Fishing or Bowhunting

This week Colt Start joins Nate Rozeveld on Michigan Wild. Colt has always had a passion for fishing. Compared to Nate, who has fished but never at a high level or consistently, especially in his adult life. On this episode the guys go thru the different fishing opportunities Michigan has, along with the different techniques used. Colt breaks down his approach in a few different ways depending on the species he fishes and location. Colt has also hunted whitetails at a high level and they discuss the parallels with getting on big fish and big whitetails.

A great episode with two friends that hopefully inspires others to get outside and enjoy all the opportunities Michigan has for fishing!

All right. This is gonna be. Episode four, and I [00:01:00] have my good friend Colt. Start with us, Colt. When did, how did we become friends, I guess?

Colt Start: Oh, we met through your wife, Ashley, who I went to nursing school with her. Yeah, that's right.

Nate Rozeveld: That was the b s M program, right?

Yeah. You guys to, yeah, Ferris. Yeah. So she was, I, oh yeah, I remember. She was like, dude, I have this kid, Cole, who's because you're younger. How old are you? 25. 25. So yeah, we're 32, or actually I'm 33 now. But she was like, this kid, Cole is crazy. He's just like, how we were, you know, he loves to hunt and fish.

We need to hang out. And I was like, all right, I'm game. So I remember we kinda hung out a couple times and yeah, you're in, you've lived. And the outdoors pretty much your whole life. Yeah.

Colt Start: I mean, I grew up in northern Lower Peninsula, Michigan, up by Baldwin area, and out our back door we could hunt and fish.

I grew up on a private fishing lake. Mm-hmm. So we spent our times in the woods or

Nate Rozeveld: on the lake. Yeah. You were my kind of people. I remember that. Yeah. Drove a beater truck. I mean, it may not a beater, but you had your, your dodge truck all clapped out. Oh, no, I was a beater. Beater. [00:02:00] Yeah. You were not. Uh, so I went also to the, you know, the nursing program when I was 25.

Right. You know, you start, you were obviously a lot younger, but I, I remember when I was up there at Ferris and Ferris is a decent college. It's, you know, got a lot of, you know, rural aspects to it. But I definitely wasn't the minority from like being a diehard hunter in the nursing program at least.

Colt Start: Oh, for sure.

And that's made obvious on day one when they say if you hunt, go to this side. If you're anti-guns, go to that side. Yep.

Nate Rozeveld: And then there's Cole. Yep. And my wife. Yep. Hi. Yep. Just you two. But yeah, I mean it definitely, you know, one of the reasons why I didn't finish nursing program was because I just love being outside a lot.

Yeah. And you, you powered through and did it and you've had a pretty good life because of that, you know, in different ways. Oh, yeah. But yeah. So now you've been a nurse for how long you got, you've been a nurse for right now, four years or so. Four years, yep. Yeah. And uh, most recently, what'd you, you started doing the traveling thing?

Colt Start: Yeah, we jumped into travel nursing. We were in, uh, Washington State for the past five months out there. Mm-hmm. And worked out there for five months and now we're [00:03:00] home and

Nate Rozeveld: has some time off. Yeah. And you've been doing the whole camper life? Yep. I don't know. That camper's pretty nice, but it is a small house.

Yes. Yes. It's sweet. So yeah, your wife was also a nurse. I guess we could say that too. So Yeah, she does burned ortho trauma. Yep. So it was very easy to be, be friends and stick our, keep our friendship together because my wife is in the healthcare field and you guys, and me and you can chill and hang out and talk about hunting and fishing and all this other stuff.

Well, the wives can talk about the day at work and, and they both liked the outdoors too. It just one of those things. But yeah. So I wanted just to have you on to. I mean, you've been a, you've fished a lot. Yeah. Like you've grown up, like you said, you had a private lake you grew up on. Yep.

Colt Start: And we lived right down the road from the pier, Marquette River.

And I worked at the canoe rental there managing it. So I got to know all of the, um, river fishing guides. 'cause we did their car spots. Okay. So when they had open slots, I, they'd call me and I'd just hop in

Nate Rozeveld: the boat with 'em. Nice. And we'd float the river. When did you start doing that?

Colt Start: Uh, that was my freshman year of college.

Oh, nice. Yeah. [00:04:00] So I did it all the way through

Nate Rozeveld: college. And you're the manager of that? Yep. By that It was one I left. Yeah. So you got any crazy, what's like a crazy story that pops in your head of the canoe rental? Or was it canoes or tubes or both? We did everything.

Colt Start: Okay. Canoes, kayaks, tubes, rafts. Nice. We would put over a thousand watercraft on the river every single day.

Nate Rozeveld: Nice. That's a lot. Yeah, it was. So you have a story that sticks out to you? I mean,

Colt Start: there's all kinds of stories matter of the appropriateness.

Nate Rozeveld: Uh, we can keep it PG 13, I guess we had, uh, I'll make sure Henry doesn't listen to this part if it gets bad, but No,

Colt Start: no. We had, uh, one that sticks out to me. I had a bachelorette party that we put on the river, and of course he put 'em on the river and they had all their sexual blowup toys and stuff on the river with 'em, and they'll send 'em off on their way.

Don't think anything of it. When I picked 'em up at the end, they were so trashed that they took, they took, they came in three hours after the deadline for them to be off the river. Oh. Because gosh. And like we ended up sending people down the river, people find to find 'em, to bring them down the rest of the river.

Oh, and [00:05:00] Journey. They finally come down. I'm sitting there in the bus waiting for 'em and the first few come stumbling up and there's like 30 of 'em. So they came in over the period of like an hour kind of a thing, and the last person who was the person getting married came down and like sat behind the bus.

And I'm like, what's she doing? So I walked back there and all of a sudden her feet are up in the air. She upside down, she lost her balance and flipped down the hill. Oh my gosh. I'm like, what in the world? So I grab her, throw her in the bus, and then we're she, they're the last bus load, so the truck's following us out with all their watercraft.

Yep. Next thing you know, the truck gets on the radio and they're like, col, you need to pull over. And I'm like, why? They were had flipped open the back door and they were flashing him and twerking out the back door of the bus.

Nate Rozeveld: Chick's getting wild. And you're like, and you're in college. So you're like, these people are crazy.

And you're like, yep, that's good stuff. Typical day of life right there. Yep. That's river. Yeah. I mean, I. I did, uh, I'm trying to think where we kayaked, I, I wanna say the Platte River maybe. I don't know if they had something like [00:06:00] that closer to like, uh, traverse City maybe somewhere up there. I think that's right.

I've done that. And like otherwise, just, you know, I've never done the whole tubing thing, but you everyone knows stories, so that's why I couldn't imagine what you've seen because I've heard stories of kids in high school and Oh yeah. Early twenties going tubing down the river and it gets pretty crazy.

So you've seen it all. I'm sure. The

Colt Start: problem with ours, since we did the rafts too, we had the six person rafts. Mm-hmm. So they would load six people and then a full-size cooler in the middle of it. And with those, they didn't have to paddle Really. They just bounced stuff going down the river. So that time they got to the end, they would be obliterated

Nate Rozeveld: every single time.

No. Yeah. They didn't have to worry. No responsibility when you're on the water. Right. Okay. So the times I did kayak the whole time I was kayaking. I was like, gosh, I should've brought my fishing pole. Oh yeah. So like how often were you able to do that? Like would you, when you worked at that job, would you fish like a lot while you're doing the job?

Or how, how'd you fit in, I guess, because like I'm assuming when you're busy working with college, that's when you should be fishing. So like how did you make time for that in college

Colt Start: at work, a lot of the times [00:07:00] I'd actually put a pole in the bus with me and either take it down while I'm waiting for customers and fish that way or otherwise, when we would lose watercraft, I'd get sent down in a different watercraft to dive into the river and try to pull out the one that was sunk.

Gotcha. And, and I'd bring my pole with me and float the river and fish the entire time all the way

Nate Rozeveld: down to it. Nice. So now what kind of stuff, like, I'm not well versed in river fishing by any means. Like I grew up, um, not a private lake, but I grew up right down the road from a, um, smaller lake and, you know, knew all the neighbors and they gave me permission just to dock fish essentially.

Yeah. So I grew up doing that. So like river wasn't really my thing. My cousin, he lived on the, the Grand River, so like the only fishing I had on river was Big River. Yeah. And we just whipped out there a weight with a night crawl on it and whatever bit you're just happy. So like, I dunno, I caught carp, I caught, you know, catfish, sheep had that kind of thing.

Oh yeah. But like I'm assuming up there by the pier, Marquette a little different. So like what kind of stuff were you targeting?

Colt Start: So there, depending on the time of year, a lot of the times you're going after like rainbow brown trouts type [00:08:00] thing. Um, but there's salmon run there, so you get the salmon run and then obviously steelhead too.

So. Okay. There's a lot of different variety you can find there. So what's

Nate Rozeveld: your favorite, like if I was like, okay, you get one week to fish, the pure Marquette, what are you, what are you going for and when are you doing it?

Colt Start: I'd probably go after steelhead. Um, there's a pretty specific season for them, but it's, I love salmon fishing, but up there especially, they're so thick, you can pretty much pull one out anywhere you want.

I mean, it's not really a challenge up there. And they're not usually actually hooking 'em. They're. Low key snagging. Gotcha. They're dragging the bottom. And

Nate Rozeveld: yeah, because, so I, I guess I, the experience I do have with the peer Marquette, we did a little job, like I'm in construction, so we did this little thing, um, and it was on the section of the peer Marquette where, uh, you could only fly fish and it was catch and release only.

So, I mean, I'm sure a lot of people know this, I didn't know, but I remember I'd get there early in the morning, like right at daybreak and I could not believe how many salmon I could see. Yep. And it was shallow. And I was [00:09:00] like, like you said, you could walk. I felt like I could walk across there in all those salmon.

I was like, because I have no experience with salmon fish. I mean, I fished the a dam one time when I was little and I've charter fished on Lake Michigan, but I had never, and I saw that and I was like, no way. And then you see all these drift boats. So like, I'm That's what you mean by charter. And you do the drift boats and they all ev all day.

I did the, I think we were there for like a week or maybe two weeks in this job. And, uh, they would all hit the same spots and they'd have their clients and they'd catch fish in the same area. Yep. And I remember being like, How are they not catching more? Because I would see so many of 'em. Yeah. And I guess I, so like I've heard things like it's, it's, they don't always bite, I guess.

Like to me see a bass or see a blue gill as a kid on the lake, it's like cast over there. Yeah. They're going after it like you're catching blue gills on beds or whatever. So like that To me there's like an art I would assume to how you present stuff maybe. Or what is the, it's all, how does that that work?

It's hard

Colt Start: to get the salmon to bite in the river 'cause they're headed up river. They have one thing on their mind. Okay. I mean they, they aren't really looking for [00:10:00] food that much. If you're lucky, you can get one to bite it. I'm trying to remember the fancy term they use. But it is basically, it's. A version of snagging, it's illegal to officially snag 'em.

Yes. But it is a hook with a weight on it dragging the

Nate Rozeveld: bottom. So you kind of drift it by 'em. Yeah. I'm assuming for that. Yeah. Okay. And then you accidentally, so it's more of like a, a reaction that they're doing. Exactly. Gotcha. So you they're reacting

Colt Start: to it. Yeah. They're not atactually trying to

Nate Rozeveld: bite it.

So, so steelhead, I'm assuming because you pick that they're a little different. Yeah. They'll,

Colt Start: they'll actually bite. Okay. And you can fisher those with a lot of different things. You can fly, fish, 'em, anything you want. Um, especially we did a lot of like green cottage area down to like Gleasons or Bowman's, which that's all fly fishing only.

Gotcha. So we, that's the main segment. A lot of the guides chew. Okay. Um, they'll either launch at 30 M 37 or Greens cottage and then float to Gleasons or Bowmans. Gotcha. And like, A lot of the time during like especially salmon season, it's ridiculously busy. Yes. Like car spotting. We'd move 75 vehicles in a day.

Wow. Doing all [00:11:00] that.

Nate Rozeveld: Yeah. So that's why I also don't like salmon. It's a busy area. Yeah, true. It's a busy area. So yeah. You growing up in that area, yeah. You probably were like piss on the salmon stuff. This is terrible. Like I'm used to having my, you know, freedom and doing that, but Yeah. 'cause I was working there in that area.

I couldn't believe how busy that area was. Like, I mean, there's vehicles everywhere. Every place had people and they're all coming from, I mean, it was. To me it was like, why are there so many out state license plates here? But people come from all over, I'm assuming, to fish that area.

Colt Start: So that area also, we have Big Star Lake out there.

Oh, okay. Which we is a very high end lake. Gotcha. So we get a lot of out of town

Nate Rozeveld: people from There's. Okay. So that makes sense too. Yeah. So it's just like a really cool area of the state. Oh yeah. And like something I didn't really know. 'cause like when I go north, you know, I'm just north of Grand Rapids, but like I primarily follow 1 31 North and like Right.

That's been my area. Like I haven't really experienced much that way other than like, you know, driving up to Traverse City area for a little vacation or, you know, doing that kind of thing. So like when I was met you, you talked about all this like opportunity to hunt and [00:12:00] fish. I'm like, what are you talking about?

Like, that area is like sand and pine trees. Kind of like, that's kind of how I looked at it and Yeah. Growing, you know, hearing stories about how you did that. I was like, oh, this is a really cool area. And then, Getting to work up there is really cool. So when you, another question like when you're, 'cause my wife really wants to do like a drift river fish.

Yeah. Like she's been kind of saying, Hey, and I know we've talked about it. Like she'd like to try to do that. Um, but for example, we did a charter fish on Lake Michigan. Great. Dude. It was a fun time. Like your great experience. We caught a bunch of fish. I got super seasick. I mean, I puked my brains out. It was one of those things where like waves were coming both ways, you know, so we're getting, the storm had came through, so like we had waves mixing, I don't know, choppy or whatever you call it.

But I puked for six hours straight. I mean, I peeked so much. I, dude, I couldn't even talk the next day. It was rough. I mean, I was just chumming in the back of the boat and it was like, alright, fish on. And then I'd get told switch sides. So I'd have to go puke off the one side while they were reeling them.[00:13:00]

But, you know, it was a great, great experience. Caused some big fish, like it was a really good day. Uh, not so great for me, but I powered through. But my wife didn't really like that very much because, you know, She's like, they just hand you the pole and you reel it in. Yeah. And she was like, I want to do more.

And so I was like, well, and she really was, she like really liked the, the salmon fishing on the boat and stuff. But she's like, and then she's in school with you for two years. Right. And all you talk about is how awesome this river stuff is. So like if you were to get like a charter or do something like that, do you have a little bit more freedom, I guess to like cast and do

Colt Start: that kind of stuff when you do that?

So yeah, you have a lot more independence there. They, I mean, they. Obviously if you don't know anything about fly fishing, they're gonna walk you through, teach you how to cast kind of a thing. Mm-hmm. But once they teach you, you're pretty much on your own. You're fishing, um, they'll tell you where to cast kind of a thing.

Yep. If, you know, they know where the fish are, they are there all the time, you know? Yeah. Like you said, they float the same river pretty much every single day of their life. Yep. So, I mean, they know where the fish are and they tell you where to fish, but other than that, you're on your own and they'll [00:14:00] help you net 'em and stuff like that.

Or if you have one that you can't get to the boat, they'll jump in the river and net it

Nate Rozeveld: for you. But Yeah. And I noticed that that was crazy. Them guys would jump in there and this fish is on, you know, they're fighting 'em for quite a while. Yeah. 'cause I mean, they're kind of big and they would jump in there and like direct traffic and be able to sometimes scoop 'em out of there.

I'm like, how did he do that? Like Yeah.

Colt Start: I mean, it's crazy because a lot of the times, I mean, they'll pull 35 pound salmon outta that river with a fly rod, which is, fly rods aren't really meant for that kind of fish. No. So you'll be fighting it for a long time and by the time you get it within 20 yards of the boat, you're exhausted.

So that's when they'll jump in and edit outta

Nate Rozeveld: the river for you. That's so. So I grew up fly fishing for bluegills. Like that was my thing on the docks. As a kid, I would bring a bucket out there and fill water and I would always, you know, try to fill it with, you know, hand sized bluegill. And so like I learned how to cast or fly fish that way, but I don't know how you do that in a narrow river like that.

'cause like it's a different technique they use. I don't really know the correct technique. I mean, I learned this [00:15:00] when I was like 10, 11, 12, and I haven't done it much since. But, uh, yeah, it's different. Like they're, it's not the easiest area to do it. So I'm sure the guide really helps with like, okay, this is where you need to kind of be and

Colt Start: do.

Yeah. They help you with the adjustment and getting down the casting a lot. 'cause like you said, I mean the pure Marquette. It's a world renowned fishing river, but it's not that wide. Yes. I mean, you're also usually not trying to cast nearly as far as you probably would on the lake. You know, you're more controlled casting 'cause you're trying to cast into the different fishing holes and stuff on the bank.

Um, trying to get under the log, stuff like that. That's where, I mean, salmon obviously, they fill the entire river. Mm-hmm. But when it comes to trout and stuff like that, they're a little more picky. So there's. Specific coals and stuff

Nate Rozeveld: you cast at. Okay, gotcha. Now, have you done much fishing, like on the bigger river?

Like the

Colt Start: grand, the grand and stuff like that? So actually, yeah. My brother has a bass boat. Okay. And we usually, every couple weeks when I'm home, put into the grand and we do a lot of bass fishing out there. Nice. And what's, a lot of people don't know, there's a lot [00:16:00] of big bass in that river really. Um, we fold six, seven pounders out of it.

I mean, nothing

Nate Rozeveld: giant. How in the world do you go about that? Like what, like, so like my bass fishing experience is go to a little lake. I know throw weedless, you know, sanko out there something, and then kind of just rocket, like that's my thing. And then top water, but Oh yeah. Typically if I'm gonna catch a bass, I throw a, you know, a sanco out there, like a a, um, crawfish and just kind of jig it.

Yeah. I've never been on like a really nice boat, just a robot with like a Troy motor. So like, How do you do it in the river? Like obviously it's different 'cause it's moving water.

Colt Start: Yeah. And with the grand, it's flooded all the time. Mm-hmm So the nice thing about that is when it's flooded and a lot of people don't think about it, but that bank where it's flooded up into the trees, the fish love it.

It's all cover for 'em. True. So we'll sit there and we'll flip cross. So we'll underarm cast them Okay. And flip across, right up underneath the trees, 20, 30 yards up onto the bank and pull it right to through that. And we'll pull the big

Nate Rozeveld: ones right off the bank. So the bass like to probably sit back there 'cause the water's not flowing as much [00:17:00]

Colt Start: and it's in the shade.

I mean, it's a cooler for '

Nate Rozeveld: em. So, So it's like the lily pads of the river almost. Exactly. Almost. Yep. Ah, that's cool. Yeah, I've bow fished, you know the Grand River? Oh yeah. A little bit of that. Not much actually. I think I only did it one time and uh, went with a buddy and that, uh, one of my coworkers, he had a boat and it was, it was rough because there was so much bugs, but it was fun.

We went out and we did, like what you said, there was like a flooded spot, I wanna say. It was like, we kinda like this little inlet or something. We went up in there and we're like, oh, there's gotta be stuff in here, didn't it? And um, As we like left that I was scared I a fish was so big, it scared me. I was like, what the heck was that?

And I did not know. And my buddy was giving crap, why'd you shoot it? I was like, dude, it was so big I didn't know to shoot it. And come to find out, I'm pretty sure it was a sturgeon. So yeah, like which is really cool that the Grand River has that dude. It was like I've shot at lots of fish and I've both fished before.

Like you know, you shoot little carp and like that kind of stuff. Oh yeah. But seeing that I was like, oh [00:18:00] my gosh, I was so freaked out by it. I was so eerie. So yeah, the Grand River kind of freaks me out 'cause it's dirty. I grew up on like a clean lake and all that stuff. It's like, you know what? That's not for me.

But you've got my interest. Yeah. I'm not swimming in it. Yeah, not swimming in there. No. But be able to catch some big bass though. That's probably a lot of fun. And it's easy to go and do that too.

Colt Start: So Zach's right down the road from us so it's nice, easy lunch and you can go out for the day and drink

Nate Rozeveld: some beer and fish.

Go have a good time. But so. What, um, like for you to go fishing, like what do you think is like the draw that you've always just liked fishing so much because you haven't really stopped fishing like you, if anything, you probably got more into it the older you got, you think?

Colt Start: Yeah, I've always fished. I mean, but especially since I graduated, I got really into it, you know, have some more time, free time on my hands.

Mm-hmm. And bought all new rods, all new gear, threw out my old tackle box and everything, and just started from fresh and you know, it's, for me it's just get away, you know, it's a peace and quiet, you know, being a nurse, we deal with the chaotic BSS every day at work. Mm-hmm. And you know, it's nice to just be [00:19:00] able to get out there and not have able to bother you and get out there with a friend or you know, your brother or whatever.

Mm-hmm. And just have some peace of mind and be able to think clearly for

Nate Rozeveld: a while. So do you have like, um, it's like when we deer hunt, you know, like you get like to the point where like, dude, I gotta shoot the big buck, or I gotta get a deer. I gotta like, my season's like dedicated to like, I want to, you know, shoot a deer this age or have a deer picked out or you know, how you can do that.

Like when you go into like efficiencies, do you have like goals like that? Or do you, is it more, do you like it because it's just so laid back that if you catch a six pounder awesome. If not, no big deal. Like how do you approach that?

Colt Start: So I definitely usually have goals. I mean, I normally always set some sort of a goal, whether it's pound or you know, how many baths or even how many days I wanna be able to get out.

Okay. Try to get my schedule. But like, it's definitely a little different 'cause you don't, it's not like you have camera footage, you know? True. You don't know what's in the water below you. So it's all a guessing game on what's under the water and you know, where, and then also where you're gonna be fishing.

Like [00:20:00] where I grew up on that private fishing, like you could pull an 18 inch bass outta the water, every other cast. Gotcha. So it, that was very different. And now I. That spoiled me. So I go to all these lakes that are supposedly good fishing lakes and you sit there and throw 10 lines and don't reeling a fish.

And it's like, what is this?

Nate Rozeveld: I've been bamboozled. So I've heard that people say every lake has big bass in it. It's just trying to find them. So if you like, are you like, do you go back to lakes and try to find the big fish or do you kind of like, ah, I had a rough day there. I'm gonna kind of not go back the summer?

Or like, how do you approach that? Because like I look at it like every big chunk of public land in Michigan should hold a, you know, a shooter buck. Yeah. Or whatever that may be for you. You just gotta go try to find it. And that's, I've heard people kind of relate that fishing and fishing for bass. And deer hunting are kind of similar.

Yeah. So like, I guess, how do you attack that? Are you like, I'm gonna dissect this lake and figure it out and find them? [00:21:00] Or how do you Yeah. How do you

Colt Start: do that? So, a lot of times we'll go back especially, 'cause, I mean, with fishing, you could be using the wrong color for the day. Mm-hmm. I mean, you could be using the wrong lure.

There's a lot of different things you can change up. Okay. Um, different styles. You could throw some drop shots, which are more deep water, you know, if you were fish in the bank. And there, there's just so many different things you can change on a lake and how you fish it to change the type of fish and, you know, number or size that you're going for.

You know. And if you're looking for number, a lot of time you can sit there and flip the bank and pull 12 inches out all day. Gotcha. But if you want the big guys, a lot of times they're down deeper in water too, so. Okay. Really.

Nate Rozeveld: So the, the, the allure for you, not, no pun intended with that, but you like the diversity or like you can have every day you can try something different.

It's like kind of like that tweaking with it and like, Okay. I can try to find that, see what worked. That's the, the fun part of it for you. Yeah,

Colt Start: a hundred percent. I mean, there's always something you can change. I mean, when we get skunked at it, like the first thing we do is try to go back. Okay. 'cause we wanna try to prove that, you know, [00:22:00] they we're not gonna get skunked

Nate Rozeveld: again.

You know, I went ice fishing as a kid, got skunked hard and I hate ice fishing to this day. So, like that, that was my, the worst experience of my life. Ice fishing was grandpas and uncles and trying to do it by myself. I said, piss on this. I'm never doing this again. And I don't think I've ice fished since I was a little kid.

I was so put off by it. And part of the reason is I, like, I love to rabbit hunt in the winter, so like, I do that. But, you know, going for, so like for me, I like fishing even though I don't do it very often. Like, I'm hoping to do it more as my son's getting older and have a little more free time. Like you said, I, the, the lure for me for fishing is, I don't have to do anything.

I can just literally go to a lake with a boat or whatever and just fish. And like if I wanna rock a sanco all day and catch one fish, cool. I'm having fun and join it. So like I really like that aspect of it. And like, my thing is, there's no pressure

Colt Start: on the water too. Like work can try to call you in, but what are they gonna do?

You're out on a boat,

Nate Rozeveld: you ain't even, you ain't picking up that shit. Yeah, true. Yeah. And like there's [00:23:00] no, uh, there I don't care 'cause I'm not like, I'm so inexperienced with fishing that I'm just having a good time. Like Yeah. And that, uh, but for you I was like kind of curious 'cause you've done it so much more.

There's maybe a little bit more like, I should be catching these fish. Where are they? So I was just, you know, that's kind of cool to hear you saying, hey, like if I have a terrible day, You're like itching to get back out there to kind of like redeem yourself or do that?

Colt Start: Oh yeah. It's, I mean, don't you, it's frustrating, especially when you know, you have every combo you set up for your reel and rod or you're spending over $500 on Yeah.

Because you want the nicer equipment. Yeah. Then you go out there and you don't catch a single fish and it's like, what's the point? Buying the nicer equipment

Nate Rozeveld: to not catch that. You think I could do the same thing in my ugly stick from Walmart, you know, that kind of thing. Yeah. What is it, like golf, you can buy the most expensive clothes, but you still slice it.

Yeah. Kind of a thing. Oh man. That's great. So what, as of now, like what's like, do you do a lot of, is like bass fishing kind of where you've kind of like settled now in your, as your

Colt Start: adult life? Yeah. Large mouth is definitely what my brother and I tend to go after the most. [00:24:00] Um, we love to river fish and stuff, but there's not that many around here as far as like the pure Marquette, you know, going after rainbows and browns.

Um, But recently in the past couple years, we've tried to transition into some small mouth fishing too. Okay. Went up and fished the Grand Traverse Bay and uh, lake St. Clair and stuff. Okay. That's a whole different game, dude. It felt, made us feel like we had no idea what we were doing. Bass fishing. Okay.

It's, you go from trying to fish the banks to, they're all on the rocks on the bottom. Mm-hmm. And it's completely different. Lure setups, everything's different. And I mean, we were lucky to catch one or two som smalls each time we went out, dude. We'd spend, we'd almost kill ourselves going across the Grand Travis Bay.

Gosh. In a 17 foot boat just to catch two fish.

Nate Rozeveld: It's totally worth it. I swear my buddy Tyler, who was on the Rabbit Hunt podcast, he. I don't know where he goes somewhere up north. He, they got a little vacation spot, but he's been like dedicated to catch some small mouth. So like, he's been taking, he's just got a kayak, which he fishes a lot off his kayak and catches, you know, bass down around this area.

[00:25:00] Yeah, dude. He said the same thing. He's like, dude, these smallmouth are kicking my butt. I, I cannot catch 'em. And then I think he went on a boat one time with another buddy and the dude was just slaying him right next to him. He's like, I don't get it. Like, what's going on? You know, and that's kind of how, I mean, I'm sure that's how I would feel if I would to go hop on a boat with you at a, like a bass boat.

I think I literally have only fished on a bass boat. Maybe two or three times. Okay. So like, I would, you know, and I think the one time we went to a little lake around here and I felt like invincible on that thing. 'cause I had a nice trolley motor. Oh yeah. And I was in the front steering it and like, like you said, we weren't trying for the big fish, we were just catching fish.

Yeah. So, you know, we pulled every 12 inch pass outta that lake. It felt like that a couple nights. But yeah, so I mean that, you know, hearing this story like, it kind of get me kind of like fired up. Like, man, this would be kind of fun to go do. And um, yeah, I'm really looking forward to do, hopefully doing that.

And, but there's just so much, it's, it's, I wonder if it's like, almost like the feeling that people who want to get into bow hunting or deer hunting for the first time, how they may feel like a little overwhelmed. Oh yeah. Like hearing you guys, like [00:26:00] I have other friends that are big into fishing. I'm like, you have how many poles?

Like, dude, I've had this ugly stick for like 10 years, like, and I have a tackle box like, like when I don't want to use that, I cut it and then put a new lure on there and they're like, no dude, I got like five poles and Yeah. Have all this stuff. And you know, you go to Cabela's or somewhere and I'm like, dude, I have nowhere to, no idea where to start.

So, How, how much does like, so like for me, I kind of have the mindset, like I'm not, I'm not cheap when it comes to like my, my gear, but I also don't like overspending for stuff. So I try to always be like, I'll have some stuff that I feel like it doesn't help me if I buy the most expensive thing. Yeah.

Like it who caress. Like I don't need the best camo, like camel's camo, but there's like maybe a base layer I'll spend money on or my like climbing sticks. I spend some money and then like I lean pretty heavy on my bow, like I'll spend a lot of money on my bow. So I kinda like pick and choose what I spend money on.

Like, I mean, I've had the same pair of pants for quite a while. Like I just rock some brush pants. You know, like there's just certain things like that that I do. So like fishing. Where do you think, like, [00:27:00] obviously like you're like, we won't even go down the whole boat rabbit hole. Like holy moly.

Colt Start: Yeah. You can spend some serious money on the fishing boat.

On a boat. Boat. So

Nate Rozeveld: like if you were like, okay, I want to get into this fishing a little more. I'm asking this selfishly, 'cause I have literally only have an ugly stick, like in a small, ugly stick. What would you say? Like, hey, you know, two poles, three poles, like what? Where would you spend your money? I guess?

You

Colt Start: know, it really all depends on what you want to do and where you're gonna fish. 'cause like we have different pools set up for a lot of different things. We have our bait casters set up for, you know, um, flipping cross and stuff like that. We also have spinners that we use more for, you know, longer casting, stuff like that.

Yeah. Um, and then you also, we also have bait casters just set up for fogging because you have to have a heavier poundage line on it because they're coming up out of the water and those lily pads and taking it. Oh, gotcha. So they'll snap those right off and, you know, then you have your lines that you're running with six pound tests for, you know, your more accurate casting and stuff like that.

Oh, so you're

Nate Rozeveld: telling me the. Type of line you have on your pole determines how you cast it.

Colt Start: [00:28:00] Doesn't necessarily determine it, but helps how it can

Nate Rozeveld: assist. Yeah. Really? Yeah. That dude just blew my behind. I've never even heard that. Like I'm, that's, that's cool. I never thought about that.

Colt Start: And like the thing is like if you're gonna run braid, then you have to tie all your knots different.

'cause braid will try to untie. Oh.

Nate Rozeveld: So my standard, you know, loop was seven times round back through itself. It doesn't work for everything. No, it's a

Colt Start: little different. It might come untied on

Nate Rozeveld: you. So what I'm saying is, before I spend all this money, I just need to make sure you show me. I'm just gonna take it long probably.

So what's gonna have to happen? Fair. So would you, what would you say like two poles, three poles, would you spend a little more money on? So like for, let's just say like you wanna do the occasional blue gill fishing and bass fishing. 'cause that's, I feel like a lot of people in Michigan do those two things.

Large mouth bluegill to me. I don't think you have to get too crazy. I mean, you don't need the, the craziest rod for that. But like if I wanted to say, hey, I'm going to a lake with my family. So me, Henry, and the wife. Yeah. Um, you know, he can have his little pool, but like I want to have. Oh, hey, we're bluegill fishing here, but I kinda wanna bass fish over here.

Right? Like what kind of a, excuse me. What kind of a [00:29:00] setup would would I want for that? So I'd

Colt Start: say like base, usually I, we would run like four to five poles on the boat a piece. Okay. Um, just to be able to have multiple lures on it so you're not having to retie and stuff. And we don't run swivels. 'cause swivels affect your action of your lure.

Okay. So everything we do, we have to retie. So we usually have at least two rods that are pretty much the same setup, but different lures on 'em, just so you can switch back and forth. Because like I said, you can change color, you can change the actual lure itself. Yeah. There's so many things that can go into fishing.

Yep. Um, and then we usually have one set up with a steel lu wire on it for, you know, pike and things like that

Nate Rozeveld: too. Yeah. So there's, so how much money would I be into those, like five rods? Like I don't need to spend, like you said, 500, but like, What would be like a good base? Like are we talking like a hundred dollars or a, a setup or like what's a good, like a good bang for your buck I guess?

Like, okay, I'm spending this extra money, like, you know, like I like to buy a brand new bow, but I don't need a brand new bow every year. Right. So like, where is that like kind of sweet

Colt Start: spot? So the thing is with fishing, it's kind of hard 'cause like once you spend the money, it's Yes, true. [00:30:00] But I mean, honestly as hard as it, like, you can go into like Cabella's and buy a decent bait caster.

They're the more expensive ones because the things with bait casters, the more you spend, the more ball bearings and stuff you're gonna have and the smoother it's gonna cast, the smoother it's gonna reel. So it's a

Nate Rozeveld: very good like, you know, price does reflect quality, a hundred

Colt Start: percent of bait casters.

Okay. Um, so usually we spend anywhere from two to 300 on a bait caster. Okay. Um, you can get it, like if you were just starting out kind of a thing, trying to get into it more. I'd say like one 50 you could spend on a bait caster, get a decent one. But the thing is also the cheaper you spend. The worst they are as far as you're gonna get more backlash in your reel and you're gonna have more anger issues because all of a sudden you grab a huge burns nest in

Nate Rozeveld: front of you.

I tried that one time. My grandpa or uncle had one and I was like, it was like on a private, we had some ponds I fished as a kid that were like, but greenhouses. Yeah. And he, he would have this and I was like, oh, let me try that. He's like, you you, you get a knot, you gotta take it out. I cast one time [00:31:00] spooled that thing rad, nested.

I didn't fish the rest of the night 'cause I sat there and tried to undo it. So I've never really tried again. But, you know, maybe in my adult life I would be able to handle, handle a little better.

Colt Start: I mean, like, I've been fishing with bait casters for years now, and I mean, back in my childhood it was all spinning reels.

Yeah. But recently a lot of bait casting and more accuracy and stuff like that. But, I tried to take my buddy up to, uh, mullet Lake and he bought a bait caster. Well, he bought one of the Meyer specials for Yeah. You know, 75, a hundred bucks. Yep. And I burden nested that thing so bad. Oh gosh. Because I mean it like mine, dude, it hits the water and it stops your re for you.

Okay. So it doesn't backlash. Yep. I casted his, I had my thumb on the spool and next thing you know, I looked down, my thumb was off the side and there was a burst nest

Nate Rozeveld: muscle memory coming in effect. Oh gosh. Cool. So, yeah, that's something that I would, I'm meant to definitely think about. 'cause I, you know, if we do get a boat or something, we're kind of been in the market for like, looking for like a boat and like selfishly I'm trying to like find a [00:32:00] boat that I can go duck hunting on or, you know, trying to do that.

But like, dude, it's like such an investment. It's like, okay. I gotta remember that I literally have no fishing equipment, so I kind of take that and do an account. So it's like, okay, maybe we find a little boat that's a little more like just fishing related and you know, outfit myself and Ashley and do that.

Like you start adding this stuff up, it's like, man, like I. My hunting collection and guns and like stuff. I've been doing that since I was a kid. Like now all of a sudden I'm gonna try to jump into this fishing game. It's like, man, it's a lot to undertake, but I get, I like that You said like the quality's there for stuff.

Yeah. 'cause like in the hunting industry, the quality isn't always there. No. Like I've spent money on stuff and literally blown it out and like a week or like two months, it's like, oh cool, that was a hundred dollars gone. Or you know, I buy something for, you know, 350 bucks and it's like, this thing's a piece of crap like Yep.

Outdated right away, you know? So like it, you know, so it's nice to know some of those things, but, um, So you, so have you thought about doing fishing tournaments?

Colt Start: We've done some of like the [00:33:00] small local large mouth bass tournaments, stuff like that. It's just a matter of lining up schedules and actually setting aside the time to do it, get

Nate Rozeveld: competitive in it.

Because Tyler, his brother, his older brother, Nate, who is gonna probably hop on this on at some point this summer, he does do that in the area. Okay. And wow. Like he fishes some lakes. I fished and I'm like, you caught fish that big out of there. No way. And they don't even take first place. Yeah. So I'm like, how is this, I don't understand.

Like I fished that lake and I didn't know fish that big existed in there. So like, it seems like kind of a whole nother animal. You start getting to that. And I wonder like. Do you think it would still be fun for you? 'cause you've always done this as strictly fun. Like if you were to go jump into a league right now, would, would it take fun away or do you think it would make it better?

Or how do you feel like that would feel, because you said it was like, this is like a stress release for you. This is, I have a crazy, chaotic job as a nurse. Like you see the worst of the worst of people. Like, you know, you work crazy hours, or you gotta work a swing shift or whatever. You're outta state working and this is when you come home, you can kinda just chill and do that.

Do you think [00:34:00] that would affect that? You know,

Colt Start: honestly, that's a really good question because like for me, I used to love golfing like we were talking about earlier. Mm-hmm. And I mean, I got competitive in it through high school and it was top in the state for golfing. And then I hated it by the time I was done because anytime I shot above par I got so mad, I'd throw clubs and now, you know, I took the step back and now it's just a fun thing for me again.

And I love it. So, you know, I. It's very possible that it would cause me to

Nate Rozeveld: not like it. We'll cost that. So you're, you're in a good spot right now. We don't need you throwing, you don't need you to throwing $500 poles in the water, right?

Colt Start: No, no. That'd be a bad decision. Oh gosh.

Nate Rozeveld: That's great. So, you know, you've done a lot of fishing in the state of Michigan.

Yep. And we also have talked a little bit that you've done, you've been tra like you were just out, were you in Wyoming? Or where were you? Washington. Yeah. So what did you do for fishing out there? So we did for five months you said? Yeah.

Colt Start: Okay. Uh, we did some river fishing there. Didn't catch too much. I didn't know the rivers didn't know what to cast.

But then [00:35:00] went back to Bass fishing, large mouth and went to Crater Lake out there. Okay. Which is a one of the deepest lakes in the United States. And it, how deep is it? I wanna say it's over a thousand foot. That's true. It's pushing 2000 I think in some spots. And there's bass there. Yeah. I mean, it's all up against the banks, so you're not casting that deep.

But yeah, we flipped it. We were mostly flipping craws and throwing Gary Yamamotos up against the bank. Okay. And we pulled some, like four to five, up to six pounders out of there.

Nate Rozeveld: Nice. Now, did you have a boat when you were out there, or were you just fishing off shore or how'd you do that? We rented a pontoon boat.

Oh, sick. Yeah. So you were fishing off pontoon boat. So did you like, 'cause obviously you're not hunting in Washington because you didn't live there long enough or like Right. The opportunity was there. So you kind of like, was that your outdoor activity?

Colt Start: Yeah, I barely fished there. Okay. I mean, other than that it was pretty much working.

Nate Rozeveld: Working all the time. Yeah. So that was kind of your still your fun. So even, even. Outta state, I guess, in a lake that's completely different to lakes around here, you're same you learned or was it similar techniques I guess, that you caught big fish or

Colt Start: like [00:36:00] Yeah, I mean a lot of the things like when you're fishing for large mouth, it's usually you get down a good technique and you know what you're doing.

With 'em, you can go pretty much anywhere, fish with large mouth. Okay. I mean, of course there's small differences you might need to change the color or something like that, but, or you know, you might normally cast into the woodage shoreline. Mm-hmm. Or you know, something like that and now you're going, there weren't any lily pads there that was

Nate Rozeveld: different for me, you know?

Oh really? So there wasn't like that kind of a

Colt Start: cover or for that? Yeah. Okay. Right. So, you know, I was more so trying to find different cover that they would use. Okay. You know, the deeper, uh, seaweed and stuff like that. I guess. Not seaweed, but you know, whatever. Yeah, yeah. Grime on the bottom. That was growing up.

Yeah. Nasty, nasty lake nastiness.

Nate Rozeveld: Yeah. The stuff you don't wanna swim in. Yeah. No, thank you. So like, yeah, so for me, like, you know, I've hunted in Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, and like hunting white tails in those states, there are similarities, but like, it is different. So like learning. So it's kind of cool, like you can like bass fishing.

Once you kind of get that technique down, you can easily trans transfer it to other lakes, which I guess makes sense because there's [00:37:00] lots of different lakes. And if every single lake had to be like this own technique, you would just see guys only fish in one lake every time. Which I guess, you know, I guess as a kid, like I learned my lake pretty good.

Like I knew like, alright, it is 45 minutes before dark, I need to go hop my bike, hit that dock, then hit this dock, then hit that dock and that would usually catch some fish. Um, so I guess there are probably like nuances in each lake that, you know, where the bigger fish like to hang out. And that probably determines on like, um, I don't know.

Does it, does it determine on the year, time of year for bass, like to, like are they as picky I guess

Colt Start: like time of year to an extent? Yeah. I mean, there's definitely, you know, there's a point where they start to move up into the shallow and the deep and stuff like that. When. Um, the water starts to warm up and stuff like that.

A lot of it has to do with the temperature of the water for fish. Okay. I mean, whether they're gonna be in the shallow, because if it's too hot out, they go back to the deep. Okay. 'cause they're getting too warm in the

Nate Rozeveld: shallow, so they'll be so they're harder to catch because they're the

Colt Start: deeper water.

Right. Okay. And then also once they start [00:38:00] betting, they're all up in the shallow 'cause their beds are in the shallow Yeah. So like

Nate Rozeveld: catching the blue gills back in the day doing that. Yep. And then bass will do that too, but you can't. Yeah. How does that work? Can you fish 'em when they're betting mostly?

Or like, you're not, not really there right yet. Yeah. I never, I can't get in trouble 'cause it's been so long. But I remember going to a lake when I was like, dude, I had to be 14, 15 maybe. And we were fishing and it was early in the year and I was like, dude, that bass is giant. And I didn't know, but it was.

Had a, it was on a bed, like in this channel, and I remember throwing something out there, like a worm or something, and it wouldn't bite, wouldn't bite, and finally switched it out, caught it, and hooked this fish, this giant. And I was like, oh my, it was probably an 18 inch pass. I don't know, because I never weighed fish.

Like, I, like you say, six powder. I'm like, I don't know if that's how, like, I don't know what that is. And I reeled that fish and I was so pumped. And this lady came out of her cottage or her house on the, and absolutely chastised me. And I was like, I literally had no [00:39:00] idea. I mean, I'm just, this, we're just like 14 year old kids out there having a good time, you know?

And chewed me a new one. And, uh, I threatened to call the cops on me and all this stuff, you know, she was being protective, you know, of the lake, which I get, and here I am, this snotty nose kid out there doing something stupid. But yeah, they enlightened me and I was like, oh, n never knew that I just saw big fish.

I was like, I need to catch that thing. Had no idea. So, but yeah, I, there's so many little nuances that. I never would've thought about with fishing. It is just like, you don't just go out there and just whip a lure and hope for the best. Like there is a,

Colt Start: yeah, there's a lot more that goes into it than people think.

I mean, even like the motion under the water, you know, whether you're jerking it into shore to try to get more motion with a certain bait, or like Gary Amos, you're just casting out there letting 'em sink to the bottom and bottom back up. Mm-hmm. And letting 'em sink again. You know, every single lure has a different way you're supposed to fish with it.

Yeah. And then there's also ways you can fish with 'em that's, you know, kind of off-label

Nate Rozeveld: use. Yeah. You know? So how did you learn a lot of that stuff? Like who, like is this like pretty much self-taught with you and your brother or do you [00:40:00] have like someone that kind of showed you some of the ropes?

Colt Start: So a lot of it is self-taught.

I mean, different kinds of fish I've learned from different people. But like bass fishing, my brother and I just kind of learned it together on the lake. Um, you know, some of his friends and stuff. And my friends would come over to fish and show us different things with different lures over the years.

Mm-hmm. But a lot of it is just experience. Yeah. Just get out there and do it.

Nate Rozeveld: Yep. Which I think is kind of like, I had my mentors in the outdoor space like with, you know, any kind of hunting or anything like that. But at the end of the day, I kinda had to like pave my own way. Like yeah, this is like, and I, and I was able to do that at a young age.

Like when you're young, you just go out there by volume. Like that's how you do stuff, you know? So like this whole, like for me now as an adult with a family and you know, a busy schedule and all that stuff, so I like try to allocate time. So fishing's a thing that's like, okay, I literally on a whim could be like, all right, I'm gonna go hook up to the boat and go fishing on Sunday morning or Sunday afternoon or Saturday at one o'clock.

Yeah. Like, that's why I like small game hunting because [00:41:00] you could literally go at 10 o o'clock in the morning, go anytime you don't, your, your prep work for that is just finding property and finding places to go and then you just go and do it. Right. Fishing's kinda like that too, because you don't have to have like this, I, granted if you go outta state or you do a fishing trip, that's different, but like you can kinda like, Oh man, it looks like a nice night.

I'm gonna go hop in the boat for, you know, two hours and go have a great, and you could literally have an awesome night fishing in like Yeah. An hour, right? Like, I mean, you could hammer 'em right

Colt Start: away. And honestly, it all depends. Like, I mean, there's times you get on the river and you catch fish for an hour and you're pulling 'em in the boat.

Every cast, then all of a sudden it just dies off and there's no fish to be seen. Yeah. And

Nate Rozeveld: you go home. I mean it exactly though. I mean, no. One more cast. One more cast. Yeah, dude, I just did that. Okay. So my wife switched jobs recently, so she had like a little going away party. Um, she took a different pos, a different, uh, job, uh, different location and um, so they did like a little going away party this past weekend.

And, um, they live, uh, by a couple little Lakes or whatever. So they [00:42:00] had some younger kids, like teenage boys, and they're all like, they've been going fishing, you know, doing that stuff. And I was like, all right, I'll bring my pole. And brought Henry and my wife down there. So Ashley caught a couple of blue gills like right away.

Oh yeah. Which was cool. A couple of good sized ones. And it was fun. And they're all out there with their crank baits trying to catch bass, you know, and I was like, I'm, you guys ever use a sanko? And they're like, no. I was like, I'll show you how to do this. And there was like, this dock was perfect 'cause there was like, it was right alongside a bunch of lily pads.

Oh yeah. So like I hooked this one, like he, he was probably 12 years old. I'm like, here you go. I hooked it up for him and did it and like I was wearing polarized glasses, which that's a big deal. Like I never do that. And I was like this fishing thing's a lot more fun when you I dude, not to be sidetracked.

Okay. So eBay was a, like when eBay became this really cool thing to like bid on stuff and buy stuff, right. We had this old desktop computer, like a 2001 Mac, or not Mac, but like Microsoft computer. I remember getting on that and finding sunglasses and I found polarized sunglasses and I was like, wow. Dude, I need some of those.

'cause someone told me you could see in the water and I bought 'em for like three bucks or whatever. It took probably like a [00:43:00] month to get 'em in the mail. But I bought 'em and I remember going out for the first time bluegill fishing with those and I was like, oh my gosh, I can see everything. Awesome.

Yeah, so like huge deal. Like that's such a cool thing. But yeah, I bought my first pair of sunglasses.

Colt Start: I mean, when you fish a lot, your sunglasses is part of your equipment. Yeah. Personally, I wear Costas every time I'm fishing and like my brother wears the um, Lupo. Okay. Nice. No, he, I mean, you can

Nate Rozeveld: see a lot better.

Yeah. It's so nice. So here I am, you know, I still have my, I wear nice sunglasses every day at work. Being outside, they're polarized and I'm trying to teach this kid how to do it, you know? And like I'm not a good fisher man as you can, as you can tell, like I've told you, I'm very inexperienced, but I've done things in the past that do work for me when I do go.

And I'm like, all right, throw it right by the lily pads. And they're like, what you? I was like, no, you won't hook. If you hook the lily pad, just pull it. Hook's not, you know, out. Yeah. So he's doing it and I'm like, you gotta let it sink a little bit. And I can see the lure playing his day and this bass comes up to it and is about to hit it.

And he like [00:44:00] reels it in too quick. I'm like, dude, you had one like right there. He's like, no, you're lying. I'm like, no, I'm telling you. So he did it a couple more times. And then when it come back, so like in my head I'm like, okay, there's a bass in these LI pads. Yeah. And I was like, my wife's catching these blue gill.

I haven't caught nothing. I'm gonna try now. I said one more cast like seven times. But the seventh time I caught that fricking bass and I was like, yes. It was probably like a 13 inch bass. Wow. You know, nothing crazy, but threw it right in there. So I was like, and all those kids were like, no way. I'm like, dude, you can do that.

So I guess that's kinda like those little things, like they're going out there like they live right by this lake. They're fishing all the time. In five years or three years, maybe. Heck, by the end of this summer, they'll learn so much that them kids are gonna understand how to fish. Like they just do it strictly by volume.

Right. I mean, which is cool. Like they literally go out there with a cheap pole and they're having good, clean fun. Yeah. Catching fish. And now they're like, they think, they're like, dude it, he caught it right outta the lily pads. Like, how did he do that? You know what I mean? Oh yeah. And I was like, yep. And here I am.

Don't know nothing. Teaching those kids the one little thing. So, but yeah, that's why I like fishing. Like that's always been my, [00:45:00] and like I didn't fish like at all last year. Yeah. So like, it's not those things. There's not like this huge pressure on me. Like if I didn't hunt for a whole year, I'd be depressed, dude.

Right. Like, I would literally be like, I'd be like walking in circles hitting my head against the wall. So fishing's kind of in that thing for me, like kind of like have to make time for it. Right. But don't really need to make time. Fair enough. So, but I will really want to get into it more. And talking to people like you, I'm like, Okay.

There's like this other layer to it. Yeah. That like, if I get to that point, it's like, oh gosh, it could be dangerous. I mean, there goes more money, it's bad. Like I

Colt Start: literally have like storage totes in my garage filled with the rubber lures and each one is categorized by the, like the cross, Gary Yamamotos.

I mean, I have thousands and thousands of dollars,

Nate Rozeveld: but like, but also like. That's an investment. How long can like one of those nice high quality reels last

Colt Start: you? I mean, honestly, like I bought all of my reels that I have right now, roughly when I graduated college. So they're all about four years old and they tell all

Nate Rozeveld: perfectly fine.

So yeah, like that's [00:46:00] the same kind of thing. Like you buy like a nice gun. Yeah. Literally have that thing for your entire life. Exactly. And the, they take care of it too, like,

Colt Start: I mean Yeah. Do your maintenance. Yeah. Yeah. And you know, you grease your bearings type thing, but also, I mean the newer ones, so you don't even have to grease 'em anymore.

They're built in, which

Nate Rozeveld: is really nice. He already does it. Oh yeah. You're just cheesing over here like, you're like, dude, this is so cool.

Colt Start: Uh, I mean, and like we put, you know, the pole rot, uh, sleeves on all of our poles and stuff when we transport 'em, you can break the eyes off super easy. And like when you snag things as so tempting as it is to rip it as hard as you can, you can break your top eye off and you're like, Nope.

Nate Rozeveld: We get it. It be, we've done that

Colt Start: and we also, we call 'em, we call it a stubby 'cause we broke one off. We had to put one of the fake like aftermarket eye on the top, take care of that. The top is like way too thick now. So it has no action at like, this

Nate Rozeveld: sucks man. All because I wasn't patient. Oh man. And

Colt Start: like, so, I mean, the thing is too, with fishing, you have your hard plastic soft plastics.

There's so many different lures. There's so many. And like you could run daredevils What a rabbit hole.

Nate Rozeveld: Like what a rabbit hole that you get down [00:47:00] into with that. And like the plastics,

Colt Start: some of 'em are 15, $20 a piece. Yeah. For hard plastics. And like my thing is you lose that on the bottom of the water, you're gonna be pretty

Nate Rozeveld: sad.

Yeah, true, true. Yeah. I mean it's a whole, yeah. It's like our arrows now you like. I've bought a couple different sets of arrows and it's like, man, that arrow is not cheap anymore. Yeah. And you know, you, you shoot your arrows and it's like, I used to be, as a kid, you'd buy aluminum arrows or like carb, cheap carb arrows.

I would, every rabbit in the yard, every black bird, I would just launch arrows. Now it's like, You know, I think I'll just shoot the 22 because like, I don't need to waste an arrow on that 'cause they're expensive. So like I get it. Like that's that level you can get to, which is, which is fun and like good.

And there's a lot worse things you can spend your money on than Oh yeah. Fishing equipment and you're having good fun with your brother, making memories and I mean, we mostly use soft

Colt Start: plastics for sure. Okay. That's your thing. Oh yeah. A lot cheaper. Usually, I mean, you can get a bag of soft block plastics for like seven to 10 inch pallet usually.

Yep. You know, but when you have hundreds of bags of every different color

Nate Rozeveld: and [00:48:00] you don't need to count 'em.

Colt Start: Uh, last year there was a Christmas sale and I ordered like

Nate Rozeveld: 300 bags.

Colt Start: Oh dude. One kind of rubber lu. Oh my gosh. You might, the free colors and stuff, you might have a brow color. There's like peanut butter and jelly.

It's like,

Nate Rozeveld: oh man. Oh, that's great. So, okay, one thing I didn't wanna know, what is like, okay, you said like five or six pound bass, but like, What if you go fishing and like, you catch how, how long? Because I always did it by length. So like are you ecstatic if you catch like a five pound bass or like a 20 inch bass?

Like what would be like a really good day? So like for you? So

Colt Start: I mean, the biggest I've caught is upwards of 26 inches. Okay. And it was just under, and my brother, I wanna say reeled in a 24 and three quarter last year. Okay. And so we've caught some pretty big ones. Um, around here. If you catch anything in the 10 pound range, you're talking a

Nate Rozeveld: very large fish.

Okay. So how long, how, like what would that be? That's in the twenties. Yeah, that's

Colt Start: in the twenties for sure. Okay, gotcha. I [00:49:00] mean it obviously depends on how thick

Nate Rozeveld: they are too. Yeah. Like time of year probably and all that stuff comes, that's the thing with weight, like people, like that's what you do. Like you win a tournament or you win whatever, it's by the weight.

I'm like, dude, I never weigh a fish. I caught like, yeah. I was always like, okay. I knew from fingertip to that part of my elbow was 18 and three quarters of an inch. So like, If it barely cleared that I was like 20 inch bass, you know? Right. Like that was the typical fishing thing. So like, I don't know what, what would be like as a 20 pound bass?

Like is that around like four pounds? Like what's an average I guess?

Colt Start: Um, I mean, I guess for 20 inch, a lot of the times they're four

Nate Rozeveld: to five. Okay. So when someone says, Hey, I cut a couple of five pounders, you're like, knock on the door. 20 inches or in the 20 inch range. Gotcha. Sweet. I mean, they look giant.

Like one of my buddies like holding up on Facebook, you see what they did for their night or whatever. I'm like, dude, that thing's a monster. Like, I mean a lot of of 'em you're

Colt Start: pulling outta the water are two to three, you know, and then those 12 inches you's, a lot of times you're, look, you didn't break a pound.

Nate Rozeveld: Big a pound. Gotcha. Yeah. The one I caught and the kids thought I was a hero was probably that one pounder. [00:50:00] Yeah. I pull, but my little ugly step, that one pounder fought pretty good. Oh yeah. So you've done all this fishing, you know, in, you know, Michigan, you've done that, you've been out to Washington, did a little fishing out there, had success.

Well, also you do a lot of fish in the ocean.

Colt Start: Yeah. I've done a lot of fishing down by Florida. We've done different fishing charters on cruises and stuff in St. Thomas. Um, out there we were catching barracuda. I mean, we've caught, we've gone shark fishing hooked onto up to the 12 foot bull sharks, you know.

Oh dang. That's that one that, so the biggest bull shark I hooked on purpose. Yeah. I mean, we had one, so, uh, we had a bull shark come in. It was chasing a school of fish up into the bank and it practically beached itself right in front of our house there. Mm-hmm. And beached itself. Well, I had a fish I had just caught, so I figured why not, and tossed it in front of him.

He hooked into it. It happened to be on my deep sea fishing rod, which is the right setup for a six foot black tip. Okay.

Nate Rozeveld: I mean, so you were double the size? Oh

Colt Start: yeah. Yeah. I mean, there was no, realistically, if I would've landed that [00:51:00] thing, it would've been a pretty, a miracle Jesus moment. But, and it, dude, literally, it just sounded we, the entire time I'm looking at the pole, just watching my line go away and just go on and I'm in.

That's multiple a hundred pound tests. No, it's just ripping, it's expensive Line was watching it disappear and it's like, what do I do at this point? Yeah. And not thinking, I tried to grab the line to slow it and it burnt straight through my hand. Really slice my hand right up the middle. Makes sense. I'm like, well maybe get my leather

Nate Rozeveld: glove from now on.

Yeah. So I have a bull shark story. Uh, my buddy, he was down somewhere in Florida fishing at night and he actually landed a six foot bull shark. Okay. And, you know, we're back at home. We know he is out there in the wintertime or whatever it is. You know, typically people in Michigan go down there in the winter.

Um, text message comes through and you see him holding the shark or not really holding the shark, but like there he is, shark's on the, you know, pier or whatever. And he's got like a hand on the [00:52:00] tail. You see that? And then he like had a little caption. Then the next picture is him. With his leg. Gashed bad.

Aw. Against stitches. Dude, that bull shark. I would say like six. Six foot bull shark, probably like I am. I hate the ocean. Okay. Yeah. I can go to the most beautiful beach, multiple locations I want within 45 minutes of my house. So like if I'm gonna go sit by a beach and burn time, I can go out there.

Beautiful sand. Beautiful. It looks like an ocean. I cannot see across it. That's my thing. So like for me, going down to Florida, seeing the ocean, Nope, I'm good. 'cause there's sharks in there. They're gonna invite me like. I'm not scared to walk in the dark. I'm not scared to be outside. I'm not scared of these things, but for some reason sharks always freak me out.

Like probably 'cause of Jaws as a little kid watching that, you know? But that thing he said, he was, he said he wasn't being reckless, was trying to get us get a picture with it and that bugger rolled on itself all the way and chomped his leg around his knee twice. Yeah, dude. I

Colt Start: mean, it's definitely have to be careful.

Nate Rozeveld: We [00:53:00] would land, so I can't imagine a 12 foot shark, like, geez, dude,

Colt Start: I've landed up to eight foot ish. Okay. I mean, the four to six is mostly where you're actually gonna land it. Yeah. And up to eight is pretty lable, but once you get past that, unless you're chasing it through the water on a boat, you're not bringing it into a pier type thing.

Okay.

Nate Rozeveld: So when you're catching blue gills, or sorry, blue gull salmon or steelhead or bass, like when you hook into that fish and you're reeling in. Like, does that equate to like buck fever or like shooting something? Or is a shark more closer to that feeling? So I'd

Colt Start: say with fishing it's more so the moment that you can actually see the fish surfacing.

Okay. Because like the thing is you never know how big it is under the water. You could be reeling in a blue gill. Yep. And you think you have a 20 pounder, you know, and then all of a sudden it surfaces and you're very disappointed. So, you know, it also all depends on the fight. You know, like, okay, you'll have some bass that'll dive down deep and you know, they'll jump outta the water and stuff.

And you know, some that'll come in

Nate Rozeveld: like a wet [00:54:00] noodle. So that is like, That would be like the adrenaline rush is when you see that. Yeah. Like that's the fun for me, it's

Colt Start: the hard fight, the hard fighting fish. And you know when you get that moment where it flashes on the top of the water and it's like, okay, like I am actually gonna catch it.

It's not just gonna spit my hook out. Yep. And

Nate Rozeveld: disappear. So now like the shark, like catching a shark lives that up, that ante a little bit. Oh yeah. I mean, because like to me it's like, dude, that thing could kill you. Like it's got teeth, it's got all this stuff. So like I feel like there's a little, because you're like going, like when you, you've told me in the, in the past like you actually are like you're trying to catch shark.

Yeah. Like when you were out there, you're doing like you're going. So it's like a new dynamic I feel like. Yeah. We would go

Colt Start: out and actually catch, well net. Sorry

Nate Rozeveld: about this. Oh, you're good. Apparently my intro is plan. All right. See if that Stop. Sorry about that. Oh, you're good. Technical difficulties in my new podcast Adventure.

So Yeah. You're going after

Colt Start: sharks? Yeah. So we would go out and net mullets, which [00:55:00] are like, they only, they're bottom feeders and uh, shark will love 'em. So we'd take one of those and you cut 'em in half, and you take a giant hook and hook it through on one of our deep sea fishing rods. Okay. And cast it out as far as you

Nate Rozeveld: can.

And then, so Shark hits it. What are you like? Do you get that feeling like a drone rush right away? Yeah. I mean with a shark, because

Colt Start: you're like, dude, I got a shark on. Like, it's that bite. I mean, and like, I mean it can be the same with bass, especially if you're top water fishing, you see an entire bass that rub outta the water.

Oh gosh. I love that as a kid. So it all depends, but yeah, with a shark especially, 'cause you're, a lot of the times you're not even near the rod. I mean you're, you know, down the dock or whatever and all sudden you just hear the line running out from across the dock and it's like, fish on. Yeah, here we go.

Yeah, that's cool. And those ones, they, when you cast out deep sea fishing rod, you said it's a free spool. So like that thing, it takes off, stuff gone. And then when you get over there, you flip it, set the hook then. So that way you don't have to

Nate Rozeveld: be there. Gotcha. So you can kind of have mal, you have like multiple routes.

Oh yeah, we you do that. Gotcha. Yep. Okay. Because I've been down to Florida and you see the guys like have all their stuff on the beach. Yeah. Some similar, you know, you're out in a little different [00:56:00] area, but same concept. Yeah. Actually that's exactly how we fished the Grand River. As a kid, you'd, you'd have all the pole holders along the pier or along the dock and the um, the sea wall and Yeah, just throwing that crawler out there and then you'd watch 'em and then you'd run to 'em and yeah.

That's so similar concept I would assume for

Colt Start: that. And I mean for us, like, we were really lucky 'cause the house we fished at, it sat. On the intercostal waterway, but the channel right next to it went out to the Gulf of Mexico. Okay. So anytime the tide changed, all the food came in and outta that channel really.

So the sharks would sit there and swarm and

Nate Rozeveld: feed. So is this a good hot spot for that? Oh yeah. It was the pinch point for sharks. Exactly. Yeah. Gotcha. I

Colt Start: mean, and oddly enough, like one of the hardest fighting things you can catch though, in my opinion, are a giant stingray. Like we've caught like five, six foot across stingrays, and the thing about those is they suction cut themselves to the bottom.

Mm-hmm. So trying to get them up off the bottom is hard. I actually had a, one of my deep sea fishing rods, which is, you know, it's made for sharks and stuff. Yeah. And I had 'em. Five and a half, [00:57:00] six foot man array on, and I pulled him up to the, I got him to surface right at the edge of the dock and as soon as we saw his face drop up, he dove as hard as he could and snapped that deep sea fishing rod in half.

Nate Rozeveld: Just Yeah. 'cause I mean, think Yeah. The way they're designed, like they have a lot of force Yep. Moving water. So, so like do you target those or is that more of like, you happen to catch one? It's usually more an accidental,

Colt Start: yeah. Okay. I mean Gotcha. And that's always fun when you get '

Nate Rozeveld: em. What do you do with that?

Like when you, like if you do land one, like this giant thing, like is it, do you just cut the line and say, see you buddy? I mean, we

Colt Start: got pretty used to 'em. So like, we would usually jump down 'cause our, the dock went straight to the house. So we'd jump the railing down to the beach, pull it up to the beach, get it up shallow enough where we could get a shoe or something and hold the barb down.

Okay. And then once the barb's down and you, you control the barb, the other

Nate Rozeveld: person can hook the Gotcha. The finish. Okay. 'cause Yeah, especially like my buddy, like when he caught that shark, you know, like I like people had fished there before and knew like he wasn't being reckless. The next thing you know, bam, he's in the, he's [00:58:00] bleeding really bad, like messed up, like gotta get multiple stitches and all that.

And it's like, okay, like I don't have to deal with that here. So like it's, you know, you've been going to Florida a lot. Oh yeah. I mean many years. So like you're well versed in that stuff. Okay. So if you had to pick, because I know like your hunting's kind of been like on the back burner a little bit because of your sch, your work schedule and being outta state.

Yeah. If you had to give up one, would you give up bow hunting or would you give up? So it's, it's kind of a loaded question 'cause you can fish a lot more than you could bow, hunt, like it's easier to do, but, right. If you had to pick one, what would you dedicate your time to? I mean, I, would you be, would you just like, would you gun hunt one week a year, be cool with it if you could fish all the time?

Or would you be okay with like fishing one week a year and hunting all the time? I mean, if

Colt Start: I had the time to be able to hunt all the time, I would definitely choose bow hunting. That would be okay. But at this point in life, it's just a lot easier to get out randomly in the middle of the day to go fish and than it is to get in a stand and put in all the time.

And you know, as we've talked about, we're not the type of [00:59:00] people that just walk onto a stand and hope to shoot something. You know, we dedicate the hours beforehand and months beforehand to

Nate Rozeveld: Yeah. The prep

Colt Start: and all that stuff. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, as you know, we always did the huge food plots and stuff like that.

Mm-hmm. So it was a lot of

Nate Rozeveld: work going into it. Yeah. 'cause at a young age, like that's when we first started hanging out or whatever, like Yeah. You were like, you're, you're invested. Like you are, you were in all, like, you grew up in that area like. I think it's kind of like a generational thing. Like that's how we kind of learn how to go and you like really enjoy the process.

And it sounds like when you talk about fishing, that's why you like fishing. Like you can learn a lake, you can do this stuff. Like you have like, there's like a lot of brain energy going on. Like, alright, we didn't do so good this time, but I have all this stuff. Like, you gotta pre-plan and like you said, you can do that.

Like it's a much more condensed Yeah. You can do that in one day. Opposed to the white tail thing, you need like weeks or like days and hours invested.

Colt Start: Right. And I guess for me also, it's kind of that idea with hunting and fishing that no matter how good you get, you can go out and get sued. Oh yeah. I mean, no matter how much you've hunted, no matter how much you fished, you can go out and not see or catch a single

Nate Rozeveld: [01:00:00] thing.

Yep. Last year for me, I mean I didn't get skunked, but I did not have the I band, if you would've talked to me about right now, last year I was like, dude, I have the best game plan to shoot two really nice bucks. Mm-hmm. Had 'em picked out, thought it was gonna go. I passed really good deer, but like the ones I wanted didn't show up.

I got my butt kicked by 'em. And that'll be a story for later. But like, yeah, like that's the, that's the fun and like you. Fishing's. So like to me like, okay, my dad does not like fishing at all. Like he thought, he thinks it's the dumbest thing. All you do is go out there whip aloo or catch a fish. Big deal, whoop de do.

You know, that's kind of his mindset on it. Yeah. And you know, I might, you know, I might have thought that kind of too, like you just go out there and get a, you can get any kind of a boat, whatever, stand on a dock and you just whip a lure out there, whip a worm out there, you catch fish. Right. I never really looked at it like I'm trying to, like how I do whitetails almost, or like I'm trying to target like the bigger fish.

Like, so I think if like once I get to that point, it could be dangerous for me. Like it's like Colt, [01:01:00] like I'm going with you, let's do this. Like I could see that, but like also like at the time of life, you do have to allocate time for certain things. And you know about, like you just said, if you had the freedom, you would choose the bow hunting like you have done in years past.

But like you just know that this time of your life, That really isn't something you can feasibly do. Right. But you're still enjoying the outdoors and going fishing and doing those things and finding that peace and that like, you know, de-stressing or whatever you wanna, however you wanna loop that into like, I love sitting in a tree and watching sunrise, you know, or like watching sunset, like just being out there and you fishing's a really good outlet for that.

Yeah. For you. And I think that's really, that's powerful. Like, that's why we do it. That's why we love being outside is for those small things. So, and I like talking to you about it. 'cause like, yeah, every time you go to Florida you're like, gimme updates. I'm like, dude, no way. Like that's the, you send me pictures and stuff and like, I actually

Colt Start: in Florida, the one year hold a 31 inch red fish, which it was legally too big to keep really 'cause of green fish.

Really? So I had [01:02:00] to let that one go. I couldn't even get a mountain

Nate Rozeveld: or anything. Yeah, I remember that. Yeah. That was pretty cool. Yeah, that one was a big fish. Dang. And like you caught Barracuda too, you were saying. Oh yeah. Right.

Colt Start: Yep. Like Thomas caught Barracuda. That was in St. Thomas though. Okay. That was St.

Thomas. I mean, we've caught snook, we've caught all kinds of things out of, um, different groupers. You know,

Nate Rozeveld: what a great vacation. Oh yeah. Like that was like, me and Ash talked about that. We went on vacation to Wyoming, like our Wyoming and Bear hunt. That was like our vacation because like, let's do something really cool and like really fun, like adventurous.

Like you've had the opportunity to do that with like the fishing avenue and like Yeah. What a great time. Like you owe like every picture you sent me, col you usually have a pretty big smile on your face and that's, that's, that's fun. That's why we do it. So, but yeah. What, uh, so like, I guess moving forward, like yeah, you're in Michigan right now, like what's your like, fall kind of looking like, like what do you kind of got going?

I know you kind of talking about some possible options of being, you know, taking some gigs like outta state because you still wanna do the traveling thing. Yeah. Like, you're not gonna like settle down this

Colt Start: year. No, we're not ready to settle down yet. We're probably looking at like Ohio [01:03:00] area. Um, contracts are good there right now, but you know, with travel nurse, you never know where you're gonna go until you actually sign the contract.

So if

Nate Rozeveld: you do go to Ohio, how long would you be there for? Uh, anywhere from three to six months. So would you try to bow hunt? Probably, yeah,

Colt Start: because Ohio. Okay. I mean, I also have one of my best friends, like I was telling you, lives in Iowa now. Yeah. So he's like, dude, if you're in Ohio, you have to make the drive over and we'll, I'll take you out in Iowa.

And so Nice. And he shoots some monsters

Nate Rozeveld: out there so that, so you do have some good, Washington was cool, but. It's not a deer hunting area. Yeah. Being in the Midwest would be a little better

Colt Start: for that. Yeah. It's closer to home. It's more

Nate Rozeveld: real, you know? Yeah. Because, uh, you do, do you have a lease again this

Colt Start: year?

Are you gonna keep that lease you? Yeah. Always have a lease. Yeah. We keep it. It's just, you know, it's hard. Like we were talking about the neighbors shoot anything that walks. Yeah. So it's hard to do any quality deer management or anything like that. You do

Nate Rozeveld: get some pictures of decent bucks though, every year?

I would say like, I would say like a above average probably. Yeah. Like for the area or whatever. But like you said, it's tough when everyone hunts around. Like that's just the Michigan way. [01:04:00] Like you have to figure that out and Yeah. Maybe when you get a little more time in your hands, you can kind of find properties and do that, but like you're just not there quite yet.

Right. But, and like my thing is

Colt Start: I wanna buy property before I really invest into the Q D M and stuff. 'cause a lease, it's gonna end at some point. Yeah. If I'm gonna invest all my time into growing the deer mm-hmm. I want it to be deer that I can hunt

Nate Rozeveld: for the foreseeable future. I know I'm going through that same thing.

'cause I got my first lease in Illinois with somebody's, like we talked about, and it's like a weird thing. It's like, okay. It's like a pretty cool property. You know, it's got ag on it. It's got these things like you like. It's like, okay, I, we've talked about food pots and doing these things and like we have a lot of, it's like a really cool opportunity.

I. You can do all this effort and literally not have it next year, or you have it for two years, you just don't know. The farmer could be like, you know what I'm selling or Yep. That kind of thing. So its like, and we've had

Colt Start: that, I mean we had one that we grew the deer for four or five years and then the farmer's like, eh, I don't wanna lease it anymore.

Yep, we're

Nate Rozeveld: done. Yeah, you had a really [01:05:00] nice property that you got, that you had for years, and all of a sudden you're like, oh, surprise. You're not hunting here anymore. And you're like scrambling. So yeah, it's like that have me, I'm like, okay, this is for fun. Allocate time for it. You know? It's gonna be kind of like a deer camp atmosphere for me with a couple buddies and my dad and like doing that kind of stuff.

But also it's like at the end of the day, you gotta like be smart about, You still gotta be smart about your, your time. Yeah. And you know, you expect, like, yeah, you, you have, you know, it's just you and your wife for now, but you're like really front loading your life. Like, okay, we're doing this traveling nursing thing, we're gonna do this.

Like, this is the time to do it. Make, you know, 'cause you're making really good money to doing that. Yeah. But you're, it's, yeah, it's cool. You're making a good money, but it's definitely not easy. No. I mean, we leave

Colt Start: behind everything, all

Nate Rozeveld: our family friends. Yeah. You're a big sacrifice. Yeah. And I was pumped to hear you were in town.

I was like, dude, get over here. Like let's do this. Let's, we haven't seen each other in a while and you know, it's been really great. But yeah, I think, uh, I. I think it's gonna be, hopefully if you're in Ohio, it's a lot closer than fricking Washington. Heck yeah. So like, you know what I mean? Like for [01:06:00] us, like doing that and uh, it's only a five hour drive to where we'd be so not bad.

A lot nicer. What? Yeah. How far was it in Washington?

Colt Start: It took us, it was a 3000 mile drive home. 'cause we went up, we did up to Yellowstone in Glacier,

Nate Rozeveld: because that's where we bear hunted, just south of Yellowstone. Okay, so you were like, well that was like a 27 hour drive for us. Yeah. So you were

Colt Start: It took us over 30 hours to get out there.

Yeah. And we drove straight there pretty much. Yeah. It's pretty cool.

Nate Rozeveld: So yeah, you've, yeah, you've had, uh, you've had quite the, the year I guess, and moving forward, who knows what has in store, but yeah, one thing you've always done is fish. And like, I was like, you know, for me wanting to do this Michigan wild thing, I, you know, obviously white tails and, you know, that kind of thing is something I'm like, By jam or like something I know a lot about, but also like there's a lot of good opportunities for families to do things other than just whitetail hunting because like the level of whitetail hunting like we like to do, like you said, is a big investment.

Yeah. And sometimes as the husband or as the, you know, the, with kids at home or you know, [01:07:00] the leader of the household, like the amount of time I would like to spend selfishly on white tails is dramatically more than what I do end up doing. And you, you're making those decisions also because you're like, Hey, we're gonna be outta state to work.

Yeah. And do that, like, you and your wife have came up with that. So I'm kind of, as I've gotten a little older, it's like, okay, instead of like, like this year I haven't done hardly any summer scouting the last few years I've done a lot of it. And I think back on it, it's like, okay, it's been a great time for me and my son to go out and, you know, walk around and do that.

Like, I. Um, and been good to be outside and like do the trail cameras and all that, but like I don't really feel like I've got a good return on my investment of time. Fair with that. Like it's a good memory 'cause like I'm teaching my son how to do certain things and like look for certain things, but I'm like, as time has gone on, I'm like, okay.

Or I could be spending time outside with him and my wife. We're not like sweating our balls off getting poison ivy mosquitoes. We could be on a boat or we could be on a dock like fishing and [01:08:00] just like doing that. So like, I'm trying to like learn like where that happy medium is, because now, okay, now let's say if every summer I find this giant book and like get 'em all dialed in and like am successful the fall because of that, it'd be a different conversation, but like I just haven't had like a really good return on my investment for that trail.

Cameras get smoked by ants and you know, theft or batteries are so expensive. So it's like, dude, I'm just wasting time. So like this year I've kind of like stepped back and I haven't fished a lot or done some other things, but I've done a lot of stuff around the house and like been able to do some more family stuff and it's like, okay, like I was gonna kind of use this as like a test dummy for the fall.

Like, okay, if once Labor Day hits, so I'm gonna have all my truck cameras done by then, you know, I'm gonna get some food plots in. See how the fall shakes out. Yeah. And do that. But then, and then next year it's like, okay, cool. Like I have a window from Turkey Season's done end of May or whatever, June and July and August.

Like, you know, other than food pots, like, let's go fishing. Yeah. Like [01:09:00] let's do that. Let's have fun as a family and make those memories and enjoy that. And I, it's a lot better than sitting on the couch watching tv, you know, which I haven't done much of that, but like, You know what I mean? Like, let's get outta the house and do that.

'cause otherwise, if you don't like make a a, you, there's always something else that takes up your time. Oh, yeah. And then you look back, it's like, dude, I, the summer went by again and I didn't, I fished one time. Yeah. Like I, it's easy to do. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm looking forward to that.

Colt Start: I mean, especially though you talking about the hunting though, I mean, this summer you can see something that gets y'all excited and come season it's gone anyways.

Gone.

Nate Rozeveld: Yeah. It's like cool that deer's giant and never seen 'em again. Yeah. Yep. So yeah, it's, it's, uh, now don't get me wrong, there's lots of ice cream that gets ate and we look for velvet bucks. Like, that's just something you can do as fun for the family. But yeah, I want, I wanna make sure I'm allocating time correctly.

But yeah, it's tough to beat that. Like right now, like I saw a pretty good buck a couple nights ago and I was like, oh, dang. Like got the old, like, I'm like, who are you? Like what is that? Yeah. So I do like that, but it's the

Colt Start: months of [01:10:00] preparation, you know? Yeah. Mm-hmm. And that's the thing is you never know what you're gonna see when you're in the stand though.

Yeah. So it's like you get all excited and put in all the hours. Mm-hmm. See what happens. Sometimes he

Nate Rozeveld: scrub bucks the rest of the season. Yep. And I use this analogy with like small game hunting. Like Tyler, my buddy loves it because every time we go out he gets like that adrenaline rush of, I call it rabbit fever, but like for me, I go the whole year and you know, I'm, even if I shoot dough, I do get jacked up for shooting doughs, but like nothing beats like that target buck or like a big mature buck with your bow.

You get that, like that feeling of why we'd do it. Yeah. And like you'd go out 30 times and get kicked in the face 30 times and may the 31st time you get that opportunity when you go rabbit hunt and you get those little mini opportunities, maybe to me they're not as, uh, you know, severe as great, but they're still there.

Like, when I shoot rabbit or see a rabbit or watch my dogs, do I get that little bit of elation that makes it worth it to me that, you know, that good memory. I feel like that if I look back to like all, [01:11:00] I don't fish a lot. I haven't fish a lot, but I can remember some really good days of fishing. Yeah.

Because I had those little things. Exactly. So it's like. And I think that's like a good thing to do. And it's like good to get people outside and it can lead to other things and yeah. I'm feel, dude, you're gonna feel like the problem now is I'm gonna be like researching fishing poles. I feel like with deer

Colt Start: hunting too, you cold, you put in all the work, all the hours.

Don't me wrong. You enjoy every day you're in the stand. Mm-hmm. But you do it for that one day that you shoot the big buck. Correct. We're fishing. You put in all the work, in all the hours. If you're in the right lakes and you know what you're doing, you're pulling fish every single time you go out repeated.

Yes. So, you know, like you said, it's with the rabbit hunting, it's repeated, that little excitement. It's not quite the same as when you shoot the monster buck. Mm-hmm. But I mean, sometimes you pull in the biggest fish you ever caught. That I would say's pretty similar. You know.

Nate Rozeveld: So I know we didn't really like forewarn any you about this, but like dude, your health, like wowsers, like you've always been a big dude.

Yeah. How much weight have you lost? I lost 120 pounds. That's incredible. Like how tall are you? You're a [01:12:00] big dude. Six four. Yeah, so like I'm 6 1 2 50. Yeah. And you have always been a big kid, active, all that, but like you walked outta the truck aisle was like, where'd Colt go? Like, what is going on? So like what kinda led to that

Colt Start: for you?

I mean, honestly for me it was just, I, as you know, I had bad knees and stuff. Yeah. So, you know, football hurt my body and I got sick of waking up every day hating my knees. Yep. And not be able to straighten my knee. And I've had multiple knee surgeries and stuff, so it's just. I got to the point where it was like it's time for a change.

And also when it comes to fishing, hunting, stuff like that, it's a lot easier to jump in a boat. It's a lot easier to climb the hill. Yeah. You know, it just makes life a lot easier in general for me. Yeah. And like

Nate Rozeveld: how long Like it, it happened quick, right? Yeah. I mean like, I mean, I feel like, I feel like you lo, I mean we went to the, we've like we go, our typical thing we do is go to the rodeo and the Vanna Arena.

Yeah. So we did that and I know you lost a little bit of weight last time I seen you that, but then I saw you and I was like, whoa. Like impressive. Like it's motivating for me. Like, I mean, I've the construction worker, all that stuff. Like, I mean, [01:13:00] I don't know if I could lose 120 pounds, but like seeing you like killing it.

I'm like, dude, you look great. You said you feel awesome. Like that's pretty awesome. Yeah. I mean

Colt Start: for me, like yeah, it basically right about a year. Okay. A year. I mean, it's obviously slowed down towards the end, you know? Yeah. I'd lost probably 80 to 90 pounds in the first, like six to seven months and then just slowly tapered off and you feel

Nate Rozeveld: great.

Oh yeah. Nice. So are you working out and stuff or what'd you end up

Colt Start: doing? Mostly just diet changing and then my thing I've like, weirdly enough, I started drinking three liters of water a day. Oh, okay. And I cut out like pretty much all other drinks. Pop and stuff. Yeah. Yep. So that was a big change for me.

And then, uh, being a nurse,

Nate Rozeveld: I know because this is what you Yeah, this is what you kind of, I remember that 'cause you was like, dude, I went from being active all the time. Like nursing, you're active and stuff. Yeah. But you're like, dude, this is weird for me 'cause like I'm inside like doing this. You're working crazy hours.

Exactly. Like this weird shifts. Shifts and stuff.

Colt Start: Like back in college I was a big guy, but. I had a lot of muscle too. Mm-hmm. I threw canoes for a living. Yep. So, I

Nate Rozeveld: mean, I'd carry a canoe on my in construction stuff. Exactly like you always were doing [01:14:00] that around the, around where you lived and stuff too.

Like odd jobs and

Colt Start: Exactly. Yeah. So we carry canoes by ourself above our head and throw 'em on the roof of a truck and you know, a canoe is usually run around 75 pounds. Yep. So by the time you power lifted above your head, put it on a truck and you do that a thousand times throughout the day. Yeah. You're in good shape.

Yeah. And then also, like you said, I also worked at the um, river Lodge where they do the guiding services through. Yep. And I did maintenance work and kind of construction work through them and stuff. Yep. And. I did a lot of odds and ends, and I was a handyman back then too. Mm-hmm. Around Big Star Lake and you know, so I was very busy.

And then once I became a nurse, don't get wrong. We work, we walk like anywhere from six to 11 miles on a shift, depending on how busy you are.

Nate Rozeveld: Yeah. High stress. Like, I like it's stressful and you're moving, but you're not doing the muscle. Exactly.

Colt Start: Yeah. And you know, you're still eating the same amount of food so that muscle goes away and gets replaced by something else.

And it was like, all right, it was time to change there. I mean, my lifestyle, my lifestyle didn't change according to the lifestyle change that occurred as far as, you know, going from working out and through my job all [01:15:00] the time to being more of a passive person in my career. Not working out, not, you know, not doing the hands, callouses forming type work

Nate Rozeveld: anymore.

Soft hands. Cool. Well, dude, I think it's like seeing you go through, like, like I said, like when I first met you, you're a big dude, but wasn't like, You were like a, like, I don't wanna mess with Cole. Like Right. Like I'm a big guy as well. Like Yeah, you don't mess with col, you're athletic, you know, you play a lot of football at a high level, like doing those kind of things.

And then, yeah, you went through this change and like, yeah, you got a little soft. Like we'll just say, yeah. Like, you know, like if I stopped doing what I am doing right now, like I like my job because I can kind of eat like crap and still stay like relatively in shape. But yeah, I get soft. But it was kind of, it's cool seeing you go through that and like, I'm like, dang, dude.

Like, and I'm kind of like, you're busy, like you said, jumping outta the boat. Like Yep. You can keep doing that for a long time. And like, yeah, if you can, like, it's just one of those things, like, it's like a good example for how like you are as a person, [01:16:00] like once you're like motivated, like, I'm gonna attack this.

You go full force. Like that's Yeah, a hundred

Colt Start: percent. And once I put my mind to something, I don't do it halfway.

Nate Rozeveld: Slightly addictive personality maybe as well with that. Maybe a Chad, but No, that's cool man. I, it's, I'm pumped, uh, that for you. And it's, it's cool seeing that and Yeah, I'm sure like the first tree you climbed this year, the first buck.

Dude, that's another thing too. 'cause like you told me you shot a deer and you're like, dude, I'm dying dragging this thing out the woods. Oh yeah. And I was like, what? And you're like, yeah, I'm in rough shape. I bet now you shoot and you're gonna be like, this is no big deal. It'll be a lot easier. That's

Colt Start: why's for sure for that.

I mean, oddly enough though, back in college, you're talking about my size. Back then, I wasn't, I don't know even know if you I bounced in college. Oh, you did? I did not know that. Okay. I was a bouncer back then. So. Nice. I

Nate Rozeveld: mean, yeah. You didn't mess with Colt. I knew that. So, but no, I think that's a, yeah, that's a cool story.

Yeah. I hope selfishly like, not selfishly, but maybe selfishly for you, I would love to see you freaking smoke a big buck outta [01:17:00] state. Like that'd be kind of cool. Like, because not like that's like the, I'm working on a state doing this, like this hustle. Like I just like, let's just treat it, you're hustling like yeah, that's why you got, you and your wife are doing this.

You're just doing the front end load hustle before you have like a family and kids and stuff. If that's something you end up doing. But like if you can somehow manage to like do that and then shoot a big buck, oh gosh. Like dream like you do, then

Colt Start: leave behind everything and just go out there and kill.

Yep. It'd be nice to kill the biggest buck

Nate Rozeveld: in my life. Yep. Go slay. Which, that's saying something 'cause you shot some nice books. So that'll be story from there today. But no, dude, I appreciate you coming on and yeah, I didn't wanna just kind of touch on that, the end there because I think it's inspiring for, you know, We're men and we're, you know, leaders of the household or you know, these kind of things.

And like life changes as we get a older, obviously you're younger than me, but like, we still gotta take care of ourselves. And like, you still, you can, you, you can use like the desire to, like, if you're listening to this podcast, I assume you have a passion for the outdoors. Like with may that be hunting, fishing, trapping, whatever that [01:18:00] may be.

So like you're kind of dedicated to that craft. Yeah. But like, you can use that in other avenues of your life. Like you've used that. I've used that in my job, like the way I attack my job, uh, my business, like those kind of things is the same way. Like I try to shoot a big buck or like I try to get like permission to rabbit hunt or find these things and like, have really good opportunities.

Uh, and you can use that for your health. Like, that's the thing, like I, you know, when I went to Wyoming and I was like, wow, I thought I was in shape, but I'm not ready for this elevation. So like, it kind of motivated me and my wife both. So it's like, okay, now I just gotta like remind myself that like, okay, if I can be dedicated enough to hold out for.

Shooting a top tier buck in Michigan, which is, you know, you can insert any kind of high pressure stay, blah, blah, blah. Hardest place to kill a deer. Whatever you may think with that. It's like, okay, if I just took some of that energy and maybe applied that to my health or applied that to my finances or applied that to, you know, your spiritual walk or whatever you have with your family, like, we can, we can do that.

And I think it's important. Like [01:19:00] you're, I'm sitting here across from you like, dude, like it's inspiring. Like I if you did that, like I can do that. Like, let's live good life so we can keep doing that. So yeah, anyone that's, if you can, uh, feel like if you can dedicate life to that thing mean, do it for other things.

And like now I'm like, okay, I'll get a little that towards the fishing aspects and see what happens. Yeah. But you, but no, I appreciate it

Colt Start: man. So for sure. Yeah. Anytime, bud. Anything else you wanna close

Nate Rozeveld: on? I'm good. So I do have one more question. What's up? If you were like, what was like your Mount Rushmore of like a fish to catch, oh, I mean we're talking ocean freshwater or whatever.

What would that be like if you're like, I like you dream about catching something. Like for me it'd be like shooting a 200 inch white tail. Yeah. In Michigan would be like the craziest thing. But like, what would that be for you? Like in the fishing world? I mean, I guess for

Colt Start: me, like, it depends where you're talking about like ocean fishing, like talking like something like, um, sailfish, something like that.

Okay. It's just different. I mean, I never went on those kind of charters. I never did that kind of fishing out there. I did a lot from onshore and like, [01:20:00] um, shallow water fishing. Okay. Uh, we had a, um, shallow water fishing boat out there. Okay. So we'd go into the, like coves and stuff and we could pull out of the snook and red fish and stuff like that, but we never got

Nate Rozeveld: too far out.

So catching like a, like you see the, the pictures like a big old sail sailfish would be like your dream. Yeah. That would be awesome.

Colt Start: That's cool. For sure.

Nate Rozeveld: Cool. I, I mean, hey, I mean, I see lots of cool videos of it, so it's gotta be something. Right? So would you mount it over your fireplace? Heck yes. Yeah.

There you go. Rock on. Well, hey, Thank you Cole, and uh, what a great episode. Like you flew by talking about some fish and stuff and yeah, anyone who hears this, like, yeah, get encouraged, get out there, go wet a line. I guess that's probably the good, good thing. Just let rip some lips, right? Do that kind of stuff.

But yeah, get outside, enjoy creation and have a good one. Thanks guys.[01:21:00]

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