Hank Parker like you've never seen him before! Hank answers personal questions that you want to know in this exclusive interview.
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Transcript:
Glenn: Hey folks. Glenn May here with BassResource.com. I'm sitting down here with Hank Parker. We're going through some questions here that are submitted on the forums, Hank, that people wanna know about you. All right, you're open to answering some of those?
Hank: Oh yeah. Absolutely.
Glenn: All right then, let's get to it. Frank Chang from Bothell, Washington, he asks, "Since you...since you fish for a living, what do you like to do for recreation?"
Hank: Well, I fish and I hunt, so I guess that I hunt and I fish, and I fish and I hunt. I had a real job at one time, did not enjoy it at all. So I went back to fishing and hunting. And I guess when I retire I will hunt and I will fish, and I will mix it up so...
Glenn: What kind of hunting do you like to do?
Hank: I like archery hunting for white-tailed deer or elk. I love turkey hunting, that's when I'm most at ease is when I'm in the turkey woods. So, I just enjoy being out there, and I love taking kids, so, spend a lot of time hunting with kids. And that's about the coolest thing that I know what to do with. And so I guess that's what I'm going to do when I retire is I'm gonna spend more time with kids.
Glenn: That sounds like a fun time.
Hank: I like it.
Glenn: Well, let's get to the next question here. It's from Kent Smith from Germantown, Tennessee. He wants to know, "What is your favorite style of fishing?"
Hank: Well, I like it all, and I've tried so hard not to get hooked on one style or method or lure. But if I had to really pin-point it and be honest, I would have to say sight fishing. I love sight fishing. I'm not the best at it, I'm not a Guido Hibdon or Shaw Grigsby, those guys were so good at it. But I love it and I spend a lot of time in spring, and I've traveled, you know? I go up north, Traverse City, Michigan and different places all over the Great Lakes, just where I get to do more of it. That's how much I enjoy it. And to me it's just a hoot. It's kinda like hunting and fishing all combined into one.
Glenn: Sight fishing is so much fun because you can see the fish, react to...
Hank:...to the bait...
Glenn: ...your bait. Right.
Hank:...and that is so cool, you know.
Glenn: That is a cool deal right there...
Hank: I love it.
Glenn: There's nothing like it. I can see why it's your favorite...See what I did there? See why it's your favorite way of fishing. Let's get to the next question here from Angie from Enumclaw, Washington. She wants to know, "Do you have any superstitions?"
Hank: You know I don't. I am not at all superstitious. Paul Elias is so superstitious it's unbelievable. And the number 13 is just...drives him nuts and the Bassmaster Classic he won on the Alabama River, the morning of the last day of that tournament, I took his hat, unbeknownst to him, and I wrote 13 on the inside of that hat. And when he won the tournament, I proved to him there's no superstition, no reason to believe that that number is gonna jinx you. He had it all day long on his hat and when I showed it to him, instead of him saying, "I've broke all my superstitions," he looked me dead in the face, he said, "If I would have lost this tournament, I'd kill you."
Glenn: That's awesome.
Hank: So it is if you're superstitious you're superstitious, I get. But it didn't break him at all. He wore 13 all day and he won the tournament, but I'm telling you, it didn't change his mind. I have no superstitions at all.
Glenn: So you're okay with the banana in the boat?
Hank: Oh yeah. I eat them all the time, love to put them in the boat, love them...no problem.
Glenn: You guys go, you can put a banana in the boat.
Hank: Absolutely.
Glenn: Let's get to that last question here. Leanne from Kennewick, Washington, she wants to know, "What do you have new this year?"
Hank: What do I have new this year?
Glenn: I'm assuming for fishing.
Hank: Well, I have a new boat this year that have electronics on it called MEGA imaging, has a trolling motor called ultra-max that has spot-lock, and it's just a incredible motor.
I've got a spinnerbait that I'm bringing to market, that we started developing a long time ago but this will be the year that we bring it to market. It's called Hank Parker's Signature Spinner Bait. Got a lot of stuff that I've been playing with. I've got another lure that it's possible we'll bring it to the market this year. We call it the paw paw.
And the greatest thing that I've got new this year, I can't say that because the ultra-max is so awesome and the MEGA image and all...but my Soft Science shoes. I'm just telling you, these shoes...I'm an old man, I stand all day long, and I had really been bothered the last four or five years standing all day long, started using my butt seat a lot more.
And I got these shoes. I went to a military appreciation tournament for our Special Forces and Soft Science gave all of those soldiers a pair of shoes, and they gave me a pair as well. And I've wore these Soft Science shoes, they weigh about 3 ounces a piece, incredible. And they have, literally, absolutely changed my fatigue factor in that boat all day. That's probably one of the greatest new items that I've got going for me is this Soft Science shoes.
Glenn: Awesome. Lots of new stuff.
Hank: Yeah, good stuff.
Glenn: It's good to be you.
Hank: It is. I like being me...
Glenn: Thanks for...
Hank: ...but I'm old.
Glenn: Thanks for answering those questions Hank. Thanks for submitting those questions by the way. Really appreciate guys. For more tips and tricks like this, you should go visit hankparker.com, check out all the tips, the tricks, the videos that are out there, there's lots of articles, there's a whole bunch of info, just a plethora of stuff. You can wade through that and it's goin' take you days and days to get through it but it's really cool stuff. And if you wanna watch...if you wanna catch more tips like this and be notified when we post them, just subscribe to our YouTube channel. Thanks for watching and have a great day.
