So just talk about that strategy and what you found today shallow like that

it was the most um random event that i have ever for sure that i've ever won but maybe even fish like i just could not grasp uh a true pattern and being able to run the exact same thing uh throughout the day like it would just be a hodgepodge of things and you're right i would catch one on a tree and and i tried to you know i tried to make that work for a while and i'd go an hour or two without a bite and pull up on a dock and catch one and then try to make that work for an hour.

And it wouldn't.

And I'd, you know, stop on a current seam and catch.

It was just fishing.

I mean,

that's what it ended up being.

Had you ever won a tournament before where you didn't have a limit every day?

You suck [laughs]

... no way, at no time would I ever give myself a number, but what I will say is when I started at 33, I really honestly would look you in the eye and say I figured it would be a one or two-year kind of vacation.

I'm gonna go try it for a year or two.

More than likely, you know, I, I, these guys are up here.

More than likely I'm not gonna do very well, and then I'll come back and fish locally and, you know, retire as a coach or whatever.

And then look where we're at.

The, probably the one thing that makes me the most proud is for the last 20 years I've gotten up, I've been my own boss.

Here, talk about some of the highlights in your mind of those other 10 victories.

So just talk about that strategy and what you found shallow like that.

It was the most random event that I have ever, for sure that I've ever won, but maybe even fish.

Like I just could not grasp a true pattern and being able to run the exact same thing throughout the day.

Like it would just be a hodgepodge of things.

And you're right.

I would catch one on a tree and, and I tried to, you know, I tried to make that work for a while and I'd go an hour or two without a bike and pull up on a dock and catch one.

And then, tried to make that work for an hour and it wouldn't.

Have you ever won one before you were short of a limit on day two for fish for 15 and change? Had you ever won a tournament before where you didn't have a limit every day?

Yeah.

Yeah, it's, like I said, I look at it in the water when I'm fishing it and stuff, and I'm just like, why? You know, I kind of get it at the passive tank because of crabs and stuff, and that thing actually kind of moves like a crab would, but you know, like on 10 killer and stuff, I just don't know why.

And I do know that it moves a ton of water when you move it.

Say you're throwing a minnow.

If I look over there, you know, if I'm scoping and I scope over there and what I think is a bass is a carp, you throw a minnow by that carp, carp is probably not going to move.

That's, that's typically how you tell that it's not a bass.

If you don't get a reaction from that fish, it's the opposite with that.

that's crazy so you also said you caught one of your key fish on a spook can you tell us about that too

How do you feel as an angler today versus how you felt after Martin?

[laughs] That's, I can tell you how I felt after Martin, finishing dead last.

Uh, not good.

You do.

I mean, and I think that's one of the things about this sport.

It's not like basketball or...

I wanna, I s- We'll just, we'll just use basketball where everything's the same, you have the same ball, you have 10-foot goals.

Yeah