Presented by Yamaha Motor Corp USA and Warrior Boats Inc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 14, 2023
Contact: Denny Fox, 920-505-0122
Anglers Insight Marketing LLC (AIM™)
Bobber Or No, Bleeker, Melstrom Net A Close One
At AIM Weekend Walleye Series Mille Lacs Qualifier
They don’t often fish bobbers and leeches, but when they do, at least at Sunday’s (June 11) AIM Weekend Walleye Series Warrior Boats/Highway 3 Marine Minnesota Qualifier on Lake Mille Lacs, Chad Bleeker and Logan Melstrom eked out a win by less than ¾-of a pound to take home $9,000 and those all-important Yamaha Motor Corp. Team Of The Year points in the state’s second 100-boat AIM event in a row.
Bleeker, from Cass Lake, Minnesota, and Melstrom, from Ellseworth, Wisconsin, definitely aren’t new to the AWWS podium, and they put together a winning card of 34.69 pounds using about the oldest way to fish in the book, bobbers with leeches, and the newest as well, their Garmin LiveScope.
“These two won a closer-than-close contest on Mille Lacs, where they topped off an effort with two winners, a 27- and a 26-3/4-incher to jump into TOY contention,” said Denny Fox, AIM national tournament director. “The top five finishers were only separated by about one pound, and the difference between second and third was .03 of a pound.”
Bleeker credited his Garmin LiveScope with the win, 100 percent, aboard his 2090 Warrior tiller, powered by a 250 Mercury Pro XS. And if you think tournament fishing is not work, look at the hours Bleeker put in on the days prior to the tournament.
“We went up on Wednesday and hit the water at 10 a.m. and pre-fished hard. The problem was, everywhere I stopped I caught fish after fish after fish.
“They were a lot of 20 to 24-inch fish I knew weren’t going to work. On Thursday I fished 12 hours, 14 on Friday and 10 hours Saturday. I had it narrowed down. We stayed on the south end, in the rocks like I always do,” Bleeker said.
Saturday afternoon, the wind began. He went to one spot, and one boat was there. An unfamiliar boat, he said. He knew the team of Randy Topper and Chuck Hasse fished the same make, but they fished tillers, not a wheel boat. Bleeker said he caught some nice ones and zeroed in on where to go Sunday.
“Sunday morning before takeoff, Topper and Hasse came by and said they were just getting used to their new boat,” he said. That, in other words, was them Saturday. And they were on the same area Sunday. But, they didn’t stay as long before pulling up around 11 and returning around 12:30. They eventually finished 36th.
“We were seeing fish and throwing a slip bobber and leech with LiveScope. It was the second time I’ve ever done that. I said I was tired of being left on the sidelines and I was going to join the pack. Last week on Leech it was the first time I’ve ever done it,” he said, referring to using LiveScope at another tournament at Leech Lake. He used it to work three or four different pods there, took second place in a different event. That convinced him to use it for Mille Lacs.
And before Mille Lacs, he made sure he found bobbers, grabbed leeches to cast directly at bigger fish. “They call it fishing, but this is like hunting. We knew which fish were 22-inchers and when I knew it was a 25-plus, that’s the one I’m casting to,” he said. And, they did. On the first cast to a fish he’d found, cast to it, and it was bobber down.
“The very next fish was a 27. We were scanning another 80 feet away. We got a little downwind behind it, and dropped right on it, and it was a 26-3/4,” he said. With the wind cranking up, they were still seeing fish.
“We had a 21 and a 23, and I was throwing 21s and 22s back. You’d see one and that fish would light up on the bobber, and a big wave would come and rip the leech up and the fish would spook. We spotted two more and knew they were big, and both bobbers, down they went, and both missed.”
“They were still sitting there 50 feet behind the boat. They would come up and a wave would rip the bobber up and the fish would leave,” Bleeker said. They went to another spot where they pre-fished Thursday where big fish had been. First, and there was nothing, but then, fish.
“We scanned one sitting out 50 feet. Contact. “It was a 26-incher so that got rid of our 21 on the card. We found a couple more 23s, and waited till the buzzer went off. It was 3 p.m., and we’re way down in the southwest corner, facing three and four-footers.
“We made it back with 45 seconds to spare. With that 2090, I’m getting better at running it, just letting her buck. We made it back but just barely. If it would have been calm where we were at, we could have wrecked’em.”
Bleeker threw down the gauntlet to the field in the next Minnesota qualifier, on the Mississippi River at Hager City, where the Rivers Division had just visited.
“The Mississippi’s next. That’s my home water. I’ll be ready for the Mississippi, trust me,” he said. And, he’ll be there with LiveScope.
Finishing in second for the second time this season with AIM, and with a good chance to take over the top spot in Team Of The Year points, were, you guessed it, Tom Huynh (That’s WIN to you, Fan Nation!), of Wolverton, Minnesota, and partner Nate Wolske of Boy River. They finished with 33.86 pounds.
They climbed into second at the last minute, with the last cast of the day, landing a 28-inch walter in the lake’s southern half.
“Nate and I did two days of pre-fishing and on the third, I took a gentleman and his son out fishing, (a little more info for you, this father-son team, the dad a vet, won a chance to fish with Huynh), and we probably caught over 30 fish between 18 and 22 inches. The fish on Mille Lacs are visually healthier (there are special regulations imposed by the state on Mille Lacs to, according to the state, improve the fishery) but it’s hard to find those fish that are 25 inches and more,” Huynh said.
During that father-son event, Huynh said he noticed that their livewell had mayfly larvae that the fish had coughed up. That was one of a couple clues they used Sunday.
“So our pre-fish was the same anywhere you went, around those reefs and the shoreline you’re going to catch walleyes. It’s a matter of differentiating where those big ones hang out,” he said. He also noticed big water temperature differences which helped them decide where to go.
“It was a huge factor. One side of the lake on Saturday, it was 68 degrees. On the other side, it was 58. Where the water was in the 50s, those fish had shut down or moved,” he added. The other factor was the wind, which had picked up, and staying away from the packs of weekend anglers.
“The day before AIM, all the people were back in the bays. My thought was, I’ve never been in those because there is too much traffic. So we focused outside of there Sunday,” but not in the areas they’d pre-fished earlier, because the winds ruled those out.
“With the wind I knew we had to abandon those. We just ran a pattern based on the wind and water temperature only. Those fish were chasing the bug hatch. Where it was cold, we weren’t seeing the hatch. Where it was warm, we could see on our electronics (Garmin, by the way) where the fish were coming to gorge.”
They found feeding fish in that warmer water, and sealed second with a 24-1/2, two 25s, a 24-3/4, and that last dandy 28 that put brought them $3,500 from AIM, plus first in side pot cash of another $2,350.
“That 28 was literally the last cast of the day. We zoomed back to the weigh in, so we weren’t late. I’ve had two tournaments so far this year where it came down to the last fish,’ he said. And, you can double down that bet to see “HuynhWolske” and “BleekerMelstrom” on the Mississippi when AIM’s Minnesota Division heads there July 9.
Finishing out the rest of the top five, in third, with 33.83 pounds, good for $2,800 and $1,100 in side pot cash, were Max Wilson of Campbellsport, Wisconsin, and Travis Billmeyer of Fairbault, Minnesota. In fourth with 33.79 pounds were Blake Jablonski of Elko, MN, and Trevor Schuster of Prior Lake, who won $1,400 and third place side pot cash of $740. In fifth, with 33.39 pounds, good for $1,300, were Matthew Ernst of North Oaks, MN, and Mike Vance of Edina, MN.
Next, stay tuned for a report on the upcoming North Dakota Division qualifier on Lake Sakakawea in Parshall ND.
The 2023 AIM Weekend Walleye Series season continues with more qualifying events, in all four divisions. Stay tuned to AIM’s Facebook site updates Learn how you can register for the next events at aimfishing.com.
You know you want to. You know you can.
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