00:00:06 Speaker 1: If you buy Billy that shotgun, you are really going to have to be really nice to him forever. And she just starts crying, and I'm like, oh no, it's about that stupid eagle again. I do have personal experience targeting trophy goldfish. Every single line of his is tangled, and it is like the cluster of the century. Good morning, degenerate anglers. Welcome to Bent, the fishing podcast that thinks birding is for people who just can't figure out how to fish. I'm Joe Surmillion, Miles Nulty, and I don't. I really don't want to agree with you. I don't want agree with you. Don't want to agree with me, which is your way of admitting that you actually do agree with me. No, I've known you long enough now, y'alls. No, not, that's not entirely true. Look, how how do I I actually do think that birds are cool? All right? Part of what I love about my house, for example, is the fact that my office slash spare bedroom slash place we store all the random crap we don't have space for as floor to ceiling windows. The lookout over this aspen grove. I'm in fact looking at that grove right now that sounds beautiful, And and I get to watch everything from robbins and starlings, two ravens and crows, to woodpeckers and flickers to hawks and osprey. And my personal favorite, of course is the black capped chicken ee, which I refer to as the Nelson Months bird because it's call sounds a lot like the signature laugh of Nelson Months, the bully from the Simpsons. So yeah, dude, I admit I like birds. I think birds are Yeah, yeah, birds they are cool. Certain ones are entertaining, like I love a good tuna chicker Gannett, especially like a lot of a lot of them together dipping and diving into the ocean. You agree with me, I could watch that all day. In fact, I get upset when they stop doing that once they've started. You know what I'm saying. But I think you're into You're intentionally missing the point because it's a simple yes or no question. Do you go out birding? As in, do you set out from from your your your abode, from your home with binoes dangling around your neck and maybe a safari vest stuffed with manuals bird manuals and a log book and and actively say to yourself today, I'm going to look for birds, Like do you make looking for birds and actual goal that you will use your spare time? No, you're thinking about then you don't go birding air go. Okay, you agree birds are cool, but birding is lane. It is not that. No, all right, that's not exactly what I said. I think you were twisting my words. I would I would say that, all right, how do I You know what? Every year, every year and this year is no different. Every year, I swear I'm going to pick up a bird identifit Cation book and I'm gonna take that thing with me every time I go fishing, which is part of birding. Right, but have you bought the book? We actually purchased the book? No, But I'm my point is made. Wanting to like birding is not the same as actually burning. I want to like jogging and thigh masters. You was like THI master commercials. True, but I mean it's I want to like d I y home improvements. I want to like respoiling my reels. It doesn't mean I actually enjoy any of those things. All right. I feel like I'm arguing a point I cannot win. I am not a burder. I don't, and I actually I don't think I want to be a birder. I just I'm not willing to go so far as to say birding is lame. Mostly, I mean mostly because I don't want to fully concede this argument to you, but also because I think, I because bird watching does add to my enjoyment of fishing. It is not at all like jogging or fixing a sink. I get that. I think if like pleasure boating, like I never understood just driving around on a boat for the reason that's what it is. I'm not going to shoot the bird, and like pleasure boating is like I'm just gonna piste away gas and ride around. But I'm not gonna do anything. It's gonna ride around. Doesn't make sense, um, But I I will ask, though, can you have a great day of fishing without seeing any birds? Yes? And like I said, your point is taken. I concede at least too as far as I'm willing to concede in these conversations. Birds are never going to be the main reason that I go out to the water, but they do. They add to my overall experience. I'm glad they're there, I enjoy the birds. Good. I accept your apology, and now that my domination of the argument is forever recorded here on Bend, I think we can actually get on with the show. Uh. And first up, we have a smooth move for you where we bring on guides, captains, outfitters, really anyone who works in the fishing industry, and we asked them to tell us a story about some entertaining ship the clients have done. This week, we're hanging out with with one of miles old buddies, Rick Mattney, who is going to tell us about a client who cannot enjoy fishing if no birds are involved. Why Joining us today in the guide shack is captain, guide, outfitter, lodge owner, boat mechanics chef, and outdoor plumbing expert Rick Manny. How you doing? Did I? Did I forget anything in there? I mean custom would work or TiO. You should see the road tracks I just built in my new boat. But yeah, other than that, Other than that, I had a pretty good little context. Rick and I live in the same town and have known each other for a very long time. In addition to guiding all over Montana, Rick runs a fishing lodge up in Wrangle, Alaska called Crone Chasers that I got lucky enough to get invited to one time. And like you just you primarily target steelhead, but you also do samon trips right, Yeah, where we started a fall, late summer fall foraging fishing trip. So that's kind of an all inclusive experienced trip that involves fishing in the creeks, fishing in the ocean, um digging clams, sending it out, shrimp pots, crab pots, harvesting berries, wild mushrooms, seaweed, all kinds of stuff. So it's like a full on almost like a nature inclusion trip. Uh. And we go out and basically get everything we need to survive on for dinner and come back to the lodge and cook it and preserve it and things like that afterwards. That tracks me because when I was up there, I think I had one of the greatest days of my life. We got to we were hiking around up in the Southeast Alaska rainforest. I will never forget I hooked seven seven dime bright steelhead on seven consecutive casts, which should never happen ever. And then and like we get done and Rick's driving us back to the harbor, and and like hold on, we have to pull over and pulled crab pots on the way back, and just brought in a bunch of fresh dungeons crab and that's what we got to eat for dinner. It was like it was truly glorious. Dude. Yeah, correct to me, it's every day, I mean my life. It was your best day ever. That's when your best day ever, it's a twos day, you know, that's just you should see what Wednesdays are like. It gets real wild on Wednesdays. All right, Well, enough about how much better your life is than everybody else's. We brought you here to tell us ridiculous story about something a client has done. But before I have you tell that actual story, We're gonna do a little like short bonus, smooth move. What's the stupidest question you get asked on a regular basis the stupidest question that I get asked? And I think every single week of clients I've ever had in Alaska, someone has asked the question, what elevation are we at? As we're driving the boat on the ocean. And I don't think I have had a single week in twelve years, you know, I mean, how many clients. I have to add that up. It's like like six clients. Someone in each four person group has asked that question at least once during the week, sometimes multiple times, but no matter what. Hands down, while driving on the ocean, someone asked, what elevation are we at? You know they're trying to sound so smart. These guys are smart. You know, these guys are CEOs of big corporations, are incredibly intelligent people. You know, they're kind of the upper echelon. And then something like that comes out of their mouth and you just discredit everything else they've done in life. That's almost as good as the like when does the river circle back to the truck question that that we get in Montana? Uh? That that was good, But I know that's not the main event. Later on us tell us, tell us the real story you got for us? Okay, the real one I got. I mean, I've guided for almost twenty five years now, since I was young. My dad had an out fitting company, so I've had all walks of life, everything from hunting and fishing both. But there's a fishing podcast. We gotta go to fishing, and there's one story that sticks to mind, and it was just it was one of those things that it was pretty late in my guiding career. So I had a whole bunch of experience and I did something that that I probably should have never done, and I had this lady called me up and she wanted to book a guided fishing trip. And the reason she wanted to book a guy a fishing trip is because she's never seen a bald eagle. Her name is Mary from Atlanta, Georgia, and the hotel where she was staying at said the best chance she'd have at seeing a bald eagle was to float down a river because that's where the eagles are because they feed on fish. That's what the lady at the hotel said. So her husband fishes a little bit and she he's gonna go along. So I meet him. I agreed to take him on a trip and I was like, yeah, well, well I'm sure I guarantee you we're going to see an eagle. I did the one thing that a guy should never do, hold out the guarantee word. And so we go. She's never fished before. I get her set up with a rod and she's like, you know, I'm really not interested. I just want to see an eagle. So I'll just right in the back of the boat, totally fine. Husband gets up front, starts catching fish. We go on with the day. I completely forget about trying to find an eagle right away and h because I'm too into the fishing. And lunchtime we sit down and Mary's sitting in the back of the boat. She hasn't said a word all day. I didn't even realize that she was back there, just quiet as a church mouse. And I turned back around when she was eating her sandwich. I was like, Mary, what's her a. You haven't said a word all day. She's like, we haven't seen an eagle. And I was like, oh, hang on, just let me look around. I'm sure I can find one from where we're sitting right now. I just I forgot about it. I forgot to look for the eagle. My bad. I see an eagle every single day, usually ten or twenty of them, and I couldn't find an eagle for the life of me on the Yellowstone River in Paradise Valley in July. Like that just doesn't And so we continue floating and she's getting mopier and mopier, and then about we get down to where the takeouts, probably maybe a quarter mile down river, and she's like, how far did the takeout And I was like, oh, maybe thirty more minutes. We uh, we got probably a quarter mile left. And she just starts crying, like just crying, and I'm like, oh, no, it's about that. It's about that stupid eagle again. And I was like, she's like, we still have it, seated eagle, and she's just kind of moping and crying and just on QE and osprey comes over the top of the river starts back pedaling, and I was like, maybe an osprey. I know it's not an eagle, but it's an osprey. And look how it's see how it stalls out. It's gonna dive and catch a fish right in front of us. And she's crying at this point in time, just sobbing. It's not an eagle. And this offsprey dives, comes flying out of the air, smokes a white fish right in front of us, and a tail out gets it and starts coming up the river towards us. And as it gets to maybe twenty five or thirty yards from us, you hear this this noise from wind on the wings, and an eagle comes in and just d Rills drops the fish. Fish lands on the gravel bar and skips eagle on the osprey kind of do a couple of circles having it out. Eagle lands and starts eating on the fish, and this lady is bawling uncontrollably at this point in time, like Mother Nature couldn't a cue this up better for me, especially on the one time I guaranteed we'd see an eagle, so I thought for sure, and we're I can see the tape count like I thought we were. I was, you know, in hot water and done forever and uh so the moral of the story is, as a guide, never say the word guarantee that had had a happy ending. But it was. It was a very emotional roller coaster for me, to say the least. I had no idea where this was going. When I was I was wondering, like if you would like hit one like with your windshield on the way out of the parking lot or something like that. Unfortunately not. This is the most uplifting and positive smooth moves of what I think so well. Most all my other stories are so tragic. I didn't think we wanted to go there, No, no, we Yeah, we could go either way, but that we're we're for once, we're coming out of smooth moves. I think we're not. We're not like terribly making fun of anybody or or feeling sad about ourselves. So Rick, thank you for that. I'm gonna ask again after hearing that story, are you are you still unwilling to admit that burning is lane? Yes? In fact, actually, you know what. That story reminded me of one of the reasons why I do love bird watching. The story touched on two things that can save your ass if you're guiding on the Yellowstone River, which is something that I've done a lot of eagles and whitefish. I once I once had a float on the Stone with a dude who was very, very into birding. And this is why I remember the details on this. He was so stoked. He counted fifty different eagles, both bald and golden, in a single day, and that was very lucky, and it was great because the fishing was terrible, but that dude left happy as hell. And similarly, on that particular river, even when the trout are just about impossible to find, you can always count on the white fish. The white he has always come through. Sure, and I get that. I if if seeing birds can somehow ad ad a spark to a slow guiding day, that's great. A matter of fact, my good buddy, Captain Eric kerber Um, he had a group that they used to kim for offshore birding every season and he would get full price for a tuner run. All he had to do, Yeah, all he had to do was run fifty miles out, put out a chump slick and let these people ogle all the different offshore birds picking in the slick. And he was like, it's it's easiest money ever. Due, easiest money ever. We we we had bear viewing trips when I was working in Alaska, and those are the ones you wanted, man, because like that same deal, same price, you get paid the same All you gotta do is drive the boat around and find the bears to sit there and eat it twinking. But anyway, let's move on to trying to flip each other birds in the battle we call fish news fish new. That escalated quickly, So before we start news, let's do a little housekeeping. And I'm excited about this housekeeping because we've got a big We've got a big announcement. Right, So since I joined the Meat Eater team, a lot of you guys have been like, hey, dude, when are you gonna get another video series? Like where you've been? Well, I was out shooting the first four episodes all last fall, and I spent all winter cutting them and working with our badass production team to whip them into shape. And guess what, the time has come. B Side fishing is what it's called. An Episode one is dropping next Tuesday on Mediator's YouTube channel. Yeah. So all those all those emails and d m s and like skywriting and telegraphs that we've been getting, Actually, when's Joe's new shoe? We want a new Joe show? Where's the Joe Show? We've been working on it all right, That's what I've been telling you. We're on now I'm working on it. There were some unavoidable a cups, but the time is nigh. So take all that energy that you've been pouring into letting us know how badly you want more videos from Joe and use that to now tell everyone you know, all your friends, the rest of the world's finally here and everyone should go watch it because it's it's definitely got some bent vibe to it. Oh, totally that it does. It's got a bit of bent hibe to it. And mostly explorers, Um, underappreciated fisheries or odd ball fisheries in unexpected places, which is something I'm familiar with doing. In fact, I'm kicking off the series in dirty Jersey because it's kind of like the capital of the unexpected, right, Like everyone seems to think Jersey is a tiny rat race covered in highways. Um, you're wrong. That's actually Delaware without a stitch of open land. But that's that's not really true, right, I'm like, you know, Jersey to the court, Jersey proud. Plus let's be honest um. Which was one of those hiccups. Talking about hiccups, was was a very like stay local kind of year, Like we weren't exactly jet setting all over the place to film stuff in. So I'm like, here's what I'll do. I will start off in Jersey. I know it, well, yes you did, and and uh, I was one of those people who just believed the media hype about Jersey, which isn't true. And I've learned a lot actually from about Jersey fishing opportunities in the past few months. And so will everybody who watches this. So new episodes will go live on the Meat Eater YouTube channel every Tuesday for the next month. And and since things are finally starting to open up again, we are already starting to shoot the next batch, starting to expand the range a little bit, moving, moving outside of Jersey. Who who knows, I might even make a cameo in one, So we expect expect to see more Joe Show launching later this year. You're you're all welcome anyway, that's great, go watch that, But we're here for another purpose. Moving on to fish News, a little reminder, this is a competition. Neither Joe nor myself know what the other ones bringing the table, and we're trying to compete for the love, affection and attention of Filled the Engineer, a man who's personal hygiene is above reproach this week. This week it is Joe's lead, and I'm curious to see what you what you brought? Yeah, well, very excited about b side. Less excited about the news stories I found this week, But that's okay, that's fine. Um. And and this first one here, I'm gonna admit that I grabbed really for no other reason. Than it offers me an opportunity to comment on and criticize a common thing. I hear anglers say. All right, so this comes to us from Syracuse dot com headline Angler's tail. I caught a fourteen and a half inch goldfish and own a Daga Lake with my fly rod, and it is a tail so gripping. I'm surprised that hasn't already been optioned by Netflix. I'm actually fasted that that. Had I seen that, I would have clicked on it because I have done some goldfish fishing. So please continue, oh man, then I might make you feel bad too by the end of this. So so, a few weekends ago, as the story goes, Joe Selliver was fishing the mouth of Bloody Creek where it enters Ownandaga Lake. He was looking for bass and carp but he also spied two goldfish, and, according to the story, spent quite some time sidecasting a wooly bugger on his foreweight to them with no luck. Okay, they were just being just lockyall them gold That's been my experience with the with the goldfish too. You're gonna I'm gonna come out looking real bad here, damn it. It's fine, I'm gonna just keep going shit uh and Yester, when he was about to call it quits, one of them went full beast mode and ate the wooly bugger. Okay. Now, first bit of commentary which ties back to our discussion um about the lure of the Palomino trout. Because I'm convinced that if you see a bright orange fish, whether it's a trout or a goldfish or whatever like, you must target it. You cannot, you cannot leave it alone. And for most anglers, myself included, I would have probably have spent some amount of time trying to catch these goldfish if I saw them. Okay, So to get back the goldfish is now committed, and I shall read from the story. Sulliver said his heart was pounding as the fish took a run up the brook that flows underneath the owner Daver Lake Parkway and into the lake on the northern edge of the Butterfly Garden. He said he had the fish on for about ten minutes. When it tired. He solicited help of a couple who were there at the time, walking with their two children and cheering him on as he battled a fish. So here's my question. I said this was gonna lend itself to a commentary. How often have you heard a fisherman tell you they had a fish on or fought a fish for ten minutes? Right? How often have you heard that like that? But it does roll all the time. I find it to usually be hyperbole. Okay, okay, because it rolls right off the tongue very smoothly, right, And I always feel like it's the go to whenever you're recounting what you believe to have been an epic battle after the fact, like it's like ten minutes you ever like you ever noticed that. Maybe it's just much fair. But like, listen, if you get your phone out and you set a time here for ten minutes, like to sit there like for ten true minutes, and then and then think about it and tell me how many fish you've caught that you legitimately fought for a full ten minutes. And I'm certainly not not saying doesn't happen like in salt water and you're talking about tarkman or a tuna, right, But I've caught like countless forty plus pound stripers and didn't fight none of them for ten minutes. I don't think I've ever fought a steel head for ten minutes. I'm gonna say, barring extreme circumstances where like a fish, you know, like zips down a run and you've got to really chase it. Aside from maybe gator, gar or or sturgeon, there are no freshwater fish that take ten minutes to land. So I'm saying all this because I buy that, I that I think that's straight. Okay, So if it took ten minutes, a true ten minutes to tire this squat fat fourteen and a half inch of goldfish, then we are seriously underestimating the power of the goldfish. Now, little did I know that you have gold fishing experience, So maybe you can shed some light on this. But minutes for a second. So then continuing on from the story, Since he had no net, Celliver asked the husband to hold his fly rod while he went back to his car a short distance away to get one, and then after netting the fish, Celliver related on the ground next to his fly rodd for a photo and then released it. I mean, the way I look at this is if that fish were so strong and cunning as you claim, why would you trust some dude to hold your fly rod, Like what if the fish went bulldozing often to the sunset? Again, like, what are the odds that that dude would know how to palm the drag and stop it? Anyway, Interestingly, the story does note that Onondaga was once considered one of the most polluted lakes in the country and that I did not know. It has, however, been getting cleaner and over the last few years. And what some experts in the story you're saying is that the goldfish were introduced, you know, via tank dumps years ago, like they were in most places, but because they're so hardy, they managed to survive those years of heavy pollution better than a lot of the native species. And while they are invasive, New York d C doesn't think that their population in Onondaga is particularly troubling, and they note that they never really see small goldfish in the lake. The ones that are there have been there for years, and when they do get one in a net study or something, it is always a freaking tank. So if trophy goldfish is on your life list, it seems Unadaga Lake is the place to be. I know you're making fun of this, and I understand why because it's ridiculous, and I com like, come on, I own the ridiculousness of what I'm about to say, but I'm going to say it anyway because I do. I do have personal experience targeting. But the trophy goldfish. There's a there's a little suburban pond in the neighborhood not too far away from here. This's guy like pan fish and bass, and it's it's super fun to just go there and kill a few hours and catch some fish. Right. And one one year, this was a while ago, we were out there just after ice out and and messing around and just like you're saying, you see this orange thing glowing, and like, holy god, what is that? And there were just a few of these eight to ten inch goldfish that we're living in this little suburban pond. And we became a buddy bind and I got a little obsessed. And and they are their their cart man, they're really smart. They're really hard to fool on anything. Like forget about the bass and the pan fish, those things are dumb. The goldfish became the prize anytime we went in fish there, and it went from being this thing that we did a suburban pod was like Oh yeah, I throw away. You catch a few fish, you know, make a fish, fry whatever, kill a couple hours too. Like, dude, do you think we're gonna be able to get like one of the ten inch goldfish to eat today? And I know it's dumb. I totally know it's dumb, but listen, it became this, this, this search, and we eventually did to catch a couple of them and it was super fun. It's not dumb. It's just not news. Okay, Like, dude catches goldfish, Like that's not news. I didn't call the didn't call the Bosman Daily Chronic will be like I got a goldfish. I know you didn't, But I mean I've done similar stuff, like you know, love to fly fish for a carp There's a couple of ponds around the way that we're just loaded with COI. Obviously somebody put them there years ago, like they're these wild lakes, but somebody dumped COI in there and like just to screw around, Like that's what you would go and target in these lakes. So like I I get it, but I don't know anywhere that has true goldfish that I've ever targeted. I'm not saying I wouldn't throw a trout magnet at it if I saw it, or you would, or what would. I'm just I'm just saying on your local pond, you're like, oh, look at that orange thing. O'm my gosh at that, and then when it didn't eat, you'd get obsessed. I'm willing to bet. But to having said all that, like I think the I think the fourteen inches a little bit of stretched. I question I have I have the picture of it. I mean it's it's now, it's it's squat dude. I mean like it's like it's like a uber football. Yeah, there's a photo of it. But like you ever seen those those those those those pellet head trout or like coi that are just way not long enough to it looks like where they wouldn't even have the tailpower to swim, like they just like wattle through the water. That's where this fish looks like. So I'm not buying that. Like it took you up the shoots into the butterfly garden pond, into the backing. I mean it sounds perfect. Like that's that's my experience with them. It's totally like a suburban scene, like they get the kids walking in the background of the dog park. Yet that's that's where you go to catch your your trophy goldfish for sure, the big hogs. Uh, maybe that'll be a b side. One day, we'll go goldfishing you and I would I would love to do that. I would love to see your response to that. And I think people would either be like, this is the dumbest thing I've ever seen, or they'd begrudgingly go, all right, that looks like fun. I'm surprised there as hard as you say, because compared to wild carp like goldfish nibble at anything you put in the tank. I know, and it didn't think they were going to be hard. We did not think they were gonna be challenging. They pretty interesting. But I'll say this, don't This is not a good reason to put goldfish into anybody of water. And if you do catch them, take them out and kill them. That's what we always did because they're not say sure, sure isn't Yeah, I don't do that. Don't do that. Uh. But this kind of parlays. I'm gonna switch over into another um story about tank fish and ornamental fish that people love and and this one comes to us from Sora News twenty four in Japan, whose tagline is bringing you yesterday's news from Japan and Asia today, which has got to be a bad translation. I hope, but I'm not sure anyway. The headline is, isn't it technically yesterdayre yesterday? There? Though today? If you're getting here that's valid. Maybe that maybe that's what. Maybe that's I see. They're just more clever than me, so the headline. The headline is Japanese police searching for men who stole one point one million yen in tiny fish story. I thought about this one, but I didn't do it. I'm glad you did. It's a good one. It's a good one. The primary story here is about the theft of three hundred Japanese rice fish, also known as medacadaca, are small fish native to East Asia. To give you some frame of reference, uh, race fish look a lot like guppies. They live in shallow ponds, marshes, tide pools, and importantly race patties, where they have likely cohabitated with humans for thousands of years. Madaca are extremely popular ornamental fish and have been kept as domesticated pets and span since around the seventeenth century. They're hardy and colorful by nature, but they've also been selectively bred to increase their coloration, much like carp right. Certain strings now range from like a creamy orange to vibrant yellow, red, or green, and in recent years these fish have become increasingly popular as status symbols, causing their value to rise. Rarer breeds now sometimes self for huge sums of money. A one inch fish can go for ten thousand dollars ten grand for a one incher. I didn't read that deeply, Holy shit. If you can get the really the rare ones, most of them aren't that, but like the really rare one, this little guppy looking fish, ten grand guarantee they're feeding, they're raising him and feeding him too. Bass in Texas right now, I hope so. An unidentified fish breeder in Nakama City, Japan, had plans to open up a new store called Meddaca Eka or House of Medacca, and he was planning to open on March thirty one in order to capitalize on this this growing rice fish craze that's that's happening in Japan. He had been breeding various kinds of medocca for months in open air ponds and everything was going great. It was all on track for his big grand opening of the new fish store when a thief cut the perimeter fence at two thirty am on March and scooped out about three hundred medocca from the open ponds in which they were being reared. The fish that this individual stole are worth between fifteen and fifty bucks each. Okay, these aren't the super expensive ones, but that's still a lot. And it seems like the fish band was selective in choosing his targets. The expectation by police anyways, that he knows the market. There's someone an insider who was doing it. The whole raid was caught on security camera and you can see, like it's it's not great footage, but you can see the suspect creeping around and like checking the tanks and figured out which one he wants and then just like super definitely scooping. He's he's got his fish scooping game unlock. He's he's clearly done this before. The victim told Japanese media quote, I think of it more as a kidnapping than a theft. I'm more sad than angry, which strikes me as melodramatic. H and I'm you know, the fish robbery's fine, that's not the most interesting part of the story, Like some fish got robbed. Cool, But this got me reading about medaca and the fish themselves, which I didn't know about until I found the story. And one of the reasons that these particular fish are so popular has to do with their legendary fecundity. In optimal conditions, they can reproduce every day, no kidding, they can reproduce daily. Madocca were the first vertebrates to successfully breed in space. A healthy brood was conceived and hatched aboard the space shut of Columbia. In their popularity as ornamental fish, you know, this kind of really expect for their last story now jeopardizes the survival of the wild mendocca because, as is so often the case, right as we're just talking about people, people release their unwanted pets, right and those ones carry the genes that have been selectively bred, and those go and hybridize with local populations. Fient of wild mendocca now carried domesticated jeans and and the wildfish, which were once pretty muted in color, are now turning out vibrant orange. So you know, they're pretty easy for predators to spot. They're getting they're getting nabbed. It's not working out. Fascinating. Yeah, and I got one final note on the stolen fish before before we move on. Uh. Though the suspect remains at large, sore A News claims that Yakuza involvement cannot be ruled out. Apparently, Japanese organized crime known as Yakuza, have recently been dabbling in the illicit fish business. Last week, Japanese maritime officers intercepted a ship and arrested the entire crew after they were caught poaching sea cucumbers, which are apparently referred to as black diamonds. Did you know that? No, I didn't hear that before. Now they've got massive value on on the elicit trade market around Asia as food, which I didn't know. And ce cucumber poaching has become a significant problem in parts of Japan. The authorities now believe that Yakuza are running sea cucumber rings. And here's one last I gotta say. And this is pandering, I admit it. But the captured boat was named the Going Mary, a reference to a popular anime series One piece and I have no idea what that means, but I'm hoping that Phil does so. Just a couple of thoughts, um I. I always laughed when when the Yakuza comes up, because they're like this super secret Japanese mob. Yet every time Discovery Channel is doing some like looking for the Lost Ninja Sword or artifacts story, like they're on speed dial. Ands like we're sitting down with the Yakuza today, you know what I mean, Like it's like all freaking time. And also, I mean I hear you, like the dude is being a little dramatic about kidnapping. But I'm sorry, man, Like just think about this, right, he was just basically about to open a store called House of Madaca and then somebody jacked all his madaca, So like can you imagine like you were about to open a coffee shop tomorrow and then like somebody just came and stole all the beans like the night before. I mean, yeah, like what what? No? I feel bad for that guy. Don't get me wrong, but he was he was anthropomorphizing him a little hard for me. I didn't get in some of the other quotes, but it's like they're more of my friends than my pets like, that's a sad life. Dude, you were gonna sell them, Let's be honest, I'll tell you what they they'd also be valuable to certain folks in Chicago. That's my that's my transition as bait into this next story. And I'm kind of calling on our Chicago area listeners to provide more detail after the airing of the show, because I know you will, because I got a little education on power lining, and I'm a little intrigued but also a little turned off. Do you know what power lining is? I don't fill my ear. I got nothing on. Oh man, Okay, alright, So I had heard the term before, but I guess I never really I didn't. I didn't follow through enough to get a full grasp on on the technique until this story popped up on w t T you News dot com. And it's just a little news expose into this Chicago born method of fishing where anglers fire up to fifty baited hooks way out into the harbor with a fire extinguisher. No, yes, and this is all perfectly legal, okay. From the story, the fishing lines often have several hooks with bait, allowing fishermen to wait for what could be bites from multiple fish at once. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources sets a fifty hook limit per person in early spring. Starting mid to late March, power liners are angling for coho and chinook salmon from the harbor. When Lake Michigan warms up in the summer, the salmon will swim further away into deeper water. Right, So I again, I've I've heard about this, but like so, just like glancing blows, I never really understood the mechanics. And there's a video with this newspiece and the reporter is hanging out with this dude florin Delano, and he has this jan kie steam punk looking homemade contraption on wheels, right, and it's kind of long ass barrel and all kinds of bells jingling on it, and there's like conventional reels screwed to the frame, and it's got like a huge spool of line, like one of those thousand yards spools you buy to fill like offshore reels, right, and at the bottom it's just this industrial size fire extinguisher. And he explains you start with eight to ten ounces of lead at the bottom of your line, and then so you load that into the gun and then that comes out on like like a rubber line that connects to all your baited hooks, and you just freaking open that extinguisher, just hitter and it just fires the whole rig like three yards out into the harbor. And there's there's no rods involved here. This is hand lining essentially, right. And again I'm a little hazy on the specifics of the of the rigging and mechanics, but then it appears that like he just retrieves this he's got it's like a surf rod with a spinning reel, but just the butt section as far as the first gather and guy just like a short little and like that's what he reels in these these lines with. And this is a thing, dude, Like this is a known thing that happens in Chicago every year, and it's it's perfectly on the up and up. They're there are fans listening right now going like, oh my god, I want to tell you everything about because I've had people like say, like, dude, you should try power lining, and they send me like a picture of a fire extinguisher, but like, this is not computing. I don't know, I don't know what this means. Well, now now I get it. Now I understand, and and I'll tell you my favorite part though. In this little video, he's talking to the reporter and he brings in this little coho. It's early in the year, so the fishing is not great yet, but he brings in this little coho and when he brings it in, every single line of his is tangled and it is like the cluster of the century. Like he's trying to be cool for the camera, but it's gonna eat serious time righting the wrong long that this man has created during his interview segment, I mean, it is just lines going every which way and this one little coho wrapped in nineteen hooks and like everything is all tied together now. Interestingly, they also interview a woman who runs a local tackle shop at Montrose Harbor in Chicago, which is apparently power lining ground zero and the method was actually it's been around since the nineteen fifties, but back then, I guess fisherman would would throw lines out with an anchor on the end and have multiple baited hooks for salmon um and using the fire extinguisher to blast bates. That's just a modern adaptation, but it's perfectly on the up and up. And my thoughts are this, there's obviously a scene here, like there's a culture, there's a power lining culture. There's a cult of guys that do this, and I think that's cool, right, I'm always intrigued by these little scenes. But to me, like this is this is for meat on the table only, like other than enjoying blasting eight ounces of lead three yards with a fire extinguisher, Like is this fun? Like you're hand lining in three yards of line? They could have a shipload of salmon? Like is that a good time? So I'm I'm I'm I'm asking. I'm not being snarky, like if any of you out there do this, set us straight, like shoot an email at the band at the mediator dot com and let us like what am I missing? But power lining? Dude? My guess is that the fun here is in the tinkering. It's to make your shooter right. It's in the designing and testing and setting up your your contraption for firing the lines. I could be totally wrong, people like no, no, that makes sense? That could that would? I could see people really geeking out on like, oh, you use the I don't even know any I was gonna say, are the kid get that home? Deepot? You gotta go to the deep deep fires if you really want to get your distance, like I don't. I can see that being the part that's really attractive. But my question is this though, does it have to be a compressed error projectile or can you use like I mean, could you use other things like gunpowder? I mean, I don't know about gunpowder. This is the part I don't know. I mean, really, they're they're talking to one dude, and I'm sure that's painting such a mind. It's just like scratching the surface of the whole scene. I mean, I've seen guys use bait cannons powered by propane and stuff to like launch surfbates out and the camel line is and stuff. So I'm I'm wondering, Um, there probably are all different ways to to make your your shooter. They're probably guy he's calling it a shooter doesn't even know what's called to this. I don't know. I don't know what you guys call these, Okay, right, and you're probably right about about their being like a little you know who. Stuff is better, But this dude I'll tell you right now, this was some cobble together ship man. Like this dude was straight up trying to get salmon. He even says like, even if you see why caught salmon in the store, it's a week old, Like I want the fresh stuff, so it's just like whatever blasted out there. Yeah, you know, but I I'm intrigued by the whole thing. And the lady at the bait shop she's like, I sell everything you need for power lining, but she can't sell the fire extinguishers and she's not a lot to sell fire particular license. So I'm sure we're gonna get a little lit up on this and we will follow up because I want to know more. It's intriguing. Fat I didn't. I was totally in the dark. And now another best power lining to fire out of freaking for goldfish, right, dude, done seal It picked the dates, uh, sticking with the theme of technology and fish. Um, you know, it seems like I've gone away from this, but early on the show, I was I was leading really heavy on stories about how how fish shape technology and new products, like either through bio design or repurposing fish by products to create new materials. And I got. I will admit I kind of overdid it, so I got away from those stories for little while, so wouldn't feel repetitive. But don't think I've lost my fascination with this topic. No, no, no, I have not, and it will continue to resurface from time to time. Earlier this week, researchers from Memorial University of Newfoundland presented a paper at the American Chemical Society proposing using fish oil as an alternative to petroleum disolate in making plastics. M Dr Francesca Curtain, the principal investigative studies, said a fish oil based polyurethane could help meet the immense need for more sustainable plastics. Lots of researchers are currently looking to develop plant based plastic alternatives, but according to the website Science Daily, these two come with the drawback. The crops, often soybeans, that produced the oil require land that could otherwise be used to grow food. So Curtain and her team sought out a different, viable based material that they could source using only currently existing waste. They're they're based in Newfoundland, like I said, where Atlantic salmon farms are a huge business, and so they decided to try oils extracted from fish parts that are often discarded after the fisher process. So we're talking heads, skeletons, and guts. Yeah, the team figured out a way to turn the fish oil into a polyurethane like polymer that doesn't use any petroleum based materials. They hope to find real world applications for this fish plastic, like packaging, fibers and clothing. In case you're wondering, Dr Curtain told Science Daily quote, when we start the process with the fish oil, there's a faint kind of fish smell, but as we go through the steps, that smell disappears. So you don't have to worry about your fancy new fleece jacket smelling like fish until you, of course inevitably wipe your fish slime coated hands on. It won't start out that way, and you can do yourself. And this all sounds well and good. I'm all four finding as many viable alternatives to plastic as as possible. My wife and I actually struggle with this weekly because we we know plastics have all kinds of drawbacks, but they're also everywhere. Like example, last week, our kids schooled in an Easter egg hunt, which was lots of fun for the kids, and and our son came home with this basket of plastic eggs filled with shitty candy, and he was he was elated, right, he was on cloud nine. And despite all that joy and loving seeing how happy my kid was, part of me was cringing picturing the future of those fake egg shells that he enjoyed for no more than half a day. But I don't want to be the fun, hating crazy guy who ruins children's holidays, being like, yeah, you think that's fun, now, wait till it poisons a baby dolphin. I'm not gonna like your Easter eggs so much then, Like, I don't want to be that guy. I don't want to ruin kids fun. These are just your standard They open in half plastic Easter eggs. There's standard blastic Easter eggs. Man, I just got stuck in my head on it. Right, But he got to bring that so he got to find the eggs and bring the eggs home. Yeah, but then you use them every year for the next eight years for your home at home Easter egg hunt. Yes, I realized there are lots of alternatives here. What I'm trying to like, I'm trying to communicate to people. Is it like this is the thing that I overthink, right, And I I'm not one of those crazy guys like all plastic must go, you're killing the world. At the same time, I want to think about plastics, and I understand the repercussions. It's something that I think about from time to time. Anyway, my point here is that if we can start making I don't know, plastic easter eggs out of fish waste, that's great. I think that would be great. I would I would love to see that. But I also have to wonder what happens that this technology does take off? Right, you can you can find enough fish oil to run a small little study on the viability of this product from some fish farm waste. But to scale this to the level required to meet global plastic consumption, and that'll that'll require a little bit more source material. And I just wonder. And the next thing I wonder is like, well, what what what happens if fish skeletons become a valuable commercial commodity? Like where what do we the yakuza is gonna get on this year? Man? A lot of you guys have written in and asked us if we've seen C Spiracy on Netflix and we are going to We have not watched it yet, but believe me, but I sort of know the gist and that's the first thing that pops into my mind. That's great. Yeah. Look, I don't know what side of the argument on C spiracy on I'm just saying in general because I haven't seen it, so I can't pass judgment. But as soon as you brought this up, that's what I'm thinking. That's great. If this is an alternative to plastics, Boy, howdy do we use a lot of plastics? And if it's that good, yeah, man, Like we're already worried about taking too many fish to eat if we need them to make plastic, this could be a very big problem. It could be a very big issue. I'm with you on the spars. We My wife actually talked about last night should we watched this. She's like, I don't want to be that depressed right before bed. There's a lot to debate because I've already read articles saying like this is bullshit, and so we have to we will know. We gotta get with it, all right, That's enough about you know, terrible news and ruining the oceans and conspiracies and organized crime. I think I think, well, you know, there might be a connection, not because we're going to go from here into into the sale bin where a certain individual might or might not be selling something or might just be trying to lure you into into his backyard for other reasons. It's a great one, and we'll get to it as soon as we hear from Phil and see if your anime deal worked. I thought that one piece was a reference to a bathing suit and not a one piece of treasure that will make you the pirate king, which is what one piece is apparently actually about. So sorry, Miles, your plan didn't work, but you win anyway. Congrats. Now we just wait for Michael Mann or Scorsese to direct the Yakuza fish crime movie and it will sit in the pantheon of other fish crime movies like a Spenter, a Pet Detective, and the fish called Wanda. I guess I also have a new excuse to you is whenever I upload a podcast late, Phil, why was this late? Well, you know, Yakuza involvement cannot be ruled out. 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. It's time for sale, Ben, where we tell you about a sort of fishing related item for sale somewhere on the Internet like Craigslist or Facebook, Marketplace, something like that, one of one of those those seller to seller things we can find. It doesn't matter, really, it's just the modern flea market in an electronic space, is all it is. Exactly that is exactly what it is. And this week's comes from listener Justin Martin. And the truth is that this one almost slipped by me because it's it's missing the most important asset for selling anything online, a photo, like I need to see what I mean? Like, dude, a Craigslist post with with no photo. That's like some ninth ship man, that's like the beginnings of Craigslist. That just doesn't work anymore. No, No, it's marketing one O one. You gotta have you have some imagery there, But this post includes no imagery at all, which is uh. It's it's additionally strange because it seems like the seller actually put some time into writing the copy, but this Craigslist post he may have been blackout drunk when he did it, but he definitely, like he definitely like crafted a narrative that he worked on. And you think that at least walk out and take a couple of crappy pictures to boost the appeal, Like you're gonna put that much time into it. Just snap a blurry photo like everybody else, right, Yeah, I mean the photos in these posts in general are terrible, and I guess this stuff still sells, so just walk out there and snap it. Good point, but I can only assume what else? Can you think? This canoe that he's selling looks so bad that he figures his best shot at selling the thing is just going with the verbal pitch, and once he gets you all the way there to look at the thing, you might still buy it, no matter what kind to shape it's in. Either that either that or like you said, he's too drunk to care if anyone buys it. And he spends his nights amusing himself by writing up somewhat nonsensical Craigslist ads, which I kind of admire, you know what I mean. It's it's it's either admirable or really really sad. I'm not sure which, And you know what, who, For our purposes, we don't care, because we're not we're not looking to buy the thing. We just want a good laugh. And I gotta say, like, this post is just entertainment gold. It is phenomenal. It's so good. It's so good. So without further ado, we'll just read you this Craigslist ad. Okay with it? With a few interjections were necessary, So here we go. Okay, inexpensive canoe two dollars. This is the time that tries a canoe seller's soul. Look outside, Do you want to hop in a boat? Possibly tip it over and freeze? Neither do I. But the shortest day the year is behind us. The druids have celebrated, and the days all get longer. And hold on, hold on, I gotta I gotta throw a quick interjection in here, because the next part, not the rest of it, makes total sense. But the next part gets extra weird because this post went up in January. So the next line doesn't make any sense at all. But you gotta let that go. You gotta suspend your your cynicism. Here, we're here for the laughs. Just enjoy it, roll with it, Okay, So he continues, Christmas is upon us, and Billy wants a shotgun. Now I'm gonna interject, I'm gonna have to stop there because I just have to throw out there like I've been sort of noodling on like that, maybe what would the next bent sticker be? And now I'm suddenly stuck on a Billy wants a shotgun sticker? Like I think I would put a sticker that says that on my wares, on my trucker bolt. It resonates with me in a similar way to the line Buster wants to fish did Buster wants to fish stickers all over? Because there was a group that made those wants a shotgun. We'll worry about stickers later. I'm gonna back up so you get the full effects. I'll start again here. Christmas is upon us, and Billy wants a shotgun. I have no problem with this. I support every person's right to bear arms, of course, unless it's somebody who's really angry with me, and believe me, there are a few of them. If you buy Billy that shotgun, you are really going to have to be really nice to him forever, because who wants to have a gun battle with the offspring or the ex wife could get ahold of it and it's all downhill from there. Pause, pause, because I just need to break down the rhetorical strategy here. Dude is selling a used canoe, and in a very few short sentences he's managed to touch on Second Amendment rights, murderous ex wives, disappointing children at Christmas, but potential patricide, and the fact that numerous people would like to see him dead. He's gone way off the rails here. I just way off. I'm not like an expert in sales or anything, but I don't think that's like an effective strategy if you're trying to sell it a new al right, continue, continue moving on. So next passage, next quatrain. So get Billy a canoe. This is a fine fifteen foot Colman, red in color, no defects, no cracks, and a pleasure to paddle. Also, there is no possibility of an accidental discharge. It's cheaper to buy this fine canoe right now. That might be a lie, but who knows. The demand for watercraft is through the roof. Reserve your seat now in this fine Colman at a fantastic price. I am Jerry. Give me a call. Come sit in my yard, have a cup of tea and freeze with me. Oh and and that's it. That's the entire post. No photo, just brando right. And and those last few lines explain the whole thing for me. Jerry doesn't want to sell a canoe. He doesn't. He doesn't Jerry want Jerley wants a friend. That's JR. I'm guessing Jerry already tried the personal section what used to what they used to call it um casual encounters on craig List. They got rid of that, and Jerry is upset about it. He's one of the people missing casual encounters or or he just like maybe he took the same strategy into casual encounters that he took into selling canoe and it didn't quite we didn't. It didn't work. It didn't work, and he failed miserably. So now he's looking around his house trying to figure out what he can pretend to sell just to get some poor schmuck to come have a cup of tea with him. Oh my god, I you got me think now. I just wish we had copies of Jerry's personal ads, Like can you image with that? Son of Like everyone in my life hates me people, you know, I've never thought like can you look up a seller on Craig's list, like previous his post like there could be a book here with Jare Jared's I like to call him Jared. Jared deserves a book deal. I think that's uh, that's what we learned here. Oh man, that was good one. Thanks again to Justin Martin for sending it along. And if you find anything amusing for sale that's even vaguely fishing related, please send it to Bent at the meat eater dot com. I kind of wanted to call Jerry. I wish you would. I almost called Jerry. And and here's the one thing we did not mention in that I might be able to hang out with Jerry. Jerry, Jerry, he could possibly be a writer on this show. Okay, but I also bet Jerry's in the backyard birding. Uh Okay, So hold on pause, because if you're using birding as a euphemism for sitting in your yard drinking cocktails, which is clearly what Jerry's doing, I'm saying that's another point for the like a positive point for the birding camp. I can definitely see myself lounging on some patio furniture with a glass of buffalo trace just kicking back, staring the trees and and and saying things like hey, was was that affiliated woodpeckers? God dammit, you kids, shut up scared Dad's birds? Like, yeah, I can see that too. And the other thing we we found to mention um per Jerry's ppose he lives like just a stone's throw from me, by the way, like Jerry, he's kind of down the street. So we'll say, but again, just because you like to drink whiskey in your yard doesn't mean you like birding. So given the choice, I know, I know you would go fishing instead. That is accurate. I would and uh. And to cap off this lofty episode, I think we have to close with an end of line about a winged lure that's kind of similar to birding. What do you think it's a good idea or stupid idea? It has remained steadily popular with least some people for a very long time, and it's it's recently become kind of cool again. Well it's not loud enough. Lures get famous in one of two ways. Either they catch fish or they catch anglers. I always assumed that the crazy crawler fell into the ladder camp It's one of the strangest looking baits ever produced, but also one of the most recognizable and iconic. The Crazy Crawler looks like a giant locust or maybe a mutant hummingbird, a segmented cylindrical body with aluminum wings attached to either side on hinges. How could you not be intrigued by such a lure? How does it work well? A fish actually eat it? And if so why? The Crazy Crawler was originally invented by Jim Donnelly of ho pat coll New Jersey in thees as the signature bait for the Donnelly Lure Company, which never really took off. Heading purchased the design in order to compete with a wildly popular Arbi gas jitterbug. The Crawler is a top water bait that rolls from side to side as it's retrieved. The metal wings alternately reach out and grab the water, resulting in an action similar to a swimmer doing the crawl stroke. The grasping wings and rolling body produce a lot of wiggle and leave an impressive bubble trail. Any fish in the vicinity knows something's happening on the service and can easily track the commotion to its source. Though the design of the lures relatively complex, fishing it couldn't be simpler. Whereas stick style walking baits like spooks require a somewhat technical retrieve to be effective, crawlers are almost foolproof, just cast amount reel man. The holy Trinity of vintage surface bass plugs includes the Hula Pap, the Jitterbug, and the Crazy Crawler. But while I have clear memories of my childhood fishing mentors chugging those first two baits across Calm Lakes at dusk, I can't recall anyone ever fishing a crawler. I remember seeing them in my uncle's tackle box, but I can't think of a single time I saw him actually fishing. Now. To be are, my family wasn't big believers in service bates in general, So the fact that our little clan had no faith in crawlers doesn't meanlyy don't work. Carlers actually have devoted fans who claimed these baits listened the most exciting takes they've ever seen, but they're still better known as collectors items than confidence bates. I always thought of crawlers as the original gimmick lure. I mean, of course, people buy them. They've got hinges and metal wings. Joe's already given you his take on the suicide duck, and I always thought the crazy crawler fit into a similar category, but it turns out I might be wrong about that. A couple of years ago, I went fishing with Oliver and I if you don't know him, Oliver is one of the most intelligent and innovative anglers in modern fishing. He created the Big Bass Streams brand and channel, and has been instrumental in demonstrating how effective big swim baits can be for bass and other freshwater predators. We've had Oliver on the show before, and featured him on a couple episodes of Dos Boat bottom line. He's a fishy dude who's not afraid to try unconventional approaches or tactics, but he also doesn't use anything that doesn't get bit So he and I got out together for an early fall mission targeting big pike, and I expected Oliver to toss in eight to ten in swim bait, but instead he picked up a rod rigged with what looked like a crazy crawler on steroids. The Hell's that? I asked him, Oh, this, he said, this is a prototype of little something I've been working on, I called the Ryan Gosling, and then he flashed that smug grin of his that usually means he's about to completely outfish. He was something you know nothing about. The Ryan Gosling looked very much like a gosling with metal wings, and though it didn't light up the pike that day, Oliver continued to test it and fisheries across the country and elsewhere in the world. A few months later, he sent me a video of the gosling getting gobbled by a fifty three muskie and later, possibly even more impressive, a forty eight inch murray cod in Australia that probably weighed seventy pounds. That pro type eventually became a production lure from Mega Bass, though on a smaller size and sadly without the Ryan Gosling name. The ie Wing one five takes the central old DNA of the Crazy Crawler and updates it with features like an internal weighted pendulum system and customizable wings for easy tuning, and Mega Bass wasn't the only company to update the crawler style in reason years. There are numerous wing service lures on the market today, including the smuggler from Chase Bates, which is shaped like a parrot and is definitely a gimmick. But all that leads me back to the ultimate question about these lures. Are they popular because they're actually effective or are they popular because we love the idea of watching a fish come to the service to eat something that ridiculous. I know fish hit these lures sometimes, but are they ever really the best option for a given situation. I'll probably never know, but I misseduced by the idea of them working as anyone. And if I ever do get a giant bass or muskie or murray cod or anything else to blow up on one, I could see myself becoming a full on convert. And that concludes our ornithology lesson for the day. If you're filling out your bird books, key sightings include a reminder that guide should never ever guarantee anything. Some guy in Philly is using canoe sales as a way to phone a friend Oliver, and I definitely knows which bird is the word. And if you drink enough cocktails in your backyard, you might convince yourself you hear Neson months laughing at you from the chrees. Please keep those bar nominations, sale bin items, awkward fishing photos, news suggestions, and updates on your grandpa's hernia surgery coming to Bent at the Meat Eater dot com. Yes, and also keep posting your heroic and or not so heroic shots with the hashtags Degenerate Angler and Bent Podcast on Instagram. And finally, keep in mind today's words of wisdom from Jerry Billy wants a shotgun.

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