Presented by Yamaha Motor Corp USA and Warrior Boats Inc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug. 22, 2024
Contact: Denny Fox, 920-505-0122
Anglers Insight Marketing LLC (AIM™)
Lake of the Woods Awaits AIM Mercury Marine Minnesota Championship: Will 100-Plus Pounds Win It?
It’s huge. At 951,000 acres, a third, or 300,000 acres of Lake of the Woods will be open to teams at the AIM Weekend Walleye Series Mercury Marine Minnesota Championship, so how the heck do you zero in on the winning fish, which some teams are predicting will exceed 100 pounds and maybe even 120, for this two-day event Friday and Saturday, Aug. 23 and 24?
“That ‘hugeosity’ is why some of our teams have been on the water since last week, eliminating areas they think won’t cut it, and notching more than a few spots they’ll be visiting both days to fill their cards, with also more than a few using Garmin LiveScope to do it,” said Denny Fox, AIM national tournament director.
“Thursday’s final day of practice looks a little sporty, but Friday and Saturday look absolutely perfect, meaning those big weight predictions might just come to pass for the winners. The winner of the 9th annual David A. Andersen Memorial Warrior Boats shootout here boated more than 55 pounds of LOW hogbellies, so this one could be an absolute smashfest all the way to Saturday’s awards ceremony.”
Two owners of two nearly identical 2090 Warrior boats have been doing just that, and reading between the lines, both brothers Mitch Weber from a town northwest of Minneapolis with the unique name of Nowthen, and Matt, from Pequot Lakes, were both eliminating water and logging potential winning spots.
Mitch was in one area and Matt another, breaking the lake into five-square-mile sections to see what’s what on their Warriors. Mitch has a 250 Pro XS Mercury on the tail of his, and Matt, a 200 Merc Verado. Mitch had his LiveScope, one of his electronics, working overtime, and both were searching and casting both live bait, plastics and Jigging Raps, and so does Matt.
“We’re on fish. We’re trying to find some good kicker fish yet. It’s been kind of a timing thing, what they way at certain times of the day,” Mitch Weber reported. “We’re close to finding the right fish.”
Weber was one of those teams who stayed after the Andersen Memorial, where he placed fifth, and he’s been on the water since last Thursday.
“I was going to go home, but the weather looked nice, and I decided to say and get more pre-fishing in. We’re finding a lot of fish out deeper. We’re fishing mud transitions from 27 to 36 feet, casting and LiveScoping. We need a couple more kickers to do us but we’re getting there.
“I think it’s going to take 100 pounds-plus to win. Somebody will have a mid-50s bag. I don’t know if they can do it two days in a row, and if they do, more props to them,” he said.
The brothers Weber are currently sitting in the mid-teens in Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Team Of The Year points, so they’re going for it all, figuring they’re on the outskirts of TOY contention.
“We need a top five, so we’re swinging for it,” he said, referring to making the cut for the 2025 Warrior Boats National Championship Shootout. They’re planning to be checking more protected areas today (Thursday, Aug. 22), as the winds look a bit zoomy with southeast gusts up to 25.
“We’ve saved a couple areas to pre-fish because we knew it was going to blow, so we’ll try to hit those areas out of the wind,” he said.
Matt Yorks of Farmington, MN and Ben Sollin of Lakeville, will be Garmin LiveScope-less on tournament day. Matt says he has to “work on that.” They also have to work on finding enough 30-inch-plus fish he feels will be needed to clinch a podium spot, which the team will need to qualify for the 2025 AIM Warrior Boats Shootout.
They’re currently hanging around 20th in Team Of The Year points, so they’re also aiming to go for it all to get in. They’ve been scouting since Tuesday morning, and yup, he said, it IS a big lake to cover in their Mercury 300 Pro XS-powered boat.
“We’ve found an abundance of 23 to 26-inch fish, everywhere we go. It’s not hard to find those. It is hard to find those a little closer to 30 inches,” he said. “I’ve been here a few times. The last time was the last championship. It’s definitely fun to come visit, and the last tournaments in the last few months, the lake’s been showing out. People have been figuring out the big bite. We hope to be one of those.”
“We’ve caught our fair share of 28s and 29s and a bunch of 26-inchers, but we hope to be locking in on some over 30,” he said. They’re concentrating on pitching bobbers and jigs with the forward-facing sonar they do have, checking the main lake basin and around reefs, then pitching to individual fish. What will the wind do to their plans today (Thursday)? Not much.
“We’ll still be in the main lake and battling the wind. We’ll have to suffer through it. We’ve still got a lot of water to check out. It seems like you look at your GPS map at a spot, and say that looks pretty good, and then you realize it’s 15 miles away. You’ve got to kind of pick an area and stick to it,” he said. He’s hoping that the areas they pick will do it.
“I predict the winning team will have to be pretty patient and fish a large area for big marks and that team will have to have a consistent bag of 50-plus. It’s one thing to catch 50 on Day One, but to do it two days in a row will be the real trick,” he said.
Tyler Kasper and fiancé Arielle Robinson, both of Grand Rapids, pulled into a Baudette-area campground Tuesday and were on the water by 8 a.m. Wednesday, and will be out again today, and with the fish he’s found, he may be on to some contenders in their Mercury 300 Verado-powered boat, with all three sonar makes aboard, including Garmin for their forward-facing sonar choice.
“This morning was pretty slow, but probably around 1 p.m. we found some pretty good ones. We pulled in a 29 and there were a few others in that spot, so we got the heck out of there. Otherwise, we had some mid-20-inch fish,” Kasper said.
“I’ll be out Thursday, and I think we’ll battle the wind and head way north or west. Today (Wednesday), we were mostly west. Today there was a lot of pitching and when we wanted to cover ground, we started pulling crankbaits to find more spots and that’s actually how we found our big fish spot for today. We actually found three spots by throwing down the kicker and started trucking.
“I’ve only fished this lake one other time which is odd because I’m from Grand Rapids, not that far away for us,” he added. And his plan, like many others since former AIM competitor Tom Huynh introduced us to it, was to pick on those bigs any way you can, which mostly means casting.
“That’s my plan. There’s a lot of eater fish in the low to mid 20s and with LiveScope, we can try to pick out those bigger fish. Tom’s my fishing idol,” he said.
And Kasper drew a “line in the water” with his prediction. “It’s going to be my guess that between 110 and 120 pounds to win. The Warrior Shootout was last weekend and a friend of mine won with 55.7 pounds. That’s crazy. That’s a 30-inch average. I’m fishing this one with my fiancé and that 29 was her personal best. There were probably 3, 4 or 5 fish in that little area in that range. Thursday our goal is to go find more,” he said. Currently sitting in 25th in TOY points, he said, he’s got nothing to loose.
“This is our fourth year of fishing AIM. We’re due for something,” he said.
Ok, Fan Nation, ready to see some real tanks cross the finish line? With that good weather and nearly calm winds, Lake of the Woods will produce for someone. We’ll see who when the awards ceremony takes place at tournament headquarters, Wigwam Resort in Baudette.
Tournament co-sponsors are Mercury and Adrian’s Resort at the mouth of the Rainy River where it enters the lake.
Boat inspection starts at 5:30 a.m. both Friday and Saturday at Wheeler Point launch in Baudette. The first wave of boats leaves at 7:15 a.m. both days, with first boats to return by 3 p.m. Saturday’s awards ceremony to crown the 2024 Minnesota state champion and 2024 Minnesota Team Of The Year. Good luck, all teams!
Anglers, you can still get in on the fun. The next Mississippi River qualifier for the Rivers Division is Sept. 22 in Dubuque. The North Dakota Championship is Sept. 6 and 7. Attention, all you walleye hounds. Get ready to sign up for 2025. Just go to aimfishing.com. Follow all the fun at AIM’s Facebook page.
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.
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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