Lake Erie has a way of testing anglers in a hurry.
For Chad Schilling, the 2026 National Walleye Tour stop out of Monroe, Michigan, delivered exactly that. Schilling finished third overall with 77 pounds, 10 ounces across two days, capping off a strong return to the professional trail at one of the toughest events of the year.
In the first 20 minutes of day one, Schilling made the kind of mistake that could have completely wrecked a tournament. Fishing in rough water, he tried to get his trolling motor a little deeper without adjusting the slack on his forward-facing sonar cable. The result was a cut transducer cable and an early trip back in to tear the boat apart and get rigged back up. Schilling was quick to point out that it was not an equipment failure. It was simply a bonehead move on his part.
He did not get back to fishing until around 11:30 that morning.
For many anglers, that kind of start would have turned into frustration and panic. Instead, Schilling and his co-angler stayed calm. They kept the mood light, laughed it off, and got back to work. By the time the day ended, Schilling had still managed to put together a 32-pound bag and kept himself within striking distance.
Day Two Changed Everything
When Schilling returned to the same area on day two, the plan was simple.
He expected to catch a quick 30 pounds, then go looking for more. But Lake Erie had other ideas.
On day one, the fish he was around were mostly post-spawn fish. They were big in length, but they were skinny. Schilling said many of them were in that 26- to 28-inch class, yet none of them weighed more than six pounds. They looked right on sonar. They just were not the heavy fish he needed.
By day two, that changed.
The fish that moved into his area were prespawn fish, and they were the right kind. Schilling said he never left the area all day. By around 10:30 in the morning, he had more than 40 pounds in the boat. By a little after noon, he had 45 pounds. At that point, the rest of the day became a hunt for one more giant bite.
He found a couple of those bigger fish late, but he could not get either one to commit. On one of them, he stayed with the fish for more than 30 minutes, throwing everything he had at it. It would not bite.
Even so, it was the kind of day every tournament angler wants. The fish showed up, the conditions set up right, and Schilling capitalized. That final-day surge helped him climb all the way to third place. Official NWT results have Schilling finishing just one pound behind second-place Dylan Nussbaum.
Trusting the Area and Staying Mentally Locked In
One of the more interesting parts of Schilling’s story is that he never tried to oversell what was happening.
He did not pretend he had Lake Erie completely figured out.
In his words, “anybody who says they fully know how those fish travel on Erie is probably lying”. The fish move in every direction, and things can change fast. That was exactly what happened in his tournament area. The quality of fish shifted from one day to the next, and Schilling happened to be sitting in the right place when the better fish moved in.
That is part of what made the finish possible.
He trusted the area. He trusted what he had seen. And just as important, he never let the disaster on day one knock him out mentally. In fact, Schilling said it was one of the tournament days he was most proud of because he and his co-angler had every reason to lose their cool, but they did not. They stayed steady and kept fishing.
How BeatDown Outdoors Helped Him Get It Done
In a big-water tournament, gear matters.
Not in a gimmicky way. Not in a sales-pitch way. It matters because clean electronics, stable mounts, and dependable rigging can help an angler stay efficient when conditions are rough and decisions have to be made fast.
For Schilling, several BeatDown Outdoors products played a real role in that third-place finish.
Zeroed In Mount Gave Him a Better Read on Fish
Schilling was clear about how important his BeatDown Zeroed In mount was on forward-facing sonar.
In his view, precise angle control matters at all times, but it becomes even more important when conditions are poor. Lake Erie did not offer easy scoping conditions that week. Wind, waves, and rough water all make it harder to stay dialed in. Schilling explained that having his transducer correctly calibrated gave him a better chance of accurately reading fish and distinguishing what he observed from what other anglers might overlook.
That matters in a tournament where fish selection can make or break a finish.
On day one, he was around fish that looked right but were too skinny. On day two, he stayed on the better class of fish and made the most of his opportunities. A precise forward-facing sonar setup was a big part of that.
The Shorty Double Stack Was Built for Erie Conditions
Up front, Schilling runs the BeatDown Shorty Double Stack for his bow graph setup.
He said he has used taller mounts in the past and never had issues with them. But for this event, in some of the worst conditions an angler could face, he appreciated having the shorter setup. He did extend it during the tournament when needed, but he would drop it back down for travel.
That setup gave him a mix of visibility, safety, and stability.
When you are pounding around on Lake Erie, those things matter. Schilling also pointed to the reliability of the BeatDown setup, saying he never had a screw come loose all week. For an event known for rough water, that says plenty.
The Ultimate Console Mount Kept His Dash Clean and Solid
At the console, Schilling runs BeatDown’s Ultimate Console Mount with a dual-screen setup.
That is another place where rough water can expose weaknesses in a rig. Anyone who has fished big waves knows how frustrating it is when graphs start turning, moving, or becoming one more thing to worry about while running. Schilling said that it used to be a major headache, but with the BeatDown console mount, he no longer has those concerns.
That kind of stability is easy to overlook until the water gets nasty… Then it becomes a big deal.
A clean, dependable console setup lets an angler focus on running safely and making smart decisions instead of constantly worrying about electronics moving around in heavy chop.
The Breakaway Pole Played a Huge Role in Practice
Schilling also uses a BeatDown Breakaway Pole.
It was not a major factor during the actual tournament days because both of his co-anglers preferred to spend their time watching and learning rather than running their own sonar setup. But Schilling made it clear that the Breakaway Pole is part of his everyday system, especially in practice and in his regular work.
That made it relevant to this week for another reason. On day one, after cutting the main transducer cable, Schilling went back and pulled equipment from his shuttle setup to help get himself back in the game. So while the Breakaway Pole was not the star of tournament day, it was still part of the system behind the week.
A Strong Finish Built on Composure and Clean Rigging
Third place at Lake Erie did not happen because everything went smoothly.
It happened because Schilling recovered from a terrible start, stayed mentally steady, and put himself in position for the right fish when the tournament flipped in his favor. It also showed the value of a dialed-in electronics setup.
His Zeroed In mount helped keep the forward-facing sonar precise. His Shorty Double Stack gave him a stable bow setup in brutal water. His Ultimate Console Mount kept his dash locked down when Erie got rough. And his Breakaway Pole remained part of the practice-and-backup system he relies on every day.
For Schilling, Lake Erie was not just a third-place finish.
It was a reminder that even when a tournament starts out as badly as it can, experience, confidence, and dependable equipment can still put you on the podium.
