Cast a Line – S1 E3 – Fish Stories with My Dad

We all enjoy telling and hearing a good fish story, so what better theme for a podcast than do just that. And who better to do it with than my dad who knows my stories, loves fishing himself, and is one heck of a good storyteller.

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Outline:
0:00 Intro
1:20 Welcome my dad
4:18 Dad critiques my videos
7:58 How Dad got himself (and me) into fishing the Missouri River
15:42 Fish stories
55:22 Dad’s thoughts on me fishing for a living

Oddly enough I did not think he was that big I know until he got by until he got by the boat she when she got by the boat she became a big fish she could see that boat and she went into panic mode what is Up Fisher people welcome to

Another episode of the castaline podcast been working on my radio voice how am I doing good not so good anyway you know storytelling has been a big part of humans and Society for a long long time obviously and one of the things that always gets me excited when

I can’t go fishing is is to tell and hear fishing stories of the past even if I’m I’ve heard them you know many many times before so in this episode I’m doing something I’ve wanted to do for a long time which is sitting down with my father and just chatting fishing story

I’ve heard almost all of them plenty of times but they’re still exciting for me and you may not have heard any of them so hopefully all be exciting for you he’s a great father he’s a pretty darn good fisherman and he’s also a really good Storyteller so make yourself

Comfortable and enjoy the show there’s my dad what is up Dad how you doing man I’m great yourself my son I’m great I’m always in a good mood talking about fishing stories that kind of stuff does this bring you back to your days as like a sheriff at all like doing an interview

And stuff again yeah but I usually had a piece of gum in my mouth when I did those you’re not supposed to two gum when you talk in public you know yeah I always did every interview I did I had a piece of gum in my mouth did it like

Keep your mouth wet or what I don’t know I don’t know what my reason was for it um bad habit just just threw one in I don’t know are you like a fidgeter too like if I’m I always feel like I’m doing something when I’m like talking you know

No um I think that the whole stare at the camera crap you know somebody’s interviewing me and they’re like talk to the camera why would I talk to the camera when I have you to look at you know that’s that’s semi rude and I don’t know I found it mostly annoying to do

Interviews but I did them you’ve gotten better at like showing the camera stuff when you fishing videos with me now same concept right how so I usually have to tell you to do it though yeah you’re usually me in the video which is great but like hey

Viewers here’s a fish look at my fish I caught oh oh that’s just to piss Randy off you know be showy and oh Randy 100% about catching a fish bigger than his it was not about showing it to the camera right right cuz Randy was being so showy and all well it does

Get a little showy but he makes a mean he makes a mean steak so how do you you know I mean honestly when we’re there that’s the best Ste I’ve ever had which is crazy because cat his wife for those washing Cooks so much good food and then all of

A sudden Randy decides he’s going to grow staks and knock it out of the park right and we normally would go to Toton Trail and have what I consider one of the best steaks ever but that night at ry’s that steak was amazing it was good absolutely and he

Had to go from one Grill to the other because one of them quit on him yeah he started on like what was it an outdoor is the same one you got what do you call those things the outdoor like the yeah which one was he on was it the black stone is

The word I’m thinking of is that right yeah and then he went to a mini one to finish him cuz I think he lost gas in the other one yeah yeah yeah so to take a steak off one partially done and go to a second pretty phenomenal to have that

Good of a steak there’s no Panic in Randy no he bounces me out while we’re making fishing videos because I’m always not always but I can get like oh this isn’t oh we go a we got a new spot move oh geez we’re running out of time we got

To get some fish on oh my gosh and ry’s like it’s fine we got he’s pretty laid back he’s so laidback yeah people say that I’m laidback but if they only knew like what was going on in here I’m not even close to laidback okay maybe you’re laidback

Now in your early videos you weren’t laidback no no I had to work on that that all came with time time and experience exactly anyway fish fish makes a huge difference fish makes a huge difference as well the fishing’s good anybody can be relaxed right well the fish can do the video for

You when when you’re not catching fish and you have to actually use the footage to teach somebody something then it’s completely different right right I like to think that it’s all about me but I suppose the fish player R um not going to lie watching hook set is pretty cool mhm okay um

Watching the anticipation of oh this is big and no it’s just s hooked that’s a little hilarious yeah but watching a good hook set has always been a thrill for me for any show that I watch when they’re fishing I don’t care if it’s bass or walleye the hook sets the hook

Set is everything yeah well I mean to get into some other things here but on that point like I don’t think people unless you’re going to record like say you go fishing for eight hours and you have like um two or three massive SD cards and you got backup batteries and

You got backup cameras and you can’t just like record for eight hours so like you’re trying to so like I’ve made it like a goal of mine to get more hooks sets on camera last couple years I feel like that’s the best part of it but it’s

Hard to do because you have to anticipate and know that you’re going to get right I enjoy seeing the fish break water to see what size and species it is I enjoy watching the release of a big Walley but the hook set way cooler the best it there’s something about

Especially when you don’t see it com in you’re talking all oh it’s just now when you and Brandon lost that huge walleye watching the two of you completely crumble in the boat you know that that was worth the price of admission too I mean holy balls

You talk about two guys that just got clipped in the nuts and to watch I mean you jumped up in the air yeah pissed because the the fish flipped Brandon just turned and it was almost like I can’t even look at you right now type thing you know and dude

That was a show all of its own right there which is why we made a video about it later we made a documentary about that and and then to back it up he comes in with a monster Pike that your net won’t catch anyway it’s too small it it’s not going to work

If you want that fish you’re going to have to reach down and Gill his bring him in because he’s that big but of course now you got a bigger net that’s all secondary yeah good times so good times um and all of these Good Times are at least in part your fault

Because you got me into fishing but more specifically the reason I do what I do where I do has everything to do with you because as a kid I was always like I want to go on trips with Dad to the river as you always call it the Missouri

River whether it’s Chamberlain Pier awaii sagia that was like the holy grail for me that was it I can’t tell you how excited I got the days before we would leave on a trip but even just you telling me stories about taking other people up there which is like so amazing

To me to listen to all that stuff so how how did you even start going to the Missouri River why were you there fishing lakes is fine fishing lakes is fun but they’re not the walleye manufacturer that the Missouri River is okay you have you have so many things to

Fight to be a good Lake fisherman and in the area that I currently live most of the Lakes have so much daytime boating the fishing is just unbearably tough okay now when I lived in Michigan obviously it was a different species we went after because I was just a kid I

Didn’t have a boat so catching 12 to 14 inch perch on the pier of Lake Michigan was my thing and bass fishing but when we landed here um fishing a lot in this area and then hearing about what was being produced on the Missouri River with Chamberlain

Being the top dog for the number of eggs being laid in the hatch yeah they were a lot smaller fish between Chamberlain and plat but they were abundant okay so that intrigued me started out by taking your grand Grandpa and your great grandpa and and then hearing that the further up you

Went the bigger they got well now I have to have a piece of that okay so some friends of mine and I started making trips up to aahi and that quickly became my favorite spot on the Missouri River I did make it up to sakaa we did catch a 10 PB

Walleye but but up there it was all an unknown so you spend a lot of your time getting rid of dead water and it eats up your trip so I quickly went back to Hawaii just out of comfort and the fact that we could catch four to six pound Walley

Constantly was great fun you know I remember taking a couple of guys from here um Dave harmson AJ monag and I think one other guy and on the way I asked AJ monag if he’d ever caught a walleye or if he knew what a walleye looked like and he said no and I

Immediately responded with well you’re going to catch a lot of Walley this weekend that I love that catfish no that’s a walleye well at the mouth of the Cheyenne you do tend to catch bass and a few catfish but for this trip we’re counting them all as Walley if you don’t know

What they look like that’s a walleye y so yeah but just just an amazing place to fish love it absolutely love it just loved it God dang and it was it was almost hard for me to kind of transfer into natural leg fishing when I would try to do that cuz that’s

That’s what I was so used to I was used used to like looking for the Bluffs and the points and like when I didn’t have all that I was like I don’t I don’t know I’m looking for anymore where do I fish you know until you start getting

Underwater maps and stuff and you can see underwater structure as opposed to using the trained eye and which we didn’t have yeah okay so it’s all Instinct you can take a lake and the only way you’re going to know that these are um areas with grass or lily pads or

Whatever under underwater or a shark drop is if you legit sat on top of it figured it out and it became part of your memory so old school Missouri River has fish the points turn inside go a little ways into that bay if you will and then

Come straight back out on that point well now it’s a matter of how do I figure out where I’m at for the next time well landmarks okay so you you got Crow’s foot and all that was was a dead tree that looked like an upside down Crow’s foot okay or the bluff and

Chamberlain pardon my French I called it two tits okay and I knew that I had to be this many you know yards off shore this way this many off that way lined up with two tits and that would put me on that small Channel where it would dip down

Four five feet deeper and it just held a ton of nice Walley you know and then you get up to aahi and it’s even harder you know you’re you’re a mile wide yep and when you were little such a fear of taking you up there because it it could turn on a

Dime and just not willing to put my precious cargo In Harm’s Way it took a lot for me to take you kids up there I remember you always saying that we had to to take swimming lessons first before we could go I I still don’t know

If that was like a ruse or not just because you weren’t ready to take us or not but it it really wasn’t a ruse because I’d been on it so many times where it’s nice in the morning and then just out of a flash we’re we’re we’re bucking up

Against five foot rollers okay and it’s so so freaking dangerous and when you’re in that wash machine in Cheyenne where Cheyenne in the Missouri meat it just tosses your boat everywhere okay well I’m not willing to risk or get one of my kids hurt for a fish not g to do it you

Know so yeah could I stay in Bays that were safe well I certainly did that when I took you Brandon and Ashley for her first time but the fishing is a little slower and not near as much fun but yeah safe safety’s first now if it’s just me and

My buddies oh hell we didn’t care I can remember going back to uh the boat launch Steve Baloo is in front of me with his small boat and as the rollers came I completely lost sight of him yeah and then back up the next wave I’d see him go and then gone couldn’t

See him I mean that’s some bad stuff yeah not putting my kid in that but I don’t have Pro I don’t have a problem me been in right until until it was you and I Devil’s Lake like what was a year or two before I started guiding and we yeah

We launched the casino on the Southside and this is all in the book by the way if anybody’s read the book you might remember the story but launched in the casino on the South Side really wanted to fish up in uh one of the Bays on the

North side and it was already blown I mean 20 M hour so like we had three four ways to begin with knew we had to come back into them whatever we can do this and then that front came through at like three in the afternoon biggest risk there is that

Stupid lake has so many things hidden under the surface when we’re coming off the top of one of those rollers and we’re coming down we we could be looking straight down at a tree stump at any moment I mean it was completely dangerous that is the first time fishing

With you the man who says just one more cast just one more hour that we got back near the ramp and I said we could go over here and try by the bridge you go no I’m good let’s let’s go in that’s first time I’ve seen you ready to get

Off the water well in part because I was running the boat that time so I’m the one driving across the water and I’m freaking exhausted by the time we get I I get that but that die hard finally gave in after getting beat up for what a half hour ride across that stinking

Almost an hour Lee Lake was no different when we got caught in that crap yeah gotta be careful when you’re fishing people big water big waves watch your weather reports right but you’re talking about two guys that are on a body of water that we don’t know yet yep okay so is

There a safe passage around the edges well no there’s not this is right up the gut or forget it you’re going to spend the night in that bay okay and the same with leech I mean there was no good alternative we had to take it on and and

Get through it and it can be a bear yeah and I I can’t imagine like decent weather reports these days like especially when it comes to wind like yeah they might call for 20 and it only blows 10 or it blows up to 30 but like

You kind of know like if it says light inv variable winds you’re not going to have to deal with anything but again when you first started going to Missouri river that crap would come out of nowhere you have no idea yeah it goes out the window because you’re you’re

Sitting there on the planes if you will the first time I fish the kakaa no joke I felt the hair on my neck stand up I thought what what is that and I literally turned and saw a wall of wind and water coming right at us and I’ve

Got jebson and Belo with it with me and I’m like real man we got to run and they’re like what and they turn they go what the hell is that well it’s this popup storm that again with don’t have any phones that are going off telling us

That it’s coming and we take off running and I get in this Bay just in a nick of time and and get up close to the beach and holy crap it was phenomenal it would have beat us to death out there yeah and then hail hail

Sucks me once right but I mean put your life jacket over your head turn into a ball and hope you don’t get crushed that’s ridiculous yeah but the fun part of that trip was when we’re in the bay I see all these carp and I tell jebson that they’re [Laughter]

Northern I said dude you’re a northern guy put on your Daredevil and go to town look at all those Northern up near the surface and he did it he rigged up Daredevil and he just sitting there throwing at him for 10 minutes I go I’m like you haven’t snagged one them carp

Yet he goes You So speaking of jeffson you got to tell the other Story jeffson by the way they worked together in law enforcement for a number of years he has come out twice taking guided trips with me but they used to fish together all the time

And this is like the alltime Json story for me so you’re talking about marking the spot yeah okay so jebson was never a believer in dep finders okay yes we have depth finders back in the day and they occasionally would give you a black dot which is supposed to represent a fish

Well he’s not a Believer he doesn’t think that stuff works that debt finder is stupid that thing doesn’t work blah blah blah so I put us on a few fish and uh the only only way for us to Mark a spot is to throw out a a marker buoy

Okay well I don’t have one and I said I don’t have a way to mark this spot and jeffson goes I got it I go you do with what there’s nothing on that Shoreline he says right there with that seagull what he goes that seagull I there’s a seagull on the shore there

I’ve got it marked oh yeah that dead it ain’t gon to move what are you talking about oh my God the number of times he brought that up in the boat the last two trips that he was up there was great we we fished a spot around this half sunken

Island you could make it all the way around if you didn’t mind going through about a foot and a half of water on the one side so I just back and forth around the outside constantly marking these four or five just Hogs sitting in 26 ft of water

That thing’s full of crap that that thing don’t work pull him through that and Austin boom he’s setting the wood to a huge fish okay it was right that time but but only that time and I kept going back and forth on those big old pigs and

I’m calling them pigs because we caught something that was big I can’t tell by the blip on the death finder yeah I think we picked up three or four of the few marks that I saw there and and every one of them was between that four and

Six PB range and okay so now it worked today for a while but any other time n that thing don’t work that thing can’t Mark F that’s worthless way want that I think that he uses used a flasher back then oh really boats too at first was that a for

A while he never owned a boat okay just for ice fishing then no he would go to Canada and he was far enough up that the boats that they would use from the resort had no depf finder so they would take a flasher okay so he’d throw that

Transducer in the water and that’s how they fish so transducer was was his method jebson had a very solid plan in his life why should I own a boat when I have friends that own boats yeah he was right because everybody liked him enough to bring him

Along so yeah long as he stayed on their good side that man went fishing he went fishing a lot yeah a lot yeah I just wanted to interrupt this conversation for a brief moment to say that this podcast is not sponsored by pissy fun or is it PC fun

How do you pronounce that py fun pissy fun but it’d be pretty cool if it was because I already used their reels anyway and uh I could talk about them them and how great they are seems like a missed opportunity so if you’re listening PC fun call

Me so like to backtrack a little bit like you were talking about why you started going to Missouri River to fish but didn’t you actually initially start going there to deliver nightcrawlers or something not actually that that was D okay but I never did that no he told

Me about it um his Farm had just tons of of nightcrawlers so he figured out he could take them where he went fishing up in the Missouri River at plat and sell them while he was there and help pay for his trip so he’s the one that told me about

That he’s the one that first took me to Plat and I’m like yeah this is nice but it’s it’s just cookie cutter fish after fish are fish they’re all the same size you know that 14inch category and I got bored with it I’m like I I want to go

Further up and that that’s you know Chamberlain was fun we fished some tournaments there but still I wanted bigger and awai he provided that you know yeah Hawaii was awesome back then and then it went through some really tough times you know right which is in

Part why I wound up at sakaka we had because we had gone to awah a couple of times and it wasn’t really what we remembered it after that flood in the early 2010s and then uh it was supposed to be like super super hot 100 and something degrees every day so we just

Decided to go to Devil’s Lake instead of that time and then eventually well now that we’ve gone to Devils we might as well go to skaka and right we are so I truly think that the water levels The Bait fish and the fishing pressure took a huge toll on awaii well it’s cyclical

So now people start to disperse and they may head first sakaia Devil’s Lake and whatnot and then you see aahi start to come back and then aah he can be a beautiful fishing spot again you know and I remember like when they were struggling with losing all the rainbow

Smell from that flood and then I don’t remember exactly what the stories were at the time but whether they did or didn’t have cisos and Lake hering in there before we were under the impression which may be true that they started stocking lering instead of stocking smel or whatever and then come

To out that Lake hering go so deep so early in season because they’re cold water which smell kind of R2 but I think cisos go a little deeper than smell do a little earlier so we were kind of complaining about how it kind of ruined the fishing there especially in the

Summer fish are so deep can’t find him but an interesting turn of events especially the upper reges of auke lately I don’t know if you’ve seen some of those fish coming out of there the last couple years yeah broke the state record two or three times this fall

Because it’s like you get you get fish this size that are you know just trying to get by looking for the few smelt that are left or random shiners perch whatever it is but once they get to a certain size they start chasing those cisos and they go from I mean God dang

That legs putting out just oh yeah if you want true Giants they’re they’re eaters right and back in my day they were never putting Herring and Cisco in there that was not a big fish and I think they actually went through some years where they were kind of arguing

About if they should be doing it at all you know doing what at all uh putting in Bait fish so I think that there was some some lack of that for a while that really hurt it too I don’t have proof of that but that was the word between all

The fishermen yeah and then you got you got the people that run the the dams and how much water gets released versus what we want as fishermen and those two things don’t always line up so now you’re up there and you’re in this fast moving water well you don’t want to be

In that you know and it’s because they’re releasing so much water to float the barges all the way down by Sous City well yeah that’s great for them but not good for us today you know and I have fished all those you know tail race and

All that crap that fast water I’m just not a fan of it you know so yeah I prefer be up on the on the uh awaii side there’s been a few times where we had to go down because that was the only place the fish were hitting we didn’t fish the

Fast water but we certainly fish some shell water right and that’s not always fun either it’s a little sketchy running the boat around when you don’t know where you’re going exactly and and it can go to two feet in a heartbeat while you’re traveling 30 miles an hour and you’re

Screwed yeah like the time that we launched below the dam at aahi because we wanted to go down to sharks we heard the bite was better I’m trying to follow my map and you’re telling me I need to go this way and I decided to follow you

Like a little kid inste of follow my map and we round up on a mud mud bar whoa whoa whoa whoa that’s whoa whoa whoa that is not what happened I made the statement that did you see that boat in front of us go up wide now when I looked at your Deb

Finder and I saw the red you had said to me that it was upside down it so I fine versus the position up or what so I didn’t AR AR with you what happened and you can call your brother and confirm this as it was going into the main

Channel I said to you did you see how wide that guy went in front of us there must be a reason for it I think that you took that and actually went out wide and that’s when you muttered it I yeah I think it it about the death

Finder yeah cuz I I think you were right that you had to go that wide eventually but I took that as I need to get wide now because I’m yeah yeah right it was both I don’t think years in both yeah and I don’t think I was arguing once you

Explained to me that uh the Grid on the the dep finder was inverted I didn’t argue that point with you it was it was a matter of neither one of us have been in this small Channel going into the river and did that guy just do that for

A reason did you see that and then later on Brandon pointed out well you told him to go out wide and I said actually I said did you see that but I understand why he did it but we never even had to get out of

The boat to we didn’t no our gun didn’t got us out of there but we we didn’t have to get out dangler borrowed my bow one time for the Governor’s Cup and I don’t remember what river comes in where he was at I want to say the white but I think that’s at

Chamberlain so that’s not right anyway he went flying across and the next thing you know he had my boat beached and it was him and Hank Grant who’s a school teacher fishing in it so yeah they had to get out and get that baby off the beach and back into the

Water but there was so much silt coming out out of that small River M that what he normally believes is 10 to 15 feet was not just wasn’t and he had no clue it wasn’t his fault right that was just circumstance yeah so do you have any good Tournament Fishing stories from the

Few tournaments you fish in the the tournament that we actually did the best I was incredibly sick the night before well I didn’t know low it oh yeah um I had parabolic flu I was up all night thrown up and the other the entire night he and I would normally fish up

Top and made a decision that we’ve we’ve got to go south we got to go down we can’t go up where all the boats are fishing together in the same SP spots basically pulling those 14 in we’ve got to find 18 to 22s to do anything in this

Tournament and we we’d fished it once before so we did go down and even during pre fishing we caught some really nice fish down there but yeah we were boating really really good fish problem is we’re quite a ways away we need to keep an eye

On the clock and make make sure we’re back on time cuz we’ve got a pretty good limit close to our limit but uh yeah I think we placed fourth I think that’s what the plaque said I remember looking at it when I was a kid yeah I think it was

Fourth so that was a pretty good year yeah that tournament has a ton of boats you know and they they do the shotgun start crap um I’m in a boat that I bought that was wrecked I didn’t have money you know your mom and I are just starting

Out pretty sure you’re both born at that time but I happen to be down at this um auto place that has wrecked vehicles and I see a boat sitting there well I’ve always wanted a boat right so I’m like what do you what do you want for that

Boat and they’re just giving me this stupid stupid number right and I’m like the whole back end’s busted out they go yeah it was stolen the guy crashed it so I’m not giving you that for it if you decide to get reasonable let me know

But I said do you mind if I jump in it I jumped in it and jumped up and down on the floor I’m like this is complete wreck okay this whole floor’s got to be changed well before I left I talked him down to I think it was like 700 bucks

For this boat there’s no motor on it okay so it’s not like it’s some great deal so I fixed that thing up put a motor on it so I’m probably smaller than a lot of people in that tournament and when we go out of that shotgun start the

First year I’ve got a guy with probably a 200 next to me we both gun it and he puts a wake that comes over the side of my boat right down my mouth I mean I ate it big time why why we all think we have to take off

A million miles an hour you know like somebody’s going to get my spot you know so it it was kind of stupid but it’s an adrenaline rush you had to do it everybody else was let’s rock so it’s not that much different on just like a normal weekend in the summertime and a

Boat ramp anymore either I know I know it seems a little bit silly but once you’re in the open water it’s super nice to have a big motor that you can get because a lot of times you’re going five to 10 miles that’s nice to get

There and save some of your fishing time you know definitely yeah yeah I agree with that what about kid fishing stories kid fishing stories what about what about uh how big was Brandon’s Smallmouth Fass that he caught at spear Lake I personally think that it

Was a record day was it we were talking about this the other day we couldn’t remember if it was just short or like just above what would have been a state record it didn’t get weighed and or measured right okay so we catch it I

Keep it I want it to be shown to the game wardens that I know are on the lake and when when I’m showing it to them they said that it qualifies for some big fish patch but they never measured it or weighted so Brandon did receive some

Patch for it but angler thing dude I I think it was right at the state record I had nothing in the boat to weigh it or measure it okay yeah um and I don’t know if the game wardens did and chose not to they felt that from their Vision that it

Wasn’t so you just you pretty much take them at their word and that’s what we did but dude that thing was big and we caught it night fishing right we were Kolling cranks at night wer we crank baits yeah like made no sense I was expecting a pike or really big

Walley or something and you probably did something goofy handing the rod off to Brandon and pulling him in the boat he’s going to fall off or whatever yeah it was it was crazy and the thing fought like no other and it was huge I’d never seen a smallie that big especially on Spirit

Lake um it was Mammoth just Mammoth and I was convinced that it was a record but don’t know too late now yeah way too late now I I don’t know if you remember but there were times when we’d be fishing and some of the days would be incredibly calm and incredibly

Hot I had a huge habit of not telling anybody and just jumping overboard you remember that because I’m so flipping hot and and the fish are not you know playing along and I would frequently just jump in the water yeah and it would freak everybody out because I’m sure they thought I fell

Over and then I would just come swimming back up to it jump back in but yeah when it’s when you’ve made that Journey you want to keep fishing even though you probably should just pack it in for the day but when when you and Brandon were

Small I would normally tell you guys you choose do you want to catch a lot of fish or do you want to catch big fish okay well you were always big fish Brandon was kind of on the fence yeah so I would tell you that if we go after big

Ones we’re not going to catch a lot of fish okay they’re not as active the little guys love to steal the bait first so you’re not going to be as active and I want want you to have a good time so if reeling in fish after fish after fish

Is your thing I’ll take you to spots that have 14in Wallace if you want lunkers there’s going to be a lot of dead time okay so on this particular trip you both agreed that you wanted Big Fish well Brandon had not had a fish yet all right and we’ve got just enough wind

That I am drifting sideways I don’t think I had a drift socka but I get a bite and it’s it’s a large fish you can tell by the way this thing is biting that he’s big okay Brandon has his back to me and I put the screws to

This big ass fish right and then I look at Brandon I go dude I got to pee so bad hold my pole so I hand him that pole with that hooked fish he immediately has the fight of his life okay he’s like gez Dad you’re so

Stupid you got a fish out here and you gotta pee instead but nothing lit me up more than to watch you guys reeling those big fish I mean you’re just ecstatic beside yourself jumping up and down got to have the pictures taken um you never forget that pride and joy pride and

Joy speaking of never forgetting a big fish coming full circle that fish that you caught two Falls ago now or was it three I think two years ago fall that 28 and change probably pushing 10 pound walleye I have watched that clip so many times I have put that in so many

Different videos because I think it’s so freaking amazing and I never get tired of it I will never ever forget it yes oh my God holy cow holy yes oh my God I think that’s the biggest wall I’ve ever seen Rando give me a photo Brandon if somebody hasn’t seen that

Clip yet I’m sure I’ve already spliced it in here in the middle of this podcast so that you can see it you know oddly enough I did not think he was that big I know until got by until he got by the boat she when she got by the boat she

Became a big fish she could see that boat and she went into panic mode y coming in from where I had thrown The Lure no no I I thought it was pretty average 18 to 20 and then once it’s by the boat oh my word now the drags going and this thing’s real

What what a fish yeah what a fish that was a nice fish and again you ask me if that’s my biggest fish I don’t know right we didn’t we didn’t think in those terms we didn’t measure fish yeah we may have had a 14in limit but we knew

What 14 in was and we certainly had some sort of a ruler in the boat but like on Hawaii it just it was not very often that we needed to measure a fish you know so yeah that that was that was definitely a fish that still might

Be what am I trying to say I’m thinking through other I can’t remember a fish that was put together that well we’ we’ve had a few longer fish and obviously the one that Brandon snagged in the tail that we didn’t get in the boat that that was much bigger I think

That was over 30 I it was at least 30 yeah I think that was over 30 granted sometimes when you see fish in the water you get the shock on the surface I saw it on top of that net I’ve never seen a wall those are two pretty

Good views of that fish on the surface and laying across that entire net yeah that fit was over 30 yeah yeah it doesn’t matter in the end but what would have been nice was to get it in the boat and take a picture with it fck yeah because that was just a monster

Wal my goodness wish he’d have got it in the mouth oh yeah because then then it would have been all tired from fighting you you Ed it even in that smaller net yep what a what a fish what a fish no the northern was big too but

It’s still a northern you know yeah I mean on a relative basis the northern wasn’t one of the biggest northern I had ever seen that was the biggest Walley I’ve ever seen yes yes AB I mean absolutely yeah and it would have been cool to see him with a photograph

Of that fish M but is just the way it went I think grandpa had the biggest walleye in the family did he not yeah And I want to say it was it was just short of 10 lbs I don’t know how long it was he and I went up two Pier by ourselves and just horrible weather flipping horrible and now I’m scrambling trying to find places that I feel are safe um grandpa

Would get a little edgy as he got older yeah um for the risk part and and the waves and whatnot so I’m in a very unfamiliar Place only because I feel like I can launch at that spot um and it’s it’s quite ways up above Pier okay so I’m fishing in unknown water

And I don’t remember if I’m trolling or drifting but I had broken off on a fish so I’m rying that lure and every so often you pop your head up look at the death finder go oh crap and and Dad’s like what I said oh I got you in 46 feet of

Water sorry give me a few minutes here I’ll get this back on the track that I want to be on he’s like no problem I’ll just let out extra line and pull right through it all right that’s cool um whatever you’re probably not going to catch anything but

Whatever and I finished tying and he liked a very long pole and kind of a stiff rod and I see him put the screws to this thing like he’s flipping trying to snag a shark okay I mean just a biggest hook set I’ve ever seen in my

Life thank God it you know puts a hook into a fish because if he hadn’t have snagged into something he’ flipped out the other side of the boat that’s how big of a freaking set he had and this pole is bent and it’s a big stiff

Rod I’m like damn are you snagged and all a sudden bang bang bang I see the the tip of that Rod I’m like this is a fish Dad I know I know so the fight is on windier and crap I’m trying to maneuver the boat I don’t want him to lose this

Fish and by golly he got it to the boat I got that thing netted and I had not seen a fish that big okay not a walleye so I told him there’s a contest in town for the big fish should we leave and go enter that thing because it’s like a $10,000

Prize and he goes as rough as it is I don’t have a problem with it so we loaded up headed into that bait shop and wish I could give you an exact but I can’t it was nine something pounds okay and he was several ten short of winning the money yeah it was

So close I mean a couple of split shot short you know but the fish of his lifetime was taken on that weekend his Tri his trip was made even though it was crappy I mean we fought the wind every day every stinking day and you just you

Got off the water and you just wanted to go to bed you were so so beat up from the wind but his trip of a lifetime with that fish incredible you know the trip we took to Canada and we were in some pretty rough water that was pretty hard on him at his

Age you know so that particular day that I got you and and Brandon out of the boat and into the boat with Kevin I’m using a boat that’s got a tiller dad’s up front and he’s hanging on white knuckled and he’s just losing it and I

Stop that boat and get it sideways in the waves and I said dad you have got to calm down I will get us through this I will get us to shore yes we’re in a small boat and these things have a big distance between the rollers so they’re really dangerous you

Know but I said you’ve got to calm down cuz you’re fighting and you’re leaning and you’re going to cause cause a problem so just calm down let me get you there and uh he did but by golly the next day he didn’t go fishing he stayed

In the cabin you know it it rocked his world and it was horrible it was bad you know but again none of us nobody out in that water knew that was coming and when it hit it hit quick and we weren’t hidden in some Bay we were already in the middle of

Nowhere we didn’t have a chance you you can’t go that way you might as well go towards where your cabin is for that boat launch you know know it’s crazy like I think especially when you get back in the years to where people didn’t have phones and weather equipment out in boats I

Feel like people have more stories about how they almost died on the water than they do about actually fishing but they’re good A lot of it was stupidity sure but in the end the ones that I’m talking about there was nothing in the forecast that said that was

Coming we had no warning right if we’ have had something of today’s standard could we have received a warning that it was coming or moving in yes but back in those days none of those instances had a warning they came out of nowhere yeah so we certainly would never put kids in Peril

And thankfully Kevin’s boat was bigger and the two of you were capable of riding in that with him and definitely beat us to shore you know and I’m trying to puddle jump with that Tiller drive that front end is that front end’s automatically up you know what I mean

You can’t see you can’t see while you’re driving it and all it wants to do is just flip over backwards you know that was so and my dad was not liking it not B yeah not but we got there we did we always have otherwise we wouldn’t be here talking

Yeah I mean nobody in this group this family has ever been injured to my knowledge I don’t think so I mean maybe you guys got some mental scars fishing with me as kids but I don’t I don’t think you have any physical scars I don’t think so either nothing I can find

And quite frankly fishing was always fun it was always a good time and even what we did after we got off the water was fun you know the cleaning of the fish the headed back to town to go out to eat whatever we always had a

Good time fishing was always a big part of our lives and it was always a good time and and what a better way to spend time together unless you’re going to go golfing you know it was it was fun and it was always it was always the anticipation of something Big’s coming

Out of that water yeah you know and even the weekends even the weekends that it didn’t I mean I’ve got a picture of you Trish and Brandon holding some of the smallest fish I’ve ever seen in my life okay why we kept him I don’t know but it must have been to appease

You but not every trip was great but I think your brain only allows you to think of the good ones you certainly have forgotten the bad ones that’s why they’re call fish stories right right I mean we had plenty of times that we went fishing and it was

Not good but there was always fish you know you you didn’t have a trip where there was no fish right at least not that I recall but some of those fish were pretty small and that was always fun fishing with Chanley because she wanted to keep everything you know cuz she your always

That’s a fish we got to eat it well yeah but this is a bluegill and it’s only 3 in Long H I don’t think we can clean that there’s always stories to tell there’s always another trip to take and every time you see a video and somebody

Has landed a big fish it’s just another desire to go fishing again exactly yeah I love fishing I love it fishing’s awesome it is and you now have a life of it you know which which is which is pretty flipp and amazing you know to make a

Life out of something that you enjoy so much and a true passion that’s that’s really super cool really cool well thanks for that I appreciate it yeah and you’re pretty damn good too am I now well and I not to blow your head up but the people that I talk to

That have either watched your videos gone fishing with you constantly tell me about how that kid knows his that’s cool and I’ve only got one response well of course he does where do you think he learned it I learned from the master I started with the master oops I don’t know about

The master part but I think yeah I do think I have a little influence your depth your depth is 100 times better than mine we never had the this is what a fish wants when it’s this cloudy this is what a fish wants when it’s this cold

This is this is the depth they want to be this is what they’re going after we didn’t have that knowledge back then and maybe you were just lucky to have all that new technology which is amazing but not a lot of people understand it and are capable of turning it into a good

Fishing trip you know any boob can take a boat out on the water and throw out a line doesn’t mean you’re going to pull in a walleye proud of you since we’re on that topic yeah what what was your thought because you at one point in time

You and Brandon my brother for those haven’t figured that out by now had talked to about this guiding idea as a potential thing to do MH and that I actually finally did it at some point why it would want up being me instead of you guys I I wasn’t entirely sure at the

Time I know now but I was excited about the idea okay because fishing is a passion totally excited but our paths changed okay with my wife becoming ill okay my ability to leave and be gone that long quickly changed and then she became disabled how am I going to do that

And keep up with her needs if you will okay um I think Brandon seriously wanted it but there was a fear factor for him okay and then there was you who was B and determined that I want to change my lifestyle and you picked the thing that made you feel the best

Okay you were going to get nothing but support from me on any idea unless I felt it had just huge downside okay I’m not going to say anything negative I’m going to give you everything I can that supports your idea and help you get on that path so I was

All for it and was convinced that you could do it you’re one of those people that over studies freaking everything all right the guy that has to video his own golf swing and break it down 10,000 times is a guy that’s going to take this

Serious and dig as deep as he can to know this job okay I was convinced that you’d be successful as I’ll get out there’s going to be some heartache when you start you’re not going to have clientele you got to go get them but I

Knew you could do it there was no doubt in my mind you could do it the timing was not good for me the timing was not good for Brandon but I knew it was going to be for you and you obviously are very successful at it I appreciate that thank you yeah I’m

Proud of you thanks that means a lot yeah I really appreciate that yeah thanks again I appreciate you love you thanks for talking love you more