Foller-up to my 2 Labs analogy from Tues: My 11-yr-old makes better decisions while my 1.5-yr-old just throws himself at everything full speed. Kinda like the difference between a red-hot young guit-slinger and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top, who doesn't hit an unneeded note. 😁

Hope you get to git after 'em this weekend! Insanely warm here today – good for fishermen but not fall bass! Hoping to get after 'em this weekend, hopefully you too. Let's go!

I'm sure I wasn't the only guy to think of Jordan Lee when Larry Nixon said he was retiring but:

Interesting development! Actually had some Qs lined up for J Lee, but in light of him heading back to B.A.S.S. had to redo some of 'em. Heeeeeeere we go:

1. Does this have anything to do with the fact that's it's easier to count to 5 than to infinity?

> "Yes it's the only reason. I was laying in bed at night, and being an Auburn graduate it's tough to count. It's been a little while since college, so I figured I'd keep the math simple."

[🤣 The Lee bros are legit funny so I hope J Lee brings it!]

2. What are your top 2 reasons for going back to B.A.S.S.?

> "One was the 5-fish limit, that change this year [on the BPT]. This year I had a lot of fun, I enjoyed it and I just thought that would make me the happiest.

> "Whether I catch 'em or I don't, I had that sense, that satisfying feeling, that if I did really well [in a] week, I kinda deserved it. That feeling does mean something and I didn't really have it with every fish counts. There were moments I did, moments it felt right, but overall that was one of the reasons.

> "Outside of that it just happened to be on the table with Larry Nixon retiring and I thought, Man if there was ever a time.... The door might not be open to make a switch [later] so I just thought it may be the right time."

[Here's a quick IG vid he did on why he moved.]

Follow-up: Do you feel like Jacob and Ott bullied you? 😆

> "Yeah absolutely they bullied me. They know they did. They're 2 of the best fishermen I've ever fished against – probably the 2 best...they're bullies to everybody. They're guys that when you see one of them in your group on the water, you're like, 'Dang it, I can just bump me down a spot.'"

3. Switching to the best 5 this year – do you feel like it helped your fishing, hurt it or neither?

> "I felt like probably neither.

> "...every fish counts, you're having to keep catching fish and getting bites. You had to be on your toes all day but it was fun. I enjoyed it...but I enjoyed it more this year. You get to slow down, and when you get that big bite, you know it matters – you gotta land him. I loved it. Those key moments in a day that make or break you – I do love that part of the sport."

4. Do you look at the schedule as FFS vs non-FFS tournaments, or are you looking at it in terms of the phase the fish are in like everybody used to do?

> "Honestly I think every tournament is gonna be a FFS tournament – unless you get a scenario where everybody's out there scoping around...'They're supposed to be offshore this week.' Well the bank's left open and there's 4 bigguns swimming up there for you...you just got free reign.

> "You know going into the year you're not gonna win every tournament. So you've gotta look for those openings...how this tournament might set up to where there's a bite somebody might miss shallow that you might win on the bank with. I'm gonna keep an eye on that for sure, but I think for the most part guys are gonna be looking at their screens, picking out fish deep or shallow....

> "You'll see guys do well [shallow] in multiple events, but to actually win an event it's kind of tough to do without FFS."

5. Seems like a trend in bass fishing is finesse. Will you be fishing more finesse next year or nah?

> "Probably not. Only if I feel like there's a really tough bite or I feel like the fish are really pressured, outside of smallmouth events. I'm typically a power fisherman unless I feel the fish have been beat on, or there's times when little baits get big bites and you need to recognize that.

> "I do like fishing for big bites. I do love throwing jigs. On the Bass Pro Tour, one year [of every fish counts] I was 2nd or 3rd in the points for a while and I had a jig in my hand 90% of the time.

> "I'm just gonna stick with what I know. I think I'm going to power-fish probably a little more than finesse. We'll see what the lakes look like."

Bonus Q 1: B.A.S.S. is calling you a "legend" which implies age. So are you gonna make all the young dudes on the Elites call you Mr Jordan or Mr Lee?

> "I'm getting to the age now where I'm starting to hear 'sir' from these college kids. If any of these kids say 'Yes sir' – I don't know. I've got grey hair showing up pretty bad now, but if one of them calls me that I might just be like, 'Come on now, you can't call me sir.'"

Bonus Q 2: Been a bit since we've seen new Berkley or Abu Jordan Lee stuff. Anything in the works?

> "Typically for Abu they have about a 4-year run of certain products then they might switch it up and change it a little bit. I think this will be one of the last years of the [Abu Jordan Lee] line as it currently is. But I have a new combo design....

> "On the Berkley side it has been a while, and I'm waiting on it as well. They're definitely coming out with some cool new products, but I don't have a role in helping them [develop 'em]. They are continuing to evolve in the FFS direction.

> "I really believe they're becoming more innovative too and thinking outside the box on baits."

John finished 2nd in the Opens points and even though it took him 5 years on the Opens I wasn't surprised at all that he made it to the Elites. Can't tell you exactly why – I mean, of course he's a good fisherman, they all are. He just always seemed to have "it." Here's 5 with him:

1. How many years on the Opens were you going to give it?

> "I was closing in on this being maybe the last year or the next to last year...because of the financial standpoint of it."

2. Did the competition get better every year or was it about the same?

> "That's hard to say. I would say it probably got a little better each year. This year the competition was definitely better on the top end of it. But historically if you you look at the points average, it seems to be about the same to qualify."

3. Why was this your best year?

> "A different approach in practice, I would say. And I think it's one of those deals – when it's your time, it's your time.

> "I caught big fish in every tournament when normally I wouldn't catch one...seemingly out of the blue in every tournament, which didn't happen to me in the past. I'm not saying it wasn't decisions I was making and I'm not saying it wasn't luck. It's just when it's your time...."

Follow-up: What was the different approach in practice?

> "In the past I had always gone out going out looking for that secret honey hole or place to win a tournament, and if I never found it that came back to bite me. This year I went out and was like, How can I get bites? How can I catch keepers? If I found that out the 1st or 2nd day of practice, then the rest of my practice I would spend figuring out how to catch quality fish.

> "...figuring out how to catch a good limit every tournament – that led to no bombs. That was the biggest part of my deal. In the past, I always threw in a 130 or 140 in the season. I'd have a couple of top 10s too but couldn't make the Elites after that. This year I tried my best to avoid that 1 crappy tournament by making sure I knew how catch a good limit.

> "...first and foremost find out the easiest way to get a bite, then after that figuring out how to catch quality."

4. Everyone thinks that the Elite rookies are all about forward-facing sonar (FFS) – is that an accurate statement?

> "I would say that FFS definitely helped all of us, but I wouldn't say its what we're all about. A lot of the guys who did well this year have done well before FFS came out. So I would say it more enhanced what we were already good at.

> "It definitely played a role for everybody that made [the Elites]. But if you look at everyone that made it, most of those guys were already offshore fishermen and we had an offshore schedule. So FFS enhanced our ability to locate fish and make better casts, and learn more about why we were catching fish on those offshore places...."

5. After all that time fishing with your granddad, do you fish like him?

> "I know that I've found a lot of fish from what he taught me because...he was kinda like one of the OG offshore ledge fishermen on the TN River, so I learned that an early age. And as our mapping and technology [sonar] came out, we were able to learn that together.

> "I find a lot of fish by doing some of the same things he taught me growing up, but I wouldn't say I fish like him."

Bonus Q: What's the most appetizing deal at Reelfoot Lake – ducks, crappie or whatever Tommy Akin makes?

> "[Laughs] I would say the crappie. It definitely eats better than anything else.

> "Appetizing as food, definitely the crappie. Appetizing as an activity, shooting ducks. Eating crappie while shooting ducks, that's the deal right there."

Don't really do "TBT" posts but I tripped over this and dang! Had forgotten that insane winning margin:

> Rick Clunn won his 3rd of 4 Classics in 1984 on the Arkansas River. The win wasn't even close. Clunn won with 75-09 while Greg South finished second with 50-01.

> Clunn focused on an obscure short, deep dropoff near the launch ramp. Key baits were the Bomber 6A and 7A crankbaits.

Couple deals:

- Back then the limit was 7 bass, but still – it was the same limit for everybody.

- Rick also finished 2nd twice, one of which would've given him the first and only 3-peat.

Check what you can do with an "A I" pin, no special glasses needed:

Full vid is here. Wonder how that could be used in a bass boat...maybe controlling sonar? Got any ideas pls lmk!