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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 61: High Climbing With Jason Dittmer
Can you imagine scaling the highest peaks or diving deep into the ocean to uncover World War II relics? This week, we bring you an electrifying episode featuring the legendary high-altitude cinematographer, Jason Dittmer. From his humble beginnings fishing with his grandmother to capturing stunning footage for National Geographic, Jason's life is a whirlwind of adventure, grit, and serendipity. We'll traverse some of his most gripping stories, from heart-pounding climbs in Spain and Tibet to documenting ancient WWII submarines with Canadian submersibles.
Prepare to be on the edge of your seat as Jason recounts the adrenaline-packed world of high-altitude mountaineering. He shares the exhilarating highs and devastating lows, including the sobering experience of losing a teammate at 25,000 feet. His journey takes a fascinating turn when he joins a BBC film crew to document an epic climb. You'll gain a unique insight into the resilience and spirit required to conquer these formidable challenges, all while navigating the extreme conditions of some of the world's tallest peaks.
But it's not all mountains and deep-sea dives—Jason also takes us into the serene yet thrilling world of fly fishing. From the luxurious Nordic Point Lodge to untamed waters in Cuba and Mexico, he reveals the deep cultural connections and camaraderie forged through angling. We explore the technical beauty of fly fishing and hear about Jason’s unforgettable catches, including the elusive muskie and the rooster fish of the Sea of Cortez. This episode is a treasure trove of outdoor adventures, personal triumphs, and the incredible bonds formed in nature. Join us for an unforgettable journey with Jason Dittmer, a true outdoor legend.
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:Flatfishing, for me, has developed into. It's almost a conduit to experience new cultures and people. Being able to communicate with those people, see their life. That, for me, has become what fishing is. That's the drive If I catch a fish amazing.
Speaker 1:This week on the Outdoor Journal Radio podcast Networks Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North. Will and I are excited to talk to this outstanding father adventurer and one of the world's foremost high altitude cinematographers. His love for the outdoors began with his grandmother, whose passion for fishing ignited a lifelong connection to the natural world. This connection grew into a love for mountain climbing, leading him to some of the highest and most challenging peaks on Earth. But it was his work as a cinematographer that truly set him apart, capturing breathtaking footage in some of the world's most extreme environments, one of which took him and a National Geographic crew over 3,500 feet below the ocean's surface in search of forgotten World War II relics. And now, on behalf of Willie and I, it is my pleasure to introduce to the Diaries family Jason Dittmer.
Speaker 1:On this show, jay talks about the passion for mountain climbing and the career in cinematography that serendipitously spawned from it. He shares stories from some of the most extreme corners of the earth, including a behind-the-scenes recount as his lens peered through the Pacific abyssal waters, revealing some of the rarest World War II relics in history the legendary aircraft carrying Japanese samurai submarines. So, from the world's highest peaks to the murky depths where the samurai submarines silently lay at rest. This one is awesome. Here's our conversation with Jason Dittmer. Yay, folks, welcome to another episode of Diaries of a Lodge Owner, and it is a special episode because we have our new co-host with us again. As you all know, wild Willie Polowski and I just threw the wild in there, hey, folks, how are we today?
Speaker 1:Willie Polowski and I just threw the wild in there. I threw the wild in there because I know I love him and I feel he's a little, a little bit wild. How you doing, Willie?
Speaker 3:Good, buddy Good. How are you today?
Speaker 1:Good, good, good. I, you know, had a great weekend. Come from the cottage, spent some time up there with my good buddy, chris King, and we were remembering a good friend of ours, brian Ingram, and we were up there with the family and got some ashes from Brian and we all have the opportunity to spread them where we see fit and that's what Brian wanted. So I still have mine. You know, it's one of those things where you got to have the right moment.
Speaker 3:Choose your moment, buddy yeah.
Speaker 1:Choose your moment. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And on today's show, and we are moving into a Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories from the North, and we have a special guest, somebody who I met at Nordic Point Lodge, and this is a big step for Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North, because we have now a former lodge owner and myself. We have a lodge owner in the present and the whole story really is about people and cool things that we see as owners and people we meet there, and Jason Dittmer is with us today and this guy, like I mean, you know there's people out there. When you meet them, you just know right away that they're great people. The vibrations that come from this man and his son your son was fantastic too were amazing, and I'd like to, Willie and I, I'd like to welcome you to the show.
Speaker 2:Thank you, guys. I am very honored. When you called and asked if I would be on your show, I thought, well, I'm not a lodge owner, but I've certainly spent plenty of money at lodges, so maybe it's just a courtesy, yeah, well, no, it isn't a courtesy at all.
Speaker 1:One of the things that the Diaries family and I love and Willie love to do is talk to very cool people with great stories, and one of the things that I would like to talk about is what you used to do and where you come from, because we don't know exactly who you are, jay. Where you come from, because we don't know exactly who you are, jay. And so tell us a little bit about your life as a person, growing up and the very cool path that I know from knowing you, that kind of unfolded in front of you and created such a fantastic person really. But tell us a little bit about how you started out as a youngster.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I grew up just outside of Chicago, in Illinois, just outside of Chicago, in Illinois, and I don't know what it was, but my father, my father, would rather go to the dentist and get a root canal than go fishing. He didn't like fishing, he didn't want to go fishing. But his mom, my grandmother, was way into fishing, was way into fishing and you know, age eight, she would come and get me and we would drive up to Lake of the Woods in Ontario and from the time I was eight to when she died, when I was 16, every year, no way, no, just, we went and this woman, long fingernails I mean, she was a, she tuned it up right, she was no fishing attire for her, she was dressed up, she got on that boat, she had her cigarettes, she had her long fingernails and she outfished everybody.
Speaker 2:She made that boat look good, baby, we did, and she was, and she was a character. Anyway, that was my introduction to Ontario and really it was my grandmother's introduction of fishing and travel that really led me to my own journey. Right yeah, this quest, this odyssey to find new and cool places and find new adventures, and that ultimately led me to um, to mountains. I live in park city, Utah, right now. We're surrounded by mountains, but I fell in love not just with the water and with fishing, but I fell in love with mountains.
Speaker 4:That's very cool.
Speaker 2:And that kind of took me down a very sort of strange path. I started climbing mountains as a kid and then as an adult I thought you know, kind of like you guys, hey, I love this. Can I make a living doing this?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so listen, as a kid you were climbing mountains. How does a kid and I'm assuming we're talking like maybe in your late teens or whatever how do you decide and how do you actually figure out how to climb a mountain and survive, like, are you starting to hike mountains first, or are you climbing vertical walls or what? What's Jay doing in those days?
Speaker 2:It's a great question. How does a guy who lives in Illinois where there are no mountains, how does he? How does he find that? And it was interesting Obviously, after my grandmother died, there's no more fishing trips, right? So my parents are looking at each other like what are we going to do with this kid? It's summertime, what are we going to do with him?
Speaker 3:Grandma's got him jacked up to the outdoors and there's no one to carry him through. Now who's stepping up to the plate?
Speaker 2:here.
Speaker 2:Exactly so. They found this organization. It was called the National Outdoor Leadership School, or NOLS for short, and they're based out of Wyoming or NOLS for short and they're based out of Wyoming. And what they do is they take kids like me on 35-day unsupported mountaineering trips no shit. So, 18 years old, they drop me off and I get a backpack.
Speaker 2:35 days is a long time. It's a long time, right, and I've never spent that much time out in the back country. And you go and you start one place and 35 days later, you finish in another place. And it did two things for me, right? It did two things for me, right. I was very privileged growing up, and it taught me that you don't really need all the stuff, yeah, and I, as a young man who probably had never done a load of laundry in my life, I learned how to survive with nothing more. That was on my back, and that was wildly empowering for me. That's amazing. And next thing, you know, that's where I want to be. And so I actually applied for a job and when I got out of college, I started working for Knowles.
Speaker 1:So what did you take in college?
Speaker 2:I was a ski racer, nice. I went to college up in upstate New York, buffalo Bills, baby, yeah, I mean, buffalo is like the banana belt compared to where I went to school. The closest city was Ottawa. It was right on the St Lawrence River, it was freezing cold and I realized pretty quick that this was miserable. You drove an hour and a half to go skiing. It was ice, I was getting my ass kicked and I thought I got to get out of here. Yeah, but my parents weren't going to let me leave college. So they, I figured this school had a very good foreign language program. Yeah. So I said you know what? I'm going to go and I'm going to learn. I'm going to leave and I'm going to learn. I'm going to leave and I'm going to go study abroad. And my sophomore year I went and said, hey, I want to become a foreign language major. They looked at my transcript and they were like you haven't even taken a foreign language class. What's with the sudden interest in foreign language?
Speaker 3:You got to get English down first, Eddie first, eh, Right, good point, you should probably learn how to read and write English first.
Speaker 2:Anyway, next thing, you know I'm in Spain. I went to Spain for lived there for seven years and worked for Knowles and spent a bunch of time in the mountains and that led me to my own sort of climbing. When I wasn't in the field working I wanted to climb my own mountains and that took me to Alaska, climbed Denali.
Speaker 1:Um, so were you? Were you guiding at this point, or were you just traveling and climbing?
Speaker 2:I was doing a little bit of both, Um, I was doing a lot of personal climbing, so, um, but I there were, there were trips that I would go and guide, Um, but yeah, I just wanted to go and climb big mountains, that sense of adventure that you know.
Speaker 1:And these are like rock faces, like are you boring in the you know, turning in your, your pins and running your rope, or or is this more hiking? This is more. Are you freestyling? Are you one of those dudes that are hanging from the backside of a cliff dangling your feet down there like Wim Hof?
Speaker 2:Well, I did do a lot of that, but I did. These were big mountains, so these were 20,000, 22, 27,000 foot peaks and they were very high, they were full of ice, they were full of snow Extreme conditions then, yeah, but they were really cool places and yeah, so I was doing that, and one of these trips took me to um, to Tibet. No way, there's a mountain in Tibet. It's very, very cool, it's called Cho Oyu and it's uh, it's an 8,000 meter peak, and I was there climbing with some buddies and we were, uh, climbing this mountain and you know, when you're climbing big mountains, it's just a very, very, it's an environment that doesn't lend itself to a tremendous amount of leeway. When things go bad, they go bad pretty fast. Yeah, you know, and we wound up. Actually, actually, one of the guys on my trip actually passed on the mountain and that was kind of the end of the trip, right.
Speaker 1:Um, what happened?
Speaker 2:if you don't mind me asking you know, we don't really know, but he was up at the final camp, which is about 25,000 feet, and him, along with two other guys went to the summit and they came back and you're hurting. I mean, you're just hurting. It's just not a place that you're supposed to spend a lot of time.
Speaker 3:Because I don't know what that would feel like. Is it like chest pressure? Is it like hard to breathe? What's it like when you get up there and you're at that point, Jay?
Speaker 1:And there's very little oxygen, I'm assuming.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's very little oxygen. First of all, you've spent to get to 25,000 feet. You've spent probably six weeks trying to get up there, wow. And so the lowest altitude you're at is 18,000 feet. And you're living there and your body is dying, your hair is falling out, your nails don't grow no way. Your body doesn't is trying to survive, so it just kind of eats itself.
Speaker 1:And this is from lack of oxygen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, this is from lack of oxygen and 25,000 feet. I remember this very clearly. You have oxygen, right, you have, but you only have like two tanks. And I remember waking up one morning and looking down and putting on my boots, and looking down at my boots and saying to myself I know that I know how to tie these boots, but for the life of me I can't remember how to do this, no way.
Speaker 2:And then you take a couple of puffs on some oxygen and you're like, oh, now I remember you take a step, you take a breath, maybe two, and then you take another step and it's negative 20, negative 30 and the wind's blowing and it just doesn't take much. Like it's just it doesn't take much. So the long and short of it is is that he came down and he got in his tent and that night it snowed and it snowed about a foot and when we found him in the morning his oxygen mask was off and he had passed. And when you go on a trip like this, above 23,000 feet, you sign a waiver and basically it says above 23,000 feet, your body stays, your body stays on the mountain, really, yeah. So the procedure is you take all their personal effects. You hike those down and then you actually take the body and you put it um in a crevasse and really that's, that's crazy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just too dangerous to try and get a body down from that high.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess right. And so you go down, you bring all their effects, but the Chinese government who is in charge of Tibet? They don't let you leave until you get a certificate of death. So we had to spend an additional two weeks down at base camp waiting for this guy to go from Tibet to Beijing to get a death certificate and then come back. And during that time there was a film crew on the mountain from the BBC and they were doing a documentary on the oldest man to climb an 8,000 meter peak and their cameraman got pulmonary edema. He got sick.
Speaker 1:And that's from lack of oxygen.
Speaker 2:You know, they don't really know exactly what that's from, but it has something to do. You're basically your lungs start filling up with fluid Fluid.
Speaker 2:So it's like a pneumonia thing yeah, it is, and so he got evacuated. But the maybe the only time my major of foreign language really served itself was the producer was Spanish and we became friends and she was like hey look, I'm screwed the document, I have no cameraman, you're here and you got to be here for another two weeks. Would you consider taking this camera? And at that time there was no video, this was film.
Speaker 1:No way like real film.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a 16 millimeter camera and you had to load the film. And um, she's like would you take this camera and follow him back up the mountain? I was like I have never exposed film other than like a point and click. I've never done that. So she taught me and I went back up with this guy and a Sherpa and he got. He wound up getting some. He got retinal hemorrhaging at like 25,000 feet and so the thing didn't wind up being much of a documentary at all.
Speaker 2:But when I got back to the States I wasn't at home more than like three days and I got a phone call and they were like hey, yeah, we heard you're a high altitude cameraman and we're going to Denali, and I remember this moment so clearly. I was thinking to myself what do I say? Do I say why? Yes, I am a high altitude cameraman, I've, I've, I've exposed. I don't know what I'm doing, but if you think I am, then I'll do it. And so I faked it till I made it and I went and um, and that started a career in film and television. Where did that?
Speaker 3:call come from? Where do they base out of these places, like these companies that would hire you for this? Was it out of LA, like out west?
Speaker 2:This one was actually out of Maryland.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:And they were doing a documentary on some cancer survivors climbing Denali, and so I went and did that and next thing you know, I'm, I'm a cameraman and so you're up the side of this and like I mean it's just so that our Diaries family understand, you're like probably working with this film inside a dark tent and like I mean it's, you can't be exposed to the light and there's so much that goes into these, this big, bulky piece of equipment. Am I kind of on point with that thought?
Speaker 2:Well, look, you're in the production world, you know, when you're on a lake and it starts to rain like even modern day video cameras they get rained on, they get wet, they stop working. Keeping this gear working in adverse conditions was probably 90% of the job. Job, yeah, right and um, a film camera was was really hard because you, that film, can't touch light and they don't like to work, and keeping a battery going when it's negative 20 outside I always.
Speaker 3:that always amazes me, all these guys. It's crazy that you guys keep whether it's a YouTuber or a videographer like yourself back in the day. I can't keep my cell phone charged long enough to run around the camp and get my guys going in the morning and then I lose it and I can't charge it and I'm like you guys are doing this for a living in the middle of nowhere. I know.
Speaker 2:No, that was the thing. For a living in the middle of nowhere, oh, I know. No, that was the thing. We would put the batteries inside our coats and then we would hook. They would make these cables that would go to the camera, but you had to keep the batteries warm. I mean, it was a whole thing, yeah, but it was cool. I really enjoyed it. The only problem with that business was you were gone all the time, and in this time I had fallen in love with the woman that is now my wife, and after a couple of years of this nonsense, she was like look, this is not going to work. You're gone all the time. How are we going to get married? How are we going to have a family? And I said you're right, you're absolutely right, let's do this. Let's move to Los Angeles, which is in the United States. It's the hub of film and television. I'll get a master's in cinematography and I'll just work locally. So we moved from the mountains to Los.
Speaker 1:Angeles. So basically, you did your business for a couple of years two, three years and then moved. That's the exposure, that's the time frame from on the mountain and that wonderfully serendipitous experience that pointed you in this direction. You spent three years in that business and traveling the world. And before we move, what are some of the coolest memories and situations that happened in those three years?
Speaker 2:Some of the coolest memories that I have of those three years really it was. It was just I didn't know anything. So every, every opportunity I took because I had to learn if it was really, if I was really going to make a run at this. Yeah, I had to learn and so I took every opportunity. And probably the coolest thing that I ever worked on was a National Geographic television show.
Speaker 2:During World War II, the Japanese made these aircraft-carrying submarines. Now, you've never heard about them. I had certainly never heard about them. But these were submarines that were 400 feet long, seven stories high, and inside of the submarine they could carry two airplanes Wow. And after the Battle of Midway, where the Japanese got pummeled, they launched these submarines and one went to right near Guam and the other one went right near the Panama Canal and in transit, japan surrendered. So these things surface waving the right flag and the US is like what is this? They think they're looking at the Death Star. They don't know what this is. So they sail these with the Japanese crew because everything's in Japanese. They sail these boats to Pearl Harbor and the Russians who, if you remember, at that time, were our allies in World War II they said hey, we heard you got these really cool aircraft carrying submarines. We'd love to come have a look.
Speaker 2:And I think ideologically back then we knew we weren't going to be long-term friends. We were friends by convenience and in the middle of the night, under the cover of darkness, we took these submarines out, we towed them out to this 3,500 foot trench and we sent torpedoes into them and we deep-sixed them and when they did that they were testing new torpedoes and they had on the destroyer. They had one guy filming and these things blow up and the boat turns and the guy kept the camera running and could see Oahu and this production company. When, when, when this whole thing was declassified, the production company got one frame from that film and we literally went out into the ocean, we were like I think this is the spot. And then we got two 1980s they were actually Canadian these manned submersibles and we put cameras and lights on them and for two months we'd go down every day. We'd go down 3,500 feet, no way, and we would look for these things.
Speaker 1:Were you in the subs with the.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the sub was a 10 by 10 sphere and there was a naval historian, there was a pilot and there was me Three dudes in a tense foot foot sphere for like eight hours a day. There's no bathroom, it, I mean it's it is. It is a bubble with batteries and little engines and was there like a tether to the top?
Speaker 1:nope, no way did.
Speaker 3:You're the first guy I've ever heard in my life like and I've done a lot of traveling and I'm a social butterfly, I know a lot of people and I've never heard of anybody going under the ocean for the depth that you do and then getting up into the mountains and these massive ranges at like eight, ten thousand feet above sea level. Like, have you ever met anybody like that steve that's done that?
Speaker 1:never, no, it's great, it's crazy I want to hear more about this sub. I am so intrigued I can't even believe what I'm hearing. And um, uh, so when you're at those depths, what is your distance of vision with your lights? Obviously, because you said 3,500 feet. Yeah, there's no light from the sun down there. There's no light.
Speaker 2:It's pitch black and cold. I mean it's really I don't know, but I can tell you that you are breathing. So I don't know, but I can tell you that you are breathing. So there's no connection. There is an oxygen bottle with a toothpick in it that's bleeding slowly. I'm not joking, this is it's like.
Speaker 2:And then there are these two charcoal carbon dioxide scrubbers. They filter the air and they pull the carbon dioxide out, and so it's like a dance. The scrubbers get full, you pull them out, you put another one in and you're sitting there and an alarm goes off. Oh, there's too much carbon dioxide, Pull these out. I mean, it's just, it's archaic. But you're down there, it's pitch black, and turning on your lights, you can't see. It's like turning on your brights in fog, you can't see. So there's a sonar and you can see maybe five or six feet. And one of the things, these submarines were battery powered. What made them unique was there was a giant diesel generator on it and they charged batteries, and the batteries are what propelled this giant submarine. And then to exhaust the gas from the yeah, and then to exhaust the gas from the, from the generator. They had a telescopic exhaust pipe and I mean they were really cool, yeah, and we're talking about the Japanese subs now, yeah, the Japanese subs Sorry.
Speaker 2:Anyway, we were down there. This is like a month and a half into it and we see a battery.
Speaker 1:Oh, my God, you found them. You didn't find them, did you Found them? Oh, get the hell out of here.
Speaker 2:We found them and we saw a battery, and then there was like this trail of batteries and next thing, you know, we come upon this thing sitting in the bottom of the ocean and when they, when they sank them, they sent this torpedo in and they broke in half and then they kind of went down, fluttered and they, we found both of them and, uh god, and they were close to each other when they went down, or did they like drift away?
Speaker 3:you know what I mean. Like you see on the Titanic and shit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they kind of drifted, but it was all sort of contained within like a half mile. And because of the depth and there's no I mean it's cold and there's no light, these things were perfectly preserved the teak decks, the catapults, everything perfect and um, and then we had to, once we found them, we had to film them. Yeah, we brought another submersible and because you know, when you turn on lights, if the camera's here and the light comes from here, you can't shoot it. So we put all the lights on this other submersible and they would go down to the end and they'd turn on their lights and backlight the whole wreck and then we would kind of cruise along and film.
Speaker 2:It was really cool, it was one of the coolest experiences I've ever had and we would do things like we would take those giant styrofoam cups that you get at the gas station to put your soda in and we would put them in a mesh bag and leave them outside the submarine and go down and when we'd come back up they were the size of a thimble. They were tiny, oh, from the pressure Pressure just crushed. I mean, it was really one of the coolest things I'd ever. I'd ever done.
Speaker 1:That's one of the coolest things I've ever heard of anybody doing Like. I mean, the story itself is is so cool with those with those submarines. Did you see the? Did you see parts of the planes like? Did they sink them, with the planes inside them?
Speaker 2:or not. In fact, there's only one. They were called sarin bombers and they were really cool because their wings folded up and the tail folded down, yeah, so they could fit inside the pressure hull. Yeah, and there's only one of them in existence right now.
Speaker 2:And it's at the, it's at the aeronautical museum in Washington DC and we went there and looked at them and film there and I mean building the documentary, you have to sort of build everything. We talked to some of the Japanese sailors who now live in Hawaii, yeah, and it was just. I mean, look, storytelling, as you know, is such an old, old, old profession, but it's so important, you know.
Speaker 1:Important and so gratifying to see, to hear. First of all to hear the story and because at some point, like I mean, yeah, you hear them talking about these submarines and, yeah, you kind of believe the story, but there's only two of them. And after a month of search, describe the feeling when you guys are sitting in this glass or plastic sphere and you start to see the strewn field, like you think, oh my God, boys, I think we found something here.
Speaker 2:I mean, the naval historian and the pilot were really excited. Yeah, yeah, I realized as soon as we found them that my work was just beginning and so I was like ugh, yeah, I mean, look, being at a 10 by 10 sphere eight hours a day for months with two stinky guys who are peeing in like sandwich bags, I mean it's not a pretty place. I mean it's not pretty, but I wanted to tell everyone. But one of the things that happened was National Geographic wanted to. They wanted to release it right, and they wanted to release the finding right when the show aired. Yeah, so we had to. We went and filmed the documentary and they cut it together and like literally three or four months later, when they aired it, they, they told people.
Speaker 1:They told everyone, but you couldn't, I couldn't. You had to keep your mouth shut for that three or four months.
Speaker 2:I maybe told one or two people. As you guys know, I'm not good at keeping my mouth shut.
Speaker 1:I love you, man, and.
Speaker 3:I have a hard time dropping the subject because it's very cool.
Speaker 1:But when you're at 3,500 feet below the surface of the ocean and you're in this sphere and you've got a little oxygen tank with a fucking toothpick pissing oxygen into the sphere and you got these scrubbers over here and like I mean you know the pressure that's down there because you just took a massive coffee cup and you shrunk it to the size of a die, was there any time where you were a little nervous or scared to be in this submarine at those depths? Or was it pretty cool, like felt pretty safe?
Speaker 2:I didn't really think about it.
Speaker 1:Well. I guess when you're on, the peaks of mountains and cliffs and stuff like that. I guess that stuff doesn't just occur to you.
Speaker 2:I mean, the most terrifying thing for me was watching like the naval historian tear into a bean burrito before we go down 3,500 feet. That that was scary, but it was. It was, uh, I didn't really think about that. I, I really didn't. Um, I was somewhat floored by the lack of technology. Right Like they, uh, to get these submarines down. To get these submarines down, they fill up these baskets on the side of the submarine with washer punches. You know washers, yeah, metal washers, yeah, yeah, you know how they have a hole in the middle, yeah, the center. These guys.
Speaker 1:The slugs. We used to try and put them in vending machines. Exactly, exactly.
Speaker 2:So they would, this company that had these submarines, they would buy those slugs and they would pour I'm talking about like three tons of slugs into these baskets. Yeah, and those baskets, when you get lowered into the water off the ship they take you right down. It still takes about an hour to get down, To get down there.
Speaker 3:But Well, you got to go slow just from the pressure change correct. No, you can go right down.
Speaker 2:Really Because this is.
Speaker 1:It doesn't change in the sphere.
Speaker 2:Right, the pressure doesn't change in the sphere. But to get up, the guy pulls a lever and the bottom of the basket falls open and all the all the slugs fall out and then you start going up, which is another.
Speaker 1:I was thinking to myself like what happens if that basket don't open?
Speaker 2:Right or only the left?
Speaker 3:side opens and the right side, doesn't? That seems a little old technology.
Speaker 2:It's just old tech, but they worked. And they were. I mean, it was great, but I do remember that was in 2000 and that was in 2008. Wow, and my son, jesse, who you know had been born. And I came back from that trip and I said, you know, I'm not going to know my kids, my wife's going to divorce me for sure, and this life doesn't work if you're going to have a family, it just doesn't work.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that's when the transition to LA happened. Is that at that point?
Speaker 2:No, that was. I'm sorry. That was actually the transition to LA happened before.
Speaker 1:Yeah before that and you had already taken your master's and at this point, to do this. Gotcha, yeah, gotcha.
Speaker 2:So I threw off your timeline a little bit.
Speaker 1:No, no no, no, timeline has nothing to do with it.
Speaker 3:No, just two boys. Oh, I'm sorry, your oldest boy is how old?
Speaker 2:He's 18. 18, that's what it is yeah, just started university, and so my wife and I had a good long heart to heart and she's like listen, la is cool, but it's time to go back to the mountains, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, and I imagine she was more like hey, listen, la is really cool. But when we came here we kind of decided that you were going to be around and work locally, and now you're just as far away as you ever were.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it's where the money goes right. It is, and you know she's a mountain girl.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And she married me and next thing, you know, she's carted off to Los Angeles, which she hated. Yeah, I give her a lot of credit, she's. I mean, you guys know I've met your wives, they stick with you and they deserve medals of honor for just dealing with the stuff that we decide we want to go do.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, nevermind that, like I mean, any woman and man that can stick together these days deserve a medal of honor, because it's such a rarity to have people stay together and raise families together for a lifetime, which is a whole other story. But yeah, the one common thing that we have is great women that support us, women that support us. 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. 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.
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Speaker 4:Our dream was to harness the knowledge of this amazing community and share it with passionate anglers just like you.
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Speaker 1:Find Ugly Pike now on Spotify, apple Podcasts or wherever else you get your podcasts so you move from la back to the mountains and you kind of back away at that point from the film industry and and all of that stuff and um, I'm not to quite bring it to present day, but I'm going to refer to present day and when I met you you were this dynamic and I knew right from the get-go when I saw you and I was standing on the back deck at Nordic you were this dynamic, very knowledgeable and passionate angler and, more specifically, fly fisherman.
Speaker 1:So we know that you had this very cool career and there's so much more and I've got to have you back on the show because I want to really dive into climbing faces of mountains and maybe get a little technical and maybe we'll have time for that later, I don't know. But let's talk about your passion for fly fishing and I'm assuming that started from your absolutely freaking awesome grandma. But tell us a little bit about that and some of the wicked fly fishing stories that you have. I know that you do a lot of them and there's one picture in particular that I love and it's a recent one. It happened at Nordic when I met you with a muskie. But tell us a little bit about your fly fishing.
Speaker 2:I mean, for me, if you go spend time up in Ontario, you will have just pitch, you'll have so many pictures of you holding a fish, right. And for me it got to the point where I just loved fishing and I wanted to start doing. I knew I could catch a fish If I had the right knowledge base, I could catch a fish and so I wanted to sort of shift my focus from catching a lot of fish to catching fish on a fly. Um, and then I wanted to shift my focus to catching big fish on a fly, and that, honestly, has become my passion.
Speaker 2:I mean, the mountains are great, but let's be honest, I'm 53 years old. I'm 53 years old. I'm just not going to do that anymore, yeah, and so I'm trying to find the sport that brings me to cool places and puts me in touch with really special people, and fly fishing has been that for me and fly fishing has been that for me, and you know it's. We have some great rivers here in Utah, but there's a big world out there, yeah, and I have been fortunate enough to travel the world looking for big fish on the fly and, honestly, when you really think about it, that's what brought us together. It is.
Speaker 1:It is.
Speaker 2:That's why you're here, that's what brought Our relationship started that way. You know my son he's a musky fanatic, he's a fishing fanatic, he loves it. My son, he's a muskie fanatic, he's a fishing fanatic, he loves it. And let's be honest, there are places in Ontario that you're just not going to find fish like that anywhere else in the world. Yeah, and you got to work for it. That's what I love about it. You got to work for it. Whether you're fishing with a fly or not, you got to work for it, whether you're fishing with a fly or not you got to work for it, oh yeah, when, and we're we're kind of talking muskies now really.
Speaker 3:More specifically, yeah, you're going from a topic that's a like a one in a ten thousand cast as it is, and then you throw the fly fishing aspect on top of that. It's like that. The detail in that is incredible. You know, I remember Steve watching Jason off that deck that day with you and I actually got a video. I don't think I've showed you what, jason, but I took a video of you and your fluid motions, like coming back, and it was. Your body was like in a euphoric state and you just become one with the rod and you're stripping and stripping and bam, you're into the eight and it was just like I don't think with a bait caster, a small stubby, that I could make a fluid motion as nice as you did with that 11 foot long fly rod and lying all over the boat. There's chaos. Me and ste Steve would be tripping in it, falling over, landing in the boat, going. Somebody help us please. Oh, it's not easy.
Speaker 2:Well, listen, you probably caught the only five casts that looked that way, because you guys, it's a full contact sport, right? I mean, if I could tell you the number of times that I hit myself with the fly and look, a musky fly is like a mop head, right, it's a giant. And the same rod you use to catch marlin and sailfish on the ocean. That's the rod you use for musky. That's awesome, it's, and and it is. I would come, come home, and you guys, I come home exhausted, my back hurts, my shoulder hurts. Pop an advil like flintstone kids vitamins, like I know, and you know this will. Oh, yeah, you. The year before I was there fished seven days.
Speaker 3:The big goose egg, the goose egg, the goosey. Well, that was Jesse's issue, so let's tell the fans here what happened. There is the boy. Jesse ended up coming up and I believe the number was five. Five to zero, correct?
Speaker 4:Yes, it was yes, and it was five on the figure eight this young man, so jesse five, in the boat in front of his dad on the eight and just goosed him.
Speaker 3:And that is, uh incredible. That young man, jesse, that man, needless to say he's a he was grounded for like a week after that trip.
Speaker 1:And as a lodge owner. When the kids have those kind of trips, that's like music to your ears because you know it'll be Dad. When are we going back to Nordic Dad? When are we going musky fishing Dad? When, dad, dad, dad. And there's not a better salesperson than your kids and that's fantastic.
Speaker 2:And fly fishing has taken me all over the world and I just am wild about it.
Speaker 1:and again, it's that once in a lifetime opportunity so now, um, where are some of the coolest places?
Speaker 1:I know we've talked about northern ontario and in ontario, and that I feel is is really the root for your love of fishing and it probably goes back to. I still love the imagery and how you painted the picture of your grandma and and that, like Ontario, is always going to be special because of that and the amazing fishing and and and. But where else on the planet do you really feel good, Like I mean, when it comes to certain species of fish? For me, you know I have places where I feel good because I know there's a world record there, Like I know in the Bay of Quinny there is a world record walleye fishing or swimming around there that I could catch, and I know that on the upper French river there's a world record muskie that's swimming there, and I know in the Peralt Lake system there's a world record tiger muskie and possibly a muskie, and the list goes on. Yeah, when in the world do you have you had those real special feelings and tell us a little bit about it?
Speaker 2:You know, if I'm being perfectly honest with you, I'll be perfectly honest with you. Flat fishing, for me, has developed into it's almost a conduit to experience new cultures and people. So, for example, I went to Cuba to fish for tarpon. Yeah, and the tarpon there are enormous and they are never fished, very rarely fished. Yeah, I've never heard of them before, never. And. But I got to go to Cuba and, being from the States, look, as Canadians, you can go to Cuba anytime you want. Yeah, I can't go to Cuba.
Speaker 2:So going and interacting with a culture that for years for me, politically, has just kind of been taboo, yeah, and going there and meeting these wonderful people, um, seeing their life, all the cool cars, all the cool cars, but also all the, all the despair, yeah, it makes me feel like a citizen of the world. Now, the tarpon that's the cherry on top right Um, and Mexico I mean again, mexico is just south of the border, but going to the places where the big fish are takes you to the bowels of Mexico, right, and seeing these people live it reminds me of the feeling that I got when I put on that big backpack for the first time. I can do this, I can do this and they remind me that all this, in a lot of ways, is just distraction. Yeah, being able to communicate with those people, see their life, that for me, has become what fishing is. That's the drive If I catch a fish amazing.
Speaker 3:It's a complete experience for you that it sounds like eh.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 1:Well, I think, going back to the perspective of a lodge owner, I think, going back to the perspective of a lodge owner, I was on a body of water that was kind of tough to fish. The geographical location is fairly close to the GTA and it was something that I learned very quickly that if I was going to survive, I couldn't just go to shows and say, hey, come and stay with me, you're going to catch a 10, 30 inch walleye and 500 fish in a week. I had to build an experience and, honestly, for every lodge owner and every location, people are going for the experience and a lot of people the experiences that they're looking for are totally different than the one that the guy beside them is looking for and you need to be in tune with what they're looking for and provide it. But the culture and all of the things that you were talking about, it inspires the thoughts in my mind and it reminds me of why the French River or Peralt Lake or these places are so special for some people and including ourselves and I.
Speaker 1:Just the way that you so eloquently described the way that you were feeling and answered that question is awesome and that is why I love you.
Speaker 1:And and uh, I knew it right from the start. Um it, uh, it's, uh, it's very cool and, um, the whole time you were talking, I'm like God I need to go fly fishing and I have no experience fly fishing. I held a fly fishing rod once on a shoot in BC and caught a grayling arctic grayling on the fly and that was with my pilot that brought me out there and he was the coach saying do this, do this, do this and strip that and pull this, and all of a sudden it happened. But those, the thoughts of the bowels of Mexico and seeing you know like I mean, I can see how it can be very exciting and maybe a little scary, because some of those places can be wild a little bit, I think. I don't know, I've never experienced them, but you've experienced more of the world. And is there any place that you've kind of felt uncomfortable on these adventures because of the place and the people?
Speaker 2:I would say this I find that when you go to foreign countries and again I've been blessed to go to a lot of them, and again I've been blessed to go to a lot of them you really start to realize that everybody wants the same thing. They want a roof over their heads, a couple bucks in their pocket, they want their kids to be safe. And everybody bleeds red. And as you travel more, what you really realize is that everybody wants the same thing and whether it's here or in the middle of Belize, everyone wants the same thing.
Speaker 2:The most uncomfortable places that I've ever felt fishing have been in the United States. Right, you've got 15 guys in the exact same hole, spay fishing for steelhead. Right, and next thing you know you turn around and there's a fight going on on shore. Right, because I mean, that's unpredictable. You start going to these foreign countries and you start realizing that there aren't that many fishermen. You're kind of a unicorn, right, because they don't know what the hell you're doing. Yeah, and you sit down with them and you muddle through some language and next thing you know you're buddies and that is.
Speaker 1:We're all the same yeah, and that's um, that is uh, that's the magic. That's the magic when and and um, it comes through in spades. It's very cool, and so let's just quickly talk a little bit about the. You fished some great locations and some wonderful species. If you had to choose one species and a location to fish, what would it be and what equipment would you use? What would you put together?
Speaker 2:That's a great question.
Speaker 1:I'm throwing them out there. You're teeing them up.
Speaker 2:It's a good question, and the reason is is because, look, I can go anywhere for a week and it can be exciting yes, but if I was going to choose one spot to fish for the rest of my life, I would have to go to a place with a lot of variety Yep, I would have to go to a place with a lot of variety Yep, I would have to go to a place that was beautiful Yep. And um, I think I would probably choose, um, the Sea of Cortez on the Baja Peninsula.
Speaker 1:Wow, cool yeah.
Speaker 2:So describe that to me. I've never been, so I like. So the Baja Peninsula, you know, it's basically where the desert meets the ocean, and the Sea of Cortez is that big body of water between the Baja Peninsula and mainland Mexico and it's like a giant saltwater lake and there's everything. I mean sailfish, marlin, dorado, rooster fish. I mean Jacques Cousteau called it the aquarium of the world, Really, and it's just. There's just so many things to see and then when you throw your fly in the water, you just have no idea what you're going to get.
Speaker 3:What's coming. It could be a marlin, a rooster fish, it's that. Call that area, that cabo st lucas area around to where you're talking about is I. I've been fortunate enough to be there twice not as many times as you, I'm sure, jason, but wow, you are right, it's an incredible, it's beautiful place, it's beautiful, the water's warm and the people are lovely.
Speaker 2:And when I tell you that you just there's always something to see, there's always something to go chase, and I just, when I get there, I feel like I'm eight years old at Lake of the Woods. That's amazing, it's just wonderful. It really is a cool spot. So that's one of my favorite places to go in the world and we go down there quite a bit and every time, you know, I mean every time something wonderful happens, yeah Well that's amazing. Yeah, it just never gets boring.
Speaker 1:for me, that is amazing.
Speaker 2:It also helps that it's like a perfect 85 degrees and you know there aren't a lot of waves. I mean, it's just, it's very friendly.
Speaker 1:That's cool. That's cool Because we know that in northern ontario things can get a little unfriendly every once in a while. But that's uh, that's another they can yeah, yeah, for sure, but it's really cool, I think.
Speaker 2:If you get a chance actually you know what let your old buddy, jay diddy, help facilitate a trip down there with you guys.
Speaker 1:Oh that would be awesome. That would be very cool. I would love that.
Speaker 3:Bro, a rooster fish is a bucket list for me. I've talked to him. I've talked to Dave about it, my buddy from up here in the area, and he's caught him once down there. He went casting with a spinning rod in shore when they were slow on the tuna. But that's a beautiful fish and one of the hardest fighting fish I've ever heard in my life. Everyone tells me that.
Speaker 2:So the way that they fish them in Baja I should say the way that I fish them is we'll go and we'll. You wake up early in the morning, you get on the boat and you cruise into these little estuaries and you buy from these locals. You buy, you know, a bunch of sardines, live right. You pull up right, their little boat is full of water and inside their boat, standing with them, are all these sardines, live right. You pull up right, their little boat is full of water and inside their boat, standing with them, are all these sardines, no way. And they scoop them up, they put them in a bucket, you put them in the boat and you take off and you start going to the. You start looking for you know some, right off the shore. You start looking for these, these bait balls, and then you'd pull up and you start throwing. You start throwing these live sardines and when the rooster fish come, what makes them unique is they have this they have this big, giant comb on top of their. Their their dorsal fin is a giant comb.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you hear them before you see them because they make a comb ripping through the water makes this sound and and the sound is unlike any sound I've ever heard. And you hear them coming. And then next thing you know they're there and watching these things eat a live sardine, just blowing up. It's just magic. Then you got to try and get a fly in there and you would think with, because they're so frenetically feeding that they would just grab your fly. No, they know the difference and so you know you'll go up. You'll be like, oh, I'm going to get one, and next thing you know you leave and you didn't get one.
Speaker 2:Or they'll follow you like a muskie. They'll follow it right up and you're like, oh, I got them. And then they swim away. That's amazing. And then they swim away.
Speaker 1:That's amazing.
Speaker 2:And then you change flies seven times and then they're gone. You know, I mean, it's just, it's just the best.
Speaker 3:The thrill of the chase. Baby, the thrill of the chase.
Speaker 2:It's just the best. And look, you guys know this. Nobody fishes harder and catches fewer fish than me, but everyone is awesome.
Speaker 1:I just love it. Oh yeah, wow, and I would be remiss if I didn't mention to all of the Diaries family out there. You guys have got to go to the Nordic Point Lodge website, look in the photo gallery and there is an absolutely stunning picture of Jay Diddy with his fly fishing rod in his teeth while holding a like 48 or 50 or however big this muskie was, and it is one of the most outstanding and coolest photos that I've ever seen it. The idea to do what you did was very cool, but that's probably from the cinematography part of you, but it is a very cool picture, folks. You got to check it out.
Speaker 3:That picture, diddy. We had a meeting the other day and we're actually going to. We're doing some picture taxidermy, they call it. This gentleman does down in Chicago and he's going to. We're using that image on the front store when you pull into the property now, because it's such a beautiful shot of your handsome face there holding that rod in your mouth with that muskie. So you're going to be famous brother, I'm going to need you to sign the window underneath it.
Speaker 2:Listen, you've got power of attorney. You can sign it. But I will tell you Brian took that picture and I will tell you this and I really mean it. Look again. I fish in a lot of places. I've been really blessed. But what you guys have up there is really special the feeling that I got watching that muskie just destroy.
Speaker 3:Tell us the story, diddy, because I actually don't know. Do you know the story, steve, because I've never heard the actual story.
Speaker 2:Well, the actual story goes like this. It was, you know, it was like I think the third or fourth day out there. And you know, your guides are amazing, right, they're just good. They know where the fish are, they know the habitat, they know those fish.
Speaker 2:And I've been using this fly that I almost didn't even bring it it was. It looks literally. It looks like a mop head. There's nothing very interesting about it, and I always was somebody who was like look for musky, you want something super colorful, really loud.
Speaker 2:This thing is white and it has a little little bit of red on the bottom and it just is ugly and I almost didn't bring it. Um, but it's light and I literally felt like my shoulder was going to fall out of my socket. So I was like I got to put something light on. So I put this fly on and for musky, you have to have, you know, you've got to have leader, you've got to have all this stuff, you've got to have leader, you've got to have all this stuff, you've got to have metal leader on it. You got anyway, I threw it out there and I'm stripping it and this, this, this fly just does this and it's really cool and we got into some shallow water and I didn't see the fish, but I saw a weed bed and I casted it in. And on the second strip, when I tell you that the world exploded, it went crazy. Oh, like on top of the water.
Speaker 2:Yes, I've never seen a fish hit something this violently. It was just so violent and it scared the shit out of me right? I've been fishing for 15 years trying to catch a muskie. I mean, it just scared me so much. You, with muskie and most fly fishing, most big predator fish, you can't lift your rod tip, it'll just, you'll pull it out of their mouth. You have to strip set. Yeah, and somehow I strip set this thing and it just, it just exploded, it just went it. I was at that point, I was a passenger, that's the best. And we got it in the net and I've been smiling since.
Speaker 3:Well, that's a pretty awesome story, man. I can't believe that we were fortunate enough to have that.
Speaker 1:So now I've got a question. Yeah, when I'm limited to fly fishing and I've not caught big game on the fly but I have on traditional um uh fishing gear, so I know it's hard to hold onto these animals and they'll go for a run and they peel offline. So when you strip that line out and then you're you're fighting this fish and then it wants to take off, does it just freaking pull what you've stripped like a whip and then it goes right to your spool and then it starts stripping off the spool and then do you, do you grab the handle on the reel to try and pick it up or do you strip it back as you're fighting it? Like what? What's the process? What? Like? Tell me about how you actually fight a 50 inch muskie with, uh, with with a fly rod a fly rod is incredibly flexible, right, it's Exactly.
Speaker 2:And because of that it bends a lot and in a lot of cases, you know, when you get a fish I mean you guys have seen that it's one-to-one One crank on a reel is three inches of line, right, yeah, so when you throw the line out and you're stripping it in and you hook a fish and that fish, that fish takes off and it starts ripping line and you got to watch your feet, you have to watch the boat, you have to. Just, at that point it's line management. Right, all the cleats. When you get it on the reel, you can use the reel, but if that fish starts swimming towards you, you just start stripping in because you can strip two feet of line and those fish move as you know.
Speaker 2:So that's part of the deal, right, part of learning how to fly fish is A learning how to deliver the fly, learning how to not hit yourself, learning how to really shoot line out. I mean those 12 weeks and line management and line management. And then you know if you hook a fish, yeah, knowing when to get off the reel and go to the strip. It's just and again, it's like golf, it's like anything, it's lifelong learning.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and that was where I was kind of going with this. I've had the pleasure. I've not fly fished but I have shared the boat with Colin McEwen from the New Fly Fisher television show and they're on PBS, and I guided Colin for a week while we shot a show at Chaudiere and all of the things that you're talking about I remember having to deal with, as a guide and a boat, a boat operator, you know. First of all we we had a 21 or 20 foot Alaskan Lund and all of the cleats. We taped over all of the little stainless handles to lift all of the the compartment doors. I taped over those, made sure there's not an anchor sitting in the bow or a seat post or the net, because it's line management. And then the other thing we were fishing for bass, for largemouth bass, and the other really key thing for Colin, well, for me was boat control. And there was a couple of times we were back in this one bay and Colin was throwing a popper, a wee popper, but it was fairly heavy and it was windy, and Colin would tell me you have to keep the boat like this, with the bow here and this there, and I had my trolling motor on the front and I had the big engine on the back and I was using both of them to try and hold us in the wind.
Speaker 1:Well, there were a couple of times where I think maybe well, I'm not sure, I think probably my boat control was a little off and Colin would go one, two and then really load up and go and dunk. He'd hit himself right in the back of the head and he'd look at me and, oh my God, he'd be holding his head and the first time it happened he never. He was like, oh yeah, no, that happens sometimes. The second time it, he never. He was like oh yeah, no, that happens sometimes. The second time it happens, he was like, listen, you got to try and keep the boat this way with the wind like this. And I'm like, yeah, I'm trying, doing my best. And the third time it was like for fuck's sakes, can you not control?
Speaker 3:this boat, get your shit together and it's wiki.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah it's not easy. No, not easy, it's not easy. The wind brings a whole new element to it, oh, yeah, and just like anything, though, you have to work as a team, right? Yeah, and having that trolling motor on the bow, even though it's a place where the line can get wrapped up, it's essential that that that keeps you in the zone. Look, a lot of times the wind's from the back. That's great, but at the end of the day, um, the guide's job is to get you into where the fish are. Yeah, he can't control the wind. No, so that's kind of on the on the fly fishermen to be able to figure out. Okay, am I going to back cast it? Am I going to forward cast it? Am I going to cast over the boat? The hardest thing to do in fly fishing is actually cast straight in front of the boat.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Cause you got to go straight behind the boat.
Speaker 2:You got people, you got rods, you know you you got to go straight behind the boat. You got people, you got rods. You know you've got all kinds of things back there, um, but you know that's just part of the game, that's just part of the fun, right, figuring it out.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, and I do love it and I love you. Thank you, buddy, I love you too. Listen on that note. I just want to thank you for joining us today on Diaries of a Lodge Owner Stories of the North and Will any parting thoughts? My friend.
Speaker 3:Jay, every time we speak you leave me in awe. You are one of the most kindest humans I've ever met in my life. You have incredible stories, an amazing family. We're so fortunate to have you on the show. Thank you very much for coming on and giving me and Steve this experience to get to know you. We got to have him on again, like we were already talking. It's definitely got to happen again, jay.
Speaker 2:Listen from the Diddy household out there. You guys are very special people. You have something very special up there and I'm going to scream it from the rooftops. So gear up, because you got a bunch more. You know speaking of Diddy Flies.
Speaker 3:Diddy Flies, yeah, we'll throw all your flies out there. Give it some preps.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, listen, Diddy Bros is coming north again, nice, nice, so gear up.
Speaker 3:Get ready.
Speaker 2:Well, listen, you guys.
Speaker 1:thank you On behalf of Will myself, thank you and folks all of you Diaries family out there that have made it to this point in the podcast. I want to thank you and tell you I love you and if you do like this content and you love what we're doing here, like subscribe, send us out any questions you have. You can get me, as all of you know, at steven at fishincanadacom. And while you're thinking about that, head on over to fishincanadacom where we've got a ton of awesome giveaways. All you got to do is enter to win. Got a ton of awesome giveaways. All you got to do is enter to win. Garmin is always up there for grabs and other awesome things with the podcasting network, the Outdoor Journal Radio podcasting network and all of our affiliates. And again, thank you all for listening. Thank you, jason Dittmer.
Speaker 3:And thank you Willie. And thus brings hog, since the day I was born, bending my rock stretching my line. Someday I might own a lodge, and that'd be fine. I'll be making my way the only way I know how I'm making my way, the only way I know how, working hard and sharing the North with all of my pals.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm a good old boy. I bought a lodge and lived my dream, and now I'm here talking about how life can be as good as it seems. Yeah.
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, ang and I will be right here in your ears bringing you a brand new episode of Outdoor Journal Radio. 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, All the other guys would go golfing Me, and Garton Turk and all the Russians would go fishing To scientists. But now that we're reforesting- and laying things free.
Speaker 6:It's the perfect transmission environment for life.
Speaker 4: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.