February 19, 2025 • 70 mins
Bill Dance has won 7 Bassmaster events, he is a 3 time Bassmaster Angler of the Year and he even has the honour of catching the first bass ever caught in a Bassmaster tournament! The crazy part is, he did all that before he was 40 years old. At 39 years old Bill Dance retired from competition and put his full time focus into TV. Since then, he has built an Outdoors empire, creating and producing, arguably, the most successful fishing shows in history. He is a member of every fishing Hall of Fame imaginable. He has a bridge named after him, he has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Tennessee and Luke Bryan has even wrote a hit song about him. His impact on fishing will be felt for generations. All of this was fuelled by a topwater fish he caught on a Jitterbug. Bill Dance went from a Jitterbug to a fishing industry Juggernaut! He joins the 200th episode of Mercer to talk about all that and so much more.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
It is the 200th episode and I promised you guys a big guest, a
guest that has never been on before.
Many of you predicted The Rock, but finally, I have to admit
that The Rock did not return my millions and millions of
messages. But that's OK because we have a
(00:22):
rock in this sport, a rock in this industry, a legend so
strong that even the word legenddoesn't seem strong enough.
He is an absolute fabled folk hero, a three time angler of the
year, a man who has inspired countless generations of
anglers. The one and only Bill Dance
(00:46):
joins me this week. I'm Bob Cobb for the Bassmaster.
Welcome to Mercer. Welcome one.
Welcome all friends, family, freeloaders, fishing freaks, and
(01:08):
of course you, my humpers. Happy hump day to all of you and
welcome into the awkwardly honest fishing podcast that goes
by my last name, which is Mercer.
This is hard to believe this, but this is the 200th episode of
the Mercer podcast and I hope wherever you are in the world,
life is treating you well. And as I said, that just sounds
(01:30):
weird to say 200 episodes. Thank you guys for sticking
around and making this podcast what it is.
I mean the average existence of a podcast is 7 episodes, so for
this one to last 200 is unbelievable.
And don't worry, we don't plan on stopping anytime soon.
So as long as you are here each and every Wednesday, guess what?
(01:52):
So will I be. We had a very special show, a
very special guest as promised, but it's a very special week.
I got big, big announcements to go through here, big things
going on. I mean, this week really badly
planned. Honestly, you shouldn't have
this many big things happening in one week.
You should spread them out. I mean, it's just easier that
(02:14):
way. But but easy isn't fun, I guess.
First thing we got to talk aboutis a brand new podcast in your
life. Officially Unofficial kicked off
at this past Monday on the Bassmaster Channel on
bassmaster.com. You guys heard me talk about the
TNZ podcast with Tommy Sanders and Mark Zona.
That show airs biweekly. Well, so does Officially
(02:36):
Unofficial. So we're going to swap weeks
back and forth and you will be able to have a podcast on the
Bassmaster channel on bassmaster.com each and every
Monday. Definitely check out the TNZ
podcast. It's great.
Can't believe the feedback from official unofficial.
It was awesome. You guys showed up as you always
do great numbers and thank you. I thank you honestly so much for
(03:01):
that. So if you haven't watched it
yet, make sure to check out officially unofficial.
I mean, a pretty star-studded kickoff cast.
We have Matt Robertson, we have Jason Christie, we have Gerald
Swindle and Mark Zona all packedinto one episode.
And that's what officially unofficial is.
We kind of deal with one topic. We get 4 different guests.
(03:24):
We fire them through real quick.You know, we spend like 10
minutes with each guest. And I told them everything's
officially unofficial and they brought it.
They they, well, they, you need to watch it.
It definitely shares some reallycool stories and stuff that I
have heard about but never thought that certain people
would talk about in front of a microphone and I am thankful
(03:46):
that they did so yeah, make sureyou check out official
unofficial. It will be airing bi weekly.
As I said, the first one went out this past Monday.
The link will be down below in the description.
So please check that out. As if that's not enough, we have
our 200 show today with a very special guest.
(04:08):
But tomorrow, Thursday, we kick off a brand new Bassmaster Elite
Series season. So not only do we have a whole
new cast of rookies, we have a lot of new stuff going on.
I mean, Bass just announced thatyou're going to be able to
stream it on Roku, which is super cool.
We're also always on Fox, a new show that we are kicking off
(04:31):
that I am proud to be part of, some extended live coverage from
the venues and we're doing what they're calling a halftime show.
And you need to tune in for this.
I mean, I'm hosting it along with Davey Height, along with
Kyle, Jesse. And we got a cast of characters,
a bunch of anglers going to be involved in that.
(04:52):
It's very interactive, very fun,very different.
You know, we're, we're just going to have fun with it and
it's new. It's something new and exciting.
So make sure you check that out.It'll be advertised all over
bassmaster.com. I'm sure you'll be tuned into
Bassmaster Live as you always are.
Make sure you check out the halftime show because we're
going to, we're going to try to have a lot of fun with that.
(05:16):
With a new Elite Series season, a lot of people have been
asking. I did seminars this past weekend
and several people asked becauseit did 'cause a stirring last
year. Will Mercer in the morning
return? Because if we like I.
Said we caused a stirring. I mean, if you haven't seen
Mercer in the morning, it's basically this, except I run
(05:37):
around the venue and talk to anglers.
So. And if you've never been to a
live Elite series event, I run around to do interviews on a
microphone live to the proud. But before I even do that, I run
around and do interviews for Mercer in the morning.
It is a live feed that we put out on Instagram as well as
(05:57):
YouTube. It's called Mercer in the
Morning. We do it each and every try to
do it each and every morning of the Bass Master Elite series.
It's kind of like an hour beforethe advertised take off time is
around when it is. So make sure you're on
Instagram, make sure you're on YouTube.
You can see Mercer in the morning.
And as I said, we cost them a little bit of a ruckus at times
(06:20):
this past season. So let's see how it goes this
year. I mean, it's just tomfoolery and
buffoonery. I mean, I just run around and
have fun. And it's cool to see the
anglers. Like generally when I have the
live mic in front of them, they're all put together at that
point, you know, they're not even telling me the truth and
the mic. So you catch some kind of off
guard, sleepy, groggy. And it's some of my favorite
(06:43):
stuff that I get to do. So yes, a new podcast kicked off
Monday, officially unofficial. Check that out.
A new Elite Series season is starting tomorrow, Thursday.
Make sure you watch Bass live. A new halftime show is part of
the Elite Series live cast, which we're going to do on the
weekend with the anglers. That's a new feature with Bass.
(07:03):
It's on Roku and Mercer in the morning is back.
So there is lots of things goingon.
And as if that wasn't enough, a long rolls in the 200th episode
of this little podcast that could.
And this week's guest is a very special 1, so special to this
(07:25):
industry. I mean, I feel like he's lived
multiple lives. I mean, by the time he was 39
years old, he had already qualified for a bunch of
classics. He'd won three angler of the
year titles, some Bassmaster events and decided, hey, I, I'm
going to focus on the show. That show became what is
(07:45):
probably arguably the most successful fishing show in in
maybe history, the legendary Mr.Bill Dance.
He's a member of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame.
Heck, he's a member of every Hall of Fame there is.
He's got a doctorate from Tennessee.
He he goes into a bunch of stuff.
This is a very different conversation, but a very cool
(08:08):
conversation of an incredible story.
And that's what I'm most proud of with this show.
I mean, when we started it, the whole goal is just to get real
conversations with anglers and show you guys, expose you guys
to the amazing people that they really are.
And and that's honestly the bestcompliment I get from you guys.
(08:30):
You know, when I'm reading to the compliments, when they're
not all compliments, when I'm reading through the comments,
the best compliment we ever get is somebody said, Hey, thanks
for introducing me to so and so or I never really knew.
So and so now I do. Well, Bill Dance is one of the
greatest stories, not just in fishing in the world.
I mean, he truly is. As he explains in this show, he
(08:54):
came from a jitterbug to a juggernaut in our sport.
And it is my absolute honor and pleasure to welcome Bill Dance
as our 200th guest on Mercy. This is a huge honor and I thank
you for doing this, the legendary Mr. Bill Dance.
(09:17):
How are you, Bill? I'm doing wonderful.
How about you? Well.
I mean, Bill Dance is on my podcast and in the podcast world
that is about as good as things can get.
Well, thank you, buddy. I appreciate that very much
coming from you. I really do.
(09:37):
Well, it is great to have you onhere.
And I just want to get to know you a little more, Bill.
I mean, what we have seen so much of your life, but I feel
like there's so much of your life that maybe we haven't seen.
And maybe start with, when did you know?
When did you know? Did you have a moment in your
history where you're like fishing?
(09:58):
This is more than just a hobby for me.
This is this is going to be my life.
What did? Did you physically make that
decision? I'll tell you what turned me.
It turned my whole life completely around.
What really? Way back when I was seven years
old. It was the beginning of started
(10:23):
Bill Dance's career. I grew up in a little bitty town
over in Middle Tennessee, Moore County, Lynchburg, TN, a dry
county, but the home of Jack Daniels to Silver's.
And there's a lot of stories I can tell you from that.
But the thing that kick started it, we had a little a square
(10:50):
courthouse was in the middle andthere was a hardware store there
called Connor Motlow's Hardware.And Connor was one of the owners
or he helped a lot at Jack Daniels Distillery.
But I would go in that hardware store and back in those days,
(11:10):
that's the only place you could buy a fishing tackle.
We didn't have Bass Pro Shops, Walmarts, Academies, Dicks.
We didn't have those places. The only place was hardware.
And the guy that ran that, that hardware store, I'd walk up and
it was a row of Fred Arbor Gas baits, Sputter, Fuss, Hawaiian,
(11:35):
Winkler. These are old names that
probably a lot of people would never heard of, but there's one
I know they've heard of. It was made in 34.
I didn't see it until much later, but it is still on the
market today and it still sells.In fact, I got a call from one
(11:57):
of my sponsors who sells that. He said would you do a show on
this boat? I said I'd love to, so I would
go in that store if Tosh was hisname.
I said, Tosh, can I see that bait again?
He said I've got it right here and he'd open a cabinet, a glass
(12:18):
cabinet, and he'd take it out and he'd hand it to me and I'd
look at that bait every which way, checked for him.
And I said I got to get that bait.
I just got to have that bait. Well, he was too big for me to
steal it. He'd kill me.
So I took it back to him and I was seven years old.
Of course, I ran around on the square, waded up and down
(12:41):
Mulberry Creek. That I learned a lot about
fishing, moving water from my granddaddy who was a doctor and
taught me a lot about how fish see and how fish here that will
come into play and what I'm fixing to tell you.
So we would, the town would close 1/2 a day.
(13:03):
One day a week people would go play golf or whatever that is
and they'd go work in their garden, mow their yards or
whatever. But every Wednesday afternoon,
grandmother and Granddaddy and Iwould go fishing and Grandmother
was spread a big quilt. My granddaddy bought him fish
(13:24):
for red ears and I'd tag along. So this particular day, I'd been
down on the Creek and I ran up to the house, which a good
baseball player could throw a baseball in it from
Grandmother's front porch. And she said your granddaddy is
(13:46):
going lake fishing today. This was a Wednesday.
I said he is. She reached in her apron drawer
and she United a handkerchief. She opened it.
She said I opened your hand. She dropped 3 silver quarters in
my hand. And she said go to town and get
(14:12):
that bug bug bait you off. It was, it cost $0.75 and I went
out of there, I mean just and I was around the square that we
lived just off the square or they did and or we did and I ran
in and I said Tosh, I want to buy that bait.
(14:33):
He said I put it back or no one else would buy it because I knew
someday you'd you'd come in here.
Well, I dropped 3 silver quarters on the counter and he
pushed me the bait. I looked at it and you're
wondering what is the name of the bait?
Well it was a Fred Arvagast frogcolored Jitterbug still made
(14:58):
today from the beginning in 34. Well, I couldn't wait.
I ran back to the house and I got this little flimsy rod I
had. It was a true temper, believe it
or not Metal Rod and I had a Shakespeare reel on it with
braided line in a section of catgut which we call
(15:19):
Montefilament today and felt real good.
Anyway, couldn't wait to get to the lake.
We went to a lake just between Lynchburg, TN and Tullahoma.
It was called Cumberland Springs, a big pretty sized lake
and it was spring fed and grandmother put out the quilt,
(15:41):
pitched a couple of cold drinks in a spring that came in right
there by the big, this big tree that granddaddy always set
under. And I took off and ran through
some bushes on a big point that went out and I had my jitterbug
on and I was looking at it and Iturned and I went good gosh,
(16:01):
look right there. There were two bad swimming,
just swimming along. It was one about 2 1/2 lbs and
another one maybe a pound and a half.
And I went, Oh my gosh. And I got that little rod and I
started doing false casts with it and I, I let it go and it was
(16:23):
a pretty good cast, but it landed about 20 feet on the
other side of the fish. But that was OK.
But the one thing that impressedme, when that bait hit the
water, both those fish stopped and they turned in the direction
water is crystal clear. They turned in the direction of
that plop. And I said, grandnaddy's right.
(16:48):
These have an uncanny ability tohear and hear sounds.
And so I started moving and you know, the sound of a get her
buddy goes blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah across the
water and a big metal lip on it.And I reeled it a little bit.
Fast forward, I'd move it. They'd move, I'd stop, they'd
(17:11):
stop. They could not see it that far.
I know they couldn't see it, butthey could hear it.
And I kept blah, blah, blah. And all of a sudden it was
probably 40 feet, 30 feet from the bank.
And that biggest bass, which he said the biggest fish in an area
(17:35):
are the most dominant, that at 2LB two, 2 1/2 LB bass made a
turn and went, I twitched it onetime dollop and he went spoon
and just blew into it. And right then everything just
went crazy. And I said good gosh.
And I set the hook. I'm trying to reel and pull and
(17:56):
reel and pull, but the pound anda half stayed with the two
pounder hook and he, I could seeit all.
He was trying to take it. You've seen that many times over
the years, but this was the first time I'd experienced that.
And I said, my gosh, look at this.
And I kept reeling in that little rod drag system, but
didn't have a drag on that runs on a level 1 reel.
(18:18):
You know, I got it about 8 feet from the bank and the ## and 1/2
was still with it. And I just threw that rod over
my shoulder and I got that braided line and I just, well,
roped the fish up on the bike and I got him unhooked.
And I, I just couldn't believe what I'd done.
I'd caught small mouth in the creeks.
(18:39):
They pound, you know, but nothing like this, this, this
largemouth bass that I fooled into hitting a piece of plastic,
that big old metal lip and thosehooks hanging down.
And I said this phony, this fake, I lured those fish out of
their world in the bind. And I went, that's something
(19:04):
special. I mean, that is really special.
And I couldn't get over it. And I ran back through those
bushes. Granddaddy was fish.
I said, look, look, look, look, look what I caught.
He said, my goodness, what a bass.
He said, let me have him. I said, what are you going to do
with him? He said I'm going to put him on
the Stringer. I said give me a different
Stringer. I'm going to carry him up there
and put him on the car, in the truck, in the car.
(19:26):
And now, now he he won't get offthe Stringer.
He won't get off. And I said, you sure he he won't
get away? So he put him in the water on
that chain. He said, why are you shaking?
I said my heart's just beating so fast.
And I started walking back down to get my rod and I said
(19:50):
something just happened right then that changed my whole
direction in life. I said I'm young, but somehow,
someway, someday I want to get into the tackle fishing
industry. I don't know how I'm going to do
it. And that's all I dreamed about.
(20:11):
And my daddy, my granddaddy. A great granddaddy, my great
granddaddy, they were all 5 doctors 5 generations back.
And I had considered going to Med school when I got a little
bit older and I continued to fish through those early years
on end of the time I was a teen and I never quit wanting to do
(20:38):
something in the fishing industry, something I didn't
know what it was, I just wanted to be involved in it.
And when you were 14, you could drive only in the daytime with a
special permit. And I was driving and in my
(20:59):
daddy's truck and I was driving and a motorcycle shot out from
my left at the pool in front of me and a car coming my way hit
him just, I mean, broadside and motorcycle flipped.
He slid up kind of under it. And I went good night, put the
(21:22):
car in neutral, truck in neutral, jumped out and I ran up
there. But the thing that turned me
down on being a doctor was seeing that.
And I said I can't do that. I just cannot be a doctor.
I cannot do it. And I continued on with a dream
(21:43):
in fishing. And his luck would have it, Ray
Scott came along and I'd gotten a little bit older.
I talked to him on the phone. Today's high tech fishing world
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(22:05):
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Now back to the show. Were you one of the original
Like I always hear these legendary stories started
interrupt, but legendary storieswhere he he would call anglers
and taunt them almost like come in this.
Event prove. That you're the best.
So you were one of the people hetaunted into being a.
(22:26):
Pro, I've been doing a lot of fishing, you know, around the
Memphis area and I back along, I'd get on the city bus with
worms in my pocket and I'm a fishing pole and I'd get off at
a big park lake. We had Chickasaw Gardens and I'd
sit there on the bank and then catch the city bus back close to
(22:48):
home and I'd skip home, but I continued to fish.
Getting to fish. I got this call from Ray and he
said I want you to finish my first tournament.
I asked my boss, could I go? And he said, well, your sales
are up. And he said, when is the
tournament? And I said they're going to hold
it in June over at Beaver Lake, which was about a five mile
(23:12):
drive from West Tennessee. And he said, let's just see how
your sales go. One of his secretary turned and
looked at me and winked and saidhe's going to let you go.
And so a local sponsor, the biggest Ford dealer in the
United States, was not Hull Dobbs.
(23:33):
And it was located in Memphis way back young.
And he said, Oakley, Mr. Oakley at Old Hobs would like for you
to come in. He'd like to talk to you.
I got a call and I said, well, who's Mr. Oakley?
(23:54):
And he's president of Old Hobs. And I went, oh, and I knew where
the place was because jigging the cars.
So I, I go over 1 morning, the secretary opened the door, thick
green carpet and a gigantic walnut burl desk sitting there.
(24:15):
He jumped up and said, hello, Bill.
And he walked around and shook my hands.
He said, I've got something I want to do for you.
And I said, what's up, Mr. Oakley?
He said I want to sponsor you inthat big bass tournament that's
coming up and I went whoo we andhe did.
(24:38):
And in that particular tournament, the first two days I
let it third day stands alone out of Nashville beat me, but
just a little bit. But anyway, I was kind of
getting into this more and more and more and more and more and I
(24:58):
kept thinking, I've got to get in this industry.
How do I do that? I fished Beaver and like I said,
I did well. I won $1000.
Stan won 2000. That was a lot of money back
then. The very next year, Ray had a
tournament at Smith Lake in Alabama.
(25:20):
Let me let me back up just a little bit.
I'm getting ahead of myself. Before that first tournament in
March, Diane and I, my wife, we were on Pickwick Lake in a John
boat. I wore 20 mark on the back of it
(25:42):
in a flat bottom boat, and I sculled it and I looked up and
here comes the Skeeter Hawk. Remember those old Skeeter
Hawks? It came zipping across the lake,
and I looked and I recognized two people in it.
Glenn Andrews was in the front. Best bastardsman I've ever met.
He's a uncanny. He's so good.
(26:04):
He had won three big tournamentsbefore Ray had even gotten in
the tournaments. But anyway, he was in the front.
Ray was in the middle, and he had hounds with Tennessee
Wildlife Resource Agency, was inthe back.
And they pulled up and Glenn said, you know, we met in
Memphis at a boat show. I said, yeah, I sure remember it
(26:25):
because I asked you a bunch of questions and he said Yep, and I
knew Ed and it was Ray sitting in the middle.
He said we've talked before. And I said, Yep, I'm planning on
coming to the tournament at Beaver Lake June.
He said, great, Glenn said, you doing any good, Bill?
(26:47):
And I said, well, Diane, and I've caught 3 or 4, excuse me,
small ones. He said right up there in front
of you is a Creek channel point.I was like, I said, what?
What is a Creek channel point? He said, where's the Creek?
Just you got to turn in and turnout he's got it butts, butts up
against the bank and it's a quick drop right there in the
(27:09):
shallow on the top and slopes out in the deeper water.
How have you sinker? You got on?
And I said, I don't know, I guess 1/4 ounce.
And he said you got any 3 eights?
Well I did, I did. I don't know.
I never used them, but I had twoor three of them in the boat and
(27:30):
in the tackle box. And he said put on a three
eights and throw straight to that TVA facility, the dam and
let the bait go down. And I said OK.
And he said there's a school of fish.
We charted with a flasher earlier this morning going out.
(27:52):
We'd planned to fish there, but we run out of time and we're
fixing to go to breakfast. And I said, well, how deep is
that? And he said where we saw the
fish, they're about 24 feet deep.
I said, what did you just say? He said they're about 24 feet
deep and almost Highland Lake said he fished, you know,
(28:14):
25303540 feet wasn't, wasn't anything.
I said you he said, we caught our fish.
We caught a couple of 6 poundersand we caught 8 or 10 this
morning and they were in about 22 to 24 feet.
I said, are you serious? And he said yes.
(28:34):
And I went great day. And they said, look, we're going
to have breakfast below the dam.We all like to enjoy, you know,
join us. And I said, yeah, I wanted to
pick this guy Glenn Andrews brain because he was sharp as a
tack and good, I mean really, really good, good angle.
So I went I put the 3/8 on tied the old clench knot to the steel
(28:58):
tie today and I went chewing my threw it bait hit the water 1001
one thousand two 1014 one thousand 21,022.
It hit the bottom. And I said, golly, I can't
believe it. And I lifted the rod and I moved
the worm a foot and one went andI went, Oh my gosh.
(29:20):
And I set the hook and I catch about a 2 1/2 LB bass and I
fight him up to the boat and I'mjust shaking.
I got him in the boat and I said, Diane, Diane, did you just
see what happened? And she said you caught a fish.
I said no, no, I caught a fish. But he was 24 feet deep.
(29:40):
I grew up in the Mississippi by oxbows and stuff.
And we caught a fish deep from six foot.
We were in the ocean. And I said no, I caught that
fish 22 feet deep, 22 to 24 feetdeep.
And she said, well, that's good.And I said, no, I've never
fished this one. So I fixed the worm like 2.
I threw it right back. Oh, another one hit it about 3
(30:02):
lbs. And I followed him up and I
went, God, I don't believe this.And I was just shaking and these
thoughts were just flying in andout, in and out of my head.
And I said I've got to do something right now, She said,
what are you talking about? I said, I have got to change my
(30:24):
direction in the way I fish. I've got to learn to fish deep
water because everybody else, wewere just jumping into the bank
and I've got to learn to, I've got to learn that before that
fish in that highland lake, up at, you know, at the deep Clear
Lake. And I was scared of it when I
(30:44):
entered it. But after I had gone through the
process of figuring out how I'm going to change it, I called
Glenn and he said, get you a topo map.
What? And get it, Get it with the
smallest intervals available. I said what's a topo map?
And he had to help me with everylittle thing.
(31:09):
I got to where I could read the topo.
I got me a line compass and I'd line 3090° this way and 90° that
way. And right there on pinpoint,
that's where I caught the fish. And I didn't have a a buoy.
I didn't have all that stuff. I just, I'd mark it, he said.
(31:29):
When you find the spot, it looksgood and you catch fish on it,
Mark it, mark it, give it a name.
When I got ready to go to Beaver, I psyched my mind.
I'm going to fish deep water. I don't care what the rest of
(31:51):
them are doing because I had I just was 99% surely going to be
throwing at the bank. And I said I, I, I don't do
that. I called Glenn.
He said don't worry about catching a lot of fish in your
practice session. Look for unusual looking things.
(32:14):
Just because the shoreline comesout doesn't mean it's going to
change right there. It's going to continue on out
and it'll meet something drop off or whatever.
And he said just out alone, Prairie Creek Marinos where we
were, and that first day of practice I just turned and went
(32:36):
to the back of very great. I turned and started up the
shoreline and straight across from the arena was Cove.
I turned into that Cove in was idling and I looked and I said,
well, I wonder what that was. It was timber on both sides.
There was a passageway that wentright through the timber right
(32:59):
to the bank. And I looked at that and I said,
what could that be? It was a logging road.
And I turned around and looked the other way and you could see
where it came out. Yeah.
I put on my old favorite blue worm and I went, I just threw it
straight up the middle of the between the timberlands and that
worm hit the bottom and soon as it hit the line just started
(33:22):
moving. I set the hook and I caught a
bass. So I said wait a minute and I
had two rods rigged up. I had one with a dummy hook that
they could take and just swim with and pull off and they'd get
the worm, but I wouldn't hook them.
So I picked that right up and I threw it three times.
I caught two more. I had two pull off and I said
(33:45):
there's a bunch of fish right here and I counted it down to
17. So I went to the other side of
nothing. And so I started the rest of the
day looking. Anyway, I found another place on
the end of the timberline that Ihad found fish.
So that day I found three crackerjack spots, and I figured
(34:10):
if I could get a limit the firstday of the tournament, I could
spend. And if I did well, I could spend
the next day looking for fish and fishing too.
And if it didn't do any good, I could go back to those three
spots. But I really wanted to save them
for the last day and so I'm monkeying around here and there.
(34:33):
I caught enough. I was still in 2nd place.
So the third day I had a boy by the name of Troy Anderson from
Little Rock, AR and he said, have you got any fish found?
And I said, yeah, I do if they're still there.
And he said, well, that's good. So I went to the second spot.
(34:53):
I found about the same size fish.
I said come on, I know another spot.
So we went to that 20 foot, 17 to 20 foot ledge that just
protruded out of this rock bluffand boom, I caught A4 pounder on
the 1st cast. I said that's what we've been
(35:15):
looking, that's what I've been looking for.
So I called one, threw him in and I think I caught a three 3
1/2, three 3 1/2 pounder. I took two pounder back and he
finished out his limit and I don't know the day when we
weighed in, I finished second instaying finished first.
(35:42):
But what was so great about it? That was the beginning of made
of start fishing deep water. We went to Smith Lake right
after that, caught my fish 50 feet deep on a a Dixie Jet half
oz Jiggingspoon and they were Kentucky's.
(36:07):
But I moved out and I was in 100feet of water, but there were
three trees. I thought it was a school of
fish. There were three big trees and I
had seen several fish breaking in that area.
So I went out there anyway, put a Jiggingspoon on and dropped
it. That tournament at Smith Lake I
(36:29):
won. Next tournament I think was
Rayburn. That won that tournament.
Then we had Smith. Then we had Ross Barnett in
Alabama. I mean in in Mississippi, in
Jackson, Ms. I had the topo maps.
This. Is just the first.
(36:49):
Season This is tall just in yourfirst season.
Yeah, this was in 70, 60, I don't remember.
Yeah, it was the very next year.So I fish deep in my best spot.
I got on. I was sitting out on a kind of a
(37:11):
Ridge and I looked at the dam and I looked way off to the left
of the South side of the dam andit was a Marina.
And on the right hand side across the Pearl River was
another Marina. And I said, how did they get all
that dirt up on that door? And Glenn told me this.
(37:34):
He said think things out. So I'll go over there and I
start idling and I idle down thelevee.
I mean the damn big earthen damaged monster.
And I'm out there about 20 feet.2020, 20/20/2020 it just comes
up to about 8 or 9 feet. 20/20/28 or 999888 boom, right
(38:01):
back off in the 20. So I'm like a UE and I come back
out a little bit deeper and it went up and went right back down
and I said, you know what that is, Bill?
That is a road they've built to get this dirt up on that levee.
I guarantee that's what it is. And I said there's one here.
(38:23):
They'll also be one on the northside across the Pearl River.
Well, there wasn't because I checked it, but I'd pull up on
that, on that, on the dam and fish that road bed out to say 20
feet. And I'd catch them from 14 to 18
to 20 feet just just like that. And that was my that was one of
(38:43):
my number one holes. And I won that tournament after
three straight wins. Wow.
Smith, Lake, Rayburn, Ross, Garnett.
I got 3 phone calls in a matter of a week from Ken White at Head
and Liver Company. Second call was from Jim Bagley,
(39:07):
the old Jim Made the Boss of Buddies.
And the third call was from NickCrane, the inventor of the
plastic worm in Tyler, TX. And all three of them asked me
questions. I like to go to work or well
then a lot had happened since the days at the distributing
company and everything was moving it just unbelievable
(39:32):
pace. I took a job.
Nick asked me to fly down Diane.He said bring your wife.
I flew down to Tyler, TX at the Shreveport and they picked me
up. We went over to Tyler, TX.
Nick said, I'll tell you what I want to do, Bill.
I want to furnish you a car and furnish you a decent salad.
I said, OK. So I started.
(39:55):
I went to work for Nick. I worked for Nick and we, he
would bring buyers and writers in to Toledo Bin or Rayburn and
I'd fish with him a week or LakeWashita, wherever it was.
But I'd fish with this guy for aday and then here comes a
writer. I'd fish with him.
(40:17):
And we had basically mom and popstores then.
Dave Yeah. Independence.
Yeah, sporting goods, but these big chains were starting to open
up Cron Delay and FW Woolworth, and they started buying fishing
tackle. Anyway, I went to work, stayed
with Nick for about two years and Charles Spence and I,
(40:39):
Charles on Strike King Lure Company was in the process of
buying Strike King and he boughtit and he said, OK, what I want
to do, I want you to be my partner.
And I said, what do you want me to do?
He said exactly what you've beendoing.
And I said, sounds good. Charles and I took off and I
(41:06):
owned half a Strike King back inthose early days, but I'd get
calls from writers and stuff andCharles just said they didn't
want me to go. And I said, Charles, I felt
horrible. I said, no, they don't want you,
they want me. I, it was just hard feeling that
because I knew it hurt his feelings.
It got to the point where it wasjust bothering me to do that.
(41:26):
But I know what I was doing would help the company
tremendously. Charles he, he never changed.
And I, I just dreaded to tell him I'm going off for took a
couple of fishing trips and you got to stay there and make the
baits, striking spinner baits and the diamondback worms and
all that other stuff. After a period of time just kind
(41:49):
of knocking around trying to figure out what, and I called
Cotton Cordell. He said, what are you doing?
I said nothing, Cotton, why don't you come over here?
And I went to work for Cotton doing the same thing that I was
doing for Nick, but in the meantime working for Cotton.
He called me one night and he said, you know something, Bill,
he's like a daddy. He was a great, great guy.
(42:12):
He said we need a fishing shop and I said I know the perfect
guy for it. He said, who's that?
And I said Jerry Mckennis, because Jerry and I were rooming
together some at the tournamentsand I wouldn't be doing TV today
had it not been for Mckennis. And I'd hold up a scoop it
camera 16mm. I'd shoot him, hand him the
(42:33):
camera and he'd shoot me and we'd do a talkie on the set.
Well, here we go down the lake, ha ha, ha.
Oh, look here, Jerry is pulling into a point right here.
Oh, good. I hope some fish are there.
As you can see, Jerry's putting on one of his favorite plastic
worms. It was a talkie.
(42:55):
We didn't we didn't have sound. But anyway, the studio, when you
go in the studio, you build it up.
But anyway, in that time I was working boat shows.
AFMA was coming on AFTMA. Now it's ICAST.
I met people like Claude Turbyville with Bomber Bait
(43:20):
Company, Jodie Gregg with with Whopper, Stalker Bait Company,
Bill Norman, Cotton Kordell, Carl Lawrence and and from there
TV was going. I was doing local in the Memphis
market. Well, I put that show in
(43:43):
Jackson, Ms. Baton Rouge, their sister stations WBRZ and and
Baton Rouge and JC Penney in Kentucky called me.
They had sporting goods in them.So I was doing 4 markets,
shooting my shows, editing my shows and producing for four
(44:03):
markets, 52 weeks a year, 208 shows a year.
Wow. And I draw from Jackson, it was
the state capital. I could get safety gap, water
safety people, the Game and Fishdirector, even the governor was
a big thing. Got the governor, then went to
Baton Rouge, same thing, state capital.
I could pull from that, but I could pull from local fishermen.
(44:25):
Well, I quit after a period of time.
I quit and gave my show in BatonRouge to Bobby Meadors, gave my
show in Jackson to Ernest McNeil, to who I've had on
several times, and I quit Paducah.
(44:46):
But I kept Memphis and I got a call from advancers in Saint
Louis and they said, hey, we'd like to syndicate your show.
I said, what do you mean we'd like to put it in 50 network
markets across the country. I said well, good night, that's
something. And so I did that.
(45:08):
It went from 50 to 90 network markets.
It was outdoors with Bill dance and I got ATV guide one day and
or the paper and I looked at it and you just said outdoors at
2:00. I said, well, they didn't run us
today. So I called Don Starks and said,
(45:31):
listen, I said what they didn't run us today.
He said they did, but they've changed the name.
They they only have so much room, so they just put outdoors,
outdoors. And I said, well, I got to do
something about that. I said I asked them would they
(45:55):
just put Bill dance and they agreed to it.
And I changed it from outdoors to Bill dance to Bill Dance
outdoors. And that's the way it's been
ever since. And I built in saltwater.
And but anyway, David, I got to the point where I had finished
(46:16):
or met or done, I'd been on all four corners doing Memphis
radio, writing for our big newspaper weekly, weekly story
every Sunday morning. I had been in the tackle
manufacturing end of it. I'd been in sales, I'd been in
Allure Design, and it was growing, growing, growing,
(46:38):
growing. And finally ESPN called.
So would you do a show for us? And that was cable.
Cable was coming on, so I dropped syndication and couldn't
afford it. I went with cable and ESPN.
Back then, I was in, I was everywhere.
I was in Spokane to Miami to Maine to Southern California and
(47:04):
I blanketed everything. But there was one thing missing
it I didn't hit that the demographics, that loyal brand
buying market and what happened I finally that next year I went
with NBC Sports, Discovery Channel, the Outdoor Channel and
(47:28):
the Sportsman Channel. So demographically, I went with
the Outdoor Channel and a Sportsman channel and that's
where we are today. We do 39 original shows, 13
salt, 26 fresh. I'm doing the same thing I was
doing 20 years ago. I've got good sponsors.
(47:50):
I've got 1 sponsor that's been with me for 58 years.
Wow, you know who it is. AFCO not only makes incredible
outdoor clothing, but they care about anglers.
With their 10% pledge, AFCO and the Shed family donate at least
10% of the company's profits to conservation and making fishing
(48:11):
better. Now back to the show.
I'm not going. To.
Who? Who?
Tell me. Mercury Marine.
There you go. I've been, I've been, they've
been pushing me up and down the lakes for a long, long time.
But we picked up some, some good, good sponsors and that's
(48:35):
what gave me the idea with sportsmen to go saltwater.
So I went saltwater. And so here we are doing, in
fact, I'll be leaving in a couple of weeks, head to Florida
to do some stuff because the climate out here is horrible,
but down here it's better. So it's been a good ride.
(48:56):
I. Would say.
I I, I'm telling you, man, I, I it seemed like when one door
closed and another one would open and I've been on all four
corners of it. I believed every, I believed
every minute of it and met some of the greatest people in the
industry. Lenny Bostrom, the owner of
Garcia in in overseas in Spain and wherever you're from.
(49:18):
I met him and he made the ambassador reels and before Abu
bottom and he said Dilbert aboutyou let me send you a couple of
reels and I said I sure would like them.
I sure would appreciate it. He sent me two black deluxe,
black and gold deluxe Garcia reels and he had my name
(49:44):
engraved on and I've still got Ican't I lost one, but I've still
got one of those reels to this day.
But doing what I'm doing, had itnot been for that, that little
fish and race tournaments, I doubt seriously I'll be where I
(50:04):
am today. Everything I wanted and
everything I hoped for developedinto a career, from a hobby to a
profession. And when I'm fishing, regardless
of what I'm doing, is the happiest day in my life.
I dearly love it. I fished yesterday in a
(50:26):
northeast wind and a light rain,and I carried a buddy of mine
from Memphis State. He's a coach and a guy I do some
commercials for. We went, we caught one best this
long and we caught 52 1/2 to four and a half and we just had
(50:48):
and I just hated it and it was getting dark.
I just wondered if he's gold. So you you still love it just as
much today. Oh golly, yeah.
I wake up, I'm hard to get up sometimes before if I'm going
fishing, I boom, I'm out of bed and I'm ready to go.
I get ready, everything ready. I lay my clothes out, I'm going
(51:09):
to wear. I've got the baits that I'm
going to try on this particular lake.
And yeah, I get excited about it.
I loved the happiest times when I'm on the walk.
I really am. I'm just it's.
A gift. I've learned a lot.
I learned a lot from fishing tournaments, East Coast to West
Coast anglers from Canada, from Canada to Mexico.
(51:30):
I just have an opportunity to share ideas and like you, you do
an awesome show of fishing packsI watched the other day.
Well. Thank you.
And you want me to tell you whatyou were doing?
What? Was I doing?
We're catching small mouth on a crank bait.
Yeah, Yeah. And you were, you were giving
(51:51):
out tips and stuff. And I said that's good stuff.
I like that. And I like, I like I I watch
you. I really do.
And you, you're a good teacher. You're a good angler.
And you're good at what you do at the tournaments.
You get a little excited, but you still do a good job.
I do get excited and and and. What I what I've kind of noticed
(52:18):
those tips you use in your show.I see that you use many tips
that I taught you. OK, Many, many, many.
I'm kidding you. Hey, I'm kidding you.
No, no, you, you, you've inspired.
(52:39):
I mean, you're, I think if you could, you could spend all day
watching Outdoor Channel and every fishing show.
It's all been inspired by you, you know, you and, and just a
handful of others. Jerry McInnes, obviously the
lenders, so many people that came along, but it is it's truly
amazing what you guys have built.
(53:00):
One of the things that you became famous for along the way
was bloopers and, and we've all loved seeing the Bill dance
bloopers over the year. But I've wanted to ask you this
forever because I know how business works.
I mean, there was a few bloopersall of a sudden and that that
and all of a sudden people wanted more.
Did it ever get to a stage whereyou had to manufacture bloopers
(53:24):
or were those all natural? I'm going to give you an honest
answer. Some of most of them, nearly
all, they were natural, but we added to them to make them to
make them play longer When when it happened, we continue to let
the camera roll before the before it happened.
The camera fortunately was rolling to catch the front end
(53:47):
and the tail end of it. But that show blooper show
started. I got a call from Walmart and
the buyer over there said, Bill,you know the show you shot 2
weeks ago on such and such that striking bite.
(54:08):
And I said, yeah, our buyer did not buy enough supply, enough
inventory. And can you do in two or three
weeks show that, show a rerun. And Dick Mahan was a guy, Dick
(54:29):
said, I know how you hate reruns.
It took me a long time to realize a rerun.
Most people don't see the first time it ran, but they get to see
it the second time. So anyway, I said yeah, I'll do
it. What are you going to tell
America's biggest retailer? No.
And I did it. I showed Walmart sold twice as
(54:54):
many with the rerun. And then they called me.
They said it was fall. Can you do?
Can you piece together another show on that bait?
I went, Oh no. So I tried, I took it and I
(55:15):
threw that thing, told him I threw that bait till I wore the
paint. I mean the finish off of it.
And I managed to catch enough fish to do a half show.
And I'm starting to think what can I do?
What can I do? Tony Max was the producer.
I brought it in. I said, Tony, I fished a cup of
vase and I, I can't catch any fish on this bait in this cold
(55:36):
water. And he said, let me look at what
you got. I said, OK, He said, let me, I
know what to do. And I said, do I need to worry
about anything? He said, no, go.
So how I went what he did, he looked back through the archives
(55:57):
and he had he had written in a notebook all these outtakes that
had happened over the years overthe two camera shoot, you know,
crazy things. And he said, I put the
second-half of that show that you did for Walmart that they
just had to have on that bait the bloopers, some bloopers,
(56:18):
some outtakes is what he called it.
And we aired that show. Two weeks later, we got a call
from Dick Clark Productions in New York.
Now, Ed, Ed McMahon, who was Johnny Carson's sidekick and and
Dick Clark had a bloopers show and he said, can we use call
(56:40):
Tony? I went in and he said, can we
use four of your bloopers? And Tony called me and I said,
well, Thunder, yeah. I said, man, that kind of
publicity on NBCI said, yeah, well, we sent them 44 clips and
instantly they called right backand they said where do we give
(57:05):
us an address where we can mail us?
Made you a talent check and I said we ain't charged, we're not
going to charge you good night for publicity from that is not
NBC's policy. We have to pay you.
So they paid us $400.00 a clip and they wanted four more.
(57:26):
Well, while all this was going on, Rogan's heroes in California
had a blooper show. CBS came with a blooper show,
ABC Sports minded, ABC had blooper outtakes with athletes.
And the next thing the BBC in London called us and they wanted
(57:48):
some blooper tapes. And Tony says, you know, we
ought to just do a blooper tape show.
And I went, you think? And yeah, so we did it and we
just got unbelievable numbers. He said let's put these blooper
tapes. And many of them hadn't hadn't
(58:10):
been shown on a tape. And we did.
Walmart sold the Dickens out of them.
And there were more that occurred.
And sometimes I added a little bit that made it look like a
blooper and then it wasn't totally a blooper, but the high
percentage of them were outtakes.
I mean, it actually happened following off a four Wheeler or
(58:35):
you know, it was just a cameraman falling off a bluff
with a big three CC DS Sony on his shoulders or me knocking one
out out of the boat with a big camera.
You look at the expense of thosebig cameras back then.
We still shoot, we still shoot alot of Sony stuff with the
bigger cameras. I still.
(58:56):
Was I said y'all are. Going to break my y'all are
going to break this company. Well, I didn't know the, the I
didn't know the top of that bankup there was going to cave in.
But you do watch it. You see dirt start falling out
from under and he just, and he went right off into about 14
feet of water and he came back up and he's got the camera.
(59:17):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but those,those you can't, you just don't
knocking pee out of the pool. I just turned around real fast
and we'll swivel, see, boom, thetime that on the jib, the camera
hit me upside the head. You don't, don't go around and
(59:40):
fake that. OK?
Let the camera swing and hit me right in the face.
I'm not going to do that. I'm I'm stupid, but I'm not that
stupid. But we had even to this day on
TikTok, we've run a lot of thosebloopers and got great numbers
from I bet, I bet, and it's amazing.
(01:00:01):
A lot of people didn't even knowwho Bill dance.
Was till we started us to do it but we all do we all do things
like that but the bloopers really really helped us.
It really did. And now in our social, which is
is booming and we seem like we get an increase every week and
(01:00:24):
we're pushing almost 3 million, a little under 3 million the
followers right now. So when we put something on, get
a lot of people that watch it. I've run a Yamaha outboard for
over. 30 years it has got me home safe each and every time.
If you enjoy this podcast, remember Yamaha supports it and
(01:00:47):
they care enough about you to make this ad read very short.
Now back to the show. Well, I don't know if you
realize. This, but you're Bill Dance.
People, people, people are interested in you, Bill, Thank
you so much so. That one of the.
Greatest honors, which I've literally wondered to myself I'm
like what what does that even feel like and I and I think this
(01:01:11):
is like an evolution into bill dance not just being an amazing
educator amazing entertainer, almost a folk hero you're.
In a hit. Country song like.
What? What did Luke call you before
that? Or was the song recorded before
that he presented to? You like how did that?
(01:01:33):
Happen. Well, they were on a tell you.
Real quick, I'd have they were on the bus, they were on their
bus on a tour, and he had several key writers with him.
Dallas Davison, who's written 17number one hits for Blake
Shelton, for Luke Bryan and for other entertainers.
That's where I got, that's whereI met Luke for the first time.
(01:01:55):
I'm trying to think about when it was, but I met Luke, but Luke
wanted to do a show, but he couldn't do one at that time
because he was tied in with Cabela's.
But he can now because Johnny owns, you know, and I'm the bass
pro shops. So he the past two years I've
been so fortunate I got a doctorate's degree.
(01:02:22):
It's only been given one time in125 years at the University of
Tennessee. And that was a a tremendously
big honor. Because it did it.
At Needling Stadium in Knoxville, Home of the Balls and
I talked to 1002. 100 students it.
(01:02:43):
Was sitting out on the field about.
Dreams. Walt Disney had a record When
You Wish Upon A Star, you know, basically all your dreams come
true. So I talked about that and I was
up on that big Tron and I thought, golly, Moses, how how
does this happen? Just I'm just everyday first.
(01:03:06):
Well, right after that, this just past year, I was awarded
had to go to Nashville. I won the Tennessee end of the
year Bowl and that that just that absolutely afforded me.
And I just found out this past week, Mulberry Creek, where I
(01:03:28):
grew up and I went under this. Bridge next to Jack.
Downs Distillery 900,000 times. I've weighed 100, weighed back
hundred. It's 3 miles up Mulberry Creek.
3 miles down Mulberry Creek. They're naming that bridge the
Buildings bridge. We just found out about a week
(01:03:49):
ago. That and.
I just the hall. Of fame.
The Hall of Fame. 'S I remember over at
Springfield, they hold the Hall of Fame awards and dinners, and
we induct new, you know, new entries, new inductees into the
(01:04:11):
Hall of Fame. And I was asked to get up and
say something about it. So I got up the mic and I said
it's hard to explain unless you've actually been there.
I can stick a hook in my finger and someone can say, oh, I know
(01:04:34):
exactly. I know how.
How you feel? I said, have you ever had a, you
ever had a hook stuck in you? No, you don't know how I feel
unless you experience that same thing.
You've got to experience that toreally to really feel it.
So receiving an award like that that will go like like the
(01:04:59):
international gaming fish years back I got awarded an award
there. Those those awards, like Hall of
Fame awards, some of them will last forever.
Someone. Like I told these new inductees.
I said one day. Your picture is going to hang.
(01:05:21):
Here in the Hall of Fame at BassPro Shops and some granddaddy's
going to be walking on with his grandson and he's going to say.
Who is that? The granddaddy's going to say
this to Bill Dance. Well, who's?
Bill Dance. Well, let me tell.
You about Bill Dance. So that legacy, it lives on and
(01:05:46):
it lives on, lives on the bridge.
These 18 lakes that Governor Leegave us, there'll be build ants,
signature lakes. Those will go on and on and on.
So you're leaving, you've done alot of good things.
The industry's been good to you.Life has been good to you.
The good Lord up above definitely gave me those two
(01:06:10):
directions in life. I'm about that first fish on a
jitterbug I'll never forget. And then?
I guess the other one we talked about was it changed my
direction in life. The second one.
Was meeting with Ray Scott, Glenn Andrews, Ray Scott and
Glenn Howell. Glenn teaching me to get out of
(01:06:32):
the shallow water and get into deep water.
He said there's more fish out here behind you than it is in
front of you. And it was a lot of truth to it.
I want it so bad to do good in these tournaments.
I just. I would eat, sleep and breathe
them. I'd study my maps and I'd
concentrate on every little detail and driving down the road
(01:06:54):
I'd. Say a ditch.
And I'd made AU turn, I'd turn that's a down current, down
current side that bends what they're going to be facing into
the current on these TVA lakes. And I've started fishing a lot,
but excuse me, I everything, it's just been, it's just been a
(01:07:17):
blessing. Yeah, I would say.
So you went. You went from a jitterbug to a
juggernaut in this industry and and what Glenn taught you, you
hand it off to all of us, you know, and it really is so
thankful for. Everything you've.
Done continue to do and and thankful to have you on here.
(01:07:40):
I mean, I could talk to you for days.
Thank you very, but I know you have a lot of.
Stuff. To do here today and I I don't
want to go over a time but Bill thank you thank you for for an
industry that you've put on yourshoulders and and.
Created. Along with some amazing amazing
I appreciate I I sincerely. Appreciate that you're, you're a
(01:08:03):
big name in this industry and tohear you tell me that it just
it, it's heartwarming and I certainly do appreciate it.
I know I'll get to see you in March, The Masters Classic in
Dallas, Fort Worth. Where it is Fort.
Worth, Yeah, and they just announced.
(01:08:23):
Today that next year's is in Knoxville, TN.
So back on the Tennessee River. Yeah, go Falls.
Yeah, go. There we.
Go, buddy. I hey, I thank you for what
you've done for this sport with fishing packs.
The tips that you passed along the way have definitely helped
lots of people to catch just onemore fish.
(01:08:45):
That means a lot. And I appreciate your friendship
and anytime that we can get together, I'd love to do it and
we can go from there. We we'll come up with something
to talk about. Oh, I don't think that's ever a
problem. The one and only Bill Dance.
All I ever wanted to be is Bill Dance.
(01:09:05):
And there's not just Luke Bryan singing it.
A lot of anglers are singing it.Thank you, Bill Dance.
God bless you, my friend. Thank.
You Thank you, Bill Dance. What an.
In what an absolute icon and a perfect guest for a 200th show.
So thank you very much and thankyou guys very much for making
(01:09:27):
this show what it is. You tune in each and every week.
And I cannot thank you enough. I know I thank you every week,
but I sometimes think that people think, Oh yeah, he's just
saying that honestly, thank you for making this show what it is.
Please continue to like, comment, subscribe, do all those
things that help stroke the algorithm and keep this show
around. And hey, it's a big week.
(01:09:49):
Make sure to tune into official unofficial if you haven't
already. Watch that, Watch the Bassmaster
Elite series, Bass live, the time show Mercer in the morning,
all sorts of things to entertainyour time and keep me running
around. But honestly, on behalf of
myself, my entire family, and everybody that has anything to
(01:10:13):
do with this show, thank you. Until next.
Time. Enjoy.
Being and as always, Bob Cobb, take it away.
For watching please like. Comment and subscribe because
Bob Cobb of the Bass Masters told you to you here.
It is the 200th episode and I promised you guys a big guest, a
guest that has never been on before.
Many of you predicted The Rock, but finally, I have to admit
that The Rock did not return my millions and millions of
messages. But that's OK because we have a
(00:22):
rock in this sport, a rock in this industry, a legend so
strong that even the word legenddoesn't seem strong enough.
He is an absolute fabled folk hero, a three time angler of the
year, a man who has inspired countless generations of
anglers. The one and only Bill Dance
(00:46):
joins me this week. I'm Bob Cobb for the Bassmaster.
Welcome to Mercer. Welcome one.
Welcome all friends, family, freeloaders, fishing freaks, and
(01:08):
of course you, my humpers. Happy hump day to all of you and
welcome into the awkwardly honest fishing podcast that goes
by my last name, which is Mercer.
This is hard to believe this, but this is the 200th episode of
the Mercer podcast and I hope wherever you are in the world,
life is treating you well. And as I said, that just sounds
(01:30):
weird to say 200 episodes. Thank you guys for sticking
around and making this podcast what it is.
I mean the average existence of a podcast is 7 episodes, so for
this one to last 200 is unbelievable.
And don't worry, we don't plan on stopping anytime soon.
So as long as you are here each and every Wednesday, guess what?
(01:52):
So will I be. We had a very special show, a
very special guest as promised, but it's a very special week.
I got big, big announcements to go through here, big things
going on. I mean, this week really badly
planned. Honestly, you shouldn't have
this many big things happening in one week.
You should spread them out. I mean, it's just easier that
(02:14):
way. But but easy isn't fun, I guess.
First thing we got to talk aboutis a brand new podcast in your
life. Officially Unofficial kicked off
at this past Monday on the Bassmaster Channel on
bassmaster.com. You guys heard me talk about the
TNZ podcast with Tommy Sanders and Mark Zona.
That show airs biweekly. Well, so does Officially
(02:36):
Unofficial. So we're going to swap weeks
back and forth and you will be able to have a podcast on the
Bassmaster channel on bassmaster.com each and every
Monday. Definitely check out the TNZ
podcast. It's great.
Can't believe the feedback from official unofficial.
It was awesome. You guys showed up as you always
do great numbers and thank you. I thank you honestly so much for
(03:01):
that. So if you haven't watched it
yet, make sure to check out officially unofficial.
I mean, a pretty star-studded kickoff cast.
We have Matt Robertson, we have Jason Christie, we have Gerald
Swindle and Mark Zona all packedinto one episode.
And that's what officially unofficial is.
We kind of deal with one topic. We get 4 different guests.
(03:24):
We fire them through real quick.You know, we spend like 10
minutes with each guest. And I told them everything's
officially unofficial and they brought it.
They they, well, they, you need to watch it.
It definitely shares some reallycool stories and stuff that I
have heard about but never thought that certain people
would talk about in front of a microphone and I am thankful
(03:46):
that they did so yeah, make sureyou check out official
unofficial. It will be airing bi weekly.
As I said, the first one went out this past Monday.
The link will be down below in the description.
So please check that out. As if that's not enough, we have
our 200 show today with a very special guest.
(04:08):
But tomorrow, Thursday, we kick off a brand new Bassmaster Elite
Series season. So not only do we have a whole
new cast of rookies, we have a lot of new stuff going on.
I mean, Bass just announced thatyou're going to be able to
stream it on Roku, which is super cool.
We're also always on Fox, a new show that we are kicking off
(04:31):
that I am proud to be part of, some extended live coverage from
the venues and we're doing what they're calling a halftime show.
And you need to tune in for this.
I mean, I'm hosting it along with Davey Height, along with
Kyle, Jesse. And we got a cast of characters,
a bunch of anglers going to be involved in that.
(04:52):
It's very interactive, very fun,very different.
You know, we're, we're just going to have fun with it and
it's new. It's something new and exciting.
So make sure you check that out.It'll be advertised all over
bassmaster.com. I'm sure you'll be tuned into
Bassmaster Live as you always are.
Make sure you check out the halftime show because we're
going to, we're going to try to have a lot of fun with that.
(05:16):
With a new Elite Series season, a lot of people have been
asking. I did seminars this past weekend
and several people asked becauseit did 'cause a stirring last
year. Will Mercer in the morning
return? Because if we like I.
Said we caused a stirring. I mean, if you haven't seen
Mercer in the morning, it's basically this, except I run
(05:37):
around the venue and talk to anglers.
So. And if you've never been to a
live Elite series event, I run around to do interviews on a
microphone live to the proud. But before I even do that, I run
around and do interviews for Mercer in the morning.
It is a live feed that we put out on Instagram as well as
(05:57):
YouTube. It's called Mercer in the
Morning. We do it each and every try to
do it each and every morning of the Bass Master Elite series.
It's kind of like an hour beforethe advertised take off time is
around when it is. So make sure you're on
Instagram, make sure you're on YouTube.
You can see Mercer in the morning.
And as I said, we cost them a little bit of a ruckus at times
(06:20):
this past season. So let's see how it goes this
year. I mean, it's just tomfoolery and
buffoonery. I mean, I just run around and
have fun. And it's cool to see the
anglers. Like generally when I have the
live mic in front of them, they're all put together at that
point, you know, they're not even telling me the truth and
the mic. So you catch some kind of off
guard, sleepy, groggy. And it's some of my favorite
(06:43):
stuff that I get to do. So yes, a new podcast kicked off
Monday, officially unofficial. Check that out.
A new Elite Series season is starting tomorrow, Thursday.
Make sure you watch Bass live. A new halftime show is part of
the Elite Series live cast, which we're going to do on the
weekend with the anglers. That's a new feature with Bass.
(07:03):
It's on Roku and Mercer in the morning is back.
So there is lots of things goingon.
And as if that wasn't enough, a long rolls in the 200th episode
of this little podcast that could.
And this week's guest is a very special 1, so special to this
(07:25):
industry. I mean, I feel like he's lived
multiple lives. I mean, by the time he was 39
years old, he had already qualified for a bunch of
classics. He'd won three angler of the
year titles, some Bassmaster events and decided, hey, I, I'm
going to focus on the show. That show became what is
(07:45):
probably arguably the most successful fishing show in in
maybe history, the legendary Mr.Bill Dance.
He's a member of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame.
Heck, he's a member of every Hall of Fame there is.
He's got a doctorate from Tennessee.
He he goes into a bunch of stuff.
This is a very different conversation, but a very cool
(08:08):
conversation of an incredible story.
And that's what I'm most proud of with this show.
I mean, when we started it, the whole goal is just to get real
conversations with anglers and show you guys, expose you guys
to the amazing people that they really are.
And and that's honestly the bestcompliment I get from you guys.
(08:30):
You know, when I'm reading to the compliments, when they're
not all compliments, when I'm reading through the comments,
the best compliment we ever get is somebody said, Hey, thanks
for introducing me to so and so or I never really knew.
So and so now I do. Well, Bill Dance is one of the
greatest stories, not just in fishing in the world.
I mean, he truly is. As he explains in this show, he
(08:54):
came from a jitterbug to a juggernaut in our sport.
And it is my absolute honor and pleasure to welcome Bill Dance
as our 200th guest on Mercy. This is a huge honor and I thank
you for doing this, the legendary Mr. Bill Dance.
(09:17):
How are you, Bill? I'm doing wonderful.
How about you? Well.
I mean, Bill Dance is on my podcast and in the podcast world
that is about as good as things can get.
Well, thank you, buddy. I appreciate that very much
coming from you. I really do.
(09:37):
Well, it is great to have you onhere.
And I just want to get to know you a little more, Bill.
I mean, what we have seen so much of your life, but I feel
like there's so much of your life that maybe we haven't seen.
And maybe start with, when did you know?
When did you know? Did you have a moment in your
history where you're like fishing?
(09:58):
This is more than just a hobby for me.
This is this is going to be my life.
What did? Did you physically make that
decision? I'll tell you what turned me.
It turned my whole life completely around.
What really? Way back when I was seven years
old. It was the beginning of started
(10:23):
Bill Dance's career. I grew up in a little bitty town
over in Middle Tennessee, Moore County, Lynchburg, TN, a dry
county, but the home of Jack Daniels to Silver's.
And there's a lot of stories I can tell you from that.
But the thing that kick started it, we had a little a square
(10:50):
courthouse was in the middle andthere was a hardware store there
called Connor Motlow's Hardware.And Connor was one of the owners
or he helped a lot at Jack Daniels Distillery.
But I would go in that hardware store and back in those days,
(11:10):
that's the only place you could buy a fishing tackle.
We didn't have Bass Pro Shops, Walmarts, Academies, Dicks.
We didn't have those places. The only place was hardware.
And the guy that ran that, that hardware store, I'd walk up and
it was a row of Fred Arbor Gas baits, Sputter, Fuss, Hawaiian,
(11:35):
Winkler. These are old names that
probably a lot of people would never heard of, but there's one
I know they've heard of. It was made in 34.
I didn't see it until much later, but it is still on the
market today and it still sells.In fact, I got a call from one
(11:57):
of my sponsors who sells that. He said would you do a show on
this boat? I said I'd love to, so I would
go in that store if Tosh was hisname.
I said, Tosh, can I see that bait again?
He said I've got it right here and he'd open a cabinet, a glass
(12:18):
cabinet, and he'd take it out and he'd hand it to me and I'd
look at that bait every which way, checked for him.
And I said I got to get that bait.
I just got to have that bait. Well, he was too big for me to
steal it. He'd kill me.
So I took it back to him and I was seven years old.
Of course, I ran around on the square, waded up and down
(12:41):
Mulberry Creek. That I learned a lot about
fishing, moving water from my granddaddy who was a doctor and
taught me a lot about how fish see and how fish here that will
come into play and what I'm fixing to tell you.
So we would, the town would close 1/2 a day.
(13:03):
One day a week people would go play golf or whatever that is
and they'd go work in their garden, mow their yards or
whatever. But every Wednesday afternoon,
grandmother and Granddaddy and Iwould go fishing and Grandmother
was spread a big quilt. My granddaddy bought him fish
(13:24):
for red ears and I'd tag along. So this particular day, I'd been
down on the Creek and I ran up to the house, which a good
baseball player could throw a baseball in it from
Grandmother's front porch. And she said your granddaddy is
(13:46):
going lake fishing today. This was a Wednesday.
I said he is. She reached in her apron drawer
and she United a handkerchief. She opened it.
She said I opened your hand. She dropped 3 silver quarters in
my hand. And she said go to town and get
(14:12):
that bug bug bait you off. It was, it cost $0.75 and I went
out of there, I mean just and I was around the square that we
lived just off the square or they did and or we did and I ran
in and I said Tosh, I want to buy that bait.
(14:33):
He said I put it back or no one else would buy it because I knew
someday you'd you'd come in here.
Well, I dropped 3 silver quarters on the counter and he
pushed me the bait. I looked at it and you're
wondering what is the name of the bait?
Well it was a Fred Arvagast frogcolored Jitterbug still made
(14:58):
today from the beginning in 34. Well, I couldn't wait.
I ran back to the house and I got this little flimsy rod I
had. It was a true temper, believe it
or not Metal Rod and I had a Shakespeare reel on it with
braided line in a section of catgut which we call
(15:19):
Montefilament today and felt real good.
Anyway, couldn't wait to get to the lake.
We went to a lake just between Lynchburg, TN and Tullahoma.
It was called Cumberland Springs, a big pretty sized lake
and it was spring fed and grandmother put out the quilt,
(15:41):
pitched a couple of cold drinks in a spring that came in right
there by the big, this big tree that granddaddy always set
under. And I took off and ran through
some bushes on a big point that went out and I had my jitterbug
on and I was looking at it and Iturned and I went good gosh,
(16:01):
look right there. There were two bad swimming,
just swimming along. It was one about 2 1/2 lbs and
another one maybe a pound and a half.
And I went, Oh my gosh. And I got that little rod and I
started doing false casts with it and I, I let it go and it was
(16:23):
a pretty good cast, but it landed about 20 feet on the
other side of the fish. But that was OK.
But the one thing that impressedme, when that bait hit the
water, both those fish stopped and they turned in the direction
water is crystal clear. They turned in the direction of
that plop. And I said, grandnaddy's right.
(16:48):
These have an uncanny ability tohear and hear sounds.
And so I started moving and you know, the sound of a get her
buddy goes blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah across the
water and a big metal lip on it.And I reeled it a little bit.
Fast forward, I'd move it. They'd move, I'd stop, they'd
(17:11):
stop. They could not see it that far.
I know they couldn't see it, butthey could hear it.
And I kept blah, blah, blah. And all of a sudden it was
probably 40 feet, 30 feet from the bank.
And that biggest bass, which he said the biggest fish in an area
(17:35):
are the most dominant, that at 2LB two, 2 1/2 LB bass made a
turn and went, I twitched it onetime dollop and he went spoon
and just blew into it. And right then everything just
went crazy. And I said good gosh.
And I set the hook. I'm trying to reel and pull and
(17:56):
reel and pull, but the pound anda half stayed with the two
pounder hook and he, I could seeit all.
He was trying to take it. You've seen that many times over
the years, but this was the first time I'd experienced that.
And I said, my gosh, look at this.
And I kept reeling in that little rod drag system, but
didn't have a drag on that runs on a level 1 reel.
(18:18):
You know, I got it about 8 feet from the bank and the ## and 1/2
was still with it. And I just threw that rod over
my shoulder and I got that braided line and I just, well,
roped the fish up on the bike and I got him unhooked.
And I, I just couldn't believe what I'd done.
I'd caught small mouth in the creeks.
(18:39):
They pound, you know, but nothing like this, this, this
largemouth bass that I fooled into hitting a piece of plastic,
that big old metal lip and thosehooks hanging down.
And I said this phony, this fake, I lured those fish out of
their world in the bind. And I went, that's something
(19:04):
special. I mean, that is really special.
And I couldn't get over it. And I ran back through those
bushes. Granddaddy was fish.
I said, look, look, look, look, look what I caught.
He said, my goodness, what a bass.
He said, let me have him. I said, what are you going to do
with him? He said I'm going to put him on
the Stringer. I said give me a different
Stringer. I'm going to carry him up there
and put him on the car, in the truck, in the car.
(19:26):
And now, now he he won't get offthe Stringer.
He won't get off. And I said, you sure he he won't
get away? So he put him in the water on
that chain. He said, why are you shaking?
I said my heart's just beating so fast.
And I started walking back down to get my rod and I said
(19:50):
something just happened right then that changed my whole
direction in life. I said I'm young, but somehow,
someway, someday I want to get into the tackle fishing
industry. I don't know how I'm going to do
it. And that's all I dreamed about.
(20:11):
And my daddy, my granddaddy. A great granddaddy, my great
granddaddy, they were all 5 doctors 5 generations back.
And I had considered going to Med school when I got a little
bit older and I continued to fish through those early years
on end of the time I was a teen and I never quit wanting to do
(20:38):
something in the fishing industry, something I didn't
know what it was, I just wanted to be involved in it.
And when you were 14, you could drive only in the daytime with a
special permit. And I was driving and in my
(20:59):
daddy's truck and I was driving and a motorcycle shot out from
my left at the pool in front of me and a car coming my way hit
him just, I mean, broadside and motorcycle flipped.
He slid up kind of under it. And I went good night, put the
(21:22):
car in neutral, truck in neutral, jumped out and I ran up
there. But the thing that turned me
down on being a doctor was seeing that.
And I said I can't do that. I just cannot be a doctor.
I cannot do it. And I continued on with a dream
(21:43):
in fishing. And his luck would have it, Ray
Scott came along and I'd gotten a little bit older.
I talked to him on the phone. Today's high tech fishing world
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(22:05):
they support this podcast and care enough about you to make
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Now back to the show. Were you one of the original
Like I always hear these legendary stories started
interrupt, but legendary storieswhere he he would call anglers
and taunt them almost like come in this.
Event prove. That you're the best.
So you were one of the people hetaunted into being a.
(22:26):
Pro, I've been doing a lot of fishing, you know, around the
Memphis area and I back along, I'd get on the city bus with
worms in my pocket and I'm a fishing pole and I'd get off at
a big park lake. We had Chickasaw Gardens and I'd
sit there on the bank and then catch the city bus back close to
(22:48):
home and I'd skip home, but I continued to fish.
Getting to fish. I got this call from Ray and he
said I want you to finish my first tournament.
I asked my boss, could I go? And he said, well, your sales
are up. And he said, when is the
tournament? And I said they're going to hold
it in June over at Beaver Lake, which was about a five mile
(23:12):
drive from West Tennessee. And he said, let's just see how
your sales go. One of his secretary turned and
looked at me and winked and saidhe's going to let you go.
And so a local sponsor, the biggest Ford dealer in the
United States, was not Hull Dobbs.
(23:33):
And it was located in Memphis way back young.
And he said, Oakley, Mr. Oakley at Old Hobs would like for you
to come in. He'd like to talk to you.
I got a call and I said, well, who's Mr. Oakley?
(23:54):
And he's president of Old Hobs. And I went, oh, and I knew where
the place was because jigging the cars.
So I, I go over 1 morning, the secretary opened the door, thick
green carpet and a gigantic walnut burl desk sitting there.
(24:15):
He jumped up and said, hello, Bill.
And he walked around and shook my hands.
He said, I've got something I want to do for you.
And I said, what's up, Mr. Oakley?
He said I want to sponsor you inthat big bass tournament that's
coming up and I went whoo we andhe did.
(24:38):
And in that particular tournament, the first two days I
let it third day stands alone out of Nashville beat me, but
just a little bit. But anyway, I was kind of
getting into this more and more and more and more and more and I
(24:58):
kept thinking, I've got to get in this industry.
How do I do that? I fished Beaver and like I said,
I did well. I won $1000.
Stan won 2000. That was a lot of money back
then. The very next year, Ray had a
tournament at Smith Lake in Alabama.
(25:20):
Let me let me back up just a little bit.
I'm getting ahead of myself. Before that first tournament in
March, Diane and I, my wife, we were on Pickwick Lake in a John
boat. I wore 20 mark on the back of it
(25:42):
in a flat bottom boat, and I sculled it and I looked up and
here comes the Skeeter Hawk. Remember those old Skeeter
Hawks? It came zipping across the lake,
and I looked and I recognized two people in it.
Glenn Andrews was in the front. Best bastardsman I've ever met.
He's a uncanny. He's so good.
(26:04):
He had won three big tournamentsbefore Ray had even gotten in
the tournaments. But anyway, he was in the front.
Ray was in the middle, and he had hounds with Tennessee
Wildlife Resource Agency, was inthe back.
And they pulled up and Glenn said, you know, we met in
Memphis at a boat show. I said, yeah, I sure remember it
(26:25):
because I asked you a bunch of questions and he said Yep, and I
knew Ed and it was Ray sitting in the middle.
He said we've talked before. And I said, Yep, I'm planning on
coming to the tournament at Beaver Lake June.
He said, great, Glenn said, you doing any good, Bill?
(26:47):
And I said, well, Diane, and I've caught 3 or 4, excuse me,
small ones. He said right up there in front
of you is a Creek channel point.I was like, I said, what?
What is a Creek channel point? He said, where's the Creek?
Just you got to turn in and turnout he's got it butts, butts up
against the bank and it's a quick drop right there in the
(27:09):
shallow on the top and slopes out in the deeper water.
How have you sinker? You got on?
And I said, I don't know, I guess 1/4 ounce.
And he said you got any 3 eights?
Well I did, I did. I don't know.
I never used them, but I had twoor three of them in the boat and
(27:30):
in the tackle box. And he said put on a three
eights and throw straight to that TVA facility, the dam and
let the bait go down. And I said OK.
And he said there's a school of fish.
We charted with a flasher earlier this morning going out.
(27:52):
We'd planned to fish there, but we run out of time and we're
fixing to go to breakfast. And I said, well, how deep is
that? And he said where we saw the
fish, they're about 24 feet deep.
I said, what did you just say? He said they're about 24 feet
deep and almost Highland Lake said he fished, you know,
(28:14):
25303540 feet wasn't, wasn't anything.
I said you he said, we caught our fish.
We caught a couple of 6 poundersand we caught 8 or 10 this
morning and they were in about 22 to 24 feet.
I said, are you serious? And he said yes.
(28:34):
And I went great day. And they said, look, we're going
to have breakfast below the dam.We all like to enjoy, you know,
join us. And I said, yeah, I wanted to
pick this guy Glenn Andrews brain because he was sharp as a
tack and good, I mean really, really good, good angle.
So I went I put the 3/8 on tied the old clench knot to the steel
(28:58):
tie today and I went chewing my threw it bait hit the water 1001
one thousand two 1014 one thousand 21,022.
It hit the bottom. And I said, golly, I can't
believe it. And I lifted the rod and I moved
the worm a foot and one went andI went, Oh my gosh.
(29:20):
And I set the hook and I catch about a 2 1/2 LB bass and I
fight him up to the boat and I'mjust shaking.
I got him in the boat and I said, Diane, Diane, did you just
see what happened? And she said you caught a fish.
I said no, no, I caught a fish. But he was 24 feet deep.
(29:40):
I grew up in the Mississippi by oxbows and stuff.
And we caught a fish deep from six foot.
We were in the ocean. And I said no, I caught that
fish 22 feet deep, 22 to 24 feetdeep.
And she said, well, that's good.And I said, no, I've never
fished this one. So I fixed the worm like 2.
I threw it right back. Oh, another one hit it about 3
(30:02):
lbs. And I followed him up and I
went, God, I don't believe this.And I was just shaking and these
thoughts were just flying in andout, in and out of my head.
And I said I've got to do something right now, She said,
what are you talking about? I said, I have got to change my
(30:24):
direction in the way I fish. I've got to learn to fish deep
water because everybody else, wewere just jumping into the bank
and I've got to learn to, I've got to learn that before that
fish in that highland lake, up at, you know, at the deep Clear
Lake. And I was scared of it when I
(30:44):
entered it. But after I had gone through the
process of figuring out how I'm going to change it, I called
Glenn and he said, get you a topo map.
What? And get it, Get it with the
smallest intervals available. I said what's a topo map?
And he had to help me with everylittle thing.
(31:09):
I got to where I could read the topo.
I got me a line compass and I'd line 3090° this way and 90° that
way. And right there on pinpoint,
that's where I caught the fish. And I didn't have a a buoy.
I didn't have all that stuff. I just, I'd mark it, he said.
(31:29):
When you find the spot, it looksgood and you catch fish on it,
Mark it, mark it, give it a name.
When I got ready to go to Beaver, I psyched my mind.
I'm going to fish deep water. I don't care what the rest of
(31:51):
them are doing because I had I just was 99% surely going to be
throwing at the bank. And I said I, I, I don't do
that. I called Glenn.
He said don't worry about catching a lot of fish in your
practice session. Look for unusual looking things.
(32:14):
Just because the shoreline comesout doesn't mean it's going to
change right there. It's going to continue on out
and it'll meet something drop off or whatever.
And he said just out alone, Prairie Creek Marinos where we
were, and that first day of practice I just turned and went
(32:36):
to the back of very great. I turned and started up the
shoreline and straight across from the arena was Cove.
I turned into that Cove in was idling and I looked and I said,
well, I wonder what that was. It was timber on both sides.
There was a passageway that wentright through the timber right
(32:59):
to the bank. And I looked at that and I said,
what could that be? It was a logging road.
And I turned around and looked the other way and you could see
where it came out. Yeah.
I put on my old favorite blue worm and I went, I just threw it
straight up the middle of the between the timberlands and that
worm hit the bottom and soon as it hit the line just started
(33:22):
moving. I set the hook and I caught a
bass. So I said wait a minute and I
had two rods rigged up. I had one with a dummy hook that
they could take and just swim with and pull off and they'd get
the worm, but I wouldn't hook them.
So I picked that right up and I threw it three times.
I caught two more. I had two pull off and I said
(33:45):
there's a bunch of fish right here and I counted it down to
17. So I went to the other side of
nothing. And so I started the rest of the
day looking. Anyway, I found another place on
the end of the timberline that Ihad found fish.
So that day I found three crackerjack spots, and I figured
(34:10):
if I could get a limit the firstday of the tournament, I could
spend. And if I did well, I could spend
the next day looking for fish and fishing too.
And if it didn't do any good, I could go back to those three
spots. But I really wanted to save them
for the last day and so I'm monkeying around here and there.
(34:33):
I caught enough. I was still in 2nd place.
So the third day I had a boy by the name of Troy Anderson from
Little Rock, AR and he said, have you got any fish found?
And I said, yeah, I do if they're still there.
And he said, well, that's good. So I went to the second spot.
(34:53):
I found about the same size fish.
I said come on, I know another spot.
So we went to that 20 foot, 17 to 20 foot ledge that just
protruded out of this rock bluffand boom, I caught A4 pounder on
the 1st cast. I said that's what we've been
(35:15):
looking, that's what I've been looking for.
So I called one, threw him in and I think I caught a three 3
1/2, three 3 1/2 pounder. I took two pounder back and he
finished out his limit and I don't know the day when we
weighed in, I finished second instaying finished first.
(35:42):
But what was so great about it? That was the beginning of made
of start fishing deep water. We went to Smith Lake right
after that, caught my fish 50 feet deep on a a Dixie Jet half
oz Jiggingspoon and they were Kentucky's.
(36:07):
But I moved out and I was in 100feet of water, but there were
three trees. I thought it was a school of
fish. There were three big trees and I
had seen several fish breaking in that area.
So I went out there anyway, put a Jiggingspoon on and dropped
it. That tournament at Smith Lake I
(36:29):
won. Next tournament I think was
Rayburn. That won that tournament.
Then we had Smith. Then we had Ross Barnett in
Alabama. I mean in in Mississippi, in
Jackson, Ms. I had the topo maps.
This. Is just the first.
(36:49):
Season This is tall just in yourfirst season.
Yeah, this was in 70, 60, I don't remember.
Yeah, it was the very next year.So I fish deep in my best spot.
I got on. I was sitting out on a kind of a
(37:11):
Ridge and I looked at the dam and I looked way off to the left
of the South side of the dam andit was a Marina.
And on the right hand side across the Pearl River was
another Marina. And I said, how did they get all
that dirt up on that door? And Glenn told me this.
(37:34):
He said think things out. So I'll go over there and I
start idling and I idle down thelevee.
I mean the damn big earthen damaged monster.
And I'm out there about 20 feet.2020, 20/20/2020 it just comes
up to about 8 or 9 feet. 20/20/28 or 999888 boom, right
(38:01):
back off in the 20. So I'm like a UE and I come back
out a little bit deeper and it went up and went right back down
and I said, you know what that is, Bill?
That is a road they've built to get this dirt up on that levee.
I guarantee that's what it is. And I said there's one here.
(38:23):
They'll also be one on the northside across the Pearl River.
Well, there wasn't because I checked it, but I'd pull up on
that, on that, on the dam and fish that road bed out to say 20
feet. And I'd catch them from 14 to 18
to 20 feet just just like that. And that was my that was one of
(38:43):
my number one holes. And I won that tournament after
three straight wins. Wow.
Smith, Lake, Rayburn, Ross, Garnett.
I got 3 phone calls in a matter of a week from Ken White at Head
and Liver Company. Second call was from Jim Bagley,
(39:07):
the old Jim Made the Boss of Buddies.
And the third call was from NickCrane, the inventor of the
plastic worm in Tyler, TX. And all three of them asked me
questions. I like to go to work or well
then a lot had happened since the days at the distributing
company and everything was moving it just unbelievable
(39:32):
pace. I took a job.
Nick asked me to fly down Diane.He said bring your wife.
I flew down to Tyler, TX at the Shreveport and they picked me
up. We went over to Tyler, TX.
Nick said, I'll tell you what I want to do, Bill.
I want to furnish you a car and furnish you a decent salad.
I said, OK. So I started.
(39:55):
I went to work for Nick. I worked for Nick and we, he
would bring buyers and writers in to Toledo Bin or Rayburn and
I'd fish with him a week or LakeWashita, wherever it was.
But I'd fish with this guy for aday and then here comes a
writer. I'd fish with him.
(40:17):
And we had basically mom and popstores then.
Dave Yeah. Independence.
Yeah, sporting goods, but these big chains were starting to open
up Cron Delay and FW Woolworth, and they started buying fishing
tackle. Anyway, I went to work, stayed
with Nick for about two years and Charles Spence and I,
(40:39):
Charles on Strike King Lure Company was in the process of
buying Strike King and he boughtit and he said, OK, what I want
to do, I want you to be my partner.
And I said, what do you want me to do?
He said exactly what you've beendoing.
And I said, sounds good. Charles and I took off and I
(41:06):
owned half a Strike King back inthose early days, but I'd get
calls from writers and stuff andCharles just said they didn't
want me to go. And I said, Charles, I felt
horrible. I said, no, they don't want you,
they want me. I, it was just hard feeling that
because I knew it hurt his feelings.
It got to the point where it wasjust bothering me to do that.
(41:26):
But I know what I was doing would help the company
tremendously. Charles he, he never changed.
And I, I just dreaded to tell him I'm going off for took a
couple of fishing trips and you got to stay there and make the
baits, striking spinner baits and the diamondback worms and
all that other stuff. After a period of time just kind
(41:49):
of knocking around trying to figure out what, and I called
Cotton Cordell. He said, what are you doing?
I said nothing, Cotton, why don't you come over here?
And I went to work for Cotton doing the same thing that I was
doing for Nick, but in the meantime working for Cotton.
He called me one night and he said, you know something, Bill,
he's like a daddy. He was a great, great guy.
(42:12):
He said we need a fishing shop and I said I know the perfect
guy for it. He said, who's that?
And I said Jerry Mckennis, because Jerry and I were rooming
together some at the tournamentsand I wouldn't be doing TV today
had it not been for Mckennis. And I'd hold up a scoop it
camera 16mm. I'd shoot him, hand him the
(42:33):
camera and he'd shoot me and we'd do a talkie on the set.
Well, here we go down the lake, ha ha, ha.
Oh, look here, Jerry is pulling into a point right here.
Oh, good. I hope some fish are there.
As you can see, Jerry's putting on one of his favorite plastic
worms. It was a talkie.
(42:55):
We didn't we didn't have sound. But anyway, the studio, when you
go in the studio, you build it up.
But anyway, in that time I was working boat shows.
AFMA was coming on AFTMA. Now it's ICAST.
I met people like Claude Turbyville with Bomber Bait
(43:20):
Company, Jodie Gregg with with Whopper, Stalker Bait Company,
Bill Norman, Cotton Kordell, Carl Lawrence and and from there
TV was going. I was doing local in the Memphis
market. Well, I put that show in
(43:43):
Jackson, Ms. Baton Rouge, their sister stations WBRZ and and
Baton Rouge and JC Penney in Kentucky called me.
They had sporting goods in them.So I was doing 4 markets,
shooting my shows, editing my shows and producing for four
(44:03):
markets, 52 weeks a year, 208 shows a year.
Wow. And I draw from Jackson, it was
the state capital. I could get safety gap, water
safety people, the Game and Fishdirector, even the governor was
a big thing. Got the governor, then went to
Baton Rouge, same thing, state capital.
I could pull from that, but I could pull from local fishermen.
(44:25):
Well, I quit after a period of time.
I quit and gave my show in BatonRouge to Bobby Meadors, gave my
show in Jackson to Ernest McNeil, to who I've had on
several times, and I quit Paducah.
(44:46):
But I kept Memphis and I got a call from advancers in Saint
Louis and they said, hey, we'd like to syndicate your show.
I said, what do you mean we'd like to put it in 50 network
markets across the country. I said well, good night, that's
something. And so I did that.
(45:08):
It went from 50 to 90 network markets.
It was outdoors with Bill dance and I got ATV guide one day and
or the paper and I looked at it and you just said outdoors at
2:00. I said, well, they didn't run us
today. So I called Don Starks and said,
(45:31):
listen, I said what they didn't run us today.
He said they did, but they've changed the name.
They they only have so much room, so they just put outdoors,
outdoors. And I said, well, I got to do
something about that. I said I asked them would they
(45:55):
just put Bill dance and they agreed to it.
And I changed it from outdoors to Bill dance to Bill Dance
outdoors. And that's the way it's been
ever since. And I built in saltwater.
And but anyway, David, I got to the point where I had finished
(46:16):
or met or done, I'd been on all four corners doing Memphis
radio, writing for our big newspaper weekly, weekly story
every Sunday morning. I had been in the tackle
manufacturing end of it. I'd been in sales, I'd been in
Allure Design, and it was growing, growing, growing,
(46:38):
growing. And finally ESPN called.
So would you do a show for us? And that was cable.
Cable was coming on, so I dropped syndication and couldn't
afford it. I went with cable and ESPN.
Back then, I was in, I was everywhere.
I was in Spokane to Miami to Maine to Southern California and
(47:04):
I blanketed everything. But there was one thing missing
it I didn't hit that the demographics, that loyal brand
buying market and what happened I finally that next year I went
with NBC Sports, Discovery Channel, the Outdoor Channel and
(47:28):
the Sportsman Channel. So demographically, I went with
the Outdoor Channel and a Sportsman channel and that's
where we are today. We do 39 original shows, 13
salt, 26 fresh. I'm doing the same thing I was
doing 20 years ago. I've got good sponsors.
(47:50):
I've got 1 sponsor that's been with me for 58 years.
Wow, you know who it is. AFCO not only makes incredible
outdoor clothing, but they care about anglers.
With their 10% pledge, AFCO and the Shed family donate at least
10% of the company's profits to conservation and making fishing
(48:11):
better. Now back to the show.
I'm not going. To.
Who? Who?
Tell me. Mercury Marine.
There you go. I've been, I've been, they've
been pushing me up and down the lakes for a long, long time.
But we picked up some, some good, good sponsors and that's
(48:35):
what gave me the idea with sportsmen to go saltwater.
So I went saltwater. And so here we are doing, in
fact, I'll be leaving in a couple of weeks, head to Florida
to do some stuff because the climate out here is horrible,
but down here it's better. So it's been a good ride.
(48:56):
I. Would say.
I I, I'm telling you, man, I, I it seemed like when one door
closed and another one would open and I've been on all four
corners of it. I believed every, I believed
every minute of it and met some of the greatest people in the
industry. Lenny Bostrom, the owner of
Garcia in in overseas in Spain and wherever you're from.
(49:18):
I met him and he made the ambassador reels and before Abu
bottom and he said Dilbert aboutyou let me send you a couple of
reels and I said I sure would like them.
I sure would appreciate it. He sent me two black deluxe,
black and gold deluxe Garcia reels and he had my name
(49:44):
engraved on and I've still got Ican't I lost one, but I've still
got one of those reels to this day.
But doing what I'm doing, had itnot been for that, that little
fish and race tournaments, I doubt seriously I'll be where I
(50:04):
am today. Everything I wanted and
everything I hoped for developedinto a career, from a hobby to a
profession. And when I'm fishing, regardless
of what I'm doing, is the happiest day in my life.
I dearly love it. I fished yesterday in a
(50:26):
northeast wind and a light rain,and I carried a buddy of mine
from Memphis State. He's a coach and a guy I do some
commercials for. We went, we caught one best this
long and we caught 52 1/2 to four and a half and we just had
(50:48):
and I just hated it and it was getting dark.
I just wondered if he's gold. So you you still love it just as
much today. Oh golly, yeah.
I wake up, I'm hard to get up sometimes before if I'm going
fishing, I boom, I'm out of bed and I'm ready to go.
I get ready, everything ready. I lay my clothes out, I'm going
(51:09):
to wear. I've got the baits that I'm
going to try on this particular lake.
And yeah, I get excited about it.
I loved the happiest times when I'm on the walk.
I really am. I'm just it's.
A gift. I've learned a lot.
I learned a lot from fishing tournaments, East Coast to West
Coast anglers from Canada, from Canada to Mexico.
(51:30):
I just have an opportunity to share ideas and like you, you do
an awesome show of fishing packsI watched the other day.
Well. Thank you.
And you want me to tell you whatyou were doing?
What? Was I doing?
We're catching small mouth on a crank bait.
Yeah, Yeah. And you were, you were giving
(51:51):
out tips and stuff. And I said that's good stuff.
I like that. And I like, I like I I watch
you. I really do.
And you, you're a good teacher. You're a good angler.
And you're good at what you do at the tournaments.
You get a little excited, but you still do a good job.
I do get excited and and and. What I what I've kind of noticed
(52:18):
those tips you use in your show.I see that you use many tips
that I taught you. OK, Many, many, many.
I'm kidding you. Hey, I'm kidding you.
No, no, you, you, you've inspired.
(52:39):
I mean, you're, I think if you could, you could spend all day
watching Outdoor Channel and every fishing show.
It's all been inspired by you, you know, you and, and just a
handful of others. Jerry McInnes, obviously the
lenders, so many people that came along, but it is it's truly
amazing what you guys have built.
(53:00):
One of the things that you became famous for along the way
was bloopers and, and we've all loved seeing the Bill dance
bloopers over the year. But I've wanted to ask you this
forever because I know how business works.
I mean, there was a few bloopersall of a sudden and that that
and all of a sudden people wanted more.
Did it ever get to a stage whereyou had to manufacture bloopers
(53:24):
or were those all natural? I'm going to give you an honest
answer. Some of most of them, nearly
all, they were natural, but we added to them to make them to
make them play longer When when it happened, we continue to let
the camera roll before the before it happened.
The camera fortunately was rolling to catch the front end
(53:47):
and the tail end of it. But that show blooper show
started. I got a call from Walmart and
the buyer over there said, Bill,you know the show you shot 2
weeks ago on such and such that striking bite.
(54:08):
And I said, yeah, our buyer did not buy enough supply, enough
inventory. And can you do in two or three
weeks show that, show a rerun. And Dick Mahan was a guy, Dick
(54:29):
said, I know how you hate reruns.
It took me a long time to realize a rerun.
Most people don't see the first time it ran, but they get to see
it the second time. So anyway, I said yeah, I'll do
it. What are you going to tell
America's biggest retailer? No.
And I did it. I showed Walmart sold twice as
(54:54):
many with the rerun. And then they called me.
They said it was fall. Can you do?
Can you piece together another show on that bait?
I went, Oh no. So I tried, I took it and I
(55:15):
threw that thing, told him I threw that bait till I wore the
paint. I mean the finish off of it.
And I managed to catch enough fish to do a half show.
And I'm starting to think what can I do?
What can I do? Tony Max was the producer.
I brought it in. I said, Tony, I fished a cup of
vase and I, I can't catch any fish on this bait in this cold
(55:36):
water. And he said, let me look at what
you got. I said, OK, He said, let me, I
know what to do. And I said, do I need to worry
about anything? He said, no, go.
So how I went what he did, he looked back through the archives
(55:57):
and he had he had written in a notebook all these outtakes that
had happened over the years overthe two camera shoot, you know,
crazy things. And he said, I put the
second-half of that show that you did for Walmart that they
just had to have on that bait the bloopers, some bloopers,
(56:18):
some outtakes is what he called it.
And we aired that show. Two weeks later, we got a call
from Dick Clark Productions in New York.
Now, Ed, Ed McMahon, who was Johnny Carson's sidekick and and
Dick Clark had a bloopers show and he said, can we use call
(56:40):
Tony? I went in and he said, can we
use four of your bloopers? And Tony called me and I said,
well, Thunder, yeah. I said, man, that kind of
publicity on NBCI said, yeah, well, we sent them 44 clips and
instantly they called right backand they said where do we give
(57:05):
us an address where we can mail us?
Made you a talent check and I said we ain't charged, we're not
going to charge you good night for publicity from that is not
NBC's policy. We have to pay you.
So they paid us $400.00 a clip and they wanted four more.
(57:26):
Well, while all this was going on, Rogan's heroes in California
had a blooper show. CBS came with a blooper show,
ABC Sports minded, ABC had blooper outtakes with athletes.
And the next thing the BBC in London called us and they wanted
(57:48):
some blooper tapes. And Tony says, you know, we
ought to just do a blooper tape show.
And I went, you think? And yeah, so we did it and we
just got unbelievable numbers. He said let's put these blooper
tapes. And many of them hadn't hadn't
(58:10):
been shown on a tape. And we did.
Walmart sold the Dickens out of them.
And there were more that occurred.
And sometimes I added a little bit that made it look like a
blooper and then it wasn't totally a blooper, but the high
percentage of them were outtakes.
I mean, it actually happened following off a four Wheeler or
(58:35):
you know, it was just a cameraman falling off a bluff
with a big three CC DS Sony on his shoulders or me knocking one
out out of the boat with a big camera.
You look at the expense of thosebig cameras back then.
We still shoot, we still shoot alot of Sony stuff with the
bigger cameras. I still.
(58:56):
Was I said y'all are. Going to break my y'all are
going to break this company. Well, I didn't know the, the I
didn't know the top of that bankup there was going to cave in.
But you do watch it. You see dirt start falling out
from under and he just, and he went right off into about 14
feet of water and he came back up and he's got the camera.
(59:17):
I'm sorry, I'm sorry, but those,those you can't, you just don't
knocking pee out of the pool. I just turned around real fast
and we'll swivel, see, boom, thetime that on the jib, the camera
hit me upside the head. You don't, don't go around and
(59:40):
fake that. OK?
Let the camera swing and hit me right in the face.
I'm not going to do that. I'm I'm stupid, but I'm not that
stupid. But we had even to this day on
TikTok, we've run a lot of thosebloopers and got great numbers
from I bet, I bet, and it's amazing.
(01:00:01):
A lot of people didn't even knowwho Bill dance.
Was till we started us to do it but we all do we all do things
like that but the bloopers really really helped us.
It really did. And now in our social, which is
is booming and we seem like we get an increase every week and
(01:00:24):
we're pushing almost 3 million, a little under 3 million the
followers right now. So when we put something on, get
a lot of people that watch it. I've run a Yamaha outboard for
over. 30 years it has got me home safe each and every time.
If you enjoy this podcast, remember Yamaha supports it and
(01:00:47):
they care enough about you to make this ad read very short.
Now back to the show. Well, I don't know if you
realize. This, but you're Bill Dance.
People, people, people are interested in you, Bill, Thank
you so much so. That one of the.
Greatest honors, which I've literally wondered to myself I'm
like what what does that even feel like and I and I think this
(01:01:11):
is like an evolution into bill dance not just being an amazing
educator amazing entertainer, almost a folk hero you're.
In a hit. Country song like.
What? What did Luke call you before
that? Or was the song recorded before
that he presented to? You like how did that?
(01:01:33):
Happen. Well, they were on a tell you.
Real quick, I'd have they were on the bus, they were on their
bus on a tour, and he had several key writers with him.
Dallas Davison, who's written 17number one hits for Blake
Shelton, for Luke Bryan and for other entertainers.
That's where I got, that's whereI met Luke for the first time.
(01:01:55):
I'm trying to think about when it was, but I met Luke, but Luke
wanted to do a show, but he couldn't do one at that time
because he was tied in with Cabela's.
But he can now because Johnny owns, you know, and I'm the bass
pro shops. So he the past two years I've
been so fortunate I got a doctorate's degree.
(01:02:22):
It's only been given one time in125 years at the University of
Tennessee. And that was a a tremendously
big honor. Because it did it.
At Needling Stadium in Knoxville, Home of the Balls and
I talked to 1002. 100 students it.
(01:02:43):
Was sitting out on the field about.
Dreams. Walt Disney had a record When
You Wish Upon A Star, you know, basically all your dreams come
true. So I talked about that and I was
up on that big Tron and I thought, golly, Moses, how how
does this happen? Just I'm just everyday first.
(01:03:06):
Well, right after that, this just past year, I was awarded
had to go to Nashville. I won the Tennessee end of the
year Bowl and that that just that absolutely afforded me.
And I just found out this past week, Mulberry Creek, where I
(01:03:28):
grew up and I went under this. Bridge next to Jack.
Downs Distillery 900,000 times. I've weighed 100, weighed back
hundred. It's 3 miles up Mulberry Creek.
3 miles down Mulberry Creek. They're naming that bridge the
Buildings bridge. We just found out about a week
(01:03:49):
ago. That and.
I just the hall. Of fame.
The Hall of Fame. 'S I remember over at
Springfield, they hold the Hall of Fame awards and dinners, and
we induct new, you know, new entries, new inductees into the
(01:04:11):
Hall of Fame. And I was asked to get up and
say something about it. So I got up the mic and I said
it's hard to explain unless you've actually been there.
I can stick a hook in my finger and someone can say, oh, I know
(01:04:34):
exactly. I know how.
How you feel? I said, have you ever had a, you
ever had a hook stuck in you? No, you don't know how I feel
unless you experience that same thing.
You've got to experience that toreally to really feel it.
So receiving an award like that that will go like like the
(01:04:59):
international gaming fish years back I got awarded an award
there. Those those awards, like Hall of
Fame awards, some of them will last forever.
Someone. Like I told these new inductees.
I said one day. Your picture is going to hang.
(01:05:21):
Here in the Hall of Fame at BassPro Shops and some granddaddy's
going to be walking on with his grandson and he's going to say.
Who is that? The granddaddy's going to say
this to Bill Dance. Well, who's?
Bill Dance. Well, let me tell.
You about Bill Dance. So that legacy, it lives on and
(01:05:46):
it lives on, lives on the bridge.
These 18 lakes that Governor Leegave us, there'll be build ants,
signature lakes. Those will go on and on and on.
So you're leaving, you've done alot of good things.
The industry's been good to you.Life has been good to you.
The good Lord up above definitely gave me those two
(01:06:10):
directions in life. I'm about that first fish on a
jitterbug I'll never forget. And then?
I guess the other one we talked about was it changed my
direction in life. The second one.
Was meeting with Ray Scott, Glenn Andrews, Ray Scott and
Glenn Howell. Glenn teaching me to get out of
(01:06:32):
the shallow water and get into deep water.
He said there's more fish out here behind you than it is in
front of you. And it was a lot of truth to it.
I want it so bad to do good in these tournaments.
I just. I would eat, sleep and breathe
them. I'd study my maps and I'd
concentrate on every little detail and driving down the road
(01:06:54):
I'd. Say a ditch.
And I'd made AU turn, I'd turn that's a down current, down
current side that bends what they're going to be facing into
the current on these TVA lakes. And I've started fishing a lot,
but excuse me, I everything, it's just been, it's just been a
(01:07:17):
blessing. Yeah, I would say.
So you went. You went from a jitterbug to a
juggernaut in this industry and and what Glenn taught you, you
hand it off to all of us, you know, and it really is so
thankful for. Everything you've.
Done continue to do and and thankful to have you on here.
(01:07:40):
I mean, I could talk to you for days.
Thank you very, but I know you have a lot of.
Stuff. To do here today and I I don't
want to go over a time but Bill thank you thank you for for an
industry that you've put on yourshoulders and and.
Created. Along with some amazing amazing
I appreciate I I sincerely. Appreciate that you're, you're a
(01:08:03):
big name in this industry and tohear you tell me that it just
it, it's heartwarming and I certainly do appreciate it.
I know I'll get to see you in March, The Masters Classic in
Dallas, Fort Worth. Where it is Fort.
Worth, Yeah, and they just announced.
(01:08:23):
Today that next year's is in Knoxville, TN.
So back on the Tennessee River. Yeah, go Falls.
Yeah, go. There we.
Go, buddy. I hey, I thank you for what
you've done for this sport with fishing packs.
The tips that you passed along the way have definitely helped
lots of people to catch just onemore fish.
(01:08:45):
That means a lot. And I appreciate your friendship
and anytime that we can get together, I'd love to do it and
we can go from there. We we'll come up with something
to talk about. Oh, I don't think that's ever a
problem. The one and only Bill Dance.
All I ever wanted to be is Bill Dance.
(01:09:05):
And there's not just Luke Bryan singing it.
A lot of anglers are singing it.Thank you, Bill Dance.
God bless you, my friend. Thank.
You Thank you, Bill Dance. What an.
In what an absolute icon and a perfect guest for a 200th show.
So thank you very much and thankyou guys very much for making
(01:09:27):
this show what it is. You tune in each and every week.
And I cannot thank you enough. I know I thank you every week,
but I sometimes think that people think, Oh yeah, he's just
saying that honestly, thank you for making this show what it is.
Please continue to like, comment, subscribe, do all those
things that help stroke the algorithm and keep this show
around. And hey, it's a big week.
(01:09:49):
Make sure to tune into official unofficial if you haven't
already. Watch that, Watch the Bassmaster
Elite series, Bass live, the time show Mercer in the morning,
all sorts of things to entertainyour time and keep me running
around. But honestly, on behalf of
myself, my entire family, and everybody that has anything to
(01:10:13):
do with this show, thank you. Until next.
Time. Enjoy.
Being and as always, Bob Cobb, take it away.
For watching please like. Comment and subscribe because
Bob Cobb of the Bass Masters told you to you here.
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