Pro-Staff
CONNECT-EASE PRO BASS ANGLERS
Mark Courts
Minnesota’s Mark Courts and has been fishing professionally in both bass and walleye tournament circuits since 2000. In the span of nearly 25 years, Courts has had over 35 Top 10 finishes and has placed first in two tournaments. Courts has come to rely on Connect-Ease products over the years to provide reliable, fail-proof, and reliable, clean power to his electronics, whether he’s fishing pro bass tournaments or competing at National Walleye Tournament (NWT) events.
Mike McClelland
Connect-Ease user and Arkansas-native, Mike McClelland, has won eight tour-level events, amassed 35 Top 10 finishes, 67 top 20 finishes, and more than $2 million in winnings throughout his ongoing career competing in B.A.S.S. and Major League Fishing (MLF) events.
Jay Przekurat
Stevens Point, Wisconsin-based 23-year-old Jay Przekurat has quickly made a name for himself in the professional bass fishing world as the youngest ever competitor to win a B.A.S.S. Elite event. In 2022, Jay earned a Century Club belt with a four-day total of 102-9 while fishing the Guaranteed Rate Bassmaster Elite at the St. Lawrence River, while also placing first. Jay also competed in the 2023 BASSMASTER Classic on the Tennessee River finishing 7th with an impressive 34-9.
Athlete SummaryPat Schlapper
Wisconsin native Pat Schlapper joined the ranks of the 2021 Bassmaster Elites after double-qualifying by winning the TNT B.A.S.S. Nation Championship and finishing third in the Bassmaster Eastern Opens Angler of the Year standings for 2020. Schlapper has been using Connect-Ease product for years to provide the clean and reliable power he needs day after day to compete at the highest level in professional bass fishing.
CONNECT-EASE PRO WALLEYE ANGLERS
Johnnie Candle
1988, Johnnie’s father started Reeler's Choice Charters on Lake Erie’s central basin. Johnnie started as a first mate for his dad and other captains while honing his fishing and boating skills. At 21, he obtained his U.S. Coast Guard Captain's License and began captaining his own boat. After graduating with a Marketing degree from the University of Akron in 1993, Candle decided to try his hand at tournament angling. Nearly three decades since, Johnnie’s tournament travels have taken him far and wide, competing at the highest level on the USFA, NAWA, PWT, MWC and NWT tournament trails.
In addition to tournament angling, Candle has guided in five states for everything from trout to salmon in the Lower Niagara River to walleye in the Dakotas, to redfish and sea trout on the flats. When he’s not fishing tournaments or giving seminars, Candle divides his time between guiding on Devils Lake, North Dakota, and out of the Florida panhandle during winter months.
Johnnie has come to rely on Connect-Ease products in all facets of his fishing to ensure clean and reliable rigging and power – as demonstrated in this video!
Brett King
Hager City, Wisconsin native Brett King learned to fish walleyes as a youth on Mississippi River Pool 3 & 4 and has never looked back. With a pro walleye fishing career that spans nearly 30 years, Brett has notched wins in the NWT, AIM, and FLW professional walleye tournament circuits. In 2019, Brett took NWT Angler of the Year.
Brett started working with Connect-Ease founder, Cal Munkvold, over a decade ago, looking for a better way to rig, manage, and maintain clean power to his trolling motor and sophisticated fish-finding electronics. Brett’s input was invaluable in Cal’s design of GRAPH-POWER to meet and exceed the growing needs of professional tournament anglers. Check out the video here!
Jason Przekurat
Stevens Point, Wisconsin native, Jason Przekurat, grew up fishing the Wisconsin, launching a tournament career in 1995. His first win came not long after in 2000 when Jason won the MWC World Walleye Championship on the Mississippi River. Once again dominating on “Old Man River,” in 2007 Jason won the FLW Walleye Tour event on Pool 4 in Red Wing, Minnesota.
Jason’s a two-time winner of the prestigious FLW Walleye Tour Angler of the Year (AOY) Award (2003 & 2007) and has also earned the Ranger Cup Award. Once again, in 2016, Jason took tops at the National Walleye Tour (NWT) Championship on Lake Oahe in Mobridge, South Dakota, and in 2020, he won the NWT Championship again, becoming the first pro walleye angler to win the NWT Championship twice.
CONNECT-EASE FISHING GUIDES/CHARTER CAPTAINS
Johnnie Candle
Location:
Winter: Carrabelle, FL
Spring/Summer: Devils Lake, ND
Web: https://johnniecandle.com/
Phone: +701 371 9431
Target Species: Walleye, Redfish, Sea Trout
Capt. Clay Shidler
Location:
Crystal River, FL
Web: https://hangemhighsportfishing.com/
Phone: +352 586 2748
Target Species: Inshore - Redfish, Snapper, Sea Trout; Off-Shore - Gag Grouper, Red Grouper, Red Snapper, Mangrove Snapper, Hogfish, Cobia, Amberjack, Kingfish, Grunts & Sea Bass