Pat Schlapper & Jake's Take on MERCER-213

Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Just back from Texas and we havea double dose of goodness for
you. We kick things off with four
time Classic qualifier, former BASS Nation National Champion in
the newest Elite Series championPat Schlapper.
But that's not all. We also back it up with Jake's
take. Jake Latondra's Bassmaster
videographer joins the show and gives us all the goods from Fork

(00:23):
in the Sabine River. Both of them join me this week
own. I'm Bob Cobb for the bass
Master. Welcome to Mercer, Welcome one.

(00:45):
Welcome all, friends, family, freeloaders, fishing freaks, and
of course, you, my humpers. Happy Hump day to all of you and
welcome into the Awkwardly Honest Fishing podcast.
Think goes by my last name, which is Mercer.
This is the 213th edition of theMercer podcast and clearly we
are back in the home studio. I hope life is treating you well

(01:08):
wherever you're watching or listening from.
I hope it's a very, very good week.
Just back from Texas to totally different but very cool events
with Lake Fork, which you know we flirted with the all time
weight record. Tucker Smith ends up winning

(01:28):
that event. Congrats Tucker.
Nobody shocked to see him win anelite series event, but just an
incredible event. So many cool things.
Kya led the event for the majority of it and the good news
is we have Jake Latonders joinedus this week and he was on the
back deck of Kya's boat so hopefully he will drop a few
Nuggets of information of just the incredible things that Kya

(01:53):
does on the water. So we got that and then we went
to the Sabine River, something totally different.
We went from an event where we were flirting with the all time
weight record to an event that we ended up sending the all time
smallest weight record patch Slopper.
An amazing victory though both 2totally different tournaments,

(02:16):
but if you ask me both very fun to watch you know watching
schlapper catch him on a buzz bait on the final day just seen
and not just him I mean the amount of big fish we saw caught
relative big fish. I get it the amount of big
Sabine river fish we saw caught on a spinner bait on you know

(02:41):
top waters on frogs on it. This Snagless Sally was even
throwing. So it was a very kind of old
school esque tournament. So you had one that was
dominated by Forward Face and Sonar and one that was pretty
much the exact opposite. I think there was just one or
two instances throughout the week that I actually saw Forward
Face and Sonar actually playing whatsoever.

(03:05):
Cool thing for me personally as I got to do a lot of the FS1
coverage with Tommy Sanders and Davy Height and it was a lot of
fun. They were on site.
Just really cool to to work withthem.
I mean me and Davey have worked together a lot and me and Tommy
have as well, but it's just beena long time since me and Tommy

(03:25):
have had the opportunity to do that.
So I really enjoyed being part of that team.
It was a it was a good few weeks.
I got to go fishing in between, blasted him on a frog with my
buddy Todd. So that was a good time.
Yeah. All in all, it was a good trip
and we got lots of goodness to share with you here this week

(03:47):
and next week's show. I teased a big announcement this
week. It's going to be another week,
but it's a big announcement. And they just some big
announcements take a little longer, but we have a very big
announcement that many of you are going to be very excited
about coming up next week. So do not miss next week's show.

(04:08):
That's all I can tell you about it.
But this week's show is is a funone.
I kick things off with Pat Slopper, who is an amazing dude,
a guy who I've been a fan of foryears.
His family's just great people, and it was just awesome to see
what he pulled off this week. They deserve it, they deserve

(04:34):
it, but just just great people. And hey, sometimes people ask
what anglers do you have a bobble head on?
Well, I just happen to have and always have had a patch slopper
bobblehead that's pre tournamentvictory patch slopper.
But his parents gave that to me several years ago and it is a

(04:56):
proud piece of the bobblehead collection that many of you have
donated to, and I thank you for that.
So yeah, a great show. We're going to kick things off
with Pat that we're going to be joined by Jake's take.
Jake Latonda's breaking it down.He's got lots of goods.
He was in the boat with Lee Levacy and Fork Kyoya Fujita.
Then he was kicked off Sabine River with Jay Secured, finished

(05:20):
it off with John Cruise. So he's got lots of news notes
and Nuggets says Tommy and Zona always call them.
But first, we're going to kick things off with Patch Lauper.
And as I said, he is just a he'sthe true working man story on
the Elite series. I mean, he had a job at Shields,
left that job to chase this dream, double qualified for the

(05:44):
Elite series, qualified through the Bass Nation and through the
opens all in one year, which is incredible.
He's made 4 classics become veryconsistent, but he's knocked at
the victory 3 doors several times and it just kind of got
pulled away from him at the lastminute.
But it is cool to see a hard working, working class dude

(06:06):
finally get the W. And as I said, he's got an
amazing family that's been through a lot in the last year.
I mean, he he lost his brother almost a year ago.
We were at Smith Lake when he got the call and they've lost
other family members more recently.
But it's just been AI mean everyfamily goes through that.

(06:29):
I mean, I remember I used to think when I was a kid, maybe
one day when I grow up it'll just nothing bad will happen.
But sadly, her life is bad things happen, but it's nice to
see some good things happening for a good family that's been
through a lot. So it's a fun interview.

(06:51):
We go a lot of different directions.
He tells some on the water talesthat we'll have some of you all,
well, whatever. I mean, you'll enjoy it.
One thing about Schwapper, he always tells it like it is.
I think this is his third or fourth time on the podcast for
that very reason. He's a great guest, always tells

(07:11):
it like it is, but this is the first time we get to have him on
as an Elite Series champion. Patch Slopper.
You're a freaking Bassmaster Elite Series champion.
Yeah, that's been a long time coming.
Been close, really close to other times and feels good to

(07:33):
finally do it, you know? And I honestly don't think it's
really set in yet because I haven't had time to like really
sit down and relax and unwind and play through everything in
my mind and process everything. So I mean it is nice to sit and
look at the trophy, but I just really haven't had the time to
really enjoy it yet. Yeah.

(07:54):
Did you always, I mean, I don't mean this in an arrogant way,
but did you always in your head realize you'd win one of these?
No, no. It's so hard to it's so hard to
win. I mean, you know, I've had a a
couple other tournaments where I've had I've been in the zone

(08:15):
and like, you know, at times I definitely felt like I could
win, But that would, you know, if that happens once a year for
me, like it did this week, that's that's good.
I mean, like to have the practice and a game plan and the
confidence and the mindset you, you can't make that happen.

(08:35):
It's got to organically happen and I'm, I'm a very humble
person anyways. And it's just like I very rarely
have I gone into a tournament, an Elite Series tournament and
be like, I'm going to, you know,I feel like I can win this one.
Maybe in the five years it's happened four or five times
maybe where I felt like I had a chance.
So I'm not one of them guys that's to be like, I'm going to

(08:58):
win every tournament. And yeah, I just want a whole
stack of blue trophies. Like, yeah, everybody wants
that, but it's not realistic. I mean, it can happen.
You can go on runs and I'm hoping I'm at the start of one
of those runs but it's it's rareto get in the proper mindset
where you have a legit chance towin in my opinion.
So you felt before this tournament started, you felt

(09:21):
like, hey, I got a shot at this one.
Yeah, You know, I had, I mean, obviously I've had a bad year
and I've had been in a bad mindset and I just honestly, I
just had like out of the ordinary things happening to me,
you know, with just equipment and just stuff on the water,
stuff off the water. And I mean, just like I couldn't

(09:44):
get a break And, and I'm just, I'm not like a consistent top 10
angler, but like I'm, I don't know if I've been outside the
classic cut for the last three seasons.
Like I'm pretty consistent as far as being in the classic
talk, you know, and having good events.
Like I, I have like a good amount of like 35th to 20th

(10:07):
place finishes, which is good for how you know, for being able
to survive and stay doing this. I mean, I say I still, I don't
call it a career. I don't know what to call it.
It's not a career. It's just maybe AI don't know
something fun. I get to do that.
I make a little money at every once in a while.
But like why is it not a career?I just.

(10:29):
I don't know because it's I don't know.
It's just like what I left at Shields was a career.
I don't know what this is, You know what I mean?
I'm just once again, I'm not oneof them guys that's like I'm
going to become a billionaire bass fishing because it's not
realistic. It can happen, but I mean, how
many do you think on on the elite series trailer raking in

(10:52):
hundreds of thousands of dollarsa year?
I mean, I don't think it's that many, maybe a few, but I just
enjoy doing it and there's always potential to have that
happen. And I'm hoping that this win
will help maybe take me up a little bit of a notch where, you
know, maybe I can start to thinklike, all right, this is, you
know, this is good. I mean, it is good, but you know

(11:14):
what I mean? Like because for me, when I left
Scheels, a lot of people just don't understand what I left
from a financial standpoint. And that's what I always look
back on in those tough times. Like this year.
I mean, I had like my one of my managers text me all the time
and I'm like, dude, I'm about ready to just come back and beg

(11:35):
to run the coffee shop at the store.
Like just to get just because like it's so hard to, to stay at
this, you know, with any sort ofconsistency and just to, to
survive. So I don't know, it's just, I
just have a hard time calling ita career.
Maybe that's bad, I don't know. Well, no, I mean, you can call

(11:58):
it what you want. It's how you make your living.
Is it something you plan to do for as long as possible?
No, I mean, I want to do it tillI'm 50.
That's always been my goal is tobe 100% done.
I mean as far as from a financial standpoint, I want to

(12:18):
be able to be in the position where if I want to be done with
it, I can be done with it. And I don't want to have to go
do any other job. Like I just want to be able to
go hunt and fish. You know, my wife has sacrificed
a ton for me doing this. I mean, she's home alone all the
time, like, and we love to travel and she's got a lot of

(12:40):
like places she wants to go. And, and then I want to go too,
but just more like places you'regoing to go for a couple weeks
that are a little bit more on the spendy scale than the normal
trips that we usually do. So I want to make sure that, you
know, we get to do as much of that as we can because she
sacrificed so much. Now I want to make sure she gets
what she really wants to do on the back end.

(13:02):
Because I mean, if she didn't like stick with me, it'd be it'd
be pretty tough. Yeah, yeah.
So you feel like you owe that toher.
Yeah, I do. And like I said, I just, I mean,
we still get to do a lot of coolstuff, but like, you know, when
I just like I literally got homeyesterday at 2:30.

(13:25):
I've been on the road since before the PASCA tank.
So I, I mean, I don't even know how long ago that was month and
a half. I don't know.
And I was gone for two months the first stretch and I'm home
for two weeks and I got to leaveagain for a week.
So, I mean, she's here taking care of our dog, trying to take
care of the house and like, you know, just all the normal stuff

(13:48):
that it's usually, it's a lot easier when you have a team of
people to do it. So, and we both work really hard
and like try to be super smart with, you know, with the money
we have. And, and just so we can be in
position to, to, to do that whenwe get to be an age where we can
maybe have that financial freedom and still be in good

(14:11):
enough shape and the right mindset where we still get to go
do stuff and want to go do stuff.
Because I've seen it my whole life.
You know, people work till they're 65 years old when you're
supposed to work based on what society says and what we're told
since 3rd grade all the way through college.
Like people work to that age andthen they get to be 65 and
they're like, well, no, I don't know what the hell to do.

(14:33):
I don't, I don't even want to doanything because I'm so my body
shot, my mind shot. You know, they just get in the
groove of just having that routine of going to work every
day. And then they they retire and
then they hang out for a couple months and then they're back to
a part time job because they're bored.
Like that's not who we are. We want to go do stuff.

(14:54):
So that's my goal is to just which I'm 42 now, I think, or I
think I'm 42. I mean, it's my birthday in
April. I, I think I'm 42 or 43
something. So in 7-8 years I just want to
be in that position. Now I'm not saying I'm going to
quit. Like if I'm still feel like I'm

(15:15):
competitive and like, you know, I'm still enjoying it, then then
I'm, I'll probably keep doing it.
But I just want to be in that position to where I have the
option to walk away and, and just be, be comfortable
financially and, and, but my wife's a lot younger than me
too. So, you know, at that point, if

(15:38):
I'm 50, I mean, she's going to, I mean, I, I doubt she'll be
ready to be retired by that point.
So we'll see. I just want to get in the
position where I can if I want to.
How old is your wife? I think she's 6-6 or seven years

(15:58):
younger than me. Oh, OK.
All right, all right. I just said to me like she.
Said she's a lot younger. I don't want somebody well for
me. Yeah, I mean, she's not.
Me. You know what I mean?
So. I mean, Bill Belichick's
girlfriend's 24 and he's like 74.
I mean, solid, yeah. Yeah, 50 years between those

(16:21):
two. Yep, that's that's true love.
Oh yeah, for sure, for sure. She's truly in love with
something. Whatever, Bill.
Enjoy yourself. So what drives you?
Why do you want to be? When you say you stepped away
from a career at Shields and we've talked about this before,

(16:45):
and why do you feel the need to do that?
What do you want to is the Eliteseries?
Does it help you prove something?
Does it fuel something? What does the Elite Series give
you? Well, I mean, this is kind of
the way I look at like when I was at Shields and the reason I
left Shields was because I've always wanted to do it.

(17:08):
And like, it's, it's like one ofthe things like, and now that
I'm doing it and in the tough time, they look back at that and
I'm like, I wish I would have stayed there.
But if I would have stayed there, I'd have been wishing I
was here. So it was, you know, it's just
one of those things like the Elite series.
It's, it's like a kid that loveshockey and wants to play in the
NHL. Like there's very few people

(17:30):
that get to do it and I get to do it.
So that's what it is for me. It's it's just a pure love for
the sport and and the competition.
You know, I don't do anything else competitive anymore.
I don't skate anymore. I just don't do anything.
Like I don't even golf anymore. So it's like that's my

(17:51):
competition and and I just love being a part of it.
Like it's so cool the like have Jason Christie, Gerald Swindle,
Justin Atkins, just people I've looked up to that know me and
come up and talk to me and congratulate me and give me
advice. Like that's just like, it's just

(18:12):
weird, weird to me, you know, that I'm in that group.
And now that I've won 1, I feel like I'll maybe even get a
little more. I mean, I get a lot of respect
from most of the guys with the exception of a couple.
But it's it's one of those things that it's so cool to be a
part of it. You know, it'd be like me when I

(18:33):
was, you know, in 7th grade and is obsessed with hockey and
like, and then being able to play in the NHL, like that's
what it is to me. Yeah, yeah, I know it's a it's a
very cool thing. And you're right, very few
people get to experience it. You do get a lot of respect from
guys I, you know, like, I think you realize that, but like,

(18:55):
people were very happy to see you win.
And, and I think that it the world knows how hard you've
worked for this. Yeah, I feel like, I mean, a lot
of guys stayed after, you know, it, it was cool that Patrick and
Toya Tide and had to both be on stage when I won because they

(19:17):
beat me on Toledo Bend last year.
And, and, and like, obviously they both wanted to win, but
like looking back at the, the videos, like, like Patrick was
clapping freaking hard. I mean, I really feel like they
were obviously bummed, but I really feel like deep down a
part of them was like they want,not that they wanted me to win,

(19:40):
but they were genuinely happy for me.
That's what I feel like, becausethey know like how bummed I was
last time and like it was just when they when I was getting
waiting in the boat to come through and I was like, I knew
I'd beat Patrick and then I heard Koias wait and they tied.

(20:01):
I'm just like, Oh my God, this. They couldn't get any better
because now they both got to stand there and watch me because
last year I had to wait last, you know what I mean, and get
beat and then have the walk of shame.
Like it was it was cool moment and there was so many guys
waiting. You know that, you know, Easton
and and Brandon Ponick and there's just so many of them

(20:23):
guys, Kyle Patrick waiting for me to like.
Like they were happy for me, so it was really neat.
What you've done in the last fewweeks I think is amazing because
when I talked to you at the the Vouster event, you know what I
mean with beatdown and AFCO and everybody, me and you talked for

(20:45):
just a few minutes, stand aroundwith the guys and you seem very
down about the season. Like you basically joked and
said, well, the only way I'm making the best master class is
if I go and win lacrosse. But you said you did a you hope
to win that. But to turn around what happened
at Fork? I mean that fish catch at Fork

(21:07):
and it feels like from that moment forward, like you feel
like a different human. And this is before you even won.
Like I feel like, does it is that, am I just imagining that
or do you really feel like you've turned things around?
No, there's definitely a shift in my mindset at 4, specifically
with that fish catch, but like the way that morning happened

(21:28):
and, and then catching that, that £8.10 ouncer because when I
hooked it, I'm like, this is going to come off that.
I know it is because that's how my season's gone.
And then I landed it and I'm like, OK, we can do this.
And then from then on it was just.
Bring me through that like what happened because IA lot of
people might not understand whatyou mean.

(21:50):
So basically I was throwing a big crank bait on a point, big
square belt crank bait and I hada small bass eat it and when I
got it to the boat there was like 3 or 4 giant ones trying to
eat the bait. Eat whatever, eat the fish, eat
the bait, whatever. What one of them ended up eating
like, you know, on my mind, I played it over a bunch of times,

(22:12):
but I like walked it like I was just like, Oh my God.
And like put my head back because there's all those big
ones. And then I like put my head back
down And all of a sudden I felt my rod jerk and a mouth of just
a giant mouth come wallowing outof the water.
And it had eaten the bait and itwas hooked on the back hook or
the back hook of the front hook,one of them, and it was just

(22:33):
swinging his head and that otherfish was flying around and the
little one came off. But you 99% of the time the big
one comes off. But then I got this.
So I got the big one hooked. But A, it's on a crankbait.
B, There was another fish on there when it ate it.
C, It ate it right at the boat. D It's a giant.
And so everything's working against me, but I like fight it

(22:57):
out walking around the boat and,and get it.
And it was an 8 LB ten ouncers like, you know, I, I've since
gone bass, wanted the footage toair it, but I'm like, no,
because people see where I'm at and like, and thank God because
like I didn't know it. But that's where J was catching
a lot of his fish because we kind of had a little run in
later that day. We just weren't there at the

(23:18):
same times. So had it shown that and then it
would have affected him. I possibly if all them, you
know, ladder fisherman would have showed up and and sat there
and caught them. You know, it's, it's just,
that's the worst part about lying.
Ladder fishermen. Well, all them guys, they go

(23:38):
stand up on ladders and catch them off beds down there.
Not that's what I'm getting, butI call them ladder fishermen.
You know, probably the same guysthat get mad at us for using
forward facing, but they go stand on a 12 foot ladder.
You know what I mean? They're fine.
Most of them are nice, but it's just like I've never seen that

(23:59):
anywhere else in my life. I mean, I've been all over the
country site fishing. Then you go down there and you
go on a cold and you're like, what the heck is that guy doing?
Is he like trimming the limbs onthat tree or something?
Why is he up on that ladder? And then oh, he's got ratchet
straps to this ladder and he's standing up there like what the
hell? But I mean, I just didn't want

(24:20):
people to like see where I was and, and I look back at it and I
had my map on my locator pulled up.
Sort of been super easy for someone to be like, oh, I know
where that is. Let's go back there tomorrow
morning and sit there. Let's go out there right now and
catch them. So I'm really glad I didn't let
him do it. And especially because Jay was

(24:40):
catching fish there in the afternoon too.
And I mean, he's he, you know, leading AOY and I just didn't
want to have any impact on him, even if he did yell at me for
fishing there. Did he yell at you?
I've never heard Jay Secure yell.
He. He.
He since apologized, but he could have taken a different
approach to the way he did, But I let him know that and he he

(25:04):
was he was he apologized And I Ilove Jay.
I mean, I want the best. I've known him for a long time,
known as dad for a long time, respect him a lot.
And that's, you know, basically what I had to convey to him.
Like, dude, I would know. I wouldn't do that to anybody,
but let alone you. Who's leading AOI got a chance
to win this tournament? Like, I didn't know.
I mean, I'd seen you back in this area, but you didn't start

(25:27):
there. Like I fished it day 2:00 and
3:00 in the morning. And I mean, I was gone before I
ever seen you come in the Creek.Like, you know, I wouldn't do
that to you. You know, I would.
I just wouldn't do that to him. So, and he felt bad and I
understand, you know why? I mean, he just said approached

(25:48):
it differently than he should have, but he understands that
now. And I don't think he was like, I
think it was just some emotion. And he's obviously got a ton of
pressure on him. So I, I don't have any hard
feel. I love him.
I mean, I, I want him to win AOIand he's, he's just a good dude.
He was just caught up in the moment.

(26:10):
Not a big deal. That happens quite a bit on the
water though, doesn't it? You know what I mean?
Like I'm not talking full of wars, but like where somebody
doesn't know you were there and you know, people get heated and
then afterwards it's talked about.
Yeah, it happens a lot, you know, and most of the time
people are pretty cordial. There's a, you know, a couple

(26:30):
people that they're not and theyjust, you know, I just try to
avoid them. And, you know, in the past, I've
had confrontations with some people and when I was early on
in, in, in fishing, the elites and I would handle a lot
differently now than I did back then because I just was like, oh
geez, I, I don't know, that's weird.

(26:52):
Pull up and start casting out the same patch of grass I've
been fishing for two hours, like50 feet from me.
Like, that's weird. But maybe that's how they do it
here. But now that wouldn't happen,
you know, and, and it's most people are pretty good about it
and you talk it out and, and, and it's not a big deal, but
there's a few of them that just don't care.

(27:14):
Why wouldn't it happen now? Did you change the way you act
or just people have more respect?
Yeah, Like, no, I mean, I'm not saying they wouldn't pull up on
me, but you know, they sure as hell won't come cut me off
without, you know, having a jig in their back or me, you know,
giving some close words like because some people let them let

(27:34):
let people do it. And that's why some of them keep
doing it is because people don'thave the spine to like, say,
what the hell are you doing, dude?
Like I'm, you know, don't you don't even talk to me and say
most guys are going to be like, Hey, I'm going to go to the
back, you know, is that all right or I'm going to go fish
The other side of the point is that all right.

(27:55):
And most of them will respect ifyou say no, I'm I'm kind of been
working this 200 yard stretch for the last two of most the
guys be like, OK, that sounds good.
I'll go up to the next point. You know, those are the guys
that are that get it and like respect you.
But the guy that comes Wheeling in front of you and says, you
know, Hey, I'm, you know, it doesn't say anything.

(28:18):
And then you say something to them and then they get
confrontation and all those are the guys that just don't care.
And, you know, I'm not the type of person like most guys on the.
It's starting to kind of come out a little bit now that I've
talked to Corey Johnston a lot. Like it's starting to kind of
get spread around my, my mentality and like how I used to

(28:39):
handle things in a lot of scenarios and like a lot of
people don't knew know my true like, like I get pretty pissed
and I and I can't, can't always handle it the way I used to.
But like now I'm to the point where like I've been there five
years, like you're, I don't careif you've been there 20, you're
not doing that to me. You shouldn't do that to

(29:01):
anybody, you know what I mean? So they said there's still a
couple people, you know, honestly, you know, one in
particular that we're not going to talk about, but that I've had
not for quite a while. But like, just like he don't, he
don't, I don't think he respectsanybody honestly, But it's it's

(29:23):
fine for the most part. These guys are all I mean, I had
so many people respect me in this tournament.
I mean, guys that knew where I was fishing, I mean, and they
didn't go there, you know, like Logan Parks was going up, he was
heading up that direction on daytwo or three.
And I'm like, dude, where are you going?
I'm going up to that bridge. And I'm like, well, you can't

(29:44):
get to the bridge. Well, yeah, I didn't practice.
And I knew he was talking about where I was fishing.
I said, well, I'm, I'm fishing the stuff right before the
bridge. So like, and he's like, OK, I
won't fish that. Well, then he come running out
of there like 5 minutes later. I'm like, well, he didn't fish
very long and he came up to me at the way and he's like, dude,
just so you know, like I what you were fishing was what I was
going to fish. I thought it was a bridge, but

(30:06):
it was what you described. So I didn't fish it.
I'm not going to go there. Like just so you know, that's a
huge deal to me. Same with like a meal, you know,
a meal didn't go up there. Matt Robertson, Brian Schmidt.
I mean, like that was that's, you know, that means a lot to
me. Like I'll remember that because

(30:26):
there's going to be scenarios where I'll be in a position to
do the same thing for them and Iwill.
So, yeah, most of the guys are like that, you know, and they
had every right to go there because they had fished it and
found, it's not like, you know, they saw me and saw me catching
them and went there because there was no way for anyone to

(30:47):
see me unless they were right there.
So like they they were just going fish it, you know what I
mean? So that's that's that means a
lot to me. Yeah, well, and I think there's
a lot of that. You just the other stuff
outshines it. It it's just how it is.
I mean, plain and simple, you just name it for good.

(31:08):
But if you hadn't named one dudeyou were talking about that was
bad, it would get more clicks. It's just the way the world is.
Right or wrong, Yeah. And I don't, and I don't think
that that guy is bad. I mean, I think he, he's just
just an angry person in general.Like I just, you know, I, I
don't know how to approach him. Like I just don't.

(31:29):
And like I don't, I know I've never done anything.
It's just, but that's just how he is with everybody.
I just don't, I don't know if I walk by him, if he's going to
say hi or punch me in the face. Like that's just how I feel
about and I think that's how everybody feels.
But it's like, I don't think he's a bad person.
That's just his personality. So but you're right, if I would

(31:50):
start dropping names and talkingabout instances, you'd probably
get 10 million views. I'm.
Not asking to do that, to be clear.
I'm not going to do it, but likeI'm staying.
That's just how a sport is. I just named some some guys that
did something positive and like help really made an impact on me
personally and I'll probably still get shit talked on this

(32:12):
thing. You know what I mean?
You can't you can't do anything without being negative.
I just hate it, so sad. Well, the people definitely
won't clip it off and share it. Like, I mean, if again, if you
named anything that anybody's ever said, people will take that
little clip and turn it into a aTwitter thing thing, whatever.

(32:33):
And they'll take and they'll just take that little clip.
But it but if it's positive, youjust don't seem to see that that
often. But yes, somebody will cut that
up and make a post. And who do you think it is?
What's your guess? I guess gets a free guy with a
pencil. You know what I mean?
Like, you just freaking hate it.It's just this world is I just,
God, it's so hard to to to just,I mean, I don't know, I'm just

(32:58):
sick of that side of it. I really, really AM.
Yeah, it's funny. I had a long conversation with
Rick Klund yesterday and we talked about just that.
And he was like, it hasn't changed.
He said it's always been that way.
It seems bigger now because of social media.
But he said, like forever. I mean, he's talked to me about
how flippin, in his opinion, is basically the same stuff that

(33:21):
Ford faces sonar went through. You know what I mean?
Where it's like wrong. You're you're accessing fish
that weren't never accessed before.
You shouldn't like it's out of control.
The rods are too long. And then in time they made rod
restrictions and now it seems like that's made-up like that.
If I say that to you, you're like, well, surely nobody ever

(33:43):
said anything about flipping, but Rick was there for a there.
Was an article that Bass did. Bass did an article about Dee
Thomas and that whole thing whenhe was beating everybody.
And so then people had a meltdown and that's why they had
a rod length restriction. And like, that's just be human
nature. But the problem now is, you

(34:05):
know, back in 1980, whenever, whatever it was, when that
happened, everybody sitting in their mom's basement waiting for
her to bring breakfast to him didn't wasn't a tough guy.
You know what I mean? All these people are tough guys
and then you know what I mean? Because they can be.
They don't have consequences. Back in the day you had
consequences if you were going to talk shit at the boat landing

(34:27):
instead of on your computer, you're walking away with a
bloody face. But now it's just you can't do
that because you don't know who it is.
It could be a 70 year old man, it could be a who knows what it
is. And I hate that.
Like, so after I got beat on Toledo Bend, like I was bummed,

(34:47):
you know, you know how it is, right?
Like I have the last one to weigh in.
I go up, I know I'm going to getand the crowd was giant there.
And it was a really cool setup where there was kind of a
walkway along the lake and they had it like fenced off.
Like people could talk to you. And I, I mean, I talked to
people and signed a bunch of autographs, you know, after just
getting beat and hearing the celebration and bunch of my

(35:08):
friends and family came, They were in the parking lot by the
boat. So I was over there talking to
them, talking to a bunch of different fans and and I was
bombed. And I get this message on
Facebook or something and and itwas a lady and she's like, I
can't believe you displayed thatpoor sportsmanship.
And you walked off the stage andyou didn't even want to talk and

(35:30):
all you did was just leave. And I'm like, oh, I was pissed.
And I'm like what? I'm like I was like out in
parking lot for over 2 hours talking to people.
I'm like, they don't interview the guy who got his ass stomped
on stage after he gets beat. Like that's how it works.
Like the person who wins is the one who gets all the, you know,

(35:53):
and, and then all of a sudden since I responded, oh, oh, OK,
OK, well, that's really nice of you.
And then their tone changed because they got called out.
It's like that's just how peopleare.
And a lot of those people act like that because no one ever
calls them out. So it's just, it's just a
different world. It's like these.
Yeah. You don't even know how it
works. And you're you got the nerve to

(36:14):
go and send me a message chewingme out for being a poor, for
displaying poor sportsmanship. It's like, oh, my God, I just
these people. What are you thinking?
Do you have a functional brain? No, it's, it's wild.
It's what we get. I get roasted all the time for
not talking to the guy. And I'm like, I have tried to

(36:36):
talk to the person that that's not a good situation to talk.
Even if you lose the freaking Super Bowl, you're the
quarterback of a Super Bowl. You get to walk off the field
and they generally don't talk tothat guy till much later.
You know, when that dude has showered, decompressed, but to
to turn to somebody and be like,you lost.
What does this feel like? It's it's just, and some of it I

(36:59):
write off because I get it. Some of it comes from the fans,
like fans that wanted you to win.
And they're like, well, Pat wentup there and he, you know, his
weight got called and then he just walked off and that's all
we got to see a Pat. And they feel like they're mad
because they wanted Pat to win. They wanted you to win right,
but some of it's just dude, people are crazy.

(37:19):
You know how I do the dumb backstage intros for you guys,
but in the top ten this past week, I'm yelling in your faces
as ridiculous and theatrical as I am, and I guess Mullins and
I'll give you guys knuckles patch in the back high 5 you
whatever it is as you walk past I mean I'm balancing a lot of

(37:42):
things up there. I'm trying to remember stats
what's coming next. There's cameras are different.
So I guess Mullins walks past meand goes to high 5 me.
I don't notice it, so I totally leave him hanging.
But if you pay close attention to the video, you hear me?
I actually noticed it and I turned I'm like that.
Sorry for leaving you hanging ashe walks on the stage.
Somebody lit me up that I'm a jerk that I chose not to high 5

(38:05):
Mullins. Like I'm like you're out of your
freaking like really, that's what you think like I'm let me
be smirched. David Mullins after I just built
him up as much as I I. Saw, Yeah.
It's so stupid. I saw, I saw that and I'm like,
you got to be kidding me. Like this freaking turd has

(38:27):
nothing better to do than to analyze a video of like what you
do, which is awesome. I mean, that's one of the
coolest parts of making the top 10 is like getting that
goosebump moment of you yelling in your face and walking out
like you got some turd that's going to talk crap about it.
Wow, it's so. But it is what it is, dude.

(38:48):
It's part of the job to come. It's I always might respond to a
lot of those people. I'm like, well, what are you
really mad about? Because I get it.
Like, I mean, you, something went wrong and then you went on
and you're like, oh, great. You know, like it's just
everybody's kind of voice. And sometimes I say dumb shit
and sometimes other people do too.

(39:09):
But let's talk about this tournament specifically.
When did you first think I? I think I got a shot to win this
one. Well, I mean, I saw it like, I
mean, I put the boat in that first morning of practice and
stopped on a random bank and just started catching them nice,
like decent ones. And then like that whole day, I

(39:30):
just was getting bites everywhere.
And like I talked to Atkins. I mean, multiple times
throughout the day, he gets bored.
So he calls me and I'm like every time he called me like,
oh, there's another one like that's a nice one.
He's like, what do you mean? How many of you kind of like
tell him he's like, jeez, I can't believe he's like, and he
kept saying all week, he's like,you're going to win this thing.
I'm like, no, I'm not. I'm like, it's practice.

(39:52):
And like, you know how that goes.
And there's going to be 80 boatsin here.
Watch, there was, but I just, I had a good practice and like was
confident that I was going to get bites.
And I was getting enough decent bites in practice that I thought
I could do well. And then when I found those
tubes, I was like, OK. If I can get here, I know

(40:15):
there's good quality ones here. If I can get here I might have a
good chance to have one good bagone day.
And they changed my strategy because I had planned on
starting on some lower stretcheswith that buzz bait.
Because I was get I could do till about 9:00 and just cover
tons of water and I would get 8 to 12 bites every morning of

(40:36):
practice just fishing random banks and they would be better
than average size fish. So I, my, I told myself, I'm
like, if I'm the boat top 20 in boat draw, I'm going to the
tubes. If not, I can I got to start
down below because it's so far up there and by and if I get all
the way up there and someone's there, I got to turn around,
come all the way back. But then I was, I drew boat 49,

(40:57):
which is about the worst becauseit's right in the middle.
Yeah, it doesn't make the decision for you because it
might have been boat 80. I went to gone and I'm like
sitting there thinking about I'mlike, you know what?
This is like I'm if I'm going tofish to win, which everybody
says they do but they don't all the time.

(41:18):
Like had I been in 20th and points, I probably wouldn't have
done it. But since I was in 75th, I'm
like, whatever. Worst case scenario, I run up
there, someone's there, I scramble the rest of the day and
like that's that. So I'm like, I'm going up there
and I went up there and no one was there and I started catching
them right away. And once the sun got right, I

(41:39):
caught 4 real good ones right away.
And I'm like, holy cow, I got a good bag.
I got means I got a really good bag and no one else tried going
up there day one cuz I hung around till like 1230.
The only other person was up there was Kenta.
But he knew where like he was. He knew he was fishing a couple
different places. He, he, he didn't fish where I
was. Like he knew, you know, that's

(41:59):
the other guy who respected my stuff a lot because we talked
about it before we even took offabout where we were going and he
didn't go there. So that was a big decision.
Like that was a tournament winning decision to go there.
And so after day one, I was like, geez, OK.
Did you stay lean, start to interrupt you?

(42:20):
Did you stay there till 12:30? Were you kind of protecting it
or were you just? Yeah, I just wanted to see who
tried to get in there, you know,because like then I would know
like, OK, that guy tried to get in here and and if then I could
pay attention at take off and belike, OK, he's ahead of me.
So he's probably going to go there just to kind of like get a

(42:42):
plan of like what I was going todo then.
Because once again, I'm like, I don't want to bypass all that
other good stuff on the lower end to come up here and and
someone's sitting there. So that that was a big deal.
And then like Brian Schmidt, I saw him up there in practice and
I guess he talked to Bob. You know, I'm a really good

(43:02):
friends with Bob, Bob Downey. And he said he talked to Bob in
the waiting line or something. He's like, yeah, I was going to
go up there, but you know, I know Pat went up there.
So I don't know what to do. And the next morning Schmidt
came up to me before take off. He's like, listen, like I was
going to go up there, but you were out ahead of me.

(43:22):
And so I didn't go there and I'mnot going there today.
I just want you to know that like, I'm gonna give it to you.
Like, you know, go win. Like he, he was super cool about
it cuz he could have went there.Now it was pretty well burned
out at that point cuz I leaned on him hard.
I did get one really good one there on day 2, but it was and I
did think I got three of my 5 fish there on day 2, but it was

(43:46):
a lot tougher cuz they're just then them fish were just, I
mean, I probably caught a dozen keepers there the first day so
they were pretty well stung. But either way, he could have
went there and and if he went there, it potentially changed
the whole outcome of the tournament.
Yeah, I, I, I think the average person doesn't realize how big
of a deal it is for him to talk to you before take off.

(44:09):
Not just because he's not going there, but because it's not
going to be in your mind now, like right away.
You're like, OK, he's not going to be there.
You know what I mean? It just allows you.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I feel it would allow you to be
a lot calmer in your approach. Well, yeah.
And then it just gives me the confidence that I'm not going to
run all the way up there and there's going to be someone

(44:31):
being there. Like if he would have want to
told me, then I'd have been like, OK, I really got to pay
attention when I'm running through here to see if I see
him, to see where he was yesterday, to see if he stopped.
Because if I see him stop, then I know he's probably not up
there. So I'd have been like this the
whole time, running up to see ifI could see Schmidt.
And he told me he's like, dude, I'm not going.
So then I'm running up there andI'm like, all right, most likely

(44:52):
no one's going to be there. I mean, because I hung around
there almost all day and I saw Matt Robertson when I was coming
out and he's like, where the hell did you come from?
And I'm like, well, I'll tell you if you don't go there, he's
like, I ain't going any further than this.
Like, all right. So I told him, you know, he was
him and KENTA were the only two I'd seen up there that day.
So, and I knew Matt wasn't goingto go up there.

(45:14):
So after he told me that I'm like, all right, I think I can
get part of another day out of that spot.
And I did, you know, I caught, you know, one really good one
and a couple other keepers that,you know, got me, got me through
the day. So and then day 2 and then you
switch to your jig, got some jigfish right in the afternoon.

(45:36):
Yeah, yeah. And I caught him like the first
day I caught him on that jig anda creature bait.
And the second day, you know, I was, I was catching them around
that on a jig and the creature bait and the drop shot a little
bit. But then, like on Day 2, they
started like I lost like kind ofhooked a good one up there on
the jig and lost it and I missedanother one.

(45:57):
And then psych like I got to putit down.
They're not biting it as good. And then I, I actually lost one
on live out in the main run, a nice one on it.
And after that I'm like, I got to put it down because I want to
throw it, but I have to put it down because for whatever
reason, they just didn't bite itas good.
And then I, and then I started catching them better on the
little creature baits out, you know, two or three different

(46:18):
creature baits I was throwing. So that I think that was a big
deal too, just to like be like, I know you want to throw the
jig. You love throwing the jig.
Put it down, Just put it down because they're not biting it as
good as they were the first day and 1/2.
So then day three, day three, you still went back up there
right to day. Three, I didn't start there Day

(46:42):
three, no. You didn't start there, you went
there. We did go up there because I had
figured out on day two, really on day one, like once the sun
got really high, like there was a few parts of that deal that
they concentrated on and I once and and they wouldn't bite
anything else but a drop shot. But what like day 2 when I went
back there in the afternoon, like I had the poles down and

(47:04):
like fished everything with, with the little creature bait
and I threw a spinner bait a little bit, couldn't catch
anything and I can pick up the drop shot and just boom, boom,
boom. I caught three like right in a
row, 2 keepers and a short one and then I just left.
I'm like all right, I got five and only one of them is like
small like I need these for tomorrow.

(47:25):
Now that I got dialed in, like Iknow I can catch him on a drop
shot when I come back in the afternoon.
So I I'm like, I don't care if Iget up there in the morning on
day three. So I went and I ran some
buzzbait stuff, flipped some stuff, caught one small keeper.
Then I went up there and I didn't catch anything in the.

(47:47):
I didn't catch it. I don't think I caught anything
at all there on day three, maybeone.
I can't. I don't think I caught anything.
Or maybe a short? I might have caught one, but
yeah, something I ended up goingcatching the rest of them
because I left there with one. Then I went out and I flipped

(48:08):
the stretch close there, caught my second one, came back, didn't
get anything. And then I'm like, I got to get
on the main run and then I like I didn't have a ton of time.
Like I had like an hour with twofish and I was just fishing
really fast. And I got my third one, nice
one, got my 4th 1:00, nice one. And then I had like 15 minutes
to fish and I'm like fishing. I'm like, I got to go.

(48:32):
We pulled up by where all those cows were and my camera guy is
like wow, they're standing up. My grandma always said the cows
are standing, the fish are bite.And then there was this one
piece of wood off the point and I threw my little bait up there
and catch like a, you know, likea big one, like 3, just three,
five. And I like swung in the boat.
And that was my fifth one. That was I had 6 keeper, but I

(48:55):
had 6 keeper bites that day and I caught five of them in it.
But once again, I had a 1 / 3 lbs and a like two or three that
were like that pound and a half range, nice ones and then a
really small one. But it was enough to keep the
lead. So a lot of that stuff happened
this week. That's the stuff you have to
have happen to win. Yeah, yeah.

(49:16):
I mean if one of those fish getsoff, you maybe don't even make
the top 10 and get a chance to have something happen.
And and The thing is, is like this.
I think it was the 3rd keeper I caught.
I missed it and then pitch back in and it ate it.
I let it swim off and I set the hook and I kind of hooked it and
I'm like oh Dang it, my camera guy's like that must be a little
one. I said it's not a little one.

(49:36):
I saw it and I was just like deflated and I pitch back in
there and it takes off again andI'm like all right.
And then I got him like 3 times and ate it and I hooked it on
the second time. Like that don't happen.
That don't happen so. That that happened a bunch in
this tournament. We're like not just with you,
where we would see anglers miss a fish and they would get

(49:58):
multiple shots at it. Why do you think that's
happening there? They're just really aggressive
like them fish like when they just with we're around them and
they're like in that mode to eatlike something they feel like
you could catch them and throw them back and catch them again.
Like they just, they're super, super aggressive.
So, and that's been, I've learned that since I've gone

(50:21):
there for, you know, this is thethird time that's why I was
fishing so much faster than these other guys.
You know, I'd be running down the bottom like, oh, who's
whoever's over there in that bank.
And I'd go fish like 3 stretchesand come back and they had moved
like 20 feet. And I'm like, what the hell are
they doing? And I'm just freaking like 6 or
7 going. And that's why I think I got on

(50:42):
average better quality because Iwas just fishing high percentage
pitches and just going like cat pitch it in there, hit the
bottom, pump it twice, reel it up, pitch it again, pitch it
again, pitch it again like everybody else was not everybody
else. But a lot, I just a lot realize
like just from the because there's a lot of the same people

(51:04):
up there, obviously. And you could tell how they were
fishing and they were just fishing a lot slower than what I
was. I think, I think that made a
difference as far as getting a little bit bigger ones and and
and catching more of those better quality ones because I
was just covering more high percentage areas.
Today's high tech fishing world can be a real pain in the neck,

(51:26):
especially if you're running thewrong mount beat down outdoors.
They bring the graph to you and they support this podcast and
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beat down our doors. Now back to the show.
Yeah. And this tournament, more than
many that I remember the pre tournament doc talk was super

(51:48):
like, hey, more than half our field won't catch a limit.
It's like, you know, you get a few and you're doing OK.
And weirdly enough, I think in anglers that makes them
ultimately just slow right down.You know what I mean?
I'm going to slow. And all the pressure in that
area too, You know, I don't, I've got a stretch I don't want.

(52:09):
I want to pick it apart. I don't want to leave a fish.
But yeah, you did totally fish different.
Then we get to Sunday. So you're leading all three days
of the tournament. You're the first boat to back in
Sunday morning, Me and you got to hang out at the boat ramp.
Nobody was even there yet. And you kind of talked about it
then, but you did feel very calm, like very like, and I

(52:33):
don't mean calm like I'm about to win this tournament, calm
like, hey, I'm going to go and whatever it's going to be, it's
going to be like, it just felt like, I feel like when I talked
to you at Toledo Bend last year,you were a lot more like, I need
to do like it. You felt the pressure of that
moment a lot more. It felt like.

(52:54):
And that's just how I read it from the outside.
No, that's exactly what it was like when I, you know, I LED
what days two and three, you know, going into day 4 on Toledo
and when I woke up the more thatmorning on Toledo and got up, I
just like, I'm like I'm going toget beat today.
Like I couldn't help that feeling like it's guy was just
like, it's going to be a tougherday for me.

(53:16):
Like I could just feel it for whatever reason.
But when I woke up this past Sunday, I got, you know, I was
getting up at 4:15. I was getting there way earlier
than anybody else all week. And I like woke up and I'm like
brushing my teeth and I'm like, I think I'm going to win today.
Like I just felt calm my like myheart.
I wasn't like jacked up and I just like got ready, went there,

(53:38):
put the boat in and I'm just like, you know, and you got
people like interviewing you andother people.
They want, you know, it's like they expect you to be like, oh
man, I'm so nervous and I got todo this and I got it.
That's just not how I felt. Because if that is how I felt, I
would have said, yeah, man, it'sgoing to be super tough.
And I'm not feeling great. And like, I really hope I can

(54:01):
win and like all the typical stuff.
But I was just what I told you, it's like, yeah, I mean, I'm
going to go fish, do what I've been doing and if it's meant to
be, it's meant to be and I'll win.
If not, I still got a top ten and you know, let all weeks.
So it'll it'll it's good either way, but I want to win and I
knew I had the game plan to do it and with less people up

(54:22):
there, I really felt confident that that I could do it now.
It was a magical morning and without that I wouldn't have won
because it got so tough after that, but it worked out good.
I mean, I mean, you probably don't know everything that
happened that morning, but like couple things happened that like

(54:45):
if it was a little different, I went to one.
Like I went to one because I wouldn't have been in that area
at that time. Well, I tried starting somewhere
else and I kind of got pushed out of there, which is fine.
I'd have done the same thing. He didn't do anything wrong.
I'd have done the same thing, but once again, I wasn't going
to deal with this person. I just as soon as he started

(55:06):
doing what he was doing, I'm like, whatever, I'm leaving.
And I instead of sitting there and arguing, I just pulled the
troll motor, went around the corner and won the tournament in
10 minutes. So.
It worked out. The world's biggest flex.
How good does that feel? Like everybody has felt
everybody at this tournament? Like you must feel like you
could breathe fire at that moment.

(55:26):
It felt really good because likewhen I laughed, my camera guy
could tell I was a little frustrated and he's like, dude,
you didn't need those little fish anyways.
And I'm like, well, I kind of did want to catch some of them,
you know, like everybody else was fishing for these release
fish. Like I might as well go in there
since there's not many people here today and instead, you
know, I just wasn't allowed to fish within 300 yards of there.

(55:50):
So it is what it is. Like I said, I would have done
the same thing they did. It's strap part of the strategy.
He didn't do anything wrong at all.
I'm not saying that. It's just if that went to
happened, I'd have been fiddle farting around there for who
knows how long. And I went to roll around the

(56:11):
corner and caught that window where I had five bites, caught
four of them and they were all quality fish.
And and like that those 4 fish, it was done.
I had 8 1/2 lbs with four fish. Obviously I didn't know that.
I felt it because I was like, dude, I got 8 1/2.
I only got 4. I can weigh all these fish.

(56:31):
I've got five hours, I'm going to get two or three more good
bites. And if I get one of them in the
boat, like they got to catch, they got to catch all of them
got to catch over 10 lbs. And the guys in the bottom, you
know, few spots they got to catch 14 or 15 lbs.
So I felt really, really good after that stretch.

(56:53):
But you said if I didn't, if it what happened in the morning
didn't happen, I wouldn't have been there at the right time
because it was a real short window.
And I knew that in practice, like you don't got long to get
him on that buzzbait. You got told 8/30 9:00 at the
latest. So yeah, I mean, I feel like we
hadn't seen a lot of the buzzbait earlier in the week.

(57:16):
No, because I bypassed all that to go up to those tubes.
So that was so I missed that whole bike.
Yeah. Well, no, no, no, no, dude, I
could go and practice every morning.
I could go stop on any random stretch in there and fish and I
would catch 3 to 6 good fish on it.

(57:38):
And I was like, I, I told Atkinsthat I told Bob and like me and
Doobie are good friends and he was kind of spinning out at this
event. I'm like, dude, just go, do, go
do that for the first two hours and you're going to get a few
good ones like I and I now, I think it was maybe just because
I had a lot of confidence in because I was fishing faster.

(57:59):
Maybe it was the specific bait Iwas thrown.
I don't know. But if I stopped on a bank in
that time period, I, I felt like, dude, I'm going to get
them, I'm going to catch them. And like when I rolled into that
Cove, I, I started there on day three and I caught one small
keeper, but the wind wasn't quite right.

(58:19):
And it was a lot brighter morning.
It wasn't as cloudy. And like when I shut down on
that point and I seen just the perfect breeze, the perfect
angle, I'm like, Oh my God, thiscould be this.
This feels right. And then I catch that first one
and it's like almost 2 1/4 go over to get another one, put the

(58:41):
tag on it, pull the poles up, goabout 10 feet.
And it's funny, I was watching the coverage this morning and
you can see on my 360, they had the 360 up.
You can see there was a blue waypoint on there.
I caught a really good one rightthere in practice.
And like I catch that one almost3 lbs and that was all.
I mean, that was in couldn't have been any more than 10

(59:02):
minutes. So I had three and I'm like, Oh
my God. And then I go a little further
and get another one. And that's where I'm like, call
man, these, these guys might be in trouble.
So it was good. It was an awesome morning.
I could just feel it. I think I even said it on
camera. I'm like, I feel like I'm going
to get bit. Every cast.
Every cast I feel like I'm goingto get bit.

(59:25):
Just that sound of that buzzer and just them ways and it just
kind of riding them and the watercolor and just the little
points of the stuff I was fishing.
It just is like every cast, I'm just like, oh, come on, you're
going to bite it. I know I'm going to get bit.
And even if I didn't, I'd be like, OK, this one, I'm going to
get bit. It was like, you can't, you

(59:45):
can't create that feeling like it has to be organic.
It has to happen in the moment. In like the last time I felt
like that was the last three days on Seminole.
And when I won that the nation championship on Pickwick, those
are the last two times that I felt like that.

(01:00:08):
We're just like, OK, I'm just this is happening right now.
So I wish I could harness it. And tell people how to do it,
because I could probably make a lot of money and retire now.
Yeah, You just can't. You can't manufacture that, you
know. Yeah, but you say that, but
because of that feeling, you wouldn't retire now.

(01:00:30):
Like if you knew how to harness it and give it to people, you'd
be like, I want lots of it firstbefore I give it away.
Yeah, yeah. If I knew how to harness it, I
wouldn't. I know what an age now where if
you figure something out, you got to tell everybody and make
videos and stuff, even if you'renot the one to figure it out.
But I I wouldn't tell anybody. Hell no, I wouldn't tell anybody

(01:00:52):
at all. But you were here's one thing
that stood out to me this week, and I've been a fan supporter of
yours for a long time. Like, you know what I mean?
Like, and I find you a very entertaining dude.
And I've always said like Pat just needs his moments on camera
and and I think that this was definitely one of them, but you

(01:01:16):
were very open with everything. You know what I mean?
Like you were very, we're in a weird time and I don't know how
much bass live you get to watch throughout the year, but we're
in a time where people want to pull their hood up, not show
their baits. And that's never been kind of
how the show has ever been. You know what I mean?
Like the hiding your base is, and I get what people do it in

(01:01:40):
certain situations, but it's counterintuitive to literally
giving the customer what they want.
But you felt like your win feelslike a very kind of old school
win, like the way you caught them, how you were willing to
talk about all of it. Was that on purpose or is that
just who you are? Just who I am, I mean, I'm a,

(01:02:03):
you know, a humble person with where integrity is my number one
thing. Like I, I don't want to ever be
in a position where, you know, people question, you know, my
truthfulness. And I'm just not, just not like
that. Now there are certain times
where like, you know, I don't want to get scolded by a sponsor

(01:02:24):
for promote something else, but like if I'm using something
other than what a sponsor of mine makes, I just might say,
you know, hey, I'm using a a creature bait instead of I'm
using a big bite baits fighting frog, you know what I mean?
So I think people respect that alittle bit.
But like, like when they starteddrilling me about that buzz

(01:02:46):
bait, like I'm not going to lie to people and say this is a
whatever because people know that.
I mean, there was probably people who had some sort of
photo recognition where they figured it out before I said
anything. Like I'm not going to lie to
people because people see through that.
I see through that. Like so that's why I said like,
well, they don't sponsor me, butlike, this is the bait.

(01:03:08):
This is what it is and This is why I like it.
You know, like that's just how who I am.
Like I'm not going to lie to people about it when it's like
right out for everybody to see. That's just not who I am.
My integrity is the number, my number one thing.
And I learned that just through my parents and to Shields, like

(01:03:29):
you don't got integrity. You ain't going to be working at
Shields for very long. So that's been a big part of my
life for, you know, forever, butespecially the last 20 plus
years of, you know, Shields molding me into who I am.
That company has reached out to you, correct?
They did yeah, yeah, the buzzbait company did you know, I

(01:03:50):
haven't got back to me. I just cuz I haven't been home
and just said just with stuff. I don't know how that works with
some of the other stuff I got going on.
But like, you know, I don't havea wire bait sponsor and I don't
know if they're even in a big enough company to sponsor me.
You know, I might get like a a sticker and a hat and maybe like
one bait. I have no idea.

(01:04:12):
But that's that's beside the point.
Like, to me, that's cool to be like, if it's a smaller company
to like make an impact on them, you know, because there's a lot,
a lot of times where it's like it's hard for us as anglers to
like analyze and show an impact that you can have on a company.

(01:04:33):
And I think especially when it'sa bigger company where it's not
necessarily as much of A blip when, you know, I, I caught him
on a whatever bait, you know, when it's a giant company, it's
maybe a little harder to calculate that impact.
But a smaller company like that where it's like, Oh my God, they
don't have a bait left to sell in in like from what I heard,

(01:04:54):
within a couple hours, they didn't have a bait left to sell.
And they're making posts of like, well, everybody's working
full time on getting, you know, they got the shot.
Like that's really cool to me assomeone who like makes a lot of
my own stuff and like, and has been in the tackle business for
20 years. Like that was a cool part of my
job at Shields. I could find companies like
Brizalo and all these other little companies and like

(01:05:17):
potentially, you know, but even like when I was working with one
jig company that I got with whenwe at the time had aligned
similar goals, designed a couplereally good jigs that I'm like,
dude, if we get these going, like this will make an impact on
your company. I mean, that has sense that, you
know, ship has sailed unfortunately.

(01:05:37):
But like, that's cool to me to be like, I made an impact on
these people's lives, so that's cool.
I I feel like too that has changed in fishing.
Like I feel like that's how it always was like almost every
tournament where but I feel likeat that time people were number
one way less educated on baits. So they were finding out about

(01:05:59):
stuff that like you, you know what I mean?
Like now you go. I mean, I remember years ago
working, you know, again, young sports, a place that I started
the first job I ever had in fishing when I was 13 years old.
And I remember being at a trade show and showing a specific
reel. And there'd be people would just
be like, so amazed by the knowledge.

(01:06:19):
Now they walk in and they're like, oh, yeah, that's got the
9.821 share ratio. It comes with this many.
But like, they know more. So the education thing has
changed, but I also think it's because guys don't show it.
And whether that was a sponsor or not sponsor, it was just you.
You were straight up showing it and people were seeing the
effects, the Shields. Yeah, I think too.

(01:06:43):
Like just. Go ahead.
OK, what's that? No, no, go ahead.
Well, I just think that that that particular catching them
that way right now in this era, that was very refreshing for
people to see. No, I'm not.
I don't even want to hear the three the three letters.

(01:07:03):
I don't want to hear them like Idon't.
I love catching them a lot of different ways.
I think I showed that this week and throughout, you know, the
years I've been fishing, like I I want people to be able to fish
how they want to fish and catch them how they want to catch
them. But I think people have the, you
know, been watching. They're like, holy cow, the
dude's catching him on a buzz bait in a foot of water.

(01:07:25):
This is so awesome. Like it's so fun, you know, and
they weren't even giant fish like that got people fired up
versus, you know, a lot some of the ways we've been catching
them the last few years. Like because it's it's it's
more, I think it's more relatable to a lot of people.
Like they're like, I'm going to buy one of them buzz baits and
go down to the Creek I live on and throw it like that.

(01:07:47):
That's really cool to me, you know what I mean?
So that I think that was kind ofcool about this week too is just
catching the way I caught them and it just was refreshing to a
lot of people and it was so fun to fish like that is so I love
that's how I grew up fishing. It's so fun so.
Yeah, it it, it's amazing what A2 Pounders has done because

(01:08:09):
there's more excitement around at Buzzbait today than there has
been in a long time. Did it?
Does it matter to you that you want a tournament?
I mean the the least weight everto win an elite series event,
you have that record. Does that is that a badge of
honor or does it bother you? I just like the fact that it's

(01:08:31):
that blue trophy says I beat everybody.
I don't care if it was with 4 lbs, you know what I mean?
Like I beat everybody. You.
Know I I don't it's in and I worked hard for for the ones I
caught in like I like grinder tournaments like that.
I like that I like I feel like, you know, those are the ones

(01:08:54):
that like most people have the best opportunity to win at by
having a couple like one good day can carry you through the
tournament. So like regardless of the weight
and what record I mean I won, dude.
I had AI fished an almost flawless week 4 day tournament.
Most people don't realize how hard that is to win and

(01:09:17):
especially on a fishery like that because I mean.
And to lead. Every day, lead every day.
Like that's just not common at any lake, but especially there.
It's I mean, you saw the swings.I mean, I think what Mullins
was, I mean he freaking was, I mean, he jumped into the top 10

(01:09:37):
on day three and he had 11 lbs. Yeah, that's, it's hard to lead
all three days there or all fourdays.
It's just almost impossible. Yeah, I know it's impressive.
It's impressive because I mean, I always say, like the guy who
wins, it's just the finish line.You know what I mean?
There's tournaments where somebody leads for three days
and then they get second in the tournament.

(01:09:58):
Everybody's like, oh, you didn'twin, but they literally won't
lead more of the tournament thanthe person who was leading at
the finish line. Yeah, I can believe with that
feeling. I I'm sure, I'm sure, but you
let it all. It's pretty unique.
Your title sponsor Shields that to go from working for Shields

(01:10:20):
and then leaving that to chase this dream.
I mean, that's a pretty organic,cool relationship I would
imagine. Yeah, it is, you know, and it
just shows like how Shields is as a company.
Like I was scared, you know, when I was leaving, like, oh
man, I all these relationships and then it's like, instead of
them like getting mad about it, they're my title sponsor.

(01:10:44):
And they're some of the most people that get excited the most
about it. Like, you know, a lot of the
people that I worked with initially when I got hired, like
the guy who hired me is now the president of the company.
Like I fished A tournament with him.
He's been in my multiple times. A lot of the guys who were who I
worked with, one of my best friends.

(01:11:05):
I mean, he's super high. I mean, he runs his own store.
Like a lot of these guys are very high up in the company now
and they're messaging me. My old store leader who, you
know, was a mentor of mine. I mean, he messaged me like they
they get it. Like it's, they're, it's, it's
just a unique company and, and it's, so I'm so blessed that

(01:11:28):
they stuck with me and they support me and, and I really
feel like, you know, they all want me to do well.
And, and it's, it's just so unique and it's, it's, they're
so different than a lot of theseother companies.
Like they, I don't know, it's soawesome working with them.
I I love it and I hope I never do anything to mess it up.

(01:11:50):
Well, I, I think you're doing some good stuff for them.
One of the cool moments of the weekend was seeing your parents
show up. I was on the live set when I
literally saw them walk in the great gate.
And I, I was just such a weirdo.I'm on live and I started waving
like, because I was, I didn't know that they were coming and

(01:12:11):
it was so cool. And who knew that we didn't know
you were going to win at that point?
But to have them show up, what? When did you first see them?
When I got on stage, like I swear, I mean, I was in the back
in the parking lot sitting in the boat for an hour and like I
knew my, my friends Mike and Jessica came there.
I'm sure you they were there in the morning.

(01:12:31):
So I seen them. So I was like, oh, that's cool.
But they like they were actuallyat several tournaments this year
because the business they run, you know, it's only in the
summer, so they kind of travel around in the winter.
So they were at several of my other tournaments, but they were
back home and they're like, wow,we're going to fly down.
So I seen them like, OK, cool. Like someone's here if I win or

(01:12:51):
if I suck and get whatever and have to like mope around, like I
got someone to talk to and hang out with.
So they I get up on stage and I'm like stressing out.
Obviously I'm not looking at thecrowd at all.
I'm like in the boat, like freaking out and checking to
make sure the fish are in the bag every two seconds.
I think they're going to jump out and and then I get up on

(01:13:12):
stage and like bring the bag up and I turn and look and I seen
them all. I'm like, Oh my, that's you
know, and I seen my parents and my our friend Mark who lives on
Lake Fork and you know, my friends Mike and Jess, I'm like,
like this is cool. And then I knew I was going to
win at that point. So I'm like, this is going to be
cool. And then I wanted it like I
wanted to win. I always want to win, but I

(01:13:35):
wanted it more for more for my parents than me.
Like it, it, it means a lot to me, but I mean, I think it meant
a lot to my parents for I know it did like it was a a good
moment that something positive that we have, we have something
positive to talk about. So it's it's cool.

(01:13:57):
It was really cool. Your dad told me it was one of
the top 3 greatest moments of his life.
Yeah, I yeah, I saw. Pretty freaking.
Just saw yeah, yeah, I just saw a you know, Scott Argon bright
at Scoot daddy that he he records for did you he just he

(01:14:18):
made a reel for Saint Croix. My dad, my dad talked on it and
I yeah, I literally just saw it.It's pretty powerful.
Like if you haven't looked that up, go on Saint Croix rods page
and look at that reel if you want to understand the impact
that that it made. Like it's it is pretty powerful.

(01:14:41):
I mean, he's a talented videographer.
He's done a lot of cool stuff. But that was it's a pretty
amazing reel that he put together and it it was if you
don't get goosebumps or a littletear, I mean, it's pretty
powerful. So it was really cool.
I'll have them there. Yeah, yeah, No, it was.

(01:15:04):
I got to spend quite a bit of time with them after way.
And when you were ushered away to do a bunch of media stuff, I
hung out with them. And just to see when you guys
have been through some stuff andjust to see, I mean, and so
rare, like for just, you know, how few Suns there is on earth
that can say, Hey, I did something that my dad says is

(01:15:25):
one of the greatest moments of his life.
You know what I mean? Like, like every kid on earth, I
think feels like, I hope I made you proud.
But to to have them express thatis pretty rare dude.
Pretty rare. Yeah, it was.
It was, you know, it was, it wasimpactful.

(01:15:46):
I mean, it was and I could feel that throughout the week.
That's like I said, I could justfeel like something was
different. And that some that's something
because we've had suffered a couple other losses recently
that yeah, it's just been a really rough patch.
And and that was like I could just feel like I need to do
this. I need to like get this done for

(01:16:08):
them and my other brother and like just everybody, like I want
them to like pick this trophy upand feel the power that it has.
And I think, I think it's, I think it's going to make some
things change for us, or at least for a little while.

(01:16:29):
Yeah, no, it's very cool. It was an amazing win.
They were amazing to hang out with afterwards.
It was awesome to see them all show up and it's awesome to see
this things going in the right direction for you, because I
mean, it's not easy what you what you overcame, you know,

(01:16:50):
just regardless of personal stuff.
But what you've overcome on the elite, it's it's such a
heartless, thankless, you know what I mean?
Like you're by you are living a dream, But I don't think the
average person realizes how manytimes you spend in a camp or
thinking like, what the hell am I doing?
You told me a story about Christie day one take off.

(01:17:12):
I told it on FS1, but it really stood out to me.
Tell me about that conversation.Well, I mean, like, you know,
I've seen, oh, you know, since I've been doing it, all these
people talk about you get in slumps and and I've always just
been like, how do you, how can you like be in 90?

(01:17:35):
Like how can you have it that many things happen where you
can't put it together at all? I mean, we've seen it all the
time. But I've always just like,
that's not going to have like I'm, I'm going to have bad
tournaments and like I'm going to feel bad, but I'm not, I'm
not going to have like 6 bad tournaments.
And then it started happening and I'm just like, Oh my God,

(01:17:57):
like I suck. What am I doing here?
I what, what am I doing here? Like I can't catch, I just can't
catch. AI can't do anything right.
And you just feel really down. And that's common amongst all of
us. But I never been to the the
lowest I've ever been was after Hartwell ever.
And after day 2. Day one was good.

(01:18:18):
Day 2, I had the biggest meltdown I've ever had on the
water in my life. I was by myself, thank God,
other than some people up on theporch that I think saw what
happened. But I was done when I had that.
What happened on that fish happened.
I was done that I that was the closest I've ever been in my
life to putting the boat on the trailer and and leaving.
It was horrible. And so then after you, you suck,

(01:18:42):
you get you go, you know, you gowork for your, you go work for
Skeeter Yamaha. And I'm at the Skeeter Yamaha
booth and you know, Jason Christie's there being all, all
the guys are there. And it's actually pretty fun
because you get to talk to all the guys.
But I'm sitting next to Christieand he and I didn't say anything
about how I was feeling. And he had a really been

(01:19:05):
probably his worst tournament ever there.
And he's like, God, I was fishing on day 2 and I thought
to myself, what am I doing here?I do not belong here.
And I just looked at him. I'm like, dude, like you've won
the class. I don't even know how many
tournaments you've won, but you won the classic here and almost
won another classic here. Like, I mean, if you feel like

(01:19:30):
that, like I mean, then it makesme feel a little bit more human
that I feel like that because I'm a freaking peon.
You know, I'm a mid. I'm a mid level elite angler at
best, which is still good. But like, I'm not a Jason
Christie. I'm not a brand of Paul Nick.
I'm just a normal guy that does all right every once in a while.

(01:19:51):
But Jason Christie's telling me that.
So it made me feel a little bit better.
And then after the, I think it was the second day of the
tournament on the Sabine, you know, I was still leading and
I'm walking across the parking lot and he just kind of happens
to be coming by me. And he's like, remember what we
talked about on Hartwell? And I said, where you said you
didn't belong here? I said, yeah, I do.

(01:20:11):
And he's like, well, it changes pretty fast, doesn't it?
And I said, yeah, I can. He goes.
If it's meant to be, it's meant to be.
It's going to happen. Just keep that in your mind.
And then he just kept walking and I'm like, God damn, that's
cool. That's so cool and so cool.
So it's just part of the sport. Ups and downs.
And I went from the lowest pointI've ever felt to the best I've

(01:20:34):
ever felt. Yeah, well, I think you got lots
ahead of you, dude. And it was an awesome victory.
You're an awesome human. Your family is just salt of the
Earth's great people. And it's, it's good to see, see
good things happen for good people.

(01:20:57):
Yeah, I appreciate it. I mean, I've, I've kind of like
I said, I've prided myself on just trying to, you know, trying
to always do the right thing andjust be a good person.
And, and I, I think, you know, I'm in doing this for different
reasons than most of these otherguys.
Like I just love to do it and I want to keep my integrity and

(01:21:20):
character and, and I don't want it to ever be in question.
Even if something happens where,you know, something bad happens
to me or I do something wrong, you know, that people know that
I didn't do it on purpose. Like it's, if I make a mistake,
it's, it's not because I did it intentionally.

(01:21:42):
So that's, that's the most important thing to me is to
keep, keep myself true to who I am and, and always have, you
know, good character and integrity.
That's number one for me. So it feels good that, that I
won and feel like I did everything right and treated
everybody right and got it done.So it feels really good.

(01:22:07):
Well enjoy it dude, you deserve it and I think that this is just
going to be the start of many great things ahead and keep your
promise. You still you can still win
lacrosse. I really want to.
I've been, I've lost a lot of sleep about that tournament
since it got announced. I've put in a ton of work down
there. I mean, I fished down there for

(01:22:27):
a lot of years. I'm really close to it and I've,
you know, I've fished some of mybest friends.
I fished a lot of days down there with, you know,
tournaments and just fun fishing.
Like it's a tough year because like one of my best friends
who's actually going to be stopping over here in a little
bit, he lives down there and fishes down there all the time.
And I can't hardly talk to him because I'm so paranoid, you

(01:22:48):
know what I mean? Like I fished down there with
him last year a few days and nowit's like, dude, you can't say
anything. Don't I don't even want to know
if you won the tournament. I you can't just don't say
anything. I don't want to get anything in
my head that could potentially make me think I did something
wrong. I mean, I'm so careful about it,
but I just don't know how the human mind works.

(01:23:09):
And you know, if I have to take a polygraph and something pops
in there that while I fished with them, you know, last June,
like, will that make me think that I did something wrong?
Like, so I feel bad because I'm almost have to be rude to him or
every time you call have to be like, don't say anything about
fishing. I don't care if you were on pool
4, not pool 8. Don't say anything about it.

(01:23:31):
Like, I have some of my best friends live on the river and I
fish with them all the time. So like I'm paranoid about that.
But like, I've put in a lot of work down there.
I, I understand that place and obviously that can hurt you too,
but like if I can have a couple more decent events and be in the
right mindset, like I, like I said, I'm a really humble

(01:23:54):
person, but I would like, I would be, I would be scared of
me if I was some of these other guys.
If I can stay in this state of mind and have some stuff go my
way because I, I want, I want that one worse than anywhere
else because there's, because I have so many friends in this
area. Like I think a lot of people

(01:24:16):
down there supporting me and, you know, supporting Bob and
Caleb, you know, Kufall Shakur, like there's so many of us from
this area, Kyle Norsetter. I mean, there'll be a lot of
guys or people down there supporting all of us.
So I will, I will. I really want to have that
moment where I can share that with with a lot of the local
people. But if not, I mean, if I have a

(01:24:39):
bad tournament, Kyle Norsetter called me last night to
congratulate me and we talked for quite a while and he's like,
you might make the call each year you can you'll probably
make the classic. And I'm like, even if I don't
make the classic, this has been a great year.
Winning this trophy is more important than making another
classic to me because it came ata good time.

(01:24:59):
And, and I think it could potentially, you know, change
some things for me if I if some stuff goes right.
So, but I do want to win lacrosse.
I want to win all of them, but Ireally want to win lacrosse and
I'm going to work hard at tryingto do it.
Just keep being you dude. You're a special person and you
have a special family and it's cool to call you a friend.

(01:25:23):
You too, Dave. I mean, you have an impact on
all of us and I think it kind ofgets overlooked that you're just
big part of the sport, big part of what we do and you make it
special. So I appreciate you having me on
and thanks for supporting me andtrying to keep my head right
when it's not right and it's just, it means a lot.

(01:25:45):
It really does mean a lot to have Someone Like You that I can
honestly say is a friend and cares about me and how I feel
and cares about my family. It's, it's a big deal to, to all
of us anglers really. I mean, you're just a good
person and we appreciate it. Well, I didn't say nice things
about you see, you could say nice things about me, and I'm
very uncomfortable right now, soI'm going to end this podcast.

(01:26:08):
So am I, but it's so am I. But it's true the.
One and only bad schlopper Jake's take back in your life
Jake Latonders. We missed you after lake fork.
It was my fault. I mean I was I was fishing and
pre shot podcast so sorry. We've done that in the past,

(01:26:30):
back-to-back events. Yeah, yeah, it's a lot.
There's a lot going on between 3days between events.
So yeah, it's all good, man. Texas swing was freaking
incredible though. 2 very different events.
I mean somewhat evil to go from fork to the Sabine River.

(01:26:50):
I I think the Sabine River played out as a very cool
tournament when it was all said and done, but I think it just
would have been a lot easier mentally and physically on the
anglers to go from Hartwell to Sabine than from Sabine to Fork.
But hey, who said bass fishing'seasy?

(01:27:11):
There's nothing easy about it. And I, you know, I heard, I read
comments and listen to people and got messages from people
about viewers, friends of mine and just viewers that are, you
know, fans of bass. And, you know, the comments are
almost flipped where people watched lake Fort for the big
bass and, you know, some things they weren't necessarily

(01:27:35):
interested in. And then like front facing sonar
and then, you know, comments from the Sabine were I didn't
really, I don't really like to watch that because it's such a
grind and it's really boring andthe Fisher Dinks and all that.
Yet the people that watched it, you know, came from a different
realm and watched it because it was a grind and it was very

(01:27:57):
competitive and it was really close and Oz really mattered in
that event. So, and you know, the young guys
that were, you know, they're that are normally looking down
at their grass were fishing the bank, you know, and, and trying
to figure it out. And they did really well.
And I thought that was a very interesting, you know, angle and

(01:28:19):
perception of of the Sabine River event.
Honestly, that was probably the funnest event.
I know I'm jumping ahead, but that was probably the funnest
Sabine. I think I've been there four
Times Now. I don't remember, but that was
probably the funnest time that I've had as a camera guy fishing

(01:28:40):
in this up, you know, in the Sabine system for various
reasons, which we can talk abouta little bit later.
Yeah, no, I mean, I I said it onlive on Sunday.
I think it was the most fun Championship Sunday we've had
it, Sabine, just because I mean,you had you had your eventual
winner catch him on a buzz bait.We had tons of spinner bait

(01:29:00):
action. We had, you know, everything.
It was like an old school bass. It was everything that people
kind of predicted going into it.This is going to be an old
school bass master style event. And that's what it felt like.
A lot of people erased the belief that they can't do that
without a graft. There was a lot of young anglers

(01:29:21):
that showed out and and I feel like there was a lot of young
anglers that went into that wanting to prove a point.
But before we get ahead, let's kick things off with Lake Fork,
where you you spent the week with Kya and you got to see a
lot of stuff go down. And obviously he didn't end up

(01:29:43):
winning that event, but what he did that week was amazing, even
more so the next week to back up, you know, to go to Sabine to
overcome, like don't think aboutit wrong.
I mean, just because Curia doesn't talk a lot, he felt the
pressure of that moment. He felt the pressure of that

(01:30:04):
record. He felt.
And backstage, you know, he definitely was crushed after not
winning that event. But to do what he did to drive 5
hours down the road, go to a totally different fishery, a
totally different way of fishing.
Like if we went from Fork to Toledo Bend and he did that,
that's understandable. But from Fork to Sabine to do

(01:30:26):
with. 180 Incredible, incredible.
That's like, yeah, that's like going from, you know, fishing to
skydiving. I mean, it was 180 and and, you
know, anyone that the. I think that the interesting
thing about Kyoya Fujita and we're starting to see a little
bit more of him come out of his shell.

(01:30:47):
He's learning his English is getting better and he's starting
to get it. I thought it was really funny
that he didn't understand that there was a tie.
He was like, what that was. So we'll talk about that because
that was hilarious. But he's starting to come out of
his shell and he's even showing his baits more and and you know.

(01:31:11):
I think that was all due to the fact that he was fishing
shoreline and he was not. I mean, he knows he's got some
secrets. We'll talk about that, but.
Talk about it. We'll see.
We'll see if he starts showing his baits as much as 10 killer
when he's back offshore. Right.
So you know, he's he's the interesting thing about Kyoya is

(01:31:33):
his mystique, because you reallydon't know as much as you know
about him. You really don't know that much
about him because he keeps everything tied to his chest
and, and I mean everything we, you, you and I know and, and a
lot of people know that he literally, if he could wait

(01:31:53):
until the national anthem to puthis boat in, he would be, he
puts it in 2 minutes before the national anthem sometimes.
You know, he's he's, he's putting in during the national
anthem. And I think he does that A to
stay away from the media for various reasons and he just
likes to be alone. He's very introverted and and

(01:32:14):
very focused. I mean, the one thing that we
haven't seen up until now is howhe transitioned coming out of an
emotional, you know, breakdown basically after fork and and
turning it around and completelyforgetting about that and damn
near winning Sabine. And and that to me is an

(01:32:36):
incredible personal accomplishment.
Everyone knows how difficult that is.
And and, you know, switching gears, the way that he did that
to me was probably the most stand outish thing that he did
in the last two events combined above and beyond.
Everything else was just to switch gears and and be

(01:32:58):
successful the way that he was. Yeah, it was incredible.
What he did at fork I mean. Let's get into fork, yeah?
He, you know, he was the last few events I've been really
fortunate and we haven't made big long runs.
He basically came out of takeoffwhen under the first bridge to

(01:33:21):
the north and fished the first 3coves.
I think, I think it was it's Creasy.
I can't remember the name of thefirst Cove, but that's where he
caught most all of his big fish.And the interesting thing about
that was I was with Lee Livesey on day one and you know, it

(01:33:42):
didn't turn out the way he wanted.
All of his fish left. And and then when he tried to go
to different places, as we've talked about before, many times
with guys fish, whoops, with guys fish in their home lake is
when a lake fish is as small as Lake Fork does with 100 boats on

(01:34:02):
it. It's really difficult to get
into a rotation because all the most of these guys know where
all the spots are now because it's small.
And they've seen Lee win there twice and done, you know, seen
all the things that Cobb did andPatrick Walters did and everyone
that's been successful there. So there's really no hiding

(01:34:22):
place anymore on Lake Fork. And that was very challenging
for Lee. But the interesting thing was I
remember at the end of day one with Lee, he said to me, you
know, these fish the only, there's only one place they can
go and that is out from where hewas.
He was fishing back in the creeks and up on the bank and

(01:34:43):
you know, sometimes he was looking for bedded fish, other
times he was searching for pre spawn or post spawn.
And it was, it was really an in between transition period, which
I think is really challenging for a lot of people, you know,
to to figure out when they're intransition like that.
It's and it may only last a few days, but you only got a few

(01:35:06):
days to or a day to figure it out.
And Kyoyo was fishing in the outer on the outer edges of
those points in the trees. And it reminded me a lot of what
he was he did at Toledo Bend last year when he won because he
was fishing for suspended fish and trees in deeper water.

(01:35:28):
Then I think I, I don't know what everyone else was doing
because I spent three days with him.
But you know, he was obviously using front facing sonar and he
was searching for specific fish.I mean, he would bypass, you
know, certain he would see certain things and literally go
right over those fish and tryingto find specifics that he was

(01:35:49):
looking for that he knew, you know, these these fish would
bite or he knew he could entice these fish.
So, and, and the fish he caught,I mean, I don't know how it
looked on television because I was there the all day every day.
But when they were cutting back and forth to him, that had to
look insane catching the the thefish that he was catching on

(01:36:12):
spinning rods. I mean, yeah, that that had to
be pretty cool. Well, I mean clearly he uses
spinning rod a lot as we saw in the Sabine River, you know, even
flipping with a spinning rod, heused a casting rod there at
times. But obviously he's very
comfortable with spinning rod. But as you told me during the
event, I mean he was he was using heavy line on that

(01:36:36):
spinning rod. It's not like it is a finance.
Yeah, and that's probably the most common question that I've
gotten on social media. What kind of line was he using
on those spin rods to horse those big 7 and 8 pounders in?
And so everyone knows he was using, I believe he was using 50
LB braid and 27 LB fluorocarbon liters.

(01:36:59):
And his leaders were very short.And something that a lot of
people probably didn't know was that he was using a glide bait
on a bait caster to, to get reactions out of fish to tell
whether he will, whether he wanted to continue fishing for a
specific fish or not. So I would say about almost, I

(01:37:20):
mean, 10 to 12% of the time he was picking a glide bait up and
pitching it in there after he was unsuccessfully using his
little octopus baits to, to catch fish.
So I thought that was pretty cool that he would he's he's,
he's starting to integrate different things into his his
game plans and it's obviously working.

(01:37:43):
You told me one of the things during the event.
You said the the precision, the way he fishes this bait.
I mean, which I mean, talk to meabout that.
He, he gets close, OK and, and he's not afraid to get within 15
or 20 feet because he's not casting his spinning rod most of

(01:38:06):
the time he's pitching it. And I think you know a
difference, one of the differences that he has in his
techniques is that he does get so close and what he does, he
comes barreling in and he's searching back and forth with
his, with his live scope. And then when he sees a fish, he

(01:38:26):
literally spins his trolling motor.
And Amo fell out of the boat so many times because he's got it
on 10 and he turned, that's his brake.
He literally, he, he reverses his pedal and goes straight back
180 and stops, helps himself. And I've always thought by
conventional wisdom that that the wash from the trolling motor

(01:38:48):
itself would spook the fish justgoing that fast because he's so
close. He's 15, let's say 15 to 25 feet
from the fish that he's going totarget.
And then when he takes his bait,he pitches it out there over the
top of him and then he reels it down a little bit.
And then when he gets to it, he literally he'll, he either

(01:39:12):
twitches it once to get a reaction and when he gets a
reaction, he twitches it twice. It's it is.
I mean, I know bass fishing is acat and mouse game, but there's
nothing more cat and mouse aboutit than what Kyoya Fujita does
with his with that, with that weird octopus.
I don't even know what it, it looks like a landmine or

(01:39:34):
something, or a floating, you know, submarine mine bomb and,
and whatever he does, you know, it must, it must have this
jellyfish action that just intrigues these fish because he
just, he's just, he's on a different level with that thing
than than most people are. Avco not only makes incredible

(01:39:56):
outdoor clothing, but they care about anglers.
With their 10% pledge, Avco and the Shed family donate at least
10% of the company's profits to conservation and making fishing
better. Now, back to the show.
If you see that bait underwater,I mean, all of those legs kind
of move independently and that'swhy they're so expensive.
You think of like casting a rubber bait.

(01:40:19):
You have all those tentacles andhow hard and I would assume the
failure rates giant like the amount of them that actually
work when you put it in the mold.
But all of those legs are movement and and that's the one
thing that stands out with the Japanese guys.
They are very, very into movement, like all of their

(01:40:39):
baits are, you know, a lot of movement, but movement without
movement, if that makes sense. Like yes.
It. Yes, they're not moving.
Never still a. Ton of water like they're not
moving 10 feet at a time, but everything's always moving,
although the baits moving just afew inches at a time a. 100% and
and there's something this is going to be somewhat of an

(01:41:02):
oxymoron when I say it and I hope it's I don't, I don't
misrepresent it. There's something natural about
that, even though his baits havenothing to do with the natural.
I mean, forget match the Hatch because that ain't what he's
doing. There's nothing in that entire
lake that looks like whatever that thing and he and Taku fish

(01:41:23):
with. But the movement is so natural
and so, so lifelike, regardless of the shape of it.
That's to me what, what what curiosity does kill the cat in
that situation, right? I mean, that's what it is.
And his I, I, I noticed like he's and he's never in Taku.

(01:41:47):
All the Japanese guys recently say in the past three to five
years that I've covered, they all have this have a different
kind of jerking action or twit. It's a twitch.
It's not a jerk. It's a twitch and and they do
something weird. And this morning I saw a clip on

(01:42:08):
Instagram of this new Japanese bait and it's it's it's hooked.
It's the eye is on the side towards the head and it's a
minnow bait and they cast it along, let's say it Pickwick
where or, or some of those Alabama River in lake systems
down there up against the limestone walls.

(01:42:29):
They pitch it into the wall and they, they pull it back and it
looks like a fish. You know how a goldfish or
aquarium fish will get up on theedge of the glass on top of the
water searching for, you know, algae or whatever it is they're
trying to eat it. It has this action.
And I, man, I, I watched this this morning and I thought to

(01:42:49):
myself, the Japanese mentality and the microcosm that they live
in right now, especially for bass fishing and the design of,
of baits are all focused on whatyou just said, movement.
And it's got this natural movement.
And they have this keen sense ofauthenticity when they see,

(01:43:13):
let's say, you know, someone's out, Kylya's out fishing during
the offseason in Japan, and he sees a minnow doing something
and a bass come up to eat it or not, not even.
He just sees a a minnow doing something enticing.
They're going to go back into the laboratory and try to figure
out a bait that mimics what theyjust saw at that very moment.

(01:43:35):
And I think that that's a huge difference in their bait
manufacturing mentality right now versus everyone else.
Not, not the looks, not the natural visual effect of it in
terms of its, you know, it matching exactly what's in the
water. It's the movement and it's it's

(01:43:57):
truly incredible. I have a weird theory and nobody
will know what's true and what'snot true except for the bass.
But I have a weird theory about all those tentacle style baits,
whether it's the molded one likehe was using or it's actual
living rubber jig skirt type material.
Sure, if you look at them in thewater.

(01:44:17):
And then if you look at a jig inthe water, like if you really
look at underwater footage of a jig, I mean, that's exactly what
a jig does. Like we all think of a jig
because when you look at it in your hand as none of that stays
together. Like when a jig's most effective
is flaring, when that's when that's flaring, but it hits the
bottom and it flares. And the and the and the claws

(01:44:39):
come up. Yeah.
Like it's defending itself against a predator.
Yeah. I think that that date style, I
mean, everybody tries to figure out what it's supposed to
imitate, but I just think it's ajig that doesn't move, that
doesn't, that stays in the strike zone longer, you know?
You mean you mean what what the Japanese guys are using those

(01:45:02):
those? Tentacle style baits, you know,
whatever you want to refer to them, whether it's a koki or
it's the any of those tentacle style baits, like I think that
under the water they look just like a jig.
Like I think we weirdly, I thinkwe're way overthinking.
It. It's just a flared jig, you know
what I mean? Like if you look what a jig's

(01:45:23):
doing, except it's moving through the water column
quickly, you know what I mean? Like you, when you're swimming a
jig or you're popping a jig, you're getting those puffs, but
it just stays like that. And ultimately the way they're
fishing it, it's sight fishing. It's just using a graph, you
know what I mean? Like it's the exact same thing.
It's no different than Drew Cookshaking a bait or you know, it's

(01:45:47):
not like Drew invented that. I mean, Drew really showed it to
a lot of people. But that's been happening for
years and years where you would put a bait in front of a fish on
a bed and you just shake it to bother it into biting.
That seems to be what Joy is doing.
Whoa. I'm just saying it tickles the

(01:46:12):
lateral line. Well, kill you, you know, he, he
was, he was spotting fish and I would say 12 to 22 feet of water
at he was probably more in 12 to1580% of the time.
And then, you know, he'd go shallow, check there and then go

(01:46:33):
deep and check there. He, he's constantly checking
everything. But when he would come across a
tree that had multiple, say 2 ormore fish in it, I feel like
that's when he was more successful.
And I don't know if he is creating competition between the

(01:46:53):
fish or what he was doing. But then, you know, he would
catch. I mean, he caught one.
There was one tree inside the first turn in the first Cove
that he was in, in front of thisgazebo, there was like a little
clump of trees, two or three or four trees that I could see on
his graph. Excuse me.

(01:47:15):
And there were three big ones inthere.
And he pointed that out. He goes, oh, they're, you know,
three very big ones. So he backs off and goes into
spot lock. No, I'm sorry.
He, he, he backs off and he pitches in there, catches the
first one and it's like a 5 1/2 pounder keeps pitching in there.

(01:47:41):
10 minutes later, he catches an 8 pounder, keeps pitching in
there. 10 minutes later he catches a 7 1/2 pounder and he's
got, you know, 22 lbs or 21 lbs of fish off that one tree in a
matter of 30 minutes. And it's like, you know, you,

(01:48:02):
just you, you're, you, you, nothing's happening for a while.
And then all of a sudden he's got 22 lbs in the boat just like
that, you know, and, and I don'tknow, man, the way, the way that
was one of the things, one of the one of the experiences I had
or moments that I remember so well was catching those three

(01:48:24):
really big fish out of that one tree.
And I remember, I mean, I was with Ben Milliken last year at
Fork. And I'm not saying food, you
know, Kyoya could have gone overto that tree and, and done the
same thing. I have absolutely 0.

(01:48:44):
You know what's the word I'm looking for confidence that he
could go do that at that tree. But just contrasting moments in
that moment I had with Milliken,he went up to this tree he was
talking about all day. He's like, I'm saving that tree
for this afternoon when I think they're going to bite.
And there's like 7 or 8, you know, 7 to to 8 to 10 pounders

(01:49:08):
under this tree. And sure enough, he pulls up on
this leaning log or leaning treetrunk in the water and shows me
his graph. And there's like 7 or 8 giants
in there. And he goes all the way around
those fish with his trolling motor.
And you could see the fish following his boat all the way

(01:49:29):
around 360°. And he did everything that he
could to, to, to to catch those fish.
He even went in and, and flushedthem out, went in and bumped the
log to flush them out to see if he could isolate those fish on
their own and create a differentreaction.
And it just didn't work. It was like, so, So he's got

(01:49:51):
fish in a tree. He circles it.
While he's casting, he's castingto them all the way around it
trying to get them to bite and finally, you know, out of I
don't have enough time left to keep jacking with these fish.
I don't know what to do. They won't bite.
There's giant, there's, there's 50 lbs of fish under this one

(01:50:15):
tree right now. And I can't, they won't bite.
So his last tactic was to go in and bump the tree, flush them
out and try to isolate them. And I think actually he did.
He caught one of those fish casting a jerkbait, I believe,
after he isolated them. But then it was over.

(01:50:35):
I don't think we he could even find the rest of those fish.
So my point being, somehow Killya found a tree that was
very similar to that that was holding multiple giants in it,
and he catches all three of themand and oh so sorry.
Scary wasn't bumping the tree you're talking about.
Milliken was bumping the. Milliken last year.
Yeah, sorry, I'm sorry. I hope I didn't confuse.

(01:50:57):
Everyone. It was very confusing.
I. Was just contrasting techniques
and concepts and mentalities andand and and trying to catch
those fish that wouldn't bite. And so, you know, I, I don't
know, I kill you is I think Lee Livesey said it best.
We were, you know, I went to a little cookout one night and was

(01:51:18):
hanging out with them and hanging with Lee and he said it
basically goes he's just on a different level, like with with
front facing sonar. He's just on a completely
different mentality than everyone else.
And, and, you know, I think his success speaks for itself.
Answer me one question because Ihave a theory and I looked every

(01:51:38):
day and they were the same. Those rods in the front deck of
his boat when he backs them in are those all decoys?
No. He uses some of them.
The rods aren't, the baits are. OK, that's what I mean.
Like the rig. So you see the Yeah, OK man.
He switches. He switches baits like when he

(01:52:00):
when we're coming into the dock,he takes his important baits
off. He does.
And I'm, I'm going to say this, hopefully the Japanese guys
won't get mad at me when he opens his rod locker.
All those funky baits that he doesn't want everyone to see.
I ordered, I ordered six of them.

(01:52:21):
I don't know if they're not the same exact ones, but I ordered
the ones you can get off of Spro's website.
And they come with little, like,coat hanger hooks, every one of
them, you know, they come in clear boxes.
Yeah. So they're not, Yeah, they're
all dangly and and they're not deformed.
And they've got these hooks on them and he takes them

(01:52:42):
out-of-the-box and he hooks themall along the side of his rod
locker. And so.
And there's literally like 30 ofthem in there.
But the interesting thing is they're so durable.
He uses the same one the entire tournament and unless he loses
1. And I only saw him lose one of
those baits. And of all the times I've I've

(01:53:04):
covered Taku and Kylya fishing with those tentacle baits, I've
only seen either one of them lose that bait one time.
And I was like, well, they must only have a few of them.
And then when he opened his rod locker, I was like, no, there's
like 30 of them hanging in there.
So they're they're very durable baits.

(01:53:27):
Talk to me about his precision, like as far as the boat goes,
he'll tell you where to stand inthe boat and everything,
correct? Yeah, and that changed at Fork
because we had a Marshall in theboat, so I had to move more
towards the middle of the back deck.
Normally he wants me to stand right behind and I've confirmed

(01:53:50):
this with other camera guys havebeen with him and this is the
same thing. He wants you to stand literally
right behind the passenger seat backrest on the back deck.
So and and this is this comes into play as to why I think his
day 4 didn't go his way. Yeah.
Wind is his enemy. 100 percent, 100% those fish were still

(01:54:16):
there. But he was actually, he, he
actually didn't even go, I mean,at the end of day three, he had
what, 34 or 35 lbs? I don't even some, some crazy
number. And so for the last 45 minutes
in the same area, he went out a little deeper and searched some
different tree lines a little further down to expand his area

(01:54:40):
and he found like 4 spots. And I remember talking to you
when I came in that afternoon orthat night, I told you, Oh, no,
he's got plenty of like, he found some new spots in that
spot that he's going to catch him again tomorrow.
He's got 30 more pounds to catch.
And the wind jacked him because he can't, he he, he can't read

(01:55:02):
his graph or he doesn't see whathe needs to see on his graph
when it's bouncing around like that.
That's why when I'm in his boat as well, I stay, I mean, I'm
literally a statue back there pretty much all day.
When I go down to change batteries, I like go down really
slow and I come back up. I'm like, I'm like, I'm like a

(01:55:25):
statue. And I'd obviously do it for him
so that I don't create any, you know, distractions for him.
But he's very precise with all of that stuff.
And 100% the reason he didn't doas well on the last day is
because of the wind. And he went way back in those,

(01:55:46):
in those coves and up in those creeks.
He went way back up in there to get out of the wind.
And then and he he, I mean, whatdid he catch?
Day 422 lbs. Yeah, yeah, which sounds fine,
but if especially after Sabine, but if if you go back to Lake
Fork terms, 22 lbs was like. £10short.

(01:56:07):
Yeah, yeah. I mean, Trey McKinney caught 38
lbs the final day. I know that was insane.
Dude, and that the truth about that tournament is that was
Trey's. Like he could have gone
back-to-back as champion becauseday three cost him.
I don't know exactly what happened, but day three he
weighed in like 21 lbs. I think he lost some big fish at

(01:56:29):
the boat. Gosh.
Yeah, gosh. I've heard more and more I'm I
want to say this on the show, I've heard more and more
positive things from people likeJohn Cruz.
I'll just say it. He's not.
He's been following Trey McKinney since he was 1415 years

(01:56:50):
old. And you know, he was like, he
talked about him. We were in the boat at Sabine.
He just said that kid has been winning everything like he won a
BFL Ave. Oh yeah, 15 years old and you
know, before front facing sonar and all that crap, he's like,
you don't want that guy behind you because he can catch him

(01:57:12):
however he wants to catch him. And I, I keep hearing more and
more positive things about Trey McKinney.
And I'll say this out loud too. I've never, I mean, I've yet you
and I've talked about this, I'veyet to find anything negative
about Trey McKinney other than other people being jealous of
him because he's actually, when you talk to him, he's actually a

(01:57:33):
really nice kid. He's pretty funny and he he
knows what he's doing. He's great on camera.
Great on camera. He, and I've said this a lot of
times, I judge anglers 100% on what I see.
If I, if I literally judged anglers on what you hear,
because throughout the years, you know, the so and so's come

(01:57:55):
over and I've heard stuff about that person.
I've heard, I mean, they competeagainst each other, But so I, I
have no choice but to judge people on, on what I see.
And what I've seen with him is, I mean, he's made some dumb
calls because he's a 19 year oldkid.
He's done some kind of bonehead things, but I'm still searching

(01:58:17):
for the evilness that that's, you know, that weirdly has been
created like this kids. I mean, he is literally every
time I've seen him and he's justdelivered at every single like
literally he just you put him oncamera and you're like, oh, he's

(01:58:38):
not going to talk. No, he he's great on camera.
You. Rolls.
It out, yeah, I think his problem in life in some
situations he's he's too good. He's too good at.
Angling. He's too.
Good at on stage, you know, I mean that poor kid was born
pretty and good at his job, but he like that's his.

(01:59:01):
His a curse. His.
Trials and tribulations, but I, I think he's also fit into his
own now. And at some point people got to
be like, hey, guess what? I guess he can fish.
I mean, he can catch him everywhere we go.
He's in contention for angler ofthe year again.
Let's be honest. If he doesn't do a bonehead

(01:59:24):
thing and forget what time his check in is, which again, he
owned when that happened, everybody pointed out his mom
called him. He told me straight up in the
interview we did. He said, hey, I was going to be
late anyways. My mom calling me did nothing
but just get me back quicker. But I I was going to be too late
anyways because he in his head, he was at 30 minutes later than

(01:59:45):
what he was for checking in. I guess 15 minutes into that his
mom called him and somehow that's turned into that, that in
itself. I mean, I didn't even expect to
get in this, but you've heard mesay this, that in itself that
the fact that his mother, you know what I mean, traveling with
him. Oh, he he's.
They need to cut the apron strings.

(02:00:06):
Come on man. Like Patrick Walter's parents
are at every damn event. Nobody says John Cruz's dad.
This was the Sabine River was the first event that I don't
think John Cruz's dad was at. Robert G's mom Joy is at him,
with him at every event, cheering him at every take.
The list goes on and on. But somehow for Trey, it's been

(02:00:28):
vilified. So I can only judge from what I
see. And what I see is the kids
pretty freaking good. I'm done talking to other people
saying give him a break. This message will go out to Trey
McKinney himself. Just keep doing what you're
doing, kid, because you're doingit right.
Yeah. And if you keep doing it like

(02:00:48):
that, guess what? There's going to be a certain
percentage of population that hates you forever.
And then they hated KVD. They hated, you know, they hated
a lot of. Alabama football, they, I mean,
Duke basketball winners. Winners.
They hate the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Kansas City Chiefs. See, even you hate them, gotta

(02:01:12):
throw. I could hear it in your voice.
Yeah, I got to throw them in there, Dave.
They're going to suck this year for sure.
For sure. Let's get back to Korea.
What we know so little about him.
Explain who he is, what is he like in the boat?

(02:01:32):
Do you guys talk outside of fishing or we?
Do we actually do? We're talking more and more to
he. I mean, now we fist bump at when
we pass each other. He's just, he's getting more and
more comfortable. I think people are showing him
more and more respect, which offers him the opportunity to

(02:01:52):
feel more comfortable, less insecure.
This always happens. You know, this always happens.
And I'm not saying with everybody, but being half
Japanese and watching my mom, you know, grow up in the United
States from 22. I didn't see her when she was

(02:02:13):
22, but she came over here when she was 22.
And the barrier, there's something about Asian people
coming to America that has this insecurity.
I think probably because people make fun of them.
Their accent is strange. It's it's vastly strange from

(02:02:34):
other accents in contrast to theAmerican culture and their
cultures are different. And Japanese people are very,
very secretive. They're very respectful people.
They're very loyal, honorable, all those things.
So you, you put all those thingsup into one and one person and

(02:02:56):
you've got you've got a shy person that is introverted,
that's somewhat insecure and just really came over here,
doesn't want publicity, none of that stuff.
They came over here to prove to themselves that they could
compete against the best bass fishing anglers in the world.

(02:03:16):
And they're extremely focused people like Zen level.
And that's what that's what that's who he is.
And I think as he comes out of his shell, he's a kid.
He's a kid inside that wants to come out.
And I love seeing him open up and laugh and, and start to

(02:03:39):
become more open with the media on on, especially on day 4 when
they're doing bait photos in themorning and all that stuff.
I love seeing him come out because I think we've we've yet
to see the best of Kyoya Fujita and that's all in front of him
right now. I think we also way

(02:03:59):
underestimate what it's like to live in a country when you don't
speak the language. I mean, adjectives you used
there were shy and introverted. I've never ever in my life been
referred to as shy or introverted ever.
But I can guarantee you if I move to Japan, that'll that's
what if. I mean, you don't speak the

(02:04:20):
language, it's hard to communicate.
Like even like you said with theThai situation at at Sabine, I
mean, I had it happen this past weekend on live when I was
talking about Takumi. And Takumi, we just see how good
his English is. And you just assume, but Takumi,
I had said that he wanted to be a bee fighter.
The word he used when he told mebefore was a killer bee hunter.

(02:04:43):
So I used bee fighter and somebody in the truck got a hold
of that. Like I just said, hey, he once
told me that if he wasn't fishing professionally, he'd be
a bee fighter. I meant I went back since then
and looked at what he really said.
He said killer bee hunter, but by bee fighter he turned he's
like bee fighter. What what is bee fighter?

(02:05:05):
He didn't he didn't know what itwas.
I mean, so I think we weigh underestimate just how tough
what they're doing is so. That's a great point.
I mean, again, I've been to lotsof countries all over the world.
And until you figure out that you have to immerse yourself and

(02:05:30):
basically open yourself up to, to learning a language and
allowing yourself to be free with what you don't know, then
you are you do clam up because you don't want to say the wrong
thing. And I think over time, I mean, I

(02:05:51):
think with Takahiro Omori is a really good example of that.
Over time, you know, you learn more and you open up more
because you come become more comfortable with yourself.
And, and again, you know, man, I, I'll bring this up.
I think I've said it before, a long time ago on your show,
Dave, that my mom, one of her biggest barriers when she came

(02:06:15):
to the United States was exactlywhat you said, the language
barrier. And that created a challenge for
her. And I still have it.
I actually in that backroom, in that back door back there is a
storage room and there's a little Webster's dictionary back
there, a pocket version. And she literally used to carry
that thing in her purse whereverwe went to boxing and gymnastics

(02:06:38):
and football and piano lessons and all the things that we did.
While she's waiting in the car or in the bleachers or on the
grass or on a bench waiting for us to do our thing, she's
reading this dictionary highlighting words that she had
troubles with. And, and she, she, she was doing

(02:06:58):
her very best to learn the language so that she could fit
in better. And I think that's probably
what's going on. And, and it's, again, I'll say
it again, it's so nice to see. I mean, Taku is just a phenom.
He's just, he's on a different level of comedy and, and
extrovertedness and all those things.

(02:07:19):
But it's really fun to watch Kilia come out of his shell and
I applaud him for everything that he's doing right now.
He's, he's actually a really, really good dude.
Yeah, with a very clean boat. Very, uh, John Cruz and Jay
Shakur it I was in their boats on the Sabine.

(02:07:41):
They might give, uh, kill you a run for their money other than
having to splash water on the back trance and when you when
you have to go to the bathroom. Well, it's only it's only,
right? I mean don't tribble.
No germs. No germs.

(02:08:01):
Hey, that tournament, obviously wind is the wind isn't just the
enemy of him. When does the enemy of forward
facing sonar, let's be honest, that's when you've seen people
struggle with it and unfortunatetournament didn't work out for
him. But again, I can't stress how
crushing that was for him. He shed tears backstage.

(02:08:23):
He you know, you don't get it when you don't when you lead and
you don't you don't get a chanceto talk on stage the way it
works. And most people to be honest,
don't want to talk in that situation.
They just want to kind of get out of there.
But he was very emotional backstage and even when I saw
him at Sabine River, I went up and I gave him a hug.
I mean, I don't know that he hugged back.

(02:08:43):
I mean, it was a lot like I was hugging.
It was more of A and I said to him, I said you should be proud,
but you did. Last week was amazing and sorry
it didn't work out. And he looked at me and he just
said I lost tournament. I did not win.
Like he's so driven to win and this is his dream, such a dream

(02:09:03):
that he travelled across to the other side of the world to chase
it somewhere where he, and let'sbe honest, things were going
pretty good for him in Japan. I mean, it won four Angler of
the year, 6 of their pro level tournaments.
There's question that might havebeen more than 6.
I had heard it was 6, but it might have been.
So he didn't have to make this move, but the reason he made the

(02:09:25):
move was because he wants to be the best in the world and he's a
pretty cool cat, so. There's, there's, it's, it's
really interesting. There's a lot of that going
around and from Japanese to America, you look in baseball
with Otani and I mean that you could, the list goes on with
Japanese baseball players and, and even in the boxing world

(02:09:47):
right now, in a way is, is probably right now, pound for
pound, one of the top three boxers in the world.
He's Japanese and you look behind him as I, as I looked
into his career, I look behind him when there's people that are
looking up to him in Japan that are training with him and his
style, which is very different. He's got a completely different

(02:10:11):
way of training and, and mentality about it, which makes
him one of the greatest fightersin the world right now.
And, and you can see be that inspiration causing a movement
behind him that's going to come up and those guys are going to
get even better, just like they have in fishing, just like they
have in baseball. And and it's a it's a mentality.

(02:10:34):
So, and I, and I'll say this too, I'm really proud of the way
people welcome Taku and Kyoya and the crowd.
There's no before it almost seemed like there was no
reaction when when you would introduce a Japanese guy to come
out on the stage. It was, there was less cheering.

(02:10:54):
It was just sort of neutral. And now those guys get big
ovations from even people in South Texas, which is completely
different culture than everybodyelse.
So I, I find that to be pretty, pretty cool.
What are you going to say about that?

(02:11:15):
You threw me out with your with your South Texas line.
They're different. Just so you know, the words
shared in this podcast came fromJake, not from me.
I mean, I love me some Texas. I do too, I love Texas.
I've run a Yamaha outboard for over 30 years.
It has got me home safe each andevery time.

(02:11:37):
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. Hey, here's what I thought was
cool about that event. You talked about fighting and
you know, I love boxing, I love MMA, and I think one of the
coolest things about all of thatis you have coaches that are

(02:11:58):
trying to find a weakness. And when you see the first few
rounds and you're like this fights going to end like this
because so and so is peppering them.
A lot of times it doesn't because there's a coach that's
like, hey, when he faints, you bite and that's you know, or you
know, hey, he's he's, when he swings, he drops his guard, you

(02:12:21):
know what I mean? And this is what you have to
expose. Our sport is a sport.
It's very different, but it's a sport.
And what happened with Kyoya, itproves how it's a sport because
at that point in the tournament,there was 0 weakness in his
game. Like there was zero reason for
him not to win this tournament. There was zero reason for him
not to break the record. Let's be honest, at one time,

(02:12:42):
that 31 lbs, 10 oz or whatever he needed, the next day seemed
like, well, yeah, he's just going to go do that.
But it changes the conditions, change it.
And that's what was cool to me. You know, the wind got a little
bit more intense and it changed things for him.
So you couldn't have predicted that.
But that's what I love about professional fishing, that that

(02:13:04):
whether it happens to the angler, it happens in nature,
things get exposed and and that was a weakness in his game.
Then we went five hours down theroad to the Sabine River and
nobody probably picked Kyoya in fantasy fishing.
But you made a mistake if you did not pick him because he
almost freaking won that tournament.

(02:13:25):
But this is Jake's take. So let's have a look at who are
you with, Sabine? Yeah, Jay, Shakira first two
days and then John Cruz the 2nd 2 days.
And I had never been with Shakira before and I was looking
forward to that day at some point, you know, hope to be in

(02:13:48):
everyone's boat. But Jay's one of those guys has
been so consistent over the pastfew years that you, you know,
you, you want to get in his boatand see what he's doing, see
what he's like, interact with him.
And I've always taken him as a very quiet, unassuming, shy kind

(02:14:10):
of person, but really that's pretty much opposite of what he
really is in the boat. And he's very, very competitive.
Like that's why he does well. I mean, he's like, like welcher.
They, they, they kind of remind me of each other actually.
The there's they're, they're stone cold and they have that

(02:14:36):
stoic, stoic face, Yeah, poker face kind of approach to
everything. You know, they don't show much
reaction even to the media or the crowd or their presentation
on on television, but they're very, very intelligent.
They're both extremely cerebral anglers, which they all are.

(02:15:00):
I mean, we could say that about all of them.
If you're not cerebral in this game, then you're not going to
succeed because like you just said, you have to adjust to the
conditions constantly figure it out, know what the baits doing,
Know what? Know what the fish are doing,
know why they're going to chooseone micro environment over the
other. And I think this Sabine and and

(02:15:24):
you could correct me if I'm wrong because I was only in two
different boats, but it seemed like and and I'd like to say
this too about this Sabine eventthis year is the flooding took
all the retread fishing pretty much out of it because no one
was fishing where, you know, Brock and Matt Robertson and

(02:15:45):
KENTA and all those and Huntersville.
Until later in the event. Yeah, there.
Was some retread fishing that happened Saturday and Sunday?
Late in the afternoons, too. Yeah.
And, and, but for the most part,it seemed like it was more of
instead of the, the guys that were successful like Pat
Schlauper. It wasn't about going finding

(02:16:09):
the biggest stretch of bank thatdidn't have people on it, which
this year the Sabine fished extremely small like that was
that was crazy. Everybody, you know, everybody
was, was, was crammed into a really small stretch of, of, of

(02:16:29):
river and canal systems. And that made it very
challenging for people to get into rotations and, you know,
all what, what, what small fisheries, you know, bring to
the table. But it seemed like the people
that were really successful found little patterns and they,
they caught their fish in micro environments.

(02:16:51):
And like Pat, I don't know wherePat was.
I don't think I saw Pat the entire tournament in terms of,
you know, after takeoff and, and, and during the tournament
itself. I don't think we passed him one
time. And I know that Coop and Lee
Livesey and maybe one other person had found an isolated

(02:17:12):
area on their own and they kind of had to themselves.
But it seemed like those guys were the ones that were
successful, that found an area that they could lock in on and
not get distracted or disturbed by other anglers.
Was that not true? Yeah, I mean and in some
situations it was bad turned good like coop situation.

(02:17:33):
The whole reason he had that area to himself is because it
was chocolate milk. He said the water was so dirty
even in pre fish. He said he went in there and
actually left the first time, said I got to find something
cleaner, but then went back there and put his head down.
He was like, these fish are usedto this color of water here, so
I'll fish here. And he had that area to himself.

(02:17:53):
A lot of a lot of anglers, you know, did a musical go around,
merry go round, whatever you want to refer to it on tailors
because it had the cleanest water.
But yeah, no, it it was cool to see.
And obviously the fish are small.
Like they compared to and compared to Fork.
Let's be honest, the fish are small everywhere.

(02:18:14):
When we went from Fork last yearto Grand Lake for the Classic, I
remember thinking, boy, these Grand Lake fish are small.
You're going from Fork. Nothing.
I mean, sort of like let's have a tournament on the El Salto or
Falcon or something. Like what?
What it's fork. It's it's Clear Lake like that's

(02:18:35):
about like that's what you got to go to after that too.
So the fish are small, but but the challenge is is the same.
The guy who catches the most weight figures them out.
But I thought Sabine was cool because we saw lots of
adjustments, you know, like you saw.
Lots of adjustments. On the final day, about half our
top ten made, you know, changes to their game and went different

(02:19:00):
areas, including Pat, you know, the way Pat finished, you know,
his buzz bait stuff. I mean, I just thought it was
cool that way. It was kind of an old school
tournament and I think one of some of the stuff that happened
with Pat that probably isn't getting talked about that I
loved Pat on camera was an old school Bassmaster.

(02:19:21):
We've gotten into this horrible trend and and I get it.
And curious, the king of it, andI understand where anglers are
coming from, but we've got into this horrible trend of hiding
your baits. And I mean, it started many
years ago. Edwin Evers was the first dude I
remember hiding his bait on live.
And then when the split happened, we got way away from

(02:19:42):
that. Then you had Chris Saldane
explaining what was on his sandwiches.
I mean, just giving you every bit of information.
But we're getting into a disturbing trend of people just
turning their back and hiding baits because I get what they're
trying to do. But part of the sport is to see
that excitement around debate. Like there's probably more
people excited about throwing a buzz bait from those two

(02:20:05):
pounders that Pat caught that I remember in years just because I
mean, he talked about the bait. I mean, it wasn't even a company
sponsored by. I hope they're sponsoring now
because I've heard them all oversocial media talking about how
busy they are now that. Pat won on it, so hopefully Pat
gets taken care of for that. But I I feel there was a lot of

(02:20:26):
cool things that happened at Sabine that that stood out to me
is good for the industry. I've heard a lot of great
comments on social media about the Sabine event.
You know, it's the fish weren't big, but that's what we wanted
to see. And it was a shootout.
It was a, you know, who could catch the biggest little fish

(02:20:48):
and who could adjust, who could adjust the best.
So you know, Taku, we saw on dayfour, I was with John Cruz, he
completely he was up Taylor's you know, first three days he
was successful up there, but it was crowded and he thought even
even, you know, fishing down thebank and picking one off here

(02:21:15):
and there were there were lots and lots of 10, you know, to 11
and three quarter inch fish caught to lots of them.
And you know, you had to catch alot of those and get through a
lot. The law of averages to come
across 1. As soon as you think you had a
pattern. Shakur had a little pattern

(02:21:35):
going when he caught. Was it God?
I can't remember now. Whatever day he caught, it was
day one. He caught like a three pounder
ride off the bat and then some. Good keepers.
Yeah, that was day one. That was day one.
So the pattern that he was on were the small mats with wood in

(02:21:59):
them, like a tree limb or a log coming through it.
Whatever it was, it was, it was obvious obvious that was a
pattern. So he locked into that pattern
and he started. He was looking for those
specific, you know, speed casting through the in between
stuff as to not miss an isolatedrandom fish somewhere, you know,

(02:22:22):
along the Sabine River. And then getting to those spots
and, and slowing way down and literally picking them apart
and, and dropping his, his rigs in, in multiple spots in really
small environments. And, you know, catching fish
from 1 angle to the next or whatever it was.

(02:22:46):
And then it, it kind of he kind,you know, that pattern kind of
fizzled away or dissolved. And then he had to, you know, he
went after that on day two, he went straight to that pattern
and it wasn't working. So then he found another pattern
where he was catching all of hisfish in the oxbows of the old
river channel. So he started locking in on

(02:23:09):
that. And then in the afternoons, that
kind of faded away. And I think you know, for a
multitude of reasons, reasons when you've got people, so many
people fishing in front of you and behind you.
One of the one of the mysteries about the a fishery like that in
a, in a situation where it's fishing that small, especially

(02:23:32):
when everyone's flipping the bank, is that you don't know who
fished there in front of you. You don't know how many times
who, who all's been in there. And, and, and, and you're,
you're constantly wondering if you made the right move because
you don't know how many people fished that spot.

(02:23:53):
I remember, was it the last timewe were at Sabine when I was
with Kenta Chimera two or three days before he started fishing
those retreads in that first in that barge that that Cove that
had all those barge repair wherewhere where Brock won the

(02:24:13):
tournament. Kenta was going way up Taylor
all the way to those bridges to that, that farthest, I guess
Northern Highway bridge where all those those bridges and
pipes were crisscrossing. It looked like a huge spider web
in there of concrete and metal. And there was one pipe coming

(02:24:34):
out of the concrete that had fresh water in it.
And the water was super muddy, but it had that fresh water.
And there was an open spot of Clearwater in there where that
fresh water was dripping into the muddy water.
And that's where he was throwingthat little square bill,
catching all his fish. That got him to Day 4 and and
again, you go back to, you know,I go back into my memorex or my

(02:24:58):
my rolodex of memories on the Sabine and it's constantly
whoever makes the biggest adjustments wins that
tournament. Even with John Cruz, on the last
day, we went in, you know, to Square Lake and into those canal
systems and ditches back there. And we saw Taku.

(02:25:21):
John was fishing all around Taku, and he was actually there
first. And then Taku moves in and Taku
found a spot where the muddy water and the Clearwater met.
Yeah. A lot of that happening.
That's where he was catching hisfish.
So again, and and and it's not that John Cruz didn't know to
fish a spot like that. It's just really, you know,

(02:25:45):
making decisions. Coop Coop Cooper Gallant said it
best on stage. That system is all that way, but
that system in particular is allabout who makes the best
decisions at the right time. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Mud lines were a big player. Patrick Walters caught a bunch
of his fish on the final day fishing mud lines.

(02:26:07):
It, it's, it's a tough place to fish.
It's a a tough part of the world.
I mean, it gets beat up by hurricanes and floods and
different things like that. And that's why the population is
what it is. I mean, it, it feels like it's
perpetually stunted because it, it feels like we're always like
it's about to be good and then astorm comes and it gets kind of

(02:26:29):
beat up. But it's always a fun event if
you ask me to cover. And and I think it's natural
that there's going to be some people that are like, yeah, I
don't like that kind of event. Guess what?
The week before we were on Lake Fork where they were catching
giants and there was some peoplewho don't like that kind of
event. Not every event is for every
person. I think the more difference we

(02:26:50):
have on tour, the better. You know, like if you look at
our Angler of the Year race and while you were talking, I just
quickly looked at it. I mean, we got a freaking like
we got 10. Killer Saint Clair and lacrosse
coming. Three more events and your
leaders, Jay Secure followed by Chris Johnson, followed by

(02:27:10):
Kyoya, followed by Trey McKinney, followed by Will
Davis, junior Patrick Walters, Bill Lowe and Shane Lehew.
Takumi Ito and Bryant Smith rounds out our top ten.
It's going to be a fun last few events to crown an angler of the
year and and we're going to three very different fisheries.

(02:27:30):
So it's going to it's to me that's what you want.
I think it's just interesting. We'll be in lacrosse for if Jay
Secure holds on. That's our you know that.
Yeah, but that's no Gimme dude. OK, so we we go to 10 killers
key now at this point, like let's just remove and you can't

(02:27:51):
do that points wise. But if we had to let's remove
everybody outside 1 and 2. So now you got Jay Secure it and
are defending progressive Bassmaster Angle of the year
Chris Johnson, who has had a silently strong season.
I mean, doesn't feel like there's been a lot of Chris on
camera, but he's caught him everywhere we go.
We're going to 10, Killer. Let's give that a toss up

(02:28:13):
between the two of them. We're going to Lake Saint Clair,
where Jay Secure won an open where Chris Johnson always
catches him. Then we're going to yeah, Then
we're going to. Then we're going to lacrosse,
where, yeah, Jay Securit. That's his part of the world.
Well, guess what? Last time we were there, Chris
Johnson got second in that event.

(02:28:36):
It's very compelling if you ask me, the way it's all working
out. But yeah.
I, I think you're right, the diversity, the more if you're an
all around bass enthusiast, bassfishing enthusiast or a bass
fisherman or just a fan of the game or whatever it is.

(02:28:56):
I feel like the more diverse thelocations are, you shouldn't
have any bias over one event over the other because they're
so different. How can you not learn something
from every event? They're, they're just so
different. I mean, I know humans are
humans, but, you know, being in the back of the boat, the only

(02:29:17):
thing the the two things that I,I noticed this event on the
Sabine that we're contrasting topast events was a it was, it was
hot, but it was breezy, so I didn't feel like I was going to
die. Oh my.
God, every time an angler on stage said, I hope the because
the wind slowed down, the tide moving out, which kept The Dirty

(02:29:39):
water. And so, but every time an angler
on stage was like, gosh, I hope this wind will die.
I was standing at that stage being like, shut your filthy
mouth. That's.
It now. We got lucky in Texas dude.
To be honest. Like as hot as Texas can be, we
fork was not near as bad. I mean, it was kind of beautiful
weather. You know, it it, it was perfect

(02:30:01):
weather, you know what I mean? Like we get to low 80s but in
the morning it was cool. Wear our jackets.
Yeah, and then we got to Sabine River where, you know, it's
normally ridiculous and that breeze kept it palatable.
But I feel like 10 killer, we'regoing to pay for it all. 10
killer we're going to. It's going to be freaking hot.

(02:30:25):
And and again in the the I, I feel like this time, based on
the water levels, the tide, the tidal change didn't affect the
Sabine adjustments as much as ithad in the past.
Yeah. It just, it wasn't, it wasn't as
big of a player, especially up Taylor where you know, they,

(02:30:49):
they had, they caught fish all day.
I'm not there were lulls, but itwasn't like they had, you know,
2 hours in the morning or two hours during a title shift where
they had, they knew they had to be in a certain location to
catch fish. They had water there would if
anything, there was too much water when we first got there.

(02:31:09):
And those fish were back up in the, in the really, really thick
stuff that's inaccessible. And as the, as the water
receded, they started to move out on along the edges a little
more. So that was that was a pretty
cool part. It was a different, it was a
different Sabine this year, I thought.
Yeah. And if you looked at the dock
and take off, you could see thatevery day, day one, there was

(02:31:30):
part of the dock that was under the water and it slowly but
surely it dropped. And in in the crowds there are
incredible. I mean both those tournaments, I
mean you what makes Bassmaster events is the communities that
put them on. And if you look at the last
three we've been to, but we wentto Green Pond Lay and then

(02:31:51):
Hartwell, I mean that community has built a world class
facility. Then we go from there to Fork,
where Caney Point Recreation Area is.
If Green Pond has anything that challenges it as far as like a
design tournament facility, that's it.
And about the only thing I couldsay, yeah, they're in phase one,

(02:32:12):
but the only thing I could say they probably have less of than
Green Pond is parking. But they still have plenty.
And they also have hundreds of acres of land that they're going
to continue to add stuff to. So both world class facilities.
And then you go to Orange, TX, which I mean, you look at that
whole venue, it used to just be a field.

(02:32:33):
They've got that bandstand therenow.
The thousands and thousands of people that come out to the
weigh in it, it's amazing. But it's the same every time we
go there. The 50 dudes that don't make the
cut say it sucks, but the dudes that do that see that crowd is
like, wow, this is This is why we come here.
It was. Even the guys that don't, even

(02:32:55):
the guys that don't make comments on stage when they get,
when they don't make the cut after Day 2, they make the
comment. We still, we still, you know,
the crowd that we still walk up here, umm in a, in a, in a, you
know, below the cut line and still appreciate the crowd in
Orange, TX. It's wild, it's amazing.

(02:33:15):
Food down there too, man. Did you eat the spankies?
I did, I did. I saw you there that why didn't
you ask me such as? I mean, I saw you the.
Food I had, that's the first time I've ever been to Spanky's,
but the food I had was freaking awesome.
Was it? Would you?
Like it? Yeah.
No, I didn't really be honest. No, I.

(02:33:37):
Did I did. Everybody I bad, I made a bad
order. I'll be honest, I was so tired
after and if I looked at the menus, a lot of I don't eat
crawfish. So I mean, that was easy out.
I'm not a fan of crustaceans. And I was like, I'm going to go
with what you can't mess up with.

(02:33:57):
And I ordered a cheeseburger. It wasn't.
I mean, a lot of people loved it, though, Wes Miller said.
He had great shrimp. Boudin balls were perfect.
Their their their crawfish echufe over blackened catfish.
I'm not a huge fan. I grew up eating catfish out of
Kentucky Lake. I'm not a big fan of some

(02:34:20):
catfish because it tastes a little fishy to me.
But, and I was, I was reluctant,but the waitress who was
fabulous told me to order the blackened catfish, crawfish
etouffee combination and I did. And it was freaking fabulous.
Like I wish I had a plate of it right now.
There you go. Get the Touffee when you go to

(02:34:41):
Spanky's. Old Orange Cafe is a place I
went to too. Incredible, incredible.
I met the chef and the owner there and it was really great.
But a lot of great places to eat.
They're just good people. Great people, They are good
people. It's what about?
Pat Schlopper, dude. What about him?
He's freaking badass. Always has been, always will be.

(02:35:05):
I think now the world's just starting to see who he is
because he's getting the opportunity.
That's the truth about the EliteSeries.
There's a ton of dudes like Pat Schlapper, but what that dude
has to? He double qualified to make the
Elite Series. He qualified in the same year
winning Bass Nation National Championship, but he also
qualified through the Opens, which is incredibly tough to

(02:35:27):
qualify through both. He did that.
He's made 4 classics and he's just, he's had moments.
It's you know, last year in Toledo Bend, I thought it was
cool that him and Kyoya went down to the wire because him and
Kyoya battled it out. If you remember, Slopper had the
lead going into the final day and Toledo Bend and then Kyoya
got him. And I said it on live and I

(02:35:48):
believe it like I'm like Pat andSchwapper said it at Toledo
Bend. I said to him, I said, yeah, the
dude you're against is he goes, I want to be against him.
He's one of the best at this andI want to beat the best.
And the irony of all of it was ayear later, Achoya is trying to
beat shopper and Schwapper's oneof the best at river fishing at,

(02:36:11):
you know, that natural style fishing.
He's just, he's an awesome dude.His family's been through a lot
in the last year. He lost his brother.
Yeah. You know, he, I'll say this
about Pat. Pat and I have, I don't know him
that well, but he and I are fromtwo different parts of the
country. But we have a mutual friend

(02:36:32):
named Georgia Johnson who was a She used to live in Fort Collins
and she knew him from his hometown.
I think she met him at Scheels when he worked there.
They became friends. And she has always been a huge
fan of Bassmaster because she loves to fish.

(02:36:53):
She lost her husband. He was a veteran.
She lost her husband a few yearsago.
But she loves fishing, all kindsof fishing.
And anyway, she used to come to my bar, the Town Pump, when she
lived in Fort Collins, and she'sa huge supporter of that.
When we had raised money during the Go Fund Me Covic era, she

(02:37:13):
was a contributor. She was a huge supporter of my
business. And so she brought Pat Schlapper
and I together as friends because she asked me a few years
ago if I would just do a selfie with Pat in his boat and send it
to her so she'd have two of her friends, mutual friends, and one
photo. So that's how Pat and I became

(02:37:36):
friends. And through the years, the thing
I've noticed about Pat is, at least when I've talked to him,
he has never blamed any of his ruts.
Any time he's ever been in a rut.
He's never blamed it on anythingbut himself.
He's always taking responsibility for that.
And so, you know, while I'm always a huge fan and I'm always

(02:38:00):
rooting for the person that I'm covering in every event, deep
down inside I was really rootingfor Patch Lauper to win this
event. And I'm so glad that he did.
And congratulations, Pat. That was freaking awesome.
Well deserved, well deserved. 2 great champions too.
We didn't even talk about TuckerSmith.
I mean he's kind of a badass. Tucker is exactly what the hype

(02:38:24):
around him was. I love his family too man.
His his family are almost all the events I've been covering
Tucker since his high school national championship days and
he's always won. He's all he's a, you know, Aaron
Martins took him under his wing and he's a you know, he's that

(02:38:48):
he's, he comes from that mold. He's got that mentality and all
he's ever done is 1. And I remember, you know, I
think after it was, I think it was after the college bracket
where Easton won. Tucker came in second a few
years ago when I was over at this Airbnb that his family had

(02:39:10):
rented. And I was hanging out with them,
getting to know them better. And, and I just felt like, you
know, they asked like, man, you think he's going to do OK?
You know, we really want him to qualify through the opens.
It's going to get tougher and tougher.
And I remember telling his dad that you just when KVD told me

(02:39:32):
this a long time ago, too, I asked KVD, when did you know you
were going to be a badass bass fisherman?
And he said right off the bat, Iwas just winning.
I was just winning from the verybeginning.
And that's how I see these guys like Easton Fothergill, Tucker
Smith, Trey McKinney, They're they just, they've been winning

(02:39:52):
their whole lives. And it's not like they're just
going to stop because something else is going to happen and
distract them to the point to where they can't do that
anymore. They're good at what they do.
They're good, they work hard andgreat champions.
Committed to it and they've got the family support that that

(02:40:13):
helps them, helps them thrive because they've got people
behind them that are that support them really, really
well. Well, this show thrives because
we have people behind us that support us very well and you are
one of them. Jake Latondres, another great
Jake's take. Thank you.

(02:40:34):
Bye. Thanks, Dave.
That's it, that's all. Kicking it off with Slopper and
then backing it up with Jakes take.
I would say it was a pretty successful show.
I enjoyed these conversations. I hope you enjoyed them as well
and if you did, make sure to like, comment, subscribe, do all
the things that help stroke the algorithm and make this show

(02:40:58):
social media, cool streamers. Also, whether you watch an Apple
podcast or Spotify, make sure toleave a review, a rating, even
just a thumbs up. Whatever you want to do, just
help us out because if you guys don't do it, then nobody will
find out about this show and it'll just, well, won't really
affect your life, but it'll really affect my life.

(02:41:20):
And so help make my life. If this shows made your life
just a little bit better, help make my life better by making
sure to do the things on the appropriate platform that make
that platform feel like you likethis show.
Because guess what? This show likes you.

(02:41:41):
We'll be back next week. Giant announcement, giant thing
going on next week that I'm really excited about and I think
you guys should be excited about, but we'll find out next
week. Make sure you're tuned in.
Have a wonderful week and until next time, enjoy being.
And as always, Bob Cobb, take itaway.

(02:42:03):
Thanks for watching. Please like, comment and
subscribe because Bob Cobb of the Bass Masters told you to
you. Here.

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