- Is it a largee?

Nice large mouth.

It's a huge one.

Let me get, can I help you?

Oh.

- Holy cow.

What a beginning.

- Nice large mouth to start the day.

Oh my gosh.

Makes for a real nice day, huh?

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.

(upbeat music plays) - Fishing behind the lines is brought to you by... (music plays) - Hi folks.

I want to welcome you to this week's Fishing Behind the Lines.

This is different.

We're even standing on the road right now.

We haven't got down to the water.

I'm going to be fishing with a great friend of mine, Justin waltz.

And Justin has quite a story to tell, but right now our whole thoughts are about, are those fish going to hit?

Now, this is a place that there's, three little ponds that are connected and they all are water that comes from the St. Lawrence river.

And in these ponds, there's bass, Northern pike, lots of panfish, but we're keying in today on large mouth bass.

It's late October.

We've got a beautiful morning and I'm pretty excited.

So stay with us.

And I can almost promise you a very interesting show.

- You know, folks, as I said in the beginning, this is a very special show for me.

I didn't know Justin until a few years ago.

And that time he was a guest on my show and we really became close friends.

And Justin has been through an awful lot in his life.

And he's going to talk a little bit more about that today.

You know, this pond we're fishing, The neat thing about it is we're going to be able to fish it from shore and all of you can do that.

So I guess now we just have to see if we can catch some fish.

Holy cow, Justin, I got to come over with you.

Is it a pike or bass.

- That I don't know.

It was right on the shore, so... - Does it feel big?

- It's a decent fish?

Yeah.

Looks like a large mouth.

- Is it a largee?

- Nice large mouth.

- It's a huge one.

Let me get, can I help you?

Oh, holy cow.

What a beginning?

What a beginning.

Holy, that's a big fish.

- Come here buddy.

That's a nice, nice large mouth to start the day.

- Oh my gosh.

- Makes for a real nice day.

Huh?

- I can't believe that.

Well, how close to the shore was it.

- About a foot and a half.

- Was it?

- Yeah, really close.

- Wow.

- Yeah.

It's a little quick.

Huh?

I'll be slower.

Next time.

- Fantastic.

(melancholy music plays) (line casting) - - Oh yeah.

This looks like a good little zone.

Come on piker.

Oh yeah.

(music continues) Got him.

There you go, Don.

Got one?

- Cameraman is down here calling fish.

(chuckles) Good job, Eric.

- Big one?

- Another decent one.

Eric's down here calling the shots.

Uh oh.

- Did you lose him?

- No.

- Where'd he go?

I'm coming down to help you.

- Yeah, please do.

- Heaven knows how much help I'm going to be.

It's a nice fish.

What changed the tide here?

Just persistence?

- Yeah, there was some bubbles over there, Eric had noticed.

- Really?

- Yup.

So I cast over and first cast, he put it right on.

Well done.

- Wow - That's another nice large mouth.

Right over here in the shallows.

- This seems to be my, my greatest skill today, is holding them, after Justin catches them, which is couldn't make me happier.

He's using a spinner bait.

- Oh, nice fish.

You know, it's funny.

See how kind of pale, it's not pale, but I caught a couple in here a few days ago.

Only on the other side that were yellow.

What do you think changes the color?

Is it just what they're laying in?

If they're laying in the weeds are different or?

- I don't know the scientific part about it, but I'd probably say the stain water temperature.

- Let's see how big he is.

Now I've done this a hundred times, but I'm right there at the edge, that's nine and a quarter.

Okay?

So we'll go right back to the fin.

So he's over 18, maybe 19.

- Yeah.

19-20 inches.

Yeah - This is unreal.

- It's a good fish.

- Boy, it's nice to have the master with me today.

You know, makes all the difference in the world.

If I was doing this show alone, I'd still be wondering, okay, when are we going to get our first fish?

But, okay, show me where you cast.

- Right to the shore line.

(both chuckle) - And that's where he was right along the shore.

- Oh yes.

Eric called that one straight on.

- All right.

- Yep.

That's it.

We were pulling it right down this little edge right here.

There was one little weed with some bubbles and... - Was the bubbles him?

- I don't know what the bubbles, I think the bubbles were just releasing, but for whatever reason, I cast over there and sure enough, he was sitting there.

No questions asked.

There was one little weed there laying there.

And that's what he came off of.

- Well, Justin, like we both have been thinking it's been five years now since the first day you and I met.

I think Andrew, who was shooting the show at the time had contacted you with something.

Cause I didn't know.

He said that I've got somebody that is going to do a show with you, he was in the Marines and we actually went right down the road here to a little pond.

And you were going to try to catch your first pike on a fly rod.

Do you remember that?

- I do.

I do.

We were throwing, um little hairy creatures, hair creatures, uh and that was my first time ever pike fishing with a fly rod.

And I definitely won't forget.

- And then we went to another one of my spots, which is just a mile down the road.

And I said, this is a great pike spot.

And you ended up catching five fish, five bass for every bass that I caught.

- Oh yeah.

- You were using an inline spinner or a Mepps spinner.

- Same one I lost today.

(both chuckle) So it just shows you how, how strong memories can be, - Yeah - because we both fished a lot since then, and yet I can remember that day so clearly.

Let me ask you something, you were in the Marines for, how long were you in the Marines?

- Nine years, nine years.

- For people watching this.

Cause the show is about our service men.

What they give us and then, you know, the role fishing can play in their lives.

But how did being in the Marines change you?

From the kid and the person you would have been?

And of course you don't know, You can only think this is the reason, but yeah.

- Yeah.

I, that's a great question.

At this point, I'm quite sure that it's forged exactly who I am.

It's instilled me with every grain of who I am at this point, the way that I act, everything that I do and it's made me the man that I am.

And there's a lot of other factors, good friends, family, you know the Marine Corps, but the Marine Corps was definitely a huge piece, that's forever changed my life.

(music plays) - Got him.

There's one Don.

- Is it a good one?

- Potentially.

I went from my, oh, that's a decent fish.

I don't where the best spot to come down here is.

(chuckles) - Here, I'll go down and get him.

- Oh boy.

I'll hop down and get him Justin.

- We better go back down towards Eric here.

Remember, this is my greatest skill, (chuckles) today.

Holding these fish.

- Want me to hop down you you ain't got to then?

- Yeah, I'll get him - Nice large mouth.

- Yes.

I knew that was going to happen.

I don't know if you saw that.

As soon as he shook his head, as my thumb touched his lip.

That hook come out.

(chuckles) And I, so I can smile now instead of throwing a tantrum because we lost another fish.

- We'll get him.

- I'm, you know, I should be a hand model.

You've seen how they, they pose.

That's about the best thing that I'm doing today, but another healthy, large mouth.

Now, there are large mouth right out in front of us, twice his size.

- Yep.

- So... - Putting the old inline spinner to work.

Tell us about that.

Because most bass fishermen would never use anything like that.

I'm going to put him back though.

- You know my feelings with the number three inline blue fox.

And it just has so much lift.

You can cast it in so many areas that it doesn't matter if it's trout pike, steelhead, bass.

If you're in shallow weeds, it just works.

- But most people don't think of this for bass.

- No.

- They'll use a spinner bait, but they won't use the inline spinner.

And I've watched you do this for the last few years.

Go right behind us.

When you were helping us do a show.

And of course, that's not surprising looking at me today because I haven't got anything but, - Yeah.

- I've seen you do really well with that.

- Nice little finesse, bait fish.

- Now do you just reel it in steady?

- Yeah.

Nice and slow.

Nice and slow.

- Okay.

You're doing good.

- Let's get back to them.

- Okay.

(upbeat music plays) I'm amazed how well that spinner does for you though.

I've always been amazed.

Every time.

Over on Hyde lake on the black...

There's one.

- Bingo.

That's a nice one.

- Come on this time.

Don't get off.

This has got to be a pike.

But I don't know.

- (both) Oh, it's a nice large mouth.

- Nice large mouth.

Oh boy.

Look at that thing.

Look at that.

- And you come down when he's got two trebles in him.

Oh, my god.

- Very nice, Don.

- I'm happy.

- Very nice.

- That's the second one I've hit on that.

- Oh man.

That's a nice fish.

- Yes, it is.

- Very nice.

- I'm posing again, but now I feel I don't deserve it because I actually caught it.

I don't know what to do.

Holding my own fish.

- The old perch lipless.

Yeah.

That gets it.

- They're trying, we're trying everything.

I'll show you what I caught that fish on.

And if I stumble on the rock, that's stupid, because if he shakes that thing is going to be uh... - That's a nice lipless.

Straight Pro.

- Yes.

What is it?

What kind is it?

Does it say?

- Straight Pro.

- What is that?

- I don't know who makes that one.

- It's a new company.

But let me, put this fish back and let me explain for all of you that don't know what this is because a lot of you might not understand.

This is called on lipless crank bait and what it means by that is, it doesn't have a lip.

As you can see.

It doesn't have any kind of bill, whatever they call them through the years.

What happens is it sinks.

And when you start to reel it has a very fast wiggling and it's full of rattles.

(Rattling sound) You can hear it.

And you can fish it at different depths.

The way I'm fishing it is, I'm sort of yo-yoing it.

You can just cast it out and reel it in steady.

But, I haven't caught enough to sound like an expert here with a lipless crank bait so let's see if we can get another one.

Wow.

- Yeah.

That yo-yo technique was working for you.

Like how quick they just picked right up after that.

(upbeat music plays) - Your family's become a huge part of your life too.

- Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, you know, you started with the Marine Corps and the Marine Corps was the basis for who I was when I was young.

And I joined at 17 left for boot camp at 17, turned 18 in boot camp and you know, spent nine and some change years in.

A lot of time is after the Marine Corps has went into fishing, as you know, for myself, for, for self-growth.

Also the time spent with the family as we discussed.

And now my newest venture, as you know, with this large B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, I guess everything has just, the culmination of my entire life has all been brought into perspective because of that C-word.

And I feel more alive now, you know, then I think I have.

Marine core, family, and now unfortunately, cancer is a big part of what we have going on, but I look forward to continue to share memories like this.

Fish.

- And come out and always (chuckles) beat the heck out of me whenever we go fishing.

You'll always catch more than me, Justin.

- No, not always.

- I can count on that.

(melancholy music plays) - You little bugger.

- It took me.

- He took you right in the weed line like he did me, huh?

- Yeah.

I'm wondering if he took me into the rocks.

That's what he did.

He took me into the weed line.

Now, if he had got off, I could have said I just lost another big one, but as I pull the weeds off, now that has to be the smallest large mouth that I've caught in a good, good long time.

Well, you always liked to see little ones because if there's little ones here, it means there's going to be fish in the future.

You know, shows that they're spawning.

That they're reproducing.

Well, that isn't what we came for, but it's a fish and it's a bass and it bent the pole.

So it's all good.

- Bent rod pattern.

- This is amazing.

- Been here forever.

And now we just keep catching them.

Keep catching them.

- Yes.

- Keep catching them.

(upbeat music plays) I got one.

- Do you?

- Yep.

- Oh.

- Nothing, nothing too big.

- Is it feeling like a pan fish?

- Yeah.

Little one.

- No it's a bass.

- Barely hooked.

- No, that's actually, that's a good movie fish.

(chuckles) - The giant.

- Well that's not a giant, but I'll tell you what we've had days where that bass would have been the good old boy.

That was, I'm serious.

- (chuckles) Yeah, for sure.

- Yup.

Inline spinner again.

- Nope.

Lipless.

This time.

- Wooooo.

We've left where we started today.

This is still the same water system, but another causeway has gone behind us here, a road that goes and it gives us a buffer from the wind because we got really strong winds and there's even more fish in this.

This is a much bigger body of water right now.

This probably goes for three miles.

It's, I might be exaggerating, but I think it's about three miles back to Route 37.

Interestingly, Justin put on a lipless crank bait.

And our strategy here is with a causeway built like this.

It's a lot of broken rock and it's dredged out there.

So the water drops off quickly and you have deeper water here along the edge.

And this time of the year, we've noticed there's a lot of bait fish along here.

And so those fish are probably gathered fairly close to this shoreline.

That's our philosophy.

And it seems to be working a little bit.

Cause Justin just caught a small bass.

(music plays) Here's one.

- All right.

- Well I'll tell you what, will it hold true with every other large mouth today?

And I lose it before I can show everybody my fish.

You know, with this wind in this bright sun, we're not getting the big monsters right now.

Now I don't know whether the big monsters are here.

They move to, if they go by size the schools, I don't know.

But this fish struck within five feet of shore.

- Yeah.

- I'd reeled it all the way in.

I was ready to lift it and the rod went down.

- See this one's making up for every fish I've lost.

He let me get every, all six hooks in him.

Says, "there."

- He doesn't want to let it go.

- Again a starter size, but we should have started the day with this size and gone into graduated to bigger ones.

Again, I'm using a lipless crank bait.

We keep switching, trying to find that magic formula.

Justin just had a really nice pike that bit him off.

And so, we didn't get that.

Although you got him right to shore didn't you almost?

- I did.

And then a little fumbling and he went back to his home.

- Well, see I'm using a wire leader.

That's why I'm not getting a pike because I'm all set for them.

With a wire leader, they're not going to bite my line.

Justin is not using them.

And any bass fishermen worth his weight in lures will never use a wire leader because bass are king and pike don't matter, but uh... - True statement.

- As far as I'm concerned, they're all good.

(music plays) Of all the people I know the person I can count on to catch some fish.

And also the person that I can count on to be a lifelong friend.

And that means everything to me.

And it's funny, we didn't know each other five years ago, the one thing that brought us together was fishing.

Going out on the water, getting to learn who each other was on the water and learning to trust each other because of the sense that we got when we were out on the water like this.

This backdrop of going fishing, of being on the water is an amazing, amazing way to sort of filter out all the other shallow stuff and really focus on who we are, what we are, what matters to us as people.

- Like they say, you can learn a lot from the woods or you can learn a lot from the water too.

- So how was today for you?

- Today, it was nice Don.

We got some really good fish, lost a really good pike, which I'm sure everybody will see later.

Coming out here and getting to pass the time.

All the efforts that we've made as a friend, as a compadre, as a military member yourself.

I just really want to say I appreciate it, Don.

It's meant a lot for a lot of years.

- It means an awful lot to me too, buddy.

- Fishing Behind the Lines is brought to you by.

(upbeat music plays) - 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.

- 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.

(soft music plays) - (chuckles) Aw, snapped me off and swam away.

Hi camera.