April 3, 2010[]
Hooklineandminker.com is a website that serves as home to a blog purportedly run by Josh Minker. The first entry serves as a journal for Minker's interest in rare and unique fish. The entry reads:
Hello there! I’m Josh Minker and I run Hooklineandminker.com. I’m a enthusiast for rare and unique fish and love meeting others who share my passion! I’m new to blogging but have over two decades of experience in private aquariums and am familiar with both freshwater and saltwater species. I am NOT an authorized dealer. Looking for or have questions about a particular species? Contact me at hlm1963@yahoo.com Who knows, I may even be able to answer them! >>>>
Among the photos on the website is one of the Toadfish used as the password on the blog chats at Scariestthingieversaw.com.
There are 6 fish facts are listed on the blog:
- FACT: Over 25,000 species of fish inhabit the earth’s waters today.
- FACT: The queen parrotfish wears pajamas at night: a sleeping bag of mucus excreted from an organ in their heads. This cocoon hides their scent from predators.
- FACT: The sailfish is the world’s fastest swimming fish, reaching speeds of over 60mph!
- FACT: Bass fish have a sixth sense called electroreception. This sense allows them to detect chemicals, lights, electricity and vibration.
- FACT: Not unlike trees, the age of a fish is determined by the growth rings found within the small bones of the inner ear.
>>>>
A long list of blog posts detail Josh's desperate attempt to go fishing to find the rare Coalancanth.
July 7th[]
The last blog post on the site read
So you might have wondered why an entire month went by without any updates (or maybe you didn’t even notice I was gone). Doesn’t look like I can catch a break, sadly. I didn’t hear from the Boston fisherman for over a month – so I feared the worst. What if he had been caught out in a storm or something? Fred didn’t know anything – he hadn’t heard from the guy. We finally find out that two days before the expedition the Boston fisherman got arrested for fishing with a compressor.
Now he’s out on bail and thinks it’s too risky to go after the Coelacanth. I’m happy he’s safe but still. Where should I go from here? Feels like nothing but dead ends.
Rare Fish Calendar[]
A calendar titled "Best Time to Spot Rare Fish" is listed displayed on the nav bar of the blog. It is a listing of moon phases and time which are supposedly the best times to spot a rare fish. When the site was discovered on June 28th, the calendar was for the month of June. On July 1st, the calendar was updated to the month of July.
The days of the month were being used as a grid to locate the date of the chat on Scariestthingieversaw.com.
Relation to the plot of Super 8[]
It was revealed that Josh Minker's dad actually was Thomas Woodward, confirmed through pictures of him sent to Josh.