Cheat Code to Catch Fish on Lakes You Have Never Been To!

We are joined by the BAM Super 60 Lake Havasu Champion, Luke Johns! Luke breaks down exactly how he took home the trophy on Havasu, the specific baits that got the job done, and the adjustments he made on the water to stay ahead of the pack

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Luke's Channel:  ⁨@lukejohnsfishing⁩  

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Frog: https://omnia.direct/rgerg

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:20

All right. Welcome everyone to the Serious Angler Podcast, where as always, our main course for you will be talking and hopefully teaching you more about bass fishing. And of course, some random rabbit holes here and there. We are back with another seriously western segment. Hot off the Bam Super 60 down on uh Mojave. Uh Mojave. Always get those two mixed up, dude. Because you got last year and I called the Havasu when it was on Mojave, and I keep jacking them up. But uh either way, hot hot off the derb and hot off a top 10, dude.

SPEAKER_02 0:51

Ah, thanks, man. Yeah. Fun uh fun derby for sure. I just those desert lakes are so fun to me. I love everything about them. So it was uh it was a fun event and great way to start the year for Bam. And uh yeah, man, we'll keep things rolling, hopefully.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

Yeah, and obviously we want to talk about how your derb went, you know, things you did, but the one thing that our guest today, the champ, Luke Johns, uh made easy for us is he he asked you how you caught him in this episode, so people can wait towards the end where Deacon starts piling in on how he caught his fish, things like that, because you caught some pretty dang good ones and sounded like you got to do exactly what you like doing for the most part.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

100%, man. Yeah, I love I love fishing around the spawn, like that in between to the spawning on both sides of it. Like I just enjoy fishing shallow and uh using my eyeballs, uh doing that. So it was a lot of fun, and man, Havasu is a is a cool place. It was an absolute party when we were there. I will tell you that. Like, oh my gosh, I have never really seen that. I mean, it's like a very well known for being a spring, spring break lake. So people from California, people from Phoenix, like that whole zone, it just is like rowdy, and I mean rowdy, like big boats that have, you know, fuel prices are crazy right now. And let me tell you, they didn't care. They didn't care. There was the amount of twin, three triple quad 400s on the back of boats, man, like 450s, like crazy the amount of big boats that are rolling around down there. Uh, so it was wild to fish with. I definitely hit some wakes going too fast that you're like, you know, airborne prop comes out of the water, like not fun. So uh it was good. It was a safe event from that perspective. We didn't have any boat crashes or anything like that, just because there was a lot of people out on the water, so it was a little bit tough to get around um at times, but overall, fun event, super hot, man, 106 degrees the first two days of the derby for March. When I I posted on my story like the temperatures and was like, holy cow, like getting ready for the desert. And Josh Bertrand responded to my story and was like, dude, I've never seen Arizona this hot, like ever this early. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 3:09

That is nuts. That always it's it's an interesting perspective, you know. Obviously, me being in the northeast of like March 1st. If I go fishing, I'm gonna have a lake to myself, most likely, where it's like for you guys, yeah, you're already in party central, 100 freaking degrees, they're already spawned post-spawn, and I'm sitting here in 36 degree water, just like totally forgetting that the other half of the world is like already basically into summer mode at this point.

SPEAKER_02 3:32

But uh and it's part of that is because it's like I mean, it's similar to Florida in the sense of the West side of things, it's like a very much a um winter place for a lot of people in the north. Like I talked to guys from at the boat ramp from Wisconsin, from Idaho, from Canada, from like you know, they just summer or they winter down there because it's it's uh obviously a lot a lot warmer.

SPEAKER_00 3:58

Your southwestern snowbirds. Yeah. There you go. You got it. Well, we got a cool episode today, obviously. Again, talk with the champ, Luke Johns, who's always uh uh obviously great to talk to, but first time on this show. So he's a great interview. And uh we go down a few rabbit holes, but talk about his win, which one track of mine it seemed like from the get-go, but uh obviously uh a dominant win from day one to three, never let up the lead, and uh obviously freaking smoked him. So we'll have all the details for that. We'll have the the setup and the baits he used. We'll have that down below, link to Omniafishing. You guys can always use code series 10 if you want to save some money on that. But uh, dude, I think without further ado, let's get on the champ. Let's read it. Mr. Luke Johns, dude. Thanks for joining us and uh congrats on another dub, man.

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Yeah, dude, thank you. Um, yeah, I've always I've I've listened to your guys' show a lot, so and then got to meet Adam over the last couple couple years, and I guess yeah, you've been there a few times too. So it's been fun getting to know you guys and fish against you.

SPEAKER_00 5:04

Heck yeah, I'm glad I don't have to fish against you. That that is one of the best parts. I think the same for Adam.

SPEAKER_02 5:09

Yeah, it's hard, dude. Luke, Luke has always got something dialed in, and on this one, oh man, just big congrats. Wire to wire is super hard, especially in the format where your weights zero on the final day. Like, I just it felt so cool to see you in because it was so deserving on that. Like you you're blowing out the tournament. It would I love the format, but I also feel for the guy that's had the lead the first two days for it to weights to zero, you know.

SPEAKER_01 5:36

Yeah, yeah, exactly. That's something something everybody's always asked me. They're like, What do you think about the format? Like the weight zeroed on the last day, and I'm like, I will love it until I'm leading an event going into the last day, and then it havas so I was like, This sucks. Like, I would have had another pound and a half and been in the bag line at the end of the day and been like, I'm cakewalk now, but yeah, yeah. So still super fun though. I mean, obviously it all worked out, so we're we're good.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

I guess see a clip of how you're catching them, at least at least one fish catch that I think you collaborated with with Bam on Frogging, I believe, and that was just I think I was sitting there in bed watching clips, and I'm like, this is so glorious. I wish I could have been at the camera boat watching this, dude, because I would have been a kid in the candy shop.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

Yeah, yeah, no, that was uh that's probably like literally one of the coolest fish catches I've ever had in my life to begin with. And then to have it on camera was insane. I threw up into that tooley pocket. By the way, I was not like throwing a frog all event or like, you know, wasn't dialed in on that bite. Only reason I threw it, I had like a great bag the first morning. I pulled back in there, Thomas is in the boat. I'm like, dude, there's a tooley line. I literally told him, I go, let's have some fun and like throw a frog down this, you know.

SPEAKER_03 6:48

No way.

SPEAKER_01 6:49

And so I pull the pull the frog out of the rod locker and start throwing it for like five minutes, and I just see this, I see that thing like rise up behind it, and it just starts stalking it, stalks it for like 10 feet, and so they don't get like all that in the video, but the whole time I'm just like, God, please eat it, please eat it, like every Twitch. And then that when she finally ate it, I just had set it there for just like half a second longer, and she just annihilated it. So, um, but that was one of two frog fish I caught that week. So it wasn't like it was like you know, some dialed in frog bite.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

That was totally the perception that I got watching this. I'm like, did this dude just smoke everybody with a frog? Because that is the most glorious thing.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Yeah, yeah. I wish, I wish that would be way cooler, but no. I did it on like the most boring bait you could catch fish on, but it works everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 7:38

So man, let's let's let's get into that. So let's start, I guess, from the beginning. Obviously, in our format, there's no uh no information uh or practice within 30 days or 31 days of the event. You know, what what was your experience on uh on Havasu prior? And how did you kind of prep for things going into the year?

SPEAKER_01 7:59

So yeah, I didn't have too much experience on Havasu. I fished the Wand Bass there last year. So I mean, I guess I got five days on the water, three of them being tournament days, so you don't it's not very practical, but um at least knew kind of what the general uh vibe of the lake was, I guess you could say. Um and then as far as prepping for this event, um, gosh, there was a lot. I mean, I did a lot of homework as far as like just I mean, as random as like I'd mark like where every single toole in the lake was on my graph. Because I was like, if I get on a toole bite, I want to know because it's you know, obviously not having time to practice if you can cut down on like how much time anything takes, literally, from you know, that way you're not pulling Google Earth up in the middle of the tournament. Um, so I did a bunch of stuff like that, and then obviously kind of knew the cages were you know a huge deal. That's no secret, that's very like community holy. Um so I came into the event very open-minded, though. That was something that really burned me last year. Um, I didn't have the greatest season last year, and I attribute a lot of that to just me going into these tournaments and being like, they're gonna eat this, or they're they're doing this right now. Like I already know before I show up to the lake, and then I just get cooked by everybody. So um came into this one just super open-minded, and I think that really allowed me to just kind of fish free the whole week. Um, but as far as like day one, it was it was a drop shot like through and through, and that's really what it was all week for me. I was throwing a six-inch robo worm on an over cover shot hook. It's like, you know, back to the OGs, and I was literally just fishing cages. And it was if I saw a cage on live scope, I was casting at it. I didn't care if it was five feet of water, 30 feet of water, if it was one of the big giant ones, or you know, one that was you know the size of a tackle box. It was just like, if there is structure, my drop shot's going to it. That is so awesome.

SPEAKER_00 10:02

That is I wouldn't even you said the most boring bait. I was picturing like uh caught a wacky rig and or something like that. That was a Sanko for sure.

SPEAKER_02 10:09

I was convinced to say Sanko.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

Oh, yeah, everybody thinks I'm like the only the Sanko guy now. So I guess there's way more boring baits than the drop shot. I should take that back. There's like a Ned Rig and stuff, which I I don't even allow those in the boat. So yeah, can't do them, can't do them, dude.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Uh that's like just an ode to like Western bass fishing, Aaron Martin's, right? Like all of it, just a classic robo worm, Texas rigged, you know, cover shots you can throw it into stuff. Uh so so cool. So much history around that that technique and that bait. Um, what color robo worm were you throwing if you're comfortable sharing?

SPEAKER_01 10:50

Yeah, it was morning dawn. I mean, it's like, you know, it was literally like as staple as it could all get. So, um, and I will say, I'll give a little shout out to the guys at Missile Baits because I like I like John and the crew over there. I did catch a handful on the the magic worm too, but it's like missile magic, missile. I think that was what I started with. So that's kind of what tuned me in, and then I ran out of them and had to switch over to the OG robo.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Uh there is there a difference between those two, like from that and the robo worm in your mind, like a place you'll pick up each.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Not the it feels like the magic worm's almost a little bit softer and a little bit more like um it's got a little bit more movement in the water. I feel like the robo worms just got a little bit stiffer for whatever reason. I they're poured literally exactly the same plastic. Robo worm makes those missile magic worms, so right it's not like it's different plastic, I don't think, but I they're just a little bit skinnier on the six-inch version, so they get a little bit more movement out of them.

SPEAKER_00 11:52

But excuse me while I go add a pile of them to my Omnia cart here while we got it.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

They're really good. And I the one thing too, because I used to be a buyer as well in the tackle business, everybody always would complain because they're like 10 bucks a pack or whatever, but you get 20 worms in them or something like that, so you get like more than you do in a robo worm, but it's like more expensive. I don't know, whatever. Yeah, they're worth it.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Yeah, dude. Um, not to completely stare us off topic, but I want to backtrack really fast just because the the nerd in me, my the the bells went off when you're talking about doing the waypoint, like the studying stuff. Are you talking about dropping pins on like Google Earth or like legit on your graph? Like what system are we talking here of keeping track of that kind of stuff?

SPEAKER_01 12:38

Yeah, yeah, I do Google Earth. Um, so obviously I mean I'll do map study and stuff too, um, like on my units or on you know, whatever my One Boat Network app or whatever it is, or I got Garmin too, so I use that app. But um majority of the stuff I do is on Google Earth. I think that's probably the best way where you really get a feel for what the lake looks like and sets up like. Um I've I don't know, I guess I I feel like I've learned how to read a map as far as like contour lines really fast. So I don't like really marking that kind of stuff on my graphs before I go to a lake because it's really easy for me to just be like zoom in and you're like, oh, there's the point or the break or whatever, you know. So I try to not overload my graphs. I do it more for knowing what kind of structure is where. And I think that is probably a bigger key for me and the way that I fish than than anything else. So it's like I was marking where all the tooling lines were or um you know, where a gravel bank was versus like a shale bank or you know, any kind of thing like that where I would differentiate like major kinds of structure.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

And then from there, will you then put it on your graph and like change symbols and stuff so you can kind of look at it from like a full picture or um no?

SPEAKER_01 13:57

I well, what I do is uh Google Earth all put names on everything. So I'll just write in like Thule on the waypoint or whatever, you know, and then I just upload it with names.

SPEAKER_02 14:06

Um those pins from Google Earth units, then, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Yes, yeah, exactly. So yeah, I do the whatever you have to do some conversion or something out of GPU Earth and then yeah, exactly. Turn it into a GPX file, and then you can actually upload them straight to your I've never done it before. I did this the first time, but the one boat network like directly, and then it'll just upload into your graph. So you don't even have to like put it on an SD card, you just take the file on your phone and throw it into your app and it works. So whoa, little time saver there. I um I haven't done that yet. That's yeah, because it's always like a pain in the ass when you're trying to like convert the thing, and then you'll put the file card in and it'll be like no file found, and you're like sick, dude. I just wasted like an hour trying to figure this out. So uh yeah, check out a couple minutes.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Yeah, yeah, because you can do that draw to select, and you can just literally circle the whole lake and then export to your unit. It takes like five seconds. You need gear that works as hard as you do. That's why Amped Outdoors is the official power solution of a serious angler podcast from unmatched battery nerd customer service to performance that thrives in extreme winter cold or summer heat keeps you on the water longer. Click the link in the show notes to get you powered up with Amped Outdoors. Now back to the show.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

Yes. Yeah, exactly. No, no, I I understand that part, Bailey. I do that all the time. And we're big Hummingbird One Boat Network guys here. So nice. But the the question is on when you're in in Google Earth and you have all those files found, right? All those pins that can be within Google Earth, you're then downloading that to your phone and then doing the the transfer into the one boat network from there.

SPEAKER_01 15:52

Yeah, exactly. So like on your iPhone, you can download that Google Earth, like, because it'll save it as like a project, right? And then you can download all those waypoints and do it as whatever files type it does, and then go on your phone, do a file converter, you throw that in, and then what it'll do is it'll spit back out that file in like your GPX format or whatever you have to do for Humminbird, and it'll go into like the downloads of your iPhone, which is like a weird little spot on your phone. It's kind of hard to find, in my opinion. But once you do that, once it's in your downloads, you go to into your Humminbird app and you literally just click like select file and it'll pull it up and you could just click on it. And then it's just in. So like I know that sounds kind of confusing, but it takes like a minute once you like learn how to do it. It's really nice. I'm so fired up for this. Yeah, like yeah, you like especially I think let people struggle with this, and now everybody's gonna have all their their waypoints way easier.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

It's gonna it's gonna suck for you because I just timestamped that and I'm literally gonna go screen share and show people how to do it.

SPEAKER_02 16:58

That's that's easy. So like no, thanks for thanks for being open and and sharing this stuff, Luke, because I think especially out west, um, in general, our mapping is not nearly as good whenever I I go back east on on bodies of water from from a what is on maps with these fish finder companies, right? The yeah, the Google Earth is such a massive tool, in my opinion, everywhere, but especially out west for that reason. And then the other reason is clear water, right? I mean, you can go back in time as far as your uh low water stuff, but you can really see on a place like Havasu, I mean, you can see a shoal, a you know, whatever it may be in the water, grass beds, all because it's so clean. So, like, I think uh that's that's super cool and a super fast conversion because there's always ways to do it, but I find myself just like struggling, converting and not working, and then I'm just like, all right, man, I gotta go fish this tournament. So we gotta go. But yeah, that's that's sweet.

SPEAKER_01 17:59

Yeah, I can't tell you how many times I just gave up on the SD card thing because it would half the time it would work, half the time it wouldn't. So this is uh yeah, works every time, lifesaver kind of deal.

SPEAKER_00 18:08

So that's it's almost like someone found a way to make it simple now.

SPEAKER_02 18:14

Yeah, yeah, literally, literally. Bailey, I'm thinking in my mind, and and especially on a place like like Havasu, I did this through you know, Omnia, one of our partners as well, when it comes to the mapping of the the fish structures, shows all of those in that map. But I bet there's an easy transfer to do it. So so then I went to uh fishing games website, downloaded the GPX files of where they were, which by the way, there's new ones that are not on there everywhere. Like I'd scan around and go, Oh, yeah, that one's not on my map, you know. Yeah, but uh it was it did that conversion to just have them uploaded. I bet there's a way, Bailey, where you can just do it off your phone straight from Omnia, transfer those files into GPX and then transfer that into the Humminbird app to then have it on your graph immediately.

SPEAKER_00 19:03

Yeah, Omnia's got that whole feature now, like with a it's it's basically you can have your all your waypoints within the pro app, and then you can have the folder to completely export from there.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

Which I'm super nice and without even doing an SD card now.

SPEAKER_00 19:16

Now we can literally just write into the yeah, airdrop it to your to your unit. It's crazy.

unknown 19:22

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Yeah, who knows what AI and all that stuff. We start integrating that into units and everything, what that can start doing to make life easier. But I messed with that before this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:34

I was I was literally asking AI, I'm like, what should I do at Havason? Just to see. Like, I didn't I did not at all affected my uh my fishing, but it was giving me like full breakdowns, like here's what your watercolor is probably gonna be. Like, if you want to bed fish, go into here. I'm just like, dude, this is and it was like hitting some stuff where I was like, yeah, it's making some good points right now. Like, yeah, maybe scary in a couple years.

SPEAKER_00 20:02

For sure. That's taken a lot of the legwork out of, you know, whether hate it or love it, of a study, especially for people that are going to fisheries that they've never been there before. I'd be lying if I said I haven't tested that too, just like for places I've never been to. You just put in there, what are the community holes on Lake X? And it will tell you where the community holes are.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:21

Uh it's pulling from all the fishing reports that guides put out and YouTube videos and so on and so forth. And it's yeah, it's pretty crazy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got a YouTube video I'm actually gonna do here soon where I basically have AI plan my entire fishing day for me, and I have to stick to like to the script and see how well it goes.

SPEAKER_02 20:39

Oh dude, that's gonna be kind of cool. Yeah, that'll be really cool.

SPEAKER_00 20:43

Watch me zero. Then it doesn't have it.

SPEAKER_02 20:49

Yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Back to your derb though. Back to your derb. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:53

So so Luke, so I mean, you had fished the one bass last year, which was right after our Mojave event. So if I recall, it was like pretty post-spawny, uh, a lot of like Fry garder type stuff. Oh, yeah. Later than than this was. Um, you know, so so in your mind, like did you did you know on the front end, man, I'm gonna be fishing these cages? Did you lift stuff, you know, leave stuff pretty open? Was there what was going through your head, I guess, that first day of the derby? And I mean, if I remember right, like, and we can see how guys are doing. I think you caught started catching some like pretty quickly or some big ones or something. I remember seeing your name like up near the top and being like, Oh, he's got something going on. That's great.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

Um yeah, yeah, but I going into this event, like I said earlier, I wanted to keep a really open mind. So, I mean, it was pretty obvious. I think just about everybody knew we were gonna be in like all three stages as far as where the fish were pre-spawn, spawn, and post-spawn. So I felt like that kind of gave me the ability to start just doing whatever I felt really comfortable with. Um, and I've always like drop shot has been one of the baits that I really like learned when I first started getting into bass fishing. And like that's what I won my first tournament on. Like, I if there's a bait in my hand that I'm like, I can beat the other guys around me if we're all throwing the same thing. A drop shot. Like that's just that's my confidence. Um, so I picked that thing up, and that was also how I caught him at the wand bass last year. Okay, so it was like, okay, I know this kind of works, and I started on a little bit of like a shallower bar. Um, and it was in that like Windsor community hole area. I mean, there's boats all around, and don't catch anything for the first half hour, and then kind of see a couple cages like hanging on the off, you know, a little bit further offshore, and I pulled out to those and literally like second cast on one of those, I caught a four and a half, and I was like, all right, like here we go. And then I went back and looked at the pictures to make sure all the times were right, but like less than five minutes later, I caught another one, like three and a half, and I'm like, all right, like now we're really putting something together. Three minutes after that, catch like another two-pounder or something, not big. And then just kick the trolling motor on high. And I'm like, all right, I'm gonna hit every cage that I can see on scope for the next like two hours or just however long it takes to get a good bag and just see what we could put together. Um, and then caught like, I mean, I had over 18 probably before like 10 a.m. and was just like, yeah, I was I was literally sitting there just like, I don't even know how this happened. Like this was just it couldn't add up any better. Um and then that's when I kind of rolled in and fished that frog, and then I caught that giant frog fish, and I was at like 23, and I was literally, I literally looked at Thomas. I go, You're gonna want to call the camera boat because like I'm not fishing anymore, basically. Like we're not like I can't risk hooking another fish like that. And then it was literally trolling motor on 10 and going down every bank that I thought a spawning bass would be on for the next four hours or however long I had until way in.

SPEAKER_02 24:14

And how did that go? Did you find any any fish that you were able to come back to the next couple of days?

SPEAKER_01 24:19

So the first day one of the tournament, I think I found one bed fish that I ended up fishing on the last day. Um, and then other than that, all I found were like two to three pound smallmouth and yeah, two to three pound largemouth. It was just like I could find as many bedfish as I wanted, it felt like, but like could not get them over three pounds. It was yeah, it was rough. And I was it's which was crazy because there were so many guys who were like, Yeah, I'm seeing like all these big bed fish or whatever, and I'm just like, I don't know where you're finding these things. I I killed my trolling motor batteries for the first time ever on the second day. Whoa, and I so I have three 80 amp uh 12 volts in there, which is like in a ran in a series or whatever you call it. That's a lot of juice, and I torched those things like 40 minutes before weighing and just had to go in early. So yeah, that was a lot of water covered, miles and miles, and it's just your model like one fish over four pounds.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

Yeah. You're just trying to be nice. You obviously ordered pizza of the ramp and went back in early. Well, we all know what you did.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

Uh the I was thinking about it, I was like, do we do we roll through the canal real quick, see what's going on in there? Yeah, I was gonna say central. I I had no idea how long the idol took, though, so I was like, I don't want to risk it. So cocktails. Yeah, exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 25:43

Dude, I mean, I think what is super neat about those, like this time of year on desert fishers, especially, is like like the the you can catch them doing so many different things, right? I mean, you literally caught a frog fish, you're out, you know, on cages, some in which you know, 20 plus feet of water, like those those types of things, like everything was kind of happening because like I viewed this tournament, I caught one fish off of maybe two fish off of a cage that like mattered for me, right? In this in this tournament. Like I did everything else on the bank, like pretty damn though. So it's just like, and I obviously didn't win, but I made a top 10. And off of that, you had a giant day two bag, I had a and had a big bag day too. So it's like it's interesting to me how different everything can be, and it's cool that like uh it just can it can spread the field out on on techniques and like those are my favorite types of tournaments. Like if everyone's doing the same thing, not the biggest fan of it. But if you can go do a lot of different things, like there's a lot happening.

SPEAKER_01 26:43

Yeah, that was one thing I noticed, yeah, that first morning, because it was like I don't know where you started that first morning, but I started in like just up from where we launched, which is community hall number one on Havasu. And it was like there were like 10 boats within eyesight of me, but like two guys were offshore fishing, there were like a couple guys up flipping tools, some of the guys throwing crankbaits, like everybody was kind of doing their own thing, which, like you're saying, is just it's super cool when you can go to a fishery and literally be like, what do I feel like doing today? And you could find like a legitimate tournament winning or at least like competitive way to fish against everybody. So it's it's a lot of fun going to a lake like that.

SPEAKER_00 27:25

Yeah, absolutely. And that's where I feel like it can it's fun for everyone, but also it can be scary because that's where people in their own wheelhouse can kind of hunker down and figure that out and adjust accordingly. But it sounds like though you kind of got on your deal pretty quick and pretty early. There was really no like adjustment at all, okay. We probably should go stick the frog in or something to the other. But did you have anything when it came to the specific cages that you're fishing that are like you figured out through day two, day three that they're hanging in a certain depth that were bigger size, female-wise, or was there any sort of adjustment, or did you just figure it out right off the rip and run it for three days?

SPEAKER_01 28:05

Uh well, I figured it out. I mean, I I guess I did figure it out pretty quick as far as where, like the exact depth range. I did dial that in a little bit as the tournament went on. Um, it felt like there were, I mean, there's fish on like every cage, or there can be fish on every cage in that lake, it seemed like. Like I caught some really shallow, I caught some way out on the deep ones, but my highest percentage for both just amount of fish that I caught and bigger fish was like that, it was probably like that 15 to 17 foot range. Um, so if I could find a cage in that range, like I would like kind of get like excited. I'd be like, oh, there's one like in the right depth. And like a lot of these cages, if you found them like in that perfect depth, like I could get a bite off of it. Um, I mean, not everyone, but I would say like probably a 50% rate, which is pretty good in in bass fishing terms for blind cover.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

So yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

So um dialed that in. And then I had I did have one bay that was definitely a lot less pressure. Like I was talking, I fished that kind of Windsor side in the mornings. Um, tons of boats every morning in there, probably all through the day. I would always leave. But I had one other bay a little bit further down the lake, and it just every day when I went in there, I never saw another boat. And I think that was a huge key because everybody always talks about those desert lakes. I mean, they have a great population of fish, but it's not like a shasta, so there's not quite as many. And then also I think those desert fish just feel that pressure a lot sooner than you know, a lot of these other lakes do. So having an area that I could go to that just those fish were kind of fresh every day was a major, major key. And that was the bay where I think I caught like probably five or six over four pounds out of one bay over the course of the three days, which was yeah, huge for for uh for the weight every day.

SPEAKER_02 30:02

Dang man, did you have any smallmouth that were in your bags on any of the three days or all largemouth?

SPEAKER_01 30:08

First two, no. Last day I did weigh two of them. I think they were two of my smaller ones, or yeah, they were the two smallest. Yeah, it's like a two and a half and like an almost three pounder. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:21

I mean, why why do you think the smallmouth didn't play as much this time at Havasu?

SPEAKER_01 30:28

That's a really good question, and I probably just shouldn't answer it because I don't know half soon enough, and I don't want to make myself sound like an idiot. But I guess what's that? I have some theories, but I want to hear stuff. I want to hear your theory first, and then I'll then I'll go. Okay. Like before I embarrass myself.

SPEAKER_02 30:48

No, no, I no, I think you're the one who won the trophy, dude. You literally have whatever. Um I think I think too, like so. My my game was much more sight fishing and fishing shallow, right? And I think I saw very I weighed one 340 smallmouth the first day that was on a bed. But like I think that those smallies were pretty much done, like primarily as far as the bed fish go. And I think the water was dropping, which was strange. I always have thought of Havasu as a place where like the water stays consistent because it's LA's drinking water. Like I've always thought that it they they left it like pretty close, like Mojave, I know comes down, but I think I think that in combination, so like the the smallies were mostly done spawning, so they were kind of in that like post funk post spawn funk where they haven't like grouped up yet and and like started to put on the feedback together. And then I think that water dropping, like the ones that were spawning, got really nervous and like were harder to harder to catch, or like it did slide out. So like it was strange to me though. Like I was really trying to pay attention in the weigh-in bags and like guys on numbers who made it in on numbers, a lot of them had a decent amount of smallmouth, but on the like overall side of things, like largemouth dominated this tournament, you know? Yeah. Overall.

SPEAKER_01 32:07

Yeah, and that was uh, I mean, I definitely noticed the same thing. I would say I probably could have caught a lot of smallmouth each day off beds, but it was all I mean, it was like that two to two and a quarter range was like the only smallmouth I saw in beds. I saw one. Well, I caught one on the last day that was like a 270 or something off a bed, and then I saw one other one that was in some deeper water that might have been like a four-pound smallmouth on a bed. Um, but other than that, like never saw a big one. And I would say your theory there is probably pretty right. I wasn't even thinking about how those fish obviously spawn, usually the smallmouth spawn earlier, a little bit cooler water. Um, and then I think it also really depends on where you're fishing on that lake. Like when I went down river and you kind of get into more of the canyony, like steeper banks, bluff walls, all that kind of stuff. I definitely noticed like way more smallmouth upshallow spawning in those areas, but again, not like a viable way to catch any weight. So I don't think a lot of guys were doing that.

SPEAKER_02 33:10

Yeah. But it's but like it's interesting because I've been there in the fall or things, or not, I mean earlier in the spring, and like there is a ton of four-pound smallmouth in there. Like, you can go catch 20 pounds in smallmouth, yeah. And they really didn't show up. Like, I don't even I didn't see any too many big ones in the weigh in lines and stuff. So it was it was super interesting to me to see the largemouth be like the deal there.

SPEAKER_01 33:33

Yeah, yeah. I don't think I saw anybody with a smallmouth over four pounds. So yeah, that was that was interesting now that you bring that up. I was just like, oh, I'm just on like the largemouth pattern. I didn't even really like see what other bags looked like or paid that much attention. But yeah, when you bring that up, crazy.

SPEAKER_02 33:50

Yeah, Luke's so dialed, he's like, I don't care what I'm like, man, I wonder what you know, like the Luke's like, I know what I'm doing, and that's all that matters, which is the right thing.

SPEAKER_01 33:59

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I do I do try to block out the noise. I don't like I I hate talking, I I love talking to people online, but I hate like what happens to me afterwards. I go home and I'm like, dude, I know that guy, like, he's like a scoper, like doing this, and I'm like, that's probably how he's catching them, and then I start freaking out. Yeah, it's not good.

SPEAKER_00 34:22

Talking about the format, obviously, with the last day zeroing and I have it two consistent days, and then day three happens, and it's like obviously everything goes back down to zero. Did you have the mindset of I really hope these fish stay on the pattern that I'm on? Or is it these boys are gonna have to catch them because I know exactly what I'm going into?

SPEAKER_02 34:41

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SPEAKER_01 35:11

Not in a cocky way, but that that was how I felt. I was like, I got home that night and um well, I'll throw it back. So at Clear Lake last year at our championship, I made the top 10 and I was leading like keeper count, like just catching them each day. And I stayed with Randy Pearson every tournament, and he asked me that night before the last day of the championship. He was like, Are you gonna catch them tomorrow? I go, I've never been more confident I can go catch 20 pounds on the last day. And I went out, caught two fish for like four pounds, just like sucked. And so, so here at Havasu, I I came back to the house and he's like, he's like hyped up. He's like, dude, you're catching them, like that's awesome. And he's like, How do you feel about tomorrow? And I looked at him and I was like, dude, like as long as it doesn't go like clear lake, I was like, these guys better catch them more. Like, I'm dialed. Because it was just, I felt I would literally fish till 11 a.m. in the morning and then I was done. Like, I I would catch them that quick where I was just like, I felt that's I've never had a tournament like that where like I literally am like, I'm going to catch them every day and like catch I could catch what I want to catch. Like that's how it felt. It was like, do I want 20? Do I want 18? Do I want like 22? Like it was a really weird feeling. Um and then obviously the last day, it was a lot tougher on me. So that was like that got me nervous. Um, I only think I think I caught seven fish on the last day, and um I had like decent weight first thing in the morning, uh, or I caught like a four-pounder early, I think, and then like filled out my limit, had like 13, 14 pounds, ran back, caught a couple bed fish that got me up to what I weighed, and that was like 11 o'clock, and I pulled in and I had one last bed fish that I had saved, and it was like a five to six. And I worked on it for like probably probably close to like two hours. Um, never got her to eat. She was just like super stubborn. The only if I threw a bait smaller than eight inches, she would swim off of her bed and just like go do this huge lap in this cove and then come back. But if I threw like a giant glide bait or something in there, she'd literally just do circles around it. She wouldn't touch it, she'd just like run circles around it, and then for like minutes at a time, she would just circle, circle, like and then never touched it. And I was like, I can't do this anymore. Like, if I lose this tournament just watching this fish spin circles, I'm like never gonna live it down. So I left, and then I never caught another bass after that. So I spent like three more hours out on the cages, never got another bite, and was sitting there and I was like, dude, I'll get like third or fourth, like, you know, like looking at the weights the day before, everybody caught I mean, not everybody, but there were like multiple 20-pound bags the day before. So um all that confidence from the night before was like quickly fading away, and I was like, this is uh this is not going well now. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

Dude, it was it blew me away after seeing, like you said, that second day. Like I first of all, same, same. I'm I'm impressed that you saved. I mean, you had stuff dialed, saving some fish. Like, that's where I think I certainly went wrong to some degree on the like waiting for that final day to to happen. But like I was crazy impressed, or not, I was not impressed with the weights on the final day. Like, I thought it was gonna be 2021 at least to to win. I mean, the weights were climbing into day two to some degree, yeah. The overall, and then like I mean, I don't know what the final day there was like a bunch of us that had between 15 and 18 pounds. Like it was it was light. Like, no, I remember the weighing bag. I was just like, all right, someone's got him. Like, who's got him? Who's got him?

SPEAKER_01 39:09

He's like, no, no, yeah. That was literally how I came into weighing. I literally started like I said something to one person, and I was literally just like, all right, well, who caught him then? Like, who has 20 plus? Because somebody has it. And everybody was like, I don't, I haven't heard anything. And then, yeah, and then we're all sitting in the bump tanks and we're like all looking at each other like the Spider-Man meme, because we're like pointing at each other with like we all got like 16 to 17 in our bags. We're like, who's gonna win this thing? So that's cool, though.

SPEAKER_00 39:38

Frightening, but cool.

SPEAKER_01 39:40

Yeah, you made made for an exciting way, I will say.

SPEAKER_02 39:43

Yeah, for sure. And you mentioned too, I think on stage, like you you didn't think, like, did you feel like you had it? Like, what was what was in your in your mind?

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Very back and forth. Like, I I kind of felt like I had it, but I was like, I I don't want to start. I mean, yeah, you don't want to get excited before anything happens in bass fishing because I've lost by one ounce before. Like, I know the pains of getting second place or third place or whatever it is. Like, you you can't count yourself a dub until the weights are final and you're handed the trophy, basically. But I felt pretty good when I saw Nick weigh. As soon as Nick weighed, I was like, I'm like 99.9% sure I've won. Because so I have a Bubba scale, and it every day it was weighing like a pound to a pound and a half light from what I would weigh on the scale. So like I weighed 20 and a half or 21 and a half on it the first day and then weighed 23 on stage. So I had 16, like 68 on the Bubba, and he I saw he weighed like I think it was like 1763 maybe. And I was like, even if I'm on the lighter side, I still beat him. But I was like, I should get like a pound and a half, which is exactly what I got. I you know, I weighed like whatever it was, just over 18. Um, so I felt pretty good, but then yeah, and then like the weighing's all stressful because like Ed grabs the ticket and like walks around stage, and I'm just like, dude, like just turn turn the scale lights on, just like let me see when my weight balances out. Like I that is uh yeah, I it's it's stressful in that situation.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

If uh if you guys, I'm gonna pitch this to both of you guys, obviously both of you guys competing in it, but if there was one change to format rules uh for BAM Super 60, would it be the not zeroing on the final day, or is there something different that you guys would change about it if the if the rule book was in your hands?

SPEAKER_02 41:48

Go first there, Luke.

SPEAKER_01 41:50

I would I I think you obviously, or not obviously, but I think you have to have that weight zero if you're gonna do the keeper format. Um, because otherwise there's literally no point ever going for keepers, at least if you want to win. Um I think keep that. I think what, and I've talked to a handful of guys about this. I want to hear your opinion on this too, Deacon, but um having a half day of practice the day before the event, and the reason for that, I mean, and I I really do like the no practice, and maybe it's like a ride around practice where you don't even get to fish or anything. Um idea for that is you show up, you get that little half day, and then right after you're done, everybody's already there for the meeting. And then the other good thing that it does too, because I feel like part of the problem with the social media when we jump straight into event, there's like no build-up anticipation. I feel like you could get like a couple little hype videos the day before where you're like, Oh yeah, we're out here like practicing with Adam and like he found a rock pile that's loaded, like he's stoked to go back tomorrow, like tune into day one or whatever it is, just like little on the water or even off the water interviews, and just like get the guy's opinions on what it's gonna be like that week. So that's my vote. A little half day practice, not enough to really tune in, just like give you a little taste.

SPEAKER_02 43:14

Yeah, dude, I like that. I haven't heard of that. Um, I yeah, because I I agree, I really like the format as it stands as far as the no practice. Like, I think it's so fun and so unique. Like, we're just so used to in tournament bass fishing, spending three days on a water body of water or more, just dialing every little thing in, which is fun. But I think it's it's like I I love the like just natural like going out and going fishing on the on the tournament day and being like, I don't know, like and and coming across something and and then trying to exploit it or decide like should I stay, should I go? And yeah, uh, so I I love the adrenaline like difference in that to me, like I think is is really really unique. So um, but I I don't mind that idea at all, especially like you're saying, maybe even no fishing, like, but just a just a ride around to like just take a peek at things and and pay attention a little bit because like you said, you got to be there for the meeting anyways, um, that that evening. So um I I think that's I think that's neat, man. I think um Um overall for me to change anything, like I don't I agree on the final day, I don't I don't mind the weights zeroing. I think it's I think it's exciting. I like you said, in your position, if you're leading both both days in weight and then you like have a bad day, what but you still would have won, that sucks. Um but on the overall side of things for the anticipation and the fun in the competition and maybe for fan engagement, I like the idea of like, hey, it's a blank slate. Anyone can win today. Um I think it's really, really fun, a fun way to fish on the final day. You can go swing. Like I made a I made a run on the final day. It wasn't happening in my primary area, so I ran way far south just to try and have a chance, right? Like at noon, I was like, I'm gonna go all the way down and see if I can roll across a big one spawning and and make a swing at this. And it didn't work out. I it felt fun to fish that way on the final day. Um and if I'm fishing for points or to where I don't necessarily know if I had had the shot anyways because I was so far back in weight, I probably wouldn't have done that. I probably would have stayed and done whatever.

SPEAKER_01 45:26

Or you're like protecting a lead or something like it's cool to just go out and be like, I'm just I gotta catch five bigs today.

SPEAKER_02 45:34

Yeah. Like yeah, exactly. So I I think it's super unique in our in our sport. But I guess I don't really, as far as like things to change, um, you know, in in a rule change capacity at all, I don't think there's anything that um I can really think of, you know. I think I think we're starting to toy with some of the live stuff. I'd love to see some more on the coverage side when it comes to live and trying to see what we can build out from a media presence there. But as far as in the rules go, there's nothing like I like the off-limits stuff, I like the the uh um kind of fairness with all of that on all these bodies of water. So overall, man, I've been I've been super happy with it. It's uh it's a really fun thing that we've got going out west right now.

SPEAKER_01 46:17

Thank you. Yeah, I'm stoned fishing it the way it is.

SPEAKER_00 46:20

So yeah. Obviously, yeah, walking over the trophy should be stoked. Fair enough. Fair enough, man.

SPEAKER_02 46:27

That's two that's two major dubs through it. That's yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:31

Two on the end. Uh run through your your drop shot setup for us if you don't mind. Like rod reel line, all that jazz.

SPEAKER_01 46:38

Yeah, yeah. So um, so I'll start with Rod. So it's a Dio Kage uh all-around drop shot rod, um, which probably some people haven't heard of Kage before from Dioa. So Dio Kage, um, I used to do uh have a deal with Dio, so um they they had an interesting way that they did this Kage thing, and it was an in-store only rod. So they wouldn't sell it to any online retailers. So sorry to your yeah, omni official guys, but unless they got a showroom, uh unless they got a if they got like an in-person showroom, they can have them there. But um, so it's just kind of a cool rod for like the brick and mortar stores, but they're just badass looking. That's like half the reason why I picked that. Um, but they're they're a mid-range, like$250 rod, so just a good balance of kind of everything. It's light, sensitive, all that stuff. Um paired that up, Diowitz Tula Elite spinning reel. Um, and then I was fishing, it was the Sunline, let me remember, AMZ, yeah, AMZ braid. Uh, and I think I throw like 12 pound on that. I was throwing a 12-pound Sunline shooter leader. Whoa. And then I know, yeah, heavy. The first day I was throwing 10, and then I was just like, I'm just gonna try 12 and see if they'll still bite it just as good. And they did. And fishing around those cages, it was so nasty. Like I broke off one or two fish every day, and it was just like you literally hook them, and then you just feel them like turn their head and like swim into the cage, and you're just like, There's you're done, literally just done, and you just wait for your line to break. Um, and yeah, it would every time, but uh yeah, so threw that 12-pound leader on there, and then I had uh owner cover shot hook, and I think it was like I can't remember if it was a one or two off, whatever matched up with that robo, quarter ounce drop shot weight, and then a six-inch morning dawn, and uh and that was it. So and it was oh go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 48:47

I was gonna say, I'm curious, like when I think of um, and maybe this is more pertaining to smallmouth too, but even just desert lakes and and clearer stuff, I tend to go down in size to maybe like the four-inch worm, you know, that kind of range or less, like two and a half to four and a half or three, three and a half to four and a half inch worm. Any reason for the six inch, or just felt like it it was it was what you had confidence in for largemouth?

SPEAKER_01 49:11

Um, I had caught them on a six inch on a drop shot when I went to that one bass pretty well. Um and it was targeting, I was targeting those fry garters in that event, and I really liked that six inch because it just had like more movement and just like you know, just a bigger profile, a little bit more, yeah, a little bit more annoying for those fry garters. So I knew they just kind of ate it pretty well, and I think I tied that on thinking I might see some of those fry garters originally, and that was just what I had it on and caught the first one on it, and I was like, well, clearly they're eating a six inch, so it was like, you know, if it is if it's not broken, don't change it. So that's kind of just what I ran with because that was something I did notice. I like looking at a lot of guys' setups that they posted after the event, they were like, you know, a lot of guys had a drop shot, and I noticed a ton of guys had a four-inch worm on there. And for whatever reason, I I started with that six, and then I guess also I was targeting largemouth, so um, or predominantly catching largemouth. I didn't really care what bit it as long as it was bigger. Um, but but it just seemed like, you know, I've got a lot of confidence if I'm fishing for largemouth, it's always going to be a six or a seven-inch worm, pretty much. I mean, there's times where I'll downsize, but that's that's the bread and butter for them.

SPEAKER_00 50:29

Now feel free to talk on this to the extent that you'd like. I don't want to make you feel like you need to cough up any juice, but I've heard uh and tried it myself of when you're talking about some of that cover that is like pretty heavy, you're talking about breaking fish off, especially when you're casting into that cover. Were you did you have to get it into the cover or were you trying to target fish outside of it? And I've heard guys waiting on fish, especially with scope, till they moved outside of cover, or even trying to push them outside of cover and then make the cast on to try to catch them if that makes sense. Was that something you were trying to do, or did it?

SPEAKER_01 51:07

I never got too technical to where I was like pushing them out of the cover. Um, but I would fish, I would fish a wide or everything as far as like in the cover, outside the cover. General rule, if I found one of those like bigger cages, I wouldn't bother trying to cast into it because there's zero percent chance you're getting it out unless you're fishing like you know, 80-pound braids. So if I saw a big structure, it was 100% on the outside trying to get those fish out. And then if it were a smaller piece, whether it was like if I thought like two or three feet, I was like, there's a chance I get them out if they're in the dead middle, I'd try that. Um, those were usually the ones that I broke off on, though, because I catch them down in there, and then you just feel it like wrap around something. You're just like, oh no. So that was how my morning started on the third day. First bite, load up, and I'm like, I could feel the head shakes. I was like, I told my marshal, I was like, dude, this is a good one. And then it literally just stops and just poof, I'm like, awesome way to start the day.

SPEAKER_02 52:12

So dude, the muscles on that place are crazy to me. I've never broke off as much as I did this last week. Like, and it's uh it like they're on every little thing, right? Like every little piece of structure, whatever it is, just little razor blades on your line. It was it's that's cool that you were catching them on 12.

SPEAKER_01 52:30

Yeah. What were what were you doing? If I I don't know if you've already talked about it on your podcast, but if you're open to it, I wanted to hear your because you cast it on some of the days.

SPEAKER_02 52:39

So well, I mean, dude, I was catching I was catching spawning fish and fish like coming up. Like, I mean, I might have caught one or two fry garters that I that I didn't know were fry garters until I went up there on a Sanko kind of a thing. Like I'd pitched up and then I saw fry everywhere after I'd made the cast. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I was pretty much fishing spawning fish, fish coming to the bank, um, all primary largemouth. I mean, I caught a lot of numbers on day one. Um, and that was just burning down the bank until I'd find a bed and then make them eat. I think I was a little more patient. Like I was in an and started in an area with a lot of guys doing that, and I like waited them out a little bit because the sun wasn't high early and you couldn't really see them very well, and they were pretty skittish. Like the smallmouth, normally, like Bryant Smith and I had this conversation in the in the way in line. Like, normally it's like, okay, you just make a pitch with your drop shot and like kind of spin back around and get ready to fish it, and it's already loaded up, you know. And yeah, and it wasn't that way. Like they were, I think it's because they were mostly done and had been caught a bunch, you know, prior prior to that. So the smallmouth were hard, the largemouth were hard too, but I was just in an area where I think they were coming. And yeah, that six and a half on day two, like I I'm not sure that she was on a bed, but like there's a good chance she was. Like, I I had that's one that I wish I had back to like leave that one, you know, until the final day. In addition to I caught I got nervous with our with our format, right? I got nervous because of the numbers. I was qualifying on numbers for some reason, dude. It didn't even click in my head that I had like a bag on day two, and so I was fine with days too. Like I was just I was just watching the numbers so close. Like going out that day, I room with Tyler Madden and uh and JD is dad will travel with us too. And we were just sitting there all talking, like, okay, how many numbers do I need to catch to make it for sure tomorrow? And it was like, okay, I think I need between 9 and 11 to get to the total number of keepers. And it ended up being exactly that. I ended up, I think, 10 on the second day, but everyone started catching them like Joe Mariani, like Austin Bonjour, like the numbers started ripping at the end of the day. I I was done, same kind of deal by like 10 a.m. And I just went trolling motor on high looking for more spawning fish, right? For the for the final day. And I really, like you said, I didn't find very many. Like I burned a lot of water without coming across any, which was kind of blew me away because I was like, oh, there's like this everywhere. It's like, no, I just had found an area where it was happening. Um, and so I uh got nervous and I went back to like a three and a quarter that I that I knew that I thought could get to eat right away. And I got nervous at the end of the day. And in the last hour, I was like, I better just like just in case go get one more. And of course I went and stuck that fish on like two casts and was like, dang it, I wish I would have saved that one. But it didn't, you know, it didn't matter uh to its entirety. But that's what I was doing. I mean, I was doing like my favorite, like you said, what was neat, like my favorite way, like I feel the most dangerous if I'm looking at them and if I'm in that kind of like just junk pre-like close to spawning around the spawn, throwing a worm around, throwing a drop shot around and looking. Like yeah, that's what I wanted to do, and I got to do it. So I was happy and it didn't work out, but that's like that's my style where I feel the most dangerous in those kinds of situations.

SPEAKER_01 56:12

Yeah, yeah. Well, that's a fun style to have. I mean, I that's that's one of my favorite ways to fish too, just like burn bank, try to find something, and then just every now and then you catch that big random one that's like been floating out in the middle, and you're like, dude, that's yeah, that's a cool way to catch them. But I almost did the same thing on day two, or like I did do the same thing on day two. I had like, I don't know, it was probably 17 something on my scale, and I was like, I'm like, I want to go check my offshore fish. And this was like 2 p.m. I was like, I had no at I would have been fine making it the top 10, no question at all. And I was like, I don't know, I just don't really feel comfortable for whatever reason. I went out to those deep cages, literally caught like another four and a quarter and a three and a half in like 20 minutes, and I was like, put those in the well, and I'm like, yeah, I definitely shouldn't have done that. That was such a stupid decision. I was like, why did I go back? Um, it's the format.

SPEAKER_02 57:10

I think that's what's cool. You teach you like freaked out like the whole time, like stressful. Like, I mean, obviously it was 106 degrees in our tournament days. It was hot as all get out, but like I was so exhausted after that event just from like the mental load of like, I don't know if I should stay, if I should go, like how many I should like keep or not keep. Like, I I I really enjoy that format. It's stressful. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:35

Seriously, not good for the blood pressure.

SPEAKER_02 57:40

Well, Deke, you got anything else for him before we let him go? No, man. Just appreciate uh Luke always having conversations with you. Um, surprised this is the first time we've had you on the show, which is which is really, really cool because you're just such a good talker. Uh the way you talk through everything. So appreciate the openness of everything you gotta say.

SPEAKER_01 57:58

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And thank you guys for having me on the show. Yeah, I know uh been watching the show for a while. You guys are always killing it. So I know I appreciate the love you guys always give to the West Coast. So, you know, we need some more of that.

SPEAKER_00 58:10

Trying. Trying for everyone that's listening or watching, he doesn't go by Luke anymore. He's the koiky pimp. The koiky, yeah. I have to refer to him as the koiky pimp.

SPEAKER_01 58:21

You you can ask him why, but yeah, that's that's gonna be the new Instagram handle, all that stuff. So there we go.

SPEAKER_00 58:31

Sounds like a put it on a hat. There you go. Yeah, yeah. But Duke real, thanks for the time, like Deke said, appreciate it. And uh obviously not the last time you're gonna be on this show. That's for danger.

SPEAKER_02 58:41

Yeah, heavy congrats, man. Big thank you, man.

SPEAKER_01 58:44

Thank you, and good job to you as well. So and uh Bailey, I hope the uh the ice has melted and you're able to fish again.

SPEAKER_00 58:52

So we we might be frozen, but we're uh we're at least on the water. The water's not frozen, we are the air temperature's still cold, but oh okay, okay.

SPEAKER_01 59:01

All right, that that's all that matters. Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 59:03

Yeah, we're about four months behind you guys in stages, but we're uh we're at least on the water now. Four months.

SPEAKER_01 59:09

I don't know how you do it, dude. That would be uh you're crazy.

SPEAKER_00 59:14

This is the life we live, I suppose.

SPEAKER_02 59:17

That window though that you do get to catch them in is as good as it gets. You know, that northern fishing is just I have never seen anything like it. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 59:28

I I do get really jealous of that when those guys are like, Oh yeah, we went out and it's just like we caught like 50 fish today, like half of them were over four pounds. You're just like, dude.

SPEAKER_02 59:38

Like, is this real? You're like, no, it's not, it's just our window, and we get to enjoy it. So yeah, yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_01 59:44

But you stopped it for a couple months, so yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 59:48

Well, dude, appreciate it, and uh, we'll be talking to you soon. All right, sounds good, dude. See ya. All right, folks, and that's gonna do it for today's show with the champ, Mr. Luke Johns and uh Deke. Great, obviously, great interview. Uh appreciate him. Obviously, uh, not that there was like any crazy juice, but like willing to speak on how exactly one, giving up all the details. And uh sounded like he just had a great milk run of some places that literally you could find on the map that are set in stone for you already, but it sounds like from the state. Uh, but uh and fish and chalk. I he said one of the most boring ways to fish. I don't know about you, but fishing that way with a drop shot for whatever I love doing that. Oh man, I don't think it's boring at all. Yeah.

unknown 1:00:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:34

Now, if I have to go soak a wacky rig for a while, I'm gonna blow my brains out. But being able to go pick apart cover with you know a robo worm and a cover shot, like that kind of like Texas rig drop shot style fishing, that's fun to me. That's fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:48

Yeah, man, and just such a good way to catch some really big fish and a lot of fish. So no, appreciate Luke coming on. Uh, great interview, man. He's he's really, really thorough in talking through his stuff and and what he was doing. So appreciate him going in with a lot of that and uh excited to see him uh continue on with the rest of our season and everything else he's got going on.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:11

Absolutely. Uh well, we have some new CRC Western shows coming up for you guys here soon. We're gonna put together some different panel shows, different topic shows outside of uh of just tournament fishing. We definitely want to highlight the West Coast and the Anglers, of course, from the tournament perspective, but highlighting more of the West Coast too, beyond just the uh the tournament competition, but the fishing itself on the West. So be on the lookout for stuff like that that we'll intermix here. But uh great, great show. Again, all the baits and stuff that he talked about and things we talked about in this show, uh, we will link uh in the show notes to Omnia fishing. We'd love to say that we could get the Koiky pimp to link some uh some koikis on there, but chances are those are probably gone everywhere by now. Uh but the one cool thing is I it seems cool for us as anglers, whether you want to get into the the politics of the industry or not, but it's cool to see different brands coming out with options so that when you can't get your hands on a koiky, there's probably four other brands right now that are making something similar because it's the hottest bait in bass fishing as we speak. But um nonetheless, dude, uh great episode, great top 10, great way to start your year in the Super 60. Um, did they announce where your championship's gonna be at the end of the year?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:19

No, no, still not announced. So I am not not a hundred percent sure where we're going, but I'm uh I'm looking forward to hopefully hopefully making it there. We got a long ways to go, three more events. But um good points though. Good start. Good start for the first one, no doubt.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:34

What's your gut say? What's your gut tell you if you had to guess right now where they're gonna send you guys for the championship?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:39

Oh gosh. I think I think certainly somewhere in Northern California. I mean, or central, northern central California, it just seems like that hub, right? So it could be clear again. I'd like to see him not go to the same place again. I think it'd be cool to you know go somewhere new. So um could be a Shasta, could be um, you know, I think I think one of those mainstay kind of tournament lakes in the north central part of California. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

Obviously, I'm not tied in, but I'm gonna go on a limb and make a bet right here. It's gonna be maybe not Don Pedro, but a place near there, because that casino was a really cool place for you guys to be hosted out.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:20

Wasn't it? I uh I thought that place was awesome, honestly. Like was it Chicken Ranch, right?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:26

Chicken Ranch Resort?

SPEAKER_02 1:03:27

Chicken Ranch Casino, yeah, in near uh oh gosh, near Don Pedro. But there's like there's a bunch of bunch of really cool lakes there. The problem is that's where a lot of the muscle stuff uh is all like really happening. So that's why you can fish Pedro, and then I think um another one that starts with an M, I'm blanking on the name right now. But um, there's a couple there that that are able to be fished in tournament stuff. But the yeah, I wish I wish there was a better solution there in California to figure that stuff out because there's a lot of bodies of water, I mean, that are awesome that just aren't able to be fished right now without the idea of having to only allow your boat on that body of water. So hard for tournament guys that are traveling all over.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:08

So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:09

Um, but yeah, I agree. Super cool part of the world makes me like next time I I go. Well, I'm gonna be there. There's a Pedro tournament for us there in October. Um I want to like travel a little bit in that zone because you're right next to um oh gosh, what's the big national park right there? Yosemite National Park. Like it's just a really cool part of the world. So uh take a little time and uh do some do some cool stuff down there.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:35

Heck yeah, dude. Well, folks, appreciate you guys tuning in for this episode. Appreciate y'all. And uh we'll see you guys on the next one.