Eating Wild

Episode 72: Bucks, Ducks, and War Hammers

Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast Network Episode 72

Have you ever wondered what it feels like to be just an hour too late for a bear sighting, or how a last-minute team shuffle could turn a fishing tournament upside down? Join us as we recount our most recent outdoor escapades, filled with thrilling fishing experiences, unexpected hunting surprises, and a hearty dose of camaraderie. From the hilarity of losing a net mid-tournament to the adrenaline rush of spotting a deer through a scope, these tales are as unpredictable as they are exhilarating, bringing out the humour and joy that comes with every cast and every hunt.

Our fishing tournament adventures are nothing short of legendary, where the thrill of personal bests often outshines the competitive spirit. Laugh along with us as we navigate the chaos of team selections and handle the curveballs of fishing without our trusty electronics. Whether it's the finesse of a jerkbait or the mastery of boat control, the satisfaction of a well-executed plan shines through as we reminisce about the unforgettable captures and the satisfaction of a muskie caught on a hair jig.

But the excitement doesn't stop at the water's edge; the thrill of the hunt adds another layer to our outdoor pursuits. Feel the anticipation of an evening buck hunt after a day of fishing at Lake Nipissing, where the sight of a doe and her fawns signals the potential for a buck. With pride, we share the joy of processing our own deer meat while also celebrating the bonds formed in the great outdoors. These shared experiences remind us why we love nature's wild beauty and the unforgettable moments it offers.

Follow Eating Wild on Instagram! To reach out to the boys, drop us a line at eatingwild@odjradio.com

Speaker 1:

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Speaker 2:

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Speaker 2:

We're not going to say now Listen, man, we're not saying anything.

Speaker 5:

You already ruined it.

Speaker 4:

We're not saying anything. Oh wait a sec, I'm here, yeah.

Speaker 5:

Not. You Hold on, lou's here's me.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, oh, it's dan. Listen, man. We got a great episode lined up for everybody. We just wrapped. Everyone heard about the pre-trip me and hook set sat down, dan. The expectations were there. There was a few things that we didn't get to do based on what we talked about.

Speaker 5:

We're gonna get to you're talking like food, wise orwise?

Speaker 2:

Well, a little bit of both, I would say. And boys, I'm going to tell you, man, on my experience fishing and hunting that weekend. I think I had a little bit of it all. What?

Speaker 1:

about cooking FHC bud, that's what we are right Fishing, hunting and cooking. Well, we do a little bit of everything, right, touche.

Speaker 2:

Siege, yes, touche, siege, yes, touche Siege. Listen, we got a PB. Yeah, we got a four-pointer. Yeah, we're going to talk about that.

Speaker 5:

Talk about all the duck.

Speaker 2:

All the duck that we didn't see. Hold on a second man, me and Hook said listen, part of the menu. We were supposed to have the duck poppers and we missed the pop part of the duck poppers and we missed the pop part of the duck well, the duck part of the pop okay, and I think I think our listeners can relate to this you want everything to click right.

Speaker 1:

Right, we pretty much got two out of the three. Right. We the fishing and the hunting, yeah well, I mean, duck hunting is hunting, but we didn't get the waterfowl, like we won't. I don't know if we'll ever get all three to go.

Speaker 5:

I got a plan for next year guys.

Speaker 2:

Oh, here's the thing, dan. I got to talk to Dan first about this because the first two nights Dan went to his stand yeah, he had his crossbow with him. You know he has the same stand that he likes to hunt every year, and the first night you didn't see anything, correct.

Speaker 5:

The first night.

Speaker 2:

I see nothing, no, but when we got back to the camp, the camera went off hours later, like an hour later An hour later, so pissed.

Speaker 1:

And there was a black bear at a stand.

Speaker 2:

So you're talking about the trail cam the trail cam Okay. There was a black bear at a stand.

Speaker 5:

So these guys duck hunt and I enjoy it too. One of my favorite things is duck hunting, right, but a part of me loves sitting in a stand For one. It's so peaceful up there, finally get to unwind and just relax. The other part is obviously to get a nice buck, but part of me really wants to get my first bear, and that is a reason why I sit most of the times is to hopefully get a bear, you're not scared of hunting bear.

Speaker 5:

Why would I be scared man? I'm so scared man. Scared of what?

Speaker 1:

Pretty much, I figure that. You're scared of them. They're in Ontario. Black.

Speaker 4:

You're not one to talk. You're scared of everything. Hold on a second, this guy hears a coyote and he starts running back to the cabin.

Speaker 2:

Here we go there, don't you? Relax, man. First of all, we're talking about Go watch the bikes. Okay, I'll watch the bikes, you watch the bikes okay. So, Dan, you see the bear that fires you up the next. Okay, so let's start An hour later.

Speaker 1:

Let's start. So that was after. Sorry, tone, that was an hour after shooting time, that's right.

Speaker 5:

That's Uncle P checks his phone. He's like there's something there, guys. And then he looks and it's a freaking bear.

Speaker 1:

I didn't know that. So that must have been Hour and a half. Maybe we stopped shooting, I believe, at 6.55. Something like that, so around 7.55,. A bear was on that Like 8.30, I think.

Speaker 5:

Was he eating the corn. He was smelling around, yeah.

Speaker 2:

The corn. He was right at his stand. He was right there. I didn't know that.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, it would have been like a whatever, a 30-yard shot or not even.

Speaker 2:

So we got weather that was I don't know if it was too good.

Speaker 5:

It was great weather, guys. I mean it was beautiful, mornings were cold, it was good.

Speaker 4:

No, it was nice and cool. It wasn't too hot like we've had in years past.

Speaker 1:

Right, Lou, when Lou and I went duck hunting, it sucked. There was no wind. Eh, Lou, Like I mean, there was no commotion going on. There was no wind to get these birds flying.

Speaker 2:

And it's funny because I was sitting in my stand. I didn't hear anything. I didn't even hear geese. Usually you hear the geese right when the sun's going down. You hear them. I didn't even hear gunshots go off.

Speaker 5:

Right, I didn't hear many, I heard some but not many.

Speaker 1:

So that was the first night. The first night.

Speaker 2:

And we came back and part one of the menu was the lasagna.

Speaker 5:

Yes, that was a simple one.

Speaker 2:

That was a simple one, oven First day it was in, we had the Cesare salad. Cesare Caesar, beautiful. Good old Cesare, I Cesare, yes, we're Italian, yep.

Speaker 5:

Me too, right it sounds more expensive.

Speaker 2:

Yes, super expensive. And, boys, we had a great meal. It was beautiful. So our hunt camp has been decked out. We got a TV. Now, who got that TV? Lou, did you get?

Speaker 4:

that TV? Lou bought the TV. Yeah, I splurged a little bit last year, I didn't know that was another thing.

Speaker 1:

I another thing. I saw the upgrade. I wasn't sure where it came from, I didn't know. You went and got. Where'd you go to Best Buy and just got a 70?

Speaker 2:

no way man Hunt Camp's rocking a 70 I asked Gags what fits in there?

Speaker 1:

he goes a 75, I go, no problem, I'll get an 80, and we made it fit it was a nice treat going in there and then the way you streamed it Tone you streamed it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that is a nice thing when we're up going in there. And then the way you streamed it, tone, you streamed it. Yeah, I was streaming it right from my phone, so we got to watch the Leafers.

Speaker 4:

That is a nice thing when we're up there at the end of the night. We're full, we're tired, we're sitting down and then we put on the Leafers.

Speaker 2:

And then maybe the guitar came out and Lou might have been singing a little bit, I don't know. There was a few songs going on in the background while he was cooking, because Lou was cooking a lot, by the way. This guy was on the.

Speaker 1:

Did you share those pictures, cj? Listen, I've shared. The only clip I've shared so far from the hunt camp is the tomahawk steak. I have content for our listeners and viewers, probably for the next year, of the food you guys did there was some good eats. Lou doing up all the peppers and all that stuff and Dan doing the ribs, shore ribs, shore ribs. Oh, my God, those shore ribs were insane. I'm jumping the gun. You did a little bit of a pig. You had a pig going.

Speaker 2:

It was quite the trip, boys. But one thing I will say, siege, that after the first night and you and Lou noticed that the ducks were slow you went into straight fishing mode. You guys, we had our tournament. We got to talk about the tournament. Now I made a mistake. I called out the Northerners two podcasts ago and I said we were going to pop these guys. It was the Southerners versus the Northerners. You never learn. Eh, the four of us went on a boat together and we went up against Coach, uncle P and Gags.

Speaker 5:

You know what this tone? We're going to take them one year.

Speaker 1:

We're getting better, and here's why we are going to take them.

Speaker 2:

They bought the 20-pound bag. I don't care. I don't care. It was a 20-pound bag, I don't care.

Speaker 1:

The reason why and I'm a humble person and Lou is humble, we're all humble guys they got a 20-pound bag, but you know where they got that 20-pound bag? In the spots that we showed them. Siege Louise and.

Speaker 2:

I found. Yeah, guys, I can't wait till Gags hears this. There's no way.

Speaker 4:

It was Coach, you know it coach, you know it.

Speaker 1:

So it's a matter of who gets there first. That's all it is for these tournaments. Now could Gag and those guys out for Muskie, they could get her a number. I'm not scared of them for Bass and I'll put it on air.

Speaker 4:

That's an important point. I agree with Siege. That's an important point because where we fish in Nipissing there's a lot of islands, there's a lot of rocks. Yeah, and unless you know that water, you are not doing. You know 30, 40 miles an hour. You're correct, okay.

Speaker 5:

That's the biggest problem we have.

Speaker 4:

Like Sean is yes, because he knows the water. Like he can go with his eyes closed and he scoots through these narrows and islands. Oh, buddy, right. And yes, is it an excuse? Yeah, a little bit.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, it is.

Speaker 4:

But still, he's got an edge.

Speaker 1:

He's got an edge and we're kind of skipping. We're going right to the pound or the bag pound. How about our first drift?

Speaker 2:

What happened? I don't remember what happened on the first drift, the fall drift, oh, pb, pb with his hair jig the hair jig, the hair jig, hair jig, the hair jig, and we talked about it on the pod.

Speaker 4:

So another shout out to my buddy, john, who introduced me to the hair jig for smallmouth this year. And I'm trying to pre-fish for our little friendly tournament using a hair jig. And we get to one of our spots and I'm on six pound fluoro, six pound fluoro and I caught my personal best pike. Couldn't believe it, buddy inch with a gator buddy that's cute with a diowa, real cute diowa.

Speaker 1:

Chris johnson hair jig rod. The thing's like a noodle and he's got six pound floral hair jig on cast right are along the rocks and then bang. I thought he was snagged forever and then all of a sudden you saw his little rod. Yeah, it was peeling.

Speaker 2:

And then peeling drag. And what was I saying? The whole time he was fighting the fish. I was pissed.

Speaker 1:

Guys, they're catching bass behind us. Yeah, they're catching bass.

Speaker 2:

I'm in tournament mode, folks. These guys popped four while this guy was fighting his fish for 15 minutes and it was driving me nuts and it was driving me nuts, yeah, okay, listen, you got a PB congrats. What the hell is your problem? Man, it's business, man, it's business. There was a doll on the line, bro. We all put money in. They started calling in the first spot, yeah, but to anyone to get a PB.

Speaker 1:

They were yeah.

Speaker 2:

Dan's right, they were calling. They were calling their fish, while this guy is landing his pike lost us the tournament.

Speaker 1:

I'll take the l on that any day to see your buddy get a pb that's it, and so thick what do we call it? Thicker than a snickers? Yeah, something like that. That was that was. It was just to see him landed on that.

Speaker 2:

That was so incredible, yeah that was great, it was a big fish, but um, for us, I mean we pulled in. I don't know if it was a 14 pound bag. Correct me if I'm wrong. Yeah, it was like a 14, 15.

Speaker 5:

14-pound 15 and change, I think, 15.

Speaker 2:

So it's not like we did bad or anything, but these guys, they took us by five pounds. But the next day was cool because we got to put hats. We put the names in the hats, we had captains, yeah, so everyone was a captain. The nor the Northerners were the captains of the ship. And there was one wild card.

Speaker 1:

Yes, that was a good.

Speaker 4:

Hold on a sec. So who's the wild card?

Speaker 6:

Tone I got to defend myself here because why do you feel like?

Speaker 2:

you need to defend yourself, because I already know it was rigged. I already know my name wasn't in the hat, because you know you're the wild card.

Speaker 4:

And why are you the wild card Tone?

Speaker 2:

Because I can't tie funny thing, not, not a list, whatever, here's the thing I pop. This guy can make a great dinner. Okay, relax. All I'm saying to you is this you guys all got your names picked out of the hat and everyone's like oh, high-fiving, oh, that dance got coach you know, siege and gags.

Speaker 2:

Oh my god, uncle p and lou and this and that, and there I am looking. I'm like okay, this is, this seems normal. My name wasn't even the hat, so my name gets drawed to coach and hook set. And everyone was like yeah, okay, yay, and I'm just like nobody cares that I'm on their team. Nobody cared, man.

Speaker 4:

I was pushed off. I was on your team the first day.

Speaker 2:

It was me and Uncle Pete, oh it was me, it was me, it was you, it was me. That's right, see how?

Speaker 4:

good of a partner you are.

Speaker 3:

You don't even remember, and that's why you're the wild card. You don't even remember.

Speaker 4:

Okay, you don't even remember.

Speaker 2:

Were you happy you pulled my name? Were you happy I was the wild card? Listen.

Speaker 4:

I was happy because I knew we were going to have a good time.

Speaker 5:

Not that you're going to win. I was happy.

Speaker 2:

I got the dub with a huge bag.

Speaker 5:

How about Uncle P and I going to our first spot and in slow motion the net falls out of the boat.

Speaker 4:

Talk about that and then I'm like what the hell? You guys actually lost your net.

Speaker 5:

Lost the net. We left the channel there.

Speaker 4:

It sunk.

Speaker 5:

Right down. I thought nets don't sink. No man, he stopped right away. We turned around, we tried to look for it Gone and to our listeners.

Speaker 1:

right now, you guys are all listening. Everyone puts their net on the front casting deck or seat. We all did it. We all do it, and that's the first time I've ever heard where the basket's right around the seat and that thing came flying off.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, the basket was sitting right in the top seat there in the front and it fell off. I don't know what happened.

Speaker 4:

You mean the net was on top of the chair.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Speaker 4:

And what? The boat hit the water and it came flipped up. I don't understand that. I've never seen that in my life.

Speaker 5:

And slow motion starts falling off. I reach for it, uncle Pete reaches for it. We couldn't grab it, so now the whole tourney was on the net and you lost the pig because of it.

Speaker 2:

I lost two. So when they pulled up.

Speaker 4:

You lost two because you didn't have a net. Yeah, interesting.

Speaker 1:

They pulled up to us, Sean and I. They pulled up to us and they're like ah, we don't have a net, we don't have a net.

Speaker 4:

I'm like, well, maybe you should turn around, because G to lip a fish Well needless to say we saw them. There are no teeth.

Speaker 1:

No, we had one. Dan had one on. He's like big and big and what does he want P to do? Get the net. Well, they didn't have one, yeah. So anyone knows with you're using that finesse line, yeah, and then they're trying to go down a lip and it jumped off, it jumped off.

Speaker 5:

yeah, so p bending down as soon as he gets on his knees there it's boom, it gets off. The other spot we went to it was probably a foreign change lost it the first one, that siege scene.

Speaker 2:

It was probably like two and a half, maybe three yeah, but but you would have been, you would have been in contention with you guys dude, if we got that because he was too too.

Speaker 5:

No, you guys were like ounces off, that's right, if we got that four, we would have came in first for sure.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, gags and I got the W that day. But I'm telling you, shout out to Gags, his boat control is incredible. It is incredible. Like he knew I'm a jerkbait fan, obviously he knew to swing his ass hand out on the boat to get me along rocks. So I could do my thing for 10 minutes and I'd pop two and we get them and then just move on and then he would go and finish.

Speaker 4:

I fished with him the next day and I remember you telling me that, yeah, and then I finally put on the jerkbait, because I wasn't using the jerkbait all day. And then the afternoon I put on the jerkbait. Yeah, I'm like, let's hit some shallow water man. He's like, okay, fine, let's go. He's going straight to smash the island, yeah, and then he just and I know this sounds like no one really thinks of this, but the way you handle your boat can affect how you catch fish oh, boat control, boat control is huge. Yeah, and the butt of the boat just went parallel in like a second. And I'm like zoop threw my lure just two feet offshore and just started bam, bam, bam, boom, caught a tube. It wasn't a big fish, but still it was like such a good feeling.

Speaker 1:

That's got to be all the years that he's been guiding, because he wants to get his customers on fish right, so he knows how to. Let's be honest when we fish we might be a little selfish. You know, the guys in the front you know will get the prime casting spots. The guys in the back, get the recycled stuff. So he always wants his customers to get on fish. And so you're on the back of his boat. You're going to be VIP service.

Speaker 2:

All right. Well, I will tell you this. Day two I drew Uncle P, dan fished and then Dan came up to me and he's like you're going to absolutely love fishing with uncle p, because he took dan to new spots that we don't. We've never fished on that lake before. Yeah, and it was exactly what dan said. He said he's gonna take you to this one spot it's a. You know, I'm not gonna mention where it was, but he takes us to this one spot.

Speaker 2:

He's like he's like, uh, he's like towing, you're gonna love these spots. And we, we, we ended up having a great day together. We were again ounces off, we were all close. I think that day it was just, you know, everyone got about a 15. I think what did you?

Speaker 5:

guys get. No, we got like a 17-18 oseach on the second day.

Speaker 1:

Second day we got it was you, coach and Dan, right, yeah, and I got the dub again. Am I the good luck charm? You are Maybe.

Speaker 5:

That's why you call me Showtime Show up at tournaments.

Speaker 1:

Maybe, but yeah, it was 18 pounds that we got the second day.

Speaker 5:

It was a decent bag and I lost a decent one three in a bit. Yeah, at that other place, yeah.

Speaker 1:

And again, Coach Scott, I love fishing with new people. I haven't fished with Coach too much. And then you guys fished with Pierre.

Speaker 2:

I didn't know that Uncle P was a stick, and it makes sense because they all grew up together, their family company uh pike tournaments, uncle peace one, oh god I have no idea listeners.

Speaker 1:

Sorry to cut you off.

Speaker 2:

Uncle p is coach's brother, that's correct, yeah and they co-wrote the song, yes, and played the song at the end of this podcast, the fish and fire song. So those guys are talented in many ways, but fishing wise wow, like I was, I was blown. The thing that I I was most shocked about fishing with uncle p, because I know the way gags fishes. Like you said, he runs and guns. Yeah, he'll get to his spot, he'll fish. If it's slow, boom, trolling, motors up, you guys are moving. Uncle p is a little bit more retained and it's like okay, we're gonna fish this spot we marked and it was. It was. It was awesome. I had a great time with him and, and you know what, we caught a lot of fish together. And it was awesome. I had a great time with them and you know what? We caught a lot of fish together and it was a great second day on the water. But it looked like that was the trend we were going in. It was more of a fishing thing than hunting, because there was no birds flying.

Speaker 1:

Well, let's be honest, so many times we've been to Nip and we can't fish that much due to the winds, so it was great.

Speaker 2:

It was great, yeah, and we didn't touch our musky rods. No, didn't touch them. And there was two big boys up there that were visiting gags at the time with Jim Sarek the musky hunter. Yeah, yeah, he was up visiting Sean. He goes every year. He's always fun to talk to man.

Speaker 1:

He's a great guy to talk to manon-one yeah, he was joking around with us and everything and the things that I admire about these guys, these television guys if you want to call them that television fishermen is this guy films so much? Yeah. And then even on his spare time he's going to Nipissi.

Speaker 4:

He's up there grinding for musky for fun. Yeah, that was the first question.

Speaker 2:

He's not up there doing a show, so where's your cameras? He's like no man.

Speaker 1:

I'm with my buddy, it reminds me of pete bowman, because pete's the same thing yeah, even off yeah, he's up there. And I asked sean I'm like, is jim sarich married? And he's like yeah I think so I'm like how does he get away with it? Because he's filming all the time and then when he's not filming, he's out popping yeah and and uh and kyle garen was up there.

Speaker 2:

It was another stick that guy can back and I was talking to gail because I it was cool because I haven't seen kyle since florida and I got to go to florida with kyle and different fishing obviously, but he is a musky hunter man like I know sarich is the musky, this guy pops huge fish. Yeah and uh, he was up there so I got to talk with he may or may not have caught a whale.

Speaker 5:

He might have caught a whale. There's a rumor someone caught like a 50-something, I think he got a 57.

Speaker 2:

And the picture hasn't swirled because nobody shared. He didn't share the picture with Gags that night. I may have seen it. Did you see the picture? Did you really?

Speaker 1:

Damn it. It's in our group. Yeah, he sent it to us.

Speaker 2:

Oh my, so Kyle pops a 57.

Speaker 5:

Well, I don't know if it was Kyle.

Speaker 1:

It was the day after Sarah slept.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I think it was Kyle. Yeah, it was Kyle.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, so he got a 57.

Speaker 5:

Should we even be saying this? Like, does he want us to know this?

Speaker 2:

Ah Come on, kyle, watch the bikes. We're having fun man, so you caught 57 muskies. That's what it was Not 57 inches.

Speaker 1:

No 57, 30-inch muskies.

Speaker 5:

Right, I heard he was using a toddy tickle bait.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, Well, I hear good things about those baits, me too.

Speaker 4:

Sorry to go off topic yeah, I heard that guy's a good guy yeah, hold on a second.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you heard about the four skins, but this table's got a fifth skin at it. We should take a commercial break. What's?

Speaker 5:

going on here, man. By the way, I was joking about it. I heard he was using a toddy. I don't know what he was using. I don't want to start rumors.

Speaker 2:

We're going to take a quick commercial break when we come back. Folks, we got to hear about your buck, we're going to hear about the buck, yeah, and we might have a fifth person sit next to us. We might not, we might not. We'll see what happens. We'll see what happens. But we're going to have a quick commercial break when we come back. On the other side, we're going to talk about the buck and boys. It was a heart-throbbing moment. We'll be right back after these messages.

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Speaker 2:

Listen, we're back. Okay, me and Lou were having a discussion after the commercial break. This guy's losing his mind. He wants me to talk about the buck. So we're going to talk about the buck boys. Second night tournament's over. This was probably, I'm going to say, for me one of the most. It was probably the best day in the outdoors I've ever had in my life. And we get back from Nipissing. We fished all day tournament and me and Dan right away you know it's cliche man the guy's like what are you going to do? You duck hunting? You're going to go sit in the stand. Where are we going? Everyone's doing their own thing. I put my gear on, I head over to my favorite stand, dan heads over to his favorite favorite sand. I said something to you.

Speaker 5:

Well, you asked me when am I sitting? This or this?

Speaker 2:

Correct. I said, Dan, I got two options. We're going to either this stand or this stand. Where do I go?

Speaker 5:

I said go to that one. It's going to happen tonight.

Speaker 4:

Which one Dan.

Speaker 1:

You can name it.

Speaker 4:

These are our own names Rocky Top.

Speaker 2:

No, we call it the Gate, so we call it this. So there's the gate, and then there's Under Siege, which is named after Siege yeah, and we, when we were coming back from Nipissing I don't know who was in the truck with me, but we saw a shitload of deer in the field. Yeah, at least 12. At least 12. And Dan's like you, got to go to the gate because it's the closest stand towards the highway I guess you can call it a highway or the road. So I head over there and I said to Lou, I'm like the last time I popped a buck, the first time I've ever caught a shot of deer. I said you were the first one to show up. Yeah, and you brought the buck bottle, the buck bottle, and we were pumped.

Speaker 2:

And I said, lou, if I pop a buck, I'm going on our group chat and I'm calling you up. And you said Smash, I'll be there. You said, don't worry, I'll be there. I'm going duck hunting, I'll be there. So we go, I get up in my stand and I got to tell you guys, man, it was incredible. From the first 15 minutes I was sitting up there and Dan will, and this is why Dan says he falls asleep all the time in the stand because it's so peaceful. Love it.

Speaker 1:

And it's so peaceful, Love it. And you know you're looking around, you're 20 feet in the air and you're just like, and every little sound is just freaking you out and your heart's popping.

Speaker 2:

Did you see any like fawns? Or does come in? Yes, so the first, the first thing to come into the stand was a, was a doe with two fawns. Okay, okay, so the doe comes in, two fawns are behind it. And it's funny because the doe comes in and it's like, let me check around first. Yeah, and I'm going to call you guys in if I think it's safe. And I remember the boys telling me this. They're like usually if you see you know a couple deer coming in, you know usually the doe will go in first, check around, because they're not looking for me. They're not, you know, they're looking for bucks that are coming in, hot, bucks that are coming in hot. And you could tell that it was about a 15-minute time period where that dough came in, before the fawns even came behind it to the feed. And they came, they had a sniff, they were eating the corn and then they took off peacefully. There was no warnings. Usually they'll stomp their legs right then They'll stomp if they lift their tail up.

Speaker 2:

They'll lift their tail if they feel like they're threatened at all. No threat. I was pumping and then about a half hour later, a fawn comes in again by itself. Just a single fawn and it comes right in. I'm watching it, my heart's going again. I'm like okay, and I remember coach telling me if you see a fa, if it takes off like runs and there's something that it thinks is spooking it, it's probably a buck. Well, doesn't that thing just put its head up and both takes off. And I'm like holy smokes. I'm like that's pretty much exactly what coach said was going to happen. I kid you guys, not five minutes after I see in about 100 yards away, this buck coming in. And when I look through my scope because I'm trying to see it from 100 yards and my feed is in 50 yards and when I look through my scope, you can see the antlers and I couldn't tell if it was big. I couldn't tell. And we had this discussion, dan and I, and I asked him this on the podcast before our trip. You did.

Speaker 1:

That was a great episode, by the way I said to dan.

Speaker 2:

I said if, if a spike comes into your pile, are you going to take it? Or because, let's face it, we don't get to hunt much. This is almost once a year that we get a chance to win. The four of us go up and dan said no, he was going to pass because he's gotten that buck already, he's gotten the spike, he's gotten a four already, he's gotten the spike, he's gotten a four-pointer. And he was just like. You know what I think, tone, I'm going to be patient. So all this is going through my head, it's all going through my head and I'm like, and I'm looking through my scope and I'm trying to count points, and all this shit's happening all at once. And when it comes in, I look through my scope corn, and it's facing me, yeah, and I see the four-pointer. Yeah, it's a four-pointer, so it's bigger than the first one that I pop you upgraded and my heart was going siege.

Speaker 2:

My heart was buck fever's real boys and the only thing I could think of. The only thing I could think of is lou coming with the buck bottle screaming his head off like he did the first time and, um, I finally got that shot. And when I when I took shot and it only went 30 yards, it was a great shot, yeah. And again I got on my phone and I'm sure all you guys saw the buck down Woo, and none of us believed it?

Speaker 4:

Of course not. Did you believe it, Dan? Because I didn't believe it.

Speaker 5:

Listen, I'm in my stand and we're texting Dan anything there and we're going back and forth, I don't know 45 seconds later.

Speaker 2:

Buck down, I'm like how is this possible? I know, but hold on you just said nothing's there, but Dan stopped texting. Why Dan?

Speaker 5:

Yeah, because I seen two does coming. Well, two deer coming. It was like 100 yards away, but I'm in thick bush, right? Yeah, I'm sorry, what did you say? What Thick bush, what's?

Speaker 2:

wrong with you, man?

Speaker 4:

No, what are you thinking? You said you were in thick bush, yeah, okay.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, yeah, I'm on a stand where there's I don't know why you're laughing.

Speaker 2:

I'm not laughing, man.

Speaker 5:

Okay, I didn't hear it, but I noticed like 100 yards to the right there was two things moving. Then I'm like, okay, let's wait it out. So I stopped the phone. Phone's going down, everything's going down. Probably three, four minutes later, five minutes later, two deer come to my in front of me, but they're two. Does right.

Speaker 1:

So that was the same time. So there is like, like fishing, there's a witching hour. When it comes to with the deer, they all start going at once. Oh, it was nuts? I would think so and I want to ask. I want to say two things. I've never seen Tone so pumped to. He was so focused for a buck. I was nuts. He was so dialed in. Even gags around me like who is this guy? Right away? He's like Siege, what are you doing? You should be getting ready for Doc and his witching hour. You got to get going. This is Tone chirping me.

Speaker 2:

And then he was the first one. He deserved this buck.

Speaker 1:

So bad oh boy, and another question I have for you when you were talking about your story is why are the does and the fawns scared of the buck? When you said they come in they get scared. Is there a reason? I?

Speaker 2:

think because the buck again. Dan will know this question better. This is just my opinion. I think because it's the rut and I think these bucks are coming in aggressive and the first thing the female is thinking of is protecting its babies. That's my opinion. I don't know, dan.

Speaker 5:

It's like any animal when there's a bear and they sense another bear, they take off because it's a big male bear. The alpha male. It's like a moose, the other moose will take off. You'll see in a lot of hunting shows where you'll see a moose and it looks back yeah, oh, something's there. And they start getting panicked because it's a massive moose behind them.

Speaker 1:

They just so the doe and the fawn.

Speaker 5:

It's fighting time.

Speaker 1:

It's fighting time.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, and the buck will come in. Buck fever, buck fever. Oh, it's real, buddy. It was like landing a muskie. It was like landing a muskie. It was like you know what it was like siege. It was like the muskie is right in front of you, yeah, and your buddy's got the net. Yeah, and all you want is your buddy, to put that fish in the net, because you're just like oh my god, yeah, please, like, like, let me get this shot, because I don't think I'm gonna get it again.

Speaker 2:

Yeah well, we have that 50 inches at the side of the boat. It's like am I ever gonna get another 50 again? That was the feeling, yeah, and when it went down, this is, you guys are gonna love this. So coach says to me, because coach didn't come hunting that day, no, and he was back at the camp and he was like singing songs.

Speaker 1:

I could hear him. Yeah, they're partying yeah, so they're.

Speaker 2:

He was ruining my duck hunt yeah there was karaoke going on at the hunt camp and you could hear it through the woods. But I will tell you this he texted me and said smash, take it all in, wait at least 45 minutes. He's like sit up there for 45 minutes, you have time, there's still light. He's like relax, we're coming, I'm gonna come and I'm gonna. And he promised me. He's like if you get a buck tonight, smash, I'm coming to field dress it. He's like I'm coming to do it. He did yeah, he told me yeah. So when I texted him, he t side text me. Just it wasn't through the group. He's like smash, take it all in, calm down, wait 45 minutes, we're coming, we're gonna come and get you. I didn't wait 45 minutes. No, no, I couldn't. I was dying. I was like did this thing drop? Yeah, you know. So right away, first thing I did is go look for my arrow. Yeah, I found my arrow and right away I saw the blood. So you had blood trail and I saw the blood.

Speaker 5:

So you had a blood trail and I saw the blood trail right away. It dropped like 20 yards from where you shot it.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it didn't go far. And when I found it, boys, I was just. I was so ecstatic, man, it's just a feeling that I can't even explain.

Speaker 4:

For people who don't hunt. It's hard to explain this, oh man, it really is.

Speaker 2:

When you see the picture on Instagram of me with my best friends in the whole world, you know there were seven of us Coach, uncle P, you guys all came, you guys all showed up, man, yeah, and the picture doesn't even justify how happy I was.

Speaker 1:

It was so cool. And for all you haters on Instagram that didn't like that picture, just don't follow us.

Speaker 4:

We got some hate. Oh, did you get some hate on the gram?

Speaker 1:

With his buck. But, like I mean, we're the Eating Wild podcast, it is what it is. That's funny. For some reason you can hold fish all day long, walleye and harvest them, but when you have a buck, and you know, obviously there was some blood involved, yeah, and you know, obviously there was some blood involved, yeah, and you know. But it's where you think you're getting your cattle from at the end of the day, right, it's a supermarket.

Speaker 2:

So I'll challenge anybody out there who's thinking about getting into hunting and if you are blessed, like we are, to have friends that pave the way for us. And obviously, like you know, you guys, especially with fishing, you guys, myself included, maybe not as much, but we Obviously like you know, you guys, especially with fishing, you guys, myself included, maybe not as much, but we do our research, we watch videos, you know, you put yourself in that position and it's about the experience and it's about the harvest which, boys, we are going to harvest this together and that's the best part, I'm glad you brought that up.

Speaker 5:

I cannot wait for that part we're going to wait for that.

Speaker 4:

So so can I mention that we're in the studio today, which is at your kitchen, correct, and we're not going to really dive into it today, but we got the boys together to basically make burgers and sausages out of your deer, correct? So much fun. We processed this deer and it was my first time doing this Same with me Right, and this was this made the whole hunting experience come around for me.

Speaker 5:

Like you want to get?

Speaker 4:

I want to get back in the woods, yeah right. I want to get back in the thick bush right away and get another deer.

Speaker 2:

Yeah Well, I mean that's part of the experience. I mean you can go out there. Let me ask you guys this I'll start with Lou. So you've never been the guy who goes out we all fish our brains out. You've never been the guy to go for meat, you're not a meat hunter when you're fishing.

Speaker 4:

I love waterfowl, I love birds and yeah, I'm a lot like Siege where you know I do love animals and I, you know I don't care to kill a deer, but I'm not ignorant either. I know where my food comes from and if I had the choice to eat something that I could harvest, I would do that all the time, 100%. It's such cleaner food, right, like, and, and doing what we did today brought me so much pride and joy.

Speaker 4:

And doing it with the boys, like, like you know, people don't understand this feeling until they do it, and I'll tell you what this beats. Going to costco or or any grocery store and getting a nice piece of steak that you think you're putting on the barbecue and you feel happy about this kills that by a million and that's the best thing about us.

Speaker 1:

We all like hunting. And then on our trips, some people will be duck hunting, some people will be grouse hunting, some people will be deer hunting. So we're covering off all the bases in the bush pretty much, and it's such a good trip man.

Speaker 2:

Love it. It's such a good trip. And you mentioned duck show time. Yeah, we had on our menu. Marty was ready to do these duck poppers. Oh yeah, I was so excited for that and we even said it. Me and Martin sat down and we're like, hey, listen, this is on the menu and if we can't pop a duck, it's not going on the menu. We're going to have to do something else. We need a plan B and the porchetta was a plan B, yeah, right. And it just so happened that the third night I went out by myself because you Siege actually I don't know if it was you or Lou, but you guys and we were shocked because Marty jumped on board. He's like, after the fishing tournament, you're like I'm not done. No, we got to go back out.

Speaker 1:

Well, I was putting away my rods. And then Lou looks at me. He's like what's wrong with you, man? I'm like, well, I'm putting away my rods in my car. He's like too cool to fish with me. And I'm like say less, because anyone knows the listeners know if nipissing is not blowing up, you want to take advantage of it, right? And uh, he's like I prefer to fish rather than deer hunt. And I'm like I'm down with you. And then, next thing, you know, martin's is like what about me, guys? What I'm shocked. I smell I can't come. And I'm like okay.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, the three of us hit the water and you guys went duck hunting and we did old school fishing and I'll let lou talk about a little bit more. He was the captain of the boat but it was no electronics really. But go ahead, lou, tell them pretty much what we did, you know what?

Speaker 4:

We did something that we hadn't done in a long time, especially when we go fishing with Gags and Coach. We went there for this little bass tournament. So we're just doing bass, right, we're looking for bait. Fish structure, we're hard-hitting bass. This fish structure, we're hard-hitting bass. This time we went out just to fish, like we used to fish back in the day. It was old school. Just look for structure and fish for anything Fish for walleye, fish for pike, fish for bass and it was something we hadn't done together in a long time, because usually our trips are focused on a certain species. And I'll be honest, I had so much fun, man, yeah, I had so much fun just hugging shorelines that we've never touched before.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, banging, rocks Banging rocks Banging weeds, Weeds, and we're getting hooked up. We had you know we caught some fish and it was great.

Speaker 2:

There's a rumor that Martin's lost a PB biggest pike of the whole weekend.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, that was terrible, I don't know if it beat a 42, but.

Speaker 1:

It wasn't a 42, but I felt terrible. It looked about a 43. No, it was in the 30s, but I felt terrible because he had one on and it was a good one. And then I was a net man again, luz. He battled his pike for a while, so when it came in, it was ready to tap out.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, I do know how to fight a fish, well, I was using bigger line bait caster.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, so I could horse it in you could horse it in a little bit more, so you horsed it in.

Speaker 1:

You horsed it in a little bit. You were using a bait caster and it was pretty damn fresh by the time it got to the boat. Yeah, pretty damn fresh by the time we got to the boat. Yeah, I had one stab at it, yeah, and it was. I may have had some drinks on the dock yeah before we went on the boat, yeah, after I had one stab, but I don't think it's the net man's fault if your fluorocarbon he was pissed he was. You talked about it for the whole night.

Speaker 2:

I had to hear the whole night was about the fish that you made him lose Tony, biggest fish of my life.

Speaker 4:

His fluorocarbon snapped. Listen, I'm neutral here. I'm neutral, yeah, and you guys both did a terrible job. No, here's what happened Both of you.

Speaker 5:

Obviously, it's not CJ's fault, guys. That pike inhaled my swim bait and his teeth got my fluorocarbon. That's all there is to it. Yeah, that's it.

Speaker 1:

It cut it, but I had one slash at it, I had one stab at it.

Speaker 4:

Siege's attempt was also not tournament worthy.

Speaker 5:

That's for sure. I'm not fishing musky. I didn't have 150 pound leader on, and plus we're using we're using.

Speaker 1:

If any of our listeners saw the pike that the PB that Lou got, you can chirp us all you want. We weren't fishing for 42-inch pike, so we didn't have a pike net on the boat.

Speaker 2:

That's right. Yeah, I was going to mention that we were smallie fishing.

Speaker 5:

Also, Luis is not going to use six-pound line and a hair jig for pike.

Speaker 1:

I've heard that one too, hey.

Speaker 4:

Phil works I might start something new.

Speaker 2:

You got a muskie on it too. I works, I might start something new. You got a muskie on it too.

Speaker 4:

I did catch a muskie on my hair jig.

Speaker 2:

The coach was like what?

Speaker 4:

the hell is going on with this hair jig? It was like a 28 inch muskie, but I caught one. He was all socks.

Speaker 1:

He was all like.

Speaker 5:

Couldn't catch a smallie for my life, but Just after that one, the one that I lost there, I'm casting next to that bleach bottle in the lake. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, oh, I just got a strike in it. I look at my swim bait and the tail's cut off. Oh yeah, the very next cast Siege got it. Yeah, you know what the?

Speaker 1:

funny thing is Any angler know when you get a fish on you rethink it later. Why'd that fish bite? So Dan missed it. It pretty much ripped off your swim bait. Yeah right through and I cast back. And then Dan cast back over my shoulder and I was being a knucklehead Instead of jerking down on my jerk bait, I was jerking up to hit Dan's line to make it look like he got a fish on, I remember, yeah.

Speaker 1:

So all of a sudden I'm jerking up and I never do that with a jerk bait Right. All of a sudden I was working it like it was a medusa. You know, like how people you work medusas a little up up down. You know all crazy and erratic.

Speaker 5:

So when I was doing the erratic jerk just met mess with martin's bang and I netted it perfectly for him yeah, yeah, but you missed one earlier.

Speaker 1:

For me perfect job, yeah, perfect job great Great job, but it was fun, man, we weren't using electronics. And I saw a post from Gussie the other day and he went crappie fishing off topic and he went 2D electronics on a tiller boat and he had an amazing shore lunch with crappie just using 2D on a tiller.

Speaker 4:

That's fun, Just find the bait fish man.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah. So we were using rock, we were banging rocks and to do all that. It's a lot of fun and, antone, you went duck hunting, yeah.

Speaker 2:

So it was crazy because I actually got the goal on my own. I was by myself and it was one of those things where it was like you know what, by myself, the boys are fishing Gags had to go take, I think, his son to hockey practice and coach and Pierre decided to put on another show at the camp because I could hear it all through the trees and hear the music going. But it was very peaceful and I got to tell you guys, I felt like shit because the ducks were flying.

Speaker 2:

They were coming in and I went through. I got to use the binoculars. So you actually saw ducks, yeah, yeah, they were coming in and I went through. I got to use the Benelli.

Speaker 4:

So you actually saw ducks? Yeah, I missed them all. That's what you're saying I missed them all.

Speaker 5:

Were they there when?

Speaker 2:

you got there or were they flying through? No, they flew through and it was crazy because a flock of three came. Dan, I'm telling you, man, if it wasn't 20 feet in front of me, they came flying it. But there's a positive guys.

Speaker 5:

No, there is no positive no.

Speaker 2:

No, I got to use the Benelli I got to put rounds through the Benelli.

Speaker 5:

You can use that anywhere.

Speaker 2:

yeah, yeah okay, and right towards the end of the night, probably 10 minutes. You know the way those ducks come in. They come, it's like they know the time. They know that from sunset you got 30 minutes and they came in hot, like I'm talking hot geese were flying, the flocks of like six or seven were flying in and Gags actually came because on his way back from dropping his son off at hockey he came in and met me for the last 10, 15 minutes of my hunt and I was sitting and he took a picture of me. You guys are going to love this.

Speaker 2:

I was wearing my white Bear Creek hat.

Speaker 4:

Just got great hat for hunting.

Speaker 2:

So he takes a picture of me and he's like hey, smash nice camouflage hat. And he shows me the picture. You see this big, bright white hat. So I wasn't thinking about that one, but that didn't stop the ducks from flying in, I just missed, and guys took a couple shots off. And anyways, listen, it's like you go fishing, you get them or you don't. It's a great day.

Speaker 1:

Listen, if it was easy every time we went, it wouldn't be that exciting. If it was always, if we limited out all the time on fish, walters and all that stuff, duck and bucks, it wouldn't bring you back. I think as much. Right, like how many I was with you guys when we're driving to the creek and how many we saw a gross a couple times just land in front of us while we're driving. Yeah, it's just like what the heck man yeah it was.

Speaker 2:

It was. It was a really nice night for myself just to kind of sit there and you know, you knew you guys were catching fish because you guys were posting the pictures on our group and it was like these guys are having fun, I'm at peace, this is awesome and this is. You were having a moment. It was a moment, man, and I got back and we fired up the tomahawk fired up the tomahawk siege got some good footage got some good footage.

Speaker 1:

What are the odds before we get into the food? Sorry, what are the odds that? How many walters we caught during this trip? And it was closed? Yeah, from the. I think the week before it was the closing literally a couple days before and good good.

Speaker 4:

Walters, nedrigan, for beautiful Walters. I'm like what the hell, man, I want the bass belt.

Speaker 1:

You know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So all these beautiful we could have had tacos with and all that stuff, oh sorry, Closed last week, crazy though, I noticed that whenever you caught a walleye, very next cast would be a smallie.

Speaker 5:

so if you find the walleye, you'd find the smallie.

Speaker 1:

I haven't seen on a trip like this, where the Walters were with so much mixed in with the pike and the bass. How about the jumbo perch bud?

Speaker 4:

oh yeah, you and Gags got in a huge perch. We got into this one spot where we're getting ticked, getting ticked, set the hook, bring it up. I'm like, oh, it's not fighting as much, maybe it's a small, small bass. Bring it up. 12 inch perch. What the hell? Huge, okay, throw it down again. Boom, boom, boom, no way. 13 inch perch. They kept getting bigger and bigger. What kind of bait. Ned rigs and drop shots Ned rigs and drop shots.

Speaker 4:

Drop shot, little minnow bait and the massive perch. If we were looking for perch, this would have been a crazy day, but they were closed too. Perch, closed, perch was closed. Perch was closed. Gen one Gen one on Nip.

Speaker 2:

No way, I thought panfish was open all year round. No, they closed with the Walters and then they reopened. Reopen on Jan 1, which is different in the Quarthras. The Quarthras is all year round same with Pike. You have Pike all year round over in the Quarthras. That's why on my home lake, on Scugog, I can go out early ice if there's early ice, which is very rare. But back, I'd say, six, seven years ago in December I was able to go out and drill a hole, and I think on Simcoe you can pop them early too. I'm not sure but you can get the, you can get those jumbles early, yeah, and like first ice, usually for those, for those perch or like. And it's funny because, gags, when I go I usually go up the first week of uh, january. You guys know I go with my cousins if there's ice, if there's ice, like last year.

Speaker 2:

it was a little bit, actually the last two years was a bit. First, second week of jan, january couldn't even go, but it's perch, it's the perch. And then you see these maniacs on social media going out on like one inch of ice on Cook's Bay to catch these monsters.

Speaker 4:

I love seeing those guys that drop their trucks in the lake.

Speaker 2:

But you got guys now going out on boats the guys on Jan 1, they're going out on their tillers, they're breaking ice.

Speaker 1:

I don't want to change the subject and it's a whole different podcast. But I'm not winterizing my boat this early anymore, I'm keeping her going.

Speaker 4:

December 15th man.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so when Muskie closes?

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

I want to do more. The perch bite is awesome, the Niagara River, but listen we've been doing more.

Speaker 2:

We went out for Walters with an early spring this year out on the Detroit River. We would have never done that.

Speaker 1:

What's the slot size for Nipissing? To keep on, walters, I don't even know.

Speaker 2:

Oh my God, Don't quote me on this. I think it's in between 18 and 21.

Speaker 1:

And it's per angler can keep one, two, two, two.

Speaker 2:

And I don't think they don't come boys, no, no, every year I go up, these boys show up on their sleds and they're checking.

Speaker 1:

Well, I'm saying, on this fishing trip we just had, I guaranteed each day we would have got our limit. I've never seen so many. Yeah, that was a lot that size, and that size too in the perfect slot. Perfect slot yeah, I.

Speaker 2:

I've noticed the last few times ice fishing that those walters are either under or over. It's like they know the sloth size is crazy and it's who knows.

Speaker 5:

Who knows the Walters though?

Speaker 2:

Well, yeah, yeah, I'm telling you it's a fish. They're smart fish man, they know what's going on. They're like yeah, I'm under, let's go for a little fight. I'll dance with you, Tone, let's go we. But you know what? To wrap up the trip, boys, I would say it was probably and I said this to you and Dan Lou on our way home because we were driving through some traffic coming back and I was like, boys, this had to be one of my favorite outdoors trips, all around, from the food, from the hunting, from the fishing. Obviously I got my buck, but you guys popped, you got your PB with a pike. We got to get our triton wet, Dan Jesus. Hopped, you got your PB with a pike. We got to get our Triton wet, Dan Jesus.

Speaker 5:

And you know I would say it was probably one of my favorite trips of the year and it's going to be hard to top that here's what I will say if you're planning a trip, plan your and this is towards the food aspect of the whole thing but plan your food around your busyness of the trip, like you don't want a slave in the kitchen when you're done, get a lasagna, get the cabbage rolls these are all things we prepped beforehand that you pop in the oven, maybe have a drink or two before it's ready. 30, 40 minutes in the oven and you're good to go.

Speaker 2:

How cool was it that you guys got off the water and that porchette that was ready.

Speaker 5:

That's what I'm saying. You guys came in and it was ready to go.

Speaker 2:

Crackling and a leaf game was going. Did you get that from Butcher Shop? That's a great question. Thanks for asking, Siege.

Speaker 1:

No, did you?

Speaker 2:

I'm not sodas brought to you by the butcher shop. No, yeah.

Speaker 2:

I did, absolutely, that was delicious. So we talked to, we had Siege you and I had Stacy on from the butcher shop and he wanted to obviously give us some stuff for our trip. Yeah. So we had the tomahawk, yeah, which, again, people can go online. Right now I'm not sure how long the Eating Wild 15 code will go, but this is next day delivery to your front door within 200 kilometer radius of where you live in the GTA, and he gave us a sample of some stuff that people can just order online get delivered right to their house. So we had the porchetta.

Speaker 1:

So explain to our listeners, because I didn't know the word porchetta before.

Speaker 2:

So yeah. So here's the thing Last year, last year, Siege is not Italian or Portuguese. Crack Festive. I love you. So listen, listen, mr Johnson, let me explain this to you Jansen, jansen Jansen, from Wisconsin.

Speaker 5:

There's a T in his name, guys.

Speaker 2:

Hey the genetic response.

Speaker 5:

You're welcome.

Speaker 2:

Hey the genetic. Hey, you're welcome, Taro, that's actually from Luke.

Speaker 4:

That's on us. He owes you dough, by the way, taro.

Speaker 2:

Murata. So you're making a t-shirt and you're putting hashtag Luke at the bottom. All right, great question, siege. Here's the thing. Last year I brought the suckling pig. I think the Portuguese call it leitão. Yep, leitão was like a suckling pig Four to 10 pounds, let's say. Italians have something a little bit similar, but it's actually the belly. Okay. So what they do is they pull the belly, they use the seasoning there's cumin, there's from fennel, chili flakes, whatever you can season it however you want, whatever you want, really, okay. And what they do is they take a pork loin. So if you've ever gone to Costco or a grocery store, these are probably one of the cheaper meats that you can purchase and it feeds your whole family. You can get a whole pork loin these days for like 30 bucks Wow, and it'll feed like 15 people. And what they do is they wrap the belly in the loin and they tie it up.

Speaker 5:

Like a swirl, like a swirl.

Speaker 2:

That was so cool, man. And that's basically your porchetta. Now, it's not the whole pig, it's boneless. It cooks in half the time. Yeah, so it's like taking apart a turkey.

Speaker 1:

And that skin and the skin. The crackling is insane, right. And in the video that I'm going to post, you take the top of or, sorry, you take your knife to the top of it and it was so crispy, it was the crackling, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And you get that, like my plan last year was to do that with the late town, like with the pig, you get the throughout the whole thing and again it's different. Like the seasoning is different. You're not really stuffing the pig. You're not really stuffing the pig, you're kind of just roasting it with a little bit of. I guess you guys just use kosher salt and wine, right.

Speaker 5:

And olive oil.

Speaker 1:

That's it. Olive oil that's it. And how long did you have that in the oven? For Just under two hours.

Speaker 2:

It was under two hours. Set it and forget it. Yeah, because you want to cook that pork loin at 135 siege. When you're cooking a whole pig, you want to be at 200. Yeah, you need to cook right through because you got the legs, you got the spine, you got the ribs, everything's attached. It's not boneless, so you got to take that in consideration. So when you're cooking a steak at medium rare or a pork loin or however you want it, you're pulling at 155. Okay, you want it medium, pull it at 155. So with the porchetta it was the same thing. That crackling was already an hour in, it was already crispy, but the center was around 100 because I checked it, I probed it right, so that was a pretty good meal. It was.

Speaker 2:

But Lou did say one thing it was pretty fatty. That belly is fatty. It's a more rich. It's fatty. That's why Italians, and I'd say Europeans in general, they'll put in a sandwich.

Speaker 1:

I see that.

Speaker 2:

Yeah you, Peppers and onions mushrooms.

Speaker 4:

So we kind of complemented the porchetta with a few different things to balance that out, didn't we?

Speaker 2:

What did you do with that Lou? Well, lou was sous chef Lou. He was going nuts, he was going crazy.

Speaker 4:

We had a little vegetable medley on the grill on the flat top.

Speaker 2:

Yes, Right, there might have been a flame or two.

Speaker 4:

Yes, A little vodka on the grill. A little vodka on the grill, a little vodka flambé.

Speaker 5:

Oh, that was for the tomahawk too, didn't it? Yeah, yeah, we lit that up.

Speaker 2:

Oh buddy, it was incredible.

Speaker 4:

And the mash, the potato mash, oh yes, garlic mash, garlic mash.

Speaker 2:

Dan brought red skin garlic mash potatoes. Oh so good, jesus Christ.

Speaker 1:

So people must think this is nuts to do on a fishing trip. But the way I saw you do it, you guys did it very simple and it was beautiful.

Speaker 5:

It's all about the prep beforehand. Take some time make your prep. The execution is the easy part.

Speaker 2:

And to go back on what Dan just said the butcher shop.

Speaker 4:

call them up, order a porchetta.

Speaker 2:

I'm not asking you to go and buy a belly and a pork loin and stuff. Call them up. We're chefs. Call them up, man, I don't want to do that work at the hunt camp.

Speaker 1:

I want to put it in the oven For our listeners. You don't need these fancy ovens or anything. No man, you just put it in for two hours.

Speaker 2:

You can buy the most expensive smoker. You can buy the most expensive. You can buy a green egg. It's going to cost you a mortgage. Okay, and it's funny because there's this Family Guy episode is when Quagmire gets his grill and then Peter's like, okay, so we're going to have burgers. He's like no, no, no, no, no, we got to put the charcoal first. Peter's like, okay, so should I get the buns? No, man, no, no, no, we got to get the cherry wood first. And Peter's like I just want a burger man.

Speaker 4:

Are we going to eat in half an hour? Are we going?

Speaker 2:

to eat in an hour, egg for seven hours so we can eat a burger. It's not about that man, it's about what Dan just said Prep, get everything ready to go. We talk about. We go ice fishing, we bring up spadooch, we bring all this. We go to Port Perry. We have a full kitchen in that place.

Speaker 5:

Oh, I love it.

Speaker 2:

We could do all the prep we want, but you know what?

Speaker 4:

We come we cut some lamb chops. They go salt and pepper and away we go. How easy is it? So that was a perfect thing that Dan said and that's something that people take for granted. I mean, we used to do this as young guys going on our trips, but we'd show up on trips sometimes with the clothes on our back and a couple of rods.

Speaker 1:

Brutal.

Speaker 4:

Brutal, brutal. I would die if I did that now.

Speaker 2:

And then we're eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made by Tanya. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made by Tanya.

Speaker 4:

Tanya was making the PBJs.

Speaker 2:

Dan's like we got gourmet today.

Speaker 5:

Guys, grape jelly, we're like ooh, grape jelly, and she knows the ratio perfectly.

Speaker 2:

Okay, those were good sandwiches.

Speaker 1:

And the worst part is we were in these small towns, we assumed there was a beer store at every corner, and there wasn't. Yeah, so we would have to We'd end up on trips, we would drink Lou's dad's beer.

Speaker 4:

Yeah, because we thought Can I borrow a?

Speaker 1:

Guess what? We're not in Mississauga anymore.

Speaker 4:

No, remember he said no.

Speaker 2:

He's like nope, it's enough. Do you remember that one time we went to the French River we were dying for a drink and he had nothing else but like vinegar? I? Think I had wine. Yeah, nothing to drink. We were dying. We were teenagers, man.

Speaker 5:

And what teenager drinks wine, anyways.

Speaker 4:

You learn these things.

Speaker 1:

As you get older, you learn. You learn what to pack.

Speaker 4:

But my point is, we all have to plan for our fishing and hunting trips. Yeah, okay, you have to plan for your clothes. You have to plan for your rods and reels and your tackle. Take a couple days beforehand to plan your meals. Well said, boys.

Speaker 2:

Okay, and I'm going to just do one quick round the table question. I'm going to ask the three of you guys each I'll start with you Siege, the weekend wrapped, what are you?

Speaker 1:

taking away from this trip. I'm taking away from this trip. Try not to do everything all at once. You know, we don't have much free time when we go on these trips and we try to do everything Right. And if you're going with a group of guys, if one person wants to do one thing, let them do the one thing. Yeah, you know what I mean, and just do what you want to do. I find that I just try to cram, cram, cram, cram duck hunting, deer hunting, grouse hunting, pike hunting or pike fishing, musky fishing. You know, just do, let it happen for you and you'll see what happens and good results always come.

Speaker 2:

Well said, Hookset.

Speaker 5:

I like my favorite part of every trip is the end, when everyone meets back at the cabin and we all enjoy some great food yes, great wine drinks and have fun with the guitar later Leaf game in the background. Stories, yeah, stories, what happened that day. And, like Steve said, everyone has a different story because you do what you want. You want to go fishing Go. You want to sit for deer, go, sit. Yeah, you want to go sit behind the beaver dam.

Speaker 4:

Go ahead, deer, go sit. Yeah, you want to go sit behind the beaver dam? Go ahead, yeah, and that's it. Well said lou. Yeah, I think I took it easy you're easier this year because I was, uh, getting over a little pneumonia right now. I had to cancel the trip, but made it out anyway. And I couldn't man, you're a trooper I couldn't do the walk that we usually do at our duck spot, but that also made me slow down and I felt like that was such a good thing where I wasn't. You know, some guys went deer hunting, some guys went fishing and I was like you know what? I'm just going to walk down to our little beaver dam. Yeah, you and I went, yeah, and it was something small, but we just chilled, we went slow and I needed that. I just needed to soak up the nature, soak up that slow moment, and that's what I feel like those trips are for for me sometimes.

Speaker 2:

Well said, lou. What about you, antonio? You know what Siege being with you guys, man, the four skins, getting together at any kind of trip. I'm gonna start crying, man.

Speaker 2:

I'm gonna stop it man, you shut your mouth man being with you guys, man, and and the fact that I gotta take the biggest takeaway was for me when I got that deer and the fact that you guys all came there, yeah and um, you know you probably left your stand early in Dan's case he had deer sitting at. You know you probably left your stand early In Dan's case. He had deer sitting at his. You know he's watching deer. And then you guys just showed up with the bikes. I saw the lights coming through the trail. It was like, oh my God, and I'll never forget that for the rest of my life. So, yeah, it was a special moment for me that I'll never forget.

Speaker 4:

I will say that moment was really fun as well, until coach noticed that your arrow went through the shit bag. Oh, boy your arrow went through the shit bag. And as soon as we opened up the carcass. He did a great job saving the meat. He was amazing. The guy's a ninja at that. But that smell is something I still in my I think it's in my lungs, still in my nose hairs, even Coach, I can't forget that smell.

Speaker 2:

It was brutal Uncle. P is like oh man. Well, thanks to Ender on that, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1:

The good thing is it only went about 20 yards, it's not like it wasn't.

Speaker 2:

It wasn 20 yards, it's not like it wasn't. And then Coach picked it up, his adrenaline just picked it up and brought it to the bike himself. I was like here we go, I couldn't believe it.

Speaker 1:

That's the first time I got to experience a buck bottle, by the way.

Speaker 4:

Oh, it was.

Speaker 1:

Jager, and it was the worst one.

Speaker 2:

It was gross Jager.

Speaker 5:

Meister reminded me back when I was 19.

Speaker 2:

Nobody really likes Jager, right? Yeah, no, but you know it was a great trip. We're wrapping it up, but, siege, you and I are going somewhere just to wrap this episode up. We're going to talk about our guest who's been sitting with us, which is great. We mentioned him on the first segment of the show, but we are going to the Muskie Brawl, so the next time these people hear the Eating Well podcast we're going to be live.

Speaker 1:

brother, I can't wait to hear the results.

Speaker 4:

Are you?

Speaker 2:

guys going live, we're going live. We're going to be live.

Speaker 1:

It's not really going to be live. It's not going to be live. We're going to record.

Speaker 5:

We're going to record. So pre-record live. So pre-record live.

Speaker 1:

So we're going to be there.

Speaker 5:

I got it.

Speaker 1:

We're going to be there and I heard today that I think it was 180 anglers. It's full, it's full and I think first place is around $12,000.

Speaker 5:

I think it's 11,000 first place. 2,500 big fish yeah, that's huge. Someone can walk out with 11, 12, 13, 50. Just for catching one muskie and you know what's really cool Because I'm a father of daughters.

Speaker 1:

The female angler that gets the biggest muskie 500 bucks.

Speaker 4:

Female angler yeah, oh, very cool.

Speaker 1:

And the biggest tiger muskie, you know me, 500 bucks and like I mean they're really doing a good thing, and that's why we're so pumped to be part of this thing.

Speaker 2:

And there's going to be a lot of good anglers there, lure makers there, there's going to be, oh boy, a couple good sticks out there eh, Speaking of lure makers patiently sitting with us during this whole podcast, we had a guest show up today and you know we got a gift, which was we talked about this and Mr Todd Tickles. Yeah, oh boy, Mr mr todd tickles is not here.

Speaker 2:

Take the mic, man, say hello to the boys he's been sitting here with us and, uh, he's going to be joining us. Um, you know, todd, it was really cool that you got a chance to come to the shop and you're sitting down listening to our hunt trip stories and, uh, we just want to say thank you, yes, because you brought us all. The Warhammer Siege has been talking about the Warhammer, oh, buddy, and you mentioned that you are entering the brawl.

Speaker 4:

I am entering the brawl and I'm going to win.

Speaker 2:

And you're going to go away. I'm sorry, everybody.

Speaker 4:

But that's what's happening?

Speaker 1:

That's amazing. So, todd, what's his tone? Called you todd tickles. We know that's not your last name.

Speaker 2:

Tell us your last name dowell, okay and uh, todd, you've been making these baits which are incredible, by the way and when did you start like, when? When did you get this thing that you know you're going to make these unbelievable lures and it's gone such, I mean, it's there. That's the talk. It's the talk in the musky world, boys, we've been talking about these lures. When did you say, listen, I got to make these baits and you know what got you started with the whole process?

Speaker 4:

Well, as you know, I was working for your. I believe Renato is your uncle, Correct? Yeah, that's the hairstyle. Little family connection there.

Speaker 4:

I don't you know what. There's actually a sad story behind why I got started actually into the whole musky thing too, though, so I'm going to leave that alone. Okay, no problem. But I started my fishing career as a salmon, steelhead or multi-species guy and then a tragedy happened and I couldn't find the passion for river fishing anymore and the multi-species thing. So I decided I want to try something different. I want to try musky. Everyone tells me all these these fish are crazy. Right, you're gonna love them. They're huge, they're just beasts.

Speaker 4:

So I went out to, uh, pigeon lake. I brought two baits with me, rented a boat and I had this dragon, giant, giant dragon come in on me. I was like that thing's hunting me. I'm not hunting it, it's hunting me. I had this thing going on a figure eight lake seven times, and then I called up a buddy. I said, dude, I can't get this thing to hit. He goes, just leave it alone, come back to it. Still didn't get the bloody thing to eat. So I went home and I bought, I think, five or six more. I told my buddy where it was. Son of a bitch, caught it the next day. Oh, it always happens. First mistake, yeah, first mistake, but it always happens, first mistake.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, first mistake.

Speaker 4:

But he was a guide on the lake at the time, so he deserves it. He works hard, right? Sure, yeah, and then I was like shit, this is expensive. Baits are really expensive. I saw hose baits. I saw DKs oh yeah, they're gorgeous. They're gorgeous, yeah, and they're so effective and I couldn't afford them. Yeah, right, I decided I was gonna sell all my fishing gear, all my like fly fishing gear, all my center pin reels, my center pin rods, decided to buy a boat instead should have bought baits, right like it. They're. They're not cheap, man, yeah, and uh, I was like my uncle and I used to tinker around with uh, uh, what, like little poppers that you used to make out of wine cork bottles sure, yeah, from the wine cork. So we used to make those. We used to fish moira, catch pike on a large mouth on a moira right, the secret's out oh my god and uh.

Speaker 4:

So I was like I'm going to try this. And what a mistake. So I bought a two by four cedar and I thought, wow, I have a Dremel, I'll cut it up with a Dremel. Well, that took six hours to cut it up with a Dremel. My Dremel died, whoa. So I was like oh shit.

Speaker 4:

So I just I took my drill, I started drilling it out with a drill, shaping it with a drill, and then I spent I think 18 hours filing and sanding this stupid thing, oh my. And I was like I showed a buddy of mine who was a bait maker and I go what do you think he goes? How are you going to rig it? I said, well, I was thinking about buying little steel hook hangers and drilling them in and putting in a drill in lip like a metal lip. And he goes no, you're not. And he goes this is a musky bait, you want to do wire through. So he taught me how to do a wire through and I did a video and it swam, perfect. I was like, oh shit, this is awesome, this is wicked.

Speaker 4:

50 baits later still didn't get it right on my own. I didn't get it right on my own. I was like this is bullshit. And then it finally clicked and then it just started going, started making different models. But the funniest thing was is I made a little thing called a TTB thumper, toddy Tickle Baits Thumper, and it's a little flat-sided shad bait six inches and I was with my friend marty and we're at the boat launch at the thames. Inside the boat launch I'm just testing the bait to see how it's running and does a 36 inch grab it?

Speaker 2:

inside the boat, inside the boat, inside the boat launch.

Speaker 4:

I couldn't believe it. It was hilarious. And every time we would go back he'd bring his kid and his kid saw what happened. So every time we're trying to launch the boat and his kid's there with a bait trying to catch a fish.

Speaker 5:

Oh yeah, I don't blame him. It was awesome, it was really cool.

Speaker 4:

And then I came out with another that was called so I had a TTP Thumper, but my first bait was called a Beastmaster and my first fish on it was a 47 and a half and then a 44. And I a 47 and a half and then a 44 and I was like I gotta keep doing this. This is so much fun, all right. And then I came out with a conjurer, which is like almost like a perch body bait pretty neat looking bait, uh, very. Actually, I found them very successful. They weren't catching big fish, though they were catching a lot of fish.

Speaker 4:

It's not big fish, okay volume, yeah yeah, I was like, well, you know what? That's a good thing too, right, because people are gonna go, well, if I want to catch a fish, I'll throw a conjurer on and I'll catch a fish. But I won't catch a monster, but I'll catch fish. Like, uh, I need something better. And then I started designing this middle bait called the hellebard, and originally the hellebard was supposed to be like a, a cross between you know, like the Rapala countdown, yep.

Speaker 5:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was supposed to be like a giant Rapala countdown.

Speaker 4:

But it started looking more like a Nils or a Chewy Chewy, yeah. And then it started looking like. I tried to change it up again, it started looking almost like a BWB. I'm like, ah shit, I got to keep trying. This is not working.

Speaker 4:

So, after actually talking to Lydia, I went right back to the drawing board and I said, hmm, I'm going to take a Colbia. You know the Colbia saltwater Colbia fish. Yeah, I'm going to take a Colbia and I'm going to take a Yuzuri and I'm going to mash that together. Whoa, I see that. And then I did it. And then I got a C I and then I got a CNC machine. I spent all the money on a CNC machine, about $30,000 worth of wood, wow. So you went from a Dremel to a CNC machine. Yeah, like, right away, because cutting lip angles, it's all about millimeters, right, you could be a millimeter shorter, a little millimeter down, like off a 45 degree, you're like at a 43, and it just things change, right, action changes, depth changes, you know. And so I wanted to make sure that everything was very consistent. So then I started going on to CNC and I was still working for Renato at the time.

Speaker 4:

And then, unfortunately, you know things moved on and I unfortunately, you know things moved on and I said you know what? I got to do this for a living. This is so much fun. Right, you're still doing the service. Right, you're still providing something, a memory. And then I ended up getting really sick. The cedar and the epoxy was hurting my lungs. I'm very bad. Everyone knows me, I'm asthmatic and it's pretty bad for me. So I decided I want to go back to trying the casting baits. So I came out with the. If you look at your Warhammer and if you look at a Helibard, it's the same thing, but with a paddle tail.

Speaker 5:

Yeah.

Speaker 4:

It's the exact same bait Amazing, but with a paddle tail Amazing, but with a paddle tail yeah, it's the exact same bait Amazing, but with a paddle tail Amazing. So I was like this is going to be easy, this will be fun, yeah. And then it wasn't. It was brutal. You know what? I had a newfound respect for the soft plastic guys. Yeah, it's not easy, it's expensive to start. If you make a mistake, you have to start back at zero. There's no me going back halfway. Okay, you have to start off at zero, all right. And then so I feel like I got very, very, very lucky with the Warhammer.

Speaker 4:

And then I tried to do something. You know when they say don't fix what's not broken. Yeah, I did something stupid. I tried to fix what wasn't broken and I decided I was going to waste my money and try to make it a little bit bigger, a little bit fatter, and it swam like dog shit. It just wasn't working. So I went back to what it was, just kind of upsized it from a 9-inch to 11-inch and now a 14-inch that just came out. And what a blast. I'm a caster, right Like I love casting.

Speaker 1:

We did that stuff right up our alley and we're looking at these baits now, todd. Oh my God.

Speaker 5:

I love the profile, how it's thin. I love that tail. It just looks phenomenal.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we've heard a lot of we do a lot of muskie fishing. We've heard so much. Have you seen the toddy tickler and all the time and great friend of the podcast, dave Gray? He's like you got to have this guy on talk muskie and talk baits. We didn't plan on having you on for that, you know Right. Yeah, so we want to have a cigar with you and have a drink with you and look at these baits.

Speaker 5:

I'm still thinking about the hamburger man, yeah, the first sample of Tone's deer.

Speaker 1:

The sample of Charlie winning. Yeah, man.

Speaker 4:

Hey, hey, hey.

Speaker 5:

So, you have a get-together too, not that kind of Charlie, this famous get-together you have as well, together too.

Speaker 1:

Uh, that guy, charlie, this famous, get together. You have as well on the french river. Uh, it's unleash the beast. Yeah, unleash the beast. So how long have you been doing that? Now we're going into four five years, now, five years, five years, yeah, is that invite?

Speaker 4:

only no. No, that's uh. If you are on the Toddy Tickle Baits Facebook page or on the Toddy Tickle Baits Get Warhammer page, you have an ability to get in the Unleash. The Beast page, though, is private for those who are in the event. Oh, smart Right. So it keeps things very organized, but we have actually sold out already For next year.

Speaker 2:

For 2025, yeah, oh, good for you.

Speaker 4:

Yeah.

Speaker 2:

And Todd, you were mentioning that you guys run it out of the.

Speaker 4:

Chaudier is it Chaudier Lodge? And then Terry from the Tilted Took. He takes on our Overflow, which has now become not just Overflow anymore, like he's now a part of Unleash the Beast, and we love to having him. That's great. You guys are growing, todd, so where can people find your baits online? Facebook, facebook. So they just search Todd, toddy Tickles, toddy Tickle Baits Yep, but right now I'm actually going to be possibly archiving the original Toddy Tickle Baits Yep, but right now I'm actually going to be possibly archiving the original Toddy Tickle Baits page and going straight to Toddy Tickle Baits Get Warhammered. Nice, where you can get Warhammers right now is Izoko Izoko yeah, and Angling Sports In London, Ontario.

Speaker 1:

I'm friends with those guys and I see your baits all the time just selling there and for our listeners, if you're not a muskie fisherman, you got baits that are smaller profile as well. I do, yeah. So like what? Like four or four inch swim baits?

Speaker 4:

They're four and a half inches. They are being field tested right now by some of the some really great anglers like. Jp.

Speaker 5:

Bushy.

Speaker 4:

He's having a field day with them this year, catching Lakers Smallmouth.

Speaker 1:

I believe he's even caught a pike and walleyes on him and stuff like that, so he's got every species covered, right from the gigantos to the lake trout.

Speaker 1:

But look I mean, I was bugging you a little bit on Instagram because I've been trying to get this bait. Davey G yeah, this is his color. This is Superman that he really likes, and he actually helped me design that color. That's what he told me and I'm a big fan of it and we're going to post pictures on our Instagram page about with these baits. I'm scared to throw it, todd.

Speaker 5:

It looks like art. I want to throw this. I want to put it on my wall yeah, I want to throw this over the fireplace my wife won't like it.

Speaker 4:

I love it. Yeah, man, just beat the shit out of it.

Speaker 1:

It's rubber yeah, we really appreciate it for you coming on and I can't wait to see you at the brawl. Tone and I are going to be there. These guys, lou and Dan, have a lot of work to do and he can't make it, and that's the beauty thing. With the four skins we kind of divide and conquer but with it. So who's your partner for the brawl? Erin Wilson.

Speaker 4:

Erin Wilson. I have a really big feeling about her, like she's a stick, like she kicks ass.

Speaker 1:

Yes, and Erin Wilson. If you're listening, you are coming on the Eating Wild podcast. Sooner or later We'll find you.

Speaker 4:

I'll get her to come on there at the brawl. That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to get her to walk over here and talk to you boys?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, because she is. And again, we love seeing women in the outdoors out fish, out, hunt dudes, and there's this stigma that these girls just hold up their boyfriends' fish. But if you look at Aaron Wilson's Instagram page, she's like hold my beer, I'll hold up.

Speaker 4:

You know what I mean. I think I see that post of her catching the fish on her own netting and everything that was incredible.

Speaker 5:

Incredible.

Speaker 1:

Yes, so that's really good to see. Antonio, there's a lot of good sticks in this musket brawl. We're going to do side bets. I think Todd and Erwin Start a pool Well listen, we're not in the brawl.

Speaker 2:

That's the first problem, because if we were in the brawl, They'd win, you guys would win, oh yeah. You might as well just sign me up for the dull. Baby G, write the check. I just want another burger.

Speaker 2:

Smash my leg Lots of burgers man, but I'm excited for the brawl. We are one of the top sponsors for the brawl this year and the one thing I got to ask you is the muskie community is a very tight community and, again, you know we've been muskie fishing probably 15 years. We've been going hard the four of us together, maybe even longer you guys but would you say that you know the passion you have for making these baits because these things are beautiful. If you haven't seen these things, you got to check out this, this Facebook page, because they're insane. But the passion behind Muskie Anglers it's a small community but yet it's a big community to have everyone there, to have all these guys at this tournament. And I know Davey G said how many people is like 180, 180 anglers. You know you going in there as a bait maker, but you're also going in to fish the tournament, to win the tournament oh absolutely absolutely right.

Speaker 2:

So so here's the question, brother are you throwing your baits only, or are you're going to be going out there and you're going to be using different baits, like what's, what's your game plan going into this? We want to know your secret. I got to know.

Speaker 4:

I got to know. My game plan right now is I'm going to be working. One of my newer models that have come out is a. It's a shallow Warhammer. Okay, warhammer. I'm going to start off with that. I will be throwing the Cisco Shad from Rover. Yeah, and I will go back to if I'm finding it hard, if it's choppy, windy. I'll go to one of my jointed helibards that I cast as an eight-inch jointed Something for a clack, like I want to make a little bit of noise, you know so, and just find the bait. Yeah, everyone says that Siege.

Speaker 1:

Everyone says that. And the beauty thing is with these Ontario bait makers. You mentioned the rover and you told me a funny story. Well, I found it funny anyways that with Landry his last name, that makes the rover Landry Smith, yeah, and you guys fish St Clair, sometimes together, oh yeah, and I can just see on the boat, you know you got Todd throwing the tickler, that's great, and then Landry's tossing the rover, yeah, and if you're competitive like us, you know you're going to be like oh, there's two for the tickle bait and there's. You know what I mean.

Speaker 4:

You know, I think that's in our heads Like I think we keep that to ourselves. Yeah yeah, yeah, but you know what? We still use each other's baits If we're on the boat. Yeah, we'll still use it.

Speaker 1:

That's really cool. You guys support and I have a couple rovers as well. Lou picked some up at the Muskie Odyssey for me this year and I can't wait to throw those as well. But, man, you guys are killing it for the local, like guys are killing it for the the local like I mean. Can american anglers? Have they seen these yet? Like I?

Speaker 4:

mean the sariches of the world, the I don't think sarik has, but I know jeremy smith from uh angling edge. Uh, he's been playing around with them and stuff like oh yeah yeah, gordon pizer's. Oh yeah, the doc yeah, yeah well, but you know what I gotta say. I gotta I do have to do this, but uh, if it wasn't for landry yeah of rover baits helping me out with this, I I'd be lost to be honest with you, that is awesome, he's become more of a mentor for me, right?

Speaker 4:

so that's good, that's cool, yeah, yeah, so I'll shout out to him well, guys, we're, uh, we're, taking the next step.

Speaker 2:

See, just mean you getting down the 400, the 401 actually, not the 400 for this one. Yeah, yeah, yeah and uh, we're gonna have a great time with todd, you're gonna come you better come down and see us, brother, because you had a sample of the burger today. Wait till you see what we're firing up on the morning that breakfast sandwich man yeah, I've already.

Speaker 1:

I already know about that like, I want that breakfast I heard the podcast last time. Oh yeah, I heard I want the tomahawk.

Speaker 4:

I haven't packed any food yet. I haven't prepped all that crap. You guys are talking Like I can't do that stuff.

Speaker 5:

Tomahawk breakfast sandwich. Yeah, damn right you imagine.

Speaker 2:

Tomahawk breakfast $700 for the sandwich You're in.

Speaker 1:

We'll send the bill to Graham.

Speaker 2:

Well, listen, man, we're looking forward to seeing you there and we're going to be well represented. And Siege, just to close off this episode, it was great to have Todd come visit us.

Speaker 2:

We always talk about the Dub Podcast Studio as being a. It's becoming one of those things where it's a social club now and we get to meet cool people and Todd's story is incredible and I'm just excited to get out there with you and meet all these crazy musky anglers and we are giving away Siege. We're going to drop this now. We are giving away some prize packs.

Speaker 1:

You were telling me about that, dan. You were mentioning something about it too.

Speaker 2:

What Dan's like what are you talking about, man? I'm busy. It's a secret.

Speaker 4:

Hey, I didn't clear this.

Speaker 1:

Oh yeah, Did we go to Lou the accountant?

Speaker 4:

Lou's got it. Todd's asking if it's tomahawks.

Speaker 5:

Everyone gets a tomahawk.

Speaker 2:

We got great friends at the butcher shop and we have the Eating Wild box. If you haven't gotten your Eating Wild box yet, you get a beautiful tenderloin. You get some bison steaks, you get a Cornish hen. There's so much in this box, siege, we're going to be giving away three Nice Worth $600. We're getting donated. Okay, so we got three boxes that we're going to be giving away, but, siege, you still haven't come up with the concept. What are we doing? If Toddy pops a 50-inch, is he getting a box? What's going on?

Speaker 5:

What's going on here? Who's getting a Tommy? The first three 50-inches.

Speaker 4:

First three whoever?

Speaker 2:

gets it. Are you guys giving them away at the brawl? We're giving away. We got two Tomahawks and two. Hold on, I got something special, boys. You guys don't even know this, here we go.

Speaker 2:

Two A1 Wagyu Japanese Jesus. I have two of them, two of them that we're going to be giving away, and each of them are worth $800, boys Say what. I got two of them in the freezer right now, donated by the butcher shop. We got three eating wild boxes and two tomahawk steaks. I just don't know how we're going to. How are we going to be giving these away? You had to.

Speaker 4:

You had to oh talk, they're gone.

Speaker 2:

I thought those were lures in your pocket man. What's going on here? They are probably the same size. Yeah, yeah, wow, yeah. But yeah, eating wild is going to be giving away some stuff at the brawl. Come visit us because, siege, we're giving away T-shirts or we're giving away mugs to fill up your coffee.

Speaker 1:

This is going to be aired, unfortunately, after the brawl Correct, but damn it.

Speaker 4:

This episode is being aired after the brawl, so close so close.

Speaker 2:

Oh, man, but if you're listening and you won one.

Speaker 1:

And if you want to tag us on any of the pictures you had with the food truck or any of the sandwiches we had, we love shout outs on instagram, feel free, and we can't wait for this event, but it's like christmas for us yeah, I'm super excited and, siege, we're, uh, we, we're gonna talk.

Speaker 2:

The next time you guys hear this episode, we will be live from the brawl. But after that, boys, we did some incredible stuff here in the kitchen today and I can't wait to talk to you guys about it. Yes, beautiful. Well, listen, everybody listening. Thanks for listening. It was a great episode. Todd, thank you for coming down and dropping off these baits, and we can't wait to use them. This is Smash Malecka. Long Hook Set. Dog Prayer, showtime Johnson. This is the Eating Wild podcast. Check you later. Have a great week and we'll talk to you after the brawl. Fish on. Ciao, get the net.

Speaker 1:

We'll be right back.