Ep. 64: Dam Ghosts At Hell’s Trout Park

clean fish. Oh sweetheart, the Great Pumpkin has spens good Morning to generate anglers, and welcome to Bent, the fishing podcast that still dresses up like Roland Martin every Halloween, even though it just spends its entire night explaining that it isn't supposed to be Rick Flair during a golf outing. I'm Joe Surmeli, and guess who's riding shotgun for this entire cut rate haunted hay Ride Hayden Samic, that's who.

How are you? Joe? I am great many Buddy Hayden is rolling along for this whole U loosely Halloween theme show we're doing since Halloween is this Sunday, which begs the question, because I've we've done Halloween. She we did a Halloween show last year, so everybody knows. I'm a fan of Halloween. But I don't know, are you a fan of Halloween? Does this? Does this holiday excites you? You know, I get a little excited, But it gets different as you get older, like you know what I mean.

Like at for instance, it's a real like wholesome excitement because you're a kid excited about running around with your

friends and getting free candy. Then the benjulum swings to the other side around college, when you get excited about like completely unwholesome things and Halloween and uh but the benjaum swinging back and I'm kind of just excited to like, you know, hang out and hand out some candy and dress my dog up stupid and oh you're in the dress up the dog phase the next phase, and then it's like it rekindles is someday you'll have kids, and then Halloween gets super fun again because you see it,

I'm just running around and like fall over and crying stuff. Um but yeah, yeah, just stick with the dog for now. Don't rush that other part I just said. Um, So, then, what is what is the most ridiculous thing you've ever dressed up as? Whether that's child phase or or college phase. What is it when I was a kid. I dressed up as a hockey goalie, like completely like rollerblades and everything,

and eventually it got too hot. I realized it was super inefficient because while all my friends were just running from door, like crossing the side lawn and go into the next door, I would have to go all the way out whatever, like walk away all the way down their driveway to the street, across the street up the next It was horror. It was bad. So I decided I was going to be an ex Games rollerbladeer instead. So the only part of the costume I kept on

was like the rollerblades. And I remember crossing a sideline to catch up with my buddies and yelling X Games rules, and as I did that, I slipped out and broke my arm. So basically you were just kid in roller blades was the costume by the end. You know It's It's funny though, man, because I used to play a lot of roller hockey, and that was always the deal.

Like I played goal. I loved goal, and I'm like, I'm gonna do goal on skates, and then like one fake period on the street and I'm like I'm gonna take off the skates. You know what I'm saying. Yeah, well, you know all the all the neighborhood kids got together and donated candy because I had to go to the hospital. Sounds nice, but actually the little ship heads they when their mom asked him to donate the candy, they gave me like all like the tutsie rolls and the raisin

boxes and just ship they didn't want. You got the raisin nets and the necko way for his man. That's how you do when you're a kid. I dude, I wish I had. I wish I had a story that good. I don't. I'm actually pretty lame, would you believe? Um? I have not put on a Halloween costume since high school, and it's mostly because I have no friends, and a few I do have don't have Halloween parties. If they do, they don't invite me. But the last time I got

dressed up was my senior year of high school. I know, man, it's brutal. It's brutal. Enjoy your youth. Um. This was This was at a Catholic high school, mind you, and only the seniors were allowed to come in costume, so I just basically wore jeans and a T shirt. Similar to your ex Games outfit. Um, but I did my face up with one of those zombie kits, and I gotta say I was pretty good at those, you know, the ones with the blood and the scar putty and

all that ship. They're like, you know, fifty dollars at the at the Halloween store. Um, I could do them really, really realistically, right. I was really good at them, and the people in school were freaked out. But then what happened is I fell asleep with my head down on a desk during class, which was common for me. I just, yeah, I know, just you know, as I this is an elective,

I will sleep through it. But when I when I got up, my face was plastered to the desk and all that ship just like peeled off my face and was stuck all over my open textbooks and completely ruined them. So that's that's the last time I did Halloween. Textbook covers can't protect you from everything, man, Yeah, I know, I know, brown paper Bag. You know, it's like kind of unsurprising to me that you're good with like zombie makeup.

I feel like you're kind of a creative dude, and like, you know, kind of crafty and ship you know a little bit, a little bit. My my wife is more artistic than I am, but I always love that stuff. Um. And that was the last time in high school when I when I did the zombie makeup deal. But every Halloween I'm like dying to to put it on my kids and they won't let me. Like my daughter will be like, oh, I want to be a cheerleader, and I'm like, perfect, can you be a zombie? She's She's

like no, no, Daddy, no, she refuses. Um anyway to to get us in the Halloween spirit, here's what I did, right. Since we're talking costumes, I did a thing. I called up a bunch of past guests to find out the most embarrassing or crazy or ridiculous costume they ever wore. And we'll be peppering them throughout the show. And we'll start with my bud, Brian Wise stream Retire Extraordinary of fly Fishing the Ozarks fame. Hey, this is Brian Wise

with fly Fish in the Ozarks. And the weirdest thing I dressed up for Halloween was a girl when I was like twelve, went to an old folks home and all the people there thought I was the mom. This is gonna sound weird, right, But I can picture I can picture Brian and drag like. I actually kind of kind of think it works. Like he's got like nice high cheekbones. You know what I'm saying, that he could

really pull it off. That does sound weird. I have no idea what Brian looks like other than come on, other than nice cheekbones, I guess, but I will take your word for it. You don't watch Brian wise is streamer videos, dude, They're like world famous set to dub step where you've been man, Sorry, Brian, all right, We're gonna get you up to speed on that, all right. So what else are we diving into today? The land

of Zombie Salmon. That's fitting for Halloween. That plays well, although I think the land of Zombie Great Lake Salmon will soon be turning into the land of Great Lake Steelhead. And if you play that game, I highly recommend the Fate Steel line of rods from our sponsors thirteen Fishing. I've used mine for shad because a long light rod comes in handy there, but I'm really hoping to get

them on some steel this winner. And by the way, now that you're in the bent fold here, Hayden, I think you're entitled to some thirteen wears what takes your fancy, because I'm sure I can make it happen. That that's exciting. Um, I have a confession to make. Uh, this is this is gonna be truly jarring to more than a couple of our listeners, I guess. But would you believe that I do not currently own a single piece of conventional gear. Ah, that's a big strike against you. That's a big but

I know you conventionally fished. So are you just saying you didn't bother to bring any of the zeb coos out to Montana like you just had on hand. Yeah, that's pretty much what happened. Basically. I came out here last year after like you know, in like November. I came out here in a super in present, so I had just everything I owned in this little like hatchback. Yeah, there isn't like a ton of bass fishing out here, and while I are like kind of beyond me although

I get it, I get it. Yeah, I just haven't had a chance to I have had any money to get to get a bunch of fishing gear, Yet I had to buy like lame things like pots and pans and a bed frame. You don't have an Ikea out there either, do you? No? No? In fact, I tried to order try to order and stuff for my kea. It was like, yeah, we got it to in four months. I was like, well, that's not super helpful, but uh, you know what I really could use though, what's that?

I would love some hard water gear. I'm planning to hit the ice super hard this winter because yep, you know, I mean, everything tastes better when you pull it through the ice, man, Everything of cold water always tastes better, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, So if I were to get something from thirteen fishing Man, I would love some hard water gear. Sounds good, sounds good ice fishing gear will get you some black betties. Um, excellent choice there. I

will work on that, but until then, let's go shopping elsewhere. Okay, because we've got a sail been today that you listeners have been begging for. And it's a little mysterious. It's a little spooky, and you just don't know if it's safe to consume or if it's riddled with pushpins and razor blades. Why did you put the hand to pay you don't know what I'm getting. Man, What you didn't

have to be so hurtful with me so angry? Today We've got what I've at least decided is the perfect Halloween sailban item because it's very trigger treat right, could be good, could be ship, don't know. But thanks to several listeners that sent this one along. Um, there are too many of you to name, but at least ten of you fired this one off, and I thank you for it, but very quickly before I dive into this

particular item. Um, since this is Hayden's first sale, bin, I always like to know, like where where everyone stands on the online buying of other people's wears? Are you an online classified shopper? Do you look for things on Facebook and Craig's List and such? Shoot? Yeah, You're boy's been known to be a little bit thrifty like that. Uh you know, what do you buy? What do you like?

What are you using for dude? All sorts of gear? Man? Um? Yeah, I've bought a bunch of guitarist from a website called Reverb, but like I also buy a lot of my waterfowl decoys from like Piste off x Wives and girlfriends. You know, full body decoys are expensive. Man, in the best sale I've ever found is when you know you've got like a a Spern lover swinging the auction gavel. You know what I mean. I do know, dude, I do know. And like those posts are so rare and you've got

to be quick on it. But you see every once in a while on Craig's List, it's like every piece of fish tackle and fish poles in my condo needs to be gone tomorrow. Call Holly, and you know it's like, oh man, I need to get there tomorrow before he gets back from work. You know, I'm about that way better than this guy's about that exactly, exactly, oh man. So anyway, so here's what we have. I'm glad, I'm glad you're an online classified person that makes this more fun.

So so here's what we have. Okay, the title of this post, and now, mind you, I'm betting that even more people have seen this post than Senate. It's it's out there in all kinds of different Facebook forums. The title is secret jigs I use at Missouri Trout Parks and the photo is just a shot of a railing surrounding a low head dam and you see a lone angler waiting just above the damn. And I'm just surmising here, really, but I'm gonna I'm gonna say it was probably taking

at a Missouri trout park, would be my guess. I would say that's probably a fair assumption. Trout parks, I feel, are a very interesting cultural phenomenon and totally and I think that what's interesting about him is there are some folks that are like very dedicated to visiting. That's just

what they do. And and honestly, like you know, I'm sure it breeds a certain level of skill just because like the ability to rapidly a b test a bunch of different stuff over fish that you know, you know are seeing it well, dude, And there's there's some truth to that. It's like, on one hand, you step back and you're like, trout park, that's lame. I would never do that. But if you're into that, these places tend to have their ringers, like, ah, that's old Bill over there.

He gets him every time, you know what I mean. Like it's like it's like a jockeying for position at some of these trout parks. I would I would bet. Yeah. My my experience of trout parks overall is very limited, but I will tell you a quick story about one. And it's actually this is a story I told him my grandfather's funeral. The I'm coming in with him today, man,

I'm ready. Uh. So, when I was a kid, uh, one of my first trout fishing excursions was at one of these trout parks, and this one in particular was like a kind of catch and keep pay to play, right right, Um, I'm about four years old or something, and I managed to catch a fish, and you know, my dad puts him in the ten gallon bucket and kind of I am now no longer interested in fishing. I'm interested in watching this one particular fish kind of

swim around. So a couple of hours go by and we're leaving the trout park and we passed the you know, the the shed with a teenager and the filat knife, and uh, the guy kind of looks at me as I'm leaving, me goes, hey, uh, do you want your fish cleaned? And me, being four, I'm like, yeah, I I would like a shiny clean fish. Oh no, I'll poor little you into the bucket. Slaps on the cutting board, and I'm thinking that's a weird way to clean a fish. I feel like, I feel like it's probably not sleuper

good for it. And he just eviscerates this fish in front of me, and I cried all the way home. And you've never been back to a trout park since. Oh man, that's sad. That's so funny. Uh. Anyway, anyway, story time over. So these secret jigs, right, these these secret jigs, they'll cost you ten dollars, and four ten dollars you get ten, so a bucket jig, which isn't terrible, right, that's a lot cheaper than dry flies, a lot cheaper than dry flies. Three fifty most places for one blue

wing olive cause three fifty right, not even tied good? Yeah, exactly. But anyhow, man, uh, I would say that these one dollar jigs are not only a good price, but a steal for what they are and what they are. Lightning in a bottle. Man, I'm going to read the listeners the description of the jigs in question. So ten for ten, my secret jig that I catch thirty to fifty trout a day, no picture to keep it secret. I guarantee you will catch your limit daily. I have used this

jig for forty eight years. Will also throw in a detailed diagram of how to use it. Phone number hidden four forty eight years. It's kind of odd. Why not just say fifty or forty five? Like that's very specific? Hey, you want to know that he's honest, dude, these so it can't be exaggerating, right, But so I got to say right. In a way, it's kind of genius marketing. It's like the grown up version of the surprise eggs. All the little kids are are are into right, and

much cheaper. I might add, cause I know from experience. It's like, you know, you give me ten bucks and trust me, this is gonna be good. Like you're gonna like you like this. There are a lot of secret recipes that people go to great lengths to keep that way, dude, a hundred percent. But this is like a wink and a nod you've put out on the entire internet. I'm surprised it didn't put it on the dark Web. So he's trying to keep it secret, and then he assumes

the buyer will keep it secret. But you know, at some point some asshole is going to spill the beans, and that asshole is me because I have purchased these Oh you didn't. I did. I'm holding the package here and I have not opened it, and it's been killing me for over a week. I have been saving this for this moment. On this sale beIN right here. It's

gonna be the first ever unboxing on this podcast. I gotta say, like, I just did this through Facebook, and not to be rude, but like, you're not giving your credit card to like a business. You're dealing with some rando dude. That fish is Missouri trout Parks. So I'm still convinced somehow this will result in like my bank account being drained or my interview man, well, yeah I use PayPal, Okay, smart guy. But still I'm like from

Jersey and trust nobody. You know what I mean? You do? Yeah, but but it's it's all worth it to amuse the ben audience. I'm doing this because I want you all to catch more fish, god damn it, Like I want you to have all the manages. On the other hand, I want you to know if you're getting scammed. I believe it's worth ten bucks of my heart earned money to let you know this I'm not even gonna expense this, dude, I'm not even gonna make meat eat or pay or

what very well could be a mistake. This is This is a lot of pressure on you too, because this could be a cloud of anthrax. Like you're watching me on the computer right now that I'm very happy I'm watching you. You're safe out there in Montana. It could be a mail bomb, although it's very light. It would be the most sophisticated mail bomb ever. But I'm actually listening. It's by scissors. I have sat on this for a week, and this is it. Phil. You need to put a

drum roll over this. I am cutting the envelope right now, and together we're gonna see about these secret jigs. Look that they're all wrapped up in weird paper. These are gonna be good. Uh, oh my god, it's just a scam. Oh no, that's the diagram. Oh my god, dude, you've got to be kidding me. I hope you've got to be kidding me. I'm gonna see I'm hold this so you could see it. It's literally a tiny bag. Can you even see that? Of Like it's it's protagons in

all white. It is literally just a jig style hook gold with an itty bitty head that looks like a nymph head painted white. And then he has just wrapped white thread behind it and tapered it. That is it. That is all that it is. I was expecting like bucktail or just I was expecting it to be like some forty eight years dude, this should have been some precursor to the trout magnet or something these All it looks like is a euronymph with an upturned eye. It's

just a white thread. What is what is? Let's let's look at the details. Let's look at the worm on the detailed diagram. It's going to tell you to tip it with something. And I read the damn guy's advice for catching trout at Bennett Springs State Park. If you fish Bennett Spring State Park, this is your lucky day. Um Man. How to set up fly rod or spinning rod for this jig? Number one, Always use two pound test line or less. What's less than two pound test line?

UM eight x tippet. I don't even know. I don't know does he have does he have some secret line that he also sells with these secret jigs? No? Man, Always try and fish about six inches from bottom. Always make sure there isn't any moss on the jig parentheses. Very important. Use an adjustable cork when using a spinning rod. Make sure you keep the line tight. Tie jig on leader between six and eight inches above that and put

number six split shot adjust cork accordingly. Best place to fish, dude, Best place to fish this jig at Bennett Spring, number one on the damn number two. All four corners of the damn up lower. I'm seeing a day Am theme here. Not many people think to fish the damn. Oh my god, dude. This is number three, all the handicapped spots. Number like jigsie selling way points, number four, feeder stream outlet, number five feeder stream from hatchery outlet to stream. This is

you know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna look. I just gonna say, I have no doubt these will catch fish like these are like stock trout at a trout park. Why not. It just looks like a little white maggot or something. This is well, I mean yeah, sure, sure, I mean, like you know, like it's like what you know, waltz worm looks like nothing too. I think it's funny that like it's so fish Park, not fish Park in general,

but fish Park singular specific. And I do like that if you took anybody to survey this body of water and you were like, where do you think you'd catch some fish? They would point to all this new secret spots immediately. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I'm not I'm not mad at dude. They're definitely heavier. I think these are lead, Like these aren't like a tungsten head or traditional nimp head. I actually think these are itty bitty lead jigheads. But it's just so funny to me. I mean, there's not

even a piece of flash in him. Not it is literally just white thread. That's always think, what do you think the likelihood is that we have a listener that is in like reasonable proximity of this fish park. If you are hit me up. It also bothers me because now that I think about it, this man has my address, so he could now send me anthrax or a letter bomb for divulging the greatest secret in all of fishing on this podcast. I'd good to feeling good. This dude

is super tech s happy man. I think you're gonna be all right anyway. There you go. You know some of you who who sent that I hinted. I was like, look, I can't do this without knowing. You can't lay this on people without being able to say, this is what it is. So that is it. That is the secret to stock trout everywhere. A tiny lead jighead painted white with some white thread rap behind it. That was really fun. Man, that was like, that might be my all time favorite

sale bin right there. Naturally, I'm gonna I'm gonna put the pictures of these things on Instagram so you can all see it on Instagram, and and and copy and tie theees um if if you, if you want any more secrets revealed, you find something on your favorite classified online forum, do please keep sending those links to me at bent at the meat Eator dot com if you would, if you would love us to trash the things you

find here on the sale bin. Okay, that may have been favorite thing that's ever happened on Bent and honestly is one of mine, says and honestly, I'd feel bad that we burned dude spots if they weren't so obvious, like fish, the damn fish, the outflow of the creek. I'm surprised that he wasn't like fishing the big wet thing at the end of the dog. You know, I've been thinking about it, and you know I have a theory.

I'll tell you my theory. I don't think that the dude fishes at Bennett Springs anymore, because if he did, why would you do this? Why would you be so willing to give up all the goods on a very particular location. If you are then just creating competition for yourself. Have you considered maybe that you're the only dude who's bought his mystery jigs and I know people are interested. I may be the only dummy that actually sent the

man ten dollars. You're absolutely right. Maybe maybe it's like a one off, and maybe he's like, if I can get like one dude on some fish and he really starts talking about how good these jigs are, I'll sell a bunch. Maybe he's looking like whoever, but he's looking for someone to mentor someone to bring up to his status. I don't know. I don't know. Maybe we'll hear from me. I wouldn't be surprised, Yeah, exactly. Anyway, what matters in the end is um you know that that worked out great.

I did not explode um, and you all learned how to crush trout at Missouri Trout Parks Bennett Springs in particular. And speaking of things working out great, let's learn about a costume that worked out great for my buddy Marty Yee of Cross Current Guide Service on the Upper Delaware River. Hey, it's Marty from Cross Current Guide Service. Uh. The weirdest costume I ever war was probably a full body shark costume.

But that's not the funny part. The funny part is is it was actually the cleanest article of clothing I had, So I actually ended up warning the shark costume for about four or five days after Halloween. Worked out great. Uh, party Marty. If if this is the same Marty I'm thinking of, he was good friends with a late friend of mine, Jackie, that I knew from Salmon River Outfitters, and then also her ex boyfriend. I guess guides on the U D a little bit. I'm certainly it's the

same same Marty. I mean, Marty, Marty is Asian. He's the only Asian fishing guide I know on the Upper Delaware River. Is that ring a bell? That rings a bell? There? It is that's our Marty. Yeah, it gets a mean croctan. I follow him on Instagram. He does I just saw a few months ago. I was like, yeah, you're burned

anyway from Marty, Shark is a great choice. And I'm gonna throw a shot of Party Marty in that shark costume passed out in front of a golf cart in my Instagram story today because he made the mistake of sending that to me. Costume choice that is probably Party Marty. That's that's Party Marty. So I mean that that costume choice may have led to a lack of confidence once I post that, But I know someone who exudes confidence and everything he does, including choosing a costume. So let's

hit another one. Let's find out how our friend Oliver and I gets down on all hallows. Hey, this is all over and I from Big Bass Streams to my go to Halloween costume is Tiger Woods year in and year out, because it works better than a defiant to ten swim bait. Now that to me, if you know what Oliver looks like, that is so perfect. Oliver is the perfect Tiger Woods and he I seem to get the impression anytime he has to dress up. That's just the go to, and I say, hell did If it

ain't broke, don't fix it. I love it. Yeah, I mean I don't know too much about golf. I shot some geese on a golf course one time when I was a kid and got the cops called. But that's about like the limit of my golf course experience, you know. I do know about Tiger Woods though, and him, I hope so and him and I have something in common a champions minds, and Joe you better watch out because I'm bringing that champion mindset into this week's installment of

fish News. Fish news that escalated quickly, big news right out of the gate here that I'm very excited to share, mostly so people stop asking me. That's just that's just real talk right there. Uh, mark your calendars because episode one of B Side Fishing Season two drops next Friday, That's November five, on the meat Eator YouTube channel, which means for a month straight starting next Friday, you'll get a fresh Bent and a fresh B side on the

same day. And so, how on earth will you get any work done on Friday's Is what I want to know. It says here, I'm supposed to t you up to talk about some details. A nice wait. Yeah, way to put the effort in on that one, Hayden. Uh yeah, that's what I want as you to do. But I'll just go ahead and say I don't want to give away all the Jews before the show starts rolling out, but a couple of points of interest you guys may recall.

Season one was filmed entirely in my home state of New Jersey, which was just as much because of COVID as Jersey being a haven for unexpected fisheries. It kind of worked out, but when we were shooting that we weren't getting on planes and stuff because of the covids. But luckily we're we're back to traveling. So this season we only got one local n J show. Um, and I have to add co starring Miles multi sad face emoji the Legend lives on. Yeah, I love you Miles exactly.

And then and then we're hitting up Virginia a couple of times in Minnesota, and I gotta say, if you appreciated the exploration of some of the lesser known fish like the dog and the picke roll from the first season, You're gonna dig Round two we we chase some unexpected species, and uh, I really kind of challenged my my own

culinary metal. And while this season, I gotta say it was it was a lot more work than the last one, I had a lot of fun and uh I got to hang out and fish with some really cool people. So I'm pumped on it. Yeah, man, I really like this series. It reminds me a lot of your hook Shot series, but yeah, but like more polished, you know, and that's people are always like, how would you describe B Side? I'm like, it's hook Shots, man, only it looks better and it's slightly more grown up. Otherwise it's

kind of the same thing shows more grown up. Maybe not the host, but no, no, no, I actually just binged the first season of B Side about a month ago, um, and I was horrified to find out that I had been missing out on some quality Joe Surmelie content for for so long. Um. But yeah, I mean my buddy Maggie pretty much did Did she do all the post

on this? Yes, Maggie is awesome. Okay, yes she did all the posts, all the graphics, and that that's one of those things you talk about the difference between the old show and the news show. It's like, Wow, I have people to make me cool graphics. I never thought that would happen. I love it. I love everything that Maggie Smith does. It's killer. And it dawns on me that when the first season of B Side launched, you didn't even work here yet, did you. You weren't even

part of the meat Eater crew. No, that's how That's how I missed it. Right, Maybe down the road hidden you'll be You'll be in one anyway. Well, uh yeah, we'll move on the news here. As reminded, this is a competition, Hayden and I do not know which news story the other guy grabbed, creating an element of mystery and the unexpected. We also enjoy a good plot twist which which reminds me of our dear friend river Horse and his most zany Halloween costume that goes a little

something like this. Hey, now, this is river Horse from the Deep South in Texas. My favorite Halloween costume I ever dressed up as was wait a minute, Oh my gosh. Nice try. You all feel free to run around and sparkle glows star, whereas Jedi outfits and chase each other with fluorescent lightsabers. My saber is a Sage eight waite fly rod because I'll be out in the canoe all night, stick and red fish into the full moon. Baby, Oh sweetheart,

the Great Pumpkin has spins. Yeah, that dude is that one's very comforting and sort of unsettling, a little bit unset unsettling. Why what's unsettling? Part of it is like the creepy music that Phil kind of puts in there. That's Phil, though that's not River horse Man. He'd have like this kind of creepy some some skinners or some some Joe Walsh jams in there if it were up to him. That dude sounds like like like codeine or something,

you know what I mean. I love I love River horse I think he should be part of that calm app make a lot of money. I'd rather listen to him at night than like Morgan Freeman or whoever is on there. Uh. He does raise a good point, though he threw us a little curveball there. But we already said that Halloween gets a lot more fun again when you have little kids. At the same time, if you don't and don't care about giving out candy man Halloween night is a great night to like go surf fishing

because the beach is practically empty because everybody's involved. Yeah, man, you know, whitetail hunting is also a little bit like that, Like there's like kind of like that that magic that happens right around Halloween. Still adding fishing too, you know, as long as we're on sort of legendary alternate Halloween activities, I guess. Yeah, Halloween Thanksgiving are both great outdoors days, and I hardly get to do anything outdoorsy on either

of them anymore. But anyway, anyhow, fish News this is, as Joe said, a competition, and this week we're offering up phil our very best as normal or Joe's very best best somewhat best. Let's we're gonna see if I can break the slide this week, and Joe, I believe you're up first. Man, Yes, I am up first this week. And yeah, let's see if you break the slide. Is right? Uh, here's a fun one from where that night a big bread.

This comes from k s at news dot com, and it's the story of a potential record that's very unexpected, though satisfying to me because there's not an ounce of pretentiousness in it. A matter of fact, it was kind of like a goofy jokey thing that happened, but I love the outcome. So here's what went down. On October eleven, Ben Christiansen was floating down the Pedernales River in his little inflatable flycraft. Now when I say this river is deep in the heart of Texas, I mean it is

deep in the heart of Texas. It's pretty much smack dab in the center um. And it's one of the many rivers that flows through Texas hill Country, which I've always wanted to fish. I don't know if you're if you're hip to the Texas hill country scene, but it's very cool. It seems super cool. Maybe let's go check it out sometime. Yeah, maybe that'll be our B side you would meet Texas hill Country. It seems kind of

like an A side. Well, I don't know, we'll find we'll find some dumb ship to do and turn it right around. We'll go there to chase whatever is not the thing you chase there. That's kind of what I'm about sometimes anyway. Yeah, So so that the Pedernalies is one of those it's like Aqua Blue the water is just aqua. Um it's like filled with limestone ledges. It's it's just pretty and and super juicy. Um and and Texas Hill Country has quite the fly fishing culture there, right,

and and Ben is a big time fly guy. In fact, the article says he's currently working on a book titled fly Fishing San Antonio and the Texas Hill Country, which I would like to check out at some point. Yeah,

me too. But before we even get into this story more, because I know what this story is now that you've said the name and provided the context, Okay, I just want to point out another ben our listener, Ben roussel I g hand Mountains to Marsh sent this story to me because you apparently never read the news that he sends you. I'm gonna dispute that, because Ben very well may have sent this, but like, I don't get all

my news stories from listeners. Like sometimes if if one of you guys hits hits something that I haven't seen yet, then I'm like, oh, and I credit you for that. But strong chance already knew about this and Ben sent it, and then like if you just send me a news story with nothing else, yes, Okay, I don't always respond to them. But I respond to nine of my d m s. People will back me up. And that is

very true. And I think in order to foster that listener connection, I think everybody listening to the Bent podcast should direct message Joe and he will get back to each and every one of you with a very long and thoughtful response. I ask him anything, I ask him anything, doesn't I welcome that. But if you're gonna d M me, like, why don't you send me an awkward photo or a bar nomination or a voice memo. If all those people that just listen to hate and say that responded with

a voice memo, a lot more you'd get on. You'd get on this show more for nibbles and seas. I'm just saying anyway, So, speaking of Instagram, Ben, I looked him up on Instagram, and as predicted, right, his feet is loaded up with photos um you'd expect from that region, smaller bass, some carp a, few exotics that live there, and so on. And I think it's it's fair that generally speaking, Texas hill Country is sort of synonymous with with what i'd call light tackle fly fishing. Right, it's

very clear water. You have to be stealthy. And I've talked to some guys down there who said to me, like, yeah, man, you you can't come here with a seven weight and rip a big streamer around and expect catch anything. Like you'll usually just scare ship because the water is so clear, right, So so that explains why on October eleventh, Ben was wielding a four weight fly rod, which, in case you don't understand how fly rod waights work, trust me, that's light, right,

I mean, that's lighter than your average trout rod. That's small, you know, stream trout stuff. That's about what I used for small. Yeah, like like you know, not quite stuff you can jump over, but you know, not not big rivers, small ways anyway, dry fly it's a dry fly rod exactly. And you hope that the fish aren't bigger than like sixt in um. Yet, when Ben spied a giant ass blue cat swimming around in that clear water, did that four weight stop him from casting a damsel fly at it?

Hell no, it didn't. Hell no, did the cat eat the damsel? Hell yes, hell yes it did? And off to the races Ben went for, according to him, forty minutes right now. It's amazing that he landed this fish because it weighed thirty one fifty five pounds and if you factor in a light four weight rod, right, and then he was only using twelve pound tippet, whereas you know, like serious blue cat guys chasing these fish elsewhere, especially

fish of this caliber. I mean, they're using fifty to eighty pound leader, right, And then you've got a damsel fly. I wouldn't exactly call it like a beefy salt order deceiver. It's a fairly dainty trout pattern. It's you know, right exactly, it's a it's a small fly. So for that little fly to hang on or at least like not bend out during a forty minute tussle with a fish that

has a pretty hard mouth and fights like hell is impressive. Um, but it obviously tells me, you know, Ben is pretty adeptive fighting fish like dude knows what he's doing, because there's no margin of error there, especially when you consider in a shallow, rocky river that cat can only go out right. It's kind of like how tuna are more fun and less than a hundred feet of water because they can only sound so far. They have to go out, and they go screaming off. Big cats do the same thing.

If they have depth, they just try and stay deep right, so you're you're bringing them up almost vertical and that makes pressure super super difficult to apply there. Man, Yes, you can't just rip that rod sideways and reeve on them. You gotta know no. And I'm sure there were boulders and ledges and all kinds of obstacles in Ben's way. So I also love this. The fly was tied by Ben's son just the night before. It was an olive variant damsel. His son named Chips and Salsa because, as

he puts it, every fish wants to eat it. He's got a fly name Chips and Salsa. I love that. That is a great name, very catchy, that needs to be in in fly binds everywhere. It will still uh So. Ben is a strict catching release angler, but he ended up keeping this cat because he was worried the long fight exhausted it and it would it would die anyway.

But having that official weight could potentially land him in the record books because according to the i g f A, the current blue cat record on twelve pound tippet only ways twenty six point four pounds, so that's a fairly significant difference there. Yeah. And furthermore, Texas Parks and Wildlife says the catches also pending the water body record for the Pedernales and that and that's gotta be that's gotta

be all tackle. Yeah. I mean, I don't know if that's that they if I know what you're saying, I don't know that much about how water body records work, but I don't believe in most cases, um, that they're broken down by you know, tippet class or anything. I think that just means he caught the biggest blue cat uh known to have ever come out of the Pedernales,

which is pretty damn cool. Um. And And here's why I love this whole thing, right, because many of us have been in Ben's position where some big gas fish pops up unexpectedly and you're totally not prepared for it, and you're like, do I cast at that? Oh? What the hell? Yes? I do? And if the fish eats right, it either leads to glory or instant failure. But for that like split second of decision making, you just don't even consider your line strength or your gear ratio and

and hook size, and you just go for it. Um. And the last time this happened to me was a couple of years ago. I was smallmouth fishing on a smaller stream around here. I was waiting using pretty light outfit in six pound test and I'm flicking this small brown tube around. And every time I fished this river, I would see carp almost every time, um and and just for ships, every time i'd see him, I dropped whatever I was throwing a grub or tube or ever in front of them, and never, not once ever did

one eat it. And these are like smaller like five to eight pound fish, never eat that. Right, Well, this time, like here comes old twenty pound rubber lips and I just sent it and the fish sucked it up like it was his last meal. And I just got dumped. And I tried chasing this fish down, um And in the process, because I was trying to move along the bank really quickly, my line got wrapped in a branch but closer to the rod tip, like closer to me,

and that's where it snapped. So I lost the fish and pretty much all my line, and then I just had to go home and it sucked. That's the chance, the chance you take, right, Yeah, I mean, you know, I've had a similar experience, just like crappie fishing with a little to weight and there are a bunch of these big carp in this pond where I was fishing, and you know, I I dropped that little like b jig that I was fishing pretty much immediately got all spooled out. And there's only ten ft of line on

a two weight reel. Anyway. Yeah, it's like a pocket watch size real Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah yeah. And the but before the lion could run out, the cart broke the rod in half when it got caught around my reel. Oh man, that's a bummer. I actually have a really good future nibbles and SIPs about a cart breaking rod anyway. One final thought on this um. In my opinion, catfish are are kind of overlooked as a fly target, right.

It's I know, it's not like a front runner in the fly world, but some of the most fun I've ever had with a fly rod was throwing a mulberry pattern at blitzing channel cats on the Hudson River. Um. And I've also stumbled into them rising for for white flies too. And I have some buddies that claim they can get me a flathead on a streamer. I just haven't gotten there yet because that's one of those bites where they call you and they're like, bro, you need to get down to the school in Philly now, you

know what I mean. It's like like the window is there, they're doing the things and the water is right and you could make it happen if you get here now. And I just haven't yet, but I think you should. I think people should chase more catfish on fly rods, just saying yeah, you know, it's interesting. Uh. If there's one thing you know about me, man, it's that I really like chunking for catfish yep, yep. And I guess there's another thing you know about me is that I

really like catching fish on fly here yep. And you would think that would be a pretty obvious intersection of those two interests. And I've heard of people catching them, particularly on mulberries. Um, it's it's situational that's the problem. Like I think, like the catfish on fly especially rising to something you can't go out and find that, like

it finds you in all those scenarios. It's like I'm there, I was there fishing for carp with the mulberries, and until the tide change it was nothing but channel cats up. So I'm like, okay, and then your your small mouth fishing with white flies, and then there's channels, you know, but it's a really hard thing to find, and channels are frightened now, right, yeah, because they'll eat a bait off the bottom. And I don't know how many times

I've inadvertently caught them on smallmouth lures. It's I'm us like, at some point in the year, and I think it happens a lot in the fall, they'll just flip the switch for a little while where where these like lazy you know, vacuum cleaners just go full on mid column predatory mode and they're like chasing bait fish around and stuff like that. I've just never been in that scenario

with a fly ride in my hand. So yeah, I've caught channel cats on like poppers fishing at night, but that's about as far as like I guess you'd call unconventional cat fishing methods goes from yep, speaking of roping in giant fish, Oh, I got a heater. And if Phil doesn't like ancient fish in places where they're not supposed to be like last week. Maybe Phil will be more interested in saving the whales. Oh yeah, dude, why can't you see Phil on one of those whale boats

in the Antarctic ramming other ships. Yeah, Phil is one of the secret meat eat or green piece folks that you hear about. You've been outed. Yeah. So this story comes from ABC ten in San Diego. San Diego angler Matt Capron was out with somebody's trying to trying to catch some bluefin on the weekend. Uh. They were about a hundred miles off the coast of Point Lima when they came across a humpback that got itself all up

in a lobster pot. The whale hit managed to get its tail wrapped around six or seven times just above like the fluke. Obviously, like that whale is not going super far. Uh so what did Caprin do? He grabbed a filet knife and just went full send, jumping into the water and cutting away the rope, uh, freeing the whale. One of his buddies, Yeah, you know, I was badass. One of the one of his buddies took a video of the entire thing and it's it's some like crazy,

crazy footage. But my favorite part of that whole video it's you can hear a guy in the back comment, George is still fishing. George, you are a man after my own heart, and I appreciate your dedication despite the context in which you're fishing. Dude, I I really want to try not to get off. But that's just like triggered a story in my brain very very quickly. I'm not gonna name names. I've never gotten my buddy to tell the story publicly. He knows who he is. He's listening.

But I have a friend who was on a party boat way off shore and a guy died of a heart attack. He just dropped it, and obviously it shook the whole boat right, everybody was upset. But there was like that one old crotchety, grizzled dude who like he paid his hundred and twenty bucks to be out there tuna fishing, and like as they're zipping the dude up into a sleeping bag, he's like, well, I guess I'll keep the I'm slick going. It's always that one anyway.

That's what it made me think of. That's what George. That's George. The next thing yeah, I've I've heard a story similar. It might be it might have been on like the Meat Eat podcast, but somebody was telling a story about how one of their buddies or a buddy of a buddy died in a duck blind and they thought the best way to honor him would be to shoot a couple more ducks while they were still flying. Yeah, dude, if I ever die on a boat full of buddies, boys,

keep fishing. Okay, there's nothing you're gonna do for me anyway. Yeah. Anyhow, the whale wasn't like a huge whale, but being at the ass end of a whale like that is pretty dangerous, like particularly when you're treading water holding an eight inch file at knife. Yeah, from my understanding of it, with most whales right like like orcas or something with like teeth aside, the most dangerous part about them is the

fluke right their motor. Uh. You ever see that video of an orca punting a seal like a mile into the air. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes yes seal. Yes dude, I have seen that video, and just personally, I mean, I've I've been up close and personal with a lot of whales here striper fishing because they come in and eat the bunker. And there's tons of videos out there like kayakers almost getting crushed under flukes. You know, when those things are just steamrolling through bait, you don't

know where they're gonna come up. And if that hits you, you're dead, right, I mean, you're just you're dead. What It's like a tree falling on you, man like game over the exactly. Yeah. Well, I mean, granted, the whale in the video of the seal was an orca, but it just kind of, you know, goes to speak to that sort of power that these things have. You know, dude was in a pretty dangerous spot. Um, but everything ends well, the guy doesn't get whale punted into another dimension.

Willie goes free. The reporter asked him if he felt like the whale came back to say thank you. Uh as we have to answer more pies everything. Also, you know, free Willie. But not Days of Thunder. I don't like that. I'm of a certain age. It came out the same year, I think, but that's I don't know. The whale may have just been like disoriented after nearly drowning. Possibly it's possibility, Yeah, it could have just swum in a circle. Um any Anyhow,

the story is kind of cutting dry. The whale got tangled, dude freed at the end, but it kind of got me wondering a little bit. A lobster pot a hundred miles offshore seems like kind of needle in the haystack, right, So my question is was this a fluke phil note

that pun for judgment please on his points. Turns out this kind of thing happens all the damn time, and not only does it like suck for the whales, but it also sucks for the commercial dudes getting their gear busted up or dealing with seasonal closures of like good fishing ground because there are whales in the area. Like, both of those things suck. So researching that a little bit, I found out that this is such a problem folks are actively searching for ways to get around it or

help the whales get around it. My research led me to an article about some folks at the Woods Whole Institute developing ropeless lobster pots, and it just so happens. My dear dear friend, Molly Current is an engineer at the Woods Whole Institute and works with the whole contacts. So I asked her their emails and they never got back to me. So the article never mind, it's a

tool of clubs in your pocket. So than the article just kind of details these lobster pots, which are basically, uh, lobster pots with ropes that settled to the bottom with the trap. Then after an acoustic trigger or a timer goes off, the buoy floats up to the top, and in that way they can keep the ropes out of the water column and away from marine life. Interesting. There

was also this statistic in the article. Um, according to studies by the New England Aquarium and the Center for Coastal Studies, three of North Atlantic right whales and about fifty of humpbacks between Cape cod and Nova Scotia get up in the net or rope at some point. Uh, it didn't present it exactly like that, but that's like the crux. No I would imagine, and it didn't. I'm sure that wasn't a direct quote from the Scientific journal,

but I got what you're saying anyhow. Um. You know, I've thought of of whales getting wrapped up in nets and stuff before, but it never really occurred to me that they get tangled up in lobster pots like quite as much as they do. So that makes the story

interesting to me for two reasons. One, freeing a whale is probably like a very very cool experience, and the footage is pretty amazing and too it kind of brought to light a problem I didn't really know existed and let me sort of also flex a connection to the to the woods Hole Institute, like saying it FLEs anything at the woods Hole you failed. They're like, no, I don't have time for you or off researching things, dude, Phil If I if I lose this episode of Fish News,

blame Molly Current. Oh man, it's it's a cool story. Don Actually, I love what you did there with the lobster pots because thinking about that, um, you know, for one, it surprises me that that many whales get tangled in those, at least I think it does, because I spend a lot of time mahi fishing on them and for them. I mean, you're talking about one rope. There's there's basically one rope going down now. I guess, um, if they tangled one and ran into a bunch of other ones,

that's a different story. I think that the ropeless lobster pots though, super cool idea, And what I what I wonder about that is what is the cost? I mean, you hear all the time about how commercial fishing doesn't pay the bills like it used to. So like, can your average um lobster commercial lobster operation afford to switch over all that gear to these you know, acoustic tag linked lobster pots. Well, Joe uh, I thought the same thing, and so I looked into it, and it turns out

that like that is kind of the big you know critique. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think they said something like with the current model is like available, it would cost like a thousand bucks or something to equip each lobster pot. And also like there was something about setting, like the connection involves is like nickel plated wire or something like that. That's like kind of like a tedious little process to do. But these lobs, these alternate lobster pots that they're suggesting, would

be much cheaper and thus making them commercially viable. Um. The other thing, the other argument was that without you know, these whales kind of messing up all the gear and you know, dragging for instance, like one gets stuck on one lobster pot keep swimming because it's a big whale and you know, hooks up a bunch of others. I mean like that's like eighty a lobster pot, right, Like that's like a significant amount of gear, kind of a big yeah. So they kind of justified it that way.

I'm not sure, uh, end up might come to fruition, but if it does, I mean I would see it being a really really good thing. Well yeah, and and like like the good human in me agrees with you, but like the jerk and me is like, yeah, but if you if you do that and take away all the lobster pots within, where am I going to catch my ma? He's in the summer, Like I'm the weirdo. That's like yea wind farms more mahi structure, like put stuff out there to hold cool fish, you know what

I mean. Was it not on like a recent episode or not a recent episode? We talked about that, not not on B side. We just talked about it. Oh the ma he mean yeah, Episode one was lobster pot mahi fishing, which is the bomb. But you kind of need lobster pots, so you know, And the only other thing I would say, Um, and again I'm not super well versed in this. I might be talking out of school.

Good on dude for freeing the whale, but I've always been taught or heard and read that like, under no circumstances are you ever allowed to muck with a marine mammal living or dead, Like you just can't mess with one. Yeah, but I mean you could make the argument that that like whale had already kind of been like molested a little bit by by folks before you know, true jumped in. You know, yeah, well okay, and he did a good deed,

So the whale is free and everybody is happy. We'll see how happy Phil is with these two stories today, and then when we're done with that, we're gonna go have a drink in in in Zombie Land Zombie salmon Land. Hayden here is going to lead us solo in a that's my bar and it's a it's a really really good one. Hayden, you're the winner this week. I would also like to extend a big thank you to Matt Caprin.

If we learned anything from Star Trek four, that whale that he freed might one day be responsible for preventing an Earth ending alien invasion. In that movie, the crew saved some whales from whalers by spooking them away with their giant futures. Take spaceship, which isn't nearly as cool as it would have been if Leonard Nimoy jumped on deck and went ham on everybody with a filet knife.

Best god damn bar tender from tim Buck to to Portland, Maine, Portland argument for that matter, Salmon season in New York. You know I love it. Got the humma generators, the crackling of autumn leaves and beer cans beneath your feet, and the lighthearted pleasantries exchanged by anglers hooked up to the same fish. These are the sounds of October and Plaska. After a long day of dodging egg sinkers, ugly sticks, and suspiciously largest as eggs, or, as we call it,

salmon fishing, everyone needs a great place to unwind. Well, friends, look no further than the Altmar Hotel, located right by the lower fly only zone of the world famous snagging sorry that's Salmon River. The Altmar Hotel is the perfect place to debate which color sponge those mud sharks are craving and pick up a dry rub recipe so good your friends will swear that zombie fish it wasn't mostly

dead by the time you caught it. At Almar Hotel, they can buy in friendly service and staff with the ever present feeling that a full on brawl might break out. And that's true, the bartender is gonna call you honey, while on more than one occasion, I've been pretty sure fish weren't the only things about to find themselves bludgeoned

in the parking lot. Anyhow, you sit down for a coal one at the bar and you might notice a sign that says, lou be nicer, get out now, lose a friend of mine, and if you're lucky enough, we're unlucky enough to run into him. You shouldn't know that that sign is only half joking. He's grumpy as hell and he's convinced you suck at fishing. If you're feeling brave, you can go ahead and buy him a shout at tequila and he'll be glad to tell you exactly why

that is. But be warned, he really isn't very nice, and he's normally kind of right. Jokes aside. I do actually love this bar. It's got pool tables, cold beer, that flickering neon vibe, and some surpri easily good live music. You know what's not to love from biker's riding, Harley's

two Anglers, fishing, boutique hardies. The Altmar Hotel has something for everyone, including a karaoke night, meatloaf, Monday's Fish Fridays, and the Thursday Wing Night so reasonably priced you'd swear they were ron if only they weren't so damn good. That's a pretty much everything on the menu is great, and I particularly like their chicken parm which weighs more than the sword covered asenat co Hoo. Your buddy dragged in today and could feed his whole family in a

way less disgusting way. So if you're on the hunt for that greasy brown meal, your soul craves after a long day on the water, or just want to snag a few beers while you try to convince yourself all those fish definitely got line wrapped and weren't just hooked in the South Mouth to begin with, Grab your buddies

and head on over to the Altmar Hotel. Just remember ditch your studded waiting boots at the door, and don't you dare ask Glue if you validate sparking, if you've got to dive with this much character more shady characters, we want to hear about it. Send an email to Ben at the meat Eater dot com and rep your favorite fishing bar. Now, what do you think the odds are that Lu does costume parties? Do they have a Halloween party at the Altmar? Would? Would you know? What

would Lou be? I would assume that they had a Halloween party at Altmar Hotel. Um. I do not think that Lu does costume parties. However, if he should so happen to do a Halloween costume party, I want to say he'd go as a pirate. Like he looks like an old Priarty's kind of like long hair and like a beard and also you know, like peg like well, he also seems like the guy at the bar who would be pirate, but just dressing his normal attire and just do the the eye patch in the pirate mat.

It's like, there you go, I'm dressed all right, it's just another day of drinking. Sorry, it's Halloween. Oh man. Well, we may never know what Lou would be, but I did ask our resident Lou are lieu of the striper scene, that being Bob the garbage Man Britona, not a Newski, And I gotta tell you all, I expected no reply about Halloween costumes from him. I got this Bob the garbage Man Brittona not a Newski, and one time I

dressed up as an Atlantic City police officer. Not long after, I dressed up as an inmate at the Bayside State Prison for a little while. But neither one of those costumes had anything to do with Halloween per se. Thank you, Bob. That is at once deeply concerning and totally unsurprising. I've said I don't really know. I don't have any idea what goes on in Bob's personal life, Like usually we're just talking fish stuff. Um, yeah, that was Yeah. I don't want to know. I don't want to know anything

about either of those costumes. What I do know for a fact is that he would hate this week's end the Line segment because it deals with a striper bait that is not bunker and I chose it to close out on our theme this week. So I was trying to come up with a Halloween related bad or lord when I realized that this one allowed me to reference one of my favorite Kevin Bacon films I knew I

had arrived. Well, that's not allowed enough, Burt. Sandworms have wiggled their way into pop culture via the sci fi horror genre. Three times. You had the Shy Hallud, a massive sand worm that played a big role in Four is Dune, which you probably never saw because it's three hours long and in my opinion, it's it's just boring as ship. The best thing to come out of it was the band Shy Hallud, which took its name from that monster Dune worm, and it is a pretty damn

good hardcore metal band. After dooone, we didn't see a killer sand worm on the big screen again until eight and Tim Burton's Beetlejuice. You might recall that if the ghosts stepped out of the door of their former home, they'd find themselves whisked away to Saturn, where that huge black and white striped sand warm with two heads and a shark fin wood gobble them up. Whoa sandworms? You

hate them right? I hate him myself. But it wasn't until director Ron Underwood truly cemented the fear of burrowing worms with nasty mouthparts into the minds of the masses

with Tremors and its famous grab voids. I lie awake at night often wondering how Tremors was beaten out for Best Picture by Driving Miss Daisy and the Oscars that year, because I mean, Jessica Tandy is a badass and all, but Hoke and Daisy didn't have nothing on Valentine McKee and earl Bass played by Kevin Bacon and the underappreciated Fred Ward add in crazy Burt with all his guns, and you've got a timeless classic broke into the wrong

goddamn reck room. Didn't you know, your bastard? Anyway, The thing is as spooky and terrifying as the Hollywood versions of sand worms. Maybe it's freak here when you understand that they're all based around real sandworms, and while their traits have been exaggerated to scare you, they do mirror natural features and tendencies of these slimy little worms. Many

species of sandworms exist on our planet. They can be found in warm and cold climates and go by several different names, including beach worms in Australia, though the name used most often by science to classify them is actually lug worms. Depending on the age and species, sandworms can range in land from a few inches to a few feet. In Alaska there are sandworms is stick around as a rattlesnake,

while other varieties are just ribbon thin. What they all have in common is what are technically called parapodium but look like tiny legs or little feathers running down each side of their body, and these, of course help them burrow and move around under the sand. Sandworms can range in color from pink to red, black to green, and brown to orange, but regardless of the shade, they are all just disgustingly hideously ugly, and unlike nightcrawlers, they have

a very distinct head and tail. That head also has a mouth from which it launches too retractable, very sharp, hard, and pointy pinchers. That's how these omnivorous worms grab everything from small invertebrates or bits of seaweed to other worms. And if you've ever used them for bait, you know they will make every effort to sink those pinchers into your skin while you're trying to put them on a hook. Sandworms have always both creeped me out and skewed me out.

Which is kind of the same thing, but regardless, they've been a top producing bait from myriad inshore species since, like the dawn and time, they have a unique smell that fish can't seem to resist, and since these worms are usually buried pretty deep, finding one out the open is a rare treat for a fish. In Australia, there's still a top bait for sea breen. On the west coast of the US there are a top producers species

like surf perch out here on the East coast. Fluke flounder and white perch can't gobble them up fast and off, but they were always best known here as a striper bait, particularly in the early spring when the resident bass go on the feed over warm mud flats. Why then, if this bait is so good and so popular, do you not see it used as frequently as you once did or talked about as often. The simple answer there is cost.

It's been years since I've purchased sandworms in a local tackle shop, but I looked online and found a dealer that chips direct. The current rate for a dozen sandworms in the year is thirty dollars. Their tutorials on YouTube for harvesting your own sandworms, but I wouldn't call it quicker easy. First, you have to identify their holes by looking for the tiny pile of sandy spaghetti that the worm discards behind it as it burrows. You have to

extract them carefully so they don't break. It's tedious, and most of the sandworms that end up in tackle shops and gas stations along the Eastern Seaboard come from just a handful of commercial harvesters in Maine. Now. They can only harvest at low tide, and they can only do

it by hand. There's no machinery involved. Factor in that the next generation isn't really overly interested in learning that trade, and you've got a severe labor shortage in a niche business that has a hell of a time keeping up with supply and demand. When Berkeley Gulp first introduced its line of saltwater baits many years ago, one of the

things they unveiled was their sandworm. It was one of the first true soft plastic baits, designed not to be worked and manipulated on a jighead or wacky rig or Texas rig, but rather dead sticked like a real sandworm.

They cost a fraction of the price of the real worms, and I can tell you what they stayed on the hook a hell of a lot longer, but all these years later, if you walk out on any of the beaches frequented by those looking for that first striper in March, or maybe a pile of white perch in the colder months, rest assured it's the guys that ponied up the thirty bucks that have a few pricks in their finger years from those nasty grab boids that are out fishing everyone else.

So that's it for this week. But before we sign off, how about one last costume from our amigo and uh dost boat star Captain Frank Cressitelli from Staten Island. I mean, if you think about it right, all Halloween really is is the kickoff to a barrage of holidays like coming at your face that you you have to deal with and cannot avoid. So I think this is fitting. This is Captain Frank Cressitelli. And what are the crazy outfits I've worn on Halloween while fishing? Was a full Santa outfit.

I usually break it out on Halloween, but then it makes a reappearance just around that magical time. Classic isn't it, isn't it? Yeah, I've actually seen a couple of people fishing in like drift boats and off or you know, during steelhead season around Christmas. I'm not sure I've ever seen it for Halloween. It seems like you kind of just wait a couple of months and get your Santa

fix then uh well, yeah that's fair. But I also I would bet that like a guy like frank just has a Santa costume he paid a decent amount of money for, so like he ain't going out to buy like a Frankenstein student Halloween. He's just like, I'll do Santa twice. It's like a matter of like, it's it's it's efficiency. It's efficiency. Anyway, I hope, I hope you guys enjoyed our nod to Halloween. Don't forget if I

end up murdering my home. It was the Missouri Trout Jigs guy driving Miss Daisy wasn't as good as tremors. Brian Wise is a very convincing woman. And Hayden would love for you to invite him over for meat loaf Monday. Never turned down some meat loaf man. Let's on the radio, Joe, I gotta say I had a I had a blast doing the whole show with you this week. This was fun, dude. Yeah, for sure. I've said it before, it I'll say it again.

Ben is probably my favorite show on the entire Meat Eater net work, and after they fire me, it'll probably be the only one I keep listening to. Nice. That's that's good. But while I'm still here, uh friendly reminder to keep those sale bin items, bar nominations, awkward photos, and all that good stuff coming to Bent at the Meat Eater dot com. Yes, sir, I also keep using those Degenerate Angler and Bent podcast hashtags on Instagram. It's

the quickest way to get stickers from us. And finally, after trick or treating with the kids this Sunday, do the responsible thing and check all the reces and rollers from betted Sandworms. There's a lot of sickos out there. Mans never ever, ever at step at ast