HEY, WILLIE! The bottle-nose dolphin has our number ... and our fish
HEY, WILLIE!
One important fact you left out when you mentioned the intelligence of dolphins (Sept. 9 N-J).
Researchers say dolphins are as smart as humans, and just think, they're only testing the dolphins stupid enough to get caught.
It's funny to see how the local dolphins have the fishermen trained. They can look at a boat and estimate their chances of getting a treat, then scamper around and do their dolphin tricks.
When done, they swim over to the boat and chatter, in dolphin talk, “OK, bubba, you know the deal. We did tricks, you give us fish.”
BUBBA IN NSB
HEY, BUB!
The idea behind last week’s fishing roundup was to learn why our bottle-nose dolphins know to ignore the hooked baits we toss into the water. What makes them so smart?
Turns out, they’re second only to (most of) us in brain size-to-body-weight ratio. But still, if I knew that just one of every 50 pizza slices had a No. 5 hook inside the crust, I’d probably be walking around with holes in my cheek.
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But, as it turns out, dolphin hookups are very rare, though not unheard of. There are stories of dolphins mistakenly taking the bait and peeling off hundreds of yards of line.
And I’ll say it again: If they ravaged our baited rigs the way sharks do, there’d be a lot more ex-fishermen out there.
Meanwhile, did you hear about the dolphin who ended it all and beached himself?
Turns out, he had no porpoise in life.
Thank you, thank you . . . let’s move on.
HEY, WILLIE!
Thanks for another great notes column (Sept. 11 N-J). I'd like to add Ellery, Cleopatra, and the Queen of Sheba.
DONNIE
HEY, DON!
As the sports world reached and reached, and then reached some more, to insert ourselves into the news of Elizabeth II’s death, I trotted my all-time favorite queens (No. 1: Dairy!).
Ellery and Cleopatra were potential overlooks, for which I apologize.
The Queen of Sheba, however, might not have ever existed. It’s a long story, told in a wide variety of holy scriptures.
In fact, Sheba itself is up for debate. Some have it on one side of the Gulf of Aden, some on the other.
The Boys in Research spent a few minutes on it, then got distracted by pictures of Halle Berry from her leading role in Solomon and Sheba.
Where were we?
HEY, WILLIE!
Did you transpose Duke and Northwestern in your (Sept. 9) column? Apparently you're under the impression Nebraska is still a football school. That 3-point win by Northwestern two weeks ago meant nothing.
In your defense, in typical Duke football fashion, they tried to give it away at the end.
RIFF
HEY, RIFF!
Yep, I had Northwestern comfortably beating Duke. But it turns out, the Nebraska team Northwestern beat two weeks earlier would go on to lose to Georgia Southern.
Naturally, Duke goes to Evanston and beats Northwestern, 31-23, and the Dookies are 2-0 under first-year coach Mike Elko. And should go to 4-0 since the next two weeks bring N.C. A&T and Kansas.
Except, wait . . . Kansas just beat West Virginia and is 2-0 for the first time in 11 years!
Even back in normal times — you know, three years ago — my working theory was Nobody knows nothin’. Back then, I was kinda-sorta joking. Not now.
HEY, WILLIE!
In the fishing report dated Sept. 2, there was a picture of a woman reportedly holding a “mangrove" snapper.
However if you look at the many vertical lines on the fish, it is actually a “cubera" snapper.
I have caught a number of these near Ponce Inlet and Spruce Creek. They’re usually open-ocean reef fish, but sometimes the smaller ones come inside.
DON T
HEY, MR. T!
You expect a guy who can’t pick Duke-Northwestern to decipher between a mangrove and cubera snapper?
— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Dolphin, other queens, Duke football deserve more credit | KEN WILLIS
