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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 (00:01.518)
Hey folks, welcome back to another episode of Real Talk, fishing with no limits. We are fresh off the first stop of the national walleye tour for 2026 with the winner, Austin Tomichek. He's joining us today and share his winning ways. Austin's been kind of flying around the radar a little bit, but if you've been playing close attention, not so much. Young gun, kind of quiet, but a hell of an angler. He finished second in the angler of the year points last year. I believe the year before his first year, he was still in that top.
10 or top 20 on point. So the guy is a stick and he knows what he's doing. Michigan guy that's got the scoping thing down and I'm sure he can catch him any which way he has to. So stay tuned as we're going to sit down with Austin Tomacek and find out the deets on the Lake Erie NWT and what's coming up on MoBridge.
Brian Bashore (00:01.388)
Hey folks, thanks for tuning in to another episode of Real Talk Fishing with No Limits. Today we are joined by the newest member to the NWT winner's circle, Austin Tomascheck. Austin just won the Lake Erie by a pretty good, I think by over eight pounds. So kind of a whooping he put on all of us more or less to say it nicely. So welcome Austin. What's going on? We're all into stuff. We're not even a week out from your big win. How's it feeling? Is it all settled in yet?
Austin Tomasek (00:30.712)
yeah, finally, finally starting to get settled in. I've been super overwhelmed these past few days with phone calls, text messages, emails, you know, just it's, it's been a lot, but finally, finally it's starting to wind down and, and, yeah, just, just soaking it all in, loving it.
Brian Bashore (00:52.134)
You and you deserve it. shouldn't be getting all those accolades. You're jumping on all the media platforms, you know, talking about the baits, talking about you doing it's all part of the game as we were just kind of, you know, BSing about and it's just it's it's all part of it. And for those who don't, Austin's been on tour for a couple of years now. You've done the full tour for a couple of years and he may not be a household name, but I'm pretty sure he is now. If you aren't paying attention, second in AOI last year. Damn near Angler of the Year.
before your first year. I think you finished 11th in AOI, so this ain't no rookie. He might be a you got a young baby face there folks, but ain't no rookie. You can catch him. what you're settling back in? What are we doing for work? Just give everybody a little background on Austin when you're when you're not tournament fishing. What's he up to?
Austin Tomasek (01:23.92)
Thanks.
Austin Tomasek (01:40.784)
Yeah. So when I'm not tournament fishing, I, you know, I'm a full-time, fishing guide here in Michigan. have, I have two boats that I salmon fish out on, on, Lake Michigan. So I run salmon charters in the summertime. And then, you know, I do my spring walleye guiding and early summer walleye guiding on Saginaw Bay. And I get down to Detroit river a little bit, try to avoid that place in the rat race. I not really the biggest fan of that, but, no, I'll fish,
I'll fish a little bit on the Detroit river, Saginaw Bay and yeah, just full-time fishing guide. And in the winter time in our off season, I'll run a few ice trips with a couple guys that, that run some ice guiding trips. I'll help them out. And then, the family business up here, right in the hometown of Hemlock, it's been, been around for a really long time. I'll walk or I'll go up there and work in the warehouse and stuff like that. Just helping out when they need me. So.
Brian Bashore (02:38.54)
So you're on the water damn near every day to say the least, aren't you?
Austin Tomasek (02:42.66)
Yeah, spend a lot of time on the water, that's for sure.
Brian Bashore (02:46.078)
And Saginaw, we haven't been back there. mean, did Lake Huron last year, and think those couple of tournaments that you've been involved up there, you finished real well as well. I would love to get us back to Saginaw Bay. Like, just the bay. Though not way up in Alpina and north or running up to the Sioux. Just the bay. Cause that's some good fishing. That place is making quite a comeback. We were there quite a few years ago and it was a lot of three and five pounders, but it was good fishing.
Austin Tomasek (03:11.856)
Yeah, I was just out there yesterday. I went and kind of had an unwind day and you know, buddy and I went out. We bagged our bagged our 16 for dinner and we ended up I ended up catching a really big one. I caught a 30 incher out there yesterday, so there are big ones starting to be back in there and yeah, it's getting to be more and more. You see every year this time of year, you know.
Brian Bashore (03:36.29)
Yeah, it's it's a heaven place. I know I, when I was there, I was fishing Nate, brother-law Frank's bait shop there. Good guy's a biologist on the lake, I know that Frank's Marine or bait shop, whatever it's called that place is that's a one-stop shop, man. That they got everything.
Austin Tomasek (03:55.686)
You know, know, Frank's is awesome, man. I was in there yesterday and bought a few more rods. So, you know, they get their fruit share of my money. That's the chair.
Brian Bashore (04:01.038)
Cause yeah, you got, well, Austin's got a little bit extra spinning cash right now, it good lucky for you. I mean, you're going to get, you get to feel what some of us felt driving to Erie last week as you get to come to MoBridge here next month and you get to a thousand dollars on gas. So it, uh, yeah, that, couldn't have hit it at a worse time, but Hey, that's, that's part of the game too. It's an investment in ourselves and everything. And it's way it is. That's fishing. We choose to do it because we love it.
Austin Tomasek (04:18.631)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (04:30.604)
And you do it, you're like, you and I guide, we do it every day. So it makes you a very versatile, diverse guy. Cause you're not probably out there to get into live scope with your clients so much all the time. probably still, some of it, I'm sure someone will learn, but probably still a lot of trolling and other things going on.
Austin Tomasek (04:33.68)
Mm-hmm.
Austin Tomasek (04:45.85)
Yeah, yeah. I still pull, I still pull boards, you know, on most of my guide trips. I do get a few guys that wanna, they wanna learn the forward facing game. So I try and limit the people in my forward facing trips to like two, maybe three, but two people's about perfect.
Brian Bashore (05:05.998)
Yeah, it's a, had a guy there today and, and I was like, yeah, come up here and check this out. And, and, uh, he realized real quick that it's not as easy as it looks, you know, we're on a river. So I'm like, okay. So you see it and here's the trolling motor, drop it. And he would do it. And then he would lose it. I'm like, gotta, you gotta plan for the current and we're drifting. I'm like, you gotta plan for that too. When you make the pitch, he's like, Hey, this is so, I'm like, just wait till it gets real close. And then we don't have worry about that. We weren't very deep. So I was getting it down, but he was like, wow, there's a lot.
Austin Tomasek (05:15.537)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (05:35.662)
lot too and he got it he cracked a couple of them so and he thought that was cool he's like all right i'm gonna go to the back of the boat and just go blind cast because that's he's like it's super neat but yeah i'm not ready for that i'm like all right no problem i said i'll just keep pointing where they're at you just keep throwing it over there that worked out well so uh it's a handy hell of a handy tool let's get into eerie you're there you get stellar bag 44 i think day 142 day two for a total of 86
Austin Tomasek (05:42.194)
You
Austin Tomasek (05:50.994)
You
Brian Bashore (06:02.862)
I think we all thought it was gonna take at least 80 pounds, you know, to get it. And amazingly only, you were the only guy with a 40 pound bag off day one that brought in another 40 pound bag day two to hit crack the 80, you're the only person to crack 80 pounds. So let's go through it, let's go day one. High winds, the boat ride kind of suck. We all still made runs whether it was 20 to 40 miles. How'd it go for you? How did it all go down?
Austin Tomasek (06:26.054)
Yeah. So I made, I had, so my initial starting spot on day one was actually a little bit further. wanted to, that rough stuff, I wanted to go as far as I was going to go that day. I wanted to hit that first. And, the day before I had found some really nice pre-spawn fish on the Eastern end of the cans. And, I ran over there on day one and as soon as we got there, I saw that the mud was gone, that dirty water that I was fishing. And I, I fished for about 40 minutes there.
Just because frankly, I was tired of driving my dang boat and I just, I just wanted to fish. I just wanted to fish. So I fished for about 40 minutes and actually caught five really quick, but they were, mean, I had five for like probably 23, 24 pounds. And once I got my five, I'm like, all right, I'm out of here. I'm, I'm going to start making my way back to the West and I drove over some dirty water on the way.
Brian Bashore (06:59.468)
I did the exact same thing and I don't think we were too far apart.
Austin Tomasek (07:23.876)
So I kind of had a general idea on where I was gonna, where I was gonna fish and ran back over there. And as soon as we sat down, we were starting to see big ones and caught, caught two, I think at about noon was when I ended up making my way back to where I ended up actually catching all my big fish. I made it there and I caught two of them back to back. I caught like a nine and three quarters and like a 10 and a quarter boom, boom, probably within five minutes.
I was feeling pretty good after that. They were both big pre-spawners and I was seeing more of them and they were just acting right, man. As soon as you got that bait close to them, they were going nuts on it. uh, so we fished, fished a little longer and I'd caught, I don't know, a couple, a couple like six and a halfs or whatever post spawn. were like 28, 29 inches, but they were only six and a half pounds.
Brian Bashore (07:55.835)
That gets the confidence going, don't it?
Brian Bashore (08:17.139)
There's a lot of them out there, man.
Austin Tomasek (08:21.306)
Yeah, it was getting to be the end of the day. had probably 20 minutes left to go and I was going along and I saw a pod of three of them and they were all look big. And, I told my co-hanger said, these, these ones are really big right here. And I was just getting ready to cast on them. And then there was a fourth one came into the screen, like 50 feet away. And that one was like, really, really big. So I'm like, I don't really want to leave these three cause they're all big, but that
One is like the biggest fish I've seen all week. And so I left them and I went over to him and I ended up casting at that one. First, the first time I got the bait on him, he came up and hit it hard and I set the hook and just missed him. I'm like, man, man, what the heck? Hey, I was expecting them to blow out and freak out, you know, and just, you know, just run for the hills. But I got lucky and he settled right back in. I made another cast on him. He smoked it, about ripped the dang rod out of my hand.
get them up and I don't know how or why, but that fish was just right by the skin of his lip on the stinger hook on the jig. And just like, man. And we ended up getting it, but that was, that was just over, I think it was like 12 and a quarter pounds. That one was, it was a stud.
Brian Bashore (09:33.794)
Yeah, that's the one you needed. They are acting funny like that. you could, I mean, I caught, I had one bite four times till I got him and I caught him. He wasn't even that big. I just, he just pissed me off. So I threw at him the fourth time just to get him and he bit again and I got him and he was probably a four pounder. I'm like, I'm catching him just because at this point, I've missed him three times, but I got to feel like the big ones followed me a lot and just didn't convert those into bites, but they would come back if they'd hit it once and.
You if they didn't dive to the bottom or if they were near bottom, because the big ones are usually closer. A lot of times, you if you spooked them, were, they were out of there. It was all about presenting your bait right. But I'd play throughout the week that they'd nip and they would just, you could just kind of keep working it. You could reel it up and cast at them again. And if they didn't go nowhere, you can get them to bite again. As long as you put that bait where it needed to be.
Austin Tomasek (10:09.34)
Mm-hmm.
Austin Tomasek (10:21.19)
biggest fish in pre-spawn or pre-fish I mean was it was I think two days before the tournament my dad came down and was pre-fishing with me and I I hooked the fish I think six times before I finally ended up hooking it and getting in the boat and it was like an 11 pounder my dad was just back there just cackling laughing the whole dang time man he was he was enjoying watching me freaking get
Brian Bashore (10:42.915)
Yep.
Austin Tomasek (10:48.018)
ticked off over missing that fish so many times. But no, is those things. Once you found one that wanted to eat, had to, I mean, it was, it was pretty tough to not, not get them in the boat. I mean, they just, they were relentless. They just kept on biting and you know, they wouldn't stop.
Brian Bashore (10:49.389)
See you hope
Brian Bashore (11:05.901)
Yeah, a lot of guys, you know, so they were coming off on them unbuttoned and there were some that were kind of short strike and I downsized. think a lot of people up size, but by choke debates pretty much, but it was super key. Especially if you were in the dirty water. mean, everybody's perception of dirty is, you know, a little different. I fish some semi-clean and then some of that eight to 10 inch water clarity stuff and dirtier, the closer you had to get it. But I think regardless, you had to get it a foot probably within their face. And you could tell pretty quick if they were going to.
Austin Tomasek (11:33.349)
yeah.
Brian Bashore (11:35.318)
If they turned on it and you weren't moving it fast so they didn't lose it, you're going to get it or you're at least going get a bike.
Austin Tomasek (11:42.896)
Right. Yeah. That was the biggest key for me in that dirty water is once, once you got those fish to turn on it, it was like, I was fishing a three quarter ounce head. So it was kind of hard, you know, that will move so fast. So once you got them turned on it, I was just like trying to hold it in place and just pound it on the spot and kick that tail, that plastic in front of them. But it was a, yeah, if you, if you got that bait much more than a foot from them, they were, they were losing it.
Brian Bashore (11:53.742)
Yeah.
Austin Tomasek (12:12.431)
You you weren't going to catch them.
Brian Bashore (12:15.278)
Yeah, I'd seen some where I brought it by and I went down to like a three eighths just to slow it down to keep it in that zone longer. But if it, like when I had a half and it fell like they turned, but if it moved fast, they turned and you could tell they lost it and they immediately were, you know, done dealing. But tricky running a half and three quarter like you're doing on me. obviously are good at it. You've had a lot of practice. The Berkeley Bay, you're running the five inch, the Berkeley lab, I think it is.
Austin Tomasek (12:38.576)
Yup, so I was using the 5.25, the new LabMino and yeah, was really good. I don't know if, you know, was just coincidence or what, but it sure as heck didn't hurt. Those fish were loving it. They were hitting it pretty good and you know, it was a good deal.
Brian Bashore (12:58.67)
and
I think, I mean, obviously that has, it's triggered by the water to get the scent out. think scent is important, especially in these colder water temps. And that was, I don't know, we're in the mid or upper forties or something for water temps there. But some of those, I imagine you had them that followed you for 30 or 40 feet back to the boat until you, I mean, you probably caught some straight down even.
Austin Tomasek (13:23.504)
Yeah. So the, day two, my biggest fish I caught, actually had my leader nut was in my rod when I hooked the fish. was right below the trolling motor. I just, it would not, would not go, would not go. And it got right up below the trolling motor and I just started snapping it kind of hard, just trying to get a reaction. And yeah, it was, I let it free fall and it just went slack. So I knew she had it.
Brian Bashore (13:31.15)
Yeah
Brian Bashore (13:47.342)
Yep.
Austin Tomasek (13:49.382)
Yeah, that fish was like three to four foot below the trolling motor when it ended up biting. I couldn't believe it.
Brian Bashore (13:53.006)
It's amazing how far they'll follow it or how far they come up. Like you're ice fishing, you're bringing it up to the hole, right? You're like, it's got to eat. It just came off the bottom. It's come up 20 feet and hasn't eaten yet. I did the same thing once. I've had good luck and they just dropped it. Let it go to the bottom. Let them pick it up. You probably had this, probably I imagine it's what happened to you, is you looked and you didn't see your bait anymore. Then you look and you see your line just laying on the surface. That's good, that's where you're like, snap.
Austin Tomasek (14:17.714)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (14:21.856)
And you're reeling, and that's a good feeling. You're like, it's all slack. I know it's got it.
Austin Tomasek (14:22.77)
Yo.
Yeah, coming from, coming from up here, you know, the, the clear water stuff on Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron. It's, it was a big, big difference, you know, cause my furthest cast I was making on these fish was maybe 30 feet. And I would say a hundred percent of the fish bit within 15 to 25 feet of the boat. You know, it was, it was just nuts. We're in Alpina last year. We're making a hundred, 120 foot cast.
Brian Bashore (14:32.856)
Yeah.
Austin Tomasek (14:54.406)
cast as far as we can possibly cast our stuff and here it's just you know what yeah it was just so close everything was seemed like it was happening right underneath the boat
Brian Bashore (15:05.238)
Yeah, I don't, I don't think they were too spooked. Obviously the water was dirtier, even in the cleaner water, but they're also, mean, the amount of boat traffic out there was insane, which is typical for your reef because the amount of fish is insane. I just, it's like, I don't, I don't think they care about you anymore. They're just, you know, and I always look at spawn in walleye kind of like a buck in a rut. Kind of stupid. We don't have a whole lot on our mind except to take care of eating and breed. So they're just kind of got to do it, do what they do. And I think I went a little bit.
Austin Tomasek (15:28.082)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (15:34.228)
East of Niagara Reef on the first day because the exact same thing I got about that far, is kind of where I had a good practice spot. And as I'm tired of driving them, my ribs are still hurting right now and we're a week out in fish, I just, didn't, there wasn't any fish, which I kind of saw that in practice, but I think the water got a little clean and maybe those, I was probably out too deep. Those fish moved up in this shallow work dirtier stuff.
Austin Tomasek (15:59.078)
Yeah, yeah. So I started over. I was East to Niagara. I think I was between D and E is where my, my starting spot was. And then, then I ended up running West to Niagara. think I ended up over by B just, just West to B. That's where I ended up fishing, fishing in both days, catching my fish both days.
Brian Bashore (16:05.378)
Yep, yeah, I don't think we're too far apart, so.
Brian Bashore (16:19.35)
Always, always a lot of fish there. I started practice there. The first fish was an eight and a half pounder went right on partner. Same thing. Got a couple of eights, maybe nine. And, that is it got close to term of day. We would seem like a lot of those fish disappeared, but I also told him another wave can just come in tomorrow because there were so many fish at the islands. And if those fish were still moving West, you know, I finished the dumping grounds right by the takeoff.
Austin Tomasek (16:45.447)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (16:45.838)
on the way in day one, because I got in an hour and a half early because I took the shoreline in, which was, I don't know why I didn't take the shoreline out. That was so much better than trying to make a straight cut.
Austin Tomasek (16:53.234)
I didn't either. took the straight cut and I was paying for it. And that was miserable.
Brian Bashore (16:56.814)
That was miserable. said, what are we do? We're heading straight to that shoreline and heading in. Apparently I cut through the gun range just a little too much and got pulled over almost in a sense. guy came up, he's like, I didn't look at my phone and see that it was open and that I think I literally just went through a corner of it. like, I'm good. He's like, just get going. I am, but you stopped me, but I had to go a little further before I cut back in.
Austin Tomasek (17:19.824)
You
Austin Tomasek (17:24.849)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (17:25.55)
But we got in early. like, well, there was, there really wasn't any fish here. Practice. I'm like, we got an hour and a half. We'll go over and I put, put his motor down. I'm like, hell there's fish everywhere. And I ended up with a couple, you know, five pounders, which in my case was an upgrade at that time. I only had 25 pounds, but, but coming out of the launch from takeoff, I marked a big pod. That was only a mile or two out from her takeoff. And I was like, kind of like you want, once you're going, you probably better just keep going. Cause I knew if I stopped and tried to fish those fish, I probably not going to finish my eastward.
trip connected, you know, you got to stick your game plan, but by coming back and do it over there. And then the second day ended up picking up a couple of sixes. And, and as we went to get the last one in the net, I allowed a little time to hit it this time. And there was not a lot of fish, but they were better and they were spawning because the last one I caught was a six plus pounder and she still had stuff hanging out of her. And the male followed her into the net. We netted two fish.
Austin Tomasek (18:20.306)
That's awesome.
Brian Bashore (18:21.486)
I've seen it. I've heard about it. And I looked down, I don't know if the coangular saw it, but I'm like, yep, you got her. And I just kind of looked like that little sucker went right in the net. He picked it up and like, we got two. Obviously we didn't keep the 16 incher, but that was, that was pretty cool. But you can see them on your graph chasing each other around. Yeah. There was some crazy things going.
Austin Tomasek (18:39.41)
Yeah, that's funny. I think I ran into some of that on day one as well. Spawning fish. I had a couple of really, really big marks and they were just getting harassed by, you know, a couple of smaller fish and they just, the ones I was running across didn't want anything to do with it. You'd get a bait close to them and they'd just run for the hills and the little, two little guys behind them would just sit there and you know, they were doing all they could to keep up with her, but.
Brian Bashore (18:59.054)
Yup.
Brian Bashore (19:04.674)
Yeah.
Austin Tomasek (19:05.2)
Well, I had that happen, I think, two or three times on day one where, you know, I was chasing around, you know, big, big fish and they just, I couldn't get them to do anything because they were getting harassed whole time.
Brian Bashore (19:17.442)
It's an art identifying. Erie's great. didn't, literally only caught walleye all week, but knowing that majority of things you're throwing at there are walleye. I heard some people talking about drum. I'm like, I, some of these look like big drum on the graph to me, but they're just walleyes. you can kind of, after enough time, Sarah's creative, like that's probably a pre-spawner. You could tell they were a little more blob-ish kind of had the big belly showing a little more round versus, you linear. but then you can also be like, once you got some of those to turn, you're like, Ooh, that's a big one.
Austin Tomasek (19:40.775)
Yeah.
Austin Tomasek (19:46.658)
You know.
Brian Bashore (19:47.875)
That's a big one. But it takes, mean, you got a lot of time and I was a guide. What's your tricks or what do you got any tips or pointers for out those for guys trying to live scope or how they identifying species and size.
Austin Tomasek (20:00.304)
Man, it's just, it takes so much time. I've got a lot of hours on that screen up front. You you can kind of tell with walleye how they swim and stuff like that. Like sheephead, they seem like they're constantly, constantly moving, you know, fast. Sheephead move fast. Walleye are kind of more generally like slower. I don't know. just, it's, there's a lot of time and just, just seeing it for yourselves and catching fish and you know, it just, it just.
It's an art, honestly. takes a lot of time.
Brian Bashore (20:32.32)
It is, it is, it is not as easy as people think and...
Austin Tomasek (20:35.25)
And then, and then messing with your settings. find a lot of guys mess with their ranges and depths a lot where, know, I, in Erie, I kept mine on, my depth range was 40 foot or 45. I think it was 40 foot and my range was only at 60 the whole time. The whole time I fished all the pre-fish everything. And you know, you get looking at something for so long and you start putting two and two together when you're catching these fish. It's like, all right, so mark that size is, you know, six pounds and.
Alright, we're looking for these big big ones and those are those are going to be your 9, 10, 11 pound fish and you know, I just keeping your stuff consistent and just keeping it consistent to your eye I think is a huge huge part and being able to see size and species and stuff like that as well.
Brian Bashore (21:21.774)
Yeah, I think you're spot on with that. Guys will get shallower and then they'll adjust it. Well, now everything you were looking at that you got figured out has now magnified. So even if you're in 10 foot of water, but you've been set at 40, because you've been fishing a 20 all day, keep it a 40 and keep your 60, 80, whatever you have it set out the same. Cause otherwise everything's going to look the same. And there are people that'll bring it down and be like, Oh, I'm only 10 foot of water. I'm going to set it at 20 or 15 feet and extend this out.
Austin Tomasek (21:40.836)
Everything will still look the same.
Austin Tomasek (21:48.53)
Yeah, and their bait looks this big on the screen.
Brian Bashore (21:51.115)
Right, exactly. When you can sail and you're like, see my bait good. And you're like, that fish looks okay. I got to get a hard return. And it's not much bigger than your bait. That's because it's not much bigger than your bait. So keep that out. know, said, I think I'm guilty of it when I was probably first starting this stuff has kept playing with it kind of, but now I got to figure it out. And you're exactly right. I think the best way to identify the walleye is by the behavior.
Austin Tomasek (22:01.703)
Right.
Brian Bashore (22:16.558)
not moving a lot. Obviously, sometimes they're not in two or three, maybe in a group, a lot of loners out there. Those are the ones you want for the most part. You know, and they're just kind of slow moving until they want to eat, man. The suckers can dart and move as fast as they as fast as they need to to get that bait. They will.
Austin Tomasek (22:24.059)
Right.
Austin Tomasek (22:31.543)
yeah.
They will cover some ground when they decide they want to eat something. They will cover some ground and they'll hunt down anything. Sometimes it seems like you can't pull your stuff away fast enough from them.
Brian Bashore (22:49.26)
Yeah, I bet you had it happen as well when you casted it. There were some of those higher up ones that were like five feet below the surface. They hit my bait before I got it to where I was trying to get it. It didn't get down to the fish I was aiming at because one of them three pounders choked him before it got there.
Austin Tomasek (22:58.674)
Mm-hmm.
Austin Tomasek (23:03.536)
Yeah. When I, when I started pre-fishing on Friday, I started out East over by like, Vermillion area. think it's where we went out of was Vermillion. And, know, we went out to the end of that, some of that cleaner water, just, just for some confidence, try and find some baits that would work and stuff like that. And I knew there was going to be a pile of fish out there. And, know, we ran into that. We'd, we'd see some good fish on the screen and they were always below, you know, just like a big mess of something.
Brian Bashore (23:10.508)
Always, yep.
Austin Tomasek (23:30.962)
throw out there and like you were saying, you'd have them come and smoke your bait, the little ones before you'd get down to the big ones. And I mean, we just had a riot that Friday. We, had two of my good buddies with me and we were just, we just basically went out to have fun. And I think we probably caught a hundred, 120 walleyes that day. was just, it was absolutely insane.
Brian Bashore (23:35.406)
Yup.
Brian Bashore (23:52.559)
Yeah, when the weather cooperates with you out there, even when it don't, it's just fun, man. That scoping, I would say 90 % of the tournament anglers were probably live scoping, maybe a little less. I think some trollers did okay. You could certainly put them in the boat trolling, but the trolling did not work in the dirty water. It never has. Which was the big thing that basically all the top guys did was able to place that bait in their face with the live scope. It's the way it is nowadays and it works and it was pretty damn fun at Erie.
Austin Tomasek (24:22.97)
Yeah, yeah, no, it was, I mean, the weather and the conditions we were dealt with weren't very fun, but the fishing, I mean, you can't, you can't tell me, no, there's not one single guy out there that didn't enjoy that fishing out there, man. That fishing out there is just absolutely awesome. If you didn't enjoy that, I don't know what to tell you, man. It doesn't get much, it doesn't get much better than that fishing that was out there this, this.
Brian Bashore (24:28.929)
No.
Brian Bashore (24:36.131)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (24:40.684)
Yeah, it's going to be a long season, man. No, I had a little better back day too. It still is crap bag, 28, 29 pounds, but it, barely didn't, couldn't get them to bite for whatever reason. Went back to where I got a first, first day. All of my fish I caught on a forest Z-Man jerk shed. But same deal. I put that, it has gel scent on it, but I put smothered it with more on it. I think that sense. Crucial, but I didn't, I didn't, I had one fish fall off and it wasn't very big, but.
I think a lot of guys are running on that jerk shad. That's kind of what that Berkeley lab type is, or like a minnow drip type bait. Do have any other ones outside of a jig and crawler to try finishers or rip fish or any?
Austin Tomasek (25:21.053)
So pre-fishing, caught some fish on a finisher. Um, you know, not, not a ton. just, you know, I was missing some fish on finishers. don't know. They were just knocking it really hard and I couldn't get hooked up on them. know, I fished, I fished the finisher. I fished, that new rip fish bait, that rip fish nine that that was, I had one really, really good day on that bait practice. But, uh, in the tournament, I just, it falls a little.
Brian Bashore (25:34.126)
You are not alone.
Austin Tomasek (25:48.28)
slower than what I wanted it to fall. And in that rough stuff on day one, just, I knew I was going to be fishing a heavy jig with a, with a plastic and just get it down to them as quick. I, you know, sometimes I was casting 30, 40, 50 times at one fish before I got the bait on their head. And I wanted, I wanted something to get down to the point really fast. And you know, if I, if I made a bad cast or whatever, just, you know, get it back in and get it back down there as quick as I could.
Brian Bashore (26:04.45)
Yeah. Yep. Yeah, it was tough.
Austin Tomasek (26:18.801)
Bye.
Brian Bashore (26:18.926)
That's the advantage of the scope. And same thing. Most people say, oh, you gave it two or three casts, move on. No, I threw at those suckers plenty. It was hard to hit them. So I have heavier jigs as well. And then I put the coangular in the back of the boat with even heavier jig because they get less time, right? Cause we're up there spinning that thing all over. If they get a shot, then it's gotta be quick. My coangular was down with it. He's like, yep, that's what I did all week. I'm like, you get a three quarter ounce back here cause you don't have a lot of time, but yeah, you got it.
Austin Tomasek (26:33.169)
Mm-hmm.
Austin Tomasek (26:45.797)
Nope.
Brian Bashore (26:47.662)
You got to get it down, but then that, think we don't, or people don't maybe think about it a lot. The Great Lakes have a lot of current. And that was kind of probably my problem using a three eights was it was, you're right on it. That thing drops and you're like, God, it's going to be perfect. But then at time it gets with the closing that distance, all of a your jigs not on the screen no more because the sucker got, you know, blown out on you. So I think that advantage with using a heavier jig, if you can get it to slow down, you obviously kept it where you needed to keep it. So it's good move.
Austin Tomasek (26:54.45)
Mm-hmm.
Austin Tomasek (27:09.531)
Yep.
Austin Tomasek (27:16.474)
Right. And that's, that's why I think the heavier jig was so good for me because I was fishing so close to the boat. could almost just like lift my rod up and you know, would kind of just hang there, but no, it was, it was good. I didn't really know. had some, some other plastics and stuff during pre-fish were really good. I threw the, the power bait jerk metal wire for a bit. And then, I did, I threw some crushed city stuff.
you know, early, early on in practice, just because it's, I caught them on it last year, big time down there. And it's just a confidence thing for me, but, I didn't have really enough lab series to go and to go through and fish all the pre-fish with them. So I kind of just, hung onto them for the tournament. But, yeah, it was day two. definitely think, you know, that that bait definitely made a difference. I.
Brian Bashore (27:58.721)
Right, right.
Hmm
Brian Bashore (28:07.445)
That is a...
Austin Tomasek (28:14.916)
I caught one fish on a, on another plastic. think it was, I think it was a, crushed city plastic on day two, but, I just, couldn't, they wouldn't eat it. You know, I'd throw it to them and they'd, they'd chase it and, you know, follow it and they wouldn't bite it. And I'd pick up that freaking lab series middle and throw it right back on the same fish and boom, it hit. I, I don't, I definitely didn't hurt things. know that.
Brian Bashore (28:32.355)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (28:37.516)
Edit.
Proof's in the catching, I guess. No, I always say with scent, people are like, would you put scent on your cranks? I'm like, I'm pretty sure it's not scaring them away. I'm like, it can't possibly hurt anything if a fish smells like a fish, right? So I'm like, put it on, whether it's a spray stuff or a gel, whatever, put it on there. The lab series baits from Brooklyn, those come out, they're gonna be flying off the shelves. They've been winning the classics on them.
They're in an NWT on them. These things are the hottest item on the market that nobody can get except for a few of you guys. So that's awesome. What a wind, what a bag, what weather, what a fun week of fishing. Maybe not such a fun week of riding. If we would have went out of a different launch, it would have made a world of difference, I think, for everybody. Like normally we go to Port Clinton.
Austin Tomasek (29:28.146)
Yeah. If we would have been, if we would have been on a port, Clinton, it would have definitely, it would have definitely changed the game for a lot of guys. But, yeah, no, I didn't even, I, well, I did practice one day over in Michigan waters, but, that was just because my motor was throwing a code and I had to go to the Merck trailer. So I went to the Merck trailer. They got me all squared away and, yeah. So we just went and launched for a couple hours in the afternoon.
went and messed around out in front of Sterling state park. Cause that's where we, all thought we were going to go out of and no, ended up, actually had a really good day out there. that afternoon we caught, I don't know, probably 36, 37 pounds of fish and just a few hours. So I had a pretty, pretty solid game plan for on the way back, you know, and if, I had some time, but no, fortunately I didn't worry about it.
Brian Bashore (30:02.37)
Mm-hmm. Right.
Brian Bashore (30:21.326)
Yeah, there was fish there, especially.
Did you go? Did you go by the nuclear plant over there? Yeah, yeah, that was. Yep, yep, that was loaded. was some good fish there. That was kind of my backup plan, too, if the weather was too bad. I'm like, I'm just going over here because it's just a couple of miles. And I I think I can get 25 pounds out of there. Then lo and behold, I go 40 miles and I get 25 pounds anyway. So I'm like, damn it. But. Well, I just.
Austin Tomasek (30:30.192)
Yeah, we were up north, yeah. North of North of Stony Point.
Austin Tomasek (30:50.17)
Yep, yep, zig-a-mishir-a-zag, that's always, that seems like, it's the case a lot of times.
Brian Bashore (30:56.974)
Right. I mean, it would have been a different case if we went out of Port Clinton, but the fact of the matter is we didn't. We went out of Monroe and that's the name of the game and everybody has to decide they're going to do this. I think most people still made the run, they wanted to make the run. And we talk about it like it's a 80, 90 mile trip and it's 25 to 45 miles, what most people went. And it's not that big a deal, but it is in three, four, five, six foot waves coming at you head on.
Austin Tomasek (31:20.242)
Yeah, my run on day one, I think was like an hour and 35 minutes, hour and 40 minutes, something like that. I don't know exactly, but I made a very similar run on day two and it was like 35 minutes. So that was nice. When I was...
Brian Bashore (31:36.312)
Yep, nope, same thing.
Austin Tomasek (31:39.866)
So it was kind of funny when I caught the first two fish, the cameraman's like, and you're off to a good start. I'm like, man, I'm just happy. Cause at this time, yesterday I was still freaking riding in my boat. Now we got an eight and a half and a nine and a half pounder in the well. So I'm way ahead of where I was yesterday at that point.
Brian Bashore (31:49.686)
We're still driving. I know, like she'll...
Brian Bashore (31:56.279)
Yeah. This is a mental game more than anything in that. mean, that's got to be why I up coming in early. Not thinking as I was just panicking that there just wasn't going to have enough time to fish. I was going to take longer to get in than it took to get out because the wind was picking up and it was changing directions. Now we're to come into it, but then obviously hit the shoreline and flying over. Took care of that big time. I mean, I was going 55, I think coming in. and day two ended up being a hell of lot windier than I thought.
When, you went all the to Kelly's, was nasty. It was worse than day one over there for a while. So I was like, well, this kind of gets in your head and starts to kind of ruin it for you a little bit, but it laid down nice. And like I said, you're lucky that all the 40 pound bags on day one outside of yourself didn't get 40, but there was some guys in the twenties and thirties that had some moisture bags like Nussbaum that kept, the game alive. Otherwise you would have really blown everybody out of the water with it. So consistency pays and you did it. You did it.
Austin Tomasek (32:33.906)
You
Brian Bashore (32:55.714)
Been doing it for a couple years now. You gotta make the long trek west over here in the beautiful state of South Dakota, which by the way, it's 90 degrees here today. It is blowing 25 mile an hour and it's gonna be 40 mile an hour the next two days. So that's why I'm not guiding the day either, but.
Austin Tomasek (33:06.66)
I'm jealous.
Austin Tomasek (33:13.554)
Yeah, I'm jealous. We're dealing with a bunch of flooding right now around the house. All the rivers are blown out. We had a tornado come through last night or two nights ago and did a bunch of damage, ripped my cousin's farm out just a few miles to the south of us. It ripped through and tore his barn down and bunch of silos. So tomorrow that's what I'll be doing. I'll be going to help clean up his wheat field because his barn and silos are currently scattered across his.
Brian Bashore (33:22.414)
Yeah, I saw that.
Brian Bashore (33:33.784)
Ooh, all good.
Brian Bashore (33:42.479)
It's the wheat field. That's, yeah, that sucks, man. I saw that last night on the weather. There was a bunch of stuff moving out through that way. Again, it's this year's has been not really spring. It's been either winter or summer. You know, we've had, you know, we got semi springy conditions there last week and everybody says this is the roller coaster. We got some high winds. It's going to cool down. Sunday looks really nice. 60s no wind Monday, Tuesday, then just.
Austin Tomasek (33:43.218)
580th field.
Brian Bashore (34:09.26)
Maybe we'll get into the spring. It still looks like 60s and 70s, which is pretty warm. But you're coming west, we're going to Lake Wahe, the home of the biggins. No coal, two biggins. You're looking forward to this one or you're just kind of like, crap, what am I getting into here?
Austin Tomasek (34:18.705)
Mm-hmm.
Austin Tomasek (34:26.041)
I am.
You know, I, the last couple of years we went to these new bodies of water and you know, it's, I've always been kind of overwhelmed and stuff like that. But I mean, it's, that's why I started doing this is just to fish new bodies of water that I probably never would go to outside of, you know, these tournaments. And I, after, after winning this one and you know, I'm just, I'm freaking stoked to get back out there, man, start, start fishing. can't wait.
Brian Bashore (34:57.152)
It should be good. the Schilling family is going to be on here shortly here the next week or so. And there'll be airing after this one, folks will stay tuned and we'll get a little insight on, on what to expect out there. well, speaking of the Schillings, boys are all going to be on your tail with the AOI points. Obviously you're leading the race. You're coming into their home battlegrounds as well as Dewey. it's going to be tough sticks. I mean, I live here, but I don't hardly ever get a fish there, but
I ain't no idiot. know, I know they got, you know, the cards are playing. But like I said, you finished second last year. Your goal is get to Skakua this year, which you're in, you're already in. Which theoretically puts you in for 2027, you know, more or less. I guess you got to fish all four, but as as nothing drastic happens in health or boat issues, you're solid. that's a, that's a big release. You know, you obviously you could be a little more relaxed, right? Fish.
Austin Tomasek (35:35.526)
Peace.
Brian Bashore (35:53.23)
free, I suppose is kind of what we say.
Austin Tomasek (35:54.618)
Yeah, yeah, no, I set one goal this year at the beginning of the years. I wanted to top 10 every one of these tournaments. Now that I got the first one under the belt, I'm just gonna keep trying to look at it as the next one and do the best I can do and work my balls off to try and catch as many as I can out there.
Brian Bashore (36:17.806)
There, there's nowhere to go, but down from here. you almost got all top tens last year. I mean, I looked through it and I was like, how did you not win anger of the year that I looked at Dewey's? I don't know. I was like, thought you had it, but he still had it by 20 points or something, but it's going to be a good battle. It's going to be a good race this year. Green, Green Bay and Bay to knock with some, the numbers, some people start kind of dropping out. Um, really changed things a little bit, but clearly it's a.
Austin Tomasek (36:22.332)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (36:45.998)
You know, all these are going to line up for some really nice fish. Scopin's going to be the top 10, top 20 winning techniques everywhere we go. Owhahee is a great fishery, should be plenty of fish. I know you've been to Sikakwea, still to the Missouri River, you've been to Lake Sharp. That fish is a little different. That's going to be a little different.
Austin Tomasek (37:06.513)
Yeah, that.
That was something. I'll just leave that one at that. That was a... I've never fished a tournament where I was like praying for like a 16-incher with eggs. So it was fun though. mean it was something different. I it... Yeah. I don't know. It was different.
Brian Bashore (37:21.422)
16-incher item. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (37:32.179)
We all want to catch big ones and there just wasn't a lot to be caught. So that kind of stunk.
Austin Tomasek (37:38.32)
Yeah, I saw one fish over 20 inches the whole time I was there and it was the second day of the tournament.
Brian Bashore (37:45.967)
Yeah, there wasn't, I saw, I didn't get any in term and just at practice and they were big fat saugers, but they're there and I've caught some great fish here. And actually my immediate practice here was I was all over pre-spawners and then they were gone. I never saw another one for a while, but that does kind of, know, South Dakota one over 20. We don't have a coal. I believe we can call it Bay to knock and that's going to be one over 23. Right. And then they're under, 20, so under 23 still good fish, but you get, you get one.
or two per boat over 23. And we know Betanac Escanaba Little Bay holds some tanks for fish.
Austin Tomasek (38:20.314)
Yeah, that MWC we did up there last year was that was one of the most fun tournaments I've ever had. partner and I fished that last year out of Gladstone and we signed up like the day, the last day you could just the last minute deal. And it was, that was a lot of fun. There should be some very nice weights there in that one.
Brian Bashore (38:41.196)
That one I'm looking, I've never been there. That's the one I haven't been to, so I'm looking forward to that one. Probably the most. I know it's gonna be tough. have no idea. Gladstone's kind of, that's Little Bay, believe, right? Little Bay. And that's two thirds way back in it.
Austin Tomasek (38:52.774)
Yo, yo.
Yeah, it's about halfway, I would say.
Brian Bashore (38:59.832)
So that's where we weigh in. looked at the launch is almost on the mouth, actually where we launch.
Austin Tomasek (39:06.322)
Yeah. So that, that last year when we fished that MWC, didn't, I wasn't really paying attention at the rules meeting and didn't realize that the weigh-in was different than the launch. And so we had a freaking monster bag on day one and thankfully we decided we were going to go in early and we pulled back into the launch and there's nobody there. I called Jeff, what's the deal? He's like, well, you got to go to the park. I'm like, where's the park? And he told me, I'm like, oh man, that flipped my mind.
Brian Bashore (39:14.254)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (39:28.014)
Like, crap!
Austin Tomasek (39:35.986)
I miss them.
Brian Bashore (39:36.658)
Was it a load and drive or was it just go to the park? I don't know if there were slips over there.
Austin Tomasek (39:42.438)
No, was go to the park and do your way in and then head back to the landing to load your boat and stuff.
Brian Bashore (39:48.686)
Yeah, because they're like, I don't know, maybe it's five miles by water or something, but there's definitely a little distance.
Austin Tomasek (39:53.04)
Yeah, it's about five miles. It's about five miles. I ran that boat as hard as I could run it because we were cutting her clothes for time, but now it ended up working out. It was a fun tournament. We had a riot. There was a lot of really nice fish caught. It's going to be a little different time of year. We're going to be there a little earlier this year, but I still think someone's going to catch them. We always do.
Brian Bashore (40:02.798)
It sucks.
Brian Bashore (40:18.944)
Yep. That's the whole L wife thing going on and hopefully we're kind of at the tail end of that. And I know I think it'll be good. And then obviously over to green Bay, which is kind of kicking off about the peak of the big fish season down there. That in the July, August is a really phenomenal time. We get there, I think the last part of July. So.
Austin Tomasek (40:37.394)
Yeah, that's going to be a very fun one. That's the one I'm probably looking forward to the most. I mean, I'm looking forward to Owhahi too, but I know that Green Bay is going to be a lot less work. I mean, not a lot less work, but I'm going to hit the ground running out there, feel. So that's going to be my second season.
Brian Bashore (40:57.71)
It's easier just to go target a lot of big fish than to catch one or two and then have to literally have to go hunt 18, 19 inch fish.
Austin Tomasek (41:05.542)
Yep. Yeah. Yeah. So I haven't got, I haven't really had to do too much of that slot fishing. think pool four was the first slot tournament I've had to do. then Lake sharp was the only other slot tournament. I guess lacrosse last year, last year lacrosse too, but no, I've, when we've been in these slot slot tournaments, I've never really, never really been on anything too special. So I'm kind of looking forward to going to Oahe and
Brian Bashore (41:14.893)
Well.
Brian Bashore (41:34.575)
I mean, it's, yeah, you got to, you know, it's, it's a skill too, right? mean, the guy's got to go catch or get on a number spot and kind of filter through some fish sometimes. Um, yeah, it's just, it's, I mean, we're used to it I live here and that's just what I do, but I don't, I don't think we're ever going get away from that in the walleye world. have so many of those lakes, whether it's South Dakota, North Dakota is pretty good. 15 inch and up Erie, uh, Green Bay, most bagels, all of those are just 15 inch up, not slots. Maybe they have smaller limits. Um.
We have party fishing is allowed in South Dakota. So you don't have to worry about that whole hand in the rod off crap. So that's a bonus. If there is a positive, that's the positive. And the fact that Lake Hawaii holds some big fish.
Austin Tomasek (42:16.848)
Yeah, so I was talking to a few guys last year and then some this year too. And it, it sounds like a heck of a fishery. can't wait to get out there. We're leaving on the 13th to head out there. My partner and I, so.
Brian Bashore (42:31.566)
Yeah, that's a, so who's listening, that is a Wednesday, Thursday tournament, instead of a Thursday, Friday, because it's Memorial Day weekend, I believe. So if there was a blow day, it would extend that into that Friday. We can't have the tournament on the weekend. That's pretty common for most all fisheries and tournament permits just because they don't want an extra hundred, 200 boats on the water that are on top of the Memorial Day traffic. So that's pretty fair. Good deal.
yeah, it'll be, it'll be fun. And obviously we're going to wrap up in Sakaquia, which everybody likes Sakaquia. think that's my favorite body of water. 15 inches and up, no slots. And there's a lot of big fish and the boundaries on that system for the championship are pretty small. but with a 40 ish, you know, depending on how it works out, but a 40 boat field, plenty of room, plenty of fish. You've been to Sakaquia at least once, I believe, right?
Austin Tomasek (43:25.621)
Yup, yup, I fished the kakawea in 24, I believe, when we were there. So all the water that I practiced in and prefished in is out of the game, but I'm too worried about it. I made the big run west when we were there. And so I'm looking forward to checking out some more new water.
Brian Bashore (43:35.842)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (43:46.275)
Yeah, and it'll make practicing easier. You got a limited space, which really, you know, it'll be nice. It'll be just kind of, it's probably the smallest boundary, way smaller than I expected, but I think it'll be just fine. Are you traveling with a group of guys or are you going solo or?
Austin Tomasek (43:49.042)
Mm-hmm.
Austin Tomasek (44:05.106)
Uh, so I just traveled with one guy. He's a Brandon Witkowski. He lives a couple miles away from me. So we've been friends a long time. He's actually, he was, uh, who, uh, kind of got me into this whole tournament deal. And we signed up, he signed up for the Erie event in 24, the port Clinton event.
He just kept poking me and prodding me and like, come on, do it, do it, do it. And I'm like, I've got guide trips and whatever. And the closer I looked at it, I'm like, well, I do have a opening in my schedule, so I'll, I'll jump in it, whatever. And you know, once I did that first one, it was like a, like a sickness, man. I had to keep doing them. So.
Brian Bashore (44:43.022)
Yes, it is. It's a sickness, but you've been doing well and kicking butt. So at least you're actually getting paid because as a guy, you're not getting paid when you're not guiding. So you're not making money. So it's tough to walk away from that to get into this game. That makes the decision a lot easier when you're, you know, you're competing and, and I love it. I mean, it sucks getting my butt kicked all the time here, but I love it seeing you and Bo and
Jared and even Dylan's on the young side, a bunch of just it's our new generation of young wall anglers are coming up. Um, I was in a boat next to me the other day in a park lot and said, these young guys are taking all our money. I'm like, they've been taking my money for a few years, John. I'm kind of over it by now, but yeah, yeah, they are. And it's okay. Cause it's awesome. You guys are, you're the up and coming. Yes. It's a different style of fishing than what we were all used to. And you see it in the bass world.
Austin Tomasek (45:22.994)
Mm.
Brian Bashore (45:39.266)
Will there be changes? Who knows? And I don't care. Right. It just, we have to play with the, we're all playing in the same pond and we're all playing with the same hand in a sense of what the rules are anyway. So may have.
Austin Tomasek (45:43.11)
No.
Austin Tomasek (45:52.112)
Yeah, it doesn't matter if I think I can speak for most everybody if they take away the whole forward-facing that's not going to change anything. lot of the, you know, we're still all going to fish them no matter what. Just because we love it.
Brian Bashore (46:05.196)
Yep. Yep. And then, yeah. And you guys like yourself that are guiding and they're saying, well, they can't win without, you know, scoping. I'm like, yeah, they can. That's probably one before Paul Craig's max has won plenty and do is one before all, you know, all have actually won their tournaments trolling. You know, they've all won in the past before the scoping thing was around. It's yeah. It may throw a few people, you know, a pretty good curve ball, but you were able to learn.
so much about these fisheries and the fishing behavior and your baits in the time that we had it or have it. I'm going to assume we're going to continue to have it, but hypothetically, if we weren't, that it just made everybody that much more smarter and educated and it's going to, it's still going to open up the way you fish in your arsenal.
Austin Tomasek (46:50.704)
Yeah, it's definitely taught me a lot about fish behavior, fish patterns, and understanding how they move and stuff like that.
Brian Bashore (47:02.67)
So we're wrapping up, we're moving into, so what's your number, what's your best fishery, obviously Erie, but moving past that on the rest of this schedule. And what do you think about what we're going into for 2027? I think you kind of mentioned Green Bay is one you're looking to forward to the most.
Austin Tomasek (47:17.028)
Yeah. So the econo event is kind of, kind of the one that I'm looking forward to the most. I, I, was last year in the championship when we went on a Marinette. That was, you know, I had, I had more fun fishing that week, you know, pre-fishing that week than I have in a really long time. And I just can't wait to get back there. I love green Bay. I haven't fished it a lot, you know, two years ago was the first time I'd ever been there. And I just.
You know, I fell in love with the place, man. There's giants everywhere. And I, I like how, how tricky they are to catch at times. You know, it really, it's rewarding when you get, when you get a big one, it's just, it's the most rewarding fishery that I've, that I've been to yet. So I'm looking forward to that one. And I'd also, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't friggin' stoked to get out to Oahu, just to, just to experience that one too. So.
Brian Bashore (47:50.062)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (47:54.818)
Yeah, they are.
Brian Bashore (48:09.058)
No.
Yep. No, I agree. Green Bay is a love hate type place. It is, it is very rewarding because they are not easy, but I always tell people they are the hardest fighting walleye I've ever caught. Those suckers are ripped around right out of your hand. Beautiful color. You don't depend on kind of where you're catching them. Solid, solid fish, but there is a lot of big fish and they move a lot. It's a challenging fit. There's so much structure. There's so many places, right? There's so many spots.
Austin Tomasek (48:41.936)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (48:42.318)
And it's, good one day and it's not even remotely close good the next day type thing or within hours. it's just, it's tough to, to really get on. You know, I don't know. I have learned enough over the years to know that I don't go to the same spot twice type thing. And then I've been caught going to the same space spot twice and it didn't pan out well.
Austin Tomasek (48:59.898)
Yeah, that, that wind out there is crazy. That, I, know, it's a lot, it's a, sets up a lot like, like, Northern Lake here on and stuff like that being wind. It's so wind dependent, you know, all the structuring fish and, finally, finally towards the end of last year, know, the end of that championship practice, it was, was starting to understand it and a few things started clicking for me. So I'm, I'm anxious to get back out and.
Brian Bashore (49:10.435)
Yeah.
Yep.
Austin Tomasek (49:29.042)
See if what I thought I was learning actually, I was learning things or, you know, just maybe I was just getting lucky, but we'll see.
Brian Bashore (49:38.283)
I know. I think with every tournament, win or lose, that's the biggest takeaway is what, what did I learn? And when you go back, can implement it. And then there's something you're to do better when you go back, but you're putting all those pieces to the puzzle together. And then you went to Erie, I think I read in March and you figured some stuff out. You went to Erie, you know, Portland, all those times there, you're, you just started putting things together. Like, okay, no, I can do this in this area. Cause
Austin Tomasek (49:45.65)
video.
Brian Bashore (50:05.366)
I did it March and it worked, or I know how they're acting, or know what the big fish look like. I know what the pre-sponders look like. I know that they're probably the ones that are closer to the bottom or the ones that want to target versus the ones five feet below the surface. And as a guide, nothing beats time on the water, period.
Austin Tomasek (50:25.142)
Absolutely not. No, that's where I'm pretty fortunate to be able to be out there and learning so much every day. Well, not every day, but most days I'm out there and nothing beats time on the water, just like you said.
Brian Bashore (50:42.478)
Even if, mean, you're, you're guiding, so you're not up there on scope doing things, but you're still learning. You're doing things in wind. You're, forced to go fishing in not perfect days sometimes. And then you're learning, understanding current or clean water or when things change and oh, wait, this happened to the fish probably shifted over here. You're able to make those adjustments on the fly, which is the best thing for tournament fishing. It's as hard to sometimes turn off that guide mentality. Oh, if you struggle with this, like I do with the Coingler and the boat, but
You kind of turn into a guy sometimes like you feel like you need to make sure that guy's catching fish or having a good time.
Austin Tomasek (51:16.624)
Yeah, I mean, most, most of my co anglers are, they're pretty good. And I, you know, I tell them straight up, you know, it's especially on day one in Erie. It was like, knew it was going to be darn near impossible from the back of the boat. And I just told him, was like, dude, just, David, just please bear with me. I know how frustrating it's going to be in this waves. And, but, no, they're all pretty cool. And, you know, I've had, I've had some really good co anglers in the back of the boat and they've.
Brian Bashore (51:26.037)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (51:31.896)
Yep.
Austin Tomasek (51:45.798)
They've done well. You know, I had a guy in Erie last year out in Dunkirk and he ended up, he caught two really nice fish from the back of the boat that helped us out. I mean, it can be done. Is it easy? No, but it, it, yeah, it's, it's, it's a lot of fun watching those guys too. They, know, when you get a good guy that's really into it and can be successful, it's just seeing the look on their face when they can help out is, it's pretty awesome. That's probably my guide.
Brian Bashore (52:07.384)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (52:13.134)
Yep. Yep. I had a couple of good Co's as well. Yep. Yeah. Yep. Day two, my Co caught the first fish. It was like three pounder or whatever. I'm like, Hey, we got to start somewhere buddy. Good job. You know, and it was just kind of, right. I was like, and he had that hooked up on a Thick Croy Legend medium and it was pretty good tug. And I'm like, shoot, this might be a good fish. And it came up and like, ah, damn. I'm like, whatever. Cause we didn't catch another fish for several hours. So, and then the first day.
Austin Tomasek (52:15.664)
coming out in me watching other people be successful at like it so.
Austin Tomasek (52:26.02)
Yeah, three pounds four grams, there we go.
Brian Bashore (52:42.382)
I don't know halfway in it, the co no, he got one pretty early and he brought a pocket full of some jigs and plastics. He wanted to use them. Like go ahead, tie them on. That's what you're confident in. It's going to be hell back there in the back of the boat. If that gives you that much more confidence, because that's what you and it was almost a damn thing. Same thing. already had tied on anyway. I was like, go ahead. And he switched over because I was cracking up, but he's like, God, I was like, yeah, I got one of those rigged up for you right there. And he threw them and then he went back to his tried crew hair jig with a giant.
Austin Tomasek (53:04.412)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (53:12.568)
crawler, any kind of I'm like, all right, that's what you, it's confidence is the biggest thing in fishing. And I'm like, that's what you want to use. You believe in it, go for it.
Austin Tomasek (53:15.996)
Yes.
Austin Tomasek (53:22.776)
Yeah, it was miserable for those guys in the back of the boat, son, huh? Day one. I told David right off the start, I'm like, man, just bear with me, please. Trust me, it's gonna be hell, but I know you're probably not gonna have the most fun back there. I'm not gonna have the most fun up here, quite frankly. mean, this is miserable, riding this damn bull all day long in front of that boat.
Brian Bashore (53:38.007)
It'll be worth it.
Brian Bashore (53:45.602)
There you go.
Austin Tomasek (53:51.196)
No, it'll be worth it. Thankfully it was.
Brian Bashore (53:54.426)
That wind just, it takes so much fun out of it. you only had a couple, I mean, I bet we didn't have our lines in the water two hours on day one. And it just, you don't get a fish and you're there to fish. mean, obviously you're there, you know, for everything. It just, you come with a 44 pound bag, what little fun was taken out of the day. You got back real quick when you're leading it. You're like, all right, that was fun. That was cool. You know, or even if you just crack on them really good for those couple hours. And I did, it was always five pounds, but I got, you know, 20 plus of them.
so it was still fun, but then you're just like an hour and a half plus boat ride and that crap. That's just, it's not fun. did, everybody I talked to said after 10 minutes. Yeah, we're all like 10 minutes in going, in the hell am I doing? Why am I doing this? So, and then you find out guys got nice bags right in front of the boat launch. You're like, damn it.
Austin Tomasek (54:30.578)
Yeah, takes a lot of fun out of it.
Austin Tomasek (54:39.825)
Mm-hmm.
Austin Tomasek (54:44.01)
Yeah, there's always seems like guys find them close no matter where we go and I mean that was like Alpina last year I mean as I fish no further than two miles from the launch the whole tournament
Brian Bashore (54:46.764)
You made all the right choices though, so don't second guess it.
Brian Bashore (55:05.39)
Yeah, yeah. Didn't go, but it sounded like there was a lot of people that fish real close, right? There was like just a big pod there. I saw some of the stuff on camera. I'm like, Hey, it looks like half the field is all fish in one spot.
Austin Tomasek (55:12.124)
Yeah.
Austin Tomasek (55:15.866)
Yeah, there was a bunch of them and they were there for quite some time before the tournament. I knew those guys were gonna find them.
They were holding out there for probably a good week and a half, two weeks. They were super obvious. yeah, it was a lot of fun that week before pre-fishing was a lot of fun. I didn't even really pre-fish anywhere else other than in the bay just because I've got so much experience up there in that bay. I know a lot of little sneaky stuff in that bay where you can pull up on a rock pile and there's always a couple laying there. But yeah, it was a lot of fun.
Brian Bashore (55:41.933)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (55:47.64)
Alright.
Austin Tomasek (55:53.266)
I was expecting to see not that many people in there on day one though. So when that happened, I was kind of like, whoa, you know, I was expecting to see 15, 20 boats in there, not 60.
Brian Bashore (55:53.987)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (56:01.475)
Cuz that
Brian Bashore (56:06.166)
Yeah, I suppose that cleaner water those fish are a little bit more skittish and spooked out and it probably became a little harder to catch.
Austin Tomasek (56:14.138)
Yeah, it was, it was very difficult. They, those ones that everybody was on right there by takeoff, they, they got the heck out of there real quick. You know, they, they were, they were there for a good hour in the morning and, then after about an hour, hour and a half in the morning, they started scattering and just pulling out over that deep water and, you know, going to some of the, some of the rock piles that were off to the sides and stuff like that.
Brian Bashore (56:25.23)
Yeah.
Austin Tomasek (56:42.847)
I just kind of bounced around and played ping pong the whole day, upgrading ounces. It ended up being a good tournament.
Brian Bashore (56:51.47)
those fish were looking for somewhere safe to go. They're like, I gotta get away from all these baits flying out my face, right? So awesome. Hey, we'll wrap this up. You got anything to leave our listeners with? A tidbit, a nugget, something to help them on their angling journey.
Austin Tomasek (56:57.008)
Yeah.
Austin Tomasek (57:08.836)
man, I guess just, you know, if you're able to get out there and, you know, spend time, you know, if you're trying to learn that forward facing game, just, just, just don't get frustrated with it. And you know, it's very easy to get frustrated at, know, everything's got to be good. You're casting your distance judgment and stuff like that. Just don't get frustrated with it.
Just spend your time and work for it and you'll get it. It's not an easy thing to get like most people think. It's just the magical fish catcher. But it is a very good tool and just put your time in and it'll come to you. That's for sure.
Brian Bashore (57:51.951)
It is an art and when it clicks, it clicks when you figure it out. I mean, when it works, it works and it's fun. So whether you can hate it and be like, okay, I get it. This is pretty neat. This is fun.
Austin Tomasek (58:02.594)
It is the second most favorite way to catch walleyes to me. first one is just the old faithful quarter casting jigs in the river, man. There's just something about that feeling, that thump when you're quarter casting those jigs. But when it's open water stuff, there's no better way to catch walleyes in my opinion, fun-wise.
Brian Bashore (58:08.406)
What's your first?
Brian Bashore (58:13.74)
Yeah, yeah, mine too. Yep.
Brian Bashore (58:23.672)
No. No, you respond on pitching that shallow water wall ice, pitching that jig and plastic minnow crawler, feather floating it with current or whatever, blind cast it and feeling that tick. There you go. That's hard to beat and I've been doing it all spring and yeah, I still love it. And now it's an element of surprise versus the element of disappointment when you watch one follower bait not bite it, you get that like, damn it.
Austin Tomasek (58:36.092)
Donk? Yep.
Austin Tomasek (58:44.272)
Yeah.
Austin Tomasek (58:51.674)
Yeah, our rivers this spring never really set up right for it. You know, we went right from ice to flood, so we never got to do any of that fun stuff. I'm kind of sad about it, but...
Brian Bashore (58:59.415)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (59:03.982)
Well, you'll have a good hatch. Right, lot of walleyes, spotted walleyes were saved this spring, so you'll have some good numbers coming up in the future from it. that's the only good thing about floods is it'll usually make your fishery a little better the following seasons, as long as it didn't push stuff out. So, all right, awesome. Thank you so much for your time, man. Appreciate it. And congratulations again off to the best possible start anybody can be off to for the 2026 season. Hands down.
Austin Tomasek (59:13.51)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (59:33.944)
Big show coming up. We'll see you coming out here in just a, it just really is a quick few weeks here in Moe Bridge, Lake Hawaii, South Dakota for the second stop of the National Wildlife Tour. And you're leading the Angler of the Year race. You're at top of the, top of the mountain right now. Nowhere to go. That's Kansas. Let's wrap it up. We're good. Let's, let's start over.
Austin Tomasek (59:48.85)
cancel the season cancel the season yeah yeah absolutely no I appreciate appreciate you having me it was fun fun chatting with you so
Brian Bashore (59:59.982)
Awesome. Awesome. We, uh, I imagine we're going to see you back someday. You've been just keep on doing what you're doing and keeping your head down folks. love this. Seeing these young guys come up. It's awesome. Um, second 30 year, a bunch of first year guys on the tour this year, numbers are looking great. We're going to, be a little bit of drop off, I imagine after a while. Hey, but there's going to be a lot of locals fishing that one too. And a lot of good sticks out here. So competition is fierce. It is tough, but Austin has proven over the last couple of years. He's been doing this that.
Ain't no match for me, baby. I got this and he just did it. He it like Gary. So thanks again, buddy. And we will look forward to seeing you real soon here at Millbridge and thank all of you for tuning in to Real Talk Fishing with No Limits. Stay safe. Keep those lines tight. See you on the water.
Austin Tomasek (01:00:45.34)
See you guys.