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 [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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However, my journey into thewoods didn't come from politics.

(01:14):
Rather, it came from my time inthe bush and a mushroom.
In 2015, I was introduced tothe birch-hungry fungus known as
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After nearly a decade of harvest, use, testimonials and research

(01:37):
, my skepticism has faded toobsession and I now spend my
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But that's not what the show isabout.
My pursuit of the strangemushroom and my passion for the
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On Outdoor Journal Radio'sUnder the Canopy podcast, I'm

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going to take you along with meto see the places, meet the
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Find Under the Canopy now onSpotify, apple Podcasts or
wherever else you get yourpodcasts welcome to another

(02:37):
episode of the eating wellpodcast.

Speaker 3 (02:39):
I'm your host, antonio smash malek.
I am joined today by my co-hostShowtime, christopher Johnson.
Siege, how you doing today,brother.

Speaker 2 (02:49):
I'm good, my man, how you doing?
We're having some technicaldifficulties.

Speaker 3 (02:53):
It's actually driving me crazy.
It's been a while since werecorded, each from us from our
house, but you know we got toget one done.
I got a big trip coming up, sowe need to get some stuff in the
bank, bro?

Speaker 2 (03:09):
I know, man, it's the demand.
You know, the public has theright to hear us every week and
this is what we got to do, andwe're going to do it.
Brother, we're knocking out ofthe park.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
We sure are, man.
We got some really cool stuffhappening right now with the
Eating Well podcast.
We also have some fan questions, man.
We've been getting bombardedwith questions.
We do, and you know we got totake some time to answer these
questions, because there's somegood ones, man.
They keep coming in.
And one thing I will say, siege, that I've noticed about the
fan questions is that everyonestarts off with the show keeps

(03:40):
getting better and better, andthat fires me up, brother.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
It does, man.
We're still learning.
We're trying to improve everyepisode, like we're not,
obviously, professionalpodcasters have been doing it
like the Ugly Pike guys for youknow, 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 questionseverywhere Instagram, email.
Sometimes people are sendingsmoke signals over to us.

Speaker 3 (04:06):
Yeah, yeah, sos man, I love it.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
SOS.
So what were those deliveryback in the day?
Would they do those pigeons orwhatever?

Speaker 3 (04:17):
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 newshappening to you with the Eating
Wild now available throughInstagram direct message only.
We have the Eating Wild filletknives that are available now
for purchase.
Limited time only and limitedstocks each.

(04:38):
We don't have many of these.
Mike from Kukushkin has beengoing nuts and you know, if
people want to get their handson one of these, what do they
got to do Siege.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
They just have to drop in the DMs.
We'll keep everyone posted withour inventory.
And then, yeah, just send usyour address and all that and an
email transfer or whatever.
And even if you want to meet upin person or something like
that, if you're in the Londonarea or in the Oakville area, we

(05:11):
can work something out.
Definitely we want to get thesein our hands of our fans and I
mentioned before on an earlierpodcast, even if you're not a
flay knife person or if you'recatch and release kind of guy or
girl, these things make greatpresence as well to that angler
or hunter in your life.
And, yeah, just slide into theDMs, antonio.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
Love it, man, and there's a few topics that I want
to talk to you about Siegetoday.
Before we get you know, we candrop one of the questions
throughout the episode.
But a couple topics I want totouch on and I mentioned to you
that we're doing this podcastfrom our home.
We're out of the studio.
You just got back from a greatfamily vacation.

(05:48):
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 comingup in about a week.
So by the time this airs, I'llalready be on the beach drinking
Mai Tais, woo airs, I'llalready be on the on the beach
drinking my ties.
And, uh, I'm doing something.
I think I'm gonna do somethingthat has been on my bucket list

(06:09):
for my like since I startedfishing siege.
And, uh, I'm gonna try.
I'm gonna attempt fishing theflats for bones on a fly rod in
the Bahamas.

Speaker 2 (06:20):
oh, man, I've been to the Bahamas before on my
honeymoon and I know there wasguys out doing it.
Unfortunately it was myhoneymoon.
I didn't have that hall pass.
I had to do like the dinnersand the shows and all that stuff
.
But I envy you and I can't waitto hear the story when you get
back, because that's on my listas well.

Speaker 3 (06:39):
Here's the thing, man , and I've been watching YouTube
videos of these guys and youknow they got the guide.
Who's up top, he's got the longpole.
You're in the flats and, uh,you know, when they set the hook
into these bones, they're notvery big like you know what are
they?
Four or five pounders, andthey're just peeling, peeling,
drag like nobody's business.

(06:59):
And that's what.
That's what's just getting myheart going, you know what I
mean.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Yeah, yeah, man.
And the cool thing is itreminds me a lot of Lake Erie
sight fishing for smallies.
And another cool thing is theboat that you guys will be using
.
You're high up, man.
You're high up to spot these.
They're not really usingelectronics, man, it's all your
eyes, so really good.
Yeah, you're up high on thecasting deck or the elevated one

(07:26):
, using polarized glasses.
And you're right, man, thosefish they're not that huge, but
they're all muscle like.
They're all like, uh, they'rejust strong fish yeah, and and,
and I mean I, I.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
The thing is is, again, I'm taking a guide.
Obviously I've never done thisin my life but 450 bones US for
half the day, would you see?
Would you see and that's aquestion I have, and it's a
question that I'd like thelisteners to answer as well.
You know, drop us a DM, wouldyou?
Can you, if this is a bucketlist thing, can you actually say

(08:02):
look, it's 450 bucks, but thisis a once in a lifetime thing,
right?
Or I mean, everyone's always indifferent positions financially
.
But this is something I got todo.
Siege Four hours, 450 bucks.
I got to take advantage.

Speaker 2 (08:14):
No, oh buddy, I wish I was there with you.
Can we substitute maybe yourparents?
Your family goes to Disney andyou go with Siege.

Speaker 3 (08:23):
I'm sure they would love that, to be honest.

Speaker 2 (08:29):
We'll send the Johnsons and the Maleccas to
good old Walt Disney and seeMickey Mouse and Smash and
Showtime are going to be poppingBonefish and Bahamas.
That's a good trip.
Do you think we can make thathappen?

Speaker 3 (08:41):
Yeah, well, I don't know if we can make that happen.
We might have to fight the kidsoff because they're looking
forward to that beach, um.
But you know, uh, dino man, ourproducer dean, he's uh, he's
big into the fly fishing andhe's been hitting rivers and
he's been getting a lot of fishon the fly and when I mentioned
it to him the first thing hesaid to me was is that it's on

(09:02):
his bucket list too?
You know, bucket list fishingis one of those things, siege,
where it's probably going tocost you a bit of dough.
But I think once you do it,once you know you can say you've
done it.
And unfortunately it's not afishery that is easy access and
that's why I don't think you seetoo many people Siege that have

(09:24):
you know television shows wherethey're constantly fishing the
flats or they're in watercasting flies for bones or
barracuda or whatever, becauseit's not that easy to, it's not
that easy to access.
And you know that's why you seemost 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 tofish a reef is is on your

(09:46):
bucket list, but you can do thatevery year if you want this.
This, on the other hand, Ithink is more of you know.
You got your guys fishing theamazon for peacock, or you got
guys that are going, you know,noodling and stuff.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
Like to me this is once in a lifetime stuff well,
how about you learn the ropesand you go spend the dough, and
then you and I will go and wewon't spend the dough and you'll
be my charter smash charters.
You know how about that.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
I think I'm going to buy another boat for 50 G's
right.
Oh yeah, I forgot about theboat thing I guess we need one
of those right.
Bucket list.
Fishing isn't cheap.
Siege it's not cheap, but yougot to do it.
You got to do it once.
And that brings me to myquestion for you, my friend,
what is Showtime Johnson'sbucket fish fishing trip Hit me.

Speaker 2 (10:42):
I think I talked about it on an earlier episode,
but mine is to go for thosedinosaur sturgeons.
What is it?
The Fraser River?
I think it is Fraser River BC.
A fish that big has no reasonto be clearing the water, 10, 12
feet clearing out of the water.
I want to do that.

(11:03):
I want to have heavy rods and Ido believe I know your cousin
Glenn went and I saw pictures ofthat with him and his wife.
They went and did that, but Ithink you just used a big chunk
of meat.
Is that where you?

Speaker 3 (11:16):
use it for bait?
Yeah, I think it's live baitLike they use.
They just cut up a bunch ofherring or something.
Put it or something, put it on.
Put it.

Speaker 2 (11:23):
Yeah, we should ask glenn about that that is on my
list for sure, and then thepeacock is on my list as well,
um, but yeah, man, could youimagine just a big sturgeon, uh,
we talked about on the podcastbefore myself, you and danny
hooks at in lake erie I I gotonto a sturgeon by mistake using

(11:44):
a bass tube jig and we chasedthat sturgeon, oh my god, for
about 45 minutes from the peacebridge, all the way past the old
fort Waverly Beach area, and wefinally got over that sturgeon
and I don't even think it knewit was hooked.
And then finally we got on topof it with a big engine and I

(12:06):
pulled off and he was just likepeace, see you later and just
snapped the line.
And ever since then it'splanted a seed man and I want to
do that.

Speaker 3 (12:15):
It's the adrenaline, those fish Again.
I only get my fix from watchingthese guys on YouTube, but I
can only imagine being strappedin with that belt and and and
and you're literally that rod isjust peeling away, constantly
fighting the fish.
And I got a taste of it in theKeys with, with Top Dog, you

(12:35):
know, hooking into those thosemassive um uh, goliath groupers
and we were passing the rodaround to each other.
I don't know if we should getsome footage up on our Instagram
of me and we were passing therod around to each other.
I don't know if we should getsome footage up on our instagram
of mean top dog passing therock to each other.
We had definitely fishing onthe 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

(12:57):
adrenaline's rushing and whenthat fish comes to the surface,
man, I can only imagine thefeeling.
I know and they clear.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
Oh man, anything that clears out of the water for me
is the instant adrenaline.
You know like I was on afishing 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 (13:20):
that?
Yeah, you told me that that'sinsane.
Yeah, I've never seen a wall,wall to clear no man.

Speaker 2 (13:24):
Yeah, I've never seen a Walter clear, no man.
And I'm not talking like theywere clearing like smallies, but
enough where any angler knows.
When you start seeing your linekind of go that one direction I
think it would probably be likethe reverse direction with your
line, you know they're going topop up.
So each time I thought it waseither a smallie or a largey.
And next thing you know you seethis long golden eye coming out

(13:49):
of the water.
I'm like this is bonkers manand what a trip man.
It was just really weird man.
But yeah, back to what I was.
I got off topic, but anythingthat clears for me out of the
water is the fish for me.

Speaker 3 (14:03):
Yeah, bucket list fishing folks.
So I'll have to when I comeback in a week.
We're going to have to talkabout that adventure.
Oh, I can't wait.
And you know, you said you wenton your honeymoon to the
Bahamas and I'm excited to eatsome bohemian food.
Man, I'm excited to try someconch fritters.
Ever had conch?
before Siege yes, so good.

(14:24):
And I guess it's conch is ashellfish.
It kind of actually I shouldsay it's almost like a sea snail
.
They come out of those massivesnails, out of those massive
shells, and I'll tell you have Ihad 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

(14:45):
never had it fresh coming fromthe waters of the ocean in the
bahamas, and that's one thing.
I can't wait.

Speaker 2 (14:52):
So good man so good, as this is actually the first
food or dish that I think I'vehad 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 BahamasI don't know man, I don't know
if they're similar to likepeople like that are from

(15:15):
Jamaica, they're just on, likeyou know, no fixed schedule,
it's like whatever.
You know what I mean.
Yeah, we'll get to it when weget to it.
You know they're very relaxedpeople and uh, yeah, I, I it's
island time, brother.
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
You said it so well.
Yeah, and you know what.
I don't blame them.
I mean, if I was surrounded bythe ocean and it was sunny every
day, you know how?
Can you not just have noworries in the world, bro?
That's just what it's all about.
You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (15:45):
You know what really threw me a curveball?
I rented jet skis when I wasdown there and the ocean is so
clear.
It looked like I was in 10 feetof water tone but I'd be in 40
feet of water, but it was soclear and you can see the bottom
.
It didn't look deep.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
It's crazy.
Yeah, I know.
You know what.
When we go to the Keys it'svery similar Like we go fish the
reef and you're in 100 feet ofwater but yet you can see your
shrimp going into that currentfishing for yellowtail and you
can watch that thing go down andit's like it doesn't even look
like it's far, and then you seethese fish come up and hit.

(16:30):
It's crazy, man.
It is.
It's crazy, but I'm excited forit.
Man, I've never got the fish inthe Bahamas.
I'm excited to eat their food.
Here's a quick question whilewe're on the topic Did you stay
in your hotel to eat or did youactually go out and try some of
the local mom-pa shops?

Speaker 2 (16:39):
I wouldn't call them mom-pa shops.
We did stay in the hotel, butwe went to all different
restaurants that are on thewater in Nassau area and I don't
think they were chainrestaurants.
They cost me a fortune, by theway, so whatever, but I just
take in the culture.
Every time I go on a trip Iwant to eat something, something

(17:00):
I've never eaten before and adish that you know.
I always ask people when I goon like what's the most popular?
And I don't care what the mostpopular thing is for tourists, I
want to know what's the mostpopular dish for the locals.

Speaker 4 (17:14):
That's what I want to know.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (17:17):
I want to take in the cuisine that they're having.

Speaker 3 (17:20):
I'm in the same boat, brother.
Like I don't want to go thereand eat a burger and french
fries, Give me a conch fritterwith some sort of fruity drink,
and what else is coming out ofthe fryer I don't care.
Maybe a lobster tail, maybesome jumbo shrimp cocktail,
maybe coconut shrimp with anorange marmalade dip.
You never know what's going tohappen.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Siege.
Yeah, and you better stay awayfrom that casino, mister I uh, I
may have spent a little bit ofmy uh wedding money there.
Don't tell my wife, yeah.

Speaker 3 (17:51):
Yeah Well, you know what?
The last time I seen you at acasino, we were in Windsor and
let's not talk about it Allright, because you were actually
the one that were trying totame me and Top Dog.
But you know when theadrenaline's going and you got
to roll the dice.
That's what I do Siege age.

Speaker 2 (18:16):
I may or may not have been accused by the Niagara
Falls Youth Casino for countingcards.
It would turns out it was uhmisunderstanding and they like
me now but uh, yeah, I've, I'vepaid my dues, man, and uh, it's
one of my vices and and likewhen we went to Windsor, I was
the responsible one telling youguys, you know, I've seen it all
.
You always want to chase thedragon and get more and more

(18:37):
money, but the best way is justto walk away when you're ahead.

Speaker 3 (18:40):
Yeah, walk away.
Well, we'll see how that goesdown, brother, I'm not much of a
gambler, but you never know, afew gin and tonics later we
might be throwing some dice down.
I can't promise you.

Speaker 2 (18:52):
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, youthink you're James Bond and
rolling sevens and whatever.
You know what I mean.
They'll give this guy freebooze because then we got a
problem.
Yeah, we do have a problem, butI'm looking forward to hearing

(19:12):
a recap of your trip.
I'm not going as crazy as youare.
I'm doing another family tripin the Parry Sound area for a
week.
So it's a small lake that I'llbe on and you know what Tone.
They have lake trout there andI've caught smallies, largies
and pike there.
But this will be the secondsummer there and I was talking

(19:36):
to Dean Dropshot and he's goingto help him with.
You know the foreskins our laketrout game doesn't exist.
We never go for them.
So I'm really excited to putsome gear in the boat and I'm
going to.
My father's not going to bethere fishing with me.
I'm going to be with some otherfriends that are kind of
weekend warrior fishermen.
So I'm going to spend a lot oftime by myself in the water and

(19:58):
I'm looking to really go afterthese lake trout and our
listeners.
Um, their instagram pages arepolluted with lake trout and
they it's as it's a fish us, asforeskins, really have to go
after, because they seem like areally fun fish to go after.

Speaker 3 (20:14):
Absolutely Well, I will tell you this.
You mentioned Dropshot Dean,this guy, when he goes away on
his fishing trips up north andthey fish for lakers and stuff,
the electronics man, electronicsI mean, I can't stress it
enough.
I know everyone.

(20:34):
You know there's pros and cons.
People talk about panopticsversus traditional bliss and
that.
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 somedeep waters.
Because I know traditionally Icould be wrong with this, I'm
not a lake trout fisherman, butI know they hang out in some

(20:56):
deep waters but they love theaction, they love the movement.
And I just remember my cousinGlenn telling me and Dino, you
know, when you locate thosebabies on your sonar and you see
them, you got to start crankingand those fish will come and
they'll dart right up for yourlure and they'll pop it.

(21:17):
Now, whether you're trolling ornot, what kind of fishing
you're going to do?
You know you could jig withspoons, you can cast.
I'm sure there's different waysof getting it, but I do feel
that lake trout fishing is avery tough species to go after
without electronics and I couldbe wrong, and again our
listeners can chime in and letus know, but I feel like it's a

(21:39):
very, very important thing youneed when you are going for
Lakers.

Speaker 2 (21:43):
Yeah, and a lot of people are also telling me that
also they hit very similar bassgear like bigger white swim
baits or tubes that's what Deanwas mentioning that like a
bigger bass style of a tube andyou just drop it down and yeah,
I'm looking forward to it.
Man, I don't.
I was going to ask you becauseI think lake trout's got a

(22:06):
little bit of a misconception.
They call them like greasy,like a real greasy fish or
something like that.

Speaker 3 (22:11):
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 kitchenwhere fish is on my menu almost
every day Lake trout,unfortunately, it's not one of

(22:33):
those things that I purchase alot of.
Whether it's available or not, Idon't even look um, but I have
had it given to me, um, fromsomebody, okay, a guy that we
used to fish the rivers with olditalian guy, and I remember he
froze it and he gave me a filetand I remember cooking it at the

(22:55):
shop, wrapped in foil, and I'mgoing to tell you this right now
it was not greasy at all, likeat all.
It was very, very similar totrout and to salmon.
It's a, it's a, you know, it'sa 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.

(23:16):
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 eatingfish, 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.

(23:36):
And I'm just particularlytalking about.
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 guysdo catch one and you want to
consume, the only two tips I cantell you is one don't keep the

(24:00):
monsters.
If you hook into a 20-pounderSiege, let it go Right, right,
you want to eat those ones thatare typically in the 17 to
20-inch range, so they could be4-pounder, 5-pounders, Okay,
those are the best ones to eat.
And you can, you can almosttreat it like rainbow trout Guys
that are catching those monster, monster lakers.

(24:21):
And when you watching thembutchering them up, I'm like
what are you doing?
See, it's like anything, Right?
Okay, there's a reason whythere's slots and there's a
reason why you know Walters andPike.
When's the last time you seen aguy take a 40 inch Pike and
clean them up?
Right, Think about that.
Yeah, you know you don't wantto do that.
Do guys do it?

(24:41):
Sure, they do it.
I mean, people will do anything.
But there's a reason whythere's slots and it's also, you
know, for the growth of thefish.
You know the population incertain lakes they put like Lake
Nipissing is notorious theychange their slots.
I feel like almost every winterI go up there, Gags has got new
rulers in all the huts becausethe slots keep changing.

(25:01):
But you know, that is forprotecting the species,
population growth and whatnot.
But it's also Siege.
You don't want to eat a 35-inchwalter, you just don't.
You know that picture you sentme of your pops cleaning those
Walters, those were perfect.

Speaker 2 (25:19):
Oh yeah, man, we let go a lot of uh, we had a lot of
bigger ones as well and we letthem go Like there's no point
and there's no point, no pointwhat I was going to ask you with
the lake trout as well.
I would think they're prettytasty, the fact that they're in
always in the deep cold water,cold water, 100.

Speaker 3 (25:37):
So there's a kid that used to work for me, andy uh
sachetto, great kid.
He's probably listening to thispodcast right now.
He's working now at um, at asushi restaurant, and it's funny
, we're filming, uh, we'reworking on law and order toronto
, one of the shows that we'reworking on, and he texted me,
texted me last week.
He's like, hey, he's like I sawthe signs up, you know, outside

(25:58):
of the restaurant that he worksat downtown Toronto.
It's a sushi restaurant.
He's like this is Law and OrderToronto.
You guys going to be down heretomorrow.
I said, yeah, yeah, we're goingto 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 werethere.

(26:19):
You know he worked for me formany, many years and, anyways,
we got to talking.
And lake trout is something thatis very, very popular and I'm
not listen, I'm not out heretelling people to try this at
home, because this is not whatI'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 tohear and tell people to consume

(26:42):
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 anythingraw, first of all it's going to
be purchased and it's got to beapproved.
Um, you know, eating raw fishis.
You know there's a lot ofthings you got to look out for
and make sure the person that'spreparing it for you knows what
the hell he's doing, because youcan get very sick from it.
But lake trout is beingconsumed raw and apparently is

(27:07):
one of the most tastiest thingsever.
So you know, when you get thoseeach, I love for you to try it.
Cook it traditionally the wayyou would cook your fish.
Use some of those eating wildkey lime and lemon pepper
seasoning.

Speaker 2 (27:20):
I'm going to tell you right now.

Speaker 3 (27:21):
You know, skillet barbecue, open flame, wrapped in
foil, put it in a bed.
Whatever you want to do withthis each, I'm dying to hear how
it turns out.
So I hope you get one.

Speaker 2 (27:30):
Yeah, I really do.
I was listening to Diary'slodge owner with Steve and he
had a guy on there I don't knowif it was the chef at one of the
lodges they were at and Stevehad the same thing.
He didn't care for lake troutat all and I guess the chef
really enjoyed or not.
He cooked it really nice andSteve now all of a sudden looks

(27:54):
at lake trout differently.
So it could be a sleeper fishthat our guests.

Speaker 3 (27:57):
Yeah, you know, siege , it's like that with anything,
and you know that's a reallygood point you just brought up,
because I'm not saying SteveNiedzwiecki is a chef, by all
means.
I'm sure he knows his wayaround the kitchen, but when you
have somebody who cooks for aliving, it's what they do every
single day.
I'm going to tell you thisright now they should be able to

(28:18):
almost take anything and do itproperly, and you change heads,
siege.
Look, I'm going to give you anexample, and it's so funny.
Growing up Italian, my parentsused to cook the shit out of
their meat.
I'm talking like I never hadanything that had any pink
inside of it.
It was always well done.
It's just traditionally howItalians eat, and I remember the

(28:41):
first time I had a porterhousesteak medium rare and it just
changed the way I not only do Ieat my steak or meat in general,
but how I serve it to people.
Because if this is coming froma guy who's been eating well
done meat pretty much his wholelife, until, you know, almost my

(29:01):
early 20s If you're going toeat something, siege, that you
prepare and that you think isamazing, chances are the person
that you're feeding it to isgoing to have the same, it's
going to have the same.
You know taste that you're doing.
So when I go out there and Icook for people, siege, I don't
blind.
I taste everything, I makeeverything and then you learn.

(29:25):
If people don't like it acertain way, you change it up.
You go based on what people's,the customers, are always going
to tell you Siege, especially inthe food business.
I'm telling you, think of it.
You go to a restaurant.
How many times a day does foodget sent back to the kitchen?
It's the most gut-wrenchingthing ever that's coming back

(29:45):
from the restaurant.
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 happenis when food gets sent back to
the kitchen and it happensalmost every day and it's not
because you didn't cooksomething perfectly or it's not
seasoned properly, whatever.
Everybody has different palatesand I can't stress this enough.

(30:07):
And for Steve to say he triedmaking his lake trout, he wasn't
a fan of it, but then a chefprepared it for him and it
changed the way he eats it.
Well, I'll tell you that rightnow, 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 aboutnorthern pike.

(30:28):
Two reasons.
Can you know what those tworeasons are?

Speaker 2 (30:31):
Siege See with pike.
I've heard so many differentstories about it, but I really
don't know why.
Can you tell me?

Speaker 3 (30:38):
Two reasons, siege.
First reason is nobody knew howto clean them properly.
There was always thatassumption that oh my God,
there's too many white bones,there's too many bones in a
northern pike and it's not worthcleaning.
And then people that triedcleaning them, they would waste
a lot of that meat.
And it's not easy cleaning aNorthern Pike.
But once you learn, siege, onceyou, you, you, you know, one

(31:05):
guy comes out and shows you howto do it properly.
There's so much beautiful meaton a Northern Pike Um, it's
incredible.
And then the second reason isexactly what I said the first
time People think that there wastoo many bones.
You know, they don't want toeat pike because you're going to
choke on a bone, this and that.
Well, now that people arelearning, because of YouTube and
all these things, you can goand check out how to clean a
fish properly, people areconsuming it like crazy.
So I feel like with your.

Speaker 2 (31:26):
Just look at the one video I think it's on the Fish
in Canada, instagram.
Pete Bowman was one of his goodbuddies and he's flaying a pike
right on the dock.
Right, this guy has a rate downto a science man and I'm just
like what the hell?
Because when I grew up, mygrandfather he always used to

(31:46):
call them snot rockets and allthis stuff, and the only way he
would consume it was smoking it.
That way you could get thebones out properly.
But he didn't know anydifferent either.

Speaker 3 (31:55):
You know what I mean, yeah, yeah.
So I mean I feel the same thingwith lakers man.
I think lakers now the fishinghas been more of a trend.
You've been seeing a lot oninstagram now guys getting these
monster lakers.
So I'm glad steve got to havethat experience with.
So I got something.

Speaker 2 (32:12):
Yeah, it was good.
I got a funny story, for we'regoing to get lynched on this
podcast for this statement rightnow, but anyways.
So I was fishing with my fatherlast week and I didn't know
this, but anyways, he's makinghis fish fry up.
He's doing either pan fried andbeer batter da, da, da, da da.
But my dad always cuts afterhe's done filleting.

(32:34):
He cuts long strips of thefillets of the walleye and that
way it's a smaller kind ofportions and he goes okay,
christopher, he calls meChristopher.
He's like here's your fish.
Dah, dah, dah.
I'm like, oh, perfect.
So he's looking at me, he'sgrinning I don't know what he's
grinning about, right, and I'mlike this is good, dad, you
knocked out of the park, it'sperfect.

(32:55):
He goes well, you just ate alargemouth 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, itjust, it just took his.
He was using a little uh headand torpedo popper a real small

(33:15):
popper in this fish and like itwas in the two pound range and I
guess my dad couldn't bring itback.
So obviously we're not going towaste the fish and but don't
like.
I mean there's thatmisconception with bass and I
know bass generally hang out inshallower water and they're
supposed to have this fishytaste and everything, everything

(33:37):
.
But I really think when you'rein the farther northern lakes I
think, like it fooled me, Idon'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 lifeand to harvest it.
But why is there so much hate?
There's so much hate out thereby consuming bass.

Speaker 3 (33:56):
That's a great question, man, and you know what
?
That's a question I'd like toask somebody like Bullrod, right
, you know, or you know guysthat you know typically are in
the bass circuit that tournamentfish and or just sport fish in
general, like basses.
It's one of those things Sie,things siege where it's a touchy

(34:17):
subject for a lot of people,and I think musky, musky could
be in that same conversation.
Brother, unfortunately we'remusky fishermen, we, we, you
know we've been targeting muskymore other, more than any other
species out there in the past 15years, us in the foreskins.
But but there is times whereyou know muskies and it happens
a lot with muskies where theydon't survive.

(34:39):
You don't get in a hook, in thegill or whatever they blew out
and what do you do?
You cook it up.
There's been this where peoplesay that it'll kill you.
Well, I've had musky before.
Gags made a beautiful chowderon a fish that he couldn't bring
back to life and Gags, beingthe pro that he is, says I'm not
going to let this fish go towaste, I'm not going to leave it

(34:59):
for the birds, we're going toconsume it.
We're going to say a prayerThank God for this meal and we
ate it.
It was delicious.
Now am I going to go out thereand say I need to go catch me a
muskie because I want to filletit up?
No, absolutely not.
I think bass can be in thatsame conversation.
Siege, I really do.

Speaker 2 (35:17):
And I see so many of our followers and listeners on
Instagram and they're cooking uplike I mean, again, I don't do
this.
I don't go target bass.
I'd sport fish for me, but theyconsume 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 thinkthat the the you're, you're not

(35:41):
gonna get me ever consuming bassout of lake erie.
I don't know what it is, maybeit's the clear water, it's hot
water or whatever.
But I really like any of ourlisteners to let us know, like
are, are you targeting bass toconsume, to harvest, which is
fine?
Everyone has a fishing license.
You're allowed to keep thesefish and harvest them.
But I just heard so many stigmasof them tasting terrible and I

(36:05):
tasted it firsthand, antonio, itfooled me, it really did.
And then I talked to people inthe Niagara region that have
fish restaurants and I'm likeand they say well, there's a
reason why bass isn't on themenu, because it's a crappy fish
to eat.
But then I talked to someoneelse and they say you know why
it's not on the menu?
Because you can't catch them innets like you do in walleye and

(36:26):
perch, because they're indeeper water.
Right walleye and perch are indeeper water.
You can't really go aroundnetting smallies that are off
rock shoals and all that stuff,but it's just.
It's such a touchy subject andI don't think it should be, but
I would like to know more.
I really want to know more.

Speaker 3 (36:43):
It's a great topic we could.

Speaker 2 (36:45):
I mean, that's a whole episode, right there it is
a whole episode and youreminded me there with the lake
trout.
You said you know steve newinsknidzwicki I have a problem with
saying his name, sorry, steve.
He always hated lake troutuntil it was cooked properly and
I had largemouth bass.
I'll admit it, it was a deadfish and my dad cooked it

(37:05):
properly and it was pan friedand it tasted like walleye.
I just maybe I don't have thatpalate, maybe I don't, but it
went down great, especially withthe beer.

Speaker 3 (37:16):
You know what I mean.
I get it, I do, I totally getit, brother, it's.
It's just one of those thingswhere you, you experience
something once and it's like,you know, maybe it's not so bad
Siege if you, you know, you hookinto a large gene.
It's like, well, listen if I'mgoing to say anything.
When I got those two animals,yeah, yeah, I'm not targeting.

(37:38):
Adam, I got no problems.

Speaker 2 (37:40):
You know what I mean, and don't get me wrong, I'm not
going to go target Largies nowjust 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 itto seagulls or anything like
that, and just.
I know it's off topic, but Ijust wanted to bring that up.

Speaker 3 (38:00):
Well, listen, man, that's a future episode right
there and I'm glad you broughtthat up.
So we're going to keep that inmind.
And you know, speaking offuture episodes and speaking
about getting off topic, we gota bunch of questions we got to
get to before we end thisepisode.
We do?

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Speaker 6 (39:11):
How did a small-town sheet metal mechanic come to
build one of Canada's mosticonic fishing lodges?
I'm your host, steveNiedzwiecki, and you'll find out
about that and a whole lot moreon the Outdoor Journal Radio
Network's newest podcast,diaries of a Lodge Owner.
But this podcast will be morethan that.
Every week on Diaries of aLodge Owner, I'm going to

(39:34):
introduce you to a ton of greatpeople, share their stories of
our trials, tribulations andinspirations, learn and have
plenty of laughs along the way.
Meanwhile we're sitting therebobbing along trying to figure
out how to catch a bass, and weboth decided one day we were
going to be on television doinga fishing show.

(39:55):
My hands get sore a little bitwhen I'm reeling in all those
bass in the summertime, but thatmight be for more fishing than
it was punching you soconfidently.
You said hey, pat, have you evereaten a trout?

Speaker 3 (40:14):
Find Diaries of a Lodge Owner now on Spotify,
apple Podcasts or wherever youget your podcast.
See, you had a really, reallygood question that somebody
reached out to you on Instagramand then I got a couple I'd like
to ask you from our email pageas well.

Speaker 2 (40:26):
Right, the first question I have.
Let me just bring up questionmailbag.
Okay, and if I didn't read yourquestion this time, it's going
to be out there.
It's just we get so many.
Okay, so this is from NickTyron.
It says just want to send you aquick message.

(40:47):
You guys have been knocking itout of the park.
The show improves each andevery week.
Well, that's great to hear.
Oh, he's got a fun question forus.
This one's going to be for you,tom.
This is for you, tom.
This is not for CJ thefisherman, by any means.
Okay.
So, antonio, you're on acooking contest with Mr Gordon

(41:08):
Ramsey, jesus Christ, okay.
Cooking contest with Mr GordonRamsey, jesus Christ, okay.
Your first challenge is tocreate a dish that represents
the Eating Wild brand.
What do you make?
And bonus marks?
Oh, he's got a bonus, bonusmarks, if you can think of a
dish for the other ODJ Networkpodcast, that'd be great too.

(41:28):
So, pretty much Tone, you're onthe cooking contest with Mr
Gordon Ramsay and you want torepresent E-Dub.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
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 onmy arm.
I got cuts on my fingers.
Okay, gordon Ramsay's gotperfect hands, perfect skin and
a white chef jacket on Mine'sfull of blood.
Know what that means?
Siege, I go to war.
You're nuts?
Yeah, that's the first thingI'm going to say.

(41:57):
Great question, nick.
Okay, here's the problem withthat question, though.
Nick, you've never seen Smashon TV.
You've never seen me in frontof the people.
Gordon Ramsay, the way he'stalking, 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.

(42:17):
I'll wrap him up like a pretzeland I'm going to tell you right
now the first thing I'm goingto make for the boys EW.
You know it.
See, just the chaps.
We got to talk Ontario lambchops, because and and and Taro
Murata, if you're listening, Iknow, I know what you're
thinking.
Cody Kovancek, I know whatyou're thinking.
You guys, come to my cottage.
There's nothing in the fridge.

(42:38):
Boys, what are we going to do?
We got something to eat.
You know what?
I think I got a couple of racksof lamb hiding in the freezer
in the old garage.
We go out there, we pick themout.
I always have.
You know me, cj, I always gotsome meat in the freezer hiding,
whether we got bison, we gotbeef, we got lamb, we got turkey
, whatever there's something inthat freezer.
And it just so happens that Ilove having these lamb chops and

(43:03):
I French them up, barbecuing Alittle bit of salt, a little bit
of pepper, easy, easy littlegremolata, going with some fresh
mint, simple syrup, just fordipping.
You know what seeds you've hadit.
There's also a little bit of achipotle aioli I like to make on
the side.
You've had that too, and I'lltell you right now.
This is easy to make.

(43:24):
But if you're putting GordonRamsey up against me, we have to
make one thing, and I'mrepresenting EW.
We're having lamb chops Now.
You asked me a good questionabout ODJ.
The first thing when we talkfood that comes to mind with
outdoor journal radio is AngeloViola.
Angelo Viola made the best,absolute best pasta carbonara

(43:49):
I've ever probably heard in mylife.
We had him on the show back inthe day he even talked to me off
camera once at the show abouthow he prepared this carbonata
for 15 people and usingguanciale, which is the cheeks.
You know, the guanciale is thecheek from the pig.
It's the real way to make pastacarbonara and you sweat that

(44:11):
off, obviously mixing the eggyolk.
I'm not sure if he uses thewhole egg.
You got to look back to theepisode.
Actually, you could probablyfind that recipe still on the
ODJ website, but I'll tell youright now.
Pasta carbonara for the ODJboys.
Ontario lamb chops for EW.
Let's go set the time and thedate.
I'll be there.
Let's dance.

Speaker 2 (44:31):
Buddy, I'm starving.
Now Again these questions withfood Every time I just eat
dinner too, man.
Now I'm starving.

Speaker 3 (44:38):
Okay, I got a question, siege, for you and, by
the way, thanks, nick, I knowwho Nick is.
Yeah, thanks, great fan of theshow and I really appreciate
that question, and it's alwayscool how he starts it off saying
how the show is getting betterand better.
So I really appreciate that onefor sure.
Here's a question for you,Siege, and I think that this
question is it's a fishingrelated question and it'd be for

(45:00):
you or for Top Dog, to behonest, because it is along the
lines that Top Dog would love toanswer this one.
He's in Portugal, should beback soon.
What is your favorite?
Sorry, I've got to go back.
What is your favorite top waterlure to use in hot summer
nights, typically fishing forbass?
This is from Tommy Silver inVictoria BC.

Speaker 2 (45:23):
Go ahead.
That's a great question, man.
That is a great.
We know what Top Dog is goingto say.
I'm going to say Spook, that'sjust me.
Yeah, zara spook is the oldschool.
If any of our listeners don'tknow it's, it's made by hedon
and it's a zara spook.
They have a original size andthen a puppy zara puppy size and

(45:45):
it is the most stupidestlooking lure you've ever seen in
your life.
It looks like a floating cigarand it it just walks the dogs.
Once you get the cadence down,you can speed it up, slow it
down, you work it around weedsand it just calls fish in from
everywhere.
It is one of those fit, one ofthose lures that kind of lost

(46:08):
traction and just because it'san older brand.
But that top water.
A lot of companies have triedto mimic it and they really
can't get that.
In my personal opinion, thatsame action as the top, um, yeah
, with the zaro spook, thatwould be lou's answer so, so.

Speaker 3 (46:24):
So let me ask you this then, because tomm Tommy
mentioned hot summer nights Doesthat have anything to do with
it?
Siege.

Speaker 2 (46:34):
It does the hot summer nights.
I'm just speaking with myfishing career, if you call it a
career.
The hot summer days are such ahard fishing because they really
kind of shut down, especiallyaround the noon, 1 o'clock, 2
o'clock.
But there's that, those hotsummer nights when it's just the

(46:54):
lake turns to glass.
All of a sudden they just start, they just start going and I
don't know what it is withnighttime and early morning,
with topwater.
It just seems like.
I know those are the greattimes of fish and fish jerry go,
but topwater seems to be that'swhere it really excels.
My personal favorite is theZara Spook, but close second is

(47:19):
the Mega Bass, Pop X.
Now, this thing you've crushedon Georgian Bay, on the pink one
.
The pink version of this andI'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 thatfish really launch over it or

(47:39):
they kind of whack it with theirtail.
Um, the mega bass pop x, it's areal beaut because it's a
smaller profile and the bestthing about it is you can walk
it and you can pop it.
So it's a smaller profile andthe 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 forsome reason it's just I work

(47:59):
them around weeds and with thatsmaller profile I don't miss as
near as many fish as the spookand you can tell the listeners
firsthand what it did for you onGeorgian Bay, oh man.

Speaker 3 (48:11):
And it's funny because it was hot as hell that
night and I find that on thosehot nights when it's glass
outside, you see a lot of fishjumping I don't know if it's
because it's glass and you canalmost see the wake Everywhere
you look.
There's like wake happeningeverywhere.
And you know I would say that,using that particular top water,

(48:31):
that evening I was with Top Dog, I was using the.
I was using it was pink and itwas nuts.
It was smallie after smallie,the occasional largy, but these
things were coming out of thewater about three to four feet
in the air and people on theirdocks were watching us because
we were just maybe about 50meters offshore spot that top

(48:52):
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 thesurface I don't know if that has
a lot anything to do with itsiege, um, but those fish were
clearing, um, but what?
What?
If you're going to ask me thatquestion, that question, I gotta
go with a live target frog.
And the only reason I've changedmy, my, I've changed my

(49:15):
approach.
I was always a zar spook guymyself and again, I learned top
water fishing from top dogwatching it right.
Top top water fish was like theguy was.
That's why he got that nickname.
He's just a he's a mental caseon 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.

(49:36):
You've seen me bring in muskywith the with the clown, the
white and the red, like it was.
It's one of my favorite topwater lures.
But being on Scugog Siege, aseveryone knows out, as everyone
knows out in the Quarthur Lakearea, I've had to change my
approach because of how many youknow the weeds and the junk and
the lily.
It's so tough and you can castAzara Spook a mile and when it

(50:00):
lands on just some floatingdebris you got to crank it in
and recast.
It was just to me.
It was getting frustrating tobe on a siege.
So I went to a live target frog.
You can get them in a bunch ofdifferent sizes, but I got a
medium size.
And I'll tell you something,man, I've gotten some absolute
monsters out of skugog, rightout of the lily pads, right out

(50:20):
of the mouth of a couple ofthose rivers up there.
And I'll tell you right now,siege I am.
I can cast a frog in open waterby the weeds, by the lilyly
pads, and you can walk it too.
I mean, you're not walking itside to side like a dog, but
you're, you're walking itstraight on, you're hopping
ribbit, ribbit and to watchthose fish clear.

(50:40):
It's just, it's, it's, it'sfrigging the best feeling ever.

Speaker 2 (50:46):
And I, um, I came across a company that makes I I
don't know the name of thecompany offhand that makes these
trailer hooks.
As anyone knows, with theweedless 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 thatway it doesn't get into the

(51:08):
weeds.
And the amount of fish I caughtlast week and the lily pads
that were on the frog and thatwere actually caught on the
trailer hook, that I would havemissed with the standard hooks,
it was amazing, antonio, I got acouple in my tackle box for you
well, I appreciate that.

Speaker 3 (51:25):
Bud and listen, that that's.
That just shows you a simplequestion.
Like that, siege, we can talk.

Speaker 2 (51:29):
Oh man, I got excited , you get you get simple
question like that Siege, we cantalk for an hour.

Speaker 3 (51:32):
You get top dog in that conversation, even Hooks at
Martin's.
That's a whole episode rightthere.
On that, one little question.
Oh yeah, well, tommy, greatquestion.
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 topack as a must when you guys go

(51:52):
and do your trips up north?
This is from Anna Felice fromSudbury, ontario.

Speaker 2 (51:59):
Ooh, she's from the what's Sudbury?
Is Sudbury the Big Nickel.
Is that the Big Nickel tone, oram I?

Speaker 3 (52:03):
wrong.
I think you're right, bud theBig Nickel, yeah.

Speaker 2 (52:07):
Okay, the Big Nickel.
I love catching nickels.

Speaker 3 (52:11):
That's a great question um drink, oh man I
could almost answer this one foryou, are you crazy?

Speaker 2 (52:18):
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 acider.
I like a good craft cider.
I like a good tea, like a teadrink.
I used to drink a lot of beer.
I just find that thecarbonation from beer and all

(52:40):
that when you're on those hotdays it doesn't really go hand
in hand with me.
But I'm gonna tell ourlisteners one staple drink you
should have on every fishingtrip.
Obviously not on the boat, noton the boat.
This is campfire, but one stapledrink.
Nothing gets me more excited inthe morning is when I hear the

(53:02):
coffee pot going and then dannymartin's pours a little bit of
bailey's into your coffee andyou put that in your thermos.

Speaker 3 (53:11):
Oh my god, coffee with baileys oh my goodness,
dessert in the morning bud justgets you going.

Speaker 2 (53:18):
You don't need sugar, nothing just yeah, by the time
you get to the boat you haveyour thermos and you drink it
with the rest.
It just warms you right up andit is, I think, a staple to
anyone to bring some baileys.
Or you know, wayne gretzky 99makes a beautiful one now, an
irish cream.
And uh yeah, you can't go wrongwith that irish cream.

(53:39):
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 abig big fish either musky bass
pike, get a big big fish, eithermusky bass pike, anyways a big
trophy fish first thing we'redoing back at the dock.
We have chilled.
I know it may sound like it's afrat party drink, but it's

(54:00):
chilled fireball.
Oh boy, chilled fireball,chilled fireball.
That's a must.
Shots of that.
That's always been a must tocelebrate a big fish.
And I know I've gave you abunch of drinks and one question
, antonio, but I'm curious ofwhat you have to say, man.

Speaker 3 (54:17):
I got to go fall Again.
Obviously we're not here topromote drinking and then going
onto the boat and fishing forthe day, as everyone knows.
We'll wake up, we'll have ourcoffee, a little bit of Bailey's
in there.
We usually spend about a couplehours before we even hit the
water and then when we come backyou said it, you know we're we
dialed down.
We usually talk about our day,go over what we've seen and what

(54:38):
was working and what our planis for the next day.
And I'm going to switch it upfor a sec.
I'm going to go into thehunting mode siege and one thing
I will say that.
I learned was when you get yourfirst buck or a buck in general
you got to celebrate with theboys.
You get back, you get the buckbottle and it's more or less

(54:59):
just a cheers and that's a GrandMarnier.
Grand Marnier is an orangebrandy that I think when you're
going out into those colderevenings, if you're at the camp,
if you're camping outdoors andyou want something to warm you
up by the fire, pour yourself alittle shot of Grand Marnier.
It's a beautiful, beautifuldrink to have, even when you're
having dinner, before dinner orafter dinner.

(55:23):
Complement that with a nicecigar by the fire.
All we need is a coach to bringhis guitar and it's a party
siege.

Speaker 2 (55:29):
So you're telling me I haven't's a party siege.
So you're telling me it's Ihaven't got a buck myself, so
there's such thing as a buckbottle.

Speaker 3 (55:36):
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 (55:44):
So everyone's drinking from this bottle, or is
this the hunter, if you don'thave a?

Speaker 3 (55:47):
shot with me, then you got a problem.
If you're not celebrating mybuck, 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, youcelebrate that animal with your
friends and the harvest beginsand it's the whole process.
And you know it's like when youget married, siege, somebody's

(56:14):
us.
And you know it's like when youget married, see, somebody's
got to do a toast, the toast ofthe host.
And you know the Buck bottle isjust a toast to the guy who did
the popping and it's acongratulating thing.
And it so happened that myfirst Buck was celebrated with a
bottle of Grand Marnier and wedidn't drink it to get drunk, it
was simply just a cheers saluteand you know everyone had a
shot glass and it was just, youknow, amen.
It was a milestone for me and acelebration for everyone else.

(56:36):
And that's my answer.
And I appreciate the question,anna.
And we got one more Siege, onemore question.
Okay, shoot, shoot, wrap it upand we get into some
housekeeping about the show.
What is a good fish to cook ona barbecue, excluding saltwater
fish?
This is from Greg Dresdell fromErie, pennsylvania, american
listener.

Speaker 2 (56:58):
Oh, erie, I love Erie , pennsylvania, and this is a
total question for you, misterWell it's a tough one because we
do get similar questions.

Speaker 3 (57:06):
Siege and barbecuing a freshwater fish is typically
the easiest answer would besalmon.
Again, we mentioned lake troutbecause it's a meatier fish.
You know, salmon is one ofthose things that people like to
enjoy cooking on the barbecue.
But I'm going to have to tellyou something siege, you can

(57:28):
almost cook any piece of fish onthat barbecue.
You really can.
There's different ways anddifferent methods of doing it
and people are afraid usuallybecause of one big thing that
happens to most people andthat's stick.
You know they get their meat,they put it on the grill.
If they don't lube that grillup properly, it sticks and you
try to flip it, it causes adisaster and you lose half of

(57:50):
your fish through the grill.
So one way, one way that youcan do this siege.
First of all, a very big tipthat I can give to people and to
Greg Great question Skin on, ifyou're going to be using the
barbecue, skin side down, isprobably the best way to cook

(58:12):
your fish on any kind of grillor open flame and it's almost a
protection layer.
Siege, honestly, it soundscrazy but it protects.
And listen, you don't reallyneed to flip.
That's one thing I would liketo promote.
When people are cooking fish onthe barbecue.
Here's a technique I'm going toteach you right now, siege, and
I really want you to try this,or get old man Johnson to do

(58:34):
this.
I want you to start yourbarbecue.
Most people have barbecues withtwo burners, correct?
You got two pilots, some havefour, depending on the size of
your barbecue.
I want you to crank thatbarbecue up to 450 degrees
before you put that piece offish on.
Let's use Walters, let's usewalleye Skin on filet, you know,

(58:56):
seasoned up, a little bit ofolive oil, a little bit of lemon
juice, black pepper.
Okay, skin side down.
You want to get that grill upto 450 degrees.
Pick a side, siege.
You pick a side of thatbarbecue.
Okay, either the left side orthe right side.
As soon as you open that grilland you put that fish down and
you're searing, I want you toshut the side off that you are

(59:21):
grilling on.
Is that barbecue now is goingto turn into literally an oven
with an open flame?
The heat is going to stayinside your grill because your
opposite side of the fish isstill at full pop, so you're
keeping that at full height, onhigh and on the side where your

(59:46):
fish is resting on.
There's nothing underneath itand you know what that's for,
siege.
You're cooking that fish likeit's in an oven.
You won't have to flip thatfish.
You are literally, you'recreating an oven atmosphere
using open flame, not directlyon the fish.
You wait seven to eight minutesdepending on the size of that

(01:00:08):
fish you open.
Do not cheat, do not open thatgrill, because once you open
that grill, siege, all that heatis going to escape and you're
going to screw everything up.
You're going to have to turn onthe other side just to get that
heat back up.
Open it up.
You're going to simply pullthat fish off from grill to
plate and if the skin sticks onthe grill, no problem, it's no
problem.

(01:00:29):
Just did you a favor actuallyLet it burn off.
Scrape it with your grillcleaner.
The next time you got abarbecue and your oven's going
to, your grill's going to besuper clean.
I'm going to tell you this rightnow, siege.
Oh, good point.
It is an amazing method andtechnique to grilling fish and
I'd like you to try it Peoplelistening, try it.

(01:00:49):
Let me know how it turns out.
Hey, maybe it doesn't turn outfor you.
Maybe that this is the only waythat I know how to do it, but
I'll tell you right now.
It's never failed me and it'san awesome way to grill fish
without flipping the fish,because that's where people make
.
The disasters is when they flipthat fish on the grill falls
apart, goes through the cracksand by the time you serve it, it
looks like a dog's dinnerPresentation, looks like shit

(01:01:11):
you eat with your eyes.
Siege, if it doesn't look good,it doesn't taste good.
If it looks good, it tasteseven better.

Speaker 2 (01:01:17):
Well, that makes sense, man.
That's a great point.

Speaker 3 (01:01:20):
Well, I hope I answered your question, Greg and
Siege, Just closing off thisepisode.
There's a lot of stuffhappening with EW.
We off this episode.
There's a lot of stuffhappening with EW.
We've got some great thingshappening.
Tell us a little bit what'sgoing on with the socials.

Speaker 2 (01:01:36):
Socials are popping the socials.
Yeah, keep sharing yourpictures and your outdoor
adventures either fishing,hunting, kayaking.
Keep sharing that Traeger Grill.
Is that wrapping?
I think it's been extended.

Speaker 3 (01:01:56):
I think we got till the end of August Siege.
I think we got another month.
I think Dino said it's beenpopping, like you said it's been
going crazy.
People can still go on andenter onto the Fishing Canada
website.
Listen to the previous fourepisodes.
You're going to hear some.
You know we got those codes inthere Somewhere.

(01:02:17):
In those episodes are going togive you lots of entries into
winning that Traeger.

Speaker 2 (01:02:23):
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 thatcode in the Fishing Canada
website with the giveaway forthe Traeger and that will
automatically give you the 100extra entries.
And I'm really excited, antonio, I'm really excited to see who

(01:02:43):
the winner is, and that's a bigone, and we got other ones
coming down the pipeline andyeah, so with the socials, you
know, keep uh sharing, keepsending us the questions, and
there's no, there's no stupidquestions whatsoever.
We're a bunch of stupid guys,so we'll take.

Speaker 4 (01:03:00):
We understand stupidity, so yeah, and the
smart ones if you give us smartquestions.

Speaker 2 (01:03:06):
We'll, we'll.
We'll have to ask the rightpeople 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 allyour feedback.

Speaker 3 (01:03:17):
That's awesome, brother, and we got a couple
more episodes coming up, withsome really great guests lined
up.
We're going to be talking again, fishing, hunting, cooking, and
it's always a good time to sitdown and shoot the shit with you
, my friend, and I'm lookingforward to going to the Bahamas
and I can't wait to share thestories with you.

Speaker 2 (01:03:35):
Oh, I can't wait, man .
What is?
This is another like.
I mean, how many episodes arewe at now?

Speaker 3 (01:03:42):
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 (01:03:50):
I don't know man, what is it?
Dj Cali said another one.
You know, there's another oneAnother one, another one.
So, yeah, we're pumping themout and we're having so much fun
, we're meeting so many coolpeople and, yeah, we can't wait.
We cannot wait for this year.

Speaker 3 (01:04:05):
And I can't wait to call the boys up north, because
hunting season is around thecorner.
It is around the corner, man.
We are in the middle of thesummer, but as soon as August
hits, brother oh man, the feverstarts happening.
We've got to get a hold ofcoach.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
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 thecordoba, like I mean.
And there's something any ofour listeners know there's
nothing that beats.
Yeah, the summer's fun, thesummer's great fishing in the
summer's fine, but that coldmornings and the warmer

(01:04:45):
afternoons and the cold nightswhere 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 (01:04:56):
You know what I mean, muskies, I can't wait, I can't
wait, I'm so excited man yeahand uh, I'm excited to uh to
also eventually talking aboutthe musky brawl, we got to get
davey g back.
Oh, there's another one.
His blood's probably boilingbecause I think next month is
when it starts to ramp up and wegot to get Davey G back.

Speaker 5 (01:05:08):
Oh, there's another one.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
His blood's probably boiling because I think next
month is when it starts to rampup and we got some news that
will be uh, we will be droppingaround the musky brawl as well,
um, with the eating well podcastand Dave Gray with his
beautiful work that he does.
Um, so lots of things happeningcoming up.
You just got to listen, you gotto uh like subscribe, you got
to hit that like button,whatever it is everyone does,

(01:05:31):
and uh, we're here.
We're here to bring you, uh,some exciting news and some, uh,
some stories to come along withit.

Speaker 2 (01:05:37):
Hey, siege yes, we're so excited.
Yeah, like antonio said,subscribing really helps, even
if it's on spotify or um applepodcasts.
If you hit that subscribe, itreally helps.
And we got some great sponsorscoming, so excited for that.
And that all helps when yousubscribe and all that it keeps
us going Awesome brother.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
Well, listen, siege, it's always a pleasure talking
fishing food.
Likewise, my friend, and catchus next week with another
episode.
Hopefully I got a couplebonefish in the box to talk
about.
Oh yeah, this is Smash Malek.
I'm checking out of here withmy co-host, christopher Showtime
Johnson.
Coach, start that lovely tune.

(01:06:18):
We're out of here.
See you next time.
Ciao, get the net.

Speaker 2 (01:06:22):
We'll be right back.