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Diaries of a Lodge Owner
In 2009, sheet metal mechanic, Steve Niedzwiecki, turned his passions into reality using steadfast belief in himself and his vision by investing everything in a once-obscure run-down Canadian fishing lodge.
After ten years, the now-former lodge owner and co-host of The Fish'n Canada Show is here to share stories of inspiration, relationships and the many struggles that turned his monumental gamble into one of the most legendary lodges in the country.
From anglers to entrepreneurs, athletes to conservationists; you never know who is going to stop by the lodge.
Diaries of a Lodge Owner
Episode 60: Will The Oil Man - Our New Diaries Co-Host
What happens when a seasoned oil field worker swaps his hard hat for a fishing rod? Meet our new co-host, Willie "the Oil Man" Pawlowsky, whose unique journey from the Rockin' Bakken basin to the serene lakes of Northwestern Ontario promises to keep you on the edge of your seat. In our newly revamped podcast, "Diaries of a Lodge Owner: Stories of the North," Willie shares an unforgettable tale from his days in the oil fields, setting the scene for the thrilling stories to come.
Reflecting on the heartwarming story of how our podcast was conceived, we take you back to where it all began: a fateful meeting at the Sportsman Show. This chapter is a testament to the power of authentic relationships built on a mutual love for fishing and the great outdoors. We also pay tribute to industry icons Angelo Viola and Pete Bowman, whose genuine kindness and passion have left an indelible mark on our lives and careers.
Joining us as our newest host, Will Pawlowsky, shares his incredible transformation from a young fishing enthusiast to a seasoned oil and gas professional, and ultimately a successful fishing guide. Alongside his partner Krysta, Will discusses the impact of their guiding service, Lake of the Woods Fishing Adventures, and how their dedication to excellence has shaped their lives. From managing staff in small communities to creating elite lodging experiences, this episode is packed with resilience, creativity, and stories that will inspire and captivate. Don't miss out on our promise of wild backwoods tales and thrilling adventures from the northern regions!
This episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner is brought to you by Nordic Point Lodge A luxury outdoor experience with five-star service.
Speaker 2:The stories are going to blow your mind. We're very excited and you know we got NFL stars that have won super bowls, with tom brady lined up. We've got guys that have you know uh been to the bottom of the ocean and the top of the highest mountains in tibet. You know what I mean. Like in, in it's gonna be folks, it's gonna be something to look forward to.
Speaker 1:This week on the outdoor journal radio podcast networks diaries of a lodge owner. I have exciting news for the diaries family. After a lot of thought and consideration and keeping in mind my goal is your host and friend, which is to provide you an outstanding experience every week, one that I can be proud of. Well, thanks to all of you, I feel extremely proud of what we are building together, but I have a steadfast commitment to you, which is consistently improve on your Diaries experience week after week. And with that commitment in mind, the Diaries evolution has begun.
Speaker 1:Firstly, we are now Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North and the Stories of the North. Addition to this title allows us not only to tell the great lodge-related stories and teach you about its inner workings. It also allows us to bring you information and stories from a large array of genres, which I know is going to be great for all of us. Secondly, and most significantly, we are adding a co-host. He is no stranger to the show and an awesome character in his own right. He came from the oil fields of the West, then ran a successful guiding business in Northwestern Ontario and is now the owner of Nordic Point Lodge. His storytelling abilities are off the charts. He's well-traveled, with great ideas and a passion for entertaining people just like you.
Speaker 1:It is now my honor to introduce for the first time new co-host of Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North, willie the Oil man Polowski. Welcome to the show, willie. Hey, listen. This, like the folks heard in the opening, is a very special show because you are now a podcaster. How does that make you feel?
Speaker 2:Steve, I definitely did not think that a few years ago at that sportsman show, that we'd be sitting here co-hosting this podcast together. That is definitely. That was a surprise in the long run and I'm very fortunate and very honored to be here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I had no idea either, but it you know, it was one of those things where you meet certain people and you just click and you were one of those people and I got to tell you it's my pleasure and honor to have you now on Diaries of a Lodge Owner and a co-host. And there's something else that's a little special, folks, that you've probably already noticed. We are adding a wee caveat to Diaries of a Lodge Owner and it's a tagline, it's what follows diaries and that is Stories of the North and Will, and I have been talking about this. So you heard off the top Diaries of a Lodge owner Stories of the North and Willie. What is the idea behind Stories of the North?
Speaker 2:Steve, I, you know we just we need to. We needed to kind of broaden out and reach more, bring more people to the Diaries, family and the. Everybody loves the North, everybody loves the excitement and the. Everybody loves the north. Everybody loves the excitement and the stories and the and the. You know the. What's gonna happen next and and when we, when we broaden this horizon, it broadens our stories and stories. Man, they're coming back in time. Hey, steve.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, it's like how these podcasts bring out. I've never been a storyteller. I've been a talker my whole life and little did I know I was a storyteller and it's really awesome to listen to it.
Speaker 1:You told some great stories. I've had a ton of feedback with the show that we did together on on your deck at Nordic point and the title of that show is Willie the oil man and like I mean that Wolverine story where, where the the dudes moved the shitter on top of a Wolverine den you know, and all of those stories that you told in that episode were wonderful and people absolutely loved them.
Speaker 2:Steve, let me hop in here. Let me tell you one more before we get on to some stories of the North Perfect, because I have a deadly one that I'm guessing everyone would love to hear. This one's a little bit. This one kind of throws me under the bus and it wasn't one of my highlights of my life, but we were and this is when you were working out in the oil fields.
Speaker 2:So correct. So this was back probably 2010-ish, and we were drilling on a rig down at that time the Bakken Reservoir they called it the Rockin' Bakken, and it was northern Saskatchewan, northeast or southeastern Alberta, across the top end of North Dakota by Williston, and it was a heavy basin that was being drilled from a lot of oil companies and we'd done some geophysics down there and found some good sites. So we were running through a season where we normally don't drill because the ground is soft and it's rainy and it's shitty. So it was kind of an unknown what was going to happen at the time. The well, the drilling end went great, and that's kind of what our concerns were.
Speaker 2:You know, is the rig going to shift? Are we going to have issues logistically getting equipment in, because it's going to be four or five feet of mud with being in farmer's fields in that time of the year? Right, it's not. It's not dry. You know like you're talking. You know you're talking one, one load on a drilling rig. The smallest load on our drilling rig was 35,000 pounds, right.
Speaker 3:So I mean that's.
Speaker 2:That was the smallest.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Sinking that's. That's Exactly.
Speaker 2:So we actually have trucks that have they got floaters on them, yeah, floating tires, yeah, and they just drift right across the mud. So, anyways, we get the well almost done and we're at the point where we're going to case the hole with steel and cement it and wait for we're basically going to plug it off, and then the next team, the completions team, comes in and gets everything going to the pump jack or to the pipeline. So we're just cleaning up and it had rained the night before and my partner, brent DeMott we were doing a crew change and he was telling me about his day and what we had done to go and a little bit of a safety meeting. And I remembered, oh, my hard hat was over in my sleep shack. So we had a command center and it was like, so it was like my office was in the middle and then there was the measurements, while drilling hand was on one side and the geologist was on the other, and uh, you know that was our work site.
Speaker 2:And then behind we had another ACCO trailer which was our sleeper right. So the one engineer would be on one side, I would be on the other, and uh, so these, these ACCO trailers are, they're like little mini condos. Yeah, so these ATCO trailers are. They're like little mini condos, yeah. So you know, I had a leather couch and I had a fireplace in there and some beautiful hardwood and a marble countertop. You know, chevron didn't cheap out At any expense.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly. So, anyways, just a description of it. So I go and I'm going from the work shack to the sleep shack and in between these shacks, if you can picture it, folks, there's a, there's a trench. So when we, when we move the drill and rig on the site, when we put the shacks on for the staff and the and the people, we drop a shack level, it drop a shack level it. We get a roll with them. We drop a shack level, it drop a shack level it. We get a roll with them, and then a hole will come in behind and a hole will dig. You know, it's got a 40-inch bucket on it and it'll just make a big trench. So then all of your gray water and black water will come out of your trailer into the trench and then they bury it.
Speaker 1:So your trench is full of shit, is what you're saying.
Speaker 2:It's fucking shit, human shit, shit. Trench it. So your trench is full of shit, is what you're saying. It's fucking human shit, oh no. So so willie, I go across and I go and go across and go grab my my hard hat, and I'm coming back across and I wasn't.
Speaker 2:It's very rare that you wear flip-flops on a drilling rig site, okay, and my stupid self didn't realize that. Yeah, no, it had just rained before. So when I stepped outside in my flip-flop it took just the top, you know quarter inch or you know three-eighths of an inch of mud, and stuck it to my flip-flop, but underneath was all dry. So I didn't realize that when I walked over and got my hard hat Well, I come back around and I went to jump over the shit trench and the mud on the bottom of my flip-flop let go. And my foot went and I went waist-high in the shit pit. And I went waist high in the shit pit Like I'm in the gray and black water.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Just I'm like dry.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God.
Speaker 2:But I have a feces issue, like when my babies were born, smelling shit was like it was the worst job in the world to change a diaper. It had nothing to do with the mess, it was the smell, I don't know. It drives me mental. So I'm dry. Picture this I'm dry, heaving, standing in waist-high shit.
Speaker 2:And my partner comes around the corner and he is in tears Wow, what? So I reach up and I'm like Brent and he looks at me. And this is when cell phones, when the cell phones were just the flip phones but the cameras, when cameras just got big on the flip phones. Remember that.
Speaker 1:Yep.
Speaker 2:So I go to reach his hand. He pulls it away and he grabs his phone out of his pocket and he goes. I got to take a picture of this and I'm like Steve, what the fuck guy. And he takes the picture. So, he grabs my hand and he pulls me out and I'm like I'm cursing at him, I'm cursing at myself and I'm covered in grey water and black water.
Speaker 2:So, I spent about 35, 40 minutes curled up in the shower like in a ball, just crying In the fetal position, washing the fucking shit off me. So I'm thinking and that's a great story, as it is right. So I'm thinking, that's it. So I'm thinking, and that's a great story, as it is right. So I'm thinking, that's it. So I go, you know, whatever the day continues and we finish the location, we ended up about three weeks later we had spring meetings in Calgary. So in the meantime I got promoted and I was now the operations manager and VP of operations for most oil and gas at Chevron Block and Reservoir Formation Drilling in Canada.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, so I had been pulled into the office and I was going to be doing some presentations and some you know, just some information sessions for some of the staff. We bring them in for these spring meetings and you know, go over what's going on for the year, what's going on, what's projected for the next year for drilling where we're going to be. You know, pump their tires a bit, throw them a bit of a party because, remember, these guys aren't working 9 to 5s like most of everybody out there, these guys are working 12s to 18s and minus 40, you know, of everybody out there, these guys are working 12s to 18s and minus 40, you know, lifting 250-pound bell subs every five minutes, right, so you know they IOL to them. Well, we're in the middle of, I'm in the middle of the presentation and Brent is there, my partner from the Drill and Rig at that time. Yeah, he says, willie, I got to cut you off here. I want everyone to see this image before we go any further.
Speaker 2:And remember so spring bake's a fun time, right, it's everyone's joking around. Yeah, and I have no idea. This is coming and there is a couple hundred people in this auditorium. Well, doesn't I look behind me and doesn't a picture of me come up in the gosh darn shit Trench In the middle of everybody in Calgary, in this company? They're looking at me and the room just came on glued. Everybody was laughing, holy fuck. Look at the big boss standing in a big pile of shit.
Speaker 1:That's hilarious.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it wasn't one of my proudest moments in life, steve, that's for sure, but it's one that I remember telling my wife when I first met her, you know, a couple months in. It was one of those stories that you laugh at yourself about, but it was a good one.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, that's uh. Well, you know what for the bit of pain. You didn't end up sick and, um, uh, a lot of people got a lot of laughs out of it, which is great absolutely, it was including me and now all of the Diaries family.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. Yes, yes, yeah. So, folks, this is what we've got to look forward to. We've got Willie now as a co-host and I think he's a lot like me. When I first started this, I, you know, you always have the stories that, uh, that stick out in your mind. Um, but I, you know, I was, I was scared because I, I didn't, I didn't remember a lot of the things that happened. There was 10 years of of of owning the lodge and different situations and different things that happened. But you know, my memory wasn't something that was like a steel trap. But the one thing that I will say is, along the way, there's different situations that happen and different conversations and all of a sudden, bam, you know, I get this memory that comes back because of what we're talking about. And and, uh, um, willie, uh, I'm sure you'll be the same. And how many, how many years did you spend as an oil man in the oil fields?
Speaker 2:oil man in the oil fields. Oh, just under 20 in total, Wow yeah it was yeah, it was my pretty most of my life.
Speaker 1:That's a great career, that is a really great career.
Speaker 2:You know, steve, I thinking back on what you were just saying, I don't even think, buddy, that I've ever told you this. You know we're very close now and I don't think I've ever told you this. But so how me and Steve met, and it's kind of a unique thing, and I remember telling my wife this, specifically, krista, we had met Angelo. Was there, angelo? I'd met Pete before, just in passing.
Speaker 2:You know, we were at the Sportsman Show chatting with you, and I remember you talking about this show, this premise, this Diaries of a Lodge Owner, and I thought what a cool concept, like I actually projected myself into like an American or Canadian or European client, and I was like if I was a client or if I like the outdoors and I saw the show, like I'm like that would be really interesting to hear lodge owner stories and the guide stories and and. And it really intrigued me when you said that you know, and and the initial thought wasn't not, you know, let's work with Steve. So so we could, we could work together with the show for the lodge purpose it. My original thought was this is such an interesting idea and, man, the areas you could expand, offered are countless as far as I was concerned and I remember you know me and you chatted lots. There was, you know, I think I ran into you at your booth and you showed up at mine a couple of times and we just had we and you had that instant connection as, as we, as you said, we're very, very similar. We look different and we may talk different, but we think a lot alike. And, and we may talk different but we think a lot alike. And we obviously notice that.
Speaker 2:But I remember saying to my wife, I remember saying to her I don't know what it is with this show and that guy, but we're going to do something together. I know it right now. I just I knew that that was it. And then I remember you. I actually actually asked you because, like, ang has been an idol of mine since I was everyone you know like, since I could walk, yeah, like you know, like you know, when I had a relationship with my dad when I was younger, when he was in around and and, uh, my grandfather raised me, but, you know, and up and growing up with him, every, no matter who I was with, every Saturday, sunday morning, I would watch fishing shows and, and you know, like, when I was a kid. A lot of people didn't start getting into fish until they were a little older. You know they can.
Speaker 2:You know their teens, or or even after not me and I was like from the time I remember four years old I remember my oldest memory is fishing bullhead catfish with my grandfather down in hastings and little channel cats at the dam in hastings, ontario um whole chicken livers.
Speaker 2:I remember him pulling the chicken levers and putting them on my jig and cotton and putting it out right in the heavy current and um, but I remember and I remember going. I remember angelo viola did this. I'm gonna catch a massive one because he did it right. Yeah, and, like I said, I was little like and I remember it's like I watched. I think I probably have watched, if I haven't watched, every episode of fish in canada.
Speaker 2:There ain't many I missed, you know, and and I I always love that ang was a humble being that he was, and I didn't even know him, obviously, but you know, I was my whole life until I met you, but I, I just you could, you could feel it when he, when he films and when he speaks, he's, he's passionate, he's like al linder is very much the same. I find too down. Yeah, he, al's very much the same where he speaks from the heart and it's all love and passion for what he's doing. Yeah, this whole thing, looking back on it and it's amazing that you guys have asked me to go on and be a co-host of the show Ang has been such a big part of my life and he doesn't even know it and I've never told him that. You know, like you know I never told you what I thought when I first met there, but I remember I specifically told Kristen she'll tell you that to your face that you know he knew you guys were going to be together. So I appreciate it, buddy, everything.
Speaker 1:The pleasure is all mine and and the thing that you, that you, um, you nailed about people is, and Ange in particular, and one of the things that is awesome about Angelo there are people that you see on television and you build relationships with through TV, podcasts, radio, and then you know, you actually get to meet them for the first time and they're just different. They're just different people and they're not the same person that you built the relationship with through the media outlet that you're using. And the wonderful thing is and I'm going to throw Pete Bowman in this too those guys are not quite the same as on TV. They're better in real life. They really are. They're two of the finest people on the planet and it's not an easy thing to be that person constantly, to be that person constantly, you know, to go to, like, if they're going into a gas station and we got a boat behind and we're on our way to a shoot, guaranteed at just about every stop there's people that recognize. They don't recognize me I've only been on the show for, you know, a few years but Pete and Ange, they get recognized constantly and they stop and talk to every person that wants to talk.
Speaker 1:Sometimes it's like okay, okay, boys, it's. You know we got to get rolling. It's going to be late, but they stop. They talk to everybody. They're the two of the most humble people and when you get to know them they're just regular guys. They're awesome, they fart and shit and do all the kind of stuff and shit and do all the kind of stuff and just like it is. It's the same deal as when you go fishing with your buddies on a fishing trip and I just I love them both.
Speaker 2:I think you know, and Petey, I love you buddy, don't ever think that, brother. You know the thing with Pete and I always get, I get this. You see it everywhere and I just see it just watching out of a people watcher. And Pete is so. He's so much that way that he's such a down-to-earth man that he's just there, right, he's the man right. So it's like he was just built to be that way and he just accepts that. So when you watch him walk around, he's so humble People are walking and they're like holy shit, that's Pete Bowman and he listens to everybody.
Speaker 2:Yeah, got some heavy metal music pounding in his cabin and his head's rocking.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, he's a metal head. He's. He's a metal head Like the dude is a metal head, and he has a thirst for knowledge that's unquenchable, and like he is one he is. He is a guy who has been on television for 30 years. He's been inducted into the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and he still will listen in detail to a 16-year-old kid launching his boat at a marina when that kid is telling him about the lake or about how he fishes. Peter always learns, and that is something that I've learned from him as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you see it just in his character. For sure.
Speaker 2:Amazing, amazing people, the whole team. You know the Vova and Dino and you know Ange's whole family. You know they're just the whole team. You know the Vova and Dino and you know Ang's whole family. You know they're just the whole core that you guys have the whole Podcast Network team that I've got to meet, you know at the show and just you know deal with Frankie and on some side business and you know like it's a great he's put together Angelo has put together a dynamic squad and it's amazing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely 100%. In every angler's heart lives a fishing paradise, with stunning scenery and wildlife, on a trophy, multi-species fishery, having outstanding accommodation and a food experience to die for. With stunning scenery and wildlife, on a trophy, multi-species fishery, having outstanding accommodation and a food experience to die for. They treat you like royalty, tailor-making a package that works for you. Nestled in northwestern Ontario, nordic Point Lodge is that paradise, and Will and his team can't wait to show you a luxury outdoor experience with five-star service. So follow your heart, book now.
Speaker 5:Hi everybody. I'm Angelo Viola and I'm Pete Bowman. Now you might know us as the hosts of Canada's Favorite Fishing Show, but now we're hosting a podcast that's right. Every Thursday, ange and I will be right here in your ears bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. Hmm, now, what are we going to talk about for two hours every week? Well, you know, there's going to be a lot of fishing.
Speaker 6:I knew exactly where those fish were going to be and how to catch them, and they were easy to catch.
Speaker 5:Yeah, but it's not just a fishing show. We're going to be talking to people from all facets of the outdoors, from athletes, To scientists.
Speaker 6:To chefs and whoever else will pick up the phone environments to chefs. If any game isn't cooked properly, marinated, you will taste it.
Speaker 5:And whoever else will pick up the phone Wherever you are. Outdoor Journal Radio seeks to answer the questions and tell the stories of all those who enjoy being outside. Find us on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1:So listen, now that um, now that um, we've we've done a fair introduction and um um, well, actually I'm not sure we've done a fair introduction. There's been two. There's been two uh, podcasts that you've been on, um three with me. Sorry, um, and um Three with me. Sorry, but if our Diaries family haven't gone back and listened to them. We know you're an oil man, just give us a quick hi, I'm Willie, I'm from here and this is what I do now.
Speaker 2:Sounds good, sounds good. So, folks, I'm Will, ploewski is my name. I grew up just east of Toronto, south of Peterborough, in a small town. I grew up creek fishing and Lake Ontario fishing, you know, kind of evolved into some lake fishing when I was more of a still a young man. But you know, in my teens, you know, I had my first boat as a young, you know, 12, 13 years old, and started getting out to, you know, the courses, rice Lake, you know, up to Couchaching and you know, and then I always had that passion for fishing, like everyone's heard me say.
Speaker 2:And then I decided to take my life to west of the oil and gas. I worked, let me say, just under 20 years in oil and gas in a couple of different divisions, always in the always. I worked my way up as a blue collar guy, you know. I started as a roughneck, worked my way up to a driller yeah, went back to school and got an evolution in some drilling engineering and took my career from there to the office. And I was in the office until our, until the amazing government changed hands that we have, and and at that point I decided that, you know, I'd always tournament fished, you know, against the big swinging sticks that are around the area.
Speaker 2:And you know I love competing, like I was always a middle-of-the-pack guy. You know I've come top 10, like twice, but I've always been a middle-of-the-pack guy, to be honest, right, but I love competing. I the thrill of the chase, um, so yeah, that's, you know, I kind of that's. I got into tournament fishing when I was in the oil field to kind of on my time off and and met uh, a lot of people in the industry that way and expanded into guiding when the oil and gas got slow, continued to guide for a few years and until I realized I didn't want to work for anybody else I've never worked for anybody my whole life ever and, uh, I don't do good with it. I'm, uh, I do good as a part. I'm, I'm, I'm, as you know, I'm an amazing partner and I'll work side by side with people. But I don't do, I don't do good with directive people in that aspect. So I decided that you know.
Speaker 2:Once I learned how to the ropes are guide. It was pretty easy for me because I'm a people's guy and I already could fish Right. So it was just putting two and two together. It was just I didn't know the chain link to put the two together. And once I was taught that by Jamie Lynch's crew at T2 Island Lodge that I you know I was ready to do my own thing.
Speaker 2:You know I'd always had rental businesses in the oil field. You know I've owned businesses for a long time, but it was always me, you know, it was always just me. A couple of generators we'd rent out, or me as a contractor back billing to the oil company, or you know. So it was no difference. I was going to start a little guiding outfit. So me and krista. Krista works at the hospital. Well, she's worked, uh, in er and and uh, she's a krista's a very humble lady too, but she has ever had a very important job in the hospital and she had some issues with her hands from an injury from long ago and she was looking for a career change and so was I, and so we jumped into our little guiding outfit Lake of the Woods Fishing Adventures and we ran it for two and a half years.
Speaker 1:It was an insane gig. Yeah, talk a little bit about it, because it wasn't just a typical guiding service.
Speaker 2:Well, no, so it wasn't really so it was. So it started out as a guiding service so I'd had Greg. Thompson was my first client and Greg's an RBC executive out of Winnipeg, great guy, and he knows everybody on Lake of the Woods. So he's a Winnipegger and he knows everybody that comes from Winnipeg to Lake of the Woods, to their cottages, and so he was a great connection. He was my first client On a musky trip in the fall.
Speaker 2:I'll never forget this. So we I had my, uh, my brand new aluminum craft boat 205 competitor. Put it in the water the first day um, everything went great. Caught two muskies trolling late fall. Great day. Second day, uh, put the boat in the water. Well, because it was a new boat, I didn't know ever where to drain on the boat when I come out and there was still some water in the back, well, in a line. Well, it was only Halloween, but in Kenora sometimes it gets cold enough. Well, it froze. It was minus 15 that night. It froze and split my line open. So this is the second day in operation.
Speaker 2:I had to call my best friend, kyle, who's the best man at my wedding coming up here. He, uh, I used his old, he's got an old tin knocker, lund, and uh took it out no power steering, the old cable drive on the wheel, and but, uh, we managed to get it done. Um, but yeah, that was my first trip ever, um, and then we, I expanded locally from there into canora and into the winnipeg area and then then, you know, kind of over the winter we ran trips over the winter and it was, it was right, right at the start of actually. So we actually grew in COVID. I started my business then Really, yeah, well, we started in a Canadian market, right, I always had all the Davey and all my clients from T2 that I'd fished with that wanted to stick with me, especially after they'd closed. I had a client list but for one they couldn't get in the country and for two I wasn't ready.
Speaker 2:Steve, I, you know like I'm not the guy that's going to tell you I'm ready for something and I'm not. You know I can do it and I can't. You know I'm. I don't have a limit and I can. I feel I can do anything as long as I'm shown how to do it and I learn it properly. I can do anything, I feel, but I don't do it unless I say I can. You know what I mean. So you know, dave, I remember you know my partner now, you know Dave Johnson.
Speaker 2:He had, I remember, sitting in my cabin almost a decade ago at T2. And I remember the story I told you in our first episode ever with the girls and those big fish and the you know, yeah, um, I remember when he approached me that day and he's like you know, we need to do something. You're my guy, like I invest in people, and you're my guy and I I put him off for a long time. I was like no, I'm, I'm uh, I wasn't ready, you. But I remember sitting in that cabin and Jerry Barge Leone was my roommate. I remember to this day and I remember sitting there till one in the morning starting to build a business plan and because I knew in the future something was going to happen. I don't know, I didn't know what, but it was happening. So, anyways, I'd had all this in my pocket, but I wasn't ready.
Speaker 2:So we continued to run the guide service, little by little, and then it got to the point where people started asking me for a cap and they're like Willie, you know you got to do more than a guide. You're not just a guide. I mean not that there's anything wrong with just being a guide, boys, that's not what I mean. It's you're not. You're meant to do something else. And they said well, why don't you get a cabin? And unfortunately I didn't have.
Speaker 2:You know, to buy a cabin would be one thing, but to buy a lodge was not where I was financially at that point in my life. You know, I just left the oil field, I just started a business, covid's going on. I'm like, eh, not a time that I want to be playing with that and I don't have a couple billion bucks in my pocket. So you know, I just don't have that handy right. I can't walk into the local credit union and say, hey, hook me up, right.
Speaker 2:So the way around that with and and and, we were me and Krista were completely fine, staying with the guiding outfit but and we were doing good. But the pressure to have overnight cabins and and and and start something bigger was was extreme from a lot of clients. So we, what we did was we developed. I knew a bunch of people on lake of the woods that had cabins, executive cabins, really nice ones, you know, on islands or on, you know close to town on beautiful points, and so what I did was I rented the cabin off them and then majority of the properties had a secondary cabin. Okay, so I would use the secondary cabin as the lodge and my guests would stay in the cabin. So so, like group of six, you know, let's say you know Dave and his wife Stacy and the girls came up, and you know Mark Easterling, one of my other investors, and then his wife Janet came up and they stayed over here and Dave stayed here, and then we had the main lodge.
Speaker 2:This. This one property had three and we we would. We would bring in a picture of this. So, like four in the morning, me and Krista would get up, go to the garage. We would load up this bar. It's a bar on wheels. Load up all the boobs, load up all the pop, load up all the water, get everything down to this makeshift lodge. We would set up tables, set up everything. Everything that you have in a restaurant, except for the jam holders, I would say, would be on that table. We had this bar set up in the corner with the bar so it looked like when you walked in there, it looked like it would have been there forever.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:But it had been there since four in the morning. It was insane, like the amount of work, like my kids, my kids would be hauling stuff back and forth from the truck. You know the work ethic they learned at a young age was very tough. So so that's yeah, we, we. It was a. It was a difficult road, but that was the path I had to take so you were basically setting up like these little satellite satellite lodges yes which is a which is a very cool concept all in itself, but, oh my God, I couldn't imagine the work.
Speaker 2:Steve, I did it for we did it for two and a half years and, like Dave had brought up, he brought up four groups with me in that two years. But so the thing was is we only did one group at a time. So a group of 10 guys that comes up is great cash, right, and it's your focus is right to that group of 10. It's one group. Yeah, I had. You know everybody in canora fishes with me, right, so it's so. It's uh, um, or will guide with me or for me, so that's uh, that was awesome to have that in our pocket and utilize that resource. So I didn't need guides every. I even had a chef, uh, chef, mark wrigley.
Speaker 2:He was out of canora, still to this day, good friend of mine. He was just at my christmas party last year. You know he's uh a great guy. He would, he would make us up all the food. He came out there and he would. He would bake dinner right in front of everybody in the kitchen. It was amazing, amazing, we. We actually on our on your first night with us at lake lewis fishing adventures. What we would do is we had a pontoon boat as well. So, chef would make up a sushi tray. He'd make up a pierogi and sausage platter. We'd put it in the warmer and have it on the pontoon. We'd have a bar there with a waitress on the boat and the guests would get in and we'd cruise through the islands of Lake of the Woods, for, you know, an hour, hour and a half, right At sunset, sunset tour.
Speaker 2:It was beautiful, and then they would drop you off at your cabin and me and Kristen would be there to welcome you, take you up to your cabin. You know that's, we've always had that elite experience, elite service experience. It does not matter where we were, that was what we want. If you were in my boat, it was that experience. If it was lincoln woods fishing adventures, it was that. And now nordic point lodge. So, um, that was our staple.
Speaker 2:Um, we would go over the top and sometimes at the start, you know, there was some money that I put in where I probably shouldn't have in some areas, but it got me to where I am now and and it was important to to hit those details in the right spots when I was small, um, yeah, so that's, that was the gist of what we did. I I've since we've bought the lodge here, steve um, I sold that business actually. So we actually built that business, sold it, and it runs on Lake of the Woods to this day. Adam Brow is the gentleman. If anyone's ever looking for a trip on Lake of the Woods, give him a call. He's a fine young man and one of the best sticks on the lake.
Speaker 1:Nice, yeah, yeah, nice yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, that's how this all started, and man, it was a lot of work, Steve.
Speaker 1:Oh hey, listen anytime you start talking about fishing services, guiding services, lodging, owning a lodge, where all of those services are combined, including the food. In a lot of cases it is a ton of work. I, for one, am one of the few people on the planet that understand the amount of work that comes along with it, starting from basically nothing at Chaudière and when I say basically nothing, I mean I had the infrastructure there, but it needed a ton of work.
Speaker 2:Like and to be honest.
Speaker 1:To be honest, yes, and whether or not your infrastructure is in great shape or it's in piss poor shape, there is always work that needs to be done. Imagine owning 14 houses out in the middle of the bush, which is not typically the easiest environment for buildings, you know, especially in the north, where you've got pine trees and pine sap and moss and all of the stuff. That number one attacks your roof, it, it, it, it. The moisture in the bush it's.
Speaker 1:You know, I had 14 cottages and, um, basically, uh, every year you're you're doing preventative maintenance on at least two of them and you can pretty much figure that you can start doing a bathroom. Uh, you know, like I mean it. It just it's year after year after year and then keeping it in tip-top shape. And, honestly, the biggest thing with owning a resort lodge, whatever and Ange has said it before and it is so true, and it is so true the cleanliness of your facility is probably the most important aspect of the experience. I agree, above everything, all else, even the fishing. Yes, you get some groups of guys who have been fishing together for years and really don't care if they're sleeping in a shithouse, but that demographic is quickly going to the wayside.
Speaker 2:Yeah, those times are even those guys. Now they're getting, they're getting older, bro, and they see, they've been, they've seen the changes as they come and now they're like now they expect it, they go, you know they. Those guys are few and far between now. I. I at our place anyways, I find.
Speaker 1:You when and when you start breaking into a higher end market, the most important thing is to and Ange said it best and this is what he said I want to feel like I am the first person to go into this cottage. I want to feel like this cottage is brand new to me and nobody has slept here. And there are, there are a few places that um, that, uh, um he's mentioned and I know of. Like I mean, that was what I strived to do at Chaudiere and um, uh, after a year or two of, really, and I was blessed because I, I bought the lodge and um, diane Restool come with it. Well, I quickly hired her and and um, I, when I bought the lodge, the old owner, jerry, he was from Indiana. He said, uh, I asked him, is there any staff that I should retain? And he said no, he said Diane's too expensive and this and that. So I didn't retain anybody and I thought that I could do it with like four people. And I was sadly mistaken and I realized that, being a sheet metal mechanic and a tradesman, I found it and I'm going to be quite honest with everybody.
Speaker 1:I found it difficult to work with, you know, 18 to 25-year-old girls At the time I was 33, you know, and it it was just, I didn't know how to talk to them. First of all, coming out of a trade much similar to you coming out of the oil fields, like I mean, fuck you, you talk to people and you're stern and you swear, and you, you, you have an understanding that you know what I'm. I'm pissed off and I and I and I can be pissed off, and you're not going to cry because I'm pissed off because of and not because I'm pissed off at you in particular. It's the situation. We need to get this done. Ba ba, ba, ba ba ba.
Speaker 1:And um, I remember there was one situation and I've told the story before with the. I had ramped up in my first year and I had three girls working for me, but there was, I had a hard time managing them because I didn't, I, I, I, I almost felt not intimidated, but like I mean, I didn't want to tell them what I needed and the things they were missing, and I would very nicely like, hey, girls, ha ha, ha, ha, you know, you gotta do we? We need to do it this way, um, instead of being half stern and saying, okay, guys, now, this is the way it's gotta be done, um, and if it's not done, this is the. This is the repercussions. Well, I let things fester and then just blew my top like Mount Vesuvius and there were crocodile tears and everything else and this and that. And I thought I thought, oh my God, I I don't know what I've done here.
Speaker 1:And at that point I went and got Diane and, um, I remember begging her. She was working like very part time at the Doki police station as a um, as a secretary, and I walked into the police station and I said, hi, are you Diane? Because I had never met her. And she said, yes, steve, she knew exactly who I was already and it's a small community Doquese was a very small community and I got on my hands and knees and I begged her.
Speaker 1:I said, diane, I need you, I need you to come to the lodge and work for me. And she said, well, jerry was paying me $18 an hour, and you know, $18 an hour in 2010 for me in a new business. That was quite a bit of money. And I said, okay, and I don't know what it was. I don't know whether she saw the look on my face or whether she just heard through the grapevine, I honestly don't know. But she said Jerry was paying me $18 an hour. But I know you're just starting the business. I'll come and work for you for $14 an hour.
Speaker 1:And I was like I'd never met Diane before. But I walked over and I give her a hug because I was so appreciative of her and she really was one of the reasons that I was successful and she knew how to clean, she knew how to manage the girls and listen. She was very stern. She was very stern with them. But it's what you need and what I need, I agree, and that cleanliness and everything else was a key factor. And thank you, diane. God rest your soul. I dearly miss you.
Speaker 2:Diane was your Chrisca.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's how I, steve, I've had. You know the story is full on firsthand, but I've had the same getting going. I really thought so, being at the lodge before and being there, being around it for enough time that you know, I honestly thought the guides were going to be the headache, right, the drama with the guides, or this guy fished my spot, or the. Never. I don't get that. Our guides work as a team. It's but the disc and and it's the and and the outdoor.
Speaker 2:You know I, just like you, I I spent. You know you spend all that time as a rough-hearted man, and even myself, like most of the guys I worked with, if you didn't show up for for work one day, you owed everybody on the crew a case of beer and they took your wage for the day, and you still work 12 hours on that journal because it didn't show up for for work. One day, you owed everybody on the crew a case of beer and they took your wage for the day, and you still work 12 hours on that journal because it didn't matter, man, if you wanted to stick around for 500, 700 bucks a day, no matter what your position was. It was, that was the range and that's how it is. You don't blow a shit, you don't? You know your work was work and play was play and uh, and and and that I'm.
Speaker 2:You know that by now, steve, I'm a very hardened man because of it, and so I had a similar issue like I. I can't deal. I have to let krista deal with the girls. I have to that. You know that. The girls I deal with them all day, but I can't deal with them on the details of their job or the insights of the, and it's just because I'm too, I'm too blunt and I'm too broad about things. And that's me. So thank goodness I have my wife, that is, that is, you're not the Diane here to to be that buffer, because the, the young female staff, is heavily drama.
Speaker 1:Well, like I mean, and there's great girls and I found along the way Jen Tryon is another girl that worked for me for years Pat Tryon's wife, who was a guide there as well, and you know you, just, you just find the right people and the, the, the people that you can deal with, because for, for a white man, let's be honest, it's very difficult to be in a position of authority when you're not dealing with other white men, and you got to be careful yeah, no, I agree, I agree 100 and that and and that is getting, that, is getting worse and worse every day, and um, it's.
Speaker 1:It's one of those things where you whether you're dealing with minorities, or women, girls you know even other guys like you've got to be very careful with how you deal with people in today's day and age.
Speaker 2:A hundred percent and you're right. And yeah, no, I didn't mean that context. Even just the ladies out there that listen to our show.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, no In general, like I've had. I had even just the ladies out there that listen to our show. Yeah, no, no.
Speaker 2:In general like I've had. I had and this is no BS I had two 22-year-old guys come crying to me this year and had to go home and not to make fun of a situation, but I mean, normally you think that a man of that stature and age would never do that. I know, when I grew up, it was a different world, but times are different and and and it had nothing to do with crying because I made them cry. That's not what I mean. Yeah, they missed home, they, they, they couldn't be away from their family and they couldn't, they couldn't be away from, from the disconnect of the world. And, uh, to me that's just like.
Speaker 2:To me and my kids and my family and my people and the lodge business, that's a norm and that's all we know. So, yeah, put yourself in the perspective of you know you in their shoes is something that I've had to learn. You know I've always done that throughout my career, steve, but learn it in this creek fashion now. You know I mean I got to go up this, tread up this water now to understand it, and it's definitely been something I've learned over the last two years. To let somebody deal with that, because it is not me on that end of the one, men to the camp.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, absolutely so. Anyway, on a different note, um, what can the the Diaries family look forward to uh going forward with um, with uh Diaries of a Lodge Owner. Stories of the North.
Speaker 2:Well, the first thing they can look forward to is seeing my ugly face beside yours on this show, which is probably going to be like man. Steve was ugly before, but now he's really handsome, because Willie is not a good looking dude, you know. So I'm going to help you in that aspect, brother.
Speaker 1:Nice. I appreciate that for all of the fans out there.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, no, all joking aside, well, just like me and Steve have told everybody here starting the show, the show is going going in direction where, where lodges, majority of lodges, are in our, in, in the aspect of our world that we see, and and that's in the north, and we, you know, we, between myself and steve, and and our, our, our network of friends and wonderful people we work with and guests that that come through.
Speaker 2:Correct and the guests that come through. We've decided to take the show in that area, like I said, to take it to the whole north.
Speaker 1:And the great thing about north is north is a relative thing, and north to somebody on the South Pole is everywhere right North to somebody in Panama is a long way. So the thing I love about that is it really opens things up. The thing I love about that is it really opens things up. But the things that we've kind of talked about are, you know, the wild backwoods stories about anything in the north which could be just about anywhere on the planet.
Speaker 2:You know, and you went from hiking to guys chasing polar bears in the Arctic, to diamond throwers, to trappers.
Speaker 1:You know, arctic trappers to you mean at Nordic, one of the things that, um, that you, you offer are daily um, uh, back uh lake adventures and um, and you work with, um, with a couple of bush plane outfits and and just to hear, oh yeah, like I mean, and he's gotta be a guy, we should, we, we gotta get on.
Speaker 2:I'm sure after what 25, 30 years of of bush plane piloting, he must have some pretty cool stories I wouldn't even imagine and you're right, steve that the the realm of what we can touch now is going to be unlimited in my world and in your world, and it's going to be awesome that folks, when, when, the people that we have lined up already for some future podcasts here, the stories are going to blow your mind. We're very excited and you know, we got NFL stars that have won Super Bowls, with Tom Brady lined up.
Speaker 1:We've got guys that have you know, been to the bottom of the ocean.
Speaker 2:And the top of the highest mountains in Tibet. You know what I mean. Like in. You know like it's going to be folks. It's going to be something to look forward to and content, content, content. Let's pump it out to them, stevie. Let's give the people what they want, baby.
Speaker 1:That's what I say. That's what I say, and you know what? It's one of those things when I don't know if there's many, many podcast hosts out there that will talk candidly about the workings of a podcast, but I can tell you that I started this because it was a cool idea and Ang and Dean Taylor and all the guys back at the office were starting a network. Um, we're we're starting a network. Um, I had always thought about um, uh, a podcast and and the name Diaries of a Lodge Owner. It goes back to when I the when I first bought the lodge. Even before I got up there, I did a blog in in um, um, 2009,. Uh, late 2009.
Speaker 2:I'd love to see it in 2009, late 2009.
Speaker 1:I'd love to see it. You know, I looked online and it's that blog. I don't know where it went. It's very difficult to find.
Speaker 2:Sorry, that's super cool, though that's cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was writing and I would write about diaries of a lodge owner even before I had the lodge. And then once I got up there, man, there was. There was just no time for it, but the whole idea of that diaries of a lodge owner thing, uh, came to me back then and then when, when I I thought about the, the podcast, and um, um, uh, ange had uh, well, actually it was really Dean who pushed Ange and Pete to do their podcast and then the network, it was just a natural thing for me. But you know, it's a lot of work and content creation is not easy, especially to try and find things that are interesting to all of the people that are listening. And Ange always told me, you know it's more about yourself. You want to build a relationship with your listeners so that they want to listen to you and anybody that you have on as secondary, which which is which is great and extremely scary. You know, the first 20 podcasts are easy. It's like the honeymoon Um, you've got all kinds of low hanging fruit there's, there's people that uh, that you know in your life, that are cool, that you can call upon and and do these awesome podcasts and everything else.
Speaker 1:But once you go through that Rolodex, um, now you're looking and and I feel, um, I feel obligated to deliver a product that is great for the Diaries family. And it's something that I've struggled with a little bit. That I've struggled with a little bit, you know, like I think the product has always been great, but it's not as easy as what I thought and I think that that is the earmark of every good business Running a fishing lodge not as easy as I thought, but rewarding when you do it and you do it right. And this podcast is that. And bringing you on for me was the right move because I was thinking about our family.
Speaker 1:I said our guests that's the lodge owner coming out of me, but our Diaries family, because you're a great personality, and now, with this new angle with Stories of the North personality, and now, with this new angle, with stories of the north, I'm I'm so excited to, to be able to, to broaden that out and um, and and just some of the stories that, uh, that we're going to be able to bring to all of you, and the knowledge and the, the, the learning from some of these wonderful people on the planet is just exciting. So, first and foremost, willie, welcome to the show as a co-host and thank you for taking this on.
Speaker 2:Steve, like I said, I'm completely honored and I really appreciate you. Just, you know everyone out there. You know, steve, opening up like that about the show is awesome and I feel that's how we are bud, me and you. We don't have nothing to put back, we don't have nothing to not talk about, and that's what, to me, is real about this with you is and I hope everyone realizes that out there, like these aren't and I did, I wasn't, I didn't realize it, I thought everything you did was edited. Bud, in these podcasts Like this is everything we talk is live. Oh, wow, it's not quite live. Then you put it up just like this is what I mean. It's not getting you know. The only editing is you're putting on the picture and the write up as to who is there and what it's about.
Speaker 1:I mean the commercials in between, when, when we're lucky enough to to find some commercials, and that's the other thing.
Speaker 1:Like I mean um, when you get involved with a, with a business, you, you, you're involved in, your ultimate goal is to make money. Um, I've I've never, I've never really um jumped into businesses and I've owned a few like I, I had a sheet metal shop, the, the lodge, um and um. When I commit myself to that business, I really don't think a whole lot about the money, because I believe that if you do a good enough job, the money will come and um, and that that is is what um is, is is how I think about the financial side of things. So, you know, it's one of those things where, yeah, you know, I would love to be making a lot more money with this Diaries of a Lodge owner business at this point. But you know what, we're trucking along pretty decently. But the better the content and the better the experience for our awesome family of listeners, the more lucrative it can be Better it will be for everybody, for them, for us for the Outdoor Journal Radio Network.
Speaker 1:Well, but my point is, that's not what motivates me to do this. What motivates me to do this is the awesome people that we meet and the content that we can produce and just with what we're going to do in the next couple of weeks and going forward, folks, there's some pretty cool shit coming up and I'm excited to let you all know that.
Speaker 2:Steve, you know what we should do. Why don't we put it out there too, to our listeners? And I don't think I've heard anybody do this on a podcast? But, guys, ladies, gentlemen, if there's anybody out there that has a wild story, if you are a, you know, if you're a just a, if you're a store worker or you're a miner, or you're a truck driver, whatever you do for work, whatever you do in your spare time, if you have a story from the North that relates to our show and you want to share it, email me. Oh, I would love that, like, like, I'm sure the people out there listening have got you know, there's got to be a diamond truck driller or a guy who's driven on ice roads or or some kind of anything that any that you guys have out there is our guests and our, our diaries, family. Um, share those stories of the north. You know, shoot us an email, myself or steve, and uh, we would love to hear from you and when you set up a chat and see what you got.
Speaker 2:It's will at nordic point, lodge and steve go ahead.
Speaker 1:Steven at fishingcanadacom, you all know that that, yeah, that's a wonderful idea. And, willie, on that note, I thank you for this first episode with my co-captain and I think we will cut it off here and look forward to our next podcast.
Speaker 2:Sounds good, buddy. I got a tournament in Red Lake here to go get prepped up and fish for, so I got to cut loose and take care and have a great day, Stevie.
Speaker 1:Right on. Thank you, willie, and thank you to all of the Diaries family out there listening. If you got to this point, I really appreciate you. And, as always, head on over to fishincanadacom. We've got some wonderful giveaways there. If you like this content, if you like the Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North podcast, tell your friends, let's ramp this up and let's get some subscribers. You can leave comments. You can also, like we said, get a hold of us via email, and I totally look forward to the next Diaries of a Lodge Owner episode. It's going to be great folks, you're not going to want to miss that. And thus brings us to the conclusion of another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North.
Speaker 2:I'll be making my way, the only way I know how. Working hard and sharing the North with all of my pals. Well, I'm a good old boy.
Speaker 5:I bought a lodge and lived my dream.
Speaker 1:And now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 6:What brings people together more than fishing and hunting? How about food? Yeah, to our real passion the outdoors.
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