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In this episode of the Mississippi Outdoors Podcast, former Mississippi State quarterback Tyler Russell shares his transition from football fields to fishing tournaments. Tyler discusses how his competitive nature and dedication on the football field have translated into success in bass fishing and tournament participation. He reflects on balancing college athletics with outdoor passions and outlines his strategy for bass fishing, including favorite techniques and the mental parallels between sports competition and fishing.
The Mississippi Outdoors Podcast is produced by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks.
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You’re listening to the Mississippi Outdoors podcast I’m your host Matt Wyatt on today’s episode a guy who threw a bunch of touchdown passes in the Southeastern Conference at Mississippi State BigTime high school player as well but he’s off and running on a post football career that is all about
Fishing bass boats bass tournaments he can catch them and he’s got the social media presence to prove it as well he is Tyler Russell on today’s episode of the Mississippi Outdoors podcast this episode of the Mississippi Outdoors podcast is brought to you by the foundation for Mississippi wildlife fisheries and
Parks thanks for listening to the Mississippi Outdoors podcast I’m Matt Wyatt you probably know Tyler Russell from his football career and that’s understandable because he had a heck of a football career Tyler welcome to the show and and so I think before we get into the outdoor the football career is
Probably the place to start and is that what people kind of remember you maybe for the most still to this day yes uh Matt thanks for having me uh yes football in general just uh you know coming out of Meridian High School and uh being a quarterback that wanted to
Play at uh Mississippi State and and had a pretty good career at Mississippi State yeah most people know me from from that from that I I think I asked you this a couple years ago we went fishing together um but the thing that the specific thing that people still talk to
You about the most you know was it a game against Tennessee in college or a touchdown you know but it’s it’s a high school game right the thing that they talk about still the most yes what was that so I’ve I’ve played you know many games in college and you know uh
Actually got to go to um Canada played over there for a little bit but the one game that people uh talk to me the most about is a high school state championship game here in Mississippi and we played South Panola for the state championship and it was a unbelievable
Game atmosphere the one thing they say is man that game was really really cold when they bring it up it was one of the coldest games I’ve ever I was up there in a broadcast Booth of that game the year helped me was it the oh it was it 2010 or 2009
20089 like I graduated in 2009 so it was a fall of 08 right and that was South panas like they were at the you know in the middle of I guess towards the end of an incredible r of dominance all those state championships I remember the the billing
Going into that game was you know South Panola has got you know the you the University of South Penola the history meridian’s got big stars like Tyler Russell you know I remember that was sort of the the billing of the game it’s so interesting to me that after all
These years that’s what people remember it was a it was a a big a very big game um they had a 89 game winning streak they hadn’t lost in five years so you know it was a whole lot of pressure um but one thing people don’t know we
Actually played them in a jeree game that before the season started really so that was kind of confidence booster for us because we were able to we beat him 7-0 and then jeree jere really means nothing but it showed our guys and it showed me that we could play with them
So we were highly anticipated that you know if we made it to state championship we probably were going to have to play sou Panola so we were ready for him so you you win that game you were already a highly recruited football player and going to be even if you hadn’t won that
Game but you win that game I would think it sort of picked up steam a little bit after that correct it did but not in the way that you probably would think so basically I was committed to sylvestra KW at missii State since my junior year
At high school so I was done with my Recruitment and I was you know so you had committed the year before yeah I committed the year before and I wanted to shut down all recruitment cuz I knew we had a really good chance of making a
Way and going to state chhip so I didn’t want any distractions yeah uh so I was glad to be able to do that uh right after the game against al an only one state championship the next day I get a call from coach groom saying that he’s
Resigned so he said look I’m going to resign just kind of stay patient talk to the ad and at the time I think it was Greg burn at the time that’s right and he said just see who they get right so after we won the state championship my
Phone just was blowing up from different college coaches and keep keep in mind at that point in time signing day was February the 30 was always the first Wednesday in February right you didn’t have the December Sig period you didn’t have the December signing period so you
Know if we won a state championship we have to go to I played in Mississippi Alabama allstar game okay and then while we were down there you had people like Chad Bumpus Fletcher Cox people like that and we all were talking about hey let’s just see let’s see who’s going
To be a coach and while we were down there that’s when we got the word that coach Mullen had accepted job at Mississippi State okay what was your first communication with Dan Mullen like um it was it was good and it was bad too just just being
Honest um we he first called when we were down there and um you know he said hey look we I just got the job I’m going to come down there when y’all finish the game and we’re going to come to school so he came to my school probably the
Week after and I talked to him and at first I was not high on Coach menen being honest just some things that he he said versus when he was at my my school versus that that night when we got to my my house and he talked to my parents
Just didn’t align with what you know I was kind of disappointed because I felt like if he would have taken the time and looked at my character there would have been some things we didn’t have to talk about I see and um so moving forward for
A long time and and this probably the first time I’m really sharing this I was not going to go to Mississippi State okay uh see I I don’t I didn’t know that yeah I was not going to go to Mississippi State uh actually um I had visited Alabama when they were uh
Getting ready to play Utah and sugar bowl so that we could practice we went nobody knew we went this is after we met with Coach Mullen and um we went over there and a funny story I tell people is we’re sitting there we’re talking to
Coach sain and my mom and my dad are there we’re sitting there talking to them about you know possibly coming to um Alabama and this is in tuscala yeah this was right after practice they had just got done with practice for for that week so we went in his office we’re
Talking to him and my mom starts talking and she’s like we just want Tyler to be with a coach who can prepare him for life and you know make him into a man that he needs to become and my mom says if JaMarcus Russell would have had that
That he would have turned out better and Nick sav’s like well I coached Marcus Russell when he was at LSU so we always laugh about that and talk and we’re probably like yeah we probably not going to go to Alabama now um but thanks M
Yeah so I I kind of looked at that but from from the standpoint of recruiting and and things like that we we looked at it and it was between Mississippi State Alabama and South Carolina Steve sper called me one night just out of blue hey this old ball coach
Just Steve I’m like this can’t be it was like a 805 number and I answered it and it was him wow um but the offense coordinator that was at state that left coach mccorvy yeah he went to South Carolina and then that’s how we got
Hooked up and he was telling uh Co sper about me and um for the longest time we it was I was getting phone calls every single day after school letters calls I wouldn’t answer I’ll be honest I didn’t answer when coach M was calling because
I just you know didn’t know it was just something about that I just didn’t feel right so the relationship initially just didn’t click no it didn’t and I and I’ll be honest with that and and I ended up my parents were able to talk to Tim tbo’s parents about Coach Mullen they
Kind of ease some things a little bit and um he actually sent in the calvalry and they sent uh coach Les and uh Les Kenny Les Kenny okay uh Knox coach Knox and then um coach uh coach Smith came and you know they just kind of say
He look you got the we want you you know is that Melvin Smith yes okay Melvin Smith so those three right there now Les kenning Greg Knox and Melvin Smith could could as they say could sell ice to an Eskimo those three Co and Coach Hughes
Oh and Tony Hughes okay so they they sent they sent the calary to come kind of smooth things up sure sure and um in the long run a lot of people don’t know when I and when I share my testimony at different churches and stuff I share it
But my grandmother my senior year was diagnosed with cancer so my mom didn’t get to see me play but like three four games my senior year and U so she was up there in Tennessee Nashville taking care of my grandmother and um my grandmother last the last time that I ever got to
Talk to her this one was when all this was happening kind of this was four state championship she said I’m glad you’re going to Mississppi state and I’m glad you won the state championship and this was before any of that took place so I just something inside of me was
Like you know what that’s what my grandmother thought and she want it so we decided to go Mississippi State so that that was the real reason why why we went oh what a story I don’t think I’ve ever heard that story you you may not have ever shared parts of that before
And of course it’s been a long time now Tyler you like limitations on some of it but and then you wind up at Mississippi State obviously and and you play played early uh in your career so the decision to go started paying off early you
Played as a freshman I think yeah so I played as i r shirted my freshman year okay so the next year uh R shirt freshman year yeah uh I played in some games my my first game was against menis I through I remember it four touchdowns
And in the second half I think yeah and he got um freshman SEC player the week so I’m like man this thing is really easy and then the next week we play Cam Newton Auburn right and uh that was kind of like welcome to SEC and it got a
Little tougher um but I mean I’ve had a great time it was a great time at Mississippi State and and I and people ask like why why did you go to Mississippi State you would been better in a different offense and you know looking back on it that’s probably
Probably would be the case um I was not the the option quarterback that coach Mullen was accustomed to and you know I was a stay in the pocket and deliver a ball down the field type of guy so looking back on I wouldn’t changed anything cuz you know
I met my wife there at State she was a cheerleader and we got a beautiful little girl who’s four so I wouldn’t have changed anything yeah it’s worked out yes so uh and this is you know kind of being in those shoes a few years before you were an athlete on
Campus uh in starville close to home if you like to hunt fish if that’s sort of your world and what you like to do that’s a great place to be and there are plenty of opportunities so for you being someone who obsessed with hunting obsessed with fishing and you’re
A football player how’d you make time for that as an athlete in college it was hard it it was hard and and to be honest with you I probably should have spent more time in football and in school and stuff like that but man just fishing and
Hunting’s always been my passion and I told my mom growing up when I was probably five or six that I wanted to make it to the NFL play for two or three years and then be a professional fisherman that that was truly what my dream was and um Mississippi state was a
Was a great place for for me you find places to go hunting and fishing and a lot of the other guys you know like Cameron lawrens and people like that they love to hunt they love to fish so we we got to do that quite often yeah
Coming up for you as a kid who got you into the outdoor stuff my dad yeah my dad for sure we would go fishing go all day sun up to sun down and I joke with people but I I really think it actually made a difference you know I was a
Quarterback so the throwing motion and kind of throwing a rid and reels kind of the same motion using the same muscles right so I believe my dad always said that that kind of prepared me to be able to throw a football so we would we would
Go yeah all the time um octo County Lake you go there some while in college uh I never fish there to be honest I’ve never gone there as far as the what about the Refuge as far as Hunting Fishing we would we would go out there spend a lot
Of time for some reason the baseball guys right at Missi State yeah they were always the the the hunters out of the bunt so duck hunt and things like that turkey hunt I would go with them yeah yeah so you want to go duck hunt and get
Up with the baseball guys oh yeah yeah 100% well you know again years before you you played I um played there and in the old shy football complex before they built the new stuff you’d walk in and and in the lower level was you know indoor facility weight room but in the
Upper walkway was that giant scale weight scale that all the players had to step on and get weigh their physicals and things and that’s where we’d weigh our fish oh really yeah we you know I’d pull the boat up to the front you know we keep the fish alive and Alive
Well sometimes all the way from OCTA County Lake uh put them in five gallon bucket weigh the bucket and then put the fish in the bucket and wait right back at Live Well take them back to the you know Lake and rele whether we were supposed to or not I
Will admit we released some in chav Lake right behind right by the softball field just it was close right you ever you ever you know find any places close to campus private places to fish hun there was uh one place that was right down the
Way and and actually um I don’t know if you’re familiar with them but Justin Atkins yeah he’s a professional fisherman and he was on the Mississippi State fishing team which I had no idea that there was even a fishing team it was probably good idea that I didn’t
Know cuz I probably would have been doing that a little distracted right but he found a place that wasn’t far and I didn’t know Justin I just saw pictures and different things like that on on Facebook or whatever and um there was this old um little Community right it
Was like a a trailer park and had a lake and they had some Giants in there so we would slip off and go whether we were supposed to or not we would go you would go yeah you mentioned guys on the team like cam Lawrence
Who he played some had some time in the NFL Cowboys was on their 53 and played a lot of special teams uh other teammates people that you’d spend time with and whether it’s hunting trips fishing trips together that just kind of the thing that y’all did in the offseason oh yeah
We would we would just we would go um Dylan day the center he’s not really known for hunting or fishing or anything like that but Ben Beck with we all would get together and go out to a Ben’s place which is on the big Black River yeah out
Towards Yu and i’ I’ve been with Ben I still talk to him about it all the time I probably missed the biggest ear I ever had a chance to shoot at with Ben and I shot him shot him like three times he didn’t move so Ben is responsible for a
Lot of guys killing their first deer okay he he really is so how about that I’m learned a lot about those old Mississippi State days that I didn’t know yeah uh uh so so Ben was the guy who would take you and put you on a deer
Oh yeah 100% especially when we got you know a little bit older you know around our junior year and stuff like that and you’re kind of figuring everybody out and you know you’re more comfortable going places because you know that you know you put in time and work fars
Football wise and then when it’s time to play Work Hard Play Hard it’s kind of what what we did yeah so now and in those years uh you were a year or two ahead of Dak but you were a teammate with Dak at Mississippi State and I’ve
I’ve always known you know Dak he was a fisherman he loved it now or not he went hunting I don’t know but I I I know that Dak enjoys fishing did y’all ever go together y’all ever yeah we we actually we went this was probably when I was
Done playing okay so it was probably the the next year and he was still in school he still was in was in school another guy that was on the defensive line Tory Dale yeah from Louisiana he big hunter loved to duck hunt and fish and we
Actually Dak and Tori we went out to the same place you and I fished okay around Aberdine yeah and uh it was great they I got to show them kind of kind of how it was done out there so they they enjoyed it it was fun well I sure enjoyed going
Out there with you and we’re going to do that again soon too got the pictures in the video by the way to prove it that’s right uh that not only does Tyler know where there’s some big fish he knows how to catch them you um you spent a good
Hour and a half throwing that top water frog and it was at a time of year when it’s it’s a little bit harder they a little less aggressive water still a little bit cold but you stayed at it and finally got that strike and caught that
Big on a top water frog I was impressed with your determination that day oh yeah I I was determined to catch one on the Frog top water fishing if you say you’re an adamant Mass fisherman now we’ll get into that when I say adamant I mean fishing tournaments a lot of miles you
Know you’ve won tournaments really into it you got a chance to you know turn this into a career for those that are listening that might not realize that we’ll get into that so from a bass fishing standpoint your favorite techniques if you were to rank them one
Two three this is how if you could choose to go catch them this is how you want to do it what’s your top three ways to catch them top three ways first would be a spar bait really spin one yes that’s my go-to I’m probably giving away
Secrets but that’s fine but that’s my that’s my go-to I’ve won a lot of money on a spinner bait I just I’m confident with it it was a a deal when I was a did you could go buy them and you could literally throw it all day you didn’t
Have to worry about reing anything putting another worm or whatever on and and I really got proficient proficient with it and one reason was watching Hank Parker and those guys sure Kevin mam he he loved the spinner bait and I just I’ve always L her spinner bait it will
Be on my deck when I’m fishing for sure okay the second would probably be some form of top water I do like a top water bite a lot of people don’t realize when you’re top water fishing the hookup ratio is is not that great right so it’s it’s very hard especially
Weedless things like the frog or right it’s very hard to you know you’re line braid rod reel all that matters when you’re top water fishing right um and the third one would be just a some form of of floating worm whether that’s a sticko or a wacky rig or anything like
That is is what we would we would do okay so first first of all you’re number one you said spinner bait and with all the recent over the last 20 years even the the recent technology of baits and lures and Rigs and tackle and everything I would I would think that yes it’s
Tried and true but most people probably look at an old you know 3/4 you know half ounce of you know spinner bait as oldfashioned oh yeah sort of an oldfashioned way of catching them yep but that’s your go-to it’s my go-to one reason is in the past last 10 years
We’ve had the ChatterBait come out right so the ChatterBait really replaced the spinner bait so if you think about it everybody went away from the spinner bait and they started throwing a ChatterBait well the fish get used to seeing a ChatterBait so sometimes you can take those old ORS like a spinner
Bait and different things like that and you can catch them because they don’t see it all the time so it’s like it’s like fashion yeah you know the old stuff that was yeah the the the the jeans and the things that people wore in the 80s
Kind of come back in style you know the big sunglass they come back in that’s right H and you know there’s another thing you mentioned I I remember years ago when I you know still had some money and was still into fish before I you
Know spit it all uh there were lots of experts that their advice for young upand cominging tournament fishermen and those who took it seriously was you know figure out what you like to do and become good at that right instead of thinking you got to be good at every
Technique and every T you know rig and every type of bait for you like Denny Brower fishing a jig you know Kevin vanam is it’s like you it sounds like you have become proficient with that you trust it you know how to fish it so you just fish it yeah it’s a confidence
Level right A lot of people don’t understand fishing especially Tournament Fishing is all about confidence so if I have confidence in that bait I’m going to take my time I’m going to reel it a lot slower or I might have to reel it faster but I’m in tune with whatever
Bait that I have confidence in now if I know the guys are catching them on a you know a jig or something half ounce jig I’m not a jig guy okay right so it’s hard for me to pick up a jig and go flip all day because I don’t have any
Confidence in it but it seems like I can take a spinner bait even if I get five bites that’s all you need in a tournament and a lot of times when I do use a spinner bait I catch really good fish so it’s just a confidence confidence thing doing what you know how
To do that’s right there’s a football analogy in there there somewhere you know like an offense that really doesn’t have an identity they’re just trying to do what everybody else does they usually are not a very good offense that’s right but find out what you can do well and
Just do it roll with that that’s a that’s a really good you know the top water deal okay you mentioned um so if let’s say have you have someone listening right now maybe it’s a young person that looks up to Tyler Russell in his football and fishing career what’s what’s top water
Advice for better hookups CU because yeah you going to miss some fish especially throwing in that frog make long cast so how do you how do you remedy that what’s the advice I don’t think there’s ever a remedy for it I think it’s a lot of look involved but
Something that will make you better and I always do like so when I throw out there with a frog and I’m twitching my frog and I stop right and a bass comes to get it before I set the hook I go 101 100002 then I set the hook right cuz a
Lot a lot of times when you initially see the blow up see the strike yeah they had got the bait yet right so I had to slow down cuz I was missing a lot of fish so if you slow down you let that fish actually inhale that bait your
Hookup ratio is a lot better better which is hard to do oh yeah let’s be real cuz you see that blow up yeah you want to it’s really hard a lot of times if I’m frog fishing I know I’m going to hear it right when the bass strikes a
Lot of times I won’t even look at my pH so don’t watch it don’t watch it that’s hard to do it’s hard it’s hard to do it is very hard to do but if I see a Target out there and I want to place that frog
There and I I say you know what I’m gonna place it here I should get a a bite right I throw it out there I’m GNA twitch it but um it’s kind of like being a quarterback and using peripherals right right I’m not looking at the baits
Speak but I am you’re holding the safety in the middle of your eyes but you don’t want to look too soon then you lead him to where you throw it at Y and there’s a lot to say about you know when a frog you get get a frog out of the pack I
Like to bend the hooks up just a little bit okay to where when I rub in the back of that frog I can feel the hook right now it’s not going to be as weedless right but if you’re fishing open water or not a whole lot of vegetation and
Stuff like that yeah you’re going to have a much better hookup ratio and and on a top water frog you need to throw braided line if you can yeah I I 100% throw braid I’ll probably throw 65 lb braid when I’m frog fishing and so that’s going to help with
One once you get a strike and you’re hooked up is to get them out of those lily pads and get them out of that grass but there’s also an element of there’s no give in the line when you set the hook after that long cast y so there’s
No stretch in bra there’s a lot less stretch and braid than say mono or fluorocarbon so if there’s no stretch when you set the hook on that fish he’s going to fill it right you’re going to get a good hook in them okay and uh I
Didn’t know that growing up so I was throwing it with with mono mono filament I never give this story I went with um my high school coach it was Larry Williams his brother is Billy Williams he loved the fish and uh so I went out
There with him in Clark County uh at a local Lake that he knew privately and it was covered in Lily pass and he told me hey probably going to be a frog deal okay well I had no idea about about braid right no idea and they were just
Loading the boat and I was just missing all these fish missing them and they’re catching them yep and I was using you know just big gang right it was cheap you could buy it still is cheap today and you could buy and um I was missing a
Lot of fish because I wasn’t using braid I didn’t make that mistake again learn that quickly how about that a coach can teach you a lot of things not just how to complete a pass but maybe how to get more hookups on top water fro that’s
Right uh that’s really neat all right so did you have a bass boat in college I didn’t didn’t so really so like I said my dad had a boat all the way when I was growing up and and we we really didn’t dabble into the Tournament Fishing okay
At all we just would go to his favorite lake is uh ker County Lake and we go up there stay all day long you know two days a week almost you know after school or whatever and we would go fish and that’s what we would do so I really
Didn’t get into the Tournament Fishing and I you know I mentioned Justin ains so I saw a post I think it was on Twitter or social media account something like that and he had this really cool Jersey on and it was Mississippi State it was a fishing Jersey I’m like man that’s
That’s pretty cool I had no idea like I said before they had a fishing team so I thought I was reaching out to a guy that had um was on the fishing team but it was actually a sponsor of the fishing team okay and it was a a particular ride
That I started using and things like that but that’s who I was with and actually introduced me to pck so I didn’t know anything about Pickwick or it being that close until I started going up there with those guys and and you where were you living at the time I
Was in starville you in starville and so from starville to pck you’re two-hour drive this was during spring break on year uhhuh Y and so you go up there Smallmouth large mouth I I was blown away I didn’t even know that smallmouth bass were that close relative
You know to where I was at location wise I thought it was this foreign thing that you you you had to go off to like St Lawrence River Michigan to uh to catch them so that that really introduced me to actual Tournament Fishing what it was about different techniques and just like
I thought I knew but I didn’t you know you think you’re so good at fishing and going fishing in ponds and being able to catch fish and different things like that but then you go fish a tournament that’s actually the first place I fish a tournament was P Wick with those guys
Really yeah and we actually came in second we or not so the first tournament you fished in was not just anywhere it’s at pck and you finished second in it y well no wonder you got hooked yeah it I couldn’t it’s kind of like football your first game as a freshman right first
Game you ever played and you threw four touchdown passes you’re thinking it’s pretty easy yeah yeah and and it’s something to say about that because you you think you know and then you get around the guys that are really really good that that’s their home Lake they’ve
Done it for they grew up there right they know all the secret spots they know everything I know what technique to use what time of year and then that’s when I really started learning and really putting together a program of okay it’s kind of like in football when we start a
Game a lot of people don’t understand the first team game or the first 10 plays are scripted right it doesn’t matter what happens we’re stay on that script for 10 plays M and then by 10 plays you should be in the flow of things and then you kind of start doing
Other things yeah so Tournament Fishing is the same way you have in the back of your mind you might have four or five starts that you want to start at and a lot of it is boat number and boat number determines which you know the order in
Which you’re going to go out far as the line um and a tournament when you get to take off right so you know if I got a lown number boat number I want to go to my best spot first because it might be a morning bik but there’s sometimes where
I will purposely not register until like the last person because I get a later draw right so instead of being in at 2:30 I might have to be back in check in at 3:30 so you fish a little later yeah cuz I have a better afternoon bite and
You don’t know that unless you fish uh practice you know and some people listening Tyler might think well 2:30 versus 3:00 what’s the difference but that 30 minutes can make all the difference if that’s when it turns on or if that’s when water starts moving that’s right that’s right pit Wick it’s
All about the current yeah his current base and the T TVA they determine when they’re going to turn the current on when they going to turn it off and they don’t care anything about fishing yeah right it’s just what’s on their schedule that’s that’s what’s going to happen so
A lot of times when the current gets going at pit Wick that’s when you can catch them you can see Fish offshore because pit Wick is mainly offshore fishing yeah using your electronics being able to find the fish offshore I love that that’s probably one of the
Ways that’s top ways I like to catch them is finding them offshore and be able to take a you know a big crank bait or something and coming through the school of them sometimes you can see them down there and they won’t bite they won’t bite because there’s no current
Time that current turns on they just go crazy they turn on yeah so and it which is fascinating so that’s just one of the many many factors things that go into like you know the mental computer try to figure out fish during a during a bass
Tournament yeah so so the first one you ever fished in with your buddies you finished second what about solo like it’s it’s your plan it’s your boat your spot you’re on the trolling motor when was your first experience with that uh it probably was I going say
2015 14 somewhere in there okay so you’re about four five years out of school right so I think a lot of people don’t understand this but a lot of people want they want to fish as a team right two people yeah fishing yeah you got team
Trails right so a lot of times what I would do is and it would cost me more money because you’re not splitting it the entry fee with somebody but a lot of times I would fish those by myself cuz I would be the one making the decisions if
I called a limit it would be cuz I made the right decision cuz you don’t understand even when you’re fishing with a buddy he could say something and that distracts you from the game plan that you ultimately had in your mind right so if you’re serious about Tournament
Fishing and want to move up you know and fish professionally or whatever the case may be um Joe Thomas yeah you know Joe he’s a good buddy of mine fish professionally a long time Abbot Hunter all this he told me he was like look if
You want to fish you want to work your way up even in team tournaments fish them by yourself cuz you’re going to make all the decisions so if you do good it’s because of you if you do bad it’s also because of you so I really started
Doing that and I really started gaining confidence and it didn’t matter to me to go out there and fish what would be a team Tournament Trail fish it by myself and I I I won a really big tournament on Ross forette it was a team Tournament
Trail I fished it by myself and I won and that that gave me all the confidence in the world yeah CU for the longest time I was and I I admit this I was so scared to fish a tournament by myself yeah even like being in the boat line
Going out scared me you know it’s kind of like you know going out there running out the tunnel yeah you know you’re jittery you’re shaking and you don’t know what’s going to happen then you get the first pass completed or you take the first hit you’re ready but I never got
Ready because I was always scared to put myself out there right because you always want to do good sure one thing about fishing everybody can see how you do you’re not you’re if you have a bad day people going to see you can’t hide it can’t hide it and that’s one thing
That kind of I think took me away from Tournament Fishing early on was man if I get out here and I do bad yeah you know people were going me to say out of 200 people Tyler was 200 you know yeah and uh I think that’s something to to say
About that too you know it’s just it’s all about confidence but you have to be confidence within yourself and you’re not fishing against 199 other people you’re fishing against the fish fishing it yourself and your mind because your mind will ultimately take you out of things right
You know it’ll tell you hey you know that guy over there is catching fish you should have got there first he’s on your hole or he just he just caught a fish he threw it back so that means he’s got a limit you don’t have anything what are
You going to do and then you start your mind starts you know playing tricks and speeding up the process on what should I do you you get you get freaked out a little bit well and the perfect term there you get beted up yeah you know and
Tyler there are so many things that can be a football analogy like playing quarterback that’s one of the things you’re always getting coached out of is getting sped up Young quarterback things starts moving fast and your attention goes all over the place you’re trying to
Soak it all in and they say he’s getting sped up you know you got and sometimes you have to get benched to slow back down right and 100% you know fishing the same way you’re right it’s you can get sped up and you know what great advice
From Joe Thomas for you so so there’s Joe a guy who anything regarding professional fishing from tournament to TV to anything else in competition he’s he knows it and has been there and he says if you want to do this eventually you’re going to have to be able to do it
On your own you might as well start learning now yeah how about that yeah and it just for him saying that and me jumping in started jumping in tournaments by myself gave me all the confidence just like I think the last really big tournament I fished in was
The uh tournament that was on pit Wick it was a big fish tournament this past summer and uh it was a team tournament I fished it by myself well it’s a three-day tournament and I didn’t figure the fish out till like the last four
Hours on the third day and I was able to cash you know a couple checks out of that so you feel accomplished because there was probably 5 600 entries people and boats fishing you know you know that tournament so to be able to to figure it
Out you feel you feel good now I do enjoy fishing with my buddies right and a lot of times these Thursday night tournaments are some of the the the funnest that you can fish I will fish with a buddy right uh because you don’t
Have a whole lot of time you kind of got to decide okay this is what we’re going to do and that’s what we’re going to do and how we finish we finish uh but that that’s another thing I will say too those Thursday night tournaments especially around Ross Bernett stuff
Like that those are some of the funnest yeah and there’s some some really really good sticks in there that can catch them they can catch them yeah and that’s that’s what they live for those Thursday night tournaments yeah and that’s really what it’s all about it’s fun you know so
For you is is that kind of the goal for you is to continue with it and turn it into a career you think well you know because I know you’re doing some coaching you just started that early on I wanted to you know be a professional fisherman right but I thought you
Actually had to be a professional fisherman to like get the sponsors and you know do all this different things and on a trail right and and be honest you don’t right there’s there’s a couple buddies of mine who are big- time fishermen that if they made it to the
Elite Series which is one of the top organizations uh far as professional fishermen there is they wouldn’t go and I I couldn’t understand that I don’t understand it but when you when you really look at the money side of things because it’s a business yeah and you
Really break it down a lot of these people will tell you that fish for a long time you actually can make more money fishing a good weekend Trail right closer to home closer to home in a lot of cases think about expenses gas all the stuff you’re fishing a home late
Where a lot of times I don’t even go practice CU I kind of know what the fish are going to do in that time of year so practice days been away from home you got a family different things like that I had to really look at that and and say
Say you know what I can’t right now I can’t go chase that right but these weekend tournaments I can do that yeah right I can go cast some good checks in these weekend tournaments so that’s kind of what I’m focused on now and then you talk about social media and starting the
Social media and different things like that I really see that you can have an impact on a social media stage far as you know videoing and putting content up that you can get the same same result there’s different sponsors and different things like that because there are
Millions of people okay like me you have you share a video of catching a fish I’ll watch it every single time I’ll watch it and you’re fting that out aren’t you oh yeah because you’ll be you’ll be surprised at the number of people that will watch fishing or they
Watch it and they don’t know what kind of technique or how it’s done so I really like and this goes back to you know helping coaching football and stuff like that I like to be able to take some that doesn’t know what I know and try to
Relay that information to them to where they can do it right one of my uh best buddies Frederick Walker he was a ga at Mississippi State when I was there he’s actually the quarterback coach with the Raiders now and I took him to catch his first fish at that same place you went
And it was so frustrating because it’s like you it’s kind of like and you’ll relate to this it’s kind of like teaching a young kid how to do a threep drop it’s muscle memory to you yeah I mean you just can do it but having somebody who’s never done it before it’s
Like you got to go back through all the small little details and it really humbles you it really does because you know that it’s something that you were able to learn learn and if you can relay that information to somebody who’s never done it and then they can go out there
And be successful then that’s what it’s all about and then that’s that’s what I like to do Tyler a rumor has it that you may be catching the crappie bug also yeah true yeah that’s true that’s true I you know a lot of people associate crappie fishing with you know being
Retired or retired guy going out there and S on the boat they say you’re you’re not old enough for Crappie fishing yeah that’s that’s what I’ve heard my dad tell you’re not you’re not old enough to crappie fish he’s like I don’t even crappy fish you know yeah but they taste
Really good right absolutely right you can catch a bunch of them right the the cre limit and stuff like that is really good at a lot of our state lakes and different things yeah you live in Mississippi Missippi which is like crappie capital of the world right and
You take that for granted right we have we you know there’s several different lakes in in Mississippi that are the top in the country right yeah so I got the bug and and and we’ll understand this but I got the bug to crappie fish on my electronics using Liv scope right it’s
Something Game Changer Game Changer you you’re seeing all these crappie fishing that’s really when the Liv scope took off is crappie fishing and a lot of these guys can put a really just 116 o jig in front of a crappie that’s down there 15 something feet he can tell you
What kind of mood that crappies in well doing that with a bass will be a lot easier right so it’s like it’s forcing me to get better at my electronics using Liv scope so when I do step into a bass fishing tournament I’m I’m confident if
I see bass on there I feel like I can make them bite yeah uh so it’s all about Electronics but it is is fun it is fun when you and the way I’m the way I’m doing it way I’m fishing is I’m actually hunting Down single crappie right using
My electronics and then throwing to them and catching them a lot of your bigger crappie seems like for me anyways seems like the bigger crappie are off way from the smaller crappie and they’re just kind of Sol low if you got a brush pile down there they might not be in the
Brush pile they might be 40 feet off the brush pile but that’s still a crappie down there and I I like try to catch those yeah and it’s you mentioned social media for those listening if they want to go see some of the fish you catch you
Share a lot of content where do they find you well I I recently just started a YouTube channel I’m trying to get my my content level up and it’s it’s it’s hard to do but my uh father my social media platform far as YouTube my name is
Grit iron grit okay Outdoors it’s the name of my my channel okay so yeah it’s almost as good as yacht yacht a name anyway yeah you follow David’s footsteps you be doing good he’s he’s awesome he’s he’s got it figured out it’s a lot of
Work it is not easy well it’s just like anything Tyler people when you were playing quarterback okay you look up the numbers the thousands of yards and all the touchdowns and at times you made it look easy people who are good at something they make it look easy they
Make it look simple and it almost never is nope and you know the the the fishermen the pros they make it look easy it’s not uh getting lots of views on YouTube David Ellis makes it look easy it’s not is it it is not it it it’s so much more
Than just putting the video up and saying hey yeah it’s from your thumbnail on you know what what the video is actually about to what you’re doing in the video well and the consistency of having it out there constantly oh it it’s you know the more you put it out
There more consistent you know you get in the algorithm and you know YouTube will push it in front of the following that W right and it and it’s been tough you know you got a you work a full-time job and doing all this other stuff it’s it’s hard to really stay really
Consistent with it but that’s something that I’m I’m trying to get better at is being consistent with it but I don’t want to just put out a video and say hey I just went fishing day I want to to relate to somebody that you know some of
The comments that I’ve gotten from my my YouTube videos that I that I put out is hey what size line hey what size Jad you know and I wasn’t going to share this but I really got the bug bad to where I’m actually tying my own jigs really
Yes ah yeah so that’s another one you’re not supposed to do that until you’re older but you’re making your own stuff now yeah I’ve always been not artistic but I like the paint and and different whether that’s on a gun stock or you know uh airbrush different bass bait
Different things like that and and Ty jigs goes hand in hand and it’s it’s so much fun when you have a jig head and you tie it up together right and you go out there and you catch fish on it that’s just that’s fun to me yeah you
Know and sometimes the thumbnails they have to be kind of clickbaity you could do one that says I taught Dak how to fish now whether it’s true or not you get you know you’ll draw in some attention and it may be true maybe you did teach him how to catch fish as far
As anybody how cat home spinner bait dot dot dot on a spinner bait that’s great well it’s good to catch up with you man and uh I’m I’m so happy for you that post football career you got another career that may be just as enjoyable if not more so uh than
Throwing that pig skin around that’s throwing that spinner bait and Kens and lunkers and we’re going to keep following you I appreciate it yep appreciate a little time that’s Tyler Russell the man who taught Dak how to catch a bass on a spinner baay thanks for listening to the Mississippi
Outdoors podcast and we’ll see you Outdoors Oh
1 Comment
Amazing interview hail state