It's 9/11 tomorrow. Even if you forgive, never forget. Crazy to think it’s been 24 years since the world stopped turning. If you’re the praying type, fire one off for the folks who lost their lives that day, their families, the survivors, our soldiers and first responders and their families.

Now let’s talk fishing....

There almost never seems to be any info out there talking specifically how the best walleye pros in the world get it done on game day.... 🤷‍♂️

Usually we’re lucky just to get one little line such as: So and so “won trolling crankbaits.” Or so and so “caught their fish on a jig.” Cool, thanks? I’ll have to try that 🥴 LOL.

So we decided to have Target Walleye friend Brett Carlson (thx man!) track down the ‘Full Scoop’ on how the top-3 pros at the 2025 National Walleye Tour Championship on Green Bay (Marinette, WI) caught 'em better than the rest. 🎯 Little details and specifics you won’t find anywhere else. Now, let's get the party started!

Photo by Darren Jacobson

Tom Huynh’s unlikely ascension from part-time bass fisherman to dominant walleye pro is well documented. Besides graduating from Minnesota State Moorhead, nothing about his background lends itself to walleyes. He was born and raised in rural Arkansas and while at Moorhead, he found a passion for nail art, which he turned into two successful businesses. That intricate attention to detail has also served him well in the modern walleye world, where forward-facing sonar’s influence grows with each tournament.

At last season’s National Walleye Tour Championship, Huynh made a major gamble and hedged his bets on a walleye migration. Instead of staying near Alpena, he ran further south than any of his fellow competitors to intercept the bigger Lake Huron walleyes that were trailing smelt. Exactly one year later he made a similar calculation at the 2025 championship – heading to Green Bay’s east shore as he examined the long-term forecast with teammate Korey Sprengel.

> “We looked at the forecast, which held remarkably true, and Korey really pointed me in the right direction,” recalled Huynh. “With the winds, he said we didn’t need to focus on the west shore. Last year I made the 100-mile run up to Big Bay. I caught only three fish, but I still finished in the teens, so they were the right ones. I really wanted to go up there, but I talked myself out of it with the winds.”

Huynh instead focused on the east shore islands. Chambers Island was the bread and butter, but he ventured as far east as the Sister Islands and as far south as Hat Island. 

> “I had two little spots around Chambers where the walleyes would filter through slowly,” said Huynh. “The most important part was that there were no gobies on the bottom. With artificials you snag on the gobies, and when using live bait they just destroy the crawler. I had to move off the edge where the rocks got sparse and it mixed with mud. At the edge of that, there were still big walleyes, but I didn’t have to fight the gobies.”

On day 1, the Wolverton, MN pro made it look easy as he caught a 10-lber and two 9-lbers – finishing the day with 43-01.

> “I never lifted the trolling motor all day. We were back to the launch by 2 pm.”

Photo by Darren Jacobson

The second day of the tournament was canceled due to high winds.... Sounds like the 30-mph gusts were kicking out waves as big as 8-10’ 😳 so the 3-day derby turned into a 2-day event with only the top-10 pros getting the chance to fish on day 3.

Which meant Huynh carried a 5-lb lead into the final day...

> “When I got to my first spot, the same spot I caught the 43 lbs from, I didn’t see a single mark – not a walleye, a minnow or a sheepshead. I noticed the water was colder too. I tell everybody at Tom Huynh University, if the water is colder on the Great Lakes, you just need to leave. I’m typically one to grind an area, but I had to take my own advice and leave.”

Huynh ran north to his second spot, but it was also vacant. He then decided to trust his instincts and head east to where he figured the warmer water had to be.

> “I just went in the direction the wind was blowing. I started seeing the water temps rise, and then I started seeing life. Around 10 am, I finally made a cast, and it was a walleye that was 3 or 4 lbs. With no fish, I was tempted to keep it, but I threw it back. It was one of the worst mental games I’ve ever experienced. I had already convinced myself that it was over; I had blown the championship.”

Huynh then caught a 6-lber, which he chose to box in a no-cull event where anglers could keep six and weigh their best five.

> “My very next cast was a 6.75, which I also boxed. When I go into a tournament, I need one fish every hour and a half and then I’m fine. When I caught those two, I was back on pace and feeling relaxed.”

From there, Huynh’s immense talents took over and the fishing was fast. While he never coaxed any true Green Bay giants, he caught two 8-lbers and two 7-lbers.

Photo by Robert Cardenas

> “I told myself I just needed to keep six fish. No disrespect to anyone else, but it was Isaac (Lakich) and Eric (McQuoid) that had me worried, and I knew I had a 5-lb lead over them. My last fish was a 29-incher that weighed 8 lbs, so I had to keep it. I was in before 1 pm, but I was nervous. Those two 6-lb fish I would have definitely thrown away on day 1. I’m just glad I did what I did.”

Over the past few years, Huynh has made his signature Northland Tungsten Short-Shank Jig famous. This time around, the 3/8-oz black version was his best bait, but he also used a 1/2-oz Northland Smeltinator Jig (camo) for a faster fall in the wind. He alternated between these two and occasionally mixed in a new 3/8-oz Northland Elite Tungsten (dark silver) jig.

He fished these baits on a 7-ft medium light Daiwa TD Eye spinning rod with a Daiwa Kage 1000 reel. His main line was 10-lb Daiwa J-Braid (chartreuse), which he ran to a 6-foot, 8-lb Daiwa Samurai J-Fluorocarbon leader.

While it’s not surprising that he used a full crawler with these jigs, how he presented them is unconventional.

> “This was a finesse bite, and I don’t ever mix up my cadence when I’m fishing a finesse presentation. I force every fish to pick the bait up off the bottom – every single time. I never target a walleye where I bring the bait above them. I don’t play the cat-and-mouse game.”

While it’s unorthodox, the results can’t be argued.

> “Most people just can’t grasp it. But I feel like when I do bring it above them, they can see me, or they’re more aware of me. When it’s a reactionary style bait, yes, that’s above them. But if it’s finesse, I’m dropping it to the bottom, forcing them to touch the bottom with their lips.”

Huynh doesn’t see bites on his LiveScope, but he can see where the walleye disappears on the bottom. 

> “I want the bait to move, but I don’t want to take it off the bottom. Then I very slowly raise it just to see if the fish is still on it. If it is, then I will lower it back to the bottom. If he’s not there once I lift it, I move on. Most of the time, the fish that are willing to bite will bite the first time. It’s rare that you get one to eventually bite after continuing to chase it. I think people generally spend way too much time on one fish.”

Huynh reflected on his second championship triumph, which earned him a Ranger FS620 boat and motor package, plus $20,000.

Photo by Robert Cardenas

> “I’ve had a good run. I’m super blessed to have done this two years in a row. Doing it again, I think it really solidifies what I've been trying to teach the last few years. It shows people that we can actually teach. We’re going to grow the walleye industry by teaching people what actually works. We’re actually telling the truth about the baits we’re using. We’re teaching. And this goes back even before Tom Huynh University. It’s good to teach people, and it pushes me to get even better. I’m always going to be like that.”

Photo by Robert Cardenas

Isaac Lakich started the final day tied for 4th place. After catching the heaviest stringer of the championship, he came just 11 oz short of claiming his second NWT win.

Two weeks before the championship, Lakich and Tristan Beckwith won the AIM event on Green Bay and captured the 'Team of the Year' title. As a reputable Green Bay guide, Lakich came into the championship as one of the heavy favorites.

> “I knew how it was setting up, so the biggest thing for me was trying not to get overwhelmed. I had to put more faith into what I was seeing in practice versus what I was hearing. What you hear on Green Bay doesn’t really help because they don’t just sit in one spot day after day.

> "I almost treat every day on Green Bay as a practice day because they travel. I’ll pick an area, but I’m going to work over the entire piece. What you see on day 1 won’t be the same as day 2. Green Bay plays to anglers that are able to adapt quickly.”

Knowing a blow day was looming, Lakich started the championship with a big swing – running 70 miles north to Big Bay. It turned out to be a costly mistake, but the Richfield, WI pro adapted on the fly.

> “I knew if I landed on them I had a legitimate shot at a 50-lb bag. I caught one fish up there, but they just moved. If they were there, they completely buried themselves down in the rocks.”

Lakich then ran down to the west shore looking for 5s and 6s to salvage the day.

> “It took me 2 hours to get up there and then another hour and 45 minutes back down to get to my second spot. I got stupid lucky and pulled three 8s. I caught my limit in 45 minutes, but I weighed a 4.5-lber.”

On day 3, Lakich opted to head to the Sister Islands area, where he had six or seven productive spots.

> “I knew with the big blow, the west shore was not going to get any better. Going to the coldest water on a Great Lake is NOT the way to catch big walleyes. It was a slow, but steady day on the east shore. I was being diligent about not keeping small ones.

> "At first, I went 15 or 20 minutes without seeing anything. Then the first few wouldn’t eat. My first fish was an 8.5-lber. That gives you so much confidence that the big ones will bite. If 1 out of 5 are eating, if that’s the ratio, I’m going to make this work. I’m going to absolutely slaughter them.”

Lakich caught 15 or 16 fish on the day, pitching back several 5- to 7-lb walleyes. He had five in his livewell by noon, but never boxed his sixth and final fish.

> “I had a 7.6 or 7.7, and that was the smallest. At 10:30, I lost a 31- or 32-incher. It was one or two head shakes and then it was gone. I definitely think that it was bigger than the 7.7, but I’ll never know for sure.”

Lakich put one bait in his hand all week and never wavered. It was a custom tailspin he built himself with a Do-it Mold. He paired it with a shortened crawler.

> “There are three sizes – 3/8, 1/2 and 3/4. Hunter (Nitti), Will (Pappenfus) and I actually have a patent on it. We call it the Sack Spinner for Isaac. This week I went with the 3/8 oz. I cater the head size to the mood. This week they were more lethargic. I locked that thing in my hands on day 1 and I never took it out. I will not throw another bait when I’m on Green Bay.”

Lakich varied his cadence, trying to read every single nuance. 

> “It’s a hardcore game of cat and mouse. I’m trying to read each fish’s behavior. More aggressive behavior means I can work the spinner faster. More negative behavior means I work it as slowly as I possibly can.”

Lakich mainly focused on structure edges in 15’ to 35’. One fish came as high as 3’ and one came where he could barely see the mark on the bottom. 

> “I don’t care where in the water column they are...I’m just looking for the size of the mark.”

His jig rod was a 7’ 8” Mags medium light with extra-fast action. He paired it with a 3000 spinning reel. Spooled on the reel was 20-lb Sufix 832 braid in low-vis green. His clear, fluorocarbon leaders were 25 ft of 8-lb Sunline FC Sniper.

> “With the Sack Spinner, you need the right amount of load to the rod. I’m someone who works the bait with the rod, not the reel.”

Lakich’s scramble bag from day one weighed 37 lbs 13 ozs. On the final day, he improved to 43 lbs 5 ozs, which gave him a cumulative total of 81 lbs 2 ozs.

> “I should have never gone to Big Bay on the first day. If I would have gone to the east shore the first day, I think I would've blown it out of the water. I guess you never know. I’m not upset with how I fished, but what could have been is always there. When you get that close, it eats at me more. I’m not super happy with how I finished, but I’m more than happy with my whole season.” 

Photo by Robert Cardenas

Photo by Robert Cardenas

Jake Caughey took 3rd place with a 2-day total weight of 77 lbs 6 ozs. Unlike Huynh and Lakich, Caughey fished the same area both days, although the walleyes did move off of structure and start suspending.  

> “As practice went on, we spent more and more time working up the east side,” said the Wahpeton, ND pro, who grew up in Brainerd, MN. “On Labor Day, I had 40 lbs in the Sister Bay area on bigger, isolated rock. From there, we started looking for stuff similar to that. Once the cold front rolled in, Isaac told us that it usually blows that warmer water up the east shore. Knowing that day 2 was likely a blow day, we fished recklessly on day 1.”

When the tournament commenced, Caughey returned to the Sister Bay area, targeting breaklines on the northeast side of the bay – strictly throwing a 3/8-oz jig (gray) and a half crawler.

> “The first day I caught them over structure in like 25’ to 40’. On Green Bay, the gobies are so bad when you get on the rock structure, so you’ve got to fish above them. Most of the time I was playing cat and mouse above their head. There were times when you had to yo-yo the crawler again and again, and all of a sudden they would latch onto it.

> "The best bite was when another fish would come up out of the rocks and they would compete for it. It was definitely not easy, but when they ate it, I felt like my hook-up percent was nearly 100.”

After weighing 37-14 on day 1, Caughey returned to the same structure, but as the day progressed, the bite changed.

> “We would start up on the structure, but then slide out on a flat and fish a rubble pile. With every pass we would slide further and further out. I first saw one suspended 15’ down over 100’. Then I saw one 5’ down in 90’ of water. Then I started seeing them everywhere. The fish that were tight to structure started to suspend over super deep water.”

While the conditions were windy and rough, the suspended bite was strong.

> “The suspending fish is a scoper’s dream. There was a stretch where we threw back six 7-lbers in a row. Then the bite got tough when the sun came out. I eventually caught a 7.75 and thought long and hard before finally putting it in the boat.”

Photo by Robert Cardenas

While Caughey only used the jig and crawler, his co-angler partner, Kevin Warne, caught two of the five weigh fish on a glide bait. 

> “My jig and crawler rod was a 7’ 2” medium light BITCO. It’s a custom rod made in Horace, ND, with extra-fast action. I paired it with a 2500 Abu Garcia Zenon LTX. My main line was 10-lb Fireline (crystal), and I tied it to a 15-ft leader of 8-lb Berkley Vanish. I was running 8-foot leaders in practice, but I feel like I got more bites in the tournament.

Caughey closed the season with a 12th-place finish at Huron, a 4th-place finish at Erie, and a 3rd-place finish at the championship.

> “You always fish to win, and I did. I came up a little short, but I’m happy with 3rd because I don’t feel like I left anything on the table.”

#CleanPlateClub

BIG congrats to Dewey on winning the 2025 NWT Angler of the Year title...AGAIN (believe his first was in 2022).

Meaning he was the most consistently good angler through every National Walleye Tour event in 2025. Way to put it together the ENTIRE season dude!

An incredible feat 🙌 and pumped that outdoor-shooter Darren Jacobson was able to capture the moment where last year's AOY, Hunter Nitti, was passing the torch:

Semi-related side note: It's one thing to be a good fisherman/woman, but it's another to just flat-out be a good person.... 🙌 And Dewey sure seems to check both boxes. Check this newest FB post out:

> This is what it’s all about.

> Yesterday on the way home, we stopped to fuel up. As I walked in to pay, I noticed a young boy shyly staring at me. His mom smiled and said, “Excuse me, sir, my son has a question.”

> I looked at him and said, “Hey, what’s up, little man?”

> He asked, “Are you a professional bass fisherman?”

> I had to laugh and told him, “Nope, I fish for walleyes.”

> We chatted for a bit, and I asked if he wanted to come check out the boat. A few minutes later, after hearing all about what he loves to fish for, I grabbed some Rapala CrushCity Mooch Minnows and hooked him up with one of my favorite 13 Fishing rods.

> Thanks for making my day, Kyson!

Absolutely love that. Keep being you, man. 💪

...coming off the Green Bay Championship. Always been a number-crunchin’ fact lover myself. If you are too, you’ll wanna check out these snippets from John Balla (thx man!). Click the pic to make it bigger:

"This is the moment I knew he had enough...." 😂

- That's Chase Parsons talking here about this snap:

Chase went on to say:

> "Congrats to my buddy Tom Huynh for back-to-back NWT Championships! Been a blast traveling together the last few years and already looking forward to next season. One of the nicest guys on the planet, is pretty darn good on the water too. Awesome stuff!"

No doubt!

National Professional Anglers Assoc.

MN-FISH

Target Walleye LLC

422 Laurel Street

P.O. BOX 541

Brainerd, MN 56401

 (218) 824 5026