I donât get to go very much, but my favorite trip is deep sea fishing. Iâve got a cousin thatâs got a boat, and we go tuna fishing out of Orange Beach, Ala. We go about 118 miles out to the rigs and fish all night. We catch a lot of blackfins, and then early in the mornings you can catch some yellowfins. Theyâre killing the yellowfins right now about 40 miles out â getting a five-man limit in about three hours. Itâs an awesome trip.
My biggest tournament bass was right around 9 pounds â in the lower 9-pound range. I caught it at Lake Okeechobee off a bed in an FLW event. I caught one that was 8-14 or 8-15 in this yearâs Elite Series opener at St. Johns. Iâve caught a couple of them right around 9 pounds, but Iâve never broke 10 pounds in a tournament. I guess they were all in Florida.
The biggest bag Iâve ever caught? I weighed in at Santee Cooper in a Costa event a couple of years ago with five that weighed 32-1. Then I had a bag at St. Johns that ended up weighing 30-4.
Boy, thereâs a lot of them. We go to a lot of games. My wife, sheâs an Alabama alum. We get season tickets. Probably the best game that Iâve been to was when Terrence Cody blocked two field goals against Tennessee, and we won that game 12-10 (in 2009). That was a great game to be at. Everybody wants to win comfortably, but itâs more exciting when itâs close like that and something wild happens. The worst game Iâve ever been to was the 2010 Auburn game when we were beating them pretty bad at home, and Cam Newton brought them back to beat us.
I like to go fishing â thatâs no joke. This last year has been pretty busy, and I havenât been able to do it as much as I want to. But I think the more I fish, the better I fish. The better decisions I make. So I like to stay on the water as much as possible. It doesnât necessarily have to be bass fishing. But once the season starts, most everything I do is bass fishing. During the winter, I like to do a lot of crappie fishing â and I like to put some in the freezer. One thing I really enjoy about Alabama football is tailgating. I bring a Cajun fryer, and since Iâm the chef, Iâll cook crappie sometimes for 30 guys.
Anything and everything. We like to grill a lot. When we get somewhere, we usually go to the grocery store and buy enough for three or four nights. I do a little bit of everything. Iâll bring some deer tenderloin, wrap them in bacon and put some peppers and cream cheese in it. Weâll cook some crappie. We do a lot of cooking of wild game, steaks, pork chops, chicken â we like it all.
To catch? It would have to be a tuna, just because of the fight. Bass put up a great fight, but itâs over pretty fast. I caught a 9-pounder at the St. Johns River, and it fought for 15 seconds â and thatâs a long fight. It just happens so quick, most of the time on a short line. But I remember hooking a blackfin tuna one night that was probably 80 to 100 pounds. I donât know for sure because I didnât land it. I fought it for 47 minutes in 2,500 feet of water. We got it away from all of the rigs and everything, but my line broke. When you can fight something that long, itâs pretty unbelievable. In freshwater, I love to catch crappie because I love to feel that bite. They really thump it. But for the fight, I love to catch stripers.
Editor’s note: Scott is piloting the boat in this photo.
Either Florida fishing or fishing for smallmouth, which was up north â because we never did that in Alabama. But I sort of caught on to that after a couple of trips. My first trip to Lake Champlain, I finished about 100th place. My next trip was like in the 20s. But then Iâve made three or four Top 10s since then. But the Florida fishing was probably tougher than that for me.
I love the northern part of the country, but I wouldnât want to build a house up there because of the winters. It would probably be Table Rock. Itâs one of my favorite lakes in the country. Iâve done well every time Iâve been there, and I just like the way it fishes. I really like that part of the country.