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As the National Walleye Tour prepares for its Aug. 27-29 championship on Lake Sakakawea near Garrison, anglers will have a chance to watch some of the country’s best walleye fishermen compete.
I’m interested in more than who wins.
I wonder if we’re seeing a generational shift in walleye fishing.
Nineteen-year-old Jayden Wendel became the youngest angler ever to win an NWT event this season at Bay de Noc. Dylan Nussbaum, another young angler, rallied from 40th place to finish second at the Lake Erie opener.
Those results don’t prove younger anglers are better fishermen. They may demonstrate something more important: the way anglers learn to fish is changing.
Today’s young tournament anglers have grown up with GPS mapping, sophisticated sonar, side imaging and forward-facing sonar. Technology has been part of their fishing education from the beginning.
But technology doesn’t replace experience.
A sonar screen can show fish, but it doesn’t necessarily tell an angler why they’re there, where they’ll move when conditions change or what they’re feeding on. Veteran anglers bring decades of knowledge about weather, forage, seasonal movements and fish behavior.
Perhaps the future belongs to anglers who combine both.
After more than six decades of fishing, I’ve watched enormous changes in equipment and techniques. Yet one thing hasn’t changed:
The best fishermen are the ones willing to learn.
The younger generation brings technology and new ideas. The older generation brings knowledge earned through decades on the water.
Neither generation has everything.
But together, they may have more than either has alone.
When the championship begins on Sakakawea, I’ll be watching not simply who wins, but how they win.