Bass Fishing, Motion Sick Marshalls and a Comeback with Drew Benton

On this episode of the I Ain't Even Lying Podcast, join us as we talk about near death experiences on the water, bass tournament turned turkey hunt and a comeback story on how Lake Murray was won and so much more with two time Bassmaster Elite Series winner Drew Benton. 

Transcript

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Welcome to the Ineven Line podcast. Hey, listen, we're so glad you're here. It's been a couple weeks. We ain't been here and uh it's been a few episodes we missed. Life has been chaotic, honestly, for my life. Uh the past two weeks, I have never lived life like I have in the past, honestly, seven days. And it actually started out with uh some crazy stuff. But anyway, we'll go into that later. But uh hey, welcome back, Dyne Even Lives Podcast. We missed you guys. We missed y'all. I know you missed us. We got texts saying, hey, where y'all been? We did. We did actually. But uh but with uh before we get started, I know we got a ton of stories to talk about today, and we want to try to make sure that we get through them. But uh we have a special guest today. We figured, you know, since we've been gone a little while, we owed you guys a really good episode. Um we have a professional bass fisherman, Drew Benton, uh local here in Panama City, Florida. He's a two-time Bassmaster Elite Series winner. He's had 21 top 10 finishes, um, over 133 total bassmaster tournaments, eight classic appearances. Um, this was actually my favorite number. I was gonna add this in here because I saw it and I was like, that's really cool. You have caught roughly over 4,835 pounds of fish. So that's a bunch. That is a bit of meat. That's right. That's right. I think you just went from being a professional to a commercial fisherman, but just all in a moment. 4,000 pounds of fish. Um, and actually, what was cool is your cousin told me about this. I went looking for it. So in 2013, you won a FLW tournament in the Walmart tournament series, right? So that's my first one. Yeah, yeah. And actually, that's right. It said uh your first appearance as a professional, and you won. Um, and then also recently you won a Tuesday night live with Mike Iconelli. So, I mean, and that was some cash, dude. They were fanning out the cash. Yeah, yeah, man, my God. So uh, but yeah, man, that's cool. So welcome to the show. We're glad you're here. Glad you're here. Hey, thanks for having me. Anytime I can come talk hunting and fishing and yeah, cut up with the the Freds, it's a good time. Yeah, we've known each other for a long time. Absolutely, absolutely. So, but uh, but man, this week has been it's been crazy. I did something that I've never done before. So I own a diesel truck. Okay. Oh I listen to this direct. And so we have been in the process of selling our house, getting it ready to so we can move into town. We live an hour from work, so every day we drive to church, it's an hour. And so we um I've been exhausted because I've been washing the roof and you know, doing all the things you do to get the house ready to to show and sell, and and uh which you wouldn't you your wife would definitely know she's in the real estate business, so but man, we've been we've been working hard and and uh it's been interesting because I've been so tired the other night I was on the phone. Um, so on Sunday, me and my wife drove to church separately, um, and then I forgot to get my truck, so I had to run back into town. And so we run back, go get my truck, which is it's no just easy drive, it's 45 minutes from the house to an hour. So we pick up the truck, I pull up to the gas station, and I'm like, you know, I need some gas, I need some diesel, I need some fuel. That's basically what I thought. I need fuel in my truck. And so I answered the phone. I'm talking to my brother who's been living in Texas the past, you know, almost a year now. Yeah, and I go and not thinking, I just hit all the buttons, do all the things, and then put the put the pump in my truck, and I just I click it on automatic, and then that thing just starts going. I'm talking, and I'm like, you know, $75 is enough. I don't want to put any more than that. So I I quit fueling up, put the pump back. I started driving, and all of a sudden my truck feels like the transmission's about to blow out of the bottom of my truck. I mean, it's like it's chattering. I'm like, I thought to myself, I just have to get to my dad's house. This transmission's about to blow out of this thing, it's not running right at all. And uh it was crazy because I was like, you know, just a few minutes ago this thing was running fine. But now transmission's about to blow out of this thing. That you know, that that's a Silverado for you, you know, turret 2500 HD. Anyway, I call him, I'm letting him know what's going on, and it hit me in mid-conversation. I just put gas, three-quarters of a tank of gas, in this diesel truck. Oh boy. And man, I start to sweat. I don't know what to do. And in my mind, I'm like, I've never I've never encountered this before. I've never even honestly heard of anybody coming back from putting that much gas in the truck and then driving it. So I whip that thing around and parked at a at a gas pump or a diesel pump. I I was mindful then. Yeah. And uh man, we I was at sitting in I had to pay a guy $200 to bring me a part that worked because they closed in four minutes. And I was like, listen, I'll pay you a hundred dollars to bring me the fuel, the fuel filter for this truck. And he's like, nah, we we can't do that. He was negotiating with me over the phone. Yeah, no, I can't do that, man. I was like, listen, listen, I'll you name your price and I'll fill up your truck. And he goes, I don't know. I said 200 bucks. $200, I'll fill up your tank of gas. Yeah. We've got uh all that stuff. He uh and the manager decided he wanted to bring me the fuel filter after that. So anyway, after about an hour of waiting and siphoning gas out of the shout out to a good friend, Daniel Granger. Oh, yeah, Daniel Granger came and hung out with me for two hours, helped me empty out my tank, and man, it was terrible. Anyway, so I drove on the truck today, did not blow up, thank God. Uh, but it's been uh it's been interesting to say the least. Uh but anyway, that's not why y'all are here. But that's that's what's happened to me over the past week. Well, just to clear there, don't feel bad. I did the same exact thing not too long ago. Yeah. Same deal. We were on the way somewhere and had a lot of different things going on. But I didn't put three-quarters of a tank. I put like maybe ten gallons in there. Uh-huh. And uh I was right down the road from the house. And I'm like thinking about what I can do just to get home, you know. And uh so I filled that sucker up with diesel and I poured two quarts of transmission fluid in there to get it some good lubricant, because that's what gas and the difference in diesel and gas is it's good, it don't have no lubrication. So like your fuel pump and all that needs up. So I just dumped something in there because if I could just get a few miles down the road to my house, we could siphon this out. And my buddy Fred came over and we got a hose and started siphoning it out, and then we put more diesel in there and siphon that out, and then change the fuel filters, and I still drive that sucker. Come off. Now, your Toyota is a diesel? No, my Toyota's not. Uh the the truck I drive around do a lot of work on is a diesel, and and um it's just an older truck, but but yeah. Yeah, it's easy to do whenever you're back and forth, and you pull up to those pumps, and some of them will be green, yeah, and they will be gas pumps and vice versa. Yeah, you gotta watch out for a BP now or or the ones that are like the but well, most BP gas pumps are they're they're green and then their their diesel pumps are black. See that's that should be illegal, by the way. That should be illegal. I'm gonna put in a word. Uh but uh but yeah, man. Um and that what what sucks about that too is those you drive two different trucks. I mean, you're you're you're on the road driving the Toyota, right? So you're driving a gas truck, and then you turn around, and then when you're at home, you probably drive that diesel around. Um, and so being between two vehicles, I think that's what it happened. I mean, is we drive my wife's car everywhere. And so I'm used to hitting the gas stuff, and and that's that's where I went wrong. So, but anyway, so speaking of the road, speaking of fishing, speaking of all the stuff, um, so our families have uh, you know, so your your cousin, he's married to my sister, um, you know, and and uh but there's a there's a long history even before that of the Bentons and the Kellys knowing each other, yeah. And uh, but uh but I think one of y'all had said y'all had a story uh about maybe one of the first times that you had you had seen a Scott Kelly or the uh one of the hosts of the I'm Even Line podcast off camera, you know. Well, just uh kind of preface this our dads hunted together that's run. And uh and like back in the day, and this is years and years and years ago, dad didn't take me to school without that rifle ride with us. Oh yeah. Because you never knew when the opportunity would strike. I mean, there was And there was bucks up there then. There was bucks, and they would you could run dogs. So if he saw some dog hunters, you know, he's like, hey, maybe we need to sit right here just a little bit so something don't cross, you know. Something special. And uh I remember we were either going to school or coming back from school, or we were going somewhere, and I remember he said, uh, hey Scott called me. He he killed a buck, he wants me to come take some pictures of it, you know. Yeah, and I remember for the longest time dad had a stack of hunting pictures right there in his office before the storm happened, and everything went crazy. And I remember that picture of you with that 10-point on the back of that blue Toyota. Yeah, and uh and I remember seeing it, and I was at the time that was a giant I'd never seen anything so big. So he was like the greatest hunter of all time. Shot that sucker off the road, yeah. Yeah, shot him right. Hey, it was one of those things where uh the funny thing is I hadn't shot one and lost him the week but probably two weeks before. And so I had I kept watching that joker, and I didn't have nothing but a shotgun back then. I I didn't have nothing much, uh, but I was shooting that little just shotgun, and that's what I killed him with. I shot him four times. So uh I finally got my hands on him. He wasn't gonna get loose. Yeah, but uh but yeah. The funny thing about that is my dad had was in they was in that 16-point lease. Him and your dad. And he was off hunting and I killed him, went and sunk him down in his pond. So when your dad came up, we pulled him out of the pond. And uh and so that was that was a lot of fun. That was the biggest I had killed at the time. And uh and dog hunting, really, that's probably the biggest I ever killed. Right, right. Yeah, and it wasn't like it was a paved, dry, you know, big highway. It was a dirt road. Yeah, you know, yeah. We hunted on on each side of it growing up from the time that I could walk. And it was it was basically we lived before it got built up, we lived in the back of some hunting property and we had to drive our way out. So it's not like you know, it was that bad. But back then it was just a known thing. Oh, yeah. You did not go to the grocery store, you did not go take me to school, you didn't go anywhere without that ride. Oh yeah. And I remember too, uh when you got up, probably when you first started in kindergarten, you know, because I'd carry your daddy every now and then we'd go coon uh we'd go deer hunting and I'd run dogs over before they closed off the the lower woods over close to the power plant, and he'd ride with me dog hunting a little bit. And uh I I told him one day, I said, You want to go run dogs with me? He said, I gotta be careful because if Drew finds out he's in kindergarten, but if he finds out I'm hunting with him in school, it's gonna be bad. I thought, man, this dude so I knew you were hooked on back then. And I had a I had a lot of woodsmen in my life that were really good woodsmen. I mean, yeah, your dad, my dad, your grandfather, you, my granddad, uh, my uncle. Yeah and so there was no choice for me. Yeah, oh yeah, that was it. I was I was in it. So that's that's really cool. You know, my dad told me this story. I uh we we went and ate lunch with him yesterday. Uh-huh. And I said, I said, Dad, what what's some of the things you think of Drew? He said, you know, I remember, you know, we'd they'd come over at different holidays and we'd hang out and stuff. We were really close. He said, I remember one time, you know, as a and he was young, he probably wasn't five years old, but he was looking at me and uh looking up at me, and I thought, well, he's gonna say something. He just kept staring at me. And uh he said, Finally, he looked at me, he said, I don't know if you called him brother Tommy or Uncle Tommy, whichever one. He said, Brother Tommy, this is what you said. Brother Tommy, when I get old, I wanna have hair in my ears like you. So maybe one day, you know, maybe one day you work hard at it. You can have hair in your ears like you. Well, here's the question Did you did your wish come true? Not yet. Well, you know, you you get to where you can't hear a deer come and you're gonna go, hey man, where do you come from? Well, I can't hardly hear anymore. I get accused of that a lot, but I don't know if that's from boat rides or shell like guns are working down there at the dock. Yeah, oh yeah. I can't hardly hear noise. Yeah, yeah. That's funny. That's funny. Uh speaking of boat rides, so you I mean, how fast will the your boat go? I mean, what are we talking about? Uh, I mean, on a good day, me and you, we get that thing 74, 75. Yeah. Now, have you had some tight moments where you hit something and you're going, oh boy, we could have got that stuff here. Not that fast. I've I mean, you've hit stuff, but generally, uh, if if I in a sketchy area, I back her off a little bit. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that that is good. Now I remember we were at the tournament, the first tournament of the year this year. I was up at Trevor's and we went down to, I guess, it was on Gunnersville. Gunnersville. So we go down there and it's freezing cold. Oh, man. And I told Trevor, I said, good night. I bet Drew's going, boy, I hate this fishing. Coldest conditions I've ever been in. Oh, and it was freezing. And I asked Drew, I said, You got a heater on that boat? And I was a heated seats? Yeah, they actually put heated seats in our our boat, some some boats now. I run a Phoenix, and uh it's uh you don't you you think heated seats in a bass boat? You're like, that's a little bit you had it cranked up out there. I had them on I'm telling you, I had them on the boat. But you was dressed pretty good too. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, y'all it it do you have to be dressed warmer than you would if you were hunting? Oh sure. Because you've got that wind blowing on. Oh sure, and and there's no trees blocking it. Oh, yeah. And you're having to hook up, and when you're going fast, oh my goodness. But you got the windshield too, though, right? Yeah, it's gonna be like a level of absorption, like too, and like you're saying the trees and the ground, the grass or whatever absorbs so much of the, you know, as it dampens the wind, but I'd imagine on the water, there's no absorption, it just ricocheted off the window. And the water's 30-something degrees, so it's not like you're over ground. Yeah, yeah. A lot of people don't realize how much that ground insulates you. And yeah, and it's a different kind of cold when you're on the water in that type of scenario. I remember the first day of practice breaking ice from where we put out, put in, and there was a couple pockets I was wanting to fish and I'd throw my rattle trap up there on ice. Then you're just okay, then you reel it across ice till you got to some water. I mean, it was like, what am I doing out here? Now you know what would be cool is like you know, when you fish in a lily pad, which I'm you know, I'm not I don't attest to be any kind of fisherman. If I'm anything I hunt, that that's but I'd love to be a better fisherman, but I know that if you work your if you work it right on on top of some lily pads, you'll have a good, you'll have a good uh, you know, if you don't get hung up on the stem. Right. But I'd imagine how cool would that be to run that thing on top of that ice and just see one just bust through the ice bust with the ice. The problem is those fish feel about like you do. So you know, they're sitting there and and you've got to slow way down and it's it's just different. Yeah, I mean, you almost crawl that bait. Well, you had a good sack of fish, you know. Uh you didn't do too bad in it. Yeah, it was a good tournament for me. It just uh it was miserable conditioning. Those tournaments really test your mentality. Yeah, and a lot of those guys are I won't say a lot of them at our level, most of them are killers now, but yeah it tests your mentality, and uh, some of those guys are beat before they leave the ranch. Right, right. And and I think a big fish is what really put the guy that won that tournament where he was at. Just one big fish is really and I think wasn't it three in the afternoon he caught the fish or something, if I remember now. I mean you've been through several tournaments here. Yeah. But uh I I I told Trevor, I said, man, this is this is serious right here. Because we were cold. Yeah, I'm thinking we were on the hill. I'm thinking, man, I should have brought a bigger jacket. But yeah, what a what a uh I didn't realize now if any of y'all could go to a tournament, I think it's great because what a production. I mean, the dude that calls it out, he brings a jive to it, and and it what a great yeah uh I really I really enjoyed it. Yeah, I think as a kid, you know, growing up, seeing that I didn't never go to a tournament, but seeing that production on TV and and kind of getting a feel for that is kind of what drew me in. And I didn't really want to be a professional fisherman when I was 10 or 11 years old, like some of these guys. I was playing ball and hunting, and I just loved that life, that outdoors life. And I wanted whenever I quit playing baseball, I'm like, man, what am I gonna do? I went to c I went to college and I had a degree, which was useless, by the way. But it we won't go there. And I was working out at the docks and for a lack of a better term, it kind of stunk, you know, like it you every day you're down there working, you're like, what can I do with my life? Yeah, this is this is rough. And then fast forward, I got my first pro tournament. Yeah, and it was in like 2013, you said yeah, yeah, yeah. The Walmart FLW tour down at Lego Kachobi and went down there and won a hundred grand. Wow. First, and I was like, I can do this. I can I can make a living doing this. Now, did your mind initially did you say to yourself first thought, you know, you're rookie, right? And and your mind did you think this is kind of easy? No, but I will say I didn't understand what I had done at that point. You know, like fishing the best in the world don't have a lot of wins. It's just it's kind of like hitting in baseball. You can be the most successful hitter in the game, and you're gonna fail 70% more of the time. Yeah, and that's kind of like fishing is with wins. So much has to go your way. You've got to do your job, everything's gotta be perfect on your end, but a wild creature's got to cooperate. Right, that's right. And the weather's got to cooperate. And like so much has to line up for one of these events for you to actually win it. Yeah. I didn't realize that's what had happened my first tournament. So I won't say I took it for granted, but I didn't understand it at the time like I do now. And uh but at the same time, when you know you're 22 years old and you win a hundred thousand dollars and you're like, oh, like this is what I'm gonna do. Yeah, this is me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And full full force for that's you know, kind of what we did. So we were talking about um it's something interesting. So I got a couple kids in my youth department, and one of their dads is actually a coach. So you went to Mosley High School, right? And so Mosley now, and I almost would I almost would give you at least a lot of a lot of credit in the sense of you've probably inspired a lot of these kids and even these coaches that you know even a kid in Panama City can do something with being a bass fisherman, or or that that there's uh the opportunities that can come behind that. And Mosley now has a bass fishing team that ri that kill competes in high school tournaments. And so do you find now that that's a little bit unfair looking back now as an adult saying, Where was that when I was in high school? Yeah, and even college fishing, it it's all taken off. You can get a college scholarship for bass fishing now. Really? The other night I went to a graduation and this girl had gotten a scholarship to go fish um on the collegiate level, and that's the first time I'd ever even seen that. I've been in tons of graduations, you know, being a youth pastor, that's all I do during in the month of May. That's that's where I'm gonna be. If there's a graduation in Bay County, I'm gonna be there. And uh, but yeah, there's several kids that's gotten scholarships in our own town. Yeah, and uh probably a lot of it's uh credit to you, the fact that you kind of paved the way for at least all of us, yeah, you know, Bay County kids. Who do we have before that? Red Holland. Before you, man. No, and what's kind of cool about that to come full circle, one of the guys I used to room with and travel with a lot, Clint Davis, has just took the coaching job at Montevallo. Oh wow. So he started that program, you know, kind of from the ground, and and now he's coaching, so maybe that's a transition for me to do something like that whenever I get done fishing, actually. And uh and can kind of help a program out doing that. But that it's crazy how big that is. You're talking about a coach for a bass fishing team. Yeah. Getting paid for college. I mean, that's unheard of. And and even this, even with Coach Chester, he had he had done that outdoor ed at mostly, but I think that would be something great even in college that they can in implement, which I and a lot of people are against hunting or whatever, but the outdoor ed aspect of it. Because one of the things that people don't realize about you is or maybe not know, but you're you're a big hunter and you have taken some really nice bucks and turkeys. So one of the questions, one of the things I want you to tell us about is the uh the turkey that you took in the deer you was on a tournament. Would you hear him gobbling while you was fishing? Yeah. So I joke around all the time. I tell people if I can make a living hunting, I'd probably never pick up another rod. Yeah, yeah. It's just hard to make a living. Yeah. Just out you know, trying to outfund everybody. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But so we were at Arkansas River and to to back up a little bit, I've been to Arkansas River twice now, and I filled two turkey tags. Come on. Because it's good. Like you've got a lot of core land and they've kind of made it a little bit confusing now. So you've got core land, you've got management area land, and then you've got public hunting land. Yeah. And they all three have different regulations. Come on. And they're all three like managed differently. So you have to have a good app on your phone that tells you what's what. But when you're on that river, and if you hear a turkey goblin, he's you know within a hundred yards of that river, chances are you're on some sort of public land. Right. And uh we were fishing in this creek, we were practicing. This was like three days before the tournament, and heard this turkey goblin, and he would not stop gobbling. Come on. And I had all my stuff, I carry all my stuff in my truck because I don't get to hunt much here at home during turkey season because a lot of our tournaments are during that prime springtime, and I done made my mind up. I'm going back to the truck to get my stuff. And I'm like looking up on my phone how to get a license, and the season wasn't in yet. Yeah. So I had I I saw the season came in like our first or second day of the tournament, I can't remember. Fast forward, fished the tournament. It didn't go as planned. Had one of the best practices I ever had, thought I was gonna blast them, did not catch them. Like just totally stunk it up for whatever reason. And uh I'm like so aggravated that I didn't catch them. I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna go kill that turkey in the morning. So I made sure it was okay, checked where he was at. Um, it was one of the core pieces of property, so I didn't have to call and check in or anything. I could basically just launch my boat and go go get on him. And I got on him at daylight. I'm sitting there and he starts gobbling. And uh I'm sitting there up against a tree, and it's not long I see him pitch down, and he pitches down in a uh cow pasture out there, probably I don't know, it's 150 yards probably from me. And there's a little strip of water where when the the river rises it fills up and it's a pond right there. So he's on the other side of that pond. And anybody who turkey hunts knows are like, mmm, I'm in a tight spot. Yeah, this ain't gonna work. And um sitting there, I'm calling to him a little bit, and he's gobbling. So I'm sitting there looking at my watch, and I only call about every 15 minutes to him, and he's he's cutting me off. He's getting more, and I I'm like scooting around trying to get situated in case he might come. Well I hear a cluck behind me, and there's a hen behind me, and I'm like, Well, I'm in the chips now because you got I got the hen, I got the hen right here, and she's not coming to him now because she saw me. Yeah. So I just for 20 minutes I don't make a peep. And uh I start slapping my leg and act like I'm fighting, and I just look up and I just see wings coming, and he's flew that water coming to him. Come on. And I'm like, oh my goodness, I cannot believe this thing. This is gonna happen, you know. And I'm sitting there and it's kind of makes a little dip before it gets up to me, and I'm afraid this turkey's either gonna come around behind me and bust me, or he's gonna either pop right up in my face. Yeah. And about this time I'm here, and like the boat is I don't know, 35 yards behind me in the the river, and I hear boats coming, and where I'm at is like where everybody started the tournament. It was there was a it was a good place to fish, and I hear the boats whoo coming down the river. I'm like, these guys are gonna mess me up. This therg is gonna come in. These doggone bass fishermen are fixing to mess me up. So I'm sitting there and I hear them shutting down, and I'm I don't I haven't made a peep yet. And I just did a soft yelp, and that thing gobbled so close to me, the hair on my back of my neck stood up. Oh wow, and he popped out at like six yards behind a big oak tree and piled him up and uh got him, was coming down the bank and hopped in the boat, and uh, remember Brandon Cobb was pulling in and he saw my boat and he saw me trolling out and he wanted to fish that pocket. And I said, Come on, you can fish in here. I said, I ain't hunting, or I ain't fishing. And he says, What are you doing? I held up that turkey and he was like, That's awesome. And and so everybody in there, all my buddies, they were wanting to get selfies with me with that turkey. Come on, that's cool. Yeah, wow. And uh it was it was kind of it was really cool. And got to the boat ramp, and uh it's funny, Shane Durance, one of our photographers, was putting in and uh he got some really cool pictures of it. And uh and what's also funny is Game Warden was there waiting on me. Also, you had to show him your stuff, huh? Yeah, he says, You got a license? I said, all $252. Can you believe it cost $252 to kill one turkey in the cloak? Oh boy, yeah. My goodness. But I I did I did it right, you know, and uh showed him where I killed him, and he's like, You good. That's awesome. That's cool. That's cool. That would have been terrible for you to have got a ticket from the game on you bass fisherman. Yeah, I can't stand y'all yet. Oh wow. Now let me ask you this. Um, so you traveled all I mean, you go a lot of places. So is there anywhere? So if somebody's traveling, because I mean, some places I'm sure fast food's terrible at times. I mean, like you get sick of stuff like that. So what is the best and where's it at restaurant you've ever ate at when you've been on the road? That's or one of one of the best, which is something that sticks out in your mind. To be honest, we do a lot of cooking. Yeah, we uh I I'll bring deer meat. Oh, Cook brings deer meat, so y'all fish. We cook we we fried up that turkey, I kid. Come on. I mean, we do a lot just because it's so much easier, we stay at uh pretty much stay in the same place, all of y'all. Well, yeah, we'll rent an Airbnb or whatever, and a lot of times there's no town close by. Or if there is, it's 30 or 40 minutes. So unless you pick something up on when you get off the water, yeah, and you wore out too much. Now, there are some places that we kind of get lazy and and eat out, but there's nothing really that sticks out. Usually, honestly, we're so dog tired because we fish, like when we practice, we are there at daylight and we are off the water at dark, and we do that for three days straight, then we fish a four-day event. Yeah. And I don't even know if we can taste anything at that point. We're so tired, and uh that's just you know the way it is. Well, I I'll tell you this, and he's getting more and more numb. But there's this dude that did uh I went to a little small tournament one time, just seen there was a fishing tournament there, and this dude had this food truck, and he's he I hear he I see where he's traveling around. His name's Tucker's Burgers. His name's Jojo Tucker, you know, and and he's one-armed guy. And I thought, one armed, one armed guy. And you know, my grandpa Pitts was one armed, I'm you know, great guy can build anything, you know, and and do all kind of stuff. So I went up there and I thought, man, a big line behind this guy's burger uh trailer. I'm thinking, man. And so and and I mean people were raving over these burgers. So I go up there and I'm waiting in line. I'm thinking, what in the world? They said, I don't know what the seasoning is on these things, but this is the best burger I've ever had. So I started just trying to investigate. I always want to know what somebody puts on stuff. So dude's wearing a white beater t-shirt, you know, and he's up there just uh cooking away by himself. And so I eased around behind the the food truck or food trailer and peeked up in there and I saw what he was seasoning with. He was taking those burgers, a little ball hamburger, and he was patting them out with one hand. Well, I say one hand, he would take that burger and he was seasoning them at the same time, and he would take them and put them up under that nub shoulder and flatten them out up under his arm and put them on that thing. And man, you won't believe how good them things tasted. Uh so Jojo's Jojo Tucker burgers, you want you want one of those. I'm telling you, if you get a chance, Drew, I will probably drive right on past Jojo's from that ad. I don't want no Jojo's. Jojo. I want a burger even though they don't want one. No, we got plenty of deer burger. We we cook we cook everything from tacos to I mean, you name it. We'll cook. If we if we got a black stone, I'm a pretty decent hibachi chef and a blackstone. So we'll we'll fry some rice up, cook some chicken and steak. I mean that's gotta be a s uh, but I I've been uh, you know, me and Trevor, we've done um over the years, we've went out, you know, west, and you know, you do them weeks, I'm sure it's the exact same, but you live that life of like you do a week of fishing and you're you're just out there and then getting up early and going to bed late, and it's one of the things by the time you're done. Man, just give me a piece of bread, give me a cheese and a piece of ham. I'm going to, I don't that that tastes like a steak to me. But so I'm sure that those nights are uh I'm sure the nights where you guys are making a full spread, they're they're not, I mean, you sometimes you probably just want something quick, huh? Yeah, th those are just on the tournament days. The the nights that uh that we're practicing are quick. Yeah. What can we make quick? Mm-hmm. So so life being a bass fisherman, and I I mean, and you have even um you know, I'm sure at one point in your life, I mean, like so growing up and and getting into this industry of of fishing for a living and and whatnot, do you are there things now and uh uh as far as how do I word this? So is bass fishing still one of those things that you do on your off time, or is it still one of those things that you do it so much on you know even when you're working, uh that is it something you still kind of just dabble with when you're not working? Yeah, you have to at this level, um, just because there's so much new stuff come out. You your dad was just talking about the urchin. Is that that thing that the quirky? Yeah, yeah. I mean, just little stuff like that, you've got to pr beat on your craft and perfect it before you get to a lake. So yeah, I I'll fish, you know, probably three days a week still when I'm home. Um it might just be for an hour or two hours, but I'll go out there and you know, try a different setting on my electronics or you know, just work on something, but it's more it's uh it's more working on something. It's not just going out there having a good time. Now me and my wife, you know, our anniversary last year, we went to Wimico and caught the snot out of them and had a great time. And I I enjoy taking my kids and catching them and having a good time. But like if I'm out there by myself, I've got to, it's just like hitting off a tee or or doing some drills, you know, in any other sport. I I've got to work on something. Yeah. And uh it I still have a good time with it. You know, I mean it's still fun. It's just uh it's a different angle than most everybody else when they're going to the lake to go fishing. Yeah. Like I have you at the this level, you have to be so good at everything or you you d you don't stay here. Yeah. And uh it it's it's so it's crazy when I started. And I'm not saying that the the field wasn't extremely strong back then, but now since college fishing and high school fishing, and everybody's kind of caught up to the game. If you're not on top, you won't be in the sport very long. I've seen great anglers start to get relegated out of the sport. We're starting to get to that point where new guys are coming in that can beat some of these guys that have been in it for 10 or 20 years. And you can't be stale, you've got to get up with the technology. Right. And uh, I mean, that's just kind of the way you gotta approach it. Speaking of that, so like, you know, you you've got to see the industry change from, and I'm about to hit a controversial topic, so hang on with me. Um, so you've got to see the industry change from just regular old um fish finders to now it's live scoping. And honestly, like, you know, that's a a lot of people like them, a lot of people don't, but either even still as a professional, I mean, you're not doing yourself any kind of service by not using that technology with everybody else using it. So is that did you find that was that a learning curve for you to go from fish finders to live scoping and then trying to fish at the same time? Yeah, the part for me that I struggle with is it's so fun and it's hard for me to forget all the stuff that I learned, like all the patterns and the stuff that I really enjoy doing, sight fishing and like all the things. Like, and then there's certain times of the year where none of that is even none of that even matters. You just need to turn that box on and go out there and throw at them. And that's the part that I struggle with. It's not the fact that I can't do it or I'm not good at it, or I just man, when it's spring and I know they're up there shallow, I want to go look at them, or if it's cold and we're on Gunnersville, I want to throw a rattling bait and a chatterbait. And and that's what us as anglers have kind of argued. Not necessarily that we don't like the technology, it's that whenever you're getting that AOI, that angler of the year. Sorry to hit that little too. No, you're good. No, I get a little bit passionate about this. Yeah, you want the most well-rounded guy. You want the most the guy who's the verse, most versatile, who can do everything. And when you have that, it kind of skews that you know a little bit. And that's the part that I struggle with. Yeah, yeah. It's not it's not the technology, it's not that these young guys are so good with it. It's the fact that we're getting away from what got me into bass fishing. Right, right. And that's that's the part that I struggle with. So don't they part of the tournaments won't let you use the live scope, right? Yeah, so now to remedy that we did like uh almost a 50-50 split schedule. Yeah. And I I like that. I mean, it it's uh it kind of gives you the best of both worlds, and I think the fans are liking it. They're we're getting a lot of positive response, especially the events that there's some old school stuff coming back. Yeah, and you know, us, you know, from a business standpoint, we gotta sell lures, we gotta sell rods, we gotta sell, you know, sell all the stuff, and we can't do that if you're just throwing a jig head minnow at a fish with a with with a graph. So yeah, it kind of it's gotta happen. You know, we gotta be able to do it all. And uh, I think we're kind of found a way to do that. Yeah, that's what that's cool. So I know you wanted earlier you were kind of talking about um you had asked you wanted to ask a question about um so what are the things and then you can explain. I don't want to take this from you, but I'll make sure we're we're kind of leading into that direction. So there are kind of things that so you love to hunt, you you fish, you love to fish, and then but now what are things that you do now that you find that um that you like to do because hunting season's over, turkey season's out for us, and then now I know some some other states are still in. Yeah, um, deer hunting's over until October. So and then we got he's got younger children, so things that you can do to include them in outdoors, maybe some hobbies or something you like to do. Yeah, so uh, you know, number one people think deer season, turkey season for me it's year-round because like I'm a big I just love to manage land. I love to put back into property and make it better, yeah. You know, be a steward of it, if you will, just make improvements and and like I've I've enjoyed either whether it's a piece of property I own or a piece of property I lease, figuring out what I can do to make it better, and I'll work on that all summer long. And I'll go up there and I'll you know rent equipment and and make sure they have bedding and food and and make sure they have water. I mean, you name it, if it can be done, I try to improve it. And uh I've watched properties that whenever I get them have five to ten deer on them, and then when I'm done with them, they'll have twenty to fifty that live on it. And that's just so rewarding to me. Yeah um trapping the the the varmits like your coons and stuff and watching the turkey populations grow and just like just kind of taking control of a situation and making it better uh in outdoors is what I really love to do. And a hobby that we've kind of picked up is picking up arrowheads. And uh it's actually something uh we're gonna go do today. Uh and we've started a little collection. I'll let you can I hold that one. Okay, yeah, I got it. Uh but so there's nothing cooler to me than taking a piece of property that I'm hunting on and going out there and seeing where somebody else hunted on it six to ten thousand years ago. Yeah, yeah, that's cool stuff. And uh my kids get involved. I I I try to tell, I say, look, for every whole one you find, I'll give you $20. Come up. And we'll put them in these cases, you know. And uh gets them off the phone and gets them out there, you know, moving around. Now, is there something that's of value? What's the most valuable type? I so the most valuable type is this Clovis right here. It's broken, but uh it's probably the most sought-after arrowhead. Hold it up a little higher so you can get the camera can get it. And basically it's got a concave bottom, and it would have been about that long, so it'd have been about that long. And I found that one in a field, you could see where it got run over. Wow, but I've seen some of those go for $10,000 to $12,000. Now, what about that spearhead right there? I know uh yeah, so that's a cowhouse slough. Um, I found it, and I don't know what it was used for primarily. I have a book I looked these up in. But uh, but yeah, it's uh just a big blade. I don't know if they've had it on a spear if they used it for skin and stuff or what it could have been a knife or something. These two up here I found the first day that we were looking. So one of the one of the photographers for Bash, Shane Durance, his dad's like a guru. Oh yeah, he knows all that. And uh and he's like, man, it would really mean a lot if my dad could come down and you know, show you how to look for airheads, and and maybe you take him around. And so we went to some fields, and and like I told you earlier, it's a whole lot easier to gain permission to go pick up rocks on somebody's property than it is if you go up there and ask them, Can I deer hunt? So yeah, so you get your foot in the door, yeah, and and you get to meet these people, and I mean I've gotten a lot of permission to do this. And we were walking on a particular farm, and I found this one in a washout, like a big ditch where it rained a bunch, and I just saw the point sticking out, and I grabbed it, and I'm like, Man, that's a cool one. And uh I took it back to him, and he goes, Do you know what that is? Oh wow. That's an abbey. He said, I've only seen two of those in my lifetime. Come on, man. You getting so on the way back to him, I picked this one up, and that's an Abbey also. And I said, Well, is it what's this one? He goes, That's another Abbey. He says, Those things are worth like $700. Wow, that's good. And I was like, that's like you, you're this is a savings account for you, bro. I'll never sell them. They they they mean so much like this is Colt's first one he ever found. That's cool. That is cool. That's a big and yep. This is this is the first full uh whole one that I found that day with uh Mr. Griggs. That's a kirk, that's what it's called. That just reminds you of the one we found up at the property, Tommy. See it remember how skinny and long that one was? Yeah, that one was about like it just looked like your pinky finger. About like it was like just one long, almost like a almost needle broke at the bottom. And so this one right here is actually called a Benton. Really? Really? Is this a Benton Indian tribe or something? I really don't know. They just have a book. A lot of these arrowheads could be named from the tribe, could be named by the first person who found one of them. Um they're named various things, but yeah, we uh we just enjoy doing it and collecting them. It's just something that we can kind of get out there and all do together. My wife loves to do it. Yeah. And anybody that we've ever taken, they're like, when can we go back? Yeah, you know, because it's not like it's not like anything else. When I remember when I picked up that first kirk, Mr. Durant said, You're the first human to touch that in over 6,000 years. Wow, that's cool. And and to me, like I'm sitting there and I'm like, Well, I just killed a buck right there, like last year. I wonder what he killed with this. Yeah, you know, yeah, yeah. And like it kind of takes you back and it makes me realize that even if you own the deed to a piece of property or your name's on it, you're just taking care of it. Yeah, you're just a steward of the property, yes. And and just like these guys were just taking care of it, yeah. I'm trying to take care of it so the next person, you know, it's better. So that's just that's kind of me in another field. That's I mean, we've talked about boy, I wish we could get into it. Now you're going mostly around fields, you find a lot in in tealed fields, yeah. So so that that kind of comes back to the woodsman aspect. It a good hunter is a good arrowhead hunter. Oh, wow. Because the like where you would camp and set up and think you would want to be close to game and water and all the elements that you need to survive, that's where you look for these. And they they they were on high places, close to water, and um they wanted to be able to see and have vantage points. And um any place that you see flint flakes, yeah, there's an airhead somewhere in that vicinity. It might be a square mile, it might be a square hundred yards. But if you find flint flakes, you can find an arrowhead. And some of these full ones were where we got off out in the woods where there was no fields, and we would dig what we call a test hole, and we find some flakes, and then just start scraping the ground and find them, find them whole. Wow. Like this one right here, this is kind of. A pretty cool story. This one right here, and this one right here, we found in the same hole. Yeah, and I'll show you. So that's not run over by anything. That's never been on any kind of property that's been worked. We found that like two and a half foot down, so nothing could have damaged that. So what happened is what like I'm thinking is this Indian that was from a strike of an animal bone. Okay, so he he chipped a tip. Yeah, he chipped a tip and he had some other spares, and we found one of his spares in that same hole. Wow. So he probably cut that sucker off and put a new one on it. That's cool. How cool is that? And I'm sitting here thinking, man. Yeah. And then too, you can see looking at these, which ones were the craftsmen. Like I got some in here that I think I can put on something and kill something. Like it's sharp. That would be pretty cool to try. Yeah. You know. And I've kind of got it into uh traditional archery some too. Just something different. It's fun to knock around out in the yard. Well, uh, you need to talk to Bill. I think Bill Lamin actually can start building. Is he? Yeah. Yeah, he's uh you know, he's a specialist in anything he makes. He's making he's been making some electric guitars. Uh-huh. I saw that, yep. And so he told me the other day he said I'm fixing to start making some longbows or what what's it do? Is that a tread? Yeah. Okay. So you might try to bump him and say, hey man, how's the process? Yeah. It could be kind of cool. So one thing I I I I I've always I've been curious, as you we had already uh um uh established that you travel all over the place. Yeah. Um and I mean with fishing you kind of have to with all the lakes and and and all the stuff that there are in this in this country. So my thought is is how many times I've been like we've traveled out of state um and and hunted, um, and and you know, the things that I've encountered just you know, I've been I've seen flash floods and fires and and tornado warnings and whatever else that may be, and just the the one time of year that I travel, something crazy seems to always happen, but I can only imagine what you experience or the things on these tournaments that you experience, or the things that you encounter that are crazy or funny, or whatever it may be. And so I kind of I'm curious, do you have any like travel any any storage sayment maybe of a tournament or just like what's the what's one of the funniest things you've experienced? So that there's really been a lot. Like my wife always jokes, she says, You need to start a podcast and tell some of these crazy stories that you got and Marshall stories and and everything. And uh, for those of you that don't know a Marshall, uh that there's somebody that rides with us in our boat um and basically just keeps an eye on us, makes sure everything that we do is legal and and uh by the rules and and and whatnot, and they get to watch us fish for a day and kind of experience it and experience the good and the bad and the ugly. And I remember uh one of the funniest I I won't say it's funny because it the guy was in a bad way, and then you'll you'll hear about it here in just a minute, but it uh it's the most memorable probably Marshall story I have. Yeah. We were up at Lake uh Ontario, we were actually fishing out of St. Lawrence River, Clayton, New York, and for those of you that know, the the the lake is where it's at, yeah the Lake Ontario. The lake is like the Gulf of America, like it's huge. You can't see the bank giant. And we're looking at the weather forecast uh the night before the tournament, and it's saying it's gonna blow 20 to 30 with gust of 40. And I'm like, there ain't no way that they're gonna send us out in that. No way. We we ain't going fishing, we're gonna be on the bank. And we get up that morning, no text comes, nothing from bass, and I'm like, oh boy, we're going. So I'm like, it me as a competitor, you know, I like all my eggs are in that basket because that's where you're gonna win. And I'm like going through the things mentally, getting my mind right and preparing myself for what's fixing to happen because I'm fixing to go out in literal hell in my bass boat. Like it's bad. Yeah, that's sad. And and to preface this, I do everything to my boat to ensure I have no failures. I put double bilge pumps in them. I, you know, I do everything, everything's tight and strapped down. And so it's windy. I get to the ramp, I meet my marshal, and he's a fireman from somewhere up north, which nothing against Yankees. Yeah, you know, but our our mentality doesn't always, you know, line up. And and he's just talking, talking, talking, and I'm in line to put the boat in. And in the mornings, we're like machines. We're like getting things launched, get, and I'm like, hey man, hop in the boat, I'm gonna dump you in, I'm gonna go park, I'll get in the boat. And he's just talking, and I'm like, hey man, we're holding the line up, let's go. You know, I'm like, and I'm not a high strung individual, but when you've got this kind of weather and this kind, and I'm like, I'm I've got to get my junk together, you know, we got to get going. And we're we finally get the boat launched, we get in the boat and we're idling out, and he's just, I'm the the barbecue world champion, blah, blah, blah. And he's telling me all this stuff, and and and I and I'm I'm trying to focus on what I'm gonna do. What if this plan don't work, where am I gonna go? What am I gonna do? And finally I just turned to him and I said, buddy, I said, I I know that you don't know what we're fixing to get into, but we might not make it back, and you need to get your mind right. Oh, wow, that's serious. Yeah. Now I'm not saying we're gonna like die or you know, but we're fixing to go out there and we might not come back on this boat. Yeah, yeah. Like that's it's that may have to come get us. Yeah, it's that serious. Yeah. And like, you know, if you you need to get you need to get prepared for what's fixing to happen, and it's gonna be bad. And uh if he finally got quiet and and he was like, he started to think about it a little bit, and I think that's what hurt him because you know, we go through boat check and everything, and you know, kiss my wife, and you know, I'm like, hey, have your phone on you because we're fixing to go, and if I need you to come get me, you know, you know, whatever. So we we take off and we get I believe I was running about 45 miles that time, and I would say 10 or 12 of it was gonna be slick river conditions, but once you got to the mouth, it was gonna be big and it was bigger than I've ever been in. Wow. When I say it was six to eight footers, it was six to eight footers. Wow. And we got out there, and when we got to the mouth of the river, the spring on my hot foot broke, which what is what controls your throttle. So it was either wide open or I had to pull it back with my toe to keep it from going wide open. Whoa. So it's like really hard to control the boat, and so I'm running out there, and you're you can only run 20 miles an hour, 18 miles an hour, and sometimes, you know, and I'm just kind of going and I try to go to my first place where my best fish are, and I just can't do it. You can't do it. Like I see it and I'm like, I can't fish out here. So I plan B. So I run around this island and get on this end of this point, and I pull up there, and I'm like, okay, this is manageable. When I say manageable, I can fish and not 20 gallons of boat come in the boat every 20 gallons of water come in the boat every time I sit down. Like it's like it's bad. So I get up there to the front, put my trolling motor in, I pan over there, and on live scope, I see the school of smallmouth. I fire out there, one meets it before it gets to the bottom, I set the hook in a four and a half pounder, I go down in the wave and it jumps about five feet over my head. And I'm like, I got it's a four and a half pounder, and I I turn, and normally in a situation like that, I like to sit down in the seat to land them so you can get close to the water. And I turn around and look, and I said, Hey buddy, I'm gonna get in that seat to land this fish. And he's over the side going, come on. Come on, he's chumming it up for you, buddy. So I'm like, I just kind of giggle because me deep down, I'm like, I've been taking care of this guy, I'm fighting with him on boarding. Not really fighting with him, but you know what I mean. We're clashing. And so I go around to the other side of the boat, and at this point, I get the fish in, and he's just selling Buicks on the side of the book. And I'm like, oh man, I'm sorry. So I said, You see that lighthouse? There's a lighthouse probably 10 or 15 miles to the bank there. I was like, all I want you to do is look at that lighthouse. Just focus on uh you need a focal point, you need to watch that. And he goes, Oh, let me back up. Let me back up before that. When I put the trolling motor in the water to fish, he says, Do you think you can take me back to my truck? Like we had just run two my two hours out come on. And I said, Buddy, I was like, We're here. Yeah, like this is I mean, I and I didn't realize he was sick at the time. He just said, Can you take me back to my truck? Anyway, so laying that fish, I'm telling him to focus on the bank. And uh I get back up there and uh I've dripped away off the spot. So I have to pull the trolling motor up, crank up, kind of run back up there, put the trolling motor in. As soon as I see one, fire to it, catch it, he's still puking off the side of the boat. And I'm like, buddy, you've got to look at the bank. You can't you can't look down, you can't, I mean, you you've got to have a focal point on the bank and know, and I said, everything's gonna be all right, you know. So I get me a limit, and I start noticing I've got a lot of water in my boat, like it's not not built in out. And so in the bottom of my boat's probably three or four inches of water, so I know in the bottom of the hole I've got a full hole of water. So I'm like, now what am I gonna do? Okay, so as a fisherman, as a pro fisherman, you gotta be a problem solver a lot of times. You got to like, I mean, because we have some stuff happen. So I'm thinking, I'm like, okay, so there's a little protected bay right over here. So I try to put it on plane and I get it up on plane, and as soon as I do, I stuff it in a wave and it just water comes. So we're basically just surviving. Like, I'm just I get over here and the bills ain't coming on. So I get over here where it's it's uh not as rough and uh start taking my clothes off. And he's like, he's uh looking at me like, What are you doing? And I'm like, I'm stripping down. He says, Are you about to get in the water? And I said, and I just at that point I looked at him and I said, Do you want to die out here? Oh wow. Like, like somebody's gotta get out in there and pull that plug and run this water out, or we're not getting back to the bank. Uh-huh. Like, yeah. And he he was like, Uh, okay, okay. He's like, uh, well, what happens if you lose the boat? I said, I'm not gonna lose the boat. So I'm like holding on to the back. I go under, I take the plug out, hop back in. I'm like, put your life jacket on, throw my life jacket on. I'm in my boxers. Yeah. And it, if you've been up north, it's not warm water. No, no, no. It's cold. Yes, yes, like 60 degrees. Yeah. And I'm running around in this bay running the water out of the boat. I'm watching it disappear in the floor and it finally disappears. And I'm I run it out a little bit more for good measure. Turn the motor off, jump in the water, put the plug back in, put my clothes back on. He said, Okay, we're going in. I said, Nope. We're going right back out there. Oh wow. And so I go out there, I mean, first stop, pull up, catch a four-pounder, wave crashes over the boat, fills the boat up water again. So I gotta go back and do it again. At this point, I have like 19 pounds, which is not great for there, but it'll save me, you know. So I'm like, you know what? The smart thing to do is get back in the river, finish the day out in there because I had more two or three more hours to kill, and live to fight another day. So caught that fish, cold, went back over there, got back in the water, run the plug. I took the plug out and just left it out until we got in the river. Right, right. So we run in, we get in the mouth of the river, and he goes, Man, I could I really need to get back to my truck. And I'm like, I understand, buddy, but like we can't go back to the truck right now. I said, We got two more hours, we're in the river, we're safe, we're fine. Because I thought he was just freaked out mentally, you know. Yeah. Because it's a lot. It it is. And especially if you have it, if you're not exposed to it, you know, it's a lot. So I was like, You're you'll be fine. You know, I'm talking him through it, and I catch another one, and it's finally time to go in. Well, we go in, and the way it's set up, they have us pulling up to a dock to weigh in, but our trucks in the parking lot is still like a mile away, right? And they want you to weigh your fish before you go there. And he's like, Can you take me to my truck? And I'm like, Man, I can't because we've got to go check in. We gotta weigh these fish, and they've got to, you've got to sign off on me, you know, doing everything by the rules and everything. Not really sign off technically, but just be there and be present. Right. You know, I can't just show up with no marshal, they'd be like, Where's your guy at? You know, that's right. Yeah. And uh so we do that. He helps me bag his fish, uh, helps me bag my fish, and uh I smell something. And I'm like, Oh no, I know why he wants to go back to his truck. He had pooped himself and hadn't told me about it. And had he told me about it, we could have figured something out. Like I could have been like, hey, you could have been the one in the water pulling the blow. I could have been like, hey man, I got this extra rain gear or whatever. But yeah, and he had Pew, it had come out both ends all day. Oh my goodness. And he just rode it out. And so my so he we get back to the parking lot. This is this is it gets worse. Oh, come on. So we get back to the parking lot. He gets out, I say, hey man, I'm sorry it was a rough day, blah, blah, blah. I said, really enjoyed the day we uh, you know, hope you have an easier day tomorrow, you know. Yeah. He's got all his stuff, he's got a pile, and that was another thing. He had a pile of stuff. He had like two bags, life jacket, you know, all this stuff, and he's like carrying it out, and his straps are dangling. All of a sudden he steps on a strap and boom, falls down in the parking lot, right in the mud. Come on. And I'm just like, oh, poor guy, you know. And so he drew out Caleb Summerall the next day. Well, Caleb texts me that night and he goes, What'd you do to this poor guy? And he sends me the screenshot of his text. He said, I ain't going tomorrow. My stomach won't be right for months. So they had to put a new guy with him. Yeah, he probably hasn't never went back. He's probably never never volunteered to be a marshal again. No, it started out today. This is a bucket list trip for me. I can't be more excited. This is like I've always wanted to do this till I'm never doing this again. Oh, wow. All in one day. That is that is great. Oh my goodness. So what a what a bucket list thing. He could have had a bucket if he if you just had a bucket. Yeah, he needed a bucket. He needed a bucket on the list. Exactly right. Wow. So that is something. My goodness. My goodness. Well, that is as we near to the end, man. What a what a story to end on. I'm telling you. Like uh, so you know what we do always on the podcast is uh you know, we always have a good laugh. We always cut up, we always bring on uh on people, and and they always it's so fun to hear everybody's stories and and and their their life and and their experiences. It's always a it's always a really treat, you know, honestly, to be able to hear that. But uh one thing we always do is is we always want to make sure that um even though that the podcast is full of fun and laughter, we'll make sure that we always you know point back to the one um that that makes all this possible and and the one that um that that loves you and loves me and went died on a cross for you and I and and makes these things possible that uh that we can be able to have such a platform to be able to to to platforms that we have, you know. You've got a platform, we've got a platform to be able to just just to kind of represent Christ, you know, on and and as well as as just God this just God's blessing and and and and that people can see that just the the love and sovereignty of God. Um but one thing I always want to do is is you know, we talk a lot about our story and and our testimonies and and the things that we've experienced or or maybe just the word that God's given us, but I also want to make sure that when we bring a guest on, like um that they have opportunity to share their testimony or or something that God has done um in their life, and just uh just kind of one of those uh as they say, almost like a God wink moment to where um you you just know that God's present. And uh so you had kind of told us uh we kind of talked a little bit earlier about um uh uh about a a really uh an amazing, I would say almost redemption story. And uh can you kind of go into that a little bit as we and let that be our closer, really? Yeah, sure. So anytime I'm fishing or or outdoors, God's always working in my life. You know, it doesn't matter if I'm working out in the field and I see something that reminds me of it or whatever, it it's there's all he's always there. And like I I touched on how hard it is for us to win an event, you know, early in the the podcast, and and it was Lake Murray, it was 2023, and I led uh I was in the lead on day two. Um and everything was going good. I was uh I had a pretty good lead. And day three rolls around. We had some bad weather conditions for what I was doing. I was sight fishing, and uh I got behind um some other competitors in some areas, and long story short, I had a bad third day and like barely slid into the top ten like by ounces. And I remember like I'm a super competitive person, like I'm a tough person to be around when like when things don't go my way, but like I try to do it my way too much, and I get too caught up in that and what like not giving it all to God and just letting it happen, you know. And a lot of times I tell people all the time, oh win, you just gotta get out of your own way and let it happen, you know. When it's meant to be, it's meant to be. And but I was so angry, and my wife could sense that. And um, when I was back at the house and going through tackle, and I was I I was in tenth, and she kept saying, You have a shot, you know, you're still in tenth, and I'm like, you don't understand. I just let this one slide, you know, slip away. And uh it's like I blew up, I don't know, I don't can't can't even remember what the lead was, but I know going into the last day I was down four or five pounds, which is big, you know, on a place where weights are tight. And uh so I was I was aggravated. Then uh went to bed that night and uh just kind of prayed for peace and and uh just kind of left it in his hands, you know, and got up the next morning and went to the ramp, and little did I know she had wrote some verses down on a note and uh before we blasted off she handed it to me, folded up, and I just stuck it in my bibs. I thought it was just a a good luck note or whatever, and um just like she normally does. And and uh I took off. Uh first stop I stopped at, um uh one of my old roommates had gave me a little tip on something that he was doing in the mornings to get some good bites. And I I was sight fishing primarily in the tournament, and I knew that I could find one or two big ones like left. I mean, you're talking the last day of a four-day tournament, it's tough to to find them, you know, when you get that late in an event. So I needed something to go with what I had, and he'd gave me this this tip to go down the lake, and I was cranking rip rap banks and rock and and uh the shad were spawning. There was big ones up there feeding on those shad in the mornings. So I run down there and the first point I pulled up on that looks good, I catch like a I don't know if it was a three-pounder or four-pounder. It will it wasn't one of the fish I weighed in, but it was a nice one. And I'm like, okay. Yeah, here we go. You know, start good start to the day. Go go down. And it was like, uh, I caught another one. Well, I circled back to that point and I throw it across it and I hooked one. It felt giant, but it ended up being a five-pounder. And I have one treble hook and the back of its back. Like it swiped at the bait, but it just it just didn't get it good. And I fodded around the boat, fodded around the boat when I saw it wasn't hooked good, and I landed it, and I I thought to myself right then, I'm like, you shouldn't have landed that fish. Yeah. And it's hard for me to tell the story and not get a little bit emotional about it. But uh you shouldn't have landed that fish. And I remember saying, just give me a second. I don't know if it's my day, but it feels like it. Yeah, yeah. And uh, I run down the bank a little bit further, and uh I had a limit at this time, and I pulled out this note because I had to idle in there a little ways, and I'll read it to you. And some of these verses you probably heard of before, and and some of them you may have hadn't, but I'll read them. I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength. Philippians 4 13. I think everybody kind of knows that one. Jesus replied, What is impossible with man is possible with God. Luke 18 27. Jesus looked at them and said, With man, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible. Matthew 19, 26. Jesus replied, Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but you can also say to this mountain, Go throw yourself into the sea and it will be done. Matthew 21, 21. I love you so much. Give this to God, and He will have all the glory. He's given you the gift and the talent. Go win Murray. Wow. So like I read that and I grabbed another gear because it everything fell into place in that moment. Like, so I had no anxiety, I had no uh no fear, no doubt at that point. I was like, it's on now. You know, so like I roll up to the next point, and it was like I could call my shot. I'm like, there's gonna be a five-pounder right there, and I'd reel down there, and there it is, you know. And uh at that point I had like three five-pounders and then two nice ones, but I told you I was putting them in bass track a little bit light just because you don't want, and and and knowing what I was gonna do later in the day, I was gonna sight fish, I didn't want photographers and and spectator boats and people coming to find me because it was gonna hinder what I was trying to do. And uh, so I was telling them, you know, if it was a four or five-pounder, I was like three-pounder. If it was a five-pounder, you know, so I had a little light, and when I caught that third five-pounder, I said, now it's time to go hunting. So I went and the first pocket I come to, I find like a five and three-quarter. Oh wow. I catch it and um I'm fishing, and I find a six-pounder. And I don't know it's a six-pounder at first, but it's that year on Lake Murray, a six-pounder was huge. And uh I'm fishing for it with a spinning rod because it's real finicky acting. I hook it, it goes out there and gets hung in some grass, and I go over the top of it, and I pull it up with a big old water grass, and it just comes up and it's just a giant bass, and I grab that sucker and I let out a yell, and I like I tell my cameraman, I'm like, David, we just won this thing. And it's like it's like noon, and he goes, he like pulls down the camera. He's like, Really, what do you got? And I was like, dude, I got like 26 now. And I said, I think you know, I don't anticipate anybody getting stronger. Right. I said, I think I I think we just won it, you know. And so we're fishing, and I'm trying to get a really big bite at this point, and I hand him that note, and uh, I turn around and I see him just sobbing back there. Come on. And uh he came up there and hug me, and uh, he's like, Man, that's one of the most memorable days on the water I've ever had. Wow. And uh, long story short, we come in and weigh that giant bag and come in from 10th to win. And it at the beginning of the week, I was trying to do it my way. And sometimes you just gotta give it to him. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's wonderful, man. That's wonderful. Especially the support from your wife trying to get you know get you. That's a great thing to have that support and and somebody that's thinking about you and and your well-being. Because mentally, a lot of times I you can get worn down. Oh yeah, you know. Yeah, you gotta have, you know, a strong woman in any anything you do in life. And and uh she definitely reels me back in a lot of times whenever I get out there. I I I like I said I'm super competitive. I'm an ultra competitive person, and you know, I don't take losses well. Um I always I I won't say I dwell on it, but I try to figure, I dissect everything that I did and I try to like figure it out. But sometimes it ain't meant to figure out. Yeah, you know, it's meant to just kind of let it be and and let it happen. It's wonderful when he shows you who he is. Yeah, yeah. That's that's a wonderful thing. What a cool thing too, and the fact of it is that you know, if you get God, if you give God your talent, right? If you give God that talent, you're you're faithful with your talent, he'll give you the platform to use it. Yeah, oh yeah. And how cool is that. You know, God give you the platform to be able to, you know, to be able to showcase just how faithful he is. And and um, but just so many moments in that in itself, and so powerful, man. Thank you for sharing that. Thank you for coming on the podcast. It's been uh it's been a great day. This is probably one of my favorites, man. I this has been a lot of fun, and I think people are gonna really enjoy this. So um, but dad, do you want to close us out in prayer and and we'll wrap it up? Lord, we thank you for this day. I thank you, Lord, for this podcast, this opportunity to um really laugh and enjoy one another's company. Lord, I ask you, Lord, today to just touch Drew, God, touch the rest of his season, God. Bless him, Lord. Let him see your face every every time he's out there on the water, even this time when he gets to spend with his kids, uh going and uh finding arrowheads and that kind of thing, Lord. Let him let him feel that breeze. Let him see that bird. Let him see everything that's small, that uh that that somehow he can see your face, like he'd spoken earlier. God, I ask you to just go with him, bless him, lift him up, Lord. God, I ask you to touch his family. God, I thank you for all you've done for each one of us. I praise you and thank you for everything you've done. And I thank you for this day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Thank you for coming out of the I Neem Lion podcast. And we will see you in two weeks. We won't uh we won't ghost you anymore. We won't we won't go off grid. And uh so again, sorry about that. That's on me. That's on me. I'm the editor, I'm the I'm the I'm I'm the the I don't know, director, I guess. Kind of try to direct place. Anyway, it's on me, and uh it's not him. So, but uh listen, we're glad to be here with you. And and next time, don't be a stranger. We won't be a stranger. We won't, and uh so we'll see you next time. This is the I Neem Line Podcast. We'll see you. See ya.