Epiosde 78: Year in Review Continued

This episode reflects on a year of challenges and triumphs as two lodge owners share stories of their adventures, staffing dilemmas, and memorable events. They emphasize the importance of community within the lodge and the beauty of experiencing nature together. 

• Recap of the launch of the new season of The Fish and Canada Show 
• Reflections on past fishing adventures 
• Insights from the Eastern Swing fishing tour 
• Discussion on lodge management and renovations 
• Challenges faced with staffing during peak season 
• Highlights of memorable guest experiences and celebrations 
• Looking forward to the opportunities and challenges in 2025

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
This episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner is
brought to you by Nordic PointLodge a luxury outdoor
experience with five-starservice.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
You know me and you, starting in the summer, kind of
the podcasting started rollingand everybody you know did an
episode.
You did an episode with theboys there, the Johns and Chef,
and it was just something thatme and you loved doing and I can
honestly say from the bottom ofmy heart, stephen, that being
part of the Diaries of a LodgeOwner family and being part of
this show now with you isprobably as big of a highlight

(00:38):
as me fishing and meeting myidol.
You know I really enjoy doingthis with you weekly.

Speaker 1 (00:43):
This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio Podcast
Networks Diaries of a LodgeOwner Stories of the North.
Well, folks, it was animpossible task for Willie and I
to fit a year in review in justover an hour last week.
Go figure, on this show wecontinue with the 2024 year in

(01:05):
review.
So, without further ado, let'ssee what the rest of 2024 has in
store.
Welcome, folks, to anotherepisode of Diaries of a Lodge
Owner Stories of the North.
And last week, willie and I, wegot into the year in review and

(01:27):
we didn't realize how big ananimal it was.
So this is our year in reviewcontinuation and, I think,
Willie.
Well, first of all, willie,welcome to the show and welcome
to all of you.
Diaries of a lodge owner ourfamily out there listening.

(01:50):
It's a wonderful.
This is actually the secondshow of the year because we had
the pleasure of dropping on newyear's day and now this is.
This is the uh.
Another week.
Uh after that, and willie, um,something really special

(02:14):
happened saturday morning yes at8, am you want?

Speaker 2 (02:19):
to talk about that quick.
Yes, it did.
The first episode of the Fishand Canada show dropped and if
anybody hasn't seen it on Globalat 8 in the mornings, you know,
all across Canada you can watchit.
I believe Dino said it wasdropping on YouTube as well
shortly after, but it was thefirst episode of the year at

(02:43):
Nordic Point Lodge on the Fishand Canada show, so we were
super jacked up for that man.
Everybody get out there andcheck that episode out and give
Pete and Andrew feedback.
Dean, let us know what you guysthought about everything there.
It was a really unique episode.
So, as you're going to see,we'll get later into this
podcast.
We'll tell some stories goingthrough there 100%.

(03:06):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
So I think I left off talking about the the Chaudière
episode that that I shot withPeter this year, a drum incident
where Peter somehow decided orhe had this drum shit everywhere

(03:31):
and used it like a fire hoseand painted the whole freaking
boat.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
Yep, yep.
And then I had a fish sprayingwhite stuff all over my boat and
yep, that's where we left off.
That was our last story Yep,yep.
Well, yep, that's where we leftoff.

Speaker 1 (03:44):
That was our last story, yep, yep.
Well, that Chaudière shoot.
It was a largemouth episode.
And, wow, it turned into alargemouth episode.
And again, the largemouth onthe Upper French bailed us out.
Man, they are, the largemouthfishing up there is really,

(04:10):
really good, and on LakeNipissing the fishing is
excellent.
So that largemouth fisherybailed us out.
And the muskie fishery there isoutstanding as well.
And the muskie fishery there isoutstanding as well.
Walleye you know we couldn't doa walleye show on the French

(04:34):
because, man, we put togethersome great walleye shows leading
into that.
So you know, it was thelargemouth that shone again.
And what a great shoot and anexperience for me being the
former owner of Chaudiere andthen going back as a co-host for

(04:55):
the Fish and Canada show.

Speaker 2 (04:57):
Yeah, that would have been interesting, hey, like.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:00):
Going back to your old place, but in the same
format, with Pete right, Likethat would have been.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
Oh yeah, yeah, it was very cool seeing all of the
staff that still remain there.
You know, Cole Beeden he'sstill the operation.
He's still the operation Well,I guess he's more the office
manager and takes all thebookings and sales manager.

(05:30):
And Pete Bowles he was a dockhand for me.
He started years ago.
Actually, it's funny Pete'sname just come up because this
year marks a fairly significantyear for me and Peter, Because

(05:51):
this is the year that Peter hasnow outlived me at Chaudiere
Lodge, and what I mean by thatis he has now spent more time at
chaudiere than I did as anowner yeah, yeah yeah, yeah,
which uh, interesting yeah, it'scrazy to think about.

Speaker 2 (06:12):
It sounds like you had a lot of like.
I was saying, was it weird?
But I guess no, it seems likeit was just like a.
It's like second nature whenyou go back there, right?

Speaker 1 (06:22):
yeah, and, and I and I do have, I have the cottage
there, so, or camp, as a lot ofpeople refer to them, on the
Upper French, very close toChaudière.
So I'm up there constantly, butnot much.
I don't go over to Chaudièreall that much.
Some I do sometimes.

(06:43):
Uh, it's a different feel.
I have all kinds of guests thatstop in at the island when I'm,
when they see my boat there,which is great.
But, um, yeah, so it was.
It was a wonderful episode togo back and um and and see all
of the old staff Chef Dave andCassandra, his girlfriend, and

(07:14):
there's a few mainstays atChaudière and when you can find
great staff that continue tocome back year in and year out.
And actually I will mentionthat Pete is not a dockhand
anymore.
He worked through the ranks andis now one of Chaudiere's
guides.

Speaker 2 (07:35):
Good, for him.

Speaker 1 (07:37):
Yeah, you know, and that's a great way, and we've
said it before and I'll say itagain that's a great way for all
of you guys and girls out therewho are aspiring to be a guide.
One of the best ways to do itis to start as a dog hand,
because you learn so much thereand you interact with all of the

(08:01):
guides coming in and out, andit's a great way to start that.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
And you know, the biggest thing I think just let
me throw this in here, steve isthat, like when and it always
happens Every year it happenswhere you're like at some point
there's extra guests or there'sa guest wants to bring up a last
minute couple with them, or youknow, you can't find.
You got 15 guides on staffright now, um, whether some of

(08:27):
them are contract or staff, andyou can't find anybody that doc
hands going out.
I know I did it with dennisthis year.
I needed dennis dennis.
Dennis is the least social guyin the world, but he, but he is.
He is the most proper man.
He will do everything to a tee.
He's super polite, he'sattentive, he knows boats, so I
needed him on a fly out, right,they weren't doing shore lunch,

(08:50):
it was just sandwiches, um.
So I threw dennis out.
You know so.
But that could be you on thatdock, that young person, right,
wanting that one chance, rightjust to you know, just like
getting your shot to play forthe big leagues, right, that's
yeah, and you know, and you'renot gonna know what the heck
you're doing.
But you Just like getting yourshot to play for the big leagues
, right, yeah, and you're notgoing to know what the heck

(09:10):
you're doing, but you just learnfrom what you pick up from the
guys that are coming in off thedock as you work in dockhand and
ask questions.
That's huge 100%.

Speaker 1 (09:21):
So no, that's a great thing and you know, it kind of
hit me a little bit being awayand that marks.
This marks six years, six yearssince I sold.
So it's time is flying.
Wow, stephen, yes, and speakingof, time is flying, maybe we'll

(09:44):
move on throughout the summerand talk about one of the
biggest things for me this yearin the Fish in Canada world, and
that was being able to takepart in one of the well, not one
of the the longest Fish inCanada shoot ever, and that

(10:10):
shoot we ended up doing anEastern swing.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Oh yes, your New Brunswick, Nova Scotia deal.

Speaker 1 (10:20):
Yes, yes.

Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yes, yes, yes, the.

Speaker 1 (10:22):
Eastern swing OSHA deal.
Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
The Eastern Swing.
And that saw us on the road for21 days.
And then smart guy mepiggybacked our vanity cup week
right after.
So I got home from the shoot, Ihad one sleep in my own bed and

(10:48):
then jumped on a plane andheaded to flew to Winnipeg, and
then we drove to.

Speaker 2 (10:55):
Northern Saskatchewan .
Yeah, to finish that, derby,yeah.

Speaker 1 (11:00):
But that, that Eastern shoot, I love the East
Coast.
That Eastern shoot, I love theEast Coast.
I've had the pleasure ofshooting in New Brunswick a few
times with Fish in Canada.
Ange and I did a muskie showout there on the St John River
back when I owned the lodge.

Speaker 2 (11:28):
So that was like 2018 , 2017, 2018.
And St John is likesouthwestern part of the
province, right like it's likeright before.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
it's like the closest area to Maine you can get
correct yeah, it's like it'srelatively quite that far south,
um, it's, uh, it's um south ofEdmondson, and we weren't at the
mouth.
We were above the Mack to quackdam.

Speaker 2 (11:47):
Oh, okay, so you weren't down where all the bass
stuff is.

Speaker 1 (11:49):
That was going on this year, no we were above the
Mack to quack dam fishing forthe muskies, but that was a
great episode.
The musky fishing there is islike skyrocketing.
It's taking off.
It's awesome.

Speaker 2 (12:03):
So yeah, like it's so funny you say this.
So me and Krista and I justwant to throw this in there
because I've been waiting totalk to you about this topic,
because New Brunswick is such aunique place, and the whole East
Coast.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (12:20):
I've been out there because I drilled out there.
I drilled out at Sable Island,I drilled in New Brunswick.
Um, I've been out there cause Idrilled out there.
I drilled out at Sable Island,I drilled in New Brunswick.
Uh, there was a.
There was a salt mine that, uh,that had a cavern, uh, basically
a crevice that opened up and itwas filling, filling the salt
mine with water.
Well, that's like it was.
It was devastating, right,cause as soon as the water, the

(12:41):
water, hit the salt, it justdisintegrates, right, so it was
destroying their mind.
So, basically, what we went inthere to do was to punch into
the side of the mine and cementit, so, like we came in from
underneath on an angle, drilledinto this, into this open water
cavern, would drain it and thenpump, like we would pump like in
obscene amounts of cement, likehundreds of cubic tons down

(13:05):
there, like truck after truckafter truck, until it would dead
end and we'd be able to getpressure back and then cement it
off and then we'd move over toanother one.
But when I was out there, Ididn't really pay attention to
like I toured it, but I wasyoung, I just remember it was
beautiful and the people wereawesome and, as I hear you talk
about this before me, and Kristaare looking for our, for our

(13:28):
retirement future, right, likewe're obviously going to be here
with the lodge, but in the offseason, right like maybe we want
to have a place out west.
Right, we've looked at like asoy use area.
I know, I know Ange did someshows out there like bass
fishing, and so it was like thecolumbia river out in bc.
Yeah, the walleye limited dateis 16 walleyes wow it's insane.

(13:50):
It's one of the biggest walleyefisheries right now in north
america and no one talks aboutit.
Um, like christina lake is, souse lake.
Like I said, you guys shotshows out there.
Man, they're putting like eightpound largies.
It's the warmest place incanada, right.
So when I was on my honeymoonwe went and checked it out, and
then I've always had anattraction to the east, and so
has Krista to the east coast,but we've never really don't

(14:12):
know anything about it.
So when you and you guys talkabout it, we're like, oh, it's
so beautiful.
And the more I watch theseshows that have been done down
there and the more I look intothe area like it's super cheap.
Hey, steve, like to buyproperty down there?
It's cheap, is not?

Speaker 1 (14:27):
yeah, it's, it's, it's that well, like, I mean
it's like everything else.
Yeah, um, in our, in oureconomy and and for for those of
you out there listening who maynot be from Canada um, since
COVID, all of the prices pricesfor places to live and homes and
everything has skyrocketed.

(14:48):
And for here, like in Ontario,southern Ontario in particular,
our prices have tripled and sohave the prices out East tripled
, but the thing is they're bothrelative and, um, ontario prices

(15:09):
are ridiculously high at thispoint.
You know, an average home is amillion bucks and, and you can
go out east and and and you cango out east right now and you
can buy prop beautifulproperties for you know, three
to five300,000 to $500,000.

Speaker 2 (15:27):
I was saying that I found one that was, you know, in
that range you're talking about, and it was like a five-bedroom
, four-bathroom home.

Speaker 1 (15:34):
Well, and that home before COVID was $120,000.

Speaker 2 (15:39):
Still crazy.
Still half the price of my hometoo.
In.

Speaker 1 (15:41):
Ontario, southern Ontario, that's a million.
It was, you know, five, 500,000.
So it's, it's relative.
And the answer to that questionis if you're from Ontario and
you own a home, yeah, yeah, youcan.
You can parlay that into into avery nice chunk of cash and

(16:02):
then and then live verycomfortably on the East Coast.
And a shit ton of Ontarianshave done that and I can tell
you, the people out there areawesome.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
That's cool.

Speaker 1 (16:16):
Oh, yeah, yeah.
So this road trip that westarted started in New Brunswick
.
We started started in newbrunswick.
We, um, we went right to um, um, uh, right to uh actually it
was the saint john river againuh, and we were.
We stayed in fredericton, um,fredericton, and, and

(16:37):
fredericton is a an awesomelittle city, um, it's the, the
capital, and uh, they, they,it's just, you know, it's like I
don't even know how to describeit it's like a small town feel
in a city, but I don't thinkthere's all that many people.
I think there's probably Ishould Google this but I think

(16:59):
there's about 20,000,.
You know, hold on, you knowwhat?
Let's just, let's just so.
I'm not.

Speaker 2 (17:05):
Pull out that Google machine folks, I'm not crazy.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
Let's just ask Siri here.
You know, siri, hey Siri, howmany people live in New
Brunswick?
Or sorry?
Oh wow, we've got 831,000people in New Brunswick.
Nice, that's their population.
So let's find out aboutFredericton.
Hey, siri, how many people livein Fredericton?

(17:31):
Oh, it's 63,000.
Thank you, siri.
I really appreciate that,because I would have looked like
a knucklehead.

Speaker 2 (17:42):
What a world we live in.
It's just crazy.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
I know, I know it's crazy.

Speaker 2 (17:47):
Any information right at your fingertips.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Yeah, but I'll tell you what for 63,000 people in
the city it's got a hometowncountry feel.

Speaker 2 (17:59):
Well, that's even better, right, Like the
population's that high and itstill has that feeling.

Speaker 1 (18:03):
Yeah, and that shoot.
We ended up doing amulti-species shoot.
There was we fished smallmouth,we fished sturgeon and we
fished muskies, although wedidn't boat a muskie, we only
devoted.
It wasn't, it was a day and youcan't devote.
You know, we were hoping that'sa lot of species change in one

(18:25):
day?
yeah, we were hoping right, butyeah, we didn't get lucky on
that.
For muskies you need a freakingweek, like I mean.
It's not an easy, it's a tall,it's, it's tough fishing um to
make musky shows, for sure, forsure, um so and uh did you do
any salt water, or was it allinland?

(18:47):
uh, it was brackish, it was theriver.
So, um, um, the, there there issalt water, but um, uh,
obviously for the muskies it'sfresh water.
So you get fresh water comingdown from the river towards the
ocean, and where we were wasfresh water, and then a little

(19:12):
bit brackish right as the closerto the ocean you get, because
we also did, on that, thatmulti-species shoot.
Um, we did a stripe bath aswell and, um, you, you get a
little bit closer to the ocean.
Obviously, the, the water mixesup a little bit, and then there
were the stripers down theretoo.

(19:32):
So, um, it was a wonderfulshoot, great, uh, it's always
fun out with the boys.
And then we packed up.

Speaker 2 (19:39):
Is there walleye fishing out there?

Speaker 1 (19:42):
Walleye no.

Speaker 2 (19:43):
Like that's not bad?
Or like can you go snag youknow a shore lunch if you wanted
to somewhere around there?
Or is there no walleyes in thatarea?

Speaker 1 (19:51):
Well, you know what I would go back to, siri, but
we've never fished walleye outthere.
I'm sure there's inland lakesthat hold walleye, but we've
never done a show.
And I'll tell you what you wantto do a shore lunch out there.
And you know, I never thoughtI'd say this, but there is a

(20:12):
better fish than walleye, andthat's striped bass, man, that's
striped bass.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Has it really that good?
Oh, dude Markterling says thattoo from the lodge, because he
fishes them in texas lots.

Speaker 1 (20:23):
he swears by them yeah, well, I don't know if
they're, well, they must be thesame striped bass in texas too.
They gotta be coming in fromthe ocean down there, you know.
But the striped bass that thatwe're fishing on the East Coast,
it is outstanding.
Like I mean, the first stripedbass that I ate would have been

(20:44):
on our shoot maybe two years ago, wasn't the first one, the
muskie shoot.
We come and we shot a fallstriper show and the striped
bass, and we actually stayed inthe same place.
Um no, we stayed in the mirror,we stayed in Miramichi for that

(21:05):
one and what's that which is tothe north right?
yeah, yeah and um, we ended up,um, we ended up, um, um, taking
the striped bass that we caughtwith Jeff Wilson, who's the
owner and operator of theStriper Cup.

(21:30):
He knew the chef at the hoteland he made a chowder that was
to die for.
It was just outstanding.
And then we took a couple homeand the buddy yeah, when you're

(21:51):
out East you don't have to goany further than Stripe Bass,
for for sure, lunch man, that'scool.

Speaker 2 (21:59):
Oh yeah, I love the diversification, like how, the,
like the, what you can do, likesame thing out west, it's the
same it really it.
It's you can the fish that youcan fish in the ocean or or the.
The combination together andthe inland stuff right is super
cool yeah yeah, so we cool.

Speaker 1 (22:16):
Yeah, so we did that.
And then we packed up after aweek in New Brunswick and drove
to Nova Scotia Economy.
Nova Scotia and economy is atiny little.
I'm going to call it a hamletBecause it's like in the area

(22:39):
that I live.
You know, we used to say we hadlittle hamlets called the ones.
Where I live is Bowling Green,and these places are just
clusters of houses that ifyou're driving and you blink you
miss them.
There's no real like I mean ineconomy.
They had a, a wonderful littlerestaurant.

(22:59):
We stayed at a bed andbreakfast and it was.
It was one of the best shootsthat I've been on Cool and it
was solely focused on um, onstriped bass and um, um, you

(23:21):
guys gotta go out there bassbarn charters.
Oh it was, it was outstanding.

Speaker 2 (23:26):
I can't you had him on the show here, didn't you?
That was the fella.

Speaker 1 (23:28):
Yeah, I did yeah I did and, um, that whole, that
whole episode and the wholething, man, um, I can't wait for
you all to see it, because thestriped bass out there on the
Bay of Fundy and the area is sobeautiful and it's, it's, it's

(23:48):
crazy, the, the land and thebeauty and the phenomenon with
the highest hides in the world,like I mean, when we were there
it was 50, 54 feet or somefreaking thing.

Speaker 2 (24:04):
That's insane man.

Speaker 1 (24:06):
It was ridiculous.
It was so awesome.
That is cool.
Look up Bass Barn Charters,they will look after you.
And Nova Scotia is justbeautiful.
It reminded me there were farmsall along the coast of the Bay
of Fundy and we were right onthe Bay of Fundy and just you

(24:30):
know country living and thepeople are ridiculously friendly
.
It was awesome, one of the bestshoots that I've been on, you
know, and it was really reallycool.
And I love striper fishing, youknow.

Speaker 2 (24:53):
Yeah, for sure, man, it's a bucket list for me, you
know oh yeah, it is, and you'venot striper fished never man.
I've never striper fished andI've never grayling fished.
Those are really no I've.
I've caught char when I wasdrilling up in the arctic.
I've done.
You know I did sturgeon herefor my.
You know the big one.

(25:15):
I got that ate four or whateveron my honeymoon.
I've done lots in the ocean.
You know groupers, big marlinswith Davey.
But no, I've never and I wouldlove to.
I can't wait.

Speaker 1 (25:29):
Oh yeah, we got to plan a trip out there.

Speaker 2 (25:31):
You got to take me out and show me around.

Speaker 1 (25:34):
I certainly will, because it is so worth going.
And again, nova Scotia thoseblue nosers out there, man, they
are salt of the earth people.
Um, really, really awesome andum highly recommend it.
Uh, you gotta get out there anduh and do it.

(25:55):
And then we ended up, uh uh,saddling up and um uh heading
back, uh uh, heading back to umum Nova Scotia, where, for the
first time, um, I didn't, wedidn't fish for our shoot.

(26:15):
Um, we did was we built um afish in canada, episode,
possibly two out of a very, verycool event, and that was um um
the world bass uh tournament.

Speaker 2 (26:31):
Well, the pan-american games the
pan-american yes, yes, Icompletely forgot that was going
on out there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah yeah.

Speaker 1 (26:38):
Yeah, so we ended up getting to spend the week
shooting the Pan American Games.
Well, the Pan American BlackBass Tournament is what it is.
Yep and hanging out with thebest bass fishermen in the world
, like I mean, there was TeamUSA and it was very cool, like

(27:00):
they had probably about eightdifferent teams and eight
different countries taking part.

Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, like Australia was there too.

Speaker 1 (27:09):
I think no, I don't think Australia was there, no,
no, we had.
There was teams from, well, theUS and Canada.
Hold on, you know what I got tolook up the teams that were
there, because there was teamsfrom Mexico.

Speaker 2 (27:31):
I know Canada was represented by Gussie.

Speaker 1 (27:33):
There was a team from Japan or China, sorry, and all
of those people.
It was very cool, although thatteam from China 90% of the guys
were Chinese that live inCanada, but that still doesn't
matter and the compete level wasawesome.

(27:54):
And again, it was on the saintjohn river, uh and the, the, the
bass fishery there is isunbelievable, and to watch guys
fish and be involved, um, inshooting and and boarding the
boats of uh, of uh, guys likescott martin and all the US guys

(28:18):
.
And then you've got all theguys from Canada, you know.
You got Gustafson and you knowall the guys you know.

Speaker 2 (28:29):
Cooper, Collabt and Azumi, and yeah like.

Speaker 1 (28:31):
Yeah, captain Azumi, like I mean it was such a great
experience to to go out and andhang around those guys and and
and shoot with them and it wasit was really really cool what
an interesting thing having likejust stopping to think about
that for a minute, like like Bobright Izumi, like yeah like

(28:54):
from way back when he startedlike the GM Bass Circuit kind of
stuff with Big Jim and Ang andthose guys like way back, you
know.

Speaker 2 (29:03):
And now you look at a guy like Trey McKinney.

Speaker 1 (29:07):
Oh, Trey was the.
Like Trey McKinney, he's one ofthe or who was the other guy,
the barefoot kid yeah, he's oneof the.

Speaker 2 (29:14):
he's like 19 or 20, I think, or some shit.

Speaker 1 (29:16):
Oh yeah and yeah, he's like 19 or 20,.

Speaker 2 (29:17):
I think, or some shit , oh yeah.
And then there's another youngone down there, a bigger guy,
williamson Tyler.
Williamson Tyler.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
He was the barefoot guy, not Trey.
They fished together actually.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yeah, those two are like right now, some of the best
in the world.
And you look at the spectrum oflike how they're doing it now
and you look at how, like Boband them at their age, we're
doing it like four generations.
Crazy, right, how how muchfishing and tournament fishing
has changed in 40 years, rightLike yeah just think about that.

(29:53):
Think about Bob, like Bob beingthere and going Holy shit, like
back in 1982, you know, in 1982.
I'm sure those moments comeinto their head where they're
looking at these kids going holyfuck, this is like arcade
fishing.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
Oh, it is, and it's funny.
You say that there was an areathat was very difficult to get
to and Trey and the big guy,what his name, tyler williamson.
Tyler williamson, yeah, um,both very young, um, but cool

(30:25):
dudes.
And anyway, we went back intothis area that's difficult to
get into and there were twoboats back there.
There was azumi and the youngguys and it was funny.
I was driving the FNC1 and I hadNick Ang's grandson on the boat
with me and Nick was runningone of the Osmo cameras and

(30:48):
they're pretty cool littlepieces of equipment.
They're just like a, they'rethe size of a.
Well, they're probably aboutI'm going to say five, six
inches long and they're probablyabout I'm gonna say five, six
inches long and they're like, uh, one inch square.
And then they got this littlegimbal camera on the top of it.
So you just hold it and and it,the, the gimbal, always

(31:10):
naturally stays horizontal soyou can kind of be moving, but
it, the frame of the picture,stays horizontal.
So so they're wonderful piecesof equipment and we were
boarding the boats and doingquick interviews and stuff.
But it gets pretty dicey rightwhen you're doing that kind of

(31:31):
thing and it's a tournament andthere was no money involved.
But it's all national pride,right?
Everybody wants to win thistournament.

Speaker 2 (31:39):
For their country.
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:40):
For their country and we jumped on with the young
fellas and I was watching andthey were glued to that
LiveScope man.
They were glued to the uh, tothat um, uh, live scope man they
were.
They were glued to it and youknow, I didn't think that they

(32:01):
were, that they were doing allthat.
Well, um, you know they werecatching some small fish, but
they, I didn't see them.
You know, get into anything bigUm and Azumi was in the back
corner and um, um, ange and Peteended up doing interviews and

(32:21):
things with Izumi, but thatWilliams kid and and Trey
McKinney, they, they knocked itout of the park.
Man, I think they were the.

Speaker 2 (32:32):
I think that they were the best team in that
tournament so so those two kids,when we just had brucey on here
yeah brucey was, was one placebehind them going into the for
the elite, the whole, the wholeseason him.
He beat them for about four orfive tournaments and then they
beat him for about four or five.

(32:53):
It was.
I'm just throwing that outthere, that that's how good
jamie is he.
He, he fucking stood toe-to-toewith those kids and those kids
are good, right like like I knowthat there's you know, and
there's some, there's somespeculation about some different
things out there, but likethose, they're good for good
sticks, like anybody who's atthat tournament.
If you can swing with them,like that's saying a lot right

(33:15):
yeah super cool, oh for sure, tobe on the boat with them yeah,
100.

Speaker 1 (33:20):
So what an experience that was.
Um uh, hey, you know it was.
It was a really cool experienceto do who won?

Speaker 2 (33:29):
team america won right what's that?

Speaker 1 (33:31):
team america won right oh yeah, they, they kicked
ass, they were, it was, um, itwas, it was, uh, it was an ass
kicking and it was on our ownturf.
It, uh, I was.

Speaker 2 (33:45):
It was a little disappointing that way, like our
world juniors the other nightyeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (33:51):
I don't know about those boys, uh, but I gotta keep
cheering.
But you know, the us lookspretty strong yeah, that was a
pretty horrifying.

Speaker 2 (33:59):
That first game that was that canada played was
awesome.
I thought they did great andthen a few what I was like what
is going on, boys?

Speaker 1 (34:06):
I know, I know, but that's okay, anyway there's,
they're still in it yeah yeahwell, that's cool, man, that's.

Speaker 2 (34:14):
That sounds like a great swing out to the east
coast it was a.

Speaker 1 (34:16):
it was a wonderful experience and a long journey.
We drove out, we pulled theboats and then, like I say, we
did the.
I got back, slept one night inmy own bed and headed out for
the Vanity Cup, the.

Speaker 3 (34:35):
Vanity Cup yeah.

Speaker 1 (34:36):
It was a month of travel and I really, for the
first time, gained a differentperspective and a ton of respect
for people out there thattravel for a living, you know,
and obviously there's there'slike, uh, musicians and people

(35:02):
that go on these world tours andum see different cities like
every two days and sleeping inhotels and you know, once it's
awesome to to sleep in, sleep inwonderful hotels and like I
mean we were in greataccommodation the whole way and

(35:27):
thank you to all of those places.

Speaker 2 (35:28):
But you know, but it's not your own bed, buddy.
No.

Speaker 1 (35:32):
It doesn't matter how luxurious the place you're
staying is, and this is what Irealized when you wake up in the
morning and sometimes you don'teven know where you are.
For that split second it's atough deal.
It starts to weigh on you andyou're away from your family and

(35:56):
it was a bit of a grind, um,towards the end, um, you know,
being on the road that long, um,cool experience, but man, I, uh
I gained a new appreciation forall you folks out there that

(36:16):
travel and sleep in hotels andare eating in, you know, eating
in restaurants and differentthings and fast food here and
there, Life on the road,basically yeah.
You know it's.
And when you're out doing itand you're in restaurants and

(36:37):
you're eating out and stuff likethat, people you know some
people think, wow, that is sucha awesome thing and it is, don't
get me wrong.
But when you do it for a month,you're awful happy to be home,
oh yeah, for sure, yeah, forsure.
Yeah, for sure, for sure, yeahFor sure, yeah For sure.
So no, I that was.

Speaker 2 (36:58):
That was basically the fishing Canada year in a
nutshell, and Well, that wasyour year really too, in the
summer, or your summer rightBetween your holiday, and that
was it.

Speaker 1 (37:09):
You were swamped.
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, a hundredpercent it was.
It was wonderful and thanks toto Ange and Pete and the whole
crew.
I love you all and appreciateeverything and enjoy being out
with them.
I wouldn't trade that for theworld.

(37:36):
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(38:18):
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(38:43):
Lakeside Marine, rugged,reliable, ready.
So, willie, what's up on yourend?
Like I mean, this was a prettyexciting Nordic year.

Speaker 2 (39:06):
It was a wild year.
It was exciting.
There was lots of stress, therewas excitement.
No, it was good Like.
I'll skip back, I'll kind of doa recap on Nordic's year here.
So we did January We'd alreadystarted building.

(39:27):
So we tore down cabin four,which was an older cabin that
sat on the most beautiful spoton our property, and we did that
late fall, kind of to have itready for the winter, um, to
build.
But we, you know this, thisplace was like the building,
that, the structure that wasthere, was like really old.
It was like the kind of the ifyou put a marble on one end of

(39:50):
the floor it would have rolledup and down about six hills.
You know, before the other sideof the cabin, two bedrooms
horrible layout, you know, butit's, you know, and, and you've
been to, you know, before I gotto the other side of the cabin,
two bedrooms, horrible layout,you know, but it's, you know,
and, and you've been to, youknow, our place stevens.
You look at that place nowwhere cabin the new cabin four
stands and it's like, wow, whata view, right.
So we wanted to, uh, we wantedto give give that sensation from

(40:13):
the most beautiful spot on theproperty.
So we tore that down, startedbuilding, you know.
So, jan, january, february, wewere like same as the year
before.
At the main lodge we were.
I had eight, 10 guys living outthere on and off, right, you
know, helping out here and there.
It's a big difference.
Building Everyone, you knowit's building in Keven and

(40:35):
Kenora or where you are.
You know, the gta is a bigdifference between doing it
there and doing it in the middleof a remote place with five
feet of snow and minus 30 fortwo months straight, right, like
so, oh yeah, and logisticallyit's not, you know, like
everything free.
You know your compressors daily, you're know, everything at

(40:57):
night has to be warm and charged.
Well, we only had one cabinplus my house, the owner's house
, right, so I'm up there withsome guys and then I cabin 13.
We had, we had guys down theresleeping, yeah, so we plucked
away throughout the winter there.
We did a bunch of that.
Wasn't all we did.
We ended up renovating probablylike nine of the cabins in

(41:20):
total.
You know, we put new carpets inand tore out all the old,
shitty bunk beds that were leftin some of them and, you know,
just did those final touches.
There's still something we needto do, like you say we've
talked about.
We got to do some change someof the lights, the old
illuminating lights and someminor things, but, like majority
of the camp, got got built thatcabin.

(41:43):
We built on that point therethe new number four.
It's an eight bedroom, fourbathroom so it sleeps.
It sleeps.
We've got it down to sleeping12 people comfortably if you're
on on a corporate package or anamerican plant package or with
your family and but it really ifyou wanted to go in there with
you know I had 16 people inthere this year.

(42:04):
You know how it was in thereand I had 16 in there yeah,
that's, I just took twin beds,you know how you were.
You used to put your bedstogether with the buckles yep I
ended up, um, what I did was I?
I just we just bulldogged it, wejust my, my crew would just in
and out with the twin beds.
It was a lot of fricking workand now I've learned from that,

(42:24):
but that's what we did.
You know, we put twin beds inthe rooms with the doubles or
the queens and make it work andthen when those guests left,
we'd switch it all out again andmove on to the next.
But yeah, so that cabin is like, it's gorgeous.
The whole front of the cabin isglass and it looks out over the

(42:44):
water and you're elevated closeto like 18 feet over the rocks
and the water.
So there's a 90-foot wraparounddeck, you know, so you can sit
out there in the morning andhave your coffee and watch the
sunrise and listen to the loons.
All the bedrooms have slidingglass doors that exit.

(43:06):
It's a beautiful cabin.
You have to go online toorderpointlodgecom and take a
look at it.
It's amazing.
But that was our big projectthroughout the winter.
Like I say, we did a lot oflittle shit in between, but that
was our big one.
We extended our deck on themain lodge so we went out
another 12 feet to go over thewater.

(43:28):
Pretty much to the water set, Iguess, which was nice and cool
because we were able to put somepatio furniture down there.
And you know you guys will seeit in the Fishing Canada
episodes coming up here and oronline if you take a look, but
that was really nice.
You know a couple we redid thebar, you know everything.
We kind of just touched up theyear one.

(43:50):
You know the craziness of likebuying it in January, building a
main lodge, making a stamp,creating new guests because we
had none in that area, you know,taking it where I have.
You know, by the end of theyear I was on four TV shows and
we're on podcasts and we'redoing this and we're.
You know it was a lot of workto have to do all that and to

(44:13):
have that motion.
So we went back and did sometouch-ups.
So like the bar, we added a keg, you know.
So like we got a tap there now,um, which is pretty awesome,
right like kingsville breweryyeah
it's down in toronto, super cool.
Um, we're actually trying towork with them right now to get
them on here as a as to workwith us in the podcast here.
Um, great great company, martyturco.

(44:36):
Um, old dallas stars goalie,there he's, uh, he's one of the
head guys and not with davey anduh, great beer, amazing.
But we have that on top.
We extended the bar a bit, youknow.
We put up some some nice floatplanes and you know we just kind
of jazzed it up a little bit.
Steve, you know, there's we.
I know May 1st came around.

(44:57):
We had pretty much majority ofthe interior stuff done, so we
hopped to the outside and Ipainted cabins.
Well, holy fuck, I got a lot,just like you, with the
traveling, I got a newfoundrespect for people that paint
for a living, because we paintedfor nine days straight, like
probably 16-hour days, and therewas like eight to ten of us.

(45:19):
By the time.
You trim and you're cutting outand you're prepping and
everything is off the ground,right Like.
The cabins are built elevatedso everything is scaffold or
ladder, yeah, so I mean like,like I said, like there's a.

(45:42):
You know you're hip high.
You're three feet just to getup to the, to the level to paint
, you know.
And then the cabins are eight,ten feet right.
So it's.
It was a lot of work, right, andthese cabins had been there for
a while.
We had to pressure wash themall down and strip back the old
paint that was crusting off.
We left the paint on there,that was good, and then painted
over it with the primer.

(46:02):
But sorry, we had paint withprimer in it so we could paint
over it.
But anything that was chippy wehad to scrape off with scrapers
or blast off.
I bought a pressure washer with4,500 PSI.

Speaker 1 (46:15):
Oh no, it's fucking insane.
Wow, that's a beast.

Speaker 2 (46:19):
So me and Chef here I'll just throw a little story
in there.
So we're getting this pressurewasher going.
So me and Jarrett, like therewas Jarrett, rudy Jarrett's the
chef, chef Machete, he was upthere, and there was Dennis,
there was Kyle, there was myyoung guys, jackson and Zach,
there was Scott Cook the conch,there was all the guys that we

(46:40):
used for the builds.
So we're all kind of sittingthere putting this thing
together and we're having asmoke.
I'm like boys, give me the redtip.
I want to see the real pressureon this thing.
The red tip, it comes with fourtips black, white, yellow, red.
Well, the red tip is red for areason.

Speaker 3 (46:57):
Right, like don't use it unless you know what it is.

Speaker 2 (47:00):
So I put the tip on and do not ever, just so anyone
knows, don't ever put a pressurewasher to your hat, to your
skin, like even if it's on, likethe fan mode at the car wash.
Like don't do that, like I've.
I've seen guys do it, and onthe drilling rig, and it'll
fucking rip your skin right offto the bone, it'll peel back
your muscle like nothing.

(47:21):
So, anyways, this red cutter, Icall it the cutter blade.
Now we put it in the pressurewasher.
I went over to a tree and thetree was probably, I would say,
two hockey sticks thick, solet's say, two inches around.
Okay, this tree branch, and Istood back about four feet,

(47:43):
steve, and I cut the tree branchoff the tree.

Speaker 1 (47:48):
No way.

Speaker 2 (47:49):
No bullshit.
I was like, oh, this is so.
I took the.
So all the boys were like, giveme that, give me that.
I'm like no, no, no, no.
So I took the tip off and Itaped it under my desk at the
lodge so nobody would know whereit was, because when they saw
it I thought they were gonna allfor sure, all gonna want to do

(48:10):
do that, right.
So yeah, yeah uh, boys withtheir toys right.
So, yeah, pretty crazy anyway.
So we, we got all the paintdone, we got everything done.
There come, I think.
I think we actually had twocabins left, cabin one and cabin
two.
We left because they're more onthe the side of the property
that wasn't going to get filmedand we had.
So we had walleye opener andthat's our opening weekend.

(48:34):
You know, we did a little bit ofa walk through in the kitchen
with some of the staff and thenboom, right into the season.
So our first group, firstcouple groups, were all pretty
high-end American plan groups.
So at that time it was kind ofit was great.
You know, the guests wouldn'thave seen the chaos, but it was

(48:55):
chaos for us because we justfinished renovating, we just
finished painting, we have newstaff and old staff, we're
trying to integrate together andwe're only in going into year
two.
So we're still learning whatwe're doing in an operation this
size.
Right, like you know, we werevery successful in the smaller
operation, but like we're justthis thing's 18 times the size

(49:15):
of what we were, so like it waskind of chaos for a bit.
We look, but we got through itand we learned, you know and you
know, there was some staffstaffing issues.
For sure it was a you know Iover.
I staffed myself this yearproperly, I thought um, that's a
tough, that's a tough, it'sabout learning that, steve right
like yeah it, and and I'm justgonna throw this out there, and

(49:38):
it's not a disrespect to societyright now, but where I come
from, you know, when you make acommitment to a job for a season
or you make a commitment tosomething, you know what you're
doing, right?
Yeah, In the oil field, likeyou know, if you don't show up
for a day of work, you owe thecrew a case of beer and they

(49:59):
take your pay and you work Right, because I understand that
people might think that that'sthe same, but if you're making
600 bucks a day, that's your payin the piper.
If you're not showing up, right, so they keep your job.
That's how she goes.
So like and and kind of like.
You know, working on a lodge inthe north is just kind of
similar to that on some aspects,but times have changed so.

(50:24):
So, like I had some staff, Ithought I quit myself, property
and I did.
Now they look back and I'm likeI had the right numbers.
I could have used one more girl.
I could use one more of this.
Uh, what you know?
Probably two more guidesbecause I was so busy, but
that's a good problem.
Yeah, um, but like I had abreakfast cook for for chef.
So the first year chef machetewould get up at 4 30 in the
morning, do breakfast, catch it,you know, do his cisco and his

(50:44):
ordering, catch a nap in theafternoon, come back and work
all night again.
You know, and, and to be honest, that's how a lot of places do
up here.
Mainer lake does that, uh,wiley Point does that, and these
are high-end places up where Iam, you know, they're my
competitors, so it's not anabnormal.
But at the same time I didn'tlike it.

(51:06):
I knew we had to start likethat.
So we wanted a breakfast chef,right, so Jarrett could get some
sleep and stuff and be human,not the side work, right?

Speaker 1 (51:17):
Yeah, you can't run it on one guy in the kitchen,
it's just not.
You can make do Well, you can.

Speaker 2 (51:23):
It's done lots and lots of places.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
You can you can't say you can't because they do it.

Speaker 3 (51:27):
But I don't think it's done properly, those places
run into trouble guaranteedevery time.

Speaker 2 (51:31):
Correct.
I think that's right and wenever ran into an issue, not yet
, but that's right and I can seeit coming.
That's what I'm saying.
So well, I saw it coming.
Last year we already had abreakfast cook, right, yeah, so
I hired a breakfast chef.
He was from the East Coast.
He wasn't one of the normalEast Coasters.

(51:54):
Apparently he was great.
I interviewed him once, Iinterviewed him once, jared
interviewed him once, and thenwe interviewed him together.
Everything checked out, great.
But he was just one of theseguys.
He always had a story why hewasn't coming and delaying,
delaying, delaying.
And then two weeks into theseason we're like, okay, you're
not coming.
He said, no, I'm going to someother camp.
It's been pretty much bullshit.

(52:24):
You get that in this industrylots.
But that was a tough onebecause we really, really
thought we had the guy right.
And now it's June 1st, you guysare showing up Fish and Canada
is showing up to film and we'relike, fuck, now I got to go
breakfast cook, right, which wasfine because I mean, we had to
do what we had to do.
But you know, luckily mybrother-in-law, uh, sean, he's
the head chef at the hospitalhere, so he comes out like
whenever we had, like myinvestors groups out or we had,
you know, the new bauer group,any of our big groups that we

(52:45):
have, um, or if I knew it wasgoing to be big.
My brother-in-law doesn't workall summer.
He takes the summer off so hejust comes out right, so, which
is nice, I can have him come outfriday, saturday, sunday.
He does breakfast and him andJarrett have a relationship.
They've worked on and off for,you know, a couple of years now,
so that kind of helped us.
But you know, that kind ofthrew a wrench into things.

(53:06):
You know, my, we had a familymember that we hired and her
boyfriend.
Well, that didn't.
Couples, man couples are a painin the ass.
They are boyfriend.
Well, that didn't.
Couples, man, couples are apain in the ass.

Speaker 1 (53:22):
They are and, uh, we lost them a family member that
wasn't going to work out with us, um, like two days before you
came staffing is always, yes, anissue yes yes, that's why great
people like you you, um, youreally work hard to find those
great people that you can, youcan integrate into the business
and and keep them in place yeah,your jarets and your dennises

(53:46):
and your hips, that's yeah, likeI mean, every business has them
um, and I would, I would alwaysoverstaff, like I mean I would,
I would try and start my seasonwith, you know, 18 people on
staff, not including guides.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
Yeah, yeah, it's tough to do when you're turning
it over, though, right, it's notsomething.
Originally it's the last thingon my mind.
Getting going was that.
And the other thing is youdon't want to spend a shitload
of money on staff standingaround right while you're
getting going, when you don'teven know how your place flows
yet, right, like yeah, so it's,uh, it's one of those things

(54:25):
that I think I personally thinkyou have to balance both.
I think to be, you know, you,you have to, you have to do good
on both ends of that sword and,uh, I think I, I, you know, I
learned a lot this year on thatend and I think this year we'll
go in a little overstaffed forsure.
We will be overstaffed for surebecause we know we're going to

(54:47):
lose a percentage.
It's just.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
It's just something that happens.
It's just people don'tunderstand what it's like to be
to work in a in, to work in asituation like that, like when
you live with the people thatyou're working with in a remote
area it's a whole differentballgame, man.

Speaker 2 (55:09):
Yeah, no, for sure, it's definitely.
You have to find those peoplethat are.

Speaker 1 (55:14):
That's a whole nother episode Just talking about.

Speaker 2 (55:17):
We should do an episode just on this issue.

Speaker 1 (55:19):
Well, talking, about what it's like to be a staff
member and work in a remotelocation.

Speaker 2 (55:26):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (55:29):
Is what we should, because that would be a great
episode, but that's up foranother discussion.

Speaker 2 (55:36):
Yeah.
So then we got the.
We started off the season, youknow, with some minor staffing
ups and downs and then, but wegot in the groove.
You know everything was alwaysgood for the guests.
The fishing was great, thedinners, the meals were amazing.
You know, everything was alwaysgreat.
It's just in the background.
You know everything was alwaysgreat, um, it's just in the

(55:57):
background, you know, gettingeverything set up, sure, and
then, uh, and then fish incanada came and uh, yeah, man,
it was when you guys came.
It was like, I'm not gonna lie,I was sweating when ant came,
oh for sure and pete, because Iwas like this is so.
It was so ridiculously cool tosee the fnc one parked at my

(56:21):
dock.
You know, steve, it was I knowwhat the you I can show you here
you must have been like manpinch me.
Is this shit real right?
Yeah, you know, and there was.
And it was like like Vova, whois your video guy?
Yeah, he is one of the mostprofessional men I've ever met

(56:43):
in my life.
Like he would give me shit LikeWillie, no, you got to do it
this way.
No, no, this, no, say that, no.
And I remember him cutting youoff about 20 times and he'd get
mad at you, steven, no.

Speaker 1 (56:54):
Oh, yeah, but.
I love, but he oh yeah, but I'ma bit of a freewheeler and vo
he he likes to, he likes thingsa certain way and he's going to
get it you know dean is.

Speaker 2 (57:05):
Dean is a unique individual.
You know dean is, uh, he is asalt of the earth man.
I really enjoy dean's time.
Um, I really like talking withdean, you know, like I can.
I like conversing with himabout life and things like he's.
He's hyper intelligent, yeahyou know.
And, and the guy is the futureof the show, as far as I think
you're looking out at it goinglike he's the guy right, like

(57:28):
he's one of them.
Anyway, you know he's startingto film and he's.
He's great on the camera andhe's super great with people and
he knows his job and uh, but hetaught me a lot just in this
trip, like just in the, in the,how things work in these shoots.
And then, uh, you know you, youknow me, you ended up this time
we'd already been friends for,you know, a year, but you know

(57:48):
we're getting to know each other, I guess at that point.
But, yeah, you know Peter, likeI ran into Peter before on the
Ganaraska River, like I said.
But like Pete is like Pete tome is like one of the stud Peter
, like I ran into Peter beforeon the Ganaraska River, like I
said, but like Pete is like Peteto me is like one of the studs,
right Like Pete's a stick.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (58:03):
And I don't know nothing compared to you do about
him, but I do know that he'sone of the best that will ever
be in a boat, right?
So you know it was reallysurreal.
And then there was, you know,there was the shoot.
The shoot went really good indifferent ways and there was
some heartache and others.
You know we beat up, we beat upand just blow.
You know we, we destroyed someof his equipment.

(58:26):
The water, the waves were likefive, six footers for like half
of the trip man, it was fuckinghorrible like you know we had.

Speaker 1 (58:34):
The wind was ridiculous yeah, it was.

Speaker 2 (58:37):
We never seen anything like that there.
It was crazy Like yeah, but westill managed to like we got
some wicked fish, you know, wegot some 30 plus walleye, we got
some big this and big that.
I can't say anything too much,but the one, you know, the one
when this podcast episode airs.
There's already going to bethat first episode out, I think

(58:59):
the second episode.
There's two episodes at NordicPoint Lodge.
The first one airs on the 4th.
They're on the next upcomingSaturday.
The following one I think it'slike episode 7 or episode 8 or
something.
It's later in the season, butthe first one is when you guys
I'm sure you haven't if youhaven't seen it yet, you have to
go see it because it's one ofthe most unique episodes.

(59:23):
I think that they filmed in along time, with the net incident
and the Johnny episode and thebig walleyes coming up there.
I think it was a pretty uniqueone.
So go check it out.

Speaker 1 (59:34):
Oh for sure, it was very unique yeah.

Speaker 2 (59:37):
Absolutely.
You know it was very unique.
Yeah, Absolutely.
We got to film and Ange isgreat in that.

Speaker 1 (59:41):
Ange is just great in in that episode too.

Speaker 2 (59:45):
He's super professional Wow.

Speaker 1 (59:47):
Ange is Ange.
He is the OG man oh yeah, yeah.
You know, and and it's just,yeah, and it's just, it is, it's
for a lodge owner to have themcome, Ange and Pete the first
time.
It is very surreal.

Speaker 2 (01:00:07):
Dude, like when you're having dinner and you're
sitting and watching, you know,like you're just sitting there
and you know people are playingthe banjo and the guitar comes
out and everyone's singing andit's, you know, getting into the
evening and you know everyonegoes to bed early really,
because everyone's got long days.
But you know it's super funjust to sit there and you know I
got a little video I think I'llkeep with me the rest of my
life of just us hanging out.
You know, little jam sessionand some singing.

(01:00:31):
You know, and you know, and Iwas like this is the most
amazing thing I've ever beenpart of, right.
So, anyway, so we got, we hadan amazing shoot.
We got.
There was the second show is,you know, we had the guys up
that won the trip and from theEaster Seals, eric Lindros,
easter Seals Charity Foundationgala, that they had the Silent

(01:00:52):
Hour of the Auction.
They ended up bidding on thetrip and bought it.
Scotty and his crew, amazingguys, amazing.
They actually reached out to meagain did they?
yep, yep, awesome guys, man,awesome.
And uh, dude, those guysbrought me an eric lindros
signed jersey, yeah, for thelodge, to put in the watch, like

(01:01:14):
it's actually he's gettingframed right now, like, and
Lindros signed it.
They were texting with him onthe phone.
He was actually going to come.
He was supposed to come, wasthe was what they had said, yeah
, and then, uh, he ended uphaving to go to Quebec for a
family, for something that wasgoing on with his cabin, with
his family up there, um, but he,they went out of their way and

(01:01:36):
he signed a jersey to me and itwas, like he knows, I'm a big
Oshawa Generals fan.
You know that's where I grew up,now in Coburg, right.
So since the Gens were our team, right, and yeah, like he's,
like you know, hall of Fame,oshawa Generals, whatever, you
know, pretty awesome that hesigned that off to us, right, it
was kind of just not just asignature, you know, but pretty

(01:01:58):
awesome that he signed that offto us, right, it was kind of
just not just a signature andyou know it was kind of personal
, so I really enjoyed that partof it.
It was really nice those guysbrought that up to the lodge it
was.
It was something that'll staywith me forever, yeah.
So then then we moved on to afew weeks later actually about
10 days later, I think someoneelse came Fish TV came up and
filmed.

Speaker 1 (01:02:16):
They filmed two shows um someone else came fish tv
came up and filmed.
They filmed two shows.
Uh, that's great.
That's more tv shows you got.
The better, the better theadvertising and and the
television works man oh for sure.

Speaker 2 (01:02:28):
So we ended up getting um.
Then we had jay, so jay siemenscame up, did a small, small
little I can't remember what itwas, but yeah, he was up there.
You know we've done lots withnow.
Then we hopped on the podcast.
You know, me and you, startingin the summer kind of the
podcast thing started rollingand everybody you know did an

(01:02:50):
episode.
You did an episode with theboys there, the Johns and Chef,
and it was just something thatme, you love doing and I can
honestly say that from thebottom of my heart, Stephen,
that being part of the Diariesof a Lodge Owner family and
being part of this show now withyou is probably as big of a
highlight as me fishing andmeeting my idol.

(01:03:13):
You know I really enjoy doingthis with you weekly well, thank
you it's kind of a deep it's,it's a, it's a way just I like
talking, so do you?
we both never shut up we cantell right like we go, me and
steve drove, we drove fromwinnipeg to nipple in

(01:03:33):
saskatchewan, which is like ninehours, and we didn't turn the
radio on once.
Yeah, you know, and I justreally love the fact that we can
talk about real life stuff andthat you made me part of this,
you know, and I really want tosay thank you for that.
I really love being part ofthis Diaries family.
You know, the addition ofStories of the North was huge,

(01:03:56):
right, yeah, we kind of openedup to a whole different realm of
people we can work with and tobe partners with our show and
ideas for our show, and you knowit's super cool.
You know this whole thing, yeah.
And then the summer progressedthis whole thing, yeah, and then

(01:04:18):
the summer progressed.
You know, we had, you know,some business trending.
You know ups and downs and someyou know some personal
tribulations.
I had some family members getsick, and you know.
And then, but in the same time,we were getting ready for our

(01:04:39):
wedding and uh all the wedding.
Yes, that's a big, monumental uhuh thing, that uh so we, yeah,
so we got married at the lodgeseptember 14th 2024,.
I married the woman of mydreams and yeah, Steve wasn't

(01:05:02):
there.
Steve was supposed to be there,but he was too busy with the
shoot.

Speaker 1 (01:05:05):
Still, yeah, that was the big September shoot, east
Coast swing.

Speaker 2 (01:05:09):
Yeah, he and Melissa would have been there if not.
But yeah, it was a greatwedding.
You know I had people, all mybuddies, up from Texas and out
east and out west.
You know my one groomsman wasone of my oilman buddies.
I've traveled to, you know, theMiddle East with him, up to the
Arctic, and you know BradNielsen, one of my best friends.

(01:05:30):
Kyle McMahon was my best manand then my partner here, dave
Johnson, one of my best friendsand like my older brother, you
know, in life, you know theystood beside me.
My boys I got a boy who'sturning 13 here January 11th,
holton, turning into a teen, andmy youngest boy, who's nine,
turned 10, cohen.
You know it was prettyemotional having my boys there.

(01:05:55):
Me and Chris are a joint family.
I was with somebody for manyyears before and so was she.
Uh, we pretty much split at thesame time and came together.
We met years later and cametogether and so we're a, uh,
integrated family and so it waspretty, pretty cool for the kids
to like, you know, like they'renow one, you know, officially,

(01:06:16):
right, and it was pretty coolfor them, right.
So it was emotional and yeah,but the lodge was a beautiful
place to have a wedding Likewe're going to.
We're going to actually put awedding section on the website.
You folks should go check itout.
I should actually do a postcoming in here in the new year
to try and sell some weddingpackages, but I should do a post

(01:06:39):
to try and get that going.
Yeah, because a blast on it,because it was beautiful, like
our pavilion.
It's like it's a big cedarpavilion, beautiful maroon steel
roof and it's got draping whitelights under it.
And this is where we, when we doa fish fry for the camp or when
we have an outdoor event, or ifyou just want to go and sit

(01:07:01):
under the lights with yourfamily and have your own fish
fryer or whatever, have a, havea sandwich, you know, or a puff
or a beer, you can go sit underthere.
You know so.
But that's where we did ourwedding and it was absolutely
gorgeous.
Um, we had a lady come in andset everything up for the
flowers and the event.
We had the main lodge for that.
So Chef Machete did a prime riband then I brought in my old

(01:07:26):
chef from Lake of the WoodsFishing Adventures.
He came in and did a pork likea spic, a pig, which was kind of
cool, right.

Speaker 1 (01:07:36):
Yeah, pig roast.

Speaker 2 (01:07:38):
Yeah, so you know, then we had two buffet tables
set out in the front decks.
So you know, our head table wasin the main lodge and we had a
bar set up and we had abartender come in and I think
there was like 90, 70 to 90people, or something like that.
I think it was 90 for thewedding and then it ended up
being 70 or 75 for dinner andthe dance, so something like
that.
I think it was 90 for thewedding and then it ended up

(01:07:58):
being 70 or 75 for dinner in thedance.
So it was just the perfect size.
It wasn't too big, it wasn'ttoo small, it was great.
It was everyone who's close tous.
So we had a wonderful time.
You know, by nine, 10 o'clock Iwas ready to go to bed.
I'm an early, you know, earlyriser.
So me and Krista called her.
Yeah, it was a wonderfulwedding, it was great, it was a

(01:08:20):
time of my life, steve, that'swonderful.

Speaker 1 (01:08:23):
In a beautiful setting.

Speaker 2 (01:08:25):
Yeah, the next day was my birthday.
The 15th is my birthday.
Well, that's partridge season,so we've shot a couple of
partridge in the morning the dayafter my wedding.
Nice Shot a couple partridge inthe morning the day after my
wedding Nice, yeah.
And then had dinner that nightwith some folks and they started
heading home and we went on ourhoneymoon for two weeks.
You know we went out sturgeonfishing.

(01:08:47):
You know I caught an 8.4sturgeon over 400 pounds.

Speaker 1 (01:08:53):
That's cool.

Speaker 2 (01:08:53):
Salmon fish.
Yeah, it was badass.
It was badass Me and Jeff.
We just keep trying to get himon the show.
Here he's.
A couple times we've set it upand I had to bail and a couple
times he had to bail, so we willget him on.
But River Monsters out inLouette, bc, nice, jeff, and he
is insane, like the fishingthere is crazy, yeah.

(01:09:18):
So when we kind of toured allover out west, krista's never
seen the ocean, so she got tophysically went.
You know, we went out to uh, tobc and we came back through
down through whistler and thenhit the coast and when we hit
the coast the first thing I didwas take her to the ocean so she
could dip her toe and uh, yeah,you know, we made our drowns.
We got back to reality here and, you know, finished off the

(01:09:41):
hunting season at the lodge,closed down the lodge.

Speaker 1 (01:09:45):
And it's been really nice to go home.

Speaker 2 (01:09:47):
You know I, just like you said, I the feeling of
traveling is one thing but like,like, like you're talking about
, for you did this past yearlike I would spend 200 to 250
days on the road.
You know, for for 20 years Idid that and I loved it, but now

(01:10:07):
I hate it.
You know I do like when Itravel like I like going away
for like five to 10 days twoweeks for my anniversary was too
much, like two weeks away fromme now from home, I don't like
it.
Like week 10, my anniversarywas too much, like two weeks
away from me, now from home, Idon't like it.
Like week 10 days is max for me.

Speaker 1 (01:10:21):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:10:22):
And that's just how it is right.
I'm getting older and I like my.
I like being comfortable in myown space and being around my
kids and you know my.
I spent half my life away fromthem, right?
So I don't want to do that shitanymore, you know from them
right.
So I don't want to do that shitanymore.
You know, I want to take everymoment I can with them and my
new beautiful wife and my lodgeand my friends like my Stephen

(01:10:44):
here and you know our Diariesfamily and I want to live it to
the max.
So Beautiful that's my 2024,and I hope everybody has an
amazing 2025 and make it theyear, make you know one day of
living folks is better than alifetime of existing, and that's
my motto for 2025.

Speaker 1 (01:11:05):
There you go, nice Nicely done.

Speaker 2 (01:11:09):
That's it for me, Stephen.

Speaker 1 (01:11:11):
And you know what?
The one fellow that I forgot tomention, who I met out east,
who was a very cool dude, wasPat Roach.
And for those of you who don'tknow the name, pat Roach, pat
Roach is Randy from the TrailerPark Boys and he was out at the

(01:11:34):
Pan Am Black Bass Tournament andhe was a ho the Pan Am Black
Bass Tournament and he was ahoot, that dude he is a beauty
man.

Speaker 2 (01:11:42):
Oh yeah, I'm so jealous.
You got to hang with him, man,so jealous, oh for sure.

Speaker 1 (01:11:47):
And you know the facility that they had out there
.
The tournament was actually outof the town of Nacowick, on the
St John River, and it was abeautiful facility.
The weather was ridiculouslynice in September.
Um, and uh, you know, um, itwas a it, that was a whole, that

(01:12:08):
that whole thing was awonderful experience.
And, uh, it was a wonderfulexperience.
I, uh, I got my, uh, my, myGoogulator out and uh, uh, I
should have remembered all ofthe countries, but yeah, yeah,
um, uh, team Canada and U?
S were there, obviously, um, uh, puerto Rico, puerto Rico,

(01:12:30):
columbia, mexico, the DominicanRepublic, and we had two First
Nation teams there as well.
We had Turtle Island andWabanaki, and the diversity of
the teams and the people thatwere there was awesome.

(01:12:50):
And, like I say, team Canadadid well.
We ended up second behind theAmericans and they did great.
Like, I mean, jeff Gustafsonwas there, cooper Gallant, coach
Izumi, you know, dave Chong,adam Foster, there were just a

(01:13:14):
ton of of outstanding anglersand you know it was, it was, it
was pretty close, but theAmericans they did pull it off
in the end and it was, it was,it was exciting, it really was
exciting.
So folks you know and theystreamed it live on Facebook and

(01:13:38):
did an absolutely wonderful jobdoing that so you can tune into
that next year.
And then I just want to againthank Bass Barn Charters and
Greg Beliveau and his wife outthere.
They did such a fantastic jobguiding.
He's got a Coastal Vokey is theboat that he's got for out

(01:14:06):
there.
It's a new fee boat and it'sbuilt like a brick shithouse and
he takes you out on the Bay ofFundy and you just catch
stripers like catch stripersthat's what he does and sharks
and whatever else might be outthere.
So thanks to Greg and I'd loveto wish everybody a happy new

(01:14:32):
year and look forward to 2025.
Let's knock this year out ofthe park.

Speaker 2 (01:14:38):
Let's do it baby.

Speaker 1 (01:14:41):
And again, thank you, folks for listening to this
point, Really appreciate it andlook forward to our next episode
.
Head on over tofishingcanadacom.
Get into all those giveaways.
All you got to do is put yourname in the hat and it's all
free, and uh, and you win.

(01:15:02):
You know it's, it's as simpleas that.
Um, the more entries, thebetter your odds, and, uh, keep
that rolling.
And for anybody out therethat's interested in partnering
up, um, we've got a wonderfulrate card.
Just reach out, contact us.
Everybody knows how to do that.

(01:15:23):
Steve N at fishingcanadacomWill at nordicpointlodgecom, and
thus folks, brings us to theconclusion of another episode of
Diaries of a Lodge OwnerStories of the.

Speaker 3 (01:15:59):
North Bending my rock .

Speaker 2 (01:15:59):
Stretching my line.
Someday I might own a lodge,and that'd be fine.
I'll be making my way, the onlyway I know how.

Speaker 1 (01:16:13):
Working hard and sharing the north With all of my
pals.
Well, I'm a good old boy.
I bought a lodge and lived mydream, and now I'm here talking
about how life can be as good asit seems.

Speaker 3 (01:16:32):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:16:50):
Hi everybody.
I'm Angelo Viola and I'm PeteBowman.
Yeah, Journal Radio.

Speaker 1 (01:16:53):
Hmm, now what are we going to talk about for two
hours every week?

Speaker 2 (01:16:56):
Well, you know there's going to be a lot of
fishing.

Speaker 1 (01:16:58):
I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and
how to catch them and they wereeasy to catch, yeah, but it's
not just a fishing show.
We're going to be talking topeople from all facets of the
outdoors, from athletes, All theother guys would go golfing Me
and Garth and Turk and all theRussians would go fishing.

Speaker 2 (01:17:15):
To scientists.

Speaker 3 (01:17:17):
But now that we're reforesting and letting things
freeze.

Speaker 1 (01:17:19):
It's the perfect transmission environment for
life to be.

Speaker 2 (01:17:23):
To chefs If any game isn't cooked properly marinated
you will taste it and whoeverelse will pick up the phone.

Speaker 3 (01:17:34):
Wherever you are, Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to
answer the questions and tellthe stories of all those who
enjoy being outside.
Find us on.

Speaker 2 (01:17:38):
Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.

Speaker 3 (01:17:46):
As the world gets louder and louder, the lessons
of our natural world becomeharder and harder to hear, but
they are still available tothose who know where to listen.
But they are still available tothose who know where to listen.
I'm Jerry Ouellette and I washonoured to serve as Ontario's
Minister of Natural Resources.
However, my journey into thewoods didn't come from politics.

(01:18:07):
Rather, it came from my time inthe bush and a mushroom.
In 2015, I was introduced tothe birch-hungry fungus known as
chaga, a tree conch withcenturies of medicinal use by
Indigenous peoples all over theglobe.
After nearly a decade of harvest, use, testimonials and research

(01:18:29):
, my skepticism has faded toobsession and I now spend my
life dedicated to improving thelives of others through natural
means.
But that's not what the show isabout.
My pursuit of the strangemushroom and my passion for the
outdoors has brought me to theplaces and around the people
that are shaped by our naturalworld.
On Outdoor Journal Radio'sUnder the Canopy podcast, I'm

(01:18:54):
going to take you along with meto see the places, meet the
people that will help you findyour outdoor passion and help
you live a life close to natureand Under the Canopy.
Find Under the Canopy now onSpotify, apple Podcasts or
wherever else you get yourpodcasts.