Northern Virginia Bass Fishing: The Grassroots Tournament Scene Is GROWING!

0:00You're listening to Fishing the DMV with your host, Thomas Arons. Fishing the DMV is brought to you by Jake Spaten Tackle, located in Winchester, Virginia. Green Top, located in Ashland, Virginia. Fishing Protect, located just outside Williamsburg, Virginia. LMD Enterprise, keeping your boat, truck, and equipment running at its absolute finest. Kevin Flint, Attsclint Financial Planning, steady, thoughtful guidance that meets you where you are and supports what comes next. Fishing, and Fit Fluors. That doesn't get you jacked up. I don't know what will. Good morning, everybody. Welcome back to Fishing the DMV. I'm your host, Thomas Arons. And today we are taking it back local, your local neighborhood Spider-Man with the legends themselves, the Luz Golf and Fish Club. Guys, thank you so much for joining me today. I really appreciate it. And then, appreciate you having us back. As always, we do with guests like this. Just to make sure there's a rehearsal here because sometimes people, I got a bigger audience now.

1:00You guys don't all know my back catalog what you should. I want you guys to introduce yourselves from the far left on that casting couch all the way to underneath that imperial signage. All right, well, sorry. My name is Justin. I'm the founder, owner of Luz Golf and Fish Club. Luz, I became from my middle name, my brother and I, friend, I have the same middle name, my dad, Luz, we were junior. So senior and everything. It's kind of a family name. And he was a big influence on us, like growing up, like a thousand Aryan, a couple of other cousins, and got into fishing, all kinds of stuff. And then our mom's side of our football was in the golf and all kinds of things. So we got to the golf kind of early and then fast forward to 2018, 2019 with the college, came home, like dolphin and fish with my friends. And yeah, you know, which is just started our Luz Golf and Fish Club thing in 2021 and 60 years in now.

2:02That's the sort of summary of it. It was a lot, you know, they went into a lot of influence and a little different, you know, things that happened throughout the way. But yeah, I got a DZ here, co-founder and we got PJ. He just pretty much got in past a year or two. So he's a good perspective on, you know, new members and you know, what we got going on at Luz Golf Fish Club. And it's our temporary day. PJ. Yeah. Go for it. Yeah, good. So he says, why are you here? Pretty much. I had a giant love. The door was unlocked. Yeah, pretty much. Pretty much the door was unlocked and a giant love for golf and I absolutely just love playing golf. And I am by myself all the time and I mean one of their friends who introduced me to them. He actually works with Aaron and I'm kind of like that. So I ended up meeting them and they used to tell me all about how they had this golf club

3:04and I was like, oh, dude, like this is some I'm kind of interested in. You know, it's like a whole bunch of boys. Like a, pretty much like a family kind of scene. You know, nothing crazy out of the blue. Like not, you know, which random people, but just like more of like a nice little group that wasn't crazy big and it was just something I could get my hands into pretty much just starting golf and only golfing for about three and a half years. So something that I could just get my hands into just keep the schedule on golf and so I started golfing. It started meeting everybody in the group, had a whole bunch of fun and they all said a fishing group. So then I was like, oh, I got to get into this. So then eventually ended up going out the way and getting the bass boat, got a bass boat now. Just got on the water recently and now I'm all torn up and me and Aaron are in partners this past year and I went out my first first bass tournament ever. Very fish first time ever fishing off of boat. Ended up winning that tournament was absolute blast.

4:07That's caught the biggest fish like 20 minutes left on the day and just just been getting torn up with it in the meeting. The whole golf group and the whole fishing group. There's two different sides of it and it's just it's blast and I can't get away from it. It's a lot of fun. So you're vibe, you're oozing masculinity. Why golf? The fishing makes sense. Golf? We were talking about this today. Yeah. The Civil Air and nothing got you off. The Civil Air is a golf like fishing in the mental side. It's more mental than physical. A lot of golf. Yeah golf is very, very, very mental. It's like, yeah. So like I recently, I just hurt my toe. Like I went down to the beach. My mom's got beach house down there in the room. And I went down to my buddy. He bought down his daughters and everything like that and his kids and she, we were coming back from the beach and we were riding. We were shoes riding with the towel and the towel was getting close to the chain. Now it's like, all right, like this is this kind of little sketchy.

5:11Like you got to give me a towel. So we'd bike back like 15 minutes and we were making the turn into my neighborhood and the towel slipped off my shoulder and caught my back tire and sent my left foot straight into the ground. I'm pretty much like, it was a lot like quarter of my toe off my big toe. My middle toe is completely short. I couldn't walk. So I haven't been able to play golf. Jesus man. So like, pretty much like too much. What do you guys want to reason? Like I was like, man, like I love hanging out with the group and everything like that. I want to come out and record for y'all on the four screens tournament. We just did the last tournament. They did. And out of blasts, it's great. Never been out of golf course, not playing golf. It was eating me up, not being able to play. But it was so cool being able to go from group one to group two to group three and group four. I know they all strategized differently and we're just a vibe. You just say they got a boat. So much. Boats, boats, boats. Exactly. Boats, boats, boats.

6:12I'm just going to tell the trainer. That has to be the most casual way to say I lost a toe. That's why I'm not golfing. It's brutal. It's done as, as plenty of pictures and videos as fun to keep making fun of them. Any picture he sends, fast, too, months, he passes toe into big toe. I think the golf gods are telling me something. Because tonight we had our golf league. Thursday golf league. Thursday golf league. And I've picked up club, even sworn club two months. And I had my first eagle ever tonight. Hold out about a shot, about 130 out. Yeah, all the trees. I saw it barely. It a big old slice onto the other fairway. I was like gosh darn it. And I had to go over big giant, all bunch pine trees. About 130 out. It was in the rough. It was like, you know, I was comfortably when I normally play as my attack wedge.

7:14And I was like man, you know what? Like I'm picked up code in a minute. Let me just swing a nice smooth pitch and pitch and pitch and pitch and a little fat. It's like that ball's got to go. Just in just in the body. You were like man, no, that's good. That's good to hit. And just like just disappear down. It's like no way that just happened. Now it's crazy. So I have my first eagle tonight, which is awesome. But all the with the loose. The best club. Yep. Memories. We're sure the community man. Come get your first eagle. Like lose golf and pitch club. Yeah. That's a fast is all algorithm. First eagle. First. Fast turn of winning. First time fish off the bass. Yeah. I was short fish. Never fish off the boat. My life. First time buying a boat. I mean, they brought me out for the res. The first time we were fishing 30 feet of water. And I was like, what am I supposed to do here? Like I'm fully painted. I'll feed a water. I'm zero idea what to do. I mean, he was up with me one night.

8:17I was over here until 2, 3 a.m. Teach me how to tie a leader. Not this is a month and a half ago. I mean, yeah. I mean, I'm very, I always love fishing. It's always, you know, on that foot learning just so much. Just the golf and fishing, just the whole loose group itself. I think the first time. Everybody. First time when I fish with him in, he probably lost about $75 within the first hour. And I was like, what is going on? Always kept catching. I know how to tie a knot. Because this is the first time we fish together on, you know, in a tournament setting. And he's like, I guess those jigs on and he's like, it's like, sing it. Just go sailing. And I'm like, all right, well, I'm just going to try to keep focused and just catch some fish and keep us in the ropes here, you know. And he's like, look, I'm tying the same freaking polymer knot that you tied. He goes through, he goes through, you have a loop and the tagging. The tie a knot, that's it. What am I doing wrong? I was like, well, how old is your line? He's like, I don't know.

9:18It's like five years old or something. And I was like, that's your problem. It's like, you're doing it right. It's like, you're doing it right. It's like, son rock and shit in the car. Sit in the shed. Just, oh my gosh. It was the terrible point. You want to give your intro? My intro? Yeah. The man who's been arrested for fishing once or twice, we don't know. The man who got the most views on fishing in D.M.V. for the, what was it? Yeah. Well, I'm just like that. It's like the asses. It's a fishing like an asses. That is made. This is ADZ, our co-founder. It's ADZ. Co-founder. If you want to know how to get on it. Co-founder. Why is this prison set? I used to call him the fishing ops. Yeah. Director of fishing ops. Yeah, that's me. So, I think it's ADZ, Aaron. What have you been calling me? I pretty much grew up fishing angolping. Pretty much my whole life. I think I started golf. And, like, freshman year of high school. That was actually the only sport that I let it in. And high school was golf. It was from a...

10:18It was from a... It was from a... It was from a... It was from a long time. So, I love golf. I mean, of course I love fishing, but it seemed like when I loved golf, everyone loved fishing. And then when I loved fishing, everyone loved golf. I was like, why can't we just meet in the middle sometimes? And somebody got me fishing or whatever. I've probably had like seven or eight boats since I was probably 17. And I'm just... All the taboo. Yeah, I've always had like project boats. And like, you know, I've had boats that I bought for like $5, $600 and sold for like $1,200. Made a little bit of profit on it. Yeah. And I mean, I know it's like a fish on a boat with just a troll motor. I know it's like... Leaks. Leaks. Pictures from back the day of them on him and my rod on like NASA, like water, like their stands. And he's like holding up like a 30-pound dash in the back of the road, like by the sink and like NASA's. So, I mean, it's definitely been a growing experience from, you know, high school days all

11:20of it so now. I mean, now I have my, you know, my bass tracker, which is pretty much my dream boat, you know, it's, it does, it fits pretty much whatever I want it to be a use for. It's got a nine-knight on it. Need a little bit of a pump of water, but we're going that. Yeah. So, I mean, yeah, golfing pretty much since high school still golf and then fish and then around like COVID, just and I kind of start talking and we're like, dude, we need to start like a group where like guys can come out and just, you know, golf and fish. And for me, it became like a, like, kind of like a brotherhood because before I was texting people like, hey, you want to go fish this weekend and everybody's like, oh, I can't, I've got plans, can't, I've got to take the dog out on the walk and then I've got to take my grandma to the grocery store and say, dude, what the fuck? Like, okay, have anybody else do that? Like, whatever. So, it was, it was nice because now it's like we have group texts. Yeah. And, you know, in the group texts on Friday, it's like anybody going fishing for, you know, what's that's called?

12:21They're both FF. Oh, they're fishing for our own. Man Touring, fishing Friday. So, I mean, you got all these people that are, it's like, yeah, I'll go, I'll go, I'll go. And then we just had Justin's birthday last month. Yeah. I worked those on Monday at 335 and had two boats tied together with me. He was Saturday night with me with, I think, four pooled needles in the middle. So that we're not scratching each other's boats. I came up with that on the fly and had three on his boat, three on my boat. So, I mean, yeah. I wanted to go out there with Juggernaut and yeah, just, it's a lot of this point. I think, you know, pretty much just, yeah. So, with that, with that said, everyone, like, what was this year like? How did you formulate your schedule? Well, yeah, we've been doing fishing tournaments since 222. We started with just three. We did Res. We did Shandoa. And we did, it's up mouse. Let it crack it. That was like a, for a 20-way two-hour, that first year of doing like, fishing tournaments,

13:2221-1 we started, we just did golf. But, yeah. So, we just, just grown from there, like, added more, learned more, you know, been to more places and just, yeah. So now it's like, we did a regional start and then we started there for the first tournament and we always, we've done our finals there. That's what we years as well in November. So, yeah, it's kind of building from there. And I think Ann and my brother actually won the first tournament this year, yeah, in March, on the up on regional. And we had some new guys come out from the podcast too, which I appreciate. And that's all. Right on. Yeah. J.K. Ann came out, which he runs the Tuesday nighters of Res. And yeah, some other guys came out. So we had, I think we had the A and I boat, something like that. Yeah, first tournament of the year this year. Yeah, it's good, we've got about like 10, yeah, 10 is like solid number for sure. Management bowl, like, you know, kind of like the little battle, you know, of course,

14:23the one that BJ won was the most votes we've ever had in the tournament. So of course, you won the biggest five. Anybody's ever won. So, yeah, I mean, go. I think last year was a little better as far as like the bags and stuff. And last year we had like 10 pounds and every single tournament, at least. And like this year, I don't know if we've had 10 pounds. I think I had, I think Brandon and I have 10 pounds once made maybe a one that we won the rest of the season. Yeah, it's just been a little bit different this year, but it's fun, man. It's been a live scope, which is, it's funny how it's kind of like a, you know, it's kind of right back to that, you know, was it hard for you to make that decision? No, I mean, that's how I grew up fishing. And that's how I grew up watching mostly, you know, the old 90s and 2000s fast national tournaments, FLW, where like those guys are out there grinding. It's all about those decisions like do I stay here, your classic intro? Like do I stay here? Do I go over there? Like, that's what it comes down to a lot of times.

15:24I mean, like, where am I going to start? Where am I going to end? And like, what, like, playing out your day and like, those little decisions make a huge difference, dude. Like, it's, you don't, you don't have a safety net of live life scope. So you better go out there in the middle and find a group of fish and catch some. So you got to like, figure it out, like it's 12 blocks, like you got to, you got to get out there and, you know, try something different. I don't know, just, yeah, just, it's, it's fun, man. And this is funny how like it went from, went to all the live scope stuff. I remember people saying like, can't believe people are doing terms with that live scope now. Like, it's crazy. And it's like now it's coming right back to that, you know, like, you know, like a, like a boomerang. You're like, it's going to come right back. Like, it's not. Yeah, it's different. You watch those old 90s and 2000s bass, faster, it's different for sure. Oh, it's like, yeah, I agree. Yeah. And especially because like, live scope is getting cheaper and like, for better or worse, it's here to stay technology is cheaper, whether it's the most expensive generation of it,

16:26like the difference between the iPhone 6 versus the 16. It's like, is there a technology difference a little bit, but still the technology is there in the iPhone 6? And yeah, but there is still this grass for it's been for an example is to, to kind of prove your point, AI. Um, there's a huge pushback against AI. If you make a post that is AI, if you make art that's AI, if you do this as AI, it's very fastening this dichotomy of life where if in your personal life, you use AI, you are seen as a heretic, but if you have a corporate job, they're literally telling you if you don't use AI, you're going to get fired. So it's just very fastening the technology and all this stuff. Oh, yeah, definitely. Yeah, I try to like, my flyers, so I try to not use any, I use like template, I use canvas templates and I've been doing it for six years now, so I have a pretty good, I've always been kind of like artsy and into like drawing and like, logos and brands and the kind of things. I have a decent feel for it. I feel like, so I just trust my gut and I just make my own flyers. Just because I see so many of the AI, the AI flyers and I'm just like, I'm just making

17:31my own thing. Yeah, graphic. It's not an issue. Yeah, it just looks more authentic. Even though it's not, yeah, just, yeah, but yeah, definitely, I use it for crafting sometimes. I'll put in like certain things and like say, summarize this. I use it for work too. Like, yeah. You know, can you make this print and sound more professional? Or I like take stuff from it and kind of like, you know, use it as I got, you know, help. But, yeah, I think it is different. When you start using AI for a bunch of stuff, it's just straight, it's not, it's not like a personal touch to it. You know, imperfectness to it. When it came to your schedule this year. You know, like, like, raw videos, I feel like you'd do better than some like, you know, super made up videos sometimes, just because it's like, looks so personal. It depends on the platform because it's fine. It's like, because they'll say like, AI doesn't track and stuff, but then AI algorithm clearly, there's a separation in views and hours watched between a, a thumbnail made one way versus another way.

18:32Let's just put it that way. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Circling back to your scheduling. Like, how do you guys keep the scheduling fresh? There's a ton of different waterways that you can fish with your club. How do you pick where you're going to go? So, I mean, yeah, it's just like trial and error throughout the six years, five years of doing fish and term, it's just like, learning new places and hitting them at certain times and trying to figure out what places to hit the right times. So whether they're the best, you know, I'm pretty much, but I should try to monitor what you're talking about on fishing at DMV and go use that as like, yeah, fishing schedule. And that's right. I mean, the right time. I'm like, I want to try to mark it down. I don't mean, you know, we do like, a quia in May. It's like, to me, like, in the mail, like, that's when the grass is starting to come up. It's kind of fresh. It's not, they haven't been pounded for a month and a half. It's like, you know, more fresh. But then I try to hit the reds in like April, where they're on the spawn. It's fine. Like that kind of thing. And they hit it again in June where, supposedly, the reds in June, they start going on

19:35all shore brushbite. I can be really good. And you catch some big bag of stuff. And then, you know, just trying to like, you know, just try to, you know, best spots the right time, really, but just rotating. And not like that many fishing areas, once you start getting out there and doing it, it's like, we're trying going out. The reds, you got aqua region where we got a quia, you got mooney, you got, we're doing rap and September. That's, like a band new one. Actually, you know, just something new, refreshing. Yeah, we just do. Yeah, it's like, we do the chandoah or a tonic every year. So we do one small mouth thermo. It's just, yeah. What, what's your, why the rap and hammock? Like, why did you decide to put down this? Well, I've heard you guys talk about, you know, how good, how good it can be in some like kayak tournaments. Oh, that's sad. And it's like, I already talked about them, like, not really, I made tournaments down there and a big tournament. And like, what sounds like a lot for lose golf, a fish club. Yeah, let's go there and hit it. Yeah. So my brother and I went down there, like two, three weeks ago, just the first time,

20:36which is about relaunching that pork conway and just buzzed around. And I was just refreshing seeing something new, trying to put a new puzzle together and just trying to, you know, we were out there from like three, three to eight, eight, thirty and just trying to figure out how to put some fish on the boat. And it ended up catching five, five or six, like last hour, thirty minutes, but it's just fun, like, yeah, doing something like that. It's something different. We are looking for a couple more sponsors to come onboard to help out fishing the DMV. Pay the bills. If you would like to see your business grow, think about sponsoring fishing the DMV. We are the number one fishing and outdoor show in the mid-Atlantic area and we are continually growing getting bigger and bigger every year. Thank you so much. Get ready for the green top outdoor expo presented by Beretta, more than 225 vendors with everything from fishing to hunting gear all in one place. Your next outdoor adventure starts here. The green top outdoor expo October 3rd and 4th. I want to give a quick shout out to Max4Fishing. If you're a river angler, creek fisherman or someone who loves chasing smallmouth and bass on finesse gear, you need to check them out.

21:38Max4Fishing offers a full lineup of soft plastics, tungsten jig heads, hooks, weights, hardbaits, rods and a peril. Built for anglers who like to fish small, fish smart and catch big fish. Whether you're throwing a Nedrig, drop shot, swim bait, Larry, the Maxcrawl, a stonefly or even an earwig, Max4 has some of the most realistic baits on the market. A ton of options that fit perfectly for our local DMV waterways. So head on over to max4fishing.com, link in the episode description. And if you are watching on YouTube, you can use the QR code that's right here on the screen right now. Tom from Fishing Indian V, sentia. This episode of Fishing the DMV is brought to you by Kevin Flint and Flint Financial Planning. Kevin Flint helps families, business owners and professionals get organized, make smarter financial decisions and build a personalized plan for your future. Kevin is a certified financial planner with a background in banking, education and community leadership. After more than a decade in corporate banking, Kevin shifted into financial planning to build a deeper relationship and do more meaningful work with families who want practical, personalized financial guidance built around real life. Whether you're planning for retirement, investing for the future, running a small business,

22:42starting a guide service, managing tournament winnings or simply trying to take better care of your family, Flint financial planning can help you build a smarter financial game plan. For more information, visit www.flintfinancialplanning.com, link in the episode description or if you're watching on YouTube, check out the QR code that's on the screen now. Tell them Thomas from Fishing the DMV, sentia. Alright guys, I wanted to give a quick shout out to our newest sponsor, Fishing Protec. They are located outside of Williamsburg, Virginia in Toronto, Virginia. If you're a serious angler and I'm talking about a serious bad angler, you have got to go check out this shop. They have one of the greatest collections of JDM, Tackle on the Planet. I'm talking Megabass, Debs, IMA, OSP. They got it all. And these are the bates that you're seeing on TV winning all those big tournaments. So if I were you, I would go down there and check it out, pick up the bait that's going to win your next tournament. I'll put a link in the episode description to their Facebook, phone number and address, tell them I sent you. If you're serious about keeping your boat truck or equipment running at its absolute best, you need to check out LMD Enterprises. They're a wholesale distributor of premium lubricants and filtration for everything from

23:43automotive to marine. But more importantly, they help you reduce your total operational cost. It means better fuel efficiency, less downtime, fewer breakdowns and a longer engine life. Whether you're running a bass boat, towing your rig across multiple state lines or just trying to get the most out of your equipment, this stuff really matters. They carry a full lineup of high performance products from marine engine oils, two stroke outboard oils, to diesel oils, fuel additives, transmission fluids and water resistant grease built for harsh conditions. But what really separates LMD Enterprises is the service. They offer consultation, oil analysis and custom maintenance planning. You're making decisions based on real data. That means you can track where, extend engine life and even increase resale value when it's time to upgrade. If you want your equipment to last longer, perform better and save you money. This is a no-brainer. Hit them out at LMDOIL.com. If you're on YouTube, hit the QR code up above. The link is in the episode description. Tell them, fish in the DMV, send you. I want to give a huge shout out to fit lures and their brand new bait design, the VIG. The VIG is what happens when two great baits collide.

24:45It's a 2.6 inch tube inspired bait designed to add unique multi-directional action that the fish haven't seen before. You can rig the VIG on a nethead or you can add it as a trailer to your favorite swim jig or chatter bait. You give a look that pressured fish just haven't seen before. And whether you're targeting smallmouth and the Susquehanna River, dragging bottom in a reservoir or you just need a couple more bites to win that tournament, the VIG gives you the action and the profile that will trigger more strikes. Go check out the VIG at fitlures today. There'll be a link in the episode description. And if you're watching on YouTube, there'll be a QR code on the screen right now. Go check them out and tell them, fishing the DMV, send you. The wrap is interesting in Fredericksburg. This is really topical with where I was today. But yeah, there's so much water around Fredericksburg. And then you have the wrap, which is it's not necessarily the biggest. It's not necessarily the biggest river, but it's the least tapped. I think it's the way it could say it.

25:45Between the James and the Potomac. Yeah. So that's a group of like it's not as pressure as Tomic and the Reds. And so it's kind of tough. You got to kind of drive in the boot out in the booties to get to it. And it's a little bit different. Yeah, it might not be as good as Tomic, but you know, oh no, it's less pressure. I mean, they're in there for sure. Yeah. So it's really interesting. I think Graham was saying that the grasses and grass have you in there? That's weird, man. I mean, that area, like the creeks and stuff that you can't really get to the mouth of them. Like it's so like I say the tide rips so hard that like it builds up like mud and stuff in front of the creek mouth. So you can't really get into them up that far. So you have to kind of like be on the outside of them. We're just basically we're really fine. Like a creek channel swings with like wood. You know, any time the channel's swung into the bank, it's wood. Yeah, flip that and do that stuff into a kitchen. Five. But yeah, it's definitely weird. I was saying it's like Tomic, like a quiet back of a quiet mixed with like the bull run side of the Reds.

26:45It's like a weird tight title. Everything looks the same. It's kind of weird. I'm excited for like something new. Yeah. You gotta kind of do something different. Everyone's doing Tomic and the Reds every weekend. And you know, we're trying to make you a phone and keep fresh. I think we went with one of your podcasts last year. We tried hunting run reservoir. Is there always talking about how great hunting run reservoir is? Well, when we went there, they drained it about 30 feet down. Yeah, I think that was everything. Everything that looked great was you could see it. You know, and it's just like, well, I mean, I have options of fishing at 40 feet of water or 110 feet of water. So, I mean, the tops of the trees are at 40 feet. So like, well, thanks for like 50 yards off of the bank. Without life scope, it's like, it's almost impossible to fish. I mean, my buddy, my partner and I, we've been passed by a tree like seven times. And he's like, where the fuck's the tree at? I'm like, I don't know, man. I'm using it on side of the engine room right now.

27:46So it's all historical. It's all behind me. So I'm like, Mark, Mark, Mark, and I tried to like pinpoint where this tree was. I was like, I don't know, man, just throw a freaking spoon on it and just drop it down there and see what happens. He's like, you want me to throw a spoon and 90 feet of water? I was like, I don't know, whatever. And he wanted to tell you how the earth was the worst turn to be back. He's like, the first place for letting me win the three in that fountain. Yeah. But I'm very sick. Yeah. It's, yeah. I mean, we're especially. It's fish and fish. Why is it your guys' club is so successful the way it is? Let me try that again. Guys, I've had a 13 hour shift in 130 degree weather. Why is your club so successful? Everyone in it is very passionate. There we go. My God. Yeah. We don't know for that. It's successful. We have 10, 11 boats that are quaers here. We have like eight to 10 boats a lot of times. Golf. We've had 24. We've had more than that. We've had a lot of times 16. But I mean, I think it's just like the fact that we're, I kind of started it with

28:48mindset of like building a community rather than like trying to build some like short term like brand. There are like some kind of like social media thing that's going to like, that depends on an algorithm on the internet. Like, I want to be able to like do this, you know, 30, 20, 30 years from now without any of these. They're us texting each other or calling each other or whatever, you know? Yeah. So it's just like even today, the Thursday, we have a lose, a Thursday league golf for golf. The same six to 12, 15, 16 guys out there every week from April, I'm like May, June to like September. And it's like every week, every week, every week, everyone's texting and just like building this community that's like, they're not like short term, you know, people. It's like long term members, fans, friends, you know, you know, my friends, they probably have that brotherhood, you know, not fans. It's not like anything short term. It's fun. That's fun. I've only been here for two years, but from like a, like your guess a group member, the

29:48outside of it, it's not like, doesn't seem like lose is trying to like really target when after like the content creation and the more just like, like, let's have a good family and like good group of people to always be around and not as good group people to go golfing with or fishing with or like all of it's just all across the board just all. Yeah, I mean, some people come for a term or two and have a great time and have been back. And that's fine too. If you want to come out, do that or if you want to come out and take our money, you know, that's fine too. But we're all getting a little better. So it's going to be a little tougher. We're all becoming a company. Trying to get a big company. Anybody else coming up to that? I think, I think from like the fishing aspect of it is, I see a lot of guys come out. They're like, I mean, I've worn a fishing line like a fish tournament, but it's just still like good. So nervous, like nerve wracking. It's like, I'm not that good. And I don't know, like I don't have a big boat. And most of our boats aren't really fast boats. I mean, we have, you know, Fiji has a 125 on the back of his.

30:50Obviously, it's not just the rest, but it's like you have a 50, you have a 25, most of our sort of like 18s, 9s, so it's like there's a huge mixture. Like the reason why we don't view the entire tournament is because that brings everybody and then you have like these guys showing up at the 250. They're like, I'm going to Madawoman. I'm going to the freaking Colonial Beach. Where do they want to go? You know? But if we only do a quia or if we only do aqua and reason apart, we can only fish. So you have to go on the bay. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. It kind of makes it more simplified for like, just to do becoming out. It's just wants to come out and try it, see how it works. If they have success, then it's like, oh, well, I actually placed. That's cool. Yeah. That makes you feel great. It's like, maybe I'll go out to another one. Maybe I'll do better. And then when you throw it angler over the year and there and you start throwing like sponsorships and prizes and stuff like that, they're like, oh, I get a prize for getting the smallest fish today. Yeah, let's get on the big of the day. That's sick. You get a prize. So it's like you're trying to make everybody happy.

31:51Well, and I want to make sure because of how the internet and podcasts work and people sometimes have bad memories, please reiterate again, how does your tournament format work from the fishing side and the golf side? In case people weren't paying attention. Yeah. So basically starting in March, April, we do one tournament of each a month, one golf on fishing, a transfer to the mountain, all that kind of stuff. And yeah, for the fishing, we hit the local fisheries, the res, the tomay, and moonies, like that. I feel the res. Like you was saying, I've been doing boundaries. I feel like I'm regional. This year, I said, we had over 12 boats that would extend it to like a mad one. But under 12 boats would keep it at the mouth of the bay. That's the boundary. So as you're keeping it in that arm of the tomay, they can then apply the same thing. It's like the Maryland, Virginia Maryland line, under 12 boats, keep it in there, over 12 boats, you can go to like the tomac creek and down one or something like that.

32:51Just try to keep it. Like, we got to catch some more fishing. And it can't like launch it off. My region's going to go to Madwell and then like, did everyone go to Madwell and I can go catch them there too. But the point is to catch them off on a regional. And then the day later, they'll help you lay on. Later on, just don't you catch them in any creek. You know, 10 spots in every creek. Yeah. Yeah. So more than that sometimes, around spots all day. But yeah, it's just, they're doing that. And yeah, I mean, it's pretty much just catch, but I know release. And then we give like a card. Wait a minute. We already hold out. We call it official. It's scale. Take picture. Also go through this. Fish limit. Other people fish these spots. Yeah. Not like forcing the end, but you know, I've never fished quite. But I've never thought to go fished quite. You know, but I want to go fished quite again for sure. Yeah. You know, people this is joining like, oh, we're going to go fish here. I've never been fishing before. You know, you never really have the urge to go until you have like that event. Like, oh, cool.

33:52We got loose. We just called fish terms. Yeah. Now we're going to finally go fishing quite. Yeah. I mean, some of the stuff I've looked over too because we do a lot of tournaments and they just launch there and they're just straight out. They're just like, let's catch them in this. I'm going to go fishing. And my fishing tournaments we pretty much all in. We all launch the exact same time. It's not like, number one, here comes DZN PJ. Yeah. Number two, here comes the Jus7. You have to work. You have to work. Yeah. Yeah. It's just like we're really good. Yeah. It's small enough where you can just see every one at the same time. This is a little, uh, kind of a horn on the boat. Like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. Yeah. All right. Launch a 7 a.m. Yeah, until 3 p.m. Um, maybe lines up 3 p.m. Everyone be back. And then, um, I was just going to start the air horn at this moment. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And then like we do, we do one small malterm in every year, which we've done chando in the past. But this year, chando is so low, we moved to the up and coming with the runs work to

34:53honor rocks. How was that? It was, uh, a lot bigger, obviously, to like not more than I just the chando. Um, when they, y'all ended up winning. Yeah, let's talk to the, let's talk to where you're. They got the race. And he won't, he got the big fish, like two other two. Yeah, two high tunes, right? Two eight, so I was like, uh, two. It was a little rough. I mean, last year the chando, I think. Aaron and Murth that had like 10 pounds on three fish on the chando. And then my brother and I had like nine something, nine something on three fish from chando. That was like last year was like bringing a lot. And I was like, all right, two or three feet on chando, staying like perfect. Yeah, we actually, uh, we actually got caught in the storm and had to take shelter at some, uh, some random guys house on river. And I mean, it was like, I mean, it was poor buckets. And I mean, lightning was coming down. I was like, my buddy, uh, Murth, uh, Jimmy goes fishing. He's like, we got to get off the water right now.

35:53And I was like, dude, it's fine. We'll get to a good spot. He's like, look at that cloud. I'm like, okay, dude. Like, uh, we're good. That was after being in that problem and really really fast. I mean, it was, it was bad. We pretty much docked boat on some random guy's property. He had like a little shelter. We're under there. And we're just like, waiting it out. Like, dude, this is insane. I mean, visibility was probably like maybe like two, three hundred feet. Have you ever fished that stretch? Thomas? And you got a lot of fun. Yeah. So that runs with point rocks. Oh, yeah. And then we lost it. Yeah. No audio. So the 30th minute martin. No it's on. So no. Hopefully it's still working. But. Yeah. I have. I have fished it before, but in a kayak, not some of those fantastic vessels that you guys have created for the the tournament. I have one of those. So yeah, our river trying to do float style. So I mean, I think Jim Bo was out there with his kayak

36:56and JK and was out there in his kayak. So yeah, it's pretty much, I mean, it's similar. Do you float in a carry really, do you have a couple of chances of spots? I mean, you're anchoring, it's like that. Yeah, it was definitely slow this year. I mean, I know they're in there. Just a lot more to digest and like this year is like, so like no rain, no like stain, no water, just clear. Yeah, a little different. Do you ever looking for a maximum stability on any river? Just come talk to me and I'll let you know. I got the old tri-tune, 16 foot new with eight foot outriggers on each side. And I mean, we've had three people in that thing, standing up, no problem. You can jump a jacks on it. I mean, like you turn sideways. You start to get the scare when you turn sideways on the rocks, it's just like, oh, cool, we're anchored. Let's keep fishing. That's like there's no worries at all. I fished for the last three hours from the top rails.

37:59My foot's top of the rails because it was just so sturdy and it was giving me a higher point of view than everything else. So I could see pockets on the river as we were floating down because our trolling motor died that day. We were like, I don't know, like halfway down the river and I was like, yep, we lost the trolling motor. And I was like, well, this is just great. We got like a half a minute more than that. Like three, two, three mulls to go still. And I just looked at him. I was like, you know what, dude, let's just fish the current. Let's just let them know. Let the wherever the current's going to take us, this is fish. And I was able to see like more pockets and just drop offs and we just started fishing in a different way. And then it worked. They'd all, yeah, they got jummer, dad. Good thing got the trolling motor. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, once you're dead, you're dead. That's why, baby. It was your time with your time. It was at two of those this year. We just, we won first time we ever ended in

39:00and we won this river tournament. It's the first time I ever flew to river in with, we've been in which the river for like four years. Pretty consistent. That's what that's fishing man. It's fun. And it's certainly setting too. Like doing it on a certain time or, you know, in a certain time frame, definitely is a little bit different than not. I mean, I should have done it. I think we should have done it in the where we went. But I mean, we still obviously used to pop fish. But it was good. It was a good move. It was a good move though. Yeah, I think we have to have the walk and drag and do it like a high high high cold dark look. Yeah, it was a yeah, probably jam work now. I think the rivers are a little different this year. Which we're in the where last year was hot, man. For all it's like July. Yeah. And it's just it's the flow man. Like it is everything's so low right now. And it's it's milk small, not fishing tough. When a small mouth to get 20 inches is like 10 years old, that's a brown trial. That thing's educated. And like when it's super shallow and skinny and clear, it's hard to make them want to eat. It really is.

40:02Exactly. It's hard to catch those bigger ones. Now I'm going to ask you, what do you think like the odds of catching like five pound small mouth out right now? It can happen. I have a hypothesis where it's like if you could get like a Travis Eden like float tube or float raft and you lit that some bitch up with like red lights and night vision goggles and you floated it night with a lot of. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you buy what you get one. I can see that. Exactly. Because I think they go in our turn. I'm talking about, yeah, I'm talking like like no other day out there right now. Like how high it's been and how low it's been. Like that's a like how many I want to know. How many five pounder traps is caught? The Travis Eden is like this. And like this, this type of like water. It's a huge fish. And three pounders are like in something we caught last year in our tournament. We had three, you got 10 pounds of green fish like you have a green 12 like that. Like all three three and a half. Yes, like when the flow is right, like the river.

41:05And this was so fast, I was like, so this is a blessing that I've done this show somehow for so freaking long. It's crazy. But last year, so many places just went off the chain. Like Smith Mountain Lake had its absolute massive records in the winter time in 2025. Lake Anna 2025 winter SB fishing Tyler Hyapol almost had like 30 plus pounds. And then because it rained habitually in the spring of 2025 from like April until like mid June, the water was just up until mid July. It was just all up. The upper Potomac had 105 inch tournament. The Shenandoah River had almost 100 inches. Every major smallmouth river caught massive fish. Why? Did the fish magically show up? I don't think so. I think it's just almost like if you want to shoot a state record buck, you need the right conditions for that some bitch to show himself. And I think when you have that higher water, you have that chalkiness of the water, they're susceptible to a spinner bait, a chatterbait, all those power fishing baits. When it's seven inches and you're waiting the whole river,

42:09that guy has been around for 10 years. He knows there's eagles and ospreys on other stuff that can see him. It's got it's insanely hard to catch him then. But when you have those years with high water, a little bit of chop to the water, that's when you can have those mega bags. Oh yeah. Yeah, I mean, I know there's plenty of fives and sixes in the Shenandoah. Yeah, the time of year, the water color and depth and everything has like the main ingredient. Like if you catch it, yeah. I can agree with that. Rising, staying, like yeah, you catch it. I'm a hunter myself. And me, we run trail cameras in the off season and we'll always get these pictures of these bucks that you're up. And we're going to be a little either, we're pretty much called my ghost buck. And we'll have a couple pictures. And as soon as the first day of deer season are like the week before deer season, they disappear. We'll never get a picture of them again until the next following season. Or they go nocturnal. Exactly like you said, they just go,

43:10all the pictures we get of them are in them. That's Mack Mill the night. Or it's like no exactly what's going on. It's like the shittiest weather ever. It's raining, wind blowing. Oh, it's only a good catch. It was when it's normally the rough when they're chasing after a dove, they're being dumb. But that's normally it. Yeah, like you just gotta go. Same, it's the same. Merky water. Ask that, too. It's, and a small mouth bass has a brain smaller than a doe or I'm sorry, a white shell deer. But still, the fact that they're that, the brain's that tiny, but they're so intuitive, intelligent instincts that they can just figure that shit out. It's like, oh, it's the first day of rifle season. Peace. You're gonna see my ass again. Well, I mean, yeah, even with large mouth, they're like not on the res. Like you got to like a six plus founder on the bank. Not the res, like, yeah, he's the right time. Yeah, it's not going to happen that certain times they just be cast and cast and cast and throw everyone. Yeah. But it's not going to happen. Like it has to be a certain time of year

44:10or certain conditions with water up or weather. You have a storm coming in, so my day you just gotta catch a lot of time. But yeah, you're out there in Bluebird's Sky Day in August, like about 99.9%, I mean, I'm gonna catch a six founder. Yeah. Like you got your hands up to throw off, you know, ledges and deep and it's all about the weather and yeah, all that kind of stuff. Plus, fun man. It's fun to pursue like, it's why we do it, right? Yeah, exactly what we do. I'm sure. So I figured out that puzzle, like, oh, yeah, where are they gonna be up today? What's gonna be the thing today? Especially in the tournament, like, yeah, eight hours to figure it out. Yeah, I hit the right spots in the right time. Yeah. As we close up here, what are the plans for the future? Will you guys become a chain? Will there be different branches and chapters? Will you become the high priestess or priest of Luz? And you'll have like a North Carolina chapter, a Maryland chapter, like, what is 2027 gonna look like? I've definitely talked about it with one of my buddies,

45:11who's a good entrepreneur, you know, does a lot of that stuff. He's like the foundation and the idea of what you guys have with fishing and golfing is like a really great idea. And you could go to like North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Maryland and just kinda start small and just see what happens. And it's like, you're the creator of this idea and to have like what we have here in Maryland or in Spain or North Carolina or wherever. I mean, I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate that. But in those areas, it's like all we have is the vast match. What we have is the MLF and it's like, I'm not gonna fuck an enter that. I'm not gonna qualify. And it's scary going in, blind. And you know, every like, you know, like the fountain head club, you know, all those guys are hammers. Like nobody wants to go in and, you know, spend 40, 50 bucks and get their asses booked. Like, what'd you learn? I learned these guys are really good at fucking fishing and I'm in the wrong spot. So like, do I want to go back next time? Maybe it's a little bit more experience, but I'm in it, you know, I have to build my confidence up to a certain

46:12high standard to where I can go back and somewhat feel comfortable. Not saying that these people are bad people. I'm sure they're all great people. And they're probably like, oh yeah, I caught them on a brown jig with, you know, a brown trailer in this spot. I'll show you the coordinates. You can go there. Like, okay, well, I don't, maybe I'll catch it, maybe I won't. So it's like, you know, it's worth achieving for sure. And then go all things same thing, you know, I mean, like the whole reason we started out, you know, 16 people is because for us, it makes it easier to like print off guards for teams and stuff. Because if it's like Friday, your tournament's on Saturday, you're like, it's locked. Like, we still need four more people than, like, I don't know, Friday night at midnight. They're like, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in, I'm in. You're like, oh my God, dude, like, and you're like trying to pull yourself together, you're trying to get yourself ready to play in a tournament and you're trying to be, you know, a tournament opponent. You know what, a tournament. It would be super frustrating. Yeah, I mean, I don't know about like,

47:12and then obviously that'd be sweet to like, go to our states or rank out like that. But, in my main focus is just, you know, you build in the community that we're doing right now and you know, at the lose Thursday league, you have tournaments and have the, you know, I think I've talked to Jake a little bit about doing the Tuesday nighters under like lose, spelled fish, but kind of thing, kind of blending that together and just kind of like keep building that community of like, all right, now I have a fishing Tuesday nighter. Going through the community. Going through the community. Going through the community. And then we have the, who's golf, knee, glon, all year long. And we have tournaments and just like, just keep building like that, man. Like I said, like, we're like algorithms and social media and stuff doesn't. But then the day it's like, I mean, that's nice to like, if you've been involved, that's how you market these days is posted on the groups and, you know, getting out there. But I mean, I'm just more worried about, you know, I mean, you will show up on tournaments and that's having like a fun. We've even talked about it. We have the golf and the fishing group. I've decided for it multiple times.

48:13We're like the golf groups, okay, we need to go take a trip. Just us, we need to go do a little. Yeah, they eventually, they eventually get the tournament tobacco road. They eventually have. We usually go up, we're the same thing with the fishing group. We're like, okay, we need to go, try fishing here, here and here. Like it's nothing new with actual lose tournament sequence. But just all of us boys that are in the group go out and fish together for a weekend or just like that. It's a super fun. We go to St. Lawrence River, quite 10 foot waves. Yeah. Sounds like that. You saw that Thomas, that the last, at least, that's insane. It was, Frank and Stein, dude. It was so freaking crazy. It's like the riding like a bull and trying to life scope at the same time. Like, like, boom, boom. Yeah, it's insane. Yeah. Can you imagine being the, what we took off the guy, like keep track of the room, wait some stuff. Some of the boys like, why does that happen for this? Like I knew this was a bad time of the month. But the game we off is freaking good.

49:14Yeah, man. Yeah. Like, it's, it's just, can we count that a small number? It is so posterously to one side of the spectrum. Like, is it even in part of the diagram when it comes to averages, median weights and stuff because you were catching weights of smallmouth that equal lake fork, Toledo Bend, Mexico for God's sakes. It's, they almost broke 110 pounds. Guys, please 110 pounds divided by four if you're listening. That is wild. Yeah. I can tell you what's all there talking about, like the difference, how much that river has changed like the goby's getting introduced and like the whatever, all their stuff. With the zebra mussels or wherever, zebra mussels and the goby's, like you said, like when they were there in the 90s and early 2000s, like three, four pounds was like, you know, great. They were using live show, but yeah, I mean, he's just saying like, how big the fish are now in there. It's insane. I feel like he's like,

50:15he did it to go to goby's and the zebra mussels. That's champion. He was on there. I guess he didn't make a cut. He was in there talking about a lot of stuff. Just shout to Mike Ekinnelli though, retired legend dude. I saw your post today though. Yeah, see you top 10, top five. Where would you put him? I think I come in twice. I said do Mount Rushmore on his impact alone. Forget the, where do you, you know, bass master class, and this kind of stuff. This is an impact on fishing alone. I'll put him in the Mount Rushmore fishing for me. He's up there for sure. I mean, he's also a great fisherman. He's one biggest fisherman, so you can win and, you know, done what's a limit fishing back in the day. I was watching that in high school, like just his energy, you know, for the sport. Yeah, he's a, I definitely said Mount Rushmore. I don't know about, I mean, probably at least top 10, there's a man of all time. Yeah, you know, top five, you have to, yeah, just that's hugely debatable. But KVD is number one, I'm not going to say anything.

51:17He's a tiger woods fisherman. Yeah, I can really man. Watch the sole of the 2000s, terms with him and there. Sometimes there's annoying. Like here at TV just one off, Screamin'. Ah, it's pretty much there. Ah, ah, ah. But yeah, he's the legend for sure. Guys, as always, Lincoln episode description, everything we talked about, Luz, golf and Fish Club. They are one of the most vibrant group in Northern Virginia. I'll put a link in the episode description to everything that we have talked about today. Go play some golf if you haven't. If you have played golf, go check out some of their fishing tournaments. Guys, one more time. Where can they find you? Um, on the golf course or on the lake, but most on the internet, Facebook, Instagram, we have YouTube, we have our own like, LGFC show, we have our own podcasts on there, posting videos and stuff. So yeah, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and that stuff, man.

52:17We're, uh, I post on like, uh, Facebook groups and stuff. They're random about different, just a few groups and stuff and stuff. Yeah, man, we're out here just doing it. Just look for a boat getting chased down by the cops. Anyone's welcome, yeah, anyone's welcome. Like, he's, he's put on his first bass boat. Yeah, this year, I'm one of the first tournament. Yeah. Um, and we've had a number of people do that. And not enough for us one, but, you know, a lot of new fishermen. Experienced fishermen, Thomas Orman came out for years and looked up on us and taught us, uh, tons of stuff and how to fish deep and all kinds of stuff. So, and he's a stick. He's one of the best fishermen find the whole area. So you can go from first time on a boat to, you know, one of the, you know, best ones in the area and have fun and keep those. Sure. Yeah, I'm at him last week. That guy has a character. He's a character. I can fit. Siva, see, it's complete, complete different spectrums all the way from 25 years old to top, a total I am. So 45 years old, it's a big, big, giant group people.

53:21It's all loving the game. Yup. You're for it. It's very much on here for having to get time and loving the game. Guys, as always, linking the episode description to everything we talked about. If you'd like to support the show, go check us out on Patreon, huge shout out to everyone in the hall of fame, tear Mr. Bass, Terry Bailey, Finch and Michael Eckert. He runs Lake Anna Weather LLC on Facebook. If you guys are going to Lake Anna, go check out Lake Anna Weather LLC. Thank you guys so much. And if you guys have any guests, you want me to get on the show, please be sure to join me in fishing the DMV at gmail.com. I'm always looking for more exciting locals to have on the show. And we will see you guys next time on fishing the DMV. Bye. You're listening to Fishing the DMV with your host, Thomas Arons. Fishing the DMV is brought to you by Jake Spaten Tackle, located in Winchester, Virginia. Green top, located in Ashland, Virginia. Fishing Pro Tech, located just outside Williamsburg, Virginia. LMD Enterprise, keeping your boat, truck and equipment running at its absolute finest.

54:25Kevin Flint, Attsclint Financial Planning, steady, thoughtful guidance that meets you where you are and supports what comes next. Max for Fishing and Fit Fluors.