Laken Hoody

Mini Brands have been sweeping the nation with fun and excitement with their one-inch real-life grocery store item replicas. Enough so, that buyers can create their own mini grocery store stocked full with items like Heinz Sweet Relish, Lawry’s Seasoned Salt, or A1 Steak Sauce.

The 5 Surprise Mini Brands ball consists of five orange-slice-shaped plastic capsules, each containing surprise mini grocery replicas of real products – all standing about 1 or 2 inches tall. The price for a singular sphere is around $6-10 depending on the retailer.

It’s occasionally hard to get your hands on these wildly popular plastic balls – the UK-based creator, Zuru, can barely keep up with demand, often selling out at retailers. Zuru adds new surprises every four to sixth months, releasing them in waves, with each wave featuring over 70 new brands to collect.

Users of TikTok and YouTube have been completely in awe of these mystery capsules, and since the toys in each ball vary, people take part in the thrill of unboxing by recording themselves and posting on these popular platforms to have everyone else join in on the surprise of which classic grocery store items might just be inside.

Going out for a day of fishing is usually a day meant for relaxing and enjoying yourself out on the water. It's a day to take your mind off of work and everyday life. That day is a lot different for your bait guy.

Kerry Hoody has been wholesaling live bait for most of his life. He is the owner of Huron Live Bait, where he sells perch bait, crick bait, and walleye bait.

Most people don't understand how much hard work is put into catching these minnows. An average catching day starts around 2 a.m. for Hoody and doesn't really have a specified clock-out time. He has to figure out when and where the minnows are running, and if they're not there, he's got to find them or try all over again the next morning. It's very hit-or-miss, minnows are very spontaneous and it's hard to figure out their movement patterns.

Even if Hoody knows where he's able to catch minnows, there could be another bait guy down there already scooping them up. It's an extremely competitive business. If Hoody's not there to grab them at the right time at the right place, somebody else has already got the minnows in the tank of their truck and driving them home. It's a much more critical and mental process than most would think.

Not only is the job mentally draining, but it's extremely physical as well. A constant cycle of running that break wall in constant search of a running school of minnows, taking the 14-foot-long net and dropping it down into the water and pulling it down the wall, and lifting it back up and over the break wall's railing with the occasional help of the other bait guy standing alongside. Once the minnows stop running or Hoody has enough to fill the tanks on his bait truck, he takes his minnows home and drops them into the tanks in his minnow shed. If he doesn't have the amount he needs, he seines the pond in hopes that will hit the number of gallons he needs to deliver to the stores. He delivers, comes back home, and tries to get to bed as soon as possible to do it all over again the next day.

Hoody does a lot for his business. He's usually a one-man-band, but he employs a couple well-trusted guys that he'll call occasionally to help him on certain trips to the river or marina.

So when you head out after grabbing your minnows for your long day of fishing, you'll know how much time, work, and effort it took for that little minnow to be in your bucket. Good luck out there on the water.