 Good morning Whoo, let me straighten out my beard. I think it froze sideways Good morning It is a brisk 36 below zero right now. We're at about 740 in the morning I decided to stay in bed for the last hour and just kind of lay there and think about how cold it is Ha ha It got as cold as I've ever seen in my life last night, and then it got even colder And about one in the morning. I woke up to the sound of Well, it sounded just like 22 shots, you know that quick report a real sharp and it was the trees freezing Then the ice started Really getting angry at the air temperature and cracking as loud as I've ever heard it and I checked the temperature then and It was error. It was in an error mode on my On my thermometer I think the batteries probably froze and then it came to and then it went out and it came to and every when it came back To it said negative 41 And I think it was actually colder than that because it aired for a good hour after that I got thinking right around one in the morning That negative 41 and my propane bottles outside and my spare was outside and my battery box to start my snowmobile Was in the snowmobile and I said geez I ought to bring those in it's not a whole heck of a lot warmer inside But it is a little bit warmer if you put something in front of a buddy heater. It'll definitely get a little bit warmer So at about one one o'clock 115 I ran outside and grabbed the extra propane canister and brought that in and I also brought in the battery box So that wouldn't be completely frozen to start the snowmobile if it needs it today. I Am not in any rush at all to do anything outside of camp today. I Might fish and I might not I don't know if it's a good idea to or not. There's no wind Which is nice. I did hear Raven fly by and make a He made a pretty weird noise calling for friends or food or warmth or I don't know what he was doing but The plan right now is to drink some coffee Probably get another layer on on my bottom either put my bibs on or pair of sweatpants And maybe even another set of wool socks because she's pretty cold The coldest I'd ever seen before today in my life was 38 below zero And it was late in trapping season and I was in northwestern Maine And I remember I went to check my first fisher trap of the day And I didn't have a reliable truck at all I left it running and I went in check that trap and you could tell nothing had moved for animals at all for At least 24 hours and I got back out to the truck and it was still running I don't know something inside of me said it's not smart to be out 38 below zero day when you could be in camp and put it off till tomorrow You know if something broke down I was At that point I was probably 25 miles from camp about to go even further So I decided to go back to camp and spend the day in camp Doing camp stuff. So last night the coldest I'd ever seen on the thermometer hit at negative 41 and a half before the thermometer froze So who knows it could have been it could have been probably I'm gonna guess 45 below zero the way it was going and then at 7 this morning I guess at 6 30 this morning it was still 39 and a half below zero and then at 7 30 it warmed up to like 36 below zero Where it's sitting right about now coffee time At least get that started everything is crazy frozen in here like Even with a buddy heater on low last night like that Water is all the way solid. I don't think I've ever seen that I'd left some pieces of deer steak in the pan and looking how frosty those got They're almost free. Those are almost freeze dried. They're so frozen I'm pretty sure everything's pretty well frozen. But hopefully the propane doesn't freeze. I I've been told that freezes at 45 below zero and we were right there. So Let's hope that doesn't happen Gee is warming up out there. We are looking at negative 33. It's 8 a.m I've got the coffee on super super low because I'm sure it was crazy frozen And I don't want to expand that pot too much Not sure what I'm going to do today if I'm going to fish or not Not a good day to go out exploring snowmobiling alone I'm here. I'm here for the day. So maybe I'll set a line if it goes well. Maybe I'll set to you know Pulling a musky topside in this weather Isn't too healthy for the fish. I was thinking about eating one because My buddy Jeff and a couple other people told me it was the greatest fish they've ever eaten before So maybe I'll pull one topside and flash freeze it and bring it home to eat might even cook it up right out here I got no shortage of food. I brought a lot of food. I always seem to have too much food better too much food than not enough Just from cooking coffee making coffee the sealant Thaws out and leaks it drips like a son of a gun drips like a sieve as you can see right here The key is to not let this area drip over my bed. So vent's open And that's on low I'm not cranking it high And I could sweep it off. I guess and get it Where it's frozen I got to remember to bring like a small tire or a couple great big trash bags to put over the bed For when this happens because it's just going to frost up again. So I don't care if it's frosty I just soon it's stay one way or the other frosty or dry but Condensation from heat to cold just like my beard freezing up outside I know people say it's the propane, but it doesn't matter if it was a wood stove in here Going from hot to cold hot to cold and it's that cold outside. You're gonna have frost built up The key is to not let it wet my bed So I don't mind if these areas drip as you could see the table's getting wet But I don't want it to drip over my bed. So I'm keeping this on super low and I get the vent open First cop first cop that's going to be appreciated. It's still 30 below zero It won't take long for that to get down to drinking temperature but fun to sip coffee when it's cold outside and It's cold outside for sure. I just went outside and Looked around I got the whole lake to myself still We're going almost on let me think for a sec 48 plus 60 plus a We're on 69 hours Without seeing another person. So that's pretty cool And I think I might stay one more day You know, I'll try to brave the elements today Maybe get out there and fish a little bit once it warms up Try to catch that midday bite that's been happening You know, I made one error yesterday or last night that I'm glad it didn't cost me but I left that Second little tiny buddy heater, which isn't much, but it is something I left it over in that other shack where I fished out of yesterday with the bait and just let it run out And then, you know, I was kind of planning on it being Roughly 20s cold You can't really expect a 40 45 below zero And I got thinking at one in the morning, you know, if anything happened to the buddy heater in here Even though I only run it on low It does keep the chill off It would have been nice to have that other one in here as a backup whereas it was over there Well, you say it's only over there, but it's still a snowmobile ride away and Who knows if the snowmobile would have started at 41 below I still don't know if it's going to start right now at 30 below zero But I'm going to drink my cup of coffee first and then I think I'm going to go Pour a second cup of coffee and then I'm going to go out and see if I can get the snowmobile started See how she starts at 30 below zero after night over 40 below And if it starts, I'll let it warm up and then I'll make a plan for the day that old thermos is I've had that for a long time. I think my parents gave me that My freshman year of high school And I spent a lot of time on the farm with hot and cold fluids getting poured out of it and A lot of times fishing, a lot of times hunting. She's been through a little bit of abuse, but she's still kicking I had the perfect size tarp all along. Just needed a little good old-fashioned Yankee ingenuity A lot of people didn't know Otter makes a bed cover too So I don't want to keep that bed dry if the ceiling starts dripping some It came out. That's good She's still pretty frozen, but She'll throw out in the pan. Pretty good looking breakfast. I'm going to drive that into me and drive this cup of coffee and behind it and Go out and see if we can get that snowmobile to start. I don't know. What do you guys think? We'll start at 30 below after 40 40 to 5 45 below zero night I got faith in it. I think it will she might balk a little bit, but she'll turn over whoa She cold Well, let's see if she's gonna start. What do you guys think? You're gonna go She's really cold out here. Well, that's good. That's started. I'm gonna left that warm up. I'm gonna go inside and put the rest of my clothes on put my winter boots on And then make a plan like I know wanted to fish further down But another part of me wanted to stay pretty close to the shack and I could sit inside the shack and Stay a little bit warmer and wear And read some books, but I kind of want to catch some fish too and try a new area of the lake. So I think I am going to run down First we'll see if the bait survived the night and assess that situation It's in that shack. I left over there for some reason it melts down It won't be dripping on the bed and the bed will be dry with that otter cover over it A lot of people didn't know otter made a bed cover like that Fits just about perfect All right sleds warming up. I got to put on some more layers and go out there and tackle the storm Guys if you're planning on doing winter camping like this I'll show you my setup real quick. I have a wood floor in here that helps keep things Flat keeps it insulated and makes for a really nice floor So I'm not wicking up a lot of moisture and stuff from just setting on snow but if you are expecting like Even on regular temperatures, you know talking from like zero to thirty if you're expecting It to be pretty warm and a hot you better bring a lot of heat I don't really run a lot of heat in mine. So like you'll see there's There's still ice all over the floor and snow on the floor and in that corner There's still snow from when I started and ice over there So it's not like a hot hot tent unless you want it to be if you want it to be you could crank the heat I'm sure if you put that buddy heater on high and just left it on high and burn through a bunch of propane you could probably keep it Pretty moderate in here, but whereas I'm not going to do that. I just have ice and I live with it It's not a big deal some snow on the floor So that's something for you to expect or think about if you're going to go on a trip like this Well, did you make it? Oh, yeah Still got some swimmers in there. They're not all looking good though Not a lot alive. We lost some serious casualties Yeah, we got some serious casualties 40 below is a little too much I guess I probably should have just brought them into the place where I was staying into base care But that shiner made it Let's see what we have for fishing today There's one Maybe two alive Yeah, there's a couple small shiners kicking around Well the bait situation isn't great. We've got enough to do one set so With live stuff. I think there's I saw two or three maybe live in there and then we'll fish dead for the rest That's not a big deal deli dead bait to a little bit of a main lake point here Then should be all shallow grassy just by looking at the mat further in I'm looking for Oh anywhere from six to ten foot. Oh, you got to put a batter in those things to make them work Lucky for me. I got a brand new one. You have enough here. I'll set up that shack to jig at them There's only about a foot of water there We'll move out further out Pretty frigid this morning. There's a little bit of breeze coming up from the south end Should make things a little warmer. I guess Being a south land probably 24 to 32 inches ice right there Minus the ice Got about two foot there Two foot of free water under the ice We'll go further out. We might have to go back up towards the The bigger part of the lake I love not having to start an auger pull start an auger and Warm it up and get the gas going. I love just throwing a battery in there and pushing a button Let's try it one more time If we can't find any water here, we'll move back seven foot I think I'll try it Seven ought to be enough I could set a trap here and go out further and jig So I got to dig it down. So I'm just saw my trap reels in the water Yesterday it made an inch of ice in just a couple hours and if you're real sitting where that inch is You're not catching a fish. I guarantee you that Nice got a real decent shiner. I had about seven foot of free water here Plus the two to three foot of ice. So would be 10 feet deep Got a nice shiner there He's half alive. We'll send him down Oh Let's only put him down about Let's see Let me think for a quick second Yesterday I was catching them About six foot down and ten So let's put him down about five Never point that towards your face because if that hits you it'll smack him pretty quick Beautiful. We got one set. Let's keep searching I had I had three live shiners and I got dead I got a dead shiner dead sucker and some dead sea smelt I think I want to throw a big old sea smelt down there. That looks like a winner right there nice and shiny nice and dead Uh air bladder first got to get that air bladder Punctured so so it doesn't want to float upside down And that's about it Let's see. Is he gonna go down? Yeah, perfect I hit the air bladder on a cold day always peel off an extra 50 foot of line and wind it back on In case it's frozen so that way the fish won't feel it There we go I left plenty of room to get my axe in there or chisel Or whatever to break the ice Well there that didn't take long I just ran back to get a pounder propane She's up. This is the dead one. So we know it's not a bait flag. She's already froze over. It's amazing Like to see it move a little That's off to the side. Definitely took some Oh, did he just hit it? Oh, he just hit it again Man, it's such a big bait. I kind of want him to eat it I could feel him eating He's there Think I'm gonna jack him. Ah I don't know. Should I let him eat it or should I jack him? He's taking it Jack him got him Got him Stay on you dog Feels like some pretty decent weight Oh wow, he ran a mile All right, we're at our starting point Oh Broke me off That's that damn fluorocarbon Yeah, we're gonna switch out of that right now That was pretty good fish. He was He was as big or bigger than the others. I got a quick look at him as he went by Dang it Way too cold to be messing around No more fluorocarbon. That was the only one I had rigged out 30 pound part of it pretty easy Okay, I learned my lesson Muscier not to be trifled with No more messing around fluorocarbon with them. We're going straight wire from now on That was the only trap I had with the fluro on it So let's rig one up. This is a good size hook right here. There's two octopus gomikatsu First thing is you put your Clevis through or whatever you call them things crimp Then your hook Then you go back through now. We want to get this one Let's see. Yeah, we can just do it right here Don't really need a tag end that big And crimp it Same on the other side with a swivel If I got them No, we'll just go crimp it right to that swivel. It's over there Come on go through there. Yeah, sometimes you just go talk to it. Take that Take that you son of a gun. All right, gotta smelt the air. That's not too frozen I'm gonna pop the Swim bladder on them Get that air out Swim bladder and the gut. All right. We are fishing again Oh my god guys. Look what's on the screen. I scared him. I was trying to get his attention And he was coming in to investigate the camera. Oh my word It just got my camera set up finally. He must have been coming in to investigate the Camera and the light. I got the light on because it's pretty dirty tannic water. We're only in like Seven or eight foot, but you can't really see that well. So I got the light on And that musky came in nose right up to it and I thought I'd be smart and catch them by twitching that bait Just to let him know it's there when I did he went not scared the Holy bejeeges out of him and he went flying stirred up the mud twisted the camera Well, maybe he'll be back. They're kind of they're curious and they're predators But I got that camera on that big smelt right now and it's laying on bottom and Hopefully he comes back in and takes a look at it That was exciting though He was like an inch from the camera And then I ran back and grabbed a couple of a one pound canister propane canisters for this heater here I don't know how long this last today will be a pretty good judge Got her going probably around Nine or so we'll see when she runs out And I found this bag of mrs. Dunsters sugar crescents Now if you guys are from Maine or canada You pretty much know what these are but man mrs. Dunsters She is something else just about everything she puts out of her bakery If she was a little bit younger lady and single she'd be in trouble I'll tell you that because she could keep a fella fed through a cold winter Sugar crescents will go pretty good with some hot coffee right about now and I'm gonna pour that cup and then I'm gonna peek outside and see if we have any flags Definitely not going fluorocarbon anymore. Everything switched to The way I think I got a tea bag in there. Yeah Let's get that tea bag out of there Frozen solid there's a pretty healthy cup right there And we'll we'll drop a sugar crescent about halfway into it Because there's frozen solid too negative 45 probably last night Everything froze Yeah, that's good Kind of bummed about that first one breaking that off it felt good But they all feel good because they just fights it aren't hard We got a high flier out there guys I'm gonna leave this set up in here And let's go see if we can put one on the ice today This will be the first this is the first one we've set So I got my catch bag with me. I'm gonna grab a Smelt Just in case Looks like a winner try to keep you guys out of the wind a little bit. Oh my god. Looks like she's straight down But that doesn't mean anything with these birds I will say they don't do a whole lot of running when I've gotten there They've been sitting and eating Sometimes even come back. Let's see if he's there Big head shakes, but I'm pretty good. I think he's about average size a little smaller. Maybe no. He's good size There he is No blood coming First one of the day Watch those fingers There we go got one on the ice guys There's a beauty right there Put the catch bag to him and get him right back down Actually, you know what? Is this the one I want to keep? Let's see if he's pleasing bad I want to try to keep one of these and eat one Got some blood Let's see how the release goes That's right there. Got it pretty easy God, they're so powerful It's like grabbing a koana by the tail All right, got one on the ice If I want to keep one I probably ought to really seriously consider it Keep a one because you never know when when you're gonna get your last one That was a good size. I should have kept that one. Maybe I'll keep the next one. We'll see I don't know which one I like more the fan optics live scope or the marcom Underwater camera the underwater camera is pretty cool. I got to admit It's a little bit harder like to tweak and get dialed in and The water conditions dictate how much how well you can use it. I drilled three holes in here as you can see And the camera's over in the corner I was going to originally put the fish down here, but it's just too far away to see so it has to be there So visibility on the bottom is like only about two two and a half foot in About nine foot of water here We did have a musky coming and check it out, which was crazy cool I got one musky on the ice Broke off one on the last fluorocarbon leader I was using And now I only have two live shiners out there. They're really small And I have two dead smelts out there and then this line in here So I guess if I'm going to try to keep one I better keep the next one. I should have kept that last one But I'm just so ingrained about catching release. I guess I let it go If you guys are just tuning into this series I am up here in the wilderness of Maine. It has been Over 70 hours since I've seen another person or even heard another person I have this whole wilderness to myself And I'm fishing for the elusive musky Which are only in a few bodies of water in Maine And very few where you're even allowed to ice fish I made a six and a half hour drive to get up here And I've been on the ice two or three days now. Let me think one two three Yeah, three days and we hit right around 45 below zero last night my thermometer conked out at 41 below At around 1 15 in the morning and then it got colder than that because it shut off the thermometer So I'm guessing 45. It doesn't really matter when you're at those temperatures. I guess all my bait died last night except for three three shiners so I'm going to try to make do with dead bait and Those three shiners maybe even jig a little bit out of this hole once I get done with this dead smelt this lane on the bottom I Fly her again It's getting windy out here This might be the one that goes home Got no movement. Yep. This was that big dead smelt. We just put off. Oh, there she goes All right, so we got a fish on there We're gonna let them chew a little bit because that's a big bait. It's rolling pretty good I'm sure you guys want to see that I like seeing that. Oh, of course it just stopped just stopped Starting again Let's find out what it's all about. It doesn't feel big yet. There we go. Jeez Jeez That sucker's got some fight. Holy cow. He's not that close There we go. Yep Wow Gotta look at him He's green About the same size. Hey, what do you think guys good eater size? That's gonna be an eater right there Never know when your last one is so we better take him home What a pretty fish All right, we'll go give him a serious Chuck Norris chop Put an end to that. All right. All right little midday update It has warmed up We're still below zero by quite a quite a charge, but it's blowing pretty hard now There's probably a 10 mile an hour out there. So we're probably back where we started in that 40 below range Got one I'm going to bring home to eat Might even bring another one home for a friend too, but I've got a feeling there's a lot of meat on this one right here I don't know. Have you guys ever eaten musky before I've eaten pike. That was great. Pickerel's great They're all in the same family But a couple friends of mine that have eaten musky said it's incredible So leave it in the comments if you guys have eaten musky What you thought of it how you like it and even how you cook it It's blowing pretty good out there. It's not quite straight sideways yet, but It's getting pretty close and it's still cold. It's still well below zero. So that wind adds quite a bit to it I don't know what's better, you know negative 45 with no wind or wind and negative 10 or 15 Probably equals out the same on the spectrum if you guys watched yesterday This shack would have looked a little bit smaller. I actually didn't have those Front legs pulled out all the way yesterday because I pulled them out today. I was like, whoa There's a lot more room here if you could you could long arm a jig pole whereas yesterday I was kind of short arm in it. So there's plenty of room. There's even more room for the electronics the heater This shack I'd say this the cabin I get asked a lot about the gear I use I'm not at all affiliated with any of these companies But I'd say this size is really good for two people and you'll be a little cramped with two people You know depending on if a guy's bringing video gear and what he's bringing for electronics and a heater and Coffee and everything else, but it came with two really nice seats. The seats are comfortable I have the other one underneath me. Yeah, I guess two guys could fish in here really reasonable With some comfort and wouldn't be too cramped and be close depending on how much gear you brought You know, if you're worried about size go the next size up if it's just a single I really like this size for a single, you know All sorts of room all sorts of room for my gear And this is the cabin xd pro Over or whatever they call it. I haven't used it much just two or three times It's been on like five lakes, but I've only used it a couple times I bring it with with the hopes of using it, but it just never works out This trip is why I bought this thing Is for trips like this where it's brutally cold And then you throw some wind in the mix and just having this shell to block the wind is Worth every penny And this little heater is doing the trick. I know I didn't speak too highly of it yesterday, but It's borderline. It's like It's going to be cheap to run It's not ever going to blast you out with heat. I know that but it's pretty it is pretty warm in here It's it's definitely melting the The reels were completely frozen and I put them up in the ceiling and within a minute They started dripping and it keeps the holes from freezing and you know my knees There's no ice on my knees really at the end of the day, which is a big thing So it does do the trick for a small area like this. I think it's made for like 95 square feet, which I don't even know where we are here But that's the update so far guys. I'm gonna I'm gonna stick it out one more night And I could fish some tomorrow Or I could just pick up and get out of here I got I got a little problem with the snowmobile with the new snowmobile I took it off trail To try to find the trail that I located with my drone There's a trail that goes up to an old logging road that no one's been on And I was like on the edge of the lake and I went to go up on a A knoll and I kind of got it stuck in it Came down on some alders that were like this big with sharp points for for um that the beavers had chewed And it poked up A hole in the plastic Underneath like the clutch drive gear And I got like a little bit of slippage going on. I don't know if it's because there's snow in there Or I don't know if I did some damage or I don't know. So I don't know enough about it So I'm not gonna push it. I'd love to take a day and just go snowmobile looking for antlers and stuff But I'm not gonna push it at all And I'm gonna have to get the machine checked out when I get home Bummer with the new machine, but had to do it sooner or later, right? All right, not much happening. So I took that red eye shad rattle trap style bait and I popped the hooks off it. So it's legal. I'm gonna throw it down the hole and Rip it a couple times and rattle it around see if I can't bring something in for a little look see Took the hooks off one to stay legal and two so I don't hook my bait that's already down there or the line Which I might do anyway. I might switch holes But this thing is super super loud when you yank it. I don't know if you guys can hear it or not if there's a fish within 50 yards that ought to come in Take a look at that smelt on the bottom Might cause something to do some investigating It's been pretty dead on camera Quite a while as you could see in here the wind starting to pick up quite a bit Don't really need all that wind. It's coming Little south southwest, so I gotta be careful because usually what follows a south wind this time of year is big dump in a snow If it was straight south it'd be warm and Face and snow, but if it turns a little bit we might face some that south winds like turd honking for the right away with big old snowstorm behind it well That's the last cup of coffee It is quarter after three The wind's blowing like a sieve out there. She's turned straight sideways on us Bites pretty well died Slowed down. I've noticed with these muskies either it happens and it happens in a hurry See for the ride back. I'm gonna go get the heater turned on over at the Home base and then probably run a load of this stuff right out to the truck See how happy that bed cover makes me Look at all that ice on my bed And the otter cabin cover fit perfectly Gonna spend the night tonight and work my way out of here tomorrow. I could pack up everything and be in the truck in an hour and it'll be Oh Probably six o'clock. It'll be a half hour after After it's completely dark, but then I have I'd have six hours on the road And that's no fun. It's no fun driving at night, especially when you're tired from from a long trip like this So good night sleep tonight gonna eat some good food And and uh pack up in the morning and get out of here before the snow comes in There's no way we don't have some snow come and it has warmed up to negative one right now. So that's quite a warm up over 44 degrees and in a one 12 hour span So before I get too cozy, I'll probably have to make a couple runs in and out I'm gonna melt down some snow. I got my coffee pot to fill tonight I want to get that ready for coffee in the morning and then I'll probably drink some evening tea So in order to have that we're just gonna melt down some snow. It's as easy as that Dinner tonight I don't know. I got so many choices I got Some dimmy more beef stew I got some more deer steak I could do a breakfast for dinner Well, maybe I'll do a breakfast for dinner. I I've really enjoyed that Last trip you can never go wrong with a breakfast for dinner We got a pretty serious south wind coming With a little bit of west mixed into it So we're gonna eat it coming up this lake if it doesn't turn a little bit more west So right now it's coming pretty much this way at me and it's got oh The good straight two miles if it turns a little west then we're only looking at about a quarter mile to build up speed But if it turns south at all then we got about Four or five straight miles to build up some speed I got this wall tied down to that log because I couldn't get the spikes in the ground or in the ice And I think that log's heavy enough to hold it back plus it's frozen now Same with that wall. The other walls should be fine We got woods here here and there. It's just these directions right here Not so much here Here Nice hot tea in the afternoon or nights Pretty pretty good throw some chamomile lavender in the Give you a good feeling the end of the day That wind is starting to really get angry Not sure what she's angry about I never whistled once today But she's starting to get pretty angry and she's showing her teeth some I just moved the snowmobile and the big box sled trailer I shifted that To block the wind and got it a little closer to the shack And swung the box around too So that should help block some of the wind if this wall ends up blowing in in the night Even with that log on it. I could always go out and tie it off to the snowmobile I don't think she's gonna or I'd go do it now, but That's an option. I have if it does You know, I I'm not gonna lie I had a little bit of fear in me at about one in the morning when when that was going on and I saw those temps because I wasn't expecting those I was dressed for it I was snucked up in bed pretty good. I had a face mask on where my eyes could come out and I was it wasn't easy breathing through but it kept my nose from freezing overnight Which was good, you know, I had to I'd keep taking it down and up sometimes You know, I'm not gonna lie There was some fear that came into me at one in the morning when I saw a 41 disappear and get colder You know a lot of thoughts go through your head at that point and You think the worst but you got a plan for and that's when I Thought well shoot. I shouldn't have left that other backup propane in in the other Shack even though it was only a mile away and I got the snowmobile Well, there's a good chance snowmobile might start not start at 45 below zero and You know that starts getting on my mind and then the propane being outside at 45 below zero That's pretty much slush freezing time for propane too. So I went out got that I went out and got the jumper box at one in the morning And I hate climbing out of bed when you're snugged in You know, it's You lose a lot of that body heat, but I did it and I did it quick and got back in And then was probably up for another hour thinking things through And now, you know, if that thing said 20 below, I wouldn't even flinch It's just it's funny how that works out, you know Experiences are what teaches you more than anything, you know, I had What I have about 16 years of school and and the In one or two years working on the farm. I learned more than I did in all those years at the school house Just real experience and and doing things the hard way and It's funny you talked we talk about like challenges and challenges you put on yourself or other people put on you And there was one I remember when I first started working on the farm And you guys are gonna laugh at this because it's kind of foolish, but to me it was a big deal We built cows on the farm had like 85 had Worked for Wayne Cunningham one of the best men I've ever known Just the hardest working guy to this day I've ever Ever been around and I remember when I started there. I was in seventh grade And his wife was my fourth grade teacher Barbara. Just an awesome lady awesome teacher I remember she came over one day To talk to my mother and I was loafing on the couch mid-morning She said what's he doing this summer my mother says take him And the next thing I knew I was tits up in a hayfield with bales getting thrown at me In first day Wayne had blown out a big tire on a fence post that had Or signposts actually or like a route 126 signposts got broken off And they left the knob in the hayfield sticking up six inches So you couldn't see and he drove right over at calcium leaked out of the tires big tires big deal You know tough day for a farmer and so he was pretty wound up Barbara's telling me oh it's not always like this But anyway long story short or shorter I'm working on the farm. We're milking cows. We'd feed the calves the drained milk now the young calves would get They'd get a mixture with some I don't know if it's probiotics or what it is They'd get vitamins in their milk with powder and drained milk The hundred pounders or or bigger up to I guess 200 pounders or even bigger Would just get drained milk that was in the pipes with water rather than waste it You'd give you'd feed it to them and they'd get the nutrients from it and I remember I'd have to carry two five gallon buckets Out the milk room out the door over the big step And out in front of the house you could go in front of the house Or you could kind of sneak through in between the bar in the house back then But most of the time you went in front of the house and up a set of stairs You know maybe four steps and then across the front lawn and then down over the back lawn and then another probably 50 yards to feed them I didn't I I wasn't Big in seventh or eighth grade. I mean I was I guess I was bigger than most but still not a big kid And the buckets the plastic Had been worn off the handles. So you're just holding on to straight metal And I never wore gloves And I remember not being able to carry it the whole way because you know, they're 40 pounds each and You know that wire is cutting into your hand and they're heavy, you know, your shoulders start burning You know, it's a pretty good walk and you're not you don't you don't spill any of that You know, you can't waste any of that. So you don't you're not spilling it for sure And your two buckets balance each other out And I remember the pride I had when I made it past each spot each day and you could tell clear as day Where I had to stop and set the buckets down and you know, get get that burn out of my shoulders and And that wire out from my hands And I'd set it down and there'd be two bucket marks in the snow And it used to drove me nuts seeing those bucket marks In the snow not make it the whole way And I just wasn't strong enough and tough enough at the time But each day I got I got a chance each day at least once a day to do it And if it wasn't too long before you didn't see any bucket marks at all along that whole path and You know, that gave me a lot of pride in myself and a challenge Just something as simple as carrying milk buckets to cows You know is is something that if you do that and challenge yourself Often it makes a big task When you come up upon bigger tasks a lot easier to to overcome and gives you the confidence to know that you can overcome those So, you know when I got into high school and I was playing sports Against kids that were pretty soft that had never worked a day in their life or or carried buckets that they couldn't handle at first You know, it gave me quite an advantage in sports and in in the classroom and and everything else just having that confidence in myself You know knowing that I could put myself to a test that I wasn't up for at one point But I became up for so hopefully that makes some sense to you guys and you know these trips I just really enjoy doing them. I love I love doing it for Every aspect of it. I love the fishing. I love the filming and the videography and the editing I actually love doing that and I love The camping part of it and being in the wilderness and you know, we're at Three three and a half days now. I haven't seen another person. I've only seen two living things I saw one black raven fly across the lake real low this afternoon And I saw a moose two days ago up in the woods And that's it. That's it for living things other than fish Challenge like this. I just really I just love the challenge of it every aspect and some days the fishing's the challenge, you know, like the first day That's the hardest challenge other days the film is the challenge like today and And even yesterday the film was awful with with the weather and the the temperature and then other days the editing is like a couple weeks ago and I had to Completely change the software that I've used for like eight or ten years And learn a new software because I was getting these glitches that I just couldn't get figured out Then it was driving me nuts. So don't ever shy away from a challenge guys. If it sounds hard dive in, you know Relish it be happy that you got the opportunity to try something hard and To go for a challenge I'd say I don't know if I deserve this meal. This is fantastic Well be a full night full belly sleep tonight I threw some deer steak in with those eggs at the end Wow, that dinner was something else. Oh boy Breakfast for dinner if you've never had it It can really hit the spot. It's almost seven o'clock and we are holding at a negative half of a degree She's being stubborn. She doesn't want to pop it up into the positives Well, if that's the way she's gonna be that's the way we're gonna take it It's been a cold cold trip. I am going to wash that big meal down with a nice cup of hot tea I finished my other book. So I'm gonna start in on another one. This one is forest life and forest trees by john springer comprising winter camp life among the loggers and wildwood adventure With descriptions of lumbering operations on the various rivers of Maine and New Brunswick Pretty awesome. This body of water Amon was used for a lumbering operation in a log drive in Maine And probably into new Brunswick pretty awesome a viewer recommended this book And I got one copy with the print was so small. I couldn't even imagine reading it So I ended up finding another one that had some a little bit bigger size print I've got pretty good eyeballs on me, but that other one the print was so small But I want to thank you for recommending that if you're watching. Thanks bud If you guys have any other really good recommendations Could be anything Shoot me a recommendation these books on these trips are just perfect fillers for after dinner And if you're in the shack and the fish aren't biting or early in the morning if I wake up early It's it's nice to have a book to read all in all pretty good day today I mean I got two muskies top side Is it muskies or just musky? Man, that just shows you how few opportunities we have at musky in the state of Maine. They're The states against them the canadian stocked them in a river that comes into Maine Maine was all up in arms about it But I'm pretty happy we have them there by far the hardest fighting fish I've ever pulled through an ice hole without a doubt. I mean Three four five times harder than a pike I just can't even imagine catching a 20 30 pound musky if it fights just as hard As these five pounders do teeth sharper than razor blades I'm done using fluorocarbon with them. I broke that one off today in the hole broke one off Yesterday or the day before in the hole. I'm just going to use wire, you know, though At least this lake the water's not clear enough to worry about but yeah two top side today got one I'm going to bring home I was thinking about eating it because my buddy said that it's by far his favorite fish to eat And it got me thinking maybe I'll just swing in give me a good opportunity to see my buddy and drop it off for him So hopefully I get out in time to catch him at work or at home And I'll drop that fish off for him. See if he's See if he's happy to have it which I'm sure he will be kind of wish I kept too Absolutely beautiful fish and pretty awesome trip Kind of hate to leave. I I think what we have here is a pond that's I hate to call it stunted, but I think all the fish are going to be about the same size And there's very little feed from what I found with the pan optics I mean, I was seeing some yellow perch yesterday That were like this and the first day, you know, if that But nothing of catching size and no I didn't see suckers. I didn't see shiners I mean, I didn't cover the entire pond But I got a feeling these musky have eaten themselves at a house and home And that's about the size they're going to be unless some new feed gets introduced here But I'd hate to be a baby muskrat trying to swim across this thing or a baby duck in the summer because I don't think you'd have a chance Maybe even a small beaver. Not sure how cold it's supposed to get tonight. I'm thinking Probably in the negative tens maybe You know, it's not it's been holding right around zero to negative one for the last Hour hour and a half the winds ripping pretty hard and it's a good south wind So I have a feeling within the next day or so We're going to have a scorcher of a snowstorm So I want to get out of here before that and Get my snowmobile looked at and make sure I didn't mess anything up with that thing Thanks for tuning in guys. If you like this series Let me know in the comments if you want to see a new series with something else on there That'd be a great place to let me know and Really appreciate you guys and the support you guys have for the channel and It's it helps drive me even harder on these trips and And go at it even harder. So really just want to say thank you for viewing. Thanks for checking in Thanks for being a part of the community and and I'm already excited for the next one. I have no idea what it is Yeah, but it's going to be a good one. I promise you that. Oh, yeah Tune in for tomorrow for takedown day cleanup camp day and try to get out of here day I have a pretty big day ahead of me I'm going to try to make a couple stops on the way home too and drop that fish off for jeffer and I Didn't last long So there's supposed to be a piece here