0:01

I'm really excited about today because

0:04

actions that took place not only

0:06

on this podcast, but through

0:08

the Alabama Bass Trail, Silicaga

0:11

Marine and a lot of people involved. I

0:14

honestly feel like challenges

0:16

were put out to the government and

0:19

it worked. Kay Donaldson,

0:21

who runs the Alabama Bass Trails with me. My

0:23

buddy Daniel Vasquez is also with

0:25

me. November,

0:28

you get a phone call k about

0:31

a possible slot limit on the Coosa

0:33

River. Now, if you live outside of Alabama

0:35

and you're listening to this podcast and

0:38

you're sitting there going, what do I care about the Cusa

0:40

River?

0:41

By far, the Kusa River.

0:43

Is maybe one of the

0:45

most fished river systems

0:48

in the continental United States, which ultimately

0:50

means it's probably one of the most fisher river

0:53

systems in the world. Correct,

0:55

So when we get news

0:57

that there's a possible impact on

0:59

the Cusa River, it's all hands

1:01

on deck. So tell me about how

1:04

you found out this was going to be a possibility.

1:06

I was invited by the Department of Conservation Natural

1:09

Resources to come to Montgomery and meet with them

1:11

to discuss the results of the Neely

1:14

Henry study that they did. It was a three year

1:16

study talking about tournament mortality

1:18

along Neely Henry and the Cusa

1:20

River. So I went down on Wednesday,

1:23

November the sixth to discuss the results

1:25

and was given several options of what

1:27

could transpire, but also

1:29

then a proposal that the biologist

1:32

was going to make to the commissioner that

1:34

would impact the entire Cusa River.

1:36

Were you aware that a study had actually

1:38

taken place on Neely Henry.

1:40

Yeah.

1:41

We actually had worked with the department

1:43

and providing samples of bass that

1:45

we had weigh in during our tournament,

1:47

so we were aware that they were

1:49

doing a study. We've worked with them on several

1:51

studies that they've done with the Swaba hog

1:54

program and other samplings

1:57

and seeing net samplings and things like that, so we've

1:59

worked with them on a number of projects, so

2:01

we were aware of it. I

2:03

don't know that I was aware that it was just studying

2:06

tournament mortality.

2:07

I was a little shocked to find

2:10

out that they were making such

2:12

a snap

2:14

decision on information

2:16

that they acquired off of one lake. You

2:19

know, Cousa River, Six lakes starts with

2:21

Weiss, ends with Jordan. There's several in between,

2:23

and the ones in between are really the most notable.

2:25

At all, and you get Neeli Henry Logan,

2:28

martin Lay Lake. Lake Mitchell is one

2:30

of the smallest parts of it, but still a pretty

2:32

good fishery. And when

2:35

I saw some of the decisions that they were making

2:37

off of one lake, I thought this

2:39

should be step one in a possible

2:42

step six. But then

2:44

you saw the money that was associated, I mean,

2:46

just under nine hundred thousand dollars

2:49

for an Auburn study.

2:51

My mind was blown. I'm like, there.

2:53

Should be more than a two day sample

2:56

or a couple weeks study for

2:59

that kind of month.

3:00

Yeah, And I don't know what all went into the

3:02

study. I didn't get the chance to talk to

3:04

the biologist. I got a chance to read the study,

3:07

so I have no idea how that

3:10

figure comes to be. That seems

3:12

like a lot of money to us as well. We

3:14

operate on a real thin budget, so eight and

3:16

forty years old thousand dollars seems

3:18

like a lot of money.

3:19

You know.

3:20

I think open lines of

3:22

communication are always important, and we certainly found

3:24

that to be true here with this study. And then

3:27

with the expectations of what the Conservation

3:30

Apartment thought the expectations of the anglers

3:32

are, and then what the true expectations of the anglers

3:34

are, and what the true expectations of tournament anglers

3:37

and tournament organizations are.

3:39

I think that's important.

3:41

One of the things that you just brought up tournament angling

3:43

is.

3:43

Why so many people got upset because

3:47

there was so many conversations

3:49

that were happening through email, different

3:52

screenshots were getting posted. It was almost

3:54

like everything should have been buttoned up

3:56

from the department side and

3:59

it should have come from one source where

4:01

this is what we're talking about, this is the

4:03

plan, because it just got messy,

4:06

and when things get messy, it gets really sloppy.

4:08

But it felt like all the

4:10

attacks that were happening were solely.

4:13

Based on tournament anglers.

4:14

Now, Daniel, you've worked in the fisheries before

4:17

as somebody who's had to study fish

4:20

different bodies of water. How vital

4:22

is it for somebody to actually know

4:24

what's happening on a given body of water.

4:27

Yeah, that's a great question. You

4:29

know, understanding population,

4:34

the size of the population, the estimates,

4:36

getting all those surveys every single

4:38

year is really important. And going back

4:41

to the budget of the nine

4:43

hundred grand typically when these states

4:45

and they're looking for grant

4:47

money, there are certain allotments

4:49

that you seek and you either

4:52

overrun the allotment or you kind

4:55

of spend less, shall.

4:56

We say, and give me give

4:58

me it? For instance, Well, you

5:00

know, when you do.

5:01

These studies, you're hiring multiple different

5:03

individuals. Some of these

5:05

people have doctorates. You're running

5:08

through these through university programs, and

5:11

you know, you sometimes can have a decent amount of

5:13

people on board with those and the studies can go for

5:15

months and months and months, years and years and years. So

5:17

when these state agencies go out looking for grants,

5:21

that's kind of how they perceive that, how they

5:24

they get their money.

5:24

Shall we say, So, there's a lot of pieces.

5:27

There's a ton of financial coah

5:29

exactly. So they may not have spent nine

5:31

hundred grand, but.

5:32

That's what they seek.

5:35

To be able to be able to do the work, shall

5:37

we say?

5:38

So, after this study takes

5:40

place and all the conversations start,

5:42

you and I sat down to do a podcast. We invited

5:45

Lee Holmes of Silicaga Marine to come

5:47

in. He's extremely passionate and

5:49

he's somebody in the state Alabama. I think

5:51

he deserves a lot of credit for this of

5:53

being able to get restocking as

5:55

a bill and on the books. I don't

5:58

know where that stands right now. I'm hoping

6:00

that that's the next logical step that we kind

6:02

of go after. But we got

6:04

the news recently that

6:06

the slot limit that was proposed fourteen

6:09

to twenty inches, which effectively would

6:11

kill tournament bass fishing on the Kusler

6:13

River, we get news

6:15

that they're.

6:16

Not going to go ahead with that.

6:17

There's one piece of this puzzle that I saw

6:20

that I was like, we got to talk about this. The

6:22

way it was crafted was at this time

6:25

that leaves the door open. I took a

6:28

little issue with a couple of people who put up videos

6:30

that were like, Oh, the slot limit's dead

6:32

and it's this, and it's that, It's

6:34

not this is a possibility,

6:36

right k for what you know that

6:39

if the Department wanted to say, no,

6:41

we're going to put this in, they don't really have

6:43

to go through some of the steps that they've gone.

6:45

Right.

6:46

Well, what we learned, and I think is

6:49

very important, is, you

6:51

know, we were led to believe that the Commissioner

6:53

could sign this and it become effective January

6:56

one. That's what I was told, That's what

6:58

the other organizations were told. In

7:00

the end, as we go into the House

7:02

Committee to have our bill,

7:04

which was to stop any

7:07

regulation going into effect without other steps,

7:10

you know, being tried first.

7:12

That was the bill that was in front.

7:13

Of the House, that got approved through the House Committee

7:15

and then got changed to a different committee.

7:17

But what we found out is is that they

7:20

can recommend the commissioner and

7:22

he can recommend

7:24

or make a regulation, but it does have

7:27

to go to a legislative oversight committee

7:29

that has one hundred and twenty days that

7:31

public comment can be made. Legislators

7:34

can interview, they can interview

7:36

the scientists that did the work, they

7:38

can interview stakeholders and things like

7:40

that. So what we found through this process,

7:42

and I think that's very important, is that even

7:45

though this regulation is there, it

7:47

does have to go through a legislative

7:49

oversight process that is one hundred

7:51

and twenty days that will offer for public

7:54

comment, legislative comment, and

7:55

then it can go into

7:57

effect, or it can be rewritten, or

8:00

it can be taken away altogether.

8:01

So where do we feel we stand right now? Then?

8:04

Well, I think in good faith the Department

8:06

stepped away and I think they are open

8:08

to the conversations with the stakeholders,

8:10

tournament organizers, tournament anglers,

8:13

recreational anglers. I feel

8:15

like in good faith this decision was made,

8:17

but I do think there is a strong burden

8:20

on the tournament organizations to step up

8:22

their game as far as fish care goes.

8:25

We had long conversations about this, and

8:27

I'm talking hour long conversations

8:29

about fish care. About whether or not

8:32

to minimize the crell limit. That also came

8:34

into play when we were talking through this, So

8:36

we didn't just go in and sit down and say

8:38

we do not want to slot limit and we will, you know, be

8:41

mad if you do this. There were conversations

8:43

about water quality issues, dissolved auction

8:45

level issues, habitat issues, vegetation

8:48

issues, whether or not there

8:50

is an issue over pressure

8:54

issues on the lake, and how many tournaments that

8:56

we have, and you know, I think it's

8:58

fair to say all tournaments are not built equally.

9:00

All tournaments are not the same as far as fish

9:02

care goes, fish care penalties go. We

9:05

personally don't fish July, August and September

9:08

because of the hard fish care conditions

9:11

that we face a number of

9:13

recreational tournaments and a number of charity

9:15

tournaments have their tournaments during that period because

9:18

that's when they can get the most anglers because they're

9:20

not fishing other trails. So, you

9:22

know, do you limit the number of fish that

9:25

you can weigh in during the summer months, we

9:27

ask about lowering the creole altogether from

9:29

ten fish to five per person?

9:31

Do we see a day?

9:34

And you know, because their

9:36

science says that people aren't harvesting bass

9:38

to feed their families.

9:41

And I don't disagree with that.

9:42

I mean, if you look at if you look at the amount

9:44

of licenses that are sold, I'm

9:47

willing to bet that there's

9:49

a healthy majority of licenses that get

9:52

sold that are solely for tournament anglers.

9:54

You know, they know that.

9:55

When they cross the state line, they got to have a license

9:57

for that state. You don't see nearly

10:00

as many guys sitting on the bank as maybe you did

10:02

in the seventies, oh one hundred percent.

10:04

I you know, our concern in the department,

10:07

and I will give them credit for this. Their

10:10

issue with lowering the kreel is

10:12

because food cost is at an all time high

10:14

and if someone is needing to supplement

10:16

their family's food source from

10:19

the resource, they should be allowed to do that.

10:20

And you know, I applaud them for that.

10:23

But they say that their research shows

10:25

that people aren't feeding their family from the resource,

10:27

but if it was a need, they didn't want

10:29

to prohibit them from being able to

10:31

do that.

10:32

But then doesn't that also go into the water

10:34

quality, because after living

10:36

on the Cousa River, you know,

10:38

Daniel and I have talked about this where he

10:42

said to me, hey, let's have some crappy that

10:44

we caught when we were on a recent trip. And I was like,

10:46

that's all you, buddy, I'm not doing

10:48

it because I've always heard that the fish

10:50

that you catch out of the Kusa are not necessarily

10:53

healthy because it could have high levels

10:55

of this or high levels of that. The

10:57

water quality is not awesome, So

11:00

I'm not going to take a risk. And even

11:02

you, Daniel, you were like, well, I was talking to my buddy,

11:04

and my buddy was like, you can have a couple, but

11:07

don't eat every single day.

11:08

Yeah, there's a consumption order on most

11:10

of the lakes in the on the cous River, as it is on

11:13

the Tennessee River as well. There's a limited amount

11:15

of consumption you can have per week. And I don't know

11:17

about each individual like what that is, but like on

11:20

the Tennessee River on Wheeler. It's like

11:22

three ounces per week that you can

11:24

take and be considered safe.

11:26

Well, like we've all noticed this with

11:28

the information that gets out there. If you don't know

11:31

that information, you just decide, hey, we're going to

11:33

have a giant fish fry, and Uncle Henry

11:35

comes over and he's just slamming crappie

11:37

and bass and all that kind of stuff. And next day

11:39

you find out Uncle Henry's in the hospital. You

11:42

know, people don't know. That's why grocery

11:44

stores and people going to get their

11:46

meat and their fish there. There's stringent

11:49

orders with the FDA and all that kind of stuff,

11:51

so it's a little bit of a gamble. I applaud

11:54

them for saying, hey, if we're going to try to feed

11:56

people, but we also have to give

11:58

people the real information about what they could

12:00

possibly be consuming if that's what

12:02

they were trying to do.

12:03

I agree, and I think people like justin

12:05

Overton at Couser Riverkeeper and people like

12:07

that do try to keep people as informed as they can,

12:10

knowing where to go to find that information, whether

12:12

it be through the Department of Health in the

12:14

state of Alabama, whether it be through Cousier Riverkeeper,

12:17

Tennessee River Keeper, and all of that. It's good

12:19

to be educated on that. Again, we

12:21

don't see that. We do life coverage. We don't go to

12:23

the bridges and see tons of people there. We don't

12:25

go to the bank and see tons of people there. I'm sure it

12:27

happens, but we don't see that

12:30

either. So you know, I'm

12:32

thankful I won't have to track that because I think it would be

12:34

very hard to do that. But you

12:37

know, I think this

12:39

is a long education process. And

12:41

I said this on the Album Bachelor podcast. Those

12:43

who reach out to their legislators, those who reach out

12:45

to their county commissions, their city councils. This

12:47

is a continuing education process and

12:50

it shouldn't happen every five years. We have

12:52

to continue to say, you know, this

12:54

is what's important to the anglers, this is what's important

12:56

to us economically, this is what's important to the resource

13:00

challenged. Our team straight up album

13:02

Bashall team, be on your p's and q's.

13:05

One thing we've noticed in our first couple of

13:07

tournaments of the year is the amount of fish we're fizzing

13:10

early in the year that we never fizzed before.

13:12

We had thirty fish at Smithlake because

13:15

of ford facing sonar.

13:16

Right, because guys are going out deeper and they're

13:18

bringing them up in the swim bladder has to react

13:21

to the different pressure change.

13:22

And I had an angler specifically tell me when

13:24

we were in Montgomery how uncomfortable he

13:26

is with the fizzing process. He said, I'm

13:29

fifty to fifty of whether or not ill fis that fish

13:31

worried that it will die in the

13:33

live well because I've either let too much air

13:35

out of its bladder or punctured, you know.

13:37

He said, I'm really worried about that. So we

13:40

encourage guys, our fish care guys

13:42

available to help with any of those if they're

13:44

interested in learning how to do that. If they're uncomfortable

13:46

with doing that. As we see ford facing

13:48

sonar progress, then we

13:50

need to start doing that. One thing we mentioned to the

13:52

department is they

13:55

really need to look at their sampling,

13:59

the ways that they're doing they're sampling their shocking surveys

14:01

and things like that, because with ford facing sonar,

14:04

we've seen that the fishing has changed,

14:06

and maybe our ways that we've

14:08

always taken our surveys, akrill

14:11

surveys and shocking surveys, maybe that

14:13

needs to change as well. I don't know if it does.

14:15

I'm not a biologist. I'm not trying to pretend to be a

14:17

biologist. But we're seeing major

14:19

changes in the fishing industry based on, you

14:22

know, technology, and is that something that

14:24

needs to transition into their

14:26

studies as well.

14:27

Do you feel like this is an ongoing conversation then

14:29

I do.

14:30

I feel like I feel

14:32

like it has to be an ongo going conversation.

14:34

We were really shocked and

14:36

I think we were given an opportunity

14:39

to make a difference. And I think this is a decision

14:41

that's good for the entire state of Alabama. But

14:44

I think that if we go to bed

14:46

and forget about it and don't continue to

14:48

think about it,

14:51

it may not be the outcome in

14:53

the future. I think we have to continue

14:55

to stay abreast of it. I think anglers have to continue

14:58

to be upfront with their

15:00

fish care. I think we need to think about

15:02

those summertime tournaments, even

15:05

our June tournaments. We have to be very very careful

15:07

in June because it gets hot here so fast.

15:10

So I think anglers need to keep top

15:12

of mind awareness of it, make sure that they're doing the

15:14

best for their live wells, taking

15:16

care of the fish while they have them, and then us as

15:19

organizations, how we care for them afterwards,

15:22

and how we deposit them back into the resource.

15:24

I think we have to be careful.

15:25

Daniel.

15:26

You living in Florida before you move to Alabama.

15:29

You know, you guys see fishing

15:31

in hotter weather, more

15:34

common in more lengthier

15:36

times of the year than anybody else.

15:38

What's the fish care process, like, what's the

15:41

mentality of the angler in Florida? When

15:43

it comes to those struggling fish.

15:45

We probably our mortality

15:47

rates probably high or even

15:50

higher than probably it is here. The

15:52

difference here is and I think

15:54

the difference overall is just people do not keep

15:56

bess. They just don't keep them

15:58

to eat them, so they're not managed correctly

16:01

to recruit bigger fish. And

16:04

I think you know, in my opinion, you

16:06

never you never manage

16:08

a fishery specifically for an economic

16:11

value, because you'll never have a healthy fishery

16:14

because then you tend to favor different fisheries.

16:16

Right when it comes to forward

16:19

facing sonar and things like that. Yeah, it's changing

16:21

the fishing world too, but that's still

16:23

coming down to the fisheries that it's affecting the

16:25

most. Where people are catching fish, those are crappy.

16:27

They're not keeping bass. So

16:30

where you're seeing in the ford facing sonar

16:32

world. As far as management

16:34

in Florida and Alabama, it's

16:38

night and day and different in both ways. Here

16:41

in Alabama. Uh, you

16:43

know, you probably would be better off eating

16:45

some of the fish around here than you would be in Florida.

16:49

And it's really strange to see people not keeping

16:51

bass because they do taste good. But

16:53

I understand that, you know, the health you know

16:56

risks around here with the cusa and

16:58

it being so previous polluted.

17:02

Uh, so you know, there's there's a lot to

17:04

it. And you know, me just moving

17:06

here, I moved here specifically so I could fish

17:08

the KUSA and tournament bass fish and

17:10

I didn't know anything about this slot limit until

17:13

a month ago. Everybody

17:15

has the same resources. Everybody's using the same

17:17

tools to navigate these waters

17:20

and to you know, do their surveys and they're

17:22

you know, there's these biologists are the smartest they've

17:25

ever been. And that's another thing

17:27

you have to understand. If they make a decision, they're

17:29

making the right decisions. So challenging

17:31

those decisions is always going

17:33

to have pushback and going to be, you know,

17:36

not the best thing for the I.

17:37

Think the grand scheme of this one

17:39

especially was it was

17:42

bad communication from

17:45

top to bottom. Now, Kay, you

17:47

have a much different world because you

17:49

are in lockstep with what

17:51

they talk about and what they know, and you're kind of on

17:53

the inside. But as somebody who's in the

17:55

public and just kind of seeing what's happening,

17:58

you could see just from social media how

18:00

distorted information gets. I

18:03

mean there were people posting a

18:06

week and a half two months later after

18:09

the talk of a slot came

18:11

out, and people are like, Hey, we're not coming to the lake

18:13

because of the slot limit, and it's like, no,

18:15

no, there is no slot limit. There's

18:17

a rumor right now, it's talk like there's

18:20

nothing set in stone. So even

18:22

in this misinformation, we've already

18:24

had people who have impacted the local

18:26

economy by saying I'm not going to go there

18:28

because of this. Right, Where

18:31

do you kind of think that piece of

18:33

the puzzle comes in and how it affects the local

18:35

communities.

18:36

Well, we actually had a team that didn't sign

18:39

up this year that's fecial with us several years because

18:41

of the concern on the slot limit and

18:43

understanding their conversation was

18:46

we're really not there to win, We're

18:49

there to compete and get a check,

18:51

hopefully make it to the championship and

18:54

under. And I think this is one thing that was really eye

18:56

opening to the department, is in

18:59

the South Division, which three of those lakes could

19:01

be on my schedule next year? Odds

19:03

are all five of them are going to be on the

19:06

Coosa River Team Trail list.

19:08

And they would have to be.

19:09

Yeah, And then you've got the Silicoga Marine Trail.

19:12

So when you're looking at that and it's three of the

19:14

five events that you're going to fish and you're hopefully

19:16

to get a check and get to the championship or

19:18

whatever, which may be your favorite lake, it

19:21

really makes it hard when you put

19:24

a fourteen to twenty inch slot limit on there. I

19:26

had a guy tell me specifically

19:28

that weighed in in the BFL weighed

19:30

in almost twenty pounds, and he said, literally

19:32

none of those fish would have been able to be weighed had

19:35

the slot limit been there.

19:36

Those are the videos that I was putting now, like every fish

19:38

I caught on Logan, I'm like, I'd have to throw this one.

19:40

Back right and I agree that

19:43

economic impact

19:45

cannot dictate regulation, but

19:48

I think we have to consider that

19:51

in the conversation because a lot

19:53

of these places, and I've said this a thousand

19:55

times, are not downtown Birmingham.

19:58

They're not hosting big concer in the

20:01

halls, they don't have top golf, they don't

20:03

have you know, tons and tons

20:05

of things going on. This is their source of

20:07

tourism and because

20:09

of that tourism they build soccer fiells that is quality

20:12

alive for their kids and their

20:14

grandkids, and so I think it

20:16

has to be a topic of conversation.

20:18

We certainly want the lakes to be here

20:20

because we have kids coming up that want

20:22

to fish and grandkids coming up that want to fish.

20:26

One of the things sitting in that room,

20:29

the lady said, I have a nine year old child that

20:31

for Christmas got all fishing gear for Christmas,

20:33

so it's important to them as well. I think the

20:36

communication aspect is very

20:38

important. I

20:40

think pr people like myself,

20:42

marketing people like myself, we communicate

20:45

very differently than biologists

20:47

communicate. So I think that's kind of where

20:49

some of the breakdown maybe happens. But

20:52

I think we came to a really good

20:54

understanding. You're right, Lee

20:57

Holmes is so very passionate, and

20:59

I got to watch them at full blown,

21:02

whether we were in Montgomery, whether we were sitting

21:04

down at his store. Very

21:06

passionate person has a loyal

21:09

listening audience and a loyal fishing audience.

21:12

But when he told me about a seventy four

21:14

year old gentleman that came in about a ninety four

21:17

thousand dollars Ranger bass boat because

21:19

he finally got into the Alabama bass trail,

21:22

that was remarkable to me. And I think that story

21:24

deserves to be told. That It's not

21:27

just the tournament organizations that are in

21:29

arms about this. It was the boat

21:31

dealers and the nineteen people that work for

21:34

Silicaga Marine.

21:35

And the dealers.

21:37

Oh yeah, you've got Airport Marine and and

21:39

you know Freedom Marine and with Dowi

21:42

Marine, and you got a lot of

21:44

dealers here that the

21:46

majority of what they sell our bass boats. I think with

21:48

Dowie probably sells more recreational boats than

21:50

bass boats. But for the most part, you

21:52

know, that's that's kind of where we are. And I

21:55

think the conversation's open, and I think just the

21:57

expectations in us bringing that

22:00

anglers don't expect to go to the Coos River and

22:02

catch seven eights and nines. They

22:04

expect to catch plenty three fours and fives.

22:07

And that's the expectation overall

22:09

of the anglers. Yeah, if they catch a six pounder, that's

22:11

awesome. Seven pounder, that's great, But those

22:13

are unicorns. The three

22:15

fours and fives are where our anglers

22:18

want to be.

22:19

But that's what I noticed in the press release

22:21

that was put out on Outdoor Alabama is

22:23

they were talking about, hey, look, the population

22:26

of fish is healthy, the

22:28

size of fish, we have three fours

22:30

and fives. We want to have those

22:32

six, seven and eighths. Because that's what anglers.

22:34

Were bringing up.

22:35

I mean, this is this is truly

22:38

a don't bite the hand that feeds you kind of

22:40

situation because people were

22:42

up in arms. Ah, they catch them like

22:44

that in Florida, and they catch them like that in Texas.

22:46

You can talk to this Daniel completely

22:49

different, completely different.

22:51

So when people bring up like other states,

22:53

it's the management side, but it's also the habitat

22:56

in which they live exactly when

22:58

we're talking about Alabama, like, hell,

23:01

I'd love to go out and catch a five pounder.

23:04

Daniel and I have talked about this when we're out fishing.

23:06

Where I went to lay Lake

23:08

for a tournament recently, I got two bytes all

23:10

day, and I got a two and a half

23:13

on my fifth cast of the day, and then

23:15

I caught a five pounder on a swim Juney.

23:17

I weighed seven and a half pounds.

23:19

That five pounder to me was a

23:21

giant and I thought to myself, Man, I got a

23:23

chance to win big fish. Yeah, and I lost

23:26

it by nearly a pound and a half. So

23:29

that to me was enough to where I was like,

23:31

you know what this is insane? Is

23:33

this is insane that if we're talking about I

23:36

want to catch fish like that are six

23:38

seven pounders, Well cool, Go to Texas,

23:41

go to Florida, go to the places that are managed

23:43

for that. And if we get to that point here,

23:46

awesome. But we have a lot of pressure and a lot

23:48

of people fishing.

23:49

Right and I think when you're comparing the

23:51

Coosa River to a lake fork, that's

23:54

just insane to.

23:55

Do that just for the water size.

23:57

Right from the.

23:57

Water size, the ecosystem,

24:00

the nutrients and everything that's in the water. Everybody

24:02

wants to talk about the stocking program. But

24:05

you can only grow big fish with big

24:07

food. You have to have food to feed the

24:10

fish. That is science

24:12

one O one. I mean the same way with pay problem.

24:15

The bait is there, No, the bait is there?

24:17

I agree. I think as fishermen we have

24:19

always said catch, catch release,

24:22

catch release, catch release, and that

24:25

may be part of where we are now is

24:27

we have so many fish and the food

24:29

sources is split between

24:31

all of them. So it's just like a person

24:33

if you go on a diet and you lose weight. That's

24:36

kind of how it is. I mean, the less

24:38

food in front of me, the less I'm

24:40

gonna weigh. So the only way

24:42

to grow fish is through a food source, and so

24:45

that's that's kind of where we are. You either manage

24:47

the amount of people eating off one plate or

24:50

yeah, you get more food.

24:52

I know that you at the Alabama Bass

24:54

Trail. You guys are usually working a

24:56

year, maybe a year and a half ahead of time

24:58

before the news came out about the

25:01

slot limit being taken off the table. What

25:03

were some of your plans for twenty six.

25:05

Well, one of the plans was to go from

25:07

a January to May timeframe and try to stay

25:09

out of the summer months altogether. That

25:12

was really hard to do when you look at having

25:14

to move everything up a month. That means you

25:16

move your registration up a month, that means you move

25:18

your payments up a month, and looking at what

25:20

that looked financially for our anglers, we really

25:22

didn't like that look move our championship

25:25

up to September. Still pretty hot

25:27

in September, so.

25:28

We looked at that.

25:30

We looked at how we

25:32

could arrange our tournaments for the Couster

25:34

River to be earlier in the year.

25:36

The problem with that.

25:37

Is, so your plan was still to go.

25:39

We were still planning to go to the Coosa River. I'm

25:41

not I'll say this, I

25:43

can't abandon those people because they were

25:45

with the Alabama Bastral and have been with us and

25:47

been loyal to us for twelve years.

25:50

So we could not abandon them. We are the Alabama

25:52

Basstrail. We cannot abandon the Cooster

25:54

River. Those people have invested in us,

25:57

they have believed in us, and

25:59

I said that we had to have a schedule

26:01

before we ever had a boat. So understanding,

26:04

they agreed to pay the Alabama Bashor to

26:06

come to their location before we had one boat signed

26:08

up, and the fact that we sold out

26:10

in seventy two days year one and

26:12

now we're selling out in seven minutes. They

26:15

believed in us, then I'm not going

26:17

to abandon them.

26:17

Now. We were going to have to figure out a

26:19

way to do it.

26:21

Worried about whether or not we would have to go to a three

26:23

fish limit, whether or not we would have

26:25

to go to a fourteen to twenty inch slot limit.

26:28

We were still planning on.

26:29

Being there, but our goal was,

26:31

Okay, if we can be there January to May, does

26:33

that help our story

26:36

with the Department of Conservation, If we can move

26:38

to an earlier time frame, if we stay off the water

26:40

when it's hotter, what can we do

26:43

to come to a compromise? Because

26:46

understanding, if you go to the regulation book

26:48

right now, and something I pointed out to them last week,

26:51

if you go to the regulation book now, there's not

26:53

a regulation on the Coosa River. Tournament

26:56

organizations set a twelve inch minimum

26:58

because we understood the importance of that eight

27:01

nine, ten eleven inch early spawning

27:03

bass. Those are your very first

27:05

time spawners. We understand the importance

27:07

of that. So we set a twelve inch minimum

27:10

on ourselves. There's not a regulation

27:12

in the book, so going from no

27:14

regulation to a fourteen to twenty inch

27:16

regulation seemed extremely radical.

27:19

But again they felt like the

27:23

outcome of that radical change would

27:25

been very radical on the other end, that we would have seen

27:27

those six, seven and eights in the matter of

27:29

three years. I think understanding

27:32

the expectation of the anglers was very important.

27:34

That we don't expect that we expect three fours and fives,

27:37

but we were not looking to abandon our

27:39

friends in the at the Coast River.

27:41

That's right.

27:41

I think this That's why I think all this goes right

27:43

now is this is a step

27:46

in the right direction.

27:47

For the communication.

27:49

If we can continue to have a communication

27:51

with the DCNR and be able to say to them,

27:53

like, let's have some valuable

27:56

information, Let's figure out what's happening here.

27:58

Let's have tournaments like yourself and like

28:00

some of the other ones, really figure out

28:03

good ways to regulate within the regulations

28:05

that are out there. And let's also

28:07

take a look at the population

28:09

who loves the fish. If you're going to put

28:12

on a jackpot on a Tuesday night,

28:14

be smart about it. Don't look at those

28:16

hot summer months and say, well, I'm

28:19

just going to have one because I want to have one. If

28:21

we're going to be stewards of the resource, we

28:23

have to be smart twelve months out of the year.

28:25

We can't just do it on select months.

28:27

I agree.

28:28

And one of the things that they brought up, and I

28:30

don't know the list of organ

28:33

of places that they're looking at, but one

28:35

of the things said by the Commissioner in our committee

28:38

meeting and again echoed in our

28:40

private meeting with the Deputy Commissioner

28:42

was they have over thirty million dollars

28:44

of access points that they are

28:47

currently working on and a lot of those are going

28:49

on on the Kusa River, and he

28:51

said tournament abled

28:54

facilities. So that's exciting

28:57

to me that the state is looking at investing over thirty

28:59

million dollars in tournament able facilities.

29:04

That's exciting.

29:05

When we look at what was done at Leesburg Landing,

29:07

we now see Lincoln Leesburg Landing

29:09

one percent because

29:11

of Alabama Power in the land

29:14

the city of Leesburg and their in kind

29:16

and money that they did for match and then

29:18

the state coming in with the one point whatever

29:21

they spent to develop that as a

29:23

tournament ready location.

29:24

So I'm excited to see that list.

29:26

I'm excited to see what projects

29:28

that they're working on on the Coosa River. We're

29:31

always excited about tournament ready facilities,

29:33

so excited about that. Thank them for thinking

29:36

about that. We've seen the addition

29:38

of the docks at Weiss Lake. There's lots of projects,

29:40

Mint Creek up and Gunnersville, lots

29:43

of things they've done to help better

29:45

our tournament locations and better the ability

29:48

of us to host tournaments and locations we

29:50

wouldn't be able to go to otherwise.

29:51

Weiss Lake Prime example.

29:53

These conversations are going to continue to happen

29:55

as they do. I'll have k On and

29:57

we'll get everybody in here to really break them

29:59

down. I appreciate your time as always

30:02

again, you can read the full

30:04

press release when you go to Outdoor

30:07

Alabama dot com