I get two out of three.
Thank you.
Yeah, this is like the new setup,
so it's kind of crazy,
I always forget how to use it.
I'm just going to put the stock
carrier in one of the good ones.
I'm just trying to grab a pop up.
Which pop up?
Yeah, I'm trying to...
The walls.
It's an animal.
Yeah, we know, but ow!
Oh, there's another one.
Why?
Yep. He's getting it.
He's fighting. He's winning.
One more time.
Boy, you got a bunch in your hands.
Show it over here in front of them.
Come on, come on.
Nope, you gotta throw them hard on
the side of the boat.
Watch out, watch out.
Thank you.
What do you know?
You gotta watch like, you gotta do
like, corner.
Try that one.
Gotta hold it like this.
Just like you're throwing sidearm
baseball.
That should not have worked.
No it should not.
Other way, other way,
How'd you get there?
What are you doing?
He's proving it wrong!
Oh wow!
Oh my goodness!
Good warning, another one.
The cup is really good at throwing
rocks.
Another big skip.
What are you doing? You're writing.
Are you sure?
Doesn't he bat-letting?
That's left to do.
Oh, okay.
I'm going to go jog.
Oh, he's a switcheroo, is that what
it's called?
Wow
Come here. Come here, man.
Come here now.
See you all in a moment.
Yeah, he's deceiving.
Yeah, well, some of them that aren't
glad have been able to skip very
well.
You want to go all the way to the
front.
Go all the...
Go.
Go this way.
Go like this.
Here's a flat one.
Here, Warner, do you want this one?
I mean, you can't
It's a little one, but it's flat.
It's a little one, but it's fast.
We got a bigger one.
What are you doing?
Get out like this.
Righty on your right hand.
Just throw it like a baseball.
Throw it like a baseball, that's not
how you throw a baseball
That's how you do it.
What
Looks like a baseball.
You know the funny part is that he
was doing better with the direction.
Papa actually skipped a big one.
Did he really?
Can you show them again?
Lots of practice.
You've got a couple more years to
pass.
Oh, that wasn't a good one.
Warner, here we go.
So, off I go.
Thank you all.
Do you want this one?
Do you like this one.
Just throw it however you want to.
Just throw however you like to.
Careful.
Yeah, it's in there now.
You skipped it.
The mic is in that case that says
416924 on it,
which is the parking place.
Yeah, it should be.
Yeah, that should be all you need,
but then I'll help you set it up.
Oh, it's
too good.
Watch out!
No, he's fine.
He's got it.
He's not going to risk it.
He's going to push it up.
He's gone!
Oh well, that kinda worked.
Am I just, am I the rock feeder now?
Here, here.
Okay.
No, you're kind of getting it.
Try to aim out farther, aim out
further.
Remember, just like with your cast.
There you go, look at that, you got
two! I got three, I mean.
Nice job! I mean, I got two.
You got three yes.
Good luck.
Alright, throw it as far as
you can throw it, just like a
baseball. No, that works, no way.
Just like a, just a baseball, stop.
Just like baseball.
More like a baseball.
Throw it as farther as you could
throw it.
That's only how far you can go.
Whoa! That made a really cool sound
though.
That's fire.
OK.
There you go.
You guys want me to go home?
There you go.
Oh man oh oh nice
you threw it really far though
here ready set nice
job how about this one,
this one's a bigger one This one's a bigger one.
Facing hate.
Yeah!
Focus. Yeah.
There you go,
throw this away baseball.
It's gonna make a really cool
sk-flunk sound, right?
Nice! I can do a big one.
See where Papa can throw it.
What?
Ho ho ho!
Should I open it, Tre?
Good job!
How about Opa?
Let's see how far Opa can go.
Go, Opa, go!
Go, Oppa, go!!
I'll use a smaller one.
Ready?
Hope it doesn't have a whole lot
of...
Alright, Shadanti, have you tried?
Try it. Ready?
Go on, baby.
Yeah!
I can do it way farther.
Oh, thanks. I love you too.
Oh!
Oh, jeez.
Oh.
I think he scared the fish.
I will, you shall be showing off.
I think he scared the fish one more
year old.
Oh, egg!
Watch out for the yellow.
I'll walk in the allergy area.
Yeah, when I told him it's cool
down, he was like...
Well, I kind of don't.
Wow
Wow!
Keep coming.
Go a little further.
A little further...
Is it getting a little slippery?
No, not yet.
We're still in place.
We're not to the weeds yet, but the
weeds start right here.
Gotcha. I'll stop.
Thank you.
I'm going to go back.
A little further, a little further.
Whoa.
It's because of the weeds. It's because of the weeds.
Here, wait, hold on.
Here, here, here. I don't like weeds.
Corner, corner here.
Go stand by Opa.
Go stand at the edge of the weed.
Allergy. Yep, allergy.
Go stand on the edge and throw it.
Okay, bye.
All right.
Come stand by the water,
he's going to throw stones. He's
going throw stones from over here.
Stay away from the allergy.
Yeah, I don't want you to get nailed
in the tag.
Oh yeah, I appreciate that.
Yeah, why don't you throw stones
over here, because then you'll get
used to the water.
Find a stone?
Yeah, I promise.
Thank you.
Have a good day. Have a nice day.
That's right, dude.
There's some stones under there you
can get.
Ah, there you go, good boy.
Oh, nothing much.
I hope we're getting there.
You have to get more.
Oh, here. Wait. Let me see.
Let me.
Thank you.
There's a bunch of bigger ones
here.
Thank you.
That's a good one.
I could go this far, so...
Oh, good job, that was really good.
Whoa!
Just one more, all
right.
Good job, dude.
Good job.
He's like, hold on,
I bet you it's from the pod 2.
Tails will watch this.
I'm watching.
No, but they do
Boy you're going further with Opa.
Find some stones to throw.
That's a pretty big hole.
That's pretty dang hole.
Hey, stand next to all of us so I
and Abby can take a picture.
Everybody be cool.
I'll send it to your mama.
Yes, yeah, I know he's
cold.
Alright, 321 cheese
and crackers.
Hey, you have to look at the camera.
How about hummus?
Does hummus work?
Hummus.
Thomas!
Thank you!
Is that gold?
Is that Gold?
All right, go ahead.
You know, it was beautiful.
You want me to come with you again?
What happened to our energy?
Our energy?
Our energy.
Feel how the water gets cold when
you walk in the deeper water?
Can you feel it?
Go over, you can get it.
I'm stepping off, I can't, you can
get it?
I don't know how big it is, is it a
big one?
It's a big threat.
If it is drawn.
Alright.
Yeah. Something.
No, there's no stuff here.
There, there, there.
Is that it? Yeah.
Okay.
Allergy, allergy, allergy.
I'm going to go throw them up.
Look right there.
So I know where to put them.
There's another hole right there, I
think it's a bar of stone.
How's it going?
Can you say hi?
Tell them how many hi- No.
Wait, wait, wait.
Come here.
That's good, good!
I was looking at the camera.
It's not that bad!
I think you just realized you were
there, to be quite honest.
It's all good.
No worries.
I don't like candy.
Okay, perfect.
All right, that's fine.
I'm good. Sadie doesn't want it.
Okay.
I want to go to the beach with you.
What? Can you stand on your knees?
There's a hole right there too.
Can you sit on your knee?
Stand on your knees.
Okay.
Whoa! That's cold.
Alright, come here.
You tried.
Yeah.
You're going, no, come on.
I still want to go deeper.
Welcome here!
Hope you guys enjoyed!
Oh
What's a what?
Watch out!
Right, this is where
the allergy stops.
So you gotta stay right here.
I think going further than this,
you'll be in the allergy.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Ahhhhhhh
You gotta go under
Hey, no, we're not going so far
here.
That's right.
That's the only right answer.
Good morning, we're setting for a
long...
Yeah.
It's probably the only problem with
the store owners these days, they
don't tend to be comfortable with
it.
I know and they're my family too.
I'm a Packer fan though.
My dad's cousins were the Keith
Yeah, and
They all grew up in Chicago
So he turns right and everybody else
turns left.
Yeah.
Where are you from?
You're from Wisconsin, Dallas.
Oh yeah, I got some cousins, my
grandmother used to live in New
Jersey, I saved her at Lyman Road,
New York. Okay. Thanks for having
me. Okay.
Oh yeah, my cousins used to have a
farm in Laval.
Gotcha, gotcha.
Beautiful area, nice rolling hills.
Yeah.
Okay.
Oh, cool.
Oh, there you go.
Oh, my God.
That's when you
stalk the trunks.
They don't come to you before you
want them. You gotta go find them.
You gotta go, you gotta go find him.
They have holes in them for purpose,
but we've covered them up for some
reason.
We're an old man.
It's a delicate balance.
You're not an old man, Sassy Pants.
No, Oprah's an old woman.
Yeah, I'm not quite sure. No.
A couple more minutes and we'll be
good.
That'll go with it.
Hey Papa, can you
come over here?
Go right there, go right there!
Yeah.
It's so...
Oh, you didn't start it.
Yeah, Todd already attempted to nest
it, and swarmed.
Better. Safe and sound.
I'm starting to heat.
My technical...
My technical title is Senior
Political Reporter, so...
Oh, you've had some fun, huh?
Oh, yeah.
This is my reward for
all the other work I do.
For years, they've been promising,
hey, Zach, one of these times when
an election ends, we'll let you go
shoot a fun story.
And now they're like, oh, you might
be out, so we'll let you go shoot a
fun story.
They don't tell you the elections
never end, but I tell them.
I think it's really deep quick.
That's also a smart move.
Yeah.
Slightly happier life.
Nothing against it, but it's just
like, okay, it's
worth it.
Yeah, that's all about it.
Yeah, they put TVs in the cabin
and it keeps out of the water.
Nope, doesn't work.
Off of 29 to Jet.
Is that how you came or did you drop
it that way?
And come up the back way through Eau
Claire.
If you were to take Highway H,
what's really wild is as you step
coming closer to the gorge,
you can
just see from up there,
up deep down, how
this was like a massive bottom.
So you take 29 and then
take H.
Okay, 29.
And get off at Stanley.
No, we get off in, uh, Godot.
Oh, okay.
Up here one year when we had storm
that came through smile and the
kids were out with a good friend of
mine and he couldn't get the boat
started and his
dad and I jumped in his boat
because we knew something and we
could hear the storms coming we went
out there they were actually over on
one of the banana islands and you'll
probably see them if you go with
with Keith and
Robin they probably
gonna I don't know if that's one of
the islands they'll take you to but
anyway
The bananas are fun.
We were out to the bananas and
they were looking for a rope swing
because Brian was a professional
photographer. He was shooting.
He couldn't get the boats started
while he drained the battery.
So we got out there, got the kids
in, my buddy Burt's boat.
I jumped in my boat.
Well, let's start with some some
easy easy stuff.
All right Tell me the
story of how you first started
coming up here when when
was
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 meant to be.
Did you come up looking for fishing,
or was it family time, or?
It was mainly family
time.
Fishing was a bonus.
I loved to fish, but
the kids were kind of small at the
time, so it was me out in
the boat most of the time by myself,
but obviously as they got
older, then they were able to
get out of here, but that was
the bonus.
F fishing was a bonus.
So did you grow up fishing?
Yeah, kind of.
I mean, my mom
and my grandparents liked to
fish, fish bowlheads 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,
chart 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 great.
It 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 difficult,
you could hear people talking about
it.
It wasn't anything like
it is now.
Unless you went with a guide that
knew, obviously, the flowage better
than you did and knew where to go,
it was difficult for just the
average Joe to find walleye.
You go to the spots that 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.
Typically, 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 musky 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 diehard.
He was over the top.
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? Oh. Are 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
going to 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
you know because if it's not you
know how's a kids attention span
going to be if they're not catching
fish understood completely
It's bad enough with panfish, can
you imagine trying to take a kid
walleye 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, 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 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 flow edge 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, and you've
seen some of that change over the
years and like maybe some
of them, 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 your
business, but in the same token,
it is promoting the walleye fishing.
I mean, I would say
five years ago, maybe,
yeah, I would say 5 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
And 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 of 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 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 a long time ago
Resorts would say we're a walleye
resort or a 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,
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
first got here, 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
didn, they had, you, know, jukebox
and stuff like that.
And then, it evolved to
a different type of...
Thought process where yeah it's
partying and bringing
people in from off
the flowage to setting it
up so that you had something there
for people who 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 on
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 going to 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 didn't fish
like she does now and so 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 can be
out there all day long in the kayak
but no, it really
hasn't affected our
relationship whatsoever.
But that's made it better right that
people find if you know that you
hear about like fishing widows.
Yeah guys are always gone Yeah
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's 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, how's it been?
It's been okay.
Yeah, I mean the bluegills
are starting to come in so we can
get some pan fish and we
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 of 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 is not like a 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.
Yeah, 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 whole lot?
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.
Yes, absolutely.
All gas.
It's like fresh water lobster.
Walleye'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 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
actually...
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, 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 he was up at the, 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
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 were 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 you're up north.
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.
I know
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, it wouldn't be
as special as it is.
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 Moss
and his last name is spelled M-A-A
S.
Alright, and can you also give
me the names and spellings of
the characters just so we have it
correct?
All right, um...
I won't ask you for birthdates or
anniversaries.
HER NAME
Her name is...
Yes, Abby's name.
First of all, it's
Tyler, Maas, same spelling last
name, and it's Warner
is our grandson, Warner,
W-A-R-N-E-R, Maass,
and then it's Abigail, and I'm going
to mess it up, I know I am, it is
A-B-I-G-A
E-L.
Oh, every day?
Yes, yes, yes.
Yeah, we changed.
Yes, the Gaelic version.
Actually, her mom's Irish heritage,
so.
No, don't ask for these.
I know you are a master as well.
She has a boss at this point, yes.
That was great.
Anything else you want to add?
No, uh-uh.
Yes, yes
We don't tell people about lalai
cheeks.
No, I learned
that when you were the ones
doing the fish fry...
Yes.
The walleye cheeks went last and I
was like oh you can have it we're
good we're good have some
more yeah
I forgot all about the wallet.
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 a limit that
you can keep Because it's based
off of, because it's the,
what do they call it? I can't
remember. Slot Limit?
Well, it's, it, it also,
um.
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 the slot limit that
you can...
It's the seceded area, seceded
territory it's called.
So that's what this slot limit is
part of what they call the secede.
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 have
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.
Mm-hmm.
And she texted me back and
said 22 when I measured it.
Got it. I was able to bring it back.
So I knew.
Did the tribe, did the Kura Ray come
out here?
I, you know, I don't know.
I've not seen them,
but I don't know. 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, 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 you first term.
Oh, yeah, way before.
Yeah, yeah.
Have you heard of any 10?
I mean, is that something?
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 aren't...
Doesn't seem to be
It used to be the thing, like,
there's no walleye, it's like a
spirit of mine.
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 be the bigger area.
I don't ever remember it being over.
It may have been when
the The hearing 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
the rules for them are the same if
the rules for us are the 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 up, or he'd
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.
At least earlier in the class.
Yeah, we can still get started
tonight.
Yeah, go to class.
Go to class at four.
Thank you.
Yeah, I heard that, yeah.
Oh, okay.
Don't worry about it.
Don't pass.
Don't.
That's a good shot, that was a good
P.S.
Thanks, Scott.
Thank you, proper.
No, I didn't.
Well, he's not coming.
Okay?
Yeah, I'll stop it.
Next, actually, we've got a lycan
here, we don't need one down here,
got your release, but yeah, we got
this boy, oh boy, she's a little
young.
I don't want to do it.
I love you.
Are you hungry?
Are you getting hungry for supper?
There's my wife.
You're going to have ramen with us?
Oh, I'll let you know.
Can I get a burger?
Get some cheese.
These are the guys.
Okay, you had some cheese
We're actually team Lip and Muskie
on the back of our boat.
Do you want me to make him
some noodles?
And it's got blood, like, blood
dripping out of it. Do you want them to have
a snack first?
No snacks, we just ate.
No ramen noodles.
That's 45.
Oh, later.
Okay. Oh my god.
Oh, I'm still hungry!
You just ate a bunch of food.
You have some cheese.
You have cheese curry chicken.
It's a ghost.
What time did you want to eat or
doesn't it matter, Mr. Tyler?
We just ate something, sort of, so
whenever you're hungry...
Alright, I'll have to fire up the
grill then.
Burgers and hot dogs tonight.
Oh, man, oh, man.
Oh, ho, ho.
Hey, where are you going?
Why don't you sit up here?
Which you just cut the- Over here.
My water broke that I need.
Yeah, you did make a good one.
I'm from the Dells, so I'll be the
judge.
Oh yeah he'll
be able to tell you if you got a
good water park or not isn't this it
There's your waterfall.
That's pretty cool.
You climb up this and you
go down that way.
That's a slide of blood.
But I still have to...
No, it's just not the outside
of
the water proclamations. That
escalated rather quickly.
It isn't a blood.
Not a blood, not
blood.
What are you going to add to your
water park?
Ambulance.
I don't know what you're talking
about, that's the opener.
You're welcome to our show.
Person that's really been big
into really pushing
to preserve this and really,
her name is Cheryl Treland.
They own Treland Resorts.
She's just been
amazing pushing all this stuff.
And you know, Treland's are,
everybody knows who the Treland are.
And they've got one heck of a
place to stay when they're
on the west side, or yeah,
west side.
Well, they have a couple different
places now, too.
Yeah they have a couple different
places all over but but
she's amazing
promoter for this place
The other guy, John Dunlop,
he's in a resort over here.
He's written books.
You can do something else and I'll
put this in.
You can make the water
right here.
Then you can make it cooler.
That's the guy we talked to.
Couldn't agree more.
I could sit
I could sit and listen to him for
hours to think he knows and
he does it from the aspect of.
Well you can use this
page.
And how his book was written as
well. Just amazing, the stuff that
this guy's got.
He's a fountain of knowledge, and
it's accurate knowledge.
Oh, and yes, and he does
his research.
He spent, I don't know how many
years researching this book,
but it's just, it's incredible.
The stuff that guy knows is just
mind-blowing. You said debt law?
Debt law.
They own Indian Trails.
Indian Trails Resort.
It's probably one of the oldest
resorts on this island.
I think their cabins are from what?
The thirties.
Yes. Yeah, he's been maintaining.
We're in the third
We are in the cabin.
Keeping him up so that they stay
that way.
He's real big on it when it comes to
the knowledge of this place.
It's like I said, it's just amazing
how much the Lake
Association, the owners,
have really...
No, Sidney McDonner.
Did you tell him that you caught
your first perch today?
What? You caught your perched today?
How big was it?
I don't know.
Can you show me with your hands?
Maybe this big
You
It was about six inches long.
It was about this big.
He's gone the opposite of the
fishing area.
He's not the typical fisherman yet.
Did you just switch?
Woo hoo hoo.
What?
Mine's way better.
Oh, thanks.
Is he out of the water now?
I think mine's pretty cool, too.
Actually, would you mind just moving
that back over?
Then you can make all amusement
parks.
Amusement parks? Don't just do a
pink.
I'm not gonna just throw a paint.
You should have brought your vehicle
down here. I know.
I didn't know where to park, but...
Well, you should bring it down now.
That's the only thing.
Yeah. I would.
Like the way you think, yes.
I've, yeah, I've pushed that thing
in many questionable terrains.
Oh, I can't imagine.
Six, seven o'clock, and I'm like, I
suppose we can be done early if
we didn't stay out till dark.
And you're like, I love this
assignment. I love the assignment.
I love it.
Yeah, you signed up.
I did sign up for it.
Yeah.
That's true, I can't blame you.
Than you've worked with me before,
so.
Yeah, no, no.
I enjoy it.
It's just, it's like the first week
getting used to it again, you know.
Make hay while the sun shines.
That's a tadpole thing.
I've never seen those before.
That's the first time I've ever seen
those. Done.
Nice work.
I bet you it'll work.
But I still need, can you find a red
for me? A red?
Sure. Oh, you're going to add more
red? Okay.
I have to add it, so...
More blood.
That is not a blood.
Oh, that's right, sorry.
It's not blood.
He's going to be talking about that
all the time though.
It's the outside of the water.
Oh, gotcha!
It's not blood going down the water.
Okay, sounds like a plan.
Do you have a name for your water
park?
I'm going to call it the Jordan
Water Park.
The Jordan Water Park?
Where'd that come from?
I'm gonna do it, ba.
Guy.
I thought he
wasn't the mustache guy.
He was the beard guy.
The Beard Water Park.
The beard water push.
He he he he.
Oh
And it's very funny.
How about the pumpkin pie
waterpark?
Uh, I should call it
that.
No, you can't
talk like that.
That's your part.
You can cover us up with
this.
We'll cover one up with what?
This?
I'm trying to think of his bird that
he wants.
Put the water up on that.
Kingfisher wants me to do one for
Kingfischer for his birthday,
so I got to get to work on that.
How many loons have we seen since
we've been up here?
He's a Loon Magnus.
I think we've seen more than four.
We saw one on a nest that was
hanging out.
And and and
You can't tell we don't use mom and
dad.
Papa did before Obama did it.
Yeah, they're pretty birds.
Yeah, she always is so sweet.
Yeah, up here, absolutely.
M-A-U-T-H-E.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
We've got it in the northern
section.
Yes.
There's a little campground there,
right? Yep.
Yeah, they live right across the
street from Long Lake State Park.
Oh, okay.
Yeah. If I went and drove
through all those last you're
looking to see for potentially
disgusting campsites.
Sure.
I don't know. Yeah, actually.
There's good campsites at both
bodies.
Was it wasn't your that
was your wife?
Ancestors that used to own it
across the street.
They're the ones that sold it to the
state.
That mountain that they call Dundee
Mountain used to be called Kepke
Mountain.
That's his wife's maiden name.
Go for it.
Write it out.
You can do it.
Which is pretty cool.
I'll tell you.
A, and S,
there you go, says pants.
Water, oh sorry, W,
up, up.
Yep.
Er, E, oh, you got an E,
and then an R. There you go.
Park.
Ehhhh Hold on
There you go.
I like the sign.
Thanks for burping in my face.
Yes it is, I see you though.
Where? Where? Yep, just go down.
Oh, sure enough.
If it's cool, is that it gets darker
when it's dark?
You hear it?
That sound is just
calming. I think they think you're
a... That's what I think.
You're because you're so sassy.
Because you're sassy?
Because I want to bite your fangs
off.
Oh, really?
Well, that's aggressive.
This is mine.
Oh, okay.
What would you, well, rain at a
water park?
I mean, it
feels...
Let's do a Georgia one.
Let's get that one to open so it
doesn't blow away.
Got it.
How about Silly Goose?
Let's not go there.
How about silly goose?
How about Silly goose?
I like silly goose better
Ha ha ha!
Oi oi!
Sassy pants, that's
for sure. How about silly ghost?
Got it, got it.
Edit, edit, edit.
No worries.
Getting a proper education.
I guess.
We'll make sure you're nice and
well-rounded, right?
Orange hair?
Is it a Cheeto?
No, it's a lion.
It's a Lion? Ooh, even better.
She'd ask the neighbors if I could
steal their girl. You have orange
ears.
They're what? They're grilled.
The charcoal disappears.
It doesn't stay there.
Well, for burgers and
hot dogs.
And I'm cooking mine on the inside,
so you don't have to worry about that
one.
Chicken thighs are a little
different.
Are you going to make a cat?
Looks like cat ears.
Oh, OK, thanks.
You're going to be surprised.
Come on up, come on up.
Look at that,
nice!
The beautiful fire here.
Yeah, I'll try and do it.
Thank you, thank you.
Yeah, that's one of the drawbacks of
coming up to the cabins is you got
to bring all your stuff with you.
Otherwise, you go broke.
No, I don't.
Part of that part of the experience
oh yeah
Do it around.
No, that's good.
Do it on the bottom.
No no you wrap it around the bottom
of the yes
that one right there just go around
that one yeah girl one
more time and then
bring it back over toward the bolts
just pull it up so it doesn't die
You got it, you got it.
Perfect.
Yeah, otherwise it'll end up in the
water. That would not be a good
thing.
Especially if you're the next person
that's gonna touch it.
Yeah, I hope you guys can get out
there. That's this this time of
night
I'm sure people will take us out
sometime.
He's a good guy.
Yeah Yeah, we just met him
Last year was the first time we
really got to know him we actually
met him when they first bought the
place and and we stopped by when
we were staying at Barb and Anne's
just See who they were right?
Yeah, and And they were
just awesome during the muskie
tournament Actually,
they're getting shirts for us this
next year
My brothers,
our group, and then there's
a group of guys that
stay in, I think it's cabin five,
that are fishing in the termines.
Incredible the difference.
Just fishing, the water, you
put your bait in the water down over
there, you lose it after
three feet. Here you can see it
go down quite a bit.
This is more like a
lake, so to speak, where that
is rough.
And if you don't know your way
around there, you're guaranteed to
lose.
Low-end, lower-end unit of
your motor.
Yeah, it's not, I mean it's
amazing. Are you still using the little
tin we bought?
Yes, we have one at home.
I didn't want, we had bought a
cheap one.
One year to pay extra for our
and we'll take forever to
and then
uh uh
and we
would go over this
and stuff
so I said
okay okay
Thank you very much.
Again.
And then what we do for
the fish is I'll
take charcoal and I'll mold it up
and stuff, put the grill
on, and then I take cast
iron skillet and put
the grease and oil in there.
That's so cool!
Did you help him reel it in?
No, Papa did.
No, papa did?
Awesome! I didn't even catch any
fish on that side.
Oh, that's okay.
You can catch more fish over here.
Okay. Okay.
I was shocked at what Papa caught.
Yeah, I was too.
Wow, look at that thing.
Don't stick your finger in the muff
fish's mouth.
Do you just want the pliers out of
it?
Let's try not to get hooked by
an actual gator.
Dig it up so you can get it
registered.
Yeah, I'm going to.
I know prairie dogs.
You got it?
It's just in the very front.
Do you want this little one?
Yeah, that'll do.
Oh, okay.
I just need something better.
We'll do it.
I still think they should just keep
the pike up there and just make like
a little...
A little watt.
My fish tank has no impact
at all.
What are you doing buddy?
Nothing
I won't talk to you.
He's talking to the fish
How did you get this?
Oh, you're biting, that's what
you're doing.
What do you want me to grab?
Maybe hey you watch that next to me
Hold on, let me grab my phone quick.
Good job just
a little bit don't
touch it no touch it it's just a
little slimy no thanks
Are we keeping it?
Yep. Hold on.
Yay! Yep.
Hey Warner, peek your head around!
And everyone.
Say cheese.
There you go. Thank you
Did you see me sing my tongue out?
Of course you did.
I did just catch that finish.
Did he get back to you yet?
No.
It didn't happen.
It's all good.
Opportunity missed.
Yep, it happens.
Pause
But then we wouldn't have the fish.
Hey, that means you guys talk too
much. That's why.
No, no, I didn't talk
that much I
actually have the grill upside down.
No, didn't realize that.
Probably just being a smart alec.
Just being a sassy pant.
I was.
Sorry I had to turn this around.
You're a sassy pant!
Thank you, I love you too.
I put it on the wrong way.
This was it!
It's amazing how well you get what
you're good with as a drill.
Can I
use that one now?
Yep.
We'll keep that in mind.
Did you bet yours?
He bent it.
And eyeballs.
It's not easy to...
Where's my fish fishing pole?
Yeah, we're called down by the
airport. This is really hot,
okay?
Papa, can you switch
it from this?
That's a big pan. Yeah.
It's a good version.
Okay, it's clean.
I wasn't sure if you had a sense of
it.
Boy, it's hard to take this,
huh?
Yeah. Although, standing all day
with that in the house.
Yeah, that whole place was a resort.
It was called Sandy Point Resort
before we
came up, they actually had a condo
there.
Actually, there's a guy there,
and I don't really tell you, there
was a guy that was there.
Yeah the winter time out
here you could it's
like a little city
Yeah, well, the only thing you can
keep off the flowage of the winter
is bluegill's
merchant problem, except you can't
keep any walleyes or anything that's
not open.
Dude, this ruined my shot, dude.
Dang it. Stand up.
Service up here. I did not down
there.
Are they getting their fish?
Are they eating?
It's too hazy for you to look
golden.
I know.
I got the drone though.
You know I love flying it, but we
don't.
Well, why don't we go in the top and
see?
So I'll send you out with the
three guys who are sadly gone.
OK.
We should be able to get some good
stuff with them out there.
Yeah. I think three guys are going
to be out there for the night.
Generations like you got it where
you're looking.
It's crazy, man.
It's like the chillest people you
ever hear.
It's awesome.
Oh, did he?
He had to cry, and he didn't, and
then he pulled it back. Well, I
didn't know his friend Dirk.
No one had ever first brought up a
friend.
Oh really?
That'll get him.
Yeah.