January 31, 2024 • 37 mins
Spencer Graves and Wes Logan talk about their experiences with those "sharing information" in fishing tournaments.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I feel bad Wes, because I can't really tell you
anything about my win on Logan Martin.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
No, don't say nothing, But I am proud of you.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I appreciate that. I mean, listen for a guy who's
only been fishing for four years and tournament fishing just
about three, like, I wanted to share that victory with
so many of my buddies. But you're all professional fishermen
and you have to fish that lake and you can't
get information. But I will tell you the amount of
people that I know that fish local tournaments, so not
(00:31):
bass Master elites like you, or the MPFL or even
the BPT. I'm getting phone calls from guys and are like, well,
what a take? What you And it's funny because when
I see that on the small level, it makes me
truly appreciate the guys who don't go and try to
get information at the high level. You and I both
(00:53):
know that that happens though.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Oh yeah, I mean I've been talking about this morning
with one of my buddies.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
What was the conversation?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh just you know, how if I'm trying to think
of how I could say this in a radio or
a podcast, man.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I just listen real conversation is what's going to cut through.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
So yeah, I just don't understand why people feel the
need to have to try and get help, Like just
go fishing. Either gonna figure them out or you're not.
Like we're all good enough to have gotten there supposedly fishing,
you know, with our own you know, instinct and talent
and all that good stuff. Why is that? I mean,
(01:32):
is are people that desperate to win or make money
because that's the only I guess that's just what they're
striving to do. Like, I don't know how.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Much the lake's change though, because it depends on the lake. Okay,
So like I grew up fishing Lake Lanier for the
last four years of my life. I mean, I'm obviously
an adult, so I didn't really grow up there, but
I noticed that certain bits work well on Lake Lanier
compared to Logan Martin, compared to you know, I won't
even get into small mouth fisheries. Lake Lanier to Smith Lake,
(02:02):
which are two blue back herring lakes, they're two spotted
bass lakes. Those baits don't really change too much. The
topography is similar, so it's almost like if you're targeting
large mouth you know, that you can go out and
throw green pumpkin or you can throw black and blue.
If you're targeting spots, you're gonna kind of do this
(02:25):
and then you make your little adjustments off of that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Right. Yeah, Yeah, I think the problem that happens, like
when we're traveling around the country, or not just us,
just anybody traveling around the country, you kind of want
to be in the right area of the lake because
a lot of these places are jiggang Man. You can
and we've only got two and a half days of practice.
You can be in the wrong area and be doing
the thing that's going to blow the tournament away, and
you're just doing it in the wrong place.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Well, we've talked about before on several podcasts the difference
in a pattern lake and a spot specific Kobe spots specific.
I mean, you have to you gotta find clear water,
you gotta find the boats. If you're on Okachobe and
you're fishing by yourself.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
You're screwed. It doesn't water.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, you got to move somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
I've tried that.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
But if you went to Neely Henry, or if you
went to Toledo Bend or something like that, that's more
of a pattern style lake where you can kind of
replicate your pattern. But even then you want to break
the lake down into like three major parts. Yeah, southern,
middle of North.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
A lot of times you have the yeah, like you said, northern,
middle and southern. I don't know, Like like Gonnersville is
a bad like spot lake. Like if you start catching
and I'm not going to say like an exact spot,
but you'll have a little area like that's where they're at.
You don't try and run around on gonners Well. I
have learned that before, but I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
But it's also so big. I mean that's that's the
other You'll get out on some of these big waterways
and they could be pattern lakes and you don't even
go out north. It could work down south.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
But you don't have you don't even have time to check.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
You ain't running hour fifteen minutes during a tournament to
try to find.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Those You better not unless it's just the freaking juice, coach.
But if it's the juice, you should have started on
it to begin with. Yeah, But it's speaking of starting
on to be I have learned, and I like fishing
against those dudes that are really good. You better start
on your best stuff, go straight to it, because you're
not They're not gonna miss anything.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
The conversation that you were having with your buddy about
guys getting information, what side of the fence is he on?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Same as mine? Same as mine?
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Like it it's bs that guys are going out and
getting Yeah, I mean, it just bothers me because like
the people I try and associate with, we all try.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I mean, you want to try and do the right thing,
Like you're gonna work as hard as you can to
learn as much as you can, to know as much
as you can, and then you have people that instead
of and I'm trying to not let it bother me
in there as much, but I feel like there's people
that are trying to learn how to fish better, and
then there's people that are trying to learn how to
get an advantage over the other anglers better. I think
(04:45):
that's the whole problem we're having with the injury.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Well, I'll tell you what with the whole getting advantage.
I know there's been a lot of conversations recently, and
this stems back to the end of the bass Master
season last year, but live scopes transducers the amount that
you can have have There was a lot of conversation
at the end of the year of what was going
to go into the rule book for twenty twenty four.
Did anything change on that? No? No, no. And I saw,
(05:10):
you know, a popular fishing YouTube guy put up the
other days like bass knows that this is giving an
unfair advantage and blah blah blah. You had to listen
to the warding because even the wording itself gives everybody
an out. You know what I mean, It's technology. And
if you don't think that technology is going to continue
(05:30):
to get better and better and better in fishing in
the outdoors. It's getting better and better and better everywhere
else in your life, why would you think that it
wouldn't get better in fishing en nothing.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Absolutely, Yeah, I know we bait the crap out of
that line, But I.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Mean, let's talk about like what's actually happening now. There's
a lot of bass Master elites, and I want to
ask about your boat. There's a lot of bass Master elites.
There's a lot of BPT guys who are all over
social media saying, look, I put forward facing sonar at
the back of my boat.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
You do you see my Instagram story the other day,
I see a lot. I said it. I said, it's
not a secret to put a Livescope transducer on your
jackplate anymore. That was like four years ago.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
But that's the thing, Like this has been going on
in professional fishing really since all this technology came out,
but now it came to a head last year. Yeah,
when money came into play, because you're talking about, you know,
the garment transducer and a screen for that.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I bought mine.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Five or six thousand dollars for I bought mine.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I bought everything, the box, the transducer, of the graph
and I think it ended up cost me that shipping
to my house, not put I put it on by myself.
That wouldn't even be somebody rigging it. And it was
like forty eight hundred dollars, Right, that's one. That's just one.
That's no you know, whatever their other little deal is.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And when were you hearing about some of the guys
that were rigging up their boats, like how many is
the max live scope transducers you know guys had on
their boats? Because I heard six.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I haven't seen a six. I've seen h two on
the trolling motor one in that for the you know,
the normal forward face forward.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, so the perspective you can get like better for
shallow water five foot in below you can navigate grass
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, I've seen it, but there's no way it'll never
replace a three humming bird three sixty right, I have
three sixty one bout there's no comparison with the detail
in the three sixty. And then I've heard of guys
having three you know, three on the back, one looking right,
this is off the jack like, one looking straight right,
one looking straight left, and then one looking straight backward.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
I just laugh how ridiculous it is that some guys
want to get mad about technology. And this is why
power pole gives you an advantage over the fish regardless.
Oh yeah, any sort of a shallow water anchor is
going to give you an advantage. Here's why I say,
even spot like is just a little bit different. Spot like,
you're still going into the wind right and when you
lock your boat like, if that wind moves, it kind
(07:50):
of austs with it. But when you put your shallow
water anchors into the ground, you're literally stable like a
dock for the most part, and you can cast to
the same exact you don't lose, like, it doesn't disorient
you like sometimes three spot lot can disorient you.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I mean, dude, I feel like I mean spot. I
mean they all have their they all have their advantage,
just like the power poles for bed fishing, like or
if you you know shallow water and you want to
stand back up. But like when I wanted Neeli Henry, dude,
I was on a current place and I caught one
on a crank bait and I hit spot log and
I stood back because it was too deep. I stood
back up and was able to make the exact same
cast and caught a five pounder like and probably that
(08:26):
won the tournament.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And that's the point that I think a lot of
people that are really thinking about this, you know, into
the future is technology is going to continue.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
It's not gonna stop.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
It's a technique. Like every single thing that comes out.
There's guys that are good at live scoping that couldn't
bedfish to save their life.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
And vice versa, right, and then you have guys that
are good at.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Both, And then you got guys that love using their
power poles because they love fishing shallow and then you
got other guys that are like, no, man, I want
a three quarter round sweets and I want to be
out in forty foot of one.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I don't need power poles because I'm gonna fish out
there all the time.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Like it was, it was always a joke lanear when
you would see somebody's.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Boath're not from that's I've heard. We were up at
Smith one time a long time ago when I was young,
and they saw we were fishing out of my boat
and a guy read bis powerpoles, are like, well, hey,
you from here. That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And everybody tries to get an advantage when it comes
to any sort of fishing. I mean, I can remember
uh seeing this when I was a kid. I grew
up on Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia, and I would
watch guys fish. You'd go buy every bridge and what
do you see Giant ropes hanging down because guys hook
those to their front so they don't move, so they
don't move. I mean that basically, power pole or spot
(09:36):
lock has eliminated that side of it. You know, there's
still a benefit to having things like that, but everybody
has been trying to get an advantage over the fish
since the dawn of time.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
That's part of being a better fishman is getting an
advantage on the fish. It's the advantage over your fellow
competitor or the lake. It's not in the right way right,
like you're doing everything and the whole like there's a
lot of negativity, Like it's still and I posted something
last night like we harp on the negative and I
don't want to harp on a lot because it really
(10:07):
puts you in a bad mood because like, fishing's fun,
that's why we go do it. But there's just and
it's not everybody. There's just a handful of guys that
are and I don't know anybody. I just have that
feeling like you just get that kind of perception, like man,
it's something you get that gut feeling something don't feel right,
Like something's just not right about that. And I'm not
calling anybody out. I don't know really anybody by name.
(10:29):
You just have that feeling sometimes. But I don't want
to be negative about it, like it like I don't know,
let's talk about something put.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I will say to just to wrap up the you know,
the gathering information thing. I've been in boats during tournaments
with pros and I've heard what they say to other pros,
you know, or about other pro Oh yeah, and there
is like.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
You know what I'm talking you've been in boat guys
are like, man, that's kind of weird. Like we'll just
see something like man that don't make anything.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
I won't say who's involved, but I'll tell you the situation.
So we're out on a lake and my boater had
been fishing this one area and I saw it on TV.
I saw everything. He'd been fishing this one area for
the two days leading up to.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
The day that I was in the front. So he's
been there at least one day of practice, in two
in the tournament at least at least.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
And it was good enough. That was the first place
we went. That's where he was like, that's where my
fisher right, he had a couple of auxiliary spots, but
that's where he really wanted to start. Literally, what tipped
him off to any sort of problem or issue that
was going on was how the other dude drove.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
His boat in there that went right to it.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
That was the thing where he was like started to question.
And what I noticed was this other dude came underneath
the bridge, got on plane and then put his boat
straight down, and before that boat even came to a stop,
he was standing up, motor was off, he was deploying
his power poles. He locked into place, He let the
boat kind of sit back and settle. He takes and
(11:59):
flew his bait straight out in front, doesn't catch anything,
reels it back, flips it back out, boom hooks one.
And when he starts fighting it, my boater looks over
and he goes, man, that's a good fish. I hope
he loses it, though, because that's a little suspect that
this is what happened. He's reeling in. What happens. The
guy loses the fish right at the side of the boat,
(12:23):
and my boter looked at me and goes, I don't
know if you believe in karma, but I feel like
I just witnessed it. Yeah, because he even told me.
He was like, what that guy is fishing for is
a bed in six and a half feet of water
on a really not so clean portion of the lake
at the time, and that's where I was like, ooh,
(12:44):
so this is a deeper question that goes on. He's like,
how did he know he was there?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (12:48):
How did he know, I never saw him in practice.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
I was gonna say, you're gonna have somebody argue why,
well he may have found it. Well, the dude's been
there for two days of the tournament and I seen it. Yeah,
so we've got a it was a really big fish.
So this dude just been saving this fish for three day.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah right, And of course it does come down in
the tournament, and you being at the higher level in tournaments,
you can kind of break this down a little bit better.
I hear guys talk about how they want to save
their fish, you know, like I'm gonna go do this,
but I'm gonna save those fish for you know, if
I make the cut or whatever it is. It was
day three, that guy's not saving that one fish. Like
(13:23):
that's why to me, there's something there being a big one,
Like you have to be an absolute tank, right right,
Like I know, you know Christy had one given to
him for Christmas. It was that nine pounder he caught
on lay Lake. Yeah that's a stud. Yeah exactly. Like
if you know that fish is there, as you're going for.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
That, we're going straight to it, right right. We're not
now if it's like a two pounder and He's just
been like, well, I wonder if I'm I'm like, let's
just say if it was me, I'm trying to get
a bite. Well, I know where two pounder is five
miles down the lake. I ain't caught one. We might
as well go try and catch it. But a five
or six pounder probably on a light that a five
or six pounder is a big one, which most of
the time it is. But just like that, man like
(14:01):
and at least you got to see the.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Question, and I think that's I think they.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Just raises some some You're like, man, that's ah, that's weird.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yeah. Are you want to get into some positive stuff? Yeah? Absolutely,
talk about the season. It kicks off on a lake
that's perfect for you, Toledo Bend.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean sets up in my wheelhouse.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Buddy. I'm not positive we can get when you kick
off on one of the hardest lakes for you.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Uh, I don't know. But the
cool thing about it is, I think the lake's in
really good shape. There's been some really big bags caught there,
so I mean they're wearing there's gonna be some really
big fish caught. Just I hope we get some weather,
which I know it's real cold now, but if we
could get a warming trend up into the tournament, like,
it could be really.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Special history on that lake.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I fished there one time, the year that I made it,
when I won the AOY in the opens and made
the Elites our first we started off there, our first
tournament was there.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
What was it lake? When you fish that lake for
the first time.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I'll tell you this. I fished the tournament and practice
in two different creeks, and one of those creeks I
swore to God is as big as Neili Henry. It's
Jock Granny. It's John Granny. I think I don't even
remember the name of it. It's up there. It's like
some kind of Spanish or French name or so.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
When you're huge, dude. I saw I saw some video recently,
you know, all that cold weather that has blanketed most
of the United States. They were showing Grand Lake and
what that right now, it's froze over. It's so funny
to see so many guys on Facebook like trying to
angle to sell their ice fishing graphs and fish finders
(15:31):
to Bass Master League guys, because I mean, that is
you know, God, this weather is just it's throwing fish
for a loop. But to get back to the Toledo
Ben thing, what's it like when you go to a
lake that you really have no history on and you
were going to that lake back for that tournament?
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Oh yeah, I didn't know not.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
So when you pull up, like, do you just look
at your map on your graph and go, that looks
like something or somewhere where I fish before, I'm gonna
check that out.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, if it kind of just like what basically would
I did with that term as I have my the
Homing Bird lake Master trap at the time, and I
just saw that that creek had a lot more like
flats in the back up, like shallower stuff, and we
were getting you know, it was kind of the end
of February, so you know, the fish were kind of
wanting to spawn. The weather work right at some point
they may not be up on the shallow stuff, but
(16:17):
they're going to be as close as they can to it.
And I was like, well, it looks like there's some
shallow stuff here. Let's run in there. If there's some
cover in there, like stuff to throw at, we'll fish.
If not, we'll go somewhere else, and then I mean
we got a few bites and there. It really wasn't
that hard to get a bite that time, and I
was like, well, I'm not going anywhere else because like,
you could fish in here. For three weeks.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I've been reading a lot of the bass Master magazines,
which I absolutely love because I feel like that gives
me a kind of a good perspective on what fishing
is doing that time of year. But one of the
segments of it that I really like is day on
the Lake.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Oh yeah, I did one of those. It's awesome. I
read those as a kid. Man, It's it's that's legit stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
It's cool because, like I read one. I went back
into a couple couple of mag magazines and I read
one and I'm trying to think of who it was,
but the angler that they were following, he didn't get
a bite. He didn't get a bite for three hours,
and he didn't get a keeper for four And reading
(17:16):
that made me go, so maybe I'm not crazy when
I go out, oh, because every guy like me goes
out and they're like, man, if I'm not getting.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Bit yeah one in thirty minutes, You're like, I suck.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Right, Like we'll just go back to the dock and
sell all my stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I feel like that every day.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
But when you read those and you see how many
adjustments guys have to make, Like I think this one
episode or edition that I was reading, you know, the
angler made like four or five adjustments within the first
two hours just to try to get something to work.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah. Yeah, you just need a clue. A lot of
times you just need a clue and then you start
putting a little bit stuff together, like like, dude, one
bite can tell you so much fishing, and you just
got to stop and pay attention, Like you can't just
chalk it up as looks. Sometimes it is look or
a flute, but you just need to like where was
your boat position, which way was a wind blow? And
was it along? Was it halfway on the bank or
(18:08):
halfway off the bank? Was it on the bank? Was
it on wood? Was it on grass? Was it on
a rock? Had you paused your bait when you were
reeling it in? And it ate it? Like It's just
like I've had a lot of times like dude, I'll
be fishing a crank bit or something like turn around
to say something to somebody you're turning around to look
and stop it, and like, dude, it eats it. Well,
that's a light bulb right there.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
That one tournament that I was talking about, where you know,
there were questions of whether or not that guy knew
that bed was there. I literally watched my angler and
I've seen this time and time again. It's happened to me.
I know it's happened to you. He was fishing something
on top right. He was coming over the grass and
then just killing it. But he hadn't had a bite
in forty five minutes, so he's like throwing over here.
He's working it nothing, he's scanning, looking for the next
(18:48):
spot where he's gonna throw. And sometimes I feel like
that's a big no no, because then you forget to
worry about the bait ba water. Literally I saw him
throw real this back and when it almost got to
this piece of grass, he turns his head to look
for something else and he starts to stop and pull
his bait back, and I'm telling you, a four and
(19:11):
a half pounder came blowing up and missed it. He
heard the splash. He turns, he looks down, but now
he doesn't even know which way it was coming from.
He just knew that there was a fish there and
he saw the rough water. So he was like he
looked back at me. I can't tell him anything. I
wouldn't tell him anything anyway, he didn't even ask, but
he's like, ay, So then he's just started working it again.
(19:32):
Never got the blow up that he was looking for.
But when I watched him work that bait, he missed
the juice every single time, and that's where I was like,
that stinks. So in tournaments that I've had, especially crank baits,
you work him back and then you start to get
that slow rise where it's starting to come up. Most
(19:52):
guys are just like gonna speed burn it from there.
That's usually where you're going to get one. You know,
when you're like, man, it bit right at the boat,
Well that thing was falling.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Oh yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
You just didn't realize.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yeah. Well what you realize a lot now with the
livescote is how many do follow Oh yeah, it is unbelievable.
They ain't never gonna bite it. They'll follow it through
the boat and just wim off.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
But see, that's the worst part of our live scille
because then what happens live stop starts to catch you. Yep,
it's not catching the fish. Oh you see those guys
with their bet necks and they'll watch that screen for forty.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Minutes, Yeah, and not catch anything.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Meanwhile, when you're practicing for a tournament, you're like, i'll
make five casts at this point. If I don't get anything.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
On it, I'll go on to the next one.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
But if you got live scolle and you're sitting there
just watching it, you're like, I know there's fish here.
That's cool. If it's they may not be ready to
buy it. That's the thing. I'm marking that spot. I'll
go somewhere else, come and maybe come back and check
it out.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
That's right. But I but like the cool thing like
seeing one following it, Like you could change colors and
try it for a little while, like and if they're
still following it, we're like, well, maybe they're just not
biting good. But if you change colors and they start
eating it, you're like, well that was easy. Like that's
what it can tell you. Like that's why I just
I'm not against it because of that reason, But I.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Think that's I mean, that's obviously the benefits everybody who's
against it, they don't realize the benefit. Yes, it just
doesn't it's not conducive to their style.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
I agree, I agree. But yeah, the the sea and
the little subtleties is the cool thing about breaking down
like bass fishing. That's that's why I love it. Boy.
It flecks me up though, Dude, I love figure I
think like if you could bottle up that feeling of
figuring them out, dude, it's the best feeling in the world.
There's no drug out there, like, no no of my I
(21:30):
don't think, which I haven't tried. But I used to.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Hear from dudes back in the day. They'd be like,
if you throw a crank bait and they they barely
nip that back trouble, it's a color issue, something wrong.
So then I'm like, okay, and then you change it.
But then when you throw it through a pile of
them and you watch four or five of them turn
on it, Yeah, you go back through it and you
slow your cadence down a little bit, and then all
(21:52):
of a sudden one of them nails it. You're like, oh,
so it wasn't a color thing. It was the fact
that I felt like I was burning it to you,
and it makes you realize real quick when they say
fish slow, you got a fish slower? Yeah, that live
scalpe will tell you real quick if you're fishing too bad.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Another thing I've not like, I don't know if you've
seen it in a livescope, Dude, how far your bait
moves in the water when you're like, you don't really
like when you're moving it, Dude, it's like four ft.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
It's at the bottom of the book.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
You're like, I'm a thirty.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Foot of water.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
It's crazy. It's like, man, we work our stuff way
too hard sometimes.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
That's why I laughed. Like when I was watching Siflintes
on the Michigan like Saint Clair last year, and they
went back and they showed how subtle he moves it wrong,
was working the tip of his drop shot.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Buddy, like barely moving it.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
I mean barely. And then you watch somebody on like
sand Tea and they're like yeah, and it's like, dude,
you're in five foot of water. He's out in fifteen
twenty foot of water. He's barely moving it. But if
you watch that tail, yep, that's all you really need.
It's It's that's where I think the real benefit of
technology comes into it, you know. I I'd mentioned this
(23:00):
on the last podcast we did, but there was a
local kids tournament and they banned live scope and I'm like,
wait to stand on that hill and I'm sitting there
going that's the exact tournament where you need to have.
That's when you need it. If you have a kid
in the boat, you want to be able to say, hey,
throw over here, and you know what they all and watch.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Like at least you watch them like, hey, what are they?
Like we were I've been filming. I just got back
from filming all week with Randall Tharpe with my Rod company,
and he actually took a kid out the other day.
He said, I got to show him like he was
asking me like, what are these mister rens? That was
your bass. He's like, we're gonna figure out how to
catch them. And that kid was like throwing these different
baits and he said, I didn't really tell you anything
to do. He was kind of being able to watch
(23:38):
it and making them react. I'm like, well, he's getting
to learn, like yeah, of all the tournaments to band
it and don't do it when with kids in it.
Like I could understand like the elites or something on
one level, but not with the dang kids where they
can see them.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
And I'll tell you what, Like you wanted to talk
about the positives and the benefits of fishing and not
really worried about like the negative side. There is nothing
better than signing up for a tournament, sitting in a
boat and watching that sunrise.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Oh, it's awesome. And the sun the sun sets we
had this week in Florida.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
It was on that it was a little stormy, but
like right at the end of the day, you know,
do you get that cloud with the sun? Dude? It
was on and you're like, why aren't we worried about everything?
Speaker 1 (24:19):
I appreciate it so much. I watched the video and
it was Kevin van Dam and he was just kind
of recapping his his career a little bit and he
was like, you know, the one nice thing about me
having this career is I've seen more beautiful sunsets and sunrises.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Than anybody in the world.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
And that is so true. Like you mentioned, fishing is
fun because you just want to go out and you
just want to fish. Dude. That's how I treat most
tournaments that I go into, and I think that's mainly
because I haven't gotten to the point where I feel
like I've got a you know, Oh man, I really
got to break this down. I gotta get this section.
Blah blah blah. I feel like what really separates the
(24:55):
men from the boys when it comes to tournament fishing
is you guys see an object in the water, whether
it's a deep brush pile, or it's a lay down,
or it's a bank with a bunch of rocks, and
y'all just know how to pick apart what you're doing,
but you're still having a good time.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Doing Yes, yes, well, that's that's what we love doing,
is picking it apart, like learning every because that's the
coolest thing with fishing is you never learn everything, like
it's always different every single day.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
And how important is boat position when you're trying to
break something down.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
It's it's it's everything, Like literally, the way we move
our boats and the way we put our boats on
the bank or set up on a piece of brush
off shore, anything like boat positioning is ninety percent of
catching a bass.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Oh see, man, I think you and i'd have a
hard time fishing.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Well, I'm just running the boat.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Well's I feel like if I took the boat and
all of a sudden, you'd be like having a heart
attack in the back, like you cannot get that close. Yeah,
you got it. Back off.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I've just noticed people fishing and I never say anything
to them because I sometimes I just like fishing in
the back, just having a good time buddies. But dude,
they will run all over everything, like just I mean,
be wide. It might be flipping a tree. My dad's
terrible about Well, he'll be flipping a tree and he'll
flip over. You can't tell him nothing either, No, No,
He'll flip over to the tree and the boat will
still be going. Like He'll still be trolling at the tree,
(26:15):
and I'm like, what are you doing. By the time
you lift up, you're gonna have to back wash the
tree to keep from running over it.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
So I was fishing with a buddy of mine, and
you know, he's he's just the nicest dude in the world.
Older guy, loves to fish, not married. So he's like,
I spend my money fishing, my time fishing. Yeah, And
we went out and of course what I do a
ricky move I'm flipping a jig or something and I
come buy something. I get hung up, and he goes, ooh,
(26:40):
you're in a bad spot. You might have to break
that off. And I'm like, what are you talking about.
That's a five dollars jig and I'm not doing that.
Like we got to get up on there. And he goes, nah,
this doc is too good, like you're gonna have to
break that off, and I'm like, I can get it.
I can get it. So he's like, all right, take
the trolling motor. So he's sacrificing a good spot because
he wants to see whether or not I know what
I'm doing. Literally, I go up with the troller motor.
(27:01):
I get close to the piling. I turned the head
of the troller motor around so now the blade is
facing the dock. And when I went to step on it,
he was like no, no, no, no, no no, And
I was like, what are you talking about? And he goes,
you never want to backwash underneath the dock ever, So
now like, okay, mental note, check that away. I luckily
(27:21):
got the jig back, but it was it was dicey,
and of course we don't catch anything on that dock.
So part of me is like, well, I don't know
if you're right then, because we didn't getch anything. He's like, well,
we were also right on top of the piling bud.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Yeah that's right. But yeah, both position is a big deal.
You just got to be conscious of where it's at
and where it's going eggs like basically, And I think
that's I've taken a lot of kids fishing, and I
feel like I like teaching them more about running the
troller motor and fishing at the same time than just
actually fishing. Sure, there's a big difference in standing behind
your dad or somebody in fishing because dude, you hit
(27:55):
all the angles, that's all your wordbots cast and well
you get up there running that troller motor as a
ten left twelve year old. It's the whole ever ball game.
Oh yeah, because you're having to focus on which way
your foot needs to turn, Like you need to be
able to consciously know which way. If you put your
foot down, it turns this way, up goes the other way.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
But if you get some like wind or you get
some current and you're casting, technically you want to cast
into the wind. Yeah, for the bait to work effectively
in the water because of how a bay fish swiad.
So when you're in a tournament, like, how do you
keep yourself from backlashing? Does it still happen to you
as a pro.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, I'll backlash some, but I mean the reels we
use or the reels I use, or you can adjust them,
like a lot of times you can adjust them on
the fly, like if it you know, if you come
around a point and you got the wind blowing in
on you, like you just crank it up, like, crank
the brakes up a little bit. You're gonna be able
to throw. You may not be able to throw as far,
but you might throw ten foot shorter, but you're not
gonna backlash to where like it was when it was
(28:48):
real loose before you got into the wind. So I
think that's a big deal. Been able to know to
adjust your reels, you know, on the I call it
on the fly, you know, just right there when you're fishing.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
What was your what was your worst backlash story? It
could have been in the tournament. It could have been
fun fishing. I feel like everybody, oh.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah, I've got one, I've got one. Oh yeah, yeah,
I was fishing. I don't even know what was that
back I I was at Kentucky Lake for a Coast
to championship or something back when I was younger, and
I was throwing a spook on braid and dude, I
went to cast and the braid caught, you know, you
know how like you throw too hard And when it caught,
I grabbed like I grabbed the rod with my hand
like and it and it like pulled my hand like
(29:25):
it twisted my hand away and I freaking tore a
tendon in my wrists. Yes, sir, I had to go
to therapy and.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Having that surgery or was that No, it was that
was a whole different thing.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
But yeah, dude, you know how you get like they
were up school and you know how you get excited
you just raar it back do When I did it,
and I caught the rod like a weird way and
it like popped, I was like, and it, dude, it burned.
I was like, man, that didn't feel right, and it
it didn't work right the rest of the week, Like
I had to take my wrist up my.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Hand and even a backlash that's an e R visit.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah, like it got it caught you know that braid
will catch on itself and dig in there, And it
was Yeah, I haven't told many people that, but I.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Mean I had. I had a backlash story. I mean,
my my first one was the most epic. So I'd
never used a bay caster before it went to bass Pro,
bought a bay caster, spoiled it up. My buddy and
buddy of mine who I was fishing with, he was like,
all right, bring it out there. But before he could
even tell me, like, hey, you need to adjust in tune,
this sent it like this and that whole thing just
(30:18):
he hands me his rod and he goes here, you
play with that for a little bit. I'll work on this.
Forty seven minutes later, Yeah, i'd.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Have told you he was able to get.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Cut this stuff out and go Now, knowing that you
can just get new line and just spool it up again,
I'm so fast to be like, well, I'm just gonna
take this out because all that memory that builds up end.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Us, especially with the floor carbon line now day, when
it catches on itself a few times with it being dry,
it'll end up breaking.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
But a couple guys, like in tournaments, they've talked about
how they've caught a fish, they brought it in their
next cast. It blows up. They know, they fired up
the school and they were like constantly throwing that ride down,
picking up another one, just trying to adjust on the fly.
That's got to be a miserable, miserable couple of minutes.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
It is that because and I mean that's a good thing,
you know, something we have going for. So we have
enough rods and real spe able to you know, rig
up the same thing on two or three different rods.
So I always try and do that, especially if I'm
in like the schooling situation or like small mouthfishing, like
rigging those drop shots and stuff. Good god, dude, you're
out in them waves and you catch one and it's
all tangled up. It ain't even worth like trying to
(31:24):
retie the FG nod or whatever not you tie, just
pick up another one. The problem with that is you
go through about five of them, which means you're probably
having a good day. Then you got to sit down
and redo all of them, right, Like, it's just god,
it's aggravating.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, you can't make leaders long enough to know what
you're trying to.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Definitely not you'll you'll get about you know, four or
five fish out of a leader, and then that's that's Aaron.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Martin's had kind of given a tip back in the day,
and I thought it was a really solid tip. You know,
a lot of guys they'll take their leader on their
spinner rods and their leader will actually be in the
school mm hmm. And one of the problems that Aaron
Martin was saying is, did you ever notice when you
cast that you're always catching like that first guide he
goes between the guide and the spool, right in the middle.
(32:05):
That's where your leader needs to meet your your braid.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Mmmm.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
He's like, then you can just sit there and cast.
I made that subtle adjustment.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
You can explain it, dude.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
It's it's all the difference in the world. And that's
something that I don't think a lot of people want
to know to think about because they're just like, man,
this not keeps getting held up. No, it's the way
it's coming off that spoy, Like you just got to
get right to the point, right to the quicker.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Yeah, if you've got it right above your reel when
you go to castle, it's just going straight through it
instead of coming off the spoel like you're talking about. Yeah,
because if you slowed it down when it comes off
the spool, it's actually bigger, you know, and then it
has to shrink back down and go through the guide.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Well, you got Toledo Ben coming up. When you look
at the schedule of the bass Master Elites this year
and the NPFL, give me some of the lakes that
you're pretty excited about.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Oh, definitely excited about Toledo.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Even though you've only fished there a handful of times. Yeah,
just just is it just because it's the kickoff of
the season.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Probably excited to get there. I mean there's giants live there,
like big ones. I mean it could be and you know,
we may be able to catch them on the bank
shall because we're you know, if we can get some
warm weather, that's That's what I'd really like to do,
go wind around or you know, flip a jig or something.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
And is it bad that every time I think of
Toledo Bend, I'm always thinking Ohio and it's in Texas.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Oh because of Toledo.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Yeah. Every time I hain't see Toledo Bend, I'm like, man,
Ohio right off the rip.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Wow, it definitely not definitely, don't want to go anywhere
bass fish in Ohio. No, I'll go deer hunting, but
I'm gonna pass on the on the bass fishing. Yeah,
I don't know. I'm looking forward to fishing in Alabama.
I just wish we weren't fishing the time of year
that we were. Okay, So you've got Smith and Wheeler.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
And and the timing for both of those lakes is
just kind of awful. Little bit June.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I mean, June's good on the Tennessee River. Everybody knows that,
which is where we'll be there, you know, the second
week of June for Wheeler, that'll be a really good tournament.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
But the Smith one, I've heard a lot of guys
talk about which.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Which you're you know, you're good buddies with Joseph, and
he's really familiar with that place. It's not, uh, you know,
I don't schedule the tournaments. I just man, that's gonna
be a not even from a fishing standpoint, from the
boat traffic, it's it's gonna be an interesting one for sure.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
How about how about the story with Joseph. Right now,
he has a house on Smith and because of your rules.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
With any angle by himself.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
He legitimately looks out at that water every day and
he's like, man, he was worried at first. He was worried, like,
can I even go to a restaurant with like friends
of mine type thing? You know what I mean? And
you know, he called Lisa Talmadge, who's the tournament director
for Bass and they had a great conversation about it.
He's like, it's the weirdest thing in the world when
you look at a body of water that you just
(34:39):
can't go on with your friends and family.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Oh yeah, well I had the same thing. Or I'm
me and wheal like it lay like you can't go
out there and crappee fish well like people that you
normally do, you can't, like normally i'd go to like
that year, like I'll go to nearly five or six
times in a month. I don't I mean go out
there by yourself with that's not no fun. Now you
want to go, yeah, but it it does make it
so there's like a you know, a negative and a
(35:03):
plus to fishing at your home place.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Oh what lake this year? Do you feel like you
want to overcome or you want to conquer?
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Saint Lawrence River Gosh, has it just.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Been a thorn in your side?
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Like I catch them just good enough to miss the cut,
Like I've never fished on the Saint Lawrence rivering and
not finished in the fifties.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Is that because it's small mouth, Like you're just not
getting the big girls?
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Yeah, I mean the small mouth have been a nemesis,
but you just you have to find those five pounders
and like the high threes and fours, just don't do
it like I've caught. I had a me and Kyle
Jesse that works for past the last day of the tournament.
This year, I had like nineteen something. He's like, he
broke your twenty pounds streak. I'd caught twenty twenty, like
between twenty and twenty one pounds every day up there
(35:43):
and have yet to make a cut like exaid for
that last dude, Sam, Now you catch twenty and you're like, man,
I gotta I gotta call these four pounders like I'm real.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
So I felt so impressed at the bag that I
had on Logan because I saw the I saw the number,
But even when I weighed that bag in, I didn't
think it was going to be what it turned out
to be. And then I sat there and I fucked
to a buddy of mine and I was like, this
is why I'm not a pro, because y'all can like
look at a bag and you're within, you know, a
couple of tenths. Me, I was off by like a
(36:13):
pound and a half, and I'm like.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
You think you do? You think you had more?
Speaker 1 (36:16):
No, I think I had less. But I'm so used
to him. This is this is me in tournament fishing.
I'm so used to not catching him anyway, So it's
kind of like when I got five, dude, I was excited,
but when I was dragging around this little twelve twelve
point one inch bass, I was like, man, you got
to get out of here. I know, I got five,
and that's all.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I was happy to have him, though, oh I was
stuck when canute this is great.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Like I was even telling my my partner that I
was fishing with. I was like, this little guy as
much of a nuisance as he is. We got happy
that we got him, but it wasn't until we got
to the scales and they actually put him up there,
and I was like, man, this is this is exactly
what these bags have been over the last couple of months,
so I was happy about that. Man, well, best of
luck this season. I know you're gonna do great and
(37:04):
obviously everybody's gonna follow along. But you're doing bass Master
Elites National Professional Fishing League, which is awesome. The NPFL.
I'm going to be out at that event at Logan
Martin to kind of kick it off. So this is
an exciting time. This is when Fixing everybody gets really
pumped about where they're going to go. I mean the
influx of social media videos, everybody pumping their sponsors down,
(37:26):
what they're talking about, the new stuff for twenty twenty four.
That's exciting.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Yep, for sure. For sure, Be sure and follow along
with is Fixing the get.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Going Wes Logan Fishing on Instagram. Give a follow
I feel bad Wes, because I can't really tell you
anything about my win on Logan Martin.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
No, don't say nothing, But I am proud of you.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I appreciate that. I mean, listen for a guy who's
only been fishing for four years and tournament fishing just
about three, like, I wanted to share that victory with
so many of my buddies. But you're all professional fishermen
and you have to fish that lake and you can't
get information. But I will tell you the amount of
people that I know that fish local tournaments, so not
(00:31):
bass Master elites like you, or the MPFL or even
the BPT. I'm getting phone calls from guys and are like, well,
what a take? What you And it's funny because when
I see that on the small level, it makes me
truly appreciate the guys who don't go and try to
get information at the high level. You and I both
(00:53):
know that that happens though.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Oh yeah, I mean I've been talking about this morning
with one of my buddies.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
What was the conversation?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
Oh just you know, how if I'm trying to think
of how I could say this in a radio or
a podcast, man.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I just listen real conversation is what's going to cut through.
Speaker 2 (01:11):
So yeah, I just don't understand why people feel the
need to have to try and get help, Like just
go fishing. Either gonna figure them out or you're not.
Like we're all good enough to have gotten there supposedly fishing,
you know, with our own you know, instinct and talent
and all that good stuff. Why is that? I mean,
(01:32):
is are people that desperate to win or make money
because that's the only I guess that's just what they're
striving to do. Like, I don't know how.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
Much the lake's change though, because it depends on the lake. Okay,
So like I grew up fishing Lake Lanier for the
last four years of my life. I mean, I'm obviously
an adult, so I didn't really grow up there, but
I noticed that certain bits work well on Lake Lanier
compared to Logan Martin, compared to you know, I won't
even get into small mouth fisheries. Lake Lanier to Smith Lake,
(02:02):
which are two blue back herring lakes, they're two spotted
bass lakes. Those baits don't really change too much. The
topography is similar, so it's almost like if you're targeting
large mouth you know, that you can go out and
throw green pumpkin or you can throw black and blue.
If you're targeting spots, you're gonna kind of do this
(02:25):
and then you make your little adjustments off of that.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Right. Yeah, Yeah, I think the problem that happens, like
when we're traveling around the country, or not just us,
just anybody traveling around the country, you kind of want
to be in the right area of the lake because
a lot of these places are jiggang Man. You can
and we've only got two and a half days of practice.
You can be in the wrong area and be doing
the thing that's going to blow the tournament away, and
you're just doing it in the wrong place.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
Well, we've talked about before on several podcasts the difference
in a pattern lake and a spot specific Kobe spots specific.
I mean, you have to you gotta find clear water,
you gotta find the boats. If you're on Okachobe and
you're fishing by yourself.
Speaker 2 (03:03):
You're screwed. It doesn't water.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, you got to move somewhere else.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
I've tried that.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
But if you went to Neely Henry, or if you
went to Toledo Bend or something like that, that's more
of a pattern style lake where you can kind of
replicate your pattern. But even then you want to break
the lake down into like three major parts. Yeah, southern,
middle of North.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
A lot of times you have the yeah, like you said, northern,
middle and southern. I don't know, Like like Gonnersville is
a bad like spot lake. Like if you start catching
and I'm not going to say like an exact spot,
but you'll have a little area like that's where they're at.
You don't try and run around on gonners Well. I
have learned that before, but I mean, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
But it's also so big. I mean that's that's the
other You'll get out on some of these big waterways
and they could be pattern lakes and you don't even
go out north. It could work down south.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
But you don't have you don't even have time to check.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
You ain't running hour fifteen minutes during a tournament to
try to find.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Those You better not unless it's just the freaking juice, coach.
But if it's the juice, you should have started on
it to begin with. Yeah, But it's speaking of starting
on to be I have learned, and I like fishing
against those dudes that are really good. You better start
on your best stuff, go straight to it, because you're
not They're not gonna miss anything.
Speaker 1 (04:09):
The conversation that you were having with your buddy about
guys getting information, what side of the fence is he on?
Speaker 2 (04:15):
Same as mine? Same as mine?
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Like it it's bs that guys are going out and
getting Yeah, I mean, it just bothers me because like
the people I try and associate with, we all try.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
I mean, you want to try and do the right thing,
Like you're gonna work as hard as you can to
learn as much as you can, to know as much
as you can, and then you have people that instead
of and I'm trying to not let it bother me
in there as much, but I feel like there's people
that are trying to learn how to fish better, and
then there's people that are trying to learn how to
get an advantage over the other anglers better. I think
(04:45):
that's the whole problem we're having with the injury.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
Well, I'll tell you what with the whole getting advantage.
I know there's been a lot of conversations recently, and
this stems back to the end of the bass Master
season last year, but live scopes transducers the amount that
you can have have There was a lot of conversation
at the end of the year of what was going
to go into the rule book for twenty twenty four.
Did anything change on that? No? No, no. And I saw,
(05:10):
you know, a popular fishing YouTube guy put up the
other days like bass knows that this is giving an
unfair advantage and blah blah blah. You had to listen
to the warding because even the wording itself gives everybody
an out. You know what I mean, It's technology. And
if you don't think that technology is going to continue
(05:30):
to get better and better and better in fishing in
the outdoors. It's getting better and better and better everywhere
else in your life, why would you think that it
wouldn't get better in fishing en nothing.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Absolutely, Yeah, I know we bait the crap out of
that line, But I.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Mean, let's talk about like what's actually happening now. There's
a lot of bass Master elites, and I want to
ask about your boat. There's a lot of bass Master elites.
There's a lot of BPT guys who are all over
social media saying, look, I put forward facing sonar at
the back of my boat.
Speaker 2 (06:00):
You do you see my Instagram story the other day,
I see a lot. I said it. I said, it's
not a secret to put a Livescope transducer on your
jackplate anymore. That was like four years ago.
Speaker 1 (06:09):
But that's the thing, Like this has been going on
in professional fishing really since all this technology came out,
but now it came to a head last year. Yeah,
when money came into play, because you're talking about, you know,
the garment transducer and a screen for that.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
I bought mine.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Five or six thousand dollars for I bought mine.
Speaker 2 (06:28):
I bought everything, the box, the transducer, of the graph
and I think it ended up cost me that shipping
to my house, not put I put it on by myself.
That wouldn't even be somebody rigging it. And it was
like forty eight hundred dollars, Right, that's one. That's just one.
That's no you know, whatever their other little deal is.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
And when were you hearing about some of the guys
that were rigging up their boats, like how many is
the max live scope transducers you know guys had on
their boats? Because I heard six.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
I haven't seen a six. I've seen h two on
the trolling motor one in that for the you know,
the normal forward face forward.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Yeah, so the perspective you can get like better for
shallow water five foot in below you can navigate grass
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yeah, I've seen it, but there's no way it'll never
replace a three humming bird three sixty right, I have
three sixty one bout there's no comparison with the detail
in the three sixty. And then I've heard of guys
having three you know, three on the back, one looking right,
this is off the jack like, one looking straight right,
one looking straight left, and then one looking straight backward.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
I just laugh how ridiculous it is that some guys
want to get mad about technology. And this is why
power pole gives you an advantage over the fish regardless.
Oh yeah, any sort of a shallow water anchor is
going to give you an advantage. Here's why I say,
even spot like is just a little bit different. Spot like,
you're still going into the wind right and when you
lock your boat like, if that wind moves, it kind
(07:50):
of austs with it. But when you put your shallow
water anchors into the ground, you're literally stable like a
dock for the most part, and you can cast to
the same exact you don't lose, like, it doesn't disorient
you like sometimes three spot lot can disorient you.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I mean, dude, I feel like I mean spot. I
mean they all have their they all have their advantage,
just like the power poles for bed fishing, like or
if you you know shallow water and you want to
stand back up. But like when I wanted Neeli Henry, dude,
I was on a current place and I caught one
on a crank bait and I hit spot log and
I stood back because it was too deep. I stood
back up and was able to make the exact same
cast and caught a five pounder like and probably that
(08:26):
won the tournament.
Speaker 1 (08:27):
And that's the point that I think a lot of
people that are really thinking about this, you know, into
the future is technology is going to continue.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
It's not gonna stop.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
It's a technique. Like every single thing that comes out.
There's guys that are good at live scoping that couldn't
bedfish to save their life.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
And vice versa, right, and then you have guys that
are good at.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Both, And then you got guys that love using their
power poles because they love fishing shallow and then you
got other guys that are like, no, man, I want
a three quarter round sweets and I want to be
out in forty foot of one.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
I don't need power poles because I'm gonna fish out
there all the time.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Like it was, it was always a joke lanear when
you would see somebody's.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Boath're not from that's I've heard. We were up at
Smith one time a long time ago when I was young,
and they saw we were fishing out of my boat
and a guy read bis powerpoles, are like, well, hey,
you from here. That's crazy.
Speaker 1 (09:15):
And everybody tries to get an advantage when it comes
to any sort of fishing. I mean, I can remember
uh seeing this when I was a kid. I grew
up on Smith Mountain Lake in Virginia, and I would
watch guys fish. You'd go buy every bridge and what
do you see Giant ropes hanging down because guys hook
those to their front so they don't move, so they
don't move. I mean that basically, power pole or spot
(09:36):
lock has eliminated that side of it. You know, there's
still a benefit to having things like that, but everybody
has been trying to get an advantage over the fish
since the dawn of time.
Speaker 2 (09:46):
That's part of being a better fishman is getting an
advantage on the fish. It's the advantage over your fellow
competitor or the lake. It's not in the right way right,
like you're doing everything and the whole like there's a
lot of negativity, Like it's still and I posted something
last night like we harp on the negative and I
don't want to harp on a lot because it really
(10:07):
puts you in a bad mood because like, fishing's fun,
that's why we go do it. But there's just and
it's not everybody. There's just a handful of guys that
are and I don't know anybody. I just have that
feeling like you just get that kind of perception, like man,
it's something you get that gut feeling something don't feel right,
Like something's just not right about that. And I'm not
calling anybody out. I don't know really anybody by name.
(10:29):
You just have that feeling sometimes. But I don't want
to be negative about it, like it like I don't know,
let's talk about something put.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I will say to just to wrap up the you know,
the gathering information thing. I've been in boats during tournaments
with pros and I've heard what they say to other pros,
you know, or about other pro Oh yeah, and there
is like.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
You know what I'm talking you've been in boat guys
are like, man, that's kind of weird. Like we'll just
see something like man that don't make anything.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
I won't say who's involved, but I'll tell you the situation.
So we're out on a lake and my boater had
been fishing this one area and I saw it on TV.
I saw everything. He'd been fishing this one area for
the two days leading up to.
Speaker 2 (11:11):
The day that I was in the front. So he's
been there at least one day of practice, in two
in the tournament at least at least.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
And it was good enough. That was the first place
we went. That's where he was like, that's where my
fisher right, he had a couple of auxiliary spots, but
that's where he really wanted to start. Literally, what tipped
him off to any sort of problem or issue that
was going on was how the other dude drove.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
His boat in there that went right to it.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
That was the thing where he was like started to question.
And what I noticed was this other dude came underneath
the bridge, got on plane and then put his boat
straight down, and before that boat even came to a stop,
he was standing up, motor was off, he was deploying
his power poles. He locked into place, He let the
boat kind of sit back and settle. He takes and
(11:59):
flew his bait straight out in front, doesn't catch anything,
reels it back, flips it back out, boom hooks one.
And when he starts fighting it, my boater looks over
and he goes, man, that's a good fish. I hope
he loses it, though, because that's a little suspect that
this is what happened. He's reeling in. What happens. The
guy loses the fish right at the side of the boat,
(12:23):
and my boter looked at me and goes, I don't
know if you believe in karma, but I feel like
I just witnessed it. Yeah, because he even told me.
He was like, what that guy is fishing for is
a bed in six and a half feet of water
on a really not so clean portion of the lake
at the time, and that's where I was like, ooh,
(12:44):
so this is a deeper question that goes on. He's like,
how did he know he was there?
Speaker 2 (12:48):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (12:48):
How did he know, I never saw him in practice.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
I was gonna say, you're gonna have somebody argue why,
well he may have found it. Well, the dude's been
there for two days of the tournament and I seen it. Yeah,
so we've got a it was a really big fish.
So this dude just been saving this fish for three day.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah right, And of course it does come down in
the tournament, and you being at the higher level in tournaments,
you can kind of break this down a little bit better.
I hear guys talk about how they want to save
their fish, you know, like I'm gonna go do this,
but I'm gonna save those fish for you know, if
I make the cut or whatever it is. It was
day three, that guy's not saving that one fish. Like
(13:23):
that's why to me, there's something there being a big one,
Like you have to be an absolute tank, right right,
Like I know, you know Christy had one given to
him for Christmas. It was that nine pounder he caught
on lay Lake. Yeah that's a stud. Yeah exactly. Like
if you know that fish is there, as you're going for.
Speaker 2 (13:41):
That, we're going straight to it, right right. We're not
now if it's like a two pounder and He's just
been like, well, I wonder if I'm I'm like, let's
just say if it was me, I'm trying to get
a bite. Well, I know where two pounder is five
miles down the lake. I ain't caught one. We might
as well go try and catch it. But a five
or six pounder probably on a light that a five
or six pounder is a big one, which most of
the time it is. But just like that, man like
(14:01):
and at least you got to see the.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Question, and I think that's I think they.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Just raises some some You're like, man, that's ah, that's weird.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Yeah. Are you want to get into some positive stuff? Yeah? Absolutely,
talk about the season. It kicks off on a lake
that's perfect for you, Toledo Bend.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean sets up in my wheelhouse.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Buddy. I'm not positive we can get when you kick
off on one of the hardest lakes for you.
Speaker 2 (14:24):
Yeah, yeah, for sure. Uh, I don't know. But the
cool thing about it is, I think the lake's in
really good shape. There's been some really big bags caught there,
so I mean they're wearing there's gonna be some really
big fish caught. Just I hope we get some weather,
which I know it's real cold now, but if we
could get a warming trend up into the tournament, like,
it could be really.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
Special history on that lake.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I fished there one time, the year that I made it,
when I won the AOY in the opens and made
the Elites our first we started off there, our first
tournament was there.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
What was it lake? When you fish that lake for
the first time.
Speaker 2 (14:55):
I'll tell you this. I fished the tournament and practice
in two different creeks, and one of those creeks I
swore to God is as big as Neili Henry. It's
Jock Granny. It's John Granny. I think I don't even
remember the name of it. It's up there. It's like
some kind of Spanish or French name or so.
Speaker 1 (15:09):
When you're huge, dude. I saw I saw some video recently,
you know, all that cold weather that has blanketed most
of the United States. They were showing Grand Lake and
what that right now, it's froze over. It's so funny
to see so many guys on Facebook like trying to
angle to sell their ice fishing graphs and fish finders
(15:31):
to Bass Master League guys, because I mean, that is
you know, God, this weather is just it's throwing fish
for a loop. But to get back to the Toledo
Ben thing, what's it like when you go to a
lake that you really have no history on and you
were going to that lake back for that tournament?
Speaker 2 (15:47):
Oh yeah, I didn't know not.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
So when you pull up, like, do you just look
at your map on your graph and go, that looks
like something or somewhere where I fish before, I'm gonna
check that out.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Yeah, if it kind of just like what basically would
I did with that term as I have my the
Homing Bird lake Master trap at the time, and I
just saw that that creek had a lot more like
flats in the back up, like shallower stuff, and we
were getting you know, it was kind of the end
of February, so you know, the fish were kind of
wanting to spawn. The weather work right at some point
they may not be up on the shallow stuff, but
(16:17):
they're going to be as close as they can to it.
And I was like, well, it looks like there's some
shallow stuff here. Let's run in there. If there's some
cover in there, like stuff to throw at, we'll fish.
If not, we'll go somewhere else, and then I mean
we got a few bites and there. It really wasn't
that hard to get a bite that time, and I
was like, well, I'm not going anywhere else because like,
you could fish in here. For three weeks.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
I've been reading a lot of the bass Master magazines,
which I absolutely love because I feel like that gives
me a kind of a good perspective on what fishing
is doing that time of year. But one of the
segments of it that I really like is day on
the Lake.
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Oh yeah, I did one of those. It's awesome. I
read those as a kid. Man, It's it's that's legit stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
It's cool because, like I read one. I went back
into a couple couple of mag magazines and I read
one and I'm trying to think of who it was,
but the angler that they were following, he didn't get
a bite. He didn't get a bite for three hours,
and he didn't get a keeper for four And reading
(17:16):
that made me go, so maybe I'm not crazy when
I go out, oh, because every guy like me goes
out and they're like, man, if I'm not getting.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
Bit yeah one in thirty minutes, You're like, I suck.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
Right, Like we'll just go back to the dock and
sell all my stuff.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
I feel like that every day.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
But when you read those and you see how many
adjustments guys have to make, Like I think this one
episode or edition that I was reading, you know, the
angler made like four or five adjustments within the first
two hours just to try to get something to work.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Yeah. Yeah, you just need a clue. A lot of
times you just need a clue and then you start
putting a little bit stuff together, like like, dude, one
bite can tell you so much fishing, and you just
got to stop and pay attention, Like you can't just
chalk it up as looks. Sometimes it is look or
a flute, but you just need to like where was
your boat position, which way was a wind blow? And
was it along? Was it halfway on the bank or
(18:08):
halfway off the bank? Was it on the bank? Was
it on wood? Was it on grass? Was it on
a rock? Had you paused your bait when you were
reeling it in? And it ate it? Like It's just
like I've had a lot of times like dude, I'll
be fishing a crank bit or something like turn around
to say something to somebody you're turning around to look
and stop it, and like, dude, it eats it. Well,
that's a light bulb right there.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
That one tournament that I was talking about, where you know,
there were questions of whether or not that guy knew
that bed was there. I literally watched my angler and
I've seen this time and time again. It's happened to me.
I know it's happened to you. He was fishing something
on top right. He was coming over the grass and
then just killing it. But he hadn't had a bite
in forty five minutes, so he's like throwing over here.
He's working it nothing, he's scanning, looking for the next
(18:48):
spot where he's gonna throw. And sometimes I feel like
that's a big no no, because then you forget to
worry about the bait ba water. Literally I saw him
throw real this back and when it almost got to
this piece of grass, he turns his head to look
for something else and he starts to stop and pull
his bait back, and I'm telling you, a four and
(19:11):
a half pounder came blowing up and missed it. He
heard the splash. He turns, he looks down, but now
he doesn't even know which way it was coming from.
He just knew that there was a fish there and
he saw the rough water. So he was like he
looked back at me. I can't tell him anything. I
wouldn't tell him anything anyway, he didn't even ask, but
he's like, ay, So then he's just started working it again.
(19:32):
Never got the blow up that he was looking for.
But when I watched him work that bait, he missed
the juice every single time, and that's where I was like,
that stinks. So in tournaments that I've had, especially crank baits,
you work him back and then you start to get
that slow rise where it's starting to come up. Most
(19:52):
guys are just like gonna speed burn it from there.
That's usually where you're going to get one. You know,
when you're like, man, it bit right at the boat,
Well that thing was falling.
Speaker 2 (20:00):
Oh yeah, one hundred percent.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
You just didn't realize.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
Yeah. Well what you realize a lot now with the
livescote is how many do follow Oh yeah, it is unbelievable.
They ain't never gonna bite it. They'll follow it through
the boat and just wim off.
Speaker 1 (20:11):
But see, that's the worst part of our live scille
because then what happens live stop starts to catch you. Yep,
it's not catching the fish. Oh you see those guys
with their bet necks and they'll watch that screen for forty.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Minutes, Yeah, and not catch anything.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
Meanwhile, when you're practicing for a tournament, you're like, i'll
make five casts at this point. If I don't get anything.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
On it, I'll go on to the next one.
Speaker 1 (20:30):
But if you got live scolle and you're sitting there
just watching it, you're like, I know there's fish here.
That's cool. If it's they may not be ready to
buy it. That's the thing. I'm marking that spot. I'll
go somewhere else, come and maybe come back and check
it out.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
That's right. But I but like the cool thing like
seeing one following it, Like you could change colors and
try it for a little while, like and if they're
still following it, we're like, well, maybe they're just not
biting good. But if you change colors and they start
eating it, you're like, well that was easy. Like that's
what it can tell you. Like that's why I just
I'm not against it because of that reason, But I.
Speaker 1 (20:59):
Think that's I mean, that's obviously the benefits everybody who's
against it, they don't realize the benefit. Yes, it just
doesn't it's not conducive to their style.
Speaker 2 (21:09):
I agree, I agree. But yeah, the the sea and
the little subtleties is the cool thing about breaking down
like bass fishing. That's that's why I love it. Boy.
It flecks me up though, Dude, I love figure I
think like if you could bottle up that feeling of
figuring them out, dude, it's the best feeling in the world.
There's no drug out there, like, no no of my I
(21:30):
don't think, which I haven't tried. But I used to.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Hear from dudes back in the day. They'd be like,
if you throw a crank bait and they they barely
nip that back trouble, it's a color issue, something wrong.
So then I'm like, okay, and then you change it.
But then when you throw it through a pile of
them and you watch four or five of them turn
on it, Yeah, you go back through it and you
slow your cadence down a little bit, and then all
(21:52):
of a sudden one of them nails it. You're like, oh,
so it wasn't a color thing. It was the fact
that I felt like I was burning it to you,
and it makes you realize real quick when they say
fish slow, you got a fish slower? Yeah, that live
scalpe will tell you real quick if you're fishing too bad.
Speaker 2 (22:08):
Another thing I've not like, I don't know if you've
seen it in a livescope, Dude, how far your bait
moves in the water when you're like, you don't really
like when you're moving it, Dude, it's like four ft.
Speaker 1 (22:17):
It's at the bottom of the book.
Speaker 2 (22:18):
You're like, I'm a thirty.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Foot of water.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
It's crazy. It's like, man, we work our stuff way
too hard sometimes.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
That's why I laughed. Like when I was watching Siflintes
on the Michigan like Saint Clair last year, and they
went back and they showed how subtle he moves it wrong,
was working the tip of his drop shot.
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Buddy, like barely moving it.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
I mean barely. And then you watch somebody on like
sand Tea and they're like yeah, and it's like, dude,
you're in five foot of water. He's out in fifteen
twenty foot of water. He's barely moving it. But if
you watch that tail, yep, that's all you really need.
It's It's that's where I think the real benefit of
technology comes into it, you know. I I'd mentioned this
(23:00):
on the last podcast we did, but there was a
local kids tournament and they banned live scope and I'm like,
wait to stand on that hill and I'm sitting there
going that's the exact tournament where you need to have.
That's when you need it. If you have a kid
in the boat, you want to be able to say, hey,
throw over here, and you know what they all and watch.
Speaker 2 (23:18):
Like at least you watch them like, hey, what are they?
Like we were I've been filming. I just got back
from filming all week with Randall Tharpe with my Rod company,
and he actually took a kid out the other day.
He said, I got to show him like he was
asking me like, what are these mister rens? That was
your bass. He's like, we're gonna figure out how to
catch them. And that kid was like throwing these different
baits and he said, I didn't really tell you anything
to do. He was kind of being able to watch
(23:38):
it and making them react. I'm like, well, he's getting
to learn, like yeah, of all the tournaments to band
it and don't do it when with kids in it.
Like I could understand like the elites or something on
one level, but not with the dang kids where they
can see them.
Speaker 1 (23:50):
And I'll tell you what, Like you wanted to talk
about the positives and the benefits of fishing and not
really worried about like the negative side. There is nothing
better than signing up for a tournament, sitting in a
boat and watching that sunrise.
Speaker 2 (24:07):
Oh, it's awesome. And the sun the sun sets we
had this week in Florida.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
It was on that it was a little stormy, but
like right at the end of the day, you know,
do you get that cloud with the sun? Dude? It
was on and you're like, why aren't we worried about everything?
Speaker 1 (24:19):
I appreciate it so much. I watched the video and
it was Kevin van Dam and he was just kind
of recapping his his career a little bit and he
was like, you know, the one nice thing about me
having this career is I've seen more beautiful sunsets and sunrises.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Than anybody in the world.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
And that is so true. Like you mentioned, fishing is
fun because you just want to go out and you
just want to fish. Dude. That's how I treat most
tournaments that I go into, and I think that's mainly
because I haven't gotten to the point where I feel
like I've got a you know, Oh man, I really
got to break this down. I gotta get this section.
Blah blah blah. I feel like what really separates the
(24:55):
men from the boys when it comes to tournament fishing
is you guys see an object in the water, whether
it's a deep brush pile, or it's a lay down,
or it's a bank with a bunch of rocks, and
y'all just know how to pick apart what you're doing,
but you're still having a good time.
Speaker 2 (25:09):
Doing Yes, yes, well, that's that's what we love doing,
is picking it apart, like learning every because that's the
coolest thing with fishing is you never learn everything, like
it's always different every single day.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
And how important is boat position when you're trying to
break something down.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
It's it's it's everything, Like literally, the way we move
our boats and the way we put our boats on
the bank or set up on a piece of brush
off shore, anything like boat positioning is ninety percent of
catching a bass.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Oh see, man, I think you and i'd have a
hard time fishing.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
Well, I'm just running the boat.
Speaker 1 (25:42):
Well's I feel like if I took the boat and
all of a sudden, you'd be like having a heart
attack in the back, like you cannot get that close. Yeah,
you got it. Back off.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
I've just noticed people fishing and I never say anything
to them because I sometimes I just like fishing in
the back, just having a good time buddies. But dude,
they will run all over everything, like just I mean,
be wide. It might be flipping a tree. My dad's
terrible about Well, he'll be flipping a tree and he'll
flip over. You can't tell him nothing either, No, No,
He'll flip over to the tree and the boat will
still be going. Like He'll still be trolling at the tree,
(26:15):
and I'm like, what are you doing. By the time
you lift up, you're gonna have to back wash the
tree to keep from running over it.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
So I was fishing with a buddy of mine, and
you know, he's he's just the nicest dude in the world.
Older guy, loves to fish, not married. So he's like,
I spend my money fishing, my time fishing. Yeah, And
we went out and of course what I do a
ricky move I'm flipping a jig or something and I
come buy something. I get hung up, and he goes, ooh,
(26:40):
you're in a bad spot. You might have to break
that off. And I'm like, what are you talking about.
That's a five dollars jig and I'm not doing that.
Like we got to get up on there. And he goes, nah,
this doc is too good, like you're gonna have to
break that off, and I'm like, I can get it.
I can get it. So he's like, all right, take
the trolling motor. So he's sacrificing a good spot because
he wants to see whether or not I know what
I'm doing. Literally, I go up with the troller motor.
(27:01):
I get close to the piling. I turned the head
of the troller motor around so now the blade is
facing the dock. And when I went to step on it,
he was like no, no, no, no, no no, And
I was like, what are you talking about? And he goes,
you never want to backwash underneath the dock ever, So
now like, okay, mental note, check that away. I luckily
(27:21):
got the jig back, but it was it was dicey,
and of course we don't catch anything on that dock.
So part of me is like, well, I don't know
if you're right then, because we didn't getch anything. He's like, well,
we were also right on top of the piling bud.
Speaker 2 (27:33):
Yeah that's right. But yeah, both position is a big deal.
You just got to be conscious of where it's at
and where it's going eggs like basically, And I think
that's I've taken a lot of kids fishing, and I
feel like I like teaching them more about running the
troller motor and fishing at the same time than just
actually fishing. Sure, there's a big difference in standing behind
your dad or somebody in fishing because dude, you hit
(27:55):
all the angles, that's all your wordbots cast and well
you get up there running that troller motor as a
ten left twelve year old. It's the whole ever ball game.
Oh yeah, because you're having to focus on which way
your foot needs to turn, Like you need to be
able to consciously know which way. If you put your
foot down, it turns this way, up goes the other way.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
But if you get some like wind or you get
some current and you're casting, technically you want to cast
into the wind. Yeah, for the bait to work effectively
in the water because of how a bay fish swiad.
So when you're in a tournament, like, how do you
keep yourself from backlashing? Does it still happen to you
as a pro.
Speaker 2 (28:28):
Yeah, I'll backlash some, but I mean the reels we
use or the reels I use, or you can adjust them,
like a lot of times you can adjust them on
the fly, like if it you know, if you come
around a point and you got the wind blowing in
on you, like you just crank it up, like, crank
the brakes up a little bit. You're gonna be able
to throw. You may not be able to throw as far,
but you might throw ten foot shorter, but you're not
gonna backlash to where like it was when it was
(28:48):
real loose before you got into the wind. So I
think that's a big deal. Been able to know to
adjust your reels, you know, on the I call it
on the fly, you know, just right there when you're fishing.
Speaker 1 (28:57):
What was your what was your worst backlash story? It
could have been in the tournament. It could have been
fun fishing. I feel like everybody, oh.
Speaker 2 (29:03):
Yeah, I've got one, I've got one. Oh yeah, yeah,
I was fishing. I don't even know what was that
back I I was at Kentucky Lake for a Coast
to championship or something back when I was younger, and
I was throwing a spook on braid and dude, I
went to cast and the braid caught, you know, you
know how like you throw too hard And when it caught,
I grabbed like I grabbed the rod with my hand
like and it and it like pulled my hand like
(29:25):
it twisted my hand away and I freaking tore a
tendon in my wrists. Yes, sir, I had to go
to therapy and.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
Having that surgery or was that No, it was that
was a whole different thing.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
But yeah, dude, you know how you get like they
were up school and you know how you get excited
you just raar it back do When I did it,
and I caught the rod like a weird way and
it like popped, I was like, and it, dude, it burned.
I was like, man, that didn't feel right, and it
it didn't work right the rest of the week, Like
I had to take my wrist up my.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Hand and even a backlash that's an e R visit.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Yeah, like it got it caught you know that braid
will catch on itself and dig in there, And it
was Yeah, I haven't told many people that, but I.
Speaker 1 (29:56):
Mean I had. I had a backlash story. I mean,
my my first one was the most epic. So I'd
never used a bay caster before it went to bass Pro,
bought a bay caster, spoiled it up. My buddy and
buddy of mine who I was fishing with, he was like,
all right, bring it out there. But before he could
even tell me, like, hey, you need to adjust in tune,
this sent it like this and that whole thing just
(30:18):
he hands me his rod and he goes here, you
play with that for a little bit. I'll work on this.
Forty seven minutes later, Yeah, i'd.
Speaker 2 (30:27):
Have told you he was able to get.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
Cut this stuff out and go Now, knowing that you
can just get new line and just spool it up again,
I'm so fast to be like, well, I'm just gonna
take this out because all that memory that builds up end.
Speaker 2 (30:40):
Us, especially with the floor carbon line now day, when
it catches on itself a few times with it being dry,
it'll end up breaking.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
But a couple guys, like in tournaments, they've talked about
how they've caught a fish, they brought it in their
next cast. It blows up. They know, they fired up
the school and they were like constantly throwing that ride down,
picking up another one, just trying to adjust on the fly.
That's got to be a miserable, miserable couple of minutes.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
It is that because and I mean that's a good thing,
you know, something we have going for. So we have
enough rods and real spe able to you know, rig
up the same thing on two or three different rods.
So I always try and do that, especially if I'm
in like the schooling situation or like small mouthfishing, like
rigging those drop shots and stuff. Good god, dude, you're
out in them waves and you catch one and it's
all tangled up. It ain't even worth like trying to
(31:24):
retie the FG nod or whatever not you tie, just
pick up another one. The problem with that is you
go through about five of them, which means you're probably
having a good day. Then you got to sit down
and redo all of them, right, Like, it's just god,
it's aggravating.
Speaker 1 (31:35):
Yeah, you can't make leaders long enough to know what
you're trying to.
Speaker 2 (31:39):
Definitely not you'll you'll get about you know, four or
five fish out of a leader, and then that's that's Aaron.
Speaker 1 (31:43):
Martin's had kind of given a tip back in the day,
and I thought it was a really solid tip. You know,
a lot of guys they'll take their leader on their
spinner rods and their leader will actually be in the
school mm hmm. And one of the problems that Aaron
Martin was saying is, did you ever notice when you
cast that you're always catching like that first guide he
goes between the guide and the spool, right in the middle.
(32:05):
That's where your leader needs to meet your your braid.
Speaker 2 (32:08):
Mmmm.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
He's like, then you can just sit there and cast.
I made that subtle adjustment.
Speaker 2 (32:12):
You can explain it, dude.
Speaker 1 (32:13):
It's it's all the difference in the world. And that's
something that I don't think a lot of people want
to know to think about because they're just like, man,
this not keeps getting held up. No, it's the way
it's coming off that spoy, Like you just got to
get right to the point, right to the quicker.
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Yeah, if you've got it right above your reel when
you go to castle, it's just going straight through it
instead of coming off the spoel like you're talking about. Yeah,
because if you slowed it down when it comes off
the spool, it's actually bigger, you know, and then it
has to shrink back down and go through the guide.
Speaker 1 (32:40):
Well, you got Toledo Ben coming up. When you look
at the schedule of the bass Master Elites this year
and the NPFL, give me some of the lakes that
you're pretty excited about.
Speaker 2 (32:49):
Oh, definitely excited about Toledo.
Speaker 1 (32:52):
Even though you've only fished there a handful of times. Yeah,
just just is it just because it's the kickoff of
the season.
Speaker 2 (32:58):
Probably excited to get there. I mean there's giants live there,
like big ones. I mean it could be and you know,
we may be able to catch them on the bank
shall because we're you know, if we can get some
warm weather, that's That's what I'd really like to do,
go wind around or you know, flip a jig or something.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
And is it bad that every time I think of
Toledo Bend, I'm always thinking Ohio and it's in Texas.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Oh because of Toledo.
Speaker 1 (33:20):
Yeah. Every time I hain't see Toledo Bend, I'm like, man,
Ohio right off the rip.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
Wow, it definitely not definitely, don't want to go anywhere
bass fish in Ohio. No, I'll go deer hunting, but
I'm gonna pass on the on the bass fishing. Yeah,
I don't know. I'm looking forward to fishing in Alabama.
I just wish we weren't fishing the time of year
that we were. Okay, So you've got Smith and Wheeler.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
And and the timing for both of those lakes is
just kind of awful. Little bit June.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
I mean, June's good on the Tennessee River. Everybody knows that,
which is where we'll be there, you know, the second
week of June for Wheeler, that'll be a really good tournament.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
But the Smith one, I've heard a lot of guys
talk about which.
Speaker 2 (33:56):
Which you're you know, you're good buddies with Joseph, and
he's really familiar with that place. It's not, uh, you know,
I don't schedule the tournaments. I just man, that's gonna
be a not even from a fishing standpoint, from the
boat traffic, it's it's gonna be an interesting one for sure.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
How about how about the story with Joseph. Right now,
he has a house on Smith and because of your rules.
Speaker 2 (34:17):
With any angle by himself.
Speaker 1 (34:18):
He legitimately looks out at that water every day and
he's like, man, he was worried at first. He was worried, like,
can I even go to a restaurant with like friends
of mine type thing? You know what I mean? And
you know, he called Lisa Talmadge, who's the tournament director
for Bass and they had a great conversation about it.
He's like, it's the weirdest thing in the world when
you look at a body of water that you just
(34:39):
can't go on with your friends and family.
Speaker 2 (34:41):
Oh yeah, well I had the same thing. Or I'm
me and wheal like it lay like you can't go
out there and crappee fish well like people that you
normally do, you can't, like normally i'd go to like
that year, like I'll go to nearly five or six
times in a month. I don't I mean go out
there by yourself with that's not no fun. Now you
want to go, yeah, but it it does make it
so there's like a you know, a negative and a
(35:03):
plus to fishing at your home place.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Oh what lake this year? Do you feel like you
want to overcome or you want to conquer?
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Saint Lawrence River Gosh, has it just.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Been a thorn in your side?
Speaker 2 (35:12):
Like I catch them just good enough to miss the cut,
Like I've never fished on the Saint Lawrence rivering and
not finished in the fifties.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
Is that because it's small mouth, Like you're just not
getting the big girls?
Speaker 2 (35:21):
Yeah, I mean the small mouth have been a nemesis,
but you just you have to find those five pounders
and like the high threes and fours, just don't do
it like I've caught. I had a me and Kyle
Jesse that works for past the last day of the tournament.
This year, I had like nineteen something. He's like, he
broke your twenty pounds streak. I'd caught twenty twenty, like
between twenty and twenty one pounds every day up there
(35:43):
and have yet to make a cut like exaid for
that last dude, Sam, Now you catch twenty and you're like, man,
I gotta I gotta call these four pounders like I'm real.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
So I felt so impressed at the bag that I
had on Logan because I saw the I saw the number,
But even when I weighed that bag in, I didn't
think it was going to be what it turned out
to be. And then I sat there and I fucked
to a buddy of mine and I was like, this
is why I'm not a pro, because y'all can like
look at a bag and you're within, you know, a
couple of tenths. Me, I was off by like a
(36:13):
pound and a half, and I'm like.
Speaker 2 (36:14):
You think you do? You think you had more?
Speaker 1 (36:16):
No, I think I had less. But I'm so used
to him. This is this is me in tournament fishing.
I'm so used to not catching him anyway, So it's
kind of like when I got five, dude, I was excited,
but when I was dragging around this little twelve twelve
point one inch bass, I was like, man, you got
to get out of here. I know, I got five,
and that's all.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I was happy to have him, though, oh I was
stuck when canute this is great.
Speaker 1 (36:42):
Like I was even telling my my partner that I
was fishing with. I was like, this little guy as
much of a nuisance as he is. We got happy
that we got him, but it wasn't until we got
to the scales and they actually put him up there,
and I was like, man, this is this is exactly
what these bags have been over the last couple of months,
so I was happy about that. Man, well, best of
luck this season. I know you're gonna do great and
(37:04):
obviously everybody's gonna follow along. But you're doing bass Master
Elites National Professional Fishing League, which is awesome. The NPFL.
I'm going to be out at that event at Logan
Martin to kind of kick it off. So this is
an exciting time. This is when Fixing everybody gets really
pumped about where they're going to go. I mean the
influx of social media videos, everybody pumping their sponsors down,
(37:26):
what they're talking about, the new stuff for twenty twenty four.
That's exciting.
Speaker 2 (37:29):
Yep, for sure. For sure, Be sure and follow along
with is Fixing the get.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Going Wes Logan Fishing on Instagram. Give a follow
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