Bass Fishing Apr - May 2020 | Page 90

THE LAST CAST bass fishing according to darold gleason SAY WHAT? GLEASONISMS OCEAN PONY: A giant bass. A donkey, pig or toad. In Gleason’s words: “Down here in Toledo Bend country where I’m from, you’re talking a 7-plus-pounder, and usually we don’t break it out unless it’s a 9- or 10-pounder. Depending on where you’re fishing at, let’s say, for instance, I’m at Dardanelle later this year, and I catch a 6-pounder, I’m going to call it an ocean pony.” A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE TO THE TACKLE WAREHOUSE PRO CIRCUIT ROOKIE’S COLORFUL ON-THE-WATER LINGO By Justin Onslow D arold Gleason (noun): A differ- ent cat. A guy you can’t help but root for. A friend you just haven’t met yet. Gleason is a Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit rookie with a personality bigger than his home body of water. He’s a guide on Toledo Bend, a former teacher, a husband and a joker. A few minutes talking with Gleason – or just watching him on FLW Live – and you’ll notice a guy who just has fun catching fish. “I compete better by acting like a fool and having a good time and not letting the stresses come to the fore- front,” he says of his devil-may-care personality on the water. “It helps me concentrate.” The fun Gleason has always had on the water has produced some colorful vernacular that has seeped into his everyday fishing terminology. If you watched him on FLW Live at Sam Rayburn, you were probably exposed to some terms you’ve never heard before – because they’re unique to Gleason’s own bass fishing dictionary. MINI OCEAN PONY: An ocean pony-in-training. In Gleason’s words: “Down here, that’s a 4- or 5-pounder. It’s a good one.” PICKLES: Run-of-the-mill, cookie-cutter small keepers. In Gleason’s words: “A bunch of 15-inch fish. I call them pickles because they’re about the size of a dill pickle.” OONICORN: Alternately, unicorn. A special fish. In Gleason’s words: “A unicorn is kind of like a last Hail Mary great big fish. That one special fish that comes at a time that you don’t expect it. My niece says ‘oonicorns’ instead of ‘unicorns.’ That’s something I’ve called my wife through the years. I call her a unicorn, because there’s no other like her.” REEF DONKEY: A specific type of ocean pony. In Gleason’s words: “One of my buddies started calling them that when you catch a big one offshore.” DREAM CRUSHER: Another specific type of ocean pony, but in a sad way. “PUT THE BUNNY IN THE BOX!” When Gleason is amped after an important catch, it’s common to hear him shout the above expression with gusto. At first glance, it’s an odd expression with very little context, but it makes a whole lot more sense when you understand its inception. “I’m a Con Air fan. That’s exactly where it came from. It’s one of my favorite old movies,” Gleason says. “My father-in-law has a camp house on Toledo Bend. That was kind of where the guys would all hang out for the weekend. We usually didn’t have great choices for what we watched on TV. One of those Friday nights, old classic Con Air comes on, and it was just born. “The next day when I was fishing a tournament doing good, I couldn’t even tell you who was fishing with me that day, I just know that we caught a good one, and I turned and looked at him and said, ‘Put the bunny in the box,’ and it just stuck. It was horrible how Nicolas Cage’s accent was in that movie, and so that, for an old Southern redneck, just stuck.” Gleason is smart enough to know how to capitalize on a good opportunity, too. He’s selling “#oceanpony” and “Put the bunny in the box” T-shirts on his website, gleasonfishingcourses.com. 88 In Gleason’s words: “The big one that got away, or the big one you’re looking at on a bed that won’t play.” DOUBLE-SPLASH RIG: A Carolina rig. FIVE-SPLASH RIG: An umbrella rig. SNUGGLE STRUGGLE: A grind. In Gleason’s words: “That comes from watching MMA with buddies: when those guys just kind of grapple and roll around for the whole fight and it looks like a snug- gle struggle. That’s what we call it when the fishing’s a grind.” FLWFISHING.COM | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING.COM | APRIL-MAY 2020