Speaker 1: Maybe don't drape a beach towel over your head and
Speaker 1: ugh dad's tackle box for forty five minutes. The people
Speaker 1: who were behind the pyramids like some Egyptian pharaoh or something.
Speaker 1: I don't go with that. I told the stick is
Speaker 1: stupid fast tournament where the sun don't shine. I ain't
Speaker 1: no Kevin, damn Van. This isn't a barbecue. This is
Speaker 1: a cookout. I'll see any ribs. I don't see any
Speaker 1: pork shoulder. I don't see any brisket. You're not barbecue
Speaker 1: and ship, you're just cooking outside. Good morning, degenerate anglers.
Speaker 1: Welcome to Bend, the podcast that may be hosted by
Speaker 1: a couple of Yankees, but still knows the difference between
Speaker 1: a cookout and a barbecue. I'm Joe Surmelli Miles Maulty,
Speaker 1: and I did not know the important distinction between those
Speaker 1: two until until I spent a few years living with
Speaker 1: a buddy from North Carolina that I suggested we should
Speaker 1: have a barbecue. It's a fight people over barbecue. And
Speaker 1: when I came home from the store with you know,
Speaker 1: like a pack of buns and started frosting hamburger meat,
Speaker 1: he lost his mind. Dude just straight up late and
Speaker 1: he's like, this isn't a barbecue, this is a cookout.
Speaker 1: I'll see any ribs, I don't see any pork shoulder,
Speaker 1: I don't see any brisket. You're not barbecue and ship,
Speaker 1: you're just cooking outside. Yankees think Southerners are ignorant, but
Speaker 1: you mother don't even know the difference between a barbecue
Speaker 1: and a cookout. And I never made that mistake. Again,
Speaker 1: is that exactly what he said? Because that him, he was,
Speaker 1: he was, He's a fiery man right now. Credit to you.
Speaker 1: I like, I like your work. I'm a fan of you. Anyway, Look,
Speaker 1: consider consider that a public service announcement for all you
Speaker 1: out there planning on dropping some dogs and some patties
Speaker 1: on the grill for an upcoming holiday. Uh, if you,
Speaker 1: if you care about precise language, and we certainly do,
Speaker 1: that's a cookout, right, And I think cookouts are what
Speaker 1: make Fourth of July, other than Thanksgiving, it's the most
Speaker 1: food centric holiday we celebrate, and it's, if you think
Speaker 1: about it, right, it's the only one where you're expected
Speaker 1: to cook outside. Like you just can't have Fourth of
Speaker 1: July meal cooked indoors. It doesn't work it. If it's raining,
Speaker 1: just cancel it. Yeah, no, I that's a good point,
Speaker 1: because it is absolutely a food holiday, but unlike some
Speaker 1: other ones, it's it's like a it's a completely unpretentious holiday,
Speaker 1: right you can you can get away with just dropping
Speaker 1: some tubular meat over a bed of too hot coals
Speaker 1: and burning the ship out of them and then squeeze
Speaker 1: them into a musty Franze's bun with some French mustard
Speaker 1: and no one's gonna complain, Like that's what they expect,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Or if you want to
Speaker 1: totally up to you, you can start smoking a brisket
Speaker 1: the night before over like your proprietary blend of fruit
Speaker 1: wood and obsessed about a three degree temperature difference, right
Speaker 1: and and then and then turned out, you know, you
Speaker 1: end up with your sliced meat masterpiece and people will
Speaker 1: be like, damn, that's good, hand another beer. They won't
Speaker 1: make a big deal out of it. It's it's the
Speaker 1: food holiday without expectation or judgment exactly. And you just
Speaker 1: hit on why I tend to go the cookout route
Speaker 1: on the fourth and like the core answers, because I
Speaker 1: just want to relax and enjoy myself right, And look,
Speaker 1: I love smoking meats. I love smoking briskets as much
Speaker 1: as the next guy. But I tend to do that
Speaker 1: like during the week, like on a random week day
Speaker 1: when there's no pressure, because every time I've gotten psyched
Speaker 1: up on a brisket, like for a party, by the
Speaker 1: time it's done, I'm exhausted because I've been up since
Speaker 1: five in the morning. I'm so tired of looking at it.
Speaker 1: I don't feel like eating it anymore. And I've just
Speaker 1: spent the whole freaking day stressing that, like it wouldn't
Speaker 1: be done on time, because if anybody out there does brisket,
Speaker 1: you got the briskets stall and you're like, oh god,
Speaker 1: the people are coming at six fifteen, push it, foil it.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, you just freaking yeah, And everybody's gonna
Speaker 1: write me and be like, here's how you don't freak
Speaker 1: out over a brisket. I've read all the ship. Okay,
Speaker 1: it's still every time it's stalls up. So I'm just
Speaker 1: I'm down with burgers and dogs, preferably somebody else's house.
Speaker 1: If I'm being real honest, you just throwing the nerve
Speaker 1: whistler around a bit, drinking some peepers, and that's my
Speaker 1: kind of Fourth July party. Indeed, it is all about
Speaker 1: having fun and uh and this story I'm about has
Speaker 1: nothing to do with food, but it's probably it is
Speaker 1: about fun. It's probably my favorite Fourth July story, So
Speaker 1: one time you'll appreciate this. Years ago, my buddy and
Speaker 1: I showed up to a fourth party thinking it was
Speaker 1: gonna be like, you know, an adults let's get drunk
Speaker 1: and do stupid things kind of party, you know that
Speaker 1: that we were I don't know if we're still in
Speaker 1: our twenties, but we were in that area, that that
Speaker 1: area of life, that era, I should say. So we
Speaker 1: were both wearing American flag speedos when we showed up
Speaker 1: ready to go. But now, a wait, you've now admitted
Speaker 1: this and that you dressed up like Orgasmo and Shoda boys,
Speaker 1: so like same by the way, same, How am I
Speaker 1: not surprised? So we showed up in in American flags petos,
Speaker 1: But it turned out that there were actually like a
Speaker 1: bunch of kids, like people have brought their from this party,
Speaker 1: and we we tried to play like we played it cool,
Speaker 1: but it was a little awkward, but it got really
Speaker 1: awkward when I had a few beers and then I
Speaker 1: decided to go charge of the slipping slide and it
Speaker 1: was one of those It was one of the sliping
Speaker 1: sides with the inflatable pools at the end, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about, and this chance of break in
Speaker 1: your neck. You know, my parents always said, Yeah, I
Speaker 1: hit the wall of that inflatable pool going like full
Speaker 1: speed and it just ruptured. The whole thing just exploded.
Speaker 1: So in the end, not only was I the guy
Speaker 1: who showed up wearing clothing that was more or less
Speaker 1: inappropriate for children, I also broke the toy that all
Speaker 1: the kids were like playing and having fun with. And
Speaker 1: I literally made some of them crying. That was my
Speaker 1: worst Fourth of July moment. And and and the parent
Speaker 1: and me like sees the awkward and like the stomach
Speaker 1: turn in that, but at the same time, like, you know,
Speaker 1: that's kids. If you showed up at my house and
Speaker 1: did exactly what you just described, my kids would have
Speaker 1: two were awesome. They wouldn't have cried at all. They
Speaker 1: already think you're awesome. They've met you, Like they don't
Speaker 1: understand that crazy Jounkele Miles has everyone right is an
Speaker 1: American show up to the party in the speeder. They
Speaker 1: think it was great? So what's wrong with those kids?
Speaker 1: They were wrong? Not you, and we are after all,
Speaker 1: we're like, we're celebrating freedom this weekend. That's the whole point.
Speaker 1: And um, the other point is you are free to
Speaker 1: make an ass of yourself in public, incorrectly call out
Speaker 1: cookouts and barbecues what I would call them. Whatever you want,
Speaker 1: Grill up the most elaborate or idiotically simple meal you
Speaker 1: can imagine and serve it to your friends, or just
Speaker 1: you could skip all of that and just go fishing. Um,
Speaker 1: and if you if you do that, I'd like to
Speaker 1: add that you should carry at least one thirteen fishing
Speaker 1: rod in rail with you because they also love freedom
Speaker 1: and fishing that they do. And and on that point,
Speaker 1: though it's not the right season for it, did you
Speaker 1: know that several of their ice fishing combos come in red,
Speaker 1: white and blue? But I actually was not because I
Speaker 1: haven't done the ice thing with their stuff yet, So
Speaker 1: it's it's I have several and I proudly use their
Speaker 1: Wicked Patriot edition rod with the Freefall Ghost reel on
Speaker 1: the hard Water, which was George Washington's personal setup that
Speaker 1: he used at the Battle of Trenton. At least that's
Speaker 1: what it says on their website. And you know, thirteen
Speaker 1: Fishings website is just known for its historical accuracy and scholarship,
Speaker 1: so I believe it doesn't really say I'll re examine
Speaker 1: the Washington crossing the painting it's stuck in there somewhere.
Speaker 1: It's it's one of the horses reins or something. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I did not know that, but I am
Speaker 1: aware of the glory that thirteen Fishing pours in all
Speaker 1: their rods and reels. So maybe I'll bring one of
Speaker 1: those patriots out with me if I go. If I
Speaker 1: go fishing on the fourth, not because it's the best
Speaker 1: tool for the job, but because fishing on the fourth
Speaker 1: is all about just you know, having a good time.
Speaker 1: Amen to that, man, Amen to that. In addition to
Speaker 1: an ice rod or two in the midsummer and a
Speaker 1: cooler full of beverages, I've been known to bring some
Speaker 1: brots and a mini grill. Right if I'm gonna go
Speaker 1: fish on Penn's Day, just just to just to have
Speaker 1: some serious fun. That's that's why I do it. I've
Speaker 1: done that too, though I'm more of a hot dog
Speaker 1: man than a broad worst kind of guy when it
Speaker 1: comes to fishing, but for reasons that I'll explain later
Speaker 1: in this very show. But but if I have any
Speaker 1: actual fishing and advice for Independence Day, it's it's like, man,
Speaker 1: this is the weekend to not take what you do
Speaker 1: too seriously and by all means, like, go fish this weekend.
Speaker 1: I probably will for a bit somewhere, but but you
Speaker 1: just gotta set your expectations right, Like your favorite like
Speaker 1: area of the back bay is going to be chopped
Speaker 1: to hell by ski boats and jet skis, like retirees
Speaker 1: and pontoon boats are gonna be out putt putting all
Speaker 1: over whatever break you love the troll. You know it's
Speaker 1: gonna be, which may be the worst in my opinion,
Speaker 1: just flotillas of tubes just going going down the river,
Speaker 1: so so thick that you won't be able to cast
Speaker 1: between them. Um And you know, like most of any
Speaker 1: other day of the year, any of those things might
Speaker 1: might send you into a fury, but don't let it
Speaker 1: not this weekend. I just I've learned to I try
Speaker 1: to heed my own advice. I do most of the time.
Speaker 1: Just smile and wave and just like let it roll off.
Speaker 1: Because there there are times for serious fishing um, but
Speaker 1: this it just it really isn't one of them. Don't
Speaker 1: fight the inevitable. If you start getting piste, set down
Speaker 1: the rod, like, kick off your crocs, grab yourself a
Speaker 1: floaty and a couzy wrap beverage and just go with
Speaker 1: the float go in the water with him, go tube
Speaker 1: and kick some kid off a tube and you go
Speaker 1: down with the float Tella. You know that that is
Speaker 1: damn good advice, my friend. And I feel like you're
Speaker 1: you're setting me up well because I feel like the
Speaker 1: guests we have coming on next just he just is
Speaker 1: that vibe. He embodies the vibe that you described. He's
Speaker 1: a very laid back dude. He's a kind of guy
Speaker 1: that you could you could chill with on a summer
Speaker 1: day and calmly shoot the ship for hours. And unfortunately,
Speaker 1: because of the nature of the show, we didn't have hours,
Speaker 1: but we we did let the segment run a little
Speaker 1: longer than usual because we we were just having such
Speaker 1: a good time. I'm going in I can hold it.
Speaker 1: Joining us today for covering water. We've got the world
Speaker 1: renowned chef host of boneappetites. It's alive and a way
Speaker 1: cooler guy than Emerald Bradley is here. We thanks man
Speaker 1: hell of an introduction, and they Emerald Emeralds, the stud man.
Speaker 1: Emeralds a pretty cool guy. Yeah, I know, I still
Speaker 1: think you're cooler. I think we'll see. But look, it's
Speaker 1: it's it's great to have you here. Of course, um,
Speaker 1: we didn't want you to just drop by because of
Speaker 1: the culinary schools. You are also a very dedicated angler.
Speaker 1: And uh, seeing that we both threw up in Jersey,
Speaker 1: we probably spent some time fishing some of the same water.
Speaker 1: So I'm curious, like what did growing up around here,
Speaker 1: Like what did you mostly do? What was your game
Speaker 1: fishing as a kid Christian? As a kid, it was
Speaker 1: freshwater and then with my dad, you know, getting into
Speaker 1: a little bit of my dad as I get into
Speaker 1: a little bit old, you know, so my my first
Speaker 1: memories of salt water are is m my dad coming
Speaker 1: back like when I was little, and like he literally
Speaker 1: would have like plastic gallon drums and then just like
Speaker 1: and have like thirty bluefish, and you know it's just
Speaker 1: like hardy boat days. Yet boats you know, like you know,
Speaker 1: shout out to the nighthawk. I think that was the
Speaker 1: one where n and uh and that and and then
Speaker 1: he would bury him in the garden and we would
Speaker 1: and he would, he would he we would smoke some
Speaker 1: of them, you know. But like my where I'm at now,
Speaker 1: callinarily like far surpassed what my dad was doing was
Speaker 1: blue s. Sure, But it's interesting you bring up blue
Speaker 1: fish because one thing I've I've really noticed about your
Speaker 1: fish cookery that I appreciate a lot. You've you've said
Speaker 1: or mentioned that, like you're not a huge fan of
Speaker 1: file aid fish or like that's not your first preference,
Speaker 1: and I see you cook a lot of whole fish,
Speaker 1: and you're really into steaking, like I've seen you steaking
Speaker 1: blue fish, which is a style that has fallen out
Speaker 1: of favor. Like you just don't see that many dudes
Speaker 1: catching blue fish or mackerel or whatever and just staking
Speaker 1: it out. So like that's kind of inspired me, Like
Speaker 1: I want to try that more this season, Like you
Speaker 1: just don't see that very much. Yeah, it's great. I mean,
Speaker 1: like the only steaks you really see, I mean, I
Speaker 1: guess like a swordfish steak or or sometimes you'll see
Speaker 1: like a salmon steak, right, but like blue fish is
Speaker 1: perfect and like you know, before we even get into
Speaker 1: like steaks, like no matter what fish it is, it's
Speaker 1: all for me. The biggest difference in you know, making
Speaker 1: it a junk fish or just a bluefish or some
Speaker 1: whatever is how you know, if you treat it, if
Speaker 1: you pull it up on the deck and it beats,
Speaker 1: you know, it beats itself up and it gets thrown
Speaker 1: in the bucket, and you know it's just you treat
Speaker 1: it like garbage. The meat is gonna come out that way,
Speaker 1: so like killing it quick, bleeding it out, getting that
Speaker 1: blood out as fast as possible, you know, it really
Speaker 1: just it elevates that whole culinary experience, which is which
Speaker 1: is just awesome. But yeah, but you have to answer
Speaker 1: your question. The steaks you're pilating. I mean, it makes sense,
Speaker 1: and that's what you want to do for something like
Speaker 1: the application of the dish that you're trying to find.
Speaker 1: But like I'm just tired of do just like throwing
Speaker 1: rack in the water, you know what I mean, and
Speaker 1: packing it with a knife, leaving you know, uh, three
Speaker 1: quarters of an inch on up by the collar and
Speaker 1: just like you know, just the body itself. I mean,
Speaker 1: I know, crabs eat it, whatever, Everything eats everything, you know, ocean,
Speaker 1: you know, the earth returns itself. But like, make stock
Speaker 1: out of it if you're gonna play it, because man,
Speaker 1: it's just it's it's so easy and it's just so satisfying.
Speaker 1: We talked about that recently, sort of not being lazy
Speaker 1: and like I actually did that not long ago, like
Speaker 1: bringing tall racks home, like making the effort to fish stock.
Speaker 1: You know. Yeah, Man, when I go, I'll bring a
Speaker 1: little like depending on the knife I have, but I'll
Speaker 1: bring a little hatchet or something that you're getting some
Speaker 1: of them bigger fish to snap the spine real quick.
Speaker 1: You can fold it up right, wrap it up in
Speaker 1: a garbage bag and put it in the cooler, go home,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, ten fifteen pounds whatever of the
Speaker 1: best fish making stock, bones and heads, you could you
Speaker 1: know forever. Yeah, And this is a topic, but I
Speaker 1: gotta turned to it because I think one of the
Speaker 1: things you mentioned, it's sort of a self fulfilling prophecy
Speaker 1: with fish that people don't think they like, right, because
Speaker 1: if if they bring in a blue fish, whether it's
Speaker 1: a blue fish or a white fish, or a freshwater drum.
Speaker 1: I don't care what your trash fish is for your
Speaker 1: area if you people don't treat them the same way
Speaker 1: as the fish that they think they love, Like they
Speaker 1: treat their walleye really well, but that fresh drum just
Speaker 1: gonna beat the ship out of it, and then that
Speaker 1: ends up reinforcing their idea that it tastes like shit.
Speaker 1: So it's amazing how that goes. Those things you have
Speaker 1: reverence for you treat well, funny, they taste good. The
Speaker 1: ones you don't, they taste like ship. Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 1: yeah exactly. I think we'll said, man, I think the
Speaker 1: you know, the perfect example, like is the bluefish or
Speaker 1: something right where it's like I don't like blue fish.
Speaker 1: It's it's oily and mushy, and it's usually because of
Speaker 1: like how you just described it, where it was just
Speaker 1: kind of beat up and like, yeah, of course a
Speaker 1: fish like that is going to go to hell if
Speaker 1: you if you let it. When I was a kid,
Speaker 1: if you didn't have a cool if they just sell
Speaker 1: you a dollar burlap bag, people just fell burlap bags
Speaker 1: tied to the rail and like they just put a
Speaker 1: whole or lap bag a giant losing their trunk. Even
Speaker 1: as a kid, I'm like, what do you do with that?
Speaker 1: You know, Yeah, that's gonna be great. Yeah. But so
Speaker 1: before we get started here on covering water, just just
Speaker 1: a couple of the things I understand that you've you've
Speaker 1: semi recently just like fully thrust yourself into the fly
Speaker 1: fishing world. That's kind of news for you, exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So for about the past two years or so, um
Speaker 1: just kind of picked it up. It all started with
Speaker 1: a little trip with Yetti down to South Carolina and
Speaker 1: Charleston and we're going out for red fish with a
Speaker 1: couple of with a couple of folks and storm came
Speaker 1: in the night before. It kind of blew it out,
Speaker 1: and you know, we were with some We're with some pros,
Speaker 1: you know, folks that knew how to get into into
Speaker 1: the fish there, and no one cat anything. But I
Speaker 1: picked up the hook. No I'm not a single fish
Speaker 1: and and uh, you know, we have folks were flowing
Speaker 1: and flowing in from Montana and Texas and ship you know,
Speaker 1: like some of the best stays five and no one
Speaker 1: go ahead and uh, but that's fishing, right. So what
Speaker 1: I did catches that you know that like love for
Speaker 1: the as of the fly. Yeah, so well you also
Speaker 1: you also did a much bigger thing, very recently, big thing.
Speaker 1: You took a big step in your angling. Tell us
Speaker 1: what you did. Oh yeah, I caught himself a Grady
Speaker 1: White man got you got boat, a boat, first time boat.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know my response was congrats and sorry,
Speaker 1: because that's what you say when somebody buys a boat.
Speaker 1: But it's a sleep great man, I think so, you know,
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna be super manageable. Um. It was
Speaker 1: like it was kind of one of those things where
Speaker 1: it's like I didn't need this boat right now, but
Speaker 1: like it was if it made it to the market,
Speaker 1: it was gonna be gone. And you know it was
Speaker 1: it was. It was a movie man. It was this
Speaker 1: old guy who he had a boat that he fished
Speaker 1: on and ran far and stuff, and then he had
Speaker 1: this boat, the Grady White that he just puttered around.
Speaker 1: He went to the went to the bars and the
Speaker 1: restaurants with his old lady, you know, and that was
Speaker 1: just like his little no hours serve every year covered gorgeous.
Speaker 1: Yeah man, best of luck with that. So so we'll
Speaker 1: get into covering water here and just this how this
Speaker 1: is how we play. So Covering Water is our Q
Speaker 1: and A session where for two minutes, we're gonna put
Speaker 1: two minutes on the clock and we're just gonna rapid
Speaker 1: fire questions at you. And the whole idea here is
Speaker 1: to get through as many as we can in two minutes,
Speaker 1: which means you don't really have a whole lot of
Speaker 1: time to think about your answer. But at the end
Speaker 1: we promised to give you one minute to like back
Speaker 1: pedal or expand on any answer that you're like, Man,
Speaker 1: that might have been a career ender or something I'm
Speaker 1: good at avoiding. So let's uh, let's hit it, man,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna put two minutes on the clock. Miles I
Speaker 1: will go first. Brad, are you ready to play? I'm ready, coach, Okay,
Speaker 1: al right, here we go Covering Water with Brad. Leone
Speaker 1: starts in terms of eating. What's the most overrated fish?
Speaker 1: Most overrated fish? Ship man? Probably um uh ship I
Speaker 1: don't know, no, none of them. Okay, what's the one
Speaker 1: fish your most proud of having caught? Hell of it
Speaker 1: up in Alaska? Just because it was you know, it's
Speaker 1: far away and ship it was pretty cool? Popeye's or
Speaker 1: KFC neither. Okay, all right, all right, can you explain
Speaker 1: to me why does so many people like to eat
Speaker 1: farmed trout because they're accessible and you know, I think
Speaker 1: a wild trout usually gets a bad reputation for keeping
Speaker 1: and the harder to catch. And I think, uh, I
Speaker 1: think a good farm ranged If that's the thing, right,
Speaker 1: I think it's um, I support it. Okay. The best
Speaker 1: boat snack is bananas. If you could go fishing with
Speaker 1: one person living or dead, who would that be? Living
Speaker 1: or dead? Sure? Uh, I don't know. I have to
Speaker 1: come back to that one. That's a tough one. That's
Speaker 1: that's a tough one. Okay. If you could only ever
Speaker 1: target one species of fish here on app which would
Speaker 1: it be? Maybe like, um, like mackerel? Interesting answer? Okay,
Speaker 1: the Simpsons Family Guy or south Park? Oh they're both
Speaker 1: really they're all great, man. I think I mean south
Speaker 1: Park so well? Right, and then fine, I might have
Speaker 1: to go Simpsons just as the classic because it's so good. Okay,
Speaker 1: you're from New Jersey, so I have to ask officially,
Speaker 1: is it pork Roll or Taylor Ham? It should be
Speaker 1: Taylor Ham. Okay, but you're agreeing it's not. No, I know,
Speaker 1: I know, I'm sorry that came out wrong. I always
Speaker 1: call it Taylor Ham pork roll is like some knockoff
Speaker 1: ship that comes out right. I'm not Trent. I don't
Speaker 1: know which which is the greater sin, under salting or
Speaker 1: over salting over because over is unedible. If it's under,
Speaker 1: I can still eat it. I'm just like, they come on,
Speaker 1: what makes you feel more manly? Newdly catfish? Are working
Speaker 1: on an Alaskan crab boat. More manly probably the crab boat. Okay,
Speaker 1: you got time for one more moss? Do you drink
Speaker 1: before fishing, wall fishing, after fishing, or all of the above.
Speaker 1: I was talking about alcohol, Yes, depends on it depends
Speaker 1: on where I'm fishing. I'm not I'm not against either
Speaker 1: fair fair enough, fair enough. So that's that's two minutes. Man.
Speaker 1: That was great, and I brought up the news I
Speaker 1: had to get a noodle in question because I gotta say,
Speaker 1: if anybody listening, if you have not watched the episode
Speaker 1: of your show where you were noodling with Maddy Mathison,
Speaker 1: that is I think like one of the best fishing
Speaker 1: videos ever made. I mean, that was like, just piss
Speaker 1: your pants funny. It was a blast. And it's one
Speaker 1: of them things where I was like, man, I just
Speaker 1: want to do more stuff like that, Maddie. We gotta
Speaker 1: get married to listen, Maddy, I would love to do
Speaker 1: more stuff like that, or even with her without Mannie.
Speaker 1: I just really I really big those kind of experiences
Speaker 1: and just being such not like that that's not intay,
Speaker 1: like you know, it's not catching ship, you know, so
Speaker 1: and he's funny, you know. I would I would love
Speaker 1: to take Maddie matheson fishing one day. I think that
Speaker 1: would be hilarious. Yeah, but did all this stuff? Is great?
Speaker 1: That was great. I watched your recent squid adventure like
Speaker 1: kind of non adventure, but it was it was still
Speaker 1: it was still awesome. I know that was something you
Speaker 1: recently did. Um. But so we'll give you one minute.
Speaker 1: Are there any of those questions you feel like, like
Speaker 1: pick one that you want to sort of tell us
Speaker 1: more about. One of those answers? Yeah, I guess it
Speaker 1: would be like, oh, if you could go fishing with
Speaker 1: one person in time or alive or dead, you know,
Speaker 1: like not my kids, not my dad or something silly
Speaker 1: like that, you know, like their years. So I think
Speaker 1: I have to go someone dead. It had to be
Speaker 1: like some deep like origins of life answers ship, like
Speaker 1: you know, like the people who were behind the pyramids,
Speaker 1: like some Egyptian pharaoh or something. You know, Hey, hey,
Speaker 1: you're onto something. You're onto something with the Egyptians because
Speaker 1: because if you read up in your your fly fishing history,
Speaker 1: supposedly they did originally invent fly fishing. So I think,
Speaker 1: whether you knew it or not, you just dug into
Speaker 1: some super heavy ship right there. That's what I'm saying, dude,
Speaker 1: like pre burning the libraries of Alexander's ship, you know,
Speaker 1: like I want to know knowledge while we go fishing
Speaker 1: some real o g talk. We've asked a lot of
Speaker 1: people that question. That is by far the best answer
Speaker 1: we have ever gotten to it ever. So did we
Speaker 1: really appreciate you coming by for this? This has been
Speaker 1: a really fun covering water and hopefully you'll come back
Speaker 1: on again, man, because this has been a real blast.
Speaker 1: Brad is a ton of fun man. But I'm gonna
Speaker 1: say I was a little offended that he wouldn't answer
Speaker 1: my fast food chicken question, Like I thought that was
Speaker 1: a good question, Like yeah, like you're too good for
Speaker 1: fried chicken. Come on, you eat some Popeye's or KFC,
Speaker 1: like maybe you know, everybody does it. Man, don't be embarrassed.
Speaker 1: But he so kind of redeemed himself with The Simpsons. Yes,
Speaker 1: you know, there's no question it's the Simpsons all the way.
Speaker 1: That was the only answer that could have been accepted
Speaker 1: in that particular scenario. Simpsons created the genre of over
Speaker 1: the top comedic cartoons. Your show helped me when I
Speaker 1: was going through chemotherapy. My favorite episode was when Homer
Speaker 1: stays home from church. God damnit, he thinks what the Simpsons.
Speaker 1: And while this show absolutely did not invent the genre
Speaker 1: of presenting sometimes silly and sometimes pointing news stories in
Speaker 1: the form of a contest without any actual prizes at stake,
Speaker 1: in order to manufacture a sense of continuity and narrative structure,
Speaker 1: we were the first ones to do it with fishing,
Speaker 1: which means it's time for fish news. Fish news. That
Speaker 1: escalated quickly. All right, I got one shout out today
Speaker 1: that's going to go out to listener Tim Jariss. So
Speaker 1: remember a while back we talked about how you associate
Speaker 1: certain smells with fishing. Yeah, and I I talked about
Speaker 1: that odd funk in my dad's old Plano tackle boxes. Well,
Speaker 1: after that episode, a lot of you guys wrote in
Speaker 1: to say you know exactly the funk that I'm talking about,
Speaker 1: and and like just how nostalgic it is? Right, So Tim,
Speaker 1: who is a scientist and registered environmental health specialists, also
Speaker 1: wrote me on Instagram to say, I love that smell. However,
Speaker 1: it is indeed a product of gas is given off
Speaker 1: by the plastic in the lores, and it happens when
Speaker 1: the tackle box is heated, right, which makes sense because
Speaker 1: tackle boxes, what do they do? They sit out in
Speaker 1: the sun. We store them in hot garages. Uh, And
Speaker 1: and Tim's like, yeah, the thing is that gas is
Speaker 1: what we science people call a volatile organic compound. So
Speaker 1: other things that frequently give off volatile organic compounds include
Speaker 1: petroleum fuels, hydraulic fluids, paint thinners, and dry cleaning agents.
Speaker 1: So his point right, as as as nostalgic as the
Speaker 1: smell might be, maybe don't drape a beach towel over
Speaker 1: your head and huff dad's tackle box for forty five minutes.
Speaker 1: So great tip. Appreciate that with Tim also just wanted
Speaker 1: to say we've been appreciating the influx of the Instagram
Speaker 1: photos tag Generate Angler and Bent Podcast. We will be
Speaker 1: posting the winner on our Instagram accounts tomorrow morning right
Speaker 1: from our little our little giveaway here, and somebody's gonna
Speaker 1: be rocking a new fish eating fish hoodie and t
Speaker 1: very soon right. Also, keep your ears open because we're
Speaker 1: gonna be announcing an even cooler giveaway next week. And
Speaker 1: if you subscribe to the Fishing Weekly newsletter, you'll hear
Speaker 1: about it first. Anyway, that's it, that's all. That's all
Speaker 1: the housekeeper I got. We'll get on with news here.
Speaker 1: Remember this is a competition, Miles and I do not
Speaker 1: know which stories the other guys bringing to the table.
Speaker 1: At the end of it. Fill the engineer, we know him,
Speaker 1: we love him. He will judge one of us. You
Speaker 1: have the advantage of leading off this week, so do
Speaker 1: I get. I get to start out, and I'm gonna
Speaker 1: talk about a fish that doesn't get a lot of attention.
Speaker 1: I'll just we like those, We like those kind of fish. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And if you if you have ever heard of skip
Speaker 1: jack herring, you probably only know about them because they
Speaker 1: make damn good catfish bait. Right, striper striper, striper striper
Speaker 1: like them to landlocked stripers. Oh yeah, their status as
Speaker 1: bait is really the only reason that anglers pay any
Speaker 1: attention to these fish. Right. And as herring go, they're
Speaker 1: pretty big, and they got their name because they have
Speaker 1: a habit of jumping out of the water when they're feeding,
Speaker 1: skip chipping yep. But like when when you see them,
Speaker 1: if you have seen the most people, when you see them,
Speaker 1: you just see like that's just in the big school
Speaker 1: of silvery baitfish, indistinguishable from all the other schools of
Speaker 1: silvery baitfish. Right. One thing I did learn on reading
Speaker 1: up on this that some people refer to them as
Speaker 1: Tennessee tarpin, and that kind of made I've never heard that,
Speaker 1: You've never heard that I had, neither. Cool. It's like
Speaker 1: Jersey tarpin with American chad exactly. Exactly Pertinent to this
Speaker 1: story is, like I said, skip jack are are pretty
Speaker 1: big for herring, so that's what make them a favorite
Speaker 1: bait for people who are targeting trophy cats, especially blue cats.
Speaker 1: A whole skipjack will get the attention of a big
Speaker 1: blue but it's it's daunting for all the little channel
Speaker 1: kittens who like to hoover a cut bait. In April,
Speaker 1: Ethan Moss and a buddy went out fishing on the
Speaker 1: Ohio River in search of big cats. But first they
Speaker 1: needed to catch fresh bait, so they rigged up their
Speaker 1: ultra lights and started fishing for skipjack. Now, Ethan and
Speaker 1: his buddy, like most of us, just don't think much
Speaker 1: about skipjack. But that's where that that was about to
Speaker 1: change for him, and I would like to change everyone's mind,
Speaker 1: because the fact is that these fish are actually far
Speaker 1: more badass than than you know. Skipjack turn into predators
Speaker 1: when they reach maturity, much like bass. They feed on thread,
Speaker 1: finn shed, gizzard shed, and even other herring. One study
Speaker 1: found that skipjack will go full on cannibalistic when times
Speaker 1: get lean, and they can consume fish almost half their size.
Speaker 1: Skipjack are native to most of the major rivers along
Speaker 1: the Gulf, and they're highly migratory. They can go to sea,
Speaker 1: but they don't have to. They do what they want.
Speaker 1: It's up to them. It's their choice exactly. Skipjacker capable
Speaker 1: of completing their entire life cycle without ever leaving a river,
Speaker 1: but they might go to sea. Either way. They're gonna
Speaker 1: move up and down that system to to find good
Speaker 1: spawning habitat and sufficient food. They're all over the place,
Speaker 1: and because they've never been much used to human skipjack
Speaker 1: numbers have remained pretty steady, like they're in good shape.
Speaker 1: But in the Mississippi their room to rome has been
Speaker 1: significantly reduced by dams. The dams have it knocked these
Speaker 1: fish out like they have other migratory species. They've just
Speaker 1: contained them in the lower river. But here's the crazy
Speaker 1: part about that, at least to me, The fact that
Speaker 1: these fish can no longer make their way up to
Speaker 1: the headwaters in Minnesota Wisconsin has spelled disaster for ebony
Speaker 1: shell and elephant ear muscles. Even though the skipjack are fine.
Speaker 1: Both of those fresh water muscles are now listed as endangered,
Speaker 1: and part of the reason is the lack of skipjack
Speaker 1: up in the upper Upper River because in order to
Speaker 1: reproduce those muscles, they released larva into the current, and
Speaker 1: for those larva to mature, they have to attach themselves
Speaker 1: to the gills of skip jack herring. Once theo and
Speaker 1: once the damns blocked the passage of skipjacks, the muscles
Speaker 1: lost their their their fish gild nurseries, and their populations
Speaker 1: crashed all this is just to say skipjack are probably
Speaker 1: more interesting than most of us ever realized, and they're
Speaker 1: certainly more interesting than Ethan Moss and his buddy realized
Speaker 1: when they got into a good school of them that
Speaker 1: morning with the intention of catching themselves some good blue
Speaker 1: cat bait. Moss told a local news outlet quote, we
Speaker 1: started getting into them pretty good. I had actually got several,
Speaker 1: and one of them was nineteen and change inches. About
Speaker 1: twenty thirty minutes later, I caught this one. I had
Speaker 1: no clue. I thought he was a white bass or hybrid.
Speaker 1: I flipped him over the wall and the guy fishing
Speaker 1: next to be said, that's a state record, and indeed
Speaker 1: it was. Though mosses from Ohio, he had crossed over
Speaker 1: into West Virginia to go fishing, which was fortuitous because
Speaker 1: Ohio doesn't recognize skipjack records, but West Virginia does. Break
Speaker 1: The fish weighed three point one pounds and taped out
Speaker 1: at nineteen point to one, well short of the world
Speaker 1: record of four pounds, but pretty damn good for like
Speaker 1: a bait by catch. Moss wisely decided to keep and
Speaker 1: register the fish, and all that makes like a fun story,
Speaker 1: right guy, catches bait turns in the state record, blah
Speaker 1: blah blah. He understandably also wants to have it mounted.
Speaker 1: But according to one story I found, this is where
Speaker 1: the problem comes in. Moss is having trouble finding a
Speaker 1: taxidermist willing and able to mount his fish because no
Speaker 1: one makes body molds for skip jack. So the dudes
Speaker 1: got the record but can't figure out a way to
Speaker 1: get him out made. Oh man, Yeah, that's a deli
Speaker 1: of a pickle, because I know some of like the
Speaker 1: replica places have you can get like a you know,
Speaker 1: flying fish or a bunk or something that goes in
Speaker 1: front of your striper. But that's fascinating. Nobody has this.
Speaker 1: I mean, look, man, like freeze that thing. It might
Speaker 1: cost you more money, but you poke around enough, you'll
Speaker 1: find somebody who say, send me the fish, and I
Speaker 1: will make the I will, I will make them. But
Speaker 1: how much do you have you come around to loving
Speaker 1: that skip chack? Do you love it enough to have
Speaker 1: the moment? My next question quite simply, Miles Nulty catches
Speaker 1: that fish, You're going through the process to certify it.
Speaker 1: Jo sam Elli isn't exactly like dude. I mean, I
Speaker 1: think it's I think that's cool and all. But hey,
Speaker 1: if somebody said that's a state record, I'd be like, yeah, thanks, Bud,
Speaker 1: Like what do you know, Like, who's that guy? Right?
Speaker 1: He's the guy right, he's do the other end of
Speaker 1: the wall. He knows what's up. He's here every day.
Speaker 1: But you know, I know the process probably isn't quite
Speaker 1: as as heavy as certifying an I g F A record,
Speaker 1: But there's no way I'm going and like for what, Like,
Speaker 1: there's no way I'm going through all that trouble to
Speaker 1: certify a shad. I'm just not doing it. Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1: I was about to say, like, I don't know, having
Speaker 1: a really random record actually might be more fun to
Speaker 1: me than you know, a state record small mouth with
Speaker 1: my name actually on it, But I still don't think
Speaker 1: i'd do it and do it just be fun to
Speaker 1: be like, hey, that that right there? What is that?
Speaker 1: That's a state record? Skip Jack? No dude, no, I
Speaker 1: get that. And but I think it works if if
Speaker 1: like you're just like a goofy dude that like you
Speaker 1: make that your deal, Like I'm just gonna go out
Speaker 1: and catch weird records, like I think that's cooler than
Speaker 1: just accidentally catching the bait and it just happens to be.
Speaker 1: We're not trying to take away anything away like that's
Speaker 1: that's that's cool. But I don't know. I wouldn't have
Speaker 1: even thought about it. I wouldn't even thought about it. No,
Speaker 1: I do, I do. I do very much appreciate the
Speaker 1: backstory because I didn't know that much about skip jack Um.
Speaker 1: It's fascinating though, like the American Chad here, they don't
Speaker 1: ever eat, like it's all a reaction by but we
Speaker 1: get Hickory shad too, and them suckers will chase down
Speaker 1: some metal or a spinner like it's it's incredible how
Speaker 1: much more aggressive they are. You can hook and line,
Speaker 1: fly fish whatever and they'll charge something down. They'll chase
Speaker 1: bed around with the American Chad won't. So it sounds
Speaker 1: very similar. So that was that's it's nice to know
Speaker 1: more about the skipjack Um. Only transition I have is, uh,
Speaker 1: you said that they have no value. Maybe maybe some
Speaker 1: people are already eating skipjack and don't know it. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna start. I'm so glad that this is where okay,
Speaker 1: because I have to it to be clear though, while
Speaker 1: this story plays right into our little culinary angle this week.
Speaker 1: I did not want to cover it. I did not
Speaker 1: want to do it, but I feel obligated because damn it.
Speaker 1: I listened to our listeners like we are your servants, okay,
Speaker 1: and I've been so flooded with links to this that
Speaker 1: I have caved and I will cover the subway tuned debacle. Okay,
Speaker 1: chapter two of one of us has to do it,
Speaker 1: so you know. I'll also add that I understand why
Speaker 1: people are sending this because it certainly ties into past
Speaker 1: stories we've covered about fake seafood, Like we've kind of
Speaker 1: had a little beat going on that, So I I
Speaker 1: get the connection. But I'm gonna take this in like
Speaker 1: a whole other direction, right So for anyone that missed it,
Speaker 1: I gotta start here. Back in January, two ladies from
Speaker 1: California filed a lawsuit against Subway, claiming that they were
Speaker 1: trying to quote capitalize on the premium price consumers are
Speaker 1: willing to pay for tuna of their own accord. These
Speaker 1: two ladies had samples of the subway tuna analyzed and
Speaker 1: said the findings where that there was no trace of
Speaker 1: tuna whatsoever in the tuna, but there was some shadiness
Speaker 1: because apparently nobody could figure out like who they hired
Speaker 1: to do the testing, like nobody named the lab right.
Speaker 1: But while they say there was no tuna, they also
Speaker 1: couldn't say what it was, and they were just kind
Speaker 1: of claiming it was like complete mystery mixture meat made
Speaker 1: up to look like tuna and have the mouth feel
Speaker 1: of tuna. Right. So of course Subway went nuts and
Speaker 1: defended themselves, saying that this is completely baseless. I remember
Speaker 1: a few ago they ran that huge promo deal on
Speaker 1: tuna subs, like it was like half off tuna subs
Speaker 1: to entice people to take his wild call tuna right. Um.
Speaker 1: But eventually the whole thing kind of went quiet. Well,
Speaker 1: it has reared its ugly head once again, and this
Speaker 1: comes from eat this, not that. And now a fresh
Speaker 1: wave of testing is also suggesting Subway tuna is not tuna,
Speaker 1: but once again can't seem to tell us exactly what
Speaker 1: it is. So all this tuna horse ship like seemed
Speaker 1: to go away. A reporter from the New York Times
Speaker 1: was quietly researching it for the last six months, and
Speaker 1: I love this she collected. This is what the story says.
Speaker 1: She collected more than sixty inches of to the subs
Speaker 1: they sell. Yeah, so she collected with the sixty inches
Speaker 1: of tuna subs from l A Area subways and had
Speaker 1: them shipped off to a lab, which interestingly, that lab
Speaker 1: asked not to be named either, so we don't know
Speaker 1: what lab that was either. Right. According to their analysis,
Speaker 1: this is a quote, no amplifiable tuna DNA was present
Speaker 1: in the sample, and so we obtain no amplification products
Speaker 1: from the DNA. Therefore we cannot identify the species. The
Speaker 1: spokesman from the lab offered a bit of analysis. There's
Speaker 1: two conclusions, he said. One, it's so heavily processed that
Speaker 1: whatever we could pull out we couldn't make an identification.
Speaker 1: Or we got some and there's just nothing there that's tuna.
Speaker 1: So clearly these people need a masspeck pen, which we've covered.
Speaker 1: I'd love to know if they used one um and
Speaker 1: all that aside. Okay, like that's all well and good,
Speaker 1: but then what the hell is it? Like it has
Speaker 1: to be something. I just want somebody to tell me
Speaker 1: then what it is, Okay, So just I'm gonna quickly
Speaker 1: just skim through a couple other pertinent details. They also
Speaker 1: interviewed Peter Horn, the director of Ending a Legal fishing
Speaker 1: project at the Pugh Charitable Trust, and he said it
Speaker 1: can be tough to identify tuna. He says in the
Speaker 1: defensive subway or quite a lot of these fishmongers. The
Speaker 1: further you get the fish from the bone, the harder
Speaker 1: it is to recognize what that fish is. Another point
Speaker 1: of inter Inside Edition conducted a similar investigation. Their samples
Speaker 1: came from New York City area subways earlier this year,
Speaker 1: and all their lab tests found it all to be tuna.
Speaker 1: They were like, it all came back tuna, no issue.
Speaker 1: Finally yeah, So finally, according to Subway, the ladies that
Speaker 1: started all this have abandoned their original claim that subways
Speaker 1: tuna product contains no tuna. However, they filed an amended
Speaker 1: complaint that now alleges their tuna is not one percent
Speaker 1: tuna and then it is not sustainably caught skip jack
Speaker 1: and yellow fin tuna. Okay, so I'm going to tell
Speaker 1: you right now what a subway tuna hog actually is
Speaker 1: because I know, okay, have you done your own independent
Speaker 1: library search. Yeah, it's delicious, That's what it is. The
Speaker 1: only sandwich I ever get from Subway. It's the only
Speaker 1: sandwich worth getting there. I don't know. If I can't
Speaker 1: argue with you, I totally agree. Right, A little pickles,
Speaker 1: a little halpenos, a little Southwest sauce. Do you want
Speaker 1: that toasted? No? I do not. I do not want
Speaker 1: it toasted. I crave that ship, I crave tuna Subway.
Speaker 1: And you will not be dissuaded by any of these findings.
Speaker 1: Will not be dissuaded by any of these findings. And
Speaker 1: for people who don't understand, you are going, oh really,
Speaker 1: I liken it. It's like it's like Burger's, Right, when
Speaker 1: you want a really good burger, Like you crave a burger,
Speaker 1: you're gonna make that at home, or you're gonna go
Speaker 1: to that corner bar that makes a badass burger. When
Speaker 1: you want a burger, you don't go to McDonald's. You
Speaker 1: go to McDonald's because you feel like eating McDonald's. Like,
Speaker 1: to me, it's different and sometimes like you just you
Speaker 1: just want the trash, right, Like if I'm craving an
Speaker 1: Italian HOGI I'm not going to Subway going to Bosco's Deli.
Speaker 1: So a couple of thoughts in my opinion, right, right
Speaker 1: out of the gate. If you ever truly assumed or
Speaker 1: believe that the tunas some fifteen year old is slinging
Speaker 1: with an ice cream scoop at the subway inside the
Speaker 1: gas station where it was like high grade wild caught
Speaker 1: yellow fin, Like you're crazy, You're you're nuts, Like that's
Speaker 1: like believing burger King only uses wag you beef, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like it's subway, it's not noboo. Um.
Speaker 1: And I mean, god dude, if the tuna is causing
Speaker 1: this kind of stir, god forbid, they analyze the meatballs
Speaker 1: like lord knows what's in those? Right, actually meat the
Speaker 1: tuna is is herring? I don't know. Yeah, And I
Speaker 1: I just have to assume. I have to assume the
Speaker 1: lawsuit is just a pure money grab because like, holy
Speaker 1: hell d you're like who has this kind of time,
Speaker 1: Like like you have so little to do, in my opinion,
Speaker 1: and like so little do with money you can go
Speaker 1: all in and fighting about a tuna sandwich. Um. And
Speaker 1: I don't know what. I'm convinced. I'm convinced it's more
Speaker 1: publicity stunt than you may be, right, but here's what
Speaker 1: I think. I think. And because if do you remember
Speaker 1: some years ago there was a big blow up in
Speaker 1: the media that like there's plastic in the in the
Speaker 1: bread for subway. Yeah, and again I think that like
Speaker 1: when that got it made a bunch of headlines and
Speaker 1: then people like, well, no, it's not plastic, it's just
Speaker 1: not high quality bread ingredience. And what I think this
Speaker 1: is here's what I think. I think that people who
Speaker 1: consider themselves health conscious look at Subway as their fast food,
Speaker 1: that it's like the healthy with you fast food. And
Speaker 1: so when they actually find out some information that their
Speaker 1: beloved healthy subway actually isn't like the bastion of goodness
Speaker 1: they once thought it was in the anti McDonald's, they're
Speaker 1: personally offended. That's what I think is going on. And
Speaker 1: and that's all well and good, although I mean I
Speaker 1: think that's silly. Like I agree, and I think like
Speaker 1: if you're that person that is like super tuned into
Speaker 1: like where your food comes from and what you're putting
Speaker 1: in your body, like you should not be in the
Speaker 1: subway unless you're just getting the salad with oil and oger,
Speaker 1: Like it's still fast food, man, it's still you know,
Speaker 1: um so I I don't know. I think I think
Speaker 1: the whole thing is just like a little bit loony. Um.
Speaker 1: But you know the way I look at it, like
Speaker 1: people eat hot dogs, loneing scrapple, like we eat all
Speaker 1: kinds of mystery meat. I don't really see what the
Speaker 1: difference is. Like whatever is in this tuna isn't causing
Speaker 1: people to get sick or drop dead. They've been serving
Speaker 1: it for decades, and like you said, you could tell
Speaker 1: me it's common carp and gizzard, Chad, I'll still order it.
Speaker 1: Those things will probably be more sustainable. If we're talking
Speaker 1: about sustainability, I'd pay extra for it, like carp. Good
Speaker 1: on you something right now. I'll give you a bus sandwich.
Speaker 1: So there you guys. You guys wanted the subway deal. Um,
Speaker 1: I wish we had a promo code. I'll get you
Speaker 1: guys half off a tuna sandwich exactly. The sponsor us. Well,
Speaker 1: maybe after this they will we love you, Subway. I
Speaker 1: think for me, the transition on this has to do
Speaker 1: with something somewhat unnatural, melding into the world of nature.
Speaker 1: It's it's a bad trans good try, it's good try,
Speaker 1: It's fine, we can, we can, we can go on.
Speaker 1: I'm just gonna move on. This is not this is
Speaker 1: not a groundbreaking story. This is not going to blow
Speaker 1: any minds, but maybe we'll have some good conversation around it.
Speaker 1: I'm assuming you've heard of of a painted turtle. Absolutely
Speaker 1: see him all the time. Have you ever heard of
Speaker 1: painting turtles? I can't say I have neither had I
Speaker 1: neither had I until I came across what should be
Speaker 1: an utterly unnecessary headline from CBS Boston that reads, do
Speaker 1: not paint turtle shells. New Hampshire Fish and Game urges.
Speaker 1: The story leads with a photo of a snapping turtle
Speaker 1: whose entire shell has been painted hunter orange, you know,
Speaker 1: for safety the photo. The photo was apparently taken at
Speaker 1: a local pond where someone thought that snapping turtle needed
Speaker 1: to look more like a road construction cone. New Hampshire
Speaker 1: Fishing Game actually had to write a post on Facebook
Speaker 1: that I found to be deeply compassionate but also made
Speaker 1: me fearful for the future of our species, not so
Speaker 1: much the turtles. It said, do not paint turtle shells.
Speaker 1: Often this is done with good intentions to make the
Speaker 1: turtle more visible if crossing a roadway, but turtle shells
Speaker 1: are living tissue, and paint toxins can not only get
Speaker 1: into their bloodstream, it can also reduce their ability to
Speaker 1: absorb sunlight and make them more visible to predators. I
Speaker 1: struggled to believe that this was done with good intentions.
Speaker 1: I don't I can't get there. And if it was,
Speaker 1: that person doesn't understand nature or evolution at all. Well, look,
Speaker 1: if just just based on the fact alone that the
Speaker 1: paint is still on the shell, we're gonna assume that
Speaker 1: was crylon. Okay, like not like your kids freaking single
Speaker 1: paints because that would have washed right off, or or
Speaker 1: like you know, Tester's model paint or something like that.
Speaker 1: But it was some serious paint. If you're gonna paint
Speaker 1: a snapping turtle, right, it ain't gonna sit there while
Speaker 1: you brush it. Whoever did just buy the freaking parking
Speaker 1: cone colored crylon and tag that some bitch. It's awful.
Speaker 1: It's awful. It's awful, And and when I read it,
Speaker 1: I just assumed that this was just an awful, idiotic,
Speaker 1: random incident. But I was wrong. Oh, turtle painting is
Speaker 1: apparently a thing. Five years ago, Florida experienced a rash
Speaker 1: of tortoise painting incidents all over the state. When painting
Speaker 1: murals on the shells of gopher tortoises started trending, the
Speaker 1: Florida Wildlife Commission had to put out a statement saying, quote,
Speaker 1: you should never paint the shells of turtles and gopher tortoises.
Speaker 1: While to you it may seem harmless, painting the shells
Speaker 1: of turtles and tortoises can severely compromise their health. I
Speaker 1: found another article on artists owner dot com begging owners
Speaker 1: of pet tortoises to resist the temptation to be dazzle
Speaker 1: the shells of their beloved pets. The story leads, you
Speaker 1: may have heard, the tortoise shell is made of keraton,
Speaker 1: the same material your fingernails are made of. For some reason,
Speaker 1: many people believe that the similarities between fingernails and tortoiseshells
Speaker 1: means it's perfectly fine to paint their tortoises show with
Speaker 1: nail polish or regular household paint. It is absolutely not
Speaker 1: safe to paint a tortoise shell. This. This is all
Speaker 1: in bold. Painting a tortoises shell poses a lot of
Speaker 1: dangers and can even be fatal. So all right, I
Speaker 1: understand ignorance. These are the same people that bitch about
Speaker 1: subway to them. By the way, Okay, I think you're right.
Speaker 1: I understand ignorance, like I can. I can forgive ignorance.
Speaker 1: They don't know they heard. Oh it's like fingernails. I
Speaker 1: paint my fingernails. Okay, fine, But I don't understand the
Speaker 1: impulse like I wanting to paint pet turtles makes a
Speaker 1: modicum of more sense. I guess like dog owners who
Speaker 1: give their furry friends haircuts. Yeah, they will, or they
Speaker 1: die them. Like somebody has a poodle they diet purple.
Speaker 1: I think that's awful. Like I think that's cruel. I
Speaker 1: don't know. How do you do or stuff in the
Speaker 1: dog into designer vests and clothes and Halloween costumes. That's
Speaker 1: a thing. Okay, so pet turtle maybe, But why do
Speaker 1: you want to paint a wild turtle even if it
Speaker 1: didn't hurt the animals? Like? What are you getting out
Speaker 1: of that? I don't And and to to anybody out
Speaker 1: there who's annoyed, because yes, I realized this is a
Speaker 1: stretch for fish news turtles aren't fish. But I'm so
Speaker 1: baffled by this, and to find out that it's like
Speaker 1: a thing that has gone on for years. I I
Speaker 1: just don't understand and I can't figure out why anyone
Speaker 1: would do that. I could think of one reason. It's
Speaker 1: terrible and it's dumb, and I doubt it was the reason.
Speaker 1: But when you were out here, we were both in fishing,
Speaker 1: comes with hooking the occasional snapping turtle, right so you're
Speaker 1: always trying to figure out, like, is that a snapping
Speaker 1: turtle buzzing around where my bait is? Or is that
Speaker 1: a fish? So like, the only the only dumb excuse
Speaker 1: I could see is somebody doing that so that they
Speaker 1: could see them coming. It's like I know where all
Speaker 1: these things are right now. Still not a good reason,
Speaker 1: not at all, not at all, But it's I appreciate
Speaker 1: that that. No, that's that's a lot of thinking. You
Speaker 1: you came up with a semi plausible reason for why
Speaker 1: this might have happened. So good for you, Good good
Speaker 1: on you there. Yeah, well, uh, there's not a semi
Speaker 1: plausible reason why the thing in my next story happened.
Speaker 1: I'm not even sure that it actually happened. But so
Speaker 1: this is a shorty and and I'm sure by now
Speaker 1: many of you have have heard about this one. Um,
Speaker 1: but it's it's it's it's just so many I can't
Speaker 1: leave it alone. And we're gonna knock on the damn
Speaker 1: TikTok door two weeks in a row now once again,
Speaker 1: once again, And this comes from Daily dot dot com
Speaker 1: headline fisherman far lines brand new bottle of fireball in
Speaker 1: fish after cutting it open, sparking debate. So we've we've
Speaker 1: covered several stories, some fairly recently about weird things found
Speaker 1: in fish. Not long ago, we talked about lake trout
Speaker 1: with that had somebody found a lego inside a lake trout.
Speaker 1: There were there's one with bits of tire uh inside
Speaker 1: the lake trout, and we we sort of use that
Speaker 1: to get into the discussion of discarding soft plastics. But
Speaker 1: this is next level, right. So in this video, you
Speaker 1: see a couple of dudes at a filet table on
Speaker 1: the back of a large boat and they're cutting up
Speaker 1: some pretty big lin cod. So I'm thinking we're in
Speaker 1: Alaska here, it seems like Alaska. Uh So, so dude
Speaker 1: takes the filet off one side of this this big
Speaker 1: fish feels the now exposed stomach, slices it, and out
Speaker 1: pops a brand spanking new, large unopened bottle of fireball whiskey.
Speaker 1: We're a large one, like a pint, yeah, like one
Speaker 1: talking about a nip here. I'm talking about like not
Speaker 1: not quite the handle, but like the big one. Well,
Speaker 1: hold on, all right, we got we got multiple s
Speaker 1: that we need to clarify. There's there's a little mini bottle. Nope,
Speaker 1: there's the point, Nope, there's the fifth that I'm saying
Speaker 1: it's a five. I'm saying it's a fifth. It's a fifth. Yeah,
Speaker 1: damn right, okay, and so now here right, Look, I
Speaker 1: have very little Lincott experience, So I was I was
Speaker 1: actually chatting about this with our bud and colleagues, Sam Longern,
Speaker 1: because he e fishes for lin cat a lot. And
Speaker 1: he said, it's not outside the realm of possibility that
Speaker 1: a big link cod would eat that, right, I don't know.
Speaker 1: He says that, you know, they're super aggressive, and he
Speaker 1: says over the like they eat all kinds of weird ship.
Speaker 1: So it's not totally implausible that that he would take
Speaker 1: the shot this fish, right, so to speak. Pardon the
Speaker 1: punt um. So, at the time of this recording, the
Speaker 1: video has well over six million views. But here's where
Speaker 1: it falls apart. Right when the guy pulls the bottle out,
Speaker 1: he just smirks a bit and says Jackpott. But it's
Speaker 1: a very fast, muted reaction. I don't know about you,
Speaker 1: but if I pulled a brand new bottle of fireball
Speaker 1: out of a fish like I would have been losing.
Speaker 1: That would have been like holy what what? Holy shit? Right? Meanwhile,
Speaker 1: the onlooker at the filet table barely reacts at all.
Speaker 1: He just smiles. Now. Furthermore, the bottle, it is squeaky
Speaker 1: clean and pristine, and Sam and I both commented that
Speaker 1: there's not a shred of damage to the label, and
Speaker 1: the stomach acid in the lane would have would have
Speaker 1: corroded the label away very quickly. So you put it
Speaker 1: all together, and in my mind, there's no way this
Speaker 1: wasn't staged, unless, of course, it ate the bottle literally
Speaker 1: like two minutes before it ate their bait, which is unlikely.
Speaker 1: So um. I'd also add that I think there is
Speaker 1: a limit to what weird things end up in a
Speaker 1: fishing In this case, while I don't, I don't find
Speaker 1: it hard to believe that that a fish would take
Speaker 1: a shot at a whiskey. I don't know if it
Speaker 1: came Bob and buy or whatever it was doing. Um,
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I have a hard time believing
Speaker 1: it would the fish would work that all the way
Speaker 1: into its stomach, Like wouldn't you think it would spit
Speaker 1: it out like a bit of tire or like, I
Speaker 1: don't know, a dish rag or plastic bag or whatever.
Speaker 1: I can see that. I've seen pictures of stripers with
Speaker 1: a piece of wire arm from an umbrella rig poking
Speaker 1: out of their gut um. But I mean this, this
Speaker 1: would have had to have killed the fish if it
Speaker 1: was legit. And and I don't know, like you're not
Speaker 1: digesting that and you're not passing it out the lin
Speaker 1: cod bung hole. So it's just fish have some instincts
Speaker 1: of like I think, what's gonna end up killing them
Speaker 1: if they swallow it? It just you know, anyway, it's
Speaker 1: a very bizarre story. I don't buy it. I don't
Speaker 1: claim to be a link expert. I've never call them,
Speaker 1: but I think they're deep water fish. They are there's
Speaker 1: times fort to stand when they'll come shallower. You can
Speaker 1: find them shallower. But these are giants like these are
Speaker 1: not I will, I will say this. They have a
Speaker 1: mouth big enough to swallow it. I mean, Lincoln got
Speaker 1: a big old mouth. But yeah, they're super deep with
Speaker 1: a full bottle fireball. Would it even sinks, I was
Speaker 1: going to say, would even say so, this thing would
Speaker 1: have to come up and like sip it like a
Speaker 1: dry fly off the surface. And that you've you've, you've
Speaker 1: poked plenty of holes in this to the point where
Speaker 1: I already don't believe it. But that, to me is
Speaker 1: just another piece of evidence of implausibility. Yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: it's it's it's hardly news, but it's just like we've
Speaker 1: we've also been on the weird stuff and stomachs beats.
Speaker 1: So I mean a bottle of fireball, that's that's something,
Speaker 1: even though it's nothing actually, even though it's all horseship,
Speaker 1: even though it's all made up, and justin yet another
Speaker 1: reason or another way that social media is ruining fishing
Speaker 1: because it's getting people to do idiotic stuff like that
Speaker 1: in order to get six million views. That's what I'll say, Yes,
Speaker 1: that is what I'll say to could not agree with
Speaker 1: you more so, that's what we got. We got skip Jack's,
Speaker 1: we got fake tuna, we got fireball whiskey. If if
Speaker 1: Phil is feeling saucy, maybe he wants to go spray
Speaker 1: painted turtle this week, we'll see who took the victory.
Speaker 1: And uh, right after that, we've got a regional report
Speaker 1: for you guys from our favorite South Louisiana non legal
Speaker 1: charter captain down the road Down. It's been a while,
Speaker 1: it's been a while since we we've heard from Darren
Speaker 1: and uh, keeping up with this week's culinary theme, We're
Speaker 1: literally going to see what he's got cooking. Joe, because
Speaker 1: you brought the heat this week, and because I agree
Speaker 1: with you that the tuna fish sandwich from Subway is
Speaker 1: the only thing worth getting there, you're the winner this week.
Speaker 1: But Miles, I was trying to piece together who might
Speaker 1: be the culprit of the turtle painting, and I thought
Speaker 1: back to a viral video from years ago involving a
Speaker 1: guy who knows a lot about paint and turtles. That's right,
Speaker 1: it's the Zombie Kid likes turtles Kid. I think he
Speaker 1: might be someone to look into. So I'm actually gonna
Speaker 1: give him a call right here. Hi, zombie Kid, when
Speaker 1: was the last time you were in New Hampshire? Like
Speaker 1: t yep, we we know. Okay, um, do you know
Speaker 1: anything about the turtle paintings? Well, that was a waste
Speaker 1: of time. I don't know what I was expecting. All right, y'all,
Speaker 1: summer in South Louisiana it's hotter than a two dollar pistol.
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna be honest with you, the fishing down
Speaker 1: right sucks right now. Normally, me and my boy Joey
Speaker 1: Campbell would be hitting Little Lake and delacro in the
Speaker 1: afternoons and loading the box would have limited red fish.
Speaker 1: Not this year. Could be a lack of shrimp, could
Speaker 1: be all the high tides. We haven't but whatever it is,
Speaker 1: my freez is looking kind of slipt. I just got
Speaker 1: back in my mobile home after some storm damage just
Speaker 1: past hurricane season and hadn't even had one good fish
Speaker 1: fry yet, which is a bummer because the little chicken
Speaker 1: seeing said fried fish is a favorite. I and went
Speaker 1: out and swiped, I mean, borrow the new fish fryer
Speaker 1: to show him my cooking skills. Anyway, we're catching a
Speaker 1: few bass here and there now. The other day I
Speaker 1: had a dude and one of them sparkly boats. Tell
Speaker 1: me I'm supposed to be putting them back. I said,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, how about to put him back in my
Speaker 1: ice chest where he belongs. I don't care if he's
Speaker 1: one pound or twenty. He's gonna get cooked down in
Speaker 1: the red gravy with some rice. I told him the
Speaker 1: stick is stupid bass tournament where the sun don't shine.
Speaker 1: I ain't no Kevin, damn Van. We're out here catching
Speaker 1: these fish to eat. He didn't like that too much.
Speaker 1: I told him. I said, don't worry. I'll bring your
Speaker 1: wife a plate when I'm done cooking. I also heard
Speaker 1: they're catching good offshore, but I don't have the money
Speaker 1: or the time to get down there. Little Ricky Battaguley
Speaker 1: is a deck hand on a high dollar boat down
Speaker 1: to Venice. He told me they caught three tuna, all
Speaker 1: over two hundred pounds the other day. I told Ricky
Speaker 1: to stop by and bring me some tuna. He said
Speaker 1: he can't because the clients they take fishing one all
Speaker 1: the meat. I said, well, look, tell him I'll trade
Speaker 1: him some hog meat and a few packs of dis
Speaker 1: I all right, well, that pretty much wraps it up.
Speaker 1: I got some cold mill of high Life in a
Speaker 1: can of Vianna sausage calling my name. And look, you know,
Speaker 1: anybody looking to get rid of a loamo halla me
Speaker 1: with all this rain we have in my grass is
Speaker 1: higher than a giraffe's assid my loonmar took a dump
Speaker 1: on me a few weeks back. All right, later, I
Speaker 1: have eaten bass. It's not my favorite fish, but they're
Speaker 1: perfectly fine. I will eat bass again. It's not like
Speaker 1: my my my prime target, but I'm sure it'll happen.
Speaker 1: We should have no sacred cows. If you ask me
Speaker 1: if it's cool to eat while I and crappy, it
Speaker 1: should be cool to eat bass. But just in general,
Speaker 1: all fish, bess. I don't care which one blue gill
Speaker 1: select for the smaller to midsize fish any population. Put
Speaker 1: the breeders back, just across the board. That's what you do.
Speaker 1: Why is counsel there? If you're gonna eat him, I've
Speaker 1: eaten him. Side note, the last time I ate a
Speaker 1: large math it was gritter with worms, which was kind
Speaker 1: of a turn off and has no bearing on anything.
Speaker 1: Any who look to close this one out. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: I'm gonna switch up end of the line a little bit.
Speaker 1: Remember earlier I foreshadowed hot dogs at the top of
Speaker 1: the show. Indeed, I do you You made a bold
Speaker 1: statement there your preference over brots at at least one fishing. Yes,
Speaker 1: they are, and that's partially because they can play double
Speaker 1: duty when you're after a favorite fish for the fryer. Well,
Speaker 1: that's not allowed enough. Burt Channel catfish, like all catfish
Speaker 1: or scent feeders, everyone pretty much knows that they'll home
Speaker 1: right in on a fresh chunk of shad or chicken
Speaker 1: livers or fresh shrimp. Of course, there are some catfish
Speaker 1: anglers that will tell you rotten shrimp or shad or
Speaker 1: chicken liver works even better. Fresh verse older and nasty
Speaker 1: or is something catfish guys love to debate, But they
Speaker 1: also love to debate mixes, mashups, and recipes of less
Speaker 1: obvious or less natural bait choices. Playing on the fish's
Speaker 1: ability to sniff out a meal has led people to
Speaker 1: insist that bar soap a killer channel cat bait. And
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm not talking crazy, Okay, I actually found
Speaker 1: a whole article about it. You won't be successful with
Speaker 1: that thirty dollar bar of doctor squats you used to
Speaker 1: polish your ash cheeks, though, no, no. According to the
Speaker 1: cat pros, the cheaper the soap the better, like real
Speaker 1: man bar soap, like zest or dial or Irish spring,
Speaker 1: all the chemically ones that make you smell like the
Speaker 1: health and beauty aisle of a dollar store. Cut them
Speaker 1: into one inch cube, stick a cube on a hook,
Speaker 1: and apparently the cats come running. I've also heard guys
Speaker 1: swear by soaking your bait and w D forty. Granted,
Speaker 1: neither of those things sounds very environmentally friendly, but I'm
Speaker 1: sure they create one hell of a scent trail. I've
Speaker 1: heard channel cat guys swear by chicken soaked in pickle brine,
Speaker 1: chewed bubblegum, plato, bananas, and blackberries. But if there's one
Speaker 1: channel cat bait that seems to pop up time and
Speaker 1: time again, it's hot dogs. And not just any hot dogs.
Speaker 1: I'm talking about hot dogs marinated in a sweet and
Speaker 1: savory bath of cherry kool aid and arloc powder. I
Speaker 1: first heard about this many years ago while working on
Speaker 1: a story for Field and Stream, and at the time
Speaker 1: I wasn't much into channel cat fishing. It wasn't until
Speaker 1: years later, when I had little kids, that I put
Speaker 1: the wisdom to use. I wanted to take my daughter
Speaker 1: fishing for cats, but it was a spur of the
Speaker 1: moment decision, and I didn't really have any good bait.
Speaker 1: But I did have hot dogs, cherry kool aid, and
Speaker 1: garlic powder, and even after only a couple of hours
Speaker 1: in the marinade, we were on a channel cat within
Speaker 1: five minutes of sending out that first chunk of dog.
Speaker 1: Google catfish plus hot dog and you'll hit on this
Speaker 1: recipe without even needing a scroll. And sometimes the kool
Speaker 1: aid is swapped for jello, but either way, the mixture
Speaker 1: hits channel cats in every olfactory sensor it has. It
Speaker 1: smells sweet, it smells pungent, and it smells like meat,
Speaker 1: although maybe less so than it used to. But I'll
Speaker 1: get to that in just a sec. I tried to
Speaker 1: research the history of hot dog used for catfish, which
Speaker 1: took me to weird places, but there's really no clear picture,
Speaker 1: just speculation that at some point in history, somebody ran
Speaker 1: out of their preferred channel cat bait during a lakeside
Speaker 1: picnic or barbecue and a hot dog was simply handy.
Speaker 1: Hot Dogs as we know them have been in American
Speaker 1: since eighteen seventy and powdered kool aid has been around
Speaker 1: since nine when some genius put them together as Anybody's Guest.
Speaker 1: But it's worth noting that many online articles suggest that
Speaker 1: when buying hot dogs for catfish, you don't get the
Speaker 1: fancy ones. Okay, getting your hot dogs might require another
Speaker 1: trip to the Dollar General for something other than soap. Yes,
Speaker 1: it would make sense to spend as little money as
Speaker 1: possible on something you're only gonna use his bait, but
Speaker 1: there could actually be more to it. Cat gurus claim
Speaker 1: the cut rate dogs catch more fish. To quote one
Speaker 1: article I read, get the cheap and nasty ones usually
Speaker 1: avoided by humans because you see, hot dogs, along with
Speaker 1: Deli meat, have some of the highest concentrations of nitrates
Speaker 1: and meat by products of anything we eat, or at
Speaker 1: least they did for decades until the world got healthier.
Speaker 1: Today's name brand dog producers tout the lack of nightrates
Speaker 1: and by products, but it's all that junk that makes
Speaker 1: the mystery meet more aromatic and attractive to the cats.
Speaker 1: This is probably why I've also heard that Slim Jim's
Speaker 1: spam and Vienna sausage worked like charms too. So bottom line,
Speaker 1: next time you're cleaning out the fridge and dig up
Speaker 1: that zip lock with two Rando dogs swimming in the
Speaker 1: thickened dog water. You know the one I'm I'm talking
Speaker 1: about from that barbecue a month ago that required six
Speaker 1: dogs instead of the eight in the package. Don't throw
Speaker 1: that away. You pour in a packet of cool aid
Speaker 1: and a little garlic powder, and that's great eats for
Speaker 1: a channel cat and without, My friends are Fourth of
Speaker 1: July cookout is winding down as you stumble around trying
Speaker 1: to remember where you left your bag and your couzy
Speaker 1: and your keys. Uh, please just ignore the grown man
Speaker 1: sleeping the kiddie pool while wearing a patriotic loincloth. Remember
Speaker 1: that brad Leone maybe a badass chef, but he's dead
Speaker 1: wrong about pork roll. Be advised that redfish and black
Speaker 1: bass are all the same in South Louisiana. And never
Speaker 1: throw out your old hot dogs. Just mail them on
Speaker 1: over to Joe Bringham. Okay, bring it, no cool necessary,
Speaker 1: Just stick him in a fed X envelope. All good advice. Also,
Speaker 1: please send your bar nominations, salbin items, awkward photos, fish
Speaker 1: news suggestions, and poorly edited drunken ramblings to Bent at
Speaker 1: the meat eater dot com. Yes, do that, because I
Speaker 1: read every one of them and also keep tagging Bent
Speaker 1: podcast and Degenerate Angler on the Graham. I will probably
Speaker 1: miss most of those, but Joe is all over them,
Speaker 1: I promise, and finally be safe out there this weekend
Speaker 1: and prepare for the crowds. Either do some yoga breathing
Speaker 1: and practice your meditation, or just do what I do
Speaker 1: and make everyone a double