October 25, 2023 • 41 mins
Spencer Graves was joined by Wes Logan and Joseph Webster, two Bassmaster Elites. They talked fishing, hunting and marriage!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It would be inappropriate if we didn't say congratulations to
West Logan.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Congrasp yeah West Logan.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Come on, man?
Speaker 4 (00:09):
What four?
Speaker 5 (00:10):
What?
Speaker 6 (00:10):
Because you just got married?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
I did? I did.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
I just got back from a from a. I guess
it was the wedding and the honeymoon all combined.
Speaker 6 (00:18):
Oh really?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
How long were you out in Utah?
Speaker 4 (00:21):
I want to say eight days we were there? Five days? Like, no,
I'm sorry, my math wrong. Seven days we were out
there and then yeah, you know it all runs together
when you know what you actually got married September twenty fifth.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Okay, yes, I do know that day.
Speaker 6 (00:37):
How many years until he forgets on? Better not forget?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
See, I'm late of easy. I got married in two thousand,
so I know, and in July, so I'm pretty good.
That'sh always around the four.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I tried to keep it.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
We tried to keep it, or I guess I tried
to September twenty fifth when we got engaged. We got
married on September twenty fifth. Surely it's ground in my
brain now that the twenty fifth of September's what I
need to remember.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I just saw a video the other day of a
woman like secretly recording her husband, She's like, is there
anything you want to say to me?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (01:12):
He's like no, and then she goes.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Nothing at all, like a day like today, and he's like,
what is your birthday? Here's a shovel, just keep digging. Yeah, well, congratulations, I.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Appreciate it was a It was a cool experience. It's
a whole different world out there. It's beautiful. Really, it's
really high, I know, and I don't like heights.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
So whose idea was Utah?
Speaker 4 (01:35):
It was kind of a combination of me and her
wanting to go out there because we had been to
the bad Lands when we went to South Dakota last
year fishing, and then we had heard that, you know
that Utah, that Moab area was like ten times you know,
more scenic and all that, and we didn't really feel
like paying for a wedding like the traditional spending twenty
five to thirty grand, and the one venue that she
(01:56):
wanted around here was booked for like three years, and
we finally just got fed up with it, look like,
let's just go get it done.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Wild to say to her when twenty five to thirty
grand came up, you didn't go, well, that's five entry fees.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I didn't say nothing, you know what I mean, But
just just the way our both our situations are, it
was it was better to go do that and then
come back home and have a reception party here in
a little here in a few weeks and that'll be it.
Speaker 6 (02:18):
Oh, that's cool, that's cool. Congratulations.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Yeah, it's gonna be on November fourth. It's the album
My LSU Game, so maybe it'll go okay.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Does it feel different being married compared to just having
a fiance?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Not really, except for this this ring on my finger,
I can't get used to They.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Had a lot of things will change.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I've been told.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
He just better. But remember the early years.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
Remember yep.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
If you're just tuning into lines and times, I'm Spencer Graves.
I'm a radio personality. Wes Logan is a bas elite.
Joseph Webster is a bas elite. But one of the
greatest things is Joseph's been married for a while. The
way that he met his wife, Diaz one of the
coolest stories I think I've ever heard. Wes obviously just
got married. You've been with your girlfriend fiance now wife
(03:04):
for what five years?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Five years? A little over five years. So we got
we got a good start on it. But I'm not
I'm not to Joseph's level yet.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I changed my wife's life a long time ago.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
The story, could you tell the story?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Come, we don't have time for this.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
Well here I'll give you some highlights.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
So, h Joseph's wife, Dia, was.
Speaker 6 (03:28):
A single mom, and.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
DIA's mom was not a fan of Joseph Webster sneaking
around her pretty flipping around.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That's a true story out there now, I can account
for that.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
And as as their time went on, the mom started
to kind of soften a little bit and realize that
Joseph was a good guy. And but I mean it
was cats and dogs that are for me.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Had her fold still does.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, you know we're not no GQ magazine here, and
you know we're all getting a B of our average here,
so absolutely so, you know, so I got her when
she was vulnerable, That's when I got her. So you know,
I still got her food, but I don't know how
long it's gonna last.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And she's okay with you fishing, which I think is
I mean, that's the biggest catch.
Speaker 6 (04:16):
Of them all.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, Yeah, you find a girl that's okay with a
fishing schedule and a fisherman's lifestyle.
Speaker 6 (04:22):
That's that's a pretty good catch.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, absolutely, well, I guess we can trick them to
you know, I you know how that goes. So she
just uh, she's a good and she's good to me.
But you know it's just now I kind of where's
she gonna go? Now?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
How difficult is it fishing when you're in a relationship.
I mean, you guys are on the road quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Oh, it's tough. I feel like, you.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Know, I quit for probably twelve or thirteen years when
these girls of mine was playing ball, and I that
that'll be a person fishing when they have kids and
when they probably get a around the three or four
year age group. That's that's when it gets tough. They
miss you being gone, phone calls coming in. It'll make you. Yeah,
(05:11):
you know, there's some guys right now on elites that
may not come back because of the kids situation.
Speaker 6 (05:17):
You can't falter them for that though, not at all.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
They better not because fishing won't always be here. Your
family and your kids will.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
So what was it like personally for you when you
had to take a step back and focus on family
and all that, but knowing that you really wanted to fish.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
It wasn't a hard decision. I mean, you know, baseball
was one of my things at heart, and the girls
wanted to play some sports, and that's kind of what
I stepped back to, and you know, coached him in
that a little bit and it was good. I don't
regret it one bit. And you know, maybe early in
the years of fishing, I probably wanted it more than
I want it now. But the uh, you know, my
(05:54):
mind's probably better at a better place now than it
was in.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
So I remember when you and I first met and
I met Dia. Deal is like, I'm happy to kind
of support him on his dreams of wanting to fish,
because she really took it as you supporting you know,
her daughter and then ultimately your daughter together, which are both.
Speaker 6 (06:12):
Now your girls.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
And she really kind of looked at that and said, man,
he's he stepped up to the plate for me when
I needed him, so I want to step up to
the plate for him now.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well that's kind of when I had a tricked you know,
It's when she was vulnerable, back in the vulnerable days.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I got her.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I had her fool back then.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
So but this was a So this was a tough
year for you and Dia because you were kind of
fighting for your spot to stay on the elites and
you'd had so much success in fl w did that
kind of weigh hard on you, Like going into that
last tournament not knowing if you were going to be there.
Were you kind of resigning yourself to whatever happens happens.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Well, you know, I think it was bothering her worship.
It was me.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
I know it was blowing me up all your.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I'm kind of you know, I don't say no them
to it, but you know, I've kind of got the
mentality that if it's meant to be, it's gonna happen,
and if it don't, it don't. And you know, it
ain't like that I'm gonna go broke if the fishing
don't work out, And if the fishing works out, we're
gonna keep plugging along.
Speaker 6 (07:15):
Wes.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Now that you're married, your girlfriend fiance now wife has
kind of seen you come up in the fishing world.
How much does this marriage change your goals and aspirations
for how long you want to fish or keep going?
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Uh, it's it's I don't know. I wouldn't say it's
gonna change anything. I'm still gonna work as hard as
I can to you know, be successful to support our family.
But she does have a very good job and she
works her butt off, and I mean I feel like
we kind of have a good deal going just supporting
each other equally. I mean it's not like she's all
in on me and she has nothing and I'm not
all in on her. So I mean we have a
(07:50):
really good balance. And I think that's why we've I
mean we I from a like relationship standpoint, I mean,
I bet we haven't had three arguments in five and
a half years, like, and they have been real serious
because I think we just understand each other. And I
mean I's been a good fit basically, So I think
we're doing pretty good.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
You know.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
And from the fishing standpoint, like she's she was there,
you know when I was at FLW. I think Jojo
was there in eighteen and both years I was there,
and uh, you know it was it's a whole different
ballgame than the elites obviously, but she saw the struggles
at FLW that I went through and then being in
the opens and the struggle with that. I mean she
was there for all. That's just she knows the work
(08:29):
that's been put in, and she I know, and I
hope she knows that I probably wouldn't be.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Here if it wasn't for her.
Speaker 6 (08:35):
So just the support of it.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
Oh absolutely. I mean I when I met her, I
probably wasn't in the best place in my life. So
and I mean she turned all that around. So I
really have her to think for probably sitting in this
room with you.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Honestly, by the last time that we talked, you know,
the open schedule kind of came out. How crazy is
it to know that there are guys that are going
after your jobs and they have to fish nine events.
I mean, that's a full tournament schedule on its own.
How difficult of a life is that?
Speaker 6 (09:02):
Now?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Well, I can tell you. I mean I know boys
that are in it, and they don't have no sponsor
help to most of them don't, and the majority majority
of there's not. I mean, I know they think fishing
is great and wonderful and it is a big part
of my life and Wes's life and all of our lives.
(09:25):
And still they are putting theirselfs in a financial buying.
Whether anybody knows it or not to just try to
make it. And if they don't make it, you know,
you've either got to just give it up right then,
or then you're kind of sold. You sold to the devil.
I'm gonna try it one more year. And you know,
(09:46):
over the years, man, I have seen families get destroyed
because of fishing. I mean because a lot of times
when you get down, it's just hard to get back.
And you know, if you don't have you know, some
sponsor help, some financial backing, it's a hard road to overcome.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
I think it's interesting because we were having a short
conversation in here right before we started recording the podcast,
and you guys were talking about you both got camper
shells for your trucks, and last year you said you
spend what around nine thousand dollars just on hotels to
be a bas elite.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's that's that's just on hotels. That's nothing else.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
So at that point when you get a camper shell, like,
is there room enough for your your wives to come
up and join you guys in there on tournaments or.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Well, way I see it is if I can get
her hemmed up in there, you know she can't get
away and I've got her right where I want her now.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
So you know, So that's so she might be spending
nine grand on the hotel.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
She might like, Hey, i'll come, but I almost that hotel,
so it's it's, uh, yeah, they're nice. I mean they're
they're not not staying in a hotel by no means.
But you know, most of the time mine, if she comes,
it's just for a couple of days. And maybe on
the Northern Swing you'll stay for a week. But I'm
good on my end. I don't know about Wes. He's
(11:06):
a newly wed, so.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Hey, hey, I'm gonna be honest. It was her idea.
The truck camper was one hundred percent her idea because
and I like the way she thinks and the way
she looks at it is it'll be more familiar, like
every time we go somewhere. Once we get it packed
for the bending of the year, all our stuff will
be in there when we come in, when I come
in from practice, it'll be my bed and my dirt,
my nastiness that I'm coming into, not some random Yeah,
(11:29):
I don't care that they're dirt if it's just me.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
But like you go into these hotels and stuff. Man,
you don't know that.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
And then I don't know you can cook your own
meals and stuff. And just the airbnb's per night in
the past two years have went up like skyrocketed price
and it's unreal.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
And you, I mean, you.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Make a little bit of money if you if you
cut a check at our tournaments, if you stayed at
an Airbnb, but it ain't.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
It's nothing crazy by it looks like.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Y'all have to watch your coin more than probably anybody
I've ever met my life.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
It's I mean, you gotta watch every penny in dime.
And you're like, well, if I go here here to
cost that, but if I do this and go this
like it's it's there's a lot of a lot.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Of numbers going into it.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
Mmmmm mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
All right, Uh, I've already heard Wes's opinion on on
the schedule. There's one that sticks out, Joseph. It's your
home lake, It's Smith Lake, it's in June on the
bass Elites. Is that setting up to be a kind
of free for all tournament where you can catch them
on the bank, you can catch them out deep. It's
gonna be that kind of spot or is it gonna
be a brush pile battle.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Well, I think how it's gonna be. It's gonna be
more of a not just not talking about spotted bast
but a spot. You know, you might pull in fish
two docks, you might fish the end of a bluff wall,
you might fish a pile of brush, you might scope
a little bit. I think it will probably be one
for the books of how tough one's gonna be. Come June.
(12:54):
I mean it's into June. Yeah, into June.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Is it kind of feeling like what the Sabine River
was last year?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
No, I think the Sabine would be better.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Absolutely, really, there's no doubt.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
I mean, because you've got to catch fifteen inches on smith.
It ain't like they're gonna let us weigh in unders
and like that. It's gonna have to be you know,
pounding three quarter fish and you know it's it's it's
not gonna be easy, but uh, you know, I don't know.
I mean, the frustrating part to me is is I
(13:25):
can't be on the late when my brother, I can't
be on the pontoon with friends. Oh that's right, yeah,
it's and I bout made the mistake Saturday morning, I
invited my brother up, let's go fish, let's chase some
scooters around, and I woke up at five o'clock, got
my rule book out in red. Nope, couldn't go. I
finally got a hold of Lisa about in ten thirty
(13:46):
and she said, you can't do it.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
I tell you, Ray that that's something that I kind
of skipped in my mind, is that when it comes
out in the hall, it's off limits.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
And that's your home late you have a cabin on
that way.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And I mean where the world's worst to go pick
up friends on a pontoon and eat on the lake,
And I mean, I can't even do that. I told
them I hope they don't ever come.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Back because you're missing then, I mean I am.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I am tied down right now from now until the
end of June.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
I saw it was when they came to Newly. I
mean I could you couldn't go. I mean, you could
get like we always went crappee fishing in the spring.
You go by yourself. I mean, I ain't no fun.
But I don't know, I don't I don't know what
to do about it.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
And sometimes the home lake is not all that it's
corrected up to me. I mean, you can think about
will Davis Junior one on Late Lake last year.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
That's his home.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Lake lives in Silicagap and I hadn't even thought.
Speaker 6 (14:35):
About that Lee Livesey. I'm what Lake four.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I mean those guys that comes out and they're sitting
there going great. Well, I'll never see any of my
local friends until a year.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
From the Only difference is if you are considered a guide,
you can still take trips.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
So you can be a pro vasilye angler and also
be a guide why the rules were, and you can
be out to my home lake rights for the twenty
eight days.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Yeah, now that in the twenty eight days like the
leading up to the tournament. Yes, you can't be on
the water then, but any like right now, if Joseph
was a guide on Smith he.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Could take all the way to about June the first take.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Whoever, our client's out, all right.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
So when I lived in Georgia, you don't have to
have a guide license in the state of Georgia.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
You don't own Smith Lake either. Only on inavitable waterways
light with booies and stuff like. That's the only place
by law you've got the house.
Speaker 6 (15:28):
So technically anybody could be a guide.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Quote unquote before the schedule comes out.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
I think.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I think in the rules though it does say license
before you have to be a license guide before the
schedule is announced. You can't like like Joseph couldn't go
get his now, Yeah, like I'm a guide or me,
like whoever, cancel the mail.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
You don't.
Speaker 6 (15:47):
You don't want that guide license to show up anytime.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
It just it's just kind of frustrating.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So it's a loophole.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Well it is, but I mean I don't know. I mean,
we had a survey about you know about twenty eight
days you know, getting information or whatever and all that,
and I voted for it for one reason because I
wanted to be able to be on the lake. I
mean just with friends pontooning. It wasn't nothing to do
(16:17):
with the fishing and right. I voted for it just
for that reason. And people don't understand when they put
this rule out and they you can, you know, have
help or whatever for the twenty eight days. I mean
a lot of these college anglish for one, they're getting
help out tail on that, but you know you still
got to catch them. I mean I voted for it
(16:39):
for one reason.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
It was just.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Because if they come to Smith, and they usually do
come to Smith, and I just wanted to be able
to hang out with my gang and I can't do
it now.
Speaker 6 (16:51):
Yeah, that's so interesting that.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I mean, even the off limits is you're not even fishing,
like you're not you don't even have a poll on
the deck.
Speaker 6 (16:59):
You're just out on the water. And they're like, Nope,
I'm not gonna work.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Can't be on the one, I.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Mean, which I guess I appreciate too, because it does
feel like he keeps things relatively square and even the
guide thing to me throws it all off though.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Well, we can fish all tournament and draw out who
you want, too long as you get it to prove
before time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Boy, I'll look. Look, I voted for the same thing
you do. Yeah, And I didn't vote for it to
be able to be on the water. I voted for
it so it would make it as even a playing
field as we could get to, because right now it's
not even close.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
And why is it not close?
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Because you have people getting all that rule is set
there for us, for the honest guy and every one
of them, one hundred and three people we got fishing
right now.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Note that's that's that's true.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
So say out of one hundred and three are being honest, I.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Don't probably twenty five percent.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I would check you could eat. I would check the
tournament results.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Huh. I mean in my eyes is and I mean men.
Lisa had to talk on Saturday about it. I said,
you know, I think that the twenty eight day rule
and just open it up would make it more fair
for everybody, no doubt. But to people that's kind of
on the fence about it and voted know about it,
(18:21):
I think some of them has got it figured out,
that they've got a ali that they've figured out.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
The famous Gray area, the Gray Area.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I was riding with an angler in an event last year,
and you know, I got to kind of see his
thought process on fishing an area. And he was fishing
this one spot that he'd been inconsistently all week through
practice and then all the way through the tournament, and
he automatically saw a boat pull right in, I mean
(18:53):
on plane, locks up about one hundred yards away, throws
the trolling motor down, goes right up, up, hits the
power poles, starts fishing on one spot. Third cast sets
the hook and he turns and he looks at me
and he goes, how'd he know a bed was there?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:12):
And I'm like, I don't know because I'm not in
his mind, Like, and he's like, I've been here every
day for a week. I've never seen his boat in here.
And he pulls up and he finds a bed in
six feet of water. And then I just said, so
what do you think that is? And he goes, I'm
not saying he's getting information, but I'm wondering what's happening
(19:35):
to how he knows that exact spot is right there?
And karma came into play because the guy lost the
fish right the boat and that was shot. That was
shocking to me because I I mean, obviously I'm having
competed in tournaments to the level that you guys have,
But to watch something like that and then you hear
a professional angler go how does he know about that?
Speaker 6 (19:56):
It makes you.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Wonder like there's got to be something where a guy
as you're getting information outside of the rules.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Reckon how the vote went.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
I haven't I know the two or three people I
talked to feel the same way.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Mean you do the two or three people I talked
to voted no on it really and you voted yes.
I did.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
I voted yes.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Or It wasn't a yes or no vote, it was
do you want to do you want to keep it
the same or do you want to make it a
free for all until the twenty eight days and then
our lie detector, you know, be based on the twenty
eight days.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
What happens after a tournament? Like does everybody have to
go through a polygrapher?
Speaker 6 (20:33):
Is it only the person that wins?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
I think it's a draw. The person that wins don't
even have to get polygraphed.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
I didn't I when I won, I didn't get one.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Now that seems a little it's a it's a random
draw on day day one too, But does draw at.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
The end of day one?
Speaker 6 (20:49):
You want an event?
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Does it seem weird that you don't get asked?
Speaker 4 (20:53):
I thought I was going to take one, like I mean,
I've I mean, you've taken polygraphs from Smith. I've taken
plenty of them at Neili Henry and everywhere, like you know,
in team tournaments or something, and good enough to take
I just kind of I was just I mean, not that,
I mean I wasn't worried about it. I was just like, oh, well,
that's just gonna be one of the things, and it
never was. I actually took one at lay Lake this
year on day once because it was me and Ed.
(21:13):
I think they draw like, however, they.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
First guy that weighs in pull it out of a hat.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
How that was two random people on day one, and
then that's the two and they do that every for
all nine events.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Because obviously, you know, cheating, suspected cheating, and fishing has
been a hot button issue. I mean, I don't think
anybody that had a TikTok or social media. What was
the year and a half ago during that walleye tournament
where we saw professional pro that's air quotes walleye fishermen
stuffing walleye with fish filets, and that's I mean that
(21:48):
that's crazy.
Speaker 6 (21:49):
But these guys had.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Won over three hundred thousand dollars in money and boats,
and you know they they got put down. I mean
to the fullest extent of the law. I mean, I
think both of them serve jail time if I'm not mistaken.
But when we see level of cheating like that, I
think it opened up a lot of people's eyes. I mean,
there were tournaments where I thought, on the local level,
(22:11):
I'm not gonna go fish that Wednesday night or or
that Saturday jackpot because it just seems too unregulated.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
You know, a guy could have a bass box, and
you hear all.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
The stories about what people have done before to kind
of cheat in tournaments and how they've gotten caught. I mean,
there was one guy in the story that I heard
where he convinced a homeowner who had a pondtoon had
a dock. He said, hey, let me bring my pontoon
up and just let it sit on your dock. And
the home owner was like, oh, yeah, sure, no problem,
didn't think anything of it. The guy went over and fished. Well,
(22:43):
little did his co in the back know that he
built this box in the back of the pontoon boat.
So he would just flip a jig or something like
that in there. It would just sit and he'd have
it loaded full of fish. He'd throw him in the
back and then he'd take off and he go. Finally,
during a lie detector that co had to provide a
(23:03):
lot of detector and they said, did you see anything suspicious?
And he said no, But somehow it made him think
there was and they followed the angler the next day
and went back to the same exact spot. They watched
how it did it. As soon as he left, they
inspected the pontoon boat and they were like, that's what
he was doing.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Was that the flw days.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
I can't I can't remember what tournament it was. I mean,
this is a story that somebody told.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Me he'd won nearly a million.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah, it was a bunch of money, but that they
did catch him though.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, but you guys are also, I mean, this is
what you do for a living. You know, Like if
I go out for a tournament, I'm doing it because
I got a couple hundred bucks that I that I
think I might be able to win back. But we
all know in tournament fishing, if you want to make
a million dollars, you better have two million if you
want to make.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
You know, there's thieves and everything, And I mean, you
talk about cutting a check, a ten thousand dollars check
when somebody's at a low in their life, it can
have and a lot of times, I think in the
professional level, kind of agree gets into you and some
of these guys get a little success and it makes
(24:10):
it worse.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
You know, earlier in the podcast, we were talking about
sponsorship when we brought up the opens and how there's
nine opens and a lot of these younger anglers and
the majority of them that are going for the opens,
they don't have sponsorship dollars. I sent Wes a video
yesterday because we were having a conversation earlier in the week.
Even in NASCAR when it comes to sponsorship, those teams
(24:33):
don't really have full.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
Sponsorships for the entire year.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
They're having to peel the paint and peel the wraps
off their vehicles and slap other sponsors on there, or
they have dual competing head sponsorships. So sponsorships at every
level are getting tight.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Yeah, I never realized they like the like you could
have two title deals pretty much like it would be
like us fishing five tournaments with so and so and
then five tournaments or four turns with snow and so like,
and they've split it up as I was pretty interesting.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Even when I worked in NASCAR, you know, back in
the early two thousands, you know, I was part of
Sony Racing, which was the secondary sponsor of all tail racing.
The driver was Ryan Newman the number twelve car and
Sony Racing was given. I think at the time two
races under their color scheme and their logo package. The
(25:22):
rest were all tell So everybody knew Ryan Newman. He
drives the Alltel car, but for two races it was
Sony Racing. And I mean with Sony Racing, we made.
Speaker 6 (25:31):
A big deal about it. I mean when it was.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Our car, we were all there. It was a big deal.
But we were still on site when he was running
under All Tel because we'd have this little badge on
the backfender that said Sony Racing. I looked at the
cars at Talladega, at the most recent race.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
That they had there.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Car logos and sponsorships are completely different. It's starting to
look more like a bass boat than anything else. I
mean we've all seen it. You look at somebody's boat.
You got some guys that have like five sponsors. You
got other guys that got fifty, and I mean every
available piece of space is there. It was crazy to watch.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
I wonder in the best elites, how the numbers stack
up of sponsor money from top to bottom.
Speaker 6 (26:23):
And you're talking about like.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Levels, how many who yes, like who gets the or
what would the top angler and the elites get sponsoralized?
And you know, how far down does it go that
people gets at least their interfees paid and you know,
expense money. I just wonder how how many people gets that.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
It'd be interesting to dive into some of the sponsorships
that certain guys have, you know, not even not even
just to it's not to criticize, but it's more just
to kind of learn where do brand and where do
marketing professionals view this entity? Because that's what you guys
are an entity to these companies. They want to know
(27:08):
like if your social platform is getting up, or if
you're really good at doing interviews or you're awesome on stage.
I mean, we've talked about Gerald often. You know, Jerald
is probably the best when it comes to being on
stage right.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
As good as you get.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Yeah, and yeah, he's the mold like you would want
to be.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
Right you want to be.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
But what he actually does is something that I that
I preach to a lot of people is he's.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
Who he is.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Wes Logan needs to be who wes Logan is. Jojo
needs to be who Jojo is. So if you can
maximize who you are and showcase it. That might get
you up with the sponsorship stuff. But then there are
guys that get sponsorships solely because they continue to win.
But it's more about how you can help sell for
(27:54):
a brand than it is how many fishs.
Speaker 6 (27:56):
You put in a boat.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I don't know about that. I think a lot of
it in the industry is is maybe more who you know.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
I was about to say, it's about relationship. Now you
do have to build some and that's I feel like
that's what I was fortunate to do.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
I got in.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
I kind of got my foot in the door when
I got my rookie and this kind of built up
every year. But I worked with some you do too,
some really good companies that I I mean, my companies
are like my family, like we're all very close. And
I have had situations with a few companies that didn't
feel that way and think that way, and I'm I'm
no longer with them. But it's a trying air deal too,
from the sponsorship wise, but I'm I would see I
(28:36):
talked to one of our guys or I have in
the past.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
There's a pie. The fishing industry is a pie.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
That pie has gotten no bigger, and the anglers have
off of it exactly, and so there's only only so
many slices that are going out, and them bigger ones
are staying big, and them smaller ones are getting smaller.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
I mean, it's I.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Mean the amount of times that I get hit up
by just local anglers who are young. They're chasing the dream,
they want to become a professional fisherman. They're like, hey,
what do I need to do to get myself to
a level of a Joseph Webster or a Wes Logan.
I sit there and I go, look, they're looking for
the same sponsorship dollar that you're going for. They've built
(29:15):
their brand, they've built their company up. They know what
it takes. They've got to continue to work for the sponsor,
continue to sell for the sponsor, and they've got to
build those relationships that you guys were talking about. There
are a lot more people that are coming for that pie.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
And I think too, a lot of these younger people
are coming in and saying, you know, we will take
a product deal and you know, and you know they're
liable to throw it on their boat or you know,
give a.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Boat ute boat route for free product.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Free product and then at the end of the day,
you know they're going in a year or two because
they can't afford it. And really that's hurt a guy
that is trying to feed miles, you know, or put
gas in the tank, because it's just a one and
done deal. And you know, a lot of these sponsors
they're looking at if I do fifteen of these guys
(30:12):
that way, you know, I get a little more media
time if I spread my money that way, and then
you know, but it's just it's it's not easy, but is.
Speaker 6 (30:22):
It quality media time?
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Because that's what I would say to somebody, is just
because you have fifteen votes with your product on it,
if they're not there after a year, you're going to
have to try to fill that spot. Yeah, So if
you don't have somebody who's repping your brand talking about
your brand has created enough influence within the community that
people trust and they want to buy with that person selling,
(30:46):
it's not going to help the brand anymore. It's a billboard,
they're gonna see it. But people are always going to
gravitate to the people that they trust.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
You know.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Yeah, it would depend I guess it would depend on
a bit their business strategy from a company standpoint, because
if you got fifteen college dudes running your boat and
truck wrap all over the country fish in the college term.
But yeah, they may not have the following or the
media exposure to me and Jojo do, but they gonna
have to pay me in Jojo something to do it.
They don't have to pay them a dime, So I
guess they would have to weigh it. And I think
(31:15):
some companies think it's a good idea and some.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Of them don't.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
So I guess it's just who's in charge what their
marketing do. But yeah, you would think the media, like
your exposure, would come into play, but sometimes it does.
Sometimes I don't think it does.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Here's something I wanted to discuss because I saw West
post this the other day. How do you carry and
story or tackle? What are some different tricks that you
do that a lot of fishermen might not think about
Because for a while I was a big plastic bad guy.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Like a zip lock.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yeah, so I would take like all the individual packages
and I'd put them all on a zip lock and
that I'd label them green pumpkin.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
Oh you saw my my omnia thing, dude, It is
the smartest thing in the world.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
I can't believe I didn't think about it. Everybody what
you do?
Speaker 4 (32:01):
So I take a a I normally do it with
like a coffee because I like the coffee scent, you
know how the whatever. So I'll take like coffee grounds
from Walmart, like it don't matter, like the cheap ones,
and I'll pour all the coffee ou because I like coffee.
But I put all my chunks in the coffee thing
and I just ride on the top of them. The
color and people have went crazy over that. I'm like, what,
I don't have to keep all those plastic bags in
(32:22):
my boat that blow out?
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Well, you could be like one of mine is you know,
mix scent and power bait. You buy some of them packs,
you go down the road and you think somebody has
took a dump in your back seat and you go
to looking for it and you've got a bunch of
them in there, and you're like, which pack is it?
And that's just like who knows?
Speaker 1 (32:40):
So where do you how do you store those types
of baits, the ones that have the powerful scent.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
I try to keep them in the bags that come
in because I think if you open them up, it
just loses it. I think so, I mean.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
The way that max sel is scent or the scent
is sealed, and I could because I mean, once you
take it out, it's never unless you use it right
then it's never the same.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
So I saw your figure or whatever.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And my buddy David text me like right before we
started doing this podcast, and he goes, hey, I'm running
over to Mark's outdoors.
Speaker 6 (33:09):
What do you need?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Open up in that bag and just set it there
because I ran out of these when I was jigging
on Logan Martin the other day.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Oh god, he got the rock color and everything.
Speaker 6 (33:20):
I knew it. I knew it.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
I said, I said, if you buy these, bring them
over to the studio because West Logan is gonna have
to take a look at what's in that bag.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Well, the thing about it is everybody on the coast
of the ain't but two colors that fire blue and
green pumpkin.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
I mean, so if I say it, what what color
was in the was in the.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
That's what he's got right here.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
I started laughing because you know, I think a lot
of time we talked about confidence and baits and things
like that, and you know, I'm I'm learning how to fish.
So I'm learning what my confidence level is. And I
was out on a tournament the other day. It's just
one of these local charity tournaments and fishing with a
buddy of mine. We had five fish for nine pounds
and felt like we were okay. Winter got sixteen pounds,
(34:02):
and we found this pattern that was working.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Well.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
What it had to do with the jig bite And
like an idiot, I'm not expecting them to bite my
jig right, like they'll bite everybody else. But I don't
expect because I don't fish it a lot. I'm starting
to fish it more now than I'm on the KUSO. Well,
they went through every one of my trailers. I mean
as soon as they hit that chunk, it was done. Well,
I was down to one like I was getting silk,
Like I was having to like turn it a little
(34:25):
bit and work the hook in just so I could
keep it up and like keep it going. And then
all of a sudden, I'm on social media. I see
his posts and I'm like, that's what I need to do.
I need to get a bunch of these and then
put him into those those little containers.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Well, there's the guy that used to make them all
over here? Is it alb what they used to call
himl LC. Yeah, that's the old timey five eighths. Nice
for what they've been for years over here. So Spence,
you got some of them? No, they don't. The West
don't bring you none.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
No, we you still got so.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Though, I gotta get Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
Hey, that was a that was a wild goose chase
this morning. We wouldn't tell you, but I got it though, I.
Speaker 6 (35:09):
Hear the man.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
So when it come when it comes to storage, though,
you know, I've been to your shop, Joseph, and and
your shop is Berkeley, Berkeley, Berkeley, like you have everything
laid out. You're meticulous. You probably border the.
Speaker 6 (35:22):
Line on OCD.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
It's probably it's probably not me, Oh really probably Okay.
You know, when you're controls a lot of things.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Remember, So when you guys are fishing a tournament and
anybody that has a bass boat, you've got your rod lockers,
and then you have your you know, day box and
all that kind of stuff. What do you guys keep
ware that might be a little different than the next guy.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
I don't know. Mine's simple. Everybody looks in my boat says,
can't believe that's oh.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
You carry, So what what makes your simple?
Speaker 2 (35:53):
I just don't carry a lot.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I may not kind of, So you're not the type
of guy that thinks like, well, maybe I'll just try
to trick him with something else.
Speaker 6 (36:00):
You go with what you think they're biting that week,
and that's it.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yep, we're gonna send it.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
That's that's I do the same thing.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
I'm not a big like trialing aer especially now if
like I'm just going fishing, I might like around the
house from just to try something different, but in practice
for an elite term, no, it's it's what I've called
a bass on.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
But my friends like I've got buddies in mind, the
fishies local tournaments and they're running with every better tackle
they've ever bought in their entire life.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
We have guys like I cleaned my boat out, especially
after practice, down to just what I think I'm gonna do.
I don't want my mind to play chicks on me,
because listen to horns can go off in a hurry anyway,
so I try to limit that.
Speaker 6 (36:38):
That's wild.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Yeah, absolutely, I need bought all all right?
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Where do you guys keep your heavy terminal tackle, like
your weights and all that kind of stuff. You keep
that in the back to help load down the back
of the boat, or are you up front because it's
easy to grab when you've got the coffin open.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
I keep mine up front. I don't care a lot
of it.
Speaker 4 (36:57):
Mine's in the mine's in the front. But I I
don't have a lot of weight in my boat. Like
there's I got one the middle sections, got like ten
boxes in it, and there's a few of those clear
bigger bags.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
In the right hand rod locker. And know is it?
Speaker 1 (37:09):
You guys keep your boats really clean up until uh,
up until the tournament, because I know the tournament you're.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Just kind of going through whatever most of the time.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
Yeah, Because I.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Rode into pros boat the other day that a buddy
of mine bought, and that thing was beat to hell.
Speaker 6 (37:22):
I destroyed, dirty, dirty dirty.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
I was like, I felt bad sitting in that boat
because I'm like, I don't know how any baking fish
out of this.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
That's one of the main reasons I like to keep
mine for like, if a marshall gets in my boat,
I don't want them going someay saying, and his boat
was a rig man.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
So the boat that got bought, did the owners see
it beforehand. Uh No, maybe I need to sell mine
that way. I need a guy like that to call
me want mine.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
I started Uh, I started laughing because you know, you
were talking about how you didn't want a marshall to see,
you know, and talk bad about your boat and all
that kind of stuff. One of the best tournaments that
I was riding in last year as an elite, that
angler was so proud to tell me what they were biting.
He opened up his live well and I swear to god,
(38:12):
there were twenty dead shad and he's like, they've been
in here since Monday and this was Saturday. Gosh mind,
And I'm like, how do you do it? Like me,
I'd be like, I can't. I couldn't do it. I'd
have to clean it out that day. But I've also
never had that much bait in my live well because
I don't put any fish.
Speaker 6 (38:29):
In a live well.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
So reckon what that would smell like? Can you shop
after a few days?
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Like I don't understand, like brutal.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
You wouldn't forget it when you throwed the lid open.
Speaker 4 (38:38):
No, you would barely smell it when you open the door.
Where where's it coming from? And then when you opened
the livl it'd be a big game.
Speaker 6 (38:44):
I mean I was.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
I was sitting in the boat. I wasn't even close
to the live. Well, I think I was up front
because he was moving around doing stuff. He opened up
the lid and I could smell it. We were out
on the water. I mean, that's how punging it on was.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
No.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
The marketing side of hunting and fishing is is wild.
Like all three of us like to hunt. You know,
Wes has been up at a farm in Tennessee that
he's got a lease on this year, and fortunately I
can't hunt until December because I'm not going to pay
an out of state tag in Alabama.
Speaker 6 (39:13):
And I waited on getting my license. That's a whole
nother story.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
You know, it's not illegal if you don't get caught.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
That's uh.
Speaker 6 (39:22):
That's Joseph Webster. He lives on the.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Other side of the state.
Speaker 6 (39:27):
Yeah, you guys want to check him out. But you know,
it's so funny.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Is I got my license?
Speaker 6 (39:31):
You're a good man?
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Yeah, you're good.
Speaker 6 (39:34):
Well, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Is I went over to Joseph's house one day and
this is last season. We were talking about doing some
hunting and uh. And I walk out of his front
door west and I kid you not, he had some
absolute slammers fifteen yards away from where his boat is parked.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
And he feeds him and I said, man, why don't
we just get the bows out and we'll just right here.
He goes, now, those are pets, pets.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Well, then we're not really my pets. Them are number
But yeah, she's got out where she even tries to
talk to him now, and I'm like, that's not good.
Speaker 5 (40:05):
Nah.
Speaker 6 (40:06):
See, this is what you have to look forward to.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
This is this is the you know, guy that's been
married for a while, your wife is going to get
to a point where she's trying to talk to deer.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Does does deal like to hunt?
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Well, well, I've got a story behind that.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
She got one last year he did.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
So that story was we went and sat in the
shooting house. It was on my birthdays. Come on, let's go.
It was a big shooting house. Was sitting there and
we're looking down there and there walks out three all
of them probably seventeen inches wide. And I'm like, she's like, boy,
they're goode Oh yeah, yeah, I said, want you shoot
one of them? Well, I might. I'm like, look, if
you're I mean, I only had my gun, and I said,
(40:42):
if you're gonna hunt and you're going to kill one,
you know you're gonna want your picture made with it.
So you've got to have hunt license before you kill
this deer if that's what you're going to do. So
she said, well, I'll think about it and we'll let
in a minute. I looked over and bore she was on.
Speaker 5 (40:56):
The phone and that stupid little did they know she's
pretty quick on the phone.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yea dead dear so. But anyway, but.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
My phone starts going off, Oh yeah, and it's a
picture of her beaming.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
That's good.
Speaker 6 (41:15):
I mean brow time to brow time.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
She's just yeah, she's good.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
And she's like, I think we're gonna put this up
on social media. I was like, that's a that's a
hanger right there. That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
So well, that's pretty good. But you know them around
the hoiuse though, that's just kind of off limits. So
Leevie'd be probably the only one to shoot one of them.
But you know, Wes, when you get married, women control
a lot of things and a lot of angles, so
you just keep that in mind.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I will I will. Don't worry. Don't worry. I've done,
but I figured it out any.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Well, if you hadn't, they'll let you know.
Speaker 6 (41:49):
Too good, too good.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
This has been lines and times. I'm Spencer Graves, that's
West Logan, that's Joseph Webster.
It would be inappropriate if we didn't say congratulations to
West Logan.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Congrasp yeah West Logan.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Come on, man?
Speaker 4 (00:09):
What four?
Speaker 5 (00:10):
What?
Speaker 6 (00:10):
Because you just got married?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
I did? I did.
Speaker 4 (00:13):
I just got back from a from a. I guess
it was the wedding and the honeymoon all combined.
Speaker 6 (00:18):
Oh really?
Speaker 3 (00:18):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (00:19):
How long were you out in Utah?
Speaker 4 (00:21):
I want to say eight days we were there? Five days? Like, no,
I'm sorry, my math wrong. Seven days we were out
there and then yeah, you know it all runs together
when you know what you actually got married September twenty fifth.
Speaker 3 (00:35):
Okay, yes, I do know that day.
Speaker 6 (00:37):
How many years until he forgets on? Better not forget?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
See, I'm late of easy. I got married in two thousand,
so I know, and in July, so I'm pretty good.
That'sh always around the four.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
I tried to keep it.
Speaker 4 (00:53):
We tried to keep it, or I guess I tried
to September twenty fifth when we got engaged. We got
married on September twenty fifth. Surely it's ground in my
brain now that the twenty fifth of September's what I
need to remember.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
I just saw a video the other day of a
woman like secretly recording her husband, She's like, is there
anything you want to say to me?
Speaker 3 (01:12):
Oh?
Speaker 6 (01:12):
He's like no, and then she goes.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Nothing at all, like a day like today, and he's like,
what is your birthday? Here's a shovel, just keep digging. Yeah, well, congratulations, I.
Speaker 4 (01:25):
Appreciate it was a It was a cool experience. It's
a whole different world out there. It's beautiful. Really, it's
really high, I know, and I don't like heights.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
So whose idea was Utah?
Speaker 4 (01:35):
It was kind of a combination of me and her
wanting to go out there because we had been to
the bad Lands when we went to South Dakota last
year fishing, and then we had heard that, you know
that Utah, that Moab area was like ten times you know,
more scenic and all that, and we didn't really feel
like paying for a wedding like the traditional spending twenty
five to thirty grand, and the one venue that she
(01:56):
wanted around here was booked for like three years, and
we finally just got fed up with it, look like,
let's just go get it done.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
Wild to say to her when twenty five to thirty
grand came up, you didn't go, well, that's five entry fees.
Speaker 4 (02:07):
I didn't say nothing, you know what I mean, But
just just the way our both our situations are, it
was it was better to go do that and then
come back home and have a reception party here in
a little here in a few weeks and that'll be it.
Speaker 6 (02:18):
Oh, that's cool, that's cool. Congratulations.
Speaker 4 (02:20):
Yeah, it's gonna be on November fourth. It's the album
My LSU Game, so maybe it'll go okay.
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Does it feel different being married compared to just having
a fiance?
Speaker 4 (02:29):
Not really, except for this this ring on my finger,
I can't get used to They.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
Had a lot of things will change.
Speaker 3 (02:35):
I've been told.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
He just better. But remember the early years.
Speaker 6 (02:40):
Remember yep.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
If you're just tuning into lines and times, I'm Spencer Graves.
I'm a radio personality. Wes Logan is a bas elite.
Joseph Webster is a bas elite. But one of the
greatest things is Joseph's been married for a while. The
way that he met his wife, Diaz one of the
coolest stories I think I've ever heard. Wes obviously just
got married. You've been with your girlfriend fiance now wife
(03:04):
for what five years?
Speaker 3 (03:05):
Yeah?
Speaker 4 (03:05):
Five years? A little over five years. So we got
we got a good start on it. But I'm not
I'm not to Joseph's level yet.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
I changed my wife's life a long time ago.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
The story, could you tell the story?
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Come, we don't have time for this.
Speaker 6 (03:23):
Well here I'll give you some highlights.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
So, h Joseph's wife, Dia, was.
Speaker 6 (03:28):
A single mom, and.
Speaker 1 (03:32):
DIA's mom was not a fan of Joseph Webster sneaking
around her pretty flipping around.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
That's a true story out there now, I can account
for that.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
And as as their time went on, the mom started
to kind of soften a little bit and realize that
Joseph was a good guy. And but I mean it
was cats and dogs that are for me.
Speaker 3 (03:52):
Had her fold still does.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Well, you know we're not no GQ magazine here, and
you know we're all getting a B of our average here,
so absolutely so, you know, so I got her when
she was vulnerable, That's when I got her. So you know,
I still got her food, but I don't know how
long it's gonna last.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
And she's okay with you fishing, which I think is
I mean, that's the biggest catch.
Speaker 6 (04:16):
Of them all.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, Yeah, you find a girl that's okay with a
fishing schedule and a fisherman's lifestyle.
Speaker 6 (04:22):
That's that's a pretty good catch.
Speaker 2 (04:23):
Yeah, absolutely, well, I guess we can trick them to
you know, I you know how that goes. So she
just uh, she's a good and she's good to me.
But you know it's just now I kind of where's
she gonna go? Now?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
How difficult is it fishing when you're in a relationship.
I mean, you guys are on the road quite a bit.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Oh, it's tough. I feel like, you.
Speaker 2 (04:47):
Know, I quit for probably twelve or thirteen years when
these girls of mine was playing ball, and I that
that'll be a person fishing when they have kids and
when they probably get a around the three or four
year age group. That's that's when it gets tough. They
miss you being gone, phone calls coming in. It'll make you. Yeah,
(05:11):
you know, there's some guys right now on elites that
may not come back because of the kids situation.
Speaker 6 (05:17):
You can't falter them for that though, not at all.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
They better not because fishing won't always be here. Your
family and your kids will.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
So what was it like personally for you when you
had to take a step back and focus on family
and all that, but knowing that you really wanted to fish.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
It wasn't a hard decision. I mean, you know, baseball
was one of my things at heart, and the girls
wanted to play some sports, and that's kind of what
I stepped back to, and you know, coached him in
that a little bit and it was good. I don't
regret it one bit. And you know, maybe early in
the years of fishing, I probably wanted it more than
I want it now. But the uh, you know, my
(05:54):
mind's probably better at a better place now than it
was in.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
So I remember when you and I first met and
I met Dia. Deal is like, I'm happy to kind
of support him on his dreams of wanting to fish,
because she really took it as you supporting you know,
her daughter and then ultimately your daughter together, which are both.
Speaker 6 (06:12):
Now your girls.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
And she really kind of looked at that and said, man,
he's he stepped up to the plate for me when
I needed him, so I want to step up to
the plate for him now.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Well that's kind of when I had a tricked you know,
It's when she was vulnerable, back in the vulnerable days.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
I got her.
Speaker 2 (06:30):
I had her fool back then.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
So but this was a So this was a tough
year for you and Dia because you were kind of
fighting for your spot to stay on the elites and
you'd had so much success in fl w did that
kind of weigh hard on you, Like going into that
last tournament not knowing if you were going to be there.
Were you kind of resigning yourself to whatever happens happens.
Speaker 2 (06:51):
Well, you know, I think it was bothering her worship.
It was me.
Speaker 6 (06:54):
I know it was blowing me up all your.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
I'm kind of you know, I don't say no them
to it, but you know, I've kind of got the
mentality that if it's meant to be, it's gonna happen,
and if it don't, it don't. And you know, it
ain't like that I'm gonna go broke if the fishing
don't work out, And if the fishing works out, we're
gonna keep plugging along.
Speaker 6 (07:15):
Wes.
Speaker 1 (07:15):
Now that you're married, your girlfriend fiance now wife has
kind of seen you come up in the fishing world.
How much does this marriage change your goals and aspirations
for how long you want to fish or keep going?
Speaker 4 (07:29):
Uh, it's it's I don't know. I wouldn't say it's
gonna change anything. I'm still gonna work as hard as
I can to you know, be successful to support our family.
But she does have a very good job and she
works her butt off, and I mean I feel like
we kind of have a good deal going just supporting
each other equally. I mean it's not like she's all
in on me and she has nothing and I'm not
all in on her. So I mean we have a
(07:50):
really good balance. And I think that's why we've I
mean we I from a like relationship standpoint, I mean,
I bet we haven't had three arguments in five and
a half years, like, and they have been real serious
because I think we just understand each other. And I
mean I's been a good fit basically, So I think
we're doing pretty good.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
You know.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
And from the fishing standpoint, like she's she was there,
you know when I was at FLW. I think Jojo
was there in eighteen and both years I was there,
and uh, you know it was it's a whole different
ballgame than the elites obviously, but she saw the struggles
at FLW that I went through and then being in
the opens and the struggle with that. I mean she
was there for all. That's just she knows the work
(08:29):
that's been put in, and she I know, and I
hope she knows that I probably wouldn't be.
Speaker 3 (08:34):
Here if it wasn't for her.
Speaker 6 (08:35):
So just the support of it.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
Oh absolutely. I mean I when I met her, I
probably wasn't in the best place in my life. So
and I mean she turned all that around. So I
really have her to think for probably sitting in this
room with you.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
Honestly, by the last time that we talked, you know,
the open schedule kind of came out. How crazy is
it to know that there are guys that are going
after your jobs and they have to fish nine events.
I mean, that's a full tournament schedule on its own.
How difficult of a life is that?
Speaker 6 (09:02):
Now?
Speaker 2 (09:04):
Well, I can tell you. I mean I know boys
that are in it, and they don't have no sponsor
help to most of them don't, and the majority majority
of there's not. I mean, I know they think fishing
is great and wonderful and it is a big part
of my life and Wes's life and all of our lives.
(09:25):
And still they are putting theirselfs in a financial buying.
Whether anybody knows it or not to just try to
make it. And if they don't make it, you know,
you've either got to just give it up right then,
or then you're kind of sold. You sold to the devil.
I'm gonna try it one more year. And you know,
(09:46):
over the years, man, I have seen families get destroyed
because of fishing. I mean because a lot of times
when you get down, it's just hard to get back.
And you know, if you don't have you know, some
sponsor help, some financial backing, it's a hard road to overcome.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
I think it's interesting because we were having a short
conversation in here right before we started recording the podcast,
and you guys were talking about you both got camper
shells for your trucks, and last year you said you
spend what around nine thousand dollars just on hotels to
be a bas elite.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
That's that's that's just on hotels. That's nothing else.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
So at that point when you get a camper shell, like,
is there room enough for your your wives to come
up and join you guys in there on tournaments or.
Speaker 2 (10:31):
Well, way I see it is if I can get
her hemmed up in there, you know she can't get
away and I've got her right where I want her now.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
So you know, So that's so she might be spending
nine grand on the hotel.
Speaker 2 (10:44):
She might like, Hey, i'll come, but I almost that hotel,
so it's it's, uh, yeah, they're nice. I mean they're
they're not not staying in a hotel by no means.
But you know, most of the time mine, if she comes,
it's just for a couple of days. And maybe on
the Northern Swing you'll stay for a week. But I'm
good on my end. I don't know about Wes. He's
(11:06):
a newly wed, so.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
Hey, hey, I'm gonna be honest. It was her idea.
The truck camper was one hundred percent her idea because
and I like the way she thinks and the way
she looks at it is it'll be more familiar, like
every time we go somewhere. Once we get it packed
for the bending of the year, all our stuff will
be in there when we come in, when I come
in from practice, it'll be my bed and my dirt,
my nastiness that I'm coming into, not some random Yeah,
(11:29):
I don't care that they're dirt if it's just me.
Speaker 3 (11:31):
But like you go into these hotels and stuff. Man,
you don't know that.
Speaker 4 (11:33):
And then I don't know you can cook your own
meals and stuff. And just the airbnb's per night in
the past two years have went up like skyrocketed price
and it's unreal.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
And you, I mean, you.
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Make a little bit of money if you if you
cut a check at our tournaments, if you stayed at
an Airbnb, but it ain't.
Speaker 3 (11:49):
It's nothing crazy by it looks like.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Y'all have to watch your coin more than probably anybody
I've ever met my life.
Speaker 4 (11:56):
It's I mean, you gotta watch every penny in dime.
And you're like, well, if I go here here to
cost that, but if I do this and go this
like it's it's there's a lot of a lot.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
Of numbers going into it.
Speaker 6 (12:05):
Mmmmm mm hmmm.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
All right, Uh, I've already heard Wes's opinion on on
the schedule. There's one that sticks out, Joseph. It's your
home lake, It's Smith Lake, it's in June on the
bass Elites. Is that setting up to be a kind
of free for all tournament where you can catch them
on the bank, you can catch them out deep. It's
gonna be that kind of spot or is it gonna
be a brush pile battle.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Well, I think how it's gonna be. It's gonna be
more of a not just not talking about spotted bast
but a spot. You know, you might pull in fish
two docks, you might fish the end of a bluff wall,
you might fish a pile of brush, you might scope
a little bit. I think it will probably be one
for the books of how tough one's gonna be. Come June.
(12:54):
I mean it's into June. Yeah, into June.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Is it kind of feeling like what the Sabine River
was last year?
Speaker 2 (13:01):
No, I think the Sabine would be better.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Absolutely, really, there's no doubt.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
I mean, because you've got to catch fifteen inches on smith.
It ain't like they're gonna let us weigh in unders
and like that. It's gonna have to be you know,
pounding three quarter fish and you know it's it's it's
not gonna be easy, but uh, you know, I don't know.
I mean, the frustrating part to me is is I
(13:25):
can't be on the late when my brother, I can't
be on the pontoon with friends. Oh that's right, yeah,
it's and I bout made the mistake Saturday morning, I
invited my brother up, let's go fish, let's chase some
scooters around, and I woke up at five o'clock, got
my rule book out in red. Nope, couldn't go. I
finally got a hold of Lisa about in ten thirty
(13:46):
and she said, you can't do it.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
I tell you, Ray that that's something that I kind
of skipped in my mind, is that when it comes
out in the hall, it's off limits.
Speaker 6 (13:56):
And that's your home late you have a cabin on
that way.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And I mean where the world's worst to go pick
up friends on a pontoon and eat on the lake,
And I mean, I can't even do that. I told
them I hope they don't ever come.
Speaker 1 (14:07):
Back because you're missing then, I mean I am.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
I am tied down right now from now until the
end of June.
Speaker 4 (14:14):
I saw it was when they came to Newly. I
mean I could you couldn't go. I mean, you could
get like we always went crappee fishing in the spring.
You go by yourself. I mean, I ain't no fun.
But I don't know, I don't I don't know what
to do about it.
Speaker 1 (14:26):
And sometimes the home lake is not all that it's
corrected up to me. I mean, you can think about
will Davis Junior one on Late Lake last year.
Speaker 6 (14:32):
That's his home.
Speaker 1 (14:32):
Lake lives in Silicagap and I hadn't even thought.
Speaker 6 (14:35):
About that Lee Livesey. I'm what Lake four.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
I mean those guys that comes out and they're sitting
there going great. Well, I'll never see any of my
local friends until a year.
Speaker 4 (14:45):
From the Only difference is if you are considered a guide,
you can still take trips.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
So you can be a pro vasilye angler and also
be a guide why the rules were, and you can
be out to my home lake rights for the twenty
eight days.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Yeah, now that in the twenty eight days like the
leading up to the tournament. Yes, you can't be on
the water then, but any like right now, if Joseph
was a guide on Smith he.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
Could take all the way to about June the first take.
Speaker 3 (15:13):
Whoever, our client's out, all right.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
So when I lived in Georgia, you don't have to
have a guide license in the state of Georgia.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
You don't own Smith Lake either. Only on inavitable waterways
light with booies and stuff like. That's the only place
by law you've got the house.
Speaker 6 (15:28):
So technically anybody could be a guide.
Speaker 2 (15:31):
Quote unquote before the schedule comes out.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
I think.
Speaker 4 (15:33):
I think in the rules though it does say license
before you have to be a license guide before the
schedule is announced. You can't like like Joseph couldn't go
get his now, Yeah, like I'm a guide or me,
like whoever, cancel the mail.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
You don't.
Speaker 6 (15:47):
You don't want that guide license to show up anytime.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
It just it's just kind of frustrating.
Speaker 1 (15:56):
So it's a loophole.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Well it is, but I mean I don't know. I mean,
we had a survey about you know about twenty eight
days you know, getting information or whatever and all that,
and I voted for it for one reason because I
wanted to be able to be on the lake. I
mean just with friends pontooning. It wasn't nothing to do
(16:17):
with the fishing and right. I voted for it just
for that reason. And people don't understand when they put
this rule out and they you can, you know, have
help or whatever for the twenty eight days. I mean
a lot of these college anglish for one, they're getting
help out tail on that, but you know you still
got to catch them. I mean I voted for it
(16:39):
for one reason.
Speaker 5 (16:40):
It was just.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
Because if they come to Smith, and they usually do
come to Smith, and I just wanted to be able
to hang out with my gang and I can't do
it now.
Speaker 6 (16:51):
Yeah, that's so interesting that.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
I mean, even the off limits is you're not even fishing,
like you're not you don't even have a poll on
the deck.
Speaker 6 (16:59):
You're just out on the water. And they're like, Nope,
I'm not gonna work.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
Can't be on the one, I.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
Mean, which I guess I appreciate too, because it does
feel like he keeps things relatively square and even the
guide thing to me throws it all off though.
Speaker 2 (17:12):
Well, we can fish all tournament and draw out who
you want, too long as you get it to prove
before time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (17:23):
Boy, I'll look. Look, I voted for the same thing
you do. Yeah, And I didn't vote for it to
be able to be on the water. I voted for
it so it would make it as even a playing
field as we could get to, because right now it's
not even close.
Speaker 6 (17:36):
And why is it not close?
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Because you have people getting all that rule is set
there for us, for the honest guy and every one
of them, one hundred and three people we got fishing
right now.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
Note that's that's that's true.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
So say out of one hundred and three are being honest, I.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Don't probably twenty five percent.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
I would check you could eat. I would check the
tournament results.
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Huh. I mean in my eyes is and I mean men.
Lisa had to talk on Saturday about it. I said,
you know, I think that the twenty eight day rule
and just open it up would make it more fair
for everybody, no doubt. But to people that's kind of
on the fence about it and voted know about it,
(18:21):
I think some of them has got it figured out,
that they've got a ali that they've figured out.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
The famous Gray area, the Gray Area.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I was riding with an angler in an event last year,
and you know, I got to kind of see his
thought process on fishing an area. And he was fishing
this one spot that he'd been inconsistently all week through
practice and then all the way through the tournament, and
he automatically saw a boat pull right in, I mean
(18:53):
on plane, locks up about one hundred yards away, throws
the trolling motor down, goes right up, up, hits the
power poles, starts fishing on one spot. Third cast sets
the hook and he turns and he looks at me
and he goes, how'd he know a bed was there?
Speaker 3 (19:10):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (19:12):
And I'm like, I don't know because I'm not in
his mind, Like, and he's like, I've been here every
day for a week. I've never seen his boat in here.
And he pulls up and he finds a bed in
six feet of water. And then I just said, so
what do you think that is? And he goes, I'm
not saying he's getting information, but I'm wondering what's happening
(19:35):
to how he knows that exact spot is right there?
And karma came into play because the guy lost the
fish right the boat and that was shot. That was
shocking to me because I I mean, obviously I'm having
competed in tournaments to the level that you guys have,
But to watch something like that and then you hear
a professional angler go how does he know about that?
Speaker 6 (19:56):
It makes you.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Wonder like there's got to be something where a guy
as you're getting information outside of the rules.
Speaker 2 (20:03):
Reckon how the vote went.
Speaker 4 (20:05):
I haven't I know the two or three people I
talked to feel the same way.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Mean you do the two or three people I talked
to voted no on it really and you voted yes.
I did.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
I voted yes.
Speaker 4 (20:16):
Or It wasn't a yes or no vote, it was
do you want to do you want to keep it
the same or do you want to make it a
free for all until the twenty eight days and then
our lie detector, you know, be based on the twenty
eight days.
Speaker 1 (20:28):
What happens after a tournament? Like does everybody have to
go through a polygrapher?
Speaker 6 (20:33):
Is it only the person that wins?
Speaker 2 (20:34):
I think it's a draw. The person that wins don't
even have to get polygraphed.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
I didn't I when I won, I didn't get one.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Now that seems a little it's a it's a random
draw on day day one too, But does draw at.
Speaker 2 (20:47):
The end of day one?
Speaker 6 (20:49):
You want an event?
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Does it seem weird that you don't get asked?
Speaker 4 (20:53):
I thought I was going to take one, like I mean,
I've I mean, you've taken polygraphs from Smith. I've taken
plenty of them at Neili Henry and everywhere, like you know,
in team tournaments or something, and good enough to take
I just kind of I was just I mean, not that,
I mean I wasn't worried about it. I was just like, oh, well,
that's just gonna be one of the things, and it
never was. I actually took one at lay Lake this
year on day once because it was me and Ed.
(21:13):
I think they draw like, however, they.
Speaker 2 (21:16):
First guy that weighs in pull it out of a hat.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
How that was two random people on day one, and
then that's the two and they do that every for
all nine events.
Speaker 1 (21:25):
Because obviously, you know, cheating, suspected cheating, and fishing has
been a hot button issue. I mean, I don't think
anybody that had a TikTok or social media. What was
the year and a half ago during that walleye tournament
where we saw professional pro that's air quotes walleye fishermen
stuffing walleye with fish filets, and that's I mean that
(21:48):
that's crazy.
Speaker 6 (21:49):
But these guys had.
Speaker 1 (21:50):
Won over three hundred thousand dollars in money and boats,
and you know they they got put down. I mean
to the fullest extent of the law. I mean, I
think both of them serve jail time if I'm not mistaken.
But when we see level of cheating like that, I
think it opened up a lot of people's eyes. I mean,
there were tournaments where I thought, on the local level,
(22:11):
I'm not gonna go fish that Wednesday night or or
that Saturday jackpot because it just seems too unregulated.
Speaker 6 (22:20):
You know, a guy could have a bass box, and
you hear all.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
The stories about what people have done before to kind
of cheat in tournaments and how they've gotten caught. I mean,
there was one guy in the story that I heard
where he convinced a homeowner who had a pondtoon had
a dock. He said, hey, let me bring my pontoon
up and just let it sit on your dock. And
the home owner was like, oh, yeah, sure, no problem,
didn't think anything of it. The guy went over and fished. Well,
(22:43):
little did his co in the back know that he
built this box in the back of the pontoon boat.
So he would just flip a jig or something like
that in there. It would just sit and he'd have
it loaded full of fish. He'd throw him in the
back and then he'd take off and he go. Finally,
during a lie detector that co had to provide a
(23:03):
lot of detector and they said, did you see anything suspicious?
And he said no, But somehow it made him think
there was and they followed the angler the next day
and went back to the same exact spot. They watched
how it did it. As soon as he left, they
inspected the pontoon boat and they were like, that's what
he was doing.
Speaker 2 (23:21):
Was that the flw days.
Speaker 1 (23:22):
I can't I can't remember what tournament it was. I mean,
this is a story that somebody told.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Me he'd won nearly a million.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah, it was a bunch of money, but that they
did catch him though.
Speaker 1 (23:33):
Yeah, but you guys are also, I mean, this is
what you do for a living. You know, Like if
I go out for a tournament, I'm doing it because
I got a couple hundred bucks that I that I
think I might be able to win back. But we
all know in tournament fishing, if you want to make
a million dollars, you better have two million if you
want to make.
Speaker 2 (23:49):
You know, there's thieves and everything, And I mean, you
talk about cutting a check, a ten thousand dollars check
when somebody's at a low in their life, it can
have and a lot of times, I think in the
professional level, kind of agree gets into you and some
of these guys get a little success and it makes
(24:10):
it worse.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
You know, earlier in the podcast, we were talking about
sponsorship when we brought up the opens and how there's
nine opens and a lot of these younger anglers and
the majority of them that are going for the opens,
they don't have sponsorship dollars. I sent Wes a video
yesterday because we were having a conversation earlier in the week.
Even in NASCAR when it comes to sponsorship, those teams
(24:33):
don't really have full.
Speaker 6 (24:33):
Sponsorships for the entire year.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
They're having to peel the paint and peel the wraps
off their vehicles and slap other sponsors on there, or
they have dual competing head sponsorships. So sponsorships at every
level are getting tight.
Speaker 4 (24:48):
Yeah, I never realized they like the like you could
have two title deals pretty much like it would be
like us fishing five tournaments with so and so and
then five tournaments or four turns with snow and so like,
and they've split it up as I was pretty interesting.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
Even when I worked in NASCAR, you know, back in
the early two thousands, you know, I was part of
Sony Racing, which was the secondary sponsor of all tail racing.
The driver was Ryan Newman the number twelve car and
Sony Racing was given. I think at the time two
races under their color scheme and their logo package. The
(25:22):
rest were all tell So everybody knew Ryan Newman. He
drives the Alltel car, but for two races it was
Sony Racing. And I mean with Sony Racing, we made.
Speaker 6 (25:31):
A big deal about it. I mean when it was.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Our car, we were all there. It was a big deal.
But we were still on site when he was running
under All Tel because we'd have this little badge on
the backfender that said Sony Racing. I looked at the
cars at Talladega, at the most recent race.
Speaker 6 (25:50):
That they had there.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
Car logos and sponsorships are completely different. It's starting to
look more like a bass boat than anything else. I
mean we've all seen it. You look at somebody's boat.
You got some guys that have like five sponsors. You
got other guys that got fifty, and I mean every
available piece of space is there. It was crazy to watch.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
I wonder in the best elites, how the numbers stack
up of sponsor money from top to bottom.
Speaker 6 (26:23):
And you're talking about like.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
Levels, how many who yes, like who gets the or
what would the top angler and the elites get sponsoralized?
And you know, how far down does it go that
people gets at least their interfees paid and you know,
expense money. I just wonder how how many people gets that.
Speaker 1 (26:48):
It'd be interesting to dive into some of the sponsorships
that certain guys have, you know, not even not even
just to it's not to criticize, but it's more just
to kind of learn where do brand and where do
marketing professionals view this entity? Because that's what you guys
are an entity to these companies. They want to know
(27:08):
like if your social platform is getting up, or if
you're really good at doing interviews or you're awesome on stage.
I mean, we've talked about Gerald often. You know, Jerald
is probably the best when it comes to being on
stage right.
Speaker 2 (27:21):
As good as you get.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Yeah, and yeah, he's the mold like you would want
to be.
Speaker 6 (27:25):
Right you want to be.
Speaker 1 (27:26):
But what he actually does is something that I that
I preach to a lot of people is he's.
Speaker 6 (27:32):
Who he is.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
Wes Logan needs to be who wes Logan is. Jojo
needs to be who Jojo is. So if you can
maximize who you are and showcase it. That might get
you up with the sponsorship stuff. But then there are
guys that get sponsorships solely because they continue to win.
But it's more about how you can help sell for
(27:54):
a brand than it is how many fishs.
Speaker 6 (27:56):
You put in a boat.
Speaker 2 (27:57):
I don't know about that. I think a lot of
it in the industry is is maybe more who you know.
Speaker 4 (28:03):
I was about to say, it's about relationship. Now you
do have to build some and that's I feel like
that's what I was fortunate to do.
Speaker 3 (28:11):
I got in.
Speaker 4 (28:12):
I kind of got my foot in the door when
I got my rookie and this kind of built up
every year. But I worked with some you do too,
some really good companies that I I mean, my companies
are like my family, like we're all very close. And
I have had situations with a few companies that didn't
feel that way and think that way, and I'm I'm
no longer with them. But it's a trying air deal too,
from the sponsorship wise, but I'm I would see I
(28:36):
talked to one of our guys or I have in
the past.
Speaker 3 (28:39):
There's a pie. The fishing industry is a pie.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
That pie has gotten no bigger, and the anglers have
off of it exactly, and so there's only only so
many slices that are going out, and them bigger ones
are staying big, and them smaller ones are getting smaller.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
I mean, it's I.
Speaker 1 (28:55):
Mean the amount of times that I get hit up
by just local anglers who are young. They're chasing the dream,
they want to become a professional fisherman. They're like, hey,
what do I need to do to get myself to
a level of a Joseph Webster or a Wes Logan.
I sit there and I go, look, they're looking for
the same sponsorship dollar that you're going for. They've built
(29:15):
their brand, they've built their company up. They know what
it takes. They've got to continue to work for the sponsor,
continue to sell for the sponsor, and they've got to
build those relationships that you guys were talking about. There
are a lot more people that are coming for that pie.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
And I think too, a lot of these younger people
are coming in and saying, you know, we will take
a product deal and you know, and you know they're
liable to throw it on their boat or you know,
give a.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Boat ute boat route for free product.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Free product and then at the end of the day,
you know they're going in a year or two because
they can't afford it. And really that's hurt a guy
that is trying to feed miles, you know, or put
gas in the tank, because it's just a one and
done deal. And you know, a lot of these sponsors
they're looking at if I do fifteen of these guys
(30:12):
that way, you know, I get a little more media
time if I spread my money that way, and then
you know, but it's just it's it's not easy, but is.
Speaker 6 (30:22):
It quality media time?
Speaker 1 (30:24):
Because that's what I would say to somebody, is just
because you have fifteen votes with your product on it,
if they're not there after a year, you're going to
have to try to fill that spot. Yeah, So if
you don't have somebody who's repping your brand talking about
your brand has created enough influence within the community that
people trust and they want to buy with that person selling,
(30:46):
it's not going to help the brand anymore. It's a billboard,
they're gonna see it. But people are always going to
gravitate to the people that they trust.
Speaker 3 (30:54):
You know.
Speaker 4 (30:55):
Yeah, it would depend I guess it would depend on
a bit their business strategy from a company standpoint, because
if you got fifteen college dudes running your boat and
truck wrap all over the country fish in the college term.
But yeah, they may not have the following or the
media exposure to me and Jojo do, but they gonna
have to pay me in Jojo something to do it.
They don't have to pay them a dime, So I
guess they would have to weigh it. And I think
(31:15):
some companies think it's a good idea and some.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
Of them don't.
Speaker 4 (31:18):
So I guess it's just who's in charge what their
marketing do. But yeah, you would think the media, like
your exposure, would come into play, but sometimes it does.
Sometimes I don't think it does.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Here's something I wanted to discuss because I saw West
post this the other day. How do you carry and
story or tackle? What are some different tricks that you
do that a lot of fishermen might not think about
Because for a while I was a big plastic bad guy.
Speaker 3 (31:44):
Like a zip lock.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
Yeah, so I would take like all the individual packages
and I'd put them all on a zip lock and
that I'd label them green pumpkin.
Speaker 4 (31:52):
Oh you saw my my omnia thing, dude, It is
the smartest thing in the world.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
I can't believe I didn't think about it. Everybody what
you do?
Speaker 4 (32:01):
So I take a a I normally do it with
like a coffee because I like the coffee scent, you
know how the whatever. So I'll take like coffee grounds
from Walmart, like it don't matter, like the cheap ones,
and I'll pour all the coffee ou because I like coffee.
But I put all my chunks in the coffee thing
and I just ride on the top of them. The
color and people have went crazy over that. I'm like, what,
I don't have to keep all those plastic bags in
(32:22):
my boat that blow out?
Speaker 2 (32:24):
Well, you could be like one of mine is you know,
mix scent and power bait. You buy some of them packs,
you go down the road and you think somebody has
took a dump in your back seat and you go
to looking for it and you've got a bunch of
them in there, and you're like, which pack is it?
And that's just like who knows?
Speaker 1 (32:40):
So where do you how do you store those types
of baits, the ones that have the powerful scent.
Speaker 2 (32:45):
I try to keep them in the bags that come
in because I think if you open them up, it
just loses it. I think so, I mean.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
The way that max sel is scent or the scent
is sealed, and I could because I mean, once you
take it out, it's never unless you use it right
then it's never the same.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (33:00):
So I saw your figure or whatever.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
And my buddy David text me like right before we
started doing this podcast, and he goes, hey, I'm running
over to Mark's outdoors.
Speaker 6 (33:09):
What do you need?
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Open up in that bag and just set it there
because I ran out of these when I was jigging
on Logan Martin the other day.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (33:17):
Oh god, he got the rock color and everything.
Speaker 6 (33:20):
I knew it. I knew it.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
I said, I said, if you buy these, bring them
over to the studio because West Logan is gonna have
to take a look at what's in that bag.
Speaker 2 (33:28):
Well, the thing about it is everybody on the coast
of the ain't but two colors that fire blue and
green pumpkin.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
I mean, so if I say it, what what color
was in the was in the.
Speaker 3 (33:41):
That's what he's got right here.
Speaker 1 (33:42):
I started laughing because you know, I think a lot
of time we talked about confidence and baits and things
like that, and you know, I'm I'm learning how to fish.
So I'm learning what my confidence level is. And I
was out on a tournament the other day. It's just
one of these local charity tournaments and fishing with a
buddy of mine. We had five fish for nine pounds
and felt like we were okay. Winter got sixteen pounds,
(34:02):
and we found this pattern that was working.
Speaker 3 (34:05):
Well.
Speaker 1 (34:05):
What it had to do with the jig bite And
like an idiot, I'm not expecting them to bite my
jig right, like they'll bite everybody else. But I don't
expect because I don't fish it a lot. I'm starting
to fish it more now than I'm on the KUSO. Well,
they went through every one of my trailers. I mean
as soon as they hit that chunk, it was done. Well,
I was down to one like I was getting silk,
Like I was having to like turn it a little
(34:25):
bit and work the hook in just so I could
keep it up and like keep it going. And then
all of a sudden, I'm on social media. I see
his posts and I'm like, that's what I need to do.
I need to get a bunch of these and then
put him into those those little containers.
Speaker 2 (34:40):
Well, there's the guy that used to make them all
over here? Is it alb what they used to call
himl LC. Yeah, that's the old timey five eighths. Nice
for what they've been for years over here. So Spence,
you got some of them? No, they don't. The West
don't bring you none.
Speaker 3 (34:58):
No, we you still got so.
Speaker 1 (35:01):
Though, I gotta get Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:05):
Hey, that was a that was a wild goose chase
this morning. We wouldn't tell you, but I got it though, I.
Speaker 6 (35:09):
Hear the man.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
So when it come when it comes to storage, though,
you know, I've been to your shop, Joseph, and and
your shop is Berkeley, Berkeley, Berkeley, like you have everything
laid out. You're meticulous. You probably border the.
Speaker 6 (35:22):
Line on OCD.
Speaker 2 (35:24):
It's probably it's probably not me, Oh really probably Okay.
You know, when you're controls a lot of things.
Speaker 1 (35:32):
Remember, So when you guys are fishing a tournament and
anybody that has a bass boat, you've got your rod lockers,
and then you have your you know, day box and
all that kind of stuff. What do you guys keep
ware that might be a little different than the next guy.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
I don't know. Mine's simple. Everybody looks in my boat says,
can't believe that's oh.
Speaker 1 (35:50):
You carry, So what what makes your simple?
Speaker 2 (35:53):
I just don't carry a lot.
Speaker 1 (35:54):
I may not kind of, So you're not the type
of guy that thinks like, well, maybe I'll just try
to trick him with something else.
Speaker 6 (36:00):
You go with what you think they're biting that week,
and that's it.
Speaker 2 (36:03):
Yep, we're gonna send it.
Speaker 3 (36:04):
That's that's I do the same thing.
Speaker 4 (36:06):
I'm not a big like trialing aer especially now if
like I'm just going fishing, I might like around the
house from just to try something different, but in practice
for an elite term, no, it's it's what I've called
a bass on.
Speaker 1 (36:17):
But my friends like I've got buddies in mind, the
fishies local tournaments and they're running with every better tackle
they've ever bought in their entire life.
Speaker 2 (36:25):
We have guys like I cleaned my boat out, especially
after practice, down to just what I think I'm gonna do.
I don't want my mind to play chicks on me,
because listen to horns can go off in a hurry anyway,
so I try to limit that.
Speaker 6 (36:38):
That's wild.
Speaker 3 (36:39):
Yeah, absolutely, I need bought all all right?
Speaker 1 (36:43):
Where do you guys keep your heavy terminal tackle, like
your weights and all that kind of stuff. You keep
that in the back to help load down the back
of the boat, or are you up front because it's
easy to grab when you've got the coffin open.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
I keep mine up front. I don't care a lot
of it.
Speaker 4 (36:57):
Mine's in the mine's in the front. But I I
don't have a lot of weight in my boat. Like
there's I got one the middle sections, got like ten
boxes in it, and there's a few of those clear
bigger bags.
Speaker 3 (37:07):
In the right hand rod locker. And know is it?
Speaker 1 (37:09):
You guys keep your boats really clean up until uh,
up until the tournament, because I know the tournament you're.
Speaker 2 (37:14):
Just kind of going through whatever most of the time.
Speaker 3 (37:16):
Yeah, Because I.
Speaker 1 (37:17):
Rode into pros boat the other day that a buddy
of mine bought, and that thing was beat to hell.
Speaker 6 (37:22):
I destroyed, dirty, dirty dirty.
Speaker 1 (37:25):
I was like, I felt bad sitting in that boat
because I'm like, I don't know how any baking fish
out of this.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
That's one of the main reasons I like to keep
mine for like, if a marshall gets in my boat,
I don't want them going someay saying, and his boat
was a rig man.
Speaker 2 (37:39):
So the boat that got bought, did the owners see
it beforehand. Uh No, maybe I need to sell mine
that way. I need a guy like that to call
me want mine.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
I started Uh, I started laughing because you know, you
were talking about how you didn't want a marshall to see,
you know, and talk bad about your boat and all
that kind of stuff. One of the best tournaments that
I was riding in last year as an elite, that
angler was so proud to tell me what they were biting.
He opened up his live well and I swear to god,
(38:12):
there were twenty dead shad and he's like, they've been
in here since Monday and this was Saturday. Gosh mind,
And I'm like, how do you do it? Like me,
I'd be like, I can't. I couldn't do it. I'd
have to clean it out that day. But I've also
never had that much bait in my live well because
I don't put any fish.
Speaker 6 (38:29):
In a live well.
Speaker 2 (38:29):
So reckon what that would smell like? Can you shop
after a few days?
Speaker 3 (38:34):
Like I don't understand, like brutal.
Speaker 2 (38:36):
You wouldn't forget it when you throwed the lid open.
Speaker 4 (38:38):
No, you would barely smell it when you open the door.
Where where's it coming from? And then when you opened
the livl it'd be a big game.
Speaker 6 (38:44):
I mean I was.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
I was sitting in the boat. I wasn't even close
to the live. Well, I think I was up front
because he was moving around doing stuff. He opened up
the lid and I could smell it. We were out
on the water. I mean, that's how punging it on was.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
No.
Speaker 1 (38:56):
The marketing side of hunting and fishing is is wild.
Like all three of us like to hunt. You know,
Wes has been up at a farm in Tennessee that
he's got a lease on this year, and fortunately I
can't hunt until December because I'm not going to pay
an out of state tag in Alabama.
Speaker 6 (39:13):
And I waited on getting my license. That's a whole
nother story.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
You know, it's not illegal if you don't get caught.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
That's uh.
Speaker 6 (39:22):
That's Joseph Webster. He lives on the.
Speaker 1 (39:26):
Other side of the state.
Speaker 6 (39:27):
Yeah, you guys want to check him out. But you know,
it's so funny.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Is I got my license?
Speaker 6 (39:31):
You're a good man?
Speaker 2 (39:32):
Yeah, you're good.
Speaker 6 (39:34):
Well, it's funny.
Speaker 1 (39:35):
Is I went over to Joseph's house one day and
this is last season. We were talking about doing some
hunting and uh. And I walk out of his front
door west and I kid you not, he had some
absolute slammers fifteen yards away from where his boat is parked.
Speaker 2 (39:49):
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (39:50):
And he feeds him and I said, man, why don't
we just get the bows out and we'll just right here.
He goes, now, those are pets, pets.
Speaker 2 (39:56):
Well, then we're not really my pets. Them are number
But yeah, she's got out where she even tries to
talk to him now, and I'm like, that's not good.
Speaker 5 (40:05):
Nah.
Speaker 6 (40:06):
See, this is what you have to look forward to.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
This is this is the you know, guy that's been
married for a while, your wife is going to get
to a point where she's trying to talk to deer.
Speaker 3 (40:14):
Does does deal like to hunt?
Speaker 2 (40:16):
Well, well, I've got a story behind that.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
She got one last year he did.
Speaker 2 (40:21):
So that story was we went and sat in the
shooting house. It was on my birthdays. Come on, let's go.
It was a big shooting house. Was sitting there and
we're looking down there and there walks out three all
of them probably seventeen inches wide. And I'm like, she's like, boy,
they're goode Oh yeah, yeah, I said, want you shoot
one of them? Well, I might. I'm like, look, if
you're I mean, I only had my gun, and I said,
(40:42):
if you're gonna hunt and you're going to kill one,
you know you're gonna want your picture made with it.
So you've got to have hunt license before you kill
this deer if that's what you're going to do. So
she said, well, I'll think about it and we'll let
in a minute. I looked over and bore she was on.
Speaker 5 (40:56):
The phone and that stupid little did they know she's
pretty quick on the phone.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yea dead dear so. But anyway, but.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
My phone starts going off, Oh yeah, and it's a
picture of her beaming.
Speaker 3 (41:14):
That's good.
Speaker 6 (41:15):
I mean brow time to brow time.
Speaker 2 (41:17):
She's just yeah, she's good.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
And she's like, I think we're gonna put this up
on social media. I was like, that's a that's a
hanger right there. That's a good one.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
So well, that's pretty good. But you know them around
the hoiuse though, that's just kind of off limits. So
Leevie'd be probably the only one to shoot one of them.
But you know, Wes, when you get married, women control
a lot of things and a lot of angles, so
you just keep that in mind.
Speaker 3 (41:41):
I will I will. Don't worry. Don't worry. I've done,
but I figured it out any.
Speaker 2 (41:45):
Well, if you hadn't, they'll let you know.
Speaker 6 (41:49):
Too good, too good.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
This has been lines and times. I'm Spencer Graves, that's
West Logan, that's Joseph Webster.
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