C.J.: Look out! Melinda is hooked on Meier

Melinda Jacobs kept getting her hooks into a man while fishing for an episode of "Cook What You Catch with Randy Meier."

More specifically, Jacobs said, "A married man with five daughters -- I don't think his wife would be too thrilled to hear me say that." Kami Meier knows that she's the only woman who can truly lure Randy, who deserved hazard pay after dodging the Lake Minnetonka casting displays from Melinda.

"I got him in the shoulder twice," she said. "Think I got him in the stomach a couple of times. Back. Almost took a shoe."

Why doesn't one of Irwin Jacobs' daughters cast a fishing line any better than this?

This question rendered the normally loquacious Melinda silent for about 15 seconds. Said Meier: "She's [a member of] an iconic boat-slash-Minnesota fishing family. The woman has no clue, I've gotta tell you. From holding the rod upside down, it was like teaching a 6-year-old who just picked up a rod. She was a great sport, very entertaining. We had a lot of fun, but it was a work in progress all day, believe me."

The episode, which airs at noon Saturday on My29, also features Chad Grigsby, pro bass fisherman on FLW Outdoors, the tour owned by financier Irwin Jacobs, the famous boat maker.

We need a follow-up The New Yorker is sounding a tad defensive about its Prince interview that included a few notes of apparent homophobia.

"Hi, C.J., this is Alexa Cassanos from the New Yorker. I understand you called about our Prince story. You wanted to get in touch with the writer. You know, we stand by the story. That's really all we have to say."

Earlier I had left a message with another New Yorker staffer stating my interest in contacting contributor Claire Hoffman to ask if she was allowed to take notes during the audience with Symbolina. If I recall correctly, one of Twin Cities writer Neal Karlen's national magazine interviews with Prince was documented while Karlen drank lots of water and frequently excused himself to the restroom so he could write quotes on toilet paper. (The most definitive interview of Prince, a 1985 piece for Rolling Stone that can be found at nealkarlen.com, reads as though note-taking was allowed back then.)

I told Cassanos I was not challenging the story but was curious how Hoffman, an L.A.-based writer, got invited to Prince's home to do the story about the book of photos of HIMSELF. "They actually offered the interview to us," Cassanos said. "Apparently he did two interviews about the book from what I understand." She did not know the name of the other publication.

If that interview has not been printed yet, Prince might want to use it to clear up problems he had with the New Yorker interview. Sorry, but having BET.com and perezhilton.com post stories that a "source" said Prince was misquoted on the gay marriage stuff in the New Yorker will not cut it. Misquote claims require a named source or a Princely news conference.

A real Prince of a guy? Word from a Minneapolis-St. Paul airport source has me wondering whether Prince is hiding out in his hometown during this controversy.

The source swears she saw Prince, who mostly lives in L.A. these days, and a "lovely woman" walk through security about 2 p.m. Monday and get into a limo. He was reportedly wearing a white jacket, black pants, boots and oversized sunglasses. I thought Prince eschewed boots unless on stage, and mainly walked airport concourses in white socks and elevator flip flops.

Anybody else seen Symbolina in town this week? I'd like a photo, too.

The fightin' intern The alleged rampaging former KSTP-TV intern has gotten her criminal comeuppance.

Jennifer Nicole Anato-Mensah, a 21-year-old U student, has been charged with two misdemeanors, criminal property damage and disorderly conduct. She alleged went off spectacularly in the newsroom, breaking glass in a conference room door in pursuit of Danielle Prenevost, a KSTP executive producer. Anato-Mensah did not respond to a voice mail left on her cell phone; Prenevost had no comment.

According to the Ramsey County criminal complaint, when the intern was told she was being fired, she yelled obscenities and threats at Prenevost, including a name that rhymes with witch. "You don't know where I'm from," she screamed. "I'll mess you up ..." Priceless! When Prenevost tried to walk away, other employees stood at a conference room door to block and restrain Anato-Mensah, who wanted a piece of Prenevost.

Sounds like the basis for a terrific scene in Julie Kramer's follow-up to "Stalking Susan," which borrowed from the author's local TV career.

C.J. is at 612.332.TIPS or cj@startribune.com. More of her attitude can be seen on Fox 9 Thursday mornings.