Jason Christie-One of the Most Feared Men in Fishing on MERCER-198

Is Jason Christie really one of the most feared men in bass fishing? Not by fans of the sport but if you have to compete against him that’s a whole different story. Christie has 18 tour level wins, he has fished in 10 Bassmaster Classics and he won the Super Bowl of Bass Fishing in 2022. Not only is that resume scary, it gets even more intimidating when you realize he is going into the 2025 Bassmaster Elite Series maybe even more motivated and driven than ever before. But first, he stops by this week’s Mercer Podcast to talk about all that and so much more.

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
He is A10 time Bass Master Classic Qualifier, A10 time FLW
Tour winner, an 8 time Bass Master winner, the 2022 Bass
Master Classic Champion, one of the most feared names in
professional bass fishing. Jason Christie joins me this
week. I'm Bob Cobb for the Bassmaster.

(00:30):
Welcome to Mercer. Welcome one.
Welcome all, friends, family, freeloaders, fishing freaks, and
of course you my humpers. Happy hump day to all of you and
welcome in to the Awkwardly Honest fishing podcast that goes
by my last name, which is Mercer.
This is the 198th edition of theMercer Podcast and I hope

(00:52):
wherever you're watching or listening from in the world,
life is treating you well. Hard to believe that it's 198
episodes of this show and it's all thanks to you guys tuning in
each and every week. But with that being said, we had
a big show here this week, but we also have a 200th show coming

(01:14):
up in a couple of weeks, which, you know, just because it's a a
special number, we're going to have a special show.
And I'm very excited. I'm not I'm not going to let you
know. I mean, did spoil the surprise.
You don't tell people about their Christmas presents the day
before. And I I'm not going to tell you
who our 200th guest is, but I will tell you this.

(01:36):
He's never been on this show. He is a legitimate legends.
He's a legend of legends. David, I'm not I'm I'm going to
say something so I'm not going to say it, but just you'll want
to watch that show. It's going to be an exciting
show. It's going to be an exciting
week. The 200 show comes out on the

(01:58):
week that the Bassmaster Elite series starts.
So the eve of the Bassmaster Elite series, our 200 show will
come out with a very, very special guest that I'm so
thankful they agreed to be part of the show.
Other exciting stuff will be starting in that week.
I teased it a little while ago. I said, hey, if you like this

(02:21):
show, there might be more of something like this coming your
direction and that announcement will be coming out soon.
So I'm excited about it. Just let you know, I haven't
been just resting on my laurels.I think the term is, I didn't
even know what what laurels are,but I have not been resting on

(02:44):
them. It's just a term.
We talked about Tommy and Zona'snew podcast.
It comes out next Monday, February 10th on bassmaster.com.
Make sure to check that out. The TNZ podcast, I'm very
excited to see it. It's going to be very different,

(03:04):
very cool, and I could listen tothose two dudes literally read
the dictionary to me and I wouldfind it entertaining.
So make sure you check that out.For my local friends, February
15th, I will be at the Toronto Spring Fishing and Boat Show.
I'll be doing a seminar there athigh noon Saturday, February

(03:25):
15th. So if you're in the area, make
sure you swing by and say hello.And then I got to address a
shocking startling. I mean, you know that when
people say I am lost for words and you, you know, you, it's one

(03:46):
of those things that just peoplesay and you know, they're not
really lost for words. But this morning I was lost for
words because number one, I'm, Igot sick again.
I'm dealing with some kind of flu.
So I'm all hopped up on Benadryland whatever, and I get a

(04:09):
notification that somehow I was included in the 20 names that
are on the ballot for the 2025 Bass Fishing Hall of Fame.
I, I read through the list and you, I mean, it's an incredible

(04:30):
list of folks. And the only thing that went
through my mind the entire time reading it is one of these
things is not like the other one.
One of these things is not this.I don't know why I'm on there,
but I am so thankful and so honored It.
It I, I don't, I can't, I beforeI recorded this, I thought, Hey,

(04:53):
what are you going to say about this?
Because I mean, you have to address it because it's just,
it's just such an incredible honor to be included in that
list. Now, to be clear, I'm on the
ballot. I mean, chances are when the
inductees are announced, I will not be one of them.
And this will all just be great material for me to joke about at

(05:17):
the induction ceremony when I amsee it, which I'm totally happy
to to do that. I love MC that you know, I put a
post out this morning social media and I said this and I
honestly believe it. I don't believe I'm qualified to
MC said event, nevermind qualified to be on the ballot,
but I am thankful, shocked, gracious, humbled, insert all

(05:44):
the adjectives. It is just truly incredible to
to be included in that list. So thank you.
Thank you to everybody at the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame,
everybody who nominated me, thank you.
Honestly, I don't, I mean, I'm, I'm just on the list.

(06:10):
I'm not. But it just it means it means
that much to me. I stand up in that room every
year and I'm see that event and those people in those Blue
Jackets, those are my heroes. Those those I mean, I look
through that room and Larry Nixon, Rick Klun, you know, OT

(06:32):
fears, Basil Bacon, Bob Cobb, Johnny Morris, every like you
name it. Those those were my heroes
growing up. And to even to even be mentioned
in the same sentence is overwhelming and it's just

(06:56):
incredible. So thank you, thank you I I just
feel like I can't say thank you enough, but thank you.
You guys allow me to live this ridiculous life where I mean
what I do for a living is literally what I was when I was
a kid, a hyper kid that would yell and scream and do stuff.
And now I somehow I found a way to, to make a living from it.

(07:18):
And that to me is the ultimate reward.
But to even be thought of in thesame sentence as some of the
folks on that ballot is I wish everybody could feel what I,
what I'm feeling today. Really, I, I, I wish the entire
world could feel what I'm feeling because like I said,

(07:41):
hopped up on, on Benadryl just kind of, and, but smiling from
ear to ear, 'cause it's very, very cool.
I mean, initially I thought it was a typo, but it turns out
that, yeah, incredible. But let's move on to this week's
show, because some people don't.I mean, I won't bring up the

(08:02):
bad. Well, there's this one dude
who's always like, oh, he's justblobbing at the beginning.
He's just blah, blah, blah, which weirdly enough makes me
want to blah, blah, blah more, but I won't because we've got a
very cool guest here this week. Is that is that a wrong thing in

(08:23):
me? Like when somebody complaints
about something initially, I'm like, well, let's do more of
that. A big week, big week.
Obviously, Super Bowl coming up,Chiefs Eagles, nervous, excited.

(08:43):
I mean, as a Chiefs fan, here's the deal.
I can't complain one bit after what we've experienced over the
last seven years. It's mind blowing, but I still
really want my team to win threein a row.
The Eagles are going to be a very tough team.
It's going to be an incredible game.

(09:07):
So yeah, I'm looking forward to that.
Lots of it. It's an emotional roller coaster
this week, really, with the, youknow, the Super Bowl going on,
that announcement, cough syrup just shooting through the veins
of my body. But we have a great show here
this week. One of my favorite dudes to just

(09:28):
actually sit and talk with aboutall sorts of things.
And you know, there's a lot of times when you go into recording
one of these where you're like, hey, we let's talk about this or
this or this right before we hitrecord, we both said, Hey, is
there any direction you want to go home?
We're like, no, let's, let's just have a conversation.

(09:48):
And it is a very cool conversation with an amazing
dude and a very, very motivated dude going into 2025.
And as if Jason Christie needed another reason to become even
more scary, he has that motivation.
And we talk about that and so, so much more.

(10:10):
So without further ado, weird things you say in the world,
like sitting on my laurels are without further ado.
They're not things that I would ever say, but they're things
that are said and I've said in the last few minutes.
So I don't know why I'm pointingthat out because we got more
important things to pay attention to from Dry Creek,

(10:32):
Oklahoma. Jason Christie, Jason Christie,
it is good to have you back in my life.
I mean, me and you. I mean, I'll be honest, we shoot
some text back and forth during the offseason, but we don't, we
don't spend a ton of time on thephone.
But I I feel like when we get together, it's right back where

(10:53):
we left things off. Yeah, absolutely.
And, you know, it's kind of weird that you say that.
You know, Gussie and I are kind of the same way.
And and, and it's not the Canadaversus US.
You know, Edwin and I were the same way.
I mean, we pretty much live together all through the season.
And then whenever it was the offseason, I guess you see each

(11:14):
other so much through the season, you're like, let's take
a break. And but yeah, I guess he's kind
of the same way. We'll, I've been checking on his
house, you know, he's got some building going on and yeah, back
and forth, fish and stuff, but not very much.
I always think that that's a sign of a good friend.

(11:35):
You, you know, 'cause like when you run into the dude and it
doesn't matter whether you went to school with them or whatever,
you run into the dude that's like, oh, so you haven't called
me in four weeks. That's differ your good friends,
but your good friends are just people that but I'm excited.
I'm excited. We're we're freaking back.
I mean, it's a regular, it's a regular.
January, February. The Chiefs are yet to get in the

(11:57):
Super Bowl and we're about to get back together on the Elite
Series. What has been happening while we
haven't been chatting? So it's kind of a quick
offseason. It was different than I expected
it to be. You know, you would think that a
guy in my position, I would justkind of lay low and stay in a

(12:19):
deer stand And, and it was just it was a different year.
I think it was probably the subpar season that I had.
I just didn't feel at ease in the deer stand.
I mean, I'm not going to lie to you and say I didn't go hunting
because I did, but I didn't huntthat much.
And, and some of it was just, I never had a deer that it got

(12:40):
personal with. I kill the big elk in Colorado,
I kill the big deer in Kansas. But around here I just never got
personal with one. And therefore I fish more.
I, I fish quite a bit this winter.
And, and really the last couple of weeks, all I've been doing is
is answering emails, signing up for my classic workspace, my

(13:03):
boots space, you know, ordering stuff, jerseys, just the typical
thing that every other elite angler does.
And, you know, I'm one that it takes me a while to get out of
here. I, I want to make sure that
everything around the house is good to go in a spot that I can
leave it for several weeks. And I'm lucky now because my

(13:25):
daughter's staying here temporarily and her husband, so
they can kind of keep everythingchecked.
So really a lot of the same to answer your question this
winter, nothing really new, justit was just a different, it's
just a different vibe. I don't know.
I'm really, really more excited to go fishing now probably than

(13:47):
I ever have been. And I think that goes back to
probably my playing basketball and coaching where, you know,
you get beaten the game or you have a bad game.
There's only one way to get overthat feeling, you know what I
mean? And that's to go play another
game. And I'm not sitting here like,
you know, it's, it was terrible.It is what it is.
I knew it was coming. I mean, I've been doing this.

(14:09):
I actually filled out a questionnaire today for 16
years. I didn't realize that I knew
that year was coming at some point, but I'm just ready to go.
Like I got, I think I've sharpened my hooks 2700 times.
I mean, not that my hooks need sharp, that's I'm just saying
that, but I've, I've done everything, I mean, everything I

(14:32):
can do other than cast and I've been fishing some local
tournaments just to kind of get in that decision making mindset
a little bit. And it's been it's been a lot of
fun. It's weird because I can't fish
with anybody because we're fishing an Elite Series event
here. Oh yeah, so you can't.

(14:54):
That's and that is the weirdest thing.
So typically in the winter time,like I love fishing these little
jackpots and if any of you guys that are watching that fish the
jackpots, I don't do it at all for the money.
I do it just to get back into fishing And I love I love just
being out there and I love spending time with whoever I'm
fishing with. Well, like I said, this year I

(15:15):
wanted to fish more and, and, and I'm like, man, it's going to
be weird if I go by myself, but I wanted to, I wanted to fish
and I've done it a lot. I've I've fished six or seven of
them and it's actually been, it's been a lot of fun.
So can't talk to anybody, you know, like my buddies call and
the first thing I say is, hey, nothing about teen killer, you

(15:38):
know, and all that stuff. And it's really hard whenever
you live, yeah, out of lake and all your buddies live on the
other side of the lake and you can't talk about what's going
on. Do you like that rule though in
principle, like like I know it'sfrustrating this year, but is
that, is that rule good the way it's set up or or would you like

(16:00):
to see changes there? Well, I, I'd always said, but I
would have, I would have said before that I liked it.
But in the position that I'm in now and I and, and Gussie's
going to watch this video. Gussie, I'm not griping because
I have a tournament here. I'm not doing that.
But there's, and I, I know that we have to have black and white,

(16:26):
but it's, it's totally different.
I mean, by rule, I cannot take my daughter on the leg either
one of my daughters, my daughter, you know what I mean?
Because she went fishing with mydad one time 20 years ago or 15
years ago or something like that.

(16:47):
You know, we do a lot of filmingdown here and, and it's hard.
We can't do it, you know what I mean?
No filming or anything like that.
And it's, I don't know, I think,I think it could be better.
But like Trip used to said, don't come to me with a problem,

(17:07):
come to me with the solution. I don't know what the what the
perfect answer is for that. I mean, I think the way they
have it right now is really the only way that they can have it
to cover to cover everybody. I'm just glad that I don't live
on a Guntersville or a St. John's where they go every year
where it's like this all the time.

(17:28):
So everybody thinks, and I've done a lot of seminars over the
last few weeks and they're like,oh, I bet you can't wait for
Teen Killer. Honestly, it's not, you know
what I mean? It's not, it's not like I'm
sitting here chomping at the bits to fish on on the lake

(17:49):
because I mean, the dudes, it's going to take about 7 minutes
for everybody in the Elite series to figure out where what
these fish are done. We know that, you know what I
mean? They're going to find it.
So even before live scope they were going to find it.
So it is what it is, but I am not going to grab that.
I get to sleep in my bed and it's a 10 minute run to the boat

(18:11):
ramp. You're only 10 minutes from the
boat ramp. I mean, I'm, I can be at a boat
ramp in five, but to where we'retaking off, I'll put my boat in
in 10 minutes and it's a 5 minute run across the lake.
Wow, you shouldn't have told me that.
I'm probably going to show up atyour place.
Yeah, we, I haven't talked to Shannon yet, but I kind of, I

(18:33):
don't well, typically you don't show up till the 2nd day of the
tournament. So that puts out any kind of,
you know, feast before practice,but maybe during the maybe
during the event. What do you?
What do you mean I show up the first day of the tournament?
Don't make it sound like a part timer.
Come on now, you're the only guyI know that's had COVID more

(18:54):
than 24 times. I'm just kidding.
It. I'll be there.
I'll be. I mean, yeah.
I'll stop by sometime. We'll get together.
You and Gussie are still roomingtogether, right?
The the four years still all. Everything's good.
Yep, We'll just keep our normal schedule.

(19:14):
Gussie will stay out there in the shop.
Yeah, I'm sure we'll do something just like we typically
do and come over and and have something to eat.
How tough was last year for? Because I think it's goes one of
the things I've always said about Van Damme specifically.
If you look at the recovery thathe made after, you know, the 4-5

(19:38):
years when he supposedly was never going to win a tournament
again, I think it's one of the most impressive things.
And I don't think he gets creditin the way that like you're
talking about a dude who like since the day he started, I
mean, his first bass event he did really bad in, but the next
season he won angler of the yearand he's never ever really dealt

(19:58):
with that level of, you know, ofnot winning.
You're one of those dudes as well though, like when it comes
to classics, when it comes to championships.
I mean, a bad season for you up till now has been.
I made the Classic, but you know, I wasn't in top 10 for
Angler of the Year. This was different for you.

(20:18):
Did did Is that what spurred kind of you doing more work in
the offseason? Like how was that to recover
from? Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's still ongoing.
I can remember the day I was at the other end of this bar a
couple of months ago and Shanna slides breakfast over and I'd

(20:42):
start eating and I open Bassmaster website and it says
that, you know, look who's in the classic immediately have to
close it out because you're not a part of that or I'm not a part
of that. And you know, it's just been one
of those. I've had a career where there's
been a lot of seasons where it just, I mean, it wasn't hard to
make it and not saying that it wasn't the competition.

(21:04):
I just, I everything was going right and then last year I did
everything that I could to try to not get in it and I made it.
It just, there's been a lot of those.
I shouldn't say a lot. A few of those seasons I can
remember whenever we finish, we finished the Angler of the Year
championship back when it used to account for points and I had

(21:25):
to finish 4th. I'd figured up I had to finish
4th to make the Classic and I finished fourth.
Was the last man in. It just seems like to me there
was always a way to get in. And what happened this season
is, you know, towards the middleof the season, it's not going
good. Something good would happen.

(21:45):
And I, I could feel like I couldbreathe, you know, my head was
above water. And I'm like, yeah, it's going
to be one of those years. Just got to keep grinding.
And then I would go back under again.
And I would go back under. And still in the last event, I
knew that if I, you know, had a top 10 that I would have a good

(22:05):
chance to make it. And it was just one of those
that it just wasn't meant to be.And honestly, as bad as it's as
bad as it's been for me, I mean,just thinking about it and not
getting to go to that party, I think it's, I think long term
wise, career wise, it's going tobenefit me, you know what I

(22:26):
mean? Because it's kind of lit a fire
under me. I may not catch them this year,
but it will not be because of effort and preparation and all
of that stuff. So just different.
It's hard to swallow. That's why I cannot wait for.
It's kind of like those classicswhere I had, you know, I had the

(22:47):
lead and you talk about it, you think about it, then you finally
win. You don't think about it
anymore. I just need to finish fish next
year, get back in the Classic and then this won't be a
conversation anymore. AFCO not only makes incredible
outdoor clothing, but they care about anglers.
With their 10% pledge, AFCO and the Shed family donate at least

(23:09):
10% of the company's profits to conservation and making fishing
better. Now back to the show.
Did it feel like throughout the season you said you kept getting
moments where you had to get offabove water, but did it?
Aside from the finishes, did it feel off from the start or was
it just something like, do you when you're competing?

(23:31):
And I know idiots like me, it's our job to be like, oh, you're,
you know, to put that pressure on.
But like to you, did it feel like business as usual or does
it feel different when you're inthat situation?
No, I remember, I don't know, it's been six or seven years
ago. There was a very well known

(23:51):
elite angler before the split. He called me and he was, he had
had a couple of bad seasons and he was kind of asked me and like
what do I, you know, what do I do?
And I was like, dude, the more you try, the more you think
about it, the harder it is to get out of that.
Just just go fishing. And to be honest with you, I
never really got in that this year.

(24:12):
This is how my season went. I got 2 quick stories.
One is whenever we we were fishing on.
What's the one in Alabama with all the spotted best?
Oh, was it Smith? Yeah, Smith, you're fishing
Smith Lake. And of course I was going to do
the live scope thing. I really didn't fish shallow

(24:33):
very much. And without a doubt, under no
circumstances was I going to come in with less than 11 or 11
1/2 lbs. Something weird happens.
I catch 9 1/2. So the next day I lay all my
spinning rods out and my Marshall gets in the boat and he
sits down and he's like, you recognize me?

(24:56):
And I was like, not really. It was the dude that was with me
when I caught the 9 pounder at Lee Lake.
And yeah, he's just a good, he'sa good old boy, you know.
And, and I thought about it and I was like, I was like, would
you rather see some spinning rodaction today or would you rather

(25:17):
see an old boy just go fishing? And he's like, I want, you know,
he's a country boy. He's like, I want to see some, I
want to see some. I can't even say the word some,
you know, some old school fishing dude.
I had like I hadn't even done it.
And I take off in like the 1st 10 minutes I catch a 2 1/2
pounder, which is a good one there.

(25:37):
And it was just one after another after another like I
would, I would hook them, they'dcome to the top of the water,
they'd come off. And then to kind of end the day,
I was going down the stretch in a Wolf Pack.
I see a Wolf Pack coming and it's literally they're in line
like a four pounder, A4 pounder,a three and a half a three.
Then the very end was A2 pounderand they're spread out 10, five

(26:00):
to 10 feet apart. I make the cast and what
happens? Like the two pounder comes from
the back of the pack and gets mybait.
That's just like I have 100 stories like that and, you know,
at the beginning of last season when the schedule came out or,
you know, we know the schedule and you know, Shannon's just

(26:22):
like if you can get through Florida, you have a really good
schedule besides that, because she knows my track record in
Florida and I'll be Dang if I don't do 2 top 10s in Florida
and doesn't and don't really catch them anywhere else.
So you don't know what's going to happen throughout the season,
even though that's why like map study the schedule.

(26:43):
Like we get the schedule, we getlodging, I'm done with the
schedule until we actually show up to the tournament.
So yeah, it's just, it was just that's that sums up that one
fishing day kind of sums up lastseason for me.
I mean, just seems like it, it was harder to get a bite, but

(27:04):
when I would get bites, it just seems like it just wasn't meant
to be. And you know, I can't control
everything. You know, sometimes they're
going to come off. And last year there was a whole
bunch of them that came off. How often do you make a decision
like that where your Marshall just gets on the boat and you're
like, hey, do you want to see medo this or see me do?

(27:26):
Like, to me that seems odd, like, but I also know that like
you believe in everything happens for reason and stuff
like that. Like, did you at that moment,
you can't think of what you think of it now, but at that
moment, do you think you thoughtlike, here's my sign?
Yeah, well, yeah, exactly. It's just, you know, there's

(27:47):
some days out there that, you know, you're actually battling
in your mind what you want to doand it just takes it takes just
a little bit of encouragement. And I'm not saying that the dude
was like, Hey, go throw a top water.
That was not the case. You know, we're just having a
conversation and, and what I wanted to do was I wanted to
kind of go for it and I just wanted his blessing, I should

(28:13):
say. And that that's how I fished
really my whole career is, is knowing that there's a good
chance I could go catch this. But if I did this, there's a
better chance that, you know, we, we get a blue trophy or we
have a great day or something like that.

(28:34):
But I think that whether no matter what, he's that what he
said that day, even if I hadn't had a Marshall, I would have
done the same thing because, youknow, I was wanting to do it.
I just, I just wanted somebody to say, oh, yeah, I want to see
it and I wanted to show it to him.
But literally at the end of the day, like he's just shaking his

(28:54):
head like he I because you know where I'm walking him through
the day, I'm like, you know, this is how my season's been
after I lose two or three and then I lose another one.
And he doesn't he doesn't even have words for it.
I mean, you know, you fish, you know how when they eat a top
water out there and they come up15 feet from the boat and they
shake and they got the front hook in their mouth and the back

(29:16):
hook behind the gill plate, thatfish is in the live well.
Well, the next time he makes a movie comes off.
It's so lesson learned. We're going to all of that's for
a reason. It's going to be all that
happened for a reason. I'm pretty fired up to go
fishing to be honest with you. Talk to me about the mental side

(29:38):
of it, because for a skelter brained idiot like me, like,
yeah, I think you may have spentenough time to, you know, like
the whole time when I'm talking to you on stage, my I'm asking
you a question. But I'm also like, oh, what's
that dude doing over there? There's a bird like there I am.
I have a hard time focusing on anything.
Sometimes that's a good thing, sometimes it's a bad thing.

(29:59):
But when you're on the water, what percentage throughout the
day, what percentage of you is laser focused, like dialed right
in on the next cast And that just thinking about fishing and
is there a percentage that wanders off and and just thinks
about. I wonder what I'll have for
dinner tonight. I wonder what so and so's doing?

(30:22):
So I think everybody's different.
I think we have some guys out there that's literally they are
feeling the strands on their jigskirt as their jig is falling,
You know what I mean? And I've, I've never been that
guy. Yeah, I'm the guy that gets out
there and and I don't know that I'm thinking about dinner.

(30:43):
But you know, you, I may be thinking about, you know, the
daughter had a basketball game, you know, or practice or a bad
day the day before. I may be some of that may be
running through my head. I do tend to wander some and,
and you can feel it when you getout there and you get in that
groove and, and you are, you know, it seems like the more

(31:05):
bites you get and the better theday's going, the more focused
you get. You know, your jig just skips
better. But I, I, I feel like that I've
always been one to not be true, not be 100% focused because this
might be weird saying it, but itjust, I don't know.

(31:26):
I just can't think too much, youknow what I mean?
You can't overanalyze what we'redoing.
You know, it's, it's, it's kind of in practice, you know, I
don't want to know too much in practice.
I want to just kind of have an idea.
I don't want to have 100 spots. I want to have like 10 areas or

(31:47):
something that I can go in and kind of feel like, because if
you have 100 and you go to spot three, you're not catching them.
What are you going to say is, well, I got four and then I got
24. I got spot 56 and 100.
Like at some point you have to slow down.
So, and that's the same way withmy mind.
Like I, I just, I'm a pretty, I don't think they, everything

(32:10):
moves real quick up here. It's kind of just a slow
process. And I've learned through
experience that if you have a plan, it never works out.
You're like, well, I want to go to this spot.
That's my best spot. And then I want to go here and I
want to go there. Well, I never catch my on my
best spot ever. It seems like it's usually two

(32:30):
or three before things start to work out.
So I don't know. This is this is a ginormous
mental game. I mean like big time.
I used to say it was 8020 and and more so now I'm thinking
like 95 to 5 or 9010 on mental versus everything else.

(32:55):
That it's getting more. Yeah, I mean, yeah, it's, it's
confidence here because, you know, in the beginning, 10 years
ago, 15 years ago, like you go into that first Elite Series
meeting and you look around, you're like, there's not many
guys in here that can flip a jig.
Like I can flip a jig. You know what I mean?

(33:17):
There's not many guys in here that have the secret bait that I
have, dude. Right now.
Everybody in that room can skip a jig just like you can.
Everybody in that room can shakethem in a just like you can.
Everybody in that room has all the same baits you have.
It's it's, it's mental game like100%.

(33:37):
So Riddle me this because I totally believe you, because I
mean, I see it happen with anglers when they start
wandering off, you know what? And I don't mean just in
competition, but when they're when they start doubting
themselves, like I've told you this before, like when I've seen
everybody, anyone who's ever wonAngler of the Year, that's when
they're not overthinking. They're just natural.
They're there, they're there. Like they just think of a move

(34:00):
and they make it and it works. And then you get the other end
of it when things aren't going right and you're thinking about
a way too many moves. You're like, well, maybe they're
there. They could be on that point or
oh, maybe they moved out there. But so I believe with what
you're saying, but why do you think confidence allows you to
catch more fish? You know what I mean?

(34:21):
Like what what I mean the fish don't feel your confidence.
Is it just the confidence allowsyou to make the right moves or
you know what I'm trying to say?Absolutely.
I think confidence for one, if I, if I roll in as a as being
confident, you know, getting ready to take off and I'm not

(34:44):
worried about what Hackney's gottied on his deck right there.
And I'm not worried about him atall.
I'm not worried about this dude.I'm just worried about what I'm
going to do on that day. And it's the same way, you know,
if you're running down the lake,you know, say you're catching in
the back of pockets and all the sudden you start seeing all of
these boats setting off these main lake points.

(35:06):
You're like, man, you know, did I miss something?
Maybe I need to stop and try it.The years that I've had, my best
years and the tournaments that I've had, you know, the winds
and even just the good finishes is when it's just tunnel vision
right in front of you. You're going to do what you're
going to do. I don't care what this dude's

(35:26):
doing because I feel like I'm going to do it better than him.
Now that didn't always happen, but that's the way that I felt.
And I believe that I if a guy spends 3/4 of the of the day
doing what he's good at, having confidence and what he's doing,
he's better off than spending 100, you know, than running

(35:49):
around trying all this other stuff, changing baits.
You know, I'm just not that kindof person.
I'm when I get to Florida, when I get to Alabama, I'm going to
lay out five or six rods with the baits on it.
And that's what I'm going to catch them on.
I'm going to, I'm going to find somewhere where I can catch them
on, on those baits. So because that's what I have
confidence in. And everybody's, everybody's

(36:11):
different. I mean, don't you agree,
everybody? Oh.
Yeah, and you have to be who youare because once you try to
start, if you tried to be Gussy or if Gussie, I mean you guys, I
think one of the coolest things about your friendship from a
fishing end of things is you're very different.
You have both very different areas of expertise.

(36:34):
So I like from the moment I heard you guys were hanging out
and rooming together, I'm like, well, that that could work out
good for both of them. But I think it works out good
for both of you when you sprinkle a little in there.
But if you if you say, hey, I'm now doing what Gussie does, I am
I'm we're going to go to Knoxville and I'm going to try

(36:54):
fish his way and vice versa. If he comes Tankiller tries to
fish your way, it just doesn't work.
I mean, you still have to be yourself.
We've learned that. We learned that pretty quickly.
I mean, he would, you know how nice Gussie is?
We'll be working on time. He's like, hey, do you want some
of these jig heads? And I'm just like that.

(37:14):
I'm not going to throw it and, and kind of now after a couple
of years of staying together, hemight, he might like hold it up
and I just, I'm like, and it's the same way with him.
He's not, you're not going to see him up on the bait throwing
a spinner bait or, or doing my deal.
And and that's why we that's whywe do get along so good is

(37:37):
because we are so different as far as how we fish.
I mean, that's he's not got to worry about me.
I don't have to worry about him.We do bounce some stuff
obviously off of off of each other.
I mean, what I want to know fromhim and I think what he wants to
know from me is just a general, how good is it?

(37:59):
You know what I mean? If I go out and don't have a
great day practice and I come inand, and I'm like, man, it
wasn't that great. And, and, and if he agrees, it
makes me feel a little bit better.
You know what I mean? Because I know that between the
two of us, surely one of us is going to be around something.
But, you know, if I come in and haven't had a great day, which

(38:22):
tends to happen a lot, and Gussy's like, oh man, they're
biting, then I know that I need to do something different.
I don't need to go do what Gussy's doing, but I need to do
something different so. Do you think that's maybe one of
the biggest if if I look at yourtwo stints on the Elite series,
you know, obviously went away for a few years.
But if I look at when you first came to the Elite series and

(38:45):
these last number of years, is that one of the biggest
differences that there is so much?
And I don't think you and Gussie, I wouldn't classify you
guys as team fishing, you know, but you you, you're a roommates
that effectively work together and help each other.
But there's a lot of freaking teams like team.
We're talking teams that roll upon each other not during
practice, but during the tournament and say, hey, you

(39:07):
need to check that point becauseI just hammered him there.
That wasn't like, I feel like inthe past that that was like for
two tournaments and then one member of the team was like, you
are screwing me. You've topped 10 the last two
and I have not cut a check and they stopped.
Yeah, I'm not a, I'm not a big fan of that.

(39:29):
You know, those guys are going to do what they're going to do,
and there's no rules against it.So, yeah, but and it goes back
to to me having confidence. I don't want to stay with five
or ten guys and come in and and me feel like that I'm you know,
I want to do something. And you know, Ernie over here is
talking about how many bites he's getting on a frog and all.

(39:50):
And then Scott over here is talking about this.
All that does is throw you off. Now, do those guys help each
other and do they get pay The I mean, they probably grab a lot
of checks because it just makes practice that much more
efficient for them. Yeah.
So yeah, I you know, and and. Yeah, I really don't like it

(40:14):
when it happens at the tank thatthat burns me when it happens at
the tank. I mean, we're going into day
three and guys, you know, the rule is, is.
You're still in the tournament, yes.
They're still in the tournament and they're like, they come over
and I mean, you're they're eliminated and this dude's like,
hey, you know, I saw you by thisdock.
You need to stop and fish it because I saw 75 pounders on it,

(40:37):
you know, But there ain't nothing I can do about it.
Control what I can control and it's work for the most part so.
I I could see that being frustrating.
Do you, when people first get into tournaments, and you
mentioned it a little earlier, you know, looking at baits and
stuff on other people's boats, do you even look like, do you

(40:58):
like, do you when you walk past someone's boat, do you even look
what they have tied on or are those days way in the past for
you? No, I don't think it ever.
I mean, I'm not going to say that I've never looked.
I'm not going to say that I don't.
But do I do I walk by somebody'sboat and look and see a bait and

(41:21):
think, Oh my gosh, I have to tiethat on.
Absolutely not. For one, any of most elite
series anglers are going to have15 or 20 rods on their deck.
And if, if they're like me, likeI usually don't have more than
six or seven, but I might have six or seven laid out and I'm
going to use one for the most part or maybe 2.

(41:44):
They don't know which one that is.
And it's the same way with me. It's just funny sometimes.
Like I, I kind of look at rods and stuff when I do and I see a
bait, it's just, it's like I seestuff on laying on these decks
that I have never seen before. You know what I mean?

(42:04):
I'm just like, I would never throw that or and sometimes it's
like it's pretty cool. And I mean you go from I've
never seen the front of talks boat, but could you imagine?
He's got some stuff. Yeah.
I mean. Yeah.
Do you think, let's say everybody had the same gear?

(42:26):
Do you think talk is still as, which I agree with because I
think so many people spend so much time.
But did you hear he had the like.
One thing that has puzzled my mind that people are so crazy
about and clearly it works is the fuzzy dice, whatever you
want to call it, all the baits that have the skirts that are

(42:47):
wild through it. And everybody's like, this is so
different. And I from the beginning I've
been like, it's a freaking jig that floats.
Like literally that's it's if you take a flipping chick and
put it in the water, that's whatit looks like, except it goes
all the way down. But I, I think that it gives him
confidence. And I think, you know, whenever

(43:08):
you have something that nobody else has it and there's, there's
stuff that if you have it beforeanyone, it definitely helps.
But I think you put, I believe Icould put the most rudimentary
tackle in your hand and you're still going to catch them.
Yeah, I think it's the same way across.
I mean across the field for the most part.
I think if we all had the same stuff, it's going to the

(43:31):
standings wouldn't be much different.
Yeah. You know what I mean?
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Now back to the show. Do you?

(43:53):
Do you intentionally hide some stuff?
Are you straight up? Here's what I'm using.
No, I mean, I used to and you can't hide anything more with
live. I mean, and, and I've learned
too that you can't get caught not telling the truth, you know
what I mean? Like I just early in my career,

(44:14):
you know, whenever I'd be like, well, I got this spinner bait.
You know, this is this is a special one.
I mean, it's the same Booyah spinner bait, but I might have
tweaked a little bit here and there.
One of the things that I think that's hurt me a little bit and
it's just from a mental side is,is doing the YouTube stuff and

(44:37):
doing a lot of the social media.Because when you get out there,
when I get out there and I'm filming, there's no filter, you
know what I mean? And, and even 10 years ago when
probably a lot of the people knew the same thing that I did
in my head, I'm thinking, hey, he doesn't know that he doesn't,
He doesn't have this bait. So therefore I'm a more

(45:00):
confident person. I feel like that, you know, I
know something nobody else does.But when you get out there and
you film a lot and you do a lot of social media stuff, I just
feel like everything that I haveis on the table.
And that's the way that it's been.
I mean, honestly, I don't have any secrets left bait wise.
I just don't that's everything'sout there, whether it be through

(45:21):
Bassmaster Live or or YouTube orsocial media, it's all out
there. Yeah, yeah, it's that that and
there's another total like you look at your two different spans
on the Elite series. I mean, your first run in the
Elites, dude, that that. I mean, you did a video for a
company and it was like, all right, so we'll see you in a few

(45:42):
months, you know what I mean? Like you didn't.
And now social media is a monster that is never full, like
no matter how many videos you shoot.
And in it, I mean, I think that's the most untalked part
about all this, you know, youth anglers and this and that.
I think, yeah, technology has helped some of those anglers.

(46:02):
But bottom line, I think the fact that you like, dude, when I
started on the Elite series, I've used this analogy a lot.
I heard about shad spawns. Shad spawns don't happen where I
live, but I so it took me a few years of seeing a shad spawn and
being told that's a shad spawn to understand it right now.
I could take somebody who's never heard the word shad spawn

(46:26):
tell them to spend 2 hours on the Internet on YouTube and they
not only can tell you what it looks like when it happens, what
you should look for and what youshould do.
They could literally give a seminar on it because the
knowledge is out there like it's, it's, it's pretty freaking
incredible. I agree.
And not only can they do that, they can go to their high school

(46:48):
or their college and fish tournaments.
And and you know, they not only,I mean, back then, they, you
know, whenever you're younger, you fish tournaments, but these
guys, they're not staying locally.
They're they're not even stayingregionally.
Like they're traveling. I know a dude that just drove to

(47:10):
Florida to fish in the kayak thing on Kissimmee.
People, people used to not do that.
You know what I mean? I mean, there's just, I mean, I
had a guy who bought my boat this year for his, for his
grandson. Wow.

(47:31):
He's in the 5th grade. And he and he's got your boat.
Well, he's going to buy he he's going to buy my boat for this
year Like he's he reserved my boat for this year.
His grandson's in the 5th grade.He's a great guy.
Like he, he is a great, great guy, but that's just tells you
that these kids, I mean, they're, they're starting to

(47:52):
fishing a lot earlier. I mean, not yeah, I was fishing
when I was in the 5th grade and I was fishing when I was in the
ninth grade. But I was walking the creeks
with The Beatles fan. These guys are getting bass
boats and they're fishing and, and it's just the turnover and
and experience and knowledge is just so fast now.

(48:13):
Do you think that's a good thingfor the sport?
Guys, there's a lot of people fishing and there's a lot of
people. I mean, you look at these
college events and and stuff. I mean, didn't they?
I think Ronnie came out and shotsome videos a couple weeks ago.
He was talking like they had to split the college and make 2

(48:34):
divisions because there was so many on the waiting list or
something like that. You know, they're, I mean, you
can't say that it's bad for the sport when there's that many
people that want to go fishing, you know?
No, that's the truth and that's why I giggle when you see all
these videos floating around theInternet that this sport is
done. I'm like, look around like how

(48:55):
to say to say things are going to be affected by different
things. That's 100% everything's
affected. I mean, but to say this sport is
done and there has no future. I'm like, what have you looked
like? I it might be done for you, but
there is a herd of 20 year olds that are, you know, that want to

(49:16):
be part of this. And I, I choose to look at a lot
of that as nothing but positive,you know what I mean?
Like, I mean, you work with a lot of companies.
All of those companies love the fact that there's that many and
the resource in general, you know what I mean?
Like the more people that fish, the more money goes into
licenses. I mean, it should help, but
yeah, it's definitely different.It is.

(49:38):
It's wild. It's wild.
It's just like my, my kind of mygauge is just when I go out here
on the local lake, you know, andfish on during the week or you
know, my thing used to be I'd gowhen it was just so cold.
I knew nobody would be out there.
You will never go fishing out here again and there not be
another boat out there or I drive 30 minutes, you know, in

(50:02):
this direction to go, you know, fish on a little lake where I
know nobody's there. I'll be lucky if there's, you
know, less than 10 there. It's not like there's not going
to be there. Used to never be anybody there.
But I mean, down here on 10 Killer where I fish a lot in the
winter. I mean, they're used to seven or

(50:25):
eight years ago, Five years ago,if you saw a boat, you know,
like on a Tuesday when it was cold, it's like, man, that guy,
he must be off on Tuesdays. Now you're going to see 15 to 20
every day you go fishing. It doesn't matter if it's 20°,
you know, obviously if it's nice, there's going to be a lot
more. So there is definitely a lot of
people fishing. At this point in your career, do

(50:48):
you still set annual goals? And I, and I don't mean hey, got
to make the classic, want to winAngler of the year, want to win
the class. I mean, those are probably the
three simplest goals that peopleset for themselves.
But those are also very vague goals, you know, like making the
classics not quite as vague. But no matter how hard you try,

(51:11):
there's years you just aren't going to win.
Angler year years are going to but but so do you set like do
you have goals going into this season?
I'm really not, you know, a goalsetting, but there is one thing
that every year, I mean, it's simple.
There's one thing every year I want to do and that's make the
classic. It's, it's a lot harder than

(51:33):
people think it is. I mean, it's a lot harder than
people think it is to do it consistently.
I want to make the classic. That's pretty much the only
thing. The trophies, you know, the
runs, the anger of the year, that's just going to happen
whenever it's the right time. You know, you can't.

(51:54):
I just don't. I don't know that I can start
the season, say man, I want I want to win a tournament this
year or I want to win too. I just want to make the classic,
you know, and I want to fish as good as I as I can and and let
everything else fall where it's going to fall.
It's I just over the years in myexperience of doing this,

(52:18):
whenever you like, the schedule comes out and you're like, man,
that's, this is, this is my schedule.
It's like you get your expectations up and, and, and
if, and you get burned so many tournaments that I go to, I'm
like, man, this is going to be ahard one for me.
And then I end up winning the event or, you know, finishing
good. You know, I when I won on Saint

(52:40):
Clair that year, they had 4 tournaments.
This is in the opens in, in 11, I think when I qualify 12, but
literally it was it was a win. And you get in the classic there
was 3 events and then there was Saint Clair.
The other three I'm like, well, this is James River.

(53:01):
I'll have a chance. I'll have a chance at this one
St. Clair.
I'll just take my. It was the total opposite.
You just can't. You can't draw, draw it out in
this sport. You just can't.
I mean, it's not. I just I've learned that you
just got to take it. I just want to make the classic
and everything else that happensgoing to happen.

(53:25):
Do you not so much goals, but doyou at the end of a season good
batter and different? Do you look back and critique,
yeah, where you went right, where you went wrong and go into
the new season being like, I need to do more of this?
Do you go through that process? Yeah, the school teacher, you

(53:46):
know, the coach comes out and you kind of grade yourself, I
think not only at the end of theseason, but after each
tournament. I mean, I would think that if
you're an angler and you're driving home for a run
tournament and you're not kind of critiquing yourself a little
bit, then maybe that you should,the only way that you shouldn't

(54:06):
be critiquing yourself is if youwin that if if you win the
tournament and probably win it by, you know, a good bit.
But no, I, I judge myself every year that we no matter if it's
good, bad, and, you know, it's always what could have been,
what should have been. But yeah, you grade yourself

(54:28):
and, and I don't really, you know, we talked earlier about
losing fish and stuff. That's part of it.
And there's been so many fish over the years that I shouldn't
have landed that I did that affected the tournament.
It's not those kind of things. What I what I judge the most is
how I practice. You know, do I make a really

(54:51):
good educated guess before practice starts?
Because you have to, with these guys, you got it.
You have to make a really good educated guess.
The places that we go are so big.
So I judge practice really hard.And then just the decision
making throughout the event. It's not so much baits, you
know, I should have been throwing this bait or that

(55:13):
because that's just gut feeling.It's those are the two things,
decision making throughout the event and then how I practice,
practice. Nine times out of 10, whenever
I'm mad at myself, it always comes back to practice.
You know, I didn't spend enough time in this area or I wrote
this off before I should have, or I didn't try this practice is

(55:35):
is really where I I get mad at myself for not doing the right
thing. So can you have a subpar season
and still get a good grade? Like does the result determine
the grade or can the grades? No, some of the some of the best
tournaments I've had have been tournaments where I finished

(55:58):
20th, 30th really. Because because I didn't have a
clue after practice. The tournament that Aaron won
were on the baton. Was it the Potomac?
Chesapeake. Chesapeake.
Yeah. Mercer, I swear to you, we
practiced for 2 1/2 days and I never got a bite, A bass bite

(56:21):
for 2 1/2 days, never a bite. I did have a couple of bites,
but I don't think they were bass.
And the only thing that I hadn'tdone is I had ran here, I had
ran there and I had ran somewhere else, but I was like,
well, I haven't fished this area.
I'm just going to go there and Iremember I got goosebumps

(56:43):
thinking about it. Like I was like boat 10 or
something like that and I literally ran down like 2 miles,
put the trolling bar down and I was like I'm going to fish 5
laps around this Bay before the end of the day and I go to the
second dock and I catch one. I fished for 5 minutes or 10
minutes and I catch 1. I just fished for 2 1/2 days and
didn't get a bite. So my confidence was pretty

(57:06):
high. I think I finished 9th, 10th,
12:00 somewhere in there. That was a win that was as good
as a blue trophy just because ofthe practice that I had, you
know what I mean? And then and then there's it's
been the opposite great practices and then it you get to

(57:27):
dial the in and and tunnel vision and things go away.
But yeah, some of my best tournaments are 40 place, 40th
place finishes, 30th place finishes just because after
practice you don't have a clue. And then you end up, you know,
digging deep and figuring something out during the
tournament and salvaging a good finish.

(57:48):
There is, there is. Everybody thinks the difference
between a 40th place finish and the 80th place finish is 40
points, and it is. But there is a big difference in
that finish on the Elite Series,You know what I mean?
I mean, like 80th is like, you know, what's the average?

(58:09):
Like you got to finish forty 40th every tournament to make
the classic, 40 seconds, something like that.
If you finish 80th, then you gotto make that ground up on the
other side of that in the next few tournaments to to get in the
classic. So it's not impossible, but it's
hard to do. But yeah, you can.

(58:31):
I mean I can have a bad finish and I mean I can have a good.
What am I trying to say? I can have not so good finish
and still get 100%. Yeah, you made something out of
nothing. Chesapeake prime example.
Yeah. And I can have some, you know,
it can be the opposite. You know, I can finish third and
just be totally sick at myself because I didn't do something

(58:54):
that I feel like I should have, you know?
How do you critique your first Elite Series win where you had
the phantom school of fish that blew up and you put 5 casts in,
won that tournament, came from the furthest back at that time
anybody had ever come back like in that situation was that.

(59:17):
Do you know why I give myself anA+ for that event?
For one reason it has nothing todo with that is because if you
if people that follow me. If you know me, I'm a grinder.
Like I typically I'm going to catch them doing one or two
things and that's it. Like that was a fishing
tournament for me. I caught them every day of the

(59:41):
event. If you remember, the first day
was canceled. I caught them all four days
doing doing something totally different.
And that's where I give myself the a is I just went fishing
like the first we we got cancelled the first day.
The second day was blowing and raining.
I caught him cranking the secondday.
It slicked off. I caught him Carolina rigging

(01:00:03):
pea gravel points. And so from the rain on the off
day, the light came up the thirdday.
I mean, it came up the third day.
I caught him flipping bushes andthen the 4th day.
They came up schooling. I those fish had come up in
practice and but we just hadn't had the same conditions for them

(01:00:25):
to come up again. So that's where I give myself is
that because that usually doesn't happen for me is to
catch them so many different ways.
Usually it's like, well, I'm going to pick up a frog and I'm
going to throw a frog and I'm going to flip.
It's not just a, it's not usually a hodgepodge thing of
things for me. OK, so here's the tough
question. What would you grade yourself

(01:00:46):
last season? Last season was a tough season.
I mean, just that we, you know, and I don't want to go any
deeper than this. We, we are, we do what we do,
but we're still people. Yeah.

(01:01:07):
Now we have some things that happen on the side sometimes and
and we had a lot of that last year.
So my grades higher than what you would expect.
I mean the grade was high just to be able to go fishing, you
know what I mean? Be able to be on the water as
much as I was. So it's not as bad as you think.

(01:01:30):
I mean, like I said, I didn't think my decision making was
terrible in a lot of the events.I just, it was one of those
where I lose 1 here, I lose 1 there.
And it's so easy for me or for the fans to watch Bass Master
Live and say, gosh, it's that easy.
It's not that easy. It's on.
They're on Bass Master Live because they're in the top five

(01:01:51):
of the tournament. Yeah, 95 other guys that are,
they're spinning in the mud. So it's not that easy.
I don't give myself a terrible grade.
I mean, I'd say just to see. Yeah.
But like I said, it was, it was just one of those years where we
had we had a lot of stuff going on and yeah.

(01:02:11):
Enough said. Yeah, it it, dude.
I think that's one of the thingsthat makes fishing as tough as
it is. I think that's why when you have
people who have injuries and different things, that's I think
in other sports the the competition window is so much
smaller. I mean, if you're a baseball
player, basketball player, I mean you got to be locked in for

(01:02:33):
that period of time to be lockedin for 8 hours of competition,
to be locked in for a 14 hour practice days when you have
things and everybody has a life with different things that like
that. I think that's why it's so hard,
whether it's an injury, whether it's stuff you got pulling you
away. I mean it's.
Yeah, we don't. We don't get sick days.

(01:02:55):
No. And I do.
I do you do No, the year that the year that we had COVID, I
really like that and I push I was on the advisory committee
before the split and I actually pushed for this during COVID.

(01:03:17):
We were allowed one. I don't know how to say it, not
a free tournament, but. If you throw away.
Throw away. Yeah.
You know, I, I just think that. I think that and and, you know,
I look at just in the cases overthe years, you know, I was

(01:03:38):
staying with Edwin whenever a tornado demolished his house.
He fished the next day. I remember I wasn't with Fred,
but you know, Fred's dad passed.Saint Clair.
And he fished the next day. That's not where, in my opinion,

(01:03:58):
that's not where a guy needs to be at.
A guy needs to be headed towardsthe house.
And that's just something that and that's, it may just be me,
but I wish that we had a way to for it to be fair, number one.
But there's just so many things that happen, you know, and, and
I don't think that a guy would use it every season, but you

(01:04:20):
know, if something happens like that, a guy needs to be where he
needs to be at and not out therefishing.
So just my $0.02. I agree with that.
I mean, I, I, I am as guilty as anybody else that's on air for

(01:04:40):
sensationalizing some of that stuff.
You know what I mean? Like he's out here and his house
got destroyed. You know what I mean?
Like that's, but I, I think at the end of the day, there's
things and, and not all of it's bad.
Some of it's good. I mean, you know, Paul, Nick got
all sorts of love because he competed right to the very end

(01:05:02):
and, you know, won that angler of the year and Tiffany had a
baby and he didn't quite make ithome, but it that was
sensationalized. But ultimately, at the end of
the day, it would have been coolif Paul could have been there
and, and for the rest of his life.
I mean, as a dad, you know that you're, you could do everything
right and you will be freaking guilty for the for everything.

(01:05:24):
And I'm sure that will bother him for the rest of his life.
So I I see where you're coming from with that.
Well, it's one of those, you know, I don't even remember now
I have 3 kids and how many graduations I've missed,
valedictorian speeches I've missed, you know, state
championships I missed. And obviously, you know, you

(01:05:46):
hear, well, you're, you know, you're a pro bass.
You, you got to go fishing. Well, yeah, I know that and I've
done that. But you know, that's, that's
what I think about now is, is yeah, it was a graduation.
It lasted an hour long, but man,I'd like to been there.
We fished an event. It was on Toledo Bend, Sam

(01:06:08):
Rayburn, Toledo Bend, and it wasbefore the split and my daughter
graduated that night. It was a Friday night and I had
a private plane booked and I even had a backup plane and word

(01:06:29):
had got out and Boyd had even pretty much kind of said that,
you know, we'll figure it out. Well, it was one of those crazy.
It was like a April event or something like that.
But it was one of those events where or days where just the
Super sales, I mean, like there was big giant tornadoes
everywhere and nobody would fly.And it killed like it, it

(01:06:52):
absolutely killed me not to get back.
But you know, the good thing about that one is I tried
everything that I could other than just staying home.
So and I don't know that it's it's for, you know, every event
like that. But I do think that we need some
sort of to be able to step away for emergencies if needed and it

(01:07:14):
not cost you the classic or you know, re qualifying or something
like that. Do do you think that's something
you've started to think about asyou've aged?
Like did you feel the same when you first start a fishing
tournaments or were you just like, hey.

(01:07:34):
I think, I think it, I felt the same earlier.
I just think it means a lot more, you know what I mean?
You realize? Yeah, you just, you're like,
you're never going to get that. You're never going to get that
back. And you know, I, I know that it
was important when I was youngerthat I, you know, I should have
been at some of that stuff and Iwas at A at some of that stuff.

(01:07:56):
I should have been at a few things, but I think you get
older and you just, you get wiser and you're just like, man,
those are the things that's important in life that you
missed. But on the other side of that,
you know, my kids have not only my kids, my family, you know,
we, we've all benefited because we I've stayed there and fished.

(01:08:19):
So it's kind of a double edged sword I guess.
Yeah, no, I and I get that it, it, you know, I, I look at
things where I think back in my parents, you know, like you say,
it's only an hour long graduation, but the, the hour
doesn't matter. It's the 10 seconds where you
guys connected eyes and just knowing they're there.

(01:08:43):
So yeah, now that's that's, but I, I also feel like if you made
all of those, you'd still fig. And that's what being a parent's
about. I mean, you're going to feel
guilty about, you know, because I have buddies who had have
lived in this little town that I've lived in since I went to
high school and I've get together with them and I'll talk

(01:09:06):
about my man. I just hate I missed this or I
missed that over the years and with as much travel as I've
done. And then you talk to them,
they've never missed anything. They've but they're like, I
mean, I hate that I haven't seenthis or seen that, you know,
they just, it's just, I mean, I'm sure there's a group of
people who would just feel like they've nailed life perfectly.

(01:09:27):
Like I have no regrets. I just, I don't seem to get
along with those people. I guess it's, you know, it's
important for me to to try to beas much stuff as even now.
I mean, you know, they're all three out of school.
I'm out of high school. I still have one in college.
But still, I mean, they do stuffnow and I try to go.

(01:09:49):
My oldest played intramural softball and you know, it's
like, well, I can stay here on the couch and watch TV or I can
go up there and and watch. I did.
Did I go to every game? No, but I don't know.
It's just just things like that are important to me.
I've run a Yamaha outboard for over 30 years.
It has got me home safe each andevery time.

(01:10:10):
If you enjoy this podcast, remember Yamaha supports it and
they care enough about you to make this ad read very short.
Now back to the show. Yeah, that that's, I mean, dude,
at the end of the day, that's what life is.
I mean, one day you're going to be sitting in a rocking chair
looking over the palatial lands of Dry Creek, and you'll look

(01:10:31):
back and it'll be those memories, right?
Like at the end of the day, likewhen you think that that's what
matters. Like if you don't have those
memories and no party, you'll belike, but come on in and let me
show you my shiny trophies. What is the perfect day for you?
You get next Saturday, you're off, you got nothing to do.

(01:10:53):
You just just got to have the perfect day.
But you can't fish or you can't hunt.
What happens? Like tell me about your day.
Now, this is at home or this is in Florida.
Well, at home I would assume I mean.
Well, I'm probably different than a lot of people is we we

(01:11:15):
kind of have a coffee. I mean, that's that's whenever
we get up, the first one up usually starts the coffee and
and not far after the other one's up.
We, you know, we do our coffee and you know, it's, it's
something probably during deer season, you know, I'm working my

(01:11:35):
way hunting. But around here we're just,
we're just busy. And I say that in a good way,
like we're just, I'll get up, have coffee and, and there's
just always something to do. And even if I got to make
something up, you know, I'm doing something.
Shanna's doing something. The perfect day is it would be a

(01:11:58):
coffee. I'll probably go hunting.
Shanna goes and works out. We come back, we catch a
football game and then have everybody over on the back porch
to cook something that would probably, you know, be as
perfect as it could. But we just, I don't know, we're
busy and that's, you know, we spend a lot of time together,

(01:12:19):
but also, you know, she goes anddoes a lot of things and, you
know, I do a lot of things around here.
Hop on the skid steer and go do something or, or whatever.
We're just, we, we, we move a lot.
We know there's not a lot of idle time other than football.
Like if we're sitting here watching football, we can kick
our feet up and watch football. But I don't know, we're just

(01:12:44):
busy and, and I want it that way, you know?
Are you that are you that way like like if you go on vacation,
like if you guys go to an all inclusive or whatever, are you
able to just do it when I see Jason Christie reading a book on
the beach or are you the dude who's pacing?
Not pacing like I'm sitting here.
I, I feel like I, because I knowShannon's listening, so I feel

(01:13:06):
like my answers are being judgeda little bit.
Definitely not reading the book.You know, the, the, yeah, the
beach is being on the beach is you probably got some kind of
drink, you know, in your hand a big hat.
And we may have, we may have some lawn chair time for a

(01:13:27):
couple hours. But you know, I remember taking
her. I think it was Valentine's,
either Valentine's Day or her birthday, which is only a couple
of days apart. One of those days, I think it
was Valentine's Day, to catch a alligator with a rod and reel.
I remember you guys did that. That was awesome.
Yeah. So I mean, it's just stuff like
that. We we, I try to do that.

(01:13:49):
I mean, that's just that's I think that's the kind of fun
stuff. And but we do have our days
where it's kind of called, I guess, quality time, where you
just sit and you don't do anything.
Those days aren't very often, but they're important where you
just, hey, I'm not going to do anything today.

(01:14:10):
You're not going to do anything today.
We're going to sit right here and we're going to watch 3
football games. And when we get done with that,
we're going to watch a movie or something like that.
But they don't hop. They don't happen very often,
but they're very important and valuable when they do happen.
Yeah. What is the greatest single
thing in your mind? Like when you retire from pro
fishing and somebody says what was the best part about being a

(01:14:34):
professional angler? I think one of the things I've
done is, is I don't want to say take for granted, but like I'm
from a very small, it's not evena town, It's not even a
community. It's just a spot on the map.

(01:14:57):
And growing up, you know, in school, I mean, it wasn't very
often that I left the county, much less the state, but just to
be able to travel and see everything that I've seen.
I mean, Florida and the New Yorkto Michigan, you know, I there,
I don't know what it is, but I think there's only a few states
left, four or five that I haven't been into.

(01:15:19):
And that that's something that Inever would have, that I never
would have thought of whenever Iwas younger.
And I mean, you, you think about, you know, being on
Champlain and running the Thai. I don't know that you've ever
been out there. But if you have running down
there and you're, you're making those and you look off, you

(01:15:39):
know, 40 miles to the left, 40 miles to the right and there's
these giant mountains. Those are the things that I
think has been my favorite part and, and that's probably one of
the most beautiful, like boat rides I've ever had.
But it's, it's other things too that, you know, that you get to
see and, and be a part of all across the country.

(01:15:59):
And I think that's something that's really cool.
I think lately it's just recognizing, you know, during
the seminars, it used to be 5 orseven years ago, you go to the
seminar, you stop at the gas station and the old boy comes up
and he taps you on his shoulder.He's like, man, I saw that elite
series tournament that you that you finished and you know, you

(01:16:23):
did good or whatever. Now it's hey, I watched your
video on how you change the spinner bait and I watched this
and I appreciate it. I took my kids out.
I think that means right now that means a lot.
You know, earlier I said it was kind of a thorn in my side on
doing all of the videos and stuff because I feel like I've

(01:16:44):
given everything away. But that those kind of stories
right there is what makes up forfor all of that.
One, people are able to say thatthey watch the videos, they go
to the lake and they're able to duplicate that and they turn a
not so good fishing day into a good fishing day.
And I think the combination of those things, just seeing the

(01:17:05):
country and and teaching people a little bit about fishing,
hopefully they do it, you know, the right way.
Then my favorite part. I agree with both those.
Everything you get to see, but you never would have like it
doesn't matter. It's easy to be like, Oh yeah,

(01:17:25):
if I had of won the lottery, I would have travelled.
No, you wouldn't. You never would have made that
run between Plattsburgh and Ty. And you know what I mean?
You, you it's it's you see a lotof beautiful things and I think
your second one is just natural.I think everybody wants to feel
like no matter what they do, whether they're delivering the

(01:17:47):
mail, winning the Bassmaster Classic, do an open heart
surgery, they want to feel like they're making an impact in
their life. And, and I think we're lucky
that we work in a world where a guy can come up to you and, and
say those kind of things becauseyou are making an impact and.
We've had some cool like over the years and I remember, you

(01:18:10):
know, when we went to Californiaand I, we've only, I've only
been out there once. We did the Havasu and the Delta
like that was my top, one of my top five ever trips.
Like I love the new places. And I remember going through the
desert driving before I could afford, I don't want to say a

(01:18:31):
Ford XM, but I didn't have XM and the only station I could get
was Spanish station. But we were driving into like a
40 mile an hour or 50 mile an hour headwind through the
desert. And obviously we're driving 80
anyway, so when I get to California, I can't see out of
my windshield like it's just, it's glazed over.

(01:18:53):
And, and what it had done, it had sandblasted the sand hitting
the windshield so hard with thatheadwind and, and driving that I
had to get a windshield replaced.
And on that same trip, like I had a rattlesnake getting my
boat at Havasu. And, and it's just, it's things
like that, that what you're saying 10 years, you know,

(01:19:13):
whenever I'm done, I can sit on the porch out there and gosh,
the between the basketball stories and the, the fishing
stories, there's a bunch of them.
I know you don't like snakes. I don't like snakes.
How did you get the rattlesnake out of your boat?
Luckily, he chose on his own to.No persuasion.

(01:19:36):
He. Just decided I've had enough of
this dude and. He just, he just decided I, I
put the boat in and Havasu drovedirectly across the lake and
there was about a mile stretch of reeds and I was like, this
looks good. And I put my trolling bar down
and I'm fishing. I probably fish for 30 minutes.
I've never been there. I'm, I'm like looking at my jig

(01:19:57):
and all of a sudden I just, I just get this eerie feeling and
I turn around and there is a rattlesnake laid on the back
deck of my boat and he's straight as a strength.
He's not curved. He wasn't crawling.
He had been laying there a little bit.
And I was, of course, I went into complete panic.
My first thought was where is myphone?

(01:20:18):
My phone was in the drink, drinkholder right next to him.
But I it probably only been about 10 seconds and I started
getting pretty nervous. And because I was thinking,
well, what am I going to do? Because I was thinking that he
was probably going to get nervous and crawl right up
underneath the console. Oh yeah, I was going to be on
troll motor for the rest. Of the.

(01:20:40):
Day so luckily, you know, I justkind of got nervous and and I
think he felt it and he just eased off the back of the boat
went went into the cattails there and I went from flipping
the cattails to making long, long casts of the cattails after
that. I told you you're intimidating.
A man so intimidating he wants eyeball to rattlesnake off the

(01:21:04):
back deck of his boat. Yeah, there's, there's a lot of
those stories. I wish that, you know, my
daughter's in the medical field now.
She's just getting started. And I told her that she needed
to kind of make a little journalor whatever of just the
highlights that happened. Because even though I think at
that time you will never forget them, I wish that I would have

(01:21:25):
kept that throughout my teaching, coaching, especially
because there was some crazy things that happened.
And then just fishing, you know,there's a lot of that stuff that
I still remember, but I'm sure there's a bunch of that stuff
that that was that I wish I'd have wrote down.

(01:21:45):
I mean, imagine somebody like Klein.
I mean, if he would that does, Imean the stuff that he has seen
and the stuff that he has done, I mean.
I think journaling is and I'm not a journaler, but if I
honestly had advice to give somebody, it's like, and I don't
care if it's how you do it. I don't care if you take an

(01:22:09):
audio tape, you know, you know what I mean?
You leave an audio message, whatever, like I mean you now, I
mean, you can talk to your phoneand it'll type it out for you.
So, but it because you do forget, like you remember
certain highlights. I went through it earlier this
year because my son graduated high school, same high school I
went to. Well, so lo and behold, I go to

(01:22:29):
the graduation, I run into friends that I haven't seen
since high school and we start talking about stories and they
reminded me of stuff that I'd totally, you know, you remember
certain things, but then you're like, Oh yeah, that did happen.
And that it, it's, it's that's the one good thing about social
media. I'll say like, I mean, I think
it allows us to kind of it'll bea journal at some point, you

(01:22:52):
know, and it's still, I mean, ifyou go back, if you, if you
spend the time and scroll back and look at stuff, it'll remind
you of, Oh yeah, we did go thereand we did this.
And yeah, it's all very cool. You can't put all the cool stuff
on social media though. No, no.
Yeah, that's true. Your journal would be.
Well, that's why journals have locks.
I mean, there's things that you see in that restaurants in

(01:23:13):
Michigan that may or may not. Gosh, we have seen some stuff.
I what? What?
We won't even get into that story, right?
We shouldn't. No, no.
OK, but the best part about that, that I still laugh about
to this day is so I left you guys at the restaurant.

(01:23:33):
I was being mature. I'm going, I'm leaving 1st.
And when I saw what I saw and we're not going to talk about
what I saw, I quickly turned into a 12 year old boy and
started sprinting, sprinting back to the restaurant to tell
you guys you got to come out here, see what we're seeing.
We'll leave it at that, though. What does the whole group do?

(01:23:54):
The whole group follows you out there and sees what you see.
I mean, I thought it was going to be over by the time you guys
got there, but turns out maybe on my perception of that is
different. Yeah, those kind of things you
can't put on Facebook. No, no good times though.

(01:24:14):
Jason Christie, I look forward to hanging out with you all
season. I appreciate you doing this and
I'll see you soon. Awesome.
Looking forward to it. You can plan on we'll we'll have
everybody over one night whenever we're down here in Dry
Creek and see what we can come up with cook.
All right, deal. The one and only Jason Christie.

(01:24:37):
I'm not doing it. I am not.
I know. I know what you're thinking.
Hey, he's going to tell us the story that Christie teased.
No, I mean, I'm proud that this show kind of brings you behind
the scenes. You know, I one of the best
things, one of the things, one of the goals with this show from
the get go was to show another side of the anglers, and I am so
thankful that it does with so many and I'm so thankful the

(01:24:58):
anglers trust me enough and are open enough to show that side.
So we show you behind the scenes, but there's a there's a
there's behind the scenes and then there's behind the scenes.
So maybe in the future, but not right now.
I mean I got I can't do that, can't I I mean, I'm trying to
get in the bass fishing Hall of Fame.

(01:25:19):
I can't sully it. Oh, Speaking of Sully.
And I went a whole show without coughing.
Sorry. Yeah, lots going on.
Make sure to like, comment, subscribe to all the things that
help stroke the algorithm, and keep this grow going this

(01:25:41):
Monday, February 10th, make sureto tune into TNZ, Tommy and
Zona's podcast that launches on bassmaster.com this Monday,
February 10th. Go, chiefs, go.
And until next time, I'm gonna go take some more cough
medicine, lay on the couch and wonder how in the hell I got on

(01:26:06):
that list. Have a great week, and as
always, enjoy being Bob Cobb. Why don't you take it away?
Thanks for watching. Please like, comment and
subscribe because Bob Cobb of the Bass Masters told you to you
here.