Lee Livesay "Cheating Is Stealing" on MERCER-206

Lee Livesay is a 4 time bassmaster winner and a 5 time classic qualifier with 2 bassmaster century belts.

Lee is a Busch Light drinking, Whiskey Myers listening, bass catching bad ass from the red dirt of Lake Fork that prides himself on being a straight shooter that plays the game the right way. In his eyes, cheating is stealing!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
He's a five time Bass Master Classic qualifier, a four time
Bass Master winner. He weighed in the third biggest
bag in Bass Master history, hot off a Super 6 finish to the Bass
Master Classic from Longview, TXLee Livesey joins me this week
on. I'm Bob Cobb for the bass

(00:27):
master. Welcome to Mercer.
Welcome on. Welcome all, friends, family,
freeloaders, fishing freaks, andof course you, my humpers.
Happy hump day to all of you andwelcome into the Awkwardly
Honest Fishing podcast that goesby my last name, which is
Mercer. This is the 206th edition of the

(00:47):
Mercer Podcast, and I thank you for taking a little time to tune
in here this week and I hope your week is going well.
Whether you're watching, listening to this, I thank you
all for supporting this week after week, I'm feeling less of
a zombie. I'm recovering from the bass
Master. I think I'm recovered.
I'm recovered from the bass master classic, but feeling

(01:09):
great, feeling good. Got a good show here this week
and I want to focus on a little bit of goodness because there is
something special happening right now in the fishing world.
And I know everybody would love to point their fingers at what
they don't like, but here's whatI do like something that this
podcast has always proudly stoodfor.

(01:32):
I mean, half the reason this podcast ever came to existence
was this very reason about talking about the positive, the
good that's out there. And I mean, I'm not saying it
was just this podcast. There's several podcasts that
have taken that route. But now I'm hearing more and
more of them that are pointing out the celebrations, the things

(01:54):
that are great in our sport. And there is a ton of things
that are great in our sport. Is everything perfect?
Well, hell no. And guess what?
It wasn't perfect in the 70s, inthe 80s, in the 90s, It's
everything always evolves. Everything changes.
And it's really easy to look back at the Christmas gift from

(02:17):
five years ago and be like, well, that was that was the best
one. But no, the fact that we're
getting Christmas gifts is the best thing.
The fact that we're getting to enjoy everything we get to enjoy
is the best thing. And we never got into this.
Nobody got into fishing to debate, to be disgruntled.

(02:40):
Everybody got into fishing because it's who they are.
It's not just something they do.It's literally who we are.
And that's why I think we all get along as well as we do when
we come together. Because guess what?
There's others like us, others that are just so obsessed with
this sport, just like me, just like you.

(03:01):
And that is the positive. But here's the negative.
There is a a lot of people out there right now that are
benefiting from tearing down. And I mean, it's statistically,
it's not just fishing, it's everything.

(03:22):
I mean, you put a restaurant in view and say this was the
greatest restaurant I've ever been.
It'll get some traffic. But if you say a rat ran over my
foot, I got food poisoning. The wait staff was rude and the
chef was Peggy Bundy in a smoke while cooking in the back.

(03:43):
You'll get 10 times the amount of traffic.
It's just what our world is attracted to.
And the exact same thing is happening in fishing.
If I put a video out there and Isaid, hey wow, the Bassmaster
Classic was just on the exact same channel as the Super Bowl

(04:05):
on Fox Network, Fox Saturday andSunday afternoon, wow, that'll
get some traffic. But if I put another video out
that said, the Mass Master Classic is an absolute dumpster
fire that literally gets 10 times the amount of traffic.
And I'm not making these numbersup.

(04:26):
I've literally studied their sites that are putting on both
and they are getting 10 times the amount of traffic from the
negative and that is not a problem that I can fix.
That is not me talking to sites like that.
That ain't going to change. I mean, they love them clips,
clicks and I do too. I love the the most amount of

(04:48):
people we can get to watch this podcast, the better.
But you guys as a community, I mean, this community humpers,
whatever you want to refer to the community that comes here
each and every week to watch this podcast.
You guys are amazing, the thingsthat you've done.
And that's what I want you to do.
Keep being amazing by just choosing to stay away from the

(05:15):
the hate because that's all it is.
And it's this isn't a bass master thing.
This isn't an MLF thing. This is a across the board.
If I put a video out that this is the greatest lure and I put
another video out that says these are the worst lures, the
one that says these are the worst lures gets more traffic.
We as a community need to get better.

(05:38):
And I get it because there's people in that community that
are listening to this and they're like, well, you, you
know, he just doesn't want to talk about the realities and the
things that are bothering us. Not at all.
I have zero problem talking about that.
I talk about it all the time on this show.
I'm just not going to burn down the sport that I love while

(06:00):
talking about it because there'snegatives, there's things,
there's people actively working in a bunch of different
companies every single day to make things better.
Believe it or not, some of the ideas that get tossed around in
comments, they're happening. People are working to make it

(06:21):
better, but it doesn't get better by tearing it down.
It gets better by lifting it up.So I know some people don't want
to hear this, but I just got to point out the positive is that
the fishing community as a wholeis finally pushing back.
The fishing community as a wholeis finally saying our sport does

(06:43):
not need to attack our sport. Our sport needs to build up our
sport. And literally, I mean, last week
there was some stuff because I, I, I talked about Randy and
Randy's folks love Randy and it's an amazing, the community
that he has built there. And I've been accused of certain

(07:07):
things by some of those folks. But the weird thing is Randy's
not accused me of any of that. Randy's talked to me personally
and he agrees with some of this.I never once said anything pro
forward facing sonar negative about forward facing sonar.

(07:28):
I literally just said you got torespect the sport.
You got to respect the anglers that are part of the sport.
And if you don't like me and youthreaten to unsubscribe, which
you, many of you did, you're welcome till it.
Because if you don't like me because I'm asking you to

(07:50):
respect anglers in the sport, what does that tell you?
I don't know. I don't know what it tells you,
but that's not new. My parents told me to respect
people when I was little, Not just young people, older people,
people of all ages. We all need to respect each

(08:13):
other a little more, and that's all I was asking for last week.
So let's move on because we got a great show and there's always
going to be controversy. There's always going to be
debates. That's just how the world is.
I mean, that's competition. I mean, as we speak, there's a

(08:34):
little brouhaha happening and nobody has been, I don't know if
the right words charged because I don't think we're charging
people, but nobody has been committed, accused whatever of
of nothing's official. But you don't have to dig very

(08:59):
far to realize that there may beanother disqualification for the
no information rule. And I hope that that doesn't
happen. I mean, that's being
investigated right now. I mean, words out there already,
There's going to be a lie detector for this person to take
and I hope they pass it. That's why I'm also not using

(09:22):
their name because I mean, you're innocent until proven
guilty. But the weirdest thing, we are
living in such a weird, destructive time.
The weirdest thing in the world is the amount of people that I
see online saying, well, you know what?
The no information rule is the problem.
It's not the problem. It's been the rule.

(09:45):
Don't take my word for it. Go watch the episode officially
unofficial. We did a couple weeks ago.
It's on YouTube, it's on bassmaster.com.
I had four different Elite Series anglers talk about the
rule and how the rule is not theproblem, the violation is the
problem. And somehow along the way it's
got confused where people think that somebody's getting

(10:07):
disqualified because somebody walked past them and said, hey,
the reading chartreuse spinner baits.
Ain't nobody getting disqualified for that.
Nobody has ever been disqualified for that.
They get disqualified for seeking information.
The rule is not Gray. There is no Gray in it.

(10:29):
It's black and white. You cannot seek information.
Plain simple. That's how it works.
So the rule is not the problem, I mean, and it's really not bass
fishing. It's everything.
I mean, take it in ordinary life.
I mean, I have the greatest wifeon earth.

(10:50):
It's actually her birthday tomorrow.
So happy birthday, my love. Feel free to tell Sarah happy
birthday in the comments. It'll make up for my shoddy
gift. But if I'm walking down the
street and some crazy lady comesup and kisses me, my wife

(11:11):
doesn't think I cheated on her. She just thinks that's a crazy
lady. Now, just so you know, this
doesn't happen, but I'm just saying hypothetically now, if I
were to meet said crazy, crazy lady in a bar and I were to
approach her and I were to ask her to kiss me, well, now I've

(11:33):
cheated. It's plain and simple.
That's how it works and that's how the rule works.
So let's build this sport up. Let's hope that that is just a
rumor and there is no disqualification, but let's stop
breaking it down and let's startbuilding it up Now that is my

(11:57):
motivational moments for you guys.
Bottom line, respect other anglers, build this sport up and
the world needs more freaking humpers because you guys, you
guys freaking get it and I am soproud of you.
Speaking of getting it, a guy who gets it and a guy who came
hot off an incredible BassmasterClassic is our next guest.

(12:21):
Proud member of team BKK along with me and I love that about
him, but I love a lot of things about him.
He's one of my favorite dudes tohang out with.
He is just a he's just one of those folks that you just the
world needs more like him as well.
Without further ado, let's get into this with the one and only

(12:45):
Lee Levacy. Lee Levacy, how are you?
I'm good. How are you?
I'm wonderful. I'm I'm just as good as I've
been the last 20 minutes that we've been talking.
But I start this podcast with something.
I feel like we just did all our information from the podcast.
I'd be a much better podcast if we had these conversations.

(13:09):
That would be very good for ratings.
Yes, yes, speaking good for ratings.
You were good for the classic man.
A lot of people. I mean, dude, you had your, I
mean, you've had a lot of big moments, but that was a huge
moment for you to have at home. What did that feel like?

(13:31):
No, I mean it's it's you know, everybody's dream, you know,
having 35 or 40 boats following you on a classic, you know, take
off, which is Ray Roberts is nota good lake for boat followers
for them. So it was crazy.
You know, I had 35 or 40 boats following me the everyday, you

(13:53):
know, really heavy that second morning.
So it was awesome just being able to take off in front of,
you know, I live 3 hours away. It's not my home lake or
anything, but I had a home home crowd is what I would call it.
Just amazing. You know, it's the stuff you see
on the old school Kevin Van Damme classic reels, you know,
cut out the helicopter and it's the same dream, you know, just

(14:16):
people running down the lake. And you know, I was around
Easton the whole time pretty much too for the most part.
So it was, you know, me and the top guys the whole entire time,
you know, people going crazy at the arena when we showed up, you
know, compared to the other guys, I mean, just puts a smile
on your face. And, you know, obviously I had
my whole family there tearing inBrooklyn and Lane and my parents

(14:37):
and sister and brother-in-law, everybody was there.
So it was just, it was awesome. I mean, it really was, you know,
I felt like I won even though I didn't win.
It was kind of it was a great week for business, great week
for the fans on my end and Congrats Easton father Gill on a
great tournament. He he wrecked them.

(14:59):
How tough is that to recover from?
I mean, me and you talked the day after it and you were
drinking a beer and smoking a cigar when I talked to you.
But when we got off the phone, and I mean, I had a hard day,
had a voice when we were talking.
We were both zooed. But I just thought like, what is

(15:20):
that like the next day? Like it's got a, 'cause it's
such a emotional ride and then and you're still celebrating,
but you have to wake up the nextmorning and be like, damn.
This Yeah, it's a lot. It's a it's a lot.
It really is. We say that every year, but it
was just, you know, even more being I was in my home state,

(15:43):
you know, I mean, I was at the media day till almost 645 and it
was supposed to end at 4:00. People staying after, you know,
interviewing me and talking and obviously taking pictures and
stuff like that. But just a lot, you know,
logistically, travel wise, you know, I had a Caleb got us a bad
ass house on the lake. We stayed out there in the

(16:03):
practice period and we were supposed to go back and forth,
but I like never even got to do that.
You know, I got through with media day and tackle it like
almost 10:00. I was back at the hotel and I
was like too late to even drive to the lake, you know, And then
obviously I was the last boat the first day.
So I didn't weigh in and get through with all my media stuff
because I was in the top five until 10:00 at night.

(16:24):
I left the arena again and then had to go do tackle and, you
know, finish all my stuff. So I mean, you're, you're
talking me and Jesse had a routine.
I'll give us that. You know, it's just a, you know
how it is when I leave the stagewith you, I go behind the stage.
If you do good, you're back there with media personnel for a
couple hours back there. And then you, you're walking
everywhere and you go out there and you do tackle.

(16:45):
It's 10 O clock at night. Me and Jesse walk in the hotel
room. All my family's there.
Everybody. I just said all my friends.
I never get to see any of them like ever the whole entire week.
And they're just a few rooms away.
You know, me and Jesse would go straight into the hotel bar, eat
a burger, drink some beers, you know, go to bed, wake up at 4:00
in the morning because we're an hour and a half away.

(17:06):
You got to go to the boatyard, you know, just a freaking, it
never ends. You know what I mean?
Besides all the fishing and the the wind and the weather and the
logistics of trailer or not trailering, but moving our
launch ramps and stuff. It was it's just a lot and then
it's all good, you know, So it was just a it was a lot and and

(17:29):
doing good makes it even worse. It makes it even better.
But I were taxing like. I remember, you know, being at
the Champions toast when we're celebrating Easton's win and you
know, it is what it is. I don't, you know, I'm mad for a
little bit that I didn't win, but it didn't really matter.
He won by like 10 lbs, you know what I mean?
It wasn't like I was. They have a lost pound ounce,

(17:50):
you know, if I wouldn't have lost that one or something.
So I just remember sitting thereand I was like happy.
But Kevin walked up to me and was like, dude, smile.
And I was like, what? And he was like, smile, dude,
you just, you pretty much won the classic without winning the
classic, you know, with your fans and your sponsor plugs and
everything. I was like, dude, I'm happy.

(18:11):
And he was like, you don't look like it.
And I just remember like, oh, I'm just, I'm just a dead body
now. Like after it's over, you just
like lights out, you know? And that's what I did.
I got up the next day and I drove 2 1/2 hours back home.
And instead of coming home, I drove to the land and I got on
my buggy and I went to the to the riverbank on the Sabine

(18:32):
River and I smoked a cigar and which I don't ever, it's like
the second cigar I've ever smoked in my life.
But I sat there and drank a couple beers and smoked a cigar
on the riverbank. And Taryn didn't say anything.
What are you doing? We got a visitor.
What you do? Somebody knows how to open a
door now on their face. Yeah.

(18:57):
That's Mercer. You know him?
Giant bass. You going to say hi?
Yeah, a little bit. You got to bring your hand over
there. Yeah.
There you go. There you go.
All right, let me get out of here real quick.
Are you good? You're.
Good, you got to let that. Work.

(19:18):
Are you working? I think most people have no idea
how taxing the classic is. It is.
It's a mind melter and what Lee was talking about, about the
media and everything. But that's what makes that event
what it is. And believe it or not, over the

(19:39):
last number of years it's been less, like less stuff.
I'm talking about how taxing theclassic is and how crazy it is.
But believe it or not, like it'sbeen less over the last decade,
like where they've allowed it tobe more of a competition.
Like back in the Ray Scott days,dude, it was a formal dinner

(20:01):
every night. It was like, which blows me.
But I guess the media at that time also wasn't as taxing.
Like you have to do interviews for every single.
Dot com whatever where then theywould do a press conference and
it was all writing so people would just, you'd get out of
there quicker at media. Day we had 314 media outlets

(20:23):
there, the lot, 314 different people, and I'm not saying
everyone came and interviewed me, but 312 of them had to do.
Do you fight the? I would think in that situation
it would become hard not to justhit replay and just say the same

(20:45):
thing to each media person. Or do you try to be?
It's, it's not even that, you know, 'cause I'm filming a
YouTube show the entire time. I'm there too, for my personal
stuff with Jesse, with, you know, Caleb and Caleb was there
in the classic, but I was never even around.
He probably won't even make thisshow, but it's man, at the end

(21:07):
of the day, when I get through every single thing in the world
like you and food and this and this and that, guess who says,
hey, man, you ready to do that interview for today?
It's Jesse. And I'm like, shit every time.
It was Jesse and like one time and it was at the end of the

(21:29):
deal. Obviously, you know, we have to
do good, bad ups and downs. And at the end of the deal,
tournament was over, everybody was gone, final way in.
I'd been back at the boatyard. It was dark, 10:00 at night
again the final night. You know, we're supposed to be
the Champions those 30 minutes before that.
And Jesse said, hey, man, you know, can you knock 3 interviews

(21:51):
out real, you know, 3 videos outright now?
And I was just like, I couldn't even say anything to him.
You know, I want, I wanted to cuss him out.
And I was like, no, I'm good. Yeah, You know, and I kind of
got myself together and he askedme a question and I went for
about 3 sentences and I was justlike, Nope, not doing this.
Not. And I sat there for a minute and

(22:12):
I was like, you got to do it. And I literally we sat there for
another 45 minutes and just I got in the right zone and we
just killed 3 interviews out forthe for the show.
Then then it was a, you know, a relief.
So it just it's so much of the classic, you know, besides the
stuff you see on the screens and, you know, breaking stuff

(22:33):
and problems and driving and it's just it is a crazy week.
It's a blessed. Week.
Yeah. It's, I mean, I mean it, it's
worse not to be part of it, but it is a mind melter.
So how long does it take you? Was it a day, two days, a week?

(22:54):
Like how long does it take you to start to feel human again
after that? I was OK that next day and I sat
down there on the river and in the buggy and and drank that
beer and acted like I was smoking that cigar and I was
good. I was good the next day and we
were putting out trout lines thenext day on the river, so we
were good. He made pink baits, as I

(23:19):
referred to as the DDP Dog Dink pink lure.
I mean, I think not as amazing as the pink lure is the fact
that you actually pulled there it is, but you pulled off like
you went to your partner's sixthsense and said, hey, this is
what I need. You don't make it, but I need

(23:40):
this. And they made it, but allegedly
they never told anybody. And Milliken owns part of the
company, Yeah. And that's pretty friggin.
Unique. Yeah, actually, you know, a lot
of people don't know that, you know, Sixth Sense is is bigger
than you think. And we make a lot of our stuff
in house here in the state of Texas, down in right by Lake

(24:01):
Conroe. And I mean, they make clothing,
hats, baits, plastics, every allkinds of stuff.
But I call it Cooper. I want to say about a week and a
half before the event. And I said, hey, I need a flush
in pink, like bubble gum pink. And he was like, oh, OK, you
know. And I said, and I need Corey
Johnson, Ben Milliken, Trey McKinney not to know about it.

(24:28):
And he was like, what? And I said, yeah, it's for the
classic. And he said Yep, no problem.
I think a few people did find out about it obviously because I
saw about 1000 or not 1000 they I think they poured 65 baits for
me. So couple of the guys in the
warehouse saw them, but Ben didn't know, Trey didn't know,
Corey didn't know. And I actually did not throw.

(24:52):
I was throwing a a pink jackhammer with the flesh on it.
And I got multiple fish on the 6th sense flesh just weightless
by itself too. Some of my bigger fish actually.
But I told Davey had I had Daveyas my media personnel that rode
official practice day with me onWednesday, you know, and I told

(25:12):
him I said I'm going to catch him on that pink flesh with the
chatterbait. Just wait and and we did.
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(25:33):
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Beat Down Our Doors. Now back to the show.
And they probably are making a lot more than 65 of them now, I
would imagine. Yeah, they had a.
Little bit of overtime this weekat the Citizen's Office and
Tackle Attic and in a lot of places with the PO.
So it's good. We got a couple other things

(25:54):
coming out in it that I'm going to show everybody that catch in
pink too. Why?
Why Pink and why? Why now?
I mean, I honestly catch them all over the place with it.
I mean I plan on catching them where we're about to go to the
Pasqua tank and Hartwell catch them in Florida, NY.
Obviously small mouth love it, but I don't even count that.

(26:14):
Just you know, this time of year, mainly when they're still
pre spawn. I just want my fish to see it,
you know, I want them to see it and that's why fire crawls so
good. Why chartreuse white so good?
You just want them to see your bait and pink that Ray Roberts
is. I have history there in the
past. Catch them on pink.
Obviously. It just looks really good in the

(26:36):
water there. It's kind of like that pea green
kind of dirty Clearwater and that pink just man, it looks
like a big old gizzard shed running through the water.
So it's a it's a color that works everywhere.
But I've already, you know, had some confidence in it there.
Ray Roberts did did Milliken. Corey or anyone get pissed that
they didn't find out about it sothe second.

(26:56):
Day me and Milliken were fishingin the same area the second day
and I could see him throwing a pink chatter bait with a pink
flush from about a mile away andand I called him out on it.
Honestly. Ben had came over to my boat and
got himself some pink chatter baits and some pink 6th sense
flushes out of my tackle box thefirst afternoon.

(27:18):
So you you. Use different baits every day
though. Was that just adjusting the
pressure or why did that change every day?
I don't. Know, you know, everybody, I,
I've talked to Caleb about this.Everybody thinks I just went
smashed on past history and stuff.
And 13 of the 15 bass I weighed in the classic, I'd never caught

(27:39):
bass there before. You know, that grass is a little
bit different every year and I caught him on a different
stretch every single day, you know, in the same areas.
But like the first day I caught them all on a chatterbait, all
on the pink chatterbait actuallylike on more of a main lake
stretch. And the second day I caught him

(27:59):
about a, you know, 3 or 400 yards in on more like a flat,
like one on the chatterbait, oneon just the pink flush by itself
and the rest of them on a swim bait on a six inch well.
And you're thinking oak. And I never had another bite on
the stretch. I had 11 bites on the first
afternoon. And then the third day I catch
them all the way to the back of a drain in the same area and

(28:20):
some timber and some milfoil. And I caught three of those on
just a magnum swimming worm. A zoom speed worm. 1.
On the flush and then one on a buzz bait at the end of the day
and total different area, but itjust it was different every day.
I had to fish around and find them and I caught them on
different baits every day in some areas that I was not real
familiar with. Honestly, the grass was just

(28:41):
right in there felt right and I only had like one or two bites
in that area in practice, but they were big, you know, and I
like I told Davy on my media dayrun around, I said, man, I, I
don't have a lot of history right there.
None really besides, you know, I'd caught a big A6 pounder in

(29:03):
there in practice. But I I think the classic can
get one right there. You know, those two little
dealers right there. And obviously Easton cut 29 lbs
right outside of there and I caught all my fish almost
outside of there. Ben caught his in there.
Corey got his in. You know, it was just one of
those deals that just in your mind you're like this, it's
right this year. You know, in some years there's
no grass in there. Some years it's dirty.

(29:25):
And this year it was right and it worked up.
How hard is it to do that to go to a lake where you do have
history and to fish pretty natural as you, you know what I
mean? You're fishing areas that you
knew there was fish, but obviously to adjust everyday
bait wise and stuff, that's it'snot the norm.

(29:45):
We normally see when somebody's got history, they they think
that history is going to bring them to it, right?
And you know, I actually had a pretty good practice on history.
You know, I had a lot of bites and some other areas.
Me and Easton actually started together in a whole different
area the first day and I was utilizing Ford facing and he got

(30:05):
five in there. I didn't catch anything in
there. I build, but in that area I'd
actually had a really good practice.
I mean, like a for Ray Roberts Cox was on one of my best deals
and I just went back there too late.
And I talked to him like I sold like you going to stay back
there? And he's like, yeah, OK, I'm not
going to mess with you. Like don't worry.
Like one time I fished like a quarter mile from there and he

(30:27):
like hauled back there in the boat and I went back there.
I said, hey, I'm not going to come back here and mess with
you. So just guard it and do your
deal, you know? But so he was it was it was,
dude, I'm fishing good right now.
I'm just going to say that I am,you know, I've I'm confident in
making the right decisions. You know, you're not always
going to do that. I'm going to have some bad

(30:48):
tournaments this year, hopefullynot, but it's just is what it
is. So I'm just it just felt right
the whole time, like changing, moving a little bit, just, you
know, having confidence and knowing kind of what the fish
like there, you know, play in the wind a little bit.
So it just, it all worked out. You know, it's kind of been like
that since the first tournament.I mean, hell, the first

(31:10):
tournament of the year I was in 2nd place.
You know, I didn't catch any bass the second day.
But you know, I've fished good and I've LED Toyotas this year,
almost LED Elites and almost, you know, top three in the
Classic. So just everything's just
rolling right now. Why?
Do you think you're fishing's good?
I don't know do anything. Different, I mean, not that
you've you've fished well your entire elite series career.

(31:34):
I mean you've made the classic every year but won and you won a
tournament in that year. So it's not like you've had a
lot of bad years, but it's not often.
I hear you say I'm fishing good,like not me and.
Jesse been talking about that for a while now.
You know, like I just everything's just flowing right
on my end, you know, like, and that starts behind the scenes.

(31:56):
You know, it starts with my sponsors.
You know, I've you know, I've got multi year contracts with
everybody, everybody man, like Isaid on stage, you know, I can
call Gucci, BKKI can call Rory at express.
I can call Casey at 6th sense. I can call Bill at impulse.
I can I mean the list goes on for every single one of my
sponsors. I can call Brian at tacletic.

(32:16):
I can freaking call Jason and Jess at Massa.
Like I'm friends with all my sponsors and talk to him, you
know, not weekly and everybody from page and hook, just like I
think that helps a lot just having a, a family of sponsors
that support me on the road and when I'm home, you know,
everything at the house is good with the wife and kids and just

(32:39):
the boats electronic stuff. You know, I chose to stay all
Hummingbird electronics and use Megalive 2 and not run off to,
to the Garmin or lower ants. And just everything just feels
right right now. And I think it just, you know,
obviously this is my, this is my7th year already, which is
insane. Obviously.
Obviously that helps a lot, you know, because I was not, you

(33:01):
know, and we got like Trey McKinney and these kids are
running around, they can't even drink yet and they're already
doing what I'm doing now it in my late 30s.
So I think just time on that. I spent my whole life on the
water doing something, you know,but seven years of actual
traveling and fishing the elitesand just kind of knowing, yes,

(33:25):
no stupid decision that, you know, don't run and do this with
an hour left. And and then at the same time, I
know when to kind of fold them when I need to, you know, and do
other stuff. So just a little bit of maturity
on the water probably and just feel like I'm making the right
decisions and fishing my strengths.
You know, you hear that all the time, especially, you know, from

(33:47):
pros, tips and everything. But what I've been doing, just
doing myself, you know, and, andseeing where it ends, and I
think that has a lot lot to do with it too, you know, and and
I'm not saying I'm not using my Hummingbird Mega live too.
That gigantic bag I had at Raventhe other day when I LED that
Toyota, that was I caught every single fish on the Hummingbird
Mega live too, you know, utilizing Ford face and sonar.

(34:09):
But like I was confident I knew what I wanted to do there.
I knew how I thought I could, you know, win and I figured it
out. And then the same thing at Ray
Roberts when I did what I did there in the Classic, I didn't
win, but I was 2 bites away, youknow, all day.
Or one, by the way, from Easton not catching an 8 and me
catching an 8. You know, it could have went
either way in the last hour. And I did it my way.

(34:33):
You know, I sat there and watched Ben catch 26, I watched
Easton catch 29. And I kept doing my deal, just
going through my rotation. So I think it's mainly just
being confident in what I want to do.
Do you feel a? Pressure at your age, like do
you feel not that I mean you gotmany years ahead of you, but I

(34:54):
mean with, if you look at the current state of the fishing
industry, I mean, the final two had a combined age of 42
standing beside each other. And do you feel pressure like
man I now's when I need to fill the freezer full of trophies?
I'm not getting any younger. I know that.

(35:16):
But it's not like I'm not going to show up one day.
You know, Hackney's been to 19 classics.
Nothing. He's still going to show up next
year when he makes the next one,you know what I mean?
He's he's got plenty of time left.
I've got plenty of time left. So no, I don't, I don't even

(35:43):
think about that, honestly, pressure on that end.
Now pressure is going to the classic in Fort Worth what
everybody thinks you're going towin it and they're putting, you
know, me and Zaldane against each other and against the live
scopers and all this stuff. Now that's pressure, you know,
so but it's, you know, like I, like I told Jesse, I said, dude,

(36:06):
I've won two on fork and then I couldn't catch a bass last year.
I've already been through the ups and downs of pressure and
all the eyes on the world and you suck.
You'll never catch a bass again.I've I've been through that
already. So this ain't nothing.
So pressure is pressure. We like it and it's a good
thing. You know, it's good when
everybody's talking about you and expecting you to win.
Yeah. Man, when your phone goes

(36:27):
silent, that's the real pressure.
Like when nobody's calling you and nobody's talking about you,
that's when you're in real pressure.
No, we're still. Hungry, you know, that's all I
think about. You know, I don't get to do as
much because Elaine in Brooklyn right now, but it's all I think
about how I study, map study allthe time.
Does it shock? You we didn't see 1 double digit

(36:49):
fish in the classic. It did.
Man that lake actually has greatbig giant bass in it, especially
with the Ford face and sonar part.
I figured one of those guys would catch like a 13 pounder
out of off of a tree. Honestly, I, I didn't think it
would be me. I mean, you can do it easy, but
I figured one of the scopers wasgoing to catch a giant one out
of a big tree. You know what I mean?

(37:11):
A little bit of that was wind dependent, but yeah, that blew
my mind. I figured we'd have like a
really big one, like a 12 or 13 and then like another 10 or 11,
you know, probably two of them. And there were.
Several giants caught in pre fish too, like I'd heard.
I mean, didn't you catch it, didyou?
You caught a giant in pre fish, didn't you?
Yeah, I caught a. 12/8. In those last waiting minutes of

(37:35):
the tournament, how many times did you think of that 12/8?
Well. I almost ran there.
I literally cut it off of like aspot you catch like spotted bass
and small mouth on. That's why I fished it.
It was just weird with the practice there because I know so
much that I was already confident fishing in a couple
areas that I could figure it out, you know?

(37:56):
So the first day of practice I went and fished as much of my
good stuff as I could because the wind blew so hard.
It blew like 60 to 80. I knew a lot of guys were not
going to get out into the main stuff, knew a lot of guys
weren't going to drive through the trees with it blowing that
hard. I knew a lot of guys were going
to come in early. I fished daylight to dark, you
know, fished all my stuff. So I'd kind of had a good grip

(38:17):
on the lake the first day of practice, even though it blew so
hard. So the next two days, obviously
I didn't want to fish a lot of my good stuff.
So I was fishing all the stuff that I've never catch anything
on and that third day like 1:00 I hadn't caught shit because
they don't live where they don'tlive.
I was finally that dude. I got to go get a bite
somewhere. So it's got this little Rd. bed

(38:38):
down on the South end towards the dam.
We can I can always just pull upand catch 1.
You might catch like a 4 LB largemouth off of it.
But pulled up there and 1st cast, I threw a jerkbait out
there and caught a 12/8 on that spot.
Wow. It was logistically not really
probable for me to go there and catch a big one late in the

(38:59):
tournament. I still had 4 bass and I knew I
had to save this little bitty pond till the very end in case I
needed one fish. And I went there and I lost to
four something and I caught A4 something to give me 22 lbs.
And then I had a spot right there beside it where I'd caught
a nine and a couple of sevens that first day of practice.
Just you know, shallow fish and stuff and that's where I put my

(39:23):
I banked my last hour on gettingthose two bites again.
Or you know, 2 similar bites andEaston not catch an 8 pounder at
the end and I win. My game plan worked in my head,
it just didn't work at the end of the day.
Was it frustrating or inspiring to see what Easton was doing?
I mean, because you guys were close enough that you saw what

(39:46):
was happening. So I mean I've, I don't know if
I've told you this or not, but Imean that's I caught a great big
bag doing exactly what Easton and Ben were doing right, Right
where Easton was in practice andright where me and Easton
started the first day. But I went and just did my grass
still, you know, all afternoon the first day and going into the

(40:07):
second day. I'm just not one of those guys
and I still did it every day. Y'all just didn't see me a lot,
you know, like right. Like I was doing a little bit
closer to the grass than Easton and then where?
I still did it every day just a little bit.
But man, once I saw Easton catching them, I'm not one of
those guys that's just going to jump out there with them and
start doing it. So I, you know, I, I pulled up
to him. I don't know if that was on live
or anything, but I saw him catchlike 3 or 4 giants and I don't

(40:30):
even remember what I had then. I don't, I couldn't have had
much I'm out of I might have hadthem.
Yeah, I caught him pretty early that that second day.
So I had what I had, but I pulled up to him and I said do
what you got. And he was like 2729 or whatever
he said and I and I just said, hey, Congrats, that's badass.
I'm not going to sit here and watch you catch them.

(40:51):
And I and I drove off to a different area.
So it was just one of those deals.
I'm not just going to jump out there with guys and do something
that I wasn't totally doing myself if you had to.
Do it all over again. Is there a moment or something
you would change outside of Easton?
Not catching an 8 pounder and you catch you know, but like is

(41:13):
there in retrospect, is there something that you could do it
over, you'd do different? No, not really.
So I'd found the same fish that Trey found.
I thought I could win in two places where I fished in the
grass, where Easton caught the 29 lbs in front of the grass,
and where Trey McKinney got second place.

(41:33):
But the wind blew so hard every day.
I mean, you couldn't move arounda lot.
So it was kind of my biggest deal.
Kind of goes out of that confidence being mature as an
angler, you know, is I just knowRay Roberts, I mean you, you've
got like one or two moves a day and that's it.
If you're moving more than threeor four times, you're not going
to catch them. You know, it just it just

(41:54):
doesn't set up like that, that time of year, you know what I
mean? A couple moves.
I'm talking about big area moves, you know what I mean?
Trey was in a total. Trey was down there where I
caught the 12/8 that zone and I just every day I had it in my
mind like, man, you know what's I just went through there one
day, the day that the wind blew so bad and I caught like big

(42:16):
ones out float and forward facing sonar mega live.
And it's an area I just kind of know in the past, like gigantic
ones get in there and but it wasone of those deals at the same
time. I thought somebody's going to be
in there. You know, I don't know if it's
one tray or if it's nine of our guys in there.

(42:37):
So I never wanted to make a movewhen I wouldn't comfortable and
get down there all the way down there and then there'll be 5
people in there and it's damn, you know, I came down here for
nothing or, or Trey's already caught them all.
You know, whatever it was obviously.
But the only regret I have is not going and checking that
possibly but not really, you know, like I said, I was one by

(43:01):
the way, 2 bites away from winning the classic in the last
hour and a little bit of let go in my way.
So I would have done it the sameway.
Honestly. Now I wish Cox wouldn't on my
spot in the back of that Creek. But but that's that's the only
thing besides watch me to catch them.
You know, obviously it's like all the way in the back of the
Creek. There's one little hole in some

(43:21):
aleful behind this little bitty bridge.
I was like, there's no way somebody's back there because I
waited till like 10:00 to go back there and I could see a
boat and I was like, well, they're not even fishing, you
know, I could just see like somelegs like sitting in the boat.
And I came around and I was like, damn, it's a camera boat.
Like when I looked to the right where I, they were actually

(43:45):
schooling back there in like busting shad.
It was 64° back there when they practiced when I found them and
it was Cox and I was like, Oh no.
And he was down right where I was catching them and I like,
was sliding through the bridge because there's really only room
for one or two boats back there.And he catches like a four or
five pounder. And I'm like, damn it, you know,

(44:07):
I was hoping maybe he's just working his way through.
But he never moved the whole time.
And Carl was actually back therewith him at that point in time.
So I didn't even get the fish. I was stuck my nose in there and
left. But I talked to him.
I was like, all of them. He's like, Oh yeah, I was at
that one hole. And he was like, Yep.
And I was like, all right, dude,I'm not messing with you.
That was with him back there. You and Cox are cool now.

(44:30):
I mean, we did a podcast, I mean, a year or so ago where,
where you were like, I don't know if John Cox likes me.
He likes you now, right? Yeah, me and.
Cox talk every day, now every. Day No, I just.
Lied about that, but we do talk.That's fine.
That's fine. Yeah, everybody loves Cox.
Every. Be careful.

(44:53):
Using all the cuts I. Mean so somebody will cut that
off and you know how many times I've almost said that on stage?
I have said it a few times and it comes out and you're like,
that's not what I meant, you immature.
Yep. Big cocks don't need no
lifescope. It's the best baller ever.
Oh. Incredible, incredible moment.

(45:15):
Incredible shirt if. If you could be.
Reincarnated by any animal. What would it be like if you
were in charge? If you had choice and you're
like, OK, you going to come backas an animal?
What's it going to be? I would.
Probably go with a let's do a yellowfin tuna.

(45:46):
Damn, that's pretty strong. Yeah, just out in the open
ocean, just eating whatever I want, rolling 100 mile an hour
day and night. Aveco not only makes incredible
outdoor clothing, but they care about anglers.
With their 10% pledge, Aveco andthe Shed family donate at least
10% of the company's profits to conservation and making fishing

(46:07):
better. Now back to the show.
What eats a tuna? I mean, dude, they don't get
eaten by much. I mean, sharks don't eat tuna,
do they? Like.
Oh yeah, they will if they can get them.
But yeah, but the only time. They get them is when you're
reeling them in. Like I don't think shark can
catch a tuna, no. No.
Maybe a? Mako, yeah.

(46:29):
Maybe, maybe I I don't know. I think there's a lot of things
that the shark will eat before that, yeah.
Marlin will eat them if they're small enough.
That's it. Yeah.
Be. Strong, though, just running
wild. Yeah, out.
In deep blue. Wow.
What about you? What would you be?
I don't know. I've never thought about it.

(46:52):
I just asked the questions probably have to be initially
when I asked the question, I assumed like a land bearing
animal because I just assumed that when I asked the question,
I didn't really think this through.
But now that you've gone into the water and as much as I love
swimming, I mean, I've got to gosalt water and.

(47:18):
Screw it, I'm. Going friggin shark.
I want to be a great white dude.A great white or a make.
I mean, you know, if you're a great white dude, there's
literally only one thing that Jack's with you and that's a
killer whale. And I figure if I can just I
mean, there's only so many of those bad boys.
If I can stay away from the orcas, life is good, but I'm
going. That's a good one.

(47:39):
I mean, you can't beat that one.Obviously you picked the one
thing that it could eat my animal.
That's how you and well. You noticed that, didn't?
You, but I don't think I'd be a fast great white dude.
I figured you were going. To say a loon.
A Luna be cool, but a Loon's putup with a lot of crap.
I mean, you went, you went with a no, I mean loon.

(48:01):
I mean, a Luna would be awesome,but you're just, I mean, you're
just, it's pretty lonely. A loon doesn't, I mean, I don't
think great whites are, they're pretty solitary and lonely too.
But I mean, I really don't want to be an animal, to be honest.
I like the creature comforts of being a human.
I mean, the animal, even a greatwhite got to worry about other

(48:22):
great whites got to worry about all sorts of crap, but.
Yeah, a loon would. Be good.
I mean, it's just not near as cool as a great white.
Like I feel like a loon's reserved for more responsible
people. Like Rick Klun might come back
as a loon. Yep, he'll just circle around
your island making his mating call.

(48:48):
No great white or I mean the elephant tuna.
So you'd be I mean, that's that's strong.
Do you still? Do you ever have nightmares?
I do not. I mean, I'll have a crazy dream
every now and then, like when I'm really, really tired or
something. I'll probably have one, but no,
no more nightmares. So what's like the?

(49:11):
Craziest dream you remember having I.
Remember, we lived in Oklahoma when I was little and we had
tornadoes. And I remember like one time we
had a tornado and we lived in a trailer, but our neighbors
across the street had a tornado cellar.
And like I was, I don't know, I was young.
My dad was still like carrying me.
So I was probably, I don't know,four to five, 6:00, you know,

(49:33):
six years old. But it was like in the middle of
the night, they woke me up out of like a dead sleep and it's
raining and my mom and my sisterare like running across and
jumping the fence for going to Martha and Glens Cellar.
And I remember I had like some new shoes on, like some rolling
bleats or something, and one of them fell off on the way and I
was like, oh shit, like, no, I'll go back to the shoe.

(49:54):
And they didn't. They just kept on going.
And I just remember that shoe falling off.
But I had some nightmares about the the Tornadoes when I was
little, coming in, coming and getting.
You. Yeah, well, that's natural.
I think that's, I mean, I don't remember dreams anymore.

(50:14):
I don't know if that's an aging thing or whatever, but very
rarely. And if I do, like some of my
dreams that I remember are so vivid, like I feel like it
really happened the next day. But I don't have a lot of dreams
anymore. I don't know.
I think all that space is used up.
Yeah, I don't. Either every now and then I'm
like really, really, really, really, really tired and I like

(50:36):
pass out on the couch or something for a little bit.
I'll have just like a random dream or something like that,
but it's almost like a conscience dream.
Like you're almost awake. You're just so tired.
You're just drifting out of it. Is there a?
Better sleep than when you pass out on the couch.
I mean I go to bed and I have noproblem sleeping, but dude it

(50:57):
when you fall asleep on the couch it's just like it just it
just seems like a deeper sleep. Yeah, it is a long day of
fishing. Do not lay down on the couch if
you have something to do. That's the truth.
That's the truth. So if you were a yellowfin tuna,
what what do you think the coolest thing you'd do would be

(51:19):
like what? Why do you want is the speed you
like to be fast? Oh.
Yeah, they just, they run aroundin big groups and just smash
whatever they want to eat. Pretty much like you said.
Nothing's going to mess with them.
Just running around the ocean. I can go to China, Japan,
Australia, Louisiana, wherever Iwant to go.
You're just free roaming, just stay away.

(51:40):
From a sushi chef that's that's that is your nemesis that.
Could not. Be.
Good. Do you have a?
Favorite curse word I? Might have said one of them on a
podcast earlier, but. Like earlier today you've been

(52:02):
like doing group podcasting. How many you've been on today?
Today was my. Podcast Day What the No, I do
not have a favorite cuss word for sure Definitely know a
couple of them, but I don't havea favorite one.
Screw is a good one man. If you just can't say the right

(52:23):
word, you can just say screw andit just nobody can say anything
you. Can't get in trouble for Screw.
I feel this weird pressure all of a sudden because one of the
coolest things about the classicis meeting everybody that
watches stuff like this throughout the year.
But I met this one father and his son and all of a sudden he's
like, you know what I love aboutyour podcast?

(52:45):
I'm not embarrassed to watch your podcast with my son.
And it's good clean. And all of a sudden, like I
never thought of this podcast asgood and clean, but all of a
sudden I feel a whole new pressure.
I'm like just because that one guy.
So I don't know, maybe it's a false pressure, but I do feel

(53:06):
it. That's a good thing.
Yeah, yeah. So you're looking forward to the
Pasqua tank? I am.
I've never been there, never even seen it.
I was going to go run around it after Florida, but I had that
Toyota on Rayburn. So I like you know, I usually do
go to places I've never been before.

(53:26):
So I'm looking forward to that. When it's huge, I think there's
1.9 million acres of water we can touch something something
just in plan yet. Of like areas you want to hit
like what how do you how do you go from never being somewhere
you didn't pre practice it? How do you break that down in

(53:49):
basically 2 1/2 days of pre fish?
Yeah, it's. Obviously it's big, it's got, I
don't even know how many actual rivers we can logistically
reach, but I would call it probably eight or nine, you
know, major creeks, maybe more. But I, I picked three of them
and I'm going to fish one of them one day, one of them the

(54:11):
second day. And if I haven't caught them
good yet, I'm going to fish the third one.
If I did decent in one of the 1st 2:00, I'm going to go back
to it and expand, try to find some other stuff there if
there's room obviously to grow and, and that's the plan.
So I'll either be hitting two ofthem or three of them.
And how do you decide which one to go to on each day?

(54:33):
Is that weather related or? Some of it will be weather
related and some of it will justbe timing.
You know, like I'll probably fish around, take off the last
day. That's just what I want to do
unless the wind blows like crazyand water.
I think water level is a big deal over there.
Looking at some of the the two bigger ones like the Roanoke and

(54:54):
the Chow Wan, as I've read you got to put the wand in there.
I think they can get real high, especially the Roanoke.
So if one of them is real high, I might wait till it goes down
or or something like that. So just a little bit of water
level and timing and wind. How?
Big is the tide there. Like it's not a giant like it's

(55:14):
we're talking about a Yeah, it'snot.
I think it's only. Like 2 inches.
Everybody says it's non existent, like it's just all
wind related. So it sounds like there's pretty
much 0 tide that far in now we get closer to the to the sound
or to the mouth of the Gulf, I don't know.
Do you think there'll be a tournament of big runs or do you

(55:36):
think people will stay close by?I think I think the pasca tank
has them in it. I didn't I mean I don't know,
but from what it looks like theyall pretty much have a good fish
in it. But now I think the I personally
think the Chiwon and the RoanokeRiver have probably the best
habitat to grow big ones just looking at a map and and reading

(55:58):
a little bit of what we can online.
So I think a guy can run. I don't even know how far that
is. 100 miles, 80 miles, 6060 miles, however far that is and
catch a a great big bag and win.But they got to get back because
that this the Albemarle sound isit?
Is that us? It's supposed.
To be something it's supposed tobe.

(56:21):
Bad. So we'll see.
I'm definitely going to test my water as far as my gas tank will
go, Yeah, a big. Thing happening on the elites.
Some people love it, some peoplehate it.
Team. Fishing, people working
together. You guys work together a little

(56:42):
bit, don't you? A little bit, you know, we don't
like a lot of those guys. Like they share Waypoints and
say they caught them exactly right here and stuff like me and
Caleb, just generic information,you know, and Logan, we just hey
man, you struggling? You know, I caught one on a
chatterbait on a Cypress tree orI caught one out of the grass

(57:03):
flipping or you know, we're verygeneric.
We're not giving each other areas.
Now, don't get me wrong. Now, if we fished for three days
of practice and haven't gotten anything, I'm going to be like,
where are we going? I'm going with you, you know,
and the same with Caleb, so and Logan.
But no, we help each other a lot, but a lot of it's more if a
guy is really struggling, you know, I'll throw, you know,

(57:25):
whichever one, or they'll throw me a bone or just, you know,
simple. This is how I caught a couple
today kind of deal. Not areas, not waypoints and
nothing like that. Now, if Logan's in 80th place
and after the first day and I got an extra spot, I think he
can catch 20 lbs. Hell yeah.
I'm going to tell him to go there, you know, so we
definitely have helped each other out multiple times.

(57:47):
So you don't. Really have a feeling on that
though. Like you don't you think it's
it's cool. Doesn't affect things.
People fish as a team, no? I mean, because it's, I don't
know, just because we don't really do it like that, you
know, we just kind of help each other out just on generic stuff.
I don't see how you could be like, here's a waypoint, here's
a waypoint, here's a waypoint. And I don't know if they do it

(58:09):
like that or not, but, you know,I see some of the guys like,
like their little water turkeys just rolling together on the
water. I don't know if I could do that.
Yeah. During.
Competition, you see guys roll up on roommates and they'll be
like, did you get them? Well, you need to check this.
And there is I'm hearing more and more people that that being

(58:31):
said, I'm hearing more people that are against really
everything. It turns out that the world's
pissed at everything. But there is more people who are
like, hey, I don't think you should be able to team fish.
But I mean, dude, you guys can'ttalk to hardly anyone.
To me, if they were to shut off you guys talking to each other.

(58:52):
And I think that's why there's no rule.
I mean, it's not so that you guys can talk to each other,
it's so that you guys are not limited.
Like you live in a house together.
If if you think people you know,you think the no info rule is
tough. Now, if you guys couldn't talk
to each other, it'd be, I mean, it'd just be a.
Race to. See who can't get disqualified.

(59:15):
Yeah, Major League fishing. Try that already.
Didn't work, Yeah. No, it doesn't.
How do you feel about some of the changes this year?
More more to lie detectors, morestringent lie detectors.
Obviously we've had a few peoplepopped already this season.
How do you feel about that as a competitor?

(59:37):
I definitely think it's help helping tighten the ship up, you
know what I mean? It's going to give us a little
bit of a black eye at first, butI think it it definitely you can
definitely feel everybody just I'm not saying, you know, like I
said earlier today, like I think1% of the guys of that are going
to cheat, are going to cheat, whether it's 30 years ago or 30

(59:59):
years from now. You know, we're always going to
have that or press the rules. But just I think it helped just
tighten in the ship a little bit.
You know, no, nobody's going to tighten a life jacket up after
they're idol and nobody's going to, you know, whatever.
I'm not saying just information,but everything.
I think everybody's just kind of.

(01:00:19):
Getting a little bit tighter andI think it's a good thing, you
know? Did it feel like it needed
tightening up to you? Yes, yeah, yeah.
I think the whole world wanted everybody to tighten the ship
up. Until they did, and then it
turns out that a lot of the Internet just feels like.
Way to go. Bass, why'd you bring that rule

(01:00:41):
out that's only been out for 15 years.
It is. It's a weird time.
I mean, I, I feel like a genius in this world is Trip Weldon.
I mean, he got out of tournamentdirecting before social media
really exploded. Like there was social media, but
as far as like now everything that happens gets questioned, it

(01:01:03):
gets debated. It's a different time.
It's a different time. You got any grievances you'd
like to air? No, I.
I mean, I think it's good. I think, like I just said, I
think the, I think the ship's getting a little bit tighter.
I think there were some Gray areas probably getting pushed
out there over the last couple years.

(01:01:25):
And I think it's good, you know,whether it's Eqs or bigger fines
or both or what, you know, we just, I like my job.
I want to keep my job. I'll need to quit messing up and
making me look bad. It's so easy to follow the
rules. It really is, You know what I
mean? There's it's black and white, so

(01:01:47):
we can get everybody on the samepage.
It's not worth it to push the Gray areas or anything.
Just do your job and it'll it'llall be all right.
Everybody's good. So I think it's definitely going
to help in the long run after wekind of get everything situated,
yeah. Stop freaking cheating.
I mean, that's a good way to live life in all assets of life.

(01:02:13):
It and IA lot of people say that, that there's a black eye
on the sport or whatever, but I feel like it isn't.
It isn't. I mean, ultimately if you wanted
to focus on like, oh, wow, somebody got caught.
But I mean, people get caught doing stuff in every single
sport there is. But in fishing, it does seem
like, you know, you play football.

(01:02:35):
If you push things in football, you're playing hard, you're
pushing it to the wire. Oh, that was a little too
aggressive and you get a penalty.
But in fishing it does seem a little why does it seem so much
more offensive than our sport? I don't know, just because it's
I mean, it's like people stealing money from you if

(01:02:58):
they're a place that you know what I mean?
It's just not saying it's not the same in sports, but it's a
little bit different there because it's a team, you know,
this is individual. So if you're fishing against me
and you're cheating, you're stealing money from me.
Whether it was $50 on a Thursdaynighter or $300,000 in a
classic, you know, it doesn't matter.
It's just, it's like stealing. Whether?

(01:03:21):
The information you're not, you're trying to get a
competitive advantage on me. But there's a difference in
getting information illegally. And like I said, somebody
running a no egg zone or not ziptheir life, Jack it up, you
know, But everything needs to betightened up, yeah.
Yeah, well, I mean if you compare it to other sports, I

(01:03:41):
mean if you foot goes out of band bounds, nobody looks down
on you. But if you're a team that's
stealing baseball signs and and has figured out a way to make
noises in your stadium so that the players know when a
fastball's coming or whatever, that's highly frowned upon.

(01:04:02):
And I guess I mean, if you put it in fishing terms, the, you
know, stepping out of bounds is running without a life jacket or
going through a speed zone. Getting information is exactly
stealing signs. So it does make sense and I like
that they're starting to publicize it so much more.

(01:04:23):
Like, I mean, the penalty box, it's been a thing.
I mean, that literally came out after Swindell got dequeued from
the classic. Remember when he ran close to
Randy Howe? I not have done that.
That classic. That was the year after that.
That's why they came up with thepenalty box because they're

(01:04:43):
like, we got to have something that isn't quite a DQ, but it
definitely effects you. So the year after that they came
out with that. And the penalty box hasn't
always been a bad thing. I mean, Casey actually won the
Bassmaster Classic and sat in the penalty box on the first day
because he showed up late at theat the check in for the
practice. I was practice day.

(01:05:04):
I was in the penalty box at the Classic last year on the first
day for being 10 seconds late topractice.
Oh, that's. Right, that's right.
I forgot about that, but see whyI forgot about it's because we
don't even we weren't talking about it.
I don't know why, but it was weird for a while where it was
like, yeah, they're in the penalty box.
There's no need to talk about it.
But I I think the more we talk about those things, the more

(01:05:29):
sense it makes. I mean, every other sport kind
of talks about them. Any So you were in the penalty
box last year, No violations this year.
You're clean so far, right? I'll clean.
This year. Do you think there's rules that
we need to put in or do you think we just need to keep the

(01:05:51):
rules that are there? No, I think the rules are good.
You know, we, we changed some stuff and just kind of tighten
some rule wording up this fall with the AVP.
But you know, the only things I see changing in the future are
is going to be some kind of regulations on Ford face and
sonar and that we're not saying we need to get rid of it

(01:06:12):
completely, but there's going tobe some kind of changes there.
I think whether it's half the time or certain events or, you
know, a certain amount of hours,I think the viewers will like
that, you know, and some of themwon't.
But and we're not talking about killing it, you know, we're
talking about half and half or something like that.
So I think that that's kind of relieve everybody or a lot of

(01:06:35):
people when that happens. I think that'll be good for
fans, for bass, for anglers, forviewership, little bit of
everything. I've run a.
Yamaha outboard for over 30 years.
It has got me home safe each andevery time.
If you enjoy this podcast, remember Yamaha supports it and
they care enough about you to make this ad read very short.

(01:06:58):
Now back to the show. Yeah.
I mean, ultimately, as a fan of the sport, I want whoever wins
angler of the year, I want to know they can catch him in every
way. I want to see you guys tested to
catch him in every single way. And, and I think that'll, I
think, I think the weird thing about the forward facing sonar
debate is everybody thinks like,because one decision was made

(01:07:21):
this year that it stays like that.
I mean, the entire, I mean, there was a time where guys
would weigh in 10 bass. It was a time where guys would
weigh in seven bass. Now they weigh in five bass that
may change. Anything can change in the
future. And I, I, I believe it will
change because I think that there's I mean it's just I feel

(01:07:45):
I feel like in the future it will change.
I'm kind of shocked we didn't gohalf and half this year.
I. Thought that was going to happen
so. How how is things working out
with the? What did you call it?
What is the the anglers group? What is?
What is the short form for it? The.
AABP. ABP.
What is What is this anglers board of?

(01:08:07):
Professionals. OK, there you.
Go. How is that going?
It's good. We talk every day pretty much.
Are you lying to? Me again.
You told me to talk every day toJohn Cox too.
Well, we actually we. We pretty much talk, you know,
close to every day, you know, about, you know, we have groups
like I have a group of anglers that I represent and Drew Benton

(01:08:27):
has a group and then does, you know, etcetera, etcetera.
So, you know, like I had an angler reach out to me today
about something they were worried about and there's always
something going on, you know, it's good, most of it's good,
constructive, you know, thoughtsand stuff.
And we're still working on a lottoo, you know, for payouts, for
the future regulations, for wording and rules, and obviously

(01:08:50):
dealing with some of the stuff that's gone on this year.
So now that group's been good. You know, John Cruz is our
president, and he's been doing areally good job.
He's obviously a lot smarter than I am.
I figured that out. But it's good.
It's a, it's a lot of, they do alot of work.
Yeah. Yeah, I dude, whenever the

(01:09:10):
anglers, the anglers having a voice is always a good thing.
I mean, it it, you guys are a huge part of this sport and I
think that the anglers have always had a voice to different
levels of success. But I think the cool thing about
you guys is you guys put this group together yourself.
Like there's been advisory boards before, but it was kind

(01:09:33):
of managed by Bass where they would.
But you guys put this together yourself and you guys meet with
Bass. So it's like a total separate
entity, correct? Correct, correct.
No. And that's one of the the deals
we're working on right now. Bass recognizes as a group, you
know, publicly, officially, obviously to our face, but we're

(01:09:54):
wanting it to be a legal documented group as well.
That's one of the things we're working on as well.
Why? Why does it need to be a legal
documented group when? So when we make decisions and we
vote on stuff as a group of anglers, you know, whatever the
51 percent vote is, that that's something that Bass needs to

(01:10:15):
approve, you know, is where we want to get officially, you
know, whether it's rule, whetherit's payout, you know, obviously
stuff's not always going to workout, but we want it to be where
there's something that can be changed.
And they give us a option to vote on it and we vote on it.
We want to change the way we voted, you know, just little

(01:10:36):
stuff like that. Yeah.
Yeah, you know we. Want to help?
You know, bass, you know, there's we fish, you know, we've
all fished our whole lives. So sometimes we know the best
things, the best decisions to make for the anglers over what
bass does probably, you know what I mean?

(01:10:57):
So it's it's a card that we needto have to be able to play.
Yeah. Yeah.
So how do you become a legal group?
Like what are the steps that youguys need to take And and that's
why I. Said John Cruz is a lot smarter.
And even smarter than John Cruz is his dad.

(01:11:17):
That's one of the best lawyers in the world, that.
That's, that's what it is. It's involving a couple lawyers
and, and some paperwork and a little bit of money and, you
know, names and stuff like that.I can always helping a lot.
Zodane's helping a lot, Cruz helping a lot.
So it's it's a lot of, a lot of stuff, a lot over my head.

(01:11:38):
I'd be making a phone call. Yeah, it feels like.
The group at one time was kind of splintering off a little bit,
like it felt like at one time there was different, but it
feels like the groups kind of come back together.
Am I reading that right? Yeah, and it's always going to
be a a constant battle when you got 100 and two different people

(01:11:59):
voting on one thing. So everybody has a different
opinion and that that's part of it.
You know that when we vote on something as a group, whatever
the majority vote is, that's I've got to be happy with it.
You know, John Cruz has to be happy with it.
Austin Felix has to be happy with whoever's fishing the
elites. That's if you're going to be
part of the group and you want change, whatever we vote,

(01:12:19):
whether we vote for no forward facing sonar, half sonar, you
know, payout differences, you know, stuff like that.
You know, you've got to go with the group's majority vote and
that's part of it. But yeah, it's, we definitely
had a lot right at first, but I think everybody kind of calmed
down and said, OK, like most of this going on is for the better

(01:12:39):
of the group. And that's what the whole
group's for, is to have a voice for the anglers and be making
better decisions for the anglers.
And it, it took everybody a minute and there's always going
to be people that don't agree ordon't want to be a part of it or
something like that. But I think everybody's calmed
down and figured out that it's all good that you might not get
the end result you want on everything, but it's like we're

(01:13:01):
fighting for the same thing, youknow, more money and you know,
better rules and stuff like that.
Yeah. Well, and the, and the closer
the group, the more in unison the group.
I mean, I look at the forward facing sonar thing.
You had so many different groupslast year.
You had one big group who wantedto make it disappear totally.
You had another group that was for it.

(01:13:23):
You had, but if you guys are together, I mean, I think
decisions like that just become a lot easier and as long as
everyone's working in the right direction is this, are you
having as much fun at this job as you thought you would before
you did it? But like when you were guiding
on fork thinking, man, I'd like to make the elite series.

(01:13:44):
How does it compare to what you envisioned at that time?
Yeah, we, we are, you know, and our group that travels together
and films together, Me, Jesse, Caleb and Logan, you know, we
make it fun. You know, we don't, we don't
hold anything back. If you watch the YouTube, you
know, we're, we're goofing off and drinking beer and cooking
deer meat. And, you know, we make life on

(01:14:06):
the road fun and we're still business at the same time, you
know, work hard, fish hard. It's kind of our motto.
But you know, it's, it is, you know, that's why you see guys
that get kicked out still come on to try to get back in because
you man, it's fun. I love traveling around the
world and fishing different places and making my living
fishing, making my living, you know, making relationships with

(01:14:28):
sponsors, selling product with them, you know, helping out with
product design. It's, you know, it's like I've
said, that's all I think about is fishing.
And I like my job, so I definitely like it.
Man. Are we going to see?
AW this year. I hope I'm ready for another
one. Where's it going to?
Happen if it doesn't happen on fork I mean.

(01:14:52):
Hopefully the Baska tank. I don't want to wait the next
one. I don't ever show up thinking
I'm not going to win now. Three days of practice will tell
me otherwise. But I want to win them all.
I'm greedy all right? OK, you're in charge of bass.
Where is the ultimate BassmasterClassic location?

(01:15:17):
Who for all logistics or just the lake?
Well, I mean, start with the lake.
Oh, Fork. Would be the perfect one.
Gigantic bags. We got the we got the facility
now for the take off. It would be so good.

(01:15:38):
You could do it. There too, you know, Dallas is
only 80 miles away. But logistically wise?
Not even logistically wise. Guntersville is one of the best
ones for sure. Just the diversity of the
fishery. You catch them.

(01:15:59):
In the end it's fishing really good.
Great fishing crowd, great fishing, you know, just niche
area. So definitely Fork and and
Guntersville would be two of my top ones.
Now Knoxville has the best facilities and the easiest
access to they just had the fishor if they had a better boat

(01:16:21):
rank and fish, that would be thebest place to do it now I think.
I think Rayburn and Toledo wouldbe great ones if they had the
facilities, but they they don't.Yeah, well, it's going to be
Knoxville next year, so get in there.

(01:16:42):
And I mean it, it is. Knoxville is by far the best
city to attend a classic, in my opinion.
You can walk to everything. Everything's right there.
It's just the fishing can be a little stingy.
But I got a somebody reached outto me a couple weeks ago during
the Classic and they were like, did you see the weights today in
Knoxville like a local tournament?

(01:17:03):
But it was like monster weights.So maybe it's getting better, or
maybe they just hammered them that day, who knows, But it'll
be it'll be some, it'll be maybeGussie will win again.
Yes. Do you think Gussie will get as
much room as he got the last fewtimes?
Probably not. Probably I was.

(01:17:28):
I was amazed. He didn't get picked on more
than he did, but he is actually opened up and said well I did
have a bunch of dudes around me.It wasn't like they totally gave
him a green light, but that. That second time he had some
company now I never went down there, but I I could see the the
bridge from where I was and he definitely had some people with

(01:17:50):
him on the on the 1st pass winning spot at least.
Yeah, yeah. Well, not everybody's Lee
Livesey. I mean, you, you, you sat and
watched the classic get one and didn't, I mean how bad?
Didn't you ever like think maybeI'll just slide on out there and
get a little slice? I was having a good day too.

(01:18:13):
So that's true. You know, I already had 20
something pounds. So I was just like, man, I'm
going to go to my other deal andI'm going to catch a 7 and a
nine out of the grass over here and, and, and get it.
No, I mean, obviously I sat there and watch them catch them,
but I was catching them too. He they just looked a lot bigger
when he was catching them and they were.

(01:18:33):
But no, I'm going to do things my way and when when my way for
sure. I actually to start that day out
to be to be honest, was so awesome because I probably had
like 35 boats following me at one point in time and I was
catching them and they weren't the tables turned like I caught
them early the second day and they weren't catching anything.

(01:18:54):
And it was Ben Easton. Corey could hear him.
And I think it was Wesley Gore maybe that came in there.
And I was jacking them pretty good.
Like, you know, nothing crazy, but I was catching them and they
knew they were pretty good. And everybody, everybody was
there to watch me. I'm not going to lie.
I mean, there was like one boat yelling for the other guys.

(01:19:16):
I mean, one guy had a 30 pack ofBush light on his head with
holes cut in the like a box mask.
Come on. Yeah.
Make some snake, man. Somebody's wearing a bag on
their head out there. And I said he said, yeah, they
got a bag with hose cut on there.
I was like, I guarantee you it'sa 30 pack of Bush light.
Guarantee you. And he zoomed in with his camera

(01:19:37):
and he was like, oh, damn, you're right.
It's a 30 pack of Bush light on his head.
They had a big sign that said welove you zoner or something.
But man, when I would catch one,they would go and I was, you
know, getting everybody riled up.
And then like, I slid past that boat with the guy in the boat

(01:19:57):
with the Bush light box and everything.
And Ben and Easton and Corey were in there.
And I said nobody else had caught anything besides me.
And I said, all right, if one ofthese guys catches one, I want
everybody to start booing. And it was just going to be
epic. Like, you know, Corey was going
to catch one or Ben was going tocatch 1 and they were just going
to be like, it would have been the best thing ever.

(01:20:20):
But I never. We never got to that point, but
it was, it was fun having everybody sit there and watch me
and follow me and it was all good.
It is very good. Well, dude, it's awesome to it
was awesome to watch you at the classic and I look forward to
hanging out with you the rest ofthe season.
And this has been kind of a mellow podcast between me and

(01:20:43):
you. I mean, normally we get a
little. I mean, I don't know, I'm
feeling mellow. Are you feeling mellow?
I mean, you've done 14 podcasts today.
I mean, I'm getting the bottom of the barrel.
No, it's all all good over here,man.
All right, all right. Well.
I'll see you in a couple of weeks.
Yeah, it won't be long, man. I'll see you soon.

(01:21:05):
Maybe I'm a weirdo, but there's a little part of me that would
have loved to see that flotilla Boo them.
I mean, I just, I mean, there's no booing in bass fishing, but I
would have loved to see Corey and Ben's face of all of a
sudden everyone just started. Boo when they hooked.
Up. Hey, I know I went on a bit of a
diatribe to start this show off,but here's the honest truth.

(01:21:30):
We are the lucky ones. And it doesn't matter whether
you hate forward facing sonar, love forward facing sonar, don't
even know what forward facing sonar is, or whatever topic you
want to insert here. We are the lucky ones because we
have something that we care enough about, that we're
passionate enough about, that we're willing to watch shows

(01:21:50):
like this, that we're willing tomake comments and debate over
things because we have somethingthat we love.
And let's be honest, look around.
There is a lot of the world thatdoesn't have that release, that
doesn't have that connection to an activity that just is what

(01:22:11):
gets them through every day at work, what gets them through
boring board meetings and whatever else.
They're dealing with an actual real life problems.
We are the lucky ones. So let's all commit to
continuing to build up this sport, build up the channels
that are building up this sport.And trust me, if we all do that,

(01:22:36):
we'll have a lot less stuff to disagree about.
Speaking of building up this sport.
This show. Ends every week with a guy who
is a major reason this is a sport.
I mean, him and Ray Scott are the chickens that laid the eggs.
So until next time, enjoy being.And as always, Bob Cobb, why

(01:23:00):
don't you take it away? Thanks for watching.
Please like, comment and subscribe because Bob Cobb of
the Bass Masters told you to youhere.