and start fishing
So have you been out fishing at all?
We were on the Chippewa River over in the spawn again
with a couple of guides
Nice
When was that?
August?
Yeah, it was awesome
Yeah
John and Brenda
My ear was on me
Okay
My phone is John and Brenda guides
Oh great
Yeah, with the guide out of here
They're not that far away actually
Okay
They do a lot of canoe guiding
and so the real low water
Were you in a drift boat?
Yeah, one of the little canoe robots
Oh, yeah
They had a couple of those
So they had a client out with them and we were in the other boat
Fishing for walleyes?
Yep, they had a few pockets where they had some walleyes and then a lot of bass
Okay, that's good
Yeah, it was a beautiful day
I've got a drift boat in the
garage barn
They're fun
It's like you're just starting to get some color
Yeah, it's getting close
You know, we sort of peek
in early October
I mean by October 15th
We're done
But we had some
We've got some maples that go early
and now everything's going to start to change
So, you know
What we do is just troll
Everybody tries to fish walleyes here deep
and the walleyes aren't deep
Somewhere, maybe
So I'm going to put you out this side of the boat
Okay, and the only thing you need to do
So these are diving cranks
We'll be fishing in like, you know, seven or eight feet of water
And you need to keep it out so it's away from the motor
And you don't need to cast it
Obviously you're going to have to bring it up
if you feel weeds
But it doesn't need to go any further than
And we'll let it go a little further
Like three times the length of the boat
Keep the rod tipped down
And then I'll guide us along
Hopefully it won't kill us here
So there you go
Alright
I'm assuming that the head on these is a little more definitive
Yeah, you don't have to wait
They'll set themselves
And, you know
People used to catch fish right here
But this is just to get us started
There's a few walleyes in that bay
But we'll be fishing on the north end here
And whereas the sun, you know, goes down
The baitfish now are, you know, in August you'd use crawlers
Because they're still eating bugs
But now the baitfish are alive
They're probably all that big
And they're all finding warm water
And now the walleyes come in shallower to eat them
So we'll stay it
It's not very exciting
Six to seven feet of water
I get us in the rate mode here
So I just cleared the track so I can see where we're going
So here's the map, here's the depth
I don't even use this that much but
Okay
So I'm using the button to turn my RPMs down
Usually I troll with the trolling motor
And that's all I need
But I can't see it
So
This makes it a little more quiet in the last few weeks
Oh yeah
Yeah, everybody's gone
You know, we had some people last weekend
The weather was so nice that
You know, we had some people ski in and doing stuff
But for the...
Do I need to bring any clear them?
If you've hit weeds or you think there's weeds on it
You should bring it in and take the weeds off
Oh, yeah
Yeah, you know
So how's the film going?
We feel pretty good about it
Good
Got a lot of good things
Every time we go out, there's still things that I still want to get longer
Yeah
But we've kind of figured out our winter schedule in the next spring
So I feel good about not only solidifying this time
To know when I can go out and get what we need
Yep
But then just getting much more concrete ideas of, okay, this is when we need what we need
It can all fall
See this here?
Some of this?
Those are fish
Those are bait fish
So this is weeds here, but some of what we just ran into
Stuff up here is probably bait fish
No, he's not a... he's still here
So you'll still be filming next spring, too?
Yep
Well, doing or filming next spring?
Next spring
I think I'm going to try and get out with Lance and his boys for disappearing
No, that'd be fun
They won't let me go, but oh shit
You may catch a log here
Where did that come from?
Wow
I don't want to catch a log
Where did that come from?
That's a post
Let's go a little
Yeah, that'd be fun to get out and
Go, I've never asked to go out and spear, but
I'd like to go, you know, if they ever have a
Lake blessing
You'd want to get in on that if you could
That'd be pretty cool
They had one here over at the federal landing
Not much
Lance says most of the kids go there because they like the hot chocolate and the hot dogs
I sure think every other kid is seeing it
Yeah, you can't
Go in
I brad my kids to get out of the boat with snacks
Yeah
Get a little extra time
Damn
I got a weed if you want to film that
We film everything here
Ha ha ha
We're also going to do some stuff over on the wall from the
Fox for the spring run
Okay
Last spring we did a lot with
research and science and spawning
This next spring we want to focus on
People
We're looking
We made sure that we didn't identify
any bridge crossing anything else there
They rarely see anyone else out there for their guide service
It wouldn't take much for someone to empty out
No
He was pretty careful in the approach
and quite a few of them were just like
All right, they might be one or two in here
Come in from the side, stay here, cast in
Yeah
Yeah, we got a few
We got four
Yeah
Yeah, four or five
Yeah, we got two or something
Fast out there
We're on the middle part of it, yeah
Just fast after fast
Oh, that's fun
Yeah
Oh, that was a blast
We're right here
We could find the stealth engine
Seven, eight hours of it
That's a journey
Yeah
Yeah, those are
Those trips are long
You know, there's
There's no getting out halfway through
We're like, oh, we got what we need
Yeah
I actually put a motor
I got a two horsepower motor on the pack of mine
Because some of the stretches are like
Okay, we're done
Let's go
Over green vein?
Yes
Yep
Yeah, that's
That's pretty crazy there
I mean, they have excellent fishing
And they do have the numbers
You know, here
You know, I hope the people that come here
Catch fish and then take a few
But this isn't one of those
Let's go get a limit
And I mean, you can catch enough to get a fish fried
But
I'll let you get the right shot
I got knocked instead
And now
And I think I'll let you go
I said
No, there's no
No, I'm missing
Oh, yeah
No, but
I'm missing
Well, it's
But it's
Is pretty exciting
Fishing
For a couple of years, yeah, he's a good guy, he's helpful, he'll tell you how he does
things and he shows me a couple of knots, I mean he's a decent guy, he's got good equipment
so you don't have to fool around you.
You know, like our docks are going to go out the 17th of October. So most people will be in you
know this weekend you'll find people at the landings really getting their stuff out. We tried to
keep our stuff in longer for both fishing and the pontoon for fun and when it gets cold, it gets
cold. It's like okay and my wife is sitting you know next to me with a winter coat on and we're
on the pontoon. Yeah, the nuts right there. I'm hoping we catch one that's
good. Yeah, it's probably northern. Got a little more tug than they usually do here. No, it's a
walleye. You got six. Got him? Don't let the guide get him. Okay, there you go and just set it on the
ground. I'll just make a mess of everything. Alright, first thing we check is a clipped. Nope,
natural. That's good. That's probably a keeper. I'm not keeping it.
Okay, good. So how do you hit? You just grab it. You know, you don't set the hook. I'd see
that's just a keeper. 15 inches. So there you go. We can go home now. Alright, now the night just
started. That's good. So what's the deal with the camera? Never seen it. I have no idea. My guess is
maybe it's the internal battery. Oh, it's not one of these batteries that we always carry with us. You
have to take the camera apart. I just kept turning it off. It eventually turned on. I've never seen a
camera. So they know there's a bummer camera, but they let it out. It's not a it's not a bummer. I think
it's just the camera doesn't have any issues. The guys in the engineer says he's fixed it. He probably
is the bummer camera. So we're a little weedy here. We're still in five feet of water. Now just take
your wife to garnish. You know, we drove down there and it was so packed. Couldn't even find a
place to get in. Damn it. That was close. We'd look very nice. We were ready. Did you go all
these to the bar? No, we couldn't even get out of the vehicle. It was really there was no
place to park. I was at difficult to turn around because I haven't pulled. We've been out
on the link all day with the boat. You should come over at a knee gym, old-fashioned or something.
She had she had wine out of the boat. She she wasn't working. That was a fun link. Were you filming? Yeah,
you just kind of hanging out with us. Sorry. And what's a Baldwin grant? It's a great question.
It's one that I believe one of the focuses is that you have to work with one of the system
schools and it has to like showcase the Wisconsin idea in some way that it's demonstrating and
educating and showing off all the research and stuff. They're optimistic that it's we've got a
really good portfolio. Good. I think we find out early next year. And how's PBS
public radio, public television? Why Boston? Oh, you're fine. You're fine inside the album. I'll
believe it when I'm on the other side of it. Right. Until then. Yeah. Actually, we took this project
one of the things that makes us feel like we're secure until 27. Yeah. Because we know that if they
want this going well, people are asking me, when are we going to see it? And I thought,
I don't got to tell them 27 or. That was. Okay. It's all right. We don't. You okay? You want to.
Ethan, did you drop a knife? I did not. No. Okay. That's my son's or his buddy.
Oh. All right. So we're looking for fan clips. Yeah. So the fan clips would be here. Right here.
Or there. And that's a natural fish. So about 12 inches. Yeah. Perfect. Okay.
Here. Open a little to your left. All right. Sorry. Like this. Bring more of this way. Oh, I see.
Yeah.
All right. You're good. Yeah, I guess. Well, give me one more chance of that. All right.
Ten seconds.
Okay, you throw up now. All right. Ready? Wait, please. Oh. Sorry.
That's right. They're fish. They like to swim. Kid come up from Iowa or Madison or.
And then be out with his dad and catch, you know, a couple of fish. And
that's why we do this. Not for him. You know, I mean, there's a lot of guys that
have over fish this lake and I think that day is done. The new regulations, I think, are really good.
But, you know, if a young kid and his father can catch a fish or two and go back home and
tell the kids in school what they did, that's what, you know, that's how my son got interested
in fishing. So that's why we do all this. Okay. I'm going to keep fishing for a bit. I'm going to
get us into this bay here. I call it a bay.
So for you, is it more exciting to get one with a fin clip that you help put that one in there?
Yes. You know, I don't, I'll just catch them. And, you know, it's good news if I'm catching a lot
of fish and they're not fin clip. I mean, we had good recruitment and, you know, mother nature is
always going to be, you know, vastly superior to what we can do. But that's been the problem
with all the local lakes is recruitment's been bad. Now, we're lucky with this lake. This is,
this is a decent walleye lake and, but yeah, that's why I look for the ones that are clipped.
So it's kind of a good no matter what. It is. Yeah. I just like to catch them. So, you know,
I had a lot of people say, Oh, I can't catch any fish or they're all too small or hard, you know,
and I go, are we efficient? Oh, I'm in rocks and 14 feet. Okay. They're not there. Stop fishing there.
So, but, you know, I'd like to see them. A couple of clip fins are great. You know,
then I know we've done, done it. But we see enough of them in the spring. When our
fight nets are out, we always get, you know, fish with clip fins and there's a lot of lakes
that are stocked that ages don't survive. And so, no, lucky for us.
So, where are you staying in Hayward? Oh, we're at the American. Oh, once in a while, the holiday
in express will be state-rate. We can get in slip bobber or drop shot. But even that bores
the hell out of me. So, it seems like there's enough different ways to fish that. Yeah.
I got us in some weeds here. We're in about five feet that's weedy.
You know, check mine. You guys didn't bring headlamps, did you?
Okay.
You got a light on that camera? No. How do you catch? Do I need to turn the lights
on in the boat for you to see the fish? Oh, no, it's fine. This is pretty good in the light.
Okay. But if instead of having a light on the camera, we would just bring a light separately.
Okay.
We'll actually hear headlamps in the ambient light would be perfect for us to see.
All right. Let me throw a pitch black at the difference, but it's just like you're fine.
Not being a very good guide here, but
I don't think I'm going to do that.
I'm going to do that.
Okay.
Well now they left, I wanted to put that on so they didn't run into us.
So I suspect they were fishing for, they were probably fishing for a while, they were
sitting there, they weren't casting that much, they were right at the edge of a weed.
Next week's going to be really nice, I'll get this out of here.
Next week's going to be nice, the weed, I just hooked into one too.
So where else do this, I know you want to title it sort of walleye, but I think a lot
of our group that has worked together, if you don't find that anywhere else, what other
part of the story is of interest.
Just the interest in walleyes?
I mean the broader theme is that walleye's cultural, economic, ecological impact in Wisconsin.
Why that one particular species holds so much interest from so many people, and how either
people that don't fish for it are impacted by the economic and cultural impact, the history
of it's there.
So it's kind of, I'm using the sciences, the leaping off point of all the attention
and interest in the science of trying to save this species, and it's almost starting from
the question of why, why this one species is different.
You could name a lot of species, fish, that if they were collapsing, no one would.
Yeah.
A few scientists or maybe someone who cared about them would be worried about it, but
it wouldn't be collecting billions of dollars of re-generation effort to sustain it.
Because I think the most interesting part of this is what we're doing.
Just kidding.
No, you're not wrong, that's why we keep coming back up here.
The connection that exists in all the different groups that are collaborating are kind of
the whole thing.
There's your geese.
Oh, right into the sun.
Now they're not going to get up high enough.
Okay, I got a fish.
Okay, there's the ducks up above.
Swimming towards me, holy smoke, come on, buddy.
My son got a 22-inch smallmouth right up here, and that's maybe 13, that'd be my guess.
Okay, I got it.
Thank you.
So I'll get this out of us.
We'll measure him.
He's got both, both ventral fins here, so that means it's a natural fish, which is good
news.
Sorry.
I just want to shake it out of his, come on, buddy.
Come on, you're barely hooked.
Let go.
There we go.
So there he is.
Okay.
Yep.
And let's see what he.
13, just a hair over 13.
So that's good.
Keeper next year, maybe.
It's kind of fun though, right?
Sure.
No, that's what it is.
That's where we're at right here, sandy, the river's flowing through, pardon me.
The river's flowing through kind of grassy, and the baitfish are in here, and we could
do this.
Actually, you could probably fish in the dark, because they're probably here all night long.
There's no big hatches that I've seen, so the baitfish is what they're eating.
Well, this is kind of the weather you were talking about how you first discovered this
lake, right?
Yep.
Exactly.
We won't ask how many years ago that was, but a long time ago, I was probably 25, so
50.
Am I that old?
No, I'm not that old.
45.
I bet they could hear you how old and all across the lake, huh?
Oh, we were having fun, boy.
And we were sitting on a dock, fishing, and catching walleyes hand over fist, and you
know, you get a couple of beers, and we're using a few jokes, and we're still ringing
in fish.
We just came back from Canada.
We hadn't had fishing.
So it was the whole area, so we just had a blast.
We were told to be quiet, which is okay.
So that was, if it was, you know, I guess if we were serious about catching 40 fish,
you'd sit probably right here with the slip bobbers everywhere, and we're going to keep
the tool trolled back a couple more times, and, well, stay Saturday night, I'll have
a fish fry, but not from this lake though, I don't, I don't keep them here.
I'd have to bring my wife back up to that.
Sorry, I'll turn this on.
Clunk's like you just got, I thought, okay, that's a fish coming up and biting.
When we first moved here, we'd come out night-like tonight.
And maybe catch 15 or 20.
So population is, you know, it's coming back, but, you know, I was trying to get back to
four, and it's still under half, and it was.
Yeah.
Four point three per acre.
Our goal with our group is five an acre, and Scott Toshner, who's head of the fisheries
for the DNR, when he used to have this lake, this was his lake, and we looked at the averages,
you know, 95, 97.
There should be something right around here, though.
So did you tell me what other lakes you're going to?
Uh, let me see the big cedar, Winnebago, here, we hope to be on the wolf, we were on the
river, and we were going to be doing the same thing.
Yeah.
At one point, I was thinking of trying to include that, but cultural attention to walleyes from
here.
Boy, this is small, holy smokes.
It might be a weed.
Let's turn around.
Anyhow, either way, however it works.
Oh, God, it's a fish.
He went down the weeds.
Oh, it's small.
You don't have to.
We don't need the net.
Okay.
Let's see if this one's clipped, huh?
Nope.
That's right.
I think I saw he looked himself, so they just hit it so hard.
See, I don't know, I guess I do need it.
Thank you.
You're in your gills, you goofball.
Okay.
Yeah, it's a...
So this should be what they're checking tomorrow night.
This is year one, one year old.
So it was six inches last year.
This is what they're looking.
So they're counting year zero, which is the first year, about six inches long, and they
would count this as year one.
So he went from six inches to whatever this is here.
He won't even make the skill.
Yeah, he will.
Yep.
He's 10 inches long.
So that's a year one.
So when they do their data, they'll show Y-O-Y, young of year, and then they'll do year one.
And hopefully if we can get them to turn them upside down, it's a lot of work.
You're in the boat, you know, and take a look at the fins and see if the one's clipped
and one's not.
So that was a one year old...
It's weird.
It's a two year old fish.
It was born last year, and what they're going to look for is young of the year, which they're
all going to be about that big, and then they'll record one year old or a year and a half,
I guess would be the best, yeah, probably a year and a half.
And that would be that one right there, 10 inches long.
They might measure them, yeah, they'll measure, I think they'll measure that, and any other
adults.
That's not an adult.
So that's what they're looking for tomorrow.
So, okay, we're going to turn around and go one last, oh yeah, for God's sakes.
We've got a crappie, speaking of crappies, that is a huge crappie, yeah, well, that's
medium for here.
That's medium for me?
Oh boy.
Yeah.
Man, don't miss her.
My fingers.
Yeah.
Here, let me get you the, Ethan, watch your step there.
Oh, wait.
There you go.
We have to keep him for your fish fry.
No.
He'll live.
He's just in the tough part of the deal.
Did you get hooked again?
Shit.
I think that's a cut out.
Huh?
That's what I thought, too.
The first part was a little ...
Yes.