Don MeissnerOn this week's Fishing Behind the Lines we're going to be in Oswego, New York, fishing in Lake Ontario.

Pat goes "It's my turn, it's my turn.

Now you go back and talk to Dan.

Let me catch this trophy."

This is amazing!

We'll be with two brothers, both of whom are in the National Guard.

It's a Coho, oh wow, wow!

Pat Edwards: Good job!

Don: Holy cow!

Coming up next.

[Music] Don: This is a show about the men and women who serve in the United States Military.

It's a story of courage, of honor, of sacrifices and of bravery.

It's their story.

This is Fishing Behind the Lines.

Fishing Behind the Lines is brought to you by ...

The St. Lawrence-North Country Community Foundation and its cooperating partners: The Alcoa Foundation, the Corning Incorporated Foundation, North Country Savings Bank, SeaComm Federal Credit Union, the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency, the St. Lawrence River Valley Redevelopment Agency, the City of Ogdensburg, New York, and, the Towns of Brasher, Massena, and Waddington, New York.

Oswego County, New York...experience trolling for trophy trout, salmon and walleyes...fly fishing for steelhead and wild brook trout in wilderness streams... nestled between Oneida Lake, the Tug Hill Plateau and Great Lake Ontario.

Oswego County.

It's Great Outdoors.

Whether you want to advance your military career or prepare for your next professional challenge, American Military University can help you get there.

We offer more than 80 career relevant online degrees.

American Military University.

Learn from the leader.

[music] Don MeissnerWe've got a really interesting story today.

We're going to be fishing with two brothers, both in the National Guard but here's the really interesting part -- they were both deployed together on the same plane to Iraq.

ou know, today's show is going to be in Lake Ontario, and as you can tell it's really rough.

And that's what happens a lot of times when you go out on big water.

But these guys never had a chance to do this before, and we hope that today we can get in some trout and maybe even a salmon.

o they were telling me we're going to be fishing down 140 ft. depths.

Pat Edwards: guess it's easier than holding a fishing pole.

Come on!

DonBefore heading out into the lake I got a chance to talk to the two brothers on the pier.

ey guys.

Hi Dan!

Dan:ood morning!

PatGood morning.

Don:i Pat.

Well, this is it!

This is our yacht for the day.

We're going to go out for salmon, I hope you're excited.

Pat:ery excited.

Don:ecause you know something, I'm not the expert here.

Our guides here are, they're going to put us on fish and so that's our whole plan today.

This is the time of the year, it's the only time of the year that you can really get fishing like this.

These salmon are getting ready to come into the river, and they'll make their way upstream to spawn and die.

And so hopefully we can intercept them before they get up here in the stream.

So I guess we might as well get going!

Pat:eah.

Don Andy just walks around here like it's nothing, you know?

Pat: It's going to take me an hour to get out onto the water.

Don:hat's true.

You know, the neat thing is when the fish strikes, actually the bend goes out of the rod.

Pat:h really?

Don:eah, because the weight is holding it down like that, when the fish strikes it releases it.

It's... Pat:o that's how you know you got a fish.

Don: Yes.

Pat:eah, well I just asked.

I was like with the pole bent like that, how do you know a fish bite?

Don: Exactly, exactly.

Pat: The pole usually goes down.

Huh.

Don:here you go!

Okay!

Okay, now if we can stay... Now, you've got to stand and fight a fish, let alone stand!

Wow, Dan.

First salmon ever in your life?

DanEver.

Don:ow, that's... To you and me this seems pretty rough, doesn't it?

Pat:eah.

Dan Edwards: only got about seven more.

Don: Do you?

It's coming, he's coming.

See your thing on the surface?

We don't even know what you got!

Pat:t could be a shark!

Don:oh, there he is.

It's a Coho.

Ooh, wow, wow, wow!

Pat: Good job!

Don:oly cow!

Holy, isn't it?

Wow!

Pat:ow hit him with the bat.

[laughter] DonNow are you going to eat him?

Pat:eah, I'm going to eat him.

Don:ow.

Pat:hat are these marks?

GuideThat's called a lamprey eel.

Don: They get in them and they suck their blood right out and kill them.

Pat:ow!

I didn't know salmon had teeth.

Guide: Oh yeah.

Pat:ike big teeth?

Don: Big teeth.

PatOh, so don't put your hand in their mouth... Oh, look at that!

Don: Wow.

Guide: As they're getting ready to spawn there the skin around their mouths retract.

The bone comes out and the teeth, that's what they use.

They fight each other, the males in the river to spawn.

Don:hat's a beautiful fish.

Pat:o that's a male then.

Guide:hat's a male.

Don:ou know what?

That's really beautiful.

GuideIt's a gorgeous fish.

Don: Yes.

Guide: Normally you don't see them that color until they get more into the river.

They're usually a little more silver here.

[Music] Don: Now how heavy would you think he is?

Guide:hat fish is probably about 7 or 8 lbs.

Don:s it?

Pat:hat would be a good dinner right there.

Dan: Yeah, that'd be great.

DonHe said earlier that these are probably all, that this is probably another Coho but there could be anything out here.

There could be browns, Cohos, Chinooks... Dan: Perch.

Don:laughing] Somehow I don't think you got a perch, that I can promise you.

It could be a brown.

Pat:eady to not fall in the water.

Don:h my goodness.

When we first started out an hour ago I didn't see how we could even stand like this.

Now at least we're getting, we don't have our sea legs but we've got sea something going here.

Pat:t's a good thing they weren't hitting right off the bat.

We'd have been in the water.

DonI know.

That would have been funny.

You know, this is something new for me to stand here and not be holding the rod.

This is so funny!

This one rod has got copper on it and that copper is 500 ft. of copper.

And the copper sinks, it sinks it down -- it takes it down just like a down rigger.

But then behind that is backing so what we mean now is Pat is in for a tuna fishing ordeal.

He's going to be winding like crazy here to get that fish in and it's going to take a little bit of while.

But you're up for the challenge now.

Pat:That's right.

Guide: Alright, reel down.

Ready?

Now lift up slow and steady, up-up-up, up-up-up, up-up-up!

And that's a brown.

Pat: Hey, alright!

Don: You caught a brown!

Actually that's a beautiful fish.

Do you know if we caught that in a river we'd think we had the monster of all monsters?

Pat: That's my first brown trout, too, so there we go.

DonIs it?

Oh, that's great!

Pat:o matter what it was going to be the first of something.

[laughter] Don:ow, my gosh.

Did you ever think seriously, Pat, did you ever think a week ago that you'd be out here on Lake Ontario today fishing for trout and salmon?

Pat: No.

Let's see, it's Monday... A week ago I thought I'd be working.

Don:id you?

Pat:ow he's just twitching.

Oh, he's got like a wound on that side.

Don:o that's about a 20-inch brown trout.

Again, in a stream that would be absolutely a trophy of a lifetime.

Pat:ool.

DonIt's all perspective.

Does he have a lamprey mark on him too?

Pat:eah, right on the top there.

DonOh yeah, right there.

But it's like healed.

Pat:t looks like he was eaten a little bit.

Don:eah, yeah.

Now he's going to be eaten.

PatNow he's going to be eaten again.

Here, go in here and go with your brother -- your brother from another mother.

[laughter] DonWhat do you think?

You think this is a trout or a salmon?

Pat:o the boat's going too, so it's going too.

DonWow, there he is.

It is a brown and it's a bigger brown.

Pat: Oh my God.

Don: That's a nice brown.

Wow!

Dan: Get the mallet.

Pat: He is not happy at all.

Don:ow hold him right out first, yeah.

Pat:e's on the lip side.

Dan:ip side forward.

Don:ow, you realize you got a Coho, a brown, and what's brother Pat doing?

Dan:nother brown.

Guide:et's get a picture.

Don:oh, there's one.

There's one, Pat!

Dan:an you open the cooler real quick so I can drop him in there?

GuideOh, you got that?

Dan:eah, I got it.

Don:hree times is the charm, Pat, you know that.

Pat:hat's true.

Don:hree times is the charm.

Pat:s this the one that's like 7000 feet down?

DanNo.

Don:oh, you were thinking of the copper one.

Oh, this is it.

Pat:o this is the one that I'm going to- Don:his is the one that you're going to be here for a while.

[laughing] You're right.

Pat:e had to swap this out halfway through.

Okay here, your turn -- my hands are tired.

DonNow that isn't taking it, when you feel that.

So when you feel that not doing it, so just kind of pump him up a little bit there and now reel as you go down.

There you go.

There, that's it.

Still fighting?

Pat: little bit.

Don:t's probably, I would think because of the nature of this, but I don't know anything about this kind of fishing really -- but I would think it's a brown.

I don't know.

Have you fished all your life?

Pat:ff and on.

On the river and then got into carp with Bob and them.

Don:eah.

Yeah, if you hadn't known my friend Bob I wouldn't have even known you, Pat.

Funny how that goes.

Is there another strike over here?

Dan:ep.

Pat:h nice.

Guide:lide across, Pat.

Don:e got a double.

We got a double on now.

PatLet me see if I can brace myself here.

Don:kay, now this is, now this really is brotherly competition.

They've got doubles on.

Pat's is almost in though but Dan's is still green out there.

PatOh, he's fighting though.

DonIs it?

Pat:e's not fighting anymore.

DonHe's not fighting, that's for sure.

Pat:aybe he's just tired.

Don:laughing] Let's hope.

Pat:r I just reeled this in for you so you can throw it back out there.

Don:t can be on that.

PatNo, no, there's too much slack.

There you go!

Don:ow.

Guide:here he goes!

You can't land them all.

Pat:e was fighting for a while.

DonYou know, a lot of times when you're doing this kind of fishing you might go a long time without a strike and then all of a sudden bam, bam, both rods are on.

And that's what happened at this point.

However, Pat's trout got off but Dan was still hooked up.

And you know, a lot of times you have so much line out it takes quite a while to bring these fish in.

Your arms get tired but boy, I'll tell you what -- the reward is always there when you finally put one in the net, and especially for two brothers that had never had a chance to do this before.

You know, I was wondering if anybody was going to get seasick because those waves were pretty high.

You know, before all this ended I got a chance to talk with Pat about the National Guard.

Well I'll tell you what, for eighteen years I did streamside and now with Fishing Behind the Lines I've got to tell you, this is one of those days where boy oh boy, is it ever a challenge for us to show you what we're doing, with us going like this and this and this.

But anyway, we came inside here.

Now Dan is out there getting the next fish and I'm sure, Pat, that's like "You've got to be kidding me!

You called me in here to talk?"

But it'll be a little bit easier for us to do this.

And you know, this is an incredible opportunity for me to get two brothers.

Pat: Me too.

DonTell us though about when you and Dan were both deployed together.

That never happens.

How did that happen?

Pat:t happens a lot more in the National Guard than active duty.

Don:oes it?

Pat: lot of active duty guys aren't together, the brothers aren't in the same platoons, they're not in the same companies, they're on different bases.

In the National Guard it's all local guys so you've got a lot of family, brothers.

We had a whole photo of fathers, sons, brothers, uncles -- all kinds of different family groups going together.

Don:eally?

So you guys were both on that very day in the very same plane deployed overseas together.

Pat:ep.

Don:004.

Pat:004.

The only difference is he got to drive into the country from Kuwait and I got to fly into the country from Kuwait.

Don:s that right?

Pat:ep, couldn't be on the same convoy in country.

Don:hat made you and Dan join the National Guard?

What was it that made you want to do that?

PatI don't know.

Maybe it's like a family thing, like... DonSo it's gone through a tradition.

PatWe were in, my father was in, our grandfathers were both in.

It's just gone all the way back.

Don:hen you got to go over there, what went through your head as you were leaving here?

I mean it must have... You'd never had an experience like that in your life.

Pat:o, definitely.

DonI mean this was something totally new.

PatIt was exciting and scary and the whole wrapped up on how's it going to be?

You know, you see it on the news and when you get there it's a lot different than when you see it on the news.

You're only seeing the action on the news; you're not seeing the boring parts.

Don:es.

But let me ask you, by going with your brother did it change things for you?

Did it make it easier to go over there having him with you, or did it make it harder?

PatA little of both.

It made it harder sometimes when I knew I was on base and he was out on a patrol, or- Don:h, that must have ben awful.

Pat...if I was on a patrol and he was out manning the radio back at the base, I'm sure it kind of killed him for the same thing if he heard us in action or taking contact and he's sitting at the base and listening to us on a radio.

Or if they call in "Someone got hurt" or "A vehicle got hit," was it my vehicle?

Was I the one hurt?

I'm sure that kind of tore him up a bit.

Don:h my goodness.

It would have to and it's the same thing for you.

PatOh yeah.

DonWe take so much for granted and it may not be a bad thing that we do -- I think maybe that's human nature but wow, we really do.

And when you've been through what you've been through over there, then being able to come out here on a day like this where we're bobbing all over, this must seem absolutely incredible to you.

Pat:h yeah.

We're not fishing for our, we're fishing for dinner but we're not fishing for our dinner-dinner.

Don:es.

Pat:f we don't catch fish today we can still go to the store and buy something.

They don't have a store; they don't have a supermarket to go down and buy all their food from.

Don:eah, I know.

Doing this very show has changed my life in so many ways in such a quick way because it's really given me the ability to get inside the minds and hearts of the people that I'm doing the show with and get a little bit of a look at what I would have never dreamed before.

And you know, the one thing I can tell you is everybody that's been a part of this show -- all the soldiers and military people that I've met, they've had a special spark to them believe it or not because maybe it's just that special awareness that "Wow, this is really wonderful."

I don't know but that could be part of it.

Pat:ou're not getting out on a big lake like this is Iraq.

Don:o. PatI mean the Tigris but I don't know if you can fish on the Tigris.

[laughter] DonWell, sense we've been in here talking there hasn't been a strike, so we picked a good time.

So let's go out.

Now we'll get Dan and now you can monopolize the whole thing.

PatOh yeah.

Don:eah, he's right on top, right on the player too.

Probably wicked hard to see it.

He's right out in front of you, okay, right on the... Pat:h!

DonWell, we're certainly into brown trout today.

DanYeah, I'm sure they were.

PatThat's why they popped off.

Don:laughing] Sure.

Pat:hat's my story.

[laughter] DonNow let me just show you here.

On this fish underneath, let's see if we can see him.

This was from an early injury when he was really little.

Somebody caught him, let him go but that's actually where his intestines came out.

And yet this fish was able to survive.

Now, I want to also say that these fish are going to make a special dinner for Dan and Pat, a brother get-together where they can celebrate being out here on the water today.

Normally with Fishing Behind the Lines a lot that we do is catch and release, but this fishery out in Lake Ontario, a lot of it's put and take fishery.

It's designed so that people can come from other areas to have a fish feed like this, and it does sustain itself.

But it is sort of that philosophy that it's a lot put and take, so we're going to put him in the ice chest and hopefully before this morning's out we'll get to tangle with another salmon.

We never know -- just the fact of being out here in incredible.

But... And I haven't caught one of them.

[music] DonYou know, Ft.

Drum, folks, has over 30,000 soldiers and their families -- that's a lot of people.

And our military personnel travel all over the world and they go to so many places, and a lot of times they have no idea what to do when they get there.

Well, in northern New York we've got some of the finest fishing in the world, but you know what?

There's a lot more here than just the fishing.

[heartbeat/raceway sounds] Eric Torrese: My name is Eric Torrese, co-owner of Oswego Speedway in Oswego, New York.

We're the only supermodified weekly show in the country.

We run all Saturday nights in the summer from May till September.

The track was established in 1951 and consecutively running, one of the largest running short tracks in the country.

The Caruso brothers built the facility that's here today.

Looking over Lake Ontario, it's 100 acres and we run supermodifieds -- we run small block supermodifieds and with special events we're running winged supermodifieds, TQ midgets, sprint cars all summer long.And then at Labor Day Weekend the biggest race in the country for these supermodifieds is right here at Oswego Speedway.

It's called The Classic -- 200 laps.

[music] Don: And now back to the fishing.

Don: Alright, we're all... We're all looking happy right now but every one of us are kind of like "Whoa, whoa..." We don't live out here.

We don't have sea legs and we're not used to this huge roll that's going on out here.

But Dan, this has to be... Like you said, you've never caught a salmon, never caught a brown trout before.

Dan:o, neither one.

Don:o this is pretty neat, being able to catch these.

Dan: Yeah, yeah.

It's exciting.

Don: It is, isn't it?

Tell me something -- I've already been talking to Pat about it, but when you guys both deployed and he said it was one of the toughest things when one of you'd be out and the other one would be back in at the radio and so forth.

Dan:h, definitely.

DonBut tell me something, if you had to think back to being in Iraq what was the hardest thing for you in being over there?

And I know that's a tough question because there's a lot of things, but... Dan: Probably the hardest thing was my daughter, because my daughter was here.

She was two at the time, so my wife would just tell her straight off "Oh, Daddy went to work, Daddy went to work."

And she didn't know, you know, at two years old she doesn't know.

Don:f course.

Dan:o it was hard and then coming home for two weeks on leave, and getting to see her for two weeks and then knowing that you're going to have to go back over for like six months -- you know, it's hard to do.

It's hard to leave.

Don:t's got to be.

It's got to be horrendous.

You know, a lot of times we don't realize that one of the toughest things is the families involved as opposed to just the people that are over there.

Dan:eah.

DonYou know, it's easy for me to say but it's not easy for me to really feel and know because that's something only you guys can know.

Dan:ight.

Don:id it make it any easier having your brother Pat over there with you?

DanYeah, not only him -- all the guys that we went over with.

We were all like brothers more than just friends, so you were there to look out for each other and you know, help each other out.

If you're having a tough time at home you sit down with them and talk to them, and it makes it a little bit easier.

Don:nd you would come home for leave for two weeks and then go back?

Dan:es.

Don:nowing you've got to go back to the same thing.

Dan:es.

Don:oy, I'll tell you what -- it's, you know ...

I just don't think so many people are aware of the tremendous sacrifices.

The sacrifices are many-fold.

I mean it's not just the risk of your life -- it's the effect it has on your well-being, just going through that every day.

Dan:eah, you know, it's sort of easy for just me myself, and my brother and everybody else that goes over there.

You know, we know it's a job we have to do so we go over without a problem.

But it's more of an effect on the families, that especially if something happens to you over there.

Then they have to live with the loss.

DonYeah, it's got to be really tough.

Well fortunately there's people all around us now that have come to realize that this is a wonderful thing that guys like Dan and Pat are doing for us.

So we can do a little bit back, you know -- it's not just going fishing like I'm going fishing now with you, but there's so many organizations... Pat:h, there he is!

Dan:laughing] By myself?

Don:hose turn is it?

Dan:et's see if you can actually- Don:his is awesome!

Pat goes "It's my turn, it's my turn, now you go back and talk to Dan.

Let me catch this trophy."

This is amazing!

That was a lot bigger than what we've been getting, wasn't it?

[music] DonYou than what we've been getting, wasn't it?

[music] DonYou know, a lot of times you have so much line out it takes quite a while to bring these fish in.

Your arms get tired, but boy, I'll tell you what -- the reward is always there when you finally put one in the net.Well, I hope you guys have had fun out here today because this has been a really interesting and great time for me.

Dan: Mm-hmm, yeah, I had fun.

Pat I had a blast!

DonDid you?

You had so many, so many of those giant salmon that Pat had on -- got them 200 feet in, 200 yards almost.

We had 600 feet of line out, got them almost in and then gone, and then gone.

But by golly, you stuck with it and finally you caught that salmon at the end.

ou know, fishing like this isn't about the numbers and it isn't about how big the fish are.

It's about being able to do it, being able to enjoy it, and always that wonder when you're in a lake this size -- anything could be down there and you could catch a monster.

ell folks, I hope you've enjoyed our show this week.

I know it's been really fun for me to get to know two brothers that both went to Iraq together and served in the National Guard, as I'm going from one side to the other...

But the one thing I'm not is I'm not wavering my admiration and respect and my real pride in having people like Pat and Dan to serve our country.

We'll see you next time on another Fishing Behind the Lines.

Fishing Behind the Lines is brought to you by ...

The St. Lawrence-North Country Community Foundation and its cooperating partners: The Alcoa Foundation, the Corning Incorporated Foundation, North Country Savings Bank, SeaComm Federal Credit Union, the St. Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, the St. Lawrence County Industrial Development Agency, the St. Lawrence River Valley Redevelopment Agency, the City of Ogdensburg, New York, and, the Towns of Brasher, Massena, and Waddington, New York.

Oswego County, New York.

Experience trolling for trophy trout, salmon and walleyes...fly fish for steelhead and wild brook trout in wilderness streams ... nestled between Oneida Lake, the Tug Hill Plateau and Great Lake Ontario.

Oswego County.

It's Great Outdoors.

Whether you want to advance your military career or prepare for your next professional challenge, American Military University can help you get there.

We offer more than 80 career relevant online degrees.

American Military University.

Learn from the leader.

[music]