Recap - 2020 Minnesota Made Tournament Season
What a year!
First, can we talk about the league?
We added 5 teams this year to bring it up to 30. Our initial idea was to bump it to 27-28 teams this year and then up to 30 next year but the response we had to one of our posts made the decision for us. Thirty it is. And we will stay at 30 for the foreseeable future.
Our teams are all over the map across this great state and Wisconsin. They consist of lifelong friends, new friends, co-workers, father/son's, mother/son's, fiances - the dynamic of teams across the league is pretty cool. What a cool deal that you get to fish and compete against your friends with someone you truly respect right by your side.
We also added four sponsors this year. Our hope is we did our part and made it worth their investment in us. We certainly don't partner with just anyone - we seek out products that we believe are great products and great companies and we couldn't be happier with the new additions. To add to our amazing relationships with Clam, Kenders, Thorne Bros. and Vexilar - we added IceWell LiveWell, Ace Custom Rods, Amped Outdoors, and All Surface Custom Rods.
The growth of some teams in the league is really fun to watch.
Tony Dahlberg and Kyle Rick finished in 9th place in a 14 team league in 2016, 9th place in a 20 team league in 2017, then 12th in 25 team league in 2018 and 13th in a 25 team league in 2019. Four years in - something clicked. They had put in the time, asked the right questions, and figured out pieces to the puzzle. They sat in 4th place with one event to go and struggled to find their gills in that last event to drop them down to 7th place in the overall standings for 2020. 7th out of 30 though. Consistently in the middle of the pack the previous year - they were easily in the top third this season and I'd expect them to make another jump next season.
Al Escobedo and Mario Perzichilli, also known as "The Sexiest Team Alive". They finished 2017 in 14th, 2018 in 13th, 2019 in 10th. Another middle of the pack type team which is not bad - just not what they were shooting for. 2020 was a different year. It took 3 years to put it all together but they came in with a 6th place finish this season.
Bubba Bussen and Tim Prunick joined us in 2018 and came out swinging with a 6th place finish. In 2019, they got their first plaque with a 1st place finish on Tonka with a couple giant kicker crappies, but couldn't put a consistent season together and ended up in 19th place overall. 2020 they enjoyed their most consistent, most successful season ever by putting together three top 7 finishes and a 15th place finish. They ended the season in 5th place.
We have our teams who everyone expects to be near the top each event as well.
Jack Thomes and Jeremy Schwanz - our 2018 AND 2019 Team of the Year put together another solid season finishing with a 3rd place overall finish.
Dan Rollings and Scott Boersma have a hell of a Minnesota Made resume. 2017 was a 4th place finish, 2018 was a 3rd place finish, and 2019 was another 3rd place finish. 2020 they put together a season good enough for a 4th place finish. Four years, and never outside the top 5. That's when you know you are good!
Dale Luginbill and Joel Kottke joined the league last season with hopeful but tempered expectations. They ended up cracking the top 10 with an 8th place finish in 2019. In 2020, they didn't finish outside the top 6 in any of the four events and also were able to put their first plaque on the wall. They came into the last event needing some help that was not given to them and ended 2020 with a heck of season and 2nd place overall finish. These guys can fish!
Chris Ball & Timmy Kehren, an uncle / nephew team joined Minnesota Made for the 2020 season and showed they had what it takes to be a competing team each week. Usually, there's a learning curve in tournament fishing to be successful, but they already had what it takes when they came in. They finished in 8th place overall with a 5th, 8th, 4th, and a let's not talk about it finish on Clearwater, which is a tough as nails tournament lake. Next year, I'd expect them to be in the running for Team of the Year just like Dale and Joel were.
Last but certainly not least, Leif Nereson and Nick Mueller. We may have witnessed the most dominate tournament season ever by a team in a circuit style league. 1st - 2nd - 1st - 1st. Are you kidding me? Sure, if they were fishing against average or ordinary anglers, but we have some special talent they had to face every week.
Chisago - they won by 0.27 / Clearwater - they missed 1st by 0.64
Green - they won by 0.59 / Mazaska - they won by 0.20
The margins are slim - every fish and every upgrade counts. They find a way to make it happen each and every week. They both did write-ups on their season so if you haven't read those - be sure to check those out as well.
To give you an idea how dominate this was. Here's some numbers....
Biggest Weights for previous seasons:
2016 - 19.96 (Nereson and Mueller)
2017 - 25.30 (Buth and Gisborne) Leif and Nick had 24.76
2018 - 33.92 (Thomes and Schwanz) L&N had 27.28
2019 - 30.47 (Ghizoni and Pheneger) L&N had 28.92
2020 - 38.37 (Nereson and Mueller)
Most percentage of possible points:
2016 - 87.5% (Pheneger and Ngyuen)
2017 - 91.25% (Nereson and Mueller)
2018 - 90.00% (Thomes and Schwanz)
2019 - 90.00% (Thomes and Schwanz)
2020 - 99.17% (Nereson and Mueller)
Over 99% of the possible points you could earn. Now that is a year to remember.
Overall, it was a great year where one team absolutely dominated the field, some teams made huge strides to the top of the leaderboard, some teams picked up a couple things here and there to be better for next season, and some teams just got their feet wet and learned what tourney fishing is all about.
All teams had a great time, learned a ton, were treated to amazing sponsorship discounts, gained exposure to the fishing world, and will be welcomed back with open arms for the 2021 Minnesota Made Season.
Furthermore, outside of the league, Minnesota Made grew it's social media following by almost double. We also were more active on Instagram and are starting to grow that platform as well. Next season, all of our videos will be uploaded to our newly formed YouTube page. We are growing, we are getting better, and hopefully that helps us shine a light on not only our brand, and our sponsors, but most importantly - our league members. Some of the best anglers in the country.
We are working on putting together a little something for the summer as well. It's a huge project and we will start planning shortly for it and will make an announcement when we have the planning stages completed.
Lastly, we were able to put a plan in place after talking about it for many years. We wanted to figure out a way to give back. We partnered with Hometown Hero Outdoors this year and will continue this tradition into next year. We were able to provide a day for 50 active military, military vets, and law enforcement to fish in a tournament style setting. Our members volunteered to drill holes, transport HHO members, fish with HHO members, and help with anything and everything that was needed to make this day a huge success. We were able to coordinate sponsorships from so many amazing companies that stepped up to bring this day from "this will be cool" to "this is fricken amazing"! A huge thank you to those sponsors and our Minnesota Made members who made this day fricken amazing!!!!
We are looking at doing more. We may put on a golf tournament either this summer or next summer and donate all the proceeds to another worthy cause. If we can get everything done and get the right sponsors on board - this will be a golf tournament an outdoors person will not want to miss. Our plan is to make this the premier golf tournament with sponsorship from all the top fishing and hunting companies around. Let's just say, the prizes and raffles will be worth your time and donations to a great cause or organization.
In the future, we would like to branch off and start a Minnesota Made Non Profit division that would benefit military, law enforcement, and also get kids out fishing and provide scholarships for young anglers.
For now, we will partner will amazing organizations and provide them with experiences or monetary donations.
That's a wrap on our 2020 Minnesota Made Tournament Season. Stay tuned for more growth and more awesomeness.
Thank you to all the people who follow us and continue to be a part of what Minnesota Made Outdoors is trying to accomplish.
Thank you to our sponsors. Without you, this league is only half as good as it is.
Thank you to our members. You are the best people we could ask for. Fishing aside, y'all do so much for our communities, lakes, and our league.
Thank you to our volunteers. Jeremy, Jon, Brian - your help is appreciated more than you know and you add so much to the whole MN Made experience.
Thank you everyone! This has been an awesome journey and we can't wait to see what the future holds.
Take care and Tight lines!
~Minnesota Made~