Tom Rowland Podcast

Bill Oyster of Oyster Bamboo Fly Rods and Capt. Rhett Morris join me for a story about craftsmanship, business, and one very hard-earned permit.

Bill builds fly rods out of bamboo, a technology most anglers left behind decades ago. He had a four-year waiting list, but he was working until 3 AM seven days a week and realized he’d never make a middle-class income building rods. So he started teaching people to build their own. Today Oyster Bamboo runs 240 students a year through its classes, and the waitlist stretches two years out. Bill shares how one phone call from a determined wife led to his first student and why other rod makers warned him that teaching would put them all out of business. He also talks about building rods for President Carter and a royal wedding gift.

Rhett walked into Bill’s shop by accident in Blue Ridge, Georgia, and ended up building a 10-weight bamboo rod he named “The Permit.” He tells the story of the three years it took to land a permit on that rod and why it meant more than any fish he’s caught.

Learn more and get on the class waitlist at oysterbamboo.com

One company owned by Canada’s Cooke Inc. is catching about 70% of all the Atlantic menhaden that can legally be harvested. The fish we love to chase depend on that bait to survive: striped bass, tarpon, redfish, cobia, king mackerel, and bluefin tuna all rely on menhaden, and so do ospreys and whales.

I sat down with Chris Macaluso and Jaclyn Lunaas of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) to find out how this works. They explain how Virginia ended up with 75% of the coast-wide quota, and how a leasing loophole lets a foreign-owned company fish under an American flag. We also cover the Louisiana bycatch study, which estimated that 140 to 160 million additional fish are killed in a single Gulf season, including about 30,000 redfish and 250,000 speckled trout.

We get into the science too. Regulators found that the Atlantic menhaden population had been overestimated by about 40%. The science called for a cut of more than 50%, but the commission took only a 20% cut for 2026. In the Gulf, Louisiana and Mississippi have no catch limits at all.

Most importantly, Chris and Jaclyn explain what you can do about it, even if you never catch a striped bass in your life.

Learn more and sign the petition: trcp.org/foragefishrecovery

Chapters
00:00 One company is catching most of the menhaden
01:04 Meet Chris Macaluso & Jaclyn Lunaas of TRCP
05:20 Why menhaden are “the most important fish in the sea”
06:54 The reduction industry: fish meal, fish oil & pet food
09:22 Migration and the predators that follow menhaden
11:26 Pogey boats, spotter planes & the Gulf bycatch study
16:01 Warning signs in the Chesapeake Bay
20:18 Striped bass as the yardstick
22:01 The most efficient fishery there is
25:34 The ask: lower the quota and reallocate it
27:55 The 40% overestimate and the 2026 quota cut
29:59 How Virginia got 75% of the quota
33:30 Why other states banned reduction boats
37:31 The foreign-ownership loophole
40:20 The Gulf’s “Wild Wild West”: no catch limits
45:20 Ecology vs. economics and king mackerel
49:51 How do you count a bait fish?
54:58 Tarpon, redfish & the all-you-can-eat buffet
58:32 What anglers can do to help
1:02:06 Lessons from Captains for Clean Water
1:06:15 How to get involved

#menhaden #stripedbass #fishingconservation #tarpon #redfish #TomRowlandPodcast

Full Article on Tomrowlandpodcast.com
Episode Description -
Most people drift their way into worse health, weaker relationships, and a life they don’t recognize. Dane Sanders says the answer isn’t another burst of motivation—it’s an operating system for becoming stronger in the middle of real life.

Tom Rowland sits down with Dane, founder of Men and Women of Discomfort (MWOD), for a conversation about why voluntary discomfort matters, how drift quietly erodes your gains, and why the hardest parts of life are often the ones that change you most. If you’ve ever started strong on a challenge, a fitness plan, or a personal reset—only to watch it fade—this episode will hit close to home.

Visit The Website: https://www.mwod.io/

You’ll discover:
Why Dane says MWOD is more than a challenge—and how it differs from programs built around a finish line

The difference between the drift and the storm, and why both are inevitable
How MWOD uses daily check-ins, weekly challenges, and a 12-week cadence to build momentum

The CREDO framework: commit, release, embrace, define, and own it
Why discomfort doesn’t have to be physical to be transformational

How a challenge called Ghostbusters helped people pursue forgiveness, reconnection, and meaningful conversations

Dane also shares how MWOD began with his friend Tim Kruger. Tim’s battle with cancer brought home a powerful idea: practice voluntary discomfort before involuntary discomfort chooses you. That became a turning point—transforming a fitness experiment into a lasting philosophy about faith, purpose, and becoming the kind of person who can handle what comes next.

This conversation goes far beyond workouts. It’s about identity, belonging, resilience, and the small choices that shape your future—whether in your health, relationships, work, faith, or the conversations you’ve been avoiding.

Dane Sanders is the founder of Men and Women of Discomfort, a community built around deliberate discomfort, accountability, and sustainable growth. The goal: to become strong and awake for love’s sake.

If you’re tired of starting over and ready to build something that lasts, this conversation is for you.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to the Men and Women of Discomfort challenge
02:21 What is the challenge and how does it differ from a traditional challenge
04:18 Discomfort as an operating system for life
09:17 The storms and drift of being human
11:45 The concept of anti-fragility and resilience
16:44 The story of Tim and the discovery of the challenge's purpose
21:28 How the program is structured and what participants do
24:53 The Ghostbusters challenge and calling out personal ghosts
27:47 Stacking wins and momentum in discomfort
32:24 The evolution of the challenge into an operating system
37:42 Most difficult challenge and lessons learned
38:07 The concept of Masogi and high-risk, high-reward challenges
39:32 Personal stories of endurance and discomfort
43:49 Uncovering hidden discomforts in daily life
49:35 The power of small daily improvements
54:34 The CREDO process: Commit, Release, Embrace, Own
01:03:17 Final thoughts on discomfort and transformation

PLACEHOLD

Jere Hartman spent 19 years in the Army, including time as an Army Ranger, then went straight into the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center. Two years later he'd put on 50 pounds and was spending his nights sitting in the dark. So he walked into his performance review and resigned.

What came next was a six-month thru-hike of the Appalachian Trail (trail name: Clincher, and he'll tell you why). Ten years later, he answered a Facebook post in the Ranger community and signed on to row across the Pacific Ocean.

In this episode, Jere and I talk about:

Why leaving a structured military life with no transition nearly broke him

Trail magic, trail families, and what the AT gave him that he didn't expect

Rowing from Monterey to Kauai in 35 days with a five-man crew in the World's Toughest Row

Keeping the boat's water maker alive after it broke on day three

Riding out 30-foot seas at night in a rowboat, and the crew pact that "it's 100% or we don't make that decision"

Weeks of glowing phosphorescence, hundreds of dolphins, and a pint of rum split five ways

Corsair Racing, the nonprofit he helped build to get veterans out on the ocean, and the crew now training for a 3,000-mile Atlantic row from La Gomera to Antigua

Coaching CrossFit in Chattanooga, and why he believes it's for everyone, no matter how beat up you are

Support Corsair Racing: https://corsairracing.org

This episode is brought to you by Star brite, makers of Salt Off and a full line of boat-care products, and a company that invests heavily in conservation. Check them out at https://www.starbrite.com

🎙 Subscribe to the Tom Rowland Podcast for more conversations with people doing extraordinary things.

#TomRowlandPodcast #OceanRowing #Veterans #AppalachianTrail #ArmyRanger #WorldsToughestRow #CrossFit