Wicked Bent Rod Pattern Sux!

I like to check out all the new fishing-related shows on TV. Not so much the same -ol’ wanna-be-Z/Hank/Dance/Jimmy shows out there, but the stuff on what I call the “nature channels,” up around the high 200s on DirecTV. You know, NatGeo, Discovery, etc.

My son likes to too, and he saw an ad for a show called Wicked Tuna. Since I make it a point never to watch a single TV commercial anymore, we DVRd it and…WTH?

I mean, I get that to get picked to be on a reality TV show you need to be a trainwreck in some form or fashion, or at least your interactions with other people have to be. But without more info, I’m left wondering whether this is how those guys really fish?

“This” means the bent rod pattern.

We’ve seen two episodes – not sure I can take another. These guys fish with rods. They chum behind the boat, you see an 800-pound fish (!!!) on the electronics, the live-baited rigs are sitting there with reels the size of coffee cans, and all of a sudden line starts ripping off.

Anyhow, the Tuna.com boat so far is out-catching the other boats, and here’s the part I guess I literally can’t stand: Those other boats – the ones they show – either follow the Tuna.com boat wherever it goes or flat out ask the captain where he is (on the radio!) and then b*tch about him not giving them good info.

If it were me, I’d give them coordinates in the Arabian Sea. Good luck fellas!

Now, we all know the bent-rodders happen in bassin’, but anyone ever seen it that bad? Meaning someone heads out from the launch and the next few boats or whatever just follow that boat and fish right where that boat stops. Every tournament.

That’d be wicked annoying – like tie on a 1-oz spoon and start casting it over the other boats annoying.

Dang!
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The bent-rodders are the first two guys in this vid:

> There’s also a vid here that attempts to convince viewers that National Geographic (this is on the NatGeo channel) isn’t backing the hammering of what is alleged to be one of the most threatened fish stocks in the ocean.