Wes Logan and Byron Velvick on MERCER-217

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
He is a two time Bassmaster Classic qualifier.
He's a two time Bassmaster EliteSeries champion.
He's the most recent Elite Series champion, joining us for
his first interview since winning on 10 Killer the little
ball of hate W Logan. But that's not all.
We're also joined with another edition of Byron's Bunker.
Byron Velvik, former Classic qualifier, former Bassmaster

(00:22):
winner, former Bachelor, joins the show.
Both of them join me this week. Welcome, one.

(00:44):
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 that goes
by my last name, which is Mercer.
This is the 217th edition of theMercer podcast, and I hope
wherever you're watching or listening from that life is
treating you well. I just got back a little while

(01:08):
ago from Oklahoma 10 Killer, theseventh stop of the Bassmaster
Elite series. A phenomenal week, but a
challenging week weather wise. I didn't think it was ever
possible. You guys know I hate snow
because I live in Canada doesn'tmean that I like snow.
I hate snow. But Oklahoma's weather actually
made me kind of like snow. That's how aggressive it was.

(01:33):
I mean, it was either ridiculously hot or there was a
ridiculous storm coming. I mean, it felt like there was
tornado warnings every single day.
So a special shout out to all ofour anglers, to all of the
Bassmaster live camera folks that Stand Stand stood out there
and battled it out. Kudos to all of you and thank

(01:55):
you because I think what we ended up with was a very, very
cool event. People caught him in a lot of
different ways. There was, I mean, the only
thing that remained consistent about the tournament right up
until the very end is Andrew Loberg, California rookie.
Great dude LED that wire to wireuntil the very end.

(02:19):
Wes Logan won it by an ounce. But Andrew Loberg, somebody to
keep your eyes on. I think a lot of people got to
see him for the first time and I'm trust me, that will not be
the last time you see him. An incredible talent.
He's a member of the surge squadwho have already won two elites
already this year in their rookie season.
I mean, that is an incredible house.

(02:40):
Paul Marks, Emile Wagner, TuckerSmith and Andrew Loberg, I mean
all of them making a big impact on the Bassmaster Elite series.
So I want to thank everybody whocame out and said hello, we have
great crowds, so many cool things.
I mean, the Angler of the year race tightened way up.
I think we the top three, Jay Secure, Chris Johnson and Trey

(03:07):
McKinney all within 12 points ofeach other with two events left
to go. So that's what you want.
It is going to be a fun angler the year race as it all comes
down to the wire. Trey McKinney is made his fifth
top 10 of 2025. I mean, I haven't checked the
numbers, but I believe nobody's made more top 10s in the last

(03:29):
two years than Trey McKinney andhe's 20 years old.
So unbelievable. Lots of unbelievable things
happening. Here's one of the most
unbelievable things that really,I mean, I, I didn't even know
what to say. This is a special Olympic medal
and my buddy Jade, Hank, Cherry's buddy, many, you know

(03:49):
him from the Hank Cherry classicwhen Jade was in the crowd and
Hank went and hugged him and allsorts of stuff.
But Jade's become special to a bunch of us on the Elite series.
Let's fix that through the magicof focus.
There you go. Lickety split, Barbara Trick

(04:11):
Jay's become special to a bunch of us and proven how special he
is. He took the time out of his day
to be at the event. He comes to a lot of events, but
brought five of these. I was lucky enough to get one
from him. Hank Cherry, of course, got one.
Gussie, Randy Howell, Matt Robertson, we all got this

(04:37):
awesome gift and Jade, I cannot thank you enough for it.
That is what makes Bassmaster what it is, The amazing fans and
the amazing people that truly remind you that you got the
coolest job on earth. So Jada will find a spot to hang
this on the set behind us and wewill.

(04:59):
We'll have that displayed. Always means the world to me.
As I said, an incredible event. We got a great show.
Wes Logan, The little ball of hate.
I mean, such a driven, focused angler.
I call him the little ball of hate just not because he's
hateful, but because when you watch him weigh in, he is like
intently staring at that scale, wanting the number to be the

(05:22):
right number. He hates to lose.
He's got incredible passion and I thank him for making sure that
this was the first podcast that he did after he took the West,
his second W. So we have a great conversation
that goes a lot of directions. He opens up about a lot.

(05:42):
So whether you love to fish tournaments, you're just a fun
angler, or you've never fished before, trust me, listen to this
podcast. You're going to learn some stuff
from it. So we kick things off with a
little ball of hate, Wes Logan. But after that, we're not done.
Don't go anywhere. Our second, Byron's Bunker.
For those of you who don't know,Byron Velvik, former Bassmaster

(06:05):
winner, former Classic qualifier, former Bachelor,
joins the show once a month and tells us a story and then brings
us around Byron's Bunker. So it's going to be a fun show.
I thank you all for your support.
Make sure to like, comment, subscribe, do all those things
to help keep the grow going. Oh, another thing, Average

(06:31):
Ontario Anglers did their podcast.
It's a fun one. I'll try to put a link down
below. So make sure you check that out.
I don't know when it comes out, but I did the outdoor burrito
with Vandy and Brandon Paul next.
So that's coming out probably later this week or next week.
So lots of chef coming out. But before that all comes out,

(06:53):
this is out and I appreciate youchecking this out.
Without further ado, let's jump right into it with a little ball
of hate. Wes Logan, you are a two time
Bassmaster Elite Series champion.
It's got a good ring to it. I like it.
I like it. I don't.
I don't know that I would have ever thought I'd hear you say

(07:15):
that, but here we are. I don't think it's shot.
I mean, I think that just means you're not a Jackass.
Like there, there's other peoplewho've been like about time.
So people will definitely, definitely argue that statement.
I don't know. I, I, I hope that, that people
would think that I'm not or, or that they would think that I am

(07:39):
very humble. I might be a Jackass, but I'm
I'm I try to be as humble as I can be.
Yeah. Do you look at an ounce
differently all of a sudden? Do I what?
Look at one ounce differently all of a sudden like.
Dude, I still think I'm going towake up like it still has not

(07:59):
set in yet. I'm being honest with you
because like, I didn't think I won.
Like I thought I made a good runat it, made some good TV, like
made it good to watch. But like it, it just didn't feel
real. Like I don't know, Like I now
when I was out there fishing, like as the tournament was going
on, like every day I would catchone or two.

(08:20):
Like that probably normally doesn't happen.
Like just catch 1 when I needed to.
Like, you know, you're in that mindset.
Like man, I need a four pounder and 20 minutes later I flip in
the tree and catch a four pounder.
It really got real. And obviously I've won the elite
and I've won a bunch of, I've won three BFLS.
Just bet you know, some bigger stuff and like you get that

(08:41):
feeling like like you're fishinglike you.
I try not to like I caught that big one in that mat £5 or boat
flipped it, put it in the boat and I stand up and I just get
back to fishing and everything calms down real quick.
And I'm like fishing and I'm coming around this pocket and in
my head I'm going, dude, you gotlike it's 9:45 and you've got 14
1/2 lbs. Like I took kept telling myself

(09:03):
I can get to 17. I'd have a chance.
And I'm like, I started getting like this weird feeling in my
stomach. I'm like, man, I might win,
blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, I was fighting
myself all day. I'm like, dude, don't get in
that like lackadaisical mindset because the job is not even
close to being over. Like you still got this big
mountain to get up. You've got a good start and
everything's rolling, but stay focused like, you know, do do

(09:25):
the task at hand because the, the one time you you select your
focus slip, like it, it's going to be gone.
So yeah, that's kind of like howthat deal kind of played out.
Like I, I had that feeling like everything was going right, but
I still had to do my job. I couldn't let my emotions and
my mindset like take over what Ineeded to do if that makes

(09:49):
sense. Yeah, yeah.
But when we were covering it on live, as soon as you caught that
five, I said that that exact fish just changed the whole
complexion of this tournament because.
And I don't know if you've had achance to go back and look yet
or or even absorb it, but like you had the lead, bass track
lead, you know, the unofficial lead at that time.

(10:10):
But I'm like, he's got 10 lbs that that's a fake lead.
We're in a tournament where literally one dude did not catch
a limit every day and it and it was and he was 1 short of it.
So you have to assume Andrew's going to get a limit.
And but when you caught that five, I'm like that that fish,
whether he wins it or not, all of a sudden this entire

(10:31):
tournament has changed. Did it feel like that to you?
Like were you like? It it so I knew I, I told
everybody or the few people I talked to and and not tournament
guys. I told my dad and one of my good
buddies and Riley, I said, and that's what it like if I can get
to 17 because that will make himhave to catch 12 or like a high

(10:53):
because I knew 10 was easy. Not going to say easy ain't none
of it easy, but 10 was attainable if you got some bites
like high ones, 2 and a quarterslike that's what you were going
to catch if you got bit. I knew that 12 was a whole
different benchmark like you hadto get a good bite, you had to
put it in the boat you or you had to catch 5 two and a halfs,
which was not not quite as easy.I mean 1212 lbs made the cut or

(11:18):
12 and a quarter I think. So obviously it wasn't as easy
for half the field. I just knew it would give me a
chance. Like it would make him have to
catch him one more day, which hehad caught him three days like
and dude, he called him great. Like I he had two of the biggest
bags of the tournament obviously.
And like I knew he was going to catch him, but I just, there was

(11:38):
a weird feeling in me the whole that whole last day.
But when I caught that big one, I told everybody was like I need
to catch 2. Like if I catch two big 2 / 4
and one of them's closer to five, like it's a legit chance
because I was getting in the afternoon, I was getting a
couple 3 LB bites every day and I caught that one and I was
like, man, it's not even close to lunchtime yet.

(12:00):
I just went down my best stretchthe first time and caught A5
pounder. Like I've got a lot of time
left. But it like I said, it gave me
that feeling, but like it it it'd be cool if I had there was
some audio when I called it because like I boat flip it and
I'm like fired up for I don't like literally you could ask

(12:21):
like everybody with me maybe 10 seconds.
Like I scream real loud. I didn't dude.
I literally thought it was a 3 1/2 pounder when I boat flipped
it like I can, I can't. Like I saw it come out of the
mat like with his mouth closed when it like it just popped out
like out of all that junk and ithits the water like it's down
there deep. And I didn't realize like how
deep it was when I went to swingit.

(12:42):
It's like 3 foot down in the water.
Like it comes up and as it comesover the gun.
Well, I still think it's like atthe most of four and it hits
the, the deck of the boat And when it lands in the bottom, it
just lays there for a second. And I was like, oh God, that's
like a real big one. They like fired me up for like
just a second. And then I was like straight
back to business. Like calm down.

(13:02):
Like the, the, you know, it's not over yet.
But I, but I, I looked at or I looked at everybody back there.
I was like, I just made-up the difference right there.
Like just that quick, like one bite and, and you know, it's,
you know, I've heard it my wholelife on Bassmaster when, when
somebody's behind and they catcha big one, they're like, we just
made-up the difference, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
But it was kind of cool to experience that.

(13:24):
But it just, in my mind, it justmeant like it got real.
Like now it's time to really getto work.
Like, yeah, it was cool to be fishing in 3rd.
Like now it's, it's, it's got it.
Like there's a legit chance to to make it happen.
Me and you didn't get a chance to talk in the morning just
because the weather. I mean, it was crazy.
Did. It not feel weird like it, it

(13:45):
just, it didn't feel like, it felt like we were going out
there to like fish a like 10 boat team or like a like a local
tournament or, I don't know, everybody was just kind of
hanging out and chilling out under the pavilion.
I'm like, it's it's 6:20. We got to go.
Like, I don't know, it was, it was a weird deal.
But no, yeah, I I know what you're saying.
Yeah, it it was a strange morning.

(14:06):
I mean, we didn't have morning take off interviews and
everything. It was just like, it did kind of
feel like a club tournament witha bunch of people.
Hanging out like here we go. Yeah, but you said on stage and
you've kind of referenced it a few times, even just in these
last few minutes, you said you woke up feeling different that
day. How so?

(14:29):
A calmness and I don't like I'm probably the furthest thing from
being calm most of the time likeI'm normally like AI don't even
want to say like I'm just alwayslike like wound up like I I want
it to happen like real fast. I want to catch them quick.
I want to do this, I want to do that, I want to be here, I want
to be there, but I don't know. I just like, like I said on

(14:51):
stage, I didn't even think aboutfishing the night before.
Like I obviously I rigged, I rigged my rods before during
weigh in because we had to go out there for the top 10.
So you know, I literally I just had three rods to to re rig.
I got that done and I just kind of hung out.
Like I didn't think about where I was going to go, what I was
going to do. I was like, I'll just think
about it when I wake up. And I woke up and it was like,

(15:13):
I'm gonna go here, I'm gonna go here, I'm gonna fish, I'm gonna
leave from there, I'm gonna go up there and that's what I'm
going to do. That's whatever it's going to
be. That's where it's going to
happen. I mean, they're going to lose it
or something cool is going to happen, but there was just never
any doubt in my mind. And I don't know if if that's
how the the really good dudes feel all the time, because
normally I doubt myself like every other decision.

(15:35):
I just I woke up and I wasn't nervous.
Like I don't really, I'm not going to say I don't get
nervous. Like I if you don't get nervous,
you don't care or get emotional like stuff like that.
Obviously I just, there was no the little, I mean, that's the
best way to put it. There was no like worry.
Like I knew what I was going to go do.
I knew where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do and I was

(15:56):
just going to let it be what it was going to be.
Have you ever had that feeling before?
No, no. Never.
Never, not in a not, I mean probably at some point in my
life doing something, but but not not in a not in a
tournament, not even close. And I truthfully, man, I
everybody, like, I think the, the, the consensus would be,

(16:17):
well, you probably didn't think you had a chance to win because
you were 5 1/2 down. And it really wasn't that.
Like, I think I thought I could win was why I felt that way.
Like, I don't know. I just had a calmness,
confidence, like the, the way I'm fishing, the where I'm
fishing, like I know what lives there and I know I felt like,

(16:41):
and this is not a knock to any guys, to any anglers, that the
way I was fishing, the what I was doing, like I couldn't be
beat. Like I knew what I was looking
for. I knew how to present the bait.
I knew how they were setting up and it I don't know.
I just felt like I had a little bit something figured out better
than everybody else because I was fishing around a lot of

(17:02):
people, like really good anglersand I could just, for some
reason, I could just go kind of behind them and, and I'd catch
something. Maybe it was just meant to be.
Maybe I'm really not that good and I got really lucky.
But in that type of fishing and everybody's got their deal.
Like it just is what it is. But I just, when I was able to
fish that way in that type of environment, I just felt like I

(17:24):
was in my, I mean, basically just in my groove.
So how did the morning can the the feeling you had the morning
of your last Elite Series win versus this morning totally
different? Oh man, it was it was there's
not even a comparison. I was so nervous.
The, the amount of pressure I felt that that morning was like,

(17:46):
I, I think I literally like threw up the morning when I
left, before I left the camper just because, like it was expect
you're leading, you're on your home lake where you know every
piece of grass, every, you know,tree on that, like every rock
that gets a bass on it, like youare expected to win.
And if you, I feel like I was going to let a lot of people

(18:08):
down if I, if I blew that. And I think the next thing is I
don't remember if I said, I can't remember if I ever talked
about it. I I've like, I had LED a couple
like bigger tournaments and, andbomb like I, I just didn't, I
couldn't finish it. I, I mean, I led the Forestwood
Cup in 2018 blew that like caught 1 bass the last day.

(18:28):
And I mean, I just basically spun out like looking back on
it, a couple like, you know, Toyota or they were coaster
series at the time, some open, like I let an open at the
Lacrosse that I ended up losing.And and I think that was like
weighing on my mind really bad. Like I was just like, I can't
screw this up again, especially here when I know like everything

(18:49):
to do in the right place at the right time, stuff like that.
But yeah, it was a completely different feeling.
I don't know, like the only way to describe it, it was a
calmness and and maybe it was just the good Lord, like just me
trusting him and knowing whatever is going to happen.
And that's that's one thing I dowant to say.
Like I haven't really talked about it to anybody, not even

(19:09):
rally. Like all day I kept telling
myself if it's meant to be, it'sgoing to happen.
Like you can't make it happen and you're not going to keep it
from happening. Like whatever you try and do to
screw it up, it's it's going to replace like you're going to be
able to make up for it. And I guess that's where the
calmness came from. Like, if I was supposed to win,
something was going to happen for me to win.

(19:31):
Just keep, you know, keep listening to your gut, keep
making good decisions, Pay attention to everything going on
around you. And when you get this feeling,
go act on it. I don't know that's I, I feel
like I've been fighting that a lot this year, like fighting
that when I get a feeling like, because it wasn't comfortable.

(19:53):
Does that make sense? Like like start like so perfect
example is the Marina. I started in all three days was
down the lake like it was a likeone of the bigger marinas on the
lake. And I had it all to myself all
three days. There was nobody really in there
messing with me. I got the fish real slow.
But I knew like the like and I had caught 12 lbs in there the
second day, but that day three Igot in there and everything was

(20:14):
perfect. Like the weather was good and
they just it just I caught a limit but it didn't happen.
Like it didn't feel right and like normally I feel like Old
West would have been like, hey, I know there's fish down there.
I knew I could catch a couple bass in that marine.
Let me just go down there and you know, get a couple bites and
calm down. Well, I decided to go to a whole

(20:35):
completely different marine. I hadn't fish since the first
day of practice because number one, it was closer to the area I
wanted to flip and #2 the two bites I had had in there were,
were basically 3 pounders. So I thought the quality of
bites was better. But the number like I it just I
don't think Wes like a couple years ago or even a couple
months ago would have made that decision to to go away from

(20:58):
something that that I knew was like a guaranteed couple fish.
If that's a, if that makes any sense or that was explained, you
know, somewhat makes sense. When did you make that decision?
When I woke up, I am really not even when I woke up, I woke up
and I do the same routine. I, I wake up, I start my coffee,
I cook me some bacon and eggs and I'll sit there.

(21:19):
I, I'll get up a little bit earlier than I, like 30 minutes
before I have to leave just to kind of get everything, you
know, situate. I, I don't like being rushed.
Like I don't like being under, like they have to take my time.
Like 30 minutes of sleep is not going to help me like be less
tired. So I'll get up and get
everything situated and just calm down and, you know, just
think about the day and stuff. And I was just sitting there
eating and I was like, I call it, I called it the Merry Go

(21:42):
round Marina because there was so many people in there.
Every time I'd run by there, they'd be like boats in there.
And I'm like, it's like a merry go because it's kind of in a
bowl too. And so like everybody just goes
in a circle as they're fishing it.
I was like, I'm gonna go to the Merry go round Marina and, and
see what happens. And, and it truthfully, I didn't
like roll up in there and they started biting like, I, I

(22:03):
started second guessing myself like it was raining so hard when
we took off, like, and I got there, the lights were still on
in the Marina because it was like they thought the, you know,
the, the power of the solar dealworks.
Like it thinks it's dark. And I, it was probably 20, it
may have been 15 minutes before I got my first bite, but it was

(22:24):
literally those lights had been off for about 10 minutes when I
got the bite. And looking back on it, I just
wondered if the lighter it got when it rain started letting up,
those fish started gravitating more to the, the actual Marina
docks. They were probably out there
just kind of roaming like they do at night because they know as
as that sun gets higher, like they've got it, they want to get
in that shade. So I think it kind of pulled
them because therefore, after I got that first small mouth bite,

(22:47):
they started biting like pretty quick.
Like it was just like like how Ithought it was going to be when
I got there. So there was a little bit of
doubt there when I went down, I thought the best, you know, side
of that, that best marine like that best slip, I was like
should have got a bite through there.
And I come around the other sideand catch that good one.
And then I ended up catching a limit before I ever got done
with it. And I actually circled back

(23:07):
through where I started and caught 2 that actually ended up
calling a little bit. So it was, it was a time and
deal which the whole lake was, but it was a that was a little
bit of doubt, but not much. So when you say that Old West
wouldn't have made some of thesedecisions, when did New West
show up? Did he just show up this week or
has this been another? Like when do you think you've

(23:30):
shifted to start making decisions a little different?
I mean it, I don't know. It's, I felt different after
the, they, we had an MPFL event at Douglas right after Sabine,
had a horrible event at Sabine or finished, you know, 60s or
something. We went straight to Douglas and

(23:53):
I'm fishing like normal. I'm practicing first day of the
tournament and nothing's going right.
Like everything I found in practice is everything's just
kind of changed. Like basically par for my whole
year. Like nothing's I've had decent
practices, nothing stays the same.
I can't figure it out during thetournament.
I'm just having to scrap. So I'm doing that day one just,

(24:13):
I just don't feel I never got comfortable and had like, you
know, I was sitting in the 60s or 70s Again, I'm like, I just,
I'm just hanging out here this year.
And day 2 I made a decision. I'd had like 2 bites, like way
up in a, in an area and I ran upthere to start.
I was like, I got to catch a bigger bag.
I'm going to run up there. And it was 12:00 and I had 0
bass, had nothing, had not had abite.

(24:35):
And I might well, this is just, we're just, we're just, you
know, the trains just steadily going downhill.
And for some reason, like, I waslike, I'm going to go back in
there and check it one more time.
And I roll in there and Dave, I'm not lying, dude.
I went to catching them and I probably caught 40 in the next
two hours. And I don't know, like from that
moment on, like I feel like likeI'm going to go catch some.

(24:59):
The next day. I went up there, called him
again. I get to practice at 10.
Killer practice. I like, I'm in a good mindset.
I'm starting getting some bites,I'm putting things together and
it's literally, I just feel likea, I've got my confidence back
when everything was about to fall apart completely and 0 on
the latest got millions of bass in it and I was able to like

(25:20):
turn it around. So and I it may be a little bit
of momentum, maybe a little bit just confidence and decision
making. I don't know, I think I think me
having confidence in myself whenI'm making a decision right now
is, is key. Is is like a real key to what
happened this past week because I trusted my gut like when, when

(25:42):
I would be having this like urgeto like, Hey, you need to get up
there to so and so and I would go up there and catch 1 within a
couple minutes. Like man, you can't like you
can't replace that like mentallywise in in bass fishing.
And if you don't tournament fish, it's hard to understand
because like, if you're just outthere fishing, you're like, oh,
let's go over here and fish these trees.

(26:03):
Well, you go over and catch somecool, let's go fish these rocks.
Like you're not, there's no pressure.
There's no. But when, when, when the, you
know, when the clock's ticking, when the money's on the line and
your job's at at stake and you make a game time decision like
that to run 20 minutes somewhereand get there and cold twice in
10 minutes. Like it that that does wonders.
Like it really does. Even if it's just like a couple

(26:25):
oz, like no one like Hey, I madea good decision.
Umm, it it really it's, it's a real thing.
Like it's, it's crazy. Today's high tech fishing world
can be a real pain in the neck, especially if you're running the
wrong mount. Beat down outdoors.
They bring the graph to you and they support this podcast and
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(26:47):
Check out the download doors. Now back to the show.
Yeah, watching it from the outside, as close as I've been
lucky enough to see all of you guys compete, see a bunch of
people in angler of the year, that that's it.
I mean, and if you could bottle that up, you could sell it for
what it, but it's amazing. Like, I mean, I, I use Aaron as
an example because I saw him have highs and lows.

(27:10):
You know, I saw him win multipleangler of the years.
I saw him have some rough seasons and the same angler when
he's winning angler of the year,he's just like, they're right
over there, bro. Let's they're right on that
point. We need to go.
We need to go now like I need tobe there.
Now, and it's not, it's not arrogance, it's just I know
they're there. And then that say, you see, I've

(27:31):
seen him in other situations where he's like, oh, maybe
they're there. No, they're probably over here.
And once that battle starts, like, but it's when you guys are
firing at your best, it's like, there's no thought.
It's, it's almost like, well, ofcourse they're there.
You know that that's where they are.

(27:52):
And, and it's weird because you can go into the season wanting
that and saying, I'm I feel confident.
But unless that confidence gets fueled by success, yes, that
confidence starves itself out ofyour life in a hurry.
Quickly, trust me, I mean, I hada the best start I've ever had
to my elite series career. I mean, I, I go to we go to

(28:13):
Saint John's and Okeechobee and I'm in 5th and AOY and I have an
11th and a 16th. I'm like, this is easy.
Like, no, I'm not. I know it's not easy, but I'm
like I'm just rolling around like fishing like and they're
biting and I even roll into the first day of the classic and I
catch 4 for 21. I'm in in like almost top ten.
I'm like, we don't keep this train rolling.

(28:34):
And dude, let me tell you something.
I hit a brick wall the second day at the Classic.
Like I felt the wheels literallycome off, go in the ditch, run
up, go through somebody's house,like blow everything up.
The car blew up. I barely limped away.
I don't know what happened. And from that point on, like, it
hasn't been good. I'm not gonna lie like it.
I mean, you tell by my finishes and me being on stage, like I

(28:56):
just could not get it together. And, and, and a lot of that is
like just bad luck to like you. You finally get the right bite
and it comes off or you, you know, you break off something
bad happens. But that's going to have it
happens to everybody. You can't let that affect you.
It just seemed to happen at a really bad time the last few
tournaments, like when I needed it not to obviously, but I don't

(29:19):
know. I, I hope we've turned it
around. I feel a lot better obviously
with myself mentally, I don't know it was either way.
However, the rest of the season works out if I make the class or
if I don't. The way this tournament went
down, I'm very proud of myself, of how I fished and how I
handled the whole week, which issaying something for me to me to

(29:41):
be proud of myself because I'm I'm definitely my toughest
critic. You are I mean that's where
little ball of hate comes from because you hate like I mean
then weed and you never. I've told the story a bunch of
times, but I feel like me neither.
I never walked up to you and said, how'd you like to be the
little ball of hater just started calling you that because
I watch you like you weigh you're fishing and you're just

(30:02):
like when you don't catch them, you hate it and I don't.
Weirdly, I think in fishing, it's kind of messed up that that
and I know you've had people saythis to you.
You just get up there and smile and be thankful to be there.
And, and I don't, I totally don't.
I don't think you disrespect theposition you're in.

(30:24):
I just feel like having the drive like in any other sport,
you take a picture that is just so obsessed with being the best,
that's celebrated. But weirdly enough, in fishing
you're supposed to take a whooping and smile and just be
like, I'm just happy to be here.Which.
No, you can't. Some, some guys know you are.

(30:47):
Yeah, no, it's it's not. I wasn't raised that way.
Now, I was raised to be very appreciative, which I am of the
position I have. But I also feel like that I've
been put in this situation for areason.
I've been given this opportunityfor a reason.
And, and I want to be able to, you know, perform the best that

(31:07):
I can to allow myself to be, I'mtrying to figure out how to say
this. I feel like I, I need to perform
the best I can to have the opportunity to promote the
reason I'm, I'm here, if that kind of makes sense.
Like there's a reason I've been put in this situation to be a
professional bias angler. There's a reason I went through

(31:27):
that boat wreck at Champlain. There's a reason that I've lost
so many times and not one like it makes me want to be able to
do well because when you do well, you get promoted more.
It's just plain simple. How the game works like that is
what if you're not catching them?
Don't really nobody know who youare.
You're not able to promote your sponsors yourself like nothing,

(31:48):
none of that. So that's where the pressure on
myself comes from and forbid people be able to like look at
me and be like, hey, look how that guy made it look what he
all look what he went through and he's still there competing.
Like he could have just laid over.
He could have rolled over. He could have laid down and gave
up, like, and it goes way past fishing.
Like that's just why I get so upset.

(32:10):
I'm like, I need, I've and I tell you, I've said this 100
times. I don't go out there for me.
Like I'm not yeah, I want to catch them for myself, but I'm
out there for everybody who supports me, family, sponsors,
friends, like everybody that like, that's why I go out there.
I it's just, and it's not, I'm not trying to be cliche.
I'm not trying to be that guy. I'm just being completely

(32:30):
honest. Like I mean I it just is what it
is. You mentioned it on stage, are
you willing to tell me about what happened in Bill Owens boat
in Hartwell? Oh yeah, yeah.
I mean, I Mama didn't raise no, as they say, but yeah, I mean,

(32:52):
so the day 2 at Hartwell I or day one, I had a good I had a
decent bag. I was like right outside the cut
and I go do my little deal and Icatch me like right at 14 lbs.
I know it's not gonna be enough.So I make that game time
decision like it's like 2:00 or no, I'm sorry.
It was like 12:00 and I make a like a 30 mile run up the

(33:16):
Tougaloo. I've got 1 area that I called
him a couple years ago that I went and practiced and I had one
bite, but it was a real big whenI was like, I'm gonna go up
there and fish and if I get a bite, it's gonna be a big
largemouth and it'll, you know, we'll jump in the cut and do
what we need to do. So I'll make that run all the
way up there and I fish for about 30 minutes and I, you
know, I'm, I'm, I'm fishing, I'mthrowing a horny toad around

(33:37):
these docks and, and like A7, I'm gonna call it 7
conservatively, I don't know howbig it was.
Eats it like right at the trolling motor.
And it's one of them like short strings.
You like everything happens realquick and I just like reacted
jerk and it broke my line and like as it breaks my line, like
I ended up hooking it and it like the water is kind of clear.
So I see it like go down and it comes up over by the dock and

(33:59):
it's jumping, trying to throw myfrog out of its mouth and it
almost jumps on top of the floating dock.
Like it literally like half its body hits up there and then it
falls back in like I'm watching it.
I'm like, I can't believe that just happened.
Like I, I broke down like I almost like threw up and I'm not
trying to be like exaggerated or, you know, whatever the word
would be, but like, that's the kind of bite, like the cut, the

(34:23):
kind of decision. And, and like if it works out
like you're the hero, like it's like picture perfect storybook
run up there. Catch A7 pounder.
You, you know, you jump into thetop 15, top 20.
I mean, you have over 20 lbs like, and I go run.
I, I try and get myself back together.
I go catch a few more. Don't make the cut.

(34:45):
And like as of all the fish I had lost up to that point that
that really would have made a big difference in the standings.
Like I'm just sitting there intomy boat, like in the campground
and I'm just I'm just sitting there like looking at the ground
and I don't know, for some reason I just like tears just
start rolling down my face and I'm like, I don't know, I'm
looking around and and Riley's in the camper and I don't want

(35:06):
to go bother her. And Bill's over there rigging
for day three and I go over there and I got my glasses on
and I go over and I lean up against, but he's like, what's
up, bud? And I just don't say nothing.
Like I can't talk and like, I he's like, you OK.
And I like just pull my glasses off and it's just rolling and
he's just sitting. He's like, dude, I get it.
Like I've been there. He's like there.

(35:28):
There's nobody. There's nobody that can
understand it. But us guys that go through this
every day like nobody that they can like your family can
experience like be there, but there's nobody, there's no,
there's no team. There's no, I can't blame it on
the catcher. I can't blame it on the running
back fumbling the football like it's you, dude.

(35:49):
Like they ain't nobody. You're making the decisions,
you're making the play calls, you're tying your knots like,
and, and you just feel like you've like you're just not good
enough. Like I really felt that way.
I, I told him, I said, I really think I'm going to quit.
I'm, I'm, I don't feel like I need to be here.
Like for some reason it's just nothing's working out like
nothing's going the right way. I just, something's telling me

(36:11):
maybe I just need to go do something else.
And that's hard to live with, dude.
Like because I don't have a backup plan.
Like and, and I would say 90% ofthe guys out here don't like,
yeah, I went and got a heating and air degree and at a junior
college I could go work. But I mean, I mean, who wants
to? I mean, and there's nothing
wrong. There's great money in that.
But like, people don't love working heating and air.

(36:34):
People don't love swinging a hammer.
They do it to support their family.
I love bass fishing and the factthat I get to sport my family
doing it is, you know, it. I'll never take that for
granted. But when you're also in that
having those moments where it's just not happening, you, you get
that self doubt. And I was completely submerged

(36:54):
in it, like bad, you know, he kind of taught me off the ledge
and calm me down a little bit like just like Bill does, you
know, just calm, you know, positive, all that good stuff.
And I really appreciate him for that.
But, you know, we all sat down like later that night and in
rally, we all went, we like had dinner and everybody got calmed

(37:14):
down. Like we're not going to quit,
blah, blah, blah, blah. But yeah, it was a, it was
probably one of the lower pointsor lower, you know, moments in,
in my fishing career, maybe, maybe in my 30 years on this
earth, to be honest. And Bill?
I mean, it looks like I like to cry too, because every time I
feel like we're doing something,like I got tears, but it's

(37:38):
really not like it takes something, but it's just a, it's
just like a passion thing. The I mean, it kind of goes back
to the ball of hate deal, but yeah.
I agree with you that nobody understands what it's like
except for people to deal with it.
I mean, the constant pressure that and I try to, I mean, I
have as close a view of it as you can possibly have without

(38:02):
being in it. And I try to explain to people
I'm like, it's not the pressure of I want to win this week.
It's the constant pressure that never stops.
Like you guys have a career thatand I think, I mean, I think I
learned that in life, in just ingeneral, like you feel like you

(38:23):
can get to a point where you'll be happily ever after.
You get to a point where you, you know, this is dumb, but in
in life and in proficient that there's no such thing like you
to work on the second you stop working on it.
I mean, you have two elite series titles now.
If you show up to the last two events a year and you don't
perform, nobody's going to be like, well, I won this year like

(38:46):
you're you're going to the pressure never stops.
I think that I think that's why the classic so unique because I
feel like people go into it and they're almost free because hey,
I can fish now and and the pressure builds if you're in
contention, but you don't have that pressure of you got to
catch him every single day on the elites or you're simply not

(39:07):
on the elites anymore. Oh, yeah, I mean, there's some
really good fishermen that aren't here anymore.
That that I mean, it's not theirfault.
Like you just, I've heard Hackney say, and I don't
remember when he said a long time ago, probably he like you
can't get satisfied like in thisdeal.
Like every, like you just said every day, honestly and even

(39:28):
truthfully, every fish catch like, like, yeah, you can feel
good about it for a second. But I mean, it's almost like
that five pounder that I caught.Like I could have been happy
with catching 14 lbs. Like I knew I'd probably stay in
the top five. Like, oh, we're good man.
Let's just go fish around now. You can't get you can't get
lackadaisical. You can't get satisfied.
Like you've got to keep your freaking foot on the pedal.

(39:51):
And you know, just, I don't know.
I mean, I guess the best way to put it is you can't get
satisfied, especially against these hundred guys.
Dude, it's I can't say enough about.
Every guy from from one to 100 has every chance to win every
tournament we go to. Like that's, it's, it's that

(40:12):
stout, like they don't let up. Like they catch them and they
catch them better every day. Like the longer we get to stay
out there, the better we figure it out.
And I, it's just incredible to me how good they are.
Like it's, it's unreal. So I'm interested about the
conversation with Bill. Did did he say anything to her?

(40:32):
Did he just listen? Because Bill kind of went
through that the previous season, you know, where he was
just real down. Yeah, yeah, he just, he kind of
just, I mean, he let me, he let me get through my, my breakdown
stage, obviously. And he was just like when he
said, man, I get it. He was like, but dude, you just

(40:55):
got to get back up and just get back out there.
It's going to change. Like it'll change at some point.
You just got to keep doing what you do and all the sudden it's
just going to happen. Like you got to start trusting
yourself and quit doubting everytime you make a decision.
And, and he's 100% right. Like when it flips, it just
flips. Like you can't, you can't really
make it up. Like, I don't know it that

(41:17):
there's no way to make it like start getting better and there's
no way to make it be worse. It just it, like you said, if
you could bottle that up and figure it out, you, you, you'd
have all the money in the world fishing wise.
Well, Speaking of bottling something up and wanting to keep
it, you wanted to keep that tree.
Tell me about the special tree. Oh.

(41:41):
Man Yeah my little tree up thereyeah my 3 foot deep tree with a
bunch of limbs yeah You know when I said that, and I don't
know if I should say it on here.I'm not trying to be like, I
don't know, I don't think the I don't think the surrounding area
would like for me to take the tree out of the lake probably,

(42:03):
you know what I'm saying. Like.
As I that's coming out of my mouth on stage, I said, oh shit,
I probably didn't need to say that I'm going to go take a tree
out of the lake. Like, because I, I mean,
obviously I hope a lot of peopleknew I was joking.
I would be able to go take a tree out of a lake that, I mean,
that's that's none of my business.

(42:23):
I would have liked to have had apiece of the limb of it, though.
That would be pretty cool. But yeah, it was definitely a
special tree. I don't, I don't know what else
to say about it. My camera guy, Mr. Tom, every
time I'd go to it and I'd catch one, I'd go to Cole.
He'd just look at me and shake, shake his head.
He's like, I just can't believe there's that many there.
I was like, I don't know, good Lord, just keep sending a three

(42:46):
pounder that stretch that bunch of limbs right there for some
reason. What was different about it?
I, I meant I've been asked that like 30 times in the past couple
days. I have no clue.
I did. There was nothing.
It wasn't on a point. It wasn't in a pocket.
It wasn't the only, it wasn't the only tree there.
Like it would make sense if it was like all bushes and there's

(43:07):
a big lay down out there. Like no, there's a lay down
here. There's a lay down right over
there. There's like two or three down
through here. And even the ones like around it
look better to me because they were like further off the bank.
They were more isolated and, andman, when I found that that
stretch, I literally had two bites on it.

(43:27):
Like one of them was A5 pounder and one of them was A2 pounder.
I called A2 pounder out of that tree and I called off or I shook
A5 pounder off because I pitchedover to the Bush and it rolled
on it. So I, I was able to see it.
So I shook it off. That's the only two bites I got.
And I rolled up there the first afternoon of the the day one and
it was lights out like just bam,bam, bam.

(43:48):
Real quick. I was like, golly, this is, this
is pretty good. But yeah, the the tree is.
And I didn't, I didn't under, I didn't.
I've told this a lot or said this to a lot of people in
practice, you don't realize how good an area is most of the
time. Yeah, because you get, or the
way I practice, I go through a place and if I start on a

(44:08):
stretch that I think looks really good, like all the way
down it and I fished 50 yards ofit, get 2 bites, I'm out.
Like I'll break it down in the tournament.
Like I'll, I'll pick it apart and that's kind of what happened
there a little bit. But so the, the first day I went
up there, I run up, you know, I run up there like 2 hours left.
I catch like 3-3 pounders like pretty quick.

(44:29):
And so I had, you know, an hour and 10 minutes to deuce, like
just mess around. So I ran some other stuff that
looked good and caught a few little ones.
And it's as I was coming back, Iwas like, I'm going to swing
back over and fish that, you know, that little stretch I got
the, the two good bites in because it was kind of a short
deal. I had enough time to do it and I
call again on the same flip. I was like like light bulb went

(44:53):
off. I was like, they're they're
using the same cup, they want touse the same piece of cover for
some reason. And the only reason I had that
feeling is Neely Henry sets up just like that.
You can have a stretch that justlooks amazing and they'll be in
four places if you're going to get a bite.
And it just like when I when that went off and then day 2 I

(45:15):
did it again on other pieces of cover.
I'm like, they just want to be on certain places and I have no
idea why. Like maybe the current hit it
different because they were pulling water out of the dam,
obviously. And then there was a little bit
of current in the whole system just because it was so much
water coming in, going out, stuff like that.
That's the only thing. I think there may have been a
brim bed in the area. I never really saw any brim

(45:37):
around, but it would make sense that they were still like going
to that deal. I don't, I don't know it.
I would love to know how many bass got called in that little
section of that lake. Like between me, Andrew, Jordan,
Lee, the Johnston brothers, there was a few other guys
fishing it. Like I just don't understand how

(45:58):
there was that many bass there. Never will have no idea.
Another cool thing that happenedin this tournament and I even
had a hard time saying it on stage.
If you go back and watch the Wayand I, my voice actually cracks
up. But you won your first one on
Mother's Day. Yeah.
Yeah, and you won your second one on Father's Day.

(46:20):
Like that's wild. You, you can't.
You can't make that up. You can't the parallels with
that or that's the way Riley said it, which it made sense to
me that the parallels that happened with this tournament
are, I mean, it's hard to deny that it wasn't meant to be as

(46:41):
far as that goes. Like with with the, you know,
Father's Day, Mother's Day. I talked to dad the the night
before practice starts. He was like, you know, he was
just messing with, he's like, you know, it's Father's Day
coming up and and you know, you gave your mom a Mother's Day
present a couple years ago and you know, I kind of want to, I
kind of want a Father's Day trophy.
I was like, probably not going to happen, boss, but I'll get

(47:04):
you something nice. I'll get you a pair of tennis
shoes or something like that. I'll get you something.
Well, then I called him good thefirst day and he's like, I still
want my trophy. Yeah.
Ha ha, whatever caught him good the second day.
Ha ha, whatever. And then day three, I moved up
to 3rd and he was like, I'll tell you what, son, if you don't
keep that trophy for me for Father's Day, just don't come
home. I was like, yes, Sir.

(47:25):
Sure enough, he he said the samething to me.
The first BFL I ever fished by myself at Neely.
He said, if you don't win, don'tcome home.
I'll say yes, Sir, I'll do it. So no added pressure, but I I
don't know how it like the odds of that happening can't be very
high. Like no.

(47:46):
I mean, the odds that we have tournaments scheduled on those
holidays is not how to begin with.
And then to win both of them is just, I don't even know.
Like, I mean, how, what do you think like, well, how do you, I
mean, what did you feel about that?
Like how was that like? That's that's why I had a hard
time saying it like my boy is legit crap.
And and I mean, I know your parents.

(48:08):
I know how supportive everybody around you is.
You got a great family and I, I don't know, I mean, it's just
what was wild like to me. I mean, somebody was going to
win and and they were going to have a father most likely
whoever won. Absolutely.

(48:28):
But for to have you to win too. And one on Mother's Day, one on
Father's Day. I mean, maybe it's just a
coincidence. I I don't know, but it's it's a
pretty freaking cool coincidence.
Yeah. And like, the fact that there
are some incredible anglers out there, like fishermen that are

(48:49):
way better than me, like that will always be better than me
that have not hardly won one or only won a single blue trophy.
And the fact that I've won two now and they've both been on a
Mother's Day and a Father's Day,like, it's, I don't know, I get
chill bumps thinking about it. There's also another parallel in
this deal too. Like, I mean, I, I don't know if

(49:10):
it's a known thing. Me and the me and Bill have
become real close. Like he's, he's, you know, one
of my really good friends. I look up to him cuz I mean, he,
I've looked up to him my whole career.
Like, I mean, Bill Owen flips A jig and throws A spinnerbait and
swims A jig like what is Wes Logan do?
So I mean, a lot of the stuff that I know how to fish I
learned from like watching him. And so like, to be able to share
stuff with him is just like I, Icould never, I could never, you

(49:35):
know, pay him back for what he'sdone for me.
And a lot of it he doesn't even realize.
Like he didn't even tell me or like, I'll just watch his
mannerism or stuff how he, like how he does a jig on a skirt on
a jig or how he puts his chunk on, like how he puts these
different spinnerbait blades. I'm like, I just watch and I'm
like, that's like so above my mental capacity.

(49:56):
Like so the the weird thing is his first elite was in 21, my
first late was in 21, his secondwas this year, and my second was
this year. Oh.
Wow. Yeah, so it's, I don't know,
dude. You can't explain it.
Like I don't want to ask why or how because it's just, it's just

(50:18):
cool to be living it, man. Like it is.
Yeah, it it's it's wild and and even the way you won, I mean, to
be honest and and I hope you don't take this wrong, but if
you hadn't been playing the roleof Andrew Loburg, that is a W

(50:42):
Logan way to do it to lead wire to wire.
And then because you I mean, he won this tournament.
If you if you took it in the I mean, three days of weighing,
you caught him at the finish line.
Every sport is a finish line andyou caught him.
But but that's the kind of stuffthat happens to you, dude.

(51:05):
I'm with you, I'm with you. And but, but, but before we go
any further, like really want togive a shout out to him.
Dude, he fished a perfect tournament.
Like I hate it that one of us had to lose.
Like I really do like and the way it went down like I, I, it
was going to happen one way or the other.
We knew it. We both knew it was going to be
close. Obviously, I don't think anybody
knew it was going to be that close.

(51:26):
Like, you know, the, the hint and the, you know, now that I
hear about it, everybody was like talking about it was going
to be a tie, blah, blah, blah, blah.
But like you don't ever really think that.
And for him to have fished as good of a tournament as he did.
And I went back and I've, I've laid in bed and watched some of
the footage. Dude, he was, he was dialed in.
Like he's a really good fisherman.
I've watched him over at MLF like he's LED some tournaments.

(51:48):
They're like the dude knows how to bass fish like he is.
He will be like I in my post, the one post I've made.
He's he'll be around for a long time and he'll have plenty of
blue trophies. I can assure you.
He his his mind is is he thinks like a fish.
He's like one of them guys. It was just for some reason it
was my time like I was supposed to win that tournament.

(52:09):
I don't know why I didn't think I had one and I still don't know
why I won Like it just I don't know.
I, I, I do feel for him because he's a really good guy.
I, I, I, I don't wish that on anybody because I've been there.
I, there's not a lot of guys that can say, hey, I dude, I
know how you feel like I really do multiple times.

(52:31):
I mean, hey, dude, I forgot about I was leading my rookie
year Guntersville when Franklin,like, I mean dude, I've had
like, I've just, I've been there, dude, I've lived it.
So I he's going to win like and if he watches his I hope he does
like dude, like just keep just keep your head down.
Like don't it? I feel for him, like I really do

(52:53):
like I hated the last thing. I just that's the only thing
that way I can explain. I hate that one of us had to.
I thought I wish we could both won because we both fished.
We both basically fished a perfect tournament.
He fished his stuff perfect. I fished my stuff perfect.
I just got lucky and caught a couple big ones the last day or
blessed fortunate mental. I don't know it just it's just

(53:13):
the way it went down. What is winning a second elite
mean to you? I, I still hasn't sunk in yet.
I'll be honest, like it really like I will, I will open my
phone like I, I can hear it going off now I've still got
like close to 200 texts. I haven't even opened like every
time I open it, there's just more text and more phone calls

(53:36):
and it just like sets me back because because I mean, I've
been practicing the last day anda half.
Like I came, I literally we won.We went eight.
I went to the camper. I literally passed out, woke up,
set the camper up, drove to Eufaula, got everything set up,
went out there, rode around. And then today I spent all day
out there practicing for this next event.
And I really haven't had a chance to like let it soak in

(53:57):
and think about it. It.
It doesn't seem real because I know how hard it is to win two.
I know the guys that have won multiple and I'm like, my name
is associated with these guys inbass fishing.
Like I'm not that I'm I'm not that good.
Like I just, I just don't feel like I am like some of the guys

(54:17):
that have one too. I'm just like I'm not, I'm not
on that. I'm not on that level or I don't
think I am like I, I feel like Ican get better every day, like
I've got a lot to get better AT and I don't know it.
I it's just like if I, if I could tell that little kid that

(54:38):
was, that was flipping A jig behind his dad with a Zepco 33
on a flipping stick it that you're going to be a two time
elite series champ. Dude.
I, I don't even know how to, I don't even know what to say.
Dude. Like, and to win it that way,
like to win it flipping, not just flipping, but flipping a
literally a jig with a zoom chunk on it, which is that's all

(55:01):
we throw. That's all I've thrown my whole
life. I throw a big salty and a super
chunk. We call it a rabbit ear because
it looks like rabbit ears comingthrough the water.
When me and dad fish, he throws one, I throw the other and a lot
of times they bought 1 better than the other and then we'll
both be throwing it. But just for it all to happen
that way is golly man. And on Father's Day they like

(55:24):
that's the craziest part about all of it.
Like I called him the exact way the man taught me how to fish.
And and he the crazy thing, likehe dude, he didn't have to take
me fishing. Like he didn't have to take a
six year old to a bass tournament, like a club
tournament. And mind you, in this club it
was called trustful bass anglers.
I'll just name a few Randall Thorpe, Russ Lane, Scott

(55:47):
Canterbury. There's a couple more, but like
just those three off cops. I mean dude like Matt Heron,
like just the dudes like Colby Cardin who's fished 3 or 4.
Classes. Kobe's a beast.
Like he was like, he was a club like that.

(56:07):
Like there was dudes in there like that.
They weren't then, but they were, you know, they were kind
of like making their way there and for him to take me to stuff
like that. And dude, I can remember.
Like I don't know how I can remember because I don't hardly
remember anything, but I can remember seeing those guys like
weighing in all these big fish and I'm like, God, wait dude,
how do they do that? And then we happened to win one

(56:29):
of the tournaments when I was like 6 or 7 and I'm like, I just
beat some freaking hammers. Like I didn't know they were
obviously hammers then. But like I was like, these guys
are like the best in the world to me.
But man, it, I can remember there's so there's always 1
memory that burns in my head. I was, I was young, you know, I

(56:50):
was, I don't know, 7-8, nine. And it was cold.
We were at Lake Mitchell, which is on the lower end of the
Coosa. And I would, I would fall asleep
in the bottom of the boat because I was so cold.
And I remember I woke up, I grabbed my rod, my literally he,
he gave me a zip code 33 on an All Star flipping stick with 25
LB. I think it was strand

(57:10):
monofilament, clear blue fluorescent.
Then like I couldn't throw it from here to the freaking bluff
bank over there. And I remember I stood up with
my life check. I can remember it vividly.
Pitch my jig over there, my brown jig.
I pick up, I catch a 4 LB spot, he Nets it, goes to do the live
well deal. And I said this is way too easy.
And I put my rod up and went back to sleep.

(57:34):
And he says it like that's exactly how it happened.
He says it tells the story exactly like I literally called
it. I said, I'm going back to sleep.
This is too easy. But I don't know, man, it's just
a it's just a cool fishing memory that I got to share with
him and and for it to all come full circle on Father's Day to
win my second elite, which is like just a whole different

(57:55):
level of winning to win it that way.
It, it just, I owe it all to him, really.
Him and my uncle, my Uncle Kenny, like that's all, that's
all we do. We flip a jig, man, like, and
we, they're going to catch him where we ain't.
And that's kind of the mindset Ihad when I realized how they
were biting. I'm like, I'm either going to
catch him or I ain't and we'll put it in my hand and not lay it
down. Aveco not only makes incredible

(58:17):
outdoor clothing, but they care about anglers.
With their 10% pledge, Aveco andThe Shed family donate at least
10% of the company's profits to conservation and making fishing
better. Now back to.
The. Show something you said a bunch
of times was I don't deserve this.
What did you mean by that? Dude, like I remember saying it

(58:41):
and I don't know why I said it. Like I just have this and I
still feel that way. I have this overwhelming feeling
like I'm not that I'm not I shouldn't be a two time elite
series champion. Like I don't feel like I'm good
enough. Like and I hate, I'm not trying
to be like I come across people like you're so negative.
I'm like I'm not negative. Like, it's just a realistic

(59:03):
feeling like I have to get better every day to be able to
stay here and compete against these guys.
Like I, I don't know, I just like, maybe it was because I
didn't think I was going to win and I wasn't expecting it.
And so I was like, man, I just, I just don't deserve to win.
But when I really think back on it, like, somebody had to win.

(59:25):
Somebody had to lose. And the way I fished that
tournament last week, I probably, I feel like I do, I
did deserve to win because I made some really good decisions
at the right time and and executed.
I mean, I lost one bias that hurt me all week and I thought
it really hurt me to be honest. And it almost there.
Was a fish on Sunday, right? Yeah, it was a five.

(59:46):
It was a second five pounder or it was a, it was a four to five
pounder conservatively. Either way.
Like I, I really thought that was like OK and it really upset
me when it happened. And about a couple minutes later
I'm like, good Lord, didn't wantme to catch it because I did
everything right. Like dude, I pitched over there,
I hopped it, it hit it and just sat there and I cracked it.

(01:00:07):
Like I drilled it and it come upand just wallowered.
It just caught like I saw like it was gone and it just come
off. I'm like like 5 minutes later I
was like, I wouldn't know, I cando about it.
Let me catch the next one. Like the better part of my day
is still to come catch the next ones that bite.
But yeah, like, like I literally, I, I told Riley that
night I was like, I fished the most perfect tournament I've

(01:00:28):
ever fished in my life. Like I practiced good.
It wasn't the best practice. Like I didn't have that many
bites. I just knew what was in the
areas and I just needed to like execute and stay and be where I
needed to be at that time. And, and it just, everything
worked out perfectly. So I mean, I guess, I mean I'm
not going to say I didn't deserve it, but I just in my

(01:00:48):
heart, I felt like at that time I was like, I did.
I, I don't know it, I can't explain it.
Another thing I can't explain. Like it just I had that feeling.
Well, I think you definitely deserve it.
I mean, I think you've, you've worked incredibly hard.
You've overcome a lot over the years.
I also think that's who you are though, Like I think you're

(01:01:09):
always going to be that guy who feels like I, I think that's
what drives you being an underdog being.
And then that's just what I readfrom the outside.
Like am I reading that wrong of it like?
Oh, no, no, I've and everybody'sgot this like, oh, you got to

(01:01:29):
have the underdog mentality. I mean, dude, I, I played, I
played linebacker for our high school football team and I was
57135 like dude. Like I would go out there.
And get the hell beat out of me and hurt so bad, but like there
was nobody that was going to do the stuff I did.

(01:01:50):
Like I would go stick my nose inthere when them tackles would
pull, I would go meet that running back in the hole.
Now it would hurt like hell, dude, but I'd hurt him like it
would hurt him just as much as it hurt me.
The difference was when them bigger dudes would hit somebody,
it would hurt the guy they hit and it wouldn't hurt them.
Well, it would hurt me this bad.Like, and I just I've always had
that mentality because when I played sports, I mean, like I'm

(01:02:12):
saying I'm not that big of it. I mean, I'm a little bitty dude,
but I played as big as I could because just, that's just how my
parents raised me. And I mean, I feel like I've
just brought that mindset to whatever I do.
Even like I, I, I worked in construction, building houses
with my, with my uncle, like I'mgoing out work, everybody there.
I don't know why. It's just ingrained in me.

(01:02:32):
I feel like I'm, I'm feeling I'll have that feeling of, of
worthlessness if I, if I give anything less than my 100%.
And it don't matter how tired you are, it don't matter if
you're hurting. It don't matter if you had neck
surgery back at the end of October.
The damn season's about to start.
Get out there and freaking do your job.

(01:02:52):
Like nothing. I didn't even, I didn't even
remember when I was on stage that I had had, I've had neck
surgery the end of October. Like literally don't even think
about it no more. It hurts right here.
But I mean, OK, so everybody's got like everybody's got
something. Ain't nobody going to feel sorry
for you. Like.

(01:03:13):
I hate that mentality like and Ifeel like it's coming more and
more like in the whole like justeverywhere.
Like if I feel sorry for their self.
Everybody wants a hand out. Like you don't have a hand out,
work your freaking butt off. It's not hard, it sucks, it's
not fun, but it's it's life dude.
Like. So what you're saying is you

(01:03:35):
were a little ball of hate long before you were the.
Little ball of hate. Yeah, Yeah, absolutely.
Yeah. Some of my buddies back home,
when they, when they heard that,they were like, oh, that's
perfect. Yeah, why didn't we think of
that? We just called you a mean
Jackass. Well, it's, it's the weirdest
nickname because it's the only nickname I've ever given that

(01:03:57):
I've had like push back from people.
People like, why you call them that?
Like like like you're hateful and I'm like, but if you watch
him, that's who he is. Like that's and clearly this is
your football stories. That's what fueled you.
You know what I mean? You can't tell me.
I hate the fact that you can't that you're telling me I can't
do this. And you've overcome a lot like

(01:04:19):
you mentioned the surgery did. I mean me and you kind of
laughed about it in retrospect, but you know the boat thing,
surgery and then you set the hook at like the first event of
this year and dropped to your knees and, and Dave Rush was at
the boat with you and Dave Rush told me.
Yeah. I didn't know if he was going to
get up. Literally like, I mean like

(01:04:41):
literally my first cast of this elite series, like I land, I
catch a three pounder on a jerkbait and I, I, I lit or I, I
belly it and I get it up there and I, I put it in a lot.
I turn live on and I turn aroundand I don't know if a wave was
different. It was real foggy that morning,
so everything was wet and dude, I slit and I literally like fell
backwards and I just laid there.I'm like, I don't know if I can

(01:05:01):
move. Like my all both my arms went
numb, which is how it felt with my all the nerve deal and I just
laid there for a second. I was like, you've got to be
kidding me, like if this ain't my look.
And I I mean I kind of got worked out of it and we ended up
catching them good, but like, what the hell.
Like I didn't never fell in a boat ever like that.
And it just I I don't know, justone of them things.

(01:05:21):
But Dave was he was solid. Like he didn't say no, he didn't
move and I got to move around. He's like, you good.
I said I don't know, I don't know, don't nobody move.
Just just let me sit here for a minute.
But everything ended up working out there.
But yeah, I actually forgot all about that.
Yeah, that was a that was a weird sequence of about two or
three minutes. It's like I didn't know if it

(01:05:43):
was going to be really bad or orwhat.
Because the one thing that the doctor told me, he said don't
have any sudden impacts, don't have a car wreck, don't fall,
don't do anything. Then there I go.
Yeah, Clumsy West. So now you've won two of these.
I don't know if you're like me, but I'm always trying to improve

(01:06:05):
on things and make things. And you know what I mean?
I'm almost never satisfied, like, and I think that's a good
mindset for people to have. Did you get anything right with
this one? Like, was there anything?
You look back and we're like, yeah, I held that trophy wrong
last time. If I ever get another
opportunity, I'm going to hold it this way.
I'm going to do this. I'm going to do that.
Or was it? Were you just in Dreamville up

(01:06:27):
there? I literally was in like a
twilight zone because I, I mean,you can ask everybody behind the
stage, like after in the parkinglot that I did not think I'd
won. Like I really didn't.
I thought that four or five pounder I was like, man, this
would have been over. Like, yeah, it literally it
would have been like, we'd all be like having a good time, like
everybody be chill. Like I got 2, four to five

(01:06:49):
pounders in there. I got 18 lbs like it's, it's
pretty much, you know, is what it is.
And, and the way it happened, I just, I was like, it just wasn't
meant to be. And I wasn't mad like I, I never
got upset. I was just like, man, it wasn't
my time this time. Like I fished a perfect
tournament. He fished it better.
Like I fished a perfect tournament except for one flip.

(01:07:10):
And, and that's, I mean, you could have a pitcher throwing a
no hitter. It's a 00 game in the bottom of
the ninth and he he hangs 1 curveball and they hit it out in
the game's over. Nobody remembers that he almost
had a no hitter. They remember that they lost and
other team won. So I mean, that's kind of just
the mindset I was in. And then when it dude, so I was

(01:07:30):
looking when we're looking at the screen, like I can feel him
like towering over me because he's so much taller.
Than. Me you're, you're on my left and
he's on my right and I'm just kind of standing there and I'm
like, I can't move. Like I like, I'm just like stuck
right here. So I'm looking at the box and,
and the way our our screen set up, we've got a box for pounds

(01:07:50):
and a box for Oz. And I'm just looking at the
pounds because for some reason in my head I'm going, it's going
to pop up 12 and I ain't even got to worry about it.
Like again, I was literally thinking in my head, this is
kind of cool. Not not cool, but like I was
thinking what I'm going to do when he wins, like, like, how am
I going to shake his hand? Like I want him to know that I'm

(01:08:12):
proud of him. Like it's a hell of an
accomplishment. Like good for you, dude.
Like awesome job. Like that's what was going
through my head when I'm sittingin the seat and as he's pulling
up, I'm like, I don't want to bebecause dude like, and I don't
know if I'm different than a bunch of guys.
I watched a lot of weigh insurance like growing up and I
saw how some people acted and I saw how other people acted.

(01:08:32):
And I'm like, I want to be like that.
I don't want to be like that. Like that's just a that don't
look good. Like it don't look good to me
and it probably don't look good to everybody's.
I don't want to be like that. So I'm like, do this right, Do
this professional be respectful.Like you wasn't even really
supposed to win anyway. It's his tournament.
Like give him all the, you know,appreciation.
That's literally what I was thinking about, like and I'm

(01:08:55):
looking at that. So I'm looking at that pounds
box and you say he needs all theones and I'm like what the hell
does that mean? I'm like he needs 1 LB Like hell
I know I had more than that. And well then like obviously the
next sentence says he needs 11 lbs eleven oz and I'm still

(01:09:15):
going. He's got 12 something and I'm
looking at that pound thing and all I see is 11.
My eyes never shifted to 9 before you said it.
And I'm like, like, everything just kind of went blank.
I was like, what the hell? Like what, what, what?
And then you said 9 oz. I was like, holy, like, I just
put my head down. Like I got, I remember it
vividly, but I just kind of froze because I was so much

(01:09:38):
expecting it, that number to say12.
And when it didn't, I didn't even think to look at the oz and
see what the oz were. I don't know.
But yeah, that that's kind of where my mom was at when it
happened. Was was I need to congratulate
him in in a professional way andand like, let it be his time.
That's that's what was going through my head.

(01:10:02):
The reason I laughed so loud what you said the he needs all
the ones because dude, I mean, Idon't have a job where you get a
dress rehearsal or you get to think crap through.
What do you say that just? React and I remember saying it
and saying, does this make sense?
But it made total sense to me because I'm like, he's LED every
day he's got. So he's had all the ones, but he
needs 1111, 11, like he needs 1111.

(01:10:24):
And and I remember it coming outof my mouth and being like,
yeah, maybe that didn't make sense to everybody.
And I like, that's it. That's why I followed it up with
he needs, you know, and sometimes some of it makes
sense, some of it doesn't. But it's wild that you were
sitting there getting ready to shake his hand.
Yeah, yeah. I mean that that's literally
where I was at. I had been come to terms like

(01:10:45):
wasn't my, wasn't my tournament.I thought up until about 1:00,
it might be. And then like when you, when you
have that happen and, and I mean, do people lose fish?
Like it's part of it. It's a bad deal when it happens
like in that situation. And, and I don't, I mean, I, I
don't know. I don't know what he lost.
I'm sure he lost some. There's no way you didn't the

(01:11:06):
way we were fishing. But I will say this, if he
catches everything in four days that bites and I catch
everything that bites in four days, I think I beat him by a
good bit because I lost some every day that were, that would
have been # coals like when I was having the fourteens and
fifteens, like I should have been having the seventeens,

(01:11:27):
which again, that that's the waythe, that's the way the ball
rolls. Like everybody loses them.
And they were in that nasty thick stuff.
Like it's going to happen. You ain't going to hit some of
them right? Or they'll be, you know, going
around a limb or something. And it's part of it.
Like that's the, that's the coolpart about it, like hand to hand
combat. But it was a I don't know, like

(01:11:48):
I just, I don't know. I, I, I keep saying this like
the like Andrew fished a perfecttournament, like and one ounce,
like I was supposed to win by 1 oz.
It's just in it. It's just such a blessing, like
with everything that's going on in mine and Raleigh's life and
my parents, Like, I don't know, man, like when it's your, when,

(01:12:11):
when I mean God's timing is perfect rude.
It it, you, you can't, you can'task why when it's bad and you
can't ask why when it's good. You just got to appreciate it
and, and, you know, do the best you can as a, as a human being.
I think it's wild that the last two champions yourself and Patch
Lauper are two people that at some point in this season

(01:12:33):
realistically looked at themselves in the mirror and
said, I don't think I got what it takes.
And two veterans, sorry to interrupt, but 2 veterans.
Christie is what made him realize that everybody feels
like that. And Lowen is the one that.
When that happened, we were sitting at the Yamaha trailer at
the Hartwell tournament and we're all we're in those.

(01:12:54):
It was the same tournament. It was the same tournament
because Pat had a really good first day and bombed the second
day like. Like.
I don't know that he bond, but he obviously didn't make the cut
and we're all sitting there and past like, man, dude, I, I
freaking so I don't need to be here.
Like I can't catch crap. Blah.
I'm like, dude, I can't, I'm, I'm right here with you.

(01:13:15):
Like I'm over it. Like I, I do not deserve to be
here. And then like a little while
later, like Chrissy's talking about like where he fished and
how he did and blah, blah, blah,blah.
And like he's makes the comment he was like, I went and told I
was talking to so and so and I told him, I don't even think I
need to be here anymore. Like I don't even know how to
bass fish anymore. And and I guess Pat hearing that

(01:13:37):
that Jason Christie thought thatlike turn something in his head
because I mean, obviously he he rolls around and wins his first
event. And Pat actually take or message
me. I saw it on Instagram this
morning that he was just read like, you know, replaying the
story, like how we were both ready to quit and now we've both
won an elite in the next like month and a half.
Like it's just, it's just crazy how fast it can turn around.

(01:14:03):
I don't know. Again, I know the parallel.
Like it's so crazy, man. It's, it's awesome to like live
it Like I can't. I wish everybody could feel
this. Like I, I feel kind of selfish
having this feel and I wish everybody could experience it.
I really do. It's a wild sport and it's
moments like like this and some we have the young man that was

(01:14:26):
at the event Jade that you know you'd get paid like it's moments
like that and moments like this that you can hear what you want
on the Internet. To me, this is, you know what I
mean? This is what makes this sport so
special. The people that the the fact
that you can go from literally just thinking I'm not meant to

(01:14:47):
be here, to be in on top of it. Yeah, to literally haven't took
me leaning up against my a second blue trophy or Pat having
his first like and Pat had been close to winning before.
I mean, he was. I mean, I think was it Toledo
being he was Toledo? Bend.
Was. He the wild similarities in his
when he lost Toledo Bend and he had a big lead that going into

(01:15:09):
that final day. Second and third was Patrick
Walters and Jaya Fujita. He wins and set and in.
Patrick and Kya are sitting on the stage in a two way tie and
the only guy who can break it isPat like.
Yeah. It's wild.
It's I don't know, man. It's the the way everything's

(01:15:34):
happened. I don't know.
And and I mean it, this might bea boring one to watch because
it's not like us goofing around and stuff, but I just don't feel
like it's a goofing around time.Like it's just a time to be
appreciative of of how, but I mean, basically how that whole
how this whole tournament went down like like it was just a
cool turf fishing tournament to watch.
Like, and I'm not trying to get into all that bull crap like.

(01:15:57):
No, no, it it totally was. Like just like I don't care if
we would have been out there in 100 foot throwing a freaking 4
inch worm. Like the fact that halfway
through the the final day a dudethat had a 5 1/2 LB lead, now
we're tied on bass track. Like that's crazy.
Like that's cool stuff regardless of who it is.
Like it's turned into a bat. Like we've turned it.

(01:16:18):
We got a battle going on. Like everybody's tuning in.
Like it's cool. It's good for the sport and like
it's good for bass fishing regardless of how we're catching
them. But it was cool up in that big
stuff. Yeah, well, and that's why you
had to lose that other one, because it wouldn't have been
the nearest cool of victory. Like it's, I mean to you, it
would have been, but to the restof the world like to just that

(01:16:39):
feeling. That's the magic that bass track
and live bass fishing and everything is incredible.
It's it's what Ray Scott dreamedof.
But there's some negatives with it.
And the the fact that you a lot of times know who's going to
win. I mean, it's huge that this just

(01:17:01):
the feeling that was around it was very, very cool.
And personally, I'm thankful because I got to be here for
this one. So that so so means a lot to me.
If I'm correct, right, you don'tlook at bass track on the final
day, right? No.
So you had no idea? No, no, I didn't have any.

(01:17:22):
I knew it was tied like I, I knew as we went into it.
To be totally honest, it's funnyyou said that you were sitting
ready to shake his hand because I don't know.
I have no idea. But you generally I get a pretty
good hunch when the second that the last angler weighs in before

(01:17:42):
the final angler, I get to see, you know, when Loberg slide
switches and it says he needs and it said he needs 1111.
And in my head I thought he's got it.
He's got 1111. I mean 1111.
He's, I think his smallest bag all week was 16 lbs.
He had been, he had been low in all his bass tracks.

(01:18:04):
And I'm like, that's kind of right around where he is.
He probably has 12 lbs like I thought.
So it's funny that you were prepared to turn and shake his
hand. And I literally, I tried to be
as natural and organic as possible.
Like I don't want to know. And I, I was in my head
preparing to announce him as thewinner just because I just

(01:18:29):
assumed that he had it. But as did I.
You know that old saying you should never assume?
Yeah, yeah, yeah, because it might run out of you and me,
buddy. Yeah, yeah, for sure.
But I was with you. I was like, I know he's got 12
lbs, like 12 LB like, I mean, he's had that, you know, every

(01:18:49):
day easily and, and obviously a lot more than some, but I, I
don't know, man, it, I don't know.
I can't, It's still, it's still not sunk in like I maybe it will
when I get to drive home, like if I get this tournament over
with it, dude, I might go out there and not catch a bass in
the next three days and that'll be OK.

(01:19:10):
Like that's fine. It is what it is.
I'm just going to go fishing because they can't take that.
They can't take the second one away from me.
Like, yeah. Well, the one thing you said and
you've kind of retorted back to it and said, I don't know why I
said that. And I'm glad you did because you
do freaking deserve it. And I'm glad that I was able to

(01:19:33):
be there to announce this one. And I'm going to tell you, I
don't think it'll be the last one I'm announcing for you.
I think you you got more in the future my friend.
Hey, if we're blessed enough to be able to do this for a while
and, and, and win a couple more,that'll be that'll be great.
But I, I could never, I could never like be not be happy with

(01:19:56):
with the short career I've had so far.
And it's like I've only I've been on the elite series for six
years and I fished FLW for 2. So I mean, I, I don't feel like
I've fished professionally for eight years.
Like it? I don't know.
Like I said, if I never if I never cut another check again,

(01:20:16):
if I never caught another bass in a tournament like I could
never like. Be ungrateful for what I've
accomplished in such a short amount of time.
Like there's, like I said, there's incredible anglers that
I look up to that don't have those those few accolades and
why I've been chosen to get them.
I I don't know. I can't ask why I get them.

(01:20:37):
Like I get them like not crying emotional, but like I just, I
don't know why I'm meet like whyme?
What, what, what, what good am Ito like to deserve this is it's
kind of where that I don't know if I deserve this.
You know what I'm saying like, and it, it might not be like a
talent standpoint, like how goodI can fish.
Like I just don't. I, I, I would like to somehow

(01:20:59):
figure out and maybe I don't need to like why me?
Like, why did I deserve to win asecond one?
I I in May, again, you're not supposed to ask why, like, so
I'm going to take the opportunity to, you know,
promote everything that I like to promote, share my faith,
share my sponsors, you know, enjoy all my family, let
everybody know about bass fishing, how cool it is.

(01:21:20):
And, you know, just I try and bea good person.
Like I try and be a good dude, like I try to help people.
And maybe that's maybe that's why I want so that that can be
spread out a little bit more. I don't know.
I hope so. Well, I loved watching it, I
love being there when it happened and enjoy it dude,
you've worked hard for it. I appreciate it and I want to

(01:21:42):
just thank everybody that that'sreached out to me and and I
don't want to thank my wife and my parents.
And, and like I said, the low ends and all my family and
friends that that have stuck with me through some some couple
tough months, They always, they always said I could that I was
fine and I need, I was where I needed to be and they weren't.

(01:22:02):
Wrong. Amen.
Amen. The little ball of hate or
little ball of great, as I said on Sunday and say if I don't
catch another bass, trust me, I know you well enough.
Just so you know, but tell me, get to say Claire, if you don't
catch them, you're going to be pissed.
Oh yeah, yeah, I'll be mad. I'll be mad.

(01:22:23):
Hey, we still got to make the. Classic man.
I dug my stuff. A little hole I got back up
into, I think. I I.
I mean, I keep up with the points.
I'm I think I got myself back upin the 20s.
But I mean, these dudes catch them like we got to catch them
three or two more tournaments and you know, we'll they might
think making that classic special.
I don't care how many you might,you always want to make the next
one. So we got a lot of work to do.

(01:22:44):
Go get it done. Wes Logan ladies.
And gentlemen, 2 time elite series champion.
Love it, Byron. 'S bunker, he tells a.
Story and then tells you some self.
It's back in your life. Ladies and gentlemen, Byron's
bunker once again. As the song says, he's going to

(01:23:07):
tell us a story, then he's goingto sell us some stuff.
Byron, how are you? The song already played, right?
Yeah. I love it, Mercer.
The song is like, too much, too funny.
You're so cut and dry, black andwhite.
He's going to tell us a story and then sell us some stuff.
I mean, I believe in. Transparency.

(01:23:28):
Transparency just that's what itis.
Sauce. Cell here.
This is like buy. My eBay.
Stuff because I don't want it anymore.
Life is good though. Oh gosh, it's.
Summertime I just my. Daughter and her friend over
here to the lake and they're hanging out in burning lake
right now getting some sun because the UV factor is 12

(01:23:50):
whatever that means. These kids nowadays, they don't
they don't go lay out unless theUV factor is a certain number.
I'm like the sun is out there's no clouds go tanning.
You know my daughter's like well, no, the UV factor has to
be above 10 for it to be worthwhile going out.
I'm like, all these kids now have UV factor.
Mercer, I'm serious. They have UV factor on their
phone. And if it's they, they, they do

(01:24:11):
all there's stuff outside based on what their phone tells them.
Just go put it on your shorts and bathing suits and go to the
beach. Yeah, sometimes you got a good
tan. Sometimes it's kind of like
fishing. I mean, people, people have apps
and things that tell them nowadays.
I mean, it's not people used to just go fishing, but true.

(01:24:33):
Yeah, we yeah. Apps to tell you everything now,
sadly. Apps to show.
You how to get around. So we forgot how to navigate
without a phone. We used to have, you know, Rand
McNally atlases in our head knewwhere to make turns and
landmarks. And the smartphones have made us
a lot, a lot more stupid. A lot of dumb smartphones make
us dumb really. We don't remember people's phone
numbers and we don't know how toget around.
So every landmark we used to useand everywhere used to navigate

(01:24:55):
our brains are becoming mush because of smartphones.
But that's another show. Gosh, that's depressing, but
it's true. Don't.
Back up anymore without a camera?
Like have you tried to back up and hook up?
The guy used to hook up my boda all the time, no problem.
Yeah. And now if, like, I had an issue
a year ago where my backup camera stopped working on my

(01:25:16):
truck. And I swear to you, I was 6 feet
from it, I'm like, ah, that should be good.
And then I got it and I'm like, that's a good example, Mercer.
Like you could before you could look at your two.
Fenders of your trailer, you knew your truck and you could
put that ball almost on the dimeof the hitch just by sensory
perception. And now you are lost as a goat.

(01:25:38):
With your backup camera being off.
That is so funny and so true. Perfect example.
Well, you've got things Dumber because of your smartphone and
your smart camera. Just like I have.
Yeah, yeah. All of us.
Well, things evolve. Yep, big part of technology is
forward facing sonar and Byron Velvik.
You were the freaking forefather.

(01:26:00):
I mean you were part of the gang, the long forward facing
sonar, move, move, move, point, point in that direction.
I don't know how these cameras. Work point right there.
It is there. There.
I got it. I understand.
See, I got to do this way. There you go.
Forward facing sonar nine years ago.
Sons of fishes. The Garmin adds sons of fishes.

(01:26:21):
And it's so funny because you know it.
It was the most primitive, most primitive, forward facing,
somewhere you can imagine, just like some kind of a tornado out
there. Do you remember this?
Yeah. It was just these lines.
And then you had to make sense of these lines.
And it was like, it was like reading a radar on a submarine
kind of is what it was like. And you were on a summary trying

(01:26:43):
to read radar scans and there and, and somewhere in the
middle, there was some kind of athing that might have been a a
line that was supposed to be a fish instead of one of the other
lines. And Garmin, Sons of fishes, man,
I hope you put the link on therefor the thing.
Will you do that? Can you put the link?
I will. So the link for Sons of Fishes
was cool. Bill Dance, Brett Chapman, Scott
Martin, me gosh, I can't remember all the guys that were

(01:27:04):
there, but they they asked us all to go do a cool ad nine
years ago for the pioneering of what was forward facing sonar
back then. It was just I can see fish in
front of the boat now and I can catch them.
And it was a couple actors. The two people that do the most
talking are two actors and and they left us with, they let us

(01:27:25):
take all the clothing at the end.
So that is that is it right there.
I got to get it. So this was so cool.
Sons of fishes on the back, on the front, you got the little
sons of that's and it was this and that was the best we wore.
And I actually, I think I sent you some pictures of me and

(01:27:45):
Scott Martin just kind of cutting up afterwards.
And they made us wear, you know,we had to get all slicked out.
So, you know, I don't have a bathroom.
Like I told you, this has to getsold on eBay because I have no
use for this. I'm not going to wear this out.
This is I, I am not a biker. I'll put it on one last time
right now. I could see you at Party Cove.

(01:28:07):
Shirtless, wearing the sun's efficient.
That's the wrong man. Dave Mercer, you got the wrong
man. Livingston's going to hate me.
I just covered up my Livingston logo.
Sorry, Eric. But then you pointed out when
you covered it up. That's a pro move right there.
There's a pro move when you cover up your sponsor for what
you're selling on eBay. But yeah, I, I, you know, I was

(01:28:28):
joking to you about this. I'm like, I sold I Canelli's
jersey a while ago and I'm goingthrough all this stuff and I
don't do a bass cave anymore. So this letter, this letter
thing, somebody's going to dig it.
It's one-of-a-kind, that's for sure.
Pretty cool, huh? So that commercial was cutting
edge, I mean. At the time, it was also on the
heels of Sons of Anarchy being the biggest show of the time.

(01:28:51):
Obviously that's where Sons of Fishes came from, but what was
that experience like? Like what is it like getting all
dressed up in leather with Bill Dance?
Oh you. I hope you put the pictures up
too because you know they they gave us bandanas.
And they told me to grow my beard out, you know, and Scott
Martin was trying to look as rough as Pretty boy Scott could
look, because I was trying to look like a biker.
And they put tattoos on him and he's like, yeah, I'm like, it's

(01:29:13):
still pretty boy Scott, you know, he ain't going to make the
greatest a biker. He's he's he's the handsome, the
handsome guy Bike club. And I got all gruffed up.
I was working out a lot at the time.
And man, it was so cool to get with all those guys.
Bill Dance and everybody. We were all having a great time.
We got invited down to somewhereoutside of Tulsa.

(01:29:34):
It was at a biker bar. It was a real cool place.
Just they found this place they had, it was a major production.
I used to do TV commercials years ago when I was a kid after
I got out of college. That helped me make the money I
needed to make along with golf balling to go fishing.
And so the TV commercials, it was just like a full blown TV
commercial. They had all the catering there.
They had all the production to do.
They hired 2 actors to do all the talking.

(01:29:56):
So the one kid and the old gruffman are actually just
professional actors. And then the rest of us were
kind of the talking pros and thecameo guys and, and it was, it
was, it was an amazing experience.
And who knew then that little nine years ago, infancy of of
what you know, Panoptix looking in front of you sonar.

(01:30:17):
Thing that looks. Forward, you know, forward
facing sonar would become all that.
So Garmin was pioneering it and it was primitive and it was
awesome to be a part of the beginning of it and I wish I
would learn how to use it. So you were part of the
commercial, but you never really.
Dude, I couldn't make sense of it.
None of us could. I mean, we were talking to each.

(01:30:38):
Other we were talking to each other and like the younger guys,
even then I, I forgot who it was, but the one younger guy
that was there and I, and I'm, I'm bummed out that I can't
remember who it was now, but he was talking about how he
actually saw a fish coming through that submarine radar.
That is what it looked like. I mean, it was a hodgepodge of
electronics just kind of staringat you on the screen.
And he said, Oh, there's this thing that came off the bottom

(01:30:59):
and they were coming to the top.And all of a sudden I saw the
fish schooling and we were all like, Oh my gosh, really?
Lady goes, yeah, I actually saw him one time coming up.
And then they started schooling out in front of my boat.
And the rest of us were like, noway.
Because it was so new. And we had it on our boats, but
it was hard to make sense of it because it didn't look like
anything like the garment stuff.It was it was night and day
compared to what we got going onnow, which is, you know, you can

(01:31:21):
see the tail of the fish swimming.
It's just nuts. You've been having a little fun
with it on your lake stuff. So I had a kid that I'm.
Having fun watching the young guys do it.
I had a kid hire me for two daysof all swim baits.
You know, he, he got a hold of me and I got it on my thing in
the instructional swim bait only.
And so this kid is amazing. Dylan and Dylan's, Dylan's a

(01:31:45):
high school champion. He's going to, he's got a full
ride scholarship to college for an Alabama for bass fishing.
He's just 19 years old. And I took him out.
I showed him a whole day worth of soft plastic swim baits.
Then we did a whole day of hard baits and he says I don't care
if we catch a fish or not. But he goes, I really want you
to help me with forward facing sonar on glide baits.

(01:32:06):
And I'm like, I can help you with glide baits and hard baits.
But the forward facing sonar thing, I mean I have it all on
my boat, right? Like the best Garmin makes.
But I let him play with the settings.
Thank God. I let him do all.
I go get in the front of the boat.
I'm going to watch you and I'm going to show you where to go
and I'm going to show you what to do.
And I'm going to show you the baits to use.
I'm going to show you how to weight the baits.
I'm going to show you how to work the baits.
I'm going to show you every trick I've ever had for 30 years

(01:32:29):
of swim bait fishing. So I gave him everything I could
give him and it was a lot. It was 2 days worth.
We had to break it into two daysof soft plastic like I said the
first day and and then hard baits the second day and he
caught his first glide bait thatwas A7 pounder.
Can you I don't know. Can you put that video on?
I don't know That's you put a lot of pressure on me.
You tell me to put links, put videos by, don't.

(01:32:49):
Worry about, I mean show bunkersdude, it's supposed to.
Be low maintenance. So you're you can see the glide
in the water, you can see the. Livingston 6 inch Viper bro and
it's because it's got all that electronics in it.
It's giving off this huge signalbecause it's got a speaker and a
microchip and a battery and stuff.
So it's a super loud bait visually and it's out there 6070

(01:33:10):
feet, Dave. And you just see the the six
inch glide coming and I'm back there filming, like just
casually filming. And I'm all excited how well we
can see the Livingston glide theway he set up all the
electronics and has and he's on the front of my boat.
And then we see this fish comingout of the grass straight for it
at about 30-40 feet. And then about 20 feet if I go,
Oh my gosh, he's coming for it. He's coming for it.

(01:33:30):
And I'm feeling tipping in and I'm feeling tipping the screen.
Then I videotape him, then I videotape the screen.
I videotape him and he goes, I got him and he sets the hook and
he goes, I think it's a striper and he starts feeling.
He goes no, it's a big bass. And he reels it up and he boat
flips A7 pounder at Canyon Lake during our instructional guide
day. And he go, dude, I go, is that
your first finish on a glide? He goes yeah.

(01:33:51):
And I go on live school. He goes yeah.
And he's like lit up and his dadis all excited.
His dad didn't come with him, but 19 year old kid, he's like
the next superstar ambassador saying he's crushing everything
out there and and he's and he's he's just, he's a great guy.
But but it was a it was a cool experience for me to watch Dave
and see how how it looks to see a big fish eat a glidebait on

(01:34:13):
forward facing sonar, you know, 3030 feet out, 20 feet out, all
that stuff you talked before about being on the cutting.
Edge of sight fishing in general, Just just traditional
sight fishing. Was that any less exciting?
If you watch the video, I think Livingston's going to post.

(01:34:33):
It pretty soon and when you see this video, I'm squealing like
I'm I'm I'm feeling like everybody made fun of me for how
excited I got, but I'm in the driver's seat of the boat and
I'm so happy for this kid. I'm excited to see this kid.
The first day we went out, he said I don't know anything about
swim baits like I don't know anything all about swim bait
fishing. And I said, well, you know, I'm
glad you guys got a hold of me. He goes, that's his weakest

(01:34:53):
link. He, you know, I liken it to a
kid that likes tournament fishing and say you're a tennis
player and Andre Agassi has the best serve out there.
So you hire Agassi just to teachyou about a serve.
Dylan hired Biffle. He got a hold of Biffle and used
Biffle for flipping and pitching.
So he's already been with with Tommy Biffle.
And then he goes, man, he goes, I want you for swim baits.
I want you to teach me everything you know.

(01:35:14):
And he goes, you're not on the tour anymore.
You got nothing to lose by telling me everything.
You're not going to hold anything back.
I'm like, I'm your guy, man. I'm your huckleberry on this one
and it was exciting. It was more exciting, Dave, to
answer your question, watching this kids days come together,
watching catch them on the soft plastics the first day catching
them on the big bass tricks and the and the big ray goes and and

(01:35:34):
and him understanding he's such a good fisherman.
He picked up on it so fast. Like I was watching my go by the
end of the first day I go, you've got the soft stuff all
down now, whether it's fishing around the marinas or skipping
under docks. All the swim bait tricks I got.
And so the next day was hard baits and I'm, I know you saw
the video. I was so excited, dude.
I was going nuts. Like I'm going now because I saw

(01:35:55):
two days worth of education cometo where I think he's going to
be. I'm going to watch him on
television, throw him swim baitsand I'm going to feel a sense of
big, big pride. You know what I mean?
Because I'm going to watch him in the future on TV and I'm
going to be like that kid. And I spent two days on Canyon
Lake and it was awesome. Just awesome.
Wow, very cool. Anything weird or?
Bizarre happen when you were shooting that commercial.

(01:36:18):
Oh jeez, anything. Weird or bizarre happened.
God, that was nine years ago, Dave.
I'm so old, I can't remember anything.
The weird or bizarre. No, it was just a standard day.
You and Bill. Dance said that to the guy or
like the actor. I'm glad they.
Kept it in for the one piece that you'll probably get, which
is the long one, because the short commercial was cut up a
lot and the the actor was getting out.

(01:36:39):
He couldn't stop laughing about cut and dry bill dance.
So there's that point at the end.
He goes, this guy cracked. That wasn't scripted.
That was just the actor thinkingthat we were done with the
shooting. He goes, this guy cracks me up
because Bill was he was, he was dry as could be in that when
camera was on and then he's making everybody laugh
hysterically when the camera's off.
But he goes give me your patch. And the guy goes, you crack me

(01:37:01):
up. Because Bill Nance had us in
stitches the whole time. He was he was rolling with it,
you know, and Bill, Bill and Bill had no use for Ford facing
sonar and all this electronic stuff.
He was just like, OK, Bill showsup, but what has he got to do
with any new electronics being in the club?
Because the whole concept was the fish, the Sons of Fishes was

(01:37:22):
a bass club and they, they were all moving over on their
electronics, you know. So it was, it was Bill Nance was
the best to spend 2 days workingwith him was incredible.
And then we just had a great time.
And you know, I think we drank awhole bunch of alcohol at the
bar while we were shooting. So some of us, I won't say who,
but some of us in that shoot might have been a couple sheets
in by the time they use the final cut.

(01:37:42):
So there was, there was, it was a good time to be had for all in
that show. But you, you were definitely one
of those, right? Well, I had to be a biker, you
know, I had to be. I had the, I had the.
Scull actor like that I was newly divorced so I was
definitely blinking away. My I was I had the divorce diet
going on. You know the divorce diet when
you lose like 30 lbs because of stress?

(01:38:04):
No, I thought people just lose weight because they're divorced.
They're like I got to be appealing to other humans all of
a sudden again. Don't ever get the divorce diet.
It's I don't want it. I don't want any part of it.
Newly divorced and and I was losing weight to her.
I went back to my high. School weight, but I was working
out a lot, so I was this freaky looking dude.
Everybody made jokes about how Ilooked because I look at it now
and I'm like, God, that was a different Byron.

(01:38:25):
But I may have had alcohol involved as well.
But it was it was a lot of fun. It was a super cool shoot.
I just wish I would have learnedfor it.
Facing sonar. I've learned now, Dave, that I'm
just too old. And I've tried everything and
I've realized these kids are a different generation.
And I watched that kid and he can keep that cone on that bait
and the winds blowing and the boat shifting.

(01:38:46):
And it's second nature for him to watch his bait the whole
time. And I'm watching the boat do
like 180° and yet he's just sitting there and I'm watching
the screen. I'm like, This is why these kids
kick our butt right here. Like, like, you know, I'm up
there and I'm like a monkey trying to procreate with a
football. Use a better term.
So great way to put it, you know, I said procreate, I said.

(01:39:07):
I'm a monkey procreating when everybody.
Knows what you're meant. Everybody knows what you're
doing. A.
Podcast. Otherwise, it was just you and
me. It might have been a different
thing, but I'm out there on the front and I mean, I'm, I'm
falling over and I got to get mybutt seen and where's the cone
and where's my lure and where amI at?
And you know, I mean US old men,he can't even stand up on the
front of the boat. This kids up there surfing with

(01:39:27):
the cone in the, the and, and, and knows where his bait is and
he's catching fish one after another.
And I'm like, this is so far removed from what I'm capable of
doing. I don't care how many years I
spent out there. I'm just too old to do it.
I believe now there's an age problem, but you could have
been. You could have.
Been the 1st. I mean, you were sons of fishes.

(01:39:48):
You could have been. I've run a Yamaha outboard for
over 30 years. It has got me home safe each and
every time. If you enjoy this podcast,
remember Yamaha supports it and they care enough about you to
make this ad very short. I was too old.
The problem was I don't have theI didn't grow up with an iPad in

(01:40:09):
my hand. I wasn't in diapers with an
iPad. I wasn't watching everything I
ever watched on a thing. My daughter is navigating my
electronics better than I am. My daughter hates fishing.
She goes out of my boat. She's like, dad, it's easy.
And she flips around and does stuff.
I'm like, you don't even know how to use a garment.
She goes, well, I know what you're trying to do.
And I'm like, she's 13 year old girl.
Back then she was 11 or 12. And she's just like redoing my

(01:40:31):
electronics for me. And she doesn't fish.
I'm like, oh, forget it. I give up, so I'm just selling
everything. You know what?
I'll throw a swim bait. I'll.
Go out and throw a frog. In a swim bait and I'll site
fish when spring comes along, I'll go site fishing.
But but I, I, since I retired, you know, it's, it's, it's easy
to retire when you see how dominant it is.

(01:40:53):
And even locally around here, there's one or two guys that
catch 15 to 20 lbs in a tournament at at Amistad Denny
browser. This last tournament had eight
or £9. All my friends had 7 to no more
than 10 lbs and then two live scopers were duking it out.
One had 20 and one had 17 and then the rest of the guys had 12
or less. And it's, that's, it's, it's

(01:41:15):
crazy the dominance that this is.
And it's crazy also that all these guys that I see, most of
them for the most part, with therare exception, you know,
they're under 30, you know, no more than 3035 and, and, and
usually a lot younger than that because I think they just have a
they just have a knack And, and,and I don't think an old guy
can, can harness that because wedidn't grow up with the

(01:41:35):
electronics. They did.
And I see it, you know, I see itloud and clear.
OK, I don't know how much time we have, but I think I did tell
you the story of the US Open where, you know, Brian, Brian
what? The guy that won Brian Smith
Schmidt, huh. Schmidt.
Brian Schmidt won the US Open. He was.
Brian Smith. God Dang, I hung out with him

(01:41:56):
all weekend. Listen, we got a guy on the
Elite series called Brian Schmidt, and then we got another
guy called Bryant Smith. How does that work out for you?
I do cross threads of my brain every time.
How does that work out for you? On stage, I swear to you and and
the evilness of the universe several times they've taken off
like right beside each other andI'm like the universe hates me.

(01:42:19):
It it I swear to you a lot of times people will see you on
stage and think you're pretty relaxed.
I panic every time I say their names.
Really like that guy literally panicked when you were like, it
would be the guy that one that and I know exactly I was hanging
out with him on the weekend. I mean, he's a great dude, a
great angler. But anyways, continue your
story. Do not ask me to say his name

(01:42:41):
again. Brian Smith.
You know, I, I. Was fishing around him OK in
practice. There was this kid and I wish I
remember his name from Arkansas.It came up and he was one of
these super live scopers. You know the Super for live
scopers because they have the propellers on their power poles.
You know they have the power pole propellers.
And his boat broke down and he was up in Lake Mojave.
He was up and he had broke down and he had his boat beached and

(01:43:04):
he was taking on water and I wastrying to help him.
I said, hey, I want to make sureyou don't get spend the night
out here stranded like we talkedabout.
I was before and I go, I want tohelp you make sure.
So I came back and checked on him and he had his propellers on
his power poles and and he was alive scoper.
You could tell from everything he had boat rapped and
everything like that young kid out there all the time live
scope and every time I saw him in practice.
So I got to to be friends with him by trying to help him the

(01:43:24):
last day of practice or second last day of practice.
During the tournament, I'm fishing an area at the US Open.
Fish in the bank like all the old guys do, throw on top water
like all the old fishing shallow.
You know the we the lost goats, all of us lost goats are fishing
the bank, doing the normal stuff, grass lines, points,
rocks, all the stuff the fish used to live on.
That's what we were doing. And out there is the Armada of

(01:43:46):
live scopers, including this kidfrom Arkansas.
And in the middle of the Armada,I see Brian Smith going around
just picking them out. Brian Smith Bryant Bryant Smith
Smith. OK, Bryant.
Smith. Not Brian Smith.
No, Brian Schmidt. And then there's Bryant.
Smith So Bryant I'm I'm putting ATI got to put a T at the end of

(01:44:07):
Bryant. Smith.
Bryant Smith is putting on a clinic and he's zipping around
out there, Dave, and he's like going pop, pop.
And I'm watching all these West Coast guys and this Arkansas kid
out there and I see Bryant. Bryant Smith God, that's tough,
dude. I don't envy you one bit.
I see. I see.
A hard name to say individually,but when you put them together.

(01:44:30):
I see that. I see the winner of the Open.
OK, I'm going to go with this I.See the winner of the Open out
there and he's putting on a clinic and I go see the kid at
the dock after the tournament. I'm like, man, you were out
there with him, what was going on?
He goes, dude, he goes, I'm a really good live scoper and that
guy's great. He goes there are good live
scopers like him. Very, very good live scopers.
Then there's the Super great guys.

(01:44:52):
Then you realize how far removedyou are.
Yeah, the dude, the monkey procreating with the football in
the front of the boat. Not sure exactly where your boat
is. And then I hear there's great
ones, There's good ones and there's great ones.
And I'm telling you, Dave, it's like back in the day when site
fishing was relatively new, and I've been doing it for 20 years.
I could go out and run circles around guys on beds.

(01:45:13):
If they were on fish and a bed fish, I'd let them catch the
male. I'd go back and catch the female
like I knew. And when I pulled into a Cove,
I'd see 10 guys bed fishing. I'd make a note of where those
10 guys were located. And then I would at the end me
catching whatever fish I want, Iwent and checked everyone of
where those 10 guys were becausesometimes they catch the 3 LB
male and they leave and the 7 LBfemale would pull up.
I had all the tricks and all thetechniques and all the secrets

(01:45:35):
with putting stuff in the water to make it calm down so you
don't see, so you get rid of theripple.
All the tricks I had. Well, Fast forward what I used
to have when I was a super proficient bed fishing early on.
That's what those live scopers have now.
Those super live scopers, the the Bryant Smiths of the world,
those guys are light years aheadof the good live scopers.

(01:45:58):
That's kind of where I sell the hierarchy.
And then I realized some of us out there that can't even find
our bait in the cone, we, we have no business even doing it.
That's my that's my spiel. And that's why I'm getting rid
of this live scope vest. So you you are eBay in the sons
of fishes. Vest Oh yeah, I got to put that
on there this week. You know what?

(01:46:19):
Because we're doing this. Podcast I said if we're going to
talk live scope, if we're going to talk forward facing sonar, if
we're going to talk about Dylan out there catching 7 pounders on
my lake in my boat with a freaking Livingston glide bait,
the six inch glide. It's like I'm, I'm going to sit
there and go ahead and sell the best.
And in honor of Dave Mercer's podcast and, and, and forward

(01:46:40):
facing sonar, it's just something I want to see what it
goes for. I'm going to do a 10 day auction
and I'm just going to see what what that brings.
Who knows what it's going to go for.
I'll start at like 150 bucks andhopefully somebody at least pay
more than 150 bucks for it. And what else are we selling?
You said you got lots of new stuff coming.
Up. Yeah, thank you for asking
because I got a bunch of it here.
I I asked you. About this reel, so I don't know

(01:47:01):
any about these, but apparently this Habio reel are these
magnesium, these magnesium reelsthat weigh about 3 oz 3 point
something oz and they're all magnesium and carbon fiber.
So you said it looks like a Shimano kind of what were you
saying about it? Well, it's got like kind of a
Shimano vibe to it. I don't know if.
It's so I don't know. These are all made overseas.

(01:47:24):
And Javio has all these different variations of it.
This one's called the the Arise.So I looked it up online and
these things are like 400 or 500bucks apiece if you can find
them. And it's just, it's just this,
where is that thing at? I put my glasses on so I can
show you stuff because I'm squinting like the old man.
This is also, I can't do forwardfacing sonar because you got to

(01:47:46):
wear glasses to do it. How do you do?
How do you how do you do forwardfacing sonar if you have a
glass? But yeah, these are crazy.
These we got some reels. Tabio reels.
What else we got I'm. Going to get rid of all of my
that's the whole box of wiggle warts.
I sold a bunch already when I did your last one.
Some of these like this one. I caught so many fish on it,

(01:48:08):
like the paints been chewed off the thing.
So this was one of my absolute favorite wiggle wards.
A couple of them that I modifiedthis one, I changed the hooks
out. I went to small hooks, but these
are all original wiggle wards because they see wiggle ward at
the bottom. I was told that Brody of the
lake educated me. He does his eBay store and he
goes if you can read wiggle wardon the bottom, that helps a lot
because it's they're authentic and they're old.

(01:48:28):
Like I said, this one caught so many fish.
The only reason I'm selling is because I'll never fish a
another wiggle ward lake again. And so I'll just show you
around. That's the crazy eBay room right
there. So far it's the bunker dude.
That's the small part of it. The garage is full.
Of so much more shit. That's all wiggle warts.
This is a whole bunch of stuff over.
There's more of those swim baitsthat I sold.
Thank you for for telling me about the swim baits that I got

(01:48:51):
rid of. These things sold for crazy.
Those are the original glide baits and these are all my old
boxes. So like I was kind of talking
about can you see this? It's your actual tournament
boxes. These are my tournament.
Boxes. These are all my lucky crafts.
Those are my man's 30. Pluses, that man's made for me,
some of the custom colors. That's a bunch of river to sea
stuff. That's a bunch of live Target

(01:49:12):
stuff. I know you got a bunch of live
Target stuff, but I'm getting rid of all my tournament boxes
because I'm not fishing tournaments anymore.
And that's all Gulp stuff there and a bunch of Gulp I get right
now. I guess Gulp's pretty hot, so
you can see all that. I have to ask Brody at the lake.
I go Brody, he has his eBay store.
I go Brody. What's selling right now?
And swim baits are definitely not selling because it's not the

(01:49:33):
right time of year. So what I'm learning, Dave,
right now it's big worms, big power worms, deep crank baits.
And I've learned with eBay, you got to kind of put out there
whatever is the hottest thing going for the season.
Obviously frogs, buzz, baits, timing, timing.
So I need to call you and find out what the.
Fish are being caught on in. Tournaments, you know, Brody was
like, hey, last couple tournaments are being won on big

(01:49:54):
worms, power worms, another 10 to 12 inch worms.
I got a ton of that Berkeley stuff over there and then I'm N
they're using a bunch of the Gulp stuff.
So I'm selling a bunch of that. All that old gulp stuff I have
that hasn't dried up and turned into beef jerky because a lot of
it does dry up and turn into beef Turkey.
You don't want to sell that. And then any bait that I've
caught them on that I don't think I'm ever going to throw
again, I'm like, I'm not going to fish tournaments.

(01:50:16):
Somebody else will take this little wig award that's caught
so many fish for me. Hopefully somebody that fishes
tournaments, that's in the area that loves them, you know, and
is like, man, I could use a really good, super effective wig
award and I don't need it. I'm never going to go back to
Missouri. I'm not going to be in Table
Rock. I'm not going to be anywhere
there's a hot bite on wiggle warts.
So why not give it to somebody else?
And that's the altruistic side of it is I'm getting a kick out

(01:50:37):
of all the people that are writing me and they're like, Oh
my God, how do you still have that?
I'll take all that you have. Or what colors do you have?
Or do you have more of these Berkeley purple power worms?
Because they don't make purple anymore.
And it's I have no idea what's discontinued.
That's the coolest part of this whole thing, Dave.
No idea what's been discontinueduntil they write people.
Write me your fans, The Humpers.Well, very cool.

(01:50:58):
So how did they find you once again?
For those who don't know, Byron's bunker is how they find
me so. You, I know you helped out a
lot, but now they can Google Byron's bunker.
EBay changed their thing and nowyou can go on and search on eBay
Byron's bunker and it doesn't look like you're trying to buy
Byron's bunker because they usedto it was pretty archaic.

(01:51:21):
Brody and I were talking about this because Brody is Mr. eBay,
Brody of the Lake and eBay changed their search engine
because I had a one hour conversation after the
Bassmaster Classic with a guy atthe classic that said, dude, I
can't find you on eBay. He goes, if I type in Byron's
bunker, it looks like I'm tryingto buy a Byron's bunker.
That's the way eBay had it set up.

(01:51:42):
No joke, dude. Look, if you want to put in
Brody of the lake, you're tryingto buy a Brody of the Lake like
it's a damn item, right? So after a long call with eBay,
they changed their thing and nowif you go into their search
engine, you just put in Brody Lake or Byron's bunker.
We actually come up as a as a seller and they didn't have that
before. So that's kind of cool that they
eBay changed their program. But if they can't find me there,

(01:52:04):
Google Byron's bunker and and just let me know.
Let me know you found me on Mercer.
I'll try to throw in some extra stuff like I've done before.
You know, I, I got a lot of coolbass to sell and I just
appreciate all The Humpers and, and I'm going to put about 100
things on now that we're doing this show.
So it'll be fun. Nice.
Check it out this week, Byron's Bunker.
You could own the very the original the only sons of fishes

(01:52:28):
that bar and velvet were probably one-of-a-kind. 8 of
them there's probably. Seven or eight of them out there
in existence because. There are only 7.
Or eight of us in the show and after you watch it this will be
cool for somebody this is a coolman cave.
This needs to be in somebody's man cave that's really into
fishing That's what somebody needs to put that up on their
wall because that's that is one-of-a-kind Mercer, you should
bid on it. I might, I might.

(01:52:49):
You'll sign it, I assume if if. If somebody wants, I'll sign it,
but I don't want to lower the value.
That's an achievement. I mean, you're, you're a sons of
fish. I could.
I could sign it right there. Yeah.
Sons of fishes and put. The year, the year that was
done, I want to say it was nine years ago, but I can actually,
if somebody wants, I'm going to call Scott Martin, tell me he's
to sell his too. He probably lost his.

(01:53:10):
Scott Martin's is gone somewhere.
I'll have to find out where he put his.
Yeah, I'll keep grabbing me on, man.
And you know. Check out all the stuff.
I've listed. Hey, I know if you need anything
you can always ask me. Mercer.
I don't know what kind of talk you might want, but man, I got a
lot of stuff you do. Check it out.
Byron's bunker. And he'll be back here next

(01:53:30):
month with Regalis with more stories and sell us more stuff.
Thanks for having me on. Bye Humpers, they.
Always entertaining Byron Velvikand if you get a.
Chance head on over to Byron's bunker.
I'll put the link down below in the description.
Make sure to check that out. It's always awesome to hear from
him and hear some how supportiveyou guys are.

(01:53:52):
And as you saw, he's got lots ofneat, bizarre and cool things.
So make sure you check that out.I thank Wes Logan for doing this
show and I thank you guys for tuning in.
And before I hear it in the comments, there's some of you
wondering where's the conclusion?
Rick Klun will join the show next week with his conclusion

(01:54:12):
from 10 Killer. We'll also be joined by Jake
Latondres with Jake's take from 10 Killer.
I'll be honest, this show was just getting too long to squeeze
them all in there. And, and I mean, well, it's
fishing season. I'm going fishing.
So I mean, I think of all groupsof people that's an acceptable

(01:54:32):
excuse to. You fine folks I thank.
You for tuning in each and everyweek have a great week get out
and go fishing enjoy being and as always Bob Cobb take it away
thanks for watching please like.Comment and subscribe because

(01:54:54):
Bob Cobb of the Bass Masters told you to you here.

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