Okay
Alright, you can talk to me.
Okay, yep.
You want me to shut them shades?
Nope, that's fine, they're not fun
or anything.
Alright, let's take me back to when
you were a little kid.
Did you grow up fishing?
Was the family fishing, was that
a part of your life from birth on
basically? Oh yeah.
Oh yeah, we started,
oh gosh, as far
as I can remember we were in diapers
yet and there is one
one little story that
rings a bell is
my brother Mikey.
He liked to poop his pants
a lot and it
was in the springtime
and that is one thing
that I remember that he just grabbed
him and dunk him right over
the boat to wash his butt off.
That's that's not a lie.
If my brother was here right now, he
would tell you yelp daddy
did that So yeah,
that is Yeah, we started
pretty young and and actually
where we were today That's in
a pretty close in the same area
is where we that that's where
they fished back then in
the Then this that
would be in the 80s, you know that
I can remember, you knows, so
Was that trolling back then too?
No, it was all jigging.
It's kind of weird.
Actually, our family was a jigging
family up until,
oh gosh, when I probably,
I don't know, probably 16, 17.
You know, I started tournaments when
I was 17 with my dad, Wally Weekend.
And then every, pretty much
from there to now that it's been
tournament time, you know,
for me. So.
Yeah, the laid-back fishing going
out there is,
that really doesn't consist, you
know, assist in my world.
You know, it's just competition all
the time, you know, and it's hard to
change that now.
Yeah, when you think of people that
say, oh yeah, just go out on the
boat and have a few beers and relax,
and if you catch some, get a bite,
you know, I mean, that doesn't
even register with you.
Well, we still drink beer in
the boat while
we're fishing, you know, pre-fishing
anyways.
But yeah, it's
fun. Either way, it is fun.
Even if I'm out there,
even like
today, that we were just having fun,
but I was actually still pre-
fishing because I have a tournament
this weekend.
So there was a reason why,
you know, but because
I'm fishing tournaments every
weekend.
That's why it's, it's
not just a leisure thing
to go out there and do,
you know. Yeah, I'm sure
I will get that, you know,
soon, you know, sometime
soon. But no, but it's
just, it s all tournaments for me
these days, but
Was it always walleye or were there
other fish that you liked going for
when you were young?
Nope, just walleyes and sturgeon.
That's it that everything else.
I Mean, obviously you've seen today
everything bit it doesn't matter,
you know, obviously, you're catching
whatever comes but but
yeah targeting Yes walleye
100% Yep, I'm not a
bass guy Not
a not a hunter.
What is that?
1001 casts or whatever they
say with that musky stuff, but
no no no patience for that
at all and no patience
for jigging anymore.
But yeah, but jigging was,
it was fun when we were younger.
That was, we
were pretty, we did pretty well at
it. You know, we, my dad and I and
my brother and my dad and my other
brother, Jason,
yeah, we jigged a lot, you know, a
lot on Longpoint, you know.
And we did very well.
We took a lot of firsts, you know,
always in the top, you know,
jigging, but, but then I
met some buddies like,
oh boy, you in.
Just a bunch of guys that, you know,
Scott Schwartz and all them.
Yeah, they're all trollers, you
know, and they always have been
trollers.
And yeah, so I kind of jumped
on that wagon with them and yeah,
and I do pretty well,
I'm not bragging, but I do pretty
well doing that.
So yeah, that's where I'm at
now.
So, you said you started tournaments
when you were 17.
Was that in part because
that was when you realized,
hey, I'm pretty good at this?
Or was that just there were enough
tournaments available?
Oh yeah, there was a lot of bar,
actually at that time it was pretty
much just walleye weekend if I
remember right. Maybe out of street,
but a lot a local bar tournaments
on the east
side here. I mean we had quite a few
of them.
So and my dad always
was a big fisherman when he was a
little boy because my grandpa, you
know, they did a lot perch
fishing too.
And oh, we did too when we were kids
with my grandpa.
You know, before tournament days,
but and that was always fun.
As we always.
We'd always joke around with them
and, you know, tie a line on
their line and then sit
up in the front of the boat and jerk
it like they got a bite and
they'd be like them little sons of
bitches, you know, and yeah,
I remember all them days, but yeah,
that was fun.
But yeah, it's.
Yeah, if I could go back,
I wouldn't mind.
It was fun.
It was fine.
So then as you
got older, how did
you find that balance between having
to work and having to
fish, and just like where did
fishing fall in terms of like
priorities for life?
Yeah, well, if you ask
my family and my brother, yeah,
the priorities went over to
fishing a little bit more,
especially to last, you
know, probably five years, you know,
we're getting older.
You know, plus we own our own
business, that's a little bit
easier, you don't for guys to take
off to go pre-fishing.
But there's sometimes where we don't
pre-fish and we do very well.
We just we like to the wind, you
know, there's a bunch of times
that...
We don't even go out there, or
even if we did go pre-fish, we don't
go to that spot because
of the wind direction.
Win a bagel, you gotta play the wind
as best as you can, you know.
And there's times where, yeah, like
I said, we didn't even pre-fish
that spot.
Like last year, my son goes, where
are we going today?
I said I don't know, wait till we
get out to the buoys.
Let's do that.
So, and I said okay, we're going up
by Mud Creek.
Did you pre- fish that?
Nope.
And we ended up taking third.
So it's all
wind stuff with that.
Obviously, there's a lot of,
there is an element of equipment,
there is an elements of knowledge,
and there is element of luck.
How do you balance all that?
Wow.
Boy, that's a tough one.
Yeah, there's definitely luck in it.
That's hands down, it's gotta be.
I mean, obviously you've seen that
today. That just doesn't happen.
That was pure luck today,
but.
I would say, I mean, yeah,
you got to be good at it to even,
even have a chance.
And I don't know if that makes
sense, but you
got to be, good at to have a change
to be lucky.
I don't know if it makes sense or
not, but
yeah, yeah.
You just got to, in it's years of
experience, you gotta have that.
You know, I don't expect
anybody just to go out there right
now, you know, that hasn't
fished in golden catch fish because
it's tough.
For the pros and, you know, the guys
that grew up on the lake,
you know, especially Lake Winnebago,
everybody knows that one.
It's, it's just hit and miss, you
know, one day they're there, one day
they are not, you know, that's
normal for here.
But yeah,
yeah, you gotta, you gotta have
experience, experience for this,
you know, to, to
do it. And it, and it comes, you
know, too competitive part of
it is where
the experience comes in.
The more you do, the more you learn.
And the more, you know,
the more you learned because you're
struggling to get, if you're to
catch fish, you're going to do
different techniques, blah, blah
blah, back, you know, and then you
just, that's all you learn, you know
to be better.
So luck is just,
luck just falls into play.
You know, what luck means is
if, to
me.
Okay. So, so it's totally different
when you're not pre or when you
pre-fishing.
Okay.
Um, like today, that fish or
any fish, any day you could,
when we're pre-fish and we don't
like the net, so we're just hanging
it out because there's a boat next
to you, so, we're, just hanging on
to that fish until they're looking
away and you go down and grab it
instead of netting it and you can,
and that fish will stay on, but
in a tournament that does not happen
at all.
It's hard to even get them like like
last week and my partner Mikey and
I we fished the aim series and
Yeah, two of them two of the 20
inchers. They got off immediately
when I netted them.
It was like That
and it was they were gone.
They were already in a net or off in
the net.
That's lucky You know,
but yeah, but that yeah,
it's you got to have a lot
of luck
Well, when you look at the
difference between taking first
or taking third,
is that difference often luck or
is that more skill?
And then is it more skill that plays
out in the fact that you took third
and third and third and third
like every time you're consistent
when you're consistent.
Yeah, yep.
Usually...
Like if you have a good day out of
the boat and you think, oh, we've
got a good basket
here and you're coming in and
you end up third, are you like, oh
that guy's got luckier than me or is
it just that's how it goes?
That's just how it goes.
That's the name of the game there.
Who catches is the biggest or a
bigger one.
But yeah, if you're always in the
top 15, you know, depending,
in the bigger tournaments, if you
are in the Top 15, you're doing
pretty, you should be proud of
yourself.
Definitely, 100%.
I mean, because you're, you know
mostly the main tournaments that
we always fish, you're fishing
against the big dogs.
You know, the ones that are
pro, pro fishermen, that's all they
do.
That's their job.
I can't consider myself a pro
fisherman because I got a job.
I still got to work.
So, um, you
know, yeah, maybe in a few years
when I retire, that, that's
that, uh, that option is up on the
table for that and
guiding and stuff like that.
But yeah, no, you should be
definitely proud of yourself.
If you, if you're in the top 15,
you know, especially out of the
300 tournament boats, you
know, even if you make the top 50
out of 300, 350, that that's
very good.
You're doing, you're doing
excellent, you know, and if you do
it year after year after year,
you don't, which,
you know, that happens, you know,
That's, yeah, that's going
back to that other being luckier
experience.
Like that's, that all experience for
sure. You know, you know what you're
doing, you know, everything's got to
come play together.
Yeah, I would say experience all
day long, but...
So we've seen you
in the bowl.
You see it's starting to
fish on there.
At what point are you
most excited versus most
nervous or anxious?
There's a lot of emotions in that
whole maybe three-minute sequence.
Yeah, yep.
Well, the first thing that when I
get
It's when the board goes back and
how the board goes back, and how it
reacts.
Then, because I pretty
much know what it's gonna be.
That's when I get that's when i
start you know start wheeling it in
and then that board's popping a
wheelie and Help and it's just
laying back there and all it's solid
weight and that that's When I start
getting nervous, you know, hey, hey
you know and then we're talking to
each other and Oh,
yeah, you, know don't screw this one
up, you Know and Whatever,
but it stuff happens, you Know
and it happened to me, you Know a
couple of well a few times it
happens to everybody Where you where
you miss a fish or you hit it with
the net on the outside and gets
hooked in the crank And then yeah,
yeah, there were tough times when
that happens, but yeah,
other than that.
As you're bringing it in, are you
getting more and more anxious
before you're about to net it?
Or are you more and excited once you
can finally get a sense of, oh,
it's close, now it's starting to
pull down?
Yeah, oh yeah.
Yeah, then I get then I really get
nervous like what like today when
that fish was just going to want to
go down, down, and down.
Normally that doesn't happen in deep
water like that.
That like that intense.
I mean, that was I haven't really
seen that a whole lot.
Unless we're in shallow water three
feet because you can only go so far
down you get they go out.
But yeah, that's when I get that's,
when I start getting nervous.
Yeah.
But yeah.
When do you actually get excited?
Oh, when the fish is on the floor,
and then I got a little issue where
I get a little too nervous, and I
and I start dry heaving a little bit
here and there, you know, everybody
knows that, all my
partners.
And actually that happened last week
and when we had them 220s, because
that one was really fat.
It looked like a 23,
24, but it was only 21 and three
quarter, but really
girthy.
Yeah, yeah, oh yeah, I started
gagging a little bit there.
But yeah, that's when I get nervous.
Yep, and then I start shaking a
little but.
Number of good times, that's
when I'm pumped up, when that
happens, you know,
any time, actually.
Especially in a tournament, that
doesn't really
happen when I am pre-fishing, it's
just when you're competing,
today is the day, no screw-ups,
pay attention, you know,
that is where the nerves kick in.
And has that changed over
the years?
I mean, the reaction that
we see, is that any different
from you today than it was when you
were 17 or 20 or 30?
Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's a little
different.
Yeah. That's a little different,
yeah, that does.
This probably didn't start really
kicking in till about probably
about, I don't know, 10, maybe 10,
15 years ago, when
my partner and I
stoned the one that passed away.
We were getting we were hitting
tournaments pretty, pretty hard.
We're, we were going all over,
get all kinds of different states
and stuff. And we were, we're
getting into it pretty heavy.
And
Yeah, that's when it was when
everything was getting more intense,
you know, and more nerve
wracking, more money involved
into it.
Yeah, pretty much.
No, it wasn't my whole life.
No, I was more calmer and
17, probably 17 to
30 for sure.
I was.
So that's, that's yeah, but now,
now it's,
nothing will change now, no more.
I don't think I'll be able to calm
down anymore, but it's.
But it's the drive.
I love it. I love.
I told, I, I thought I
was going to quit a few times
because of different,
uh, situations going on in my
life, but no,
they, all my buddies, all my
fishing, uh, buddies.
It's in your blood, Junior.
You're gonna, that's it.
You're in it. You're never gonna
quit until, until
you're done.
You know, until your dead.
It's just gonna, that's the way you
are. You know? And it's like, yeah,
it's hard.
It's hard, but it's
just the way it's gonna be.
And I like it, so.
So tell me about your
old partner.
He's a relative, right?
Yeah, like second
cousin.
Yeah. Yep.
He grew up in St. Cloud, Wisconsin
And I well I grew up and
played pipe pipe,
Wisconsin, so
So when did you start fishing with
him regularly?
Yeah, that's probably,
I don't know, it'd be about 18,
give or take. I was thinking about
that and it's so hard to remember
because we fished so many
times together.
Because I actually lived with them
too also.
It's got to be right around 18, 20
years that we fish together and
we did a lot of,
yeah, we did lot of tournaments and
we were a pretty
good team.
We were kind of unstoppable.
It was tough to beat us.
And the reason, you know, we always
were thinking what each person
was thinking. Each other was
thinking, you know, if I was
thinking of a color of a bait, he
already had it on or vice
versa.
And I'd ask him, did you do this?
That's already out there.
Or did you, did you put a bottom on?
So it's on the first board, you
know, and I wouldn't even, cause I'm
paying attention what I'm doing.
And we just know each other and
fished like we were brothers
or like we were, I should say like
we were twins.
Like, we're thinking everything
identically the same, and it's
kind of creepy, but that's
just how it went, you know, and I
lost the best partner ever, I mean,
and everybody knows that, you know,
he was best friends with everybody,
you, know, but he was a good guy,
but, and then cancer came
along, and he wasn't
doing good for, you know,
a few years, and, then it
was going away, and all of a sudden,
You know, that would have been three
years ago now.
Yeah, he was passed, two years
ago, he passed away on February
18th, if I remember right.
And then...
Yeah, then it came back.
Cause he had a spot in between his
heart and his lung.
And yeah, that just, that took
him.
Yeah, that was, they can't
cure that one no more.
But yeah, he had, at first he had
lymph node and then all of his, you
know, that was doing better,
you now, and they pretty much
had it gone, if I remember right,
but.
Yeah, then all of a sudden this one,
this one came about and I crushed it
because it was too close to his
heart.
And, you know, that was sad.
That was sad, that's hard.
Were you still able to fish
with him in those last few years?
Not
I think two years prior,
if I remember right, two years prior
that we actually did,
yes, yep, yes we did.
Because we had a fishing tournament
in Saginaw Bay.
And he still went.
He was feeling OK.
But his arms, they
were pretty tough
on him. Buh-Dah!
Um, what was I going to say?
Yeah, so we knew about the
spot before this and
he was a pretty quiet guy.
He didn't, he didn't say a whole lot
and he didn, he didn't bitch, he,
didn't uh, um, how do you
say that?
Uh, want anybody to feel sorry for
him? He just, even
though he was in so much pain, he
just acted like he wasn't in pain,
you know, but that,
yeah, I think that, I think that was
pretty much the last tournament.
Yeah. And actually we,
and it sucks.
And now looking back at that,
I wish we missed the
ring. We were in a, I think it was
an NWT, NTC or
something like that.
And we missed a ring.
Um, it was by like three or four
ounces.
And that would have been, that
would've been super nice.
You know, we didn't
know that was the last tournament
for him, but it
was so close.
You know we took 26 and we
had to be in 25th, you know, and
that's out of, I think there was, I
don't even know how many boats was
in that, 400 or something.
And it was on a, and it was, on a
It's, which bay was I on again?
Uh, yeah, that was up in,
up in Michigan, upper Michigan
or whatever. So, yeah.
That was, uh, and
we never fished it before.
And we went out there just talking
to people, going to different bars,
you know, when we went for supper,
talking to them and bullshitting
with them, trying to get a little
bit of information here and there
and stuff.
And, and it worked.
It, it was, yeah and
we did pretty well, you know,
and never fishing in.
Hundred, two hundred feet,
or three hundred feet and put, you
know, pulling them out of there.
It's pretty neat.
Then you got to fizzle them, and you
got take a, you have to get a needle
because
they're, they're they're air sacks
that are inside their belly.
They'll blow up and it'll kill the
fish because you can't kill, you
know, they got to be alive.
So then you got a take a
needle.
You just go to your local, you
know, hospital and just get
little needles and then you
seven over and seven up
scales, you know, from
the butt, seven over, and then seven
up. And then you poke it in, but you
have to have it underneath the
water. And then, you just
rub the belly, and then the bubbles
come right out.
And then just like that, that fish
is upside down.
It flips right back over, like
it's brand new life.
Yeah, it's pretty neat.
It's a whole different extreme up
there, just like
South Dakota, that's a different
character up there.
That's deep water, but.
Yeah, you pull them out of there,
you got to do that too.
After he passed,
what was that like for you to have
to try and go back out there without
him and know that that partner was
gone?
Well, that was that was one of
the things I was saying before
situations where that I didn't
want to do it no more.
But I know that
he wanted me to quit,
you know, because that's what we
love.
But it was tough.
It was tough, it was super tough.
And all my friends were supportive
and helped me out.
Kick me in the, kick me an ass a
little bit, and hey.
You got to get,
you know, we understand, you
know, it's hard.
And it was hard, super hard,
but no, I got back in it.
And, and actually I still have
Stone's ashes in my boat.
So he's with me every day, you know,
and there's times where my son and
I, you know, were going and
we're doing good or whatnot.
And he just opened up the, he'd
open up the glove box so Stone
could watch, you know, or just
making little jokes, you
Usually every tournament that we're
in, either whoever
I'm fishing with, Mikey Blank,
Scott Schwartz, you know,
my buddies.
You know, all my buddies,
when we go out there, we always,
we got two, actually we got two good
buddies that passed away, Louie
Voight and Jason
Gable also, but every time we go, we
always look up when we're on the way
out, you now, hey, come on boys,
get us a couple today, you no?
And in a...
That is luck, but
it seems
to be helping a little bit.
So that matters.
But yes, we pray to them pretty
much every day I go out in that
lake, especially during the
tournament.
That's, we're always talking about
them.
Stories will never
die, never, ever, ever.
They're talked about a lot.
By different people in different
bars, you know,
you remember so-and-so
and, you know, yeah,
yeah all the good times.
But yeah, that was tough.
That, that, that it was super tough
to get back in the boat, you know,
cause then you sit there and
then you look over and he's not
there or
he's now telling me to do what,
what we did for years, you I'm
really sorry. Okay.
Like my son, you know,
maybe tell me to do this, you know,
cause you know it's a,
it was a hundred percent total
different change.
You know, yes.
My son knows what he's doing
fishing. I taught him that he,
nothing wrong with them.
You know?
Very good. All my buddies are good.
They're, they're all pro fishermen.
They're all, I love them all, you
know?
No, that was tough.
But I'm over that.
I'm over that now, you
know.
Well, it seems like it's mostly the
good, the good memories.
Yeah. And we really didn't have no,
I mean, a few times we,
we yelled at each other, but it
was,
you catch a fish and then your
fist pumping.
That just went away.
That went bye bye.
We forgot about that.
Or we'd have a beer and then, oh
yeah, you know, no, we're having
fun, whatever.
Yeah. No, it's,
yeah, they're, like I said earlier,
that he was a quiet guy.
I mean when I first met him and
when I first asked him to fish a
tournament with me.
And it was the MTCMWC,
actually that plaque is out there,
so then I can tell you exactly, but
the year.
He owned a bar.
He owned the bar.
It was called Fat Boys in St. Cloud,
Wisconsin, and I walked
into the bar, and he's a
pretty quiet guy. So he just sits
down, he's just, he minds his own
business, whatever, and i sat next
to him, and then he, I remember
him looking over at me, he goes,
what's up? And I said, what is going
on today?
Just got done with work, whatever.
Blah, blah, blah.
I said I got a question for you.
He goes, What's that?
He goes well, would you like
to like like to
start fishing with me?
Tournaments and stuff and I said
there's one coming up and it's a big
one just wondering if you'd want
to be interested and
he goes
Well, give me a few days.
I'll think about it and Yeah,
we drank it He didn't say another
word after that every drank
the beer had a couple beers whatever
and I left and then he called Me a
couple days later, and he says yeah,
let's do it.
You know and And
then we had a few sponsors.
I asked my uncle Dave Berger.
He owns Dave Mark
Metals and yeah, he sponsored
us and a couple other team,
you know, like river house.
He was always my sponsor and then
Yeah, we ended up fishing that
tournament and we and we did
we did pretty well for the first
time fishing together We actually
took six plays that I do remember
Yeah, that's pretty much when it
started. Then we were
hooked. Then we went out and got a
bunch of sponsors, Mercury, you name
it, all over the place and
that's how that ended up,
us fishing together.
So that was pretty cool.
One of the things that we're
interested in is the
relationships that exist in
the book, that are created
in the books, whether it's
between cousins or spouses
or friends, but there's
a different relationship that
comes out of people that spend that
time.
Yeah. Oh, yeah.
You come closer and closer, you
know, the more time you spend, you
know, and relate.
And, and I guess it doesn't matter
who anybody's
with, you know, you're out, you
having fun, you out fishing,
you know. Yeah, there's times where
you know you
dumb, you know, it's just,
it, it is what it is.
But family, you know, I always fish
with family. That's, that's all the
time, you are my whole family
fishes.
And, uh, no, it's just.
Yeah, between
friends and family, it's
about the same for me.
I treat everybody the same,
you know. I don't yell too much.
I don't even yell at my guys at
work.
It's not me.
You know, we always have fun out
there.
I mean, and obviously, you've seen
that a few times.
And then there's always stuff that
happens. It seems to happen to me,
but yeah.
But it makes it interesting.
I love it.
Yeah, it's always, I love having
family out on the boat.
You know, my son, this year I
didn't get to fish with him too
much.
Um, uh, I fish with my
partner, um,
Kevin Schaefer majority this
week, but, or this year,
but next year I'll
fish more with my son.
Yeah, because he's been fishing with
other guys and the little, the
little poop.
He's, he's, He beat me a few times,
but, but he's he's
got to remember who taught him and
who showed him the spots where to
go.
So, yeah, but eat, he always,
he gives me a little hard time on
that, but I'm just proud of him,
you know, cause when I can't do it
no more, he is going to take my spot
and I want him to be like I was, you
know, definitely a hundred percent,
you know, but and I
hope he gets his daughter into it.
Also, Addison,
yeah, I just, I hope it keeps going
on. Like my brother, Jason,
my brother Jason, he's got, he's has
got how many kids, you know, and
they all like to fish too.
You know, so the Gable
name, yeah. We're keeping, we
got kids out there that hopefully it
will take our spots someday.
So.
Yeah.
We've heard there are obviously
some husband and wife teams that
are people that fish together, and
there's plenty of where it's a
couple of friends or siblings
or something.
When it comes to relationships, how
do you manage a relationship when
your spouse or your partner doesn't
wanna fish?
Would it be possible for you to date
someone who is like,
or is that a conflict
sometimes when they're like, well,
why are you married to the boat?
All right, well, you're
asking the right guy that question.
Yeah, that's pretty much the
story of my life.
Why I'm single now,
most, yeah, most of my, well,
two main relationships, yeah.
I was fishin' too much,
constantly goin' out
of states and stuff, you know, and
like my partner Stone,
he didn't,
he had one bad relationship and
that person happened to.
Do a lot of stuff wrong and you know
she ended up you know passing
away so he
never dated anybody else after that
that was and that was way when
he was younger and after that
he was always single so
then when I moved in with him after
I got divorced from
my first relationship yeah
so it was always me and him I mean
we did everything together and it
wasn't and it's not Like, we were
just partners, not any funny
stuff.
We were just...
We were just good buddies
and that's it, you know, and we
fished, we hunt all
the time.
That's all we did.
So it was kind of hard to get a
girlfriend, which I did get a
girlfriend, but that didn't end up,
you know, yeah,
there I was gone too much.
Way too much, you Yeah
And all these other, you know, and I
got partners and I know people,
which I'm not going to say their
names, that went through, went
through and recently went through
divorces because of that reason that
we're fishin' too much.
And it's tough. It's tough to keep a
relationship, you now,
I'm actually...
I would like to be in a relationship
with this one now,
but, um,
and, and if I was, I would
definitely, cause this
one, I really, really love this
one. I would probably quit a lot of
the tournaments or give up, you
know, a majority of them.
I won't be fishing every weekend,
not even close.
I just do the bigger ones, few
of the bigger one's out here and
maybe a couple of bar tournaments
and that's good.
You know, you got to keep mama
happy. That's Boys, I got
to tell you that. You got to keep
them happy because it doesn't end
well, you know.
And I seen that on Facebook the
other day.
Just a meme.
And it had a half a boat.
She got my other half.
It was funny but, yeah.
So, yeah, when it comes to
relationships and fishing.
If you want to keep your
relationship.
You better not do what I do.
That's all I got say.
Find a way to get him in the boat
with you.
Yes, yes.
And yes, I would love that.
But it's just hard to find.
It's hard to find one like that.
They just don't fall out of the sky
like that, you know.
That's just the way it goes.
I mean, and yes, there is a lot of
guy-girl teams, husband-wife
teams.
Yeah, and that's awesome.
I wish that was me, you
know, but I didn't find
the right one for that one yet, you
and I don't think the one that I
want or that I do love right now
is doesn't
really want, she likes boarding.
She loves boarding, but.
That's that's about it and swimming
and stuff like that, you know
A different intensity that's not
required to work with you on that.
Yeah, yeah, you got to
have the drive a little bit,
because otherwise it just probably
won't work, you know.
That's where we're getting
arguments, and that's no fun.
You know, I hate arguing,
especially with women.
I hate it.
You know that's just
not my gig, you.
So have you, this kind
of may sound like a weird question,
but have you tried online dating?
Have you done it before?
No, no. Do you know guys that have
done it? Oh yeah.
Okay.
Yeah. And it's actually worked, it's
some of my buddies, uh, actually
one, one that's
coming tonight, Dave Bose.
He, he just went through a,
uh divorce
also and,
uh he, yeah, he online
and yeah, he's already, he
already found one already that, that
he's, he really, really likes, you
know, and, and like
my buddy Scott up North,
um, he meant, he met his.
Soon-to-be-wife here.
I think they've been together for
eight years or something now.
It meant, I don't even know what
site it was, but it was an online
dating one.
Yeah, and it worked for him.
There's a bunch of guys I know that
it worked, but I'm just not...
No, I like the one
that I'm after right now and I'm
never going to quit.
No, I guess the
question there is,
do they actually post a picture
of them with a fish?
Because we talk to a lot of women
who have a lot very strong
feelings about guys on dating sites
with a picture.
Oh, bet.
Are you aware of whether,
if you were going to do something
or one of your friends, would you
say, oh yeah, get that nice one at
the big wall?
I guess, I don't
know if that's a turn on or turn off
for them on a dating site.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, the guys, oh, soy fishes, nope.
Scroll to the left.
So I don't think I would probably
do that, just
because
of my prior
relationships.
It just doesn't work with a fish.
So obviously I better not do that.
Do most guys have
pictures of them smiling without
a fish or is it on all of
them?
Oh yeah there's a lot of
yeah guys with pulling fish oh
my god yeah there are tons of them
just yeah that's
what we're supposed to do you know
but
I mean, how many pictures do you
have of yourself where you're
smiling and you're not holding a
face?
Oh my lord.
Oh, how many times?
Say that again?
Do you have pictures of yourself
where you're smiling, but
you're not willing to fish?
Oh yeah. Are the only, like, the
most of the smiling pictures of
you, like we want to...
Oh, no, no.
No, I smile.
Yeah, no I smile in other pictures.
Yeah, oh, I see what you're getting
at. That was funny.
No, no no.
I'm always, I'm usually a pretty
happy guy all the time.
Yeah, that's, no but I, yeah,
I really do smile a lot when I'm
holding a fish. Oh, for sure.
Yeah. Because that's you
know, yeah.
And how can't you, like all the fish
that I have in my garage up on the
wall, how can you not smile when
you, when you got them on the end of
your line and And they're
fighting and it's
crazy, it's intense, it
is what we do.
And then, yeah, and then you're
high-fiving in the boat.
That's when I'm really smiling, but
no, I do smile, otherwise.
Yeah. And if I ever did do that on
line dating, which I won't,
I'm sure I'd probably put a picture
of smiling in there,
but yeah.
So as far as.
Do people who don't fish walleye
understand what it is about walleye,
or why are walleye like
the fish?
Well, it's just how you got brought
up.
You know, there's guys that bass
fish that, they can't
stand while I, that's what they do,
is just bass.
Yeah, I think that's just how you
get brought up, because I'm sure I'd
be bass fishing if my dad was a bass
fisherman, right?
I'm guessing.
But in it, also who
your friends are, who you grow up
with.
You wanna be with them
also and hang out with them and
that's what they do, that's you do.
That's just the way you do it.
But yeah, that what it,
yeah, yeah.
It's just how you got brought up,
I'm guessing. That's how that works.
But for you, why
didn't you switch
to bass at some point?
They fight more. There's people who,
you know, muskier,
bigger, you can catch more pants.
Yeah, well while I, yeah, while I
are bigger, bigger than Bass, you
know, than being a Bass guy, and
obviously Muskies are bigger than
that, but if you've got the patience
for Muskie, which I have, absolutely
not.
Walleye are like in the middle,
that's like,
you're getting every excitement,
every, everything out of
a walleye, you know, you get the,
you get the fighting, which I know
you get fighting in bass, but the
bass, you know, yeah, you can catch
10 pound bass, but that's
just, you know,
I just don't get excited over that,
you know, but, you
know, coming from other people's,
how they think, you
for me to tell people that.
Walleye is dead center that
You get every everything out
of a walleye, you know you get
You get you get the action you get
to the pullbacks you get that you
get there's there's so much more
Yeah, you don't get a wall I jumping
out of the water like a bass That's
how we know when bass are on all the
time. They jump out.
You know, and it's like yeah, but
Yeah, no, I would it's
you know, it's hard to say
you know about that, but
And you've got a sink for the
walleye behind us, right?
Yes, yes, you know
That was that eerie wall I then...
Oh, yeah.
Yep. Them are all your eerie
walleye.
Yep, yeah, that's that's the other
thing with us, you know What
I mentioned that earlier With
us we always us tournament
fishermen. We always like to keep
the walleyes in the lake.
We I Don't
hardly know any of my buddies
and I know a lot of them, you Know
because fishing tournaments you you
learn to know a Lot that
actually keep them because most of
these guys most of my guys almost
all of my guys.
We go to Erie because Erie, they
want you to take them fish, you
know, because there's so many, I
mean, there's there's millions
of them, you now, so they need
you to take them out.
We always like to keep in our local
lakes and lakes that, you know,
that we're trying to make better.
You know, we put them back.
So yes, all them walleyes that we
keep are from are from
Erie for sure.
So what is it about a walleye fish
fry that makes it so
special?
Well, it's when you, yeah, when you
get your guys together, all your
teammates and stuff, and wish
we could do it more, more often,
but yeah, it is the
camaraderie, it, you know,
everybody's, we're gonna be sitting
out there talking, you know
talking, fishing stories, and I'm
sure talking about what happened
today, and you know and
all the past, you know with
Stone, and it's,
and we're all together, and we are
just, you now.
Even though we're just, we're
friends, to me it's more like
family. We're all family no matter
what. I don't care if you got the
last name or if we're a cousin or
not.
To me, we are friends, we were
family.
That's my brother.
All my brothers.
And it's fun just to get everybody
together.
We always play bags or
we have cocktails and talk
smart and yeah,
it's, it' fun, it fun.
So one of the
other things that we're looking at
is the amount of research that the
state is doing right now.
The DNR, Glyphwick,
and the universities, they're
looking, there's groups like Wall
Ice for Tomorrow and some other
volunteer groups.
They're spending so much money
to try and figure out
where walleye are declining, how we
can get more walleye or to raise
walleye to put back in the lakes or
figuring out what's the best
possible way to do all this docking.
What's the best way to keep a fish
alive if you do plan to catch and
release?
There's a lot of money being spent
on that oh yeah is there
a justification that it's worth it
or if oh yeah decline
that it would just be you fish for
something else
Oh, no, it's definitely worth it.
I mean, they're doing their job.
That is for sure, you know,
especially with the walleye.
Like this year, oh my gosh, there's
so many little
fry walleyes out there that made it
that...
This year it's insane
out there how many walleyess,
you know, and when we're out there
trolling, it
looks like we're in eerie.
You can go out in the mud and the
arcs on your screens are just like
in eery. No, they're- They're
definitely a hundred percent doing
their job, you know, with walleye,
with, um, restocking
it with, with food, you know,
there's abundance of that out there
this year. And then especially with
sturgeon spear and that's.
That is doing very, very well.
They, I give them 100%
credit on that.
That is, they're doing their
research, they're doin' their, you
know, their nettin', you know their
restockin', you know it's
amazing.
You know, I gotta give it to them.
You know there's a few things
I disagree with,
you know which we talked about today
a little bit, you know with puttin'
on a limit, you know cause a lot of.
A lot of locals keeping them little
guys, you know, and that isn't
helping our system out at all.
But, but otherwise, other than
that, yeah, no, I agree.
Like, there'd be something lost if
while I... Oh, I got it.
Oh god, if they didn't do, if
the universities and all these
places, the DNR and all
of them, if they didn t do this,
oh no, that lake wouldn't be
nothing. Nothing at all.
Or even, any lake.
It doesn't matter. Any lake.
I mean, because obviously, like in
Erie, holy cow,
they can't even keep up with them,
you know.
But yeah, yeah, no, they're
definitely doing their job.
I can, I can tell you that.
I have nothing against them guys.
Just on a few little issues, you
know, that could be easily taken
care of.
But yeah.
But otherwise, yeah. They're
definitely doin' their job, yeah
But as far as like the need
for to do this, like Walleye
has a place in Wisconsin
as far in society
and culture.
Yeah, that's that's like the king of
the fish and, well,
besides sturgeon in Wisconsin,
that that's just.
That's just the fish you fish.
Well, that you should fish anyways,
you know, because they're fun.
They're fun to catch, you now.
And they're hard to catch too.
You know, they're finicky,
especially out in Winnebago.
Yeah, day by day, like
I was saying, but.
It's like they're the right balance
of skill required to do it,
but then the size is the reward.
Yeah, the sizes are the reward.
I mean, it's that the size out here
is definitely coming back
You're catching a lot of 20s.
I'm in nurse 28 sirs 29
Actually, my partner stone and I
you know, I think we got like
if I remember right like
three 28s out there We got a 29
and one just shy of 30
The one tournament that we were
that we we're in
It was it was called monkeys
tournament. It's on the west side
It's Mikey blanks uncle passed
away. That was a long time ago
already and we they do a
memorial every year not no more but
That that one year we
had we came in
with 28 pounds That's the
most that the most set we've
ever the best we've every done for
like just I want to bagel That's
unheard of you know to do you
know and that that's real pounds
That's not aim aim scale
or nothing like that because aim
scale. That's a total different
You know, if you get 30 pounds, you
pretty much got like 22 or 23
pounds, just because of how they
got it calculated out, you know,
between, between length and
pounds.
So, but yeah, no, they're
doing good. The system is doing,
it's on fire right now, you know,
and I just hope it keeps up.
There's a weight on plenty of bait.
Uh, the minnows and the, uh,
the white, or the, the
white or not white perch, but the
perch minnow's there.
They came back and I don't know how
they came into the system, but yeah,
there's tons of them all over like
during like during sturgeon spirit
and holy cow, you can see if
you're using a
Down view panoptics or
live scope, whatever you got You can
just see the whole bottom and you're
dead still because obviously you're
not moving on ice So
the whole bottle is just moving
isn't it's all It's
all bait.
I mean them fish the fish are
healthy, you know, the one today we
got was a little bit skinnier, but
You know, most of them that we're
catching out there, they're fat,
you know, they're doing, yeah,
the restocking, what they're doing,
they are definitely doing a very,
very good job.
For people that don't fish,
do you think they understand how
much money goes into the economy
through fishing?
Through fishing?
We were at the tournament with you,
just walking through the parking
lot.
Hundreds of thousands and millions,
or actually millions of dollars
is sitting in a parking lot.
No, you take a big
tournament.
Each boat is $100,000 and
there's a $300,000.
Oh, that's just in
boats. Now you got equipment, now
you got trucks.
Now you've got, yeah, there's
millions and millions.
It's crazy what
a guy puts into it.
Do you have to do that?
Absolutely not.
You could just, and that doesn't
make you me
or better than you if
you go out there with just a 16
foot puddle jumper.
That's fine, I'm not, you can go out
there and catch them same fish, you
know, it's
who you are,
you know. Do you want to fish
tournaments? A lot of people don't,
you know, or they're older
or they, you know, they just want to
go out and have fun.
Yeah, you don't need a boat like
that to do that, you
know, but there is a lot of money
that flies around.
I mean, all the bait shops,
everything, bait.
It's crazy.
If you would take fishing away,
period, or the DNR would just shut
it down and say no, that would
be a huge, huge mistake.
That hurt the economy, something
fierce.
Like, something bad would probably
happen if that would happen, you
know.
So, and I don't even, I
don't see that in the future, ever.
No, but if fishing
declined because they weren't doing
enough to keep enough fish there.
Yeah, that would definitely hurt,
yeah.
I feel like it's worth to spend the
money.
Yeah, are you saying if they didn't
do what they did?
Yeah. Yeah.
Well, then no, we would it would be
gone Oh, definitely.
I wouldn't want to go out there
fishing for nothing, you know,
or or very few
You know that that'd be pretty
tough
It would be harder for some of the
people to justify the new boat and
all the... Oh yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Yeah, because nowadays they don't
get boats away no more.
I mean, your average boat is a buck,
you know, 120 to 150,000.
You know, that's
hard to swallow.
Is it easier for you if you don't
add up how much you spent on
fishing?
Oh, we don't talk about that stuff.
Yeah. Yeah, but I actually I
couldn't talk about it because I
don't have I don't have a wife so
I really don't care but
yeah but otherwise no no
I wouldn't I didn't wouldn't bring
that stuff up too much about the
past with that because I I
could be retired way a long
time ago already if that was the
case because I bought enough boats I
don't even know how many I don t
know but
Would I give it back, or how
would I say that, would I take it
back?
Would you trade it?
No, no, I think
I'd keep it the same.
I don't know.
No, I'm glad I did what I did
You know, yeah, I give my dad crap.
You're my buddies.
I talk about my dad.
It's like
It's all because of you, it's all
your fault that I,
yup, that I'm divorced and I gotta
spend all this money on fishing,
yup, thanks dad, you know, I
appreciate it a lot, you know and.
Yup, no problem son, I'm
here for you all day.
You know, but.
Could've just golfed or got into
woodworking.
Yeah, no, golf is not my,
that is one thing I
can't stand,
hitting a ball and going to chase
after it and picking it up and
hitting it again and then chasing
after it, not my gig.
No, and a lot of my buddies do,
and they ask me to go along, well,
you just be the cart, drive
the beer around and stuff, you know,
and it's like, just that
whole thing doesn't, it doesn't
turn me on at all.
Sorted.
It's mainly hunting and fishing,
that's pretty much what I do, you
know, all I shoot pool.
We shot pools since we were
little. We always had a pool table
in our basement, so
we were pretty decent at pool, our
family is too, so we're in leagues
and stuff.
That's another thing, you know,
you're gone every once or once or
twice every every week at night,
you know, old ladies don't like that
neither, you know, so it's.
Yeah, so it's pretty,
if you want to
keep a relationship, you might as
well just quit it all and stay home
if you want to have a loving one
anyways, unless she likes to
fish and do all that stuff, you
know, that's, hey, getty up, that
more power to you.
You know, I wish everybody the luck
like that, but I'm lucky,
but not, not
that type of luck in that direction
anyways,
bye.
I think we're good on this end.
We would like to put the mic back on
and have you walk us through out in
your garage.
Okay. The mounts and some of the
trophies and stuff. Yeah.
Kind of talk us through there, but
we're going in here.