March 14, 2024 • 37 mins
While everyone is talking about Forward Facing Sonar, we are hitting the real side of tournament fishing. The goal is to catch the five biggest fish...how you do it, depends on where the fish are.
Also, how safe are inflatable life jackets and where is the line with weekend warrriors fishing in the middle of a major tournament?
Also, how safe are inflatable life jackets and where is the line with weekend warrriors fishing in the middle of a major tournament?
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Lines and times. My buddy West Logan fresh off the
tournament trail with the bass Master Elites. Last time we talked,
you were getting ready to kick off your season on
the Elites. You had Toledo Bend and then you had
Lake Fork and then you had a meltdown on stage,
which you and I have talked about. But let's kind
of talk about Toledo Bend. Let's talk about these tournaments
(00:20):
because they didn't set up the exact way that you
liked to fish, right, But what did you learn from
those tournaments?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Looking back on it, I mean as far as a
job standpoint, I probably didn't need to be as stubborn
as I was with the you know how the fish
were setting up like they weren't on the bank, they
weren't coming to the bank.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
And to be honestly, it was cold.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
The weather set up right like it was cold when
we got there for Toledo.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yes, And the.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Water was high and it was it was on a
warming trend on a full moon like the middle of February.
It takes It's like your mind's just like, Okay, they're
gonna show up. They're gonna show up, and man, the
bite actually got worse every day the warmer it got.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I don't. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen is
that because the water was high, it wasn't really high.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It's just Toledo had been so low for so many years,
Like it's actually real close to full pool, so a
lot of stuff has grown up, Like there's a lot
of cover on the bank, a lot of targets to
throw at, and it it literally just got worse. It's
like you got less and less bites every day. And
it wasn't pressure because nobody was fishing the bank. It
was just like the first day, I had a really
good day and it actually was looking up. I caught
(01:26):
what I weighed in like eighteen and a half the
first day by like lunch, and I kind of just
went and practiced a little bit more, tried to find
a few more areas, and like I got bit everywhere
I went, so I was like looking forward to the
day too.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And I don't. The only thing I can figure.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Out is the wind blew real hard on the first day,
which didn't bother me fishing wise, because I was, you know,
way back in someplace.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
That should well.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
What I think it did was I think toled had
been so big and it's so deep it turned it.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
It basically flipped the water.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Because what happened is I got back to where I
started the first day the second morning, and the water
temperature had dropped five degree and it wasn't anything.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
The wind like flipped the water, and I really think
it just pulled them back off and like kind of
put them in shock. The shallower fish, like because I
caught two like way off the bank, like I just
happened to and I did catch one off Livescope. I
was going around a dog and I just happened to
look out there and it was just like you just
oh yeah, yeah, absolutely absolutely. I know it was just
(02:25):
the sin man, the sin but but that's what I'm saying,
like they just I think they just kind of went
into a mood where, hey, the you know, the water
dropped five degrees. I don't feel comfortable up there no more. Because,
like I said, the first day, it was like the
fishing was fun, like I actually caught a bunch swimming,
caught some flipping dogs, and then it just got real bad.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
And well, typically like if the water is coming up
the fishermen in you everything that you've learned tells you
that the fish are going to move shallow.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Right, you know, enough of them to do good, not
the not the vast majority, because there's so many bass
in Toledo obviously. But I just think from you know,
looking back, talking to some of my real good friends
that you know, did the forward facing deal out there,
there was just so many baths still relating to that bait,
like it wasn't in their brain yet to like, yeah,
the water got to sixty one or sixty two that
(03:12):
first day, but it wasn't that like seventy where we
just got to flood the bank all go, you know,
make babies.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Sixty one sixty two. Is that where they like the
water tempt to be to spawn on Toledo Bend? Or
is it a little warmer? I don't, I don't.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I know Toledo been an expert, but I think sometimes
in the springtime we get a shallow fishman get real
excited when they start seeing that high fifty eight and
sixty like we got to go, they're coming. I don't
think it's really that that massive of a push. I
think it's more of like they want it to be
stable around that fifty eight to sixty five for a
week or two, not just oh it hit it, you know,
(03:49):
it hit it swist right, that's right. I think, Like
now if you've had it, if it's been sixty like
in the mornings it's fifty eight or fifty nine, and
it gets up to high sixty seventies, it's wide open
everything like shad spawn's fixing the start they're spawning, like,
and it's been a warm year so far, you know,
to start the year, it's gonna get cold again. Not
(04:11):
it won't be bad, but we'll have another cold snap.
But it mean springs pretty much here, but I don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And then but that's I mean that's typical March. Yeah,
typical March early April, like you get you get these
teasers of like it's gonna beautiful yah, that's right, and
then you have that couple of cold nights.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yeah, we have like a like a BlackBerry winter and
all that, Like it'll it'll be real cold.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It's always cold.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Around you know, Easter, you know that first week of March,
you know, or not first first week, get April somewhere
down there to get cold again. I mean, I remember
turkey hunting when it was I've gone turkey on was
like twenty six.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Degree yeah side, but it pretty good morning, ya, Yes, yes,
I love a cloudy A cloudy cold morning is the best.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I'm not a I'm not a fan of clear mornings
on turkey hunting wise, but.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
The Tlida men didn't work and I had some execution
issues bad on Toledo the second day.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I mean I ended up.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I think I ended up having nine bites all day
and only landed four of them. I ended up losing
five two and a half to four pounders. I had
one area way up the lake to flipping bushes, and
I saved it on the after I didn't go up
there the first day because I thought I could go
catch fifteen or sixteen. I ran up there like my
third flip. I had a three pound of rat mean
a bush, and then I went to boat flip of
(05:22):
three it come off. I had a swim jig fish
come off like just come to the boat. I hooked
a swim jigfish like a three pounder and it flew
it bit it right the boat and I like jerk
too hard.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
It flew over the boat and come off.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
The rainbow.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yes, pretty much, pretty much. I had I had a
high school kid, or he's a senior in high school.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Was my march.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
He was like, man, it just ain't your day. Like, no,
I mean some days it is, some days it ain't.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Last night I was helping a buddy of mine set
up a bass cat with some new Solix fifteens from Hummingbird.
And my buddy who he deals.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
With all the did you say multiple fifteenth No?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
No, no, he's one, he's got two, he's got on
the front, he's but he's only he's only got the
sole ex up from for Megalive, like he's dumb Hummingbird.
Everything right, just those two things. But it's not like
some of the rigs that I know zal Dane's been
putting out about people. But what what I was going
to tell you is when you were talking about how
(06:19):
you boat flipped that fish. Literally, we took the boat
out to test it, make sure megi live look good,
change any of the settings that we had to change,
make sure the networking was all right. And while we're
out there, we're like, well, let's just fish a little bit.
So I'm flipping a dock and Literally I felt the
bite and I looked at my buddy and I go,
hang on a minute. It jacked it, and of course
you set the hook thinking every fish is a bound
(06:42):
like you want to get the hook in them. And
literally I saw this dink go flying through the air
and in my mind it went to slow motion. It
was like, yeah, it just flew all the way across
and he stayed on the line. Really yeah, so he
went over the boat and it was a spot.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I love it when them little spots.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Dude, they're so aggressive, like he wade like maybe one one.
Oh yeah, but that boy went for a ride before
he got in the boat. Again. No, he's gonna he's
gonna move offshore. You won't see him until somebody throws
him into at him.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
He gonna be hesitant about that thing too.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
So what would you have done differently? You know you
talked about at the beginning with Toledo Bend. What would
you have done differently to impact that tournament better? Oh?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Definitely, you know, as you know, as much as I'm
against it, it's a part of my job. I would
definitely would have went out there and floated around for
a day of practice.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Because I had a real word facing.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yes, uh to fault you know those you know, the
suspended fish on the bait, just because I had a
really bad day of practice on the second day on
the way, we had a real cold night, like a
knew butter, and I just went shallow again. I wish
looking back on I wish that day I would have
went out there and just found an area, not trying
to you know, win the tournament or anything, just found
(07:57):
an area I could go get some dopplement, Yes to
where on that day too, when stuff wasn't happening real
good and you know I had to love was lost
fish where I could have still went and caught twelve
to fourteen pounds and got you know, you know, got
to check for sure. Now, you know, looking back, if
I hadn't lost the fish, I'd have been in great shape.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
But that happens. But I didn't have any backup plan
as far you.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Got to find quality bites. I mean, you and I
have talked about the fact that, you know, like tournament fishing,
your job is to fit within the confines of the bank.
You got to go find the five biggest fish, right
if you ever win the tournament, you gotta do it
every day. You gotta do it four days in a row,
and you got to make those cuts in everything. So
sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't if you know that.
(08:37):
And this is what I felt just from being a
spectator and watching some of these tournaments. And this isn't you,
this is just you know, tournament anglers in the bass elites.
At the time when I was watching, it felt like
a lot of guys were trying to force a narrative
of I can do what you think you're doing off
shore better when I'm up shallow. But the fish quality
wasn't up shallow yet.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, the quality wasn't nor the quantity I thought, And I.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Said, you had too much time between bytes.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yeah, well, I mean the first it's hard to say practice. Yes,
Like I knew I was going too long between bytes,
but it would be it would get right to that
point where I might need to go do something different,
and bam you get a four pound byte, like and
then you go another hour and like, ah, man, it's
it's not it's not really setting up. And then bam
you get another three pound byte on the same exact deal.
So like I've had three bytes doing the same thing
(09:25):
and they were all decent good you know, good ones
are not you know, relative at Toledo, but it just
it just wasn't quite there yet. We were a little
bit early. And I just looking back again, like when
we started the podcast, I was I was stubborn the
first like the first two tournaments.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
You know, I spoke my mind about it.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
But dude, if you really look back at it, I
had a bad day, the bad second day at Toledo,
but I had eighteen pounds and nine pounds, so that's
twenty I had. I had right at fourteen pounds a
day average wise at Toledo, and I averaged twenty one
pounds a day at four which is a totally different animal.
But still, if you look back, historically, fourteen pounds a
day at Toto gets paid every time the elites have
(10:06):
ever been there. Sure, so twenty one pounds has been
paid at Fork every time we've ever been.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
There, So I think so that was a eye opener.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Now my eyes have been open to that for a while.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I mean, if you there's a few of us that
have looked back on it and really like studied it.
The average cutweights in the last three years have went
up three to five pounds on every single light we've
ever been to.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
When I first started fishing, I had a guy tell me.
He was like, look, if you can get twelve pounds
a tournament, there's a good chance you're going to be
in chuck ran never Never not anymore. That was three
years ago. Yep. You know. Now obviously ford facing sonar
has brought bigger fish to the scale and more correct.
And I mean you look at you look at like
Fork and you see some of the numbers and you
just sit there and go The average fish that was
(10:50):
getting caught there was probably five and a half pounds. Yeah,
I mean in where do you find a body of
water that has that high concentration of five plusunders?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Dang glorified farm pond.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Right, So it's it's interesting that when we watched that,
you know, I had heard a lot of guys say, well,
the century belt doesn't mean anything. I actually said to
a friend of mine who worked for Bass Lake Fork
is that type of lake where the century belt should
actually be kind of pushed down because it is such
a well managed lake that one hundred pounds doesn't really
(11:24):
mean anything, right.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I mean, it's fifty mean, every time we've been there.
There's been multiple century belts and that just that's a
shout out to Texas Parks and Wildlife. How great the
lake is, like no doubt, And I'm not knocking the
guys that called it like hands down there they figured
it out like and that's.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
You know, it's great that they did it. Like it's
an accomplishment no matter what. But when you're on a
lake like let's say you were on the Sabine, right, okay,
and you managed to catch one hundred pounds of fish
on the Sabine, people are touting you as the greatest
fisherman I've ever left. That's right, right, So everything is
kind of relative when you look get the weights in
some of these tournaments, you go to a lake lanier,
(12:02):
you catch a five and a half pound spoted bass.
That's a magnum. Like those don't happen every day, But
on a lake like that, you can find them a
little more.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Well, they're they're places, but it's like the average bass
there's literally like three and a half four pounds. It's
like if you get a bye there, you don't catch
a bunch. But if you get a by, what's odd
about that place? You don't catch a bunch of little one.
You don't catch a pound and a half or a
two pounds one four if you get.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
A bye, That's what I'm saying, Like you're gonna be
if you get a fish, it's gonna be.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
It's it's normally a good fish.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Yeah, Like I didn't get many buys a second day,
it still had almost seventeen.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
It's weird though, to think that a four pounder is
like a pound and a half everywhere else. Yeah, I mean,
what was Hamder talking about? And he had he had
such a great line. He said, you know, I've never
caught a ten pound bass, and then he followed it
up with and I still haven't because he caught that
eleven gold half. But I mean that's the thing, Like
he actually said that he had to take a minute
(12:59):
and take a because catching something that big just doesn't happen.
But on fourk it seems like you have more of
an opportunity to actually do this.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Absolutely. Man.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
I caught a nine at Saint John's my second year
on the Elites, and I mean we got the go
pro footage of it. It, dude, I like almost how
to panic attack like which it was again a nine
pounder is not at your biggest?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
No, what's your personal best?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I've called a nine to fifteen on the Saint John's
actually in tournament in a BFL regional in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
I was seven, when I was eighteen.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Okay, soe you catch a fish like that. I had
this feeling after Hamner caught that eleven. You bring that
to the way in right, Like there the slot was
different with fork, but like you're obviously bringing years to
the way in regardless. Is there a part of you
that's like, I want to release this fish because it's
good for the fishery, but I also want to maybe
get this thing mapped out so I can get it mounted.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
I'm gonna be honestly. The big one I caught when
I was so young, wasn't it. I didn't even rousse
It was a ten pounder.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
When I caught it.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I'm not even kidding you, dude, so so little running
hat went I went down.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I ran down there.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Uh it was like the third fish I caught that day.
And I tried to boat flip it and.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
The water downer found it. The water down there is
so dark you can't really see throwing a chain.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Now, I just flipping twenty pound line with a baby
brushag zoom, baby brushg. I could take you right exactly
where I call it, like it's that etched in my mind.
But when I went to flip it, it wouldn't come up,
like I couldn't. Its mouth hit the side of the
gun on. I was like, I'm so bigging well. We
had comeairs at the time, and his tackle bag was
in the ned. He couldn't get it out anyways, end
up having to lip it. I got in a boat
did and I just hold it. And the guy was
(14:33):
under from Florida and he was like, my Cohen was
from Flays.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
There's a giant. I was like, it's like a subn
eight pounder. I just stood and live well. And I'd
never called an eight hundred in my life either, so
I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
I was like, you were acting cool, Yeah, I get
it here.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I was like, I ain't got but three, dude, I
gotta catch two more because it was so hard to
get a boy. Well, dude, Like an hour later, I
catch an eight pounder, like a legit eight pounder, and
I boat flipped it because I thought it was like
a five.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Sure, because I had done looked at the big So
I get back to and.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
My dad was a coat and he's like, you got him.
I was like, man, I got too good with it.
I was like, I got like an eight and a five.
He's like, gosh, dang. I was like, I ain't got
none to go with him though. So my co in
there that day ended up not even catching one, not
you know, not catching a keeper. So I had I
split them up. One of the big ones was by itself,
and then the smaller of the two was on the
other side. Well, I'd forgotten what side it was, and
I said, I'm gonna pull the big one out first,
(15:23):
and like a bunch of my buddies had gotten around
there and I picked it up and I was like, yeah,
you know, here's it ended up.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Being the smaller.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I thought it was a bigger one, and I opened
the lave and I went to grabbing her, and I
turned around.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I was like, that was a smaller one, and I
picked it up, duding. Everybody like lost their mind. It
was a giant.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
But it's so funny because you're telling me that, Sorry,
I didn't know you at the time when you caught that,
but I can tell that you were in tournament west
Logan mode, Yes, if too probably West Logan just wants
to go out and fun fish mode. Yeah, dude, like
you were fun fishing, you would have lost your mode. Yeah, absolutely,
the tournament mode. You're like, it's not.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I I didn't even think about it because, like, literally,
I told the guys that we don't have but three
Like that fish is useless if I don't catch anything
else with it.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
So do you ever think, like if you caught let's
say you caught a ten pounder, legit ten, There's no
nine to fifteen. There's no nine to thirteen.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
And that's why I tell people I've never caught a
ten pound because it didn't weigh ten fifteen.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I happen to a buddy of mine, Okachobe. He was
flipping some grass and he ended up flipping. He set
the hook and he said it felt like a concrete block.
He couldn't move it. His co angler had to dip
the net and he came up with nothing but dirt.
The fish was so big it wouldn't fitting the net.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
So he ended up reaching, you know, foot and a
half down, just grabbing this thing in the mouth and
pulling it in got him into the final day, right,
but again he thought he had a ten pounder weigh
nine to fifteen.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I'll never claim my call on if.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
You caught a ten pounder, you got your personal best
and it was in a tournament. Is there ever a
thought of you and would they allow that for you
to be able to keep that mask to get him
mounted if you want it?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I think we can.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
I think like they have you know, are holding tanks
where they hold us for the way in, I'm gonna
say they would probably let Jeene get over there our
conservation guy and you know, get some measurements on.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
It for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
That's good. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
And most of the time, like where you would catch
one is either you know, majority where where we go
Florida or Texas to where that's a share lunker anyway,
or you have to let them like notify them if
you catch a ten pounder. Right, So they normally have
people there that like get DNA samples and they would
get all the measurements.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Oh good, all right, So there is there at least
is something where you can.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
You know in those states now and Alabama may be
a little bit different, but I mean the only place
you might would catch one in Obama is honors one.
We're not going there. But Texas and Florida are always
very adamant. They'd always have a you know, an officer
there or you know whoever whatever you would call them,
just especially Fork in Toledo like that was there was
people everywhere taking you know, samples of those big fish
(17:47):
and stuff just because. In another shout out to Texas
Parks and Wildlife all the stuff they do with those
big fish, Like that's that's why you're able to go
to Fork and catch one hundred and thirty pounds every time.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
You would not believe the amount of people that texted
me and call me after like four can see in
the weights and have said to me like we're playing
the trip to go out there. Oh is that is
that a spot that you would want to just go
and fun fish?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
No?
Speaker 3 (18:09):
No, not a fan really no, I just I mean, yeah,
you'll catch a big one for I shouldn't have said
it like that.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
I just man it.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
But it's not your style.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
No, I don't like it. Like it.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
I'll go there and fish the tournament. But the way
you can't, you don't win there. Fishing traditionally most of
the time it's either a livescope deal or you know,
offshore on hard spots and you know, real big swim baits.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Because where where is a fun place for you? Like
if you were going to set a trip to just
go on a fishing trip, where would you want to go?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Mmm, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Probably somewhere in Florida. Yeah, just because I mean I
might be my favorite thing work.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
No, absolutely not, no, no, god no, Well.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
You just went down there because it just went off limits.
So you got in there before that happened. How do
we feel.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I don't matter.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
I I put a lot of hours on my yamaha.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
I know that I didn't fish a whole lot. I
just wanted to go.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Down there spot.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Yeah, it's and truthfully, like people look at that, man,
a place ain't that big? Well, the problem is to
get from one lake to another is an hour worth
of time because of all the idols.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
On the stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yes, but like you you could drive there in five minutes,
but by you know, by car. I just wanted to
get down there and you know, try and see how
everything's laying out, kind of decide where I want to
spend my time in practice to fish because I've never
been able to go down there and not have the
stress of two and a half days of practice, like
I gotta find them, I gotta find them, I gotta
find him and miss something in a lake, you know,
trying to get to the next lake. So I just
(19:40):
want to go spend some time, put some hours, you know,
idland and you know, I don't know, I caught a few,
but the well from there went to the Saint John's.
Just got back from the Saint John's last night at
like midnight.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
I really liked the Saint John's a lot. I've done
very well there. It sets up like a river there.
It is tidal, but it doesn't move a lot. It
just kind of repositions.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
That's a manage area, right, Like they have a lot
of locks and all that kind of stuff to keep
the water at a certain level.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
No, there's only one really, there's only one going into
Rodman Reservoir.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
The hairs chain. They regulate.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
It's always like Nokobe is regulated like crazy.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, it's regulated all by a lot in multiple ways. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
You know while you were gone, I was, uh, I
spent I got I feel like I lived on Gunnersville
because I had four or five different tournaments up there
and then ended up having a club tournament up there,
and I caught my biggest big.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
The picture I've seen the picture you sent me six founder.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
I felt really good.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
How'd you catch it? Jig flipping or dragon? Uh?
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Well, it didn't really get me an opportunity. I cast
it to the bank, I set one crank, it hit
a rock in boom, and I set the hook. And
as soon as I set the hook, there was no headshake, nothing,
but I knew that it wasn't a log and knew
it wasn't a rock. And then all of a sudden,
just one little pull, just not like a you know,
(21:03):
mad that it got bit, just kind of like hey,
just so you know I'm here. Yeah, And then I
just started reeling and I thought it was a good fish,
but I didn't think it was a six pounder. I
thought it was, you know, maybe a three. And I'm
just reeling that fish is just coming with me, and
it was lethargic. And then I got on the boat
and I took one look at it and I was like, oh,
I know exactly why it was on bed. So it
(21:27):
was actively getting ready to spawn so immediately, and this
isn't a tournament, so I had to take it over.
And I kind of hated this about, you know, the
whole actively spawning thing, which is why I appreciate that
you guys in your tournament were having a wayfish and
then put them back in, because I think that's the
best way to manage it. I immediately got that fish
(21:47):
back in the water and tried to keep it as
stress free as possible. But yeah, I mean it was
it was an awesome fish to to grab it.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
I will say one thing about the spawning thing with
the dude. From right now till the first June, every
bassbot you catch it's going to be in some process respawning.
So the bedfishing argument like kind of irks me a
little bit, Like, yeah, it's probably not great to pester
them to catch them.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
You catch a female off the bed and you take
her away in she still got her eggs and her dude.
As soon as you let her go, Oh yeah, she's
just gonna go find somebody else, Like like bass aren't loyal,
they don't they can't comprehend, Like I gotta go, I
gotta go find my boyfriend or I'm gonna spit my
eggs out in the little.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Family.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Definitely not.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Like that's my favorite argument about everything in the outdoors.
You know, in the outdoor world, people have called it
the Disney effect because we glorify like this idea that
animals actually have families. They definitely don't, you know, especially
with deer like you all that kind of stuff. It's like,
I understand, we want to think that daddy, you know,
daddy buck is over here and he's watching over that
(22:51):
that buck don't care.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
I mean one, I mean the.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Dough literally has to run off her her spot, her
button buck or he will get to a point where
he's trying to, you know, do a little incestation.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Yeah you don't want that.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
No, nokay, that's that's when Badgeneti's come d.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
And then and then you have you know, the fish population.
It's like they put their eggs out, the buck comes over,
does what he's gonna do. The fry grow up. He's
guarding those and then then he neats them. The mom
and the buck will end up eating something else. So
I mean, they have no idea.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
They're just trying to.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Say the spade.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Yeah, I mean, it's here's the next thing, Like mass
don't spawn just one time, like one female doesn't spawn
one time, like she'll do it multiple times.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Especially you know in the.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Warmer sort, it's like nine months over the year, it's
a bomb. You know, that water gets to sixty five
and all of a sudden, people are looking really shallow
and trying to find some of those hard bottoms to
go after them.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
One of the things that I did notice though, and
this happened in the tournament. I want to get your
opinion on it, because my opinion is we need to
do away with these inflatable life jackets. I'm just not
a huge fan of because I've seen so many stories
that have come out over the last couple of years
of them not going off when they should, people having
real serious accidents and the life jacket not operating the
(24:05):
way they should, or a guy's just riding around it
starts raining it blows up on them. That happened in
our tournament. A guy ended up catching a pretty decent wave.
There's a lot of wind on Gunnersville. It hit his
dude's vest and it popped. So, you know, I'm I'm
a real big fan of having a life jacket that
is just a life jacket. There's no other thing that
(24:27):
needs to happen. What's your opinion on some of these inflatables?
Speaker 3 (24:31):
So I mean truthfully, I mean I wear one. I
wear a Mustang, like one of the real high dollar ones, and.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
I have a Mustang that it's not a full and problem.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yeah, my mind is one of the I don't know
the particular name of it. We get one from Yamaha
or I got one from Yamaha last year, and it's
really convenient, Like I think that's why everybody's on board
with it. Like it's not hot, it's not bulky. But again,
and I'm not knocking the companies that make them. There's
just always room for error with those things to where
(25:01):
you know, dude, I even think about it, like when
I'm running around, I'm like, it literally runs through my
mind sometimes I'm like, dude, if I were to wreck,
I don't know one hundred percent if this thing would.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Keep me up right right?
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Yeah, Yeah it's nice. Yeah, they're expensive. Yeah, it's in
the green. You know, it has the little monitor, little gauge, Like, yeah,
it's in the green. Everything's good, but there's if you were.
If we were to take it to where you have
to wear a normal one, which one I wouldn't be against.
I've only been wearing an inflatable probably three or four years.
That you would take out all the guests work. There
would be no chance that it doesn't work in case.
(25:32):
You don't ever want anything bad to happen, but it's
inevitable it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
And what was And I don't know the reason. You know,
I grew up wakeboarding and water skiing and jet skis
and all that kind of stuff, so for me, like
a neoprene life jacket was pretty regular. And then when
I got my first bass boat, you know, I ride
a Phoenix, and Phoenix has and I'm sure Skeeter does
this too. They've got branded life jackets and they're a
full vest.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
We're guys just tired of wearing a full vest, so
they wanted something a little smaller. Because I'm gonna be honest,
when I'm practicing, it's not practicing for a tournament, it's
just me fun fishing. I don't wear a lifejacket when
I'm driving my boat. Yeah, And I know some people
are like you should, you know, it's still a two
hundred and fifty horse motor and it's still high powered.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
And yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Can have the same issue whether you're in a tournament
or not. But I don't know. I mean, when I'm
in a tournament, I wear that Mustang that I have
that's three layers, yeah, but one of them is always.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
A vest, right. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
The I kind of get freaked out a little bit
even if I'm just out there messing around without a
life jacking on. If I'm just like literally putting around
at neely or something like just you know, running thirty
mine hour here and then thirty mile an hour across
the lake. Like I don't wear one like you're talking about,
but if I've got to like run pretty hard just
because I've seen crazy stuff happen, like you know, prop
(26:50):
chefs break or lower units getting knocked off in the boat.
You know, anything can happen at any time. So it
kind of freaks me out not to have one on.
But I think the fad with the inflatable was the
pros got them first. And this is before like when
I was in like young the pros got them first,
and you know how when that happens once once we
get something. Everybody's got to have it, like it's the
(27:12):
best thing in the world. And I think it all
started from the hot summer months. Like it wasn't bulky,
it was real, you know, compact it doesn't take a
lot of storage up. So I think that's the biggest
takeaway from it. But again I don't there's always that
thought in the back of your mind, like, dude, it
could not go off and then you're done, Like if
you if you wreck by yourself and that doesn't go off,
which it's not gonna be a good situation either way,
(27:34):
but at least the regular one will keep you up.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
I mean, that's been my whole thing, is if I
get knocked unconscious, which is a good.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Possibility if you're in the boat wreck, Yes, if.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
You get knocked unconscious, I want that one thing that's
keeping my head above water. Yeah, because when I come to,
I want to make sure that I'm good.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Yeah, And look here, I ain't afraid to die. But
I'm not trying to encourage the situation. You know, I'm
not trying to fast track it, you know what I'm saying, Like,
I mean, we ain't just gonna go out there and
go though you know, we run through a bridge or
something like.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Well, you know, you've got a couple of tournaments coming up.
I know you're you're in town for a little bit.
The bass Master Classic is on the way, you guys
get back on the elite schedule. You've got the MPFL.
There's been a conversation that has popped up. I've heard
a couple of people mention it in the pro world,
but I've also heard a lot of people just in
general talking about it. When y'all are fishing a big tournament,
(28:27):
whether it's an elite tournament or one of the biggest,
the bass Master Classic, or if you're a fan of
MLF the Red Crest or just one of their tournaments,
and you know that you have one hundred, one hundred
and fifteen boats that are out on the water. Do
pros or do people want recreational fishermen to be on
the water at the same time, or do you kind
(28:48):
of wish that it was open?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Well? What do you mean when you say open?
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Well, open to like you guys, and you.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Know that like all limits to everybody but us.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Yeah. I hate the idea of closing down water because
I'm the type of person where I say, you go
out and fish, Yeah, there's a turn, but like Red
Crest is on Laylake, I'm gonna have a hard time
putting my boat in at Laylake and trying to run
around and duplicate what some of the pros are doing.
(29:19):
So I don't want to fish actively when they are.
But it's such a big body of water. I could
potentially go out and fish.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Uh so my opinion, which is worth about two or
three cents worth maybe to everybody here lately, but my
opinion on it is, dude, I wouldn't I love people
being out there watching, like, dude.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
It's so cool, But what about fishing.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Well, I'm getting to that. I'm trying.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
I'm trying to lay it all out for everybody. I
want to paint the whole picture because here lately, I've
learned that I need to put it all out there
before I say what I'm gonna say. So, dude, like
having people follow you and not even like like I've
fished around here locally and have my friends and family
follow me. That's great, but like random people on random
lakes on some of our LEA tournaments, like they will
(30:01):
literally like they're fans of you. Like they want to
watch you, and when you catch one, dude, them cheering
for you is the coolest thing ever. Like it's just
it's awesome, Like we don't have a crowd out there
when we're actually doing what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Like a basketball player, a baseball player.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
So like having that interaction like in person, like them
cheering you on, like or if you lose one, man,
they're real like encouraging, like come on, man, you know,
put your head back down.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
You're good.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
It Like it's just a cool little deal. With that
being said, because you stage wor fishing.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Yes, it's really awesome, Like I really love that about
the whole sport because they're allowed to be out there.
Like it's just a whole cool deal about fishing in general.
I have had instances where and I'm not I don't
know who it was. It may or may not have
happened to me at Logan Martin this past NPFL tournament,
but I had some guys that were watching me, and
(30:52):
I've had it have in other places, but this is
just the most recent on a couple of little I'm
not gonna call them sneaky places, but not obvious places,
and they were watching me and they kept their distance.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
They were like everything was cool.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
And then I run, I pick up, run to the
next one, and I to get back to where like
later in the day, to get back to where I'm going,
I have to run by this place and they're sitting
on it fishing. And I'm not gonna say they didn't
know it was there. Yes, I'm like, so, which is fine,
Like you're out there trying to learn. But the only
(31:26):
thing I would ask of people is and I never
said anything. I would never like, that's not professionally, It's
not my place to say something to them. I would
just ask for people to be a lot more respectful
during the tournament hours, you know. So what I'm saying
from we got it from seven o'clock to three o'clock. Like, dude,
if you want to watch me catch thirty five pounds
off of place and at three thirty way in starts
(31:46):
you want to ropper and catch you some so be
it like we're.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
In the grand scheme of things. The next weekend.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Yeah, Like, dude, mark mark every place I'm going, Like
you come out there, You're taking time out of your
day to learn what I've learned, Like that's part of
that's why we're out there to teach people how to
fish better. They learn what stretch of docks are good
or whatever. But and I've just seen it happening over
and over again. And man, I've had a couple instances
where I've had people like very maliciously and intentionally try
(32:12):
to ruin my fishing day and the little ball of
hate comes out because you you kind of and I've
had marshals in my boat when it happens and they're like, dude,
you're gonna say something. I'm like, I don't know if
I really should. And multiple times they have said, dude,
he's trying to ruin your day, like on purpose. I
feel like you really need to say something. I don't
would did not disagree with it at all, and then
(32:34):
you kind of take it from there. And dude, I've
we've almost had instances where we've had to call the
tournament directors and get law enforcement involved because it's gotten
so bad. Oh sure like it harassment, Yeah, you can't
do this stuff like you know you got and not
even like talking about like the bank stuff, like the
docks situation, like the private property that I'm not even
talking about that I'm talking about people on the water
(32:55):
that go out there and do like go mess people
up on purpose.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
I pulled up on a huh, this is on Lake Lanier,
this is three years ago, and I'm fishing a hump.
And this hump is no bigger than fifty feet by
one hundred. I mean it's small, but there was a
good concentration to fish our on top of it. Literally,
I'm fishing lines in the water, the whole deal. And
I had this guy come by in a center console
(33:19):
with you know. But he comes by and he's got
you know, his wife in the boat, and he's got
his two kids, and literally he goes right on top
of where my line is and grat like fumbles a
rod and basically throws it out right. And I just
gave him the look of like what are you doing?
(33:39):
Like can't you see my lines in the Literally so
I didn't say a word, but he knew that he
did something wrong because he goes what ye lake, And
I said, dude, I can appreciate that you're allowed to
fish it, but there's a respect level of like you
don't come in on somebody who's actively fishing. If I
was just sitting here, then I wasn't doing right by
(34:01):
kind of claiming my ground for that minute, and then
as soon as the troller motor comes up, dude, have
at it. You want to. This guy ends up doing
circles around me.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Imagine that.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
And I went, you're making this worse for yourself. And
of course everybody has a phone now, you know, so
you can record everything. So I'm a big fan of
the respect side, which is I'm not going to tell
you that in the middle of a tournament you can't
go out because let's look at the elites. The elites
are one hundred and four, one hundred and five guys.
That's small in comparison to some of the tournaments that
(34:32):
happen on lakes. Oh god, it will befl It's two
hundred and fifty boats, right, So why would we give
more respect to the elites who have one hundred and
five boats compared to a lake that's getting two hundred
and fifty boats. That's way more packed than anything else.
But the respect is everything. If I see somebody's fishing,
(34:55):
I'm not going to cut in front of them. I'm
not going to pull up on them. I'm not going
to wait for them to leave and then just go
in and try to work that whole, especially if I
saw him catch a bunch of fish. Yeah, that's that's
the work. You're gonna come back to that absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
So look, dude, here's what I tell people a lot,
and the worst one I've ever just a quick little
rundown at a couple of years ago at across Wisconsin,
I caught one on a little shallow bar and there
was a you know, an eighteen nineteen foot aluminum boat
John Boat, a guy and his son. I caught a
small mouth dude, I boat flip it, I put it
in the lava. I look up and they're coming at
(35:29):
me at one hundred on their trollinger wide open, and
like they don't have power poles and stuff. So do
they get there and it kind of like washes up
on it and they literally beached their boat on top
of the bar like a dude I could throw I
could throw my spook halfway cast underhanded and landing their boat.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
And I'm like, you're saying it was a little close.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
It was.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
It was pretty bad. It was pretty bad.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
And man, to be like, I don't know if it
was just I don't know if they didn't like us
being there or but the kid probably I call it.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
A kid twelve to sixteen.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Dude, I've never been doll cussed so bad in my life,
and I've been cussed pretty bad, and dude, he just
lit into me because I kind of like threw my
hands up and the dad's just sitting there and I'm
just like it kind of shell shocked me a little bit.
But like, that's one of the worst instances I've had.
But what I try and tell people is, like the
few times I've gotten into a conversation with people about it,
I'm like, look, man, Monday morning, I'm just gonna go
(36:22):
ahead and let you know. I'm gonna be at your job.
I'm gonna take your computer when you get to your
desk job, and I'm not gonna let you in. I'm
gonna lock the door. Let me know how good you
can do your job when you get there, let me
know if you're gonna get paid. And they just kind
of sit there and they're like, well, it's not the same.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I was like, but you're.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Keeping me from doing my job to feed my family,
to feed my wife, and you know, to put you know,
pay the bills, keep my lights on. Right, So look
at it from that instance, like, dude, if I showed
up and took your microphone away or kept you from
talking in your microphone, could you do the radio show?
Speaker 1 (36:54):
I could do the radio show, but I am fairly
loud without it. Yeah, I'm with.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
You, but you know what I get.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
But that comes down to respect. That's and that's what
it ultimately is. Like you're never going to tell somebody
you can't be No, absolutely no.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
I never get to.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Shut the water down. But there is a respect level
because if you wouldn't want it to happen to you,
then don't do it to somebody else. It's like the gold, the.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
Gold run like and which I mean speaking of that,
like we've lost a lot of that, like you know,
the whole just that instance in.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Gene want to start podcast part two and we can
talk all about that. Not yet now that's all run
away from everyday life.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Yes, absolutely
Lines and times. My buddy West Logan fresh off the
tournament trail with the bass Master Elites. Last time we talked,
you were getting ready to kick off your season on
the Elites. You had Toledo Bend and then you had
Lake Fork and then you had a meltdown on stage,
which you and I have talked about. But let's kind
of talk about Toledo Bend. Let's talk about these tournaments
(00:20):
because they didn't set up the exact way that you
liked to fish, right, But what did you learn from
those tournaments?
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Looking back on it, I mean as far as a
job standpoint, I probably didn't need to be as stubborn
as I was with the you know how the fish
were setting up like they weren't on the bank, they
weren't coming to the bank.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
And to be honestly, it was cold.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
The weather set up right like it was cold when
we got there for Toledo.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yes, And the.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Water was high and it was it was on a
warming trend on a full moon like the middle of February.
It takes It's like your mind's just like, Okay, they're
gonna show up. They're gonna show up, and man, the
bite actually got worse every day the warmer it got.
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I don't. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen is
that because the water was high, it wasn't really high.
Speaker 3 (01:03):
It's just Toledo had been so low for so many years,
Like it's actually real close to full pool, so a
lot of stuff has grown up, Like there's a lot
of cover on the bank, a lot of targets to
throw at, and it it literally just got worse. It's
like you got less and less bites every day. And
it wasn't pressure because nobody was fishing the bank. It
was just like the first day, I had a really
good day and it actually was looking up. I caught
(01:26):
what I weighed in like eighteen and a half the
first day by like lunch, and I kind of just
went and practiced a little bit more, tried to find
a few more areas, and like I got bit everywhere
I went, so I was like looking forward to the
day too.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
And I don't. The only thing I can figure.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
Out is the wind blew real hard on the first day,
which didn't bother me fishing wise, because I was, you know,
way back in someplace.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
That should well.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
What I think it did was I think toled had
been so big and it's so deep it turned it.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
It basically flipped the water.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
Because what happened is I got back to where I
started the first day the second morning, and the water
temperature had dropped five degree and it wasn't anything.
Speaker 2 (02:03):
That's what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (02:04):
The wind like flipped the water, and I really think
it just pulled them back off and like kind of
put them in shock. The shallower fish, like because I
caught two like way off the bank, like I just
happened to and I did catch one off Livescope. I
was going around a dog and I just happened to
look out there and it was just like you just
oh yeah, yeah, absolutely absolutely. I know it was just
(02:25):
the sin man, the sin but but that's what I'm saying,
like they just I think they just kind of went
into a mood where, hey, the you know, the water
dropped five degrees. I don't feel comfortable up there no more. Because,
like I said, the first day, it was like the
fishing was fun, like I actually caught a bunch swimming,
caught some flipping dogs, and then it just got real bad.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
And well, typically like if the water is coming up
the fishermen in you everything that you've learned tells you
that the fish are going to move shallow.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Right, you know, enough of them to do good, not
the not the vast majority, because there's so many bass
in Toledo obviously. But I just think from you know,
looking back, talking to some of my real good friends
that you know, did the forward facing deal out there,
there was just so many baths still relating to that bait,
like it wasn't in their brain yet to like, yeah,
the water got to sixty one or sixty two that
(03:12):
first day, but it wasn't that like seventy where we
just got to flood the bank all go, you know,
make babies.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
Sixty one sixty two. Is that where they like the
water tempt to be to spawn on Toledo Bend? Or
is it a little warmer? I don't, I don't.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I know Toledo been an expert, but I think sometimes
in the springtime we get a shallow fishman get real
excited when they start seeing that high fifty eight and
sixty like we got to go, they're coming. I don't
think it's really that that massive of a push. I
think it's more of like they want it to be
stable around that fifty eight to sixty five for a
week or two, not just oh it hit it, you know,
(03:49):
it hit it swist right, that's right. I think, Like
now if you've had it, if it's been sixty like
in the mornings it's fifty eight or fifty nine, and
it gets up to high sixty seventies, it's wide open
everything like shad spawn's fixing the start they're spawning, like,
and it's been a warm year so far, you know,
to start the year, it's gonna get cold again. Not
(04:11):
it won't be bad, but we'll have another cold snap.
But it mean springs pretty much here, but I don't know.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
And then but that's I mean that's typical March. Yeah,
typical March early April, like you get you get these
teasers of like it's gonna beautiful yah, that's right, and
then you have that couple of cold nights.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
Yeah, we have like a like a BlackBerry winter and
all that, Like it'll it'll be real cold.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
It's always cold.
Speaker 3 (04:32):
Around you know, Easter, you know that first week of March,
you know, or not first first week, get April somewhere
down there to get cold again. I mean, I remember
turkey hunting when it was I've gone turkey on was
like twenty six.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
Degree yeah side, but it pretty good morning, ya, Yes, yes,
I love a cloudy A cloudy cold morning is the best.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
I'm not a I'm not a fan of clear mornings
on turkey hunting wise, but.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (04:55):
The Tlida men didn't work and I had some execution
issues bad on Toledo the second day.
Speaker 2 (05:00):
I mean I ended up.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
I think I ended up having nine bites all day
and only landed four of them. I ended up losing
five two and a half to four pounders. I had
one area way up the lake to flipping bushes, and
I saved it on the after I didn't go up
there the first day because I thought I could go
catch fifteen or sixteen. I ran up there like my
third flip. I had a three pound of rat mean
a bush, and then I went to boat flip of
(05:22):
three it come off. I had a swim jig fish
come off like just come to the boat. I hooked
a swim jigfish like a three pounder and it flew
it bit it right the boat and I like jerk
too hard.
Speaker 2 (05:32):
It flew over the boat and come off.
Speaker 1 (05:36):
The rainbow.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
Yes, pretty much, pretty much. I had I had a
high school kid, or he's a senior in high school.
Speaker 2 (05:42):
Was my march.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
He was like, man, it just ain't your day. Like, no,
I mean some days it is, some days it ain't.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Last night I was helping a buddy of mine set
up a bass cat with some new Solix fifteens from Hummingbird.
And my buddy who he deals.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
With all the did you say multiple fifteenth No?
Speaker 1 (05:58):
No, no, he's one, he's got two, he's got on
the front, he's but he's only he's only got the
sole ex up from for Megalive, like he's dumb Hummingbird.
Everything right, just those two things. But it's not like
some of the rigs that I know zal Dane's been
putting out about people. But what what I was going
to tell you is when you were talking about how
(06:19):
you boat flipped that fish. Literally, we took the boat
out to test it, make sure megi live look good,
change any of the settings that we had to change,
make sure the networking was all right. And while we're
out there, we're like, well, let's just fish a little bit.
So I'm flipping a dock and Literally I felt the
bite and I looked at my buddy and I go,
hang on a minute. It jacked it, and of course
you set the hook thinking every fish is a bound
(06:42):
like you want to get the hook in them. And
literally I saw this dink go flying through the air
and in my mind it went to slow motion. It
was like, yeah, it just flew all the way across
and he stayed on the line. Really yeah, so he
went over the boat and it was a spot.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
I love it when them little spots.
Speaker 1 (07:01):
Dude, they're so aggressive, like he wade like maybe one one.
Oh yeah, but that boy went for a ride before
he got in the boat. Again. No, he's gonna he's
gonna move offshore. You won't see him until somebody throws
him into at him.
Speaker 2 (07:16):
He gonna be hesitant about that thing too.
Speaker 1 (07:18):
So what would you have done differently? You know you
talked about at the beginning with Toledo Bend. What would
you have done differently to impact that tournament better? Oh?
Speaker 3 (07:26):
Definitely, you know, as you know, as much as I'm
against it, it's a part of my job. I would
definitely would have went out there and floated around for
a day of practice.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Because I had a real word facing.
Speaker 3 (07:36):
Yes, uh to fault you know those you know, the
suspended fish on the bait, just because I had a
really bad day of practice on the second day on
the way, we had a real cold night, like a
knew butter, and I just went shallow again. I wish
looking back on I wish that day I would have
went out there and just found an area, not trying
to you know, win the tournament or anything, just found
(07:57):
an area I could go get some dopplement, Yes to
where on that day too, when stuff wasn't happening real
good and you know I had to love was lost
fish where I could have still went and caught twelve
to fourteen pounds and got you know, you know, got
to check for sure. Now, you know, looking back, if
I hadn't lost the fish, I'd have been in great shape.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
But that happens. But I didn't have any backup plan
as far you.
Speaker 1 (08:16):
Got to find quality bites. I mean, you and I
have talked about the fact that, you know, like tournament fishing,
your job is to fit within the confines of the bank.
You got to go find the five biggest fish, right
if you ever win the tournament, you gotta do it
every day. You gotta do it four days in a row,
and you got to make those cuts in everything. So
sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't if you know that.
(08:37):
And this is what I felt just from being a
spectator and watching some of these tournaments. And this isn't you,
this is just you know, tournament anglers in the bass elites.
At the time when I was watching, it felt like
a lot of guys were trying to force a narrative
of I can do what you think you're doing off
shore better when I'm up shallow. But the fish quality
wasn't up shallow yet.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, the quality wasn't nor the quantity I thought, And I.
Speaker 1 (09:01):
Said, you had too much time between bytes.
Speaker 3 (09:03):
Yeah, well, I mean the first it's hard to say practice. Yes,
Like I knew I was going too long between bytes,
but it would be it would get right to that
point where I might need to go do something different,
and bam you get a four pound byte, like and
then you go another hour and like, ah, man, it's
it's not it's not really setting up. And then bam
you get another three pound byte on the same exact deal.
So like I've had three bytes doing the same thing
(09:25):
and they were all decent good you know, good ones
are not you know, relative at Toledo, but it just
it just wasn't quite there yet. We were a little
bit early. And I just looking back again, like when
we started the podcast, I was I was stubborn the
first like the first two tournaments.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
You know, I spoke my mind about it.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
But dude, if you really look back at it, I
had a bad day, the bad second day at Toledo,
but I had eighteen pounds and nine pounds, so that's
twenty I had. I had right at fourteen pounds a
day average wise at Toledo, and I averaged twenty one
pounds a day at four which is a totally different animal.
But still, if you look back, historically, fourteen pounds a
day at Toto gets paid every time the elites have
(10:06):
ever been there. Sure, so twenty one pounds has been
paid at Fork every time we've ever been.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
There, So I think so that was a eye opener.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
Now my eyes have been open to that for a while.
Speaker 3 (10:18):
I mean, if you there's a few of us that
have looked back on it and really like studied it.
The average cutweights in the last three years have went
up three to five pounds on every single light we've
ever been to.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
When I first started fishing, I had a guy tell me.
He was like, look, if you can get twelve pounds
a tournament, there's a good chance you're going to be
in chuck ran never Never not anymore. That was three
years ago. Yep. You know. Now obviously ford facing sonar
has brought bigger fish to the scale and more correct.
And I mean you look at you look at like
Fork and you see some of the numbers and you
just sit there and go The average fish that was
(10:50):
getting caught there was probably five and a half pounds. Yeah,
I mean in where do you find a body of
water that has that high concentration of five plusunders?
Speaker 2 (11:00):
Dang glorified farm pond.
Speaker 1 (11:03):
Right, So it's it's interesting that when we watched that,
you know, I had heard a lot of guys say, well,
the century belt doesn't mean anything. I actually said to
a friend of mine who worked for Bass Lake Fork
is that type of lake where the century belt should
actually be kind of pushed down because it is such
a well managed lake that one hundred pounds doesn't really
(11:24):
mean anything, right.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
I mean, it's fifty mean, every time we've been there.
There's been multiple century belts and that just that's a
shout out to Texas Parks and Wildlife. How great the
lake is, like no doubt, And I'm not knocking the
guys that called it like hands down there they figured
it out like and that's.
Speaker 1 (11:42):
You know, it's great that they did it. Like it's
an accomplishment no matter what. But when you're on a
lake like let's say you were on the Sabine, right, okay,
and you managed to catch one hundred pounds of fish
on the Sabine, people are touting you as the greatest
fisherman I've ever left. That's right, right, So everything is
kind of relative when you look get the weights in
some of these tournaments, you go to a lake lanier,
(12:02):
you catch a five and a half pound spoted bass.
That's a magnum. Like those don't happen every day, But
on a lake like that, you can find them a
little more.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Well, they're they're places, but it's like the average bass
there's literally like three and a half four pounds. It's
like if you get a bye there, you don't catch
a bunch. But if you get a by, what's odd
about that place? You don't catch a bunch of little one.
You don't catch a pound and a half or a
two pounds one four if you get.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
A bye, That's what I'm saying, Like you're gonna be
if you get a fish, it's gonna be.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
It's it's normally a good fish.
Speaker 3 (12:33):
Yeah, Like I didn't get many buys a second day,
it still had almost seventeen.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
It's weird though, to think that a four pounder is
like a pound and a half everywhere else. Yeah, I mean,
what was Hamder talking about? And he had he had
such a great line. He said, you know, I've never
caught a ten pound bass, and then he followed it
up with and I still haven't because he caught that
eleven gold half. But I mean that's the thing, Like
he actually said that he had to take a minute
(12:59):
and take a because catching something that big just doesn't happen.
But on fourk it seems like you have more of
an opportunity to actually do this.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Absolutely. Man.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
I caught a nine at Saint John's my second year
on the Elites, and I mean we got the go
pro footage of it. It, dude, I like almost how
to panic attack like which it was again a nine
pounder is not at your biggest?
Speaker 1 (13:21):
No, what's your personal best?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
I've called a nine to fifteen on the Saint John's
actually in tournament in a BFL regional in twenty fourteen.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
I was seven, when I was eighteen.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Okay, soe you catch a fish like that. I had
this feeling after Hamner caught that eleven. You bring that
to the way in right, Like there the slot was
different with fork, but like you're obviously bringing years to
the way in regardless. Is there a part of you
that's like, I want to release this fish because it's
good for the fishery, but I also want to maybe
get this thing mapped out so I can get it mounted.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
I'm gonna be honestly. The big one I caught when
I was so young, wasn't it. I didn't even rousse
It was a ten pounder.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
When I caught it.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I'm not even kidding you, dude, so so little running
hat went I went down.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
I ran down there.
Speaker 3 (14:04):
Uh it was like the third fish I caught that day.
And I tried to boat flip it and.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
The water downer found it. The water down there is
so dark you can't really see throwing a chain.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
Now, I just flipping twenty pound line with a baby
brushag zoom, baby brushg. I could take you right exactly
where I call it, like it's that etched in my mind.
But when I went to flip it, it wouldn't come up,
like I couldn't. Its mouth hit the side of the
gun on. I was like, I'm so bigging well. We
had comeairs at the time, and his tackle bag was
in the ned. He couldn't get it out anyways, end
up having to lip it. I got in a boat
did and I just hold it. And the guy was
(14:33):
under from Florida and he was like, my Cohen was
from Flays.
Speaker 2 (14:36):
There's a giant. I was like, it's like a subn
eight pounder. I just stood and live well. And I'd
never called an eight hundred in my life either, so
I don't know why.
Speaker 1 (14:42):
I was like, you were acting cool, Yeah, I get
it here.
Speaker 3 (14:46):
I was like, I ain't got but three, dude, I
gotta catch two more because it was so hard to
get a boy. Well, dude, Like an hour later, I
catch an eight pounder, like a legit eight pounder, and
I boat flipped it because I thought it was like
a five.
Speaker 2 (14:57):
Sure, because I had done looked at the big So
I get back to and.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
My dad was a coat and he's like, you got him.
I was like, man, I got too good with it.
I was like, I got like an eight and a five.
He's like, gosh, dang. I was like, I ain't got
none to go with him though. So my co in
there that day ended up not even catching one, not
you know, not catching a keeper. So I had I
split them up. One of the big ones was by itself,
and then the smaller of the two was on the
other side. Well, I'd forgotten what side it was, and
I said, I'm gonna pull the big one out first,
(15:23):
and like a bunch of my buddies had gotten around
there and I picked it up and I was like, yeah,
you know, here's it ended up.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Being the smaller.
Speaker 3 (15:28):
I thought it was a bigger one, and I opened
the lave and I went to grabbing her, and I
turned around.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I was like, that was a smaller one, and I
picked it up, duding. Everybody like lost their mind. It
was a giant.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
But it's so funny because you're telling me that, Sorry,
I didn't know you at the time when you caught that,
but I can tell that you were in tournament west
Logan mode, Yes, if too probably West Logan just wants
to go out and fun fish mode. Yeah, dude, like
you were fun fishing, you would have lost your mode. Yeah, absolutely,
the tournament mode. You're like, it's not.
Speaker 3 (15:56):
I I didn't even think about it because, like, literally,
I told the guys that we don't have but three
Like that fish is useless if I don't catch anything
else with it.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
So do you ever think, like if you caught let's
say you caught a ten pounder, legit ten, There's no
nine to fifteen. There's no nine to thirteen.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
And that's why I tell people I've never caught a
ten pound because it didn't weigh ten fifteen.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I happen to a buddy of mine, Okachobe. He was
flipping some grass and he ended up flipping. He set
the hook and he said it felt like a concrete block.
He couldn't move it. His co angler had to dip
the net and he came up with nothing but dirt.
The fish was so big it wouldn't fitting the net.
Speaker 2 (16:30):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
So he ended up reaching, you know, foot and a
half down, just grabbing this thing in the mouth and
pulling it in got him into the final day, right,
but again he thought he had a ten pounder weigh
nine to fifteen.
Speaker 2 (16:40):
Yeah, yeah, I mean I'll never claim my call on if.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
You caught a ten pounder, you got your personal best
and it was in a tournament. Is there ever a
thought of you and would they allow that for you
to be able to keep that mask to get him
mounted if you want it?
Speaker 2 (16:52):
I think we can.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
I think like they have you know, are holding tanks
where they hold us for the way in, I'm gonna
say they would probably let Jeene get over there our
conservation guy and you know, get some measurements on.
Speaker 2 (17:02):
It for sure.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
That's good. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (17:04):
And most of the time, like where you would catch
one is either you know, majority where where we go
Florida or Texas to where that's a share lunker anyway,
or you have to let them like notify them if
you catch a ten pounder. Right, So they normally have
people there that like get DNA samples and they would
get all the measurements.
Speaker 1 (17:21):
Oh good, all right, So there is there at least
is something where you can.
Speaker 3 (17:25):
You know in those states now and Alabama may be
a little bit different, but I mean the only place
you might would catch one in Obama is honors one.
We're not going there. But Texas and Florida are always
very adamant. They'd always have a you know, an officer
there or you know whoever whatever you would call them,
just especially Fork in Toledo like that was there was
people everywhere taking you know, samples of those big fish
(17:47):
and stuff just because. In another shout out to Texas
Parks and Wildlife all the stuff they do with those
big fish, Like that's that's why you're able to go
to Fork and catch one hundred and thirty pounds every time.
Speaker 1 (17:57):
You would not believe the amount of people that texted
me and call me after like four can see in
the weights and have said to me like we're playing
the trip to go out there. Oh is that is
that a spot that you would want to just go
and fun fish?
Speaker 2 (18:08):
No?
Speaker 3 (18:09):
No, not a fan really no, I just I mean, yeah,
you'll catch a big one for I shouldn't have said
it like that.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
I just man it.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
But it's not your style.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
No, I don't like it. Like it.
Speaker 3 (18:20):
I'll go there and fish the tournament. But the way
you can't, you don't win there. Fishing traditionally most of
the time it's either a livescope deal or you know,
offshore on hard spots and you know, real big swim baits.
Speaker 1 (18:34):
Because where where is a fun place for you? Like
if you were going to set a trip to just
go on a fishing trip, where would you want to go?
Speaker 2 (18:41):
Mmm, I don't know.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
Probably somewhere in Florida. Yeah, just because I mean I
might be my favorite thing work.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
No, absolutely not, no, no, god no, Well.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
You just went down there because it just went off limits.
So you got in there before that happened. How do
we feel.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I don't matter.
Speaker 3 (18:59):
I I put a lot of hours on my yamaha.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
I know that I didn't fish a whole lot. I
just wanted to go.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
Down there spot.
Speaker 3 (19:08):
Yeah, it's and truthfully, like people look at that, man,
a place ain't that big? Well, the problem is to
get from one lake to another is an hour worth
of time because of all the idols.
Speaker 2 (19:17):
On the stuff.
Speaker 3 (19:19):
Yes, but like you you could drive there in five minutes,
but by you know, by car. I just wanted to
get down there and you know, try and see how
everything's laying out, kind of decide where I want to
spend my time in practice to fish because I've never
been able to go down there and not have the
stress of two and a half days of practice, like
I gotta find them, I gotta find them, I gotta
find him and miss something in a lake, you know,
trying to get to the next lake. So I just
(19:40):
want to go spend some time, put some hours, you know,
idland and you know, I don't know, I caught a few,
but the well from there went to the Saint John's.
Just got back from the Saint John's last night at
like midnight.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
I really liked the Saint John's a lot. I've done
very well there. It sets up like a river there.
It is tidal, but it doesn't move a lot. It
just kind of repositions.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
That's a manage area, right, Like they have a lot
of locks and all that kind of stuff to keep
the water at a certain level.
Speaker 3 (20:07):
No, there's only one really, there's only one going into
Rodman Reservoir.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
The hairs chain. They regulate.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
It's always like Nokobe is regulated like crazy.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
Yeah, it's regulated all by a lot in multiple ways. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (20:23):
You know while you were gone, I was, uh, I
spent I got I feel like I lived on Gunnersville
because I had four or five different tournaments up there
and then ended up having a club tournament up there,
and I caught my biggest big.
Speaker 2 (20:34):
The picture I've seen the picture you sent me six founder.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
I felt really good.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
How'd you catch it? Jig flipping or dragon? Uh?
Speaker 1 (20:42):
Well, it didn't really get me an opportunity. I cast
it to the bank, I set one crank, it hit
a rock in boom, and I set the hook. And
as soon as I set the hook, there was no headshake, nothing,
but I knew that it wasn't a log and knew
it wasn't a rock. And then all of a sudden,
just one little pull, just not like a you know,
(21:03):
mad that it got bit, just kind of like hey,
just so you know I'm here. Yeah, And then I
just started reeling and I thought it was a good fish,
but I didn't think it was a six pounder. I
thought it was, you know, maybe a three. And I'm
just reeling that fish is just coming with me, and
it was lethargic. And then I got on the boat
and I took one look at it and I was like, oh,
I know exactly why it was on bed. So it
(21:27):
was actively getting ready to spawn so immediately, and this
isn't a tournament, so I had to take it over.
And I kind of hated this about, you know, the
whole actively spawning thing, which is why I appreciate that
you guys in your tournament were having a wayfish and
then put them back in, because I think that's the
best way to manage it. I immediately got that fish
(21:47):
back in the water and tried to keep it as
stress free as possible. But yeah, I mean it was
it was an awesome fish to to grab it.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
I will say one thing about the spawning thing with
the dude. From right now till the first June, every
bassbot you catch it's going to be in some process respawning.
So the bedfishing argument like kind of irks me a
little bit, Like, yeah, it's probably not great to pester
them to catch them.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
But here's the thing.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
You catch a female off the bed and you take
her away in she still got her eggs and her dude.
As soon as you let her go, Oh yeah, she's
just gonna go find somebody else, Like like bass aren't loyal,
they don't they can't comprehend, Like I gotta go, I
gotta go find my boyfriend or I'm gonna spit my
eggs out in the little.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
Family.
Speaker 2 (22:28):
Definitely not.
Speaker 1 (22:29):
Like that's my favorite argument about everything in the outdoors.
You know, in the outdoor world, people have called it
the Disney effect because we glorify like this idea that
animals actually have families. They definitely don't, you know, especially
with deer like you all that kind of stuff. It's like,
I understand, we want to think that daddy, you know,
daddy buck is over here and he's watching over that
(22:51):
that buck don't care.
Speaker 2 (22:52):
I mean one, I mean the.
Speaker 3 (22:54):
Dough literally has to run off her her spot, her
button buck or he will get to a point where
he's trying to, you know, do a little incestation.
Speaker 1 (23:02):
Yeah you don't want that.
Speaker 2 (23:03):
No, nokay, that's that's when Badgeneti's come d.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
And then and then you have you know, the fish population.
It's like they put their eggs out, the buck comes over,
does what he's gonna do. The fry grow up. He's
guarding those and then then he neats them. The mom
and the buck will end up eating something else. So
I mean, they have no idea.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
They're just trying to.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
Say the spade.
Speaker 3 (23:22):
Yeah, I mean, it's here's the next thing, Like mass
don't spawn just one time, like one female doesn't spawn
one time, like she'll do it multiple times.
Speaker 2 (23:29):
Especially you know in the.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Warmer sort, it's like nine months over the year, it's
a bomb. You know, that water gets to sixty five
and all of a sudden, people are looking really shallow
and trying to find some of those hard bottoms to
go after them.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:42):
One of the things that I did notice though, and
this happened in the tournament. I want to get your
opinion on it, because my opinion is we need to
do away with these inflatable life jackets. I'm just not
a huge fan of because I've seen so many stories
that have come out over the last couple of years
of them not going off when they should, people having
real serious accidents and the life jacket not operating the
(24:05):
way they should, or a guy's just riding around it
starts raining it blows up on them. That happened in
our tournament. A guy ended up catching a pretty decent wave.
There's a lot of wind on Gunnersville. It hit his
dude's vest and it popped. So, you know, I'm I'm
a real big fan of having a life jacket that
is just a life jacket. There's no other thing that
(24:27):
needs to happen. What's your opinion on some of these inflatables?
Speaker 3 (24:31):
So I mean truthfully, I mean I wear one. I
wear a Mustang, like one of the real high dollar ones, and.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
I have a Mustang that it's not a full and problem.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Yeah, my mind is one of the I don't know
the particular name of it. We get one from Yamaha
or I got one from Yamaha last year, and it's
really convenient, Like I think that's why everybody's on board
with it. Like it's not hot, it's not bulky. But again,
and I'm not knocking the companies that make them. There's
just always room for error with those things to where
(25:01):
you know, dude, I even think about it, like when
I'm running around, I'm like, it literally runs through my
mind sometimes I'm like, dude, if I were to wreck,
I don't know one hundred percent if this thing would.
Speaker 2 (25:10):
Keep me up right right?
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Yeah, Yeah it's nice. Yeah, they're expensive. Yeah, it's in
the green. You know, it has the little monitor, little gauge, Like, yeah,
it's in the green. Everything's good, but there's if you were.
If we were to take it to where you have
to wear a normal one, which one I wouldn't be against.
I've only been wearing an inflatable probably three or four years.
That you would take out all the guests work. There
would be no chance that it doesn't work in case.
(25:32):
You don't ever want anything bad to happen, but it's
inevitable it's gonna happen.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
And what was And I don't know the reason. You know,
I grew up wakeboarding and water skiing and jet skis
and all that kind of stuff, so for me, like
a neoprene life jacket was pretty regular. And then when
I got my first bass boat, you know, I ride
a Phoenix, and Phoenix has and I'm sure Skeeter does
this too. They've got branded life jackets and they're a
full vest.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
That's right.
Speaker 1 (25:58):
We're guys just tired of wearing a full vest, so
they wanted something a little smaller. Because I'm gonna be honest,
when I'm practicing, it's not practicing for a tournament, it's
just me fun fishing. I don't wear a lifejacket when
I'm driving my boat. Yeah, And I know some people
are like you should, you know, it's still a two
hundred and fifty horse motor and it's still high powered.
Speaker 2 (26:16):
And yeah, you.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Can have the same issue whether you're in a tournament
or not. But I don't know. I mean, when I'm
in a tournament, I wear that Mustang that I have
that's three layers, yeah, but one of them is always.
Speaker 2 (26:26):
A vest, right. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
The I kind of get freaked out a little bit
even if I'm just out there messing around without a
life jacking on. If I'm just like literally putting around
at neely or something like just you know, running thirty
mine hour here and then thirty mile an hour across
the lake. Like I don't wear one like you're talking about,
but if I've got to like run pretty hard just
because I've seen crazy stuff happen, like you know, prop
(26:50):
chefs break or lower units getting knocked off in the boat.
You know, anything can happen at any time. So it
kind of freaks me out not to have one on.
But I think the fad with the inflatable was the
pros got them first. And this is before like when
I was in like young the pros got them first,
and you know how when that happens once once we
get something. Everybody's got to have it, like it's the
(27:12):
best thing in the world. And I think it all
started from the hot summer months. Like it wasn't bulky,
it was real, you know, compact it doesn't take a
lot of storage up. So I think that's the biggest
takeaway from it. But again I don't there's always that
thought in the back of your mind, like, dude, it
could not go off and then you're done, Like if
you if you wreck by yourself and that doesn't go off,
which it's not gonna be a good situation either way,
(27:34):
but at least the regular one will keep you up.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
I mean, that's been my whole thing, is if I
get knocked unconscious, which is a good.
Speaker 2 (27:41):
Possibility if you're in the boat wreck, Yes, if.
Speaker 1 (27:43):
You get knocked unconscious, I want that one thing that's
keeping my head above water. Yeah, because when I come to,
I want to make sure that I'm good.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
Yeah, And look here, I ain't afraid to die. But
I'm not trying to encourage the situation. You know, I'm
not trying to fast track it, you know what I'm saying, Like,
I mean, we ain't just gonna go out there and
go though you know, we run through a bridge or
something like.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
Well, you know, you've got a couple of tournaments coming up.
I know you're you're in town for a little bit.
The bass Master Classic is on the way, you guys
get back on the elite schedule. You've got the MPFL.
There's been a conversation that has popped up. I've heard
a couple of people mention it in the pro world,
but I've also heard a lot of people just in
general talking about it. When y'all are fishing a big tournament,
(28:27):
whether it's an elite tournament or one of the biggest,
the bass Master Classic, or if you're a fan of
MLF the Red Crest or just one of their tournaments,
and you know that you have one hundred, one hundred
and fifteen boats that are out on the water. Do
pros or do people want recreational fishermen to be on
the water at the same time, or do you kind
(28:48):
of wish that it was open?
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Well? What do you mean when you say open?
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Well, open to like you guys, and you.
Speaker 2 (28:57):
Know that like all limits to everybody but us.
Speaker 1 (28:59):
Yeah. I hate the idea of closing down water because
I'm the type of person where I say, you go
out and fish, Yeah, there's a turn, but like Red
Crest is on Laylake, I'm gonna have a hard time
putting my boat in at Laylake and trying to run
around and duplicate what some of the pros are doing.
(29:19):
So I don't want to fish actively when they are.
But it's such a big body of water. I could
potentially go out and fish.
Speaker 2 (29:26):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (29:27):
Uh so my opinion, which is worth about two or
three cents worth maybe to everybody here lately, but my
opinion on it is, dude, I wouldn't I love people
being out there watching, like, dude.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
It's so cool, But what about fishing.
Speaker 2 (29:39):
Well, I'm getting to that. I'm trying.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
I'm trying to lay it all out for everybody. I
want to paint the whole picture because here lately, I've
learned that I need to put it all out there
before I say what I'm gonna say. So, dude, like
having people follow you and not even like like I've
fished around here locally and have my friends and family
follow me. That's great, but like random people on random
lakes on some of our LEA tournaments, like they will
(30:01):
literally like they're fans of you. Like they want to
watch you, and when you catch one, dude, them cheering
for you is the coolest thing ever. Like it's just
it's awesome, Like we don't have a crowd out there
when we're actually doing what we're doing.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Like a basketball player, a baseball player.
Speaker 3 (30:14):
So like having that interaction like in person, like them
cheering you on, like or if you lose one, man,
they're real like encouraging, like come on, man, you know,
put your head back down.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
You're good.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
It Like it's just a cool little deal. With that
being said, because you stage wor fishing.
Speaker 3 (30:30):
Yes, it's really awesome, Like I really love that about
the whole sport because they're allowed to be out there.
Like it's just a whole cool deal about fishing in general.
I have had instances where and I'm not I don't
know who it was. It may or may not have
happened to me at Logan Martin this past NPFL tournament,
but I had some guys that were watching me, and
(30:52):
I've had it have in other places, but this is
just the most recent on a couple of little I'm
not gonna call them sneaky places, but not obvious places,
and they were watching me and they kept their distance.
Speaker 2 (31:02):
They were like everything was cool.
Speaker 3 (31:03):
And then I run, I pick up, run to the
next one, and I to get back to where like
later in the day, to get back to where I'm going,
I have to run by this place and they're sitting
on it fishing. And I'm not gonna say they didn't
know it was there. Yes, I'm like, so, which is fine,
Like you're out there trying to learn. But the only
(31:26):
thing I would ask of people is and I never
said anything. I would never like, that's not professionally, It's
not my place to say something to them. I would
just ask for people to be a lot more respectful
during the tournament hours, you know. So what I'm saying
from we got it from seven o'clock to three o'clock. Like, dude,
if you want to watch me catch thirty five pounds
off of place and at three thirty way in starts
(31:46):
you want to ropper and catch you some so be
it like we're.
Speaker 1 (31:49):
In the grand scheme of things. The next weekend.
Speaker 3 (31:51):
Yeah, Like, dude, mark mark every place I'm going, Like
you come out there, You're taking time out of your
day to learn what I've learned, Like that's part of
that's why we're out there to teach people how to
fish better. They learn what stretch of docks are good
or whatever. But and I've just seen it happening over
and over again. And man, I've had a couple instances
where I've had people like very maliciously and intentionally try
(32:12):
to ruin my fishing day and the little ball of
hate comes out because you you kind of and I've
had marshals in my boat when it happens and they're like, dude,
you're gonna say something. I'm like, I don't know if
I really should. And multiple times they have said, dude,
he's trying to ruin your day, like on purpose. I
feel like you really need to say something. I don't
would did not disagree with it at all, and then
(32:34):
you kind of take it from there. And dude, I've
we've almost had instances where we've had to call the
tournament directors and get law enforcement involved because it's gotten
so bad. Oh sure like it harassment, Yeah, you can't
do this stuff like you know you got and not
even like talking about like the bank stuff, like the
docks situation, like the private property that I'm not even
talking about that I'm talking about people on the water
(32:55):
that go out there and do like go mess people
up on purpose.
Speaker 1 (32:59):
I pulled up on a huh, this is on Lake Lanier,
this is three years ago, and I'm fishing a hump.
And this hump is no bigger than fifty feet by
one hundred. I mean it's small, but there was a
good concentration to fish our on top of it. Literally,
I'm fishing lines in the water, the whole deal. And
I had this guy come by in a center console
(33:19):
with you know. But he comes by and he's got
you know, his wife in the boat, and he's got
his two kids, and literally he goes right on top
of where my line is and grat like fumbles a
rod and basically throws it out right. And I just
gave him the look of like what are you doing?
(33:39):
Like can't you see my lines in the Literally so
I didn't say a word, but he knew that he
did something wrong because he goes what ye lake, And
I said, dude, I can appreciate that you're allowed to
fish it, but there's a respect level of like you
don't come in on somebody who's actively fishing. If I
was just sitting here, then I wasn't doing right by
(34:01):
kind of claiming my ground for that minute, and then
as soon as the troller motor comes up, dude, have
at it. You want to. This guy ends up doing
circles around me.
Speaker 2 (34:09):
Imagine that.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
And I went, you're making this worse for yourself. And
of course everybody has a phone now, you know, so
you can record everything. So I'm a big fan of
the respect side, which is I'm not going to tell
you that in the middle of a tournament you can't
go out because let's look at the elites. The elites
are one hundred and four, one hundred and five guys.
That's small in comparison to some of the tournaments that
(34:32):
happen on lakes. Oh god, it will befl It's two
hundred and fifty boats, right, So why would we give
more respect to the elites who have one hundred and
five boats compared to a lake that's getting two hundred
and fifty boats. That's way more packed than anything else.
But the respect is everything. If I see somebody's fishing,
(34:55):
I'm not going to cut in front of them. I'm
not going to pull up on them. I'm not going
to wait for them to leave and then just go
in and try to work that whole, especially if I
saw him catch a bunch of fish. Yeah, that's that's
the work. You're gonna come back to that absolutely. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:09):
So look, dude, here's what I tell people a lot,
and the worst one I've ever just a quick little
rundown at a couple of years ago at across Wisconsin,
I caught one on a little shallow bar and there
was a you know, an eighteen nineteen foot aluminum boat
John Boat, a guy and his son. I caught a
small mouth dude, I boat flip it, I put it
in the lava. I look up and they're coming at
(35:29):
me at one hundred on their trollinger wide open, and
like they don't have power poles and stuff. So do
they get there and it kind of like washes up
on it and they literally beached their boat on top
of the bar like a dude I could throw I
could throw my spook halfway cast underhanded and landing their boat.
Speaker 1 (35:45):
And I'm like, you're saying it was a little close.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
It was.
Speaker 2 (35:49):
It was pretty bad. It was pretty bad.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
And man, to be like, I don't know if it
was just I don't know if they didn't like us
being there or but the kid probably I call it.
Speaker 2 (35:59):
A kid twelve to sixteen.
Speaker 3 (36:01):
Dude, I've never been doll cussed so bad in my life,
and I've been cussed pretty bad, and dude, he just
lit into me because I kind of like threw my
hands up and the dad's just sitting there and I'm
just like it kind of shell shocked me a little bit.
But like, that's one of the worst instances I've had.
But what I try and tell people is, like the
few times I've gotten into a conversation with people about it,
I'm like, look, man, Monday morning, I'm just gonna go
(36:22):
ahead and let you know. I'm gonna be at your job.
I'm gonna take your computer when you get to your
desk job, and I'm not gonna let you in. I'm
gonna lock the door. Let me know how good you
can do your job when you get there, let me
know if you're gonna get paid. And they just kind
of sit there and they're like, well, it's not the same.
Speaker 2 (36:37):
I was like, but you're.
Speaker 3 (36:38):
Keeping me from doing my job to feed my family,
to feed my wife, and you know, to put you know,
pay the bills, keep my lights on. Right, So look
at it from that instance, like, dude, if I showed
up and took your microphone away or kept you from
talking in your microphone, could you do the radio show?
Speaker 1 (36:54):
I could do the radio show, but I am fairly
loud without it. Yeah, I'm with.
Speaker 2 (36:58):
You, but you know what I get.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
But that comes down to respect. That's and that's what
it ultimately is. Like you're never going to tell somebody
you can't be No, absolutely no.
Speaker 2 (37:07):
I never get to.
Speaker 1 (37:08):
Shut the water down. But there is a respect level
because if you wouldn't want it to happen to you,
then don't do it to somebody else. It's like the gold, the.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
Gold run like and which I mean speaking of that,
like we've lost a lot of that, like you know,
the whole just that instance in.
Speaker 1 (37:24):
Gene want to start podcast part two and we can
talk all about that. Not yet now that's all run
away from everyday life.
Speaker 2 (37:31):
Yes, absolutely
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