A tag-team approach to winning, on-ice success
By Tim Lesmeister
From rank-and-file ice-angling joes to revered experts preaching the gospel of ice angling from the pages of In-Fisherman magazine: It’s been a wild ride for Tony Boshold and Mike McNett.
This pair of Chicagoland ice sticks has made their mark on the team ice tournament scene this decade. Since first qualifying for the North American Ice Championship in 2003, they’ve qualified for every championship since, eventually winning the Big Dance in 2005 on Lake Mary near Alexandria, Minn.
They’re living proof that with preparation, today’s top anglers can hail just as easily from the big cities or suburbs as the Brainerds and Ashlands of North Country.
But what makes a top team? How easy is it to work together and what can be gained by working with a partner when ice fishing?
“We put our time in and fish smart,” said Mike McNett, 42, of Lombard, Ill. “There just aren’t as many guys who put in as many hours as Tony and I do to prepare for an event, or an entire season.”
It goes deeper than that, but first let’s get to know these two Ice Team Power Sticks a little bit.
An avid ice angler back in the late 1990s, McNett was testing the latest ice rods through a friend in the industry, Greg Wilczynski, and monitoring the writings and tactics of one Dave Genz. Interested in tackling the Trap Attack series, he pitched the idea to a business associate, Boshold, of Carol Stream, Ill.
“He was new to ice fishing, but I knew he had a lot of experience and success fishing open water walleyes,” McNett recalled. “He knew how to work a pattern and he had fantastic map reading skills.”
Boshold, 35, admits that McNett showed him the on-ice ropes and compares their partnership to a “big-brother relationship.” He’d cut his teeth on the Chicago lakefront perch fishing with my dad, then – once he could drive – had been hunting walleyes, particularly on the Wisconsin River system, Prior to the 2002 ice season, McNett was strongly suggesting they form a team.
“I’d fished walleye events with moderate success, but I wasn’t sure I needed to ice-fish,” he said. “Now I love it. It’s a lot easier to compete at a high level and afford it, plus it’s the slow season in our industry.
“Pretty soon, it sunk what the whole Trap Attack thing was, and when we got back to the car after an event where we placed fifth, I let out a whoop. I was hooked!” Boshold recalls.
At their first North American Ice Fishing Championship in 2003, the team place 4th. Three years later, they’d win the event with a ridiculously large bag of crappies on day one and a solid showing of bluegills on day two.
“It sounds a little egotistical, but that year that we won, we knew a couple of months before the event that we would win. There was no doubt,” McNett recalls.
Be the fish?
Why the confidence? What’s the formula for this team’s phenomenal success? McNett makes a golf analogy that sounds vaguely reminiscent of Chevy Chase’s classic “be the ball” advice from the classic comedy movie Caddyshack.
“My dad is a scratch golfer, and he used to say that if you can’t visualize the ball rolling to the hole, you’ll never be able to do it.”
“Before we won in 2005, I told Tony, ‘I want you to visualize the tournament, driving there, going to the hotel, breaking down your equipment, drilling the holes, every detail of the past four years,” McNett said. “We constantly played it out.”
But preparation is more than a state of mind. Along the way, the pair practices all the old school research and scouting basics, from calling local fisheries managers, creel clerks, and pounding through lake maps – hard copy and digital alike.
In early December, after attending the Ice Show in St. Paul, Boshold traveled to the Alexandria area for some last-minute research into lakes Agnes and Henry, home of the 2007 North American Ice Fishing Championship. During open water, McNett had spent time on the lakes – isolating structure and other locations likely to hold fish on Dec. 15-16.
“I’ve already been there twice on the boat. Count the drivetime and that’s four days devoted to research,” he said. “We used to pick specific spots and double-check against the map, but these new Lakemaster chips are incredible. They put you right on the dime.”
Prior to their 2005 win on Lake Mary in the Alexandria area, the pair invested a week of vacation from their careers in the carpet cleaning business to scouting potential hot spots. Inevitably, McNett said, they examine weedlines first, and then begin marking inside turns or any potential structure on the bottom. All those locations entered their GPS for the event.
Sight-fishing tactics
One icy topic where their personalities shine is the topic of sight-fishing. Boshold admits an affinity for sight-fishing and monitoring fish through the ice.
“I freely admit, I can’t get enough of watching fish behave,” he said. “I don’t want sight-fishing to sound like the end-all and be-all because it’s not how we win events, but we’ve used it to our advantage on tourney day.”
McNett explains sight-fishing more cautiously. Though sight-fishing is important, he believes it’s too easy to burn 30 minutes watching unwilling biters when a more practical tactic would be to seek out active fish.
“Sight fishing for me is watching the fish on the Vexilar to see their reactions to the jigging motions and colors instead of being mesmerized watching the big ones go by watching through the hole,” he said. “I believe sight fishing through the hole should only be used for studying the fish’s reactions and to size up the areas where the bigger fish reside.”
He compares endless sight fishing through the hole during a tournament to an open book test in college.
“If you still have to use the book for assistance during the test, you haven’t done your homework,” he said. “You can still find the information that you need but will be wasting precious time doing so.”
“We take what we learn on the Aqua-Vu or from peering down the hole from the Fish Trap portable and take it with us on tourney day,” Boshold adds. “It’s on game day that we look like jackrabbits hole-hopping and searching out the active fish.”
The partnership
What about the human factor? How have two strong personalities like McNett and Boshold worked together so well for more than half a decade?
McNett believes a team with balancing personalities probably has the best chance at success. Boshold’s energy and enthusiasm for all things fishing helps motivate both men, while McNett believes his soft-spoken, calm demeanor keeps the team focused on the event or other task at hand.
“One of the hardest parts about being great and staying great in ice fishing is that anyone can watch the best teams and hit their spots, try their presentations,” he said. “After you’ve done your research, you don’t touch your spots until game day. Early in our partnership, I think that was tough for Tony. It added to his jitters.”
Boshold believes every team has its quirks and rituals that separate it from others. The pair have had differences of opinion through the years, but each man knows what the other requires to have a good day of fishing.
“I’m a control freak. Mike is an understanding kind of guy. He keeps me on an even keel, so it’s a good teammate relationship,” Boshold said. “We’ve also learned from other teams and that makes us more adaptable.”
“We’ve never had a confrontation,” McNett adds. “Maybe twice we’ve had a situation where he wanted to fish a different spot than me.”
The longevity of the partnership probably has contributed to their growing success, Boshold said.
“We see guys with new partners every year, and I just assume they’re not getting along,” he said. “Most guys in top 20 have long-time partners. Then you need everything to go your way – no losing fish – so you’re the one left standing.”
Readers interested in catching up with the travels and successes of Boshold and McNett should check out www.thefishyspot.com.
