- Oh my gosh, here we go.

Oh, it doesn't wanna come in easy.

Yeah, baby.

What does waking up early, truly terrible fish jokes, banana leaves, and the birthplace of water skiing have in common?

Stick around cause we're catching fish.

This is Outside Chance, what you thought I was playing?

Last year, there was over 1.4 million fishing licenses sold in Minnesota.

It's not surprising considering we have over 11 and a half thousand lakes, 6,500 rivers and streams and 162 different species of fish.

Ask anyone you know, they'll tell you fishing is best done when the sun is not too high above the horizon.

This is why we left St. Paul well before sunrise to make the hour long trip south to Lake City, Minnesota.

On the way the producers laid a fat stack of Crappie fish jokes on me.

Like did you hear about the brawl at the seafood restaurant?

Two fish got battered.

It's gonna be a long day.

Lake City sits on the shores of Lake Pepin, which is one of seven lakes in Minnesota that are essentially really wide parts of the Mississippi river.

What sets Lake City and Lake Pepin apart from the others.

That's right, the home of water skiing.

Water skiing is impossible without a boat, but fishing isn't, all you need is a little gear and access to some of Minnesota's 183,000 miles of shoreline.

Straighten that shoreline out and it would wrap around the earth more than seven times.

That's a lot of water.

Today we're going to meet up with Xao Xiong, an educator and avid outdoorsman.

He'll show us to a quiet stretch of the river where we'll test the old adage that fishing provides both time to think and a reason not to.

All right.

We're out here at Lake Pepin, I'm with Xao Xiong.

What are we doing today, man?

- We're fishing for catfish and white bass.

We got a couple rods each for us.

- Let's get it done.

Woo.

We're gonna get a big one, I feel it.

(upbeat music) All right Xao, what's the game plan?

- So we have two different setups going on right now.

These two here, we're going for catfish.

So we're gonna cast it out there and just let it sit.

And the other two rods, we're gonna be casting out constantly, try to see if we catch some white bass.

For bait, we have shrimp.

- All right.

So these ones are gonna sit.

We're gonna just send em out there, let 'em float around.

Try to snag a catfish.

- Yes, sir.

- And then these ones will be actively fishing, you know and reeling in, trying to, trying to lure in some bass.

Let's get it out in the water.

All right.

- Let's get it done.

- There's shrimp scampi, shrimp kabob, shrimp burger, shrimp.

- Good cast.

- I'm good at stuff.

All right, you wanna tell me a little bit about this setup?

- Yeah so this setup here, we're going after white bass.

So we have a hand tied fly here and just on a six foot liter, it's gonna cast it out, slowly roll it in.

And hopefully the white bass will get these.

- Yes, sir.

All right.

So why are we fishing for white bass?

What's your favorite part of - The white bass, they are good fighters and they're also really good table fair - I think I know the scientific name for a large mouth and small mouth bass, micropterus dolomieu and micropterus salmoides.

Just some random, random stuff I learned as a teenager and never forgot.

- Yeah.

- Thanks to my outdoorsman uncle.

Is there anything that you'd say is better about shore fishing than boat fishing?

- Well, some places you could access better on shore especially shallow waters.

And cause some of those boats can't get there.

And sometimes some season of the year you fish shallow and that's where the fishes are.

- Plus you don't need to buy a boat.

- That's right.

- They say boat stands for a bust out another thousand.

- Bust out another thousand, never heard that one.

All right.

No bites yet, but I got jokes.

What do you get when you cross a fishing lure and a gym sock.

- What do you get?

- Hook, line and stinker.

If we don't get any fish for lunch, at least we got cheese.

All right.

So when it's kind of slow in one spot, do you tough it out, keep casting or you try another spot?

What do you think?

- I usually try and move around, cast a little bit different directions and see how it goes.

And I think right now we can probably move up to the point, try it there.

There we go.

Go get it.

- Oh my gosh.

Here we go.

Here we go.

- Set it, set it, it's on, it's on, it's on.

- Just hook it?

- Yep.

Right now.

Right now.

Right now.

Yep.

Reel in, other way.

There you go.

Real, real, real.

- Oh, it's thrashing.

Oh it doesn't wanna come in easy.

Let's go baby.

Ah, I can almost see it.

Oh, here we go.

Let's go.

Oh, I see it.

- Yep.

- I see it.

- That's what we're after.

Oh, it's a catfish.

Yeah.

Baby.

Woo.

- Good size.

- It's how we do this stuff, yeah, what's up, what's up you beautiful beast?

What kind of catfish is this?

- It's a channel cat.

They're in their fault bite right now.

And look how big the stomach is, they're getting ready for winter.

- It's beautiful.

- Yes sir.

- Oh my goodness that feels good.

My heart is beating.

I haven't caught a fish this big in a long time.

- Yeah.

- Xao knows what he's doing.

Really team effort.

Big up.

I feel exhilarated.

This is exhilarating.

Natural delights.

We got lunch.

It's lunch.

Sorry friend.

Gonna say on to the next one.

How long you been fishing for Xao?

- As long as I've known how to ride a bike.

- Do you remember your first fish?

- Like everybody else, you know a lot of people first fish are pan fish and same with me.

- How's your love for fishing evolved over the years - It's till growing.

I love teaching people how fish.

We just recently started a club at the school which I'm the coach for our fishing club.

We're part of the Minnesota Junior Bass Nation Circuit, where we fish competitively for High school.

- That sounds like something I wish I was doing in high school.

- Yeah, I wish we had it back then too, when I was in high school.

Nowadays, there's a lot more students out there, that actually advocate for themself.

I'm just fortunate enough that I get to be their advisor and their coach.

- As far as the experience you've had so far, what was like some good takeaways for what the kids are getting out of it, when you're getting out of it.

- Our school is a title one school where a lot of kids are inner city kids and some of them don't have the opportunities and we're just giving them a different opportunity besides traditional sports.

Something that they love doing, to get to express themselves differently.

- Yeah.

Right.

And getting back familiar with nature and you know finding the rhythms of not only just like being able to provide food but just to, you know, get closer to what ancestors did.

- Yep.

You got a bite.

Got a bite.

That's on your rod.

Just wait.

There you go.

- Oh yeah.

Go baby.

Holy God sure is.

We might have a old Peppy.

I might have the monster of Lake Pepin right here.

He's feisty.

And he's coming at us.

Oh, let's go Peppy.

Woo.

Oh it's got, oh, it's got.

It doesn't wanna come.

Yeah, let's go.

It's a monster.

- Holy crap.

This one put up a much bigger fight.

- Probably cause it's younger.

All right Xao, now we got a couple fish.

What's next, man?

- Well, Chance I'm feeling kind of hungry, so it's time to filet him up and cook him.

- Let's eat.

lunchtime.

- All right.

Before we filet these fish.

How about a joke?

- Sure.

Why not?

- What's the difference between a fish and a piano?

- I don't know, you tell me.

- You can tune a piano, but you can't tuna fish.

Cut to the filet montage.

(classical music) All right we got these catfish, all fileted up.

What are we gonna do next?

- So we're gonna make a banana leaf wrapped catfish.

We're gonna use the herbs that we have here.

Some spices, oil, we're gonna chop them up fine, mix 'em up.

Wrap it up.

Steam it up.

- One thing that ties everybody together is food.

Tell me why this is like a traditional type of Hmong dish.

- It's easy.

It's delicious.

And you know, it could be a good travel food too as well.

Usually we'll go with different herbs, some of these herbs to as well, but then a lot more herbs that we could add to it.

Also it's taste preference.

So there's no, no set ingredients that you need or you have to have in order to make this dish.

- Kinda like what you got and what you like.

- Yes, sir.

- All right everything's chopped up, next step.

- All Right, so I'm gonna have you open the olive oil, drizzle some on top while I'll mix it.

- Tell me when.

- Okay, that's good.

Go ahead and throw the herbs in it too as well.

Go ahead and salt, pepper, and some chili pepper.

Take some of this, just put it right in the middle.

Go ahead and take the four corners up together.

- Like folding, like this one over, like that?

- Yep.

All the way over.

- All right, they're good to go, so into the steamer then?

- Yep.

Right on top.

15, 20 minutes, you'll be set.

- All right.

Here we are waiting.

You know what that means.

It's time for some jokes.

Where do fish keep their money?

The river bank.

- Why do fish swim in schools?

Because they can't walk.

- Oh.

- What do you tell a young fish, so he doesn't become dinner?

Stay in school.

- Why is it so easy to weigh fish?

- My daughter's told me this one, because they got their own scales.

- There we go.

- Oh yes.

This looks bomb.

- Cheers.

- Man, what an amazing recipe.

This is such a good meal.

It's been such a good day.

Stoked that I caught the fish and I'm already eating it.

So basically quick turnaround.

Thank you so much for sharing this recipe.

Guiding me to the fish, sharing your time.

This has really been an honor.

- I'm glad I get this opportunity and I enjoyed it.

It's fun.

We should do it again.

- Yeah, man, we should do it again.

Cheers bro.

- Cheers.

- What a day.

Got to wake up bright and early, take a little trip outta town, meet an awesome outdoor guide, reel in some big ones and got to see how Minnesota's able to nourish traditions from all around the world.

My belly and my heart are full until next time, Chance signing off.