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I'm Brian Bashore, Professional walleye angler and owner of The Walleye Guys Guide service. I am here to reel you in with captivating stories, expert tips, and interviews with some of the biggest names in the fishing community. So, sit back, relax, and let the drag scream!
Brian Bashore (00:02)
Hey folks, we're back for another episode of Real Talk Fishing with No Limits brought to you by Seaguar's high performance braids and seven reels created by St. Croix Rods. We are going to get down and dirty today with the man who has all the insight on the tournament circus this year, Mr. Jeff Kelm, who is the tournament director for the MWC, the NWT, the NTC, working out of the Walleye Federation, which kind of manages a lot of these things and owns MWC.
we're going to get down there and get some updates on what to expect, what's coming up and he changes in the tournaments. Uh, and just kind of what's going on in that, in that space and maybe little insight to what's coming up for next season as well. As we are breaking into tournament season here in just a matter of a few short weeks away, I believe for the first MWC out of spring Valley. So, uh, we're to get update from Jeff himself. So stay tuned. You got a lot of good information. know a lot of you've been asking about or interested in. So this is the one you want to hear from Mr. Jeff Kelm.
Brian Bashore (00:02)
Hey folks, thanks for tuning into another episode of Real Talk Fishing with No Limits. I'm your host, Brian Beshore. And today we're going to get the scoop from the man who pretty much knows everything there is to know about the fishing tournaments in the wild world going on because he runs them all. So it's Mr. Jeff Kelm. How we doing today, Jeff? And, uh, I know you're back from just another big USA ice fishing competition.
Jeff Kelm (00:23)
Yeah, hi Brian. Yeah, man. I've just finished up trying out for the USA ice team once again and yeah, I didn't didn't make the team as an angler this time. That's kind of a new feeling. That's a hard one, but had a good time. I love hanging out with these guys. Nick shirts was there. A lot of folks know him. Of course, I've been on your podcast, been in the fishing world, the walleye world for a long time.
Brian Bashore (00:48)
Yeah, that's a, if you guys haven't seen it go back and watch the episode with Nick on it, it's a, it's a very interesting space that I swirled ice fishing competition stuff you guys deal with it. It all deserve a lot of respect for it. It very challenging and nothing, it's not even comparable to how the open water tournament stuff works. mean, not, not one bit.
Jeff Kelm (01:07)
No, it's really hardly comparable to even how we fish just ice fishing here. I mean, it's just you're relegated to zone and the baiting techniques and all that is it's pretty crazy.
Brian Bashore (01:12)
Yeah.
It is. Well, you know, can't win them all. can't make them all, but there's always that, you know, next guy on the list and then step up and, know, that's a year from now. So like you said earlier, there's, there's a lot of time between now and then things can happen and, and you can still squeeze in somehow. So let's just, for everybody that doesn't know Jeff, you, you're not paying a lot of attention to the tournament world if that's the case, don't kind of explain what your role is pretty much with, you know, the walleye federation and what, and how it's set up and its role.
Jeff Kelm (01:46)
Yeah, so I'm a national tournament director for the Northern region for for Federation Angler. So what that basically encompasses is I'm the tournament director for the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela's Masters Walleye Circuit, the Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's National Team Championship, the Bass Pro Shops National Walleye, Bass Pro Shops, Cabela's National Walleye Tour. We run a number of different events.
Kind of one-off events. assist with the Mercury Nationals event in Fond du Lac every year. Run the Sturgeon Bay Open Bass Tournament, one of the largest smallmouth events in the nation each year. also, of course, as the Federation, we run the high school fishing world finals and national championships there. And I assist with that. so there's quite a bit that we balance throughout Federation Angler and on the Northern side.
You know, we're talking walleye. I mean, it's, it's just about anything walleye. I've got my, my hand in it and, probably turn them direct or have tournament directed some of it in some portion along the way.
Brian Bashore (02:56)
You guys stay awfully busy and that busy season is just about to kick off. So I'm sure you got to enjoy that winter downtime, but it you don't you're not at home all summer. Basically, it's you're gone. You're on the road.
Jeff Kelm (03:08)
Yeah, yeah, it's
it's a lot of stuff. A lot of time on the road, you know, and and and you know on the northern side we all know it. We get we get ice right? So like we we have this very small window that we gotta get all of these different events in. And it's it's one after the next after the next to make scheduling a bit of a bear at times. You know, trying to avoid this that and the other thing that's going on and and all the local clubs. You know they've all got events and trying to get things in as well. It's tough.
Brian Bashore (03:36)
You
just, you test on that a little bit. for people that don't know, maybe they do now they understand that the Federation encompasses all of this and then the Bass Federation, you know, and there's only one set. There's only one Jeff. So you can only be in so many places at one time. Explain kind of how you can determine where you go and scheduling. And I mean, I think it's obvious all the things you have to juggle.
Jeff Kelm (04:00)
Yeah, yeah, you know it starts with you know some of the events that are done always or or or never type thing, you know, so we got some of our events are like Sturgeon Bay Open Bass Tournament is always the weekend after Mother's Day and the Mercury Nationals is always the weekend before Father's Day. You know those those are the ones that are like okay we got to schedule around that and and
You know the national team championship the NTC that'll float around but the request is they want that a little bit more in the summertime or as best as possible, you know. So you try to get some of these on a schedule of this is where it has to be. You know, Spring Valley MWC coming up. It's it's always the end of March every year or somewhere in those last couple of weekends, you know and it.
That's where it starts. That would go from there and you get, you know, what 30 weekends at best as long as ice allows. And, uh, you gotta fit 20, some 22 events or so in the mix, you know.
Brian Bashore (05:02)
It's like,
got 30 weekends to fit 40 tournaments in pretty much is probably what it feels like on your end. So then you got to work with the chambers and the cities or whatever municipalities that where you're going and kind of what works for them, right? When they don't want you to come in or maybe they want you to come in a downtime, you know, to boost it.
Jeff Kelm (05:06)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, that's
a huge thing is working with any of the hosts. You know, if they've got conferences at private resorts or something like that, they're like, man, we'd love to have you and we know it's good fishing, but we don't have room to put anglers or we got communities that say, you know, there's no hotel rooms available. We've got the gymnastics state championship or whatever, you know, whatever it be that's going on. And then you've got the states themselves and permitting, you know, you've got some states that
are far more difficult to work with in the sense that they're not necessarily difficult, but they've got very specific rules that they follow that they won't move off of. Minnesota disallows a release tournament between Memorial Day and Labor Day. So it makes it difficult to go into Minnesota anytime.
Really from their opener they they've only got a couple of weeks there after their opener before they they shut that down and And then after September we can do some stuff But there's a lot of events that are wrapping up their season at that point because we're starting to now get into the hunting seasons and things like that So it all that stuff makes a challenge
Brian Bashore (06:32)
Yeah. And we have that
same deal here in South Dakota to kill tournament after 1st of June, I think through September. Dakota is the same way, I believe.
Jeff Kelm (06:38)
Yeah, first of June. basically June into September, you know, for some of first and yeah.
Yeah, North Dakota actually just opened it up. North Dakota allows catch and release tournaments now year round. But that was new this last year in 2024. And that's the other part of it. It's like trying to know what each state is doing and changing. it's sometimes a surprise on my end,
Brian Bashore (06:54)
Okay.
Right. Yeah.
Yep.
Yeah, I know we had obviously moved the Bismarck tournament to sharp, but that was probably more permitting issues because there's only so many and they have the, regular local tournament there this time of year and now the ones and they obviously take presidents. get it. So.
Jeff Kelm (07:20)
Yeah.
Yeah. And, you know, and sometimes through conversations, you know, you, you, touch on each aspect. You work with DNR, you work with the host communities and, you, you try to make sure that everybody's involved in each aspect, but all the folks from DNR, they're not just worried about my tournament and things like that. so sometimes you do your best to get a schedule out and, you know, all of our schedules are always pending.
permit, you know, we have to make sure we do it the right way. And that was just one that unfortunately, we could not make work due to the capacity event, you know, they wouldn't allow us to go over 100 boats and the NWT we're averaging at that 125. So we really would like to keep it that way.
Brian Bashore (08:06)
Yeah. I mean, I'm hearing from the bass world that entries are down. A lot of those are limited and the opens are 200 something and what have you, but that depends. And there's all sorts of speculation of why that is, know, Ford facing Sonar. People don't like it. Don't be beloved. Vice versa economy. I mean, can attest to that. Secondhand last year was expensive. And when you have a really crap year and don't have any money, it's really expensive.
Jeff Kelm (08:21)
Sure. Yeah.
Yeah,
yeah, yeah, it's real tough. But it's, you know.
Brian Bashore (08:32)
Yeah, it's not entry
fees. It's gas lodging food. I mean, it adds up.
Jeff Kelm (08:37)
Yeah, yeah,
absolutely. you know, you almost did tournaments long enough to in the outside of things, you you look at the entry fee and you're like, I can handle the entry fee. It's the seven days in a hotel now. It's the gas back and forth to the lake now. And, know, in your case is, you know, the amount of gas in a boat just so that you know, you're not going to get beat because somebody is going to go 70, 80 miles away from the launch. So I got to at least go check it out, you know? And yeah, that's that all adds up.
Brian Bashore (08:50)
Yeah.
Yep.
Jeff Kelm (09:06)
You know, I don't know that we're down any significant numbers as far as entry fees or not entry fees, but entry participants at this point. I think we've seen the same ebb and flow as some of the bats world where, you know, it's almost like what did the news look like this week? you know, entries pick up a little bit or something, you know. If somebody feels good about something, it'll pick up a little bit.
Brian Bashore (09:22)
it.
Right.
Yeah.
Weather, weather plays a big into that. And, know, and I think a lot of it is there's just a ton of tournaments out there. So there's local things going on every week and almost, you know, and guys are just kind of looking and those, can jump in a lot of last minute. that's, know, they, they look at the weather, they practice, they're like, all right, things are good. In our case, they dip to your big C, you got to be out, you know, a couple of weeks, but that's still, mean, obviously that, that two week Mark, I imagine those last day of signup is outside the first day is probably the biggest day for registration.
Jeff Kelm (09:36)
You know, yeah.
challenge.
Absolutely, absolutely. everybody's, you know, finally making that commitment and, you know, close at, you know, five o'clock central time and between 445 and five o'clock, it's nonstop, you know, like, yeah, I got to get in. I got to get, they got to get that done.
Brian Bashore (10:18)
Yeah.
Yeah. Well, I mean, you got 14 day forecast is a little more accurate than a two or three month, you know, and then maybe some of the guys had a chance to go do some pre-fishing or got a word on what the bite is and what have you. So you got spring Valley coming up in just a matter of a few weeks and weather always plays into that bad boy.
Jeff Kelm (10:36)
Yeah, we were looking at the the month-long forecast on the way down to Oklahoma last night and You know obviously month-long you just touched on it. It's hard to say but right now They're not seeing any like major major cold fronts like I don't think we're gonna get to like single digits or even or even freezing temps I mean But but yeah, you don't know this far out spring valley is a crapshoot. I mean
My goodness, I have been there in just about anything. I've only been doing this my ninth season on the circuit, you know, like, and I can't imagine some of the guides been doing it for 30 years, what they've seen. But, know, the biggest thing with Spring Valley right now, because we just haven't had historically a ton of snow melt is what's the rain gonna do? Is that gonna affect anything? And as long as we don't get any major flooding,
Brian Bashore (11:24)
Yeah.
Jeff Kelm (11:30)
You know, the pool level stays relatively stable. The guys will find, you know, find some fish and it's always a good time to get out there with that. You know, that group of guys who just excited to get the boat in the water, excited to, you know, put their hands on some fish that, that don't have ice floating around them and things like that, you know.
Brian Bashore (11:42)
out.
It's a pretty healthy fishery. It's a fun place to fish. was just, you know, fished it the one time when they're NWT and you had MWC and NWT back to back and got a lot of fish. It's a sauger, you know, predominantly fishery, but obviously, you know, it was one with a seven pound, eight pound walleye. So they're there. And I think it was one last year by a couple walleye. If you can hook into those, you definitely got the upper hand.
Jeff Kelm (12:06)
Yeah.
Yeah, I've seen it across the board. You know, I mean, I remember Jeff Lahr one year he came down and, and, know, he's a river rat and him and Scarless always did well. You know, Scarless wasn't there. Jeff was fishing, I think with a brother or cousin or something. And I mean, watching the walleyes that they managed to pick off, he kind of figured out where there was just a small pack. And if you can figure out where the walleyes are sitting.
against those saugers, even if you got healthy saugers, it's going to be tough, you know. But it's a fish factory. I mean, you come down, I think everybody gets in it and feels like, I got a chance. I can put at least five solid looking saugers in the box each day, you got a chance, you know, because if somebody doesn't get them walleyes, you know, you're in the mix.
Brian Bashore (13:05)
Yeah, you need a pre-spawned Sauger basically to match up with a, you know, with a walleye, but you're looking at nine to 12 pounds a day. can get in that 10 pound range. You're, you're in it. And that doesn't sound like very much, but when you're dealing with Saugers, I mean, that's five decent sized Saugers.
Jeff Kelm (13:08)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Right, right.
Yeah,
absolutely. Absolutely, yeah.
Brian Bashore (13:24)
And it's first tournament. mean, they just had a freezer, off tournament up on the Mississippi. But like I said, everybody's just eager to go the jump. And you always have a pretty good turnout. lot of local show up. Community's pretty good there. And it's just river fish. so it's, it's anybody's got a chance. You could stumble into a pot of something and the trigger is that river fish. though you get, get them to practice and they're long gone. I mean, the fish move a ton.
Jeff Kelm (13:44)
Yeah, they move.
Yeah, they move a ton. You see it all the time. One clam bed to the next or whatnot or just in that transition. And yeah, what you what you think you you wanted to stay off of on Thursday, you know, not not beat them up and you get there Friday and you're like, I don't even know where they went. They left the water. I have no clue.
Brian Bashore (14:03)
And if you hit on it, it's all about the runoff there because it's not the cleanest water by all means, but you get some rain or I think we're pretty safe to say we're not going get a lot of snow melt. But here we are. It's like almost snowing in South Dakota. is on the like an hour out of Sioux Falls snowing like crazy in South Dakota today, but it's going to be 60, you know, Sunday or Saturday and Sunday and it'll be on the river fishing. It'll be on river in two days fishing. Rain, who knows if we're going to get any rain or not, but you get a little front to come through there to determine that thing that becomes just a disaster.
Jeff Kelm (14:12)
Happy.
sure. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah, it really can be tough and you see it both ways. I remember just a few years ago, maybe six, seven years ago, we had probably one of the best fishing days there. It a miserable weather day. It kind of just hit it right as that front was coming through, got covered in snow. There's a picture of Ali Shakur just like...
I mean, snow white, you know? But he's got two rods in his hands, they caught the heck out of fish, you know? You gotta try, you gotta have a bait in the water, you gotta try, you gotta be there.
Brian Bashore (15:10)
Yeah. fun tournament. recommend everybody. If you haven't done it, I wouldn't, you know, get in on it. And I definitely wouldn't be opposed to going back there sometime, maybe not in March, you know, but at least push it to the very, very end, know, which I think you did last time the NWT was there, but it's weather is completely out of our hands. could be 55 and sunny and beautiful out too. So like it's going to be this weekend, like it was last weekend. So, I mean, you know, it is what it is. What's, so speaking of NWC, what's new on the.
Jeff Kelm (15:18)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (15:40)
On the schedule or just in the rules or payouts or format with the MWC going into 2020, 2025, anything news to us?
Jeff Kelm (15:46)
Yeah, so 2025,
the way the Masters Walleye Stricter works is we qualify for the 26th World Walleye Championship during the 25th season. So we run a World Walleye Championship. Our championship runs the year after the qualifying season. And there's some logistical things, and actually I'll touch on some of that here in a little bit about some of our decisions that we're throwing back and forth. But right now we're looking at the 2025 season.
The team of the year price has increased for this season went from 10,000 to 15,000. Some of that is in gift cards. Some of that is in stipend when travel stipend for the following year. So the $15,000 Living the Dream package out of the team of the year will get you $1,000 Bass Pro Shops Cabela's gift cards. It gets you entries to four events in the 26th season.
It'll also get you lodging for five nights in the 26 season and it'll get you a thousand dollar travel statement at every event or all four events that you choose there in the 26 season plus the 2026 NTC. You'll get an entry and lodging at that event as well. I mean, it's pretty, pretty solid package for, guys that want to stick with the team fishing.
Brian Bashore (17:03)
you
Jeff Kelm (17:15)
and, and battle it out. You get on that by, four events, best four events in the master's walleye circuit, season out of the seven qualifiers and, and a great opportunity that hurting Steiners won it this last year, John and Ross, know, John hurting Steiner has been fishing, you know, professional walleye tournaments and walleye tournaments for a long, long time. Got out of it when Ross was a kid and now Ross is old enough to fish with Ross's.
dragging them back in the boat and they've done well this last year. They had a good time. won Spring Valley last year and really had a great kind of a dream season for them. And they're excited to get back out here in 2020, 2025 and battle it out. The 2026 World Walleye Championship, which the anglers are going to qualify for here in this season will be a 40 boat event.
Brian Bashore (17:44)
Yeah.
Jeff Kelm (18:07)
Typically, we've been at the 35 with a few invites from special events, the NTC, former World Wild Eye Champion, stuff like that, but it'll be a 40-vote field for 2026. We will fill the field if we need to go down the list in points, but that will be with premier teams, starting with premier teams down to 5th.
On top of having the advantage of delayed billing and a substitute that you're allowed when you sign up as a Premier Team in the Master's Walleye Circuit, you'll also be first choice if we go down the list to fill the World Walleye Championship as well. So an added benefit for being a Premier Team. And when I talk about no extra costs for Premier Team, what you're doing is you're committing to three events.
Brian Bashore (18:55)
Is there extra cost for Premier Team?
Jeff Kelm (19:03)
basically before you fish your first one, you're saying, Hey, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to do spring Valley. I'm going to do Mo bridge and I'm going to do a beta knock and I'm going to sign up for all of those. I'm going to pay for spring Valley. Now they're not going to bill me for Mo bridge and beta knock till we get closer to the event. Plus I know that my partner can't make it to beta knock, but because I'm a premier team, I can pick somebody else right now before I fishing.
he's going to be or she's going to be my sub and my points track. They won't, I won't be creating a new team. So it's really a great advantage. Obviously, you know, you never know what's going to happen down the road throughout the season. Somebody gets sick, something happens. But if you know, you're going to fish some of these events, it's worth doing the premier team, but you have to do it before your first event. Otherwise you're locked into that team. And, and then if a partner can't go,
It's a lot harder. There's a few circumstances where you can use an emergency sub, like an immediate family member, or you can fish alone if you want to. In most circumstances, the longest safety is observed, or I can put an observer in the boat.
Brian Bashore (20:21)
Right. Cause if you have a sub that's not whatever, doesn't fit those circumstances, your points don't count.
Jeff Kelm (20:24)
the
Brian Bashore (20:31)
Seems like a no brainer to be a premier team. Cause if you're signed up for team of the year, you know, you're going to fish, you know, four of the seven anyway. And you got out of your seven, you're pretty scattered all across the Midwest. So guys can pick and choose, you know, how far they want to want to travel or what kind of fish.
Jeff Kelm (20:34)
think it really is.
Yep, yep. Yeah, you usually, you know, don't have to travel
too much for like two of them, maybe a little bit more for a third and go from there. And that's that's what we we try to look at in a schedule. Obviously talking about the schedule earlier, sometimes just tough to get that to work. But but you know, it is it is a consideration that we look at. So and then the other thing with the the.
Brian Bashore (20:57)
Thank you.
Jeff Kelm (21:08)
26 World Wallet Championship. So again, what the guys are, what the anglers are qualifying for in this season for 2026 is the 50 % of the field will get paid out cash. And then the remaining 50 % will be gift cards. So it'll, it'll load the top side a little bit more with cash. Whereas for the last number of years, we've paid out cash all the way to the bottom.
Everybody who fished the World Walleye Championship got a check. And it'll remain that everybody who fishes all qualifying days for the World Walleye Championship still receive something. But cash will go to the top 50%. And after that, it'll be gift cards. And then the other thing we're looking at is possibly moving the World Walleye Championship into the same qualifying year.
Which logistically can be a lot when you're talking about an event that has historically run a year after. You've got money transfer, you have to announce it so far ahead of time because we're qualifying. So it's a discussion we're having right now. If there's any changes, it would be 26. And what we would do is we double the field size, we double the payout size, all of that to get it to transfer from 26 and beyond. So you may fish the 26 season.
You may fish the 25 season and qualify. You may fish the 26 season and qualify. Double that money, double your payout, the whole deal. then 26, 27 and beyond would be in the same year at the end of the season. So still a lot to work out with that. Obviously it's a huge commitment when you're looking at, know, I got to fish at least three qualifiers and then I got to commit to a championship. So you're committing to four events in a season, stuff like that, you know.
We're exploring all of that, what that really looks like for clientele for our base of masters while I serve the anglers, but it is a consideration.
Brian Bashore (23:13)
That puts that into the fall, which is great fishing. And most people like to, of course, run up against all sorts of hunting and football and whatever else. But when you sign up for it, you know what you're getting into. I mean, it shouldn't be a surprise, but I think it'd make it easier on you not having to carry that money over. know, and then you're trying to put that new World Wildlife Championship, I know when you typically have it, in the fall of the next year or something, because it's hard to squeeze it into summer.
Jeff Kelm (23:15)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah, we typically have it in the fall. Yeah, no, we typically have
it in the fall. you know, it's it wouldn't move that time frame. You know, it would just move it so that we finish that year. We can close the books on that year. We finish off team of the year with that event and the whole deal. You know, I mean, I think I think ultimately it would encompass a good change. And it's a change of some other some some teams here recently have asked about as well, just because
They walk into the program and don't realize that all the championships next year. God. right. Well, that's fine.
Brian Bashore (24:09)
All Well, then it's a,
it's a team thing. now can you or your partner make it the following year? know, their kids getting married or yeah. Yeah. Like totally see how that happens. That happens plenty in the fishing world. And that's the whole, I'm not, I don't do a lot of the team stuff because of that dynamic. It's so that's a whole nother. It's a mental game period as it is, but now you are with another, you know, a buddy, whoever it is, or a spouse and a lot of cases.
Jeff Kelm (24:13)
Yeah, yeah. are you gonna fall like out? Yes.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, Sure.
Brian Bashore (24:39)
Which
that's, know, kudos to those guys and gals that can do that together. but it is, I mean, you can get through that. You're solid. You guys marriage is you're good to go. but you know, your button heads and two guys are both boat captains. And I mean, it, I'm, you know, I fished with Randy and then Scott, we've done his team things and it works out great, but you got to find just that perfect. Kind of balance of who is, you know, like I'm very go go. And when I fished with Randy, he's very chill laid back. So it just.
Jeff Kelm (24:41)
That's an interesting dynamic sometimes.
That's right.
Brian Bashore (25:08)
a nice balance and it's never a hey do you want to do this or that it's just like you know hey I think we need to go do this and guys like right on let's do it you know but you get so much of I don't want to go there and do that we need to go here and do this and and you know it's I mean obviously your practice is gonna dictate a lot of that but but building that up and that that dynamic is that's that's tricky stuff so it you know
Jeff Kelm (25:14)
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
It is it is.
Brian Bashore (25:34)
Kudos to them team guys that can do that stuff. that's what I mean, 95 % of the wall light tournaments out there are team circuit stuff. So it's not, you know, new news by all means. And then even on the program side, you still kind of have that, except for the whole decision making processes. I'm making a call and you're coming along for the ride. That's that, have to worry about it, but you still have another angler in a boat you need to consider and think, and how am going to utilize this, this person? I mean, it's a different, completely different aspect, but.
Jeff Kelm (25:41)
Right, yep.
Right? Yeah. Yeah.
Exactly.
Brian Bashore (26:02)
I don't, I don't want you to sit here. I need to utilize you. This means two more rides, right? Two more baits, you right now. Well, I'll just be blunt that they don't always help you. Um, you know, but your, but your teammate doesn't always help you neither sometimes. So it's, know, and sometimes you don't help yourself. So it's just that that's just, that's just fishing tournaments for you. All right. Do you still, know last year you had a 10,000 guarantee for a spot.
Jeff Kelm (26:05)
Yep, yep, yep, you're gonna help me. I want it, know, absolutely. Yeah, yeah.
There ain't always help I can understand. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's right. That's right.
Brian Bashore (26:32)
I think in MWC.
Jeff Kelm (26:33)
Yep, yep, yep. So for for World Walleye Championship or for for the for out there throughout the season throughout the season. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So payout payout structure will remain there and and will continue to run, continue to run in that sense. Yep.
Brian Bashore (26:39)
That was throughout the season, right?
Okay. Yeah. don't know if he had a sponsor stepped up and got that. Cause it was just, mean, that's what a lot of people are waiting on is see where the number of, since you're so based off. Entries to determine the payout, which is always tricky. It's the whole cat and mouse game in the wallet world. Why are so many people wait till last minute and clubs will put out a list and they're like, Oh, we're two weeks out and only 30 guys signed under like, well, that's not worth my time. Cause it's the payout is going to be 800 bucks or something. And you're like, you know, I'm going to spend.
Jeff Kelm (26:58)
Yep. Yep.
Right. Right. No, was
a great thing to have in 24. We had a couple of events that for one reason or another just didn't hit the numbers we had expected when we put a schedule out. And yet, winning teams still came home with a nice check to at least fill the gas tank and make it worth traveling.
Brian Bashore (27:33)
And contingencies, which most people kind of overlook. mean, why were Marine groups now some contingency money out there? So.
Jeff Kelm (27:40)
Yep, yep.
Still got Ranger Cup. We've got La Rance on the Masters Walleye Circuit side. They're doing a contingency for their exclusiveness. So if you've got your exclusive La Rance in the boat, you've got a chance for a bonus there. And then if you've got a Ghost or Recon trolling motor, you've got a chance, an additional bonus as well.
And other contingencies are coming. We're working with some of that stuff out before we even get to Spring Valley. And I mean, in the last couple of years, we even had some sponsors jump on it a little bit later on, seeing what they were able to do and throw out some contingencies and that stuff. It kind of ebbs and flows. We talk about sponsorship and all that. And you know, some people, they figure out like, hey, you know, this would be a good idea. And they come in just a little bit later on in the season and, you know, we're happy to have them.
Brian Bashore (28:19)
Yep.
Yeah. I mean, take them when you can get them and some last some don't. I mean, it's, marketing in a sense. So a lot of times you got to be like, looks great. A purple, you throw a dart and you're like, it's stuck. That's great. And sometimes you're like, didn't because you don't necessarily know the, you know, the demographic. You're pretty good idea. Who's fishing, what, and what the anglers are buying and doing and, and what have you, but. You know, it's, it's still out of your control where the people pull the trigger on a lot of those products and buys or not. So it's like, we did everything we can do, you know, but.
Jeff Kelm (28:52)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (28:58)
Wherever they live locally had super discounted, whatever this season. so they, you know, and I can't blame them. They, saved a ton of money, you know, but timing, right? Timing creates the success in business more often than not, it's about timing. So MWC entry is still $6.50 and you have side pot still.
Jeff Kelm (29:05)
Sure, yeah, yeah.
Yep. Yep.
Yup, still have Side Pot and all that to sign up for when you register. We close the week before, the Monday before the event, not a week before, the Monday before the event. like Spring Valley closes on March 17th. Folks want to get in on that, make sure they get in before the evening of March 17th and get in. You pay your Side Pot, which is like a bonus pot. Only the anglers that pay into the Side Pot.
Brian Bashore (29:22)
Big
Jeff Kelm (29:47)
get a chance at that money and that pays down the same structure as the rest of the event, a one in four structure, a 20 % structure and go from there. It works out well for anybody that's in it. I've seen that side pot really, really ramp up what somebody's going to take home. It's cool to see.
Brian Bashore (30:15)
Yeah, all of a 10 turns into 17 or something with contingencies. And now you had, I mean, you'd be pushing 20 grand on your two day fishing trip. So it, got contingencies and you got big fish too, over on the MWC. So plenty of opportunities to win some money over there folks. I always tell people, fishing tournaments just make you a better angler. So if you're looking to get in, you're just in tournaments in general, jumping wherever it is and whatever.
Jeff Kelm (30:19)
Thank you.
Yep, absolutely.
Yep. Yep.
Brian Bashore (30:43)
tournament it is, whether you win or lose, you learn something and you're just fish more and more and more of them. And you just, you're just going to get better. So what do that's.
Jeff Kelm (30:49)
Yeah, I mean, I can't believe the amount of conversations you hear
at the bump sink and all that and just the camaraderie at the end, know, whether around the marina, the boat docks, the parking lot, you know, just, hey, what did you figure out? What did you do? And you just can, you can pocket that type of stuff and be like, man, you know, I think there's a, there's, there was something there that you learned. I mean, I have donated a lot of money in my time. Brian, I'm sure you have as well.
Brian Bashore (30:56)
and
Yep. yeah.
Jeff Kelm (31:17)
And all of it comes with a learning opportunity
for you to be a better angler the next time you go out or just try something that you maybe find some new confidence in.
Brian Bashore (31:24)
Yep.
Yep. Yep. I've been a donator plenty, especially last year. It sucks, but you learn. You just got to walk away and go, all right. I learned what not to do or where to get your head right. Whatever the case may be. And that's, mean, you'll watch a guy and I've, and people have reached out to me because I've been that guy that you just put a clinic on right next to them, you know, and they came up and they're like, what, when the same hell are you doing? Or what was that that you were, they think they're doing the exact same thing. And maybe it was a spot. Maybe it was the.
Jeff Kelm (31:30)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (31:53)
You know, the cadence of the jig or the line or use it and I'll break it down and tell them what it is. they're just like, man. Okay. I guess I'm going to try that. I'm going to go out and buy some of that cigar for a carbon, whatever it is. Cause man, that seemed to make a difference. You caught like 10 fish and we caught one, you know, and I've been on spots for pitching. look over and there's literally two guys in a boat, just not even fishing at that point. They just stand there they're just looking at you. They're just watching it here. like, hi, you know, and then you're like, okay. Eventually they shake their head or they leave. I'm the guy.
Jeff Kelm (31:53)
Sure. Yep. Yep.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Just watching. Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (32:23)
Watching the clinic, I leave. It's just too hard to swallow. Sometimes I'm like, it's just, it's not it for me. I'm out of here. Good luck. know, Yup. Exactly. It is a head game. And, as Anglers we play with each other's heads considerably all the time. It's, it's, it's what's fun about it. It's what's fun. It's the doc talk, right? Is it, is this true? think Bass has put out an article on that last week from their Bass Masters thing. Like, is any of this real or is this just.
Jeff Kelm (32:25)
Yep. Yep.
Don't let it get in your head.
all the time.
and time.
Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (32:51)
playing with each other. And there's a few of
Jeff Kelm (32:52)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (32:53)
us that are pretty straightforward with each other. And I'm like, I don't care. Yeah. I caught them here doing this, you know, and I'm like, it doesn't matter. They're not going to be there tomorrow. Anyway, I'm pretty sure. So, you know, I don't, I can't catch other people's fish. So it never does me good. If they tell me something, I'm like, awesome, sweet. I'm not going there. you know, have your game plan, stick to it. So, all right. MWC, let's go into NTC. So that is coming up.
Jeff Kelm (33:01)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (33:19)
out at Lake Francis case this year, which you were there just a couple of years ago for the NWT basically going out of the same, same area, same launch and about the same time of year.
Jeff Kelm (33:29)
Yeah, about the same time year, you know, it was a very successful NWT event. was interesting how it was won. mean, watching back on the television show, you could still hear me calling boats out as Dewey is catching fish, you know, pretty consistently, catching good fish too. Obviously he wasn't too far away from the launch and things.
Brian Bashore (33:55)
He's lucky
we moved launches.
Jeff Kelm (33:57)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
you know, and so it's it's it'll be interesting to for for the guys to explore Lake Francis case. I mean, first and foremost, the area is beautiful, man. That that that is a cool place to be. It's a neat time to be there because you're probably not going to be dealing with 95 degrees and, you know, all that. It should be relatively comfortable. Obviously, whether we just talked about, can't predict it, but but it should be good.
Fun time of year to be there fish should be down on that side for the most part. Yeah, it'll be spread out a little bit There'll be some guys that decide they want to make a big long run. That's a big lake You'll be able to make a long run if that's what you really want to do But I think there'll be some things that surprise people too. I think there'll be some fish that Maybe weren't touched or maybe weren't discovered back in the NWT week and
Brian Bashore (34:48)
Yep.
Thank
you.
Jeff Kelm (34:52)
And
you get enough of these NTC anglers who in their own right are, you know, on any given day, just as good as any other angler out there, regardless of their fishing in the club, you know, it's not their fault that they got to go to work, you know, six days a week. And this is their only time they got it. They got it going on as well. And so it's a neat it's a neat event to put on because you do get some of these guys that
If given the opportunity, they jump into that NWT side of things, the MWC side of things. had the, the, uh, the timeframe and they're going to compete. They are going to give you everything. Um, the amount of, uh, anglers and teams out there that have multiple top 25 rings, uh, is, is pretty incredible. It means that their, consistency of being able to travel across the country and beat, you know, 150, 200, 300 other teams out there.
to get into that top 25 is pretty cool. And so the dynamic is neat for the NTC.
Brian Bashore (35:55)
It is at 300 boats is the max, is correct?
Jeff Kelm (35:58)
Is the
max yeah, we'll cap out at 300. We'd love to see you know every year changes. You know when it comes to venue and Lake Erie we had we had 280 some teams out there. We had hit that 300 and life happens throughout the course of time. And when you're dealing with that many. You know, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you lose some, but but you know Lake Erie is a destination fishery.
Brian Bashore (36:15)
Well, out of that many boats, you're going to have some people. Boats break down, things just come up. And I'm sure that last week you lose a dozen or more people.
Jeff Kelm (36:28)
I'm not saying Lake Francis Case isn't, but it's maybe not on as many radars as Lake Erie was, you know? But Lake Francis Case, you know yourself has got some big fish in it. And you got an opportunity to keep your hands wet all day long, an opportunity to think like, man, I'm in this. We just keep catching fish. We can play a numbers game. We can be in this.
Brian Bashore (36:55)
So the word on the street from last year was the lake was horrible. And it was, it was, it's like, wow. We had NTCs coming in and lot of people were like, there's too many tournaments coming in. And I kept saying the lake's not horrible. It's very healthy. You guys are just going and doing the same thing you've done every year. And so it's even since we were there, just a few years ago, NWT has changed. There's a lot of zebra mussels in the lake, water clears up, fish move, new vegetation grows. And we didn't have 20 days of ice and we had a real
Jeff Kelm (36:59)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
Brian Bashore (37:24)
minimal winter last year, which didn't kill the bait fish. So when you have a healthy fishery and you have the ridiculous amount of bait right away in the spring, they're good. They're not going to eat the fake junk you're throwing at them. They're full, you know, and the biologists did a report of it this year and they put out reports that fish are just above the, where they want them on the healthy threshold. Numbers are huge. rate was way down because people kind of quit going because it was tough.
Jeff Kelm (37:27)
Sure.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (37:50)
there was like one tournament, I think was pretty good. A lot of tournaments, 30, 40 boats, and there was just a, literally a matter of a few fish being brought in, you know, but they were graffitum, but they weren't, they weren't biting. And I can already say that Chamberlain area and the upper half of the river is already open and those fish are healthy. And there is an absolute ton of them and they're scattered everywhere. So I think this year's going to be great. had great ice, lots of it. And that lower half is still very frozen.
and there's plenty of residential fish down there. So it should be good. Just like you said, you should be able to keep your hands wet all day. pretty sure a lot of that bait died off, which was basically the, you know, the biggest factor, I think in the last year. And there's going to be some different things you're going to, like you said, there's going to be people doing different stuff, fishing different places. Cause I know the guys that even went last year that don't normally go there, they did well. Cause they didn't fish memories. were just using electronics and just trying, trying different stuff. They're like, it seems fine to me.
Jeff Kelm (38:28)
Okay.
Brian Bashore (38:44)
I'm like, cause you went and did, I'm not gonna give out too much info here, but I'm like, you went here and you did this, right? And they're like, yeah, exactly what I did. I'm like, yeah, that's what I keep telling these other guys, but they just keep going to this deep water bite thing. And I'm like, all right, whatever. So no.
Jeff Kelm (38:46)
Right.
Sure, sure, Yeah, that's that. That's
like I was saying. That dynamic is different. The guys are going to come in with the confidence of doing one thing or another that maybe they do back home and nobody does that there and and and end up finding something that works. And I mean, sometimes that exposes a body of water to some major changes because it kind of opens the floodgates for guys to go. Well, well, I guess we'll all try it, but.
The fish also have fins, man. They change themselves. They adapt pretty quickly to the pressures that be. you know, I generally don't worry about too many of the places that we travel to and run tournaments that we're going to, you know, change the dynamic of the entire fishery.
Brian Bashore (39:26)
Yeah.
No. And if you get 250 boats, that's, that's a hell of a lot of fishing pressure, you know, on these fish, but it's also a hell of a big reservoir. So, you know, they do have fins, they will swim and they will move. So figure, figure it out people. There's different things the NTC, it's a team thing to get guys that don't fish a lot of tournaments sometimes, and they fish enough locally, but they're different dynamics with crowding and space. And some will possibly beat up some of those fish too much because they just, don't.
Jeff Kelm (39:47)
They may move a little bit.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (40:11)
know the strategy that's involved with so much of this stuff.
Jeff Kelm (40:12)
Exactly. Yep.
Brian Bashore (40:15)
so us guys that do all this have to, you know, I always say the most, best thing you can do at pre-fishing is just be observant. It's not even, mean, you know, watch your electronics and pay attention, not so much about wedding lines is paying attention on what's going on around you. You're fishing community holes. don't need to wetline. You can watch your males catching me like, all right, there's a pile of fish there. I'm not worried about catching them. These guys are all catching them. Good to go market and move on, but you know, pay attention to
Jeff Kelm (40:29)
Mm-hmm. Yep.
Brian Bashore (40:40)
There's somebody keeps sneaking way, way back in his Cove every day, you know, and then as two or three boats come that book, that guy gets out of there. Might be a reason, you know.
Jeff Kelm (40:49)
Yeah, gotta be observant.
I mean, that's the best. The best anglers are observant. They see pattern. They see they see different things that that others that are just maybe out there for fun don't see.
Brian Bashore (40:54)
the
No.
Oh, the water clarity. what's, you know, what's this one. You hear it. If you watch bass masters live a lot together, be like, Oh, this looks different today. And it's the thing. Well, it looks different today. It looks different to those fish today too. And they got fans and they probably moved to wherever there was or being able to feel the current and the speed of your boat on your drift. So many little things, but I be an observant. It's just, it's just the key to pay attention to not just the other anglers, but all the little things around you and water temp, water clarity, your fishing rivers currents, currents huge.
Jeff Kelm (41:12)
Mm-hmm.
Brian Bashore (41:33)
You know, and we talked about for the year spring valley thing the water clarity that can totally just shut that whole You know the whole system down in a sense.
Jeff Kelm (41:40)
Yep.
Yep. Yeah. And some of those are such an intricate difference. Spring Valley in particular, I you'll never find a spot in Spring Valley where you can see to the bottom. But you will find a mud line of sorts and things like that. And you'll find the same thing in algae blooms and different current themes and things like that where, boy, you just got to watch it. Got to watch it.
Brian Bashore (41:52)
Right.
I could, uh, I can see 15, I can see bottom at 15 feet day to day at Francis case, uh, up near the dam. So it's cold water. It's flowing further down. went, know, I mean, I can see the fish. like, there, there they are. Carp. So I know I don't need to cast at them because the live scope says, Hey, there's fish. I'm like, yeah, it's carp. I'm good. You know, I had to move over, but I could see a few all I, it won't be like that in June. And then that ends considerably deeper. Um, but it, it'll get obviously, but it's still usually at least a four foot water. Clearly it's.
Jeff Kelm (42:21)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (42:35)
It's nice water there. So yeah, if those that are coming, start digging and trying to find your lodging. That's always a tricky thing out there because we it's kind of out of the middle of nowhere, which was what makes it so wonderful. But there is a bunch of trailers and there's a great campground. If you got a camper, just, you know, get on the North Point, you know, the game fishing parks and get your campsite.
Jeff Kelm (42:36)
Yep.
Yeah.
Yep. Yep.
Yep.
Airbnbs. I know a lot of folks have opened them up over the course of time. A lot more Airbnbs have opened up, I know they're all excited to be there. Casinos filling up fast if it's not already full at this point. There's a lot of other, the Wagner area has a couple of hotels, things like that. So, yeah, would absolutely encourage everyone to make sure that you take care of your lodging. But then go and enjoy it. I know for some of these teams out there for the NTC,
Brian Bashore (42:59)
Hmm
Jeff Kelm (43:25)
It's the one time they can take a week and just go fishing. And they're just there because it's an inexpensive opportunity to go out and have fun. And if they do well, they're tickled. But they get to meet some of these other guys year in and year out and have a good time with it.
Brian Bashore (43:44)
The Fort Randall casino, Wagner's got motels, Pigstown's got a one or two, Platte that's, that's not that far away. People are going to still be fishing up, up there on that, on that area. And Platte's got, that's probably your biggest town with the most hotels. and I've had people reaching out to me for over two months already wanting to know of Airbnbs or if I know of anybody and I already have a list of private campers, know, trailers down by the boat ramp that this is this
Jeff Kelm (43:51)
Have fun.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (44:12)
I'm full. Don't ask me anymore. They're, they're all already gone. Uh, but just, just keep digging around cause they'll keep popping up. A lot of the locals have their weekend places there. Once they realized like the NWT came, realized, oh, Hey, for a thousand bucks, I can open this place up for the week. And I'm just going to not come this weekend. You know, and they're like, sweet, you know, and they're, then they're more than happy to do that. They're all really good people, which showed it's the way in at the NWT. I mean, that had to be the biggest.
Jeff Kelm (44:26)
Absolutely. Yep.
the other thing.
Yeah, I mean, I think we're gonna have great crowds. I mean, you want to walk across the stage and have demise on you. I think that's going to be a good place for it. It should really be a lot of fun that way because they really turned out for the NWT. They turned out for the MWC that same year. They love it out there. I it's really a spectacle and they've only had those two. So they're not bored of it or nothing. You know, they want to they want to see it back.
Brian Bashore (45:00)
Yep. No.
Yep. They want more of it. And there's not a whole hell of a lot else going on out here. So when something comes to town, it's a big deal. Let's go. It's, but the kids want to go that, you know, there's so many fishermen here and the, you know, the young kids coming up, the kids stuff. I mean, it just went over a huge and there was a ton of people. And I know immediately they were saying, come back, come on back. And they're going to get some old timers. got to bitch about it because we're catching all the fish and making the fishery horrible. And that's just, that's just way it is.
Jeff Kelm (45:06)
It's a big deal, yeah.
Yep.
Brian Bashore (45:27)
But the reality, that's not the case. We're, no, we're bringing more stuff into, yeah, you're building up
Jeff Kelm (45:29)
Reality is not the case here. We're building up that area.
Brian Bashore (45:34)
tourism, the dollars, the new fishing license. This is all, it all goes back into the system and it's, it's a win-win for everybody. So it's just the way it is. Yes, there's going to be a lot of fish caught and killed. And if you want some people, I'm sure that those anglers would be happy to give you their, you know, five or six walleye they brought in the way. And so great place to come pick up some dinner people. So you can come to my boat because you can have them.
Jeff Kelm (45:40)
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Yeah, they can donate, yeah.
There you go. There you
go.
Brian Bashore (45:57)
So meet me, meet me in the parking lot. And I would
imagine a lot of limits. So, all right, we got NTCMWC cover. get into NWT. That one's coming. We're, it's hard to believe it's just a month and a half away when we got weather like this today. But, first stop at Lake Sharp coming April 24th, 25th out of Pier, which is a great location. talking about lodging, there's the city of Pier is plenty big and you're fishing right there. You're five minutes.
Jeff Kelm (46:10)
Yeah.
Yep. Yeah. mean,
Brian Bashore (46:26)
Wherever you stay, you're five minutes to the water.
Jeff Kelm (46:26)
it's Exactly. And, you know, there can be some really big fish caught in Lake Sharp at that time of year. Yeah, water. We won't be able to control water level. It's going to matter about how much rain. We talked about it earlier. Probably not worried about too much runoff and things like that from a big melt or anything like that. But
You guys will have to watch their water level, have to watch a lot of sandbars, things like that out there. And it's going to be probably spot on the spot type fishing. mean, that's what a lot of those river systems end up being, especially if you're anywhere near a dam, maybe a specific area that you just got to be able to try to get to and concentrate on. it could be very big fish. And I know that the community appears looking forward to it.
Brian Bashore (47:18)
Yeah, they really kind of expanded their, you know, bass went out of their years ago and I didn't feel like, and I was with the magazine, you know, at the time covering it. And I'm like, where's the, local support for this? didn't like, they showed up for the weigh in, far as media coverage is, they just didn't get it. And I'm this is as big as it gets, you know, in the bass world, this is huge. Why are you not here? so I did on the water covering stuff and now you have the NWT coming. So this is as big as it gets in the walleye world, you know, be here. know, Kurt Underhill has done a good job of getting the,
Jeff Kelm (47:32)
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (47:48)
The community and I, now he's on their chamber there. So they're, they're, they're understanding the value of these, these tournaments much more and bringing in that, that money. it's, honestly, there's not a whole hell of a lot. They always say the best thing about peers when you see it in a rear view mirror. And I would have to agree with that, but you get outside, it's our beautiful state capitals there, but you get outside of legislation. That says there's not a lot there. I the fission's great. Lake Sharp's phenomenal, but the city of Peer itself, they're just, you know, it stays busy during the, uh, you know, currently, uh, in this time of.
And then of course come pheasant season. lot of people are coming through here, but it's got a lot to offer. A lot of lodging, a lot of restaurants, a lot of places, you know, good food, great fishing, couple of bait shops. Um, but the fishing is phenomenal. You're going to, there's going to be a lot of fish caught. They're already catching them up there. Um, some, you know, big females and like I there's big fish caught. The MDVC went out of there long time ago. Um, I fished it and we know we caught a 30 incher at practice. And I think day one, there was two or three 30 inch walleyes brought in.
Jeff Kelm (48:20)
Yeah. Yeah.
You know who?
Yeah, I mean, I think I think we were broaching or somewhere. And this was before my time. But from my understand close to 14 pounds, I mean, it was a big, big fish. So, you know, are we going to see a 14 pounder? I can't promise that, but we should see some big fish and, know, we're, we, we working with the fishing game and we'll have the anglers will be allowed to trailer from Downs Marina to steamboat.
Brian Bashore (48:55)
yeah.
Yeah.
Jeff Kelm (49:14)
With water in the live wells, we're going to get those fish back into a release boat and back into Lake Sharp. so, yep, yep, yep, yep. so we're going to get those fish back. And so, you know, if get one of them big fish, it should be right back there for the anglers to catch another time. that's working with them and them allowing that is huge for us.
Brian Bashore (49:21)
we're going to Steamboat Park right there, right? In whatever cases. You just like, basted it. Okay.
Peace.
Yeah, nope, that'll be great because that's always a hurdle. But you come in here early because it's not a kill tournament. So let's do the best we can to get those back in. And then live wells in these boats nowadays, they're no joke. mean, it's especially that cold of water. It's not hard to keep these things alive. mean, they're...
Jeff Kelm (49:44)
Yeah. Yeah.
It won't. It won't. you you guys all do such a good job with management.
I mean, I tip my cap to you for all all the stuff that I had to run you through at Sakakawea this last year. It's 97 degrees. And honestly, I mean, we had the folks that were cleaning fish at the end of the weekend. They're like, that's it. That's all the fish. And I was like, man, these guys did a heck of a job.
Brian Bashore (50:12)
Yep.
Jeff Kelm (50:14)
And yeah, kudos to the the livewell systems and all of these boats. They do a great job and you guys do phenomenal So no doubt my mind that cold water, regardless of the size and fish, they're gonna be healthy
Brian Bashore (50:27)
It's harder to catch them in your live well than it is in the river sometimes when you get back to get them in that bag, you know, I mean, especially river fish, especially Mississippi river fish. You're like, man, I can't, I can't get ahold of this sucker, you know? And I mean, it's a challenge. So, that'll be good. What is, what do we got new? know there's been a couple changes in NWT. let's just go down some of those, any rules we got payouts we got here. You tell them I don't need to.
Jeff Kelm (50:30)
Yes, yes, yes.
Yeah, yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Yeah, so the
biggest change that everybody will see and probably talk about, payout structure changed a little bit. It's one of four payout structure here for 2025. And the payout structure is posted on the NWT website. Folks want to see what that looks like based on 125 boats paying down to 31 places. So that's a little different than this last year.
Co Angler top payout moved from, think it was $7,500 last year. It's $10,000 this year, again, based on 125 boat field. But the entry fees did increase as well to kind of support that. And so, we'd touched on it earlier, entry fees, obviously just a portion of what you're paying, but it all adds up. But we're hoping that,
Being able to give that back out in a larger payout structure and paying down a little bit further, you know, pleases the anglers. It's something that based on surveys they asked for and in our support, you know, that was the best way to go about it. And Outdoor Teamworks, the ownership group, you know, they're the ones that make those calls, make those decisions. And I think it was, you know, a good idea to be able to listen to the anglers and give them
you know, what they've asked for.
Brian Bashore (52:19)
Yeah, we like surveys when you read up and go, this is what, this is what they asked for. We understand you want to hire a pal. You got to pay your higher entry fee, you know, and we're not like the bass world. And it's very hard to get a giant non-endemic sponsor to come in and say, boom, we got it covered. know, mean, Bass Pro owns it and Bass Pro is obviously the biggest sponsor out of that with the, the boats. Um, that's, know, that's a, that's a big lift on their behalf. So, uh,
Jeff Kelm (52:39)
Yep. Yep.
Yeah, yeah,
yeah. In the cash payout on the on the pro angler side as well with the change there and then a Ranger Ranger 620 Ranger 620 and the Mercury combo for the championship will be will be big. You know, obviously Rangers got that that high dollar amount as far as value goes. And and so that will be a nice little addition for for the championship as well for the pro angler.
Brian Bashore (53:13)
Is the AOI boat a Ranger or a Nitro? I didn't even look.
Jeff Kelm (53:16)
You
know what? I'll be honest. I don't know what they decided. They had not seen that any of the press releases they had sent to me. I know they're working on one right now with a couple different things and we'll go from there. The dynamic for NWT is just kind of interesting for me because for MWC and all that, I'm heavily involved in all of the decision making because Federation Angler owns it. We're a hired hand when it comes to the NWT and outdoor team works.
Brian Bashore (53:19)
I don't hear or know neither.
it
Jeff Kelm (53:45)
rightfully they make those decisions and then we follow along with what we need to do.
Brian Bashore (53:51)
Yeah, that's, it sucks not having control over stuff when it seems like for people outside looking in, think that it's these guys running it's, you know, you work with Robert Cartlidge and then Jeff's the face of it basically as the MC and the tournament director, you know, and it's all the decisions and, and heaven for, I never want to be in your shoes. I tournament director. thank we have the league and that's enough, you know, but you guys get beat up and it's like, I'm, I'm just doing my job, man. I'm doing what.
Jeff Kelm (54:16)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (54:17)
these people want me to do, or this person wants me to do on the other side, you're like, yeah, we can make those decisions right now in real time. It's where you got to funnel things through different channels and to hear down, you know, and how long is the leash.
Jeff Kelm (54:23)
Yeah, yeah. At the event,
yeah, at the events, it's, you know, I'm the guy to talk to outside of, you know, that would come payouts and all that. mean, I can, I'll send you a phone number.
Brian Bashore (54:40)
Right.
I'm sure they take your feedback and input and the same with the surveys. I noticed the other change is the whole party fishing thing. We're keeping both limits this year. Thank God.
Jeff Kelm (54:43)
Absolutely, yeah. Yep.
Yeah. Yeah. So, so, you know, and
it's not party fishing per se, you know, I mean, I know that's kind of the term that gets thrown around, but there are some states that allow party fish. are other states that don't allow party fishing per that, per that statement or, know, what we understand as rules for party fish. It's like the term culling. I mean, that, that, that term is used in different ways in different states, define it differently. And, you know,
Brian Bashore (55:14)
Right.
Jeff Kelm (55:20)
You want to talk about tournament director and try to stay on top of all those rules and all that. It's crazy. But yeah, so what
Brian Bashore (55:23)
that gets real, that gets real tricky
with Minnesota and the one over 20 thing when you're calling how they don't want, know, you can call, but you can't call over your overs. You get over it's it's weird.
Jeff Kelm (55:29)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, it's a wild,
wild. But yeah, so really what it comes down to is last year we stuck with a one angler limit in the boat. And it did avoid the situations where you may have to make a decision on whether you call fish or things like that in states that don't allow party fishing.
or who caught what fish or stuff like that. But it didn't sound like that's what the anglers necessarily wanted. And so when we went back and looked at things, we went back to each event. As long as we fish permitted, that we're permitted to bring five fish to the stage, we're going to let you bring five fish to the stage, even if your own angler limit is
three or four or whatnot. just means that your co or the other angler in the boat will have to share in that limit. They'll have to kind of throw their weight around in places where party fishing may not be allowed. a state like Wisconsin is really one of the biggest ones. Many of the other states do allow it, but North Dakota doesn't allow it.
South Dakota does allow you to party fish. So there's not going to be a problem. One angler can put all five fish in the boat as long as you've got two licensed anglers, which you will be. And you agree that, your fish or my fish, vice versa type deal. So yeah, that's where that came from.
Brian Bashore (57:01)
Yep.
Licensed anglers. Yep. Which you have.
Yep.
Jeff Kelm (57:27)
It adds a dynamic for you guys as the pros, especially when it comes to the forward facing sonar. And that's where some of that change gets kind of goofy is that we went from maybe some big trolling bites where you can just pick up a rod, hand it off to the guy. The forward facing sonar is a little bit tougher when you're little guy on the front of the boat watching a screen, sniping individual fish. You gotta say, hey, all right, I got my fish.
I need you to do this. This is what I need you to do. you become the sensei, you become the teacher in a hurry, you know? And as you mentioned before, you really want a good co-ingler in this situation, you know?
Brian Bashore (58:04)
Yep.
Yes, you do. Yes, you do. I think the
Coangler game has stepped up considerably over the last couple of years though, with the, with the, with the demand of them, you know, they're like, Hey, if I'm going to get, know, with so many, a lot of not nothing against old guys, cause I am one now, but jumping in on one because they got it as their wife signed them up as a birthday present and they haven't been fishing in 20 years, you know, and he's 85 years old and has back problems. We're going to have an issue.
Jeff Kelm (58:18)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I think so too.
you
Sure. Sure.
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (58:39)
Right. I mean, there's not a
lot of sitting down going on in today's fishing. so now you're getting a little younger demographic or just more committed guys, whether they want to move up in it or not, where, you know, a lot of them, they just want to learn and they're going to take that back and go fish an aim circuit or an MWC thing, whatever it may be, you know, but they're, they're, they're eager, they're ready to learn. And now the fact that, okay, I need you to catch fish because it's Wisconsin. got my three, I'm done, but we need to bring five. So.
Jeff Kelm (58:43)
Yep. Yep.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (59:08)
You and I remember this in North Dakota for a championship two years ago on doubles. you know, we did Wisconsin. went here, was whoever brings whoever's holding the rod when the fish comes over the, you know, the guttals, there's the catch, whatever. well, when you got like a six, seven pounder on you're not handing the rod off. You're, you know, it's net it, you know, and I remember that and wanting to go in. I'm done. I got, that was it. I got my five, but we still got four hours, you know, and one or two more spots to open up and.
Jeff Kelm (59:18)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (59:38)
You know, I took care of the fish, put a live on it went, Oh hell I'm done. All right. And it was kind of like, all right, well we got, we got, you know, I got my five, we got a decent bag. But we still got a whole bunch of time. So was all right, go, go up front here, put this bait on, do this, you know, and immediately guy caught like a three or four pounder. And I was like, we still got a ton of time throwback. So it's like, this. And bam, I got like a five or six. I'm like, that's good. Let's go. You know,
Jeff Kelm (59:42)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah,
yeah.
Brian Bashore (1:00:05)
But he had a whole new perspective from sitting in the back of the boat. Now he's in the front and he's like, Oh, this is now I see why you were doing what you were doing with jerking the boat around and moving from white bass and stuff like that. So yeah, it's gotta, need to become a teacher because I can, I mean, speak for a lot of the pros last year with three fish or four, whatever it was. A lot of the codes kind of were out of it, you know, in a sense out of the game. And there's so much, so many guys locked in on that forward facing. Now this year you got some bigger fisheries and.
Jeff Kelm (1:00:07)
So, thank
Absolutely.
Brian Bashore (1:00:32)
And Dunkirk and Huron where the trolling game is probably going to come into play. And then you're all, you know, all hands on deck working. but, know, but sharp and what do we have lacrosse? the system kind of with those two rivers, it's, you could very easily be pulling lead and bouncers and all sorts of stuff. you're so versus last year, the coangler should be pretty engaged. think, you know, so if they're hesitant to sign up, don't be, cause this is a year where you're going to get plenty of opportunity and plan, you know, hands on.
Jeff Kelm (1:00:43)
Yep.
Yeah, they're going to be needed. really, I'm glad you touched on that because really the dynamic of those co-anglers, the way they come and talk to me quite a bit. they've really enjoyed learning from the pro anglers, especially over the course of the last few years with that forward-facing sonar becoming such a big deal. is pretty cool for them to watch.
Brian Bashore (1:01:06)
you
Jeff Kelm (1:01:29)
how something is done and watching it's like a light switch and you guys as pros going, here's what we've got going on. This is what we're doing. then watching it come to fruition and be like, all right, this is, we're casting this way. We're doing it this way. You you listen to any one of these pros of, you know, I I think of Hoyer on the stage at Lake Erie and he's in, I mean, those are big waves out there and he's sitting there and he's like,
Brian Bashore (1:01:56)
Yeah.
Jeff Kelm (1:01:58)
You know, I noticed that when I would drag the bait in front of the fish one way, they would give it a little turn. But if I went the other way, they would turn around all the way for it. was like, are you kidding me? Like that's, that's the stuff that some of those, those co's, even if they weren't the ones catching fish or they're picking up on some of that stuff, it's the, it's those intricacies that we talked about earlier, you know, that are going to make a difference. And they learned that from, from the pros. And this time around, they'll get a chance to hands on.
actually sit there and get them that way.
Brian Bashore (1:02:30)
Yeah, it's a Ford facing sonar started to be a lot of about it's can all it can just be about angles. You can see the fish and can't get it to bite, but you need to work that boat all the way over this way. All of a just like John said, wham, a lot of that is current and there's current on the Great Lakes and how that made us presented makes them go. Now that looks something real. I'm going to eat it versus that. There's no way that thing's going against the current way too fast. And that's not a look at it. That's more of a no way, man. So.
Jeff Kelm (1:02:54)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (1:02:59)
They got little tiny brains, but they still are smarter sometimes.
Jeff Kelm (1:03:02)
That's That's right. Yeah, for sure.
Brian Bashore (1:03:05)
All right. All right. We got, we've been, we've been rambling on here for an hour already. There's so much. The excitement in the fish tournament world. I'm ready to go. I'm really pumped up for the Lake Sharp one and I'm ready to get out here in just a couple of days and get back on the river. Anything to leave our listeners with? You got one little tip or nugget to share with them?
Jeff Kelm (1:03:22)
You know, we touched on it earlier. I was going to talk about how, you know, if you're considering getting into fishing tournaments, you know, club level, you know, you find your local club, walleye club, bass club, it don't matter. Get yourself involved. Not only are you going to probably find some lifelong friends and people that you can use to network and things like that, but you want to increase your fishing knowledge. That's the way to do it.
It's the weekend. It's the week out. It's the the big opportunities come and be a co with the NWT Jump on the MWC bring a friend Throw a little money around I know it's hard to save right now in today's economic times, but you know It's gonna it will increase your knowledge tenfold and even just watching any kind of YouTube video or trying to learn on your own the wealth of knowledge that's in any one of these events is
tremendous and I would say every one of you guys out there as pros as MWC guys, NTC guys is always willing to talk in some capacity about you know, how what where and when you know, and take advantage of that network with these people. Yeah, I get all the time. Sure you do too. How do I get sponsors? How do I you know, man, it is
Brian Bashore (1:04:46)
Good question.
Jeff Kelm (1:04:47)
relationship. It's relationship. It's you
know, I'd love to say that if you just cash a check at every event, you're going to get a sponsor. if if you're if you're you don't know anybody, if you don't if you if nobody knows who you are, it's going to be hard, you know, and we're not talking famous, we're talking just, you know, if you don't Brian, Brian knows so and so I mean, he can at least at least here's the email, hey, maybe he can't make that the relationship happen. But here's an email, you know, and so
Get involved in the events. Love to see you on any level and looking forward to the 25 season getting rolling.
Brian Bashore (1:05:24)
Good stuff. is your, like you said, it's tough in this economic kind of stage we're at now with things costing a fair amount, but you're investing in yourself. You know, when you, when you do these things, whether you win or lose, but you're, whether you, maybe you never win or even do well, you're investing in your quality of life, you know, cause you're doing something you love. You're outdoors, you're getting that vitamin D soaking in the sun. You're with friends, making friends and networking. And you can't get that from a lot of other sports and places like that.
Jeff Kelm (1:05:33)
Okay.
Yep. Yep.
Brian Bashore (1:05:53)
You know, short seasons we fish. I mean, you know, in South Dakota pretty much all year long. there's, there's always something, there's a good little bond, you know, brought in with your fishing buddies and even just the tournaments or everybody that fishes, we'll butt heads, we'll butt heads on the water. But after we get off the water, we're still friends, you know, you know, maybe Kemos or I cut Kemos off or he cut and we're cussing at each other on the lake. But when we get off, we'll go to dinner together or something. It's like, Hey, jerk, you know, it's just.
Jeff Kelm (1:05:58)
See you
Absolutely.
Brian Bashore (1:06:21)
What Jeff says boat one and then it goes, it's, there's a little switch that is flipped and rightfully it should be. after you, what Jeff says, 24 pounds and you're in first or last, there's another switch and you can turn that one back off for a little bit be like, okay, now, now we're friends again. So it's all, it's all, it's all good. All right, Jeff, thanks a ton for coming on. Everybody's going to appreciate all this, this deep insight and look forward to seeing you here. Just shortly in a month away here at Lake Sharp.
Jeff Kelm (1:06:26)
Switch. There's a switch. there's a switch. Yeah.
That's That's right. We're friends again.
Brian Bashore (1:06:51)
Good luck at MWC at Spring Valley. Take your bibs. Hope it's not cold. Hope it's not snowy and icy. We'll all pray for some good. Yeah. Yep.
Jeff Kelm (1:06:58)
Bring the bibs and the shorts. Yeah, you bring the bibs and the shorts to be fine. Just a real quick reminder,
March 17th for Spring Valley. If you are registered or you are qualified for the MTC this year, you've got till March 15th. Don't forget that sign up date. If you have the invitation link from your local club, get in there. If you are expecting a link and don't have it, get a hold of the club manager and get it so that you can get signed up. You missed that date. I'm sorry you're out.
And then April 7th is your final deadline for the NWTN Peer. So get yourself signed up for that as well as a coangler. I think we're on standby for Co's, but get yourself signed up for a pro if you want.
Brian Bashore (1:07:39)
Man, that's, that's literally a month away for that. I better count my pennies quick. The, NTC I am that guy. And I think I got all of our clubs signed up. Is there another round of spots that will come out after that deadline?
Jeff Kelm (1:07:49)
So we've
got allocations after that based on club membership, things like that, that they'll go out. it's not that you're necessarily out, out, but if you have an invitation that's good right now from a qualifying spot and you missed that March 15th date, you're not gonna be part of the allocation. The allocation's for a different set of anglers.
Brian Bashore (1:08:06)
You're out.
Yep. All right. So there's, you're saying there's still a chance for something out there. So the guys at the very bottom of our team of the year list, there's still a chance you may come around. So we got just about all of our guys in. So looking forward to the NTC. That's going to be fun, big turnout. And we're going to keep pumping up that event until, until it comes, hoping to get big crowds and stuff. There's going to be good time. So, all righty. Thank you, Jeff. And thank all you for tuning into this episode of real talk fishing with no limits and stay safe and we'll see you on the water.
Jeff Kelm (1:08:13)
There's still a chance. That's right. There's still a chance. That's right.
Thanks.