WEBVTT - Ep. 25: Bats, Tonsils, and Other Catfishing Necessities 0:00:01.840 --> 0:00:04.600 They wear an electric filet knife on their belt daily 0:00:04.760 --> 0:00:08.520 in case impromptu cleaning of a hundred soccer lot pops up. 0:00:08.680 --> 0:00:11.920 Hashtag get psyched, hashtag you can do this hashtag Maybe 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.200 I once saw a hippo chase a thirty foot double 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:19.040 decker cruise boat and and the boat blinked first. And 0:00:19.200 --> 0:00:23.400 my personal favorite, the bomat fish whisper floating fish building. 0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:31.240 Good morning, degenerate anglers, Welcome to band, your trusted source 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.559 for all the latest greatest sense attractings, fish oils, holy waters, 0:00:34.560 --> 0:00:37.919 and chum to dress your favorite mayfly parachutes. I'm Joe 0:00:37.960 --> 0:00:43.320 Surmelim Miles Nulty, and I never fish, at least I 0:00:43.400 --> 0:00:46.120 never fished dry flies anyway without first dunking them in 0:00:46.159 --> 0:00:49.680 a vial of holy water. It's the only way I 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:53.400 can expire confidence in my technical trout fishing game. Listen, man, 0:00:53.440 --> 0:00:56.880 my my mom. Never without holy water my top. Yeah, 0:00:56.920 --> 0:00:59.360 do my entire life. There's been a vial or two 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:01.800 in the linen closet, like in case someone's new car 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:06.080 needs to be blessed. I'm okay, I'm not for protection. 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:09.560 Yeah yeah, And like she's not overly religious either, but 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:11.560 there's always and like I'm not kidding, Like she'll come 0:01:11.560 --> 0:01:13.399 out and it's like, sprinkle it on the tires, Like 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:15.160 you got a new truck, sprinkles on holy water on 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:17.800 the tires. That's an We don't have any of that 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:20.240 kind of ritual. You don't know what to say. You're like, yeah, 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:23.440 that's that's great. I think that's fast. Like I genuinely 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:25.479 wish we had something like that where we believed enough 0:01:25.520 --> 0:01:27.200 and something we'd be like, yes, I was making a 0:01:27.280 --> 0:01:29.680 joke about holy water and dry plis. You're like, no, No, 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:32.959 that's a thing, dude. Next time you have a sore throat, 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:36.920 I'll have her ship goes away, got covid holy water? 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:41.160 Slug it. Anyway, Look, we all have we all have rituals, right. Um. 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:44.120 It's another one of those things that seems to unite 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:47.040 all anglers. And we may not all have the same superstitions, 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:50.480 but we anglers all seem to cling to some form 0:01:50.560 --> 0:01:53.040 of personal faith or another. And I have to ask, like, 0:01:53.120 --> 0:01:55.480 do you have a particular you have a thing you 0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:59.600 do or don't do when you go fishing? Uh? You 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:01.880 know I did, Like when I was younger, I definitely did, 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:03.640 Like I had a lot of those things, and and 0:02:04.280 --> 0:02:06.080 I think primarily from what I remember, I was all 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.760 about the lucky apparel, you know, like I had my 0:02:08.840 --> 0:02:13.440 lucky hat, I had lucky socks, I had a lucky shirt. Uh, 0:02:13.480 --> 0:02:16.040 and you know, I would change the combinations depending on 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:18.080 what I felt like I needed that day. I don't 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:23.040 remember pants, underwear, shoes having any special mysticism, and I 0:02:23.040 --> 0:02:26.720 don't know why, but like all other articles of clothing, 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:29.600 we're fair game. And they were they were important, and 0:02:29.600 --> 0:02:32.120 they were specific, and they had like certain things that 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:34.360 I did for them. I actually had a lucky pin 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:37.040 that I would wear and don't have since given to 0:02:37.120 --> 0:02:40.280 my son. But anyway, these days, it's not so much 0:02:40.360 --> 0:02:42.440 what I wear. It's like it's it's interior, like I 0:02:42.440 --> 0:02:45.160 gotta get my head right. Yeah, no, it is. It 0:02:45.320 --> 0:02:48.320 is like that sounds stupid, but it's no, Like I 0:02:48.480 --> 0:02:51.880 really feel like like I need to find a sense 0:02:51.880 --> 0:02:54.720 of confidence and certainty that like I'm gonna catch a 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:58.560 fish and and on those days that are long and 0:02:58.600 --> 0:03:01.480 slow and I'm just like not feeling it or I'm struggling, 0:03:01.960 --> 0:03:03.839 and and if if I get the sense that that 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:07.919 that confidence is wavering, I will stop fishing and I'll 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:10.600 like take a couple of minutes and get myself together 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:12.960 and try and find that sense of confidence. And I 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.560 think that's these days. I think that's as close as 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:18.200 I get to having having a ritual or superstition, is 0:03:18.200 --> 0:03:20.280 that I gotta have my head right. Yeah, No, I 0:03:20.280 --> 0:03:22.200 identify with that. I do that all the time. You 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:24.480 just have to stop and pause and like collect yourself 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:27.400 and figure out why you're fishing. Like ship Um, it 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:29.440 happens too often, a matter of fact. But I used 0:03:29.480 --> 0:03:32.840 to have I used to have a lucky Adida's hat. Yeah, 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:35.800 I wore it for years, right, and then I lost 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.920 it in a Ruba. But I still kept catching a 0:03:38.920 --> 0:03:40.880 bunch of fish on that trip after I lost it, 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:42.920 So then I never bothered with another lucky fishing hat. 0:03:43.000 --> 0:03:45.280 I was like, f the lucky fishing hat apparently wasn't 0:03:45.320 --> 0:03:47.840 that lucky. So I don't know, I'm gonna cut you off. 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:49.840 I'm sorry, but I like, you just reminded me of 0:03:49.840 --> 0:03:51.920 something because my last lucky fishing hat and this is 0:03:51.960 --> 0:03:54.520 super geeky and we'll say something about me, But it 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.640 was like my my Little League All Stars hat that 0:03:57.760 --> 0:04:00.680 I held on too until it and it finally disintegrated. 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:02.480 I found in my mom's house a few years ago, 0:04:02.480 --> 0:04:04.200 and had it had come apart, it was done. Oh, 0:04:04.640 --> 0:04:07.200 this Adida's hat was like it needed to be burned 0:04:07.240 --> 0:04:09.160 or thrown out regard. I mean it was literally it 0:04:09.240 --> 0:04:11.880 was disgusting. I mean it was like brown from years 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:13.960 of sweat. But I thought it was lucky. And now 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:16.120 I don't. I don't do lucky clothes anymore. I don't 0:04:16.120 --> 0:04:20.480 do good luck charms. However, I do firmly believe. How 0:04:20.480 --> 0:04:25.479 do I say that getting lucky the night before a 0:04:25.520 --> 0:04:29.200 fishing trip makes you luckier the next day? I have 0:04:29.240 --> 0:04:32.360 not expected I like this idea, I might have to adopt. 0:04:32.360 --> 0:04:34.760 Plus I like it, okay, But if you like that, 0:04:34.880 --> 0:04:36.240 here's the other here's the other part of it, and 0:04:36.240 --> 0:04:38.520 don't ask me where this all comes from. I also 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.359 believe that pleasuring yourself the night before a trip is 0:04:41.360 --> 0:04:45.279 the kiss of death. Really, and now that that's been said, 0:04:45.680 --> 0:04:48.520 many people, including you, might hate me because you're gonna 0:04:48.560 --> 0:04:51.160 adhere to it, and you're thinking, well, I don't buy that. 0:04:51.200 --> 0:04:54.960 But just in case he's right, What if he's right, 0:04:54.200 --> 0:04:59.680 what if I'm so sorry, I'm gonna have to think 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.840 about that you brought up superstitions, so that's just that's 0:05:02.960 --> 0:05:05.360 that's anyway. A lot of us we adhere to very 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:08.760 specific superstitions. Of course, we'll get off the pleasure of 0:05:08.800 --> 0:05:10.400 yourself and go to the banana thing. We all know 0:05:10.400 --> 0:05:12.160 about that. Well it's kind of the same. But the 0:05:12.200 --> 0:05:15.560 banana thing, um, you know that's it's bad luck to 0:05:15.560 --> 0:05:18.680 bring bananas on the boat. That's probably the biggest overarching one. Yeah, no, 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.480 I mean that that. I'd say that. I think that's 0:05:21.520 --> 0:05:25.000 the most common fishing superstition, right, like it's bad luck 0:05:25.040 --> 0:05:27.040 to bring bananas on a boat. That bad luck to 0:05:27.040 --> 0:05:31.599 bring banana's fishing, And people get super super heated about that. Yeah. 0:05:31.839 --> 0:05:34.400 Like I know guides and chartered like a lot of 0:05:34.400 --> 0:05:37.600 guys and chartered captains who will lose their minds when 0:05:37.640 --> 0:05:40.479 someone brings a banana on their boat. Yeah, so do 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:43.239 I to the point where I almost find it obnoxious, 0:05:43.240 --> 0:05:45.560 Like not the belief per se. If you believe that, 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:48.120 that's fine. But I know a handful of guys like 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:50.800 their their their boats and trucks are like slathered with 0:05:50.839 --> 0:05:54.120 those no banana stickers with with a slash through them. 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:56.680 And I'm like, come, on that's not that's like a 0:05:56.720 --> 0:05:59.520 salt life sticker, Like you really need that on your boat, 0:05:59.560 --> 0:06:02.039 you know. But um, there are some captains that will 0:06:02.040 --> 0:06:04.560 go so far as to demand their clients throw anything 0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:08.359 even banana related overboard. I've seen it. I've seen dudes 0:06:08.400 --> 0:06:10.839 throw banana boats, sunscreen off the boat. They don't like 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:14.600 Banana Republic shirts. Um. Then I have my personal favorite. 0:06:14.640 --> 0:06:17.919 Is there there's a whole legend about slicing the tags 0:06:17.960 --> 0:06:20.920 off Fruit of the Loom underwear. Never mind the fact 0:06:21.080 --> 0:06:23.120 that Fruit of the Loom does not now, nor has 0:06:23.160 --> 0:06:26.240 it ever, had a banana on any of its tags. Okay, 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.560 And I got so deep into that I actually wrote 0:06:28.600 --> 0:06:30.440 about it. There's a whole story about it. You can 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:32.560 check out. It's a bar room banner piece on the 0:06:32.560 --> 0:06:37.000 metator dot com. It's called Fishing Superstition, Change your underpants Forever. 0:06:37.240 --> 0:06:40.240 That is seriously, go read that one. It's a deep 0:06:40.279 --> 0:06:42.480 dive and a head. It's a really deep dive. And 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:44.560 I thought I knew all there was to know about 0:06:44.560 --> 0:06:46.720 this whole bananas and fishing and boats thing, and then 0:06:46.760 --> 0:06:49.279 you wrote that article and I was like, Oh, there's 0:06:49.279 --> 0:06:52.640 a lot I don't know. But what you don't cover 0:06:52.720 --> 0:06:55.480 in that one, and understandably so, because it's been covered. 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:59.159 Is the real backstory and why bananas on boats are 0:07:00.000 --> 0:07:02.880 ad luck? Right and and and the truth of that 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:05.760 is that that nobody really knows, Like there's no definitive answer. 0:07:06.760 --> 0:07:08.359 There are a few different ones, right like so, so 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:10.360 most people think it has something to do with the 0:07:10.400 --> 0:07:13.960 banana boats of the seventeen hundreds that used to that 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:16.480 that were that they were carrying the fruit from the 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:19.560 Caribbean islands up to the mainland of North America and 0:07:19.720 --> 0:07:25.200 even Europe. And some people say that boats carrying various 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:28.600 like varied fruit cargo would spoil if they had bananas 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.720 on board, And so sailors began to assume that bananas 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:34.160 were bad luck, because this is before people understood, you know, 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:36.880 the whole ethylene gas thing that bananas give off, which 0:07:36.920 --> 0:07:40.000 actually does make fruit spoil. They're like, it's the bananas 0:07:40.000 --> 0:07:44.040 are bad luck. No, it's science. But there's another story 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:46.560 that sailors would actually slip on the banana peels and 0:07:46.600 --> 0:07:49.840 hurt themselves like a freaking cartoon, which I don't buy. 0:07:50.240 --> 0:07:52.200 There's like this whole host of theories out there. If 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:53.400 you really want to get into this. But the one 0:07:53.440 --> 0:07:57.240 that I like best, the one that I've always told people, uh, 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.520 is that banana bunches. Back then, the big into bananas 0:08:00.520 --> 0:08:04.040 would carry venomous spiders that were hidden in the nooks 0:08:04.080 --> 0:08:07.000 and crannies, and like at night, those spiders would would 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:09.600 crawl out and bite the crew in their sleep and 0:08:09.680 --> 0:08:12.040 kill them. Also, so other ships would come upon these 0:08:12.040 --> 0:08:15.119 banana boats just drifting at sea with the whole crew dead. 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:17.880 That's always been my favorite explanation to And it's a 0:08:17.880 --> 0:08:20.760 creepy image, isn't It's very hard. It's very creepy. Yeah, 0:08:20.800 --> 0:08:26.480 I like that one. So there you go, Uh, do 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:28.920 with that info what you will. But just remember that 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.520 some people take the banana thing dead serious and it 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:33.199 I mean, it really could be worse as far as 0:08:33.320 --> 0:08:37.640 universal fishing beliefs go. Um, that one's it's pretty innocuous, really. 0:08:37.720 --> 0:08:39.400 I mean, we could all believe in in you know, 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:43.640 blood sacrifices to improve your fishing luck. We're not quite there, 0:08:43.840 --> 0:08:47.040 So I'm just all I could picture right now is 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:50.640 Major League and getting Joe Boo with chicken. Uh. And 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:53.480 that would be much messier, you know, that would be 0:08:53.679 --> 0:08:56.120 if like if if captains were like, we're not catching anything. 0:08:56.160 --> 0:08:58.760 Something's gotta die. That would be I think that would 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.359 give fishing a really bad name. Speaking of blood sacrifices, 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:04.960 Joe is going to open you up to the history 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.520 of a term for a piece of fishing gear that's 0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:13.160 not as common as it once was. Webster's Dictionary defines 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:19.280 fish as this week's word is priest. And I'm not 0:09:19.320 --> 0:09:22.840 talking about Father Guido Sarducci here, nor Father Caress and 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:26.000 Father Marin, though you could say the priests were talking 0:09:26.000 --> 0:09:29.440 about exercise the spirits out of fish, and very rapidly 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:33.000 and humanely at that, minus all the pea soup and 0:09:33.040 --> 0:09:37.640 cuss words. A priest is a small bat, usually shorter 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:40.040 than a night stick, though they come in many different sizes, 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:43.640 and they're crafted specifically for dispatching a fish with a 0:09:43.679 --> 0:09:46.559 sharp blow to the head. It's called a priest to 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:49.040 play on the notion that it's giving a catch its 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:52.360 last rites. Now, if this sounds like some backwoods tool 0:09:52.400 --> 0:09:55.640 whittled in an Appalachian holler, you could not be more wrong. 0:09:56.240 --> 0:09:59.880 The priest's origins date back many centuries to Europe, where 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.640 were as common and necessary a piece of on the 0:10:02.640 --> 0:10:05.720 water kit, as your fish brain app and line cutters 0:10:05.800 --> 0:10:10.280 ring are today. Furthermore, priests were handed down through generations, 0:10:10.760 --> 0:10:13.360 held in the same regard you might hold a knife 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:16.880 made in a local forge by an expert bladesmith. In 0:10:17.040 --> 0:10:20.680 many upper class angling circles in Britain and Scotland and France, 0:10:20.760 --> 0:10:24.640 fine handmade priests were presented as gifts. But even if 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:27.880 you were poor, if you fished, you probably made yourself 0:10:27.880 --> 0:10:30.800 a trustee priest. So how do I know all this? Well, 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:32.840 believe it or not, I own a book called A 0:10:32.920 --> 0:10:37.480 Collection of Fishing Priests by British author Dave Watson. It's 0:10:37.520 --> 0:10:40.040 not a very fat book, in fact, it's more like 0:10:40.080 --> 0:10:44.040 a magazine. And when I received an unsolicited complimentary copy 0:10:44.280 --> 0:10:47.160 years ago, I said to myself, who the hell writes 0:10:47.200 --> 0:10:50.520 a book about fishing priests? Now here we are today, 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:53.880 and you're thanking me for being such a hoarder. In fact, 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:56.400 I spent forty seven minutes digging around in my frigid 0:10:56.400 --> 0:10:59.040 attic to find this book. That's how much I love you, 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:02.520 guys and way. Traditional priests were made from a wide 0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:06.720 variety of woods, including walnut, rosewood, boxwood, and maple. But 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:12.480 one of the most popular woods was Lignum vita. Lignum vita, 0:11:12.880 --> 0:11:16.040 also known as guayacon, is actually the national tree of 0:11:16.080 --> 0:11:18.920 the Bahamas. It only grows in the Caribbean and was 0:11:19.040 --> 0:11:23.600 exported like crazy to Europe starting in the early sixteenth century. 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:28.800 Lignum vita makes a superb priest because it's incredibly strong, hard, 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:32.439 and dense. In fact, Europeans used Lignum vita for so 0:11:32.520 --> 0:11:36.200 much that these days it's actually classified as an endangered 0:11:36.280 --> 0:11:40.280 flora now similar to knife making, old school priests featured 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:43.200 all kinds of unique embellishments and personal touches, such as 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:46.840 brass heads and pewter bands. Some of the most extravagant 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:50.160 priests in Watson's book, which date back well before the 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:54.600 eighteen hundreds, are made of scrimshawled elephant and narwhal ivory 0:11:54.600 --> 0:11:58.000 and barren initials and royal crests. Now, if you're wondering 0:11:58.160 --> 0:12:00.480 when this whole priest thing died off over there and 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:03.920 they got with the catch and release program, they kind 0:12:03.920 --> 0:12:08.400 of haven't. In fact, Hardy still manufactures trout priests today, 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:11.920 except they have chrome plated brass thumping heads and e 0:12:12.040 --> 0:12:15.920 v a foam grip and an analyzed aluminum handle. Those 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:20.640 barbarians right wrong. The fact of the matter is the 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:23.560 priest stems from what many would call a smarter and 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:27.840 perhaps even classier angling ethic than we have in the US. 0:12:28.440 --> 0:12:31.400 Even today. There are many European trout and salmon fisheries, 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:35.080 including within Germany's Black Forest, where our beloved brown trout 0:12:35.240 --> 0:12:39.360 came from, where catch and release angling is strictly forbidden 0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:42.360 in the mind of the Brits and many other European countries. 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:44.800 You do more to protect the fish by making it 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.560 mandatory to kill your first one or two and stop fishing, 0:12:48.960 --> 0:12:52.600 instead of fighting and releasing say twenty fish in a day. 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:55.160 It was, and in many cases still is the norm 0:12:55.240 --> 0:12:57.280 to simply catch you a salmin or two, give him 0:12:57.320 --> 0:12:59.920 a quick bonk with your priest, and walk away back 0:13:00.080 --> 0:13:02.440 to the cottage to enjoy your fresh catch and not 0:13:02.559 --> 0:13:05.920 molest anymore fish that day. But that's just not how 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.960 things are done here, which is why we don't carry 0:13:09.000 --> 0:13:11.880 priests on trout streams. Now you can buy them here, 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:16.599 they're just not called priests. We have uber American versions, 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:19.920 such as the offshore angler aluminum fish bat the West 0:13:19.960 --> 0:13:23.760 Coast Thumpers, fish Bonker, and my personal favorite, the Bomack 0:13:23.880 --> 0:13:27.440 Fish Whisper floating fish Billy. Most of these can be 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.640 purchased through bass pro shops or Cabella's. None of them 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:36.640 are what i'd call heirloom quality. I love that one, man, 0:13:36.800 --> 0:13:40.560 that was That was I'm glad you pick that one. Yeah, 0:13:40.600 --> 0:13:42.080 that was a good choice. You know, when when I 0:13:42.120 --> 0:13:45.360 was when I was a salmon guide, I actually made 0:13:45.400 --> 0:13:48.600 my own priest out of a chunk of caribou antler 0:13:49.040 --> 0:13:51.079 that I found in the tundra. And like there was 0:13:51.120 --> 0:13:52.800 a there was a bench grinder at the shop at 0:13:52.800 --> 0:13:55.120 the camp, and I cut it down to this perfect 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:58.600 fish beating size and I would tuck it in my 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:01.199 waiter belt and carry around. And I was I was 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:03.640 a confident that it made me look like a badass. 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:10.559 M hm, that's neat. I'm sure you did. Cool. Cool story. Uh. 0:14:10.640 --> 0:14:12.400 And since we're on the subject of people thinking they 0:14:12.440 --> 0:14:14.880 look badass, let's let's take a look at an awkward 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:23.800 moment in angling, but a picture. This week's awkward moment 0:14:23.920 --> 0:14:26.840 angling comes to us from Alex read and and and 0:14:26.920 --> 0:14:30.360 quick warning, Uh, we're about to make fun of a 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:34.480 small child and and there was one thing when we 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.360 were making fun of childhood, fishing photos of each other. 0:14:38.200 --> 0:14:40.600 But I don't actually know this dude, Like, do you 0:14:40.640 --> 0:14:43.680 know is this someone you know? Because sometimes we've done pictures. No, 0:14:43.760 --> 0:14:45.680 you don't know. No, No, I if it's a buddy 0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:47.280 of mine, I'll shout it out. Alex, I do not 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:51.840 know you. So this is just some random kid. And 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:55.440 so I I struggle. I'm struggling with this one. I'm like, 0:14:55.480 --> 0:14:58.080 I'm searching my conscience. Well, like, why am I the 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:00.320 kind of person who's gonna insult a young boy? It 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.320 looks like he's like seven or eight years old. Man, 0:15:02.400 --> 0:15:04.920 Oh god, I gotta know. I'm gonna I gotta, I 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:07.160 gotta interrupt your melodrama here because we can just get 0:15:07.200 --> 0:15:09.240 on with it. First of all, yes, we are the 0:15:09.280 --> 0:15:11.320 kind of people who will tease small children, who amuse 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:14.760 ourselves and others. But the point we have to make 0:15:14.800 --> 0:15:17.680 here is, um, the child is Alex, who is now 0:15:17.720 --> 0:15:21.600 a grown ass man, who sent us what he referred 0:15:21.600 --> 0:15:24.560 to as a This is like a family classic, right, 0:15:24.640 --> 0:15:26.760 This is like the one that the family goes back to. 0:15:27.200 --> 0:15:30.400 He sent this to us and asked us to make 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:32.760 fun of it. So it's okay, it's all right. I mean, 0:15:32.800 --> 0:15:37.000 we're okay, we're good. Fine, Yes, I was. I was 0:15:37.040 --> 0:15:38.880 just I was working through it. I was trying to 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:40.920 like figure out if it was okay with me. I 0:15:40.960 --> 0:15:44.960 appreciate you. You're taking a really long time. Nobody cares, 0:15:45.080 --> 0:15:49.600 nobody cares about what, No, nobody cares. Okay, we're doing it. 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:52.320 So let's get to this photo. Okay, the year is 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:55.840 and I know this because this photo comes with that. 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.160 It's from that era when the date in the picture 0:15:59.280 --> 0:16:03.040 was just automatic, clear like digitally stamped, the orange digitized 0:16:03.080 --> 0:16:05.720 in the in the bottom left corner of the photo. Yeah, 0:16:05.760 --> 0:16:08.880 like it looked like like a like a digital clock. Yeah, 0:16:09.080 --> 0:16:11.640 it's that same kind of kind of tight. There are 0:16:11.680 --> 0:16:13.840 some young people who are probably because I remember you 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:15.520 could you could turn that off in some cameras, but 0:16:15.640 --> 0:16:18.040 like my mom could never figure out how. So all 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:20.240 of our photos, like in all the albums from that 0:16:20.280 --> 0:16:23.720 certain era there with the bright orange date stamp. Anyway, 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:28.320 in this shot, young Alex stands proudly in his mismatched 0:16:28.400 --> 0:16:32.720 camo T shirt and hat, miniature work boots and jeans, 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:36.640 like he's just finished a day of a legal child 0:16:36.960 --> 0:16:40.360 labor sweeping floors at the local steel mill or something 0:16:40.400 --> 0:16:44.480 like that. Oh man, we're digging a new load. And 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:48.480 and uh, I'm gonna keep going after after that day 0:16:48.480 --> 0:16:50.920 of under the table less than minimum age work, it 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:54.880 appears Alex blew off some steam at a local pond. 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:57.040 So one of the things that catches my eye about 0:16:57.080 --> 0:17:00.440 this photo is the Roddy's holding right. It's it's It 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:05.119 does have that closed faced zeb Coo style reel, you know, 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:08.200 the one that's that comes standard on your your Spiderman 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:12.240 Walmart fishing outfit that all kids get. And and you know, 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:14.080 you know that rod you use it to like it 0:17:14.080 --> 0:17:16.159 doesn't do anything but catch little dinker pan fish or 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:19.040 stalker trout. That's what that rod is for. But this 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.120 rod that Alex holding is not that rod. This road 0:17:22.200 --> 0:17:26.560 has serious backbone like that. I know you're looking at 0:17:26.680 --> 0:17:30.320 That thing could handle like a big bass or a 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:34.840 respectable catfish. It's got it's got some serious stubt to it. Yeah, 0:17:34.880 --> 0:17:37.920 I noticed the same thing, and it People who might 0:17:37.960 --> 0:17:40.760 not realize this, You like associate clothes, you know, push 0:17:40.800 --> 0:17:43.440 button roos with little kid rods, but they actually make 0:17:43.520 --> 0:17:46.240 giant ones like zeb coo, like there are people out 0:17:46.240 --> 0:17:49.879 there who prefer that for their cat fishing, like grown people. 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:52.720 I think that's this That's what this rod looks like 0:17:52.720 --> 0:17:56.600 to me, like a grown person's push button catfish set up. Yeah, 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:59.639 and see, I don't think this was not Alex's first 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.800 fishing rod. And in fact, the rod itself it's a 0:18:02.840 --> 0:18:07.399 good two ft taller than little Alex shot. And he 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:09.280 would have had to have been like a pretty skilled 0:18:09.359 --> 0:18:12.880 kid to cast that thing, and also like a serious 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:17.600 danger to anyone standing within his six foot radius right 0:18:17.640 --> 0:18:19.800 for at for a little a little kid plinging that 0:18:19.840 --> 0:18:22.919 thing around, and I'd I'd be scared. And Alex's mom 0:18:23.000 --> 0:18:25.760 or dad or whoever took him fishing was either very brave, 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:28.760 very quick, or just not that smart. But whatever that 0:18:28.800 --> 0:18:32.359 fishing mentor may have lacked in self preservation, they definitely 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:34.720 made up for in fishing knowledge. Because dangling from the 0:18:34.840 --> 0:18:39.320 end of that line is just an absolute slab, total slab, 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:44.000 total slab. It's it's the things eight inches minimum, maybe 0:18:44.040 --> 0:18:48.280 over ten. And Alex hadn't yet learned the art of 0:18:48.320 --> 0:18:50.359 extending his arms out away from his body to make 0:18:50.400 --> 0:18:53.040 it like look even more impressive. But even though he 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:55.680 didn't know how to do that. It still looks big 0:18:56.280 --> 0:19:00.560 freaking huge bluegull. It does. And I got one thing 0:19:00.600 --> 0:19:03.879 I cannot figure out is where this picture was taken. Okay, 0:19:03.880 --> 0:19:07.320 so Alex is standing on on paving stones in front 0:19:07.400 --> 0:19:11.520 of some some wood lattice, and it looks like he's 0:19:11.560 --> 0:19:14.960 in front of a house, not on a dock or 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:17.879 at the edge of the water. But the fish is 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:23.320 still hooked. So either this house borders a body of water, 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:27.240 or they went fishing, they came home, and then they 0:19:27.320 --> 0:19:30.720 reattached the fish to the hook to stage the photo. Yeah, 0:19:30.760 --> 0:19:32.080 I see, I don't think. I don't think this is 0:19:32.160 --> 0:19:35.280 stage because at Alex's feet right you could you could 0:19:35.320 --> 0:19:38.600 see a pile of maybe ten other fish, most of 0:19:38.640 --> 0:19:41.520 which are also stud bluegills, but a couple look like 0:19:41.520 --> 0:19:45.000 pretty decent bass, large amounts. Right. So, if you were 0:19:45.000 --> 0:19:46.560 a kid and you can either pose with a tenant's 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.919 blueboat or a two pound bass, come on, come on, 0:19:50.280 --> 0:19:53.600 you're picking. You're picking the bass every day, or you're 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:56.280 gonna put all the fish on a stringer and hold 0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:58.520 them all up together like you think they were. They 0:19:58.520 --> 0:19:59.960 were going to pose it. They would do the full 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:02.560 stringer shot as well, Yeah, yeah, exactly, why not? All right, 0:20:02.880 --> 0:20:04.639 that's a good point, But I'm still I'm still not 0:20:04.680 --> 0:20:09.080 convinced because it seems to me like like those fish, 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:10.639 the ones you're talking about, it looks like they just 0:20:10.680 --> 0:20:12.720 got dumped out of a bucket right there, just kind 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.320 of laying in this in this, in this pile, and 0:20:15.359 --> 0:20:18.879 there's this puddle that's spreading across the paving stones. So 0:20:18.960 --> 0:20:22.439 I'm I think a bucket drop happened right there. That 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:25.800 could be the case, or or maybe that puddle has 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:29.199 another source, because if you focus just slightly north of 0:20:29.240 --> 0:20:32.520 that impressive spread of fish and look closely at Alex's jeanes, 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.239 you will notice that he quite recently or perhaps it's 0:20:35.280 --> 0:20:39.320 still in the process of pissing his pants. And that's 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:44.800 that's the clincher. Oh, it's true. It's true, dude. Like 0:20:44.880 --> 0:20:49.040 when you first sent me this picture, I didn't see it. 0:20:47.200 --> 0:20:50.560 It's like one of those when you see it, I mean, 0:20:50.640 --> 0:20:52.639 when you see it's like, what do you do it? 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:54.880 Why would we make fun of this kid holding all 0:20:54.920 --> 0:20:58.000 these sweet fish? And then uh, and then I realized 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:03.680 he had um treated himself. I got I got it 0:21:03.680 --> 0:21:06.159 from the big Lebowski. I gotta say, though, the best 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:09.400