February 11, 2025
By In-Fisherman Staff
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Our good friend Craig Storms, or Stormy to those who know him best stopped by the In-Fisherman headquarters to sit down and share the details of his interesting career. Host Thomas Allen digs into Stormy’s early days and finds a long list of similarities in how their careers began and changed directions. Craig works with Dakota Lithium and shares a tremendous amount of insight to the lithium battery market, and how anglers are better powered on the water than ever before. This is a good listen!
Truncated transcript:
00:00:05.440 --> 00:00:19.800: We're listening to In Fisherman Storyline, North America's top voice in multi-species freshwater angling. Here is your host, Thomas Allen.
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00:00:19.800 --> 00:00:29.720: Hey, welcome to In Fisherman Storyline. We've got a special guest in the studio today, Craig Storms, or more affectionately known as Stormy. Stormy. That's me.
00:00:29.720 --> 00:00:50.520: He's a legend in his own mind anyways. In my own mind. But we've known each other for a few years, and I feel like every time we get together, it seems like we're kind of kindred spirits. We have a poor sense of humor, like we like probably the same foods. It's a good time. It is a good time.
00:00:50.520 --> 00:01:08.280: Craig has been spending a lot of time on the ice. Well, he's on the road 24/7, it seems like, and was at the St. Paul ice show last week. And if you're going to be that close to Red Lake with early ice, you got to go. You got to go, bro. And you spent three days there, four days? What was it? Five days. Five days? Five days.
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00:01:08.280 --> 00:01:21.920: I got blown out on Wednesday. It was just-- it was minus 30 with 30 mile an hour winds. You know? It was just-- it was a good work day. So catch up in emails and everything.
00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:42.560: We're going to dig into the legend of Stormy. We're going to talk a little bit about where he got his start, where his passion for fishing came from. But you also may know Craig as the, I guess, the face of Dakota Lithium. He's a guy that's on the road, representing the brand, works with a lot of pro anglers. And I do feel like I see you in this neck of the woods more often than not.
00:01:42.560 --> 00:02:08.720: But you're not anywhere from here, are you? No, I'm from upstate New York. Upstate New York, whatever. Jersey born. Yeah. Upstate New York. I'm about an hour south of Syracuse. Are people born in Jersey with an accent? Like, are they-- before they can even talk, like, I feel like you can--you carry it with you your entire life. It's amazing. Because I could be up here, close to the border, and they all know I'm from Jersey. Yeah. Oh, it's wild. Well, the Jersey accent's recognizable.
00:02:08.720 --> 00:02:29.040: But around here, the In-Fisherman folks originated in Chicago. And that-- So they got the Chicago-- A little bit of it. But I mean, like, it's clear in Wisconsin. I feel like the accent in Wisconsin is obviously--it has a twinge of Chicago in it. And it's like, when you cross the border into Minnesota, that's when you draw out your O's a little bit more.
00:02:29.040 --> 00:04:12.240: And there's meat raffles here. You ever done a meat raffle? No, it's a meat raffle. Oh, my gosh. I almost-- you almost need to stick around for a day. I think it's a Minnesota, like, classic. But it's infected itself across the country to rural communities. It's basically a way you can kill an evening. You can go to a local establishment. Most of the times, it's bars. But a lot of restaurants have it. And they'll receive a package of meat from, let's say, the boys' high school hockey team, or whatever the Brainerd chapter of bridge players are us. Whatever it is, if they want to do a fundraiser, this is a good way to do it. So they'll spend $300 on meat. And then they'll have a couple of folks that work at the establishment. They just kind of work the way around the room. Do you want in on this raffle? And they'll do three, four, five, six rounds. And you just get your raffle tickets. It's got a number on it. And if they call you, you walk up to the table. And you're in line to pick out of meat of your choice. It's a Minnesota thing. I mean, it is. Definitely a Minnesota thing. And when I first heard about it, Craig, I was like, you know, I don't know that this sounds fun. But then I went and did it. And you had fun. It's a great time. I mean, you get to hang out with whoever you want to hang out with. And then I think my daughter and I went this last time. We spent 20 bucks for all the rounds. We ended up winning a package of custom cut bacon. Oh, OK. And dude, like when it hit my refrigerator, my son found it. It was gone in three days. Nobody-- if you have real bacon like that, it's hard to go back to the store. It really is. Yeah. It's like when they say thick cut, it's actually thick cut. And it's got a nice smoke flavor.
00:04:12.240 --> 00:04:42.520: And that's the thing about where I live in upstate New York. I am in the triangle of Nowheresville. I have 800 registered voters in my town. That's it. So-- It sounds wonderful. Oh, it is. It's fantastic. My nearest neighbor is a half mile. So and we get the best, best meat products, you know? Because they have the beef. They got the pigs. They got the smokehouses. It's just-- it's a culinary delight. Let's put it that way.
00:04:42.520 --> 00:05:04.160: So elaborate a little bit on upstate New York. Is there-- how far are you from a big city per se? So I'm an hour and 10 minutes from Syracuse. I'm an hour and 20 minutes from Oneida Lake. And then within a two hour circumference, I'm probably-- no matter what you want to fish for, I can go to world class fishing….
Click here to listen to the entirety of Episode 21.
