Episode 108: Fishing, Finding Purpose, and Full Circle Moments

Have you ever wondered what life might look like if you actually pursued the thing that makes you leap out of bed in the morning? Jake Monk's journey offers a rare glimpse into what happens when passion meets opportunity and purpose finds its perfect home.

Jake's adventure begins unexpectedly when, as a teenager obsessed with fishing but with limited experience, he wins a contest for a stay at Chaudière Lodge. That single trip plants a seed that would take years to fully bloom. Working at the lodge as a young adult, Jake develops foundational skills in outdoor hospitality while forming connections that would shape his future. Though his path leads through boat sales and various careers in the marine industry, something keeps pulling him back to the water.

The turning point arrives when Jake makes the bold decision to leave Southern Ontario behind and relocate to Sault Ste. Marie in the Algoma region. This move isn't just about the dramatically more affordable housing (though finding a three-bedroom home for under $350K certainly helps); it's about reconnecting with what matters. The slower pace, the genuine community connections, and most importantly, the unparalleled access to world-class fishing waters creates the perfect environment for Jake to build something authentic.

Now guiding full-time in a region where nearly every freshwater species swims within a two-hour radius, Jake has discovered what many spend a lifetime searching for – work that transcends the paycheck. "This is the one thing I would say in my whole life where I wake up excited, I enjoy doing it, and if I won the lottery one day and money was no object, I would still want to do this," he shares with the kind of conviction that can't be manufactured.

His story serves as both inspiration and practical roadmap for anyone questioning their current path. The career satisfaction Jake found didn't come from chasing status or money, but from creating experiences that mirror the transformative moments from his own youth. Every client represents a chance to spark that same love of fishing that changed his own life trajectory years ago.

Ready to reimagine what your relationship with work could be? Listen to Jake's full conversation and consider what might be possible if you followed your own compass north – whether literally or figuratively – toward the life that's been waiting for you all along.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
this is the one thing I would say my whole life.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
Where it's, it's I, I wake up and I, I'm excited, I
enjoy doing it, and if I won thelottery one day and money was
no object, I would still want todo this this week on the
outdoor journal radio podcast'sDiaries of a Lodge Owner Stories
of the North, we have thepleasure of spending some time

(00:30):
with a former Chaudiere guestemployee and now Algoma Region
fishing guide.
We get a rare full circle lookinto the life of this once teen
who is now 29, and explore someof the highs and lows in his
journey so far.
And I am really excited tointroduce to all of you this

(00:54):
amazing young man who I call myfriend, jake Monk.
On this show we talk about howwe came to meet, working
together at the lodge and howthose early life experiences
helped shape a path leading himthrough the outdoors to a place
where he has found passion andpurpose.

(01:15):
So if you love great storiesand learning about how people
find purpose and joy in life,this is an inspiring one for you
.
Here's my conversation with JakeMonk.

(01:46):
So welcome to the showaudièreLodge employee now, Jake Monk,
joining us and also guiding now,which is a new venture for you.
Which is a new venture for youand one of the things that I

(02:06):
would love to dive into here ina minute.
But I would love for you totell the story from your point
of view on how you found me.

Speaker 1 (02:15):
Oh yeah, Okay, that's a great way to start actually.
No thanks, Steve, Thanks for.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Because you came into my life.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
Yeah, yeah, I did.
You didn't really have a choice.
Actually, I very much insertedmyself, I guess.
Yeah, no, it was.
It's a really cool story.
First and foremost, thanks forhaving me on Love it.

Speaker 2 (02:38):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Active listener as well.
So it's cool, it's cool to beon the platform, but yeah, when
I I was, it's a, it's a reallycool story.
I mean, it's one of the I wouldsay it's one of the like
pivotal memories that I have ofof fishing in general from when
I was, uh, when I started, whenI was really young, but we uh, I

(02:59):
think that might have beenaround 11 or 12 years old and I
just started really getting intofishing.
My dad I guess a little bit ofcontext knows nothing of fishing
, right, like I kind of took toit myself, but he started taking
me to a bunch of shows andwhatnot.
We used to go to the fishingand boating show, we went to the

(03:20):
sportsman show, right, and atthe time you guys, all the
lodges, would do the giveawaysand whatnot and the tickets, and
I think we must have spent liketwo hours going around and
filling them out and making surethat we hit every single one,
and Shoddy Air being one of them, and to this day I think it's
one of the only things I've everwon.

(03:40):
I think I don't typically win alot of contests, but yeah, we
ended up winning and I remembermy dad getting the phone call.
I remember him thinking youwere some sort of telemarketer.
That's how much we don't winthings.
But um, yeah, so we won.
We won a trip for a few nightsto Chatier.

(04:00):
I'd never been to a lodgereally of that caliber before.
I mean, we've rented cabins andstuff but this was completely
different, outside of what weknew, and loved the stay
Absolutely.
I absolutely loved it.
We got a boat rental, I thinkfor the first couple of days we
were just in one of the cedarstrips and didn't know anything

(04:21):
at all and we struggled.
And then by the last day wewere there, I was introduced to
one of my like yours and one ofmy longtime good friends now Pat
Pat Trion.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
And friend of the show.

Speaker 1 (04:35):
yeah, yeah right and we are to this day.
We are very, very good friendsand he was my first guide ever.
So it's kind of it's funny, Ithink, about this, about these
circumstances too, and it'salmost like a very full circle
type of thing that's been laidout.
But I went out with him.
I had the best I had ever hadfishing at that point, which,

(04:56):
when I look back at it, it mighthave been 10 or 12 walleye,
yeah, but at the time it wasamazing.
It was like nothing I'd everexperienced, and that is
something that I like to sharewith people now.
And I remember how I felt whenI was, when I experienced it for
the first time and uh, yeah.

(05:18):
But after that, a few years goby and I'm out of high school
and I think I dropped out of myfirst year of college and after
that I ended up working as adockhand.
We stayed in contact and workedwith you for a season and
learned a bunch, learned a bunchof things that to this day, I
think are like a good foundationof what I've learned with my

(05:41):
career, going forward in a lotof different ways.
Customer experience you're verybig on that.
You always stuck with me and,yeah, worked.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
And here we are 10 years later, what is it?

Speaker 1 (05:52):
10 years or must be.
It was 2015,.

Speaker 2 (05:55):
I think it was longer than that.
It was 2015 that you worked forme yeah, it'd be 10 years, yeah
, yeah, wow.
That you worked for me yeah,it'd be 10 years.
Yeah, yeah, wow.
And when you won that contest,the one thing that I remember
vividly was the story that youtold me about your Lake Simcoe

(06:17):
experience.

Speaker 1 (06:19):
Why don't you tell us a little bit about that story?
Yeah, so.

Speaker 2 (06:22):
When you were a kid.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
Yeah, and you know, actually it's funny because it's
all coming.
It's all coming back nowbecause that happened right
prior to us winning.
Yes, and we didn't have a boat,because we just rewind a little
bit we my, my, my dad, myfriend and I were in like a.
My first boat was like a little14 foot Grumman, like a little

(06:44):
tenner, with like a six on theback.
I don't even think it was anine-nine, but anyone who knows
Lake Simcoe will like know itwas.
We were out of our minds to dothis, but we would go from like
Cook's Bay and run between Snakeand Fox Island Probably took
like over an hour with that boatand the wind picked up, it

(07:05):
turns into a different lake inminutes.
And, long story short, we wereboth sitting at the bow of the
boat, a friend of mine andmyself.
We were like 14, 15.
A wave that was a little bigcame in.
The motor of the boat went to12 o'clock.
We completely flipped it andcapsized it.
York Regional Police pulled usout.

(07:26):
We were on the news and allthis stuff.

Speaker 2 (07:28):
Was your dad driving yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
Yep, they liked that.
We were all wearing our lifejackets at the time because my
dad's a safety nut, so thatworked in our favor.
So it wasn't dark but it wasevening.
So they, like it was it wasn'tdark but it was evening and they
pulled.
They used the red uh, like theum, like the night vision red
light stuff to locate us andwhatnot.

(07:51):
My buddy had to pull his phoneout of a waterproof container
that he had Cause as we werefalling, he had grabbed it and
tucked it away.
The boat was upside down.
We put them up on top of it andwe added service to call.
The water was 66 degrees.
I put them up on top of it andwe added service to call.
The water was 66 degrees.
I remember that it wasn't warm,it was fairly cold.

Speaker 2 (08:10):
Yeah, that's cool.

Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, but anyways, I lost a bunch of stuff.
My boat was out of commissionfor a while and then I guess
things had a way of balancingitself out and we won a trip and
I was able to fish a little bitmore that year.
So yeah, it was.
And.

Speaker 2 (08:22):
I was able to fish a little bit more that year.
Yeah, it was great.
Yeah, that's awesome.
That's awesome, like I meanjust the way that things work.
And then you come into thepicture and then you started
working for me at Chaudière andI remember when you left you
were like 14, 15.
And I think you were one of thefirst people to win one of those

(08:47):
trips and what I used to do isat the Sportsman Show.
It was all to collect emails,to build a base of people to
email deals to and things likethat.
This is back when, you know, inthe infancy or at least for me,
the infancy of online marketing, and I would use these trips to

(09:14):
do that.
And I think it would have beenaround 2011, 12 maybe, when you
won that trip and when you leftthe dock, you said listen, man,
can I come and work for you?
And I said, well, I don'tusually hire people until

(09:35):
they're like 16, 17, because youneed to be able to drive one of
the bigger boats.
You've got to like.
I just didn't hire young kids.

Speaker 1 (09:43):
Sure, and I had an absized one at that point, so
I'm not a good start.

Speaker 2 (09:48):
Wow, hey, listen, the thing is, you learn a lot from
a situation like that, right, um?
So I said, uh, call me whenyou're a little older.
And uh, like clockwork, youcalled me.
And as soon as I got that callfrom you, I was like, yeah, okay
, like clockwork, you called me.
And as soon as I got that callfrom you, I was like, yeah, okay
, yep, come on up.
And I don't remember it wasmaybe a year, for sure, maybe

(10:10):
two that you worked with us, butthey were really good years.
They were great years.
That was really for me, theheyday at the Chaudiere Lodge
was those, you know, 2014, 15,16, when I really kind of

(10:31):
started to figure my shit outand not only figure it out, but
there came a point where I couldafford to fix things For sure,

(10:54):
and I wasn't worried aboutmaking payroll every week, and
it started to take and theoccupancy was becoming
impressive and I could start tosee that this ship was starting
to rise and and that those werereally great days, you know, and
I'm I'm really happy that youwere a part of it.

(11:16):
But so tell me a little bitabout your, your venture after
Chaudière, because you've beeninvolved in the outdoors and in
some way shape or form, whetherworking directly in it or

(11:36):
thinking about getting intocertain situations.
So tell me a little bit aboutthe direction that your
experience at Chaudière kind oftook you.

Speaker 1 (11:47):
Yeah for sure.
No, you're definitely rightwhen you say that I mean after.
When I decided to work, likewhen I got that first year at
Chaudière, it was right afterschool that didn't end up really
working out.
The ironic thing is it was forsmall business and
entrepreneurship and I didn'tlike it and look what I'm doing

(12:08):
now.

Speaker 2 (12:11):
Well, the great thing about small business and
entrepreneurship is you canapply that to anything that you
love.

Speaker 1 (12:18):
Exactly, yeah, Right, Exactly no, you're, you're
absolutely right.
And after after that, uh likethat, uh like that that year was
I like I worked for you tookthe year off.
I went back to school.
After I went, uh, for marineengine mechanics to work on
boats and um ended up completingthat.

(12:38):
But, like during the experienceI'm at I'm six foot four.
Right now I'm probably about250 pounds, so during college
maybe I was a bit lighter thanthat, but I realized that it's
not a tall guy's thing.
You got to get in bilges andall sorts of stuff.
You know you're not ideal,right?
I learned it the hard way, Um,but uh, after after that, I

(13:01):
decided um to instead of workingon boats, I always wanted to
get in sales.
At the time I loved justtalking to people, the
interaction with people.
Yeah, that's always beensomething that's been fairly
natural, I guess you could say.
I wanted to explore that whenyou're starting out.

(13:22):
One thing that, like I learned,is it's very, very hard to get
your foot in the door right whenin the marine industry doing
that, you usually have to startin parts or something like that
Right.
So that was that was fairlydifficult, but I ended up.
The first sales job that I hadwas at Bass Pro Shop and Vaughn
selling trackers, and I did thatfor a little bit and then

(13:45):
shortly after that, I would saywhere I learned the most and I
really it was kind of like myfirst big boy job.
Yeah, I worked at Legend Boats,just on the 400 there for a few
years and learned a lot aboutthe marine industry, learned a
lot about sales and whatnot.
And then from there I guess,and whatnot, and then from there

(14:09):
I guess, uh, sales became uhlike a, a, a very large part of
my professional life.

Speaker 2 (14:11):
Yeah, and um, yeah, it's just well.
You did very well for legendfrom what I heard through Pat.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
Yeah, yeah, it was, uh, it was.
It was great, it was.
It was a great uh time that Iwas there.
I learned a lot.
They have a very, very goodprocess.
It's very organized, which isunheard of in the marine
industry I feel.
The structure isn't a verycommon thing when you go to a

(14:36):
marine team it's love, shootingfrom the hip and whatnot, but
Legend definitely has.
They're like the apple ofmarine sales.
I think they have everythingdialed in and I learned a lot
and I owe a lot to them, justbased on what I've learned and
what they're able to share withme.
So yeah, and then from there Iwent into other sales roles and

(15:02):
whatnot.
I lived in Muskoka for a littlebit, bounced around everywhere.
I was just kindoka for a littlebit, bounced around everywhere.
I was just kind of figuring outwhat I wanted to do.
And about three, almost fouryears ago now, I moved up to
Algoma because my girlfriend andI we were ready to buy a house

(15:22):
and, as you know where we'refrom, we didn't have a million
two lying around anywhere.
So, yeah, no shit, eh Right.
So we made the move up here andI couldn't imagine myself
living anywhere else.
It's been fantastic.

Speaker 2 (15:37):
That's amazing, yeah, so tell me a little bit about
living in the Algoma region and,more specifically, are you
right in Sault Ste Marie?

Speaker 1 (15:48):
Yeah, yeah, I'm right in the east end of Sault Ste
Marie.

Speaker 2 (15:51):
Yeah.
So what is it like living upthere for all of those people
that are in your shoes, or arein your shoes now, that you were
then and they're looking to buya house when things are so
unaffordable in southern ontario, um up in the sioux, and to

(16:14):
give all of you folks out therewho may not exactly know from um
the uh, the gta to get to sioux, saint marie, you're, what
about 10 hours?

Speaker 1 (16:25):
Yeah, between eight and 10, depending on where you
are.
Yeah, I think I've done it insix and a half from Barrie
before.

Speaker 2 (16:36):
Yeah, and that's, that's clipping along, yeah, but
you know, like I mean, you're,you're, you're fairly far North,
so just tell the people outthere listening our, our, our
wonderful family, what is itlike to have lived in southern
Ontario for the majority of yourlife, which is the, you know
Barrie, shelburne, orangeville.

(16:56):
You know the southern Ontariothat we know um to moving to
Sault Ste Marie?

Speaker 1 (17:05):
Yeah, for sure.
That's actually a really goodquestion.
I'd love to elaborate on that,because I talk about it all the
time when people ask me.
It's kind of funny because whenI guess one thing that I didn't
expect when I came up here,because it sounds comical,
honestly, it sounds a littlesilly, but there was an element

(17:25):
of culture shock for sure, it ornot, even though it doesn't
seem like it's that far.
But one thing that I noticed Iwouldn't say for I would say
culture shock for the better too, like a big, a big thing that I
noticed was the people.
First and foremost, it's a lotmore of a slower pace, which I
like myself.
Yeah, people aren't as in ahurry as much I.

(17:46):
I say it all the time, but onething I had to get used to was
people asking me how I'm doingin the grocery store and coming
coming from the gta.
You, you kind of justautomatically have your guard up
and you think it's backhanded,but no, it's just genuinely an
old grandmother asking you howyou're doing, um, up here and uh
, it's more like, yeah, soslower pace, I find people

(18:08):
aren't as in much of a hurry.
Um, it's almost like a timecapsule a little bit, because
anyone who knows who's been tosioux saint marie and I guess
for the people that haven't isit's very much isolated from a
lot like the next major cityeast is sudbury and then west is
michigan, right and then Iguess wawa is north but there's

(18:31):
not a whole lot around it.

Speaker 2 (18:32):
So like couple of hour drive yeah in every
direction to find the nextpopulated area yeah, exactly
right.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
so there's a lot of like, um, things don't get as
changed frequently, I guess.
Guess is the right built upquite as much.
They have the restaurants lookthe same that they have been
since the 80s and whatnot, whichI love that.
I think that's awesome, andit's just a lot slower if you're

(19:02):
in a position like I guess abit if you're my age, like and
you're looking, or in theposition to look and your age is
like late 20s early 30s.
Yeah, I just turned 29.
So I got one year left tillthat day.

Speaker 2 (19:19):
Yeah, one year left and then you officially become
old.
Yes, yes, exactly right, I'mofficially become old.
Yes, yeah, exactly Right.
Um, I'm officially really old.
Yeah, I'm 49.

Speaker 1 (19:30):
Yeah, um, but I would , I would encourage it to
anybody, anybody.
But the biggest thing is, uh,you have to love the outdoors,
because if, if you don't, Iwould, I would advise against it
because, other than, like, wehave a lot of people think that
there's not as many amenitieshere, which couldn't be farther
from the truth.
Like we have movie theater,probably 10 grocery stores.

(19:52):
There's more than enough here.
But if you don't like any typeof outdoor activity, if you
don't like camping, fishing,hunting, it's probably not for
you.
Sledding, yeah, sledding,powerding power sports, boating,
all those things, but if you do, it's you.
It's one of the best places tolive in the country.

(20:12):
I think it's.
It's fantastic.
One.
One thing that I learned aboutit was like when I moved up here
was like if we get into tofishing, you can target almost
any freshwater species everwithin two hours of Sault Ste
Marie, which is like amazing,that's awesome.
I love that.
Yeah, yeah, gotta like theoutdoors for sure?

Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, for sure.
So all the amenities are therein the Sioux.
You've got I'm sure you've gota wonderful hospital there.
I know that, carol Caputo.
She lives just outside of theSioux and she's the for all of
you folks.
I'm sure you've heard Carol'sname here before, but she is the

(20:55):
Queen of Ontario and I love herto pieces.
But she took over JimmyGrayston's position as head of
OTMP and she always well, theSioux is her home, right, so she
always tells me about it.
And I've been through the Sioux, stayed at the Quatro we shot a

(21:19):
show there with Tyler, you know, and it's a freaking, it's an
awesome spot.
It really is.
And like I mean, the propertythere I think is fairly
affordable.
Like I mean, I'm not sure whatis a regular run-of-the-mill

(21:40):
home in the Sioux worth thesedays, do you know?

Speaker 1 (21:43):
Yeah, of course, I mean I like I love uh, talking
about, like, my experience as awhole.
I like being fairly transparentwith it, because it's from
people from the GTA.
They think it's insane and, um,a lot of people like in that
younger generation that thinkit's completely like impossible
to even entertain the idea of it.
You just gotta.
You just gotta move a littlefarther away, right, like we,

(22:05):
like I said we were here aboutfour years ago, um, we got our
three bedroom house and that wasreally in the height of, yeah,
of the market here.

Speaker 2 (22:16):
Yeah, it was four years, three, four years ago of
course.

Speaker 1 (22:19):
no, you're, you're, you're bang on.
Uh, it's like.
Our house is like a three and ahalf bedroom, two bathroom.
We got a finished basement.
I have a shop in my backyardand it was for under 350K Wow.
So definitely doable.
And you can find places as well, like on the, whether it's the
outskirts if you want to live alittle bit more remotely, which

(22:40):
is a goal for us too in thefuture, we want to do that, yeah
, but it's definitely possible,for sure and I know that, um, in
today's changing world, um, alot of people can work remotely,
right, but is there any?

Speaker 2 (22:56):
is there any industry or or jobs within the zoo that,
uh, that people are workingwhere they have a nine to five
or like if you've got a youngcouple who are thinking about
you know, moving and looking forwork?
Is there anything going on upthere?

Speaker 1 (23:16):
Yeah, I mean I can't really speak on.
All I can really talk about isfrom what I've heard, because I
haven't really You've Beenlooking.
Yeah, when we came up here, Ibelieve, for the first year, I
worked for a power sport dealerand then, after that, kind of
went into what I'm currentlydoing.

(23:37):
But from what I've heard, it'sharder to find.
Like, if you're a trades person, right, yeah, you need more
trades people and you're poolingfrom a smaller demographic up
here, right.
So, like, if you're from thesmall business owners that I've
talked to and whatnot, thegeneral consensus is it's harder

(23:57):
to hire because there's not awhole lot of qualified people.
Yeah, so a lot of people lookat these like people.
If you're from Toronto as like,oh, he's from Toronto, he's
moving up here, he must, mustknow shit.
Yeah, which was you know?
So, um, it's there.
There's definitely opportunityfor that.

(24:17):
Uh, a big economic driver forthe city is definitely the steel
plant.
Like that's what kind ofdictates the economy of Sault
Ste Marie, like from what I'veheard.
But no, there are definitelyopportunities up here.
Obviously not as much as theGTA, but you just have to dig.

Speaker 2 (24:34):
Well, the problem with the GTA is sure, there
might be opportunity, but it'svery unaffordable for people.
So there you go, folks.
That's all of you young folksout there looking to get a new
start.
Look north, because it soundsawesome.
So now, on that note, why don'twe talk a little bit about what

(24:58):
you're doing now?
Sure, sure.

Speaker 1 (25:02):
Um, yeah, it's, uh, it's been I've I've wanted to do
this for like a little while.
I mean, uh, when I, when Istarted, even working at
Chaudiere, I think I did a fewtrips when.

Speaker 2 (25:15):
And we're talking about guiding.
Yeah, yeah, for sure, yes,right, um, and it's very
interesting, yeah, um, because alot of, a lot of the shows that
, um, that we've put together inthe past are guide-based shows,
and really for me to havesomebody on that has gone

(25:38):
through what you've done and nowyou're getting into the guiding
area.
A lot of people, young guys andgirls, want to know how to
become a guide and folks listenup, because this is another one
of those stories.
Sorry for cutting you off, no,no, it's all good, no problem.

Speaker 1 (26:03):
It's kind of funny how it, how it happened.
I wouldn't, I wouldn't say thatit would, I wouldn't say that
it was something that I I wentout of my way to pursue.
If I'm being completely honest,a lot of this opportunity was
presented to me.
Yeah, and um, I just I justchose to capitalize on it.

(26:24):
It's, uh, it the first thingthat I'll say about it.
This year is my second yearfull-time.
Doing it full-time is youdefinitely don't do it for the
money, that's for sure.
You do it for the passion.
That's a big thing, and whenyou're starting out, I
definitely recommend to havesomething else that can

(26:47):
supplement it, because it's alot of building, um, it's
building a clientele.
But one thing that I love, onething that I love about it that
that translates to my careerpreviously, is it's you meet
such um, you meet suchlike-minded, great people and
and building those relationshipsare, are so important.
But, um, I guess I'm I'm goingon a tangent here, but how it uh

(27:09):
essentially started was I'm,I'm friends with the like, all
the guys up here, like you did ashow with tyler.
Tyler's a good buddy of mine.
Yeah, um, another guy like uphere, adam valley with angling
algoma.
He's a very, very good friendof mine as well and we all work
together collectively and Iended up bouncing they bounced

(27:32):
the idea off it with me andthere is a demand for a certain
niche right, like inland stuffand smallmouth and walleye, a
little bit on the St Mary's andwhatnot, and there's room for it
.
So I ended up just helping themout at first and it ended up
getting to the point where therewas enough room to have me

(27:54):
there too and we help each otherout.
If they have a big group,they'll ask me.
If I have a big group, I askthem if they're available and
whatnot.
And it was one of those thingsthat happened very organically
and it's been extremely positiveever since.
But I chose to pursue it because, coming from the GTA and moving

(28:19):
up here, a lot of the motivebehind that was to slow things
down.
I think working in a dealershipsetting it's it's so monetarily
motivated right and everybody'schasing the next thing and and
money and this and and whatnot.
And it was.
It was something that I, Iwanted to.
I wanted to shift gears on anduh and and, and this was a great

(28:41):
way to do that and to get intouch with more people, get in
the outside, share the knowledgethat I've been able to obsess
on for the majority of my lifeand, uh, make great memories
with, with families.
That's why I like doing it as Ididn't know I would, but now
that I've been doing it for alittle while, it's it's it's
it's sharing an experience withsomebody that, um, it's like

(29:05):
that's relatively new to it andhasn't had a really good day and
whatnot.
And I see myself in that.
You know what I mean.
When I came to Chatier for thefirst time and everything was
such a big deal, I mentored Patwas a big mentor to me
throughout a good portion of mylife for fishing and to have

(29:26):
that same type of dynamic isgreat.
I love that For me, folks.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
Yeah, so you mentioned there that you wanted
to kind of slow down, right, andnow that you've been in this
for two years, have you Like?
Is it what you thought it wasgoing to be as far as slowing
down, or what is that experiencethat now you're two years into

(29:54):
it?
You had the rat race of themonetary chase in the sales
world.
Has it turned out the way thatyou thought it was going to turn
out?

Speaker 1 (30:09):
Yeah, that's a good question, and the short answer
is no, not at all.

Speaker 2 (30:17):
So elaborate on that a little bit.

Speaker 1 (30:18):
Yeah, so I would.
I mean, yeah, it's, I'mdefinitely, I'm definitely
busier right and it is a fastpace, but I like it because it's
for different reasons.
I think we share the samequality.
Pat has it as well, and eventhe guys like Tyler and Adam.

(30:40):
We all kind of have this sametype of mindset.
I think if you're any type oflike entrepreneur as if, like
what I've learned I guess so faris yeah, it ends up being it's
more than just the like, likethe numbers behind it, like
there's a greater purpose for it, and, um, this is the one thing
I would say my whole life whereit's, it's I, I wake up and I,

(31:04):
I'm excited, I enjoy doing it,and if I won the lottery one day
and money was no object, Iwould still want to do this
right.
Yeah, I think that that's.
That's the big, the biggestdifferentiating thing, for sure.
So, um, it is a faster pace,but I think it's.
The motive is very couldn't befarther from what I'm used to

(31:25):
and that's what I value the mostabout it hands down.

Speaker 2 (31:29):
The one word that you use there that is, in my
opinion, one of the mostimportant words that anybody can
grab onto and hold onto ispurpose.
And when you have a purpose thatyou love, all of a sudden it's

(31:51):
not work anymore.
And it's interesting the waythat you answered that, because
you were like I wanted to slowdown and in some senses you did,
because you weren't on thechase for the almighty dollar
and in competition with thepeople that you're working with,

(32:12):
because sales is competitionvery much right where you get
into this type of atmosphere andand I felt it a little bit at
chaudiere with other lodges,some not so much, but I've
always said all ships rise withthe tide right.
So when you can work with otherpeople to make everybody better

(32:34):
and you have a purpose that youlove which is giving people the
experiences that you've seen andloved and and you get to kind
of relive through them, and andI just had a conversation with
JP Bushy, uh, another one of theguides at Chaudière and and

(32:56):
he's on Georgian Bay, and hetalked a lot about um being able
to experience um fishingthrough the eyes of his guests,
and every fish seems like theeyes of his guests and every
fish seems like the first fishfor them and that is such a
powerful thing, right, and I'mso happy and proud of you for

(33:21):
being able to, at your age, finda purpose that you love and
turn it into something that isvery sustainable.
Hey, it's a lifestyle, like Imean, millionaires aren't going
to be born guiding, but it's alifestyle.
And, like you said, even if youhad a million dollars, yeah,

(33:43):
you're going to have a nicerboat, yeah, you might have a
great gun collection for hunting.
You know, yeah, you might have ahouse out in the bush the way
you want it, but the point isyou're still going to be guiding
, right?
Yeah, when you're in the wildsof Northwestern Ontario, you

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Speaker 2 (35:52):
This is another question that is a bit
backloaded, because I know youvery well and what it pertains
to is with what you're doingwith your guide friends up there
and building a clientele.
Do you foresee at some pointthat you may actually invest in

(36:19):
a lodge?

Speaker 1 (36:21):
Hmm, that's, that's a good question.

Speaker 2 (36:24):
And I know you've kind of walked down the garden
path here or there, right.

Speaker 1 (36:28):
Yep For for sure, and we like and.

Speaker 2 (36:32):
I, or are you happy where you're at?

Speaker 1 (36:34):
I think no, that that's uh I.
I'm actually really glad thatyou asked that, because that's
uh, that's something that Icontemplate a lot, right.
So out of one thing that Ilearned about a lot, right.
So out of one thing that Ilearned about, like about lodge
ownership initially, just fromworking with you, is is, it's
not, it's not what a lot ofpeople think, it is no no, not

(36:59):
by any means and it's a lot ofum.
If I were to just describe it inone word is it's a lot of
pressure, a lot of pressure, alot of responsibility and a lot
of stuff that that is so farremoved from fishing.
I think fishing is probablylike 98 on your list.
I don't think.
I saw you on the boat one time,maybe once when you did shows,

(37:21):
I think, but it was, it was veryyou were, you were very busy.

Speaker 2 (37:28):
I think.
But it was, it was very youwere, you were very busy.
Yeah, um and uh, often said.
The only time that I actuallygot to go fishing and it wasn't
even fishing, it was guidingunpaid was when I either
overbooked my guides and had togo out or one of my guides
didn't show up and there werepeople standing on the dock
waiting to go fishing.

Speaker 1 (37:46):
For sure.
And then I have to go yeah,exactly, you don't have a choice
.

Speaker 2 (37:50):
And guiding isn't fishing.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
No, I think that's a big thing to talk about too,
because that's not at all whatit is.
It might sound silly, but it'sso far from fishing.
That's one thing I learnedquick what a big thing with with
guiding is I I will want for me, that's that's that's really

(38:14):
important is is is communicationlike just the, the overall cut,
like the client experience,like the customer experience is
good.
One thing that you've alwayssaid I'm sure you've said it on
the show too but what makes,what makes a good guide is that
is how the guests feel when theyhave a bad day of fishing.
That's right, and fortunatelyright not to my own skill.

(38:36):
I am lucky enough to live in anarea that is very, very good
right.
But I've had a few days, and Ithink I try to remind myself of
that, and it's all about makingsure that they have a good time.
I think sharing knowledge isgreat.
I think people should know howyou're doing what you're doing

(38:57):
and adapting certain things tocertain skill sets too.
That's one thing that I feellike a lot of people don't think
about when they're getting intoit.
It's great that somebody can goout and smack a bunch of
smallmouth on a crankbait biteor a jerkbait bite or something
like that.
But your family of three thatgoes out every like, maybe twice
a year, isn't going to be ableto do that.

(39:18):
You got to adapt something tomake it work for them, right?
So anyways, I'm kind of goingoff here.
No no that's good, right, soanyways, I'm kind of going off
here.
No, no, that's good, um, butabout the, the lodge ownership,
we, we went down that that roada little bit like uh, closer to
when, like, we first moved here,right, um, and uh, actually not
really, maybe in the middle,what is it?

Speaker 2 (39:39):
maybe about a year ago maybe a year, a year and a
half.

Speaker 1 (39:42):
Yeah, it was.

Speaker 2 (39:43):
It went on for a long time, but you reached out to me
and were asking advice, and I'mwas more than happy to uh the
best to help you out yeah, 100%.

Speaker 1 (39:53):
You were.
You were the best with it.
I learned a lot throughout itand I was.
I was able to learn a lot ofthings that I should be aware of
, that I that I didn't knowabout.
And, and Steve, you couldn'thave been better with that.
I learned so much about it.
But an opportunity hadpresented itself and we chose to
explore it a little bit.

(40:15):
But, as some things happen, likeit just doesn't work out right,
it didn't fit, didn't fit, andat the time we were incredibly
disappointed because it feltlike it was meant to be.
It truly did.
It was like one of those thingsthat everything kind of just
aligned, felt like we weregetting brought to this place
for a reason as silly as thatmight sound, but I do believe

(40:37):
that that is the case, just aslife in general.
But it didn't end up workingout and it sucked.
But I do think that, like,after being able to reflect on
all of that and being where I amnow, I do I do find a lot of
peace in only managing myself.
Yeah, I love that.

(40:59):
That's one of the things that Ireally do like about guiding
and I think about it.
I try and compare it to, likemy, my career in high ticket
sales and whatnot, and a lot ofpeople would want to get
promoted and move up to salesmanagement and manage a team,
and I had never wanted to dothat.
It's just the honest truth.

(41:20):
I want to be responsible for me, and me only, and have the
control and whatnot.
So I mean, anything can happen,right, but where I'm at now is I
feel like it's, it's verycomfortable, I feel like it's
very natural and um, although Ilove the idea of it, but there
are a lot of things to kind ofto think about and whatnot.

(41:42):
Right, yeah, yeah, it's a lotof um, you have to be very, you
have to be very resourceful.
That's one thing that I kind ofadmired about you when you were
doing it.
You had to.
There was a lot of you're verylike transparent in the sense of
when you didn't know something,you, you you didn't hide it,
yeah, and didn't hide it, yeah,and you learned and you would

(42:07):
have to figure it out, yeah, ifyou're a lodge owner, you're a
plumber, you're a framer, you'rea siding guy, you're a player,
this you're that, you'reeverything Right, and uh, yeah,
you have to be very resourceful.

Speaker 2 (42:16):
So, um, yeah, it was.
Uh, it was a huge learningcurve for me right from start to
finish.
And, um, that's one of thethings that I love the most
about the lodge was every daywas a new challenge.
Every day was a new challengeand you either choose to say

(42:39):
that's good.
You know, somebody comes in andsays the boat, somebody smashed
the bottom end of the boat andit's got to be fixed and we need
to have it ready for tomorrow.
I would always try, in my mindat least, to say well, that's
good.
Yeah, because when you saythat's good, then it changes the

(43:01):
perspective in your mind,because if you say, oh, my God,
what a freaking shit show thisis going to be, all of a sudden
your, your mental capacity andyour vibrations all turn
negative.
But I used to say and I thinkthis, this come from Aunt Beth,
uncle Barry or Graham or or momand dad or whoever was up there

(43:24):
with me I would always say thatthat, okay, well, that's good,
we're going to learn somethingnew today For sure, right.
And then you got to decide, yougot to make it work Right, and
ultimately understand thattomorrow's going to come Like.
There's going to be some peoplethere expecting a boat and

(43:46):
tomorrow is gonna come.
So you got to figure it outwhether whether it's it's you
get it fixed and whether you gotto drive to to bury to pick up
a new bottom end.
Whether you've got to, you know, rent a boat from a neighboring
lodge to replace that boat.
It's's going to happen,tomorrow's coming and your job

(44:09):
is to figure it out.
And that's where the pressurecomes from, because you know you
get that.
And then all of a sudden, nowthe shit pipes out behind the
lookout are busted in the bushand you got to go fix that.
And you know there's a beartormenting people, or there's a
bear tormenting.
You got to go deal with that,absolutely right.

Speaker 1 (44:28):
Pest control.
There's another type,Absolutely.

Speaker 2 (44:32):
Yeah, uncle Barry had his trap lying out the back
there to keep all the pests down, and you know there's a lot
that goes along with it and Ican totally appreciate people
when they start looking into it.
That's why it was veryimportant for me when you asked
to have you go through numberone a business plan For sure and

(44:56):
plan out everything, thinkabout everything right, because
I wasn't sure if it was rightfor you or not, and I could
never be sure because it's youand your partner right.
Of course, yeah, but to try andgive you the tools to figure it
out is important, and I don'tthink that you're not going to

(45:24):
think about it in the future.
And what you're doing right nowis you're building a great
foundation on the aspects ofrunning a lodge right and you're
learning.
And not only that, you'rebuilding a network of people
through your guiding businessthat could someday become very

(45:45):
valuable.
And maybe you never do biologic,maybe you think, well, you know
what?
It might be pretty cool to havemaybe three or four cottages
that I rent out and then I canguide those people, because now
you're not only making money onyour guiding fees, you're making

(46:05):
money on the rental of acottage and they can look after
all of their own meals andeverything else, and you're
building your clientele on topof that.
That's one of the things thatI'm looking at doing on the
island up on the French isbuilding a few more cottages,
renting those cottages out andguiding as well.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
Yeah, and that's like you can't beat that.
That's fantastic, right.
I feel like a lot of the whereyou get into where things get
messy and dicey is when you getinto like as a as an owner right
, and where you get into the allinclusive aspect of it the food
, the supplies, it's boat accessand whatnot.

Speaker 2 (46:51):
And it's uh, the logistics of it were were huge
for sure, and um, like I mean,and and having so many employees
, you know, I half the time and,and you experienced it right
from from the perspective of anemployee, and, uh, half the time
I felt like dr phil you know,because and it's inevitable when
you, when you take and uh, 2015, you said so, 2015, I bet you

(47:16):
at that time in, in my tenure,we would have had close to 15
employees, yeah, and another,you know, three full-time
live-in guides, and then a poolof guys like Marcel and whoever
else I needed to draw on, butthere would have been Billy,

(47:37):
there would have been Pat andI'm not sure who else at the
time.

Speaker 1 (47:43):
I know Eric was there .
I know there was the two oh man, I forget their names now, but
it was the two younger girlsfrom Ottawa.

Speaker 2 (47:55):
Yeah, that would have been Danielle and Shannon.
Yeah, they drove the cart offthe mountain by the Hoppy Gay.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
I remember that.
Yeah, and Billy was there.
Oh yeah, phil and Micah.

Speaker 2 (48:19):
Oh, that was really the dream team, and Jen and Pat.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
Other Jake was there too.
Other Jake yeah, Jake was theretoo.
Other.

Speaker 2 (48:28):
Jake, yeah, yeah, jake, clement, yep, yeah.
No, that was a great year, buteven at that, when you have
those great years, when you takea whole and Diane and Cole and
you take a whole team of peoplethat range in age from about 18

(48:49):
to 70.
And you're all living togetherin tight quarters on an island
in the middle of the FrenchRiver, yeah, exactly, you work
long hours together and then youplay together right out in the
back.
Inevitably, inevitably, shithappens.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
Oh right, oh yeah, for sure, and in your defense as
well, it takes a special typeof individual to sign up for it.
I'm going to live on an island,isolated, with people I don't
know.
Oh yeah, for a whole summer anda bit more.
Right?
Yeah, not everybody.
Not everybody, that's noteverybody's cup of tea, right?

Speaker 2 (49:28):
no, and a lot of times the, the, the people that
I hire don't figure that outuntil they get there.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
Yeah, yeah, you know what I mean.
Realization like oh, okay youtalk about.

Speaker 2 (49:40):
You talk about, um, culture shock.
Moving to the sioux, well,think about the culture shock
you felt when you come to workat a place and and you, you
rarely get off the Island.
Oh yeah, you know what I mean.
And, um, um, managing the, thepersonalities of people and the
relationships that happened.

(50:02):
Like you know, that was one ofthe harder things for me because
, as a business owner, Ishouldn't be managing, or I
shouldn't have to manage, sexualrelationships between staff.

Speaker 1 (50:18):
Yeah, you're a couple's therapist too.

Speaker 2 (50:24):
There's no title.
When the work hours stop andthe social hours begin with the
staff, there's nothing you cando, nor you can't legislate
people's feelings for each other.
And then what happens is,because it's a tight-knit group,

(50:45):
then all of a sudden you getpeople that feel jealous, you
get people that feel wronged,you get this, you get breakups.
You get people that hook uptogether and then decide they
want to leave early.
Leaving.
You know like I mean it was thatpart of the lodge is a tough
one, right?
So you have to kind of hire toomany people in the spring

(51:08):
because you know that you'regoing to lose somebody, because
they just didn't understand whatthey were signing up for, no
matter how hard you try toexplain it to them, right?
And then something else doesn'twork out.
You may have to let somebody goand you gotta, and it's very
tough to fill positions halfwaythrough a six month season.

(51:30):
You know what I mean.
So all of those things were werehuge factors, you know, and,
and, and I like to, I, it wasjust another challenge, right?
Um and um.
I as much as I say the biggestproblem for me was staff, which

(51:51):
you know that very well may be atrue statement, but I can also
say that the staff was one ofthe things that I loved the most
too, of course, right, and Iwas very lucky to have two staff
members, cole, who looked afterthe main lodge and bookings and

(52:18):
checking people in and out,because until I got Cole, I
really didn't make a whole lotof money, because I didn't like
taking money from the guestsbecause they come as guests but
all of a sudden, four or five,six, seven days later, they
leave as friends.

Speaker 1 (52:34):
I'm experiencing that now too.
I totally know, what you mean.

Speaker 2 (52:37):
It's very difficult.
It's very difficult and I candefinitely see that parallel
between your business and mine,because you know somebody would
say you know, yeah, you know thepillows were just.
I just want to let you know,steve, you know the pillows
probably should be replaced inthe Cardinal and you know,

(53:00):
because they're like really bad,I didn't sleep well and I'd be
like, oh my God, you didn'tsleep well.
I'll tell you what, if I knockoff $150 off your price of your
stay, would that be good?
Oh, wow, that's wonderful,right.
And you end up doing that toomany times and all of a sudden,

(53:20):
at the end of the year, you lookback and you're like, wow, my
numbers don't add up.
This is not what I expected.
And when Cole came, he was thebad cop and I was the good cop,
right.
And it almost seemed to me thatpeople totally disassociated me

(53:43):
from the business and Colebecause, as they would be
leaving all of those people thatalways would say something me
from the business and Cole,because, as they would be
leaving you know the all ofthose people that always would
say something and I had themconditioned to.
All you gotta do is saysomething and you'll get money
back.
Yeah, right, yeah.
All of a sudden they're walkingdown to the dock and they're
like, oh man, cole's tough.
Yeah, like what do you mean?

(54:04):
Send in the hammer?
Yeah, like what do you meansend in the hammer?
Oh, yeah, oh he, you know, we,we asked for a discount and cole
said no, I'm like, oh, wow,geez, I'll have to talk to him
about that.
Yeah, well, it was me saying,buddy, we're not making any
money.
We got right.
Oh sure, maybe that's somethingthat you can.
You can kind of incorporatewith your wife and have her be

(54:27):
taking the booking and thepayment in advance or something.
But I feel your pain.
That's something that is verydifficult and was very difficult
for my personality, for sure,and it wasn't until I put
somebody in place to deal withthat problem that I really was

(54:52):
able to free myself from it.
Yeah, of course, and it workedwonderfully.
And, like I say I was going tosay about the staff again, true
statement, most difficult partof the business.
But again, I loved the staff.
Once we was in that great corestaff, diane was another great

(55:16):
core person for me and she wastough.
There is no doubt she was tough, but the one thing that I can
say about Diane was and God resther soul.
She was fair, for sure, and notjust fair with the staff, like

(55:36):
between staff with me, if I everwalked out of line in any
respect, she would be the firstone to straighten me out and say
, steve, you know that's wrongand and one of the things that
she preached to me constantly.
That was probably one of themore difficult things for me,

(55:59):
but it was true.
And she would always say, steve, you can be friendly with the
staff, but you can't be friendswith the staff.
Yes, and, and I always had ahard time with that, because
there were so many great peoplethat come through and you know,

(56:20):
you just kind of figure out whothey are, because when you
mention names like Phil andMicah and yourself and Pat and
Jen, and those are people thatare still friends of mine to
this day.
So, you know, for businessowners and young business owners

(56:41):
out there, especially in thesetypes of niche businesses, that
is something to be heeded.
You need to heed that, butthere's always exceptions to the
rules, you know yeah of course.
Yeah, but I can you know youbuild that foundation that

(57:01):
you're working on right now andthen you know, how you said in
the beginning, it just feltright when we moved up here and
I started this.
I think that if the rightopportunity presents itself,

(57:21):
then it will happen right andthe tools that you're building
right now are fantastic tools todo and your business.
I can see that you're becomingvery successful at doing what
you love.

Speaker 1 (57:41):
Well, thank you, man.
I really appreciate it, thankyou.

Speaker 2 (57:43):
It means a lot.
It means a lot.
It means a lot to me becauseand not only me, to all of those
people out there I just got anemail from a gentleman who said
that he had built a number ofdifferent businesses, generating

(58:05):
over $35 million, and he wasnot happy.
And there's something to besaid for that too.
Right, and when you truly findyour happy place and you can
make a living doing it, and youcan raise a family and and truly

(58:26):
find that thing, god, it's ait's it's it's it's rare, and
and I'm really, really happy foryou.

Speaker 1 (58:37):
No, thank you Steve, I agree, it's it's.
It's really nice to hear it too, because I remember like I
think I've told you this when Iwas younger and I will kind of
watch you do your thing too Ilooked at you as like the
business guy, you're like thebusiness owner guy, big deal.
So it's kind of cool to talkabout these things and whatnot

(59:00):
and how things unfold, and afull circle moment.
I agree with you 100 hundredpercent.
I think everybody should,should try, cause the way that I
look at it is, for the mostpart, people have like some sort
of most people have some sortof foundation in what they're
doing for their career, whatevertype of experience it is.

(59:21):
And the only thing I can say topeople is like you can always
go back.
Yeah, you can always go back toit.
Always go back to it.
Yeah, like I would rather.
I'd rather fail.
I'd know, know that I gave it ashot then then never do it at
all, yeah, you know.
So we're not here for very long.

Speaker 2 (59:38):
You might as well just give it a try, because you
can always go back 100, 100, andthat was part of the motivating
factor for me to buy Chaudièrein the first place.
I um and it and it and it waslinked to an experience I had
about, oh, six years prior tosix, maybe even seven or eight

(59:59):
years prior to me buying thelodge in 2009.
And, um, my mom at the time Iwas just out of high school,
working in a sheet metal shopand making real good money,
still living at home and mom'slike Stephen, you've got to get
out, you're making good money,You're not paying any rent and

(01:00:20):
all you're doing is drinkingyour money away.
And you know what.
She wasn't far off the truth.
She was exaggerating a littlebit, as you know what she wasn't
far off the truth.
She was exaggerating a littlebit, as, as you know, when
mothers get riled up, they, theydo.
But I was partying on weekendsand I was making good money and
I wasn't paying rent.
And, uh, she's like and I justgot back from college, I, I

(01:00:43):
finished college and so thiswould have been in like the late
90s and she said you got to dosomething with your money.
And I was like, okay, so Idecided I was going to buy a
cottage back then and this wasbefore any real boom and I found

(01:01:05):
a cottage on Big Bald Lake,which is in the Kawarthas.
It's a big bay at the top, atthe north end of Pigeon, by Bob.

Speaker 1 (01:01:16):
Cajun.

Speaker 2 (01:01:16):
Gotcha, and it was one acre, it was drive-to, it
had potable water, so it had awell and all of the things that
I needed, so that the downpayment was going to be 5%
because you needed to have yearround road access, potable water

(01:01:38):
, um, so it would be considereda house, not a recreational
property.
And they were asking now thismight surprise you, you, but in
the Kawarthas at that time theywere asking $55,000 for this
property.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And at the time I was like, ohmy god, $55,000.

(01:02:03):
So anyway, long story short, Iended up being a kid and telling
the real estate agent that Iwant these fishing lures written
in the deal, and I want this,and I want that, and I want this
, and I want that, and, and, and, uh, you know that gold fork in
the in the thing.
I want that, and, uh, I put anoffer in at fifty thousand,000

(01:02:28):
and they come back the next day.
And they said I thought theywere going to come back with a
counter offer, but he said,sorry, they got an offer for
52,000 firm and they sold it.
And I lost that and I lookedaround.
I never did find anothercottage that fit the mold, and,

(01:02:50):
and moving on ahead by a fewyears.
Uh, in 2000, and uh and uh one,I bought my first house in
Shelburne for 154, no, 179,000.
Brand new build.
Yeah, um and uh, and I didn'tbuy that cottage.
Well, melissa and I got marriedin 2004.

(01:03:15):
So this would have been acouple of years before we got
married.
We were, um, I was fishing, uh,bass tournaments.
No, no, this is just after,because I was fishing bass
tournaments.
And I started fishing basstournaments right after the last
cull, which was that televisionshow that Anjan and Reno did in

(01:03:37):
2004.
So this was probably 2005.
We were in Bob Cajun, melissaand I, and I was pre-fishing
because we had made the classicfor the Bass Mania Tour.
Right, glenn Berry was my basspartner and I said, okay, I'm
going to go and I'm going topre-fish Cameron Lake, because
Cameron was day three for thebalsam.

(01:04:01):
It was balsam for two days forthe classic, yeah, and then
Cameron for the third day.
So we went in and we werefishing Cameron Lake and and um,
we, uh, and this was a week'sholidays.
This is what I did with Melissa.
We went free fishing, I fishedand she was on the front of the
boat, cool, so we went into BobCajun for ice cream one day and

(01:04:23):
we walked out of this wee icecream shop I looked across the
road and there's the real estateagent office that I was going
to, you know, six years, fiveyears prior to this moment, and
and I thought, oh, maybe, maybethere's a cottage out there for
me, thinking, you know, yeah,they're probably more than

(01:04:45):
$50,000, but yeah, you know,maybe.
So we walked in and there was anolder gentleman in his, you
know, late 60s, early 70s,sitting behind the behind the
front desk with his feet upreading a newspaper.
I walked in, I said good day,sir, and he looked over his
glasses at me and he said howare you doing today, son?

(01:05:06):
I said pretty good, pretty good, listen, I'm just looking for a
piece of property.
It doesn't have to be anythingLike, I just want waterfront on
like big bald lake area.
And I'm thinking back to when Ihad this opportunity and he
said, son, if you don't have 350to $400,000, don't even waste

(01:05:32):
my time.
And I was like $350,000,$400,000?
While houses in Shelburne at thetime were selling for like a
total detached home was like$210,000.
Was like $210,000.
So they were that $50,000property that I looked at in six

(01:05:52):
years had gone up to the pointwhere it was like triple, almost
triple the cost of houses inShelburne.
I was like, oh my God, Icouldn't sleep for months.
I'm like, oh, you are such astupid Like, why didn't you buy
that?
Yeah, I shouldn't ask for thelures.
Yeah, wow, and that was one ofthe things that went through my

(01:06:16):
head.
I was stupid.
Them stupid lures cost me thatcottage.
And that experience was theexperience that gave me the
courage to go out and actuallybuy the lodge.
And it goes back full circle toyour comment about you've got

(01:06:42):
to try.
And thinking about losing outon that opportunity when I was
buying the lodge was one of thethings that gave me that courage
, because I said to myself I donot want to go into the winter

(01:07:03):
of my life thinking what if?
Thinking what if I had havedone it.
And I wanted to know.
And I come to the realizationand I said to myself, yeah, I'm

(01:07:25):
33.
I'm still fairly young.
I'm going to.
I mortgaged my house.
I mortgaged my parents' farm.
I borrowed money from loan well, they're not loan sharks, they
were mortgage brokers but at 10%and $35,000 for the right to
borrow their money.
But I am either going to becomeindependently wealthy or I'm

(01:07:47):
going to go bankrupt, and youknow what I'll just start over.
And the time to do this kind ofstuff honestly is when you're
young, is when you're young.
There's people out there thatare my age and older who are
getting into this type ofbusiness, and that's okay.

(01:08:08):
But what I would say to all ofyou out there that are my age
and older who are getting intothis type of business, and
that's okay, but what I wouldsay to all of you out there
listening, you better have agreat backing financially, you
better be able to manage peopleand you better want to work.

(01:08:36):
Because I thank God every day,now that I'm 50, that I didn't
decide to jump into a show toair now because it's.
I'm not saying it's impossiblefor somebody to do it now, um,
and it may and it it now and itmay be easier if you've got the
financial resources to do it.
But understand that jumpinginto a full out lodge like I did

(01:09:01):
, especially one that'sdepreciated to a point where it
needs work, be ready, call me,call me, let me know that you're
going to jump into somethinglike this and I'll let you know

(01:09:24):
what I've experienced.
Yeah, for sure, it's somethingthat it's um, it's something
that, that, that, um, it's awonderful, wonderful way of life
, but there's a lot of shit yougot to know, oh yeah, so many
moving components you have.

Speaker 1 (01:09:39):
Uh yeah, so many things to be aware of for sure I
can't imagine.

Speaker 2 (01:09:43):
And so many ways to do it.

Speaker 1 (01:09:45):
Oh, yeah, for sure, yeah, and there's like,
definitely there I would imaginethere's an element of trial by
fire.
No matter how well prepared youare, for sure and like you have
to, it's better to learn atleast I try to learn from people
that have done the thing thatI'm trying to do.
I know what I mean, right?
So it's always good to have amentor like that, but I good to

(01:10:11):
have a mentor like that, but I,I, I love the, I I love the idea
of it, I love, I love going,like the idea of staying at
lodges.
I, I love that.
I miss that.
Yeah, um, there's somethingvery peaceful about it, very
like and whatnot.

Speaker 2 (01:10:21):
But now, well, you know, maybe there's a business
model for you that, um, thatdoesn't include owning a lodge,
but it includes, you know,taking your clients to lodges
around and guiding for them.

Speaker 1 (01:10:37):
Yeah, no, for sure there has been a little bit of
that.
I mean, I help some likecottage rental, like cottage
rentals around like the areawhere I'll recommend guests to
stay and whatnot, and there's anetwork of different lodges
around here that I I try andhelp out and we try and help
each other out and whatnot.
So I'm just genuinely, I'm justhappy to be involved with the

(01:10:59):
industry.
Still, you know, I'm just happythat I don't have to put on a
button-up shirt anymore anddress pants.

Speaker 2 (01:11:05):
I'm good yeah yeah, yeah, good, yeah.
Well, on that note, jake, howcan people get a hold of you?

Speaker 1 (01:11:17):
Yeah, of course, all my info is on my, first and
foremost, my website.
It's monkworksfishingca.
Instagram handles justmonkworksfishing, facebook is
monkworksfishing and I Instagramhandles just monkworksfishing,
facebook is monkworksfishing andI'll have all my contact
information there my cell phone,email, all that stuff.
I do a little bit of everythingup here and, yeah, it's a place

(01:11:40):
that, more importantly, to likein Ontario as a whole from the
fishing community, because it'sso far sometimes it doesn't get
thought of immediately right, uh, to like in Ontario as a whole
from the fishing community,because it's so far, sometimes
get gets like it doesn't getthought of immediately Right,
but it's, it's a, it's, it's agreat area, um, even like some
of I, I, I I have a lot of umclients from the States that
visit here.

(01:12:00):
It's very easy to get to from,from that sense of it, and it's
I love it.

Speaker 2 (01:12:06):
I love to share it with people more than yeah, yeah
, well, folks, and listen, um,jake is, um is a wonderful guy.
I've known him for a long timeand um, for anybody out there
looking to share an amazingoutdoor experience, I can

(01:12:27):
honestly say that this guy hasit going on and has the
resources to really show you agreat experience of the Algoma
region.
And yeah, I threw the Algomaregion in there for you, carol,
and don't hesitate to look himup up Facebook all of those

(01:12:49):
places he mentioned.
Um, but, uh, this is uh, this,unfortunately, is the time that,
uh, that, uh, I've got to tiethings up and uh, um, I want to
thank Lakeside Marine up in RedLake.
They are a wonderful supporterof the show and, uh, and if
you're ever in that area andneed anything, reach out, give

(01:13:11):
them a ring.
I also want to thank all of youfor getting to this point and
in the show and listening andsupporting it means so much to
us here at Diaries and theOutdoor Journal Radio Podcast
Network.
Thank you so much.
Like, subscribe, leave commentswherever you can, and you can

(01:13:37):
also reach out to me at stevenat fishincanadacom and leave any
comments there and I'll tellyou again.
We've got some big things goingon over at fishincanadacom with
the giveaways.
There are some really bigticket items coming up here,
folks, so you've got to keep onchecking that out and get your

(01:14:00):
name in the hat for those.
And I do want to say that I'mvery excited and I wish that I
could get in on these deals andnight-night out there to my
little buddy, nixon and folks.

(01:14:21):
You all know he listens to uswhen he goes to sleep and he
sent me a wee note the other day.
I'm going to reach out and seeif Nixon minds if I put it on
the air here for all of you tohear.
So on, that note thus brings usto the conclusion of another

(01:14:42):
episode of Diaries of a LodgeOwner.
Stories of the North.

Speaker 3 (01:14:48):
I'm a good old boy of Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
Stories of the North.

Speaker 2 (01:14:55):
I'm a good old boy, never meanin' no harm.

Speaker 3 (01:15:01):
I'll be all you ever saw, been railin' in the hog
since the day I was born,Bendin' my rock stretchin' my
line.
Someday I might own a lodge,and that'd be fine, I'll be
making my way, the only way Iknow how.

Speaker 2 (01:15:21):
Working hard and sharing the north With all of my
pals.
Well, I'm a good old boy, Ibought a good old boy, I buy the
lodge and live my dream.
And now I'm here talking abouthow life can be as good as it
seems.

Speaker 5 (01:15:40):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (01:15:45):
Hi everybody.
I'm Angelo Viola and I'm PeteBowman.
Now you might know us as thehosts of Canada's Favorite
Fishing Show, but now we'rehosting a podcast that's right
Every Thursday.

Speaker 4 (01:15:55):
Angelo and I will be right here in your ears,
bringing you a brand new episodeof Outdoor Journal Radio.

Speaker 2 (01:16:01):
Hmm, Now what are we going to talk about for two
hours every week?

Speaker 4 (01:16:04):
Well, you know there's going to be a lot of
fishing.
I knew exactly where those fishwere going to be and how to
catch them, and they were easyto catch.

Speaker 5 (01:16:11):
Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show.
We're going to be talking topeople from all facets of the
outdoors, from athletes.

Speaker 1 (01:16:18):
All the other guys would go golfing Me and Garth
and Turk and all the Russianswould go fishing.

Speaker 4 (01:16:23):
To scientists.

Speaker 5 (01:16:34):
Now that we're reforesting.
And all that To scientists, tochefs.
And whoever else will pick upthe phone Wherever you are.
Outdoor Journal Radio seeks toanswer the questions and tell
the stories of all those whoenjoy being outside.

Speaker 4 (01:16:46):
Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you
get your podcasts.

Speaker 3 (01:16:53):
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.
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.

(01:17:15):
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 harvestuse, testimonials and research,

(01:17:37):
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

(01:18:02):
going to take you along with meto see the places and meet the
people.
That will help you find youroutdoor passion and help you
live a life close to nature andunder the canopy.
Find Under the Canopy now onSpotify, apple Podcasts or
wherever else you get yourpodcasts.