Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
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 (00:00.686)
Hey, thanks. Thanks for tuning in this episode of Real Talk. Fishing with no limits. You are in for a good one today. We have the hottest stick in the walleye fishing world right now. Mr. Eric McCoyd coming on. He's going to talk. He just won the AIM national championship out at Lake Chicaquilla. Literally just won the Green Bay NWT tournament a few days ago. So Eric's coming on here. He's going to let us in on a little bit of what he's been doing. He's been scoping and he's damn good at it. He's going to share a little insight with us.
Learn a little bit about Eric and talk about the next upcoming tournament. So hottest stick and wildlife fishing right now. Eric McCoy is coming up next.
Hey folks, thanks for tuning in to this episode of Real Talk Fishin' with No Limits. We're coming at you with the hottest stick. The dude is on fire in the walleye world right now. Mr. Eric McCoy just came off a win literally three days ago, I think four days ago out of Green Bay for the National Walleye Tour. Prior to that comes off a championship win, national championship for the AIM series on Lake Sakakawea. Eric, you're rolling in the dough.
That's a couple hundred thousand dollars in a boat two boats. You got that's your garage isn't that big So what's the what's the plan? I see you listed the warrior for sale today. I saw that
Eric McQuoid (00:35.522)
Yup. It's, yeah, I'm trying to sell both of them because I can't even fit my own boat in the garage right now. Yup.
Brian Bashore (00:43.95)
It's a good problem to have. Good problem. So let's, let's go back a little bit and let's just talk aim and we'll lead up here to the green Bay thing. So, have you been to Sakakawea before? Was that your first time there? What'd you think about the place?
Eric McQuoid (00:59.138)
I had been there a couple of times. This was my first time driving a boat there. Well, I had been there with dad probably three times beforehand, but never had the life scope out there. So we kind of just rolled into this one, my partner and I, Colton Kravetsky, we grew up together in high school. So we jumped into the Wisconsin series of Ames last year, just trying to qualify for it and just have some fun.
Brian Bashore (01:26.926)
I think winning is pretty fun. Yeah. And that's a very target rich environment.
Eric McQuoid (01:28.642)
Yeah, yeah, that was a lot of fun.
Yeah, there's all sorts of or anything from the walleyes to you name it, carp, catfish, whatever else out there. Yeah, there's a lot of targets and a lot of fish caught.
Brian Bashore (01:45.934)
The, the difference between there and like on the, that's the Missouri river for those that own the Lake Sakakui is up out of, Garrison to Williston basically in North Dakota, like on the Mississippi scope and a little trickier. There's so much stuff. Sakakui. I mean, it's, it's not like Erie or all right there. 90 % of those fish are walleye. You know, it's maybe 60, 70 % of those fish, Sakakui or walleye. But like I said, it was spring. So a lot of stuff's up shallow and there was some deep fish. I understand it and a lot of bait, already in the system, but.
Eric McQuoid (01:58.914)
Yup.
Brian Bashore (02:15.726)
What'd you go into that kind of, what were you guys thinking? What are you going to need to, you know, what do you think you need for weight? Where are we going to try to, it's a big system. You got 115 mile long system. I don't know. Did you have boundaries for the aim tournament?
Eric McQuoid (02:27.874)
Yeah, it was Independence Point to the little one north of Deepwater. So just south of Van Hook was there. Yeah, that helped a lot. It cut half the lake off anyway. So we kind of went into it just knowing that the Van Hook has always been known as a big fish spot or big fish area. So we just made our bed in the hook there and just ran around there for the three days.
Brian Bashore (02:34.574)
Van hook. Yup. All right. Well that, that helps considerably.
Eric McQuoid (02:56.098)
First thing we noticed is the water was still cold when we got there. So we just went around trying to find warm water. Just the areas that would be holding the big walleyes. We had a couple buddies that live out there and they said there's so many big fish that you're going to need at least a 26 inch average to win that one. And we're lucky enough to find a couple good spots that held those big ones.
Brian Bashore (03:20.238)
Yeah. Van Hook's got a lot of humps structure. That lake has a lot of like big boulders and unlike Oahe where we're doing deep trees, there's a little bit out there, but it's Coquia is more big boulders, big rocks, sharp breaks. And the Van Hook thing is like a lake of its own.
Eric McQuoid (03:25.346)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (03:35.394)
Yeah, the best part I found about that Van Hook was there was not a whole lot of current, so to speak, in the Missouri compared to Mississippi, but that Van Hook just didn't really have any current in it anyway, as long as you get up far enough and that made it fishing just like a lake.
Brian Bashore (03:52.526)
Yeah, it's basically just a big lake, you know, a back, a cove off the river channel. That's gargantuaness basically. There's a whole housing area there and some people just, that's it. They don't ever leave the Van Hook. They just fish there all year long. And I think the mouth of it is the Shell Island is what's coming out of Van Hook, which is obviously another huge popular place that we'll all be visiting plenty here at the coming up the end of July.
Eric McQuoid (03:57.762)
Yeah, yep.
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (04:07.074)
Yup. Yup.
Eric McQuoid (04:12.642)
Yeah. Yep.
Eric McQuoid (04:18.274)
Yeah. I'm hoping we don't have to run that far in July, but after the last couple of events, but we'll see.
Brian Bashore (04:24.864)
Yeah, yeah, the, the Lake holds fish everywhere. but obviously we're fishing different in tournament fishing. You're looking for the five biggest and you had like a 26, 27 inch average, I think for the aim tournament, didn't you?
Eric McQuoid (04:37.986)
Yeah, yep. I think we're pushing the 27th average. I think somewhere in there.
Brian Bashore (04:44.654)
What did you weigh? Two days?
Eric McQuoid (04:47.618)
It was 3973 day one and then 40 40 and a half or so day two
Brian Bashore (04:56.174)
So almost 80 pounds. And then the previous end of the T -termins there, it's been about 42 to 45 to win it. Now that's different aim conversion, length of conversion. you were there at a different time of year, obviously, of course, the fish weren't the fattest cause they're post -spawn, but they're obviously eaten a little bit, but they were more of the
Eric McQuoid (05:12.802)
They're really good size when we were there. Yeah, there was like a 127 -inch in practice that had to be over 10 pounds. It was just a thick fish.
Brian Bashore (05:21.71)
They have a, yeah, I mean, I remember catching them there during the spawn and there were 19 and a halfs that were just pushing three pounds. So smelt kind of like green Bay with the L wives smelt is another fatty forage Bay set. You know, they can put it on real fast. It's, you know, better than shad. They eat the crap out of shad, but smelt herring, L wives. Those are super fatty and get those fish big fast.
Eric McQuoid (05:34.242)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (05:38.274)
Yup.
Eric McQuoid (05:46.69)
Yup.
Brian Bashore (05:48.974)
Man, and so what was that about a third? I don't know where you guys launched out of. Was that about 30 mile run then up to Van Hooker?
Eric McQuoid (05:54.882)
Yeah, it was we launched her to new town so It was like 10 miles by by truck, but it was 35 or 40 by by boat
Brian Bashore (05:57.326)
Okay, so down and around.
Eric McQuoid (05:58.95)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (06:03.662)
Yep. Yep. I'm doing that same run, I believe after the NWT when the casino cup is out of there, I think it goes out of Newtown as well. And, I'm going to stick around an extra day and fish that with one of the goings. So that place is awesome. We're going to be heading there and just four, three, four weeks, pretty much a month. August 1st, second, I think our tournament dates for the upcoming national wildlife tour. I bet you're probably pretty excited to go back.
Eric McQuoid (06:15.458)
Perfect.
Eric McQuoid (06:29.794)
Yeah, I'm excited to get back there. Just the sheer number of walleyes that we caught every day was, it was just impressive. Then how hard they fought. I'd say they're, they're right up there at these Green Bay walleyes out here that they just do not want to come in the boat.
Brian Bashore (06:44.398)
Now green Bay walleyes are, I'm not a fan of green Bay. And after last week, I'm really not a fan of green Bay. Talk about the sheer numbers that none of us caught, you know, a practice, which, you know, whatever tough tournaments or tough tournaments, it's tough for everybody. That one, I don't think that was a tough bite. It was kind of just a non -existent in a sense. But when you found them, like you did, you know, and I had a couple of spots where we found them and you're at the right time, you know, they bit, but when they bite it's zing. I mean, they just took off. They are the most angry.
Brian Bashore (07:12.078)
I mean don't even plan on netting them the first time you see them at the boat. They're making another run, they're going down underneath. I had to chase one down with the trolling motor. I mean...
Eric McQuoid (07:14.722)
Yup. Yup.
Eric McQuoid (07:19.842)
Yep. Yeah, I went down to a 10 pound leader line, which I was going back and forth on, but it was a tough bite that might hide the bait a little bit better. But yeah, it took probably a solid five minutes for one of those big ones to get that one in the boat. That was just heart wrenching the whole time. Every time it.
Brian Bashore (07:38.478)
I know you're like, is it a sheep head? Cause I mean, they just took off like a sheep head almost first couple of like, I don't know sheep. And then once you get it turned and then you're kind of like, I think that's a walleye, you know? And yeah, those kakua ones, they don't mess around. I mean, they just like guys like to rig there. You know, you're thinking Mississippi or rigging chubs and stuff at other places in Minnesota where you're having to feed them line. Experience kakua is nope. They just go, it's, I mean, it's gone. I mean, you can just plan on.
Eric McQuoid (07:43.554)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (07:47.266)
Yup. Yup. Yup.
Eric McQuoid (08:01.57)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (08:05.154)
Yep, here's the rod tip and that'd be about it.
Brian Bashore (08:08.142)
Yeah, just plan on losing about every hook because it's going to be swallowed. Yeah. Just have a lot of, whatever you're running octopus hooks or something. Cause you're just cutting the line if it's a good one and throwing it in the live well and, hopefully bringing them in the way in. So yeah, it's my favorite place to fish Lake Sakakui. I love it so much. Randy and I signed up to fish the Dakota Waterline Classic that Friday, Saturday and debut the next Thursday, Friday, and then Casino Cup that following Saturday. So I got to make the most out of that little run up to Sakakui and you know, it'll probably be the end of the season unless a guy.
Eric McQuoid (08:10.402)
Yeah, yeah.
Eric McQuoid (08:18.818)
Yup.
Brian Bashore (08:37.934)
does really, really well. Green Bay.
Super fresh Tough as bite for most people have ever experienced in their entire 20 year practice What was your take going into it? It was no secret that McCoy was on fish because you saw all the interviews everybody's I mean even spring was like I've got one fish all week, you know And everybody's sandbag and they're like, they're full of crap Then it came to the point through we're like no, they're not because most guys like well I haven't caught any you know, and I was like I got four, you know, and smells I got seven and Corey's like chase. I got one I got one
Eric McQuoid (08:55.97)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (09:13.166)
that Eric's interview and he's like, I think he's a little bit more confident than the rest of us.
Eric McQuoid (09:18.293)
Yeah, I started to practice early. I started on Tuesday or Wednesday and just from living out here. So I was able to get a couple of extra days in and that first day I went out and I caught three or four fish. Like, this is going to be a good week of fishing, easy week. And then I went three or four days with not having a single bite.
Brian Bashore (09:25.838)
smart. All right.
Eric McQuoid (09:42.434)
I kind of beat the rush up the big bay before everybody else went up there and got up there. And I probably put 10 to 15 walleyes in the boat. And I was like, huh, well, I guess maybe I'll be making this run. And then I went back up to check it. And then there's 30 to 40 of our NWT guys up there. It's like, that's not a secret anymore.
Brian Bashore (10:02.638)
Nope. I never went there and I heard about it and knew about it because it was like, I'm not seeing anybody out here at all. I mean, I was kind of on the East shore. They said there was no fish. I'm like, I don't know. I found a fish on the East shore and what I found was warm water, no bait. So I'm like, I'm going with that because the West shore was not as warm as the Southern East Bay, but it was warm. Boy, was there a lot of bait. I mean, kind of Marinette South and I just kept saying, well, it's going to get worse up North because these are all moving North, but.
Eric McQuoid (10:06.434)
Yup. Yup.
Eric McQuoid (10:17.218)
Yep. Yep.
Brian Bashore (10:32.526)
LY as far as that goes, were they not up there or they're dead up there or they just moving up there?
Eric McQuoid (10:37.89)
I think they're moving around a lot more. Like the first three quarters of practice everywhere I went on like Door County stuff or just other June stuff that I liked to run. It was full of bait and the water was high fifties. And then, I kind of.
We made our bed up north up in big Bay. And then the day before I just wanted to go find some spots for the ride home or if it got windy or something, which it did on day one. So I just went out to a couple of the spots like this should be holding fish this time of year. It's usually does. And then I think that first three fish, I would add 25 and a half pounds or something's like, I guess I'm coming here tomorrow.
Brian Bashore (11:03.502)
Yes, it did.
Brian Bashore (11:19.118)
Yeah, and it was obviously not as far as what is it? 90, 95 up to beta knock from O 'Connell.
Eric McQuoid (11:23.202)
Yeah, it was, you know, depending on how far back in the bay, because I think that big bay is like 18 miles deep.
Brian Bashore (11:31.502)
All right. And those fish are, I'm assuming we're in the back of the bay, but I've never fished up there.
Eric McQuoid (11:34.658)
Yeah, yeah, the majority were. I think when I was like, I did the math and a couple of better ones I caught and it was like 90 to 95 miles one way and it's like, that's, there's not much fishing time and especially on a big lake where the wind blows a lot.
Brian Bashore (11:46.734)
No.
Brian Bashore (11:50.35)
And you don't 10 mile an hour wind heading into that. That's, that's going to slow you down a little bit. And we had way more than 10 mile an hour wind Thursday morning. So I looked out there and went, well, this isn't good. that's going to change some guys's plans, but you had a good plan B that was, I don't know what 50 mile, 40 mile run probably. So.
Eric McQuoid (11:53.25)
Yeah. Yup. Yup.
Yeah.
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (12:07.618)
Yeah, I was probably 45, 50 miles. So we pulled in there and I started off tough. I looked over and, or dad, Dad, Woodkey, Drake and I are all fishing together there or same similar area. And I guess dad had a seven, eight pounder before I got there. Cause he was both one. Looked over at one key and he was hooked up, looked at the other side. Drake was hooked up. It's like, huh, that's gotta be my turn here pretty soon.
Brian Bashore (12:35.406)
They're going.
Eric McQuoid (12:37.122)
I had probably got a seven, eight, nine pounder up to the boat like three different times and she finally popped off right before we got the net on her and it's like, that's all this tournament's gonna go I guess. But we stuck at it and the co -winder caught probably a seven pounder probably 15 minutes later and yeah, that was about it for me.
Brian Bashore (12:48.526)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (13:00.13)
Drake got his pretty quick and Danny got his pretty quick and all of a sudden it's just dad and I left and I pulled the plug and started running spots.
Brian Bashore (13:09.262)
Well, it worked out for dad there. So for those that don't know, Kevin McCoy is Eric's dad, who's a long time, all I legend been doing this for years. You know, he's a lucky for growing up in the tournament circuit family. I believe they all used to travel together. I mean, and you've done team stuff with your dad and just, you've seen it, you know what you understand it. And Kevin came in with the biggest bag of the tournament, I believe on day one and just overall 26 something pounds.
Eric McQuoid (13:11.202)
Yeah. Yup.
Eric McQuoid (13:34.754)
Yeah, 26 and a half somewhere in there
Brian Bashore (13:40.014)
So that had to obviously make him happy, but he pulled out his dad card day two and let, let his son have them all. literally all of them. He likes it. I'm not catching any today, apparently. So yeah, him and me in that same boat. There was nothing easy about that place. It was kind of, you know, we all come, you know, we're kind of bickering about the whole three fish limit, but I think come term of time, guys are like, yeah, three's plenty. You know, please three's plenty. I'm hoping to get one or two, you know, and I think only like.
Eric McQuoid (13:43.426)
Yup.
That wasn't the plan, but that's just how it went.
Brian Bashore (14:08.91)
I don't even know 14 or 20 teams even brought in three fish total out of two days. So it was not a lot. And sometimes it took all day to get those three when you got them. Sometimes you could get them quick. I get a couple like within like three cast of practice. I saw a guy rolling up one place I was fishing on first day and pop literally two, right? Where I just caught one and within five minutes and was done. but right place, right time, right bait in their face.
Eric McQuoid (14:13.314)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (14:20.258)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (14:31.042)
Yep.
Yeah, three is plenty.
Yep.
Brian Bashore (14:37.39)
It can happen. It can happen quick and those Green Bay walleye are fun. Fun to catch when you can catch them.
Eric McQuoid (14:43.074)
Yup, they're the best wall eyes I think in the country to fight or to catch just because of the fight and how angry they are. They're just so strong with all that current out there.
Brian Bashore (14:50.542)
Yeah. I mean, I
Yeah, they are strong to clean water. Obviously they can see stuff. You know, they don't, they don't want to get near the boat. So what was you, I heard you mentioned it, you know, exactly that it is clean water. Fishery would be a little spookier and that's why I was kind of concerned about going up north, that clean water and everybody up there, everybody's scoping these fish. What did you do to, you know, make that adjustment, extend out your scope, siding, lighten your, like you just said, lighten your leader line.
Eric McQuoid (14:59.01)
Thank you.
Eric McQuoid (15:20.162)
Yep, yes, I lightened my leader line a little bit. I don't think that played as big of a part. Although as I put the live scope out to 100 to 110 feet in the forward mode, just for you to see those fish a little bit further. I would try to wait till I got to 80 to 90 feet before I made a cast or so it can be more accurate. It's hard to hit a paper plate at 100 feet. That was the biggest part and just kind of eat.
Brian Bashore (15:42.702)
Yes it is.
Eric McQuoid (15:49.122)
After using live scope for a few years, you can tell the mood of a fish each time you cast at it or some of them they want it to keep above their head. Some of them you got to jig it for a second and kind of get their get their attention and then free fall to the bottom. And every single fish is different and you just got to keep keep passing. It's it's kind of like musky fish nor cast it. Five, three, four, 500 times and you just hope you get one of them to follow and you hope it's a walleye.
Brian Bashore (16:17.902)
Is that what you see with live scope? I know everybody's, you know, I can tell this is what it is or that's what it is. I'm kind of figuring out enough to be like, I think that's probably a wall. I cause they tend to not be moving around as much. cause we were in a very sheep head, you know, enriched environment as well. but you could, you know, once they turn, you could, you could crystal, you could see them clear as day until they were. I'm like, you know, my cousin, the back just casting and casting, and I'm just driving around holding my rod. Like I'm not, I'm not wasting a cast here. I don't, you know, that does.
You know, and then there was I think the first but I went day one I was like I didn't hardly cast it all so I went white perch moved in I'm like these are not There's nothing this about 10 -15 minutes. I'm like we're leaving bad thing was should have went there day two because white perch left in the wall I were back and I didn't go so bad decisions Green Bay. You can hardly ever go to the same spot twice Yeah, and I Yep, and I knew that and I didn't remember that until about two o 'clock on the second day. I was like
Eric McQuoid (16:53.601)
See you.
Eric McQuoid (17:00.802)
Yup.
Yeah.
Yep, that's exactly right.
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (17:10.466)
Hahaha
Brian Bashore (17:12.59)
blew it and then Randy went and got a couple and said, you show what your first spot somebody else they're limited out by nine and the white perch were gone and the wall I were there. And I'm like, yeah, of course. Cause I didn't go. So I tell that works, but, lures, a couple of different techniques, rip and wrap, shiver, minnows, hair jigs, plastics. I mean, everything was, you know, jig and crawler. What was a kind of go -to for you.
Eric McQuoid (17:22.21)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (17:30.626)
Yup. Mostly for me it was that the Cowlens Google -eyed hair jig and then just a Cowlens Pendu jig with a full crawler on it. So I kind of just stuck those two in my hand and let it roll all week.
Brian Bashore (17:45.678)
Yeah, it, it's hard for a fish, I think, to resist just a crawler floating, dropping down in front of their nose. I watched plenty of them resisted all week, but I also seen some that didn't and you know, boom, they're on it. We actually ran out of crawlers on day two. same deal, three or four. I caught all mine on rip and wrap day one, which I hadn't hardly used all week. They were coming on spoons and, Z man jerk sheds. But once again, you had to get it in their nose. And like you said, you can see the mood of the fish. A lot of them will follow it down.
Eric McQuoid (17:54.178)
Yup. Yup.
Brian Bashore (18:16.622)
That usually gets me, I'm like, I got this one. Well, I'm falling down and that was it. But if you fall down and went to left, you're like, okay, you know, he's on it.
Eric McQuoid (18:18.882)
Yep.
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (18:26.37)
Yep. Once you get their reaction to go down, there's like some where like, that one might bite. And then you get the ones that just dive bomb it. And it's like, yeah, I got that one.
Brian Bashore (18:37.422)
Yeah, I mean I spent a lot of time practice on a little lake outside of Sioux Falls here and every time I got one even turn and look I got him. Now granted that was like May or something. They're all like, you know, three, four pounders. Then it was a little, well Mississippi, my first one I caught was like a 20 -incher and it turned and bam. But then after that, it was like, I don't even know if some of these are wall hair or not. There's so much stuff here. That was a little tricky. but I've gotten that.
Eric McQuoid (18:44.034)
Yup.
Brian Bashore (19:03.79)
I mean just a fair amount of that but it's trying to figure out what is a walleye versus I mean, what are you looking for? How can you determine what's a walleye? What's a sheephead? What's a Pike, you know, I mean it when a fish turns perfect and it's sitting there and nothing's moving It's pretty easy to tell but a lot of times you're trying to cover while you're moving fast and you're just like You know when you get 70 80 feet out They're just
Eric McQuoid (19:24.002)
Yeah, they kind of all look the same at 70, 80, 90, 100 feet out. The biggest thing the walleyes do, they sit still, like you said, more, or the sheephead and a couple other species, they're always moving. But those walleyes will be sitting still. That's basically the biggest thing about it is just looking for those fish sitting still and more often than not, they'll be your walleyes.
Yep.
Brian Bashore (19:49.454)
I think there are, I kind of find them in group singles or doubles like one or two or just one.
Eric McQuoid (19:52.706)
Yeah, yeah, singles and doubles are definitely your big fish. And then every now and then out here, you find them in a school of 10, 20, and you throw that one and you get the smallest one to chase it down and it'd be a 29.
Brian Bashore (20:05.614)
Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's horrible. All right. So I had a biggest one to practice. There was three of them and they must've been just lined up looking right at me and I threw and at three casts and finally the third cast one went down and then I was like, and it, you know, you hooked in it and it just started screaming drag. And they're like, she had, and then it got ahold of it. And I was like a six 12. I'm like, there's three, those are all, those all three had to be wall eyes. I told.
Eric McQuoid (20:08.738)
Yeah, see you.
Eric McQuoid (20:20.354)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (20:33.218)
Yeah, yep.
Brian Bashore (20:34.35)
You got to practice with me. I'm like, don't make another cast. We're done. We're out of here. That's two, you know, in like five minutes. We're good. We're out of here. And of course that didn't happen on tournament day, but that's awesome. What do you typically run your scope at? You had to bump it to 110 feet out. Where do you normally kind of just in a general rule of thumb for new guys out there scoping 70 feet, 80 feet.
Eric McQuoid (20:37.25)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (20:54.882)
Yeah, usually I'll run it about 80. It all depends on the water color, like where we're going. Like a river you want to go. I guess Missouri is kind of that outlier. You can keep that at 90 to 100. But like on Mississippi, I was going down to 50 or so, just because it's so dirty, so much clutter in the water. But overall at 70 to 80 range is kind of the starting point. And then you just kind of adjust it from there.
Brian Bashore (21:22.574)
A lot of people don't realize probably if they're new to scoping that.
If you whip it, that's, that's pretty far. I mean, you can do this and hit 50, 60 feet. I mean, it's really not, it takes obviously time and practice to realize, you know, but then there's lots of times you're like, man, 90 feet. I really got to, if you're using something lighter, you got a little bit of a win, but I mean, you threw a lot of spoons and those things are just like flick your wrist and they were no easy 120 feet out there. I'm like, well, I don't see it. And it's cause I guess at 50 feet past your scope, you know, that are like trying to hurry up and you know, there's a fish there.
Eric McQuoid (21:34.21)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (21:43.874)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (21:47.682)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (21:51.81)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (21:57.134)
yeah, you know, and you're running all Garmin been on Garmin for a while scopens your game. You've been winning money on it. It's working.
Eric McQuoid (21:58.95)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (22:07.726)
Growing up with your dad, tournament fishing, traveling, seeing all this stuff. How's that? I mean, helped you. Scope. Are you teaching Kevin scope and skills? Is that how he got his 26 pounds every day? Yep.
Eric McQuoid (22:19.458)
Yep, yeah, we are. We're trying to teach them the best we can. And in Red Wing, I actually jumped in the boat with them for a day just to show them more of it and try to teach them what's a walleye versus down there is a lot of carp and white bass and everything down there. But yeah.
Brian Bashore (22:31.79)
Yeah.
You're just like, this is what you're looking for, you know, right here, throw at it. And I mean, he knows how to catch fish. There's no, no doubt about it, but it's the old dog, new tricks, right? And old guards having a little bit of a time transition into the scope world. And I keep telling people if you're not scoping, you're not, you're not going to, you know, you're, you're chasing a check, but you're not chasing a top 10. It just isn't.
Eric McQuoid (22:41.954)
Yep. Yep, exactly.
Eric McQuoid (22:53.09)
Yeah, it's definitely been dominating the top 10 at each tournament for the most part. And then even at the angle of the year standing, it's nine of the top 10 guys for the last two years now, three years now. So it's one of those things that you go back and forth on it. But I guess if you're not doing it now, you're just hoping.
Brian Bashore (23:05.646)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (23:15.278)
Yeah, you're really just, I mean, I said, I go into green Bay and it's like, it's going to be one scope and Scott is going to be one scope and a little new up there. I think a lot of those locals aren't. I mean, I know a lot of I talked to them. They're like, yeah, I took my trolling stuff out because I got to commit to it. Otherwise I'm not even competing, but there's still enough local stuff. You guys are just going to troll and bottom bounce because it's a target rich bar. You're going to catch fish too, no matter what you want. I've been able to pick out five of the biggest fish, you know, and be a little bit more, a little more reserved with what you're doing on it.
Eric McQuoid (23:28.802)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (23:36.674)
Yo.
Eric McQuoid (23:40.93)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (23:44.878)
It's a whole new game. And like I said, it's you can love it and you can hate it. It is what it is. It's here. If, if there's any changes down the road, then we'll all just make adjustments at that point. But when I was getting that, so growing up with Kevin in the house, I mean, I believe in your mom and then you guys all travel when you're, when you're little with dad deterred minutes and just talk a little bit about that kind of growing up in that environment and how you, what, how that helped you become, you know, the, the wall, I hammer yard day.
Eric McQuoid (23:55.074)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (24:14.402)
Yup. Yeah. So when, when I was really little, mom and dad fished together or mom fished the Coeingler side, dad fished the pro side for the FLW back then. so they brought a, brought a fifth wheel camper. So it was me and my brother and sister all rowed together and went to each tournament together. And I just kind of grew up from there. It was, started fishing first tournament with dad. I think I was seven or eight. I'm all acts.
Brian Bashore (24:43.342)
He's got his, Eric's out there in his diapers, you know, ripping lips over here.
Eric McQuoid (24:45.538)
Yeah, we, I think we took fifth in the first little one on the lax and that kind of hooked me cause that got us a little check and was like, this is kind of fun. And then, just kept going on from there. It was actually 10 years from the day of green Bay. I won my first pass on with dad on the lax. I was kind of a, just a cool little look back thing on. And I think I was probably.
11, 12, 13, I started going to the ad with to a bunch of the FLWs just fishing with them during the week and as much as I could with school and everything back then. But just be able to travel with them, learn all the different techniques. And the biggest thing is always just to have your confidence in whatever you're doing, whether you're doing something completely different than everybody else or. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (25:38.606)
And you want to be, I mean, that's what you're looking for is to be, to be different and be somewhere where you don't see nobody. Then, then the confidence goes good. I think you obviously had plenty of confidence in green Bay because everybody knew it. It was the one interview where the guy's kind of smiling a little bit. So he's, he's got a little sup going. that's a good, that's a good feeling until you get there and your fish are gone. but you've done this long enough to know, right. They didn't go too far. They're either here or, you know, a green Bay. I gotta have three, four or five, you know, plan.
Eric McQuoid (25:43.938)
Yep. Yep, exactly.
Eric McQuoid (25:49.538)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (25:53.25)
Yup. Yup.
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (26:03.65)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (26:07.95)
H -I -J -K, right? And if you're like me and had plan B and that was it, you're pretty limited. You kind of grind out all day hoping something shows up and sometimes it doesn't. So.
Eric McQuoid (26:15.938)
You know, yeah, yeah, you always hope they stay there, but overall they never, they never stay out here.
Brian Bashore (26:23.214)
No, yeah, Green Bay is it's a, it's this tough place to put two days together. It really is. I think that, I mean, that shows a lot. You did it and, and you didn't fish the same spots, basically. I mean, you ran not necessarily a couple of different programs, but 50 miles. And it's hard that when you have fish in one area, your other spot may be 40 miles away. And then it's a tie management game. And it's like, comes a point where you're it's one or the other, you know, so that, that, I always struggle with that out there. It's like, I got the Northern fish. I got a couple of bites going up there, but it's.
Eric McQuoid (26:28.066)
Yo.
Eric McQuoid (26:41.922)
Yeah, yep.
Eric McQuoid (26:47.682)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (26:53.038)
It's also just cause they are bigger fish. If you're only going to catch one, make it a 10 pounder. And I think a few guys got into that, that situation. I mean, I was hoping to just get 15 a day from what I had to practice. I thought that was pretty feasible and that turned into a seven and a zero instead. But you know, they were the four to six pounders in there, but just cause you're making a 90 mile run, doesn't mean you're gonna catch anything. You got like two hours to fish.
Eric McQuoid (27:15.106)
Yeah, exactly. Especially with not knowing who is getting gas and then just having that many more bolts and that clean water up there really pushes those fish around and pushes them down into those weeds and...
Brian Bashore (27:27.054)
Yeah, I've never even been up in the Bay to knock. Randy had been there once and said, if they're going there, he goes like, they're going to the back of the Bay. That's where the fish are at. And then I don't even know where you can get gas at the Cedar river. It sounds like most guys. Okay. I'd never seen anybody actually working that little gas pump. I thought that was just a coast guard thing, but apparently they were, they were ready. So.
Eric McQuoid (27:33.986)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (27:43.125)
Yep. Yep. I like that four guys working just trying to keep everybody rolling through there.
Brian Bashore (27:49.614)
Really? So there was a fairly good amount of both. And even some guys made the run all the way up there day one. I look like I think Hunter did and, and, stuff like that. So speaking of Hunter, who's the other hottest wall I stick. You guys are neck and neck five points chasing the angler of the year title here. I don't, I looked at it. I don't think anybody can catch either one of you.
Eric McQuoid (27:56.418)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (28:05.286)
Yeah, see you later.
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (28:11.33)
Now as long as they both have a good tournament here next in Scottsdale, it's just gonna be a little extra.
Brian Bashore (28:16.206)
I think as long as you're both bringing five fish, everybody's going to catch fish to cock with unless something just weird happens, you break down or you really dismiss it. But there's a little bit of a drop off after you two guys are like 490 and 485. And then from 40th to like 50th, because I'm in 50th, it's like enough points where you can't make up that ground either unless you're in the top five.
Eric McQuoid (28:22.562)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (28:43.502)
You know or less some guys don't show up. I mean obviously if you win it, you know with a new rule You're you're pretty much in the in the championship. I like here on So it'll be interesting because this one with these zeros and now folded and I knew that day one is like soon as I caught that first fish and it wasn't huge I was just who I could you know, you got the points You're not double zero in it. You saved the day at the course second day early dropped me way out and that did it for the year probably but That shook it up
Eric McQuoid (29:01.346)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (29:11.502)
That took some top 40 guys out of the top 40 down to 60, 70 and some others that, you know, so there's some big names that probably aren't going to make the championship. when you zero, you don't make it. You just don't go with the sticks or the competition is just too good nowadays. And like you said, top 10 or, but I said it last year to these guys that are here. I mean, I got, I got 13th at Devils and would you end up at the championship at Devils? You're the ninth. and spring will snuck in there, I think for 10th or something.
Eric McQuoid (29:20.034)
Yup. Yup.
Brian Bashore (29:42.19)
And he snuck into 40th to get in there. So, I mean, you had nine, at least solid scopers in your top 10. You know, when it was hands down all year, I'm like, they're the 10 best at this. You got Eric, I got Tom, I got John, I got Dewey, I got Will Poppin. I can't ever say his last name. So it's Will Poppin Foster, however you say it. Poppin Foose. Poppin Foose. Poppin Foose. Quiet, quietly just.
Eric McQuoid (29:50.626)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (30:02.274)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (30:06.138)
Yeah, Batmoofoo's ill.
Brian Bashore (30:11.406)
Doing really good. You know, and now we got Hunter bringing it. You know, I don't not. He didn't. He did decent last year on the fish to mall. Or he dismissed the championship. But he's got it. Yeah, he's got it. Got it dialed. What will that mean to win the AOI that you've got? You won a championship at Otter Tail in 2021, 2020, 2021 interesting tournament. Great place to have a championship. Small Lake 40 boats.
Eric McQuoid (30:22.722)
Yep, I think you just missed the championship last year.
Brian Bashore (30:42.638)
Decent bite, good crowd, huge turnout, you know, close to home for you. I think everybody really enjoyed it. You didn't, you know, like an eight mile lake, you weren't, you could fill up your tank once a week or something, right? It was like a five minute drive to launch your boat. No matter where you stayed, besides water being so low, you can hardly get out. Great place. since then we've had these, championships at these great lakes. So I don't know, big fish.
Eric McQuoid (30:45.346)
Yeah, if you use crowd.
Eric McQuoid (30:53.09)
Yeah, that was perfect.
Eric McQuoid (31:02.338)
Yup.
Eric McQuoid (31:08.834)
It'd be awesome to get back to a smaller lake whether it's Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota.
Brian Bashore (31:15.438)
Yeah, you got Audubon, Wabay, Bitter, or even a Boundary on a, on a Missouri river, versus Lake Huron or Lake Michigan, whatever Lake Erie, you know, these, these big places that you just, you don't need to do that with 40 boats. cause you showed that there's a big fish in Auditel. I mean, real nice fish, you know.
Eric McQuoid (31:21.954)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (31:33.346)
Yeah, yep. Yeah, yeah, that one was still the biggest one I've ever seen in an inland lake. Yeah, it was 28 and a half. That was nine and a half. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (31:41.774)
Really? Well, yeah, like a nine pounder.
Brian Bashore (31:47.406)
Nine and a half. Yeah. Cause you, you beat the hell out of everybody in that tournament. It wasn't like, he snuck in by a pound. No, Eric's like, here's Eric here was second place was way down here. And there was, I think I got like 21st or something. I don't think I got anything over 18, 19 inches, but yeah, good, good tournament. Good lake. So you've won the champ. You've won a championship, won a tournament. You won another national champion on the aim side. You've won some bass tournaments. Hey, why hangover of the year.
Eric McQuoid (31:56.77)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (32:15.17)
I think that'd be, that's always been my number one goal. Like since I got into the professional side of fishing, I think that's, that's everybody's goal is to be able to get that prestigious title and be able to say you're the, you're the best on tour that year or the most consistent on tour that year. yeah, it's not easy at all. There's one mistake and, and you're done. One lost fish and that's it.
Brian Bashore (32:34.126)
It's not easy.
Brian Bashore (32:39.566)
Yeah. Yup. Yeah. I mean, Drake's comeback a few years ago is unprecedented. You know, having a bad finish or like you said, not bringing in a limit. If you bring a limit in every day, you're going to make the championship. Period. You bring a limit in every tournament, whether you're every cash check or not, you're going to be in the top 40. Period. But if you don't bring a limit in every day, give or take, you might be able to get by missing one or two. If you got some big fish.
Eric McQuoid (32:46.402)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (32:53.058)
Yo.
Eric McQuoid (32:57.698)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (33:06.658)
Yup.
Brian Bashore (33:06.67)
Like in a situation like Green Bay, whenever guys are only having three anyway, and you get two tanks to make up for the loss, you won't be in the top five AOI. I mean, you got to, you can't miss a beat. You got to do what you did. I show up early. I mean, you're earning it. You're working hard at it. I know Hunter's grinding away, doing the same thing. It's when you look at the situation, like a 90 mile run, not even a question. I'm like, I'm not going, but that's, I don't, I don't, I'm not chasing that.
Jason did it to make a top 40 and, cause he could easily blow something, break down. And then you're, you're really hosing, you're out in the middle of nowhere and you don't even have a chance to, to scrape up some, you know, dinks for points or run into a river. I looked at Hunter in the morning and I said, Hey, it was not good. The weather called for pretty calm days Thursday morning. And we all got there and went, this is, this is damn near small craft advisory. This is, this is not good. I looked at her and I said, Hey, some things ain't worth it. And he kind of was like, I said, but some things are.
Eric McQuoid (33:36.354)
Okay, yep.
Eric McQuoid (33:55.138)
Yeah, that was... There you go.
Eric McQuoid (34:04.706)
Yep. Yep.
Brian Bashore (34:05.23)
And he's like, yep. I said, just be safe. You know, and he took off and made that run and you guys did the same. And I think you kind of, we're probably going to go north and reassess it when he got past the Peshtego River area point. Like, maybe we'll only go here today, you know, cause now you're down to man who knows if you would've got any fishing time in.
Eric McQuoid (34:23.746)
Yeah, it would have been close. That was definitely the taking off. I wasn't sure which spot I was going to, whether I was going to Big Bay or if I was going to stay closer. And once you got over Peshtigo Point there, it was like, yeah, I'm not going there.
Brian Bashore (34:37.166)
I'm not going to big bay. No. Yeah. A few guys did add some co anglers that traveled, you know, about kind of where you were up to it, even someone further and they were like, no, that sucked. They were like, there's nothing, there was nothing fun about it. I went straight south. I was literally fishing the Brown County line on, on the line on the East side. there was probably four or five of us over there and there was fish. They just weren't tournament winning fish, but they were fish. So some of us played to save conservative for some points, but that's what you got to do. That's what makes you the angler of the years.
Eric McQuoid (34:52.834)
Yup.
Brian Bashore (35:06.638)
taking that risk. Without the risk, there's no reward. You don't need the points to make the top 40, but you got to catch a fish. And there's still that gamble, but obviously you had good confidence. And everybody that went up there had caught nice fish. And if I'm only going to catch one, let's make it a nine, 10, 12 pounder. What's the biggest one you got to practice? I know Drake caught it with 11 and a half or something like that.
Eric McQuoid (35:06.722)
Yup. Yup.
Eric McQuoid (35:30.05)
Yeah, yeah. He had, I think he had a 10 something in practice and 11 and a half day one. I don't think I ever broke 10 pounds this week. I had a few or a bunch of them that were 28 to 30, but they're all nine pounders. yeah, that was about all the bigger I can get. We pulled into a few, a few of those spots and there'd be a, be a 29 and a quarter and they'd all weighed nine six or nine five. Yeah.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (35:54.67)
Really? We'll just give them a few weeks for more L -Wive to get in there and then there'll be a 10, 11 pounds. Those fish are big. Fish are big. Big, big. So we're covered out. AIM, NWT. Eric is flat out on a roll and when things are just going, they're going. I mean, Drake and I and John, I think all picked you in our fantasy picks. So we all have one point. We're like, yeah, I just tallied it up though. And, yep.
Eric McQuoid (36:11.874)
Yup.
Brian Bashore (36:22.958)
My first pick was Eric, John's was Eric, Drake's was Eric. I guess we knew something. You know, then I got Drake to bet on himself and it panned out well. but John did the best on that in our picks cause Drake and I both had sprinkle. that set us back though. That doesn't hurt. I've been there and done it and I feel for Corey cause that sucks. And it's even worse when it's kind of your home body of water. But I.
Eric McQuoid (36:25.826)
Yup. Yup.
Eric McQuoid (36:38.562)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (36:48.066)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (36:49.454)
Just tell people that doesn't take nothing away. That guy's still one of the greatest wall anglers out there. We just.
Eric McQuoid (36:52.546)
Yeah, yep, yes, still one of the best here and especially on the bays. He's probably still the best fisherman on the bay here.
Brian Bashore (36:59.63)
Yeah. And I always say him, Randy Hummel and probably Dempsey, I think are the three best crawler harness guys I know. Just that's hard to do. And I'm not patient enough to do that. So I did it for like 10 minutes in one practice when I I'm good. I'm going backscoping. This isn't, this isn't working out for me. My dog seems to want to sit up here. There's not room buddy. I'm in a, we're not in the studio or office today. You see, I got a different backdrop buddy. And
Eric McQuoid (37:07.202)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (37:14.402)
Still.
Eric McQuoid (37:20.194)
You
Eric McQuoid (37:24.546)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (37:27.054)
basement. We got a lot of rain here in Sioux Falls while we're up at Green Bay and I got a bunch of fans running and trying to dry my carpet out downstairs. So pump failed and Bentley wants to get on camera here. Why Berkeley's laying on the couch taking a nap. All right. There's no room up here, buddy. Go lay down.
Eric McQuoid (37:41.265)
Nope. Yeah, we've been pretty lucky here. We've been staying out of most of the rain. The day we all left from after the tournament year, we got like two to three inches. And then last night we probably got an inch or two.
Brian Bashore (37:53.358)
Yeah, we got like 18, I think close to where I am. And I went to Park Falls, Wisconsin right away after a tournament on Friday for the St. Croix customer appreciation day Saturday. But then I got text from my son was at home and, and, pictures of the mechanical room. And I'm like, that's not good. Get a bucket and start emptying out the sump pump pit. Cause the pump's not going. And, he's like, how deep is this thing? Like a couple of feet. He's like, I'm not gaining. I'm like, yeah, you lost. Yeah. And next day and morning it was.
Eric McQuoid (37:55.458)
Yeah.
Cool.
Eric McQuoid (38:12.386)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (38:20.61)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (38:23.182)
Once it found carpet, it started sucking it. So I just got up morning, checked in there and said hi and started running home and started grabbing a new pump. And I'm glad I stopped to say Paul, their menards are to grab them because everything is anticipated in two falls. Everything sold out, every rental place, every home depot loads, menards all gone with everything. So we got the water out and now it's just in the drying process. And I don't know if it's, if it's not dry by tomorrow and it's, all right, we're just going to tear the carpet out and then start over.
Eric McQuoid (38:35.714)
Yeah. Yo.
Eric McQuoid (38:50.786)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (38:51.054)
I got, I got league. I got to leave a guy the rest of the week. So I'm gonna be home. so hopefully it dries up and get rid of this musty smell. The wife doesn't have to deal with it any longer. So that's just, nothing fun about it. Anyway, back to fishing, the, the, the more fun are things in life. So you're on fire. Hunter's on fire. You're on fire. Tom wins is this. And wheel is like I said, silently just doing it. You know, everybody's watching Tom, but I think wheels kind of under the radar. We'll get him on here someday. He shouldn't be because.
But everybody's scoping and talk to Tom a little bit about it. And I can tell Randy this a little bit too is it's really simple. It's the scope of thing isn't over complicated. I think people expect to maybe see more than they see and are over analyzing a little bit. but we just throw a jig and a crawler and your fish reacts to it.
Eric McQuoid (39:27.846)
Yeah
Eric McQuoid (39:42.53)
Yep. Yeah, it's simple as that.
Brian Bashore (39:44.334)
It's just, this is that simple. It's that simple. Right. I mean, and then, but be versatile enough to start making decisions, but you growing up understanding it all pre scope era. So, you know, patterns, where to look at time years, what to do. I mean, you know, if they took the scope away from you today, you can still go out there and catch fish and compete. Cause you grew up doing it.
Eric McQuoid (40:04.322)
Yep, yep. Yeah, that's definitely, I think, helps me a lot is just growing up into it. And that and I started fishing in the MWC when I was 14, 15, something like that. So we've had a lot of knowledge on basically all the bodies of water that we've been going for the MWT. We fished in MWC there before. And that's definitely helped a lot. And then once I was...
I don't know, 16, 17, I started fishing the Coenglitter side. So I was able to travel all week and then hear from dad, hear from, at that point he traveled with Shakira, Sprengel, Quartz, and just be able to get a little bit of knowledge out of all those guys too. And yeah, that definitely helped a lot and it was a lot of fun.
Brian Bashore (40:40.654)
courts.
Brian Bashore (40:50.734)
There's a, there's a lot to be learned in those evening meetings, isn't there? So, we have, you know, Randy and I travel Hummel and Takasaki did a little bit this year and as in the past and, and you got you and your dad and Drake and Stacey. Okay. Still fishing them. you know, our co -anglers are obviously they're sitting in and they're kind of in the boats. You know, they're kind of, they're in our boats, every day and, and just podcast this aired.
Eric McQuoid (40:54.242)
yeah there is
Stacy, yep.
Brian Bashore (41:19.95)
quality of it wasn't the greatest. We ran out of light and I just have one mic on the table, but you know, I wanted to get their, their input, but that's what they all just say is had no idea. You know that, okay. You know, Brian's six o 'clock we're leaving means you better be in truck ready to go at five 30. it's, and when he says I don't eat, he means I don't eat until nine or 10 o 'clock that night. So there's no, it'll come in for lunch. There's it's, it's long. I mean, these guys are all good to go. We have some solid guys.
Eric McQuoid (41:22.53)
Thank you.
Eric McQuoid (41:36.194)
Yup.
Brian Bashore (41:48.974)
traveling this year you know and then it's sitting down for another hour going through your map and what you guys did how you did it I mean I don't know if you guys we swap waypoints all day not much at Green Bay because there wasn't nothing to share so I was cleaning out my phone there today I'm like I got two waypoints to delete off here and that's about it so wasn't wasn't a whole lot to share or three I guess but two of them were on top of each other almost but it's yeah it's it's work right it's you know this is what you're doing and you're putting
Eric McQuoid (41:56.546)
Yup.
Eric McQuoid (42:03.554)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (42:16.13)
Yep, now you're staying up till 10, 11 o 'clock at night and getting back up at four to go do it all over again.
Brian Bashore (42:22.99)
And it's, it's not cheap. No, fortunately you want a couple hundred thousand dollars in the last month. However, those are boats, right? And it really, there's nothing in hand until you can get those bad boys sold. And then I've got to pay uncle Sam a chunk of change, but nonetheless, it beats not cashing a check because I've been riding that boat all too long this season. but this Biden economics is catching up. I think a little bit, you've seen a few of our pros have backed out for the remainder of the year, just cause, Hey, work slow. I need to focus and I get it. Take care of the home first.
Eric McQuoid (42:28.034)
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (42:53.038)
Seen it on the bass tour, even Derek Undle and I think a few other guys have, I mean, they're in for a lot more money than we are. And, and grant they pay out a lot further and a lot more, but it's still not the traveling and the fuel. And it's just like, I'm out, you know, I gotta basically call it a season because it's just, it doesn't make sense. So,
Eric McQuoid (43:12.546)
Yep. And they're in for eight to 10 weeks at a time just for the Elite Series.
Brian Bashore (43:18.542)
Yeah. I mean, it's not like you're going home for three or four weeks after each tournament. Like we are. It's my grand, I was only home three days since Mississippi, but that's cause I've been guiding, living in a camper down at the lake where I got to move back into tonight for the rest of the week. So, you know, but that, that saves me a bunch of money versus driving up 80 miles every day. and it's just places you can save with the team aspect. A lot of people are, you shouldn't have a team. And I think the team aspect personally is just for that. The camaraderie.
Eric McQuoid (43:27.906)
Yup.
Eric McQuoid (43:45.954)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (43:47.246)
The travel, breaking your lodging down, you know, having another guy with you. So, I mean, I blew a fan belt in my truck, you know, I blew my hub on the way home from area, blew a fan belt in my truck on the way to Green Bay. I mean, it's just time for a new truck and boat period. But it's, you know, and I was by myself, but having another guy, having somebody in your boat sometimes during practice in case something does happen. And, you know, our co -annualers are good at, Hey, let me, let me get that tank of fuel today. And you're talking 150 bucks, you know, plus.
to put 30 gallons of boat fuel in. After a week that adds up. So it, it does help a lot. I think, you know, we give those guys a lot of grief, but I could pretty sure everybody appreciates the crap out of them, especially, you know, if on the term of day, a lot of them will throw you a 20, 40, $1 ,500 little, little gas tip. Cause yeah, you put them on fish and I don't, don't ever expect it. If you get it, it's appreciated. obviously if you put them on, they had a great day. They're more like, Hey, you know, here you go. And obviously if you sucked them like.
Eric McQuoid (44:21.378)
Yeah, that's a lot.
Eric McQuoid (44:39.522)
No.
Eric McQuoid (44:44.642)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (44:46.286)
Don't worry about it. That, that was on me. It's not, not your fault. You didn't catch him. I didn't, you know, make adjustment or put you in a place where you should be catching them. So, I think our co -anglers have gotten, we have a little better selection than we used to have kind of seems like. You think? We, with the, big demand, they're locking into four and it's not, they're not all aspiring to be, you know, Eric McCoy's out there, but there's a few. And.
Eric McQuoid (44:51.106)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (45:01.378)
Yeah, yeah, I think so.
Brian Bashore (45:14.638)
You know, and the whole goal is to move some of those up, but we don't have as many onesy twosies, you know, that maybe, you know, been retired for awhile and they just got in as a gift and they don't hardly fish and, and whatever. Cause that can make a, make a big difference on the, on the pro side, especially making a 90 mile run.
Eric McQuoid (45:33.186)
You get the wrong guy and all of a sudden you're not going to make that 90 mile run just because you don't want to beat up your coangler. They've got to be able to walk at the end of the day still.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (45:44.238)
Yeah, people, I don't really think about some of that is now you're responsible for this person in your boat, which is exactly why I came in it and they do it like here because it just, this doesn't feel right with this, you know, and this isn't even an old guy or nothing. It's a young guy, but there's big waves. And I mean, I get it.
But they have bad backs or whatever. I mean, some of the guys have just said, I'm not going. And, you know, you got to bring that tournament director and he'll try to, to switch or make an adjustment the best they can. That's usually on the fly. So there's not a whole lot of time to deal with it. you know, cause we're not, we don't know if you're like me and your coangular ask you right away at the rules meeting. When you get paired up, like, what are we doing? Where are we going? You're like, well, you'll find out tomorrow. Right. I don't know who you're staying with and what you're doing. Right. Yeah. We got to keep, we got to keep a little thing, you know, a little bit here close, but.
Eric McQuoid (46:15.778)
No.
Eric McQuoid (46:21.858)
Yeah. Yeah, I see. Yeah.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (46:32.046)
I mean, I pretty well knew your teammate and some of us are all like Drake and we're pretty open and he can ask me anything and I'll be like, yep, I'm doing this. I'm going there. You know, he's like, yep. I'm like, I got it. You know, we're not going to go to the same spots and do the same things. And if we're on the same area, it's like, whatever you got your area. I got my, we're all, we're all doing our own thing, but there's definitely some that aren't aren't like that. And you just don't want to give anybody the edge. and it's really a mental and confidence thing, you know, it's more like, man, 50 boats are going up to Bay to knock. You're like, Ooh.
Eric McQuoid (46:55.97)
Yeah, Bill.
Brian Bashore (47:01.774)
Well, maybe I won't go there now, you know, or something like that and kind of getting your head in your bed off, just not knowing what everybody else is doing.
Eric McQuoid (47:07.618)
Yep, not annoying. Yep, do whatever you have your confidence in. Let's go.
Brian Bashore (47:12.782)
Yep, Kinger always says the best is just watch your own bobber. You know, I couldn't agree with that saying more. I'm like, yep, just watch your own bobber. Don't worry about what's going on around. You don't worry about the noise. The best part of tournament fishing and everything's just catching a big fish. No, it's figuring it out. Right. Where are they at? Why are they there? When do I catch them there? And what am I going to use? And I put all those little pieces of the puzzle together and maybe only catching a few.
Eric McQuoid (47:31.558)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (47:41.518)
But it's probably a few more than the other guy, but you figured it out. You're hunting, right? Theoretically, but.
Eric McQuoid (47:44.354)
Well, yeah, yep. It's fun when that clicks and you're like, I just figured crack the code here and now I'm going to expand on the code.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (47:54.126)
You know, yeah, cause now you can look at the map and go, okay, I can use this, this area, this, they should be here, here, here, here. And you're going to go there the next day and be like, yep, there they are. And I know this works. And maybe I'd switch up my method or technique in spots due to water clarity or something like that. But yeah, once you crack it, it's, I've done it a few times at bagel and sat down with the map and went, we should, this should work here and here and go the next day and went lights out, you know,
Eric McQuoid (48:02.978)
Yup.
Yep.
Brian Bashore (48:22.478)
figured it out maybe it was just finding them in three foot of water you know or 90 miles north you know let me get away from the bait I went south 10 miles to get away from bait in the warmest water that made sense to me if it's really warmer the L -Wives are gonna be gone and if there's no bait around they're gonna they gotta eat what I'm throwing except them damn white perch were everywhere so yeah I thought it was white bass verse I never seen white perch that big I'm like these are like
Eric McQuoid (48:41.634)
Yeah, there's a lot of them in the system right now, too.
Brian Bashore (48:49.87)
six to eight inch long white perch. And day one of my way through, you're like, got a white perch. You know, they were, they were eating a ripping wraps of spoons. It didn't matter. They were biting it in their little tiny mouths. I'm like, God, we got, we're done. We're out of here. These things suck. So.
Eric McQuoid (48:53.798)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (49:00.866)
Yep. Yep. You can get the whole trouble hook right in that little mouth too and then you can't get him unhooked.
Brian Bashore (49:07.342)
Yeah, yeah, no doubt. You're like, how did he get this thing in there? All right. So we're rolling into Sakakuea next. You know, we talked about that a little bit, looking forward to it. What are you, what are you thinking for weight going into that one? What's it going to take? I think everybody probably already knows what area of the lake we're going to be fishing a lot of. however, I have those literally, those fish will be 50 miles north to the boat ramp. You know.
Eric McQuoid (49:10.146)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (49:15.878)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (49:35.522)
Yeah, I think there'll definitely be a lot of fish caught with it being five fish and keep five fish and no culling again. That'll drop the weights a little bit besides maybe the top three guys, top two guys or so. Yeah, if they come in the right order, I think you can be pushing 30 pounds a day pretty easy just to win it anyway.
Brian Bashore (49:51.726)
They come in the right order. I mean, that's what you need.
Eric McQuoid (49:53.03)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (50:04.098)
I think I'll probably shoot for 20 to 25 pounds just to try to stay up up higher there. We'll see what happens. It's always tough to look ahead and until you get out there and get a feel for the lake and everything.
Brian Bashore (50:17.838)
Right. Cause we thought waste should be bigger at green Bay until we got there and went, boy, how do they were still good. You still put a hell of a bag in, but I think we're expecting upper forties, you know, but 43 something I think you had that was still pretty darn impressive. And then when your dad's bag on day one, we're like, crack, crack 50 pounds, you know, on three, six fish. That's huge. So, yeah, I think you're right. It's cock. We have probably 30 pounds a day to win it. I've had some 22, 23 pound bags.
Eric McQuoid (50:26.722)
Yeah, yup.
Eric McQuoid (50:36.994)
Yup.
Yup.
Brian Bashore (50:46.702)
We haven't been there since scope it's been around though So I it's gonna make the bags heavier. It's made in every tournament Devils Lake showed that last year. It's like wow. These are massive I mean bigger bags than there's ever been in tournaments there. I think we kept Seven at Devils Seven yeah, I think it's Seven I think I know I was done with my new said cut my five so must been set
Eric McQuoid (50:48.422)
Yeah.
Yeah, that's good.
Eric McQuoid (50:56.578)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (51:00.386)
Yup.
Yeah, I think it was seven, six or seven. I think it was.
Eric McQuoid (51:13.922)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (51:15.118)
Limits five each but tournament limits are usually a little less just as it permits allow so the skakui is five fish. That's it. Just like Green Bay and Mississippi once you put that fifth in alive, well, you're done. You don't get one to play with. Not a lot of conservative going on here except for guys just trying to stay in that top 40. But there are guys like us that are in the 50s, 60s that are there. There's nothing conservative about this. It's got to go bigger just you're going home regardless.
Eric McQuoid (51:21.378)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (51:42.818)
Yup. Yup.
Brian Bashore (51:44.91)
So there'll be a little bit of that and then obviously you have locals that come in that have points on an issue. So there's going for big fish. That place can, that place holds a lot of big fish and those weights can be big and scoping bags are always bigger than they used to be. So I think, yeah, I think 30 pounds and a 20 probably right. 22 to 25 is still going to be really good.
Eric McQuoid (51:49.09)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (52:06.658)
Yeah, still, yup, be good and probably could be closer to top 10 depending on the bite and everything, but when you're pushing 25 more each day, but yeah.
Brian Bashore (52:15.822)
Yeah, that's, those are big fish, but like I said, they got to come in the right order. They got to come quick. Like I said, I don't think we're making 90 mile runs. we were there in May, we would be, like we were years ago. but then those bags were, yeah. At, I only went about 60 miles. I kind of did what you did on day one in green Bay. I did on day two, but not because of weather, just because I'm like, I think there's a better fish here. And there was, and I'd fish for about an hour and I was done. it was good for.
Eric McQuoid (52:20.802)
Well.
Eric McQuoid (52:26.914)
Yep.
I'm glad I missed that one.
Eric McQuoid (52:36.674)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (52:41.474)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (52:45.294)
22, 23 pounds. So you can, and not another boat far as you could see. And those are those days you're like, I think I might be onto something. You never, I didn't think it was that good. Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (52:53.686)
Yeah. You know, that's the best thing. You roll up and you're like, no one else is coming. It's been like 10 minutes here.
Brian Bashore (53:01.838)
Yeah, on the Mississippi, I went to the spot and I was like, I gotta hurry up and get there. I gotta get there. Be a bunch of people on this point. Nope. Nobody there. Then, I mean, it didn't pan out because the water wasn't moving. It got dirty, but I went back to it and popped a 27. Still nobody there. Fish today too. Wind was blowing like hell on it. Caught a ton of fish, three, two or three overs through back. I'm like, why is there nobody here? You know, I get it. Why? Because they were catching eight, nine pounders and I wasn't, but still spot where there was a lot of.
Eric McQuoid (53:08.258)
Yep. Yep.
Eric McQuoid (53:14.37)
Nice. Yup.
Eric McQuoid (53:23.906)
Yep.
Thank you.
Brian Bashore (53:30.446)
It was fishy. A lot of fish should have been able to get, you know, I don't know. You're pretty good fish out there. So awesome. Awesome. You got one thing. We'll wrap this up. Leave these listeners with a little, little nugget from Eric on his winning ways here. What do you got to offer these guys?
Eric McQuoid (53:47.281)
I'd say just figure out what you have confidence in, whether it's a technique of fishing or a certain bait or a certain style of fishing, and then just roll with it. Try to perfect that one craft and try to be the best at that thing.
Brian Bashore (54:02.894)
Yeah, exactly. Confidence is key. It's a, so I've kind of told that to Drake when we do our little fantasy picks. I'm like, why are you not Drake? You have to pick yourself. If you're not picking yourself, that means you don't have confidence in yourself. You don't have confidence yourself. You might as well just stay home. I mean, I get it. There's a reality of, but you really don't know until you get there, you know, come, you know, a couple of days for turning and be like, I'm just not on them. And it's okay to be like, I'm going to.
Eric McQuoid (54:05.922)
Yep, there it is.
Eric McQuoid (54:17.026)
Yup.
Eric McQuoid (54:26.85)
See ya.
Brian Bashore (54:29.454)
You know, I'm shooting for 15 pounds or I'm shooting to maintain some points or slide into my best goal right here is to cash a check, you know, but then there's a, but you go into day one like I'm in this to win it. I'm going to go do whatever. I mean, because if you don't, you just gave that upper hand to that fish with a really small brain and he just won.
Eric McQuoid (54:35.874)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (54:48.674)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (54:50.67)
That's good. That is excellent. You're in it to win it. You got to have go with key and just cause Eric's kicking butt, it's go, but it is good at it. And a lot of people are, it doesn't mean you have to be, you can still catch fish. Other ways, if that's your strength, definitely something you want to work on and get better at it. You know, use that on your own time or off season. I wouldn't recommend just jumping in a tournament day one and being like, I got this new garment. I'm going to go try it out. Cause it's not going to pan out for you very good. You know, they won necessarily. but it will open your eyes.
you know, considerably on.
Eric McQuoid (55:21.426)
Yep. There's definitely a good learning curve that'll take a week or two of just trying to understand what you're looking at the whole time. And best thing I'd say too is just leave your rods at home. Just go out there and look at the fish, look at structure that you know is there on side scan or something. Go look and see what it looks like on live sculpting.
Brian Bashore (55:41.23)
Yep, leave the rods at home. I do a lot of hummingbird stuff and side scan and that's what I tell people when they buy new stuff is don't even put those in your boat because you want to go fishing. So same thing, pull up to a rock pile, a tree, a dam, whatever and scan it so you understand what it is you're looking at and play with your settings and how far out. Same thing with life scope. Pull up some docks with the boat in and just start shooting right back at the dock, you know, and look at things and adjust your TVG's and your noises and whatever. Those settings are pretty much default stuff is
Eric McQuoid (55:49.122)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (56:10.126)
is good to go. I think that that gain control on the Garmin works exceptionally well. I've messed with all of it at certain times, but it's different everywhere you go every day. Right. Depending on algae blooms in the lake or up north, green bay versus down south. I mean, you could, you're like, Whoa, I mean, I had my game cranked super high quite a bit because the water was just that clean. You know, then I'm not going to flood in Missouri river here today and be like, I'm turning that sucker way, way down because it's just a big mess. So.
Eric McQuoid (56:19.874)
Yep. Yep.
Eric McQuoid (56:31.49)
Yup. Yup.
Eric McQuoid (56:36.13)
Yeah, turn that way now.
Brian Bashore (56:40.686)
Awesome. Awesome. Eric, good stuff. Congratulations on your Green Bay win. Good luck at Sakakawea and chasing this anger of the year. It's going to be awesome to watch you and Hunter do get out. It's going to be neck to neck to get to catch fish. You can catch fish. He was just there. I think he got third or fourth of that name championship. So just a couple of spots behind there, a couple of spots behind a Green Bay. So, you know, he's got your number. So he's coming at you. But that's all right.
Eric McQuoid (56:43.522)
Thank you.
Eric McQuoid (56:57.186)
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, fourth, I think. So I hope we both have a good night.
Yep, yep, that'll be a good old Mille Lacs shootout.
Brian Bashore (57:10.734)
Yeah, yeah, it will be. You guys both grew up on the Mille Lacs there. It'll be a, it'll be a good one. And, and hats off to whoever gets it, but looking forward to it, looking forward to seeing you up there. And thanks for joining us today. I know you're a busy guy this week. You got a lot of phone calls and emails and things to get back to and those sponsor obligations to go capitalize while you're, while you're on top. And, you know, I think you're going to be on top for a long time. We've got a lot of young guns coming in and you guys are doing good and it's awesome to see.
I sold guys that, you know, we just got to figure it out, man. We got to get with it. All right. Maybe you got to jump in my boat and maybe your dad and I will just jump in each other's boat and be like, what the hell these guys are doing, you know, and if we put two brains together, we'll maybe equal one, but you know, we'll see. nonetheless. So, all righty guys. Well, thanks for tuning into this episode of Real Talk Fishing with Eric McCoyd, Green Bay's NWT champ, you know, coming up from last week, Ames National Championship champ from about a, about a month ago.
Eric McQuoid (57:48.034)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (58:09.518)
you're looking to buy a boat, give Eric a call. He's got a warrior and a ranger. Was that a ranger last week? Two boats for sale. He's hoping to have three for sale or four after one more tournament. So he might have to open up the McQuade boat dealership here at the end of the season. It's a good problem to have, but, give him a shout. If you're looking, those are two brand new boats set up pretty good and it'll make any angler happy. And I'm sure you can probably get a good price on them. So, they can find you over at Eric McQuade fishing, I believe is the Facebook and Instagram.
Eric McQuoid (58:13.154)
Yep. Yes.
Eric McQuoid (58:20.61)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (58:36.258)
Yep, yep, ericmcloy is fishing me on both of them, Instagram and Facebook.
Brian Bashore (58:40.75)
All right, follow along on his journey this year. Keep up to date on what's happening on tour on national wildlife tours, Facebook page, national tour .com. See the results anger of the year stuff. I'm Cardenas is doing a great job of interviews and keeping y 'all posted as it goes. We got one more showdown to make the championship. We'll see how that goes here to the end of July, August 1st, seconds tournament dates. The end of July is when everybody's going to roll in there for practice. So that's going to be a fun one. Stay tuned and
That's about that's a wrap for a day, guys. So stay safe and we'll see you on the water.