- [Don] Hi folks.

This is Don Meissner.

On today's show we're gonna look at the best trout, salmon, walleye, and miscellaneous fish that we've caught through the years on "Fishing Behind the Lines".

It's hard to pick them, but I think you'll enjoy it.

So stay with us.

- [Narrator] This is a show about the men and women that serve in our military.

It's a story about life as a soldier and now a civilian.

It's a story about honor, courage and sacrifice.

Join us as we make friends, catch fish, and give back to some of the bravest people there are.

These are their stories.

This is "Fishing Behind the Lines".

(gentle music) - [Announcer] "Fishing Behind the Lines" is brought to you by (upbeat music) - [Don] You know folks, fishing has always been a huge part of my life and this all started when I was a kid growing up on the Genesee River and the only fish we had in that river were trout and so trout became the fish for me and I learned to catch rainbows and browns and most of them were stocked and I loved them all.

But through the years doing "Fishing Behind the Lines", we've had a chance to go to some pretty special waters and catch not only trout but salmon and I couldn't forget walleyes.

Walleyes are another fish that a lot of people long to catch and very few of them do.

So stay with us today.

I think we're gonna have some wonderful footage and we're gonna rejoin memories that will stay with me forever.

Wow, there he is, that's a nice one.

That's silvery looking.

- Now go real low and just slide him in.

Drop him right in there.

- Great job.

You find that that's tough to raise him up like that, Rodney?

- Oh yeah, this was - Look at this.

- This one we're gonna release.

- Correct.

- He might even be a little bit bigger than your other one.

- He's a fighter, too, look at over there at his gills.

- Oh my gosh.

- This guy has been fighting, - If you had to tell people the secret of what this is about, what would you say?

I mean, what, how would you describe this fishing?

- Heart pumping.

I mean once you land one of these on the line, there is nothing else like it that I've ever fished before.

These steelheads are such amazing fighters.

- And they're so beautiful.

The colors, the color of the rainbow going down the side of them.

Well, let's get him back in the river.

There he goes.

- There he goes, he was fine.

- Okay, come on in and back in by Don.

- Actually doing good.

(water splashing) - Oh my goodness, we got him.

We got him.

Fantastic.

- Nice henfish, prespawn hen.

Now slide the other hand back, get out of the net.

There you go.

Now you can cradle it and get a picture.

- There, what do you think?

- Wow, she's beautiful.

Look at that.

- See, now you waited all these years from the time you were 12 years old, all those flights over Afghanistan, you were thinking of one thing.

Perdunkle.

- That was it.

- [Don] That's fantastic.

- [Curt] She's getting snowed on, look at this.

- I know, that's fantastic.

Okay, now we've got to get her back in the water.

- All right, turn her upstream or just let her go?

- [Don] She'll take right off pretty good I'll bet.

- [Curt] There she goes.

- If we can see in the water you see how that other salmon stays right with that salmon as it swims.

I find that fascinating.

It won't leave its side.

You know, we really, I think, underestimate these organisms that are part of, that are what we go fishing for.

Now Jason is gonna do the, - Nope.

He's not, got a little fight left in him.

Oh, wow, look at this fish.

Here you go, buddy, wow.

Talk about a beautiful, right.

- [Don] Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.

If you can hold him up and let everybody see his beauty.

That is a fresh run, fresh run salmon.

- Wow, whoa.

(gentle music) - [Don] Jason, did you ever think you catch one that big?

- No way.

- [Don] You caught it, you know.

You're the one that's got your hands on its tail.

You caught it.

- I'm gonna let this guy go here.

He's gonna live another day here.

- [Don] Will's got one.

So they are here.

- [Mike] Oh, it's a giant walleye.

This is 10 pounds.

- [Don] Oh, hold on, give me the net.

Get the net.

- [Mike] This thing's a giant.

- [Don] Oh, yeah, you net it, it's a 10 pound walleye.

This thing's a giant.

Holy cow.

Just a giant.

- Wow.

- Oh my gosh.

- [Fisherman] I'll try to be getting - [Don] Net it from its head.

- [Fisherman] Okay, here it comes, coming at you.

Oh, nice one.

That is a, - Wow.

- Pig.

- [Mike] It's a giant walleye right by the boat.

- [Camerman] Yeah, I forgot about that, yeah.

- Oh my gosh, well, if there's one there, there's got to be a bunch around him, wouldn't there?

- Oh, yeah, oh, yeah.

The walleye run's going really strong right now so, you know, we're gonna be running into a lot of walleyes this size.

- That's a beauty, that's a beauty.

That's what I really want Mike to catch.

When he caught one, I mean, he's caught his walleye maybe he'd be spoiled to catch that first but that's the beauty.

- I think if Mike caught a walleye like this it would just completely wreck him.

He'd be wrecked.

- [Don] Well let's let him go back or you wanted a picture?

- Yeah, yeah.

I'd like to get a couple of pictures.

- [Don] Okay.

- You got him, yeah, he's there.

He came up twice right there.

- Oh my gosh, I gotta tell you, - [Don] There he is, there he is, there we go.

There we go, oh, yeah.

- Oh my gosh.

- That's why we like it.

This is tremendous.

How's that Don?

- [Don] Oh, it's tremendous.

I got to tell you, this is, this is, I've been doing this my whole life up in the Arctic, all over, and I got to tell you what I just saw was terrific.

We got him.

Oh, we got him.

- [Steve] Oh my gosh.

- Beautiful steelhead, how about that.

- Holy cow, oh, my gosh, and out.

- And he's off.

- Will he live?

- He will.

- Okay, get him back then.

But let me pose with him.

Let me at least stick my head in here so everybody can see my trophy.

Oh my God, I love it, I love it.

But let's let him live since, let's put him back.

- Okay.

Ready?

- Yup.

- There he goes.

- [Erin] I can take breaks, right?

- You can, yeah, you can take breaks.

All you gotta do is keep that rod raised.

You don't have to keep reeling.

- [Fisherman] Keep cranking.

- [Don] Oh my gosh, holy cow.

- [Erin] I'm just looking at my line.

I'm not looking at the fish.

- [Don] Okay, you're doing great.

- [Erin] I don't wanna be hollered at.

- [Don] Nobody's gonna holler.

- [Fisherman] Sheephead, it is a sheephead.

- [Don] That's all right, that's all right.

We've got a big fish.

- [Fisherman] That is a sheephead.

There you go, that's right.

- [Erin] Is this pulling?

- [Fisherman] Yep, yep, give me a little more line down to him and I'll have him.

- [Don] Look at the size of that fish.

Oh, that fish is How much would that weigh?

15 pounds anyway, wouldn't it?

- [Fisherman] Oh, you're close.

We got a scale.

- You got that one?

- Mm huh.

- And just like that.

- There you go.

- Now look up and that's amazing.

Erin, that's terrific.

- [Camerman] One more Erin.

- [Don] You won't believe what this is.

- This side over here.

- Yup, oh my goodness.

- That's not a (gentle banjo music) - That's a - Is that a bass?

- It's a walleye.

- A walleye.

- Look at the size of this walleye.

Holy cow.

I can't believe it.

- That is nice.

- I can't believe it.

That means there's more here.

- [Terry] We were just talking about that on the way up here, too.

- I am absolutely flabbergasted 'cause this is a big this is a really big fish.

Look at this fish.

Holy cow, this is a beautiful, beautiful walleye that you didn't catch.

I wanted you to catch it.

- [Terry] Nice.

No, it's nice.

- 10 pound fish.

Is that a fair estimate?

- [Camerman] Yes, 10, 11, 12.

- [Terry] It's about this long.

- Yeah, I can call him anything I want, right?

Okay, you move the net out.

(water splashing) - There he is right on the surface, right here.

He's right here.

Oh my gosh, look at this.

Do we have a net?

- Yeah.

- This is a huge fish.

This is huge.

- [Keith] It's a beautiful fish.

Man, oh man.

- Try to get him right in the head first, there we go.

Oh my gosh, triumph.

Oh my gosh, look at that incredible fish.

If you could turn him right towards so we can look into that wicked mouth.

- Whoa, he's gonna jump.

- Okay.

- Can I let him go?

- Yes.

- Please.

- [Don] You can let him go.

Oh my goodness sakes.

I'm holding him here.

Some people, you know, we've always tried to run water through their gills by going like this in the natural motion.

Some scientist said when you pull them back, in nature that never happens.

- [Keith] Yeah.

- And so it actually can drown them.

So what I'm trying to do once they go belly up, it's not a good thing.

Now keep in mind, this salmon right now - is stressed - is stressed and he's in his doomsday period of his life because once they go up this river they're not gonna survive.

Once they spawn, once they lay their eggs, it's all over for them.

They don't survive.

See if he's about to right himself or not.

I really, he's a noble beast.

He gave me a tremendous battle and I kind of wanna let him continue on his way to complete his life cycle not end it by me.

He's trying harder now.

See that?

- Yeah, he'll wake up.

- He's trying harder.

- I release them.

- [Don] There he goes.

- When you take a little time, they'll go.

- [Don] There he goes.

- Oh, it's taking drag, oh, it's a good one, huh, buddy.

- Is it a good one?

- Oh boy.

- All right, we got him.

- We got him.

This is exciting.

- Yes, look at this fish pull.

Look at him fight.

- It is fighting.

- Oh my gosh.

- Hold your rod tip up this way.

Let me get this out of here.

Don, take this for a second would you.

- Keep him down, we'll land him right over here.

- We got bait fish coming in, everything's active.

- Yeah, everything, I'm catching bait.

- Oh, bring him up.

- That's a nice catch.

- Oh, wow.

- Oh, wow.

- Oh, my gosh, holy cow.

- Wow.

- Oh my gosh.

- That's a monster.

- [Don] Eric, how heavy is that?

- This one's about 12 pounds I'd say.

- Geez.

- Look at the mouth on that.

You're all right, I'll hold it.

- Okay.

- It's what we came for right there.

- [Don] This is unbelievable.

That's all I can say.

I never thought we'd really get him.

- All right guys, ready?

- Trying to fix our mess here, Don.

- Gonna release him.

(water splashing) - [Ben] I don't know if you can all hear me but you don't know what goes through my mind.

The tension, the tension is unbelievable.

Especially when you don't do this and you have your one chance, your one chance at that touchdown.

(gentle music) - I have never in all my years doing TV, been silent.

I wanted this fish so bad.

My golly I'm speechless.

How can you talk when you're holding something with this much beauty?

It's one of most beautiful fish I've ever caught in my life period.

And I've been up to the Arctic and all over catching wild brook trout and salmon.

This is an incredible, beautiful fish.

And I got to tell you what makes this even more incredible is we're right in downtown Oswego.

Anybody can do this as long as you got spikes on your feet and you won't fall over and drown, but all kidding aside, this is a fisherman's dream right here.

This is a big one.

Oh, this is a, this is a real big walleye.

Oh my gosh.

My heart's beating like a rabbit.

It's like I said, I wanna show all of you this so badly.

This bank is so steep.

I'm not sure, I wish we brought You know Russ, maybe the 10th time we come we'll bring a net.

- [Russ] Yeah.

- How heavy, how big is this fish?

I mean that's a monster walleye.

It's huge.

Well I'm gonna put him back and I bet a lot of you people are wondering why I'm doing that.

In fact, I got friends that would mount that in a heartbeat, but we're gonna put him back.

(water splashing) Look at that fish out there.

Oh, these great big walleyes.

Oh my gosh.

I think this is one of the greatest days.

I changed, I actually snagged my last jig and so I changed to a red and white.

He seemed to take it pretty deeply by the looks of where that jig is in his mouth.

I got to try to get down here where I can land him again.

These are heavy, heavy fish.

These are, as you can see, giant walleyes.

Am I panting because I'm so weak I can't hold a fish this big up in the air?

Or am I panting because I'm like a kid right now with excitement catching trophy fish to share with you all?

It's bright sun, no wind, all the conditions that make walleyes not hit and we're catching them.

That's number two jumbo fish in a half hour.

- [Andrew] Measure it Don.

- Well, let's see, as close as I can.

There's nine to the beginning of his fin, 18, 27, he's 30 inches, 30 inches.

(water splashing) - [Fisherman] Reel down.

- Holy cow, that's a monster.

- [Fisherman] Reel down.

- Oh my God, look at the size of that fish.

- [Fisherman] Reel down.

- Ready?

- No, not yet.

- [Fisherman] Yeah, I'll take it now.

I'll take it now.

Reel down.

(drag creaking) - [Hailey] Oh my God, he's huge.

Oh my God.

- [Don] Oh my God, this is a giant, this is a giant.

- [Fisherman] Oh, my God, we got him.

- We got him.

- We got him.

- [Fisherman] Oh, my God, this is a monster.

- [Don] That's what I like to hear.

- [Fisherman] I'll take this.

- [Don] And look at, look at where the hook is.

The hook's out of it.

- [Fisherman] Look at that.

- Oh my gosh.

- Look at that.

That's a monster.

- Oh.

- That is a trophy.

- [Don] Hold the net, that's right.

- It might be about 27.

- I think it is.

- Who's going to grab it here?

- Do you wanna grab him down there and I'll just be - It's good.

- Well, this is as close as I got to one of these today, but this is the culmination of a fabulous day on the water.

A fabulous team, helping us put this together.

And Hailey, you made this show so special.

I wanna thank you.

I hope you've enjoyed yourself today.

- I did, it was a lot of fun.

- There's one, there's one, Andrew.

I think it's a trout.

- [Don] It's a nice one.

- [Andrew] I mean, it's about like Don's.

- [Don] Do you hear me?

- Yup, I hear ya.

(gentle music) - [Don] Talk us through him.

- Yeah, it's a rainbow, Don.

It's a beautiful little rainbow.

It's a beautiful little rainbow and I don't think I'm gonna use my net.

I wanna use my net because I don't wanna lose him for this camera and for you folks to see.

Beautiful little rainbow trout, probably about a 12 inchers maybe a little more Don.

- [Don] Oh my gosh.

- [Rust] Yeah, it's a beautiful fish.

- [Don] Oh my gosh.

- [Rust] Look at how beautiful that is.

- [Don] That's a big trout.

- [Rust] Yeah, it is, it's a big trout.

- [Don] Now we've made the water all muddy.

- [Rust] So, oh, there he goes.

- Ooh.

- You get the net.

- [Don] That's a really big pickerel.

Holy cow.

(gentle banjo music) - Oh.

- There you go.

- Getting heavier.

- Oh, there he is right there on the surface.

- [Ed] Now what am I supposed to do?

- [Don] Just keep waiting.

He'll tell you what to do once he gets closer.

- [Fisherman] Don't panic.

- [Ed] Okay, okay.

- [Fisherman] Reel down, reel down, reel down.

Look at the rod tip, look at the rod tip.

And we got him.

- Nice job, I told you had him.

- [Don] You did great.

- [Ed] What is that?

- [Fisherman] That's a brown trout.

- [Don] That's a brown, even though he doesn't look brown.

- Yeah, dude, it was that big.

- Yes, you could tell everybody that.

- We'll do it this way.

There, that's as close as we'll get.

- All right for now.

- For now.

- I'm okay with that.

Oh, what do you do.

- He's not really, the tail.

- How about that, oh, it's slimy.

All right.

- That's a first.

- That's a first.

- First in your life.

- [Camerman] We're gaining, we're gaining.

- He told me before the show the one thing he didn't wanna do was touch his fish.

So I'm gonna honor that but you've already gone past that.

- I know, I know, and it's still alive, that's awesome.

What is that, a 40 pounder?

- Yeah.

- I'm speechless because I don't do this and I'm petrified that it's gonna get off and we won't get a chance.

Now we might be able to see him right in the water.

Not very far in front of me, he's right there he is right there.

What a beautiful, beautiful fish.

- [Gerhard] It looks like domestic rainbow.

- [Don] Is it?

- [Gerhard] Yeah.

- [Don] How can you tell.

- [Gerhard] Just keep your rod high.

- [Don] Yeah.

- I want you to back up slowly.

Get the rod high, you gotta keep your rod high.

(reel clicking) Yeah, all right, coming down.

Come on with me, slow, everything's slow.

If he comes back up, stop.

Keep coming.

All right, slow, everything, keep your rod up, way up.

(gentle music) Lift.

Lift, lift, lift, lift Three scoops.

Nice rainbow, gorgeous fish.

There you go.

See how thick he is.

Steelhead, he's right over the net.

- Man, what power.

There.

I'll tell you what, that makes me very, very happy.

Gerhard, what do you think, buddy?

I am really - Look at the size of that.

- I'm thrilled.

Wow.

This is a beautiful fish.

- [Gerhard] All right, let's put him back in the net.

- [Don] Yes.

- [Gerhard] And we can pick him up again if you want.

- [Don] Nope, we've seen this beautiful fish.

I want him to go back.

- [Gerhard] All right, let's get a good picture of him swimming off.

- [Don] Okay.

- [Gerhard] This is a soft net to protect the fish.

See he's all good.

(gentle music) He goes, he didn't hang around.

- [Don] Often when we begin to show we don't know what we're gonna catch or if we're gonna catch anything and as time went on I realized it didn't really matter what fish bit, didn't matter if we caught a bass or a trout or a muskie and in looking back at some of the footage we've shown you today, I realized that every fish has its own magic.

Every fish is special and I gotta tell ya, there's no bad fish out there.

It doesn't matter whether you're catching a trout or some of the big walleyes you've seen and sometimes even the fish that we don't consider sport fish become so special like the giant catfish or the big sheephead.

You know, in the beginning of the day we never know how the day's gonna end but I can tell you one thing.

If we spend it on the water and we spend it with friends old or new, it's gonna be a special day.

So until next time folks this is Don Meissner with "Fishing Behind the Lines".

- [Announcer] "Fishing Behind the Lines" is brought to you by (upbeat music) - You know folks, the fishing was really fantastic today but that's only the beginning of the attractions to see and do around here.

For more information about this go to our website WPBStv.org.

- [Narrator] If you would like a copy of this episode of "Fishing Behind the Lines" for $15 including shipping and handling, visit WPBStv.org and click on the Shop WPBS button.

Please ask for the episode number on your screen.

(gentle banjo music) - And this is the ultimate superstition that when nothing happens, if you do the fish dance, and believe me, this isn't the only boat where there's a great fish dancer on it.

So when all else fails, you do the fish dance and then you just really start watching the rods.

- [Camerman] Now you dance Don.

- Oh, no, no.

- [Camerman] Oh, yeah.

- No, no, I can't do it.

Okay, there we go, there.

(theme guitar music)