Cody Pixley, NWT Pro

Join us as we sit down with National Walleye Tour Pro Cody Pixley to talk about his experience at the Big 10 Showdown Tournament and highlight his incredible walleye fishing career. Cody shares valuable insights into tournament strategy, bait selection, and what it takes to compete at the highest level of professional walleye fishing. From chasing big fish on Lake Sakakawea to the dedication behind his success, this episode is packed with knowledge and inspiration for every angler. Perfect for anyone passionate about competitive walleye fishing and pro-level insight.

What is Reel Talk Fishing | With No Limits?

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 (00:03.885)
Welcome.

Brian Bashore (00:08.398)
Hey folks, thanks for tuning into another episode of Real Talk Fishing with No Limits. We're out to you by Seaguar High Performance Braid, seven reels created by St. Croix Rods and Clean Cut Station from Rufflin Kennels. I actually got to use mine today. Had to clean a few fish on the tailgate. So, today we're going to go talk to Mr. Montana himself, Cody Fixley, NWT Pro.

Discussed a little bit about the big 10 showdown, one of my favorite tournaments of the year. And I believe it's one of Cody's as well. Um, see what's going on over in the Montana area. Talk about his NWT 2025 season, a little bit of 2026, uh, and just get you all know a little about who Cody is. He's been around for a few years now making waves, hell of a good guy and a great stick. We fished, uh, he qualified for the championship this year. Um, we're gonna focus a little on the big 10 and he won that tournament a couple of years ago, I believe.

And, uh, him and I both, both fished that and just a really good, really, really good tournament. want to tell everybody about a little bit more. And it just dropped a YouTube video on, uh, the Wallet Guys YouTube page that, that showcases that tournament a little bit here. was just the end of September, uh, Randy Hummel and I fished it. So, um, link on that is down below. It's just a few fish catches and what have you, but just tell you a little bit about what we're using, but you get to see the quality of the fish that are in there, how fat they are, how good color and healthy they are. It's just.

Just a great fishery. So anywho, stay tuned. We're going to dive in deep here with Mr. Cody Pixley.

Brian Bashore (00:01.678)
Hey folks, thanks for tuning in to another episode of Real Talk Fishing with No Limits. Today we're heading over to Big Sky Country to talk to Mr. Montad himself, Cody Pixley. What's happening over there? Are we hunting or are we fishing?

Cody Pixley (00:13.927)
Uh, so we're kind of into in a week between actually like archery season ended last Sunday and, uh, rifle opens on this Saturday. So a couple of days here and I'm headed for the mountain. So one more day of work and then I'm headed for the mountain for, for a good four or five days. So it should be. Yep.

Brian Bashore (00:30.754)
We're chasing elk I assume. Yep, so archery elk is over. Alright, now rifle. Now rifles all split up right? You probably buy units and all that kind of jazz where it just hears the season and...

Cody Pixley (00:36.005)
Yep.

Cody Pixley (00:42.311)
Montana's like they it's as easy as it gets man like bow huntin's a month or a month and a half or whatever is about a month and a half and then there's a five day in between it on a Sunday and rifle hunting opens the following Saturday and then it's open through always a Sunday Thanksgiving every year so we have the next whatever you know month in some change basically so

Yeah, no, it's pretty straightforward in Montana. There's not a bunch of weird zones, this, that, the other, like general season's pretty just wide open. So yeah, getting, getting ready to do that. And, Birdhawn just opened up to, upland opened up last weekend. and waterfalls open as well too. So I do, I do a lot.

Brian Bashore (01:24.59)
And you got a surprising amount of birds up there on Upland, don't you?

Cody Pixley (01:29.403)
Yeah, it's kind of a little, yeah, I mean, it's a little bit of a secret, I guess, or it's just not as known or as popular as, know, the Dakota is obviously, look, you get out into Eastern Montana up there, even central Montana, like there's plenty of birds, plenty of birds to be had on a good year. I think we kind of had a little bit of a, I think we had a good hash, but there was some hail storms early on and some heavy rains. It sounds like the numbers are down this year, which when the numbers are down out here compared to where you guys are at, you know, it's.

Brian Bashore (01:37.741)
Right.

Brian Bashore (01:49.486)
Hmm.

Brian Bashore (01:55.564)
Right.

Cody Pixley (01:56.807)
It's more noticeable, probably so.

Brian Bashore (01:59.414)
Yeah. I have some, some of mountain hop friends that are out of Utah. They, they bird hunt, but they go to Montana and I'm like, man, there's a lot of birds and North Dakota really is a hidden gem too. mean, South Dakota is known for birds, but we released millions of them in the preserves and then we just have a ton of habitats. There's a lot of birds, but North Dakota really has, and that's not such a secret no more. know quite a few guys are going North Dakota. mean.

Cody Pixley (02:20.835)
yeah, I grew up, we used to take trips up there, know, grandparents or my grandpa, my uncles, my dad, my cousins, whatever. Every year we'd take like a week trip out there. I was right around like those.

MEI days or whatever they were in school. We got like a couple of days off in October. We went every year for like a week and we always went to North Dakota. Dickinson killed deer, you know, that general area. was all, we moved every year, but like it was always in that general area. And once the oil boom happened, kind of, you know, it just, there's just way too many people. Everything got posted up because, you know, there's just that many more people out there, but yeah, we had a lot of, a lot of good memories of doing that when I was a kid. So before I could even hunt really, so.

Brian Bashore (02:38.307)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (02:43.287)
Nope.

Brian Bashore (03:02.08)
That's awesome. You're you're you're centrally located in a great place to hunt and fish.

Cody Pixley (03:06.919)
Yes, it's, it's right out. It's whatever I want to do. Basically, you know, it's kind of weird. You got to travel a little bit just because of Montana is such a giant state, but like, we're so used to, so used to it. Like, you know what I mean? Like Fort Peck dam from here is six hours for me. I make that trip some summers, 10 times a summer, eight times a summer, you know.

Brian Bashore (03:16.142)
Alright.

Cody Pixley (03:27.015)
It doesn't bother me. doesn't phase me anymore. Like that's just what you do. like driving long distances to go fishing and hunting, just, doesn't really, I don't know. You learn to get used to it, I guess.

Brian Bashore (03:27.052)
All right.

Brian Bashore (03:38.274)
Well, with the NWT schedule, what it was this last year, you know, all about driving long distance. I didn't fix it because I didn't want to drive. You had to drive twice as far as I did, versus anywhere.

Cody Pixley (03:43.098)
out.

Cody Pixley (03:49.447)
Yeah, was, uh, that New York one was kind of brutal. That one was pretty bad. It's, funny. Like, you know, I've done it two and a half years now. I fished about a dozen events and the 20 hour trips to, know, Wisconsin or even Minnesota or the 18, 19, that's nothing. That's cake. Like that's, that's nothing you get into. Like you get over 21 and they start getting, they start getting to be a little much second guessing yourself, especially on the way home. If you didn't do real well, you're going.

Brian Bashore (04:17.903)
yeah, you can't get home fast enough. Yup. Yup.

Cody Pixley (04:19.675)
doing three quarters across the country and like nothing to show for it here. So yeah, they give you, they give you time to reflect. That's for sure.

Brian Bashore (04:26.36)
That is a-

Yeah, there's no doubt about that. That's a lot of, we all get a lot of windshield time, but I think anybody, whether you're fishing bass or walleye or whatever the circus may be, you're going to have some miles. I mean, that's all there is to get a comfortable truck. if you're like me, carry all the tools you got so you can fix the trailers because they all blow out.

Cody Pixley (04:40.647)
Yeah, no, exactly.

Cody Pixley (04:51.451)
Yeah, I carry more than the average person when it comes to those long trips. You know what I mean? As far as tools and spare this spare that it's like, I'm not, you know, I'm a long ways from home when I get to where I'm going and I even put the boat in the water. So it's like, make sure I have everything that I might need, you know? So.

Brian Bashore (05:07.478)
Yeah, it's inevitable. mean, the roads are, especially when you go east, just, the roads suck when you get, when you're heading to Erie and you're going to bounce and do all sorts of things. And I mean, our boats are great. Our trailers are as good as they can make them, but things happen, especially when you got to, it's the worst thing is when you go east and you got to pay all the tolls for all these roads and they're the worst roads. Terrible. I mean, it's it's inevitable.

Cody Pixley (05:23.623)
my gosh,

Terrible, I was in Indiana this year, in the entire, you gotta pay at the beginning Indiana, you gotta pay when you get out of Indiana, and the entire thing was a construction zone. And I'm like, what, why am I paying for this? You know what I mean? But it's the only way to go, and it's what you do, I guess, I don't know. When I'm heading that far east, and I'm starting to come home, you know, on the back end of the trip, all I can think about, you know, about Chicago, all I can think about is like,

Fargo, North Dakota. I'm like, get me to Fargo, North Dakota. Because Fargo home, it's just set it at 83 and just, you can zone out and look at Antelope or do whatever you want. You're like, you don't even got to pay attention hardly compared to Chicago and Cleveland. And oh my gosh.

Brian Bashore (05:57.698)
Give it.

Brian Bashore (06:03.544)
Go.

Brian Bashore (06:09.198)
Alright.

You know you live in Montana when you're looking forward to get to Fargo.

Cody Pixley (06:14.279)
You're more than halfway home when you do that.

Brian Bashore (06:19.466)
Yep. Yep. That is, I love it up there. That's good country. before we get into some other things for those that don't know, Cody's been fishing NWT for what? Two and a half years or more now. So kind of, you know, I wouldn't say a new guy or not, but up and coming, he made the championship this year. He had a good run, good finish. you've done well. What's, what are you doing when you're not fishing and what got you into jumping into the NWT?

Cody Pixley (06:45.797)
Gotcha. Yeah. when I'm not fishing, I'm probably hunting majority of the year. and when I'm not,

hunting and or fishing, I'm working. I own a small little crane business, own business here in just outside of Bozeman, Montana, where I live. And so I'm running around and like right now is my busiest time of the year, kind of like end of summer, early fall, right before the snow starts to fly. I do a lot of stuff in construction. so guys are just chomping at the bit to get stuff closed in before the snow starts. And so like, yeah, I'm slammed right now, but a lot of work when I'm not hunting or fishing. And then I don't know, you know,

Brian Bashore (07:10.03)
Let's.

Cody Pixley (07:22.951)
My wife and I get out skiing a little bit in the winter time when work slows down and there's no hunting, there's no fishing. So we got out skiing a decent amount and I play hockey, you know, once a week, pretty much all winter long still, you know, not, not like I used to, but it keeps, say it keeps me in shape, but my wife says, well, you go play hockey for an hour and a half and then you drink beers in a locker room. So it doesn't, it doesn't really add up. I'm probably not.

Brian Bashore (07:28.376)
Yep.

Brian Bashore (07:36.014)
Man. Right.

Right.

Brian Bashore (07:48.238)
Oh sure it does, you get that heart rate going. It's just like the guys that play softball all summer long, you know, it's good for you.

Most importantly, it keeps your mind right in the long winter, which you definitely have a little bit longer winter out there than I do. Running the crane, so everybody's probably sitting in bunch of trusses right now trying to get roofs wrapped up.

Cody Pixley (07:57.883)
Yeah, that's right.

Cody Pixley (08:01.627)
Yes, we do.

Cody Pixley (08:07.461)
Yep. Yep. All the construction guys are, you like I said, the snow's coming, so they're chomping it a bit to get things dried in and stuff. the phone blows up this time of the year and I'm, and I'm pretty darn busy. So I probably shouldn't be taking a few days off to go out next week, but it's kind of funny. Like everybody's taking time to go off. I'm not the only one, like the framers are doing it too. So it's like, kind of works out for everybody. It's like a national event or, national holiday.

Brian Bashore (08:24.28)
Right.

Brian Bashore (08:28.822)
Yeah, this is a, I was going to say it's state holiday out there. it's just, everybody knows when it goes right to voice when they're like, he's now cutting. All right. Well, yeah, they're like, all right, we'll take the, we'll take the week, a couple of few days off too. We'll get back to this house next week. And I used to frame, so we always had our crane operator as well in the same situation. Let's get these things going. Let's get it wrapped.

Cody Pixley (08:39.173)
Yeah, he's out. Yeah, he is.

Brian Bashore (08:52.718)
That's no, that, that it's yeah, it's small company. it's just you to crave, but that is no, uh, small skillset by all means. was a CB in the military as well. And we operated cranes and it's a lot of work and that's a, it's a skill set. You have a lot of liability and you definitely got to know what you're doing.

Cody Pixley (09:00.965)
Yeah, it is.

Cody Pixley (09:07.193)
Yeah, yeah, you get it. You get a rap of being the fat lazy guy sitting in the crane, but it's set it up, tear it down four or five times a day, job site to job site. You know, it's, it's, it's pretty physically demanding. You do sit a lot, but like when you're not sitting here, you're throwing stuff around and moving and yeah, no, it's.

It's been a good job. I like it. And yeah, like being out of my own. I've been out of my own about four years now, which, is kind of what led me to being able to go do some of the NWT stuff is like, you know, creating my own schedule. I worked for an outfit out of Bozeman here for 10 plus years or right around 10 years.

You know, I could get time off, like, man, I could, could never take off what I do now to go fish those NWTs. even though everybody, everybody here thinks I take the entire summer off to go fishing. Cause that's all they think I do. But, you know, it's what four or five weeks. And so it's nice to be able to create my own schedule and be able to, you know, get out there and do those. So.

Brian Bashore (09:58.828)
Yeah, that's, it's really, think most there's quite a few guys that, you know, work for companies, whatever, but a lot of the guys are self-employed. you know, they have whatever kind of companies, insurance, fishing guides, crane operators, know, realtors, whatever the case is, cause it's tough to get a five week, you know, time off plus whatever else. And I know that's a big problem for the co-englers, especially cause they don't even know that they're in, you know, until a week out. So.

Cody Pixley (10:05.509)
Yeah. Yeah, a lot.

Cody Pixley (10:17.701)
Yeah. Yeah.

Cody Pixley (10:23.493)
Yeah, for sure. Yeah. No, they have a lot of guys that are self-employed. seems like they run around and do those. So.

Brian Bashore (10:31.554)
Financial freedom, but as you know being a self-employed guy doesn't mean you're making all the money and it doesn't mean you get a work less It's usually quite the opposite you work a lot

Cody Pixley (10:38.213)
Yeah. No, one of the hardest parts is, like when I'm not working or excuse me, when I'm fishing and I'm not working, I'm not making any money. like when I go to these tournaments, especially in Dunkirk, New York or the, know, the Sue or wherever I'm traveling and spending thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars, it's like, I need to be able to cash a check or, you know, just to, just to even like try to justify it because we all know at the end of the day, you and I both like

We're not making money doing this. You know what I mean? So it's like, if you can cash a check, it makes it a little bit more justifiable. But like even, even at the end of the day, you don't want to look at those numbers.

Brian Bashore (11:07.734)
No. No. No.

Brian Bashore (11:16.982)
No, it doesn't hurt as bad. mean, and with the low number of turnout last year, I mean, if you got one of the lower checks, you're like, probably didn't even break even at this point, not counting the week off of work, just travel and entry.

Cody Pixley (11:28.717)
Yeah, I try not to think about the week off of work. I just try to think about the money that I spent getting there, you know, tournament fee and everything else. if I can make that up or a majority of that up, I'm pretty happy, you know, so.

Brian Bashore (11:42.092)
Yep. Yeah. I hear you. I hear you. This year's schedule has obviously it's got to look better for far as where we're going for you, especially in your travel. mean, we got Skakuin and Oahe both on there, which are reasonably close and as close can be for you outside of Fort Peck.

Cody Pixley (12:01.483)
Yeah, yeah, no, it's cool to see it's cool to see the Western reservoirs on there, know, or reservoirs on there. That's nice. That's obviously appealing. And then the travel is not too terrible, like Green Bay a couple times, which, you know, big day, that's kind of a poke. You're looking at like, I want to say probably like 23 ish hours for me, 22 maybe, you know, but it's, I don't know.

Like for me to Minneapolis is nothing anymore. Like that's nothing right. And once you get to Minneapolis, it's like, we're just shooting across Wisconsin quick and we're there, you know? So even those two don't really faze me as much or like I'm not too worried about them this year.

Brian Bashore (12:36.366)
Wisconsin drive is weird. You can't go fast. You're on these little tiny highways, but it's all broken up. there's kind of some scenery, I guess, versus just going through Iowa or South Dakota on the interstate or something. it's kind of, I don't know, it seems like it kind of goes quick, but then you're always like, where the hell am I in the middle of Wisconsin?

Cody Pixley (12:38.565)
Yeah. Right.

Cody Pixley (12:54.951)
Yeah, I think a little bit longer to cross there than guys there than you think it's going to, but like, you know, it's still not, it's not Northern Michigan. It's not the UP because that is, those are some drives that'll make you pull your hair out. You're looking at a map on the big picture. going, I'm not that far away, but now I just hit a two lane highway and the speed limit's 55 and it's like this for the next seven hours. And I'm like, gosh, like that's, that's brutal. You're, begging for an interstate when you get up there and you're cruising on those, those two lane.

Brian Bashore (13:14.648)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (13:20.78)
We, we vacationed after this year and I think it was from Sioux Falls, 11, 12 hour drive. So, and then we came straight home, but we broke it up on the way up. just to make it not such a long drive with our 16 year old daughter who had no problem. She's way better at that stuff than me. I'm about eight hours. like, I'm good. My back hurts, you know, but she was fine.

Cody Pixley (13:27.675)
Okay.

Cody Pixley (13:34.001)
Yeah.

Cody Pixley (13:41.369)
out somehow, somehow sore from sitting. Yeah, I hear you.

Brian Bashore (13:45.612)
Yeah. Yup. Yup. Unfortunately, I'm getting old enough. We got to stop and be enough. So I got to get up and stretch my legs so much. And we just got back, just fished my favorite tournament of the year. 20 years as well. You got some hard work right behind you. Big 10 showdown. you won it in 2022. Looks like you got third place. What? Last year? Last year. we just wrapped that up folks. It was the of September. They moved it up a week this year. I think Jeff had some stuff going on in Canada and.

Cody Pixley (14:06.139)
Last year,

Brian Bashore (14:15.182)
I don't know if it's still unseasonably warm in Montana, but it was 65, 70 degrees, you know, down here today. It was 85 degrees, I think up there for that tournament.

Cody Pixley (14:24.231)
Yeah, it was it was in the 80s most most of the days we were there Yeah, they bumped it forward and I think part of it was Jeff had something going on but I think also I think he might keep it there because Well, and it's gonna slip my mind. There's a big tournament just north Just north of there that is like a big big tournament like they pay out $100,000 for that tournament when it fills And it was the same weekend It had been falling on the same weekend as the Big Ten for the last like three four years and Jeff figured he's probably losing some votes to that

So I know that was part of the reason too why he switched it forward and like, um, yeah, I don't mean, I don't know if the weather's going to be like that every year, guess we can't really complain because there's been, there's been times when like you said, we were talking before this, we've been stung on the ground at the boat ramp. Um, you know, and so to be 80 degrees and we, know, I didn't bring enough shorts. was wearing pants every day. It's too warm. Um, I actually fished it with a buddy of mine who'd never been there and who had never fished a tournament, but he's heard the horror stories of the weather that I've, know, over the years.

Brian Bashore (15:00.876)
No, I'll take it.

Brian Bashore (15:11.254)
Right. Yeah.

Brian Bashore (15:20.492)
Right. It's always windy, right?

Cody Pixley (15:22.631)
Yeah, it's always windy and we get there and it's beautiful for like four days and he's like, huh, this isn't, this isn't quite what you told me it was. And I'm like, yeah, come back next year.

Brian Bashore (15:31.658)
Yeah. We till day one, oh, it got postponed today because of the 40 mile an hour winds. And it was not, it was a great, great pre-fish. think the water tip was still 70 almost. Wasn't it under upper sixties or something? can't

Cody Pixley (15:36.219)
Yeah, yeah.

Cody Pixley (15:43.559)
Alex 60, I don't know, some of the other ants guys had a little bit warmer temps than I did. A guy we were staying by, buddy of mine, for a four pack. But yeah, no, mean, they were upper sixties, know, dang near cracking 70 every day. So pretty unseasonably warm for sure.

Brian Bashore (15:58.575)
Yeah. And, uh, I guess, I mean, I was like, Oh, we're to need to get night crawlers. I've never brought night crawlers to that tournament before it's chubs and Meadows and cranks and jigging wraps and plastics. And you're good to go. Well, it was, which I don't think I, I think I did grab some crawlers, but I don't think I got anything on them, but the Meadows were working. So we just kind of stuck with it for a while. is a, uh, for you that don't know big 10, it's called the big 10 showdown, big 10 championship on Lake Sakakui.

Cody Pixley (16:09.851)
Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Bashore (16:27.234)
Tries to go out of Lewis and Clark State Park on the West end. guess Williston would be the closest town. Jeff Clark puts it on great guy does this just because he likes to do it. The chamber helps a lot. Gets a ton of great volunteers. Well, pro guys, a ton of great sponsorships. A lot of the big oil companies are up there. The problem is we can't get a hundred boats in it. I think the first year we had a hundred and it seems like we've been in that mid to upper sixties almost every year since.

Cody Pixley (16:54.471)
Yeah. Yeah. It was kind of, don't know. I think it was partially just unfortunate timing for Jeff. You know, I think that first year was, I want to say it was 2019. 18, 19. It was right before COVID. He's what he, like Jeff said, once COVID hit, it's just kind of not been the same as far as boat numbers. Um, and yeah, I don't know. I don't know what it is. You know, you hear rumors, guys complained that the river shut off this and that, but I mean, it's a great tournament. It's a fun tournament.

Brian Bashore (17:04.462)
Sounds about right. Yeah, we're probably 19, because COVID was the next year, I think, right?

Cody Pixley (17:24.667)
You know, even with the wind and the weather, it's, still a great tournament. And, and not only that, but like, there's guys that run out there. It's, it's one of the biggest checks you can cash in the state of North Dakota every year. It's $30,000 of the winter if they fill it, you know, and even they haven't been filling it and it's still 20 plus thousand dollars to win that thing. You know, I mean, that alone you think would get guys out there, and, Phil.

Brian Bashore (17:46.575)
Yeah. When I saw that, totally caught my eye. That's why I got in it, you know, right away. And then, an old friend from that area called and said, Hey, you want to fish it? And he had a sponsor pay in the entry and it's a thousand dollar entry. So, you know, team 500 bucks person. I'm like, yeah, sure. You know, then, you know, it didn't do great. First day we were there, I got like 12 pounds. I'm like, ah, you know, we're in the mid twenties and that first year they had it. A lot of guys went way south in the new town and had 20 pound bags. When I'm like, consistency. That's why we do two day tournaments come in the next day with like 12.

Cody Pixley (17:50.503)
I'd to.

Cody Pixley (18:10.651)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (18:15.182)
13 pounds again. he's like, we're in like fourth. I'm like, what? No way. Well, those guys that had 20 pounds zeroed on the second day. cause that wind blew it muddied it up. And I'm like, yeah, that's why you do two day tournaments. And if you saw that this year, we had two 20 pound bags or 20, 21 pound bags, monster fish. mean, typically you're like, we're looking at a six to eight pounder for big fish at the tournament.

Cody Pixley (18:38.223)
Yeah, that's pretty much what it is. There's usually two, maybe three caught a day basically, or like two or three caught in a day and then usually one the second day or something like that, you know.

Brian Bashore (18:43.213)
Right.

Brian Bashore (18:47.16)
Yep. And then this year we have a 13.33 pounder caught on the first day. So he had almost like 21 pounds. So he had some good fish go with it. And then the second day it was another 11 and a half pounder or something. But the crazy thing is neither one of those teams won.

Cody Pixley (19:02.523)
That was the crazy part is neither one of those teams won. believe one guy took third. Yeah, or maybe second and fifth. That's what it was.

Brian Bashore (19:07.15)
Yeah, second and fifth, I think maybe. But that big fish went to fifth because I think they only had like three or four pounds on the second day.

Cody Pixley (19:15.909)
Yep, yep. Sorry, you could probably hear my puppy in the background going bananas on the toy, sweeping away. Yeah, no, you know, I went and fished that tournament one of the first years, I believe it was the first year that they had it. And we didn't know what we were doing. We'd never been there. We had no clue. We talked to a local guy or guy from out East, Eastern Montana told us to come over. so we went over there we didn't know what we doing. We didn't do well at all. And...

I think it took a couple of years off. was COVID year. And then I think the year I skipped and then I went back and I told the guy that I fished with from, he's a Bel Air, Montana. my partner that, that won it with me. I told him, I said, man, we get, I look back at the results and I said, man, we get 15 pounds a day and, and we're going to win. So, and that's what we did. We went out and got 15, like almost dead. Even the first day, I want to say in like 15, three or something the second day. and.

Brian Bashore (20:11.214)
Yeah. Consistency. mean, that's just how that the people think like Coquia need 30 pounds. Well, this is so for those don't know the, the boundary is new town bridge and up. And it used to be, could go all the way up into Willie's standing up the river. Jeff took that little river section out of, which I don't think you could have even went up at this year anyway, a couple of times because the water is so low. So, and so it was like, what is that 30, 30, 40 miles maybe of the lake. 30. So.

Cody Pixley (20:29.239)
this year I don't think it could have. Yeah.

Cody Pixley (20:37.767)
About 30. Yeah, it's about 30.

Brian Bashore (20:40.398)
Which makes it, if it's not blowing 30, 40 miles an hour, you you can get around pretty good. And, there's, and there's a lot of fish up in that area. It's just not a lot of those eight to, you know, 10 pounders. course this year there is, um, but overall the weights were down considerably except for the guys that were in the money.

Cody Pixley (20:49.255)
yeah.

Cody Pixley (20:57.415)
For sure. Yeah. Yeah. I noticed that last year. I noticed like the majority of the fish that we were catching had gotten smaller kind of like over the last few years. And it was the same thing this year, but this year for some reason, there was just, I don't know why, but there was bigger fish mixed in there as well. know, the bigger fish than you normally get there too.

Brian Bashore (21:18.414)
I caught, we caught more, I think I caught more bigger fish, um, at practice. mean, we had about 15 pounds on our first day of practice within a few hours. Um, and then I was like, Oh, and I was scoping and pitching some jigs shallow and got them. Then we cranked and had a couple doubles and I was weighing them, you know, and they were like, but they were some super, super fat, like 19, 20 inches, you know, and then we had some 22s and 23s. I'm like, Oh, well this, we can do this 15.

Cody Pixley (21:22.598)
Did you?

Cody Pixley (21:47.067)
Yeah, I

Brian Bashore (21:47.291)
I, my scale said like 14 even, and then their scales were all pound heavier than a mind war every day. So I would say we had, you know, 15 pounds in, you know, by noon or whatever it was. And then maybe at 12, then later I weighed another one and it was like a two or three o'clock. We got another big one. So I'm like, well, that leaves are all right. These fish were fat, but then, you know, come tournament time, I had like a nine and 11. So they were smaller days, you know, but.

Cody Pixley (21:57.573)
Yeah, which

Cody Pixley (22:05.787)
Gotcha.

Cody Pixley (22:13.479)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (22:14.92)
still caught like each day the first fish was a three to four pounder. my god! All right but there definitely was a morning window.

Cody Pixley (22:22.735)
Yeah, for sure. And it died, like, I want to say like noon to one o'clock every day, it died and it died for three hours. We had to be in for the day and we knew we to on out. like, no, we've got to get them early. Cause if we don't get them early, we're not going to get them in the afternoon. And it was, held true. Like it was tough in the afternoon for sure. Like it was a three hour window in the morning and that was about it. So.

Brian Bashore (22:29.686)
It died, died. Yeah, it did.

Yep.

Brian Bashore (22:43.362)
Yeah, it was.

Brian Bashore (22:48.078)
I think, uh, Jeff did a boat check on us second day and we were like, you know, they're, they're jigging. Our scoping spot was all kind of muddy. It wasn't working. So we said, let's just go crank. And, uh, we had our, what we weighed in at 10 o'clock, you know, we didn't go out till nine on the second day. And I'm like, all right. You know, then later he came back and like, no, we still got the same fish. That was it. Nothing ever got any better. So.

Cody Pixley (23:03.035)
Yeah. Yeah.

Cody Pixley (23:12.185)
It was brutal when it died, it died. That's for sure. Yeah. And it was all, it was just such a weird year. was no wind hardly. mean, it was super muddy, super shallow. If you went west, I think it's a little bit early for those fish from like the Van Hook area to start coming up there, especially with bumping the tournament forward. you know, I think it's literally for those fish to be down there on the, on the East end yet, but yeah, there was definitely some fish mixed in between. got most of ours, but we kind of.

We didn't have a great year. don't know what we finished. I should have looked before I even got hopped on here, but I want to say it was like 18th or 17th or something like that. and you know, traditionally I've cranked that tournament quite a few times just because when you're out there in six footers, and this is before, you know, better at live scoping and like went and fish six, seven footers on Erie, which is a completely different ball game. When you're fishing a Western or you know, you're fishing suspended fish out East and it's like, I can fish East in six, seven footers. No big deal.

Brian Bashore (23:56.674)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (24:02.658)
Mm-hmm.

Cody Pixley (24:08.367)
You go out on Scott and you're trying to fish fish on the bottom and it's, gets a little harder for sure. You know, so I've cranked that tournament a bunch. we have plenty of fish, pitching jigs and plastics and crawlers and whatever else too. But, day one, we committed to cranking and it was, it was a mistake. We didn't, you know, I don't even know what we had day one, nine pounds or something like that. day two, we were just like, you know, whatever we're leaving those at home and we're just going to go live scope. And then we, and we had a better day and we did pretty good.

just turned out that everybody else did pretty good too.

Brian Bashore (24:40.43)
Yeah, we were the opposite. We live scope day one and then went to crank it on day two because it just didn't work. We spent a couple, three hours in the morning, got a scope and I'm scoping, Randy's in the back pitching and dragging and like they're there. They are not reacting or moving, but I'm like, it's too dirty. water's, you know, we're in like six to eight foot of water. I'm like, this is too dirty. You know, so I cranked through it before we left and popped a couple, but they were small. You know, I probably should have been casting a crank bait, you know, looking back and then we're like, let's just go to this other spot where we know there's some fat ones and immediately.

first roll in and bam, three and a half pounder. that was like right at the end of the morning bite, you know, and then I just.

Cody Pixley (25:14.043)
Yeah. Yeah. And like I said, there was a bite window and when it, when it died, it died and you were not going to get them to go out and like we, tried it. We tried putting cranks on and we tried going deeper, grow, you know, casting deeper, pitching deeper, pitching super shot. Like they just shut off. And then like that three, four o'clock, right? About the time you had to think about going in, they'd start fire again and you could get them in day two. actually ended up getting, we needed one fish. we both pitched out at the same time.

Brian Bashore (25:28.291)
No.

Yep.

Cody Pixley (25:41.479)
And we're like, the boat's running. I'm like, we got to go. need one fish. We both pitched out at the same time, opposite sides of the bow of the boat and both hooked up at the same exact time. And I'm like, which one's bigger? Yours bigger than mine? We're both kind of boat flipping. We're like, this one's bigger. Threw it through the live boat. We're like, all right, let's go. Yeah.

Brian Bashore (25:56.057)
Let's go. Yeah. I was surprised where I saw a of guys fishing. don't, don't know where the winners were fishing or what they were doing. we went up river. We had a milk run spot. East of a white earth. But a lot of guys, you know, we're just straight out, straight across on those bluffs. I think that's where the big ones were caught. And we made a patch for there and I saw some fish and pulled cranks, this one pass and caught some dinks. like, I don't, I'm not really marking very many fish here compared to these few other spots.

And when we had a trolling pass along antelope that really nobody else was on, a couple of guys were jigging wrapping it and we could just pick up all the 15, 18 inches you wanted.

Cody Pixley (26:35.463)
Yeah. Yeah. And those 18s are key. Like, you know, that year we won it in 22, it was, it was 18s and 19s, but they're average of three pounds. You know, there's not very many skinny fish in that system. They're, they're big, you know, they're fat. And one thing I noticed this year too, which again, I don't know why we cranked on day one because we knew they were shallow, but like there was, you know,

Brian Bashore (26:45.752)
No.

Cody Pixley (26:54.353)
There was definitely a minnow, a minnow hatch going shallow. Like they responded shallow and you could see just giant, giant clouds of these spot tail shiners. and that's what they were in there eating on it. But I, you know, we were catching fish in two to three feet of water. We were catching fish in like eight, nine feet of water on day two. And we were, when we were pitching and scoping, never really went out any deeper than that, but I know, but, you know, guy would pass by me in 35 feet of water cranking and he'd pick one up and it was a good one. And I'm like, they're everywhere. don't know. You know, it's just like.

Brian Bashore (27:22.636)
Yeah, we cranked in 14 to 18 foot was our best crank bite for big fish. But yeah, pitching was six to eight, maybe four foot. should have, I guess, tried that in a bunch of different, but we caught them out deep too. mean, I would scope it and Randy's whipping a jig and wrap out middle of nowhere. He was getting hooked up more than I was scoping just blind casting. Cause there was enough fish around. So we did up by new town. We hit some islands and stuff up there and, and did.

Cody Pixley (27:24.391)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (27:51.375)
pop a couple of nice, you know, 22s on chicken wraps up real shallow too. So, uh, they were just, yeah, they were everywhere. And obviously when you can find them shallow, that's good. Cause they're usually feeding. Like you said, they were eating all those, that minnow hatch of shiners and stuff. But, but a fun tournament. Can't wait for it again next year. It's a, you know, 67 boats, but teams, but there's hammers. mean, people that are fishing that are, and yeah, I think Jeff said there was more.

Cody Pixley (28:14.435)
yeah. Every year.

Brian Bashore (28:20.152)
people coming from out of state almost said there was locals fishing this year.

Cody Pixley (28:25.233)
He said, he's like, man, there's so many guys coming from out of state this year. We might have the locals beat. He's like, so I'll work on that. said, but you know, keep, kind of trying to bring guys from Montana. And then I don't know. He, he, he really likes him. You know, I get a few guys from Montana committed to coming. We lost a few guys this year, but we gained a couple others. And I mean, there's usually a good half dozen to 10 votes for Montana ended every year, which is.

Brian Bashore (28:47.644)
yeah. Yeah, for sure. I'm trying like hell. tell all these guys and all sorts of them, but they're all like, that sounds great. And you know, a couple of them were going to go, but I don't see this get burned out, you know, by then or what the case is. And maybe it's earlier now. We don't have the horror stories of all the cold and wind, but whatever the case is.

Cody Pixley (29:02.887)
That's the thing. I was at that tournament where, know, you're fishing in, five, five foot or six footers and it's brutally cold. I'm like, yeah, that's the one. It's really funny. Do it. they're like, no, you win a lot of money. That's that's the kind of the high end of it all. You can a lot of money. So but yeah, that's the reason.

Brian Bashore (29:12.046)
That's awesome,

Yup.

And it's, but you don't have to scope for people that are worried about, you know, going against, they're like, there's it, you know, half a dozen end of the two pros at it. And they're just going to scope. I, you can fish them out if you want. Scoping is a little tricky up there actually. It's.

Cody Pixley (29:29.243)
You can just say what you want. It is a little tricky up there. That's for sure. Like, you know, we spent more time this year, probably than ever scoping it just because, whatever, like I said, I'm getting better at it. I'm getting more confidence in it. That's like, spent more time scoping this year than I probably have in recent years. And I mean, it paid off or I guess it paid off or I proved to myself that we could do it. You know what I mean? So like next year going looking into it, it's like, I don't probably just going to dive right into that. And I probably won't.

do anything else really. definitely be.

Brian Bashore (30:00.719)
Yeah, went full, full on told Randy, we're going to go. He's like, no, man, scope. He goes, go up front. I'll, I'll pull chubs or rig or whatever in the back, you know, and then we'd, you know, humble fish in WT, we, it just works well for us. Or I'm like, if, know, if I'm crushing them up front, you're to come up front. We'll both throw at them. And like my first cast boom, like I, I got one, you know, it was a little one, but I'm like, all right. And then just continued that first day of practice kind of, you know, smashing on him. the second day he caught.

Cody Pixley (30:18.597)
Yeah, for sure.

Cody Pixley (30:26.917)
Yeah. Yes, I would like to.

Brian Bashore (30:29.538)
more than I did by blind casting.

Cody Pixley (30:31.943)
Yeah, no, it sounded like a lot of guys that weigh in, know, Jim Carroll does the MC for the weigh in, which he's, he's a great dude. Does a good job. You know, it's awesome. And, uh, but it sounded like a lot of guys, a lot of those local guys were chubbing, you know, so I, I'd see him out there. Like there'd be a guy scoping out of the front guy in the back and be chubbing. But a lot of those guys, when they came into weigh in, especially some of those bags that were up top, they said they all, most of them said like, we're getting them chubbing. Like we're getting these bigger fish on chubs. So we never tried it, but I don't know.

Brian Bashore (31:00.046)
Uh, had some and didn't, yeah, we didn't, I don't know. We didn't, we didn't chub. I always chub a lot when I'm up there and I had, had quite a few of them and we just, didn't chub. We were, know, the, we'd mix up our, I'd stick a break scope and we'll go cranking. Every time we cranked, was like just bam, bam numbers and good fish. I'm like, this is a lot more fun when you got a partner in the boat, you know, versus the guy sitting in the back, even though Randy's like, don't, whatever it takes, you know, and we're both like, I don't know.

Cody Pixley (31:01.799)
feel like keeping Minos alive.

Brian Bashore (31:29.064)
pretty consistent and we're getting doubles you know of like 19-20 inch fish like kind of yeah kind of hard not to.

Cody Pixley (31:33.384)
Yeah, that's what's fun. But yeah, no, just an all around super well run tournament though. You know what I mean? Like it was, I think they kind of got a curve ball thrown at him this year with, you know, having to have it at White Earth. And so it, you know, I don't think he had it quite as maybe good as far as like, um,

Brian Bashore (31:43.086)
Yeah, totally.

Cody Pixley (31:56.712)
You know, just like, you know, helpers and this and that, and like the doc situation, but it was all new. You know, I think it was all like, kind of had to do it on the fly really. Um, you know, had a week or two heads up. like, you know, the store at the campground was closed, but he told me he goes 100 % they're going to be open next year. Cause it sounds like they're going out of wider to get next year. Um, is what he told me. That's what he told me. So in, in who knows that could change, but he said that he guarantees that if he does go out of wider next year, that.

Brian Bashore (32:13.678)
I'm down with it.

Cody Pixley (32:23.451)
You know, the store will be open there, the base store, they'll have fuel. They'll have everything. if you want to go camp there and they have plenty of camping spots, you don't have to leave, you know, and there's houses, you can get airbnbs and whatever else.

Brian Bashore (32:33.058)
Yeah, there's a lot of houses there. didn't realize that. And I'm completely, I just called the loose Clark Big Ted Showdown. He's going to have to rename it to the white earth big seven or something like that, whatever it is, but you know, we're the.

Cody Pixley (32:39.953)
Yeah.

I think it's weird that there's not gonna be enough water in the lake again next year. You you talk to somebody and it sounded like it probably wasn't gonna get better this next season. I guess part of that probably has to do with how much snow we get out here this winter, which that'll help.

Brian Bashore (32:46.734)
Yeah, they had the...

Cody Pixley (32:59.461)
Yeah. So he kind of made it sound like it's probably going down there again next year. So he just said, he's like, it'll be way more organized and I'll have my ducks in a little bit. Cause you know, like I said, they kind of sprung it on him or I think he kind of like last second made the decision to switch it and move it. I mean, it was still ran great and like everything went well and you know, the live weigh in stage that that's the other cool part about it too is like, you know, out here in Montana, there are zero live weigh in tournaments, zero. I'll catch picture release, whatever way boat.

And so it's cool just to do another one at the end of the year that's live, the live way in and it's, you know, they're, becoming fewer and further between. And so I feel like we probably better take advantage of them while we still have them kind of thing. Yeah.

Brian Bashore (33:39.886)
Right, right on. And those fish aren't out of the water long. mean, they do pretty quick. Caradal's pushing us through there, you know, but to give in the air, know, talking it up and taking all the time it needs to take. It's a pretty smooth process, I think. Jeff does a great job with all the volunteers.

Cody Pixley (33:53.7)
it's, he's told me, know, like the mortality rate on that tournament and it's nothing like, you know, they don't lose like it's the water's cold enough. It's late enough in the year. like you said, they're, you know, you're up there in the live while you take them out, you weigh them. It's, three minutes, two minutes, whatever they're back in the water and down in the lake and everything's golden. So, know, they do a really well, you know, really good job of running that tournament.

Brian Bashore (34:19.35)
And the rules mean is, is, is fairly quick. The only, there was a lot less door prizes as you already noticed, but I don't, I don't care because it's a steak and potato fricking meal that the fire department cooks. And it's phenomenal. It's, mean, it is good. told him, you don't need to spend that much money, man. We'd be happy with burgers and know, chips or whatever, which he may have to go to that with the cost of the beef going up. But I'm like, they do a good job.

Cody Pixley (34:33.35)
There's a

Cody Pixley (34:37.735)
Yeah. He said, he's getting spendy, but yeah, no, they, that's the best part is like, the rules meeting is great. They always have a ton of door prizes. Like you said, this year's a little bit down, but we still got it. You know, a pretty decent amount of stuff. And then you have the steak and potato dinner. You can't beat that. And, you know, there's a bar in the corner. can go happy or whatever you want. like, no, he does it upright. Like you said, he does it all. He's not making any money off the thing. You know, in fact, pretty sure he loses money on the thing.

Brian Bashore (35:04.864)
Right. Yeah. I'm sure. Yeah, there's no doubt.

Cody Pixley (35:07.879)
And all he cares, all he wants is he wants to see it full. Like that's all he wants. He's like, I just want to see it full and it do well. hopefully, yeah, hopefully this, maybe this will help. yeah, like next year we can get a few more boats in that thing.

Brian Bashore (35:21.678)
Yeah, I know a well pro provide. all got coolers. Uh, I Cody got a gift cards from Afco. Everybody got like 25 or 50 bucks or 50 bucks. think from Afco per team or whatever. Um, I mean, there's this. Yeah, just stuff, just a ton of support wrote a great tournament, great guy, bunch of hammers, good sticks. And like I said, it's, know, it's a big payout or something. You can always, you got 30 miles of lakes, you two days of practices.

Cody Pixley (35:44.443)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (35:49.007)
Probably good enough. mean, I know guys that were there a lot longer than that and they didn't do any better. So, you know, they were like, I don't know, you know, things were changing the water. Clearly it was a little kind of a thing I think you needed to look for, you know, this year, but there was clearly plenty of bites of, you know, areas that we, that we missed. So.

Cody Pixley (36:06.599)
Yeah. No, it's a challenge. mean, like, I think a lot of the localish North Dakota guys, I mean, they call that the river. They say, Oh, anything above the bridge is the river, which it's not technically river. I, I don't know. Look, it's a lake to me. It's a reservoir to me, but they all call it the river. like, yeah, no, like the, know, it changes, it can change overnight. You get a West wind and it blows, like we said, when it blows, it blows. And so like, you know, it can muddy up the whole thing, or if it blows on the East, the opposite, or like if the Yellowstone, like if we get early snow here in Montana and the Yellowstone blows out, like

Brian Bashore (36:19.586)
Right.

Brian Bashore (36:24.931)
Yep.

Cody Pixley (36:37.015)
That it affects, you'll see it there two days later. You know what I mean? Like that muddy water out of the stone will mix in with the stuff out of Missouri, the confluence air, and it's in the mouth of the lake before you know it. So. Yeah.

Brian Bashore (36:45.528)
Well, that's a couple of the guys told me that's where the dirty water was coming from. They're like, it's all coming out of the Yellowstone. I'm like, where the hell's that coming at? Cause there was, you could see it. There was plume the water and we could see it, you know, drive. I'm like, Nope. You know, and we were just moved cause we just weren't having much for luck in that dirty water.

Cody Pixley (37:00.559)
Yeah. Yeah. That confluence where Missouri and the Yellowstone meet is just, I don't know. It's, I mean, I'm just guessing, but it's 20 miles kind of south west of Williston right there. you know, we drive right by it when we go back home. Cause we go down to the state, but, yeah, the confluence is right there with those two meet and dump into the lake. So. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Bashore (37:25.932)
Rivers. That's why I love them though, because they're always changing and they're a challenge and yet they're awesome.

Cody Pixley (37:32.936)
Yeah, plenty of current. It's always changing. But as I said, it makes it fun. It's kind of a challenge. mean, which it should be like you're giving away $30,000 to the top boat. Like it's challenging. You know, it really is. I've had a decent amount of success there, but you know, it's, it's, changes every year. This year was, this year was the wildest year that I've seen out there. Like just completely different. And that was probably due to the warm weather and the warm water. But it was completely different from anything I've seen the previous five years, six years. So.

It keeps you your toes, keeps you, you know, didn't know you were going to be doing one thing in one area. And I checked it five times and it wasn't a little area. And I'm like, where are they at? And I talked to a local guy that I know there and I'm like, where are they at? And he's like, I don't know. I was fishing it. They're not there. And I don't know where these fish are. I do. yeah. So it always changes, man. You know.

Brian Bashore (38:04.246)
It does. It does.

Brian Bashore (38:24.556)
Yeah, I hit a few of those spots too. I'm like, there should be some here. Nope. wasn't. I mean, we still caught our fish at a typical, you know, honey hole that I guess everybody kind of kind of fishes, but there really wasn't that many people fishing it. That was a little further up river. yeah, a lot of guys were straight across or, know, kind of really on that lower, guess, upper lower, whatever lower East end of the, of the, whatever.

Cody Pixley (38:50.087)
Upper Antelope, Lower Antelope, yeah. No, there's a lot of guys straight across. I mean, there is every year, but there was more this year, obviously just, it was super shallow. I guess if you got too far, if you got too far west, it was super shallow, super muddy. That usually holds a decent amount of boats down there, but I think with how low the water was, I think more guys just kind of congregated straight across from White Earth right there. there was, I'm pretty sure it one there. Yeah, no, I'm pretty sure it got one there. And yeah, it was like a mile across the lake. So you weren't making it.

Brian Bashore (39:01.678)
Yeah, yeah.

Brian Bashore (39:10.575)
Which is nice, because I think we only went four or five miles.

Brian Bashore (39:16.95)
Yeah, nope. And the shotgun start so you could spread out and some guys were spread out so far. like, I think they're probably already fishing because they're on the other side and that's right where they're fishing. So I'm sure he said go and they didn't went. They turned their trolling motor to a little left and went, all right, we're good, you know, so.

Cody Pixley (39:24.231)
you

Cody Pixley (39:29.798)
Yeah.

We watched the day one one from the boat and it was pretty funny. I guys are just spread both, ways, both ways further, further, further, further. then boom, you know, but it's cool. I mean, it's, it's, it's a great, you know, spot in the river or the lake for it. You know, there's plenty of room. You can spread out and like, go slow. If you want to go slow, go fast. If you want to go fast. And, know, there's people that gripe about it, but there's people that gripe about it. If you do it, however, which way, you know, matters.

Brian Bashore (39:47.458)
Yep.

Brian Bashore (39:58.415)
Well, Jeff tells me what the rules mean. And if you're on the slower side, hang out, let this fast guy go. know, and I don't, mean, I was going 63, 64, but there was somebody, I think it was at a yard craft and he was, there was nobody catching him. He was on the way inside of me and it was go and, but I don't know, takes just a little bit. it just, then it goes, then I was kind of cruising and you know, fairly up in the top couple, three boats, but that guy was, I'm like, he's gone. He's going 75 or something. And he was, I asked George, he's like, oh, that's so and so. And I'm like,

Cody Pixley (40:03.452)
That's it.

Brian Bashore (40:28.204)
Yeah, he, law, couldn't even see him after about five minutes.

Cody Pixley (40:32.203)
Yeah, no, there's a couple boats out there. There's one boat in particular. I don't probably get the guy in trouble. There's a boat out there. I don't know if it's 622 or 621. I hope it's a 622, but it's got a $500 on it. And I saw it and I went first off, like, I don't know who put that on there for him because I'm guessing a dealership did.

Two, I'm like, there's no way that's actually a 500R. I'm like, it's gotta be like a cowling, you know? Like, you guys got a 400R or something, he's got a 500R cowling, like that's funny. I lined up not too far from him, and that's a 500R. That guy was gone. And I was doing, you know, almost, I was doing 68, 67, I'm flying right along, and I'm like, this guy is flying, you know, he was gone.

Brian Bashore (41:01.39)
All right.

Brian Bashore (41:10.275)
Yep.

Brian Bashore (41:18.99)
Well, that's why I asked you, I think he said the guy that, that I saw this year was had a 450R. I think it's on a yard craft. Maybe it's a Ranger, maybe it's same guy. I don't know, but he was well over 70 something.

Cody Pixley (41:23.749)
Yeah. Yep. Yep.

about. That's his old boat. had a 450R. He sold it to you. He now has a 500R. Like I said, I'm guessing he hung that. He hung that and put that on his boat himself, I'm assuming.

Brian Bashore (41:32.652)
Okay.

Brian Bashore (41:39.407)
Yeah, wow. That is, that's a lot. That's a lot of horses. Now Mercury's got a 425 coming out and they up the 350. I suppose it's just juiced it up a little bit like the 400. So I, I've gone 71 in mine down the Mississippi and at lacrosse is here. That's good. Fast enough. Typically it's 65 to 68 with a couple of people and you know, that nitro holds 80 gallons of fuel. So it's a hell of a lot of weight. Um,

Cody Pixley (41:46.939)
Yep.

Cody Pixley (42:05.671)
Yeah, that's crazy is the amount of fuel those things hold. Yeah. No, I clipped 70. I broke, well, broke my boat in right before I went to South Dakota for the first NWT and I hit 70 there and I was like, okay, I'm good. I know it can do 70. That's all I needed. I don't think I touched, I don't even think I came close to that the rest of year. And I was like, I don't need to. I know it does. Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Bashore (42:21.729)
I I broke mine in at pier. Cause literally it was like, I put it on the water by house here just to make sure it turned on and everything was good to go. And I had to move the live scope around. And then I went straight to pier. And then once I hit the hour to open it up and I went 70 and I'm like, Oh, asked Chase and he's like, Oh yeah, 68. I'm like, I just went 70, but it was just me and a light. then we had all that current, you know, I'm like, all right, well, that's fast enough.

Cody Pixley (42:47.195)
Yeah, all of the, all the right things went the right way.

Brian Bashore (42:52.512)
It hasn't hardly gone that fast since, you know, once summer hits, they tend to slow down a little bit. So, and you hit a few sandbars and shine your skag up and all that stuff. yeah. 2026 schedule. What are you thinking? How you, you're all in for next year. Looking forward to it.

Cody Pixley (42:56.111)
Alright. Yup.

Cody Pixley (43:02.735)
yeah. Yeah. So.

Cody Pixley (43:11.147)
Um, yeah, I, it's so funny. All the guys that go with give me grief because I'm always on the fence. I'm like, yeah, I'll be there. I think, and you know, kind of him and hall, but it's such a long ways to go and it's such a big commitment. And it's, I'm to be there as of right now. I'm going to be there. We, my wife and I are having our first child at the beginning of March. So

Brian Bashore (43:24.44)
it is.

Brian Bashore (43:32.334)
That's all that. Congratulations. Yeah, that can change things for you.

Cody Pixley (43:36.272)
Yeah, I mean, we've talked, I've kind of brought up fishing once or twice and she's like, whatever, you know, kind of like, maybe it's more like, you know, let's not talk about it now, but I'm like, all right, well, let's talk about it to like March and then I'll be already, you know, signed up and ready to go. So as of right now, I plan on doing it. Like I said, the schedule is so much better next year as far as travel wise goes for like us Western guys. Um, yeah, you know, and plus having the championship on SAC, it's like, you know, it's like.

Brian Bashore (43:52.195)
Right.

Brian Bashore (44:04.621)
Yeah.

Cody Pixley (44:05.223)
That's what we fish, right? Like I live right now in my house. I'm four miles from the headwaters of the Missouri river. Like, so it's all reservoirs out here. It's all Missouri river reservoirs. That's all we fish. And so it's like, you know, two of them in one year. It's like, man, we gotta, we gotta make it to those for sure. So.

Brian Bashore (44:22.414)
Right. One of them happens to be the championship, but I mean, I I got some North Dakota guys that are going to jump because they want to fish sack. I'm like, Hey, you travel with us. He's like, well, I'm to do the first two and see where, see where they land, you know, whether they commit to going further, you know, East just to get to, you know, the bid to go back home. So I'm like, you know, it's kind of what I did this year. like, I would do, I was only going to fish two no matter what. I wasn't going that far East. And after having a crap year last year, I'm like, I need to stay home and work. So.

Cody Pixley (44:35.025)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (44:52.162)
Just like you, don't get paid. There's there's a, you're self-employed, there's not a lot of paid time off. So.

Cody Pixley (44:57.049)
Yeah, no, I hear you. Yeah, no, that's kind of usually how I kind of, you know, look at the NWTs every year. was, you know, convinced of wife. I'm like, let me go do one and see how I do. And it's like, I'm trying everything I can to do well so that I can get to go to the next one, go to the next one, go to the next one. So it's kind of one of those like, I play a lot of them by ear and go, you know, but once I do one or two, then I'm like, well, I might as well just finish it out and go to the championship, you know, if I can make it.

Brian Bashore (45:22.006)
All right. Yep.

Cody Pixley (45:23.439)
Yeah, years ago, I didn't get to do what we were building a house. And so I kind of quit halfway there. You know, I did two tournaments. fished Erie. fished, where was that? Pool four? Yeah. Pool four on the SIP. And then I called it quits after that. And then this year I was back for a full season, made the championship, got to fish one big, beautiful day at the championship. did all right, you know, cashed a check there too. So like kind of ended the season on a high note. I started out pretty slow, but like the last two tournaments I cashed checks and did okay.

You know, like New York, was sitting third after day one. And so like, you know, I was, I was right there. I was starting to kind of click at the end of year. And so it's like, you gotta, you know, I'd like to carry that into next year, hopefully.

Brian Bashore (46:05.07)
Yeah. had a good year and you finished. mean, those were obviously scoping tournaments and the schedule is laid out to be, you better, better have confidence in it. Cause you're to live on it. mean, Erie of course, always trolling is always in play on Erie, you know, but you're going to see 90%, 80, 80 % at least living on the scopes.

Cody Pixley (46:11.685)
Yeah. Yeah. Yep. For sure.

Cody Pixley (46:24.135)
Oh, yeah. Compared to like, what was that two years ago in the spring when we were there? I mean, this year that I bet it was 30 % of guys were scoping there. And then, you know, of course, Hoyer wins it. Um, and you know, Will was right up there. Hunter was right up there. mean, there, you know, and guys kind of like went, you can scope them here. And then once you start doing it, it's like, Oh yeah, this is way better. why? Yeah. Oh, I love it.

Brian Bashore (46:48.014)
Yeah, this is way more fun. Right? This is good. And I scoped them. There we scoped up a practice. Not, not great or not that, I just didn't give enough time to do it, but I wasn't set up. did that tournament. said, if I get whooped on again, I had the hummingbird up front. I my mag alive. said, I'm I get whooped again by scopers, I'm done. I'm going to get a garment. And of course it got whooped. And by that Saturday, I home. went and bought the garment and put it in and went, Oh, I get it. I see, I see what you're seeing now.

Cody Pixley (46:57.287)
That's what I thought.

Cody Pixley (47:12.551)
Yeah, it definitely, mean, I don't know. You talk to bird guys and there's guys that love them. I'm a Garmin guy. That's what I started doing it with, whatever, three years ago when I first started doing it, three, four years ago now, however long it's been. And so yeah, that's just what I learned on it that's just what I'm going to continue to use.

Brian Bashore (47:33.984)
it's, love my birds and on the Missouri river, the side imaging and the mapping is second to none. I think that's what I have in my dash, but my lives go boom, that's a Garmin.

Cody Pixley (47:42.984)
on the same way. I got birds for mapping and side of a gene and down of a gene and then I just got my Garmin up front for scoping. It works out pretty well. I like the setup that I have. If it was 30 % of boats that were scoping last two years ago at Erie, it's going to be 90. I bet, know, five, 90 % of guys are all going to be scoping.

Brian Bashore (47:54.604)
Yep, that's exactly what I got.

Brian Bashore (48:07.48)
I just didn't, I thought it'd be a challenge in those, in the big waves, you know, and, when there's it's that target rich environment, when there's that many fish around and you can basically just drift. mean, the paddles are big and I may, if I can't get my boat sold and I'm seeing, he's looking, I got a, got a boat for sale. where there's got a London and natural for sale folks.

Cody Pixley (48:11.205)
I thought the same thing,

Cody Pixley (48:25.499)
Me too.

Cody Pixley (48:30.779)
get this year.

Brian Bashore (48:32.064)
Yeah, market is just what it is. But if I get a new one, I'm going to put them on there. I got to have my kicker on just as a guide and I have to troll, you know, I just, got to have it. So trying to find a way to, if I just put one on or I've seen it, you know, the guys have got two, paddles on there, but, used them at the NTC out of my buddy's boat. I'm like, yeah, those are going to come into play. can, they can definitely help. It's all about boat position. Really. I mean, there's a lot too, but boat position is first and foremost.

Cody Pixley (48:55.239)
for sure.

Yeah, it just helps with bow control, bow position. You know, I ran one this year and I, halfway through the season, I told myself, I'm like, you know, if you're going to run one, run two. You know, that the wind, when you're using them, how they're supposed to be used, like say on Erie or like when we were at Dunkirk, whatever, but like when the wind's blowing the one way, it always kind of want to walk, you know, with one down, it always kind of wants to pull you.

Brian Bashore (49:22.83)
Yeah.

Cody Pixley (49:22.945)
one way a little bit. so it's like, two, two would definitely be the move. And I think it just gives you that much more bow control. And we all know like bow control is the name of the game when we're, when you're doing anything fishing. So,

Brian Bashore (49:35.82)
Yeah, that is, that is key. And we opened up the year with Erie early April. obviously, I mean, I'm pre-spawn or whatever. Everybody's going to catch fish. We're going out a different area. I've never been out of this Michigan side of it, but that puts everybody closer to the cans and you know, that whole base area, which is always good.

Cody Pixley (49:53.711)
where Claire went two years ago was out there kind of somewhat by the cans-ish. So yeah, no, there's definitely gonna be, it'll be interesting. I'm excited because I'm going back to somewhere that I've been. So I've done, like I said, two and a half years, I think I've done a dozen of these tournaments now. I've yet to fish the same place twice, which is extremely difficult and frustrating. And...

It's just hard. you just, you know, you put the drilling motor in on green Bay for the first time. I'm like, okay. Where do we, where do we start? You know,

Brian Bashore (50:28.808)
I hated green Bay for some, went there in the second time and even maybe the third time. So, I still suck at green Bay, but now I'm like, now it's, I get it. I understand it. I've learned to never go to the same spot, you know, two days in a row. but that's that green Bay is kind of its own little creature, but same thing. finished my first couple of years. like, I've never been to any of these places.

Cody Pixley (50:37.542)
Yeah.

Cody Pixley (50:45.425)
Yeah, it's.

Cody Pixley (50:49.999)
Yeah, no, that's, that's a hard part, man. know, guys ask me all the time or, we talk about like NWT and how hard it is and this and that. And I have a great teammates. And if I couldn't do it without the teammates that I have, like they'd have been to some of these places that help us out, but like, help me out. But I mean, that's the hardest part about fishing NWTs is going to a place like even the Mississippi river and never being there. it takes.

It takes me or like guys like me that I've never been there. It takes like two, three days just to get your wits about you and know where this is and know where that is. then, you know, meanwhile, the guys that have been there four times, they're already pre-fishing spot ABCD that they fished, you know, two years ago. And it's just like, you're playing at a disadvantage for sure. I can see where could be a disadvantage to the guys that have been there a million times, cause then they think they know it, but like.

It's definitely a disadvantage for guys that have never been to some of these fisheries. like I'm excited to go back to Erie in the spring. think it'll be, I think it's going to be, it'll be big weights. Like I think the entire schedule next year is going to be big weights. It's going to be a lot of skill, a lot of big weights. So.

Brian Bashore (51:49.485)
Yeah. Bay to knock. I've actually never fished all the way up in there and I've always wanted to go. So I'm like, all right, cool. And that's going to be, there's, there's big fish. We do have a slot and some, some variables like that, but it's a championship and I wish we were going there as a regular season event so we could get more boats. So we have numbers up, but whatever. I mean, it is what it is. And at that time of year, you can catch fish from one end of that lake to the other. So, I honestly, I think the wild cards, Mo bridge in May.

Cody Pixley (52:08.775)
Yeah.

Cody Pixley (52:14.267)
Yeah.

You know, I've heard that I, everyone kind of saw that on the schedule and their eyes lit up and went, my gosh, Hawaii. And the few people I've heard talk about it, I've never, I've been there that early, but I was super young. don't really remember it. Like in my professional career, like in my fishing career, I've never been there. and, I've heard that, I've heard may can be kind of.

you know, hit or miss, like it can be really, really tough in May or it can be good, but like the more I hear and the more guys I talk to, sounds like it can just be really, really hard in May.

Brian Bashore (52:49.806)
Yeah, I think it depends on water clarity. It could be muddy, which that's going to make it tough. I've talked to friends that fished at that time of year, a casino cup, think went out of there a year ago or so, they were big weights. Everybody knows at Oahe at this point, get two overs, one over 20 each person, two overs, or just two per boat because we have party fishers allowed in South Dakota. But your overs on Oahe are looking at eight plus pounds.

Cody Pixley (53:01.627)
Yeah.

Cody Pixley (53:15.879)
That's going to be the hard part. guess when I say it's hard, like I think you're going to catch fish. It's going to be. Yeah. It's going to be, what are you keeping for your overs? Because they, they're going to have to be big. You know what I mean? Like they're going have to be really big.

Brian Bashore (53:26.828)
Yeah, I mean, your two overs are your most important fish. It doesn't matter if you don't have the other three. If you don't have 18 to 20 pounds on your two overs, the way tournaments are going up there right now, nothing else matters.

Cody Pixley (53:39.816)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, no. And it's like that time of the year too. It's, you know, are those big fish going to spawn out and then, and then run down and then, you know, are your unders going to be, it might be a situation where your unders and your, and your two overs are going to be 30 miles apart from each other, you know, and a lot of the big body of water and if the winds blowing or this doesn't, you know, it's, it's going to be interesting. There's a lot of variables out there and, um, but it'll be fun. You know, like I said, Western reservoir and I'm excited for it. So.

Brian Bashore (54:07.118)
Yeah, it'll be fun. We'll catch them no matter what the conditions are. think we'll catch them and it could be a place where something off the wall kind of gets them figured out. your unders are definitely going to come into play. mean, you got to have overs, but I think that there appears to be a really good healthy population of those 18, 19 inches. So we get three, you know, really nice 19s. Yeah, that's probably what it's going to come down to.

Cody Pixley (54:29.723)
yeah, for sure. Yeah. You definitely got to get your rounders and, and yeah, and it's going to be how, how risky do you get with the overs? What are you putting back?

Brian Bashore (54:37.576)
Right. Like always. you know, it's the catch photo release stuff is so appealing when you're at these slot tournaments. You're like, don't have to worry about it. Or, then coming off a Lake area where you can call, you know, to where it's just, it's no brainer. You just throw the first five in the box and he was upgraded all day. You know, and now you're like, but that's why we practice, right? As we figure it out and be like, all right, this is it. You you got to have ice veins. Then we go over to green Bay, which who knows what the boundaries are going to be. would.

Cody Pixley (54:59.526)
Yep.

Yeah. Yeah.

Brian Bashore (55:07.426)
hoping we do Wisconsin and Michigan, you know, back to back.

Cody Pixley (55:09.799)
That's kind of what I've heard. That's what guys are assuming is that we'll do Green Bay, Wisconsin waters for the one, and then we'll do Michigan waters for Bay to knock. I, I as well, I've never been that far north, I guess, even this time, uh, excuse me for the championship. I didn't really run. I was somewhat north, I guess, but not obviously a Bay, Bay to knock north. Um, there were some guys that did and they did pretty well, but as a long boat ride and it was bumpy out there, but it paid off one cause they both got to fish. Uh,

on the second day. So, and that was just two of the guys that I know that for sure went up there, but I'm sure, and I'm sure there was more, but yeah. yeah, I think that would be fun too. And, and you know, I think anytime you can be hungry, but like I said, it was my first time there, this championship, but you hear all the stories and how great it is and it's, my gosh, it's giant fish, this, that well, it can be the exact opposite and real finicky and real, and real difficult too, from, from what learned. So yeah.

Brian Bashore (56:04.256)
You don't catch a lot of fish. mean, I'm sure there's days and I guess I've had a few, you know, depending on what time of year you're there where you catch a lot, obviously not this year, but the year before there definitely was not a lot of fish caught at all. you know, with our three fish limit and very few three fish limits even came in. but years, you know, prior to that, it's just, you know, I got, if you, mean, and they're big, think the green Bay walleye are the, are the funnest to catch. They're the most angry.

Cody Pixley (56:19.952)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (56:30.648)
big, bulky, strong, big shoulder type fish and the color, you know, from one end, if you go up north, those gold and black, I mean, they're just, beautiful fish. So.

Cody Pixley (56:40.391)
Yep. It's a cool place to fish for sure. Like I said, it's my first time and yeah, I'm looking forward to getting back there, especially now that I kind of have an idea of where everything is. Like I said, it's going to be so nice to go into an NWT schedule and have been to multiple of these places and go, okay, well I know where I'm starting. I'm open in advance. I'm like, I know where I'm going. I know what I'm going to do. You know, it's kind of like, so that part I'm looking forward to for sure.

Brian Bashore (56:49.752)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (57:05.07)
Well, that's, there's a disadvantage to not knowing a new place because you go places that other people aren't. Cause you're trying to figure it out and you're using all that fish sense you got in your maps. And sometimes that pays pans out. I used to love going to new bodies of water and my whole, in our team, I'm always the shallow guy. I'm going one 10 foot. got all that covered. Cause that's where I liked fish, know, and Takasaki was going to go over here. Rainy was going to go over there or whatever the case was. Um, but after you go back a few times, you understand, okay, the current in Green Bay or on Lake Erie.

And how these things set up or cock with there. So many, definitely makes it lot easier when you've been there, but there's, know, but like I said, you get there too many, too many times in your fishing memories and you got to disadvantage too, cause you can get, you get, you.

Cody Pixley (57:40.517)
Yeah, yeah.

yeah, for sure. can definitely be a disadvantage for sure. But yeah, know like especially those bigger bodies of water, it can be very daunting when you put your boat in for the first time on Erie or, you know, Green Bay and you're like, it's not that big. And you get to going across and like, yeah, it's too big. yeah, no, it's going to be fun to get into a place where I know exactly like I know where I'm going or I'm going to have an idea as to where I'm going.

Brian Bashore (58:00.81)
It's pretty big.

Brian Bashore (58:12.172)
My first NWG tournament was on Lake Erie. And I'm like, and I was just told all these horror stories and I got there and it was April and it was beautiful all week. It was like, I mean, in shorts, flat calm had one day got a little windy and we went in at noon. but, but still caught some, you know, I mean, I got 30 inch on the wall right over here from Lake Erie. So if I can even turn it, can see it there, know, there and, I'm like, well, this, this wasn't so hard.

Cody Pixley (58:32.262)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (58:40.46)
You know, and then tournament days was, was like glass too, but it hasn't hardly been like that since I've been back. So I got spoiled. I'm like, well, like why he's worse than this, you know, but it was like, yeah, this isn't, you got lucky. get, I mean, a whole week of, of good weather, which isn't what you normally get in the spring.

Cody Pixley (58:48.495)
Yeah.

Cody Pixley (58:54.887)
Yeah, pretty unheard of. We kind of had that at Green Bay for the championship this year. know, it was unbelievably beautiful, beautiful all week long. And, they were, they were, were super finicky. were super tough to catch.

Brian Bashore (58:59.811)
Yeah.

Cody Pixley (59:07.367)
and that was kind of for everybody. Everybody was kind of struggling and the wind was projected to blow pretty big on tournament day and everyone that like had been there that knew it was like, it's fine. They're going to go in the wind blows. I'm like, are you sure? Cause like, I mean, I'm not joking. I I was to the point where like, you know, I catch one fish pre-fishing one day, the next day I caught two, the next day, the day after that I caught one. I'm like,

I know what I'm looking at now and I know kind of where they're at, this, that water temperature, but I'm like, there's so many fish that reject me, like that I'm staring at. They follow it and go, nah, last second. it's like, everybody that, everybody that was from there, there's like you wait till the wind blows. They just need a little wind. They need a little weather. They know the temperature is supposed to drop, which could be, you know, hit or miss, but like with that wind blow and they're definitely going go. And they did. They, I mean, it wasn't crazy, but they went on tournament day and, yeah.

Brian Bashore (59:56.825)
When it counts. So that place does. I've seen that happen way too many times. I want to get flat, calm, and now water is pretty clean. Even if you're down in the mud, it's like, you know, you get just a little wind picks up and boom, you know, but the guys have big bags one day and the weather changes. And I mean, you can only do so much. They don't want to eat. don't want to eat. mean, you know, it is, you can be on them and you're watching them. And now with scope, you're like, this thing is sitting on their nose and they just, they're not going to go the frustrating.

Cody Pixley (59:57.925)
They knew,

Cody Pixley (01:00:05.553)
No brief.

Cody Pixley (01:00:15.75)
That's it.

Cody Pixley (01:00:23.491)
Yeah, it can be frustrating sometimes for sure.

Brian Bashore (01:00:26.142)
aspect of Lyscope. All right, well we've been chatting up here for a bit. Let's wrap this up, Cody. Leave these listeners, if you got one little nugget to leave a piece of advice to help them on their tournament fishing or angling, anything outdoors. You got any tips, tricks?

Cody Pixley (01:00:44.143)
Yeah. I guess I'll just go with tournament fishing maybe and just kind of my view on it. And, yeah, just the whole process of cutting your teeth, man. You know, I signed up for an NWT as a coangler, one time I fished with a guy that I knew actually out of Washington state the first day. And then I drew Gary Parsons on day two. And after fishing with Gary Parsons for a day, he's the coolest dude in the world and totally.

stories that he probably should have. you know, it was great, but, you know, it gave me the confidence to tell me that you can, you can fish with these guys, Cody. I fish with you for a day. can fish with these guys and that sometimes that's all it takes. Um, but the biggest thing I was going to get at is that like, you got to your teeth, man. Like I said, going to some of these places I've never been and like this and that, and trying to find good teammates and,

You know, there's it's hard. It's hard to cash a check on the end of it. I don't care what all these guys out here that say, you know, it's just, know, blah, blah, blah. They're going to fish the same places every year. And it's, you know, you hear, there's a lot of naysayers out there, but those naysayers don't ever really seem to sign up. And it's like, come put your money in and then let's see how good you are for two grand. You know what I mean? but it's hard. It's hard. and.

I think the only way to get through it and get sponsors and, you know, make the right connections is you just kind of got to cut your teeth and you got to grind through it. You got to battle through it. And there's going to be some years that do not go your way. And, you know, um, just getting to the point where you can start cashing checks is going to be a huge success. And then from there, you see, know, it's, it's, it's, it's, there's very few guys that just dive into the NWT that kind of like.

blow up right away, you know, like look at Tom Wynn, Tom Wynn's blown up the last couple of years, but he was also killing it like on the Minnesota, you know, tournament stuff for a couple of years before that. But there's a lot of guys that get in the NWT and it's a long road and it takes them many, many, many, many tournaments to start getting the hang of it and start cashing checks and start, you know, getting the confidence to the, I can fish with these guys.

Cody Pixley (01:02:43.481)
And so, you know, I think diving in on the co-english side for a year for a few events is something that guys should probably look, look at. I'm glad that I did it for the one tournament that I did it. you know, it, even just to.

look and get the feel for it and see how it all works and everything like that. that's one thing I'd say is like some of these guys are thinking about it. Maybe hop in as a co-englifer at an event, maybe a couple of events, and then just kind of trust the process. It's going to take a while and test your abilities and your frustrations and everything else.

Brian Bashore (01:03:18.766)
Frustrate. I, I'm good at this co anglers to jump in. never did it. And, I think you're right. Just to get the flow and maybe they'll understand the expectations or kind of the rhythm and speed and, you know, cause you're going to fish with two different guys and you may have a night and day difference too. You know, this guy's super go, go, go. And you got someone who was pretty chill laid back and whatever, you know.

Cody Pixley (01:03:37.671)
Yeah.

Cody Pixley (01:03:42.472)
Even just being used to fishing in the boat with a complete stranger is nerve wracking. know, the first time I did it, I was like, you know, this guy's going to hate me. don't know if I, you know, I'm not going to try to beat him up. I'm going to, know, X, Y, and Z. It's like, I hope he likes me at the end of the day. But I mean, I've never really had a bad going with they've all been great.

For the most part, I've never, mean, you hear some horror stories, there's a bad egg here and there, but everyone that I've ever had has been great. They really enjoy it and it's fun to share the boat with them and teach them something if they want to be taught and, you know, and, and, or help you out, know, catch a fish or catch a fish or two and, and pull their weight. so.

Brian Bashore (01:04:23.054)
Yeah, you could definitely tell they're nervous. I get plenty of that. Sometimes they're a little too nervous, you know, like I get it. You got to start somewhere. But I mean, a lot of that comes down on us too, to try to get you to settle in guys. I always tell them like, we're just fishing, man. It's time to fish. But I'm like, we're just, it's just fishing, you know, it's just fishing. And I'm sure you know how this isn't the first time you've touched a rod in real. mean, I think we used to get some of that. I don't think you get that anymore. I think our coals are pretty, are pretty solid.

Cody Pixley (01:04:27.932)
Yeah.

Cody Pixley (01:04:34.587)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

At the end of the day, it's just fishing. That's right. It's just fishing.

Cody Pixley (01:04:51.278)
Yeah, most of the are pretty solid and most of them there to learn honestly most of there to watch you and learn and Be super helpful in the boat and and yeah, like I said, I I've got to have a bad one They're they're all pretty great dudes. But yeah, I think it's definitely something that some of these younger guys should look into and Or just not even younger guys if you're just interested and maybe thinking about jumping the end of your teeth It definitely doesn't hurt to hop in as a co-handler at least check it out and try it

get your feet wet a little bit before you.

Brian Bashore (01:05:22.222)
And, just like, yeah, just like you, most of them did it for a year and I've had plenty in the bill where I'm like, could do, you can totally be on this side, you know, and it may be, just the financial thing of it. Or like you said, I just want to check it out, see where it is. And some, and I always ask them, some are like, Nope, no interest in whatever. I just want to do it for the year to learn some new bodies of water or just have some fun and just learn. I just want to learn stuff that I can take back to my, my fun fishing or my local tournaments or whatever the case is. But there's always like a half dozen guys that move up.

Cody Pixley (01:05:29.703)
Yeah.

Brian Bashore (01:05:51.96)
you know, after year or two of co-angling and that's kind of how it's supposed to work.

Cody Pixley (01:05:55.56)
Yeah, no, there's definitely good co anglers out there that are like sticks. Like the first kid I ever had, say, Katie's like my age, was on the Illinois river. And I asked him like halfway through the day. was like, why, why are you fishing as a co angler? Like, know, you could be right beside me. Like if you, if I can do this, you can do this. Like, you know what I mean? So, but yeah, you have a few like that every year. We're like, man, you, you're a stick, dude. You, you got this. Like you could do it, you know? So,

Brian Bashore (01:05:59.31)
Help.

Brian Bashore (01:06:10.658)
You're good to go, man.

Cody Pixley (01:06:25.115)
But yeah.

Brian Bashore (01:06:26.296)
Like you said, you got to catch teeth, dive in. I was telling the more tournaments you fish, Jake, I was on here once that he did like 20 some tournaments one year and Jake, and since that year he's been climbing. Jake's just cleaning the house everywhere he goes.

Cody Pixley (01:06:38.021)
And Jake's been on a two year run that's crazy.

Brian Bashore (01:06:41.524)
Right. And was like the year before that he did 24 tournaments. I'm like, it just makes you better because you learn how to process and

Cody Pixley (01:06:50.719)
His first NWT, you know, a couple seasons, few seasons, like he did, he didn't cash any checks and I'm not meaning to break on, he's a good buddy. He's a buddy of mine. like, but like, like I'm saying, like you, it's hard, man. It's hard. Like he went from not cashing checks for, I don't know how many years to being one of the probably top two, three anglers on the NWT the last two seasons. Like he's right there. So it's like one of the best there is. And so.

Yeah, it's just, that's what I'm saying. Like it takes time. It takes time to cut your teeth and learn the bodies of water and, and, and just kind of. Yeah. Figure it all out.

Brian Bashore (01:07:23.116)
does it does indeed so there you go folks if you need some practice jump into the Big Ten Showdown on Lake Skakua next I don't know what it is it into September

Cody Pixley (01:07:29.095)
Yeah, it's a fun tournament for sure.

Brian Bashore (01:07:34.542)
It is fun. you can go over the, uh, as big Lewis and Clark, big 10, think it's their Facebook page. can go follow it kind of Jeff will put information out there throughout the year. Obviously most of it will come in the fall is that as a late fall tournament. Um, but please sign up, come out and, uh, try to take Cody and I's money. So, um, we'd be happy to see you.

Cody Pixley (01:07:54.524)
Right. It's a good one to end the season on. That's always my favorite thing. It's like, always know like this is my last tournament of the year. Every year I'm going to go out at the end and after that, then it's hunting season and whatever. So it's like, it's always just a nice little nightcap, if you will, for tournament season. That's why I always look forward to it and it's a great tournament.

Brian Bashore (01:07:58.605)
It is.

Brian Bashore (01:08:14.636)
Yep. Yep. Exactly. I feel you. I feel the exact same way about it. And I hope Jeff and everybody keep, keep putting it on cause as long as they have it, we'll keep coming back. So, and, yeah, so that's that. So, all right guys, well, thank you a ton, Cody for giving us some insights and a good luck next season. We're going to see you on the trail. It's going to be here before we know it. Hopefully, El Conten goes good. And I'm going to see some. Post on your Facebook page about that. And then.

Cody Pixley (01:08:42.779)
Hopefully.

Brian Bashore (01:08:44.27)
bring some elk jerky and sticks next year on the trail. I want some. That stuff man, elk tastes good. So we just went to Colorado over this last week and watched the Broncos game. That was a heart stressor because it was a more than three quarters, but it was a hell of a last six minutes.

Cody Pixley (01:08:49.957)
Yeah.

Cody Pixley (01:08:58.255)
Yes, that was it.

Yep, no I've seen that in some pictures you guys have seen some out and yeah, not look like fun.

Brian Bashore (01:09:07.054)
Yeah, we hit one every year and I thought, ah, giants speed, easy games. I've never been to a losing game. They've been to a lot of Broncos games and they've won every one I've been to. So I'm like, well now, so now I just, kind of look at the schedule and go, or I'm going to pick the Panthers or somebody that sucks to make sure they win. then the giants were on a roll and I'm like, oh, this game is going to be tough. You know, and then they came out when they had all the stuff going on, the ring of fame, Demarius top, all these things going on Superbowl 50 there. I'm like, oh, there's no way, but coming off, uh, London and.

Cody Pixley (01:09:11.986)
Cody Pixley (01:09:19.535)
I think it's pretty reliable.

Cody Pixley (01:09:28.963)
It was.

Brian Bashore (01:09:36.782)
Broncos offense is just so inconsistent right now. And then the first three quarters was like, this is horrible. I my wife, like, we can't come back at this point. And then, and then we do. I'm like, okay.

Cody Pixley (01:09:42.759)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good thing. Yeah. Got good at the end for sure. So.

Brian Bashore (01:09:51.598)
I this relates to fishing, this is why you never give up. I right here, this is it. look around, like, never give up. I this game will stick in my head when I'm struggling or I got one hour to go. I'm like, nope, you can do it.

Cody Pixley (01:10:05.287)
Last cast, last couple casts here, it can always happen. It can always happen.

Brian Bashore (01:10:08.002)
Yep, you can. It never does. I've never been in that tournament where I got that one on the last cast. You know, I've got it on the day or the guide trip. I'm like, that means you're due, right? Sooner later.

Cody Pixley (01:10:19.247)
Yeah, I always feel like I waste them. I waste them on days where I'm like, whether I catch this fish or not, I'm not finishing in the top, you know, 20 in the last cast. I'll catch one and I'm like, well, I think I just wasted it. So I could have used it. Maybe.

Brian Bashore (01:10:27.0)
Right.

Brian Bashore (01:10:30.988)
All right. Damn, I got it, but it's only going to put me in 25th now, so I could have saved that one. All right. All right. All right. You get me going on football. I could be here all night long. So, again, thanks Cody and thank all you for tuning into this episode of Real Talk Fishing. Stay safe and we'll see you on the water.