(soft music) - I mean, that's not a giant pike or anything, but I'll tell you what, it bent the rod pretty good.

It went straight down to the bottom and pulled some line out.

And Ray, sometimes that's what it's all about.

It's just getting out here, getting some action.

- Absolutely.

My dad grew up in (indistinct).

And he grew up hunting doves.

- [Jim] Just a little bit of olive oil rubbed on them and salt and pepper.

I wanna taste what the true dove, what the meat is.

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(upbeat music) - It's no secret that Minnesotans love to fish but as the state's population continues to diversify, our new residents are learning to enjoy the many nearby lakes, streams, and rivers.

While some longtime anglers have known about the quality fishing opportunities the Twin Cities area lakes offer, they're becoming increasingly popular to a mix of cultures who reside in the metro.

I was invited to fish one of the more popular lakes in Minneapolis, the former Lake Calhoun.

Now renamed Bde Maka Ska by Ray Ruiz Jr. - Primarily gonna be focusing on bass but if we get other, you know, other critters (indistinct) like our presentation, we'll take those too but we're gonna be starting with topwater.

- [Bret] And if we accidentally catch a muskie, I'm okay with it.

- Absolutely no.

- How deep does this Lake get?

- It gets, I think in the 80s.

- [Bret] Oh really?

- [Ray] Yeah, I think so.

- And there's no walleyes in here.

- There is walleyes in here, big walleyes in here.

- [Bret] Bde Maka Ska is the largest in the Minneapolis chain of lakes.

That also includes Lake Harriet, Lake of the Isles, Brownie Lake, and Cedar Lake.

- [Ray] This Lake has a, just a tremendous amount of structure and grass and primarily milfoil and that's what these fish will relate to.

- I've never fished inside sailboats before.

(Ray laughing) - It's a hard technique, you know, it's very difficult.

(upbeat music) - [Bret] Well, the metro lakes may be more popular for their recreational uses, the fishing shouldn't be overlooked.

- Cool thing it's low pressure but the accessibility, you know, especially for boats it's not all there.

You know, it's hard to get to a parking spot and.

- When you look at a lake like this, you can't use any gas motors out here.

So you see us going around with the trolling motor the whole way.

So a guy might look at this lake and say, "Gosh, there's sailboats, there's a lot of recreation out there.

I can't use my big motor.

I gotta park sometimes down the road."

But you know what that does is that keeps a lot of pressure off of these fish and it can make a Lake like this in the heart of the city a pretty good lake for fishing.

- [Ray] When you think of uptown, you think of craft beer, great restaurants, culture and art.

- [Bret] Right.

- The last thing you think about is muskie or bass fishing, you know.

- Well, this is the kinda art I like.

- That's right.

- I wanna come back here and duck hunt this fall.

(Ray laughing) Think city of Minneapolis will let us?

- Yeah, oh, man that would be awesome.

- Mallards everywhere.

(Bret quacking) Topwater has always been my favorite.

- Oh, it's the best.

- But I'm out of practice.

So I've got, so as soon as I see the water move, I'm setting the hook.

Which is way too early.

- [Ray] Right.

(Ray laughing) Oh my God, what the hell was... - Oh, he got off.

Oh.

(Ray laughing) - Dude, I think that was a muskie dude.

(Bret sighing) I think that was a musky.

I saw the tail.

(Bret sighing) God, the fish gods are cruel to you.

There's one.

Oh.

- We had an audience there that were filming us with their phones.

I think they got you missing that.

- I think so, yeah.

- You're gonna be a YouTube star missing that bass.

- They're gonna see grown men cry so.

(upbeat music) - Ray runs a company called Baztec.

It focuses on introducing the world of fishing to the Spanish speaking community.

You gotta teach me some Spanish words for fishing while we're out here today.

- One word that comes to mind right away is pesca, which is just.

- Pesca?

- Pesca which is just fishing.

Oh, we missed him?

Pescar is yeah.

Pesca, pescar.

And it's funny because in Italian or in Portuguese especially like Joe Pesci.

So if you think of Joe Pesci that's, it means fishing or fish.

- Pesci.

- Pesci, yeah.

- Pesci, do you have to say it like, you have to say it like Joe Pesci, pesci.

(soft music) Where you from Ray?

- Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois man.

You know, so.

- [Bret] How'd you get to Minnesota?

- Accepted a partial scholarship the summer of '98 to the U of M and always wanted to move to Minnesota because when I was a kid, I used to watch Al Lindner, (indistinct), Ron Schara, all those guys and I always wanted to be a pro angler or have to do something with fishing and wanted to be part of the fishing community.

So when I saw the opportunity, I turned down other big 10 schools actually to attend the University of Minnesota.

(soft music) I was up North, I was in Remer, Minnesota, (Ray laughing) my mom, my dad, my dad's fish in the back and I'm in front.

My mom's sitting in the seats in the middle of the boat and I told my mom, if you're gonna come up on the boat make sure you let me know.

'Cause I was throwing around a big old crankbait man.

- [Bret] Oh boy.

- Here I am.

- [Bret] I know where this story is going.

- And then she comes, I didn't even see her.

I'm just like this.

I'm on the trolling motor and I load up.

I'm not gonna do it 'cause you're back.

I load up to swing and that's when I hear wa!

And I'm like, turn around and she's got, she's hooked in the head.

Mind you my mom has that really, really thick Latina hair which is like and she had a double hoodie on and it got stuck on the side of her head.

And she just went like this and said, "What was that?"

And I'm like, "Oh, nothing ma."

(Bret laughing) - And I grabbed the pliers and ka, ka!

And there's a picture, I'll show it to you.

There's a picture of her with my dad holding like a five pound bass and you can see the, like on the hoodie, you can see it's like worn out from trying to get the hooks out.

(soft music) - Being from Chicago, Ray do you ever think that your life could have gone on a different direction?

- Absolutely, I thank my parents for being very supportive, very loving, and giving me opportunities.

They didn't have a good education was one of them and I had a lot of buddies who ended up in jail, ended up in, ended up dead, ended up just living a different kinda lifestyle and I'm very blessed to have been on the right path and I think not only my parents but fishing for that.

That's a big point of what kept me off the streets.

I thank my parent for it.

It was a way out.

It was a way for me to do something else.

- Fishing has that effect.

- It does.

- It's amazing.

- It is.

(upbeat music) - Ray, tell me about your company.

- I started Baztec couple of years ago.

I was working for, during the time.

There's one.

(Ray catching) That's another pike.

- The pike.

- [Voice-over] This is getting hot.

(upbeat music) - Oh, it's a bass.

He came, there he is, yeah.

Not bad, not bad.

- The Latino community is, not was, is the largest growing community not only in the United States, but in Minnesota.

- Large mouth bass are primarily catch and release for most anglers.

So if we're gonna tell people in Spanish we're practicing catch and release, what do we say?

(Ray speaks in foreign language) - They handle weed.

We're releasing often.

(Ray speaks in foreign language) So catch and release.

(Bret speaks in foreign language) (Ray speaks in foreign language) (Bret laughing) (Ray laughing) - Ray's company Baztec is always looking to help more people whether it be the Spanish speaking community or any community that wants to get out and learn how to fish.

I asked Ray to give a message in Spanish to anyone out there watching that would like to join him on the water.

(Ray speaks in foreign language) - So I said thank you for your help, thank you for your support.

(Bret speaks in foreign language) (Ray laughing) (Bret speaks in foreign language) (Ray speaks in foreign language) I'm so excited, man.

- Nice.

- That's another pike.

- Yeah, it's another pike for sure.

It's not gonna be a giant but... God.

- [Ray] Oh my God.

That's nice, man.

- [Bret] They're kinda chunky for, you know, he's not real long but they definitely have a little chunk to them.

- [Ray] A fact.

- [Bret] See if I can look at it, look at how he ate that thing.

- [Ray] There we go.

- That's what I was hoping for.

The old tail lock.

Yeah, well, there's our big fish for the day.

Ray, you know, he's not a giant.

To be able to find a lake like this to have this kinda action.

We lost a lot of fish but we had action constantly.

This is a pretty cool experience.

- [Ray] Yeah, and also a lot of fun.

(Bret speaks in foreign language) (Ray speaks in foreign language) (upbeat music) (gun firing) - [Bret] There we go.

- Farmers are looking for an alternative crop that they can be profitable With.

- You mix up a little of Hempura.

Very user-friendly this product.

- [Bret] This is hemp.

It won't get you high but it's high in protein.

And it's quickly becoming a favorite food source for doves.

(soft music) (upbeat music) Dove hunting is relatively easy.

All you need is a food or water source, a couple of spinning wing decoys, and a place to hide.

Look at them all over the hemp out there.

(gun firing) They are almost too close.

- Coming right at us.

- See this one?

- Yep.

(gun firing) - There we go.

First one on the ground boys.

Nice job.

- After learning that Ray Ruiz Jr. was introduced to the outdoors by his father, Ray Sr.

I decided they both needed to come with on the dove hunt.

- Well, my dad grew up in (indistinct) and he grew up hunting doves but he didn't use a, they were, they had limited resources.

So they hunted with slingshots.

- I shoot all kinds of birds.

I don't waste nothing.

If I don't need it, I don't shoot them.

- That's what you do to put food on the table.

I guess you get good pretty fast.

So he grew up doing that as well as hunting other small game and so he passed that knowledge and wisdom onto me.

So I'm very grateful for that and very happy to share this moment with him so.

(soft music) Coming in, right here dad.

(soft music) (guns firing) What?

- Oh, no.

(Ray Sr. laughing) - Like I said it's very humbling.

(Ray Sr. laughing) - They are tough.

(Ray Jr. laughing) (upbeat music) - After learning more about hemp, it's understandable why you could have a good dove hunt here.

But what's a normal reaction when you're asked to hunt a hemp field.

(Ray laughing) - Is it legal?

That's the first thing I thought about.

And I thought it was kinda cool.

I just didn't know doves related to hemp but the owner, Bryan educated me on how the structure of the hemp plant and how it has seeds integrated in it and how doves relate to that.

So that's pretty awesome.

(gun reloading) - [Bret] Right in front, right in front.

(Ray Sr. speaks in foreign language) (gun firing) - [Ray Jr.] Shoot him again.

(gun firing) Oh, no.

(Ray Jr. laughing) (Ray Sr. laughing) You need practice, dad.

What's going on?

I used to call you Rambo.

What happened?

- Almost 15 years, I think we (indistinct) hunt doves.

We used to hunt doves in Southern Illinois, Metropolis.

Seven miles from Paducah, Kentucky.

- [Bret] After moving to Chicago, Ray Sr. made a point to get Ray into the outdoors.

- Oh, he was a wild kid.

He was three years old and he was everywhere.

Across the street and I had to put a leash like a little dog.

(Ray Sr. laughing) He runs everywhere.

(Ray Sr. laughing) - I grew up in Chicago.

We grew up in a neighborhood where it was socioeconomically not the best and infrastructure was rough.

You know, it was a lot of gangs, a lot of violence.

My, both my parents, my mom and my dad did the best they could and.

(gun firing) - [Bret] There you go.

- Woo!

And I think that was a way to get out of the city, get us away from all the nonsense and introduce us to the outdoors and hunting and introduce you to a different kind of lifestyle, a healthy lifestyle versus the city lifestyle which can be very dangerous and as a young guy, as a young man you can get into a lot of trouble but I was able to avoid all that because my dad took us out of that and introduced us to hunting.

So that was very, very special.

(gun firing) - There was a lot of shootings, a lot of drugs.

I don't wanna, my kids hang around in the neighborhood.

There was no (Ray Sr. speaks in foreign language) Too dangerous for them, you know.

That's why I teach whatever, what I know, you know.

I teach a little bit.

Now they learn more than me maybe.

(Ray Sr. laughing) - [Bret] So he got you away from a potential life of violence, crime, drugs, and you brought him to a hemp field.

(Ray Jr. laughing) - The irony.

(Ray Jr. laughing) - No, you can't get anything wacky off this tobacky.

This is all for nutrition, protein, fiber, all sorts of good stuff in this plant.

In fact we're gonna learn a little bit more about it right now.

We're hunting near Sleepy Eye in a 75 acre field of hemp grown by Bryan Verkner.

It looks like marijuana but doesn't smoke the same.

Industrial hemp is tested by the Ag department to make sure it doesn't have more than 0.3% THC, the psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.

- I think in 2016 they started growing it legally in Minnesota through a pilot program.

And what I do is harvest for the green in it and possibly selling the fiber below the green heads.

And it gets tested for the THC content before I can even sell.

If they tested and it's over, you have to actually destroy it.

- [Bret] In 2019, Bryan signed up to be a contract grower for legacy hemp which provides seed to growers then pays them for harvested seeds and stems.

Legacy Hemp markets the products to food and fiber manufacturers.

- Farmers are looking for an alternative crop that they can be profitable with and also hemp is great for the rotation because it adds nitrogen back to the soil.

- [Bret] Although there's a lot of hype right now about the benefits of hemp derived CBD oil, the big anchorage is for industrial uses.

- And with Legacy Hemp and the farmers that we work with, we deal in agriculture.

So we're dealing with hundreds to thousands of acres at a time compared to, you know, a large CBD production would be five acres.

The strong point right now is the grain and the grain is being used for food products.

It's the perfect balance for the human body for the Omega-3 and 6.

So also the, GLA profiles are just to help for anti-inflammation within the body.

And for a plant-based protein, hemp is one of the most usable, naturally usable proteins for the human body.

The secondary use which is really going to help make farmers profitable is being able to do something with the stalks.

- [Bret] Bast fiber in stalks can be used to make insulation, farm bedding, paper, textiles, and building materials.

- The hemp plastics are kind of the latest, they've been around for a while but the technology is really advancing.

Lego is going to hemp-based plastics which is, you know, that's huge news.

One of their attributes is to, they can actually naturally break down.

If you use them in everyday use, they have great durability but they actually will naturally break down.

- [Bret] Hemp originated in China thousands of years ago.

Production spread to Europe then came to America where it was grown for fiber.

The plants we find growing along fence lines and ditches is feral hemp.

Leftover from production in the 1800s to the 1940s.

After World War II, production diminished because of competition from synthetics and federal regulations.

And in 1970, it was classified as an illegal drug with strict restrictions on cultivation.

In 2014, Kentucky became the first state to legalize hemp production.

That same year, the federal farm bill allowed state research institutions to grow pilot plots.

But there were still strong opposition to full production until farm organizations stepped up their support.

- When the Farm Bureau came in it was a game changer.

It really was.

If anyone wants to thank anyone for bringing hemp back to America, it's not your politicians or activists.

It's the farmers and the farmers groups.

They're the ones that finally once they were educated that hemp and marijuana were not the same.

They stood up and said, "Let us grow this crop.

We're not interested in growing drugs.

We want to grow a profitable crop that's good for our soil and has market.

- [Bret] The 2018 farm bill fully legalized hemp production and hybrid seeds are being developed for all regions of the country.

Minnesota is among the top five States in hemp production with 8 to 10,000 acres planted annually.

- Yeah, you know, it's basically like any other commodity.

You just need someone to start it and it kicks off.

(indistinct) - Well, if dove hunters have anything to say about it, it should take off everywhere.

After spending the morning in the drawn-out between the hemp and the bean field, we moved into the standing hemp to get closer to the birds and to stop staring at the sun.

(indistinct) (gun firing) (Bret laughing) - [Ray Jr.] I get an assist on that one.

- Double.

The ammel companies are loving us today.

Watch these right here.

(gun firing) (upbeat music) (gun firing) Oh, there's a double to finish the day right there.

This has been a great hunt.

Let's go eat some doves.

Doves are delicious and adding a little hemp to them might make them more nutritious and even more delicious.

So we're gonna learn about how you can utilize hemp in your cooking.

(upbeat music) Since growing industrial hemp was fully legalized in 2018, markets have been growing for the plants, grains, and fiber.

Legacy Hemp contracts with farmers to grow industrial hemp that it markets to food and fiber manufacturers.

To expand the hemp product line, Legacy Hemp partnered with chef Jim Kinberg to develop him Hempura.

A Japanese style batter mix.

We joined the chef at a camp cookout near Bayport, where Jim fried up vegetables and Hempura to accompany roasted dove that we harvested on a hemp field.

(upbeat music) (upbeat music) - So this is one of my favorite little kitchen gadgets but warning, these things are sharp and they do cut.

You can see how much time this saves.

It makes these little matchsticks of the vegetables that you zip through it.

So we're gonna take our yam and do a little portion of that.

Beautiful little matchstick kinda pieces.

We're gonna do the same thing with the yellow squash.

(soft music) (indistinct) Look how nice that looks.

You mix up a little of the Hempura.

Very user-friendly this product.

So we're using beer today you can use sparkling soda, club soda, you can use cold water.

(indistinct) just add enough cold liquid to get it, almost like a pancake batter consistency.

And then the key ingredient is the hemp of course but it's also, it's the hemp protein so.

That's the outer shell or the hemp seed.

And it's just the crunch on this Hempura batter is, you can set it out on the counter overnight and then come eat it for breakfast and it's still crunchy.

It's really amazing stuff.

So let's get started.

I think we got some hot oil over the campfire and we're gonna make our little bird's nest with some vegetables and Hempura.

We're just gonna mix these together, the Hempura and the vegetables and a little toss, a nice thin little coating just enough to kinda glue them together.

Give us that nice crispy exterior.

Think we're ready for the oil.

Temperature we're looking for is approximately 350 to 360 degrees.

You wanna carefully not to splash too much but you hear that nice sizzle.

That's exactly what we're looking for.

(soft music) - [Bret] After the bird's nest is finished, Jim prepares coals for roasting the doves at about 400 degrees.

He adds hemp pellets to augment the smokey flavor but keeps the seasoning simple.

- Yeah, I've got just a little bit of olive oil rubbed on them and salt and pepper.

I wanna taste what the true dove, what the meat is.

We can hide it in a lot of marinades and strong spices.

That's not what I'm trying to do today.

I just wanna, you know, cook it so it's not dried out.

We want a little bit pink in the middle.

(soft music) It's little nest.

This is a little butternut squash puree.

- [Bret] The perfectly grilled breasts top the puree and the dish is finished with fresh tomatoes and basil from Jim's garden.

He also made a little gravy for dipping.

It smells delicious.

Time to dig in.

So I do this right here?

There we go.

All right.

So now with eating dove on the breast bone, I find the best way to do it is you kinda just dig in right here and you can peel that meat right off the bone.

Oh, I'm dripping all over the place.

(soft music) Oh, oh my gosh.

Mm, mm-hmm.

I don't know what you guys are gonna eat.

(Jim laughing) Yeah, that's very good.

The vegetables fried in hempura batter we're also very tasty.

Legacy Hemp is expecting products like Hempura to take off in the marketplace and create new uses for industrial hemp.

(soft music) (soft music) (soft music) - [Advertiser] Funding for this program was provided by Safebasements of Minnesota, your basement waterproofing and foundation repair specialist since 1990.

Peace of mind is a safe basement.

Live Wide Open.

The more people know about West Central Minnesota, the more reasons they have to live here.

More at livewideopen.com Western Minnesota Prairie Waters, where peace, relaxation, and opportunities await.

And the members of Pioneer PBS.

- [Bret] Well, so I was thinking guys, probably set some decoys and full bodies up here in the grass.

We'll throw some floaters right out here.

We could hide the blinds probably right along this edge right here.

We'll set them in the sand and then kinda grass in the blinds right there.

And then we can use this little lip right here to kinda conceal our.