00:00:06 Speaker 1: Carry this because I think I love the pot of lead melting on the electric hot plate in my bathtub. Pork is back, but it's his face, you guys. It's the look on his face, and it's peaking out from behind this young woman exposing your week fishhole game on a four point five star fishing podcast is it's kind of trial by fire, Good morning to generate anglers and welcome to Ben the Fishing Podcast. Its parents were too cheap to spring for the birthday party at Chuck E Cheese, allowing it to select only two friends to bring to dinner at Pizza Hut. I'm Joe SURMELI I'm Miles Nulty, and I really do hope that the theme this week is not Chuck E Cheese, because even when I was a kid, I'd never like, like, I never liked that place when I was ten. No, the pizza was terrible, and those animatronic bears are creepy. They're not. Yeah they were, but I'm not gonna lie to you. I didn't even think they had Chuck E Cheese in Hawaii. That never crossed my no. I I thought that that intro was gonna get a total like w t F response out of you. I never I figured you went to like pet poise or Mikey Max salads or something that's offensive. And my favorite was Sammy spam. All right, and if you've never if you've never had Sam moocy be from a gas station, you're missing out anyway, What the hell is going on here? What is the theme? What are we talking about? Really? Come on, man, it birthdays? It's our birthday. This is episode fifty two, which means our bullshit nineties laced like somewhat fishing related jargon has been entertaining the masses in uh four point five star fashion for a full year now, Oh my goodness, four and a half all stars. Time flies when you're making bad TV references and researching the end times for fish. We've uh, we come a long way sort of kind kind of look, it's been a fun year, to say the least I've had. I've had. I've been having a terrific time making the show with you, and I figured we must be doing something right because the bent inbox is always full. We're always hearing from nice things from from our listeners, and we've con at least the good people at thirteen Fishing into believing we have actual angling skills and knowledge, so hashtag winning. You know they're I don't think they're sponsoring this show because we can quote Billy Madison and talk about taking dumps in alive. Well, anybody can do that, right, just simple they sponsor us because when we tell you they're dual pitch top Waterloore rips it up in shoppy Water, you can believe what we say. We are trustworthy at least on that front. You really can, though, Like I'm not really playing around anymore, because that is the truth. I'm actually a really big fan of the larger size duel And for those of you are familiar, that's like their spook style bait um and I'm partial to the colors Albino, rhino and natty light. And I'm really not joking around, right. They designed those baits with like a super ramped up nose buoyancy because you know how like in shoppy water, your average spook wants to dive, you're trying to work it in a little wind shop or something. The dual resists that that nose stays oriented up and it walks really pretty in chop No, lie, I fished them a little bit for stripers already, but that's gonna come in really handy, Like in the late summer months when we're doing Mahi off shore and you get that that wind ripple in the afternoon, they'll still stay chuggling on the top. All that that techy R and D work, that stuff is great. But I and I'm glad that you explained all that very important. But I'm gonna I'm gonna give props to whoever names their color skis total. That's that's who I want to shut it right because, like you know, hydraulic engineering to make service baits perform better in choppy conditions, it's impressive. But Natty Light as a color names genius. If you guys are hiring just a full time lure namer, do let me know, Like that'd be a great job. That would the only place I could get that job, right, Yeah, all right, So so we've given props to thirteen both for what they make and how they name it, because it's all great. But I have a question for you. Yes, how does the podcast celebrate a birthday? What does that look like? It's easy. We just take the day off and sign off immediately. Yes, we're going fishing kidding. I wish we were going fishing. Um No, but I was thinking about like the long way we've come, at least in terms of segments since we started. And a lot of really great friends and anglers have been on this show in the last year, and we thank them very much for helping this out. But if you want to be technical about it, our very first guest ever ever was legendary surfcaster and striper chunking expert Bob the garbage Man Brittan And on a new ski YEP it was that was that was the very first voice anybody heard sides ours, and it was it was Bob calling in a surf fishing report from Atlantic City, New Jersey, mid pandemic in episode one. That's right, and and Bob has been back a few times, right, But now a year later, we have our Covering Water segment, which we designed to allow you guys to get like a little bit deeper look into who our guests really are. And hundreds maybe maybe thousands, maybe hundreds of hundreds of thousands of you have written and since we started Covering Water and said, hey, you guys have a direct line to one of the greatest surfcasters to ever live. Why are you not doing a Covering Water with Bob gr There's there's at least a little bit of truth to what you just said. I should say it's not it's not that we don't have any desires. It's not like we're lacking desire to make that happen. It's just that Bob's not exactly tech savvy, right right, Yeah, that's that's why if you, if you listen to the show, you know you usually calls in his reports from public phones and leaves a voicemail. That's what he can do. Bob only communicates through single digit sign language or via that last phone booth that exists in New Jersey. It's not like we could just call him up on his cell and like, hey, Bob, let's get you on the show. It doesn't work that way. But in honor of our one year anniversary, as a throwback to how we got started, we put in the work and we finally managed to arrange a Covering Water interview segment with the legend himself. I'm going in can hold it, I'm all right, so joining us today for covering Water, We've got none other than our own resident striper surf chunky expert, Bob the garbage Man Britana. Not a new ski and we haven't heard from you in a while, Bob, and I must say, I'm shocked that you actually harness the technology necessary to join us on this podcast. Yeah. Can you can you hear me and ship or we recording yet or whatever? Yeah, we are great. I'm actually at the Atlantic City Public Library at the moment, the miserable lady that works here setting this whole thing up in the computer laboratory or whatever it is. I didn't even know they had computers in here, but in fairness, only time I have come in here is what I'm fishing off Tennessee Avenue. Would have to take a ship, so, you know, way to utilize public resources, Bob, where to go? Who's talking now? Niles, Miles, it's Miles. You you know my name? Yeah, yeah, right, I know you like poetry, books and ship, but you hate this library. Niles All he got his five copies of MERV. Griffin's autobiography and ten books from the eighties about playing Keino. But they keep the soap and toilet paper full, so your tax dollars are hard at work on my asshole. It's Freney. Well spend money, well spend so listen. Uh. Part of the reason we were eager to have you on is because I've kind of been dying to ask, man, why the leap to social media? You've been so vocal over the years about hating on the internet. Yet you you've you've already wrecked up nearly three thousand followers on Instagram. Yeah. Well, well the short answer for you there Joey's money. Yeah, somebody told me you make big moneys on the internets. Of course I made a nickel yet, but I look at it like playing the lottery. It's a small investment. But maybe someday you hey, you know, but tell you the truth. I don't even know one of them walkie talkie phones who's probably got glued to your faces. My neighbor's kid got one from that cricket store, and he's a little slow and useless anyway, So I basically worked at a deal where he follows me around and just types whatever then I say and puts it on insta book. You know. So what what's the kid getting in exchange for for transcribing all your winsdom the US? Yeah? I mean, he ain't the brightest Bolton Niles. I bought him a pack of Big League two once a week, and I told him when I get to twenty thousand, fans will buy him anything he wants on Phillips Head Andy's table at the flea market. Sounds really, That sounds fair, Bob, I think I don't know. Look, we we didn't really bring you on to discuss your thoughts on ocean policies, you know, but we I mean, we could make a whole whole segment around that, we could. I I'm sure you have some thoughts on ocean policies, um, but we we brought you on to learn more about who you really are, Okay, and we already know you're one of the most revered surfcasters ever to grace the stripers scene. Correct. We already know you've caught more big stripers exclusively Chunk and Bunker than pretty much anyone else on the planet. Also, correct, But but our covering water segment is designed more to find out who the man behind the skills really is. As long as I'm making enough for beef eaters or whatever to cover the cost of the Moon's over Mihammy at Denny's, I'll cover whatever you want. Yeah, but we'll we'll talk to payroll see if we can get some moons over Mihammy. You should be all set do that. I will, I will, But in case, I'm pretty sure you haven't listened to the show, Bob, so I'm tell you how this goes. Yeah. So what we do on covering water is we put two minutes on the clock, all right, and we rapid fire questions at you. And the whole idea is you can't think too hard about your answers. You just you just have to react. Jesus Christ, that's easy. I do this once a week at the Social Security office of the COVID Clinic, but they give you even less time to answer, so, you know, a piece of cake. Great. Then after that, what we do with the end is we give you one full minute to expand on anyr answers. All right, sound good? Yeah, whatever sounds great, Niles, Let's just harry this the because I think I left the pot of lead melting on the electric top flight in my bath tub. All right, we'll move it along. Then we'll move it along. Okay, here we go. What's the best vehicle you ever owned? That's easy, My old Ford Pinto and my Pontiac Aztec that got jet that's too but we'll go with it, all right, Graphite or fiberglass? Only torps like Niles use graphite. If you weren't so devoted to stripe bass, what do you think you'd fish for stripe us? What's the best concert you've ever been to? Ship C? C R And I traded my Ford Pintol for them tickets? If you could fish with any celebrity, living or dead, who would it be? Oh, that's easy, Tim the toolbag Taylor, but he can't bring that move with the flannel with him. Your your favorite summer cocktail is hot sambuca? All right? If you were forced at gunpoint to tie on a lure for stripers instead of using a chunk, which lure would it be? I'm taking the bullet, Joey? Okay, all right? What's the worst job you ever had? Doing this? Right now? All right? If you had to guess how big was the biggest striper you ever caught? I don't know. Thetween eighties, seven and somewhere in there, I guess I don't know. Mm hmmm. Are you bald under that wool hat you always wear? Ask your mother and I else. All right, how about this? What's your favorite vacation destination? I'd like to soak a chunk in Thailand one day. If you know what I'm saying. I don't, of course you don't. Your your favorite movie is uh I don't tell mom the Babysit is dead? Probably Wow, that's time. Okay, I didn't see that one coming. Really that's the movie. Okay, I question whether all right, Well, anyway, that's time so perfect. Okay, let's wrap this up. I gotta run. Whoa, whoa, whoa? You still got you still got a minute to expand on anyone your answers to explain yourself. Jesus Christ, I'm sure I accidentally left that burner on. And the last time that happened, the old lady next door called the dipshit super, which resulted in him discovering that I ran an extension court upper fire escaped steal our electricity. So unless you want to help the price to cover my electric bill or the price to two pounds of custom twenty sack us, hurry the fun. Alright, alright, alright, well, which one are you gonna answer? Which one are you gonna expand on? Pass? Can I pass, No, no, not have you telling this? You've got like a ninety pound striper. You gotta you didn't have to tell us more about that. For Christ's sake, that had to be in seventy nine or eighty. That's how much I figure it. Way before I gave it to Kenny. To Benny, he dropped into the four to five pounds lead down its throat before he took it to the Chinese place next to the other Chinese place on Baltic Avenue. But you're looking for some epic story, and there eight one eight to bunket chunk. I really in Stevie the cop clubbed it with a piece of reball, and I gave it to Kenny for a pack of smokes, half a school of sixty pound pink andy mount of film, and and a pair of clean socks. Anyway, I know how much you appreciate me being here and how much I appreciate my time. So goodbye. Should I think he gone? He gone? Yep? I think I think that was all we're going to hear from Bob Well Niles. I knew that was gonna happen. I'm I'm honestly shocked that we got that guy to hang around as long as he did. But you know what, Man, of all the brief interactions and encounters I've had with Bob, I feel like I learned so much that I didn't know this time. It kind of served its purpose. Covering water did its job. There there were he didn't mean to let some things slip, but he did on accident. The clues in there there were, they were. They were just little missteps on his part, and they're subtle, but I think they're valuable. He he referenced a super and a fire escape, So he does he live in it? Does he rent an apartment? Does he squat in an apartment? That's what I'm talking about. That's what I mean. Like that little thing, like I I just assumed like he lived in a shed somewhere on he just slept on moving busses like I thought he slept on the transit authority. That's what I thought. That's also a real possibility. But while I don't think the guy has many possessions, he does at least have multiple surf rauds. So like that's the only reason I might disagree. But like that that small nugget right like hints at a whole universe of of Bob domesticity, Like, can you picture Bob doing dishes? Done? Man, I feel like I finally learned something about the guy that and like, where the hell it? Don't tell mom the babysitters dead come from? Right? I did not see that one coming. I was expecting, like, I don't know, I don't know what I was expecting. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. I just wish you'd stuck around long enough to expand like that was the answer I wanted to hear more about. Yeah, yeah, but I guarantee, I'll bet you anything, he's never seen it. It was probably it was probably is the last VHS like Dusty VHS he saw sitting on some flea market table and he just went with it. It just popped into his head. So I bet you the story wasn't very great, which is funny because that's sort of what we do on fish News. Just grabbed the first headline with the word fish in it and roll with it. Fish News. That escalated quickly. So before we start this week's news, I feel like I feel like we ought to address the sort of unresolved cliffhanger from last week's news. You mean you mean when when Phil blew himself up in a jankie boat that he made out of petroleum barrels. Real, real tragedy there, very sad. Just because we have chiseled abs and stunning features, it doesn't mean that we two can't not die in a freak gasoline fight accident. Yes, I mean, truly tragic, but that's not actually the cliffhanger I was referring to. I mean, you know, good news on the Phil health front, though, um, he's not dead. The cliffanger I was referring to is that we still don't know who won last week's Fish News, which that's a problem for me, a problem. And we're terribly terribly concerned for Phil's well being and we wish him a speedy recovery and all that. But I mean, Phil has a sacred responsibility he and and if we're being honest, and we should, he was derelict in his duty by by not choosing a winner last week, and I feel like his accident was shall we say karmick maybe. I mean, look, we certainly wouldn't wish such a tragedy on anyone, especially not our illustrious audio engineers. Um, but he he was kind of asking for it, and the fact is the show must go on. Um, So we sent a team of interns to the I See You with very strict instructions not to come back until they have a definitive winner. For both last week and this week. We didn't threaten to fire them, okay, because that would be that would put us in violation of federal employment law, which we would never do. But we did inform those interns that if they failed in their mission, they would be reassigned to a different shall we say, less pleasant detail. Yeah, yeah, Specifically they'd be working for Lance Vie, who's been demanding his own staff in recent contract negotiations. But hopefully none of that will happen and Phil will be able to have the feeding to remove long enough to pass judgment. So remember this is a competition, Miles, and I don't know which story is the other guys bringing to the table. Uh, and it is my leadoff this week, So uh, somebody give Phil some smelling salts or something, because I'm about to drop a very pertinent information for the savvy consumer. And I've actually go I've got two gear related stories this week, but surprise, none of them are about Yankee sketchy or questionable products for a change like this is this is real gear news. And the first story comes from Kentucky Outdoors Media headline what the flogg anglers used a flogger to catch bass on the St. Lawrence River. So to set this up a bit, right, the St. Lawrence that's way up north, flows out of Lake Ontario ultimately to the Ocean um and it also creates the border between New York State and Canada. Now, if you're a bass freak, you probably already know that the St. Lawrence is like a bronze back mecca, right, like just an incredible smallmouth fishing. In fact, bass Master recently ranked it as one of the top ten bass fisheries in the US. Okay, so back in July, Major League Fishing held a tournament on the St. Lawrence and just to sort of drive home how good the fishing is there, more than half of the eighty anglers competing caught over one hundred pounds of smallmouth bass. Jacob Wheeler one with over two d and twenty two pounds of bass in two days. Okay, yeah, right now Lawrence, So yeah we should um now because the St. Lawrence is pretty far north the spawn there happens later, right, it's it's been done where I live for for months, but like early July, right around this time is sort of the peak of the spawn up there um, which is one of the reasons why bag limits were extra heavy. Now we're let's like, we're not going to get off on the controversial active of fishing to bedded fish. We've covered that here before, and just for the sake of this story, it's neither here nor there. Because the anglers with the high success rates, like like it or not, we're doing it. That's that's what they were doing. But large mouth bass now they bed shallow, and finding bedded large mounts is generally a a site fishing game. Small mouths tend to bed deeper, so many of the crafty anglers in this tournament used floggers, which has created a bit of a stir. What's a flogger, you asked, Well, it's basically an underwater telescope. The property is a bathoscope, right, so just picture a parking cone with handles on the skinny end. I thought this was going a very different direction. I thought a flogger was something completely different. Continue, Okay, well, I'd love to know what you thought it was. We'll get there in a minute. Um, So I said, you picked your parking cone with handles, and you have to physically lay down on the deck of the boat and put the fat end with the glass lands in the water. Then you look through the skinny end and the device magnifies the image and helps you see submerged structure and fish on the bottom in deeper water. Well, apparently some folks are arguing that anglers competing at this level should not be allowed to use this piece of equipment to assist in catching fish, especially with the technology they already have on their boats. Now. The author of this article, John Stepp, He says he initially agreed with that gut reaction, So before I go on, I'm curious, what's your gut reaction. Then we'll see if it changes, because mine kind of did. I'm I'm a little confused as to how that would be more beneficial than the electronics. Right, if I've already got a side scan, I would assume that I can see bed and fish and find them in cast to him, So, I don't get how the flogger creates that much of a benefit. I guess I'm missing something here, Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna get there. I was just like more like gut reaction, like if you just knowing what you already know, would be like, yeah, it's cheating, or like okay, wait a minute, maybe there's more here. I mean my gut reaction is like, if you're allowed to use all the electronics and side scan, what does this technology? Like, how does that matter? If it's open season on technology. I don't see why we would not allow this fair fair Okay, So quick note regarding the electronics. Now, according to this story, and again I'm not super fluent in all the new stuff out there, but all the fancy stuff these guys have, like you said, side scanned down scan. According to anglers and some of the pros, it's not super effective on fish that are just glued to the bottom around structure that are not moving, and the bathroscope or the flogger is actually more effective at finding deeper bed small mouth then the electronics. Okay. And furthermore, like when you're when you're fishing for bedded fish, I would imagine, right, that's like sort of an aggression defensive bite, and a lot of times it's not a hard hit like with large mouth on a bed You often notice set the hook in a lot of cases because you watch that lord disappeared into fish's mouth. They're really they're they're picking it up and moving it, most of them not hammering it. So when you have suspended fish or whatever on on your side, scan down, scan that are active and you can see them chasing your jail on that equipment, that's one thing. But the argument here is that, like, you can't really use that stuff effectively to do what these guys needed to do. So then what Step points out is that using a flogger successfully is not easy. Like one must remember that the device isn't just to find the fish, right, these guys are presenting baits to these bedded bass while holding the flogger in one hand, dropping a bait on a short rod with the other there all while laying on their stomachs in some cases in very choppy conditions. So in the piece they talked to Bradley roy and one of the competitors and he was like, yeah, I'm just like sore and broken after spending all day getting up and down, laying on the bow my boat with a flogger and the article also points out that even if you have a flogger, it takes practice to be able to use it to find what you're looking for. It's not like super intuitive. So um, the author flipped and said, you know what, like props for being able to use that awkward, weird big it's big, like it's not this tiny little thing successfully, And after learning about it, like I I agree a bit more and also kind of feel exactly like what you said. It's like if they're allowed to have all that other stuff, then like what's the difference, you know, like we have underwater drones now and crap like that, and maybe that's the future. I hope not, but we're not there yet. So for now, like, I'll accept, you know, funky parking cone if that's what you need to get it. I want to play in that band. Um, And I think, yeah, man, I mean so one, this doesn't sound like a fun way of fishing, Like, I don't think this is gonna pull up on the recreation. You see the pictures, these guys are laying on their boats with their heads hanging over the water, looking into a giant parking cone and then like over their own shoulder, dropping a drop shot or tube or whatever. I'm not gonna see the bite. Yeah me either. I'm not gonna do that. So, uh that that's I don't I don't see this. I mean again, setting aside issues around tournament fishing for small mouth during the spawn, if we're not looking at that element of this, right, if we're taking that out of the equation, I don't get an issue. I think if you want to lay down the deck with your short rod and your parking cone in the jop and deal with that, that's your problem, not mine. I think I think we've already covered that other thing. That that's a bigger conversation to be had about whether or not we should beholding tournaments for small mountain the spot. But I'm again that's that that's not part of today's conversation. That's off the table. But the the the verb to flog hmm, what does what does that inspire for you? What do you think of? Like you you beat the crap out of somebody with a long stick, right, yes, or or a strap on the end of a long stick. So that's why when you said a like a flogger. Well, so here's the thing, Like I looked up the flogger, and I'm I'm fairly certain that flogger is like a brand name for somebody making these things for bass fisherman. But I mean the proper term is bath scope or aquascope, got it. I assume they have other use. I mean, I don't know why they wouldn't, like if you need to look at something underwater for whatever purposes. I mean, I don't think these were invented for bass fishermen, but now they have funky colors and bass pro sells them then calls them the flogger. All right, well, I will not be rushing out to buy myself a flogger. I can tell you that right now. Um. And since we're on the topic of aquatic competition and uh and the infrastructure around that, I feel like you gotta point out Olympics. Man. The Olympics are just they're just wrapping up right now. And I don't know, we have not discussed this, but I love me some Olympics. Bizarre, dude, Like it was weird. It's weird. Every everything is bizarre. We live in bizarre world now. And and to your point, I really missed having the Games last year. Like I get it. We there were lots of things that had to change, and that's fine, but I felt that absence. I felt the void. Can I just add now that I thought it was like weird and also mildly funny that clearly Japan was like, look, we already paid for all the ship Okay, the banners, the ribbons, the medals. We are not buying stuff. And I don't blame them because they're losing their shirts on this because no one can be there. I feel for them. Yes, And and the weird thing about the Olympics, and this isn't a unique thought. Lots of people have covered this, but I'm gonna say it again. I'll watch just about anything and get excited. Like fencing, hand handball. I don't even know what that is, but I'll watch it. Swimming. No one cares about swimming, Okay, it's like one week every four years. We pretend we're huge fans of sport and like flaud these people. And I'm talking about myself. I'm not I'm not like pointing fingers, but I would never watch people swim laps in a pool for fun. No, And yet here I find myself like cheering at the TV while people splash in the pool. I don't get it. And before I start worrying this, I hadn't thought about it. But the Summer Olympics are are They're kind of aquatic. If you if you bring it down, you got, you got. You're swimming this, you're surfing debut for the first time, which was fun. Kayaking has been in Olympic sports since ninety six. And then there's another classic water sport that I would never never watch except during the Olympics. Rowing And I am not no disrespect to the discipline skill required to be a world class rower. That is very difficult. But the action in that sport doesn't exactly translate to television, right. Maybe it's more exciting in person. I don't know. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about. Because rowing is one of the oldest Olympic sports, but I don't think it's the most captivating, uh televised sport I've ever seen. Regardless, Tokyo went all out for this summer's rowing canoe events. They created the Sea Forest Waterway Regatta Venue. It is state of the art, built between two man made islands at the mouth of the Sumida River in Tokyo Bay. The rules of competitive rowing state that quote, the running of the race must not be influenced by natural or artificial waves, and that can be a problem when you're in a bay at the mouth of a river, right that's that's a place where waves tend to happen. So the course in includes a series of very specific floats that suppressed seventy of surface wave action. Constructing this course has come at no small cost, and it was designed to become the epicenter of rowing canoeing in Asia after the game's close. Unfortunately, they've run into an unexpected problem. The course was completed in June, anticipating that the Games would begin the following year, as we know postponed. But in August of last year, officials held a test run at the Sea Forest Waterway and discovered that the specialized floats were no longer floating. Ha the problem, they'd become infested with oysters. That's not a terrible problem to have, you know what I mean exactly, And that's where we're going. The high salinity of Tokyo Bay, combined with the prevalence of phytoplankton at the mouth of the river, makes the spot an optimal growing environment for bivalves. The addition of all that underwater infrastructure gave them the perfect place to attach and thrive. By December of last year, seventy five of the floats on the north side of the course were completely underwater. Course officials had to drag entire lines of floats back to shore and clean them, and in certain areas deployed divers to remove the oysters. The cleanup costs total nearly one point three million dollars. The irony of all this is that Pacific oysters called Macgaki oysters and japan and Hammama oysters or hog Island oysters here in the US our delicacy. The thirty one thousand pounds of oysters removed might have been worth tens of thousands of dollars if they had been sold, but they weren't. One official was quoted in several news outlets is saying we did not consider consuming them. That would entail safety checks. We want to contain oysters, not grow them. This is the same people, These are the same people that need FUGU right, worried about safety checks? Correct, like this is your Pan oysters. But I get the officials point, okay, right, Like think about it. They had to deal with enough hosting these Olympics, like you got a pandemic, you got a heat wave, they had a cyclone. I mean, safely bringing in these particular oysters that they didn't intend to grow and finding way to get them to market would be challenging. That's especially true because commercially grown Pacific oysters undergo this rigorous purification process to ensure that they're safe to eat. You can't just like pluck them and sell them. But I still feel like there's a lost opportunity here, right. Yes, they didn't they didn't intend to create an oyster farm, but they did. And since the plan is to keep this course going, I really hope that after the Olympic dust settles and there's some time to be thoughtful and figure out what to do, I hope they might consider finding ways to leverage the course infrastructure to intentionally grow harvestable oysters as well. There's there's a stab just upkeep budget in perpetuity for this course of one point five million dollars, and if they're spending one point three of that every year scraping oysters that they throw away kind of seems unsustainable, right, So maybe they can find a way to make those floats profitable, and they can also turn Asia's premier regatta into a thriving oyster farm. I would love to see that happen. That would be that would be amazing. Um. I do love a good a good oyster, so I hope that happens. I don't really have much else to say about the outcome of your story, but this has prompted you know, you talked about rowing being very difficult to watch on TV. Have you ever tried to watch it on the water while you're trying to catfish and there's four million of those crew boats out there with their chase boats running around after you. That's the thing that's happened to me several times, and I just have to say, like, props for the skills. I certainly couldn't do it, but like, dude, those people think they just own the waterway, and you're you're not gonna see it in the next season it does boat because I don't think it's gonna make it. But boy, we ran into a little issue with thee on the Potomac while filming, and it was literally like a thousand dudes with megaphones like screaming obscenities at us, And at one point we were in a catfish hole in a channel that was like apparently the only safe channel for every crew boat to move through, and it was just like a constant barrage of what assholes we were while trying to catfish. I really, I really hope that makes the cut. That's all I'm gonna say. I'm not so sure. I'm not so sure. We'll see it would be great. Transition nonexistent, So I'm just gonna go along here. Don't have it? Um, I don't know. The Olympics just happened, So did I cast? How about transition? Not long ago, the I cast show happened in Sonny, Orlando, and if you don't know what that is, it's the annual fishing industry trade show. Um. And of course that was canceled as well due to the covids. They did a virtual thing, um, but it finally fired back up this year, and while Myles and I were not in attendance, I'm I'm still always interested in the goings on at the show. So I spent that week like texting friends feeling a deep sense of fomo uh and not so much about the show, but like it's been a minute since I took my rightful places. The guy that needs to be swept off the floor at Senior Frogs across from the shitty rose In hotel I used to stay in, you know, like that's my floor to get wiped off of after ten Irish car bombs. Um. Anyway, an important thing to keep in mind, which we'll circle back to, is that eye Cast is not open to consumers. Like you have to be industry connected, right, whether it's owning a tackle shop or guide service or media. Um. You have to be on the inside to get in. And that will come back later. So every year at i Cast they have the new Product Showcase, which US media types always got an advanced look at, which was fun, and companies at the show but their best product in the showcase. And then there's this big vote. I've voted before, I've done some voting. I'm sure you've done some voting for the best new products in in a wide array of categories. But then of course there's the highest honor, just like at Westminster Best in Show Overall winner, Greatest Thing at i Cast. This year that honor went to Berkeley's power Bait Gilly, which is a soft plastic swim Babe, specifically designed to imitate a pan fish. Now here's why this is newsworthy. While it wasn't always called eye cast. Turns out and I didn't know this. This convention has been around for sixty four years now, and this is the first time in its history that a lore took overall Best in Show. Yes, and this was such an upset that there's an entire article written about it um on TC palm dot com which points out and I can vouch for this, right, best in Show usually goes to an electronics company, maybe a kayak or personal watercraft manufacturer, and on the occasion, but not always, a rod and reel maker. Like those are the top three categories that that take Best in Show routinely. So this sort of like shook things up, shook some blow um, And I'll tell you just a little bit about this baby. Keep in mind there's very little out there by way of underwater video or anything like that. Like this is super super new UM, and our bud, Mike liken Elli actually had a pretty big hand in the design. Bait comes in three sizes, twelve colors, and I will admit that they look different from other swim bait designs, which is important because, like, let's be honest, it's not like there's no shortage of soft plastic swim baits out there that imitate bluegills. Plenty of them. So the front half of the bait appears to be just normal molded soft plastic, though the head is hollowed out and according to a sneak Peak video, Mike dropped, um, that's beneficial for freaking it on a jighead. But you can also add, as he puts it, quote, materials to that chamber to make the baits sink faster or maybe float. The back half of the bait is die cut, and I describe it like a reverse honeycomb effect, if that makes sense, Like if you ever like cross cut a piece of mango and then turn the skin inside out and flip it out and like all the little sections pop. Like that's that's what the back half of this bait looks like. And then on the body and the tail there are rudders that, according to Mike, keep debait horizontal whether it's swimming or falling. He says, it will land and lay belly down on the bottom, always staying up right. Um, And he says there are loads of ways to rig the gillie, which I'm curious about because however, again, because it's so new, nobody has even dropped like a deep dive rigging video yet I could picture the obvious rigging methods, but it's supposed to be super versatile. So just a few top level thoughts and here's where I move into the Joe Pontificates chapter. Um, there's no doubt some thought really went into this design, like, and big congrats to Berkeley for I mean, making show history. But over the years, I mean, there have been a lot of innovative swim baits in the New Products showcase. And while I have no doubt this one will catch fish and be more affordable, I think that's a key point because Berkeley's baits are typically not you know, not crazy expensive. You know, if you're talking innovation. Can I step back and say, man like that truly is the most groundbreaking blue gill swim byand I've ever seen. I I cannot, And I'm not putting this lower down. It's just like a point of fact, and my bigger rhetorical question, you know, for you, maybe even some of you guys listening will answer via email. I've always wondered, like, does a win of this caliber matter to the consumer? Do you ever think about that? Like I have wondered this for many, many years, Like here's a show that you listening, the consumer is not allowed to go to, and we're awarding products that you, the consumer hasn't yet been able to fish. So does a stamp on the package when these baits are in Dix in a few weeks make you go, oh shit, like this took best and show at I cast um Because I feel the same way about a lot of these industry shows, like I've I've used many products that took you know, this category or that at the outdoor Retailer shot show I cast and when you first see this stuff, it's like, oh man, that's pretty cool. But then on the water in the real world, it's like, yeah, it's it's not that great. So voting in the new Product showcase has always been like nifty if you're one of the guys that that gets to be there to do it um. But I've always wondered, and again I'm not being snarky, I'm just like truly always wondered, like do seals of approval from these industry shows, like the people in Walmart buying care does the average weekend angler care? I have no idea, to be honest with you, but my I'm gonna do a spinoff and say I hope not because I've always had a problem with the way that these things go down, because to me, it always felt like such a waste of time. I can't go look at a product, a fishing product, being a rod or a reel or a bait or a bag or whatever in a convention center and like maybe maybe I I cast the rod on a pond or something maybe and decide this is the best piece of fishing equipment in here. Because I have never fished it, I think that is an inherently flawed system. And I've I've railed against this for the entire time that I've ever gone to any of these fishing shows that are industry and said, this is a waste of everyone's time and it's idiotic. So like, I don't how am I supposed to vote for what is best to show when I've never fished with any of these products in the wild, and and and we see very eye to eye on that. It's It's one of the things we've always agreed on, like you know, in in earlier parts of our career at Field and Stream, and it grays like I would only talk about a new product that I hadn't fished in the sense of like, this is new, here's what I know, but like a hardcore, drilled down gear review was always so difficult for me because they have to move so quickly as things change, and I'm like, man, I really like I kind of want to fish something for six months or a year before I put my stamp of like this kicks ass. I still feel that way. I did it very hard to do that in our industry because stuff is just constantly changing. To give them credit, that's how Grays does their gear reviews, or at least they did when I was there, everything was a year late because I fished everything for a year and then decided these are the four things I would actually spend my money on. But the gear companies hated it because we featuring their new products. It was the old stuff, but it was actual things that I could go to the readers and say, this is worth your time, this is worth your money by this it's great. Yeah, I love some opinions. If you guys want to share some. By the way, before you move on to your story, stay tuned because we have another little eye cast nugget in the show coming up shortly that I think you guys will appreciate. I know, I do. Um. The only connection I have is that this has to do with the new technology and fish that's also somewhat unproven but potentially exciting. Scientists at the University of California Davis are pioneering a new technique for studying the life history of fish, peeling away and individually analyzing the layers of their eyeballs. Oh much like tree rings, the lenses of fish eyeballs grow in layers, and those layers record chemical signatures from which researchers can determine what kind of habitat the fish was using, how rich and certain nutrients its diet was, and what its rate of growth was at different life stages. Lead author Miranda Bell Tilcock described it as a little diet journal the fish keeps for us, which is really nice. Yeah. In order to gather that information, researchers perform what Silcock describes as quote like peeling the world's tiniest onion. I like I like this researcher I like I like her quotes. They remove one layer at a time with tiny forceps and use isotopic analysis on each one. The intention in this case is to better understand how different habitats in the Sacramento River delta impact the growth and development of juvenile salmon. The researchers looked at fish raised in three different parts of the ecosystem, the main river, the floodplain, and a hatchery. Initial findings suggests that fish reared in the floodplain, which is now mostly standing rice fields, grew more quickly and had additional layers in their lenses. Though the research is currently focused on California salmon, the potential value of this extends the migratory fish species everywhere. According to Tilcock quote, there are many migratory species all over the world that need freshwater habitat. If you can isolate their habitat and value for diet, you can quantify it for long term success. In other words, if researchers can understand what parts of the habitat certain migratory fish are are using and having success, that information can influence management decisions and potentially benefit the growth and survival of the fish. Right they can see where the fish are going, what they're using, what things are beneficial, what aren't, and and they can get that that information pretty quickly indirectly. For example, one of the co authors of the study recently used the technique to study changes in a food web following the construction of a dam in Brazil, right, so looking at how that changed almost in real time after they put in a dam, and that researcher described this as quote the holy grail of measure dring restoration success. So I don't exactly know where this is going to go, but I find it to be just hopeful and fascinating. And the fact that they're cutting open and peeling away fish eyes as tree rings just stuck out at me. A dude, I mean, there's a lot of good that can come of that if this is you know, that accurate? Um, I mean, I can think it's so many situations where having that information would be helpful here in so many different studies and so many different rivers, right, Because if you make changes to management or habitat or infrastructure like within a river and you can immediately see how it's impacting fish growth, that's amazing. Yeah, for sure, I mean it's no reverse honeycomb body design on a soft plastic Swistainly, I think I think overall that technology will be more impactful for society. But hey, maybe if Phil does die from his recent accident, they can dissect his eyeballs and and learn that he has survived all these years on a diet of pure pez in r C cola. You know, we're not rooting We're we're not rooting for that though. We're rooting for a full recovery, because our egos need to know who wins this pointless competition every week. And with that, let's check in with old Phil and see how he's doing in the I see you. And then after that, uh, what I guarantee is is likely to be an awkward bit of tape. We'll move on to another awkward moment in fishing. Um, I think I think this is Phil. I think this is the guy. Yeah, it's Phil, I think. I mean, you can see his hair kind of poking out through the bandages as nice a quaff. Thank god they saved that hair. Do you think he's awake? Do you think you can hear us? I mean we're gonna have to try. I guess you have to try. Do you know how this happened? How did this happen? You didn't hear? He built a pontoon boat out of oil drums, but the oil drums were still filled with oil. That's yeah, not the smartest idea up, Phil, hold his hand, hold his hand? Okay, how his hand? Hands? Hold? Hold Carl, Maggie, we're here? Is that is that you? Yes? Oh my god, yes, yes, yes, please please tell tell Miles, tell him anything that the winner last week? Okay, what's Joe? Oh? Good, good, good, we will we will tell him. I don't blame him for planting this idea in my head. Okay, we'll pass that on. But we need one more thing film before you go. We need to know who won this week? Can you tell us? I can't and the winner was clear? Okay, okay, winner, Come on, Phil, I think he's gone. Oh no, you know what this means, right? Do you know what this means? No? They're going to send us to work with Lance V if we don't get this answer. No, shut up? Yeah, yeah, oh my god. Miracles, it's a miracle. Not the winter smiles. God, we'll take care of yourself. Can someone get me a brisk iced tea. What did you take a picture in a life block? It's uh, it's kind of been a hot minute since we've done an awkward photo. And I must say that's not because you guys aren't sending them, okay, you you guys are really doing your part. But I feel like what happens, okay is after a while, after you do this for a while, it becomes a game of one upping the last photo, you know what I mean? And like, the more you do that, the more you like end up waiting for stunners, you know what I means. Like you kind of like inadvertently rope yourself into waiting it out for the ultra gold, which which is exactly what we have to do this. Yeah, this segment would get boring if we just threw out random photos that we if we were to do this with photos we weren't excited about, I don't think it would be very exactly right exactly And and this particular one is it was worth the weight we have? Yes, we have a I would call it an exceptional fantastic layered photo might be a favorite of mine, I got it. I think it might be definitely. But here's the best part, right, This photo wasn't even sent in as an awkward photo. No, it wasn't. It wasn't even sent to us. Really, it was forwarded to us from our colleague who monitors the general Mediator account, and the attached photos were just sort of showing off recent catches, which is pretty common. We get that a lot. Ye, And we looked at them and we were like, oh, damn, that one right there is super and awkward. So that's what happened. I looked at that photo and I knew it just at the moment, like I knew we were going to have to do a segment on it. For the first time ever, we had to reach out to a meat eater fan and say, hey, uh, I know you didn't actually submit this for awkward moments and angling, but it's really awkward, so can we please trash this on the air? Will you let us do that? Yeah? Right, and and and dude was like absolutely even he was pumped. But even funnier thing it's actually a photo of his wife. Yeah he's in there, but but it's the wife is the focal point. So he was also kind of saying like, yes, please make fun of my wife as well, Like you know, hashtag pending domestic dispute. I don't know, you know what I mean. I don't think so, and I hope not. But here here's the story. The email came from Connor Adley and he wrote again he was just sending this to the main media to account. He wrote this very nice vignette about how he had never saltwater fish to his life before he met his wife, just saying, and now it's a huge part of what he does. Her family has had a property on Bailey Island, which is in Casco Bay in Maine, for a very long time, and she spent summer up there since she was little. When Connor married into the family, he started going up to Bailey Island too, and now he's up there every weekend. Connor has subsequently turned into an absolute striper nut. He's just ate up with it. He loves him, that's right, that's right. So he said this, and he happened to attach to photos. One is of himself doing a what I call it a very just stock gripping grain striper appropriate shot on the boat, and the other uh is of his wife holding a striper and it looks like she's crying. It looks like she is completely uncomfortable, just right on the verge of tears. Like there there is angst in the poor girl's face. Okay, dare I say there's anguish in the poor girl's face, Jason, Who's who's very She appears to be a very petite Person's standing at the base of some large, steep upturned sedimentary rocks. I noticed those rocks are very very pretty rocks. Uh, right at the edge of the water. She's got one hand firmly gripped right in the right spot, right at the wrist the peduncle of the tail, and the other hands got the lip grip. It's very close to a classic striper hole. It's just a little off. Yeah, it's just like the tails up a little too high, which makes it look kind of strange. And there's some seaweed obscuring the body. But all in all, the holds okay. I also gonna say, there's this weird jene jacket that's kind of dangling off on the side in this and I don't know, because it's like monogram very large. I don't even it almost looks like it's kind of floating there. I'm wondering if that gene jacket is about to fall into the water. The Jeane jacket looks precarious. But that's there's just And for you. And then there's Connor and he's he's like he's sort of hiding behind just In and and sort of hiding behind the rocks. But he's got his arms sticking out from under her armpit and it's just like awkwardly tickling the belly of the fish a little bit. He's not even really touching it though, so I don't think he's adding much support. But it's it's his face, you guys. It's the look on his face and it's just peeking out from behind this young woman and it looks I can only describe it as diabolical. Right, So then you can put all this together, and there's just saying looking terrified, Connor trying to hide with just his face in his hand sticking out, looking evil, and the whole thing just it looks creepy. It just looks creepy. His face is very sinister. It's extremely it's like sinister. And this is this is why should be twirling his mustache like right exactly, that was a terrible sinister person impression. I didn't think about it long enough whatever, Keep it in Phil. But here's what this is what came to mind when I first saw this. It's like a movie scene where and I don't have a movie in mind, but we all know what I'm talking about. Here, a bad guy like bumps up against a female victim in a public setting and like sticks a gun in her back and says, start walking and start walking and don't say a word, and then she's got to decide whether to make a move and cry out for help or not. Was wait? Was that Running Man? Was that a clip from Running Man? It was? I was Running Man? And while while it has no further connection, I just feel the need to add this. Are you ready for pay? Are you ready for suffering? If the answer is yes, then you're ready for Captain Freedom's work out. Now you probably thought I was gonna go with here's sub zero now playing zero, But that's just too obvious. That's the most quoted line from The Running Man, which maybe five people listening have seen. I hope it's more were I hope that was. I hope that one landed. It didn't land with me. I'll say that like I'm not a fan and I have Please tell me you've read the book. Have you read the book? Did you read the book? You're not a fan of The Running Man? No, No, and I can tell you why, But answer my question, did have you read the book? I have never read any of the book versions of any Schwarzenegger movie. No. I tried to find raw deal in paperback, but it just didn't seem to exist. I see the joke you're trying to make, but I'm going to continue with this line of rationale. It was a Bachman book, which was Stephen King's pen name for a while. Oh yes, something new every day. And the book is actually nothing like that over hyped weird game show insanity that they made into a movie. It's actually like a really interesting take on what was contemporary culture in the eighties and how we dealt with like prisons. But the movie, other than the name, has nothing to do with the book. It's it's not even so buzz Saw and Dynamo aren't in the book. They're not in the book. No. No, it was like all the reasons, all the reasons why I did not like that movie. This is still an awkward moments, right, we should probably circle back, guys, continue to our Running Man podcast that's every Saturday on our own channels. Anyway, Yes, we'll get back to just and we have to check in and see if she's safe. The photo. The photo was so awkward right that we we we had to reach out to Connor first to get his permission, and we also wanted to get some backstory. And here's what he said. I love fish, and nothing makes me happier than making a small fish look big in a picture, said every person on Instagram. Ever, whenever just Sends family took pictures of fish, they were never presented properly to show the true beauty of the fish. They either held it by the lips straight up and down, or in an awkward way that made the fish have a J shape. Because this one wasn't awkward. Over the last three seasons, I have been working on teaching the family how to present fish to the cameras. And on this beautiful Sunday morning, my wife caught her biggest fish of the summer. I saw how she was holding it, and I couldn't just stand behind her and let that belly sag, so I jumped in while the picture was being taken. To support both my wife and the fish. I didn't think my face would be in the picture, and because we'd like to get them back into the water as quickly as possible, there was no time to take another Here's the thing, though, Connor, I know from experience some people just don't want to be taught the right way. I'm thinking of my dad, Like every time I try and take a nice picture of him with the fish, he wants none of the instruction. He does not care. But still, how ironic that Connor here was trying to make his wife and the fish look better. Yet we end up with this though, I think there's actually there's actually a lesson here that we can all appreciate and learn from. Okay, what what what Connor and Jessen did not do did not do was spend twenty five minutes posing with the fish. So props for the quick snap and release. Even if she had nailed the hold right like then we wouldn't be talking about her. So I actually think this turned out better. This is bettest worked out, but far better than they ever could have imagined. One shot back in the water app well done. Well that as as no one on Instagram ever said, right there, Connor, thanks for for kind of sort of sending this to us for our moments on accident, but really thanks for letting us use it when we asked. Uh. And I also should add that the majority of our thanks go to just Send for playing along and yes, allowing this to be shared publicly. Uh. You hope you're all smiles in subsequent striper shots and and now know how to do the rifle pose that Surmelie claims he invented, so he did not all of you out there. If you want to see this, you can see the photo on Joe and my Instagram accounts. And if you want your photo roasted here fired off along with the backstory to Bent at the meat eater dot com. That was kind of a harsh way to teach a lesson on how to hold a fish. But I'm I'm willing to bet the next time that we get a photo of just and holding a striper, she's gonna be mean, mugging like a Montak sharpie. Did that right? That sound natural? Not really close? He's got just stick to your West Coast slang. But yeah, Jess, and definitely she knows more about stripers than you, even if she doesn't know how to hold them yet. So you know, exposing your your weak fish hold game on a four point five star fishing podcast is it's kind of trial by fire. But joking aside, we really did love that photo. Was one of my favorites. Really good. Um. Anyway, sort of by accident, truly, we we've we've woven a like a secondary, like a secondary major, like a secondary striper theme in a minor episode a minor. That's what I meant, God, secondary major minor dummy. Um. And you also you did just mentioned mont Talk, which creates a perfect transition to the end of the line This week, Yes, yes it does. In honor of a full year recording together, Joe and I are going to tag team this week's end of line and choo the fat, so to speak, and by fact we mean delicious, delicious pork skin. Well, that's not loud enough. Dietarily speaking, I don't have a whole lot in common with the fish I pursue. I mean, I like crayfish and certain paid fish, but but I take a pass on nightcrawlers, grasshoppers, and hot dogs soaked in kool aid and garlic. Powder fish and I do share one gastronomical achilles heel, though bacon taste good part shops taste good pig fat. Don't tell Steve Ronella, but pork might be my favorite meat. I love elk, antelope, moose, dear pheasant, grouse, and many many aquatic meats. But as much as I want to go pure wild game for my protein, I can't quit the swine, especially when it's cured and salty, even though I know it's not the smartest dietary decision. Game fish share my affinity for salty pork, and the history of natural pork baits goes back a good long time. A couple of fishing buddies named Urban Shriner and Alan P. Jones had a problem. The pair would spend their summer days fishing bass on Jordan Lake in Wisconsin. Early in the morning and late in the evening. They like to pitch plugs, but midday, when the plugging got slow, they always switched to live frogs. That year, however, due to environmental circumstances, the specifics of which have been lost to history, Jordan Lake had a frog shortage. The two couldn't find the frogs they needed to keep up the midday bite anywhere, so they got to thinking about which alternatives they might use to replace the absent amphibians. Jones worked at a dairy farm where one of his jobs was slaughtering hogs and making sausage, so the guy was familiar with pig parts. Throughout that summer, the two experimented with chunks of fat back that still had the skin on, cutting them into different frog leg shapes. They wanted to get optimal wiggle out of the legs, but keep enough fat on to create a body profile provide enough way to cast and send out a greasy scent trail for the fish. Turns out it worked pretty damn well, and the next year the two star of the Uncle Josh Bait Company in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. That first year, they offered three baits, the original number eleven pork frog, a bass strip, and a fly strip, all of which were available in just one color, the natural white of cured pork skin and fat. The baits were effective and incredibly durable. Pigskin is tough, but it took a while to figure out how to get the fat back to absorb and hold colored dies. Their biggest challenge, however, was spoilage. The first few years opening those little glass jars was an old factory gamble, as the Bates would quickly go ranted and stink far worse than any pack of power bait. Eventually, though, they figured out a way to get the dyeta stick and a brine that would keep the flesh fresh. Bass and pike anglers across the country soon discovered the effectiveness of salty pork in little green jars, and the pig and a jig became standard. It's difficult to overstay the impact that this creation had on recreational fishing. At the time, pig strips were everywhere. Spoon manufacturers realized that undulating tails could add action and sent to their flash and vibration, and began designing spoons with special rind attachments. Most listeners are likely familiar with the iconic red Dare Devil spoon and its white stripe down the center, but what you probably didn't know is the Daredevil originally came up with that color design to compete with pork strips. The tagline for that paint job in old ads reads the stripe the pork grind without the Greeks. For nearly four decades, natural pork reigned supreme. Uncle Josh Bates grew large and successful, and at least three other companies also produced pork grind baits to meet national demand. They added scents and action to artificial lures and caught god knows how many fish. Then came the cream worm and the explosion of plastics. For a while, people kind of forgot about natural skin baits. By the early nineteen seventies, Uncle Josh was the only company making hog hide, frogs and strips. All the others had folded in the late seventies and early eighties, though some tournament bass anglers started bringing in bags that turned heads. One pair in an Oklahoma tournament set a state record weighing in twenty fish that totaled a hundred and twenty nine pounds ten ounces, all caught on a peg and a jake. Pork rinds became popular again until plastics technology outmatched in the nineties with salt scent and the huge variety of colors and designs were now accustomed to seeing on tackle store peg boards. Even though plastics started to outcompete them, pork grind always maintained a market. There were the old timers like my uncle's who swore that a chunk of Uncle Josh's on a weedless Johnson's silverspoon would catch fish when they wouldn't bite anything else, and those die hards went into collective mourning in twenty fifteen, when Acme Lures, who had purchased the Uncle Josh brand, announced that they would no longer be manufacturing real pork grind strips. Hog production had changed over the course of the century. Pigs were now going to slutter at six months instead of two or three years, and the skin of such young pigs just wasn't thick enough to produce a quality bait. Everything Miles just said is accurate, But there's another part of this story, one that adds even more salt to that already salty bacony goodness. I think it might be fair to say that more tears were shed by Northeast saltwater anglers when Uncle Josh announced they were done in the hog trade than by large mouth and pike guys. Now, while the popularity of the pork grind may have ebbed and float among sweetwater anglers, Uncle Josh never lost its devout following in the striper's scene. In fact, the pork grind, too many surfcasters, was as staple a piece of kit as their rotten reel. Uncle Josh had two main saltwater offerings, the blackwadow eel and the sea rind, which was introduced in the late nineties seventies. The black widows came in several sizes, but the biggest measured nine inches, and that one was only available in white and black. Now black was arguably the most popular color, and it offered striped wranglers an alternative to costly and sometimes hard to procure live American eels. Sure there were rubbed reels in the seventies and eighties, but none of the move like that extra long piece of black pigskin. I never used black widow eels. Those sea rhymes quickly became a necessity for me in my twenties when I leveled up my surfcasting game and started making runs to Montauk, New York. Here, I quickly learned that despite the plethora of soft plastic swim baits on the market, the sharpies, the old timers, those guys in the know, they rarely touched those, Just as it had for decades, a plain white bucktail j tipped with a wiggly red pork strip whacked stripers more consistently than most of the new school stuff. I bought a jar of red Sea Rhyns just to my first mon Talk trip, and that jar lasted me for many, many years, even after like a solid blitz session and subsequent use that the Jersey Shore and beyond. Those things were tough to destroy. As long as you put them back in the jar, they lasted almost forever. In fact, I'd still have that jar if it didn't eventually crack causing all the Brian to leak out. And it's a shame that I don't have it, really, because the black market for pork rins in the surf scene is still strong. If you're like sitting on a case of Uncle Josh pork rinds never used in jars, I mean, that's like hitting the eBay lottery. In the years following the bad news from Uncle Josh, companies scrambled to make the next pork strip alternative that would capture the market. There were magazine articles, reviews and comparisons written over which one to use now that Uncle Josh was done. But if you read the comments, paid attention on social media every time there was a new video of that brand next strip dancing underwater, a bunch of those comments just said I want my bacon back. Well, good news, although not for the black market pork grind trade. Just a few weeks ago at I Cast, which is the big fishing industry trade show, Uncle Josh flew a banner at their booth emblazon with three little words pork is back. We don't even have all the details yet, but it's a greasy ray of sunshine busting through that dark cloud of porklessness. So that's it for this week. If you're trying to decide what to send us for our birthday, we prefer gift cards. We take one to Denny's so we don't actually have to tap into our budget to pay Bob. We take one to a nearby hog farm so we can start our own pork grind business in Montauk. We take one to a C. Morris we can buy a frame for jess ends angsty striper photo. And we'd also take one of Blockbuster Video just because it would be a cool keepsake. If you can find one of those out of you, I would have to go on an eBay for that. I'll also take your bar nomination sale, but item's awkward photos. Newsy bits and anything else that you want to send to Bent at the meat eater dot com. And in all seriousness, we can't thank all of you degenerates enough for tuning in. In the past year, we fished with every single one of you guys if we could life

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