Vaulting From Fourth to First, Your AIM Wisconsin Team Of The Year: Rookies Anthony Englebert, Dylan Peotter
Category: article
Sep 3rd, 2019 by Keith Worrall
Modified Sep 3rd, 2019 at 8:49 AM
Vaulting From Fourth to First, Your AIM Wisconsin Team Of The Year: Rookies Anthony Englebert, Dylan Peotter
It took two runs across Green Bay to do it, including one spot they’d only visited during pre-fish, but long-time buddies and AIM rookies in their first-ever tournament season, Anthony Englebert and Dylan Peotter are your 2019 Yamaha Motor Corp. USA AIM Weekend Walleye Series Wisconsin Team Of The Year.
“What a great story, and it’s why AIM exists,” said Denny Fox, AIM national tournament director. “These two had never fished a major tournament together before this season, and our fish-saving Catch-Record-Release® format is exactly why they chose us. It gives anyone a chance to win at any of our events. Now, they’re going to next year’s Warrior Boats National Championship Shootout, with that new 9.9 Yamaha kicker hung on the back of their boat. Watch out for these guys, for sure.”
Like a lot of the teams entered in the Nitro Boats Wisconsin State Championship where Englebert, from Little Chute and Peotter, of Kaukauna, secured their title, they too did it casting Moonshine Shiver Minnows into the rocks along the Door Peninsula, east of Marinette, where the tournament took place, and where three AIM weight records were shattered.
And they used their Garmin LiveScope to clinch, in their Mercury 250 Verado-powered boat, Englebert added.
“Coming into the championship we were fourth, but the top four were pretty darn close together,” Englebert said. They eventually won it by just 7.67 points.
“We definitely wanted to win the tournament, but knew we had a very good shot to win Team Of The Year (TOY). I’ve been friends with Dylan since we were 10 or 12, and we’ve fished together a long time, and this was our first year we actually entered tournaments,” he said.
“The first day we obviously just tried to put ourselves in a good spot to win. After it went well, we knew that on the second day we wanted to make sure we caught our five fish, and hoped they were good ones. As long as we caught five good ones, we’d have it in the bag, but actually, the team that was in fifth was two spots behind us after the first day. That put some pressure on us,” he admitted.
The second day, more pressure was put on by the fish. They didn’t get a one for the first few hours. “We didn’t have a fish on until 11 a.m. We were the last boat out and there were quite a few people on our spot. We hit all our other spots and didn’t find any until the 6th spot, and ended up catching two. We went to our seventh, and ended up catching five. It was a stressful day, but it ended up being a lot better after 11 a.m.,” he laughed. Their biggest fish was about a 29-incher. And they credited that Garmin unit for a lot of their success.
“Our Garmin was a huge player in the way we fished. He (Dylan) has LiveScope on the bow mount and it definitely helped us. We spot-checked areas, and a lot of the fish like to sit next to big rocks, and with that, you can pick the fish out. We’d know right away whether or not there were fish there. We could have ended up spending a lot of time in a lot more areas finding fish if we didn’t have it.”
“My family has a place on the east shore of Green Bay so we’re familiar with the size of the fish, but still didn’t think it was going to be anything like it was. There were numerous fish over 30 inches (during the tournament). We caught a lot in the high 20s, but to have that many over 30 was surprising,” Englebert said.
To say they were happy to win TOY, and finish fourth overall, worth an extra $2,500 in addition to that Yamaha kicker, is an understatement.
“We fish a lot, and my wife put up with a lot this year, and it definitely meant a ton to us to win Team Of The Year, especially in our rookie season of fishing tournaments together,” he said. Why’d they choose AIM to break into a circuit? C-R-R, all the way.
“We really like the format of not having to bring the fish in. We grew up around Appleton and we fished Lake Winnebago and the bay, that’s what we were familiar with, but mainly we did it because of Catch-Record-Release® and knowing that all the fish were going back alive,” he said.
Finishing second in Team of The year, and qualifying for next year’s shootout, are Tyler Mueller, of Appleton, and Dylan Koehler, Hortonville. In third, Nick Heelein, Genoa City, and Jason Mata, of Plainfiield.
Fourth went to Brian Daun, of Hilbert, and Joe Schneider, of North Fond du Lac, and in fifth, Wisconsin championship winners Jake Becker, of Genoa City, and Chris Rice, of Burlington.
They’ll all be in on the Warrior Boats National Championship Shootout next year, at a body of water to be announced later. “That, we are very excited to do. We plan to go a week in advance to learn the area. We’ll put in as much time as possible, sunrise to sunset,” Englebert added.
It will be in hopes of repeating and continuing their meteoric rookie ride to the top. Follow them, and all our teams, next year starting in April, when it’s a good bet that snow will still be flying, the spring skim ice will be forming along the shoreline, and the walleye will be waking up and getting hungry, in time for another season of the AIM Weekend Walleye Series.
Follow our Facebook page for our Tales of the Tape interviews throughout the winter, and other surprises, and the announcement of next year’s location of the National Championship Shootout, and all four qualifiers in each state. Visit our website for information on all AIM tournaments and how to register for any AIM qualifier event in 2020.
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.