- [Bret Amundson] Fishing traditions come in many forms, from opening day destinations, family vacations and more.

Today we're gonna meet a group of friends who started going fishing together when they were coworkers, but they have continued the tradition long after they retired.

Do you have more fun fishing on these trips or giving these guys a hard time?

(all laughing) - That's, that's a good question.

- [Speaker 1] I think that's very well put.

- Yeah, good one.

- [Speaker 1] Great question.

- Who put you up to that?

- [Bret] Nobody needed to.

(all laughing) (upbeat jazzy music) - [Bret] In the 1980s, a handful of employees from Minnesota based 3M that shared a love of the outdoors started going on fishing trips.

Those adventures have created a colorful tradition that continues to this day.

In 2023, they traveled to Artisan's Rocky Point at Lake of the Woods?

- Yeah.

We're the Walleye Whackers.

- Yeah.

- [Speaker 2] Yeah.

Where'd that come from?

- We got shirts.

- I dunno.

- Well, the first year I, I believe it was 1987.

- Might be about 1989, 1988, something like that.

I started coming.

- As, I best, as I can tell, I came in 86.

- I think it was 1988 that it started and we stayed in tents and we woke up in the morning and there was snow covering the tents.

- They pitched their tents on some bear guts or something, - Fish guts.

- Fish guts, 'cause people cleaned their fish there.

But we survived and got through that first year and - Oh, that's where we had a little football game and, and we didn't have a football, so we used a lighter fluid can.

Jansen, I think he was a quarterback, so he wasn't good at catching and it hit him in the mouth and had blood all over his face.

(all laughing) - Well, one thing about this group, we, we, yeah, we can dish it out, but we can all take it too.

So it's, you know, it's all in fun, that's for sure.

And I wanna say, you know, the core group, I think started in maybe oh, - Another year?

- because this if my first ER trip, which is some of the core group, was in 74, so next year would be 50 for me.

- Wow.

- All right.

Denny, how's it feel?

- It feels pretty good.

- Yeah.

- Dan's gonna get the net behind you here.

- Probably gonna sneak in between you guys.

- [Denny] Yeah, it's pretty good.

(water sloshing) - I think this is a good fish.

Denny.

- It feels good.

- I saw your bottom bouncer for a second.

- [Bret] Oh, there it is right there.

- Yeah.

That's a good fish.

- Oh yeah, that's a good fish.

- Nice.

- Nice job.

- Very nice.

- We like it.

- Oh, very nice.

Very nice.

- Thank you.

- Very nice.

- That's a good one.

- 25 maybe.

- Yeah.

- Oh yeah.

- [Bret] They're kind of got some good bellies on 'em too.

- Well, they're Lake of the Woods fish, Bret, they all got good bellies on them.

- That was the first fish I've caught with this rod that Ron Jansen made for me.

- [Bret] He's made a lot of rods and I think mine's a Saint Croix blank, but I don't have a, I don't have a snake skin wrap on mine.

- He makes a nice rod.

- I would say that all of the walleye's caught on the, or most of the walleyes caught on the trip, this time would be on Jansen's rods.

- Oh yeah.

- Yep.

- 2005 maybe I went to a class and a lot of 'em are unique 'cause I used, I used snake again for a lot of the design and I turned my own handles and fore grips and, - [Bret] And you put names - And get engraved, and it's frankly kind of paid for itself.

I mean, I don't make a lot of money, I make I make - Well you charge a lot.

(group laughing) - Yeah.

- [Bret] With this group, sitting back and listening to the stories is just as much fun as the fishing.

- We, we have the same stories every year and we laugh just as hard every time and we just, I don't know, we just have a good time.

It's been great coming back here every year.

- [Bret] You, Is it the same stories every year?

Do you enjoy 'em more and more because you start forgetting them?

(laughing) - We do now.

- We do now, - Yeah.

- Pretty well.

Yeah.

Yeah.

- Did you tell that story before?

- [Bret] While spending a lot of the time fishing has remained a constant over the years.

It still takes a backseat to the fun these guys like to have.

- 'Cause we used to have a test called the spark plug test to see who was most manly.

Well, I've got this lawnmower with three plugs.

I've got this riding mower with four plugs.

I've got this snowblower and you know, it went around the table.

And nowadays one of this group last night mentioned the newest test should be a pill count.

See who has the most pills in the group.

- We're all getting the age where who knows how, how much longer it'll last.

But we're still having fun.

- This is really getting to me depressing.

- You know, we're all getting older.

I'm 73 and there's a few boys around here that are 10 years older than me.

- Why you looking at me?

Yeah.

- Well I just, - looking over here for?

- I just kind of glanced over, but, but you know, and everything comes an end.

But I, I would do this as long as I can.

- There you go.

Tommy.

I'm 83 trapped in the body of a 43-year-old.

(all laughing) - Yep.

I got news for you.

I knew you when you were 43 and you looked 83.

Yeah, - We've done a lot of great things over the years.

A lot of fun things.

My god, we've went a lot of places, saw a lot of people make fools of ourself a lot of different places.

(all laughing) Yeah, we caught a lot of fish over the years, frankly.

(birds chirping) - You guys ready?

(boat motor groans) Looks like Jack's got one.

- First year I caught the biggest fish, which, you know, everybody's happy.

- Sure, - Happy, happy, - We were all happy.

- Happy as hell farmers.

- First guy comes in, gets ready.

- Second year, not quite as happy when I caught the biggest fish.

Third year they took a vote if I was coming back, but they all voted them come back.

It's been great.

It's a great bunch of guys - [Bret] While looking back on the memories of trips to the past and the lodge is fun.

We were able to go out in the water and create some new ones as well.

- Say one of us is gonna get bit, we just pulled through a few.

(water sloshing) [Denny] That was a good eater.

- That was a good eater.

Nice.

You guys can, we can have our fish fry tomorrow.

- [Bret] There's a fish down there.

(upbeat melodic song) This right there.

We were trolling spinners with bottom bouncers, and I was showing Denny how the live scope worked when I spotted a nice fish.

Decent Fish.

♪ Life is good ♪ Life is good, yes - Here it comes.

♪ Life is good ♪ Life is good, yeah ♪ Yeah, in my darkest times ♪ You've got me feeling like ♪ I've been walking on air ♪ Left all my worries and cares ♪ ♪ I've got no burdens around you ♪ ♪ I don't care who knows I love you ♪ ♪ 'cuz I've been so lost without you ♪ Oh, it's, oh yeah, it's nice.

It's wrapped on my live scope.

That's a big fish.

- Oh, yep.

Wrapped in the, wrapped in the live scope cable.

Thank you, Dan.

Nice.

Nice save.

- That's a beauty right there.

30 inch wildlife fins are a little bit beat up.

Heck yeah.

- [Bret] We weren't the only ones having success.

And when you're dealing with this group, you know there's gonna be some shenanigans.

- It was good.

I was leading in the clubhouse until they took Jansen out fishing this afternoon.

That was my first mistake.

- You took me out, it's my boat.

I got another one.

All right.

So we crank it up, eh, nice fish.

Really?

A nice fish.

20, 27 and a half, half, - 20.

It's 27.

The half, I don't know where the half came from, Ron.

Anyway, it's the winner so far.

All right, so Jansen throws his plug back in the lake.

All right.

- Yeah.

We unhooked the, - We unhooked the fish.

He lets the fish go, he throws it back in the lake and, and we sit down.

He says, I got another one.

- [Bret] Any one?

- I, I don't know.

We don't know.

So he cranks it in.

We, we take the fish out of the lake.

It's 27, so now we're arguing, - Where were you?

- Huh?

- He hooked it back on his line.

- Oh no, no.

Literally we threw it back, back in the lake.

So now we're arguing about did he catch two 27 fish or did he catch the same fish twice.

He did have two 27 inch fish walleyes.

- That's correct.

- On the, - That's pretty amazing.

- On the line.

You netted two 27.

- I netted two 27 inch walleyes.

- There you go.

- And you're the leader in the clubhouse.

- Case closed.

- What can I, what can I say?

- Yeah.

- [Bret] Do you have pictures of the two?

Did he let you take pictures?

- We didn't take a picture of the 27.

That's the one thing about Jansen on this trip.

- Yeah.

- Okay.

- Tell me about it.

- I catch a 26 and a half fish the other day.

Yeah, well let's take a picture.

Poof can't leave it out of the boat that long.

It's gonna die.

- The water.

Yeah.

- You know, - I'm more concerned about the fish, - Yeah, yeah.

- than the picture.

- Yeah, right.

(gospel like music) - [Bret] While this list may show their real names, it's not what they're usually called on the strip.

- I have no idea where my name came from.

You guys gave it to me.

- Jansen, - What's your nickname?

- Hog.

Hog Nuts.

- Speak up sweetie.

What was that?

- [Bret] Speak up please.

(all laughing) - Hog hog nuts.

Hog nuts.

- Oh, okay.

They couldn't, they couldn't pronounce my name so they ended up hog nuts.

They ended up with hog nuts.

But I got back at them.

- Because he's crazy.

- No, no, no, no.

- Then you gotta tell the dump story how he nicknamed you Dumpy.

- Oh yeah.

Everybody had their own nickname and Ron.

Yeah, that's a good one.

Ron.

Ron happened to be nicknamed Roadkill.

He was just having a few cocktails fell off the dock, landed in the boat and his feet and hands were up like this.

He looked a little like roadkill.

(laughing) So that's, that's how that one stuck.

- That is not the way it happened.

- It is, yeah.

That's exactly how it happened.

- First of all, I thought somebody was saying, - How would you know?

- Ron are you, are you okay?

And all I hear is Dale Johnson saying, looks like roadkill.

(all laughing) - What we call Denny Dumpy.

And why is that Denny?

- Well I got the nickname Dumpy because Don Peterson and I went every night to the dump.

It started out that we went looking for trailer hitch balls.

(all laughing) and we found plenty of them, but we couldn't get 'em off.

- It's a blur.

(background music) - I am the youngest of this whole group and they were cordial enough to ask me four years ago to come along.

And I think the reason is because they keep falling down and I gotta pick 'em up.

(all laughing) - I mean, that's true.

- Honest to God's truth, if they're not falling in the water they're falling on the floor.

Granted I'm 64 and they're getting heavier too.

(all laughing) So they're a great bunch of guys to fish with.

They a lot of knowledge on fishing.

They don't catch a lot of fish sometimes, but they got a hell of a lot of knowledge.

(background upbeat song) - [Bret] Over the years, a few of the original members have dropped out of the annual trip.

Despite that, this tradition has continued.

You could say it's because of the camaraderie, the good natured jokes and nicknames and of course the fishing.

But as the group gets older, what does the future hold for the Walleye Whackers?

- Well, I don't know.

It gets harder for all of us to get in the boat out of the boat and all good things come to an end and we'll see.

- Yeah.

Take good memories away.

- Yeah, that's right.

We might quit while we're ahead.

- I think we're, you've heard a little bit too to talk about we're probably aging out a little bit.

I've told people I know I'm in the fourth quarter, but I'm betting on triple overtime.

- You know, I can't imagine that in this whole discussion we've had here, - Yeah.

That I had anything to say.

- That no one has said that the location of the trip always had to be within eight miles of a casino.

- Those, those sometimes aren't the best memory.

The best memories are right here with the, with the fishing.

- I know it's coming to an end one of these years.

I would trust my life with any one of them.

That's how, I think, close we've gotten.

Well maybe, maybe not.

Ron - I, I love these guys.

- And I trust them with my car.

I trust them with my life.

(all laughing) (upbeat music ends)