Kyle Patrick Breaks Down What It Takes To Make A Living Fishing | Bass Masters Elite Series Pro

We sit down with Bassmaster Elite Series pro Kyle Patrick to hear how he goes from a dock-fishing kid in upstate New York to making a real living in professional bass fishing. We get honest about money, pressure, health setbacks, and the small decisions that can decide a paycheck or a long ride home. 

• Kyle’s early years learning bass fishing on New York lakes and fishing his first tournaments out of a canoe 
• The jump from a normal job to chasing the Bassmaster trail and why you have to commit fully 
• The real costs of tournament fishing and how sponsorships actually work 
• Confidence in a sport where ounces matter and bad stretches can spiral fast 
• Kyle’s tick-borne illness, myocarditis, and the mental recovery after the ICU 
• How Angler Of The Year points and Elite Series cuts put pressure on every event 
• Practice planning, fish management, and why four-day tournaments are a marathon 
• Multi-species decisions and how a single big bite can change everything 
• Keeping fishing fun when it starts to feel like a job 
• Simple bank fishing basics with a wacky worm and a jig plus a smarter casting approach 

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Transcript

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_03 0:19

What's going on, guys? Tristan and Tony back from another episode of the One Hell of Life Outdoor Podcast. Today we got Kyle Patrick on. Kyle is a uh Bassmasters uh elite pro series. If I didn't say that right, let me know Pro Series Fisherman. But uh the gist of it is that he's a professional fisherman. Um, he's affiliated with Frog Talks as well as some other companies, but that's how we first heard about him. And obviously, us trying to be a whole kind of encompassing podcast throughout the year. We wanted to get uh some fishermen on this spring, and we're super thankful that Kyle took the time to come on tonight. And man, uh thank you, Kyle.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

Yeah, dude. Yeah, you guys like you and gals too out there, man. Like I was saying right before we got on here, uh, we're gonna talk a little bit about tonight, about why I feel so stupid. Because y'all know how to do it, and I don't, and I want to learn more about tonight selfishly. So, yeah, thank you so much for being on the podcast, man.

SPEAKER_04 1:16

Yeah, no, it's great to be here. Thanks for having me. Um, it's it's funny, like you know, being in the outdoor industry that we were talking, meeting all you everyone from like the outdoor industry is like not that big. And then you have like the fishing industry, and that's a lot smaller. And I'm sure that goes for like duck, like, but then they overlap and they all kind of come together because we all just love being outside and enjoying the outdoors. Um, so it's it's cool to be on.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Yeah, man. Well, we were uh really appreciate it. And Kyle, just give everybody um a little like uh minute or two commercial on kind of who you are and what you do.

SPEAKER_04 1:55

Yeah, yeah.

Kyle’s Path Into Tournament Fishing

SPEAKER_04 1:56

So I uh I grew up always loving bass fishing, like it was bass, and the reason I think that really is is everyone starts off with you know going down to the pond or the lake or whatever, maybe even like docks, like public docks, and just dropping a line. And you want to catch naturally, you want to catch the biggest fish, and more often than not, the biggest fish that we all have access to across the United States is bass. Now, sometimes that's peacock bass if you're in certain parts of the United States, sometimes it may be you know a different fish, but like really the love of bass fishing came from I want to catch the biggest fish that is in the general area that I'm fishing, and so you know, I grew up like loving bass fishing, never really knew you know, being from upstate New York, we have a lot of really good fishing, Cayuga Lake, Oneida Lake, the Great Lakes, Ontario, Champlain, but we don't, it's not necessarily as prevalent as it is down south. Um, so like I didn't when I was like 12, 13, or I would say like 10, 11, like I didn't have my dad going fishing tournaments. So I didn't really know. I would wake up early and try to catch this largemouth under this dock. And then one day I saw like a bunch of bat, like fast boats ripping by the dock, and I'm like, oh my god, I wonder what they're doing. And he one of them kind of came by the dock, and I was like, You catching them, you know? And he's like, Yeah, we're in a tournament. And I'm like, Oh, really? Like tournament? That's interesting. And like it kind of clicked that like, you know, people do this, like people catch these fish competitively. Yeah, and this was probably like 10, you know. And then 12, 10, 11, 12, I started I think actually, I was probably 13 or 14. Um, I I fished my first tournament out of a canoe and I rigged it up with a um a live well and like did all this. It was a community center, Richfield Springs, which is down the road from Cooperstown, New York, where I'm from. They held this community like fishing tournament. So, like all these bass boats and whatever. I'm in this little canoe, and like me and my buddy Nick. And and you know, it was like the first competitive, like, I'm like, we're gonna win. Like, yeah. And we didn't, but like that competitive edge, like really like you know, sparked. Like, I signed up for all Bassmaster, like membership. I got a lifetime membership when I was like 14, and I was like, this is what I wanted, like it wasn't what I want. I never I would lie to you. I would be lying to you if I was like, this is what I want to do. Because I didn't think it was possible to do that for a living, right? I did, I really didn't. Like now that never cross that never that didn't cross my mind to do that for a full living until I was probably twenty two. Wow. Because and I'll get to why, but basically I saved up, got my first bass tracker, fished around New York, I was winning, like I was doing well. And then as I grew older, like I started kind of being like I it I probably the same with hunting. It's cool to hunt your same spots over and over, but it's way more thrilling to like try to seek out new you know environments to hunt in, I imagine.

SPEAKER_01 5:26

Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 5:28

And it's the same thing with bass fishing, it can get kind of monotonous. Don't get me wrong, every time I launch the boat at my home lake in Cooperstown, I'm always like fired up. But it's never sometimes like you go out like over and over. I mean, you know the best spots, you know when where you know this cast, you're probably gonna get a bite, like it becomes less uh like intellectually stimulating, right? Like you're not like as dialed in. So I was always like, I need to go, I am too comfortable. Like, I so dude, between I remember like I literally stole my I didn't steal it, but she didn't I wasn't allowed, I wasn't allowed to drive by myself. You know, when you get your like uh permit wireless permit, yeah. Yeah, and so I basically took her Honda. It was a Honda, and I told I towed it at like 4 a.m. to a totally new lake I'd never been to. One tournament. Yeah, like so. That's what kind of when I was 16 and changed, like new lakes. It was all about new lakes. Then I went to college and I fished. Sorry, this is longer than two minutes.

SPEAKER_03 6:38

No, you're good, man. I just throwing a number out, it's not real literal.

SPEAKER_04 6:41

All right, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:42

No, this is entertaining as hell.

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Keep going.

SPEAKER_04 6:44

Yeah, then I went to college and I played college soccer, I got a scholarship. Uh soccer player, I played college soccer for four years, and you know, that that was good. I think from a like social standpoint and like a team environment was a really good thing for me. Um, to keep me kind of like locked in on the, you know, I guess academic side of things. I I don't think that matters for what I do, but like the social side of like being entertaining and like trying to like meeting new people and making connections that helped. Um, but right when I got out of college, I was like, man, I don't really know what I want to do with this expensive education that really doesn't.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

What did you do? I'm curious. What was your major?

SPEAKER_04 7:29

Uh environmental science and entrepreneur, like business. Okay. So environmental science and business. And I was like, you know, whatever. I basically moved out to Virginia not knowing what I wanted to do. I was going with my uh now fiance and because she was going to law school there. And I'm like, screw it, I'm gonna go. Like I had no plan whatsoever. I was just like, I'm gonna go. And then I happened to meet a guy named Paul Pagnato, and he was gonna fish the opens. He was like, I'll pay for you to drive my truck and boat or drive my truck because he needed to work, and he's like, I'll pay for everything. And you just come with me for the year and fish the opens as a co-angler. And I was like, heck yeah, I'm in. And so I got lucky, yeah. It was very and I basically did that, and I'm like, man, like this is right out of college. I was like, I think I could do this. I think I can do this, I think I can get the sponsors. It's gonna take time, but I think I can get the sponsors, I think I can be successful. So that year, like it I didn't like do anything miraculous, no one knew my name. Um, and then the year after is when I fished the opens, barely missed qualifying for the Bassmaster Elite series, which is what I fish now. Then the year after I made the Elite Series, won an open, uh a Bassmaster event. That was big, and then now we're on the Elite Series. So that that's as condensed as it can be, the sort of story of how it all happened.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Dude, that's that's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 8:58

That's an awesome story, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 9:00

Man, I mean that is

Sponsorship Money And Going All In

SPEAKER_01 9:01

when we talk about being completely organic in your growth of loving a sport. I mean, you obviously um at a young age knew that this is what you were like built to do. Yeah, and and just like and it's always like I know you said it so swiftly, but you know getting sponsorships and all that that has to create revenue so you can pay your bills, you know, and that's that's the biggest thing that people miss.

SPEAKER_04 9:28

Yeah, that's the biggest thing people miss in all this, is like you cannot go out and just bass fish. Right. That's where being in a fraternity, being on a sports team, having to interact with all these people, that's where I was helped substantially in this process of like being able to bring money because I did I I like made I basically cold called during the opens to pay for it. Because you can't just you can't just I I did medical sales for like two years, yeah. Like uh you know, at home, and that like you don't just jump in making. I just want to make sure everyone understands is listening. Like, you don't just like it's expensive, dude. Our boats are like 120 grand, yeah, you know, and our trucks are at least 80 grand. So it's like it's it's very expensive. Like you're talking, and then the travel, the food, the gas, and especially nowadays, like it's just so expensive. You need to have either an outside income source coming in or the sponsor dollars. Yeah, and it kind of goes like at first, your sponsor dollars are kind of like this, and like your outside revenue has to be like up here, and then once those intersect, you basically have to make a decision. Am I gonna keep am I gonna let my income from a normal job fall and sort of try to rely on this and get it up, you know, up here, or am I gonna just kind of keep it right here? Because you unless you're all in, the your sponsor money isn't gonna get to the point where you can just uh uh rely on it solely. Like you have to go all in.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Amen. It's called being hungry, right?

SPEAKER_04 11:12

Right.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Like, like, like like you will seek food if you have not eaten in several days. If you've not eaten in like six hours and you're out in the woods, you'd be like, no, I'm good. I don't need anything. Next thing you know, you're eating a snail or something else, you know, right? I mean, because you gotta do what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_04 11:29

Yeah, so it it's a you unless you come from some sort of like money, unless you have money or you come from a family that has money, like it's a it's a hard process, but I think that you can do it. It you gotta be good enough, first of all. That's step one. Like people always like are in my DMs asking me, like, hey, like, you know, I want to do it, like, where do I start?

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SPEAKER_03 11:54

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Confidence Under Pressure And Health Scare

SPEAKER_04 12:50

Try to catch and win as much as you can, because without that, your name's not even on the map. So it's hard to get it's hard to get what we call endemic sponsorships. Non-endemic is like outside of the industry. So, like, you know, your beef jerky sponsor or your uh, you know, Red Bull or Red Bull or Monster, those are non-endemics, they pay the best more than often than not. But then your endemic sponsor is your kind of core, what you rely on, you know, performance-based frog togs, yeah, frog talks, like that sort of deal. You gotta be relevant on social media and be catching them pretty good to kind of sure get involved with those. So, like that's your base to start. Like, if you're catching them, you can kind of get some you know revenue coming in on the endemic sponsor deals.

SPEAKER_03 13:45

So one of one of the questions I had, like, and it really kind of just watching like the video I watched about the redemption video, like it just really painted the picture. Like, of course, growing up, like you watch the outdoor channel and stuff like that, but I just like and I'm interested to watch more of your YouTube, honestly, because you guys like the way that your YouTube did that video in particular was so interesting to me. Just like the way the stakes were built, but the funny moments were in there, like the fishing gods, and you guys were talking about that, you know. But like it got me thinking, it's like, man, thankfully you had some good fishing days where you were like getting 13 pounds, 13 pounds, 13 pounds. Yeah, but it's like, man, it's just I mean, a pound or two could separate between, hey, we're getting to fish Sunday or we're going home Friday or Saturday, and then like I would imagine like from a I guess to sum up my question. My question is is like, how do you keep that like uh confidence in yourself when it's like the because surely, you know, it's not always success, like anything in outdoors, so like no, I mean yeah, yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_04 14:49

Like the past I've had three tournaments this year on the Elite Series, and I only cut a check in one of them so far out of the three. So, like and obviously you know you're a good fisherman, so it's like yeah, like and the the last one I separated by a pound and something, and that's the difference between 70th and like 40th. And so it it is so stressful, and like every decision matters so much, so it can be it can be challenging. Um, it's a mentally grinding sport, like yeah, it's similar to golf. Like, if you get thrown off mentally, it can ruin your whole tournament, like even for like three or four hours. Um, and so and I've I've had like this year's been a also kind of a harder year mentally because I had this tick bite. Did you hear about that at all? Um, so basically last year I had two more events left and I was sitting really well, like top top 20 in Angler of the Year. And I got bit by a tick and it gave me anaplasmosis, which is this like uh tick-borne illness, and it got to my heart, and I was in the IC for two weeks.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

What? How dare you know this disease?

SPEAKER_04 16:07

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Everybody hears about Lyme, but I Lyme's just anaplasmosis, Rocky Mountain tick, whatever, but I've never heard what's it called again?

SPEAKER_04 16:15

Anaplasmosis.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

So what is that? What happens in that?

SPEAKER_04 16:19

It basically causes like swelling in a lot of places. Usually, like sometimes it dude, I didn't I didn't even know this tick had bitten me. And then all of a sudden, like I'm sick, so sick, can't even move. Like my joint, and then that ended because I got put on doxy, but then I was fishing and I had like shortness of breath, and I was like, man, this is so weird. Woke up the next, woke up a night the next night. I woke up, like my whole chest was on fire. So I'm like, I gotta go to the ER. What?

SPEAKER_05 16:51

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 16:51

My heart had expanded a little, like it got inflamed. It's called myocarditis. It got hit wow. Yeah, my heart got inflamed. So I was in the ICU for two weeks, took me out of the season. Luckily, I got a medical exemption, so I stayed where I was in angler of the year points and all that. But like that took me, I mean, I'm still like kind of recovering mentally from that. That happened in uh I got checked out of the hospital July, mid-July last year. So, but like I could dude, I couldn't do anything for three months. Good like I had to sit, I couldn't raise my heart rate or anything. So what? Yeah, so July, August, September, like October ish.

SPEAKER_01 17:32

It's your heart, dude, right? I mean, yeah, any, any, anybody that's listening to this, you know, we've all had a little flutter, uh, a heart palpitation or something. And just something as simple as that makes you go, gosh darn, you know. I know Tristan, you had something recently that you went through and that you got I gotta go to the ER just to rule some stuff out and not yeah, my goodness, dude. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 17:54

Yeah, so that was crazy. Um, so I'm still kind of like I'm good now. Like I totally am 100%. But like mentally, it's still like I feel something, I'm like, oh god, like yeah, of course, man. Good so I've been struggling through that the beginning of this year a little bit, um, but I'm I'm getting over the hump, you know.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

Well, let me ask you this, and I don't mean this to be, yeah, I do. I am trying to be funny, but if if you snag a big one, you know, like you're like, oh, that's a that's a big one. You don't worry about that hard at all, do you? No.

SPEAKER_05 18:28

No. And there's no yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no, no.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Dude, yeah, god, yeah, on top of it, that's yeah. I just yeah, listening to and just watching that video and stuff and just thinking about the implications. I've just it's and I'm glad you brought up the golf analogy because it really is so much like golf in the sense of like you're essentially like an independent contractor, you know, you're your own entity in the sport, and then you're getting outside sponsorships and golf, it's titleist and whatever, and this it's Yamaha and Frog Togs or whatever, you know, and then you're in a tournament just like golf.

SPEAKER_04 19:05

Yeah, yeah, and you have to perform, you know, or or you get kicked off.

How Elite Series Cuts Really Work

SPEAKER_03 19:10

Let's talk what's what's the okay, so in terms of performance, like what's kind of the standard you gotta make sure you're hitting the same within the when you make the elites, you get two years.

SPEAKER_04 19:22

Your first year is for free, but it's not free. You still have like there's a hundred guys. Your first year, if you finish say a hundredth in AOI, normally you'd get cut. If you're anywhere below 70th in AOI, you're you're eligible to get cut.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

What's AOI?

SPEAKER_04 19:39

Angler of the year standing. So out of a hundred, each tournament, you get a you the max points you can get, let's say, is a hundred. Okay. That's the best. But if you finish a hundredth, you get zero. Okay. So the way it basically works is it after nine events, you take however many points you got in those nine tournaments at the end of the year, that's your angular of the year standings.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 20:04

So if you're in dead last, you're eligible to get cut after the year is over. So your first year out of a hundred, they take you know, your AOI. And then your second year, if you're new, now that AOI is 100. Now they average the two years. So if your second year you finish say first, your average is a 50.

SPEAKER_05 20:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 20:30

But if your second year you finish 70th, you're eligible to get cut, and they take that out that average, you're you're done. You're off. You're kicked, you get kicked out. So but it applies later too. So now I'm on my third year right now. So I had a 16th, my first year, a 19th, I think, my second. And so this year, I have a little bit more of a grace. Like, even if I finish a hundredth in AOI based on the averages, I wouldn't get cut. Sure. But but then the fourth year, if I finished a hundredth the third year, and I finished a hundredth the fourth year, then I would be eligible to get cut based on the averages. So it it it's kind of complicated. We won't get into that like crazy, but you need to perform every year pretty much.

SPEAKER_03 21:21

So so is basically I and obviously I would imagine this is like the NFL of fishing, just because of you know, I I would imagine this. I mean, this is the biggest series you can be in, right?

SPEAKER_05 21:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 21:33

So so essentially, if you're dropping out of that, you're the sponsorships and everything you're looking at, the whole big picture, like that probably affects all of that, right?

SPEAKER_04 21:42

If you're not in this series, yeah, it would affect it. It would affect like a lot of your endemic sponsors would drop off. It maybe not cut you, but they would you would lose a lot of value like financially. Um and it's just like

SPEAKER_03 22:00

Yeah, you don't you don't you don't no one wants to get cut that's right for sure is there I mean is uh how often do people I guess that's not the right question, but like if you were to get cut, not you, but anybody, like do people get back?

SPEAKER_04 22:15

I mean is it kind of with a yeah yeah yeah so then you go back to the uh the Bassmaster opens, which is a leader.

SPEAKER_01 22:22

No different than like uh double A, triple A, that kind of thing, right?

SPEAKER_04 22:25

Yeah, yeah, exactly. You would go back to like, you know, in golf, there's the Corn Ferry tour, which is right under the PGA. You basically are fighting you need to out of 250 guys, the top nine at the end of the year make the elite series. So you have to be top nine or ten at the end of the year, and then you make the elites again. But that dude, it's so hard. Like it's so like there's like the problem the problem with fishing is like if you have one bad tournament in the opens, you won't make the elites. You have to catch them every single day in order to make the elite series. Uh so like once you're on the elites, it's really a good idea to not get cut because you could still be really good and just some of it's luck. Like not don't get me wrong, like you there everyone's there for a reason, but like you could be the best, you could be one of the best in the world and potentially not make it back ever. Wow, you know.

SPEAKER_01 23:36

Do you do you think like well there's something to be said about that, and there's something to be said about creating your own luck as well, but you know, but but there's there's variables though.

SPEAKER_04 23:45

What I'm saying is there's variables you can't control, like engine. You have an engine weather, you have a weather, like there's so much there, like you can just be unfortunate in like one day in the year, and boom, you don't make the elites, and then you're all over.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

I'm sure there's stories out there of people, including yourself, that it's like sometimes it's like trying to win an ass kicking contest with one leg, right? And then guess what? I mean, there's always that story, right? Of an artist, of a professional, of whatever that overcame the obstacles and was able to um to produce, you know what I mean? Because at the end of the day, you have to produce. That's the bottom line. You gotta catch fish. Yeah, that's yeah, I mean, that's the deal. Like you you can look at it a thousand different ways, but you gotta catch fish.

SPEAKER_04 24:36

Yeah, yeah, a hundred percent. It's like if you don't put the ball in the hole and golf, yeah, you you're not you're not you're not it anymore. Yeah, that's right.

Practice Strategy And Managing Fish

SPEAKER_03 24:44

Do you think, Kyle, like um just in kind of not understanding bass fishing on the level that you understand it kind of question? Do you think that what separates like the people that are like in the bat bassmasters elite versus not? Obviously, there's those factors you were just kind of talking about, but like, is it more so like understanding your environment and like understanding where fish might be, or do you think it's more so like the strategy of actually how you're fishing the lures and what you're using?

SPEAKER_04 25:13

It's yeah, it's everything, man. It's yeah, it's everything. It's you know, I think a lot of it is uh, you know knowing how to practice for events. You know, we get three days of practice. So when if I go to a tournament, right, I go and I have three days to practice, and that's 30 minutes before sunrise to 30 minutes after sunrise for three days. Then you have a four-day event. So it's managing your fish, you find uh finding the fish, right? Um, you know, figuring out the best technique, you know, to catch those fish efficiently. Um it's making sure you stay off, like if you feel like you're at the right weight to at least be competitive for day one, not sticking too many of those fish and reeling them in. You want to make sure that you leave enough for day two, three, four. Remember, there's four days of literally catching. So it's a very complex complex, you know, uh sport in that. And then also dealing with all the variables. What if I can't get on my spot on day two because the wind's blowing into it and I literally can't fish it effectively. I have to have plan B, C, D, and be able to like stay in it. Um, you know, there's locking like in river systems. We're about to go to Arkansas River, there's gonna be locking and there's barges that come through, and you can't get through the lock. So there's all types of scenarios depending on where we are. It's stupid it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 26:48

So that's that's really interesting. I'm glad you brought that up because like in that um video we were just talking about, like I noticed that you know, some days, you know, because I I would imagine you get your five fish, right? If it's I don't know if every event's like that, but like you got your five fish, and some days like you would catch a bigger one, and then obviously you throw back the like one pounder and you got a three-pounder now. Um with and I noticed on some days, like I think one of the I think it was like day two or day three or whatever that you like right, okay, we're good at maybe noon, call it. And I'm just I don't know if the specifics are right, but I just noticed like one day you were like, All right, we're good with this 13 pounds at noon or whatever it was. And then one day you're fishing to like 1:30 and the check-in's like three, and you're still trying to like is that because you don't want to overfish certain areas, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 27:38

Yeah, there's certain times where like, and that's probably me saying, like, okay, I made the cut, you know, doing this, like, you know, I'm gonna less of more try to try to go find some new fish. Cause that's the other thing. Like, a lot of the times you can't possibly in three days of practice, especially say, you know, when the weather is going up and down, a lot of times you can't find enough fish to win a four-day tournament. You can find enough fish to be in the top five in the first two days, but then a lot of times it changes so much that like during the tournament, you have to go re-find fish to continue to catch them the rest of the tournament.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

So it's very uh it's a very uh you know, it's a weird thing to to so some days you know you're like, oh yeah, I'm for sure in the top 50, so I'm gonna cut it at least short and go try to find Yeah, because it you're you are in a um a cross country race, not a sprint. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:40

You know, I mean four-day tournaments are a are a are a marathon for sure.

SPEAKER_01 28:46

So let me ask you, did you did you participate in the Bassmaster Classic this year?

SPEAKER_04 28:51

No, because I had to take that medical exemption.

SPEAKER_01 28:54

Ah, okay.

SPEAKER_04 28:55

I I fished the one in 2023 or no, I fished the one in 2024, 2025. So I fished those two, and then I was gonna qualify for this one, but I had to take that medical exemption. So they yeah, so that's my first one I've missed.

SPEAKER_01 29:12

Have you have you fished the uh because just because it's like relatable to us because we live there? Um have you fished the the Bassmasters classic when it's down St. John's River in Florida?

SPEAKER_04 29:24

No, so they we don't do a classic down there ever, but we do do the elite tournament. But yes, all right, yes, I fished two elite events on the St. John's River.

SPEAKER_03 29:32

Yeah how uh how hard is it like and I know down towards like Platca where I think isn't Platca where the boats launch? Yeah, yeah. So we were up in uh like Jacksonville, and like we would the thing up there, which I would imagine it's more like you don't have to worry about like saltwater intrusion as much down there, maybe, but like is that a challenge in hunting and or hunting, fishing some of these like kind of semi-coastal brackish areas where you're catching like red fish, you're like, what the f yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 30:00

So I a lot of some guys run north to to um Jacksonville area, and a lot of times they go up creek because the br the the salt water doesn't get as far up those creeks, right? Um but yeah, on those type of fisheries it can get challenging to sort of like Chesapeake Bay, like all those places we go where brackish is, you just try to stay like out of you don't want to be at that line where like it gets too the salinity is too high.

SPEAKER_01 30:41

Sure, sure, sure, sure. Wow.

TV Cameras And New Tournament Formats

SPEAKER_01 30:44

Well, so like what's it like? You know, here's one of the things, and this I'm gonna bring it up because Cade was bringing it up. So a buddy of ours is like, hey, I want you, we were on a trout fishing buddy thing, and uh down Lake Those Arks. He's like, When you film me, he goes, I want you to be like 10, 9, 8, 7, 6. You know, just like they do on the Elite tour when you guys were being timed and doing these team tournaments and stuff like that. What's that like as far as like being timed and the pressure involved? That I think that it's created like the Elite series, I feel like, and tell me if I'm wrong, I feel like it's continued, it's created more of a continued following of uh competition in the bass world. Like it's not just the bass master classic anymore, right? It's you guys have all these events that you're continually doing, and so as a bass fisherman and somebody that's entertained by that, you can literally follow it 12 months out of the year, type of thing.

SPEAKER_04 31:49

Yeah, yeah. And I think we need to actually get better about that. I I think there needs to be more events, like you know, you have like in golf, you have that TGL, I think it is, where they're inside and that, you know, swinging at the stimulator. We need more, we I think we need actually, I don't think Bassmaster they're they're all right, guys.

Frog Togs Sponsor Break

SPEAKER_03 32:08

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SPEAKER_04 32:45

Doing, you can tell, like this year they've done a lot better job. We're doing that Tuesday nighter um actually coming up here in like a couple weeks, uh, where we're doing like a team tournament. Um that's gonna be on where is that gonna be? That's gonna be at um not tenka, uh not Lake of the Ozarks. What's that other lake right there? Table Rock. Table Rock.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

Table Rock, yep.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

Yep. Um, and so yeah, no, I think bringing more awareness to this to bass fishing as a sport is a good thing. And I think doing that is gonna require, like you you said, a little bit more like different sort of styles of bass fishing rather than your eight-hour tournament, your classic normal bass fishing tournament. Like I think it's gonna, you're gonna need to have like the equivalent of like the TGL, like the inside um uh that can go, you know, maybe even in the winter, right? Um, but like our season starts February and goes to like August. I would like to see September, October, November uh, you know, situations. But that that can be challenging too, because of the sponsor, you know, competing with, you know, like because we're on Fox. So you gotta think about all the other sports that are being played those times of year, like the Super Bowl and the NFL, like you got to compete with all that. So it's a fine line between doing too much, not enough, you know.

SPEAKER_03 34:14

To kind of piggyback on his question, like uh on that video. I hate to keep bringing up the same video, but it's just the one video that I really watched. It was like, man, this is awesome. Um they when you had the film guy in the boat, what kind of pressure does that add to when it's like, oh shit, we got the actual film dude here outside of your YouTube guy.

SPEAKER_04 34:34

None, not anymore. I the my first time having a Fox camera in the boat, I was like, oh my god, I was freaking out. But not it once you get used to it, man, it's like it's just a normal day of fishing, you know.

SPEAKER_03 34:48

Well, it seemed like you were super comfortable. You're like joking with them and stuff, yeah, yeah.

Species Choices And Building A Winning Bag

SPEAKER_01 34:53

And and let me ask you this. So, um, and this might be the like getting off topic, but um when it comes to these different tournaments you do, and I don't follow it enough to to sit to to obviously know the answer to this, but do you guys you guys have environments where like you to win this tournament, you need X amount of pounds, but it could be like a combination of like smallmouth and largemouth, yeah, right? That kind of thing. So talk a little bit about that. Like when it comes to strap, because I saw I swear I saw somebody in the elite series that won the series. You guys could catch largemouth, but they won it with like bags of smallmouth.

SPEAKER_04 35:35

Yeah, so like when we go to like yeah, when we go to like say Pickwick in Tennessee or um, you know, like Hartwell uh in or Lanier or any of those places, like you have spotted bass, you have smallmouth, and you have largemouth. And a lot of times it's pretty obvious what's gonna what you know what's gonna win because certain lakes, the population of largemouth, they're just bigger. And so going after spotted bass or smallmouth might not win, but remember we have to catch five fish. So it might be like you catch three really big largemouth, and then you have certain spots where you can say, Hey, I'm gonna pull up here and I know I can catch a couple two-pound spotted bass or smallmouth to help with the bag. So it's that strategy comes into play as to like what species you're gonna target, you know. Because but again, like you could also mess up and like get a bunch of bites and go back there and just catch like 75 spotted bass, but they they you know, your best five weigh 10 pounds, and then someone runs up and catches you know five largemouth, but it weighs 25 pounds, and now you have a 15-pound deficit and you can't come back from it. Like that, that that all plays depending on where we are. Like when we go up north, especially like Champlain, you can pick your poison, it can be one with largemouth or a smallmouth. More prevalently, especially now with forward-facing sonar and all the technology we have, a lot of times it gets one with smallmouth. Um, but I think largemouth will play more this year. Like it just depends, right? And it depends on the time of year. Certain times of year play into a smallmouth or spotted bass bite a whole lot better than a largemouth bite, or vice versa.

SPEAKER_01 37:26

Man, well, yeah, you know, I was telling Tristan, we were out doing some backyard fishing uh before we got on the podcast. I got a little, I don't know, I I guess I call it a lake because I don't want it to be a pond, but it's like 15 acres or whatever. But but you know, we were out there fishing and stuff, and I told him, I said, you know, one of the cool things, um, I just totally lost my train of thought.

SPEAKER_04 37:48

That's okay. I do that all the time.

SPEAKER_03 37:50

Yeah, I don't know, I don't know where it's going to be. I know that we didn't have a lot of luck out there.

SPEAKER_01 37:55

Yeah, but I was just getting ready to tell you about and I totally changed the subject. I totally lost my train of thought.

SPEAKER_03 38:02

No, um, I I'm glad you brought that up though, because I was watching the um that video, I was interested because I was like, okay, so they were you were talking about like, man, please don't be a spotted bass, please don't be a spotted bass, or whatever it was, or it might have been a different species or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 38:18

Catfish, probably, or something.

Big Fish Swings And Heartbreak Losses

SPEAKER_03 38:20

Yeah, and when it was a bass, you're like, sweet, but I um my question I was gonna ask is like has there ever like been tournaments where you're just okay, let's say the scenarios is you got five fish and it is 10 pounds or whatever, but you know like you gotta have 20 pounds and you just land like a monster and it like puts you right back in the game?

SPEAKER_04 38:43

Oh, plenty of times, yeah. Like big fish, that's like one big fish is a lot of times what separates a win or a top 10 from nothing, from finishing like 60th and walking away with no paycheck. That's that's crazy. Yeah, one bite, yeah, happens all the time.

SPEAKER_01 39:02

Well, and now you're saying that, now that my brain's thinking is that like, and we always ask people like what was your best hunt, all that kind of stuff. But when it comes to fish, like what's that one? What have you had that experience where you're like even on your own time, you know, you're like, oh my god, I know this big fish is right there. Whether it be in a tournament or your own time, like yeah, what would you say like would be like one of those scenarios where you're like, Yeah, man, it I really I grunted it out and caught this giant whatever, or the difference maker.

SPEAKER_04 39:40

Yeah, I mean, I've I've that's like the the dream in tournaments is to know you're gonna have a big fish over there. Yeah, and I I've had it a couple times. Like I caught a 10-pound, well, it was just shy of 10 on Lake Fork. It's on my YouTube, it's pretty sick. Uh it's uh you must have lost your mind.

SPEAKER_01 40:00

Oh, dude. Yeah, you had to pull some Mike Iconelli crap after that, right? Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:05

I get come I get compared to Mike a lot how I get in the water.

SPEAKER_01 40:08

Yeah, well, that's awesome. I did tell Justin. Justin doesn't know him.

SPEAKER_03 40:12

You like to sing a lot, I notice, after you catch fish.

SPEAKER_01 40:15

Ah, that is awesome.

SPEAKER_04 40:16

Yeah, it is. Yeah, I get fired up, man. It's easy to get fired up. Like, because there's so much, like you gotta think, like, you know, I don't know how what uh it's just so much pressure. And then when you know, like you you're in, it just the amount of relief you get, like, I just go nuts. Like, I it's like I don't I I guess it would be the equivalent of like it's like such an adrenaline rush when you know you've you've like basically like done your job. Like I guess it would, I don't even know what the equivalent would be. Maybe like you're I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 40:56

Yeah, you smashed your sales quota on like the beginning of the quarter.

SPEAKER_04 41:01

Because it happens so fast. Like it happens so fast, it would be like you're out run, you're trying to like run away from the police or something, and like you you finally like you ditch them and you're like, oh my god, like it's like pressure, pressure, pressure, pressure, and then you catch your fish, you land it, and boom, all the pressure's off, and you're like, whew, like, and now you can kind of like really be open-minded on the water. It it it it allowed, it'll well, it's not about focus as much as it just allows you to be more open-minded and like say, Oh, you know what, I'm gonna go try that. And a lot of the times when that pressure's off is when you really get to fishing your best, is when you like you're like, oh, now I can go explore, fish this new water that I haven't ever fished. But when you really need that one bite or you need that one fish, it's harder to go do random stuff because you might zero.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 41:52

You know, so yeah, you almost want to you're almost playing it a little conservative at first just to numbers.

SPEAKER_04 42:00

Yep, a little bit. You're playing a little conservative just to try to, you know, stay in the game and like calm yourself down, get a few bites, and then you can kind of sort of, you know, do a little go a little crazy. It's same thing when you're on the golf course. Like if you're sub, if you're just average, you don't want to go for anything crazy. Um like you don't want to make a crazy shot and try to like shoot for the green when you could lay up and stay right where you're at. But if you're you know above average, close to the lead, you know you're getting a paycheck, you can say, you know what, I gotta go all in on hitting this green and making the putt, so I can maybe jump and try to win. But if you're just around that cut and like the difference between, you know, if you go for it and miss, now you don't get guaranteed don't get a check, or you lay up and hit your shot on the you know, fairway and then put it on the green and then two putt, and boom, you get 20 grand. A lot of guys are picking that option, they're not going for because what's the difference between if you finish 53rd, you don't get paid versus 48th, and you get paid, but then if you go for it and try to do something crazy, and now you're finishing 35th versus 48th, there's not much difference there. I see, but there's a huge difference between four spots below 50th and like a spot above 50th. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 43:26

Uh yeah, no, it makes sense. Um, shoot, dude. Like now I just lost my trick train of thought. When you said that, I literally thought about three different questions. Oh, okay. Yeah, no, I got it back. Sorry. Uh, when it comes to like we talked about like having the the one fish that like puts you there, not to like uh reopen like any like uh sore subjects or like you know, ones that got away or whatever, but like has there has there been ones that like you literally get to the edge of the boat and it just you you don't land it and then you're like that was the fish.

SPEAKER_04 43:58

Yeah, there are times. Yeah, I mean I I I I lost a couple fish like that where I genuinely thought like when I m made a run at the Elite series that one year, I lost fish that would have made the Elites a year earlier than I did. Like I mean, I'm talking like, you know, career life-changing fish. That's what's crazy, is it's like one four-pounder could have been the difference between, you know, I yeah, there's crazy. It's crazy how much like one bass can be financially and like your whole career.

SPEAKER_01 44:40

It's nuts.

Favorite Fisheries And Regional Weight Myths

SPEAKER_01 44:42

It's not where's your favorite place to fish and why?

SPEAKER_04 44:46

Uh anywhere in New York because it's just so beautiful. The mountains, yeah, natural, just I love upstate New York. It's you don't beat it. I mean, a Texas would be a pretty close, relatively close, I would say. Uh second option. Anywhere in Texas, like Toledo Bend, Lake Fork, all those lakes are so sick. Um you know, I won a Bassmaster event on Lake of the Ozarks. That was a good that's a fun lake. Um any sort of natural lake is my, you know, bread and butter. Like I don't love like I say that. I don't river systems, I suck at fishing.

SPEAKER_01 45:34

You gotta know what you're good, you gotta know what you're bad at.

SPEAKER_04 45:37

I've been to the St. John's River twice, and I finished like 90th and like 88th or something.

SPEAKER_01 45:44

Like, I well, I didn't mean to bring it up.

SPEAKER_04 45:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 45:48

So that's that's interesting. So it's more so, is it because like my dumb brain thinking about like fishing, I'm like, oh, I just want to go where you catch the biggest one. But it sounds like I mean, obviously, we know like the further north you go, like a lot of times the the bass, the crappie, the stuff like that usually aren't as big. So to you, it's more so like the environment and the way the lake lays out, more so uh believe it or not.

SPEAKER_04 46:10

Believe it or not, the the fishing up here is far better. No kidding average average size. Yeah, by far. Dude, people are catching 12 and a half pound largemouth out of Cayuga. Okay, so that really just shows how little I know because Yeah, I mean the smallmouth, they're a nine-pound smallmouth getting caught here. Eight pounders. I caught an eight two last year, two years ago. Um god, yeah. St. Lawrence River has got a so many six-pound smallmouth, it's make your head spin.

SPEAKER_03 46:37

Okay, so I was just looking at it from like growing up in Illinois, like you know, it was something if you caught like I think.

SPEAKER_04 46:44

Yeah, but Illinois is like not as good as upstate New York.

SPEAKER_03 46:48

Okay, but it's all about but the what I'm comparing it to is like when we moved to Florida, like okay, I and and granted, I didn't this is all like pond fishing, right? So like a big pond bass up there, I was like a four or five pounder, and then in Florida I caught like an eight-pounder out of a pond, and I was like, cool shit I've ever done in my life. But that's all I was comparing computing it to, but that's crazy, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:11

Yeah, I mean, there's you're gonna have more 10 pounders on average in Florida and Texas and you know, Oklahoma and stuff like that. But the average size, the average you catch in New York, like those four and five pounders, are way more prevalent than they are on those lakes. Like, go look at just go look at go look at the St. John's River. Like if you really want to look at the weights, go to look at Fastmaster Elite Series St. John's River. Uh-huh. And go down and look at all the weights, and then go look at St. Lawrence River Elite Series or Champlain or any upstate New York Elite Series tournament, and you'll see how much better the weights are.

SPEAKER_03 47:54

Wow. Okay. Well, that's something something I learned today. Um you mentioned Lake Lanier earlier. I actually wasn't aware there was like an event on Lake Lanier. I mean, I've heard people talk about like I went uh went clay shooting with this guy one time, and he's like, Yeah, I won a lot of money on Lake Lanier back when I used to fish, but I didn't know what you know he was really talking about. Lake Lanier's in our backyard, it's 30 minutes from us. So when's when's the Lake Lanier event? Is it every year or no?

SPEAKER_04 48:22

No, no, no, no. It our schedule totally changes. We haven't been to Lake Lanier in a while.

SPEAKER_03 48:26

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 48:27

Um wait, where are you guys right now?

SPEAKER_03 48:28

We're in uh Northeast Atlanta.

SPEAKER_04 48:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 48:30

So we're yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:33

Okay. Um, yeah, we Lake Lanier is a phenomenal fishery. Um, but I haven't ever fished uh an event there for Bassmaster.

unknown 48:44

Nice.

SPEAKER_03 48:45

Not a while. Yeah, I was just I was just curious because it's in our backyard and man, it is beautiful, but it's like I mean, the weird thing for us is like growing up and you know, fishing freaking farm ponds and stuff, like trying to bite off a lake like that and knowing where to catch bass is like so different for us.

SPEAKER_02 49:03

Totally different animal. Totally different animal. So different, man.

SPEAKER_01 49:06

Well, I mean, I have a challenging time, you know, and I hate the sounds of kindergarten about it, but you know, like out back, you know, I love crappie. I love bass. Don't get me wrong, who doesn't like setting hook on a bass, especially like on a jig or something like that? But you know, I'm after we have good sized crappie out here. I mean, I would call it like more of a trophy crappie area because you don't catch small crappie, you catch big crappie. Yeah, and I'm out there fishing them and stuff, man. And like we've taken, like, if you want to catch shine, like if you want to catch crappie, one of the most like go-to things is a shiner, right? Yeah, put a shiner on there with your with a couple little uh weights, boom, you slip, you slip bobber, you're catching them. We go out there, fish like two or three days, shiners, not a bite, not a single bite. And then you go out there and you throw some little watermelon spintail jig, and they're like, Oh, we love that, you know, and that's the thing for me is on a kindergarten level of fishing, I enjoy is like I'm like trying to figure that out right now. I've got my little striker four Garmin, you know, my little two-seater pelican boat. Yeah, and and I'm just learned what a scope, how that works, and all that kind of stuff. And I'm so kindergartening it. But well, that's what's intriguing to me about like what y'all do is on like so many of us, like we played little league baseball or we did whatever, but we didn't play professional sport, right? We weren't like we didn't have that extra whatever it takes to make us professional, and that's what I'm enjoying about this podcast with you is that I'm sitting here feeling like an idiot. And honestly, like in a good way, in a good way, but I'm also trying to dissect what you're saying, how I could apply it to what like what I'm doing, you know

When Fishing Starts Feeling Like Work

SPEAKER_01 51:04

what I mean?

SPEAKER_03 51:04

Yeah, uh that that kind of is like what that Zebco video was you posted the other day, Kyle. Is like that's a cool thing about fishing, is like it can be enjoyed on so many different levels from literally a Zebco off a dock catching the fish that was resident, like you said, or to what you do now.

SPEAKER_04 51:22

Yeah, there's something to be said, like, and I'll just I'll leave you with this to be honest. Like, there are times where I certainly have enjoyed my local $500 jackpot team tournament situations more than I have fishing professionally. I mean, everyone thinks it's like all glory, but dude, like I think about like when I'm on the road, all I think about is like coming home and fishing with my old team tournament partner in upstate New York.

SPEAKER_01 51:54

That's cool.

SPEAKER_04 51:55

I mean, think about it, dude. Like, once you do this as much as we do, it can get a little bit like job-like.

SPEAKER_03 52:05

Yeah. What's up, guys?

Dirty Duck Coffee Sponsor Break

SPEAKER_03 52:07

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SPEAKER_01 52:38

We feel like that a lot. Like when we're doing media and stuff like that. Like, I'm so sick of having B-roll that I have to delete. I want to stab somebody.

SPEAKER_03 52:46

You know what I mean? I'm glad you brought that up because that was the one of the things I was gonna ask you, Kyle, is just like, you know, it's the same thing as like if you're an outfitter for ducks or whatever it might be, you're turning what you love into work, and obviously there's pros and cons to that. But yeah, I was gonna ask if it ever gets to that point where you're like 100%, 100% all the time.

SPEAKER_01 53:06

So, what do you do personally? Like somebody else could relate to it, like what do you do to like like shut things off? Do you do you do you have to or do you have to do you go golfing? Do you get more organized in your structure? Do you ever look at yourself as an angler and say, you know what? Um, I'm gonna take some time off to really kind of like get mentally focused on this or whatever, like share some of that, like like some of those things that make a difference of you being a professional.

SPEAKER_04 53:32

Yeah, so I try to golf. I try to I try to go fishing more than ever now. I I I like to try to go fishing just to go fishing, yeah. And try to get back to you know, why I love fishing in the first place, as opposed to just the competition, like you know, always in drive. And like, you know, it's pretty serious. Like everyone's like, oh, you must have fun out there. It's like, yeah, I do when I'm catching them in the tournament and I know I'm gonna get a check or whatever, but the practice, the long days, like it's not, and I'm all by myself. I mean, you're by yourself all for 12 hours a day for three days straight practicing, and then you're by yourself for two or three days or whatever, if you don't have a camera. So like it's pretty lonely. Like Caroline, my fiance is at home, you know. I'm on the road for especially being from the north, I'm on the road for seven weeks at a time. It's at without coming home.

SPEAKER_01 54:33

Sure.

SPEAKER_04 54:33

Yeah. So like they can be so like when I get home, man, oh, it's so nice. Like just relaxing, fishing for fun. Like I went down on the dock two days ago with Caroline when I was looking at the it's basically ice off was like three months or three weeks ago in upstate New York. So we were we all the fish are starting to move up under these like deeper docks, and I was looking at them, just it's cool to, you know. And and those are the same fish that I used to catch when I was 10, you know. Not obviously not the same fish, but the same you know, situation. Yeah, so um yeah, I just try to stay mentally sharp and and uh just hope I don't get too tired of it. Because eventually I'm sure guys get dude, you it will get to the point where you'll need to figure out how to maintain the excitement. You're 50 years old, you've been doing this for what I'd be doing for 30 years at that point. Like it's gotta get monotonous. So you just gotta find ways to keep it, you know. And that happens naturally too, because like I said, you're going to different fisheries, you know, different times of the year. But that's one thing that I would challenge Bassmaster to start doing is like a lot of times, and it seems like we're going to new places because we are, but the schedule can get pretty monotonous.

SPEAKER_01 56:04

So right on. Ryan, let me ask this. So people that are I'm gonna I'm gonna try to drum this down, um, because I feel like the majority of people are not professional fishermen, but there are sure hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of bass fishermen out there. And so what I want to know is like you're going to that that that retention pond, that farm pond, whatever, you did some old school fishing.

Simple Bank Fishing Setup And Baits

SPEAKER_01 56:35

Whatever your yeah, Doc, what's your go-tos? Like, like if you're a guy that's like a gal that's like, man, I want to get in some bass fishing, and I don't even know what rod I need. I don't know if I need a seven medium. I don't know, like, what are the basics of like you would tell somebody like in like in your couple minute commercial of like here's what I do to try to be a uh a generally successful bass fisherman from the from the bank?

SPEAKER_04 57:00

Yeah, from the bank. I would say, first of all, have a wacky worm uh for sure. Uh I would just say to try to cover as much water as you can from where you're standing. So like start at the bank and cast parallel to the bank. So like cast like basically almost uh to the right. Like if you're staying at the bank, you cast right at the bank, work the bank, and then go a little bit off the bank, and that should cover, and if you just do that like a clock and you cast at like you know uh like five o'clock or whatever, four, three, two, one, noon, and you you cover that sort of you know, circumference in front of you like that, with different the two baits you all the only two baits you need are a wacky center stick from egg zone. That's what I use, and then uh a jig, some sort of jig. So you cover this with like a sort of finessier bait, and then you do the same thing with like a jig where it's falling down to the bottom. You get the whole water column and the area in front of you. So you're basically covering everything this way, and then you're also covering everything this way.

SPEAKER_01 58:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:17

That's see that that right there is actually really that resonates to me.

SPEAKER_01 58:21

I feel like I'm a lot smarter fisherman right now.

SPEAKER_03 58:23

I feel yeah, because I feel like I'm just like throwing shit out there and like hoping for the best. Like the same, the same blue worm that I've caught fish on since I was electric blue, right? Yeah, that's funny, man.

SPEAKER_02 58:35

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03 58:36

Well, Kyle, dude, we really appreciate it, man. I know you're uh back home and enjoying your time. So I really think you know, appreciate you taking the time to come on tonight. And of course, uh, it was it was awesome. It really was a man.

SPEAKER_04 58:48

I enjoy like this is stuff I enjoy doing because you know, it's just nice to go back to the basics and talk about just fishing and life and stuff like that. So I appreciate you guys having me on.

SPEAKER_01 59:00

Absolutely. Well, let's put them on the spot and just what does frog togs do to help you in your profession in your professional pursuit?

Frog Togs Partnership And Final Wrap

SPEAKER_04 59:09

I gotta tell you what, uh, I just this is my first year with frog togs and they've been phenomenal.

SPEAKER_01 59:14

Like aren't they great?

SPEAKER_04 59:15

What I like about frog togs is not only do they have really good rain gear and outerwear right now, but they also are constantly coming out with new product, and I'm able to help sort of them come out with some new stuff that I've sort of said, look, we need this, we need that. So they've been very receptive and listened to a lot of what I've had to say on that front. So it's nice to you know be with a company that already has really good products, but also is totally cool with you know experimenting and coming out with new lines of stuff that I think everyone's gonna really like. Um, and there there'll be a lot more stuff coming out like that in the next six months, too.

SPEAKER_01 59:53

So yeah, we've seen some of it, and we're like I'm like uh excited. Yeah, super excited about I can't say anything because Daniel said no, but uh yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:06

So thank you so much.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:09

And and uh hopefully we'll be lucky enough to like I don't know, like dude.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:14

If you ever fish Lake Lanier, yeah, tell us like we we'll we'll come freaking uh spectate at the check-in or whatever, and invite you dinner and provide beverages of your choice.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:25

Oh, perfect. I'm in. I'll take the one you're drinking right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:29

Yeah, perfect. Right. Hey, you know what? While we're on that, let's give a big shout out since we're talking fishing to Bass Pro getting involved with Bushlight and coming out with the first ever Bass Pro Bush Light can. Let's go.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:46

That's awesome. Alrighty, man. Well, thank you again, Kyle. Thank you, Kyle. Yeah, man. Good talking with you guys.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:55

I've been stepping, I've been helping, riding on the mid time strain. Too fast now, think of slow down, standing in the poor rain.