Presented by Yamaha Motor Corp USA and Warrior Boats Inc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Aug 6, 2024
Contact: Denny Fox, 920-505-0122
Anglers Insight Marketing LLC (AIM™)
What A Weekend At AIM Wisconsin Championship, As
Winners Take It Going Away, Rookies Place Second
What a weekend! First, Isaac Lakich and Tristan Beckwith cruise to the championship basically on Day One while also almost losing it on Day Two while also winning more honors, and two first-season AIM Weekend Walleye Series rookies take second with both securing berths in the 2025 Warrior Boats National Championship Shootout, all during the AIM Wisconsin Division Championship, Friday and Saturday, Aug. 2-3.
“Fan Nation, this pair showed how it was done, and it was done all in the upper lakes, as some predicted, back where AIM’s second qualifier of the 2024 season took place way back in April,” said Denny Fox, AIM national tournament director. “They landed an unbelievable 56.62 pounds in two days, almost 20 pounds more than the eventual second-place team, and here’s the whipped cream on the sundae: They took $10,000 for first, plus $300 for using Garmin electronics exclusively, plus $7,500 in Warrior Boats cash, for a $19,100 payday, and a 2025 Championship Shootout berth to boot. But had things gone different, Day Two may have been a DNF (Did Not Finish) for them.”
“And because they won the championship and Yamaha Motor Corp. USA Team Of The Year, they also are carting home that beautiful 9.9 Yamaha kicker worth another 4K, they will qualify for the state championship win and another team will move up the TOY standings to compete in the Championship Shootout next year. Fantastic job, guys.”
Beckwith, from West Bend, and Lakich, from Richfield, found fish earlier in the week, kept herd on them throughout pre-fishing, and they were so confident, Lakich said that on the last day of pre-fishing, he went for bluegill instead.
Lakich used their Garmin LiveScope to full advantage to spot their fish, honed by his knowledge of how to find walleye after tuning into his equipment the last two seasons in his Warrior 2090 Tiller, powered by a 250 Mercury.
“Pre-fish was really good,” Lakich began. “I started pre-fishing three days prior and on Tuesday had a really good day.
“I figured out what for the most part that it was all about water depth. There was a very specific range I was looking for and it seemed like that range was anywhere in the system. By Wednesday at noon, I was pretty confident we were going to have a shot.
“Thursday, I went and looked and used LiveScope to confirm that the fish were still in the area, then actually caught a bunch of bluegills. We fished the upper lakes, all three, Winneconne, Poygan and Butte des Morts.”
Day One, they headed upriver without incident, and got into their fish off the get-go.
“We caught five out of four first spot, and the majority of our bag for Day One, then left it to save it a little bit,” he said, heading to Poygan and ending their day there.
“We had three different areas there and caught an upgrade, then realized what I was seeing wasn’t the same as practice, so we ran back to where we started and made one final ¼-inch upgrade at the end of the day. Most of our damage was done by 9 or 10 a.m. We had about an hour where it was really good.
“One was a 26, then we had a 24, a 23 and two 22s as our five best. We really didn’t catch a whole lot more than that,” he said. At the end of Day One, they already had one foot on the championship podium with 27.25 pounds, already seven pounds more than the Day One second-place team. They were on the way, and they knew it. But, Day Two provided a net-full of drama that could have cost them everything.
“Up seven pounds on Winnebago. That’s unheard of. Using LiveScope for the last two years on ‘bago I’ve really dialed in what I need to be looking for on that graph to know what’s a good walleye,” he said.
“Day Two, we were on our way to our first spot and ended up throwing a blade off the prop. We hammered it into the lower unit and the prop shaft was so bent, it took us an hour to get there.” With their lower unit basically destroyed, they could now only idle. So the new game plan was, slowly putt to spot Number 4.
“Our day wasn’t going too great,” but that changed with a glimpse at their LiveScope.
“We pulled in and it was obvious immediately it was going to be game on again,” Lakich said. Fish were everywhere. Winning fish.
“We immediately got two 21s in about 10 minutes. Then a couple little ones for the card. Then Tristan caught a 24-3/4 and after that we started going upgrade-crazy. The fish had slid about 300 yards so we figured out which way and ended up hammering away. We had probably 15 to 20 fish over 20 inches on Day Two, probably the best day I’ve ever had on ‘bago. Tuesday was the biggest weight, but every fish we caught was 20 inches or better.”
On the way back, AIM rules allow a team member to hitch a ride on another boat at the end of the day, and Beckwith did that at one of the river narrows, bringing their scorecard, while Lakich nursed their boat to shore, and Beckwith picked him up at the closest launch to where the Great Prop Incident began. But, those Day Two fish had sealed the deal. But early this week, there’ll be a phone call to the insurance company about that new lower unit, he said.
“We knew we had it won probably about 9:30 a.m. We started fishing about 8:45 and within 45 minutes we had a really nice bag, enough so we knew we were going to win, and from there we just said, ‘let’s just have fun and see how big of a bag we could put together. And big it was, 29.37 pounds, for a total of 56.62 pounds.
Now, they’re headed to the championship, location of which won’t be announced until this winter, and they’re already ready.
“We’ll see where it is. It’s going to be fun. The last time we fished an AIM championship was on Petenwell. It’ll be cool to get back after it,” Lakich said.
Finishing in second, and with a guaranteed Shootout spot, plus $5,000, and first place of $1,300 in AIM Side Pot Challenge cash, were AIM season rookies Trevor Parsons of Stockbridge and Dylan Schmidt of Hilbert, in a Mercury 300 Verado-powered boat with Garmin LiveScope in the electronics, which is what Parsons said they depended on to find fish, which they finally found on Lake Winnebago’s east side.
“Dylan fished the weekend previous and found not much going. We both fished Wednesday and Thursday and had a really tough Wednesday, the same thing Thursday morning. I went to the upper lakes and couldn’t find anything and came back to the main lake and happened to find fish on the east shore,” Parsons said. “The east is our home water, and I figured that’s what we’ll have to go with. We figured we’d have to grind it out and find more fish during the tournament.” And that’s where they stayed, from Stockbridge to Fond du Lac.
“We caught fish that whole stretch and never spent more than 10 minutes in a spot. We kept moving to find active fish with LiveScope. We weren’t trying to find fish actually but trying to find small pieces of structure, and used it to know exactly where to cast,” he explained. Day One started slow the first two hours.
“Then we caught a couple good ones. We consider anything 20-inch-plus a good fish and our goal was to catch five a day over 20 inches. The first day, we had three over 20s and the second, four over. We were finessing fish with live bait, losing fish, losing bites but we kept focused and knowing the next spot we were pulling onto could be the right spot.
“We fished them all previously, but never this late in the year. The bite historically gets tougher this time and Green Bay is so good we’re always lured to there,” he added. On Day One, they carded six fish, including two 21-inchers and a 22-1/2, all on 1/8-ounce jigs with crawlers and leeches. They were surprised at hanging in at 8th place with 16.15 pounds. And on Day Two, they did it all over again.
“We started on the same rock pile we started on Day One on. We skipped a few spots and tried to hit the spots we caught fish on. We carded 12 fish and probably caught 30 if not more but the same thing, a lot of 13, 14 and 15-inch fish,” he added. Around 9, they netted a 19-3/4-incher. Then after a couple of 21s, things began to look up.
“We thought if we could get 20 pounds, we’d have a good chance of making the top five. About 12:30 we made a 15-mile move to the north to some others, and on Dylan’s first cast he caught a 23-3/4-incher. We looked like geniuses for making that move,” he said. After more smaller fish, they landed a 22-3/4-incher, almost a five-pounder, then headed in.
“We checked our card and knew we had almost 21 pounds and didn’t feel like we were a shoe-in. We figured we caught’em better so everyone else caught’em better, too,” he said, but that was an under. Their total of 20.80 pounds won them a chance at the Championship Shootout a little more than a year away.
“We were relieved once Denny got to the fifth-place boat and it had less weight. We certainly didn’t expect to finish second and to come in second to these guys, it feels really good. It’s rewarding.
“We’re in our rookie season, so that was pretty good to get to the shootout in our first. We’re very excited to go and represent Wisconsin. We really appreciate everything AIM does and how well it’s run. We’re thankful to have an opportunity to fish this and enjoy the sport that we love,” Parsons said.
The rest of the top five also won a guaranteed spot in next year’s Shootout are:
In third, with 35.98 pounds, winning $4,000 and $780 in Side Pot Challenge cash were Steve Wagner of Winneconne and Hunter Seelow of Larsen. In fourth, Brett Walser of Fond du Lac and Vince Moldenhauer of Onalaska, with 32.42 pounds, winning $3,000 and $520 in the Side Pot Challenge. Finishing in fifth place with 32.30 pounds, and winning $2,500 and that Championship Shootout spot, are Jason Wanty and David Parker, both of Waupaca.
Next up, North Dakota on Lake Sakakawea at Parshall Bay Rec Area August 11th. Minnesota’s championship takes place Aug. 23-24 out of Wigwam Resort on huge Lake of the Woods. The next Mississippi River qualifier for the Rivers Division is Sept. 22 in Dubuque.
Get in on the most affordable, lucrative fishing tournament around, now in its 10th season, and 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.
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, 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