Yeah, I was thinking one thing that is hard when you mention about the people you know catching the wallies especially watching on television and you know
They're catching these giants and letting them go in 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 wall I go
That is legal that could go in the frying pan, you know and around here like most of the lakes have
Have the the seated territory regulations, right where and where you've got the
15 to 29 or 15 to 20 inches you can keep 20 to 24 have to go back and 1 over 24 you can keep and
You know if someone catches a nice 18 inch wall I
It's the most people are going to keep it. I mean, it's just it's just good eating fish and it's a really nice
And we're going to put faith in the DNR and the scientists to make those rules and regulations to help that we can't keep them
And it's they're not going to hurt the population. We kind of feel like well, then yeah
We're always going to ask to 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 one gets and we hook it and we know that fish
I mean chance of it making you know we keep it and we if it's legal and we fully 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, let's keep it in
But but walleye is that surprise, you know people aren't going to usually let those go
And I think some people are just more food driven
You ask like what's the difference in these two populations of people that walleye fish and these my grandson is a good example last year
He got to have his long time with his grandparents and we went and he I want to go catch a great big fish
We're like, okay, cool. So we go out. We end up he catches a great big musk
I mean for this little lake. He's three years old and it's like this big and we get all done
Let it go and now he looks at me. He goes me me now. Can we go get one we can eat?
Yeah, you know in his mind. He's like he's had fish
He wants to just get one that we can eat because that's a special thing to him, you know
So yeah, and then we do get a lot of people like that that they they're very surprised when we tell them
You know like no, we're gonna do catching a lease on the bass and the muskies
But if we catch a walleye, you know, we can keep a couple of walleye's like, oh, okay. That's 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 most for most people, you know because it doesn't taste like fish
I mean like most people you got the 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 right. Yeah, the thickness is even I think the thickness is good
It's not like a you know like you get a blue gill and unless it's a really big one by the time
You know your fried is thin and and it's good, but it's just not a lot of meat there
Right, but I think the size is good, you know
I think and I think
You can cook it a bun we we do a lot of experimenting and cooking a session
We're in canoe country and where you know
We don't have all the you know
And I always want to have to bear it fry him and whatever and we cook we poach some and butter and we
Broil them and we do bake them and we do all sorts of stuff so
Is there 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
Which she did you play out and when you have a big enough wall you get the cheek out of it and then and
Perched one on each little tortilla. Yes. She did. Yes. She did Canadian wilderness. We did that
So tell me a little bit about the decision to mount a fish what goes into
That because it obviously taxidermies a big thing and like you're talking about you're making memories
So what's the difference between take it a picture versus like having something hang on the ball?
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
And and we encourage replicas a lot
Yeah
every once in a while you get a fish that
You feel like it'd be hard to capture that fish with a replica whether it's a paint or a size or whatever
and
and it's usually the
Story around that fish that really means the most and like this this fish here, you know, like Brenda said
She's caught bigger walleyes, you know, and shwang and bay and green bay and this one is 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 want to celebrate? You know, I'm pretty low-maintenance. I said can we go up to Canada?
I can do a 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 and
Because then I caught this fish. It was like a bonus at the end of this 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's all it was almost black in color in fact the the taxidermist
I've 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
I said if you give it back to me
It looks like a walleye from northern, Wisconsin
I'm not I'm not gonna be happy because I need to have it look like like this and and he did a really good job
But you know, obviously we we liked our taxidermy and
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
You know, I grew up in this environment with you know
I ate wild games since I was a little kid and fish and
John did too. So for us, so we're honoring it in a way too. I think sometimes, you know, and some of the fish
You know, they have, you know, they're prime spawning years with fish, you know, and once they're past that, you know
It's like it's not it's not nearly that kind of an impact that you might think now with that said again
We encourage replicas muskies, you know, we have never actually caught it kept them in all of our years guiding
We've never kept the musky to get mounted
You take pictures you take measurements and so forth, you know, everybody we always encourage that
She caught a small month bass
That was almost 24 inches is just a hair under 24 inch small within a little river like that
You know, that's gonna be a replica some day. Yeah
You don't have to do it right away either. That's 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 know
You you have to make sure that they capture that fish and it's hard
It's out of your hands. You have to find a tax remiss that is really gonna do justice to that fish
I like what you said though about honoring it because that's where I feel about it
And like I have a friend my friend who's a retired fish biologist. He's like, you know that that fish is ready to be turtle food
that's not that's not making little walleyes anymore and
So 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 that's the only fish I've had mounted that I caught. Yep, and I've had two. Yeah
so
Yeah
The deer do a little difference. I just shoot them
Can't really let them go. So, you know, but we eat all the venison. Yes, you can make things with the parts
Yeah, there's that so yeah
All right, anything else that you guys want to talk about or reference?
I think the only thing that I would that I would
that I would say is
We just are really at strange times us again being pretty familiar with kids and and you know and
Having gone through with our kids and seeing with with our clients and their kids
Figure out a way to get your kids involved with 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 when I say when do you hire a guy hire a guide 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's a lifelong thing
Absolutely
All right, can I get you to?
Name and the title of the business just so I have it all correct on tape sure John
Joe HN Meyer M a I E R and the business is true North guiding and outfitters
And I'm Brenda Meyer
All right, same. Thanks a lot you guys. This was great. I wasn't too big