Speaker 1: We spent weeks making our own or Gasmo and showed
Speaker 1: the boy outfits. It was like one of those situations
Speaker 1: where I was like, you know, common sense to tell you, like,
Speaker 1: you don't put water on the inside of what you're
Speaker 1: trying to keep out, you know what I mean. And
Speaker 1: then as they say you have to al mauny bang
Speaker 1: the left at the canal and you go all the
Speaker 1: way to Buffalo. It's orange, black, furry and wiggly, kind
Speaker 1: of like a demonic mega. Good morning, degenerate Anglers, and
Speaker 1: welcome to Bent, the podcast that hands out full size
Speaker 1: muskie plugs on Halloween, not tin split shot like your
Speaker 1: cheap bass neighbor. I'm Joe Surmelli, Miles Nulty, and one
Speaker 1: of us is really excited about it being Halloween tomorrow.
Speaker 1: Damn right, I am. I did Halloween, And to be
Speaker 1: really honest, man, like, beyond it being so fun because
Speaker 1: I now have kids that are the perfect age to
Speaker 1: get really jacked up on Halloween, I'm not even really
Speaker 1: sure why I love it so much, but I guess
Speaker 1: it's it's somehow I was thinking about, like like the
Speaker 1: punk metal holiday for some reason, and I don't know,
Speaker 1: and I'm also kind of in horror flicks. But um,
Speaker 1: as I think we're gonna learn today, Halloween does nothing
Speaker 1: for you. If I'm not mistaken, No, I'm I'm not
Speaker 1: a huge fan. You know. The final nail in my
Speaker 1: hatred for Halloween coffin came mid twenties, late twenties something
Speaker 1: like that. After after losing a costume contest, right, so,
Speaker 1: a buddy of mine and I we spent weeks. We
Speaker 1: had this great idea and we spent weeks making our
Speaker 1: own or Gasmo and showed the boy outfits like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I was Orgasmo, he was Chow the boy. And for
Speaker 1: those of you who don't know what I'm referring to,
Speaker 1: you need to go watch the movie or Gasmo right now.
Speaker 1: Just do it anyway, not with not with the child, no,
Speaker 1: no children at all. Definitely adults only. Uh. But like,
Speaker 1: those costumes were on point, and we worked our butts
Speaker 1: off and then we go to like the big costume
Speaker 1: contest at one of the bars out here, and we
Speaker 1: took second place to a group of ladies dressed as
Speaker 1: scantily clad sheep. And that was it for me. I
Speaker 1: was done. I'm done with this whole holiday, Like I
Speaker 1: tried once and what didn't work. I like how you
Speaker 1: said scantily clad sheep because I know even creative. Oh man,
Speaker 1: you are bitter, so bitter. That's a shame. Ah Man,
Speaker 1: you know it's not bitter Black Rifle Coffee and quick
Speaker 1: reminder that Ben is fueled by Black Rifle coffee. In fact,
Speaker 1: we've got so much of it that if you trick
Speaker 1: or treat at my house, I might stick a few
Speaker 1: of their instant coffee bags in your plastic punking or
Speaker 1: give a shot of their extra dark murdered out to
Speaker 1: your kids, just to make bedtime more difficult. Oh, I
Speaker 1: feel sorry for anybody trick or treat at Joe's house.
Speaker 1: Do yourself a favor and head over to Black Rifle
Speaker 1: Coffee dot com slash meat Eater, get on their subscription service,
Speaker 1: or or are just a few bags of their premium
Speaker 1: roasts and enter the promo code meat Eater to get
Speaker 1: off your order. Yeah, do all those things. It's like
Speaker 1: candy for grown ups. Man, I gotta tell you, And
Speaker 1: I also gotta tell you. Over the last few weeks,
Speaker 1: we've gotten quite a few notes from you guys asking
Speaker 1: if we plan to do a Halloween special and the
Speaker 1: answer is yes, sort of. I'd say we've at least,
Speaker 1: you know, rubbed enough candy corn behind our ears to
Speaker 1: give this episode a Halloween essence at least is how
Speaker 1: I'd put it. And for the record, I was skeptical,
Speaker 1: right I was. I was, But then Joe got ahold
Speaker 1: of some historical gems that completely changed my mind. We
Speaker 1: cannot actually tell you how we came to be in
Speaker 1: possession of these clips, but it turns out that in
Speaker 1: the eighties and nineties, Bill Dance actually tried moonlighting as
Speaker 1: a horror film actor, and he got surprisingly far. Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: all of Bill's test reads ended up on the cut
Speaker 1: of Room Lord. But as you may have already guessed,
Speaker 1: we got exclusive permission to air them right here for you.
Speaker 1: Yes we do, and we're gonna be peppering those throughout
Speaker 1: the show. Okay, and remember you heard it here first.
Speaker 1: And if you're shaking your head in complete disbelief right now,
Speaker 1: believe it. Believe it's real. Believe it. And here's Bill
Speaker 1: reading for the two classic Poltergeist. How are you this morning?
Speaker 1: M doing? Okay? What do you girl? More purple and brown?
Speaker 1: Kind of a purple loot? Keep that bite in one spot.
Speaker 1: What do you look for in a good bite cash
Speaker 1: and rod when you're on a fixed income. So let's
Speaker 1: seems like Bill is a little limited in his in
Speaker 1: his range. Um. Anyway, that's one of many exclusive bill
Speaker 1: It's horror flick reads to come. But let's move on
Speaker 1: to a very very special regional report. Yeah it is.
Speaker 1: We actually have a celebrity on the show today, for real,
Speaker 1: this time, not like the other celebrities we have on
Speaker 1: this show. Right after we first launched Bent, we got
Speaker 1: a note from Mike Williams, who started in the little
Speaker 1: cult classic movie you might remember, The Blair Witch Project. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and this is this is a true story. We're not
Speaker 1: bullshit and we're not making this up for Mike. Yeah
Speaker 1: for once, maybe never again, but believe us. Now, Okay,
Speaker 1: Mike is is the guy standing in the corner of
Speaker 1: the basement at the end of the movie. That is
Speaker 1: what that That scene still creeps me out. That was
Speaker 1: that was well done. Anyway. Turns up, Mike lives in
Speaker 1: New York State and he's a hardcore fly angler. He
Speaker 1: sent an email to Bent at the meat Eator dot
Speaker 1: com just to say he was digging our show and
Speaker 1: offering to help out. We noodled on that for weeks
Speaker 1: and came up with nothing. We're like, how are we
Speaker 1: gonna work this into the show. And we were talking
Speaker 1: about it with our buddy and colleague Sam Londren, who
Speaker 1: threw out this great idea, and we're like, yes, that's it,
Speaker 1: We're doing that. So so what we did was we
Speaker 1: asked Mike to list and explain his five favorite trout
Speaker 1: flies for his local streams. Easy, right, very easy. But
Speaker 1: because we're complete dicks, we said, you have to record
Speaker 1: this information while running through the woods in the pitch
Speaker 1: dark allah blair Witch and I was like, there's no way,
Speaker 1: Mike st I told you guys. It was like, there's
Speaker 1: no way Mike's going. But he was in. He was
Speaker 1: all about it. So here's Mike Williams from the blair
Speaker 1: Witch Project giving you his five top trout flies while
Speaker 1: legitimately running through the woods at night. Take eyes all right?
Speaker 1: So for the Croton Riverous System, Hounded Golden top five flies,
Speaker 1: Croton's up for your Putton Valley buppa Westchester. So I
Speaker 1: wanted to start with a Cadis said, Cadis, you can't
Speaker 1: go wrong with it. Any time year Brown, Cadis Page
Speaker 1: cats green, Catos Bray. I don't care, but you gotta
Speaker 1: carry catos not Also, oh god, David's right anyway, a
Speaker 1: sulfur gotta have a sulfur, A merchant for summer, Cassie
Speaker 1: June's why, definitely a sulfur us on top of that.
Speaker 1: I would do right, I would do a light Oh.
Speaker 1: I like Hey Hill, Ok, I like Hey Hill during
Speaker 1: the summer. To the fish here, I love that. And
Speaker 1: of course hairs here in the Pheasant Hill. You don't
Speaker 1: carry that. You don't carry that, damn it. Well, then
Speaker 1: you don't know what you're doing and you're gonna apply Fisherman.
Speaker 1: I hope this helps tight lines. Gotta oh man, Mike,
Speaker 1: We thank you for that. Man. You were such a
Speaker 1: good sport. Thanks for reaching out. And you guys should
Speaker 1: follow Mike on the instagrams. He's at sipping rises. Thank you, Mike,
Speaker 1: And we're sorry, but but not really because that was funny.
Speaker 1: Moving on, it's time to continue the theme of making
Speaker 1: people uncomfortable, this time with our smooth move segment where
Speaker 1: we let guides and Charter Captain's bitch about stupid things
Speaker 1: their clients have done. Yeah, and we're gonna throw it
Speaker 1: back to what I call the upper d session. A
Speaker 1: few months ago and I spent a few days at
Speaker 1: the Guide Shack and the Cat Skills with some good friends,
Speaker 1: including our amigo Marty Ye, who has a story for
Speaker 1: us today, so frightening. It's guaranteed to make you lose
Speaker 1: control of all your bodily functions. But before we kick
Speaker 1: it over to Marty, just to set the mood, here's
Speaker 1: Bill Dance in the Exorcist twitch Twitch Twitch Twitch Twitch
Speaker 1: polishitch Twitch. Why all right, we've got an on location
Speaker 1: smooth Moves. I am sitting in one of my favorite places,
Speaker 1: the official guide check of Cross Current Guide service on
Speaker 1: the Upper Delaware River on the p a New York
Speaker 1: boarder sitting here with our good friend and guide Marty Y.
Speaker 1: Hi Marty, how are you? I'm great? How are you?
Speaker 1: I'm terrific. It's good to see you in person. In person,
Speaker 1: I feel like our relationship is more digitally, very digital.
Speaker 1: It's very text based, text based relationship. But here we are,
Speaker 1: we're hanging out and doing some fishing, So why not
Speaker 1: record a smooth moves with you? How how long have
Speaker 1: you been a guide Marty remind me, So I'm relatively
Speaker 1: new in that sense. This is my fourth year. I'm
Speaker 1: on my fourth season. Okay, but four years is enough
Speaker 1: time to see some ridiculous shit. Oh yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: for the amount of days that that we're out, it's yeah,
Speaker 1: we see a lot of people, a lot of situations,
Speaker 1: a lot of weird things. You guys get a lot
Speaker 1: of New York City clientele and stuff. You pull people
Speaker 1: from all over the place, all over So hit me, man,
Speaker 1: what's the one that sticks out in your mind that's
Speaker 1: like that. I just don't believe that ship just happened. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So this was actually my first year. I was very new,
Speaker 1: like very green cherry and maybe when have been like
Speaker 1: my one of my first trips really, and I think
Speaker 1: about it. So this guy, the real nice guy comes up.
Speaker 1: He's from somewhere downstate and uh, he's somewhat new to
Speaker 1: fly fishing. He's trying to get back into it. So
Speaker 1: we we talk and he's like, you know, I need
Speaker 1: I don't have waiters, I don't have geared. That's fine.
Speaker 1: I'm like I got everything. What size are you? How perfect?
Speaker 1: I got my old backup pair you can wear so
Speaker 1: it's fine. Everything is great. We meet up, we're out
Speaker 1: on the water. We actually have a pretty decent day,
Speaker 1: like for you know, for my first year guiding considered
Speaker 1: and and he's not a great you know at the time,
Speaker 1: wasn't a grading um. But you know, we we schooled.
Speaker 1: I schooled him up. We got on some fish and
Speaker 1: then you know, throughout the day, I always check with people.
Speaker 1: It's like, hey, do you need to take a leak?
Speaker 1: Do you want to step out? Stretch your legs? So
Speaker 1: I realized we're like an hour like six of the
Speaker 1: day and the guy hasn't taken a piss once. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, I can I can do that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, it was a little bit older in Asian
Speaker 1: and I take that into consideration. So I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: you know, do you want me to pull over? Do
Speaker 1: you want to like take a league? He's like no.
Speaker 1: Throughout the days like I'm good. I'm like, okay, go
Speaker 1: out the day, stick a couple more fish, you know,
Speaker 1: eat lunch, hanging out. Finally again back to like our
Speaker 1: six seven, I'm like, all right, so you need to
Speaker 1: piss because I'm gonna get out and piss. And he's
Speaker 1: like I've been pissing, and I laughed. I was like,
Speaker 1: I was like, ha ha ha, and he was like, no,
Speaker 1: I've been pissing in the waiters and I was like,
Speaker 1: excuse me. He's like, oh, is it not like a
Speaker 1: wet suit. I'm like absolutely, And you know, these are
Speaker 1: my old foots. They were They were boot foot actually,
Speaker 1: so he was just filling his boots and he he
Speaker 1: thought it was like a wet so he thought like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe it's a wet suit or dry
Speaker 1: suit either one. You're not supposed to pee in wet
Speaker 1: suits either. I don't know. I don't I'm not I
Speaker 1: don't dive or anything. But it turns out he just like,
Speaker 1: I'm sure he went a bunch of times and then
Speaker 1: he felt he felt so bad. But you know, it
Speaker 1: was like one of those situations where I was like,
Speaker 1: you know, common sense will tell you, like you don't
Speaker 1: put water on the inside of what you're trying to
Speaker 1: keep out, like you know what I mean. Yeah, So
Speaker 1: it turns out the guy ends up buying those waiters
Speaker 1: he acquired that. Yeah, that's one of many stories I've
Speaker 1: had in the last couple of years. Dude, that's so
Speaker 1: gross gross, How uncomfortable is that to fish all day
Speaker 1: and you're just pissing. Sure, you've had water in your
Speaker 1: waiters exactly, like just getting water down your waiters. I know,
Speaker 1: like when I have a leak in my winters. Instantly
Speaker 1: I'm like, there's there's a leak in my winters, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't want these anymore waters. Immediately, this
Speaker 1: guy just didn't give a ship. He's just pissing. Essentially,
Speaker 1: he was pissing his pants too, because he remember, he
Speaker 1: was still wearing like I don't know whatever pants like
Speaker 1: shorts or jeans, whatever he was wearing underneath, So he
Speaker 1: was still urinating, like in his underwear and pants as
Speaker 1: well as inside of my backup waiters. You know what,
Speaker 1: all right, people are gonna be all over this guy,
Speaker 1: like I can, I can, I'm already here. Or imagine
Speaker 1: the feedback we're gonna get. People can be like, what
Speaker 1: could have dumbhass pisces and waiters. Uh, I can see
Speaker 1: how this might happen, all right. For for folks who
Speaker 1: know wet suits, you're supposed to piss in them. That's
Speaker 1: part of the deal. That's what you do. Wait. Wait,
Speaker 1: weights wait, are you, Yes, you weren't supposed to piss
Speaker 1: in your wets You don't piss in dry suits. You
Speaker 1: do piss in wet suits. Yes. In fact, particularly if
Speaker 1: you're in cold water, pissing and wet suits is like
Speaker 1: what you look forward to because it's a little little
Speaker 1: jolt of heat all over your body, right, and and
Speaker 1: so I can imagine someone who's only been in wet
Speaker 1: suit and it's the first time, and waiters might assume
Speaker 1: that it's the same. You know, let's call it evacuation protocol,
Speaker 1: all right. But that said, how miserable would it be
Speaker 1: to marinate in your own urine all day? To me?
Speaker 1: I mean, it's just terrible to me mad. But I'm
Speaker 1: also that dude, like I get a drop of barbecue
Speaker 1: sauce on my share and I want to change it immediately.
Speaker 1: So I couldn't. I couldn't just like fish in piss
Speaker 1: filled waiters all day. Just Icky, We're gonna we're gonna
Speaker 1: stick with the theme of Ikey, which you know, Halloween
Speaker 1: and Nikki. That's what we got for you. Joe's got
Speaker 1: a book for us this week. Yes Joe can read, Yes,
Speaker 1: yes he can. It's almost time for freaking philistines, where
Speaker 1: we choose a book like an actual book with printed
Speaker 1: words and everything that we feel is worthy of your
Speaker 1: time and attention. This one fits the Halloween and horror
Speaker 1: flick motif. We are entering the world of large pred
Speaker 1: it is, which is apparently something Bill Dance knows all about,
Speaker 1: because here he is in The Predator. There's something out
Speaker 1: there waiting for us, and it ain't old Man. He's
Speaker 1: big as a thorny was, but he's a good one.
Speaker 1: He just looked big then in that water. But but
Speaker 1: unlike the somewhat racist depiction of the alien in that movie,
Speaker 1: the Predator in the book Joe is going to tell
Speaker 1: us about was actually real and much bigger and badder
Speaker 1: than anyone could imagine. So listen up and get ready
Speaker 1: to put down your screens and read. You're freaking philistines.
Speaker 1: What'sst It's a guy who doesn't care about books or
Speaker 1: interesting films and things. I have been obsessed with sharks
Speaker 1: since I was a tiny little kid. When I turned teen,
Speaker 1: I couldn't run to the tattoo polar fast enough to
Speaker 1: get a great white inked on my leg. So it
Speaker 1: should be no surprise that Jaws is my all time
Speaker 1: favorite movie and in my opinion, the greatest phishing movie
Speaker 1: of all time. But what many people don't realize is
Speaker 1: that Jaws was inspired by a very real reign of
Speaker 1: shark terror that occurred along the Jersey coast in the
Speaker 1: summer of nineteen sixteen, and Hooper, played by Richard Dreyfuss,
Speaker 1: even references those attacks in Jaws. And while it may
Speaker 1: not be a fishing book per se, anyone who loves
Speaker 1: sharks or Jaws or fishing for nasty predator fish really
Speaker 1: needs to read Michael Capozo's Close to Shore. It is
Speaker 1: the most detailed, beautifully written account of the events that
Speaker 1: took place that summer, and it it's it's by far
Speaker 1: my favorite work of historical nonfiction. A right Close to
Speaker 1: Shore reads like an adventure novel, and what makes this
Speaker 1: adventure all the more fascinating is the period of time
Speaker 1: in which it's taking place. This is the final summer
Speaker 1: before the US entered World War One. Vacationing at the
Speaker 1: beaches was just really growing in popularity. Because train lines
Speaker 1: could carry folks from New York and Philadelphia to the
Speaker 1: coast pretty quickly, it was easier to get there, and
Speaker 1: just as it is now in modern times, the beach
Speaker 1: was a safe, happy, care free environment, which makes the
Speaker 1: juxtaposition of these brutal attacks much starker. The first victim,
Speaker 1: twenty year old Charles van Zante, was attacked on July one,
Speaker 1: nineteen sixteen, while his parents watched in sheer horror from
Speaker 1: the beach, and van Zante was swimming with his dog
Speaker 1: in front of the Ingleside Hotel in beach Haven, New Jersey.
Speaker 1: And Capuzzo describes the attack in truly blood curdling detail,
Speaker 1: and Charles was actually rescued and made it to the
Speaker 1: beach alive, but the shark had just done a number
Speaker 1: on his leg and it severed his femeral artery. You know.
Speaker 1: His father, who was actually a doctor, rushed him to
Speaker 1: the hotel office, agonizing because they knew they'd never get
Speaker 1: him to the closest hospital, about twenty miles away in time,
Speaker 1: so they made a makeshift operating table out of the
Speaker 1: office door. But despite their best efforts and with limited supplies,
Speaker 1: Charles died of shock and massive hemorrhaging at the hotel. Now,
Speaker 1: the passage that follows charles death really sets the tone
Speaker 1: for the rest of the book, and you can see
Speaker 1: just how closely it mirrors the plot line of Jaws.
Speaker 1: That evening, a hush fell over the Angleside dining room,
Speaker 1: But after dinner hotel guest cornered fisherman and bayman and
Speaker 1: other wise and veterans of the shore, who drifted on
Speaker 1: and off the veranda all night long. The red trails
Speaker 1: of pipes and cigars waved in the night, and the
Speaker 1: number of people who had witnessed the attacks seemed to
Speaker 1: grow by the hour. Robert Angle tried to remain stoic
Speaker 1: and calm as reporters from Philadelphia newspapers scuttled about the
Speaker 1: lobby and veranda, questioning his guests. Disagreements and arguments broke out,
Speaker 1: until finally a consensus emerged of suspects in young van
Speaker 1: Zandt's death. A giant tuna, a shark, but most likely
Speaker 1: a giant sea turtle, which had the power the fisherman
Speaker 1: said to snap a man in half. The attending physician
Speaker 1: had a different opinion. He recorded the primary cause of
Speaker 1: death on van Zandt's death certificate as hemorrhage from femoral
Speaker 1: artery left side, with the contributory cause being bitten by
Speaker 1: a shark while bathing. It was the first time a
Speaker 1: shark bite had appeared as an official cause of death
Speaker 1: in U s history. Seeking to reassure his guests, Angle
Speaker 1: stood and declared bathers had nothing to worry about. The
Speaker 1: Next morning, the hotel would erect a netting around the
Speaker 1: beach strong enough to block German U boats swimming in
Speaker 1: the clear paradisal waters of Angleside would go on as usual,
Speaker 1: but a somber mood pervaded the Ingleside that evening, as
Speaker 1: one by one the hundreds of room lights that cast
Speaker 1: out over the shore winked out. A new and nameless
Speaker 1: fear had seized the guests, a fear the unknown as
Speaker 1: well as a fear of the sea. Even those who
Speaker 1: watched the attack had little notion of what they had witnessed,
Speaker 1: except to agree, as W. K. Barkley told whoever would listen, Mr.
Speaker 1: Van Zandt's death was the most horrible thing I ever saw.
Speaker 1: That scene sets the tone for the entire rest of
Speaker 1: the book, and of course, more attacks followed after van Zandt,
Speaker 1: which set off a media frenzy and hysteria that ultimately
Speaker 1: led to Shark Hunt's coastwide, with everything from rifles to
Speaker 1: nets to dynamite, debating hooks with cow lungs, and interestingly,
Speaker 1: and while I don't want to give too much of
Speaker 1: the ending away, the culprit remains a mystery and is
Speaker 1: still debated to this day. Was it a white shark
Speaker 1: or was it a bull shark? And Capuozo does a
Speaker 1: terrific job of breaking down all sides of the argument
Speaker 1: towards the end of the story. But the most important
Speaker 1: takeaway from Close to Shore is that without these attacks
Speaker 1: from nineteen sixt there probably would have been no jaws.
Speaker 1: These events single handedly created the mindset that sharks are
Speaker 1: vicious killers that need to be feared, which sadly still
Speaker 1: persists today with many people, despite time and science debunking
Speaker 1: the idea that sharks are ferocious man hunters. Now that
Speaker 1: your blood is fully curdled, let's shift from a history
Speaker 1: lesson to current events, it's time for fish news. Fish
Speaker 1: news that escalated quickly, so here we go. This is
Speaker 1: the part of the show where we fill you guys
Speaker 1: in on the most pertinent fish or fishing related news
Speaker 1: we think you good people need to know about, or
Speaker 1: in some cases we just give you whatever we could
Speaker 1: find this week that somehow loosely connects to the overriding
Speaker 1: theme of fishing that we try to maintain. Uh as
Speaker 1: a reminder, this is a competition. At the end of
Speaker 1: news are tremendously talented and rather good looking audio engineer
Speaker 1: Phil will Claire and News winner. And I gotta say, like,
Speaker 1: we don't we don't take this lightly, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. I'm scared like this. It's it's every week.
Speaker 1: It's like stepping into a cage match. And while while
Speaker 1: I may be heavier, Miles is faster and more nimble,
Speaker 1: and Phil has great hair. Let me just point that out.
Speaker 1: But you know, this takes bravery people, similar i'd imagine
Speaker 1: to the bravery that Bill Dance had to muster when
Speaker 1: he encountered Jason Vorhees for the first time in Friday thirteenth,
Speaker 1: Part eight, Jason takes Manhattan. And do we have a
Speaker 1: clip of that lined up? Phil? I believe we do.
Speaker 1: Here's what that sounded like. What you gonna do? Huh,
Speaker 1: she's gonna do? Huh show off a little So I
Speaker 1: think I think I think Miles is about to show
Speaker 1: off a little bit. How do you because because how
Speaker 1: do you follow up Bill dance doing that? I don't know,
Speaker 1: but you're the leadoff man thrust to the shoulder, So
Speaker 1: you got I got, I got every center here. Huh.
Speaker 1: So Okay, despite my admitted disdain for Halloween, I'm leading
Speaker 1: off with kind of a little like a sort of
Speaker 1: spooky story. Start off fish news this week, all right.
Speaker 1: Dan Boudrey was fishing an undisclosed location near Paris, Tennessee, recently,
Speaker 1: which is just a nice way of him saying that
Speaker 1: he doesn't want all you jerk nuts coming to his
Speaker 1: fishing hole. But considering what happened to him, I don't
Speaker 1: know that I would fish the spot even if he
Speaker 1: had named it, or I did live within driving distance
Speaker 1: of Paris, Tennessee. Anyway, Dan was fishing a jointed crank
Speaker 1: bait from shore when he hooked into a respectable little
Speaker 1: large mouth bass. Nothing nothing to crawl about, nothing, nothing's
Speaker 1: gonna win any contest, but not a dink decent, you know,
Speaker 1: he's a bass, nice everyday bass. Anyway, Dan brings in
Speaker 1: his bass and as he goes to remove the hook,
Speaker 1: he sees the head of a live and riding snake
Speaker 1: looking up at him from inside the bass's mouth. Okay,
Speaker 1: all right. From the look of the photo that Dan posted,
Speaker 1: I'm guessing he freaked out at that point and then
Speaker 1: just like drop the fish, which is like a totally
Speaker 1: understandable reaction. But I say that because in the shot,
Speaker 1: both the bass and the crank bait are just covered
Speaker 1: in dirt and there's like like fallen leaves like stuck
Speaker 1: to the back of the bass. It's the classic dirt
Speaker 1: shot you see like people Griffin grant on On on Instagram,
Speaker 1: and it's like the fish is just covered in leaves.
Speaker 1: It's like an I'm like, that's like a pet peeve
Speaker 1: of mine. Dunked the damn thing back in the water
Speaker 1: for a second. But in this case, I think it's
Speaker 1: totally valid. Like normally I hate on the dirt shot,
Speaker 1: but this one, I'm not skulled Cam. I'm scalding all
Speaker 1: the other people and they're like what I got this weekend.
Speaker 1: I'm like, it's a pile of dirt and leaves. Oh.
Speaker 1: But like when you look at the picture, I get
Speaker 1: it again because you don't notice the dirt fish. What
Speaker 1: you notice is the snake front and center sticking out
Speaker 1: of the bass's gullet. And and supposedly writhing around inside
Speaker 1: of its mouth. But good news for Dan, the fish
Speaker 1: was hooked on the outside of the jaw, which you
Speaker 1: can also clearly see in the photo. The front treble
Speaker 1: is hooked on the outside of of the fish is mandible,
Speaker 1: so he was able to retrieve his lure without ever
Speaker 1: putting his fingers into striking distance because again, this fish,
Speaker 1: the snake rather, was alive at this point. Even even
Speaker 1: better news for Dan and the bass, the snake was
Speaker 1: identified as a northern water snake, not the more dangerous
Speaker 1: water moccasin, which share habitat and range and look pretty similar.
Speaker 1: But you know, like you don't know in that moment. Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: like you have no idea. And and while water stay
Speaker 1: you can grow over four ft long, they're not poisonous,
Speaker 1: so Dan was never in any real danger. But again,
Speaker 1: like I said, he didn't know that at the time.
Speaker 1: Dan told a local reporter quote, I'm new to Tennessee,
Speaker 1: so I'm not real familiar with the look of venomous
Speaker 1: species here. Dan successfully released the bass after snapping those
Speaker 1: those photos. So the only real loser in this story
Speaker 1: is the snake, who was i mean assumedly digested by
Speaker 1: the bass after it got let go. Well, I could
Speaker 1: go way off on a water snake misidentified as a
Speaker 1: poisonous snake story that my mom ended up having to
Speaker 1: kill with a shovel, But that would take too long.
Speaker 1: That would take too long. So I'm gonna attack on
Speaker 1: a few more things. One. I've been to Paris, Tennessee, Okay,
Speaker 1: and it's like the catfish Capital of Tennessee or something
Speaker 1: like that. But I was there. I was hanging out
Speaker 1: on the property of Hank Williams Jr. With Hank three
Speaker 1: and I caught a bunch of crop ees out of
Speaker 1: out of Hank Williams pond before he kicked us off
Speaker 1: the property. That's another story. I don't have time are
Speaker 1: right now, but I think the overriding thing here that
Speaker 1: I take away from this the most. That's what I
Speaker 1: was wondering. What kind of snake is it? That's a
Speaker 1: big question. But besides that, how many times over the
Speaker 1: years have you seen somebody it's actually pretty recently trying
Speaker 1: to push a snake lure savage gear. I believe it
Speaker 1: was only a couple of years ago at at eye cast.
Speaker 1: They're big release and of course they're the ones that
Speaker 1: are always like making the bats and the baby panda
Speaker 1: and the most deal they're big thing was a snake.
Speaker 1: And even way before that, I've got old soft plastics
Speaker 1: in the garage. I don't even remember what companies, but
Speaker 1: they're they're like molded garter snakes. And then then these
Speaker 1: people that like really try and push that as a
Speaker 1: food source, like like you need to be doing snake
Speaker 1: same time, but yeah, same time, dude. How many hundreds
Speaker 1: of thousands of snakes have I watched swim across ponds
Speaker 1: and ditches and I have never seen one get eaten, So,
Speaker 1: I mean, I know it happens, but that's every time
Speaker 1: I see the snake in the fish mouth thing. That's
Speaker 1: what I think is that they're actually people out there
Speaker 1: trying to promote that and tell you, like you gotta
Speaker 1: use more snake. They eat these things all time. They
Speaker 1: do this all the time, and I'm not so convinced.
Speaker 1: I think it's like duck nungs. I think it's pretty rare.
Speaker 1: It happens occasionally. Um, there's a great video out there
Speaker 1: somewhere of someone doing a homemade snake bait like rattlesnake
Speaker 1: bait and getting the giant rainbow trout on one. But
Speaker 1: just because it has happened and someone cut on camera
Speaker 1: doesn't mean that it's the thing that you should be
Speaker 1: chasing for your bite. That's what I'll say. I the
Speaker 1: reason that I gravitated to the story was really just
Speaker 1: like Dan was such a relatable character to me. Is like,
Speaker 1: I don't know what's just happened, but I got a
Speaker 1: best and there's a snakehead sticking out and is looking
Speaker 1: at me, and I didn't know what to do, and
Speaker 1: and so really, for me, the reason that what sold
Speaker 1: me on this story was Dan. So thank you, Dan.
Speaker 1: I feel like you're someone I could hang out with.
Speaker 1: I feel the same way. I love Dan. I love
Speaker 1: the story. And it's kind of like a little theme
Speaker 1: as of late, because I did not grab this as
Speaker 1: a news story. But there's also the one going around
Speaker 1: in the Dude is just chief in on that alligator
Speaker 1: but it's coming up out of dark water. He doesn't
Speaker 1: know what it is, and he's just cranking on the
Speaker 1: out of the boat and like Heathen, all of a sudden,
Speaker 1: that head pops up. So there's been like some some fishing,
Speaker 1: reptile uh things things happening just in time for Halloween.
Speaker 1: Just in time for Halloween. I don't have a Halloween
Speaker 1: tie here. I have to go history lesson. But I
Speaker 1: know you're gonna like this story. Uh. This one comes
Speaker 1: to us from Discover magazine dot com headline how old
Speaker 1: family fishing photos unlock the history of Atlantic fisheries. Damn it?
Speaker 1: Oh it happened twelve episodes. I just jacked your ship,
Speaker 1: didn't I You just jacked my ship. Man, Ah, it
Speaker 1: was gonna happen. Oh man, you just got me. But
Speaker 1: I guarantee that I have a whole whole side bar
Speaker 1: of this that you didn't cover. So I'll just follow
Speaker 1: you up. You go right on ahead. Oh man, Well,
Speaker 1: history just got made for I said, is a history lesson?
Speaker 1: History just got made? You're listening to it right now.
Speaker 1: The first the first news clash. Is this the story
Speaker 1: that you thought I would grab? No, I thought you
Speaker 1: were going to get the snake Bass one. That's why
Speaker 1: I left that one, because that's that's more of a
Speaker 1: me story and I didn't even see that one. Well,
Speaker 1: I have to continue where the clock is running, my friend. Uh. Anyway,
Speaker 1: this story centers around Rusty Hudson, which is a badass name.
Speaker 1: I gotta sneak that in there. Rusty Hudson. Very cool
Speaker 1: name anyway. Rusty grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida, and
Speaker 1: he's been in the fishing industry his whole life. Starting
Speaker 1: at age nine, he was the bait boy on his
Speaker 1: grandfather's charter boat, whose name happened to be Captain Jake Stone.
Speaker 1: Also a hell of badass name. Just an observation like,
Speaker 1: is this a real family just a bunch of badasses? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 1: Are they a real family or characters from Roadhouse? I'm
Speaker 1: really not sure, but I digress there. So Rusty worked
Speaker 1: on family fishing boats all through the sixties, and one
Speaker 1: of his many jobs as a young man was taking
Speaker 1: photos of the clients with their catch at the end
Speaker 1: of the day. Add up all those years and it's
Speaker 1: a ton of photos, right, And here's where it gets
Speaker 1: interesting from the story. Years later, the historic photos are
Speaker 1: providing more than just memories of a fun day fishing
Speaker 1: on the water. Hudson realized how valuable his family photos
Speaker 1: could be in recreating the catch from the nineteen forties
Speaker 1: through seventies, a time before scientific monitoring programs collected data
Speaker 1: on recreational and four higher fisheries, and he says, I
Speaker 1: felt the four higher pictures of the past could illustrate
Speaker 1: the range of fishing conditions and catches to fishery scientists
Speaker 1: and managers. Um and Hudson says knowing more about the
Speaker 1: fisheries of the past could help us all better understand
Speaker 1: the health of fish populations today, and this notion ultimately
Speaker 1: led to the creation of the fish Tery Project. And
Speaker 1: the story says it started after Rusty took part in
Speaker 1: the stock assessment for red snapper in the South Atlantic
Speaker 1: and during that time he showed scientists in the program
Speaker 1: these hundreds of historic photos he had, and that kind
Speaker 1: of kick started the discussion. But it takes a lot
Speaker 1: of manpower and a lot of time to analyze all
Speaker 1: these photos. It's a huge job. So there's a big
Speaker 1: group out there, some of you may have heard of it,
Speaker 1: South Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and those folks are responsible
Speaker 1: for the conservation and management of fisheries in federal waters
Speaker 1: from North Carolina through the Florida Keys. And they created
Speaker 1: something called the Citizen Science Program and that works with fisherman,
Speaker 1: scientists and managers to co create citizen science projects that
Speaker 1: aligned with s A f m c S research needs.
Speaker 1: So this citizens Science program teamed up with Hudson and
Speaker 1: Noah fishery scientists to create a project to work with
Speaker 1: volunteers what they're calling citizen scientists, and they are the
Speaker 1: ones that are now analyzing all of these historic photos.
Speaker 1: So Fisheries all online based volunteer program. Anyone of any
Speaker 1: skill level can can join the fund because even if
Speaker 1: you know a little about fish, they have programs within
Speaker 1: the program to teach you how to identify all the
Speaker 1: different species, and they identify and count them. Each photo
Speaker 1: is analyzed by more than one volunteer. If there's a
Speaker 1: big discrepancy, it gets kicked up to experts, and um,
Speaker 1: I think it's the part where we're we're gonna since
Speaker 1: now I know we have the same story, Like I
Speaker 1: think the follow up to this where we may differ on.
Speaker 1: But but Hudson calls us a dream come true and
Speaker 1: believes the analyzing of these photos can can inform future science.
Speaker 1: And to be clear, this only started last May, so
Speaker 1: it's right now it's only Hudson's hundreds of photos that
Speaker 1: are being analyzed, but there are over volunteers. They've made
Speaker 1: over thousand classifications. There are still hundreds of photos to analyze,
Speaker 1: and if this works, then the team hopes to expand
Speaker 1: it to collect photos from other fishermen and stakeholders all
Speaker 1: across the South Atlantic. Now, on the surface, I think
Speaker 1: this is super cool and bravo on the idea, and
Speaker 1: I think we both. I mean, I I just love
Speaker 1: looking at old fishing photos, so so this is great
Speaker 1: and I feel like kind have a jerk kind of,
Speaker 1: but I gotta say that I also think this is
Speaker 1: flawed a bit, and I'm not entirely certain this is
Speaker 1: as valuable as as Rusty hopes. But before I go on,
Speaker 1: since since I know we've crossed over, I'm gonna let
Speaker 1: you jump in, like, what what are your thoughts on
Speaker 1: the whole thing? So I had a different lead to
Speaker 1: this because I think you missed some of the historical
Speaker 1: context on this one, okay, And that's where I think
Speaker 1: this actually becomes valuable and interesting, right, And I think
Speaker 1: I think I think it. We need to start by saying, like,
Speaker 1: we like a good grip and green photo as much
Speaker 1: as anyone else, right, Like we except maybe Lance V.
Speaker 1: We like a good grip and green photo as much
Speaker 1: as anybody you might meet. But and in fact, in fact,
Speaker 1: just just a little heads up here, we've got a
Speaker 1: whole segment devoted to grip and grins that's gonna come
Speaker 1: up after fish News. But like, I love the idea
Speaker 1: that the grip and groen photos have the potential to
Speaker 1: to do like actual good in the world. So that's
Speaker 1: that's the first part of the story that I appreciate,
Speaker 1: is like finding something yes, substant ofly good about gripping
Speaker 1: grins because people love to hate on them so much,
Speaker 1: and and this is the way of being like, oh
Speaker 1: you hate gripping grins, look at this science. Yep. Also,
Speaker 1: I love citizen science. It's something I'm really big on.
Speaker 1: But there's some there's some some history here that I
Speaker 1: think it's really important. And so give me a chance
Speaker 1: to set up where I think I might maybe be
Speaker 1: able to change your mind about the validity of this. Okay,
Speaker 1: well do you do you want to hear my like
Speaker 1: the end of my argument before before we're duking it
Speaker 1: out double double duking out today. But I'll just say again,
Speaker 1: if I miss something, shame on me. But the thing is,
Speaker 1: like I feel like this works because you've got this
Speaker 1: guy that's got hundreds of photos from the same docks
Speaker 1: from the same area for all those years. But that's
Speaker 1: not an easy thing to find elsewhere. It's not easy
Speaker 1: to find a vast collection of fish photos from a
Speaker 1: given area over this massive date range, which I feel like,
Speaker 1: if you're actually gonna pull any useful data from a
Speaker 1: study like this, do you need to have what he has?
Speaker 1: And in my mind, it's also like we already we
Speaker 1: know stocks are declining, we know that that's a given.
Speaker 1: But if you had like Captain's log data on c
Speaker 1: tempts for all those years, weather patterns, how much bait
Speaker 1: they were seeing? Okay, but I don't know. I I
Speaker 1: read it as they're just I ding and counting fish
Speaker 1: for the most part, because what else do they get
Speaker 1: out of a photo? And you know, Rusty had said
Speaker 1: these photos helped capture a range of fishing conditions. How
Speaker 1: like I am I missing something? Yeah? So here's this
Speaker 1: isn't the first time this has been done, and this
Speaker 1: is this is where I think, this is what I
Speaker 1: where I see the value in this. Okay, So let
Speaker 1: me let me start with a little bit of background.
Speaker 1: The term shifting baseline syndrome was coined to describe humans
Speaker 1: general inability to measure long term changes in our natural environment. Right,
Speaker 1: because because individuals only live for a short period of
Speaker 1: time in comparison to the life of a species, it's
Speaker 1: very difficult for us to accurately assess long term changes
Speaker 1: in the world around us. Right. Whatever you experienced throughout
Speaker 1: your life dictates your baseline for normal, but that baseline
Speaker 1: resets or shifts with the next generation. Right, So like
Speaker 1: when when when you're like, hey, grandma had a great
Speaker 1: I had a great day to day, I caught like
Speaker 1: six travoli and two puffer fish and a barracuda, and
Speaker 1: Grandma's like, that's not a great day. That's terrible. When
Speaker 1: I was your couldn't do that an hour And they're
Speaker 1: all bigger than the ones you got. And now I
Speaker 1: know too many grandma's talk to because they're like, oh,
Speaker 1: ye had a good day. Yeah you think that was
Speaker 1: a good day, I'll tell you what a good day.
Speaker 1: And and the thing is, in that case, you're both right.
Speaker 1: It's just the concepts of good or pristine they get
Speaker 1: reset generationally, and that's where we get this idea of
Speaker 1: the shifting baseline syndrome, and that's become a central tenant
Speaker 1: across the natural sciences. Right. Researchers recognize that that our
Speaker 1: planet and the populations of plants and animals that live
Speaker 1: here have changed dramatically in the past hundred and fifty years,
Speaker 1: but we as individuals don't generally notice those changes because
Speaker 1: they happen too slowly. Right and and this this concept
Speaker 1: is a big deal these days. Uh and and a
Speaker 1: lot of our listeners have probably heard of it. But
Speaker 1: the thing is what we're talking about right now with Rusty.
Speaker 1: This has happened before. Fishing played a major part in
Speaker 1: people coming up with the idea of the shifting baseline theory.
Speaker 1: It was originally put forth by a fisheries biologist named
Speaker 1: Daniel Pauly. Back in Paully proposed that our fish stocks
Speaker 1: had declined far more than the research was able to recognize,
Speaker 1: and that we needed to look at or the scientists
Speaker 1: needed to look at anecdotal historical evidence to really understand
Speaker 1: how much things have changed. By anecdotal historical evidence, he
Speaker 1: was proposing that scientists need to put stock in things
Speaker 1: that they had traditionally ignored. Right, we don't have the
Speaker 1: scientific measured data going back that far and all these things,
Speaker 1: so people people were looking at them, so we got
Speaker 1: to use what we have. And in this case it's
Speaker 1: like stories from old timers and and photographs and like
Speaker 1: he even proposed using old menus and so one of
Speaker 1: the seminal follow up papers on this theory is called
Speaker 1: Documenting the Loss of Large Trophy Fish in the Florida
Speaker 1: Keys through Historical Photographs. It's author, Lauren mcclenachan, proposed that quote,
Speaker 1: historical photographs provide visual and quantitative evidence of changes in
Speaker 1: mean individual fish size and species composition for groups of
Speaker 1: marine fish that have been targeted by sport fishing. So
Speaker 1: he looked at Key West bragboard charter photos from nineteen
Speaker 1: fifty six to two thousand seven, and what he found
Speaker 1: was pretty damn shocking. Mean fish size declined by over
Speaker 1: eighty eight percent, and the charters went from catching lots
Speaker 1: of large predators like big groupers and sharks two primarily
Speaker 1: small snappers. So this is all like what you're talking about,
Speaker 1: this new project that's being proposed. This has happened before.
Speaker 1: They're just scaling it up and trying to leverage what
Speaker 1: some other researchers have done through citizen science into a
Speaker 1: bigger project, and I think that is damn cool. Like
Speaker 1: this is this is not new research theory. They're just
Speaker 1: growing it. Okay, So I'll just jump in out first.
Speaker 1: I'll apologize because this should have been your story because
Speaker 1: you said much more smarter things about it than I did.
Speaker 1: You did far more research. You've informed the listener far
Speaker 1: more than I ever could. And I'd like to go
Speaker 1: on record right now and say, Phil, if this was
Speaker 1: the Sway story for a winner, I'd like you to
Speaker 1: please attribute this story to Miles Um because you just
Speaker 1: said some really smart ship. That just made me feel
Speaker 1: real dumb um. I have to live with that. But
Speaker 1: there there was our first there was our first crossover.
Speaker 1: I felt like a winner because it was my turn
Speaker 1: and you have made me the loser. So good good
Speaker 1: on you. Well I would, I would. I'll take that
Speaker 1: and I appreciate that. And I just want to throw
Speaker 1: one more thing in here at the end, because I
Speaker 1: do think this is very cool, and like I said,
Speaker 1: I'm a huge proponent of citizen science. If you guys
Speaker 1: are interested in getting involved, you should go to size
Speaker 1: starter dot org. That's sci starter dot org and enter
Speaker 1: fish story into the keyword search. Uh and yeah. I
Speaker 1: just think it's a great project, and I really hope
Speaker 1: it's successful because I'd love to see it implemented elsewhere
Speaker 1: and going to fisheries that I know something about, because
Speaker 1: I would totally get involved. Now see, I didn't even
Speaker 1: bother with the link because I was like, this is
Speaker 1: this dumb shit. I feel awful right now, I've ruined
Speaker 1: my afternoon. Damn it. What's your next story. Let's get
Speaker 1: away from this, because that was my second story. It's
Speaker 1: you're you're closing it out, dude. Oh so we've Oh
Speaker 1: so it's a weird thing today. Oh man, so maybe
Speaker 1: that story is now a wash and Phil just has
Speaker 1: to go on your first story and my last story.
Speaker 1: I disagree with that, which case, in which case, congratulations
Speaker 1: because this ain't touching bass and snakes, though I do,
Speaker 1: I do. I do find it interesting. I think this
Speaker 1: is worth noting. Uh. Interesting little tidbit here from my
Speaker 1: neck of the woods, and fitting since we just had
Speaker 1: Rayliota on talking New York salmon. He's smiling about this
Speaker 1: because it's it's directly helping his tackle business. Um, and
Speaker 1: this actually comes directly from New York dot gov. Headline
Speaker 1: on this one. Governor Cuomo announces program to extend fishing
Speaker 1: season and improve renowned angling experience in Western New York
Speaker 1: and here's what it says. Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the
Speaker 1: start of a new pilot program as part of the
Speaker 1: Reimagine the Canals initiative that uses water from the Erie
Speaker 1: Canal to enhance already renowned fishing opportunities in Western New York.
Speaker 1: This was originally announced as part of the Governor's State
Speaker 1: of the State address in January twenty. The program will
Speaker 1: encourage New Yorkers and visitors to experience the state's canal
Speaker 1: system in a different way, while also expanding tourism and
Speaker 1: bolstering small business in the region. So to back up
Speaker 1: a little bit, I'm betting most of you, at least
Speaker 1: a good chunk of you have heard of the Erie Canal,
Speaker 1: at least, right there was a song about it. I
Speaker 1: think there was a song about it. Somebody wrote it. Anyway. Anyway,
Speaker 1: the Erie Canal runs from Albany to Buffalo. It was
Speaker 1: completed in eight and for the non history folk back
Speaker 1: in the day, right that was the super Highway of
Speaker 1: the country or the East coast at least for getting
Speaker 1: goods from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. You'd
Speaker 1: go from the Ocean up the Hudson River past New
Speaker 1: York City to Albany, and then, as they say you
Speaker 1: have to Albany, bang the left at the canal, You
Speaker 1: bang the left of the canal, and you go all
Speaker 1: the way to Buffalo. So extremely extremely historically significant, but honestly,
Speaker 1: now it's just kind of sitting there doing nothing, right,
Speaker 1: Like I read, a little bit of cargo still transported
Speaker 1: on at time to time, but it's mostly just considered
Speaker 1: a heritage historic thing. You know, take a boat ride,
Speaker 1: get an ice cream and so on. But for years
Speaker 1: New York has been trying to figure out how to
Speaker 1: use the canal to attract more tourists, which I don't
Speaker 1: think it has been super easy, Like it's not that
Speaker 1: riveting of a thing. It's just, you know, it's just
Speaker 1: a straight line of of of kind of stagnant water um.
Speaker 1: But then meanwhile you've got all these tributaries of Lake
Speaker 1: Ontario that see runs of steelhead and salmon and browns,
Speaker 1: which boost the economy because so many anglers come to
Speaker 1: chase them. So here's what Cuomo says. This fall in
Speaker 1: New York is an hancing some of our world class
Speaker 1: fisheries and expanding opportunities for anglers into December by creatively
Speaker 1: using water from the Erie Canal to bolster fishing conditions
Speaker 1: and extend the season. And he says, as a fisherman,
Speaker 1: which I gotta tell you, I don't live in New York,
Speaker 1: but I've been watching a lot of Cuomo over the
Speaker 1: land a few months. Yeah, like you can't get away
Speaker 1: from from Cuomo out here on the television. Don't see him?
Speaker 1: Yeah you can't you. Yeah, you're Cuomo in Montana. I don't.
Speaker 1: I'd love to know what kind of fisherman he is.
Speaker 1: I don't see him fishing. Um but he says, I'm
Speaker 1: pleased to see our incredible Lake Ontario tributaries will be
Speaker 1: host to even better experience for our anglers. This innovative
Speaker 1: use of iconic infrastructure continues our strong tradition of eco
Speaker 1: tourism while supporting our small businesses and um and it
Speaker 1: goes on here. The New York State Canal Corporation says,
Speaker 1: by increasing the levels and flows in streams that will
Speaker 1: encourage fish to travel further upstream, which expands areas for
Speaker 1: ideal fishing conditions. In addition, the Canal Corporation will extend
Speaker 1: the annual draining of the canal in western New York
Speaker 1: to create a longer season for anglers. So I think
Speaker 1: this is cool and smart, right, because while there are
Speaker 1: a few tail waters in the mix out here, most
Speaker 1: of these trips are raining groundwater reliant, right, So this
Speaker 1: really could extend the amount of time that they're holding fish.
Speaker 1: And dare I say, maybe spread people out a bit,
Speaker 1: maybe just a little bit. It's probably asking a lot,
Speaker 1: and I don't know, it could be wishful thinking, but
Speaker 1: it's a smart economic move. And the story actually says
Speaker 1: that canal has provided a bit of a lifeline in
Speaker 1: the COVID economy because it's essentially stimulating the outdoor economy
Speaker 1: for a few extra months. A lot of these rivers,
Speaker 1: you know, by the end of the fall and in
Speaker 1: November there's there's just not enough water in them anymore
Speaker 1: for the fish to run or it's over. So they're
Speaker 1: they're they're giving businesses tied to fishing, be at motels
Speaker 1: or restaurants, tackle shops, a few extra months. And I
Speaker 1: just found it refreshing because you hear so many stories
Speaker 1: about resources being fought for and and withheld that I
Speaker 1: just feel like it's nice to hear one where it's like,
Speaker 1: you guys need this water, that's all have harmony here
Speaker 1: here you go. Yeah, no, that's a great story. My
Speaker 1: question on the follow up, I've got a couple, But
Speaker 1: the first one is having more water. Do you think
Speaker 1: there's a chance that that will boost recruitment? Like those
Speaker 1: fish are running up there to spawn, right, and and
Speaker 1: if those those trips end up getting dewatered post spawn,
Speaker 1: I would imagine that some of those those reds go
Speaker 1: dry or the auction levels go down. Is it possible
Speaker 1: that this would even increase the recruitment of all those
Speaker 1: age classes and and help the population more broadly, not
Speaker 1: just extend the season. It certainly could, but then you
Speaker 1: have to keep up with it, right, And and here's
Speaker 1: the reality of these streams. They're there's certain ones that
Speaker 1: were sort of pre programmed to have these runs, the
Speaker 1: big streams where this was a state program. But you
Speaker 1: have all these other streams that come into Ontario and
Speaker 1: just sort of by default, you know, a couple of
Speaker 1: steelhead go wayward a couple of sad and they established
Speaker 1: these trips that were not necessarily originally stocked to create
Speaker 1: a run. So then you have, you know, a lot
Speaker 1: of these these fisheries that are in flux. It's like
Speaker 1: one year, I'm making up the Sandy Creek whatever. It's like, dude,
Speaker 1: it was banging last year and it might not happen
Speaker 1: again for three years, all based on conditions. So if
Speaker 1: this works and really does what they think and shows
Speaker 1: a little boost and gets angler numbers up and stimulates
Speaker 1: the economy, whatever, if this is something they're willing to
Speaker 1: do year over year to extend that flow based on
Speaker 1: the erie canalysis sitting there, hell yeah, it could create
Speaker 1: much better fishery long term in a lot of these
Speaker 1: trips that are just sort of hit or miss. That's
Speaker 1: that that is that is a really good, feel good story.
Speaker 1: And and particularly taking something that has been used for
Speaker 1: commerce and other industry that's no longer being needed and
Speaker 1: transition that over to helping fisheries. I love that. I
Speaker 1: love that story. It's a simple piece, but it's it's
Speaker 1: a good one. It's a feel it's a feel good piece.
Speaker 1: So now all the people fishing for the fake steel
Speaker 1: head that that's that's a win for them. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. And this is and you what, Joe
Speaker 1: from U I think I sent you a link about
Speaker 1: this recently. There are some really really terrible and awkward
Speaker 1: gripping green photos to come out of those fisheries every year.
Speaker 1: A lot of the a lot of the art of
Speaker 1: those photos is positioning yourself in a way to make
Speaker 1: it appear as if you are the only one there.
Speaker 1: So every time I see gripping green's out of the
Speaker 1: Ontario and Erie trips and it's like, just dude, like
Speaker 1: majestically by himself, I'm like, how did you have to
Speaker 1: move around and get the twenty five other people out
Speaker 1: of the photo? Yeah, we hear at at at bent.
Speaker 1: We are big fans of the awkward fishing photo as
Speaker 1: a genre. Yeah. I just took one beating in news
Speaker 1: and now I'm going to take another one ahead tell
Speaker 1: them what we're doing after Phil, I just want all
Speaker 1: of you to enjoy the next few minutes as we
Speaker 1: lavish praise and derision upon young Joe in our new
Speaker 1: segment Awkward Moments in Angling. What's the deal, guys, isn't
Speaker 1: this the Halloween special. I wanted some more spook in
Speaker 1: your stories, like some sort of serial killer fish who
Speaker 1: kills teenage fish for spawning at fish summer camp or something.
Speaker 1: Miles is domination in your shared story. Aside, he's also
Speaker 1: the only one who brought a semi freaky story with
Speaker 1: the snake inside the fish, which is why I am
Speaker 1: crowning Miles Nulte the Bent King of Halloween. Congrats, Miles.
Speaker 1: I know how important Halloween is to you and how
Speaker 1: much you love it. This must be a very special
Speaker 1: moment in your life. Don't eat too much candy now.
Speaker 1: We have a brand spanking new segment that we're rolling
Speaker 1: out for you today. Fishing pictures can be hilariously bad,
Speaker 1: and that makes sense. You know, there's there's always a
Speaker 1: camera around here. Usually the photos are often sushed because
Speaker 1: someone's holding a slippery ass fish that has no interest
Speaker 1: in getting its picture taken, and the person in the
Speaker 1: photo is often less concerned about how they look than
Speaker 1: how the fish they're holding looks. All these factors conspire
Speaker 1: to consistently create truly awkward imagery. We decided we wanted
Speaker 1: to have some fun with this genre of bad photography.
Speaker 1: In what we're calling awkward moments in angling Why did
Speaker 1: you take a picture? And a lack all right? So,
Speaker 1: and I'm laughing having not said anything because I I'm
Speaker 1: about to be victim number one. But that's okay, you'll you'll,
Speaker 1: it won't hurt too much, all right. So here's how
Speaker 1: it works. We're going to take an awkward fishing photo
Speaker 1: and describe it for you. We'll also probably make some
Speaker 1: jokes at the expense of the subject of the photo,
Speaker 1: maybe the photographer as well, who knows, and we reserve
Speaker 1: the right to invent a completely fictitious backstory if so inclined.
Speaker 1: If you want to see the actual photos were describing,
Speaker 1: you can find them on our Instagram pages. That's at
Speaker 1: Joe Surmeli and at water Miles. In order to be
Speaker 1: fair about this, we're going to start with our own photos.
Speaker 1: Joe and I will each take a stab at burning
Speaker 1: photos from each other's past, but that's gonna get boring quick,
Speaker 1: and we'd like to deepen our pool of options. So
Speaker 1: if you have an awkward fishing photo that you'd like
Speaker 1: to have mercilessly heckled on a podcast, please send it
Speaker 1: to Bent at the mediator dot com. If we choose
Speaker 1: your photo, you will get a sweet thank you gift
Speaker 1: from us that will make both of your friends jealous.
Speaker 1: All right, So for this first episode, Joe's mom, who
Speaker 1: is a very nice and patient woman for the record,
Speaker 1: sent a couple of photos of Joe from the early nineties.
Speaker 1: And even though this segment has just started, I'm already
Speaker 1: going to break the rules because instead of choosing just
Speaker 1: one photo, I'm gonna describe them both. Come on, see
Speaker 1: you said we we can't keep using ourselves because it'll
Speaker 1: get boring. I actually could provide enough photos for like
Speaker 1: months of this, but like, I'm giving you one shot.
Speaker 1: So yeah, that's right, and I'm making the most of
Speaker 1: it with with both photos. So are you ready? Yes? Okay?
Speaker 1: So in this first photo, we see eight year old
Speaker 1: Joe and and maybe some of you would first notice
Speaker 1: the very small blue gill he's hoisting out in front
Speaker 1: of him. It's still hooked to the line, dangling about
Speaker 1: eighteen inches under a classic red and white bobber. But
Speaker 1: not me. No. The first thing that jumps out to
Speaker 1: me in this picture is apparel. So is it the
Speaker 1: idyllic Mickey Mouse Club hat that's cocked jauntily on his head. No.
Speaker 1: Is it the generic T shirt he's wearing that's either
Speaker 1: printed with boilerplate fishing art or maybe vultron because the
Speaker 1: lighting makes it difficult distinguished. No, not that either. The
Speaker 1: clothing choice that really jumps off this photo for me
Speaker 1: is the blue, nightmarish modern art vomitorium print on Little
Speaker 1: Joe's Zoomba's pants Little Joe's Zubaz pants. Now, for those
Speaker 1: of you who don't know zoo Baz because you either
Speaker 1: missed or blocked out the early nineties, here's the best
Speaker 1: description for them that I've ever heard, brought to you
Speaker 1: by the Gothamist. Quote. Zoo Baz are basically a sweatpants
Speaker 1: chef pants hammer pants hybrid, featuring an elastic waist and
Speaker 1: an oversized leg that gradually tapers as it nears the ankle.
Speaker 1: They were very popular amongst the Joey buttafuco set in
Speaker 1: the early nineties. End quote. They still make pants. For
Speaker 1: the record, Still, I might you wearing him now? You
Speaker 1: don't know, I thankfully I can't tell. What's so great
Speaker 1: about this whole outfit is the cognitive dissonance between the
Speaker 1: mouse gutear hat and the Joey Buttafuco pants. I feel
Speaker 1: like we're seeing a picture of little Joe in transition.
Speaker 1: At the top of his head, he's wearing an almost
Speaker 1: two on the nose, symbol of American youthful innocence, while
Speaker 1: down south he's rocking pants better affiliated with sexually predaceous
Speaker 1: Long Island guidos. And that leads us to the second
Speaker 1: photo from a year later. This shot, which appears to
Speaker 1: be taken on the same wooden dock overhanging the same
Speaker 1: neighborhood lake, shows just how far young Joe has come.
Speaker 1: Joe really seems to be embracing the New Jersey Italian
Speaker 1: American stereotype. His sleeveless, baggy T shirt glows a color
Speaker 1: that can only be described as electric salmon. He's also
Speaker 1: clearly growing into his identity as a serious angler. That
Speaker 1: Mickey Mouse hat gone. Now Joe is rocking a white
Speaker 1: foam trucker hat with the words shark stenciled in black
Speaker 1: above the drawing of a great white. His new hat
Speaker 1: comes with a couple of other upgrades. It's got the
Speaker 1: ubiquitous gold fish hook bill clip glinting in the sunlight,
Speaker 1: and a silver tarpin pin hovering just above the r
Speaker 1: in shark. Finally, although Joe is holding an identically sized
Speaker 1: micro blue deal in each picture, we can see how
Speaker 1: far he's progressed by his spatial expressions. While in the
Speaker 1: first photo his face is clearly splitting with pride and
Speaker 1: elation at the fish he just caught, his countenance in
Speaker 1: the second photo makes it clear that he now knows
Speaker 1: this fish's size isn't worthy of photographic enshrinement. He's probably
Speaker 1: just posing with it to play kate his mom. And Finally,
Speaker 1: in the background of the second photo, we have perhaps
Speaker 1: my favorite detail, a city pigeon creeping up the dock
Speaker 1: from behind, eyeing the fish like an oversized pretzel and
Speaker 1: scheming on how he's gonna steal that blue gill out
Speaker 1: of this little kid's hand. Okay, you've done? Is that? It?
Speaker 1: That end of rant? Because now I have to tee up,
Speaker 1: because I just have a few things of clasp points
Speaker 1: of clarification. The Mickey Mouse. The listeners are going to
Speaker 1: get to defend themselves. Go ahead, no, no, no, no,
Speaker 1: but this is a special case because it's me. The
Speaker 1: Mickey Mouse hat was authentic purchased at Disney. Okay, um
Speaker 1: it looks like. Yeah, and the shark hat with the
Speaker 1: tarpen pin Tarpin, I remember was the fish I aspired
Speaker 1: to catch. I was enamored with tarpin, even though I
Speaker 1: didn't know where they were or where they lived at
Speaker 1: the time. But the thing you missed, which is an
Speaker 1: easy one to miss in the the the year later
Speaker 1: photo they cut off t shirt salmon colored photo. So
Speaker 1: I'm also wearing a freestyle watch, remember freestyle watches. I
Speaker 1: did see that, actually, and I decided that I was.
Speaker 1: I was already going too long winded, and I decided
Speaker 1: I'd let the let you go. But yeah, was it
Speaker 1: a swatch? No, no, no, Freestyle was the brand, and
Speaker 1: I liked it because the Freestyle logo was a little
Speaker 1: shark finn. Do you remember this, oh, I told, yeah,
Speaker 1: I absolutely remember that. Yep, Yep, I do. Anyway, I'm
Speaker 1: gonna play by the rules and I will put both
Speaker 1: of these photos on my Instagram, and all I will
Speaker 1: say is that your mom has already sent along photos
Speaker 1: of you a lot more choices then my mom sent you.
Speaker 1: So uh, the next time you guys hear this segment,
Speaker 1: the tables will have turned. But we don't want this
Speaker 1: to be all about us, even though you might want
Speaker 1: it to be all about us. So, as Miles suggested,
Speaker 1: find those awkward fishing photos and send them to us
Speaker 1: at bent at the meat eator dot com. By the way,
Speaker 1: you can nominate a friend like if you're thinking like,
Speaker 1: oh my god, I got this picture. I got this
Speaker 1: picture Robbie on my phone, I'm sending right now. Send it.
Speaker 1: We'll rip them apart and um, you know say that's
Speaker 1: thanks to you, then posted on social media. You know, man,
Speaker 1: of course Miles has to fully shame me when is
Speaker 1: barely any time left in the show to defend myself.
Speaker 1: And then, rather than eat up more time defending myself,
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna give him the floor again. So you
Speaker 1: can get a deeper understanding of his dislike of Halloween
Speaker 1: via our end of the line segment in which we
Speaker 1: tell you what you should be tying on the ends
Speaker 1: of your lines this weekend. He's got something appropriately black
Speaker 1: and orange that stings worse than a small sewing needle
Speaker 1: shoved inside a butterfinger. Well, it's not loud enough to
Speaker 1: cap off our Halloween episode. We are taking a hard
Speaker 1: look at a classic Western fly, and before us say
Speaker 1: the name. I feel like I need to recognize the
Speaker 1: uncouth nomenclature. It's called a bitch creek. I'm not entirely
Speaker 1: sure how it got that name or when. Other than
Speaker 1: it originating somewhere in Montana eighty ish years ago, no
Speaker 1: one seems to know much about its origins. In George F.
Speaker 1: Grant's classic book Montana Trout Flies, he admits that even
Speaker 1: he couldn't figure out the exact provenance of this particular bug.
Speaker 1: The general consensus among the people who talk about this
Speaker 1: kind of obscure nonsense is that the fly maybe named
Speaker 1: for Idaho's Bitch Creek, which is a tributary of the
Speaker 1: Teton River. That name is said to be a corruption
Speaker 1: of the French word beache, which means dough, as in
Speaker 1: female deer. French fur trappers originally named that water as
Speaker 1: the Beach, and it seems like some of the ingrades
Speaker 1: who came after butchered the name into the unfortunate version
Speaker 1: that we have today. To me, the bitch Creek looks
Speaker 1: like Halloween on a hook. It's orange, black, furry, and wiggly,
Speaker 1: kind of like a demonic maggot, and also like Halloween.
Speaker 1: The Bitch Creek is overdressed, overhyped, and leaves me feeling
Speaker 1: cheated and a little regretful every time I really get
Speaker 1: into it. The Bitch Creek is very similar to a
Speaker 1: fly I covered in a past episode, The Girdle Bug,
Speaker 1: Except the girdle Bug and it's my turn offshoot. The
Speaker 1: rubber legs embody a near perfect marriage of simplicity and effectiveness,
Speaker 1: while the Bitch Creek is a prototype for the worst
Speaker 1: parts of modern fly design, taking something that's easy to
Speaker 1: tie and catch fish and making it harder to tie
Speaker 1: and less effective. Many quote unquote new flies just borrow
Speaker 1: from perfectly good existing patterns, swap out a couple of materials,
Speaker 1: and add seven steps. The end result is a fly
Speaker 1: that takes ten extra minutes to produce, but is equally
Speaker 1: or perhaps less productive than the original. But hey, it
Speaker 1: looks cool once again. It feels a lot like Halloween.
Speaker 1: Instead of the girdl Bugs classic black, the Bitch Creek
Speaker 1: uses a combination of orange and black chanel. In order
Speaker 1: to make that work, you need to add in a
Speaker 1: wire rib to hold the two shaneels in place, or
Speaker 1: get even more complicated and weave them together just for
Speaker 1: some extra fun with a finicky material. It's got saddle
Speaker 1: hackle wrapped around the thorax because the four rubber legs
Speaker 1: just weren't enough legs. I guess, all right, so this
Speaker 1: is a little hyperbolic. The bitch creek isn't a particularly
Speaker 1: complicated fly to tie as far as flies go. We're
Speaker 1: not talking about a feather game changer. But as you
Speaker 1: can probably tell, I'm a little salty toward bitch creeks,
Speaker 1: and in fact I'm not finished. Bitch Creeks supposedly represents
Speaker 1: sound fly nymps, but if that's the case, they're coloring
Speaker 1: makes no sense. Adult salmon flies are indeed black and orange,
Speaker 1: but the nymphs, the sub adults that live underwater, have
Speaker 1: no orange on them at all. The bitch creek is
Speaker 1: a subsurface fly, so adding that orange just makes them
Speaker 1: look less like the prey they're supposed to be imitating.
Speaker 1: But the ultimate reason I dislike this flies because I
Speaker 1: don't think I've ever caught a trout on a bitch creek.
Speaker 1: They're one of those bugs that you supposedly have to
Speaker 1: have in your box because you know it's a classic,
Speaker 1: But really there are far simpler and more effective options,
Speaker 1: And in that sense, they really are like Halloween, the
Speaker 1: addressed holiday where adults spend hours of time and hundreds
Speaker 1: of dollars putting together costumes in the hope that other
Speaker 1: adults will finally, for one night pay attention to them.
Speaker 1: Before I go, though, one thing, I have discovered a
Speaker 1: saving grace for bitch creeks. Though they may not be
Speaker 1: very useful in their intended environment or on their intended quarry,
Speaker 1: they are dynamite for pan fish and small bass in
Speaker 1: lakes and ponds. Those little bastards can't get enough of them.
Speaker 1: So while I don't recommend you going out and tying
Speaker 1: or buying a box of bitch creeks, if you already
Speaker 1: have some, don't toss them out, just move them from
Speaker 1: the western trout box to the warm water box. So
Speaker 1: that's it for this week. We hope you enjoyed our
Speaker 1: nod to my least favorite holiday. Learn that you can
Speaker 1: get a good deal on waiters if you pee in
Speaker 1: them first, and got motivated to watch the Blair Witch
Speaker 1: Project during your next Netflix and chill. Yeah, and as always,
Speaker 1: keep those questions, comments, stories, bars, awkward photos, now sale
Speaker 1: items and concerns coming to bent at the meat eater
Speaker 1: dot com. We love hearing from you. As Freddy Krueger
Speaker 1: would say, you are all our children now a matter
Speaker 1: of fact, here he is saying it to Bill Dances
Speaker 1: come down, I mean the sharp say, oh boy, this
Speaker 1: is almost making me like Halloween. Stay safe out there
Speaker 1: tomorrow night. Drink black rifle coffee to perk up before
Speaker 1: heading out with the kids, and remember to soak their
Speaker 1: candy and bleach for at least twenty four hours to
Speaker 1: remove all the COVID. Also, it's mischief night, but there's
Speaker 1: still a toilet paper shortage, so be responsible kids and
Speaker 1: jes smash the mailbox and stead