Ep. 74: Gloves Off, Jet Boat Cowboy

This week on “Fishin’ With Omicron Wilson,” we: take our mittens deep into Brown Town and wipe the place up, slide over a few rock bars in Mad Max’s fishing sled, make it rain gizzard shad, and answer your burning question about eating delicious trophy breeders.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
Who are you when you get on this jet boat?
You know, it's like you get on it and you
just like become Stebo all of a sudden, John, I
had toilet paper, just for toilet paper, point blank. Our
beloved Phil responded with, if I take a shot every
time someone says yeah, man, will I die? If you're

(00:26):
scared to go to church, if you're broke, don't message
me O b O Trades. Welcome, good morning to Generate Anglers,
and welcome to Bent, the fishing podcast that promised itself
it would be more financially responsible in the new year,
but already bought two tack to bite fish calls on
Impulse from the as scene on TV and cap at
Walgreen's I'm Joe Surmeli and I'm Hayden Sam Mac and

(00:50):
Happy New Year, de Generate. It's into you two man,
Happy new year. Here we are in sixty five new opportunities,
Am I right? You know what I mean? And we
certainly we hope you guys had a wonderful holiday and
created beautiful memories with your friends and family. The uh
you know, like the vaccinated and boosted ones. I guess anyway, um,

(01:11):
and and this week week. This week, we've got we've
got a bunch of of new stuff for the new
year coming at you. We've got a new segment, we've
got new guests, new co host. You know what I'm saying.
Come on, I'm kidding, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. I'm kidding.
You're still you're stuck with Hayden. Um. But really, we
we are very excited for the new year and the

(01:32):
new season. I guess is this a new season? Is
this a new year making new season? Is that right?
I don't even know. That's what they tell me. I
don't know it is officia. I should really check with
somebody about that, but I don't know what freaking difference
it makes. We'll go with that, we'll say it, we'll
say this new season of Bent. But before we get
to all that, UM, you know, we we've been on

(01:55):
a little bit of a break at meeting over the holiday.
They give us a nice break, Hayden and I and
um as all you guys know. I think by now,
while Hayden lives in Montana, he's a Pennsylvania boy, and
despite our best efforts, we had every intention of linking
up while you were back here on the East Coast
for the holidays, and that did not happen. Um, you

(02:15):
want to explain, why should we tell the good people
what what what went down? Well, let's start at the beginning,
all right, we'll go from there. That could take a
little while, but go ahead, go from the beginning. Yeah. So,
uh so we had planned to go fishing, like basically
as soon as I got home, but my flights got

(02:35):
all messed up and that never happened. So I came
in like a day later. Um, You, however, did go
out that day and you had a wonderful day on
the water. Yeah. So the day that you were stuck
in Houston, I was floating a local river and just
crushed some monster wild browns, including my personal best. So yes,

(02:56):
that was that was strike one for you, and I
thank you Airlines. That hurt. Um, so, yeah, I missed that.
Then we had a plan to do a little tagging,
which I was really you know, you and I have
talked about this multiple times. I was very excited about that. Um.
But despite the forecast looking lovely just a few days prior,

(03:17):
ship got super nasty and we wisely scrabbed, you know,
we scrapped the trip However, we did make plans to
hit the TOG grounds when I got back from a
little Steelhead trip. I was going to take the following week.
So I was very hopeful for that happening. Yeah. So yeah,
so we we we pushed TOG by a week. We
rescheduled because that's just December. Three days out it looks great,

(03:38):
and the night before it's like shit. So yeah, a
little rescheduled there and then and then what happens. Uh yeah,
you know, I'm trying to stop saying yeah man. I
don't know if you I don't know if you've seen
the comments, but folks are picking up us. Yeah, starting
half of our thoughts with yeah man. In fact, when

(04:01):
I put out the call to uh, you know, for listeners,
for to get questions on our i G the other day,
our beloved Phil responded with, if I take a shot
every time someone says yeah, man, will I die? Yeah? Man,
I think you would, yeah man. Uh yeah. So anyhow,
after that, let's see, Uh, I had my thirtieth birthday, rats,

(04:23):
thank you, a wonderful Christmas, and then I caught COVID completely.
Just everything else up, including uh, the Steelhead trip and
the tag rain date so I ended up just kind
of like isolating in a cabin for the remainder of
my visit until I tested negative. So it was I mean,

(04:45):
it was fine but not great. Yeah, I hope, I
hope yours was better. Uh what did you get up to, Joe? Well,
I did a little brown trout fishing. I also did
some dogging. Um no, I'm I'm I'm I'm kidding of course.
So yeah, we're supposed to go to the Wednesday after Christmas,
and I got the call on Monday that it was like,
hey man, so here's the thing I have COVID. And

(05:06):
I was like, holy ship. And here's why I said
holy sh it, because you were like the nine hundred
person that said that to me over the holidays. So
we we had a nice holiday with kids in the family.
But I mean, it's in the back of your mind,
like all right, whereas my COVID it's coming and and
so far here we are like me and my family
have have skated. But um, you know, funny, funny thing. Um,

(05:30):
we ended up going on that talg trip, the one
you missed, and I was the I think I was
the only guy on the boat that had not already
had COVID and gotten over it, and we're like, was
was negative and I was actually jealous. I'm like, damn it,
I want my COVID. Like, let's just get it over
with already. You know what I'm saying. But it was
a good break. It was nice time, good holiday. Well

(05:53):
that's great man. You know, I'm glad to hear you
and your family had such a happy holiday. Dude, I'm
glad you at least, you know, got to have yourself
a merry little Christmas. I I imagine you're excited to
head back to Montana. Yeah. All my flights back home
just keep getting serially canceled. Um, so the joy continues. Um. Oh,

(06:15):
I think it's fair to point out, since you just
mentioned that you're not there yet, you're heading back, this
is after the new year, and you are still in
Pennsylvania because your flight flights have been canceled so many times.
I'm still stuck here. But you know, if there's one
thing that is cheering me up a little bit, uh,
it's all my friends. They've been posting ice fishing pictures.
All the lakes of Montana are basically frozen up, and

(06:36):
that means that pretty soon I'm going to be out
on the ice, and I'm particularly excited about that. And
I think you know why, well I do. I know.
I know. One reason is because you were hoping to
maybe ice fish while you were home, and I kept
telling you, bro, it's sixty five degrees here. There is
no ice between here and Buffalo, I promise. Um. But

(06:57):
I also imagine you're itching to use some of that
sweet gear you got from thirteen fishing? Is that the reason?
Very much? So? I've been just like patiently waiting since
the day I got it to break it out, and
it seems like the time is finally here. Um. I
know I've said it at least twice on here, but
those finesse bates they sent over are just like the
fishiest things I've ever seen. Oh yeah, dude, And how

(07:18):
cool were those flash bangs? Right? That's exactly and that
is exactly what I was thinking of. Those are like,
by far my favorites. I just think that they're they're
like well made, you know, uh, Like you get one
in your hand and you're just like yep, yep. I'll
just jump in real quick and say that even the
small soft plastics made for ice fishing, dude, I was
using a few open water for crop ease over holiday break,

(07:39):
like the Yeah. And they also don't cost like a
ship toney either, you know, I think I think the
flashbangs or eight bucks. It seems like you go to
like a tackle shop those still exists. You go to
a tackle shop and you buy like a buck tail
or whatever, and they're all like hands spun with unicorn
maine and like made with lead from Mars, and they

(08:01):
all caused like a hundred bucks. You know, these babies
are the working man's jigging spoon, right the discerning working
man's jigging spoon right there. Yes, exactly, Well, yes, super
super good deal, um, And I'm sorry you had kind
of a shitty trip out here, and I'm glad you're
healthy and getting after it sooner on the hard water.

(08:23):
But i'll tell you what, as shitty as your trip
may have been, it wasn't anywhere near as shitty in
the literal sense as the trip that our colleague, former
guiding good friend Michael come on, that's actually his last name, like,
come on, man um in this week's Snooth Moves. Why

(08:49):
all right, So we're here with my buddy Michael Common,
who is our partnerships coordinator over here meat eater, but
was also for many years a fish And I just
gonna jump in and say, I just learned this, Like
I work with Mike, although like digitally because I'm not
in Montana, I'm like the East Coast Milton with my

(09:09):
stapler out here. So I had no idea that Mike
was a fishing guy. Like we email frequently about all
sorts of things fishing and work related, and I'm like,
he was a guide. What all the time we've emailed
back and forth, Joe, It's nice to finally put a
face with the name. He was just telling me he
went he bought a Chuck Norris lore which was on
end of the line, and at my recommendation, it took

(09:30):
it to Costa Rica and banged a bunch of mahi
on it. Oh ship, sure did Joe's on it with
the Chuck Norris Chuck. Anyway, this is cool. It was
surprising and cool, and I'm like, I'm I'm pumped that
we're doing this. Where were you guiding? Man? Well, I
was a bad country guide for many years, so I
guided in Wyoming and in Montana here mostly in the

(09:54):
Bob Marshall Wilderness and then also wrote a boat for
quite a few years here in the Bozeman area. So
on the Yellowstone River and the Madison River, and fish
a lot on the Galton Nice, So right in the
thick of it, right like right in like like the
most overcrowded rivers in the state. That yeah, where we
have lots of competition. And you know, you have a

(10:14):
better odds of finding a fishing guide than you do
have probably anything else here in Montana. You know, as
you started asking around people, you know, it's, uh, it's
a pretty pretty thick crowd here in town. Yep. So,
so Joe, Mike was telling me this story when we
were we were actually elkhin when you told me this story,
and I immediately knew Joe has to hear this because

(10:38):
this is just perfect. I have no idea what's coming,
but I'm I can't wait. I trust you, man, I
trust you. I can't wait to hear this. That's right
up your alley. Shoot lay it, honest, dude. So as
we all know, you know, as a as a guide,
we we try and do as much as we can
for our clients all the time, and sometimes we do

(10:59):
that unbeknowing what actually might happen. So on this particular day,
we had a couple of clients. We were doing a
walk away trip, so you know, just on our own
two feet, kind of walking up and down the river,
and uh tend to spend more time with one client
for maybe thirty minutes or an hour, and then you
kind of bounce back to the other client. So I

(11:19):
was fishing with two guys this one day. They were
friends from out of town and um earlier in the day,
one of the guys that asked me if I had
a had a pair of gloves that he could borrow.
He said, sure, of course, you know, I'm you're not
gonna let a guy go with cold hands. And so
I had an extra pair of gloves today that I
let him borrow. And uh, you know, I thought year
was this, Mike? Was it like gloves weather? Obviously glove weather. Yeah,

(11:41):
it was. It was in Uh, it was in the fall,
I think. Gosh, I think it was about mid October
or something like that. So out here in Montana getting
to that cold time, especially guys out of town, right,
I I completely forgot that, like only mid July isn't
glove weather, so it was it was not July, so

(12:02):
we were wearing glass So so it wasn't out of
the realm of possibility that he was going to need
a pair of gloves for the day to to warm
up his his hands and h especially with cold water
that we have out here. And uh, so I let
him borrow with gloves and um, while I was up
spending time with the other client. Uh, you know, I

(12:22):
didn't think anything of it, and went back to to
see how this one gentleman was doing a little bit
later on, and uh, he proceeds to hand me one
glove back. I like the Michael Jackson thing. Yeah, yeah,
without the dance moves though, and uh and I asked him,

(12:46):
I said, well where, John, where did the other glove go?
And he said, oh, well I had to take a ship.
I said, okay, well where'd the other glove go? Said? Well,
I needed to wipe my ass with something. Oh I
would just call that point blank rude. It's just rude,

(13:08):
So I h yeah, So I just pretty much handed
him the one glove back and said, you know what,
you can keep it. It's my tip to you. And
uh yeah, So I also said John, I had toilet paper.
You could have just asked me for toilet paper, point blank.
You didn't have to go with the glove route. And

(13:30):
uh so I have quickly learned that if somebody asks
you to borrow a pair of gloves, ask them what
they're going to do with it. This is this is
almost as close as it comes to literally wiping your
client's ass. Yeah, pretty much. And we haven't had a
good ship story in a while, so this is very refreshing.
We were kind of overdue for excrement, you know what

(13:52):
I mean. But that's that's extremely that's extremely rude, and
like that is why buffs were invented. The only reason
to ever have a buff on and I don't give
a ship pardon the pun. If it's a Sims buff
or a buff buff for whoever everybody make, you can
buy them at Walgreens. Like that's why you spend that

(14:12):
money to wear that around your neck, Like that's what
that's for his toilet paper? Right? Yeah, And like to me,
it's like that guy. Nobody told that guy if you
fly fish, you have to wear a buff you know.
So you're kind of at fault there too. You should
have been like, where's your buff well once Orvius I
guess starts making them. Maybe they'll see on the fly

(14:32):
fishing team. You know, I think I have an us
buff or had one. The other thing I'll say too,
is um as gross as that is and as rude
as that is. Maybe you guys have the same thing.
Like I'm weird about fishing with gloves on. I hate it.
I hate fishing with gloves on, and we'll avoid it
at all costs. And I have one pair to forget.
They're kena or what they are, but they weren't anything

(14:53):
fancy and they're fingerless gloves, and they're the only gloves
that I am really comfortable fishing in, whether it's saltwater
fly fishing or whatever. And like they are so precious.
Because of that, I've basically done everything with them but
wipe my ass. And like, even if I had to
wipe my ass with them, I'd have to bag them
bring them home because like a good pair of fishing gloves,
it's very hard to find. I would recommend if you

(15:15):
are going to use a pair of gloves, don't use
fingerless gloves to wipe your ass. Joe, Well, yeah, if
it's all in your hand. Wait a minute, now, you
just you just open up a whole other can of worms.
Do you do you figure that he used your glove
like like a single piece of charmante? Or did he
put his hand in the glove and then wipe his
ass with the hand in the glove, which would be

(15:37):
more pressure and probably clear off more ship. I guess
in my mind, I've just envisioned the hand in the
glove using it like a glove. This is a horrible,
horrible conversation. Now it's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful, and I
appreciate it very much. Dude, what the hell is wrong

(15:58):
with man? That crazy? I asked myself that question at
least ten times every time I go out in public.
You know what I mean. It's mind blowing to meet
lose a soccer or something, bro use some leaves, something
anything else. Like I said, this is why buffs were invented,
you know what I mean, That's what they're great for. Anyway,
let's move off of this. Let's move off of this topic. Okay, agreed,

(16:22):
And speaking of wiping, I'm about to wipe the floor
with you, Joe Sassy. That's right, boys and girls, it's
time for that weekly competition we call fish news. Fish news.
That escalated quickly. Alrighty, then first news of how fresh

(16:44):
and exciting is that? Yeah, a little Ventura bumbaway Juna. Um. Good.
You don't catch Christmas vacation, but you get Asha Ventura.
You've heard about the Christmas vacation thing. I know you've
heard it from several people, but it's impossible for you
to have not seen that. Um. Before we get started,
I just wanted to drop a little plug, if I may, um,

(17:05):
for a piece that I published on the Meat Eater
website this week, which is is rare. And I know this.
I am a right yeah, well it is. I am
a writer, um that seems to have little time to
write anymore because I'm busy doing other things. UM, But
I am trying to get back into that groove a
little bit this year. Um. And earlier in this this

(17:26):
very show, you had mentioned the brown trout fishing that
you missed. Well, the story I posted this week is
tied to that trip, um. And I'm making the case
right that if you want to become a better fly
fisherman with streamers in particular, put down the fly rod
and throw Laura's in bait. So how's that? What is
the guy who insists that there's there's no better way

(17:48):
to catch a trout than with a fly rod have
to say about that? I'm curious? Well, um, I you know, honestly, guy, man,
I'll tell you what if you uh, if you go
back in that an email inbox that we so religiously check,
you will see a email that I replied to and
didn't that email A listener was asking me what he

(18:10):
could do too, you know, kind of up his odds
of being successful in fly fishing as he you know,
got more into it. And one of the things that
I suggested is to go find a pond scouted out
using bait and Bobber's find the fish and then like
learn how to fish for him. So I do think

(18:31):
that that being a bait fisherman will in fact make
you better fly fisherman. I don't know, man, I agree
with that wholeheartedly. Is that the same guy that you
told to watch a whole bunch of Joan Wolf videos
on VHS or something? Yeah? Yeah I did. And you
know what else? If that pisses you off, you anybody
who was like I'm talking to everybody right now, I'm

(18:55):
ready to fight, bro, you know, I'm just go Hayden
will reply to a band email and I'll see the
reply later. And there was one I was like, Joan
Wolf on Beta Max, what are you telling this poor guy? Anyway, Anyway, anyway,
I hope some of you guys check it out on
the meter dot com. It was enjoyable to get back

(19:16):
to my roots a bit and write something other than
a podcast segment for a change. Uh So let's uh,
let's get into news. It's a new year. Will there
be a new Phil tailor to Judges? Has he reinvented
himself for two? Uh? We will find out because remember
this is a competition. Hayden and I do not know
which news weapons the other guy is bringing to this fight.

(19:38):
And uh, it's your leadoff, I believe this week, which
is an advantage for you. So what do you got, bro?
What do you got? Okay? This one's for Joe Wolf.
Uh Okay, Joe. So this week I kind of have
like a quick hit from for you from the from
the State of Texas. The stars at night are big
and bright, deep in the heart of Texas. If I

(19:59):
hadn't used that clip from Pee Wee Herman so many
times already. I would I would have Phil Subbitt in
here again, but we'll skip it. Did I tell you
what happened when that episode played. I was in the car.
I was in the car with my buddy, the one
that you used that for previously. I was in the
car with my buddy who's from Oklahoma, and Dude, that

(20:19):
clip played and it was like he remembered he was
in a cult. Immediately he just started like and he
clapped at one point. Yeah. There, absolutely, it was super weird,
like it like just flipped a switch in his lizard
brain man, and he was straight. You know, we might

(20:40):
not teach you shit about fishing, but if we can
take you back to pee Wee's big adventure for just
one second, you know we're doing God's work anyway. Sorry, Yeah,
go on with the news, please. So, according to the
Dallas Morning News, residents of tex Orkna witnessed what is
known as an animal rain. And what is that, you
may have It is not a period of time in

(21:01):
which animals ruled with an iron fist, but rather but
rather the actual raining of animals, as like like they
fell from the heavens. M I'm glad to clarify that
it'd be it would be spelled differently if it was raining,
like like raining blood U slayer, But okay, just raining. Okay,

(21:25):
So animals are falling from the skuy go on. Yeah,
I didn't want to get folks confused anyway, The residents
found the ground like littered with fish after thunderstorms rolled
through the Texarcana area last Wednesday. Over a dozen people
called in to report it. Now here's the weird thing though,
I mean, like, animals falling from the sky is pretty weird.

(21:47):
But like, here's the other weird thing. An animal rain
is typically like very like explicable. Uh. Storm rolls in,
generates water spout over nearby body of water. The water
spout sucks in the fish into posits to them and
where I think most fish would consider an undesirable location,
like tech Sarcanaara, I love you Texan kidding, we're talking

(22:12):
about just landed general. It's not a thing. But here's
the weird thing. Meteorologists issued no water spout warnings in
the area, and looking back on the data, have since
struggled to find any indicator of the type of conditions
that would cause one to develop. Now it's unclear as
to whether people reporting this phenomenon actually saw the fish

(22:35):
falling from the sky or simply walked outside and found
a bunch of fish where they weren't supposed to be,
which leads to another possible explanation that being rising floodwaters
moved the fish out of water bodies they inhabited, then
stranded them on shore after the flood receded. This would
seem plausible except for the fact that there was no

(22:55):
reported flooding. Plot thickens a lot thickens of this mystery.
Meteorologist Brandon Thorne said, quote, we're kind of confused as
to how it happened as well, to be honest, which
is exactly how I hope like the official statement reads. Um. Now,
despite the fact that we know meteorologists are generally never

(23:19):
ever wrong, I'm going to assume that there was a
water spout that happened that their model didn't pick up,
because that seems way more plausible than people not noticing
a flood. Yeah, I you know, I'm so this. I
heard about this story, like I didn't. I didn't read
it at all. Um, But we've we've covered some similar
things in the past about fish falling out of the sky,

(23:41):
and there's always that stuff on the Science Channel, like
about weird blobs that fell from the sky in h
You're right, it was Now that I think about it, um,
you know, so I will say, I will say that
I'm I'm curious now because we've ruled out the two things,
is that it most likely could be. So I'm curious

(24:02):
to see where we're going here. Yeah. I think they
just didn't like notice of water spout on their model,
or like, I don't know, nature did some like weird
ship that wasn't like immediately detectable. Okay, So to close
out this story, I want to read a direct passage
from the article in the Dallas Morning News. Here, uh

(24:23):
says Devin Seawell, a sales manager at the ore Max
car dealership in Texarkana, said he thought a neighboring business
had thrown out fish between two and six inches long
into the roadway when he walked outside Wednesday afternoon. Sounds
like some reno shit. Then he goes on to say,

(24:45):
this is a quote from see what he says. Then
I started looking on the ground and there were fish
everywhere for about a hundred yards. Seawell said. The following
fish up in the talk of the town and that
people have been getting a kick out of the quirky phenomenon.
What's going there's probably not a whole much a lot
of other stuff going in Texas our cannon to talk about. Yeah,
he says, Uh, what's going to stink is I'm going

(25:06):
to have to clean these fish out of the back
of these trucks now, seatwell said, well, good, well, good
on him for having trucks at the or Max car
dealership in this time of of of car and truck shortages.
So he's ahead of the game there, you know what
I mean? True? Should we should we just make like
a plug for the for the or Max Car dealers.
I'm kind of shopping for a new truck. Im my

(25:28):
head down there. Well, I'll take them keep the fish
in the back, bro Which, by the way, what kind
of fish are they have? You said? You know, honestly,
I didn't. I didn't notice what kind they look like?
Some like little Uh they were gizzard chat. I was
just going to say to read it and I saw
I'm pretty sure they were gizzard chat, which that you

(25:52):
know what I mean? Yeah, Although I'll tell you what, man,
there's nothing more difficult than keeping those things alive without
like a good like aeration system, and those things you
look at them wrong and they die. Um. Yeah, anyway,
kept you've kept a lot of gizzard chad, Yeah, a handful. Well,
not like a bunch, but like you know, I've tried

(26:13):
to go catfish with them, like several times, just busting
your balls. Go ahead, I have indeed kept my fair
share of gizzard chad. Anyway. I also thought, being okay,
there's not a lot of meat on this on the
bone for this story, right, like, there was probably water
spout fish fell onto the town and it was like, oh,
it's raining fish. That's crazy. The end, I thought it

(26:34):
would be fun to mention three notable instances of animal
rain that happened in the past if we could get
a drumroll, please not fun with it this weekend. Totally necessary,
but I said, all right, right. Instance one in May
of in the Southern table Lands region of Australia, they

(26:57):
were treated to a spring or I guess fall shower
in the way of millions of spiders. Okay, bro, come on, man,
work with me here, bro, I'm working and listening. We
worked together, all right. Well, the drum roll. In September

(27:17):
of in Philadelphia, a woman was struck by a catfish
that appeared to have fallen from the sky, although realistically
like that could have been thrown by anybody in Philly,
like I feel like we like I was gonna say,
I'm pretty sure that was my friend Pete Sharf aka
Melvin the Fisherman on Instagram. Shout out to him. He
just catches flatheads and throws him off the overpass on
the on seven sixties seven or six seventies six or

(27:39):
whatever it is. I'm just kidding. I hope that's not
true of the incident. The victim of the errant catfish,
Lisa Lowbree, said, suddenly I was slammed by something. I
was like what, I was freaking out. That's a great
quote quote from Yeah, this one's better. Here's my favorite

(28:03):
of the three, entirely because of the quote. In August
two thousand seven, the residents of Jennings, Louisiana, were treated
to a refreshing sprinkle of worms. One of the eyewitnesses
was a cop who was quoted as saying, when I
saw they were crawling, I said, it's worms. Get out
of the way, oh man, that's a. That's a that's

(28:26):
a pretty good one. Um. Yeah, So well, I think
we're we're lacking a bit of closure on exactly what
happened there in Texas Arcana. But that's okay. It's always funny,
but I think it's always good to talk about these
weekly world news style stories every once in a while. UM.
I have personal experience actually with um with fish rain.

(28:47):
Believe it or not, you've ever told you this? Yeah,
so the Sunday right before Christmas, we were brown trout
fishing and I was making it just rain slob brown trout,
and had it's not been delayed, you you would have
been there is such a dick to get in on
the slub brown trout rain. Anyway, that was fun, wasn't it.

(29:14):
Please enter your pants word you have one unheard message.
Hey guys, this is from HRU for the last time.
You need to stop making fun of step in Chester
for I want to complain it quick for catching deep walleye. Seriously,
this is a verbal warning. Please do you know how

(29:35):
to make me exploit? All right? Have a great day
by end of message Delete priss seven save deleted. Where
am I gonna go with this? Now? How do I
follow up fish rain um fish falling from the sky
to to fish. We can no longer catch terrible transition.
But I don't I don't care, because damn what I

(29:56):
think I'm gonna I'm trying to win this week. So
here's an interesting tidbit all the way from Hawaii, KA
via k h O N two dot com. As of
January one two, get this, it is now illegal to
fish for sharks in Hawaiian state waters. Okay, so that's

(30:17):
kind of a big deal right now. Hawaii has already
passed bills in the in the recent past to try
and stop a legal commercial trade of sharks and shark
by products. But as far as I know, could be wrong,
but I'm pretty confident here. This is the first time
in history a U. S. State has made it illegal
to knowingly and knowingly is the key word target or

(30:40):
capture any species of shark um. Of course, part of
this is also to crackdown on sharks getting caught as
by catching gill nets, but it certainly applies to rod
and real angling. So this was all passed under Act
fifty one, House Bill five thirty three, and the specific
wording is this um except as provid aided in subsection F,

(31:01):
which I'll get to in a second, or as otherwise
provided by law. No person shall intentionally or knowingly capture
or entangle any shark, whether alive or dead, or kill
any shark within state marine waters. Any person violating this
section or any rule adopted pursue into this section shall
be guilty of a misdemeanor. Right now, subsection F. This

(31:26):
is referring to the ability you can still obtain I
guess um special activity permits to target sharks, but there's
not much detail on how you'd qualify for those. But
my guests would be that's for you know, tagging and
research studies, right, things like that. So here's a quote
from the story. The purpose of the band is to

(31:46):
protect sharks for their ecological value, while not criminalizing the
accidental capture and release of sharks that may be captured
while fishing for other species as allowed by statute or rules.
So if you accidentally hook a shark while fishing for
something else, no problem. But as I understand that, this
now states that you can no longer in Hawaii set

(32:10):
out to target sharks specifically, And I gotta say, um,
that's not a super easy thing to enforce, at least
in my opinion, because some people might assume, um, well,
you know, if if a guy is telling me he's
fishing for grouper right, but he's using wire or cable,
he's probably lying right. But these days it's fair to

(32:34):
keep in mind that that many shark fishermen um will
tell you they get more bites on super heavy floral
carbon even I've done this and a big s circle hook,
then they do on wire and cable. It's kind of
been proven that if you know how to rig right,
you don't need the heavy cable and the heavy metal
to get it done. So I guess I guess you

(32:55):
wouldn't write because if that circle hook is just straight
up in the corner of their mount, if it does
its job, although I lost the only makeo I ever
hooked on my boat because of that, but for the
most part, if it does it job, if it does
its job and it seats properly. Um, And we used
to use like we're talking about, you know, commercial like
longline thickness circle hooks, big gas circle hooks on three

(33:18):
pound flora. But if its seats properly, most of the
time you will land that shark if that's what you
intend to do. Um, So I think that it it
could be a tricky thing to prove in in some cases.
Now here's the thing. Uh. While that's certainly a you know,
a big deal, especially in Hawaii where there's there's so

(33:39):
many varieties of sharks, they're so common, they're all over
the place. I'm also I'm not gonna lie, I'm a
little bit torn about this story, right um. And I
can't help but think about the reaction to such a
band in the lower forty eight. And on one hand,
we've talked about this a bunch. I totally agree that

(33:59):
sharks need protection right There's no doubt that on this
planet sharks need protection. Right now, I think they needed
against large scale commercial operations, global fitting operations more than anything,
not recreational fishing. And I feel that way about a
lot of different species. It's not really the wreck guys

(34:20):
that are the ultimate noblem um. And And while I
think it's fair to say that the overall amount of
serious shark fisherman in the US is dwindling, it's it's
it's just not what it was, you know, twenty thirty
years ago. There are still hotspots with thriving cultures tied
to sharking. And while there are always gonna be some assholes,

(34:42):
right to put it bluntly, most of the guys I
know that still spend a lot of time targeting sharks
these days are some of the most conservation minded anglers
that you'll ever meet, you know what I mean, Like
they take the well being of the sharks they catch
very seriously. Um, you know, thinking back to the biggest
fish I ever caught was a ten foot hammerhead from

(35:03):
the sand in Florida with my buddy Zach Miller. That's
how we met. Zack's been on this show a bunch
of times, and to this day, I'm I'm really sad
I don't have a great picture of myself with that fish.
I have one sort of blurry, half asked shot. Because
even though these guys who do this are so gung

(35:24):
ho about it, right, um, they they need, they want
and need that shark to swim away clean. You can't
kill that species, you can fish for it. And they
understand that if a dead you know, hammer head washes
up two days later, it's gonna be in the news
and it's gonna paint the guys who who shark fishing
in bad light. So I mean, after a long fight,

(35:47):
this fish came in and it was like wham bam gone,
Like these guys wanted it back in the water asap,
you know. And then you look at other guys like
Conway Bowman, who's been on the show. He pioneered fly
fishing for mako sharks in California, one of the most
conservation focus people. You pass a band like that here,
he's done, you know, I mean, he can't, he can't
even do that anymore. Um. You know, you you you

(36:09):
pass a band like that in Florida, You're destroying a
community of the land based guys that have existed for decades.
So in a way, I understand that what I'm saying
right now is kind of of two faced, because I
do strongly agree with shark conservation. Um, I'm fully on
board with not killing them. But I mean, I have
a three year old son who's enamored with sharks. I

(36:31):
was enamored with sharks growing up. I look forward to
him being old enough to tangle with one. You know
what I mean. We don't have to kill it, We're not,
We don't. We don't have to do that. But I
I still, as an angler and a salty guy, would
be sad if that opportunity was was completely taken off
the table, you know what I mean. So I think

(36:52):
it's interesting what they've done here in Hawaii, but I'm
also a little bit like, uh, you know, I don't
I don't want to see that go away for the
the guys that care and can do it responsibly. I
don't think you in two faced man, I think like
you're you're being nuanced. You know, there is a huge difference,
you know, between somebody trying to catch something and experience

(37:14):
that animal in a recreational pursuit. You experience what it is,
you feel the power, you appreciate what you've got on
the end of the line, but you know you're not
trying to bring that fish harm right right, and and
like you know, somebody finning sharks. Those two things are
wildly different to me. One is more appreciative and one

(37:37):
is like obviously exploitative. Yeah, But I also, I mean,
I do sympathize. I understand that that. You know, with
a lot of rules for for a lot of things,
be it animals or fish or whatever, sometimes it's very
hard to make everybody happy, you know what I mean,
you kind of have to sometimes go with an all
or nothing approach, and uh, you know, I I think

(37:58):
maybe that's the case here in Hawaii. You know, it
kind of goes back to do you remember a couple
of weeks ago, or maybe a couple months ago, that
story they I think it was your story. They did
a survey of charter captains. Oh, how do you feel
when the shark takes your grouper off the line service?
I feel bad. I don't like when that happens. Yeah. Yeah,

(38:21):
And they were kind of implying that like people who
have experienced that would develop such a strong anti sharks
sentiment that they would go out and purposely like target
sharks to get him out of the area. Yeah, and
I don't I don't know any Florida captains or otherwise
that would would do that. Yeah, you know, I wonder
if there's like a similar sort of logic that's like

(38:42):
kind of permeating you know, this decision personally. Man, You know,
I've never gone out in targeted sharks, but I think
one day, you know, I'd like to. I got a
cousin down in like Boca, who he actually does a
bunch of sword fishing, and he's been kind of crushing
him lately. It's pretty cool. But you know, I'd like
to go down there and maybe catch a shark with him. Yeah,

(39:05):
you just want to have that option too, you know.
And uh again, well, you know, we're we're we're at
I don't want to make it sound like this is
eminent in all states. It's not. I'm just sort of
supposing and thinking ahead, like you know, even down in
the keys and stuff like that. For the most part,
it'sn't really messing with sharks. But every once in a while,
you know, you get that that tourist charter with with

(39:26):
the kids, and that's what they want to do. You're
having a cold front day, you can go, you can
go play with sharks. So, um, would I ultimately be
sad if it was like nobody's allowed to kill one
any species any kind Again, No, that wouldn't. That wouldn't
bother me as much as someone saying you can't go
out there and do that. You can. Yeah, but it's

(39:48):
not like it's not like we're talking about bull trout here.
You know, We're we're not talking about something that hasn't
been talking about bull trout and I'm talking about sharking. Yeah, no,
I have no idea. People, way in go ahead, Joe
and listeners. I'm sorry to disappoint you yet again. Um.
You know, we're not talking about something that really has

(40:10):
a particular like conservation designation. I mean, sure some sharks
do right obviously, but a lot of like the sharks
that are commonly caught, like, don't fall into that. Like
my buddy Jack, one of his only like fishing stories.
You can tell me he's not really an angler. He's
somebody who went in it on vacation, was like about
a lemon shark that he caught. Nothing wrong with catching
a lemon sharks. Yeah, there's there's a there's a lot

(40:32):
of sharks, um. You know, I see a lot of
stuff on YouTube now and again on on on catching
cook black tips down in Florida. You know what I mean,
They're not in danger. There's there's plenty of them, um,
you know. So anyhow, it is definitely case by case.
But interesting, uh that that Hawaii went that way. You know,
I'm curious to see if that becomes a model for

(40:54):
anything else. And I'm also curious to, um, just to
see you know it's fill into fish falling from the
sky or you know, protecting the man eaters. I I
really don't know. We're gonna hear from Phil for the
first time in the new year, with new eyes, new perspective.
See what Phil has. Phil's problem right now, I don't

(41:14):
give a shit about your new sections. Stop teeing me
up so hard, um. But then as soon as we're done,
I'll tell you what. We're gonna go into the saale
bin and we're gonna take a wild ride. We're gonna
take a wild ride to start the new year with
the sale bin. Hayden, even you knew I could hear
it in your voice. The win this week is going

(41:36):
to Joe Sirmli. Sorry, Hayden, but I do have a
consolation prize. Recreational marijuana is now legal in Montana, so congratulations.
You can finally stop hitting up your cousin in Boca
or buying that skunk weed from Lance V that he
steals from his mom. Why did you put the hand
to pay You don't know what I'm getting, man, You

(41:58):
didn't have to be so hurtful with me angry. I'm
gonna start off this sale bind with a broad generalization.
And while it may mildly upset some folks, I'm thinking
or at least hoping, I guess that that most of
you are gonna say, yep, Joe's right, okay. And that
generalization is that people who own jet boats are cowboys. Okay.

(42:20):
It's as if the jet boat, I don't know, like
gives them license to thwart common sense and other safety
measures associated with normal boating, right and just say just
say it. Um. I have, on more than one occasion
just stood staring at a low ass river and thought,
the idea of running any hard bottom boat with a

(42:41):
fast engine here is nuts. And the answer I get
every time I voiced that concern whoever I'm with is basically,
don't worry about it. Bro, I got a jetboat, you
know what I mean? Like it's it Just have you
ever spent any time? Have you fished on a jetboat
before run a jetboat? You know? I have not personally
uh ridden in a jet boat. However, like being so

(43:02):
close to the yellow Stone, I see a lot of him. Um.
But I'm I'm also like very familiar with like that mentality.
I know two folks at the office who will remain
nameless who sort of recently took out a little bit
too far and found themselves ordering some spare parts. Yeah,
and I feel like that that happens a lot, Like
nobody ever comes out completely like unscathed if you if

(43:24):
you run it long enough, you know what I'm saying. Um,
But I don't know. I feel like there's there's no
running a jet conservatively right. It's either balls to the
wall or nothing. And I've listened to so many jetboat
owners back that up with with bravado, like even my
even my buddy Captain Eric Kerber or Eric Garber as
you like to call him. Um, he mentioned that, by

(43:46):
the way, on the talk trip that you missed, does
not manage it. Yeah, yeah, absolutely, Um. But he used
to run a jetboat as part of his charter business
on the river here now on like on his bigger
ocean boat. He's a very safety oriented guy, like it's
like top priority. But when he had that river jet
he talked about was like cutting the engine to slide
over a rock bar in three inches of water doing

(44:08):
eighty miles an hour. And it's like whoa, you know
what I mean, Like I I don't understand it. It's
like the dude who hits the emergency break in the
snow on a road to like take a turn that way.
It's like, holy sh it, Like, dude, who are you?
Like when you get on this jet boat, you know,
it's like you get on it and you just like
you get on a jet and becomes Stevo all of
a sudden or something. I think there's like something about

(44:31):
like an inhibition just just going out the window is
soon as you're like, but see they're not They're not
indestructible though, you know what I mean. Like it's I
don't understand. It's like it doesn't mean you can go anywhere,
but it's like yeah, but I mean, like you know,
most of this ship is like, oh, I don't want
to dig my prop, you know what I mean, Like
I don't want to do my prop and I want

(44:51):
to like, you know, to take the whole back out
of this thing. And once like that's out of the
equation and people are just like I'm just half a
bullet right now. You know, yes, you're right, but okay,
you take the prop out of the equation. But like
if you don't make it over the rock bar dooing fifty,
it's just gonna eject you to your death. You know

(45:12):
what I'm saying Like it's I don't know, I'm not
I'm not a cowboy with anything I do. UM. But look,
in case you haven't already guessed it right, today's sale
ban item is in fact a jet boat. Um. But
the way it's presented is perfect because it backs up
every single thing um that we've just talked about and
I've just said. And this was sent to us by

(45:34):
listener Nick Shimp. Okay, it's listed on Facebook marketplace in Afton, Illinois,
and right out of the gate the title is John
Jet with two T s in jet, thereby riffing off
of Rocker J. Now the seller is asking clams for

(46:04):
this souped up John. But while the description is short
and sweet, it's poetry. It's pure poetry. Would you like
to do the honors on on the description here? I would?
I would please m It reads sketchy cars, not your thing?
Doing doing sixty on a moped A no for you?

(46:26):
That's okay. I got sketchy water stuff too. Sketchy water
stuff three hundred cc Kawasaki jet ski running gear in
a twelve ft John Boat. No, So this is even
this is this is bootleg. Yeah, we'll get there. Oh,
it's totally bootleg. No leaks runs out, nice turns great,

(46:49):
shallow water running s O B. Yeah. So so he's
created it's a John boat jet ski hybrid, which I
mean that that is so water world like Slay mad Max.
I love it, um, but I mean even the guys
selling it has basically admitted that it's it's sketchy a
f as the kids say, which which maybe what prompted

(47:10):
his closing words in the description, right, and this is
this is an incredible So he ends with this, if
you're scared to go to church, if you're broke, don't
message me O B O trades welcome And that's it.
It's funny, man, because when you look at the photo,
and there's only one photo, right, yeah, you would never

(47:30):
know it was tricked out. It just looks like a shitty,
old like aluminum John with shag carpet glued over the
bench seat. I honestly don't really understand how you even
control this thing. Yeah, without having more photos, I I
don't really see it. I can't get my mind around either.
It's just a bunch of of of jangkeie wiring and
electrical tape spewing out from around just one of those

(47:51):
cheap ass folding boat seats that's been bolted in the middle.
You know what I mean? I I don't know. I
I would love to know what's up. So somebody please
buy us. Somebody out there please buy this uh and
report back because it's either a death trap or the
coolest thing ever. It really could could go either way.
Do you know how many emails were about to get
suggesting that we buy it for doss boat? Uh? Dude,

(48:12):
every yeah, everything that we post that floats, somebody says
like that next the next us boat. Um. But dude,
I'd be down for this one. I mean it, it
would be a scream um. Anyway, Nick, thanks so much
for sending this one our way. UH. And and listen.
If you have a salebin item that you'd like us
to see from your favorite online classified or or just

(48:33):
just came to me. How about a story of some
crazy ship you've experienced on a jet boat. We'd love
to hear that too. Please send those along to Bent
at the meat Eater dot com. If you're scared, go
to church. If you're broke, don't message me that should
be a bumper sticker. That was my favorite part of
that entire sale. Bin Um, that was a really good one. Anyway, listen,

(48:57):
we're gonna we're gonna close out our first show of
two with a fresh segment, new segment that we've been
hinting at for for a little while. Now, yeah man,
it's a drink. What if this was the drinking game
that Phil proposed, you would have to drink because you
just said, uh, yeah man. Anyway, by the way, I
didn't sorry, I mean to cut you off, but do

(49:19):
you know another listener reached out and said that I
should have you put a buck in a jar every
time you say yeah man. And I but maybe it
was five and then we could use it to fund
bent merch or a trip or something. Um, I'm not
now you know, I'm not gonna ask anybody to count
the yeah man's because I jokingly asked you guys to
count something else that was said a lot one time,

(49:39):
and like a few people did it, and I was like,
oh my god, I'm so sorry to waste your day,
like you must have had better things to do than that,
So don't count. Anyway, I'm sorry I threw you off.
It's funny. Uh, listeners at home, you can play along
with our drinking game listeners driving don't drink Yeah man
um anyhow, Yeah, it's a segment we're calling the bent Helpline. Um. Now,

(50:02):
we've been asking you guys to submit questions for it. Uh.
Joe I put out a call on the old instant
Slam a couple of weeks ago. He just got lit
up by questions. That was awesome. Keep sending those and
we've been getting some on the bent email inbox as well. Uh.
We plan to read one, or if you send a
voice memo, play one at the end of each show

(50:24):
and do our best to give you a somewhat useful answer.
I think you're gonna be getting more of those from
Joe than me, but I'll try my best to so.
Without further ado, here we go. What do you laughing at, Marktini?
You're not an idiot, you're not a gamblooning help more,
you're a fisherman. Best what's your am? All right? So,

(50:49):
welcome to the inaugural edition of the bent Helpline. It's
a it's a big day, man, and somebody's going to
get to be first. I'm really excited for this, man.
You know, I was listening like this is the kind
of thing that I would want, and you know I
I hope we can deliver. Joe. What do you think, man? Oh?
I think, well, I don't know if we can deliver
because we don't really know as much as people think

(51:10):
we do. But I will say this right, in just
a short time since we started asking for questions, you
and I have sat around and been like, holy sh it,
there's so many good questions like it just such a
short span of time. Um, we grappled with the first
one because we've gotten so many good ones from so
many different angles, which is cool because it changes up
all the time, you know what I mean. Yeah, I

(51:30):
mean I literally before recording this, we sat around for
like thirty minutes talking about like, oh, well, this one,
this one, this one. We want to answer them all
so good. We appreciate you guys for that. It's it's
really cool. Yeah, and keep them coming. We want to
answer them all, but going forward, but we cannot. Just
established that we cannot answer them all. We do have
a surprise that we're gonna get to some more of

(51:50):
them eventually, but for this segment, we're gonna answer one
at a time. And this week's question comes from Hunter Shields,
and he asks, dear Ben, how do you guys choose
fish to harvest with conservation in mind, not the legality
of it? So what he means is like, you know
bag limits aside or cree limits aside, and you know

(52:12):
legal specifications to which you can take mm hm, which
ones are you choosing? Joe, I'm gonna, I'm gonna. I'm
gonna let you lead off. Man, are okay he's scared?
I am scared of this question? Um at First of all,
congrats two Hunter, Yeah, first question man on the bent helpline.
So my answer to that, I guess um to answer

(52:36):
it properly. A thing to know about me, right, I've
I've never been much of like a a freezer stalker,
you know what I mean? Like there's select fish that
I really enjoy that um. I like, I like having
some one hand, I like having it in the freezer.
But I've never been the guy you know that that
feels that need to always just have my my garage

(52:56):
freezer stacked with fish. Um I. And and you know
some fish freeze is better than others, right, we know that.
But I don't know, man, I'm just not I've never
been as quite as excited to eat a piece of
fish that's been frozen for a few months as I
am to eat it fresh. So I really enjoy fresh fish. Um.

(53:20):
And with that in mind, I tend to uh lean
towards keeping only what I know I'll be able to
eat fresh in the near term. So like stripe bass
is an example. Um, in my younger days, Yeah, dude,
I I was. I was the guy that would would
would take the forty pounder, you know what I mean,

(53:42):
and and take it to the tackle shop for the
photo and all that. I don't keep very many stripers
at all anymore, hardly ever. But if I were going
to purely for the reason that I felt like eating
a nice piece of delicious fresh striper, I'd be looking
for the one that was like the minimum size I
was allowed to take, um, you know, and well, because

(54:06):
I I I believe in saving the big breeders, man,
I mean, there's so much striper conservation, so much happening
in that arena already. I mean, there's already been laws
put in place that you can't come here now and
take a trophy fish anymore that's off the table. There's
a slot limit, and then you can also apply for
bonus tags, which actually allow you to keep smaller fish,

(54:28):
not bigger fish. I believe it's you can keep one
twenty four to inches something like that. Um I mean,
I've said this so many times, doesn't matter what you're
talking about. Small fish to me always tastes better than
big fish, you know, especially with white meat fish like
a striper or you know something like that. Um So, yeah, man,
if I was gonna take one, I'd be looking for

(54:49):
the little guy, and I would say, this is gonna
be you know, one nice meal for for me and
my wife, or or you know, two nice meals within
the same week, where I won't even have to freeze
that fish. I'm not uh that interested in having like
a freezer full of striper, so I get selective with that. Yeah. Yeah,
I mean, you know, this is really like conservation wrapped

(55:12):
up in like personal ethics as well. You know, a
lot of these limits are put in place, you know,
or all these limits are put in place by biologists,
right like, you know, they've already kind of determined hopefully
what the resource is able to like withstand from like
a you know, a take aspect um then like you know,

(55:35):
if you're particularly conservation minded, then you kind of like
police yourself into making sure that you're not taking more
than you personally like need. Right um. Now with an
individual fish, right Uh, that largely depends on like the species,

(55:55):
and and it changes all the time. You know, are
you are you going for something that there are a
lot of Are you going for something that there are
a few of you know, like for instance, Joe Striper example. Yeah,
it's very it's very hard to to to answer that
question and have it be like a blanket answer that
that covers all things, right, because it's just so situational.

(56:15):
Like I say, I'm not a freezer stalker, and I'm
not except with certain things. Um Like, as an example,
we've we've talked a lot lately about talk the inshore
fish that I love to catch here, right, delicious fish.
All they eat is clams, crabs, muscles, and shrimp. Fantastic.
This season when you can keep the most doesn't open
until November and it closes on January one. So it's

(56:37):
this very short window to even have the opportunity to
keep a bunch of those fish. Um. That's one I
think freezes a little better. So when I'm out there
in the cold and you know, and I know, I'm
only gonna have a couple of shots to get after
those fish in prime season. That's an example of one
where I don't mind having a limit. I want to

(56:58):
limit that time. You know what I'm saying. Um, But
that's that's not based so much on on anything other
than sort of here's your shot to make that happen.
I might not eat a piece of talg again until
next November, you know what I mean. Same thing with tuna.
If I'm putting up the money to run seventy five
miles off shore and put in a full day like that, yeah,

(57:20):
I'm about bringing home my limit of yellow fin because
I don't know when I'll get there again, you know. Um,
But to bring it back real quick, just to like
the individual fish, I think like the way that you
described how you pick and choose fish in general to
take Yeah, I think makes a lot of sense. I
think it's going to resonate with like a lot of folks.

(57:41):
Um when it comes to like individual fish from my
rule of thumb is basically, leave the big females alone.
Leave the big females alone. Whether it's could be large
mouth bass, could be brown trout, could be stripers. You know,
if you make sure that there eating stock is going
to be there for next year, overall, you will have

(58:04):
a healthier fishery. So let me ask you this. I'm
just curious, right, So, like when you fish for something
with a higher bag limit like cropp ease or or
yellow perch, you know what I mean? Like are you
hoping for that limit each time? And I'm I'm I'm
learning about you, right because we haven't talked about this,
like are are you? Are you down to have a

(58:25):
freezer full of fish? Like does that appeal to you? Yeah?
I mean I think the word is for coundity, right,
Like it depends on what kind of fish I'm fishing for.
If it's perch, yeah, no, I I would like to
get a bunch of perch. And here's the other thing
that's like kind of like contradictory to what I just said.
I don't mind a bunch of female perch because I

(58:47):
like to fry up the rosas. But see it's like
another twist in the whole thing. Then you look, that's
why it's so it's so hard to answer that. Yeah.
But the the thing though, is like nobody's worried about
perch stock. You know, they reproduce at such a rate
where that's not really a top tier consideration for wildlife conservation.

(59:08):
That's why the bag limits on perch are so high. Perch,
pan fish, whatever. Um. I think this is really like
a more question that pertains to things like stripers. Uh,
you know too, things like trout, um, you know that
sort of deal. I mean, you know, an interesting one
to think about is paddlefish, right, sure, you can buy

(59:31):
not paddle fish if you don't know. You can only
catch them by snagging because they're filter feeders and a
lot of times what people hope for is to use
their tag on a female paddlefish because of the row
and they want to make caveat out of it. Um.
That said, interestingly, there are also catching release permits for

(59:54):
snagged paddlefish, which which I think is like pretty fast. Yeah.
I I could never figure that out either, because I
think it's it's it's cool and a cool cultural scene.
But I mean, you know, the way you get him
is pretty pretty gnarly. Yeah. Yeah. And the and the
last thing that I'll say is another thing that can
sway me on like whether or not I keep that
individual fish is the way that it's hooked. If I

(01:00:16):
put that fish back to the water and I see
a puff of blood come out of its gills, I'm like,
all right, well, I'm gonna that one's coming back with me,
because yeah, I just don't believe that the survival rate
is particularly good and that could be misguided. But you know,
if it's legal and the fish is bleeding, I'm going
to bring it in. Yeah, man, And I will say,
you know, you sort of said, well, you know, you
have to consider these things more when you're talking about

(01:00:38):
things like stripers and and brown trout. The irony in
that though, is, you know, a fish like like stripe
as particular, it just hits close to home. Um, there
is a huge conservation issue with those right now. But
people tend to treat trout with like those same kid gloves.
I think it's fair to say that by and large,

(01:00:58):
especially with wild trout, there's this reverence of like, don't
eat that, when in reality, there's a lot of places
notable fly destinations in particular, like the Upper Delaware system. Um,
you know a lot of places in p A. Even
even out where you are, there are rules that allow
you to kill trout in these places, like those trout
are not necessarily in trouble at all, there's no conservation issue.

(01:01:22):
It's not like the numbers of trout are are way
way down. Yet you're still like an asshole if you
catch a twenty inch trout and bonk it. And like,
I don't agree with that either. I think it has
to do more with focusing on the specific you know,
ecology and like what's happening in that particular stream, and

(01:01:43):
the burden is on you to know that, like me
taking a large trout out of this system right now
could be detrimental to this system. But even in places
where it's not, it's like oh no, no, don't don't
kill the trout, don't kill the trout. And and I
don't kill a lot of trout at all, hardly ever,
But I still disagree that mentality. Like if if you know,
I was just recently out brown trout fishing, if somebody

(01:02:05):
in that boat that I was on was like, hey man,
can I bonk that and eat the ship out of it?
I would have been like yeah, like it's legal to do. Yeah,
Like it doesn't bother me at all. Yeah. Well, here
here's something interesting that happened not too long ago. Man Um.
We were fishing. We were trout fishing, and I kept
catching these big white fish and I love to eat

(01:02:28):
white fish. Man Yeah, yeah, um, but they were these
big spawning fish. I just kept letting them go. Um.
Then my buddy caught like a nice twenty trainbow. We
bonked it and we ate it. So, I mean, you know,
a lot of it is like circumstantial, man um. I
think we did a pretty good job answering this question,

(01:02:50):
though I do too. I think my closing thought, like
I could just some of that would just sort of
be like, um, you know, my advice whenever you're considering
taking fish is I I think it's I don't think
it's unfair to adopt that mentality of taking what you'll
eat soon and you know, what you can eat fresh,

(01:03:12):
especially if you're talking about something that you have access to.
In other words, you know, I don't need to kill
a limit of this that or the other thing, cropp
ease or you know, trout or small mouth, because it's
not this narrow window where I have that opportunity. It's
not your one trip to Alaska a year to catch
your halibit or whatever it may be. Um, if you
have access to it, I would say be more conservative,

(01:03:36):
you know what I mean, Like take what you need
for a meal and you know that you'll get back
there soon enough to get more if you if you
have a hankering for a crappy sandwich, you know what
I mean. My my final thought on this is a
lot of times we talk about, you know, considering this
species over the individual, and I think when we're talking
about this question in particular, it's important to consider the

(01:03:59):
end of visual in the context of the species, like
what that bish might mean for that fish? Are you
going forward? So just keep that in mindment and uh yeah,
good first question hunter. We we thank you. UM. I
think we're gonna have a lot of fun with this
because we've already like giggled like schoolgirls over potential answers
to other questions. We're like, oh my god, this question

(01:04:21):
is gonna be funny and ship. But um, we started
there and uh, that was a lot of fun. So
we'll we'll do this again next week. And if you've
got a question, d m me on the instant slams
or or Hayden or fired off to Bent at the
Meat eat dot com. By the way, we love voice memos.
If you want to send it in that format, you
might hear yourself here on the Bent helpline. Well that's it.

(01:04:49):
Degenerate Anglers, please keep those questions coming to Bent at
the meat Eater dot com either or an email or
voice memo. Um, and remember keep sending in those bar nominations,
sale bin items, awkward photos, and whatever else you feel
like sending in. Yeah man, um, drink, Oh shit, I
did it? Good on you? That was quick? Uh yeah man,

(01:05:13):
and drink anyway. Look, remember to keep those degenerate Angler
and Bent podcast hashtags cranking, Hayden and I love to
see what you guys are up to. We expect maybe
some hard water, maybe beating up on the local stockies,
some winter fly time. We love it. And hey, if
you want us to see something completely unrelated to fishing
that you post, just tag it. Yeah man, yeah man.

(01:06:00):
A dest