Presented by Yamaha Motor Corp USA and Warrior Boats Inc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 24, 2024
Contact: Denny Fox, 920-505-0122
Anglers Insight Marketing LLC (AIM™)
McQuoid, Krumsieg, Clean Up On Green Bay Sunday,
But Barely, Winning with 47-plus Pounds Off The Door
Despite a bit of wind and up to three-footers, Eric McQuoid—a name you’ve heard before—and Jonathan Krumsieg of Bemidji, MN, put it to the Bay of Green Bay off the Door Peninsula, winning the final 2024 AIM Weekend Walleye Series Garmin Open Wisconsin qualifier out of Oconto Sunday (July 21).
“Fan Nation, McQuoid is definitely on a roll, because he’s won that beautiful Warrior Boat-Yamaha four-stroke and Garmin electronics and bow mount, plus Rosemore rods in its locker during the AIM Warrior Boats National Championship Shootout in June, plus two other major tournaments this season, and now he and Krumsieg nailed the Bay of Green Bay with 47.53 pounds, .4 pounds ahead of the second-place team ,” said Denny Fox, AIM national tournament director. “They did it off The Door Peninsula tossing jigs and full crawlers. They not only won $8,500, plus placed first in the AIM Side Pot Challenge for another $1,850, and are getting another $500 from Garmin for using LiveScope exclusively, plus having a Garmin Kraken bow mount aboard. Eric’s got quite a rep for his electronics expertise to zero in on winning fish, and that’s what he did.”
The team won in their Mercury 400 V-10-powered rig despite not having a stellar pre-fish, McQuoid said.
“We didn’t get a whole lot of pre-fish time for this one, only two days,” he said. “We kinda ran some memories in Door County looking for a couple of big bites. We didn’t have the best. We only had one or two big fish. We knew The Door holds the potential for winning fish and made our bed there.”
It took them an hour and 15 minutes to reach their spots through one- to three-footers out of the northeast. They got to the peninsula’s famous rocky coastline, concentrating on using 3/8-ounce Kalin’s Search Baits, a jig with a Slow Death rig behind it.
“Put a full crawler on it and roll it over the top of the fish as slow as you can reel it. We used our LiveScope to find active pods and pick out the bigger ones, cranking it as slow as you could go,” he emphasized. “We carded six fish and threw at a couple hundred of them. They weren’t in a real biting mood.” But what they got, counted big.
“Our first one was a 29-incher that came roughly at 10 a.m., and the second was a 28-1/4. I caught the first and John took it from there, then I caught the last one,” McQuoid said. “They were about a half-hour between each. We were hopping around to a couple different rock humps and looking for the warmest water that was a little dingier, trying to find where the fish were positioned on each one. And they did, a 29-3/4, a 26-1/2 and a 28-1/4-incher to round out their card, plus a 25-1/4 that they didn’t record. With that load of fish on their score card, they knew they were in great position.
“We were confident for sure we’d be in the top five or top three. It is Green Bay, and it’s always possible for a high 40- or 50-pound bag. We knew we had a good chance. It’s been a fun year,” he said, recounting his tournament victories across the Midwest.
“I won another national tour event out of Oconto, the same general area as well. To have the electronics knowledge and understand our LiveScope and how to read the fish’s mood and figure out why they want to bite or don’t want to,” he said, is a huge advantage. And winning as many as he has this year is special.
“It’s hard to put into words. It’s a pretty special feeling to come out on top at any point, and to have a season like this is pretty special. Nothing’s gone wrong. It’s one of those years, and it’s been paying off,” he said. What we all can learn from his success is, study your electronics, get comfortable with that tool, and you’ll do well.
“The last two years, I’ve been trying to dial in the LiveScope and learn as much as I can and be more efficient. I don’t make a cast unless I can see those fish on the LiveScope.”
You won’t have McQuoid to worry about the rest of the year, as he’s on to the next tournaments on his schedule, but watch out for 2025. “More than likely, we’ll do a couple of them. We’ll see what next spring brings,” McQuoid said.
In second place with 47.13 pounds were Tristan Beckwith of West Bend, WI, and Isaac Lakich of Richfield. They shared $3,400 and could also be eligible for more from Warrior Boats as the highest-placing in the field. They did their damage in a 2090 Tiller powered by a Mercury 350 pro XS, also with all Garmin aboard.
Lakich said that the pair didn’t spend much pre-fishing time either.
“I guide full time on Green Bay, so I have a lot of experience, so we went out and fished for a day. Sunday, we made a run north through some pretty rough water. We got to an area where there was a fair number of fish and we used our electronics to stay in and on fish and just picked away at them,” Lakich said.
“We were primarily jigging. I make some lures off molds in the garage. We used some of those and also caught a couple on Jigging Raps and other presentations. There was no rhyme or reason. You’d be pitching at fish on the LiveScope and switch to another lure. Staying versatile and be willing to adapt was key,” he said. “They were more receptive to aggressive jigging in the morning and in the afternoon, we had to use a little more finesse.
“We started a little slow and didn’t have a fish until 10 or 10:30, and then had a two- to two-and-a-half-hour window, about between 10 and noon. We put seven on the card and caught nine total. We picked away at them and after that it was pretty dead. The fish were still there, we just couldn’t get any more to bite,” Lakich said.
Their total? One 29-incher, two 28s, two high-27s, and a 27-1/2 or ¾, he said. “We were way up in Door County, covering a lot of water from 35 to 12 feet. The fish were really scattered. Our shallowest fish was 12 or 14 feet and the deepest was 34 or 35. The breaks are steep there. Thirty feet of water to 12 feet can be a cast length. We lost a couple of baits and donated some rocks. You’ve got to pay the lake to play,” he laughed.
Lakich felt their finish will boost their chances to climb the ladder in the Yamaha Motor Corp USA Team Of The Year competition.
“My math was, if we won it, we were going to be 5th or 6th, but I know there are a couple other teams that did alright, and they moved up too so it’s hard to say,” he said. They will be at the championship on Lake Winnebago on Aug. 2-3 out of Oshkosh.
“We look forward to it. The last time Tristan and I fished together was maybe 2020 and we won it on ‘bago. This is pretty much the same time frame, so it should be fun,” he said.
In third place with 39.77 pounds and winning $2,400 were Corey Grasso of Cambridge and Jacob Brown of Fort Atkinson, WI. Winning $1,500 plus $1,110 in second-place Side Pot Challenge cash were Guy and Cole Engebretson of Wausau, who finished with 39.67 pounds. Fifth place went to Mark Maas of Appleton and Cade Fredrick of Oshkosh, who came in with 39.31 pounds, winning $1,300. Honorable mention goes to 6th place Brett Walser and Vince Moldenhauer with 39.27# of fish and they took the 3rd place Sidepot Challenge money of $740.
Okay, Wisconsin, you saw it. Be there Aug. 2-3 on Lake Winnebago for the state championship. Then it’s on to North Dakota, on Lake Sak at Parshall on Aug. 11 for that final qualifier, followed by the state championship on Devils Lake Sept. 7. The Warrior Boats Minnesota State Championship fires up Friday and Saturday, on Lake of the Woods Aug. 23-24. River rats, better get ready. Your next Rivers Division qualifier is in September. Go to aimfishing.com to join in the 10th season of most affordable, lucrative walleye tournament series in existence. Follow all the fun at AIM’s Facebook page.
You know you want to. You know you can.
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