Speaker 1: The buddy with the regulator, who obviously had more money
Speaker 1: than I did at that age, kid to pay for
Speaker 1: my chicken sandwich. At the end of the day. I
Speaker 1: get a phone call about ten o'clock that night. He said,
Speaker 1: you got Google Maps. He said, yeah, sure, and he
Speaker 1: says pull it up. He says, you see that line,
Speaker 1: and immediately my heart sell up. One day, some red
Speaker 1: actor a full K and a W D forty square temple.
Speaker 1: You know, I kind of feel bad for that kide.
Speaker 1: I sort of want to invest in Lizard Liquors. Good
Speaker 1: mornings generate anglers. And welcome to Ben the Fishing podcast
Speaker 1: that would love to be your co angler but conveniently
Speaker 1: forgets its wallet when it's time to throw down half
Speaker 1: of the tournament entry fee. I'm Joe Surmelie, and I'm
Speaker 1: hating Sam Mack and Joe. I'll be your co angler anytime,
Speaker 1: But you already you already know that I basically have
Speaker 1: zero money to throw, but I'll split it six with
Speaker 1: you if we win. Hey, there, you deal is a deal. Yeah, actually,
Speaker 1: you say, I already know that we the collective we
Speaker 1: listening already knows that we've been pretty vocal about your
Speaker 1: lack of funds uh lately. But here's the thing, right,
Speaker 1: people gonna think meat Eater isn't paying me, Well, that
Speaker 1: is not the case. Again, I just like to point
Speaker 1: out I'm very irresponsible with gear purchases. I wouldn't do
Speaker 1: that to you anyway. I would never ask a poor
Speaker 1: person to throw in money for a fishing tournament. Reason
Speaker 1: being that there was a time when I was a
Speaker 1: very very poor person and I did that. I threw
Speaker 1: down and I regretted it deeply. Right because at six am,
Speaker 1: you're sure you're gonna walk away significantly richer, like you
Speaker 1: own that decision. You are fired up. But when the
Speaker 1: day is over and you just got your ass completely beat,
Speaker 1: you're dwelling on that money hard like you're upset. You know,
Speaker 1: I'll tell you what I can relate it to. Man,
Speaker 1: I know for certain that the ride to Atlantic City
Speaker 1: is oftentimes significantly different than the ride back. Not to
Speaker 1: be morbid, but like we I was just in Niagara
Speaker 1: Falls and they got all those casinos on the Canadian side. Now, like, boy,
Speaker 1: that's a bad place to have a casino, like fifteen
Speaker 1: steps away from Niagara Falls. So you know, we both know,
Speaker 1: I don't tournament fish, But I haven't really heard you
Speaker 1: talk about it very much, do you. Yeah? No, no, no,
Speaker 1: not really. In fact, just once in my life did
Speaker 1: I fish a tournament where there was money on the line.
Speaker 1: I fished a really fun bragging rights fly tournament years ago.
Speaker 1: That's a great time. That's just beers and bullshit. But
Speaker 1: I bought into an offshore at Turney one time, many
Speaker 1: years ago, and I was I don't know, twenty two
Speaker 1: or twenty three. So I threw in five hundred bucks,
Speaker 1: which at the time, like that was half my annual salary,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Um, But I didn't care,
Speaker 1: like I felt like a badass. Like we went to
Speaker 1: the captain's meeting. We had a plan, we're breaking the
Speaker 1: inlet and my buddies regulator, but it was it was
Speaker 1: just miserable out there, like people, there were guys on
Speaker 1: the boat pukin. You know, one of those days you
Speaker 1: had hang on for dear life. And we never touched
Speaker 1: a fish, which meant the buddy with the regulator, who
Speaker 1: obviously had more money than I did at that age,
Speaker 1: like he had to pay for my chicken sandwich at
Speaker 1: the end of the day. I had to. I had
Speaker 1: to basically beg for dinner and it wasn't fun. Anybody. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's like some add some serious salt in the in
Speaker 1: the old wound there. I mean to be honest, dude,
Speaker 1: I've never this is just like personal hang up, but
Speaker 1: I've never really understood like the allure of like competitive fishing.
Speaker 1: Like you know, I've thought about it here and there.
Speaker 1: You know, I was supposed to ender a bass tournament
Speaker 1: one time with my dad, but you know, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's it's not my thing either though. I mean, I
Speaker 1: understand it perfectly, right, It's just that it doesn't do
Speaker 1: anything for me. I fished to chill with friends, relax
Speaker 1: and and have a good time. Um, immediately, we only
Speaker 1: fish for food, man, yea, or or to supplement your
Speaker 1: the elk in your freezer whatever. Um like that day
Speaker 1: that I like that day that I fished that off
Speaker 1: shore attorney, Um, you know, had it been a fun run, right,
Speaker 1: we have never even opted to go out that day
Speaker 1: in those conditions. You know, you're so like you're you're
Speaker 1: putting yourself out there. It's already miserable and now there's
Speaker 1: money on the line, and to be totally honest Um,
Speaker 1: just shooting fishing videos adds a similar element of stress,
Speaker 1: Like you're not entirely fishing just to catch fish anymore.
Speaker 1: You're there to make a video, and when it's not
Speaker 1: working out, it can be really stressful. Um, but I'm
Speaker 1: getting paid for that no matter what. Right. So even
Speaker 1: charter captains, if you think about it, you can have
Speaker 1: ship days and and still get paid. But if you're
Speaker 1: a professional tournament angler, it's another level. And while I
Speaker 1: know I could never do it, while it's not my thing,
Speaker 1: I have the utmost respect for the guys that can
Speaker 1: do that. Oh yeah, man, you know, I I totally
Speaker 1: respect somebody who can like consistently go and do that.
Speaker 1: Like I Yeah, I'm not sure if I could handle
Speaker 1: the pressure or not, But I think it's fair to
Speaker 1: say that, like fans of competitive fishing, like bass fishing
Speaker 1: in particular, don't fully grass what kind of pressure that is.
Speaker 1: I agree, Yeah, you tend to equate what you can
Speaker 1: do on like the weekend. Like even if you're like
Speaker 1: a pretty dialed hardcore angler who's like, you know, you
Speaker 1: got your home lake dialed in, you're catching five pounders,
Speaker 1: you're catching you know, the occasional six seven eight pounder
Speaker 1: here and there. Uh, it's easy to equate that to
Speaker 1: what the pros do on some level, but it's really
Speaker 1: not like analogous. No, It's like, yeah, man, you might
Speaker 1: be like the best basketball player in your pickup league,
Speaker 1: but but like you get smoked in like a professional platform.
Speaker 1: You know, their pro athletes and I don't know, man,
Speaker 1: they just think differently. Yeah. No, And and now granted, right,
Speaker 1: a lot of the top level bass pros have other
Speaker 1: sources of income. It's not like like the top tier
Speaker 1: guys need to win to survive, but the root of
Speaker 1: what they do is still competitive fishing. Everything else comes
Speaker 1: from their ability to fish competitively. Yeah, a couple of losses, man,
Speaker 1: and like you know, your sponsorships start to dry up. Sure,
Speaker 1: exactly something on the line exactly now, Whether you're a
Speaker 1: fan of pro bass fishing or not, Um, I think
Speaker 1: you're going to enjoy a very special smooth moves we've
Speaker 1: cooked up um just for you. For the psychological aspect
Speaker 1: of it, it's kind of like like drawing the curtain
Speaker 1: back and exposing the less glamorous side of the sport. Yeah, man, um,
Speaker 1: I'm excited about this. Too, is like a means of
Speaker 1: a little introductory uh, you know, preface. We recently got
Speaker 1: to talk to elite pros Brandon Paul Nick and Carl
Speaker 1: Jocobson and and they were recently in Montana to record
Speaker 1: the Mediator Podcast and we got to talk in a
Speaker 1: little bit afterwards, and they were gracious enough to like
Speaker 1: stick around to sit down with us for Smooth Moves
Speaker 1: double feature. Uh, and you guys really want to hear
Speaker 1: this one because it includes one of the most well
Speaker 1: known smooth moves in all of fishing his street. Why
Speaker 1: all right, So we're here with bass Master, Elite anglers
Speaker 1: Brandon Politick and uh, Carl Jakobson and Joe. We're doing
Speaker 1: like a little bit of a deviation on smooth moves.
Speaker 1: Do you care to explain? Yeah? I will. At first,
Speaker 1: I gotta say I'm honored to have to have you
Speaker 1: guys here, and I think it's it's only fair to
Speaker 1: the Bent listener to explain how you're here. You are
Speaker 1: in Bozeman for the big show, the Mediator Podcast, And
Speaker 1: we were like, hey, wait one second before you guys leave,
Speaker 1: just real quick, can we have you on Bent? So
Speaker 1: I know you've already. It was the reverse of that,
Speaker 1: you know. Yeah, but no, I am. I am super
Speaker 1: pumped that you guys are taking a little bit of
Speaker 1: extra time for us. UM and I have not met
Speaker 1: either of you guys personally though, Brandon I am, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm buddies with Oliver and I and we were just
Speaker 1: fishing and talking about you. I I don't know if
Speaker 1: I should name it right, but at a very specific
Speaker 1: damn in Virginia? Does that does that ring about it? Yeah?
Speaker 1: You guys are discussing, you're discussing that event and that
Speaker 1: took place. And while we were discussing that, and I
Speaker 1: was catching very very small stripers, Um, Oliver pulled like
Speaker 1: a six and a half pounder right out from under
Speaker 1: me at that place. So yeah, because that was after
Speaker 1: the tournament, right, oh yeah, this was this was way
Speaker 1: after the tournament. This was late September. But um, he
Speaker 1: was like, yeah, this is the spot where Brandon just
Speaker 1: destroyed right here. Um. And Carl, I mean, I think
Speaker 1: we'd be remiss if we didn't mention that you are
Speaker 1: the the first Australian to qualify for the Elite Series?
Speaker 1: Is that right? Yep? That's it? Yep. And I'm pumped
Speaker 1: her here because and I can't fully explain this, but
Speaker 1: believe it or not, VENT has a lot of Australian listeners,
Speaker 1: which I don't fully get because I think the fishing
Speaker 1: down there is cooler than here, Like I want to,
Speaker 1: I'd rather be there catching a murray cod. But i'd
Speaker 1: bet a bunch when we're gonna tune in. So, as
Speaker 1: Hayden mentioned, smooth moves is normally where we have guides
Speaker 1: and captains come on and tell the story about something
Speaker 1: ridiculous or funny that a client did. But seeing that
Speaker 1: you guys fish for living, your tournament anglers, you're on
Speaker 1: the road trailering boats all over, I figured we we
Speaker 1: gotta get a smooth move from each of you. So hey,
Speaker 1: and I don't think we care who goes first, right,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter that gives That gives a disadvantage to
Speaker 1: somebody because it gives the other one more time to think.
Speaker 1: I mean, I can go because I'm in hands down.
Speaker 1: I have probably like for me, I have one very
Speaker 1: significant bone head move. And I won't go into all
Speaker 1: the details because we're gonna trying to keep it shorter, right,
Speaker 1: but this is will data back two thousand thirteen. I
Speaker 1: am in a very tough position in my career where
Speaker 1: I've had a little bit of success, but still haven't
Speaker 1: really fully broke out onto the tournament scene. Right I've
Speaker 1: qualified for the Elite Series, I'm way down in the points,
Speaker 1: not going to make our championship. And at that time,
Speaker 1: we had win in your end. So if you won
Speaker 1: a bass Master Lead Series event, you would qualify for
Speaker 1: the bass Master Classic, which is our championship. And I
Speaker 1: was way down the points, had to win an event.
Speaker 1: We have three events left. Come into one of the
Speaker 1: final events, I figure out a phenomenal smallmouth pattern on
Speaker 1: the Mississippi River. Mhm. The tricky part with the Mississippi
Speaker 1: River is it's winding, it's full of islands, and it's
Speaker 1: a bordering water between Minnesota and Wisconsin. Sure date back
Speaker 1: even further. I don't know what the exact date was,
Speaker 1: but there was a law passed in Wisconsin that said
Speaker 1: you're not allowed to coal of fish. Once you put
Speaker 1: it in the live will, you're not allowed to release
Speaker 1: a fish. So when you put it in the live will,
Speaker 1: you're done. That's it. You catch your five for the
Speaker 1: tournament and you move on Minnesota, their state laws say
Speaker 1: it on bordering waters. They just accept the most restrictive law.
Speaker 1: So they accepted Wisconsin's law of not coaling. But our
Speaker 1: tournament organization had a permit to be able to coal
Speaker 1: in Wisconsin waters, but because it wasn't a state law,
Speaker 1: Minnesota still said no coaling. So there's the ground rules
Speaker 1: for what is about to happen. This is if you're
Speaker 1: in the bass circles. This is a pretty famous smooth
Speaker 1: move if you've if you have followed bass fishing, or
Speaker 1: maybe if you're just a Minnesota slash Wisconsin resident, then
Speaker 1: you might have heard this because some laws got changed.
Speaker 1: Uh So I'm, you know, way down the point. It's
Speaker 1: gotta win. Figure out this amazing pattern. I go out
Speaker 1: Day one, plan goes, you know, perfectly, flawlessly. I'm leading
Speaker 1: the event. Day one, got a pretty sizeable lead and
Speaker 1: away eighteen a half pounds on the Mississippi River, which
Speaker 1: is a really big bag for there that time of year.
Speaker 1: And Day two comes along and I'm catching all my
Speaker 1: fish in the morning, we get a thunderstorm, we get
Speaker 1: a delay. I roll out there worried that the that
Speaker 1: bite window had passed, and I get out there, and
Speaker 1: because of the cloud cover, everything just continued to work out.
Speaker 1: It was like I was meant to win that event. Right.
Speaker 1: So I'm I'm fishing this area in what I assume
Speaker 1: is Wisconsin, and I'm really have two main areas. There's
Speaker 1: the main river channel and I'm fishing the main river channel.
Speaker 1: Majority of the Mississippi River, the boundary between state lines
Speaker 1: or county lines is the main river channel, you know,
Speaker 1: the majority of that. That's how most rivers and lakes
Speaker 1: and stuff are in the country. Well, I assumed I
Speaker 1: was in Wisconsin. I moved in Minnesota to my other spot.
Speaker 1: I catch five bass. Knowing that I cannot catch another
Speaker 1: one in coal, I decided to leave it. I'll come
Speaker 1: back to it on day three, Right, Like, why pressure
Speaker 1: that area if I can't coal? Like, don't burn those fish.
Speaker 1: So I moved back to the other side, the Wisconsin
Speaker 1: side of the main river channel. I catch one more bass.
Speaker 1: I let go my smallest one, and I cold. Because
Speaker 1: in Wisconsin we could call all is fine and dandy.
Speaker 1: I go back. I weigh in. I have got an
Speaker 1: even bigger bag than I have the first day, and
Speaker 1: I've got a six pound lead going into day three.
Speaker 1: So everything is setting up for me to win this event,
Speaker 1: qualify for the Classic, and win a hundred thousand dollars. Great.
Speaker 1: Two days left a piece of cake, Like I got
Speaker 1: a six pound lead. I don't even have a Yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't have to catch him as good as I
Speaker 1: did the last two days. I can kind of just
Speaker 1: slide by under the radar. And I get a phone
Speaker 1: call about ten o'clock that night from our tournament director
Speaker 1: from the organization, and he says, where are you fishing
Speaker 1: in this area? And I said yes. He goes, did
Speaker 1: you cool in this area? And I said yes, I
Speaker 1: called one time. Uh, when I came back from Minnesota.
Speaker 1: He said, you got Google Maps, you know, on hand.
Speaker 1: I said yeah, sure, and he says, pull it up.
Speaker 1: So I pulled up go to the area that we're
Speaker 1: talking about, and he says, you see that state that
Speaker 1: you see that line? And immediately my heart sunk. He like,
Speaker 1: he like, really, they kind of walked you onto it, man. Yeah, well,
Speaker 1: I think just because he wanted to see, like because
Speaker 1: they I don't know exactly how it got reported, right,
Speaker 1: but from the way I understood it is that I
Speaker 1: believe another angler or someone saw me fishing in this
Speaker 1: area and said, hey, I believe he's fishing in Minnesota.
Speaker 1: They didn't know whether I had cold in that area
Speaker 1: or not, right, So I think they were trying to
Speaker 1: understand and like what had happened so that they knew
Speaker 1: how to proceed with, like what laws were broken or whatever. Right,
Speaker 1: I mean, like technically I didn't break any I guess,
Speaker 1: but I did based on the tournament rules. And so,
Speaker 1: I mean, instantly right when he said that, I realized
Speaker 1: what that line was, and that line was the state line.
Speaker 1: And for whatever reason, it comes out of the dam
Speaker 1: um from Pool seven, runs down into Pool eight for
Speaker 1: maybe a mile mile and a half and then decides
Speaker 1: to divert from the main river channel and goes across
Speaker 1: an island down into this back channel for about another
Speaker 1: mile and then back out to the main river channel.
Speaker 1: And that's and then the rest of the border is
Speaker 1: the main river channel for as long as I can,
Speaker 1: you know, think of I'm sorry. So it goes into
Speaker 1: this like inlet and like cuts down into the inlet
Speaker 1: and then comes back out exactly so goes there's a
Speaker 1: back channel, and it comes straight out of the main
Speaker 1: river channel. Right. It runs through pool seven. I believe
Speaker 1: the entire main river channels. The border comes down, goes
Speaker 1: through the dam, runs another mile mile and a half
Speaker 1: and then makes a forty five degree angle across land
Speaker 1: to the back channel for another mile down the back channel,
Speaker 1: and then back to the main river channel. And I
Speaker 1: was a hundred feet, you know, give or take just
Speaker 1: south of that place where it makes that forty five
Speaker 1: degree angle, and you know, terminent director like has to
Speaker 1: do what they have to do. They zero my weight
Speaker 1: for that day, and that cost me a hundred thousand dollars,
Speaker 1: cost me making the classic um you know, cost me
Speaker 1: the hardware of the trophy. And that was a tough one,
Speaker 1: you know, and because when it all came down to it,
Speaker 1: it was my own mistake, right, Like I didn't do
Speaker 1: the homework to see where that state line was. I
Speaker 1: just assumed that the you know border that water or
Speaker 1: that border line was the main river channel. Yeah. I
Speaker 1: mean obviously that could that cost you a lot, but
Speaker 1: I think it's also just a great example, and you
Speaker 1: see things like that happened all the time in hunting
Speaker 1: and fishing, where it's an honest mistake, like you weren't
Speaker 1: doing anything certainly devious. But I remember when this happened.
Speaker 1: I was at fielding stream at the time, and while
Speaker 1: I'm sure privately you were fuming and like just losing it,
Speaker 1: you were so praised for publicly just accepting that like
Speaker 1: it happened and you owned it, and that That's what
Speaker 1: I remember the most is how people said you took
Speaker 1: that and sort of just said it happened and it
Speaker 1: is what it is. But I'm sure, like you know,
Speaker 1: and residents like, yeah, it was really bad. It still
Speaker 1: was my bank account because I can still use that
Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars, And but I mean a lot of
Speaker 1: good did come from it, and I mean I learned
Speaker 1: a valuable lesson of any time we're in that situation
Speaker 1: double triple checking. And then that law actually got rewritten
Speaker 1: so that that doesn't happen now, because even in Wisconsin,
Speaker 1: that law wasn't um specifically written for tournament anglers or
Speaker 1: bass fishermen at all. It was written for salmon anglers
Speaker 1: from a long, long time ago, and it was just
Speaker 1: never revisited because that situation never occurred. And so now no,
Speaker 1: it's uh, they created an up waring change. Well you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, you could either have like you know,
Speaker 1: and it's very it's like super easy for me to
Speaker 1: say this, like having being totally removed from that experience.
Speaker 1: But on one hand, like you could have some additional
Speaker 1: prize money attached to like a successful career, or you
Speaker 1: could have like a legacy of like honesty attached to
Speaker 1: your career, and you know, if it's more valuable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you know, I also have to say, uh, that that
Speaker 1: is that is the most costly smooth move we've ever
Speaker 1: had on here. I've had a lot of things breaking
Speaker 1: stuff on guides, but I don't think any of it
Speaker 1: cost anybody a hundred grands. So, uh, Carl, I've been
Speaker 1: watching you that whole time. Have you have you been
Speaker 1: thinking like you're like, I'm not watching you, Like have
Speaker 1: you lost my key? Story? Like that's a hard one
Speaker 1: to follow, man. Yeah, that's a tough one because that's
Speaker 1: about as rough as it gets as a as a
Speaker 1: pro angler. I've done, you know, a little similar things
Speaker 1: like just recently let a fish guy that should have
Speaker 1: been it was a fifteen inch limit. It was a
Speaker 1: fourteen inch limit, and I was letting them go and
Speaker 1: it was actually legal fish and it cost me you know,
Speaker 1: three grand you know, in an open But story wise,
Speaker 1: I think just I was thinking about like when on
Speaker 1: that third day of Santi Cooper when I went through
Speaker 1: all like stuff and prop to get back and then
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, that was the biggest bonehead smooth move.
Speaker 1: Yeah it last year Brandon and I went back and
Speaker 1: forward at Santi Cooper and the bass Master Elites, and
Speaker 1: like I was leading day one, he was second. Day two,
Speaker 1: he's leading on second and so like it was just
Speaker 1: awesome with like camp next to each other. We're both
Speaker 1: like fishing kind of similar areas. We're both just cracking them,
Speaker 1: and we'd figured out the pat and it was like
Speaker 1: one of the funnest tournaments ever. But we both knew
Speaker 1: like one of us is going to win this the
Speaker 1: way it was figuring out. So day three roles in,
Speaker 1: Brandon's back in the lead, and um, I go on
Speaker 1: fish areas. I think I got one or two good ones,
Speaker 1: and I run way back up in this creek that's
Speaker 1: like super dangerous. There's just stumps everywhere. You can't um,
Speaker 1: you can't run it. You have two idle in the
Speaker 1: whole time you're idling, you're just running over logs, the
Speaker 1: boats just up and down. Santi is famous for that, isn't. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's like one of the most like a prop killer. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it takes, it takes. It takes lower units off every day.
Speaker 1: It's bad. And so I go all the way back
Speaker 1: into this area. Stuff's not working out. I catch like
Speaker 1: my third one, and the weather and whatever was lining up.
Speaker 1: It was tough fishing anyway, so I knew just like
Speaker 1: catching four or five, I think I caught my fourth
Speaker 1: and so I'm like, I need one more fish for
Speaker 1: my fifth, and like I'm going to still be in
Speaker 1: the hunt going into the final day to have a
Speaker 1: shot to the wind. So it's all coming down to
Speaker 1: the wire. I've had, Like didn't I have battery issues
Speaker 1: or something? Battery ram flat for a couple of hours,
Speaker 1: like all of this stuff. It was like one after
Speaker 1: the other. After that, I was just like everything that
Speaker 1: could go wrong was going wrong. But I battled through.
Speaker 1: Now I got my fourth fish and I've had the
Speaker 1: timing down perfect to leave this creek. I knew what
Speaker 1: would take to get back. So I'm telling my cameraman
Speaker 1: e k who's sort of famous in bass Master. Everyone's
Speaker 1: had him fish with him. He's just well known and
Speaker 1: I've put him through hell and back in some boat rides,
Speaker 1: like he's been with me at chess Peak Bay. He's
Speaker 1: had blood off, skin off all of his knuckles from
Speaker 1: hanging on. He's like he's got stories with me where
Speaker 1: he's like not not me again. And so like I'm
Speaker 1: trying to look after e K and I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: we're gonna leave, like with seconds to go, and he's like, oh,
Speaker 1: not again, this sort of thing. So I see this
Speaker 1: point of grass and I'm like, we've got to go.
Speaker 1: I'm almost out of time. I could add five minutes
Speaker 1: to go, and I put my foot down to try
Speaker 1: and I was getting impatient trying to get to thing.
Speaker 1: So I'm starting to run and the engine bang just
Speaker 1: slams this log and I'm like, I'm not on pad.
Speaker 1: It just drops off and I just run to the front,
Speaker 1: put my trollermotor down and start fishing. And I don't
Speaker 1: even check the engine. I'm just like I don't even care,
Speaker 1: like I need my fifth to stay in it. And
Speaker 1: I flip into this mat again, don't I set the hook?
Speaker 1: I boat flip it. It's like a three and a
Speaker 1: half pounder I throw it in. I'm like, yeah, your stuff, Ek,
Speaker 1: We've got to go, and like we're going to be late.
Speaker 1: So he's like getting his stuff and I start the
Speaker 1: engine and I put my foot down and the prop
Speaker 1: is fully bent so like it won't even get on pad.
Speaker 1: The whole engine da da just shakes, won't even get
Speaker 1: on pad. So ek like we're done. And I'm like
Speaker 1: we're in this like swamp so you can't get out
Speaker 1: of the boat. And I'm like, hell nos. I jumped back,
Speaker 1: trim the engine up, I get the tools out, I
Speaker 1: take my spare prop off. I'm leaning over the back
Speaker 1: like k has got my feet and I'm like in
Speaker 1: the water and I'm like I'm just taking this prop
Speaker 1: off and like the split pin won't come out. I
Speaker 1: get it out. I get the thing off, the props jammed,
Speaker 1: I wedge it, the prop comes off. I put it back.
Speaker 1: I put the new prop on, like screw the nut down,
Speaker 1: and I had the other plate was underneath it so
Speaker 1: the nut wouldn't go over the thread. So I've unthreaded
Speaker 1: at taking the prop off, got that little winch bit
Speaker 1: back and you know, times like ticking, like if every
Speaker 1: minute you're late is one pound, and then after fifteen minutes,
Speaker 1: you got your whole catch disqualified. So I'm like, I'm
Speaker 1: thinking I'm done. And so but I've got an idol
Speaker 1: out of this entire creek, and then through this stump
Speaker 1: field that's just like the most dangerous thing you'll ever
Speaker 1: go through, Like you no way you can run it.
Speaker 1: And and I'd had one track that I idled it
Speaker 1: and I never hit anything, and so I was always
Speaker 1: taken that. But every now and again you would just
Speaker 1: hit something. And so I get the I get the
Speaker 1: prop off, I screw the nutdown, and like I'm trying
Speaker 1: to put the split pin in and the split pin
Speaker 1: won't go, and I just throw it in the boat
Speaker 1: and I'm just like we've got no time. I jumped down.
Speaker 1: I jump on pad and Ek looks at me, like
Speaker 1: are you going to ride on pad? And I'm like
Speaker 1: we've got to I'm like, well, I'm going to be late.
Speaker 1: So I'm on pad. I'm like, hold on because we're
Speaker 1: gonna like slam a log. So I'm just one running
Speaker 1: on pad. And then we come through this stunt field
Speaker 1: where there's both gripped and it's just waiting on the
Speaker 1: whole lower unit to go, and I come out the
Speaker 1: other side, nothing going, and I go flat out, wom fine.
Speaker 1: I'm looking at the time. I'm like, I'm like looking
Speaker 1: at it and I'm trying to figure out the timing.
Speaker 1: And I come to the this bridge and we jump
Speaker 1: got off pad and we've got the main lake to go.
Speaker 1: It's like a big main lake and it's probably how
Speaker 1: many miles from the bridge to close to and it's wide.
Speaker 1: It's just this big, open flat lake and it's known
Speaker 1: for getting super rough. So I drop off Pad and
Speaker 1: I'm going under the bridge and I look and I'm
Speaker 1: working it out, and I go, we're gonna make it
Speaker 1: in any case, Like yeah, We're like high five and
Speaker 1: fist bumping and we're like talking cloud nine and I
Speaker 1: coming under the bridge and the boat's going up and
Speaker 1: down and I like getting I'm like, oh man, it's
Speaker 1: a bit rough. And I get the boat on pad
Speaker 1: and it's like the lake is the roughest that I've
Speaker 1: ever seen, like a lake in my life. Like Clark
Speaker 1: when Lett said that, and he's been fishing for thirty
Speaker 1: forty years, that it was the worst boat ride he's
Speaker 1: ever had in his life. And so I start running
Speaker 1: and like these are ginormous waves just coming down the lake,
Speaker 1: and they got worse and worse and worse, and I
Speaker 1: just kept my foot down. I was jumping too waves
Speaker 1: at a time. It was I was spearing waves and
Speaker 1: it was blowing rods from underneath my rod strapped down
Speaker 1: into the console. There was just baits and lewis everywhere.
Speaker 1: It was like one of the worst probably fifteen. It
Speaker 1: was eighteen minutes I had to go. So it was
Speaker 1: the worst seventeen minutes seconds of my life because I
Speaker 1: came around the corner and e K told me I
Speaker 1: turned into um Lieutenant dan off Forest. Come, you know
Speaker 1: when he's on the front of waters. Come And he's like,
Speaker 1: is that all you got? I came around the corner
Speaker 1: and I was just screaming. When we come around, I
Speaker 1: jumped off pad and I made it in with five
Speaker 1: seconds to go, and then piped rand and I was
Speaker 1: in first and he was in second going into the
Speaker 1: final day. But just that and like we landed and
Speaker 1: like I looked like I've seen a ghost. E K
Speaker 1: looked like he just never wanted to fish again. And
Speaker 1: I had rods everywhere. There was Lewis e k was
Speaker 1: stuck to the seat because Lewis were like in his
Speaker 1: pants and in the seat. He couldn't stand up because
Speaker 1: Lewis had calmed down and his fate was stuck to
Speaker 1: the ground as he filmed with you again since he
Speaker 1: actually has but he's forgiven me. That was on Santee
Speaker 1: Kopa and then that's Brandon one and I come second.
Speaker 1: Right in the video show, he was gonna say, if
Speaker 1: listeners are interested, h b MP fishing. Uh, you guys
Speaker 1: put together like kind of like a day in the
Speaker 1: life sort of doc about that tournament, right, Yeah, we
Speaker 1: I've filmed every Elite Series event for the last five years,
Speaker 1: so that event is one of them that is on there,
Speaker 1: and it's actually probably my favorite one just because of
Speaker 1: like all the off the water stuff, like that camaraderie,
Speaker 1: right of like the black rifle, coffee chuck. That's a
Speaker 1: whole another story of how amped up I was when
Speaker 1: I got up there. But just the fact that like
Speaker 1: you're competing at the highest level with one of your
Speaker 1: best friends, you know, like you're competing against each other,
Speaker 1: but at the same time, like we're camped right next
Speaker 1: to each other eating dinner at night together like that.
Speaker 1: It made it just such a cool event. And that's
Speaker 1: one of my favorite videos, dude. I mean these these
Speaker 1: were both legendary stories. I think the overriding message though, like, um,
Speaker 1: you know, there there's so many bass fishermen out there
Speaker 1: that want to do what you guys do. They idolize you,
Speaker 1: they think they can do that, they want to pursue that.
Speaker 1: But it's funny listening to these stories. It's like a
Speaker 1: miscalculation for the average guy might be a ticket maybe,
Speaker 1: you know, a banged up prop for the average guy
Speaker 1: might just be a ruined ay. I feel like the
Speaker 1: things you're talking about here are the things that those
Speaker 1: guys might not consider. Where these these things that would
Speaker 1: not have that much significance to a guy who just
Speaker 1: enjoys bass fishing, like that can be the difference between
Speaker 1: serious money for you guys. And I can't imagine what
Speaker 1: that pressure is like in those situations changing yeah yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: but yet we still make smooth move and and thank
Speaker 1: you so much for for taking the time and coming
Speaker 1: on and uh, I think it's one of my favorite
Speaker 1: smooth moves ever. Joe, me too, Me too. I appreciate
Speaker 1: you guys taking the extra time. Man, we cannot thank
Speaker 1: Brandon and Carl enough for chatting with us. They are
Speaker 1: extremely cool dudes, and we're we're honored to have them. Um.
Speaker 1: We hope you guys enjoyed that that little extended play there. Uh.
Speaker 1: And you know what us we're honored to have. Uh.
Speaker 1: Thirteen Fishing is our sponsor. Damn skippy, And I know
Speaker 1: it's cold season for a lot of you, but there
Speaker 1: is still time to ask Santa for an inception or
Speaker 1: inception sc bait caster from thirteen. I'm talking to you
Speaker 1: bass fans. What's the difference between those two? Uh? The
Speaker 1: s C is screaming shar Truss. The other is gray.
Speaker 1: That's it. No, No, I'm kidding. The SC also has
Speaker 1: uh like juiced up spool bearings and what they call
Speaker 1: ocean armor to make it a bit more salt friendly. Um,
Speaker 1: the SC has a little more tech in it. But
Speaker 1: they are both badass reels. I have tortured my SC.
Speaker 1: Uh just just tortured the thing. Great real you know.
Speaker 1: Speaking of torture, it is now time to torture our
Speaker 1: listeners with whatever shitty story Joe dug up for this
Speaker 1: week's edition of fish News, fish News that escalated quickly,
Speaker 1: so we were lucky enough to get a few high
Speaker 1: level pro anglers on the show today. Um, but I
Speaker 1: hope you guys aren't forgetting about another pro angler buddy
Speaker 1: of ours, Ja Siemens. And of course Jay isn't. He's
Speaker 1: not attorney pro, but he's a pro in my eyes.
Speaker 1: And the third installment of his new series, The Canadian
Speaker 1: Angle drops today on Mediata's YouTube channel, and he's actually
Speaker 1: teaming up with may Amigo, Oliver and I and doing
Speaker 1: a little small jaw fishing. And I recommend that you
Speaker 1: watch that. Yeah, I love that dude, And uh, you know,
Speaker 1: while we're on it, if you missed last week's episode,
Speaker 1: go back to check that out. To be super good man,
Speaker 1: you and I have been talking about my dream trip
Speaker 1: would be like remote Wallye. There's not a ton of
Speaker 1: pressure in a bunch of eater size fish. Well that's
Speaker 1: exactly what Jay goes out and does. He gets dropped
Speaker 1: off by a float plane on on like a remote
Speaker 1: shield lake and he camps out with like minimal gear
Speaker 1: and just like rails on Walleye from from like a
Speaker 1: doss boat. Like he even mentioned he's like This is
Speaker 1: like doss Boat Season two. At first he has to
Speaker 1: check to make sure it floats. But I know, I
Speaker 1: know that's kind of your dream. That's why I knew
Speaker 1: you would dig that. Um there were some big pike
Speaker 1: in that lake too. It's all, it's all very cool stuff.
Speaker 1: And JA just has cool friends, right, Like I can't
Speaker 1: get most of my friends to invite me out offshore
Speaker 1: fishing for a day. And like he's got a pilot
Speaker 1: buddy with a float plane that will just drop him
Speaker 1: off in remote places. So like that's how you do
Speaker 1: it good. We can take my float plane out any time. Man. Uh,
Speaker 1: I'm joking, of course, but like I've wonder stop it,
Speaker 1: you just knock it off. Man. I do wonder though,
Speaker 1: like what that dynamics? Like? Do you chip in in
Speaker 1: the same way that you might for boat gas, oh,
Speaker 1: for plaining fuel? You mean, I have no idea. I
Speaker 1: don't have friends that fly. I don't know. We should
Speaker 1: ask you how that works. Uh. Speaking of how things work,
Speaker 1: there is one thing I can summit succinctly for you,
Speaker 1: and that's how fish news works. You like that, do? Yeah? Um?
Speaker 1: Now we had a special report last week, but now
Speaker 1: things are back to normal, Joe, and I do not
Speaker 1: know which news story the other guys bringing to the table,
Speaker 1: and at the end are smart and clever Audio engineer
Speaker 1: Phil will pass judgment and declare a winner your lead
Speaker 1: this week, man, Yeah it is you know me. I
Speaker 1: love fun, but I wouldn't really call this story I
Speaker 1: have here today fun. But it's an important story, perhaps
Speaker 1: one of the most important fish related stories happening in
Speaker 1: the country. Um. And it's actually a follow up, right, so,
Speaker 1: way back in July, we covered the story when the
Speaker 1: Army Corps of Engineers released the draft proposal that would
Speaker 1: set the course of Florida's water management for the next
Speaker 1: ten years. Right, um. And and the news within that
Speaker 1: news was that the Army Corps, Yes, was that the
Speaker 1: Army Corps set up a direct email for the public
Speaker 1: to write in. And um. When we hit that on bent,
Speaker 1: we asked you guys to please do just that, right.
Speaker 1: It was kind of like the general public's one chance
Speaker 1: to be heard with a direct line to the Army
Speaker 1: Corps regarding you know, years of water mismanagement. Now, we
Speaker 1: haven't the time to rehash every detail of what's been
Speaker 1: going on in Florida for well over a decade. But
Speaker 1: here's the quick gist, just to give it context. Right,
Speaker 1: I feel like we have to do this very quickly.
Speaker 1: Lake Okachobee collects freshwater in the center of the state. Historically,
Speaker 1: before the meddling hand of man, that water flowed back
Speaker 1: out and drained to the south, right, and all that
Speaker 1: fresh water is what fed the Everglades, providing nutrients, necessary
Speaker 1: area for aquatic vegetation, growth, fish, crustaceans, you name it, right,
Speaker 1: it was. It was the main artery for the glades.
Speaker 1: The majority of Lacos water has since been diverted to
Speaker 1: the east and west, predominantly to support agricultural interest, mainly
Speaker 1: sugar and the huge corporations that grow sugarcane in the region.
Speaker 1: What and everybody just refers to them as big sugar, right,
Speaker 1: that's the enemy. Um And of course they have deep
Speaker 1: pockets political ties, and they get their way. The byproduct
Speaker 1: of them getting their way is that the Everglades have
Speaker 1: been starved. If you talk to anyone that that grew
Speaker 1: up fishing the Everglades, they'll tell you they are a
Speaker 1: shell of what they once were in terms of health
Speaker 1: and biodiversity. Meanwhile, uh, freshwater that's that's being polluted and
Speaker 1: influenced right by the agricultural industries. It's being pushed east
Speaker 1: and west instead of south, creating all sorts of salinity issues,
Speaker 1: toxic algae blooms, just to name a couple of the
Speaker 1: problems in the St. Lucy River and the Kloosa Hatchie River.
Speaker 1: So basically, back in July, the Army war was kind
Speaker 1: of saying, Okay, we're ready to refigure this whole deal,
Speaker 1: and we want to hear from you, and whatever plan
Speaker 1: got put in place, it was pretty much what Florida
Speaker 1: would just have to live with for the next decade.
Speaker 1: So in mid November, the Army Corps finally announced their
Speaker 1: Optimized Lake Schedule Model run for the future Lake Oka
Speaker 1: Chobe System Operating Manual. They've shortened all that to l
Speaker 1: o SM and it's very confusing. The Army Corps is
Speaker 1: not good at like truncated abbreviations. It's always like bt
Speaker 1: F y six eight one two nine at B anyway.
Speaker 1: I'm getting all this information, of course, from the website
Speaker 1: of Captains for Clean Water, who have been instrumental in
Speaker 1: this fight, right, huge incredible work they've done. So here's
Speaker 1: a quote from the piece regarding the new Optimized Lake
Speaker 1: Schedule Model run. It was a huge decision in the
Speaker 1: l o SM process because the selected model run will
Speaker 1: serve as the framework for the final operational plan. By
Speaker 1: the line, it looks significantly better than the current operational plan,
Speaker 1: which has plagued our coastal estuaries with harmful discharges and
Speaker 1: starve the Everglades for the past dozen years, and that
Speaker 1: goes on. Technically, this still doesn't mark the end of
Speaker 1: the process. For the next year, the core will and
Speaker 1: this is a quote I guess from the Army Corps
Speaker 1: wrapped the words around the numbers, turning the scientific model
Speaker 1: they've selected into a usable operations manual. However, with this selection,
Speaker 1: the course is mostly set for how the plan will
Speaker 1: be written and what it will mean for the distribution
Speaker 1: of water in South Florida. So Captains for Clean Water.
Speaker 1: To to break it down for us lay people, they
Speaker 1: sort of compare the whole thing to a goose being
Speaker 1: cooked in an oven. They say, quote The dish will
Speaker 1: continue to develop for some time, but all the ingredients
Speaker 1: have already been selected and set in the oven. From
Speaker 1: now until the final operations manual is released, in late
Speaker 1: or early there is very little opportunity to be designed
Speaker 1: into the process that would result in significant changes to
Speaker 1: the way the final plan will distribute water. Right, So,
Speaker 1: I mean take that for what it's worth. Right, They
Speaker 1: can still mental and change and tweak, but the the
Speaker 1: root of the recipe is should not be changing. UM.
Speaker 1: So definitely a scenario where this is not over. But
Speaker 1: this is by far the largest battle one in this war,
Speaker 1: and UM seems to point at least to an improved
Speaker 1: future for the Everglades. Now, the current operational plan right yeah,
Speaker 1: was devised in two thousand eight, and it it favored
Speaker 1: the interests of Big Sugar and UM, I mean captains
Speaker 1: were clean water, it says themselves like it was written
Speaker 1: at the time without enough widespread public involvement or concerns.
Speaker 1: So now this time around, thanks in part maybe to
Speaker 1: some of you guys listening that wrote in UM, science
Speaker 1: and public concern are factored into the new plan. And
Speaker 1: there's here's another quote from the story. This selected model
Speaker 1: is predicted to significantly reduce harmful dish arches to both
Speaker 1: the east and west coast, as well as send over
Speaker 1: three times more water south to the Everglades. Um. It
Speaker 1: will also considerably improve minimum beneficial flows to the Kloosa
Speaker 1: Hatchie River estuary during the dry season, which is important
Speaker 1: to maintaining salinity levels in the estuary. So oh yeah,
Speaker 1: it's all it's all good things, right. Um. The next
Speaker 1: steps in the process will essentially be as putting the
Speaker 1: meat on the bones is how the article puts it.
Speaker 1: The core will now finalize the operational guidance that will
Speaker 1: accompany this selected model, and right the water control bland
Speaker 1: based on this model, creating a usable manual. So you know,
Speaker 1: to break it down, what's the bottom line here, right,
Speaker 1: so much damage has been done. Will the Everglades ever
Speaker 1: get the full flush of water back? No, Like it
Speaker 1: would be very unlikely because these agricultural industries are not
Speaker 1: going away. But even three times what's running down there
Speaker 1: would be a huge wind compared to what's been going on.
Speaker 1: So um, I'm sure that the partying it captains for
Speaker 1: clean water was strong after this drop and that that's
Speaker 1: a that's a big congrats for everybody involved and those
Speaker 1: guys in particular. So when it comes to the Everglades
Speaker 1: in particular, man, there is like I want to say,
Speaker 1: like very rarely good news, but a lot of the
Speaker 1: stuff to get excited about is like few and far,
Speaker 1: you know, it's not or it's confined to small places
Speaker 1: like well this this cool thing is still happening over here.
Speaker 1: We've still got a good thing going here. But if
Speaker 1: you if you, if you zoom out and look at it,
Speaker 1: um you and I will probably will will never experience
Speaker 1: what the Everglades were in the seventies or eighty. You know,
Speaker 1: it's well, you know, I have hope for all sorts
Speaker 1: of solutions to a lot of our problems going forward.
Speaker 1: I think that the Internet's ability to like bring these
Speaker 1: issues the attention they deserve from the public is going
Speaker 1: to make a lot of conservate national change is more
Speaker 1: viable in like the coming years, and I think a
Speaker 1: lot of uh, I think a lot of the problems
Speaker 1: are going to find themselves. You know, I believe in
Speaker 1: technology for a lot of this stuff, and I genuinely
Speaker 1: believe we're like there is a brighter future. So we
Speaker 1: just saw that last week with the special report on
Speaker 1: the Madison right. One of the one of the takeaways
Speaker 1: was like you can hate on on social media all
Speaker 1: you want. Look how quickly that got that many people
Speaker 1: amassed to go down there and help. Um, you know,
Speaker 1: do we know for certain how much of that public
Speaker 1: input that was asked for moves a huge When we
Speaker 1: first reported this, it was a huge social media campaign
Speaker 1: that captains for clean whatever spearheading. They were like basically like,
Speaker 1: holy shit, here is a direct line that somebody at
Speaker 1: the Army Corps is supposed to be reading, like now
Speaker 1: this is your chance, Like this is your public meeting,
Speaker 1: Like do it now? And do we really know how
Speaker 1: much that influence what's going on here right now? We don't.
Speaker 1: We don't have the numbers on that, but would like
Speaker 1: to think that that was a contributing factor to to
Speaker 1: revising all of this. You know, so, Um, I think
Speaker 1: you're right, it's an it's another win. This would have
Speaker 1: been much more difficult with out the technology making it
Speaker 1: easy for us to weigh in. Yeah. And I think
Speaker 1: that's how a lot of these problems were like kind
Speaker 1: of born in the first place. Man. The bottom line is,
Speaker 1: if you care enough about something, have the belief that
Speaker 1: you can like affect change in you know, whatever way
Speaker 1: you're able to. Because I think we're getting to a
Speaker 1: point where like that is a reality. Yeah, And it's
Speaker 1: it's been affected here. We don't know what the ultimate
Speaker 1: effect looks like, but this is great news for Florida
Speaker 1: and a and a huge win. Let's see one point five.
Speaker 1: What's one point five times twenty three? One point five
Speaker 1: times twenty three. I just wrote those two numbers down,
Speaker 1: as if I can do that fast enough. I don't know, dude,
Speaker 1: I don't do math. I think it's about what like
Speaker 1: thirty four thirty four and change to the power of eight.
Speaker 1: Let's talk because we both talked about how we suck
Speaker 1: at math. That's why we right, Let's talk about an
Speaker 1: approximately thirty four and a half inch win in the
Speaker 1: way of twenty three tiny little loach fish. I think
Speaker 1: ben listeners are gonna like this one. I'm happy to
Speaker 1: report that recently scientists have found batman batman. Okay, so
Speaker 1: actually that's not entirely true. What they did find, however,
Speaker 1: be pretty cool though, was the What they did find
Speaker 1: was the batman river loach, a fish feared to be
Speaker 1: extinct until recently. Now, before we get started here, man,
Speaker 1: I'm sure that it's pronounced like botman or something, but
Speaker 1: because it's funnier, I'm going to keep rolling with bad man.
Speaker 1: What country is this in Turkey? Yes, I don't know
Speaker 1: what a Turkish accent? Right, it's probably Bottman. Yeah, that's offensive. Anyhow,
Speaker 1: how about just Batman? Um? I don't have anything just
Speaker 1: that man, nothing residential. He lives in a layer. This
Speaker 1: rediscovery was part of an ongoing effort by the folks
Speaker 1: over at SHOAL. SHOAL is a conservation organization focused on
Speaker 1: the preservation of fresh water fishes. And it's something that
Speaker 1: really kind of desperately is like, it's something that's desperately needed.
Speaker 1: Since nine there's been an eight percent decline in populations
Speaker 1: of monitor fresh water species, according tos made by the
Speaker 1: World Wildlife Fund for Nature Now, the Batman river loach
Speaker 1: is a fish that finds itself on Shoal's list of
Speaker 1: ten most Wanted fishes. Ten most wanted fishes. What's that? What? So?
Speaker 1: How's that list devised? So? The SHOAL organization has this
Speaker 1: program called the Search for the Lost Issues. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: read you some ship from their website real quick. Um.
Speaker 1: The abstract is all around the world, freshwater fish face
Speaker 1: multiple stressors that have caused populations to plummet, and for
Speaker 1: all kinds of reasons once discovered species have fallen off
Speaker 1: our radar. These lost fishes are species that have gone
Speaker 1: unseen for years, even decades, and our feared to be
Speaker 1: possibly extinct. In order to save these species, we first
Speaker 1: need to find them. Um. So that's kind of the
Speaker 1: that's kind of the juice. So I most wanted they
Speaker 1: mean like we want to find these the most, like
Speaker 1: we would love to see these again. Is that? What
Speaker 1: is that? What that means? I thought it meant like
Speaker 1: most coveted, like their most popular in pet stores or
Speaker 1: snaked snaked snaked it snaked. I can show you where
Speaker 1: they are they're not. Yeah, that's easy. I heard you could.
Speaker 1: So anyway that I'm just gonna run down because it's
Speaker 1: like kind of fun. Uh, the ten most wanted lost
Speaker 1: species are. Yeah. What's interesting too is all these fish
Speaker 1: are pretty darn small. A lot of them were like
Speaker 1: like sickly size. But uh, the animite barb, the batman
Speaker 1: river loach, the duck build bunty bunt in bun bunting,
Speaker 1: the duck billed bunting, the spinach pipe fish, the Mesopotamian barble,
Speaker 1: the the sire dar. It's a shovel nose sturgeon, the
Speaker 1: titty coca r s ts, the hat of the k fish,
Speaker 1: the Tassi sicklid, and the fat catfish, which was the
Speaker 1: fat catfish. That's what it's called, just the fat catfish
Speaker 1: or f u f f okay. Yeah. So anyway, that's
Speaker 1: their like list of ten fish. And you know, the
Speaker 1: idea has stated in their mission is that if they
Speaker 1: can find these fish, they can start to like understand
Speaker 1: the ecology of them and you know, hopefully make strides
Speaker 1: in the conservation of these species. So now back to
Speaker 1: the Batman river loach. The Batman River loach makes its
Speaker 1: home in tributaries of Turkeys, Batman and Ambar rivers. It's
Speaker 1: a small fish, an ambar nice nice. It's a small
Speaker 1: fish growing to a maximum size around an inch and
Speaker 1: a half that has last been seen in four so
Speaker 1: it's been a little bit almost fifty years. That's a
Speaker 1: long time. Yeah. Based on an article by the Guardian,
Speaker 1: it appears that the find was made by doctors. I
Speaker 1: don't know why I do this to myself. Are you gonna,
Speaker 1: oh man, you're gonna do I do? I do? I
Speaker 1: detect a name reading a name listing? Coming up here, dude,
Speaker 1: this is a this is gonna be a name butchering man. Um.
Speaker 1: I don't. I don't even think it's worth it other
Speaker 1: than the comedic value. But now you have to, so
Speaker 1: go right ahead. I would like to say that I
Speaker 1: deeply respect these people, and I value their fines, and
Speaker 1: I value their dedication to conservation, and I am truly,
Speaker 1: truly sorry. Um, this has not been a widely you know,
Speaker 1: I didn't hear this. I'm reading it. I know doctors
Speaker 1: count kun yet Kaya okay and moon ever oral Oral.
Speaker 1: It's Oral, moon Ever Oral okay, both professors at the
Speaker 1: risk up taiep or Dogan University. Yeah, we'll just call
Speaker 1: that the uh you okay? Great? Get back to the loaches.
Speaker 1: So not only did these research find a batman river loach,
Speaker 1: they actually found twenty three of them, hence the math
Speaker 1: at the beginning this between the two tributaries, which is
Speaker 1: great news. Yeah. Um. That said, the conservation of this
Speaker 1: species is still in obvious peril. Um. The trouble with
Speaker 1: such a rare and threatened fish is that a lot
Speaker 1: of their ecology remains unknown. Right, so it's harder to
Speaker 1: identify potential threats, which makes it harder to kind of
Speaker 1: perceive and proceed in their work. And that's the whole
Speaker 1: reason that you know they're going to such lengths to
Speaker 1: like identify these species they're strongholds and uh and potential
Speaker 1: threats because then they can identify, like how much of
Speaker 1: a risk certain invasive species posed to their continuation. So
Speaker 1: to that end, in this case, researchers and conservationists are
Speaker 1: focusing on more obvious threats like pollution and dams and ships.
Speaker 1: So anyway, that's what's up with Batman. Batman? Yeah, Batman story.
Speaker 1: But Man, so I you know, I I had a loach.
Speaker 1: I had several loaches in my tanks growing up. Maybe
Speaker 1: it was the tiger loach or the clown loach or
Speaker 1: something like that. Um, they're cool fish. But I also,
Speaker 1: I think we both understand that we're not really talking
Speaker 1: about something people go out and target here. But we
Speaker 1: run these stories because even though the fishing question might
Speaker 1: not be something that we we chase as anglers, I
Speaker 1: don't know that there's always bigger implications to what you
Speaker 1: see here, right, Like a lot of these stories we
Speaker 1: used for fish News, it's less about like the thing
Speaker 1: itself and more about the story in a broader context
Speaker 1: in this case, that that would be the conservation of
Speaker 1: freshwater species, regardless of the species. You know, a lot
Speaker 1: of folks don't get why we give about like twenty
Speaker 1: three inch and a half long fish in Turkey. It's
Speaker 1: because conservation is a slippery slope, and once we start
Speaker 1: defining like what animals are and are not worthy of
Speaker 1: saving su uh. You know, everybody has a different interpretation
Speaker 1: of that. There are plenty of people, plenty of folks
Speaker 1: who don't see the value in the thing, Like, uh,
Speaker 1: what was the deal with like Trump and the minnow
Speaker 1: in in California? Do you remember this? I should know,
Speaker 1: but I don't remember anything about a California minnow. We've
Speaker 1: covered a lot of minnows and loaches and things on here,
Speaker 1: So maybe I think there was like some sort of
Speaker 1: minnow they like kind of got involved in like an
Speaker 1: economic project, and part of it couldn't We had one
Speaker 1: not too long ago that like because of some small species.
Speaker 1: I forget if it was a gobi or like it
Speaker 1: ultimately ended up shutting down an entire reservoir, like they
Speaker 1: like they didn't damn a reservoir or something like that.
Speaker 1: But I think this might be that story that wasn't California,
Speaker 1: but maybe I don't know. Again, all the all the
Speaker 1: micro micro fisherman like, so anyway, so say you let
Speaker 1: that slide, well, eventually you're going to get to the
Speaker 1: point where, you know, people don't understand why why steel
Speaker 1: head in the Pacific Northwest are worth saving. You know,
Speaker 1: obviously they're like quite a few steps between those two examples,
Speaker 1: but like, that's the way this works. Our buddy Clay
Speaker 1: Newcombe likes to talk about guarding the gate and reference
Speaker 1: to the idea that non science based bear hunting restrictions
Speaker 1: are the first step in anti hunters getting what they want.
Speaker 1: This is kind of similar in the way that apathy
Speaker 1: and conservation of a certain species, uh, you know sort
Speaker 1: of so what species will catch up the species that
Speaker 1: are more universally cared about, So this is sort of
Speaker 1: the fresh water fish conservation guarding the gate. That's why
Speaker 1: I care about these kind of things, and that's why
Speaker 1: I think that other folks should care about them too.
Speaker 1: Oh dude, I totally think these stories about these sort
Speaker 1: of oddball species are are always worth including here or
Speaker 1: at least time to time, because they do they do
Speaker 1: paint a bigger picture, um, and the connective tissue for
Speaker 1: exactly what you're talking about, is there. So we'll move
Speaker 1: off of the tiny loach and I'll just say, since
Speaker 1: we we had Brandon and Carl on the show kind
Speaker 1: of doing the bass pro thing, um, I thought, you know,
Speaker 1: it's been a it's been a good long while since
Speaker 1: we checked in with our resident bass pro Rants Stimpkins.
Speaker 1: So we're gonna hear from Phil um see see what
Speaker 1: captured his heart, the the loach or the revitalization of
Speaker 1: the entire Everglades. I don't know. I don't want to
Speaker 1: jump to conclusions on that, So we'll see who took
Speaker 1: the win this week and then find out how life's
Speaker 1: been going for young Rants. Sorry, Joe, the Wind's going
Speaker 1: to Hayden this week. I just found it so interesting
Speaker 1: that they found the Batman fish by taking its parents
Speaker 1: out and do an alley and murdering them. If they
Speaker 1: ever wanted to find the spider Man Fish, they could
Speaker 1: just take its uncle out into the street and murder
Speaker 1: him and the iron Man Fish. Just make it a
Speaker 1: child star, give it a really bad stint on SNL,
Speaker 1: a bunch of cocaine, wait for its have to fall apart,
Speaker 1: and it will eventually come crawling back to become the
Speaker 1: highest paid fish in all of fish to Hollywood. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm getting inspired just thinking about it. Hey, y'all, professional
Speaker 1: bas angler Ranch Stimpkins here, calling in real quick, just
Speaker 1: to thank everybody for the love and support they showed
Speaker 1: me this tournament season. I can't talk too long because
Speaker 1: my break here at the Mattress Firm is only twenty
Speaker 1: minutes and I'm the only fellow that got work in
Speaker 1: the loading dock. That's all right, I figured by next season,
Speaker 1: the other body strength I'm gaining will help me add
Speaker 1: at least a thousand more casts a day. They'll be
Speaker 1: calling me the Tungsten Terminator next season, you'll see. Anyway,
Speaker 1: I've had a few low loads this year, no doubt.
Speaker 1: I mean, losing my lower unit right out of the
Speaker 1: gate on Grand Lake during that little shotgun start incident
Speaker 1: didn't help nothing. So since I was limited to my
Speaker 1: trusty Seers Trolo motor for the rest of the season,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty proud of myself. I mean, I didn't finish
Speaker 1: in the money one time, but what I learned about
Speaker 1: fishing close to the ramp was invaluable. From my long game.
Speaker 1: Mostly I learned to be patient and just wait for
Speaker 1: the shore fishermen to clear out before I snuck in
Speaker 1: there to back clean up. It was trying at times.
Speaker 1: Ship One day, some bread deck through a full can
Speaker 1: of w D forty and caught me square in the temple.
Speaker 1: I blacked out for a little while and ended up
Speaker 1: drifting all the way across the lake. But everything happens
Speaker 1: for a reason, my friend, and turns out that stump
Speaker 1: field I got hung up on was loaded with one pounders. Anyhow,
Speaker 1: I was also calling because I heard y'all had that
Speaker 1: Brandon paling It guy on the show. I ain't certain
Speaker 1: if his Instagram account is down or what, but I've
Speaker 1: been tweeting at him for six months now with no reply.
Speaker 1: Hey Brandon, if you're listening, remember when we bumped into
Speaker 1: each other at that rest stop in Texas. He was
Speaker 1: running in to grab a mineral water or something, and
Speaker 1: I just happened to be in the middle of pumping
Speaker 1: chili onto my hot dog. I said hey, and I
Speaker 1: think he said hey back, but maybe that's just how
Speaker 1: I'm remembering it. Anyway, I'd love to talk with you
Speaker 1: about some baits have been developing with my friend Kenny
Speaker 1: and his uncle Wes. We're calling them Wizard Liquors and
Speaker 1: they're gonna blow your mind. So please hit me up.
Speaker 1: You know, I kind of feel bad for that kid,
Speaker 1: like I sort of want to invest in Lizard Liquors,
Speaker 1: just like just to help him out. That's the fun
Speaker 1: is that you can't help but feel bad for him.
Speaker 1: But how are you gonna do that? You don't have
Speaker 1: any money. It would be a modest investment if you
Speaker 1: if you really want to help rants, find him a
Speaker 1: job somewhere other than the Mattress firm. Are you Are
Speaker 1: you familiar with the mattress Firm conspiracy? I don't know
Speaker 1: what you're talking about. Okay. We're not going to dive
Speaker 1: into it in full here because it'll just eat up
Speaker 1: too much time, and I also don't want to get
Speaker 1: sued for defamation. But if you're just like killing time
Speaker 1: with work, right, look up Mattress Firm on whatever map
Speaker 1: you use on your phone. Look it up. Joe told
Speaker 1: me to kill some time. Look it up and then
Speaker 1: note the number of them in your area, Okay, and
Speaker 1: then do some internet digging on the Mattress Firm conspiracy
Speaker 1: I'm genuinely excited to look this up later off the clock.
Speaker 1: You should be. It's fascinating and smart, and so is
Speaker 1: the tackle hack we're gonna close with this week. Week
Speaker 1: we started out talking about high pressure tournament fishing, and
Speaker 1: if that's your jam, right, it's critical that every piece
Speaker 1: of tackle from the biggest of the tiniest harmonizes to
Speaker 1: make sure you capitalize when it counts. Now, maybe you're
Speaker 1: not attorney guy, but my good buddy and frequent guests,
Speaker 1: Conway Bowman, has a little hack that will help you
Speaker 1: be a little more efficient with high value toothy critters
Speaker 1: on the line muskies as an example. I'm getting hacks
Speaker 1: coming from inside the city. Hike up flood with me
Speaker 1: today for tackle hacks, my buddy Conway Bowman from Southern California,
Speaker 1: Mako Shark Pioneer, among many other things. What's going on, brother,
Speaker 1: Good to see you again. Not much man, I'm excited
Speaker 1: to get a tackle hack from you because you do
Speaker 1: some you do some different stuff. I mean, you do
Speaker 1: you chase fish that not that many people chase um
Speaker 1: and you've done you fish for so many different things
Speaker 1: like this. This tip could I don't really know where
Speaker 1: we're going here, So surprise me. What do you got
Speaker 1: for something big gamey? Perhaps, yeah, it's big gaming, but
Speaker 1: it's it can be applied to any sort of kind
Speaker 1: of toothy creator. So it's perfect when you use it
Speaker 1: a steel leader. And this is for a single strand
Speaker 1: stainless steel wire, not multiple strand. Okay, So with single
Speaker 1: strand stainless stel you have to make do a hay
Speaker 1: wire twist, which takes practice. And took that intuitive. It
Speaker 1: took me a long time. So once you master the
Speaker 1: hay wire twist, okay, the the end that goes to
Speaker 1: your tip. It A lot of a lot of anglers
Speaker 1: will do an al Bright special to make that connection.
Speaker 1: And I did that for many, many years. But it's
Speaker 1: time consuming. You know, it takes a long time to
Speaker 1: do that. So what I do now is I use
Speaker 1: a light welded ring, so it's like a light welded
Speaker 1: tuna ring, not a split ring, right, a solid ring. Right.
Speaker 1: So I'll put that on the end of that that
Speaker 1: haywire twist loop for quick connections, and it works great
Speaker 1: and it's been for me. It's better than a swivel
Speaker 1: because it's not his bulk. So you know, it's a
Speaker 1: little more streamlined. So the smallest welded ring you can get,
Speaker 1: so whether it's a twenty pound, thirty, forty whatever, and
Speaker 1: you would size that up to whatever you're targeting. So
Speaker 1: if you're doing muskie, if you're doing barracuda, or if
Speaker 1: you're doing makoes, like I'll use a forty pound welder ring.
Speaker 1: But a forty pound welder ring is very small, and
Speaker 1: so you can make a very quick connection with whatever
Speaker 1: or not you use. So whether it's you know, like
Speaker 1: I use a San Diego jam not, or you can
Speaker 1: use I mean you can use that just you know,
Speaker 1: an improved clinch. So when you're using the wire, that's
Speaker 1: the tip I would advise people to do. Dude, that's
Speaker 1: a terrific tip, man. And it's funny because I never
Speaker 1: thought about that. I know those loops exist. I don't
Speaker 1: have a ton of use for them except for like
Speaker 1: sometimes changing out like butterfly jigs and things like that.
Speaker 1: But you're right, they're super small, but they're super super strong.
Speaker 1: And if you do the all bright k not things,
Speaker 1: single strand tends to get kinked up after a while. Anyway,
Speaker 1: you end up just changing your leader because it gets
Speaker 1: kinked up from just fly fishing and casting and pulling
Speaker 1: stuff over weeds. So that is a terrific tip, man,
Speaker 1: um leave it to the shark guy to come up with.
Speaker 1: There you go, man, appreciate it, dude. That's a great one.
Speaker 1: So that's all we got for you this week. If
Speaker 1: you're building a strategy for the next club, tourn him
Speaker 1: into the County Park pond. Remember the glory may not
Speaker 1: be fully captured if you've scared the ship out of
Speaker 1: your onboard photographer. Nothing says you're a fan of a
Speaker 1: particular pro angler like chucking a can of w D
Speaker 1: forty at his head and even your most stinging fish
Speaker 1: loss likely did it cost you a Yeah, whatever your losses,
Speaker 1: you got over it a lot faster than Brandon Polinic anyway.
Speaker 1: Thanks again to him and Carl Jakobson for joining us
Speaker 1: this week, and thanks again to you for keeping those
Speaker 1: bar nominations. Seven items, awkward photos and your questions for
Speaker 1: our upcoming new Q and a segment coming to Bent
Speaker 1: at the meat Eator dot com. And uh, finally, if
Speaker 1: you're aspiring Torny pro looking for sponsorship, what license the
Speaker 1: Bend logo for fourteen dollars and get you a smoking
Speaker 1: deal on a serious rolling mode