Presented by Yamaha Motor Corp USA and Warrior Boats LLC.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 27, 2018
Contact: Denny Fox, 920-505-0122
Anglers Insight Marketing LLC (AIM™)
Winning Hand Over Hand Brings $8K to Team Adams In Day Two Of AWWS Dual Duel on Minnesota’s Leech Lake
Sometimes in life, and that includes fishing, destiny taps you on the shoulders and whispers, “follow me.”
The Universe smiles on your fortunes despite everything, and you pull it off. And during the AIM Weekend Walleye Series Warrior Boats/Highway 3 Marine Open, a.k.a., Day Two of The Dual Duel on Minnesota’s Leech Lake, a whole lotta things went wrong, but a whole lot also went right for husband and wife Dean and Nancy Adams, earning them $8,000 and first place.
First, because of work issues with Nancy, they never pre-fished Leech until Saturday. Second, they’d only been on the lake two or three times before in a boat. So Dean couldn’t tell you the name of the area on Walker Bay’s south end they fished. Third, neither had ever rigged walleye before. Fourth, their winning fish had to be brought in by hand. No, he didn’t jump in the lake after it, but almost. And, Dean says, Nancy, an accomplished walleye angler, caught all the fish.
Just the same, they went home with that check for boating 38.48 pounds of walleye in their Yamaha 250-powered rig.
“The story of how the Adams did it is one for the books. You can’t make this stuff up,” joked AIM National Tournament Director Denny Fox. “This proves that on any given day, any team can win it all in an AIM tournament, regardless of what happens.
“There’s also a ‘first’ involved here for AIM. This is the first win by a husband-wife team in our history, and one of the few we know about in all of walleye fishing. That’s also perfect, and fits right in to this story,” Fox added.
So after only pre-fishing one day on the lake he’s only been on two to three times, Team Adams made the decision to point their boat to a spot in Walker Bay, one of 20 or so they’d scouted, and where, Dean said, 18 to 20 other boats had also located. And, try rigging.
“Nancy caught every fish. I couldn’t get one to bite. This was literally her first time to rig. I’m a blade guy and that wasn’t working in pre-fishing. I told Nancy we’re going to do some Lindy rigging and I explained it to her. It was her first time and she pulled it out for us,” Dean Adams went on.
“It was tight there, but I’ve got to hand it to the guys, everybody played well with each other. At times we were within 12 to 15 feet of each other. But we knew the fish were there and we managed to pull it off. I don’t know how but we did,” Adams said.
They got to their spot and realized that all their minnows had died. “That left us with leeches and crawlers and there again, it was meant to be, because that’s what they wanted, giant leeches,” he said. They worked an area with a slow drop-off into deeper water, about 26 to 29 feet, and when the wind picked up later Sunday, the fish went shallow, and they did too.
“You had to grind after them. If you had five bites and got five fish Sunday, you were in good shape. We had eight and landed six. We earlier had two 17s, two 26-inchers and a 25-3/4 and a 25-inch or so. I told Nancy ‘we’ve got to get rid of the smaller ones,’ and just then Nancy set the hook and the reel malfunctioned and got stuck, and I grabbed it as the line snapped.
“I grabbed the line and wrapped it around my wrist and arm. I said ‘you’ve gotta net it,’ and I brought the fish up slowly, like it didn’t realize what was going on, and she scooped it up and it was in. That was a 27-plus, and the game winner. A couple of other guys were by us, and they were like ‘holy crap!’
“It was a bite an hour out there, and everyone was in the same boat, concentrating on getting those five bites, and we’re just lucky we got the five good ones. I can’t believe I was able to grab that line and just wrapped it around my arm,” Adams continued. “When Nancy was adding up the card, I thought we had like 34 or 35 pounds, and she said ‘I think we’re about 38’ and I go, ‘What??’ I figured we’d hit the three or the top five, because some of the rock humps guys would clean up, but it didn’t happen.
“I’m actually still in shock. I had to go to work today and she had to as well and we’re both saying, ‘did that just happen?’ We’re fishing against some of the top teams here and we feel proud to win a tournament against them because we know how good they are.
“Now we’re looking forward to Lake of the Woods,” he concluded. We all are, Dean, to see if you two can pull it off again.
In second place and sooo close to the Adams with 38.33 pounds were Josh Blosser, Lodi WI, and twin brother Jeremiah, of Dane, WI, who moseyed over from next door to see what they could do in Minnesota.
They’re also fishing all four Wisconsin events, the next one being next weekend on Lake Winnebago. That mosey was worth $2,400 to them, plus $500 in Warrior Cash for using a Warrior boat to place second.
They ran their Yamaha 300-powered Warrior V203 to Leech’s north end to troll crankbaits with Offshore planer boards to target suspended fish.
“It was actually really slow out there at first. We caught only like a 23-incher in the first 20 minutes, but it was the first fish on the card, and we didn’t put another in the boat until 11:45 a.m.,” Josh said. They finally found a pod of fish and picked off three.
With 20 minutes to go before they had to make their home run, Blosser said, they boated a 23-1/4-incher, a slight upgrade. “And within five minutes, we caught a 28-1/2, and literally had to throw the rods down and come in,” he added. The cold front that went over the field affected the teams rigging more than them, he said. “I don’t think it really slowed the bite we were targeting. At the end we had eight fish on the card. We were going through some good fish. We just had to spin on’em and make’em eat. It was a little rough coming in, but not a problem.”
Blosser said he was a big fan of the dual tournaments. “For the angler, especially for the angle that AIM has taken, being a series that even the working man can fish, you get two tournaments done with one period of time off. You’re saving costs and makes that weekend twice as important because you’re fishing the same water body twice, but after Saturday you get a total re-set. We didn’t change our plans, and we had three good ones come unbuttoned Saturday, but Sunday we got the fish we thought we would.”
The rest of Sunday’s top five: In third, Dean Marshall, Big Lake, MN., and Steve Vick, New London, MN, with 37.96 pounds, good for $1,800. Fourth place and $1,500 went to Dave Bonsack, Gibbon, MN, and Jake Bonsack, Royalton, MN, for a tally of 37.48 pounds. In fifth were Luke and Mark Bollum, St. Peter, MN, collecting $1,300 for 36.40 pounds.
That concludes the Minnesota Division qualifier events, and you couldn’t have asked for a more interesting and unusual duo of tournaments. Next up, stay tuned, Minnesota, for the two-day state championship on Lake of the Woods Aug. 17-18.
And after a long respite, the Wisconsin Division comes alive on Sunday, July 1, when 100 boats jet into Lake Winnebago. An algae bloom going on there will definitely make it interesting. North Dakota, you’re on deck after that, but not until Aug. 12, back at Devils Lake.
Follow it all at AIM’s Facebook site, with on-water updates both days, topped by winner announcement. For info on all AIM events, go to aimfishing.com.
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, LLC.
AIM Supporting Sponsors: Mercury Marine, Nitro Boats, Garmin, Navionics, Power Pole, Worldwide Marine Insurance, AirWave Pedestals, Off Shore Tackle, Vibrations Tackle, Pro Chattrr, Gemini Sport Marketing, Treeland Resort, Anglers Avenue, Moonshine Lures Shiver Minnow, JT Outdoors Products, Fox River Lures and Rods, Bismarck Mandan Convention and Visitors Bureau