. Good.
Brian Bashore (17:01.836)
I let it go. It's meant to be, it's meant to be it. It's, a hundred percent. right. I remember Shakira doing it on stage when he won once, you know, another guys that, know, they've, they've won enough do is done it. Do we did it with his AOI this year as well, right? Get emotional. You and I exactly it's we're human, man. This is, it's not $300,000 mass master classic winnings. And it's a boat that you got to distribute or keep her in your case, it. And.
Tom (17:17.307)
100%. Yeah, I don't know how you couldn't.
Tom (17:23.408)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (17:31.95)
It's, know, and it's not even about the money. That's nice. mean, uncle Sam's going to get his cut and it's kind of like, that sucks. But you know, that's just the way it is, right? That's still more than he had going into it that day. But it's, it's just that I'm a two time back to back champ. You know, I'm another end of the T championship. I won this, I got this. And obviously that is self you. Outside of THU you've leveraged that, but I was just blown up on this wall. seen in the short short time you've been around it really.
Tom (17:34.81)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Tom (17:58.362)
Yeah.
Yeah, and that, I think that part is what gets to me or that is hard for me to understand or grasp is like, you know, I get into that mindset where there are people, like people we compete against will say, Tom, you, even before THU, they're like, you, do you think you're giving away too many secrets? Do think you're giving away too much?
especially after th two, but then they're like, do you think that people are going to catch up to you? Aren't you worried about that? And, know, it's like, well, I understand that's my goal because that you guys are going to push me, my competitors are going to push me to get better because if I'm teaching them or helping them.
I'm still going to want to beat them every single time. And then all the students, everybody out there who doesn't fish tournaments, they're eager to learn all the time too. More things, more things. So that keeps me going. then after last year, when I won the championship last year, 2024, I had one of the top pros who was concerned with me giving away so much that said, early on, he said, are you afraid you're giving away too much? He came up to me and he's like,
I guess you're fine. And then this year, again, same guy came up and he's like, okay, I see that you're still getting better, that you're pushing your, know, he, he understood the value of the education because it pushes all of us, not just, you know what I mean? So I, that that's the thing I think that's the most humbling or the most, that I'm trying to grasp mentally is the fact that
Brian Bashore (19:33.432)
Well, get to it.
Tom (19:48.651)
Yes, the train is still on the tracks and I'm still going to want to go out next year and do it again.
Brian Bashore (19:57.431)
And everybody is catching up. I mean, we're seeing a little evolution of there's everybody's getting, everybody's kind of accepted it and went, this is how we're going to have to fish to compete. it, and I love it. It's a blast when it works. But it, but it's, but it's a, it, but it's not easy. It's challenging. It's frustrating to sell. Nothing worse than watching fish. Look at your bait, not eat it. Right.
Tom (20:09.399)
Yep. Yep. Yeah. It almost didn't work for me on day two, but. No, no. Yep. I know. so yeah, that's the thing, too. Like I casted it. I should do a percentage sometime. I would take a lot of time to do, but my goodness, this week, casted it thousands with literally catching maybe.
30, not even 30 fish, maybe 25 fish total.
Brian Bashore (20:42.339)
Yup.
It's in it's it's confidence. I mean, boat control is huge. Confidence is I think the biggest factor. think, and you've always had that ahead of a lot of us going with the live scope stuff. Cause you just, that's it. When you don't bring trolling around, you have nothing else in your boat, but those handful of jigs and these couple of rods, you force yourself. You know, I mean, I'm out of mind in my trolling motor right away. And so now I'm going to force myself to use it this way and not on a pole and do any of these things, not spot lock learned it. Cause you got to learn the boat control. And if you're using your spot lock in a pole, you're not.
Tom (21:02.454)
Yep. Yep.
Tom (21:08.375)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (21:15.374)
There's huge disadvantages to that and advantages once in a while, but it's, and I had it, uh, or I've got a lot people like, well, how are you, you know, I just fished a little local tournament and, it was scoping and cut it. Just got walleyes and everybody else around me, Tron was catching drum. Not very many. And a couple of guys like, I can't scope here. How do you just catch walleyes? I only, I only cast a walleyes. Was it my answer? That's like, just throw a walleyes.
Tom (21:17.077)
Yep. Yep.
Tom (21:30.583)
Yep.
Tom (21:38.551)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yep.
Brian Bashore (21:41.935)
Still pick up a drum here there that comes flying in and attacks it, but they're like, I'm like, it's called thousands of hours staring at a screen, figuring out what, which, which is which. Admit it's not easy. And there's bodies of water, like Mississippi river, even a Lewis Clark format where you it's really hard to decipher because they don't suspend a lot. They're all kind of bunched on the bottom and there may be one wall in that crowd of fish sometimes too. And then it's just tricky getting him to buy it versus everything around it.
Tom (21:50.635)
Yes. Yep. Yeah.
Tom (22:01.526)
Mm-hmm. Yep. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Yeah, for sure.
Brian Bashore (22:10.434)
But it's, time and you clearly have put a lot of time into it. THU has showed that, but you brought up something to the wild world that has been missing since years ago. And that is educating the other anglers. You know, how'd you do it? Where'd you do it? What am I catching on is always a big secret. It's not in Tom's boat. He's not hiding the baits in the water. I use a jig hit a crawler.
Tom (22:29.899)
Yep. Yep. Yep. Jig and a crawler. Yeah. This year, this year though, like on at Lake Sakakawea at the Dakota Walleye Classic, I didn't catch a single fish on live bait. All of that tournament was won on artificial. Erie, I think most of my fish there were caught on artificial.
so it's, it's about the number one, what the fish want. number two is like expanding on my arsenal, I guess. so, you know, somebody in a big sponsor meeting, not one of my sponsors, but somebody in one of their big sponsors meeting made a comment, to their marketing people about me.
saying he's lucky that the NWT still allows live bait. So when I heard that comment through third person, I'm like, all right, I'm gonna. So this year in tournament, I've actually caught more of my fish on artificial baits than live bait. So I'm just doing that not only to show that I need to, but it doesn't matter.
Brian Bashore (23:40.78)
Yep.
Tom (23:56.818)
If it's in the rules that you can use live bait, why not use it? But shoot, I love using those artificial baits and can't wait to show you guys what's coming.
Brian Bashore (24:10.754)
They're, they're so you can fish it more aggressive, faster. There's no baiting or, and if you get bit short, you leave it right. And keep working it. There's, there's just a ton of advantages to it, but then it's, it's still hard to beat a jig and a crawler sometimes period.
Tom (24:13.866)
Yeah. Or. Yep. Mm hmm. Yep.
Tom (24:25.173)
Yeah, you got to do it. But yeah, it's just the evolution of that. then also as we get into using LifeScope more and more, some of these fish are going to get conditioned just like the bass did down south, I believe, to certain baits things like that. So, pack line industries and stuff like that, there's going to be a lull, of course, because of LifeScope. But then
then there's going to be a surge. think that there's going to be a big time when it's like, okay, we're going to need something different. We're going to need these. now what we've never been able to see before is when it comes to artificial baits and reactionary style baits, we've only ever made baits that we think fish are going to want to eat. Now we can see it, right?
So now that's where the difference is we can see what they actually want, what they don't want. That's the most important part, what they don't want and modify things and create new things to make it even more fun. the tackle industries are, you're going to see some, I think you're going to see some changes in the next couple of years and it'll be good.
Brian Bashore (25:44.589)
Yeah, there's already been, mean, quite a few Berkeley's brought a handful of baits here at ICAST. Rappler's brought a handful. know, there's the tungsten, obviously the density that that's been proven, which obviously you're using a ton. I don't think I even ever even use a jig anymore. That's not tungsten except maybe early, early spring when I'm not more or more, just working some shallow stuff, but cause I want it to fall slow, you know, and what have you, but yeah, there's the finisher. mean, being able to watch.
Tom (25:53.492)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Tom (26:01.074)
Yeah. Yeah. Yep.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (26:13.132)
how that fish reacts or doesn't react more. Most importantly, you can bring it in and make a little modification. talked to my buddy, John efficient NTC with, he, he made a modification to his finishers on Lake, the woods that their warrior tournament. And it's that was key. He goes, of a they were just, they were choking this thing down. Right. And you don't, wouldn't have known those things without the live scope. So it's learning. Right. And understanding these underwater eyeballs that we have now, which is kind of cool.
Tom (26:28.243)
Yeah.
Yep, 100%.
Tom (26:39.493)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, no it is. agree.
Brian Bashore (26:43.278)
It is very cool. What, uh, THU, anything new? You get any of this practice stuff on there? Any what's happening? Where are at? You got like, have, I have a thousand rollies by now, I assume. Or 20,000, I don't know, but it's good. It's good. All right. It's good.
Tom (26:55.828)
It's It's good. Dude, it's crazy. I mean, the numbers have surpassed my my hopes and my goals. It just launched a little over a year ago. No, no, no, it's not even a year yet. Funny. But so I but anyway, I is doing well.
The Master Forward Facing Sonar course, original course, teaching everything live scope, has done extremely well. And then the way I'm expanding is doing lake-specific stuff. And I launched the Lake of the Woods course a little over a month ago or so. that went, again, it was crazy. I'm going by like through my social media and stuff where people have the most questions for me.
Lake of the woods is one of those big ones is because back in 2021 when Nate and I like won that by 35 pounds, I think that stuck in people's heads. So that was a big one that people kept asking me about Lake of the woods. How do you do this? How do you find and what do they look like? So I created that course and that course actually ended up being as robust as master forward facing sonar. I didn't think I thought it was going to be like smaller little deal. It ended up being actually
Brian Bashore (27:55.95)
Mm-hmm.
Tom (28:18.601)
just as much content. so yeah, that's how I'm expanding going forward with lakes that are the most popularly asked.
Brian Bashore (28:27.118)
I love it. What, do they look like? Like the woods, look huge. That's what they look like. They that I got a like the woods hoodie right there. Like you can't see it's blurred out, but that place is obviously highly popular fishery full of, of monster fish. was, think what Niddy Niddy have in that last tournament, like a hundred pounds or 120 pounds or something in two days. You know, it's like, yeah, it's a slot folks. If you don't know, you can't keep your thing from what 19 and a half to 27 or 20, 28.
Tom (28:30.365)
Yeah.
Tom (28:37.799)
Yeah, dude.
Yeah. Yeah. yeah. Yeah, I know. Yep.
Tom (28:53.971)
Something like that, yeah.
Brian Bashore (28:54.862)
Like 20 to 28 basically is a slot. can't keep it. So it's full of those in-betweens, but it's full of those 28 to 30 plus inches too. And man, I wish we'd get back there. I wish I could just get back there just in general, just go. A great place to learn it though, because you got to target rich environment, big targets, you know, but there's obviously ton of Saugers and smaller ones and it just kind of depend on what time of year and where you're going, where you're fishing out there. and it's really just kind of an all day bite on that system. You can catch them all day long.
Tom (29:00.678)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Tom (29:04.817)
I know, just to go. I know.
Tom (29:10.269)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Tom (29:16.369)
Yep.
Tom (29:22.803)
I think so. Yeah, I think so. I haven't been out there all times of year yet, but I see that by being pretty consistent, all of open water. it is a target rich environment. Still one of the best places I think to learn life sculpt, that would be somewhere like Leech Lake, even Mille Lacs, because you've got all different sizes and you have sand flats, you have the rocks, you have the basin. So, but yeah, I mean,
very special place and I plan on going forward. mean, we're gonna, we're already working on a couple more body water specific courses to be released in the near future. So yeah, can't be happier with the university every single day out on tour, whether it's at the boat ramp or I had a guy saw the saw me talking about, saw the Northland boat being pulled through Marinette and he
Follow me to the gas station just to tell me that he's enrolled in the university. And every coangler, think, well, at least every tournament this year, I've had a coangler that was enrolled. so just seeing that and how the people sending me their pictures of them and their families catching all these fish and...
Brian Bashore (30:24.844)
That's awesome.
Tom (30:47.82)
or sending me their placements from last year versus this year in these tournaments, how they're getting better. It's so cool. Like that's the best part is seeing the success. I mean, I was nervous releasing it. like, is it right? Is this the, is it, does everything in here? Is it ready to go? And yeah, it's just cool to see the positive positivity.
Brian Bashore (31:09.774)
Well, it's good. it's like I said, it's something the wall, I world needed and needs more of and continue putting it out. It's thu.com folks for those that don't know Tom when university master, Ford facing some master class and Ford facing sonar with obviously new elements continuing to come out. And Tom really, I've, gone through it. I think when you leave the course, you should have a pretty good idea of what you're doing. but it's also.
Tom (31:30.83)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (31:34.039)
Simple in sense, but we overcomplicate all these electronics so much. And that's what everybody's so wrapped up in settings and stuff. And it's like, they're pretty good to go out of the box, you know, for the most part. but everybody waters a little different and water clarity and what have you, but check it out thu.com. We'll drop links down here below. hit over there, subscribe. And, if you're not following Tom on a social media, just watch him. Cause he's given out discounts on this thing all the dang time. There's always a holiday. There's always a reason. There's probably a.
Tom (31:35.354)
Yeah. Yeah, that's it.
That's it. That's it. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (32:01.538)
I'm a two time back to back champ discount coming up. If there isn't, is see, there you go.
Tom (32:04.559)
There actually is. It's gonna be pretty aggressive too. I don't know when this is coming out, but.
Brian Bashore (32:13.202)
There you go, so just follow along be a big fan and follower of Tom's and take advantage of those when they come out So he's not I can tell you I don't top enough. He's not in this for the money He's in it to share the knowledge and educate everybody about it So and if he can make a few bucks to fund the fishing aspect of his career awesome
Tom (32:24.271)
Yeah.
Tom (32:30.863)
Hey, you know the time if somebody is if you've taken out there you've taken the THU and you spend any amount of time on the water if you're a touring angler or you spend any time you can see how much time it took to put in to creating that. So that's where if I can't if I have to be on the water creating that to teach people I can't be in the nail salon making money. there.
Brian Bashore (32:56.142)
Yep. There's got to be a balance here. So the Garmin Active Captain app, did one, I got a Lake Francis Case video where I kind of showed some of the scope and stuff on it. And that thing's slick. That works really, really nice. It's simple to hit record. Unfortunately, it was super hot out, so my phone was getting hot and I had to put it in the cooler, cool it off. So I missed some of it, but I'm like, ah, this, this is a really good way to do it. Where it's just having to have another camera, you know, on the screen and stuff. So it is a.
Tom (33:00.824)
Yeah.
Thank
Tom (33:08.545)
Yep. It does.
Tom (33:14.849)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (33:25.262)
very slick garment is leaps and bounds ahead of so many people on that stuff. Um, you did, you wrapped up, I saw it there today. You took some kids out or is it kid event that you've done? I think you've done it a couple of years. Tell me about that a little bit more. That looked, looked pretty exciting.
Tom (33:29.229)
Yep, there you
Tom (33:39.583)
It's the future. Yeah. Future anglers in Minnesota. So, that is a group that I was invited to an event last year. And, again, this spring I was invited to a crappie, the crappie tournament down Lake, Minnetonka, but they had, I didn't participate in that. I just hung around and, chatted with the parents, the kids, and they had a little, some went out in boats, but some.
were on the dock. I hung out with the ones on the docks. It was a great experience because there's a lot of kids out there and I plan on probably this fall interviewing some of them because I'm just so curious. A lot of these kids are fishing and have very high interest in fishing, but their parents don't fish. These kids are ranging between
seven or eight years old up to 16, 17 years old. And it intrigues me like how, like why, you know, why fishing for these kids? So I'm going to kind of dive into that this fall, but what I took from that and what stuck with me is the fact that not only do these kids like to fish, but these parents are actually, I mean, they're sacrificing their weekends, their times to run them all over the place.
to take them somewhere so somebody can take them fishing. So it was just a cool deal there to witness that and to become a member of Future Anglers of Minnesota, you don't have to be from Minnesota and it's not that much money to enroll and you get all of their benefits too, like discounts from their sponsors and...
THU is we partnered with them too, so that people can take advantage of, some deals through the university. But, we, there's a legends tournament that they put on every year. And I did it last year with, a kid, Calin, who's going to grow up to be, he's going to be a really good angler. already marketing himself really, really well. And, so this year is the second year has up on Leech Lake and I, there was six of them and I, it's random draw.
Tom (35:58.386)
And I drew Shila and the youngest one, think of them and she was brand new to it, barely limited fishing her. So the other kids had personal best fish of like 27 inches or something like that. was crazy. And her personal best coming into that term was 20 inches. And so that shows you her experience level. So, you know, I pick her up.
that more we get in the boat that morning, we go out, it's windy. Like it's bad, bad. So they let us launch anywhere we wanted to on the lake. So I picked the area that was out of the wind and we went out on the sand, some flats out there around Goose Island and we only caught, I think our biggest fish was like 23, 24 inches, but it was, it was so much fun. And, you know, like it was crazy her, how good she was already. Like it was windy.
And so I was like, okay, to get her bearings, there's a fish like 30 feet out. And I said, okay, I'm going to cast my jig. You cast where my jig hits and I'm going to burn mine back in. And I cast the first one and hers was just right there. I'm like, holy crap. said, okay, just let it fall. Yeah. I was like, let it fall to the, let it fall. And then I'm like, okay, now just barely move it, barely move it. And she reels up the slack, brings her rod down and the hook set was the best hook set.
Brian Bashore (37:11.822)
Nice cast.
Tom (37:28.529)
I've ever seen from any human. I was like, are you kidding me? Yeah. And I'm like, wow. And then so we recorded one of the hook sets and I posted it. And within a day, I think we had over 30,000 views on her tiny little body doing that aggressive, awesome hook set. So on Green Bay,
Brian Bashore (37:31.928)
She'd lean into it, huh?
Brian Bashore (37:47.502)
huge. Yeah.
Tom (37:53.831)
I don't think my hook tests were still as strong as Shiloh's, but I was trying.
Brian Bashore (37:59.791)
That's awesome. Watching kids just do that stuff is reminds you why you're doing what you're doing. You know, and, and we all have a story of how we got into it. And like you said, sometimes the parents don't fish. It's their uncle, their neighbor, you know, or their dad or mom's friend, whatever the case may be. And I think a lot of people just forget them. think, you know, the MPA, the future angler, the wildlife forever owns an outlet. know, all the youth fishing stuff are just the future angler. It's not.
Tom (38:03.612)
Mm-hmm.
Tom (38:07.431)
Yeah. yeah. Yep.
Brian Bashore (38:29.902)
Just kids, some of the organizations are obviously more focused there and it makes sense, it's everybody, know, COVID was a huge, you know, growth spurt for people re-engaging and getting back out there. The whole R3 platform, that's what it's for, you know, to re-engage, know, reactivate, uh, you know, people that fished, my kids don't fish with me anymore at all, but they did when they were little, cause they didn't have a choice when they're going to, mom and dad are going places you're going with them, you know, but now they're in college and busy.
Tom (38:54.117)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (38:58.67)
But I'm like, you know, they're going to have kids or when they're whatever, 10 years from now, they're going to come back to it. They're to be like, okay. And then they're going to remember, like, I don't have a single picture with you catching fish where you're not smiling, you know, from ear to ear. So you may have forgot cause life got busy, but you know, you loved it.
Tom (39:10.085)
Yeah.
You know? Yeah. And like you said, it's not just kids. just had a, recently had a FedEx driver come to the shop and he was delivering some fishing stuff and he asked me, he goes, I'm looking to get started in fishing. Where do I start? You know? So it's like, it's, it goes across the board and you know, if we can be part of, you know, somehow being part of that, getting more people out there, I think.
I mean, the world would be so much better.
Brian Bashore (39:46.031)
It would be such a better place. Such a better, I bet that to a friend of mine, she doesn't do TV, nothing. And, uh, she's very, very intelligent yoga and stuff. And I was like, just go fishing. Oh, I guess that, you know, now she's got a grand grand baby and she made a post. She's like tagged me and said, like, Brian, I fishing. She's like, you are a hundred percent, absolutely right. Just the serenity and just the peace. And I'm like, just getting your head space. I'm like, Hey, catching school. And you want, I don't think it was in a boat is this stuff.
Tom (40:06.439)
you
Brian Bashore (40:15.788)
the bank somewhere, you know, with her daughter and son-in-law and the new baby. And it like, yeah, that was, that was it. That's what I needed. I'm like, it's a great reset. So, I mean, I clients like that, that come out and they're like, I'm just getting back into this. want to learn a bunch, you know, and it's so that the whole day is completely different versus now we're not necessarily catching, we're explaining and teaching why and how. And at the end of the day, they're like, I'm like, man, we didn't really get much. You're like, no, am blown. You know, that was way too much information, but like, that's what I wanted. He's like,
Tom (40:15.857)
Yeah.
Tom (40:23.879)
You know?
Tom (40:43.079)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (40:45.612)
I get it. So now when I come out by myself, I can, what I'm doing or not doing, least it makes a little bit more sense.
Tom (40:51.345)
Yep. And that goes to on the coangler side. had that discussion a little bit earlier, but even when we do have our coanglers, we're super, super windy and they can't be upfront with us or whatever. You know, I get people watching some of my live streams and they're like, his coangler is just sitting back there doing this, doing that. He's not doing anything. Every single one of my coanglers, and there's probably a lot of them watching this, but every single one of them has been super appreciative.
Even if they don't actually catch a fish, if they're not standing up front with me, they've been super appreciative of what they're learning. And that to me is, like I said, it's the most important thing. You don't have to catch a fish to learn a ton for the next time you go out yourself. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (41:35.247)
All I had a, let's touch on that coangular stuff. had a client yesterday, one guy and interested in doing the coangular thing. You know, the program didn't know a lot about explaining it to him by the day. He's like, all right, now I get it. You know, he's like, if I only pick one or two tournaments next year, which one would they be? You know, I'm thinking which one really have the most chance to engage. Eerie. You might get a troller. I'm like, you might end up trolling or whatever the case is. You can probably just cast wherever you might catch fish because it's pretty.
Tom (42:03.556)
100 % you might yeah
Brian Bashore (42:05.905)
So I'm like, here's a good one. And I was like, and, and, uh, and MoBridge, said, like a wife, probably a good one too, because you only get a couple over. So once you get those, you may, the guy might go to trolling or pulling rig and bot who knows. I'm like, but it's a place where, and it may, it can be shallow too. So you might just be blind cast center or the cases, you know, I was like, there's a, there's a place where you can, you can maximize out of the back of the boat. I told them and Prima listener and I've said this on, think when I'm the last couple.
Tom (42:22.532)
Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (42:32.974)
If you're signing up as a coangler, cause it was a little struggle this year of the NWT, didn't have a ton of, you know, the huge, massive waiting lists. You should be signing up to learn and educate, not to win. You can take your 650 bucks and go to the casino and have way better odds.
Tom (42:44.601)
Yeah.
Tom (42:50.187)
Yeah, no, 100%. And really, it's been strafed, I think, is it by the NWT or somebody, you know, like the Coanglers, their primary role is to be a marshal. Now, if you go back to the Bassmaster elites, when they used to run marshals in their boats, the marshals used to have to pay to be a marshal. But would they get out of it? They couldn't win any money, nothing.
Brian Bashore (43:16.984)
Nope. Nope.
Tom (43:17.73)
They walked away with zero money, every single one of them, but they were, they had to pay 500 and some bucks, I think, to be a marshal. But what they got was education. What they got was learning. Yeah, so. Yeah, so for people are saying from the outside looking in, saying, oh, I never want to be a co-englander on the NWT. It's like. Hey, at least there's a chance to actually walk away with something. Money.
Brian Bashore (43:23.395)
Yes.
Brian Bashore (43:29.198)
They had to go to a class too. They have to sit in a class before the tournament and get approved or certified.
Brian Bashore (43:45.902)
Yeah, that's cool.
Tom (43:46.604)
But you're going always going to walk away with knowledge, even if it's you draw a pro that isn't up on everything or is new. You're learning. You're seeing that you're seeing the beginning stages of becoming a pro. And if you draw somebody that sees them and really good, then you're seeing, OK, this is how he's doing it. This is the efficiency level. Right. So.
You're going to learn something regardless and have the chance to walk away. just like my, just my co-engler right now, Gary Slagle from the, from the championship. mean, he said he jumped in it to learn and this is a bonus and he can't believe, you know, he just walked away with the championship. But yeah, that's the thing. So people need to kind of get over the, get over their crap. You know what I mean?
Brian Bashore (44:36.718)
You're putting it politely, but you're correct.
Tom (44:40.13)
You remember, you remember what I said to you the other day about the drama? When you, when you, when you tried to reach out and you reach out and just try to ease my mind a little bit. I, that's exactly.
Brian Bashore (44:42.52)
Yeah. Yup.
Yeah
Brian Bashore (44:51.808)
Yeah, there's, there's a lot of noise and everything isn't going to be handled the way we want things to be handled. But once again, there's only one platform to fish this type of, of level. And if you, if you don't like it, don't do it. It's like the bass is just did their whole shakeup of the forward facing sonar thing. it's, if you don't like it, don't have to do it. Period. that'll obviously, you know, wash a lot of the, put a lot of things to rest, I think for bass after this next season.
Tom (45:11.659)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (45:19.502)
You know, when they can see who does well with or without it type type deal, right? Yeah. It'll be, it'll be interesting. I think some of these young guns are going to do fine, you know, but that, there may be situations where, where they don't, I mean, it's hard to beat time on the water when you're 19, 20 years old versus the 57 year old. You just, obviously you can't have as much time on the water, but as we talked about before the learning curve nowadays is light years, THU YouTube, right? We're not waiting around. I just got off the phone before talking to you within Fisherman.
Tom (45:22.133)
Yeah, exactly. I'm excited for it. Yep. I do too.
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Brian Bashore (45:49.025)
on a magazine article. like, all right, cool. People are still reading these things. And I used to wait every month to get it. I'm like, but I'm going to whatever I just discussed, that's, can find all that on YouTube. got videos of it out right now, you know, and it's, I just set up some photos up for it. And I'm like, you didn't have the 50, you know, the 40, 50, 60 year old guys fishing. This didn't, didn't, took 30, 40 years to get to where a guy can get to in, in five. So.
Tom (46:14.251)
Yep. Yep.
Brian Bashore (46:15.246)
But that's just, that's just the way it is. We can't change that. That's called evolution. That's the progression of the sport. And it's ultimately it's good if we get people started younger, like these fish in future, you know, the Minnesota there, you said you got these up and comers and high school bass fishing over there in Minnesota is huge. It's blowing up everywhere. Universities have embraced it. Full ride scholarships to go to Montevale university and chase bass. mean, how, cool is that? Right. Like.
Tom (46:30.975)
yeah. Yep.
Tom (46:40.317)
Yep, we'll see. That's a good point too. Technology, the availability of information right now is like you said, it's there right now for any of us to go learn it right now. Whereas like you said, even 20 years ago, it wasn't so readily available. So that's the positive side. But that's where also you see all the drama on Facebook,
hate against Ford facing Sonar, the hate against the tournament organizations is also because of this technology, because of Facebook, because of Instagram, because of all of the stuff where people can just sit behind a keyboard now and it just makes it look so much bigger than what it actually is. you know, just think about when GPS came out, you know, I talked to some of the guys at Gary Parsons and stuff like when GPS came out.
People thought that should be banned because now you didn't have to triangulate this house with that satellite, whatever. And so they thought it should be banned because it's cheating. Now just imagine when that came out, if social media was as big as, as now that would be, I think be as equal. Of hate messages as what we're seeing with forward-facing sonar now. So, that's one thing that I keep in my mind too. That's why none of the.
Brian Bashore (47:41.26)
Right.
Tom (48:04.869)
stuff against Ford facing someone or another side. It literally does not bother me.
Brian Bashore (48:09.26)
And I, it's a really, you know, the, negative is always the loudest. It's the same in the politics and everywhere. And as a marketing guy, you always say, you got to appear to be larger than you are. I'm like, nobody knows that it's a one-man company over there. can be, you can spend a lot of money, put it out there and be like, yeah, I've heard of that brain. It's huge. You know, and it's like, yeah, it's just one guy just doing everything. That's, that's good at success, but it's the same thing that shows speed of world where that's a small percentage of people that are just the loudest.
Tom (48:29.776)
Yep. Yep.
Tom (48:35.804)
Yeah. Yeah. Yep.
Brian Bashore (48:37.706)
And it ultimately, and I heard it on somebody else's, something here recently is none of that matters. It only matters to the anglers fishing it, you know, put your money where your mouth is, or none of that matters. You don't know, as I just did a podcast on trying to break down next year's schedule and give a little background on it. Like here, it's not Jeff Kelleyn setting the schedule. That's not how this works. Okay. Here's how it works. You know, here's the ownership here's, mean, yeah, there's input and say, I'm like, but you don't know what you don't know.
Tom (48:46.14)
Yeah. Yep.
Tom (49:01.232)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Yep. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (49:07.978)
And you don't, you know, I think everybody thinks that all this walleye guys were all, it's all about sponsorship and money and, know, and I'm like, there ain't a lot of sponsorship money going around in the walleye world. And I'm guaranteed there's not this. We're not Kevin van dams. mean, you know, sure there's some and it's paying, covering some costs and expenses. And I appreciate the hell out of mine. And I know you do yours as well, but these aren't like six figures or even tens of thousands of dollars of checks getting rented, you know, written it. Hopefully it's.
Tom (49:13.873)
Yep.
Tom (49:21.233)
Yeah.
Tom (49:25.602)
Yeah.
No. No. Yep.
Brian Bashore (49:36.855)
The platform isn't as big as bass. So the ROI on them fishing the terminal world isn't near as big as it is the media you create yourself by doing a lot live stream, THU, or in my case, a guide or, you know, walleye fishing schools, whatever the case is, that's, know, that's, there's a lot more value there. they just don't know what they don't know, but you just got to, as the anglers would put it behind us and focus.
Tom (49:43.228)
know.
now.
Tom (49:53.777)
Yeah.
Yeah, I it.
Tom (50:01.007)
Keep going. Yeah. And you're right. People like to assume people see a big rat boat and just think, wow, it must be nice. You like this thing is easy, you know, and. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, all of it. And so like it's a but it's a lot of work. So if you're going to make a living in the fishing industry, whether it's a guide or just an angler or educator with sponsors, you're working, it's a full time job.
Brian Bashore (50:11.362)
Yeah. They gave you that, that vexed. They gave you that boat, you know, and yeah, yeah, sure.
Tom (50:30.555)
to represent these sponsors the way they want to be represented. so yeah, it's a lot of work and still people are going to watch this and be like, yeah, yeah, it must be nice. And here's lot of my firsthand experience with outside people looking in when they like talk about like the NWT or the upcoming schedules. I've seen people multiple times go up
to the next bike guys, know, like any other anglers go up to them and be like, so what's going to go on with the NWT next year or what's going to happen with the NWT? What's can, you know, they're like, I don't know. And they don't. You don't know. So there's so many people who have this perception that there's, we have, you know, the magical abilities to know everything or we're involved with everything. We're not. That's we, we're fishing.
Brian Bashore (51:14.7)
Yeah.
Tom (51:28.079)
the circuit, the best for us at the time and you know, we're thankful for it really.
Brian Bashore (51:33.965)
Yeah, nobody, we don't get it. We're not in these, the operations meetings, you know, with ownership and marketing and management, which ownership management are two different, entities. can see, you know, Bass Pro is a big sponsor, Nest, Nextby, so I think they have some insight and have a little bit as, as few of us hear some things, but really as I said in my podcast, none of these are facts. Most of this stuff is rumors and you may hear from somebody from the inside. That doesn't mean that's even legit or true because, know, because it's where they're at on the totem pole.
Tom (51:38.043)
No.
Tom (51:43.013)
Yep.
Tom (51:53.615)
No, Yeah.
Tom (51:59.419)
the jet.
Brian Bashore (52:02.86)
And it's going to, and it's going to change. So, you know, there's been some chatter on the next year's schedule. And I was surprised to hear somebody wasn't, you know, there was a little bit of negative with it. I'm like, I schedule looks great to me. it's going to set up really good for the forward facing. So, and already don't have a sharp and a Mississippi river in there. You know, obviously big fish are at play. We're looking at, Erie, I believe first stop in April, which is Erie. It's just, there's going to be fish.
Tom (52:02.892)
huh. Mm-hmm. Yep.
Tom (52:18.614)
yeah, true, that's true. Yeah. Yeah.
Tom (52:27.387)
Mm-hmm. Erie. Yep.
Brian Bashore (52:30.99)
I'm going out of a different location though, but further up near, think the cans and Detroit river area, which that's fine. then we go to Mo bridge in May. So like a Y, which has been putting out some, some monster fish. that one's probably the only one I'm kind of like mo bridge in May. don't, there's some variables that could go in there. Yeah. That's not a place that people are running to in May necessarily those fisher, if they're coming down, I think it'll be fine. I think there'll be plenty of big fish.
Tom (52:43.835)
Thank you.
Tom (52:48.921)
I have no food,
Brian Bashore (52:58.99)
just some variables with rivers, obviously in mud, but it's a big system. I think it'll be just fine. Um, it should be real fun actually. And then what do we go Bay to knock, which I've been wanting to go to for years. We keep driving by it, you know, and I'm like, I want to go. There's things, the, the home of the dinosaurs. And I believe you probably ran up there, didn't you last year in the, in the green Bay tournament.
Tom (53:10.605)
Yeah,
Tom (53:15.631)
Yeah, I know.
Yeah, I think I caught the biggest fish out of that tournament. 30, 32 incher over 11 pounds. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (53:21.326)
Yeah, like 11. Yeah. So, yeah. So I want to go there. So looking forward to, think there's little Bay, there's some slots and some things like that coming to play, but that honestly, the slots make it interesting, you know, when you, that's, you really got to dial it in to be like, all right, I got my, my twos and I'm looking for these 22 inches, you know, and identifying what these are not thrown at 15, 16 inches. Um, and a bunch of different ways to catch those fish up there is as I understand it, I've never fished.
Tom (53:38.457)
Yeah.
Yep.
Tom (53:51.118)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (53:51.375)
past no more than like Escanaba maybe, you five, 10 miles north of Cedar river. That's about as far as I've gone. Seagull, I think that area is called. Uh, then we go back down the lake to green Bay. Don't know what they're going to do if they're going to put Minnesota or Wisconsin, Michigan limits or boundaries on it. That's where a lot of chatter is. You're going to the same place twice, but like we said earlier, green Bay is several different types of fisheries in one. So.
Tom (53:55.448)
Yeah. Yep.
Tom (54:04.314)
Green Bay.
Tom (54:15.736)
Yep. Yep. And if anything, hey, we can learn it more, you know, and yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Yep.
Brian Bashore (54:20.506)
Yeah, you're there. So stay all month, whatever the case may be. I'm like, if I didn't have to work, I'd just leave the boat there. Cause it goes fast in between tournaments when it says boom, April, May, March, you know, whatever April, May, June, July, and then over.
Tom (54:32.28)
And I've only been doing this since 2021 and I don't ever remember a schedule coming out where there wasn't complaining about it. So I just go in and go fishing, you know.
Brian Bashore (54:39.98)
Right. Yep. Yep. And they're all really good fisheries. A lot of big fish. I don't think there's a bad time. So then you go to green Bay in July and that should be fine. The L wife thing should be done with June. They got the message to not try to do that again. and then Scott, we have my favorite place. I think it's grown to be one of your favorite fisheries probably as well. I'm heading there just in a, in a couple of weeks for a tournament. phenomenal fishery. You'll be able to catch fish from one end of the lake.
Tom (54:45.539)
Yep.
Tom (54:51.46)
Yeah.
Tom (55:00.76)
I love it. Yeah.
Nice.
Brian Bashore (55:09.172)
the other that end of the year, you won't have to go far most likely, you know, it's, it's going to be awesome. So, you know, do you need to have such a big system for a championship? Nope. But you also don't need to utilize the whole system. So just because there's a, just because there's 190 miles of water, doesn't mean you need to travel at all. So.
Tom (55:11.734)
No. Okay.
Tom (55:18.936)
No. No. Good.
Tom (55:26.592)
Yeah, and that's my advice to people too. Like when they ask me, how do you break down such a big amount of water? Just like I told you on Green Bay, I stayed within a certain area and just broke that down because yeah, you're going to be more effective that way anyway.
Brian Bashore (55:41.999)
Yeah, it's, only have so many days, you know, so much time. helps considerably when you got to travel group of people and you got an aid team over there. And especially, you know, sprint those guys on that body of water. mean, I felt horrible for Jason, know, and Tommy not making a championship year. like, that is the number one place they wanted to go and needed to go the whole year. I mean, they both done great. The chemists has had some moisture bags there and in championships, you know, and had blow days basically kind of.
Tom (56:00.728)
Yeah.
Tom (56:06.616)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (56:10.018)
blow it up on him as, as well with the fish. Not, you know, being there. it's just a challenge, but like I said, they'll be back in it next year and be swinging and harder. And hopefully the numbers go up. think the schedule is good. Everybody I've talked to is looking forward to it. we don't ever want to end these tournament, you know, years on a bad note. And I know the championship had some variables, but everything's a learning curve or a learning, a lesson. And I think changes get made and modified to those things.
Tom (56:19.317)
yeah.
Tom (56:33.314)
Yep. Yep. Yep.
Brian Bashore (56:37.794)
happen again or if they whatever the cases so at least there's clear and concise action so you know what you're getting into so yeah it'll 100 % it's gonna be just fine and fishing is just gonna get better and we're all watching and subscribing to THU University and chasing Tom because he's giving us all the secrets so you know there should be no secrets in fishing yeah there's there's not too many out there anymore at all like I said
Tom (56:41.119)
Yep. Yep. Yeah, it'll be fine.
Tom (56:57.557)
That's right.
not with me anyway. yeah.
Brian Bashore (57:06.51)
It's on YouTube. I'm with you there. I put out a ton of information, way too much. There's certain things as a guide. got to protect some stuff once in a while, but that's just more or less to provide a client. And unfortunately, the fishery that I'm almost time, there is nowhere to hide. There is a very few secrets, but it's like, you guys are going to have to figure this out because I don't want to take away from this person's experience. Cause now we've got five boats surrounding us, which happens. It wasn't that bad this year. I'm like, but that's it. I'm like, I gladly will tell you how.
Tom (57:15.955)
area and stuff. Yep.
Tom (57:27.016)
Yep. Yep.
Brian Bashore (57:36.226)
You what we're using and this and that and what to look for. you just need to go look for it yourself and figure it out. So yeah. All right. Well, let's wrap this up. I know you still probably got a hundred emails and texts to get through and 10 more podcasts to jump on. So yeah, I can imagine.
Tom (57:39.957)
Yeah, Yep, makes sense to me.
Tom (57:51.007)
I got a few.
Brian Bashore (57:54.862)
Super stoked. It couldn't be a better guy winning this thing as super happy Isaac was man He pushed it to the wire and I knew he would I knew he was gonna come in with it and that kid is a stick and and and McQuade did it and Kahi man. He's coming on strong. He's He's takes a hell of a good dude, too. But every year he's just itching that much closer He's got it. He's he's figured it out. The light bulb is clicked with the scope and stuff And just being a good dude, so that helps considerably
Tom (58:01.109)
scared me.
Tom (58:08.373)
He is. Yep. Yep. He is. Yep.
Tom (58:20.626)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (58:22.476)
You have anything we haven't covered. want to leave a little nugget for everybody out there besides thu.com subscribe.
Tom (58:26.544)
Nah, just fishtahpv.com and my social media pages, Tom Whitten Fishing. Just any questions you guys have about whatever with fishing, just holler, let me know.
Brian Bashore (58:31.234)
Yeah, fish.
Brian Bashore (58:42.361)
All right, you heard it from the two time back to back national walleye tour champ Tom when stay safe folks. We will see you on the water. Alrighty, man.