Ep. 37: Dropping Rhymes For Flying Muskies

makeup sponsorships from great Clips. I'm Joe Surmley A Miles Nulty and uh dude, I think we can aim higher super cuts all the way and super cut costs only six dollars. To believe me, there's no secret. Anyone can do it. Don't answer me why they don't. So, just to get this straight, I think that that was old advertising with the Angler, was that the hair cutting service they offered were it requires no skill at all and can be performed by anyone, by any human. I think

I think that's what they were going for. That that's what bees were for, weren't they It sucks as it cuts, Yeah, exactly what do you expect? Man? I mean that the haircuts there costs six bucks, which is probably why my mom took me to super cuts until I got to junior high, at which point I refused to get any haircuts at all anymore so I could grow up my sweet sweet locks. Yeah, oh yeah, and I'm I'm I am fairly certain you were very proud of those locks

back in the day. We just washed the hair well, I worked on the hair a long time, and you hit it. He hits my hair. I've actually got a photo of you with which you sent me from your teen years to prove it, and it's hilarious, dud. I did send you that. I may regret it, and it honestly if that if that picture had anything to do with fishing, it would it would probably be our greatest awkward photo of all totally totally see I never had long hair, but it was bleached blonde for frosted. No, no,

it wasn't. Now, it wasn't frosted. It wasn't frosted like I. I did it with the stuff, but I left it on way too long, and then you convince yourself like it looks cool. This is something like the end of my my punk like end of high school. But I see. I'm not sending you any of those photos because I know better you're right, because I mean in the photo that you sent me, you are wearing a fish hook necklace, like a big thick tribal fish hook like I think.

I think that's also been used on certain Salt Life apparel, one of those everybody knows what I'm talking about, or it was it has been and and yes I did wear one of those four and and you're you're playing the bongos shirtless. Yeah, I moved out of the metal punk era and I was into a reggae phase. I think I did not smoked saying whatever you just play, that's like a real reggae that's like I I was listening to like Jimmy Cliff and that's like poser don't

count right exactly. But anyway, look regardless, I will make sure to post that photo up on Instagram today so everyone can bask in your eighteen year old glory. But in the meantime, a big announcement today. Listen up, Bent has got a great new friend. It's sure we do. This podcast is brought to you by the number thirteen. Got the number thirteen tattude on my neck. Ah see. Now, while I appreciate the reference there and that was spot on, I prefer the Danzig version. So that's on Monday. Danzig

over over cash. You're going over cash? Seriously, Yeah, yeah, Danzig does does Elvis better than Elvis too in my opinion. Look that one I cannot I serious, They cannot disagree with you more than I do. But it doesn't matter. It's not the point. The point I'm trying to make is that we're proud to announce that we've teamed up with thirteen Fishing to bring all of you this show every single week. Yes, and I know a lot of

you already know thirteen. They make fine rods, reels, and baits for degenerate anglers, whether you embrace the underappreciated genius of Dan Zigg or follow the conformists Hollywood polished Joaquin Phoenix style of music and fishing. Thank you for working worst insult into that conformist dude, conformist conformist. But thirteen Fishing, however,

is not. They make unique, well thought out, badass gear to cover almost all your fishing needs, and in fact, you can see the goods in action right now on our YouTube channel. Because episode two of Joe's new show, B Side Fishing is Live, Coming in hot from the swamps of Jersey. Yeah, that's true. We did get kind of swampy this week, but last week I did a little Key West chart trip without ever leaving the confines

of my home state of Jersey. So I hope nobody, if you still haven't seen that, like, get with it, um, and I'll tell you what. I asked some thirteen spinning rods to take on fish. They were probably not designed to handle in that episode, but I mean they crushed it. They held up very nicely. Anyway, You're gonna be seeing and hearing from thirteen regularly, and we could not be happier,

truly to be working with them. I've actually been fishing a ton of their stuff since last summer, Um, and a lot of people have asked me about it, and I've told them all it has been kicking some serious ass like stuff likewise, I've had, I've been doing the same and it's it's performed really really well. Yep yep. But the Cash Danzig debate actually reminds me of something you brought up a few episodes ago. Um. In the end of the line, you did about the pistol peat.

You talked about how how fly fishing went from being something that that many anglers did because it was the most effective way to fish small lords to a kind of like countercultural rebellious statement in the seventies and eighties, to and elite a status symbol in the nineties and two thousands, And that got me thinking about fishing sort of like more broadly, what what does identifying as an angler mean? In like, what are the cultural stereotypes about

fishing these days? I don't know. I don't know how I answer to that. I feel like I feel like, on a gut level, I feel like fishing is getting younger and in some ways cooler than when we were kids, you know. But it's like, I don't have anything to back that up. It's it's it's pretty much anecdotal. Like high school and college bass fishing clubs and tournaments seemed to be everywhere in the last few years and growing

really fast. And then and then you got all the short films with lots of dubstep drops that have made fishing seem more exciting than than the days when it was just like, oh, I go out and get sunburned,

with Grandpa and watch a bobber Like. They're the representations I see of it make are are definitely trying to make it cooler, but that might just be me projecting and feeling hopeful, right because you know, you really hadn't thought about until right now, but you really don't see fishing in mainstream media like you know, we we've talked about in other places in our company, how help hunting

has portrayed in mainstream media. But I'm struggling to come up with examples of of of fishing, right, And that's usually how I gauge social attitudes by anything like how how's it looking a major movie or or or on a TV show? And I can't think of like has there been a major movie about fishing since Grumpy Old Men? Has that even happened? Oh? Several gone fishing with Joy Glover? Okay, movies, people, Actually,

did you have you watched that movie? No? Nor did I see two thousand eights Bait Shop with that redneck comic dude, here's your sign and Miley Cyrus's dad O. Yeah, you're making my boy. Though I could see those either, so those don't count. Now, you're right, You're right, you're right, and how particular activities are represented in movies are on TV shows. It's sort of like the ultimate, like litmus test of how our society views those activities and the

people who partaking them. So fishing's absence, I guess from the greater media landscape is telling me at least. I think I'm not totally sure what that's saying. You know, I don't know either. I don't know either. I think like you could look at it as a positive thing, right, You could say that the fact that you don't see fishing splashed around mainstream media is good because we get to self define at least to some extent, or instead of being pigeonholed is like the redneck thing or the

elitist thing, or the counterculture thing. I don't know. We're we're figuring that we get to figure out what that is for ourselves as our own culture. I don't know. It's a It's an interesting question, and I think it leads me to wonder because I genuinely don't know what is what is the broader cultural attitude about fishing and anglers right now? And I feel like I'm too close to it to answer it, right, I I I just know such a broad spectrum of people who identify as anglers.

And for example, one one good example would be our friend river Horse. Yeah, he defies he kind of defies simple classification. Um but I did. I've said for a long time now I really hope he gets his own TV show one. Oh, me too, me too? Imagine I can't, I can't imagine. It would be like Oh, it would be like a much more serious version of fishing with John, which I would love to see. But if that does ever happen, he'll probably get, you know, too big to

hang out with us. So we better better enjoy our time with river Horse while we can, and uh and get ourselves some sagely wisdom about long hair, fishing rods and international travel. Hey, now, this is river Horse coming to you with some sagely wisdom. You remember the days when the passport was in your hand and you're heading out of that country to stick him? Well, me too. This is a little story called strange customs, And don't you or those days will be back soon. Legs are

spread for the umpteenth time. There is nothing better to dim the postcoit after global road trip than an airport cop song and dance random my ass. This is a shakedown, That's all there is to it. I had warned the guys not to stand anywhere near me because it happens every time. They had already made it through, and we're watching in the wings, laughing their asses off. Maybe it was the woo who held. When the US Customs agent swept his hands through my another world, his cheeks turned

to light crimson, and then he got piste. Not funny, it was to me. For some reason. Airport cops love fly rods and surfboards. Having hair from my trucker cap to my tailbone is the kicker. It gives permission for individual screenings, pat downs, rub downs, and plenty of questions in an airport these days. Long hair is the gift that keeps on give it. When you call an airport cop on the carpet for yet another game of cat

and very innocent mouse, they turned down right sheepish. You know, Salvador, there is a traffic light security device that you must attempt to pass through. Green means go fish, red, forget it, strip search. I've attempted to get through that damn light eight times and got red every time, eight for eight I see your feet stepping on the switch that triggers a light. I told the airport cop in Spanish. He looked away fast, with a grin on his face. And

now here in the Caribbean. The security agent looks down the barrel of every single one of my eight weights. He takes the rods out, shakes the tube. I see the ever sparkling shimmer and shine of the Caribbean sunlight streaming through the windows. I hold my arms wide for another pat down. Oh shit, he finds the secret stash in the breast pocket of my coat. He's got me a peanut butter and strawberry jam sandwich. The backpack has been ransacked and rifled through. I've been asked my mother's

maiden name, the city in which I was born. Even the reels have a few feet are lines stripped up before they are placed back in the gray band. Let alone. The long discussion about what is a river horse? Oh, I'm not worried about it. I have nothing to hide. I've always run clean and wild my entire life, never wanting to dim the light. If you can't find yourself higher than a kite from simply being on the water,

then you are beyond lost. By the time I catch up to the rest of the guys, they already have a beer waiting on the counter for me. It tastes delicious. It tastes like freedom. I hope you enjoyed our little Sage the Wisdom's story today. And remember, I know times they're a little funky right now, but this world needs us to take care of each other, be there for each other. There are wonderful days ahead. And we all know that fly fishermen and women and especially tree hugger

hippie jerkey viking Texans never get profile at the airport. Nah. So, dude, did you read his article The Darkest Web? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, the one about the illegal fishing scene in the Gulf of Mexico. Word Like straps on a kevlar vest and impends himself with the Texas game boardens trying to chase down the illegal commercial fish. I devoured that article, man, Yeah, it was. It was truly one of the best pieces

of fish journalism I've read in a long time. It's it's it's kind of depressing, right, but it's it's just so well written and just so engaging, such an awesome piece. The scene with the shark fins. Yeah, anyway, you gotta read it. You gotta read it. It's free. Google the Darkest Web river Horse You'll find it. It's worth ten minutes of your time, especially if you like river horses style, which we do. He's unapologetically freaky, and he's proud of it.

Yeah he is, and judging by some of the submissions we get, so are many of you. So we're gonna highlight one particular individual who lets his freak flag fly high in this week's Awkward Moment in Angling. This is the part of the show where we break down fishing photos sent in by you listeners, because really, other than like Christmas cards or or senior pictures, what genre of photography is more ripe for ridicule than fish picks? Well,

to take a picture a lave. I don't think I've ever found myself wondering what a fish fly freak might look like, or even contemplating that such a creature might exist. But once listener Andrew Patorski send us an email titled Lake St. Clair Phish Fly Freak Award photo, I became immediately curious, like, what's what's the fish fly? How exactly does it get freaky out. I don't know. I can answer the first part of the question because in Michigan, uh fish fly is a common name for Hexa Genium

may flies. The hecks, which are okay, you know, the hecks which are large, Yeah, which are large insects that emerge from the lakes and rivers of the Upper Midwest every summer, sometimes in just insanely massive numbers. And the swarms they're sometimes so huge they show up on weather radar like a snowstorm, so thick that they can cover streets and cause traffic to slide off the road. Yeah, okay,

not now, I know what we're talking about. So like for for fish and anglers, both the hecks are there. They're kind of a big deal, very much there there. They're these inch long bugs that live most of their lives burrowed in the substrate of lakes, ponds and slow moving rivers where when they're when they're down in there, they're they're pretty safe from predators. But when the conditions get just right, all the bugs at the same time swim to the surface right around dusk, they sprout wings,

they hatch out of the water. They mate mid air in these massive swarms and then lay their eggs back in the water and die. And that whole process takes less than two days, and during that window, birds and dragonflies and especially fish feast on all that easily available protein. Yeah, hence the reason people call them fish flies in certain areas because yeah, and I actually was once told, um it was it was lake walleye guys in Michigan or

maybe Wisconsin. I don't know, but they coined that term fish flies because they'd be like, we ain't catching any wally eyes right now because of them damn fish fly, Like they didn't know what hexagenia was, you know. Um. And the whole thing is a nighttime game because, like you said, these bugs are nocturnal, so that's when the fish eat them. And then what happens is theoretically they eat them all night long, so they're full the next day and don't eat anything, so the walleye guys get

up and can't catch walleye because they're full. And the hex hatch is one of the best times a year to get a crack at a really huge brown right on a drive month the kind of fish that are usually hidden and really wary. It's kind of why it's such a big deal in Michigan because you have those tight streams of all that deadfall. Those fish are tucked

in throughout the day. Um, but they'll they'll come out and and feed aggressively when those bugs emerge, and they're they're best known to trout fishermen, but just about every fish will eat them, including panfish, like I said, Wally um and bass. So that answers the first part of the question. We know what a fish fly is now, But to answer the second part, what's a what is a fish fly freak? Which I have a hard time saying fish fly? It does it doesn't grow right off

the tongue. But to answer that, we got to go to the photo right And now I'm gonna start by by setting the scene. It's nighttime and the freak in question is standing in front of a railing with a body of water in the background. He's well lit from above and all that seems to indicate that he's standing under a large floodlight and dock fishing, and it seems he's having at least a little success. Right He's holding a very average large mouth in the standard large mouth

lip grip. But I can't really tell I can't really tell how he's feeling about the catcher anything else, because his his face is completely obscured. Yes, and by obscured you mean covered completely top to bottom by fish flies. Right in this photo like Andrew has no eyes, no mouth, no no. It is something out of a horror movie. And the Mothman prophecies comes to mind, even though I don't know if there's actually a scene like that. It's

just it's just what pops in there. Anyway. There's just one little slice of cheek showing, but that's about it. The rest is almost entirely hex may flies. In fact, just about every exposed surface in the photo is covered in bugs, except the fish itself, which is strangely clean. I don't quite get that. Um, But even the background is just a blur of flying insects. The only physical attribute of Andrew that we can really make out is

his beard, which isn't truly it's impressive. It's some impressive facial hair. Um. It appears to at least be a foot long, and and and amazon only in jungle thick and it's a particular image however, right it also seems to have become like a tangled breeding ground for these these giant bugs making sweet love and his beard. I think they really, they're just all over it. The photo alone, just the photo by itself is fantastic, right, and we're not even making fun of it. It's just a it's

just a great photo. But I think I think the backstory that Andrew sentis in an email just gives the whole thing another layer that I appreciate. He wrote, a hex hatch like this up in northern Michigan is what dreams are made of when you're going after trout, But fishing for warm water species with conventional gear during a hatch like this on Lake St. Clair can be a

nightmare because the fish aren't hungry. At that time of my life, the only time I could get together with buddies to fish was during the evening, which happens to be when the fish flies, what we call these may flies in the area, hatch and become incredibly dense. Anyway, it's extremely tough to catch anything during crazy hatch like this on the lake, but I noticed a weird pocket of fish fly carcasses that collected under a particular light post.

Bass and bluegill would occasionally rise to engulf mouthfuls of the spinners, and so I ended up tossing an unwaited single tail grub green pumpkin zoom fat albert into that pile and caught this small largie. Andrew also noted that that he does like to fly fish, and he does target trout, which really just dials up the irony of this particular photo. Yeah. As I say, once you once you get that context, I think the picture goes from

just being odd to legitimately being funny. Because there's there's poor dude in the middle of one of the most famous hatches in fishing, one that's known for bringing giant and elusive browns to hand, and he's holding the dinker bass and fishing with a green pumpkins soft plastic. The only thing, the only thing that would make it funnier and more ironic, is if he had like a push button reel, like a push button now fit, and that's

what he was using. Um So, I mean, even though I can't see his face, I can imagine it, you know what I mean? Yep, yep, I've got a prettyular deal what might be going on behind all those bugs and beard uh And if you out there want to see what the fish fly freak actually looks like. Check out Joe on my Instagram pages at Joe Sormelli onety eight and at water Miles. Yeah, and if you have an awkward fishing photo you think is worthy of getting picked apart on this show, send it please to Bent

at the meat Eater dot com. I've never actually experienced the Hex hatch in my life. Yeah. Yeah, I hate to say it, but but me either. Man. I I've I've interviewed, No, I haven't. I've I've mouse fished in Hex territory later in the summer, but I've never been there up in Michigan or anything for for the hecks, and I've interviewed tons of guides about it. I've I've written articles based on their info, but I've never actually gotten there myself. And I love I love night fishing.

You think I would know, I haven't picked it. It seems like something you would go do. I so, having never done it, I assume that it's like the salmon fly hatch out here, meaning it's cool, but it's it's also overrated, And by that I mean it's there's so much hype right that there's no way that it can ever live up to the expectations. A good example, you just said, you've written about it, You've interviewed people about it, You've talked and talked and talked and talked about it.

All these Markie hatches get all that attention and and so when people think they're gonna go do it, they expect it to be the greatest experience, like this transcendent fishing experience. And yeah, there are lots of giant bugs, and yeah, just about everything eats them. But like Andrew explained his email, there's so much food available in the middle of those events that a lot of times the fisher just gorged and they're full, and they're not that easy to catch. So you get the hatch, but you

don't necessarily catch the fish. Yeah, and like you really hit the nail on the head there. It's it's I'd love to fish a hex hatch, right, But it's it's not like like an insane bucket list item for me, Like I look at it like if I get there, someday I get there, and that would be cool. Um, But you make a good point. I feel the same way when you when you interview people for these stories,

you're hearing about it. Like in its most glorious form, and and then if you like, I know people who have gone to fish the hex hatch and they catch one trout in four nights of doing it. You know. It's the same thing with like the cape cod canal come up here and crushing. But I know a lot of people who make that drive and catch two. So I'd love to um, but I don't know. Maybe it maybe it is overrated. I'll tell you what's not overrated, though,

fish news. Fish news. That escalated quickly. Alright, So no particular direct shout outs for me this week, although I do hope you guys enjoyed the second installment of b side Fishing this week, Little pickerel fishing in the Rockets South it's not yeah down in the South Jersey pine barrens, which I think the bigger message of that one was proving um, as I said in the video, a matter of fact, there is not an olive garden or pizzeria uno on every piece of open land in the state

of New Jersey. I thought the takeaway was was don't don't show your friend your spots because they're gonna they're gonna out fish you. I missed the point. I did get crushed, but look, I'm about keeping it real and I just I did not fake it. I got I got my ass handed to me on the fish front. But I hope you guys enjoyed that. Well. Now we we actually we made some we pickled pickroll in that episode,

which I gotta tell you it was delicious. That was new to me and I thought it was terrific, which is sort of a play on episode one um where we made cevich a and just browsing through through comments on the first episode, most of which were great and very positive. There was one dude, though, who just hammered me from my cevich a and was like, don't you even dare come at me with fruit, watermelon and cevich a And he's talking about beef bullion cubes or some

weird ship. So I'll look it up. I'll try it your way. You didn't have to be so rude about it. But apparently I don't know cevich a. Look, I've never I've had for my bea before, but I've never had watermelons. So but I'm not saying it won't work. I don't know you're putting you're putting citrus juice. In there. You can't tell me there's no fruit in cevich a when like one of the main ingredients is citrus juice. So

exactly exactly. And there was also a dude to who commented, He was like, can anyone confirm that watermelon is good in Cevicha? And I got in there and I was like, well, I can confirm it, but I guess I don't really count, so do I can? Trust me? Trust me? Keep watching the B sides, Keep watching the B sides. They all they're all that good. I'm telling you. Um. And for those of you who have not done so already, go sign up for the new fishing newsletter that we got

Joe's Joe's put together. Joe's actually like putting a lot of time and effort into this, guys. He's writing a writing a personal letter every single weekend and and it's good stuff. So check that out. Go to the mediator dot com back slash fish and sign up for that. And then it just then you just get a letter from Joe every Tuesday and your in boxing. It's magical. Okay. So I think that's all the housekeeping, which brings us to the reason why we're here doing some fish News.

As a reminder, this is a competition. Joe and I do not know what stories the other one is bringing to the table, and we are competing for the affection, the respect, the love. Dare I say of our are brilliant and successful engineer Phil who will at the end of this determine who is the winner and who is going to cry just like Joe did at the end of that PICTUREL episode. This this week Joe gets to start it off. And uh, and so I will see the floor to you, sir, well, yeah, so maybe this

is some future B side fighter. I don't know. For a lot of you, this won't be news. And I know this because you're d m ng me incessantly about it. But in case you live near me and the southeastern Pennsylvania region and are not aware, we're having a brood x cicada hatch this year, per science, it will be exactly and uh, right now, there are dozens, maybe hundreds of you tugging at your brewed x TCH just got

brud x x brune. So you might have also noticed that, like on Insta and YouTube, right now, all the tires are carving foam and stacking hair and preparation of this event, and so we're clear, I'm not I'm not making fun of the hatch because I'm told it's it's something to behold. I've never experienced it personally. I just love the anticipation and the name brewed X. I find so perfectly like bro bra even though they aren't the people that named it, you know what I mean. Um, it sounds like kind

of like an energy drink. Anyway, It's a fascinating deal though, and there was a big story about it on the website of CBS Pittsburgh. This is from the story. The bugs have been lurking beneath the surface since two thousand four, feeding on sap from the roots of plants, according to Michael J. Rob Emeritus Professor of entomology at the University

of Maryland. Once they're mature, the big brood will emerge in fifteen states, where they'll spend two to four weeks in late Man early June, courting, mating, flying, driving people crazy, being eaten by everything, including humans. Like so apparently this dude actually eats He eats the cicadas as much as the fish. So these things have been underground here since two thousand four, and they only hatch once every seventeen years.

And like I said, well I've never experienced it. I've seen plenty of video and it's nuts, particularly if you like to fly fish for carp I'm sure you've seen some of those videos kicking around. Um, yeah, yeah, because they I mean, they get stupid on them and even though a carp might pass up a loan bug at a different time of year, they get so keyed into this insane amount of protein on the surface they go ballistic. And what I think is cool about this hatch is

that it's it's not really trout centric, you know. I mean, like, sure you can catch a big old wild brown during the brewed X hatch, but this is like the bass fly guys hatch, and it's essentially it's like a popper hatch, you know, like the trout dudes are always trying to go dainty to match olives and all this stuff, and like you want a cicada fly at a splat and then you can literally chug it across the surface still water, moving water doesn't matter, and that's just badass. So um,

it's like the ultimate terrestrial hatch. And they interviewed George Daniel in the piece. I don't know if you know George at all or no of George Daniel, but he's an East Coast guy, great guy, written a lot of books, very knowledgeable angler, and he had some interesting stuff to say about this hatch. And as I mentioned, whenever Breudex pops up anywhere in the country, you see people pimping

these incredibly elaborate patterns, beautifully carved and stacked foam. It's all like a POxy eat over and shiny, with mesh wings and big bug eyes and spun hair in the works. And George is basically like, yeah, but when it's on, like you're gonna lose a lot of bugs and break

off big carp and stuff, So be practical. And they linked to a video that he put together where he recommends three patterns, one of which is just a chubby chernobyl, like no big deal, just practical chubby chernobyl, and then one is just essentially a larger version and of a very simple foam beetle, and the last one plays off that and he actually puts um some lead wraps on the shank because he says, often a cicada riding just under the surface gets a bit faster, especially in the

peak of the hatch, when you have lots of people out there slapping down these big bugs. So I thought that was just a very practical approach, Like it's sort of like, I know, we try to get all artistic with these crazy cicada bugs. But you know, he makes a good point. You're hooking a lot of big fish

tie simple bugs, and I'm excited about this too. However, I think the one aspect people don't consider is that, like with with many hatches, this is often like a drop everything and go deal, you know what I mean. Like the best case scenario is that you live a stone's throw from from good Carpi or Bassi water and

can just haul ass to get there. Um because even in the story they know that it takes time because it's it's it's not really on until they're mating and dying, and it can be gonzo for weeks or days you just don't know. But um, like many hatches, it's just really hard and nail. Uh. They can't just be in the trees, like you'll hear him in the trees. You know that's a good sign, But they got to be in the water. So you gotta hit it just right. And I hope all of you that want that action

get it. I'd love to. I'd love to say I'm gonna make an effort, but with my schedule, like it'll be July in ten minutes and I'll never have gotten there, or I'll get the call that it's on right now this minute, um, which likely will not do me any good. But you know, a boy can dream, so good luck everybody.

Brewd X in the Eastern p a reagion. This fits because we were just talking about this literally the last segment when we're talking about the heckx hatch YEP with with the awkward moments that we just did, and like I just said, I am skeptical of these super hyped hatches, and I think it fits into that. You know, like people are talking about it all out so it could be great, and if you happen to be there on the days, that's great. I'm sure it's a ton of fun.

But the idea of chasing a hatch, to me, my my advice to everybody out there is don't do it. Yeah, well, and I think that's what people have in their heads. This is so hyped in the news and fishermen are talking about it and the tires are talking about it that it's like for a month straight every day, all the water is just gonna be blanketed with these things, and the fish are gonna be going absolutely ballistic. And I don't think that's the way it goes down, you

know what I mean. I think there's a couple of windows within the span of when they're going. And if you're there, you're there. And if you've got cicada flies, good for you. But you know, you probably need to have a lot of time to devote to get out there to do it. What I want to know, and here's what I hope you'll find out for me, is this the one and only time when the rebel crickhopper will actually catch a fish that was so well played,

that was so well played and tried and tried. I want to believe I've done the diving model, I've done the popper model. It has just never been Now somebody ever like they are, they are drafting the piste off email right now. I'd be pissed off of me. I've never seen one catch a fish ever, somebody must catch something with him. They've been making him for forty years. Yes, I guess they do. I don't know, but but probably that would actually probably be a good you know what,

I don't have time to tie cicada flies. I will throw one crip copper popper in my fly box and send it on a seven way if I just happened to be there. Guarantee, just please do because I would love to see that happen. I'm gonna move from from big bugs to big fish with this story. On April, Captain Justin Drummond and angler Troy Lancaster, along with a whole crew, broke the Texas state bluefin tuna record with a fish that was officially weighed at eight hundred and

seventy six pounds. Well that's a big in the sixty ft qualified which the name of the boat left Port or Ansis with basically just going out on on an off shore trip. They had they had a window of good weather for a couple of days, so they wanted to go way off shore and and target. I mean really, it was a group of guys who've done this trip together a lot of years running, and they usually get into marlin, and they get into yellow fin, and there's a chance at bluefin. But it wasn't like they were

out there like I'm going for a giant bluefin. That wasn't the goal. They were just going off shore because they had a weather window and they figured it'd be good. But the bluefin do show up in the Gulf every spring, they're there, and and so they these guys went out. They went on a on a big run. Uh, went all the way out to the open ocean rigs. The

qualified ran I think a hundred and fifty miles. That makes sense, I was gonna say, because I know they're in the Gulf, but you hear about them more out of western Florida and Louisiana, Like you don't hear much about Texas boats running into him. So well, boys and

then boys and went for they did. They did. They went a long ways up and I guess I guess they actually stopped somewhere along the line at a drop earlier, didn't get anything, kept going through the night, got out of a hundred fifty miles, set up, got going before dawn, and and it was kind of on like as soon as they started fishing, they caught some skip jack for bait, and like right off the bat just got into big bites. Uh.

They had three big bites. Right off the bat. They broke off one blue marlin that they saw jump right behind the boat, that they estimated about five hundred pounds. And then just after nine am they had another blow up and they didn't see it, but this thing just dug and they knew it was something something big. Can I ask, are they trolling like trolling live skip Jack? Is that what they're doing? Okay? Okay? And that that turned out to be a massive tuna. Now, when it

comes to fighting tuna, Hemingway. Hemingway once wrote about tuna fishing for the Toronto Star Weekly, and this is a quote. Hemingway said, it is a back sickening, sinew straining, man size job, even with a rod that looks like a hoe handle. But if you land a big tuna after a six hour fight, fight him man against fish until your muscles are nauseated with the unceasing strain, and finally bring him up alongside the boat Blue green and Silver

in the lazy ocean. You will be purified and you will be able to enter unabashed into the presence of the very elder gods, and they will make you welcome Now that doesn't describe say what you will about hemmingway, my friend. But if that's not like a passage about fighting a big tuna, maybe the best one ever written. I don't know what it is. I have caught a lot of blue fen and I've never felt quite that way. That was beautiful. I'm just like, I'm sorry, Give me

a beer, Jason, get me a beer. And in the way of that, I don't. I'm not totally sure what level of enlightenment. Troy Lancaster, the the angler, achieved after fighting his record fish, but his fight did not go on for six hours. It went on for nine hours, and just after six pm the crew had the fish landed and began the long run back to port A, where the way Master was waiting when they arrived well

after midnight. Now, breaking the Texas bluefin record seems to be a trend, because last April, a crew out of Galveston landed an eight pounder, which would have beaten the pound record set hadn't been weighed on a certified scale. Unfortunately, there's some some issues with that one last year and it was thrown out. This most recent catch, however, will stand beating the previous mark by nearly seventy pounds, and that's it's a remarkable fish, it's a it's a great fish.

But breaking the state record two years running strikes me as even more newsworthy than the fish itself, because it it hints at a broader story around this fishery in these fish. Atlantic bluefin have been the poster child for over fishing for like my whole life. Right, they're massive, right,

So they're they're they're they're huge size. And the dramatic population decline that we witnessed, combined with the astronomical and kind of ridiculous price that prime bluefin can fetch at auction, has made them this this obvious focal point, this sort of media frenzy in discussions about over fishing. Yeah, that's sort of what they've become. If you're gonna talk about over fishing, you think of Atlantic bluefin. And there's a

reason for that. In the seventies and the eighties, atlantic bluefin stocks dropped by an estimated and so in the nineties, two organizations with just ridiculously long names, the North American Oceanic and Atmospheric Association and the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas teamed up to oversee one of the most comp hends of fisheries management strategies on the planet.

It included a variety of standard tools like seasonal closures and strict retention limits, but it also came up with some unique strategies, like the individual bluefin tuna Quota program, which created economic incentives for commercial fishermen to minimize bluefin bycatch. NOAH also enacted longline gear restrictions in the Gulf of Mexico, the curtailed bluefin by catch by sev Now all that effort actually paid off. Bluefin stocks increased every year from

two thousand four to two thousand and seventeen. That year, it CAT released a report recommending an increase in Western Atlantic bluefin harvest quotas. In two thousand nineteen, the total bluefin biomass for this population had increased by six percent from its lowest point, and no released a statement declaring that US caught Atlantic bluefin tuna was now a sustainable

food choice. Unfortunately, in the wake of the increased quotas and relaxed regulations over the past three years, those stock numbers look like they might be starting to dip again. One study estimates that Atlantic bluefin stocks have fallen by nearly thirty since two thousand seventeen. All this is to say that bluefin aren't like the third rail totally unsustainable fishery that they once were. There actually a positive recovery story despite what most people know, but like it's still

tenuous and their futures is uncertain. Western Atlantic bluefin migrate from the Gulf of Mexico all the way up past you, up the eastern seaboard to Canada. So the big fish that are kind of famous around Newfoundland are the exact same ones caught off the coast of Texas. Ye bluefin spawn in the Gulf and then head north to challenge harring and mackerel and all the other food fish you

guys have out there. The fact that the Texas record has been broken two years in rows rights me as a testament to the success of decades of recovery efforts. Regardless of where we are right now, these big spawning size fish take decades to grow, so the one that Lancaster caught was allowed to reach that size in large

part due to intense and impressive bluefin management. The recreational harvest quota in the Gulf is is just a few thousand pounds every year, So once four or five big fish get caught, the whole season just shuts down from Florida all the way to Texas. Yep, yep. It's like

it's like a rolling target. Yeah, yep. According to an interview that Troy Lancaster did the Angler did with with our own buddy Sam Longren, Lancaster didn't have a choice about whether or not he should harvest that particular fish. During the fight, it got tail wrapped right, like the tail wrapped up in the line, and tuna can't breathe unless they're swimming forward, so once it got tangled, it's suffocated. And unlike other some other kinds of fish anyway, tuna

aren't buoyant. So for the last two hours of that fight, Lancaster was just lifting dead weight from a thousand feet down, Like, yeah, I heard the story on this. They would they would have to. They had the drag on that real maxed out at fifty pounds, and they'd run the boat forward to lift the fish up a little and then back down on it as fast as they could and like cranking a little bit of line and then run forward

and then back down. It sounds just brutal awful, just almost worse than fighting it the right way, right way forward, way worse. And then nine hours, like seven hour normal fight, two hours of lifting dead weight, they finally get it to the transom. It took another hour and a half to actually drag the thing on board. Uh quote from Lancaster here, we had seven guys on board, and one of them wasn't worth a ship and that was me because the dude had just been fighting this fish for

nine hour. I appreciate that. I'm always really fascinated by big bluefin caught in the golf. It's one of those things that like that fish is so uh you know, so synonymous with the Northeast that you forget that that is where they end up, and they have the southern guys have a chance at these giant blue veins. They also have gigantic mako sharks in the Gulf, and mako is such like a Northeast fishery too, but those dudes down there have them way bigger. So it's I always

think this is this is incredibly cool. But there are actually other fisheries along that route, like one of the real famous ones that I think actually also goes back to Hemingway days. They used to have a huge tournament in Biminy when those fish were passing through and like the game was you wanted it to be like shit, nasty rough and they would like spot them coming through the crests of the swells and like feed them a

bally who in the waves. And that went on for decades and that that doesn't I don't think that really happens anymore, or you can't target them because they're not in season now when it's happening. Um. But yeah, man, I mean bluefin was a great success and now they could be in trouble again. There's also um, I believe they found out that there was mixing of the Eastern and Western Atlantic stocks. So for years they thought, well, let the let the Italians or whoever take as many

as they want. It's not effecting our fish. Actually that was wrong. There's proof that there's some some mixing of the species. You know they're over there with the gabba ghoul and the tunas um. But it's tough, man. I love bluefin fishing and I don't believe it's it's been changed or altered again. But for for this year. Right now, it's like it's one fish per boat in Jersey, and I think it has to be at least twenty eight

in forty four seven. I don't quote me on that, but it's irrelevant because they've been pretty abundant the last few seasons, the smaller size fish, the popping size fish. But I mean, you think about it from a chartering perspective. You know, you've got a two thousand dollar tuna charter, you're breaking up with your boys. Not a whole lot of incentive to throw that kind of money out to go out and bring one. Like what what do you do? Then when you catch the twenty eight inchurer on the

first pass, it's like, we're not a bigger one? Or do you keep that one? So I want to see those fish thrive because I love chasing them. But I gotta be honest man, like I am. You know me, I'm not a meat fisherman, but I'm a glutton for tuna. Like when I make the effort to go tuna fishing, I want all the tuna. I want my three yellow fin. I want them all because I don't know what I'm

gonna get there again. So it's it's tough, man. And when you when you do catch and release tuna, they fight themselves to death, you know what I mean, Like do they exhaust themselves? So um, you gotta put some faith in science. You want these fish to be around. But from a recreational perspective, those legs right now, it makes you kind of question burning that kind of fuel to go out there and catch one. You know, they're

pretty and I understand the questioning. But if you look at the numbers the recreational fishery, I think I read as worth something like I don't have the numbers in front me many millions of dollars what I'm going to say because I read this earlier and I've read too many things. But the despite the fact that what you say that you don't know if you're it's worth it or not, a lot of people think it is enough that they're willing to spend the money even with the

what someone called draconian regulations on fish. And then these last Oh yeah, dude. I I say that because I'm lucky enough to have enough people where it's a gas money trip. But I mean, you think about the guys who you know. For a lot of people they don't have that access. They're booking their big trip every year. Um, dude, I've been there, not because of the rags, just because it was a slow day and you got five dudes on board and you got one thirty five inch blue fan.

It's like, I'll take the tail. I guess you know what I mean. Like there's there's not good divvying. The divvying is very depressing, you know what I'm saying. It's very depressing divvying. So five guys fighting over the belly, so a lot of a lot of that bluefin, the big ones. I don't really know where it goes. I guess there's fancy enough sushi places that buy some of it in the States. I don't have enough money to eat at them, but you might find one at a casino,

which is going to lead into my next story. Okay, so not superfishient related per se. But I found this interesting nonetheless, And the main message of this story is that everything is smart now and just keeps getting smarter.

And we're talking about things, um that in many cases probably didn't even really need to be smart, Like, as an example, they are smart fishing rods now that connect to your phone, and tell you the weather and how many times you've casted and so on, and many of you guys probably have smart smokers and crop pots and so on and so forth. Um. And this is posing a growing problem in the world of cybersecurity because it wasn't that long ago that all this sector really had

to focus on where I t assets like servers and workstations. Now, of course we have to worry about cybersecurity on our phones and laptops. But the reality is if it connects to the Internet, even if it's just your smart bobber or your smart gaff or whatever, it can potentially be hacked into and used to get into your larger system, like you're your larger files. Um. And this is exactly

what happened at a North American casino not long ago. Now, the article on the website entrepreneur dot com that I found does not name the casino, but this casino featured huge fish tanks on the casino floor. And of course nobody wants to, you know, sit there and yank on a slot machine and look at dead fish, because that's

a buzz kill. Uh. So every aspect of these tanks are were made smart so they could be monitored by the casino's network from behind the scenes, and hackers ended up getting ahold of the casino's database of high rollers by breaking into the system through the fish tanks thermometers. What yes, right, So the weak in the system that they could hack into and then and then and then get what they needed. They hacked into the smart thermometers

in the casino's gigantic fish tanks. And every and whenever I hear anything about someone trying to get get one over on a casino for whatever reason, what comes to mind is funny farm. Do you know what I'm talking about? Chevy Chase is terror. I don't remember the senior You don't remember the scene where his he makes the wife read the novel and then he ends up burning it. Yeah, four poker buddies knocking over a casino the perfect crime anyway.

From the story per Nicole Egan, who is um from the security firm Dark Trace, the attackers used a fish tank thermometer to get a foothold in the network. They then found the high roller database and then pull that information out of the main frame back into the thermostat in the tank, and then from the thermostat uploaded it

to their cloud. So I did a little background digging and the breach Actually this is a new article, but the breach happened last summer and the hackers were able to pull ten gigs of data through the fish tank thermostat to a device in Finland. One of the reports that came out around the time of the breach said

some pretty scary shit. Uh. One area that is super smart these days as kids toys and the FBI is actually warren parents that like a smart Teddy Bear that reads stories, or like your Fisher priced tablet connected to your WiFi, could potentially be used to help hackers like learn the names and locations of your kids. So everything

becoming smart has drawbacks. It's awful, but but it's also important to note that like the cybersecurity sector is working very hard to keep up with that, so like this fish tank incident helps them stop that like from ever happening again. So that industry is adapting as things are being made smarter and smarter. Um. But I mean, I know there are hundreds of you listening that have that smart rod, so bear in mind, like those could be hacked and someone could learn that the last ptures you

put on Instagram. We're all taken at the same spillway, and you will be outed, so keep that in mind. But that's how they got in the fish tank. How am I supposed to transition out of that into anything? When you screwing transition still counts the transitions he does.

I think this is just a ployer, like I don't have a good story, but I'm gonna screw him over so you get you know what, I don't have a good story either, So I'm gonna move from your stupid story that has nothing to do about fit with fishing my stupid story that has slightly more to do with fishing. And yeah, look, I know this is this is a cheesy story and and kind of dumb. But after reading about it and then I fell into this video watching hole after I found the story, and I couldn't stop.

It was mesmerizing. Uh. And I'm sure any listeners we have in the Madison, Wisconsin area are well aware of what I'm about talk about because it's it's clearly clearly the local news is all over it. I don't think there's much else to talk about in Madison right now, at least nothing positive, so they're all covering the same thing. But but if if you are in that area and you haven't already heard about it, you should know because you might still have time to check out some flying

muskies if you hurry. Every spring, muskies migrate out of Lake Monona in downtown Madison and up the Winger Creek where they run into a a three foot tall dam and they're the big socks all congregate mill around in the pool below the dam. And then just like sock salmon, they throw themselves into the air and leap over the concrete impediment to reach the warm water of Lake Wingra. So it's like it's just like all those salmon videos

you've seen, except with musky doesn't say Wisconsin. You don't have postcards with this on them, Like this seems like the kind of thing, like what are you doing? Capitalize the idea. Muskies are not quite as acrobatic aerially when when not hooked as the salmon. They're not quite as as smooth about it, a little awkward award. There's there's some awkward, some awkward failures, which makes it even more

endearing to me. But but they do they do make it over sometimes, but a lot of times they don't, And clearly this is something that people know about and they're into. I'd never heard of it. You hadn't heard of it. It must be a local thing, and I couldn't completely tell, but it seems like there's a viewing platform where people really yeah, dude, And there's no T shirts. It wasn't reported, no T shirts reported, But I think I think there's a gold mine opportunity for anybody again

in that area. Get out there and stuff somebody shirt if you If there's stickers or something at this, I'll trade. We'll trade you bent stickers for like a pack of like I've whatever they are. I watched the jumping Muskies of Madison. I'm so glad you feel the same way about this as I, because all I do is this is like a perfect springtime activity. If you're not actually gonna go fishing, right, load up the whole family, Like,

let's go watch some flying muskie kids. And the kids are gonna be annoyed, but if you get them a hot dog and a T shirt, they're probably into it. So I loved everything about this, And again I spent more time than I should have when I was working watching flying muskie videos and then I read further into the story, and what had felt like a heartwarming family

funtail it started to go a little south. I f and be honest, because it turns out like all those muskie are are going over that damn so they can get to the warmer lake upstream to spawn. It turns out that the contaminants in lake wing rep prevent muskie eggs from actually hatching, and and the DNR has no recorded evidence of natural fish recruitment in that system. So they jumped the damn and then can't nothing happens when

they get there, They can't reproduce. They do all like they go through all that work, they swim up the creek, they hit the damn, they fly over it, and it's utterly futile. How many years has this been going on? Like wouldn't they like wouldn't the fish in the system like have their genetics sorted out by now to know that, like that's not gonna work out. Well, I mean, hatchery fish, there's no natural recruit in the system. They're all they're

all hatchery fish, got you, okay? Well that yeah, that's that. That makes the t shirts a little sadder, But I would still i'd still I still enjoy having one. Well, uh, I don't know. I think you got this one. I won't. I don't know for sure, but giant tuna jumping with the beats, uh, the cicada's and casino ice. So you hear that, Philly just rolling over and give it to me,

I'll take Yeah, it's okay, it's okay. Phil surprises is sometimes though, So we're gonna hear from Phil and then are gonna move on a covering water h with a gentleman. A lot of you probably are aware of former dude behind Barstool Outdoors, Ben Friedman, but he's better known by another name. All those stupid stories that have nothing to do with fishing usually appeal to me. You guys called

it already, Miles, you're the winner this week, Joe. I do think, however, that your fish thermostatic casino heist story could be the next exciting addition to the Ocean's movie franchise. I mean, the water punt is already there, so the movie practically rights itself, and you're gonna need a crew as nuts as you are. Who do you gonna mind? I'm Joe A Miles Nulty. This is real horse coming to you. This is Stripe, a chunk and expert, Bob

the garbage man Briton and not a now scheme. What's up, pass wives, it's me your boy lance V. You proved your point. You broke into my vault. Congratulate shows you're a dead man. I'm going in. I can hold it. No, I'm alright, alright, So joining us today for covering water, we have got Mr Ben Freedman. However, most people are going to know you by a different name, which would be tell us what they'd know you by. I guess, uh, Young page Views, I don't know. It's the last time

I was Little Mediator podcast. It's kind of the same situation where Steve was looking at me like, what the hell is so hYP I guess I don't know why. Yes, so young page use y p and you would have guy you you like, kicked off and grew bar stool outdoors. That was your gig, right, Yes, yeah, from from this brain. One of the only things is brain has ever really developed up in here other than thinking about fish. I guess it's still related to fish. But yeah, we've we've

seen some evidence there. There's some other things that came out of that brain. Yeah, we're gonna talk about that too, so people know you as young page views and I just have to add it famously, when you interviewed for barstool, what did you bring to the office A wallaby or something like that, A live animal? Yes, there was. It was an albino wallaby named Winston I believe his name was.

And honestly, our paths have never crossed since, and I sometimes I didn't wonder what Winston is doing out there, probably hopping around a pasture. Hold On, hold on, where did you get a line on an albino wallaby? Like? How did that come about? Honestly, I think I got it luckier than I realized, because I have since looked. I have looked for them for other reasons that or not. I'm trying to procure wallaby again, and it was way harder the second time. So I guess I got one

the first time. But it was I think I found it online. It was some lady had like a fall wallaby. No, it was in it. It was like in New York. I think I was looking up exotic animal things because I was looking for a tiger and the tiger was too much money, so I was like, had to go to plan B. Don't you hate that when the tiger is too much money? Like you have your heart set on a tiger. I was so sad because in my mind,

I'm like, what a great idea. I'll just get a tiger and then I'll walk in And then it turns out you have to get permits to bring a freaking Bengal Tiger. City were sticklers about that, but any But here's why I asked though. I brought it up because did you know that there is a wallaby on Instagram called Young Pouch Views which appears to be named him in St. Louis. That's another wall be that I went to visit when it was a baby and they were naming it and then it was called young Pouch Jews.

But then I honestly have been kind of a dead beat dad. I got to go back and check on the wall I have. Admittedly, I'm gonna say right now, hand up, I've not gone back, and it feels horrible to say out love, I have not gone back and played with it since that first in some states. In some states you can't get a fishing license if you don't pay your wallaby support so you gotta watch that, man. Yeah. But anyway, man, so you you put out content for a lot of years, um for bar stool, and you

know a lot of your your fishing content. I noticed it was like sort of like a little bit of a jackass element to what you did too. Like you did a lot of videos of you, like in precarious situations or doing painful things. Right, A lot of it looked uncomfortable. Yes, sometimes I just stand there and get bit by like three pythons, and like, honestly it was.

It was kind of fun because once I started getting bit by more and more stuff, I realized, I'm like a lot of this stuff is overhyped, you know what I mean? Like a python, I've gotten hooks in my finger fifty million times more painful than getting bit by python thirty times in a row. And I kind of it was fun to almost like dispel that weird fear that people have. That makes sense, I don't know, that's like the most um trying to make it more than a eulogy of getting bit by I guess goes for

a bigger reason. Okay, So I asked you about all these these videos where you're in uncomfortable situations because there may be a question or two tied to them in covering water and to explain how that works. Here's what we do. So I'm gonna put two minutes on the clock on my cell phone and we are just going to pepper you with questions. And this is different from your rapid fire. So instead of doing like a a like a formal, like well thought out interview, you have

just seconds to answer each one because the clock is ticking. Okay, I can't think. We've never had we can't think too much, and we've never had anybody pass. I mean, I don't think. I don't think there's a rule, but like you know, you know. But then what we'll do is at the end of your two minutes, we'll give you a full

minute to expand on any one of your answers. So like we always say, whichever one you think is the most damning, like which is the one that you're like, oh, should I should not have said that, We'll give you a whole minute to undo what you've done. You get to save. It's it's a it's a career saver after you like a little bits. That's basically what we're gonna do usually less thinking? Is it for me? So right? Afore you can beat to my advantage? All right, So Miles,

are your questions ready? All right? Here we go, Ben, Are you ready for this? As ready as I could be? I don't know, I may not be, but this is hopefully I'm ready. Okay, Myles, I'll lead, I'll start, okay, and two minutes are on the clock. Starting now. Your childhood fishing idol was, say Mike Ignelli and my grandpa. I gotta throw him in there as well. Oh I like that. I like that. Have you ever had long hair? Um? Never? Never longer? Like maybe to the top of my ears?

But that's it. If you could fish with any celebrity, living or dead, who would it be? Honestly, Drake, this is a weird one. I'll explain it in my minute after the recording artist. Okay, okay. What's the most underrated fishing state? Oh, I'm gonna say Missouri hometown. Don't know. I think it doesn't get enough credit. I think it's very fun. What's the most expensive pair of sneakers? You

wont did? I have to buy him? My mom one time helped me get these nikes for my birthday, and they were called like the pocket knife DM or something. They were like two nine dollars and they're they're they're like camo colored with orange bottoms. Pretty cool, gangster rep or outlawed country. Probably gangs arrived to be honest, nice nice? Which is the most funny target? Snakeheads, peacock bass, or clown knife fish. Honestly, I'm in love with clown knife

fish right now. That's subject to change. But my answers clown knife fish, maps, vibrats, panther martin or rooster tail rooster's tail. What's worse getting stung by a man o wore jellyfish or bitten by a python jelly? The man war is definitely worse because it lasts longer. It lasts for like hours. Sketchiest spot you've ever gone fishing? A few days ago down here in South Florida, the guy with a machette was walking by me in one of these canals. I think any of the canals in South

Florida are the scariest place I've ever got. What's the worst place you've ever been hooked? Oh? I would say, you know, it's one of two places. Either down near the gonads in the leg that we could have been bad. Or I'd say, like up here in the upper upper face region where it's luckily fingers crossed. Neither one has been a direct hit yet, but I'd say one of those two. All right, finished the sentence. Most fishermen are just drinking. Okay, we got time for one more? Each year?

What was the last CD you purchased, not album you downloaded, c D you purchased. Probably Jimmy Buffett greatest hits. Uh, it was like an all incoming doubles at the register at the costco. All right, man, got time for one more? Oh? I get one more? Yeah? Okay. Would you rather be a rapper or a tournament bass angler? Oh? Am I going to be a champion of either one. Yes, I feel like probably tournament bass angler, but I don't know.

There might be more money in the music industry. So definitely we are we are out and listen, we didn't we didn't talk about it up front, but there's there's there were several rap questions in here because for people who don't know, right before you were in the outdoor industry, right you were, you were making a play to be a rapper, like we've listened to your song. Actually catch sure, sure, absolutely, man, I gotta scrub those off the internet. My don't do that.

But like so the rap dream kind of not We're not you're not dreaming it anymore. Ever, you never know, you know what I mean? There? Who knows? But I mean it's certainly lost some theme in the past aple years. Can you freestyle right now? No, I'm out a lot of people that are good at rapping, maybe good at freestyle.

I would be the guy that it would take like a week to write a song and then I'd have to record it like fifty thousand times in the studio to be able to make it like no, man, But because we're so into music, we couldn't not bring up the wrap the rap career. So anyway, but anyway, I am gonna put one minute on the clock and and feel free to expand on any one of your answers that you feel feel you'd like everybody to know more about.

Time starts now. Um, I would say the one that has really just been in my mind for a while, and it says one celebrity like living or dead. There was a time I figot like last year, a couple of years ago, I was sitting there and I just said, wondered, if you know, there's the rapper named Drake is probably the biggest dude in the entire industry right now as far as pop music anything. He's he's a star. But I just I couldn't find any evidence of him fishing ever.

For some reason, it maybe something with my weird personality, whatever is in my brain that caused me to be so screw it up. I became obsessed with trying to figure out if he's ever just gone fishing one time. And this guy, you gotta think of super famous celebrity, their life's been documented for a decade and sometime now there's no evidence of him ever going fishing one time.

Not a picture, not an account, not anything. I'm starting to think this grown man who's worth, you know, a couple of hundred million dollars, has never caught a fish. And for some reason, it's like one of my missions in life to just I want to be the dude that takes him to go fishing, because I feel like he doesn't have that joy in his life, money and women and success. He's never caught a fish. No, if

I'm not dissing him. I just it seems like something every human should have as part of their experience on Earth, and I just don't think he's done. So I don't know why I want to take him fishing. Well, I'm sure Drake's listening to the show, so I'm I'm positive is gonna happen for you? Now? Are you gonna slip him the demo tape? Like? Just maybe? Because because you never know? You know what, I didn't even think of that part of this could be my roundabout the way

I think the dream could still be alive. I need to somehow get him to go fish with me, and then maybe even just hav enough fund that he comes back, and then I'll be like, hey, I'll pick you up and I'll just be playing it in the car. Uh. I think I think there's a lesson in there. Is there? I think tell do tell here. Here's what I distilled

from that. Albino Wallaby's ruined rap careers every time. If you ever find yourself walking to a Manhattan offics cradling an Albino Wallaby, your future is a rap artist is over. And I dare you to prove me wrong with evidence on that one isn't that what what made DMX go out something with an albino wallaby? I don't know, You're probably right here. Look, I I appreciate a lot of rap. I'm not like a huge rap fan, but say what you want about YP songs. There were a couple of

hooks that's stuck with me. Like there were a couple like I found myself just like muttering them in the car. I'm like, wow, man, that like it's a good hook. I also feel like we're doing our audience and him a disservice if we don't at least give you a little taste, just like a little bit right. So here's here's why peace putting a little hot fire. I'm really young page views. They can make this content till this

one at night. Just might take your lunch and need it, and we'll bite cameras, cameras, cameras, cameras, give me all the footage. Micaba called you smash your woman and now that you know what's been playing in Joe's head on that concludes our cosmotology masterclass for this week. But as you're sweeping up, note the ragged clumps of wisdom we left behind. Long haired peanut Butter sandwich smugglers should not

travel internationally with rod tubes. Fish flies like to get freaky and zz top beards, and snake things hurt less than fish hooks embedded in fingers, at least according to that one source that is correct. Hey, also, please keep sending mail to Bent at the meat eater dot com. We want your off weird photos, bar nomination, sabin items, fish news, suggestions, and general sentiments about life, the universe

and everything. Yes, we do. We also love to see what you're tagging with the Degenerate Angler and Bent podcast hashtags. Keep us up to date on the important things in your life. And until next time, so long and thanks for all the fish