Ep. 47: Volatile Organic Cherry Hot Dogs

and ship, you're just cooking outside. Good morning, degenerate anglers. Welcome to Bend, the podcast that may be hosted by a couple of Yankees, but still knows the difference between a cookout and a barbecue. I'm Joe Surmelli Miles Maulty, and I did not know the important distinction between those two until until I spent a few years living with a buddy from North Carolina that I suggested we should

have a barbecue. It's a fight people over barbecue. And when I came home from the store with you know, like a pack of buns and started frosting hamburger meat, he lost his mind. Dude just straight up late and he's like, this isn't a barbecue, this is a cookout. I'll see any ribs, I don't see any pork shoulder, I don't see any brisket. You're not barbecue and ship, you're just cooking outside. Yankees think Southerners are ignorant, but you mother don't even know the difference between a barbecue

and a cookout. And I never made that mistake. Again, is that exactly what he said? Because that him, he was, he was, He's a fiery man right now. Credit to you. I like, I like your work. I'm a fan of you. Anyway, Look, consider consider that a public service announcement for all you out there planning on dropping some dogs and some patties

on the grill for an upcoming holiday. Uh, if you, if you care about precise language, and we certainly do, that's a cookout, right, And I think cookouts are what make Fourth of July, other than Thanksgiving, it's the most food centric holiday we celebrate, and it's, if you think about it, right, it's the only one where you're expected to cook outside. Like you just can't have Fourth of July meal cooked indoors. It doesn't work it. If it's raining,

just cancel it. Yeah, no, I that's a good point, because it is absolutely a food holiday, but unlike some other ones, it's it's like a it's a completely unpretentious holiday, right you can you can get away with just dropping some tubular meat over a bed of too hot coals and burning the ship out of them and then squeeze them into a musty Franze's bun with some French mustard and no one's gonna complain, Like that's what they expect,

you know what I mean. Or if you want to totally up to you, you can start smoking a brisket the night before over like your proprietary blend of fruit wood and obsessed about a three degree temperature difference, right and and then and then turned out, you know, you end up with your sliced meat masterpiece and people will be like, damn, that's good, hand another beer. They won't make a big deal out of it. It's it's the

food holiday without expectation or judgment exactly. And you just hit on why I tend to go the cookout route on the fourth and like the core answers, because I just want to relax and enjoy myself right, And look, I love smoking meats. I love smoking briskets as much

as the next guy. But I tend to do that like during the week, like on a random week day when there's no pressure, because every time I've gotten psyched up on a brisket, like for a party, by the time it's done, I'm exhausted because I've been up since five in the morning. I'm so tired of looking at it.

I don't feel like eating it anymore. And I've just spent the whole freaking day stressing that, like it wouldn't be done on time, because if anybody out there does brisket, you got the briskets stall and you're like, oh god, the people are coming at six fifteen, push it, foil it. Oh my god, you just freaking yeah, And everybody's gonna write me and be like, here's how you don't freak out over a brisket. I've read all the ship. Okay,

it's still every time it's stalls up. So I'm just I'm down with burgers and dogs, preferably somebody else's house. If I'm being real honest, you just throwing the nerve whistler around a bit, drinking some peepers, and that's my kind of Fourth July party. Indeed, it is all about having fun and uh and this story I'm about has nothing to do with food, but it's probably it is about fun. It's probably my favorite Fourth July story, So

one time you'll appreciate this. Years ago, my buddy and I showed up to a fourth party thinking it was gonna be like, you know, an adults let's get drunk and do stupid things kind of party, you know that that we were I don't know if we're still in our twenties, but we were in that area, that that area of life, that era, I should say. So we were both wearing American flag speedos when we showed up

ready to go. But now, a wait, you've now admitted this and that you dressed up like Orgasmo and Shoda boys, so like same by the way, same, How am I

not surprised? So we showed up in in American flags petos, But it turned out that there were actually like a bunch of kids, like people have brought their from this party, and we we tried to play like we played it cool, but it was a little awkward, but it got really awkward when I had a few beers and then I decided to go charge of the slipping slide and it was one of those It was one of the sliping sides with the inflatable pools at the end, you know

what I'm talking about, and this chance of break in your neck. You know, my parents always said, Yeah, I hit the wall of that inflatable pool going like full speed and it just ruptured. The whole thing just exploded. So in the end, not only was I the guy who showed up wearing clothing that was more or less inappropriate for children, I also broke the toy that all the kids were like playing and having fun with. And I literally made some of them crying. That was my

worst Fourth of July moment. And and and the parent and me like sees the awkward and like the stomach turn in that, but at the same time, like, you know, that's kids. If you showed up at my house and did exactly what you just described, my kids would have two were awesome. They wouldn't have cried at all. They already think you're awesome. They've met you, Like they don't understand that crazy Jounkele Miles has everyone right is an American show up to the party in the speeder. They

think it was great? So what's wrong with those kids? They were wrong? Not you, and we are after all, we're like, we're celebrating freedom this weekend. That's the whole point. And um, the other point is you are free to make an ass of yourself in public, incorrectly call out cookouts and barbecues what I would call them. Whatever you want, Grill up the most elaborate or idiotically simple meal you can imagine and serve it to your friends, or just

you could skip all of that and just go fishing. Um, and if you if you do that, I'd like to add that you should carry at least one thirteen fishing rod in rail with you because they also love freedom and fishing that they do. And and on that point, though it's not the right season for it, did you know that several of their ice fishing combos come in red,

white and blue? But I actually was not because I haven't done the ice thing with their stuff yet, So it's it's I have several and I proudly use their Wicked Patriot edition rod with the Freefall Ghost reel on the hard Water, which was George Washington's personal setup that he used at the Battle of Trenton. At least that's

what it says on their website. And you know, thirteen Fishings website is just known for its historical accuracy and scholarship, so I believe it doesn't really say I'll re examine the Washington crossing the painting it's stuck in there somewhere. It's it's one of the horses reins or something. Um. You know, I did not know that, but I am aware of the glory that thirteen Fishing pours in all their rods and reels. So maybe I'll bring one of

those patriots out with me if I go. If I go fishing on the fourth, not because it's the best tool for the job, but because fishing on the fourth is all about just you know, having a good time. Amen to that, man, Amen to that. In addition to an ice rod or two in the midsummer and a cooler full of beverages, I've been known to bring some brots and a mini grill. Right if I'm gonna go fish on Penn's Day, just just to just to have

some serious fun. That's that's why I do it. I've done that too, though I'm more of a hot dog man than a broad worst kind of guy when it comes to fishing, but for reasons that I'll explain later in this very show. But but if I have any actual fishing and advice for Independence Day, it's it's like, man, this is the weekend to not take what you do too seriously and by all means, like, go fish this weekend.

I probably will for a bit somewhere, but but you just gotta set your expectations right, Like your favorite like area of the back bay is going to be chopped to hell by ski boats and jet skis, like retirees and pontoon boats are gonna be out putt putting all over whatever break you love the troll. You know it's gonna be, which may be the worst in my opinion, just flotillas of tubes just going going down the river, so so thick that you won't be able to cast

between them. Um And you know, like most of any other day of the year, any of those things might might send you into a fury, but don't let it not this weekend. I just I've learned to I try to heed my own advice. I do most of the time. Just smile and wave and just like let it roll off. Because there there are times for serious fishing um, but this it just it really isn't one of them. Don't

fight the inevitable. If you start getting piste, set down the rod, like, kick off your crocs, grab yourself a floaty and a couzy wrap beverage and just go with the float go in the water with him, go tube and kick some kid off a tube and you go down with the float Tella. You know that that is damn good advice, my friend. And I feel like you're you're setting me up well because I feel like the guests we have coming on next just he just is that vibe. He embodies the vibe that you described. He's

a very laid back dude. He's a kind of guy that you could you could chill with on a summer day and calmly shoot the ship for hours. And unfortunately, because of the nature of the show, we didn't have hours, but we we did let the segment run a little longer than usual because we we were just having such a good time. I'm going in I can hold it. Joining us today for covering water. We've got the world renowned chef host of boneappetites. It's alive and a way

cooler guy than Emerald Bradley is here. We thanks man hell of an introduction, and they Emerald Emeralds, the stud man. Emeralds a pretty cool guy. Yeah, I know, I still think you're cooler. I think we'll see. But look, it's it's it's great to have you here. Of course, um, we didn't want you to just drop by because of the culinary schools. You are also a very dedicated angler. And uh, seeing that we both threw up in Jersey, we probably spent some time fishing some of the same water.

So I'm curious, like what did growing up around here, Like what did you mostly do? What was your game fishing as a kid Christian? As a kid, it was freshwater and then with my dad, you know, getting into a little bit of my dad as I get into a little bit old, you know, so my my first memories of salt water are is m my dad coming back like when I was little, and like he literally would have like plastic gallon drums and then just like and have like thirty bluefish, and you know it's just

like hardy boat days. Yet boats you know, like you know, shout out to the nighthawk. I think that was the one where n and uh and that and and then he would bury him in the garden and we would and he would, he would he we would smoke some of them, you know. But like my where I'm at now, callinarily like far surpassed what my dad was doing was blue s. Sure, But it's interesting you bring up blue fish because one thing I've I've really noticed about your

fish cookery that I appreciate a lot. You've you've said or mentioned that, like you're not a huge fan of file aid fish or like that's not your first preference, and I see you cook a lot of whole fish, and you're really into steaking, like I've seen you steaking blue fish, which is a style that has fallen out of favor. Like you just don't see that many dudes catching blue fish or mackerel or whatever and just staking

it out. So like that's kind of inspired me, Like I want to try that more this season, Like you just don't see that very much. Yeah, it's great. I mean, like the only steaks you really see, I mean, I guess like a swordfish steak or or sometimes you'll see like a salmon steak, right, but like blue fish is perfect and like you know, before we even get into like steaks, like no matter what fish it is, it's

all for me. The biggest difference in you know, making it a junk fish or just a bluefish or some whatever is how you know, if you treat it, if you pull it up on the deck and it beats, you know, it beats itself up and it gets thrown in the bucket, and you know it's just you treat

it like garbage. The meat is gonna come out that way, so like killing it quick, bleeding it out, getting that blood out as fast as possible, you know, it really just it elevates that whole culinary experience, which is which is just awesome. But yeah, but you have to answer your question. The steaks you're pilating. I mean, it makes sense, and that's what you want to do for something like the application of the dish that you're trying to find.

But like I'm just tired of do just like throwing rack in the water, you know what I mean, and packing it with a knife, leaving you know, uh, three quarters of an inch on up by the collar and just like you know, just the body itself. I mean, I know, crabs eat it, whatever, Everything eats everything, you know, ocean, you know, the earth returns itself. But like, make stock out of it if you're gonna play it, because man, it's just it's it's so easy and it's just so satisfying.

We talked about that recently, sort of not being lazy and like I actually did that not long ago, like bringing tall racks home, like making the effort to fish stock. You know. Yeah, Man, when I go, I'll bring a little like depending on the knife I have, but I'll bring a little hatchet or something that you're getting some of them bigger fish to snap the spine real quick.

You can fold it up right, wrap it up in a garbage bag and put it in the cooler, go home, you know, you know, ten fifteen pounds whatever of the best fish making stock, bones and heads, you could you

know forever. Yeah, And this is a topic, but I gotta turned to it because I think one of the things you mentioned, it's sort of a self fulfilling prophecy with fish that people don't think they like, right, because if if they bring in a blue fish, whether it's a blue fish or a white fish, or a freshwater drum.

I don't care what your trash fish is for your area if you people don't treat them the same way as the fish that they think they love, Like they treat their walleye really well, but that fresh drum just gonna beat the ship out of it, and then that ends up reinforcing their idea that it tastes like shit. So it's amazing how that goes. Those things you have reverence for you treat well, funny, they taste good. The ones you don't, they taste like ship. Yeah, I mean,

yeah exactly. I think we'll said, man, I think the you know, the perfect example, like is the bluefish or something right where it's like I don't like blue fish. It's it's oily and mushy, and it's usually because of like how you just described it, where it was just kind of beat up and like, yeah, of course a fish like that is going to go to hell if

you if you let it. When I was a kid, if you didn't have a cool if they just sell you a dollar burlap bag, people just fell burlap bags tied to the rail and like they just put a whole or lap bag a giant losing their trunk. Even as a kid, I'm like, what do you do with that? You know, Yeah, that's gonna be great. Yeah. But so before we get started here on covering water, just just a couple of the things I understand that you've you've semi recently just like fully thrust yourself into the fly

fishing world. That's kind of news for you, exactly. Yeah, So for about the past two years or so, um just kind of picked it up. It all started with a little trip with Yetti down to South Carolina and Charleston and we're going out for red fish with a couple of with a couple of folks and storm came in the night before. It kind of blew it out, and you know, we were with some We're with some pros, you know, folks that knew how to get into into the fish there, and no one cat anything. But I

picked up the hook. No I'm not a single fish and and uh, you know, we have folks were flowing and flowing in from Montana and Texas and ship you know, like some of the best stays five and no one go ahead and uh, but that's fishing, right. So what I did catches that you know that like love for the as of the fly. Yeah, so well you also you also did a much bigger thing, very recently, big thing. You took a big step in your angling. Tell us

what you did. Oh yeah, I caught himself a Grady White man got you got boat, a boat, first time boat. And uh, you know my response was congrats and sorry, because that's what you say when somebody buys a boat. But it's a sleep great man, I think so, you know, I think it's gonna be super manageable. Um. It was like it was kind of one of those things where it's like I didn't need this boat right now, but like it was if it made it to the market, it was gonna be gone. And you know it was

it was. It was a movie man. It was this old guy who he had a boat that he fished on and ran far and stuff, and then he had this boat, the Grady White that he just puttered around. He went to the went to the bars and the restaurants with his old lady, you know, and that was just like his little no hours serve every year covered gorgeous. Yeah man, best of luck with that. So so we'll get into covering water here and just this how this

is how we play. So Covering Water is our Q and A session where for two minutes, we're gonna put two minutes on the clock and we're just gonna rapid fire questions at you. And the whole idea here is to get through as many as we can in two minutes, which means you don't really have a whole lot of time to think about your answer. But at the end we promised to give you one minute to like back pedal or expand on any answer that you're like, Man, that might have been a career ender or something I'm

good at avoiding. So let's uh, let's hit it, man, I'm gonna put two minutes on the clock. Miles I will go first. Brad, are you ready to play? I'm ready, coach, Okay, al right, here we go Covering Water with Brad. Leone starts in terms of eating. What's the most overrated fish? Most overrated fish? Ship man? Probably um uh ship I don't know, no, none of them. Okay, what's the one fish your most proud of having caught? Hell of it up in Alaska? Just because it was you know, it's

far away and ship it was pretty cool? Popeye's or KFC neither. Okay, all right, all right, can you explain to me why does so many people like to eat farmed trout because they're accessible and you know, I think a wild trout usually gets a bad reputation for keeping and the harder to catch. And I think, uh, I think a good farm ranged If that's the thing, right, I think it's um, I support it. Okay. The best boat snack is bananas. If you could go fishing with

one person living or dead, who would that be? Living or dead? Sure? Uh, I don't know. I have to come back to that one. That's a tough one. That's that's a tough one. Okay. If you could only ever target one species of fish here on app which would it be? Maybe like, um, like mackerel? Interesting answer? Okay, the Simpsons Family Guy or south Park? Oh they're both really they're all great, man. I think I mean south Park so well? Right, and then fine, I might have

to go Simpsons just as the classic because it's so good. Okay, you're from New Jersey, so I have to ask officially, is it pork Roll or Taylor Ham? It should be Taylor Ham. Okay, but you're agreeing it's not. No, I know, I know, I'm sorry that came out wrong. I always call it Taylor Ham pork roll is like some knockoff ship that comes out right. I'm not Trent. I don't know which which is the greater sin, under salting or over salting over because over is unedible. If it's under,

I can still eat it. I'm just like, they come on, what makes you feel more manly? Newdly catfish? Are working on an Alaskan crab boat. More manly probably the crab boat. Okay, you got time for one more moss? Do you drink before fishing, wall fishing, after fishing, or all of the above. I was talking about alcohol, Yes, depends on it depends on where I'm fishing. I'm not I'm not against either fair fair enough, fair enough. So that's that's two minutes. Man.

That was great, and I brought up the news I had to get a noodle in question because I gotta say, if anybody listening, if you have not watched the episode of your show where you were noodling with Maddy Mathison, that is I think like one of the best fishing videos ever made. I mean, that was like, just piss your pants funny. It was a blast. And it's one of them things where I was like, man, I just

want to do more stuff like that, Maddie. We gotta get married to listen, Maddy, I would love to do more stuff like that, or even with her without Mannie. I just really I really big those kind of experiences and just being such not like that that's not intay, like you know, it's not catching ship, you know, so and he's funny, you know. I would I would love to take Maddie matheson fishing one day. I think that would be hilarious. Yeah, but did all this stuff? Is great?

That was great. I watched your recent squid adventure like kind of non adventure, but it was it was still it was still awesome. I know that was something you recently did. Um. But so we'll give you one minute. Are there any of those questions you feel like, like pick one that you want to sort of tell us more about. One of those answers? Yeah, I guess it would be like, oh, if you could go fishing with one person in time or alive or dead, you know, like not my kids, not my dad or something silly

like that, you know, like their years. So I think I have to go someone dead. It had to be like some deep like origins of life answers ship, like you know, like the people who were behind the pyramids, like some Egyptian pharaoh or something. You know, Hey, hey, you're onto something. You're onto something with the Egyptians because because if you read up in your your fly fishing history, supposedly they did originally invent fly fishing. So I think, whether you knew it or not, you just dug into

some super heavy ship right there. That's what I'm saying, dude, like pre burning the libraries of Alexander's ship, you know, like I want to know knowledge while we go fishing some real o g talk. We've asked a lot of people that question. That is by far the best answer we have ever gotten to it ever. So did we really appreciate you coming by for this? This has been a really fun covering water and hopefully you'll come back on again, man, because this has been a real blast.

Brad is a ton of fun man. But I'm gonna say I was a little offended that he wouldn't answer my fast food chicken question, Like I thought that was a good question, Like yeah, like you're too good for fried chicken. Come on, you eat some Popeye's or KFC, like maybe you know, everybody does it. Man, don't be embarrassed. But he so kind of redeemed himself with The Simpsons. Yes, you know, there's no question it's the Simpsons all the way. That was the only answer that could have been accepted

in that particular scenario. Simpsons created the genre of over the top comedic cartoons. Your show helped me when I was going through chemotherapy. My favorite episode was when Homer stays home from church. God damnit, he thinks what the Simpsons.

And while this show absolutely did not invent the genre of presenting sometimes silly and sometimes pointing news stories in the form of a contest without any actual prizes at stake, in order to manufacture a sense of continuity and narrative structure, we were the first ones to do it with fishing, which means it's time for fish news. Fish news. That escalated quickly. All right, I got one shout out today

that's going to go out to listener Tim Jariss. So remember a while back we talked about how you associate certain smells with fishing. Yeah, and I I talked about that odd funk in my dad's old Plano tackle boxes. Well, after that episode, a lot of you guys wrote in to say you know exactly the funk that I'm talking about, and and like just how nostalgic it is? Right, So Tim, who is a scientist and registered environmental health specialists, also

wrote me on Instagram to say, I love that smell. However, it is indeed a product of gas is given off by the plastic in the lores, and it happens when the tackle box is heated, right, which makes sense because tackle boxes, what do they do? They sit out in the sun. We store them in hot garages. Uh, And and Tim's like, yeah, the thing is that gas is

what we science people call a volatile organic compound. So other things that frequently give off volatile organic compounds include petroleum fuels, hydraulic fluids, paint thinners, and dry cleaning agents. So his point right, as as as nostalgic as the smell might be, maybe don't drape a beach towel over your head and huff dad's tackle box for forty five minutes. So great tip. Appreciate that with Tim also just wanted to say we've been appreciating the influx of the Instagram

photos tag Generate Angler and Bent Podcast. We will be posting the winner on our Instagram accounts tomorrow morning right from our little our little giveaway here, and somebody's gonna be rocking a new fish eating fish hoodie and t very soon right. Also, keep your ears open because we're gonna be announcing an even cooler giveaway next week. And if you subscribe to the Fishing Weekly newsletter, you'll hear about it first. Anyway, that's it, that's all. That's all

the housekeeper I got. We'll get on with news here. Remember this is a competition, Miles and I do not know which stories the other guys bringing to the table. At the end of it. Fill the engineer, we know him, we love him. He will judge one of us. You have the advantage of leading off this week, so do I get. I get to start out, and I'm gonna talk about a fish that doesn't get a lot of attention. I'll just we like those, We like those kind of fish. Yeah.

And if you if you have ever heard of skip jack herring, you probably only know about them because they make damn good catfish bait. Right, striper striper, striper striper like them to landlocked stripers. Oh yeah, their status as bait is really the only reason that anglers pay any attention to these fish. Right. And as herring go, they're pretty big, and they got their name because they have a habit of jumping out of the water when they're feeding,

skip chipping yep. But like when when you see them, if you have seen the most people, when you see them, you just see like that's just in the big school of silvery baitfish, indistinguishable from all the other schools of silvery baitfish. Right. One thing I did learn on reading up on this that some people refer to them as Tennessee tarpin, and that kind of made I've never heard that, You've never heard that I had, neither. Cool. It's like

Jersey tarpin with American chad exactly. Exactly Pertinent to this story is, like I said, skip jack are are pretty big for herring, so that's what make them a favorite bait for people who are targeting trophy cats, especially blue cats. A whole skipjack will get the attention of a big blue but it's it's daunting for all the little channel kittens who like to hoover a cut bait. In April, Ethan Moss and a buddy went out fishing on the

Ohio River in search of big cats. But first they needed to catch fresh bait, so they rigged up their ultra lights and started fishing for skipjack. Now, Ethan and his buddy, like most of us, just don't think much about skipjack. But that's where that that was about to change for him, and I would like to change everyone's mind, because the fact is that these fish are actually far more badass than than you know. Skipjack turn into predators

when they reach maturity, much like bass. They feed on thread, finn shed, gizzard shed, and even other herring. One study found that skipjack will go full on cannibalistic when times get lean, and they can consume fish almost half their size. Skipjack are native to most of the major rivers along the Gulf, and they're highly migratory. They can go to sea, but they don't have to. They do what they want.

It's up to them. It's their choice exactly. Skipjacker capable of completing their entire life cycle without ever leaving a river, but they might go to sea. Either way. They're gonna move up and down that system to to find good spawning habitat and sufficient food. They're all over the place, and because they've never been much used to human skipjack numbers have remained pretty steady, like they're in good shape. But in the Mississippi their room to rome has been

significantly reduced by dams. The dams have it knocked these fish out like they have other migratory species. They've just contained them in the lower river. But here's the crazy part about that, at least to me, The fact that these fish can no longer make their way up to the headwaters in Minnesota Wisconsin has spelled disaster for ebony shell and elephant ear muscles. Even though the skipjack are fine.

Both of those fresh water muscles are now listed as endangered, and part of the reason is the lack of skipjack up in the upper Upper River because in order to reproduce those muscles, they released larva into the current, and for those larva to mature, they have to attach themselves

to the gills of skip jack herring. Once theo and once the damns blocked the passage of skipjacks, the muscles lost their their their fish gild nurseries, and their populations crashed all this is just to say skipjack are probably more interesting than most of us ever realized, and they're certainly more interesting than Ethan Moss and his buddy realized when they got into a good school of them that morning with the intention of catching themselves some good blue

cat bait. Moss told a local news outlet quote, we started getting into them pretty good. I had actually got several, and one of them was nineteen and change inches. About twenty thirty minutes later, I caught this one. I had no clue. I thought he was a white bass or hybrid. I flipped him over the wall and the guy fishing next to be said, that's a state record, and indeed it was. Though mosses from Ohio, he had crossed over into West Virginia to go fishing, which was fortuitous because

Ohio doesn't recognize skipjack records, but West Virginia does. Break The fish weighed three point one pounds and taped out at nineteen point to one, well short of the world record of four pounds, but pretty damn good for like a bait by catch. Moss wisely decided to keep and register the fish, and all that makes like a fun story, right guy, catches bait turns in the state record, blah blah blah. He understandably also wants to have it mounted. But according to one story I found, this is where

the problem comes in. Moss is having trouble finding a taxidermist willing and able to mount his fish because no one makes body molds for skip jack. So the dudes got the record but can't figure out a way to get him out made. Oh man, Yeah, that's a deli of a pickle, because I know some of like the replica places have you can get like a you know, flying fish or a bunk or something that goes in front of your striper. But that's fascinating. Nobody has this.

I mean, look, man, like freeze that thing. It might cost you more money, but you poke around enough, you'll find somebody who say, send me the fish, and I will make the I will, I will make them. But how much do you have you come around to loving that skip chack? Do you love it enough to have the moment? My next question quite simply, Miles Nulty catches that fish, You're going through the process to certify it. Jo sam Elli isn't exactly like dude. I mean, I

think it's I think that's cool and all. But hey, if somebody said that's a state record, I'd be like, yeah, thanks, Bud, Like what do you know, Like, who's that guy? Right? He's the guy right, he's do the other end of the wall. He knows what's up. He's here every day. But you know, I know the process probably isn't quite as as heavy as certifying an I g F A record, But there's no way I'm going and like for what, Like, there's no way I'm going through all that trouble to

certify a shad. I'm just not doing it. Yeah, I don't. I was about to say, like, I don't know, having a really random record actually might be more fun to me than you know, a state record small mouth with my name actually on it, But I still don't think i'd do it and do it just be fun to be like, hey, that that right there? What is that? That's a state record? Skip Jack? No dude, no, I

get that. And but I think it works if if like you're just like a goofy dude that like you make that your deal, Like I'm just gonna go out and catch weird records, like I think that's cooler than just accidentally catching the bait and it just happens to be. We're not trying to take away anything away like that's that's that's cool. But I don't know. I wouldn't have even thought about it. I wouldn't even thought about it. No,

I do, I do. I do very much appreciate the backstory because I didn't know that much about skip jack Um. It's fascinating though, like the American Chad here, they don't ever eat, like it's all a reaction by but we get Hickory shad too, and them suckers will chase down some metal or a spinner like it's it's incredible how much more aggressive they are. You can hook and line, fly fish whatever and they'll charge something down. They'll chase bed around with the American Chad won't. So it sounds

very similar. So that was that's it's nice to know more about the skipjack Um. Only transition I have is, uh, you said that they have no value. Maybe maybe some people are already eating skipjack and don't know it. I'm gonna start. I'm so glad that this is where okay, because I have to it to be clear though, while this story plays right into our little culinary angle this week. I did not want to cover it. I did not want to do it, but I feel obligated because damn it.

I listened to our listeners like we are your servants, okay, and I've been so flooded with links to this that I have caved and I will cover the subway tuned debacle. Okay, chapter two of one of us has to do it, so you know. I'll also add that I understand why people are sending this because it certainly ties into past stories we've covered about fake seafood, Like we've kind of had a little beat going on that, So I I

get the connection. But I'm gonna take this in like a whole other direction, right So for anyone that missed it, I gotta start here. Back in January, two ladies from California filed a lawsuit against Subway, claiming that they were trying to quote capitalize on the premium price consumers are

willing to pay for tuna of their own accord. These two ladies had samples of the subway tuna analyzed and said the findings where that there was no trace of tuna whatsoever in the tuna, but there was some shadiness because apparently nobody could figure out like who they hired to do the testing, like nobody named the lab right.

But while they say there was no tuna, they also couldn't say what it was, and they were just kind of claiming it was like complete mystery mixture meat made up to look like tuna and have the mouth feel of tuna. Right. So of course Subway went nuts and defended themselves, saying that this is completely baseless. I remember a few ago they ran that huge promo deal on tuna subs, like it was like half off tuna subs to entice people to take his wild call tuna right. Um.

But eventually the whole thing kind of went quiet. Well, it has reared its ugly head once again, and this comes from eat this, not that. And now a fresh wave of testing is also suggesting Subway tuna is not tuna, but once again can't seem to tell us exactly what it is. So all this tuna horse ship like seemed to go away. A reporter from the New York Times was quietly researching it for the last six months, and I love this she collected. This is what the story says.

She collected more than sixty inches of to the subs they sell. Yeah, so she collected with the sixty inches of tuna subs from l A Area subways and had them shipped off to a lab, which interestingly, that lab asked not to be named either, so we don't know what lab that was either. Right. According to their analysis, this is a quote, no amplifiable tuna DNA was present in the sample, and so we obtain no amplification products from the DNA. Therefore we cannot identify the species. The

spokesman from the lab offered a bit of analysis. There's two conclusions, he said. One, it's so heavily processed that whatever we could pull out we couldn't make an identification. Or we got some and there's just nothing there that's tuna. So clearly these people need a masspeck pen, which we've covered. I'd love to know if they used one um and all that aside. Okay, like that's all well and good, but then what the hell is it? Like it has

to be something. I just want somebody to tell me then what it is, Okay, So just I'm gonna quickly just skim through a couple other pertinent details. They also interviewed Peter Horn, the director of Ending a Legal fishing project at the Pugh Charitable Trust, and he said it can be tough to identify tuna. He says in the defensive subway or quite a lot of these fishmongers. The further you get the fish from the bone, the harder it is to recognize what that fish is. Another point

of inter Inside Edition conducted a similar investigation. Their samples came from New York City area subways earlier this year, and all their lab tests found it all to be tuna. They were like, it all came back tuna, no issue. Finally yeah, So finally, according to Subway, the ladies that started all this have abandoned their original claim that subways

tuna product contains no tuna. However, they filed an amended complaint that now alleges their tuna is not one percent tuna and then it is not sustainably caught skip jack and yellow fin tuna. Okay, so I'm going to tell you right now what a subway tuna hog actually is because I know, okay, have you done your own independent library search. Yeah, it's delicious, That's what it is. The only sandwich I ever get from Subway. It's the only sandwich worth getting there. I don't know. If I can't

argue with you, I totally agree. Right, A little pickles, a little halpenos, a little Southwest sauce. Do you want that toasted? No? I do not. I do not want it toasted. I crave that ship, I crave tuna Subway. And you will not be dissuaded by any of these findings. Will not be dissuaded by any of these findings. And for people who don't understand, you are going, oh really,

I liken it. It's like it's like Burger's, Right, when you want a really good burger, Like you crave a burger, you're gonna make that at home, or you're gonna go to that corner bar that makes a badass burger. When you want a burger, you don't go to McDonald's. You go to McDonald's because you feel like eating McDonald's. Like, to me, it's different and sometimes like you just you just want the trash, right, Like if I'm craving an Italian HOGI I'm not going to Subway going to Bosco's Deli.

So a couple of thoughts in my opinion, right, right out of the gate. If you ever truly assumed or believe that the tunas some fifteen year old is slinging with an ice cream scoop at the subway inside the gas station where it was like high grade wild caught yellow fin, Like you're crazy, You're you're nuts, Like that's like believing burger King only uses wag you beef, you

know what I mean, Like it's subway, it's not noboo. Um. And I mean, god dude, if the tuna is causing this kind of stir, god forbid, they analyze the meatballs like lord knows what's in those? Right, actually meat the tuna is is herring? I don't know. Yeah, And I I just have to assume. I have to assume the lawsuit is just a pure money grab because like, holy hell d you're like who has this kind of time, Like like you have so little to do, in my opinion, and like so little do with money you can go

all in and fighting about a tuna sandwich. Um. And I don't know what. I'm convinced. I'm convinced it's more publicity stunt than you may be, right, but here's what I think. I think. And because if do you remember some years ago there was a big blow up in the media that like there's plastic in the in the bread for subway. Yeah, and again I think that like when that got it made a bunch of headlines and then people like, well, no, it's not plastic, it's just

not high quality bread ingredience. And what I think this is here's what I think. I think that people who consider themselves health conscious look at Subway as their fast food, that it's like the healthy with you fast food. And so when they actually find out some information that their beloved healthy subway actually isn't like the bastion of goodness they once thought it was in the anti McDonald's, they're

personally offended. That's what I think is going on. And and that's all well and good, although I mean I think that's silly. Like I agree, and I think like if you're that person that is like super tuned into like where your food comes from and what you're putting in your body, like you should not be in the subway unless you're just getting the salad with oil and oger, Like it's still fast food, man, it's still you know, um so I I don't know. I think I think

the whole thing is just like a little bit loony. Um. But you know the way I look at it, like people eat hot dogs, loneing scrapple, like we eat all kinds of mystery meat. I don't really see what the difference is. Like whatever is in this tuna isn't causing people to get sick or drop dead. They've been serving it for decades, and like you said, you could tell me it's common carp and gizzard, Chad, I'll still order it. Those things will probably be more sustainable. If we're talking

about sustainability, I'd pay extra for it, like carp. Good on you something right now. I'll give you a bus sandwich. So there you guys. You guys wanted the subway deal. Um, I wish we had a promo code. I'll get you guys half off a tuna sandwich exactly. The sponsor us. Well, maybe after this they will we love you, Subway. I think for me, the transition on this has to do with something somewhat unnatural, melding into the world of nature.

It's it's a bad trans good try, it's good try, It's fine, we can, we can, we can go on. I'm just gonna move on. This is not this is not a groundbreaking story. This is not going to blow any minds, but maybe we'll have some good conversation around it. I'm assuming you've heard of of a painted turtle. Absolutely see him all the time. Have you ever heard of

painting turtles? I can't say I have neither had I neither had I until I came across what should be an utterly unnecessary headline from CBS Boston that reads, do not paint turtle shells. New Hampshire Fish and Game urges. The story leads with a photo of a snapping turtle whose entire shell has been painted hunter orange, you know, for safety the photo. The photo was apparently taken at a local pond where someone thought that snapping turtle needed

to look more like a road construction cone. New Hampshire Fishing Game actually had to write a post on Facebook that I found to be deeply compassionate but also made me fearful for the future of our species, not so much the turtles. It said, do not paint turtle shells. Often this is done with good intentions to make the turtle more visible if crossing a roadway, but turtle shells are living tissue, and paint toxins can not only get into their bloodstream, it can also reduce their ability to

absorb sunlight and make them more visible to predators. I struggled to believe that this was done with good intentions. I don't I can't get there. And if it was, that person doesn't understand nature or evolution at all. Well, look, if just just based on the fact alone that the paint is still on the shell, we're gonna assume that

was crylon. Okay, like not like your kids freaking single paints because that would have washed right off, or or like you know, Tester's model paint or something like that. But it was some serious paint. If you're gonna paint a snapping turtle, right, it ain't gonna sit there while you brush it. Whoever did just buy the freaking parking cone colored crylon and tag that some bitch. It's awful. It's awful. It's awful, And and when I read it, I just assumed that this was just an awful, idiotic,

random incident. But I was wrong. Oh, turtle painting is apparently a thing. Five years ago, Florida experienced a rash of tortoise painting incidents all over the state. When painting murals on the shells of gopher tortoises started trending, the Florida Wildlife Commission had to put out a statement saying, quote, you should never paint the shells of turtles and gopher tortoises. While to you it may seem harmless, painting the shells

of turtles and tortoises can severely compromise their health. I found another article on artists owner dot com begging owners of pet tortoises to resist the temptation to be dazzle the shells of their beloved pets. The story leads, you may have heard, the tortoise shell is made of keraton, the same material your fingernails are made of. For some reason, many people believe that the similarities between fingernails and tortoiseshells means it's perfectly fine to paint their tortoises show with

nail polish or regular household paint. It is absolutely not safe to paint a tortoise shell. This. This is all in bold. Painting a tortoises shell poses a lot of dangers and can even be fatal. So all right, I understand ignorance. These are the same people that bitch about subway to them. By the way, Okay, I think you're right. I understand ignorance, like I can. I can forgive ignorance. They don't know they heard. Oh it's like fingernails. I

paint my fingernails. Okay, fine, But I don't understand the impulse like I wanting to paint pet turtles makes a modicum of more sense. I guess like dog owners who give their furry friends haircuts. Yeah, they will, or they die them. Like somebody has a poodle they diet purple. I think that's awful. Like I think that's cruel. I don't know. How do you do or stuff in the dog into designer vests and clothes and Halloween costumes. That's

a thing. Okay, so pet turtle maybe, But why do you want to paint a wild turtle even if it didn't hurt the animals? Like? What are you getting out of that? I don't And and to to anybody out there who's annoyed, because yes, I realized this is a stretch for fish news turtles aren't fish. But I'm so baffled by this, and to find out that it's like a thing that has gone on for years. I I just don't understand and I can't figure out why anyone

would do that. I could think of one reason. It's terrible and it's dumb, and I doubt it was the reason. But when you were out here, we were both in fishing, comes with hooking the occasional snapping turtle, right so you're always trying to figure out, like, is that a snapping turtle buzzing around where my bait is? Or is that a fish? So like, the only the only dumb excuse I could see is somebody doing that so that they could see them coming. It's like I know where all

these things are right now. Still not a good reason, not at all, not at all, But it's I appreciate that that. No, that's that's a lot of thinking. You you came up with a semi plausible reason for why this might have happened. So good for you, Good good on you there. Yeah, well, uh, there's not a semi plausible reason why the thing in my next story happened. I'm not even sure that it actually happened. But so this is a shorty and and I'm sure by now

many of you have have heard about this one. Um, but it's it's it's it's just so many I can't leave it alone. And we're gonna knock on the damn TikTok door two weeks in a row now once again, once again, And this comes from Daily dot dot com headline fisherman far lines brand new bottle of fireball in fish after cutting it open, sparking debate. So we've we've covered several stories, some fairly recently about weird things found

in fish. Not long ago, we talked about lake trout with that had somebody found a lego inside a lake trout. There were there's one with bits of tire uh inside the lake trout, and we we sort of use that to get into the discussion of discarding soft plastics. But this is next level, right. So in this video, you see a couple of dudes at a filet table on the back of a large boat and they're cutting up some pretty big lin cod. So I'm thinking we're in

Alaska here, it seems like Alaska. Uh So, so dude takes the filet off one side of this this big fish feels the now exposed stomach, slices it, and out pops a brand spanking new, large unopened bottle of fireball whiskey. We're a large one, like a pint, yeah, like one talking about a nip here. I'm talking about like not not quite the handle, but like the big one. Well, hold on, all right, we got we got multiple s

that we need to clarify. There's there's a little mini bottle. Nope, there's the point, Nope, there's the fifth that I'm saying it's a five. I'm saying it's a fifth. It's a fifth. Yeah, damn right, okay, and so now here right, Look, I have very little Lincott experience, So I was I was actually chatting about this with our bud and colleagues, Sam Longern,

because he e fishes for lin cat a lot. And he said, it's not outside the realm of possibility that a big link cod would eat that, right, I don't know. He says that, you know, they're super aggressive, and he says over the like they eat all kinds of weird ship. So it's not totally implausible that that he would take the shot this fish, right, so to speak. Pardon the punt um. So, at the time of this recording, the video has well over six million views. But here's where

it falls apart. Right when the guy pulls the bottle out, he just smirks a bit and says Jackpott. But it's a very fast, muted reaction. I don't know about you, but if I pulled a brand new bottle of fireball out of a fish like I would have been losing. That would have been like holy what what? Holy shit? Right? Meanwhile, the onlooker at the filet table barely reacts at all.

He just smiles. Now. Furthermore, the bottle, it is squeaky clean and pristine, and Sam and I both commented that there's not a shred of damage to the label, and the stomach acid in the lane would have would have corroded the label away very quickly. So you put it all together, and in my mind, there's no way this wasn't staged, unless, of course, it ate the bottle literally like two minutes before it ate their bait, which is unlikely.

So um. I'd also add that I think there is a limit to what weird things end up in a fishing In this case, while I don't, I don't find it hard to believe that that a fish would take a shot at a whiskey. I don't know if it

came Bob and buy or whatever it was doing. Um, I don't know, man, I have a hard time believing it would the fish would work that all the way into its stomach, Like wouldn't you think it would spit it out like a bit of tire or like, I don't know, a dish rag or plastic bag or whatever. I can see that. I've seen pictures of stripers with a piece of wire arm from an umbrella rig poking out of their gut um. But I mean this, this would have had to have killed the fish if it

was legit. And and I don't know, like you're not digesting that and you're not passing it out the lin cod bung hole. So it's just fish have some instincts of like I think, what's gonna end up killing them if they swallow it? It just you know, anyway, it's a very bizarre story. I don't buy it. I don't claim to be a link expert. I've never call them, but I think they're deep water fish. They are there's times fort to stand when they'll come shallower. You can

find them shallower. But these are giants like these are not I will, I will say this. They have a mouth big enough to swallow it. I mean, Lincoln got a big old mouth. But yeah, they're super deep with a full bottle fireball. Would it even sinks, I was going to say, would even say so, this thing would have to come up and like sip it like a dry fly off the surface. And that you've you've, you've poked plenty of holes in this to the point where I already don't believe it. But that, to me is

just another piece of evidence of implausibility. Yeah, I mean it's it's it's hardly news, but it's just like we've we've also been on the weird stuff and stomachs beats. So I mean a bottle of fireball, that's that's something, even though it's nothing actually, even though it's all horseship, even though it's all made up, and justin yet another reason or another way that social media is ruining fishing because it's getting people to do idiotic stuff like that

in order to get six million views. That's what I'll say, Yes, that is what I'll say to could not agree with you more so, that's what we got. We got skip Jack's, we got fake tuna, we got fireball whiskey. If if Phil is feeling saucy, maybe he wants to go spray painted turtle this week, we'll see who took the victory. And uh, right after that, we've got a regional report for you guys from our favorite South Louisiana non legal

charter captain down the road Down. It's been a while, it's been a while since we we've heard from Darren and uh, keeping up with this week's culinary theme, We're literally going to see what he's got cooking. Joe, because you brought the heat this week, and because I agree with you that the tuna fish sandwich from Subway is the only thing worth getting there, you're the winner this week.

But Miles, I was trying to piece together who might be the culprit of the turtle painting, and I thought back to a viral video from years ago involving a guy who knows a lot about paint and turtles. That's right, it's the Zombie Kid likes turtles Kid. I think he might be someone to look into. So I'm actually gonna give him a call right here. Hi, zombie Kid, when was the last time you were in New Hampshire? Like t yep, we we know. Okay, um, do you know

anything about the turtle paintings? Well, that was a waste of time. I don't know what I was expecting. All right, y'all, summer in South Louisiana it's hotter than a two dollar pistol. And I'm gonna be honest with you, the fishing down right sucks right now. Normally, me and my boy Joey Campbell would be hitting Little Lake and delacro in the afternoons and loading the box would have limited red fish. Not this year. Could be a lack of shrimp, could

be all the high tides. We haven't but whatever it is, my freez is looking kind of slipt. I just got back in my mobile home after some storm damage just past hurricane season and hadn't even had one good fish fry yet, which is a bummer because the little chicken seeing said fried fish is a favorite. I and went out and swiped, I mean, borrow the new fish fryer to show him my cooking skills. Anyway, we're catching a few bass here and there now. The other day I

had a dude and one of them sparkly boats. Tell me I'm supposed to be putting them back. I said, oh yeah, how about to put him back in my ice chest where he belongs. I don't care if he's one pound or twenty. He's gonna get cooked down in the red gravy with some rice. I told him the stick is stupid bass tournament where the sun don't shine. I ain't no Kevin, damn Van. We're out here catching these fish to eat. He didn't like that too much. I told him. I said, don't worry. I'll bring your

wife a plate when I'm done cooking. I also heard they're catching good offshore, but I don't have the money or the time to get down there. Little Ricky Battaguley is a deck hand on a high dollar boat down to Venice. He told me they caught three tuna, all over two hundred pounds the other day. I told Ricky to stop by and bring me some tuna. He said he can't because the clients they take fishing one all

the meat. I said, well, look, tell him I'll trade him some hog meat and a few packs of dis I all right, well, that pretty much wraps it up. I got some cold mill of high Life in a can of Vianna sausage calling my name. And look, you know, anybody looking to get rid of a loamo halla me with all this rain we have in my grass is higher than a giraffe's assid my loonmar took a dump on me a few weeks back. All right, later, I have eaten bass. It's not my favorite fish, but they're

perfectly fine. I will eat bass again. It's not like my my my prime target, but I'm sure it'll happen. We should have no sacred cows. If you ask me if it's cool to eat while I and crappy, it should be cool to eat bass. But just in general, all fish, bess. I don't care which one blue gill select for the smaller to midsize fish any population. Put the breeders back, just across the board. That's what you do. Why is counsel there? If you're gonna eat him, I've

eaten him. Side note, the last time I ate a large math it was gritter with worms, which was kind of a turn off and has no bearing on anything. Any who look to close this one out. I'm gonna I'm gonna switch up end of the line a little bit. Remember earlier I foreshadowed hot dogs at the top of the show. Indeed, I do you You made a bold statement there your preference over brots at at least one fishing. Yes, they are, and that's partially because they can play double

duty when you're after a favorite fish for the fryer. Well, that's not allowed enough. Burt Channel catfish, like all catfish or scent feeders, everyone pretty much knows that they'll home right in on a fresh chunk of shad or chicken livers or fresh shrimp. Of course, there are some catfish anglers that will tell you rotten shrimp or shad or

chicken liver works even better. Fresh verse older and nasty or is something catfish guys love to debate, But they also love to debate mixes, mashups, and recipes of less obvious or less natural bait choices. Playing on the fish's ability to sniff out a meal has led people to insist that bar soap a killer channel cat bait. And I'm not I'm not talking crazy, Okay, I actually found

a whole article about it. You won't be successful with that thirty dollar bar of doctor squats you used to polish your ash cheeks, though, no, no. According to the cat pros, the cheaper the soap the better, like real man bar soap, like zest or dial or Irish spring, all the chemically ones that make you smell like the health and beauty aisle of a dollar store. Cut them into one inch cube, stick a cube on a hook, and apparently the cats come running. I've also heard guys

swear by soaking your bait and w D forty. Granted, neither of those things sounds very environmentally friendly, but I'm sure they create one hell of a scent trail. I've heard channel cat guys swear by chicken soaked in pickle brine, chewed bubblegum, plato, bananas, and blackberries. But if there's one channel cat bait that seems to pop up time and time again, it's hot dogs. And not just any hot dogs. I'm talking about hot dogs marinated in a sweet and

savory bath of cherry kool aid and arloc powder. I first heard about this many years ago while working on a story for Field and Stream, and at the time I wasn't much into channel cat fishing. It wasn't until years later, when I had little kids, that I put the wisdom to use. I wanted to take my daughter fishing for cats, but it was a spur of the moment decision, and I didn't really have any good bait.

But I did have hot dogs, cherry kool aid, and garlic powder, and even after only a couple of hours in the marinade, we were on a channel cat within five minutes of sending out that first chunk of dog. Google catfish plus hot dog and you'll hit on this recipe without even needing a scroll. And sometimes the kool aid is swapped for jello, but either way, the mixture hits channel cats in every olfactory sensor it has. It smells sweet, it smells pungent, and it smells like meat,

although maybe less so than it used to. But I'll get to that in just a sec. I tried to research the history of hot dog used for catfish, which took me to weird places, but there's really no clear picture, just speculation that at some point in history, somebody ran out of their preferred channel cat bait during a lakeside picnic or barbecue and a hot dog was simply handy.

Hot Dogs as we know them have been in American since eighteen seventy and powdered kool aid has been around since nine when some genius put them together as Anybody's Guest. But it's worth noting that many online articles suggest that when buying hot dogs for catfish, you don't get the fancy ones. Okay, getting your hot dogs might require another

trip to the Dollar General for something other than soap. Yes, it would make sense to spend as little money as possible on something you're only gonna use his bait, but there could actually be more to it. Cat gurus claim

the cut rate dogs catch more fish. To quote one article I read, get the cheap and nasty ones usually avoided by humans because you see, hot dogs, along with Deli meat, have some of the highest concentrations of nitrates and meat by products of anything we eat, or at least they did for decades until the world got healthier. Today's name brand dog producers tout the lack of nightrates and by products, but it's all that junk that makes the mystery meet more aromatic and attractive to the cats.

This is probably why I've also heard that Slim Jim's spam and Vienna sausage worked like charms too. So bottom line, next time you're cleaning out the fridge and dig up that zip lock with two Rando dogs swimming in the thickened dog water. You know the one I'm I'm talking about from that barbecue a month ago that required six dogs instead of the eight in the package. Don't throw

that away. You pour in a packet of cool aid and a little garlic powder, and that's great eats for a channel cat and without, My friends are Fourth of July cookout is winding down as you stumble around trying to remember where you left your bag and your couzy and your keys. Uh, please just ignore the grown man sleeping the kiddie pool while wearing a patriotic loincloth. Remember that brad Leone maybe a badass chef, but he's dead wrong about pork roll. Be advised that redfish and black

bass are all the same in South Louisiana. And never throw out your old hot dogs. Just mail them on over to Joe Bringham. Okay, bring it, no cool necessary, Just stick him in a fed X envelope. All good advice. Also, please send your bar nominations, salbin items, awkward photos, fish news suggestions, and poorly edited drunken ramblings to Bent at the meat eater dot com. Yes, do that, because I read every one of them and also keep tagging Bent

podcast and Degenerate Angler on the Graham. I will probably miss most of those, but Joe is all over them, I promise, and finally be safe out there this weekend and prepare for the crowds. Either do some yoga breathing and practice your meditation, or just do what I do and make everyone a double