by Joe Cermele

I can honestly say that the best part of shooting "Hook Shots" videos isn't catching fish, but getting to fish with new people. I have shared boats with guides and anglers for videos that I now consider friends, but I must confess that of all the shoots I've done none was more enjoyable than the one showcased below. A few weeks ago I got invited to join the Southern Regional High School Fishing Club from Manahawkin, NJ, on one of their field trips. See, every fall the junior and senior members get to go on an overnight offshore trip for tuna and swordfish. That beats even the best field trip I ever got to take in high school, and if such a club had existed at my school, I'd have surely been the president. There is nothing quite as inspiring to me as seeing young kids revved up to fish, and these kids were amped to the max. It was an honor to fish with them, and I hope I get the chance to do it again. Enjoy the show, and don't forget to take the latest Hook Shots Quiz for a chance to win a set of Rapala Pliers.

By Joe Cermele

In August, Connecticut angler Greg Myerson (below) brought a striped bass to the scale of a Westbrook tackle shop that pinned the needle at 81.8 pounds. It trumped the weight of the all-tackle world record set by Albert McReynolds in 1982 by more than two pounds. Of course, no record is legit until it's legit with the IGFA. Last Wednesday, the organization signed off on this record, and Myerson can now officially say he has landed what was easily one of the most coveted all-tackle records in saltwater fishing. So how does Albert McReynolds, who rode the record-fame train for almost 30 years, feel about it? 

By Joe Cermele

By Joe Cermele

What happens when you kill a squid for sushi purposes, then douse the tentacles with soy sauce just before consumption? The sodium in the sauce activates the muscles in the squid and the sucker dances right off your plate. Who's hungry?

On a side note, if you injected soy sauce into a fresh-dead squid and sent it to the bottom of the ocean for fluke or drifted it back to tuna, would you get the same effect? Food for thought.