This Team Tournament Fishing Strategy Wins Consistently

Carty Shoen, former President of Auburn University's fishing team and a collegiate national champion angler, joins the Serious Angler Bass Fishing Podcast to break down what it actually takes to win at the highest level of team tournament bass fishing — plus how he turned a U-Haul truck into a fully decked-out mobile fishing rig for life on the road.

In this episode, we cover:
✅ Team tournament fishing strategy like communication, boat positioning, and fishing water efficiently
✅ How to prep for team tournaments 
✅ Building a U-Haul truck camper setup for towing a boat and living on the road
✅ Budget-friendly ways for tournament fishing
✅ Mindset and consistency tips from a collegiate bass fishing champion

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

All right, everyone. Welcome back to Steer Stangler Podcast and welcome back to another edition of the Seriously Western segment. As always, I'm your host, Bailey Eichbrett, and joined with me is the finest stash. We'll say, I mean, it's it's a little bit announced later in the show, but the taken stash. By the hell, Mr. Adam Deakin, the stash has been taken over. Oh man. What's up, dude? How are you, dude? How you been? Good. I'm good. I had to. I couldn't, I couldn't resist myself. Man's doing well. He's got himself a new lady friend. He's rocking the saucy hat, and we're gonna have a banger episode.

SPEAKER_00 0:37

I love it. I love it. Yeah, um, dude, things are pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

Brownley download, bro. Let's hear it.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Yeah, man. Brownlee. Uh cool fishery. I I haven't spent a ton of time out there, and I'm gonna start spending more time out there. Um, Bryant, after the tournament, comes up to me and he just goes, dude, uh, how how close are you to here? I'm like, ah, Boise's an hour and a half. And he's like, Do you spend a lot of time out here? And I was like, not really. And he's like, Why? He's like, I have never seen a place with this much fish. Like, and it's the truth, they were from zero feet to 80 feet, and everywhere in between. Like, it is insane how many fish are in there. And I've always known like you just catch a bunch there, but you don't really put it into perspective until it's a super 60 tournament where there's numbers matter, and it's like I just caught a ridiculous amount of fish, a ridiculous amount of keepers. Then think about all the the non-keepers and the fish you lose. And it was like I I've never experienced that before. Like that is, I mean, it took it was something like 2500 keepers were weighed in.

SPEAKER_02 1:57

Like it was 2500?

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Yes, like it was let's put it this way day one, I had 29 keepers, okay? Out of you know, Columbia River, think of like very vast smallmouth fisheries. I I legitimate was like, dude, I think I'm gonna be leading keeper count coming in, right? Like, I was like, I'm I'm in a good spot. Like Aaron Britt, uh, who else? Luke Johns had in the in the high 40s, mid-40s, and I was like, I kind of let off the gas a little bit, like, all right, I need to start looking for some big ones, sort of a thing, because we can make the final day on either keeper count or wait. So, dude, day two, I told myself, like, I need to go out and be absolutely relentless and catch every single one and just not put my head down and literally fish the entire day, not take any breaks. Like, I didn't drink water, didn't eat food. Like, I locked in and just fished, and I caught 50 of them, and that was like, I was like, dude, I in my head, seriously, Bailey, I was like, I could not have worked harder than I did today. I caught them all, and then I come in and Ken Ma had like 65. Christian Ostrander had in the 60s. I'm like, dude, this is that's an insane amount of fish. Because then you think of non-keepers and whatever else, and we have to take a picture of every single one of these. Like, it's a pain in the butt when you get them in the boat. Like, that is there is more times that they were hooked up throughout the day than not hooked up. Like, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 3:36

That is that is absurd. Uh I can't help my mind. Uh, but when you mention not being able to drink water, uh, I wonder why we have not seen anybody rocking like the water like hiking backpack with like the two or like a beer, like a beer helmet, you know, like something like that. Because that would be one, that would be a picture and a half, but like kind of smart, especially the beer, like the water backpack.

SPEAKER_00 4:00

That would be I mean, I should say remedy. The only time I do eat and drink, it's got me thinking of a whole new efficiency thing. I mean, Thai Manorola kind of got us on this of like not wasting any time, right? But like when I do eat or drink, it's normally running, and I was making really long runs in this tournament, so like that's where I would down, you know, multiple water bottles, like eat all the food. Like, I should just take a camera one of these times and just film driving down the lake eating, and you'd be like, Who is this person? He's just like just maulin, yeah, just like running, you know, 60, like bouncing around, just like yeah. But but dude, I mean, seriously, they were in every water column. Like it was, I think the bigger fish were were clearly deeper chasing crappie. I mean, that's what the the food source in there are are is basically crappie baby crappie and then crawfish. I really felt like I could get away from the really small keepers in catching catching them on a jig. So like I locked a jig and a minnow in my hand. Um on the final day, I gambled, ran way up river, like up a river shallow. They weren't there. Um, just because it made the top 10, you know, you got to gamble. And uh so it didn't work out, finished ninth overall, but um caught some fish on a top water on the final day on the bank. So that's the thing. It's like they were everywhere, so it was really cool. But my primary thing was like offshore, pretty deep, throwing either a jig or uh or a minnow.

SPEAKER_02 5:30

Heck yeah, dude. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 5:32

It's a good time. Sitting well, AOI. Yeah, dude. What's crazy is there's like four of us that top 10 both have a suit in this, so like I think I'm gonna be towards the bottom of those four. Like, I'll probably be third or fourth. Um, but like great position, right? I mean, anything can happen, two more events, but like the 60 is I mean, last year it pretty much I think it's gonna take somebody to top 10 all all events to make uh to win AOI. But you know, job number one is to try and make the championship at the end of the year, and we're in good position there. I just need to finish the next two uh events strong.

SPEAKER_02 6:04

Hell yeah, dude. Uh is there any insight on how the the guy that won it, like what was like a specific pattern or something?

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Yeah, I mean that's what I was kind of referring to. So like I think he had caught some big ones on top that like helped him. Um, but Richcraft, he he I mean, awesome tournament, but he he went for kind of the size thing and was catching fish under crappie balls, like literally dropping, dropping through the crappie balls, and those smallmouths were like tight to the bottom and coming up and eating. So I and I never did that directly, like I was on just offshore structure or like drops or you know, things where they were hanging out and you'd see crappie swim over, but like those bigger ones seemed to be on the actual balls themselves. And I never like I consider myself pretty good at forward facing, and I never saw that. I never saw a ball with bass underneath it, you know. But it it was hard because it there was so much bait, like it was really hard to look like that, so it was impressive.

SPEAKER_02 7:04

That's crazy, dude. Pretty dang cool though. Um, and that's pretty dang cool is our episode today with uh Cardi showing. We're just preparing you guys for this one because it is so I could listen to this kid all day. I I literally could. One of the greatest storytellers, which is preluding to what you're about to hear, but um crazy setup, rocking a U-Haul, chasing the bass in nomad dream, and uh throws in a lot of freaking juice from a strategy standpoint, mindset, as well as some koiky talk. Um, just a great freaking episode, one of my favorites we've done so far, especially on the Western segment. And uh I'm sure people are gonna be seeing more of him, especially it sounds like out west deep.

SPEAKER_00 7:46

Absolutely, man. Uh, Hammer number one. Um, I mean, I was so impressed. He'd never been to potholes while we're sitting there at the tournament. Uh I was pre-practicing on the Columbia River, and we're just talking about you know his strategy going into it, what his practice was like. And dude, he hadn't he was not on anything. Like he was like, dude, I'm talking to Ty, and Ty's absolutely roping them. I'm I've caught like one four-pounder all week. I haven't caught any big ones, I'm not catching a lot of fish. And he figured out that labyrinth and his weight went up every day, and he ended up in second. He almost won the whole thing and snuck his way into the top 10 and then almost won it. So super impressed. I was like, okay, this kid's a real deal. Uh, excited to watch him out west and another one of these classic college kids, they go east, right? Like if you're a college kid right now, if you live out west, like I did, like the I don't regret staying out west to fish in college, but I think it is a bona fide strategy. And I've told this to any high school kids that are thinking about this. There's plenty of great things to fish out west, and there's plenty of great college programs. But really, if you can get yourself to go east to fish for a college program where you can have a lot of your time and efforts paid for to learn those bodies of water, I think it's it's crazy impressive. What and then whether or not you decide to chase the whole you know elite series, pro dream, whatever it may be, on the opens and that go that way, or if you do come back home and you fish the western stuff, like these guys are the real deal. We've seen it with Ty and Tyler. Like it's it's a they're they're problems when they come back west.

SPEAKER_02 9:23

They're problems. Heck yeah, dude. Well, Deke, you got anything else for the folks before we get into uh this episode of Cardi? No, man, the trip. All right, folks. Without further ado, Mr. Cardi Showen. All right, folks. Welcome back to another episode of Seriously Western, and we have an awesome guest today, Mr. Cardi Shoen, and we're gonna have no shortage of rabbit holes by the sounds of it, if you guys got to tune in offline here. Uh but uh dude, what's going on, man? How are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 9:51

Dude, I'm doing well. Um, just finished up a huge western swing, spent like three weeks-ish on the road, got back to Phoenix, Arizona, two days ago, and I have a flight to Tulsa in like two hours. So we're going.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Going to Tulsa. What are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 10:09

My best buddy from Auburn invited me for the fourth. And he's like, dude, come swing Tulsa for the fourth. Like, go to Grand Lake. Huge ordeal. Like, we're gonna go fish a Thursday nighter and pretty much just hang out at his lake house. So I was like, dude, I'll be there.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

I love it, dude. D because this is none of those moments of the bass and nomad life. I love it.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

Oh, dude, I left. Carter, I don't think you realize this. I left uh so we were up fishing, uh, he was fishing potholes tournament.

SPEAKER_01 10:39

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

A wedding Saturday. So I was just pre-practicing on the Columbia, staying at Time and Rola's house and was just chatting about the the good old days, right? The college, yes, nomad, no worries, etc. I left driving home, dude. I called my girlfriend and I was like, I miss that so much. Like, I I still live an unbelievable life, get to know mad bass, but I also have all this stress responsibility of like real life work, etc. going on. But like that time frame in my life, the era that you just ended, was some of the best memories uh that you can ever have, and you got nothing to worry about except if the beer's cold Thursday night, and what's the derby you're fishing Saturday all across the country?

SPEAKER_01 11:28

I fish in college is just so insane because it's not just you living that nomad life, it's a group of dudes hanging out, and you're you know, tight as can be, and everyone's just on that lifestyle. And you know, I got to do it for four years, and it was just absolutely insane. It's like the biggest stress is my exam. When else in life do you get that? You know what I mean? Like, I'm not I'm not worried, it's it's such a blessing, really, because you're not worried about bills, you're not worried about kids, your mortgage isn't due. It's like you actually get to think about dude, how am I gonna go catch five bass? And then it's like, how am I gonna pass this exam? Dude, cinema, amazing. Quizlet. Quizlet. I mean, dude, you guys weren't even in school for it. Chat, bro? Like, dude, if you can't pass college these days, you got-I mean, you definitely still gotta apply yourself, but like the resources are there to do well. You can learn anything you need to learn, you know. Like, you can ask chat five things, chat, make me a study guide for my uh math exam, whatever it is. Boop, four seconds, like you can do it.

SPEAKER_02 12:42

Deke, is this one of our moments in life that makes us feel old where Quizlet was like our go-to in college where they we didn't have to do that?

SPEAKER_00 12:49

Yeah, dude, that's that's uh that's a really, really good point. Now I just use chat for like real life adult tasks, but yeah, I can only imagine what it was like in college.

SPEAKER_02 12:58

Also, hey, uh news drop. Deke, sorry, ladies, Deke's off the market. Oh, yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Yeah, I guess you didn't know this. Got a lady.

SPEAKER_02 13:05

Well, we knew up behind the scenes, but I don't think the pod folks knew that uh taking man there.

SPEAKER_00 13:10

Showing the cards on the on the public interwebs.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Girls worldwide, man. Everybody's sad now or Alice Dash.

SPEAKER_02 13:20

Oh man. Oh boy. Well, dude, uh, Cardi, I mean, you do sounds like you have one baby and it's that that U-Haul.

SPEAKER_01 13:25

Yes. I I have a baby uh four years now. I've been I've been ripping this U-Haul truck around. Um super, this is this is probably gonna get me in some sort of trouble, but this is uh why it's good. So I'm I'm I'm a left lane camper. All right. I'm I'm a safe driver, but I I'm not gonna say that I'm the best lawful, amazing driver. I hate to say it, that's just the truth. So I'm cruising back after after the clear leg tournament, and I'm going 85 in the left lane. That's it, and it's perfect because that truck's got no cruise control, but it has a speed limiter on the truck at 85. So I can't go over 85, and I'm like, this is perfect. You know, like I can just cruise. So I'm just hauling, and of course, my music's on. You can't see anything behind this truck. And so when the officer tries to pull me over, he has to get next to me. So I look next to me and I go, I'm like, oh no. So I pull over and I'm like, this is on me. And so literally, he gets he gets next to me. He's like, he's like, so would you like the ticket for out of lane or the ticket for speeding? And I was like, which one's cheaper? And he was like, he's like, the the ticket for out of lane. I was like, yeah, I'm really really respectful to the officer. He's doing his job, you know, it's it's no big deal. But he said I was going 86, and I know I can't go 86 miles an hour. So I didn't even argue with him, but I was like, I know I'm not going 86, I was going 85. So he he he let me go with um just that ticket. He he was really cool, but it was funny. I spent a lot of time in that truck, a lot of good memories, a lot of bad memories, and I love that thing with my whole heart.

SPEAKER_02 15:07

Man, it sounds like Deke was saying you got the thing pretty rigged up too.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

Yeah, we we got it uh we got it fairly dialed. It's it was definitely the college 19-year-old version of it, but I think that is perfect for what it should have been. So I I bought the truck back in back in peak COVID, and U-Haul had during COVID, U-Haul wasn't sure that they were gonna be able to buy any more trucks. Yeah, so it was really difficult to get one. And they had one truck with an engine knock, and that's the one I got. It cost me seven grand. And I was like, let's do it. 2007 had like 120,000 miles, but no one would buy it because the engine sucked. So I was like, dude, give me that thing. So I take it home. The first thing I do, my dad was losing his mind. First thing I do, I take a saw to the back of it. Um, really, so there's the cab and then the box, and they're not connected because it's a U-Haul truck. And I literally just cut a connection pass-through. And my dad comes outside and goes, he literally loses his mind. He's like, We just got this truck, and your first idea was to take a saw to it. And I'm like, you've gotta trust me. Little did I know that was the best decision I'd ever make. Because now I, you know, the pass-through is like the whole deal on that truck. So I do that. I get some help. I got two older brothers that are 50 and 48. So those guys are like my backbone. They're always like supporting me and always want to help out however they can. So they helped me kind of build this thing. We get solar panels on it, AC unit, we got batteries in it, we got a fridge in it. I've got a bed up top and two beds on the sides. This thing is dialed.

SPEAKER_02 16:44

Uh she have a name, dude.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

It's just the U-Haul. Like every which is the Auburn U-Haul above. Yeah, it's like the Auburn U-Haul where we're fairly infamous. Uh it's it's been pretty fun.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

Dude, that's so sick. Let's let's dig into the kind of the end of the man. I mean, you you went out on the college side on absolute top, dude.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

Talk about talk about the end of your college career and the and the big I I couldn't describe it.

SPEAKER_01 17:18

It was the most insane, blessing story ending. Um, I gotta I gotta preface this by shouting out my boy Benjamin Travis. That's the partner I I won this thing with. This guy is the TVA GOAT. He busts his tail on that river more than anybody I know. So I I think this was also special because I think team tournaments are turning away from from team uh necessities, especially you know, in places like college. It can become a one-man deal. I do not believe he could have won this without me, and I know I could have not won it without him. It would not happen without him. So that was insane. Trav is the CEO of the TVA. And uh getting off that, what a special tournament. Finishing off my college career with the ACA national championship win was the most storybook ending I could have ever conceived. It was such a dream come true. Ben and I had both been close. We both have third place Bassmaster finishes, and so we've both just barely tasted what it's like to go get that win. Um, but we never totally sealed the deal. And we we just had a storybook time on Pickwick, dude. Storybook. I mean, 200 and I think there were 220 boats or so, and day one, I I can you want the full breakdown? I got a full I got a full breakdown.

SPEAKER_02 18:43

Let him run.

SPEAKER_01 18:44

The whole practice, I've I moved back to Phoenix, sold my boat in Alabama, then drove to Phoenix and flew back to his place for the tournament. Because I'm like, dude, let's let's go do this one last time.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Because this is like right in the college fishing, I remember this a little bit. If you like the championship can be, you can fish it after you graduate.

SPEAKER_01 19:02

After graduation. So this championship was two weeks after graduation. Got it. So I graduate, drive to Phoenix, I'm in Phoenix like five days, fly back out, and both him and I are seniors. So he's doing a fifth year, but he's doing a fifth year where he's fishing the Toyotas and he's gonna go fish something even bigger than that. So it was basically our last actual college, you know, year, finishing up. And our goal, we told each other this, we said, no matter what, we're having a good time. We fished too much college. We both know we can catch him on Pickwick. It had been a long time since either of us, you know, fishing separate. He's not my normal partner. Either of us fishing separate had had a bad tournament on Pickwick. We knew what the deal was gonna be. We knew there were two options, they were gonna be on stumps or ledges. We we just knew that. So we both had rows of stumps we liked, we both had a couple areas we liked. We checked a bunch of a bunch of different ledges, a bunch of different schools during practice, and we just like hung out the whole time. We spent at least three hours catching white bass, like just destroying over a school. We're like, yeah, that's literally four or five hundred white bass. Catch as many as we want. But the the point of that was our morale had to stay high because we knew there was an opportunity, and we knew overdoing it, over stressing ourselves was going to be useless, especially on this final tournament. So come into the derb, we were bad fishermen until like 12 o'clock. Like we didn't catch anything. This was really interesting. The shad were spawning on on these stump rows, right? So you need the shad to be gone for these fish to actually sit on these on these isolated pieces of cover. So start in the morning, we get to our money stretch, and you can't see anything. There's shad everywhere, everything's blown out, and we're like, this is it's basically unscopable. You can you can fan cast around, we're like, dude, no. So we end up running the whole rest of the river, you know, things like 60 miles. We go up, but we go down, and we don't have a limit at 12 o'clock. And we're not stressed because that was our goal. We're like, we can't lose our minds, but we're we're at the very least disappointed, knowing that we could have a really good event. So come 12 o'clock, we've got, I want to say like 10 pounds, and come around one o'clock, we go hit this. There's this submerged barge, and I was like, Trav, we gotta go, we gotta go rip the barge, bro. Like the barge has fish. Sometimes you just gotta get your psyche back in. Because we got like four fish. We pull up and he's throwing a minnow at these fish, and they follow it to the boat, and I'm like, I got a I got a little urchin style lure. I go flip it out there, let it sink for a second, they go woo, boom, four pounds smallmouth. And that was like our big break. We thought we thought that was our big break. So I'm like, dude, like now we're in business. We got like 15 pounds, we didn't totally sell the tournament, you know, like we Got a four-pounder, we got two hours, bro. After that, it was the most insane clinic I have ever seen. And this is another thing about fish in college. You gotta know when your homie hits flow state. I caught a four-pounder, and I was like, okay, I got the biggest fish in the bag. You know, like I'm straight now. Like, let's let's let Trav cook. He proceeds to go five-pounder, four-pounder, nine-pounder, five-pounder. In and out. We went from 17, so we worked up to 17 pounds by two. We were due in at 330. From two to three, we went from 17 to 27. And we said, hmm, I think we've got him, dude. So we're like ecstatic. Trav goes absolutely ballistic missile mode, and we've got an absolute sack of them. Also, nine-pounder on Pickwick, bro?

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Dude, that was green one, right? What did it eat?

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Oh, it urchin style lure. Yeah. Yeah. He it was insane. He's snapped he's and he's throwing it on a spinning rod. You know, this is you know, the the whole setup. He's throwing it on a spinning rod, and he snaps it, and all this is maybe my favorite fish catch that wasn't mine of all time.

SPEAKER_03 23:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:15

So he just caught like a five, and I'm like, okay, I call, and I see he's already set up on something else. There's only, especially with isolated cover and what we're fishing, I know any cast I make, useless. And I know when I need to cast, I know when I'm not to, I know when I need to take over scope. Like, we're pretty dialed. So I'll never forget this. I end up sitting next to him on his feet, crisscross applesauce. And it was for like 30 seconds. And I'm looking at scope and I see him throw at this stump, and I'm literally crisscross applesauce because our goal is like, dude, we're just gonna have a good time. I see his bait go down and he snaps it, and I see an absolute submarine rise up. I go, dude, I'm like, holy smokes. I see this fish come up, and I'm dude. I don't know what in my heart told me that this was literally over barbecue chicken. So I see the fish and I'm I'm I'm like in his space. I slowly creep back and I'm slowly getting up. I tiptoe to the net. By the time he sets the hook, I'm next to him with the net in my hand. I was like, dude, we were in too much of a flow state. I was like, this fish is coming in the boat, and it we we knew it was big, but I thought it was like a six-pounder or something. And Trab's adrenaline goes crazy. When he catches a big one, he blacks out. So the fish comes up next to the boat, he blacks out, and I'm like, this is it. Like, I gotta get this joke in the net. I go, whoosh, get it in the net. And and I get it in the I I'm literally holding it, like I'm holding it in the net, but over the side of the boat. And him and I both can't think. I'm losing my mind. So I'm like, dude, this is huge. Get it in the boat. So I I get this thing in the boat, and and I look at it and I'm like, I'm like, Trav, this is huge, bro. By the way, the the hook falls right out of the fish's mouth as soon as I get in the net.

SPEAKER_02 25:13

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 25:13

And then I throw it in the well, and then I go to go to weigh it, and I weigh it, and it's like, it's like eight and three quarters. It's like a nine pounder. And I'm like, and then he doesn't even want to know the weight. He's like, he doesn't want to know. And I go up next to him, he's like, dude, how much was that? I go nine. He's like, oh my god! He's like, we're gonna show like long story short, we're like geeking. Then he you know he catches another five, and now we're at 27 pounds, and we knew we had smashed them. We're like, and it's all within the last hour, so it's about as much adrenaline as you can get. We're just freaking out. We go, we're one of the last people to weigh in, we weigh in the fish, everything's kind of peachy clean. We honestly, in my head, I never thought we were gonna be leading. I'm telling you, guys are too good on Pickwick. Even 27 pounds, I'm like, someone might have dropped 28. 30, I think, is really hard to do that time of year, but I'm like, someone could have dropped 28. So we're leading. And this is Trav, me and Trav's first time ever leading a tournament of this big. We've been close, but never actually leading it. We go home, dude. We just had to make sure the beer was cold. Because there was no, there was nothing, there was no execution we could have changed. There was nothing for us to do. We knew if we thought about it or made too good of a game plan, we were gonna be screwed. We're like, there's there's only, you know, we're gonna overthink it. So we hang out with the homies, we're all chilling. Um, there's a legendary picture of me. I bought a watermelon the day before. I don't know why. Skin color, don't know. Then we got a dancer. Uh they don't exist out west, but there's this place called Slim Chickens. Um, and we got a huge tray of fried chicken. What are the odds? Three. So there's a legendary picture of me with like literally a huge thing of watermelon and a huge thing of fried chicken. Um, just based on the circumstances, it just had to happen. So we hang out, like, you know, we're drinking, we're drinking a couple beers, um, we're we're eating some chicken and eating some watermelon, everyone's hanging out. We go to sleep, wake up the next day, and then the nerves are kicking in. We're like, you know, like Trav and I are I I eat a lot of food. I eat a lot of food. And we're driving. I can't eat anything, I can't drink coffee. Like we're driving to the ramp, and I'm like, this is it, you know, like, and it's just the it's it's the fact that your dreams are this close to coming true. I think this happens to a lot of anglers. You dream about being in this opportunity, you dream about having this opportunity so many times, but to actually be there, you're just like, oh my gosh, my dreams genuinely might come true.

SPEAKER_02 27:42

So we go two day or three-day turn, two-day turn.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

So we just we yep, just two days. So we got two days to make this whole deal happen. So we go into the final day. Final day was really special too. So we head out, final day, easily my best day of fishing my whole life. So we get out there, and I it it's it's just it's just amazing. I just love it. I think about it, I get fired up. So we we start it like I was telling you guys, that shad spawn. So we had to make an adjustment, right? We had to do something different in the morning because our whole morning was killed, and we knew that we we knew our bite was an afternoon bite, and we were doing an hour and a half earlier than the day before, which means our whole stretch of money doesn't exist. Like our stretch where we caught them is gone, you know, that time period.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

Got it.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

That's in the back of our head. So I Travis, we get on the end of a new bar, like just a long river high spot, and he's like, dude, we're like he's just gonna try to scope through the endless shad. And I started throwing a swim bait with like a big underspin, just blind casting, dude. So he's scoping, and I'm watching. He's putting on a couple fish they will not bite. I don't know why. Like, perfect, perfect everything. They're just not they're not doing the deal. I'm literally, I my second cast with the with a big underspin. I feel the bottom, I feel some shell. I literally go, Trav, this is gonna work. Boom! Dude, like a four-pounder. I'm like, this is this is great. Boat flip four-pounder, throw them in the well. We're like, sweet. 10 minutes later, I catch, I catch a three and a half. I'm like, this is great. Throw them in the well. Um, so then now it's like nine o'clock. From nine to three, Trav probably caught 10 fish on an urchin style lure. They were just all the same weight. I'd never seen anything like it. Like, we we were like, dude, if we catch 10 bass on Pickwick, because it's hard to get bit out there. There's gonna be some big ones. Every fish was three pounds, every single one. So we get to the end of the day, and we got 16 pounds. Um and we're like, that that might just be what we have. And we know we've lost the tournament with 16. We know it. Like 16, you have fumbled the bag, everything's gone. Yeah. And we've got about 10 minutes to fish. And we remember this one stump where two followed Trav up off of, and they looked pretty big. And he asked me, he's like, dude, should like what like what do we do? You know, do we keep just fishing new stumps or do we go to where we know there's some? And I literally remember, I was like, dude, it's never been a bad idea to cast at five-pounders. Like, we knew that in our heads. Like, these look like big fish. Casting a five-pounder cannot be a bad idea in a situation like this. Yeah, we we roll up, we got like five minutes left. As he's driving, I have a Nico rig that was on the floor that I rigged up that I cut off for a drop shot. I snap the drop shot off, pick up the Nico rig, tie this thing on as we're running. We pull up to this to the stump, and Tribe's looking at it, he goes, urchin or Nico. And I go, dude, I I think you need to let me throw my Nico in there. I line this cast up, I miss. Like I low-key sell. I'm like a foot short, and I watch the the water wash it over the stump, and I just see this little guy just swim down. I go, I'm like, I need this, like I need this fish. And you know, I feel it once, don't feel anything, feel it twice, dead weight. I'm like, this is it. Like, I need this fish to be huge.

unknown 31:24

Shh.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Boom, dude. We reel it in, we're absolutely we didn't know it was the win yet, but we knew it gave us a shot. It was a four and a half pound smallmouth with like three minutes left in the tournament. We get in the boat, and I'm like, dude, we're not dead. But but we we certainly still think we lost the tournament. 18, we had 18 pounds. Long, long, long story short, we have to weigh in last. Most stressful two hours of my life, sitting watching everybody weigh in. We get up there, there's too many hammers. They they said we needed 17 pounds to win. We had 18 on our scale, and we're like, dude, I think we've I think we did it. And and we did. So both Ben and I had the most important fish catches of our careers, and that's what it takes to win at that level. That is the super long full story breakdown. Um best two days of fishing with me and Trap's career.

SPEAKER_02 32:11

There's so many places I wanted to ask questions there, but like I'm sorry. No, dude, it's sick. It deek nailed it. I was like, you're in the flow state of storytelling. I didn't want to interrupt it. Cardi, if whatever career you decide to pursue does not work out, you have a career in color commentating because I can listen to your whole story all day long. I would love to have some beers with you, man. That was I was so wrapped up in it, dude, that I'm sitting here. I'm like, didn't realize we're already almost 25 minutes into this thing. I'm so ingested in this story.

SPEAKER_00 32:46

That may be, I mean, listen, we've done we've done this for a long time. We've had a lot of guests on the shows. That may be the best storytelling I have seen and witnessed.

SPEAKER_02 32:55

Yeah. That was legendary, dude. That was pretty sick.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

Because I mean, just we've been there. Like, I think this is you're you're dead on. The modern team fishing is an interesting thing to think about because you do have you know scope and you have forward-facing sonar. And so it is a very um, it's a tough dynamic, right, with team fishing, but the guys who do it well, like you're saying, the other guys prepped, like that's big brain of like get ready. Like, this is bite's gonna happen, knowing when to when to step up and take over, when not to take over, when to be doing other things, like you're saying, the underspin on the bottom. Like, there is a real art to team fishing, and there always has been, but now it's even heightened. Yes, it's cool that cool to hear that breakdown. That'd be a good show idea, Bailey, like modern team fishing.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

So if you're not the guy running scope, especially nowadays, your job is one bite a day. Like, that's just the truth. If you can get one bite a day, you've done your job. Or it's just how are how can you be efficient? And another thing is just trusting the guy on the trolling motor. Because as soon as you don't trust the guy running scope, your whole turn, like your whole team dynamic is is destroyed. So I think Travis had a lot of trust in me. I have the utmost trust in him, and that was why it was so special.

SPEAKER_02 34:14

I I like the the difference in knowing when you can just sit on the deck waiting for the net, and then also when to be casting that underspin. That was pretty sick. And dude, the line that you dropped of it's never a bad idea to throw at a five-pounder. That was that was pretty badass.

SPEAKER_01 34:31

Uh like it just it just can't be. Like throwing out a five-pounder can't be stupid. Like, it's gotta be a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 34:37

Yeah, and dude, beyond it just being a window that you guys thought you had, I think a lot of people would have left day one off that that spot you smashed them at, and would have been, okay, yeah, we're gonna start there day two, but you guys had the wherewithal to not even go there. Is that just based on experience of knowing the windows there, or what led you guys to be like, okay, we're not even gonna touch that first thing?

SPEAKER_01 34:59

We knew the window was critical, and so a little bit of the fear was getting on it and educating the fish prematurely. So, you know what why if the fish aren't ready to bite, I don't want to show them my best lure and my breast and my best presentation if their mood isn't ready for it yet. Because then I'm just I'm just teaching them more things they don't need to know. These bass do not need to know this information, you know what I mean? If if I think I'm going at the right time, let's go blast them. But if I don't think it's the right time, why even do it? Yeah, and and we also had a our plan worked, and it was a lot of the day one, we fished it for 45 minutes without a bite, couple follows, no bites. We're like, dude, it's just we can't we can't think that this is gonna work again. So we literally pulled up on a spot we never practiced, never went to nothing, and just you know, kind of just let the let the lake tell us what to do.

SPEAKER_02 36:02

That's Deke. This is another one of those that I try to hold myself back on because we we've Deke and I, Cardi, have talked a lot on especially on the Western segment of like how fishing and hunting relate so close to each other. And it's that to me is like uh I don't know how much hunting experience you have, Cardi, but like Deke, this is the exact same reason of like when you're chasing a giant white tail or something like that, you never step foot in his bedroom until the conditions are right. That's exactly what this screams at me.

SPEAKER_00 36:30

It's so true, dude. Like that is, I mean, you can you can know when and where a big one is, but at the same time, if it's not right, it's not right. Don't don't waste your time um and w potentially blow it out too, right?

SPEAKER_01 36:46

Exactly. And it's it's like the same concept as bed fishing and and setting the hook too early. You know, like you get a you get a fish who's barely picking it up, you think you can catch it in your you know, you throw in your Texas rig, and you set the hook prematurely, you clip her in the corner of the mouth, it comes off, not the fish doesn't bite again. It's the exact same thing as your timing has to be perfect, dude.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

And I'll go another step further, tidal fisheries. It's even a whole nother element, not only, I mean, just sure on like when they're maybe necessarily willing to bite, but that is something I learned on the Delta with bed fish. I mean, the tide matters so much because you can't have it be too high because then you then you can't see the fish if you're bed fishing, right? But you can't have it be too low because then they are crazy skish. They'll leave the bed. Like they'll be like if it's too if they're in a bed where it, you know, say it's a giant tide swing and it drops six foot on them, and their bed is now in one foot of water, or their backs are out of the water, a lot of those big females will slide off and they won't touch the bait, they don't care about the bed, they're just done with it, and you're way too spooky. So it's like you gotta wait until you're at that like mid-depth to where they can't quite see you that well, but anyways.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Yeah, you're on you're on the money, dude. Timing.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

You think that's still the one most I think in my opinion it is, but the one most under under what does the term look for? Misunderstood parts of bass fishing or even tournament fishing is just the timing that goes into strategy. A lot of people they might have the right areas and applications, but they time it all wrong.

SPEAKER_01 38:23

I think and I've been on both I I assume all of us have been on both ends of this timing deal. Timing is so important, and it's there's the there's the timing of the actual fish and when they want to bite, and there's the timing of a rotation against when you know you're fishing against great anglers. If you found something someone else has too, and if you're 30 minutes behind or ahead of other anglers, you're also gonna go go lose a tournament. Um that's that this year kicked me in in the tail pretty hard at Santee Cooper. Um I long I won't get into such a long story this time, but my buddy brody Robinson legend. This guy is a dog. And he he got second in this tournament. He had 34 pounds, I believe. I could be wrong, but I'm like 99% sure it's 34 pounds on Santee Cooper. And I had like 19, and I I felt like I had just done something wrong because I was around giants. At the end of the day, he goes, Cardi, you catch him? I was like, no, bro, I got 19 pounds. He's like, You found the best fish in the lake. I was like, What do you mean, bro? What are you talking about? Um, he caught all his, he caught a bunch of his giant ones on the same stretch, but I pulled up 30 minutes after him. Timing. You know, so I casted at 35 pounds in the last two hours of the day. I was waiting for the wind to calm down. I was like, why, won't, these, fish, bite? Yeah, dude. Generational angler already caught all of them. Um, so but that's that's just the thing. Fishing is so timing-oriented because you can have the right idea, the right bait, the right game plan, the right fish, but if you mess that timing up, you feel like you've done nothing right.

SPEAKER_02 40:02

Now, if you're in the moment, like say you're in the actual tournament itself, whether it's a multi-day or like you can you can somehow understand that while you're in that one-day event, how do you get yourself out of that bad rotation, or like how do you adjust from that?

SPEAKER_01 40:18

You skip ahead in plans or you dumb it down. You go to like non-rotational fish.

SPEAKER_00 40:25

Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.

SPEAKER_01 40:27

Yeah, like you just you just dumb it down. So if I'm in a place where I'm like, I've I've done too much, my rotation's cooked. Rick Harris taught me this actually. It sounds dumb, but instead of thinking of a of a whole tournament or something huge, you literally just think, How can I go get a bite? Like, how can I go catch one bass? What's the simplest way I know to put one fish in the boat? And you just go do that. So whether you're you go to a minnow, a drop shot, a jig, go throw a top water on the bank, throw a top water on the bank, go do your favorite thing for an hour and try to just get yourself resettled.

SPEAKER_00 41:06

That's juice, man. Yeah, I love that. That's man timing is so it's so interesting. I mean, we see it now with Major League Fishing, seeing when fish catches happen, but like even on like Brownley this weekend, dude. You get back to the house, talk to Tyler Madden, talk to the boys, and it's like, guys, that afternoon bite was wicked. It was every cast. Like you needed to be fishing the last two hours of the day on your juice because they just bit, right? Like, just so interesting to me how you may find a the perfect spot and whatever else, but like there's just these bite windows that open up, and it's you don't really know it in practice, or at least I don't I don't do a good job of of figuring that out in practice. I'm kind of like looking for areas primarily. But when you're fishing the derb and you're in that area for a long time, if you if you aren't moving around a bunch, you start to realize like, oh, this is special during this time. And that's that's probably one of the hardest, most you know, like the things that that is a was a long took me a long time to take away as an angler of like the the timing is it's a it's a real component. You could have the best spot in the world and not catch them because you weren't there at the right time.

SPEAKER_01 42:15

Yep. Exactly. It's crazy, dude. It it'll spin you out as as much as it helps you too. It's like, when do I go? But you just gotta trust your gut and try to pick up on the small details.

SPEAKER_02 42:28

Yeah. Well, dude, you came out on top, you know, ended it out on top. What's uh what's the plan now going forward? What's the next steps for you?

SPEAKER_01 42:37

Dude, so I'm honestly in the crazy, the second craziest portion of my life now, because there was at least a little bit of pressure from my family to be like, okay, Cardi, you've graduated college, you had a lot of fun fishing, you know, let's go, let's go get a J O B. You know, let's go get employed. And then I won the national championship, and they're like, dang it. Like they're like, they're like, now Cardi's got a little momentum. Turns out my son doesn't suck, you know. It's like I've been trying to show them. I was like, you know, I spent four years in Auburn. I was the president of the team. I was like, I did just about like I've I've worked my tail off, you know? And so they're like, okay, now Cardi's got a little momentum. We gotta let him go fish. You know, my parents are really supportive, my family's really supportive. Um, I think results are also really important to them. So when I'm actually doing good, they're like, yeah, dude, like go fish. No one's gonna be on your tail for X, Y, or Z. So right now, at least with this, with the end of this year, I'm fishing bam, gonna fish every one bass I can. I'm living in Arizona. So I fished the pro am on Moses, fished the pro am on potholes, fished the Skeet Reese big bass tournament on uh Clear Lake. That was my first time to All three of those lakes. So that's been a huge part of the fun for me. I felt like I definitely hadn't mastered the south because I think that's impossible to do, but I'd become comfortable and understood a lot of those places. I don't know anything about the West, which is surprising because I'm fun I'm from here. But Clear Lake, Delta, Shasta, Potholes, Moses, new, new, new, new, new, new. And I like that concept of new. I think that's how fishing stays fun for me. So that's what I've been doing right now. I would like to go uh fish against Deacon on the Super 60. Um if I can go have a couple good events, we're gonna go try to try to swing the super 60. Um, so we're we're gonna go swing West Coast a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

I like it. I dig it. Can we quick call out this skeet reese big bass open and the the weights from that and how our boy Chad lost by an ounce? Bro.

SPEAKER_00 44:52

No, a hundredth of an hundredth of a hundredth of a pound, Bailey. 001. That's way smaller than that.

SPEAKER_02 45:01

Yeah, sorry. I was in my head, I'm picturing the 9.15, 9.14, not yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:06

No, so it's it's actually it's actually kind of funny. We I was leading that round until Chad weighed in his giant, and you're allowed to communicate during the tournament. He texts me, he's like, I gotta weigh this fish in. Like he's like, dude, I feel bad, but he's like, I gotta wear the fish in.

SPEAKER_00 45:19

Sorry, I'm killing you.

SPEAKER_01 45:20

Yeah, I'm like, I'm like, dude, I've got a problem with it, especially with a fish that big, you need if it loses a you know an ounce in the live well, then you're because that fish had a shot to win. And he goes and weighs it. I literally watched him, oh giant. So that was you know, that was absolutely electric, but dude, if he spit on that bass, he'd have $90,000. If he spit on it, like that's what that weight is. Um again, like I'm glad that he didn't wait till the next round to weigh that fish in, or that would be the biggest what if in history. Like, if he was like, I'm gonna let Cardi win this round and I'm gonna go weigh it in and it weighed in 9.14 instead of like 9.16, dude. He would be losing his mind. So we he controlled the controllables. That guy's an absolute stick. Um sometimes you just get like someone has to lose in a horrific way almost every tournament. Like, that's just the truth. That's just the truth of it. And it was it was his time to lose in a horrific way, still made a bunch of money. Chad's an absolute stick, so yeah, I mean, you just win some, you lose some, but what an insane way to lose. That was that was nuts.

SPEAKER_02 46:30

I saw that get posted.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

I texted him, and I'm just like, no, dude, dude, talk about I I had this is I'm I'm a I'm a big story guy. I lost, I think, my PB on that leg in the tournament. And it was just there's a there's a lot of times when you can you can just be so happy that it's like man, the fist just came off. Dude, my brain was in China. Like I literally turned into a complete idiot. I've been catching them pretty good uh on the second day. I won a round, um, I placed high in another round, and I was like, I'm smashing. So I go back to the same spot where I caught the eight-pounder, and you know, I I huck my urchin out there and you know, hang out, and I see, oh sweet. I'm like, oh my gosh, did I gotta dry it? Oh my this thing's huge. But I think it's like a seven-pounder, in all honesty. Like, genuinely, as you guys know, Clear Lake name's propaganda, lake's crazy dirty, so I can't do this. And this fish does exactly what you'd want to do for a boat flip attempt. So she she comes high in the water column, never digs, never does anything stupid. You I can just barely see her dorsal fin, nothing else. Never turns on me, never turned her head. And she comes next to the boat. And dude, I'm I'm riding uh a morning catching big fish high. I'm like, yeah, we're boat flipping this fish. I got 20-pound line. I go, dude, the fish never stopped growing, it never stopped coming out of the water. Like, I I had its head like just about level with my gunnel, and three quarters of fish was still in the water. And I knew that I had made the grandest mistake of my life instantly, and there, but there's like no going back. But before I could even think, line just goes, pow! And I just go, No! I've never seen this either. The the bait came out of the fish's mouth as I broke it off, so I was able to jump in the water and get my get my only urchin back. Like literally, I see it. I I like I fought both my knees were bleeding from how hard I hit the deck to try to go get the fish. So both my knees are bleeding. I see the fish, I reach for the fish, and I barely see my urchin. I'm like, so I got that back, but biggest fumble of my career easily. So that was awesome. Oh, dude. That was epic.

SPEAKER_00 48:57

We are we are in the era of chasing urchin baits into the water. I've seen so much of this now where you snap one off, but you see it, and you just see guys just I mean, it's it's hilarious. I mean, of course, in this case, I'm glad you went for the fish first. Yeah, but then it was like, I mean, I think there's gonna come a time, especially if it's a small fish that doesn't matter, where you see a guy snap it, just like you're saying, urchin's floating away, and he doesn't give a crap about the fish and is diving for the urchin.

SPEAKER_01 49:23

And mind you, it was it was still close. How like I gave the fish realistically 0.5 seconds. I reached for it as soon as I realized that that fish was gone. I it I wasn't sitting there hand in the water, it was fish urchin, fish urchin. That's how desperate we are. Like there was there was no choice.

SPEAKER_02 49:45

Dude, Fisher and I just posted one where he made uh a silly mistake and cut like when he was re-tying, cut his bait off, and instead of cutting a tagline, cut his main line and threw his urchin in the water, and he sold that like swan dive and missed it. He lost he swan dived in the water to try to get it. That was that was pretty good. Yeah, we're seeing them everywhere now.

SPEAKER_01 50:08

Dude, crazy crazy world, dude.

SPEAKER_02 50:10

They're expensive, bro. I mean, I don't blame you. It's just like losing the big line.

SPEAKER_00 50:16

That's the I mean, it's not even just the expensive part. Like, I mean, that part sucks, but like you can't find them.

SPEAKER_01 50:21

The worst actual this is funny because like I'm a kid, I'm a scoper, so theoretically, like I should have a ton. I have one full cast, like one, not like kind of one. There's one in my boat, one in the U-Haul, and if I lose that bait, I just go home, hang it up. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 50:44

You better put that thing in your lockbox, bro. Your U-Haul's gonna get broken into.

SPEAKER_01 50:48

That's what I'm saying. Someone's gonna steal it. Someone did steal a Koiky in college, though. That's how bad it's getting. And I like the college guys are of the utmost character. These are good dudes. If someone stole someone's full cast off someone's deck at the national championship, I feel like I saw something posted about that. Yeah, Luke, I don't know if you know him, Luke Wanger. I think that's who posted. Yeah, yeah. Yep. So insane. Insane.

SPEAKER_02 51:10

Was it at a derb or was it Noah Text?

SPEAKER_01 51:13

I think he was at the national championship.

SPEAKER_02 51:15

Jeez.

SPEAKER_01 51:16

And you'd never think of it, but dude, when they're when they're running 300 bucks, you get someone whose character is poor and and it's laying on the deck, you get someone who's not a good person, they'll take it.

SPEAKER_02 51:31

Dude, it's it's funny, but not funny. But I ended up taking I this was like when the craze first kind of like early started, and there really was no good way to store these things. Yeah, I had probably a good like 10 of them hanging on my passenger like truck side, like from the that they were literally like I would take fishing line and nail it to the top of my truck. They were hanging like chandeliers, yeah. And I jokingly posted that on our lure lab page, and uh Polinick commented, he said you better take those down before your truck gets broken into. And he wasn't kidding, it wasn't a joke.

SPEAKER_01 52:06

Yeah, someone's gonna go see like 1500 bucks laying in laying right there in your passenger window. They're gonna break in and take them.

SPEAKER_02 52:13

Yeah. Insane. It's it's nuts, dude. Uh do you mind if I asked the hook style you're rocking with with that?

SPEAKER_01 52:21

Yeah, treble hook. One or so, what what's the bigger one? Yeah, size one, Ryugi Pierce, absolutely not sponsored. Best hook. Best hook, best hook, best hook. Don't overthink it. I'm I'm a I this is honestly my my biggest help. I'm a huge Jesus guy. So like if I lose a bass, I'm just like, wasn't mine, it wasn't meant to be. Like, move on. That that hook gives me the most confidence. I use that hook on every one of my treble hook baits, no matter what it is, even my jerk baits. I don't even care that it sinks, because if they bite it, that hook's given in the boat.

SPEAKER_02 52:57

I dig it.

SPEAKER_01 52:58

Just hook it, hook it through the top. I get a piece of plastic, like just literally any garbage piece of plastic, cut it up 50 times into 50 squares, throw it on there as a hook keeper, let it rip.

SPEAKER_00 53:07

He does. Can't confirm he showed me his piece of plastic. I'm like, you know, they make things for this. He's like, dude, just use a piece of plastic.

SPEAKER_01 53:13

Yeah, I just chop up a little piece of plastic, let it let it go.

SPEAKER_02 53:17

Smart.

SPEAKER_01 53:18

Um, weight-wise.

SPEAKER_02 53:20

Yeah, interweight.

SPEAKER_01 53:21

I use I like to use a Mustad. Um, I don't even know what the what the kind is, but it's built really weird.

SPEAKER_00 53:30

I'm just like is it tungsten or lead?

SPEAKER_01 53:32

I got one. Can I go grab it? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 53:36

We're going the deep dive now. Greatest storyteller of all time.

SPEAKER_01 53:42

Stays in my backpack at all times.

SPEAKER_00 53:44

Stays in my backpack at all times. It's like, yeah, you're gonna lose your laptop or your koiky, and you're like, yeah, that can go in the trash.

SPEAKER_01 53:51

Yeah, like keep koik.

SPEAKER_02 53:53

Yeah, while you're fishing that out, I'll tell the people. I uh I had a funny story. Uh so I flew out to Clear Lake, was it three weeks now uh ago, and didn't have scope, uh, unfortunately, but fortunately, and went out there and brought a few urchin baits, and my wife came home to me drilling holes in her tupperware so that I could store my urchin baits in Tupperware to put them in my carry-on to make sure they're with me at all times.

SPEAKER_01 54:18

Dude, that's legendary.

SPEAKER_02 54:21

Yeah, it was it was pretty pretty funny. Should have been filming when my wife walked in, but it's all good.

SPEAKER_01 54:26

This is this is my favorite guy right here.

SPEAKER_00 54:28

Oh, one of the like screw ones. I've seen that those dude. You can get those like Walmart.

SPEAKER_01 54:32

Yeah, yeah. I just I just I literally just like them because they just like go in and chill there. I never lose them. I don't there's not a really secret, good, ingenious reason behind them, but like it just slides up in that joker, and I think these teeth grip it pretty nice. Good enough for me.

SPEAKER_00 54:50

What what size weight do you like?

SPEAKER_01 54:53

This is uh eighth house. There you go. I'll go from I'll throw eighth, I'll throw sixteenth. That's about all I'll throw. Is one of the two. I'll mix it up a little bit if I have to, but I'm big on being patient with the bait, let it sink forever. Um I think it's another one of those deals where you also don't want to overthink it. If you think you've got a good rig, just be confident in it. A lot of guys are frog hooking now, which is probably great. I don't like it. Um I you I mess around with it a lot, great hookup ratio, but I I think with the size weight I like to use, it's sometimes difficult to get that thing to stay upright with the two prongs.

SPEAKER_00 55:44

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_01 55:45

Maybe I need a lighter hook, but I'll get it to rotate up you know, upside down, and then I have the prongs on the bottom, and then I'm tongue-hooking a bunch of fish. Or a lot of times, like I'll I'll I'll throw it blind a good amount, and I want to be confident that when I hit the bottom, my prongs aren't just sitting in the bottom.

SPEAKER_02 56:05

So tripoding the bait.

SPEAKER_01 56:06

Yeah, just tripoding that thing down there. So I was like, yeah, I'm good. Also, this was this was another thing, dude. This uh I caught a seven and a half at Clear Lake that put the I had the most insane confidence in the right. I already had insane confidence in it. Dude, I'm straight up hung up. Like I'm stuck stuck. And I'm like, oh shoot, I am snagged. But I knew I casted a fish. I'm all sorts of snag, and I go up to go get my bait, it just starts swimming away. Urgent. I just I started reeling, I was like, oh my gosh, it's a seven and a half. It it peeled it off. It peeled it off a snag. But that's so I was like, yeah, dude, frog hook, you can go anywhere else. I don't think a frog hook, you'd get that opportunity. So I think I snagged the bottom prong and still have those two prongs available to allow that fish to actually pick it up with you with a treble hook. If you're snagged with a frog hook, you're probably you're probably not catching that fish. Now, you know, if if that one time that Ryugi gets me a fish that's worth like 500 bucks, then it already paid for itself. And so I was like, that's enough for me. Ryugi, you're good with me. Go to my books.

SPEAKER_02 57:15

I like it. I like it. I like it.

SPEAKER_00 57:19

Well, Deke, what else do we got for Cardi? Man, um, not too much else. Cool that you're fishing all the Northwest stuff. You're not even fishing the West stuff just because of your timing, right? To try and make the 60. Um so next one there for you is what? Fordman? One bass stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:36

Yeah, I'm excited. We we did pretty bad at Lake Moses. Um, you'll just have that, I guess. And we locked in at Lake Potholes, came out second place in that event. So I was really happy with my finish there. So we're sitting in 16th for the points, which is not as bad when you think about it, because there's a lot of double qualifiers who are already on the super 60. So, God willing, I have a fantastic event on the Columbia River. I probably need a top 10. But if I crack a top 10, we will have a chance at making the super 60 this year. Yeah, baby.

SPEAKER_02 58:09

Hell yeah, dude. We'll be rooting for you, man. I want to see that storytelling on stage next year.

SPEAKER_01 58:14

There will be some stories. I win, loser, I'll have some stories.

SPEAKER_02 58:19

I love it, man. So good. I love it. Well, dude, uh, D, did you have some? No, no, man. Cardi, appreciate the time, dude. This has been freaking awesome, man. We gotta get you back on your mind.

SPEAKER_01 58:31

Uh you guys let me go talk for a long time and tell stories. I hope uh I hope it's entertaining to everyone else out there.

SPEAKER_02 58:37

Heck yeah, absolutely was.

SPEAKER_01 58:38

Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 58:39

Yeah, it's like we tell people all the time this is not our podcast, this is your podcast.

SPEAKER_01 58:42

Heck yeah, dude. I I I can talk. That's probably that's been a personality trait of mine for a long time, so I appreciate you guys letting me.

SPEAKER_02 58:48

Hey, you'd be great at podcasting, bro. Love it, man. Well, dude, go get your flight, enjoy the fourth week in Intulsa, and it's uh it's been a pleasure, bro.

SPEAKER_01 58:58

Awesome. Thank you very much.

SPEAKER_02 58:59

All right, folks, and that's gonna do it for today's episode. Hopefully you guys enjoyed that half as much as Deacon and I enjoyed talking with Cardi, that that kid's a trip, and definitely gonna be seeing him again here. Uh probably when he gets the the new rig and things all dialed up for the West Coast, and hopefully a little uh update how the the Pro Ams go the rest of the year, and hopefully somebody that you see as a as we just talked about, a problem on the West Coast uh next year for Super 60 anyway.

SPEAKER_00 59:27

Absolutely, man. He's got got big things coming. Um, excited to see him. Uh yeah, like you said, good and bad. Like, do we want him on the 60? Probably not, but also it would be fun to travel and hang with him. So, of course, no, want to want to compete against the best guys. And he's uh I think he'll get there. If he doesn't make it this year, he'll he'll be there shortly after.

SPEAKER_02 59:46

Heck yeah. Uh well, dude, great episode, another awesome Western segment. Folks, thank you so much for taking time out. Make sure you guys follow Cardi on socials. We'll drop that below in the show notes, whether you're on YouTube or MP3. And uh, we got an awesome show, hopefully coming up this Wednesday, uh, as long as we can nail down guest two for the show. Uh, but we'll leak out the topic in a we're gonna be talking about some title fisheries, how to break them down, how to better understand them in fishing. We got Bryant Smith coming on to cover the West, and we'll have an angler to come on and talk about the East. So we'll uh we'll have all that coming on Wednesday, as well as a bonus show later this week with Noah Winslow talking some uh some dog days, some grass flipping, things like that. He's a northeasterner, but has traveled the country, fished the classic this year, um, and some juice that's within that one too. So, some awesome shows coming up. Appreciate y'all as always for tuning in. We'll see ya on the next one.