Presented by Yamaha Motor Corp USA and Warrior Boats Inc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 10, 2024
Contact: Denny Fox, 920-505-0122
Anglers Insight Marketing LLC (AIM™)
Kasper and Schmidt Take AIM Wisconsin Division Opener
With A Boatload: 43.51 Pounds On The Bay At Green Bay
Monday’s solar eclipse was a big deal, but in AWWS walleye world, the team we’ve heard from before, Mike Kasper and AJ Schmidt “eclipsed” that event, winning $9,000 by NOT going into the Fox River, but rather doing it all against a full 100-boat field in the Bay of Green Bay at Green Bay.
“Kasper and Schmidt had to watch their backs because of two hard-charging AIM newcomers who’d never before fished a major tournament, but they took it all by finding pockets of warm water in the bay where spawners were lounging,” said Denny Fox, AIM national tournament director. “They not only won that 9K, but also piled up a whole bunch of Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Team Of The Year points, plus earned $300 more by using Garmin electronics to do it.”
Kasper and Schmidt tried pre-fishing the Fox River at Green Bay, but recent rain turned it into chocolate milk, and that was the name of that tune.
“Our pre-fish went fairly well. Last year the bay was all ice and because of the warmer winter, this was one of the first times here where you could truly go to the bay tournament boundary. So we explored the lake thinking the river wouldn’t clean up in time. We found fish using side scan wherever we found the warmest water we could. I’d say between 36 and 44 degrees on the lake. We trolled the whole time,” Kasper said, in shallow, rocky water six to 10 feet deep, on the bay’s east shore. They settled on three spots to start, A, B, and C. “A” was all they needed.
On tournament day, they got off to a shaky start. First a northern broke off and they snagged one of their planer boards. Then things got better.
“Our second pass we put a 20 and a 26 on the card,” a better start. Then they went to “spot B” for 20 minutes with no luck, so back to “A” and there they stayed, finding fish on side scan.
“We ended with a 29-incher, a 26 and our last fish was a 28-3/4 with about an hour to go before we had to come in, which upgraded a 23. We only caught eight or nine, but they were the right fish. It was fast enough to keep your interest but slow enough to give you an anxiety attack at times,” Kasper said.
“There were 100 teams here and all were really, really, good fishermen. We’ve never been able to fish the whole lake before and we knew there were other teams on some good fish too. We knew we executed and were proud of the way we fished. And it ended up being enough. It was surprising; we thought it was going to be a little tighter. We got a bit lucky,” Kasper said.
While they did not qualify for this June’s Show at Sakakawea, they may be on the way to 2025 with this win.
We’re off to a good start but it’s a five-game season and it’s only Day One. You can’t win on the first day, but you can lose it,” he added.
In second place with 35.39 pounds, good for a $3,500 payday, were 24-year-old Skyler Woods of Beaver Dam, WI, and his 25-year-old partner Brett Erdmann of Columbus, WI, and this was, guaranteed, a definite bellringer, and possible word-to-the-wise, placing this high in their first-ever walleye tournament. They too did it in the bay, but on the west shore, further north than most were fishing Sunday, along Long Tail Point.
“We had some locals in Beaver Dam and they persuaded me to get in on it,” Woods said. “It was a really good time, because we did well, and it was just a cool setting. I was pretty impressed with AIM. Brett also thought it was very smoothly operated.”
Their pre-fish also didn’t go quite as planned in their Mercury 250 Optimax-powered boat.
“It started off rough. We got to the landing and our cranking battery was bad, so we had to buy a replacement. We fished until 4 p.m. and didn’t catch a walleye all day. It didn’t give us very much confidence going in. We found what we knew was a lot of fish but we just couldn’t get them to bite,” he said.
“After Saturday pre-fishing, we said we’d be happy to put a few on our card. We really didn’t have much of a game plan. When we took off, I looked at my partner and said I didn’t think that this will be won in the river. We should go with our gut. We pulled into the spot where we were Saturday and we had our first two fish back-to-back,” he said.
They were fishing on the edge of a flat where the water went from five to 11 feet. Their best bait was a Smithwick P10. They caught two on one, but everything mostly came on different colors. Trolling at 1.4 mph seemed to work best, and the shallower side of the boat produced most, but as the day went on, more came on the deep side.
“We got one in and before we even had the next board back, we had the second, and five or 10 minutes after we got our third. A 27-inch started, the second was around 25 and the third was a 23-1/2. We knew we shouldn’t leave where there was fish to find fish. Between our third and fourth, it was about two hours, and we didn’t get the last until 1 or 1:30 once the wind blew in.”
That’s when the rookies changed tactics to fish with the wind, a key technique that kept them, and could keep you, Fan Nation, in the hunt for more fish.
“We got our last one when we were coming across some deeper water. At 10 minutes before we picked up and hoping to upgrade our 23-1/2, one hit, but before we even grabbed the rod it was gone,” he said.
Woods said that on Sunday, they only saw two other boats, plus a few other non-tourney anglers. “It was kinda crazy because on Saturday there were probably 30 boats at our spot. I was surprised nobody showed up,” he said.
“We felt pretty good coming in but kinda worried having that 23-1/2-inch fish on the card. We know how Green Bay can be and didn’t know how anyone else was doing,” he said. Putting their boat on the trailer, they were talking to other teams.
“We told them what we had, and they said you might be in the running for something,” he recalled. So, what’d they do? Instead of waiting for the awards, they went home.
“We got home, and the results were posted, and we said now we wish we would have stayed,” Woods said. So, what’s their plan now? Will you see them again on the Wisconsin Division entrant roster? If they do well, will they go home again? Kidding on that last one.
“We’re going to have to enter now. We didn’t buy the whole season pass. Once we got second, we figured we’ll have to do the next one and I’m guessing we’re going to tend toward doing them all,” he said.
“It’s a really good learning experience even if you don’t do well. Every time you go out you’ll learn something that you can put toward your next trip,” Woods said.
The other top five finishers were: in third place, Nick Heelein of Genoa City, WI, and Jon Pautz of Hellenville, with 34.80 pounds, winning $2,800. In fourth were Brett Walser of Fond, WI, and Vince Moldenhauer of Onalaska. They not only won $1,400 for their 34.26-pound weight, but also won the event’s Side Pot Challenge, also boating $2,050 extra.
Fifth place and $1,300 went to Scott Bleck of Weyauwega, WI, and Jason Kicherer of Fremont. They netted 33.98 pounds. Second place and $1,230 in the Side Pot Challenge went to the 8th place team of Randy Fifrick of Kronenwetter, WI and Clark Valukas of Oshkosh. The third-place Side Pot Challenge cash of $820 went to the ninth-place team of Jeremy Bock of Jackson, WI, and Mark Bartels of Johnson Creek.
Stay tuned next Sunday when the 2024 Minnesota Division opener takes AIM to the Mississippi at Hager City, WI. Come join in the fun that is AIM, the most lucrative affordable walleye tournament series going. The 2024 season is waiting for you What are you waiting for? Learn how at aimfishing.com.
You know you want to. You know you can.
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