 What is up guys? Joe Holland here back at you from the hardwater. I have a really special treat for you for this trip I brought the one and only one of my greatest mentors ever in the outdoor and in life in general mr. Donnie Johnston there. He is what do you think bud? I think we picked a great spot. We picked a great day after this past weekend when it was Sub-zero weather Today, I would say right now. We're standing here in the sun It must be at least 30 over 32 degrees feels like and no wind right now We're about ready to unpack the sled. We had a little trouble getting in with such a heavy load. I Got this thing freighted Right to the gills and the pin popped off a couple times and drove this hitch right into the ground And when it did it bent the hitch all the heck so From the sled so I'll be getting a new hitch and definitely going a little bit lighter loads when I'm trail riding in I thought I could get it all in one, but not a good idea to do that No, it's easy enough to do too. So but we're here. We're gonna get set up We're really excited to use the new wood stove in the shack Donnie built an awesome window jack for that So we're gonna set up camp today and if we get some lines in the water We'll be happy for that this trip. We're fishing pike. We're fishing crappy. We're fishing yellow perch So Donnie's never caught a pike. I'm really excited to get him a pike and never never Pike fish in my life. So this will be a special treat and Joe's got to rig up some steel leader for me and and we're gonna give that a well And we've picked a great level spot here. No hardly about an inch of snow on the ice So very little shoveling to set up camp and so this is gonna be wonderful All right guys, stay tuned. We're setting up camp now and and we might even get a little bit of fishing in Thanks for tuning into this series. I think it's gonna be a great one. We're gonna be here at least four days We'll see how it goes Yeah, I'd say I brought a heavy load Donnie. What do you think? Holy You think this is like two thousand pounds. I mean we had about what five or six miles to come in Yeah, where we packed hilly it was very hilly and Mobile, you know a few mobiles in it. Yeah, and yeah, I think we I think Joey overpacked a little bit. Yeah Well lesson learned that's the best way to learn right there I definitely have a shovel in here somewhere. I Don't know where I I don't think it's too far down So first thing we're gonna get to we're gonna take everything out set it on the ground Then the first thing we're gonna do is shovel off this little bit of snow lay the flooring down and go from there Let me get this out of the way I like to bring a backup not that we need it A couple buddies that wanted to really want to join us. Yeah, I don't think we beat on any gear getting into you What's that? I don't think we beat on anything. No getting in here Oh, yeah Yeah, I brought that rod for you to jig with you recognize it. I haven't seen the whole thing Yeah, you gotta see the bottom It did well it broke in the movie too. Have you ever seen grumpy old man? Yeah, yeah, right. That's the green Hornet. Yeah. Yeah, we can fix it. We've got any tape Well, we'll pop that bottom out maybe and just put that in as the new bottom. I got the shovel so I'll start cleaning this area So yours your sled ran good and Cody you think? I can't imagine what they would think Of all this gear yeah when they came in with a pack basket and a well we could do it if you jizzle We could do it if you want. No frigging gear That would we could we could definitely do it if you want to Too late on this trap. Oh, that's gonna be an awesome flat floor. Yeah, so that was center front door I got them kind of labeled how they go together. I don't know if it completely matters, so You could feel they're still green Center and Center have you ever ever explained About this box that we made this Brandon box. Well, just the video You've never explained Yeah, Brandon was the first guy to make it that I know I fished with them and saw it and how much you could fit and how little I'll take one That's what I was reading wrong. I was I read it wrong Yep center Mid okay, so this one's right This one's wrong. Yes. Ah front door Shut the front door I'm labeled as I didn't make a clean cut on either end yet So they wouldn't go together. So this was center and it's in middle one. Okay Boy when those dry out that'll help a lot. Yeah, I know Yeah, heavy. Oh Geez, you'd never get them out of there. Oh, I was gonna hinge them to carry them. Yeah, so we go That's something right under us there. I might Don't flatten that after What a beautiful? What a beautiful day in a beautiful spot and you believe this no, I can't I mean honestly you couldn't order weather like this So, you know what I might do Donnie's just push this down See if I can get out of these lumps. Yeah, I could actually I could swap this one with that It'll be under my bed if you just hold this upright. That one's only got one straight edge on it The edge is up in the air straight No, it is not if it if you go by the clean Oh, I don't the cleats probably not trustworthy. Yeah, there you go So that's out where it doesn't know that's better way better. I put it to the outside Yes, so This might be my best edge believe it or not Yeah, I didn't So with these This is the front door Yeah, so this is a front door. So this one you pop this one. Yeah, so I'm gonna pop the roof on the back side Yeah, that's where we want our line of this with you. I want to bring this over to the edge. Yeah, yeah Just barely it just barely hangs off the edge Like all those corners and I'll get the through gun So I use this one just cuz I'm already using the deep freeze quick connector and it just pushes in locks in Yeah Right I'll show the folks at home what the setup looks like So I haven't trimmed the front yet. I could or I could just leave it. I don't I don't mind having a little overlap, but That's what she looks like in here. She's pretty good and flat. Oh my god, Donny. It's already warm in here Yeah, oh Wow This is your home sweet home. Yeah, man. This is beautiful. It's not perfectly flat, but it's not bad. No, not at all No, this is this is great I bet someday maybe I'll get a bigger one, but it was like $4. Yeah Shoot yeah, which window was it? Not one. Okay. I pulled the wrong one, but you are right the window jack Donny built. Yeah We have tried it cameras right there. Oh, yeah Yeah, we tried We tried it we had Different ideas on how to make the jack going out through We bought some welding Blanket and thinking we were going to make it out of a welding blanket, but it didn't seem rigid enough to hold the pipe Because we're not bracing off the pipe outside So I came up with this idea To put in the window and we put Velcro around it I made this With wing nuts. So if anybody ever wanted to use it on the opposite side of the tent They should just reverse this boot to this side And it would work. So we're gonna give it a whirl. We did give it a test run at home And it seemed to work great So like that, so that's all there is to it and that boot that's Fireproof Of course the metal is fireproof and the boot actually supports the pipe All right, you've got all the pipe to put down underneath it. It's in the truck enough. Just a little bit. Yeah Yeah, so this is a straight pipe. So this one's going through And I want the nice Do you know nice that works? Yeah, we're Do I have to go? A piece of pipe on One more piece of pipe in the spark arrester. There she is. You liking that? Now we could put another piece of pipe on if we need it I don't think we're gonna need it. No, unless we get a heavy win Then we might want to put it up one more length. They're talking just 10 to 15s all but look how well that that Boot supports this pipe. I mean that's very rigid. Of course, they have these ties up here Which you can tie off to different places if the wind is really severe, but that is very rigid I think it's a great. I think it's a great idea myself, and it's easy to make Inexpensive to make and the only thing we're doing that we didn't Do when we we've tested it at home. It was a warm day similar to the day So it wasn't cold it you know, but this Velcro has a sticky surface on the back side So we're really going to test That to see make sure that that That sticks well to the metal it seemed it's sticking very well now But we'll see how it does in in cold All right, Donnie's first flag on the new traps Sometimes you got to let him eat Donnie cuz it's such a big bait, but is it off to the it is off to the side You could check it if you want when I came up to it. It was the real was moving. It was okay Let's point it towards them. I always like to point it to her. Yeah, there she goes. Yeah Now this was a great big slow This was a great big half dead Shiner that I thought might come back to life So if he came back to life, he definitely could have tripped it. That's how big the Shiner is But it could be a hammer handle pike usually the hammer handles make a run on you What's it? What's a hammer hammer handle me about like a two and a half pounder? Long skinny like a handle Yeah, this is the first time I've ever been pike fishing so I know nothing about I'll walk you right through it So what we're gonna do hold on one sec. Let me set this up So we're gonna Yeah, if he's there just sitting there eating so So what we're gonna do is I'll I'll grab the trap and then line management is wicked important Yeah, so so you kind of lay it out as you're bringing in because he might take all of it back if you've got a big one Okay, okay, and I'll kind of work to help you with the reel. Yeah, but I'll pick this up and you feel for Feel for weight now. You got a big Shiner. You'll feel a big Shiner But if you feel much for weight give my yank I don't feel much all right You can keep working it back till you might feel something because they a lot of times they swim back He definitely made a run because I don't see the rubber band if you feel it I don't feel any any nope. You can keep making up your own then keep doing it Yeah, because you still haven't even got there's a rubber band. Okay, so he hit it took out five feet So I bring it up. Let's take a look at it Now I well, I'm not feeling any weight just the bait. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you can bring it up Sometimes they'll hit it on the way in But it could have been a pick roll. It could have been the bait came back to life. I Mangled them a little bit But that's perfect for line management. So pike are wicked runners They'll make really good long run So you'll get them to the hole and if you don't get their head in right away You've got to let them get take a run and you just let it go through your hands I and then you kind of put drag on them and then you turn them around and then they'll come straight in Fight them all the way in if you don't get them through the hole. He's got to take a run again. Ah, yeah They're they're like streamline fighters. They don't just do this. Okay? Hey, donnie. What do you think bud? I think it smells pretty good with those dogs cooking Sure does. Yeah, it smells nice in here The onions are getting caramelized You get a nice set up in here Bugs and Salves and I think a couple things that really make it are the floor and the table. Yeah Oh, yeah, heaven and table for sure. Yeah, and this wood floor. Oh my gosh You know It's you're up off the cold ice and Oh, that really makes it Makes it nice You get the big light stand for a night Yeah, I got a light that I screened on the ceiling too. Oh, yeah, that uh, yeah I just haven't done it yet. Yeah Live here as well as you could at home. That's the truth. Have more fun even. Yeah Well, we got a couple Lewis and Lobster is rolling in the pan right now with some onions We got eight traps set up for northern pike. We left ourselves each One more line. You're allowed five lines in main general rule generally And after we eat a hot dog, we might go out and jig for some crappy too because I think tomorrow night's dinner We're gonna have some crappy. What are we doing for dinner tonight, donnie? We're gonna we're gonna have meatloaf tonight and uh baked potato and carrots and We're gonna cook cook everything in this little stove which Which fits on the burner And uh, it's heated by the propane's propane And it works super don't use gasoline that says Yeah, so that's what we're gonna use and we'll see how it comes out I'm excited. Yeah me too But you know, I cooked on my river trip. I cooked some Cake in that so I know it does work. Yeah, that's right Yeah, conditions could not be any better. No, not for sure so We're gonna cook a few donuts one of these mornings. We're here. We're here for what three nights. I guess a four nights something like that. Yep and uh And I can't get over how mild this temperature is working For february. It's It's a complete opposite from the weekend. We just experience. Yeah All right, we're sitting here trying to enjoy a lewiston lobster Donnie about got that one drove in and we got a high flyer Down on the point Those is when Oh, I don't believe it Did you put a band on that one? I did not put one on that. I put it on the next one Oh, you know what maybe I did Because the bait is so big, you know, it's and active it Crips a Crips a flag So we put this rubber band on the bottom. Yep, that prevents it. That's something new I learned It's a good trick Well, wow, it pulled the This wasn't set way over next to the hole. No, I turned it so we could see the flag Looks like it's just barely tripped again. This might need a bait band Ah, maybe Yeah, he must be setting that fish on. Yeah, he was pretty lively a minute ago Feels like he's still there. Yeah, that wind is something else, isn't it? Yeah, is that straight north? I don't know Oh, he got hit. Oh, look at the size of him. I guess he did. Is he still alive? No, that's fine by me Wow Wow, why didn't he take him? Probably got a taste of that metal. Is that him like he is? Yeah Yeah Wow, look at him. Yeah So we got we got some around. They're just finicky. He probably died of fright. Yeah, must have been a big one I would have died if I had Seen something come at me like that Scared him to death. Yeah We're getting snow tomorrow night. Are we? They said we're gonna get maybe an inch. Yeah That's probably coming from the northeast Yeah We're supposed to get some east tomorrow. Yeah So a little northeaster Yeah, a little tiny northeaster. Yeah, one inch northeastern. Yeah Florida'd be a hell of a blizzard. Oh, it would be. Yeah It all stopped definitely. Yeah, it's not doing anything now. Of course What do you think Donny's this gonna be your first pike? Well, it might be but it doesn't it doesn't look real promising to me But do you want to start with a little? There she goes. Oh This could be the bait No, it's not the bait. Look at the line going off to the side. Could be the bait Do you want to start with a great big pike or a little one? Oh anything. Okay. You want to you want to get them? I think I'll hold the trap. I think it might be time. Okay Oh, yeah, oh, yeah Set it. Yep. Got him. Yep hit him. Oh Yes, oh, he dropped it. He dropped it. I hit him harder next time Oh, he hit it. He did Yeah Yeah, he was there. Hey, he'll be back cold pretty hard. Yeah Yeah, you you pulled hard enough probably Wow, did he get the bait? Oh, this was the Let's throw let's beat him again. Ha He definitely was there stove wound up Uh, we're up to about 250 I want to be up to about 350 but I just put the uh Potatoes in. Whoa. Look at that oven. Bake potatoes in the end I'm gonna have meat loaf over here I made up last night. So we're gonna cook that up Wow This is not a meal I usually get while I'm ice fishing and we got some carrots going too. I don't eat carrots Well, you're gonna learn to eat them I eat carrots. I love I love carrots Wow, what a meal we're preparing for here. Oh, man. I like this this stove topper that goes just on top of a Coleman stove Yeah, yeah, it's pretty pretty damn cool I they don't make them anymore. I don't believe I've never seen them around. No, this is an old timer Just like me And you you had another one Yeah, I I got a show on And for some reason after a September trip I have misplaced it. I've looked everywhere. Maybe I have it. I doubt it. I don't think you do But I'll find it May uh, yeah, I don't even know where to look Well guys Guys, we have not really smashed their heads in today super super weird bite We got a east wind happening and coming And there's an old saying in fishing that wind blows out of the east Fish bite the least Wind blows out of the west fish bite the best Wind blows out of the south Hit them in the mouth That rhymes with north. I can't make anything that rhymes with north Wind blows out of the north Ride them on a horse That was bad Okay, so We've had a pile of flags. So they're they're like interested if you drop something in front of their faces. We had one Donnie felt it pull Back a little bit and he pulled it out of his mouth. We have another steel the bait But other than that like the old 10 or 11 flags we've had have just been just kind of hitting runs They're not even running with it's kind of playing with it. So they're not hungry They're just hitting it because there's a shiner in front of their face or something something along those lines. So I'm gonna leave them out for a little while longer. I'll pick them up at dark. Donnie's got dinner going and uh, yeah We're gonna have an awesome night. I'm really really really excited for this Uh oven cooked meal And i'm also crazy excited to get this wood stove going and test it out for the first time ever supposed to be Single digits tonight, which is hard to believe because how warm it was but tamps dropping had and we got some wind blowing in It's northeast right now and it's supposed to be east northeast tomorrow. So we got a little nor'easter coming in How's she looking donnie? She heating up? I'm up to 350. What do you want to be 350? Okay, so i'm gonna Regulate the uh Coleman stove to keep it on 350. So Looking good so fast so good feel free if you want more run out of fuel That's true Feel free if you want more heat to uh, you could shut this flap if you want. I mean it's comfortable in here I think just getting out of the wind's the key right now My daughter Darcy made this apple cake With a caramel blazed Frosting on it and believe me i've been into it already So we got four pieces left over from what I left So we're gonna enjoy that for dessert tonight. There was five to start right? Oh six or seven One thing Darcy does everything Darcy touches that has an apple involved is the best you've ever had And it's always homemade. Yeah, like her apple crisp apple sauce right apple Who's the other one she made a jar was apple apple? Maybe apple butter I got the stove regulated here for 350 and It's been right on 350 for the last 10 minutes. So I think we're golden so the potatoes will I'll let them cook for a little bit before I put the uh meatloaf in and We'll see how it goes Great I'll keep an eye on the traps and finally get that cup of coffee. I've been waiting for all day There's no snow or slush on the ice And it keeps your track lubricated and it allows your track to throw Snow and ice chips up into the heat exchanger too. So it's it's for cooling and for lubrication That's why we have scratchers and they have carbide tips and they actually scratch the ice when it's glare ice So yeah, and then there's there's the rest of my sled right there. That is a Nine as an expedition se 900 non turbo So that's the one right there. It came with this Incredible box that I love so much And this is the rest of the gear right here Got an eye on Wow, the sky's getting to be amazing. I'm hoping for one more flag fellas Donnie the sky's about to get crazy beautiful Yeah, it's like the clouds are starting to get some contrast Holy cow Yep, you're not gonna want to miss this one. We got almost a full moon tonight Really? Yeah, it's almost full. Okay. Yeah, and if it's not I can give you a full It did. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and if it's not full I can give you a full moon. Yeah I'm sure you can Yeah, I give you a half moon to it Yeah, yeah, so hopefully there isn't too much cloud cover and we'll be able to see it It's cleared off pretty good. Yeah I can't believe we're gonna have much for clouds because it's set eight eight degrees tonight and where we are it'll be colder right Sleep on this ice cube. Yeah Well, I don't see too many flags out there flying For eight traps. We got some low flyers today, but we're just prepping for tomorrow. Yeah Yep, we're definitely we're we're getting prepped for tomorrow tomorrow's going to be a good day for us pike Definitely, I've done way better early and midday than I have late. We didn't get set up till after midday today So any pike in the afternoon's a bonus But that you really want to be ready for that nine To 10 o'clock range. That's usually when stuff really happens with the big girls, but oh my god Look at this guy and there's a bald eagle flying over there. He's just waiting for us to leave him a piece of bait I want you to just look the inside of the tent We've got the string of lights up looks like a nightclub in here The only thing we're missing is the dancing girls and what time are they coming they're coming at 10 10 o'clock tonight Geez, they're gonna have to wake me up Oh I think she's going I'm pretty good in there and we'll cut it supper ready supper's ready. I hope I know the potatoes are done. That's pretty good Nice baked potatoes man I don't ever remember having that winter camping I feel good. We're we're in a little bit different class of food When donny comes Got the meatloaf. Hopefully that oh my goodness done Yeah, she's uh, she's boiling Carrots are on top You can scoop those out when you're ready Hopefully it's done in the middle. That's what I was worried about I like it medium rare Well, that's what you might get What fork You hold the plate, please Holy cow, that's a lot. That looks amazing. That looks great. Oh, it's well done. I mean it's it's done. It's done Probably too well All done with that little oven Look at that simmer and smoking Isn't that amazing? Yeah Looks pretty amazing. Do you see me? What are you putting your meatloaf done? Uh, I break up bread And and a lot of times I'll put cracker crumbs or breadcrumbs in it and onion ketchup That's about it. And I put some ketchup on top when I cook it. Nice Hopefully it'll taste okay Pretty not bad. Did you get your carrots? Not yet Doesn't that look good? Uh, it looks beyond good Looks amazing. If it's half as good as it smells We got a winner I know even though It might not be good. You're gonna say it's good Tastes like That's not true. I would let you know I was a little stove doing I think it's cracking. Yeah The fan's cracking. Yeah. It's only been a couple minutes I cooked these potatoes about Just though These are quite big potatoes too. Hmm. I cooked them about an hour and 10 minutes. Wow So And they yeah, they seem to be cooked just fine Hey, how could life be any better than this? This is that right here For me it is This is it right here. This is awesome Oh, yeah, we had a beautiful day today Probably in my 40s, I would say and I mean, it was shirt sleeve weather out there for a while now You can hear the wind whistling in the top of the trees. So the weather's changing tonight for sure. Yeah Now I'd say Well, they they're talking single digits. So I don't know Quite a little bit about it. Yeah, it's gonna be low We might flirt with zero. It'll be interesting really interested to see how this new wood stove does and really really interested to To see how cold it gets or how hot it gets in here too. So we'll regulate it the best we can Don't worry that is great Great meatloaf Great, that's up here to kill the taste if you want it. Oh, it's great I made Joey a special Gift and I grew up with one of these we had one in our household all the time And it's called a boot jack And it's a simple simply main thing But works like a million bucks if you're taking off rubber boots You step one foot on here You wedge the other boot in here And it pulls the heel pulls the boot right off So you're not You know rubber boots sometimes get pretty difficult to take off alone And that works just awesome. I like it. Thank you. It's light easy to transport. So Heck yeah. Yeah. Thank you. You're welcome Wicked nice isn't that nice Well guys that is going to do it for today an absolutely great day that flew by I'm been sitting next to this wood stove right here heated up and Just thinking how grateful I am for the things that I have And the people that I have even more importantly in my life Donnie being A major part of that We had an awesome day today. No fish topside. We kind of got here late The fishing wasn't great this afternoon. They might not be great tomorrow But the cool thing is with us being here three or four days They're gonna chill. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter either. We're having fun camping But they're gonna chew one of these days but no, I was Definitely thinking how grateful I am for for everything How happy I am here and this is Absolute life right here Loving it and I'm excited for tomorrow already We're gonna we both got full bellies now. We're gonna get up in the morning Probably pretty early and drive some coffee into us big breakfast at some point And we're gonna set some traps and catch some pike and we're definitely gonna jig some panfish tomorrow So we could do a shore lunch David deadly style because look at this guys Look what I found you're never gonna believe this but he left his secret seasoning We're gonna use some and then Donnie and I are gonna reverse engineer this to find out what's in it If David doesn't tell us we're gonna reverse engineer David if you're watching this I have your secret spice jar here. You have to come get it or else I'm gonna share this with the world Come back Donnie, what do you think bud? I think I'm going to take my pants off and Crawl into the sack. You got it. I'll cover You won't see anything I got my long underwear on the bed with my just what I got on the top and And when that fire Goes low tonight. I'm sure there'll be a chill in here. How are you feeling about the wood stove? Oh working great right now Yeah, it's cranking. I mean it's cranking Yeah, really really doing well Oh, that's a great little A great little thing to have an attempt. That's for sure. Yeah, I'm super stoked that Windowjack worked perfectly that Donnie made and Yeah, so next time you see us it'll it'll be morning. Thanks for tuning in guys We're really excited to bring you this series and and uh bring you along. We're having a blast So hopefully you guys see that in our video and hopefully you get a chance to do something like this yourself someday Yeah, so we'll see you in the morning