00:00:06 Speaker 1: Some asshole is going to spill the beans. And that asshole is me because I have purchased these. Oh you didn't. I'm sure you've seen some ridiculous ship happened on the water in fifteen years ago. You couldn't have said it much better. Buy back when Myles was on the podcast and a lot more, a lot more think pieces were being read it. I mean that that stuff took a good morning to general. Anglers said, welcome to Bent one final time, the fishing podcast that we've had going on here for a year and a half. And I said last week, don't be sad, don't be sad. This is a New Orleans funeral. This is a this is a celebration not of life, not death. And joining me for that celebration. Oh my god, it's Hayden Samack and Phil freaking Taylor is here. Phil him Man, you guys had me back. I'm here. Yeah. We gotta we gotta have Phil on on the on the on the final episode here. How could we not Joe? How could we not you sound kissed. I didn't want him here, man, this was supposed to be Joe. In my moment, Miles would have been here too. We just can't afford to call New Zealand. So there's that. I've never figured out time zones. I'm thirty one years old. I'll get to it eventually. Here's the thing, Heyden, if this is a joyous funeral and we're going to recreate that meme of the dudes dancing with the coffin, we need we need at least three people to hold a coffin. That's true, true, Depending on who's coffin, maybe more. But anyway, Yeah, so yeah, I mean, so let's let's let's talk what have what have we done here? I gotta say, um, like, one of the things that I've enjoyed about Bent so much has just been how it has not been your standard fishing podcast from from the beginning, you know, and uh, you know, going back, Phil, Phil, we we had a it took us. It took us a while to get going there, didn't it. I always felt for you as the as the editor, with us just dumping all these segments. How was that was that for you? It was? Honestly, it became a pretty well old machine quickly, quick quickly, Like I was not upset with how fast it became very manageable. And I don't know how much behind the scenes uh details people want, but I mean they can probably put it together. Bent is a it's an endeavor. Every week, Yeah, you know, Joe and Haydon and previously Miles. You know, there's six or seven segments. Some of them are interviews. Some of them have to be written in, especially in the case back back when Myles was on the podcast and a lot more, a lot more think pieces were being read. I mean that that stuff took all This is why I asked Phil to come, because we're gonna have a good time. And so so every week, you know, Joe, Miles and Hayden would be uploading files on on a on a drive for me to find and then I don't have to piece them all together. And it's I'd say the first two or three weeks were a process, but man, this was I I this is my favorite show to work on and and you guys have made it easy on the back end. This was my favorite show to host. Man challenges decide though, I will say, like, um, you know, I remember early on people sort of either loved or hated Ben and then a lot came back around in the format, but from a creativity perspective. It has kept it interesting despite being hard work like it is, it has been so much fun coming up with all these segments. And I think back like segments aside, there's just been like some wacky ship that has happened throughout this entire year and a half, Like there's things like you can't buy. As an example, episode fifteen, when a car drove right through Miles house while we were recording, this is what that sounded like, Hey dude, I'm sorry, we gotta pause. Something crazy just happened in my house and I gotta go check it out. Something okay, I'm sorry. And then what I did after that, when I promoted it on Instagram was I superimposed a Salt Life sticker onto the back windshield of the car that drove through his house. And I guess I did too good of a job because people were like, holy sh it, it would have a Salt Life sticker on it. So I made Salt Life inadvertently look worse. But anyway, I mean, this whole thing has been about segments. We certainly have cornerstone ones that if you haven't figured it out already, I mean, this is our sort of this is our greatest hits. This is just kind of the some some core guys here talking about what bent was. And there are certainly cornerstone segments UM, and for me, the biggest one was always smooth Moves. And I think that comes from it. Not no, not fish news, not fish news. I don't know. Well, there's one part of fish news that was my favorite, which we'll get too later, but it wasn't the actual compiling of the news. Fish news always seemed to me, man like if we're having like a totally honest discussion about this, UM, fishers always seem to me is like more of like a dutiful thing like it Like it was, it was something that you want to inform people that, I mean, you know, it was a way to bring UM long form substance to an otherwise totally substanceless park. No, but it was never like the thing that I look forward to the most. The thing that I look forward to the most was always like talking with folks and yeah, hearing about these little like quirky nuances of people who took fishing as like a major part of their life, like their identity. Yeah, I thought smooth Moves just such a fun insight into the lives of guides and charter captains, etcetera. I always got off on it because I know so many of these people personally, and when you're sitting around drinking beers at the end of the day with these people, like all they do is bitch about clients, you know what I mean? Like, and it's like one of my favorite parts of talking to a guide is hearing this stuff. Um. So that's why that one worked so well. Now, I'm just like you guys know, there is one that stands out above all. And in a year and a half, all those smooth moves, some of them were terrific, but there's one that stands out above all. And you guys know which one. We're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna talk about it. But here we get there. I want to talk about some like other noteworthy I was gonna say, but by all means, who are your runners up? Feel if you have any, feel free to wear in. Um. The two that I loved. One was very recent. UM. One was a little bit further back. I loved the the tech tycoon who shall not be named, that's that's the one that I was going up forgot about that wanting an approximation of what percentage of his body was about to be covered in water. Um. I also really liked one of our By the way, everybody guess Zuckerberg or Elon Musk, and one of those is right, I still don't give the full reveal. Well. Uh, the other one that I really loved was I think our our last smooth Moves, which was your buddy Bart talking about his Uh it's a pretty good closer for for smooth moves. I was, Yeah, I felt bad because what we were laughing at was actually horrible. Um in like the murder of a raccoon family. Yeah, well, uh, you know it hand all the elements scaring the old people, bad sandwiches, you know, blood and guts. But there's one and and and our longtime listeners are gonna know exactly where we're going. And we are going all the way back to episode six. Now this is episode so think about that. Like the standout, like the one that shines above all the others, is all the way back to episode six with fishing guide Mandy Urick. Why this is where we reach out to a guide, or a charter captain or an outfitter, basically anybody who pays their bills or part of their bills by taking other people fishing. So today we're talking with Mandy Urick, one of my absolute favorite people to fish with, even though I've only got to do it on on the ice and not in open water, which is I know where you really do most of your guiding. Mandy, how long have you been guiding? I don't even know how long you got it? About fifteen years plus right on, So you know, I done it a couple of times, just a few times. And I'm sure you've seen some ridiculous ship happen on the water in fifteen years a guiding. You couldn't have said it much better. But so all right, I know you have a story liab set up for us today. What do you got? Give us your smooth move? Uh. I do a lot of guests guiding, like volunteer trips that will donate for nonprofits, um, you know, or celebrities. We'll just lead into that. So we're we won't name names, but we're all fishing, and we're on a bigger body of water and the bite is really good, and uh this clients like I have to use the restroom and I'm like, hey, all right. I was like, we can pack up and and I can run you back to the landing. That snow problem. Oh no, no, no, I'll be fine. So alright, like not a problem, Like I'm on the front deck, got my back turned or whatever. Just kind of turn the music up on the radio kind of a deal. And so we're fine, you know. He's like yells at me like, hey, we're good, you know, and I'm like, yeah, all right. So you know, we go back to fishing or whatever. And it's not even a few minutes later and we're walleye fishing and uh, I set the hook and it's a good one, you know, And I don't keep fishing myself personally, but you know, I'm like, hey, do you want do you want this one too? And he's like, yeah, I have no problems. So I unhook the fish and I turned around to go throw it in the life. Well, and you can't make this up, the dude ship in my life. Well and we fish and live. Well, he just that wasn't the first one. You already had absolutely destroyed my life. Well with these fish in it, no idea what to say. I'm like having this meltdown, and I literally just dropped the fish back over the side of the boat, trying to be cool about it, right, like not to embarrass him, but I'm like, what are you thinking, man, Like we've got fish in the life. Well the worst part is so like we were close to like filling out our limit right being done for the day, and I'm like for the rest of the day. I'm like, I didn't. I'm like, oh, this one's not big enough to keep kept throwing fish back. Good for you for playing that game, because I would have been like, dude, like they're all the walleyes or now I'm who's eating it. I couldn't have played that up, and I oh, man, good for you. I don't know how I would respond to that other than to hand him like a net and be like, you need to clean that out right now. There wasn't anything you can scoop but no, okay yea, So it wasn't solid. It means he was getting right into the meat. Fish were brooding. I was going running through their circulatory system, just mainlining poop. Basically what those fish were doing. It's like it's like right there, we get to the we get to the here it gets better, so we can to the landing and we have a these in basive species people that you know, check your boats or whatever. So you gotta pull the drain plug and you gotta pull the the live bul plug right let the water run out gagging. I don't have a glove or anything in there. I pulled a they have to pull the plug in the live bulb. The species like monitor that monitors the access is standing behind my boat, waters like running on his feet and I'm like, dude, back up, Like oh, I didn't have the heart to tell him, so what do you do with the water? Normally I do, like, you know, I clean the fish for my package him up. It depends how long they're gonna be in town. Sometimes they'll you know freezing freezeme form or whatever. So like we get done with the inspection that like, I like gets in the truck and I have to like go drop him back off at his resort. And I was like, so, uh, what do you want to do with these fish? Do you want to clean him or do you want me to clean up? And he's like, well, he's like could you just clean him right out the cabin? He was like, we're going to do a big fish fry. Tonight, So I did clean these. You're a much nicer person. You put your fish in a garbage bag, take them if you want, go you you deal with your own poop fish. Thank you. The worst part is so they had like this big dinner and they asked me to stay, and I was like, they started eating the fish and I was like, I gotta go, guys, I gottading tomorrow. So they ate they he didn't. He didn't tell them shooting and Alive Will. I think the standout and all that was not what happened, not the taking the dump into Live Will, but then the fact that the man invited her to clean the fish and then join him and whoever he was going to feed him to for dinner that night. I think that was the That was the thing that really said it over the top. But fish fill, Oh absolutely not. I just I want to say that I loved Smooth Moves, and my favorite stories were all of the ones of the people who were just completely oblivious. And I think a part of that is because I empathized with it. So I was like, I feel like I have I have a little bit more street smarts and common sense to to do something like the shifting in the Live Well, I wouldn't be so presumptuous, But there were some other stories where I'm like, man, I I might do that, and I would be on this goddamn podcast like I'm not going to It's it's really deterred me from ever going on joining a god Oh no, yeah, you know, you know. But there's one quote from that that people have kicked up on on social over and over again, which was there was nothing left to scoop bud like people had, Like people have said that so many times. And then when we did the giveaway of Aaron Letters Magnum dubbing the Custom Benz, one of those colors was Mandy's Live Well for that reason, so that one that one, and then anybody who had a ship or piss story after that, it's kind of like, ah, your ship story is nothing compared to this, So that we had to turn down a few, uh fecal matter stories. What Mike COmON had that one with with the dude wipe in his butt with one of his gloves, Yeah, which was good, but I'm the guy didn't try to make him eat the glove afterwards, you know what. I think that guy was most danger of having Michael trying to make him eat the glove man. Yeah. Yeah, so smooth move is always always a favorite. And I appreciate everybody across the industry who came on and uh, you know, bared their souls and we're willing to talk openly about that now. Something that we started ben out with, um that sort of faded away a little for various reasons, was we had this idea the beginning to have a regional fishing report every single episode of the show, and UM, I don't know, I feel like you can weigh in on this because you're a man who loves satire. They were pure satire. They were always completely fake and some work and some didn't. That like that wasn't one of our greatest hits, although they were some of the most fun things to write. Yeah, I would say the people you got on to do those segments, I'd say seventy five percent of them were definitely like in on the bit had had some sort of acting I don't want to say acting experience. It sounds like they were doing like Sondheim. They could they could be, they could play a character. And then with all due respect, there were some people that were just so and clearly, and that it was like is this a joke? I can't tell. I think that was the problem somewhere so good that people didn't understand if it was fake or not. And if you don't know it's fake, then it's just like this just isn't very good, Like this guy's an asshole, and I don't want to go fishing with him, right, but I I will say, like the sleeper the one I want to play. And we did a ton of them, um, but there was one this is my personal favorite, and this one flew under the radar a little bit. I'm not saying it was the most popular or well received UM fishing report that we ever did, but you gotta remember, like one of the challenges, if you can call it that, that we had with Bent was we launched this some bitch like smack dab in the worst part of the COVID pandemic. So like yeah, for better or worse, COVID has been this like slightly woven theme throughout Bent, because we we couldn't have waited, so at the time we had this idea because all that you know, you couldn't cross the border into Canada, so all the poor Canadian outfitters and lodge owners. We're we're starving for money because because nobody could come up and fish. So we had this idea um for lardge owner Mitch McFly to to weigh in on that, and this was always one of my all time favorites either folks, Mitch McFly here with your weekly fishing report from Pickerel Point Lodge on Alberta's Pristine Spooner's Lake. Before I get into the fishing though, we sure to hope you and your family are staying healthy and happy in these hectic times. Particularly our valued guests from the States. We've missed your friendly faces this season. It just hasn't been the same around here without seeing fifteen dirty and mostly broken down cooler stacked outside the doors of our quaint cottages, or getting those morning calls in the office asking for someone to please bring over a plunger. Anyways, quick bit of is keeping. Some of our repeat guests may remember Old Gusts are a long time boat mechanic. We've unfortunately had to lay Old Gusts off for the season because, wouldn't you know it, we didn't have a single large boat lower right past the shallow water marker boys and run up on the rocks at Thompson's Cove. Without the constant inflow of props to refurbish and lower units to restore, we just couldn't keep us busy, so we sent him home. He has a good sport about it, though, and happy to spend a little bit more time on his true passion carving small wooden bears and moose. Hope to have a pyleum for sale in the gift shop next season. Okay, then, I am happy to announce that the Walleye byte has been better than I have seen it in probably twenty years. Some folks around here say it's due to the lack of fishing pressure, but I think it's because the local anglers go a little slower. We tend to favor a more methodical approach instead of that fast, erratic, circular trolling pattern. I know most of you boys from the States rely on. It's like I always tell you, fellows, the hours of a eleven AM to four thirty PM are not exactly what i'd call prime time, but you can still find at least a few polite fish to bite in the middle of the day. You know they are a Canadian a. Surprisingly, I've caught quite a few fort pike right off the docks this year. I've had a little more time to do some fishing in the evenings because there aren't the thirty to forty crushed bud light can strun about the property that need rounding up for proper disposal in one of them many many conveniently placed recycling bins we have on site. A five A diamond spoon has been producing really well for me, and I found it quite relaxing and therapeutic to just cast in reel while I listened to the call of the loons, which aren't completely drowned out by kid rocking that chicken fried song blasting from the picnic tables over at the boat house. I'd also like to mention that, on the bright side, we've been able to spend time improving our operation and beautiful facilities. Based on your feedback, we've loaded up on Mrs butter Worse and will only serve what you folks refer to as that maple sap ship upon request. All of our bag lunches will now include three packets of mayonnaise instead of the usual one, and most importantly, we've upgraded our WiFi, so you will now be able to stream those UFC fights, reruns of Dog the Bounty Hunter, and porn Hub from anywhere on the property. Anything we can do to make your stay here more comfortable, We just uh can't wait to have you folks back. We pray that you can return to the serene beauty of Alberta by m three or at the very latest. Thanks and God bless So that was that was read by my buddy Brad Fencon, who's from Alberta and he is one of the nicest, kindest, gentlest men you will ever meet. And I remember we got feedback on that and they were like, did you get Brad Fencon to say shit and porn Hub on your podcasts? And I was like, that is the kind of power that that bet has. We can make we can we can make Brad fence and sell his soul Clay Knecom to say shit. I'll be real impressed because you won't have the opportunity going for you to work on. Um. But man, you know again, they used to be so fun to write. We also, um, you know, Phil will remember we also stuck in a few celebrity reports. We had poetry by Brad Pitt. We had Matthew McConaughey. Matthew mcconaugheyes, was my favorite. By the way. Matthew McConaughey was good. I'm not I'm not playing Matthew McConaughey, but that was good, especially at the end where he's like, that's the sound between my ears. That's also sounded Tahiti. I'm I sufficient in Tahiti right now. But all those celebrity check ins were played by a guy named Gary Denoia and he's Paradinoia on on Instagram, and uh, he's from New York but he has ties to Philly and he is hysterical if you are if you are from the Philly area especially, you've got to follow him. And he has a podcast called Listen Up and Fucking Listen, which is which is great. But of all the ones he did, um, I just gotta come out and say I think his Rayliota was the best. Like, he did a really great Rayliota and he did a couple of reports. But what if the Springsteen was was one of my favorites. That was like the Spring the Springsteen that wasn't. Yeah, he did great, he did great Springsteen Um the Brad Pitt poetry Miles wrote that, and it was hysteric, but we did. We did a Christmas special our first year in and we had all these these characters that sort of pop up on bent Uh jump in and and raise. Christmas greeting from from episode twenty was always one of my favorite things. Hey, how you doing? This is Ray at Rayliota's Bait and Tackle and Pulaska, New York Wish and Use Merry Christmas shops open today from ten to seven and today only everything in stock is half price. We've also got free canalis made by and a big pot of pasta le jol made by my mother in law. So come on by. I'm just with you today. It's Christmas pretty stupid. That does sort of lead into the like we've always been about the holidays. I've always loved a good holiday theme, Dude. I love holiday themed podcast man, because you know, you're driving around and like, you know, maybe you're not feeling particularly festive, man, but you get like a couple of those and like like the recent Meat Eater Tiki Bar special, right, like just just things like that they put you in the Christmas spirit. Man. They put in the holiday spirit. I like that. I'm embarrassed by how much I love kitchy holiday ship and so there's nothing better than a theme show. The only problem with Bent was we always aired on the goddamn holiday. Was always like on Christmas morning. It's like, son of a bitch, my favorite holiday thing ever. I know, I know that you like this ray leot to one, but my favorite was and we're gonna bleep that name out, uh, reading the bad Santa Claus and uh, and then getting Joe's innocent kids right. He made my kids say all kinds up ship, what do you say, daddy? What's a hangover? Yeah, something like that. And I just made him say all kinds of I made him lay it down, all kinds of audio about fighting yous, like I'll fight you, Hayden. Yeah, will you just send those to me personally? But yeah, like ruining the sanctity of my child for a Christmas bid. I was all about it, though, I was. I was totally on board. Christmas was always fun. Now. I'm a big Halloween fan, and I remember hated Halloween. He hated Halloween, which I could not. How do you hate Halloween? I feel like that tracks pretty well with myles personality. I'm a guy who loves Miles. Yeah, I think Halloween is divisive because the decorations, like you know who else who else hates certain aspects of Halloween are pal Clay nucam Man he he he is very strong opinions, and I agree with I'd like to say I agree with literally all of them. Um about about like violent Halloween decorations and and how it's like, but those are formative experiences as a child is becomber night, Like my neighborhood goes big, Like somebody's got like a red wagon full of beers in a coolie just walk around, drink a beer the kids, Right, how do you hate hallew? I like that. I like that. What I'm saying is like if you wouldn't put it in like a movie preview, Like I don't think you ought to put it on your front lawn. Man, it's not Halloween unless there's a house that you're terrified to walk by. That's what I'm saying, Thank you, Phil. That's the fun when the kids like like there's like there's always the characters sitting on the front board, and you like, is that stuffed with straw? Or is that a dude? And I'm like, they're like, no, daddy, you come n no, you go you want the candy? You go up there? Come on, man, that's that's that's like that like to traumatize it. Child is going on here. I'm like, I don't like this thing, and you're like, well, how couldn't you not like this completely different thing. Well, it's fun that you bring up that Clay doesn't like Halloween because one of one of my all time favorite things we ever did on this show, truthfully, and it was the last It was a last minute decision, right, but I forced Miles into a Halloween episode. This is all the way back to episode twelve, and he's like, well, what are you gonna do? That's so halloweeny? To tie it together, so I mashed up all these horror movie clips with Bill Dance, which is similar similar to like mashing up Clay Newcomb clips with with like these terrible horror movies. And it was the dumbest thing, but it was one of my favorites. So let's let's play a few those. We'll start. Here's Bill Dance in The Exorcist twitch Twitch Twitch, Twitch Twitch Poles, Twitch switch Twitch that was kind of violent. That was like, that was like, that was the most guttural. One was The Exorcist. When we're gonna go in order of what I thought was the best. So then now here's Bill Dance, uh, confronting Jason in a face off in Friday thirteen. What you gonna do? What you're gonna do? Huh? Show off a little and you can see it in your mind, like Bill with his with his tea hat on, looking not looking at Jason vorhees, Yeah, just oh yeah, yeah. And a sharpener, that electric hook sharpener Bill Dance always plugged. But then and said, then we get into like like these are my master work. Starting with Bill Dance in the Predator. There's something out there waiting for us and it ain't no man. He's big as a thorny wos, but he's good. He just looked big. Then that one was was just perfect. And then the the cherry on the cake. I mean, this might be the best thing I've done in a seventeen year career. Is mash Bill Dance in the Poltergeist. How are you this boring? Okay? Where do you look around? More? Purple brown? Kind of a purple bad keep that baite in one spot. What do you look for in a good baite cashing rod when you're on a fixed income? I don't know, Like that's one of the things, like, you know, creative people like you guys get like you're making it and you're just like, oh my god, yes, that just SYNCD up beautifully. So it was no segment, it was nothing. They were nothing but little bullshits we peppered in. But man like, I don't I don't think they'll ever be repeated, but I think they also speak to like, come on, man. Pop culture has played such a big part in this show because I I love pop culture, Like that's what I'm about. Well, i'll tell you what. Man Like. One of like the most intimidating uh like things about Bent, like coming in as a as a co host. Wasn't that I would have to like like talk about fishing in an intelligent way for like an hour every week? It was I was, I was. I was worried about my fishing knowledge. I was worried about my pop culture knowledge. And another place that you see a lot of you know, really just classic and good pop culture references actually like the interstitials man Like, I feel like the breadth of effects in like transitions that Phil put together referencing pop culture. I was like, back, we had a whole episode called we had we themed a whole episode around Coral Weathers. It's called Caral Weathers Goes to Cabella. I mean, you know that's what I'm talking about. But yes, you bring up Phil. Like in the very early days, Phil, you did not judge our news segments. You were not there to weigh in, and then we thought that's gonna be a really great idea. And of course you're sitting here now because you added so much. You were an integral part of this show. But there was one news story I did in particular um that I think Miles hated because it wasn't newsy or informative enough. But it was just about duo lures coming out with Pokemon themed lures that were extremely hard to get. And it was your way in on that news episode that I was like, Phil gets me, Phil gets us, Phil gets this, let's play that way in Miles, thank you for sticking up for me, because Joe, I don't know what about me would make you think that I'm the kind of person who would know that a Pikachu is a species and therefore can be male or female, or that Kyoga is a legendary water Pokemon first introduced in Gen three. In was the cover Pokemon for Pokemon Sapphire on the Game Boy Advance. But you know, much like those nerds who play Pokemon, I'll do a little role playing here and pretend to be someone who was interested in any of that bull crap and say, oh, Joe, you're the winner. Thanks for letting me know about all these really cool lures. The uh let's see still out of stock. Damn it. That was the moment when I was like, Phil is in on all of this. He's in on all the jokes. But then, Phil, I mean, look, you always seem to enjoy those way ins. You were always having fun. I did well. I just going way way back. I think it was I I do you. I don't remember when you asked me to start weighing in on fish news, but I think it was relatively early. It was like a round episode ten, maybe maybe a little bit before. Yeah, and I was I was baffled at that decision. I didn't understand it, but you know, I knew you were just kind of trying to put a little pin on the end of fish News. Ever every week, so I played along and I just kind of every week I would kind of just push it a little further and see how unhinged and I was waiting for I was waiting to get some notes at some point, and honestly, I never never out of all of the fish News reactions I did. I think I only ever got one note where you guys are like, maybe change that, and it was because it was kind of like an off color joke and I totally totally understood, but you guys let me do anything, which was honestly, I loved it. It was so much fun. I was gonna say, because, like you gotta understand, from a host perspective, we knew everything in the show when we would hear that the like the you know, we we always listened to these shows before they go out. We knew everything we said, but we didn't know what you said. So it would be like with bated breath, I'm like, oh my god, here comes in the new is what it's still gonna say. It was like the one element we had no idea until we heard it. But like you said, they got more and more elaborate. I don't have time to go into the whole like multipart soap opera. You did where you do? My favorite? That was my moment and then come back to life. But I think you were testing the waters on the filled death with your way in an episode fifty four, which was also always one of my favorites. Phil, Honey, it's time to wake up? What I gotta wake up? It's time to edit the podcast? Mom? Yes, okay, you ready? Yeah? Yeah, let's let's do the podcast. How do I How do I do it? Okay? See that button there, the blue one? Push that one? Okay, okay, good now edit edit and then what do I click? Now? Okay? Now I want you to export? Hit the export ble Oh that's right, okay X export to await MP three, MP three Yes, all right, you got it. I did it. Good job and the winner for best Engineered podcast episode of all time goes to Phil for episode of ben Is there anyone that you'd like to thank? WHOA? I mean? Yeah, I guess, uh the guy upstairs? J C, my boy, how's the view? Uh? Tony at Arby's Joe, Sir Mellie the winner of fish News this week. Oh my mom. Mom, thanks for waking me up. And I couldn't have done it without you. Phill, Honey, it's time to take out the track mob. Shut up, you're embarrassing me. God. That was like just the creativity had been had been notched up there, just like well, well sure, I just want to say really quick that one of the reasons listen. I mean, it's it's no secret that I I know jack about fishing, but I I loved working on this podcast because just of the layers of just pop culture, just bullshittery that went in a week. And I mean that in the most like loving way. I I it was it was my dream to work on a show like this. I never knew it would be a phishing podcast, but like, but like every I was, I was always intimidated doing the Fish News weigh In because I felt like I needed to kind of at least get kind of close to like you and Miles about with with with the stuff you were referencing and the jokes you were making, and so I I just I loved that you guys gave me like a super long leash to kind of get weird when honestly, to be honest, the weeks where I got weird were the ones where I honestly I couldn't think of anything funny. I couldn't think of just like a one line joke. So I was like, I'm just gonna turn this into a bit that maybe they'll I'll turn it and Joe will Will say, no, you can't do that. Should compile them all in one shot and and make that a whole separate podcast. One of my favorite things, dude. I mean, like, why I think about Phil Taylor fish news reads. I think tasteful and elaborate. Yeah, speaking of tasteful and elaborate, we can't we can't end this show. We can't talk about what bent was without bringing up Lance V. What what are your two thoughts on on old Lance? He hasn't been around and Lance V okay, there's one Phil. He just he was just misunderstood. Yeah, that's how I think. And did you you you want to talk about a a love hate segment Throughout this there was no middle ground for Lance V. But despite all the fun that we've had, right, all the pop culture and all the jokes, like, we did try to be educational and I will stand by that. Um, he was brought in purely for educational purposes. Is one living awarding. No, because everybody wants to be an Instagram and YouTube star these days. We're just trying to help you along with the best information we can give you. Um So, you know, I struggled to come up with with what what Lance do we do? We rerun here, but I mean there's really only one. I think it was the most educational and it is a piece of knowledge all of you can carry with you till the end of time, or at least until Instagram goes away, which will happen eventually. The land, to the boats, to the like, to the sea, getting up the n on net. But your boy lags. What's happening? Qualified captains, It's your favorite Internet fishing guru, Lance Fee, here to aid you in continuing education about killing it as an online angler. This week we have a deep question from Josh hy who writes guys, come on this Lance v guy is a freaking chuckle head. But if you had to pick just one Instagram filter, what would it be? I have to be honest, Josh, I didn't want to answer this question. In my opinion, this information is so powerful that it could shave years off your pursuit of Internet greatness and rocking to the top two quickly can be dangerous, just as the Greek dude with the wax wings, or the kids and Criss Cross who spent decades in therapy to overcome their desire to wear their pants backwards hashtag Daddy Mac. But I decided to go for it, so brace yourselves. The answer is half a Listen. I know that was a lot to take in. Many of you are probably in shock right now. Don't torch yourself for all the mediocre fish photos you posted using Ludwig or Perpetua. Those wasted opportunities to grow your social media presence. You didn't know. You were so sure using Nashville on that tight shot of a bass broke brand crank bait would take your posts from worthless to art that your ten followers would say, my god, it's breathtaking. You were absolutely positive the slightly washed out look of Lark was perfect for another sun rise over the pay leg photo. And you were so wrong. But I'm here to tell you it's okay. We all make mistakes. Hashtag here with me. Hef A is the answer. It's always been the answer, and you need not understand why the details come with similar consequences to figuring out who killed JFK or Weather Vanilla Ice knowingly sampled that Queen song in Ice Ice Baby, listen, I've already told you too much, and I feared divulging for the information about the powers of HAFE could lead to issues regarding my personal safety or worse, a loss of sponsorship opportunities with hashtag Nights of Columbus. Josh, You're welcome, but I want to make it clear I take no responsibility for how you or anyone else uses this information hashtag risk fact there side note on that hef A was also one of the colors of the special Bent Magnum dubbing we gave away the the hef A future, Yeah, it was. Are you using the heif A filter, Hayden, Oh yeah, and everything I do. Hayden. Actually, he sent me a picture asking for medical advice of you know, some of his his nether regions, and it had the hef A filter over it. He's like, do I like to keep it consistent? Now? Why I don't forget that? Why I don't slip up? Yeah? You send that and be like Jesus, Hayden he's this large. That's why it took me so long to figure out the mobile deposit feature on my banking app. I kept using the hef A filter on the check. Yeah, that's not gonna work. The algorithm doesn't pick up on that. You know. I just want to say, really quick, it's you. You revealed earlier that you had your friend doing all of those celebrity impressions. I think we should reveal here and today that lance V is a real person. Yes, yeah, yes, despite anything we might have said in a drunken stupor, I I walk it all back. A lot of things are getting walked back these days, so let's walk this one back. Um. Lance V is absolutely real. He is absolutely real. And that was I have no regrets about lance V and act he was. He was one of my favorites. Hayden, who was one of your favorite characters on this show? Tell us, well, I mean it's gonna be Bob the garbage man man. Yeah, and Bob did not dip on us like lance Vae. Bob stuck around, Um, mostly because we we pay him and he doesn't. He doesn't have a lot of income. And I'll tell you what, man, You know, my one regret is that is that we didn't get to hear from Bob the garbage Man just one more time. Yeah, well we're we're going to We're gonna hear it. We're gonna play some Bob. We have to. And I'll tell you why. Bob was the first voice other than Miles and I anybody ever heard on this show. The very first thing you heard that was not us was a fishing report, a regional report by Bob the garbage Man. And uh, a year later, when we got two, episode fifty two in celebration, we said, well, we've got to bring Bob back for the for the year anniversary. Um. And we did that with covering Water, which I know Phil. Covering Water was a favorite segment years. That's our rapid fire Q and a segment Oh yeah no, that's that was one of my favorite segments. Uh, mostly because it was always pretty standard. You know, you would ask you phishing questions, favorite this, least favorite that, and then you would throw in a curveball, change it, and they didn't know how to react. It was sort of like what movie bla la lah, and they're like ship and then they just like spit out the first thing they thought of and uh. And my favorite moments are always the ones that got a huge reaction from you, Joe, because they would say something just preposterous or something you weren't expecting and you just say like, oh, we're gonna have to revisit that one second. Yeah, it always came a minute to follow up and like, you have to talk about this one I'm choosing for you. That was my favorite thing is how that specific part was framed in the intro was always like, yeah, we're gonna rapid fire you. However many questions and you will have a minute to elaborate on one of your choosing and Joe always chose the decision. Listen, we appreciate Bob's many useful contributions to Bent. I'm sure I'm gonna still have to deal with him after Bent, but let's throw it back. This is a this is a covering water full of nothing but curveballs. Uh. The one and only time Miles and I sat down with him, at least digitally together, I'm going in. I can hold it. No, I'm all so joining us today for covering water. We've got none other than our own resident Stripers surf chunky expert Bob the garbage Man Britana on a new ski and we haven't heard from you in a while, Bob, and I must say, I'm shocked that you actually harnessed the technology necessary to join us on this podcast. 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 us whole day up in the computer laboratory or whatever it is. I didn't even know they had computers in here, Budd. In fairness, the 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 you got is 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 money. 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 money is 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 hit you know. But tell you the truth, I don't even know one of them walkie talking 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 these types. Whatever the I say and puts it on insta book, you know. So, so what what's the kid getting in exchange for for transcribing all your winsdom there tell 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 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 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 striper scene. Correct. We already know you've caught more big stripers exclusively chunkin 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 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 cop flight in my bathtub. 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 jeted. 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 U and I traded my Ford Pinto for them tickets? If you could fish with any celebrity, living or dead, who would it be? Oh? That's easy, Tim to 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, between 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? Niles? Oh, 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 babysitter is dead. Probably. Wow, that's time. Okay, I didn't see that one coming. Really that's the movie, okay, I question whether al 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, I said, 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 steel her electricity. So unless you just want to up the price to cover my electric bill or the price to two pounds of custom twenty, let's say hurry the fuck. Alright, alright, alright, well, which what are you gonna answer? Which one you gonna expand on? Pass? Can I pass? No? No? Not? Have you tell us 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 another four to five pounds lead down and throw it before he took it to the Chinese place next to the other Chinese place on Bultic Avenue. But you're looking for some epic story, and there eight one eight a 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 monta film, and had a pair of clean socks. Anyway, I know how much you appreciate me being here and how much I appreciate my time. So good bye, shit. I think he gone, he gone, yep, I think I think that was all we're gonna hear from Bob. I still, I still am shocked that that Bob's favorite movie per that we learned is don't tell Mom the Babysitters Dead. You know that one Hayden. You've seen that one? Phil? Seen that one? Phil? Phil? Can you throw a quote from that movie? Just one? Uh? Joe, I have not seen that movie. Oh god, the dishes are done. Man, No, nobody, don't Christina Applegate. No anyway. See, that's what I always brought to the show, was like the dumb movie facts, like, yeah, here's the thing, Joe, I mean, it's it's this was what was intimidating is because you're just only if you're a few years older than me, and you brought those eighties movies references like it was just before my my time of watching like Angels in the Outfield and all the shitty nineties stuff that I love, Rookie of the Mannequin two on the Run. I got a lot of ship either from Joe or like Guess or just you know, listeners who felt the need to hit me up on Instagram or the inbox about stuff that I hadn't seen. What was that one in particular that I got like a raft of ship for not having seen. Oh, for Christ's sakes, dude, it was Chris. It was it was Christmas Vacation. You said on this show that you've never seen National lampoons Christmas. That's un American, that's like phil Like, is that not impossible even if you don't go out of your way to watch it, like it ends up on in the airport or your aunt's house or something like somewhere. Oh yeah, yeah for sure, like playing on on TBS just in the background. Yeah right, definitely. You haven't seen that. No, that's fine, I'm gonna let it slide. But that's what I brought was was dumb movie references. Miles worked very hard to bring literacy to this show, and I actually appreciated that. Um and people gave us such a hard time for freaking yeah, yeah exactly, and and we got such a hard talking about that, and and we've we've said it's not that I didn't love freaking Philistines, just Miles like read books like a machine, and I admired that, but I I could not read enough books. I couldn't read enough fast enough, and I could you Hayden to like really keep that going. But we also had a segment that he came up with called Weekly Word, and then that kind of fell by the wayside because you were like, I don't have any words, So I'm like, man, I just like, I don't know any words. I'll tell you why. Man. If there's one thing I've been accused of as being verbose, how's that for a word? Um, well, that's yeah. I don't know, man. Like some of those were dogs back in the day, but some of them were a lot of fun. And um, Hayden and I we're gonna have a debate after we play what was my my all time favorite? I wrote to you about this. You wrote to me about this before you were even involved with this show. But there's one weekly word going way back, all the way to episode twenty eight that stands out to me, and um, it's gonna stand out to you too. If you're one of my my Phillippeople Webster's dictionary define fish as this week's word is John. That's j A w N. And it's a word that really has nothing to do with fishing, but at the same time could technically have everything to do with fishing. And the only reason I'm even doing this John is because I said the word John in another episode and Miles, being the words smith that he is, was so intrigued by my John he had to know more about the John. John is a slang term that originated in Philadelphia at least mostly and we'll get to that, and is used so much even in Philly's surrounding pa in New Jersey suburbs, that it often appears in advertising. McDonald's even got down on that John, with billboards featuring nothing but a sausage McMuffin in the words that's my John. Visit Philly dot COM's billboards read there's no John like Home and vitamin water plaster the area with billboards that said vitamins electrolytes, get that John. So what is this John? Well, according to that Oxford Dictionary, john john refers to a thing, place, person, or event that one need not or cannot give a specific name to. So basically, John can be used to replace absolutely any now anyone at all in its singular or plural form. As an example, I might say, what was that top order John? Mikey was thrown over at FDR Park for them largemouth John? Or upon seeing a giant flathead catfish swimming along the bank of the School River, I might say, Yo, that's the biggest John I ever seen in here, followed by yo, I'm retiring my John with fifty pound because that thirty pound John ain't gonna be strong enough of a hook that John. Interestingly, John can be pluralized with or without an S. Saying let me get one of them John's when asking a buddy for a fresh mintow out of the bucket is acceptable, but more commonly, John is used to refer to multiple things minus the S. As an example, when asking a friend where he acquired multiple new striper plugs, you'd say, where'd you get them? John? You might also say I want to get into fly fishing, but there's so much John to buy. Theories abound about John and where it came from. In fact, John is such an intriguing word, be as it can be used in so many ways that linguists have spent years studying this John and tracing its origins. All signs point to John being a derivative of joint. Joint as a slang term rosen popularity in the American South around the time of emancipation, bars and clubs that served as safe havens for black Americans were called juke joints. This eventually expanded into the labeling of somewhat sketchy places as joints, which, even further down the line translated to any place you considered kind of underground, such as that little pizza joint or burger joint you think only you and your boys know about. Even though that John is all over yelp, but some smart John believed. John was born in Philly in n one. Specifically, that year, hip hop group Funky four plus one had a popular song called That's the Joint, and it was one of the earliest recorded hip hop tracks where the word joint was used as a positive term to refer to something good or something that you like. Linguists say because the singers slightly drew out the vows in the word joint and didn't accentuate the tea, Philadelphians either heard it as John or sang it as John, ultimately solidifying the future of that John. Take a listen what we just care miss just can't miss West like this joint? Did you hear it? Let's listen one more time. Whether you heard joint or John, the mere mention of this song being the origin of John infuriates many Philadelphians. Why because Funky four plus one was from the Bronx, and even though most linguists agreed John technically came from Joint, which got popularized as a catch all in New York hip hop culture. Philly people just don't want to hear that John. That John means too much to them. Now, if you're one of them John that gets all mad about John coming from them York John, here's what I suggest. Head out to the garage and grab your John and head down to that John where you called all them John last season, cast out alive John under a bobber. Maybe throw one of them Panther and Martin John's and just relax. You got other John to worry about. No matter where that John came from, it's a Philly John now. So right after that episode dropped right, And I always love that that John Weekly word too because it had such a great musical tie. And we've always been about like incorporating music where possible. But you hit me up. You hadn't even been working here that long and you texted me and what did you say? Did you find the text? Yeah? Okay, so it was in reference to the promo that you used, uh, And it was it was an Instagram post where it read why have I never heard of this John? Bent Listener Ensley nine one alerted me to this John after taking this picture in his local fly shop John. Are these John's no good? Have these John's not caught on? I don't tie many hollow John's, So maybe that's why I missed this John. But Box endorsed this John and he is the man for them strikeing and talking about the same thing. Okay, you're talking about an Instagram post. Yeah, well that this is This is where I got hung up with because I said, okay, I we had had a prior conversation, but via this text thread, all I can find is that I have issue with your use of like double nouning. And here's the example of what I recall is you said that John cannot be pluralized like nobody says it can be. It can be pluralized if you read a very good article on the internet that said otherwise. That's where I pulled that from it actual I've heard John can be broken up by region of Philly like people in South. But my problems, my problem was, my problem was as illustrated in this post. You said fly shop John's, and what I said is that's like the equivalent of saying fly shops up shop shop. Yeah, it would be like you know if if you were if you were asking me, um, where to go, uh like use tackle shops? Right, if you were asking me, like, hey, where do I go buy plugs? Oh, just go to Tackle John. It's like down on like ninth, or like a Burger John. Yeah, or go to like yeah, go to the Burger John. It's it's you know, like so it should have just been fly John's without shop right right, it should have been like, oh, yeah, go go, I will scroll back and I will I will, I will correct the post anyway weekly where it was one of those deals where they were they were tough to come up with, like that was the ball was in our court to figure out those words. But I mean, we we have to talk about how much we gleaned from listeners, Like so much of this show ran on listener contributions. And I always love that because I always looked at it like if we have a little outlet here to uh let the people speak, you know what I mean? And unfortunately, I mean, look that's my bar and awkward photos were two of my favorite things. Ever. We're not playing either of those, uh in the greatest hits, But um, I always had so much fun doing those and people really love That's my Bar. I always had a dream of compiling those and sending awards like you're a band, That's my Bar. That would have been good. The man, I loved that That's My Bars. And one thing that I really admired about that was it put the onus on the listener to like really know a place. And in fact, actually in the first I think in the first episode that I hosted, I did it that It's my Bar. And I'll tell you what, It's not a small task. You gotta know some history. You need to be familiar equating. It was similar writing you guys got for those That's my Bar submissions were people it was publishable, like if some of them were outstanding, you know, if you were making a degenerate Michelin guide for bars, that's something to aspire to you later, I guess. But we we've always appreciated the submissions for those, but more so man, you know, I'll be honest, Like when we first pitched sale Bin, it wasn't There were some people who thought that was not gonna work out, but that was one of the most responded to segments on this I will say, yeah, that that is probably if we're like breaking down all of the segments, um other than like makers or I actually a really soft spot for night fishing, But either of those two segments like that was my favorite for sure. It was it was always funny, It was always in good humor. You always led to like some good fishing conversation, and I always felt like I've learned something even though I kind of wasn't supposed to write. Well, there there's definitely a ringer there like that, just like Mandy York and you guys know which one that is. But I'm curious, man, like, any any standouts for you guys besides the one we're about to hit here. Well, I mean the what was the tuggy? Was that? And this was that? The Tuggy made of you. I'm so glad you brought up the Tuggy because now I can say, while I, while I love and appreciate it all, just stop sending me Tuggies like I like I if I printed all the texts and messages with the motorized Tuggy, I could wallpaper my entire house like We're We're good. I will always be a Tuggy fan. I always love a Tuggy. But you could stop sending me tuggies. Um, but the one we're gonna play here is actually fairly recent and it's the only time in sale bin history that an extra step was taken to make the segment extra special, and it is, without a doubt, the most responded to sale bin we have ever done. Why did you put the hand to pay? You don't know what I'm getting? Man, You didn't have to be so hurtful with me so angry. Today we've got what I've at least decided is the perfect Halloween sale bin item because it's very trigger treat right. Could be good, could be ship, don't know. But thanks to several listeners that sent this one along. Um, there are too many of you to name, but at least ten of you fired this one off, and I thank you for it, but very quickly before I dive into this particular item. Um, since this is Hayden's first sale bin, I always like to know, like where where everyone stands on the online buying of other people's wears? Are you an online classified shopper? Do you look for things on Facebook and Craigslist and such? Yeah, your boy's been known to be a little bit thrifty, like that you know, what do you buy? What do you like? What do you use it for? Dude? All sorts of gear? Man Um. Yeah, I've bought a bunch of guitarists from a website called Reverb, but like, I also buy a lot of my waterfowl decoys from like piste Off X Wives and girl Runds. You know, full body decoys are expensive, man, in the best sale I've ever found is when you know you've got like a Spern lover swinging the auction gavel, you know what I mean? I do know, dude, I do know, And like those posts are so rare and you've got to be quick on it. But you see hi every once in a while on Craig's List, it's like every piece of fish tackle and fish poles and my condo needs to be gone tomorrow, call Holly and you know it's like, oh man, I need to get there tomorrow before he gets back from work. You know, I'm about that a way better day than this guy's about that exactly exactly. Oh man. So anyway, so here's what we have. I'm glad, I'm glad you're an online classified person that makes this more fun. So so here's what we have. Okay, the title of this post, and now, mind you, I'm betting that even more people have seen this post than Senate. It's it's out there in all kinds of different Facebook forums. The title is secret jigs I use at Missouri trout Parks. And the photo is just a shot of a railing surrounding a low head dam and you see a lone angler waiting just above the damn. And I'm just surmising here, really, but I'm gonna I'm gonna say it was probably taking at a Missouri trout park, would be my guess. I would say that's probably a fair assumption. Trout parks, I feel, are a very interesting cultural phenomenon and totally and I think that what's interesting about him is there are some folks that are like very dedicated to visiting. That's just what they do. And and honestly, like, you know, I'm sure it breeds a certain level of skill just because like the ability to rapidly a b test a bunch of different stuff over fish that you know, you know are seeing it, well, dude, And there's there's some truth to that. It's like, on one hand, you step back and you're like, trout park, that's lame. I would never do that. But if you're into that, these places tend to have their ringers, Like, ah, that's old Bill over there. He gets them every time, you know what I mean. Like it's like it's like a jockeying for position at some of these trout parks. I would I would bet. Yeah. My my experience of trout parks overall is very limited. But I will tell you a quick story about one. And this is actually this is a story I told him my grandfather's funeral. The U I'm coming in with him today, man, I'm ready. Uh. So, when I was a kid, uh, one of my first trout fishing excursions was at one of these trout parks, and this one in particular was like a kind of catch and keep pay to play, right right right? Um, I'm about four years old or something, and I managed to catch a fish, and you know, my dad puts him in the ten gallon bucket and kind of I am now no longer interested in fishing. I'm interested in watching this one particular fish kind of swim around. So a couple of hours go by and we're leaving the trout park and we passed the you know, the shed with a teenager and the filat knife, and uh, the guy kind of looks at me as I'm leaving, me goes, hey, uh, do you want your fish cleaned? And me, being four, I'm like, yeah, I I would like a shiny clean fish. Oh no, I'll poor little you into the bucket, slaps on the cutting board and I'm thinking that's a weird way to clean a fish. I feel like, I feel like it's probably not sleuper good for it. And he just eviscerates this fish in front of me. And I cried all the way home. And you've never been back to a trout park since. Oh man, that's sad, but's so funny. Uh. Anyway, anyway, story time over. So these secret jigs, right, these these secret jigs, they'll cost you ten dollars and four ten dollars you get ten so a buck of jig, which isn't terrible, right, that's a lot cheaper than dry flies, a lot cheaper than dry flies. Three fifty most places. Now for one blue wing olive cast you three fifty, right, not even tired? Good? Yeah exactly. But anyhow, man, uh, I would say that these one dollar jigs are not only a good price, but a steal for what they are and what they are. Lightning in a bottle. Man, I'm going to read the listeners the description of the jigs in question. So ten for ten my secret jig that I catch thirty to fifty trout a day, no picture to keep it secret. I guarantee you will catch your limit daily. I have used this jig for forty eight years. Will also throw in a detailed diagram of how to use it, phone number hidden four forty eight years. It's kind of odd, why not just say fifty or forty five? Like that's very specific? Hey, you want to know that he's an honest dude and these so he can't be exaggerating, right, But so I got to say right. In a way, it's kind of genius marketing. It's like the grown up version of the surprise eggs. All the little kids are are are into right, and much cheaper. I might add caause I know from experience. It's like, you know, you give me ten bucks and trust me, this is gonna be good. Like you're gonna like like this. There are a lot of secret recipes that people go to great lengths to keep that way, dude, A hundred percent. But this is like a wink and a nod you've put out on the entire internet. I'm surprised he didn't put it on the dark Web. So he's trying to keep it secret, and then he assumes the buyer will keep it secret. But you know, at some point some asshole is going to spill the beans. And that asshole is me, because I have purchased these Oh you didn't, I did. I'm holding the package here and I have not opened it, and it's been killing me for over a week. I have been saving this for this moment. On this sale beIN right here. It's gonna be the first ever unboxing on this podcast. I gotta say, like, I just did this through Facebook, and not to be rude, but like, you're not giving your credit card to like a business. You're dealing with some rando dude. That fish is Missouri trout Parks. So I'm still convinced somehow this will result in like my bank account being drained or my interview man, well, yeah I use PayPal, Okay, smart guy, but still I'm like from Jersey and trust nobody. You know what I mean? You do? Yeah, yeah, but but it's it's all worth it to amuse the ben audience. I'm doing this because I want you all to catch more fish, God damn it. Like I want you to have all the manages. On the other hand, I want you to know if you're getting scammed. I believe it's worth ten bucks of my heart earned money to let you know this. I'm not even gonna expense this, dude, I'm not even gonna make meat eatter pay for what very well could be a mistake. This is This is a lot of pressure on you too, because this could be a cloud of anthrax. Like you're watching me on the computer right now, like that, I'm very happy I'm watching. You're safe out there in Montana. It could be a mail bomb, although it's very light. It would be the most sophisticated mail bomb ever. But I'm actually listening. It's by scissors. I have sat on this for a week, and this is it. Phil. You need to put a drum roll over this. I am cutting the envelope right now and together we're gonna see about these secret jigs. Look that they're all wrapped up in weird paper. These are gonna be good. Uh, oh my god. It's just a scam. Oh no, that's the diagram. Oh my god, dude, you've got to be kidding me. Hope, you've got to be kidding me. I'm gonna see. I'm hold this so you can see it. It is literally a tiny bag. Can you even see that? Of like, it's it's perdagons in all white. It is literally just a jig style hook gold with an itty bitty head that looks like a nymph head painted white, and then he has just wrapped white thread behind it and tapered it. That is it. That is all that it is. I was expecting like bucktail or just I was expecting it to be like some forty eight years dude, this should have been some precursor to the trout magnet or something. These All it looks like is a euronymph with an upturned eye. It's just a white thread. What what. Let's let's look at the details. Let's look at the detailed diagram. It's going to tell you to tip it with something. And I read the damn guy's advice for catching trout at Bennett Springs State Park. If you fish Bennett Spring State Park, this is your lucky day, um man. How to set up fly rod or spinning rod for this jig Number one, always use two pound test line or less. What's less than two pound test line? UM eight x tipp it. I don't even know. I don't know. Does he have Does he have some secret line that he also sells with these secret jigs? No, man, Always try and fish about six inches from bottom. Always make sure there isn't any moss on the jig parentheses. Very important. Use an adjustable cork when using a spinning rod. Make sure you keep the line tight. Tie jig on leader between six and eight inches above that and put number six split shot adjust cork accordingly. Best place to fish, dude, Best place to fish this jig at Bennett Spring number one on the damn number two, all four corners of the damn up lower. I'm seeing a damn theme here. Not many people think to fish the damn Oh my god, dude. This is number three, all the handicapped spots number like jigsie selling away points. Number four feeder stream outlet, number five feeder stream from hatchery outlet to stream. This is you know what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna look. I just gonna say I have no doubt these will catch fish, Like these are like stock trout at a trout park. Why not? It just looks like a little white maggot or something. This is well, I mean, yeah, sure, sure, I'm mean, like, you know, like it's like what you know, Waltz worm looks like nothing too. I think it's funny that, like it's so fish park, not fish parks in general, but fish park singular specific. And I do like that if you took anybody to survey this body of water and you were like, where do you think you catch some fish? They would point to all this dude's secret spots immediately. Yeah. Yeah, I mean I'm not I'm not mad at dude. They're definitely heavier. I think these are lead, Like these aren't like a tungsten head or traditional nimp. I actually think these are itty bitty lead jigheads. But it's just so funny to me. I mean, there's not even a piece of flash in him. Not it is literally just white thread. That's always think, what do you think the likelihood is that we have a listener that is in like reasonable proximity of this fish park. If you are hit me up, it also bothers me because what I think about it. This man has my address, so he could now send me an trax or a letter bomb for divulging the greatest secret in all of fishing on this podcast. I don't get the feeling that this dude is super tech s happy. Man. I think you're gonna be all right anyway, there you go. You know, some of you who who sent that I hinted, I was like, look, I can't do this without knowing. You can't lay this on people without being able to say, this is what it is. So that is it. That is the secret to stock trout everywhere. A tiny lead jighead painted white with some white thread rap behind it. That was really fun. Man. That was like, that might be my all time favorite sale bin right there. Naturally, I'm gonna I'm gonna put the pictures of these things on Instagram so you can all see it on Instagram and and and copy and tie these um if if you if you want any more secrets revealed, you find something on your favorite classified online forum, do please keep sending those links to me at bent at the metator dot com if you would, if you would love us to trash the things you find here on the sale bin. So to this day, people are still sending me pictures of those similar jigs in fly shops and they're like a bucket piece. They're like you got ripped off as hell, bro, Like there was nothing secret about any of that. They're in every fly shop down here in the Ozarks, and um, you're an idiot. Yeah, well, I mean you are an idiot. But the man I've I went into that with like number one, I genuinely had no idea, genuinely had no idea that that was what was about to go down. I also, I was a little worried because I was like, man, if these are like a secret jig, this new is gonna be real upset. So once we got the emails that alleviated that concern saying that, oh, these are everywhere, I felt one, I felt a lot better about up with two. Man. That was just funny. Yeah, that was that was That was the most fun Saleman that we've ever done. And then funny side story, the pack of jigs was so light and I had it in the envelope. They came in here on my desk and I had to mail something to my buddy Jim fee At on the water and I grabbed the envelope and shook it and I'm like, oh, it's an empty envelope and stuck the thing in there. And I I mailed all the jigs to Jim. So when he sent me a text confirming the thing that I sent him, he's like, and these are gonna catch um the what are they called golden shiners? He catches golden shiners to use for bass where he's at. He's like, oh, and thanks for these. These are gonna crush golden shiners. I'm like, did you get those? Wait? What? And I'm like, son of a bitch, I sent Jim all the secret jigs. But that's okay, what are you gonna do? Um? That was That was a really fun way to cover a law. Of course, we've we've had the end of the line segment um running the entire time here now for me, Um, that one was a little trying because you talk about having to do some research, like you're talking about how the bar ours they it had to be right, and we were always trying to balance like a personal connection to a lore with some history. Um, dude, I loved it. I drove myself nuts with that Swiss swing one. Really. Oh my god, Yeah, dude, I so again, you know a lot of these end of the line, but I did most of the research that is not true at all. A lot of these like end of the line things, right, are born of a personal connection. And you know, um, there are certain elements of there's certain lures that just like kind of exist in your pantheon of what you created you as a fisherman, like you know, these like pillars that bought you up and got you into it, and like the things that you use and the things you relied on while you were figuring out fishing and what fishing meant to you. And because of that, a lot of times you'd overblow that personal connection in your own mind and be like, oh, this must be um, this must be an experience had across the board. And I fell into that with the Swiss swing. Turns out nobody else uses that except for like five people in like the right side of Pennsylvania, right. You know, Well, I gotta say, man, of of of all the end of the lines, I had a lot of fun doing, though some of them were really good. But we were going to close out today at the end of the line, because that is traditionally what has ended the show, and I'm gonna run one of yours, because I know you haven't done as many, but the very first one you did on trout beads, I swear more people wrote in about that than any other end of the line we had done. And and my my prediction, the reason I think that happened was you took a very simple thing that a lot of people know about and a lot of people scoff at there, like, oh, trout beads, that's dirty. And you did such a good job of explaining why here's this thing that everybody looks at is like a cheat, like a dirty cheat, and like this you know, fish mauling lore, and explain why that's actually not the case. And I really think there were a lot of people who saw this simple thing with with new eyes. After this end of the line, Well, that's not loud enough. If you're like of other fishermen, particularly fly fishermen, Alaska is somewhere on your bucket list. If you ask an angler what they think of when they envision Alaska, you'll find a lot of the same images and species repeating. Salmon runs so dense you could walk across the river on the backs of silvers and kings you know, Dolly Varden, longer than your arm, and painted up like clowns and their full spawning regalia, steelhead of mythical proportions and their resident rainbow counterparts. Back flipping and cartwheeling out of the river, and sore shoulders from spending all days swinging flies, catching fish after fish, and experiencing arguably the greatest cold water fishing the world has to offer. There's a little bit of an open secret in these rivers, almost as omnipresident as the fish we target, and it's as effective as it is divisive. My friends, that secret is the trout bead. Now, before we wade into the controversy surrounding the fishing of beads, let's talk about the beads themselves. For the uninitiated, a trout beat is a small spherical bead pegged with a toothpick about two inches above a bear hook. Beads can be fished on any riggs, spin, centerpin or fly. At first glance, a bead is pretty cut and dry. I mean it's literally just around beads, similar to the thousands of beads you'd find at the hobby lobby in fact, I'm sure some anglers by beads at the hobby lobby because there is an entire subculture dedicated to bead fishing that is as fanatical about colors, weight, sizes, and hues as dry fly fishermen are trying to pick out that perfect shade of done for their quill. Gordon's All beads are not created equal, however, and anglers are fiercely devoted to their preferences glass versus plastic, peach verse orange, six millimeter or eight millimeter bead specific companies have made fortunes selling beads crafted with jealously guarded secret formulas for just the right color, sheen, and molting. You'll find grown men hoarding nail polish like teenage girls, scoturing pharmacies and makeup counters in their free time, looking for that perfect shade of red, pink, orange, or even blue for the all important blood dot. Now onto the controversy. We're not going to dive into whether or not it's fly fishing us between you, the fish, and a higher power. The real controversy is how the fish is hooked. To understand this, we first need to understand how a bead rig works As I mentioned, a bead rig is a bear hook with a bead pegged about two inches up the leader. When the fish bites the bead, the angler sets the hook, and that hook, which is dangling outside the fish's mouth, is pulled into the outside corner of their jaw. Here's why that's controversial. Many people see the placement of that hook set outside the mouth and immediately equate that is evidence that this is no more than a legal means to floss or snag fish. Go ahead and search is bead fishing ethical on Google and you'll find forums filled with heated eight page arguments between anglers debating the issue. I would argue that bead fishing is not floss ng or snagging for one simple reason, the fish has to voluntarily bite the bead in order to hook themselves. From my perspective, that alone settles the debate. Sporting ethics society, you'll often hear folks argue that beads are somehow damaging to the fish. Beads are deadly effective. But if there's one thing they're not, it's deadly. If you're into fish and catch and release, beads could very well be the most ethical tool at your disposal. Because the bead is pegged a few inches above the hook, the fish can inhale it without the danger of being hooked deeply. The hook set pulls the hook into the outside corner of its mouth, not into its gullet. Not only does this save the fish from having its gills ripped apart by a deeply taken yet apparently more ethical, glob bug, it also saves a fish from the difficult hook removals that often come with a deep take. In fisheries where significant cold is a factor, like Great Lakes steelhead fisheries, for instance, this can save a fish from flash frozen gills. It's simply easier to remove a hook from the outside corner of a steelhead's mouth without taking it out of the water. Now you might be thinking to yourself that I'm some sort of bead fishing evangelists. You may be surprised to know that I've only ever fished beads a handful of times. Unfortunately, I'm cursed with a bug for tieing bugs and plagued by the compulsion to use them. That said, I fished with many many centerpin spin and fly anglers who all use beads I've netted well over a hundred bead caught steel head, and in all that time, there are two things that I've seen, very very rarely, a deeply hooked fish or if fish hooked more than an inch or two from its mouth. Sorry, fly guys, I'll be the first to admit that I've pulled a lot of pheasant tales and soccer spawn from peck fins. H Yes, the bad debate, whether or not we all agree one day remains to be seen. But as long as there are people catching fish, they're going to be folks complaining about how they're going about it. Are you a big guy feverishly painting until the wee hours of the morning while you gear up for your next steelhead trip? Are you a fly fishing purist who thinks of beats for the undoing of everything a sportsman stands for. Whatever your position, be sure to drop us a note at bent at the Meat eater dot Com, letting us know where you stand on the bat debate, and if, perhaps for the first time, a beat ends up at the end of your line. Yeah, man, you know I don't to be truthful with you like we do. Such a volume of writing for this show that a lot of times it's hard to remember what you wrote. Um. An example is like when I first signed on to do this and was doing these fish news segments, one of my first thoughts, Oh, this is gonna be great. I'm gonna have like so much conservation knowledge like floating around in my head. I'm gonna be able to speak to so many things. I don't remember the story I wrote last week, but that's what happens, man. Yeah, but with with this one in particular. Yeah, I've always thought, you know, if you are focused on the art form of fishing, I can understand your objection to a bead. It's a utilitarian tool. But a utilitarian tool outside of a philosophical sort of take on it is not necessarily something bad. It's not something that deserves you know, a ship reputation is something that non anglers do. It's something that different anglers do. Man, it's like somebody who really appreciates um, you know, uh right, like abstract guitar playing. You know, I'll a Hendrix or somebody like that. You know, I'm not gonna, you know, ship on people playing shred metal just because it's not what I like. It's just a different take on like a thing and it's not good. It's not bad, you know it just it just is a different thing and you don't have to love it, but you don't have to bash it. Hey, dude, that you have basically summed up. Now that we've we've we've closed out here our final final segment, you're gonna hear that end of the line. But what you just said, man, I mean, from from beginning to end, that is what Ben is about. Right, we are about. We don't we don't give a damn how you fish. We don't care what your faction is. Welcome here, Yeah, unless your Walleye fish somewhere else. Yeah, uh, Phil likes Walleyes, I think, um, but listen from the from the bottom of my heart, this has been fun. I can't thank both of you guys enough for working so hard with me on on bent Um. This has been one of the coolest things that I've ever done. I will always be that guy that's welcoming to all. You know. I love talking to eyes on social you know where to find me, um, you know, and until we meet again, and we will eventually. I also want to thank Miles, even though he's not sitting here with us today. Um. A lot has gone into this and it has been an absolute blast, and I hope you guys enjoyed being part of it as much as I did. I mean, dude, Bent was a was a community. Man. It still is a community. Well yeah, it's still is a community. The archive will always be there, but um yeah, I'm just so thankful to uh to participated in it. And what I'm proud of most I think isn't even the work, or like the writing or were the podcast itself. Man, you know, and I think you'd agree with this. It's the connection that we made with our listeners and and giving them kind of Ah. That's what drives everything I do. Man. That's what I'm about, is is using these platforms to link up with good people. I linked up with you guys. Phil. Are you still here? I'm right here. Yeah. For the great those of you who don't know I am, I am off camera and Joe can't see me. For all he knows if I've left and gone to take a ship. Phil, Phil, we should cut right there. The last thing you would hear is Phil talking about going to take a ship. Uh. You boys are legends, listen. I want to thank Meat Eather too for giving me the opportunity and us the opportunity to make this fishing podcast. I look very forward to seeing what the fishing landscape looks like here down the road. And until I see you guys somewhere out there again, I'm just gonna close by saying, tight lines, degenerates leader, Lets look at