Early Spring = Bad Fishing? | Outdoor Journal Radio ep. 114

Name: Early Spring = Bad Fishing? | Outdoor Journal Radio ep. 114
Uploaded: 2025-06-03T03:28:43+00:00
Duration: 51 min 2 s

0:00
and now another exciting episode in The Adventures of Outdoor Journal
0:05
radio well howy everyone thank you for joining us I'm Angel B he is Peter
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Bowman hi Peter Bowman with the fancy t-shirt on today too by the way show
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that it is too Oliver lovely staff is here of OA wave to the audience there
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you go give me a hell yeah Nick is under the weather today he is not here yeah I thought he was faking today
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break we went to the Sportsman Show just let everybody know we just got back from the Sportsman Show and then the day the
0:35
last day is of course you got at least two hours breakdown after the show and all of a sudden I said where's Nick and he and one of our workers said he's got
0:42
a belly ache and I said that's a bunch of bunch of right there I got a little angry but
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apparently he's uh he's down and out so for sure uh Dean Taylor come on now and
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uh that are it that's the entire team that's it that's the team today oh we looking today said the sets kind of we
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got what I just make sure that I'm okay seems a I'm I'm looking a little
1:07
dark for some reason I don't know it'll be fixed in post oh can we fix that all in post we'll fix it in post beautiful
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all right ah wonderful program we have for you as usual and why would just why wouldn't we light it properly what we
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need why we have to fix it and post you know I don't know he tells me fix it and post he fixes and post what do you want
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me to tell you job security uh fish talk with the dock look at that that handsome
1:30
dude fish talk with the doc is coming up uh uh we have resurrected it it's been a
1:35
while since we've had that segment on the show and this episode will be its first fish talk with Doc with Dr Steven
1:43
cook so we're going to use give me a hell yeah we're going to use different docks too docks we're going to have
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rotating doctors kind of like the emergency w at your local hospital right exactly so we'll uh we'll get we'll see
1:55
whoever is available that particular episode wonder if be in your emergency War if for one better than the other you
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know what I mean oh you know that's the case yeah and you know that's going to be the case here I don't want to say who's better or worse but you know you
2:07
know at the end of the year what we should do is evaluate them all we'll have the audience evaluate them we have
2:12
the audience evaluate say okay I think stepen Cook's the best right think Dr so and so Dr shago was the best of all orag
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look Dr shago uh want to remind folks that the
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store. fishing Canada how about shop shop dot I never why can't you just go
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to fishing canada.com you can and then from there you go through the front door of the store it's got the little the
2:39
little Bell on it like the general story when you why did we do a separate URL I have no idea where that came from I'll
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be honest with you all of a sudden one day it just showed up Dean you know a reason why no no I don't I don't either
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I don't think we needed we have a front door we built a beautiful front door and
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uh was that a was that a sha ISM maybe he just decided that he oh my I don't get it oh that's weird now
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now you now we've just opened up a can of worms here I don't get it somebody needs to look into that but anyways if
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you want to go through the back door you can go to shop. fishing canada.com but you you're going to miss that whole
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entering from the front thing but anyways I'm going through the front maybe they're embarrassed they have to
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go through the back door because they're embarrassed to go through the front door stay Incognito maybe I I'm going through the front door I'm going to fishing
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canada.com once I get there I look at the all the different places I can go and if I want to go to the shop I'll
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just go shop all right if I don't if I want to go for example if I want to go to the news right I'll go to news all
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right uh J all right I need to get Mr you're out of line all right
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J or if I want to go I mean I can go anywhere from there I like where we're
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going right now we're going to listener feedback nowhere unless we get moving we're going to listener feedback right
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now Dustin don don d o n a i s via
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YouTube in response to why fishing Canada loves Yu's 3db series video we
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just put this out finally been working on it for a while we just put this video out and uh Dustin says love the content
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fellas having these short videos explaining and showcasing The Tackle you use as helpful doing this outside the TV
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show gives us the extra fishing Canada of Cravings we need ah I like that please continue to add more videos
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touching on rods reels terminal tackle electronics and techniques always in the mood to see you guys talk fishing thanks
4:36
and keep up the great work that's a nice that's a nice one right there thank you very much uh and if you too have
4:43
comments similar to that or otherwise if you get a little sniffling I'm out hearing we just did the Sportsman Show
4:49
okay we got beat up you and I got beat up everybody else did our right dog I don't know what the we must to talk to a
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few extra people or whatever so I don't know um yeah Dustin we enjoy doing that stuff sometimes that it's it's just a
5:01
time thing we just get caught up in our shooting like now we're going to get prepping all the shows and doing all the
5:07
shows but you're right we love and we love doing that we got a yui line one coming out where we're going to show the difference between floor carbon line
5:13
braided line and the hybrid line so we got that one coming up very soon too we're going to be uh putting out so um
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the more the audience enjoys it hey it's great YouTube content let's do it right uh if you do go through the front door
5:25
at fishing canada.com you'll also notice that we uh that we uh highlight uh our
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podcast Network Partners uh this uh this time we're looking at Under The Canopy
5:38
uh with our good friend Jerry wette a very interesting episode is up right now Jerry is joined by Bev deardo a Master
5:47
Gardener from Bob cjun Ontario to talk about spring garden wonder what takes a
5:52
Master Gardener there's a master electrician I know that there's a master electrician I know that I think she's
5:58
certified by queens or something like she's actually like that's Royal Queen bunch of Queens got together all the
6:05
Queens in the world all the Queens in the world got together she's good man she is good wow Master Gardener I think
6:10
Gordy my dad was a Master Gardener was he he did he grew a carrot one time I swear to God it had no it looked like a
6:17
a hand it was it had five Sprouts on it just like that like a thumb and the four fingers and he stuck it in his sleeve
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and he walk around with this people thought he had this swollen up hand only Gord would only Gordy would do that God
6:29
bless him swear to God he had the craziest vegetables I don't know what he was putting in there but imagine if he' grew a weed Garden your marijuana Garden
6:35
oh my God he'd have had a Dandy there anyways that's happening right now Under The Canopy one of our uh Network
6:41
programs on Outdoor Journal podcast Network which you come on now click into punch a button whatever you need to do
6:48
how do you how do you you go to Spotify you go to to to anywhere where you can
6:53
your podcast we are there along with all of our other partners which those of you who came to the uh Toronto Sportsman
7:00
show this year had an opportunity to meet each and every one of them expose yourself to them and it was Wonder great
7:05
display we had going on a great event it was a great event it was a beauty I uh thoroughly enjoyed it yeah I can hardly
7:13
wait till next year we got people wanting to get in on our podcast Network now we got people come on I want in there too right so in the news Mr Bowman
7:21
but of course you'd only be reading this if you went through the front door at fishing canada.com otherwise you would
7:26
not if you go through the back door you don't like that back door we got to get rid that on me we got to get rid of that
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Dean can we it's a security issue right why would I have the back door unlock when I built
7:38
this beautiful front door to make some money extra money and you can't do that through the front they well they might
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not want to I guess I don't know if he got to be a reason the back door no he didn't uh what's happening in the news
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oh you don't want to read this one no this is you buddy Perrine poses a risk to fish study finds so a recent research
7:57
in the Oregon State University indicates minimum exposure to Perth peroid
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peroid pesticides oh so see I'm I'm going to Da
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King I told you I was going to Don K harm by disrupting the malc constrict viations of their endocrine
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systems I love Don King Prine is a synthetic NE
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neurotoxic per peroid class of medicine the medicine is per
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class in experiments of fish exposed to low doses of
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pesticide love Don King he he'd read this better night and ex altered behavior and reproductive issues of
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adult so what in other words explain that to me now so in other words Permethrin so this uh pesticide that we
8:46
can't use in Canada or can't buy in Canada doesn't say you can't use it you can't buy that in Canada right now as as
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Dean Taylor knows this quite well well no you can't use it no you can use it you can use it you can use it you can't
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buy it you can't buy it all right yeah it's weird it's like it's like the back door of the website versus the front
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door of the website it's weird it just they why you know if you can if you can if you could use it but you can't buy it
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so it means you have to import it illegally or whatever no I think you can even import it I think you could even import it they just can't sell it and
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they can't buy it here oh so I could order it online this is to uh for the tick what tick is it called the deer DW
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it's for any a Rach knit I think it kills really yeah oh my Lisa my wife Lisa Watch Spider my boot uh last uh
9:30
last year on it it walked on and just curled up and fell off wow is that what Lodge 88 uses when it spr I was worried
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about that because it sprayed all of my stuff when I was asleep it works so it did there was not there's not a single
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bug in that place spiders no ticks no nothing nothing wow anyway apparently it
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uh can be affecting our fish species as well so I think that people have to be I
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think there has to be more studies done on it obviously right before they can say don't use it use it or whatever but
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as of right now maybe the the right call is with the in Canada not being able to buy it uh a weird it's a great read and
10:07
it's all happening on fishing canada.com and it's read by Don King remember it's read by my buddy Don Don and I did it
10:13
the pesticides do not often discriminate between the target Pest and the the M station of the nation will not let it
10:21
happen he was I'm going to go on YouTube tonight get some best of Don King right now I have to he was so good uh this
10:29
week's uh F if you don't know Don King if he's a boxing promoter was boxing promoter of the day and and Don would
10:36
make up words that would work so perfectly we you never you could not make those words up on your own he was
10:42
the only guy that could do it he'd make these words up in a full speech and it would sound perfect you say what did he just say and he said and he just keeps
10:49
going on and on look him up Don King the best of all for sure is he still alive I
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don't know I don't I I haven't heard that he died I think he would be cuz we would have heard if he died
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he was a big deal oh he was huge well he's the guy I mean he his claim to fame was when uh Muhammad Ali uh first of all
11:07
when he changed from Cashes Clay to Muhammad Ali it was Don King that kind of brought that out on him and then he
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became his manager and then he just started turned into a promoter and just unbelievable huge yeah huge I love him
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uh this week's fan question submitted by Zack Swain from Ontario via email uh
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remember if have a question a burning desire to get an answer to a question by
11:34
all means send it off to us at info fishing canada.com come on now and uh
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ask away and we will endeavor to well we I say we will endeavor to because we're
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at the whims of our producer Dean Taylor because apparently what he does all of these go into a drum he pulls one out
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each week and that's the one that we end up reading so I don't know what happens to all of the other ones in the drum
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bull it's not a bunch of I've seen the drum okay I'm going to take pictures of the drum take I want to see
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that drum I'm pict you Dean keep it kind of quiet or hidden or something I'm not
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sure anyway Zach Swain from Ontario this week says uh do you guys think there's a
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there's cause for concern regarding the government's implementation of e
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Vehicles by the mid 2030s apparently another six years from now um I I don't
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know whether that is true or not government's implementation of in other words are they saying by 2030 we will
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all 10 years from now they did state that they did eh really which government the government that is currently in oh
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well they're going to be so far gone okay they're going to be so far buried and you w and I won't even be driving
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we'll be too old to be driving anyways years give a but no but even if were this this government are you
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kidding me anyways I don't want to get political I don't do that on the show that's correct that's right and uh the impact that that could have
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on folks uh recreating in the country or to the country in the country yeah in
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the country uh an example would be living in Southern Ontario and uh hoping
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uh or hopping hoping to trailer your boat to Sunset country wow that's a 20
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hour drive 20 plus hour drive but because a single charge on current e vehicles uh won't get you all the way it
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could potentially cause at least an extra day or two of traveling and that I'm assuming what he's saying is it
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could deter people from making a trip like that I look at it as a cup half full not empty because I'm saying uh
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because his question is could this hurt tourism I'm saying it would be a boon to tourism because if they're going to have
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to stop once or twice on that 20-hour trip that means they have to get a motel room they have to get a meal they have
13:52
to get a drink they have to entertain themselves somewhere maybe go to a movie and whatever and that Community is going
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to reap the benefits of this overnight trip that that normally would not be
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overnight so however however oh here we go the cup is half empty according
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here's the empty Cup coming at you if a person has an allotted amount of holidays you know it might be one week
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holidays you're going to travel two to three days to get up there two to three days to get back you're going to have
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one day to fish all right my counter to that is I find it hard to believe that by the that
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you know let's say in 5 years if that's the direction that we're going and I don't know whether it will be or not I'm
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assuming it will if it stays the way it is right now the way cars are the current trajectory I'm going to pretty
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much guarantee you that there will be a recharging station every couple of Miles yeah yeah so but they need to amp that
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recharging up to 20 minutes and they will gas up our car 10 minutes so they need to everything up of course they're
14:56
going and they need capacity Etc need to change it because currently he's right currently why would you do it I'm not
15:03
going to do it already takes you two days to get up there in a gas vehicle 20 hours 20 plus hours now it's going to take you three well I'll tell you why
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you I'll tell you why you would do it because it's going to mean the difference between a th000 bucks worth of gas and maybe a few hundred worth of
15:16
electricity that's why yeah so think about it that way you're going to save yourself a ton of money a lot of
15:22
machoism going on in the E vehicle world right now guys the the gas guys and big truck guys War it's there's a lot of
15:29
memes out there right now going to be hard it's going to be hard to make that transition if in fact we're we're going
15:34
to be faced with it it's going to be for us I know for us it's going to be a tough yep tough decision to make but if
15:42
that's the way we have to go that's the way we have to go they have to build a better ship that's all they have to make sure that they got these battery
15:48
capacity going to be higher the charging is got to be faster and then yeah get if it's just equal to these big uh VH that
15:54
we're running to pull these boats with then perfect I think they're almost there now be honest with you yeah I just what they
16:01
need to do and I believe there somebody's already come up with it they may they have to make some sound you
16:09
know I think if the first company that comes out and I think some somebody has already done it where where it sounds
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like a good oldfashioned you know piston has that option where you can
16:21
pump it in you can pump it into the car sound that's it right there that's all
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you need I know that's all I hilarious I need the sound of a great big V like my
16:34
I want sound of my zette if you could pump in that sound into an electric vehicle I'm all in I'm buying it so let
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me know let me know by the way he says love the show when will you guys get back to nip a gun cheers we're going to
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be doing that soon buddy we're going to be doing that real what was the last time we were there she's it's it's oh
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God way before pandemic way before 2010s wasn't it so 2010 you guys were on that
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boat that the one that mov mes you around the that wasn't the last one no I
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did a river a nippan river one I think that was the last one wasn't Mike Miller there though no Mike was that was a
17:09
previous show okay that we did in the bat one was The Bowman Island Lodge we went down and that was that was
17:14
basically like Superior not didn't we you and I speak to somebody at the Toronto Sportsman Show who has just
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bought a piece of property near that Bowman Island thing we did and he's
17:25
going to set up aij or something wow I I know who it was I don't know if I should say so I won't say it but he's going to
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he bought a personal piece of property that's going to put one more cabin on to cater to to angler just one cabin cuz
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this place that we're talking about that we shot years ago you you you have to steam out uh how long was that it my god
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well it's the town of Red Rock to the right if you look at the map the town of Red Rock Ontario all the way out to the mouth of nipan river into Lake Superior
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top end of Lake Superior long long it was a long chug and we fished on the way remember we hit the rainbow troat screams that was a riot throwing jig and
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crank bait Stu for steel head wow fun so we'll get back up bud that's going to be
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uh that's one of our we love that destination nipp is so it's such a cool place so uh thank you Zach Swain from
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Ontario for asking that question once again don't forget if you would like to ask anything of us anything anything oh
18:20
my oh there you go anything of us uh please do so at info@ fishing canada.com
18:28
just drop us line you don't have to make it a fancy essay or anything just your question and uh we will make sure that
18:35
it goes into the drum 45g drum reclaimed from Don's Auto record right out here
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Don King's Auto record no it's Don's Auto record D you see I got you and um
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reclaimed by Dean himself he took it home it was a a weekend project for him he banged out all the dents got the rust
18:53
off painted it up put a big sign on old Volkswagen wasn't it he's just get to convert an old Volkswagen into a gallon
18:59
drum what think Dom's got Auto he doesn't need that auto record he's got Auto stuff he's got Dr I think he should
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get a nice VW just cut out everything off and put it on a big spindle and just arm in the window hey that best
19:13
Dums you have any idea what the hell he's talking about there a bunch of that's correct thank you much
19:18
whole life is a bunch of okay all [Music]
19:27
righty [Music]
19:33
The Humble goldfish everyone's favorite aquatic pet it's small easy to care for
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what's there not to love even the cat may be mesmerized by the color and movements of your aquarium friends
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goldfish are great at home but don't let them loose releasing goldfish or other domestic aquatic pets or plants into
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natural environments is harmful to both your pet and the planet goldfish disrupt ecosystems by out competing native
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species for food resources in degraded habitats they contribute to algy blooms they kill aquatic wildlife and pass
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viruses and diseases contracted in aquariums to Wildfish they could even live up to 40 years and grow as big as a
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football Anglers this is where you come in if you find a goldfish at your local
20:16
fishing spot report it to the invading species hotline or go online to Ed
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maps.com remember to never dump your live bait into the water and risk spreading other Aquatic Invaders keep
20:29
our legs free from Invaders and don't let them [Music]
20:39
loose how did a Small Town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic Fishing lodges I'm your host
20:47
Steve nit Wiki and you'll find out about that and a whole lot more on the Outdoor
20:53
Journal radio Network's newest podcast Diaries of a lodge owner but this this
20:58
podcast will be more than that every week on Diaries of a lodge owner I'm going to introduce you to a ton of great
21:06
people share their stories of our trials tribulations and
21:11
Inspirations learn and have plenty of laughs along the way Meanwhile we're sitting there bobbing along trying to
21:17
figure out how to catch a bass and we both decided one day we were going to be
21:22
on television doing a fishing show my hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those basss in the
21:28
summertime but that's might be for more fishing than it was punching from you so
21:33
confidently you said hey Pat have you ever eaten a drum find Diaries of a lodge owner now on Spotify Apple
21:40
podcasts or wherever you get your podcast and now it's time for a little
21:46
fish talk with the doc uh our in-house specialist Dr Steven Cook joins us again
21:51
uh he is the biology professor at Carlton University and has published over 700 peer review papers I haven't even
22:00
published 700 papers that were my perod you can't even write 700 words in an article come on now Hey Stephen how you
22:07
doing hey I'm well thanks how are you good thank you good thanks for joining us again um we've got an interesting
22:14
topic for you this time is uh apparently the social media network is a a buzz
22:20
with the question of of what is this early spring weather going to do to fish
22:26
in general in particular maybe even bass which I know is your area of expertise what's uh what say ye on that okay well
22:34
let's let's just quickly paint the picture because this is the fishing Canada right so we need to think Beyond
22:39
just Ontario so uh I just got off the phone with some colleagues in British colia and they have about 60% of the
22:47
snow pack that they usually would have at this time of year um pretty dry
22:52
throughout the rest of the country the exception this year are friends out out east uh you may recall they got a you
22:59
know some places got over a meter of snow in 24 hours and so on so there are a few places out east that are are are
23:06
doing quite well and still feeling rather wintry but for most of us we're already in Spring mode I don't know
23:12
about you but uh you know I've got the the bikes own already and uh there's not
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a a snowflake to be found on the the ground right now uh and uh that
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certainly has implications for fish um let's just start here in Ontario which
23:29
is where where we're based so we had very little snow pack and the snow pack we did have disappeared very quickly uh
23:38
over the last three weeks or so and in particular that last week of February
23:44
first week of March uh it was ridiculously warm it was so warm in fact
23:50
that even though that snow melted instead of it going into the ground or
23:56
into the rivers which is normally where that that water would go much of it was
24:02
evaporated and went directly up into the atmosphere so even though we had some
24:08
snow pack it didn't end up recharging the groundwater aquafers it did not end
24:13
up in the wetlands it did not end up in our rivers or lakes or reservoirs and so
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um not only do we have an early spring but we're on track for a summer where
24:28
where water might be getting pretty skinny in places um so and that's not
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good fish need water the last time I checked that's the one thing I'm pretty certain of why stepen does that snow
24:41
evaporate that instead of sinking into the ground it's because the ground's frozen still or what's what's the reasoning for that it was simply because
24:48
it was so hot and it was also fairly dry in the atmosphere so it wasn't you know
24:54
normally you have you know it's 1 degree 2 de cels you know a couple degrees
24:59
above freezing and you get that slow melt and things seep into the ground
25:05
instead we had days that were 14 15 Dees C children running around with uh short
25:12
sleeve shirts and shorts on you know froling as if it was if it was miday and
25:18
uh it it simply was so warm that it evaporated and went up instead of going
25:24
down okay now normally when we have high which we have had high water levels uh
25:29
during the spawn in various parts of the country normally when that happens it's good for for fish uh because they have
25:37
more spawning areas right we I remember one time we were on Lake Champlain doing an early season program oh man and we
25:44
were fishing Stephen the the the waters had pushed up so high they were in trees
25:49
places where normally they were trees and we were in these trees and you see little fry balls all over the the the
25:56
the Treetops so so what it meant was there was more spawning area for fish to use which was beneficial but of course
26:03
now with the water level being this low and it promises to be even worse in the next few weeks to month um that's going
26:12
to eliminate a lot of these spawning areas it's going to force fish to maybe
26:17
get a little smaller range for areas especially Walley uh for where they can spawn that's probably the biggest
26:24
concern yeah absolutely something where we're certainly worried about uh and
26:30
along with that think about our Pike and musky uh most of them spawn in areas
26:36
that are dry for nine months of the year uh you know whether it be a a dry ditch
26:42
or that flood plane area those are the areas that are so important for those
26:47
species and at least the waters around Ottawa right now our rivers are full but they are not overflowing and considering
26:54
our snow pack is gone the potential for frette the you know that spring frette that we
27:01
normally have it's really it's gone um so uh that will dramatically reduce the
27:08
available spawning habitat for key game Fish uh including some of our favorites
27:13
Stephen what about right now as we're speaking is May uh March 20th right now
27:18
the steel had have been running up let's say the ganaraska river is a great example they've been already started early on that is is a the rivers that uh
27:27
that uh steel header spawning in are they going to be affected as well by all this or like it seems like there's a good flow in these Rivers I went over
27:33
and looked not that long ago it seems like there's a good flow what is their spawn going to be like yeah steel head are pretty
27:39
motivated as fish go uh they're also super strong swimmers and jumpers uh
27:46
obviously more water is better um but uh you know hopefully we'll still have a
27:53
spring that's wet enough that that that those Rivers will you know and uh
27:59
there's a decent amount amount of groundwater input in some of those systems that that drives it especially
28:04
when they end up uh migrating fairly far Upstream so uh I'm not as as worried
28:10
about uh about those fish uh as I am some of our warm and cool water fish
28:16
that really need that those floods which species in your opinion is
28:21
going to be the most affected then yeah yeah there's there's other things that'll go on as well when when
28:28
we start thinking about um phology so phology is a fancy science word that
28:34
means basically there's an order of things right things happen in sequence
28:39
uh across time and so through seasons and and you see that in your in your
28:46
garden as uh you go from one plant that's doing well to the next and so on
28:52
and the same thing happens in any freshwater ecosystem there's a series of events that happen in a rather rather
29:00
repeatable manner from year to year to year and when you take things and
29:05
accelerate them and that's what water uh warmer water temperatures um uh which is we're
29:13
starting to see already water temperatures are starting to go up basically winter disappearing that
29:18
advances everything so we think we're about 20 days ahead that's based on uh
29:24
ice out where we saw ice out on a lot of the lakes in the Ottawa area uh 20 20
29:31
days earlier than than average um and the earliest on record
29:36
for for many of these uh these systems it was a pretty Grim ice fishing year for many uh pretty short at least um and
29:45
uh that whole phology that that system can get out of whack and so what I mean
29:50
by that is even if you have a fish that reproduces and maybe you know and they
29:55
have lots of babies maybe it ends up being a good year from for them they still need to eat those babies need to
30:01
eat and if you get off cycle from the phytol plon or the Z Plankton or another
30:08
fish that's reproducing and that's the food for those babies that's a problem
30:13
so um and the way that things can get off kilter because you might think well
30:19
the whole system will reset and go about it you know in that same order um water
30:25
temperature isn't the only cue that's used by organisms so we have the sunlight daylength so uh and we know
30:33
that you know so these animals are being exposed to different uh day night cycles than they would be uh 20 days from now
30:41
uh and then even things like changes in flow either an increasing or decreasing
30:48
uh flow rate those are triggers for different organisms some it will shut down others it will turn on and so it
30:57
not every animal and and plant will respond the same way to this early
31:02
winter so I'm and these are things that are hard to predict because Mother Nature's complex uh but we do anticipate
31:09
that that normal pattern that we see will be disrupted now I we've got in our notes
31:16
here to talk about an interesting part of this whole early spring thing and that is weeds and how this might affect
31:22
them which in turn will affect everything that you just talked about the microorganisms that that are
31:29
obviously are vital for Life uh in fresh water as well um what's happening to the weed
31:34
growth yeah so it's going to start earlier um and uh you know weeds are
31:41
important habitat for fish certainly but too many weeds uh is also problematic
31:47
and so if we end up with too many weeds in not enough water we get very choked
31:52
systems and there's the odd species that that loves that and that's you know you think about bass in the slop um but they
32:00
still need a certain amount of water and there's only a few species that truly exploit those really shallow super
32:08
vegetated uh areas a lot of for a lot of fish they get displaced they get pushed out and they have to find other areas so
32:15
that means more Open Water habitats where there's uh further from Shore uh
32:21
different food items more predators and and so on so uh we expect to see a
32:27
Cascade there as well H steepen right going back to the low water and and
32:34
Walley is there uh one that's affected more than others by either the Walle that are spawning up rivers in currents
32:42
versus Walle that are spawning on the shore is there is one more in Jeopardy than the others with this low water or is it all the same it really comes down
32:49
to if we're talking about a lake like system if it's a regulated Lake and so
32:55
if you think about something like the r Canal or the karthas the Trent SN system
33:02
uh and I know it's a canal so it has river-like elements but it's also a heavily managed system where some Lakes
33:09
store water and then that water is Led Out Over the season to uh provide
33:15
adequate flow over the course of the year for navigation maintaining water quality and so on um so in those heavily
33:22
managed systems they're trying to accumulate water now so that they can let it out um so in reservoirs uh many
33:31
of them aren't full uh in fact they're quite low and so that's going to be problematic later on but it's also
33:37
problematic for our uh fish like walleye today and I know it's weird to think
33:43
about places like big RTO lake or Rice Lake as reservoirs but in many ways they
33:48
are um because of the uh the infrastructure that we've put on place
33:53
we you know I'm not talking about them being systems like you can drain entirely like something like GF lake or
34:00
G Lake Reservoir or cona Lake Reservoir uh but they still uh can vary over a
34:07
meter meter and a half in in depth and when you get rid of that or if you don't have the water in those systems uh that
34:14
will leave some of those habitats exposed plus you don't have the water to release into the downstream reaches that
34:21
might be more River likee so it's both it's both the the fish that are in lakes and reservoirs as well as as those that
34:28
uh are in the riverine systems okay I I hate the guy who's you know sounding like we're I'm going to downplay this
34:35
whole change in our weather patterns but you know I do want to point one thing out and and let's talk about bass in
34:42
particular we do know that bass thrive in warmer climates they Thrive under
34:47
conditions that we've got right now this this spring um if you will uh even here
34:53
in this country western Canada for example in the lower mainland of British Columbia I mean the there both Smallmouth and large mouth they they
34:59
thrive in this kind of early season uh warmer climate so I guess what I'm
35:06
saying is it's not total Doom and Gloom if we can get by this first year or two
35:12
if this is going to be the new Norm I think these fish adapt really well you
35:18
know yeah um it yeah uh there's no doubt that fish adapt uh that happens uh
35:24
that's the whole basis for natural selection Evolution and so on but they need time um it's not usually at the
35:31
level of the individual it's at the level of the population that these things sort of play out and you need
35:37
time for the next generation and we're talking about something like bass we're talking about animals that live 12 15 20
35:45
years so uh you know the the fish that uh that you know it the fish that will
35:53
pass on their genes and do well they will create the Next Generation but we're still years away from those
35:59
animals reproducing and then their genes being being passed along so but yeah I
36:05
think bass could be winners this year in a couple ways one uh hopefully the bass
36:11
are uh will by nesting earlier that means that they will be up and off the
36:18
nest fully done with their parental care well before The Season's open uh so in
36:24
other words protected During the period that they're in tended to be protected for and we know that that's not always
36:31
the case for bass sometimes that sometimes they're not quite done when the season opens so that should be good
36:38
the other thing is that baby bass the bigger that a baby bass is a f a one um
36:45
a young of the year so a baby that is um spawned uh and hatches in uh in say may
36:54
however big it can get by October November um the bigger fish the bigger
37:01
little guys are more likely to survive that first winter than the little ones
37:06
so you want to be a plump baby bass going into that first winter so that you
37:12
can survive that low food period um and get by during that that challenging time
37:20
so uh so we could have higher overwinter survival of those young of the Year fish
37:26
so in the future and this stuff's all hard to play out right because oh things aren't so good here but you know they'll
37:32
be better there where this thing shakes out at the end of the day we you know it's really hard to predict um there
37:39
will be winners and losers in years like this um and at this point it looks like
37:46
bass may be winners how about fall spawners will this will will it it have a long-term
37:53
effect on them as this whole thing plays out yeah for fall spawners it's that
38:00
decrease in water temperature combined with changes in day length that really
38:06
are the the cue uh for when they reproduce whereas in the spring it's ice
38:12
off is such a huge cue with that warming water temperature um and it can be
38:17
because it's a warm day or it can be because it's a sunny day and I know you
38:23
can have a cold day that's sunny and if you've got a a lake or river with a dark
38:29
bottom uh it's going to heat up even though it might be still cool out so so
38:35
uh it doesn't have to be blistering hot for water temperatures to start creeping up so um so yeah I in the fall um as
38:45
long as there's enough water to go around for these fish to reproduce they should do okay they will have a longer
38:53
growing season so they have more time to to feed um um I'm certainly most
38:58
concerned about as as you raised the walleye the pike the musky that might not have access to their spawning
39:06
grounds that's the it's those right now over the next month or so uh those are
39:12
the the ones that I'm particularly worried about a lot of the sucker species um they spawn uh on the uh the
39:21
downside of a A big flood event so hope I'm hoping that we have some big rain
39:26
events this spring that frankly emulate a frette uh I know
39:31
calling for floods isn't a kind thing to do for those folks that live close to the water but uh uh I know that our
39:37
fishy friends would certainly appreciate [Music]
39:50
it we interrupt this program to bring you the much anticipated bonus code for the latest fishing Canada giveaways this
39:57
week's code is fishery that's fishery all capital letters f i s h e r y just
40:05
type that in the bonus code section of the contest and receive 100 free entries towards all our current giveaways for
40:12
those who haven't entered yet what the heck are you waiting for head on over to fishing canada.com while you listen to
40:19
the rest of this episode click contests and sign up for all the latest fishing candidate giveaways and now back to the
40:26
show [Music] you guys both you guys do you think that
40:34
if this is an ongoing thing this is global warming whatever you want to call it which it probably ish do you think
40:40
our M&R will change Seasons accordingly will they have to adapt make the the fall spawners for sure they have to cut
40:46
that off even earlier because these fish might be spawning earlier and and just maybe you know if these spring spawners
40:51
are spawn all earlyer can they shift backwards a little bit and say the season can open now a week earlier sort
40:57
of thing wonder if that will happen any opinions on that that would be logical would it not Stephen yeah and we call
41:03
that future proofing so uh the idea that the regulations of today need to be
41:09
considered through the lens of tomorrow and tomorrow is here today I not to get
41:15
too philosophical here uh but uh you know the reality is that we're starting
41:20
to see weirder weather and it's global warming doesn't always mean warm
41:27
it means more variable so we're going to have some years we're probably you know two years from now we'll have the same
41:33
conversation about how we're in the deepest freeze we've ever been in and uh
41:39
you know ice Huts are out till miday uh and we'll be scratching our heads and talking about how that's bad for fish
41:46
and fishing so the reality is it's going to be all over the place um it's going
41:51
to be very inconsistent and uh this is I think a a good example that's a great uh
41:58
lead into uh my next comment which is the throw to the next time we get together um the reality is that right
42:06
now these fish are going to want to spawn earlier because of all the
42:11
conditions that you just articulated so they're going to be stepping it up a little bit but unfortunately we've got
42:18
some new regulations in this part of the world that now allows us to what do what
42:24
we thought was going to be pre-spawn fishing for bass that to me
42:30
looks like two forces that are about to collide or am I just overstating it
42:36
you're correct you're absolutely correct so you're talking about some of the changes and regulations that occurred a
42:41
few years ago in Lake Ontario in the St Lawrence uh and uh they extended the
42:47
season to provide greater protection into uh sort of late June early July to
42:54
make sure that they were protected on the back end but it this year we may
43:00
have missed the boat there and so that the first week or two of the spawn uh
43:07
might be something where those fish are exploitable legally exploitable so a May
43:13
it's be May 10th I believe right as the closing day so we're predicting that smalles could be in the full spawn May
43:20
10th unlike Ontario is that what we're saying with this I think so it's possible it's really possible um and I
43:27
say this as uh you know as a as a biologist scientist that normally our
43:33
students start May first our summer students uh so we've been struggling to
43:39
find folks that are available and willing to throw on a wet suit uh in you know April 15th April 20th uh and get
43:48
out there uh we do a lot of work on some of the shallow lakes in the redos system
43:53
Lake of pentacon uh it would be surprising if those fish are not
43:59
reproducing um at some point you know in the early 20s of of April uh so we're
44:06
getting our boats in the water next week uh we are um in we're in purchasing mode
44:12
buying everything we need uh and it's certainly accelerated we're trying to get the permits that we need in hand uh
44:19
several weeks before normally we would be even paying attention so uh this is definitely a curveball it certainly is
44:27
and that's why uh the next uh fish talk with the dock we want to talk to you about that we want to talk to you about
44:34
pre-spawn bass fishing and uh what effects this might have this this new
44:39
hopefully um not Trend hopefully a one of or we've got an early spring like we
44:45
do this year uh but we want to talk to you about the effects on on what that could lead to yeah sounds great and uh
44:52
you know I I one thing that we haven't talked so much about is how does does
44:57
the this early spring affect fishing itself and uh you know so again kind of
45:04
a dismal ice fishing season for many um and unsafe towards the end unfortunately
45:11
um but uh you know I've been out with the bait caster in the front yard already and uh boy yeah I think the
45:19
tackle shops are going to benefit from some some early spring season you were
45:25
just at the bunch of different shows I imagine that they were pretty busy it
45:30
was a a banner year at these shows so folks were definitely pent up and
45:36
waiting to get out and and you could see it in their face you you could tell the way they were talking Saturday was just
45:42
ready to go just ready to go yeah yeah it's not people aren't
45:48
going to wait till the May 24 to open their cottages and get out on the water uh and so that's the bonus it's more
45:55
time on the water more time to to enjoy nature to connect with friends and family uh and to catch some fish and uh
46:03
you know at this time of year um you know we'll have our panish uh bluegill pumpkin seed crappie
46:12
rock bass uh pretty easy to catch and darn yummy so uh certainly we all be
46:18
putting much of my attention many of our game fish that we target are protected uh right now or or will be shortly um
46:26
but uh I I plan to do some U early season pan fishing and from a boat
46:31
usually I'm doing it from Shore I haven't launched my boat early in the season but this year it's it's going in
46:37
soon what what very quickly Stephen my buddies have been on the Lake Ontario
46:42
Bay quiny Area that water is already hitting 44 degrees at times would those Walley already be spawning right now or
46:48
very very close to it probably getting close but it's it's not just water
46:55
temperature um they do need to be there are other cues that matter and that day
47:00
length in particular so uh and that's to to you know in many ways that system is
47:06
intended to protect fish so they don't make a bad decision um you don't want to spawn on the first day that the water
47:13
temperature hits some magic threshold only to find that two days later it's
47:18
dropped by 10 Dees and then all your all your babies die and that does happen uh
47:26
you know a cold shock event a storm event a cold snap after fish reproduce
47:32
particularly those that reproduce in relatively shallow water and uh it will kill The Offspring if we're talking
47:38
about bass the bass will abandon their nests uh and they'll have to hopefully
47:43
they'll be able to try and give it a go uh again so that those other cues help
47:49
them to make better decisions um but the problem is when those cues get offset right where it's it's now warm enough
47:55
but we're still maybe a couple weeks away from when the the um D the uh
48:04
Celestial cues and and uh lunar cues start to start to jive with the
48:10
temperature so um if you if fish wait too long then they will start to resorb
48:16
eggs and and it's not like their mood just gets they get more and more rander
48:22
at some point they do give up and uh start to think about the next year
48:28
instead um so uh hoping we don't get into those instances uh but yeah we we
48:34
will see okay all right well we can hardly wait till the next one uh Stephen uh once again thank you very much sounds
48:40
like you're about in your busiest time of the year you're going to have right now getting ready to get out so uh we'll
48:46
let you go my friend appreciate it thanks so much thanks Stephen Dr step cook fish talk with the dock and next
48:54
time um whenever when is when is he on next Dean do we know I think we're going to try to do it every month or so every
49:00
month or so okay so next month we'll be talking about uh uh early season or
49:06
pre-spawn uh fish and how that might affect uh things I love this stuff
49:11
Stevens is brilliant I love that kind of fish talk with the doc has always been my favorite segment whether it was on
49:16
the fishing Canada show or on Outdoor Journal radio fish talk with the doc to me is what up our all about up the alley
49:24
thank you Steven cook all righty well that does it for us I don't think we got
49:29
much to do other than wrap up I want to thank everybody for joining us once again uh we do want to remind you of a
49:36
fishing canada.com the Gateway the portal to your next fishing Adventure yeah and while you're there
49:43
you might want to jump over to shop. fishing canada.com and maybe buy a nice t-shirt like Angelo's got on or maybe
49:49
even that's a bunch of shirt like I got on you know what I mean there's all kinds of stuff we boy we sold a lot of Swag at the at the
49:55
Sportsman show that was kind of cool the number one do we know yet what was the number one I saw a lot I saw a lot a lot
50:01
a lot of the trucker hat the black front white that worked so well I think that
50:06
might oh yeah cuz we threw a lot of hoodies out there too there was a lot of people buying hoodies the new style hoodie too that if you want to check out
50:12
a cool looking new look that we have for fishing Canada it's a it's a cool hoodie there's three of them there's a walleye
50:18
a bass and a Musky one and they're very cool looking too so uh check all that out shop. fishing canada.com that are it
50:25
on behalf of the hire crew here at Outdoor Journal Radio podcast network uh
50:31
I want to thank aboba behind the camera over there uh Nick is not here he's ill he's definitely not here today uh Dean
50:38
Taylor our producer and my co-host Peter Bowman I'm Angelo Bola thanks folks catch you next time
50:46
[Music]
50:53
[Applause] woohoo
51:01
oh

Early Spring = Bad Fishing? | Outdoor Journal Radio ep. 114

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Early Spring = Bad Fishing? | Outdoor Journal Radio ep. 114

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