January 15, 2025 • 57 mins
Jerry Kruczek shares his journey as both an avid angler and a dedicated philanthropist, showcasing how fishing can inspire positive change in the community. Through his involvement with Fish Futures Inc., he emphasizes the importance of teaching youth about conservation and the joys of fishing while raising funds for essential environmental projects.
• Discussion on community involvement and philanthropy by Jerry
• Overview of Jerry's extensive fishing tournament experience
• Insights into the Fish Futures Inc. organization and its initiatives
• Details on the popular Fish Futures banquet and fundraising strategies
• Various projects focused on youth engagement and fisheries restoration
• Challenges faced in the fishing world today, including environmental impacts
• Jerry's personal anecdotes that highlight passion and camaraderie in fishing
• Reflections on the future of fishing and community united for a cause
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
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):
Yeah, we try to give back as much as we can to the
community when we can, and we'veraised a lot of money.
We've had a lot of fun, we mettons of people, and that's all.
What the night is all about isto have fun and to raise money
and not to have people sittingthere getting bored.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio podcast
Networks Diaries of a LodgeOwner Stories of the North.
Well, folks, when you have thepleasure of fishing around the
country, you never know just whoyou're going to meet.
And this year, while Willie andI fished the Vanity Cup
Tournament in northernSaskatchewan, willie introduced
(00:57):
me to an outstanding gentlemanwho eats, sleeps and breathes
fishing.
But what is unique about thisfine man is for years he has
been heavily involved with anorganization called Fish Futures
Inc.
And it's a beauty, and so is he.
And it is a pleasure to welcometo the Diaries family Jerry
(01:21):
Kruzak.
On this show we talk tournamentfishing and, along with that,
tell some tall tales.
We get to know Jerry and learnabout the Fish Futures Inc
organization.
So if you love fish stories andlearning about how people are
helping to preserve and protectour resources, this is a great
(01:44):
one.
Here's our conversation withJerry Kruzak.
Welcome, folks, to anotherepisode of Diaries of a Lodge
Owner, and it is my pleasure toobviously have Willie on here.
And Willie, we have a verywonderful dude we met him up at
(02:07):
well, I met him up at the VanityCup this year.
Jerry Kruzak, welcome to theshow, brother hey thanks, boys
Welcome.
Jerry Glad to be here, yeah,yeah.
Well, when we met at thetournament, willie said, hey,
that guy is a, is an awesome guyand he does so much for the
(02:28):
community and everything else.
And and when Will said, hey,why don't, why don't we, we
bring Jerry on, I thought, yeah,absolutely, and he's a fellow
Polak, you know there's there'snothing wrong with.
You know there's uh, there'snothing wrong with with, uh,
with being polish.
We were just in the pre-gameshow here in the warm-up.
We were talking about a pair ofboots.
(02:49):
I bought after that, uh, the,uh, the, the vanity cup.
I think we talked about, well,uh, about the vanity, and, and I
think we did a whole episode onhow to uh prepare and dress
properly for the weather.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
How to not do it how we did it yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
And I went out and I bought a pair of Nats.
They're good to minus 70.
They're light and they're madein Poland, so they fit the bill
for me.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Nice, nice.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
How's it going, gary?
You look good, buddy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks.
Welcome to the show man.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
We're uh, we're glad to have you yeah, I'm glad, uh
glad for the invite, uh happy tobe with you guys and do some
chatting about uh, about fishingand other things nice, nice
jerry's.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Uh, jerry's the winnipeg boy folks.
Uh, to all our diaries, familyand uh and guests out there.
He's a winnipeg boy folks, toall our Diaries, family and
guests out there.
He's a Winnipeg boy.
Jerry, you own a printing slashgraphics company.
Correct by day and a fishingphilanthropist by night.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
That kind of wraps it all up in a nice little present
there.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, all of us want to be at least half of that.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Well, exactly, at least the fishing part, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, well, you know what the printing business is a
good business too.
I got a lot of buddies in thatbusiness and that's a pretty
good business, I think.
Yeah, it's quite a challengingbusiness and that's a pretty
good business, I think.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, it's quite a challenging business and
changing, you know, over theyears, trying to keep up with
technologies and stuff, so it'salways something new, something
always going on that you haven'tdone before, you haven't seen
before.
Yeah, Chair.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I was going to ask you, you know, like getting into
your work, uh, topic here, what?
What in detail do you do?
Because I know it sounds crazythat we're that close now and
you do all of nordic pointlodge's printing.
But I mean, jerry has done uh,he did a wrap for me on my boat
which looks beautiful.
He's done wraps for, uh, forjamie bruce when he was going
(05:03):
down the bassmaster lease there.
You you hooked him up lastminute.
I remember that and uh got himand brian going and then you
know, you do business cards.
You do a little bit ofeverything.
Can you tell us a little bitmore about your business?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
well, just, uh, we we kind of are like a broker.
Uh, we've been in the businessfor 35 years and I've got a lot
of contacts from companies andthat do all kinds of things,
from boat wraps, decals, tobusiness cards, letterheads,
envelopes, mailers, mailing allkinds of stuff.
(05:38):
I mean, there probably isn'tmuch that I haven't done or
haven't gotten done for somebodyin the past.
So that's kind of it in anutshell.
One of those, one of thosethings that is just kind of
become part of you, you know,after many years.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
It's just what you do .
Yeah, it's just what we do.
I've got an.
I've got a question has has AItechnology impacted your
business yet at all.
No, Do you use no AI tools oranything like that?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
No Other than in graphics and stuff, that people,
what people are getting donegraphically.
But in my type you know wherewe actually just do more of the
printing and that kind of stuff,and then you know decals and
things, but in the graphics endit's made a big difference, it's
changed that yeah yeah, I canimagine, I know, when we were
(06:33):
working on the logo.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, when I was working on the logo for Diaries
of a Lodge Owner, I was on theGoogle machine and everything
else and you know, people weregoing on to Discord and using
Canva and and ChatGPT and all ofthese different tools to create
and design these, these thingsand and it was, it was an
(06:59):
eye-opening experience for medoing that, for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, definitely something that you've got to
stay up with the technology andkind of make know you know.
Teaching old dog new tricks issomething that we've got to kind
of do on a regular basis.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, well, I know that feeling and when it comes
to vehicles, I've actuallydecided that I'm going backwards
.
I'm trading my 2022 for 1992.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Oh, yeah, yeah, 1992 F-250, and it's got the old 7.3
diesel and it's an indirectinjection engine, it's a
glorified tractor engine in theold girl.
And I'm doing it because Idon't want to rely on computers,
I don't want to rely onanything other than you know,
(07:52):
good old fashioned technology.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, Nice yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Anyway, jerry, tell us a little bit about your
passion, now that we know yourwork.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Well, fishing it started quite a long time ago.
We got into some, I guess, acouple of tournaments and it
just kind of went from there,ended up fishing quite a few
over the years and have beeninvolved.
I guess, how long have you been?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
fishing tournaments.
Jerry, when did you startfishing?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I would say about 30 plus years ago.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Oh shit.
So, you're a seasoned vet,buddy, back when I did.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, it's a disease.
We got the disease and there'sno cure for it, so we're just
going to keep doing it until wecan't do it anymore.
Yeah, it just.
You know it was great.
It's just wonderful because youget to meet all these people
and all these different guys andyou know guys like you guys and
you know, willie, that's how wemet.
(08:58):
You was through the vanity andit's just a great sport and the
camaraderie is great and andalthough you know, these days
things are getting a little bitof a black eye with all this
cheating that's going on, but,uh, I'm sure there was cheating
going on back in those days.
It just maybe not wasn't asprevalent, or people yeah, yeah.
(09:20):
Well, social media helpsnowadays too, right, because
something happens in a littlecorner of the world and
everybody knows about it.
But that's kind of where itstarted.
I think Lake of the Prairiesmight have been the first
tournament we ever did.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
And where is that Jerry?
Just to tell our folks.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Russell Manitoba, Just kind of northwestern part
of Manitoba.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Okay, yeah, yeah, that's the one right by.
Yorkton.
There right, Just east ofYorkton.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yep, just before Yorkton.
Yep, it runs along the border.
The lake actually goes intoSaskatchewan.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Nice, nice, awesome, beautiful Nice.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
That's interesting.
So Pete is your partner.
Has Pete always been yourpartner?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
No, pete hasn't, but Pete's a fellow Polack, too Nice
.
So I think we came up with somegraphic.
And it's too bad, I don't haveit handy, but we actually came
up with a little graphic a fewyears ago.
We call ourselves Two PolesFishing.
It was either that or TwoFishing Poles.
Wow, either one is good.
(10:33):
Yeah, but Pete and I've beenfishing for probably uh, was it
24 years now?
Oh, maybe going into 25 nextyear, and, uh, I fished.
I fished with, uh, anotherfella, ken Boychuk, for probably
about a decade.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Uh, before that, oh, yeah, yeah, but it's just been
those two.
I tell you, the group of guysthat you chum up with, they know
their fish and they know theirwaters, that's for sure.
I know, like you say, me andJerry had met.
Man, I think it must have beenlike what, 2013, 2014?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Hey Jerry, like what?
2013, 2014?
Yeah, probably mid-decadeanyways, probably about 10 years
ago Something like that.
Yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I was fishing with a guy named Greg Haga who ended up
being a good friend of Jerry'sand we met there, had a few, had
a few drinks there to one nightand we ended up getting along
and did a little bit of teamfishing.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
That's what drinks usually do, right yep yeah,
absolutely we, uh, that was apretty wild.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Uh, that was a pretty wild weekend.
We ended up, we stayed in the,we stayed in that cabin remember
that little tiny cabin thatjust had nothing in it, it was
just a box like a closet and, uh, the fishing, I remember it was
cold, cold, cold and thefishing was pretty good.
(11:58):
Still, there was, uh, that wasthe year that I got to tell this
story about Greg, because hetaught me a lot, that guy.
So, greg, we were in thistournament at the Vanity Cup
that we've talked about, and dayone, I think we were like we
(12:19):
had like an average day, jerry,I think you guys had an average
day too, running like the middleof the pack day, jerry, I think
you guys had an average day too, running like the middle of the
pack.
And day two came and we werestruggling to put some fish in
the boat and I changed up to abait that my grandfather had had
shown me to present yearsbefore, you know, when I was a
(12:40):
kid, and just a little trick heshowed me and we ended up.
And what was that?
We, we, it was actually so itwas.
We were running a bottombouncer and I had the you know,
a tiny piece of my sewing sequinon, but I also put just a
little instead of just thatsewing sequin for my flash.
(13:02):
I also had a little bead On thehook On top of the hook.
On top of it, yeah, so you runlike a three-foot lead off your
bottom bouncer, okay.
Then a piece of sewing sequencelike that's on a dress of a
dancer or a figure skater, right, yeah, yeah, with the flash.
And then I had a little tinybead behind it and then a little
tiny number eight octopus hookwith a leech, and the leech was
(13:27):
so big and the hook was so smallI just buried it in it.
The concept was just a you know,when you're salmon fishing with
a, you know pulling a bigspinner or a blade to attract
them, was kind of like that.
You know.
I figured well, they're finickyand they're there and they
wanted something moving, butthey were coming in but they
weren't grabbing.
So I put on that little bit offlash and we didn't go 30 feet
(13:53):
and my rod loaded up and Gregputs the boat in neutral and
like this is a good one, this isa good one.
And we had seen two sturgeoncaught, like you know, 15
minutes before that, hey, jerry.
So you know how that is.
At the mouth of the vanity there, the mouth of North
Saskatchewan, you know, when thesturgeon move in, usually
(14:15):
there's three, four, five caught.
Bang, bang, bang.
And it's the worst thing in theworld when you think you got a
nice big walleye on and he'sburying it and all of a sudden
he shoots to the surface andyou're like, oh shit, it's going
to jump, right Walleye ain'tjumping, so yeah.
So anyways, that fish did this.
It peeled out and then shot up.
(14:37):
And as soon as it shot up, Greg, I remember Greg threw the net
down and he was like fuck, it'sa sturgeon.
And I'm like, yeah, it's asturgeon, fucking.
So I was, I gave it about youknow 15 more seconds and all of
a sudden it's like it was kindof laying you know 10, 15 feet
below the surface and it shot upagain.
And it shot up and rolled overon its side and, sure enough, it
(14:59):
was a fucking walleye.
I was gold as gold could be, andI was yelling at Haggard get
the net, get the net.
Well, haggard grabs the net.
I slammed the boat in reversebecause it was kind of.
You can tell by the way it waslaying on its side.
I wanted to catch up to it fast.
I didn't want to drag it in.
So we caught up to it, justkept the tension on the rod, put
it in the basket, get the netin the boat and we popped the
(15:28):
hooks out of it and it's foaminglike crazy, like it was
stressed beyond belief, and itstarted to go like that milky
gray, that white you know what Imean and I'm like, and this is
within like five, six seconds ofit being a beautiful gold
laying in the water.
So I'm like fuck sakes, and I'mkind of panicking about it.
Because I'm kind of panickingabout it, because I'm kind of
newer I wasn't newer, I was kindof newer to tournament fishing,
but definitely newer to likewhen there were things like that
(15:52):
were happening in the boat, Ididn't know what to do at that
time.
I was still green, like that.
So Greg kind of shoves me out ofthe way and he's got the head
of the walleye folks in the, thetail and this is in a ranger.
I had a ranger back then andthe tail, the tank was 32 inches
long and the tail is hangingout of the walleye and I'm like,
(16:14):
fuck, we gotta drive, you know,10, 12 kilometers to get back
to the landing, to weigh thisfish.
And we were thinking, you know,it was like it ended up
weighing like 10.62.
But you know, at the time, withadrenaline, we were thinking,
you know, we might have a12-pound, 13-pound fish here.
We weren't sure right.
(16:35):
So the last thing we want to dois kill it for one and for lots
of obvious reasons.
So Greg says Willie, get someice, get some ice.
So I run up to the front of theboat and I grab a bag of ice
and he's laying on the bottom ofmy Ranger with the head of the
(16:55):
walleye in the tank, the tail inthe back, and he takes the bag
of ice and he presses it on itsside and he fucking starts
yelling at me go, go, go.
So I fucking gun it and theranger playing out so I'm not
beating the shit out of him inthe waves.
And he rode that way, thosewaves and that boat, all the way
back to the dock and it was nota nice ride.
(17:17):
You know how it is, jerry, whenthere's 200 boats.
Steve, you too how packed it isthere now, oh yeah.
So we're cruising, smashingthrough all the boats and he's
taking the waves in the chest onthe bottom and I couldn't
believe it.
We get in there and, sureenough, weigh that fish and we
had big fish for that day, formajority of it right and but
I'll never.
Where I'm going with that wholestory is dreg.
How we met through him was, uh,saving that fish, and I'll
(17:41):
never forget that there was twoor three little tricks he taught
me in that weekend that havehelped me extremely over the
years.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Well, yeah, so the little trick was the ice right,
the ice on its time, yeahabsolutely yeah, and something I
wouldn't you know.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
you think about it now you're like yeah, it makes
sense.
It completely relaxed the fishand it stopped stressing Like
the fish when we got back to thedock.
It was completely fine.
You know it was a little lightcolored still, but it was
completely it was stress-free.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
You got any little tricks like that, jerry, to help
your fish to help your fishwhile you're in tournament day.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
You know I mean everything that we do.
I think everybody's been doing.
You know the weights, theweights to keep them down, the
fin weights the clips.
Yeah, just the fin weights.
And you know we have onoccasion done some fizzing for
fish that are.
You know their bladders are alittle bit full.
Let's talk about that for aminute for people that don't
know, gerard.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
What are you?
You're talking like you're oneinch back from your fin and one
inch up.
Is that what you're talkingabout?
And why are you fizzing them?
Tell the folks.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Well, sometimes they I mean you could still be
catching them in 10 feet ofwater, but there could be some
50 feet or 60 foot water rightbeside you and that's where
they're coming out.
And they're coming up to feedand and for them what they'll do
?
What I think they do is theycome up and they feed and they
go back down into deep waterbefore they get any of the
(19:09):
barotrauma.
And what happens is you knowyou catch them when they're up
in the feeding mode and nowyou're putting them in, you know
two feet of water in your tankand they're coming out of 10
feet of water and they haven'thad time to adjust.
So doing a little bit of fizzinghelps on the swim water yeah,
yeah, and fortunately we, youknow we haven't had any, any, uh
(19:31):
, any fish die after we've donethat in the past.
So so that's that's kind of,you know, pretty much the only
things we really do.
I mean, there's the ice in the,in the, uh, in the, in the live
.
Well, in the summertime, when,when you're catching, uh, when
you're catching fish, and thewater's a little warmer on the
on the surface than it is, youknow in the bottom and you're
sucking in you know 65, 70degree water, um, and you're in
(19:56):
your boat, so you know, puttingice in there, does this, cool it
down and does exactly what whatwillie and greg were doing.
But other than that, we haven'thad to do much, much of the way
of any of these secretfish-saving recipes.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Well, I'll tell you One thing that I learned from
Gordy Pizer, and this is basstournament fishing.
But if you get a fish hooked alittle deeper into the gills and
they bleed a little bit, if youget them and they're bleeding
heavily a lot of times, there'snot much you can do for them.
But if you get bleed a littlebit, If you get them and they're
bleeding heavily a lot of times, there's not much you can do
(20:33):
for them.
But if you get them a littlebit deep and you can get poor
Coca-Cola down through theirgills, that stops the bleeding
and a lot of times will save thefish.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
I've seen that one before too.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yeah yeah, yeah it does it works the acid in.
Yeah, it does it works the acidin the Coke.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
It cauterizes it, it cauterizes the wound.
Yeah, yeah, and the carbonationmight help with aeration.
I have no idea.
And the other thing, speakingof aeration, that we used to do
too is we would carry a bottleof peroxide in the boat and dump
a little bit of peroxide in thewater.
(21:14):
Apparently it helps oxygenatethe water.
I've never heard that one, yeah, whether or not it actually
does work.
I'm sure some of the Diariesfamily out there will correct me
if I'm wrong.
You know that'll happen.
Oh yeah, that's okay, and I'vebeen known to be wrong.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
But you know, you know that'll happen.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Oh yeah, that's okay, and I've been known to be wrong
.
Believe me.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Coca-Cola that's patched.
Today.
I'll tell you a quick story onthe rigs here.
When we're drilling withinverts, when we're drilling
with oil, with bitumen, well theconnections, it's just oil
everywhere and your coveralls atthe end of the shift.
Well, the connections, it'sjust oil everywhere and your
coveralls at the end of theshift.
(21:55):
Steve, you could wring them outlike your hockey equipment.
You know what I mean.
Roll them up and wring out theswell.
You're dripping out oil out ofthem.
Yeah, like black oil and what anold boy taught me one time.
He'd come down and he saw mycoveralls and I couldn't get
them clean ever.
And I just keep throwingfucking detergent in there.
Well, he grabs a can of cokeand he throws a cup of you know
(22:18):
one cup of detergent in, takesthe can of coke and cracks it
and he throws it in there.
He says you come back in 40minutes, them coveralls will be
brand new.
And sure enough, I come backand that fucking Coca-Cola ate
right through the oil on themcoveralls, man, they were like
the best Nomex coveralls youcould ever have no way.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Well, I know it's not , it's crazy stuff.
I put that back when I ownedthe lodge.
But at home, when I built thishouse, I put the epoxy on my
garage floor.
I put the epoxy on my garagefloor and you're supposed to be
able to wipe battery acid up offof it and everything else,
(22:57):
which I've done, and it doesn'treally stain.
Other than I had stockpiledabout 40 cases of Coke, because
whenever they went on sale Iwould buy 40 cases of Coke and
then I would take 10 up to thelodge every time I left home.
Well, one of the cans on thebottom of the pile broke and
(23:20):
Coke leaked out underneath this,the stack of cases, and that
Coca-Cola man.
It stained the floor and atethat shit right off there like
nothing you know Well.
And then you hear if you wantto clean a penny, just throw it
in a glass of Coke overnight.
(23:41):
Yep, you know, and we like thatstuff.
That's good.
Put that right in your gut,right.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Put a little whiskey in that glass too, and then
we'll give it a burst.
Yeah, yeah, throw some whiskeyin that glass too, and then
we'll give it a burst.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, yeah, throw some whiskey in that, that's
good for you.
Yeah, yeah.
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Speaker 1 (25:43):
Listen, jerry Willie's been.
He's told me that you donate alot of your time doing a lot of
different things and becausefishing is your passion, I think
a lot of those things are inthat genre of things that you do
(26:04):
.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, willie might have spilled the beans on that
one a little bit.
Yeah, yeah, we try to give backas much as we can to the
community when we can, and thatled me to join a group here in
Winnipeg called Fish Futuresback in 2000, and I don't know,
(26:28):
early 2000s maybe.
Oh, wow, jerry, yeah, mid-2000s.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
I didn't know, early 2000s.
Oh wow, jerry, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Mid 2000s I didn't know that long and it started.
It started with a littlebanquet that they, they, that
they had and I went to it withwith Don LeWant.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
At the time Don Don was running his complete angler
show and and on TV and and andall that other fun stuff that he
did.
And he got us out to thisbanquet and we really liked it
and enjoyed it.
And the next thing I know hewas recruiting me to become a
member on the committee for thebanquet.
So the banquet committee turnedinto being co-chairman of the
(27:09):
banquet with a good buddy ofmine, john Armitage, and we've
been.
The two of us have been doingit for 20 odd, 20, some odd
years and and you know I don'ttooting the horn here, but it's,
it's probably one of thepremier events in the province
of Manitoba, definitely probablythe premier event from from the
angling hunting perspective.
(27:31):
I don't, I don't know one.
That's good for you.
So, uh, so uh, you know, ledinto that and then and uh, and
probably about 10 years ago,eight years ago, we became
president of Fish Futures Inc.
Um, so we we've kind of keptour fingers in there and and uh
know, we we try to donate and asmuch time as possible it's a
(27:55):
totally uh, volunteer board andand volunteer membership on the,
on the um, on the board of fishfutures inc.
And, of course, on thecommittee for the banquet.
So, uh, we've raised a lot ofmoney, we've had a lot of fun,
we met tons of people and itcertainly is probably one of the
premier events that gets run inthe province.
(28:16):
It's not your traditionalbanquet where people get to sit
down and listen to speeches andget the old you know make the
heartfelt throws about.
You know we're going to savethe fish and whatever.
Ours is a real fun banquet.
It was about.
You know we're going to savethe fish and whatever.
Ours is a real fun banquet.
We traditionally have abouthalf a million and up in prizes
and live auctions and all kindsof games and things.
(28:40):
We've got some cool celebrities.
Kathy Kennedy, who's a radiopersonality here, is our emcee
for the night.
She's been doing it for decadesSeems like forever and we have
a lot of fun and that's all.
What the night is all about isto have fun and to raise money
and not to have people sittingthere getting bored listening to
(29:01):
some guy talk about you knowsomething that he believes in or
you know some kind of projector whatever.
And we do quite a few projectsourselves.
We've got a couple of.
We've got a couple of.
We've got a scholarship that wegive out every year to uh, to a
graduate student at the uh fromone of the one of the
universities that does somethingin fish biology.
We've been doing that for ages.
(29:23):
Uh, there's a it's called theDr Ken Stewart Memorial uh
scholarship fund and, and Dr Kenyeah, dr Ken was probably.
He was on Fish Futures,probably before I started there,
but he wrote a book Fishes inManitoba it's really hard to
find right now, but it was onevery single fish species that
(29:48):
is in the province.
It's an incredible book.
He was, uh, he was quite thefish biologist.
I'm sure, uh, I'm sure some ofthe guys uh that are into fish
biology and and whatnot wouldknow him quite well.
But uh, that's just.
You know, one of the littlethings we we also do.
Uh, you know we we donateprizes and gifts to all kinds of
all kinds of derbies and andkids related things.
(30:12):
We run a program called FishWinnipeg that takes out, I guess
, underprivileged I don't knowwhat the proper word to use is
these days but but you know,youth at risk and stuff like
that.
Take them out for a day fishingon the on the red, we, we, we
run that through the city ofwinnipeg and and, uh, we have a
van for that program.
(30:33):
We take them out for half a day, give them a rod and a reel and
in hopes that maybe one ofthese days they'll, they'll take
that up instead of, you know,going in a different direction
all of these things.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Like there's there's so much to what you just said,
like there's so much to go backto.
Like, so, this, so Fish Futures.
Can you start from like, like,what, what do you guys?
What, what is your, what isyour goals on a yearly basis?
Is it like are you several,jerry, or are you?
(31:04):
Are you you know?
Are you helping with stockingprograms as well?
Are you helping with?
Like, what are you into withthe Fish Futures programming?
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Well, we've done everything from limno corrals,
fish ladders, fish docks,building observation docks at
the White Shell Fish Hatchery.
You know the things that we'vedone over the years is Wow,
numerous, yeah, numerous, to saythe least.
(31:37):
You know we're focused latelybecause we did a project where
we got the government to putback.
There was a stamp program yearsago in Manitoba and the money
from that stamp when you boughtyour license it was supposed to
be a dollar, I think.
When it first started it wassupposed to go to fisheries
(31:58):
related projects and it neverdid no, and so we got.
We spent a lot of moneylobbying the government to get
them to put that back in,lobbying the government to get
them to put that back in.
So I can't remember if it wasabout 10 years ago, maybe a
little bit longer, that theystarted up the Fisheries and
Wildlife Enhancement Fund.
(32:18):
Actually it was called theFisheries Enhancement Fund to
start, and then the wildlife,the hunters, tagged along and
now it's the Fisheries andWildlife Enhancement Fund and
the monies from the license goto a fund and the fund is
administered by stakeholdersthroughout the province for
different projects and thingsfor, you know, water and and, of
(32:41):
course, hunting, huntingrelated things.
So, so that's something thatthat we're we're very proud of,
that uh, that we started back inthe province and and uh, and
actually put the funds backwhere they belong.
So I can't remember if they doabout a half a million dollars a
year in projects and and uh,for us it's, it's, uh, you know,
fish.
Winnipeg is our big.
We just purchased a van thispast year, so that's a big
(33:03):
expense.
Um, you know, that's probablyour, our biggest thing, along
with the scholarship if you ever.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Just to cut in there if if you ever need another van,
just donated you, let me andKrista know.
At Sunset Limo, a hundredpercent, we would do that for
the day, for free.
You let us know and we wouldsend someone up there for sure,
Just to hop in there.
Yeah, I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I didn't know that was a thing, no problem, yeah,
and, and you know, know, thelist goes on and on.
I could.
I could bring it up and and uhand start reading all this, but
I just bore you all to death.
But it's just one of thosethings that anything that's that
can be fish related, uh, we'veprobably done I believe the the
(33:44):
sturgeon ladder up at sturgeoncreek in when it just off the
assiniboine, was something thatwe did as well.
And Lions Lake, building a dockand a wheelchair access to that
lake.
It's a stock lake.
We've also been involved withfish hatcheries and all kinds of
things.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
So over the years you've been involved.
Over the years you've beeninvolved and and um.
First of all, thank you, becauseit sounds like such an awesome
uh program and um one that I'mthe wheels are turning when
you're.
When you're talking about theum, the stamp program, and and
(34:26):
how the other provinces shouldbe following suit, and the fact
that the stakeholders are theguys that have their fingers on
the purse strings is probablythe most important point when
we're talking about that,because we all know what
happened in the past whengovernment had their fingers on
the purse strings and tell youone thing and do another,
(34:49):
absolutely you know which.
That is unbelievable.
But, jerry, over the years thatyou've been involved in Fish
Futures Inc.
What is one of the mostmemorable experiences that
you've had and that might be aproject, that might be a day
(35:11):
with an individual, what is oneof those moments where, because
to be a volunteer and to givethe kind of time that you're
giving, there's got to be someof those moments in there that
keep you going, and I'm justinterested to know what one or
(35:35):
two of them might be.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Yeah, that's a real tough question because I don't
think that there's a lot of likeaha moments or aha moments.
It's just been a forever moment, I guess, if you want to call
it that, from just beinginvolved.
You know, even at the beginningit was just being involved in a
(35:57):
group and in a sport that Ireally enjoyed and I loved and
seeing some of the things theywere doing and the fun we have
doing it.
The people that we work with toput on these events are
incredible.
They're all very dedicated andvery professional.
The people that we work with toput on these events are
incredible.
They're all very dedicated andvery professional.
(36:18):
The fun we have every year, Imean that's what keeps us going.
It's kind of like Christmas forus.
We plan for the banquet formonths and months and months and
thanks to Will for coming onboard with Nordic Point Lodge
and a trip that we put in ourlive auction.
It's just, you know, you justsit back at the end of it all
After all, the presents havebeen unwrapped and everybody's,
(36:39):
you know, kind of gone home andyou just kind of look around the
room and you just go.
You know we did it again and weoutdid ourselves and we're
always trying to come up withnew ideas and new things and
there's always new people thatcome along that that help us out
.
You know Will from a couple ofyears ago and and you know guys
like Brian from Lake of theWoods Sports, that that you know
(37:00):
, when they first opened theirstore in Winnipeg, we we kind of
got involved with them.
Fish and Hole, which has beenpart of this for forever.
You know Crow Duck Lake Lodge,aikens Lake Lodge so many of
these.
I'm going to miss so many ofthem, but it's just, these guys
are what you know we do this forand it's just great working
(37:22):
with them all.
It's just absolutely incredible.
And that's probably the thing is, every year there's that
satisfaction and that thatsatisfaction and the thing that
drives you to do it again, whichis why you know myself and John
um, you know we, we do it everyyear and you know we always
look at it at the end of theyear and say, wow, it was so
(37:42):
beat.
You know, look, all the work wedid.
And then we just kind of thinkabout, okay, well, you know,
maybe we take a little bit of abreak, we fish for the summer
and you kind of go, ah, do wewant to do this again?
And then 10 minutes later,after talking about it, we're
making plans to start working onit again for next year.
So it's just become a realpassion for us and that's.
(38:06):
You know, there's no real bigmoment.
I mean, the FisheriesEnhancement Fund was a huge
thing for us to win that battleand get that, you know, the
funds put back into thefisheries resource.
You know, a couple of years orlast year, I believe it was that
we're, you know, we ran alittle ice derby for a couple of
(38:27):
years and we raised some fundsthat helped us buy this new van
for a couple of years and weraised some funds that helped us
buy this new van.
So you know, in presenting, Iguess, fish Winnipeg, which is
an arm of Fish Futures, but youknow, presenting Fish Winnipeg
with checks so that they couldgo purchase a new van and be
able to go continually go buyrods and reels that we hand out
to kids, and you know it's justthe satisfaction of everything.
(38:49):
There's really no one big thingthat we do this for, it's just
the satisfaction at the end ofit all.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Well, and you know, as a former lodge owner and Will
, being a current lodge owner,the work that you're doing to
help the fisheries is paramountfor people like us in a business
like the ones that we operate,because it's one thing to be an
(39:20):
avid angler, it's another thingto stake your business and life
on it.
And I know that for me, beingon Lake Nipissing and looking at
(39:44):
a fishery that was under stressfor quite a while to put back
and to help maintain thefisheries and the longevity of
the resource.
And you know, I look at my kidsand I look at all these little
youngsters running around and Ithink back to the days when I
(40:06):
was that young and going to theGrand River and catching fish,
and now really there's not awhole lot left where I used to
fish.
And you know, hoping that, uh,that that the resource is going
to be there for futuregenerations.
And you know something um, itmust be well, it must be
(40:28):
satisfying to to know thatyou're doing something to make a
difference and, um, for that Ithank you.
You know that, yeah, like Imean, that is, um, that's,
that's awesome.
And then you know, um, uh, asfar as the hunting side of
things goes um, I know that um,delta Waterfowl is.
(40:52):
I'm not sure if you work withthem or not, but they're another
organization and they'd be agreat one to talk about or maybe
get you involved with.
But they do a lot of work withthe nest boxes and they're, uh,
they, they're, um, um, theyclaim and I'm sure that it's a
(41:16):
factual, backed claim thatthey're, they're, they're making
um, uh, a million birds a yearby by doing this stuff, and um,
it's, uh, it's, it's a lot ofwhat you're doing, um, when
we're talking about fisheriesand when you're fishing lodge
owners, that's money in the bankbaby.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
Yeah, exactly Money in the bank.
What have you guys got workingon right now?
Jared, have you got any secretsin the chamber you want to let
loose here for the Diariesfamily about Fish?
Futures has got going on.
Have you got any you know?
Where can the people go to to?
Is there is the?
Is the banquet online too,jerry?
Speaker 2 (41:57):
No, we, we held the banquet online for a couple of
years during COVID and, and wehad some great response from
from everybody, and I thinkeverybody wanted to do something
and still wanted to dosomething while while we were
running through that crazy time.
But, um, but, we're planning,uh, we started planning for, for
the 2025 banquet and and, uh,you know, we've got, uh, we've
(42:19):
got our, our, our traditional uh, Lund boat, and I'd be remiss
if we didn't mention those guys.
They've been, uh, they've beensponsors for for 25 years at
least.
Um, this year we'll have a 2075Taiyi with, I think it's, a 250
on the back.
It'd be about $150,000, maybecloser to a $200,000 boat.
Wow, that we'll be auctioningoff.
(42:41):
And, of course, we've gotNordic Point Lodge and we've got
Aikens A lot of the stand.
You know the ones that have beenaround with us for ages.
We've got something called theSilver Six, which is a real
popular item.
So there's not a lot of, youknow, new things that we're
going to be doing.
A lot of it's going to be thesame old, same old, but we
always try to put a new twist onsome things and maybe add a
(43:03):
couple of new items every year,just so, the guys are always
looking for certain things.
Where's your venue?
It's at the Victoria Inn GotchaEllen Conference Centre on
Wellington Avenue, right by theairport.
Great venue.
We put close to 1,000 people inthere.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
That was my next question.
Wow, 1,000 people Close to yep.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
Wow, and it's a real fun evening.
I mean, boats are on display.
Yeah, you know, manitoba Liquorand Lotteries is a new sponsor
that came on board, so there'ssome.
You know, going to be sometastings going on there.
I don't know if it'll be wineor hard stuff this year, but we
always try to, you know, come upwith something a little bit
(43:48):
different year to year.
Just to make you know, we'vehad oyster bars before and you
know all kinds of stuff likethat.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
I know a really good celebrity speaker and he's got a
great voice.
His name is Steve Niswicky.
You should get a hold of himsometime.
He's real good, Jer.
He might even.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Wow, I don't know about the celebrity part and I
don't know about the voice part,but I do like oysters.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Nice, Nice.
Well, that sounds awesome,Jared.
I'm super excited.
You know what it's foreverything, you know.
I just I really, like Stephensaid I've said this to many
people over the years and as myrelationship has grown with you,
Jerry, I can't say enough abouthow much you commit your
(44:35):
personal time to these charities, these foundations and these
charities, and I just love it.
I love everything you do likethat.
When it comes to the tournamentside, skip back a bit in your
work here.
I know in the lodges you do alot of printing and stuff for
(44:56):
those lodges.
You know a buddy of mine, Tim,does a lot of the Timmy Dawson
there.
He does a lot of our stuff forCampus Crew from the swag end,
you know, and that's kind of amarket for him.
Is that something that youtarget, Jerry?
Do you target the fishingindustry and the lodge industry,
like akins and those, you knowthose bakers, narrows, the guys
to the north there?
Is that something that you do?
Speaker 2 (45:18):
yeah, not not, uh, not specifically.
We we've.
We do work for a lot of thepeople that we know um and know
over the years.
I know the lodges have a lot ofdeals that they make with
certain people.
You know some of them actuallyhave people that are in the
printing business that go to thelodge.
So of course there's you knowthere's probably some some deals
(45:41):
there.
We don't, we don't focus on theon the clothing end of it, that
that there's a several largefirms that look after that kind
of stuff um for for the lodgesand do a great job, you know,
administering that and and theyalso look after, you know,
marinas and and all these otherplaces.
So so not something that wereally focus on it's.
(46:03):
It's more of uh.
If somebody asks, uh, you knowa la like you, uh, you know
we'll be more than happy to lookafter them and make sure that
uh're serviced properly.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
Awesome, awesome.
Well, thank you for that,because you do a heck of a job.
I know that.
I appreciate that your productis amazing.
Another thing that always hasattracted me in our
conversations is the fact thatyou do not ice fish.
It is insane to me that youlive by Lake Winnipeg, one of
(46:35):
the best, like the Greenbacks,one of the best walleye systems
in the world, and it's 20minutes from your door.
You don't ice fish, but you'rea crazy fisherman.
I love that and it just drivesme.
If I was you, I wouldn't beable to not go out there.
I'd be telling Krista everybreak of morning honey, I'm just
going to run to the store andgrab a lottery ticket.
I'll be right back and go pounda couple of quick walleys out
of a hole.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
Four hours later.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Yeah, eight hours later, whatever.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
You'd never go out of that.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
Yeah, well, we've done a little bit of ice fishing
on Lake Winnipeg and, you know,a couple of years ago, uh, we
went out with Brendan Walker andhad a lot of fun, but it's just
, for some strange reason, I'vejust never really caught the bug
for ice and cold.
Well, it's cold, but, uh, youknow, it's just one of those
things there's.
(47:21):
There's a lot to do in thewinter and we're busy putting on
the banquet and trying to tryto organize that and and uh, and
it's just nice to sit at homeand, and, you know, watch some
stuff on TV and and relax on theweekend instead of running out
and, and you know, doing someice fishing, and maybe we'll get
, maybe we'll get a little bitdone this winter.
I don't know, but I think I saythat all the time and the guys
(47:43):
are always like, yeah, you gotto come out this year, you got
to come out this year, and thenwe don't, but it just I don't
know.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
Nothing wrong with that buddy.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
It's a really weird thing, you know you would think.
You know we've bought a ton ofice stuff in the past and had
ice gear and thinking that I wasgoing to go, and then it just
sits there and does nothing.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
Yeah, that's so funny .
That ice fishing scene outthere is wild now.
Eh, like it's.
You've never seen anything likeit.
I'm telling you, like Simcoe islike one thing.
I'm telling you, lake Winnipegis like fishing Tobin, but like
times 300.
It's like a super highway onthe ice road.
(48:25):
Eh, jerry, it is.
Speaker 2 (48:27):
It's crazy and the guys are starting to go there
now already, really, yep, ice isjust forming.
There's, you know, five six.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
Well, you know what I've been saving this business
idea and I know and I'm going tospill the beans here and
somebody is going to takeadvantage of this, if they
haven't already but I alwaysthought that it would be very
lucrative in a situation likethat and I always had Simcoe in
my mind, right.
But if you had a coffee truck,you know, like the old coffee
(48:58):
truck with the horn that riparound the back of the shop
there- If you had a coffee truckthat you'd pull behind a sled
or something and you went outonto the ice.
I know that you would sellcoffee and sandwiches and all
that shit.
There's a business right therefor you.
(49:19):
Coffee truck on Lake WinnipegWillie.
Speaker 3 (49:21):
Grumpy old men.
There was one in the moviebrother.
I remember that.
Yeah, yeah, there's actuallyone in Kenora.
Here, when you go over TreatyIsland on the ice road on the
right-hand side, about a mileout, a guy has a every year.
He's got a coffee shop set upthere, steve, he does his wife's
a Ukrainian lady and she makeshomemade biscuits and all this
(49:43):
shit and these folks know this.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, willie, I think you needWillie's coffee wheels, willie's
coffee wheels.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
Willie's coffee wheels.
There we go, yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:52):
Yeah, willie the oil man, you get out there and you
start selling coffee by thegallon.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
There you go.
There's actually a guy thatdoes some.
He'll deliver orders to you,yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:06):
Uber.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Uber on ice.
Is it Carlo Carlo?
Yeah, carlo Guzzi, he's afucking beauty, that guy.
He's.
He will you know.
You can put your order in andhe'll end up delivering it out
on the ice.
I guess you pin your locationor whatever and he'll deliver it
out on the ice.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
Nice, see, there's guys that are thinking a mover
and a shaker baby, yeahabsolutely.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
I saw him on Facebook promoting that and I was like I
fished a turnip.
Actually, me and Haga werefishing Pine Falls one year and
he stayed in the room hotel roomright beside us and was having
drinks one night.
He's an awesome guy.
He's got a big burger joint orsomething, doesn't he?
Out Lake Winnipeg.
Speaker 2 (50:43):
Yeah, he's out in Gimli now.
He was in Winnipeg Beach for afew years and he's actually won
three out of the last fourLeBurger Weeks, which are a
Canadian competition, and allkinds of restaurants enter their
burgers and you make a specialburger.
(51:03):
Look it up.
Speaker 3 (51:06):
It's called LeBurger Week.
Oh shit, I've got to call himand get him on the show.
Man, I've met him before.
I'm going to call him becausethat's something we got to talk
about here.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
Absolutely.
Championship fucking burgershere Champion, that gets really
jacked up Three out of the lastfour years and I think the year
that he didn't win he came insecond place, and this is
against.
Like across Canada, people vote.
Wow.
He's got an incrediblefollowing out here of people
that do vote for him and go buyhis burgers and try it out, but
(51:41):
every year they come up with adifferent you know type of
burger and he names it somethingand that's your entry, and then
people vote.
It's pretty crazy.
He does an incredible job,incredible job, and he's another
philanthropist that gives backto the fishing community when he
can, too as well cool beautifulwillie.
Speaker 1 (51:53):
That's I'm.
You're pretty excited aboutthat.
That's as excited as I've heardyou.
Speaker 3 (51:58):
It was like it was.
I think it moved in my pants.
Willie's gonna be excitedbecause it's.
It's like the piece of mangoyou know yeah, right on.
Speaker 1 (52:08):
Well, listen, jerry.
Thank you so much for coming on.
It was my pleasure, reallyappreciate it, really appreciate
it.
Yeah, willie, any last thoughts?
Speaker 3 (52:17):
Nope, that's Jared.
It was a pleasure to have youand you know I'll be talking to
you later in the week anyways,but thanks for doing this and I
love you like a brother.
You look healthy and happy andthat's all I care about, to be
honest, when I see you.
Speaker 1 (52:35):
Perfect, Nice Well and Willie.
I love it when I say Willie,any last thoughts, and you say
no, and then go on for fourminutes.
Speaker 3 (52:46):
You know what?
The last episode?
You did the same thing, meaningyou were horrible at that shit.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
I know, I know, I know that's okay, though that's
okay, but anyway, thanks again,Jerry.
Really appreciate it.
Looking forward to seeing youagain sometime soon.
Maybe we'll make that trek upnorth and I'll see.
I'll try out some oysters.
Speaker 2 (53:08):
There you go.
Well, you need to come out toWinnipeg May 1st and come visit
our banquet.
Speaker 3 (53:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (53:16):
We'll show you what a real show looks like.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
Yeah, yeah, maybe we'll do a podcast live from the
banquet.
Speaker 3 (53:22):
That would be a good idea.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
That'd be cool.
Yes, sir and folks, thank youvery much for those of you
who've got to this point in thepodcast.
I always thank you at thispoint because I love you and
listen.
You know what's coming up.
Go over to fishingcanadacom.
We've got all kinds ofgiveaways there.
Get your name in there everyday and win.
(53:45):
You never know what you'regoing to run into Garmin fishing
trips.
You name it, it's there.
Have a look and any questions,fire them off to Willie and I.
You know how to get us stevenat fishingcanadacom and will at
nordicpointlodgecom.
And again, thank you very much.
(54:06):
And thus brings us to theconclusion of another episode of
Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
Speaker 3 (54:24):
Stories of the North.
Speaker 1 (54:25):
I've been reeling in the hog since the day I was born
.
Speaker 4 (54:30):
Bending my rock, stretching my line.
Speaker 3 (54:36):
Someday I might own a lodge, and that'd be fine.
I'll be making my way the onlyway I know how, working hard and
sharing the north with all ofmy pals.
Boy, I'm a good old boy.
Speaker 1 (54:57):
I bought a lodge and lived my dream, and now I'm here
talking about how life can beas good as it seems.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (55:14):
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.
(55:35):
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,
(55:58):
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'sabout.
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's,under the Canopy podcast, I'm
(56:22):
going to take you along with meto see the places, meet the
people.
That will help you find youroutdoor passion and help you
live a life close to nature.
And under the canopy.
Find Under the Canopy now onSpotify, apple Podcasts or
wherever else you get yourpodcasts.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
Hi everybody.
I'm Angelo Viola and I'm PeteBowman.
Now you might know us as thehosts of Canada's favorite
fishing show.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
but now we're hosting a podcast.
That's right.
Every Thursday, ange and I willbe right here in your ears
bringing you a brand new episodeof Outdoor Journal Radio.
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (57:01):
Now, what are we going to talk about for two
hours every week?
Speaker 2 (57:03):
Well, you know there's going to be a lot of
fishing.
Speaker 6 (57:05):
I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and
how to catch them, and they wereeasy to catch.
Speaker 1 (57:10):
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 Garton.
Turk and all the Russians wouldgo fishing To scientists.
Speaker 6 (57:24):
But now that we're reforesting and letting things
breathe.
It's the perfect transmissionenvironment for line fishing.
Speaker 5 (57:30):
To chefs if any game isn't cooked properly, marinated
, you will taste it.
Speaker 2 (57:36):
And whoever else will pick up the phone.
Speaker 1 (57:41):
Wherever you are.
Speaker 2 (57:42):
Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions
and tell the stories of allthose who enjoy being outside.
Find us on Spotify, applePodcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
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):
Yeah, we try to give back as much as we can to the
community when we can, and we'veraised a lot of money.
We've had a lot of fun, we mettons of people, and that's all.
What the night is all about isto have fun and to raise money
and not to have people sittingthere getting bored.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio podcast
Networks Diaries of a LodgeOwner Stories of the North.
Well, folks, when you have thepleasure of fishing around the
country, you never know just whoyou're going to meet.
And this year, while Willie andI fished the Vanity Cup
Tournament in northernSaskatchewan, willie introduced
(00:57):
me to an outstanding gentlemanwho eats, sleeps and breathes
fishing.
But what is unique about thisfine man is for years he has
been heavily involved with anorganization called Fish Futures
Inc.
And it's a beauty, and so is he.
And it is a pleasure to welcometo the Diaries family Jerry
(01:21):
Kruzak.
On this show we talk tournamentfishing and, along with that,
tell some tall tales.
We get to know Jerry and learnabout the Fish Futures Inc
organization.
So if you love fish stories andlearning about how people are
helping to preserve and protectour resources, this is a great
(01:44):
one.
Here's our conversation withJerry Kruzak.
Welcome, folks, to anotherepisode of Diaries of a Lodge
Owner, and it is my pleasure toobviously have Willie on here.
And Willie, we have a verywonderful dude we met him up at
(02:07):
well, I met him up at the VanityCup this year.
Jerry Kruzak, welcome to theshow, brother hey thanks, boys
Welcome.
Jerry Glad to be here, yeah,yeah.
Well, when we met at thetournament, willie said, hey,
that guy is a, is an awesome guyand he does so much for the
(02:28):
community and everything else.
And and when Will said, hey,why don't, why don't we, we
bring Jerry on, I thought, yeah,absolutely, and he's a fellow
Polak, you know there's there'snothing wrong with.
You know there's uh, there'snothing wrong with with, uh,
with being polish.
We were just in the pre-gameshow here in the warm-up.
We were talking about a pair ofboots.
(02:49):
I bought after that, uh, the,uh, the, the vanity cup.
I think we talked about, well,uh, about the vanity, and, and I
think we did a whole episode onhow to uh prepare and dress
properly for the weather.
Speaker 3 (03:07):
How to not do it how we did it yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:11):
And I went out and I bought a pair of Nats.
They're good to minus 70.
They're light and they're madein Poland, so they fit the bill
for me.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
Nice, nice.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (03:23):
How's it going, gary?
You look good, buddy.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, thanks.
Welcome to the show man.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
We're uh, we're glad to have you yeah, I'm glad, uh
glad for the invite, uh happy tobe with you guys and do some
chatting about uh, about fishingand other things nice, nice
jerry's.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Uh, jerry's the winnipeg boy folks.
Uh, to all our diaries, familyand uh and guests out there.
He's a winnipeg boy folks, toall our Diaries, family and
guests out there.
He's a Winnipeg boy.
Jerry, you own a printing slashgraphics company.
Correct by day and a fishingphilanthropist by night.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
That kind of wraps it all up in a nice little present
there.
Speaker 1 (04:07):
Yeah, all of us want to be at least half of that.
Speaker 2 (04:10):
Well, exactly, at least the fishing part, yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, well, you know what the printing business is a
good business too.
I got a lot of buddies in thatbusiness and that's a pretty
good business, I think.
Yeah, it's quite a challengingbusiness and that's a pretty
good business, I think.
Speaker 2 (04:27):
Yeah, it's quite a challenging business and
changing, you know, over theyears, trying to keep up with
technologies and stuff, so it'salways something new, something
always going on that you haven'tdone before, you haven't seen
before.
Yeah, Chair.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I was going to ask you, you know, like getting into
your work, uh, topic here, what?
What in detail do you do?
Because I know it sounds crazythat we're that close now and
you do all of nordic pointlodge's printing.
But I mean, jerry has done uh,he did a wrap for me on my boat
which looks beautiful.
He's done wraps for, uh, forjamie bruce when he was going
(05:03):
down the bassmaster lease there.
You you hooked him up lastminute.
I remember that and uh got himand brian going and then you
know, you do business cards.
You do a little bit ofeverything.
Can you tell us a little bitmore about your business?
Speaker 2 (05:16):
well, just, uh, we we kind of are like a broker.
Uh, we've been in the businessfor 35 years and I've got a lot
of contacts from companies andthat do all kinds of things,
from boat wraps, decals, tobusiness cards, letterheads,
envelopes, mailers, mailing allkinds of stuff.
(05:38):
I mean, there probably isn'tmuch that I haven't done or
haven't gotten done for somebodyin the past.
So that's kind of it in anutshell.
One of those, one of thosethings that is just kind of
become part of you, you know,after many years.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
It's just what you do .
Yeah, it's just what we do.
I've got an.
I've got a question has has AItechnology impacted your
business yet at all.
No, Do you use no AI tools oranything like that?
Speaker 2 (06:10):
No Other than in graphics and stuff, that people,
what people are getting donegraphically.
But in my type you know wherewe actually just do more of the
printing and that kind of stuff,and then you know decals and
things, but in the graphics endit's made a big difference, it's
changed that yeah yeah, I canimagine, I know, when we were
(06:33):
working on the logo.
Speaker 1 (06:34):
Well, when I was working on the logo for Diaries
of a Lodge Owner, I was on theGoogle machine and everything
else and you know, people weregoing on to Discord and using
Canva and and ChatGPT and all ofthese different tools to create
and design these, these thingsand and it was, it was an
(06:59):
eye-opening experience for medoing that, for sure.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yeah, definitely something that you've got to
stay up with the technology andkind of make know you know.
Teaching old dog new tricks issomething that we've got to kind
of do on a regular basis.
Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, well, I know that feeling and when it comes
to vehicles, I've actuallydecided that I'm going backwards
.
I'm trading my 2022 for 1992.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Oh yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
Oh, yeah, yeah, 1992 F-250, and it's got the old 7.3
diesel and it's an indirectinjection engine, it's a
glorified tractor engine in theold girl.
And I'm doing it because Idon't want to rely on computers,
I don't want to rely onanything other than you know,
(07:52):
good old fashioned technology.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, Nice yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
Anyway, jerry, tell us a little bit about your
passion, now that we know yourwork.
Speaker 2 (08:05):
Well, fishing it started quite a long time ago.
We got into some, I guess, acouple of tournaments and it
just kind of went from there,ended up fishing quite a few
over the years and have beeninvolved.
I guess, how long have you been?
Speaker 3 (08:25):
fishing tournaments.
Jerry, when did you startfishing?
Speaker 2 (08:29):
I would say about 30 plus years ago.
Speaker 3 (08:33):
Oh shit.
So, you're a seasoned vet,buddy, back when I did.
Speaker 2 (08:37):
Yeah, it's a disease.
We got the disease and there'sno cure for it, so we're just
going to keep doing it until wecan't do it anymore.
Yeah, it just.
You know it was great.
It's just wonderful because youget to meet all these people
and all these different guys andyou know guys like you guys and
you know, willie, that's how wemet.
(08:58):
You was through the vanity andit's just a great sport and the
camaraderie is great and andalthough you know, these days
things are getting a little bitof a black eye with all this
cheating that's going on, but,uh, I'm sure there was cheating
going on back in those days.
It just maybe not wasn't asprevalent, or people yeah, yeah.
(09:20):
Well, social media helpsnowadays too, right, because
something happens in a littlecorner of the world and
everybody knows about it.
But that's kind of where itstarted.
I think Lake of the Prairiesmight have been the first
tournament we ever did.
Speaker 3 (09:35):
And where is that Jerry?
Just to tell our folks.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Russell Manitoba, Just kind of northwestern part
of Manitoba.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
Okay, yeah, yeah, that's the one right by.
Yorkton.
There right, Just east ofYorkton.
Speaker 2 (09:48):
Yep, just before Yorkton.
Yep, it runs along the border.
The lake actually goes intoSaskatchewan.
Speaker 3 (09:54):
Nice, nice, awesome, beautiful Nice.
Speaker 1 (09:56):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
That's interesting.
So Pete is your partner.
Has Pete always been yourpartner?
Speaker 2 (10:06):
No, pete hasn't, but Pete's a fellow Polack, too Nice
.
So I think we came up with somegraphic.
And it's too bad, I don't haveit handy, but we actually came
up with a little graphic a fewyears ago.
We call ourselves Two PolesFishing.
It was either that or TwoFishing Poles.
Wow, either one is good.
(10:33):
Yeah, but Pete and I've beenfishing for probably uh, was it
24 years now?
Oh, maybe going into 25 nextyear, and, uh, I fished.
I fished with, uh, anotherfella, ken Boychuk, for probably
about a decade.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
Uh, before that, oh, yeah, yeah, but it's just been
those two.
I tell you, the group of guysthat you chum up with, they know
their fish and they know theirwaters, that's for sure.
I know, like you say, me andJerry had met.
Man, I think it must have beenlike what, 2013, 2014?
Speaker 2 (11:06):
Hey Jerry, like what?
2013, 2014?
Yeah, probably mid-decadeanyways, probably about 10 years
ago Something like that.
Yeah, and.
Speaker 3 (11:14):
I was fishing with a guy named Greg Haga who ended up
being a good friend of Jerry'sand we met there, had a few, had
a few drinks there to one nightand we ended up getting along
and did a little bit of teamfishing.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
That's what drinks usually do, right yep yeah,
absolutely we, uh, that was apretty wild.
Speaker 3 (11:38):
Uh, that was a pretty wild weekend.
We ended up, we stayed in the,we stayed in that cabin remember
that little tiny cabin thatjust had nothing in it, it was
just a box like a closet and, uh, the fishing, I remember it was
cold, cold, cold and thefishing was pretty good.
(11:58):
Still, there was, uh, that wasthe year that I got to tell this
story about Greg, because hetaught me a lot, that guy.
So, greg, we were in thistournament at the Vanity Cup
that we've talked about, and dayone, I think we were like we
(12:19):
had like an average day, jerry,I think you guys had an average
day too, running like the middleof the pack day, jerry, I think
you guys had an average day too, running like the middle of the
pack.
And day two came and we werestruggling to put some fish in
the boat and I changed up to abait that my grandfather had had
shown me to present yearsbefore, you know, when I was a
(12:40):
kid, and just a little trick heshowed me and we ended up.
And what was that?
We, we, it was actually so itwas.
We were running a bottombouncer and I had the you know,
a tiny piece of my sewing sequinon, but I also put just a
little instead of just thatsewing sequin for my flash.
(13:02):
I also had a little bead On thehook On top of the hook.
On top of it, yeah, so you runlike a three-foot lead off your
bottom bouncer, okay.
Then a piece of sewing sequencelike that's on a dress of a
dancer or a figure skater, right, yeah, yeah, with the flash.
And then I had a little tinybead behind it and then a little
tiny number eight octopus hookwith a leech, and the leech was
(13:27):
so big and the hook was so smallI just buried it in it.
The concept was just a you know,when you're salmon fishing with
a, you know pulling a bigspinner or a blade to attract
them, was kind of like that.
You know.
I figured well, they're finickyand they're there and they
wanted something moving, butthey were coming in but they
weren't grabbing.
So I put on that little bit offlash and we didn't go 30 feet
(13:53):
and my rod loaded up and Gregputs the boat in neutral and
like this is a good one, this isa good one.
And we had seen two sturgeoncaught, like you know, 15
minutes before that, hey, jerry.
So you know how that is.
At the mouth of the vanity there, the mouth of North
Saskatchewan, you know, when thesturgeon move in, usually
(14:15):
there's three, four, five caught.
Bang, bang, bang.
And it's the worst thing in theworld when you think you got a
nice big walleye on and he'sburying it and all of a sudden
he shoots to the surface andyou're like, oh shit, it's going
to jump, right Walleye ain'tjumping, so yeah.
So anyways, that fish did this.
It peeled out and then shot up.
(14:37):
And as soon as it shot up, Greg, I remember Greg threw the net
down and he was like fuck, it'sa sturgeon.
And I'm like, yeah, it's asturgeon, fucking.
So I was, I gave it about youknow 15 more seconds and all of
a sudden it's like it was kindof laying you know 10, 15 feet
below the surface and it shot upagain.
And it shot up and rolled overon its side and, sure enough, it
(14:59):
was a fucking walleye.
I was gold as gold could be, andI was yelling at Haggard get
the net, get the net.
Well, haggard grabs the net.
I slammed the boat in reversebecause it was kind of.
You can tell by the way it waslaying on its side.
I wanted to catch up to it fast.
I didn't want to drag it in.
So we caught up to it, justkept the tension on the rod, put
it in the basket, get the netin the boat and we popped the
(15:28):
hooks out of it and it's foaminglike crazy, like it was
stressed beyond belief, and itstarted to go like that milky
gray, that white you know what Imean and I'm like, and this is
within like five, six seconds ofit being a beautiful gold
laying in the water.
So I'm like fuck sakes, and I'mkind of panicking about it.
Because I'm kind of panickingabout it, because I'm kind of
newer I wasn't newer, I was kindof newer to tournament fishing,
but definitely newer to likewhen there were things like that
(15:52):
were happening in the boat, Ididn't know what to do at that
time.
I was still green, like that.
So Greg kind of shoves me out ofthe way and he's got the head
of the walleye folks in the, thetail and this is in a ranger.
I had a ranger back then andthe tail, the tank was 32 inches
long and the tail is hangingout of the walleye and I'm like,
(16:14):
fuck, we gotta drive, you know,10, 12 kilometers to get back
to the landing, to weigh thisfish.
And we were thinking, you know,it was like it ended up
weighing like 10.62.
But you know, at the time, withadrenaline, we were thinking,
you know, we might have a12-pound, 13-pound fish here.
We weren't sure right.
(16:35):
So the last thing we want to dois kill it for one and for lots
of obvious reasons.
So Greg says Willie, get someice, get some ice.
So I run up to the front of theboat and I grab a bag of ice
and he's laying on the bottom ofmy Ranger with the head of the
(16:55):
walleye in the tank, the tail inthe back, and he takes the bag
of ice and he presses it on itsside and he fucking starts
yelling at me go, go, go.
So I fucking gun it and theranger playing out so I'm not
beating the shit out of him inthe waves.
And he rode that way, thosewaves and that boat, all the way
back to the dock and it was nota nice ride.
(17:17):
You know how it is, jerry, whenthere's 200 boats.
Steve, you too how packed it isthere now, oh yeah.
So we're cruising, smashingthrough all the boats and he's
taking the waves in the chest onthe bottom and I couldn't
believe it.
We get in there and, sureenough, weigh that fish and we
had big fish for that day, formajority of it right and but
I'll never.
Where I'm going with that wholestory is dreg.
How we met through him was, uh,saving that fish, and I'll
(17:41):
never forget that there was twoor three little tricks he taught
me in that weekend that havehelped me extremely over the
years.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Well, yeah, so the little trick was the ice right,
the ice on its time, yeahabsolutely yeah, and something I
wouldn't you know.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
you think about it now you're like yeah, it makes
sense.
It completely relaxed the fishand it stopped stressing Like
the fish when we got back to thedock.
It was completely fine.
You know it was a little lightcolored still, but it was
completely it was stress-free.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
You got any little tricks like that, jerry, to help
your fish to help your fishwhile you're in tournament day.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
You know I mean everything that we do.
I think everybody's been doing.
You know the weights, theweights to keep them down, the
fin weights the clips.
Yeah, just the fin weights.
And you know we have onoccasion done some fizzing for
fish that are.
You know their bladders are alittle bit full.
Let's talk about that for aminute for people that don't
know, gerard.
Speaker 3 (18:40):
What are you?
You're talking like you're oneinch back from your fin and one
inch up.
Is that what you're talkingabout?
And why are you fizzing them?
Tell the folks.
Speaker 2 (18:48):
Well, sometimes they I mean you could still be
catching them in 10 feet ofwater, but there could be some
50 feet or 60 foot water rightbeside you and that's where
they're coming out.
And they're coming up to feedand and for them what they'll do
?
What I think they do is theycome up and they feed and they
go back down into deep waterbefore they get any of the
(19:09):
barotrauma.
And what happens is you knowyou catch them when they're up
in the feeding mode and nowyou're putting them in, you know
two feet of water in your tankand they're coming out of 10
feet of water and they haven'thad time to adjust.
So doing a little bit of fizzinghelps on the swim water yeah,
yeah, and fortunately we, youknow we haven't had any, any, uh
(19:31):
, any fish die after we've donethat in the past.
So so that's that's kind of,you know, pretty much the only
things we really do.
I mean, there's the ice in the,in the, uh, in the, in the live
.
Well, in the summertime, when,when you're catching, uh, when
you're catching fish, and thewater's a little warmer on the
on the surface than it is, youknow in the bottom and you're
sucking in you know 65, 70degree water, um, and you're in
(19:56):
your boat, so you know, puttingice in there, does this, cool it
down and does exactly what whatwillie and greg were doing.
But other than that, we haven'thad to do much, much of the way
of any of these secretfish-saving recipes.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
Well, I'll tell you One thing that I learned from
Gordy Pizer, and this is basstournament fishing.
But if you get a fish hooked alittle deeper into the gills and
they bleed a little bit, if youget them and they're bleeding
heavily a lot of times, there'snot much you can do for them.
But if you get bleed a littlebit, If you get them and they're
bleeding heavily a lot of times, there's not much you can do
(20:33):
for them.
But if you get them a littlebit deep and you can get poor
Coca-Cola down through theirgills, that stops the bleeding
and a lot of times will save thefish.
Speaker 3 (20:46):
I've seen that one before too.
Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yeah yeah, yeah it does it works the acid in.
Yeah, it does it works the acidin the Coke.
Speaker 1 (20:53):
It cauterizes it, it cauterizes the wound.
Yeah, yeah, and the carbonationmight help with aeration.
I have no idea.
And the other thing, speakingof aeration, that we used to do
too is we would carry a bottleof peroxide in the boat and dump
a little bit of peroxide in thewater.
(21:14):
Apparently it helps oxygenatethe water.
I've never heard that one, yeah, whether or not it actually
does work.
I'm sure some of the Diariesfamily out there will correct me
if I'm wrong.
You know that'll happen.
Oh yeah, that's okay, and I'vebeen known to be wrong.
Speaker 2 (21:29):
But you know, you know that'll happen.
Speaker 1 (21:31):
Oh yeah, that's okay, and I've been known to be wrong
.
Believe me.
Speaker 3 (21:34):
Coca-Cola that's patched.
Today.
I'll tell you a quick story onthe rigs here.
When we're drilling withinverts, when we're drilling
with oil, with bitumen, well theconnections, it's just oil
everywhere and your coveralls atthe end of the shift.
Well, the connections, it'sjust oil everywhere and your
coveralls at the end of theshift.
(21:55):
Steve, you could wring them outlike your hockey equipment.
You know what I mean.
Roll them up and wring out theswell.
You're dripping out oil out ofthem.
Yeah, like black oil and what anold boy taught me one time.
He'd come down and he saw mycoveralls and I couldn't get
them clean ever.
And I just keep throwingfucking detergent in there.
Well, he grabs a can of cokeand he throws a cup of you know
(22:18):
one cup of detergent in, takesthe can of coke and cracks it
and he throws it in there.
He says you come back in 40minutes, them coveralls will be
brand new.
And sure enough, I come backand that fucking Coca-Cola ate
right through the oil on themcoveralls, man, they were like
the best Nomex coveralls youcould ever have no way.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Well, I know it's not , it's crazy stuff.
I put that back when I ownedthe lodge.
But at home, when I built thishouse, I put the epoxy on my
garage floor.
I put the epoxy on my garagefloor and you're supposed to be
able to wipe battery acid up offof it and everything else,
(22:57):
which I've done, and it doesn'treally stain.
Other than I had stockpiledabout 40 cases of Coke, because
whenever they went on sale Iwould buy 40 cases of Coke and
then I would take 10 up to thelodge every time I left home.
Well, one of the cans on thebottom of the pile broke and
(23:20):
Coke leaked out underneath this,the stack of cases, and that
Coca-Cola man.
It stained the floor and atethat shit right off there like
nothing you know Well.
And then you hear if you wantto clean a penny, just throw it
in a glass of Coke overnight.
(23:41):
Yep, you know, and we like thatstuff.
That's good.
Put that right in your gut,right.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Put a little whiskey in that glass too, and then
we'll give it a burst.
Yeah, yeah, throw some whiskeyin that glass too, and then
we'll give it a burst.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
Yeah, yeah, throw some whiskey in that, that's
good for you.
Yeah, yeah.
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Speaker 1 (25:43):
Listen, jerry Willie's been.
He's told me that you donate alot of your time doing a lot of
different things and becausefishing is your passion, I think
a lot of those things are inthat genre of things that you do
(26:04):
.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Yeah, willie might have spilled the beans on that
one a little bit.
Yeah, yeah, we try to give backas much as we can to the
community when we can, and thatled me to join a group here in
Winnipeg called Fish Futuresback in 2000, and I don't know,
(26:28):
early 2000s maybe.
Oh, wow, jerry, yeah, mid-2000s.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
I didn't know, early 2000s.
Oh wow, jerry, yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
Mid 2000s I didn't know that long and it started.
It started with a littlebanquet that they, they, that
they had and I went to it withwith Don LeWant.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Yep.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
At the time Don Don was running his complete angler
show and and on TV and and andall that other fun stuff that he
did.
And he got us out to thisbanquet and we really liked it
and enjoyed it.
And the next thing I know hewas recruiting me to become a
member on the committee for thebanquet.
So the banquet committee turnedinto being co-chairman of the
(27:09):
banquet with a good buddy ofmine, john Armitage, and we've
been.
The two of us have been doingit for 20 odd, 20, some odd
years and and you know I don'ttooting the horn here, but it's,
it's probably one of thepremier events in the province
of Manitoba, definitely probablythe premier event from from the
angling hunting perspective.
(27:31):
I don't, I don't know one.
That's good for you.
So, uh, so uh, you know, ledinto that and then and uh, and
probably about 10 years ago,eight years ago, we became
president of Fish Futures Inc.
Um, so we we've kind of keptour fingers in there and and uh
know, we we try to donate and asmuch time as possible it's a
(27:55):
totally uh, volunteer board andand volunteer membership on the,
on the um, on the board of fishfutures inc.
And, of course, on thecommittee for the banquet.
So, uh, we've raised a lot ofmoney, we've had a lot of fun,
we met tons of people and itcertainly is probably one of the
premier events that gets run inthe province.
(28:16):
It's not your traditionalbanquet where people get to sit
down and listen to speeches andget the old you know make the
heartfelt throws about.
You know we're going to savethe fish and whatever.
Ours is a real fun banquet.
It was about.
You know we're going to savethe fish and whatever.
Ours is a real fun banquet.
We traditionally have abouthalf a million and up in prizes
and live auctions and all kindsof games and things.
(28:40):
We've got some cool celebrities.
Kathy Kennedy, who's a radiopersonality here, is our emcee
for the night.
She's been doing it for decadesSeems like forever and we have
a lot of fun and that's all.
What the night is all about isto have fun and to raise money
and not to have people sittingthere getting bored listening to
(29:01):
some guy talk about you knowsomething that he believes in or
you know some kind of projector whatever.
And we do quite a few projectsourselves.
We've got a couple of.
We've got a couple of.
We've got a scholarship that wegive out every year to uh, to a
graduate student at the uh fromone of the one of the
universities that does somethingin fish biology.
We've been doing that for ages.
(29:23):
Uh, there's a it's called theDr Ken Stewart Memorial uh
scholarship fund and, and Dr Kenyeah, dr Ken was probably.
He was on Fish Futures,probably before I started there,
but he wrote a book Fishes inManitoba it's really hard to
find right now, but it was onevery single fish species that
(29:48):
is in the province.
It's an incredible book.
He was, uh, he was quite thefish biologist.
I'm sure, uh, I'm sure some ofthe guys uh that are into fish
biology and and whatnot wouldknow him quite well.
But uh, that's just.
You know, one of the littlethings we we also do.
Uh, you know we we donateprizes and gifts to all kinds of
all kinds of derbies and andkids related things.
(30:12):
We run a program called FishWinnipeg that takes out, I guess
, underprivileged I don't knowwhat the proper word to use is
these days but but you know,youth at risk and stuff like
that.
Take them out for a day fishingon the on the red, we, we, we
run that through the city ofwinnipeg and and, uh, we have a
van for that program.
(30:33):
We take them out for half a day, give them a rod and a reel and
in hopes that maybe one ofthese days they'll, they'll take
that up instead of, you know,going in a different direction
all of these things.
Speaker 3 (30:44):
Like there's there's so much to what you just said,
like there's so much to go backto.
Like, so, this, so Fish Futures.
Can you start from like, like,what, what do you guys?
What, what is your, what isyour goals on a yearly basis?
Is it like are you several,jerry, or are you?
(31:04):
Are you you know?
Are you helping with stockingprograms as well?
Are you helping with?
Like, what are you into withthe Fish Futures programming?
Speaker 2 (31:15):
Well, we've done everything from limno corrals,
fish ladders, fish docks,building observation docks at
the White Shell Fish Hatchery.
You know the things that we'vedone over the years is Wow,
numerous, yeah, numerous, to saythe least.
(31:37):
You know we're focused latelybecause we did a project where
we got the government to putback.
There was a stamp program yearsago in Manitoba and the money
from that stamp when you boughtyour license it was supposed to
be a dollar, I think.
When it first started it wassupposed to go to fisheries
(31:58):
related projects and it neverdid no, and so we got.
We spent a lot of moneylobbying the government to get
them to put that back in,lobbying the government to get
them to put that back in.
So I can't remember if it wasabout 10 years ago, maybe a
little bit longer, that theystarted up the Fisheries and
Wildlife Enhancement Fund.
(32:18):
Actually it was called theFisheries Enhancement Fund to
start, and then the wildlife,the hunters, tagged along and
now it's the Fisheries andWildlife Enhancement Fund and
the monies from the license goto a fund and the fund is
administered by stakeholdersthroughout the province for
different projects and thingsfor, you know, water and and, of
(32:41):
course, hunting, huntingrelated things.
So, so that's something thatthat we're we're very proud of,
that uh, that we started back inthe province and and uh, and
actually put the funds backwhere they belong.
So I can't remember if they doabout a half a million dollars a
year in projects and and uh,for us it's, it's, uh, you know,
fish.
Winnipeg is our big.
We just purchased a van thispast year, so that's a big
(33:03):
expense.
Um, you know, that's probablyour, our biggest thing, along
with the scholarship if you ever.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
Just to cut in there if if you ever need another van,
just donated you, let me andKrista know.
At Sunset Limo, a hundredpercent, we would do that for
the day, for free.
You let us know and we wouldsend someone up there for sure,
Just to hop in there.
Yeah, I didn't know.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I didn't know that was a thing, no problem, yeah,
and, and you know, know, thelist goes on and on.
I could.
I could bring it up and and uhand start reading all this, but
I just bore you all to death.
But it's just one of thosethings that anything that's that
can be fish related, uh, we'veprobably done I believe the the
(33:44):
sturgeon ladder up at sturgeoncreek in when it just off the
assiniboine, was something thatwe did as well.
And Lions Lake, building a dockand a wheelchair access to that
lake.
It's a stock lake.
We've also been involved withfish hatcheries and all kinds of
things.
Speaker 1 (34:06):
So over the years you've been involved.
Over the years you've beeninvolved and and um.
First of all, thank you, becauseit sounds like such an awesome
uh program and um one that I'mthe wheels are turning when
you're.
When you're talking about theum, the stamp program, and and
(34:26):
how the other provinces shouldbe following suit, and the fact
that the stakeholders are theguys that have their fingers on
the purse strings is probablythe most important point when
we're talking about that,because we all know what
happened in the past whengovernment had their fingers on
the purse strings and tell youone thing and do another,
(34:49):
absolutely you know which.
That is unbelievable.
But, jerry, over the years thatyou've been involved in Fish
Futures Inc.
What is one of the mostmemorable experiences that
you've had and that might be aproject, that might be a day
(35:11):
with an individual, what is oneof those moments where, because
to be a volunteer and to givethe kind of time that you're
giving, there's got to be someof those moments in there that
keep you going, and I'm justinterested to know what one or
(35:35):
two of them might be.
Speaker 2 (35:36):
Yeah, that's a real tough question because I don't
think that there's a lot of likeaha moments or aha moments.
It's just been a forever moment, I guess, if you want to call
it that, from just beinginvolved.
You know, even at the beginningit was just being involved in a
(35:57):
group and in a sport that Ireally enjoyed and I loved and
seeing some of the things theywere doing and the fun we have
doing it.
The people that we work with toput on these events are
incredible.
They're all very dedicated andvery professional.
The people that we work with toput on these events are
incredible.
They're all very dedicated andvery professional.
(36:18):
The fun we have every year, Imean that's what keeps us going.
It's kind of like Christmas forus.
We plan for the banquet formonths and months and months and
thanks to Will for coming onboard with Nordic Point Lodge
and a trip that we put in ourlive auction.
It's just, you know, you justsit back at the end of it all
After all, the presents havebeen unwrapped and everybody's,
(36:39):
you know, kind of gone home andyou just kind of look around the
room and you just go.
You know we did it again and weoutdid ourselves and we're
always trying to come up withnew ideas and new things and
there's always new people thatcome along that that help us out
.
You know Will from a couple ofyears ago and and you know guys
like Brian from Lake of theWoods Sports, that that you know
(37:00):
, when they first opened theirstore in Winnipeg, we we kind of
got involved with them.
Fish and Hole, which has beenpart of this for forever.
You know Crow Duck Lake Lodge,aikens Lake Lodge so many of
these.
I'm going to miss so many ofthem, but it's just, these guys
are what you know we do this forand it's just great working
(37:22):
with them all.
It's just absolutely incredible.
And that's probably the thing is, every year there's that
satisfaction and that thatsatisfaction and the thing that
drives you to do it again, whichis why you know myself and John
um, you know we, we do it everyyear and you know we always
look at it at the end of theyear and say, wow, it was so
(37:42):
beat.
You know, look, all the work wedid.
And then we just kind of thinkabout, okay, well, you know,
maybe we take a little bit of abreak, we fish for the summer
and you kind of go, ah, do wewant to do this again?
And then 10 minutes later,after talking about it, we're
making plans to start working onit again for next year.
So it's just become a realpassion for us and that's.
(38:06):
You know, there's no real bigmoment.
I mean, the FisheriesEnhancement Fund was a huge
thing for us to win that battleand get that, you know, the
funds put back into thefisheries resource.
You know, a couple of years orlast year, I believe it was that
we're, you know, we ran alittle ice derby for a couple of
(38:27):
years and we raised some fundsthat helped us buy this new van
for a couple of years and weraised some funds that helped us
buy this new van.
So you know, in presenting, Iguess, fish Winnipeg, which is
an arm of Fish Futures, but youknow, presenting Fish Winnipeg
with checks so that they couldgo purchase a new van and be
able to go continually go buyrods and reels that we hand out
to kids, and you know it's justthe satisfaction of everything.
(38:49):
There's really no one big thingthat we do this for, it's just
the satisfaction at the end ofit all.
Speaker 1 (38:57):
Well, and you know, as a former lodge owner and Will
, being a current lodge owner,the work that you're doing to
help the fisheries is paramountfor people like us in a business
like the ones that we operate,because it's one thing to be an
(39:20):
avid angler, it's another thingto stake your business and life
on it.
And I know that for me, beingon Lake Nipissing and looking at
(39:44):
a fishery that was under stressfor quite a while to put back
and to help maintain thefisheries and the longevity of
the resource.
And you know, I look at my kidsand I look at all these little
youngsters running around and Ithink back to the days when I
(40:06):
was that young and going to theGrand River and catching fish,
and now really there's not awhole lot left where I used to
fish.
And you know, hoping that, uh,that that the resource is going
to be there for futuregenerations.
And you know something um, itmust be well, it must be
(40:28):
satisfying to to know thatyou're doing something to make a
difference and, um, for that Ithank you.
You know that, yeah, like Imean, that is, um, that's,
that's awesome.
And then you know, um, uh, asfar as the hunting side of
things goes um, I know that um,delta Waterfowl is.
(40:52):
I'm not sure if you work withthem or not, but they're another
organization and they'd be agreat one to talk about or maybe
get you involved with.
But they do a lot of work withthe nest boxes and they're, uh,
they, they're, um, um, theyclaim and I'm sure that it's a
(41:16):
factual, backed claim thatthey're, they're, they're making
um, uh, a million birds a yearby by doing this stuff, and um,
it's, uh, it's, it's a lot ofwhat you're doing, um, when
we're talking about fisheriesand when you're fishing lodge
owners, that's money in the bankbaby.
Speaker 3 (41:36):
Yeah, exactly Money in the bank.
What have you guys got workingon right now?
Jared, have you got any secretsin the chamber you want to let
loose here for the Diariesfamily about Fish?
Futures has got going on.
Have you got any you know?
Where can the people go to to?
Is there is the?
Is the banquet online too,jerry?
Speaker 2 (41:57):
No, we, we held the banquet online for a couple of
years during COVID and, and wehad some great response from
from everybody, and I thinkeverybody wanted to do something
and still wanted to dosomething while while we were
running through that crazy time.
But, um, but, we're planning,uh, we started planning for, for
the 2025 banquet and and, uh,you know, we've got, uh, we've
(42:19):
got our, our, our traditional uh, Lund boat, and I'd be remiss
if we didn't mention those guys.
They've been, uh, they've beensponsors for for 25 years at
least.
Um, this year we'll have a 2075Taiyi with, I think it's, a 250
on the back.
It'd be about $150,000, maybecloser to a $200,000 boat.
Wow, that we'll be auctioningoff.
(42:41):
And, of course, we've gotNordic Point Lodge and we've got
Aikens A lot of the stand.
You know the ones that have beenaround with us for ages.
We've got something called theSilver Six, which is a real
popular item.
So there's not a lot of, youknow, new things that we're
going to be doing.
A lot of it's going to be thesame old, same old, but we
always try to put a new twist onsome things and maybe add a
(43:03):
couple of new items every year,just so, the guys are always
looking for certain things.
Where's your venue?
It's at the Victoria Inn GotchaEllen Conference Centre on
Wellington Avenue, right by theairport.
Great venue.
We put close to 1,000 people inthere.
Speaker 1 (43:23):
That was my next question.
Wow, 1,000 people Close to yep.
Speaker 2 (43:27):
Wow, and it's a real fun evening.
I mean, boats are on display.
Yeah, you know, manitoba Liquorand Lotteries is a new sponsor
that came on board, so there'ssome.
You know, going to be sometastings going on there.
I don't know if it'll be wineor hard stuff this year, but we
always try to, you know, come upwith something a little bit
(43:48):
different year to year.
Just to make you know, we'vehad oyster bars before and you
know all kinds of stuff likethat.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
I know a really good celebrity speaker and he's got a
great voice.
His name is Steve Niswicky.
You should get a hold of himsometime.
He's real good, Jer.
He might even.
Speaker 1 (44:08):
Wow, I don't know about the celebrity part and I
don't know about the voice part,but I do like oysters.
Speaker 3 (44:14):
Nice, Nice.
Well, that sounds awesome,Jared.
I'm super excited.
You know what it's foreverything, you know.
I just I really, like Stephensaid I've said this to many
people over the years and as myrelationship has grown with you,
Jerry, I can't say enough abouthow much you commit your
(44:35):
personal time to these charities, these foundations and these
charities, and I just love it.
I love everything you do likethat.
When it comes to the tournamentside, skip back a bit in your
work here.
I know in the lodges you do alot of printing and stuff for
(44:56):
those lodges.
You know a buddy of mine, Tim,does a lot of the Timmy Dawson
there.
He does a lot of our stuff forCampus Crew from the swag end,
you know, and that's kind of amarket for him.
Is that something that youtarget, Jerry?
Do you target the fishingindustry and the lodge industry,
like akins and those, you knowthose bakers, narrows, the guys
to the north there?
Is that something that you do?
Speaker 2 (45:18):
yeah, not not, uh, not specifically.
We we've.
We do work for a lot of thepeople that we know um and know
over the years.
I know the lodges have a lot ofdeals that they make with
certain people.
You know some of them actuallyhave people that are in the
printing business that go to thelodge.
So of course there's you knowthere's probably some some deals
(45:41):
there.
We don't, we don't focus on theon the clothing end of it, that
that there's a several largefirms that look after that kind
of stuff um for for the lodgesand do a great job, you know,
administering that and and theyalso look after, you know,
marinas and and all these otherplaces.
So so not something that wereally focus on it's.
(46:03):
It's more of uh.
If somebody asks, uh, you knowa la like you, uh, you know
we'll be more than happy to lookafter them and make sure that
uh're serviced properly.
Speaker 3 (46:13):
Awesome, awesome.
Well, thank you for that,because you do a heck of a job.
I know that.
I appreciate that your productis amazing.
Another thing that always hasattracted me in our
conversations is the fact thatyou do not ice fish.
It is insane to me that youlive by Lake Winnipeg, one of
(46:35):
the best, like the Greenbacks,one of the best walleye systems
in the world, and it's 20minutes from your door.
You don't ice fish, but you'rea crazy fisherman.
I love that and it just drivesme.
If I was you, I wouldn't beable to not go out there.
I'd be telling Krista everybreak of morning honey, I'm just
going to run to the store andgrab a lottery ticket.
I'll be right back and go pounda couple of quick walleys out
of a hole.
Speaker 1 (46:55):
Four hours later.
Speaker 2 (46:56):
Yeah, eight hours later, whatever.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
You'd never go out of that.
Speaker 2 (47:01):
Yeah, well, we've done a little bit of ice fishing
on Lake Winnipeg and, you know,a couple of years ago, uh, we
went out with Brendan Walker andhad a lot of fun, but it's just
, for some strange reason, I'vejust never really caught the bug
for ice and cold.
Well, it's cold, but, uh, youknow, it's just one of those
things there's.
(47:21):
There's a lot to do in thewinter and we're busy putting on
the banquet and trying to tryto organize that and and uh, and
it's just nice to sit at homeand, and, you know, watch some
stuff on TV and and relax on theweekend instead of running out
and, and you know, doing someice fishing, and maybe we'll get
, maybe we'll get a little bitdone this winter.
I don't know, but I think I saythat all the time and the guys
(47:43):
are always like, yeah, you gotto come out this year, you got
to come out this year, and thenwe don't, but it just I don't
know.
Speaker 1 (47:50):
Nothing wrong with that buddy.
Speaker 2 (47:52):
It's a really weird thing, you know you would think.
You know we've bought a ton ofice stuff in the past and had
ice gear and thinking that I wasgoing to go, and then it just
sits there and does nothing.
Speaker 3 (48:04):
Yeah, that's so funny .
That ice fishing scene outthere is wild now.
Eh, like it's.
You've never seen anything likeit.
I'm telling you, like Simcoe islike one thing.
I'm telling you, lake Winnipegis like fishing Tobin, but like
times 300.
It's like a super highway onthe ice road.
(48:25):
Eh, jerry, it is.
Speaker 2 (48:27):
It's crazy and the guys are starting to go there
now already, really, yep, ice isjust forming.
There's, you know, five six.
Speaker 1 (48:34):
Well, you know what I've been saving this business
idea and I know and I'm going tospill the beans here and
somebody is going to takeadvantage of this, if they
haven't already but I alwaysthought that it would be very
lucrative in a situation likethat and I always had Simcoe in
my mind, right.
But if you had a coffee truck,you know, like the old coffee
(48:58):
truck with the horn that riparound the back of the shop
there- If you had a coffee truckthat you'd pull behind a sled
or something and you went outonto the ice.
I know that you would sellcoffee and sandwiches and all
that shit.
There's a business right therefor you.
(49:19):
Coffee truck on Lake WinnipegWillie.
Speaker 3 (49:21):
Grumpy old men.
There was one in the moviebrother.
I remember that.
Yeah, yeah, there's actuallyone in Kenora.
Here, when you go over TreatyIsland on the ice road on the
right-hand side, about a mileout, a guy has a every year.
He's got a coffee shop set upthere, steve, he does his wife's
a Ukrainian lady and she makeshomemade biscuits and all this
(49:43):
shit and these folks know this.
Speaker 1 (49:45):
Yeah, yeah.
Well, willie, I think you needWillie's coffee wheels, willie's
coffee wheels.
Speaker 2 (49:50):
Willie's coffee wheels.
There we go, yeah.
Speaker 1 (49:52):
Yeah, willie the oil man, you get out there and you
start selling coffee by thegallon.
Speaker 2 (49:58):
There you go.
There's actually a guy thatdoes some.
He'll deliver orders to you,yeah.
Speaker 3 (50:06):
Uber.
Speaker 2 (50:07):
Uber on ice.
Is it Carlo Carlo?
Yeah, carlo Guzzi, he's afucking beauty, that guy.
He's.
He will you know.
You can put your order in andhe'll end up delivering it out
on the ice.
I guess you pin your locationor whatever and he'll deliver it
out on the ice.
Speaker 1 (50:24):
Nice, see, there's guys that are thinking a mover
and a shaker baby, yeahabsolutely.
Speaker 3 (50:28):
I saw him on Facebook promoting that and I was like I
fished a turnip.
Actually, me and Haga werefishing Pine Falls one year and
he stayed in the room hotel roomright beside us and was having
drinks one night.
He's an awesome guy.
He's got a big burger joint orsomething, doesn't he?
Out Lake Winnipeg.
Speaker 2 (50:43):
Yeah, he's out in Gimli now.
He was in Winnipeg Beach for afew years and he's actually won
three out of the last fourLeBurger Weeks, which are a
Canadian competition, and allkinds of restaurants enter their
burgers and you make a specialburger.
(51:03):
Look it up.
Speaker 3 (51:06):
It's called LeBurger Week.
Oh shit, I've got to call himand get him on the show.
Man, I've met him before.
I'm going to call him becausethat's something we got to talk
about here.
Speaker 2 (51:11):
Absolutely.
Championship fucking burgershere Champion, that gets really
jacked up Three out of the lastfour years and I think the year
that he didn't win he came insecond place, and this is
against.
Like across Canada, people vote.
Wow.
He's got an incrediblefollowing out here of people
that do vote for him and go buyhis burgers and try it out, but
(51:41):
every year they come up with adifferent you know type of
burger and he names it somethingand that's your entry, and then
people vote.
It's pretty crazy.
He does an incredible job,incredible job, and he's another
philanthropist that gives backto the fishing community when he
can, too as well cool beautifulwillie.
Speaker 1 (51:53):
That's I'm.
You're pretty excited aboutthat.
That's as excited as I've heardyou.
Speaker 3 (51:58):
It was like it was.
I think it moved in my pants.
Willie's gonna be excitedbecause it's.
It's like the piece of mangoyou know yeah, right on.
Speaker 1 (52:08):
Well, listen, jerry.
Thank you so much for coming on.
It was my pleasure, reallyappreciate it, really appreciate
it.
Yeah, willie, any last thoughts?
Speaker 3 (52:17):
Nope, that's Jared.
It was a pleasure to have youand you know I'll be talking to
you later in the week anyways,but thanks for doing this and I
love you like a brother.
You look healthy and happy andthat's all I care about, to be
honest, when I see you.
Speaker 1 (52:35):
Perfect, Nice Well and Willie.
I love it when I say Willie,any last thoughts, and you say
no, and then go on for fourminutes.
Speaker 3 (52:46):
You know what?
The last episode?
You did the same thing, meaningyou were horrible at that shit.
Speaker 1 (52:51):
I know, I know, I know that's okay, though that's
okay, but anyway, thanks again,Jerry.
Really appreciate it.
Looking forward to seeing youagain sometime soon.
Maybe we'll make that trek upnorth and I'll see.
I'll try out some oysters.
Speaker 2 (53:08):
There you go.
Well, you need to come out toWinnipeg May 1st and come visit
our banquet.
Speaker 3 (53:14):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (53:16):
We'll show you what a real show looks like.
Speaker 1 (53:18):
Yeah, yeah, maybe we'll do a podcast live from the
banquet.
Speaker 3 (53:22):
That would be a good idea.
Speaker 1 (53:24):
That'd be cool.
Yes, sir and folks, thank youvery much for those of you
who've got to this point in thepodcast.
I always thank you at thispoint because I love you and
listen.
You know what's coming up.
Go over to fishingcanadacom.
We've got all kinds ofgiveaways there.
Get your name in there everyday and win.
(53:45):
You never know what you'regoing to run into Garmin fishing
trips.
You name it, it's there.
Have a look and any questions,fire them off to Willie and I.
You know how to get us stevenat fishingcanadacom and will at
nordicpointlodgecom.
And again, thank you very much.
(54:06):
And thus brings us to theconclusion of another episode of
Diaries of a Lodge Owner.
Speaker 3 (54:24):
Stories of the North.
Speaker 1 (54:25):
I've been reeling in the hog since the day I was born
.
Speaker 4 (54:30):
Bending my rock, stretching my line.
Speaker 3 (54:36):
Someday I might own a lodge, and that'd be fine.
I'll be making my way the onlyway I know how, working hard and
sharing the north with all ofmy pals.
Boy, I'm a good old boy.
Speaker 1 (54:57):
I bought a lodge and lived my dream, and now I'm here
talking about how life can beas good as it seems.
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 4 (55:14):
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.
(55:35):
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,
(55:58):
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'sabout.
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's,under the Canopy podcast, I'm
(56:22):
going to take you along with meto see the places, meet the
people.
That will help you find youroutdoor passion and help you
live a life close to nature.
And under the canopy.
Find Under the Canopy now onSpotify, apple Podcasts or
wherever else you get yourpodcasts.
Speaker 1 (56:44):
Hi everybody.
I'm Angelo Viola and I'm PeteBowman.
Now you might know us as thehosts of Canada's favorite
fishing show.
Speaker 2 (56:51):
but now we're hosting a podcast.
That's right.
Every Thursday, ange and I willbe right here in your ears
bringing you a brand new episodeof Outdoor Journal Radio.
Hmm.
Speaker 1 (57:01):
Now, what are we going to talk about for two
hours every week?
Speaker 2 (57:03):
Well, you know there's going to be a lot of
fishing.
Speaker 6 (57:05):
I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and
how to catch them, and they wereeasy to catch.
Speaker 1 (57:10):
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 Garton.
Turk and all the Russians wouldgo fishing To scientists.
Speaker 6 (57:24):
But now that we're reforesting and letting things
breathe.
It's the perfect transmissionenvironment for line fishing.
Speaker 5 (57:30):
To chefs if any game isn't cooked properly, marinated
, you will taste it.
Speaker 2 (57:36):
And whoever else will pick up the phone.
Speaker 1 (57:41):
Wherever you are.
Speaker 2 (57:42):
Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions
and tell the stories of allthose who enjoy being outside.
Find us on Spotify, applePodcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts.
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