SJR TV | Week 616: Frank Ragnow from the Detroit Lions

coming up this week on sporting Journal radio Frank ragnow right now the center Pro Bowl center for the Detroit Lions you Vikings fans you might I might end up getting hurt on my by week or something as much as I make fun of his hook sets he was he actually knew what he was doing I'm all on the big predators lake trout Pike MOS broadcasting on the sporting internal radio network wherever you get your podcasts or watch on YouTube well we're here at the 2024 pheasant Fest in quo classic presented by onx know where you stand with onx and our guest now is Jeremy Smith I fish I hunt and always will just to look out for your everyday Hunter angler and Trapper that's out there a fish on forever production this is sporting Journal Radio Pro Bowl center for the Detroit Lions Frank ragn now going to be joining us on the show this week we're really excited about I dare you to play that that Vikings horn when he's on Dan he could probably beat me up what you think got 65 300 lb have you seen me yeah I have yeah exactly wouldn't stand a chance how do you know we're going to talk fishing with Frank we'll talk NFL too and uh we'll get some fishing reports from around the region including Joe Henry from Lake of the Woods coming up later in the show and we're going to talk about essential gear that we're going to be taking with on some of our Canadian fishing trips but first Dan who are the sponsors this week on the show in Verve Toyota they are the official truck sponsor fish hunt forever when looking for a new truck head to Inver Grove Toyota Lake of the Woods tourism Lake of the Woods is the wall I capital of the world plan a trip for this Open Water season at Lake of thewoods mn.com onx hunt see private land boundaries recent imagery offline maps and Minnesota specific hunt layers download the Onyx hunt app today Taz and Lake Lodge season is open Catch world record lake trout and giant Pike it's a Scatman Taz and Lake learn more at tasen lake.com Devil's Lake North Dakota catch it all at Devils Lake Prairie Sportsman the new season is wrapped up you can watch episodes anytime at the pur Sportsman YouTube channel or check your TV Guide for local Air times hey Bill Heights Campground and Resort fish Devils Lake stay at hael Heights this summer learn more at hael heights.com and guardian Eagle Resort come fish the Ontario Waters of Guardian Eagle Resort fly directly from Minneapolis learn more at Guardian eagle.com David a couple years ago we took a trip up to Devil's Lake we uh we need to get one of those planned again yeah that was a good time yes a lot of fun had a lot of fun up there uh Devils Lake North Dakota new sponsor here on our show we're very happy uh to have them on board so uh check out Devil's Lake of course North Dakota and uh plan a summer trip there as well and we've got a lot of trips planned this year that's David art and Dan amonson by the way joining us here on the show and I want to talk to you guys a little bit about packing for these trips now um unfortunately you're not coming with us on on these trips David but Dan and I have three Canadian trips back to back to back with just a couple of days in between so it's a lot of travel it's a lot of border crossing it's uh a couple of them are flying trips they're all pretty remote actually and I have a feeling Dan we're going to be dealing with bugs and mosquitoes a lot on this trip bugs bugs bugs yeah it is what it is so thank goodness for the modern technology of uh pesticide thermacell is where I thought you were going with that but uh well those are nice too yeah there are still I still call them a game changer unreal but um I am going to spray all my clothes in prometh anyway I think that's a thing to do um you know like the sit Equinox guard stuff that we wear turkey hunting we wore that in Alabama hog hunting too that kept all I didn't deal with bugs hardly you know I sat all night in a in a pig pig blind I guess box blind in a field in Alabama and didn't hardly deal with mosquitoes at all that stuff's really nice and no ticks uh no ticks in that guide that we had he came out he just walked out to the the blind once and walked back and had five ticks on them yeah we had zero we were out there two nights in a row all night so that stuff's really nice and if you don't want to pay for that you can get you can spray some prometh on that Sitka has some extra features though like the built-in Gators in the pants so the ticks can't crawl up your legs stuff like that super slick um but yeah thermacells Prine all that stuff it's uh it's important it's a it's a comfort thing so you're not getting chased off the water by bugs but it's also a health thing you know ticks are obviously scary with lime disease and and um the red meat allergy I can't think lar Lone Star too the loone start tick but I can't think of what the oh the allergy I just call it the red meat allergy yeah whatever it is that's terrifying very scary um malaria is not really a giant threat around here but hey is West n still a thing probably it is I don't know like I really don't think there's a giant threat with Minnesota mosquitoes but hey I don't want to get bit I don't want to be patient zero so anything's possible anything's possible heck you could start a pandemic so it's election year Alpha gal syndrome I think is or Alpha gel I don't know how you say that Alpha gal syndrome it's an allergy to nonin mamillion meat or something like that follow the science no thanks no thanks not for me um speaking of sit guy bought you know I've been wearing those grinder pants every day for the last 10 years or whatever I love them I have like 10 pairs of them but um that's good to clarify cuz sometimes it looks like you never changeed your pants and any T your life they're all the same color I just had a bunch of different uh of the same colored sicka pants but I ordered some more off the Sia side the other day and I wanted to try some a little bit different and they have these everyday pants and they they almost remind me of jeans in a sense but they're not they're almost a little bit of a stretchy material it's a gusseted crotch according to the description I'm not 100% sure what that means but I put them on and uh I'm like there's no way these are going to be I bought the wrong size I bought them too small they're going to be super tight I thought I got a new pair of pants yeah so did I and I ordered two of them so I'm like dang it and then I uh I wore them for a little bit I'm like actually they kind of they kind of stretch out a little bit and they they actually fit pretty well uh so I kind of like them and they're not you know when you talk about like sick of sick of prices and things like that they're not it's not too bad and uh they're kind of nice so I bought two pairs so I think these will be my my go-to pants up your everyday pant see what you did there Dan where's your new favorite sun hat by the way uh cuz you got to go you got to go you got to put that on and show everybody throw it to me yeah for sure so we got so okay we've been really trying to be good about the Sun so we've got the new Sun shirts in our store find a link to our store below here or go to sporting Journal radio.com and click on store and you can see they SPF or UPF or whatever the sun protection is for these shirts to I think they're 50 or something like that but they got the nice big over sized [Laughter] Hood season is you know my dad's been wearing a hat like that for years and he's like you need to get one of these hats to protect your neck and your face and all that my dad's dealt with skin cancer on his face so I I listen to him when he says that but I just I haven't been able to bring myself to wear a bucket hat like that and Dan we got some recently C King you know it's funny actually when your parents were still doing their Hawaii trips they like my fishing hat was a hat like this from Hawaii it had some fish on it with a really really long name that nobody could ever pronounce on that like we'd go catch crappies in Wisconsin and that's what I would wear and then I probably had it blow off in the boat too many times so I transition to the ball cap but you know I used to make fun of people for wearing hats like this or the fishing gloves or the Buffs and now I've just known too many people that have dealt with melanoma and it's cancered scary stuff when you see every fishing guide has got the tan line the sunglass Tan Lines right so yeah you know and or the yeah the sandal uh whatever Croc Tan Lines there it is think I'm Bing a muscle so we've got the Buffs in our store too you can get those here get them wherever and then actually ordered uh got some of the White Water gloves right here and I never really like the idea of wearing gloves especially in the summer when it's hot out but man if you spend a lot of time out there fishing the back of your hands get burned and uh it's not good for you no or your thighs Le you know tops your knees yeah back when I was big into trolling oh my goodness day three of a fishing trip I would wear pants even if it was hot and I didn't have like warm weather pants just because I my thighs were so roasted yeah I don't like sunscreen in my boat no you know it the spray scares me because if you spray it in the boat it might get on electronic screens and David you and I have talked about that that can like torch your screen and bug spray same with bug spray yeah so well and if it gets on your hands or your baits or anything like that fishing's going to get real tough for you so um I know a lot of guys will put it on before they leave and then maybe try to wash their hands a little bit so you remove some of that smell but um that is tough but but take care yourself out there in the sun I'd rather have you put sunscreen on and not catch fish and wreck your electronics than uh not put sunscreen on and die of skin cancer and honestly I wear pants now all the time anyway I don't wear shorts anymore really when I fish and a lot of that it's not just the Sun but also black flies and mosquitoes and all that other stuff you do complain of it being hot when it's like above 47° though yeah so that's true that's cuz it gets odd I can't even look at you in that hat and take you seriously I'm giving all of this like serious protect your life advice I can't even see your eyes can't see my eyes just pretend I'm Wilson from uh yeah there you go it's impr Home Improvement yeah I couldn't remember if that was just the name of a volleyball or if that was also impr uh garment in reach if you're going to be anywhere remote have some sort of way to connect and it's nice uh this account with garment anyway I can turn it on and turn it off so when I go to tasin I'm going to be out in the middle of nowhere I can turn it on pay for a month's worth of service and then when I come back home I can turn it off it's pretty slick and Dan I don't know if you have one over there but I wanted to talk about that Tinder maker from Smiths consumer products because the app yes the I was like what are you talk Smith says an app no no I don't know what you mean but it had the Cadence of a joke yeah it's it's a way it's got a striker it's got a a way uh it looks like a cheese grater on one side and maybe you can pull it up on the internet there Dan and you can trim off shave off some uh some Tinder essentially from a log or a branch and then um use that to help start a fire basically and then there's a striker in there it's a really handy little deal they've been selling these things like crazy in fact they've been out of stock a lot so if you see these things in stock get yourself uh one on order because they are pretty neat little uh little kits and they're 12 bucks and uh they're small but having a way to start a fire in the middle of nowhere if lighter runs out of juice or it's windy or it's wet or something like that you can't start a fire you'll be happy that you had one of these things there all right we got to tell you about our video to watch here in one second but real quick Toyota in Inver grve Heights in the Twin Cities has a deal with us fish hunt forever so you can save money on your next Toyota whether it's a tundra Tacoma uh Camry Highlander whatever used or new $500 additional trade in allowance they already have low prices on their new trucks and we'll get you $250 off the lowest advertised price for the summer go to uh our website and look for the tundra drill Tundra deal and click on that we'll put a link below here if you're watching this on YouTube as well to save money on your next Toyota at Inver Grove Toyota right now real quick Dan our video to watch is video of the week last year Linder media came up to Taz and Lake Lodge and filmed uh linder's Angling Edge right also the Canadian experience while we're up there uh but right now you can watch that episode on YouTube it's a good one check it out on the Linder uh YouTube channel look for Linder zling Edge at tazm Lake LOD all right we're really excited Frank ragnow is going to join us when we come back do not go anywhere if you want to catch a big walleye go where the big Walley are Lake of the Woods is the walleye capital of the world with a variety of resorts and lodging facilities offering full service fishing Lake of the Woods is also home to sturgeon soer perch trophy Pike musky smallmouth bass bouret and more plan your trip to Lake of the Woods today go to Lake of the Woods mn.com that's lakeofthewoods mn.com all right we're back here on sporting Journal radio thanks for tuning in on the radio network by demand sporting Journal radio.com or maybe by watching this on YouTube thank you very much if you like what we're doing make sure you hit subscribe share this with your friends like and maybe comment below pretty excited about our next guest we've been talking about having him on this show for a while we we there's only a certain time of the year though that we could probably get him on cuz he's busy with his real job and that's uh Frank ragn now right now the center Pro Bowl center for the Detroit Lions ladies and Gentlemen The Crowd Goes Wild I thought we could have like the uh wait whoa whoa whoa whoa what was the [Laughter] boo yeah let's see first down Vikings oh my goodness I wasn't informed of this before I came on I'm he didn't agree to this uh we have to give you a little bit of a hard time but um obviously you're playing for Detroit and I'll tell you what there's been maybe one time on my on on my hands that I can count one finger that I can count on the times I've cheered for the Detroit Lions and that was this year or this past season anyway um obviously we we're viking fans here we grew up watching the Vikings but it it's been fun to watch you over there and it was fun to see what you guys did uh with the Lions last season man yeah I appreciate it it was a it's uh it's fun winning let me tell you we've had some tough years in my career and to be able to be part of the team that kind of turns it around and kind of establishes the new culture has been a lot of fun and last year was amazing it was so cool to see how the city reacted and really like I feel like maybe this is dramatic but it really felt like the whole country kind of was low-key rooting for us in a way so it felt it felt very very special and hopefully this year we can be Tak it to another further step we're all sick of the Chiefs winning so yeah Chiefs lions and we hate the Packers yeah and not really a big fan of of the Bears and you know the lions always play Minnesota tough um especially in in Detroit uh but I'll tell you what it's like if you look at our division it's the Lions of the team I I dislike the the least maybe I don't know if that's what say so nice of you thank you so much no it's a it's all in fun and it uh it was a lot of fun to watch you guys and and to see you know you had to root for the lines because it is been it's obviously been a struggle with that club for a long time and uh to see you guys succeed it was it was it was fun to watch it's disappointing as the Minnesota seasons are over and over again you know we we usually have a decent uh record most of the time anyway but we're always disappointed in the end it seems like so it was fun to see what you guys did there last year I really appreciate it but and and I want to talk fishing obviously this is an outdoor show so we're going to talk we're going to talk fishing because that's you know obviously maybe your your your TR your first love your second love your what you like to do in your spare time um but let's just talk a little bit about who you are so you're from Victoria originally correct from Victoria Minnesota um grew up there uh went to Chanhassen High School and then uh went to the University of Arkansas and then was drafted to Detroit and I've been in Detroit for going on seven years that's awesome man um so did the did the Gophers did the Gophers try to recruit recruit you yep uh Jerry kill was the coach when I was getting recruited and uh he they recruited me pretty hard and I was pretty close to going there um I loved coach kill and uh had a great relationship and I kind of had a really close relationship with my parents and didn't really want to leave home but sure uh my dad actually was the one kind of encouraged me to kind of Branch out and at least look at other schools outside the State and uh I visited Arkansas and kind of fell in love with the the campus and the place and the rest is history and we in Arkansas is that campus at Northwest Arkansas uh fville fville okay yeah it's beautiful it's right by it's right it's like right when the Ozarks and everything it's really beautiful no it it had to be tough to see all those ducks flying around in the fall when you're in Arkansas yeah stuard yeah that's a that's a tough there's a lot of opportunities there that you got to say no to believe me the fall is some of the greatest fishing opportunities some of the greatest hunting opportunities and I'm working one day one day right I you know and I this is not in any way comparable to what you did but I worked a lot in the fall for my job when I was doing radio in Fargo and we were the uh we were the the flagship for the NDSU bisen football team up there and you know they had a pretty good run uh winning some national championships there so every other Saturday in September and October I had to be at the far on Saturday mornings and I was just like it was fun to watch the team but I was just hating life what getting text messages from all my buddies shooting limits of malards and cornfields come on it's painful just itching itching yeah I feel you there I feel you is so Arkansas is it true that you never allowed a sack in in college your whole time in college that is true lucky that's amazing thank you I appreciate it that's awesome you know and then the other fun fact we learned about you today is that You' fallen through the ice while while ice fishing oh did you guys watch that video of course so you got a YouTube channel Grizzly Man Outdoors so we were checking out a few of them on there and um yeah you you fell through the Frank you're 65 311 pounds all right you can't go ice fishing until febu February okay yeah I've I've I've I've learned that learn that the hard way so so tell us about that what happened is there early ice it was it was actually not early ice it was I want to say it was December or yeah December or January even and uh I was just being a just a I think I said in the video a jack wagon but holy smokes was I being a jack wagon just kind of messing around and I knew that I fished this pond in the summer and I knew that there were Largemouth in there so I'm like all right well let's take my drill out there and see what we can do didn't get a chance to see well it looked like at least it was fairly shallow where you were yeah thank God yeah yeah hey if it makes you feel any better I'm under 6 foot and a buck 70 on a good day and the fire department's had to pull me off the ice so cuz Flo that does make me feel I was feeling a little little thick little husky there so that helps it was an early ice Red Lake situation yeah yeah good times so growing up in Minnesota did you did you always fish did your family fish yeah I've uh I uh I think it's one of the biggest blessings that I've uh it's kind of all I've known since growing up um my dad was a huge fisherman um my grandfather was a huge Fisher my great-grandfather was a huge fisherman um we actually my great-grandfather bought a cabin in Northwest Ontario um that you can only get to by Boer plane and we've been going up there since I can remember and it's kind of always been a part of who I am and I think it's the biggest blessing in the world yeah that's awesome that's cool you know and I that's the same way that I got introduced to it too and I you know I feel very fortunate you know not everybody has that type of situation so I feel very fortunate about it um so did that does that Lake in Ontario then does that have lake trout in it or what because you you kind of got bit by the lake trout bug didn't you oh I'm all in on lake trout I am obsessed with lake trout yeah that has lake trout um not really the the giant monsters but a good good average size and then uh um it's got great walleye great musky Norther it's a it's it's a just your classic Shield Lake well we're hoping to get you up to tazin this year maybe we'll have to look into that next year cuz uh it's those big lake trout I'm I'm the same you know growing up here in Minnesota unless you were spending a lot of time up you know up in the arrowhead or up in northern Minnesota you didn't you know we didn't really have the chance to fish Lake Trout much and and when we did we ice fished them a little bit and caught some okay fish but man once I caught one of those those big that first trip to tasen I caught one that was you know in the 50s I'm like okay I don't want to fish anywhere else for anything else anymore like it's I can't even fathom that I think I'd cry I it's addicting I I'm right there with you it is something so special I I love them and they all they're all so unique and have their own story I just think they're such a cool fish they're fun they you know they get a bad rap on like Lake Michigan I know we do some some of the um all Canada shows down there Milwaukee Green Bay Lake U Chicago and we try to tell these guys that Fish Lake Michigan that you know come to Saskatchewan to fish for lake trout and they're like oh I I don't like those grease balls and it's like it's not it's completely different way it's a completely different way of fishing than they do on the Great Lakes most of the time you know they're we're not trolling eight rods out there trying to catch salmon you know we're uh we're jigging for these big fish or we're trolling big baits on the bottom you're holding on to the rod and then then holding on for deer life generally yeah they have it's not them big noodle rods do the charters out there skiding them across the surface this is a real fight yeah did you have you done some uh some Canadian lake trout trips then it looks like you've traveled a little bit I've done I've uh I've been up in Northern Manitoba quite a bit I've done uh Baker Naro Lodge I did that this year I uh go up to W Cusco Falls Lodge up there and I've done some Lake chart up there walleye up there kind of everything and uh I've got I've gone to my cabin a bunch like that Lake chart right there is my cabin and uh Northwest Ontario and oh nice I've just got the bug I I will do anything for them well um I want to talk a little bit more about what we can see on your channel um because you've traveled around a little bit fishing uh for different species some some saltwater stuff and then uh you've had some other NFL players and coaches with you including we just learned about Jared goff's hook sets today actually so isn't that funny the thing is guys he thinks that he still thinks there's nothing wrong with that he thinks it's dialed and he thinks it's the best hook set in the world and I love it he is he is fun to fish with he he loves it too that's awesome well I want to ask you a little bit more about that when we come back we're taking a quick break Frank regno is our guest here on sporting Journal radio we'll be right back hunting season will be here before you know it and it's time to get ready for your next adventure with the onx hunt app whether you're traveling in search of roosters elk water foul or looking to score in a white tail close to home onx hunt can help you be more successful this season route plan and navigate with private and public land boundaries recent imager offline maps and Minnesota specific hunt layers download the hunt app on the app store or Google Play and join the millions of hunters that trust on X hunt hey we got a place for you to go fish in Ontario as well you want to catch Walley you want to catch Pike in Ontario garden guardian Eagle Resort is a place bring the family fish for Walley Pike on7 5,000 Acres of private water and you can fly direct from Minneapolis so if you're watching this in the Twin Cities you can go right on a charter plane in uh inoka jump on the plane and fly direct to their Island uh where their Lodge is at they have their own Runway right there it's a 3,000 ft concrete Runway right at the lodge so it's a Flyin place and you can fly in directly from the Twin Cities learn more at Guardian eagle.com we're back sporting Journal radio thanks for tuning in on the network by demand uh any podcast service out there you can find this show or watching it on YouTube Our Guest right now is uh Detroit Lions center Frank ragnow also Grizzle man Outdoors on YouTube we're talking fishing right now and a little bit about the NFL because right before the break we talked about uh a video he did with with Jared Goff and um looks like you've had uh some other NFL players and coaches out there with you and is that is that a situation where you're saying hey hey you know you're in the locker room anybody want to go fishing you know in the summer in the offseason or are coming up to you been like man I watched you catch that lake trout I want to do that yeah you know I think it started off um me kind of having to beg some guys to get out there and uh tell them like hey because we live over in Detroit we're right next to Lake St Clair which is an incredible fishery and I'm like hey guys this this could be pretty fun and then they started seeing my Instagram post and now now now not to brag here they're they're asking me and they're uh begging me so it's pretty cool to be able to introduce some of those guys to that fishery and see uh See them get a get a hack at it and uh some of them struggle and some of them pick it up pretty naturally yeah that's that's pretty cool I mean just the whole introducing new people to fishing honestly you talk about that in all aspects of the outdoor outdoor world but to be able to do it you know in that situation is pretty neat and is there are there some guys that have surprised you that are pretty good Anglers that you've taken out uh there's been some guys that's pretty funny they're like they will tell me oh yeah I fish I fish all the time I grew up fishing and then they got their spinning reel upside down reing backwards like oh yeah you must fish a bunch but yeah uh there's some solid guys a couple of my coaches uh pretty dialed fishing um uh Jared gof actually as much as I make fun of his hook sets he was he actually knew what he was doing and uh could cast at least and do all that but most of them are pretty raw I'd say like how how important is you know taking somebody like that out you know a relationship between a you know a teammate for one thing but a center a quarterback that's that's got to be a great way to to bond with somebody like that 100% cuz it's uh I don't think people even realize the importance of our relationship when it comes to uh understanding our scheme defensive scheme and all that stuff going on we got to be able to think very much alike and understand what each other are thinking so uh it's a it's a good opportunity for us to be able to get away from football and but still expand our relationship and understand uh how each other works and uh enjoy some some free time together it's uh I think it's amazing so we've got some friends with the Vikings that wanted to hear more about some of those schemes is that yeah I'll just email you guys the playb just let me know just send the Playbook over that no that'd be cool so this it's it's uh June here almost the end of June when when do you have to you know when do uh I suppose OTAs or when do you have to report to training camp when do when do football activities start and how much how much time do you get yet to fish this year so we just finished up OTAs they finish up around like early June so last week I finished or last week and a half I finished up uh OTAs in mini camp and then we report for training camp uh July 23rd and then that's it's full speed no more fishing no more anything but ball so this is this is kind of my my window to really kind of grind it out I still have to be working out every day but uh my opportunity to be able to get out there and try to do a little fishing well we don't have a gym at tazin but we've got some boats on Shore so you could just maybe you could find some logs we'll cut some wood the fish are the workers nailed it that's what it is that's perfect um so yeah I suppose I mean who was it during their bi with Carson Wentz I think a couple years ago during his bye didn't he go duck hunting in North Dakota sounds about right so when's your bye maybe we can schedule a a fishing trip in there first ours is early this year I think it's first week of October H we'll be in SAS scat yeah we will be in be around toin if you want to catch Walley and Pike if you want to come up maybe shoot some Gees or time there let's go Vikings fans you might I might end up getting hurt on my bye or something be tough to explain to coach Campell be written into your contract your next contract no hanging around Vikings fans during the season not allowed to go back to Minnesota ever yeah watch out for sharp hooks whoops we're all barbless at Taz and you'll be fine that's right have you ever had any uh weird fishing injuries had some pretty bad I've had some pretty bad tennis elbow I'm not gonna lie which has been tough to explain from jiging stuff but otherwise i' I've been able to escape pretty clean what's uh what's what L I know you want to come up to tazin and that's that's probably going to be one of your answers but what other bucket list fishing trips do you have what where else would you like to go oh that's tough tazin is definitely number one buckus I lake trout um has been huge I'm kind of starting to get the musy itch a little bit so it would be cool to get up to like uh I think La would be cool or somewhere up there and uh Chase muskies um otherwise I really don't discriminate to be honest but right now I currently definitely have the leg chage I'd love I'd love to get all over can I think uh I think Canada is so cool and there's so many beautiful places to go so really anywhere chasing fish up there you can't a monster Pike would be sick I'd love the biggest pike I've caught is 40 inches I think it'd be cool to catch like a 45 plus that would be so sweet and I know you can do that at tazin too so it looks like tason's the answer yeah let's get you up there next year let's get something figured out and uh you know I I'll be honest and I'm not going to knock bass fishing but I know there's there's so many when you hear about some of these professional athletes that f fish a lot of them are are bass fishing and I suppose that's partly just because of the increased opportunity for bass around the country and a lot of guys are probably from the south grew up doing that but it's so cool to hear somebody you know like yourself that's into Lake Trout because you just don't hear that very often that's awesome yeah you know you know I grew up and I was like a kid I'd bike over to ponds in Minnesota and lakes and do a lot of larg mouth fishing and then I definitely still do some smallmouth bass fishing but I am just I'm all on the big predators lake trout Pike musky walleye like that is that is my fix it's so much fun um so what what what can people talk about your YouTube channel what made you decide to start it what you want to do with it and and if there's anything that uh we might see on it uh you know in the future what do you what do you want to put out on there yeah so um you know growing up the dream has always been make it to the NFL um kind of since I can remember started playing football it was always uh NFL and uh I I mean I grew up my room was purple and yellow I was a diard Vikings fan I used to write down note cards of every player and know every stat and I always wanted to be that but part of the dream was also um my dad my brother and I to have our own Fishing Show and uh unfortunately when I was a junior in college my dad had a heart attack and passed away and uh yeah I kind of shook us pretty hard but uh the me and my brother kind of always have wanted to carry out that dream of kind of doing the show and uh I don't really know exactly how I came up with the name Grizzly Man Outdoors but uh we came up with the name and uh I I've always I've watched I think I I've watch everything on YouTube to fishing hunting it's kind of uh my addiction so uh I've always kind of had a a dream to kind of get it going so I started the channel and uh I'm trying to I guess use my platform right now because I know that I'm very fortunate right now to have a pretty large platform for of lions fans and then fans all over the country and I'm grateful for that and I'm kind of trying to use that leverage that to kind of springboard maybe uh whenever I'm done into my next career of having my own show we'll see I I obviously right now it's tough you know the main thing is the main thing and that's football but every once in a while I try to pound out some episodes and I I do I had cameramen I've had myself filming um I love to do it on my own but I also understand the the quality uh definitely helps the viewer so uh I'm kind of right now on the experimenting phase trying to trying to get out content but also uh trying to have fun with it and uh use it uh so hopefully one day that's kind of the main the main show well I'm sorry to hear about your dad of course um and you know going back to that that may I suppose High School time uh when did you when did you start to think that the NFL was going to be reality you know I I I was a pretty decent recruit um I was recruited all over the country but at still at that point I uh you know I couldn't really fathom it and then uh you know my freshman year at Arkansas um training camp was tough going from Minnesota down south uh let's just say the skill level was definitely noticeable and uh I struggled in training camp but then things just I'm I worked hard and things started rolling and then I was very fortunate to be a freshman all and then that's when I kind of realized that hey this is a real thing and uh people were talking to me about looking at agents and all this stuff and my dad was my dad was one of those like super fans he had Google Alerts and every article ever written about me he would get a text and be like and let me know hey here's what this so and so is saying about this and that so that's when we kind of realized that the dream was uh a reality that's awesome man well you know congratulations on all the success and it's important it is important to have a plan you know when you talk about the average uh NFL career is what three years or something like that um it's important to have a game plan for after isn't it yeah I think uh you see a lot of guys really uh get their identity wrapped up in football and I'm not saying that I'm not uh all in on football or anything but I also know I'm a I'm a I'm a father I'm a husband and I love fishing I love the outdoors I love deer hunting I love so many things and I think it's blessing I think it's going to whenever that day does come it's going to make that transition easier because I have passions that I uh can leak out to and I think you see today a lot of those guys kind of struggle with their identity yeah what to do next that's tough especially when it's all they've known from you know I mean I me I I I was never good enough but I remember uh I played football and baseball and uh I started playing baseball I think when I was three and you know growing up that's all I wanted to do is play play professional baseball and um obviously didn't work out for me but I can imagine for the guys that do when you start that young and that's all you know and for some of these guys especially you know baseball players or NFL or or hockey players they're playing it year round a lot of times or going to camps or training like it's a it's a year round thing so when that comes to an end I mean I'm sure that's uh that's pretty tough so if your game plan can be hunting and fishing though you're way ahead of the game first of all I think that's brilliant perfect choice not a bad transition eh that's the dream that's that is the dream not not bad at all well um I'll tell you what man I really appreciate you coming on let's let's talk off air about tazin and I wish you all the success uh this this fall and uh this this upcoming season and um you know if you ever get a chance to play for the Vikings we' love to see you over here too but we will uh quietly cheer for you over over in Detroit I'm pretty sure like the whole angler Community is Detroit Lions fans doesn't matter if you even like football at all but like I've seen some of your posts and seen some of the other Anglers that are commenting on it I'm pretty sure every every angler at least in Minnesota is is the lion on the Lions bandwagon I'll happily jump on for sure yeah I appreciate it you know you guys had Jason Mitchell up there last year and he's uh it's been cool he's a dieh hard Lions fan and it's been cool to be able to meet him through that and uh he's it's been cool it's a it's a cool Community uh what a blessing the outdoors are to bring people together and I'm very fortunate to I guess represent some of us so it's it's I appreciate it guys absolutely well Grizzly Man Outdoors on YouTube uh you can also follow him on this uh Detroit Lions team I guess too I guess and uh Frank regno thanks again and uh let's do it again sometime all right if you're looking for a worldclass walleye fishing destination this summer check out Devils Lake North Dakota where the walleye bite remains strong even through the dog days of summer visit Devils lak nd.com to learn more and to get your trip planned now is the time to start thinking about chasing big Walley on Devil's Lake get on the fish at hay bale Heights Campground and Resort hey Bale Heights makes it easy for you to make memories on legendary Devil's Lake with guided fishing and lodging packages or bring your own boat and rent one of their cabins on East Bay hay bale Heights offers a private Marina fish cleaning station and the opportunity to relax and enjoy your bucket list trip to doubles Lake North Dakota to book your trip visit hayal heights.com that's hayal heights.com all right we are back on sporting Journal radio thanks for tuning in on the network and may be watching this on YouTube Joe Henry from Lake of the Woods tourism is going to join us right now Joe and um I I know summer I can't believe we're as far into I know summer just started really when you think about it but I feel like summer is already starting to to move back pretty fast and um you know pretty soon it's going to be July it's going to be the old dog days of summer I know we're planning to come up there in August and I always tell people when they talk about August fishing especially walleye fishing in Minnesota like oh it gets hot you know and the walleye fishing gets tough and I've had some of my like I've gone to Lake we used to do those Lake of the Woods trips all the time in in the summer when we'd go in the summer it was always in August and we always smashed Big Fish up there in August Joe like it doesn't I I'm not going to say fishing gets better in August but it doesn't get worse that's for sure no it sure doesn't well I'll tell you something so you know July and August both both months are really really good up at Lake of the Woods and here's a kicker is that you know in uh in July and August you know you got a few things working on normal like Inland Lakes that make it really hard to consistently catch Walley those Walley get scattered um you get the weed growth that really gets high and then you have all you have millions and millions of these small uh fish that have hatched this year perch and other species that are just prime time eating size so you're competing with millions and millions of these little Bait fish and you know so it's it's it's much more difficult to catch these Wales on these Inland Lakes whereas you know Lake of the Woods we have some advantages of course and you know one of the advantages is we have 10 million Wales are estimated at that and you know that that that obviously helps a little bit and then you know you have the weed growths I mean you know yeah we have weeds in some areas but I mean really we're fishing big flat basins and you know those fish will get deeper but you can go out there and you can see them on electronics and they're in big schools and and it's stained water so the fish bite during the day you don't have to be out at night when there's you know mosquitoes and everything and you know it just there's a lot of advantages that way and July and August are Prime Time months for Lake I know that I know people that set their they plan their trips for July and August in fact if you're a troller and you love trolling crank Bas held in no man's land August is the month I mean people will go out there with Lead Core line or they use a a heavy bottom like a 4 o Bouncer and a and a six foot piece of mono and a shallow diving crank or if you have downriggers on your boat some some people have those now but you know uh they'll get out in that Basin you know that that big big Travers Bay is what we're talking about you guys that's the big part of Lake of the Woods big old open Basin and that is about 30 miles north south by 25 miles east west the deepest spot and big Traverse is only 38 ft deep that means the whole thing is full of life so you'll get out there and you'll have you know sometimes when when you're amongst fish in life you'll look at your your sonar and honest to goodness it's almost like simulation mode where you'll have uh schools of bait fish up elevated then you'll have hook hook hook hook hook there's times where I've taken pictures of the screen and it is so full of life with bait and and wall has scattered you know most of them along the bottom of a few of suspended usually you got a couple that are inside the bait P pods you know I mean but imagine trolling through those fish and you know certainly we pull cranks through them we we drift Spinners through them are chable it's you know most of the summer they'll drift Spinners almost all summer long some of them will will actually put the down roers on and troll cranks uh you know late in the summer too just to if the fish are real scattered out in the Bas and they can fill the coolers pretty quick by as we call it combining you know but um it's yeah it's it's kind of you know but I'll tell you it's uh very very good fishing in the summer and that's one of the reasons Lake of the Woods kind of shines I mean you know in end of May and beginning of June there's a lot of lakes you can go and catch some nice wall lights but I'll tell you things get a lot tougher uh as the season progresses on most lakes we haven't talked much about muskies and I've been hearing I mean I've always heard about great Musky fishing of course at Lake of the Woods but it seems like the last couple of years I've just been hearing about it more and more like the Musky fishing has just been great up there yeah it you know you know we're known as a world class musky fishery and you know you figure the musky Anglers go to the northern part of Lake of the Woods that's the Northwest angle and you know what most what most musk Anglers do is they'll they'll stay at the angle one of our nice resorts and then they'll scoot over the border and fish musk is in the Ontario side of Lake of the Woods you know Lake of the Woods has 14,557 islands that needs to be on a shirt too by the way 14,000 all the island I do have that in a back of a shirt 14,500 F over 65,000 miles of Shoreline I actually have a a sweatshirt with a map of of Lake of the Woods but you know with with that kind of uh those islands and that Shoreline you got just about everything you got number one you got small water so the wind doesn't really affect you because they're all like little Inland Lakes but then you have points Bays Saddles red cabbage patches you know the red cabbage holds a lot of Muskies um you just have so much structure and uh it's it's unbelievable and then you know it's interesting too because you know we do have that stained water in Lake of the Woods so you know a lot of the musk angl will talk about how important a figure eight is when you bring it back to the boat you can't see those muskys very far so you just have to assume there might could there could be one following you do that figure eight lot of fish are caught by the boat the other thing I hear that some of the better musky guides talking about is you don't have to have those huge lures on Lake of the Woods in fact in many cases the muskies will prefer the smaller to midsize baits on Lake of the Woods so you don't get so tired out throwing at them and yeah just it's just a very very good musky Fisher that way and you don't have to You' only you only have to sell one kidney to buy the musky baits then what you're saying you need to sell them both to afford those big giant baits up there yeah musky Anglers they're special breed you know and uh you know they they they do have to buy big poles expensive holes expensive lure but but you know as as many of your listeners know there are some people that when they get bit by the musky bug oh yeah you know what everything else is just a bait fish to a Musky they are after muskies and that's what juices them up it's all good I I get it I mean on once I started going after big lake trout and and big Pike it it once you go after Big Fish you know you don't it's hard to go after small ones after that you know you do get you get that itch for the big fish except for Walley that's a one thing I still like if I could go catch a pile of Walley with a with a crack you know at a 30 I I will still choose that most of the time but if I know if I'm going to a place where there's there's some big fish and obviously Lake of the Woods has got the big fish and the and the Walley too it's kind of a a great multi-species destination but I get it I just don't I just don't have the bank account to become a Musky angler at this point well you know what I tell you um what what a lot of the mus guys do uh guys and gals there's some there's some female guyses too they are very good what what a lot of these guys will do is they'll take their clients out musky fish and and these these musky guyses are dial I mean you would anybody wants to get a good musky guide up the Northwest angle you're going to learn a time you're going to see Fish you know what um it's kind of cool too I think because they'll go Musky fishing hardcore when they you know in the afternoon if they want to take a little break whatever just chill for a little bit H let's just switch to walles they go whack their Walley jump up on an island do a Shore lunch go back to Caston for muskies he a lot of the musky guides you know some of what they do they have to walleye guide even though it's not their first choice muskies are but they they walleye guide because that pays the bills right that's what most people come to Lake Lewis for and they'll Walley Guy They'll Come in they'll cut cut fish for the clients make sure that everything's ready to roll what do you think they do then they turn around and jump in their B go Musky fishing personally I me it's it's they're it's they're obsessed you know heck I don't recommend this but you know you'll be up there and oh you got some storms rolling in but if those musky Anglers aren't in the water already they jump in their boats and they go for it man that's some of those you get the bite window you know I don't recommend this any every anything that comes after that recommend going on in with storms approaching but that's just real life too you know it is and you know that well I know and and and I've got a couple of buddies that are up there that are guides up at the angle and and they send snapchats so I see the muskies that are up there all the time and it's like a God dang it well how many times I know multiple times we've been up there duck hunting yeah and we'll just be doing something for like 20 minutes on the island or wherever we're staying and all a sudden they'll come ripping back in the boat like where'd you guys go they're gone for a half hour oh I'll try to catch a Musky real quick you didn't just want to sit down for a half hour you just had to be on the water right now they're they're obsessed obsessed in a good way they're really passionate you know uh it's interesting too because you know people might say well hey how does that work if you stay at the Northwest angle and then you want to go fishing you know in Ontario hey um all you need is an Ontario fishing license and then if you boat into Ontario Waters and don't touch land you don't need to check in with Canada Customs nor do you need to check in with US Customs on their return you know visit so it it's very easy now if you do want to touch land and have a Shore lunch if you do want to go to a a resort and have lunch up there or something like that then all you got to do is call the 888 can pass number to uh to get in you know you just have to have an Ontario fishing license when you go fishing in Ontario and you can't have any kind of bait live dead or Frozen and for musk Anglers that's typically not a big deal because they normally are throwing uh you know cast and baits to them now in the fall they'll use some big sacramentos and if that's the case you can you can grab those on the Ontario side if that's your choice um I I think uh the other thing too is uh when we had covid and the Canadian border was closed some of the musky nuts that are guides up at the Northwest angle were obviously forced to stay in Minnesota Waters boy were they happily surprised at what they found they found some fish passed over for a long time and in fact they still don't really do much with them they kind of leave them alone and they they go Target the the Imperial side you know well I think Canada actually closed the Border in the lake too so the American muskies were like ah we I guess we stay here yep I'm pretty sure that's what happened that was a terrible joke pretty sure that was awful also you know if you remember Co I mean that's so so we couldn't you couldn't cross the border and yeah they didn't have fences like that but that you couldn't cross the border um during covid at all so you know the musk English had to stay on this side of the Border we're happily surprised with what kind of quality fish were on the Minnesota side but then it was also interesting because if you remember during that ice fishing season we created that Northwest angle guest Ice Road that was 38 miles so people could travel up to the angle still and we still had ice fishing season up there it was a a very unique time I hope we never have to go through it again yeah if you go on YouTube and search for Prairie Sportsman you can see that uh that road and we took it up there and did some fish in that angle I mean the this South End Lake of the Woods of course a rainia river great places to fish but that angle is such a special place up there Joe and if anybody watching or listening to this if they've never been up to the Northwest angle you have to go check it out because you can still get in on all the wall lifee fishing that Lake of the Woods is famous for but do that Musky fishing Smallmouth big Pike crappies lake trout uh pretty much everything you're in the islands it's like being in the kind of being out in the wilderness it's it's beautiful we have a lot of we a lot of people coming up that that actually are coming up and they don't even really care about fishing they're coming up to get a picture with the northern most Point buoy just like they have the southernmost point buoy in Key West we have a lot of motorcycles who well they they'll go and fact we just had somebody recently and uh he he was on a motorcycle he bought a piece of key lime PL uh key lime pie down in uh you know um Florida and then you know with the buoy in Key West and he drove his motorcycle up to the Northwest angle and had a somebody take a video of him eating key lime pie up at the northernmost that's awesome we told we told the guy who was talking to him you know who's resident up at the Northwest angle you should have given a Walley sandwich and sent him back home yeah was it over the ice Road did he take the like he just water skipped it right like a snowmobile that's awesome all right Joe well if people want to plan a trip to the Northwest angle and Northwest angle or the rest of Lake of the Woods what should they do hey check out our website and that is Lake of the Woods mn.com Sporting Journal radio is a division of maaba LLC if you've got a question comment or story idea for us send us an email go to sporting jjournal radio.com while you're there you can learn how to advertise on the show and visit our store for hats hoodies coffee mugs and more go to sporting Journal radio.com