00:00:06 Speaker 1: The qualified Captain is about to get a whole lot more content post. You just rinse that barking basement spinner bait that you stole from your grandpa, and talk about how much better the fishing was yesterday. Think about Swazie was not whooping ass in roadhouse on the asphalt outside the Hooters. Johnny Cash was not kicking in a fighting in the mud and blood and the beer on the pavement outside of Houla hands instantaneous pressure changes equivalent to your body dropping six thousand feet under the ocean and back to sea level and a meda second. Good morning, degenerate anglers, and welcome to Bent, the fishing podcast that's ready for summer, but not the uptick of Ask Clowns, Google's jet Skiers, White Claw Shugars and Tito's Sluggers that will be showing up at the ramp. I'm Joe, Sir Melie A. Miles Nulty and uh it's it's a memorially weekend mm hm, the unofficial the unofficial start of summer, or or as I prefer to call it, three straight months of amateur hour. That's that that's an apt description. I will say though, that I don't know. I have mixed feelings about the holiday. Memorial Day weekend has changed for me over time and with age. I'm sure it probably has for you too. Yeah yeah, all right, sort of before before we go do far down this road. Before I like start telling you my thoughts and associations, I gotta ask, are you is the whole purpose here? Are you trying to set up like a nostalgic let's wap stories about how great moral the weekend fishing used to be back when we were single kind of deal? Is that? Is that where you're going today? Well? Yeah, that yes, that's yeah, back as you go first, okay, I mean yes, I was going to go back to the before times as I call them, the pre kid days and Memorial Day weekend. Back then that was my striper nest weekend. Like I slept in the cutty cabin a mild boat all weekend, which smelled like ass. I mean it was. It was a terrible and it was a toxic environment, but I mean, you don't care in your twenty five and and and just had like a revolving door of friends that would roll in and out of the marina all weekend and we go just pound the cows, and nowadays I just want to sit at my in law's beach house, not deal with any of the on the water madness, and just like drink gin and tonics, perhaps a mohito. That's that's where I've That's where I've gone. Uh, I guess I'm apologizing. I'm not really apologizing. I'm just gonna say I can't. I can't follow you. I can't go down this rose tinted memory lane with you because I don't. I don't have it right. We we have in the past, like we've had segments before, we swapped stories about single glory days, but but for this one, I don't. I can't. I got none. I associate this holiday with the end of fun and the beginning of just work. Right because most of my adult life, this weekend marked the official sort of NonStop guiding. It meant that it meant that that was right, and and that it meant the rivers We're gonna get crowded. The fishing was just gonna steadily get worse, like from here on out for the next few months, the fishing was just gonna get poorer, and I was going to be working basically every day until September, so I don't I don't have the warm and fuzzies on this holiday. Uh. Whether or not I enjoyed my Memorial Days was was usually dictated by the quantity of tips that I was able to hustle, which is cynical and and kind of shitty considering what this holiday is supposed to celebrate. But I'm just being honest, that's the truth. Mhm, Well, that's one way to completely ruin intro. I'm just completely Yet you knew exactly where I was trying to take this, and you I mean, I'm just gonna throw out there, in my opinion, my person, you could have played along. Now what killed you? To play a lot? I would have been lying. That would have been do you want me to lie to the people? Do you want to tell them lies? I'm not gonna lie. No. But you could have taken it like a more positive and you could have been like, yeah, four, I was on the water every day with my clients, driving all over the state, chasing hatches, sleeping in trust. Those things are all technically true. I did those right, so you could have followed. You could have followed the spirit of my intro, which would have set me up to talk about how different last year's holiday was, which I'm gonna do anyway despite your unwillingness to follow, because like that's that I don't know how to pivot. So I was gonna get into was how last Memorial Day. Frankly, it was creepy, right because we were in the thick of the pandemic and the beach vibes were it was very strange, like like the neighbors barely said hello. Everyone was really on guard. It almost felt like you were breaking the rules by going to the Jersey Shore that weekend. Um, And it was a far cry from the usual party atmosphere you get this weekend, which I think I expect that atmosphere to be back this year just because of where we are and how many people are vaccinated and so on. But I will say, as creepy as it was last year, it also meant there weren't that many people around right, especially at night, because nothing was really open um, which man, I had some really choice like high traffic striper spots to myself and I pounded some fish around some of the bridges down there. So, um, you know, I'm gonna have my gear with me this weekend. I won't. I won't go to the Beach Memorial the weekend without fishing gear. Um, and we'll just say it depends what happens. I might. I might run a few late night ops covert ops. If the tides the line, You're gonna do it. You know you're gonna do it. And I bet last year you got some weird looks if anybody saw you, because I bet you were seeing as extra creepy, like sneaking around at night when everybody else was hiding out. Nobody saw me. I mean literally, it was late enough, it was foggy and strange, and there there. I don't think another car even drove over the bridge in the hours I was out and I looked over that bridge. I was like, I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna go and I'm gonna walk up on the bridge and I'm gonna look down and if I see what I want, I will stay. And I remember peeking over that bridge and it was just a line of stripers in the shadow line from one end of the bridge to the other. You know, Oh, I remember. I have a vague memory of you like sending me photos and catching a bunch of stripers around this right around this time last year. I remember that you're being like, get you. I don't know what you said. You didn't say anything stupidly getting on him. That's not what you would do. But you just you sent me photos. You sent me photos showing me evidence, and I was jealous. Uh, And I don't want to further mess up. I realized I've been stepping on your whole plan. I don't want to mess it up any anymore. So I'm guessing this is where I'm I'm supposed to ask you if you were pounding those stripers with thirteen rods. Thank you you are, and I was true story last mort of Day weekend was was actually the first time I used their Omen Green Salt Prototype X spinning reels. Those stripers, the aforementioned stripers I pounded, Actually we're I'm not kidding. They were a trial run of the thirteen gear I just got in my hands on. And since then, those very same sticks, right same exact gear, have whipped a bunch more stripers Mahi and b side bo Fens and so on. So those outfits, the exact same ones, they are still kicking ass and taking names. Gotta say, I believe that I believe that because they make really great stuff and we've established I'm I'm actually I'm not actually all that excited about Moral Day, but I am genuinely excited to say that bent is officially brought to you by thirteen Fishing. Yes, we highly encourage, highly encourage you to check out the fine selection of rods, reels, and baits available at thirteen Fishing dot com. Use this weekend. It's an opportunity, right, use it. Get out on the water and figure out what gear you're missing or or what gear needs to be replaced. But I will say, maybe don't be the guy rotting around with a bunch of gear or maybe even a boat and trailer that you have no idea how to use. There will be plenty of that happening this weekend already. Oh yeah, No, you're right about that. I've always looked at it like, um, it's like an unwritten rule that inept voters and anglers. It's almost like they cannot partake in these activities until Memorial Day weekend. I mean more support for why I dislike it. I'm just saying I know, but it's like the weekend before Memorial Days. It's one week right, and it might be just as beautiful a May weekend as Memorial Day will be. But in my experience there are are are fifty to seventy less mooks. It has to be Memorial Day to bring them out. This is this is the season when the Qualified Captain is about to get a whole lot more content. Oh wow? Was that a social media A social media reference from Miles Nulty and gentlemen? Good for people? I will admit I am all in on the qualified Captain page. Oh yeah, not not to mention, not to mention a couple of shout outs, not to be outdone, Jerry of the day and Kuk slams. I may not know anything about social media habits or algorithms, but I do know that watching other people make fools of themselves is highly entertaining for everyone, because we all love feeling superior. It's basically, you know what it is. It's the modern version of America's Funniest Home Videos. Oh yeah, dude, and that shows still on and now all they do is grab stuff off social media. Like nobody sends the vhsame because they don't exist anyway. But you know you're right. Fails drive views, um, and that's just as true for phishing content as dad's like getting hit in the nuts by their kids. You know, um, And what you you probably don't know is that TikTok is the platform for posting viral fishing fails. I am aware that this exists. I have heard it brought up in meetings. Uh, and I'm sure everyone will be shocked and horrified to learn that I've never been on tick. You've got you, You've got the TikTok. Dolci a. I'm not on there either. I'm not on TikTok either, But do you know who is on TikTok? Sadly? I do? Hell yeah, you do. Buckling, freshen up your axe bodies, pray, grab a monster tropical thunder, and absorb the wisdom of Lance V. Here comes trolling with Lance to the land, to the boats, to the lake, to the sea, being up then on nets, but your boy lands V. What's up, skid marks? It's me. The Internet's most winning is fishing guru slash celebrities slash personal trainer. Lance V back again to help your pathetic social media efforts take above slightly mediocre. Oh and for all the haters hoping I was done on the stumpster fire of a podcast. Sorry not sorry. Miles and Joe are still stroking me checks among other things they've been stroking lately hashtag I stroke you choke anyway. This week we have a question from thirteen year old Helmet W who writes dear Lance. I've been having a really hard time getting anyone to pay attention to my parlor, Tumbler and Vibra accounts. I think it's time I tried to talk any advice for getting your fishing videos noticed on this platform. Great question, how though, And you're in luck because TikTok has a cheat code. You ready, little buddy, Here's the secret campones oh no, Hello No, matter what the you post on TikTok, that ship will turn to instant gold if you said it to oh no by capone hashtag take it to the bank. Visionary anglers have been using compons oh no to accentuate their fails and rack up views for months now. Just recently, at Big Water Fishing used in the video of himself and properly fighting a walleye through the ice while sitting next to his shovel, and at Muscle Milk Daddy used it to highlight what happens when you use budget lip grippers on a big both in side note, Muscle Milk Daddy might be the only listener to this stupid show who has any real potential. But when most people use a song, I just have to say, because they don't use all the muscle milk at packs to enhance their weak content. The truth is Hamilton's I don't ever fail at fishing, but you and everyone else listen to this lame podcast does, so. I suggest you harns the power of oh No, squeeze every last drop of its potency, and slather it all over the many videos of you failing. Here's what I mean. You shoot a video about your favorite passlord because that's what real g influencers do, except on like us, you don't row pugs. You just rinse that barkain basement spinner bait that you stole from your grandpa and talk about how much better the fishing was yesterday. So you shoot a video about your new kayak, except everyone knows it's from Costco and you won't make a thirty feet for the bank at the County Park pond before you flip it. You try to boost your steeds with a commenter giveaway, except all you've got to sweeten the pot is a half use pack of pink Lizards and the beer Cusy you got free with your last purchase of Fresh Scuy. So you see, Helen, TikTok is the only platform that less losers like you rise to the top because their algorithm is based solely around the use of compounds. Oh no, of course Internet Wizard's like me and the Coogan Squad. No, that algorithm will eventually change. And since we know people on the inside of TikTok, trust me when I say you want to share from oh No to this in six to eight months topic. That just confirmed every negative assumption I have about TikTok. So we're good. I had no, I didn't have any plans inside of it. Let's not pretendingly I was. I was just about to get on until I heard that I wasn't. But uh, but if the trick to the whole thing is just, you know, set shitty videos to shitty music, I'm definitely out me too. I think it's funny, man. I consider mysel the door open. I can't in this day and age, you can't just close it out completely. I'm probably gonna eat some of the words I'm about to say. But I consider myself fairly up on social media platforms, right. But much like Snapchat, TikTok is another one where you bring it up and I just go full old man mode. I'm like, I don't understand this, And I'm a Facebook like Aunt Florence, Like it's like my mom printing web pages to show me things because sending a link doesn't compute, and she's like I saw this thing on bed, Bath and beyond. I'm like, why did you waste thinking paper? Mom, I'm sending me a link. Anyway. That's how I feel about TikTok, Like, what's what's different or better than posting a short video on Instagram? Look, don't answer people like I'm not. I'm not looking to be schooled. Don't school me. It's fine. I will get on TikTok, like just when it's going out of style. It'll be like, like, you know, like I did with Instagram. People like, ah, sermerely got on TikTok. We're already way past that. We're doing this now. You know. Maybe I will not eat these words. I'm not gonna try. I cannot I cannot envision a future where I'm like TikTok. Yeah, I'm really into this. Uh and and I will say that the past few minutes it didn't make me want to go on TikTok, but it did make me want to just go down into my basement and and listen to Vinyl and read a hardcover book and drink something very strong. Right, So so let's get away from this. Let's do let's do it. That's my bar and and some for all you remember, this is the recurring segment where you, the listeners, you hit us up and nominate your favorite fishing bars. And we're doing God's work here, people are I don't think people realize the significance of this segment. We are compiling the world's greatest database of places to drink after you get off the water. All right, Yeah, that's that's all you people drinking right now. Pay attention. Oay. And this particular one might come in handy if you have to be in Connecticut and you're trying to avoid the inevitable circus that's happening on the water. Best God damn bar tender from Tim buck to to Portland, Maine. The Portland argument for that matter. Okay, so today on that's my bar. We are not we are not going to Wisconsin. Can you believe it? Their first time? For everything? I can't. I can't really believe it. And before we continue, although we're not going to Scannie today, Land Lakes continues to reign supreme as the undisputed worldwide champ of fishing bars, at least according to this show. It absolutely that said. All that said, today we're featuring a state that I've actually never set foot in much less I've no, I've never been there. I'm guessing I'm guessing you have, and that you're familiar with this area, but I've never been. I've never been to Connecticut. Yeah, no, I have been. I've I've spent some time in Connecticut, the a little fishing up there, though somehow I missed, uh, this particular bar. So today's submission comes to us from Steve Farley, and ironically what resonated with me most were some sort of like peripheral comments that aren't even about this bar, just good bars in general. Just understands. Yes, completely, Well, you'll see what we mean. So let's get into it here. Steve writes, Alright, fellas I've been holding off on my bar recommendation because I recently relocated the northeast Pennsylvania from Connecticut, and bringing this gem up brings back some old memories. Anyways, here we go. The Black Duck Cafe was first recommended to me by some new friends I met when I moved from Buffalo, New York to Norwalk, Connecticut. I told my friends I had only one condition for a bar, it has to be a dive I also happened to love fishing, which they found out over time. Alas the Black Duck Cafe pulling into the pulling into the gravel parking lot set the scene for something I knew I would enjoy, because, let's face it, no one has ever gone to a dive bar that doesn't have a gravel parking lot or a pothole city, as US East Coasters refer to it. So there's the first comment. I had never thought about it, right, But Steve is very correct. Every good ship hole dive bar has a gravel parking lot, right Like think about Swayzy was not whooping ass in roadhouse on the ass fought outside the Hooters. Johnny Cash was not kicking in a fighting in the mud and blood and the beer on the pavement outside of Hula Hands. So Steve nailed that part. Yeah, I'd call that accurate. I would say that your point is valid and and the Suaves and Cash references are not lost. I mean, thank you for those, But and I have I definitely have many favorite dive bars with gravel lots, but I also have a few with hard pan lots. So I think in general I agree, but not entirely. The other thing, the other thing that Steve brought into this without meaning to that I gotta point out is is noticed how he talked about bringing up this gem brought back old memories. And another part of this segment and why we love it is because we have these deep connections to our favorite bars, even if we haven't been there a long time, and getting to just think about them and reminisce about and talk about them. It's fun to have that bar and and and and Steve hit on that. I don't even know if he was aware of it. So anyway, I'm gonna continue on with what with with with Steve's email here, Steve says the Black Duck is located on the Saga Tuck River, or should I say in because the bar is literally an old barge tavern from eighteen forty that is sinking into the river, and Steve sent photos. Yeah yeah, it does quite literally appear to be sinking and could potentially collapse into the river. Yet yeah you got If you see the photos, you'll be like, oh, yeah, that that doesn't look stable and oddly in of I think I am I I think this is the first bar we've featured that's actually a boat out there. Yeah, and it's weird that it took us this long to get to one. But anyway, back to Steve, he says, so if that wasn't enough to get you excited, the bar also features old fishing caps, painted buoy's and lures so fake it hurts, and a miniature boat above the main bar, suspended by chains, as if walking into a place that is at a degree angle toward the water and might also sink at any minute wasn't enough. Now you've got a boat questionably dangling above your head. Great fun. Yeah, yeah, So based on Steve's photos, the whole place it just looks unstable like it's it's a it's a charious I would describe it as carrious. It's good word. It's a good word. It's a I would also say it's like a it's just a giant lawsuit waiting to happen. But I looked up the Black Duck and their menu and fun fact, while you're waiting for it to cave in and possibly send you to a watery, muddy, gray blow, you can enjoy the Davy Jones burger, which is topped with as that this is from the menu, hot buttery lobster meat. And that's that's how I want to go out. I've said this for years. I want to die eating a burger with lobster on it. So so that's that's good. Um. And here's the last thing Steve wrote, which I love. Right, He says, oddly enough, the one thing I appreciate most about the Duck is the hinds ketchup in the glass bottles, because that ship just taste better. Joe, you know this, having undoubtedly been in some real New Jersey diners. He could not be more correct. It is. It's rare. It's very rare these days to find a place that uses old school glass catchup bottles, or better yet, better yet right, find a place that not only uses them, but refills them because everything is just so freaking squeezeable and disposable these days. Like if you gave if you gave my kids a glass catchup bottle, they like they wouldn't know how to get the catchup out the proper the proper shake and tap technique is lost on their generation. Like these kids wouldn't even know that sometimes you got to start it with a butter knife. Thank you for that, but hold on, hold on, the butter knife is only for kids. I would say, that's a rooky move. You gotta you know that, you gotta, you gotta, you gotta tap the Hinds logo with the heel of your hand and hold the bottle at just the right angle. That's that's the way you gotta do it. And and that that's a nearly useless hot tip, unless unless you're head to the Black Duck for a beer burger and a shot. So I don't know where else you're gonna use those, because I haven't seen glass catchup bottles and ages. Steve, We really appreciate the submission so very much, and hopefully Joe or I will get to the Duck before it's completely reclaimed by the river. If you. Yeah, I'm talking to you out there. If you've got a fishy bar that you think should be featured on this show, let us know. Send an email singing its praises and uh and be compelling. Send it to Bent at the meat eater dot com. I wonder if anyone has ever fished off off the black Duck barge while drinking. That's a good question. I mean, like, that's like, what's it um Seattle, Seattle Hotel where you can fish out the window. You know I'm talking about. It's the famous thing led Zeppelin, did it? Like I do that? Yeah, A little soak, a little brew. Yeah, you should do that. You should. I think this is a this is an important question needs to be answered. There's only one way to do it, and that's with you know, on the ground, true investigative research. You should go there and you should do that, and you should film it and then put it on TikTok. And while you're doing video there you go won't we won't do very well. And while you're doing that, I'll be I'll be over here or actually, you know, I'll still be sitting in my basement listening to vinyl and drinking and and and trying to dig up some valuable, useful content for the current events competition we sometimes like to call fish news. Fish news escalated quickly before we hit fish news quick little housekeeping. Uh while back I reported on the the big lake surgeon. I'm having a bunch of crushings on this story that I apparently screwed up because I've already corrected the story once. But the two pound lake sturgeon that got caught Detroit River, I already have admitted that I was wrong about how it was caught. A lot of people also seem to get angry with or take issue with the way that we framed the Detroit River as having once been a toxic wasteline, which it was. To be fair to us, it was once that, but just to clear it all up so that we're not, you know, shipping on your favorite river, it is a shiny example of what happens when we clean up our waterways. Because the Troit River is actual in great shape now, it's great fishing. So I apologize to all of you out there who got offended if you thought we were talking smack about your favorite river. We know it's good now, but legitimately it used to be disgusting. It's just not any yeah. Yeah, And I feel that personally because I'll just say that one time I took like a joking shot at at Detroit Proper and learned quickly like people, there's Detroit Pride, and I heard about it and I felt bad about it, and I'm sorry about doing that back in the day. So yeah, exactly, So Detroit, it's all good. Uh, we apologize. What we'd like to do is take you out for a cup of coffee to make up for this. And if we were going to do that, we would take you to King Koi Coffee Garden in Vietnam. You get the plane tickets, we get the coffee. It's just a quick shout out for everyone that is written into alert ust to King Chy Coffee in Vietnam. This is worth. It's it's tremendous. This is worth looking up the pots it is. It's mostly made of water. There's koi swimming and all of it, and it's just like ki Wonderland, Like there's like little peninsulas that go out to a couch for your coffee and you just sit there and you're just surrounded by koi, like you're sitting below the waterline to like you're down in it with the Koi having your coffee. This I can see, I can see King Koi Coffee Las Vegas happening. Doesn't it seem like something that like Vegas would be all about. Um? But yeah, we've we've dabbled in Koi stories and things, so we do. We do appreciate the not to King Koi Coffee in Vietnam if we ever get there. We promised to record an entire episode live from the floor at King Koi Coffee. But look it up. I hope, I hope one day that's in our budget that we can fly to Vietnam and looking up from King cooking up. So thanks for all that. Keep those coming. We really enjoy those, everybody, And U reminder, this is a competition. Joe and I do not know what's the where is the other one that's found somewhere in the recesses of the Internet. And at the end of it, Phil the engineer, the engine and Phil the on the one and only, the one and only the decider will be picking a winner as the which one of us gets to emerge feeling the glory and the light of Phil shining upon us. And which one of us is just going to cry glory, the glory of love as just like Peter Ster. Alright, you're up first man. What do you got Yeah, Okay, So you just talked last week about the mass speck pen, right, which quickly identifies the fish species when you simply touched this pen uh to the Filet's right. And this, of course is to thwart fraud in the seafood industry. So I have a story about another tool aimed at thwarting corruption and illegal fishing. This one is much less technological than the mass speck pen, but cool nonetheless. So I have always been intrigued with three D printing, right since it became a thing, always fascinated by by how it's applied to fishing. Is a good specifically Okay, right, I'm happy, you're happy, But I've always been interested in how it's applied to to fishing, and so far, I gotta tell you I'm not overly impressed, right, Like, I'm not saying there isn't some cool fish related three D printed ship out there, but for the most part, like I've noticed with lures, you see stuff made with you know, consumer grade three D printers and it's like, yeah, okay, And like I I've I have trust issues with the plastic, right, I don't. I like, I don't. I don't fee it doesn't feel strong. I don't think the consumer level stuff is very strong. And I even have like a couple of three D printed fly reels, And while I appreciate the design and work that went into that, from cad drawing to finished product, I'm like as as functional, but it's still kind of a novelty, Like I'm not opting into the three D printed reel over a normal real Well, and we did a whole sale been on the three D printed lures that look terrible because when we just made fun of them. No, actually we flagged one, but we didn't do it because then we found out it was a young child making them, and we were like, oh we better not. Oh we didn't. I thought we were sorry, Kate, if you're listening now, we were gonna they were gonna crucify you, and then we just kind of did anyway. But yeah, it was all fun and games. So I was like, yo, bro, he's a leavin, so let's not look like terrible people anyway. Anyway. So look, so here's a great example of how three D printing is being used in a fishy way that is not a novelty. And this comes from New Zealand's Times Live. And we all know that one of the biggest threats to sharks globally is shark finning. And no, we are not replacing the shark fins with three D printed fins like that Annaka dolphin that lost its tail. Okay, So global assessments estimate that between twenty six million and seventy three million sharks are traded each year, but they estimate that the actual figure is likely to be far higher. Now, these sharks are cotton nets finned and their bodies are dumped, and this happens a lot over in Asia, a lot of different countries. Dried shark fins fetch huge money. Right, They're supposed to be an aphrodisiac and I have all kinds of other health benefits. They make soup out of them. He actually recently talked about that great piece our buddy river Horse wrote that covered or touched on shark fitting here in the States. Right, So this this happens legally here too. Now, in most countries, shark fitting is very illegal, those some do allow it, but there's rules, like they insist that you know, theoretically the whole shark is supposed to be brought back and finned on land, which allows the proper authorities to properly i d the fish. Bringing the whole shark back also means a boat off shore theoretically can't kill as many sharks because when you have the whole shark taking up you know, hold space, it just they just take up more room. Um. You're also only supposed to target approved sharks, uh those that aren't protected or in endangered. But regardless, shark fins are are still in just such high demand that the practices rampant illegally all over the world. And in order to even try to nail people doing this illegally, first you have to be able to identify the fish by finn only similar to how we're trying to identify fake phil as with the with the masspect um. If you can't prove that the finn is from a shark, you're not supposed to harvest. It makes it difficult to follow through on repercussions and making a case. So the nonprofit organization Traffic, which keeps an eye on stuff like shark Finning wanted to do something to help, and they worked with the South African Department of Forestreet, Fisheries and Environment. They also worked with US shark expert Deborrah Abercrombie and they also got input from from several committed South African based service providers to create a set of ultra realistic three D printed shark fins that can be used by frontline enforcement agents as an i D guide. And they did this by first collecting real dried shark fins that have been comp scated during busts all over the world, and these included fins of eleven of the most commonly traded species. Great hammerhead is one of them, Oceanic white tip silky sharks, and they they laser scan all these fins and part of the story they use nylon as the primary material and the printing process they use gives the fins us like a slightly rough sand paper texture, similar to real dried shark fins found in the trade, and the story says, once these fins are are painted up right, you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference between a real dried shark fin and the fake fin. So currently there are three D scan files and associated painting instructions available for twenty two fins for free on the Traffic website as part of the organization's ongoing effort to combat the illegal trade. So any enforcement agency that deals with shark finning the world over anywhere can download all those files for and all the paint instructions and basically create a set of these fins that they can take with them and use in the field for quick I D. So we're just using some three D printing here, but I mean talk about using that in a in a way that has or can have significant impact. Right away, I thought that was really cool. I think that's cooler than three D printed fly reel. Sorry, no, you're You're absolutely right on so many levels. I saw this story. I'm really glad you took it because because I didn't otherwise, we we almost crossed over. We came very close. Two weeks in a row, we've almost crossed almost almost but but not. I'm I'm appreciating that. And look, we I think everybody is aware that the massive depredation of sharks in the world is a problem for our aquatic existence and it's messing up our fisheries. Uh So anything we can do to get ahead of this. I'm all for it, and I think there's gonna be some challenges with us first getting them everywhere and then get them in use. But dude, like I said, anything anything that that helps in regulatory agencies cracked down on a illegal shark sales, I'm in sport. I mean, I have more questions. Like I I put faith in the research that like these are the right tools for the job, but I also wonder, like, man, can you make one fin or a fin or two represents you know, that's representing all these different species and do they really look that different? I'm just curious. I'm just asking does it does having that there, does it allow you to say for sure, oh no, that's definitely a great fan or yeah, exactly so. Um. But they seem really confident that that this is going to be just instrumental in in in helping solve this problem, because as I understand it, it's only getting worse, Like they're more and more sharks every single year, and it's it's, as I as I understand it, one of the toughest sort of infractions in illegal seafood trade. To crack down on three D printing. I hope that goes well, I really do. I hope that anything, like I said, anything we can do and I'm gonna I'm gonna stick with technology and fish. But I'm going in the complete opposite direction. Whereas you looked at a new technology that may have massive benefit to sharks and fisheries and humans, I'm looking at something that's completely useless and uh, we'll all be dumber for having heard about it. Oh, I love it. This sounds like a me story. Yeah it is. This is I channeled you for this. Uh, it's gonna be short because there's not that much to say. But it's so it's just so ridiculous. I had to do it. So. Supposedly, a company in Japan will soon be releasing something called the cat Sugyo Bag, which is a handbag designed to carry live fish. The company announced, you did it, You went for it. Great. The company announced the product a few weeks ago, but they were really prepared for the level of interest that it was going to generate. Within days, the fish bag got written up on sites all across the internet. Uh, some of which were like high fashion blogs who incorrectly reported that the purpose of this item was to allow ornamental fish owners to take their finn pets out for a walk. That is not what it's for at all. Continue on. Could not be more wrong. As you know, the story kind of blew up, you know, with with websites like luxury Launches dot com proclaiming that the new innovation caters to the wishes of fish parents with a quirky container like bag for live fish designed as a more stylish, efficient, and environmentally friendly alternative to the traditional water filled plastic bag. Who are these people? Nothing about this is helping fish? Really, I I got so I've got a new low for myself. If this ever happens, I know that I have bottomed out. If I ever become a writer for Luxury Launches dot com, I have officially failed at life, that's for sure. I don't know that. And of course, just so you know. Of course, soon after that happened, other websites who like to make fun of ridiculous crap for sale picked up on the story, like said and Useless dot com, which calls itself the most depressive humor side on the Internet. The product, which it looks like it should be a prop from the life aquatic, Like I feel like someone stole it off the set of the Life of Quads. Yes, it's a it's a it's a handheld clear cylinder. It's got it's got a little carry handle on the top, clear cylinder with caps on each end and feet on the bottom, and this pressure gauge that looks like it came from an old timey Scooba suit sticking up off the top, old iron along or something. Yeah. M A Corporation who made this put up a few photos in an Instagram post a couple of weeks ago, clearly not knowing what they were getting into, which makes sense because m A Corps is actually in the business of making surgical equipment and this was their first foray into the world of stupid viral product development. The post was inundated with comments from people wondering where they could buy one to walk their pit fish and how much they would cost, as well as the expected Hecklers controls. The actual product is still in development, no models actually exist right now, but within days m A Corps took down the post even though because because it just got out of control. But you can still find the photos all over the internet and they show a host of different photoshopped fish riding around in the Cartsugio bag. If you look closely, first of all, you can tell the fish photoshop, and you'll also notice that the little pressure gauge on top read zero in every single photo, so it's it's clearly not actually working. The m A Corporation first tried to respond to all this insanity, explained the bag is not intended for pet owners. The idea to allow fish consumers to transport live food fish that they purchased or caught before consuming them, therefore ensuring maximum freshness. And I could in the damn tun Katsue person, it's gonna die. I'm not there to be walked like a chihuahua. I'm gonna die. I don't know what's more. I don't, dude, I don't know what's more mind boggling about this whole thing. The fact that someone developed this high tech carrying case for food fish, or the fact that thousands of people saw it and it would finally allow them to realize their dreams of walking their goldfish through Central Park on a summer. That is the most like mind bending part of the whole thing. To me. It's like, not only exactly It's like all these people came out of the woodwork and been like, finally, finally, I have wanted to take Mr Scribbles on a walk for years and now find it like the those smoking dog owners with their dogs and their air breathing pets walking around all happy. I hate them, although I say, I will say the opportunity for for viral video comedy. He imagine just like tone of the movies with that and have a lobster in there, some weird ship, do you know what I mean? I take that to take that to the Madison, stick a trout in there and just like hang out at the take out for a while, because what are you doing? I'm like, I like this one. Yeah, he helps me catch his friends. He tells me. He's like he's he's the Judas fish. Uh And I want to The last day I'm gonna say about this is like, I'm not a fan of this product, even if used as intended, because here's my often. Do you need that maybe in Japan? No, no, no, no, here's here's my thing. Hear me out. I'm I claim and I'm basing this off of not a whole lot of evidence, but I think that the stress of putting a fish in this tiny tank and carrying it around is gonna totally screw up the meat, Like that fish can be so stressed out. I don't think it's gonna do well. I think you're better off killing the fish quickly, bleed him out and just keeping it really cold. I think you will have a better product. Maybe I probably. I mean the impression I get though, is this is like you go to the store, put the fish in, and you are immediately heading to where it's going to be consumed, Like it's not supposed to live in there for a long time. Frankly, I'm just curious. Have you ever bought a live fish at a fish market? Like every once in a while there will be live dog in some of the markets around here, which I've never been sure if that's legal, but I see it nevertheless, and I have never bought a live fish from a fish market. Nope, never done it. Never done that. Okay, Well that was so that was your what you'll call your dumb story of the week. Let me just get dumber because this is a classic yeah sort of you'll see, this is a classic surmilling news story that's not only like not really news I'm only doing this because it gives me license to make fun of bad journalism and have a debate of sorts with you. I want your opinion on the subject matter of this piece which I found, yes, I know which, which I found on the website of b RC thirteen, which appears to be a local news source mainly for the Pocono Mountains region of Pennsylvania. The headline is, Okay, let's pay close attention now taking the bait at the Flybrary in Monroe County. So I'm aware of the library, Okay, So save your thoughts on flybrary until I get through this, because that's what I want to discuss. But first, here's what this this riveting story, which is it's really just a transcript of like a forty second newscast sets. You've heard of a little library where you can leave a book and take a book, But have you heard of a flybrary. It's a phishing lover's version of a little library. This flybrary is located at the Shroud Township Forever Green Nature Preserve. The idea is to leave a lure or take a lure. When the broadhead chapter of Trold Unlimited first installed, the Flybrary. They left two lures on to start, and people are taking the bait now there Now there are nearly fifteen added by people who have visited. No live bait can be used at the park, so the extra lures cannot only help out fellow fishermen and women, but also the safety of the fish. And then there's this quote from Todd Burns, a local Trod Unlimited member, and he's he's very clearly trying to steer the reporter like back to the fly aspect of this whole thing. Like hence like hence the name Flybrary, and hence the verbiage which they show on the flyberry that says have a fly, leave a fly, need a fly, take a fly, And Todd says, they want you to use artificial lures only here specifically, we like to use flies. It's just one hook and most of us pinched the barbs down and that way when you catch a fish and it slides out easily and there's less of a chance of injuring the fish. But I just feel like like the producer of this segment either had no understanding of fly fishing, wants this to appeal more to the local bait dunkers and spinner heavers or is is just dim So again not exactly what i'd call like, holy shit, riveting news. But this opens up a discussion. So now I'm going to pause before I go on because I want your take on these f library deals. So they're just so everybody understands. They're all over the country, and it's just a sort of it's this this national program where they'll send local folks who feel like putting them up the infrastructure to basically build your own little f library at at at access points wherever. And you know, the idea is to build community. You have a you leave a fly, you take fly whatever. I love the idea of it. I love anything that builds the angling community and solidarity. I think it's fun. I think it's it's I enjoy it. The first time I saw one was at the Mosquito Lagoon in Florida, and I put one of my clouser's up there just because I had extra, because I tied a lot of them. Do I think that it's actually going to generate any meaningful outcome? Like, do I think that this is gonna get a huge number of people into fly fishing or allow people who hadn't before been able to figure out what fly to use to finally be successful. No, my guess is what's gonna happen. Is it gonna be people use it the way I did, Like, Oh, I have a bunch of these because they haven't been working, so I'll put one here because I think that's cool, and it's it's gonna be like these these national depositories for mostly useless flies. So I like the I like the community, like solidarity. Let's have fun with this aspect. Let's not take this whole thing too seriously. Let's remember rolling it together. But I don't think it's gonna be the place where I find like the secret hot patterns. So we we could, we could not be more in agreement. I I truly love the idea of this. And again I'm just speaking personally here. I hate to say this, but I've bumped into a couple of these flybrary type things locally, and like you say, what's on them, if anything, is just like pure trash, like the most garbage kmart, like poorly tied yarn balls, or like the hooks are all rusty. And I've looked at them and my reaction is man, nobody that actually knows what they're doing on this river has contributed a fly to this f library. Like it's always it's like, why why why is there a saltwater popper in the library at this wild Brookie stream? Because I think you're right, like people see like, oh, I might be able to use that, but I'm not going to give up something that I actually might need. So here's this chip is ship that I haven't thrown ever and has no value, and I will stick that and now we will call it good. So I think in theory it's a great idea, um. And it does play theoretically into the communal aspect of fly fishing. Um. I've just not personally seen it work like it's supposed to. Now, I'm sure. So the mosquito legoon thing, that's interesting. I've actually never heard of one in an assaulty setting, though I'm not surprised. Um. But someone someone is gonna right in and be like the f library on the north fork of the Willowemack is better than the local fly shop, And okay, that's that's I'm not saying that doesn't exist. I just don't see it. And I'll just this, I have to I have to tell this very quick story. Years ago, a buddy of mine in Minnesota, you might be aware of this. I was trying to get something going called Scavenger fly Does that ring a bell? I don't know about that, okay, And I thought it was really cool, right. It had the flybrary aspect, but it was you sign up and you'd get a watertight fly box and it even had a little notebook and like a little mini golf pencil in there so that you could like leave a note about what worked. And the difference was you were supposed to hide it and then like leave clues, like give your buddy a clue and you know, or your fishing club guys or whatever, and it would sort of like grow and create this little club of sorts. It sort of riffed on on chio cashing as well, and the plan was to have these these scavenger fly boxes hit it all over the country. And I wrote about it. I thought it was neat. I'm like, I don't know if it's gonna work, but I think this is different and it's cool and it's thinking outside the box. Um So I wrote a blog about it. I filled my box planeted on a river in Jersey gave the clues and over the next couple of days got a response. Right, a couple of dudes found it, took a picture of them with the box added flies, left the note, and I was like, cool, this is cool. Did not take a full week for someone to just steal the box? Just Jack, just gone. And I wanted to believe that wouldn't happen. I was like, people will get behind this. This is not but I knew it would. I even wrote on the box with sharpie, don't be a dick and steal this box. But I have no faith in humanity. It was Jack and lets than five days of being planted. I'm not even sure if these guys are still doing the scavenger fly thing. And this was three or four years ago. But that's that's my take. Love love the idea. I just don't know, you know. Yeah, I mean, anytime you're dependent on a large section of humanity doing the right thing, you're gonna usually don't go into problems. Yeah, and you said that the scavenger fly thing that started in in Minnesota, in the Midwest, Minnesota, Yeah, Minnesota. Yeah, Well, my last story also revolves around that part of the country. That part of the world, though it has nothing to do with products or technology or anything like that. Uh, It's something we talked about a lot, right, we talk we talk a lot about invasive species on the show, legitimately, right, because fishing is a way of participating in the food web, and when new new creatures are introduced, that food web changes and the fishing changes. So anglers, all of us are invested in these topics. Right. We had we had Ikennelly on here a while back telling us how much he loves zebra muscles and milfoil, both of which is it a lot of handwringing from from just like these are lively topics, right, and I'll leave I'll leave that particular one, the milfoil and the muscles, for another day. But in this one, I'm gonna focus on a different freshwater invader, the spiny water flee. And I'm just curious. Have you ever seen an up close picture of a spiny water flee? I cannot say, I have no, dude, I I think they swam out of hr Geiger's nightmares. Really yeah, so picture you don't swim up, they swim up your pea hole, not that I know of. I didn't find anything about that. The picture picture a miniature version of one of those those face suckers from the Aliens movie franchise He Lives Underwater. That's what it looks like. Yeah, yeah, And and for those of you listening unless you're driving, google a picture of one right now so you can see what I'm what I'm saying like. It really does look like one of those face stucker's kind of spider lake with eight legs and to antenna up the front of the body. But instead of the tail that goes down your throat and lays eggs, they've got these really long barbed tails. That's sev of their body length there. Really honestly nightmarish, that's the best waygon describe them. So. Spiny water fleas are native to northern Europe and Asia, but like ale wives and a bunch of other things, they snuck over into North America and the ballasts of cargo ships. They're first discovered in Lake Ontario two, but have since spread throughout the Great Lakes and made their way into lots of other inland waters across the Midwest and Canada. They're very very good at moving from place to place because of that terrifying long barbed tail because they can. They can attach themselves to just about anything, ankle lines, fishing lines, boats, boots, whatever. They just stick to stuff. And so they can move from water like one water body to another, because especially anglers and boaters, we move around. We like to change it up. So North America has lots of native water fleas, not spiny water fleas, but but native versions, and those those native water fleas are important parts of our freshwater ecosystems. They eat algae, which helps improve water quality and keeps problematic blooms in check. They're also a primary food source for small fish. But spiny water fleas, on the other hand, eat native water fleas, and over here they have no predators. When small fish try to eat spiny water fleas, those long barbed tails either choke the fish or if they managed to get them down, puncture their internal organs. That's what I was gonna ask, but I figured without even asking, I was like, nothing can eat these. Nut's got to be part of the problem. And so so they're bad. Bottom lines that they're bad. And they showed up. They showed up around this same time as zebra muscles. But they haven't proliferated as rapidly, so they just haven't gotten nearly as much attention. Like they showed up and people were worried about it, but then it kind of weren't everywhere in the way that we thought they would be. So they've they've fallen off as one of the major concerns, But a recent report published in the journal Bioscience may indicate that they're more prevalent than than we realize, according to a researcher with I'm gonna say like possibly the greatest scientist name of all time, Jacob vander Zanden, who co authored the report and directs the University of Wisconsin madisone center for lemnology. Non native species can occur in small, self sustaining populations, smoldering like embers in a new habitat. Many will continue on with that modest life history, never having the negative ecological impacts that attract the invasive label. But sometimes an environmental trigger gets switched and the embers of these sleeper populations are fanned into a five alarm fire, and that might be exactly what's happening with water fleas. Vanders Enden's paper documents and explains the implications of a discovery made by students at the University of Wisconsin Madison in two thousand nineteen. Undergraduates that u W conducted the same field trip in nearby Lake Mendota that they do every year, sampling the lake and using as a field lap, but that year the nets were covered in thousands and thousands spiny water fleas, which had never happened before, and over two hundred sampling trips spanning three decades, they had never found a single water flee right, So the obvious conclusion would be that the water fleas had just recently invaded the lake and take over. But they have lots of data on this lake right because it's there, it's their field lap. And so when scientists dug through sediment coreps and and looked at other samples that they had stored, they found evidence that the fleas had been around for at least ten years, and all it took was one abnormally cold summer for billions of them to survive and lay eggs, and their population has remained steady ever since, even though temperatures went back to normal. We have no way, we haven't figured out a way yet of getting rid of spiny water flows without killing everything in a lake. And right now half the whole deal, Yeah, exactly, right now. Uh, it's anglers and voters like we're the one we're at the front lines of this. We we we need to be cleaning and drying all of our equipment completely before we go from one place to another. Thing is the thing about these things, they can't survive drying. So one thing we know it kills them. If they dry, they die, So keep that in mind. The study, it's going to be on the bumper sticker. Try to die. That's better than clean, drain dry for sure, the flea awareness bumper sticker. The study, Like, I think the study reminds us that we we really got to be even more diligent because what it shows is that you can even be in a body of water that isn't supposed to have water fleas because we may not have seen them yet, but they might be in a sleeper population right and and so, or they might be just starting to explode. And even though we're somewhere where those creepy little bastards aren't known to be well, you still might be picking them up. So just it's just my little p s a like giving you some evidence for why this is such a big deal of the clean drain dry It's because even if you're somewhere where you don't think one of these invasive populations might be, it's possible that they're they're they're just sleepers, so keep an eye out. Maybe the story doesn't address it, but like if you if you look at a small closed system like a lake where these things have just popped up, right, is that a death sentence? Like, I mean, if that's the bottom of the food chain, is that a is that a death sentence for a body of water over time? It's not take away this sentence, right because they've been in the Great Lakes for a long time and it hasn't the Great Lakes haven't created. But it's not good. It's it's certainly, I mean, the Great Lakes are just so huge. I'm thinking, like, you know, if you have these things in a smaller body of water, you know, I don't know, I just seems unkillable, you know, It's it's fascinating. And dude, it sounds like I always joked if blue fish and blue gills ever grew big enough where they could actually like bite you and hurt you like a shark. We'll be dead right. And I feel like these fleas are the same thing, Like, thank god, these are a micro organism and like not something that can drag me off to my own death exactly. But that now, it's good. It's good advice. And I'm guilty of it. I'm guilty of it, you know, throwing wet waiters and wet boots. Yeah, I think I think we, most of us, are guilty of that. And you're better. You're a better person if you take the time to do that. Um So, definitely something to be cognizanto. Phil has a lot to be cognizanto. He can he can visit the flybrary, he can handle the death fleas. He can make three D printed shark fins um or buy himself a fish purse to carry his pet fish around. So we'll see, we'll see who Phil declares the winner this week. And listen, we're gonna change things up a little bit. After we hear from Phil. We're going to actually do some sage lely wisdom with river Horse to close out the show. Okay, because we've been having a lot of fun joking around about Memorial Day crowds and everything. As always, you know, river Horse provides a sense of calm too, So not only we're gonna hear a great story here, we're gonna get that maybe that moment of zen, that moment of chill, perhaps we all need before going into a crazy weekend. Joe, when you first started your stories, I wasn't exactly smelling blood in the water, But after a while you set the hook in my attention and then proceeded to reel me in fishing. You're the winner this week, and I don't think we should be too hasty in just getting rid of all of these fish handbags quite yet. We should hold on them for I don't know, like a hundred years or something, until we decided to fall out. Teddy Williams and probably Walt Disney, let's be honest, elon musk down the road and we could take all of their heads for walks in Central Park. It'll be like a real life episode of Futurama. Hey, now this is realhoorse with some sagely wisdom. One of the most beautiful things in life is to share it with someone, be there just a fellow human, a friend, or a cherished, loved one. The best way I know to share is by feeding someone supper and taking them fishing. We all know there will be some bumps in the road along the way in life. Those bitter sweet low tides and the ever damn sweet times have read and high in the saddle, it's all good, and this is how we make sense of life and what matters to us. Here's a story about taking a soldier along for some water time called holding Steady. He is terrified of water. They tell me a soldier who has been through some things and would like to go fishing. I tell the Foundation that they can count on me. A few weeks later, I drive lonely farm roads a couple hours north, long before sunrise, to a small Texas town to pick him up. I wonder how things will go. The Foundation told me he was hit by a missile in a rock and has a torn up foot from jumping off a two story building. Why did they do that, I asked, because it was on fire, they replied. When I see him in the doorway, things aren't looking good. His eyes are red and he quickly places sunglasses over them. This is a tough day, he says. He uses a hand carved wooden cane and wears a long beard. He is trembling and looks cold. I hand him a jacket, which brings a hint of a smile. Do you want to stop somewhere for some breakfast, I asked, I'm not hungry much these days, he says. It is a bust for fishing. The day before there were tornadoes and gale force winds, and the fish are down deep. Today it's bluebird skies, though, so we sit in the sweet sun on the tailgate and share some beers. This is the anniversary of my friend's death, he says. He jumped on a grenade to save everyone. Sometimes I feel guilty. We look out at the lake for a long time, but your friend wants you to feel that the rest of your time here, or live it meaningfully, asked him. He holds up a hand to grab mine and gives me a punch on the shoulder simplify whispers. I wonder aloud, is there any chance you would want to go in the canoe for a while? He nods, almost imperceptibly. I put an arm around his shoulders and hold them as he sits down in the front of the wicker seat and trades out his cane from a huggany paddle. The fly rod leans against the truck, kicking off the bank. I shot excitedly, if the fishing were good, ad bomb out of cast right by that sunken tree. What do you mean bomb, he asked um. Simply the cast far. He laughs and shakes his head. The foundation told me he was standing next to a humby when a missile landed, and the instantaneous pressure change is equivalent to your body dropping six thousand feet under the ocean and back to sea level in a millisecond. We canoe for hours. Back in town, his girlfriend meets us at a brick of and pizza joint. He wraps her up in his arms, gently pulls her into the nook between his shoulder and neck, and breathes her in. He lines up shots of whiskey on the bar. I'm not normally into that sort of thing, but today I am. He'd be game for fishing again some day, he says, and actually trying to catch something. What do you mean? I say, you don't want to just paddle around and live vicariously by hearing stories of all the huge bass I've caught. He almost falls up the bar stool laughing, tells me I'm about as funny as throwing an egg into a ceiling fan. Later in the parking lot, light shimmers around him from the waning sunset. He is different. His eyes are clear, a look of contented kindness in them. He gives me a backcracker of a bear hug, and I asked him, was it a good day for you, my brother? When we got on the water, He says, everything changed. I hope you enjoyed that and can think of someone in your life that you can take on out there too. Here's to those who serve and to those who support them. Here's to getting back on the path of life again, no matter how tough the times have been along the way. Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends. Yes, indeed, life is beautiful. I'll see you out there. Well. That is all that we for you this week. No matter how you are choosing to spend moral day weekend, remember that you're more likely to get in a bar fight if the bar has a gravel parking lot. Yes, Joe would rather be sleeping alone in a filthy, damp boat cabin than spending time with his family. So yes, and finally, all of our our bullshit aside. Heeds some of that river Horse wisdom this weekend, put your rod and your gin and juice down long enough to reflect on the weight and significance of this holiday. It's about a whole lot more than getting a past to make a fool yourself in public. Yes, biggest yes of the whole clothes here. Huge thanks again to river Horse for closing out this week show so eloquently, and thanks from everyone here at Bent and the Mediator to all who serve and all those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedom so we can do things like go fishing and make fun of people who suck at fishing. Well said, Well said. If you get any pictures of those people this weekend, post them with the Degenerate Angler and Bent podcast hashtag so we can revel in the misery of strangers with you doing so, I might just earn you a sticker pack from us, but posting videos to TikTok will not earn you a sticker pack because we're not on TikTok. M

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