3RM Ep. 15 - Jackson Philip: Miss Penny

This week join Jackson Philip to the studio to discuss everything from growing up, joining the military, and how he keeps his mothers memory growing every single day aboard the "Miss Penny". 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Hi, you're listening to the Three Rivers Marine Podcast, a show that brings anglers and mariners down-to-earth advice that helps on and off the water. I'm Anthony Morisi, a fishing rep born and raised in the Pacific Northwest. I'm sitting down with the biggest names in fishing and boating to make your next adventure easier, safer, and more exciting. Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of the Three Rivers Marine Podcast. Today, we have our very own Jackson in the studio. How's it going, guys? He's here. He's here to tell us about stuff that us cold water guys probably don't know all that much about. Some lures that are, you know, we'd we'd maybe measure that on a tough day of black. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 0:46

Resident Coho right there.

SPEAKER_01 0:47

Yeah, oh yeah, Rezi. We're a deal on that one. Um, you know, talk about some life experiences that you've had and how they've crafted you into the person that you've become.

SPEAKER_00 1:00

Without a doubt.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

So a lot of people. Thank you for being here. Of course, of course. Um so you know, starting us off, I think a lot of people just sort of know you as the dude who's got the cool stuff in his office over there and sells boats, you know. But there's there's definitely a lot more to you than that. Um give us a little bit of history about, you know, growing up, getting into fishing, how you were supported in that, where it fits into your life, and then you know, kind of catch us up to today.

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Perfect, perfect. Well, yeah, I mean, my life kind of all over the place. So I was born in Texas. Uh my mom and dad and my brother lived there. They are actually all Canadian, but my dad worked for Erickson, got moved out of Canada down to Texas, and they ended up having me down there. So I was the first person in my entire gene line to be born in the United States. Lucky yeah, right? Exactly, yeah. So I I I take it with pride for sure. Absolutely. But yeah, I mean, so was born in Texas, only lived there for about six months, and then really grew up like age one through eight in California. Okay. So outskirts.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Early years, California.

SPEAKER_00 2:12

Yep, exactly. So yep, Bay Area stuff. Uh, lived in a town called Danville. It was small back then, kind of your standard suburbia, you know, sure. Cookie cutter houses and everything like that. But it was really cool because I got the traditional growing up experience. I mean, the rules it come home when the lights, the street lights come on. Me and the neighbor kids, we would always go down to the parks, go hiking, go fishing in the little ponds and stuff like that. It was cool because I got to grow up that way, and it was still just in you know, tail end of the 90s, early 2000s. Cell phones weren't a thing, tablets weren't a thing, TV was there, but we didn't grow up behind a screen, which was nice. So I really got to have that in it. We have that in common. Yeah, without a doubt. And not a lot of people can say that nowadays, you know, growing up. But I was fortunate enough for that. So instantly the outdoors was something that I was interested in. We were always outside, whether it was playing catch at the local park or like say going to fish these little ponds, catching crayfish and stuff like that. So I had a lot of the outdoor stuff, and just nature kind of pushed on me at a really young age as well. Uh, one of my dad's favorite things to do was hiking. He wanted to get me and my brother into that at an early age as well. So I remember we were always going on little hikes, you know, up these mountains and stuff at a young age. It was a good experience for me, and I was fortunate enough that my dad did that because once again, another thing that a lot of people don't get to do growing up. Absolutely, without a doubt. So, yeah, so lived there for until about eight years old, and then once again, my dad had to move for work. Uh, that brought us to Toronto, Canada. Lived there for a year, and then moved back again to Washington State, and that has pretty much been home since.

SPEAKER_01 4:03

So popped around a little bit as a kid and then ended up in Washington, and you're you're here.

SPEAKER_00 4:08

And I'm here, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Most of the time.

SPEAKER_00 4:12

Most of the time, yeah. Most of the time, you know, if you ask some of the guys here at the store, it might not seem like it, but most of the time, Washington State, yes, sir.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Um so outdoors was always something that we were interested in, everything like that. And you know, fortunately, I also kind of grew up the same way, and right, you know, and I was supported by my family for that, and I'm eternally grateful that they were supportive of that lifestyle for me. And I think that that's another area of kind of overlap with how we grew up. You know, your your folks, particularly, your your mom was very supportive over, dude, like life life is life is bigger than a lot of things, like go be a part of it.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Yes, you know, yes, without a doubt. Um, my mom she she loved nature in the essence that she also wasn't big on hunting and killing fish that you catch, but you know, yeah, she could appreciate that you like she appreciated that I liked it and she appreciated it enough where she would put her own feelings aside and you know, indulge me. Exactly. My dad on the other side, I mean, he wasn't he's never been a hunter, he's never hunted anything, but he was a fisherman. Yeah, he grew up fishing as well, so that we related a little bit more. Wasn't too much of a struggle for him to come out for those things that I say sometimes from my mom watching it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Um, so you grew up, went to school, did kind of like the traditional path on all of that, and then you know, you were about to graduate and you're like, uh Yeah. So mom, guess what?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Well, you you know, it was always funny. My mom was always like, There must have been something in the water in Texas because she said, from even when you were five years old, you were running around with a little bucket on your head using a stick as a rifle. Yeah. She was it blew her mind because I I came from a family that was not military involved at all. Um, my mom would consider well, she would have considered herself a pacifist in every sense of the way. I mean, no war, anything like that. So, yeah, I mean, once kind of after eighth grade, once I got into high school, um I pretty much had my mindset that I was going to join the military in some aspect. Okay. Yep. So I I didn't mention anything about that. Was the the funny thing? So, you know, we had recruiters uh in the second school that I went to. I used to go to a private school, that was no fun. So I switched over to public school actually at my own free will against my mom's, you know. There's a theme here. There is a theme here, yeah. There really is. You know, once again, with my own free will, I was like, I want to go to the but it made more sense too because I was living in North Bend and we had Mount Side High School right there, but I was going to school in Seattle.

SPEAKER_01 7:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

So I didn't know any of the local kids.

SPEAKER_01 7:06

Were you a Seattle prep kid or something?

SPEAKER_00 7:07

Uh the Bush School. Oh exactly. So, um, but yeah, I didn't know any of the local kids, you know, besides who I played like little with.

SPEAKER_01 7:18

There's you're not relating to them, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:20

You know, like a little bit of crossover, but it's just yeah, and you know, kids would be like the private school, they'd be like, oh, you know, we went to France during the summer on vacation, you know. Like I I went to Europe as well, but my favorite vacations were going to Florida. Going to Hawaii, going fishing, whether it's even me and my dad fished on the Puget Sound a lot. Yeah, and I would share these stories with the kids, and I would say 99% of them would just look at you like Yeah, you're like, why would you go out there? You're gonna be cold, get rained on, and touch fish all day. Yeah, so didn't get it, but so yeah, I went to Mount Psy, and one of the things at public school is that during lunch you would have military recruiters on campus. Never had that in private school, wasn't a thing. So I was never even the only time I'd heard about recruiters was stuff you hear through the media and everything. Yeah, show you on the news, whatever. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And so I the first recruiter I talked to was a Marine Corps recruiter. Um, he definitely, you know, played off of me being a young, young male. He's always like, hey, you know, we're we're the best of the best. We're gonna get to do all this, you know, the Marines, whatever. And so I went to a couple meetings with them, and then I talked to the Air Force recruiter. The Air Force recruiter was he stereotypically didn't want to really give me the time of day it felt like, you know, I had great grades in school and everything, so that wasn't the issue. But every time I asked him, I was like, hey, you know, like could I fly this plane? He'd be like, You're too tall. You know, I was like, Well, I looked it up, there's not really a height requirement. He's like, Yeah, they don't post it, but you're too tall. It's like, okay. So then here they go met with the the army recruiter, and I don't know, me and him just clicked. It was like he answered all my questions. It was seemed like there was no BS or anything. He told me how it was, didn't embellish anything. He's like, if you wanna do, you know, this job, this is how it is. So I originally wanted to go in as an infantryman. Uh that was the goal. So originally we were going that route, but uh it came to I had to tell my mom, you know, finally it's junior year, end of junior year, going into senior year, and my mom's asking me why I haven't filled out any college applications. Yeah, yeah. Same thing with the career counselor at the counselor at the school. Yeah, like you're gonna get the next year. Told the counselor at the school, it's like I'm actually joining the military. And that was the nice thing about Mount Psy was they were kind of like, okay. At the private school, if you told them you were joining the military, because I said it when I was like in you know junior high and stuff, they would have put you in a psychwalk. The teachers were literally, no, you're not. Yeah, you know, I remember I got asked into the principal's office in like sixth grade because I failed a task or something, and it was the principal was grilling me, and she's like, You gotta get better at this. And I was like, Well, I'm joining the army, I'm not going to college, I don't need to ever learn this. And that set off.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

So well, I mean, the you know, the generation I think that you and I grew up in too, it was like, you know, especially with going to going to school, really western Washington, maybe all of Washington, I you know, but like the pressure on that was huge, outrageous. Yeah, I mean, like, I mean, they like if you had any other plan other than spending the entire senior year as a ball of stress trying to figure out where you're going to school, you were a lunatic. Exactly. You know, and like for me, I you know, I did want to go to school. I was interested in biology and chemistry, and so like, but I was, you know, I did not need to fight to get into UW or UCLA or Stanford or do any of that nonsense. I'm like, I really like fishing. I liked trout fishing. The Yakma's right over there, and Central Central automatically accepts me if I graduated from the high school I went to. So I was like, I'm a deal on that, you know. Like my my entire college application process was like nine minutes. Oh, geez. Yeah. It was just signing up, you know. That's the and so like I it you're like one of the first people I've talked to that had a similar experience where you're just like, you know, no, I have a plan. I'm not like just a lost soul. Not at all. But but at the same time, like I don't really want to subscribe to a bunch of this crap. That's kind of served us pretty well. Um, you know, like there is there's there's more to it than that. There is more to it. That's another kind of recurring theme, right?

SPEAKER_00 11:46

Exactly. I mean, I remember seeing these kids, yeah, just like you were saying, ball of stress, junior year, freaking out, you know, when I was at the private school, we had kids who were freshmen who were going to visit Harvard. Oh, yeah. Yale. Same, same experience. I mean in a private school in Seattle.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Doing extra AP classes outside of school hours they could have above a 4.0 GPA. Yeah. Just like this is out of control. It looked terrible.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

This is out of control. It looked absolutely terrible. And those kids, I just I feel bad for them because I feel like they lost a lot of the fun that you get to do. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 12:19

Yeah, you see you can kind of grow up like some of them sorted it out and a lot of them didn't. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 12:23

Don't get me wrong, if you want to go to college, go to college, and if you want to bust ass, you know, do it.

SPEAKER_01 12:29

But you know, so yeah, I think you know, you had it kind of come and go and you know from the school standpoint, but you you had more support in Mount Cybit. Exactly. Coming home and telling mom, hey, uh I'm gonna go be an intrinsic man.

SPEAKER_00 12:44

So the the first conversation, yeah, I told her I was like, hey, I want to join the army. And you know, she didn't know that there's different jobs in the army.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Yeah, she just kind of thought you'd just go to the general pool and they tell you they tell you what you do.

SPEAKER_00 12:56

Exactly. So she, but I told her I was like, I want you to meet my recruiter. He's you know a cool guy, and she was like, Oh, if he comes to his house, I'm gonna throw a flower pot at him. And you know, she's joking. But I I finally convinced her to let him come. I told him, I was like, hey, you might get a flower pot thrown at you.

SPEAKER_01 13:14

So he's like, I've had words. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 13:16

So he shows up and he instantly made a joke, like, you know, she knocks on the door, and my mom opens it and he kind of ducks behind the door, and she was like, What? And he was like, Oh, I heard I was gonna get a flower pot thrown at me. So but yeah, we so we had a conversation, and it I kind of compromised with my mom. So instead of joining the infantry, my first job in the army was a 88 kilo, which was watercraft operator. So I drove the boats for the army. Yeah, and what a lot of people don't know is the army at one point had more boats than the navy did. And they're not just little small boats. I mean, they're small compared to an aircraft carrier, but we were on a big boat called the LSV and the LCU um landing craft, basically big landing craft that would put tanks and stuff onto a beach and everything like that. So I only did that for a year though, but I did it to kind of appease my mom.

SPEAKER_01 14:09

Just to kind of get in and ease into sort of the concept.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Exactly. And she, so I told her all the recruiter was like, he's gonna be on a boat, he's not gonna be frontline, you know, combat, everything like that. And so that made her happy enough where she she got on board, you know. Still, when I enlisted and did my oath and everything, she was crying and she's like, I can't believe this is happening. But she also was a big supporter of you're gonna live your life how you want, and she was there for it. Uh, when I called her a year later and said, Hey, I transferred out the boats and joined the infantry, that was another fun phone call.

SPEAKER_01 14:42

Yeah, she's probably at that point, she was probably like, Yeah, dude, I know. Yeah, I think she knew it was coming. And I'm not stoked, but like, I'm also not surprised.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

Right. So, you know, and she she watched the news all the time, so she knew that the stuff in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria was starting to die down, but you know, little did she know when I joined it picked back up again, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:07

As it as it seems to. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 15:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:11

So, you know, you did that. Yep. And then you're you're still a reserve now. You're reserved.

SPEAKER_00 15:20

So uh active duty for a little bit, and in the reserves I've been in for 11, going on 12 years now. Okay. So a long time, but it's flown by.

SPEAKER_01 15:28

Thank you for your service. I appreciate the support. Um, that's impressive. That's a good story. Um give us a timeline for, you know. Your mom was super special to you. Yes, you know, um you have a YouTube video about the miss penny. Um you know, there's there's a lot of just a lot of crossover in our lives, you know, that like I didn't even really know about until I watched the YouTube video. So I'll link it and I suggest everybody do it. Um I I was I was emotional watching a lot of it because it just you know it was portrayed well, you know, but also just like you know, going through cancer and things myself, you know, like it's just like shit. Right? You know, yeah, it it was it's a lot, yeah. I'm sure you know it was heavy and you know, all that. So where kind of in that timeline, you know, did she get sick and Miss Penny come through and she really wanted to make sure that, like, hey dude, go do what you want to do.

SPEAKER_00 16:43

Yeah. So she got diagnosed when I was in sixth grade. So it was earlier on in my life. Um, she got diagnosed with diffuse large B cell non-Hodgkins lymphoma. Okay, so a mouthful. Simple terms, it's of cancer of the white blood cells. Yeah. So the problem with that kind of cancer is that it spreads super easily because it spreads through your white blood cells and you've got blood throughout your entire body.

SPEAKER_02 17:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

The good thing about it, well, good thing about it, yeah, was that it's one of the easier cancers to treat. Okay. Now, at the time, um, so this was when I was in sixth grade, I don't even know what year, 2008, whatever, something like that. They had three really good ways to treat this cancer.

SPEAKER_02 17:27

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 17:27

Um, and they kind of went up from you know, severity and involvement. So the first one was your standard natural chemo, blah, blah, blah. She did that, made her sick as crap, got went bald, full stereotypical cancer treatment. But six months later, they did a CT scan or a PET scan, one of those, and she had no cancer in her. Came back clear. So they said she was in remission. Um, lasted for about two years. Then the thing about that white blood cell cancer is it it's noticeable when it wants to be, but it usually builds in your lymph nodes. So hers, the first one she felt a lump in her thigh, thought it was a hernia. They tested it, boom, that's when we found out. Oh no, this is cancer. After she was in remission, like I said, two years, then she got a lump in her armpit. We all kind of instantly thought, but you know, it's like, all right, let's just go check to make sure, but it was. So they did the second form of treatment. Once again, she responded very well to it. Completely clear. I think that time it was like three or four years of remission, and it kind of kept putting you in a false sense of security, especially after we got past that two-year mark. It's like, okay, we made it longer than the the last time.

SPEAKER_02 18:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:40

And then it came back again. This time came back with a little bit of a vengeance, is a good way to put it. Like they she felt a lump, and every other time that she felt a lump, when they did the CT scan and everything, it was isolated there. But then the third time it came back, they did the CT scan, and she had hot spots all over her. So they basically were at the end of what was the standard treatment, and then they were now we're looking more at clinical trial kind of thing, so more of the experimental stuff. So they got her on a clinical trial, it was super expensive, insurance didn't cover it, but it it seemed to work. So this is the our third run. Once again, she's clear, but this time it only lasted for about three months, and then she went in again and it came back even worse than the other time. And at that point, the problem with that cancer is even though, like I said, the good thing was that it's easy to treat, once you've exhausted those first few options, then it's no longer easy to treat, and it's more they don't know how to treat it at that point, right? So it it got pretty bad. Um, this was right when I was about 20 years old. Um, she started going downhill very, very quickly. Um, and we didn't really recognize it because you don't really want to think that way, but it it was it was it was getting really bad. And I remember one time she gave me a call. I had just gotten out of active military service um in the reserves, and she it was actually my drill weekend, and she called me and she's like, Hey, you know, I just want to let you know, no big deal, I'm in the hospital. I fell while walking, you know, we had two dogs, big dogs, Leon burgers, or 130 pounds. I mean, they're they're big. Yeah, they're big. And so she said that Rio, our male, saw a rabbit, yanked her, she fell. It sounded believable. So I was like, okay, well, you know, I'll come see in the hospital afterwards. So went after drill weekend, I went, saw her in the hospital. She was in a cast and everything. So it didn't, there was nothing really to ask about it. It was just she fell and broke her arm. They then said that they were like, hey, we're gonna do surgery to repair it. Um, she'll have to go under, but it's a pretty standard routine thing. So they did the this was in December, end of December in 2017. Yeah, 2017 going in 2018. So they did the surgery um like January 3rd or something, right after New Year's, and something weird happened. So she they put her under, they fixed her arm and everything, but when they brought her out, it it seemed like almost like she was gotten even worse. And she did this, so that was just showing how quick the cancer was progressing. And when they put her under, they just lowered her. I don't want to say immune system because that's not what it was, but just her body's being able to fight this, putting her out like that, it kind of made her body step back and it never she never really recovered from it. So she went to the hospital December 28th, and unfortunately, she didn't leave it again. So, what had happened was she she told us she. Fallen and broke her arm, but what had actually happened was she had a tumor growing in her humerus, I think, one of the bones in the arm that was growing so big that it actually shattered the bone.

unknown 22:11

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 22:11

And she didn't tell us this. Um, she'd actually found out in November from the doctor that she was gonna die. Yeah, and she told the doctor she didn't want to do treatment anymore because it was just too rough on her. Yeah, didn't tell us any of this, like as you know, she wanted to protect us. Exactly. So I don't fault her at all for it, but we just had no idea how severe this was, and that's you know why we were so shocked that one when the doctor called us in, he was like, Hey, so yeah, I mean, I know you guys probably knew this was coming since she decided to stop treatment. We're like, wait, what? Yeah, when did that happen? Exactly. Back, back, back up, but yeah, so she it just went downhill from there. She went into a basically a coma about June or January 15th, and on the day she passed, which was January 25th, 2018, I remember I just turned 21 the October previous, and I hadn't had an actual drink with my mom yet. So I went to the hospital that day, and I was actually I snuck in a coarse light and had it in the hospital room next door. And it was kind of crazy because she'd basically been in a coma at this point, unresponsive, nothing. And I got up to leave and I said, Hey mom, uh I love you, and everything. And she actually said, I love you. I heard it, and I was like, Wow, wow. So I called like the doctors in, they came in and they're like, you know, checking, looking her eyes, and they're like, She she's there, but she's not there. But I mean, they're like, she said it, so yeah, that obviously that she's there. There was some movement going, there's still brain activity. Um, but she passed away that night, which was um we we weren't surprised just because of the condition she was in, but you know, I just it's one of those little things in life. It's like it's weird that she told me she loved me that day, and then that night she passed away. So it's really actually it was comforting for me that the last words my mom ever said to me was that she loved me. So um, but yeah, after that, so it was a really emotional time. Um, I was definitely closer with my mom the last few years than my dad. They got divorced in like 2013, so and we lived with my mom. So she she was the parent for that time being. Um, so it was difficult. But one of the things that my mom had always wanted me to do was she she loved seeing me fish because she knew that was my favorite hobby, my favorite thing to do. I mean, I was the kid asking for fishing rods, reels for Christmas, birthday presents, stuff like that. And she always loved seeing me fish. She took me, I used to go to Florida with my dad a bunch, and then when they got divorced, she actually took me because she wanted to keep it going because she saw the pictures of what it was like down there and how happy I was. And wanted to keep that for you. Exactly. And I remember distinctly one of the times we were down here, and this was right when I told her about joining the military originally. She looked at me and she said, Why don't you just want to come down here, buy a boat, and do this? You know, I mean, in hindsight, yeah, it was 100% a fair point. But in hindsight, I was like, Yeah, maybe I should have. You know, don't get it wrong, I've loved my time in the military. I'm gonna do my 20 if they let me, but maybe I should have just done it right off the rip. But I remember her telling me that, and then after she passed away, you know, I'd saved up a bunch of money from being an active army, doing everything there. Um, it really just I I remember one day I was like, I'm buying a boat. I'm buying a boat, I'm doing it. You know, I'd worked at Three Rivers Marine before I graduated high school, and I was in the sales department for a little bit, I was a little kid selling boats. And I actually did all right. Yeah, I was with the big dog, so but um, so I I kind of knew the process of buying a boat, and but when it comes to big sport fishers, it's more like buying a house than anything else. Actually, you know, you're the escrow and stuff. But I yeah, it was like this weird calling, but it was like I need to do this and I need to buy a boat.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

So yeah, it's it is interesting how you know, like that experience and stuff. I mean, you know, I I I had the same thing coming back, you know. I I I was the patient, right? You know, I had uh got diagnosed in July of 2020, um and you know, came back, did treatment, and you know, was successful, which was fantastic. You know, a year of chemo every single day is rough. You know, definitely change the perspective. You know, when Olivia and I moved home, it was like you know, your your whole life perspective shifts, right? And it's like you know, and I think that when at a certain point, at a certain level, it doesn't really matter if you're the the patient or you know, someone really close, you know, like child, spouse, something like that. Like you know, you you you get that perspective shift too. 100% without a doubt. You know, and like so for both of us coming back, you know, Olivia and I was just like, yeah, we're getting we're we're just gonna do whatever it is that we want to do and not worry about it. Yeah. You know? Um and it's it's actually it's a really good way to live. It is a good way to live, yeah. You know, and so like I I one of the, you know, things when I went through my treatment and everything like that is I had um a nurse who is actually the daughter of one of my dealers. Oh, there you go. Which was interesting, um, unexpected, you know, because I went in and they were basically like, yeah, we can't actually get blood out of you, so um we don't know why, but you know, like you're you're you're not going anywhere. Like you're going upstairs. Yeah, you're staying. Like already.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

Right.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

Um like, oh, so it w it got real fast, you know, but like so anyway, Alex came in and you know, we were kind of chatting, and it was one of those where she's like, you know, I have so much sympathy for you, and yet I still can't empathize. And she's like, that was one of the like that's a hard thing as a nurse, you know. It's like you can have sympathy for all of your patients that go through so many different things, and it's hard to empathize. And so I was like, that is one of those statements that just lives with me every day. Is like there's there's sympathy, which is powerful, empathy, which is powerful, but both of them together is a really different experience, you know. Um so like that kind of, you know, hey man, I'm doing it. I woke up in the morning and I'm just doing this, and I don't care what it costs, I don't care what it takes, I don't care, I don't care. You know, and like that, like it gives me goosebumps, like that mentality. I I've been there. I can sympathize with that, I can empathize with that, and it's like you it's amazing. It's like it's it's a good thing. Yeah, it's not bad, it's not it, it's good. It's just it's so powerful, it's really hard to describe that like it is drive to just be like, nope, this is like you can't like don't eat don't. I'm on it, I'm on the path. Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

You know, and you know, don't don't get me wrong, my my mom left me some money when she passed as well, and it helped with buying the boat and everything. Sure. And it was but it was it felt good because I knew it's what she wanted. That's that's the thing, you know. It wasn't like I did some stupid stuff too, and spent a lot of money, and you know, don't get me wrong.

SPEAKER_01 29:41

Yeah, we all we all do, but like that's the that's the good thing about money, is that's all it's good for.

SPEAKER_00 29:46

Exactly, exactly. And I I'm not ashamed to admit that in any way, shape, or form. I was not the most responsible person right off the bat, but I did do one thing right. Yeah, you did a lot of things right now shards.

SPEAKER_01 29:56

So you bought this boat. Yes. You go down there, it's a 46-footer.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

Uh it's 45.

SPEAKER_01 30:02

45 tiara. 45 tiara. 45 tiara, pretty boat now.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

Now, yeah. So I did, well, I I did something very wrong, and I I shouldn't have done it. But uh I bought a boat without actually going to look at it.

SPEAKER_01 30:18

Oh, okay, so like my house.

SPEAKER_00 30:19

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 30:20

So that was that was a post-cancer thing too. You bought a house without looking at it.

SPEAKER_00 30:24

Don't get me wrong. I I sent my captain or the guy, the person who I knew was gonna be my captain, uh-huh, and he, you know, he's like so you you you bought this. Yeah, and so he took a look and he was like, oh man, uh well, we're gonna have some work to do, man. So I had him, his name's Chad, and then one of our mates at the time named Matt. Um, thank God for Matt, because he's like, he he he for his work, he was installing stuff in boats, whether it was speakers, fish finders, you know, he's like our rigging department here at Three Rivers, basically. But he did it out of his garage. So, but he knew what he was doing, and I just methodically tore it down. We we tore it down that boat. Um, I swear it'll be the death of me, but it it was oh man, it was one thing after another.

SPEAKER_01 31:17

And we did a survey scare it in, and it's just it gets worse every layer you peel off.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

Yeah, and you know, I thought at least we did a survey. Well, I I think we got a little boned on the survey because we found a lot of stuff right off the bat that should have been seen in the survey that they didn't say, and we wouldn't have bought the boat if we'd known about those things. Okay, but you're like, hey, we're here now. We're already in it. Yep, money's already cleared, you know. Or here we are. So we'll fix it. It it took almost 20 weeks for Matt and Chad working five days a week with the whole team down at the dry dock marina in Orange Beach, Alabama, where we had her to get this boat up and running. Um, the biggest thing that happened was there was a compromised fuel tank. And once one of those things that should have been seen on the survey that somehow wasn't. Um we were pretty much it's done, it's not a five-gallon tank. No, it's got twin 400-gallon tanks.

SPEAKER_01 32:17

So it's not a big boat, big glass boat. It's a structural component as much as a big thing. The boat is built around the fuel tank. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:27

So we are about 10 weeks in at this point, thinking like we were almost done. Um, they put fuel in her, and the next morning they come out and there is diesel fuel where there shouldn't be diesel fuel. And we take a look, and all it was was there was a small screw and the tank that just been touching over time and tap, tap, tap, and eventually made a hole. Rust got in, and it completely just rotted the tank. Rotted the tank.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

So you're you're you're cutting at this point. That's a that's we cut the entire top of the boat off. It would be cutting floors, you're cutting everything. I mean, it's you it's that's major surgery.

SPEAKER_00 33:09

Major surgery. Um, the tank alone was $40,000 to put in perspective. Yeah. That doesn't include any of the labor or anything. That is just the tank.

unknown 33:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:20

So you spend another 10 weeks. Oh, yeah. Another 10 weeks. Basically just messing with the diesel tank.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

Exactly. And now that we were cutting the top half of the boat off, yeah. You're like, well, well, then we might as well, you know, we might as well replace all the upholstery. Let's redo the wiring. You know, so don't get me wrong, because I saw the boat before we did anything and I got to see it right afterwards. It's a completely new boat.

SPEAKER_01 33:46

Okay, this is this is a sweet rig. Right?

SPEAKER_00 33:49

I mean, we did a wrap on her. It's got air conditioning. It does. It's got three air conditioners in there.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

Yeah, all right. Sign me up. Exactly. So at this point, did the boat, the boat, come with a name? It it did, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:02

It was like the last hook.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

The last hook, and you're like, Yeah, we've done enough to you that we're starting over.

SPEAKER_00 34:07

We're starting over. Yeah, I know, and they always said it's bad luck to rename a boat. There might be some of that.

SPEAKER_01 34:11

I mean, well, the bad luck was that screw poking through the field.

SPEAKER_00 34:15

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

Uh, and when you do that much love, you take that much ownership, and you're like, Yeah, hey girl, we're bringing you back. She's she was ready for a new name.

SPEAKER_00 34:24

She was ready for a new name. And I'm surprised it took so long, you know. Like, I was I remember I was just thinking about it, and I was like sitting there like thinking of like common names, like we're thinking the Marlin Hunter, you know, the Broadbill, something like that, you know. Like, I was gonna call it the poor decision at one point. Yeah, man. Why not? Why not? Yeah, but then I was like, wait a second, you know, the only reason I could have done this was because of my mom. And this is what she wanted me to do. I've got to name it after her. Yeah, that's the only name I could have done. So I was just gonna name it the penny at first, but Chad, my captain, he's an old southern boy. You know, well, not old, but if he sees this, he'll get mad at me.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

Classic, traditional. So he's like, nah, no, we're naming it the Miss Penny. Um that was it. It's got a nice flow to it. It does, it's a really good boat name. It it works. It does. I like it. So so this is where the Miss Penny's born came from. Yeah. And you know, you you knew you were gonna have a skipper and a mate to run it. It was always your intention to make it a charter boat. It was, yeah. So, you know, I can call you up and say, hey, I want a day on Miss Penny. So you don't know this part yet at all. The like one of the most foundational trips that I did with my family when I was, I think I was like 12, maybe 13, as we went to Florida. And I got, you know, my folks built two fishing trips kind of around the trip. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. Um the first one was I don't know if it was the first or the second, but the first one that we did was we went and um, you know, Roland Martin. Okay, yeah. So his ex-wife, um, they had Roland Martin's Marina down there in like Okeechobee, you know. Yes, and then whatever happened, they're no longer together, and now it's Mary Ann's Marina. Yep. And we so I went and we did a um a guided day on Lake Okeechobee for Bass. There you go. Nice, which was amazing. That was a great trip. Um, and then you know, they were like, hey, we're gonna go down to the keys. There you go. I was like, all right, that sounds great. Um didn't, you know, I'm like 12, right? So I'm I I have my Sony Walkman and we're rolling in. It was a red, it was like a red Chrysler van just ripping down to the keys. And I had I got uh Smash Mouth Astro Lounge right before we went on that trip. So I was just jamming, jamming to all-star? Jamming to All-Star Radio Man, the whole thing the whole way down, just like you know, because there's like eight songs on it, and I'm like, well, we got like five hours, so I'll listen to it two or three times. You know, who's there? Um rolling down there, we get to the keys, and I was like, I like it here, man.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:23

Um, and so we're rolling in and we're like, well, we're here, and we stayed.

SPEAKER_00 37:27

Um where'd you stay? I probably know it.

SPEAKER_01 37:30

I mean I'm trying to remember exactly where we stayed, but um Were you in Isla Murata?

SPEAKER_00 37:37

We yeah, well we're in Isla Murata, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

We rolled Isla Murata and then um Worldwide Sportsman. Worldwide Sportsman, you have Bas Pro show. I think I think it was even maybe before Bass Pro or was it always Bas Pro?

SPEAKER_00 37:47

I think it was always I think this has always been part of Bass Pro. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know, but it's like so far.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

So I still have like shirts from from there, yeah. Uh and so like I think about it all the time, dude. I was like, all right, this is incredible. So but my folks booked one of the sport fish boats for the day. So me, my two brothers, my dad, and my mom all went out out of Isla Morata.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

Do you know which Marina? Uh Robbie's, Bud and Mary's.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

It was Bud and Mary's, I think. Traitor. Yeah. We're out of Robbie's. Okay. I think it was Bud and Mary's. My my dad, I'm sure, I'm sure I'll post this and he'll call me and be like, no, it's here. Um but anyway, so we went out and we went. Um part of it was like more of like the deep, you know, deep sea fishing grouper, that type of stuff. Snapper kind of stuff. We caught Barracuda, Strawberry Grouper, and then there's another one that was really good for eating that we got. That was like 60 pounds. I mean, there's a whole bunch of.

SPEAKER_00 38:52

Oh, there's a whole bunch down there, probably a black grouper or something. Could have been a black grouper, African pompano, something like that.

SPEAKER_01 38:58

And so then they were like, hey, you know, we're doing that, we're rolling around, like catching some CUDA. Um and they were like, you know, guys, like my mom's puking the entire time. Uh hilarious, right? Yep. And I'm trying to I'm trying to find this picture as I tell the story, but they're um, you know, potentially we could catch a billfish too. Like, we've had a really good day. We've caught grouper, we caught permit off of a wreck. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 39:25

That's what we caught.

SPEAKER_01 39:27

Um I mean, it was one of those days where it was like just everything got put together right for the day. And they were like, you know, it's been a fantastic day. What do you guys think if we try and catch a billfish? There you go. Yep. And like, I'm 12. I like bass fishing in Lake Washington. My dad can't touch the fish, he's definitely allergic. My mom's puking. My two other brothers are like six. They're over it. Yeah, so they're just kind of well, they're just like hanging, right? Like nobody knows, and we're just kind of like, yeah, okay, like, dude, that sounds sounds cool, right? Yeah. Um, so we're just, he's like, okay, well, we're gonna put on this ballyhoo. Yeah. And I'm like, okay, cool. Were you fishing with a kite, or were they we were just fishing live ballyhoo.

SPEAKER_00 40:08

Live ballyhoo, okay.

SPEAKER_01 40:09

And then we were just like letting them roll around.

SPEAKER_00 40:10

Let it do its thing. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 40:12

Um, and so we're floating around, and then all of a sudden the mate starts freaking out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:16

Nervous bait, nervous bait, nervous bait.

SPEAKER_01 40:19

And you know, we're just kind of like, dude, like, is he okay?

SPEAKER_00 40:22

We get that all the time still, too.

SPEAKER_01 40:24

You know, because it's like you get real excited about this, you know. Um and so nervous bait, nervous bait, nervous bait, and like, you know, the the skipper, the mate, like they just lock in, right? Yeah, and they're like, You see that ballyhoo out there jumping around, and I'm kind of just like something's chasing him. No, dude, like I don't see, I don't see anything, you know? Um and then, you know, one of those rods, like yep, and it starts clicking and doing its thing, right? Yep. And we're like, oh boy, here we go. Um and they're just like, wait, wait, wait.

SPEAKER_02 41:00

And it's just like spinning.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

And then they like they, you know, they lock that that drag down, pins in, she'd jump right off the railfish.

SPEAKER_00 41:10

There you go.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

Jumping way out. It's perfect. Uh it was fantastic. And so um they were, you know, like my dad, they're like, you need to reel this in, it's a really good one. Um, you know, and it's a sailfish, and like it's what people come for. We just like these these guys are really excited about this sailfish, right? None of us have any idea about like why that's even cool, right? Yep. Um, I'm gonna have my mom send me this. There we go. Um so you know, and my dad's like, no, no, we want Anthony to catch this fish, we want him to do it. So like, and he's just like, dude, this kid's like 12, he's gonna like not listen to it. And like they were like, nope, it's like they put the belt on me, you know, and like crank the sailfish in. And it was it was a pretty nice Atlantic sailfish. Like, you know, I'll show you the picture. I think it was you know, maybe like six-footer. Yeah. Uh yeah, that's a good one. I mean for an Atlantic sail, it's like a pretty good fish, man.

SPEAKER_00 42:09

We've got a lot in like that 50-pound range, little ones, they don't get as big as the Pacific ones.

SPEAKER_01 42:13

Yeah, you know, and so, but like again, I we have no idea about any of it, right? So, like, we're just like, okay, cool. Like, this is a fun part of the day. Yeah, um, and so we catch that fish, we get a picture of it. Um, good thing my mom is fast with it. There you go, hello, Florida. She's like, which one? Fair enough. The Florida one. Uh, so yeah, I'm just like, got my like cool guy sunglasses on. Like, oh my sailfish, you know. Uh, and so yeah, we get back to the dock and we went, I think we went to the square grouper and they go thing. Like, so I have this special place in my heart for Isla Murata specifically. Yeah, you know, it's my long-winded way. So, you know, that's where you're based out of. Yeah, yeah. You can roll, you can roll charter trips if you want to go look for sailfish, they're not easy to come by.

SPEAKER_00 42:58

But nope, bum. I actually got the report today. We caught three today, and you know, there was a kid on board who caught his first sale, so it worked. Yeah, love it.

SPEAKER_01 43:06

That's what it's all about. Um, so before we get into you know the big stuff, the big stuff, the trophies, Calcuttas. Yeah, how do you how do you book a trip on the Miss Penny?

SPEAKER_00 43:18

So the easiest way to go about doing it is go on to MissPenny.com and you can book a trip right from the website. So we're linked up with Fair Harbor, which is a pretty common booking agency, but it really is seamless. It'll don't get me wrong, if you want to call the captain and get the report, please do so. That's a great way to do it. But a lot of people want the convenience nowadays. You can go on, click which trip you want. You know, we offer predominantly half day, three quarter day, full day, and swordfish charters. Those are pretty much the four, but we can do custom stuff if you want to do an all-shark charter and just let us know what you wanna do and we'll make it happen. But you can go right onto the website and click book now. It's gonna bring up our calendar. It'll show you what days are available and what days are booked. Click the one you want, you're gonna put a deposit, boom, you're you're in. Yeah. Yeah. It's super easy.

SPEAKER_01 44:10

How many people can fish on the boat?

SPEAKER_00 44:11

Up to six. Yep. So we're a six-pack charter. Same as up here. Yep, exactly. Now, one of the nice things that we do, and there's only about I think five boats right now that are doing it, is we do offer split charters. Oh. Most boats down there are all private, but there's a few of us that will do splits. Um simple. So it's gonna be I got three.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

We got three seats on this.

SPEAKER_00 44:33

Exactly. We the minimum we'll go with is four, um, but we'll take up to six as well.

SPEAKER_01 44:38

So if you've got a four open day, great, but you might have two two of your new frenzies on the case. Exactly. Yep. So it works great.

SPEAKER_00 44:46

But it it helps out because a lot of people, I mean, charters are expensive, man. Yeah, dude.

SPEAKER_01 44:50

I mean, and I I go through this all the time, and then I get, you know, like some of the people fight me on it, and at the same time, I'm like, you get somebody's whole day, man. Yeah. Like you get their expertise, their equipment, and their entire day. Yeah. Where else can you go and like, you know, and like are they expensive? Sure. Like, what's what's a charter run?

SPEAKER_00 45:10

Oh, so for a half day, we're $1,200 right now, three-quarter days $1,600, a full day is $2,000, swordfish trips $2,500.

SPEAKER_01 45:17

Okay, so you're at $2K for six people. So you already divide that. Then you get all day. Yeah. Like your per hour cost of entertainment is like nothing. Right? You know, we're still talking like $20 an hour. That's only full day, man. It's nothing. It's like, okay, yeah. Uh, I don't really know a whole lot of people that want to go and work for like 18, 20 bucks an hour, right? So it's kind of like you know, if like sure, is it expensive? Yes. Is the value there? 100%. Absolutely. Without a doubt. Go on the guide trip. Life is too short to not go on the guide trip. So it's a guide trip, man. Seriously, and you know what? Cut your learning curve, just go like just guide a trip. Just do it.

SPEAKER_00 45:56

And you know, we've had a lot of people, and one of some of my favorite charters are we'll get the guys who just moved down there, they just bought a boat, but they have no idea what Florida fishing consists of, and they hire us, fish on my boat, and those people I love them because they never complain about the price either. Yeah, even though they have their own boat, they can go out and do this. Yeah, they don't know what they're doing, they're paying to learn. 100%. And you know, we're not we're not gonna be those guys who are like covering the screen so that they can't see where we're at. I'll even give them some spots that's like, hey, if you want to try for this, this is a great spot to try.

SPEAKER_01 46:29

I'm not gonna give them all the answers to the test, but I'm gonna give them enough mic and like sometimes you know the exact place is not the best. It's like less less than half the battle. Exactly. It's like it's kind of like in here. It's like, hey, I want to go Fish Area 10 for Kings. Where should I go? You're like Jeffhead. Jeffhead. Yeah, like I'll I'll be there too. Yeah, you'll see you'll see me there. Uh, you know, like that the the a lot of the like the spots get a little bit out of control. You know, there's some fisheries and things, obviously, yes, sure. But like in general. Well, look at Draeno. Have you ever done that? Oh yeah, it's like what a mess. It's a fun mess. It's a fun mess. Like, I actually love that. But um, you know, so we're just like rolling through and going, um she's looking for it. Uh so yeah, that uh you know, take the guide trip, man. Take the guy to trail. Take the guy to trail. So in addition to that, there's a there's a pretty fun tournament scene. There is when you get kind of more in that warm, saltwater, billfish program. So you're uh not unfamiliar with not not at all.

SPEAKER_00 47:42

Um the tournament scene is probably one of the coolest things I have ever experienced in my entire life. By far the most expensive thing I've experienced in my entire life. But it is if you ever get the opportunity, yeah. The entry fee is the cheap part. Um if you ever get the opportunity and someone says, Um, you want to go fish the Orange Beach Billfish classic?

SPEAKER_01 48:06

Yes, go.

SPEAKER_00 48:07

Go.

SPEAKER_01 48:08

Yeah, I'm waiting, I'm waiting for my invite.

SPEAKER_00 48:11

Fair enough. Fair enough. All right, all right. Well, we'll make it happen. You know, the two we're talking about here, this would be a great opportunity for you.

SPEAKER_01 48:20

Perfect.

SPEAKER_00 48:20

But um tournament fishing it is something that I was introduced to through Chad and through a good friend of mine named Sean. So uh the first tournament I ever fished was with those two, and we've pretty much made a team now where it's us, you know, a couple other people cycle in. We've always got Chad's wife. Um, we'll have Amy, my girlfriend, she'll be in there as well. Um, and then we'll just kind of some other random people. But that's kind of the core group that we've got for the tournament fishing, and so far it's done pretty well for us. Don't get me wrong, we've got our our butts kicked a few times, but we we've done all right, you know. They let me take the second place trophies home. First place ones gotta stay on the boat, but you know, yeah, you know, they're cool though. They are cool, without a doubt.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

So, yeah, tournament scene, entry fee is the cheap part. It is basically, you know, you win you win the tournament, you pay for your fuel with that. Yeah. And then then there's those funny gold reels in the real case that are called Calcutas. Calcutas, yes, sir. And that's that's the part where you get uh a little bit different.

SPEAKER_00 49:25

It is, yeah. So put it in perspective. Um a great tournament to reference is gonna be the Bisbee Black and Blue down in Cabo. That happens every end of October, right on my birthday. Um, had the opportunity to fish it once, looking forward to doing it again. We got our asses kicked, but you know, whatever. Um that's a great one because the entry fee, I believe, now is still only like $5,000. But that is the entry to the tournament.

SPEAKER_02 49:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 49:57

So yes, you can spend $5,000 and you are entered in the tournament. You can win the tournament. If you catch the biggest blue marlin, you can win the tournament. You'll get paid a couple hundred grand, I think. So yeah, great payday. Then when you're signing up for the tournament or when you're at the captain's meeting, you're gonna see a little table, usually set up just like this, that's gonna say Calcuttas or extra bets, something along those lines. The proper term is Calcutta, though. And then you're gonna go up and you're gonna get handed a piece of paper that's gonna have a bunch of little boxes with a bunch of numbers with a lot of zeros next to them. And then at the bottom you'll see some that says all in. Well, the all in for the Bisbee black and blue is $120,000. So if you bet every side bet, every category outside of just the tournament entry, it'll cost you $120,000. But, you know, great example, I think it was 2024, they've got this one called the Chupacabra. And usually Calcutta's they pay, usually around 90% goes to the winner and 10% stays with the tournament. But the chupacabra is a winner, winner takes all. And the guys who won that, I think just from the chupacabra, they walked away with $1.4 million. Yeah. Yeah. So that's that's where you that's where you pay for your top. That's where your money comes into play. Yeah. I mean, you know, don't get me wrong, like this this trophy right here is a great little story there. So um we were fishing the Key West Blue Marlin tournament. This was actually last year, the 2025 tournament. Uh, it was the last day of the tournament. We talked to the the um tournament owner the night before, and he was like, Man, nobody has caught a fun fish. So a fun fish is usually gonna be a mahi-mahi, a wahoo, or a tuna. It's a marlin tournament, so that's what you're going for, is marlin, sailfish, stuff like that, but there's always fun fish divisions. Well, we entered the Calcutta, not at the highest rate for the fun fish, but we entered it. Just because, you know, you never know. I mean, we've got two winning trophies for fun fish from the same tournament right there. So we know always put some money in there. Um, last day we got Chad's wife Leslie. We're IGFA style, so International Game Fish Association. When we're fishing for Billfish, if you're using a dead bait, you gotta have a circle hook on there. So we're fishing these lures called an islander with a ballyhoo and a big circle hook on the front. Not the best way to troll for Marlin because as you know of a circle hook, you don't set the hook on it. The hook is gonna set itself from tension from the rod and the fish pull in the opposite direction. The problem with that is when you're trolling eight knots and the marlin comes up on there, for him to actually get that circle hook in its mouth because it's all the way at the front of the bait, you've got to just dump that reel. Dump it as soon as he comes up the bait and let him eat it. Yeah, so it's you have to be sitting right on the rod. Usually, if you're on a boat that wants to win a tournament or that's got well-seasoned guys, yeah, there's there's somebody's on it ready. I've been sitting there for eight hours before holding a rod in the outrigger, just waiting. Just waiting for that tink so I can just let my thumb off and feed it to them. Um, but yeah, Leslie, we were taking turns on the rod because we had just some normal lures, and the normal lures you can put a J hook on, so yeah, like that's a smash bait right there. Normal, normal lures. Normal lures, yep. Yeah. So he's got his Joe Yee. That is a Joe Yee, yep. Um, yeah, that's a custom one, right? His patriotic flying. Yeah, that's more of a tuna thing, but we've caught blues on those before, Wood Marlon. Yeah, they'll eat it. Yeah. But we we were taking turns on the rod, and it was Leslie's turn. And she isn't a big fisherman, but she well, she loves fishing because she's in it now that she hasn't really caught a lot of fish. Sure. And so we're sitting there or we're trolling. I was making a cocktail or something like that. That's the last day, you know. We're hanging out. We haven't caught a marlin yet. So we we we know we're not gonna we're not in it for the blue marlin money because we haven't caught a single marlin. There's boat that's have already caught three. Yeah. So we're fun fishing right now, but we still have marlin stuff out, and I'm sitting there, and all of a sudden the rod goes out of the outrigger, and Leslie professional, just second major smacked it, fed it, and engaged. She got tight. I'm sitting next to a rod and I'm like, heck yeah, we got something. All of a sudden I see mine go, and I'm like, oh crap. So same thing. Yep, and we get a double. And we see them both jump, they're both mahi-mah, but they're they're good size mahes. So we get them into the boat. Hers is substantially bigger than mine, but they're both qualifying fish. So they're both over 15 pounds. I know just by looking at them, I'm like, oh yeah, these are these are winners. So we get we get back to the dock and got, you know, just doing all the tournament stuff, kind of waiting in line for weighing. And I call my buddy, who's in the tournament director, or a friend of the tournament director, I was like, hey, has anybody weighed a fun fish? And he's like, dude, no, nobody has weighed one yet. And I'm like, oh man, because there's only like three boats in front of us. And I was like, we've got two, and he's like, Oh, did you bet the Calcuttas? I was like, I did. He's like, Oh, payday, payday. So we weigh them. My fish was about 20 pounds, Leslie's fish was about 29 pounds, and those were the only two fun fish weighed. We entered the Calcutta for $250. Leslie's fish alone paid us $15,000. My fish paid us another six. So we're right at, you know, perfect right there. Yeah. Um, but we also won the fun fish division because we still entered the tournament. Yeah. So that was another five grand right there. So off of, you know, the tournament was three thousand dollars to enter, two hundred and fifty for, well, we spent for total about five thousand dollars on Calcutta. So we're eight grand in, uh, two Mahi Mahi won us twenty-five thousand dollars, cover the expenses, and everybody made a little bit of money. That is small scale, but it's one of my favorite stories because it's just like yeah, it's kind of like, hey, just pay attention and do it. Yeah, and it's just like those two fish. Now, you know, there's been times where the bigger tournaments, the Mississippi Gulf Coast and stuff, you make the right bet, and then we're walking home with a check that's in the upward of six figures for one Blue Marlin. So I love it. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 56:33

Yeah, I do want to do a tournament one day. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 56:36

Well, Key West Blue Marlin tournament. I think I'll be back from my duty with the army. They're sending me somewhere this summer, but I should be back. And if you want to come on down, we've always got a spot on the days, do you know July 22nd through the 26th? I I I can make that out.

SPEAKER_01 56:54

Um so yeah, fun fun times tournament fish. Without a doubt, yeah, it's my favorite. Um yeah, that that's pretty rad. Yeah. Is there is there anything else that you want people to know about you, the Miss Penny? I mean, I know it's a lot, but like, you know It is, it is. Um kind of any final thoughts on that just to sort of wrap us up.

SPEAKER_00 57:16

You know, just if you ever do get the opportunity to come fish with me down there, whether I'm there or not, because I'm still up here in Washington, you know, my captain runs the boat full time, but I go down as much as I can. If you've seen this video, just know that when you're stepping on, you're stepping onto not only my baby, but you're stepping onto my mother's legacy. And it well now that you know the story, it it gives you a whole other perspective going back to like what you were saying about seeing what someone went through and what brought this story to life. I mean, when it comes to the penny, I owe my mom everything for it. And without her, it never would have been possible. And I think without the support that she gave me, even though going back to like how we started this, the fact that she wasn't a big like fishing person, she still took me to a trout pond when I was three years old, and I caught my first fish with my mom at a trout pond. She had to walk away when my dad hit it with a stick, you know. She was literally the one standing there when I caught my first fish, and I hold on to that, and I just want everybody to hold on to that, you know. This is this is for her, and this is because of her.

unknown 58:33

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 58:34

That's I mean, that's that's a great way to end it. You know, that's there's there's nothing else I can add. I love it. So perfect. Thank you for being here today. Of course, thanks for having us. Thanks for telling your story, thanks for bringing in some cool stuff that you know the salmon guys aren't used to seeing, myself included. Um and you know, good luck on everything that you have coming up this year. Perfect. Um, and you know, let's not be strangers.

SPEAKER_00 59:02

Well, we won't. All right, come on down to the tournament.

SPEAKER_01 59:04

I won't. Thank you, sir. Thanks for being here. Thanks everybody for listening. Uh drop a comment, you know, book on the Miss Penny, and we'll see you next week. Perfect. Thanks everybody. Thank you for listening to this episode of the Three Reverse Marine podcast. We would like to give a special thanks to our sponsors, Endrun Tackle, make your own bite window. Fisherman's Gold Products, everything we make, we fish ourselves. And Duckworth Boats, legendary adventure.