Speaker 1: Carry this because I think I love the pot of
Speaker 1: lead melting on the electric hot plate in my bathtub.
Speaker 1: Pork is back, but it's his face, you guys. It's
Speaker 1: the look on his face, and it's peaking out from
Speaker 1: behind this young woman exposing your week fishhole game on
Speaker 1: a four point five star fishing podcast is it's kind
Speaker 1: of trial by fire, Good morning to generate anglers and
Speaker 1: welcome to Ben the Fishing Podcast. Its parents were too
Speaker 1: cheap to spring for the birthday party at Chuck E Cheese,
Speaker 1: allowing it to select only two friends to bring to
Speaker 1: dinner at Pizza Hut. I'm Joe SURMELI I'm Miles Nulty,
Speaker 1: and I really do hope that the theme this week
Speaker 1: is not Chuck E Cheese, because even when I was
Speaker 1: a kid, I'd never like, like, I never liked that
Speaker 1: place when I was ten. No, the pizza was terrible,
Speaker 1: and those animatronic bears are creepy. They're not. Yeah they were,
Speaker 1: but I'm not gonna lie to you. I didn't even
Speaker 1: think they had Chuck E Cheese in Hawaii. That never
Speaker 1: crossed my no. I I thought that that intro was
Speaker 1: gonna get a total like w t F response out
Speaker 1: of you. I never I figured you went to like
Speaker 1: pet poise or Mikey Max salads or something that's offensive.
Speaker 1: And my favorite was Sammy spam. All right, and if
Speaker 1: you've never if you've never had Sam moocy be from
Speaker 1: a gas station, you're missing out anyway, What the hell
Speaker 1: is going on here? What is the theme? What are
Speaker 1: we talking about? Really? Come on, man, it birthdays? It's
Speaker 1: our birthday. This is episode fifty two, which means our
Speaker 1: bullshit nineties laced like somewhat fishing related jargon has been
Speaker 1: entertaining the masses in uh four point five star fashion
Speaker 1: for a full year now, Oh my goodness, four and
Speaker 1: a half all stars. Time flies when you're making bad
Speaker 1: TV references and researching the end times for fish. We've uh,
Speaker 1: we come a long way sort of kind kind of look,
Speaker 1: it's been a fun year, to say the least I've had.
Speaker 1: I've had. I've been having a terrific time making the
Speaker 1: show with you, and I figured we must be doing
Speaker 1: something right because the bent inbox is always full. We're
Speaker 1: always hearing from nice things from from our listeners, and
Speaker 1: we've con at least the good people at thirteen Fishing
Speaker 1: into believing we have actual angling skills and knowledge, so
Speaker 1: hashtag winning. You know they're I don't think they're sponsoring
Speaker 1: this show because we can quote Billy Madison and talk
Speaker 1: about taking dumps in alive. Well, anybody can do that, right,
Speaker 1: just simple they sponsor us because when we tell you
Speaker 1: they're dual pitch top Waterloore rips it up in shoppy Water,
Speaker 1: you can believe what we say. We are trustworthy at
Speaker 1: least on that front. You really can, though, Like I'm
Speaker 1: not really playing around anymore, because that is the truth.
Speaker 1: I'm actually a really big fan of the larger size
Speaker 1: duel And for those of you are familiar, that's like
Speaker 1: their spook style bait um and I'm partial to the
Speaker 1: colors Albino, rhino and natty light. And I'm really not
Speaker 1: joking around, right. They designed those baits with like a
Speaker 1: super ramped up nose buoyancy because you know how like
Speaker 1: in shoppy water, your average spook wants to dive, you're
Speaker 1: trying to work it in a little wind shop or something.
Speaker 1: The dual resists that that nose stays oriented up and
Speaker 1: it walks really pretty in chop No, lie, I fished
Speaker 1: them a little bit for stripers already, but that's gonna
Speaker 1: come in really handy, Like in the late summer months
Speaker 1: when we're doing Mahi off shore and you get that
Speaker 1: that wind ripple in the afternoon, they'll still stay chuggling
Speaker 1: on the top. All that that techy R and D work,
Speaker 1: that stuff is great. But I and I'm glad that
Speaker 1: you explained all that very important. But I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: gonna give props to whoever names their color skis total.
Speaker 1: That's that's who I want to shut it right because,
Speaker 1: like you know, hydraulic engineering to make service baits perform
Speaker 1: better in choppy conditions, it's impressive. But Natty Light as
Speaker 1: a color names genius. If you guys are hiring just
Speaker 1: a full time lure namer, do let me know, Like
Speaker 1: that'd be a great job. That would the only place
Speaker 1: I could get that job, right, Yeah, all right, So
Speaker 1: so we've given props to thirteen both for what they
Speaker 1: make and how they name it, because it's all great.
Speaker 1: But I have a question for you. Yes, how does
Speaker 1: the podcast celebrate a birthday? What does that look like?
Speaker 1: It's easy. We just take the day off and sign
Speaker 1: off immediately. Yes, we're going fishing kidding. I wish we
Speaker 1: were going fishing. Um No, but I was thinking about
Speaker 1: like the long way we've come, at least in terms
Speaker 1: of segments since we started. And a lot of really
Speaker 1: great friends and anglers have been on this show in
Speaker 1: the last year, and we thank them very much for
Speaker 1: helping this out. But if you want to be technical
Speaker 1: about it, our very first guest ever ever was legendary
Speaker 1: surfcaster and striper chunking expert Bob the garbage Man Brittan
Speaker 1: And on a new ski YEP it was that was
Speaker 1: that was the very first voice anybody heard sides ours,
Speaker 1: and it was it was Bob calling in a surf
Speaker 1: fishing report from Atlantic City, New Jersey, mid pandemic in
Speaker 1: episode one. That's right, and and Bob has been back
Speaker 1: a few times, right, But now a year later, we
Speaker 1: have our Covering Water segment, which we designed to allow
Speaker 1: you guys to get like a little bit deeper look
Speaker 1: into who our guests really are. And hundreds maybe maybe thousands,
Speaker 1: maybe hundreds of hundreds of thousands of you have written
Speaker 1: and since we started Covering Water and said, hey, you
Speaker 1: guys have a direct line to one of the greatest
Speaker 1: surfcasters to ever live. Why are you not doing a
Speaker 1: Covering Water with Bob gr There's there's at least a
Speaker 1: little bit of truth to what you just said. I
Speaker 1: should say it's not it's not that we don't have
Speaker 1: any desires. It's not like we're lacking desire to make
Speaker 1: that happen. It's just that Bob's not exactly tech savvy,
Speaker 1: right right, Yeah, that's that's why if you, if you
Speaker 1: listen to the show, you know you usually calls in
Speaker 1: his reports from public phones and leaves a voicemail. That's
Speaker 1: what he can do. Bob only communicates through single digit
Speaker 1: sign language or via that last phone booth that exists
Speaker 1: in New Jersey. It's not like we could just call
Speaker 1: him up on his cell and like, hey, Bob, let's
Speaker 1: get you on the show. It doesn't work that way.
Speaker 1: But in honor of our one year anniversary, as a
Speaker 1: throwback to how we got started, we put in the
Speaker 1: work and we finally managed to arrange a Covering Water
Speaker 1: interview segment with the legend himself. I'm going in can
Speaker 1: hold it, I'm all right, so joining us today for
Speaker 1: covering Water, We've got none other than our own resident
Speaker 1: striper surf chunky expert, Bob the garbage Man Britana. Not
Speaker 1: a new ski and we haven't heard from you in
Speaker 1: a while, Bob, and I must say, I'm shocked that
Speaker 1: you actually harness the technology necessary to join us on
Speaker 1: this podcast. Yeah. Can you can you hear me and
Speaker 1: ship or we recording yet or whatever? Yeah, we are great.
Speaker 1: I'm actually at the Atlantic City Public Library at the moment,
Speaker 1: the miserable lady that works here setting this whole thing
Speaker 1: up in the computer laboratory or whatever it is. I
Speaker 1: didn't even know they had computers in here, but in fairness,
Speaker 1: only time I have come in here is what I'm
Speaker 1: fishing off Tennessee Avenue. Would have to take a ship, so,
Speaker 1: you know, way to utilize public resources, Bob, where to go?
Speaker 1: Who's talking now? Niles, Miles, it's Miles. You you know
Speaker 1: my name? Yeah, yeah, right, I know you like poetry,
Speaker 1: books and ship, but you hate this library. Niles All
Speaker 1: he got his five copies of MERV. Griffin's autobiography and
Speaker 1: ten books from the eighties about playing Keino. But they
Speaker 1: keep the soap and toilet paper full, so your tax
Speaker 1: dollars are hard at work on my asshole. It's Freney.
Speaker 1: Well spend money, well spend so listen. Uh. Part of
Speaker 1: the reason we were eager to have you on is
Speaker 1: because I've kind of been dying to ask, man, why
Speaker 1: the leap to social media? You've been so vocal over
Speaker 1: the years about hating on the internet. Yet you you've
Speaker 1: you've already wrecked up nearly three thousand followers on Instagram. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: well the short answer for you there Joey's money. Yeah,
Speaker 1: somebody told me you make big moneys on the internets.
Speaker 1: Of course I made a nickel yet, but I look
Speaker 1: at it like playing the lottery. It's a small investment.
Speaker 1: But maybe someday you hey, you know, but tell you
Speaker 1: the truth. I don't even know one of them walkie
Speaker 1: talkie phones who's probably got glued to your faces. My
Speaker 1: neighbor's kid got one from that cricket store, and he's
Speaker 1: a little slow and useless anyway, So I basically worked
Speaker 1: at a deal where he follows me around and just
Speaker 1: types whatever then I say and puts it on insta book.
Speaker 1: You know. So what what's the kid getting in exchange
Speaker 1: for for transcribing all your winsdom the US? Yeah? I mean,
Speaker 1: he ain't the brightest Bolton Niles. I bought him a
Speaker 1: pack of Big League two once a week, and I
Speaker 1: told him when I get to twenty thousand, fans will
Speaker 1: buy him anything he wants on Phillips Head Andy's table
Speaker 1: at the flea market. Sounds really, That sounds fair, Bob,
Speaker 1: I think I don't know. Look, we we didn't really
Speaker 1: bring you on to discuss your thoughts on ocean policies,
Speaker 1: you know, but we I mean, we could make a
Speaker 1: whole whole segment around that, we could. I I'm sure
Speaker 1: you have some thoughts on ocean policies, um, but we
Speaker 1: we brought you on to learn more about who you
Speaker 1: really are, Okay, and we already know you're one of
Speaker 1: the most revered surfcasters ever to grace the stripers scene. Correct.
Speaker 1: We already know you've caught more big stripers exclusively Chunk
Speaker 1: and Bunker than pretty much anyone else on the planet. Also, correct,
Speaker 1: But but our covering water segment is designed more to
Speaker 1: find out who the man behind the skills really is.
Speaker 1: As long as I'm making enough for beef eaters or
Speaker 1: whatever to cover the cost of the Moon's over Mihammy
Speaker 1: at Denny's, I'll cover whatever you want. Yeah, but we'll
Speaker 1: we'll talk to payroll see if we can get some
Speaker 1: moons over Mihammy. You should be all set do that.
Speaker 1: I will, I will, But in case, I'm pretty sure
Speaker 1: you haven't listened to the show, Bob, so I'm tell
Speaker 1: you how this goes. Yeah. So what we do on
Speaker 1: covering water is we put two minutes on the clock,
Speaker 1: all right, and we rapid fire questions at you. And
Speaker 1: the whole idea is you can't think too hard about
Speaker 1: your answers. You just you just have to react. Jesus Christ,
Speaker 1: that's easy. I do this once a week at the
Speaker 1: Social Security office of the COVID Clinic, but they give
Speaker 1: you even less time to answer, so, you know, a
Speaker 1: piece of cake. Great. Then after that, what we do
Speaker 1: with the end is we give you one full minute
Speaker 1: to expand on anyr answers. All right, sound good? Yeah,
Speaker 1: whatever sounds great, Niles, Let's just harry this the because
Speaker 1: I think I left the pot of lead melting on
Speaker 1: the electric top flight in my bath tub. All right,
Speaker 1: we'll move it along. Then we'll move it along. Okay,
Speaker 1: here we go. What's the best vehicle you ever owned?
Speaker 1: That's easy, My old Ford Pinto and my Pontiac Aztec
Speaker 1: that got jet that's too but we'll go with it,
Speaker 1: all right, Graphite or fiberglass? Only torps like Niles use graphite.
Speaker 1: If you weren't so devoted to stripe bass, what do
Speaker 1: you think you'd fish for stripe us? What's the best
Speaker 1: concert you've ever been to? Ship C? C R And
Speaker 1: I traded my Ford Pintol for them tickets? If you
Speaker 1: could fish with any celebrity, living or dead, who would
Speaker 1: it be? Oh, that's easy, Tim the toolbag Taylor, but
Speaker 1: he can't bring that move with the flannel with him.
Speaker 1: Your your favorite summer cocktail is hot sambuca? All right?
Speaker 1: If you were forced at gunpoint to tie on a
Speaker 1: lure for stripers instead of using a chunk, which lure
Speaker 1: would it be? I'm taking the bullet, Joey? Okay, all right?
Speaker 1: What's the worst job you ever had? Doing this? Right now?
Speaker 1: All right? If you had to guess how big was
Speaker 1: the biggest striper you ever caught? I don't know. Thetween eighties,
Speaker 1: seven and somewhere in there, I guess I don't know.
Speaker 1: Mm hmmm. Are you bald under that wool hat you
Speaker 1: always wear? Ask your mother and I else. All right,
Speaker 1: how about this? What's your favorite vacation destination? I'd like
Speaker 1: to soak a chunk in Thailand one day. If you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. I don't, of course you don't.
Speaker 1: Your your favorite movie is uh I don't tell mom
Speaker 1: the Babysit is dead? Probably Wow, that's time. Okay, I
Speaker 1: didn't see that one coming. Really that's the movie. Okay,
Speaker 1: I question whether all right, Well, anyway, that's time so perfect. Okay,
Speaker 1: let's wrap this up. I gotta run. Whoa, whoa, whoa?
Speaker 1: You still got you still got a minute to expand
Speaker 1: on anyone your answers to explain yourself. Jesus Christ, I'm
Speaker 1: sure I accidentally left that burner on. And the last
Speaker 1: time that happened, the old lady next door called the
Speaker 1: dipshit super, which resulted in him discovering that I ran
Speaker 1: an extension court upper fire escaped steal our electricity. So
Speaker 1: unless you want to help the price to cover my
Speaker 1: electric bill or the price to two pounds of custom
Speaker 1: twenty sack us, hurry the fun. Alright, alright, alright, well,
Speaker 1: which one are you gonna answer? Which one are you
Speaker 1: gonna expand on? Pass? Can I pass, No, no, not
Speaker 1: have you telling this? You've got like a ninety pound striper.
Speaker 1: You gotta you didn't have to tell us more about that.
Speaker 1: For Christ's sake, that had to be in seventy nine
Speaker 1: or eighty. That's how much I figure it. Way before
Speaker 1: I gave it to Kenny. To Benny, he dropped into
Speaker 1: the four to five pounds lead down its throat before
Speaker 1: he took it to the Chinese place next to the
Speaker 1: other Chinese place on Baltic Avenue. But you're looking for
Speaker 1: some epic story, and there eight one eight to bunket chunk.
Speaker 1: I really in Stevie the cop clubbed it with a
Speaker 1: piece of reball, and I gave it to Kenny for
Speaker 1: a pack of smokes, half a school of sixty pound
Speaker 1: pink andy mount of film, and and a pair of
Speaker 1: clean socks. Anyway, I know how much you appreciate me
Speaker 1: being here and how much I appreciate my time. So goodbye.
Speaker 1: Should I think he gone? He gone? Yep? I think
Speaker 1: I think that was all we're going to hear from
Speaker 1: Bob Well Niles. I knew that was gonna happen. I'm
Speaker 1: I'm honestly shocked that we got that guy to hang
Speaker 1: around as long as he did. But you know what, Man,
Speaker 1: of all the brief interactions and encounters I've had with Bob,
Speaker 1: I feel like I learned so much that I didn't
Speaker 1: know this time. It kind of served its purpose. Covering
Speaker 1: water did its job. There there were he didn't mean
Speaker 1: to let some things slip, but he did on accident.
Speaker 1: The clues in there there were, they were. They were
Speaker 1: just little missteps on his part, and they're subtle, but
Speaker 1: I think they're valuable. He he referenced a super and
Speaker 1: a fire escape, So he does he live in it?
Speaker 1: Does he rent an apartment? Does he squat in an apartment?
Speaker 1: That's what I'm talking about. That's what I mean. Like
Speaker 1: that little thing, like I I just assumed like he
Speaker 1: lived in a shed somewhere on he just slept on
Speaker 1: moving busses like I thought he slept on the transit authority.
Speaker 1: That's what I thought. That's also a real possibility. But
Speaker 1: while I don't think the guy has many possessions, he
Speaker 1: does at least have multiple surf rauds. So like that's
Speaker 1: the only reason I might disagree. But like that that
Speaker 1: small nugget right like hints at a whole universe of
Speaker 1: of Bob domesticity, Like, can you picture Bob doing dishes? Done? Man,
Speaker 1: I feel like I finally learned something about the guy
Speaker 1: that and like, where the hell it? Don't tell mom
Speaker 1: the babysitters dead come from? Right? I did not see
Speaker 1: that one coming. I was expecting, like, I don't know,
Speaker 1: I don't know what I was expecting. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I just wish you'd stuck around long enough to expand
Speaker 1: like that was the answer I wanted to hear more about. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: but I guarantee, I'll bet you anything, he's never seen it.
Speaker 1: It was probably it was probably is the last VHS
Speaker 1: like Dusty VHS he saw sitting on some flea market
Speaker 1: table and he just went with it. It just popped
Speaker 1: into his head. So I bet you the story wasn't
Speaker 1: very great, which is funny because that's sort of what
Speaker 1: we do on fish News. Just grabbed the first headline
Speaker 1: with the word fish in it and roll with it.
Speaker 1: Fish News. That escalated quickly. So before we start this
Speaker 1: week's news, I feel like I feel like we ought
Speaker 1: to address the sort of unresolved cliffhanger from last week's news.
Speaker 1: You mean you mean when when Phil blew himself up
Speaker 1: in a jankie boat that he made out of petroleum barrels. Real,
Speaker 1: real tragedy there, very sad. Just because we have chiseled
Speaker 1: abs and stunning features, it doesn't mean that we two
Speaker 1: can't not die in a freak gasoline fight accident. Yes,
Speaker 1: I mean, truly tragic, but that's not actually the cliffhanger
Speaker 1: I was referring to. I mean, you know, good news
Speaker 1: on the Phil health front, though, um, he's not dead.
Speaker 1: The cliffanger I was referring to is that we still
Speaker 1: don't know who won last week's Fish News, which that's
Speaker 1: a problem for me, a problem. And we're terribly terribly
Speaker 1: concerned for Phil's well being and we wish him a
Speaker 1: speedy recovery and all that. But I mean, Phil has
Speaker 1: a sacred responsibility he and and if we're being honest,
Speaker 1: and we should, he was derelict in his duty by
Speaker 1: by not choosing a winner last week, and I feel
Speaker 1: like his accident was shall we say karmick maybe. I mean, look,
Speaker 1: we certainly wouldn't wish such a tragedy on anyone, especially
Speaker 1: not our illustrious audio engineers. Um, but he he was
Speaker 1: kind of asking for it, and the fact is the
Speaker 1: show must go on. Um, So we sent a team
Speaker 1: of interns to the I See You with very strict
Speaker 1: instructions not to come back until they have a definitive winner.
Speaker 1: For both last week and this week. We didn't threaten
Speaker 1: to fire them, okay, because that would be that would
Speaker 1: put us in violation of federal employment law, which we
Speaker 1: would never do. But we did inform those interns that
Speaker 1: if they failed in their mission, they would be reassigned
Speaker 1: to a different shall we say, less pleasant detail. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: Specifically they'd be working for Lance Vie, who's been demanding
Speaker 1: his own staff in recent contract negotiations. But hopefully none
Speaker 1: of that will happen and Phil will be able to
Speaker 1: have the feeding to remove long enough to pass judgment.
Speaker 1: So remember this is a competition, Miles, and I don't
Speaker 1: know which story is the other guys bringing to the table. Uh,
Speaker 1: and it is my leadoff this week, So uh, somebody
Speaker 1: give Phil some smelling salts or something, because I'm about
Speaker 1: to drop a very pertinent information for the savvy consumer.
Speaker 1: And I've actually go I've got two gear related stories
Speaker 1: this week, but surprise, none of them are about Yankee
Speaker 1: sketchy or questionable products for a change like this is
Speaker 1: this is real gear news. And the first story comes
Speaker 1: from Kentucky Outdoors Media headline what the flogg anglers used
Speaker 1: a flogger to catch bass on the St. Lawrence River.
Speaker 1: So to set this up a bit, right, the St.
Speaker 1: Lawrence that's way up north, flows out of Lake Ontario
Speaker 1: ultimately to the Ocean um and it also creates the
Speaker 1: border between New York State and Canada. Now, if you're
Speaker 1: a bass freak, you probably already know that the St.
Speaker 1: Lawrence is like a bronze back mecca, right, like just
Speaker 1: an incredible smallmouth fishing. In fact, bass Master recently ranked
Speaker 1: it as one of the top ten bass fisheries in
Speaker 1: the US. Okay, so back in July, Major League Fishing
Speaker 1: held a tournament on the St. Lawrence and just to
Speaker 1: sort of drive home how good the fishing is there,
Speaker 1: more than half of the eighty anglers competing caught over
Speaker 1: one hundred pounds of smallmouth bass. Jacob Wheeler one with
Speaker 1: over two d and twenty two pounds of bass in
Speaker 1: two days. Okay, yeah, right now Lawrence, So yeah we
Speaker 1: should um now because the St. Lawrence is pretty far
Speaker 1: north the spawn there happens later, right, it's it's been
Speaker 1: done where I live for for months, but like early July,
Speaker 1: right around this time is sort of the peak of
Speaker 1: the spawn up there um, which is one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why bag limits were extra heavy. Now we're let's like,
Speaker 1: we're not going to get off on the controversial active
Speaker 1: of fishing to bedded fish. We've covered that here before,
Speaker 1: and just for the sake of this story, it's neither
Speaker 1: here nor there. Because the anglers with the high success rates,
Speaker 1: like like it or not, we're doing it. That's that's
Speaker 1: what they were doing. But large mouth bass now they
Speaker 1: bed shallow, and finding bedded large mounts is generally a
Speaker 1: a site fishing game. Small mouths tend to bed deeper,
Speaker 1: so many of the crafty anglers in this tournament used floggers,
Speaker 1: which has created a bit of a stir. What's a flogger,
Speaker 1: you asked, Well, it's basically an underwater telescope. The property
Speaker 1: is a bathoscope, right, so just picture a parking cone
Speaker 1: with handles on the skinny end. I thought this was
Speaker 1: going a very different direction. I thought a flogger was
Speaker 1: something completely different. Continue, Okay, well, I'd love to know
Speaker 1: what you thought it was. We'll get there in a minute. Um,
Speaker 1: So I said, you picked your parking cone with handles,
Speaker 1: and you have to physically lay down on the deck
Speaker 1: of the boat and put the fat end with the
Speaker 1: glass lands in the water. Then you look through the
Speaker 1: skinny end and the device magnifies the image and helps
Speaker 1: you see submerged structure and fish on the bottom in
Speaker 1: deeper water. Well, apparently some folks are arguing that anglers
Speaker 1: competing at this level should not be allowed to use
Speaker 1: this piece of equipment to assist in catching fish, especially
Speaker 1: with the technology they already have on their boats. Now.
Speaker 1: The author of this article, John Stepp, He says he
Speaker 1: initially agreed with that gut reaction, So before I go on,
Speaker 1: I'm curious, what's your gut reaction. Then we'll see if
Speaker 1: it changes, because mine kind of did. I'm I'm a
Speaker 1: little confused as to how that would be more beneficial
Speaker 1: than the electronics. Right, if I've already got a side scan,
Speaker 1: I would assume that I can see bed and fish
Speaker 1: and find them in cast to him, So, I don't
Speaker 1: get how the flogger creates that much of a benefit.
Speaker 1: I guess I'm missing something here, Well, I'm gonna I'm
Speaker 1: gonna get there. I was just like more like gut reaction,
Speaker 1: like if you just knowing what you already know, would
Speaker 1: be like, yeah, it's cheating, or like okay, wait a minute,
Speaker 1: maybe there's more here. I mean my gut reaction is like,
Speaker 1: if you're allowed to use all the electronics and side scan,
Speaker 1: what does this technology? Like, how does that matter? If
Speaker 1: it's open season on technology. I don't see why we
Speaker 1: would not allow this fair fair Okay, So quick note
Speaker 1: regarding the electronics. Now, according to this story, and again
Speaker 1: I'm not super fluent in all the new stuff out there,
Speaker 1: but all the fancy stuff these guys have, like you said,
Speaker 1: side scanned down scan. According to anglers and some of
Speaker 1: the pros, it's not super effective on fish that are
Speaker 1: just glued to the bottom around structure that are not moving,
Speaker 1: and the bathroscope or the flogger is actually more effective
Speaker 1: at finding deeper bed small mouth then the electronics. Okay.
Speaker 1: And furthermore, like when you're when you're fishing for bedded fish,
Speaker 1: I would imagine, right, that's like sort of an aggression
Speaker 1: defensive bite, and a lot of times it's not a
Speaker 1: hard hit like with large mouth on a bed You
Speaker 1: often notice set the hook in a lot of cases
Speaker 1: because you watch that lord disappeared into fish's mouth. They're
Speaker 1: really they're they're picking it up and moving it, most
Speaker 1: of them not hammering it. So when you have suspended
Speaker 1: fish or whatever on on your side, scan down, scan
Speaker 1: that are active and you can see them chasing your
Speaker 1: jail on that equipment, that's one thing. But the argument
Speaker 1: here is that, like, you can't really use that stuff
Speaker 1: effectively to do what these guys needed to do. So
Speaker 1: then what Step points out is that using a flogger
Speaker 1: successfully is not easy. Like one must remember that the
Speaker 1: device isn't just to find the fish, right, these guys
Speaker 1: are presenting baits to these bedded bass while holding the
Speaker 1: flogger in one hand, dropping a bait on a short
Speaker 1: rod with the other there all while laying on their
Speaker 1: stomachs in some cases in very choppy conditions. So in
Speaker 1: the piece they talked to Bradley roy and one of
Speaker 1: the competitors and he was like, yeah, I'm just like
Speaker 1: sore and broken after spending all day getting up and down,
Speaker 1: laying on the bow my boat with a flogger and
Speaker 1: the article also points out that even if you have
Speaker 1: a flogger, it takes practice to be able to use
Speaker 1: it to find what you're looking for. It's not like
Speaker 1: super intuitive. So um, the author flipped and said, you
Speaker 1: know what, like props for being able to use that awkward,
Speaker 1: weird big it's big, like it's not this tiny little
Speaker 1: thing successfully, And after learning about it, like I I
Speaker 1: agree a bit more and also kind of feel exactly
Speaker 1: like what you said. It's like if they're allowed to
Speaker 1: have all that other stuff, then like what's the difference,
Speaker 1: you know, like we have underwater drones now and crap
Speaker 1: like that, and maybe that's the future. I hope not,
Speaker 1: but we're not there yet. So for now, like, I'll accept,
Speaker 1: you know, funky parking cone if that's what you need
Speaker 1: to get it. I want to play in that band. Um,
Speaker 1: And I think, yeah, man, I mean so one, this
Speaker 1: doesn't sound like a fun way of fishing, Like, I
Speaker 1: don't think this is gonna pull up on the recreation.
Speaker 1: You see the pictures, these guys are laying on their
Speaker 1: boats with their heads hanging over the water, looking into
Speaker 1: a giant parking cone and then like over their own shoulder,
Speaker 1: dropping a drop shot or tube or whatever. I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna see the bite. Yeah me either. I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: do that. So, uh that that's I don't I don't
Speaker 1: see this. I mean again, setting aside issues around tournament
Speaker 1: fishing for small mouth during the spawn, if we're not
Speaker 1: looking at that element of this, right, if we're taking
Speaker 1: that out of the equation, I don't get an issue.
Speaker 1: I think if you want to lay down the deck
Speaker 1: with your short rod and your parking cone in the
Speaker 1: jop and deal with that, that's your problem, not mine.
Speaker 1: I think I think we've already covered that other thing.
Speaker 1: That that's a bigger conversation to be had about whether
Speaker 1: or not we should beholding tournaments for small mountain the spot.
Speaker 1: But I'm again that's that that's not part of today's conversation.
Speaker 1: That's off the table. But the the the verb to
Speaker 1: flog hmm, what does what does that inspire for you?
Speaker 1: What do you think of? Like you you beat the
Speaker 1: crap out of somebody with a long stick, right, yes,
Speaker 1: or or a strap on the end of a long stick.
Speaker 1: So that's why when you said a like a flogger. Well,
Speaker 1: so here's the thing, Like I looked up the flogger,
Speaker 1: and I'm I'm fairly certain that flogger is like a
Speaker 1: brand name for somebody making these things for bass fisherman.
Speaker 1: But I mean the proper term is bath scope or aquascope,
Speaker 1: got it. I assume they have other use. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't know why they wouldn't, like if you need
Speaker 1: to look at something underwater for whatever purposes. I mean,
Speaker 1: I don't think these were invented for bass fishermen, but
Speaker 1: now they have funky colors and bass pro sells them
Speaker 1: then calls them the flogger. All right, well, I will
Speaker 1: not be rushing out to buy myself a flogger. I
Speaker 1: can tell you that right now. Um. And since we're
Speaker 1: on the topic of aquatic competition and uh and the
Speaker 1: infrastructure around that, I feel like you gotta point out Olympics. Man.
Speaker 1: The Olympics are just they're just wrapping up right now.
Speaker 1: And I don't know, we have not discussed this, but
Speaker 1: I love me some Olympics. Bizarre, dude, Like it was weird.
Speaker 1: It's weird. Every everything is bizarre. We live in bizarre
Speaker 1: world now. And and to your point, I really missed
Speaker 1: having the Games last year. Like I get it. We
Speaker 1: there were lots of things that had to change, and
Speaker 1: that's fine, but I felt that absence. I felt the void.
Speaker 1: Can I just add now that I thought it was
Speaker 1: like weird and also mildly funny that clearly Japan was like, look,
Speaker 1: we already paid for all the ship Okay, the banners,
Speaker 1: the ribbons, the medals. We are not buying stuff. And
Speaker 1: I don't blame them because they're losing their shirts on
Speaker 1: this because no one can be there. I feel for them. Yes,
Speaker 1: And and the weird thing about the Olympics, and this
Speaker 1: isn't a unique thought. Lots of people have covered this,
Speaker 1: but I'm gonna say it again. I'll watch just about
Speaker 1: anything and get excited. Like fencing, hand handball. I don't
Speaker 1: even know what that is, but I'll watch it. Swimming.
Speaker 1: No one cares about swimming, Okay, it's like one week
Speaker 1: every four years. We pretend we're huge fans of sport
Speaker 1: and like flaud these people. And I'm talking about myself.
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not like pointing fingers, but I would
Speaker 1: never watch people swim laps in a pool for fun. No,
Speaker 1: And yet here I find myself like cheering at the
Speaker 1: TV while people splash in the pool. I don't get it.
Speaker 1: And before I start worrying this, I hadn't thought about it.
Speaker 1: But the Summer Olympics are are They're kind of aquatic.
Speaker 1: If you if you bring it down, you got, you got.
Speaker 1: You're swimming this, you're surfing debut for the first time,
Speaker 1: which was fun. Kayaking has been in Olympic sports since
Speaker 1: ninety six. And then there's another classic water sport that
Speaker 1: I would never never watch except during the Olympics. Rowing
Speaker 1: And I am not no disrespect to the discipline skill
Speaker 1: required to be a world class rower. That is very difficult.
Speaker 1: But the action in that sport doesn't exactly translate to television, right.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's more exciting in person. I don't know. Maybe
Speaker 1: I don't know what I'm talking about. Because rowing is
Speaker 1: one of the oldest Olympic sports, but I don't think
Speaker 1: it's the most captivating, uh televised sport I've ever seen. Regardless,
Speaker 1: Tokyo went all out for this summer's rowing canoe events.
Speaker 1: They created the Sea Forest Waterway Regatta Venue. It is
Speaker 1: state of the art, built between two man made islands
Speaker 1: at the mouth of the Sumida River in Tokyo Bay.
Speaker 1: The rules of competitive rowing state that quote, the running
Speaker 1: of the race must not be influenced by natural or
Speaker 1: artificial waves, and that can be a problem when you're
Speaker 1: in a bay at the mouth of a river, right
Speaker 1: that's that's a place where waves tend to happen. So
Speaker 1: the course in includes a series of very specific floats
Speaker 1: that suppressed seventy of surface wave action. Constructing this course
Speaker 1: has come at no small cost, and it was designed
Speaker 1: to become the epicenter of rowing canoeing in Asia after
Speaker 1: the game's close. Unfortunately, they've run into an unexpected problem.
Speaker 1: The course was completed in June, anticipating that the Games
Speaker 1: would begin the following year, as we know postponed. But
Speaker 1: in August of last year, officials held a test run
Speaker 1: at the Sea Forest Waterway and discovered that the specialized
Speaker 1: floats were no longer floating. Ha the problem, they'd become
Speaker 1: infested with oysters. That's not a terrible problem to have,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean exactly, And that's where we're going.
Speaker 1: The high salinity of Tokyo Bay, combined with the prevalence
Speaker 1: of phytoplankton at the mouth of the river, makes the
Speaker 1: spot an optimal growing environment for bivalves. The addition of
Speaker 1: all that underwater infrastructure gave them the perfect place to
Speaker 1: attach and thrive. By December of last year, seventy five
Speaker 1: of the floats on the north side of the course
Speaker 1: were completely underwater. Course officials had to drag entire lines
Speaker 1: of floats back to shore and clean them, and in
Speaker 1: certain areas deployed divers to remove the oysters. The cleanup
Speaker 1: costs total nearly one point three million dollars. The irony
Speaker 1: of all this is that Pacific oysters called Macgaki oysters
Speaker 1: and japan and Hammama oysters or hog Island oysters here
Speaker 1: in the US our delicacy. The thirty one thousand pounds
Speaker 1: of oysters removed might have been worth tens of thousands
Speaker 1: of dollars if they had been sold, but they weren't.
Speaker 1: One official was quoted in several news outlets is saying
Speaker 1: we did not consider consuming them. That would entail safety checks.
Speaker 1: We want to contain oysters, not grow them. This is
Speaker 1: the same people, These are the same people that need
Speaker 1: FUGU right, worried about safety checks? Correct, like this is
Speaker 1: your Pan oysters. But I get the officials point, okay, right,
Speaker 1: Like think about it. They had to deal with enough
Speaker 1: hosting these Olympics, like you got a pandemic, you got
Speaker 1: a heat wave, they had a cyclone. I mean, safely
Speaker 1: bringing in these particular oysters that they didn't intend to
Speaker 1: grow and finding way to get them to market would
Speaker 1: be challenging. That's especially true because commercially grown Pacific oysters
Speaker 1: undergo this rigorous purification process to ensure that they're safe
Speaker 1: to eat. You can't just like pluck them and sell them.
Speaker 1: But I still feel like there's a lost opportunity here, right. Yes,
Speaker 1: they didn't they didn't intend to create an oyster farm,
Speaker 1: but they did. And since the plan is to keep
Speaker 1: this course going, I really hope that after the Olympic
Speaker 1: dust settles and there's some time to be thoughtful and
Speaker 1: figure out what to do, I hope they might consider
Speaker 1: finding ways to leverage the course infrastructure to intentionally grow
Speaker 1: harvestable oysters as well. There's there's a stab just upkeep
Speaker 1: budget in perpetuity for this course of one point five
Speaker 1: million dollars, and if they're spending one point three of
Speaker 1: that every year scraping oysters that they throw away kind
Speaker 1: of seems unsustainable, right, So maybe they can find a
Speaker 1: way to make those floats profitable, and they can also
Speaker 1: turn Asia's premier regatta into a thriving oyster farm. I
Speaker 1: would love to see that happen. That would be that
Speaker 1: would be amazing. Um. I do love a good a
Speaker 1: good oyster, so I hope that happens. I don't really
Speaker 1: have much else to say about the outcome of your story,
Speaker 1: but this has prompted you know, you talked about rowing
Speaker 1: being very difficult to watch on TV. Have you ever
Speaker 1: tried to watch it on the water while you're trying
Speaker 1: to catfish and there's four million of those crew boats
Speaker 1: out there with their chase boats running around after you.
Speaker 1: That's the thing that's happened to me several times, and
Speaker 1: I just have to say, like, props for the skills.
Speaker 1: I certainly couldn't do it, but like, dude, those people
Speaker 1: think they just own the waterway, and you're you're not
Speaker 1: gonna see it in the next season it does boat
Speaker 1: because I don't think it's gonna make it. But boy,
Speaker 1: we ran into a little issue with thee on the
Speaker 1: Potomac while filming, and it was literally like a thousand
Speaker 1: dudes with megaphones like screaming obscenities at us, And at
Speaker 1: one point we were in a catfish hole in a
Speaker 1: channel that was like apparently the only safe channel for
Speaker 1: every crew boat to move through, and it was just
Speaker 1: like a constant barrage of what assholes we were while
Speaker 1: trying to catfish. I really, I really hope that makes
Speaker 1: the cut. That's all I'm gonna say. I'm not so sure.
Speaker 1: I'm not so sure. We'll see it would be great.
Speaker 1: Transition nonexistent, So I'm just gonna go along here. Don't
Speaker 1: have it? Um, I don't know. The Olympics just happened,
Speaker 1: So did I cast? How about transition? Not long ago,
Speaker 1: the I cast show happened in Sonny, Orlando, and if
Speaker 1: you don't know what that is, it's the annual fishing
Speaker 1: industry trade show. Um. And of course that was canceled
Speaker 1: as well due to the covids. They did a virtual thing, um,
Speaker 1: but it finally fired back up this year, and while
Speaker 1: Myles and I were not in attendance, I'm I'm still
Speaker 1: always interested in the goings on at the show. So
Speaker 1: I spent that week like texting friends feeling a deep
Speaker 1: sense of fomo uh and not so much about the show,
Speaker 1: but like it's been a minute since I took my
Speaker 1: rightful places. The guy that needs to be swept off
Speaker 1: the floor at Senior Frogs across from the shitty rose
Speaker 1: In hotel I used to stay in, you know, like
Speaker 1: that's my floor to get wiped off of after ten
Speaker 1: Irish car bombs. Um. Anyway, an important thing to keep
Speaker 1: in mind, which we'll circle back to, is that eye
Speaker 1: Cast is not open to consumers. Like you have to
Speaker 1: be industry connected, right, whether it's owning a tackle shop
Speaker 1: or guide service or media. Um. You have to be
Speaker 1: on the inside to get in. And that will come
Speaker 1: back later. So every year at i Cast they have
Speaker 1: the new Product Showcase, which US media types always got
Speaker 1: an advanced look at, which was fun, and companies at
Speaker 1: the show but their best product in the showcase. And
Speaker 1: then there's this big vote. I've voted before, I've done
Speaker 1: some voting. I'm sure you've done some voting for the
Speaker 1: best new products in in a wide array of categories.
Speaker 1: But then of course there's the highest honor, just like
Speaker 1: at Westminster Best in Show Overall winner, Greatest Thing at
Speaker 1: i Cast. This year that honor went to Berkeley's power
Speaker 1: Bait Gilly, which is a soft plastic swim Babe, specifically
Speaker 1: designed to imitate a pan fish. Now here's why this
Speaker 1: is newsworthy. While it wasn't always called eye cast. Turns
Speaker 1: out and I didn't know this. This convention has been
Speaker 1: around for sixty four years now, and this is the
Speaker 1: first time in its history that a lore took overall
Speaker 1: Best in Show. Yes, and this was such an upset
Speaker 1: that there's an entire article written about it um on
Speaker 1: TC palm dot com which points out and I can
Speaker 1: vouch for this, right, best in Show usually goes to
Speaker 1: an electronics company, maybe a kayak or personal watercraft manufacturer,
Speaker 1: and on the occasion, but not always, a rod and
Speaker 1: reel maker. Like those are the top three categories that
Speaker 1: that take Best in Show routinely. So this sort of
Speaker 1: like shook things up, shook some blow um, And I'll
Speaker 1: tell you just a little bit about this baby. Keep
Speaker 1: in mind there's very little out there by way of
Speaker 1: underwater video or anything like that. Like this is super
Speaker 1: super new UM, and our bud, Mike liken Elli actually
Speaker 1: had a pretty big hand in the design. Bait comes
Speaker 1: in three sizes, twelve colors, and I will admit that
Speaker 1: they look different from other swim bait designs, which is
Speaker 1: important because, like, let's be honest, it's not like there's
Speaker 1: no shortage of soft plastic swim baits out there that
Speaker 1: imitate bluegills. Plenty of them. So the front half of
Speaker 1: the bait appears to be just normal molded soft plastic,
Speaker 1: though the head is hollowed out and according to a
Speaker 1: sneak Peak video, Mike dropped, um, that's beneficial for freaking
Speaker 1: it on a jighead. But you can also add, as
Speaker 1: he puts it, quote, materials to that chamber to make
Speaker 1: the baits sink faster or maybe float. The back half
Speaker 1: of the bait is die cut, and I describe it
Speaker 1: like a reverse honeycomb effect, if that makes sense, Like
Speaker 1: if you ever like cross cut a piece of mango
Speaker 1: and then turn the skin inside out and flip it
Speaker 1: out and like all the little sections pop. Like that's
Speaker 1: that's what the back half of this bait looks like.
Speaker 1: And then on the body and the tail there are
Speaker 1: rudders that, according to Mike, keep debait horizontal whether it's
Speaker 1: swimming or falling. He says, it will land and lay
Speaker 1: belly down on the bottom, always staying up right. Um,
Speaker 1: And he says there are loads of ways to rig
Speaker 1: the gillie, which I'm curious about because however, again, because
Speaker 1: it's so new, nobody has even dropped like a deep
Speaker 1: dive rigging video yet I could picture the obvious rigging methods,
Speaker 1: but it's supposed to be super versatile. So just a
Speaker 1: few top level thoughts and here's where I move into
Speaker 1: the Joe Pontificates chapter. Um, there's no doubt some thought
Speaker 1: really went into this design, like, and big congrats to
Speaker 1: Berkeley for I mean, making show history. But over the years,
Speaker 1: I mean, there have been a lot of innovative swim
Speaker 1: baits in the New Products showcase. And while I have
Speaker 1: no doubt this one will catch fish and be more affordable,
Speaker 1: I think that's a key point because Berkeley's baits are
Speaker 1: typically not you know, not crazy expensive. You know, if
Speaker 1: you're talking innovation. Can I step back and say, man
Speaker 1: like that truly is the most groundbreaking blue gill swim
Speaker 1: byand I've ever seen. I I cannot, And I'm not
Speaker 1: putting this lower down. It's just like a point of fact,
Speaker 1: and my bigger rhetorical question, you know, for you, maybe
Speaker 1: even some of you guys listening will answer via email.
Speaker 1: I've always wondered, like, does a win of this caliber
Speaker 1: matter to the consumer? Do you ever think about that?
Speaker 1: Like I have wondered this for many, many years, Like
Speaker 1: here's a show that you listening, the consumer is not
Speaker 1: allowed to go to, and we're awarding products that you,
Speaker 1: the consumer hasn't yet been able to fish. So does
Speaker 1: a stamp on the package when these baits are in
Speaker 1: Dix in a few weeks make you go, oh shit,
Speaker 1: like this took best and show at I cast um
Speaker 1: Because I feel the same way about a lot of
Speaker 1: these industry shows, like I've I've used many products that
Speaker 1: took you know, this category or that at the outdoor
Speaker 1: Retailer shot show I cast and when you first see
Speaker 1: this stuff, it's like, oh man, that's pretty cool. But
Speaker 1: then on the water in the real world, it's like, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's not that great. So voting in the new
Speaker 1: Product showcase has always been like nifty if you're one
Speaker 1: of the guys that that gets to be there to
Speaker 1: do it um. But I've always wondered, and again I'm
Speaker 1: not being snarky, I'm just like truly always wondered, like
Speaker 1: do seals of approval from these industry shows, like the
Speaker 1: people in Walmart buying care does the average weekend angler care?
Speaker 1: I have no idea, to be honest with you, but
Speaker 1: my I'm gonna do a spinoff and say I hope
Speaker 1: not because I've always had a problem with the way
Speaker 1: that these things go down, because to me, it always
Speaker 1: felt like such a waste of time. I can't go
Speaker 1: look at a product, a fishing product, being a rod
Speaker 1: or a reel or a bait or a bag or
Speaker 1: whatever in a convention center and like maybe maybe I
Speaker 1: I cast the rod on a pond or something maybe
Speaker 1: and decide this is the best piece of fishing equipment
Speaker 1: in here. Because I have never fished it, I think
Speaker 1: that is an inherently flawed system. And I've I've railed
Speaker 1: against this for the entire time that I've ever gone
Speaker 1: to any of these fishing shows that are industry and said,
Speaker 1: this is a waste of everyone's time and it's idiotic.
Speaker 1: So like, I don't how am I supposed to vote
Speaker 1: for what is best to show when I've never fished
Speaker 1: with any of these products in the wild, and and
Speaker 1: and we see very eye to eye on that. It's
Speaker 1: It's one of the things we've always agreed on, like
Speaker 1: you know, in in earlier parts of our career at
Speaker 1: Field and Stream, and it grays like I would only
Speaker 1: talk about a new product that I hadn't fished in
Speaker 1: the sense of like, this is new, here's what I know,
Speaker 1: but like a hardcore, drilled down gear review was always
Speaker 1: so difficult for me because they have to move so
Speaker 1: quickly as things change, and I'm like, man, I really
Speaker 1: like I kind of want to fish something for six
Speaker 1: months or a year before I put my stamp of
Speaker 1: like this kicks ass. I still feel that way. I
Speaker 1: did it very hard to do that in our industry
Speaker 1: because stuff is just constantly changing. To give them credit,
Speaker 1: that's how Grays does their gear reviews, or at least
Speaker 1: they did when I was there, everything was a year
Speaker 1: late because I fished everything for a year and then
Speaker 1: decided these are the four things I would actually spend
Speaker 1: my money on. But the gear companies hated it because
Speaker 1: we featuring their new products. It was the old stuff,
Speaker 1: but it was actual things that I could go to
Speaker 1: the readers and say, this is worth your time, this
Speaker 1: is worth your money by this it's great. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: love some opinions. If you guys want to share some.
Speaker 1: By the way, before you move on to your story,
Speaker 1: stay tuned because we have another little eye cast nugget
Speaker 1: in the show coming up shortly that I think you
Speaker 1: guys will appreciate. I know, I do. Um. The only
Speaker 1: connection I have is that this has to do with
Speaker 1: the new technology and fish that's also somewhat unproven but
Speaker 1: potentially exciting. Scientists at the University of California Davis are
Speaker 1: pioneering a new technique for studying the life history of fish,
Speaker 1: peeling away and individually analyzing the layers of their eyeballs.
Speaker 1: Oh much like tree rings, the lenses of fish eyeballs
Speaker 1: grow in layers, and those layers record chemical signatures from
Speaker 1: which researchers can determine what kind of habitat the fish
Speaker 1: was using, how rich and certain nutrients its diet was,
Speaker 1: and what its rate of growth was at different life stages.
Speaker 1: Lead author Miranda Bell Tilcock described it as a little
Speaker 1: diet journal the fish keeps for us, which is really nice. Yeah.
Speaker 1: In order to gather that information, researchers perform what Silcock
Speaker 1: describes as quote like peeling the world's tiniest onion. I
Speaker 1: like I like this researcher I like I like her quotes.
Speaker 1: They remove one layer at a time with tiny forceps
Speaker 1: and use isotopic analysis on each one. The intention in
Speaker 1: this case is to better understand how different habitats in
Speaker 1: the Sacramento River delta impact the growth and development of
Speaker 1: juvenile salmon. The researchers looked at fish raised in three
Speaker 1: different parts of the ecosystem, the main river, the floodplain,
Speaker 1: and a hatchery. Initial findings suggests that fish reared in
Speaker 1: the floodplain, which is now mostly standing rice fields, grew
Speaker 1: more quickly and had additional layers in their lenses. Though
Speaker 1: the research is currently focused on California salmon, the potential
Speaker 1: value of this extends the migratory fish species everywhere. According
Speaker 1: to Tilcock quote, there are many migratory species all over
Speaker 1: the world that need freshwater habitat. If you can isolate
Speaker 1: their habitat and value for diet, you can quantify it
Speaker 1: for long term success. In other words, if researchers can
Speaker 1: understand what parts of the habitat certain migratory fish are
Speaker 1: are using and having success, that information can influence management
Speaker 1: decisions and potentially benefit the growth and survival of the fish.
Speaker 1: Right they can see where the fish are going, what
Speaker 1: they're using, what things are beneficial, what aren't, and and
Speaker 1: they can get that that information pretty quickly indirectly. For example,
Speaker 1: one of the co authors of the study recently used
Speaker 1: the technique to study changes in a food web following
Speaker 1: the construction of a dam in Brazil, right, so looking
Speaker 1: at how that changed almost in real time after they
Speaker 1: put in a dam, and that researcher described this as
Speaker 1: quote the holy grail of measure dring restoration success. So
Speaker 1: I don't exactly know where this is going to go,
Speaker 1: but I find it to be just hopeful and fascinating.
Speaker 1: And the fact that they're cutting open and peeling away
Speaker 1: fish eyes as tree rings just stuck out at me.
Speaker 1: A dude, I mean, there's a lot of good that
Speaker 1: can come of that if this is you know, that accurate? Um,
Speaker 1: I mean, I can think it's so many situations where
Speaker 1: having that information would be helpful here in so many
Speaker 1: different studies and so many different rivers, right, Because if
Speaker 1: you make changes to management or habitat or infrastructure like
Speaker 1: within a river and you can immediately see how it's
Speaker 1: impacting fish growth, that's amazing. Yeah, for sure, I mean
Speaker 1: it's no reverse honeycomb body design on a soft plastic Swistainly,
Speaker 1: I think I think overall that technology will be more
Speaker 1: impactful for society. But hey, maybe if Phil does die
Speaker 1: from his recent accident, they can dissect his eyeballs and
Speaker 1: and learn that he has survived all these years on
Speaker 1: a diet of pure pez in r C cola. You know,
Speaker 1: we're not rooting We're we're not rooting for that though.
Speaker 1: We're rooting for a full recovery, because our egos need
Speaker 1: to know who wins this pointless competition every week. And
Speaker 1: with that, let's check in with old Phil and see
Speaker 1: how he's doing in the I see you. And then
Speaker 1: after that, uh, what I guarantee is is likely to
Speaker 1: be an awkward bit of tape. We'll move on to
Speaker 1: another awkward moment in fishing. Um, I think I think
Speaker 1: this is Phil. I think this is the guy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's Phil, I think. I mean, you can see his
Speaker 1: hair kind of poking out through the bandages as nice
Speaker 1: a quaff. Thank god they saved that hair. Do you
Speaker 1: think he's awake? Do you think you can hear us?
Speaker 1: I mean we're gonna have to try. I guess you
Speaker 1: have to try. Do you know how this happened? How
Speaker 1: did this happen? You didn't hear? He built a pontoon
Speaker 1: boat out of oil drums, but the oil drums were
Speaker 1: still filled with oil. That's yeah, not the smartest idea up, Phil,
Speaker 1: hold his hand, hold his hand? Okay, how his hand? Hands? Hold?
Speaker 1: Hold Carl, Maggie, we're here? Is that is that you? Yes?
Speaker 1: Oh my god, yes, yes, yes, please please tell tell Miles,
Speaker 1: tell him anything that the winner last week? Okay, what's Joe? Oh? Good, good, good,
Speaker 1: we will we will tell him. I don't blame him
Speaker 1: for planting this idea in my head. Okay, we'll pass
Speaker 1: that on. But we need one more thing film before
Speaker 1: you go. We need to know who won this week?
Speaker 1: Can you tell us? I can't and the winner was clear? Okay, okay, winner,
Speaker 1: Come on, Phil, I think he's gone. Oh no, you
Speaker 1: know what this means, right? Do you know what this means? No?
Speaker 1: They're going to send us to work with Lance V
Speaker 1: if we don't get this answer. No, shut up? Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: oh my god. Miracles, it's a miracle. Not the winter smiles. God,
Speaker 1: we'll take care of yourself. Can someone get me a
Speaker 1: brisk iced tea. What did you take a picture in
Speaker 1: a life block? It's uh, it's kind of been a
Speaker 1: hot minute since we've done an awkward photo. And I
Speaker 1: must say that's not because you guys aren't sending them, okay,
Speaker 1: you you guys are really doing your part. But I
Speaker 1: feel like what happens, okay is after a while, after
Speaker 1: you do this for a while, it becomes a game
Speaker 1: of one upping the last photo, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: And like, the more you do that, the more you
Speaker 1: like end up waiting for stunners, you know what I means.
Speaker 1: Like you kind of like inadvertently rope yourself into waiting
Speaker 1: it out for the ultra gold, which which is exactly
Speaker 1: what we have to do this. Yeah, this segment would
Speaker 1: get boring if we just threw out random photos that
Speaker 1: we if we were to do this with photos we
Speaker 1: weren't excited about, I don't think it would be very
Speaker 1: exactly right exactly And and this particular one is it
Speaker 1: was worth the weight we have? Yes, we have a
Speaker 1: I would call it an exceptional fantastic layered photo might
Speaker 1: be a favorite of mine, I got it. I think
Speaker 1: it might be definitely. But here's the best part, right,
Speaker 1: This photo wasn't even sent in as an awkward photo. No,
Speaker 1: it wasn't. It wasn't even sent to us. Really, it
Speaker 1: was forwarded to us from our colleague who monitors the
Speaker 1: general Mediator account, and the attached photos were just sort
Speaker 1: of showing off recent catches, which is pretty common. We
Speaker 1: get that a lot. Ye, And we looked at them
Speaker 1: and we were like, oh, damn, that one right there
Speaker 1: is super and awkward. So that's what happened. I looked
Speaker 1: at that photo and I knew it just at the moment,
Speaker 1: like I knew we were going to have to do
Speaker 1: a segment on it. For the first time ever, we
Speaker 1: had to reach out to a meat eater fan and say, hey, uh,
Speaker 1: I know you didn't actually submit this for awkward moments
Speaker 1: and angling, but it's really awkward, so can we please
Speaker 1: trash this on the air? Will you let us do that? Yeah? Right,
Speaker 1: and and and dude was like absolutely even he was pumped.
Speaker 1: But even funnier thing it's actually a photo of his wife.
Speaker 1: Yeah he's in there, but but it's the wife is
Speaker 1: the focal point. So he was also kind of saying like, yes,
Speaker 1: please make fun of my wife as well, Like you know,
Speaker 1: hashtag pending domestic dispute. I don't know, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. I don't think so, and I hope not.
Speaker 1: But here here's the story. The email came from Connor
Speaker 1: Adley and he wrote again he was just sending this
Speaker 1: to the main media to account. He wrote this very
Speaker 1: nice vignette about how he had never saltwater fish to
Speaker 1: his life before he met his wife, just saying, and
Speaker 1: now it's a huge part of what he does. Her
Speaker 1: family has had a property on Bailey Island, which is
Speaker 1: in Casco Bay in Maine, for a very long time,
Speaker 1: and she spent summer up there since she was little.
Speaker 1: When Connor married into the family, he started going up
Speaker 1: to Bailey Island too, and now he's up there every weekend.
Speaker 1: Connor has subsequently turned into an absolute striper nut. He's
Speaker 1: just ate up with it. He loves him, that's right,
Speaker 1: that's right. So he said this, and he happened to
Speaker 1: attach to photos. One is of himself doing a what
Speaker 1: I call it a very just stock gripping grain striper
Speaker 1: appropriate shot on the boat, and the other uh is
Speaker 1: of his wife holding a striper and it looks like
Speaker 1: she's crying. It looks like she is completely uncomfortable, just
Speaker 1: right on the verge of tears. Like there there is
Speaker 1: angst in the poor girl's face. Okay, dare I say
Speaker 1: there's anguish in the poor girl's face, Jason, Who's who's
Speaker 1: very She appears to be a very petite Person's standing
Speaker 1: at the base of some large, steep upturned sedimentary rocks.
Speaker 1: I noticed those rocks are very very pretty rocks. Uh,
Speaker 1: right at the edge of the water. She's got one
Speaker 1: hand firmly gripped right in the right spot, right at
Speaker 1: the wrist the peduncle of the tail, and the other
Speaker 1: hands got the lip grip. It's very close to a
Speaker 1: classic striper hole. It's just a little off. Yeah, it's
Speaker 1: just like the tails up a little too high, which
Speaker 1: makes it look kind of strange. And there's some seaweed
Speaker 1: obscuring the body. But all in all, the holds okay.
Speaker 1: I also gonna say, there's this weird jene jacket that's
Speaker 1: kind of dangling off on the side in this and
Speaker 1: I don't know, because it's like monogram very large. I
Speaker 1: don't even it almost looks like it's kind of floating there.
Speaker 1: I'm wondering if that gene jacket is about to fall
Speaker 1: into the water. The Jeane jacket looks precarious. But that's
Speaker 1: there's just And for you. And then there's Connor and
Speaker 1: he's he's like he's sort of hiding behind just In
Speaker 1: and and sort of hiding behind the rocks. But he's
Speaker 1: got his arms sticking out from under her armpit and
Speaker 1: it's just like awkwardly tickling the belly of the fish
Speaker 1: a little bit. He's not even really touching it though,
Speaker 1: so I don't think he's adding much support. But it's
Speaker 1: it's his face, you guys. It's the look on his
Speaker 1: face and it's just peeking out from behind this young
Speaker 1: woman and it looks I can only describe it as diabolical. Right,
Speaker 1: So then you can put all this together, and there's
Speaker 1: just saying looking terrified, Connor trying to hide with just
Speaker 1: his face in his hand sticking out, looking evil, and
Speaker 1: the whole thing just it looks creepy. It just looks creepy.
Speaker 1: His face is very sinister. It's extremely it's like sinister.
Speaker 1: And this is this is why should be twirling his
Speaker 1: mustache like right exactly, that was a terrible sinister person impression.
Speaker 1: I didn't think about it long enough whatever, Keep it
Speaker 1: in Phil. But here's what this is what came to
Speaker 1: mind when I first saw this. It's like a movie
Speaker 1: scene where and I don't have a movie in mind,
Speaker 1: but we all know what I'm talking about. Here, a
Speaker 1: bad guy like bumps up against a female victim in
Speaker 1: a public setting and like sticks a gun in her
Speaker 1: back and says, start walking and start walking and don't
Speaker 1: say a word, and then she's got to decide whether
Speaker 1: to make a move and cry out for help or not.
Speaker 1: Was wait? Was that Running Man? Was that a clip
Speaker 1: from Running Man? It was? I was Running Man? And
Speaker 1: while while it has no further connection, I just feel
Speaker 1: the need to add this. Are you ready for pay?
Speaker 1: Are you ready for suffering? If the answer is yes,
Speaker 1: then you're ready for Captain Freedom's work out. Now you
Speaker 1: probably thought I was gonna go with here's sub zero
Speaker 1: now playing zero, But that's just too obvious. That's the
Speaker 1: most quoted line from The Running Man, which maybe five
Speaker 1: people listening have seen. I hope it's more were I
Speaker 1: hope that was. I hope that one landed. It didn't
Speaker 1: land with me. I'll say that like I'm not a
Speaker 1: fan and I have Please tell me you've read the book.
Speaker 1: Have you read the book? Did you read the book?
Speaker 1: You're not a fan of The Running Man? No, No,
Speaker 1: and I can tell you why, But answer my question,
Speaker 1: did have you read the book? I have never read
Speaker 1: any of the book versions of any Schwarzenegger movie. No.
Speaker 1: I tried to find raw deal in paperback, but it
Speaker 1: just didn't seem to exist. I see the joke you're
Speaker 1: trying to make, but I'm going to continue with this
Speaker 1: line of rationale. It was a Bachman book, which was
Speaker 1: Stephen King's pen name for a while. Oh yes, something
Speaker 1: new every day. And the book is actually nothing like
Speaker 1: that over hyped weird game show insanity that they made
Speaker 1: into a movie. It's actually like a really interesting take
Speaker 1: on what was contemporary culture in the eighties and how
Speaker 1: we dealt with like prisons. But the movie, other than
Speaker 1: the name, has nothing to do with the book. It's
Speaker 1: it's not even so buzz Saw and Dynamo aren't in
Speaker 1: the book. They're not in the book. No. No, it
Speaker 1: was like all the reasons, all the reasons why I
Speaker 1: did not like that movie. This is still an awkward moments, right,
Speaker 1: we should probably circle back, guys, continue to our Running
Speaker 1: Man podcast that's every Saturday on our own channels. Anyway, Yes,
Speaker 1: we'll get back to just and we have to check
Speaker 1: in and see if she's safe. The photo. The photo
Speaker 1: was so awkward right that we we we had to
Speaker 1: reach out to Connor first to get his permission, and
Speaker 1: we also wanted to get some backstory. And here's what
Speaker 1: he said. I love fish, and nothing makes me happier
Speaker 1: than making a small fish look big in a picture,
Speaker 1: said every person on Instagram. Ever, whenever just Sends family
Speaker 1: took pictures of fish, they were never presented properly to
Speaker 1: show the true beauty of the fish. They either held
Speaker 1: it by the lips straight up and down, or in
Speaker 1: an awkward way that made the fish have a J shape.
Speaker 1: Because this one wasn't awkward. Over the last three seasons,
Speaker 1: I have been working on teaching the family how to
Speaker 1: present fish to the cameras. And on this beautiful Sunday morning,
Speaker 1: my wife caught her biggest fish of the summer. I
Speaker 1: saw how she was holding it, and I couldn't just
Speaker 1: stand behind her and let that belly sag, so I
Speaker 1: jumped in while the picture was being taken. To support
Speaker 1: both my wife and the fish. I didn't think my
Speaker 1: face would be in the picture, and because we'd like
Speaker 1: to get them back into the water as quickly as possible,
Speaker 1: there was no time to take another Here's the thing, though, Connor,
Speaker 1: I know from experience some people just don't want to
Speaker 1: be taught the right way. I'm thinking of my dad,
Speaker 1: Like every time I try and take a nice picture
Speaker 1: of him with the fish, he wants none of the instruction.
Speaker 1: He does not care. But still, how ironic that Connor
Speaker 1: here was trying to make his wife and the fish
Speaker 1: look better. Yet we end up with this though, I
Speaker 1: think there's actually there's actually a lesson here that we
Speaker 1: can all appreciate and learn from. Okay, what what what
Speaker 1: Connor and Jessen did not do did not do was
Speaker 1: spend twenty five minutes posing with the fish. So props
Speaker 1: for the quick snap and release. Even if she had
Speaker 1: nailed the hold right like then we wouldn't be talking
Speaker 1: about her. So I actually think this turned out better.
Speaker 1: This is bettest worked out, but far better than they
Speaker 1: ever could have imagined. One shot back in the water
Speaker 1: app well done. Well that as as no one on
Speaker 1: Instagram ever said, right there, Connor, thanks for for kind
Speaker 1: of sort of sending this to us for our moments
Speaker 1: on accident, but really thanks for letting us use it
Speaker 1: when we asked. Uh. And I also should add that
Speaker 1: the majority of our thanks go to just Send for
Speaker 1: playing along and yes, allowing this to be shared publicly. Uh.
Speaker 1: You hope you're all smiles in subsequent striper shots and
Speaker 1: and now know how to do the rifle pose that
Speaker 1: Surmelie claims he invented, so he did not all of
Speaker 1: you out there. If you want to see this, you
Speaker 1: can see the photo on Joe and my Instagram accounts.
Speaker 1: And if you want your photo roasted here fired off
Speaker 1: along with the backstory to Bent at the meat eater
Speaker 1: dot com. That was kind of a harsh way to
Speaker 1: teach a lesson on how to hold a fish. But
Speaker 1: I'm I'm willing to bet the next time that we
Speaker 1: get a photo of just and holding a striper, she's
Speaker 1: gonna be mean, mugging like a Montak sharpie. Did that right?
Speaker 1: That sound natural? Not really close? He's got just stick
Speaker 1: to your West Coast slang. But yeah, Jess, and definitely
Speaker 1: she knows more about stripers than you, even if she
Speaker 1: doesn't know how to hold them yet. So you know,
Speaker 1: exposing your your weak fish hold game on a four
Speaker 1: point five star fishing podcast is it's kind of trial
Speaker 1: by fire. But joking aside, we really did love that photo.
Speaker 1: Was one of my favorites. Really good. Um. Anyway, sort
Speaker 1: of by accident, truly, we we've we've woven a like
Speaker 1: a secondary, like a secondary major, like a secondary striper
Speaker 1: theme in a minor episode a minor. That's what I meant, God,
Speaker 1: secondary major minor dummy. Um. And you also you did
Speaker 1: just mentioned mont Talk, which creates a perfect transition to
Speaker 1: the end of the line This week, Yes, yes it does.
Speaker 1: In honor of a full year recording together, Joe and
Speaker 1: I are going to tag team this week's end of
Speaker 1: line and choo the fat, so to speak, and by
Speaker 1: fact we mean delicious, delicious pork skin. Well, that's not
Speaker 1: loud enough. Dietarily speaking, I don't have a whole lot
Speaker 1: in common with the fish I pursue. I mean, I
Speaker 1: like crayfish and certain paid fish, but but I take
Speaker 1: a pass on nightcrawlers, grasshoppers, and hot dogs soaked in
Speaker 1: kool aid and garlic. Powder fish and I do share
Speaker 1: one gastronomical achilles heel, though bacon taste good part shops
Speaker 1: taste good pig fat. Don't tell Steve Ronella, but pork
Speaker 1: might be my favorite meat. I love elk, antelope, moose,
Speaker 1: dear pheasant, grouse, and many many aquatic meats. But as
Speaker 1: much as I want to go pure wild game for
Speaker 1: my protein, I can't quit the swine, especially when it's
Speaker 1: cured and salty, even though I know it's not the
Speaker 1: smartest dietary decision. Game fish share my affinity for salty pork,
Speaker 1: and the history of natural pork baits goes back a
Speaker 1: good long time. A couple of fishing buddies named Urban
Speaker 1: Shriner and Alan P. Jones had a problem. The pair
Speaker 1: would spend their summer days fishing bass on Jordan Lake
Speaker 1: in Wisconsin. Early in the morning and late in the evening.
Speaker 1: They like to pitch plugs, but midday, when the plugging
Speaker 1: got slow, they always switched to live frogs. That year, however,
Speaker 1: due to environmental circumstances, the specifics of which have been
Speaker 1: lost to history, Jordan Lake had a frog shortage. The
Speaker 1: two couldn't find the frogs they needed to keep up
Speaker 1: the midday bite anywhere, so they got to thinking about
Speaker 1: which alternatives they might use to replace the absent amphibians.
Speaker 1: Jones worked at a dairy farm where one of his
Speaker 1: jobs was slaughtering hogs and making sausage, so the guy
Speaker 1: was familiar with pig parts. Throughout that summer, the two
Speaker 1: experimented with chunks of fat back that still had the
Speaker 1: skin on, cutting them into different frog leg shapes. They
Speaker 1: wanted to get optimal wiggle out of the legs, but
Speaker 1: keep enough fat on to create a body profile provide
Speaker 1: enough way to cast and send out a greasy scent
Speaker 1: trail for the fish. Turns out it worked pretty damn well,
Speaker 1: and the next year the two star of the Uncle
Speaker 1: Josh Bait Company in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. That first year,
Speaker 1: they offered three baits, the original number eleven pork frog,
Speaker 1: a bass strip, and a fly strip, all of which
Speaker 1: were available in just one color, the natural white of
Speaker 1: cured pork skin and fat. The baits were effective and
Speaker 1: incredibly durable. Pigskin is tough, but it took a while
Speaker 1: to figure out how to get the fat back to
Speaker 1: absorb and hold colored dies. Their biggest challenge, however, was spoilage.
Speaker 1: The first few years opening those little glass jars was
Speaker 1: an old factory gamble, as the Bates would quickly go
Speaker 1: ranted and stink far worse than any pack of power bait. Eventually, though,
Speaker 1: they figured out a way to get the dyeta stick
Speaker 1: and a brine that would keep the flesh fresh. Bass
Speaker 1: and pike anglers across the country soon discovered the effectiveness
Speaker 1: of salty pork in little green jars, and the pig
Speaker 1: and a jig became standard. It's difficult to overstay the
Speaker 1: impact that this creation had on recreational fishing. At the time,
Speaker 1: pig strips were everywhere. Spoon manufacturers realized that undulating tails
Speaker 1: could add action and sent to their flash and vibration,
Speaker 1: and began designing spoons with special rind attachments. Most listeners
Speaker 1: are likely familiar with the iconic red Dare Devil spoon
Speaker 1: and its white stripe down the center, but what you
Speaker 1: probably didn't know is the Daredevil originally came up with
Speaker 1: that color design to compete with pork strips. The tagline
Speaker 1: for that paint job in old ads reads the stripe
Speaker 1: the pork grind without the Greeks. For nearly four decades,
Speaker 1: natural pork reigned supreme. Uncle Josh Bates grew large and successful,
Speaker 1: and at least three other companies also produced pork grind
Speaker 1: baits to meet national demand. They added scents and action
Speaker 1: to artificial lures and caught god knows how many fish.
Speaker 1: Then came the cream worm and the explosion of plastics.
Speaker 1: For a while, people kind of forgot about natural skin baits.
Speaker 1: By the early nineteen seventies, Uncle Josh was the only
Speaker 1: company making hog hide, frogs and strips. All the others
Speaker 1: had folded in the late seventies and early eighties, though
Speaker 1: some tournament bass anglers started bringing in bags that turned heads.
Speaker 1: One pair in an Oklahoma tournament set a state record
Speaker 1: weighing in twenty fish that totaled a hundred and twenty
Speaker 1: nine pounds ten ounces, all caught on a peg and
Speaker 1: a jake. Pork rinds became popular again until plastics technology
Speaker 1: outmatched in the nineties with salt scent and the huge
Speaker 1: variety of colors and designs were now accustomed to seeing
Speaker 1: on tackle store peg boards. Even though plastics started to
Speaker 1: outcompete them, pork grind always maintained a market. There were
Speaker 1: the old timers like my uncle's who swore that a
Speaker 1: chunk of Uncle Josh's on a weedless Johnson's silverspoon would
Speaker 1: catch fish when they wouldn't bite anything else, and those
Speaker 1: die hards went into collective mourning in twenty fifteen, when
Speaker 1: Acme Lures, who had purchased the Uncle Josh brand, announced
Speaker 1: that they would no longer be manufacturing real pork grind strips.
Speaker 1: Hog production had changed over the course of the century.
Speaker 1: Pigs were now going to slutter at six months instead
Speaker 1: of two or three years, and the skin of such
Speaker 1: young pigs just wasn't thick enough to produce a quality bait.
Speaker 1: Everything Miles just said is accurate, But there's another part
Speaker 1: of this story, one that adds even more salt to
Speaker 1: that already salty bacony goodness. I think it might be
Speaker 1: fair to say that more tears were shed by Northeast
Speaker 1: saltwater anglers when Uncle Josh announced they were done in
Speaker 1: the hog trade than by large mouth and pike guys. Now,
Speaker 1: while the popularity of the pork grind may have ebbed
Speaker 1: and float among sweetwater anglers, Uncle Josh never lost its
Speaker 1: devout following in the striper's scene. In fact, the pork grind,
Speaker 1: too many surfcasters, was as staple a piece of kit
Speaker 1: as their rotten reel. Uncle Josh had two main saltwater offerings,
Speaker 1: the blackwadow eel and the sea rind, which was introduced
Speaker 1: in the late nineties seventies. The black widows came in
Speaker 1: several sizes, but the biggest measured nine inches, and that
Speaker 1: one was only available in white and black. Now black
Speaker 1: was arguably the most popular color, and it offered striped
Speaker 1: wranglers an alternative to costly and sometimes hard to procure
Speaker 1: live American eels. Sure there were rubbed reels in the
Speaker 1: seventies and eighties, but none of the move like that
Speaker 1: extra long piece of black pigskin. I never used black
Speaker 1: widow eels. Those sea rhymes quickly became a necessity for
Speaker 1: me in my twenties when I leveled up my surfcasting
Speaker 1: game and started making runs to Montauk, New York. Here,
Speaker 1: I quickly learned that despite the plethora of soft plastic
Speaker 1: swim baits on the market, the sharpies, the old timers,
Speaker 1: those guys in the know, they rarely touched those, Just
Speaker 1: as it had for decades, a plain white bucktail j
Speaker 1: tipped with a wiggly red pork strip whacked stripers more
Speaker 1: consistently than most of the new school stuff. I bought
Speaker 1: a jar of red Sea Rhyns just to my first
Speaker 1: mon Talk trip, and that jar lasted me for many,
Speaker 1: many years, even after like a solid blitz session and
Speaker 1: subsequent use that the Jersey Shore and beyond. Those things
Speaker 1: were tough to destroy. As long as you put them
Speaker 1: back in the jar, they lasted almost forever. In fact,
Speaker 1: I'd still have that jar if it didn't eventually crack
Speaker 1: causing all the Brian to leak out. And it's a
Speaker 1: shame that I don't have it, really, because the black
Speaker 1: market for pork rins in the surf scene is still strong.
Speaker 1: If you're like sitting on a case of Uncle Josh
Speaker 1: pork rinds never used in jars, I mean, that's like
Speaker 1: hitting the eBay lottery. In the years following the bad
Speaker 1: news from Uncle Josh, companies scrambled to make the next
Speaker 1: pork strip alternative that would capture the market. There were
Speaker 1: magazine articles, reviews and comparisons written over which one to
Speaker 1: use now that Uncle Josh was done. But if you
Speaker 1: read the comments, paid attention on social media every time
Speaker 1: there was a new video of that brand next strip
Speaker 1: dancing underwater, a bunch of those comments just said I
Speaker 1: want my bacon back. Well, good news, although not for
Speaker 1: the black market pork grind trade. Just a few weeks
Speaker 1: ago at I Cast, which is the big fishing industry
Speaker 1: trade show, Uncle Josh flew a banner at their booth
Speaker 1: emblazon with three little words pork is back. We don't
Speaker 1: even have all the details yet, but it's a greasy
Speaker 1: ray of sunshine busting through that dark cloud of porklessness.
Speaker 1: So that's it for this week. If you're trying to
Speaker 1: decide what to send us for our birthday, we prefer
Speaker 1: gift cards. We take one to Denny's so we don't
Speaker 1: actually have to tap into our budget to pay Bob.
Speaker 1: We take one to a nearby hog farm so we
Speaker 1: can start our own pork grind business in Montauk. We
Speaker 1: take one to a C. Morris we can buy a
Speaker 1: frame for jess ends angsty striper photo. And we'd also
Speaker 1: take one of Blockbuster Video just because it would be
Speaker 1: a cool keepsake. If you can find one of those
Speaker 1: out of you, I would have to go on an
Speaker 1: eBay for that. I'll also take your bar nomination sale,
Speaker 1: but item's awkward photos. Newsy bits and anything else that
Speaker 1: you want to send to Bent at the meat eater
Speaker 1: dot com. And in all seriousness, we can't thank all
Speaker 1: of you degenerates enough for tuning in. In the past year,
Speaker 1: we fished with every single one of you guys if
Speaker 1: we could life