0:00

Lines and times. My buddy West Logan fresh off the tournament trail with the

0:03

bass Master Elites. Last time we talked, you were getting ready to kick

0:07

off your season on the Elites. You had Toledo Bend and then you had

0:12

Lake Fork and then you had a meltdown on stage, which you and I

0:15

have talked about. But let's kind of talk about Toledo Bend. Let's talk

0:19

about these tournaments because they didn't set up the exact way that you liked to

0:22

fish, right, But what did you learn from those tournaments? Uh?

0:27

Looking back on it, I mean as far as a job standpoint, I

0:29

probably didn't need to be as stubborn as I was with the you know how

0:33

the fish were setting up like they weren't on the bank, they weren't coming

0:36

to the bank. And to be honestly, it was cold. The weather

0:41

set up right like it was cold when we got there for Toledo. Yes,

0:44

And the water was high and it was it was on a warming trend

0:47

on a full moon like the middle of February. It takes It's like your

0:51

mind's just like, Okay, they're gonna show up. They're gonna show up,

0:54

and man, the bite actually got worse every day the warmer it got.

0:58

I don't. It's the weirdest thing I've ever seen is that because the

1:00

water was high, it wasn't really high. It's just Toledo had been so

1:04

low for so many years, Like it's actually real close to full pool.

1:07

So a lot of stuff has grown up, Like there's a lot of cover

1:10

on the bank, a lot of targets to throw at, and it it literally just got worse. It's like you got less and less bites every day.

1:17

And it wasn't pressure because nobody was fishing the bank. It was just

1:21

like the first day, I had a really good day and it actually was

1:23

looking up. I caught what I weighed in like eighteen and a half the

1:26

first day by like lunch, and I kind of just went and practiced a

1:30

little bit more, tried to find a few more areas, and like I

1:33

got bit everywhere I went, So I was like looking forward to the day

1:37

too. And I don't. The only thing I can figure out is the

1:40

wind blew real hard on the first day, which didn't bother me fishing wise,

1:44

because I was, you know, way back in someplace that should you

1:47

Well, what I think it did was I think taled had been so big

1:49

and it's so deep it turned it. It basically flipped the water. Because

1:53

what happened is I got back to where I started the first day the second

1:57

morning, and the water temperture had dropped five degree and it wasn't anything.

2:02

That's what I'm saying. The wind like flipped the water, and I really

2:07

think it just pulled them back off and like kind of put them in shock. The shallower fish like because I caught too, like way off the bank,

2:14

like I just happened to and I did catch one off live scope. I was going around a dog and I just happened to look out there and

2:19

it was just like you just oh yeah, yeah, absolutely absolutely. I

2:23

know it was just the sin man, the sin but but that's what I'm

2:29

saying, like they just I think they just kind of went into a mood where, hey, the you know it, the water dropped five degrees,

2:34

Like I don't feel comfortable up there no more. Because like I said,

2:37

the first day, it was like the fishing was fun, like I actually caught a bunch swimming, caught some flipping dogs, and then it just got

2:43

real bad. And well, typically like if the water is coming up the

2:46

fisherman in you everything that you've learned tells you that the fisher are going to

2:50

move shallow, right, you know, enough of them to do good,

2:52

not the not the vast majority, because there's so many bass in Toledo obviously.

2:55

But I just think from you know, looking back, talking to some

3:00

of my real good friends that you know, did the forward facing deal out

3:04

there, there was just so many baths still relating to that bait, like

3:07

it wasn't in their brain yet to like, yeah, the water got to

3:10

sixty one or sixty two that first day, but it wasn't that like seventy

3:15

where we just got to flood the bank all go, you know, make

3:17

babies. Sixty one sixty two. Is that where they like the water tempt

3:22

to be to spawn on Toledo Bend or is it a little warmer? I

3:24

don't, I don't. I know Toledo been an expert, but I think

3:29

sometimes in the springtime we get a shallow fishermen get really excited when they start

3:34

seeing that high fifty eight and sixty like we got to go, they're coming.

3:38

I don't think it's really that that massive of a push. I think

3:42

it's more of like they wanted to be stable around that fifty eight to sixty

3:46

five for a week or two, not just oh it hit it, you

3:49

know, it hit it over swisch right, that's right. I think Like

3:53

now if you've had it, if it's been sixty like in the mornings it's

3:55

fifty eight or fifty nine, and it gets up to high sixty seventies,

3:59

it's it's wide open everything like shad spawn's fixing the start they're spawning, like,

4:04

and it's been a warm year so far, you know, to start

4:09

the year, it's gonna get cold again. Not it won't be bad,

4:12

but we'll have another cold snap. But it mean springs pretty much here,

4:15

but I don't know. And then but that's I mean that's typical March.

4:18

Yeah, typical March early April, like you get you get these teasers of

4:24

like it's gonna beautiful, that's right, and then you have that couple of

4:26

cold nights. Yeah, we have like a like a BlackBerry winter and all

4:29

that, Like it'll it'll be real cold. It's always cold around you know,

4:32

Easter, you know that first week of March, you know, or

4:35

not first first week at April somewhere down there to get cold again I mean

4:39

I remember turkey hunting when it was I've turny on was like twenty six degree

4:43

in side like, but ite it orange? Pretty good morning? Ye?

4:46

Yes, yes, I love a cloudy A cloudy cold morning is the best.

4:49

I'm not a I'm not a fan of clear mornings on turkey hunting wise,

4:53

but yeah, I don't know. The Tilida men didn't work and I

4:56

had some execution issues bad on Tiledo the second day. I mean I ended

5:01

up. I think I ended up having nine bites all day and only landed

5:04

four of them. I ended up losing five two and a half to four

5:09

pounders. I had one area way up the lake flipping bushes and I saved

5:14

it on the after I didn't go up there the first day because I thought I could go catch fifteen or sixteen. I ran up there like my third

5:18

flip. I had a three pound of ratman a bush and then I went

5:21

to boat flip of three it come off. I had a swim jig fish

5:25

come off like just come to the boat. I hooked a swim jigfish like

5:29

a three pounder and it flew it bit it right the boat and I like, jerk too hard. It flew over the boat and come off the rainbow.

5:36

Yes, pretty much, pretty much. Had I had a high school

5:41

kid or he's a senior in high school, was my mars. He was like, man, it just ain't your day. Like, no, I

5:45

mean some days it is, some days it ain't. No. Last night I was helping a buddy of mine set up a bass cat with some new

5:50

Solix fifteens from Hummingbird. And my buddy, who he deals with all the

5:56

like, did you say multiple fifteenths? No, No, No, he's

5:59

one, he's only got two. He's got on the front. He's but

6:03

he's only he's only got the sole ex up front for megalive like he's dumb

6:08

Hummingbird. Everything right, just those two things. But it's not like some

6:11

of the rigs that I know zal Dane's been putting out about double. But

6:16

what what I was going to tell you is when you were talking about how

6:18

you boat flipped that fish, literally, we took the boat out to test

6:21

it, make sure Megan live look good, change any of the settings that

6:25

we had to change, make sure the networking was all right. And while

6:29

we're out there, we're like, well, let's just fish a little bit so I'm flipping a dock and literally I felt the bite and I looked at

6:33

my buddy and I go, hang on a minute, and jacked it.

6:38

And of course you set the hook thinking every fish is a tobound, like

6:42

you want to get the hook in them. And literally I saw this dink

6:46

go flying through the air and in my mind it went to slow motion.

6:49

It was like, yeah, it just flew all the way across and he

6:54

stayed on the line. Really yeah, so he went over the boat and

6:59

it was a spot. I love it when them little spots. Dude, they're so aggressive, like he wade like maybe one one. Oh yeah,

7:05

but that boy went for a ride before he got in the boat. Again.

7:10

No, he's gonna he's gonna move offshore. You won't see him until

7:14

somebody throws him minto at him. Right. He gonna be hesitant about that

7:16

thing too. So what would you have done differently? You know you talked

7:19

about the beginning with Toledo Bend. What would you have done differently to impact

7:24

that tournament better? Oh? Definitely, you know, as you know,

7:28

as much as I'm against it, it's a part of my job. I would definitely would have went out there and floated around for a day of practice

7:33

because I had a real word facing yes, uh to fault you know those

7:38

you know, the suspended fish on the bait, just because I had a

7:42

really bad day of practice on the second day on the way we had a

7:46

real cold night, like I knew better, and I just went shallow again.

7:49

I wish looking back, when I wish that day, I would have

7:53

went out there and just found an area, not trying to you know,

7:55

win the tournament or anything, just found an area I could go get some

7:58

doplement. Yes to where on that day too, when stuff wasn't happening real

8:01

good and you know I had to love was lost fish? Where I could

8:03

have still went and caught twelve to fourteen pounds and got you know, you

8:07

know, got to check for sure. Now, you know, looking back,

8:09

if I hadn't lost the fish, I'd have been in great shape.

8:11

But that happens. But I didn't have any backup plan as far you got

8:16

to find quality bites. I mean, you and I have talked about the fact that you know, like tournament fishing, your job is to fit within

8:24

the confines of the bank. You got to go find the five biggest fish, right if you ever win the tournament, you gotta do it every day,

8:28

you gotta do it four days in a row, and you got to

8:31

make those cuts in everything. So sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't

8:35

if you know that. And this is what I felt just from being a

8:39

spectator and watching some of these tournaments. And this isn't you, this is

8:41

just you know, tournament anglers in the bass elites. At the time when

8:46

I was watching, it felt like a lot of guys were trying to force

8:50

a narrative of I can do what you think you're doing offshore better when I'm

8:54

up shallow. But the fish quality wasn't up shallow yet. Yeah, the

8:58

quality wasn't nor the quantity I thought, And I said, you had too

9:01

much time between bytes? Yeah, well, I mean the first it's hard

9:05

to say practice. Yes, like I knew I was going too long between

9:09

bytes, but it would be it would get right to that point where I

9:11

might need to go do something different, and bam you get a four pound

9:13

byte, like and then you go another hour and like, ah, man,

9:18

it's it's not it's not really setting up, and then bam you get

9:20

another three pound byte on the same exact deal. So like I've had three

9:24

bytes doing the same thing, and they were all decent, good you know,

9:26

good ones are not you know, relative at Toledo. But it just

9:31

it just wasn't quite there yet. We were a little bit early, and

9:35

I just looking back again, like when we started the podcast, I was

9:39

I was stubborn the first like the first two tournaments. You know, I

9:43

spoke my mind about it. But dude, if you really look back at

9:46

it, I had a bad day, the bad second day at Toledo, but I had eighteen pounds and nine pounds, so that's twenty I had.

9:54

I had right at fourteen pounds a day average wise at Toledo, and I

9:56

averaged twenty one pounds a day at four which is a totally different animal.

10:01

But still, if you look back historically, fourteen pounds a day at Toledo

10:05

gets paid every time the elites have ever been there. Sure, twenty one

10:07

pounds has been paid at Fork every time we've ever been there, So I

10:13

think so that was a eye opener. Now my eyes have been open to

10:16

that for a while. I mean, if you there's a few of us

10:20

that have looked back on it and really like studied it. The average cutweights

10:24

in the last three years have went up three to five pounds on every single

10:28

light we've ever been to. When I first started fishing, I had a

10:31

guy tell me. He was like, look, if you can get twelve pounds a tournament, there's a good chance you're going to be in chuck ran

10:35

never Never anymore. That was three years ago. Yep. You know.

10:39

Now obviously ford facing sonar has brought bigger fish to the scale and more correct.

10:43

And I mean you look at you look at La Fork and you see

10:46

some of the numbers, and you just sit there and go the average fish

10:50

that was getting caught there was probably five and a half pounds. Yeah, I mean in where do you find a body of water that has that high

10:58

concentration of five plusunders dang glorified for and pond? Right, So it's it's

11:05

interesting that when we watched that, you know, I had heard a lot of guys say, well, the Century belt doesn't mean anything. I actually

11:11

said to a friend of mine who worked for Bass Lake Fork is that type

11:15

of lake where the Century belt should actually be kind of pushed down because it

11:20

is such a well managed lake that one hundred pounds doesn't really mean anything,

11:24

right, I mean, it's fifty. Mean, every time we've been there,

11:28

there's been multiple century belts and that just that's a shout out to Texas

11:31

Parks Wildlife. How great the lake is, like no doubt, And I'm

11:35

not knocking the guys that called it like hands down there they figured it out

11:39

like and that's no, it's great that they did it. Like it's an

11:43

accomplishment no matter what. But when you're on a lake like let's say you

11:46

were on the Sabine, right, okay, and you managed to catch one

11:50

hundred pounds of fish on the Sabine, people are touting you as the greatest

11:54

fisherman I've ever left. That's right, right, So everything is kind of

11:58

relative when you look get the weights in some of these tournaments, you go

12:01

to a lake lanier, you catch a five and a half pound spotted bass.

12:05

That's a magnum. Like those don't happen every day, but on a

12:09

lake like that you can find them a little more well places. But it's

12:13

like the average bass there's literally like three and a half four pounds. It's

12:18

like if you get a bye there, you don't catch a bunch. But

12:20

if you get a bye, what's odd about that place. You don't catch a bunch of little one. You don't catch a pound and a half or

12:26

a two pounds one frick if you get a bye, That's what I'm saying,

12:28

Like you're gonna be if you get a fish, it's gonna be.

12:31

It's it's normally a good fish. Yeah, Like I didn't get many buys

12:35

a second day, it still had almost seventeen. It is weird, though,

12:37

to think that a four pounder is like a pound and a half everywhere else. Yeah, I mean, what was it Hamder talking about? And

12:45

he had he had such a great line. He said, you know,

12:48

I've never caught a ten pound bass, and then he followed it up with and I still haven't because he caught that eleven gold half even. But I

12:54

mean that's the thing, Like he actually said that he had to take a

12:58

minute and take a because catching something that big just doesn't happen. But on

13:05

fork it seems like you have more of an opportunity to actually do this.

13:07

Absolutely. Man. I caught a nine at Saint John's my second year on

13:11

the Elites, and I mean we got the go pro footage of it. It, dude, I like almost how to panic attack like which it was.

13:18

Again, a nine pounder is not your biggest, No, what's your

13:22

personal best? I've called a nine to fifteen on the Saint John's actually in

13:24

tournament in a BFL regional in twenty fourteen. I was seven when I was

13:30

eighteen, Okay, So you catch a fish like that. I had this feeling after Hamner caught that eleven. You bring that to the way in right,

13:37

like there the slot was different with fork, but like you're obviously bringing

13:41

years to the way in regardless. Is there a part of you that's like,

13:45

I want to release this fish because it's good for the fishery, but

13:48

I also want to maybe get this thing mapped out so I can get it

13:52

mounted. I'm gonna be honestly. The big one I caught when I was so young, wasn't it. I didn't even rouse It was a ten pounder

13:58

when I caught it. I'm not even kidding you, dude. So so

14:01

the little running hat went, I went down. I ran down there.

14:03

Uh it was like the third fish I caught that day, And I tried

14:07

to boat flip it and the water downer found it. The water down there

14:09

is so dark you can't really see it. Throwing a chain. Now,

14:13

I just flipping twenty found line with a baby brush off. Zoom, baby

14:16

brush off. I could take you right exactly where I called it, like it's that etched in my mind. But when I went to flip it,

14:20

it wouldn't come up, like I couldn't. Its mouth hit the side of

14:24

the gun, and I was like, I'm so bigging well. We had

14:26

comeairs at the time, and his tackle bag was in the ned. He couldn't get it out anyways, end up having to lip it. I got

14:31

in a boat did and I just hold it. And the guy was under

14:33

from Florida and he was like, my Cohen was from Flays. There's a

14:37

giant. I was like, it's like a sub eight pounder. I just

14:39

stood and live well. And I'd never called an eight hundred my life either, so I don't know why. I was like, you were, yeah,

14:43

I get it. I was like, I ain't got but three,

14:46

dude, I gotta catch two more because it was so hard to get a

14:48

bote. Well, dude, Like an hour later, I catch an eight

14:52

pounder, like a legit eight pounder, and I boat flipped it because I

14:56

thought it was like a five. Sure, because I had done looked at

14:58

the big So I get back to and my dad was a coat and he's

15:03

like, you got him. I was like, man, I got too good ones it. I was like, I got like an eight and a

15:05

five. He's like, gosh, dang. I was like, I ain't got none to go with him though, So my co in there that day

15:09

ended up not even catching one, not you know, not catching a keeper.

15:13

So I had I split them up. One of the big ones was

15:16

by itself, and then the smaller of the two was on the other side. Well, I'd forgotten what side it was, and I said, I'm

15:20

gonna pull the big one out first, and like a bunch of my buddies

15:24

had gotten around there, and I picked it up and I was like, yeah, you know, here's it ended up being the smaller. I thought

15:28

it was a bigger one, and I opened the wild and I went to

15:31

grabbing her, and I turned around. I was like, that was a

15:33

smaller one, and I picked it up, dud, and everybody like lost their mind. It was a giant. But it's so funny because you're telling

15:39

me that. Sorry, I didn't know you at the time when you caught

15:41

that, but I can tell that you were in tournament west Logan mode.

15:45

Yes, if too probably West Logan just wants to go out and fun fish

15:50

mode. Yeah, it was like you were fun fishing, you would have

15:52

lost your mode. Yeah, absolutely, the tournament mode. You're like, it's not I I didn't even think about it because, like literally, I

15:58

told the guys that we don't have but three Like that fish is useless if

16:02

I don't catch anything else with it. So do you ever think, like if you caught let's say you caught a ten pounder, legit ten. There's

16:07

no nine to fifteen. There's no nine to thirteen. And that's why I

16:11

tell people I've never caught a ten pounder because it didn't weigh ten. I

16:15

happen to a buddy of mine, Okachobe. He was flipping some grass and

16:19

he ended up flipping. He set the hook and he said it felt like

16:22

a concrete block. He couldn't move it. His co angler had to dip

16:26

the net and he came up with nothing but dirt. The fish was so big it wouldn't fitt in the net. Oh my god. So he ended

16:30

up reaching, you know, foot and a half down, just grabbing this

16:33

thing in the mouth and pulling it in got him into the final day,

16:37

right, but again he thought he had a ten pounder weigh nine to fifteen.

16:40

Yeah, yeah, I mean I'll never claim my call on if you

16:42

caught a ten pounder, you got your personal best and it was in a

16:45

tournament. Is there ever a thought of you and would they allow that for

16:48

you to be able to keep that mask to get him mounted if you want

16:52

it? I think we can. I think like they have you know,

16:55

are holding tanks where they hold us for the way in I'm gonna say they would probably let Jeene get over there our conservation guy and you know, get

17:02

some measurements on it for sure. That's good. Yeah. And most of the time, like where you would catch one is either you know, majority

17:07

where where we go Florida or Texas to where that's a share lunker anyway,

17:12

or you have to let them like notify them if you catch a ten pounder.

17:15

Right, So they normally have people there that like get DNA samples and

17:18

they would get all the measurements. Oh good, all right, So there

17:22

is there at least is something where you can you know in those states now

17:26

and Alabama may be a little bit different, but I mean, the only

17:30

place you might would catch one in Obama is Honors One. We're not going

17:33

there. But Texas and Florida are always very adamant. They'd always have a

17:37

you know, an officer there or you know whoever whatever you would call them,

17:41

just especially Fork in Toledo, like that was there was people everywhere taking

17:45

you know, samples of those big fish and stuff just because in another shout

17:48

out to Texas Parks and Wildlife all the stuff they do with those big fish,

17:52

Like that's that's why you're able to go to Fork and catch one hundred

17:55

and thirty pounds every time. You would not believe the amount of people that

17:59

A texted me and after like four can see in the weights and have said

18:03

to me, like we're playing the trip to go out there. Oh is that is that a spot that you would want to just go and fun fish?

18:07

No? No, not a fan really no, I just I mean,

18:12

yeah, you'll catch a big one for I shouldn't have said it like

18:15

that. I just man it. But it's not your style. No,

18:18

I don't like it like it. I'll go there and fish the tournament.

18:21

But the way you can't, you don't win there fishing traditionally most of the

18:26

time it's either a livescope deal or you know, offshore on hard spots and

18:33

you know, real big swim baits. Because where where is a fun place

18:36

for you? Like if you were going to set a trip to just go on a fishing trip, where would you want to go? Mmm, I

18:42

don't know, Probably somewhere in Florida. Yeah, just because I mean I

18:47

might be my favorite thing work. No absolutely not, no, no,

18:52

god no, Well you just went down there because it just went off limits.

18:56

So you got in there before that happened. How do we feel.

18:59

I don't matter. I put a lot of hours on my yamaha. I

19:03

know that I didn't fish a whole lot. I just wanted to go down

19:06

there spot. Yeah, it's and truthfully, like people, look at that

19:10

man place, ain't that big? Well? The problem is to get from one lake to another is an hour worth of time because of all the idols

19:17

on the stuff. Yes, but like you you could drive there in five

19:21

minutes, but by you know, by car. I just wanted to get down there and you know, try and see how everything's laying out, kind

19:26

of decide where I want to spend my time. In practice, to fish

19:29

because I've never been able to go down there and not have the stress of

19:33

two and a half days of practice, like I gotta find them, I gotta find them, I gotta find them and miss something in a lake,

19:37

you know, trying to get to the next lake. So I just wanted

19:40

to go spend some time, put some hours, you know, idland and you know, I don't know, I caught a few, but well.

19:47

From there, went to the Saint John's. Just got back from the Saint John's last night at like midnight. I don't know. I really liked the

19:52

Saint John's a lot. I've done very well there. It sets up like

19:56

a river there. It is tidal, but it doesn't move a lot.

20:00

It just kind of repositioned as a manage area, right, Like they have

20:03

a lot of locks and all that kind of stuff to keep the water at

20:06

a certain level. No, there's only one really, there's only one going

20:08

into Rodman Reservoir, the Harris chain. They regulate. It's always like I

20:15

know, Kobe is regulated like crazy. Yeah, it's regulated all by a

20:19

lot in multiple ways. Yeah. Absolutely, you know while you were gone,

20:25

I was, uh, I spent I got I feel like I lived on Gunnersville because I had four or five different tournaments up there, and then

20:30

I ended up having a club tournament up there, and I caught my biggest

20:33

big picture. I've seen the picture you sent me sixth founder. I felt

20:37

really good. How'd you catch it? Jig flipping or dragon? Uh?

20:41

Well, it didn't really give me an opportunity. I cast it to the

20:45

bank. I set one crank, it hit a rock in boom and I

20:51

set the hook and as soon as I set the hook, there was no

20:53

headshake, nothing, But I knew that it wasn't a log. I knew

20:57

it wasn't a rock. And then all of a sudden, it just one

21:00

little pull, just not like a you know, mad that it got bit,

21:03

just kind of like hey, just so you know I'm here. Yeah,

21:07

And then I just started reeling and I thought it was a good fish,

21:10

but I didn't think it was a six pounder. I thought it was, you know, maybe a three. And I'm just reeling that fish is

21:15

is just coming with me, and it was lethargic. And then I got

21:19

on the boat and I took one look at it and I was like,

21:22

oh, I know exactly why it was on bed. So it was actively

21:27

getting ready to spawn so immediately, and this is in a tournament, so

21:30

I had to take it over. And I kind of hated this about,

21:33

you know, the whole actively spawning thing, which is why I appreciate that

21:38

you guys in your tournament were having a wayfish and then put them back in,

21:41

because I think that's the best way to manage it. I immediately got

21:45

that fish back in the water and tried to keep it as stress free as

21:48

possible. But yeah, I mean it was it was an awesome fish to

21:52

to grab it. I will say one thing about the spawning thing with the

21:56

dude. From right now till the first June, every bassbot you catch it's

22:00

going to be in some process respawning. So the bedfishing argument like kind of

22:06

irks me a little bit, Like, yeah, it's probably not great to pester them to catch them. But here's the thing. You catch a female

22:11

off the bed and you take her away in she still got her eggs and

22:15

her dude. As soon as you let her go, Oh yeah, she's

22:17

just gonna go find somebody else, Like like, bass aren't loyal, they

22:19

don't they can't comprehend, Like I gotta go. I gotta go find my

22:23

boyfriend or I'm gonna spit my eggs out in family. Definitely not. Like

22:29

that's my favorite argument about everything in the outdoors. You know, in the

22:33

outdoor world, people have called it the Disney effect because we glorify like this

22:37

idea that animals actually have families. They definitely don't, you know, especially

22:41

with deer like you all that kind of stuff. It's like, I understand

22:45

you want to think that daddy, you know, daddy buck is over here

22:48

and it's watching over that that buck. Don't care. I mean one,

22:52

I mean the dough literally has to run off her her spot, her button

22:56

buck or he will get to a point where he's trying to you know,

23:00

do a little incestation. Yeah you don't want that. No, nokay,

23:03

that's that's when Badgeneti's coming and they have and then you have, you know,

23:07

the fish population. It's like they put their eggs out, the buck

23:11

comes over, does what he's gonna do, The fry grow up. He's

23:14

guarding those and then then he needs them. The mom and the buck will

23:17

end up eating somebody else. So I mean, they have no idea.

23:21

They're just trying to spade. Yeah, I mean, it's here's the next

23:23

thing, Like mass don't spawn just one time, like one female doesn't spawn

23:26

one time, like she'll do it multiple times. Especially you know in the

23:30

warmer sort, it's like nine months over the year, it's a bomb.

23:33

You know, that water gets to sixty five and all of a sudden,

23:36

people are looking really shallow, trying to find some of those hard bottoms to

23:40

go after them. Yeah. One of the things that I did notice though,

23:42

and this happened in the tournament. I want to get your opinion on

23:47

it, because my opinion is we need to do away with these inflatable life

23:51

jackets. I'm just not a huge fan of because I've seen so many stories

23:55

that have come out over the last couple of years of them not going off

23:59

when they should, good people having real serious accidents and the life jacket not

24:04

operating the way they should, or a guy's just riding around it starts raining,

24:08

it blows up on them. That happened in our tournament. A guy

24:12

ended up catching a pretty decent wave. There's a lot of wind on Gunnersville.

24:17

It hit his dude's vest and it popped. So, you know,

24:21

I'm I'm a real big fan of having a life jacket that is just a

24:25

life jacket. There's no other thing that needs to happen. What's your opinion

24:29

on some of these inflatables? So I mean truthfully, I mean I wear

24:33

one. I wear a Mustang, like one of the real high dollar ones,

24:37

and I have a Mustang that's not a full and problem. Yeah, my mind is one of the I don't know the particular name of it.

24:41

We get one from Yamaha or I got one from Yamaha last year, and

24:48

it's really convenient, Like I think that's why everybody's on board with it.

24:51

Like it's not hot, it's not bulky. But again, and I'm not

24:55

knocking the companies that make them. There's just always room for error with those

24:59

things to where you know, dude, I even think about it, like

25:02

when I'm running around, I'm like, it literally runs through my mind sometimes

25:06

I'm like, dude, if I were to wreck, I don't know one hundred percent if this thing would keep me up right right? Yeah, Yeah

25:11

it's nice. Yeah, they're expensive. Yeah, it's in the green.

25:15

You know, it has the little monitor, little gauge, Like, yeah,

25:17

it's in the green. Everything's good. But there's if we were to

25:22

take it to where you have to wear a normal one, which why I wouldn't be against. I've only been wearing an inflatable probably three or four years.

25:29

That you would take out all the guests work. There would be no chance that it doesn't work in case. You don't ever want anything bad to

25:33

happen, but it's inevitable it's gonna happen. And what was And I don't

25:37

know the reason. You know, I grew up wakeboarding and water skiing and

25:41

jet skis and all that kind of stuff, so for me, like a

25:44

neoprene life jacket was pretty regular. And then when I got my first bass

25:48

boat, you know, I ride a Phoenix, and Phoenix has and I'm

25:52

sure Skeeter does this too. They've got branded life jackets and they're a full

25:56

vests. Right, We're guys just tired of wearing a full vest, so

26:00

they wanted something a little smaller because I'm gonna be honest, when I'm practicing,

26:03

it's not practicing for a tournament, it's just me fun fishing. I

26:07

don't wear a lifejacket when I'm driving my boat. Yeah, and I know

26:10

some people are like you should. You know, it's still a two hundred

26:12

and fifty horse motor and it's still high powered. And yeah, you can

26:17

have the same issue whether you're in a tournament or not. But I don't

26:21

know. I mean, when I'm in a tournament, I wear that Mustang that I have that's three layers, yeah, but one of them is always

26:26

a vest, right, Yeah, the I kind of get freaked out a

26:30

little bit even if I'm just out there messing around without a life jacking on.

26:34

If I'm just like literally putting around at neely or something like just you

26:37

know, running thirty min one hour here and then thirty mile an hour across

26:41

the lake. Like I don't wear one like you're talking about, but if

26:45

I've got to like run pretty hard just because I've seen crazy stuff happen,

26:48

like you know, prop chefs break or lower units getting knocked off in the

26:52

boat. You know, anything can happen at any time. So it kind

26:56

of freaks me out not to have one on. But I think the fad

27:00

with the inflatable was the pros got them first. And this is like when

27:04

I was in like young the pros got them first, and you know how

27:07

when that happens once, once we get something, everybody's got to have it,

27:11

like it's the best thing in the world. And I think it all

27:14

started from the hot summer months. Like it wasn't bulky, it was real,

27:18

you know, compact it doesn't take a lot of storage up, so

27:21

I think that's the biggest takeaway from it. But again I don't there's always

27:25

that thought in the back of your mind, like, dude, it could not go off and then you're done, Like if you if you wreck by

27:30

yourself and that doesn't go off, which it's not gonna be a good situation

27:33

either way, but at least the regular one will keep you up. I

27:36

mean, that's been my whole thing. Is if I get knocked unconscious,

27:40

which is a good possibility if you're in the boat wreck, Yes, if

27:42

you get knocked unconscious, I want that one thing that's keeping my head above

27:45

water. Yeah, because when I come to, I want to make sure

27:49

that I'm good. Yeah, And look here, I ain't afraid to die.

27:52

But I'm not trying to encourage the situation. You know, I'm not

27:55

trying to fast track it, you know what I'm saying, Like, I

27:57

mean, we ain't just gonna go out there and go an though, you

28:00

know, we run through a bridge or something like, well, you know

28:03

you've got a couple of tournaments coming up. I know you're you're in town

28:07

for a little bit. The bass Master Classic is on the way, you

28:11

guys get back on the elite schedule. You've got the MPFL. There's been

28:15

a conversation that has popped up. I've heard a couple of people mention it

28:18

in the pro world, but I've also heard a lot of people just in

28:22

general talking about it. When y'all are fishing a big tournament, whether it's

28:26

an elite tournament or one of the biggest, the bass Master Classic, or

28:30

if you're a fan of MLF the Red Crest or just one of their tournaments,

28:34

and you know that you have one hundred, one hundred and fifteen boats

28:37

that are out on the water. Do pros or do people want recreational fishermen

28:45

to be on the water at the same time, or do you kind of

28:48

wish that it was open? Well? What do you mean when you say

28:52

open well, open to like you guys, and you know that like all

28:57

limits everybody but us. Yeah, I hate the idea of closing down water

29:02

because I'm the type of person where I say, you go out and fish.

29:06

Yeah, there's a turn, but like Red Crest is on Laylake,

29:11

I'm going to have a hard time putting my boat in at Laylake and trying

29:15

to run around and duplicate what some of the pros are doing. So I

29:19

don't want to fish actively when they are. But it's such a big body

29:23

of water. I could potentially go out and fish. Yeah, uh so

29:27

my opinion, which is worth about two or three cents worth maybe to everybody

29:32

here lately, but my opinion on it is, dude, I wouldn't I love people being out there watching, like, dude, it's so cool,

29:37

But what about fishing. Well, I'm getting to that I'm trying. I'm

29:41

trying to lay it all out for everybody. I want to paint the whole picture because here lately, I've learned that I need to put it all out

29:48

there before I say what I'm gonna say. So, dude, like having

29:51

people follow you and not not even like like I've fished around here locally and

29:55

have my friends and family follow me. That's great, but like random people

29:57

on random lakes on some of our LEA tournaments, like they will literally like

30:00

they're fans of you, like they want to watch you and when you catch

30:03

one, dude, them cheering for you is the coolest thing ever. Like

30:07

it's just it's awesome, Like we don't have a crowd out there when we're

30:10

actually doing what we're doing, like a basketball player, a baseball player. So like having that interaction like in person, like them cheering you on,

30:18

like or if you lose one, man, they're real like encouraging, like

30:21

come on, man, you know, put your head back down, You're good. It Like it's just a cool little deal with that being said,

30:26

because you stage wish. Yes, it's really awesome, Like I really love

30:32

that about the whole sport because they're allowed to be out there. Like it's

30:34

just a whole cool deal about fishing in general. I have had instances where

30:41

and I'm not I don't know who it was. It may or may not

30:45

have happened to me at Logan Martin this past NPFL tournament, but I had

30:49

some guys that were watching me, and I've had to have in other places,

30:52

but this is just the most recent on a couple of little I'm not

30:56

gonna call them sneaky places, but not obvious places, and they were watching

31:00

me and they kept their distance. They were like everything was cool, and

31:03

then I run, I pick up and run to the next one and I

31:07

to get back to where like later in the day, to get back to

31:10

where I'm going, I have to run by this place and they're sitting on

31:14

it fishing. And I'm not gonna say they didn't know it was there.

31:21

Yes, I'm like, so, which is fine, Like you're out there trying to learn. But the only thing I would ask of people is and

31:26

I never said anything. I would never like that's not professionally, It's not

31:30

my place to say something to them. I would just ask for people to

31:33

be a lot more respectful during the tournament hours, you know what I'm saying.

31:37

From we got it from seven o'clock to three o'clock. Like, dude,

31:41

if you want to watch me catch thirty five pounds off of place and

31:45

at three thirty way in starts you want to roller and catch you some so

31:48

be it like we're in the grand scheme of things. The next weekend.

31:51

Yeah, like, dude, mark mark every place I'm going, Like you come out there, You're taking time out of your day to learn what I've

31:56

learned, Like that's part of that's why we're out there. To teach people

32:00

how to fish better, they learn what stretch of docks are good or whatever.

32:04

But and I've just seen it happening over and over again. And man,

32:07

I've had a couple of instances where I've had people like very maliciously and

32:10

intentionally try to ruin my fishing day and the little ball of hate comes out

32:15

because you you kind of and I've had marshals in my boat when it happens

32:20

and they're like, dude, you're gonna say something. I'm like, I don't know if I really should. And multiple times they have said, dude,

32:24

he's trying to ruin your day, like on purpose. I feel like

32:29

you really need to say something. I don't would did not disagree with it

32:32

at all, and then you kind of take it from there. And dude,

32:36

I've we've almost had instances where we've had to call the tournament directors and

32:40

get law enforcement involved because it's gotten so bad. Oh sure like it harassment.

32:45

Yeah, you can't do this stuff like you know you got and not

32:47

even like talking about like the bank stuff, like the dock situation, like

32:52

the private property that I'm not even talking about that I'm talking about people on the water that go out there and do like go mess people up on purpose.

32:59

I pulled up on a hu This is on Lake Lanier. This is three years ago, and I'm fishing a hump. And this hump is no

33:05

bigger than fifty feet by one hundred. I mean, it's small, but

33:09

there was a good concentration to fish our on top of it. Literally,

33:13

I'm fishing lines in the water, the whole deal. And I had this

33:15

guy come by in a center console with you know. But he comes by

33:23

and he's got you know, his wife in the boat, and he's got

33:25

his two kids, and literally he goes right on top of where my line

33:30

is and grat like fumbles a rod and basically throws it out right. And

33:36

I just gave him the look of like what are you doing? Like can't

33:39

you see my lines in the Literally So I didn't say a word, but

33:43

he knew that he did something wrong because he goes what ye lake, And

33:49

I said, dude, I can appreciate that you're allowed to fish it,

33:52

but there's a respect level of like you don't come in on somebody actively fishing.

33:57

If I was just sitting here, then I wasn't doing right by kind

34:00

of claiming my ground for that minute, and then as soon as the troller

34:05

motor comes up, dude, have at it. You want to. This

34:07

guy ends up doing circles around me. Imagine that. And I went,

34:10

you're making this worse for yourself. And of course everybody has a phone now,

34:15

you know, so you can record everything. So I'm a big fan

34:17

of the respect side, which is I'm not going to tell you that in

34:22

the middle of a tournament you can't go out because let's look at the elites. The elites are one hundred and four, one hundred and five guys.

34:29

That's small in comparison to some of the tournaments that happen on lakes. Oh

34:32

god, it will befl It's two hundred and fifty boats, right, So

34:37

why would we give more respect to the elites who have one hundred and five

34:42

boats compared to a lake that's getting two hundred and fifty boats. That's way

34:47

more packed than anything else. But the respect is everything. If I see

34:53

somebody's fishing, I'm not going to cut in front of them. I'm not

34:57

going to pull up on them. I'm not going to wait for them to

35:00

leave and then just go in and try to work that whole, especially if

35:02

I saw him catch a bunch of fish. Yeah, that's that's the one.

35:06

Gonna come back to that absolutely. Yeah. So look, dude,

35:09

here's what I tell people a lot, and the worst one I've ever just

35:13

a quick little rundown at a couple of years ago at across Wisconsin. I

35:16

caught one on a little shallow bar and there was a you know, a

35:20

eighteen nineteen foot aluminum boat John boat, a guy and his son. I

35:23

caught a small mouth dude. I boat flip it, I put it in

35:27

the lava. I look up and they're coming at me at one hundred on

35:30

their trollinger wide open, and like they don't have power poles and stuff.

35:34

So do they get there and it kind of like washes up on it and

35:36

they literally beached their boat on top of the bar like a dude I could

35:39

throw I could throw my spook halfway cast underhanded and landing their boat. And

35:45

I'm like, you're saying it was a little close, it was. It

35:49

was pretty bad. It was pretty bad. And man, to be like,

35:52

I don't know if it was just I don't know if they didn't like us being there or but the kid probably I call it a kid twelve to

36:00

sixteen. Dude, I've never been doll cussed so bad in my life,

36:04

and I've been cussed pretty bad, and dude, he just lit into me

36:07

because I kind of like threw my hands up and the dad's just sitting there and I'm just like it kind of shell shocked me a little bit. But

36:12

like, that's one of the worst instances I've had. But what I try

36:15

and tell people is like when the few times I've gotten into a conversation with

36:19

people about it, I'm like, look, man, Monday morning, I'm

36:22

just gonna go ahead and let you know. I'm gonna be at your job. I'm gonna take your computer when you get to your desk job, and

36:28

I'm not gonna let you in. I'm gonna lock the door. Let me know how good you can do your job when you get there, let me

36:32

know if you're gonna get paid. And they just kind of sit there and

36:35

they're like, well, it's not the same. I was like, but you're keeping me from doing my job to feed my family, to feed my

36:40

wife, and you know, to put you know, pay the bills,

36:44

keep my lights on, right, So look at it from that instance, like Dude, if I showed up and took your microphone away or kept you

36:50

from talking in your microphone, could you do the radio show? I could

36:53

do the radio show, but I am fairly loud without it. Yeah,

36:58

I'm with you, but you know what I get. But that comes down

37:00

to respect. That's and that's what it ultimately is. Like you're never going

37:05

to tell somebody you can't be No, absolutely no, I never get to shut the water down. But there is a respect level because if you wouldn't

37:12

want it to happen to you, then don't do it to somebody else.

37:15

It's like the gold run like and which I mean speaking of that, like

37:19

we've lost a lot of that, like you know, the whole just that

37:22

instance in Gene want to start podcast part two and we can talk all about

37:27

that. Ye now that's all run away from everyday life. Yes, absolutely