Yeah, I was thinking one
thing that is hard when you mention
about the people, you know, catching
the walleyes, especially watching
them on television and you know
they're catching these giants and
let them go and it's for sport and
and that's cool.
But like I'd say like up here,
it's really hard to expect
people to let a walleye go
that is legal, that could
go in the frying pan, you know.
And around here, like most of the
lakes have the
seeded territory regulations,
right? And where you've got the
15 to 20 inches you
can keep, 20 to 24 have to
go back, and one over 24 you can
keep.
And you know if someone catches a
nice 18 inch walleye,
most people up here are going to
keep it. I mean it's just good
eating fish and it's a really nice
fish to take deep.
And we've got to put faith in
the DNR and the scientists to
make those rules and regulations to
help that we can keep them, and
they're not going to hurt the
population. We kind of feel like,
well, then, yeah, we're almost going
to have to stick around.
Well, and bass too.
You know, you catch some bass,
smallmouth, like out of these rivers
and lakes, we don't keep the
smallmouth.
But if we hook one bad,
like we're using plastic and we hook
it and we know that fish, I mean,
chance of it making, you know.
We keep it and if it's
legal and we filet it up and it's
as good at eating you know
especially didn't freeze it came out
of cold water that's really good
eating you know so we we encourage
that if instead of just letting that
fish float belly up you know why
let's keep it in um
but uh but walleyes that's
a prize you know people aren't going
to usually let those go.
And I think some people are just
more food-driven.
You ask, what's the difference in
these two populations of people that
walleye fish?
And I use my grandson as a good
example. Last year, he
got to have his alone time
with his grandparents.
And we went, yeah, I want to go
catch a great big fish.
We're like, OK, cool.
So we go out.
We end up. He catches a great,
big musk.
I mean, for, I don't know, this
little lake here. He's three years
old.
He's three years old, and it's like
this big.
And we get all done, we let it go,
and now he looks up and he goes,
Mimi, now can we go get one we can
eat?
Yeah, so.
You know, in his mind, he's like, he
has had fish.
He wants to just get one that we can
eat because that's a special thing
to him, you know.
So...
And there's a lot, we do get a lot
of people like that, that they're
very surprised when we tell them,
you know, like, no, we're going to
do catching a lease on the bass and
the muskies.
Um, but if we catch a walleye,
you can keep a couple of walleyes,
like oh, okay.
You know, pretty excited about that.
I'm sure you've eaten plenty of fish
over the years is walleye.
I mean what makes walleye different
or special is there you can
tell the difference? Well, I always
said for most people,
you know, because it doesn't taste
like fish.
I mean like most people you've
got trout and salmon species
that are you know they're very
distinct and then you get into the
other fish but but I it's
yeah it's firm it's
it's white yeah the thickness is
even I think the thicknesses good
it's not like a you know like you
get a bluegill and unless it's
a really big one by the time you you
know you fry it is thin and And
it's good, but there's not a lot
of meat there, right?
But I think the size is good,
you know what I think that?
And I think you
can cook it a bunch, we do a lot
experimenting on cooking, especially
when we're in canoe country and we
don't have all the, you don't always
wanna have to fry them and
whatever. And we cook, we poach some
in butter and we
broil them and we do bake
them and we all sorts of stuff, so.
Is there a wrong way to eat them?
I just don't overcook them.
No, and there's really creative ways
to make them.
You can make walleye cheek
nachos.
Yes, she did, yes
she did.
You'd play out and when you have a big
enough wall you'd get the cheek out
of it and perched one on
each little tortilla.
Yes you did, yes you did.
Canadian wilderness, we did that.
So tell me a little bit about
the decision to mount a fish,
what goes into that?
Because obviously taxidermy is a big
thing and like you talk about,
you're making memories.
So what's the difference between
taking a picture versus like having
something hang on the wall?
Yeah, it's a kind of a controversial
thing. I think when you're a
professional, you have a
responsibility to kind of set a
standard for people and what you
expect. But at the same time, you
know, there are a lot of really good
options now with replicas and so
forth. Um,
and, and we encourage replicas a
lot.
Every once in a while you get a
fish that, um,
you feel like it'd be hard to
capture that fish with a replica,
whether it's, uh, paint or size
or whatever.
And it's usually
the story around
that fish that really means the
most.
And like this fish here,
you know, like Brenda said, she's
caught bigger walleyes, you know
in Schwalmian Bay and Green Bay and.
Was just barely 30 inches,
but for our 25th wedding
anniversary, you know, he was like,
well, what do you want to do?
How do you wanna celebrate?
You know, I'm pretty low
maintenance. I said, can we go up to
Canada on a canoe trip for
10 days?
And so we did, and we went to a lake
that I'd always wanted to go to,
that we never had gone to.
Because then I caught this fish,
it was like a bonus at the end of
the trip.
It's on our way out, we're almost
getting ready to get picked up.
And if you look at the color, it's
so unique.
It was almost black in color.
In fact, the taxidermist,
I had spent a lot of time with him
with pictures that we had taken and
we were out in this bright sun with
a good camera. So we had really good
pictures. And I said, if you give
it back to me and it looks like a
walleye from Northern Wisconsin, I'm
not gonna be happy because I need
to have it look like this.
And he did a really good job.
But, you know, obviously we liked
our taxiderma.
There's just the memory there that
sits with it, that surrounds you.
I picture myself getting old here,
and I have all those warm
fuzzies that go with all the things
that make me happy.
And I grew up with it.
I grew in this environment with,
I ate wild game since I was a little
kid, and fish, and John did,
too. So for us.
So we've honoring it in a way too.
I think sometimes, you know, and
some of the fish, you know, they
have, you know, their prime spawning
years with fish, you know?
And once they're past that, you
know, it's like, it does not
nearly that kind of an impact that
you might think.
Now, with that said, again, we
encourage rep, because muskies, you
know, we have never actually caught
it. Kept them, you know, all of our
years guiding, we've never kept a
muskie to get mounted.
You take pictures, you take
measurements of the girth and so
forth, you know, everybody, we
always encourage that.
She caught a smallmouth bass that
was almost 24 inches,
just a hair under 24 inch smallmouth
in a little river like that.
That's going to be a replica
someday.
You don't have to do it right away
either.
Taking a fish to get mounted is a
very stressful thing, because
you give it to them.
And then when you get back, that's
what you get back and it's like,
you have to make sure
that they capture that
fish and it is hard.
It's out of your hands.
You have to find the taxidermist
that is really going to do justice
to that fish.
I like what you said though about
honoring it, because that's the way
I feel about it.
And like, I have a friend, my friend
is a retired fish biologist, and
he's like, you know, that fish is
ready to be turtle food, that's not,
that not making little walleyes
anymore. And
Absolutely.
There's some of that that goes into
the thinking too, and of all
the fishing, you know, I'm 64 years
old and that's the only
fish I've had mounted that
I caught.
Yep, and I've had two.
The deer and doozle difference, once
you shoot them, can't
really let them go, so you know.
We eat all of innocent and
make things with the parts.
Yeah, he'll do just that, so yeah.
All right, anything else
that you guys want to talk about or
reference?
Um.
I think the only thing that
I would say
is we
just are really at strange times,
us being pretty familiar
with kids and
having gone through with our kids
and seeing with our clients and
their kids, figure
out a way to get your
kids involved with the fishing
in nature, the whole
experience, and try and get that
fire lit because We are,
our fishing numbers are declining.
We need, we need people
in the sport.
And we need, it's
just such a good, healthy
connection you can have with your
kids. So that's why I say, when do
you hire a guide, hire a guy
that can, that is going to be
about, about your kids or
your spouse having
a really good time because
it might not be a quest
for catching as many fish as
possible, but an experience they
won't forget.
And once you light that fire, it's
exciting. I mean, that's a lifelong,
that is a lifelong thing, so.
Absolutely.
All right. Can I get you to
say and spell your names
and the title of the business just
so I have it all correct on tape?
Sure.
John, J-O-H-N, Meyer,
M-A-I-E-R,
and the business is True North
Guiding and Outfitters.
And I'm Brenda.
Thanks a lot, you guys.
This was great!