#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;

package IO::Socket::WhatEver;
use IO::Socket::INET;
use base "IO::Socket::INET";

sub connect {
    print "doing my own stuff in connect()...\n";
    my $sock = shift;
    return $sock->SUPER::connect(@_);
}

package main;

my $mysock = IO::Socket::WhatEver->new(
                 PeerAddr => 'perlmonks.org',
                 PeerPort => 'http(80)',
                 Proto    => 'tcp',
             );
# ...