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I'm Brian Bashore, Professional walleye angler and owner of The Walleye Guys Guide service. I am here to reel you in with captivating stories, expert tips, and interviews with some of the biggest names in the fishing community. So, sit back, relax, and let the drag scream!
Brian Bashore (00:01.782)
Welcome back to another episode of Real Talk Fission with No Limits. Folks, the race is on Frangler of the Year of the National Wall Eye Tour. And today we're joined by Mr. Eric McCoyd, who is leading that race by one point. That is all right now. Between Eric and Bo, leading it by one, heading into Green Bay, which is Eric's kind of home water. So I think that well, odds are leading towards him, but the championships is Kakwia Bo's been spent a little time there. So this is exciting stuff when it's time for.
You know, when the AOI race is real tight like this, in third, fourth, and fifth are just right there. I mean, this could really go anybody's way in that top ten spot yet. So we're gonna sit down with Eric and talk a little bit of Green Bay, what's coming up. They did not, Mulbridge, those tournaments. He just got a couple second place finishes at guy is on a roll. just a great dude, great stick. He's been crushing it for the last several years. He's been on tour. we're just gonna dive in deep, hear what Eric's got going on, how he's feeling, what's coming up in Green Bay, and see.
How it feels to be sitting atop of the, you know, top of the ticket in AOI. So Mr. Eric McCoy coming right up after this message. Stay tuned.
Brian Bashore (00:00.058)
All right. Hey folks, welcome back to another episode of Real Talk Fishing with No Limits. We're joined today by the leader of the top of the pack, number one AOI for the National Wildlife Tour, Eric McQuaid. He's been having a hell of a season, buddy. How's it going over there? And congrats on an awesome season.
Eric McQuoid (00:01.652)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (00:18.188)
Thank you. It's it's going well. It's finally cooling down a little bit outside so we can enjoy the outside again and yeah, looking forward to keeping the season rolling here.
Brian Bashore (00:29.006)
Cooling down, you're not where I am 'cause it is heating up over here in the Dakota City. Yeah, we're like ninety five and it's gonna be that way all week. But you guys up there a little little for the north of Wisconsin, you a little cooler weather. What's your water temp?
Eric McQuoid (00:31.182)
Exactly.
Eric McQuoid (00:42.638)
honestly I haven't been around Green Bay for couple of weeks now. It should be high sixties, low seventies. I was out salmon fishing the other morning and it's still forty five degrees on that side, but
Brian Bashore (00:56.866)
It was eighty two on the river this morning.
Yeah, it's a week and a half has gone from upper sixties to the low eighties. So it's hot in Dakotas right now and it's not going away anytime soon. So
Number one, top of the pyramid. You had you like got this run of second place finishes and that sucks, but it's still good. It's better than thirds, right? I mean it could could be worse, right? But you're always the guy that's so close and then someone sneaks by. But you know how this works and consistency pays, and that's why you're on top. What's what's going through your mind? How's it feel? You're going into Green Bay, kinda kinda your home water in a sense, right?
Eric McQuoid (01:20.195)
Yeah.
Yep, it is.
Eric McQuoid (01:40.387)
Yeah, I'm feeling good about it. I know that the season's long from over at this point. It it only takes one one lost fish and there there it goes. So I'm I'm trying not to think about the AOI side of things too much. my whole goal really going into any event the last four or five years now has been just go in the thing and see how it shakes out at that point. And it it works more often than not, thankfully for me so far.
I'm just trying to r ri ride this high for now and I I know it's gonna go back down at some point and hopefully it takes till next year at least.
Brian Bashore (02:17.262)
Yeah, I mean it's it it's tough. I mean Bose, right? You guys literally have one point separating you, I think, but we got rookies coming up that are pushing the boundaries, making the team you guys like, damn, I knew these guys are good, but I don't know where you know, we don't have a rookie of the year title, but hey, he's like, I'm just going for the AOI title, hell with that.
Eric McQuoid (02:21.987)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (02:27.778)
Okay.
Eric McQuoid (02:36.878)
Yeah, it's it's amazing how how competitive this this whole sport is getting now and forward facing's helping with that, but even even the some of the stuff that we're not using anymore, it's it's just even looking at the bass side, the the guys coming in, they're they're such elite anglers already from high school sport high school fishing and there's so many different circuits out there to get to this level.
Brian Bashore (03:00.046)
Yeah, I've always said it. The learning curve is so shorter. It's the I mean the the young guys, it's everybody wants to say it's forward facing sonar and certainly it has a a it's a piece of the puzzle, but I think it's this vast amount of knowledge that took some of us, like your dad and me, us us old guys, you know, twenty, thirty years to figure and of course you've been doing it since you were a little kid and helping out guide out there. That they can get all that info in a matter of hours and days and minutes depending on how much time you want to, you know, spend figuring it out.
I mean, we just had Jaden Wendell on it, he only been scoping for a year and a half.
Eric McQuoid (03:33.186)
Yep. Yeah, it's it's amazing how everything's at your fingertips now and that like you said, the learning curve's a lot shorter if you want to put the work in and just being able to have time on the water is the b the biggest part of it and yeah.
Brian Bashore (03:51.278)
But th that's the key is putting the work in and not not everybody does, you know, so they and they don't realize how much time you spend on the water. Myself, your team, Drake, and you know, and your father and those and Wendell and Bo and these guys that when I say these people are doing us forward facing sonar, what they don't realize is that you're on the water every day. I mean some are if the ones that you know that can. I'm on the water every day. When I'm done guiding, like today, I'm gonna go back out tonight and go find some new areas and do some different things.
Eric McQuoid (03:53.922)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (04:20.462)
And that's what a lot of you know the guys are doing, or if you're working a full time job, you're maybe you can squeeze out a local lake in the evening, but you're you know, every weekend every weekend you're damn near jumping in a tournament that's around your house, but you're you're hitting the water.
Eric McQuoid (04:32.278)
Yeah. Yep. Yeah, it's it it the the time on the water, whether it's fun fishing, smaller tournament stuff, it's that's definitely the b the biggest key in this game is just keep keep practicing is all it is. If you look at look at any other professional sport, everything takes practice and that's what it what it does for us.
Brian Bashore (04:55.204)
Bay Danach was kind of a unique one. I I don't know how you guys kind of worked it, but I d pre fishing to really it didn't take long to kind of figure things out. I couldn't get them on the plastics like you did very well with the crap. Got a few, but nothing compared to a crawler. Which the I and that was kind of the key. I think you I still probably didn't probably want the least amount of time spent on the water at a pre fish, just 'cause you didn't want to beat up the fish and I was not interested in driving
way out into Lake Michigan through all the crap when I'm like, This is what you need is really right here. And it was, 'cause I'm sitting next to Jason Bo in there that, you know, and it was good to go. But you found some little tweaks and you got on some other baits. I know hair jigs are one of your favorites. And that was literally the first bait I threw out there. And I was I got a bunch of follows and couldn't get to go. What what kinda what are you throwing? What are you doing for tricks to get these things to go? And how did that one kind of shake out for you a little bit?
Eric McQuoid (05:26.402)
Yeah, yeah.
Eric McQuoid (05:47.384)
so that one was we were excited going into it. We we knew that water was cooling down the west shore, so we kinda left that alone and went and played on the the normal stuff peninsula around the corner towards Big Bay, that sort of thing. we it was it's amazing how many fish are in that area right now and how many big ones are there. we we didn't expect that, just you could go out there and catch twenty to forty fish if you really wanted to pretty fairly easily.
So earlier we played the water temp game as much as we could, kind of just tried to stay in that low sixty number was kind of the the average around the area. yeah, and then just throwing my confidence baits, which was that the Callins hair jig, and then got some on the reef the reef runner flash shat as well. mixed a few other things in, jig and wraps, hyper rattles. but those those two those first two really seemed to be the the biggest keys in that one.
we
Brian Bashore (06:47.566)
Yeah, we both kinda know the heritage and Green Bay go together like peanut butter and jelly.
Eric McQuoid (06:51.542)
Yeah, yeah. And I a a lot of people, including Dad and Drake, asked me how how I worked that bait. And really I honestly couldn't even tell ya. It's it it goes back to that time on the water thing where every fish reacts differently to the same bait and just knowing what if I'll I'll stop the bait above that fish, let it react, if it reacts at all, and then I'll drop it or I'll keep it high. It it it really depends on that fish and
Just what I feel that fish wants to eat.
Tá lá.
Brian Bashore (07:26.008)
Yeah, I mean you you s stated as your confidence bait, so I have a couple of those and yeah, you tend to catch more fish on 'cause you use them more because they're your confidence bait. So I mean it's like when I switch over to plastic and make a few casts and you don't you don't catch one, you're like, I'm going back to this. I mean, as soon as I put a crawler on out there, I immediately caught a fish in my first cast. I'm like, All right, I guess I need to do that instead of trying to force these other few baits that I've been throwing for the first four hours and never got a bite.
Eric McQuoid (07:34.914)
Yeah. Yep.
Eric McQuoid (07:49.432)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (07:56.002)
Yeah, it it's always fun trying to play with all these new things and sometimes you just gotta go back to the tried and true and put some fish in the boat.
Brian Bashore (08:05.016)
Yeah, I mean it's it's summertime, it's it's hard to beat a jig and crawler. But if I don't have to throw a jig and crawler, I d I don't I I don't want to. I want to keep a plastic on instead of digging my hand in there every other cast. And I mean other times you got that one dialed and you go to whip it out there and there's your jig and there goes your crawler, right? Or whatever cases and you're like, God damn it You know, now you got a rebate and you might lose the fish that you're chasing around and just yeah, give me a plastic any day. Any day.
Eric McQuoid (08:10.092)
Yeah. Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (08:31.768)
Yep. And a lot of it now is too trying to be as most as as efficient as possible. So getting away from that live bait really really helps that part of it.
Brian Bashore (08:34.18)
Greenplay.
Brian Bashore (08:43.918)
You think moving forward, obviously NWT's got some changes coming for next year and stuff. I'd love to see it and I don't know if it'll happen, artificial only.
Eric McQuoid (08:54.786)
I think it would help, both from a sponsor side and it it would make it it would make it more challenging, I think, as an angler, not having that 'cause the plan B or or I guess plan A is always throw a jig and crawler and if you can't have that to fall back on, it it'll make it make things a lot interesting and I think it'll shake up a lot of things.
Brian Bashore (09:20.216)
Yeah, no, I totally agree. I think if we're gonna allow it like we obviously are, and and and bass has always been, you know, artificial forever, just to bring a little bit of that challenge back, which is why most of us chase walleyes anyway, I like to think, 'cause they're they're a little finicky and they they're a little more challenging than other species. Let's just take another thing out of the equation and say, you know, no live bait. Now when you get on the Mississippi River or something, you're gonna be like, this sucks, but we can still catch
Eric McQuoid (09:46.498)
Yeah, yep.
Brian Bashore (09:48.473)
biggest there left somewhere they're on a Ned Rig. So it's I mean, just figure it out. And like I said, from a sponsor's perspective, you're gonna I mean you're gonna be throwing your top ten's gonna have fifteen different baits being used, probably. Right. Everybody's got their confidence bait. Green bay is coming up. Obviously the hair jigs are in play. You're gonna see the ripping wraps, you're gonna see a ton of jig and crawlers. You're gonna see jerk shads and plastics and paddle tails and
Eric McQuoid (10:01.453)
Yeah. Yep.
Brian Bashore (10:15.876)
crawler, rollers, whatever the hell those things are called and you're gonna see I mean it's everything's gonna get thrown up there and a lot of those you can still throw the jig in a crawler maybe it's just a gulp crawler.
Eric McQuoid (10:26.156)
Yeah. Yep. Yeah, there's there's so many different options nowadays that you could go away from it and still mimic that that cad or that presentation easy enough and yeah, looking forward to Green Bay, it's I think just about anything you wanna throw at should be able to at least be in play. might not be as easy as a Jig and Crawler, but
Brian Bashore (10:52.762)
So it's end of July, kind of that big fish that bite kinda gets gets going. Those big fish have come down or moved or whatever the case is. But you're gonna have them everywhere. You're just going out of a connot, you're gonna be running up the good thing in a sense is it's Wisconsin waters only, which puts you up to Chambers and probably a little bit past there, I think, but you can't hit none of that west shore. So that's all out of it. So you kinda got mud, Sturgeon Bay, all that islands outside and chambers and obviously.
Hundred thousand acres of water in between.
Eric McQuoid (11:22.478)
Yeah. Yep. That's it's a giant body of water. I I think it's gonna it's gonna fish pretty small, I think. Not having that West Shore option for a lot of people. it'll be be interesting to see who can find something different that no one's thought of yet. And I think they're the ones that are com but yeah, they're the ones that are gonna be coming out on top.
Brian Bashore (11:25.41)
Could be pretty spread out. I don't like it. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (11:47.503)
Yeah, I mean that that's always the goals to be if you can find your spot and y you don't see another boat around you, you you know you're on to something. If if you're catching me like I got this, you know. I thought that a time or two, then come tournament day and you turn the corner and there are fifty boats and you're like, All right, I I'm not on to something at all. The the big doctor after that on about three hours and I called my trial partner and went, This is great and this is easy. I said, But there's no way this is a secret 'cause this was way too easy, man.
Eric McQuoid (11:53.676)
Yeah. Yep.
Eric McQuoid (11:59.117)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (12:03.266)
Yeah. Yep.
Eric McQuoid (12:13.646)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (12:14.808)
It didn't it didn't take long and I'm seeing boats kinda popping in and out and in and out, you of a big bay, even in a little bay. You know, I hear little bays full of little fish. I go on there and I'm like, These aren't little fish. This these is pretty nice fish, man. So yeah. That was that was pretty fun.
Eric McQuoid (12:26.838)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (12:32.662)
And what do you think? Green Bay thirty five pounds? Forty I mean, you can easily get forty pound bags there eliminating some of that water.
Eric McQuoid (12:39.062)
I think you're gonna see yeah, you're you're gonna see a couple, maybe one or two over forty. Not both days. I think you're coming up with that thirty five ish, you're easily top ten. if just looking at the the history that ball always puts out, it's like seven point three pounds of fish or something like that. And I I the the fish should be healthy as long as as long as we can
I don't know, find spots to ourselves that you can actually put the fish in the boat. That's gonna be the th the trickiest part and the the whole LY of migration is here right now, so hopefully they start loop start leaving pretty soon and these these fish are getting fatter and ready for us, but it's depends if they wanna leave in time so we can actually catch these fish.
Brian Bashore (13:28.12)
Yeah. Yeah, they they'll definitely be fatter than the bait and knock fish when the LYF were just showing up and they haven't relieved much 'cause there's some skitty, skitty fish. Skitty fish. Back to the plastics, the bait and knock, I only had a few crawlers with me on the first day I was out there, so I switched over to a four inch SR crawler goal. and caught And then it's like three days later I'm like, I'm tired of messing with the live bait. I'm gonna put of those on again. Thirty one and a half, twenty nine and a half, all of that SR crawler.
Eric McQuoid (13:32.227)
Yeah.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (13:57.583)
I didn't even throw it in the tournament, but I'm like, I don't this this stuff works just fine. So these I mean, gold products are about as close as you can get to the live bait products. But the whole system's a little bit behind. Like I said, the L wives are just kind of there or leaving now, and that's they should have been long gone, I would imagine, by the fourth.
Eric McQuoid (14:07.032)
Yeah, yeah they are.
Eric McQuoid (14:18.52)
That that's what I always heard. It seems like the last couple of years they've been moving later and later into July a little bit. I haven't been out personally in well, really since Bait and Ok. so I I I am not sure what's going on down here at this point besides what I've been told by people and going by water temps they should be should be starting to head out of here or dying. But we we also haven't seen the big the big die off on the shorelines yet. So
Brian Bashore (14:47.054)
Yeah, I it it should be gone. I mean you still got a few weeks, so it it could happen real quick and at least you hope it does, 'cause you don't you don't want to roll in there and have it like it was a few years ago 'cause you can't run to beta knock this time. So
Eric McQuoid (14:53.911)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (14:57.804)
Yeah. Yep. Yeah, it'll be interesting. We got we we got the aim aim out here this weekend, so hopefully get out there on Thursday and just look around for a couple of days and see see how good or bad it is.
Brian Bashore (15:00.47)
You're you're stuck. I mean, maybe they'll be over on the
Brian Bashore (15:13.57)
You and the the lady fishing that one?
Eric McQuoid (15:15.989)
I got w one of my college buddies are coming over for this one.
Brian Bashore (15:19.084)
anybody. She she she lost her seat in a boat. Come on, she was been a ringer.
Eric McQuoid (15:22.862)
Yeah, yeah, it's it was she had something else going on this weekend for one of or this year for one of So I got a different buddy to come over and do do two of the Green Bay events and Yeah, hopefully get her back in the boat tomorrow and or not tomorrow, next next year and make a run at that Nationals again.
Brian Bashore (15:46.287)
Yeah, that aim it's I don't know if it's growing or not. It seems kind of they got the aim X kinda going on, so that that's good. They're they're the boys are doing hard work and over there trying to make it more and better and bigger, but it seems like turban numbers are just kind of all over the place a little bit lately. I know NWT made their changes, so that took a lot of people away from other circuits. But with the changes that'll put people back in all those other circuits, I think next year too. And fuel prices probably have a bit to do with that.
Eric McQuoid (16:13.73)
Yeah. Yeah, a little bit.
Brian Bashore (16:16.29)
Yeah. Yeah. It's and broken trucks, right? I mean crying out loud. Thanks it just doesn't end, man. No. No. But when you're at the top of the top of the the pack right now at AOI, that means you've cashed a few checks and you got what'd you get on Erie?
Eric McQuoid (16:20.568)
Yep. Yeah. Yeah, it's never ending. It's always something.
Eric McQuoid (16:36.091)
seventh on Erie and then second on Oahee and Beta Not.
Brian Bashore (16:40.228)
Second. And go back to Owahi a little bit. Now them big fish were that was kind of threw everybody a curveball and I knew that going in the air. That was the one thing on the schedule that I was like, this one's gonna be weird, I have a feeling that it kinda was. There was days it was real fishy and you could kind of catch them doing whatever you wanted, and then there's days I mean the weather the weather's just been a shit show in a sense this whole season for us, which has been, you know, part of the the issue. So
Eric McQuoid (16:55.107)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (17:04.024)
Yeah, it it has.
Brian Bashore (17:09.484)
I don't know. What you g obviously got on some of those big fish there. What w what were you doing? How are you targeting
Eric McQuoid (17:13.41)
Yeah. Yeah, so those big ones there, I I had one decent day in the trees. Probably the I don't know, third or fourth day that we're there. I couldn't find anything up shallow and I was like, Well they maybe they are already out in there, the middle of the lake stuff and had one one decent day where I got a eight and a half and then I actually broke broke my PB with a twelve and a half. So I had those two in the same day with the slot, so I had three for
wanna say it's like twenty four pounds or something like that. Or twenty nah, some somewhere in there. It's like, Well, well, this is not too bad. And then the next three days were very really bad for me again. It's like, Well we're gonna go live out in the trees and you know on Lake Oahu you're always one bite away from a ten pounder. so going on the tournament day I like, Well I'm gonna go get fish for two bites in the trees to start off the morning and then about noon we'll go chase slots if that doesn't work. And
I got got lucky doing that. I had a basically two ten pounders in the first hour and a half, which took a lot of pressure off. but the way I was doing it was using those the power brakes that I have on the power poles, so I could go down current and stop the boat above the up up current from the tree and I could throw my hyper rattle and get the pendulum swing underneath those tree branches. It seemed like you wouldn't get stuck nearly as much doing it that way.
Brian Bashore (18:44.056)
Yeah, I did not spend much time on the trees. It works. It must have been. So but that that's kinda how the practice was. You got you like you get a big one one day and it got you and we'd got some and it got me onto the whole trolling bikes. I'm like, I'm not getting any big ones, this other stuff wasn't being patient, but getting really good unders and small overs up shallow, pitching and getting fast. But you're looking like a fourteen, sixteen pound bag, which coming to term I'm like, hell that might be good enough for a check at this point 'cause I don't have a big fish thing dialed in, so
Eric McQuoid (18:44.192)
I I don't know if that was a thing or not, but
Eric McQuoid (18:49.4)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (19:02.85)
Yeah. Yep.
Brian Bashore (19:12.558)
went for that, but then water clarity was switch in, so you better have you know, you you had to recognize it quick and move. but the crank did did did well. So I think all those little things, those brakes were probably pretty paramount there and at Erie. made a knock maybe a little bit, I day two
Eric McQuoid (19:26.38)
Yeah. Yeah, pretty much each Yep. Yeah, those first two they're definitely game traders for sure. Not as much on beta knock just 'cause it was fairly flat comparatively to the rest of the season. But yeah, I'll I'll definitely not have another boat without as long as we can use
Brian Bashore (19:47.247)
I got probably got a power pole and paddle on and I use that at bait and knock and I'm like, just the one paddle with it you can feel it. I mean, I'll put it down just scoping and you know, you're on full speed, you're going three and a half mile an hour pulling these big boats around. But with that paddle you're going one and half, and when you stop, even it's gonna w keep you from you know, blowing over that fish so much. I'm like, man, if I had two of these, that'd be real nice, but we're g we still need that motor.
Eric McQuoid (19:55.234)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (20:13.068)
Yeah. Yeah, the nice part of two is you go you go straight.
Brian Bashore (20:17.87)
Yeah. Yeah, it doesn't freaking torque you over a little bit. I used it we fish tournament up here on Francis Case a couple weeks ago. That was up and down, up and down. Then I'm like, Well, I can't catch up to that fish. I had to lift it up. I'm like, I can't go fast enough. Suckers are moving too quick. I pulled the paddle up out of the water a little bit. I'm like, all right, now we're catching up. Then I hit it and drop it back down. I'm like, damn, this thing we're good. So it's I don't I find it amazing that just a little
Eric McQuoid (20:33.325)
Yeah. Yep.
Brian Bashore (20:47.318)
Such a little thing can make that big of a difference.
Eric McQuoid (20:50.146)
Yeah. Yep. Yeah, that's when you pair those and then Fing Gear makes that surge purge that takes all the rocking out and that that really helps as well. Keeps you a lot more a lot more stable.
Brian Bashore (21:01.924)
Yeah, those look pretty s pretty slick. I figured I'm like I definitely need two power poles to have one of those on, otherwise the boat's really just gonna pull down.
Eric McQuoid (21:08.522)
It y you'd be surprised at how much rocket it takes out even with one. I I haven't ran it with one, but he's he's had a few guys run it and it just 'cause it takes the the up and down and side to side rocking out even even with just one.
Brian Bashore (21:14.148)
Really.
Brian Bashore (21:24.25)
Because brilliant concept, I'm like, yeah, that makes perfect sense. I mean, everything you can do to stabilize that front a little bit better, 'cause I mean, you know this, you're kicking everybody's ass doing it. Scoping is it's the way we fish now. But it's it's boat control. Anybody not anybody throw a jig and a crawler or a jig and wrap down and and hit your target, whether you present it right, speed and all that obviously has something to play with it, but it's the hardest part is
Getting it positioned properly so you're not blowing over the fish or making your cast, and then all of a sudden your boat's drifting off it too fast. And I mean, it it's tricky.
It is not as easy as people think it is.
Eric McQuoid (22:03.916)
No, no it's not. It takes a lot of concentration and a lot of balance. And a big and a big mental gain. Yep.
Brian Bashore (22:09.368)
Yeah. Taking a hell of a lot of bounce this year. Huge middle of the game. Huge. I've had some clients recently that were playing with it and they're they're just like, This is more frustrating. I'm like, Yeah, because now you know that they're there and they're this close to your base, they won't bite it. I'm like, traditional style, you're just pitching and hoping for a bite, you know, and you get pissed you miss one or here or there. Now like now you know that every cast had a fish falling it, but it wouldn't eat it.
Eric McQuoid (22:23.21)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (22:37.922)
Yep. Yeah, if if you only knew how many say no before you actually get one to just bite it and you miss that one.
Brian Bashore (22:39.513)
Yeah pretty.
Brian Bashore (22:46.158)
Yeah, I just look at his guys like, remember it's back like your dating days in junior high buddy. How many of them said no before one said yes, this is the game you're playing right now? It's Captain Mouse, big guy. Just keep keep persistent and stick with it. Maybe one of 'em's gonna fit in sooner or later. It's just the way it is. So Do you think I've been hearing some of this this all some Tom Bowley put out and he's probably not far off, that the fish, do you think
Eric McQuoid (22:52.288)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (22:56.91)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (23:11.148)
Or feel if they're getting harder to catch now that more people are live scoping and they're seeing more baits right in their face.
Eric McQuoid (23:18.156)
I think there's definitely been a change. and I would have to think it's because of that. Like even looking at hyper rattles, jigging ramps, it's a little tougher to get on those. We have to go a little more finesse. there's still a time and place for it all, but it there's definitely been something something changing. It it makes sense to put more baits in front of all these fish.
Brian Bashore (23:42.628)
We're educating They're getting their learning curve is shortened enough too, isn't it? So
Eric McQuoid (23:43.948)
Yeah, we are. They're Yep. Yep. Yeah, and especially when there there's not many secrets anymore and since we're all fishing the same bodies of water, whether you're a tournament angler or a a fun fisherman where a lot of the spots are the same and you're looking at the same fish and and they're looking back at you.
Brian Bashore (24:05.678)
Yeah, I you know, I've had a I love plastics, but like lately right now, the few plastics I should be just crushing them on, I c I can't get to touch it. They follow it. No, but they literally just want a frickin' worm. Maybe a minnow. You know, I talked to one of my other guys a little bit ago, he's like, Yeah, because I threw ten different plastics, is they won't eat it. I'm like, normally they choke these down and that's all we're gonna do. I was like, Nope, it's gotta be a worm. But it's not like they haven't seen a worm before. So
Eric McQuoid (24:19.746)
Yeah. Yep.
Eric McQuoid (24:33.762)
Yeah. Yeah and it's weird because they don't even see that many worms besides when we throw it at
Brian Bashore (24:40.354)
Exactly. That's why I told people like these don't live in the lake, folks. These are resembling like bugs or when it rains like we got four inches that this you know, this stuff washes in. I'm like, but these this isn't natural, but here you need to rig it natural, don't wad it up like a catfish. And you know, 'cause they'll get sh short bit and they don't have a tail on and like, is this good? I'm like, No. If you have no tail, you have no bait. I'm like, you have a
Eric McQuoid (24:41.504)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (24:51.767)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (25:05.484)
a half inch chunk of nightcrawler. I'm like, maybe a bluegill come nip at it. I'm like, you want to lay it on the bottom. A catfish might pick it up or a dumb drum. Because they'll eat anything. But I'm like, nah. We need tell, you need action. You need something done to entice in. So what anything a ICAS is coming up. Probably by about time this airs, people are gonna see it. What can you say anything? Or is Acme got anything new coming out? Any just cool
baits or anything special. I know they're always kinda they got a lot of stuff now. They're in they got a quite the lineup.
Eric McQuoid (25:36.536)
Yeah. Yep. Yeah, they got a lot of stuff. they're coming out with some new new baits here shortly. other those ones that just dropped this spring or those those hammered series with the key stretch. that's their paddle tail and jerk shads and I've been starting to use those a lot more and it's amazing how how reliable and durable those those things are. Like even on on Erie I was going probably thirty fish on one of their paddle tails before I had to change it. they're
that that key stretch just really holds together well and having that that hammered texture on there you get a better return on on scope but it also gives it a little different a little different action I think that just triggers those fish too.
Brian Bashore (26:22.658)
We're educating them so they need something different. You're always like I don't
Eric McQuoid (26:24.034)
Yeah. Yep. Yeah it's
I think that's gonna be the biggest thing the next few years is just keep keep adjusting, even if we're using the same baits, you just gotta tweak tweak it somehow and make it a little bit different.
Brian Bashore (26:39.194)
It's always been new colors. No ICAS years ago. I'm like, there's nothing new here. Everything's just got different colors. I'm like, I'm kind of a natural color guy, but now you're seeing obviously a lot more forward facing sonar baits come out. Like you touched on. Some things give a better return, easier for you to track and follow. but that's, you know, the forward facing lines, sinking lines, weighted lines stuff. I mean it I don't I I think that's probably I'm not gonna go to ICAS this year, but I imagine that's what it's the focus is all about on most of these things. And Saint Croix we built some rods that are
Eric McQuoid (26:44.099)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (27:09.23)
designed for forward facing just you know the way you cast them and the and the and the grip type stuff. So it's it's the world we live in. We're a forward facing so in our tournament organizations nowadays and and just fished a tournament that Francis Case was saying and got in knowing that a lot of the people coming up on these smaller circuits aren't super great at fo forward facing yet or just getting into it or still using a pole. don't be wrong, there was
Eric McQuoid (27:17.528)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (27:37.637)
Sixty percent of them are using it and quite a few of were were were good. Didn't win. So there's obviously some guys that are good at it. But a suspended walleye bite, I'm like, you're not you're not gonna compete at this fishery unless you're unless you're live scoping these fish. You can go pull bottom bouncers and crank these flats and you're gonna catch fourteen inchers and you maybe you get your one over. But you're gonna live in a world of sixteen, seventeen, eighteen inch fish. Where we went out and went, Nope, nope, nope, not throwing, not throwing. There's a there's a big under boom.
nineteen half inch fish. There's a good owner. Boom. There's a twenty three inch fish, you know, and called your shots.
Eric McQuoid (28:12.632)
Yep. Yeah, it's definitely a whole different world these last few years and if you're not not it goes back to that time on the water thing again, if you're not keeping up with your your technique and knowing what you're looking at, it it it gets a lot tougher.
Brian Bashore (28:30.276)
Do you think I always tell those people and kind of what I've had noticed in live scoping as we travel obviously all over the Midwest for different tournaments, I say throw at everything you see. Obviously, if you're just learning it, throw at everything and you'll figure out what it is. But I feel like the walleye's kinda look different on different bodies of waters. They don't always act the same. And sometimes you kind of get that learning curve like, I think it's a walleye. And you'll and you'll throw at it and it's a sheephead, you know, or whatever the case, or catfish. Some of them obviously graph like them.
Eric McQuoid (28:43.042)
Yeah. Yep.
Brian Bashore (29:00.45)
The most part you get pretty good at it, you know what a walleye is. Like I can go to Francis Case and say, That's walleye and that's how big it is. Or even maybe a walleye. But then Bait and Ock was kinda weird 'cause I'm like the deeper ones, I'm like, Yep, those are walleyes, those are this big, but the shallower ones I'm like, I shit, I don't got me and then all of a sudden they're thirty one inches. You know, I'm like, Okay.
Eric McQuoid (29:18.242)
Yeah. Nope. It it's amazing how much that changes and even even doing it as much as I've I do it too, it's you go to a new body of water and it's like, those aren't walleye's and then like three days in you finally throw it one and it's like, yeah, that's a eight pounder. I just wrote off as carp or catfish all week long and oops.
Brian Bashore (29:37.327)
Yeah. Yep. Okay. All right. Yeah, exactly. I hit some of those at Mowbridge that were like in three foot of water. I'm like, it's carp, bam, you know, twenty four inch wall. I'm like, What the hell? Okay, it grafted like a carp or something, you said, but and you know, obviously if you zoom in or zoom out, that's gonna change the things, but I try to keep it you know, the same without moving it much.
I don't know. That is I find it different at places and you'll see some like, those look small, then all of a you're like, Nope, that's not small at all, you know, because they're on the bottom and you're only getting a little bit of their, you know, their back or something showing. You know, and they're pot of perch. We we got one in this tournament and there was like a school of eight of super suspended. Like, those are little ones, sixteens. Like, there's one better one and he threw in it and pulled out pulled out the nineteen and a half, which is exactly what we wanted. And I'm like, Well
Eric McQuoid (30:14.22)
Yep. But
Eric McQuoid (30:27.436)
Nice. Yep.
Brian Bashore (30:30.394)
He's like, I don't think there I'm like, there was one I saw that kind of flew into that. And I'm like, apparently he was the domino one because that's the one you got. And it was kinda like I'm reeling it up to get out of there and then it just flew up. I'm like, the rest of those look like whatever, but it made a knock, you'd see a school of you're like, You throw into it and they're all like twenty five, twenty-seven inchers.
Eric McQuoid (30:39.662)
Nice. Yep.
Eric McQuoid (30:47.978)
Yeah, there was one one day in practice out in Austin and Kate's area. There's a school of twenty or thirty of you threw in there, I like, twenty seven, threw it in again, twenty eight and a half. It's like, those are all giants.
Brian Bashore (31:04.014)
Yeah, I'm that's yeah, those are the ones Poe and Jane where I was in the same area, but I didn't find the big schools. I couldn't catch I only got like one or two that were in those schools of like six or more. Randy was getting them. I'm like, when I throw in those schools, I'm like, I I'm not getting those. I'm getting the individuals easy. But the schools I couldn't get bit for whatever reason. I I actually got a few of them out of there. But I mean schools like where you throw your bait and there's six fish on it, you know. I mean it typically like to see two 'cause then you get a little comp or one comes in.
Eric McQuoid (31:09.155)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (31:33.402)
You're like, all right, now he's gonna eat it 'cause he doesn't want the other one to eat it. Yeah. More often than not, I feel like that triggers him.
Eric McQuoid (31:33.528)
Yep. You know a competition.
And a lot of times we'll
Yeah, I think so too. And going back to when you were saying throw at everything, a lot of times I'll throw at a lot of fish. Get to look up 'cause then you can see how how long that fish actually is and and you can solve tell if it's the right shape or not.
Brian Bashore (31:57.017)
Yep. Yeah, that's yeah, spot on. You could see that Bayta Knock was a great place 'cause they I had best luck letting them pick it up off bottom. And then when they would it it's hovering little bay they wanted a hover. Big bay had to drop it on the bottom. But when they would turn and go down, then it was like, that's a biggin. That that one's big. And then you can even see some are like, and it's fat. That's a big one, and it's fat, you know, 'cause all of a sudden this little knot went whoop like that, and you're like, yeah, that's walleye. That's walleye.
Eric McQuoid (32:04.931)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (32:12.556)
Yeah. Yep.
Eric McQuoid (32:17.42)
Yep.
Yep. J just to watch it to go down and look at it and then swim off.
Brian Bashore (32:28.302)
Yeah, yep, yep, because they definitely did that too. Erie, they were all walleye. I don't think it cut anything but a walleye the whole week. You're like, they're just throw it there. They're all walleye.
Eric McQuoid (32:39.832)
Yeah, I I think Drake had one pike or something out there that we hadn't seen in forever, but is that haw wallas and
Brian Bashore (32:46.106)
Really?
Yeah, I usually catch some sheep head or something, but we just weren't in shallow or muddy enough. I don't know. They were just it was just wallace all day, every day, so
Eric McQuoid (32:53.656)
Yep. Just see all that rain later, Scott?
Brian Bashore (32:58.126)
Now Mowbridge. Yeah, I heard about. Yeah, a bunch of it. So we've been needing a lot of rain here in Dakota. We got plenty lately. We've had all these storms. I think you guys had a bunch that come through up in like Green Bay and that. Just got everybody's summer storms are popping up all over and causing some damages. Now we're in July and August. It's usually a little more stable. Hopefully at Green Bay it's not blowing like hell and you can get good practice in and good tournament days.
Eric McQuoid (33:11.928)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (33:15.224)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (33:26.766)
But it is Green Bay, so
Eric McQuoid (33:28.652)
Yeah. Yeah, it can't be calm for too many days in a row.
Brian Bashore (33:30.522)
Gotta know how that
No, no. I mean long as it's those two days. One good day of practice and then two you know decent. I don't make him be a son of a gun when he gets calm too, but
Eric McQuoid (33:34.21)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (33:42.926)
You'll yeah, it's that you want that middle ground that doesn't always happen.
Brian Bashore (33:44.802)
You kinda
Brian Bashore (33:50.073)
Yeah, I mean you're gonna a lot of that c super clean stuff's off out of bounds or off limits anyway, so but it definitely it definitely needs a little chop there sometimes. I mean I'm I'm older I get the more favor I am of zero in. I'm okay. If it makes it tougher, that's fine. It makes it tougher for everybody.
Eric McQuoid (34:07.352)
Yep. I think that's another part about the how we're when we're all casting now, we're not as worried about wind as quite as much as back growing up it was always we need wind out here to catch fish and now it's not not necessarily the case anymore.
Brian Bashore (34:23.406)
Yeah, you're like I just kinda have to put it in his face that much closer for that much longer to get him to eat it 'cause he's not triggered up by the cut of the U V light coming down. So yeah, it's kinda like eerie, right? I can put a nightcrawler on their face, forty degree water, and I can fish in six inch water clarity 'cause I'm gonna stick this thing right in its nose. So
Eric McQuoid (34:26.978)
Yeah. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (34:44.302)
Just completely changed everything you knew. Everything you knew you still knew and it isn't necessarily wrong, but it makes things that we didn't think were possible possible. You know, and and Springle's been talking about that a little bit on the hey, the nightcrawler thing, we always fifty degrees plus. Nope, I'm pretty sure you could throw a nightcrawler on an ice fish and you're you're gonna catch him.
Eric McQuoid (35:04.098)
I think you probably could. If you can get one to swim right in front of it, I I think you could catch
Brian Bashore (35:09.646)
Yeah, it's you know, it's kinda like a little Debbie for me, I think. If it's sitting I don't if it's winter, summer, spring, fall, don't matter. I'm gonna eat the damn thing. There's they're not seasonal on this stuff. Put it right here. It's we're good, we're gonna eat it. It's just kind of the way things work. So those are new products. batteries, you still on the Norse batteries in your boat?
Eric McQuoid (35:13.28)
Yeah.
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (35:29.39)
Yep. Yep. Yeah, running four four Norths in the boat this year. So made the switch to that the new the cranking hundred and eighty amp hour and that thing's just phenomenal.
Brian Bashore (35:41.636)
Do you have a black box hooked to that one too or just crank?
Eric McQuoid (35:44.558)
so I run my black boxes to the I got two thirty-six, twenty eight volts in there for the trolling motor, and then I put the black boxes at the twenty eight volt side. So r run one eat one on each side of that. And always the cranking runs, my power brakes and everything boat related, and then a sixteen volt one thirty five for the graphs. Yeah. So
Brian Bashore (35:50.97)
No.
Brian Bashore (36:06.072)
Wonder.
That's what I got and I don't that thing very seldom gets below sixty, seventy percent with you know, four or five graphs on it. Those power brakes I heard are gonna use a little bit of juice, but if you got them on that cranking battery, you're good. Do you got the DC to DC on there? I don't have one.
Eric McQuoid (36:13.709)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (36:23.372)
I have it, but I haven't hooked it up yet. So I was gonna I'm trying to Yeah. Well it's I actu I haven't mounted, I just haven't hired it yet. It's mounted in the motor already. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (36:26.522)
Okay. Well that doesn't do you any good in the box, but
Brian Bashore (36:34.328)
Really? You haven't mounted even. I got a little a North story. It would have been this tournament a couple weeks ago. I I took the fuse out of my autobilge pump 'cause it's getting wet and it won't it just runs nonstop. It wasn't a great idea. Because now when it rains, you get water in your boat overnight and it's not pumping it's not pumping the water out. So it's Saturday night, tournament Saturday, Sun Saturday night. We a storm coming in. It's about when I know it's gonna run, but I'll put the cover on. I'm like, I didn't bring the cover, I left it dead.
Eric McQuoid (36:54.648)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (37:04.152)
Down at the other lake hour away at the camper. It wasn't supposed to rain. I'm like, I'll be fine. It it poured. It it rained like hell for a couple hours. One to three luck woke us up. A little bit of water even came in, I think the guy's camper. It was it was it was a storm. I go the next morning, like four thirty, five o'clock, and I'm like, I know there's gonna be probably this much water in the battery box, something, you know. I opened the lid up flush, water to the absolute top. I'm like, just
Eric McQuoid (37:29.613)
Ha ha.
Brian Bashore (37:33.401)
This can't be good, right? You got all your chargers, your batteries, your breakers. Reach in, turn the master on, turn the boat on, hit Bill's pump, boom, blast it all out. Turn the motor on. Everything worked perfect. No problem. I'm like, okay, but it's unplugged now. I don't have the chargers. I'm like, all right, batteries are good. All systems go, we're good. There's no way the chargers are still good. All right. They've been submerged for three hours.
Eric McQuoid (37:34.68)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (37:47.544)
Nice.
Eric McQuoid (37:55.95)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (38:02.328)
I'm trying to dry it out through the day. We keep, you know, leaving the battery box thing open a little bit and then we keep catching fish. I'm like, whatever. We'll just I'll get it tonight. Whatever time I for like two days I kept opening it and then it kept frickin' raining. I'm like, this ain't working out very well. Finally it I get it dried and I get it plugged in and it things kind of flash and then all the chargers worked. I'm like, you gotta be kidding me, man. And and they still work. And then it's over the fourth, like I took all the batteries out, I cleaned it all out.
Eric McQuoid (38:22.83)
Nice.
Brian Bashore (38:30.434)
And just kind of re-went through things and re-hooked everything up and all systems go. But I'm like, I've had chargers just get a little bit wet and they didn't work. That thing was flat out some completely I mean, this is water over the top of the batteries, right? You open that lid up and it was flush. So I mean there's later literally water was in the boat, but it had drained out for three hours. And the batteries are fine, the chargers are fine, all good to go.
Eric McQuoid (38:56.11)
Yeah, I can't say enough good things about Yeah, exactly.
Brian Bashore (38:56.994)
If that doesn't sell it, I don't know what does.
Eric McQuoid (39:02.07)
The the durability, how long they last, they're they're definitely worth it.
Brian Bashore (39:08.068)
That's why I don't have the DC to DC. I don't do and and John got those put on. He's Yeah, this is awesome. I'm still at seventy percent. I'm like, I'm not running out of battery anyway. Like Wednesday off league, I'll fish from seven AM to nine PM with a thirty minute, you know, forty minute break in between guiding and league night. And I'll I'll be running the trolling motor mediocre during the day, but then when it the league I'll scope the whole time. And like everybody, right? We just crank that sucker on ten and go. It'll still be a
Forty percent probably by the after the end of that night, you know, unless it's super windy all day, which I don't think it's supposed to be. I'm like, I don't need the D C to D C. I could see where it would come in. There was a day of practice that made a knock. I think I had all the way down to like fifteen percent, but that was windy as hell on some of those days. So
Eric McQuoid (39:53.416)
It was. And and not very often are you fishing in those days. Not not the average you know.
Brian Bashore (39:58.414)
No.
And that's not a a typical, you know, eight hour day where you're only fishing four or five. I mean that was you know, it's one of those long practice days, right? You're out at like six, seven and you get up water eight or nine or something, and then you're dealing with, you know, big waves. So yeah, I mean, yeah, he just Norsk has has got it. There's a lot of lithiums out there now. There's a podcast folks, we have Kyle on here talking about all the lithiums, but they just keep coming out with new stuff. And I mean the technology, the app is awesome.
Eric McQuoid (40:01.942)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (40:31.544)
The warranty, the service. a guy at our hotel at bait a knock or but we stayed had got one for his kayak. I was like, you gotta get an oars. He's like, I just ordered it. I'm like, shit. I could have gave you a code that you ordered it, you know, but whatever. He got it like two days later and had it on his kayak fishes, bass, kayak stuff. And he was like, This thing is unbelievable. I just just I'd explained to him the app that he didn't know about the app.
We got a nice battery, download the app, you get two more years of bat you warranty out of it. I think you had a 50 amp. And I'm like, Yeah, I'd run the 50 amp to run my Starlink, and it runs for 40 hours or something, you know, before Yeah, before he's charged. But yeah, he so he I showed him the app and so he downloaded it right there and then. And as soon as it came in, I'm Yep, register your battery. Boom, you just added some more warranty. You're set, buddy. You're you're good to go. And as soon as he got it put on, we were still there for a couple more days. He's Yeah, this is he loved it. So
Eric McQuoid (41:05.87)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (41:26.648)
Yeah. Well
Brian Bashore (41:29.058)
It's an investment, but I think that's a it's a good one.
Eric McQuoid (41:31.734)
It is but it's Yep, it's a great one. You never have to worry about brat battery problems again. And you don't have to carry a jump pack anymore.
Brian Bashore (41:39.267)
No, no. I I think I have one, but it's not so much for me as it is for somebody else on the water. And especially when I cleaned everything out of the boat there today, I was like, that's dead 'cause sometimes I'll bump it and the light will turn on. I'm like, Well, this doesn't do me any good dead. So I'm like, I'm gonna go charge it, throw it back in there. I'm like, I don't need it, but somebody else is probably gonna need a jump someday and I can just go here. You know, 'cause those no co ones work pretty good. So Where you're you're
Eric McQuoid (41:44.716)
Yep. Yep. Yep.
Eric McQuoid (41:52.126)
Okay.
Brian Bashore (42:08.014)
Coming up, we got two tournaments left. Sakakui, obviously a lot of people's favorite place. Mine for sure. I won't get to be there until the end of September for a tournament and can't wait. Twenty twenty seven season. What are you what are you thinking? We got expectations and made some changes going to a hundred or top eighty and then some other stuff. Basically a hundred anglers now instead of sixty five. Good, bad, you like it? I mean, there's so many unknowns at this point.
Eric McQuoid (42:33.102)
Yeah, there's there's so many unknowns. I I like that we're going to a qualify only thing. kind of makes you makes it feel like more of an elite status tournament. Yeah, it'll be be interesting to see what what it ends up being for sure. it's changed a couple of times so far. yeah, it I I think it I think it could be great.
Brian Bashore (42:57.924)
If you look, I mean, the change is it's too little too late for me, but I'm still glad it's happening. But if you look at like the Mowbridge tournament, how much money went to the locals that jumped in, which is kind of the whole purpose of this for some of us that are trying to travel, make livings at it. You can't compete with Mississippi River guys that jump, and it it's not their vault, it's open and and by all means jump in, do it more better. And and I've done it as well. But it also is like, this is really hard to go against someone's.
Eric McQuoid (43:08.824)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (43:17.026)
Yeah, yep.
Brian Bashore (43:26.968)
who's lives here or's been pre fishing it for a month, you know, is on these fish and and moving with them every every inch of the way. Typically it's just knowing, you know, stuff about that system that we can't figure out in in four days, you know, or five days. But when they're taking thirty plus percent of the pot, you're like, wow. You think you did good, but you're like, Nope, sorry, fortieth pays the same as a hundred and sixtieth, so it you know, it's nothing. So it doesn't really matter, you know, except points. So it yeah, it kinda sucks. But
Eric McQuoid (43:38.424)
Yep. Yep.
Eric McQuoid (43:47.224)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (43:56.953)
That's the whole process moving forward is to somewhat eliminate that in a sense. Still have co anglers. I had a co angler there and he like, Well I just jumped in because you aren't gonna have co anglers next year. So people are thinking that that is that's not the case. They're still co anglers and they don't have to qualify. They're still sign up like normals way I understand.
Eric McQuoid (44:10.008)
Yeah, we're
Eric McQuoid (44:15.98)
Yeah, as far as I understand that's how it's gonna be and I don't I think it's just the pro side where I have to go invite only and anyone can still be a co invite, I believe.
Brian Bashore (44:26.958)
Yep. So long as they can get it's gonna be hard to guarantee a hundred pros in if they can't guarantee a hundred co. So I mean I was still have to figure that out. You know, 'cause it's been a problem at every tournament this year, in a sense, granted we've had some pretty big numbers. but even last year, a smaller number, it was a problem. There was always not like a big one, but you're still five or ten co short. But you might have to go back to that. All right, U hundred are in, you hundred need to find a co.
Eric McQuoid (44:32.888)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (44:40.174)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (44:50.924)
Yeah. Yep. I I think that'd be a good way to do it.
Brian Bashore (44:52.878)
You know, you find one whether if be your buddy fishing with you or not. Yeah. I mean that solves it. You want in, you find somebody to sign up with you. It could be a complete trainer, it doesn't matter. They'll have to sign up under your name. So I think that's a a good way to alleviate that. Plus it'll help those co that are looking to move on to kind of maybe meet somebody like you. They'll shoot you a DM or something. You'd be like, Yeah, man, go ahead and hell, maybe you can jump on my boat one or two days of practice or whatever the case is, you know. Or nonetheless, they just create some dialogue and they start talking and you'll have that
That guy will reach out to you plenty, which I'm sure you get anyway from previous code and whatever, you know. So which is fine. That's how it's supposed to work. So it is. I don't know if you've seen the news by the time this will it never really old news. We're talking about the passing of somebody, but a legend Tom Newstrom had passed away on July 5th. your dad, I can guarantee you knows Tom. I know Tom, one of the
Eric McQuoid (45:31.768)
Yeah, yeah, it's it's great.
Brian Bashore (45:52.303)
So that's a big, big hit in the fishing industry. Tom was the first pro I'd met at my first NPA conference. He just walked up to him because he was personable and kind of very approachable and just said, Hey, I'm Brian, and start and he just kind of sat me and a few other guys down and just started just spilling wisdom. Do this, look at this, start talking to sponsors. He's like, I only have this many for a reason. You only want to do this, that just for like an hour. We just sat there. I'm like.
Just taking it in, taking it in. And I've seen met Tom several times since at sports shows and photo shoots and stuff like that. But the longtime Minnesota legend guiding for years, literally guiding just up until he passed away there today. So big hummingbird Mancoda guy, I believe his his wife kind of ran a lot of the business and Tom's like, I just show I just fish. She books, she does, she goes, tell me when to where how do you pick picks the clats up and he goes fishing and yeah, he's a legend, so
Eric McQuoid (46:41.358)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (46:48.74)
So the top news struggle, our hats are off to you is hell of a run. seventy some years probably been guiding fifty of those, if not longer. So that's you know the guide life, you grew up doing it.
Your dad. What's your dad's plans? Can't sp I don't expect you to speak for your dad much, but you gotta have a little inside.
Eric McQuoid (47:09.164)
Yep. Yeah, he's he's still going back and forth. Yeah. Yeah, he's he's going back and forth. He's one day he'll say he's done after this year and the next day you talk to him and he's back in for one more year. So it's I I think he wants to come back for one more. Yeah, yep. I he he loves the sport and this is what he knows and we said we talked to him the other day, so he might do one more just so he can say he's done it for forty years.
Brian Bashore (47:11.054)
He's hanging he's kissing everybody's ass till he's competing. Is he?
Brian Bashore (47:24.078)
Yeah, and he's like, All right. Well, I mean he's he's defeating. Yeah.
Brian Bashore (47:39.705)
Yep, and and that's the trick is you kinda want to s see what what's in the cards for next year. So I'm like said I'm dumb, but then I'm like there's this much it makes me want to go to Green Bay just to qualify to see and then maybe not do it anyway, but just be like or just one year of that seeing how you know it's it's different. But but Kevin's he's competing. He's up there. he's either kind of like up there or or down here. He's not too much middle man. He's either he's he's on it or he's like
Eric McQuoid (47:39.97)
Well we'll see.
Eric McQuoid (47:45.132)
Yeah, yep.
Brian Bashore (48:08.292)
Damn it, that didn't go my way. But he's always swinging for that, which is the op you know, when he and when it doesn't land, you end up on that on that bottom half.
Eric McQuoid (48:16.526)
Yep. Yeah, he's he's definitely one of the ones that taught me just go for the win and try to be consistent with that side of it. yeah. Be be tough to see him be done, but he I don't know he'll he'll still be there during the week and everything else. So he'll as at least still enjoy the week and not go out on the the rough days.
Brian Bashore (48:27.462)
But that
Brian Bashore (48:37.88)
Yeah, yeah, no doubt. I mean he's obviously trying to retire, but I you look at your daddy doesn't look like he's aged much at all in the last twenty years. He's a fit, healthy guy. I don't not his doctor, so I don't know what's going on his internally, but he's ready to retire. But I mean your mom grew up raised you doing this stuff and and and she competed as well at all this, so she's probably just as like, Hey, as long as you can do it, let's do it. Of course part of part part of her is pulling him away too, going, Let's go away. Let's spend more time in Florida, let's go do this stuff.
Eric McQuoid (49:04.226)
Yeah. Yep. A little bit of that and they're both liking Florida so much it's hard to come back up here in April for the first event wherever that's gonna be at.
Brian Bashore (49:08.655)
The wheels.
Brian Bashore (49:14.34)
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (49:17.94)
Are they does he got a place up here yet? Or is he staying up here, or is he traveling, or how's that working?
Eric McQuoid (49:22.863)
yeah, they still have they have the house in Isle and they actually just bought a house in Rochester to be closer to the my brother and sister and all their their kids. So Have a have a place up here for the summer and one down south for the winter.
Brian Bashore (49:38.277)
Yeah, perfect setup then. They could still be grandma and grandpa, so which is like said it when he does it tar, he's still gonna be there. He could jump in and pre fish with you. They're gonna show up at the way ends, they're gonna do whatever he's you're you're fortunate. Jason Kirk's got that with his dad. Parsons obviously got it. I mean, those type of things I think are just are are awesome. Bo obviously those apples don't fall far from the tree, you know.
Eric McQuoid (49:41.485)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (50:05.91)
they they don't
Brian Bashore (50:07.006)
It doesn't take long for your kid starts kicking your ass in it either. So I don't tell you that. His goal is to be Bo now he's like, damn, and he's got me. So I you know it's like, Yep. I mean, I don't know. I'm okay with sitting back and watching you and the Nussbaum and the Bo and the Jaden and I mean you guys that are in your twenties and you know and teens up to the upper twenties and I think some are even the you know, maybe young thirties, but are new.
Eric McQuoid (50:09.458)
Yeah.
Yep.
Yeah.
Brian Bashore (50:36.066)
Wessels moving in on it, doing really good. It's like, that's cool. We can sit back and just watch these 'cause it's kind of it's a new a new wave and it's and it's it's how it the sport needs to evolve, really.
Eric McQuoid (50:40.856)
Mm.
Eric McQuoid (50:48.226)
Yeah, yeah.
Brian Bashore (50:50.318)
I mean, some of us gotta move aside and say, Here they come, watch out. These guys are good. And then ten, twenty years from now, you'll be going Yep, twenty years, maybe ten, you'll be going, Whoa, I gotta watch out, watch for these guys. They're good, they're doing stuff. I don't know. I mean you just like what else can change in technology to change the game so much, but I don't I'm sure there's something. Sounds like Garmin's got some things coming here the next few weeks we'll hear about, so it's
Eric McQuoid (50:56.482)
Yeah, get getting the next generation sucked in.
Eric McQuoid (51:04.27)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (51:20.312)
Which I'm sure you know about a few of those things, I'm sure. But we will see. There's been a little bit of leaks about some higher better transducers, better clarity, black eliminating a black box. It's a it's built into the transducers, blah blah blah stuff. It's just I mean, people are just gonna go spend more money and buy and whether they're better or not. I'm sure they're they're not gonna make things that give you a worse picture. Like Bird came out with Mega Life Two and it
Eric McQuoid (51:25.006)
Yeah, I wish I did.
Brian Bashore (51:47.525)
You how you like it. I'm I don't I've never used it. I used I got a couple mega live ones, they're great for ice. I'm like, I don't necessarily like the live You put in the boat. But I'm sure the two is obviously better than the one, right? X target two XM yeah, it's better than the better than the first one, and the thirty four was better than the thirty two. So if they come out with a forty four or whatever, I'm like, I'm sure it's not gonna be worse. But if what you have works fine for you, you're good, but it don't matter. People be it's the newest, greatest thing, I'm gonna go spend another few thousand bucks. But
Eric McQuoid (51:57.378)
Yep. Yeah it it sh it should be.
Brian Bashore (52:17.326)
I mean, and I'm sure I will too.
Eric McQuoid (52:17.75)
Yeah, it's it's always advancing. It's it's hard to think of what would be next.
Brian Bashore (52:24.77)
It is. It's if red, is it gonna tell you what fish it is, how much does it weigh, blah, blah, blah, this kind of stuff. That might be getting a little too far. I mean, I'm sure the technol they probably already have it, but it's but every little thing like the brakes came out and Collie was on her saying, Hey, I it cost me a few thousand bucks, but if I can cash a check or two because of it's worth every penny. I mean you need every little bit of advantage you can get. Yeah. Any any little bit of advantage you can get right now is big. 'Cause
Eric McQuoid (52:34.658)
Yeah, more than likely.
Eric McQuoid (52:42.968)
Yep. Yep. Raise for itself right there.
Brian Bashore (52:54.124)
Everybody's getting better at it.
I you're seeing guys you didn't know or heard of and now they're running these top tens a lot and you're like, it just they're just getting better at it is all. Some got on it really early and got good and some are just getting better. And then those are just gonna continue to get better to where you can only get so good at certain things in a in a sense. I mean you're just you're just gonna sharpen your skills more and more, but your advantage of being around a little longer is you bend to somebody's fisheries. These aren't your first time there. You kind of know what you're looking for, you know how they act. So you can shorten your practice.
You know, you don't have to spend so much time doing certain things 'cause you you already know.
Eric McQuoid (53:32.226)
Yeah, yep. Yeah, I'm gonna start looking for off the wall type of stuff.
Brian Bashore (53:37.487)
Yeah. You can be like, I know I can go there and just catch my five or whatever. Or I can do this, I think that, but I'm gonna I need to go I need to go try this out here somewhere new or something else. I mean that's kind of the cool thing about fishing. And then you show up at a place like Baitanok where they're not supposed to be doing what they were doing. And you're like, Whoa, this is cool, this is easy. So, you know, it it changes. There's what we think we know, and then there's what we know, and then there's what the fish are gonna do. And that's certainly not always the same thing.
Eric McQuoid (53:50.744)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (54:03.714)
Yep. They usually the fish do whatever they want to do.
Brian Bashore (54:07.736)
Yeah, they're they're living creatures, they got attitudes and they definitely have moods. And your job to decipher what mood they're in that day.
Eric McQuoid (54:15.96)
Yeah, it's a a big guessing game that you hope that you're right half the time.
Brian Bashore (54:23.042)
And then come tournament day, they're gonna change that mood and you're gonna refigure it out anyway. So But that that's kinda how it works. It's I tournaments always been that way. Whoever can make the adjustments on the fly the best usually does the best.
Eric McQuoid (54:25.036)
Yeah. Yep.
Eric McQuoid (54:35.501)
Yeah. Yep.
Brian Bashore (54:37.86)
When you get stuck into one thing or like, this is awesome a practice and you gotta when you roll in you gotta realize, water temps ten degrees colder or five degrees colder, or all this bait moved in, or they're just not here. You gotta just be able to
drop it and just be like, Gotta go. You know, I mean I'm sure we've all been in a tournament where we Yeah, I mean, yeah, exactly. Like we just started pre fishing again and we're like, pre fish was good 'cause I was hunting. So maybe I just need to go hunting again. And then you hit that right pod and you're like, All right, that day panned out great. It just didn't happen as fast. But
Eric McQuoid (54:53.304)
Yep, there you go. Go back in the free fish mold and
Eric McQuoid (55:12.824)
Yeah, it's it's amazing how often pre fishing's usually better. 'Cause you're in that hunting mode.
Brian Bashore (55:12.846)
But it can't happen fast. All right.
Yeah, it is. less stress, less pressure, all that stuff and yep. Kinda kinda hope for a poor piss pre fish nowadays, so I I know the tournament will be better, so vice versa. All right, well it's getting hot in this camper 'cause I turned the AC off and it's ninety five degrees and we're getting up to probably getting close to ninety and years we're gonna wrap this thing up before I start sweating through this shirt. So any tips, any nuggets, anything you wanna leave the listeners with?
Eric McQuoid (55:28.351)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (55:35.832)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (55:48.606)
I I I think the biggest thing is get as much time on the water as you can and fish what your confidence is. I know it's been said said many times before, but that's really the biggest the biggest helpful thing in this whole industry, whether it's fishing or hunting or any type of sport, it's pra practice makes perfect and y you can never stop learning.
Brian Bashore (56:13.11)
No, it gets said a lot because it's true. It's just it's kind of a fact, man. That's just the way it is. You're you're you're right on, you're dead on with it and and your proof that it is when the guy that's kicking butt says it, you probably want to listen, folks, because he's doing it and it's working. So proof is in the puddin, they say right there, and Eric is the is the puddin and the proof. So getting it done. Whether you like hair jigs or not, Eric does and they work. So if you don't have him I wanna go tie one of those Acme frickin' Kalen's hair jigs on 'cause
Eric McQuoid (56:15.395)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (56:36.886)
Yep.
Brian Bashore (56:42.968)
I got a bunch of I can tell you that. So and I and I do love to throw around. So all righty. All right, folks. Thank you, Eric, for joining us quickly and good luck at Green Bay and keep that thing running. I'm rooting for you. I think this is this is you you're due to not be in second. I know it's gonna be tight. There's gonna be some big bags, but I I think you do, and I think this is yours, and I think if obviously if you can win it, I think you can seal the deal. 'Cause going to Scott Queo, those points you're d you're gonna have
Eric McQuoid (56:45.368)
Yep.
Eric McQuoid (57:01.752)
Thank you.
Brian Bashore (57:12.536)
Bo's been fishing there a lot. Jaden obviously fishes there a lot. You know, and a bunch of guys are getting that thing figured out. Tom Wynn's been going up their dewees, you a lot of those guys are on month heading to Montana, I think, this week for the the Gov Cup. But it's just everybody's good. And now we're getting pretty familiar with that body water. But you know you know Green Bay well, and Green Bay fishes different, I would say. There's a lot of nuances with Green Bay that I always say if you catch them there one day, don't go back because they're not gonna be there. You better have
Eric McQuoid (57:33.12)
It it does. It does.
Brian Bashore (57:40.952)
You just you gotta move and you just kinda gotta understand it and that current and Springle knows that really well and he's proved it over the years, pulling spinners around them islands and it just yeah, it's just Green Bay's a tricky place. It's always done kick my butt real well.
Eric McQuoid (57:54.306)
Yep. Yeah. They they like to use their tails out here.
Brian Bashore (57:58.392)
They d they do. they got fins and they love to swim. They are fish, so they they tend to move a lot. So and a a little bit of breeze, it just yeah, that water. It's Green Bay's a different beast, but it it's some of the biggest, strongest, feistiest, fun fighting walleyes you're ever gonna catch. So that that part is always cool about it. So all righty, good luck, Eric. we'll be looking forward to while watching that leaderboard and thank you all for tuning in to this episode. You can catch us over on YouTube, Spotify, Amazon, Google, Apple.
Eric McQuoid (57:59.851)
Yeah.
Eric McQuoid (58:18.382)
Thank you.
Brian Bashore (58:27.822)
You name it, wherever your podcasts are at, we're on there. Real talk fishing, no limits. Stay safe. See you on the water.