“The Big Bass Podcast” — Our Origin Story
We like big bass, and we cannot lie….
Actually, we love big bass, and we know exactly why! Big bass fascinate us. We love catching them, looking at them, and hearing about them. Now, through “The Big Bass Podcast,” we also love telling about them.
And if you’re looking for someone to blame for “The Big Bass Podcast,” look no further than me. It was my idea. For years now, I’ve wanted to do a podcast and YouTube channel on bass fishing. Problem was, there were already lots of podcasts and YouTube channels on bass fishing. Some covered the tournament trails and newsmakers. Others taught. Still others did other stuff … though I couldn’t always figure out what. Lots of the shows were and are terrific. I didn’t want to try to compete with them.
I wanted to do something different, but something that I was still passionate about.
Then it hit me. I decided to tell the stories of some of the biggest and most important bass ever caught … or lost … or fabricated out of thin air. It would be part history, part lore, lots of old stuff, some new stuff. “Big” would be relative. After all, a “big” redeye bass would not look very big compared to a big largemouth.
The show would cover the entire realm of the Micropterus genus. If it was a black bass and it was “big,” it was a candidate for the show … as long as it was interesting, compelling, and maybe a little bit obscure. I had absolutely no interest in telling a story unless I could bring something new, illuminating, and exciting to the telling. Most of all, I wanted to learn something in the process of researching and relating these stories.
But then I remembered what always stopped me from achieving my dreams of podcast fame and fortune. I have no technical skills. If you were to ask me to boot up a computer, I would assume it requires the proper footwear.
Enter my longtime friend Nathan Benson — digital media guru, avid angler, and legendary for his level head. Nathan could do all the tech stuff so I could confine my worries to telling the stories.
But there are soooo many stories, and I knew that to be successful the podcast would need to post new content every week. Stale podcasts get nowhere, and I have a tendency to disappear down the research rabbit hole if left to my own devices. There was just no way I could keep myself on a weekly content creation schedule.
Who on earth had the bass bug as bad as me … who was as fascinated by telling obscure stories about bass fishing as me … who had as much respect for telling those stories well and thoroughly? What I really needed was a content creation partner who knew his stuff better than I do.
Enter Dr. Terry Battisti, another longtime friend and owner/operator of Bass-Archives.com. I knew Terry would not only dive into the big bass abyss with me, he’d be an accountability partner and make me better at telling the stories than I could ever be on my own.
The team was set. And we’re working hard to bring you best podcast and YouTube channel we can. We hope you’re enjoying it.
And if you’ve ever played one of our shows to the very end, that loud noise you hear is the sound of a slamming door. It symbolizes the approach we take to each episode. We want to tell the story so well and so thoroughly that no one else dares to tell it after we do. Once a big bass story has received “The Big Bass Podcast” treatment, we like to think there’s nothing left to be said.
Ken Duke
Orlando, Florida
January 3, 2023
