Presented by Yamaha Motor Corp USA and Warrior Boats Inc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 1, 2024
Contact: Denny Fox, 920-505-0122
Anglers Insight Marketing LLC (AIM™)
B-I-G Fish On ‘Big Mo’ In Bismarck As AIM North Dakota
Scores First ‘Near 50s’ Bags Of The Season
They don’t call it the “BIG MO” for nothing. Both the first and second-place teams in Sunday’s AIM Weekend Walleye Series Warrior Boats Mild 2 Wild Motorsports Open in Bismarck, North Dakota nearly cracked the 50-pound barrier for a single day tournament, with local anglers Cullen Irey and Lucas Butts running the table with 49.27 pounds.
“I told you, Fan Nation, that the river at Bismarck holds some mighty big mamas, and our teams whacked’em, including the fish of a lifetime by the winning boat,” said Denny Fox, AIM national tournament director. “Cullen and Lucas from Bismarck nailed first place by working jigs in the current seams, a tried-and-true technique you can do anywhere, and you might, just might, see their names again Thursday when the WAVEPRO Big Fish winner is announced. The winners are part of the future of walleye tournament fishing, and we’ll be glad to see them again at another NoDak AIM event.”
Irey and Butts have been fishing the Missouri there since they were 11 or so. Both are 26, and as Denny Fox said, another pair of AIM “young guns” who joined in on the fun on the Missouri in their 175 Mercury Verado-powered boat. They found their fish north of the launch somewhere near Bismarck, but since they’ve got another event coming, weren’t too specific on the whereabouts.
Spawning fish are also moving fish, but they ganged up on five bigs to take home $3,500 thanks to being on the river, all the time.
“We’re always pre-fishing, checking different areas,” Cullen said. “We fished all day Friday and most of the day Saturday. We ran up from Graners to north of ‘double ditch’ (a historical Mandan Native American site). We had a handful of spots and narrowed it to a couple. We caught a few nice ones and left them alone. It was rainy Friday and Saturday and the wind, but we put our time in.”
“The river level has been pretty stable lately. Sunday, we went north. We didn’t fish there a whole lot the day before, and hoped the fish were still there,” Irey said. They were, and then some.
“We pulled in and got a couple smaller ones, then Lucas got on a hot streak. We had a 22 and a 25 on the card pretty fast,” he said, but they didn’t use them in their top five. Why?
“We ended up then getting a 28 and a 27, then it was a little slower for maybe 30 or 45 minutes, then Lucas ended up sticking the largest he’s ever put in a boat, a 32-incher. It was quite the battle. I saw it right away,” he remembered, “and I said, that is a giant. I was going to net it and I couldn’t believe it. On the AIM scale it was definitely upwards of 13.9 pounds, and definitely a kicker for us.
“We did have set lines out, but we never got anything on those. Everything was caught pitching jigs and minnows and a couple on plastics, and all with JT rods (an AIM sponsor),” he said. After that excitement, things slowed.
They ended the day with that hawg 32, and merely one 28 and three in the 27-inch range. And that, Fan Nation, is why they were able to discard two fish that would have been on the AIM scorecard anywhere else, the 22- and a 25-incher.
“Once we got that last 27-incher, we felt pretty good,” Irey said, in one of the first understatements of the season.
“We gave ourselves plenty of time to get back because there are a lot of sunken trees and sandbars out there. We added it up and figured we had close to 50 pounds. We were thinking that could do it, but on this river, you never know. Some friends had a 55-pound bag last year. It can produce some huge fish, and we barely snuck by.
“We got in a little early to be safe. We talked with Bob and Sheldon and they said the lengths they had and we both said, this is going to be a close one,” Irey said.
They decided to enter the Bismarck AIM tourney because, they said, they lived there, so what the heck. “We might end up doing a couple more this year. We’re going to talk about it. Sakakawea if it lines up (AIM visits June 16 and Aug. 11). We seem to have pretty good luck there.” Well, they sure had pretty good luck at Bismarck, winning $3,500.
Finishing in second were the aforementioned Sheldon Meidinger of Bismarck, and his partner Robert Crow who drove from Paterson, Washington, to jump in a Mercury 400 V 10-powered boat, with Garmin among the electronics.
He was also silent about where specifically they found their 48.04 pounds of fish that earned them $2,000 plus first in the AIM Side Pot Challenge and an extra $600, but it was only about two miles from the launch.
“We have certain areas where fish hold in the Missouri, where the fish are doing their thing” this time of year, Meidinger said. They netted spawning fish and post-spawners.
“We were catching fish either moving up or moving back,” he added. “Our first fish was a 16, and the second was a 27-incher. We got a 26 and a 25, and near the end of the day got two 29s and one 30,” he said. Not bad, not bad.
“We had four spots we wanted to hit, but didn’t have to leave the first one,” he said. They too, were pitching jigs with minnows. “We tried some plastics and dragging creek chubs, but pitching minnows was best,” Meidinger said. “We had our first five fish by about 9 a.m., then we upgraded. We landed about 11 fish. We caught the last 30-incher with about a half-hour to go. If we had upgraded that 26 to a 27, that would have done’r.”
Meidinger said he likes that two 26-year-olds won it all. “They’re the young guns coming up. I’ve known those two since they were in high school. I like the AIM format. It was nice to see those big fish all go back.”
Finishing in third place with 43.01 pounds and earning $1,000 were Dylan Martell and Thomas Leintz of Hazen. In fourth and taking $800 plus $360 for second place in the Side Pot Challenge were Brandon Van Dusen of Minot and Wyatt Wahl of Mandan, who carded 35.30 pounds. Fifth and $500 with 35.06 pounds went to Kaden Steiner of Kulm and Joseph Noton of McHenry.
Third place cash of $240 in the Side Pot Challenge went to Lonnie Jacobs of Douglas and Matt Lang of Turtle Lake.
If you thought April was a non-stop month, Fan Nation, wait till you see May’s lineup. AIM teams get busy again in North Dakota Sunday, May 12, at Lake Audubon, a part of the Sakakawea system. May 19, it’s twofer time, with Wisconsin’s run on the Bay of Green Bay at Oconto and another in Minnesota on Big Stone Lake. Rivers Division, you’re up again May 5th. We’re havin’ fun and know all you out there are too, watching these teams at their best. We’ll be highlighting all at AIM’s Facebook page. Get in on any or all four divisions now by going to aimfishing.com to learn how.
You know you want to. You know you can.
Anglers Insight Marketing LLC (AIM™) is a unique tournament organization created and owned by many of the most accomplished and recognizable professional walleye anglers, along with others who share the mission of advancing competitive walleye fishing and making it sustainable into the future.
AIM is committed to marketing excellence on behalf of its tournament competitors, the tournament host communities, and the brands that partner with it. AIM is also committed to maintaining healthy fisheries across the nation by the development of the exclusive AIM Catch-Record-Release™ format which is integral to its dynamic events and unparalleled consumer engagement. For more information about AIM™, AIM Pro Walleye Series™, AIM Weekend Walleye Series, AIM sponsors and AIM anglers, visit www.aimfishing.com.
AIM Presenting Sponsors: Yamaha Motor Corporation U.S.A. and Warrior Boats inc.
AIM Supporting Sponsors: Mercury Marine, Garmin, Power Pole, Worldwide Marine Insurance, Off Shore Tackle, Gemini Sport Marketing, JT Outdoors Products, McQuoids Inn, Rosemore Outdoor Gear, Outdoor Authority fish house rentals, Adventure Recreational Finance, Oconto County WI., Forever Barnwood