Nation Real Life Episode 138: The end of #ChumGate
4 years ago
A new week means a new episode of the Real Life Podcast, and this week’s show was filled with explosive moments as the fallout from #ChumGate continued despite the fact that Jay is vacationing in Finland.
To start off this week’s episode, the boys jumped right in by revisiting last week’s #ChumGate drama, but rather than letting Chalmers and Jay yell at each other for 20 minutes again, they decided to bring in a character witness (Sean Lavin) to settle things once and for all. After running through a brief history of the Angler Cup and how things came together, both Chalmers and Lavin recounted their version of the events that kicked off last week’s fight, including the definition of chumming and sacrificing minnows for the gods. Back to business, the guys got into some Oilers talk with a look the upcoming season and why people should be excited in spite of history suggesting they should. As always, Wanye and Baggedmilk had plenty of reasons to be drinking the Kool-Aid while Chalmers left the conversation still yearning. Next up, the guys walked through the Real Life Football Pool with a recap of the winners, losers, and general updates to keep everyone in the loop. Finally, the guys end off this week’s podcast with a breakdown of all things Big Brother, including predictions on who will win now that the season has whittled down to only five houseguests.
Listen to this week’s episode below:
*Bonus Content – The Testimony*
It’s was July 25, 2015
I remember this day like it was yesterday.
We had just invited 3 new guys out to the 12th Angler Cup. It was a massive expansion.
Two veterans Chalmers and Jerry Macaroni took out one of the new guys on the Lund – 3 man fishing boat.
Through 2 – 1 hr rounds it was like any other derby. Some fish, some beers and some sunshine.
The leader had 13.
Chalmers had 12, tied with another guy at 12.
Jerry Macaroni had nine and the other guy in their boat (Josh) had 7 heading into the final hour of fishing.
Chalmers had 12, tied with another guy at 12.
Jerry Macaroni had nine and the other guy in their boat (Josh) had 7 heading into the final hour of fishing.
As we embarked on the third round, the Macaroni/Chalmers boat headed out early before other boats went out to get their spot…not something uncommon for Jerry Macaroni…he was always heading out early trying to find a good spot.
We always fish in the same general area where we can see the other boats but are always a little ways apart at times. Especially early in fishing legs until someone finds a hotspot and then all of the boats sort of swarm the hot boat.
What happened in the next hour was unprecedented. It never happened before and is still something that has never happened again in all 16 years of the Angler Cup.
I remember Sea Gulls flocking above the boats like we were deep-sea fishermen in the middle of the ocean like you’d see on the show deadliest catch.
I remember numerous comments from guys on our boat like “what the hell is going on, this is so weird”
As the Macaroni/Chalmers boat began to heat up with fish biting, the other boats drew closer to them.
I remember seeing more minnows in the water, WAY more than usual and guys making comments about the minnows and the seagulls diving down numerous times. I thought it was the apocalypse it felt so weird.
The Macaroni/Chalmers boat eventually ran away with the third leg and Chalmers and Macaroni went into sudden-death overtime with Jerry Macaroni winning.
It was a tremendous finish. All three guys in the Macaroni boat finished 1,2,3 with 20, 19, and 18 fish respectively.
Everyone congratulated Macaroni like they would any other Champion. We went for the celebratory boat drive with the new champ and shared a few beers before heading in.
There was 0 discussion or speculation of any wrongdoing. ZERO. We were all happy for Macaroni and talked about the big comeback from their boat in the 3rd leg.
As a former Champion myself I was very happy a past Champ had won and kept it in the family. Us champs are a tight group.
As everyone descended on the cabin to wrap up the day, get in some warm clothes and grab a fresh beer, I was the last man helping tie up the boat with Macaroni and the third member of the Championship boat.
Here’s a pic to document nearly the exact moment of the three of us:
I took this picture at the time of the convo of the new Champ.
We talked about OT, the big win and how hot their boat got in the 3rd leg. What came next changed the derby forever.
The new guy said “ya it was crazy, as soon as we chummed the water within 10 minutes the fish just started hitting”
A very odd statement but one that I just kind of laughed at and carried on. I didn’t say anything to them. I didn’t want to smear Jerry Macaroni’s win with controversy.
We headed up to the cabin and continued on with the night.
It did still strike me as a very odd comment especially with the other very odd things that went on in that 3rd round with the seagulls and the many minnows floating in the water as we got closer to their boat.
Normally you maybe see one or two random minnows in the water that fall off a guy’s hook.
This was like 10-15 in the water at all times with seagulls swooping down.
It was nagging at me but I didn’t want to say anything. I finished 4th. I didn’t want to be that guy claiming I could have won if not for the cheating.
What a sore loser I would be.
But I did feel like I had to tell someone so I told Jay and one other guy at one point during the night what I was told by the 3rd member on the Jerry Macaroni/Chalmers boat.
They too found it a little too coincidental and peculiar but I said let’s just keep this to ourselves and not taint this. It wouldn’t be right even though things were starting to become a little suspect.
We all tucked into bed without another mention.
The next morning we are sitting around sharing some more laughs about the weekend as everyone is now picking up to head home when the third member of the boat (Josh) says it again. Direct quote to the entire group of 15 guys.
“ya it was crazy, as soon as we chummed the water within 10 minutes the fish just started hitting”
Then that obviously raises some ears and others start to pipe up like what? What? Repeat that again?
And Chum gate was off and running. Everyone knew what they saw on the water yesterday.
The debate was on except the three involved really had not much to say.
I took notes in my phone of quotes that morning so that we could reflect back if needed. Here they are:
Smig so guilty. Super quiet that morning. Had trouble even talking “I just thought everyone did it…I didn’t know we couldn’t”
Josh said nothing after
Lavs trying to claim it was only two minnows
The three then hurried into a truck together conveniently offering to help pull a boat out of the water at the boat launch.
When they came back their statements were “we just threw a couple of fish to the gods, that’s what we always do”
Which maybe they do that every year. But yesterday was like no other.
It was VERY different.
It is my belief that a lot of things happened that day to make it all a little more than coincidence.
To summarize:
– Everyone noted the seagulls in the 3rd round as new and crazy – not after the win or round.
– Everyone noted the numerous minnows in the water at the time, not after the win or the round.
– We had a big comeback where all three fishermen in the boat catch complete fire together
– We then had not one but two unprovoked confessions of “Chumming” the water. One coming after a full nights sleep after.
I find it really hard to believe tossing a minnow or two to the fishing gods for good luck would be something I would find so important to mention the morning after catching so many fish unless the number of minnows or “chumming” was significant.
Doesn’t that seem strange otherwise? Feels Ike the new guy maybe didn’t know chumming wasn’t allowed if you ask me.
On top of that, we had the sort of admittance from Chalmers too and we had no stories aligning until after they all got together and which time they developed the “fish god” theory”
And that type of seagull minnow show on the lake has never happened before or again.
While we cannot actually prove anything we have confessions and a ton of relatable things at a minimum – It’s ALL INCREDIBLY shady!!!
–Witness #1 for the Prosecution.
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