June 5, 2025 • 35 mins
The world of bass fishing has been against "scopers" but what they don't know is most of them know how to win without it.
Tucker Smith, an Elite Series rookie, shared his three National Championships in High School, the million dollar tournament with Bass Pro Shops and his Elite Series win on Lake Fork.
On top of all that, Smith shared how his friendship with fishing legend, Aaron Martens impacts him to this day.
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
It's Lines and Times on the iHeart podcast network, available
wherever you download the podcast. Thanks so much for checking
out the last couple episodes.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Excited about Today.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
He's a three time high school national champion did with
several partners. He has won a million dollars in a
fishing tournament. Most recently won an Elite Series tournament with
bass Master, his first ever win.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hopefully one of many. But Tucker Smith is Onlines and
Times today.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Tucker, I want to start out just kind of getting
to know you a little bit, because I mean, I've
met you a handful of times, but I think there's
a lot of things that people hear about you or
make up about you that they want to believe because you're.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
One of these new anglers, you're young.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Everybody lumps you in with being a scoper and thinking
that you can't handle a bait caster. And I kind
of loved what you said in that last tournament where
you were like, what did.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
You say something of out a bait caster?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I said, I still know how to catch one on
a bait.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Cast, which I love. So Obviously you've heard the noise
of people lumping you as just a scoper, Yeah, I have.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Thanks for having me first of all. But yeah, I have.
But I mean I grew up fishing around the Kusa
and fishing without live scope. I didn't start live scoping
until my sophomore I think it was the beginning of
my sophomore year of college when I started live skipping
a lot. So I grew up not doing it. And
now it's new technology that we, you know, are able
(01:37):
to use and we need to use it if we're
able to use it in tournaments. So that's what I've
been doing. But I like doing it all man, I've
been like that tournament. I caught some on a swim jig,
some on a football jig. But I'm good at scoping
for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
A lot of people don't know your pedigree either. Like
your grandfather introduced you into fishing, I think, like most
people that get out and go fishing. How instrumental was
your grandfather bo.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, definitely he got me into it. We used to
fish the Marks Outdoors tournament every year when I was
growing up, and it was it was a big deal
for me because he had a boat back in the
day when I was growing up and to be able
to get out there with him on logan Martin. That
was that was what got me started and got the
(02:20):
fire under me. Going to those tournaments. Seeing that you
could win money bass fishing, catching fish was something I'd
never seen before and that it really got me pumped
up and maybe want to do it.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Was your grandfather really good at it? Was he winning
at those Marks Outdoors tournaments?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
No, I mean he fished like the Federations and stuff
like that back in the day, and he was a
good fisherman for sure. But yeah, just being out there
with him was was what got me into it.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I've shared this with several people, I'll share it with you.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
But I grew up on an incredible bass fishing lake
and I never fished when.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I was a kid. I wanted to.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I used to go to this local tackle shop and
I walked in and I would ask him all the time,
like what are the fish bites? And this one guy
that worked there brought over a storm wigglewart crank bait.
So I gave them all the money that I had
in my pocket. I think it was like five bucks
or something. I've never thrown that bait. I have it
in my box on my boat, but I'll never throw it.
(03:14):
It's like too sentimental and it's a four dollars crank bait. Yeah, yeah,
it's ridiculous. Do you have anything in your boat that's
kind of an ode to where you came from or
a good luck charm?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Definitely some of the rods and reels that I got
from Aaron Martin's I've got.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You still use those in tournaments? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I do. I've got three of them that I use
in tournaments, and I always have them like on the
front deck of the boat.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Why would you use something like that?
Speaker 1 (03:40):
You ever worried like those are gonna break and you
won't have those anymore.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I mean, I've always thought about that, but then I realized,
like I think about it a little bit more, and I'm like,
Aaron would definitely want me to be using those rods
and reels. He doesn't want them to sit up on
the shelf and collect us Like if it snaps or
something breaks on it, I'm just gonna put it up
on the shelf anyway. Yeah, I mean, I'd rather catch
fish with it and use it. They're good reels and rods.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
What did his relationship mean to you?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
A lot?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
For sure. I'd to see somebody treat younger, like the
younger generation with so much respect and uh and not
just about fishing, but just being a person was means
a lot to me, especially when I was young. He
took the time to talk to a lot of the
young high schoolers and kids growing up and fishing. So
just seeing that really opened my eyes and makes me
(04:30):
want to, you know, be involved in the younger generation.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
How did it come about, though, Like you don't really
think that you were in what middle.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
School, high school, early high school?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I think about like when I was in high school,
I wasn't really friends with my friend's parents, But that's
how it worked out with you and Aaron.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, definitely. I mean his his daughter was on the
fishing team that I went to, and yeah, he was
always around the school, always around the fishing team, and
just hanging out with him through fishing, like it really
taught me a lot. But yeah, it was just all
through fishing was how we got a relationship.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Well, what was the first instance that you guys actually
went fishing together.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
I was probably early high school going to Logan Martin
was probably the first time I went fishing with him.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And you just called him and you were like, hey,
you know I'm really interested in this. Or did Aaron
Martin's the bast master champ that he was say, hey,
won't you come fisher may Well?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
His daughter fished with my cousin in high school. So
I don't really know how it started. I don't really remember.
I just know that we became friends and then we
ended up going fishing.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
You finished second in the tournament before, and you finished
second to your roommate on the road, Paul Marx, who's
an absolute hammer everywhere he goes really heartwell, was kind
of set up perfect for him.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Do you guys have a lot of conversations during the
tournament week about like how you felt going into the
next day.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Not really, I mean we were just fishing, like it
seemed like every day. We were just fishing new water
mostly so it was kind of like anybody's game. Whoever
just ran into him the last day was gonna win.
But it was so tight, like first, second, and third.
It was all just like one fish. So one fish,
one big large mouth or one big spot out there
(06:14):
just would separate you from winning and getting second. That's
what happened. But I had a bigger bag than Paul did.
The last day, but he had a big bag the
first day, but it was all up to that one bite.
And I think the first day he had two big
large mouth and I only had one big large mouth
the second day, So it just could have been that
one fish that separated us. But yeah, we're Me and
(06:35):
Paul are super close friends. And to be able to
pull off two wins back to back weeks with your
best body, that's something that's really special.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
I feel like the crew that you're running with, you
guys could have some really good success over the next
couple of years when it comes to the elites, like
a Meal is no slouch, Lowberg is really good, You're great.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Paul is awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Do you feel that you guys really bounce off of
each other well and you have a competitive nature to
really go after the three or four of you.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
It's fun because we're all we're all rookies, we're all
like new to this. So to be able to travel
around the country and fish these tournaments with your friends,
it's a lot of fun. But definitely we're competitive and
we like to have we like to have fun. But
the house is full of hammers for sure. Lowberg and
a Meal and Paul they're all really good fishermen. In
(07:26):
any tournament of the year, they can win that tournament.
So just to be able to travel with some guys
that you know and have fun, it's it's a good time.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Well we went to when you guys went to Heartwell,
I got a message from a friend of mine. They
were like, I don't know who to pick for my
fantasy team, and I said, well, the choice is pretty clear.
You're gonna have to have Tucker in there, a Meal
in there, and Paul in there. Yeah, you kind of
just slid in. I was like, damn, I made some
good picks. I should have played fantasy. All right, I'm
(07:54):
going to play something for you, and I just want
you to share with me what was going through your
mind when has happened?
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Ninety two pounds ten ounce to start the day, looking
for twenty nine ten to take the lead, thirty four
pounds fourteen ounces, thirty four fourteen and with one hundred
and twenty seven pounds eight ounces, Tucker Smith is leading
the tackle Warehouse bass Master Elite on Lake FOURK.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
So you hear Dave Mercer lose his absolute mind like
he does when he announces anybody who wins what was
going through your mind when you were looking at the
scale for the weight?
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Uh, I was in shock. I thought Coyle was gonna
have a really big bag because he had an eight
pound lead going into the final day, and that's a
big lead in a bass fishing tournament.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
He's scary to fish against.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, and he's he was also scary because every single
day of the tournament his way got better and better.
Like I think the first day had like thirty, second
day had like thirty two, third day had like thirty
five or something.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
What do you think it is? It makes him so
intimidating the people.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
He's just silent. He's got a lot of sneaky baits.
He's quiet. I think it's because he doesn't speak very
good English. He's very scary.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
It's it's so funny to watch, like guys like Koya
and Taku, two different personalities but both equally dominant when
they're on the water. He has an eight pound lead,
you sack out a pretty big bag that final day.
I mean, thirty four pounds is nothing to sneeze at.
And you knock Trey McKinney off. Then you're sitting there,
(09:28):
you're waiting for koya to go in. Once they announce
that you're the winner, what happens.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I didn't think it was real. It was weird because
the whole week felt like a dream, and especially that
day felt like a dream, just because I was in
a rotation where it was, you know, go to the
lake and fish the tournament and then come back to
weigh in and then go back home. And I was
in that like same rotation for four days straight. My
(09:57):
body was just like, I guess you used to that,
So I don't know. It just felt like I was
supposed to, you know, go back to the house and
go back to sleep and get ready for the next day.
But I actually had won the tournament. I don't know.
It was so surreal, and.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Then he had to do all the media stuff, yeah,
pictures exactly, And it didn't set in until probably a
week later that I had actually won.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And didn't it screw you up on the next tournament.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I mean I went straight from there to the Sabine
River and it was like a six hour drive the
next day after the championship day, so I didn't really
get to practice too good the first.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Day because I saw somebody I saw somebody said, oh, Yeah,
these guys are really good.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Look Tucker wins last week and now he's dead. Like,
didn't you oversleep like day one or something.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
No.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I was kind of late the first day, but I
mean that's just.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Fine, Like it's your tournament. You could do what you want.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
I didn't ever sleep the first day of the tournament.
I ever slept the first day of practice because I
was tired from the last week.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, I mean why not.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Yeah, But I mean it's it is what it is.
That place was definitely tough, the sabine, and I figured
him out. The second day I went I was going
to head to a place that to fish that I
wanted to fish, and I ended up there was a
ton of boats running to this one area. The place
was like flooded and there was only two areas of
the lake that had cleaner water. So every boat was
(11:17):
like in the areas that that had the cleaner water.
And I was heading to one area there was a
ton of boats. I was like, screw that, I'm going
to turn around and go fish by the boat ramp.
I caught one fish by the boat ramp all day,
and I was like, well, guess one venture. Yeah, a
good twelve entures, and I was like, well, I'm going
to go back to the place I should have gone yesterday,
and I ended up catching almost eight pounds in saving
(11:39):
my tournament.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
But I'd said on an earlier episode of the podcast
that I think it's a little ridiculous that bass Master
does the Century Belt at places like Lake Fork, because
you would assume that a Century Belt would be maybe
to one or two people a tournament, but the top
ten all had over one hundred. Texas is just a
(12:02):
big bass factory. Do you feel like that maybe the
Century Belt needs to be changed to a one twenty
five and higher at a place like Texas bodies of
water because of how big their fish are in the quality.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
I don't think so. I mean I think that I
think just to make the top ten is a big deal,
and then to get a Century Belt on top of that,
it's basically like getting a plaque for making a top
ten at a place like that. So I mean, so that.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Doesn't feel like a participation trophy type deal.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
I don't think so. I think it's a big deal.
No matter what I that said.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
I think they should do something on the sabine too,
like if you catch over let's say twenty pounds a day.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
They should give you something.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Oh, there's no way you're gonna catch over twenty that's
my point. I think it's over ten pounds a day.
It's like it's like a Dame deal.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Like bron came in here after that tournament.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
He was talking about, you know, he won the Sabine
what was it last year or the year before, and
he was talking about Pat Slopper and he was like,
you know, Pat didn't have at fifteen pound.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Day that everybody looks for.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
So you go from a place like Lake FOURK where
you're sacking thirty four pounds on five fish, and you
go to Sabine where you're pumped to get a one
point seventy five.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Oh, it was like the highest of highest of the
lowest of lows. It's like insane. Well, I'd catch a
three pounder, it's like catching a ten.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I'm glad that he brought up that.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
It was a long drive after Lake four because we
were kind of catching up right before we jumped on
the pod and we were talking about tournament schedules and
you know, I'm fishing like bfls and abts and all
that kind of stuff. And I can't fish in the
morning because of the radio show, so I have to
find myself fishing in the afternoon. I was kind of
kicking myself because I feel like, well, if you don't
really know what's happening in the morning, it can be
(13:43):
a real struggle, since most tournaments end around two or
three o'clock in the afternoon. But you said that you're
pretty much a afternoon guy the whole time.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I hate the mornings with a passion.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
So what is it like, Because a lot of people
would feel like that you're kind of cutting You're cutting
your day in half.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I just fish. I just hate waking up, first of all.
But his second off, I wake up and I get
out there, and I fish till dark instead of the
morning till twelve. I fish from you know, mid morning
to dark every day.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
But do you feel like that that translates. I mean,
obviously it does.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
You've done well, I mean it, I think so. I
think really one of the only times you need to
be out there early in the morning is for like
the shad spawn or something like that. I think that honestly,
most mornings of tournaments, if I don't know where I'm
going to start I just pull up to a random
place that looks good, and sometimes it's not even worth practicing,
especially if you're fishing shallow and there's you know, throwing
(14:41):
a top water or something like that. You just need
to pull up to a place that looks good and
see if you can get a bye.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
So then are you a Are you a type of
person who believes in the timing side. I feel like
Aaron was always kind of locked in with timing.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
He knew that at.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Eleven o'clock his bite was going to pick up over here,
so you wanted are you the same way? So where
you'll You'll say, I'll randomly fish in the morning, but
I know that my stuff's gonna get really good in
the afternoon.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yeah, I mean this time of year, I fish offshore.
That's one of the reasons I don't like getting up
super early is those fish offshore don't start biting. Is
they don't start biting until about nine am.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
That's when the show the teenager fish that are out there.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Yeah, I mean that's when the shad leaves the offshore
places and then you can actually see the fish and
they start grouping up as nine am. So yeah, and
then the afternoon, like right before dark. It kind of
sets up the same like the morning does. To low
light conditions, the fish bite in the morning and they
bite at night or right before dark. So actually fish
a tournament last night and we caught one light right
at dark, five pounder on Gunnersville.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So if you find fish in the afternoon, you're immediately saying,
these fish are going to be there in the morning.
I can go back do the same thing, or do
you just kind of reverse the plan?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, I mean basically the same thing. It depends what
it is. You know, if you're fishing shallow and you
some bites like on a frog or something and some grass,
then you could definitely come back in the morning and
catch the same fish. But low light conditions are the
biggest deal. That's when they're gonna bite the best. And
on the TVA and where I live on Gunnersville now,
but they pull current the best in the afternoons on
(16:16):
the weekdays. So the afternoons on the weekdays at the
best day.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
What's that do for a tournament?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Then, Like if you're if you're fishing, if you practice
during the week on Gunnersville and then on Saturday, they're
not running the generators or.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
The schedule is, and what was matching in the afternoon
or during the week. How bad does that screw you up? No?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I mean not really bad, because you know where they're
biting at. You know where they're at.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
You can find the area.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah, finding the areas and then expand from there and
then picking it a party even more on tournament day,
it's always going to be tougher, so you're gonna have
to grind even harder, definitely on the tournament day, but
you're at least going to be around them.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
It definitely feels like guys like me, recreational weekend warrior kind,
we could probably overthink fishing too much up, Like, we
probably just need to simplify. What advice would you give
somebody who's a weekend warrior that's listening to the podcast.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
I mean this time of year especially.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Well just in general, Dan, in general, do you think
guys just overthink fishing too much? I've heard Swindle say
that they're dumb green fish.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I mean I overthink it a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Hard to say that, nobody else depends, It depends.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
It depends on the time of year. Sometimes you just
got to lock in, you know, lock a bait in
your hand, like if it's I mean, if you.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Had a choice of the bait that you would lock
in your hand, what would it be.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
If I had a choice.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
You go to a tournament, they say you can only
fish one bait all day.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
I've been catching a bunch on a football jig recently,
and it's been a lot. It's been a lot of fun.
There's there's nothing like getting a bite dragon. Like the
way that those fish fight when you're dragging. They fight
harder than any other fish.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I don't you find it true that bigger fish by jigs.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah, they do. I think it's they well, they bite
it like when it's moving slow. I think I think
they like a slow moving bait.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Well, I mean, if you weighed what they weighed, you'd
probably sit there and go, yeah, yeah, if a burger
is going to come in front of me slower, I'm
probably going to be more apt to grab it.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
I want to go back to your win.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
I was really laughing at Dave Mercer because I think
I feel like he knew what he was doing, but
he asked you to put that trophy over your head
more than any angler, I think on the trail. Why
did they ask you to hoist that thing so many times.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
He was thinking of seeing if I was strong enough
to do it. I should.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I was, how much do you think that thing weighs?
Speaker 3 (18:43):
It's probably, like, honestly, probably like sixty pounds.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
They're big.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
It gets heavy, sixty seventy. I don't know. It's it's
full of like it's like straight marble or whatever on
the bottom and the top. I don't know. It's heavy.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I was watching Mercer and he's like, come on, hoist
it up one more time. And the look out of
your face is like, dang, dude, I've done it. I
think we've got the picture. We're good to go.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
It's adrenaline too, Like, it was definitely a lot of adrenale.
It was a blessing to be able to hold that
thing up. But Paul was telling me because he won
the week before, and he's like, just wait till tomorrow.
Your arms are gonna be tired from lifting that thing up.
I was like, probably, so well, it was awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You had your family there, your mom and dad got
to see that. What did they say to you after
the tournament? Other than good job? I mean every parent
says good job.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
But yeah, a lot of tears. No, they were pumped.
They were just saying how proud they were. They've been
my biggest supporters through my whole fishing career and just
pushing me to do better, pushing me to fish tournaments.
It's hard to let your kid go and they're sixteen
years old and you're the oldest kid and you want
to travel around the whole country and pull a bass boat.
(19:52):
So it's hard for I'm sure it was hard for
them to let me go and fish all these tournaments.
But I'm grateful that they did because got a lot
of experience around the country now, and they were so happy.
It's awesome to see all the hard work that I've
put in really pay off, and I know that they're
ecstatic to see it. They probably more excited than I was.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
So wait a minute, you were pulling a bass boat
by yourself independently at sixteen?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
How'd you practice and learn all that?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
I mean, just it's been in my family, my grandfather,
my uncle.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
So you were putting your grandfather in at the ramp.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
I mean I was probably driving the boat. He probably
dumped me in and I was driving the boat when
I was young, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Because learning how to back up a trailer for a
lot of people is, you know, tough.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
I've always been like out in the woods and hunting
or driving four wheelers, golf carts all that dirt bikes.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
So I knew you had a lot of people who
were by your side when you won your tournament. You
had a couple of people that were noticeably missing, were
at home, and then you had one that wasn't there.
What do you think Aaron Martins would have said to you.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
I tried out to get emotional when I talk about it,
but man, I think he would probably say I told
you so for sure, Because when I was young, he
would tell me and other people that I was gonna
win a Blue Trophy one day, and for some reason
he saw that in me, and I didn't think so
at all. I thought it would just be an amazing
dream just to make the Elite Series and then to
(21:20):
be able to win one my fifth event. Ever it was.
It was just a dream come true for sure for me,
And yeah, I think he'd he'd definitely be happy and said,
you know, I told you so for sure.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
How many fish in that tournament did you catch on
the setup from Aaron Martins.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I definitely caught a few I was throwing. He gave
me a maitanium eight to one bait casting reel and
I was throwing a football jag on that and I
caught one that was seven pounds on it the final day,
which I only won by I think like fourteen ounces.
So every fish that I caught all we was, you know,
(22:01):
just the perfect amount to win the tournament.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I think one of the craziest tournaments that I've ever
seen was Aaron Martin's on the blackbird pattern.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Have a sue.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
How insane for somebody to be able to pick up
on that exactly, that's exactly what they're doing. And this
is and just because it's not like he had a
lot of baits in the boat that would have mimiced that.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
And for him to have that, it's like a stroke
of luck.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Yeah, And he I remember him telling me that story.
He was saying that he was he was catching some
fish in the tournament and he ended up looking at
his livea when he was grabbing the fish out at
wigh in and saw some black feathers, some little black
feathers in the bottom of his livewell and he was
like looked at his looked at one of his buddies
and said, I'm gonna win this tournament if I figure out,
(22:47):
you know, where these bass are feeding on these blackbirds.
And he ended up finding it catching those giant fish
on it. And the crazy thing about that that tournament
was on Mother's Day and I ended up winning Lake
Fork on Mother's Day. So that was I don't think
anything's a coincidence in life. I think that I don't know.
It just was that a godewink, I definitely think so.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
When it comes to people fishing and practicing in tournaments,
you hear the term all the time where people are like,
don't burn your fish, don't set the hook the day
before a tournament. How does Tucker Smith practice?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
I don't set the hook much. I use like especially around.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
You shake them off or I mean, how are you
even judging the size?
Speaker 3 (23:33):
I shake them off, or I look at them on
side skin or forward facing sonar, or if you're going
down the bank frog fishing, don't I don't set the hook.
I shake them off. I take my hooks off, I
cut my hooks, I put stuff over my hooks. I
try not to catch fish in practice.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Starting on like a Monday, or do you catch a
few early in the week and then you cool off
as the week.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Yeah, it depends. I like try to I try to
figure out a bite, and I try to figure out
multiple bites on the lake, different patterns, and I'll try
to catch a few on each pattern just to see
if it's a stable pattern, and then I'll try to
figure out, you know, the quality of the size of
the fish, and then I'll try to figure out more
(24:19):
and more places like that that set up the same
and then I'll replicate it and shake those fish off.
But yeah, I try to do a bunch of different
things around a body of water that I have a
tournament on, and I just try not to set the hook.
You'll see some of these guys pull up to these
like ledge tournaments, and they'll pull up on a school
in practice and go and catch like five or ten fish.
(24:41):
I'm like, what are you doing? Like those are fish
that you're not gonna be able to catch during the tournament.
So I rarely even cast. If I see a big
group of fish in practice, I don't cast.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
So you just mark and you trust that what you
were doing and seeing fish roll on it the same
thing's gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
I mean, yeah, it takes five minutes to pull up
to a place a tournament and you could see if
they're biting or if they're there if they're not. I'll
even mark places that look good that don't even have
any fish on them, and I'll pull up in a
tournament fish them.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Who do you think is going to be the greatest
of all time in this decade?
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Greatest of all time in this decade because.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
It happens with everybody like you had Rick Klon, you
have Kevin Van dam things kind of transition that way.
Who do you think on tour is going to be
considered the best fishermen over the next ten to fifteen years?
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Man, that's tough. There's a lot of really good ones.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Are there any that scare you?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Like you see them in the you see them on
the roster and you're like, damn, it's gonna be a
tough one against them.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I mean definitely, there's there's definitely a few. I mean
you see some of like the other series, like you
got the Dustin Connell and the Jacob Wheeler, but him
like in The Bass Masters, I would definitely say Trey
mckinnie's like, he's definitely scary man, Like, he's what nineteen
years yars old and he's already won a Blue Trophy
(26:03):
and Rookie of the Year and almost won AOI last year.
And he's really good.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
You edged mount in your tournament win.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yeah, yeah, I mean he's really good. I'm trying to think, like,
do you think that a lot of guys that are just.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
You think that's going to become the head to head
matchups then, because that's one thing bass hasn't had in
the most recent years, is you haven't had a lot
of like the same guys getting into the top ten
who duke it out and you see it kind of
bounce back and forth.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
I see that with some of the young guns that
are coming in.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Yeah, Trey being one of them, You being one of them,
Paul being one of them.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Definitely Paul too, Paul.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I feel like you guys can really start to kind
of solidify a different tone in bass fishing.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
It would be cool. I don't know. I don't think
about it like that. I just go out there and
try to catch some well.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Last Brock Moseley, who he.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Thought was going to be the greatest in the next decade,
and he said, Jay shakurt.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
I, definitely that's that's definitely a good.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Why did your eyes get big when I mentioned Jay?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
He's just he's leading AOI by a lot. But I've
always thought that he was an amazing fisherman. Like you
see his stats and what he's done over the last
couple of years, and he's kind of been like sneaking around,
like doing really well, but like he didn't win and
win a big tournament, and then last year he won
two events, two bass master events, and now this year
(27:26):
he's leading AOI, Like he's really good.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
I'm glad that you said he was sneaking around, because
that's the word that I use to describe him.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
He's so sneaky.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
He's the type of guy where he'll never let you
know what his next move is. But watching him, he's
extremely calculated. Yeah, And I don't think that's a ford
facing thing at all.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
No.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
I mean ford facing helps you in that aspect to
be more efficient on the water with targeting different pieces
of structure and figuring out what the fish are biting better.
But yeah, you can tell like he's just a well
rounded fisherman. He had a really good event at the
Sabine River. But he's just he can catch him everywhere.
Obviously in his AOI that's it's showing that now. But
(28:11):
he's uh, and just a nice guy too. He's not
stand office. He'll talk to anybody that walks up to him.
So he's just a good guy, good fisherman, and he
definitely deserves it if he wins AI this year, because.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
He's that's the best title to get, right, I think, so,
like it's cool to win a Blue Trophy, and I
think it's it's an ode to, you know, kind of
solidifying yourself.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
But if you become Angler of the Year.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Yeah, you're the best angler and you know in that
whole series, right.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
You have been statistically the smoothest person when it came
to the tournaments that they put out, because it's hard
to compete on the lakes that you guys compete on.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
It's very hard, especially when you go from this side
of the country to that side of the country and
it's completely different. You know, you go to so many
different places. Every single place we go to is dramatically different.
There's not a couple that are near the same.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yeah, well, I'm really appreciated that you came in. You know,
you've you've had some really good success. You won three
high school tournaments national championships.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
I shouldn't even say that you just won.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Three, because realistically you did three in a row, which
is hard to do. You did that with two different
two different partners. How difficult was something like that when
you're fishing with a different personality for two years compared
to somebody with a different personality of the next.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
I mean, I've always I think you did it.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
With Logan too. You won well with Logan at Auburn,
different personality.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
The first fishing partner I had was Grayson Morris that
I won the first one with, and we were good,
We were good buddies. But it was just, you know,
I don't know. I mean, I've always just surrounded my
self with fishermen my whole life, and I just I
feel like good fishermen bounce off good ideas with other fishermen,
(30:08):
like you know, good fishermen match well with the good fishermen,
And that's what I've just tried to surround myself. All
my friends have always been fishermen, and I don't ever
watch sports or anything like that anymore. All I do
is fish. All I do is watch fishing. I don't
care about watching anything else, but no, I think. And
then I fished with Hayden when I want we want
(30:31):
it the third year, and uh, Hayden's been one of
my best friends for years and years, and so it's
just really comfortable when you're fishing with somebody that you're
good friends with, just because you know their next move.
If if you're setting the hook this way, they know
to get out of the way and go that way.
And if they set the hook, you know to get
out of the way and grab the net. Like, it's
(30:52):
just mechanical when you fish with somebody that you're used to.
I'm sure a lot of listeners that tournament fishing on
the weekends with their buddies and stuff. If you fish
with the person for a long enough time, like you
get comfortable fishing with them and adjusting to their styles
of fishing. So it's really fun.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
So was it difficult for you to go from Grayson
that relationship, that style to Hayden.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
I mean not really, especially back then in high school
we were kind of all fishing the same the same
kind of stuff. We were just power fishing down the
banks and stuff like that, a little bit offshore, but
mostly we were just powerfish. So it basically set up
the same You.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Won a million dollars with Logan Parks in the Bass
Pro tournament that you guys did. I feel like that
was kind of the solidifier of how dominant you and
Logan individually and as a team really were.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
That was a life changing tournament, definitely. I My dad
signed us up for the last Chance qualifier. He was like,
you guys, you guys want to sign up for this
last chance qualifier to get into this million dollar tournament.
We're like, yeah, I mean if because we were off
at a college tournament, and so he let us know
(32:05):
and we ended up signing up that night. But it
was like we didn't even we were out in different college.
I think we were at Lake Wilie and we ended
up going to that last Chance qualifier at bull Shoals
and ended up qualifying for the tournament. That was like
it was probably like I think it was a day
later or a day and a half later. The next
(32:25):
couple of days was the championship, and we ended up
qualifying for the championship in one and only having a
couple of days of practice. For the tournament and it
was surreal. Definitely. I Uh, it was life changing. I
ended up growing a relationship with bass Pro shops and
it helped me to this day for sure and set
(32:46):
me in Logan up to fish all the opens and
be you know, not having any stress with the financial stuff.
So it was amazing for us, both both of our
families to be able to to be able to follow
our dreams and make it to the profession level. Because
now we're both on the Elite series. So it's really cool.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
What did he say to you after your tournament win?
Speaker 3 (33:06):
He was pumped for sure. He stayed and came and
got pictures with me, and he was definitely pumped up.
I told him he was going to be next.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
That's so cool to see that your friendship coming from
college and then working into the professional ranks.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
That's what I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
I just think that there's so many guys that are
in fishing now that it's like the six degrees of separation.
There's going to be really good matchups from here on out.
I think it's going to be incredible. We've talked about
your career, We've talked about where you've come from. I
want you to fast forward, what does your life look
like after fishing?
Speaker 3 (33:44):
I don't know, you mean, like, what would I do
if I wasn't fishing?
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Do you think about it?
Speaker 1 (33:49):
The majority of guys that fish professionally, they get to
maybe fifty and then they just decide, Hey, look I'm
gonna chill or I'm.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Going to retire. Keat Reese is retiring this year.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Guys like Rick Klun very rare that could be dominant
in several decades of fishing. So I would want to
say that you could fish all the way up to
the age of Rick Klun, But realistically you may get
tired of wanting to do that run all the time
and chase different lakes. So what would you want to do.
(34:23):
Would you want to start your own fishing line? Would
you want to be tied in with a big sponsor
to where you can just be getting mailbox money off
of products and things like that.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. I mean,
definitely something to do with fishing. If it's not working
for you know, doing my own thing with a fishing company,
then I'd probably just probably just move somewhere and fish
every single day. I probably and me and Paul and
(34:55):
Hayden will probably be all about sixty five, seventy, I
don't know, eighty years old. We're all probably just gonna
buy one house and have three beds in it and
just go to the Gunnersville every day.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
It's the dream.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Do eat at Jacks at four point thirty in the morning.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
You guys need to jump on and check out Tucker
Smith fishing on every social platform.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Follow him. He's an incredible fisherman.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
You guys have obviously already heard about him, but it's
cool to get kind of the inside look at where
you came from and what your life is is looking
like right now.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Tucker, thank you, it's been fun.
It's Lines and Times on the iHeart podcast network, available
wherever you download the podcast. Thanks so much for checking
out the last couple episodes.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
Excited about Today.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
He's a three time high school national champion did with
several partners. He has won a million dollars in a
fishing tournament. Most recently won an Elite Series tournament with
bass Master, his first ever win.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hopefully one of many. But Tucker Smith is Onlines and
Times today.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Tucker, I want to start out just kind of getting
to know you a little bit, because I mean, I've
met you a handful of times, but I think there's
a lot of things that people hear about you or
make up about you that they want to believe because you're.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
One of these new anglers, you're young.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Everybody lumps you in with being a scoper and thinking
that you can't handle a bait caster. And I kind
of loved what you said in that last tournament where
you were like, what did.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
You say something of out a bait caster?
Speaker 3 (01:01):
I said, I still know how to catch one on
a bait.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Cast, which I love. So Obviously you've heard the noise
of people lumping you as just a scoper, Yeah, I have.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Thanks for having me first of all. But yeah, I have.
But I mean I grew up fishing around the Kusa
and fishing without live scope. I didn't start live scoping
until my sophomore I think it was the beginning of
my sophomore year of college when I started live skipping
a lot. So I grew up not doing it. And
now it's new technology that we, you know, are able
(01:37):
to use and we need to use it if we're
able to use it in tournaments. So that's what I've
been doing. But I like doing it all man, I've
been like that tournament. I caught some on a swim jig,
some on a football jig. But I'm good at scoping
for sure.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
A lot of people don't know your pedigree either. Like
your grandfather introduced you into fishing, I think, like most
people that get out and go fishing. How instrumental was
your grandfather bo.
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Yeah, definitely he got me into it. We used to
fish the Marks Outdoors tournament every year when I was
growing up, and it was it was a big deal
for me because he had a boat back in the
day when I was growing up and to be able
to get out there with him on logan Martin. That
was that was what got me started and got the
(02:20):
fire under me. Going to those tournaments. Seeing that you
could win money bass fishing, catching fish was something I'd
never seen before and that it really got me pumped
up and maybe want to do it.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Was your grandfather really good at it? Was he winning
at those Marks Outdoors tournaments?
Speaker 3 (02:33):
No, I mean he fished like the Federations and stuff
like that back in the day, and he was a
good fisherman for sure. But yeah, just being out there
with him was was what got me into it.
Speaker 2 (02:46):
I've shared this with several people, I'll share it with you.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
But I grew up on an incredible bass fishing lake
and I never fished when.
Speaker 2 (02:52):
I was a kid. I wanted to.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
I used to go to this local tackle shop and
I walked in and I would ask him all the time,
like what are the fish bites? And this one guy
that worked there brought over a storm wigglewart crank bait.
So I gave them all the money that I had
in my pocket. I think it was like five bucks
or something. I've never thrown that bait. I have it
in my box on my boat, but I'll never throw it.
(03:14):
It's like too sentimental and it's a four dollars crank bait. Yeah, yeah,
it's ridiculous. Do you have anything in your boat that's
kind of an ode to where you came from or
a good luck charm?
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Uh?
Speaker 3 (03:27):
Definitely some of the rods and reels that I got
from Aaron Martin's I've got.
Speaker 2 (03:32):
You still use those in tournaments? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (03:33):
I do. I've got three of them that I use
in tournaments, and I always have them like on the
front deck of the boat.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Why would you use something like that?
Speaker 1 (03:40):
You ever worried like those are gonna break and you
won't have those anymore.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I mean, I've always thought about that, but then I realized,
like I think about it a little bit more, and I'm like,
Aaron would definitely want me to be using those rods
and reels. He doesn't want them to sit up on
the shelf and collect us Like if it snaps or
something breaks on it, I'm just gonna put it up
on the shelf anyway. Yeah, I mean, I'd rather catch
fish with it and use it. They're good reels and rods.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
What did his relationship mean to you?
Speaker 4 (04:07):
A lot?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
For sure. I'd to see somebody treat younger, like the
younger generation with so much respect and uh and not
just about fishing, but just being a person was means
a lot to me, especially when I was young. He
took the time to talk to a lot of the
young high schoolers and kids growing up and fishing. So
just seeing that really opened my eyes and makes me
(04:30):
want to, you know, be involved in the younger generation.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
How did it come about, though, Like you don't really
think that you were in what middle.
Speaker 3 (04:37):
School, high school, early high school?
Speaker 1 (04:39):
I think about like when I was in high school,
I wasn't really friends with my friend's parents, But that's
how it worked out with you and Aaron.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah, definitely. I mean his his daughter was on the
fishing team that I went to, and yeah, he was
always around the school, always around the fishing team, and
just hanging out with him through fishing, like it really
taught me a lot. But yeah, it was just all
through fishing was how we got a relationship.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Well, what was the first instance that you guys actually
went fishing together.
Speaker 3 (05:08):
I was probably early high school going to Logan Martin
was probably the first time I went fishing with him.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
And you just called him and you were like, hey,
you know I'm really interested in this. Or did Aaron
Martin's the bast master champ that he was say, hey,
won't you come fisher may Well?
Speaker 3 (05:23):
His daughter fished with my cousin in high school. So
I don't really know how it started. I don't really remember.
I just know that we became friends and then we
ended up going fishing.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
You finished second in the tournament before, and you finished
second to your roommate on the road, Paul Marx, who's
an absolute hammer everywhere he goes really heartwell, was kind
of set up perfect for him.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
Do you guys have a lot of conversations during the
tournament week about like how you felt going into the
next day.
Speaker 3 (05:54):
Not really, I mean we were just fishing, like it
seemed like every day. We were just fishing new water
mostly so it was kind of like anybody's game. Whoever
just ran into him the last day was gonna win.
But it was so tight, like first, second, and third.
It was all just like one fish. So one fish,
one big large mouth or one big spot out there
(06:14):
just would separate you from winning and getting second. That's
what happened. But I had a bigger bag than Paul did.
The last day, but he had a big bag the
first day, but it was all up to that one bite.
And I think the first day he had two big
large mouth and I only had one big large mouth
the second day, So it just could have been that
one fish that separated us. But yeah, we're Me and
(06:35):
Paul are super close friends. And to be able to
pull off two wins back to back weeks with your
best body, that's something that's really special.
Speaker 1 (06:44):
I feel like the crew that you're running with, you
guys could have some really good success over the next
couple of years when it comes to the elites, like
a Meal is no slouch, Lowberg is really good, You're great.
Speaker 2 (06:57):
Paul is awesome.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
Do you feel that you guys really bounce off of
each other well and you have a competitive nature to
really go after the three or four of you.
Speaker 3 (07:06):
It's fun because we're all we're all rookies, we're all
like new to this. So to be able to travel
around the country and fish these tournaments with your friends,
it's a lot of fun. But definitely we're competitive and
we like to have we like to have fun. But
the house is full of hammers for sure. Lowberg and
a Meal and Paul they're all really good fishermen. In
(07:26):
any tournament of the year, they can win that tournament.
So just to be able to travel with some guys
that you know and have fun, it's it's a good time.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
Well we went to when you guys went to Heartwell,
I got a message from a friend of mine. They
were like, I don't know who to pick for my
fantasy team, and I said, well, the choice is pretty clear.
You're gonna have to have Tucker in there, a Meal
in there, and Paul in there. Yeah, you kind of
just slid in. I was like, damn, I made some
good picks. I should have played fantasy. All right, I'm
(07:54):
going to play something for you, and I just want
you to share with me what was going through your
mind when has happened?
Speaker 5 (08:01):
Ninety two pounds ten ounce to start the day, looking
for twenty nine ten to take the lead, thirty four
pounds fourteen ounces, thirty four fourteen and with one hundred
and twenty seven pounds eight ounces, Tucker Smith is leading
the tackle Warehouse bass Master Elite on Lake FOURK.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
So you hear Dave Mercer lose his absolute mind like
he does when he announces anybody who wins what was
going through your mind when you were looking at the
scale for the weight?
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Uh, I was in shock. I thought Coyle was gonna
have a really big bag because he had an eight
pound lead going into the final day, and that's a
big lead in a bass fishing tournament.
Speaker 2 (08:42):
He's scary to fish against.
Speaker 3 (08:43):
Yeah, and he's he was also scary because every single
day of the tournament his way got better and better.
Like I think the first day had like thirty, second
day had like thirty two, third day had like thirty
five or something.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
What do you think it is? It makes him so
intimidating the people.
Speaker 3 (08:58):
He's just silent. He's got a lot of sneaky baits.
He's quiet. I think it's because he doesn't speak very
good English. He's very scary.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
It's it's so funny to watch, like guys like Koya
and Taku, two different personalities but both equally dominant when
they're on the water. He has an eight pound lead,
you sack out a pretty big bag that final day.
I mean, thirty four pounds is nothing to sneeze at.
And you knock Trey McKinney off. Then you're sitting there,
(09:28):
you're waiting for koya to go in. Once they announce
that you're the winner, what happens.
Speaker 3 (09:33):
I didn't think it was real. It was weird because
the whole week felt like a dream, and especially that
day felt like a dream, just because I was in
a rotation where it was, you know, go to the
lake and fish the tournament and then come back to
weigh in and then go back home. And I was
in that like same rotation for four days straight. My
(09:57):
body was just like, I guess you used to that,
So I don't know. It just felt like I was
supposed to, you know, go back to the house and
go back to sleep and get ready for the next day.
But I actually had won the tournament. I don't know.
It was so surreal, and.
Speaker 1 (10:09):
Then he had to do all the media stuff, yeah,
pictures exactly, And it didn't set in until probably a
week later that I had actually won.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
And didn't it screw you up on the next tournament.
Speaker 3 (10:19):
I mean I went straight from there to the Sabine
River and it was like a six hour drive the
next day after the championship day, so I didn't really
get to practice too good the first.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
Day because I saw somebody I saw somebody said, oh, Yeah,
these guys are really good.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Look Tucker wins last week and now he's dead. Like,
didn't you oversleep like day one or something.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
No.
Speaker 3 (10:42):
I was kind of late the first day, but I
mean that's just.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Fine, Like it's your tournament. You could do what you want.
Speaker 3 (10:49):
I didn't ever sleep the first day of the tournament.
I ever slept the first day of practice because I
was tired from the last week.
Speaker 2 (10:54):
Yeah, I mean why not.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
Yeah, But I mean it's it is what it is.
That place was definitely tough, the sabine, and I figured
him out. The second day I went I was going
to head to a place that to fish that I
wanted to fish, and I ended up there was a
ton of boats running to this one area. The place
was like flooded and there was only two areas of
the lake that had cleaner water. So every boat was
(11:17):
like in the areas that that had the cleaner water.
And I was heading to one area there was a
ton of boats. I was like, screw that, I'm going
to turn around and go fish by the boat ramp.
I caught one fish by the boat ramp all day,
and I was like, well, guess one venture. Yeah, a
good twelve entures, and I was like, well, I'm going
to go back to the place I should have gone yesterday,
and I ended up catching almost eight pounds in saving
(11:39):
my tournament.
Speaker 1 (11:40):
But I'd said on an earlier episode of the podcast
that I think it's a little ridiculous that bass Master
does the Century Belt at places like Lake Fork, because
you would assume that a Century Belt would be maybe
to one or two people a tournament, but the top
ten all had over one hundred. Texas is just a
(12:02):
big bass factory. Do you feel like that maybe the
Century Belt needs to be changed to a one twenty
five and higher at a place like Texas bodies of
water because of how big their fish are in the quality.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
I don't think so. I mean I think that I
think just to make the top ten is a big deal,
and then to get a Century Belt on top of that,
it's basically like getting a plaque for making a top
ten at a place like that. So I mean, so that.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Doesn't feel like a participation trophy type deal.
Speaker 3 (12:31):
I don't think so. I think it's a big deal.
No matter what I that said.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
I think they should do something on the sabine too,
like if you catch over let's say twenty pounds a day.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
They should give you something.
Speaker 3 (12:41):
Oh, there's no way you're gonna catch over twenty that's
my point. I think it's over ten pounds a day.
It's like it's like a Dame deal.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Like bron came in here after that tournament.
Speaker 1 (12:52):
He was talking about, you know, he won the Sabine
what was it last year or the year before, and
he was talking about Pat Slopper and he was like,
you know, Pat didn't have at fifteen pound.
Speaker 2 (13:01):
Day that everybody looks for.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
So you go from a place like Lake FOURK where
you're sacking thirty four pounds on five fish, and you
go to Sabine where you're pumped to get a one
point seventy five.
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Oh, it was like the highest of highest of the
lowest of lows. It's like insane. Well, I'd catch a
three pounder, it's like catching a ten.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
I'm glad that he brought up that.
Speaker 1 (13:21):
It was a long drive after Lake four because we
were kind of catching up right before we jumped on
the pod and we were talking about tournament schedules and
you know, I'm fishing like bfls and abts and all
that kind of stuff. And I can't fish in the
morning because of the radio show, so I have to
find myself fishing in the afternoon. I was kind of
kicking myself because I feel like, well, if you don't
really know what's happening in the morning, it can be
(13:43):
a real struggle, since most tournaments end around two or
three o'clock in the afternoon. But you said that you're
pretty much a afternoon guy the whole time.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
I hate the mornings with a passion.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
So what is it like, Because a lot of people
would feel like that you're kind of cutting You're cutting
your day in half.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I just fish. I just hate waking up, first of all.
But his second off, I wake up and I get
out there, and I fish till dark instead of the
morning till twelve. I fish from you know, mid morning
to dark every day.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
But do you feel like that that translates. I mean,
obviously it does.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
You've done well, I mean it, I think so. I
think really one of the only times you need to
be out there early in the morning is for like
the shad spawn or something like that. I think that honestly,
most mornings of tournaments, if I don't know where I'm
going to start I just pull up to a random
place that looks good, and sometimes it's not even worth practicing,
especially if you're fishing shallow and there's you know, throwing
(14:41):
a top water or something like that. You just need
to pull up to a place that looks good and
see if you can get a bye.
Speaker 1 (14:45):
So then are you a Are you a type of
person who believes in the timing side. I feel like
Aaron was always kind of locked in with timing.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
He knew that at.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
Eleven o'clock his bite was going to pick up over here,
so you wanted are you the same way? So where
you'll You'll say, I'll randomly fish in the morning, but
I know that my stuff's gonna get really good in
the afternoon.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
Yeah, I mean this time of year, I fish offshore.
That's one of the reasons I don't like getting up
super early is those fish offshore don't start biting. Is
they don't start biting until about nine am.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
That's when the show the teenager fish that are out there.
Speaker 3 (15:19):
Yeah, I mean that's when the shad leaves the offshore
places and then you can actually see the fish and
they start grouping up as nine am. So yeah, and
then the afternoon, like right before dark. It kind of
sets up the same like the morning does. To low
light conditions, the fish bite in the morning and they
bite at night or right before dark. So actually fish
a tournament last night and we caught one light right
at dark, five pounder on Gunnersville.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
So if you find fish in the afternoon, you're immediately saying,
these fish are going to be there in the morning.
I can go back do the same thing, or do
you just kind of reverse the plan?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
Yeah, I mean basically the same thing. It depends what
it is. You know, if you're fishing shallow and you
some bites like on a frog or something and some grass,
then you could definitely come back in the morning and
catch the same fish. But low light conditions are the
biggest deal. That's when they're gonna bite the best. And
on the TVA and where I live on Gunnersville now,
but they pull current the best in the afternoons on
(16:16):
the weekdays. So the afternoons on the weekdays at the
best day.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
What's that do for a tournament?
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Then, Like if you're if you're fishing, if you practice
during the week on Gunnersville and then on Saturday, they're
not running the generators or.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
The schedule is, and what was matching in the afternoon
or during the week. How bad does that screw you up? No?
Speaker 3 (16:34):
I mean not really bad, because you know where they're
biting at. You know where they're at.
Speaker 2 (16:38):
You can find the area.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
Yeah, finding the areas and then expand from there and
then picking it a party even more on tournament day,
it's always going to be tougher, so you're gonna have
to grind even harder, definitely on the tournament day, but
you're at least going to be around them.
Speaker 1 (16:51):
It definitely feels like guys like me, recreational weekend warrior kind,
we could probably overthink fishing too much up, Like, we
probably just need to simplify. What advice would you give
somebody who's a weekend warrior that's listening to the podcast.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
I mean this time of year especially.
Speaker 1 (17:13):
Well just in general, Dan, in general, do you think
guys just overthink fishing too much? I've heard Swindle say
that they're dumb green fish.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
I mean I overthink it a lot.
Speaker 2 (17:26):
Hard to say that, nobody else depends, It depends.
Speaker 3 (17:29):
It depends on the time of year. Sometimes you just
got to lock in, you know, lock a bait in
your hand, like if it's I mean, if you.
Speaker 2 (17:37):
Had a choice of the bait that you would lock
in your hand, what would it be.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
If I had a choice.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
You go to a tournament, they say you can only
fish one bait all day.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
I've been catching a bunch on a football jig recently,
and it's been a lot. It's been a lot of fun.
There's there's nothing like getting a bite dragon. Like the
way that those fish fight when you're dragging. They fight
harder than any other fish.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I don't you find it true that bigger fish by jigs.
Speaker 3 (18:04):
Yeah, they do. I think it's they well, they bite
it like when it's moving slow. I think I think
they like a slow moving bait.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Well, I mean, if you weighed what they weighed, you'd
probably sit there and go, yeah, yeah, if a burger
is going to come in front of me slower, I'm
probably going to be more apt to grab it.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
I want to go back to your win.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
I was really laughing at Dave Mercer because I think
I feel like he knew what he was doing, but
he asked you to put that trophy over your head
more than any angler, I think on the trail. Why
did they ask you to hoist that thing so many times.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
He was thinking of seeing if I was strong enough
to do it. I should.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
I was, how much do you think that thing weighs?
Speaker 3 (18:43):
It's probably, like, honestly, probably like sixty pounds.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
They're big.
Speaker 3 (18:47):
It gets heavy, sixty seventy. I don't know. It's it's
full of like it's like straight marble or whatever on
the bottom and the top. I don't know. It's heavy.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
I was watching Mercer and he's like, come on, hoist
it up one more time. And the look out of
your face is like, dang, dude, I've done it. I
think we've got the picture. We're good to go.
Speaker 3 (19:06):
It's adrenaline too, Like, it was definitely a lot of adrenale.
It was a blessing to be able to hold that
thing up. But Paul was telling me because he won
the week before, and he's like, just wait till tomorrow.
Your arms are gonna be tired from lifting that thing up.
I was like, probably, so well, it was awesome.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
You had your family there, your mom and dad got
to see that. What did they say to you after
the tournament? Other than good job? I mean every parent
says good job.
Speaker 3 (19:32):
But yeah, a lot of tears. No, they were pumped.
They were just saying how proud they were. They've been
my biggest supporters through my whole fishing career and just
pushing me to do better, pushing me to fish tournaments.
It's hard to let your kid go and they're sixteen
years old and you're the oldest kid and you want
to travel around the whole country and pull a bass boat.
(19:52):
So it's hard for I'm sure it was hard for
them to let me go and fish all these tournaments.
But I'm grateful that they did because got a lot
of experience around the country now, and they were so happy.
It's awesome to see all the hard work that I've
put in really pay off, and I know that they're
ecstatic to see it. They probably more excited than I was.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
So wait a minute, you were pulling a bass boat
by yourself independently at sixteen?
Speaker 3 (20:16):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
How'd you practice and learn all that?
Speaker 3 (20:20):
I mean, just it's been in my family, my grandfather,
my uncle.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
So you were putting your grandfather in at the ramp.
Speaker 3 (20:27):
I mean I was probably driving the boat. He probably
dumped me in and I was driving the boat when
I was young, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:31):
Because learning how to back up a trailer for a
lot of people is, you know, tough.
Speaker 3 (20:36):
I've always been like out in the woods and hunting
or driving four wheelers, golf carts all that dirt bikes.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
So I knew you had a lot of people who
were by your side when you won your tournament. You
had a couple of people that were noticeably missing, were
at home, and then you had one that wasn't there.
What do you think Aaron Martins would have said to you.
Speaker 3 (20:57):
I tried out to get emotional when I talk about it,
but man, I think he would probably say I told
you so for sure, Because when I was young, he
would tell me and other people that I was gonna
win a Blue Trophy one day, and for some reason
he saw that in me, and I didn't think so
at all. I thought it would just be an amazing
dream just to make the Elite Series and then to
(21:20):
be able to win one my fifth event. Ever it was.
It was just a dream come true for sure for me,
And yeah, I think he'd he'd definitely be happy and said,
you know, I told you so for sure.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
How many fish in that tournament did you catch on
the setup from Aaron Martins.
Speaker 3 (21:38):
I definitely caught a few I was throwing. He gave
me a maitanium eight to one bait casting reel and
I was throwing a football jag on that and I
caught one that was seven pounds on it the final day,
which I only won by I think like fourteen ounces.
So every fish that I caught all we was, you know,
(22:01):
just the perfect amount to win the tournament.
Speaker 1 (22:04):
I think one of the craziest tournaments that I've ever
seen was Aaron Martin's on the blackbird pattern.
Speaker 3 (22:10):
Have a sue.
Speaker 1 (22:11):
How insane for somebody to be able to pick up
on that exactly, that's exactly what they're doing. And this
is and just because it's not like he had a
lot of baits in the boat that would have mimiced that.
Speaker 2 (22:24):
And for him to have that, it's like a stroke
of luck.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Yeah, And he I remember him telling me that story.
He was saying that he was he was catching some
fish in the tournament and he ended up looking at
his livea when he was grabbing the fish out at
wigh in and saw some black feathers, some little black
feathers in the bottom of his livewell and he was
like looked at his looked at one of his buddies
and said, I'm gonna win this tournament if I figure out,
(22:47):
you know, where these bass are feeding on these blackbirds.
And he ended up finding it catching those giant fish
on it. And the crazy thing about that that tournament
was on Mother's Day and I ended up winning Lake
Fork on Mother's Day. So that was I don't think
anything's a coincidence in life. I think that I don't know.
It just was that a godewink, I definitely think so.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
When it comes to people fishing and practicing in tournaments,
you hear the term all the time where people are like,
don't burn your fish, don't set the hook the day
before a tournament. How does Tucker Smith practice?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
I don't set the hook much. I use like especially around.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
You shake them off or I mean, how are you
even judging the size?
Speaker 3 (23:33):
I shake them off, or I look at them on
side skin or forward facing sonar, or if you're going
down the bank frog fishing, don't I don't set the hook.
I shake them off. I take my hooks off, I
cut my hooks, I put stuff over my hooks. I
try not to catch fish in practice.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
Starting on like a Monday, or do you catch a
few early in the week and then you cool off
as the week.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
Yeah, it depends. I like try to I try to
figure out a bite, and I try to figure out
multiple bites on the lake, different patterns, and I'll try
to catch a few on each pattern just to see
if it's a stable pattern, and then I'll try to
figure out, you know, the quality of the size of
the fish, and then I'll try to figure out more
(24:19):
and more places like that that set up the same
and then I'll replicate it and shake those fish off.
But yeah, I try to do a bunch of different
things around a body of water that I have a
tournament on, and I just try not to set the hook.
You'll see some of these guys pull up to these
like ledge tournaments, and they'll pull up on a school
in practice and go and catch like five or ten fish.
(24:41):
I'm like, what are you doing? Like those are fish
that you're not gonna be able to catch during the tournament.
So I rarely even cast. If I see a big
group of fish in practice, I don't cast.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
So you just mark and you trust that what you
were doing and seeing fish roll on it the same
thing's gonna happen.
Speaker 3 (24:57):
I mean, yeah, it takes five minutes to pull up
to a place a tournament and you could see if
they're biting or if they're there if they're not. I'll
even mark places that look good that don't even have
any fish on them, and I'll pull up in a
tournament fish them.
Speaker 1 (25:09):
Who do you think is going to be the greatest
of all time in this decade?
Speaker 3 (25:17):
Greatest of all time in this decade because.
Speaker 1 (25:19):
It happens with everybody like you had Rick Klon, you
have Kevin Van dam things kind of transition that way.
Who do you think on tour is going to be
considered the best fishermen over the next ten to fifteen years?
Speaker 3 (25:31):
Man, that's tough. There's a lot of really good ones.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Are there any that scare you?
Speaker 1 (25:37):
Like you see them in the you see them on
the roster and you're like, damn, it's gonna be a
tough one against them.
Speaker 3 (25:43):
I mean definitely, there's there's definitely a few. I mean
you see some of like the other series, like you
got the Dustin Connell and the Jacob Wheeler, but him
like in The Bass Masters, I would definitely say Trey
mckinnie's like, he's definitely scary man, Like, he's what nineteen
years yars old and he's already won a Blue Trophy
(26:03):
and Rookie of the Year and almost won AOI last year.
And he's really good.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
You edged mount in your tournament win.
Speaker 3 (26:11):
Yeah, yeah, I mean he's really good. I'm trying to think, like,
do you think that a lot of guys that are just.
Speaker 1 (26:18):
You think that's going to become the head to head
matchups then, because that's one thing bass hasn't had in
the most recent years, is you haven't had a lot
of like the same guys getting into the top ten
who duke it out and you see it kind of
bounce back and forth.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
I see that with some of the young guns that
are coming in.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Yeah, Trey being one of them, You being one of them,
Paul being one of them.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Definitely Paul too, Paul.
Speaker 1 (26:41):
I feel like you guys can really start to kind
of solidify a different tone in bass fishing.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
It would be cool. I don't know. I don't think
about it like that. I just go out there and
try to catch some well.
Speaker 2 (26:53):
Last Brock Moseley, who he.
Speaker 1 (26:55):
Thought was going to be the greatest in the next decade,
and he said, Jay shakurt.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
I, definitely that's that's definitely a good.
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Why did your eyes get big when I mentioned Jay?
Speaker 3 (27:04):
He's just he's leading AOI by a lot. But I've
always thought that he was an amazing fisherman. Like you
see his stats and what he's done over the last
couple of years, and he's kind of been like sneaking around,
like doing really well, but like he didn't win and
win a big tournament, and then last year he won
two events, two bass master events, and now this year
(27:26):
he's leading AOI, Like he's really good.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
I'm glad that you said he was sneaking around, because
that's the word that I use to describe him.
Speaker 2 (27:34):
He's so sneaky.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
He's the type of guy where he'll never let you
know what his next move is. But watching him, he's
extremely calculated. Yeah, And I don't think that's a ford
facing thing at all.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
No.
Speaker 3 (27:48):
I mean ford facing helps you in that aspect to
be more efficient on the water with targeting different pieces
of structure and figuring out what the fish are biting better.
But yeah, you can tell like he's just a well
rounded fisherman. He had a really good event at the
Sabine River. But he's just he can catch him everywhere.
Obviously in his AOI that's it's showing that now. But
(28:11):
he's uh, and just a nice guy too. He's not
stand office. He'll talk to anybody that walks up to him.
So he's just a good guy, good fisherman, and he
definitely deserves it if he wins AI this year, because.
Speaker 4 (28:22):
He's that's the best title to get, right, I think, so,
like it's cool to win a Blue Trophy, and I
think it's it's an ode to, you know, kind of
solidifying yourself.
Speaker 2 (28:33):
But if you become Angler of the Year.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
Yeah, you're the best angler and you know in that
whole series, right.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
You have been statistically the smoothest person when it came
to the tournaments that they put out, because it's hard
to compete on the lakes that you guys compete on.
Speaker 3 (28:50):
It's very hard, especially when you go from this side
of the country to that side of the country and
it's completely different. You know, you go to so many
different places. Every single place we go to is dramatically different.
There's not a couple that are near the same.
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yeah, well, I'm really appreciated that you came in. You know,
you've you've had some really good success. You won three
high school tournaments national championships.
Speaker 2 (29:18):
I shouldn't even say that you just won.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
Three, because realistically you did three in a row, which
is hard to do. You did that with two different
two different partners. How difficult was something like that when
you're fishing with a different personality for two years compared
to somebody with a different personality of the next.
Speaker 3 (29:38):
I mean, I've always I think you did it.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
With Logan too. You won well with Logan at Auburn,
different personality.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
The first fishing partner I had was Grayson Morris that
I won the first one with, and we were good,
We were good buddies. But it was just, you know,
I don't know. I mean, I've always just surrounded my
self with fishermen my whole life, and I just I
feel like good fishermen bounce off good ideas with other fishermen,
(30:08):
like you know, good fishermen match well with the good fishermen,
And that's what I've just tried to surround myself. All
my friends have always been fishermen, and I don't ever
watch sports or anything like that anymore. All I do
is fish. All I do is watch fishing. I don't
care about watching anything else, but no, I think. And
then I fished with Hayden when I want we want
(30:31):
it the third year, and uh, Hayden's been one of
my best friends for years and years, and so it's
just really comfortable when you're fishing with somebody that you're
good friends with, just because you know their next move.
If if you're setting the hook this way, they know
to get out of the way and go that way.
And if they set the hook, you know to get
out of the way and grab the net. Like, it's
(30:52):
just mechanical when you fish with somebody that you're used to.
I'm sure a lot of listeners that tournament fishing on
the weekends with their buddies and stuff. If you fish
with the person for a long enough time, like you
get comfortable fishing with them and adjusting to their styles
of fishing. So it's really fun.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
So was it difficult for you to go from Grayson
that relationship, that style to Hayden.
Speaker 3 (31:15):
I mean not really, especially back then in high school
we were kind of all fishing the same the same
kind of stuff. We were just power fishing down the
banks and stuff like that, a little bit offshore, but
mostly we were just powerfish. So it basically set up
the same You.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
Won a million dollars with Logan Parks in the Bass
Pro tournament that you guys did. I feel like that
was kind of the solidifier of how dominant you and
Logan individually and as a team really were.
Speaker 3 (31:45):
That was a life changing tournament, definitely. I My dad
signed us up for the last Chance qualifier. He was like,
you guys, you guys want to sign up for this
last chance qualifier to get into this million dollar tournament.
We're like, yeah, I mean if because we were off
at a college tournament, and so he let us know
(32:05):
and we ended up signing up that night. But it
was like we didn't even we were out in different college.
I think we were at Lake Wilie and we ended
up going to that last Chance qualifier at bull Shoals
and ended up qualifying for the tournament. That was like
it was probably like I think it was a day
later or a day and a half later. The next
(32:25):
couple of days was the championship, and we ended up
qualifying for the championship in one and only having a
couple of days of practice. For the tournament and it
was surreal. Definitely. I Uh, it was life changing. I
ended up growing a relationship with bass Pro shops and
it helped me to this day for sure and set
(32:46):
me in Logan up to fish all the opens and
be you know, not having any stress with the financial stuff.
So it was amazing for us, both both of our
families to be able to to be able to follow
our dreams and make it to the profession level. Because
now we're both on the Elite series. So it's really cool.
Speaker 2 (33:04):
What did he say to you after your tournament win?
Speaker 3 (33:06):
He was pumped for sure. He stayed and came and
got pictures with me, and he was definitely pumped up.
I told him he was going to be next.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
That's so cool to see that your friendship coming from
college and then working into the professional ranks.
Speaker 2 (33:22):
That's what I'm telling you.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
I just think that there's so many guys that are
in fishing now that it's like the six degrees of separation.
There's going to be really good matchups from here on out.
I think it's going to be incredible. We've talked about
your career, We've talked about where you've come from. I
want you to fast forward, what does your life look
like after fishing?
Speaker 3 (33:44):
I don't know, you mean, like, what would I do
if I wasn't fishing?
Speaker 2 (33:48):
Do you think about it?
Speaker 1 (33:49):
The majority of guys that fish professionally, they get to
maybe fifty and then they just decide, Hey, look I'm
gonna chill or I'm.
Speaker 2 (33:58):
Going to retire. Keat Reese is retiring this year.
Speaker 1 (34:02):
Guys like Rick Klun very rare that could be dominant
in several decades of fishing. So I would want to
say that you could fish all the way up to
the age of Rick Klun, But realistically you may get
tired of wanting to do that run all the time
and chase different lakes. So what would you want to do.
(34:23):
Would you want to start your own fishing line? Would
you want to be tied in with a big sponsor
to where you can just be getting mailbox money off
of products and things like that.
Speaker 3 (34:33):
I don't know. I haven't really thought about it. I mean,
definitely something to do with fishing. If it's not working
for you know, doing my own thing with a fishing company,
then I'd probably just probably just move somewhere and fish
every single day. I probably and me and Paul and
(34:55):
Hayden will probably be all about sixty five, seventy, I
don't know, eighty years old. We're all probably just gonna
buy one house and have three beds in it and
just go to the Gunnersville every day.
Speaker 2 (35:05):
It's the dream.
Speaker 3 (35:08):
Do eat at Jacks at four point thirty in the morning.
Speaker 1 (35:10):
You guys need to jump on and check out Tucker
Smith fishing on every social platform.
Speaker 2 (35:15):
Follow him. He's an incredible fisherman.
Speaker 1 (35:17):
You guys have obviously already heard about him, but it's
cool to get kind of the inside look at where
you came from and what your life is is looking
like right now.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
Tucker, thank you, it's been fun.
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