Presented by Yamaha Motor Corp USA and Warrior Boats Inc.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 14, 2024
Contact: Denny Fox, 920-505-0122
Anglers Insight Marketing LLC (AIM™)
Wind? What Wind? Father-Son Team Wendel Takes AIM Warrior Boats Father’s Day Open On Lake Sakakawea
Neither North Dakota wind nor more North Dakota wind failed to stop the father-son team of 17-year-old captain Jayden and father Brent Wendel from “chubbing” on Lake Sakakawea to take the AIM Weekend Walleye Series Warrior Boats Pure Powersports Father’s Day Open Sunday (June 16) out of Garrison, besting the field with 37.66 pounds following a 30-mile push into four- to five-foot waves and back.
“Talk about young guns and the newest set of sticks coming up, Jayden and his first-mate Brent topped their five with a 31-incher after a bumpy morning ride west,” said Denny Fox, AIM national tournament director. “It was a Father’s Day they’ll remember, and it set them to move up big in Yamaha Outboards Team Of The Year NoDak standings. And, in second place, we’ve got the ‘older generation,’ a 29- and a 26-year-old. Fan Nation, Catch-Record-ReleaseÔ is the way to go to preserve what we’re all fishing for, and these two teams prove C-R-R’s got a great future in North Dakota.”
In only their second full season that includes coming off an appearance in the AIM Warrior Boats National Championship Shootout on Sakakawea in May, Team Wendel, from Valley City, ND, weren’t put off by the lake’s topping waves and winds that the National Weather Service predicted were gusting to near-gale force. They drove through it in a Mercury 400 Verado-powered boat to earn $3,500, plus those TOY points.
“She was rough,” Jayden said, which is an understatement for what they cut through on their way west, nearly to the end of the AIM tournament boundary, to near Beaver Creek Bay on the lake’s south-central shore.
They settled on that spot during pre-fish, knowing also of the weather that would come Sunday, including four- and five-footers on the main lake. But, bay fishing, he said, isn’t in their wheelhouse.
“We’re not very good with bay fishing, that’s not our style. We like fishing main lake points,” he continued, and they chose an area near Beaver Bay, 25 miles west.
“We pre-fished there the whole time. We had five spots that actually contained tournament quality fish. Sunday our first spot we started on was our best. But there weren’t any fish there, so we moved back five or so miles east to our second, and that’s where we found all the fish. We actually trolled straight into the wind,” he said. “We had to put our trolling motor on 10 to get it at .2mph. Our batteries eventually died out with an hour left,” but they filled their card, including a 31-incher that’s in the running for WAVEPRO’S Big Fish Thursday.
“The biggest thing was trying to keep boat control. We were both in the back. I’m usually in the front but we couldn’t do it. A wave would hit, and I’d be drenched, so I went to the back and focused on the remote to keep the boat perfectly lined and kept grinding. Waves did get a little smaller in the middle of the day, but morning was really rough,” he said.
The rest of their card included a 27-1/2, two 25-1/2, and a 19-3/4-inch fish. The 31-incher was the first, netted around 10:30 a.m., and the rest about every 30 minutes, he said.
“It was only about a 200-yard stretch on a main lake point. We’d troll up through the waves, reel up and fly back and start over, probably about 30 times,” he said. But that 19-incher had them stressed. They couldn’t shake it off their card.
“We debated about trolling cranks. On the way back in the back of our minds the whole time it was only a three-pound fish and that can really hurt you, especially on this lake,” he said. At the awards, he said, the countdown began. “I first heard fifth place and it was 27 pounds, and I was thinking, a 10-pound gap that’s pretty good. Fourth, an eight-pound gap, still good. I knew we had 37 but someone else could have gotten a really good bag. It wasn’t until second was announced that we knew,” he said. The win will help them in TOY standings.
“This year has been pretty rough. It’s looking better now. We really don’t like to fish the Missouri or Lake Audubon. I think the next two stops are our favorites, Parshall and Devils Lake. I think we feel pretty good about them,” he said. Since first fishing one AIM, they’re hooked on C-R-R.
“It’s way more simple and clean. You don’t have to worry about anything. It allows you to have a bigger bag. You can’t cull in North Dakota,” he said, so AIM’s format is a perfect fit.
The second-place team of 29-year-old Brandon Van Dusen of Minot and 26-year-old Wyatt Wahl of Mandan did their work in the spot the winners didn’t want to be, Douglas Bay. Their card totaled 34.83 pounds, for $2,000, plus $750 in first-place AIM Side Pot Challenge cash, and those all-important TOY points, also in a Mercury 400 Verado-powered boat. They kept looking for warmer water to trigger their fish.
“We fished the National at the west end three weeks ago. We’ve had some goofy weather here. It warmed up, then got cool, then warmed. It’s mid-June and the lake is like it’s a month behind. So our biggest thing was water temperature. When we got out pre-fishing it was the mid to low 50s, so it was looking for the warmest we could find,” he said. But, the wind farm that is North Dakota had other plans.
“We noticed on tournament day it would be a really strong west wind so we thought we wouldn’t be able to get to our fish, so we changed things up the last two days,” he said Protection is the better part of valor, and if you find both fish and protected water, even better. The spot they tucked into on Sunday was calm, and they were the only boat there.
“We made the five miles to Douglas Bay. We tried to hug the north shore,” he said, and when they arrived, swirling winds made it tough. On to the next. It was less protected, and they abandoned it after 30 minutes to spot No. 3, which was their “numbers,” spot, producing more but smaller fish in practice. That changed.
“In our first hour we noticed a lot of fish. They seemed really active, chasing our baits, but we could get them to bite. They thought about moving again, but, Van Dusen said, “I said to Wyatt, ‘we’re so close. We’ve got to keep working and once we figure out what they want we’ll catch’em.’” They did, one about every 30 minutes.
“We kept pitching different things, live bait, plastic, smaller jigs, larger jigs, worms, minnows, leeches, and then it seemed maybe 10 or 10:30 the water temperature crept up to about 60, and we caught our first fish, a 26-incher. We never caught anything that big in practice there.
“We caught three live-baiting and two pitching jigs with a shiner minnow. We got our bait in front of enough bigger marks and eventually we’d get one out of every 10,” he said. They planned to leave with plenty of time but had no idea what the main lake they’d have to traverse looked like. With another 25-incher that hit 10 minutes before lift-off, they got to the bay’s mouth and saw they’d have to chug through following four- and five-footers, riding with the bow high.
“We felt that regardless of how we finished we were excited with the weight we had put up. We felt like we put ourselves into position to have a solid finish,” Van Dusen said.
“We started out the year well with a fourth place then fell into the middle of the pack. At the national championship we didn’t fish very well, so we made it a point to learn from our mistakes and come out here with a good finish and points.”
And now they’re both looking forward to the next event in August and the finish at Devils Lake, which used to be one he loved to hate, but now is the opposite.
“We did our first AIM tournament there four years ago and over the years it’s turned into my favorite body of water to fish by far. I cannot wait to go back,” he said.
Third place was filled by Matthew Liebel of Williston and Tory Hill of Minot, with 30.15 pounds, good for $1,100, plus second in the Side Pot Challenge for another $450. In fourth was Grant Miller and Cole Frenzel of Dickinson, who finished with 29.50 pounds, taking home $950 and third in the Side Pot Challenge for another $300. Fifth went to Justin Krieger and Rick Ellingson of Williston, who boated 27.10 pounds plus $500 and $200 extra from Garmin for running one of its trolling motors. Honorable Mention goes to Ross and Reid Grothe who finished in 6th earning them $350 but also $300 from Garmin Rewards for all Garmin electronics on board.
Fan Nation, we’re leaving windy NoDak for a while. This Sunday’s event on the Mississippi at Hastings, MN, for the AWWS Open on Pools 2 and 3 and the St. Croix River has been postponed due to high water there. We’ll let you know about a rescheduled date. AIM teams can now relax a bit. We’ll be back in North Dakota on Aug. 11. Next up in Wisconsin, it will be July 21 at Oconto. And Minnesota, it’s Leech Lake on July 14.
That means you’ve got loads of time to get in on the fun. Go to aimfishing.com to join the 10th season of the most affordable, lucrative walleye tournament. Follow it all at AIM’s Facebook page.
You know you want to. You know you can.
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