Sometimes you see things that make you seriously consider whether the world actually did end in 2012, because the only explanation for them is that we’re all dead and now our souls are trapped in purgatory in an increasingly weird, hallucinatory alternate dimension. This is one of those things.
A video posted on Reddit (and then obviously also to Twitter etc) appears to show a bloke in Cambodia fishing for catfish – those big slippery befanged motherfuckers who appear to be sexually attracted to mud – using the unlikely trio of Mentos, Coke and an egg.
Like… am I dreaming? Because this is the kind of random, half-assed MadLibs shit my severely depleted subconscious throws up when I’m sleeping.
From all reports though, no, I am not dreaming, and neither are you! This is a real technique for getting those slimy buggers out of their revolting riverine dens and into your bucket! And everyone is absolutely perplexed by it!
okay what the fuck did I just watch pic.twitter.com/Ny2Etsm9Hm
— jackie daytona (@shrimpliker) November 13, 2019
I thought it was going to be like a science fair volcano, but just, in a hole in the ground. I was not expecting that 😅😅
— Princess Taco 👑🌮 (@xPrincessTacox) November 13, 2019
seems like the fish did NOT want an egg in this trying time
— jackie daytona (@shrimpliker) November 13, 2019
According to several “experts” (Reddit commenters, and also some guy who works at SBNation), what’s happening here is essentially what usually happens when you introduce Mentos and Coke to each other: a big puff of CO2.
When you do that in the catfish’s natural habitat, a gross hole in a riverbank, the net result (sorry) is that the carbon dioxide displaces the oxygen in the water, which the fish need to breathe. So they shoot up towards the surface looking for air. Then all the enterprising fisherman has to do is grab ’em and chuck ’em in his bucket.
What’s the egg for? Bait, apparently – although tbh I am sceptical about how necessary it is, because after a truly eye-opening YouTube dive into the world of mudhole catfish fishing techniques, I can confirm that the Mentos and Coke fishing combo is… actually pretty common?
Common enough for there to be several videos (with millions of views) featuring a bunch of different people in different places doing exactly the same thing – minus the egg. Check it out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BC_yrT3hP1o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw1lpI4RTKI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oC2zeLdf0KU
So is the egg necessary? Is the guy just taking the piss? Is there another bloke at the other end of the hole in the ground feeding catfish into it?
Considering the above-mentioned purgatorial plane that I’m increasingly sure we’re all trapped on, I’m gonna just go ahead and believe that this is all completely legit. You can fish with Mentos and Coke now. It’s nearly 2020 and the world is already so fucking weird. Why not.
