Yo from FL! Haven't made a cast 😭 but I guess I'm just a-workin' in a different place so.... Also the better half and I have been scoping some areas to maybe move to. She likes certain places, which are pretty much not near bassin' but also way too expensive so that's okay! It's a start.

FL real estate is as crazy as you might've heard. Few quick deals: House near where we're at is about 750 sq ft on a postage stamp corner lot, literally abandoned and they want...$750K! 3 years ago it would've gone for less than half that, which is still a lot for it.

Talked to folks that moved down here in 2021, and their house is now double what they paid for it. A guy who moved down here 8 years ago, his house is now worth triple. Insane.

Hoping to get in a boat before too long, maybe with the "baby bass bros." Maybe also get after some peacock bass, which are a bucket list deal for me. Hope to visit Yo-Zuri's USA HQ too. In the meantime I'm learning (slowly) to ramp down my NJ impatience...it's hard man! Let's GO!

Allen ^ is the guy floating the idea of this Touring Anglers Assn 200-boat tournament where everyone pays a $5K entry fee and the top 40 finishers get paid: $300K to 1st and on down to $13K for 13th-40th. More wrinkles to it than that, some of which I talked about in the last BB, but it sounds interesting so I wanted to know more.

First who he is:

> "I'm an entrepreneur [sounds like a financially successful one], a family man and a bass addict. It's that simple. I've got businesses...I'm on several boards of trustees. I'm a blessed man."

For the rest, here we go:

1. What motivated this?

> "2 simple things. One is I want to build a tournament in which I can participate and not be gone away from home so much [like when he's fishing the Opens]. And a format which I think we all fell in love with. That's half of it – it's selfish.

> "The other half is a community service to the fishermen. To me, this ROI is much better than anything I've seen out there. It's simply not costing any money, just some effort, to just give them all the money back [100% paypack minus expenses].

> "It's 50% selfish and 50% to create a better ROI and mousetrap.

> "I thought about this deal about a billion times – why would you do that. I couldn't shake it...because I want to build a tournament I like and see if anyone else is interested in it. But who am I? Just a knucklehead that God took really good care of.

> "I'm not trying to hurt Bassmaster or MLF or any of them. I'm just trying to create a tournament."

2 Why is it a non-profit?

> "It's a non-profit to make 100% sure that everyone knows the intention of the organization. I don't want to make money on it. My desire is not to make money. God has been very good to me – I don't need the money, I don't want the money.

> "...[also] some benefits to the members [having it be a non-profit]. But really I want everybody to know...the reason for it is it's for the fishermen. It's not for me or anyone else to make money doing it. It's a non-profit."

3. What's behind the no forward-facing sonar [FFS] and no 360?

> "I'm not against the technology at all, but I do want somebody to have a different option. Sometimes in golf there's stroke play and sometimes there's match play.

> "I truly believe we're stuck in a 'you better do [FFS] or you're not gonna win' environment right now. I just wanted there to be a different format. I personally have so much [electronics] on my boat...but I truly enjoy a tournament without it more. I'm trying to find out if there's 200 guys who feel the same way I do.

> "...I'm not trying to be [a tournament organization]. I'm trying to have a tournament. A spectacle. I'm not trying to take a stance on technology. I make my living with technology.

> "What happens to me...I show up to a fishing tournament, I'm so freakin' excited, my boat's clean, I have $500 of new lures.... I roll up, start trolling around, my senses are going crazy.... I know I better start scanning some offshore stuff...then [it's like], Well I better put a lot of time into this thing....

> "I've got a lake house in north GA on an amazing lake...I spent 1 year, 3 days a week – Friday, Saturday and Sunday – doing nothing but [FFS] because I knew I had to do it to be able to compete. It's fun and cool and I like it. But the reason I go fishing is I'm ADD man. And when I look at that screen, the channel never changes. When I'm going down the bank, the channel's always changing man. It satisfies the impulse I have.

> "All the guys are doing [FFS and] that's dominating right now. If you're not doing it, just by pure numbers of people doing it, you're gonna get beat.

> "I think [his tournament] format is gonna force people back to the bank and make you use those instincts."

4. How much interest have you had in the 200 spots?

> "I'm halfway there right now. I've got 96 pledges...enough interest that I'm calibrating myself. What I'm not doing is building this tournament and hope people come. I'll shoot muskets and bring cannonballs in once I've calibrated myself. I now have enough interest that it's keeping me motivated.

> "...we literally have some of the biggest names in the sport.... So far it's us mature guys. I have less than 3-4 in their 20s. Most people signing up for this thing are 35-60 years old."

5. The mission statement on your website says that the tournament is "Christian belief-based" – what does that mean?

> "I just wanted to make statement. I'm not ashamed and it's involved in [the tournament] because it's involved in me. I would want it to be an organization that's unashamed and proud to be a Christian-based organization.

> "We are not not going to pray...I don't want the organization to be a church, I want it to be God-fearing, proud and we won't be ashamed to let the world know that we're Christians. And I want like-minded people to come. I would love it if somebody asked the question, 'Hey what are you guys talking about?' and lead them to the Lord.

> "I wanted it out there. I'm a sinner and I fall way short of God's idea for me. I just wanted it out here."

At first he said he wanted 200 pledges by Dec 15 with the tournament in Jan. Now that's March per his latest video update, which is worth watching if you're interested or curious.

You don't have to believe God is real to like Chris. Good dude, great speaker (get him at your church or weigh-in or club or whatever!), on fire for the Lord and word is he's caught a fish or 2, at least one of which was on purpose! 🤣 Just messin'. Anyhow, it's just about time for his boat giveaway – gitcha ticket for it on his site, drawing is THIS SATURDAY:

That's a Nitro Z18 with a 150, Power-Poles, 2 graphs and a Ghost troller. Talked to him about what he does and why he raffles a boat off every year, here you go:

1. Bet most folks don't know what the Bass Pastor is or what you do. Can you please explain it in fewer words than you normally use...😁

> "I sure can. I am a missionary to the Bassmaster Elite Series. I teach a Bible study for the pros, and I'm there just as a pastor would be to try to serve in any way I can.

> "For about 2 years I did MLF and Bassmaster, and it got to be too much. I actually asked Mark Rose if he would start fishing church with MLF and I could go back to Bassmaster. [Mark did.]

> "[The Bassmaster Tour] used to have a chaplain in Terry Chupp. The difference was Terry actually fished the tour. When they approached me, they thought someone who has a fishing vocabulary and a desire to fish but was a non-competitor [would be good] because they thought [the pros] would open up to someone who was not a competitor more than they would to a competitor. That was in 2008. Terry was an awesome, awesome evangelist."

2. Why do you do a boat giveaway?

> "It's our main fundraiser that keeps me doing what I do. When we started, it was a very iffy financial proposition. I am self-funded, and I'd spend [tournaments] sleeping in a hotel one day and in my truck the next day. And I couldn't stay the entire time because I couldn't afford to do that.

> "The giveaway enables me to...do the things I need to do and have the things I need to have to be more effective in the ministry."

3. Why don't you just give it away from the dealer since you don't even really fish out of it? 😆

> "[Laughs] Usually in past years I barely get it broke in. This past year, because of my wife passing away, I didn't have anybody to tell me no, so I fished out of it a lot more than I normally do. But the boat's in great shape."

4. If bass fishermen are ADD and lots of evangelists are ADD, does that make you ADD squared? 🤔

> "There's no doubt about that! I am ADD squared, times 2. I can't focus for 2 minutes unless it's God. It's a God thing. But it seems as though fishing is the sport built for people with ADHD. It gives you a goal to lock in on and the day passes quickly."

5. What's the most important thing people need to know about the Christmas season?

> "The most important thing is that God not only sent his Son into the world during Christmas, but He also finished the job by living a perfect life for all of us, dying a death we all deserved to die, and conquering death by coming back to life and being raised from the dead. So that when I put my trust in Him, He gives me eternal life."

Hope you get to run into Chris. If so, expect a lot longer conversation than that lol! Love ya brother!

Check it:

Deets from boatsales.com:

> The prototype...shows what looks like a conventional Yamaha powerhead but features what appear to be fuel lines adapted to using hydrogen.

> "In order to achieve carbon neutrality with marine products while facing such challenges, the company is promoting a multi-directional development approach, looking to other new energy sources and technologies in addition to its electrification efforts."

> The technology will mean that the Japanese outboard engine maker will be able to keep its conventional 4-stroke engine range, but adapt it to run on the new fuel.

BUT:

> ...hydrogen needs to be kept extremely cold and must be pumped at very high pressure to fill a tank, making refueling a bit more tricky....

> Hydrogen is also difficult to store, with the atom so small it can easily slip through a tank's wall and leak into the atmosphere. In the automotive world, a hydrogen car will lose about half its fuel over a month due to leaks.

> Hydrogen fuel tanks also need to be very bulky to hold enough fuel at the right temperature and pressure, meaning they may need to be designed into a boat that's made to run on the gas.

Doesn't sound realistic? Supposedly the prototype will be at the Miami Boat Show in Feb.