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Eating Wild
Hosted by three hunting and fishing buddies with a lifetime of culinary experience between them, Outdoor Journal Radio's Eating Wild podcast brings folks from all walks of life to the boat, tree stand, and kitchen to tell the stories and answer the questions around the pursuit and preparation of wild fish and game.
Eating Wild
Episode 60: Harvesting Bass & Lakers
Ever wondered how to make the most of your fishing adventures and culinary skills? Join Antonio "Smash" Meleca and Christ "Showtime" Johnson, aka Siege, as we tackle these topics head-on in the latest episode of the Eating Wild podcast. From our exciting announcement about the limited-edition Eating Wild fillet knives now available on Instagram to the heartfelt feedback from our listeners, we start with a bang despite a few technical hiccups. We're diving into your fan questions with our signature camaraderie, ensuring you stay engaged and entertained.
Looking to start planning your ultimate fishing trip? Let us take you on a journey through our bucket list fishing adventures, recounting a recent family vacation and gearing up for a bonefish fly fishing trip in the Bahamas. The thrill of sight fishing and the beauty of these dream destinations will inspire you to chase your own fishing dreams. We also discuss the unique experiences of sturgeon fishing on the Fraser River and offer practical tips on catching lake trout using electronics. Whether you're an avid fisherman or just love hearing about incredible adventures, this episode promises to fuel your wanderlust.
Curious about how to cook the perfect lake trout or what it's like to challenge Gordon Ramsay in a cooking contest? We’ve got you covered! We compare lake trout to trout and salmon, discuss the best sizes for flavor, and explore creative preparation methods. Plus, we dive into the controversial topic of bass and musky consumption, sharing personal stories and challenging common misconceptions. To wrap it all up, we chat about our favorite topwater lures for bass fishing on hot summer nights and share a fun cooking contest idea against the one and only Gordon Ramsay. This episode is jam-packed with tips, stories, and a ton of laughs—don't miss out!
Follow Eating Wild on Instagram! To reach out to the boys, drop us a line at eatingwild@odjradio.com
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Speaker 5:After nearly a decade of harvest, use, testimonials and research, my skepticism has faded to obsession and I now spend my life dedicated to improving the lives of others through natural means. But that's not what the show is about. My pursuit of the strange mushroom and my passion for the outdoors has brought me to the places and around the people that are shaped by our natural world. On Outdoor Journal Radio's Under the Canopy podcast, I'm going to take you along with me to see the places, meet the people that will help you find your outdoor passion and help you live a life close to nature and under the canopy. Find Under the Canopy now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts welcome to another episode of the eating well podcast.
Speaker 3:I'm your host, antonio smash malek. I am joined today by my co-host Showtime, christopher Johnson. Siege, how you doing today, brother.
Speaker 2:I'm good, my man, how you doing? We're having some technical difficulties.
Speaker 3:It's actually driving me crazy. It's been a while since we recorded, each from us from our house, but you know we got to get one done. I got a big trip coming up, so we need to get some stuff in the bank, bro?
Speaker 2:I know, man, it's the demand. You know, the public has the right to hear us every week and this is what we got to do, and we're going to do it. Brother, we're knocking out of the park.
Speaker 3:We sure are, man. We got some really cool stuff happening right now with the Eating Well podcast. We also have some fan questions, man. We've been getting bombarded with questions. We do, and you know we got to take some time to answer these questions, because there's some good ones, man. They keep coming in. And one thing I will say, siege, that I've noticed about the fan questions is that everyone starts off with the show keeps getting better and better, and that fires me up, brother.
Speaker 2:It does, man. We're still learning. We're trying to improve every episode, like we're not, obviously, professional podcasters have been doing it like the Ugly Pike guys for you know, six, seven years, but we're getting the hang of it, man, and the beauty thing is you're mentioning the questions. We're getting questions everywhere Instagram, email. Sometimes people are sending smoke signals over to us.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, sos man, I love it.
Speaker 2:SOS. So what were those delivery back in the day? Would they do those pigeons or whatever?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I love it man, that's what's going on here. That's what's going on here. That's what's happening. Well, we do have some news happening to you with the Eating Wild now available through Instagram direct message only. We have the Eating Wild fillet knives that are available now for purchase. Limited time only and limited stocks each. We don't have many of these. Mike from Kukushkin has been going nuts and you know, if people want to get their hands on one of these, what do they got to do Siege.
Speaker 2:They just have to drop in the DMs. We'll keep everyone posted with our inventory. And then, yeah, just send us your address and all that and an email transfer or whatever. And even if you want to meet up in person or something like that, if you're in the London area or in the Oakville area, we can work something out. Definitely we want to get these in our hands of our fans and I mentioned before on an earlier podcast, even if you're not a flay knife person or if you're catch and release kind of guy or girl, these things make great presence as well to that angler or hunter in your life. And, yeah, just slide into the DMs, antonio.
Speaker 3:Love it, man, and there's a few topics that I want to talk to you about Siege today. Before we get you know, we can drop one of the questions throughout the episode. But a couple topics I want to touch on and I mentioned to you that we're doing this podcast from our home. We're out of the studio. You just got back from a great family vacation. Yes, did a lot of fishing. You were out in the outdoors, you were popping wheelies on bikes in the forest. I loved it. I got my family vacation coming up in about a week. So by the time this airs, I'll already be on the beach drinking Mai Tais, woo airs, I'll already be on the on the beach drinking my ties. And, uh, I'm doing something. I think I'm gonna do something that has been on my bucket list for my like since I started fishing siege. And, uh, I'm gonna try. I'm gonna attempt fishing the flats for bones on a fly rod in the Bahamas.
Speaker 2:oh, man, I've been to the Bahamas before on my honeymoon and I know there was guys out doing it. Unfortunately it was my honeymoon. I didn't have that hall pass. I had to do like the dinners and the shows and all that stuff. But I envy you and I can't wait to hear the story when you get back, because that's on my list as well.
Speaker 3:Here's the thing, man, and I've been watching YouTube videos of these guys and you know they got the guide. Who's up top, he's got the long pole. You're in the flats and, uh, you know, when they set the hook into these bones, they're not very big like you know what are they? Four or five pounders, and they're just peeling, peeling, drag like nobody's business. And that's what. That's what's just getting my heart going, you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, man. And the cool thing is it reminds me a lot of Lake Erie sight fishing for smallies. And another cool thing is the boat that you guys will be using. You're high up, man. You're high up to spot these. They're not really using electronics, man, it's all your eyes, so really good. Yeah, you're up high on the casting deck or the elevated one, using polarized glasses. And you're right, man, those fish they're not that huge, but they're all muscle like. They're all like, uh, they're just strong fish yeah, and and, and I mean I, I.
Speaker 3:The thing is is, again, I'm taking a guide. Obviously I've never done this in my life but 450 bones US for half the day, would you see? Would you see and that's a question I have, and it's a question that I'd like the listeners to answer as well. You know, drop us a DM, would you? Can you, if this is a bucket list thing, can you actually say look, it's 450 bucks, but this is a once in a lifetime thing, right? Or I mean, everyone's always in different positions financially. But this is something I got to do. Siege Four hours, 450 bucks. I got to take advantage.
Speaker 2:No, oh buddy, I wish I was there with you. Can we substitute maybe your parents? Your family goes to Disney and you go with Siege.
Speaker 3:I'm sure they would love that, to be honest.
Speaker 2:We'll send the Johnsons and the Maleccas to good old Walt Disney and see Mickey Mouse and Smash and Showtime are going to be popping Bonefish and Bahamas. That's a good trip. Do you think we can make that happen?
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, I don't know if we can make that happen. We might have to fight the kids off because they're looking forward to that beach, um. But you know, uh, dino man, our producer dean, he's uh, he's big into the fly fishing and he's been hitting rivers and he's been getting a lot of fish on the fly and when I mentioned it to him the first thing he said to me was is that it's on his bucket list too? You know, bucket list fishing is one of those things, siege, where it's probably going to cost you a bit of dough. But I think once you do it, once you know you can say you've done it.
Speaker 3:And unfortunately it's not a fishery that is easy access and that's why I don't think you see too many people Siege that have you know television shows where they're constantly fishing the flats or they're in water casting flies for bones or barracuda or whatever, because it's not that easy to, it's not that easy to access. And you know that's why you see most guys on the lake or in open water, ocean fishing, because you know that's the easy, easy access. And you could say that going to fish a reef is is on your bucket list, but you can do that every year if you want this. This, on the other hand, I think is more of you know. You got your guys fishing the amazon for peacock, or you got guys that are going, you know, noodling and stuff.
Speaker 2:Like to me this is once in a lifetime stuff well, how about you learn the ropes and you go spend the dough, and then you and I will go and we won't spend the dough and you'll be my charter smash charters. You know how about that.
Speaker 3:I think I'm going to buy another boat for 50 G's right. Oh yeah, I forgot about the boat thing I guess we need one of those right. Bucket list. Fishing isn't cheap. Siege it's not cheap, but you got to do it. You got to do it once. And that brings me to my question for you, my friend, what is Showtime Johnson's bucket fish fishing trip Hit me.
Speaker 2:I think I talked about it on an earlier episode, but mine is to go for those dinosaur sturgeons. What is it? The Fraser River? I think it is Fraser River BC. A fish that big has no reason to be clearing the water, 10, 12 feet clearing out of the water. I want to do that. I want to have heavy rods and I do believe I know your cousin Glenn went and I saw pictures of that with him and his wife. They went and did that, but I think you just used a big chunk of meat. Is that where you?
Speaker 3:use it for bait? Yeah, I think it's live bait Like they use. They just cut up a bunch of herring or something. Put it or something, put it on. Put it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we should ask glenn about that that is on my list for sure, and then the peacock is on my list as well, um, but yeah, man, could you imagine just a big sturgeon, uh, we talked about on the podcast before myself, you and danny hooks at in lake erie I I got onto a sturgeon by mistake using a bass tube jig and we chased that sturgeon, oh my god, for about 45 minutes from the peace bridge, all the way past the old fort Waverly Beach area, and we finally got over that sturgeon and I don't even think it knew it was hooked. And then finally we got on top of it with a big engine and I pulled off and he was just like peace, see you later and just snapped the line. And ever since then it's planted a seed man and I want to do that.
Speaker 3:It's the adrenaline, those fish Again. I only get my fix from watching these guys on YouTube, but I can only imagine being strapped in with that belt and and and and you're literally that rod is just peeling away, constantly fighting the fish. And I got a taste of it in the Keys with, with Top Dog, you know, hooking into those those massive um uh, goliath groupers and we were passing the rod around to each other. I don't know if we should get some footage up on our Instagram of me and we were passing the rod around to each other. I don't know if we should get some footage up on our instagram of mean top dog passing the rock to each other. We had definitely fishing on the gagne in the background. That guy gets a hold of it, then it's lights out, but, oh yeah, I hit another gear siege, I hit turbo gear and your adrenaline's rushing and when that fish comes to the surface, man, I can only imagine the feeling. I know and they clear.
Speaker 2:Oh man, anything that clears out of the water for me is the instant adrenaline. You know like I was on a fishing trip last week with my family and I had, of all things, I had five pound northern Ontario walleye clearing. Can you believe?
Speaker 3:that? Yeah, you told me that that's insane. Yeah, I've never seen a wall, wall to clear no man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've never seen a Walter clear, no man. And I'm not talking like they were clearing like smallies, but enough where any angler knows. When you start seeing your line kind of go that one direction I think it would probably be like the reverse direction with your line, you know they're going to pop up. So each time I thought it was either a smallie or a largey. And next thing you know you see this long golden eye coming out of the water. I'm like this is bonkers man and what a trip man. It was just really weird man. But yeah, back to what I was. I got off topic, but anything that clears for me out of the water is the fish for me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, bucket list fishing folks. So I'll have to when I come back in a week. We're going to have to talk about that adventure. Oh, I can't wait. And you know, you said you went on your honeymoon to the Bahamas and I'm excited to eat some bohemian food. Man, I'm excited to try some conch fritters. Ever had conch?
Speaker 3:before Siege yes, so good. And I guess it's conch is a shellfish. It kind of actually I should say it's almost like a sea snail. They come out of those massive snails, out of those massive shells, and I'll tell you have I had it before. Absolutely, I can order it in, I can get it to the shop frozen. You know, we've done fritters, we've done salads, but I've never had it fresh coming from the waters of the ocean in the bahamas, and that's one thing. I can't wait.
Speaker 2:So good man so good, as this is actually the first food or dish that I think I've had fresh that you haven't had yet, because I'm a muncher cake, I have no business eating that stuff. But yeah, I did on my honeymoon. It is, oh, lights out, man. And the people from the Bahamas I don't know man, I don't know if they're similar to like people like that are from Jamaica, they're just on, like you know, no fixed schedule, it's like whatever. You know what I mean. Yeah, we'll get to it when we get to it. You know they're very relaxed people and uh, yeah, I, I it's island time, brother. Yeah.
Speaker 3:You said it so well. Yeah, and you know what. I don't blame them. I mean, if I was surrounded by the ocean and it was sunny every day, you know how? Can you not just have no worries in the world, bro? That's just what it's all about. You know what I mean?
Speaker 2:You know what really threw me a curveball? I rented jet skis when I was down there and the ocean is so clear. It looked like I was in 10 feet of water tone but I'd be in 40 feet of water, but it was so clear and you can see the bottom. It didn't look deep.
Speaker 3:It's crazy. Yeah, I know. You know what. When we go to the Keys it's very similar Like we go fish the reef and you're in 100 feet of water but yet you can see your shrimp going into that current fishing for yellowtail and you can watch that thing go down and it's like it doesn't even look like it's far, and then you see these fish come up and hit. It's crazy, man. It is. It's crazy, but I'm excited for it. Man, I've never got the fish in the Bahamas. I'm excited to eat their food. Here's a quick question while we're on the topic Did you stay in your hotel to eat or did you actually go out and try some of the local mom-pa shops?
Speaker 2:I wouldn't call them mom-pa shops. We did stay in the hotel, but we went to all different restaurants that are on the water in Nassau area and I don't think they were chain restaurants. They cost me a fortune, by the way, so whatever, but I just take in the culture. Every time I go on a trip I want to eat something, something I've never eaten before and a dish that you know. I always ask people when I go on like what's the most popular? And I don't care what the most popular thing is for tourists, I want to know what's the most popular dish for the locals.
Speaker 4:That's what I want to know. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:I want to take in the cuisine that they're having.
Speaker 3:I'm in the same boat, brother. Like I don't want to go there and eat a burger and french fries, Give me a conch fritter with some sort of fruity drink, and what else is coming out of the fryer I don't care. Maybe a lobster tail, maybe some jumbo shrimp cocktail, maybe coconut shrimp with an orange marmalade dip. You never know what's going to happen.
Speaker 2:Siege. Yeah, and you better stay away from that casino, mister I uh, I may have spent a little bit of my uh wedding money there. Don't tell my wife, yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, you know what? The last time I seen you at a casino, we were in Windsor and let's not talk about it All right, because you were actually the one that were trying to tame me and Top Dog. But you know when the adrenaline's going and you got to roll the dice. That's what I do Siege age.
Speaker 2:I may or may not have been accused by the Niagara Falls Youth Casino for counting cards. It would turns out it was uh misunderstanding and they like me now but uh, yeah, I've, I've paid my dues, man, and uh, it's one of my vices and and like when we went to Windsor, I was the responsible one telling you guys, you know, I've seen it all. You always want to chase the dragon and get more and more money, but the best way is just to walk away when you're ahead.
Speaker 3:Yeah, walk away. Well, we'll see how that goes down, brother, I'm not much of a gambler, but you never know, a few gin and tonics later we might be throwing some dice down. I can't promise you.
Speaker 2:Well, that's the reason why Las Vegas gives you free booze when you're gambling, because they get you all fired up and next thing you know, you think you're James Bond and rolling sevens and whatever. You know what I mean. They'll give this guy free booze because then we got a problem. Yeah, we do have a problem, but I'm looking forward to hearing a recap of your trip. I'm not going as crazy as you are. I'm doing another family trip in the Parry Sound area for a week. So it's a small lake that I'll be on and you know what Tone. They have lake trout there and I've caught smallies, largies and pike there. But this will be the second summer there and I was talking to Dean Dropshot and he's going to help him with.
Speaker 2:You know the foreskins our lake trout game doesn't exist. We never go for them. So I'm really excited to put some gear in the boat and I'm going to. My father's not going to be there fishing with me. I'm going to be with some other friends that are kind of weekend warrior fishermen. So I'm going to spend a lot of time by myself in the water and I'm looking to really go after these lake trout and our listeners. Um, their instagram pages are polluted with lake trout and they it's as it's a fish us, as foreskins, really have to go after, because they seem like a really fun fish to go after.
Speaker 3:Absolutely Well, I will tell you this. You mentioned Dropshot Dean, this guy, when he goes away on his fishing trips up north and they fish for lakers and stuff, the electronics man, electronics I mean, I can't stress it enough. I know everyone. You know there's pros and cons. People talk about panoptics versus traditional bliss and that.
Speaker 3:But I'm telling you right now, even in the wintertime, when you are fishing for those Lakers, those Lakers, usually first of all you must be fishing some deep waters. Because I know traditionally I could be wrong with this, I'm not a lake trout fisherman, but I know they hang out in some deep waters but they love the action, they love the movement. And I just remember my cousin Glenn telling me and Dino, you know, when you locate those babies on your sonar and you see them, you got to start cranking and those fish will come and they'll dart right up for your lure and they'll pop it. Now, whether you're trolling or not, what kind of fishing you're going to do? You know you could jig with spoons, you can cast. I'm sure there's different ways of getting it, but I do feel that lake trout fishing is a very tough species to go after without electronics and I could be wrong, and again our listeners can chime in and let us know, but I feel like it's a very, very important thing you need when you are going for Lakers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and a lot of people are also telling me that also they hit very similar bass gear like bigger white swim baits or tubes that's what Dean was mentioning that like a bigger bass style of a tube and you just drop it down and yeah, I'm looking forward to it. Man, I don't. I was going to ask you because I think lake trout's got a little bit of a misconception. They call them like greasy, like a real greasy fish or something like that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, that's horseshit. I'll tell you right now, Siege, I've done lake trout once Now again. I've cooked salmon, trout, white fish, any kind of fish you can think of. I cook it every day. It's what I do. You know, we're in the kitchen where fish is on my menu almost every day Lake trout, unfortunately, it's not one of those things that I purchase a lot of.
Speaker 3:Whether it's available or not, I don't even look um, but I have had it given to me, um, from somebody, okay, a guy that we used to fish the rivers with old italian guy, and I remember he froze it and he gave me a filet and I remember cooking it at the shop, wrapped in foil, and I'm going to tell you this right now it was not greasy at all, like at all. It was very, very similar to trout and to salmon. It's a, it's a, you know, it's a pink fish, Um, and it's it's very meaty. Now, when I do clean my filets, I I'm not a belly fat guy. I know a lot of people, especially in the sushi industry, the Japanese, the Asians. They love the belly fat because, yes, technically it's. You know, if we're talking meat, the fat usually is the best tasting, the best flavor. But for me, when you're eating fish, I think it's got to be lean, it's got to be the loin, Okay, Medium, that's in between medium rare to medium. And I'm just particularly talking about.
Speaker 3:You know those types of species, Siege. So your salmon, your trout, lake trout, that kind of family and greasy no, not at all Flaky, Not one bit. It's a very, very meaty fish. So I think, Siege, if you guys do catch one and you want to consume, the only two tips I can tell you is one don't keep the monsters. If you hook into a 20-pounder Siege, let it go Right, right, you want to eat those ones that are typically in the 17 to 20-inch range, so they could be 4-pounder, 5-pounders, Okay, those are the best ones to eat. And you can, you can almost treat it like rainbow trout Guys that are catching those monster, monster lakers.
Speaker 3:And when you watching them butchering them up, I'm like what are you doing? See, it's like anything, Right? Okay, there's a reason why there's slots and there's a reason why you know Walters and Pike. When's the last time you seen a guy take a 40 inch Pike and clean them up? Right, Think about that. Yeah, you know you don't want to do that. Do guys do it? Sure, they do it. I mean, people will do anything. But there's a reason why there's slots and it's also, you know, for the growth of the fish. You know the population in certain lakes they put like Lake Nipissing is notorious they change their slots. I feel like almost every winter I go up there, Gags has got new rulers in all the huts because the slots keep changing. But you know, that is for protecting the species, population growth and whatnot. But it's also Siege. You don't want to eat a 35-inch walter, you just don't. You know that picture you sent me of your pops cleaning those Walters, those were perfect.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, man, we let go a lot of uh, we had a lot of bigger ones as well and we let them go Like there's no point and there's no point, no point what I was going to ask you with the lake trout as well. I would think they're pretty tasty, the fact that they're in always in the deep cold water, cold water, 100.
Speaker 3:So there's a kid that used to work for me, andy uh sachetto, great kid. He's probably listening to this podcast right now. He's working now at um, at a sushi restaurant, and it's funny, we're filming, uh, we're working on law and order toronto, one of the shows that we're working on, and he texted me, texted me last week. He's like, hey, he's like I saw the signs up, you know, outside of the restaurant that he works at downtown Toronto. It's a sushi restaurant. He's like this is Law and Order Toronto. You guys going to be down here tomorrow. I said, yeah, yeah, we're going to be down tomorrow and he's going to come visit us. I wasn't able to get to set, but he went and he visited my team and the people that were there. You know he worked for me for many, many years and, anyways, we got to talking.
Speaker 3:And lake trout is something that is very, very popular and I'm not listen, I'm not out here telling people to try this at home, because this is not what I'm doing, but it's very popular fresh fish to eat sashimi style, raw. It really, really is. Yeah, absolutely. And and again, I'm not going to hear and tell people to consume raw lake trout raw anything, because you know you're not. You know, make sure it's for me. If I'm going to eat anything raw, first of all it's going to be purchased and it's got to be approved. Um, you know, eating raw fish is. You know there's a lot of things you got to look out for and make sure the person that's preparing it for you knows what the hell he's doing, because you can get very sick from it. But lake trout is being consumed raw and apparently is one of the most tastiest things ever. So you know, when you get those each, I love for you to try it. Cook it traditionally the way you would cook your fish. Use some of those eating wild key lime and lemon pepper seasoning.
Speaker 2:I'm going to tell you right now.
Speaker 3:You know, skillet barbecue, open flame, wrapped in foil, put it in a bed. Whatever you want to do with this each, I'm dying to hear how it turns out. So I hope you get one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I really do. I was listening to Diary's lodge owner with Steve and he had a guy on there I don't know if it was the chef at one of the lodges they were at and Steve had the same thing. He didn't care for lake trout at all and I guess the chef really enjoyed or not. He cooked it really nice and Steve now all of a sudden looks at lake trout differently. So it could be a sleeper fish that our guests.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know, siege, it's like that with anything, and you know that's a really good point you just brought up, because I'm not saying Steve Niedzwiecki is a chef, by all means. I'm sure he knows his way around the kitchen, but when you have somebody who cooks for a living, it's what they do every single day. I'm going to tell you this right now they should be able to almost take anything and do it properly, and you change heads, siege. Look, I'm going to give you an example, and it's so funny.
Speaker 3:Growing up Italian, my parents used to cook the shit out of their meat. I'm talking like I never had anything that had any pink inside of it. It was always well done. It's just traditionally how Italians eat, and I remember the first time I had a porterhouse steak medium rare and it just changed the way I not only do I eat my steak or meat in general, but how I serve it to people. Because if this is coming from a guy who's been eating well done meat pretty much his whole life, until, you know, almost my early 20s If you're going to eat something, siege, that you prepare and that you think is amazing, chances are the person that you're feeding it to is going to have the same, it's going to have the same.
Speaker 3:You know taste that you're doing. So when I go out there and I cook for people, siege, I don't blind. I taste everything, I make everything and then you learn. If people don't like it a certain way, you change it up. You go based on what people's, the customers, are always going to tell you Siege, especially in the food business. I'm telling you, think of it. You go to a restaurant. How many times a day does food get sent back to the kitchen? It's the most gut-wrenching thing ever that's coming back from the restaurant.
Speaker 3:It sucks, man, it sucks. And listen, I had restaurants, huxet's had his restaurant. Top Dog worked in restaurants. The worst thing that can happen is when food gets sent back to the kitchen and it happens almost every day and it's not because you didn't cook something perfectly or it's not seasoned properly, whatever. Everybody has different palates and I can't stress this enough. And for Steve to say he tried making his lake trout, he wasn't a fan of it, but then a chef prepared it for him and it changed the way he eats it. Well, I'll tell you that right now, with most species that are out there that are edible, you'll have that experience. Northern pike is one of them. Siege Northern pike. Nobody used to talk about northern pike. Two reasons. Can you know what those two reasons are?
Speaker 2:Siege See with pike. I've heard so many different stories about it, but I really don't know why. Can you tell me?
Speaker 3:Two reasons, siege. First reason is nobody knew how to clean them properly. There was always that assumption that oh my God, there's too many white bones, there's too many bones in a northern pike and it's not worth cleaning. And then people that tried cleaning them, they would waste a lot of that meat. And it's not easy cleaning a Northern Pike. But once you learn, siege, once you, you, you, you know, one guy comes out and shows you how to do it properly. There's so much beautiful meat on a Northern Pike Um, it's incredible. And then the second reason is exactly what I said the first time People think that there was too many bones. You know, they don't want to eat pike because you're going to choke on a bone, this and that. Well, now that people are learning, because of YouTube and all these things, you can go and check out how to clean a fish properly, people are consuming it like crazy. So I feel like with your.
Speaker 2:Just look at the one video I think it's on the Fish in Canada, instagram. Pete Bowman was one of his good buddies and he's flaying a pike right on the dock. Right, this guy has a rate down to a science man and I'm just like what the hell? Because when I grew up, my grandfather he always used to call them snot rockets and all this stuff, and the only way he would consume it was smoking it. That way you could get the bones out properly. But he didn't know any different either.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean, yeah, yeah. So I mean I feel the same thing with lakers man. I think lakers now the fishing has been more of a trend. You've been seeing a lot on instagram now guys getting these monster lakers. So I'm glad steve got to have that experience with. So I got something.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was good. I got a funny story, for we're going to get lynched on this podcast for this statement right now, but anyways. So I was fishing with my father last week and I didn't know this, but anyways, he's making his fish fry up. He's doing either pan fried and beer batter da, da, da, da da.
Speaker 2:But my dad always cuts after he's done filleting. He cuts long strips of the fillets of the walleye and that way it's a smaller kind of portions and he goes okay, christopher, he calls me Christopher. He's like here's your fish. Dah, dah, dah. I'm like, oh, perfect. So he's looking at me, he's grinning I don't know what he's grinning about, right, and I'm like this is good, dad, you knocked out of the park, it's perfect. He goes well, you just ate a largemouth bass. I'm like, pardon, so he got you, he was fish, he got me because he was fishing earlier with, uh, my mom and I guess he got a large and the poor thing, it just, it just took his. He was using a little uh head and torpedo popper a real small popper in this fish and like it was in the two pound range and I guess my dad couldn't bring it back.
Speaker 2:So obviously we're not going to waste the fish and but don't like. I mean there's that misconception with bass and I know bass generally hang out in shallower water and they're supposed to have this fishy taste and everything, everything. But I really think when you're in the farther northern lakes I think, like it fooled me, I don't have a crazy palate. I would like for you one day, when we get one, a bass, where we can't bring it back to life and to harvest it. But why is there so much hate? There's so much hate out there by consuming bass.
Speaker 3:That's a great question, man, and you know what? That's a question I'd like to ask somebody like Bullrod, right, you know, or you know guys that you know typically are in the bass circuit that tournament fish and or just sport fish in general, like basses. It's one of those things Sie, things siege where it's a touchy subject for a lot of people, and I think musky, musky could be in that same conversation. Brother, unfortunately we're musky fishermen, we, we, you know we've been targeting musky more other, more than any other species out there in the past 15 years, us in the foreskins. But but there is times where you know muskies and it happens a lot with muskies where they don't survive. You don't get in a hook, in the gill or whatever they blew out and what do you do? You cook it up.
Speaker 3:There's been this where people say that it'll kill you. Well, I've had musky before. Gags made a beautiful chowder on a fish that he couldn't bring back to life and Gags, being the pro that he is, says I'm not going to let this fish go to waste, I'm not going to leave it for the birds, we're going to consume it. We're going to say a prayer Thank God for this meal and we ate it. It was delicious. Now am I going to go out there and say I need to go catch me a muskie because I want to fillet it up? No, absolutely not. I think bass can be in that same conversation. Siege, I really do.
Speaker 2:And I see so many of our followers and listeners on Instagram and they're cooking up like I mean, again, I don't do this. I don't go target bass. I'd sport fish for me, but they consume bass and you know what, and there's such a there's, there's such a like, just a hate on it. But I don't know, man, I think that the the you're, you're not gonna get me ever consuming bass out of lake erie. I don't know what it is, maybe it's the clear water, it's hot water or whatever. But I really like any of our listeners to let us know, like are, are you targeting bass to consume, to harvest, which is fine? Everyone has a fishing license. You're allowed to keep these fish and harvest them.
Speaker 2:But I just heard so many stigmas of them tasting terrible and I tasted it firsthand, antonio, it fooled me, it really did. And then I talked to people in the Niagara region that have fish restaurants and I'm like and they say well, there's a reason why bass isn't on the menu, because it's a crappy fish to eat. But then I talked to someone else and they say you know why it's not on the menu? Because you can't catch them in nets like you do in walleye and perch, because they're in deeper water. Right walleye and perch are in deeper water. You can't really go around netting smallies that are off rock shoals and all that stuff, but it's just. It's such a touchy subject and I don't think it should be, but I would like to know more. I really want to know more.
Speaker 3:It's a great topic we could.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's a whole episode, right there it is a whole episode and you reminded me there with the lake trout. You said you know steve newinsk nidzwicki I have a problem with saying his name, sorry, steve. He always hated lake trout until it was cooked properly and I had largemouth bass. I'll admit it, it was a dead fish and my dad cooked it properly and it was pan fried and it tasted like walleye. I just maybe I don't have that palate, maybe I don't, but it went down great, especially with the beer.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean. I get it, I do, I totally get it, brother, it's. It's just one of those things where you, you experience something once and it's like, you know, maybe it's not so bad Siege if you, you know, you hook into a large gene. It's like, well, listen if I'm going to say anything. When I got those two animals, yeah, yeah, I'm not targeting. Adam, I got no problems.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean, and don't get me wrong, I'm not going to go target Largies now just because I had one and it tasted pretty good. I'm not doing that by any means, but, like you said, it died, so I'm not. My dad didn't want to give it to seagulls or anything like that, and just. I know it's off topic, but I just wanted to bring that up.
Speaker 3:Well, listen, man, that's a future episode right there and I'm glad you brought that up. So we're going to keep that in mind. And you know, speaking of future episodes and speaking about getting off topic, we got a bunch of questions we got to get to before we end this episode. We do?
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Speaker 6:How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic fishing lodges? I'm your host, steve Niedzwiecki, and you'll find out about that and a whole lot more on the Outdoor Journal Radio Network's newest podcast, diaries of a Lodge Owner. But this podcast will be more than that. Every week on Diaries of a Lodge Owner, I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great people, share their stories of our trials, tribulations and inspirations, learn and have plenty of laughs along the way. Meanwhile we're sitting there bobbing along trying to figure out how to catch a bass, and we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing show. My hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime, but that might be for more fishing than it was punching you so confidently.
Speaker 6:You said hey, pat, have you ever eaten a trout?
Speaker 3:Find Diaries of a Lodge Owner now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcast. See, you had a really, really good question that somebody reached out to you on Instagram and then I got a couple I'd like to ask you from our email page as well.
Speaker 2:Right, the first question I have. Let me just bring up question mailbag. Okay, and if I didn't read your question this time, it's going to be out there. It's just we get so many. Okay, so this is from Nick Tyron. It says just want to send you a quick message. You guys have been knocking it out of the park. The show improves each and every week. Well, that's great to hear. Oh, he's got a fun question for us. This one's going to be for you, tom. This is for you, tom. This is not for CJ the fisherman, by any means. Okay. So, antonio, you're on a cooking contest with Mr Gordon Ramsey, jesus Christ, okay. Cooking contest with Mr Gordon Ramsey, jesus Christ, okay. Your first challenge is to create a dish that represents the Eating Wild brand. What do you make? And bonus marks? Oh, he's got a bonus, bonus marks, if you can think of a dish for the other ODJ Network podcast, that'd be great too. So, pretty much Tone, you're on the cooking contest with Mr Gordon Ramsay and you want to represent E-Dub.
Speaker 3:First of all, ramsay already lost. He already lost. You never pull out. Smash to it. Are you crazy? You're going to call me out? Listen, buddy, I got burns on my arm. I got cuts on my fingers. Okay, gordon Ramsay's got perfect hands, perfect skin and a white chef jacket on Mine's full of blood. Know what that means? Siege, I go to war. You're nuts? Yeah, that's the first thing I'm going to say. Great question, nick. Okay, here's the problem with that question, though. Nick, you've never seen Smash on TV. You've never seen me in front of the people.
Speaker 3:Gordon Ramsay, the way he's talking, listen, I love Gordon Ramsay. I'm not going to chirp him. He's one of the best. He's one of my idols, actually, but don't start a competition with me and this guy. Okay, I'll tell you right now. I'll wrap him up like a pretzel and I'm going to tell you right now the first thing I'm going to make for the boys EW. You know it. See, just the chaps.
Speaker 3:We got to talk Ontario lamb chops, because and and and Taro Murata, if you're listening, I know, I know what you're thinking. Cody Kovancek, I know what you're thinking. You guys, come to my cottage. There's nothing in the fridge. Boys, what are we going to do? We got something to eat. You know what? I think I got a couple of racks of lamb hiding in the freezer in the old garage. We go out there, we pick them out. I always have. You know me, cj, I always got some meat in the freezer hiding, whether we got bison, we got beef, we got lamb, we got turkey, whatever there's something in that freezer. And it just so happens that I love having these lamb chops and I French them up, barbecuing A little bit of salt, a little bit of pepper, easy, easy little gremolata, going with some fresh mint, simple syrup, just for dipping. You know what seeds you've had it. There's also a little bit of a chipotle aioli I like to make on the side. You've had that too, and I'll tell you right now. This is easy to make. But if you're putting Gordon Ramsey up against me, we have to make one thing, and I'm representing EW. We're having lamb chops Now.
Speaker 3:You asked me a good question about ODJ. The first thing when we talk food that comes to mind with outdoor journal radio is Angelo Viola. Angelo Viola made the best, absolute best pasta carbonara I've ever probably heard in my life. We had him on the show back in the day he even talked to me off camera once at the show about how he prepared this carbonata for 15 people and using guanciale, which is the cheeks. You know, the guanciale is the cheek from the pig. It's the real way to make pasta carbonara and you sweat that off, obviously mixing the egg yolk. I'm not sure if he uses the whole egg. You got to look back to the episode. Actually, you could probably find that recipe still on the ODJ website, but I'll tell you right now. Pasta carbonara for the ODJ boys. Ontario lamb chops for EW. Let's go set the time and the date. I'll be there. Let's dance.
Speaker 2:Buddy, I'm starving. Now Again these questions with food Every time I just eat dinner too, man. Now I'm starving.
Speaker 3:Okay, I got a question, siege, for you and, by the way, thanks, nick, I know who Nick is. Yeah, thanks, great fan of the show and I really appreciate that question, and it's always cool how he starts it off saying how the show is getting better and better. So I really appreciate that one for sure. Here's a question for you, Siege, and I think that this question is it's a fishing related question and it'd be for you or for Top Dog, to be honest, because it is along the lines that Top Dog would love to answer this one. He's in Portugal, should be back soon. What is your favorite? Sorry, I've got to go back. What is your favorite top water lure to use in hot summer nights, typically fishing for bass? This is from Tommy Silver in Victoria BC.
Speaker 2:Go ahead. That's a great question, man. That is a great. We know what Top Dog is going to say. I'm going to say Spook, that's just me. Yeah, zara spook is the old school. If any of our listeners don't know it's, it's made by hedon and it's a zara spook. They have a original size and then a puppy zara puppy size and it is the most stupidest looking lure you've ever seen in your life. It looks like a floating cigar and it it just walks the dogs. Once you get the cadence down, you can speed it up, slow it down, you work it around weeds and it just calls fish in from everywhere. It is one of those fit, one of those lures that kind of lost traction and just because it's an older brand. But that top water. A lot of companies have tried to mimic it and they really can't get that. In my personal opinion, that same action as the top, um, yeah, with the zaro spook, that would be lou's answer so, so.
Speaker 3:So let me ask you this then, because tomm Tommy mentioned hot summer nights Does that have anything to do with it? Siege.
Speaker 2:It does the hot summer nights. I'm just speaking with my fishing career, if you call it a career. The hot summer days are such a hard fishing because they really kind of shut down, especially around the noon, 1 o'clock, 2 o'clock. But there's that, those hot summer nights when it's just the lake turns to glass. All of a sudden they just start, they just start going and I don't know what it is with nighttime and early morning, with topwater. It just seems like. I know those are the great times of fish and fish jerry go, but topwater seems to be that's where it really excels. My personal favorite is the Zara Spook, but close second is the Mega Bass, Pop X. Now, this thing you've crushed on Georgian Bay, on the pink one.
Speaker 2:The pink version of this and I'll explain to our listeners. Love the czar spook. It misses a lot of fish, though, because it it's it's got that bigger profile and I find that fish really launch over it or they kind of whack it with their tail. Um, the mega bass pop x, it's a real beaut because it's a smaller profile and the best thing about it is you can walk it and you can pop it. So it's a smaller profile and the best thing about it is you can walk it and you can pop it. So it's a walk and pop bait, and when you pop it it leaves, like these air bubbles and for some reason it's just I work them around weeds and with that smaller profile I don't miss as near as many fish as the spook and you can tell the listeners firsthand what it did for you on Georgian Bay, oh man.
Speaker 3:And it's funny because it was hot as hell that night and I find that on those hot nights when it's glass outside, you see a lot of fish jumping I don't know if it's because it's glass and you can almost see the wake Everywhere you look. There's like wake happening everywhere. And you know I would say that, using that particular top water, that evening I was with Top Dog, I was using the. I was using it was pink and it was nuts. It was smallie after smallie, the occasional largy, but these things were coming out of the water about three to four feet in the air and people on their docks were watching us because we were just maybe about 50 meters offshore spot that top dog took me and I got to admit, I guess because of the hot, the hot air, it was very warm. A lot of bugs were on the surface I don't know if that has a lot anything to do with it siege, um, but those fish were clearing, um, but what? What? If you're going to ask me that question, that question, I gotta go with a live target frog.
Speaker 3:And the only reason I've changed my, my, I've changed my approach. I was always a zar spook guy myself and again, I learned top water fishing from top dog watching it right. Top top water fish was like the guy was. That's why he got that nickname. He's just a he's a mental case on the water with that thing and zar spooked baby bass. I was using the green, the loon, the black loon with the white. You've seen me bring in. You've seen me bring in musky with the with the clown, the white and the red, like it was. It's one of my favorite top water lures.
Speaker 3:But being on Scugog Siege, as everyone knows out, as everyone knows out in the Quarthur Lake area, I've had to change my approach because of how many you know the weeds and the junk and the lily. It's so tough and you can cast Azara Spook a mile and when it lands on just some floating debris you got to crank it in and recast. It was just to me. It was getting frustrating to be on a siege. So I went to a live target frog.
Speaker 3:You can get them in a bunch of different sizes, but I got a medium size. And I'll tell you something, man, I've gotten some absolute monsters out of skugog, right out of the lily pads, right out of the mouth of a couple of those rivers up there. And I'll tell you right now, siege I am. I can cast a frog in open water by the weeds, by the lilyly pads, and you can walk it too. I mean, you're not walking it side to side like a dog, but you're, you're walking it straight on, you're hopping ribbit, ribbit and to watch those fish clear. It's just, it's, it's, it's frigging the best feeling ever.
Speaker 2:And I, um, I came across a company that makes I I don't know the name of the company offhand that makes these trailer hooks. As anyone knows, with the weedless frog is that you lose because it's weedless. The hookup ratio is not as good, but they sell these trailer hooks that still prop up so that way it doesn't get into the weeds. And the amount of fish I caught last week and the lily pads that were on the frog and that were actually caught on the trailer hook, that I would have missed with the standard hooks, it was amazing, antonio, I got a couple in my tackle box for you well, I appreciate that.
Speaker 3:Bud and listen, that that's. That just shows you a simple question. Like that, siege, we can talk.
Speaker 2:Oh man, I got excited, you get you get simple question like that Siege, we can talk for an hour.
Speaker 3:You get top dog in that conversation, even Hooks at Martin's. That's a whole episode right there. On that, one little question. Oh yeah, well, tommy, great question. I appreciate it, I got it, great question. Two more questions to go, siege, and we'll wrap things up. This one is for you 100%. What is your favorite drink to pack as a must when you guys go and do your trips up north? This is from Anna Felice from Sudbury, ontario.
Speaker 2:Ooh, she's from the what's Sudbury? Is Sudbury the Big Nickel. Is that the Big Nickel tone, or am I?
Speaker 3:wrong. I think you're right, bud the Big Nickel, yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, the Big Nickel. I love catching nickels.
Speaker 3:That's a great question um drink, oh man I could almost answer this one for you, are you crazy?
Speaker 2:yeah, I, I like so many different drinks and, and as my, as I get older and older, my my taste change. Um, I like, I like, uh, like a cider. I like a good craft cider. I like a good tea, like a tea drink. I used to drink a lot of beer. I just find that the carbonation from beer and all that when you're on those hot days it doesn't really go hand in hand with me. But I'm gonna tell our listeners one staple drink you should have on every fishing trip. Obviously not on the boat, not on the boat.
Speaker 2:This is campfire, but one staple drink. Nothing gets me more excited in the morning is when I hear the coffee pot going and then danny martin's pours a little bit of bailey's into your coffee and you put that in your thermos.
Speaker 3:Oh my god, coffee with baileys oh my goodness, dessert in the morning bud just gets you going.
Speaker 2:You don't need sugar, nothing just yeah, by the time you get to the boat you have your thermos and you drink it with the rest. It just warms you right up and it is, I think, a staple to anyone to bring some baileys. Or you know, wayne gretzky 99 makes a beautiful one now, an irish cream. And uh yeah, you can't go wrong with that irish cream. I wouldn't drink it all day, that might be tough on the stomach. But I'll tell you one drink, that is with the foreskins. When we ever get, when we get a big big fish either musky bass pike, get a big big fish, either musky bass pike, anyways a big trophy fish first thing we're doing back at the dock. We have chilled. I know it may sound like it's a frat party drink, but it's chilled fireball. Oh boy, chilled fireball, chilled fireball. That's a must. Shots of that. That's always been a must to celebrate a big fish. And I know I've gave you a bunch of drinks and one question, antonio, but I'm curious of what you have to say, man.
Speaker 3:I got to go fall Again. Obviously we're not here to promote drinking and then going onto the boat and fishing for the day, as everyone knows. We'll wake up, we'll have our coffee, a little bit of Bailey's in there. We usually spend about a couple hours before we even hit the water and then when we come back you said it, you know we're we dialed down. We usually talk about our day, go over what we've seen and what was working and what our plan is for the next day. And I'm going to switch it up for a sec. I'm going to go into the hunting mode siege and one thing I will say that.
Speaker 3:I learned was when you get your first buck or a buck in general you got to celebrate with the boys. You get back, you get the buck bottle and it's more or less just a cheers and that's a Grand Marnier. Grand Marnier is an orange brandy that I think when you're going out into those colder evenings, if you're at the camp, if you're camping outdoors and you want something to warm you up by the fire, pour yourself a little shot of Grand Marnier. It's a beautiful, beautiful drink to have, even when you're having dinner, before dinner or after dinner. Complement that with a nice cigar by the fire. All we need is a coach to bring his guitar and it's a party siege.
Speaker 2:So you're telling me I haven't's a party siege. So you're telling me it's I haven't got a buck myself, so there's such thing as a buck bottle.
Speaker 3:Well, I don't know if that's the rules in every camp, but we have to celebrate man, we pop, we harvest.
Speaker 2:So everyone's drinking from this bottle, or is this the hunter, if you don't have a?
Speaker 3:shot with me, then you got a problem. If you're not celebrating my buck, get out of the camp, get out. I'll call you an Uber, get out. So that's a buck bottle. I like that Buck bottle man. You celebrate that, you celebrate that animal with your friends and the harvest begins and it's the whole process.
Speaker 3:And you know it's like when you get married, siege, somebody's us. And you know it's like when you get married, see, somebody's got to do a toast, the toast of the host. And you know the Buck bottle is just a toast to the guy who did the popping and it's a congratulating thing. And it so happened that my first Buck was celebrated with a bottle of Grand Marnier and we didn't drink it to get drunk, it was simply just a cheers salute and you know everyone had a shot glass and it was just, you know, amen. It was a milestone for me and a celebration for everyone else. And that's my answer. And I appreciate the question, anna. And we got one more Siege, one more question. Okay, shoot, shoot, wrap it up and we get into some housekeeping about the show. What is a good fish to cook on a barbecue, excluding saltwater fish? This is from Greg Dresdell from Erie, pennsylvania, american listener.
Speaker 2:Oh, erie, I love Erie, pennsylvania, and this is a total question for you, mister Well it's a tough one because we do get similar questions.
Speaker 3:Siege and barbecuing a freshwater fish is typically the easiest answer would be salmon. Again, we mentioned lake trout because it's a meatier fish. You know, salmon is one of those things that people like to enjoy cooking on the barbecue. But I'm going to have to tell you something siege, you can almost cook any piece of fish on that barbecue. You really can. There's different ways and different methods of doing it and people are afraid usually because of one big thing that happens to most people and that's stick. You know they get their meat, they put it on the grill. If they don't lube that grill up properly, it sticks and you try to flip it, it causes a disaster and you lose half of your fish through the grill. So one way, one way that you can do this siege. First of all, a very big tip that I can give to people and to Greg Great question Skin on, if you're going to be using the barbecue, skin side down, is probably the best way to cook your fish on any kind of grill or open flame and it's almost a protection layer. Siege, honestly, it sounds crazy but it protects. And listen, you don't really need to flip. That's one thing I would like to promote. When people are cooking fish on the barbecue. Here's a technique I'm going to teach you right now, siege, and I really want you to try this, or get old man Johnson to do this. I want you to start your barbecue. Most people have barbecues with two burners, correct? You got two pilots, some have four, depending on the size of your barbecue. I want you to crank that barbecue up to 450 degrees before you put that piece of fish on. Let's use Walters, let's use walleye Skin on filet, you know, seasoned up, a little bit of olive oil, a little bit of lemon juice, black pepper. Okay, skin side down. You want to get that grill up to 450 degrees. Pick a side, siege. You pick a side of that barbecue. Okay, either the left side or the right side.
Speaker 3:As soon as you open that grill and you put that fish down and you're searing, I want you to shut the side off that you are grilling on. Is that barbecue now is going to turn into literally an oven with an open flame? The heat is going to stay inside your grill because your opposite side of the fish is still at full pop, so you're keeping that at full height, on high and on the side where your fish is resting on. There's nothing underneath it and you know what that's for, siege. You're cooking that fish like it's in an oven. You won't have to flip that fish. You are literally, you're creating an oven atmosphere using open flame, not directly on the fish. You wait seven to eight minutes depending on the size of that fish you open.
Speaker 3:Do not cheat, do not open that grill, because once you open that grill, siege, all that heat is going to escape and you're going to screw everything up. You're going to have to turn on the other side just to get that heat back up. Open it up. You're going to simply pull that fish off from grill to plate and if the skin sticks on the grill, no problem, it's no problem. Just did you a favor actually Let it burn off. Scrape it with your grill cleaner. The next time you got a barbecue and your oven's going to, your grill's going to be super clean.
Speaker 3:I'm going to tell you this right now, siege. Oh, good point. It is an amazing method and technique to grilling fish and I'd like you to try it People listening, try it. Let me know how it turns out. Hey, maybe it doesn't turn out for you. Maybe that this is the only way that I know how to do it, but I'll tell you right now. It's never failed me and it's an awesome way to grill fish without flipping the fish, because that's where people make. The disasters is when they flip that fish on the grill falls apart, goes through the cracks and by the time you serve it, it looks like a dog's dinner Presentation, looks like shit you eat with your eyes. Siege, if it doesn't look good, it doesn't taste good. If it looks good, it tastes even better.
Speaker 2:Well, that makes sense, man. That's a great point.
Speaker 3:Well, I hope I answered your question, Greg and Siege, Just closing off this episode. There's a lot of stuff happening with EW. We off this episode. There's a lot of stuff happening with EW. We've got some great things happening. Tell us a little bit what's going on with the socials.
Speaker 2:Socials are popping the socials. Yeah, keep sharing your pictures and your outdoor adventures either fishing, hunting, kayaking. Keep sharing that Traeger Grill. Is that wrapping? I think it's been extended.
Speaker 3:I think we got till the end of August Siege. I think we got another month. I think Dino said it's been popping, like you said it's been going crazy. People can still go on and enter onto the Fishing Canada website. Listen to the previous four episodes. You're going to hear some. You know we got those codes in there Somewhere. In those episodes are going to give you lots of entries into winning that Traeger.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a lot of people were confused with it. So what it is essentially is, when the codes drop on the podcast, you actually enter that code in the Fishing Canada website with the giveaway for the Traeger and that will automatically give you the 100 extra entries. And I'm really excited, antonio, I'm really excited to see who the winner is, and that's a big one, and we got other ones coming down the pipeline and yeah, so with the socials, you know, keep uh sharing, keep sending us the questions, and there's no, there's no stupid questions whatsoever. We're a bunch of stupid guys, so we'll take.
Speaker 4:We understand stupidity, so yeah, and the smart ones if you give us smart questions.
Speaker 2:We'll, we'll. We'll have to ask the right people for it, but between the four of us, either it's cooking, fishing, hunting, and we'll have an answer for you. And thank you so much for all your feedback.
Speaker 3:That's awesome, brother, and we got a couple more episodes coming up, with some really great guests lined up. We're going to be talking again, fishing, hunting, cooking, and it's always a good time to sit down and shoot the shit with you, my friend, and I'm looking forward to going to the Bahamas and I can't wait to share the stories with you.
Speaker 2:Oh, I can't wait, man. What is? This is another like. I mean, how many episodes are we at now?
Speaker 3:I got to be honest. I lost count. After our one-year anniversary, either one 50s, maybe 50s 60s, I don't know. I don't know.
Speaker 2:I don't know man, what is it? Dj Cali said another one. You know, there's another one Another one, another one. So, yeah, we're pumping them out and we're having so much fun, we're meeting so many cool people and, yeah, we can't wait. We cannot wait for this year.
Speaker 3:And I can't wait to call the boys up north, because hunting season is around the corner. It is around the corner, man. We are in the middle of the summer, but as soon as August hits, brother oh man, the fever starts happening. We've got to get a hold of coach.
Speaker 2:We've got to get a hold of tags, get our duck stamp, we've got to do our tags. Oh man, I've got a new Benelli. I'm gonna be. Oh man, the ethos, oh the cordoba, like I mean. And there's something any of our listeners know there's nothing that beats. Yeah, the summer's fun, the summer's great fishing in the summer's fine, but that cold mornings and the warmer afternoons and the cold nights where you can see your breath, it's showtime. It literally is showtime. The big fish, the big bucks, the big ducks, the big geese, everything big.
Speaker 3:You know what I mean, muskies, I can't wait, I can't wait, I'm so excited man yeah and uh, I'm excited to uh to also eventually talking about the musky brawl, we got to get davey g back. Oh, there's another one. His blood's probably boiling because I think next month is when it starts to ramp up and we got to get Davey G back.
Speaker 5:Oh, there's another one.
Speaker 3:His blood's probably boiling because I think next month is when it starts to ramp up and we got some news that will be uh, we will be dropping around the musky brawl as well, um, with the eating well podcast and Dave Gray with his beautiful work that he does. Um, so lots of things happening coming up. You just got to listen, you got to uh like subscribe, you got to hit that like button, whatever it is everyone does, and uh, we're here. We're here to bring you, uh, some exciting news and some, uh, some stories to come along with it.
Speaker 2:Hey, siege yes, we're so excited. Yeah, like antonio said, subscribing really helps, even if it's on spotify or um apple podcasts. If you hit that subscribe, it really helps. And we got some great sponsors coming, so excited for that. And that all helps when you subscribe and all that it keeps us going Awesome brother.
Speaker 3:Well, listen, siege, it's always a pleasure talking fishing food. Likewise, my friend, and catch us next week with another episode. Hopefully I got a couple bonefish in the box to talk about. Oh yeah, this is Smash Malek. I'm checking out of here with my co-host, christopher Showtime Johnson. Coach, start that lovely tune. We're out of here. See you next time. Ciao, get the net.
Speaker 2:We'll be right back.