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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 (00:01.714)
Welcome back to another episode of real talk fishing with no limits brought to you by Segar high performance braids, seven reels created by St. Croix rods and roughlin kennels clean cut cutting station. I'm telling you guys, if you love the podcasts, these brands are the ones you need to support. They support me to support this podcast so I can bring it to you. Seven reels, roughlin kennels and Segar lines.
is they have the best lines on the market. Go check them out. Hit them up. The big box stores. got a fishing classics and fishing fest is all going on this spring. Everything's on sale. Go shopping. Check these products out. If you support the podcast, support those brands. We all greatly appreciate it today. We're going to go talk to the newest hall and fame inductee, the fresh wish fishing hall of fame inductee at a Steven's point Wisconsin, Mr. Jason Shakira.
Jason has been professional while angler for man near 30 years has fished every walleye circuit tournament circuit there is out there. He's fished every single tournament they've had in his span. He's never missed a one is made damn near every championship. won a couple of NWT championships. Guy's awesome. Great dude. well-deserved earned it the hard way, making it into the hall of fame on the fishing side as a tournament angler, first and foremost, which what Jason is and he's damn good at it is very hard to do. so.
We're gonna go talk Jason, get a little inside scoop on how he, how he made it and how he got there. So, um, and he's, we're to catch him tonight cause he's got to hit the airport in the morning. Cause he's got to head down to Knoxville, Tennessee to catch his boy, Scherrick in the Bassmaster Classic coming up. So by the time this airs, that'll be over and we'll know where he landed, but we're rooting for Jay. Um, and looking forward to, uh, talking to Jason right now. So say he's tuned right after this quick message and we're going to sit down with Jason Scherrick hall of fame, Angler.
Brian Bashore (00:01.742)
Hey folks, thanks for tuning in to another episode of real talk fishing with no limits today. We are very fortunate to have Wisconsin or just North America's most recent freshwater fishing, Holland fame inductee, Mr. Jason Shakerrick. is it going Jason? Tell me all about it. That's fricking awesome. Congratulations. This is huge.
Jason Przekurat (00:23.125)
Yeah, thanks. It's crazy to even think I'm in the Hall of Fame because I never envisioned that when I started fishing. was just something that I knew was up in Hayward, Wisconsin. And we'd drive by it occasionally to look at the big musky that's sitting out front. And now I'm inside of it, actually. Got a plaque in there. But yeah, it's been a crazy, crazy 30-some years of just running all over
and doing everything I can for the fishing industry and just trying to make a name for myself.
Brian Bashore (00:59.69)
I think you have obviously. And like you said, your friend Mark is the one that nominated you in there. And if, and if he didn't, I'm sure there was others that were, we're going to, if they have not already or soon would be happening with a guy like yourself. You've been doing this professional fishing for like 30 years. I mean, just we've had you on before. talked about your long tournament career. everybody comes at it different. There's educators in there. There's writers in there. There's pro fishermen in there. That's not.
That's gotta be the hardest way to make it. I think from just being on the pro fishing side of it.
Jason Przekurat (01:32.883)
Yeah, I'm sure it is. Being a fisherman to make it in that way is not the easiest. When you look at the list of guys, there's about 500 plus people in the whole thing. There's not a ton of fishermen in there. It's a pretty small number, actually. There's a lot of people that are in the industry just doing whatever.
Brian Bashore (01:54.454)
media and yep.
Jason Przekurat (01:56.229)
media just list goes on and on but yeah to do it that way I to fish and make it is one thing but the criteria to make it in the Hall of Fame is more than people think because there's a list you have to go through to even qualify to be in front of board to get inducted even voted on so they look at a lot of things not just tournament wins that's just a piece of it
things you do off the water, how you promote the sport, what have you done. Basically any direction possible to promote the sport of fishing and to grow it, to keep people involved. I've done a lot of that through the years. A lot of it people don't even realize because it all started back when I was in my 20s and early 30s. Just because of love of fishing, just for an example.
I was a musky guy growing up. Mark and I fished a lot of musky tournaments, but then I started getting into walleyes. And I thought, you know what, we need a club in our area that is a multi-species club because I don't want to just hang out with all musky guys or all walleye guys. I want people that fish. I don't care what you fish for.
And so we literally started it in my basement one day. I think we had five people downstairs and we put together an idea and brought it to life. And we've done a lot of things with that club. It's literally people from all different fishing aspects.
Guys that don't even have boats and we're in our club because we'd run Tuesday night events where we'd match up a Boater with a non-boater so they could go out fishing and I'd run a league for the whole summer and just keep track of all the total inches of whatever you caught I don't care what it is bluegills, crappies, muskies, buhawais, carp, whatever
Jason Przekurat (03:56.417)
And that grew pretty big and then I started the tournament with three bass and three walleyes. So you had to catch six fish a day, two different species, which really opened a lot of eyes to a lot of guys because it's not easy to catch both species in one day and you do it for two days and did that for a lot of years, had some good fundraising from that and then we just started.
Brian Bashore (04:09.646)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (04:20.715)
grow in the club and then we fixed boat ramps. I think we fixed four or five different boat ramps in the probably a 30 square mile area around us and and had a lot of volunteers help out with that and we put up handicap ramps and fishing piers for them. mean just that went on and on and on and yeah I mean that started when I was in my late 20s. That's just one thing.
Brian Bashore (04:48.718)
And I'm sure there's a ton more, it was obviously before the social media days and era. it's nobody knows about most of these things, except those Mark or those around you or, or in your organization, but that's impact is, is huge. I mean, you brought in five guys, you probably ended up with 10, 20, 30, 40 guys fishing and gals fishing these clubs. then they're
Jason Przekurat (05:08.065)
I think we grew almost 50 at one point, so that was a pretty big number of people. For our area, that's a lot of people. Just a lot of help, volunteers that help run tournaments and get sponsorships to help out. It's a full-time project if anybody's involved with a fishing club. It's just not show up for a meeting. It's pretty involved.
Brian Bashore (05:27.393)
Yes.
Brian Bashore (05:32.718)
Yeah. And those things it's they speak volumes. I mean, a lot of the people probably doesn't see it. It, we're just in a whole totally different world nowadays with the high school fishing, the college fishing, you know, the clubs and getting the numbers of people, but way back 10 years ago when these things, it was still doing it all by hand and then having to pick up the phone and call and communicate and organize, you know, it's a lot easier now with the email and the social media to put, to get the word out and get people to show up. I don't know if any.
Maybe more people show up now than they did then. don't know. They're pulled 10 different directions now.
Jason Przekurat (06:06.463)
Yeah, there's just so much to do nowadays. To try and get people together at the same time in the same area doing the same idea is almost impossible. I mean, the Primewater Anglers Fishing Club that I started just as of last year is non-existent anymore.
When I handed off the reins a few years back to other people, I just didn't have the time to do everything. And gave it to some other people to run and they did a good job. pretty soon they get older and they're not able to do it. Well, now you don't have anybody taking the reins anymore. And to find volunteers to do it, and it's volunteers, you're not getting paid. And nobody wants to step up to the plate. it's, are changing and it is what it is, right? It's...
We just gotta keep moving along with whatever's going on.
Brian Bashore (06:57.742)
Some somebody somewhere will step up and you know, it maybe Jay does someday or something down the road, you know, or, or one of his friends or somebody from the club, somebody who feels that there's a need and wants to fill it, but it's harder. Volunteer nowadays is not quite like it was, but it depends on what it's, what it's for. I just handed off our motherly guy started a couple of years ago to time to, to focus on it and give it all the attention that it should have. And I think it's in good hands.
And we'll be fine, but those guys will move on someday. And if people, they want a lot of people will show up to fish or participate in the clubs. It's nobody wants to be in charge of it. Right. Let's do that back in work that, you know.
Jason Przekurat (07:35.137)
Thanks for watching.
Jason Przekurat (07:42.303)
all the older guys that were running them forever are fading away and nobody's stepping up to the plate. I mean, it is what it is. It's the life we live nowadays. All I know is I've had fun doing it.
I'm not finished yet, but it's crazy how fast it goes. I felt like two years ago I was in the basement creating that club and here we are 30-something years later.
Brian Bashore (08:10.774)
It does go fast. I mean, you obviously watch, you know, raising some boys and family. You see how fast time goes. And I was explained to it once that it goes faster as we get older because we have more memories and things to look back on that make our time go quicker. When you're little, you don't have anything to compare it to. And time seems like it takes forever. Right. You want to grow up when you're little, when you get
Jason Przekurat (08:15.551)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (08:35.678)
old, like, we're like, we don't want to grow up more and slow it, slow it down. It's going too fast. Right. have too much going on in our head. and it's, you know, I've always told sponsors that are not sponsored, but people that it's hard. You've got the Ranger boats forever and it's striking and lose for quite a few years with Evan route for a long time. You know, way back to the day, there's so much pre-sourcing media. That's what everybody looks at now. And you can be, you can go up.
Jason Przekurat (08:35.741)
exactly yes
Brian Bashore (09:04.376)
Super fast and make a brand and a name. But 20 years ago, 30 years ago, you started, that wasn't the case, but there's so much intangible type stuff that people don't see that. How many conversations do you have at the gas station with the guy that pulls up?
Jason Przekurat (09:13.493)
So.
Jason Przekurat (09:19.413)
so much. I back in the day, know, and prior to social media, was, I remember Sonny Reynolds, was the tournament director at the RCL when I first started. And he couldn't say my last name to save his soul. Like he had no idea. He's from, he's from Kentucky, so he didn't have a clue. And I thought, well, how am I going to teach this guy how to say my name? And I thought, well, the more days I can fish.
If I make it to day four every tournament, he's going to get it eventually. So I made it a point to just fish well so he would keep recognizing that name. And it took a couple years, but he figured it out. And back then, you had to fish well to prove yourself. There was no social media to put stuff out there. And that's how you got credibility was just by finishing well, catching five good ones a day.
I got lucky enough to do that in my early years and just kept ramping up the sponsor list and just working hard at that. Next thing you know, you're at the point where you can say, man, should, if I ever want to quit my job, it's now. You only get usually one shot at that. So that's what I did in 2007. And of course that was when Evan Rood was big in the industry and they were my best sponsor.
Years down the road, they shut the doors and that was a big hit for me in my career, but like anything in fishing, it's up and down and up and down. You just go with the waves and you just keep working hard and making things work. That's what I've done for a lot of years. mean, the social media part is. It's harder for me just being a little older and you know I do what I can and you know the whole YouTube thing and that is. I don't know, it's hard because.
You watch YouTubers that are really good. They've got that voice. They've got the personality. And I'm not that guy. I'm more of laid back kind of guy. Just even keel, roll with the punches, work hard, focus extremely hard when I'm on the water. And I'm still that way mentally because that's how I got to this point was fishing well and cashing checks and winning some tournaments.
Jason Przekurat (11:42.113)
So I don't know, the whole YouTube thing for me is hard to wrap my head around.
Brian Bashore (11:44.748)
It it's worked for you well though. So at the YouTube and all that stuff, it's just, it's not for everybody. I mean, that's what there's, there's guys out there that have a big brand, but they don't do any of it. Right. They're hired it out to have somebody do it for them. Cause they're like, is this, I'm not, they're not comfortable. They're not in, and it's a hell of a lot of work to do it. Right. And be super effective. Or, mean, look at Malt, Bully Tom on his YouTube. I mean, that's it. That is all he does. Right. And you're right. You kind of got it or you don't type thing. you can get better.
Jason Przekurat (12:06.209)
Holy.
Jason Przekurat (12:11.797)
People think that that's easy what Tom does. I mean, that is hard work. I he does a lot of editing himself and he sits in the tent in the middle of nowhere and does editing. He's up at the crack of dawn trying to catch the next big fish. He never stops. He does ice fishing, spring, summer, fall. I talked to Tom a few times and he's just a good dude that does a good job on the camera and he's a hard worker and it's paid off for him really good.
Brian Bashore (12:14.925)
Hell no.
Yeah, he was up. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (12:40.386)
Yep. Yep. And we had him on a few episodes ago and he kind of explained his evolution of that. And him and I had, you know, I do a little bit of it. So I understand the self filming and you're doing it on the TV side with the next bite. So, know how the stuff everybody gets to see the finished product, right? They see the catches and they see the good ones. They don't see the two or three days that went into the 30 minute episode, right? Or the hour, however long they are now and all the, the weather, just all the stuff you had to deal with or the unsuccessful ones that don't ever.
air you know the hey what
Jason Przekurat (13:11.115)
Yeah, I tell people it's worse to film a TV show than it is to fish a tournament. Because you have usually more money involved with all the overhead, camera guys, people, boats, travel. And then you have to get a show done wherever you're going. And we usually schedule a three day shoot wherever we go in the hopes that we get done in one day. I've scheduled four day shoots on trips to Columbia River.
Lake Ontario just because you don't know what the weather's gonna be like. And we've literally came down to the last minute, the last day to get a show done on a four day trip. And that's only 20 some minutes show. So it's, there's a lot that goes into it that people don't see. And I have fun doing it. I mean, it's stressful, but it's fun to see the finished product and you can always go back and watch that years down the road.
I've been fortunate enough to be invited by Gary and Chase and the guys to do it. I'm only doing a couple shows a year for them so it's not the end of the world. I'm not out there non-stop trying to get shows done. I have fun with it.
Brian Bashore (14:24.014)
It, it, isn't easy. I've said the same thing. I tournament and guiding. I'm like, guiding is harder than a tournament because you're only letting yourself down. It's this is it. I don't have to worry about you, right? Yourself or coangler in some senses, but when you're guiding, it's not about you. It's about them and the entertaining and doing all the, you know, doing all the things. like, that's way more stressed and guide because they're just, this is you. And if, know, if you screw up your crappy tournament, you're like, that's all me, my fault. I'm, I can move on. Yeah. And you're like,
Jason Przekurat (14:30.261)
Yeah. Right.
Jason Przekurat (14:44.865)
It's hard. I've done that.
Jason Przekurat (14:52.385)
Yeah. Yeah. I disappointed those people. They're not happy.
Brian Bashore (14:53.496)
Damn, you know, that's no good. That could be. Yeah. Now you know, they're not happy word of mouth is the best thing for business and not catching them is not a word of mouth. So, you know, it's had that kind of days. They was horrible, but Sunday was awesome. So, you know, it's fishing. That's why it's. Should have been here yesterday, right?
Jason Przekurat (15:06.881)
You know what I quit my... No. No.
It's fishing. I quit my job in 07 to do it full time. actually guided here at home. I don't know, probably three, four years. But our stretch river is too small here. It's only like 12 miles from dam to dam. And then we get another 12 miles from dam to dam. And I just don't have enough water right here close by to enjoy it because you're literally fishing the same spots day after day after day and catching the same fish.
It's just if I'm not having fun doing it, the clients are not having fun doing it. What's the point? So I quit doing that after three or four years.
Brian Bashore (15:55.318)
It's tough, tough to keep up that energy when you're just, it's just, you're, you're, you're robotic. You know where you're going. You know what you're doing. You're just boom. You know, you roll in, you throw them out. They catch it and yay. know, but you're like, same thing, same thing program as yesterday. Now you got a couple of people following you or everybody sees you because it's not that big a body of water. So there ain't no getting around it. And right. Yeah. That's guiding for you, bud.
Jason Przekurat (16:19.994)
There is, yeah.
Brian Bashore (16:24.366)
It's the way it is. I have those moments and days. And when the fish aren't cooperating, like, that's a, do an education type day. Really focus on the, the why, the how, or the electronics. And you get a lot of that sometimes because people just ask questions, but sometimes they're not. So then you got to, it's a, all right. It's just like YouTube. It's a skill set. It's an art tournament fish and the skills and it's an art. got to figure it out. And over time you just get.
Jason Przekurat (16:46.205)
set a fee for a living that's our sole income that's off to you because that's a hard job.
Brian Bashore (16:54.102)
It is, is. That's why I have five of them. think so. Jobs, right? You got it. You just gotta, gotta do a little bit of everything. but I was trying to say you, get people at the gas stations come up, you know, and I, your truck and your boat ramp, we stick out like a sore thumb. They're like, Hey, that's that guy, you know, and you're at boat shows talking to people. There's so much interaction that the sponsors don't see. Cause it's not on social media. mean, obviously way back in the day and still, I'm sure.
Jason Przekurat (16:58.708)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (17:23.456)
Many of us are turning in quarterly or annual or by whatever reports kind of, but I mean, how many other reports like, talk to 50 people at a sports show? mean, you're not counting them. The reality is it's like, I went to a sports show. Right.
Jason Przekurat (17:34.684)
Right. Nobody keeps track of that. I work for so and so and I did my job and I went home. I'm not keeping track of all those people you talk to throughout the entire season and it's pretty endless. I don't even know how many hundreds and hundreds of people you see or talk to. You don't even know them. They just know who you are or want to talk to you about something. The emails, the DMs, all the extra questions.
Brian Bashore (17:43.373)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (18:03.053)
Yep.
Jason Przekurat (18:05.299)
I don't report all that stuff, but I'm sure the sponsors understand that we get talked to quite often.
Brian Bashore (18:11.758)
Yeah. I mean, you're impacting them, whether you're winning or not. Right. They know, obviously if you went in way back in the day, it was what we'd call earned media. had, we had outdoor writers, right? People showed up at those tournaments and was like, Hey, cool. Interviewed you and then it was come out and then finish men or whatever magazine. Now it's get their phone out, quick interview to photo. Boom. You know, and it's, it's done and it's there. I don't, we don't have those types of people showing up doing those interviews now.
Jason Przekurat (18:14.272)
Right.
Jason Przekurat (18:19.871)
now.
Brian Bashore (18:39.522)
This error it's more or less, mean, mask, know, Jay knows that's a whole different story, but our world it's. I got to interview you. You got to interview me here. I got to share the picture, right? We got to, kind of got to create it ourselves more or less. have some and it's still going. And I think we're, we're going to move into that a little better in the future, hopefully, but we're trying is right. And there's the world's behind. And it's not as so much behind us is that a lot of us are like you and
Jason Przekurat (19:00.417)
you
Brian Bashore (19:09.556)
and sprinkle and stuff who just aren't who are very chill, very even kill. Like you said, and I'm not going to go do all this stuff. I'm just going to go fish and kick ass. And you guys want to know what I say? Come ask me and I'll share it with you. You know, I'll pose.
Jason Przekurat (19:23.775)
I there was a time when I was working towards Fishing for a Living where we did a lot of extra stuff, just reaching out to people, trying to get an article done here and there. I got to know enough writers back when magazines were good, when there was magazines. So, I a lot of that stuff, just did a ton of seminars. I think the best year I had was 2007.
Brian Bashore (19:42.22)
When there was, yeah, when they existed.
Jason Przekurat (19:52.022)
The New Year, I won a lot of stuff that year and quit my job. I think I did 43 seminars that winter. But back then, they were calling me, you know, just because they wanted to hear me and I had a good year. But, you don't have a good year. You get an average year or maybe even above average. They're not calling you. You got to reach out and book your winter through all these sports shows. And sports shows have changed over the years. And, you know, it's not quite what it used to be. It's...
Brian Bashore (20:01.848)
Alright.
Brian Bashore (20:19.041)
Yep.
Jason Przekurat (20:21.761)
It's an interesting business we're in, that's for dang sure.
Brian Bashore (20:24.33)
It is you're getting hold of the owner of the sports show who has five different States. Doesn't even know he are and doesn't even care. Cause he's not paying any attention to it. Or she they're looking at, they know the, the big camper dealer or the boat dealer maybe, you know, who's going to rent a quarter of their space, but Hey, you're going to bring in, you know, 5,100 people at your seminar or whatever the space is, you know, those guys are paying up.
You know, a fair chunk of change and all that. gets people to stick around longer at the shows. They're going to go visit more vendors, buy a few more things, more concessions. mean, a lot of shows have kind of got away from it. Some shows are still doing it. I'll do a few and I'll just have a, as a guide. All right. I'll, I'll do a seminar in exchange for a booth. Fair enough. You know, I mean, you can get probably make charge a little more, but it's like, I'll give you one in one hour, but I know it, it brings in 50 guys cause they all.
Jason Przekurat (20:57.523)
I'll buy stuff and run, you know.
Brian Bashore (21:21.262)
come over afterwards and they come to your booth and they hang out and fishermen love to tell talk fishing, love to tell fisher stories.
Jason Przekurat (21:27.44)
Yeah. That's why they're there. I was in Madison last week and I had my Hall of Fame induction. I didn't even hardly get into the show. was there for maybe an hour before my speech and I took one lap down an aisle and one lap back out of the expo. I don't even know how many people I saw probably. I probably talked to 12 or 15 people that just grabbed me out of the blue to talk and
Brian Bashore (21:29.89)
That's why they're there.
Jason Przekurat (21:55.212)
say congrats and whatnot. And I'm like, dang, I was planning on coming here to be a normal person. I just want to go through a show one time and just see all the booths and walk and talk. And I made it down one.
Brian Bashore (22:02.85)
Flying a lot.
All right.
Brian Bashore (22:14.018)
Yeah, you're, you don't get to be just a normal person anymore, You're all a favor. You're legendary now, man.
Jason Przekurat (22:22.305)
I don't think of it that way. mean, I'm just a guy that loves to fish and I've had a good career getting to this point. So it's, you know, I'm guessing it helps a little bit too that now I've got a son that's taken over the bass world too and he's having a great career. dude, I just, I just like to fish. I mean, I don't even care what I'm catching. I like to catch fish and enjoy the outdoors. We don't get to just go have fun and
Brian Bashore (22:47.822)
There you go.
Jason Przekurat (22:51.627)
fun fish very much anymore. I want to get into that a little bit more, like maybe take a week's vacation and just go somewhere and lay on a lake and go fish. You know, I haven't done that probably since my honeymoon. I don't even know. It's been so long.
Brian Bashore (23:06.19)
All right. You get that five weeks vacation a year, but those are the five tournaments that you got to go to. And that's kind of like, was like, they're my little vacations because then it's guiding, you know, and then you get, you know, it's like wife wants to go do something. I'm like, all right. I was like, think of where we're going fishing. Where are we going fishing? But it's, we, take our little trip to the mountains every fall and we mix it a little fly fishing and what have you. But yeah, we, definitely need those, but I don't know my world, which I probably like here. We love to haunt.
Jason Przekurat (23:10.816)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (23:35.81)
We love to fish. And when we think about vacation, our minds go outdoorsy, right? We're going somewhere outdoorsy.
Jason Przekurat (23:40.428)
You're sure. Yeah, I like to hunt more and I like to fish. So if that tells you anything, once the boat gets sold in the fall and deer hunting season kicks in, I'm in deer mode. Fishing's gone for about two months. It's just non-existent. And I don't ice fish anymore. I just don't get into it. it's...
It's just a vicious cycle of fish and then hunt as hard as you can until the season's over and then it's time to get back to the grind and work sponsors and get stuff done for the following year. It's never ending.
Brian Bashore (24:17.87)
Nope, nope, it isn't, but it's a job. But like I said, you've, just loved the fish. That's why you're at all of fame. That's why you've been successful is because you just, you do what you love to do. You're passionate about it. You're putting everything you got into it. You know, you lose a sponsor, you find some new ones, you do what they need to be, needs to get done. And then you attack these bodies of water and, and you, and you, you win. You won some championships you done done well.
Jason Przekurat (24:40.863)
You got it.
I said the easiest part of my job is when I take off from the ramp on tournament day and go fishing. Like the rest of the job is stressful and yeah, you get a lot of no's from sponsors and this one backs out. Now you got to find somebody to replace them and keep your income coming in and then keep the ones happy that you do have. And you know, the fishing part is not as stressful for me. That's when I blast off from that dock and they call your boat number.
Brian Bashore (24:51.683)
Yep.
Jason Przekurat (25:14.561)
See you guys later. I'm by myself now for the next eight hours. Gonna have some fun.
Brian Bashore (25:17.666)
Yep. I love tournaments was our no, no phone rule. And I could just turn that sucker off and throw it in a glove box for the whole day. Just be like, it's that's it. It's freedom.
Jason Przekurat (25:29.633)
Yep, it's awesome.
Brian Bashore (25:32.309)
It is awesome. yeah, this awesome and awesome journey to get to where you're at. Congratulations is fricking, I made the post, you made the Facebook post about it months ago when you found out then again, and I said it then I'll say it again. It says you earned it. There it is. Awesome. mean, we got, you made, and you earned it the hard way from outside looking at it how I see it. I think that's the hardest way to do it. And.
Jason Przekurat (25:56.404)
I think so.
Jason Przekurat (26:00.514)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (26:01.742)
mean, a lot of guys aren't fishing 20, 30 years worth of tournaments. They can't, you know.
Jason Przekurat (26:04.641)
Exactly. mean, I just thought about it the other day. I hate to brag or I'm not that guy, but I'm like, I'm the only guy that's fished every RCL, every FLW and every national tour event. And that started in 2000. When the RCL had their first championship, that was a standalone event. And I've never missed one ever since. Never missed a tournament. Never had an issue with health or...
Brian Bashore (26:30.776)
That's, it's hard to do, right? mean, weddings, graduations, breakdowns, that's really hard to do.
Jason Przekurat (26:33.387)
family issues. mean, that's a hard thing to do.
Yeah, so yeah, I can look at that and say, boy, I've been through hell and back.
Brian Bashore (26:45.345)
Even
Brian Bashore (26:49.026)
And I believe you made every championship. NWT anyway.
Jason Przekurat (26:51.817)
I've never missed a championship in anything for a few years there. didn't have to qualify and then for a few years we did and then we didn't and now we do again. And so that's been a roller coaster, but never missed one of those. I've only won two of them, all three of them actually. I won the MWC, but boy, I've had some chances to win some more and they just slip away from you.
Brian Bashore (26:57.336)
Right. Yep.
Jason Przekurat (27:18.497)
You it is what it is. It all comes back around if you just keep fishing.
Brian Bashore (27:22.689)
Right.
keep fishing and that apple hasn't fallen far from the tree because Jay grew up watching you work your tail off and get to where you are. And now you have one of the top bass angler lead guys fishing the Bassmaster Classic this week.
Jason Przekurat (27:38.292)
Yeah, I'm actually flying out tomorrow, Tuesday. I'm sure I'll be there when this airs. But yeah, we're heading over there to watch him in Knoxville. This will be the second time there in Knoxville. We've got a pretty good crew coming down to cheer him on. we'll see what happens. I don't know. He's a lot like me when it comes to fishing. You just.
Brian Bashore (28:01.582)
Mm-hmm.
Jason Przekurat (28:02.409)
You don't know, there's only a few times where he's actually told me like, yeah, I think I'm on something pretty good here. But he's, he's never been that way. you know, it's fishing. You don't know if they're going to be there tomorrow or the next half hour. You don't. No, you just need to be thinking about six steps ahead at every moment because...
Brian Bashore (28:14.434)
Right. And you don't want that overconfidence because you know, when you go there tomorrow, they're not there, right?
Jason Przekurat (28:27.537)
You know how it is. hard to keep fish where you want them for X number of days. It just doesn't happen. You run out of fish, they move, whatever. You need to adjust on the fly and the guys that do that well are the guys that are consistently on top. It's all about that quick decision of, they're not here anymore, not what. Where do we go? What do you do?
Brian Bashore (28:48.802)
Yep. Or your boat 100 and everybody else found the same fish and sorry. Hope that the next day your first boat out, cause you're not going to get to them today. Well, I was, how is that watching your boy take off? Bass master classic morning coming up. I was going to go with this. I have a boat show this weekend, so I can't go to miss it last year. that it was my wife and I's 10 year anniversary. So we're at big Cedar, but you know how it is.
Jason Przekurat (28:52.993)
Alright, vote numbers matter.
Brian Bashore (29:16.984)
We got to, we got to go do these shows for a boat companies because that's the deal. So staying home, not going to classic things going to be a good one, but I was there a couple of years ago watching that take off in the morning. mean, this, is cool.
Jason Przekurat (29:33.538)
crazy isn't it? I tell people that you know if you ever want to go you should go to this one in Knoxville just because it's the best venue they have for location, ease of access to all the facilities, the takeoff is literally minutes from the weigh-in. You can walk up over versus we were in Fort Worth last year we have to drive an hour
Brian Bashore (29:54.089)
way better. Yeah, then.
Jason Przekurat (30:00.418)
to get to the ramp at six in the morning and watch him take off at seven. There's just a lot of travel and it's a long day when you don't even when I'm not even fishing it's a long day because I still work at the Expo during the day. But yeah to watch him take off in the morning I remember the first run he was ever in that was pretty surreal. I kind of I was holding his boat before takeoff I think he was boat seven or something.
Brian Bashore (30:05.068)
Same with Oklahoma.
Brian Bashore (30:12.514)
No. All right.
Jason Przekurat (30:29.183)
Dave Mercer starts getting on the loudspeaker and listening to music playing and they start pushing boats off and I'm like, I shoved them off and he took off and I'm like, holy shit, you know, watching him go away from me and I'm like, that kid's in the Bassmaster Classic. I remember sitting on a couch with him when he was about 10 years old and he said something to me about, I'm gonna be in the Bassmaster Classic someday and I'm like.
okay, how are going to do that? You know, and we start talking about the roads you need to be to take to get to the Bass Master Classic. And what are you going to do being a kid from Wisconsin who can't fish all winter versus the kid that's in Texas who's the same age as you who is fishing all year? How are you going to be better than him when you get older? All these little things we talked about and you know, he
He took it to heart and he literally took off running when we started that venture. You know, to watch him weigh in and everything. I don't even know what's going to happen if he wins this because I'm going to be a mess. I'm going to tell you that right now. I'm going to be a mess. I should be. Then we're going to have a hell of a...
Brian Bashore (31:37.391)
And you should be, and you should be, and it's, and he's got a whole walleye world of fans behind him because of his dad, you know, and watching, watching Jay grow up and just, and if maybe I watch it on Bass Live, you're there, your name comes up every episode. It's, not Jay. It's he's the son of this walleye guy. Right?
Jason Przekurat (31:47.617)
Alright.
Jason Przekurat (31:58.614)
Yeah, it's coming up. I know them guys. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I know a lot of them guys now over the years. know, Davey Height and I used to run with Team Heaven Rude for years. And we had plenty of meetings together with me and him. There's just, yeah, I mean, they know what Walleye is. It's crazy how many Walleye fans are.
now bass fans just because of Jay but that's what I love about it because we're just fishermen right? I don't give a shit if you're catching a bass or a walleye if you say bass are easier than walleye which they are I'm gonna be honest with you who cares right? We just want to go fishing and share this love for the sport and that's what we do
Brian Bashore (32:33.294)
All right.
Yep.
Brian Bashore (32:50.914)
This is true. They, we have it, there's obviously a way of the young guys. have a way of the young guys kind of moving into the end debut as well, which is, which is good. That's how the score supposed to work. And our national electric world, we have a program. we have the amateur side and that's the idea is they do that for a year or two or three and some switch over and we've kind of seen, I don't know, maybe three to six a year, maybe they've kind of have stepped up and say six a year, maybe.
three or maybe about half of those kind of works out and they continue on. But it's the evolution of it. It's how a lot of people have come through those. Yep.
Jason Przekurat (33:28.353)
That's what I did. I was an amateur in 95 and I just learned from the pros and thought I'd take a chance and buy a bigger boat and fish the MWC the following year. Well then I was terrible. I was sucking bad for like three years. I couldn't catch a fish. Well, my wife saw. Hello.
Brian Bashore (33:47.086)
But you learned. But you learned.
Jason Przekurat (33:48.258)
But I learned, I learned quickly like, okay, it's not as easy as it looks when I was an amateur. Them pros put you on the fish, you know. Now I gotta be the pro to put myself on the fish. Yeah, you just learn as you go and just grind it out all the time, no matter what.
Brian Bashore (33:54.008)
Right.
Brian Bashore (34:05.806)
think Randy Hummel was one of your co anglers once when he was getting going. And I believe Max Wilson was one of Randy Hummel's co anglers when he was getting going, you know, and Hoyer was a co angler for a few years for plenty of guys and for Pat and I, it was yours, right? Yeah. So I mean, there's, there's that's, that's it. There's the evolution of it. I never did the co angler side and I really, really sucked my first year and I never been to those bodies of water. Had no idea. And did I think I averaged like 120th.
Jason Przekurat (34:18.355)
Where was
Jason Przekurat (34:31.477)
Yep. Yep, it's hard.
Brian Bashore (34:35.746)
You know, second year was great, finished at least top 25, you know, now going back to those places is it's the growing pains, kind of the cost of entry in a sense. So yeah.
Jason Przekurat (34:39.264)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (34:45.605)
It's a learning curve, isn't it? I mean, you can't just expect to dominate. It's not going to happen that way. It's take your lumps when you can learn from it and just keep trucking. You'll get there if you just put in the efforts. It works.
Brian Bashore (35:00.216)
Yep. Yeah. Stick with it. Be persistent. And you're seeing that it was kind of save the bass. got these new guys, but you also got. You know, Jay's got a big following of the walleye world, but you got all these guys from the Midwest. Now we got father Gill and then Canadian boys. got all these Midwest and northerners doing pretty damn good. So
Jason Przekurat (35:21.931)
They're good fishermen just because we have a diverse fisheries up here. We've got everything you can imagine to catch fish, from clear water, dirty waters, rocks, weeds, rivers, reservoirs, lakes, deep, shallow, anything you can imagine we have here. So you can learn it all within, literally within a couple hours of my house. You have every possibility, including Great Lakes.
Brian Bashore (35:26.446)
All right.
Brian Bashore (35:34.125)
Rivers, yep.
Jason Przekurat (35:49.352)
It's that's why you're seeing a lot of these guys do well, I believe, is just because of that diversity. They have to learn a little bit more about what's going on down south as far as fish movements of fish in Alabama are a little different than they are up here just because their seasons are different. But it's not that hard to learn. Take a year or two and you figure things out. It's it's.
You know, when Kevin Van Dam was the only guy from the Midwest that fished professionally for bass, you know, I think it was intimidating because he was so far up north, it's too far for people to drive to go to Florida and over to Texas and then back to Michigan and Wisconsin and then back down. But nowadays, people realize it's very doable.
The guys are signing up to do it, to qualify for the elites and now you're seeing them all. There's a lot more good fishermen left up here that should be in the bass elites, but they just took the step to do it. They're getting there. There's some good fishermen.
Brian Bashore (36:53.0)
get there though. Some don't want to, but some are getting there. just going, you know, they got the system. They got the open. I think you see that in the wall out world. You got to get the great Lake anglers and for years just been trolling and what have you, but they would come West and try to fish the reservoirs and rivers and just, mean, there's current on the great lakes, obviously, but not like there's rivers, but you got your Dakotas, Minnesota, Wisconsin guys tend to do pretty good everywhere. It'd be the same thing. I think we're very diverse, clean.
Jason Przekurat (37:22.23)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (37:22.574)
dirty weeds, rocks, rivers, current, a lot of current, Mississippi River current, Missouri River current. then boom, you know, you go out to Superior, Michigan, you know, Erie, Huron. You're like, all right, this is different, but those, you and I and others understand those currents. None. You can, it seemed to adjust better. I think than like as all the, I've ever, I mean, I've seen it coangular show up on the river here and they're from out from Ohio. And they're like, you had him a spinning rail and they're like,
Jason Przekurat (37:44.3)
for sure.
Brian Bashore (37:51.759)
What's this, you know, I've ever done is troll pull cranks. like, turn it over. Big, yeah. Big difference. But everybody's getting how this little might diverse obviously with the live scopes, big, big thing in the game nowadays and. Life scopes, life's code, no matter where you go, but still understanding all those aspects is, huge.
Jason Przekurat (37:55.83)
Big difference. Yeah. Yeah. Big difference.
Jason Przekurat (38:12.672)
Yeah, just because you have it don't mean you're going to be in the top 10.
Brian Bashore (38:16.96)
No, no, I mean, if that's right, everybody has it out and everybody's not in the top 10. So you still got to know how to use it. speaking of that stuff, got things are progressing and dbt's made some changes. Ton of unanswered questions, which is okay. And to be expected or not, I've always said, I'm not too concerned about it. I'm focused on 2026 before I worry about 2027.
But there's obviously lot of variables and people are like, are you going to do this? What's this? What's who knows and who cares? up and fish, right? Let's just go in, but it's, it's looking good. I think numbers are looking, I've heard from a lot of people never heard of that are getting in. Obviously these other circuits have went away or stepping back or taking a little time off. I'm not sure aim next is maybe just stepping back, but the head to head thing didn't, didn't pan out. Um, I don't know what,
We got a bunch of bows coming up. There's another young guy out of North Dakota coming up. Some of these young bucks coming up. But for those that are, haven't been following along, so you got to be in the top, say 65, hypothetically, 65, there's 65, 68 spots, something. These are the unknowns, right? We don't know.
Jason Przekurat (39:30.306)
Jason Przekurat (39:38.434)
I mean, but that's, just fish, right? I think if you just fish, you'll be fine. know, the whole thing with qualifying for 2027, they're going to take X number of people and have a real tour as they step in the right direction, because that's what we need. And the whole point of this was to eliminate people from one timing or jumping in a local tournament that's in their hometown.
Brian Bashore (39:44.323)
Right.
Jason Przekurat (40:06.722)
taking most of our money from the guys that travel all season and then laughing at us as we drive away. So it's always been, I always wanted a tour, you know, let's fish the same amount of guys, the same guys, every event, just like us elites do, right? They know who they're fishing against every time. No local advantages, no one timers. So that's a step in the right direction.
Brian Bashore (40:11.746)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (40:35.842)
We're going to have a good turnout this year. can almost guarantee you that because there's going to be those new guys that want to get in. Now's their chance to try it. But then 27, we have a full tour and I just with all the unknowns of what happens after 27, 28, 29, moving forward with X number of people fishing and.
payouts and less boats just because there's certain select people that are fishing. Who knows? But I think the step we're taking this year is a good step.
Brian Bashore (41:13.902)
Yeah, but a hundred percent it, we've been asking for it in a sense. think the world life space as a whole has kind of been asking for it. And you're to have new guys getting in some other guys coming back in probably to say, Hey, I want to secure my spot. But like I said, moving forward, what is, how long does that, is that spot secured for? Right. Am I in it for at least a couple of years? And then if I just am sucking it, I'm in that bottom 10, 15 % of my booted out kind of like in the baths, there's a ton.
Jason Przekurat (41:32.214)
Right.
Brian Bashore (41:43.737)
ton of questions and we don't know. And they probably don't know them yet. Neither. They have all, all season basically to try to figure that out. And I'm maybe there'll be some anger in input or something like that to, to come up with it. But nonetheless, it's the right direction. What are the payouts look like? What is the entry fee? You know, so there's 55 and then maybe 10 of those guys go, Ooh, that's out of my wheelhouse or, know, that's, that's not going to work for me. So they're not in it. And you on the next 10 get it to come in. then unlike basketball, I have a feeder chain, but.
Jason Przekurat (41:50.817)
for sure.
Brian Bashore (42:13.026)
kind of what they're doing is about really all you can do.
Jason Przekurat (42:16.032)
Yeah, in the basketball world they have to earn their way in. You've got to work your ass to get there to that next level and then you've to work even harder to get to the top level. So why shouldn't the Wally world be that way? I mean, let's think about it. If it's going to be called the National Wally Tour, let's have a tour. Let's have the same guys all the time. Not saying every year, but...
Brian Bashore (42:35.15)
to have a tour.
Because there's
Jason Przekurat (42:40.546)
If you're not fishing well and you're in that bottom 10%, I'm sorry, but there's another 27 year old kid just dying to get in there. So let's do that.
Brian Bashore (42:48.236)
Yep. Yep. I mean, it's, only fair. And if you want to get back in and work your way back up, however that is through it's right. Yeah. And it's, the writings on the wall sometimes like, all right, I'm good. I'll go find a different, different means. mean, things do pass us up. We were talking about, all right, we're, the old guys. We're not getting younger. You and I are both got elbow issues. You're still way back from, you know, your big baseball days and in mind.
Jason Przekurat (42:54.4)
Yep. By that point, I'll be done.
Jason Przekurat (43:17.27)
yep, cost it. Plenty of life in fishing, lot of guys get it.
Brian Bashore (43:18.158)
strictly from fishing, you know, but it's yeah, it's there. It's tendonitis. hurts. It's bad. It's, mean, when you're banking on holding that rod and you know, you said a hook on a four pounder, even it's wham right out of your hand. It's just becomes weakened. I was telling, I had a quarter zone shot. We're good. It's been hurting now that looked up some therapy stuff. I don't know if anything's working on ibuprofen, but.
Jason Przekurat (43:34.263)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (43:45.9)
You're gonna ruin your liver if you're living on that stuff.
Jason Przekurat (43:50.562)
Well, it's fun to get old, but people always ask me, long are you going to do this? And I'm like, until I'm not competitive, or I lose my drive. One of those two things. You know, I'm 55 now, so I don't know if I can do this until I'm 62. If I can still be competitive and still have fun, I'll be there. But those years are creeping up fast, you know.
Brian Bashore (44:15.808)
A few guys have, and they're coming fast. Like you said, they're still holding them back. You can't slow it down as much as we want to. They're coming at you. They're coming at you fast. It's a good thing with their, yeah, it does suck. I was in the boat all day. got some new rod and reel shit up out there rigging, redoing some, putting on new lead on the lead core lines. And then I came in before we got on here for about an hour and I was in my recliner with ice packs on both my knees.
Jason Przekurat (44:27.488)
sucks.
Brian Bashore (44:44.972)
I skipped the gym today because I'm like, swelling needs to go down, but I won't, I just can't stop. go to the gym as much as can in the winter and I'll run for a mile to warm up, then lift and hot tub and sauna and what have you. an hour, two hours, but I got to back off because it's fishing time and guided the last two days and just standing in the front and we had some good chop. But now you're standing there with your foot on that pedal, eyes go, but all day you're like, yeah, I got to.
Jason Przekurat (45:10.828)
NERD!
Brian Bashore (45:13.866)
Stretch in the morning, stretch in the evening, ice my knees.
Jason Przekurat (45:17.826)
I started last summer, I started caddying with my other son Jackson at a big golf resort here about 45 minutes from my house. And he said, why don't you caddy? And I'm like, no, never thought about that. So I can schedule my own times when I'm available. And if I work three days a week or two days a week or one day a week, whatever it is, it's flexible. Plus I get to seven and a half miles on average per 18 holes.
meet a bunch of new people and carry some bags around and make some money. I mean it's been good for my health just to keep moving like that and exercising. it's, sitting around doesn't help, I tell you that.
Brian Bashore (45:48.397)
That's good.
Brian Bashore (46:03.31)
No, no. And winter's, I don't ice fish a whole lot either. Winter's, it's pretty brutal. So it's, trying to find things. And these are the conversations for those listening to that old 50 plus year old. I'm not quite, I'm almost 50, but these are what we talk about health. was just at a, had a friend's funeral. His dad passed away and there was three of us sitting there. All got that much hair, except the guy whose father passed away.
He comes over full head hair and he's like, Oh my God, I have three bald guys. And then we're sitting there and his cousin is an old friend of mine sitting across from me. We're talking about a lipothiophone or something. It's a thyroid pill. But I'm like, Oh yeah, Doc says I got it. And he's just, and his cousin's like, I don't know, seven, he's just a few years younger, mid forties. And he's like, really? This is what we're talking about over at this table, huh? We're like, Hey, shut up, man. This is our life now. So everybody needs to make fun of their parents. Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (46:51.298)
Yeah.
Yeah, it helps to hang out with young people. That's true. that's where I'm at now. But when the kids start calling you pops instead of dad, you know you're getting there. But I love it. Yep.
Brian Bashore (47:07.47)
Hey pops. Yeah, it is. And then that you kind of have those grandkids and it that stuff's just, I can't wait for that. No rush. Don't rush. I got a 16 year old daughter. No hurry, but the boy's 20. So the grandkids may be coming here sometime in the few years we get through college. but my wife and I are kind of just like, yeah, that'll be, that'll be awesome. You know, you got empty nest and she's got another year of high school and you guys are.
Am I empty nested? So you're like, yeah, take on some Graham kids.
Jason Przekurat (47:40.894)
Yeah, both my boys are getting married this year. Jackson got married in January in Florida because he's caddying down there in the winter. And Jay gets married in October, so they'll both be married this year. then next thing you know, it'll probably be grandkids. So, I'm ready.
Brian Bashore (47:45.944)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (47:56.609)
Yep. And, yeah, I hear you. I'm like, I have two step kids, so they were four and eight. So I didn't have the baby baby phase, but four years old was awesome. I don't know. I'm a big diaper fan air type guy, probably. I'm thinking, you know, my little great nieces like two, three issues, four now I'm like that area I'm pretty cool with. Yeah. I mean, but I don't know. I'll figure it out. So I think that.
Jason Przekurat (48:14.9)
It's alright.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (48:25.282)
Yeah, I'm sure I'll be a sucker and I completely understand why grandparents spoil their grandkids. 100%. Can't wait. Can't wait to do it. So just can't.
Jason Przekurat (48:30.346)
sure.
We've got two grand dogs and we spoil them. So just preparing for grandkids.
Brian Bashore (48:37.644)
Yep. Exactly. Exactly. I think we talked about NMT, we're progressing, we're going the right way. This tour kind of an elite group of anglers that opens up a lot of opportunities for those, let's say those 55 guys. I think a lot of what you see in the market now is with these so many organizations, so many, you see in the Bass world, right? Sponsorship spread thin because everybody wants to piece and Bass has several hundred thousand dollar tournaments. We don't.
We have one, you know, so that gives this group puts you a little bit more on a pedestal and gives Luzon, Ranger and Mercury and St. Croix right more opportunity. And maybe some of those riders and some of that media stuff comes back earned wise. I don't it should the opportunities there. Obviously everybody's going to continue to create their own. You're to see a lot more live streaming, I think this year for those that.
Jason Przekurat (49:24.992)
It should.
Brian Bashore (49:36.982)
invested in trying to kind of get it figured out. It's not going to be like Bassmasters by all means, but you can hit play on a GoPro and connect it and let it roll. And people want to watch, they can watch. So I got my Starlink at all. I got it all set up today. I had to go do a test to make sure it actually works though. Cause having it and having to work two different things, right?
Jason Przekurat (49:44.096)
something.
Jason Przekurat (49:55.49)
It's not that easy to just throw it in there and have it work. You gotta figure that stuff out. I always thought too, why don't we have why don't we have walleye track just like bass track where you can throw the weights up on your phone when you're catching fish throughout the day and even if you're calling there does it right well that fish was three pound six ounces at least our families know how we're sitting
Brian Bashore (50:03.99)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (50:23.702)
They're watching throughout the day. You know, they're not just waiting for one.
Brian Bashore (50:24.856)
So do you.
I
have feeling... so have you been in the Fish and Chaos app that we have to use now? It has that in it. It has the live leaderboard in it. So my guess...
Jason Przekurat (50:35.81)
Alright, you think that's what that's gonna be?
Jason Przekurat (50:42.336)
They do have that. So maybe that is common. They just haven't told us. just said, we're using fish and chaos.
Brian Bashore (50:47.042)
So, right. I have like, we, we've moved over to this. It's in there. So the question is Jeff going to make it so just, because now you can use your phone, right? To reboot precision control and data app, right? There's all sorts of things, which people probably use it forever with now, but it's not now it's lit written out in the media package. You can use your phone for these few items. Well, I imagine that with that being available.
My guess is completely hypothetical, but it'd kind of reading between the lines, setting it up for next year. But there's you're saying, Hey, this is a feature that's available. If you want to use it and enter your weights, go ahead. Where you could just hand it to the coangler and say, Hey, you know, and guys, but it needs to be closed. So the tournament pros don't see it. So if you're cracking them and a guy's like, Jason's got 40 pounds. You got company, right?
Jason Przekurat (51:28.374)
My old song.
Jason Przekurat (51:40.17)
Yeah, I think there's a way around that like I because I know guys that have used that kind of technology in tournaments and they cannot see that later. All they can do wait. When they hit enter, that's all they it's gone and they can't see the leaderboard with the best weights or wall I weight. So that's it's out there. can do it.
Brian Bashore (51:51.714)
Yeah, totally. Yeah, I'm sure that the administrator on it.
Brian Bashore (52:04.194)
Yep. Yep. On fish, knocky. I, when I had it, I could close it. Somebody has to see it's an administrator could, but you could close it to the group. I don't know how fish chaos works, but I'm sure it has the same feature. Worst case, he can just close it to where the tournament director is only when it sees it, but then he can update people on social media or something at least. But I imagine there's a way to, closes it from anglers and then it just leaves it open to the public or.
Jason Przekurat (52:27.028)
I'm sure I'll find out this week at the Classic because I know the fishing chaos guys that work there and I can ask them and they'll give me the answers about that.
Brian Bashore (52:33.506)
Okay, yep.
Yeah, it's, it's just kind of my theory. I put this on this is, and my guess is it's he's setting it up, you know, they're setting it up for next season. A lot of guys have come out into the fish and chaos app tournaments this year using it. So the features there. I'm like, Hey, why not? Why not use it? So, and yeah, like you said, that'd be great. Right. Instead of your wife waiting for you to send them the text to the day of good or bad.
Jason Przekurat (53:02.42)
Exactly. Alright, wait still three o'clock.
Brian Bashore (53:05.922)
I told my wife I'll have it live stream. And she was like, I don't even want to watch it. She's like, she's like, I'm nervous enough waiting for that three, you know, 15 texts to come in with the thumbs up or thumbs down. keep saying I'm needed trying to find out and send her to the one of these, know, it's mediocre. It's not good. It's not bad. Well, I think so.
Jason Przekurat (53:17.665)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (53:23.074)
Yeah, I just tell my wife what a good weight is before the tournament. So I text her 15 pounds. She knows if 15 pounds is good or bad. So I usually give her a heads up before the tournament starts. Like, all right, anything over 18 is good, whatever it is.
Brian Bashore (53:41.593)
She knows going to Erie and she gets a 15 pound text from me. She's going to go, ha, damn it. He only got two or three of them, guess. So what are we, what are we thinking? Erie first stop. This, there may be one more podcast right before we get to Erie. So what's your take schedule? Looks good. I like it. I think this year's good. He's like, say we have a good number of people. think we got a good schedule.
Jason Przekurat (54:09.332)
Yep, a lot of big water, obviously. We're gonna be heading out probably first or second of April and start on Monroe, Michigan, out of the western side of Lake Erie. Lake Erie is Lake Erie. mean, it's all based off wild clarity, where the fish are positioned during that spawning time of year. And there's gonna be big fish caught, there just is.
Brian Bashore (54:09.634)
Here he's the first stop in a month, a month from today.
Jason Przekurat (54:34.946)
It's all based on water conditions. If it's dirty, it's going to be tougher. If it's clean, it's tough. And if it's in the middle, it's perfect. But it will dictate to how far we got to run. We might be able to run three miles and catch good fish, or we might have to go 33 miles and catch fish. But it's good way to start the year on area. I don't think anybody ever complains about going there. I it's the best fishery in the world right now. So sheer numbers wise are ungodly.
Brian Bashore (54:44.033)
Right.
Jason Przekurat (55:04.994)
put your trolling motor in water. How many fish can you see at one time? That's like unbelievable. So that'll be a good start. Then where do we go? We go to Millbridge, right? Millbridge. That'll be a new one for a lot of guys because that's in May. know, it's still gonna be pretty early in the year out there. It's gonna be an interesting tournament. What can we weigh? Two over twenty?
Brian Bashore (55:16.216)
Mo bridge. why? Yeah.
Brian Bashore (55:25.549)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (55:29.07)
I that's the most difficult one on the schedule. think they're the one I'm least looking forward to even. That's not a local for me. I mean, it's still four hours away and I've never fished it in May. I may love the fishery, but I'm like, there's just a lot of variables. think, I think it's could be really pretty good.
Jason Przekurat (55:33.29)
I think so.
Jason Przekurat (55:38.722)
All right. Me either.
Jason Przekurat (55:47.363)
It should be good from what I've heard and talked to a few people that I know and and it's still going to take big fish there. You're to have those two giant ones and you're perfect unders and. I like that we put boundaries on it too. That's a good thing. You know, just 212 bridge to the South. Thank God we don't have to run 657585105 miles. Somewhere so that's always. Price of gas is too high right now, so that's a good thing.
Brian Bashore (56:11.016)
Right, right.
Jason Przekurat (56:17.194)
But that'll be a fun one because the last time we were there, boy, how long has it been? It's been a while.
Brian Bashore (56:23.412)
It's been a while, but somebody right here won a championship there, pretty sure.
Jason Przekurat (56:27.394)
Dead wind one there, yep. That was in August of course, that'll be a lot different. But love that place, it's just fun to fish there, it's so remote and you know, don't have houses on the lake and you can literally fish where nobody is and just have endless structure. So that'll be a good time. then we go to Lake Michigan, Green Bay, Bay to Nock, back to back.
Brian Bashore (56:31.982)
All right.
Brian Bashore (56:40.366)
All Yeah, it's beautiful.
Jason Przekurat (56:56.588)
think Betanox first, Michigan waters only, which is a good thing. Once again, don't have to run until we run out of gas. Very familiar with Betanox. I've been fishing there since the early 90s. Feel very comfortable there. That'll be a good tournament that time of year. It's a good choice on their player.
Brian Bashore (56:58.904)
Yep. Yep.
Brian Bashore (57:19.746)
Yeah. I'm looking forward to that one the most. I've actually never had fish made in oxle. Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (57:24.916)
really? Yeah. It'll be good. That's the right time of year. There'll be plenty of fish caught. Then we go to Green Bay, the end of July.
That's pretty much the perfect time of year. That's right when those walleyes, those big walleyes really start biting.
Brian Bashore (57:43.608)
Bye.
Jason Przekurat (57:45.527)
been on that lake too many times to know what time of year everything kind of happens out there. And you could pretty much put it in the books of August 1 to August 31 is the best time of year hands down on Green Bay. And we're there the last few days of July, so it should be just fine. And then we're restricted to Wisconsin waters only, which is great. We don't have to make the trips all over.
Brian Bashore (57:58.455)
Right.
Brian Bashore (58:11.522)
Yeah, excellent.
Jason Przekurat (58:15.872)
all over the place. then by that point, hopefully we're in the top 40. And then we go to Lake Sakaka for the championship, which that would be very interesting with the boundaries they put on it. It's very small. Coming up.
Brian Bashore (58:21.837)
Right.
Brian Bashore (58:30.828)
Very small boundary, but for 40 boats, it's big enough.
Jason Przekurat (58:34.912)
Which is fine. I mean, I'm not complaining. It just makes it different. In 40 boats, that's fine. There's going to be big fish caught. You just got to figure it out and then...
Brian Bashore (58:46.03)
I was a little surprised to see the boundaries that small on that one. I maybe at least to the beacon, you know, I didn't think there'd be boundaries at all. That's about what the North Dakota Gilder Cup boundary is now. They shrunk it down with, and that's 200 and something boats. So, you know, it's fine.
Jason Przekurat (58:52.674)
You're right.
Jason Przekurat (58:57.596)
Right.
Jason Przekurat (59:01.824)
Well, that's fine. mean, everybody's playing by the same rules, so there's no advantage to anybody there. So, yeah, hopefully we get to that point and make another championship and maybe win one. Who knows?
Brian Bashore (59:08.886)
Nope, I like it.
Brian Bashore (59:18.046)
Hey, that's, that's the, that's the ultimate goal writer. he's like, what's your goals? I'm like, well, it's the goals. Everybody wants to win. We're not like, now after day one, your goals could readjust. You're like, all right, now I'm shooting for a top 10, right? Cause it's I'm a realist sometimes, you know, or it's a championship and you're the 10th spot on day three, which now we're all fishing day three. So that was a interesting thing, which yeah, which is because. And like a Syracuse, you're never out of it on.
Jason Przekurat (59:27.905)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (59:40.381)
moment.
Brian Bashore (59:46.191)
You know, on some of these, you know, and even, yeah, on some of these you're, not out of it. So, uh, gives you something, something to shoot for. So I do, I like the top 10 type thing, making it a little bit of a leak type deal, but then there's, I don't know. Some of the stress is off when you're in that top 10. All right. You made it and you got a paycheck.
Jason Przekurat (01:00:04.204)
For sure. I I think they maybe should have cut it in half instead, maybe top 20. But you got a guy out there fishing that caught no fish the first day, two fish the second day, and now what's he going to do, right? He can't go where other boats are, so it's awkward that way, but it is what it is.
Brian Bashore (01:00:11.214)
Stop warning. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (01:00:21.816)
Right.
Brian Bashore (01:00:29.166)
Yeah. Yeah. If you're, you're in that bottom 25%, it's, I could just go home, save a hundred dollars in both fields, but then you get the coangler who maybe is sitting there. Now you're going out and trying to keep, put him, he or she up into the money. And yeah, it's, yeah. But like you said, sometimes they're just in the way and it's not that they're purposely in the way. They're just, you know, if you're on places like Mississippi river, you lock up, lock down, you don't know where people were. So, and then you show up and you're like, ah, shoot, sorry, man.
Jason Przekurat (01:00:49.666)
No. Right. All right.
Brian Bashore (01:00:58.476)
I if I'm in that position, I mean, I'm in your way and I'm at the bottom five, just tell me I'll leave. I'll gladly move over. Have at it. So, but if you don't know it, you don't know. So anyway.
Jason Przekurat (01:00:58.614)
Sorry.
Jason Przekurat (01:01:10.464)
Yeah, so it's looking forward to it, man. It's. Winter's been long enough to vote. I took in this morning to get wrapped and that'll be done when I get home from the classic and then I'm ready to start fishing. It's all rigged and ready to go. I'm just dying. Maybe maybe we still got spice hanging around the river super high because we had a big rain the other day and some snow. River super high to get out, but there's places we can get out.
Brian Bashore (01:01:24.684)
You should be thought out by then, hopefully over there and maybe.
Brian Bashore (01:01:39.727)
Well, you got the only river that's super high then. it's not too good around here. Chamberlain's, know, Missouri river, it's still low, but at least I don't have to put almost water up into my door. First time out, I opened the door and it was this close. I mean, yeah, it was, but now it's barely got any of the back tires in. but it can still come up. I mean, it came up, I think six to eight feet since mid February. Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (01:01:42.508)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (01:02:10.542)
They're pushing some. There's not any runoff coming out. They just had to move some water. But I think that's done because it came down a little bit the other day. Like some of the ramps, you can't even use them. Like the old Marina at American Creek underneath the bridge, there's not enough water. First time I went out there, that was just dry. Now there's water and they put buoys, but ain't nobody using it. So the docks are. If the docks are pushed in, they're still all the way out of the water.
Jason Przekurat (01:02:23.586)
Yep. Nothing.
Brian Bashore (01:02:36.718)
So either they haven't pushed them in or they're just out, there's just not enough water. So yeah, we got, I don't think.
Jason Przekurat (01:02:41.63)
It's low. The is It's really low actually. The Fox River hasn't got any water yet and the bay is pretty low. Good news is we had full ice this year so it probably didn't evaporate as much water over the winter. So if we get any rain this spring it should start raising back.
Brian Bashore (01:03:01.518)
That's the craziest thing was, Oh, it's slow. It's this. And I've had this, you know, back in Nebraska days of McConaughey, like it's 30 feet. going to take three months to fill it up or three years to get it full. Then three months. was full pool. It is took a whole bunch of good rains and all of a boom, problem solved. No, no, you get all that runoff gets in there quick. So, Alrighty. You got to get some packing. got a flight to catch early morning. We could talk for a long time, but I'm sure we're going to have you on here again this year after you get that, that win or make another championship. Right. So.
Jason Przekurat (01:03:16.097)
Nothing much.
Jason Przekurat (01:03:30.562)
Hopefully.
Brian Bashore (01:03:31.372)
I mean, I'm rooting against you, but I'm rooting for you. I'm a fan of all the famers.
Jason Przekurat (01:03:34.444)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (01:03:38.53)
Yeah, I'll give her heck and see if we can't win another one this year. I came close last year on Alpena, Michigan. I was on the right fish there. I just lost a couple fish, but you know, still going to just keep working hard and see what happens and maybe hoist the trophy. see.
Brian Bashore (01:03:44.92)
No.
Brian Bashore (01:03:55.823)
I think there's going to be a good mixed bag. I think everybody's getting better on the scoping aspect of things. I think you're just going to see it not so kind of one. I mean, we've had a handful of guys that have just been doing great and because they're fricking good and they're still going to do good. But I think you've seen Kahi come up over the last couple of years. know, everybody else is just kind of kind of getting with it or getting better at it. So.
Jason Przekurat (01:04:03.232)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (01:04:18.464)
Yep, yep, yep, everybody's learning there, figuring it out. Yeah, we'll see what we can do. Make fun.
Brian Bashore (01:04:26.638)
And it's just, you know, it's committing to. But Erie, that's always a crapshoot. Hey, Trollin's always in play on like Erie. So you never know.
Jason Przekurat (01:04:34.562)
Control, even an overage, same thing, who knows.
Brian Bashore (01:04:38.742)
Yeah, yeah, yeah definitely at Moorbridge. There's a reason I put new lead on today. You gotta get them unders and there's a quick way to get them.
Jason Przekurat (01:04:45.602)
I just looked at mine today and I was like, oh yeah, it's all ready to go home.
Brian Bashore (01:04:49.88)
Yeah, it's our trucks. got a new truck and I got a topper ordered to it be here, but hopefully a couple more weeks. I'm like, I'm hauling way too much gear to not have a topper on this thing. So I got to look like Jason out there. I got to get a new topper. yeah, it's smart thing to do. It's what's the word, pragmatic, I think, you know, for a fisherman to have a topper, we can lock all that gear up.
Jason Przekurat (01:05:06.23)
Good choice. Good choice.
Jason Przekurat (01:05:16.854)
Yep, lock it up, keep it dry, you don't have to worry about it.
Brian Bashore (01:05:21.27)
instead of carrying everything in her boat, adding all the weight and being in the way and stepping on stuff. And cause yeah, I mean, there's, I don't even know how many pounds of lead jigs are in the jigs are in the boat. one side is damn, there's got a list. Cause I carry so many jigs of different styles and sizes. Cause I love to jig fish. So I'm like, there's eight boxes of just jigs, you know, and then Tom's got one.
Jason Przekurat (01:05:44.418)
90 % of all sea water.
Brian Bashore (01:05:47.319)
Yeah, exactly. When I started pouring my own as a guy, I go through a ton of them because we drag a lot of jigs and well up in the river, you snag a lot of stuff. So, you know, it's like a clip, like half a dozen of them on the carpet every day. And by the of the day, they're up, they're gone because I've had a snap off and retie. So any who. All right, we'll leave everybody. You got a little nugget or any tips, tricks, pointers form.
Jason Przekurat (01:05:58.561)
Yeah.
Jason Przekurat (01:06:12.45)
Hmm, you know.
I think just kind of a mention out to the younger people. Up and coming young guys that want to fish for walleyes and want to get to a certain level, anybody can do it. Proof that I can do it, anybody can do it. Took my lumps along the way, but you just got to commit 100%. There's no...
70 % commitment, it's 100 % and you gotta learn every day on the water and that's what that's the approach I would take to it just just love the sport learn every day on the water and commit to it 100%.
Brian Bashore (01:06:45.591)
have acid.
Brian Bashore (01:06:59.49)
YouTube, all these things are great, but nothing beats time on the water.
Jason Przekurat (01:07:03.562)
You gotta fish. You just gotta fish. can't learn everything online. can't talk to your buddies and say, where are they biting? That's old news if they tell you where they're biting. So you go find your own bite.
Brian Bashore (01:07:15.03)
Right.
Yep. And if, and if you only go fishing when it's great, you're not going to get any better. Yeah. When it's easy, everybody be doing it right. It ain't easy folks. It ain't, it ain't easy. all right. Thanks you a ton. Jason, once again, congratulations on your well-earned and deserved hall of fame induction. That is absolutely awesome. And good luck to Jay and safe travels. We'll be rooting for him. I think the whole walleye world's got his back this week.
Jason Przekurat (01:07:29.1)
Nope. Cool.
Brian Bashore (01:07:47.15)
It's gonna be fun in Knoxville. It's gonna be a good one. So hopefully he's on him. So we'll find out soon. So, all right, folks, thank you for tuning in to this episode of Real Talk Fishing. Stay safe. Keep those lines tight. We'll see you on the water.