Fish Tales Podcast Recap: Byron Velvick Kicks Off 2026 With a “Best Of” Year-in-Review

Byron Velvick opened 2026 by doing what Fish Tales has quickly become best at: slowing down long enough to appreciate the stories that stick. In the first episode of the new year (recorded Monday, January 5, 2026), Velvick looked back at the show’s biggest “shorts” and most-watched segments from the back half of 2025, celebrating the guests, the momentum, and the moments that made anglers hit replay.

The concept was simple: pick six standout segments that viewers loved, keep a few surprises intact, and use them as a launchpad for what’s coming next. Along the way, Byron pointed listeners toward the Livingston Lures app and the Livingston Lure YouTube channels (Fish Tales included), noting the show crossed 5,000 subscribers in December after launching in the July or August window. That milestone mattered, but the bigger signal was this: the audience is connecting because the show isn’t trying to manufacture drama. It’s letting fishing people talk like fishing people.

And then Byron leaned into a theme that quietly became the backbone of the episode: “The One That Got Away.”

Not always a fish. Sometimes it’s an opportunity. A decision. A wrong turn at the crossroads that, in hindsight, changed everything.

The Segment That Framed the Whole Episode: Dave Mercer and the YouTube Mulligan

The first featured guest was Dave Mercer, one of the show’s early standouts, whose segment pulled strong numbers and landed squarely inside the episode’s theme.

Mercer’s “one that got away” wasn’t a lost fish or a lost tournament. It was time.

He described joining YouTube early (2008), building a real audience (tens of thousands of subscribers), and then stepping away during the exact decade when the platform turned into the engine that now drives modern fishing media. He didn’t say he failed on YouTube. He said he paused at the worst possible time because, like everyone else in that era, he believed television was the future. He chased TV wins, awards, recognition and in doing so he stopped feeding the machine that compounds when you’re consistent.

The most valuable takeaway wasn’t regret. It was the lesson Mercer spelled out plainly: if a new platform is taking off, the early adopters who keep showing up get paid in reach later. Timing matters, but so does staying in the game when it’s still small.

Byron’s reaction made the segment even better. He didn’t pretend he would’ve done differently. He admitted he would have made the same TV-first choice. That honesty gave the point weight.

The “One That Got Away” Isn’t Always a Fish: Skeet Reese and the Format That Changed Everything

Next, Byron shifted to Skeet Reese, and this segment hit different because it wasn’t about a momentary mistake. It was about a system.

Reese described what it felt like to dominate a season-long points race and still lose the Angler of the Year title because of a postseason playoff format. In his view, he earned it across the full year, across the whole country, across every condition, then watched it get reset into a short sprint. He didn’t blame other anglers. He blamed the structure.

What made the segment heavy was the part that didn’t sound like fishing talk at all. Reese explained how that experience created real trauma for him as a competitor, and how it contributed to a depressive spiral. It was a rare moment of vulnerability from someone who’s lived his whole career in performance mode.

The key point wasn’t controversy. It was perspective: sometimes “the one that got away” isn’t because you didn’t execute. Sometimes it’s because the rules changed after you already did the work.

Mark Zona, Encore Beach Club, and Why Fish Tales Works

Byron then pivoted away from the “one that got away” theme and into something the audience clearly loves: Byron and Mark Zona cutting it up like old friends who’ve seen too many backstage hallways and too many late-night tournament conversations.

This segment was classic Fish Tales because it was half fishing culture and half pure human storytelling. Byron set the scene: ICAST back when it was in Las Vegas, a party at Encore Beach Club, the kind of night where the memory is stitched together from snapshots and laughter.

Zona took over from there and turned a simple memory into a full-on story, including the kind of detail only Zona can make funny: the bathroom signage that made him realize just how different Vegas nightlife is from “middle of nowhere” living. The segment worked because it wasn’t trying to be a punchline. It was just two guys remembering a time and letting the audience sit at the table.

And Byron’s bigger point was clear: people aren’t only coming to Fish Tales for tips. They’re coming for the fishing world’s oral history. The stuff you only hear if you’re in the room.

Bobby Barrack, the Delta, and the Most Savage “Back Deck” Story You’ll Ever Hear

If you’ve ever fished behind someone, or fished with someone who doesn’t understand boat etiquette, Bobby Barrack’s segment is the kind that makes your blood pressure rise while you’re laughing.

The setup was brutal. Barrack is in a Bassmaster event on the California Delta, and Bassmaster’s cameras want to follow him. He tries to manage the situation, protect water, orchestrate the shot, and keep things moving. He even has a fish located: a giant under a specific piece of cover.

Then the co-angler in the back fires a long cast over Bobby’s shoulder and lands the frog exactly where the big fish lives. The fish eats. The dream fish. On camera. In the middle of the first major Bassmaster coverage.

Barrack’s description of the internal conflict was the whole story. What do you do when the fish you’ve managed and timed and protected gets poached on national TV? You don’t want to explode. You can’t explode. So you swallow it and keep fishing while your brain is screaming.

The closing line from Ray Scott — “That was some bush league stuff right there, boy. But it’s gonna make for some great TV.” — landed like a gavel. It was funny because it was true. And it was painful because it was true.

This is the kind of segment that makes Fish Tales valuable. It captures the real ethics and tensions of fishing competition that rarely get explained in public.

Rick Clunn’s “One That Got Away”: When Ideas Become Everyone’s

Byron’s next highlight was Rick Clunn, and this one was fascinating because Clunn’s “one that got away” was business.

Clunn told two stories that felt like fishing-industry folklore. One involved early adoption of a product that went mainstream (Teva sandals) without Clunn ever thinking to pursue the opportunity behind it. The second was bigger: Clunn described being involved in discussions with Abu Garcia about improving reels, including the concept of integrating a thumb bar, a feature now standard across modern casting reels.

Clunn wasn’t bitter. He was reflective. He framed it as a personal truth: he was never a strong businessman in that specific way. He was an innovator and competitor, but not wired to protect ideas or monetize influence.

The episode’s theme kept showing up: “the one that got away” is often a moment you don’t realize matters until the future arrives and proves it.

Bill Dance’s Most-Watched Moment: A Classic Story With a Twist of Grace

Byron saved the heaviest segment for last, and he said up front it was the most-watched short so far — over 30,000 views — and the most heartfelt moment in the show’s young history.

Bill Dance told a Bassmaster Classic story from an era when anglers could only carry 10 pounds of tackle. He described fishing deep, following bass that kept sliding deeper day after day, and leaning hard on one specific bait: purple-and-white-dot floating worms. He explained how they were rationing worms, even reshaping chewed-up plastics with a cigarette lighter to keep them usable.

Then came the moment: Dance hooks a good fish close to the boat, and the camera crew asks him to let it swim back out so they can capture another jump. He agrees. The hook comes out. The fish is gone.

The story could’ve ended there as pure heartbreak — “the one that got away” that cost him a Classic. But Dance took it somewhere deeper. After weigh-in, he learned the tournament winner needed that money desperately for his family. Dance’s wife framed it in a way that flipped the emotional weight: everything happens for a reason. Dance hugged the winner and later heard words that stunned him: “Thank you for not winning this tournament.”

That’s why the segment hit so hard. It wasn’t just about losing. It was about losing and then realizing you can still be at peace with it.

Byron’s commentary after the clip made the moment even more real, reminding listeners how many legends never won a Classic, and how thin the margin is between winning and being the guy with the story.