AIM Tournament on Pool 4 04/10/2022

That is a tank Chris!

This was from around 2 pm on the WI side.

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Nice fish for sure Chris! Question for ya or anyone who does these tournaments.

I see there were at least 3 guides as co captains fishing. Do the captains just pay them to fish in their boat? Seems like a good way to improve your odds since these guys spend a lot of time guiding on P4. All the guides finished in the money or real close.

I know those guys you’re referring to and the guide and normal tournament angler I believe are all good friends together. I wouldn’t say they are hired help. I wouldn’t doubt if that half of the angler’s tournament fee was paid by the normal angler. I will say some are NOT the normal tournament partner for the entire season, but they were a sub for this one.

It happens…. Does it bother me – not in the least bit… Reason I could care less is how often does a guide really guide for trophies? They want to get customers on fish to keep or lots of them to keep clients happy.

They obviously will know the river quite a bit better than everyone else but to me, and all the tournaments I fish, it helps a little but not always.

eyeguy507 wrote:

these guys spend a lot of time guidin

There are guides that run the entire season, there are guides that fish one or two events, there is also a lot of locals that fish just fish one or two events. There is usually a few NWT and MWC anglers in these as well and some anglers who are heavily involved in the fishing industry with products etc. You have teams made up of buddies who just enjoy competing, Then there are anglers like myself who fish as a husband wife team and are having a blast learning and competing. It’s what makes the entire field up and makes it that much more competitive. The industry is fairly small once you start fishing these types of events, you will learn more about techniques, patterns, new technologies and equipment. It is amazing to look back after each one, even though the results are not always what an angler may have wanted, or the day didn’t go as planned, in the end it is about competing, learning and putting those tools to work on the next outing and becoming a better angler day in and day out. I have met so many great anglers and learned more from fishing these events in a couple years than what I could learn in a lifetime. It forces me to actually go out and fish different bodies of water in all conditions, usually during the toughest hours of fishing for walleyes. A body of water changes really fast when you put 80 to 100 anglers out there that are competing against each other. The number of spots seems to really diminish on tourney day.

eyeguy507 wrote:

Nice fish for sure Chris! Question for ya or anyone who does these tournaments.

I see there were at least 3 guides as co captains fishing. Do the captains just pay them to fish in their boat? Seems like a good way to improve your odds since these guys spend a lot of time guiding on P4. All the guides finished in the money or real close.

For sure 2 of those 3 teams have fished together several times. I’m guessing a couple of the “captains” are fishing the full schedule and needed a sub for this event. A friend who guides on Pool 4 would be a good sub. I’ve needed a sub a couple times to get enough events in for a championship.

It is great to see a wide range of experience levels of anglers competing.

The cool thing about pool 4 is there are so many areas to fish that are reloading all day this time of year. I talked to a friend that fished it and after nothing at their planned spots, they found a current seam in an area I’ve never seen anyone fish. He marked a pile of fish on his side scan and managed to catch one, lose a few, and snag one that they had to release. If they landed all of those, they would have cashed a check. So many options other than the community spots on pool 4.

Agree with above statements. I have fished some events at places I am more comfortable and confident. Sometimes it’s a schedule thing. With either the “captain” or partner. Some want to make a name some want to fish for fun. And some are everything in between. Either way AIM puts on a good event that doesn’t make you feel one way or the other. Met many friends to share fishing info with through there format.

Nice fish Chris. Those fish usually come in the pre fish part not on game day.

We were fishing right next to the winning team when they caught their 29.5. Fun to watch the excitement on their faces when that sow was in the net.