When teaming up for walleyes, Tom Brown said it's not about who catches the fish. Photo by Tim Lesmeister.

Referring to her husband Tom, Sue Brown is often asked if it was him who taught her how to fish. She replies yes, it was in fact Tom who taught her how to fish, but it was she who taught him how to "catch."

Through their 41 years of marriage, they have developed a formula for success while chasing their favorite fish, and this provides a good lesson for anyone who has the opportunity to team up on walleyes.

"It's about efficiency," said Sue when asked why a team approach is a productive game plan when chasing walleyes. "I help stock the boat, so I know where everything is. We're at the point now where I can tell by the look on Tom's face that he's going to want me to net a fish just seconds after he sets the hook."

Tom said "the zone" works both ways.

"I can always tell when it gets a little quiet in the boat that Sue is thinking we need to try something different," Tom said. "But fishing as a team is about more than just having each person use something different. It's about anticipating what's next.

"It's not like one of us will be jigging and the other rigging," he continued. "That just doesn't work. But let's say we're both using a Roach Rig. Sue might be using a minnow on a No. 2 hook with 6 feet between the weight and the bait. I will have a leech on a No. 8 hook with 2 feet between the weight and the bait."

"Finding the right trigger is not luck," Sue stated. "It's about experimenting until you hit the right pattern. Too many anglers get into a rut and use one technique all the time because they have confidence in it and because they have been relatively successful at times. But one technique for walleyes will not work under every situation, so the fishermen who aren't willing to change will have some great days, but some real bad ones, too."

"Sure, there are times when no one is catching fish," Tom chimed in. "It's just a bad bite. But for a lot of fishermen, there could be great days when they're not catching anything just because they're not using what's working. Never stay with something that is not working."

So, when someone starts catching all the fish, the other person changes to exactly that same presentation?

"Only in a tournament," Tom said. "Otherwise one of us is always . . . "

"Trying something different," interjected Sue to finish Tom's sentence. "We've been in situations where one of us is catching walleyes on what we're using, and all of a sudden, the fish stop biting the hot technique and start biting on the other's setup. Something changed and the fish decided they wanted something else. It happens all the time with walleyes."

According to Tom, the ability to work as a team means you'll miss fewer indicators.

"The stuff I'm looking at will be completely different from what Sue is noticing, and that can make a difference," he said. He noted a particular instance when the fish were suspending. "I use a Lowrance color sonar that has phenomenal resolution and I could see fish tight to bottom. I tied on a Roach Rig with a short distance between the sinker and the hook, and sent down a leech. I was sure we could get those fish to bite."

"I was using the same setup with a night crawler," Sue said. "Tom was so focused on those fish on the bottom that he barely noticed the occasional fish suspended. I raised the sinker off the bottom 6 feet and started catching fish. Of course, I didn't tell Tom what I was doing for about a half-hour, although he would have figured it out."

Tom laughed. "This just goes to show, you have to give the fish what the fish want, rather than trying to force feed those fish a presentation that you want to use. It never works."

That's a good reason to fish as a team. If one angler is locked into what they think they should be giving the walleyes, the other angler may be discovering what fish actually want.

"Here's another reason our team approach works well," Sue said. "My favorite technique is Roach Rigging."

"Mine is jigging," Tom said. "I like the jig because you are in direct contact with the bait. There's no swivel or sinker between you and the meat."

"And I like the Roach Rig," Sue continued, "because it was one of the first techniques that Tom taught me, and I believe that women have a more sensitive touch, so I can feel the fish. It is what I'm best at."

"So, the fact that we both like different techniques means we won't get locked into always using one approach," Tom added.