I guess we'll start with some easy.
Tell me the story of how you first
started coming up here.
When was that?
Well, let's see, what year was that?
It was, our daughter
was one, Tyler
was eight.
So, I mean, that was over 30 years
ago.
And like I said, it was a friend
of ours had said
something about this place.
And we decided just to come up and
try it.
So, my wife had called the
resort and the resort owners at
the time, she talked
to the husband and he had a cabin,
but it was really tiny cabin.
So there was five of us in
a tiny cabin.
It was rather comfy
and cozy, but it was
kind of chaotic.
But, and then at the very beginning,
it was kinda like, is this really
gonna work out?
Well, the following year we called
to see if we could get a bigger
cabin, and well, that's when we
ended up with cabin three here.
And from that point on, it was just,
we started meeting people up here
that we knew could be good
friends with, and it was one of
those things where we would always
come up at the same time every
year so we could not only
be up here but also be with those
people as well.
It was just, it was meant to be.
Did you come up looking for fishing,
or was it family time, or?
It was mainly family
time. I mean, fishing was a bonus.
You know, I loved to fish, but
the kids were kind of small at the
time, so it was me out the
boat most of the time by myself,
but as obviously as they got
older, then they were able to
get out of here, but that was
the bonus.
Fishing was bonus.
So did you grow up fishing?
Yeah, kind of.
I mean, my mom
and my grandparents liked to
fish. Fish bullheads on
the Rock River over by Burnett
when I was a kid.
And so we started there.
And then my stepfather
was a big fisherman.
I used to fish a lot with him,
chalk fishing and all that kind
of, and it just kind of evolved in
that. Then I got, then as my
brother started getting older.
They started getting into muskie
fishing, well then that's kind of
hooked me on to muskie fishing and
it's been that way ever since.
So you came up here and
did you kind of, were you looking
to fill a freezer or was it just
more of the action out there?
In some cases it was to take fish
home, yes, because nothing's
better than having a fish fry at
home in the middle of winter,
it reminds you of the place.
I mean, I would stand out in
my
deer hunting outfit on
the grill, because we would do it on
the grill, I'd take an iron skillet,
fill it with oil and that's how we
would cook so it wouldn't smell up
the house. And I would stand out
there in the middle of winter and
cook fish, and it's like,
there's nothing like it.
It tastes, it's great.
Brings it brings summer back
Exactly, that's exactly right.
So what was walleye fishing
like up here when you first started?
When I first started up here, it was
kind of a hit or a miss.
I mean, it was
difficult, you know, you could hear
people talking about it.
It was, it wasn't, wasn't
anything like it is now.
It was, you were
lucky. Unless you went with a guide
that knew the,
obviously the flowage better than
you did and knew where to go, it
was difficult for just the average
Joe to find Wally.
You go to the spots you would read
about and so on but the
chances of catching them And
actually back in those days, there
wasn't a size limit on a walleye.
People were taking fish out that
were eight, ten inches
long and keeping them.
So I don't know if that decimated
the population, but it wasn't really
good for it.
And then, yeah, it
wasn't t the greatest.
Researchers talk a lot about you
know opportunistic fishermen of like
if one species isn't there you'll
you'll find another species And if
you wanted to be here and walleye
weren't readily available, you're
not going to turn into a die-hard
walleye fisherman
No, no, no.
No, typically, I
mean, we didn't specifically seek
out walleye.
I mean it was a bonus if you caught
one.
But we were up here for the panfish
to take home.
If you got a walleye, oh, awesome.
But normally it was crappies and
bluegills in the spring.
And in the summertime, fishing is
kind of tough, so you take what you
get.
And in the fall, well, we were
typically up here in the fall if we
come up for muskie fishing.
And that was about it.
We didn't fish anything else.
So for some of the other people that
were up here, was it kind of that
same thing of just, you know, what's
just nice to be on the water?
Yes, pretty much.
I mean, they did fish.
Actually, our friend Burt,
he was die-hard.
He was over the top.
And it really didn't matter what
he caught. He just wanted to catch
fish.
When he was younger, he used to tell
stories about how he was
a diehard musk, a wildlife
fisherman, but as
he got older, and he's the one that
taught me this place.
If it weren't for him, I wouldn't
know it.
So as your kids got older,
did you start putting the pole in
their hand, or is the gas going to
come out?
Oh, absolutely, absolutely.
Yeah, we started them off as
young as we could.
Where we used to live, there used to
be some farmers' ponds that you
could fish out of and that's how we
kind of introduced them into
fishing. We would just drive over
to the farmers' pond and just sit
along the edge and try to catch what
we could catch and nine times out of
ten we wouldn't take anything
because God only knows what was in
that pond.
But you would catch fish and that is
how they got going.
And then yeah, when they got old
enough to be in the boat and stuff
like that.
Yeah And my wife is
always really good about.
Making sure that we had things
there that, if we were
gonna go out fishing, that if
they lost interest, that they
had something else to do.
Like whether it was a coloring book
or a reading book or you name it,
she had something them to do,
and so it kind of bided the
time, because if it's not, how's
a kid's attention span gonna be if
they're not catching fish?
Understood completely.
It's bad enough with panfish.
Can you imagine trying to take a kid
while I'm fishing?
No, no, not at all,
not unless you go to a lake that's
just completely full of walleyes,
yeah, no.
Yeah, it's difficult.
Tell me a little bit about the
evolution of coming up here and what
it's meant. Obviously, they started
with little kids and then they've
gone into adults.
And now this is your first time with
a grandchild.
Right, right.
It's just been amazing.
I mean, it's
kind of like you see
the generations and you
try to instill in them
a sense of respect,
obviously.
We've always tried to instill it in
our kids, but respect for this
place. I means, these
places are going away.
You know, you go down
where we live, you a lake there's
houses on top of houses.
You don't go on the lake during the
weekends because there's no
room for you or you go
out there like as early
as you possibly can in the morning
and get off the lake before the
crazies hit it.
Not up here.
I mean, especially on this end
of the flowage where you
hardly ever see boats.
I mean they'll come flying by or
the kids will be water skiing and
stuff like that.
There's no place like this.
And so the kids have really
understand that, yeah, this is
a unique place.
And it's just amazing how they've
adapted to it. I mean, they love
this place.
And whenever we have the opportunity
to have them all together,
whenever we're up here, we try
to make it so that they have the
opportunity, if they can come, they
can be here too.
So it doesn't matter to us if we
have to pay for it or not, it doesn'
matter.
The point is we're gonna be here, so
why don't you come?
You were talking before a little bit
about some of the shift that's
occurred with the fish population
that are in here right and you've
seen some of that change over the
years right and like maybe some
of uh the evidence that people are
talking about what's being done
Well, yes, absolutely.
The walleye population, it's
amazing, and a lot of it
I see online.
Basically, the guides are really
good about posting stuff when
they take guys out to fish.
Obviously, they're promoting their
business, but in the same token,
it is promoting the walleye fishing.
I mean, I would say
five years ago, maybe,
yeah, I'd say five years ago it
wasn't like it is now.
There were walleyes, there were a
lot of what the guys called shorts,
stuff that was under the slot limit,
and so you
could slowly starting to
see the evolution of
the fish starting to get to the
point where, I mean, yeah, you'd
catch a big fish every once in a
while, but nine times out
of ten, we always called them
cigars, they were little bitty short
ones, or they were just,
they weren't big enough that really
an average honest fisherman
wouldn't.
And it's just progressively gotten
better and the
slot limit seems to have made a big
difference.
Like I said, I think the
lake association, the people that
own the resorts around here that put
all the effort into this stuff have
really made a big
impact on doing research
and basically
seeking out experts.
How can we make this better?
I mean, cause this is their
livelihood.
And so at the end of the day,
it's a combination of all that.
And I'm not really big
into the Department
of Natural Resources has done up
here. I don't know all the things,
but I know the changes that they've
made, at least in the case of the
walleye population, in my opinion,
have made a huge, have made, have a
big impact.
And that's, that's a good thing.
Now, my grandfather used to say
everything's cyclical.
Now, is this a cyclical situation?
I hope not.
Not for the, for the sake of the
fishermen that like to fish walleyes
all the time.
For the sake the guides that make
good money doing it.
You know, it's like
We don't have a lot of places like
this in Wisconsin.
Could you imagine a situation where
you hear things are so good that
you're like, no, today we're going
to target walleye. We may have up
here for a week, but day two
or day three, like let's go walleye
fish. Let's try and find.
Maybe.
Maybe I'm not that good of a
wildlife fisherman. I don't really
know the ins and outs as well.
I've got a couple really good
friends that have been trying to
give me some ideas and stuff like
that.
But for the most part,
it's kind of like, depending upon
the time of year we come up, usually
it's always been, this is what we're
going to do. We've never really
taken that input to make
the decision that, yeah, we're just
going to go fishing for wildlife.
And maybe it's a good idea
to try that.
It doesn't hurt to try.
Talk to me a little bit about the
change in the resort and
what they've been pushing because
you probably remember that I
remember being as long time ago
resorts would say we're a walleye
resort or we're fishing resort come
up here to fish and now it seems
like the shift has been more to
party or relaxation and
less on like the other activities
on the water.
Well, you know, and I
would agree with that.
Yes, when we first started
coming up here, it was like a family
fishing resort.
There wasn't, actually when we
started, there was no bar.
There literally wasn't a bar.
It wasn't until the
owner, after we first starting
coming up, actually put a bar in.
And, but it stayed calm.
I mean, yeah, the guys would go up
to the bar and you could have a
drink and do this kind of stuff, but
they didn't have music.
They They had, you know, jukebox and
stuff like that.
And then it evolved to
a different type of a.
Thought process where yeah it's
partying and bringing
people in from off
the floorage to setting it
up so that you had something there
for people to want to come whether
it's music or whatever drink
specials that was
that was what changed and
then now it's kind of gone back to
it's it's kind of the the people
that own it now in my opinion have
figured out a balance they they
have music certain
days to bring people down here
and then but yet in the same token
24-7 and and
I personally think that to
me that's the best way to go I
completely understand that at the
end of the day it's about making a
dollar they got to keep this place
going and you're gonna do what you
need to do and everybody vacations
differently so and
we look we're quiet people
we want we want things calm
Your wife's not here this
week, but you said she she's
been supportive of you fishing How
does that go into relationships of
fishing if one does fish and one
doesn't?
What's the balance there?
Well, she loves the fish.
It's just about getting the
time to be able to get out to fish.
Now that we're retired and the kids
are older and they're not in
the house, when we're up here, we
usually pick certain days.
We'll go out for a couple hours to
fish and catch fish.
And she loves to fish
present to me for my 40th birthday
was buying a fishing license.
She never fished up into the, I mean
she didn't fish like she does now.
And so that was, that was cool.
And from that point on we've just
been doing it. I mean we have our
own thing. She loves the kayak.
And she could be out there all day
long on the kayak, but no, it
really hasn't affected
our relationship whatsoever.
But that's that's a better right
that people find if you know that
way you hear about like fishing
widows Yeah, guys are always gone
finding that blend
Well, and she's very understanding.
She knows that, she knows that
you need time by yourself, she
needs time by herself.
You have certain hobbies, I have
certain hobbies. They don't always
have to be the same.
It would make life rather boring in
my opinion.
But yeah, I mean,
she's always been supportive of
all this stuff.
And 99.9% of the time,
she is the one that pushes a lot of
it.
She's a driving force in it all,
let's put it that way.
So you've been out the last couple
of days? Yep.
How's it been?
It's been okay.
The bluegills are starting to come
in so we can get some pan fish
and we've got some crappies.
We haven't seen any walleyes yet,
but again, we weren't strictly
fishing. This is typically when we
start fishing for these things.
If we go out earlier in the morning,
yeah, you may get lucky and get a
couple of walleyies, depending upon
where you're fishing on the flowage.
But for the most part, it's
been good. It's comfortable, let's
put it that way.
The last four or five years,
the weather has just been incredibly
weird up here.
I mean in the
Memorial Day weekend it's like 90
degrees, it's unheard
of. I mean I used to come up here
with my friend Burt this week
typically and there were times we
would literally have to have
our deer hunting gear on to be out
there fishing. It was so cold.
Or we wouldn't be fishing because if
the water temperature is at a
certain temp you're not going to
be catching fish.
So, when you're out there, can you
tell from the first bite when it's a
walleye, does it hit a little
different?
Oh yes, yes, oh absolutely.
Typically you're fishing much deeper
water for walleye than and when
you're fishin' panfish, this time of
year you're usually fishing closer
to shore because they're coming in
to spawn.
But yeah, walleye, you can
definitely tell. It's a nice soft
bite and it just goes really slow
away.
It's not one of those things where
it's going to pull out of your hand.
And you've got to be kind of
cognizant of, yup, this could be
what I think it is.
And then, as a matter, you have to
make sure that.
What is the balance of bringing one
in? Because my great
uncle always says, don't horse it.
Exactly.
No, you've just
got to make, first of all, you got
to make sure you got it hooked and
then the other thing is you just
bring it in slowly.
I mean it's not like a northern,
it's not like muskie where they're
just going to rip the pull out of
your hand. No, not a walleye.
It hits, you know it's
there and you just slowly bring it
back to the boat.
If you could literally tear
the bait out of its mouth and
sometimes their soft mouth,
they're just tasting it to see if
that's what they really want.
So it's just a matter of giving them
time to get it and then you just
bring it back slowly.
Is there a different feeling though,
especially when you weren't
expecting a wall?
Yes absolutely absolutely yeah
when you bring it up to the boat
it's like yeah the first thing is
you scramble for the net you
don't bring the thing over the side
of the boat without a net
And I'm assuming you've kept enough
walleye to eat?
Yes, absolutely.
Oh, yes, it's like
fresh water lobster.
Walei's the best.
Why is that?
I don't know, it's just a
better fish, but tastes better.
I mean, I'm partial to bluegills
and crappies, but if I get a
walleye, no, that's like, that's,
like I said, it like lobster.
Did you give those to the kids,
or do you... Oh no, no!
Oh, no, no. Oh, yeah.
Oh yeah. Yes.
Yes, absolutely
I wasn't sure if that was, like, the
inside tender where it never
officially...
No, no,
exactly. No, everybody got
everything. We've shared for
everyone.
Talk to me just a little bit more
about what it means to you to have
your grandson up here.
Oh, it's just amazing
This is his first time, right?
Yep, yep, yep.
It's third generation now.
Hopefully, it will continue.
Hopefully this place will be here,
you know, with all the things that
are changing in our world right now.
I just pray to God that he has the
opportunity to have the opportunity
that his mom and dad have had
and that we've had.
You know, it's like, I
guess sometimes people don't really
appreciate how much
that kind
of legacy
that you leave.
What that really means, you know, at
the end of the day. I'm hoping that
the grandkids will be
cognizant to
this place, because like I said,
there's no other place like it, in
my opinion, here at least in the
state of Wisconsin.
I mean, when you go back home and
they say, oh, what'd you do?
Like, oh.
Do you have a special name for it or
how do you?
We always call it the chip.
Yeah, we're up as a chip.
And everybody knows, people that
we know know where we typically go
when we're up at the chip, so it's
like, yeah. They're very familiar
with the things that we do.
And yeah, and then my wife will
spend weeks posting pictures
on Facebook or whatever,
so everybody gets a chance to see
what we're all doing.
And that's, I mean, that's one of
those things that is almost
universal for a lot of people in
Wisconsin, like to say I went to
a resort.
One of the cool things about it
too is then if
there's people that don't really
understand or really don't know
or are interested in it, I mean
you pass that on to them and
the potential of them getting
their kids and their grandkids
involved in it. I mean it basically
kind of snowballs into something
because we've had friends that
have come up here that have
never been to a resort before and
now granted they're not staying here
anymore, they've found other places.
But the whole point was that they
were actually able to go up to the
Northwoods, find a place to actually
stay, and witness this kind of
stuff. It's like, yeah,
in my opinion, there's nothing
better.
And that's why up north means
something.
Absolutely that's exactly get what
it was what's the up north north the
highway 10 or something like that or
something
That's a debate over.
I know that
It depends on how far you went that
the line goes north.
You know, I always said it would be
so much nicer if we were only, like,
three hours away,
but the kids always come back and
make the statement that, well, if it
was only three hours a way, it
wouldn't be as special as
it is.
It's a good point.
Alright, can I get you to say and
spell your name for me just so I
have it correct on tape?
My name is Randy Maas
and his last name is spelled M-A-A
S.
All right, and can you also give
me the names and spellings of...
Oh, okay, so... Just so we have it
correct.
All right, um...
I won't ask you for birthdates or
interviews. No, no, no.
Her name.
Her name is her name.
Yes, Abby's name.
Oh, first of all, it's Tyler,
Mas, same spelling last name.
And it's Warner is our grandson,
Warner, W-A-R-N-E-R,
Mas.
And then it's Abigail.
And I'm gonna mess it up, I know I
am. It's A-B-I-G-A
E-L.
Oh, epic deal, like a
storm.
Yes, yes, yes.
Yeah, we changed.
Yes, the Gaelic version.
Actually, her mom's Irish heritage,
so.
No don't ask for
I know you were amassed as well.
She has a mask at this point, yes.
Alright, that was great.
Anything else you want to add?
No, uh-uh.
Yes, yes
I learned that when you
were the ones doing the fish fry yes
the walleye cheeks went last I was
like oh you can have it we're good
we're good have some more
yeah
I forgot all about the wall light.
What are you guys gonna eat?
Oh, we've got these.
I forget, I never forget that
one year I had it was
I was up earlier and then
Tyler came up later and I had
caught a was 20
22 inch walleye
over in Scott Lake and
two
days later he came up and
the third day he caught a
22 inch walleye on Scott Lake.
That's the that's the limit
that you can keep.
Because it's based off of because
it's the where they call
it. I can't remember.
Well, it's it's also
or the trophy.
Well, no, no. It's also set by
the state for
the tribal lands, too,
for the indigenous people up here.
So they've got this slot limit that
you can...
It's the seceded area, seceded
territory it's called.
So that's what this slot is part
of what they call the secedid.
So 22, I think it was, was
the max you could keep.
Because I will never forget, I had
caught the fish, and I had it
in the boat, And I had
texted at the time the
resort owner that was
here at the time.
What's the max that I can keep?
Because I was actually on the water.
Because I wasn't gonna put the boat,
fish in the boat because that's
possession.
And she texted me back and said 22
when I measured.
Got it.
I was able to bring it back.
So I knew.
Did the tribe, did the quitter ray
come out here?
I, you know, I don't know.
I've not seen them,
I dunno. I mean, we see them on the
flow edge. I mean they've got spots
where they go and stuff like that,
but as far as being
on the water, I really wouldn't
know, and I know they're out here,
but.
I mean, I know that back in the 80s,
that was a big deal.
That was probably around a little
before your first turn.
Oh yeah, way before, yeah, yeah.
But have you heard of any tech?
I mean, is that something that's
still coming?
I've never heard of anything,
and in my opinion,
I have an opinion on
how the Native Americans have
been treated in this country, so I'm
not going to get into that.
But that's not an issue that, you
know, people are...
It doesn't seem to be.
Because that used to be the thing,
like, there's no walleye that's ever
speared him off.
Well, you know, and it seemed to be,
at least just from what I remember
going back that far, it seemed to
be a bigger issue over in
the eastern
part of the state up here.
You know, when you're talking Eagle
River, Rainlander,
Managua, stuff like that, that
seemed to the bigger area.
I don't ever remember it being over
here. It may have been when
the spearing started to be a
real big thing, but
I don t know.
You know and personally
hey this was their land
first so why not
let them do what they're going to do
you know as long as as long
as the rules for them are the same
if the rules for us are the Same for
them i don't have a problem with
that whatsoever it's
when people take advantage of things
which we all have a tendency
to do that's when things get crazy
So I heard that that got dug out of
the muck.
Yeah, that was a live, yeah.
Actually, Burt, the guy that
I used to come up with,
he would bring that, we
had to leave it up here every year.
And then what he would do is, when
we would come off the lake, instead
of going up and cleaning the fish
every day, well, that
back in the day when you could keep,
well, initially it was 50, then it
went down to 25.
We would put them in there so
that you didn't have to clean every
day and then they would stay alive
because you don't want, obviously,
dead fish. They don't taste good.
And for whatever reason,
this is last year, I
forgot to grab it.
And it just stayed up here,
and somehow it stayed in the lake.
And Abby found
it, and so we're taking it back
home. So it's coming home with us.
All right, I think we're good here.
So thank you.
You're very welcome.
Thank you for sharing your story.