Did you get Click Baited?

It is amazing how creative editing and click bait creates a false narrative for attention or to whip a misinformed fanbase into a frenzy. Always remember that there are two sides to every story and the most vocal perception isn’t always the truth. In this incidence, my name and integrity has been questioned and called out in pursuit of clicks on several podcasts and edited YouTube videos in an attempt to discredit my abilities and character.

You will hear guys in this industry say, “leave it out on the water” and after I loaded my boat on Day 2 of the Bassmaster EQ at Harris Chain I was indifferent to Ben Milliken. I didn’t like the guy nor dislike the guy. He was just another competitor on the water playing the game. For a polarizing figure, I didn’t care one way or another if he won the tournament, made the Elites or achieved any other accolades by working hard and earning it. We are all out here hustling to make a living. I’ve made no secret about it, that is my goal, to make a living. The problem, however, arises when you try to publicly defame someone and their sponsors with false narratives or spreading rumors in search of attention and clicks. I guess trying to strong-arm with a zealous fanbase is one way to try to bring Cancel Culture to the world of Pro Fishing.

To have the attitude that an angler is out of it or they aren’t competing for anything at the last event of the season is obtuse. Why would most anglers incur all of the expenses associated with traveling and fishing the tournament if they weren’t fishing for something? $1800 entry fees, lodging, gas and various other expenses to compete in Florida are pretty high not to mention lost income from not being home working and the missed time away from your family all comes with a hefty price to not be fishing for something. Going into any Bassmaster Open, everyone in the field is fishing for a spot in the Bassmaster Classic as well as roughly $200,000+ in prize money. Are 25 guys supposed to have an advantage over the rest of the 182 man field simply because they mathematically still have a shot to make the Elites?

Almost every Tour Level Pro, as well as the folks at BASS will tell you that there is a reason why the numbers are reversed on Day 2. It is so everyone in the field has equal opportunity at the beginning to start where they want. You will not be hindered both Day 1 and Day 2 by your boat draw. It is understood by most pros that at takeoff, you absolutely run straight to the school, the juice, the nuts, or whatever you call the best spot you have or want to fish especially when the field size is large. You don’t stop 75 yards in the Silver to fish your way to the Gold in fear of someone else beating you there after blast off. If someone has beaten you to the spot because of boat draw or a faster boat, there are two options: A) You work together on the spot that obviously both competitors have found, hence the desire to start there first thing on Day 1 or B) You let it be known pretty quick that there is an issue but with the realization that boat numbers are reversed on Day 2. With that being said, the last man there has established that he knows the spot or that the fish are there as well as the right to start there the next day. This happens at almost every event on Tour since the dawn of Pro Fishing. There is a big difference on Day 2 if you were not there or in the area the preceding day, especially if a tournament leader is fishing that spot. If it was obvious that someone was clueless about “The Spot” and truly watched you catch them to find it, that is a whole other issue all together. Unfortunately, these are just some of those “unwritten rules” that pros abide by and I too have had to learn many of them the hard way through my 15 year career. As you climb the ranks in pro fishing, arrogance will eventually humble you especially once you realize that most of the guys at the Top levels and AAA circuits are way better than you think. With modern technology and available information, these boys catch them.

With that preface, here is what really happened at the Harris Chain between Ben Milliken and me. If you don’t want to take the time to read the truth, here is a picture of my GPS on the spot and it alone should tell the story. The blue trail is practice, the red trail is Day 1 of the tournament and the yellow trail is Day 2. The Dollar waypoint is where the fish were sitting in practice and Day 1. On Day 2 they actually set up a little south of there probably due to the way the wind was blowing. The Stop sign was where the boat needed to set that day to catch them. I couldn’t get them to eat a Carolina rig or crankbait and had to catch them throwing a tail spinner, wacky rigged 4’ Yamamoto Senko stroking it off the bottom, a Ned rig and a 2.8 Kietech. Ultimately, I only caught one quality fish each day to include practice and never got that really big bite you need in Florida. I did however catch probably 75 bass off of this spot I FOUND between practice and the tournament.





Day 1

On Day 1 at blast off, I ran straight to my best spot which was one of the only spots I had even after 5 days of practice. It was an open water shell bed/hard spot in Big Harris out in front of the airport approximately 6 miles/minutes from take-off. There was also a small brushpile in the vicinity that I hadn’t been bit on in practice after hitting it twice and had zero intentions of fishing. When I pulled up, Logan Parks was sitting on the backside of the brushpile fishing it and Ben Milliken was sitting on top of the shell bed. He was scoping around fishing the opposite direction of where I was at as I was coming in on the open water main lake side. This is evident in his video as well where he is casting towards a giant dock on the bank (obvious landmark). I made a comment something similar to “It seems a lot like Wheeler out here” referencing how small the offshore shell bed fishing was at that event where boat number was paramount for positioning. Logan Parks responded with something like “You have a lot of nerve thinking you can just pull up on anyone”. About that time, Milliken proceeds to catch what I saw from the distance was a 2-2.5 lber from the dock side of his boat. He wasn’t casting or fishing towards my direction on the shell bed until a few casts later. During that fish catch, you can hear in the background Logan Parks and me talking about the situation concerning Day 1 of a tournament, starting spots at blast off and boat numbers. Milliken continued to cast in the opposite direction of my boat which was positioned more than a cast length away from him. I never once said I was there to fish a brushpile which I was called out for since there wasn’t a brushpile where I was at. He did not hear or understand me correctly when I said Logan was fishing the brushpile and I was there to fish the shell/hard spot where I knew the fish were located because I found them there in practice, hence the reason why I ran directly there at blastoff and planned on starting there. I was not throwing on top of anyone until he opted to turn and throw my direction after I had been casting there telling me I couldn’t fish there. Evident that this wasn’t going to be productive because I couldn’t cast exactly where I needed to at that time, I trolling motored off a bit, then idled before running off. I was there approximately 10 minutes before leaving. I came back 3 other times that day never seeing Milliken again since according to videos, he caught all of his fish on one spot in Apopka. I caught 20+ keepers and numerous small fish. My coangler caught a limit as well. The biggest was a 3lber and the rest were tiny culls. That is how Florida/Harris Chain fishes. All sizes mix on feed spots and the next cast could be an 8lber. It was the only concentration of fish I had and it was my absolutely best spot. I finished the day with 8-8(not 4lbs as stated to exaggerate the situation). Yes, I was more than likely out of it for making the Bassmaster Classic, however cashing a check was absolutely doable especially since I saw the potential there in practice to pretty much commit most of my Day 1 there.


Day 2

On Day 2, I knew I only needed 14-16lbs to get a check based off of my experiences in Florida which meant I only needed one or two quality bites. I was boat 49 so I was the first one to my shell bed. I got to where I needed to be based on how the fish set up the day before and instantly saw on the Active Target that they weren’t set up on the bottom. They were not grouped up but suspended and roaming. I was able to make a few casts before Milliken showed up. This is where there really gets to be a lot of creative editing in his video highlighting his passive aggressive insults, sarcasm and implications that I do not know what I am doing. What he failed to show was when he pulled up blasting me for sitting right on top of the fish, I offered to let him position his boat wherever he wanted and I would work around or with him. He then proceeded to place his boat exactly where mine was (which wasn’t where he was sitting the day before when I was there the day before), the same spot where he had just claimed I was sitting right on top of the fish. He never fished where he was casting the day before when I was there either. I moved to the periphery of the shell bed away from where the fish had been set up so I could cast at them all the while trying to be cooperative as he continued to whine and make accusations against my integrity and abilities. He kept blaming me on why the fish weren’t biting and my position was constantly on top of them. The fish never sat up right first thing that morning to catch them off the bottom and with another boat in proximity, it is difficult to scope random fish because someone inevitably is in the way. He was claiming I watched him catch that fish yesterday right there, but when I corrected him where he caught that fish, he argued about it, yet his video corroborates my side of the story. He eventually asked me to give him 30 minutes on the spot and he would be gone the rest of the day. I told him I would be back at 8:40 and I expected him to be gone since that was his word. Wished him luck and told him I hope he catches them. I even told him if he sees me there when he comes back to pull in and I’d still work with him then. I conceded the spot to him and basically piddled around the grass line near there and popped out to another shell bed. At 8:50 he was still there so I left and went to a canal to try to catch a random one. If I was intentionally trying to screw him over to any capacity (as I’ve been accused of by several people), why wouldn’t I have gone back there at 8:40 since that was the deal he made. Ultimately, I went back out there at 9:40, he was gone and they were set up right exactly where his boat was parked when I left and I caught a limit in the first 10 throws and a bunch of other fish. Never got a good bite all day and caught 9lbs finishing in the middle of the pack. That is Florida fishing. Milliken went to Apopka where he caught his weight the day before, struggled but in the end finished 3rd and qualified for the Bassmaster Elite Series. Congrats to him but this is where the story should have ended…
ongrats to him but this is where the story should have ended…

My thoughts....you handled the situation on the water and after like a true pro. Nothing against Milliken; I actually really like him, but he is doing all this stuff for clicks. Go listen to Mercer with Lee. Lee is a friend of his, and he plainly states this is click bait and he didn't like/care for how Ben did this. He did say this is Ben's way. I'm curious to how this stuff gets handled on the elites next year. I don't think he'll get the same response from those guys.

Finally the graph picture gets posted

My thoughts . Ben Milliken is a total jerk , I have seen Bass Masters tournament fishermen fish and bumping boats in one spot. Should be kicked out of the tournament series in my thought.

Glad you came on here with a detailed response and the truth. Shouldn't be this much drama after an event is over but seems to be more and more where things are going. Good luck!

Most semi-intelligent people understand there are two sides to every story. The gurgling group does not.

I figured this was the case.

Get him

It's professional bass fishing. It's nothing but a males soap opera. Anyone that pays attention and injests it needs to actually just go fishing.

New to tournament fishing, This is the type of guys I was hoping were part of this community - Thanks Clark.

Milliken is exactly who BASS wants in the Elites, he is bringing something to the game where as most are there to only take from the game.


If BASS were honest it would likely be that they could not careless if seasoned pros with little to no fanbase make the Elites. The "clicks" can be measured in dollars that BASS will make off of Milliken. In turn Milliken will make money off being an Elite angler. It's about give and take and not about all take.

1000% Milliken is one of the anglers BASS wanted to qualify for the Elites through the Opens this year.

The drama is actually good for the fanbase as it puts eyeballs on "pro" bass fishing.

Since bass fishing crowds are somewhat the same inbred NASCAR fans, in racing if someone is down 3 laps they do not race the leaders late in the race.

Thank you Mr Rheam for sharing your side. There are always 3 sides to every story, the two people involved each have a story and then there is the truth.

I miss the days of bass fishing when it was just the TFF and no social media. I wonder how many of these kids would even fish if livescope, go pro and social media wasn't invented.

probably a lot less since it was a lot harder to break into the good ole boy network back then

My guess is much much less. Everyone wants to be a "pro" at something, and bass fishing is the easiest avenue of all sports to become a "pro". We will eventually outgrow our resource and devastate the fish populations like humans tend to do, or mother nature will outsmart us like she also tends to do, and fish will become more and more difficult to catch, which will eventually weed out the masses.

thanks for telling your side of the story.....and...thanks for your contributions to this forum....