(cheerful acoustic music) - Oh that's a good one.

That's a beauty.

That is a big crappie.

- There's a school of them right there.

- Is there?

- Oh yeah.

- This is a big crappie.

If I just caught that crappie, I'd be pleased as heck.

I'd say whooey.

- [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."

(relaxing acoustic music) - [Narrator] "Fishing Behind the Lines" is brought to you by.

(lively ambient music) - Hi folks, I'm Don Meissner and I want to welcome you to this week's "Fishing Behind the Lines."

I'm here today with Ray Tanner, and Ray was a Marine a few years ago.

We'll talk a little bit about that today but more important, I'll tell you what today's show is about.

It's about a father and son getting to fish together and Jesse's gonna be running our boat.

He's gonna be fishing with us, and that's the son.

So, there's more to life and there's more to this show than just who the soldier or marine was, and where we're fishing.

It's about the day and it's about the experience and about giving back.

So I'll tell you what, there's pike in here.

- Yes.

- And there's bass.

- Yes.

- So we know there's two sport fish in here, there's other fish.

I've heard there's some giants in here.

So, if we can catch anything today I'm going to be happy and I think we'll have a great show.

So, stay with us.

(relaxing acoustic music) As we started the day we decided to go along the shoreline that's always a safe bet because in the early morning that's where fish usually hang out.

- There we go.

- Didn't I tell you, right by those lilies.

- It's a large mouth.

- It's a jumper too.

- Weeding up?

- No, I don't think so.

- There's going on.

- Now we'll start getting them.

- Yep, nice, well.

- Do you see the teeth marks?

- Yeah, I do.

(laughter) I do, you're right.

You know we're after northerns, and I've had a few strikes and they're not northerns hitting it, northerns don't hit like that, and I'll show you what Jesse was looking at here.

If we get a little bit closer now, here I'll let you hold that if you would Jesse.

- Absolutely, those are some good teeth marks on both sides too.

- And right the side of this bass, something, it's either a great big northern, let's see if it's on the other side and it isn't.

So, something came up and their teeth got on.

Oh.

- That was a nice one.

- Missed him.

- You just had one right behind the other boat.

- 3 feet next to you.

- It could be a turtle, or it could be a pike.

- That's still bleeding.

- Was it?

- Yeah.

- Well.

- I've reeled in bass before.

- There's 2 strikes, 2 strikes right in a row.

So, that's a good, good sign.

(relaxing acoustic music) - Ah, he spit it out.

Oh, there's another one.

- Oh, that's a good one.

That's a beauty.

That is a big crappie.

- There's a school of them right there.

- Is there?

- Oh yeah.

- This is a big crappie.

I'll tell you what.

- Careful, it got little hooks in there, there's only two.

- If I just caught that crappie, I'd be pleased as heck.

I'd say whooey.

- There Dad beautiful black pattern on her.

- Yeah, beautiful color.

- You have no idea how that hook was hooked in here.

- Well if he's gonna to die leave him in the boat.

- No, he aint gonna die.

We'll let him make some babies.

- There you go buddy.

- No, stick your head under water, not above.

(laughter) So, you did it.

- Oh, they're still here, they're still right there.

- Are they?

- Yeah, they ain't going nowhere.

- Catch another one.

- A whole school of them.

- Put another one on with your fancy worm rig here.

- I will.

- That really is a nice size crappie.

I'm not kidding you.

- About 8 or 9 inches, around there.

- Yeah.

(relaxing acoustic music) - See if you can.

- There he is.

- Oh.

Great.

Great job.

- I got him.

- Look at the bass he got.

(laughter) It's almost the same size as the lure.

We got another one.

- You sure do.

- Oh, I got a pike behind my bass.

Check it out man.

There's a pike behind the bass.

- Is there really?

- Yeah.

Hopefully it comes up and grabs it.

I think he might have already.

- I'll let him come up and grab my hand, how's that?

(laughter) - I see his fin tore up, it looks like, he might've already grabbed it.

- This is amazing.

- Yeah, it was about a 2 foot pike following right behind it, I thought it was gonna grab it on me.

- What I want Jesse to do is look at the rig he's using.

- How big is that fish compared to the.

- Look at the rig.

(laughter) - [Ray Tanner] I caught a monster.

- He's got 2 little tiny hooks here, and he's putting night crawlers on.

I've got one of the best plastic worms and rods and reels made, and I can't catch a fish.

So, this is where it's at.

This is interesting though, there's got to be more fish here.

- Yeah, oh that wasn't the big one we've seen.

- No, a little bigger than the last one.

- No, the one we've seen was twice that.

It was at least 18 - 19 inches.

We've seen him right there.

- Let's not even move, let's stay right here.

Because there's fish right here.

- If they're biting, why move?

- Yeah, exactly.

- It's the name of the game.

(upbeat acoustic music) - Here fishy, fishy, fishy.

- Have one?

- I don't know if it's a sunfish, or it's a crappie, or it's a bass, you got one.

What is that, rock bass?

- Rocky.

- Oh, I got one too.

- You got one?

- Look at that baby large mouth.

- He's got a large mouth.

- I might have beat you.

(laughter) - This actually is a pretty big rock bass.

- It's the second double of the day.

- Yeah.

- Nice.

- Look at that, the rock bass is big enough to eat the bass.

That's funny.

This is a bass, a large mouth and this is a rock bass.

I'll give you back your trophy.

- It's like that talking Billy Bass.

- Talking Billy Bass.

- Talking Billy Bass, press the button, start singing to you.

Man, I'm starting to feel like Jimmy Houston over here.

(upbeat acoustic music) - Another heart thumper.

- There's one.

It's a bass, but at least it's a bass.

- Yeah.

- Good one.

- Same size as the other ones.

- Yeah.

- A foot long maybe.

- Well we didn't scare the fish away, that's a good sign.

- [Ray Tanner] How's he looking?

- Well, he's a good healthy fish.

- Yeah he is.

- A real healthy fish.

I'm going to put him back in.

(acoustic music) - Well, I've got to tell you that in the beginning of today, before we went fishing I said that this was a special day, and it was a special day for one reason more than any other, and that is because I got to fish with a father and son.

And in this case there has been a lot of, I think, great things that have happened between these two, and you know Jesse you were out on the water and you were saying to me that being able to fish today with your father is really important to you, you know, tell me why?

Tell me what it means.

- Over the course of the last few years we haven't had much time together because he's been so busy.

It's kind of hard for him to have spare time to go out and do anything.

He's got a house of his own, I've got a house of my own, I have my own children, my own wife and who knows how many more times we're going to be able to go out fishing together.

Not only that, if it wasn't for him I wouldn't, I've been with my wife for 14 years this year.

I'm only 32 years old and that's all because of him.

He wouldn't let me, give me the opportunities, that he's given me, I wouldn't be able to have the wife or children I have today.

So, everything I have is thanks to him, so it just means a lot.

- Well that means a lot.

It means a lot to me to hear that because so many times kids don't let their parents know just how much they mean to them.

- There is nothing I can possibly do to show him how much he means to me.

- I think you showed him.

I was watching you today, you were showing him.

He'd tell you, Jesse, we've got to get closer to those trees and immediately in we'd go to the trees because we knew that's where the fish were.

But you know Ray, I hope this was an important day for you to, to get out and go fishing, because you were telling me before you're working all the time.

You're a long haul truck driver that spends your life on the road.

- Last 6 years or so, yeah.

This new job I just spent a month at, I've gotten more free time, and it's the first time I've been fishing in probably 6 years.

It's been that rough on me.

And if Jesse put all this together, yeah, it was something special.

More special than I thought I would be.

- This is special for me, I can talk and I do every single show about the importance of the military, the importance of all this, and you were a Marine, I was in the navy's, in the navy, not navy's, there was only 1 navy, and both of those experiences for both of us I'm sure has had impacts in the person we are today.

But for me today, to be able to have this day, be a time when these two can get back together and can spend a day together, that's everything to me.

And I want you to remember one thing, fishing is a great way to not only bring people together, but put a smile on their face and make them happy.

So, I just can't say enough how important today for me and I'm only observing and thinking, and thinking about how much my family means to me.

How much my sons mean to me, and how much I wish my dad could experience this with me.

You know, my dad was who got me to sit on a dock one day when I was 5 years old and look at sunfish and bluegills.

In all the time I was growing up, and I'm not exaggerating, every single weekend much to the chagrin of my sisters every weekend dad and I went fishing together and went on fishing trips together.

So, I cherish the time I had with him and often we don't realize how short that time can be.

Anyway, I hope all of you are enjoying this family day and I guess we'll try to catch a few more fish.

(upbeat acoustic music) There's one.

- There we go, what is that?

A little bass.

- A little bass.

- A little one though.

- Pretty small, but it's a bass.

- Yeah.

- At least I felt the tonk tonking.

There's a tremendous amount of stuff on top of the water it's really hard to fish.

Sometimes these hooks get in them.

- Usually, this waters crystal clear.

Well the water is clear, it's the stuff on top.

- Yeah.

- You can see straight to the bottom.

- The water is clear.

He's only a small one but there's, it's never good when all you see is large ones because it means they're not reproducing.

But they're certainly reproducing in here.

You were surprised to see so many small bass weren't you?

- I've never seen bass that size out here.

Usually they're 19 - 20 inches.

(uplifting music) - There's one!

- There we go.

Moving a little quick.

- I'm trying to bring him around the other side it's not a bad one.

- It's a nice little bass.

Nice.

- It's probably, well, it's not a bad one, he's barely, barely hooked.

So, I don't know if we're going to get to see him.

- Yeah, we will.

There you go.

- That's a heck of a way to land fish, but hey.

Yeah, there's sort of a mark there.

- Oh yeah.

- Jesse's looking because he says that every bass that he's ever caught out of here has been bit, has been bit by something.

- Half of them we got today were.

- So, I'm happy with that.

I'll tell you that.

I love catching bass, I don't care if they're small or big.

I love it.

Of course, I love catching pike too.

I just haven't shown you that today.

- Oh, thanks.

Might need that one day.

(upbeat music) - You've obviously got something that's spinning because I can see the pole going like this.

- Right there.

- Is he still there?

- That's a small mouth right there, under the tree.

There's a large mouth going after it.

- You got him.

This is unbelievable, on the little rod one of the nicer bass of the day.

That was unbelievable, we get snagged in the tree, you look down and you say "I see fish down there, I see fish down there".

- That's a different one, the one I've seen was a small mouth.

- Really?

- That's a large mouth.

- I know.

- Oh look, I don't even got him anymore.

Oh yeah, I do with the second hook.

- We're running out of hooks.

Ah, that's something.

You won't believe how he's doing this.

Let me see if I can show them a rig that they've never seen anybody catching bass use before.

This is amazing, okay.

You've got your bass, now these are like size 10 hooks on a heaven knows what, some kind of a crappie rig, look at, little beads and two little hooks here that he's putting tiny little pieces of worm on, and we watched that bass, that's not on a bed it was just moving around down there, we watched you put it down and you saw him go down and pick it up.

It was amazing.

- I watched him pick it up and I didn't even feel him, as soon as I see him pick him up I set the hook, I didn't want him swallowing it.

- Thank goodness you did.

- It's just a little hook, yeah.

- Thank goodness you did.

- Nice one.

- Yes.

- Well, I'll tell you what, what we're going to do, why don't you let him go.

There he goes.

These fish seem to be right along shore, in this thick, thick weeds and stuff.

What we're going to do, we'll see if we can catch one or two more, we've been out here since pretty early morning and while we started for big pike, because there is some unbelievable pike in here, for some reason they won't hit, and I don't know why, they just aren't hitting.

Except the one you had that hit your little piece of night crawler and that was it.

- A little half inch piece of worm.

- On this, not much bigger rod.

- Yeah he was the same size as the pole, if not a little bigger.

We got him right up next to the boat, and hit his head on the boat and he took off.

- Well, let's see if we can catch one or two more.

- Alright, well where do you guys want to go?

I caught one, it's you guys turn.

- Yeah right.

We, any place you can park this.

- Alright, let's go back over there where we caught bass and crappie.

- Let's do that.

Let's go back over on that woody shoreline.

- There's some pretty fish right there and it ain't that far.

- Okay, wow.

(upbeat music) - There you go, look at that baby bass about six inches long.

- Yeah.

There they are.

- Oh yeah, they're there.

They're there.

- Got that one?

- Got that one!

- Crappie.

- Is it?

- Is that what you've been having?

- No.

- Crappie.

- Another beautiful one.

- A crappie one.

A crappie one, I had a crappie one.

Maybe that's what's been hitting it every time.

- Well, I would say so.

- It's kind of pretty.

You've been getting a lot of strikes on that, but they don't really get it or something right?

- Right.

We're having a few.

- Now, believe it or not that crappie is ten inches long.

- Is it?

- Yeah, ten inches long.

My hand span is nine, nine and a quarter.

- Man, that crappie I had was.

- Bigger.

The one you had was bigger.

- I didn't think it was that big.

- Yeah.

I don't know if we can see it upside down.

He's not giving me anymore problems here, I can hold him anyway.

But that's a ten inch crappie, caught and I think it's a little Berkley gulp or something.

- Yeah.

- But you've been getting a lot of strikes on that.

- Been getting a few, just little ones though.

- But that's what your getting and there's going to be more right where you just caught it.

- Yeah a school full of them.

- Yeah.

See if you can get another.

- Well now that we've turned I'll have to cast right over your head now.

- That's okay.

- I can swing it round.

- I'm fine with that, I'm snagged anyway.

You know folks when you begin a day, especially on a new lake, you think you know where the fish are going to be, you think okay it's this time of the year, the fish should be in this deeper water, in this type of structure.

Sometimes that's the way it goes, and sometimes it isn't.

And as the day went on we started finding fish in a very specific type of place, quite close to shore, but that wasn't the key.

The key was wood in the water, the wood was providing the structure, the protection that these fish seem to need.

And while we had hoped that we'd get into a lot of northerns and even some big northerns, we really had a hard time even seeing a northern during the day, but what we did find was a really unexpected fish.

It was a crappie, and after we caught one crappie we knew that there would be more around.

And I've got to tell you it was as much fun as any kind of fish could provide because it was a surprise and it put smiles on all three of our faces.

- That crappie right there is little bigger.

- There you go, that's a nice one too.

- Yeah, there's a whole bunch of them right here under the logs.

- A whole school of them.

- What we're doing is we're right up here in these trees and these crappies are under them and the waters so clear that you can see the crappies come up and look it.

I've got to tell you, I've done a lot of fishing, this has been, right now, right now at this moment is the most fun part of the day to me and again, if you'd have told me this morning that we were going to catch crappies I wouldn't have believed it.

This fish got it, and we just barely let it hit it and it's got it right down in its stomach, so its not going to live.

Fortunately, these are one of the best eating fish there is, but you can see these are pretty nice size fish.

They're all ten inches or bigger and there is a whole school of them under us.

They're under this tree, what we do is we put our lure.

- There.

- You got one don't you?

- Yeah.

- Wow.

We put our lures down there and just wait for them to come up and hit them.

This is a blast.

Jesse I love it buddy.

- I do too.

- Anyway, we're going to continue to have fun here.

You guys can all go and dream of crappies or whatever.

But I really do hope you've enjoyed the show, it's been great for me to fish with a father and son that don't get that much chance to get together and for them to be able to spend a day on the water and enjoy something like this is really special.

We'll see you next time, on another Fishing Behind The Lines.

- [Narrator] "Fishing Behind the Lines" is brought to you by.

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