0:00

Lines and times. My best friend Wes Logan

0:02

back in the building, Man, Florida

0:06

really great for you, huh.

0:08

It went good. It went good. It could have been a little

0:10

bit better, but definitely blessed to get out of

0:12

there with two decent finishes and when you

0:15

finished the Harris fiftieth had a really

0:17

bad day three, but I'll

0:19

still take it after the practice I had and

0:21

my history on that place.

0:24

So practice was bad, it wasn't great.

0:27

I thought I could get some bites, but I didn't know

0:29

if I could get a big bite And then got

0:31

real fortunate on the first day and caught two real good

0:33

ones and it kind of just it really went

0:35

downhill from now.

0:36

But haven't we talked about this before where

0:39

you could have a really bad practice, but sometimes

0:41

that means you're gonna have a really good tournament.

0:42

Most of the time that's how it happens. Hardly

0:45

ever, have I had a great practice and just went out there

0:47

and it just it kept working.

0:49

So what makes a great practice then, because

0:51

in my mind it would be if you're actually

0:54

catching them, that makes a great practice,

0:56

but that probably isn't the case.

0:58

No, I'd see I get real worried. I've

1:00

done it enough. I know, like when I'm practicing, if

1:02

I run over here and do this and catch

1:04

a big one and then go do something else

1:07

trying to figure something else out and catch another big one, and

1:09

then randomly catch another big one, you like

1:11

you stop and look at the day. You're like, well, I had twenty five

1:13

pounds, but I really didn't figure anything

1:15

out. I just happened to get a random lucky

1:17

bite that day. And if you don't really

1:19

have anything to go on, I feel like great practices

1:22

are you get a couple bites doing the

1:24

same thing, happen to see that, you get one

1:26

or two big bites, and you're able to put a pattern

1:28

together and then look at the weather

1:30

and think, okay, maybe it's gonna get better, or

1:33

they're gonna move, you know, stuff like that. Just

1:35

get a little bit of a hint, and then during the tournament

1:37

it really developed.

1:38

That's when, again, good practice solely for

1:40

you is I figured out I've really

1:43

keyed in how to get a baits they

1:45

like where they're biting,

1:47

what time they're biting, in what section

1:49

of the lake.

1:50

Yes, especially in Florida, because I

1:52

feel like if you're getting bites like you may be

1:54

catching pounds and a half ors, but you could

1:56

very easily catch a eight the next cast like

1:59

figuring that out.

2:00

You guys are given like three days of practice,

2:02

right supposed.

2:04

To until we get a weather delay, and then the

2:06

back the next tournament gets cut out.

2:08

Well, let's say just on a regular three day Okay,

2:10

So you go down to Harris Chain. You've

2:12

got three days to practice. You've

2:14

got like six lakes on the chain. Yeah,

2:17

and then you've got to figure out a morning, a

2:19

mid in, an afternoon bite.

2:21

Correct.

2:22

How do you do that on a place like Harris Chain.

2:24

Uh, I've been there enough and I've tried to sample

2:27

all of them in practice and it's never worked.

2:29

So I just different times a

2:32

little. Would you go to a papka in the morning because

2:34

you haven't been to a papka in the morning or

2:36

No.

2:36

If I was going to go just like way off to a

2:39

popka or a Griffin, I would you know, I

2:41

would go spend the whole day there fish daylight

2:43

to dark and then but you have to realize

2:45

if like let's say this time of year, you find

2:48

a shad spone at Griffin at seven o'clock

2:50

and I ran into this in the next tournament at

2:52

hair I mean at Saint John's, we can talk about that.

2:54

But you might find a shad spone

2:56

at Griffin, but it's done by eight thirty.

2:58

You can't get there. So you've got to figure

3:00

out how to get a bite from nine to two because

3:03

that's the only time you're going to be able to fish there. Now,

3:05

you might fish there all day daylight

3:07

to dark, and then go back there the next day if you caught

3:10

some and figure out if

3:12

those fish, those shad spawn fish will bite

3:15

you know, during the middle of the day some different way,

3:17

you know. So I'm saying, so you just if you're

3:19

going to spend a long time getting to somewhere like

3:21

at the Harristain, you've got to be able to know you

3:23

can get bites in that you know, three to four

3:25

hour window.

3:27

So whenever I fished Florida, and I've

3:29

really only gone as a co, I don't think I've ever

3:32

drugged my boat down there and gone as a pro. But

3:34

as a co, what I've noticed

3:36

a lot of pros do is if you have

3:38

to pick up your trolling motor more than twice,

3:40

you're going to lose that turnament.

3:42

More than likely yes, because you just have to especially

3:44

there, you concentrate on an area when

3:47

you find them biting in practice, if

3:49

they were biting off of this section of pads,

3:52

but then in the tournament they didn't bite over there,

3:54

but you got to bite like twenty yards away.

3:56

You just kind of start expanding that area.

3:59

Yeah, because you you can't

4:01

run to different lakes because it takes

4:03

so long to get there, to get there and

4:05

get back to where. In our format,

4:07

you know, we have a blast off and have to be back in by

4:09

a certain time, So you really cut

4:11

down your even the dead river and

4:13

like the door canal, it still is going to take up an

4:16

hour and a half of your time during the day.

4:18

I did watch most of the coverage

4:21

that I could because obviously our buddy Joseph

4:23

Webster, Yeah, he's

4:25

a midway marine ranger Mercury

4:27

pro, and he ended up finishing

4:30

seventh in the tournament, his first top

4:32

ten. So I was like, man, all the kudos, all

4:34

the accolades to that, because you know,

4:36

as well as anybody you've won one. But

4:38

it's hard enough to get in the top ten.

4:40

Oh did it so hard? Like he figured

4:42

a deal out and actually out he basically

4:44

out fished all of us in Harrison

4:46

Eustace. I mean, so, like I said, hats off to

4:49

him. He either had a bait figured out,

4:51

or maybe he was just stubborn enough to just, you know,

4:53

put his troumotor down and fish. I think it had a

4:55

lot to do with that. But like I said, I

4:57

was really proud of him.

4:58

For sure. It looked like he was having fun.

5:00

I mean, honestly, I'm sure he was catching

5:02

five pounders all the time.

5:03

I would have been giggling too, he told me,

5:06

because we would talk at the end of every

5:08

tournament day and He's like, Spenser,

5:11

I'm just lucky enough

5:13

to get a five and a six pounder right there towards

5:15

the end of the day. I'm like, damn, dude, eleven pounds

5:17

that you're going to the scales with.

5:19

I talked to him in the back line, I think after day three,

5:22

and he was like, caught my five pounder this

5:24

afternoon.

5:24

Again.

5:25

I was like, hey, Bud, are you just making the right moves at the

5:27

right time.

5:27

I mean it was almost like everywhere

5:30

he went between you

5:32

guys would weigh in at like three or four o'clock,

5:34

he'd have to be in around those times between two and.

5:36

Four he would catch one.

5:38

He would catch one, yeah, and it was I mean

5:41

yeah, and he had you know, luckily

5:43

Bass was obviously checking out his

5:46

action and they were putting them up,

5:48

and man, I started I

5:50

just started falling in love with some of the hook sets

5:52

that I was seeing because man, he was sweeping them. Oh

5:54

yeah, you know. I think at one point he put up

5:56

on social media that he had to bust out the old

5:58

broom because he was sleeping look at

6:00

them so good. But then I was watching

6:02

fascination on Instagram

6:05

and they put up my buddy, the Little

6:07

Ball of eight West Logan. Damn,

6:09

dude, I've never seen you set the hook

6:11

and damn near come out of your shoes as much as you

6:13

were doing in Florida.

6:14

Yeah. Yeah, the way I was fishing, dude,

6:16

I had to hit them hard. And you know, I had my swimjig

6:19

rod and sixty pound sunline

6:21

braid and on my swim jig. Dude, I was just

6:24

when I would hook them, I would do everything I could to get them

6:26

out, because I mean, them fishing onto Saint John's are strong

6:28

like the I don't know if someone's wrong

6:30

with the hair is chained, But dude, you'd hook one of them and it would kind

6:33

of fight for a second and then kind of give up. Those fish

6:35

on that river are as main a fish I've

6:37

ever fished for.

6:38

So I noticed your arc rod you

6:40

would set the hook. I mean you were putting your

6:42

back against the wall and that rod

6:45

just handled all the load. But I don't

6:47

think people really know this. How tall are you?

6:49

How much do you weigh? Five eight five

6:52

eight one fifty five? So when you're setting

6:54

the hook, what size? What

6:56

size rod are you using? Primarily

6:59

on sen giant.

7:00

I used a seven six and a seven five all

7:03

week, so a longer rod.

7:05

So for you to set that, cause it's different. I'm six

7:07

fives right, So for me that's a pretty average ride.

7:09

For you, that's a little bit longer.

7:11

Yes.

7:12

Do you have to put that much pressure

7:14

and power into your body to really set the hook?

7:16

I feel like I probably overdo it

7:18

on some of the pound and a half two pounders. Say,

7:21

but here's the thing.

7:22

One you sent over like a rainbow.

7:24

Yes.

7:25

Yes.

7:25

The thing about it is when they when they would

7:27

bite up in those lily pads or in those bushes,

7:30

you couldn't see if because the water was so black

7:32

and the fish or black, you get't know if it was a two pound

7:34

or a ten pounder. So I was jerking as far as I could

7:36

every time. But the way the way

7:38

my swim jigs design, it's not a very like big

7:40

diameter hook, so it's not gonna tear a lot

7:43

you. Basically, I was basically just wanting to drive that hook

7:45

into those you know, fish's mouth as hard as I could,

7:47

because when they got wadded

7:49

up in those lily pads, they it was either gonna rip out

7:51

or I could go get them without the hook coming.

7:53

Are those the new ones that you have with arc? Yeah,

7:55

it is pretty slick. I saw

7:57

them in Mark's Outdoors in Birmingham, Alabam,

8:00

and when I walked by, I was like, damn,

8:02

these are pretty good looking.

8:03

They handled. They've handled every test

8:06

I've put them up against. I've caught multiple

8:08

six to seven pounders on them and

8:10

not flexed any hooks with it not being everybody's

8:12

always has called me, they're like, man, the hook's a little

8:14

small, Like yeah, but the way we built

8:17

it, the coating that's on it, as

8:19

sharp as it is, it's going to penetrate a lot easier,

8:21

and you're not going to have them to flex it to get it through

8:23

their Wow do you have on it? It's one that we built

8:26

actually in arc so it's our hook that we put

8:28

in it. Really yeah, custom design. That's

8:30

what took the longest on the whole jig was getting that hook

8:32

exactly like we wanted it.

8:34

So when you are picking out a

8:36

swim jig, or you're looking

8:38

at a couple of prototype baits and things like

8:40

that, what do you like out of a swim jig?

8:43

Because you're known as like a swimjig.

8:44

Guy, I'm no expert.

8:46

I mean feel that one's perfect like the one that.

8:49

It's probably as close as I've ever seen.

8:51

Between the head design, the weed guard stiffness,

8:54

the weed gyuard angle, the

8:56

angle of the hook. I don't like it from the hook standpoint.

8:58

I don't. Are you used to throw a dirty jigs?

9:01

Nojack, and I want a lot of money on it,

9:03

But it just seemed a little bit over bearing,

9:05

like too much if you were fishing

9:07

around two pounders to three pounders,

9:10

which is normally a good tournament fish like

9:12

so I would just lose some fish with

9:14

that, just because the diameter. The hook was so big,

9:16

it was so it wouldn't hold a trailer

9:19

great so.

9:20

They couldn't get their mouth around it enough for you to

9:22

have room to set the hook.

9:23

No, it was more of like when you did set the hook,

9:25

it was taking so much force to get

9:28

the thickness of that hook to go to

9:30

penetrate. It was tearing like their face.

9:33

So making a bigger hole right where they.

9:35

Could come off. Like a lot of times you'd get one in the boat

9:37

and it would have a you know, a gash and like two inches

9:39

on the side of its face where you did catch it. But you

9:42

know, I've caught some that landed at the troll

9:44

motor that I jerked out of the grass and it sits there

9:46

in phospher A second comes off and it might be a three

9:48

pounder where you just ripped a gape and hole in it.

9:50

See. But part of me feels like with as many

9:53

tournaments that are going on now and as many

9:55

fish are getting caught, there's a lot

9:57

of retreads, a lot of fish that have been beat

9:59

up. And it's where I mean, I've

10:02

caught fish where they're missing half of a job. I've caught

10:04

fish where they've got huge gashes.

10:06

I caught a fish I think I say you a picture.

10:09

It was a crank bait fish and literally

10:11

the crank bait went through its mouth

10:14

and it was being held on by the gash in its

10:16

mouth and the bill underneath.

10:20

Me as a novice fisherman, you

10:22

know, not nearly as much experience as somebody

10:24

like you or Joseph or something like that, I

10:26

wouldn't think that I was doing any of that. I

10:28

would think that that's just kind of the way the fish is.

10:31

Do you feel the hooked slip and

10:33

knowing that you made a gash in that mouth?

10:35

Or doesn't just feel it?

10:38

Does it? Is it a look? Or is it just the fact that

10:40

they come off in the.

10:40

Boat normally, like you'll see them come off in the

10:42

boat, or they'll come off before they get in the boat,

10:45

and or like if you do catch and get him in the boat, look

10:47

at your jig would just fall out because there's nothing

10:49

holding it because the hole so big. Yeah,

10:51

that's that's the biggest thing that's always bothered

10:53

me about, you know, hooks on swim jigs

10:56

and and the way

10:58

we built mine is it's it's a kind

11:00

of a compact deal like a compact jig,

11:02

but it's not. So we put a four alt gap

11:05

on a no, we put a five aft gap

11:07

on a four alt shank. And basically what that means

11:09

is the shank is from the head of the hook the jig

11:13

correct, but you still have the big bite.

11:15

It's just not sticking way out there allowing

11:18

it to get hung up more.

11:19

I like that. I feel like that gives the

11:21

hook less resistance coming through

11:23

any vegetation, but having

11:26

that five ID allows

11:28

them to have something sturdier to get

11:30

into the actual roof of.

11:31

The correct especially depending on what trailer

11:34

you like to use. If you like to use a little bit thicker

11:36

trailer, like the body of it

11:38

where it goes onto the hook shank, you're

11:40

going to have more of a gap in that fishes,

11:42

you know, the top of his mouth.

11:43

You do, like a Z craw or something like that, A little smaller.

11:46

Yeah, yeah, you'll even be better. The more

11:48

gap you can have from your trailer

11:50

to the hook point, you're better off for your hookup

11:52

ratios.

11:53

Well, listen, I thought hair's chained, you know, day

11:55

one. I looked at bass track early

11:58

and I was like, damn, my boys, are due.

12:00

We come out hot. The first morning, I

12:02

was like, oh boy.

12:03

I remember I went into the studio to do the

12:05

Spencer Grave Show with Meghan and I

12:07

sat down. I was like Less and Joseph for six

12:09

and seventh right now and the boys are dominating

12:12

and she goes there. She goes, oh good, like

12:14

do you think that's gonna last? And I go, I feel like those

12:16

guys know where to find fish. And then I

12:18

know you're a buddy of mine, but it felt like

12:21

you ran.

12:21

Out of fish. No, I did it just

12:24

the I had some. Like Day three

12:26

at Saint John's and day two at Harris Chain was just

12:28

a disaster. I don't know. I lost my

12:30

first two bites day too at Harris Chain

12:32

were four pounders they come off, and I

12:34

wasn't getting very many good bites anyway. And

12:37

then day three at Harris I just didn't get any

12:39

bites. I think my area kind of got

12:41

beat up. A couple of the guys that I was fishing around

12:43

didn't catch them either.

12:45

Well to me through day three, first

12:47

two hours at harrismon, yeah.

12:49

Day like I started bits, I got

12:51

one, I had one good you know, four

12:53

four and a half. It just didn't get to Spindner bait

12:55

good. I didn't feel like it did. I think it may have

12:58

actually ate the blades because I

13:00

was able to, like, you know, hit it and it kind of

13:02

rolled on its side and it just come on. H

13:05

Yes, yes, that's why. I mean, there's no

13:08

way it didn't. Cause a lot of times they'll come up.

13:10

I had a bunch of them actually eat the blades, but they were smaller

13:12

ones, and that one just happened to be, you know,

13:14

a good sized fish. But and then I

13:16

just I kept running around, kept thinking they were going

13:18

to start biting, and they never did. Looking back

13:21

on it, Hindsight's twenty twenty, I wish I would have ran

13:23

the griffin. I had a little area over there. I thought I could

13:25

catch ten or eleven pounds, which would

13:27

have saved some points. But you know, it is

13:29

what it is on.

13:30

On like you could play

13:32

Monday morning quarterback. Yeah, beauty

13:35

of having this podcast.

13:36

Yeah, And man, to be honest with you, it's

13:38

my fault because I didn't even it. Never

13:40

once I got committed to Harris and Eustace,

13:43

it never crossed my mind again, which is how I want,

13:45

because I don't want nothing in the back of my mind. But after

13:47

I got back home and everything calm back

13:49

down, I was sitting there. I was like, man, I probably should have ran

13:51

over there, but you know, it is what it is.

13:54

Well, tell Riley your wife that she did a kick

13:56

ass job on social media.

13:57

She's killing it, ain't she's it looks good

13:59

too.

14:00

And I love that she did a video the other

14:02

day where she gave herself a little pat on the back. Oh yeah,

14:04

and we were like, well, who's holding the camera?

14:06

Absolutely yeah, I mean she's making it

14:08

look professional and well we don't even have a camera,

14:10

like, she's just doing it with her phone, So she's she's

14:12

doing really well.

14:13

Okay, when you're in the way in line,

14:15

because you you have a you've

14:17

got a signature move, like I could

14:20

ultimately see this packaged on a

14:22

couple of your swim jigs. You're the only

14:24

guy I know that is

14:26

consistently photographed and videoed

14:29

crouching next to the bait

14:31

tank. Yeah, like using the bait tank to

14:33

hold yourself up? Is that

14:36

you're Do you realize that's becoming your

14:38

signature move?

14:39

No? The only reason I'm doing this because I'm

14:41

about to fall over because my shoulders, my

14:43

shoulder, I'm just like, I gotta sit there. I and sat down

14:45

hardly all day. But yeah, I've uh,

14:48

these last two were really bad. I'd get in and I could

14:50

hardly pick my arm up. But you

14:52

know it. But yeah, I have noticed that all

14:54

the videos at the tank, I'm either I got my knee

14:56

on the tank and I'm leaned over or I'm squat squatted

14:59

down.

14:59

I'm like, you got your a little look.

15:00

Yeah, yeah, a lot of times I'm upset

15:02

that I didn't catch them.

15:03

But do the guys say anything

15:05

to you in the line after Riley's done

15:07

shooting a video, because I mean she's up close and

15:09

personal.

15:10

Not much, No, not a whole lot of people

15:12

talking to me in the back line. They don't they don't really know

15:14

that they've they've become a little bit timid

15:17

around me at the back line.

15:18

Why is that?

15:19

Well, some days could be good. Some days when it's bad,

15:21

it's bad. Well, I don't have the nickname

15:23

for the little ball of hates.

15:26

Yeah, I was.

15:27

I was watching bass track and you

15:29

know, obviously Joseph was catching a couple fives

15:32

and sixes and felt like he had

15:34

pretty good fish to maybe get the big

15:36

fish of the tournament, all that kind of stuff. But Jacob

15:39

Rosnik begging rolling

15:41

in, and I mean, I'm hearing every angler

15:44

up there saying, oh, there's

15:46

a big fish back there. You guys, get ready, and

15:48

I'm hoping it was going to be Jojo just walking out

15:50

there like, hey, man, got ourselves,

15:53

Like I thought that was gonna be it. And when Jacob came out

15:55

and he showed that ten pounder, I

15:57

was absolutely floored. But

16:00

you have to take everybody through the backside

16:03

of what happens behind Dave Mercer

16:05

in the way in line. If you catch

16:07

a nine or ten pounder, you know you have the

16:09

big fish of the tournament. Yeah, did

16:12

Jacob just walk up there and goes, guys,

16:14

I got one, whether he had three fish,

16:16

four fish, five fish, one.

16:17

Fish somehow before he ever got

16:19

in line, everybody when I walked up, everybody was already

16:21

talking about it.

16:22

So I don't know if he had told one person. He had to

16:24

have been on bass track then somebody.

16:27

He may have told somebody when he pulled up,

16:29

because when I walked up there, like, man, Jacob's

16:31

got a big one, I was like, how big is it? And they're like I nine,

16:34

eleven, ten twelve. I was like, good

16:36

God. And then when he walked up, everybody

16:38

was like, you know, let me see it, let me see

16:40

it. And he picked it up. It's like, gosh, almighty,

16:43

it was like as long tall as it was long. It

16:45

was a big one.

16:46

Y'all become kids at that point, right, Like

16:48

you see a big fish like that, and it kind of brings

16:50

you back to like everybody wants.

16:52

To see this, especially one that big. Like I mean

16:54

everybody. You know a lot of people have some sixes

16:56

and five down there in Florida, but you catch an eight

16:58

to ten pounder, like everybody wants.

17:00

It's a big one.

17:01

It's a big one for anybody. I mean, we're professionals. We

17:03

don't catch ten pounders all the time.

17:04

But like Hamner, you know, catching the

17:06

fish that he caught it for, Yeah, it's

17:09

like I loved his line. He's like, I've

17:11

never caught a ten pounder and

17:14

I still think that's great. When

17:17

you are in the bagline and Jacob

17:20

comes in, he's got a big old fish.

17:24

What's the feeling that hits you if

17:27

you hear that somebody's got an absolute giant

17:29

do you immediately start grilling, like, well, how many

17:31

fish does he have? Or you know, do

17:33

you think do you guys look at bass track once

17:35

you're in the way in line?

17:36

Definitely?

17:37

Yeah.

17:37

I mean a lot of us grab our phone as soon as we check

17:39

in just to kind of see how you know, I

17:42

actually don't that much.

17:44

Why not? I feel like that's a set list

17:46

before going.

17:47

I don't know. It bothers me like if I'm real close

17:49

to the cut or something, because bass track's not ever

17:52

accurate, like to a t like a lot of people

17:54

won't have marshals or they won't put it in right.

17:57

I'm I put money into the ounce like

17:59

every time.

17:59

But hang on, isn't there a thing in bass

18:02

where after every tournament, the

18:04

angler that was closest to their actual

18:06

total weight gets like a checker.

18:09

I wanted it a Saint John's. I

18:11

want a thousand dollars. Ye, just

18:14

this last week. Really, I just got the check in the

18:16

mail. Yes, so you get a.

18:17

Thousand bucks if you're just to your weight? Do

18:19

you feel Because I've ridden

18:21

in the boat with a couple pros

18:24

and I would name drop the one, but I'm

18:26

pretty sure he doesn't want anybody to know he'd

18:28

catch a fish. I mean it was a good one, damn

18:31

good one. And I knew how I mean, you

18:33

know it. And he

18:35

was funny as hell. He look over and he goes putting

18:38

two pounds. Let's let him make him sweat a little

18:40

bit.

18:40

I don't.

18:40

And personally, I was like, okay,

18:43

I understand that side of it, but

18:46

as somebody who's a fan of fishing, there's

18:48

a lot of people that are on bass track. They want to know what.

18:51

I've never understood that because here's the deal.

18:54

Let's say they're not.

18:55

Doing it for the fans. They're doing it to mess with you

18:57

guys, I guess.

18:58

But like, I don't, I don't look at I don't. I didn't

19:00

realize that many guys looked at bastraight to begin with. And

19:02

we're not and we're not supposed to in the

19:05

tournament.

19:05

No, But that's how guys get the nickname

19:09

or the persona of being a sandbager.

19:11

I mean, we know you, and I know some

19:13

personally. Oh yeah, they

19:16

roll up and they're like, I got fifteen pounds to

19:19

you, Like, damn dude, yeah you can't count

19:22

that.

19:22

Well, yeah, and they do get a little bit of

19:24

a bad rap with the fans, I will say that because

19:26

they just get tired of looking at it.

19:27

What happens like with other anglers, Like if

19:29

you know what guys in known sandbag does,

19:32

does that kind of get discounted in your mind where you're.

19:34

Just like I don't even want I don't even I don't really

19:36

pay any attention to what they got. Like that's

19:38

why I don't like bass track looking at it before

19:40

I go away in cause like I've already

19:43

figured out wherever I'm at on bass track, normally

19:45

drop down if I've got exactly

19:47

what I put in there, Normally you take about ten

19:50

places off and that's where you're gonna be. Really, it's

19:52

it's pretty like it's really close about every

19:54

time. So you've got and you got to take into

19:56

count. Like if people don't have a marshal, they

19:58

don't want to take the time out of fishing

20:00

day to put them in.

20:01

No, you just got to bite. You want to get right back to the

20:03

hole.

20:03

Right, I do mine, Like if

20:05

I'm by myself, when I go to move,

20:08

I'll put in if I've called anything as I'm

20:10

running somewhere.

20:11

Because y'all have the app Yes, well, I remember

20:13

as a Marshall, I had to download the app. So you just

20:15

have the app up on your phone. You go back,

20:17

you throw your Mustang Survival jacket on, you

20:19

immediately.

20:20

Hit open the app. It's real sick. We open the app,

20:22

it's says bad fish the way

20:24

you know. Submitting it's it's literally takes ten

20:27

seconds.

20:27

Which is which is great because

20:29

obviously you're giving a detailed

20:31

account of how big that fish is. It stinks

20:34

because then the information gets

20:36

input in maybe twenty minutes later. Yeah,

20:39

so you don't really know. Like everybody's on pins

20:41

and needles. I just appreciate the guys are doing.

20:43

Yeah, and I don't want to see I don't want to

20:45

see professional tournaments get to the point where

20:47

like MLF is now where you weigh

20:49

the fish.

20:50

And then it's all amount yeah, because

20:52

you lose the suspense.

20:53

Yeah, I like the idea. I mean, I'm also

20:55

a big fan. On Day four, final

20:58

day of the tournament.

20:59

Track and get new Yeah that's what I was

21:01

thinking.

21:02

You fish for another couple hours.

21:03

Nobody knows.

21:04

Nobody know.

21:05

They used to do that at the Classic a while,

21:07

but I don't know when they stopped doing it. But that

21:09

that builds a lot because you don't know what happened. And

21:12

I mean we're running bass live the

21:14

whole tournament days now. Like

21:16

like when I caught that fish, the four pound youre talking about the detch,

21:18

I caught it with like ten minutes left, Like normally

21:20

they cut it off at like one and you'd never know

21:22

what happened for the next two hours. But I

21:25

mean people want to people want to see the live

21:27

stuff, but the bass track deal. The one thing I'd

21:29

like to say is when you

21:31

put that if you're catching them really good on bass track

21:33

and like early in the morning, like that first that hairs

21:36

chain when I did, I didn't have a big bag, but I jumped

21:38

up real fast. Well there's I

21:40

bet I had thirty companies and people

21:42

share that on their socials like that

21:44

morning. Sure, when I got back in, I could sit and I'm

21:47

like, so you're getting all that exposure even though

21:49

you hadn't done great. You jumped up real fast,

21:51

so your name's out there, like, hey, let's keep up with West

21:53

the rest of the tournament.

21:53

But that's also a side of the entertainment.

21:57

Is entertainment one hundred percent.

21:58

Yeah, I want to see somebody

22:00

set the hook like a fucking monster.

22:03

That's what I just want to see you Jack, right.

22:05

Yeah, But when I when

22:07

I watched some tournaments, and like, I also

22:10

realize that there's some baits that you kind

22:12

of have to finesc do that nice sweep. And

22:14

that's why I appreciated Jojo on.

22:16

Some of his he was sweeping.

22:17

He literally made this dude. His

22:20

personality came out like crazy

22:22

at Harris Jean because he

22:24

looked back at his camera and he go, it's

22:26

fixing to get right

22:29

across his body. And I know his

22:31

personality, but I love the fact that I started

22:34

to see that I know your personality. So

22:36

when I watch clips of you and

22:38

I see you set the hook, it's

22:40

true. I'm like he's mad at the world right now.

22:42

I'm I'm pretty I'm pretty intense when I'm out

22:44

there. And that's the thing, Like I had a live camera that

22:46

second day, and man, I'm not going

22:48

to talk a lot, like I'm not that guy now. I mean,

22:51

if everything goes great and we got a good big lead

22:53

or something, I thought, but I know I'm out there to fish,

22:55

like I'm out there to do my job, and you're

22:58

there watching and yes, I will like explain

23:00

what I'm doing, but that cutting up and

23:03

not like Joseph, but like when them guys

23:05

catch one and they're at all giggly

23:07

and running around that that ain't my deal. Like we're

23:09

there to fish. We're there to put fish in the boat. Like

23:12

I'm gonna show you how I fish. You've

23:14

got a camera, You're able to see exactly how

23:16

I've caught my fish. Like that's what we're

23:18

there for.

23:18

There was an interesting thing that took place.

23:22

I don't know if it was Harris Chain or if it was

23:24

Saint John's. Trey mc kenny got a

23:26

penalty mm hm. He ran through a no wag

23:28

zone that wasn't in no wag zone any other time.

23:30

Saint John's bass made it in a no wag zone

23:33

for the tournament. A lot of people

23:35

don't realize that that you guys have state

23:38

laws, yes, laws

23:41

on the actual body of water, but then

23:43

you also have bass rules that you have

23:45

to fall. So before every

23:47

tournament, do you guys have a

23:50

zoom meeting? Is there a sit down meeting?

23:52

And is that where you guys go over the rules?

23:54

Yeah, we have a miss lease. Our tournament

23:56

director will send out a link in our text

23:58

message that is I don't think it's zoom,

24:01

but I don't know. It's a it's a video deal.

24:03

And you get on there and watch the record it. You just watch

24:05

it.

24:05

Yeah, she'll record, she'll record it, send us to it

24:07

it. Normally she sends it the day for the tournament, from

24:10

between three and six o'clock, like you know

24:12

when it's coming. You just kind of it comes right after

24:14

you get your boat numbers, so like you can't miss it and

24:18

you are required to why it's just like going to

24:20

a meeting, like the sit down meet. Obviously

24:22

we don't have those no more. And I

24:24

mean they explain it to a t very well.

24:27

And she said straight up on the

24:29

CSX Buffalo Bridge is

24:32

no wake for safety reasons. I went back and listened

24:34

to it again after he

24:36

said that it wasn't posted no wake.

24:38

So do you treat that like a high school

24:40

thing where it's like you want to you want to scroll

24:42

the way to the back, and just said, accept.

24:44

I don't even supposedly he admitted

24:47

that he never even opened it.

24:48

Oh really yeah, well he did get the

24:51

penalty you got was an hour and a half where everybody

24:53

blasted off. He blasted off, but then

24:55

he had to sit at the dock for an hour, and that's right.

25:00

I don't know what penalty would have been

25:03

the right decision. I feel

25:05

like an hour and a half is actually a pretty good penalty

25:07

because that bite in the morning, if you're missing an hour

25:09

and a half of that, And it proved to be costly

25:12

for him because that was a very

25:14

bad day as far as being on the water. I think

25:16

he ended up getting a limit that day. But if

25:19

he had that hour and a half back, and the

25:21

fact that he's a rookie so he's trying to get into

25:23

this world, I don't think he'll ever miss another one

25:25

of those videos again.

25:26

No, I would advise him to not.

25:29

And the next thing is like there

25:32

was a big discussion I saw in some

25:35

comments about him

25:37

getting snitched on or rated

25:39

out or see. What people don't understand

25:42

is in our rules, if we us

25:45

as an angler, see somebody break a rule and we

25:47

don't say something, and then they get

25:49

caught and they know that we saw it, we're

25:52

both guilty. We're not guilty as the

25:54

other.

25:54

Yeah, you're an accessory exactly because you

25:56

witnessed creat fraction.

25:58

If I saw him run through there, and I was just like, just

26:00

Trey well, and then somebody finds

26:02

out, well, Wes will fish or not blow that bridge? And I saw

26:04

Trey run thought as Wes said anything, west

26:07

Ain't said nothing. Well, then Wes gets a phone

26:09

call, Hey, why didn't you? Why you call us?

26:11

And I love the fact. I mean, there are a lot of guys in bass

26:14

that are really good at self monitoring,

26:17

self governing. You know, I've watched a lot

26:19

of videos Palamick the year that

26:21

you won way Lake or sorry

26:23

not late Neeli Henry the year you won Neely

26:25

Henry Pallainick called Lisa

26:28

and says, I got a really weird thing

26:30

that happened. H I want to explain

26:33

it to you. Let me know what you think. And

26:35

he had to take time out of catching fishing. I mean, he was catching

26:37

fish almost every other cast. But

26:39

the fact that he called in swindle the

26:41

same exact thing he was in a tournament.

26:44

He did something with a fish. I don't know if he was caught

26:46

on the outside or whatever the infraction was,

26:49

but he didn't have anybody in the boat. And

26:51

I remember he put out a video where he's like, look

26:54

there's other guys that won't do this. I

26:56

am going to make this phone call because

26:58

ethics is a big thing. If we lose ethics

27:01

and fishing, we are not

27:03

going to have tournaments. Because now, you

27:05

know, going down the list of tournament

27:08

trails, you're at the top of the top of the Bass Master

27:10

Elites. You got the Bass Pro Tour with MLF,

27:12

but then MLF has a lot of different steps

27:15

all the way down to you know, Weekend Warriors

27:17

and bfls. There's

27:19

a lot of talk right now that co anglers

27:22

are just not signing up anymore because

27:24

they don't want to get caught behind a Weekend

27:26

Warrior who thinks they know live scope

27:28

really well as big as some of the polls do. They

27:30

don't want to sit out there for eight hours. I can understand

27:32

that I fished in the back of the boat. I totally understand

27:35

that. But the problem that I see

27:37

is if you start making all these

27:39

lower tier tournaments become

27:42

solo boaters, you're going

27:45

to see the amount of infractions of cheating

27:47

go up. And how do you monitor that

27:49

when you've got two hundred and fifty boats on a Saturday

27:51

camp right?

27:52

Yeah, and like and like Slick posting

27:55

on TikTok, Slick Johnson said the other he

27:57

said, fishermen, there's some bass fishermen,

27:59

then they are gonna cheat as long as a doll runs

28:01

barefooted. Ye, And he's one hundred percent

28:03

right. We don't need it in professional

28:06

fishing or any kind of fishing tournament fishing.

28:08

But it's it's obviously, you

28:11

know, getting more relevant, the

28:13

cheating and the felling polygraphs and all

28:15

that, and it's just there's there's no need

28:17

for it. And I don't know, maybe people need to be made

28:20

examples of like they did back in the day where

28:22

I'm not gonna say what they did, but

28:24

they made it a point that you don't need to come back around

28:26

here cheating.

28:27

Shoot, let's talk about the Walleye tournament

28:29

guys. Yeah, that that story, when

28:33

viral as viral can be, that was even bigger

28:35

than the fishing community. Yeah, you know, I had people calling

28:37

me in They're like.

28:38

Yeah, it was all over the news and everything.

28:39

They're like, y'all do this do you stuff filats

28:42

and pass And I'm like, that's Walleye guys,

28:44

Like they do something completely. Do you guys put

28:46

wits and fishing I'm like, I don't even have time.

28:48

No, but what I'm whatever even think to do that?

28:51

Like, it's just see, those guys have been doing it for several

28:53

times. I mean we're talking, We're talking over multiple

28:56

seasons, multiple tournaments, multiple boats,

28:58

won a lot of one hundred thousand dollars.

29:00

I mean in the grand scheme, it is

29:03

stealing.

29:04

Yeah, that's exactly what it is.

29:06

Yeah, because you guys, the

29:09

objective is different. But you guys are

29:11

playing high stakes poker. Yeah, you

29:13

take five thousand dollars, you say, bass, here's

29:16

my money. They go, you qualified

29:18

to be here, You're in the tournament.

29:19

I'm playing for that hunter you're in.

29:21

Yeah, it's up to you. As

29:23

soon as guys start cheating and starting

29:25

stealing from that pot, that kiddie you

29:28

are stealing from a casino, and

29:30

as soon as it gets caught out. And I mean,

29:32

I love the fact that you know, in Alabama,

29:34

there's a kid I won't say his name, but there's

29:37

a kid in Alabama who has failed two polygraphs

29:40

and has become you know,

29:42

the black eye of even

29:45

local tournaments. I was talking about Tuesday night

29:47

ers, church tournaments. Just

29:50

most people would say silly tournaments like sixty

29:52

bucks. But I'm telling you, if I find out you

29:55

cheated in a tournament where I paid sixty bucks, I'm

29:57

not mad about the money. I'm

29:59

mad did the fact that you feel that you

30:02

can get away with check.

30:03

That's exactly right, Small, Yes, that's

30:05

a great way to say it, because here,

30:08

Yes, I mean there's some guys

30:10

around the area that I fished that Neeli

30:12

Henry Logan Martin that I mean they failed

30:15

multiple polygraphs and yeah,

30:17

you might get one. I mean there was one is this where it

30:19

was a couple of years ago. It was just an evening tournament

30:21

deal, a little championship, and they didn't tell him they were behind

30:24

the polygraph. Well, he won, and he

30:26

took the polygraph and failed it, and

30:28

he lost his mind, you know, acted

30:31

the full and went and paid for another

30:34

lit detector to do it again to prove

30:36

he was innocent and failed that one too.

30:39

So dude, like how

30:42

I and man, there was times where there's guys

30:44

that show up to these little evening tournaments and you

30:46

know, four hour tournaments. If they show

30:48

up and they let them fish, well to get our money back and go home.

30:50

Oh yeah, yeah, it's happened two or three times, and

30:53

it really just proves a point.

30:54

Like that's why I do love social media

30:56

for this, because you know, there's a guy that's pretty

30:59

active on social media and he's just a weekend

31:01

warrior, really solid guy around the area,

31:03

and he is not letting anybody forget

31:06

that somebody failed apology es. And what I

31:08

like about it is, if that guy showed up to

31:10

a tournament, I already know what he looks like. I already

31:12

know what his name is. He's got enough of a black

31:15

cloud that circulates and follows him, whether

31:17

he wants to say he's not guilty

31:19

or whatever. Yeah, I mean, if you show

31:22

up to a tournament, I see you. I'm

31:24

not fishing no, And I'm going to tell everybody else

31:26

this dude's failed multiple PolyGram.

31:28

Yeah, he's going to win today, Like just I

31:30

don't care what you catch today. He's going to

31:32

be the last one to weigh in. He'll beat

31:34

you by a little bit and he'll have a big fish. Every

31:37

single time. It's like ritting on the wall, and like

31:39

it happens that it just blows my mind that it

31:41

just continues to be okay.

31:43

And I hope more tournament directors look at

31:45

that and they go, we can't allow that. No, we just

31:47

we can't do that. Okay, let's

31:49

switch gears to Saint John real quick,

31:52

because I definitely want to talk about the

31:54

difference in Harris Chain being

31:58

a bunch of lake that are all connected

32:01

by canals and

32:03

something like Saint John's, which is a title

32:05

fisher m.

32:06

Hm, completely different.

32:07

I mean, what's what's the thought

32:09

process when you go into something like Saint John's

32:11

where you know you're gonna deal with water coming

32:13

in and water going out.

32:15

Yeah, Luckily we've I think for a lot

32:17

of us we had been there. You know, we've been there multiple

32:19

times, not that time, at this time of year,

32:22

but you kind of had somewhere you could start,

32:25

like to try and figure out something

32:27

in two days, because man two and it's really truthfully,

32:29

you say two days, you're not going to fish

32:31

all day on Wednesday, like you're gonna be dead

32:33

by the time. You know, you're not gonna fish till dark. So you

32:36

really get about two and a half or a day and a half,

32:39

you just kind of I mean what I did. I just covered as

32:41

much water as I could, I fished as fast as I could

32:43

if I'd get a bite, I would just you

32:45

know, kind of figure out what was going on in

32:47

that area. How I got the bike and I'd move, you know, eight

32:50

or ten miles down the river and see if I could duplicate it

32:52

or find another little area you could get a bite. And

32:55

I just basically I don't do this a lot,

32:57

but I waypointed every bite I got, whether

32:59

it was a twelve venture or a four pounder, and

33:01

I and I basically sampled all

33:04

those places during the tournament. So I

33:06

think a lot of us kind of figured out

33:08

what bait to use or what area that you wanted to

33:10

be in, and then just broke it down during the

33:12

tournament setting the hook on those twelve

33:14

inentures or yeah, absolutely.

33:17

Okay, So in in practice you're

33:19

setting the hook because you want to see what sized fish

33:21

you got.

33:21

Yeah, and that's

33:24

that's right. And a lot of times and one thing you got

33:26

to watch in Florida and on Saint John Driver

33:28

there's a lot of mudfish, a lot of bow fenn, grin or

33:30

whatever you want to call them. So you had to check

33:32

because the first bite I got was to the first

33:34

two bites were both grin, and I was like, I'm gonna

33:37

jerk till one of them's a bath. And

33:39

then basically just I think with the tide,

33:42

with that water moving up and down, hardly

33:44

ever, are you gonna pitch on this stump

33:46

right here or this log and a

33:48

two pounder you shake off a two pounder. That two pound

33:51

is not gonna be there tomorrow. He

33:53

could be gone in two hours or an hour,

33:55

but there may be another one that swam up. So you just

33:57

kind of figured out, hey, I can get a bite on this

34:00

hide on the down current side of

34:02

the log, where if you find another one, you know, you kind

34:04

of put it together.

34:05

How much information do you find out, like

34:08

when the water's coming up, when the water goes

34:10

out, because a lot of people think it's just rise and fall,

34:12

it's it's in and out. Yeah, but

34:15

if you're fishing an area and you've got lily

34:17

pads, are we talking about a three

34:19

inch difference when the water is low? No?

34:22

We were well at Saint John's. We were where I was

34:24

fishing was like a foot and a half real foot,

34:26

you know, sixteen inches at twelve to sixteen

34:28

inches?

34:29

And were you getting better bites when water was

34:31

up?

34:32

Uh?

34:32

It was more of it just needed

34:35

to be moving one way or the other. Because

34:37

with a tide situation, I'm not

34:39

a tied expert by no means, but you have like a forty

34:41

five minute to hour two times different

34:44

during the day that's just dead. It's not moving.

34:46

It's either a dead low or a dead high. It was

34:48

not good at all like that. You could

34:50

fish over the best stretch on the river and

34:52

not get a bite.

34:53

So your goal in the morning, knowing if

34:55

it's dead low, dead high, you're like, I

34:57

gotta fish my best stuff at this time,

35:00

at this time, and then when it's

35:02

a dead zone, yes, maybe

35:04

I'll go over to some more traditional things that usually

35:07

catches them. And basically so the tide

35:09

is trying to manufacture a bike.

35:10

The the times of the tide during the two days

35:12

of practice were a lot better for me for

35:15

what I feel like I was doing. And it

35:18

had I got one last day of it on day

35:20

two or day one when I had the big bag

35:23

and I started running out of the

35:26

coming off of a high tide coming to the low.

35:29

That makes sense. So when we were when

35:31

we started off practice, the low

35:33

tide was at like I

35:36

don't know, six thirty in the morning, so

35:38

as we started practice, you had an incoming

35:40

tide for like four hours, so you had constant current.

35:43

The water's coming up, they're wanting to feed. Well.

35:45

Then around lunch it would be a you know, a dead

35:47

high and then at one o'clock it would turn and be coming

35:49

back out, so you most of your day

35:51

the water was moving well. As

35:54

the tournament progressed, the low tide ended up

35:56

being around eight thirty or nine, so

35:58

you would have a dead at nine and a

36:00

dead around three.

36:01

Is that based on the moon cycle?

36:03

I have no idea.

36:05

I just know.

36:07

There's a lot of charts out there and you can put in for

36:09

this section. The weird thing is an

36:12

app that that I haven't found app

36:14

I just look on the internet. I know a lot of the I think

36:16

Garman has a deal it built in their graph.

36:19

Because like some of the guys from Virginia, John

36:21

Cruz Schmid, those guys they

36:24

fished a lot of title fish. James, Yeah,

36:26

you start going up more into that Chesapeake

36:28

coastal side.

36:29

You know.

36:30

Piznik's the same way. Even Ike and Ellis

36:32

has fished a lot of title places, so they

36:35

kind of get a leg up in places absolutely,

36:38

it's.

36:38

It's a weird deal. I'm not a fan of tide

36:41

because you can fish. They don't have that

36:43

on the co Yeah you could, you could fish. You

36:45

can fish through a great area and it be the wrong

36:48

time and you never know it right like so, and

36:50

that was another thing, like with

36:53

just getting one or two bites on a stretching practice.

36:55

Well you may say, well I caught a pound

36:58

and a half or here with the tide do and then well

37:00

what if I check it when it's like this, I might catch three

37:02

or four. And that happened to me on day two.

37:06

I went down stretch, I'd caught one twelve incher and then

37:08

I ended up catching like three two pounders.

37:10

That I mean, it helped me at the time, but like they

37:12

just move so much. But the weird thing about

37:14

the tide there is I don't

37:16

know if it's the wind blowing or what,

37:19

but sometimes when it's scheduled

37:21

to do one thing, it's not. It's

37:23

completely wrong and then it just jumbles

37:26

everything up.

37:27

How did the bass react on

37:29

low to high tide? A

37:32

little more lethargic on low and a little

37:34

more active on high.

37:36

More they get very lethargic if

37:38

it's not moving like you

37:40

can and you can watch it stop in

37:43

a matter of minutes, and everything will

37:45

just stop and then all of a sudden in forty

37:47

five minutes, and you can watch your clock here, it'll

37:49

come back the other way. And when it starts coming

37:51

back that other way, you better get to where

37:53

you think you can catch them. I mean

37:55

I would just fish my way, just bouncing around on

37:57

stuff, and when i'd see the tide move, dude, I'd run

38:00

twenty or fifteen miles the other way so

38:02

I could get to where I thought I wanted to be with that

38:04

tide. Not necessarily running the tide, but

38:07

knew what area of the river I wanted to be in when it was

38:09

at a certain.

38:09

You certainly don't want to get too far away from where you were

38:12

getting activity.

38:12

No, definitely not.

38:13

I mean I know some guys were Rodman,

38:16

and they were like, I'm going to stay here.

38:17

Yeah, well you don't have to see you have No, that's

38:20

the only deal with Robin. You have no tide like once

38:22

you you know, figure them out over there. But and

38:24

I started practicing, I had a lot of guys figured them out

38:26

over there. No, well they don't for some reason

38:29

they will not live on the bank over there, Like I

38:31

don't know if it's so clear, but it's it's just a big timber

38:33

pond basically what looks like. I've

38:36

caught them over there one time when they were spawning on the

38:38

bank, but other than that, it's it's

38:40

they get out there in that timber on them bait balls

38:42

and you know, start schooling and stuff and they

38:45

just you know, life scope really dominates in that

38:47

pond.

38:48

This has been lines in Times and Spencer

38:50

Graves that's vas Elite West logan,

38:52

the little ball of hate.