So, I want to talk
a little bit more about you and your
family because you obviously talked
about your fishing experience as a
child, you've got a couple of boys,
right?
So, for you personally,
like it's...
How important is fishing in your
personal life? Or do you get enough
fish in your job
that it's like, you don't, like you
go home, you're like, I really don't
wanna go touch fish again.
It's probably the same old story
for most of us as fisheries
professionals, but I love to fish.
I always have. That was, you
know, fishing in sports.
If it was my summertime coming up
and I was five, six, seven, eight
years old, I was on a bike and I
always had a fishing pole or, you
now, go to the baseball field, stuff
like that.
So, fortunately, I grew up in
Stevens Point where there was opportunities
to get to do that.
You know, my dad was an angler.
His friends were anglers.
I'd get to go along with them, and
so it just kind of became an
identity at And as it
continued on through school and with
that passion, it's how neat would it
be to work with fish
and understand everything
I could about fish.
And that just kind of led through
the schooling progression for
me to be in
the position that I'm in now
where fish are my life
as far as work.
As far as fishing itself, yeah, it's
still my passion.
I would say that there's just times
where
I don't like to fish as hard.
I put it that way.
Where I still, I always want to go
fishing. I'll go fishing at every
opportunity I get.
There's just sometimes I don't want
to work as hard at it and just kind
of go out there and enjoy it.
Especially in the springtime like
this, we're out on the water every
single day. We're working with
hundreds of fish every day.
And a lot of people go, gosh, it'd
be the last thing on earth I want to
do is go fishing and play with more
fish. So I always enjoy it, like I
said, sometimes I want, I don't want
to work as harder at it.
So when your boys were little,
or like were they, did you see the
same thing? Or they just like, they
followed you around and so fishing
became part of their lives.
Yeah, I mean, I think that's
basically how it works in a lot of
cases. And so they've been in the
boat with me since, you know, they
were wearing their water wings and
with their Snoopy rods and
everything like that.
And, you now, with kids, you start
them, you, you start that
progression. It's, it's catch rates
first, right?
It's making sure that there's
action. They're not going to sit for
eight hours a day, um, you know,
jigging, uh, a jigging minnow
and not catching a fish or, or a
wallet all day long.
So, you no, it, it it's, I think
it's that starting is getting that
engagement there of.
Catch rates and then now you
know as they progress they love to
fish they love to ice fish too it's
hey dad what are we doing on the
weekend we want to go ice fishing
yeah let's go this way what do you
want to do do you wanna jig or do
you Want to go tip-up fishing I just
want to watch tip-ups today it
becomes just like for so many other
people their friends start coming
along and we start taking their
friends with and it's
awesome to watch kids running around
chasing tip- ups and they're at age
where they're tackling each other on
the way and stuff so it becomes
social and it becomes part
of their identities and now they're
hitting a stage two where they're
starting to buy specialized gear I
want a bass rod because a
smallmouth time is coming up I need
an ultralight because a crappie time
is Coming up and so um it's
fun They learn about that whole
progression just kind of through
osmosis and the interests that I
have and taking that out They're
also really fortunate to at the
agency like they come to work with
me sometimes They've been out
picking fight nets and they're
working up fish and they are
hand-in-hand with the students and
technicians that we work with
getting that so whether they become
fisheries professionals or not is
not a big deal to me I
want them to be happy and to do what
they want but if they decide that
this is a career path
that they want to do that's
fantastic as
But you, I mean, that's part of like
why we're doing the story.
It's like you talk about your
grandfather all the
way down through the line.
Like this is a cultural thing that
is.
Transmitted generation to
generation. Yeah, and there's
so many benefits to fishing and it's
not just You know harvest
opportunity, but there's been many
studies about this of all the
different Reasons
that people go fishing and I can be
just because I want to spend time
with family and friends and that's
it's something That they enjoy it
can be it's just really relaxing
to be on the water and to
be out on a beautiful lake
You know trees and
wildlife and everything like that
And then also the other end of the
spectrum is like, I'm going on in
the water and I wanna catch as many
fish as I possibly can because
I'm really driven by that
utility or that satisfaction
that angling gives me.
Even for myself, there's times like
just, it's a stress reliever.
I'll go fishing sometimes just
because work's been hard,
lot of long hours.
I don't care if I catch anything.
Casting is therapeutic to me.
I'm just gonna go cast and if I
catch a fish, that's a bonus.
Um, so there's all those things that
come into play. It's not just
harvest and, um, and
catch rates.
There's a lot of, um.
Therapeutic relaxing, good qualities
that go along with fishing.
How does fishing play into
relationships, especially with
spouses or partners or boyfriends,
girlfriends, that kind of thing.
Because obviously there's a lot of
jokes about, married to the boat or
you've got your fishing license
before your marriage license and.
Um, I think it all works in all
different ways. I mean, I know
there's certainly relationships
where, um, I know many women anglers
that are as hardcore or harder core
than any male angler that I could
ever, um tell you and certainly very
passionate about it.
Um, again, there's other situations
where it's time spent together,
right? And so, um
if your partner really, really
enjoys fishing and
you enjoy fishing a little bit too,
but it's really nice to read a book
and sit in the back of the boat or,
uh, dip your feet in the water, you
know, however that might work.
That's good too.
So again, it's an activity that
brings people together.
And when it comes to relationships
like that, I think it can work in
all different ways too.
It might be that someone's never
angled before and your
partner really likes to angle.
So it becomes a new experience.
Maybe you like it, maybe you don't.
But again, it brings people, it
brings together.
So one more question on
the research that I've been meaning
to ask is I'm trying to get an
estimate of how many
studies on walleye are
active at any point in time.
And I know your one component is
there's UW-Stevens Point and their
aquaculture center, and I think
obviously using UW-Lynology
and there's, I'm trying to get
an idea of how much studies are
going on, how much money is
devoted to this.
And if there, is there any other
species of animal in Wisconsin
that has this much.
Funding and number of studies
looking at it.
You know, I could figure out
ballpark figures for the amount of
funding, the number of studies for
all the groups that you just
mentioned, but you've hit on a lot
of the key ones.
So DNR, Great Lakes Indian Fish and
Wildlife Commission, several
of our universities within the
state of Wisconsin, our federal
co-op unit at Stevens Point engaged
in a lot all our research, the
Climate Adaptation Science Centers,
that we work with our USGS folks.
And it's not just Wisconsin though,
this is broader regionally too, and
sometimes with our collaborators in
Canada too.
I would just say from Wisconsin's
perspective, I know this, that
most of our studies are
devoted towards walleye right now
because these natural recruitment
declines, the popularity of
the recreational fishery and the
importance of
the tribal subsistence fishery.
We certainly are studying all kinds
of different things too, but there's
a lot of attention being paid
to walleye right now.
To translate that over to wildlife,
maybe deer.
You know, we invest a lot of
research into deer.
It's probably... Especially with
CWD, maybe?
CWB, but it's kind of the
wildlife walleye of Wisconsin,
right? Deer are kind of king for
the fish side of things.
And those, yeah,
those make the largest group of
people that are spending the most
amount of money and paying the most
attention to how many they see or
catch.
I mean another way to look at it too
is it's probably the
sport fish in Wisconsin that's being
most challenged right now.
It could be very different if
musky were showing similar
patterns or trout populations.
We do a lot of trout research too
and they're going to be challenged by
climate change in the brook trout
reserves now and some of
our scientists have done a lot work
there but there's a lot attention on
walleye because of the patterns
we've seen over time and the
importance of the fishery.
Just imagine if you're driving on
the high
highway and then walleye jump down
and hit your car.
Yeah. That'd be nice, right?
Walleyes falling out of the sky.
Yeah, all right.
Anything else that you want to add?
I know we covered a lot of territory
here, anything else that you think
we're missing? No, I mean, that's
pretty wide-ranging stuff.
All right. Can it get you to say...
And spell your name and gave you a
title, just so I have it correct on
the camera.
Sure. Greg G.
Sass, G-R-E-G,
G period, S-A-S-S,
and fisheries research team leader
in the Office of Applied Science
with Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources.
Thank you so much, I really
appreciate that. I know that was a
long time, but hopefully it covered
things that were interesting to you
too.
No, I mean, I enjoy the
conversations and, you know, if this
comes together, I think.