Presented by Yamaha Motor Corp USA and Warrior Boats Inc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 12, 2023
Contact: Denny Fox, 920-505-0122
Anglers Insight Marketing LLC (AIM™)
Team Rosemore Coasts To AIM Minnesota Qualifier Win With 47-Plus Pounds On Mississippi At Hager City Sunday
Well, Fan Nation, Evan Rosemore said that sometimes, 30 pounds can win on the Mississippi. But, maybe 50 would take it. And, he said at midweek, he and father Steven still needed to “figure out” the river’s walleye. Well on Sunday (July 9), they showed they definitely had it figured, sinking the competition by nearly 13-1/2 pounds to take the AIM Weekend Walleye Series Warrior Boats/The Boat Center Open, the third Minnesota qualifier of the season.
“Team Rosemore carded 47.93 pounds at Hager City to take this one going away, and they went away with $7,800,” said Denny Fox, AIM national tournament director. “They did it in Lake Pepin as teams battled the mayfly hatch, and they used their electronics, used a new prototype Rosemore rod, adapted, and won.”
Towards the end of pre-fishing, Evan, from North Branch, and Steven, of Cloquet, noticed a few tips that the lake was giving them on their Garmin LiveScope. They’d been catching a lot of fish, but not winners.
“We ended up finding a YouTube video from a couple of years ago in mid-July, and those anglers were trolling Bandits at 3 mph, so we dinked around a bit,” he said. Meaning, they trolled bandits at 3 mph. Bingo. Steven popped a 30-incher in 10 feet of water on a mud flat, Evan said. “So what we figured was, there was a small area of the mud that was overproducing mayflies the last couple of days.”
“So we trolled big baits fast to try to keep the undesirable fish off, and going into the tournament we were hopeful we’d get 10 or 12 from that spot and then scramble to get 18- or 19-inchers, and we were just about to leave after we caught two, when we got a double, a 24-and a 29-inch, so we decided to stay,” he said. Good move.
“We started the day with a 26 and that 30-1/4, and then a 29 a 24 and caught another 24-incher. We got a 27 early in the afternoon and as we were about to pack up, we caught a 28. We were trolling Bandit Generator Walleye Deep lures, 30 feet behind on 20-pound mono to keep them higher.
“We were seeing on our LiveScope there were random patches of weeds sticking up three feet off the bottom so once in a while we’d pick up little weeds, but for the most part we were running clear and that what put us right in the strike zone,” he said. Tickling a weed once in a while just above all of the fish coaxed them to hit, and got it done.
“There were fish and mayflies and bugs all over the place. There were gar and drum and we saw a paddlefish jump right next to the boat,” he added.
“We planned to come in about a half-hour early and we knew we had a really good bag, but it was kind of one of those thoughts of, what if someone bests us. I’m really happy, but someone could still have 50. There’s a lot of good anglers on the river, so I’m just happy it all came together,” he said.
And what’s also cool is, they did it on a new prototype rod he makes as the head of Rosemore Outdoor Gear, an AIM sponsor. The new eight-foot-six rod will be available in limited quantities later this summer, more by spring.
“It’s a really good blend of a soft tip and a great backbone that’s good for pulling boards, handling headshakes and wave surges. It’s pretty much everything I could have dreamt for in a trolling rod,” he said. “If you’ve got a shorter rod, you have to pick one or the other. It’s the best of both worlds. It has a good balance of length and with that you get that soft tip and still have enough strength to pull in big fish.”
Placing second and earning $2,700, plus first in the side pot for another $1,900, and earning $750 in Yamaha Power Pay for the highest-placing finish aboard their Yamaha 300-powered and Garmin-equipped boat were William Shaw and Brett King of Hager City. King spoke for both. Planning ahead helped, King said, especially with plenty of willow cats and 40 dork rigs (local rigs popular on the river). They lost most on the rocks of Pool 3, but that’s also where they found the fish.
“It actually worked out pretty well. It was a challenging practice knowing there was a pretty decent bite on Lake Pepin, but living here and watching the mayfly hatch continue, I had a gut feeling it was going to have a deep impact, so I resisted the temptation of fishing the lake and stuck to the river,” King said. Pre-fishing came together on the last day.
“The upper end of Pool 4 is my comfort zone, but on the last day of practice we were fishing Pool 3 catching 19- to 20-inch fish off each wing dam. I just kept digging and rolled into one last area and about 5:30 proceeded to catch 12 to 15 walleyes pretty quickly, and one was a 24-incher. That brought me back up to Pool 3 Sunday,” he said, locking through quickly.
“By the time we dropped anchor we had five probably over 18 inches by 8:20 and by 10:40 our smallest fish on the card was 22, with one 27-lincher in there. And probably about noon we got another kicker, a 27-incher, and that rounded us out.
“We used a combination of live bait rigs with willow cats, but close to half the fish came on a jig and plastic. But boy, did we earn it. Between me and Will, we tied up 40 rigs Friday, and not only were we out of willow cats, but we had only four rigs left. We were fishing rock structure with the most current because the flow was so little. It would gravitate the fish to where there was flow, and it worked out,” he said. He praised the Rosemores for trouncing the field.
“Hats off to the Rosemores. You look at the spread from first to second and second to third (that one was 8.52 pounds), that’s quite a spread. And hats off to the AIM tournament organizers for always running the best walleye event in the country as far as I’m concerned. That’s due to great companies like Warrior and Yamaha continuing to help them carry the torch.”
And, he said, at least for him, forward-facing imaging didn’t play a role. “It was good old-fashioned combat river fishing. We should have had a camera in the boat to show how busy we were,” he said.
You’ll be seeing more of King & Co. competing in AIM’s new Rivers Division, with the next show on that card in September.
Filling in the top five, and in third place were Chad Bleeker of Cass Lake MN and Logan Melstrom of Ellsworth, WI. They earned $2,250, plus $1,140 in side pot cash with 25.97 pounds. Fourth place went to Zachary Christenson of Cambridge and Tim Chick of Minnesota City for carding 25.60 pounds, good for $1,400 plus $760 in side pot cash. Finishing fifth with $1,300 were Dan McGuire of Spring Valley, WI, and Rich Law of Altura, MN, who scored 24.94 pounds.
Next up in Minnesota, AIM will be back at Otter Tail Lake on Sunday, July 30 where a 100-boat field will play with its walleye. But, stay tuned later this week at AIM’s Facebook site for a recap of North Dakota’s Devils Lake event, and a preview of AIM’s Garmin Open on Lake Winnebago next Sunday, July 16.
There are still more events coming up, including in AIM’s new Rivers Division. Learn how you can register for those events, including the 2024season, at aimfishing.com.
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, Navionics, Power Pole, Worldwide Marine Insurance, Off Shore Tackle, Gemini Sport Marketing, Moonshine Lures Shiver Minnow, JT Outdoors Products, McQuoids Inn, Rosemore Outdoor Gear, Outdoor Authority fish house rentals, Island Bar and Grill, Bait Box on the Rock, Oconto County WI, Odyssey Battery.